With a brand-new noir thriller out from Vertigo and a career as one of the most inventive and eclectic comics writers of the past two decades, Peter Milligan is a comics superstar. We caught up with him to talk about The Bronx Kill and more.

You came to the U.S. comics scene in the late ’80s as part of the British Invasion. Did you feel part of that movement or connected to it?
I hear about it a lot, but I must say, I don’t really feel part of a movement or invasion. Saying that, I think, though different, we and the guys who came right after us all contributed in various ways to changing the landscape. At the risk of making a gross generalization, we seemed to draw and display our influences from broader, less solely comic-book-orientated places.
 
What inspired you to break into comics back then? Was it an easy task to accomplish?
I was interested in writing, in words. And I was and still am interested in visual art, fine art. Comics seemed to offer a way of combining both my interests. I don’t know how hard or easy it was. Hard enough to keep things interesting, I suppose.
 
In your career, you’ve managed to work on some of the biggest properties in the comics business. Are there any characters that you haven’t gotten a chance to write but would really love to?
I wasn’t brought up on comics so don’t have some long-standing love for any particular character that’d make me ache to write them. But I would jump at the chance of writing an Elektra story again. I wrote some Elektra a while ago and for a number of reasons, this didn’t work out creatively. I remain unhappy about the way I wrote her and would really like the opportunity to do it right some time.
 
Bronx Kill is a bit of a switch for you. What made you want to tackle it?
I don’t know how much of a switch it really is. I might not have done much crime fiction in the past, but I have often dug into the darker and more disturbing depths of the human condition, and Bronx Kill certainly does that. 
 
Are you a fan of noir? If so, who are some of your favorites?
I’m never quite sure what people mean by noir. Though one of my favorite films is Chinatown, and this was an homage to a classic noir detective story. I like the novels of Dashiell Hammett, too. So I suppose you could say I’m quite a fan.
 
Have you been to the Bronx Kill before? How much research in New York City itself did you do writing this project?
No, I didn’t visit the Bronx Kill, even though I had the opportunity. While writing the story, the place took on a special kind of meaning for me. It came to represent all the darkness and rottenness that lurked at the heart of my story. So I was concerned that if I saw the real place, it would somehow be diminished. Therefore, I only visited the place in my imagination. Now the story’s written, I’ll check the place out the next time I’m in New York.
 
What made you want to write a New York mystery?
The whole idea came out of my seeing the name The Bronx Kill on a map. So from the very beginning, place was central to this story.
 
When writing this story, did you turn to any noir writers you enjoy for inspiration?
No. I’m thinking back, but I can honestly say I don’t remember anything like that. Though halfway through lettering The Bronx Kill, the letterer told me the story reminded him of a Ross MacDonald mystery. I’d never read any MacDonald mysteries until Clem (the letterer) told me that. I have since read a few—they’re good, a little quirky. Probably nothing in them quite matches The Bronx Kill for sheer stinking human corruption, though!
 
There are some extensive pages of prose writing in Bronx Kill. Do you have any other plans for that book within a book?
I really enjoyed the prose sections and thought it was perfect for this book. I’d love to experiment with prose in comic books in the future, but obviously it’d have to be right for the project.
 
What can you tell us about your upcoming projects?
I’m continuing to work on my monthly conic for vertigo called Greek Street. I’m also writing Hellblazer. I’m working on a new miniseries for Marvel called Ronin 5. Also, a project for the Radical Publishing called After Dark.