Why did Murphy disguise himself as Dean Clarrin?

[CyberCubed]

I have never heard of this before in comics, where a writer purposely takes on a secret identity to hide his real self. What doesn't make any sense to me is Murphy used his real name on the Mirage issues he wrote like #28, so why the guise for Archie?

Was there some mandate at Archie that they didn't want any Mirage writers on the book, so Murphy had to pretend to be someone else? Or was Murphy simply doing it for personal reasons?

[Coola Yagami]

I'd say personal reasons or personal preference. I kinda think a 'no Mirage writers allowed' mandate is stupid since the people he works with would know who he is anyway.

[Leo656]

I'm not aware of Murphy's particular reasons for it, but pen names have always been common in comics, from writers to artists to everything. Sometimes it's an individual thing, other times it was a way for a well-known writer/artist to "moonlight" at a competitor's company without having to suffer any negative repercussions.

Even Stan Lee is really Stanley Lieber; when he started doing comics it was just a "silly paid hobby", and he came up with the alias "Stan Lee" because he fully intended to one day move up to doing "real work" like writing novels, and didn't want his real name sullied by "those silly comic books" he did as a youngster.

I'm not sure why Murphy did it, but it happens all the time, or used to. I think several writers and artists on the Archie Sonic comics (and Archie books in general) have been the most recent practitioners of it.

[wilddiverse]

Stumbled across the Dean Clarrain Exposé just two days ago - http://mightymutanimals.blogspot.com...in-expose.html

In Ryan Brown's words:

"He's totally emersed in THE PUMA BLUES and all of it's DAVE SIM, DIAMOND controversy at the moment. Threats are made, arms are twisted and I berate him until he caves! His only stipulation... that he write under a pseudonym."

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

I think at that point in time, he considered himself an "artist" and didn't want to be associated with the Archie series. By the time the 4Kids show came on TV, he had a wife and kid to support, and he pretty much "sold out" because liberal idealism is just a hindrance when you have a family to support. He didn't care at that point who knew it was him (he wrote some of the episodes of the 4Kids show) so long as there was a paycheck coming in...

[CyberCubed]

So its just political agenda then? Murphy knows he was doing work for hire so what is the big deal?

[wilddiverse]

A look through the credits of the TMNTA makes it clear that Archie didn't have a "No Mirage Creators" policy of any kind.

The Dave Sim/Diamond controversy that Ryan Brown refers to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pum...on_controversy
* Dave Sim opts not to use Diamond as the distributor for a Cerebus graphic novel.
* Diamond retaliates by choosing not to distribute another series published by Sim's Aardvark One International: Stephen Murphy & Michael Zulli's Puma Blues.
* Creators Murphy & Zulli then release an open letter saying they'll make their comic with or without Diamond.

It seems like the name change had a lot to do with distancing Murphy's involvement in a controversy that could have potentially affected the distribution of the Archie series or precluded him being seen as an acceptable choice for writer by a skittish publisher. And it's possible too that Murphy didn't want his name associated with what many would dismiss (and still dismiss) as just a kiddie cartoon tie-in. There doesn't seem to be one clear reason, though it's possible an interview with Murphy exists where he states his reasons.

Amusing bit in this 2008 interview (http://www.newsarama.com/118-tmnt-ce...ve-murphy.html) about the planned Archie revisit:
NRAMA: What about Dean Clarrain? Who else is giving the planned five-issue arc the finishing touch now?
SM: Yes, Dean will be back as well. At this point I'll be helping Dean out on the script...

[zbowen]

I don't think a reason was ever given. Even at the end of Mirage, he was still using it when Forever War was announced (again).

[Jester]

I think at the point Forever War was in production, going by Dean Clarrian was just a formality, for continuity's sake.

Then again, he did do that issue of tales as DC....so...*shrug*

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

Originally Posted by Jester

I think at the point Forever War was in production, going by Dean Clarrian was just a formality, for continuity's sake.

Then again, he did do that issue of tales as DC....so...*shrug*

He only did that one issue of Tales as Dean Clarrain because Chris Allan had art duties on it, since the most famous Archie creative team was "Dean Clarrain and Chris Allan." It was a GREAT way to sell books.

[funatic]

I just spoke to the man himself about this at Bing Con in Springfield! His reasoning was it was his first time working on a kid oriented book and he wasn't sure he'd be any good at it - so he thought he'd try a pen name. He was also working on Puma Blues at the time, which was a more mature affair, and thought it best not to associate the two titles together. AND fun factoid: Dean Clarrian was an anagram of his girlfriend's name at the time: Clare Adriann.

Some other interesting info on why he killed off the Mutanimals: "Anger," was the first word he said. He and Ryan Brown were trying really hard to get the Mutanimals into the cartoons and toy biz. They had plans for a cartoon in development, as well as Dreadmon & Jagwar action figures on the drawing table, but then the management decided to back Space Usagi rather than Mutanimals at the 11th hour. Clearly frustrated, he and Brown decided to just kill off the characters out of spite. He said he regretted his decision now, especially since recently his daughter read those issues, held them up to his face and said "WHY??"

And lastly, when I asked about the Forever War, he said it was propsed to IDW but they currently weren't interested. Maybe if the Archie trades continue to sell to the end, they'd consider finishing it up?

[Powder]

Originally Posted by funatic

And lastly, when I asked about the Forever War, he said it was propsed to IDW but they currently weren't interested. Maybe if the Archie trades continue to sell to the end, they'd consider finishing it up?

IDW, I AM NOW VERY MAD AT YOU.

[Jester]

So much ^ this.

Come on IDW. Fans have been clambering for this since the Archie run ended in 1995...

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

Yeah, why not publish something that so many fans want to read?

Edit: Wasn't there talk of Modeen finishing this?

[CyberCubed]

I love the fact that murphy killed the mutanimals out of spite. He should have killed Ninjara, Merdude, and any other talking animal characters (except the Turtles/Splinter), too.

He should have ended his Archie run in a bloodbath. Kill them all.

[funatic]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I love the fact that murphy killed the mutanimals out of spite. He should have killed Ninjara, Merdude, and any other talking animal characters (except the Turtles/Splinter), too.

He should have ended his Archie run in a bloodbath. Kill them all.

Lol. Maybe that's the REAL reason the Forever War never saw print.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I love the fact that murphy killed the mutanimals out of spite. He should have killed Ninjara, Merdude, and any other talking animal characters (except the Turtles/Splinter), too.

He should have ended his Archie run in a bloodbath. Kill them all.

Y'all got some issues, son.