Interviews 

Multiversity Comics Presents: Scott Snyder

By | April 1st, 2010
Posted in Interviews | % Comments

Today we have another entry in our Multiversity Comics Presents series, as we recently had the chance to talk to American Vampire creator and writer Scott Snyder. While a lot of attention was showered on that title due to Stephen King’s participation, it also earned every bit of praise that was graced upon it thanks to an exceptional concept and a stellar story from Snyder. In fact, in my review of the first issue, I called it the best debut issue in recent memory.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do. Not only is this team immensely talented but they’re also really nice guys and deserve your support. Expect an interview with series artist Rafael Albuquerque as well very soon.

Check out the interview after the jump.

You started your writing career writing prose, with the short story collection Voodoo Heart. How did you decide to get into the world of comics?

SS: Well, in ’08, a buddy of mine organized an anthology of stories by contemporary writers that had them make up new superheroes – a book of origin stories (it’s called “Who Can Save Us Now?”). I wrote a story for the book about a young man caught in the Bikini Atoll tests in the 40’s, who returns home with strange side-effects (“The Thirteenth Egg”). The story got picked up for a magazine, too – the Virginia Quarterly – and caught the attention of a couple comic editors. Two of them actually came to the launch reading for the book, and approached me afterward. They asked if I was actually a comic fan or not and I told them that I was (I actually had some Secret Invasion issues in my bag that night) and that meeting led to some opportunities to pitch. It’s funny because I’ve been a lifelong comic fan and consider my comic influences as important as my literary ones. But I never tried to break into comic writing because I didn’t know how. Without any sort of access, the idea didn’t occur to me.

As a writer, what attracts you to the genre of horror and to more deeply understanding the conventions of it?

SS: I’ve just always been a big horror fan. And there are elements of horror in my literary fiction, too. As for why, I don’t know, maybe because I was a chubby, geeky kid, and came of age in the 80’s, when there was a slew of slasher films where the popular kids got offed.

How did you develop American Vampire?

SS: I came up with it several years ago in a pretty mundane way. I was in a hobby shop in the West Village and I was looking at the statuettes and figurines for a present for my friend who’s a big Dr. Who fan and there was this statue of an zombie Confederate soldier, and it just got me thinking about how monsters and history and how there are so few monsters (other than Romero’s zombies) that are indigenous to the US. Vampires, werewolves, they’re all Old World creatures. This was also at a time when there was another glut of vampire stuff out (I guess there’s always a glut) – sequels to Blade and Underworld and Queen of the Damned… All with that same look to them – the Matrix-style, sunglasses at night, leather trench-coat,super-slick style, like they’re going to some club that’s too cool for you. Anyway, I started thinking that it would be fun to see vampires with a different character to them, something more animalistic and feral. And the real idea hit me: why not make up a new species of vampire – something born, here, with new powers, new weaknesses… A new look. So the idea for this American species took shape, and from there it exploded and became this bigger idea to have a genealogical tree of vampires from different time periods and locations around the world. A secret history where the bloodline, every once in a while, hits someone new from somewhere new and makes something new – the bloodline mutates and creates a new species

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I noticed your vampires don’t sparkle in sunlight. What’s wrong with your vampires?

SS: Ours actually twinkle. It’s trademarked.

On a more serious note, what’s your opinion on the direction vampires have been taken in the past few years?

SS: I think it’s great that something like Twilight exists – honest. Vampires as Tiger Beat pin-ups and teen heartthrobs is an original take on them. And I genuinely love watching True Blood. The idea is fresh there too – re-imagining vampires as this social underclass, and the story-telling there is huge fun. Anything that does something new with vampires, I’m up for. I just happen to like my vampires scarier. And not scary because they’re so exotic or alien or alluring. Scary because they’re fucking feral, vicious, undead versions of he people you love. Dracula himself is scary, but Mina is really scary. Your little brother, Ralphie Glick (Salem’s Lot), scratching at your bedroom window to be let in, that’s scary. Your big brother Mike (Lost Boys) turning into someone who wants to kill you – that’s scary. To me, vampires are scary the way zombies are scary – because they’re evil versions of the people you know and love, but even worse because they’re cunning and powerful and blackly evil. Your dream girl turning out to be a vicious murderer (Near Dark) – that’s the vampires I love.

