Interviews 

Multiversity Comics Presents: Jay Faerber

By | September 13th, 2011
Posted in Interviews | % Comments

In a month full of new #1s from DC, it’s important to remember that there are several other #1 issues hitting the stands this month from multiple publishers. Amongst those is the fantastic new crime-based ongoing story from Image, Near Death, focusing on a lapsed killer who gets a second shot at life, choosing to make up for his crimes in an unconventional way. The book comes out next week, but we’re going to sell it to you today.

Today on Multiversity Comics Presents, we chat with Near Death writer Jay Faerber about his upcoming book, the main character, the comic world of today, writing for television versus comics and cats. Check behind the cut for the full interview with Jay, and check out a teaser preview of Near Death here.


To start with, in your own words what is Near Death about?

Near Death is about a professional killer named Markham who is gravely injured when a job goes bad. He’s dead for a few minutes and in that time he has a near death experience in which he gets a glimpse of Hell. When he’s revived, he’s so rattled by the experience that he vows try to balance the scales of his life so that when he finally dies, he won’t end up in Hell. To that end, he wants to save a life for every life he’s taken. So now he’s got to use all the talents he’s honed as an assassin and apply them to saving lives instead of taking them.

Where did the idea for this series come from?

I’ve always been attracted to redemption stories — I love stories about bad guys trying to go straight. I also love the crime genre, and this was a way to do a procedural crime book with a unique hook. I like stuff that can be summed up in a sentence or two. But if you’re asking for the specific moment of when I got the idea — I don’t know. It was just a matter of rolling ideas around in my head until they solidified into this one.

As a fan of the crime genre, what are your favorite works that influence your writing in Near Death?

I’m influenced by mystery writers like Robert B. Parker, Lee Child, and Robert Crais, and TV legend Stephen J. Cannell is another huge influence on me. The shows he created in the 80s (The Rockford Files, Wiseguy, etc.) had an enormous impact on me, both in terms of creating this series, but also in my overall development as a writer.

Unlike some of your previous work like Noble Causes and Dynamo 5, this is an entirely superhero-free title. How did the decision come about to write such a drastic switch in genre? Are there any elements of your previous superhero work that you are bringing to Near Death?

It’s kind of funny, because I know this SEEMS like a drastic switch in genres, but I’ve been just as much a crime fan as a super-hero fan since … well, forever. So to me, it’s no switch at all. I’m just pursuing another genre that I feel passionate about.

Aside from my individual writing style, I don’t think there will be any elements from my super-hero books in Near Death. At least, nothing on a conscious level.

What kind of prep work went into writing Near Death? Did you research any kind of near death phenomena?

None at all. I knew the specific kind of experience I wanted Markham to have, so I didn’t have to do any research.

A large theme of the book is redemption, in that the lead character Markham is seeking to rectify his past mistakes in order to avoid a horrific fate. We don’t know too much about Markham’s past, though, so to what extent is that even possible? Can a character like Markham be redeemed?

That’s the question we’ll be exploring in the book, so it’s not one I really want to answer here — and I’m not even sure I could. I don’t k now if I even know the answer. And part of it is because Markham hasn’t had a change of personality. He’s probably a borderline sociopath. He really doesn’t care about people — even the ones he’s now protecting. He’s protecting them purely for selfish reasons. So the other question we’re asking is, if a man does good deeds for the wrong reason, does that still make him a hero?

Continued below

While Markham’s vision/turning point is somewhat mystical in nature, the rest of the book is very realistic. Are there any plans to bring in any additional mystical elements in the future, or is it staying a street-level title?

The book is 100% street-level. The brief vision of Hell we got in the first issue was just a device to illustrate what Markham experienced. I don’t plan on using any other supernatural elements in the book.

To you, what makes Near Death special? In a month that will be flooded with new #1s every week, what are your favorite stand-out elements of Near Death that can’t be found in your average title (aside from the simple fact that it’s great)?

Well, mainly, Near Death is NEW and ORIGINAL. September is flooded with issue #1’s that are neither. They’re just reboots of existing characters and concepts we’ve been reading about our whole lives. And Near Death is a crime book in a time when crime books are starting to make a comeback. We’ve got CRIMINAL and STUMPTOWN and Veritgo’s crime OGNs. If you like any of those books, I think you’re going to like Near Death.

