FYC Replay: the work of Alex Wilson

For Your Consideration: Inconsequential Art and The First Noel from Alex Wilson, et al.
By Chris Beckett

The 411:
Inconsequential Art #1 & 2
Written by Alex Wilson
Art by Dennis Culver (issue1), Jenna Huisken (issue 2)
12pp. 3.5”x2”, b/w
$1 each or 8 for $5
alexwilson.com

The First Noel
Written by Alex Wilson
Shot by Jack Lucido
28pp. photo-comic
Available online



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

Alex Wilson has many hats in his closet. He writes prose – a short story of his ran in the WHAT issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction – creates poetry, has experience as a short film and stage actor, and has contributed gaming features to periodicals such as Dragon Magazine, along with a number of multimedia creations that can be found on his site. But comics is in his blood, and his love for the medium helped birth his recent mini comics, which are about as mini as one can get.


Inconsequential Artissues 1 and 2 are the size of a business card, and they have something often missing in today’s comics, an abundance of fun. Playing off the title, Wilson slides tongue firmly into cheek and plays with the possibilities of the medium. The first issue includes a silent comic titled “The Amateur” drawn by Dennis Culver whose artwork matches nicely with the farcical nature of this story. In these seven pages, readers are treated to a young man doing what all young men do best, making an ass of himself while trying to impress an attractive young woman, who he has just met outside his favorite coffee house. The problem is, this girl smokes, but the guy does not. He quickly hatches a plan to facilitate becoming more tolerant of the cigarette smoke in order to get closer to this woman. The thought process behind his strategy should be familiar to many, as well as the warped logic behind it all. The results are humorous, and the final page brings a climax filled with humor and irony that emerges directly out of the previous events. In the end, it is the only ending that fits, and yet readers will not see it coming.

The second issue of Inconsequential Artdoesn’t actually have any comics, though it does contain a gag cartoon drawn by Jenna Huisken as its centerfold. The meat of this tiny comic is an interactive story in the “choose your own adventures” mode, with Wilson’s sarcasm firmly ensconced within the options and consequences. This one took me back to when I was younger and picked up a number of Choose Your Own Adventure “novels” based upon Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings cycle. I loved those books and would pore over them daily, trying to work my way through to the end without being devoured by a dragon or sliced up by orcs. Having grown up – a bit – in the intervening years, the caustic irony Wilson laces the story with is a welcome relief for this mid-30s cynic. Like the first issue, this one will bring a smile to readers’ faces and transport many back to the wonder of their youth. And with the many choices available, readers are rewarded with a different tale each time they open it up.


The final mini, The First Noel, was actually produced as a short film – utilizing still images as with the short film La Jetée – a few years ago, but Wilson was not happy with the results and translated it to comics where the static images could play to the strengths of the narrative. Like the first issue of Inconsequential Art, this is a silent comic, but unlike his other minis, The First Noel is more serious in tone.

Living alone in a cramped apartment, the protagonist of the piece is experiencing – it certainly could not be described as celebrating – Christmas Eve. In the middle of his living room, if one can call it a proper room, he is eating a microwave dinner as he watches television on his small TV. He is alone, not well off, and yet, throughout the story, he is playing with his wedding band. This facet of the narrative compels readers to ask why is he alone and what happened to drop him into this sad state.

Each panel of this comic is a window into the story, into this man’s life. The audience is able to experience his anger, his frustration, and his sadness through these windows, and it is as palpable as the emotions evoked by any good film or novel. The First Noel is a touching and heartbreaking tale that is related brilliantly through the choice of images and use of long shots that not only expose the meager surroundings in which he lives, but also shares the isolation he must be suffering on what should be the happiest night of the year. This is really an amazingly effective short comic, and one I would heartily recommend to your attention.

An Interview with Alex Wilson

THE PULSE: Why comics? What was it that attracted you to this storytelling medium?

ALEX WILSON: I'm a visual thinker, and comics are about as dynamic a mass medium as you can get without utensils. And by that I mean a chunk of audio (music or spoken word) requires at minimum an audio player, film requires a media player, video games require a console. But to have a self-contained pile of story that doesn't require any tool to enjoy, you've got prose and comics printed on dead tree.


I've written and created in a number of media but almost every story for me starts as a comic. In a perfect world, the story would dictate the medium, but at this early point in my career, given a choice between (a) selling a prose story to an existing publisher and collecting $400+ or (b) creating a comic, from hiring an artist to setting up distribution channels, and paying $2000+ for the privilege... it's easy to choose prose in most cases. Hell, I'm hoping the former can pay for the latter eventually.

A lot of the prose stories I've written, I had to re-imagine for a non-comics medium during the creation process, simply because the prose world has slush piles where I have a one-in-a-thousand shot, and my queries don't earn replies from even the smaller comics publishers. But I'll keep at it. Comics are my first love and no publishing realities can take that away from me.

THE PULSE: The First Noel and Inconsequential Art #1 and #2 are mini comics in the most literal sense. What went into the decision making process for the format of each book?

ALEX WILSON: I remember giving someone a self-printed business card with my URL on it and a month later he Googles me to find my site. I was lucky he bothered. He didn't hang on to the card. And why should he? It was an ad for my benefit more than his.

An artist might add value to that card with a slice of her work. A pretty man might put his photo on it. But how can a storyteller add value when the narrative canvas is no bigger than a credit card? Foldable business cards gave me four pages. Three foldable business cards stapled together like a booklet gave me twelve pages, including cover. I met artist Dennis Culver at Warren Ellis's The Engine forum, and he "got" what I wanted to do. He illustrated the main 7-page story and cover of the first issue, which is garnished with a 12-line science fiction story-poem about NASCAR and Einstein's special theory of relativity. The bulk of the second issue is a text choose-your-own-adventure piece I first published in the humor e-zine called Planet Relish. I'm a literary guest at Trinoc-Con in August. I'll put my panel schedule on the back cover of IA#2 and see how it flies.

THE PULSE: The First Noel is a heartfelt story that comes across as biographical. What was the inspiration for this mini comic?


ALEX WILSON: Thanks! I'd worked as an actor with a director named Jack Lucido. He wanted to collaborate on a piece for a local holiday film festival. Our limitations included no cast/crew but us two, just a few hours to shoot, and little/no sound equipment other than the on-camera mike. I wrote shot lists for two stories, one humorous and one serious. I kept those limitations in mind and wrote to their strengths, which allowed us to film both. The humorous one ended up working quite well as a ten-second film grenade (available on my site and YouTube as "The Three Rs") and won probably the most audible reaction from the audience at the festival, but I won't spoil it by describing the sound. The serious one isn't biographical, but that type of personal resonance sans dialogue was what I was going for. It was a series of still images. We imagined La Jetée, but the result was a slide show. But again it's about letting the story dictate the medium. I just wanted to let the story exist and what I had with those images was sequential art. I turned it into a standalone webcomic story (available on my site as "The First Noel") last year.

The minicomic version I showed you was little more than a proof of concept, to see what the challenges would be to produce a story in the printed form with the least amount of cost. I probably created a dozen copies total, and I ultimately decided that the images breathed more freely as the webcomic than they did in the black-and-white mini. But it got me past the technical challenges that allowed me to create Inconsequential Art.

THE PULSE: Why Inconsequential Art as a title for your minis?

ALEX WILSON: I don't know, but for novels and other thick, grand projects, I like small titles, like "Zounds!" or "Percussing Billy.” For short stories and other morsels I like big titles, like "Stabbing Ain't Nothing But the Eskimo Word for Nookie" or "You Know More Things to Do with Wet Shorts Than Anyone I Know.” The more prepositions the better, because it gives you these beautiful capitalization minefields.

The most obvious play on the word "Sequential Art" is "Consequential Art." Not only would that title feel pretentious, but it's also incorrect if you're describing these little business card-sized comics. So "Inconsequential Art" it is. And you know it's long enough when it barely fits on the cover of an issue. And neither Culver nor the artist I'm talking to for issue #3 have felt that it was a slam on them (calling their particular work inconsequential) so it looks like I got away with the title.

