Letters to a Young Writer

By David Gallaher
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Hey Boy,

Sunday evening, 5:30. I'm very sleepy; it's a rainy evening here, just Moon and me, but I just finished watching this Evening with Kevin Smith thing... Have you seen it? It's two discs, basically taping the lectures/entertainment sessions he's done at different universities around the country. And it's just awesome - I love that guy! But there's this story he tells about being commissioned to write a new Superman flick, and I thought of you immediately, I was practically on the floor while he was telling it. So anyway, if you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out, because it's just cool. And if anyone could appreciate it, you could.

Hey - So I want to know more about comic books. I recognize there was no segue there, and to be honest, I don't really care. I'm thinking about doing away with segues altogether - I'm crazy like that. A rebel. Bad seed, even. Anyhow, I want to know more about comic books, because I keep reading interviews with my favorite writers, and they all talk about comics … but I thought... Really, I just want to know more about comics. What are your favorites? How often do they come out? How much text is there versus illustrations? All those movies that come out based on comics - Is all the subtext and character depth that's portrayed in the movies really established on the page? I'm very curious.

Okay, I'm going - I've gotta go take more cold medicine, anyway. I promise, I didn't breathe on this email, so you should definitely not get sick. At least, not from me. Okay, I'm really going now. Take care!!

- Jen

Dearest Jennifer,

11:11 a.m.

It is a raining here in Baltimore. It’s on of those rains that chills you down to the bone. It's the rain that makes me long for a fireplace, a blanket, and a comic book. When you are tired of living in your world, comics provide a beautiful, fantastic landscape that you can visit without ever having to click on a remote control. That, in part, is one of the many reasons I am so passionate about the art form and all of its elements.

I think my upbringing had a great impact on my love for comics. My family didn’t have a television set until I was five years old. I had never really seen any sort of motion picture for many of my developmental years. In fact, I saw my first film before I had ever laid eyes on a television set. That film was: SUPERMAN.

At the tender age of five, once television became ingrained in our household, I was bombarded with superheroes. Off the top of my head, I remember the George Reeve SUPERMAN television series in rerun, followed by the Adam West / Burt Ward BATMAN series, episodes of THE SUPERFRIENDS, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, The SPIDER-WOMAN cartoon, SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS, and the SHAZAM / ISIS POWER HOUR. There, of course, were many, many other cartoons that captivated me, but I always enjoyed the ideal of the superhero. I was fascinated that superheroes would do the right thing out of a sense of duty to the community. The fact that they had cool costumes and superpowers was pretty damn swell … but really, it was secondary, at least, in my mind.

I didn’t seriously start collecting comics until I joined the Boy Scouts. Summer camp was filled with discussions of Batman, Superman, and The Justice League. After getting my geek on with fellow nerds, I felt the “calling” of comics. I felt some curious need to follow in the footsteps of these heroes that I remembered as a child. I was hooked. And so, for Christmas of my 8th grade year, my parents got me a subscription at my local comic shop.

I read a lot of comics.

As a teenager, I discovered that the comic books that I closely identified with focused on themes of isolation, alienation, empowerment, transformation, and / or social responsibility. At some point, I realized that there was much more to comic books than folks were lettering on. It was like discovering a lost artifact buried for centuries. I gained a greater confidence in myself when I discovered that other people were going through similar conflicts with their parents, with school, with their friends that I was. I wasn’t alone when I had a stack of comics with me.

Over the years, my tastes have changed … while I still have a deep fondness for superheroes, I have found that I still prefer comics that contain a greater social subtext. I want a comic book that carries with it great emotional resonance.

Recently, comics-based material has started to decimate throughout popular culture. Films like, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, BLADE, SPIDER-MAN, FROM HELL, GHOST WORLD, X-MEN, LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, HULK, BULLETPROOF MONK, ROAD TO PERDITION, and DAREDEVIL are all based on comic properties. That list doesn’t include the films of Kevin Smith or the hugely successful show: SMALLVILLE.

That being said, the first thing you should do is head to the Comic Store Locator here: http://csls.diamondcomics.com/ . Enter your zip code and it should give you a list of the closest comic stores in your area. If you can’t find a comic book store in your area, you can contact the Comic Store Locator toll-free by phone at: 1-888-COMIC BOOK. New comic books hit the stores every Wednesday. The serialized stories tend to come out monthly or semi-monthly, while

If you still can’t find a comic store in your area, not to worry … most major bookstores (Border, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, and Amazon.Com) now carry a whole slew of graphic novels and trade paperbacks.

If you are serious about collecting, and are interested in learning more about the quantum mechanics of comics, I highly suggest you beg, borrow, or steal a copy of UNDERSTANDING COMICS by Scott McCloud. The book is a beautiful manual on how comics work, and should give you some insight as to how incredible the comic world can be.

After that, a fantastic bridge from prose to the visual narrative of comics would be Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY. Chabon’s novel tells a inspiring story of two comic creators and their history with the America comic book. The is filled with incredible research and a great passion for the heroes of today and yesteryear.

I’m going to provide you with a list of a few titles, and while you mileage with each titles may vary, I urge you to keep trying different books. Comics are a richly diverse medium filled with dragons, pop stars, pirates, superheroes, spies, army men, transforming robots, and vampires. Where you go after that is up to you …

In alphabetical order, here are some books (and authors), I think you might enjoy:

21 DOWN – by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti – WILDSTORM

A CONTRACT WITH GOD – Will Eisner – DC COMICS

ALIAS – Brian Bendis – MARVEL COMICS

BLANKETS – Craig Thompson – TOP SHELF

DAMNED – Steven Grant – CYBEROSIA

DAYS LIKE THIS – J. Torres – ONI PRESS

DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING – Neil Gaiman – VERTIGO

EL CAZADOR – Chuck Dixon – CROSSGEN

GLOBAL FREQUENCY – Warren Ellis – WILDSTORM

HAWAIIAN DICK – B. Clay Moore – IMAGE COMICS

JOHNNY DOLLAR – David Gallaher – MOONSTONE BOOKS

KILL YOUR BOYFRIEND – Grant Morrison – VERTIGO

LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS – Matt Fraction – AIT/PLANET LAR

MR. KEEN – by Justin Gray – MOONSTONE BOOKS

NEW X-MEN – Grant Morrison – MARVEL COMICS

RUSE: ENTER THE DETECTIVE – Mark Waid – CROSSGEN

SLEEPER – Ed Brubaker – WILDSTORM

THE FORGOTTEN – Evan Young – FINTAN STUDIOS

TRUE STORY: SWEAR TO GOD – Tom Beland – AIT/PLANET LAR

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN – Brian M. Bendis – MARVEL COMICS

Y: THE LAST MAN – Brian K. Vaughan – VERTIGO

So, there you have it kiddo. Your homework is to seek out some of these fantastic books. Let me know if you have trouble finding any of them. I’d love to hear your opinions on my suggestions, and if you happen to pick up a stray comic book or graphic novel that isn’t on the list, I’d love to hear about that as well. And remember, in the great words of Harvey Pekar, “you can do anything with words and pictures.”

Hugs and stuff,

David












Special thanks to Jennifer Blood, a novelist based outside of Portland, Maine. Her first book, THE ONE-STOP HALLELUJAH COFFEE SHOP, is available now from Cape Elizabeth Press.

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