A Fistful of Comic Books Cancelled (or Announced) Too Soon

Conceived and used with the permission of Matthew Constantine and Brad Gullickson, the original dorks.

Everyone has a “Top 5.”  But Brad and Matt, choosing to walk a different path, amended that to “A Fistful…” over at their blog, In the Mouth of Dorkness.  A film-centric blog where they also discuss comics and books and TV, these two regularly share their top 5, ranging from “Heroic Kids” to “Spies” to “Summer Movies” to “Punches” to all things in between.  Always fun, often insightful, and something I hope to regularly pilfer for Warrior27.  As they say:  If you’re going to steal, steal from those you know relatively well, who will not sue you.

Recent years have been a boon to comic book readers.  Classic series that were out of their price range, in back issues, are now available in affordable collections or digitally, while ones that incurred publication delays—or were thought to have been abandoned—due to publishers going bankrupt (in the case of Moore & Gebbie’s Lost Girls) or the rights of publication expiring (which seems to have been a contributor to Mumy & Dutkiewicz’s Lost in Space: Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul being unfinished for many years) have risen again, like the Phoenix ß check out that sweet cliché.  This has afforded me, and others, the opportunities to read the conclusions to stories we may have thought forever lost to us.  This, as much as anything, is why many fans see this as a golden age for comic books.  

Despite that, there are still a number of series that were cancelled well before they should have been—in my opinion—and there is little that would lead me to believe they will ever see the light of day, at this point, for a variety of reasons.  Here are five comic series that ended far too soon, if they even ever got onto the comic racks. 

5. Everest: Facing the Goddess, written by Greg Rucka, art by Scott Morse (Oni Press)

Greg Rucka has written some of my all-time favorite comics and novels.  Scott Morse is an artist and writer who is on my personal Mt. Rushmore of comic creators.  To have these two working on an adventure series set on Mt. Everest—that just sounds awesome.  Set to be published in late 2004 by Oni Press, all we ever got was the FCBD preview that year.  It was as good as you would hope.  Too bad we never saw anything else.  *sigh*

4. Semper Fi, written by Michael Palladino, art by John Severin, Sam Glanzman, et al. (Marvel Comics)

Following the surprise popularity of their hit series, The ‘Nam, Marvel launched a second military comic book.  Semper Fi followed various generations of a single family, all of which had members who served in the United States Marine Corps.  The stories were engaging and fit nicely next to Marvel’s ‘Nam, but the real draw of this book was the art by John Severin.  This was my introduction to Severin, who was a seasoned veteran when he got this assignment, and he killed it—sometimes penciling and inking, sometimes providing inks over Andy Kubert’s work.  Severin was a revelation to my young eyes.  His figure work and the detail within the backgrounds was astounding and beautiful, some of the best work coming out of Marvel at that time.  It’s curious this series didn’t last past issue #9, but sales were so poor there was nothing to be done about it.  But at least I still have those issues to re-read, whenever I want.

3. BWS Storyteller, by Barry Windsor-Smith, with help from Alex Bialy-additional inks and Joon Kostar-lettering (Dark Horse Comics; Fantagraphics Books)

One of the most beautiful, and most fun and engaging comics I ever read.  Barry Windsor-Smith created a one-man anthology, with three stories all created by Windsor-Smith—The Young Gods, a Fourth World homage, The Freebooters, a Conan homage, and The Paradoxman, his science fiction epic.  The art was lush, gorgeous, and the stories captivated my imagination like very few comics have.  You could tell BWS was having fun, and it translated directly onto the page.  Sadly, the oversized dimensions of the book, which added much to its, and a lack of marketing and advertising on the part of Dark Horse (according to Windsor-Smith) led to its quick demise.  BWS did return to the stories for two Fantagraphics collections that included extra essays and comic pages (Paradoxman never did get this treatment, for reasons unknown) from Windsor-Smith, but, though these were beautiful and illuminating, they were merely a tease of what was to come.  An unfinished masterpiece. 