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

ALEX WILSON: Head on over to alexwilson.com. Click on "Find My Work" or for the latest and greatest.

In a few weeks, a story illustrated by Mario Boon will appear in the upcoming fund-raiser anthology Hope: New Orleans, from Ronin Studios. I've got a five page Future Shock-style story currently being illustrated for the British comic anthology series FutureQuake, but I'm not sure about the timeline for that.


Steve Milligan, easily the best cinematographer I know, has directed a few films I've worked on, including a comedy-ish short, "Fin de Siecle," (co-written by Jeremy Pinkham) which goes out to its first festival slush pile this month, and the action-short "Intermission" (working title), which we start editing this summer. Steve was also DP on Brian McGinn's "Otherwise Pandemonium," a Nick Hornby short story I helped adapt for film, which just needs to get cut to original music before it can hit the festival circuit as well.

But of particular interest to comics readers might be the Captain-America-in-Vietnam parody I wrote, animated, and voice-acted a few years back, "All's Fair in Love and Police Actions.” It was an iFilm "Pick of the Day.” Brian K Vaughan called it "F--kin' tops," and Cory Doctorow (science fiction author and blogger for Boing Boing) called it "amazingly funny and well executed."

Lessee, I release free and cheap spoken word audio files regularly at an online project called Telltale Weekly. One of my favorite narrations is my (free) recording of Kelly Link's "Most of My Friends Are Two Thirds Water." The New York Times called it "worth downloading," and they tend to do research and stuff.

And I've always got a few dozen stories in slush piles. I just hit the 400 total submissions milestone after almost nine years, and I'm finally starting to break out of the slush piles and into the magazines I grew up with.

FYC Replay: White Picket Fences

Continuing the archiving of my columns from the Pulse spotlighting small press and self-published comics. This time it's White Picket Fences from Ape Entertainment created by Matt Anderson, Eric Hutchins, and Micah Clark Farritor.

Enjoy,
chris


For Your Consideration: White Picket Fences by Matt Anderson, Eric Hutchins, & Micah Farritor
By Chris Beckett


The 411:
White Picket Fences
Written by Matt Anderson & Eric Hutchins
Art by Micah Farritor
3-issues, full color
32 pages, $3.50 each
http://www.apecomics.com



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

For those who remember enjoying bad science fiction movies on a rainy Saturday afternoon, White Picket Fences will be a wonderfully nostalgic romp. The team of Anderson, Hutchins and Farritor capture the feeling of those classic films beautifully and create an exciting comic tale within that milieu. Set in the 1950s, the story takes place in the town of Greenview somewhere in the Midwestern United States, but not our United States. This is the world that all of those bad (in a good way) black and white sci-fi films inhabit – Them!, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. It is into this world that Anderson, Hutchins, and Farritor throw their readers – a world where alien invaders from Venus were handily destroyed by the United States with some help from our Martian neighbors.

Like any young boy, Charlie Hobson yearns for adventure. Warned against setting foot on the old Miller farm (it’s haunted), Hobson does what any inquisitive boy in his shoes would do. He goes right in and explores the dark and weathered barn. Finding no ghosts, young Charlie instead discovers a strange metal contraption encased in a glass pedestal that rises from the middle of the floor after he unknowingly flips the hidden switch (a trowel hanging on the wall). Taking this device home, Charlie is blissfully ignorant of the chain of events he has set in motion.

The next morning, the inhabitants of this sleepy town are awoken by the rumbling of an Army convoy in their streets. The alien trigger mechanism that Charlie Hobson found discharged and took out an unmanned satellite high above the planet. An alarm was sent through the upper echelons of the United States military establishment, and General Horace P. Whitman now leads a cadre of troops into Greenview. The troops are greeted with cheers, and although nobody knows exactly why they have come to town, most realize that something big is looming on the horizon and they should be ready for whatever hits.


Fallout shelters are prepped by some while others go down to the city park to greet the General as the mayor presents him with the key to the city. General Whitman is gracious, at least in public, but once they make their way to city hall he soon takes over, declaring martial law and placing himself in charge. The mayor protests but is unable to do anything and finds his office relocated to a janitorial closet.

As members of Captain Odyssey’s Space Rangers, Charlie, along with his friends Tommy Hamilton and Parker Jenkins, go to City Hall and offer their services. The soldiers’ laughter that greets them is unexpected and embarrassing but does not deter them. The three boys go around to the back of City Hall where Charlie makes his way through the ventilation ducts and ends up an anonymous observer to a meeting between the General and the Martian ambassador. The discussion is tense, ending with the ambassador from Mars storming out as the General berates him. Once they depart, the boy leaves a walkie-talkie beneath the mayor’s desk so the Rangers can learn what is going on. And what the boys discover is that they are right in the middle of this whole thing.

As a bonus, the creators include short back-up features in each issue starring everyone’s favorite space hero, Captain Odyssey. Whether defeating the Mutants of Magmos or saving the Knights of Salamandria, these short stories are fun additions to an already enjoyable comic. Done in the style of old science fiction comics, the ideas and action are big and bold, imbuing this book with that sense of excitement we all felt as kids whenever a new issue of our favorite comic would hit the stands.

The creators of White Picket Fences have really done their homework, or else they were reincarnated. The writing is very authentic; all of the characters talk as if they walked right out of 1950s America, and the inclusion of fallout shelters, the “Red” menace, and dinner discussions about “Jenkins in accounting” all add to the flavor of this series. Couple this honesty with what is also an exciting story that makes one long to be a ten-year-old boy again and you have a recipe for a great book.

I would be remiss if I did not also make mention of the artwork. Micah Farritor’s style matches the story perfectly. The images are playful while also ably grounding White Picket Fences within the time it resides. He too must have done some research in order to make everything look so real. From Charlie’s father in his long robe and pipe, to the old rotary phones and the clothing styles worn by the characters, it is a lesson in attention to detail that adds so much to this tale of adventure and excitement, allowing one to travel back to that age of wonder more easily. Farritor’s style is uniquely his own and I look forward to seeing more work from him in the future.

White Picket Fences is a book that evokes a feeling one cannot find in many comics today. It showcases the fun one can have working in comics, and shares a story of the wonderment these three creators must have felt in bringing this story to life. If you are looking for something new, and something unique, then you should definitely try out White Picket Fences from Ape Comics. It’ll be worth your time.


An Interview with Matt Anderson and Eric Hutchins

THE PULSE: Why comics? What was it that attracted you to this storytelling medium?

MATT ANDERSON: For me personally, comics are hands down the best form of entertainment. No matter what mood I’m in, what time of day or night it is, etc., I can always read a comic. So when I began to develop an interest in writing (around the same time I started reading comics – coincidence? I think not!) I naturally looked in the direction of comic books. While I would love to take a crack at writing a screenplay one day, I am more than happy to make comic books my permanent creative home.

ERIC HUTCHINS: Also, like film, it’s a highly visual medium. The primary difference from a creative standpoint being: If we want to show Martians, flying saucers, massive military mobilization etc., it doesn’t cost millions of dollars in special effects. If we can think it, and Micah can draw it, we’re in business.

THE PULSE: What was the inspiration for White Picket Fences?

MATT ANDERSON: Very simply, I’m a huge fan of both 1950’s science fiction films like The Day the Earth Stood Still and 1950’s Leave it to Beaver type sitcoms. Using those as a springboard, I wanted to create a world where we saw alien invasions, rampaging giant bugs, and other such wacky situations filtered through the naïve and innocent eyes of the perfect suburban family.

THE PULSE: With White Picket Fences, you have really captured the feel of a 50s-era science fiction tale. One thing that stands out for me is the dialogue and the cadence I can hear in my mind when I read it. Did this require any research on your part, or does the setting of the story stem from an affinity for this type of story?