How did you get Stephen King involved with the project?

SS: Steve got involved because I’d sent him the pitch to see if he’d be up for giving a quote or doing an intro for the trade at some point – really just seeing if he’d be up for writing a line or two. I’d been lucky enough to get my book of stories (Voodoo Heart) to him through a close mutual connection, and he’d been kind enough to blurb the collection – we’d kept in touch since. Anyway, he wrote back saying he liked the character of Skinner enough that he’d actually be up for writing an issue or two if anyone would let him. I was like: if anyone will let you? So he started off using a loose 2-issue outline I’d provided on the characters. But a couple weeks in, he wrote me asking if he might be able to go off the rez a little. So I told him to do anything he wanted and he went back and he ended up writing 5 full issues, taking the characters to darker, better places than I’d thought of at all. It was incredibly inspiring to watch him work. The guy is a genius. The series is exponentially better for his involvement.

What was it like working with SK?

SS: The thing about Steve, is that when he likes a story, he writes like a hungry young writer, right out of the gate – a writer with something to prove, not like someone established (established beyond anyone out there!). It’s inspiring to see someone of his stature go to the mat for a story that way. We emailed and spoke every day for those couple months – talked ideas, edits… The series as a whole, not just his part of it, is exponentially better for his involvement. I couldn’t be more grateful to him.

Before Stephen got on board, was it always the plan to tell the two separate stories in the first five issues?

SS: No, we were going to just do the Pearly story in cycle 1, then do some of Skinner’s story before hitting cycle 2. But then Steve started writing and he did so much with the story – he made it so much richer and deeper and bigger that we decided to do them back to back.

How did the book end up with Vertigo?

SS: The editor who came to the anthology reading, Mark Doyle, gave me a chance to pitch a couple ideas. I went in for lunch, pitched American Vampire, which I’d been considering doing as a series of stories or even a book, and Mark got excited. It’s funny because I think he expected me to pitch something less high-concept, less plot-driven, but this was what I wanted to do more than anything. So he helped me re-tool my pitch a lot for Will Dennis and Karen Berger, I gave it in, and they all were very enthusiastic. The series got bought right about a year ago (another lifetime best day). Stephen got involved right after the series was greenlit.

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Rafael Albuquerque is an artist that is perhaps a bit less known in the industry but a phenomenally talented one. How did he end up being the artist for American Vampire?

SS: Vertigo lined up some artists to audition for the series. Rafa was actually the first person I saw. He did a series of sketches of Pearl and Skinner based on the series pitch and he just nailed it. He understood the characters – that was what did it. He had their faces, their expressions, their attitudes – he’s an incredibly expressive artist. I was doubly enthusiastic about him when he mentioned that he’d like to work collaboratively on the series – I was hoping to be paired with someone who was up for brainstorming and improvising and contributing ideas, not just draw strictly from the scripts as written. Rafa has become a driving creative force on the series.

Our relationship is extremely collaborative. From the start I said I wasn’t going to pretend to know what works best on the page as well as him. Our deal is that I know what needs to happen with the story. I know what beats, what information, what dialogue and action has to happen on each page, and I write a detailed script, but Rafa can always change it up if he has a better way of conveying things. The series is a hundred times better for Rafael’s creative input, not just his art. Not only did he help design the characters and tweaked them in ways that were different than I thought, he designed the whole look of the series — and each cycle. My cycle is more art deco, whereas Steve’s has a more antiquated feel. He did my cycle with crystal-hard inks, very hard panels, then did Steve’s in washes, so it looks old-timey. He’s full of ideas. We spend a lot of time on AIM every day throwing ideas around, brainstorming (bullshitting). Seriously, we’ve become good friends. I feel very lucky to get to work with him.

