There’s an art to an anthology story, in my opinion. The creators have just a handful of pages to make a good story, the very same thing we see other creators struggle with in an entire issue or even story arc. While anthologies tend to be something smaller publishers do to give new creators a shot, Vertigo got everyone excited when they announced their quarterly “CMYK” anthology, which would have a certain color – cyan, magenta, yellow, or black – as the theme for each of the four issues. With “Yellow” coming out on Wednesday, it’s safe to say that the quarterly anthology has been a pretty successful endeavor.
With the release of “Yellow”, it seemed appropriate to talk with a few creators from both “Yellow” and the previous volume, “Magenta”. Read on as we chat with Rachel Deering, Jody Houser, Matt Miner, Ryan K. Lindsay, and Steve Orlando about anthologies, page counts, and what colors mean.
To start with, let’s give everyone reading an idea of who you all are and the comics you’ve created.
Steve Orlando: Hey! Hot coffee enthusiast and and only/#1 fan of Prince Ra-Man since 1992, I truly decided I wanted to write comics after reading an editorial about Electric Blue Superman, which shockingly enough has become a huge influence on my outlook. Coupled with my art skills being limited to grotesque portraits of Baba Yaga (which I will happily draw for anyone), I decided writing was more me.
So that’s what I did! Weird westerns for “Outlaw Territory”, featuring LGBT revenge and Hessians! I created another strange story for Vertigo BEFORE “Yellow”, in “Mystery in Space”, which featuring centaurs tripping on hallucinogens and experiencing puberty as gladiatorial combat. After that I met my Siberian partner in crime Artyom Trakhanov, and we spent the next three years building “Undertow”, which just hit in trade this month from Image Comics, and “The Kitchen Witch” which is coming out now from Farrago Comics. I still want to write a comic that appears in an honest to god newspaper.
Matt Miner: Oof, nice Electric-Blue Superman “shocking” pun, Steve. Hah.
I haven’t been in comics all that long, really. A lifetime reader but only a writer for a year and a half or so. In that time I’ve completed a couple series: “Liberator” and “Liberator/Earth Crisis”, from Black Mask Studios. Upcoming and on shelves now are “Critical Hit”, which is the continuation of the “Liberator” storyline with a snazzy new art team and “Toe Tag Riot”, a series about a punk band cursed to become zombies whenever they perform their music – that book got some attention from the Westboro Baptist Church, who claim the comic will “Split Hell wide open” due to the LGBT-positive nature of it. Best pull quote I’ve ever gotten and I want it engraved on my tombstone.
Jody Houser: Like Matt, I’ve been reading comics for over half my life but only started writing them in recent years. Writing has always been my thing and I got my MFA in creative writing with a screenwriting focus a few years back. While I was working on breaking into that arena, I got sucked into the glorious world of comic books.
Most of my work up to now has been for various anthologies, including “Womanthology: Heroic” (with Fiona Staples and Adriana Blake), “Womanthology: Space” (with Sally Jane Thompson and Kathryn Layno), and “Dead Roots” (with Eric Canete and Jack Tempest). I’ve also done several webcomics over the years and my current one, “Cupcake Pow!” is available through comiXology Submit. I have a few creator-owned projects in the works, as well as my first licensed book which I’m ridiculously excited about.
Rachel Deering: I guess I’m the curmudgeon here, haha. I started reading comics 23 years ago with Warren Publishing’s “Creepy”, and I’ve only ever been able to get into horror comics since. I started working in comics as a writer, editor, and letterer all at the same time, so it was like a whirlwind for me. I wrote a few short stories for a local horror anthology called “Nix Comics Quarterly” before moving on to help Renae De Liz on “Womanthology” and “Womanthology: Space”. After that, I broke away to pursue my creator-owned series, “Anathema”, which helped launch the Comixology Submit program. I wrote some expanded lore for Blizzard on “Diablo III”, did a nice little short story for “Creepy” over at Dark Horse, my rad haunted house tale for Vertigo’s “Magenta”, and I put together the massive “In The Dark” horror anthology, which was released through IDW.