2. Harlan Ellison’s Dream Corridor, comic adaptations of Harlan Ellison’s short stories by a collection of writers and artists (Dark Horse Comics & Edgeworks Abbey)

Harlan Ellison is my favorite author.  Period.  And when he was afforded the chance to marry two of his loves—comic books and short stories—it was amazing.  With the likes of Paul Chadwick, Jan Strnad, David Lapham, Steve Rude, Peter David, Diana Schutz, Teddy Krisiansen, and myriad others working from Ellison’s own words, this was my favorite comic, at the time.  And every issue included a new short story by Ellison, based on the cover image for that issue.  It was great!  But, notorious for being demanding, something happened between Dark Horse and Ellison that led to the early cancellation of the series, after attempting two different formats.  A second collection, years later, published many of the then-completed stories that had not made it into print, but the promise of however many more could have been published is still a great loss for Ellison fans, and comic fans, in general. 

1. Big Numbers, written by Alan Moore, art by Bill Sienkiewicz (Mad Love Publishing)

Set to be Moore’s magnum opus, after he was coming off the star-making publications of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and The Killing Joke, collaborating with one of the most experimental and dynamic artists in comics, Bill Sienkiewicz, this was going to be amazing.  A comic that revolved around real life, around the building of a large shopping mall by an American corporation, in a small English town, it was to be a twelve-issue examination of number theory, the economic policies of Margaret Thatcher, and the consequences such socioeconomic upheaval has on real people.  Only two issues were ever published, with a third available online, if you know where to look.  After Ellison, Moore is my favorite author, and the fact that this will remain unfinished is just sad. 

Honorable Mentions: 

--- Lost in Space: Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul, written by Bill Mumy, art by Michael Dutkiewicz. (Innovation Publishing)

A serious take on the classic sci-fi series.  This book delved deeply into the characters and created an engaging and thoughtful look at these characters and the turmoil they endured in space.  It was completed a number of years back, by a small publisher, but was so under-ordered, I missed out on getting a copy, and now they go for hundreds of dollars online—too rich for my blood.

--- Borrowed Time, written by Neal Shaffer, art by Joe Infurnari (Oni Press)

A wonderfully eerie alternate-dimension tale revolving around the Bermuda Triangle.  The art is lovely and the story had me hooked from the outset.  Sadly, only two volumes were ever published. 

--- Vox, written by Angela Harris, art by Aaron McClellan (Apple Comics)

A science fiction tale, slated to run seven issues, the first six were only ever published, leaving me waiting for over a quarter century for that final, climactic issue.  I guess I won’t be finding out how it ends, now.

Back Matter #7 - Queen & Country and Escapo

With the “Back Matter” series of posts, I am reprinting my initial writings on comics from roughly 2006.  A more detailed explanation can be found here. 

-Thanks

BACK MATTER #7

As a teenager Greg Rucka found himself floating free, unattached to any of the familiar high school cliques, and it was remarkably bad, as all who have traversed that gauntlet of adolescence know full well.  One bright light in that miasma of homework and locker combinations and pimples was a British television series his local PBS station was running, The Sandbaggers.  A severe take on the British Secret Service revolving around a small team of operatives and their controller, one of the few sandbaggers to survive long enough for such a promotion, it lasted for only twenty episodes spread out over three seasons.  Despite a lack of funding apparent in the cardboard sets and dated costumes, there was a passion and intelligence underlying the whole thing that shone through the meager trappings of the production.  The dialogue was witty, the plots complex, and it captivated Rucka from the opening scene. 

At this time, Rucka first began writing creatively and it was only natural for him to write a spy story.  Rucka continued to write, working at his craft, until he eventually sold his first novel, Keeper, starring private detective Atticus Kodiak.  He has since written a number of novels, including five more starring Kodiak.  This experience landed him work scripting his first comic series for Oni Press, Whiteout, illustrated by the talented Steve Lieber.  Things being cyclical, Rucka eventually made his way back to the inspiration that began this long trek of his and developed a series for Oni focusing on the British Secret Intelligence Service and its Special Section known as “minders,” Queen & Country.  Sound familiar?  Queen & Country is Rucka’s homage to the series that started him on the road he now walks, and walks quite well.  With the series making its return from a too-long hiatus, while Rucka worked on the two Queen & Country novels – A Gentleman’s Game and Private Wars – I thought it appropriate to go back and look at where it all began for the British SIS, the Minders, and the main focus of the series Tara Chace.

Former Russian General Igor Grigorivich Markovsky, now part of the Russian mob, is buying guns from the Kosovo Liberation Army and selling them to the Chechens.  As a favor to the CIA, and without proper authorization, Paul Crocker the Director of Operations who commands the Special Section has sent Minder Two, Tara Chace, into Kosovo to assassinate Markovsky.  She has one gun, one egress plan and no backup.  Simple. 