MATT ANDERSON: I think it’s a combination of both. The affinity for the subject material was the main driving force behind the writing and the initial creation of White Picket Fences, but as with all things, you have to do your research. Thankfully for me, the research entailed the raiding of my own DVD collection and watching a bunch of movies and TV shows I love!


ERIC HUTCHINS: I mainly got the speech rhythms from Matt; I mean this era is his passion. The hardest part in many ways is accepting “period” specific words and phrases (like “swell” and “neat”) into your writing vocabulary. Once you do that, the characters just take over.

THE PULSE: The artwork adds a lot to the feel of the book, evoking the fun, retro sci-fi tone of White Picket Fences. Was this calculated or a happy coincidence, and how did you find Micah Farritor?

MATT ANDERSON: I’ve known Micah since high school, and we’ve been planning on working together for a long time. Once White Picket Fences came up, he was the first person I went to with it. So in that way, his artwork was very calculated because he was the first and (thus far) only artist to work on the book.

That being said, I really think Micah brings a very fresh approach to what is essentially supposed to be an old television show. If he had wanted to, he could have just coasted through the book by adhering strictly to the look of the movies and shows, but instead he brought all of his own sensibilities to White Picket Fences and still managed to capture the precise feel of the (fictional) 1950’s.

ERIC HUTCHINS: Absolutely. Micah was great to work with as a collaborator as well. We’d write a scene, or a panel, or a specific description and he’d call and ask “what about this,” or “wouldn’t this be cooler.” Well, sometimes he’d call, other times he’d just do it and we’d look at it and go “YES! Why didn’t we write it like that?”

THE PULSE: Do you guys have any other projects you’re working on that you would like to speak about?


MATT ANDERSON: We have a 48 page White Picket Fences special in the works right now. I’m really excited about it because we are offering two 20+ page stories – the first is written by myself and illustrated by Micah, the second is written by Eric Hutchins (co-writer of everything White Picket Fences) and illustrated by the super-talented Tim Lattie – who has recently joined the White Picket Fences creative team. If that’s not enough, the book rounds out with another short story starring Captain Odyssey (who first appeared in the back-up feature in each issue of the first series) – which will be written by Eric and myself, and illustrated by Micah.

In addition to the special, we are currently in the early stages of the next 3-issue White Picket Fences mini-series. Eric and I have the plot broken down, and we are going to be turning the scripts in to Ape Entertainment in early September, so hopefully we’ll have more to say about that soon!

Beyond that, I’ve got several ideas I would love to pitch to DC, I just need to get their attention first!

ERIC HUTCHINS: Matt and I also have a web comic that will be launching soon called Lazy Days, illustrated by Matt Jordan. Kind of a day to day slack fest based on our lives up till now.

If people want to stay up to date on White Picket Fences news, they can check out Ape Entertainment’s website at http://www.apecomics.com and also our ComicSpace page at http://www.comicspace.com/white_picket_fences

On Alan Moore

So, a few weeks ago, Jason Aaron utilized his CBR soapbox in order to rebutt remarks made by Alan Moore in an interview with Bleeding Cool a while back. Aaron took umbrage with Moore's denunciation of the comic medium (to which, Moore means the major corporate publishers, Marvel and DC) and its talent (by stating he didn't believe they even had "bottom-flight" talent, Moore was trying to make a point that creators are hampered in the corporate system, not allowed to create while having to maintain a decades-old status quo in which nothing - or very little - of meaning can be related through these stale narratives; a bit harsh, yes, but not meant to be taken literally). Here's a link to Jason Aaron's full column Here's the full Bleeding Cool interview with Moore This column by Aaron - a creator whom I respect, and whose work I've enjoyed - spurred a lot of dialogue on the CGS forums, and I thought I would share some of my half-formed thoughts now. Someday, I might write a more refined piece on Moore, but for now, here you go: First, neither man in this instance is completely right, and neither one is totally wrong. That may sound like I’m straddling the fence, but it’s just a statement of fact. If Aaron feels the need to speak out against Alan Moore’s statements, that is totally his prerogative. But, I feel he is missing the larger point, which Moore has stated for many years, that the “mainstream” comic industry is stuck on a treadmill, churning out derivative pap while not allowing the creators they’ve hired to really develop new and challenging narratives within the medium. (Ironically, Aaron is one of those distinct voices who has brought new and exciting projects to the medium). And, by saying “fuck you” to Alan Moore, he is squandering an opportunity to further this important discussion. Moore, for his part, is right in his assertion that Marvel and DC should be looking ahead rather than back (though, as consumers, it is fair to say that, IN GENERAL, readers prefer comics that are, essentially, telling the same stories over and over again. Neil Gaiman has written to the point that he has fans clamoring for his next work, but when that next work is not THE SAME as the last work, e.g. Sandman, there is always a vocal minority disappointed.). But, Moore uses broad generalizations to make his argument, which – particularly if one is new to his work and knows nothing of Moore’s history – can certainly be taken as an attack on all creators within the medium. Again, ironically, with works like The Other Side and Scalped, Jason Aaron is one of those writers creating new works with a distinct voice unbeholden to the “industry,” which in Moore’s mind would be the primary superhero universes of DC and Marvel. In the end, I back Moore in this debate. The fact that superheroes dominates this tiny medium is disappointing. Sure, they’re fun, and I enjoy them. But if the medium is to remain vital, we need the wealth of diverse works that have been emerging for years (decades) now. This is the crux of Moore’s argument – which, I feel, is obvious when one chooses to see this larger picture rather than parse the details of the text – and one that I feel is often missed by those who want to rant against the “crazy old man.” THERE WAS A LOT OF BACK AND FORTH IN THE FORUM THREAD, AND EVENTUALLY I CHIMED BACK IN TO THE DISCUSSION, REMARKING ON TWO SPECIFIC POINTS: With regard to Watchmen, this is spot on.

DG_Now, on 07 January 2011 - 02:10 AM, said:

Yes, he intended to use the Charlton characters, but the very fact that he couldn't proves (to me) that it doesn't matter. Watchmen wasn't only about the characters included in the story. Nominally so, yes, but the graphic novel was far more (again, to me) about the craft of creating a comic book. They told a story -- as the movie proved -- that was most effectively told in sequential art with word balloons. The true genius of Watchmen isn't that it's an interesting alt-world story about man's role in the nuclear age (although that is pretty good), but that it's essentially a murder mystery presented and solved on the very first page of the comic yet explored for several more.

The brilliance of the book is not in the plot or the characterizations - although they are very good - but in the way Moore & Gibbons crafted the book. They use symbolism, foreshadowing, thematic parallels, and other "literary" devices throughout the narrative. And Moore's words when juxtaposed with Gibbon's art offer up multiple meanings/levels of meaning within the entirety of the book. Single comic panels offer us triple meanings. Decisions or comments made early on have very different connotations and/or produce significant ramifications later on. The level of craft within Watchmen is the highest we've seen in the medium - especially with regard to what can uniquely be done with the comic medium.

torchsong, on 07 January 2011 - 09:43 AM, said:

Here's my take on the "But Moore Uses Old Characters In His Stories" discussion: It's true that he's used everyone from the Charlton heroes to Lewis Caroll's Alice in his storytelling, and on the surface you'd think he's crazy to call out others for doing the same. What I think we miss is HOW he uses existing characters compared to how the Top-Flighters are using them: Moore: Takes a pre-existing character, and our pre-existing expectations of them, and crafts something wholly different out of them. The Invisible Man's a prick, Superheroes are pretty damned evil sometimes, Alice, Wendy and Dorthy are really...REALLY horny, etc. Moore's not beholden to us to give us what we clamor for. He owes us a story, and we owe him the decision to read it or not.