Continued belowRyan K. Lindsay: I’m an Australian writer, which means I usually send all my emails, go to sleep for a few hours, and then wake up to all the replies and art and reader complaints. I’ve been writing and honing my craft for many years but things all kicked off when I created a book without a publisher – and with amazing art talent Daniel Schneider and Paulina Ganucheau – and took “Fatherhood” to ECCC in 2013. Since then, I’ve written “Headspace” at Monkeybrain Comics with Eric Zawadzki, Sebastian Piriz, and Marissa Louise. I recently Kickstarted “Deer Editor” with Sami Kivela art for my own imprint Four Colour Ray Gun. I wrote “Ghost Town” with Daniel J Logan at Action Lab Entertainment, and I’ve had a few shorts with ComixTribe, Image Comics, and self-published. I’ve also provided back matter for “Sheltered”, “Strange Nation”, and “Criminal”, and edited a book of essays about Marvel’s Daredevil called THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS.
The CMYK volumes so far have had a pretty interesting mix of creators, both established and relatively new. How were you each of you brought into the fold?
SO: The surprise was mine most of all! After the naked horse people, I somewhat assumed they wouldn’t ask me back. So it was my pleasant surprise that friend and editor Greg Lockard asked if I would like to come on board. He had worked on my “Mystery In Space” story and was hip to my combination of sexual politics and non-human persons, for which I am eternally indebted.
MM: I was introduced to Vertigo editor Sara Miller by Scott Snyder and, while talking about other things, she asked if I’d like to also pitch a story for “CMYK”. Sara has been super incredible to work with.
JH: I met both Will Dennis and Sara Miller at various comic conventions last year. They’ve both been incredibly kind and supportive, and Sara was interested in working with me on “Magenta” despite seeing what a monster I turn into at karaoke.
RD: Will Dennis and I drank a lot of liquor. He told me he hates flip flops, then I think we pounded fists. We went to a really loud party. He flipped me off. I drank more liquor. The rest is a blur, but somehow I wound up writing a story for him. He actually read and enjoyed Anathema, became friends with me on twitter, then in real life, and then he asked me if I would be interested in contributing a story for one of the “CMYK” books. One of those two series of events is the truth. You pick.
JH: I know Will really, really hates flip flops…
RKL: I met Mark Doyle at ECCC and we got chatting and he invited me to pitch. He then handballed me to Sara Miller who has been fantastic to work with.
A big aspect of each volume of “CMYK” is the themed color. C for Cyan, M for Magenta, Y for Yellow, and K for Black. How challenging was it to work with that volume’s color in mind for the story?
SO: I actually found it extremely intimidating! The prompt is expansive, but because of that also overwhelming. Often times working within a set of guidelines forces one to buck against them, the light tug and pull of creativity that generates a well kneaded idea. Here, the sky was the limit, and the stakes and expectations even higher. And thus it was liberating, but if you have complete freedom, you also have infinitely more choices on how to pursue your time, and the choice gets harder because you can only pick one! A color is such a primordial thing in some ways that it enters into our lives with so many reflections, so many facets. It’s impregnated with centuries of meaning, so its a bit like a lens on any topic you want. A jaundiced aleph.
THOUGH interesting to note that for all the seemingly fixed nature of colors, they too can be a thing transient– look at how the color “orange” is actually a relatively recent invention for the Russian language (where it’s a cognate, but all other primary and secondary colors are not), where previously all its forms were considered and named as versions of Red. But in English we have had the word “orange” to describe that color since 1512. SO even this wide reaching things we think of as immutable are not.