The intelligence business being what it is, it takes little time for Crocker’s superiors to get wind of what he is doing off the books.  D. Ops (Crocker) is upbraided by his immediate superior, Donald Weldon, as he attempts to explain the benefits for British intelligence, keyhole support and analysis from the CIA for Britain’s current operations in North Africa and Asia, not to mention the fact that the CIA will finally owe SIS a favor.  That gives little consolation to Weldon and will likely not appease those higher in the chain of command if things go badly. 

Back in Kosovo Chace makes the shot, taking down General Markovsky, but her egress does not go as smoothly.  With soldiers everywhere and Chace obviously not a native, she needs to move quickly.  Unfortunately, she does not move fast enough as a Croatian soldier comes across her on one of the many deserted streets and begins shouting, alerting others to her presence.  Chace runs but is clipped in the leg by a stray bullet.  Fortunately, she finds an area crowded with women and children doing laundry in the morning.  Losing herself in the crowd, Minder Two manages to procure an abaya, a traditional overgarment worn by some Muslim women, and makes her way through the streets to a parked car.  Hotwiring it she drives off just as a U.N. soldier, having noticed the blood at the base of her pants, attempts to stop her.  Now mobile, Chace manages to pass through a checkpoint – utilizing a well-placed nude photograph of herself within her forged passport – and makes her way to the British station in Istanbul where she is flown out of country.

For most comic stories that would be the end of it, but this only encompasses the first issue of the initial four-issue arc.  In the novels and comics written by Greg Rucka it is fairly common to find oneself reaching the climax for the initial impetus of the story at hand and realize that over half the book, or half the comic, is left to read.  With Tara Chace home, the real story begins as the Russian mob retaliate, firing a rocket at the fifth floor of the British SIS building.  The fifth floor houses the Foreign Office of British Intelligence, the one out of which the Special Section and Minder Two work.  The motive for the attack is obvious, and the stakes are raised when it is learned that a one million dollar bounty has been placed on the head of Tara Chace by the Russian mob.  Being a domestic affair, this is an investigation that falls under the purview of MI5 rather than MI6, where Crocker and his Minders reside.  Despite that fact, Crocker wants retaliation, swift and final.  He knows that David Kinney, the director of Security Services within the United Kingdom, will wish to apprehend and prosecute those responsible for the attack.  That isn’t good enough.  He tells his Special Section as much and also relays his thoughts on the matter to his superiors – Weldon and the head of the SIS, Sir Wilson Stanton Davies.  They are surprised at Crocker’s apolitical stance and argue against his plan vehemently, telling Crocker to work with Kinney and allow MI5 to do its job. 

From here the tension ratchets up exponentially.  The bounty on Chace’s head has the Russian mob stalking London, waiting for Chace to show herself so they can take her out permanently.  With that in mind, Crocker arms the Minders, something expressly forbidden by policy.  He is soon ordered by the Deputy Chief to have them return their weapons to materiel.  Crocker then goes to Angela Cheng, CIA liaison in London, looking for help.  Playing on any guilt she may have at initiating this whole debacle when she asked for help in getting at Markovsky he is disappointed with her response.  The international scandal that would come from a United States sanctioned assassination of Russians on UK soil would be nothing short of disastrous, whether done by CIA operatives or with CIA weapons.  Ultimately, Crocker arms his Minders with pellet guns picked up at a toy shop as Kinney orders Crocker to have Chace draw out the Russians.  But how can they hope to survive against armed thugs when all they have are toy guns?  And if they do survive, what will happen to the Russians?  The answers will surprise you.  Guaranteed.

Rucka is just a damn fine writer.  His characters are believable well-rounded people whose motivations and desires drive the narrative, and he is not afraid of putting them into impossible situations from which there can be no easy extraction.  A lesser writer would not take the chances Rucka does, and Queen & Country would be far less enjoyable for it.  The political machinations, two-timing, and backstabbing that everyone inherently knows goes on behind the scenes of our political world is front and center in this series, and the only status quo for Queen & Country is that there is no status quo.  In future collections people die - there have already been three or four agents in the position of Minder Three - people move on - Angela Cheng is no longer the CIA liaison in London - and decisions and actions have consequences, real consequences.  This is as intelligent a book as one can find on the comic stands today and the only negative aspect of this series is that it does not get published more often.  One never knows what problems will be lurking around the next corner for Tara Chace, nor what decisions she will be forced to make in the heat of battle.  Luckily for fans, they have Greg Rucka steering the ship, and a better captain would be hard to find.

