Back Matter Beginnings - an introduction

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

BY CHRIS BECKETT

Welcome to the first installment of Back Matter on Independent Propaganda.  I’ve been collecting comics for over twenty years and have watched my comic buying habits change drastically as my tastes have matured.  Like many, I was inducted into this hobby through the superhero titles of Marvel and DC, snatching whatever comics landed on the newsstand at my small-town bookstore.  And not unlike most of my sci-fi paperbacks from this same period, many of these uninspired stories are best left in the dustbins of memory.  Luckily, my collecting didn’t end there.

Upon discovering the direct market a whole new world of comics was opened up to me.  Here were stories that defied convention – edgy, literate tales full of passion with a relevance not found in the superhero mainstream.  As my taste in novels had branched out to the realms of contemporary, classic, and non-fiction, so too did my comic tastes now encompass other, more typically mainstream genres.  I gravitated to finite series and Original Graphic Novels, looking for stories with believable characters by authors that had something important to say.  It’s no coincidence that the list of creators I collect is made up of writers or writer/artists (drastically different from an artist/writer).

With this column my hope is to make you aware of comics that, in my opinion, tell a great story.  In each bi-monthly installment I will be spotlighting a recently published or readily available comic – a single, collection, or OGN – as well as a hidden gem, an older more obscure book that might not be so easy to find but would be worth the effort.  This time around I have two books from the late ‘90s, Visitations by Scott Morse and an issue of Negative Burn.  Though the latter is long out of print, the former was reprinted by Oni Press a couple of years ago and can be ordered directly from them if your local store doesn’t have a copy.  I hope you enjoy.

In his introduction to the original Image publication of Visitations Morse states that he is “a sucker for the unexplained.”  With that in mind he wanted to create a tale in that vein that also “[kept] a feeling of human emotion to it.”  Simply put, Morse wished to create a short drama that was not a typical ghost story and would resonate with his audience emotionally.  Despite his relative inexperience at the time Morse manages to pull this off utilizing skills that were emerging rapidly and which would be brought to bear on his later works.

On a Tuesday afternoon a lonely woman enters a church seeking solitude and is surprised to find the minister there.  After a quick dialogue where she lets slip that she does not believe in God, the woman excuses herself and turns to leave.  But the gauntlet has been thrown and Pastor Samuel stops her, asking for a chance to prove God’s existence by randomly choosing three stories from the newspaper and finding His hand in each of them.  Despite her wish to be alone she acquiesces and takes a seat in a pew.

The first story Pastor Samuel finds involves a young man who appears to be a likable self-assured guy.  He has an easy time talking with his waitress and his charm and charisma are evident.  But lying beneath the surface is a monster.  He kidnapped a young girl and has been holding her in the trunk of his car for weeks.  Taking the abducted child to the beach the two are confronted by a murky image standing in the fog.  When the kidnapper walks into the lake to confront this person he falls dead in the water.  The figure disappears and the girl is left wondering what happened.  When asked by authorities, she tells them an angel saved her. 

In the next story an elderly gentleman is intent upon winning a gardening contest with his “prize” dahlias.  He has hired a migrant worker, Enrique, to assist in the garden along with setting up a statue of the Virgin Mary to look over the flowers because “Who’s gonna give the Mother of God less than a blue ribbon?”  But again, things are not as they seem as Enrique discovers his employer’s dead wife buried beneath the dahlias.  Exiting to the yard, the elderly man pulls out a revolver in order to safeguard his secret.  As he thumbs back the hammer the man looks up from the cowering gardener and spies the statue crying, its eyes wide open staring at him.  The old man falters and his heart gives out, saving Enrique. 

The final news story involves a boy who wanted to go hunting with his father.  Told he is too young and should return to bed the young boy decides to go out and play instead, not wishing to waste the morning.  Taking his dog they enter the woods and eventually come across a deer.  As they stand transfixed two shots ring out, the deer bounds away, and the boy falls into a brook, a bullet piercing his tiny chest.

