How do you follow the the a comic series like “Fearscape” that was at times a meta-commentary on stories with a unique and challenging narrative with an purposefully unlikable and unreliable narrator? You craft a semi-sequel series that challenges and questions the idea of sequels with the same meta commentary, challenging narrative and a cruel narrator like Henry Henry that was present in “Fearscape.” This is exactly what writer Ryan O’Sullivan with artist Andrea Mutti, colorist Vladimir Popov, letterer Andworld Design and designer Tim Daniel had done with “A Dark Interlude.”
To better understand this new series and sift through the narrative presented by Henry Henry, we were able to speak to creator Ryan O’Sullivan. Ryan discusses the idea behind “A Dark Interlude,” challenging readers, working with Andrea and Vladimir again, Vault Comics and more.
A big thanks to Ryan for taking the time to answer our questions and discuss his new series. “A Dark Interlude” is now out in stores and online and if you wanted to explore the story set before you can do so in the collected edition of “Fearscape” also available now.
For those not initiated to the world of Henry Henry, who is this man and what is “A Dark Interlude?”
Ryan O’Sullivan: “A Dark Interlude” is set in the same dark fantasy (think Sandman) world as my last book, “Fearscape.” It has the same cast of characters as “Fearscape” and takes place 18 months after the events of “Fearscape.” On the surface I see why some people think it’s a sequel. I respect their opinion, even if it’s not an opinion I personally share.
As for the plot itself? That is best experienced by reading the comic. I’m not a fan of writing “hooky” premises to pitch things in elevators. The comic exists because I wanted to tell the story a certain way: abridging it here would go against that, and could not possibly do justice to it. I know it’s common practice in comics for creators to have cross-pitches at the ready, but I’m trying to push back against that. One thing we discovered when promoting “Fearscape” was that high-concept “pitchy” ideas didn’t reflect the book – it’s built around the tone of the unreliable narrator, Henry Henry. So for Issue #1 we had this pitch that went “There’s a magical world beyond our world where all the things we fear exist as living creatures. Once per generation The Muse travels to our world, finds out greatest storyteller, and brings them to the “Fearscape,” so that they might do battle with these fears on our behalf. All has been well for centuries, until The Muse accidentally picks Henry Henry, the world’s greatest plagiarist.”
And, yeah it explains the book, and the unexpected hook at the end goes some way to indicate the alternative/subversive conceit of the story; But none of it communicates the tone of the book. So when it came to promoting the trade paperback collection, the back cover blurb was just Henry Henry, the narrator, ranting about how back cover blurbs were a waste of ink. It said nothing about the story of the book (and why should it? that sort of thing is for the inside of the book, not the outside) but it did communicate tone. This allowed prospective readers, in the ten seconds it takes them to read the blurb, to tell whether their humor aligns with mine, and whether spending time with me is going to be enjoyable for them.
To anyone curious about “A Dark Interlude,” the best thing they can do is read the preview pages available online. That will give you a better idea of the feel, story, tone, and art than I can in an interview.
As a creator what made wanting to return to this world and the character of H.H you created in “Fearscape?”
RO: As “Fearscape” drew to a close, I realized I wasn’t done. The overall “mission statement” of the series had matured, and needed expanding upon. Plus the irony of doing something as creatively barren as a sequel, whilst bemoaning the state of creativity in the comics industry, was too much of a self-own to not jump on.
Continued belowThe death-drive reveals itself in mysterious ways.
With the success of the first series did that help for you to be able to experiment and “push the envelope” more with this story?
RO: No. I try to push the envelope with everything I write, regardless of its commercial success or viability. Sure, it’s nice that “Fearscape” sold well/was reprinted a million times/made a billion best of lists. But none of that matters. So many bad comics have the same sort of success. It’s meaningless. The only thing that matters is whether the work is good and if I am improving on a book-by-book basis. My own obsession towards this is what motivates me to push the envelope.
This is one of the reasons I’ve been co-writing graphic novels with musicians, recently. Working alongside folks like Yungblud has allowed me to stretch a different set of creative muscles. That all feeds back into personal work like “A Dark Interlude.”
With this series you are telling a narrative that is actively challenging the reader at times. Is there a fear that you may push away some readers? How do you create a challenging narrative that is still approachable on some level?
RO: This is very much an active fear of mine. The vast majority of comic readers in the direct market are superhero fans who enjoy stories filled with characters that explain everything. So creating a book that forces the reader to think, and selling it into a market full of readers who are conditioned to having everything over-explained to them, seemed like a big risk.