Paul Pope is a creative genius, melding manga with contemporary sensibilities and a smooth, lush brushstroke reminiscent of the best of Will Eisner.  Pope was one of those critically-acclaimed comic artists whose short works would pop up in Negative Burn and other places, while fans awaited his longer works from Horse Press, a small press publisher that turned out to be Pope’s own self-publishing venture.  He didn’t want it to be widely known that he was utilizing the “vanity” press to get his work out there, and so named it Horse Press in an attempt to distance himself from any negative connotations that sometimes go along with that.  And luckily for comic fans Pope did do that, otherwise there would be no THB, no Ballad of Dr. Richardson, and no Escapo, which is the subject found in the dusty recesses of the vault this time out. 

Escapo tells the story of the book’s eponymous hero, a disfigured escape artist who is the star of the center ring.  In three tales readers are able to get a feeling of what this man, Vic, goes through in his life with the circus.  The first tale shows us the inner workings of the Pinceur, one of the death machines Vic and his partner have put together in order for Escapo to cheat death in front of crowds of awestruck spectators.  A complex contraption that includes razorz, long teethy spinning mouths, an intestinannilation and a final water trap in a series of oblong containers set one atop the other, Escapo must divest himself of a strait jacket while hanging upside down above the Pinceur before making his way through the six stages that will ultimately find him in the middle of the center ring once more.  Requiring agility, quick reflexes, acute timing, and a calm manner it would be impossible for anyone but Escapo to make their way down through the many traps to the exit below.  But in this instance Escapo finds himself lost when he reaches the water trap and is unable to unlock the escape hatch because the roaring water is overpowering the minute sounds of the tumblers.  There’s no other way out, and Escapo is certain to perish when an apparition, a skeleton, comes up to him and announces that it is finally time for Escapo to meet his maker.  But the escape artist is not finished.  He first pleads with Death to let him go – a letter for his sister sits in his coat pocket back in the trailer, sealed and with a stamp but lacking an address, and he needs to get out so that it will get to her – and offers to make a wager with the specter before chancing upon the apparition’s Achilles heel, its pride.  Escapo dares Death to let him to live and in return offers to allow Death to ride his back during the next performance.  Death accepts and gives Escapo a coin to hold onto until he comes back for him, and then gives him the combination of the lock just before the water womb fills up completely. 

Escapo escapes yet again.  But this time it’s more than he is accustomed to.  The incident puts a scare into Escapo and he begs off his act for days, claiming to be sick, before his partner finally convinces him to get back on his horse, pointing out that if he does not do at least five shows a month the circus has the right to throw him to the curb.  Choosing to do an escape other than the Pinceur, Vic finds himself back in the center ring and repossessing a bit of his confidence that had been lost.  This renewed confidence also allows him to finally approach the tight rope girl, Aerobella, with whom he has become infatuated.  Writing her love poems and love letters Escapo goes to her trailer late one night to find out if she feels the same way about him.  She tells him that she needs more time and will have an answer for him in the morning.  His romanticism getting in the way, Escapo tells her that tomorrow when he does his act he will look for her on the sidelines.  If she is wearing a white scarf then it will mean yes, but if she is wearing a black scarf, no.  She agrees and he goes off, feeling confident that Aerobella will be wearing a white scarf the next day.  But will it be white, and if so will it be true?  Aerobella knows the fragile nature of Escapo’s psyche, and the guilt of saying no to someone just before they enter a death trap could be too much for one girl to bear.  The confusion is obvious on her face as she tells Escapo to go to bed, and one can imagine that she has no clue as to how she will respond.  And if that response is in the negative, how will Escapo handle it?

Pope’s characters in Escapo are very real, and very true.  Vic is not the bigger than life hero that was so casually paraded about in the Barnum and Bailey Circus of the early twentieth century, and Aerobella is a girl like any other with feelings and desires that anybody can understand.  The brilliance of this book is how Pope allows us into their minds, most especially into Escapo’s, and lets us see the human fragility that is lying there right under the surface, a human fragility that many of us are all too familiar with.  We know what it is like to be afraid, and we understand Escapo’s heartache when he confesses how he feels about the tight rope girl.  We also hurt for him when the clowns ridicule his longing for such a beautiful young girl. 