Continued belowMM: For me it just meant sitting down and really figuring out what I associate with the color yellow. What emotions, what kinds of situations, what kind of people, etc. After I figured out what the color evoked in me it was easier to see what direction I wanted to go. I see yellow as a hopeful color – a color of rebirth and change. At first glance, my piece with Taylan Kurtulus might seem a little dark but I see it as a positive story with a happy ending.
JH: I love anthologies that are centered around a theme that is open to creator interpretation like this, but I’ll admit I was a little uncertain what to do with the color magenta at first. I told Sara that my initial association was 1980s Barbie dolls and while I thought that was too on the nose, Sara didn’t. And that’s of course where I ended up after attempting a horror story. It’s proof that you should trust your instincts (and listen to your editor!) For me, magenta is a long-gone childhood and there wasn’t any need to steer away from that or make it more complicated.
RD: I didn’t flip out about it. I don’t flip out about much, honestly. I put on a record, sat back in my chair, closed my eyes, and went with whatever visions popped into my head. By the end of the record, I came up with an old house, sunsets, skulls, eyes, and drugs. All I needed was a lesbian with a guitar to string all that shit together, and the thing practically wrote itself. Why yes, I am the least cultured person here. Can you dig it?
SO: Rachel, I’d like to point out you said “record” and not “mp3” so you are in fact the most cultured here. Counterpoint.
RKL: I’m a primary school teacher by day – I think that’s elementary in the States – and I teach a lot of writing to kids of all ages. In doing that, I set writing challenges and show them how to access and ride the waves of creativity. As such, being anchored to a colour, like magenta, was a moment for me to practise what I preach. That doesn’t mean it was easy but I like having one tiny element from which to try and draw a lot of other things. It’s fun, and scary, and insane, but when you get it, holy cats is that a good feeling.
Personally, I think there is an art to an anthology story. You have to tell a story in just a handful of pages, when some people have trouble telling a good story in an entire issue or arc. Were each of you given a set page amount, or was it a little more flexible?
JH: I was given a set amount of eight pages, which was fantastic. With all the different anthologies I’ve worked on, I’ve had to use six, five, three, two and even a single page to tell a complete story. Because of that experience, eight pages feels like ample room to play.
SO: I too was given eight pages, which seems to end up being the mean space of the anthologies I’ve worked on. But it’s a welcome challenge! You have to work a different way to combine economy and drama when your whole story, from background to payoff has ⅓ the pages of a normal comic (circa 1997 in the 24 page era). You work around it and trim as much fat as possible, or as some people say, “enter late, leave early.”
RKL: Yep, 8 pages and you have to bring Vertigo level content. Scary stuff. But I’ve written a few shorts, from two pagers to 10 pagers, and one-shots, and sofitting that page count wasn’t as hard as I initially thought it would be. I used to run a website called thoughtballoons (www.thought-balloons.com) and in it each week we’d pick one character and then a bunch of us would write a one page script featuring that character. Not necessarily a closed tale, it could be a page ending an issue, or prologue, or a middle of a fight page, whatever you wanted, but you had to stick to one page and make people care. Doing that every week for two years made me a better self-editor and able to condense and still make people care.
Continued belowRD: 8 pages was par for the course, it seems. It’s always a challenge for me to put together a horror story that works (and some would certainly argue that it doesn’t) in such a small space. You have to help the readers connect to your main character and feel something for them if you want the horror twist to be effective at all. It’s not easy for people to care about someone they’ve just met. Unless it’s a puppy. I need to do more puppy horror.
SO: I approve this message and in fact submit it as my suggestion for “In the Dark” Future Edition
MM: Like Rachel said, putting together a story in only a handful of pages can be challenging. I’m really happy with how it turned out, though, and I’m super proud of the work Taylan and I did with making this story shine. I hope people like it, because, like everything I do, I put my all into the piece and it’s fairly personal to me.
Something that fascinates me is how often comics are made and kept secret for many months before they’re even announced. Roughly how long was it between pitching your story, turning it in, and then actually having it announced to the world? And for those of that have already had your story published, what’s it like finally seeing it in print and seeing the reactions of readers?
