Prose, Poetry, or Television. For Brad Meltzer, Everything is Comics.

We chat with bestselling author Brad Meltzer about his new thriller, The Viper, and how comics shape everything he does.

When you read The Viper, the new Zig and Nola novel from Brad Meltzer, it doesn’t take long to see how comics inform the author’s creativity. As he says during our conversation, “It’s Superman and Batman. It’s Spider-Man and Wolverine.” Meltzer grew up a comic book kid, and the ideas he found in Marvel Comics and DC Comics remain at the forefront of his imagination.

It’s been a minute since he’s played in our favorite medium, having written stellar runs on Green Arrow and Justice League of America, and we can never forget the monumental event that was Identity Crisis. However, he’s never been far from comics, and it's evident to anyone who’s experienced his Ordinary People Change the World series with Chris Eliopoulos and his novels.

The Viper, released this week from William Morrow, is Meltzer’s return to the thriller. It’s a zippy, twisty narrative about a dying man who delivers his suit to the funeral home tasked with handling his body, shortly before he’s murdered, advancing his earthly exit. The death quickly reunites Meltzer’s heroes from The Lightning Rod and The Escape Artist, Zig and Nola, his Superman and Batman, and plunges them into a conspiracy with ties to Nola’s past.

We got a lot from The Viper, and we bring it all to Brad Melzer on this week’s podcast. We discuss his life as a comic book kid, how he can’t escape comics, and what he might have on the horizon in terms of the four-color medium. Yes, his Ghost Machine collaboration with Geoff Johns and Gene Ha is coming, but there seems to be something else, too. We try to tease the news out of him.

Make sure you head to your local bookstore to get your copy of The Viper, and follow Brad Melzer on Instagram and Bluesky.

This Week's Sponsors

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Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:

• Subscribe to The Stacks, Comic Creators Name Their Favorite Comics

• The Stampies: Best Comics of 2025 (Part One)

• The Stampies: Best Comics of 2025 (Part Two)

• Read The Stampies on GlobalComix

• Comic Book Club: Black Arms to Hold You Up at Meanwhile...Coffee in Herndon, Virginia, on 2/1 at 3:30 PM

• Comic Book Film Club: The Phantom w/Billy Zane Virtual Intro at the Alamo Drafthouse Winchester on 1/25

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