“Why’d a girl like that shower attentions on an ugly mug like you?”  “Why, a girl like that wants a boy who’s clean, an’ who looks the same on both sides!” 

Readers don’t need to be told how he feels at these insults; it is evident on his face.  Pope masterfully allows the expressions on his characters to tell the story, and refuses to beat his audience over the head with the details.  It’s these unstated sentiments, produced through his brilliant brushwork, that make Pope’s works worth seeking out.  He is a cutting edge cartoonist who is looking to create the comics of the future, and he is doing it right now.  

Finally - Queen & Country news

This is just a quick post, but I caught a tweet pointing to an interview Greg Rucka did with the New York Post's Parallel Worlds blog where Rucka divulged that Tara Chace would be returning next year, in comic form, from Oni Press. 

Queen & Country is one of my all-time favorite series - crossing over from comics into three novels, written by Rucka - and I cannot wait to see where Chace is at, emotionally, when the series returns.  Do yourself a favor, if you haven't already, and read these books now.  They are some of the best spy fiction you will ever read, regardless of medium. 

I plan on doing a big re-read, and will be writing about it here, as we draw closer to release of the new books.  Until then, go read some Rucka.

chris

Writing Process - revising the first draft

I've finally gotten back into the swing of writing (though, admittedly, I was contributing quite a bit here at Warrior27 when I wasn't actually "writing" or working on my own fiction and such). I've sent off a short story to a few more publications (hoping to find that one editor who will "get" this story - not that the rejections thus far have been unexpected, nor do I feel I was slighted by not having this story accepted, but it can often come down to an editor understanding what the writer is going for and hopefully catching them on a good day, but I digress)

I also sent off a non-fiction manuscript (the first 30,000 words) to another publisher with fingers crossed.

And, I pulled out one of the many first drafts I've been sitting on, allowing them to percolate a bit before working to wrestle them into something resembling a good story. It took me twice as long to do the revision on this story than it took to initially write it, but that's because my first draft practice generally involves me metaphorically "vomiting" the entire story onto the page - or at least a vague outline/list of scenes, etc. - typing as fast as I can in order to keep up with the ideas coming into my head. Because of this pace, I very often am spelling out motivations and scenarios in far too much, and too dry, detail just because that's how it's coming to me and I don't want to lose my thoughts.

Of course, these less than poetic first drafts also come about because just as many days can be spent laboring over the words, being unable to find that one word I have skulking about the back of my mind, and I end up putting down some description of what I'm looking for rather than the actual scene. It can be equal "speed" and "labor" during this, but I always feel good after a day of writing (and can quickly become an ass when I go days without writing).

Anyway, as an example, here's a sample page from my revised first draft:



As Greg Rucka says (as I'm sure all, or most, writers believe), the real writing comes in the revising process. I'm in the process of applying my revisions to this draft and am anxious to see how many words I managed to lop off in the process. I know there were entire sections of this short that got the axe, so it should be - as is common, for me - quite a bit.

And then, I'm going to apply a new technique I learned from Joe Hill's blog and totally re-type this second draft into its third draft, "making every sentence and word earn its keep," to paraphrase Hill. After that, I hope to have something that will be worthwhile for the world (or at least some small publication of short fiction).

We'll see.

chris

FYC Replay: Me & Edith Head with Sara Ryan and Steve Lieber

Here's another installment in the archiving of my Pulse columns, For Your Consideration. In this one, I had the opportunity to interview, by email, Sara Ryan and Steve Lieber. They were very gracious in taking the time to answer my questions, and when I had the opportunity to meet them in person at the Small Press Expo in 2009, they were just as gracious. The interview is a couple of years old, so the "upcoming projects" question includes work long since completed - except for Mr. Lieber's mention of Greg Rucka's scripts for the third Whiteout miniseries, "Thaw." That has yet to see publication, but I did see the original pages for that first issue - penciled, inked, and lettered - at SPX 2009. I'm not sure when it will find its way onto Oni Press's publication schedule, but when it does, you will not be disappointed. For now, though, enjoy this look at one of the best mini-comics you'll find out there.
Thanks,
chris



FRONT PAGE:
Warren Ellis put it best when he stated, “I’ve always been faintly disgusted by Steve Lieber's level of talent. Now it appears I have to have his wife killed too.” Me and Edith Head is a brilliant lesson in economy. With only fifteen pages, Ryan and Lieber manage to create a complete and fulfilling narrative that will resonate long after you put it down.

