With a large following in the young-adult prose market, thanks to his books The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and Boy Toy, Barry Lyga now takes on one of the most seminal comics characters of all time: Wolverine. But he’s doing it with his own twist. Wolverine: Worst Day Ever is a YA graphic novel written from a teen’s point of view. As a new student adapts to life at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, we get to see Wolverine through an entirely new set of eyes (get a sneak preview of the book here). In this interview, Barry Lyga reveals his history with the character and how his new story came about—as well as what we can expect in the highly anticipated sequel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl.

How did you get involved with Wolverine: Worst Day Ever?
The easiest way possible—Marvel called me! They were looking to publish a middle-grade Wolverine novel and someone recommended me to them. They contacted me, I said yes, and that’s that.
 
What’s the story of the book?
The book is in the form of the blog of a kid named Eric Mattias. Eric has just turned 13 and has developed—in his own words—the world’s suckiest mutant power. So he’s now a student at Xavier’s school, and he’s trying to figure out how to fit in. It’s something that all adolescents go through and in Eric’s case, it’s compounded by this really lousy superpower. He sort of locks onto Wolverine as a model for how to adapt as a loner, so the book becomes his experiences at the school, watching the X-Men, learning from them…and also annoying a lot of people at the same time!
 
The book combines artwork from the past 30-plus years with the story. How are these images woven into the story, and how did you choose which to use?
I sat down and came up with the basic story first, then spent a lot of time going through a big stack of Wolverine comics—stuff as recent as six months ago and as old as Wolverine’s first appearance in the ’70s. When you have that long a history to exploit, it’s not tough to find artwork that can fit into your story, no matter what the story happens to be!
 
So I picked a bunch of artwork and then wrote the story, suggesting along the way where certain pieces of art might fit. I originally had this idea in my head that the artwork be on its own pages—a couple of pages of text and then a full page of art, for example. But Marvel’s designer slotted the art directly in with the text and did a great job of making the whole thing flow very organically, so that now the art sort of comments on the text.
 
You’re well known for your young-adult novels The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and Boy Toy, both of which deal with serious topics and themes. Does Worst Day Ever fit in with these themes?
There’s no question that Worst Day Ever is a bit lighter, mainly because the target audience is younger. But I still wanted the book to have some heft. Even in my most serious novels, I employed a lot of humor, so I just leaned a little more on the humor cane for this book. I tried to find an even balance between humor, angst, and pathos.
 
At its core, my work tends to be about outsiders looking for a way in. Eric’s mutant power makes him the ultimate outsider, so even though Worst Day Ever isn’t as intense as some of my other books in terms of subject matter, I think it still fits in nicely.
 
What’s the difference in writing Wolverine in this way, for this audience, as compared to how he’s usually portrayed? Did you have to change the way Logan was usually depicted to adapt him for this young-adult audience?
You know, since we were seeing Logan from the perspective of a newcomer, I didn’t have to change him as much as you’d think. He’s still the brutal brawler—it’s just that Eric doesn’t give you the gory details. There’s a fight scene toward the end of the book that is very action-heavy, and if you’re a Wolverine fan and you read between the lines, you can tell that it’s just as bloody and violent as anything else in Logan’s history. But if you don’t read between the lines, it’s just a cool action sequence.
The trick wasn’t changing Logan—it was thinking, “OK, this story is from a certain point of view. What elements would Eric find interesting/worth talking about?” I wanted to let Logan be Logan and have the distinction come in the reporting, so to speak.
 
I don’t think I really changed Logan at all, to be honest with you. I just chose to downplay certain characteristics and amplify others, which made sense given the fact that you’re seeing him through a 13-year-old’s eyes.
 
How long have you been a fan of Wolverine?
Oh, you would have to ask that question! Here’s my secret shame: I didn’t grow up as a huge fan of the character. I was a Legion of Super-Heroes geek growing up, not an X-Men geek.
 
Now, it’s Wolverine, so of course I knew the character and of course I was familiar with him. But I think it’s fair to say that working on this project is what made me a fan of the character.
 
