I’m a sucker for comics that deal with historical figures, even if it’s only loosely as an inspiration. So when I found out that the recently announced “Black Jack Ketchum” from Image featured a real life Old West outlaw, I was definitely intrigued. When I read the first issue and saw how the creators played with a very different sort of Old West, I was definitely in for the journey.
Read on as we chat with creators Brian Schirmer, Claudia Balboni, and Jeremy Saliba about “Black Jack Ketchum”, a family relation to Black Jack, playing with a different version of the Old West and much more. “Black Jack Ketchum” #1 is still available for pre-order.
“Black Jack Ketchum” is your new miniseries from Image. What’s it all about?
Brian Schirmer: Petty criminal Tom Ketchum flees a wealthy cabal who are convinced he’s a legendary outlaw. As he struggles to clear his name, Tom is joined by a mysterious gambler, a mute girl with a Winchester, and his talking sidearm. With adversaries increasing in both number and strangeness, Tom is compelled to question his identity, his sanity, and his very existence.
Claudia Balboni: It’s the story of a man who finds himself caught in a case of mistaken identity that will lead him on a long, surreal journey in the Old West.
Jeremy Saliba: It’s also about playing around with preconceived notions of story. Taking the reader down a familiar path and then shaking things up, making it strange and new.
In my prep for the interview, I found out that Black Jack Ketchum was an actual robber in the Old West. I’m sure that’s no coincidence, so how much are you drawing from the real person in this?
BS: There are allusions. There are some direct references to people and incidents from his life, particularly in the final two issues. There’s also another historical figure who’s around a bit, but who doesn’t get identified until the third issue. There’s a personal connection, too – Black Jack Ketchum is a distant relative. Great-grandmother on my mother’s side was a cousin. As such, I’d heard his name and stories all my life.
CB: When Brian told me about the project and his character, he also sent me the visual references of the real Black Jack Ketchum. I then tried to make our character design as close as possible to the real one.
JS: Having Black Jack as the basis for our character gave us a lot of material to get started with, but we had no trouble with including our own elements for this story. I always liked what Tarantino did with Inglourious Basterds, playing with his own version of history.
Straight westerns never seem to do well as comics these days, but westerns with a twist, like “Copperhead” and “Pretty Deadly” seem to find solid audiences. How are you all hoping to embrace the Western elements, but also bring other elements into play?
BS: It’s a Wild West that operates on dream logic. Now, that doesn’t mean there are no rules. There most certainly are. It’s more that traditional Western elements and motifs tend to serve atypical purposes. For example, saloons are not only places one can play cards and grab a drink, but also transportation hubs, allowing one to teleport to other watering holes in other towns.
CB: BJK is a surreal western, so it’s spiced up with many elements foreign to the classic western comics. I tried to evoke the excitement and atmosphere of the Old West in a darker and distressing visual context, to attract both the lovers of classic Westerns and people who like a more intricate and oneiric narrative style.
JS: I think Claudia nailed it. Basing the story and the visuals on the traditions of a classic western is what I think makes a book like this appealing. That’s the familiar part of the comic that makes it more accessible, but then we get to add our own twist and take the audience for a ride. I’ve always thought that if you create a familiar enough of a framework for the foundation of a story, that allows you to start playing really fast and loose with the weirder elements.
Continued belowI know that you, Jeremy and Brian, worked together on the comic “Ultrasylvania” previously, but I believe this is Claudia’s first time working with the two of you. How did Claudia get involved with the project? What was it that sold you on the project, Claudia?
BS: The project received the green light from Image Central late last year, and then within a matter of weeks our artist had to pull out. I had a couple hours of panic before I saw this as an opportunity wherein I could potentially meet some other truly accomplished illustrators while looking for the person who would truly bring this story to life. Various friends and acquaintances introduced me to some amazing artists, but ultimately Larry Watts (Dynamite’s Army of Darkness) showed me Claudia’s work and I was hooked. After she and I traded emails, she sent me her renditions of a few pages of Black Jack Ketchum. We showed those pages to Eric Stephenson and we all agreed that she knocked it out of the park.
JS: Claudia came highly recommended and we were extremely lucky to get her onboard. She’s amazingly talented, hits deadlines like a machine and is one of the most collaborative people I’ve worked with. She would always try to bring something new and original to the pages, and she added a lot to the story we were already excited to tell. There’s an edge to her work on this book that helped give everything a gritty feel, which was perfect.
CB: My esteemed colleague and friend Larry Watts gave Brian my contact. When I received the email I was thrilled to have an opportunity like that and I tried to give my best with the test pages. I felt I had a total connection with Brian and Jeremy from the beginning. When they told me I should be part of the team, I was beside myself!
Launching a new comic is never an easy thing, especially launching a comic in an already stellar market with a relatively unknown creative team. How are the three of you hoping to help “Black Jack Ketchum” stand out from the crowd and find its footing in the market?
BS: Bribes and blackmail. (Laughs) We’re doing as much as we can – sending previews to various outlets, contacting retailers direct, conducting interviews, appearing on podcasts, humbly asking for shout-outs from friends in the industry. Other than that, what can we do? We’ve got a unique book with gorgeous art and a take on a genre that I haven’t seen done before. At the end of the day, it’s going to live or die based on how well that resonates with readers.
JS: The best resources tend to be other folks in the industry. Whether it’s asking other comic creators or reading interviews, we’ve gotten a lot of ideas on how to do our best to get the word out. But the entertainment business is a democracy, and the readers vote with their wallets. They’ll be the ones who decide if Black Jack is the right story at the right time.
CB: As Brian and Jeremy said, the best that we do is publicize the book as best we can and hope to catch the attention of comic readers everywhere.