How did you and Simone Guglielmini get together for the book? What’s it like to work together on the series?

I searched extensively for the right artist for this book, since I needed someone who could draw normal people in normal clothing, and cars and all that stuff. Artists for a grounded crime book would have different strengths than artists for a super-hero book. And I eventually found Simone on DeviantArt and fell in love with his stuff immediately. He’s been amazing to work with. As I write this, he’s already working on the sixth issue — and our first issue hasn’t even come out yet! He and I are both really committed to getting this book out on time every month. I couldn’t be happier with him.

You’ve done a lot of work with company-owned properties and currently work on the CW series Ringer. Is there any inherent difference in process for you when working on other people’s properties versus working on ideas that are entirely your own?

There are a lot of differences, mainly because when I’m working on other peoples’ characters, I don’t have final say as far as the story goes. I have varying degrees of input, but the final decision isn’t mine. Whereas when I work on my own characters, the buck stops here. Each work experience has advantages and disadvantages. I’ve been on the Ringer staff for a little over 3 months now, and it’s really nice being in a writers’ room where we all plot out the stories together. It’s nice to have a group there to pool ideas and stuff. But I also like the solitude and autonomy of working on my own stuff, where each and every storytelling decision is totally my own.

You had mentioned to us previously that a lot of your writing is teleplay inspired, based on your actual work for the television medium. What aspects of writing for TV do you bring to your comic scripts? Are there any aspects of television that you feel does not translate well to the comic medium?

Well, I’ve been a comic book writer a lot longer than a TV writer. So I have much more comic book writing experience to draw from. But I think the thing that doesn’t really translate well from TV to comics is that in TV you can have a lot of scenes with characters just talking to each other — talking heads, in other words. And unless you’ve got really terrible actors, it’ll work fine. It’ll hold peoples’ interest. But in comics, having too many scenes of talking heads can get kind of boring. I think you have to make more of an effort to keep things visually interesting so your audience (and your artist!) doesn’t get bored.

Given that in television a number of writers work on any given show, have you considered opening up Near Death somewhere down the line for other writers to take a stab at the series?

Continued below

No, one of the things I like most about comics is the autonomy and the amount of creative control that a writer and artist have. I’m in no hurry to mess with that.

The basic idea of Near Death, with Markham avenging the people he has murdered, is incredibly open ended and at least the first three issues are all one-and-done reads. With Near Death being an ongoing title, how far down the line do you have planned for it at the moment? Are there plans for larger arcs?

The first six issues are already written, and I have a rough arc in mind up through #12. But the book will remain mostly stand-alone stories with occasional two-parters. Issues 4-5 are a two-part story, for instance. And an arc DOES develop over the first five issues. When you read them all you’ll see an arc that was building sort of behind the scenes.

I don’t have a set timeline for the series — it’ll go as long as the audience supports it. But it does have a finite ending. I know exactly how it will end, I just don’t know WHEN.

With that in mind, is there anything in particular about the one-and-done comic that you prefer over X amount of issues ending with “To Be Continued…”? Or vice versa?

Since most of my super-hero work was very serialized, I wanted to impose a more strict structure on myself, just to keep things interesting and challenging. It’s really easy to end a story with “To Be Continued” or with lots of threads left hanging. It’s kicking the can down the street. And it’s appealing because it’s easier than tying things up in a satisfying way. I’ve written a lot of stories that never really end, so this time around I wanted to make sure that most issues have a set beginning, middle, and end.

We live in a world where people are often much more cynical about comics and their buying habits, with larger publishers flooding the market with titles and smaller publishers and titles struggling more to survive in that environment. As someone who works in the medium and is a fan, what is your take on the current climate of the industry?

I think we’re in a time of transition, as people — including publishers, creators, and readers — try to figure out exactly how the digital marketplace is going to work. I can’t predict how it’s all going to shake out, but I think we’re in the time of trial and error where digital stuff is concerned.

Besides Near Death, do you have any other upcoming projects?

I’ve got a couple Image mini-series that I’ve been working on slowly, in the background. But it’s too early to talk details on them. Right now I’m kept pretty busy on Ringer, so I only have time to work on Near Death.

As a final complete curveball question – Cats: friends to all, or scourge of the land?

I’ve had the same two cats for the past 11 years or so, so I’m gonna with “friends to all.” No contest.


Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

EMAIL | ARTICLES