Mark Wheatley, writer and illustrator of Frankenstein Mobster, recently took the time to answer questions regarding this new bimonthly series for Image. Frankenstein Mobster is described as “A robust mixture of horror, action and humor sets the tone of this newest hit series from Image as former police officer Terry Todd discovers that being dead just doesn't work out for him. Now he's been revived in a patchwork body, suddenly confronted with three unscrupulous mobsters sharing his head. As he tries to help the residents of Monstros City and get to know his daughter better, he struggles with the malevolent malefactors time-sharing his noggin.” Issue #0 went on sale on October 1, and the first issue will be released in December. Wheatley is known in the industry for several different reasons, be it his establishment (with Marc Hempel) of Insight Studios in 1980, or his work on such books as Hammer of the Gods, Breathtaker, The Black Hood, Radical Dreamer, Mars and many other works.
Tim O’Shea: How much of a bible/back story have you developed for Monstros City?
Mark Wheatley: My back story/bible goes back to the American Revolutionary War - and earlier material is implied. I had to work out how the two towns of Hydes and Druid Hill combined and became Monstros City. I had to know how the place became a lure for the monsters and the mobs. And something like that doesn't just happen over night. I've got things worked out to such a degree that my characters are telling ME things about the history of the town. And it all makes sense. And this is important. It has to make sense to me. If I don't believe it then my subconscious mind won't believe it. And that's where the story ideas and characters come from. Since I do believe it, the stories and characters are almost writing themselves at this point. I've got plots and springboards for enough stories to last another decade now, and I'm sure I'll have more in a few weeks.
Having that kind of bible material and so many stories available allows me to put a plot on "simmer" and then bring it to a slow boil. Tends to add more flavor that way.
TO: Will the book sometimes focus more on the dynamics of the city than Terri or Terry Todd?
MW: The social conflict between the emigrant monsters and the corrupt mob-run city is the basic dramatic setting for my characters. It gives them something to push and pull against. It gives them motive and frustration. It makes my job of telling compelling stories easier. But the series is ABOUT the characters. In this case, while Monstros City functions almost as a character, I'm not really interested in just giving a travelogue on your visit. What you will see and learn about Monstros City will come because a character has revealed it as needed to tell a compelling story.
TO: Do you do a great deal of research when developing your stories? Why I ask is that the standard horror tale doesn't include attributions to Thomas Hood's Song of the Shirt...
MW: I had written issue #0 and even drawn it, knowing that I wanted Doctor Solva to be singing something as she worked, sewing up the body parts that will become the Frankenstein Mobster. Kind of a whistle while you work scenario. But I didn't know exactly what she was singing. So I went hunting for sewing songs. I used the internet and did a few hours of searching on Google and Yahoo and I collected a number of candidates. But I was attracted to the Hood song because of the Victorian grimness, the arcane metaphors between wearing out cloth and wearing out life. And it appealed to my sense of humor to have Solva sing this to her "child", the Frankenstein Mobster.
So I guess I research what I need to in order to make the story work. I have a large amount of visual reference material of old movies, model cars and trucks and guns, guns, guns. I also did a bit of reading on American history to get a feel for how cities grew.
For the architecture of Monstros City I am using the back streets of Paris. I visited there last year and knew I had found the look I needed for the Dead End of Monstros City. The buildings all had an old world charm - but they also had seen better days. So I have stacks of books on Paris architecture.
This is all just a part of the process of making my fantasy world seem real.
TO: How hard is it to write a character like Terry, who is in essence four personalities merged into one--what with the minds of three dead mobsters in his head?
MW: Finding a character's "voice" is usually the moment when I feel like I know who they are, and can write them convincingly. The Frankenstein Mobster remained a cipher for a long time while I was developing this series. And that was due to the long time it took me to grasp the essential truth of the character - that he is NOT a single character - but a group or characters. The Frankenstein Mobster is Terry Todd, a cop. But he is also three mobsters, Twitch Randall, Hammer Grady and Stitches O'Neill. I didn't "get" the Frankenstein Mobster until I came to know each aspect of this complex personality.
But now that I know Frankie, he has become the most compelling character I've ever written. Entire dramas could be staged inside his own head. A very good cop is revived in a patchwork body only to discover he is sharing his flesh with the souls of three of the worst mobsters who ever walked the streets of Monstros City. This one good cop finds himself locked into an inner battle with these evil creeps as to who will have control. This is all about; will the Frankenstein Mobster do the right thing? Or will the Frankenstein Mobster do the wrong thing?
This series is a child of the single best concept that has ever existed to create great drama. William Faulkner said, "the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself...alone can make good writing because that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat." He also said that the writer should only deal with "the verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed - love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice." But I'm not as serious a guy as Faulkner comes off here. So in this kind of emotional honesty I also find a great deal of humor.
TO: How did this project land at Image versus being published by Insight Studios? Do you think the project is garnering more industry attention under the Image banner?
