Nexus' creator keeps busy with projects

One might think Mike Baron would be busy enough filling the head of a cosmic avenger with dreams of mass murder. But the writer of "Nexus" is also sending a teenager through a wormhole, cursing a vigilante with multiple-personality disorder, and empowering an architect to open dimensional portals.

Baron's recent projects include the revival of the science-fiction tale "Nexus," the science-fantasy adventure "Black Ice," the multiple-personality superhero "Badger" and the original graphic novel "The Architect."

"Nexus," created by Baron with artist Steve "The Dude" Rude in 1981, has been hailed as innovative by scores of industry professionals, including Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, "Sandman" creator Neil Gaiman and "Kingdom Come" artist Alex Ross.

"All you really need to know is that Nexus is a guy who dreams of mass-murderers, and he has to go out and kill them," Baron said in an interview with The Oklahoman. "The concept is so interesting that it's going to draw people in immediately, and then they're going to find the characters interesting."

Baron said returning to "Nexus" after a break of several years wasn't too difficult.

"It's just like slipping into a warm bath, meeting an old friend," he said. "We had a couple of false starts, a couple of stories that I pitched that Dude wouldn't draw. I had to go to Phoenix to thrash the Dude soundly. We tossed it back and forth, and came back with a very dynamic storyline."

"Nexus" No. 100 shipped in February. The next two issues of "Nexus" are on hold until Rude finishes drawing them.

"I regret that they're coming out in such an attenuated way. There's nothing I can do about that. I just got the latest pages from issue 101 and they look fabulous," he said. "It definitely hurts your momentum."

However, most fans think "Nexus" is worth the wait.

"I've been reading some of the mail that Dude gets and it's been uniformly positive," Baron said.

"Black Ice" is published online at www.comicmix.com, where artist Lee Oaks has taken over from original artist Nick Runge. The fourth volume of Baron's "Badger" collections from IDW shipped this month. And "The Architect" is still in print from publisher Big Head Press. "The Architect" was loosely inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, who at one time offered to design Baron's father's home.

"Frank Lloyd Wright was a weird duck. I loved his architecture, anyone who sees it feels that immediate connection," Baron said. "But his life was filled with trauma. And I let it inspire me in a very freewheeling way. I came up with a horror story loosely inspired by Wright but taking all his worst tendencies."

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