Despite the woman’s contention one can see her resolution waning with the first two stories the pastor relates to her.   She goes from believing there is no God to admitting the possibility of a God, but one that is a God of vengeance.  However, in the final item from the paper God is noticeably absent, supporting her atheistic beliefs.  But with the final climax lurking just around the corner, the story takes a sharp twist that seizes the reader in the gut and assures us that God is indeed looking over everyone. 

Morse’s pacing is perfect as he utilizes three tangential stories in order to tell a larger one.  He allows the tale to unfold slowly and at its own pace, building the drama and the pressure until it reaches its final, tragic climax.  By using real, well-rounded characters with affecting stories Morse is able to pull his audience into this world completely and surprise them with an ending that feels true, like any good story should.

Something that sets Morse apart from other comic creators is his storytelling.  Where most comics include overwritten prose lacking any emotional core, Morse prefers spare dialogue and captions that resonate more with the reader and move the story along.  He prefers to hint at motivations and themes rather than pounding his audience over the head with exposition.  One technique he uses particularly well is the silent panel.  It allows the reader to witness the characters contemplating their lives and their decisions while adding more weight to the unfolding dramas.  Symbolism also plays a strong role in his narrative, as when in Visitations he has a panel of a teapot steaming without any caption, dialogue, or sound effects.  Despite this, one can almost hear the teapot singing in the background as the realization of an impending tragedy hits home.

Another trademark of Morse’s is his animation-style artwork, which he cultivated at the California Institute of Arts under the tutelage of Maurice Noble – one of animation’s most highly acclaimed art directors, whose body of work includes Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Fantasia and many Looney Tunes shorts.  Although it may make for an odd juxtaposition to readers who have not enjoyed one of his books before, I think it really works in his favor.  Having a background in animation, his clean style allows him to tackle controversial topics such as religion or teen suicide without being confrontational.  In the end, the juxtaposition adds more weight to a story already full of dramatic tension.

Hidden in the vault this time we have Negative Burn, the Eisner and Harvey Award nominated black-and-white anthology from Caliber Comics, which has been revived at Desperado Studios and can be found in the Image section of Previews.  Edited by Joe Pruett, the original series lasted 50 issues and included a list of contributors that would be the envy of any large publishing company.  Creators such as David Mack, Brian Bendis, Jeff Smith, Terry Moore, and John Cassaday cut their eyeteeth in this book, while the likes of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Dave Gibbons, Warren Ellis, and Brian Bolland were also creating new works for this anthology.  Despite the dominance of Dark Horse Presents in the annual awards ceremonies, for my money Negative Burn was THE anthology to read in the ‘90s.  It was a haven for creators who wanted to do their own thing without the editorial constraints of a corporate entity.  The stories were edgy, different, and entertaining, and you could always count on getting your money’s worth.

The spotlighted issue this time around is #37.  Of the half-filled run I own, this is probably my favorite issue.  At 64 pages and priced at $3.95 it was a bargain, especially compared to the “mainstream” books that only run a third of the page count.  Some highlights include “Dusty Star” by Joe Pruett and Andrew Robinson – a 5-page short story set in a science fiction/western milieu sporting great art from Robinson that reminds me of early Sienkiewicz, “The Thirst” by Darko Macan and Edvin Biukovic – a 4-pager showcasing the sympathetic side of a modern vampire, an 8-page story titled “Who Is . . . The Wretch?” by Phil Hester – a humorous tale about a failed attempt to discover exactly who the new hero in town is, and “Better Living Through Chemistry” written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Brian Michael Bendis, in which we follow a protagonist who is unknowingly being experimented on by the government in the ‘Narcotic Environment Project’.  This final story includes all the hallmarks of a great Warren Ellis story, condensed into only eight pages, and the expert use of black and shadows in Bendis’s artwork is chilling.  This by no means denigrates all the other contributions in this issue, which include an installment of “Alan Moore’s Songbook”, one-page shorts by Brian Bolland and P. Craig Russell, chapter 3 of an intriguing science fiction tale by Christopher and Kevin Moeller titled “Iron Empires”, as well as a sketchbook section from Colleen Doran.  All in all, an excellent issue that provides reading enjoyment time and time again. 

