The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

We have a nice treat for you this week; you may recall me posting a few times about the upcoming British small press title Hard Boiled Ed and how the team were showing the progress of this new noir on writer Paul Burke’s blog, letting us see how the comic came together, the story and art developing from sketches to finished work and so on (personally I enjoy the way the web allows some creators to share a glimpse into the creation of a comic with readers).

Well, this week we have a great treat for you, because the team behind Hard Boiled Ed – Paul Burke (writer), Garry Brown (artist) and Thomas Mauer (letterer) have very kindly given us the first batch of finished pages to share with our readers. I’m joined by Paul, Garry and Thomas now to see how they got into this crazy business we call comics and how Hard Boiled Ed came into being. So, as is often the case, the first question I should probably ask is how did you first get into comics?

PB: Strangely, I started writing comics before reading them. I joined Night Warrior (online comic here) to get some general experience and I was interested in the parallel between comics and film. My first comic scripts probably defied every basic rule of writing for the format. So I put the writing to one side for a while and started reading, starting with Preacher. And now you can’t move for comics in my house!

GB: I think it was the Dark Knight Returns that got me hooked again. I had read a few comics as a kid, but nothing really grabbed me, so DKR was a real jolt. It was the kind of comic I had always wanted to read. From there it was Watchmen, Preacher, Kingdom Come etc. I managed to get my first gig drawing a comic from a post on digitalwebbing.com; actually, all my comic jobs have been from there. It’s a great place for artists to find writers willing to take a chance on unknown artists.

TM: My first comic was the only East German monthly series back in the 1980s, Mosaik. During the 90s, I read Star Wars comics but nothing else. It was Brian Bendis’ and Alex Maleev’s silent issue of Daredevil that got me back into comics as a fan. Interviews with Bendis and Brian K. Vaughan made me get off my butt and start creating. I really just wanted to get a World War II short story out through Ronin Studios but ended up editing that anthology and also started lettering right then and there. This led to more editing and lettering, and now, lettering is what I do for the most part, figuring that this is my way into the industry. (I really need more time to get some writing done.)

FPI: So what actually sparked the idea for Hard Boiled Ed?

PB: The book wears obvious influences on its sleeve and I discovered most of them at university. I studied film and literature for three years and Blade Runner and The Big Sleep really captivated me. The germ of the idea started to ferment around then and finally started to take shape as I got involved in comics.

To avoid merely imitating the sources, I made the character of Ed one whose life has been shaped by these influences. He lives in a world that is rebuilding from social meltdown. Popular culture and life as we know it has now been replaced by something more akin to the Victorian era. Through his grandfather Ed discovers things like Star Wars and Blade Runner, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. The first issue shows a London where two very different societies live side by side and how one of them accommodates his act of being a detective. And that’s important, it is an act. It’s faux-noir.

FPI: That’s an interesting and unusual slant on the whole noir style and, I have to say, one that appeals to me, a kind of neo-noir almost and it means that the story is as likely to appeal to readers with an interest in SF&F as well as those with a penchant for a good gumshoe tale. Have you always wanted to do a noiresque comic? There seems to have been a bit more interest in crime/noir in comics recently, with work like Kickback, Criminal, Fell and Untouchables recently, did that have any influence on you?

PB: I read Fell; I think it’s the perfect comic book and one of Warren Ellis’ best works. The Sin City books are an influence of sorts, though I’m avoiding such a degree of violence. In the 1940s you couldn’t get away with explicit violence and sex, it had to be implied. That’s the path we’ll be taking. Besides, the comic I’m working on next will have gore by the bucket load!

GB: I haven’t read any of those but I’ve always loved strong black and white images and noir movies. I can’t help but use a lot of black ink, mostly influenced by Tim Sale’s work on things like the Long Halloween which is a totally noir story.

TM: Crime/noir is one of my favourite genres, so I try get involved in lots of projects there. Last year for example saw the release of the first issue of Silent Devil’s “Dracula vs. Capone” mini series by Jim Krueger and Chris Moreno which I was fortunate enough to get to letter. Can’t wait to see what Krueger comes up with next there.

FPI: How long is Hard Boiled Ed intended to be – is it a specific, self-contained tale or are you intending to make it more open-ended for possible further instalments?