MW: The real problem I faced was; I had more creative energy than I could focus into my job as the head of Insight Studios, publisher. We have quite a few talented people working with Insight and every one of them turns out wonderful, beautiful stories, comics, illustrations, you name it. But usually it requires me to kick in and help at some point. During the time that I've been attempting to get Frankenstein Mobster on my front burner, ISG has had some of its most successful years. So all my time was going into building the business, making a firm, solid base of operations for our team of artists and writers. But success is a jealous mistress. She always wants more from you. I finally just had to say no to the direction I was getting pulled in. And with the help of my studio mates I've been able to re-imagine ISG as a maternity ward for ideas, rather than the sausage factory, so to speak. And that, along with help from the folks at Image Comics, has given me the extra time I needed to put the finishing touches on Frankie.
So working with Image made it possible for me to do all the creative work of writing, drawing, lettering (I even designed most of my fonts) and painting a bi-monthly comic book series. And I still then have time to keep Insight Studios marching along.
What has been very gratifying has been the explosion of creative energy that has come from my buddies at Insight Studios during this same period. Jerry Carr and Allan Gross have gotten the ashcan of their Tails From The Cryptozoo in print and it is selling well at conventions. Marc Hempel and I are finally starting in on some new collaborations. Harry Roland has blossomed as a comic artist with his new Trying Times daily strip that we'll be launching on our web pages early next year. And Mike Oeming and Allan Gross have completed their long-running serial; Doctor Cyborg - and that will be hitting our web pages early next year as well. The Al Williamson Adventures book that I produced has made a real splash in the book and library market. And we have attracted two new and amazingly talented artists into the ISG fold; Ben Caldwell and Adrian Salmon. Frankly I can't list all the projects that are now in development.
TO: What has been the response to the Frankenstein Mobster/Vampirella webcomic?
MW: The response has been pretty amazing. Aside from some new fans I attracted, who had never seen my work before, who decided I didn't like to draw noses . . .
We ran the strip on-line through the month of August and the strip got well over 350,000 hits in the four weeks that it ran on our InsightStudiosGroup.com site. Since the strip uses Steve Conley's Web-Casting technique we estimate over 600,000 hits across the Internet. We are currently re-running the strip and are getting the same kind of numbers.
TO: How fun has it been for you to draw Vampirella along with your own creation?
MW: I got the rights to have the Vampirella cross-over because of a lingering adolescent fantasy I've had lurking about deep in my psyche ever since I was a 14 year old kid reading the OLD Vampirella magazine. I also did one of the alternate covers for this new first issue of Vampirella Magazine. THAT was a dream come true. I even did a mock-up of the art in the old Warren magazine format just to see how it would look. I know this is stupid. But that's what I do for fun! If fans want to see that version they need to check out the secret word that is listed in issue #0 of Frankenstein Mobster. That word will give them access to our on-line Crypt of Frankenstein Mobster. This is my bonus material club for readers of my comic book. The secret word will be up-dated with each new issue. And the Cryptis updated on a fairly regular basis.
TO: Any chance she'll be appearing in the bimonthly regular series?
MW: No current plans. But it did work the other way. Frankenstein Mobster appears in the first issue of Vampirella Magazine with an interview that was conducted by Vampirella herself!
TO: On a semi-related note, am I right in thinking you like to inject a certain level of sex appeal/sensuality in your horror?
MW: Absolutely!
TO: What is the most enjoyable aspect of seeing a project like Frankenstein Mobster finally published after all the effort you've put into the character over time?
MW: I just love getting up in the morning knowing that I get to draw monsters! How much more fun could you get out of life?
TO: Is there anything else you'd like to discuss that I did not ask?
MW: I just want to let people know that I'm on "My Favorite Haunts" tour and if they want to meet me - this is their chance:
TRUE BELIEVERS Gallery showing in Santa Fe NM begins Oct 18th though the end of the year - original art from FM #0 on display - limited signed prints on sale TRUE BELIEVERS COMICS & GALLERY Contact Laura Marsh (505) 99-2TRUE 435 S. Guadalupe Santa Fe, NM 87501-2652
MARYLAND FANTASTIQUE FILM FEST Thursday, October 30, 2003 through Saturday, November 1, 2003 to be held at the CHESAPEAKE ARTS CENTER 194 Hammonds Lane Brooklyn Park, MD 23225 Contact: Susan Svehla at 410-665-1198 http://www.midmar.com/MFFFindex.html
November 13-16 4TH ANNUAL MIDWEST ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY CONFERENCE Hyatt Regency, Lexington KY Stephen Zimmer President, MEIC/MEII 859.223.1560 http://www.midwestentertainmentconference.com
MID-OHIO COMIC BOOK CONVENTION - Nov. 29 & 30, 2003 Hilton Columbus Easton Town Center, Columbus, OH http://www.midohiocon.com/