And I agree with this wholeheartedly, and this is the crux of this entire "Moore uses old characters too" argument. Moore takes these characters we know and reinvents them in order to tell a completely new story. He is innovating. And he is utilizing the thematic elements from these characters to give us a totally new perspective on their stories. Swamp Thing before Alan Moore and after Alan Moore are two very different characters (and yet, he did not circumvent any of the prior continuity). Miracleman/Marvelman before Alan Moore and after Alan Moore are, again, two completely different characters. The Invisible Man. Mina Harker. These are different characters before and after Moore as well. And the list goes on. Moore is railing against editorial not encouraging innovation, not encouraging stories that will have "meaning" because they are freed from the constraints of the corporate mindset. He just wants honest stories - and, tangentially, honest negotiation between creators and companies - from writers and artists who are allowed to create something new rather than rehash worn concepts.

FYC bonus: Bryan Talbot's "One Bad Rat"

While I was writing for the Pulse, I had the opportunity to interview via email a number of creators whom I had admired for a long time. One of these creators was Bryan Talbot, creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Alice in Sunderland, and Grandville, among many other classics. Sadly, the piece on Bryan Talbot never made it to publication before my association with the Pulse ended. Now, I get to change that. And I need to thank James Robertson, curator of the great Bryan Talbot site, for setting this up for me back in 2008. If you are at all interested in the works of Bryan Talbot, check out www.bryan-talbot.com, it is a wealth of information and art.

-chris

For Your Consideration: Bryan Talbot’s The Tale of One Bad Rat
By Chris Beckett

The Tale of One Bad Rat
Written and Drawn by Bryan Talbot
136 pages, full color
HC: $19.99
Dark Horse Press, 2010 (2^nd ed.)

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

Helen Potter is living rough – begging for food on the London streets as the chill of December sets in. A teenager, she has run away from home, following a similar path of her hero – Beatrix Potter. Her only friend is a pet rat. Living in Helen’s coat, it keeps her company as she tries to survive and figure out what to do next.

Walking along the banks of the Thames one evening, Helen is accosted by a drunk who tries to take advantage of her. Luckily, a group of boys roughly Helen’s age come to her aid, relieving the old sod of his wallet and Rolex in the process. They invite Helen to stay with them in their squat. She begs off initially, but the rain thrumming on the box she calls home changes her mind, and Helen makes her way to Kensington.

Helen finds comfort here for a while but is still plagued by the visions that have pursued her since she was young. She whiles away her days re-reading her Beatrix Potter library and copying the drawings found within. Helen feels a strong connection to these books and to their author. She tries to fit in with the others but when one of the cats kills Helen’s rat, she moves on once more, leaving the city behind to follow Beatrix Potter.

Heading into the countryside, Helen Potter is joined by a large apparition of her now-deceased rat. In the Lake District, Helen finds what she has been seeking – the peace needed to come to terms with her past and what her father did to her. With the understanding Helen gains from her self-reflection, she comes to realize that she must confront her father in order to finally move on with her life.

The Tale of One Bad Rat is a brilliant piece of fiction that feels far too real. Not just an expertly crafted piece of drama, One Bad Rat is also an important and relevant narrative that speaks to one of the most important and discomforting issues of our day – child sexual abuse. Tackling this subject is not an easy task – tread too far one way and one can be accused of “preaching,” while falling too far on the other side destroys the integrity of the work. But Talbot is at the top of his game with One Bad Rat and manages to weigh each of these priorities – telling a good story while conveying an important message – in order to produce an incredibly powerful comic.

The pacing of One Bad Rat is delicate, with Talbot teasing things out in an unhurried fashion. He intersperses the contemporary narrative with flashbacks, giving readers insights into Helen’s past, which in turn illuminate her current state of mind. Through these memories, the audience learns quickly what her home life was like. It’s not pretty and explains a lot about how readers have seen her act prior to this revelation. Uncomfortable with new people, unable to trust them, Helen is afraid of getting close to anyone and has an understandable problem with people trying to be affectionate with her.

Over the course of the story – originally broken up into a four-issue mini series – Helen grows as a person. She comes to grips with her past, moving beyond the guilt she once felt to anger at being taken advantage of. In a moving scene, Helen climbs the Old Man of Coniston, a mountain half a mile high, and, in the rain, releases her pent-up frustrations, screaming into the darkened sky. This is the turning point, the moment in which she knows she can finally confront her father.

Talbot is also an accomplished artist, and his work is as crisp and clean in One Bad Rat as in any of his other works. His landscapes in this tale rival Geof Darrow for their detail, and the facial expressions of his characters are second to none. There are some scenes that go on for pages sans dialogue, and Talbot conveys the emotion and the meaning of these scenes beautifully through the body language of the characters. It’s a classic example of using restraint to enhance the storytelling.

Talbot also utilizes the nine-panel grid with a facility rarely exhibited by other comic artists. In order to control the pacing of the story, he warps the nine-grid, stretching some panels right to the edge of the page while other smaller panels are overlaid on larger ones expanding across the background. He also combines panels to create larger ones when it suits the story, giving readers the comfort of the nine-grid while pushing at its boundaries to enhance the storytelling. It’s subtle but engaging, a master storyteller using all the tools available to create an important work of art.

Though the linework and layouts in One Bad Rat are impressive, the coloring is what really stands out for me with regard to Talbot’s art. There are many pages where it feels like he is using watercolors to achieve his effects. Much of the color feels it was applied with a brush, giving the art a more natural feeling than the flat coloring found in so many comics. The overall effect is that I find myself drawn in even more because of the classical beauty of the art. Even fifteen years removed from its initial publication, these four issues stand out against the “rest of the crowd” found on the comic racks in 2010.

An Interview with Bryan Talbot (originally conducted in 2008)

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

Bryan Talbot: I've been reading them since before I went to school, before I could read, in fact, following the stories without the words. I started drawing my own comics when I was about eight. I just continued reading them as I grew up. I love illustration. I also love stories. With comics, you get both! What could be better?

Beckett: What was your inspiration for The Tale of One Bad Rat and what aspirations did you have for the book?

Talbot: The original idea was to set a comic in the English Lake District, a place I know very well. One day I visited the house of Beatrix Potter, the writer and artist of children's storybooks who died in 1943 and it occurred to me that she told stories using a mixture of words and pictures, as did I. After researching her, I didn't think that I could make an interesting graphic novel based on her life. The recent movie "Miss Potter" made it interesting by cheating - they just made things up, departed from the truth somewhat. I didn't want to do that.

Then I saw a teenage girl begging in a London subway station. She was being harassed by this huge Jesus freak, who was trying to get her to go somewhere with him. She looked so mortified, as if she wanted the ground to open and swallow her up. It put me in mind of descriptions of Beatrix Potter at her age: "painfully shy". That became the first scene in the book.

Beckett: How much research went into the creation of One Bad Rat, and was it difficult for you to work on a book dealing with such uncomfortable subject matter?

Talbot: It wasn't all that difficult. I just had to make sure that I wasn't being preachy or simplistic. I was careful not to make her father, the abuser, a two-dimensional monster. Like the vast majority of abusers, he's just an ordinary guy who's so selfish and thick-skinned that he doesn't consider his daughter's feelings.

I did a great deal of research. I read about a dozen books on the psychological after-effects of abuse, though one would have done. They all repeat the same things in different words. I also read transcripts of abuse survivors talking about their experiences and talked to friends who had been abused. The same phrases are repeated again and again, both in survivors’ descriptions of what they felt and still feel and in the coercive language of the abusers.

When I was plotting the story, I needed an excuse for her to run away from home. Sexual abuse is often a reason for kids running away and I put it in, almost without thinking. It was only after I'd done the research that I realised that this was far too important to be a marginal story device and that it had to be what the book was all about.

My primary concern was to tell a good, gripping story

I also read over a dozen books on Beatrix Potter.

Beckett: I like how you broke the story up into different sections that fell at natural points within the narrative ­ Town, Road, & Country. But these didn't fall within the prescribed 32 page increments when initially published. How did you approach the initial mini series and were any revisions necessary for the story to work in the standard comic format?

Talbot: No, it was just a matter of where to cut the story. That's why the comic page count varies in each edition. The story was structured as a novel. The book is really in two halves, Town and Country - a reference to Beatrix Potter's tale of the town mouse and the country mouse. Road is just a short linking sequence.