And so, we come to the end of this initial column.  I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you seek out the two books above and read them.  I’d love to hear what you think (liked it, hated it, why, why not) and I would also like to know what you’re reading and any suggestions you think should be included in this column.  If I can get hold of a copy and I enjoy it (the only rule here) then it may end up in the BACK MATTER.    

Lost FYC: Negative Burn

When FYC was put on hiatus, I was in the middle of a series on independent anthologies. This was part 5 - the fourth anthology to be spotlighted after an introductory piece. I will publish those other ones in the coming week to give this and the following two pieces more context. Also of note, Negative Burn ceased monthly publication in the middle of 2008, but Joe Pruett is currently putting together a large "annual" book, and, if I understand correctly, plans on going forward with this annual iteration of the book, similar to what Fantagraphics has done with Los Bros Hernandez's Love & Rockets. And again, some of the information in the interview may be a bit outdated, but enjoy it for what it is and if you want to check out Negative Burn, just head on over to the Desperado site where they offer back issues of the most recent series as well as many, if not all, of the original 50 issues.

For Your Consideration: Negative Burn from Desperado Publishing
By Chris Beckett

FRONT PAGE: The book that gave superstar creators John Cassaday, Paul Pope, Scott Morse, Brian Michael Bendis, Ande Parks, and Phil Hester some of their earliest exposure within the comics medium, Negative Burn has been a premiere black and white anthology since its inception. Originally running 50 issues from 1993 to 1998, Joe Pruett – editor and creator – took some years off from comic publishing before returning with the Negative Burn Winter Special in 2005. Since then, through his Desperado Publishing imprint, Pruett has released a Summer Special and 18 subsequent issues. If you’re looking for the next comics superstars, there’s a good bet you’ll find them within the pages of Negative Burn. Click inside and discover where this new vanguard of writers and artists can be found.


The 411:
Negative Burn
Edited by Joe Pruett
64pp. b/w
$5.99
Desperado Publishing

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

Since it began its original run in the summer of 1993, Joe Pruett’s black and white comics anthology, Negative Burn, has included work from many of the bigger names in the comics community while also providing opportunities for aspiring creators. Some noteworthy artists whose earliest creations can be found within this anthology include John Cassaday, Phil Hester, Scott Morse, Terry Moore, David Mack, Brian Michael Bendis, and Paul Pope – whose stories in Negative Burn were the first ones to be published outside of his own Horse Press imprint. These new artists often found their names alongside the likes of Warren Ellis, Dave Gibbons, Paul Jenkins, Guy Davis, Jeff Smith, Neil Gaiman, Brian Bolland, and Alan Moore. Pruett has always had an eye for talent, a fact on evidence in any issue of Negative Burn.

Less inclined toward experimentation than Fantagraphics’ MOME, Negative Burn has carved out its own little niche, and with its return in 2005 through Pruett’s new publishing venture, Desperado, the black and white anthology picked up right where it had left off seven years prior. Showcasing the diversity of story and style possible within the medium, Pruett includes a broad variety of stories in each issue – from horror to contemporary fiction, superheroes to a WWII-era flying ace mystery – nothing is off-limits within the pages of Negative Burn.

With this latest iteration of Negative Burn, there have been a number of memorable stories, ones worth reading again and again. Bur for me, the one that has stood out is the final story of issue #9. Written by Jody LeHeup with art from Pablo Peppino, “Hard Road” relates the tale of two contemporary gangsters enlisted to remove a leak within the organization. Driving out of town, the two discuss relationships and how difficult they can be for men in their line of work. This leads to Mikey, the younger one, offering this difficulty as a theory for why Sal, his mentor in the organization, has a cat instead of a girlfriend, to which Sal replies, “at least he doesn’t care that I’m a bastard.”

