This week saw the release of “Youth” #3 from Curt Pires, Alex Diotto, and comiXology Originals. The series, self-described as “Larry Clark’s Kids meets Chronicle. X-Men by way of Frank Ocean,” is a story about young people and their spur of the moment decisions that may not be exactly the wisest. The series is four issues, released weekly, and each Friday during that time period, we’ll be chatting with writer Curt Pires about each issue. Let’s get right to our third chat.
Written by Curt PiresCover by Alex Diotto
Illustrated by Alex Diotto
Colored by Dee Cuniffe
Lettered by Micah MyersThe kids decide to Rob a bank. What could possibly go wrong?
I’ve been really enjoying the detours from the main story, as it really helps to ground the story and remind you that, despite these amazing abilities, this is pretty close to ‘our’ world. Is it important to remind the reader that the kids at the center of this story are the odd ones?
Curt Pires: Exactly. You nailed it. The world of “Youth” is ostensibly OUR world. So I want to remind people of that. The kids and the genre elements are the outliers. That’s what gives the book such a distinct flavor and voice, I think.
River and Franklin are where the story began, and despite the ever-widening divide between them, they are still the emotional center of the story. Even though the world is changing around them, the issues that were there before things got weird are still there. This is especially relevant now, seeing couples scream at each other in supermarkets while the world is shut down due to the pandemic. Was it important to show that, even though they have superpowers, they are still the same people?
CP: Yes, once again you’ve nailed it. My whole thesis and approach to the book was: even if you got superpowers your problems–particularly the more emotional and existential ones would still exist. In this issue the kids rob a truck? Why? Because they’re still poor. The powers didn’t fix their situation. All the emotional issues they had before? Still there. Now they’re just paired with the Godlike powers they’ve inherited. It’s a recipe for disaster.
I know that this series is also in development at Amazon Prime; when you were initially writing the comic, was there any thought given to adapting it? Was this always conceived as something for multiple platforms, or was it originally ‘just’ a comic for you? (NOTE: I don’t mean ‘just’ in a pejorative way. Comics are the best medium for storytelling)
CP: It was always intended to be a comic. I pitched the thing around for a year, before comiXology agreed to do it. No one would do it. Everyone wanted to tell me how important and special the book was, but no one had the balls to actually publish it. comiXology did. Some critics of the book seem to think the book was envisioned as a storyboard for a Streaming Series and that it was some big case of IP Farming… No not the case at all. We put our heads down, made the best comic we could make, after we had a couple issues done I was out in LA for meetings–worked my ass off to get it in front of Amazon to pitch it as a show, and they responded to the material. None of this would have happened without Chip and David at comiXology’s steadfast support of the comic and my creative vision, I want to make that clear. This whole thing in a lot of ways is the culmination of years of behind the scenes work.
I asked for the last two weeks for a hint of a song featured in each subsequent issue. What’s a song we can expect in the fourth installment?
CP: Frank Ocean – “Slide On Me.” Scores a crazy sex scene.