The 411:
Me and Edith Head
Written by Sara Ryan
Drawn by Steve Lieber
15pp. b/w
$2.00
Cold Water Press

What It Is (with apologies to Dave the Thune):

Wiser people than I have stated what many know to be true already, but it still bears repeating. Me and Edith Head is one of those gems all fans of the medium should seek out. Originally published in the September/October 2001 issue of Cicada magazine, it stars Katrina Lansdale, a character from Sara Ryan’s first novel Empress of the World. When that issue of Cicada went out of print, Ryan and Lieber decided to publish Edith Head as a 15-page chapbook in 2002 through their own publishing company Cold Water Press, and it was nominated for an Eisner award in the “Best Short Story” category that year.

Katrina is a character easily recognizable to many readers. A high school student dealing with the pressures inherent during that period of our lives, she must also contend with being one of those girls hovering just outside the cliques so ingrained within high school society. Compounding these difficulties, Katrina’s parents are quickly heading toward divorce, something that appears to have been a long time coming. She needs an outlet and auditions for the school play, a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hoping for the part of Titania, Katrina is instead delegated the task of costume designer.

Katrina is disappointed with the position and sees little hope of enjoying her time with the play. But something surprising happens. Katrina discovers a talent for the fashion needs of the company, and with the help of some books on Edith Head – an Oscar-winning costume designer – she discovers an inner confidence of which she was unaware. Growing up is difficult, but sometimes when one’s mind is diverted, it can happen without thinking.

This is an incredible little book. With only fifteen pages, Ryan and Lieber present a fully-fleshed out narrative in which the audience is witness to Katrina’s growth from a troubled teen to a confident young woman. This slim book packs more story into it than any collection from the “Big Two,” with very few exceptions. Ryan and Lieber hit all the high notes of the story, utilizing the comic page to its fullest, while eschewing the padded storytelling practice of decompression so common in many of today’s comics. This husband and wife team also exhibits an understanding of comics as a melding of words and pictures, allowing the images to tell the story in a way most creators never conceive.

One page in particular, in which the audience watches Katrina’s bedroom go from a typical teenage sty to a clean, well-ordered space as snippets of her parents’ dialogue illuminate their decaying relationship, is a prime example of how well thought out and well executed a comic this is. Throughout the story, Ryan’s dialogue is spot-on, and she expands much of the narrative with the unspoken statements lying beneath the characters’ words. And Lieber’s art is as superb as fans have come to expect. He is one of the best artists working in comics today with panels that are fully realized without being cluttered, allowing him to tell any type of story with a craft unmatched by many in the industry. Though not flashy, Lieber’s style is full of substance, and any book drawn by him is always a pleasure to read.

If you’re lucky enough to be attending a convention where Steve Lieber and Sara Ryan are in attendance, seek him out and buy this book. If not, go to Sara's website where you can order it through paypal. You’ll thank me.

An Interview with Sara Ryan and Steve Lieber:

Chris Beckett: What reaction have you gotten from fans at conventions regarding Edith Head and other mini comics you have available?

Steve: The responses have varied from wildly enthusiastic appreciation to indifference to an odd, condescending sort of -- I don't know-- pity, maybe? I'm glad to say that the good reactions have been the most common. The minis I've illustrated are all terrific stories. Edith was nominated for an Eisner; Sean Stewart's Family Reunion was reprinted in The Year's Best Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga. And Sara's first Flytrap story was wonderful. I'm hugely excited that she and Ron Chan are keeping the series going.

The few negative reactions I think just spring from people who haven't grasped that an artist might enjoy telling more than one kind of story. I'm just guessing here, but I get the feeling that the thinking is something like: "You drew Batman and Civil War: Frontline and Whiteout, and here you are with these little xeroxed booklet thingies about characters I've never heard of? What happened?” What happened is that I love drawing both big action stories about larger than life heroes, and smaller, more intimate stories about real people. Mini-comics are a great venue for the latter.

Beckett: With the experience you have in the comics medium, how much input into the story did you have?

Steve: Not much really. Sara's a natural visual storyteller. There might have been a few panels where I'd offer a suggestion to make things flow more easily, but she grasped the underlying mechanisms of comics from the start, and instantly knew how to make her points visually, manipulate time, play word against image -- all the things that a comic writer needs to know intuitively to make the medium work.

Beckett: Why did you choose to present Me and Edith Head as a comic?