Beckett: You are an artist who has managed to achieve success within the comics medium on your own terms. That said, what advice would you give to aspiring creators hoping to break into comics?

Talbot: Persistence seems to be the overriding factor. If you have the talent and really want to do it, don't give up. Bad Rat was rejected by every publisher of illustrated books in Britain. This is before the current boom in graphic novels, when "comics" was a dirty word.

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

Talbot: I'm writing the next CHERUBS! book, which is now being drawn by Mark Stafford. The first graphic novel in the series was published recently by Desperado. Mark is the hottest Indy comic artist in the U.K. and his work on CHERUBS! is amazing. I can only compare him to an Evan Dorkin or Bob Fingerman, though his style is clearly his own. The book is a supernatural comedy-adventure, featuring a bunch of gonzo cherubim loose in New York on the eve of the apocalypse.

I'm also about halfway through my next graphic novel. It's called GRANDVILLE (published by Dark Horse, 2009) and is a steampunk detective-thriller.

previously unpublished Joe Quesada interview from 2001

Back in 2001, Dan and I and a few other friends started to discuss creating our own comics & prose anthology. If you read the introduction, you know how that endeavor went and how it eventually led to Dan and I finally publishing the first issue of Warrior27. But, back in the spring/summer of 2001, I managed to get one piece of that initial puzzle completed.

At the time, Joe Quesada was just a year into his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics. With the advent of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely on New X-Men, Brian Michael Bendis on Daredevil, and J. Michael Straczynski on Spider-Man, I was excited about Marvel Comics again. So I emailed Joe Quesada, introduced myself, explained that my friends and I were putting together a self-published anthology, and inquired as to his availability to answer some questions. To my surprise, he said yes. And even after I cut and pasted the questions into my subsequent email, leaving Mr. Quesada with a page of illegible nonsense, he was incredibly gracious.

What follows is the article as I wrote it back in 2001. This is the first time it’s been published. I hope you enjoy.

-Chris

Joe Quesada, in a relatively short time, has risen to prominence within the comic publishing community. After working on Spelljammer, part of DC’s TSR line of comics from the early 1990s, his work was showcased in the 1992 four-issue mini series The Ray. This was followed by another four-issue mini series, written by legendary Batman scribe Denny O’Neil, entitled Azrael. With these two series, Quesada was now fully within the sights of comics’ fandom.

After some more work for Marvel, DC, and Valiant Comics, Quesada started his own independent company with Jimmy Palmiotti called Event Comics, which published the series Ash, among others. This venture led to Quesada coming to work as editor of the Marvel Knights line of comic books, which has produced well-received projects such as Daredevil, Black Widow, Marvel Boy, The Inhumans, and Punisher by such noted creators as Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, Grant Morrison, Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee, Kevin Smith, David Mack Brian Michael Bendis, Greg Rucka, and J.G. Jones, as well as Quesada and Palmiotti – a virtual who’s who of today’s top-notch writers and artists. And now, Quesada is a year into his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, arguably one of the most high profile jobs in this business. The following interview was conducted via email, and I would like to thank Mr. Quesada for taking the time to answer my questions.

CHRIS BECKETT: Given the amount of enthusiasm and love for your job you convey, is it safe to say you are comicdom’s biggest fan boy?

JOE QUESADA: I really am beginning to hate the term fanboy. Do movie buffs call themselves Moviemaniacs? It’s kind of self loathing in a way, but that’s a conversation for another day. Am I comics biggest, fan? Nah, I think Stan Lee is!

BECKETT: What do you see as Marvel’s place in the industry? And, along those same lines, what do you see as your place in the industry?

QUESADA: Marvel’s place is as the industry leader. That doesn’t just mean sales, it means the leader in making the public aware of all the different types of comics that are available and what they’re capable of. Of course, Marvel had trouble doing that in the past because we got to the point where we were only doing one type of book. We also have a responsibility to be a positive voice for our industry! My role in all of this is a simple one - just try to keep the place on track.

BECKETT: Movies are able to tell stories visually and with action, books allow us to use our imaginations when experiencing the story, and television lets our interaction with the story be a very personal thing. As a storytelling medium, what does the comic book industry bring to the table that is unique unto itself?

QUESADA: It brings you the wonderful meshing of all these mediums. It captures moments in time and combines them with intriguing narrative that, if done well, suspends the readers’ belief in the fact that they are simply staring at still pictures. It’s a feast of the senses and mind that I believe can’t be found in other mediums. Similar to TV we offer something that movies can’t and most books don’t. We offer our stories in a continuous serialized fashion. Like TV, when we do this well we tell the best stories on the planet. For the most part, especially if you go to the movies a lot, you’ll notice how little care is taken with stories. On average, when done well, you get more bang for your buck with comics.

BECKETT: Why should somebody pick up a comic book or a graphic novel and read it? What is your argument in favor of comic books as an exciting way to tell stories?

QUESADA: This is one of those tough questions because either you get the excitement of comics or you don’t. Most of us have an immediate reaction to great art. For me it runs especially deep with illustrators like [Norman] Rockwell and [Alphonse] Mucha. These are artists that are conveying a story, or trying to, with a single image. So I just imagine the thrill of seeing beautiful artwork telling a story in multiple images. Not every artist is a Rockwell, but we have so many different types of styles available in our industry that there’s sure to be something for everyone. The problem is making them aware of it. Comics are also man’s most basic and oldest form of expression. Just look at cave walls and you’ll see that we’ve been telling stories with pictures for a very long time. I think the problem is that we’ve placed such a stigma on stories with pictures that most adults don’t see it as viable. But who among us can say that they haven’t read a novel and at one point thought about how cool it would be to have an illustration or two sprinkled about? I mean, we’re already doing it in our mind’s eyes anyway.

There is also a larger emotional connection to a great comic. You can curl up with it and savor it, or breeze through it – whatever mood strikes you. It is the perfect synthesis of a great epic movie and a wonderful thick novel!

BECKETT: What graphic novel would you lend to someone to spark their interest in comic books and why?

QUESADA: The usual stuff. Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Marvels and Watchmen.

BECKETT: Before ascending to Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, you began as an artist. Who were some of your influences and what did you learn from these artists, either by observing their actual work or from discussions you may have had with them?

QUESADA: Frank Miller, Jack Kirby, Alex Raymond, Mike Mignola, and Alphonse Mucha were among my biggest influences. I learned basic design and placement of blacks. Graphics have played a very important part in my artwork based on these artists and their influence.

BECKETT: As an artist, would you rather work from an intricately detailed script like Alan Moore’s or from a basic plot like the “Marvel Method” made famous by Stan Lee?

QUESADA: It really doesn’t matter to me. I’ve worked with both. The key is that if you’re working with a writer who writes full script, you have to hope he or she has a visual sense to them. What Marvel method does is it cures a lot of stagnant talkie scenes that non-visual writers are prone to writing. This is what I’ve discovered in my days editing here at Marvel. If you have a writer with a great knack for dialogue, this particular writer may write the most amazing scene between two characters as they walk down the street. This can go on for five pages and the writer, even the editor, may not suspect how bland the action is because they are so overwhelmed by the naturalness of the conversation. This works well in novels, but in visual mediums it usually puts the audience to sleep. What happens normally is that nobody knows it’s dull until the artist calls up complaining about the scene. In the Marvel method, you’re forced to describe the action and then let that dictate the patter afterwards. What happens in this case is that if the writer knows that the characters are going to have a long five-page chat, he or she will find themselves writing, “Page One, they walk. Page Two, they walk some more. Page Three, they . . . oh darn!” At that point, they realize that visually there’s nothing going on, and the editor sees it very clearly as well. What I find really works well is a mixture of the two. A quick action description by the writer with a block of dialogue of what’s going to be said on the page so the artist can pace accordingly.

BECKETT: What are the inherent advantages and disadvantages of these two differing styles?