As they pass the town line, Mikey hears a scratching noise in the trunk, and the reality of the situation is made evident to the younger man when Sal tells him, “It’s Gino. He’s in the trunk. You gotta take care of him.” Arriving at a secluded area in the forest outside town, the two get out. Sal has already done the prep work – digging the grave – and tells Mikey to get the camera from the trunk because the boss wants to see, but he warns, “Careful. He might try to run.” With events quickly converging, the conversation becomes more somber as the audience’s expectations take a drastic left turn. Understanding comes as readers see that the leak is not hidden in the trunk, but is in fact Sal. The killing is quick and clean, one shot, and when Mikey returns the spade to the trunk, Gino is revealed to be Sal’s cat, the pet he wanted Mike to take care of now that he’s gone. “Hard Road” is an excellent example of the first-rate storytelling one can find within Negative Burn, whether veteran artists or lesser-knowns such as LeHeup and Peppino.

Being on a budget, the number of monthly comics I purchase is slim indeed. One of the few that has remained on my must-buy list is Negative Burn. When the book returned in 2005 with its winter and summer specials, Joe Pruett wisely anchored the anthology’s revival with some well-known creators. Including stories from noteworthy contributors like James A. Owen, comedian Patton Oswalt, the Luna Brothers, Kurt Busiek, Steve Lieber, and Danijel Zezelj, the bar was once again set high. Subsequent issues have not disappointed, and the exciting aspect of that is the fact that, for the most part, those now contributing regularly to Negative Burn are relative unknowns – the vanguard of the next generation of cartoonists. The likes of R.G. Taylor, Michel Fiffe, Sami Makkonen, G.B. Tran, Dalabor Talajic, Noel Tuazon, Elizabeth Genco, and Elton Pruitt are lighting the way for what should hopefully be a long and healthy run for this essential and engrossing comic anthology.

An Interview with writer Elton Pruitt:

Chris Beckett: Why comics? What was it that attracted you to this storytelling medium?

Pruitt: I've loved comics from the time I was a wee sprout. I spent many a summer's day in my grandfather's barber shop, reading everything from the Fantastic Four annual where Reed and Sue got married, to the comic adaptation of the original Dark Shadows TV show.

As a “grown-up,” I went through the “I’m too grown-up for comics” phase for a long while. But when I learned in late 2004 that I was going to be a Dad, the strangest thing happened. I became interested in comics again and went on something of a “comics of my childhood” rampage, spending ridiculous amounts of money on eBay to amass Kirby's complete run on Kamandi – which was a comic I always wanted to read as a child, but never actually got to.

From there, it was a short step to deciding I wanted to write comics myself. The idea that I could write something and see it brought to visual life, and that people might actually read it and be in some way moved by it – that was just the coolest thing I could imagine, and seemed somehow like a natural extension of my imminent new identity as a Dad.

Beckett: You mentioned in an email that you hired Kristen Simon of Image’s Shadowline studio to edit a couple of the stories that eventually saw print in Negative Burn. I wonder if you’d be able to recount a specific instance where her editorial guidance helped improve a story.

Pruitt: Oh, yeah! The first time I worked with her, I was trying to get a story accepted in 803 Studios' Sequential Suicide anthology. I'd written one script already – which was the first actual comic book script of my life – but I wasn't sure how I felt about it. So then I got this harebrained notion to write a story inspired by Raymond Carver's “What's In Alaska?” which hinges on a scene in which these two couples are getting high together.

So, I wrote this story about a soldier home on leave from Iraq, who gets high with his girlfriend and while they're both high, learns of her infidelity. Which actually sounds like it might be a good story. But it wasn't – not even close.

When I sent it to Kris to edit, I mentioned that I'd written another story first but then decided to go with this new one. When she emailed me back, she spent a paragraph pointing out probably a half-dozen critical problems with the story I'd sent. And then she closed with, “maybe you should send me the other story!”

And the other one, with her help, became the story that was my first-ever published work, “Fall of the Triumvirate.”

The second story she edited for me, “This Is Where I Am,” had a two-page dream sequence that I was just in love with in an early draft. At her urging, I cut it entirely, and that freed me up to make other changes that ultimately resulted in a much better story.