You said in your Vertigo write up this month that what makes King’s horror work so well is the subversion of the familiar, to paraphrase. How did you go about doing that in this book?

SS: We’re trying hard to create real, engaging, nuanced characters for protagonists with Pearl and Skinner (and others), but we’re also trying to create characters in them that touch on certain classic familiar American figures – starlets and outlaws and cowboys and jazz musicians… We want the world of the series to be specific and real, and visceral, but also to be iconic – highways and small towns, roadstops and palm trees…

The two leads are Pearl Jones, a dame who is looking to break into showbusiness right before talkies take off, and Skinner Sweet, a reviled criminal and train robber extraordinaire. How did you develop these two characters?

SS: Skinner came about first, when I was developing the whole concept. I had this idea for a new species born here, in the US, but I didn’t have the details. So I started thinking about where the new bloodline should start. And the Old West came to mind.

From there, Skinner just took shape and quickly became the heart and soul of the series. He’s a vicious, sociopathic, fun character, so a lot of fun to write. Pearl came about when I was trying to figure out who Skinner might turn in the 20’s and why. She started as a kind of opposite to Skinner, someone with integrity and a sense of responsibility, someone insecure but determined, with a good heart.

I think it’s interesting that each vampire in the book seems to have different characteristics and responses to the standard weaknesses they face. Percy is clearly affected by sunlight but can be out in it for a time, the producers that go after Pearl hide in darkness and seem to go the more traditional route, while Skinner is cool lounging by a pool in the sun. Why is that?

SS: I want to leave some of the details secret for now, but the general idea is that different species have different strengths and weaknesses. The producers are an older species, a particular kind born in Eastern Europe, but this new species of vampire – the American species – thrives in the sun.

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How has the response been so far to the first issue?

SS: We’ve been extremely fortunate with reviews and press (as you can imagine, Steve’s involvement has led to a lot of extra attention). I’m very, very grateful. Comic fans are the best. They’ll always shoot you straight. I remember when I posted the news that Jim Lee was doing the variant for #1 and I was all excited and then the first comment response was someone complaining that he still hasn’t finished All Star Batman and Robin.

I know King is off the book after the fifth issue, but you and Rafa are still on it going forward. Do you have any idea as to how long you want this book to go? Is the plan for you and Rafa to take it all of the way?

SS: Absolutely. We’re a team. And we do have a strong idea of where the series is going. It’s plotted pretty far in – up into the third year. We’ve got a ton of stories we want to tell.

Any chance you’ll find a way to sneak Elvis into the pages of American Vampire?

I wish! He’s there in spirit on every page…

When I was doing research for this, I found out you worked at Disney World for a year. You said that this experience greatly affected your writing. How so?

SS: It was such a weird place. I worked there as a janitor and then a character. And there’s this strange division to the place. You go below ground, into the tunnels, and it’s all clock-punching and smoke-breaks and work. And then you go up (on stage, as it’s called) and it’s this world of fantasy that you’re supposed to help create. And a lot of what I like to write, from a literary standpoint, kind of explores that territory between realism and the imaginary, the intersection, if that makes sense.

I know you’re a fan of comics…what have you been reading lately that you have really connected with? Also, what else can we expect from you going forward?

SS: There’s so much great stuff out there right now – you can’t throw a rock without hitting a good series. I think my favorites are Scalped (which, in my opinion is the best series out there), Sweet Tooth and The Unwritten, Irredeemable. I’ve loved Blackest Night and Siege, Morrison’s run on Batman and Robin, the whole Spidey: Gauntlet run, Remender’s FrankenCastle… So much good stuff. As for what I’m working on, I’ve got Iron Man Noir coming out in a couple weeks – it re-imagines Tony as a pulp hero. Very excited (and nervous) about it. Love to hear what you think!


David Harper

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