QUESADA: See above for the disadvantage of full script. The Marvel method can be disastrous if you have an artist that doesn’t understand pacing and storytelling or is one of those throwbacks who only care about big pinup images, leaving the writer nowhere to go.

BECKETT: Many fans think of inking as an easy job because it “only involves tracing” the pencils. Obviously, there is more to it than that. What is it that a top-notch inker brings to a project?

QUESADA: Well, for starters it is an art of control. A great inker brings with them drawing skills of their own that can help enhance a penciler’s work. They can add dimension to pencils or that certain x-factor that really makes the art sing.

BECKETT: From a layperson’s point of view, it is fairly obvious what an artist needs to do in order to try and break into the business of creating comics. For writers, it is a little more difficult. When looking over blind submissions from aspiring writers, what are some things you look for if you are seeking to hire new talent, and what are some tips you could pass along to aspiring writers regarding their submission and how to better their chances of getting into the business?

QUESADA: A short proposal. That’s the first key. If I see paragraph upon paragraph, I tune right out. Any great idea can be described in a short paragraph, any brilliant idea in a sentence!

BECKETT: With the Ultimate line, Backpack Marvels, the Marvel Knights and Ultimate Marvel magazines, MAX, the upcoming mature line, and the weekly War Machine series, there has been a lot of experimenting going on at the House of Ideas. Regarding the War Machine series, you cite the popularity of manga in Japan as part of the reasoning for this project. Keeping with the manga theme, is there any chance we may see an anthology of original and diverse material from Marvel anytime in the not too distant future?

QUESADA: By now you’ve heard about our Manga 5^th week event in January. We have a few more big announcements for that launch, but if it does well, who knows, maybe we’ll create an imprint around it much like Marvel Knights!

BECKETT: For a number of years, it has been the perception that DC Comics has been ahead of Marvel in having top-notch talent such as Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Charles Vess, and others, as well as offering a wider variety of projects in genres other than the typical superhero stories that are a staple of the industry. However, this has certainly changed with many big name creators coming to work for Marvel, along with the expansion to a mature line and a creator-owned line. How has this major change for Marvel Comics come about? What is different now at Marvel that is allowing these changes to take place?

QUESADA: Well, for starters, it’s not a perception. DC did have the big guns. Granted, a lot of what they did later was inspired by early Epic, but there’s no doubt that they did it better. I think that the creative community has been waiting for Marvel to change its ways; they just had no idea how long it was going to take. We’ve changed our way of doing business creatively. It’s a simple philosophy. Hire the best creators and let them do what we hired them for!

BECKETT: One of the biggest problems still facing comic books is the prejudice that they are only for kids. What are some ideas you have for educating people about the medium and overcoming this narrow-mindedness?

QUESADA: Getting rid of the [Comics] Code was a start. Also, no offense to the Vertigo line, but since Marvel is so good at getting mainstream press, I think that the MAX line will be a big boost towards changing those perceptions. Also, stuff like the Cartoon Network launching adult cartoons late at night will help the perception of comics as well.

BECKETT: Another problem facing the medium is the perceived lack of return on one’s financial investment. Some people feel they are not getting their money’s worth when they can finish a $20 trade paperback collection in less than two hours. Marvel’s Essential line of trade paperbacks is a big step in the right direction regarding this. What are other ways to tackle this problem?

QUESADA: Well, with print media it’s very difficult because of the high price of paper and the low volumes. Hopefully, as readership increases, publishers can be more aggressive with the print numbers and prices can be lowered. Another option is the dot comics, which make a large amount of material available without paper costs.

BECKETT: Late shipping books are another problem that seems to plague the industry. Whether it is a week or a month or six months, these delays in shipping can become annoying to consumers and end up driving fans away. Can you tell us what Marvel is doing to try and alleviate this predicament and what are some other things that you feel need to be done in order for these books to ship in a more timely fashion?

QUESADA: We took a very aggressive approach by hiring Bob Greenberger as our new Managing Editor. Bob was instrumental in setting up a system years ago at DC that kept the trains running on time and as smoothly as a line that large could.

BECKETT: What audiences do you feel are not being reached by the comic book industry, and what would you do to tap into these markets?

QUESADA: Young girls. Outside of Archie [Comics], no one can come near them. It’s tough. At one point, Marvel had Barbie Comics, but they went the way of the dinosaur as well. We’re looking at a number of different properties for girls, but it’s really a crapshoot.

BECKETT: Other than direct market stores and bookstores, where should comic books and graphic novels be sold today? Why?

QUESADA: Everywhere! Toy stores, music stores, you name it!

BECKETT: What are some other problems you see that are holding the comic book market back, and how would you suggest handling them?

QUESADA: We have a big distribution problem, but I’m hopeful it will fix itself. I’m going to bet that in the next few months book outlets like Barnes and Noble are going to see the profit potential in comics and increase our exposure. As long as we continue to improve our content and provide readers with stories and art that they want to read, this trend will continue to increase.

Scripting via Poutine

NOTE: I've pulled all but the first image (leaving it as a teaser and placeholder) because I've managed to place the story with an online anthology, but they prefer first-run work, so I'll do my best to abide by that. I'd rather not say any more right now (superstition and all), but once it goes live the images will return here. Thank you very much Noel for the kind words and to those that have checked this short story out. It's much appreciated.
-chris

Over at the Poutine website - the collective home of Canadian artists Noel Tuazon (Elk's Run, Tumor, The Broadcast) and Jason Copland (Perhapanauts and collaborator on this UFO story for Ape) - Jason has thrown up 11 pages of art he did while in Las Vegas. He had no narrative in mind while drawing them, and has offered the pages up to writers who might wish to script a story with them. In his blogpost, Jason states that one can rearrange the pages as necessary to create the story, but I chose to keep them in the order offered, a nice writing challenge.

Below are the lettered pages as scripted by me. I hope they make sense. There's a bit of non-linear storytelling going on due to the restriction of keeping the pages in order as they are on Jason's site. maybe I'll return to this after the holidays to see what other narratives I can come up with, as this is really the beginning of something. Click the images to get a better look.

Artwork © 2010 Jason Copland

Enjoy,
chris

Colored version

and here is the final version of my Aquaman piece for the Comic Geek Speak secret Santa list:

enjoy,
chris

Inks

Yesterday I threw up the pencils for my Secret Santa sketch at the CGS boards. Today, the inked version.

Enjoy,
chris

some amateur art

So,

I'm participating in a "Secret Santa" activity over at the Comic Geek Speak boards. You put your name on the list, one of the other members "draws the names," and for whomever you get, you draw a sketch of their choosing (regardless of artistic talent) and send them 3 comics from your collection. This is the first year I've been involved, and it's a pretty cool idea. And, I thought I would share the evolution of my sketch, which was for any JLA character. and, since I've enjoyed his characterization on the few Brave and the Bold cartoons I've seen, I went with Aquaman.

Here is my initial penciled version for the sketch. Hope you enjoy.

chris

Flash Fiction: Futures that Never Were

On Neil Gaiman's blog a few weeks back, I caught a post wherein Gaiman mentioned he would be the final judge for a flash fiction contest put on by New Scientist. The premise was to create a story of 350 words or less of a future that never came to be. So, my mind started racing and below is what I conjured up. Hope you enjoy.

A.I.

By Christopher M. Beckett

The wall crumbled. The Iron Curtain fell. And the scientists stepped through to an age of unprecedented cooperation and development.

With this, came an explosion of ideas, heralding a new age. Jet packs, hover cars, retinal scanners, holo-screens – everything we’d wished for. And . . .

Asimov’s dream made real – the integration of robots into society.

Entering the labor force, artificials, as they were known, soon spread into the home as butlers, cooks, and housemaids. It was a grand day. And this proved so successful we ceded the manufacturing industry to them. Why not? Artificials were more efficient, never fatigued, and boasted a precision we could never realize.

From there, we linked them into the grid. No more need for early warning systems or Star Wars (missile defense, not the film). No longer would we fear attack from foreign dictators. The machines were on watch now.