PB: A lot depends on if a publisher picks it up or if we eventually have to self-publish (I’ve got quite a low and probably unpopular opinion on the self publishing scene!). The story that you preview here will run five or six issues, or one graphic novel. I’d like to do more though, and I do know what the next tale would be and where it would take place. Notice how the case is to find a missing person, not a killer or a Maltese Falcon – I’m interested in character stories and Ed has a story of his own to tell. In fact, issue four is shaping up to be my favourite because it largely focuses on Ed’s history and not the main plot.

GB: I hope it runs for a while, gets picked up and turns into a graphic novel. I’ve always preferred trade paperback collections than single comics. It all depends though.

FPI: I’ve confessed here more than once that I tend to read more of the trade collections these days than the traditional monthlies, so you’re not alone there. Right about now you’re showing potential publishers the work you, Thomas and Garry have put into HBE; it’s a hard job to create a decent comic itself (or we’d all be doing it!) but how much harder is it to actually try and get it published and then, if you do, how hard is it to get it noticed? I know David Lloyd, despite his fame is still working damned hard to publicise Kickback for instance.

PB: We’re literally just starting to approach publishers now so it’s too early to say how hard it is to get published – we might get lucky! We’ll aim high to begin with but there are lots of publishers around, though it would be nice if there were one or two more in the UK. I think if your book is decently written and looks good then you have every chance. Like the film industry, some awful things get backed so you have to believe what you do is genuinely better than some of the stuff around. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so we know at least we’re not blindly thinking it’s good because we think so, others do too.

As for getting noticed – bands are getting record deals via MySpace, and with sites like ComicSpace and deviantART then the same could start to happen. I actually think publishers would be mad to not invest some time doing some web scouting. The internet is so influential and the industries change around it. I think it is more important than ever for creators to directly interact with their audience and I hope people like David can embrace the changes because I think it’s vital that people of his stature and experience mingle with the upcoming online generation of creators, we’ll both gain.

I think the next stage will be more sophisticated and successful web based indie publishers who can pick up creators, pay page rates, release for download or to view on your ipod, and then distribute as a graphic novel. It’s something I’ve been thinking of myself if I can assemble the right team.

TM: Getting pitches in front of publishers depends on who you know and to see them picked up on if you can get favours. It’s the end of January and already many publishers I know are already filling up all slots for 2008, so it can be tough Fingers crossed, though!

FPI: Well, we’ll keep our fingers crossed for you and meantime please do enjoy these pages Paul, Garry and Thomas have supplied us with (click on them for the full-size images) along with some comments from the guys and, of course, any comics publishers reading this please to have a good look and think about it because some of us would like to push back the brim of our Fedora hat and read this in full. You can get more updates at Paul’s blog and see more of Garry’s illustrations at deviantART.

PB: A slight variation of this page recently went down a storm on deviantART. The strange thing is, neither of us were happy with it to begin with!

GB: Well I still don’t like it. It’s not what we talked about, but we get good feedback from it. It’s become a popular page.

PB: I like this page a lot, this is me learning to tell story without using dialogue! Ed has to take his hat off to leave the house – he wants to be like Marlowe and the Continental Op and wants to look like them too, but in this future his hat is far too conspicuous, no good for a detective!

GB: I thought this page came out well, not great. We get our first clear look at Ed, which I liked. It’s a reveal of sorts to the reader, now he doesn’t look like much.

PB: Garry’s work is stunning and these pages really show it off. I love the way we jump from a few classically noir pages to this vision of a future London. You’ve got the crumbling Big Ben, the monorail and the vast mysterious structures rising into the sky. It makes me want to read on anyway!

GB: Originally this was just going to be a single page, but we talked it over and both agreed that a two-page spread was the way to go. It gave me room to add more details of Old London and to get a feel for what the rest of the story will look like. In Ed’s office it’s all dark and moody, just the way Ed wants it, but in this image he’s out in the real world so there’s more light and detail. It came out well I think.

TM: This spread makes me want to see more of Garry’s art and definitely more of Hard Boiled Ed. It’s breathtaking. I’m honoured Paul and Garry let me letter the pitch for them.

I do hope that’s whetted your appetites, it certainly has for me. Naturally we’ll let you know as soon as we hear the print version of Hard Boiled Ed is ready to order.