Beckett: In a more general sense, what lessons did you take away from the experience of working with Ms. Simon?

Pruitt: When you're just starting out, the best possible thing you can do to learn and grow as a writer is to find an editor who'll tell you God's honest truth about your writing. Because friends and family want to be supportive and encouraging, which is great and all, but that's not what you really need. What you need is constructive criticism, and that's what working with Kris provided me.

Beckett:For readers that may be unfamiliar with Negative Burn, why did you submit these short stories to the book, and what does it mean for you to have your work published within this anthology?

Pruitt: At the start of 2007, my goal for the year was to get my first comic book story published. So to get published in three different anthologies last year, and to end the year with stories in three consecutive issues of Negative Burn – that's really more than I could've hoped for.

Why Negative Burn? Simple – it's the premiere anthology in comics. If you check out the Desperado Publishing site and look through the list of creators published in Negative Burn, it's like a who's who of comics: Brian Bolland, Alan Moore, Paul Pope, Kurt Busiek, Dave Gibbons, and a ton of others.

Last summer at the San Diego Comic-Con, my friend and fellow writer Caleb Monroe introduced me to a lot of people he knows in the industry. And having “Elton's got a couple of stories coming out in Negative Burn this fall” as part of that introduction did wonders for my credibility. Because everybody knows Negative Burn, and its reputation is stellar.

Beckett: What is the best piece of advice you can give to other aspiring creators who wish to get their comics published?

Pruitt: First of all, realize you're probably not Jason Aaron. It's more likely that you'll accidentally invent time travel than that you'll land a series at Vertigo right out of the gate. So, set some realistic goals for yourself.

I think you learn and grow a lot more as a writer by actually creating comics and getting them out there for people to read, than by confining yourself to 5-page submissions that never see the light of day. So, the approach I'd recommend is the one I've followed in the last year: write short stories, get great artists to illustrate them, and send them out to Negative Burn and other anthologies.

Lastly, find an editor who'll work with you on a freelance basis – Kris Simon is obviously highly recommended – and listen to what they tell you, and learn from their experience.

Beckett: What other projects are you working on that you would like to tell readers about?

Pruitt: I've got two more short stories in artists' hands right now, so hopefully those will be appearing in Negative Burn in the not-distant future. “By The Southern Grace of God” is a story about an apocryphal Lynyrd Skynyrd song and a young woman's search for the father she never knew. “Frog-Boy” is a weird and touching tale about, well, Frog-Boy!

Later this year, if all goes according to plan, I'll have a story in Postcards II: California Dreaming, the follow-up to last year's Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, in which all the stories are inspired by actual mailed postcards. And come the Christmas season, I'll have a story (illustrated by the brilliant Marvin Mann) appearing in a collection of true Christmas disasters James W. Powell is putting together.

In the meantime, Elizabeth Genco and I are cooking up a little creator-owned something that's probably the last thing you'd expect to see from either one of us. So, that'll be fun and different and hopefully landing on some fine publisher's doorstep later this year.

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR, part III

2009 - The Push for Prose. That was my intention. But I finished out 2008 by sending a script (our previous post) off to Ape Entertainment's open call for UFO stories. Not expecting much, I began to forge ahead on a new project I thought was timely, if only just so (more on that another time). But soon into the new year, I got a couple of emails that changed things a bit for me.

First, on January 6, this arrived from Joe Pruett (yeah, the guy that puts together Negative Burn and other great books like 13 Steps, The Art of Brian Bolland, P. Craig Russell, and others, and the latest iteration of James A. Owen's Starchild):

Hey, Chris. I'm putting together the next Negative Burn trade right now and would like to look this story over. I can't remember if I have or not. Can you send me a low res PDF to look at?

Joe

This was in response to a follow-up email I had sent six months prior. I am still waiting to hear if anything will come of this, but if nothing else, at least the synopsis I sent to Mr. Pruett piqued his interest, and the thought of being considered for Negative Burn - of which I am a huge fan - is exciting.