Sara: There were a couple of things going on when I decided to write Edith. First, I just wanted to experiment with comics writing. Steve says that comics people are vampires, in that they turn everyone around them into comics people, too. That definitely happened to me. As I read and enjoyed more and more comics and graphic novels, I got increasingly intrigued about the possibility of writing comics myself. And at the same time, I'd just published my first novel, Empress of the World, and introduced some characters that I had -- and have -- a lot of affection for, including Katrina Lansdale. When we meet Katrina in Empress, she's very much a costume and fashion expert, but I knew she hadn't always been that way, and I wanted to tell the story of how she developed that interest and expertise. I also knew that by its nature the story would be very visual, so it just made sense to do it as a comic.

Beckett: Me and Edith Head is as fully realized a story as one could find. How challenging was it to fit it within the fifteen pages of the mini comic?

Sara: Thank you! I tend to write in a very compressed way, whether I'm writing prose or comics. More often than not, I find that I need to add or extend scenes in order for the story in my head to take coherent shape on the page.

Beckett: What was the collaborative process like for you two on Me and Edith Head, and how did it differ from other comics you have done, Steve?

Steve: We just talked about the story and she set to writing. It differed mainly in that I had the writer on-site to clarify matters where I had questions. The script said, "Katrina enters the thrift shop.” I asked how she was entering: tentatively, normally, forcefully? Sara went out of my studio, closed the door behind her and barged back in with squared shoulders and a face that was all business. So I drew that. And it's a story about a teen girl's relationship with clothing and how she dresses, so it was certainly handy for me to have her lean over my board now and then and say things like, "Ooh. She'd never wear that with a belt."

Sara: I would just add that when Steve and I collaborate, it's a little like Calvinball. We keep changing the rules, and sometimes someone has to sing the I'm Very Sorry song. But overall it's fun.

Beckett: What other current or forthcoming projects do each of you have that you might like to speak about?

Steve: I've been doing a ton of commercial and advertising art recently, so a lot of my recent work isn't available in comic’s stores. If you're in Japan, you can see an indoor parade I helped design for the Hello Kitty theme park Sanrio-Puroland. The Thunderbolts Annual I drew for Marvel comes out this month. My current comic projects are Underground - a graphic novel written by Jeff Parker, and a story for the Belgian publisher Dupuis. And of course Greg [Rucka]'s going to be writing the third and final Whiteout book, Thaw. I can't wait to get my hands on that.

Sara: My second novel, The Rules for Hearts, is just out, and I have not one, not two, but three more minicomics collaborations coming soon: "Click," with Dylan Meconis, "Einbahnstrasse Waltz" with Cat Ellis, and the third episode of Flytrap, "Over the Wall," with Ron Chan.

The Call of the Sea: a bit about process

So, earlier I included the piece of flash fiction I had created based upon the following picture:


You can find that story here

That really was not a fully fleshed out piece of fiction. So, I've returned to it in order to expand it and make it ready for publication, hopefully. I did a second draft and let it sit on the hard drive for a few months. But recently, I finally pulled it up to get back to it.

This is the first short section of the new iteration:

The call of the sea was urgent in his ears. As long as he could remember, Jared had known that uneven sway beneath his feet, the rolling passage of the lobster boat over the Atlantic.

But Jared Ames was also a dreamer. How else to explain his going off to high school? That rarely happened on the “Ledge,” particularly for the boys. The one-room schoolhouse elicited visions of Laura Ingalls and Little House on the Prairie, attracting many first-year teachers from the mainland, the closest point to the island nearly twenty miles away. But there was little encouragement for children to go much beyond what was offered here. Ledge Island was a fishing island – every man either had his own boat and traps or was a sternman. Even the postman and the honorary mayor (at eighty-two, the oldest resident of the fifty who called the island home year-round) went lobstering on a regular basis. It was understood that the boys were just biding their time until they would become full-time lobstermen.

This was just the way things were. Which is why it had been a surprise to see Jared head to the mainland and Andrews Academy///, a private school in SOMEWHERE. It was his mother’s wish. And, with Jared’s father gone when he was six and his younger brother not yet one, there had been no counter-argument to be made.

Which did not mean that Jared gave up lobstering. Like most boys from Ledge Island, and the clusters of islands along Maine’s coast, he was a natural, which is to say that it was something he became familiar with at a young age. His father taught Jared about trapping lobsters before the boy even began school. And when Harold Ames left, others on the island took the place of teacher. They took young Jared, and his brother Eric, out on their boats most weekends and many afternoons. It was exciting, and every chance growing up Jared was hauling traps.