JH: I was invited to pitch for “Magenta” mid-January and had my script in at the start of February. I was actually still in the process of writing up my second pitch at that point, but the script just sort of… fell out. The solicits came out on April 22nd, so it was less than three months. It felt longer, though!
It’s amazing seeing the issue in print, and it’s really gratifying how many readers tweeted at me and Nathan Fox to say how much the story affected them. Having people emotionally connect to your work to the point where they seek you out and thank you is a wonderful, overwhelming experience. And that’s my polite and pretty way of saying I delight in making complete strangers cry.
SO: Interestingly I also pitched my story in January and turned the work in during February, at least the draft, since we were working so far ahead. But that gave me plenty of time to painfully stress over every word and whether to bold a phrase or not bold. These are the things I agonize over!
On the priority scale of real things. As Jody said it’s amazing to see the work in print, and to see the art start to come in. Emilio, who worked on my piece, took my meager script and turned it into something really wonderful–to think, the impetus for the story was cow’s urine! It’s appearing in “Yellow”, after all.
RKL: I came in January for Magenta, too, so a decent turnaround but enough time that I had to sit on the news for far longer than I wanted to. But I’ve had other projects take way longer than a few months to see daylight so I’m getting better at burying the excitement, moving on, and unleashing at the right time.
As for seeing it on the page, yeah, Tommy Lee Edwards art with John Workman letters, let’s just say I was suitably impressed. It’s always nice when your script is elevated to such a degree.
RD: Memory, huh? Nope. It seems everyone else is riding this January train, so I’ll go with that. I do know that my story came together very quickly, and I had a full art team within 10 minutes of presenting my wishlist to Will. It wasn’t easy to keep quiet about it for so long, but the payoff was worth it. Seeing the story in three dimensional space blew my mind, as it always does. I can touch my ideas, and interact with these characters and settings I created. Oh yeah, and the artwork for this story in particular is just stupid sexy, so that was a wonderful shock, to see it screaming in four color fury. Fans seem to dig it, too, which is rad, but I mostly do this for my own pleasure, so I’m glad I was still in love with it by the time it hit the page.
Continued belowMM: I think I pitched my “Yellow” story in March or so and got going on it shortly after. Nothing moves super quickly in comics, it’s just how it is. I’m super pumped to see the final printed product – I love my story and I’m proud to be a part of this anthology with so many talented people.
Now, Rachel, you said you had a wishlist for artists. Was that everyone else’s experience, or was it more often that you were paired with an artist you may not have been in contact with before?
MM: I had some people in mind, but while they’re awesome artists I’d love to work with one day, they weren’t really a fit for the mood of the piece. Sara had recently met Taylan Kurtulus and suggested him for the story – I thought his work had just the right kind of poetic dreaminess that the story needed, so she reached out to him and he absolutely killed it. The art is friggin’’ gorgeous.
SO: I actually had never met Emilio (and sadly still haven’t), BUT Greg showed me his art and I was so wowed by the samples that I really worked to craft a story he could dig in on and do something really unique and suited to his style. His work was a crazy mix of Gene Colan and Jordi Bernet– so it was easy to imagine something exciting!
JH: Sara suggested Nathan Fox before I even nailed down the concept for my story, based on what she’d seen of my previous work and his use of color. I’d never met him (and still haven’t in person), but I dug his work and was more than happy to work with him. He made time in his busy schedule after reading the script, for which I’m very grateful. What I didn’t know then is that he has two daughters, and I think that knowledge adds so much to the sisters in the story. I just love the work he did and how much he brought to the table.
RD: I guess I’m some kind of tyrant, haha. I spend a lot of time wearing the editorial hat, so I have very specific vision and the balls-out attitude to go and grab my dream collaborators. I was pretty outspoken about who I wanted to work with on my story, and Will didn’t push back. I mentioned that I wanted Matteo, he asked me to get an email contact, I did, and we had him on board not even ten minutes later. He brought his own colorist, so that was out of my hands, but I specifically requested Clem as the letterer because I admire his work on “Hellboy”.
