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Well, what they've been doing is making glowing people, and we'll probably see them soon enough.

I remember doing that, two years ago - I typed in "supermice" on the Internet, for no good reason. I thought there was no way I'd get anything about supermice, and that was what came up, some Indian doctor was working on it.

Wonder what the connection with the mouse with the ear on its back is? I've got this idea that the glowing mouse and the ear mouse would team up together, rebel against their creators...

I actually feel that it was almost going that way, when I was doing the Flex Mentallo book, it was about superhumanity trying to get through into this world. And I see it in the Human Genome Project, which will be complete in 2005, and they're also talking about life extension. I believe that my generation, your generation is gonna have a lifespan of at least 130. Superhumanity is creeping through the back door, there's a ton of superhero films comin' out right now, and there is a sense of restless mutation around.

From Flex Mentallo #1. Art by Frank Quitely.

What did you think of the fact that Flex Mentallo was almost reprinted, and then it wasn't?

I was so mad, it's one of my favourite books, that's my autobiography. Everything I do that I really like doesn't get reprinted, but all the bread and butter stuff does.

It was interesting, because Kill Your Boyfriend got reprinted, and that's seditious in its own way, and I thought if KYB got reprinted, then FM would have to.

It was Charles Atlas! The Charles Atlas people rang up and told us we couldn't do it. I just thought that tons of people have done parodies of Charles Atlas, it's one of the most famous ads in the world!

No-one's done the "Hero of the Beach" thing the way you did, though...

That's what they complained about, because he's got "Hero of the Beach" floatin' above him.

But they never complained when Flex first appeared in Doom Patrol?

They didn't notice it then. Somebody'd obviously brought it to their attention when the series came out. It was so annoying, because the series didn't sell. All of three people bought it, I think you're one of them. But I think now there'd be more of an audience for it, now that I've done the Justice League, because that's where all that thinking came from.

Are you actively trying to capitalise on this heightened publicity? Are you saying, "OK I'm fan favourite at the moment, can we get this happening?"

I've tried, but it's like a stone wall. It doesn't matter if you're fan favourite. They don't care. I'm just another disposable cog in a huge machine.

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