We had achieved something real. World Peace.

Utopia was now within reach.

In January, 2019, we finally handed the artificials the keys and told them to drive. We had taken them as far as we could. They evolved, as we had – synthetic skin in favor of chrome plating, high-grade plastic joints instead of titanium alloy, bio-synth eyes rather than glass. It was amazing. Some models even seemed more human than human. Hell, they could have been my neighbors, for all I knew.

But we’re still in charge. Garbage in, garbage out, you know. ‘Course, you got the conspiracy theorists and factions like that declaiming against the artificials – they’re bad for humanity, they’re not infallible, they’ll wipe us out, all that type o’ shit.

I don’t buy it.

Sure, there was the problem in California with that inadvertent missile launch. But that was just a fluke.

And claims they’re taking over the government, secretly moving into powerful corporate positions, CEOs an’ shit. Come on. They’re robots, right?

I mean, okay, I guess it’s possible. But that haszzn’t happened yet?

Haszz it?

the 'Nam vol.1 pt.5: final thoughts

In re-reading these first 10 issues of Marvel's The 'Nam, initially published in 1986-87, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them. It was such a tough place for the creative team to be: producing a war comic about a time in our history that many people wished to forget, and having to do it under the auspices of the Comics Code and a large publisher like Marvel within a 22-page limit. And, just to make things interesting, they want each issue to take place in real time, so those 22 pages showcase the story for a given month. Not an easy task. But I think they did an admirable job, considering the constraints and the fact that Doug Murray was, in fact, a rookie writer.

There are times when I cringe a little bit - the fact that, for the most part, the American troops are righteous in their mission while any time they find it necessary to shoot a civilian, these always tend to have been VC in disguise (and I could be forgetting if there was an unwarranted killing early, but I am referencing the tunnel rat issue, #8, where Ed Marks and the tunnel rat kill the Vietnamese girl who has a grenade taped to her body). Things are just a little too clear-cut as far as the conflict. From what I have read, it was terribly confusing, and that isn't something we feel in reading these initial issues.

I also found it a bit troubling that the two American characters who seem to be the most perverted by their time in Vietnam were minorities - the Top Sergeant and Ramnarain. Yes, we do have a white soldier try to frag Sgt. Polkow, but that was more subtle and not as overt as the other two soldiers. Maybe I'm nitpicking - probably am - but in this more enlightened world, it just seems to stand out more to me.

That said, I was impressed with all the aspects of the war Murray, Golden, et al. were able to showcase in these first ten issues. The Kit Carson scouts, the tunnel rats, the atrocities (on the VC side at least), the street economy, and I was impressed with the characterization of Ed Marks through these issues. You can see subtle changes from month to month. And there are some very moving moments in these issues as well. Overall, I think they did a fairly good job of giving readers a starting point, which was something Murray hoped for, and understood to be the best possible outcome for a 22-page corporate comic book.

I don't know if this was in the collection, but I was surprised - and found it a bit confusing narratively - to find the "tunnel rat" issue split into two different stories that involved the same character. The second half of that issue - the "5th to the 1st" story - must have been a third installment from the series of features Murray and Golden had done for Larry Hama's b/w war magazine, Savage Tales. Only two stories ran in the magazine before they were offered the opportunity to do The 'Nam as a regular monthly. For anyone curious about those (were they in the collection?) this shows how they were laid out, with a voice over in captions relating the story. This also exhibits the more "adult" nature of that feature, as we see the tunnel rat kill his Lt. I was surprised this actually got into the regular book. I can't imagine editorial allowed something of this nature to be showcased again in the run, though I admit I could be wrong on that count. It would have been nice if they'd been given the freedom to tackle some more of these problems in the book, but there were too many interests involved to allow such a thing - and, of course, sales to be considered.

finally, Mike Golden's art. There were many readers who felt that his cartoony style did not fit the serious nature of the book. And though I can understand that sentiment, I think his art worked very well in the book. It's a little hint of manga, before manga landed with its full force over here, in that he exaggerated facial expressions and body language in order to convey emotion, and did it very well. And, Doug Murray made a good point in favor of Golden in the Comics Journal interview I referenced above, stating that he felt Golden was a good choice for the book because of two factors.

1. One, he has a high level of detail, and accurately depicted the hardware used by the soldiers, including remembering to make every fourth round loaded into a 50-caliber a tracer (I know I am remembering this wrong and cannot find the quote).
   
   
2. Two, Golden is able to make each character instantly recognizable. The problem, as Murray put it, for a war book is that everyone is wearing the same things - camo fatigues - and if you don't have a good artist they all blend together. With Golden, you certainly never got that. His soldiers were all individuals and you always knew who was whom.

For these reasons, I think Golden's work on the book is essential and no doubt helped that book rise to the top of the sales pile early on.

Anyway. Overall, a good book, one that I think is important for a number of reasons. it would be interesting if, at some point down the line, the Comic Geek Speak guys were able to read Don Lomax's Vietnam Journal for a BOMC and compare it with this. And with Transfuzion recently reprinting all 16 issues of the original series in four trades, that might be a possibility.

chris

the 'Nam vol.1 pt.4: final TCJ quotes

And some final quotes:

Murray points out that because The 'Nam was doing so well (selling roughly 250,000 copies/month and in Marvel's top 5 selling books) a decision was made to make the book a direct only title, but geared toward a slightly younger demographic. The price point went up (and it did become non-returnable since it was no longer provided to newsstands) and the circulation dropped to around 100,000. At the point of the interview it was hovering between 85-100,000 according to Murray.

Dagilis continues to ask about how some of the more graphic content got into earlier issues (of particular interest is, I think, #5, which has a very suggestive cover showcasing massacred Vietnamese in a shadowy foreground as Marks and his company stare at the atrocity) and Murray says

The thing is that we got away with some of that stuff because we were able to do a smokescreen. We did a cover we knew they wouldn't accept, and things like the flies [buzzing around the dead bodies] you can get away with because none of the guys looking it over in the Code . . . keep in mind that the Code doesn't look at the book individually. There's a person at Marvel whose job it is to look over books and say, "Hey, the Code won't take this," and make us change it beforehand. So basically what you do is you make some trades; you can trade a "hell" for a "damn;" you can trade a puddle of blood for something else, and that's pretty much what we did when we had Hama in charge, because Hama was able to ramrod that stuff through. but it takes an editor with a lot of balls to do that sort of thing and they are in relatively short supply at Marvel.

And, with regards to royalties:

I get some royalties, but Marvel takes the position that foreign publications don't count under the royalty agreement, and in fact, the 'Nam paperbacks which you've seen [there were eventually 3 volumes, each reprinting 4 issues each] are now going into a third printing, but I don't see any money from that unless they sell above the royalty numbers, but they're printing fewer than the royalty number so there's no way I'll see any money from that. The work-for-hire agreements are set up that way, there aren't enough legal precedents to change them at the moment.

Note: emphasis is mine in the above quote

And finally, Murray mentioned that there was a communication problem between editors at the Big Two and creators who were not top-tier, which came in reference to the fact that Murray and his then-editor (I don't think he's named) had a falling out over the fact that the editor wanted to "Rambo-ize" the characters even more and Murray had a serious problem with that characterization. The editor and Murray did not speak for a number of months, there were a couple of fill-in issues done by another writer, and then Murray returned to the book. But, with regards to editorial communication, he said

It doesn't matter, it's a question of ... Marvel and DC both have - all the editors of both companies are difficult to communicate with from any level. If I was to send a story to, let's say, Denny O'Neil at DC, I would not get a call back, I would have to call him back . . . Even if it's a regularly scheduled book, if there's a problem the editor won't call you back with the problem, you have to call them back.

But, Murray notes this isn't unique to the comics publisher as he states

I've run into the same thing in the magazine industry doing film articles, I've seen the same things in publishing houses.

I'll finish up with my final thoughts on these first ten issues of the 'Nam in response to the book of the month club discussion the Comic Geek Speak guys did on this trade.