RKL: I came in with a list of breaking in art monsters I know and Mark/Sara dug their style but were very keen on lining me up with someone on a more established Vertigo level. I was not inclined to argue. Tommy Lee was a fantastic fit and he was kind enough to bring in John Workman which just made it all click together, even though I’ve not met either of them. The internet has been my collaborator saviour from here Down Under.
Lately, there’s been a lot of talk on social media about breaking in. There’s always talk about breaking in. One of the avenues that a lot of pros seem to suggest is starting out with small anthologies. And it seems like a lot of you have contributed to various anthologies over time, and obviously still are, though “CMYK” is at a bit of a different level. What makes an anthology a good place to cut your teeth, but also enough fun to continue to visit later in your career?
RKL: An anthology, or even just a short you put up on your own site, is a great place to start because it’s manageable to create. In 10 pages, or less, you can assemble a great creative team at an affordable rate, or even get people in to work for love of the game (as much as mentioning that is a no-no). Then the piece is easier for people to scope out (editors, readers, future collaborators) because it’s easily digested in a few short minutes. And once read, people can see that you can close (because ABC, people, Always Be Closing). You can close a piece by having it drawn, coloured, lettered, produced, uploaded, placed in front of peepers online and abroad, and also closed in that you can open and close a story.
Continued belowTrying to do all of that with a 120 page OGN is so much harder. Assembling the team, getting anyone to care. By keeping page count down, you make it easier for you to make, and easier for anyone to find the time to care. I’ve found all my shorts (and this includes some I just put out on my own) have been great at furthering my break into comics with readers, editors, and future collaborators (three of your primary audiences, not actually just your mother and your mates).
RD: The first comics I read were anthologies, and they were instantly my favorites. I wasn’t crazy about ongoing series because my patience is complete bullshit. Having read so many short stories, I think I picked up the knack for telling extremely terse terror tales. I know you were all waiting for some alliteration, so there you have it. From a writing standpoint, you’re going to have an easier time breaking in with a short story because a publisher can allow you to fuck up a few pages and not have a ton invested in it. It’s easier for them to take chances and not lose their ass.
MM: I feel unqualified to speak on “breaking in” since I think it’d be naive to believe I’m there yet. However I will say that banging out an effective 8 page story with fleshed out characters, a story, and a twist takes different muscles than doing that same thing in a miniseries. For me, it’s an exercise in cutting the story down to the nuts and bolts and finding the parts that really work. It’s a different kind of challenge, and one that I enjoy doing.
SO: Anthologies are a wonderful way to show your focus, professionalism, and creativity. If you can tell a whole story, with work that’s on par with the rest of this ass kicking industry, in ⅓ of the space of a normal comic (sigh, I still think normal comics are 24 pages), then it’s a bold statement that you’re ready to step up. I think anthologies allow teamwork, they allow a good editor (cough Rachel cough cough) to pull together many disparate stories into an even greater statement. I just think they’re special and wonderful, and in many ways a challenge wholly unique and different than an OGN or a monthly. Yes, it’s less work page count wise, but I bludgeoned my brain just as much for “Yellow” as I did for “Undertow”, if not more.
JH: I think webcomics can also be a great way to get your foot in the door, but if you’re a writer with limited artistic skills like myself doing it on your own, you can be somewhat limited in the scope of writing you’re able to demonstrate. I love doing “Cupcake POW!” and will continue with it for the foreseeable future, but I wouldn’t expect DC or Marvel to come knocking on my door based on my ability writing comic strips. I think the beauty of anthologies is that it not only gives you an opportunity to work with collaborators and have a nice bite-sized sample of your work, it can help you experiment and hone your storytelling abilities. And you’re never too far into your career for that.