Then, the following morning, I received this in my inbox from Troy Dye, submissions editor at Ape Entertainment:

Hey Christopher,

I’ve read your story. I really like the dialogue and tone of the story. I am a little unsure as to why seeing a UFO makes the character do a 180. He wasn’t even sure what he saw or if he saw anything at all. And it didn’t seem like the UFO did anything to him. So I’m not sure I’m sold on the character’s change of heart. I think if you tweak that one part of the story a little bit by having something happen to the character to justify his change of heart, I think you’ll have a nice little story here that we would be interested in.

--Troy

And just like that, I was back to work on the comic script, which was great. This was the first time I had received any type of editorial feedback (in a professional sense) and it made sense to me. I try to be subtle when I am writing, and I worry that - as in this case - I sometimes stray into the obtuse.

Anyway. I got to work and sent off a rewrite the following evening.

More on that next time.

BACK TO WORK

So. Last summer was a hectic time. Dan and I were prepping the latest issue of Warrior27, which I hope to have up on here soon, in anticipation of October's Small Press Expo. Our first time in Bethesday, in 2006, went extremely well, especially after the disaster that was our debut at Wizard World Chicago in 2005. So we had high hopes for the show.

It was a good show, but let us just say it was not as successful as our previous sojourn to Maryland. I did get to catch up with friends and acquaintances like Justin Fox and Kevin Colden as well as having an opportunity to quickly discuss comics with Jason Rodriguez, editor of the Eisner-nominated anthology Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened. But overall, it was not successful on the comics writing/publishing front.

When I returned home, I continued with a bunch of the house projects I'd finally started at the end of the summer (getting our new shutters onto the house [at least the first floor] and painting my older boys' bedrooms after almost a year with bare wallboard). I had also been reading a lot on Prohibition and WWI in anticipation of a novel I want to write - that is a post for another time - and so was spending far more time reading non-fiction, as well as a comic or graphic novel here and there, and working around the house than I was writing - which was at a crawl. Compounding this was the fact that I was still awaiting the site overhaul of the Pulse and did not have a deadline for my regular column hanging over my head to keep me honest. After a while, I found I really liked being able to curl up in bed in the evenings to read a good book or comic. And I wondered why I had been beating myself up by writing into the night as much as I had been with little to show for it.

But I did still have the itch. And with December, I finally returned to my serialization at 50YFN with the latest chapter going live a few weeks back (see previous post). I was also preparing to begin the novel and gearing up in my head for that.

And then I had a brainstorm for an idea that I cannot believe hasn't been done before, and hope that it isn't being done right now. It's a non-fiction analytical prose thing that I began a little over a week ago and am currently 11,000 words into it - beginning chapter 3 last night and hoping to knock out a large chunk of that today. With the focus, has come a renewed energy on my part, and I hate pulling myself away from the computer again. But, I also got some serendipitous news in my email inbox last week as well.

Wednesday night this arrived in response to a message I sent JUNE 28 last year. (Yes, I had completely given up on this avenue for this story):

Hey, Chris. I'm putting together the next Negative Burn trade right now and would like to look this story over. I can't remember if I have or not. Can you send me a low res PDF to look at?
Joe

Of course, this isn't an acceptance, but it does mean my synopsis got Joe Pruett's attention, and it's another baby step forward. But, even better, was the message I received the next morning in my inbox from APE Entertainment regarding a submission I'd sent a couple of weeks back:

Hey Christopher,

I’ve read your story. I really like the dialogue and tone of the story. I am a little unsure as to why seeing a UFO makes the character do a 180. He wasn’t even sure what he saw or if he saw anything at all. And it didn’t seem like the UFO did anything to him. So I’m not sure I’m sold on the character’s change of heart. I think if you tweak that one part of the story a little bit by having something happen to the character to justify his change of heart, I think you’ll have a nice little story here that we would be interested in.

Again, not an acceptance, but another baby step forward. It was a good two-for-one. I changed what they asked for, turned it around that night, and am now waiting. Here's hoping. Updates will follow either way. But it's time to get back to the book.

take care,
chris