However, comic readers are actually much smarter than the majority of comics would have you believe. Because of this, creating books like “Fearscape” and A Dark Interlude aren’t as much of a risk as they might seem. It sounds nauseating to say it, but if you believe your readers are smarter than you, then they will be. It’s one of those self-fulfilling things, isn’t it? Treat your readers like imbeciles, and only imbeciles will read your work. Treat your readers as intelligent people, not needing to signpost everything, allowing them to do some of the heavy lifting, and they’ll play along.
That said, make the work too abstruse, and it becomes unreadable. It’s a difficult balancing act. And there’s no real rule for it. My grounding is to simply write works with the complexity/opaqueness I would enjoy reading.
My biggest worry is readers liking “A Dark Interlude” even if they don’t understand it. So many critics of “Fearscape” said it was “literary” or “transcended comics”. It’s neither of those things. That was just what the unreliable narrator told them to think. Honestly, inaccurate praise is far more harmful than accurate criticism. I’m reminded of Nabokov. The success of Lolita wasn’t due to the western world having an appreciation of complex literature, but was due to a lot of people, of both genders, being attracted towards the taboo of a certain kind of sexual union. My worry isn’t that readers think A Dark Interlude is bad. My worry is that readers will like it for the wrong reasons.
I have to assume a book like this with a character like H.H might be difficult for some publishers. Vault has seemed to be a great support with the series, we have even seen H.H taking over their twitter. What has working with Vault been like as a creator, has that support helped the success of the book?
RO: They are a relatively new publisher run by two relatively young guys. Which means they don’t know better than to listen to antagonistic writers with harebrained schemes, and are up for trying out stuff that older publishers might be wary of. They want to make their mark. They are doing. I love them for it.
For the Henry Henry twitter takeover, I wrote out a list of tweets, with the idea that Adrian Wassel (Vault’s editor-in-chief) would tweet them from the Vault account as the day went on. (They knew better than to give me direct access.) This went fine to start with, until I sent him a tweet where Henry Henry referred to Adrian as a “failed writer turned editor”. From that point on Adrian, as Henry, went off script. He still tweeted the tweets I’d prepared, and stuck to the general road map, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t a little nervous. (I imagine I felt how Adrian usually feels when I send him a script!)
Continued belowWhen I consider that all of my White Noise studio mates (Dan Watters, Ram V, Alex Paknadel) are all creating books that are being published through Vault, I realize that Vault’s ongoing success is proof that all a publisher needs to do is find good creatives and trust them to make good work. It sounds like the most obvious thing in the world, but so many publishers fail at this most basic hurdle:
Find good creators, get out of their way.
Your take on the unreliable narrator and how it fueled “Fearscape” and has now informed the take on a sequel with “A Dark Interlude” is done very well by your ability to use the unique aspects of the comic medium. Why do you think comics is a medium that helps with these deconstructed stories and how have you tried to use the medium to your advantage?
RO: Comics is a fringe medium, and the language of it hasn’t been explored as thoroughly as film, poetry, or prose. We in comics harp on that comics “aren’t for kids”, but I don’t see many comics that engage the brain all that much. There is nothing in comics that equals Shakespeare, Nabokov, or Joyce. There should be.
With this new story you are calling out the tropes of a sequel. As a writer how do you do this while not having your story fall for the same tropes or is that the point?
RO: The entire conceit of the book is playing with the idea that all of the western canon is one big, endless, sequel. Every writer is influenced by those who came before. Nothing is created in a vacuum.
“A Dark Interlude” also showcases the return of Andrea’s amazing art. As a partner what has he brought to the series and what have you seen in his evolution from “Fearscape?”
RO: It’s great making comics with Andrea Mutti and Vladimir Popov again. They both have particular skill sets perfect for this book, and the shared authorial voice the three of us bring is unique in how mood-focused it is. The focus of “A Dark Interlude” is always on the inner feelings of the characters, and the feeling of the situations they find themselves in. So the art has to reflect this obsession with mood. (Rather than visual bombast, or kinetic energy, or physical beauty, etc.) It mostly comes down to character expressions as a chief focus, with the right colors to support. Incredibly basic things to speak on, but good storytelling is just the fundamentals done well. That’s why Andrea and Vlad’s work sings so well in “A Dark Interlude,” because they’re storytellers.
What do you hope readers take away from their reading experience with “A Dark Interlude?”
RO: A hunger to read more complex comics.