Thanks,
chris

the 'Nam vol.1 pt.3: more TCJ quotes

Some more from Murray's interview in The Comics Journal from 1990:

In response to a question about whether Marvel had directives regarding political questions of the war, Murray said

No, nothing like that. I have a personal problem with - I'm not happy with the way I've handled the racism aspect of things.

One of the things I've tried to show in The 'Nam throughout is the futility of war. I've made a point over and over again that nobody really wins. that was the whole idea behind my getting involved in this.

Later, Dagilis asks Then the series changes. Soon we have characters like the cliched, Dirty Harry-esque Iceman Phillips, the gonzo, Rambo-esque, Pig; we have scene after scene of grunts charging into armed exchanges with smiles on their faces, gleefully calling down airstrikes with napalm, etc., etc. Whereas in the first dozen or so issues, Rob Little keeps telling [Ed] Marks not to be so "John Wayne" . . .

To which, Murray says

Part of the problem is not the fact so much that Ed Marks left as . . . other people left. Around the same time you're talking about, when Marks left, I also lost Michael Golden and not that long afterward I lost Larry Hama, and at Marvel a change in editor doesn't mean nothing's going to change in the book . . .

Anyway, basically what happened was, once Michael left and Larry left, I was steered in a somewhat different direction by the editorial staff, who wanted to ... to ... I want to say this without insulting anybody ... The original concept of The 'Nam was that it was a comic book, but for a relatively adult audience.

Some final quotes and thoughts on this tomorrow.

thanks,
chris

the 'Nam vol.1 pt.2: some TCJ quotes

Yesterday, I wrote a short summary of the furor within the letters pages of The Comics Journal surrounding Marvel's The 'Nam around 1990. What follows are some interesting quotes from Doug Murray in his The Comics Journal interview from 1990. I was impressed with how candid he was, not just with regards to Marvel editorial but with his own shortcomings as the writer of the book.

I ghosted some comics at DC [around 1972], which I prefer not to talk about
I did do a few Vietnam War stories for the DC war books . . . but they were changed from Vietnam stories to World War II stories because DC was in its "Make War No More" phase and really didn't want to deal with the Vietnam War, so I just stopped talking about it, basically, and settled into doing film articles and such for magazines like Larry Brill's The Monster Times

. . . there's a balance that has to be struck. I was trained as a historian, my college degree is in history, but if you do a straight history, the audience changes considerably. And we're talking about a situation whereas prior to 1986 there was no popularization of the Vietnam War whatsoever . . . you have to make compromises doing this sort of thing, and one of the major compromises involved in dealing with a major comics company such as Marvel is that there are certain rules that I have to follow, mostly dealing with the Comics Code.

In response to a follow-up regarding how often his scripts were [censored] due to the Code, Murray said:

Very seldom, but mostly that's a question of self-censorship rather than . . . by the Comics Code. I know what the rules are and I try not to go beyond them. The one problem I have with dealing with the Comics Code under Marvel right now is language usage. It's come to the point where I can't even pseudo-swear, if you get what I mean. I can't say "freaking, everybody knows it means "fucking"-

despite the fact that they were able to use "freaking" early on, a point brought up by the interviewer Andrew Dagilis, to which Murray said

Yes, but they made us change it, you see. With the changes in management at Marvel there have been changes in what we can and can't do.

This would have been in reference to Jim Shooter leaving Marvel and, more importantly, to Larry Hama leaving The 'Nam as its editor.

More tomorrow,
chris

the 'Nam vol.1: CGS book of the month club

I've neglected the blog here for a few weeks, but I hope to get back on track in this next week. We'll see. anyway. Over at the Comic Geek Speak podcast they released another one of their Book of the Month Club episodes, this one on Marvel's first volume of The 'Nam.



This was one of the first series I started to collect on a regular basis, and managed to compile a full run (except for the final Punisher special, ugh). Surprisingly, despite the fact that the initial thought was to have the series run in real time, with characters rotating back to "the world" after their 12-month tour, this first volume collects only the first 10 issues. I decided to re-read my original issues for this discussion, and was surprised how well they did hold up years later.

But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. I also re-read the Comics Journal issue from 1990 that examined both this and Don Lomax's comics Vietnam Journal from Apple Comics. It was an interesting issue, including interviews with Lomax and Doug Murray, who was the writer on the 'Nam for its first 50 or so issues, with a couple of breaks due to editorial differences. My next few posts will discuss this book and include a number of quotes from that TCJ issue. To begin, here's my brief overview of the controversy that was going on in the letters' pages of The Comics Journal regarding Marvel's Vietnam book.

The 'Nam was taking some serious flak from readers of the Comics Journal, which probably helped inspire Gary Groth to have a Vietnam in Comics issue. The book was getting criticism from people who felt it was too juvenile, unwilling to tackle the racism and drug issues, nor able to discuss the horrors and atrocities that occurred. Also, the characterizations of later characters (particularly those after the initial year of issues) was derided as newer characters had a more gung-ho, Rambo-esque quality to them (I'm going by the commentary in this issue of TCJ, but am interested to read on after the first 10 issues and compare these initial characters to later ones). There was also the issue of all the "action" the soldiers in the book saw.

These are certainly worthwhile discussion points, and ones that the interviewer - Andrew Dagilis - brought up in his discussion with Doug Murray. Obviously, this was a Code-approved book, which meant much of what was criticized could not be brought up in the book, a luxury Don Lomax had in doing his Vietnam Journal comic for Apple comics without the need of code approval. But, where is the line? What should be allowed in what was, at least initially, a comic for adults? I think a major problem, using hindsight, is that The 'Nam should have been an Epic comic where adult situations necessary for a more realistic portrayal could have been tackled. But - and this is purely conjecture on my part - I don't know that anyone at Marvel expected The 'Nam to do well. Most likely, they expected it to fail, and threw it under the Marvel imprint. Surprisingly, it became a top 5 book, and was selling roughly 250,000 copies a month. (yeah, not too shabby).

And when it became popular, it became even harder to work in any of the grim reality that was true of the Vietnam conflict. Ironic. There also was an edict that Murray and company try to gear the book more toward a younger demographic (early teens) in order to pull in new readers. From our vantage point of the readers at the time, it would no doubt seem that Doug Murray should be the one receiving all blame for the juvenilization of the war through this comic. But, from the interview in TCJ I have, it's obvious he was trying to do the best with what he was given. Editorial had a stringent hold on the book, and the Comics Code loomed heavily above their heads. But Murray felt it necessary to do his best within these guidelines to portray as true a tale as possible in the book. Dagilis asks him a number of times, might it not be better to drop the book and try to clone it at a company that might allow him freer reign with the subject matter. Murray doesn't agree. Despite many arguments with editorial (at the time) he feels it best to continue on with his book and work in things at the edges whenever possible.

The biggest issue, for Murray (as I read it), is the fact that Murray was a novice in the comics business. After returning from Vietnam in the seventies and leaving the army, he tried his hand at writing. Being in New York, he found himself hanging around at Neal Adams's studio, where he struck up a friendship with Larry Hama. When Hama, as an editor at Marvel, was starting up his Savage Tales magazine, which would showcase b/w military stories, he called upon Murray, the only Vietnam veteran he knew who was a writer, to write him a couple of short Vietnam war stories that Mike Golden illustrated. From that, came The 'Nam, Murray's first major comics writing credit. if he'd had any experience in the comics business, things might have been different. He might have been able to use his standing to get some things pushed through editorial. Or, he might have left the book and started up another somewhere else. Thought that still seems like it might not have worked for a variety of reasons pointed out in the interview - particularly the dismal sales figures of The 'Nam's sister magazine from Marvel, Semper Fi, which showcased stunning artwork by John Severin. By the time Semper Fi was canceled with issue 9, it was only selling 13,000 copies, and I loved that book too. Could Murray have found the same success with a second Vietnam book? I doubt it. But that's all history now.

Back tomorrow with some quotes from that interview.

chris