What’s your definitive Wolverine moment, the issue or panel or storyline where you realized how great this character is?
Like I said, I didn’t read a lot of Wolverine as a kid, but I do remember reading the Wolverine & Kitty Pryde miniseries, which I thought was cool. And the moment I’ve been recalling a lot lately came during the famous Brood storyline, which my best friend made me read as a kid. There’s a moment where Wolverine willingly flings himself into a full-force Cyclops optic blast in order to escape a trap. It’s a risky move that could—in his words—“leave nothing but scraps of skin and an adamantium skeleton,” but he does it anyway because he’s a risk-taker. I like that.
 
Are you excited about the new Wolverine movie?
I’m excited about almost all of the comic book movies these days—it’s just a great time to be a fan of this stuff. Unless travel gets in the way, I imagine I’ll be standing in line on May 1.
 
Do you remember the first comic book you ever read?
Oh, yeah. Well, there’s the one I remember reading first. I don’t know if it actually was the first or if it’s just the one I remember: Superman #294—“The Man Who Slept the World Away!” The cover had Superman standing on an empty, wind-blown city street, screaming, “Please, God! Don’t let me be the last man on earth!” How can you not want to read that?
 
Was it love at first sight?
Love might be the wrong word—obsession is probably closer. It just really locked me in. When I got into comics in the late ’70s, as a kid, the state-of-the art computer game was Space Invaders. Special effects were decent in the movies, but there were only a couple of movies that really exploited them. So if you wanted mind-blowing effects and a truly imaginative, innovative narrative experience, you went to superhero comics. That’s where you got your fix.
 
What keeps you a fan of the format after all this time?
Comics at their best are endlessly inventive, with new ideas churning on every page, in every panel. There’s something about that combination of art and text. When it’s done well, it’s a transcendent experience. It’s not that it’s a superior medium to any of the others—it’s just different. There are things you can do in a novel, for example, that you’re better off not trying in a comic book. But there are things a good comic book can do that I would never dream of attempting in prose.
 
What are some of your favorite graphic novels now?
Blue Pills was really great. I reread Bendis’ Fortune & Glory at least once a year because it’s so brilliant and true. Watchmen, of course. I’m liking Ex Machina, too. Oh, and whenever I read one of the current Spider-Man books, I usually have a good time—good old-fashioned superhero adventure soap opera with a modern sensibility.
 
You helped instigate Free Comic Book Day while you were working at Diamond. How did that come about?
Well, it was my job, you know? The idea was floated by a comic book store owner named Joe Field. And my bosses at Diamond came to me and said, “Hey, do you think we can pull this off?” I said, “Yeah,” and the next thing I knew, they said, “Cool—you’re in charge. Have fun.” So for the first four years, I ran FCBD with no budget, no staff—it was all shoestring, all stuff I could beg, borrow, or steal.
 
What do you think Free Comic Book Day has accomplished? Are you proud of how successful it’s been?
It’s tough for me to talk about it because I haven’t been involved for something like four years now. I don’t know what standards they’re using to measure its success. If you look at 2002, the first year FCBD ran, there were a lot of people in the general public saying, “Oh, they still make comic books?” You don’t hear that as much now. If FCBD played a part in reversing that trend, then yeah, I’m proud of it. I think it came along at an opportune time, right when the explosion of movies and interest from schools and libraries made it possible to promote the art form to a broader audience.
 
You have a sequel to your first book coming out this fall, Goth Girl Rising. What can you tell us about it?
I’m just enormously pleased with it! I’m usually my own harshest critic, but man—I am really happy with how it’s turned out.
 
I had a lot of requests for a sequel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, almost from the moment the book hit shelves. I resisted because I hate it when someone does a sequel and it sucks! It took me a couple of years to get into the headspace where I felt confident that I could write something that would continue the story in a logical way, but also surpass the original. I didn’t want to just keep treading the same ground or start off with a big kiss, which is how many people wanted the first book to end.
 
The first book was really the story of Fanboy growing up, helped along by Kyra. This time the book is told from Kyra’s point of view. It’s been six months since the last book, six months since Kyra told Fanboy she hated him, and she’s been in a mental hospital because of her father’s reaction to events in the first book. Now she’s getting out and trying to figure out how to reconnect with her own life.
 
It’s my first book told from a girl’s point of view, so I’m really curious to see how people respond to it. And, yeah, like in the first book, there’s a boatload of comic book references in this one. Because I just can’t help myself.