A month into his junior year at Andrews Academy///, Jared’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. She hadn’t been well for a while, though she’d hidden it well. But when she collapsed in the post office one afternoon, Susan Richmond (for she’d taken back her maiden name when Jared’s father left) had relented and flown to Fairhaven, the one island large enough and close enough to the mainland to have its own hospital. The doctor didn’t take long to view the x-rays before proclaiming that Susan only had a month to live.

Stephen King and Greg Rucka have both said that the first draft of any story - for them - is all about getting the ideas on the page. The first draft is the quick burn. And I've taken this to heart.

When writing that initial draft, I speed through as fast as I can, my fingers trying to keep up with the ideas and dialogue in my brain. If I can't find a word or come up with a name for a place or a person, I just fill it in with the closest thing I can come to. These I denote either with a few slashes (///) after the word, or by substituting the word with a simple descriptive placeholder in all caps. These are the places where the minutiae of the piece faltered, and I just needed to keep going or lose the ideas coming to me. You can see examples of this bolded in the above selection.

But these are just the parts I know I need to fix when coming back to revise. There's so much more that has to change when I'm editing subsequent drafts. I need to make sure I'm using the same tense throughout (something I never fully understood until I began writing seriously a few years back). I have to watch for continuity errors and internal consistency. I need to make sure the words flow and that I'm not repeating the same words over and over in a small space. And I need to make sure it's "good."


Below is the second (or third, if you like) draft of the previous section, by way of example.

The call of the sea was urgent in his ears.

As long as he could remember, Jared had known/// that uneven sway beneath his feet, the rolling passage of the lobster boat over the Atlantic.

Like most seaman, Jared Ames was a dreamer, but all his dreams did not reside on the water. He wanted something more and realized/// leaving the island for high school was necessary///. And so, when he graduated eighth grade, Jared set off for the mainland, to board with relatives he’d met once when he was seven. It was an occasion of note, something that rarely happened on the “Ledge”.

The one-room schoolhouse in the middle of the island elicited visions of Laura Ingalls and Little House on the Prairie, attracting a procession of first-year teachers from the mainland///. But despite the teachers’ best efforts, there was little encouragement for children to go much beyond what was offered in this tiny village twenty miles off the Maine coast. Ledge Island was a fishing island – every man either owned a boat or worked on one. Even the postman and the honorary mayor (at eighty-two, the oldest of the fifty year-round residents) went lobstering on a regular basis. There was a tacit understanding that the boys were just biding their time until they would become full-time lobstermen.

This was just the way things were. Which is why it had been a surprise for everyone to watch Jared head to the mainland and Andrews Academy///, a private school in SOMEWHERE. It was his mother’s wish, and with his father gone since Jared was six and his younger brother not yet one, there had been no counter-argument to be made.

This didn’t mean Jared gave up lobstering. Like most boys from Ledge Island – and the clusters of islands along Maine’s coast – he was a natural, which is to say it was something Jared became familiar with at a young age. His father introduced Jared to lobstering before the boy was four. And when Harold Ames left, others on the island took the place of teacher. Most weekends Jared, along with his brother Eric, could be seen racing across the Atlantic in one boat or another.

A month into his junior year at Andrews Academy/// Jared’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. She hadn’t been well for a while, though she’d been able to hide it. But when she collapsed in the post office one afternoon, Susan Richmond (for she’d taken back her maiden name when Jared’s father left) relented/// and was flown to Fairhaven, the one island large enough to have its own hospital. The doctor didn’t take long to view the x-rays before proclaiming that Susan only had a month to live.

It still has some unfinished bits and markers where I need to go back and really think about the phrasing or about a name or maybe do a bit of research, but it's starting to gel now. The next pass I do should include minor changes and amendments unlike this first overhaul. But, we'll see.

Which means, my later drafts often read very differently than the early ones. I've had my wife read a first draft, tell me that large sections DID NOT WORK, and then have her appreciate the new dialogue of a later draft. As Greg Rucka said, the writing isn't the first draft, the writing is the revising and polishing and working at making a story something to which others can relate. It's hard work, but it's one of the most fun things I get to do during my day. That's why I schedule, in my head, the late evenings for writing. And why I stay up past my bedtime to do it.

chris