BOOK SMART Review from Comic Vine

Pulled from: http://www.comicvine.com/book-smart

What happens when a woman loses her memories but is being hunted by killers? Thankfully she possesses the skills to survive as she tries to figure out who she was.

The Good

I love long running comic series. There is something about the longevity of a character and being able to go back and read old stories. There is also something to be said about new and self contained stories. It's not often a comic book has the opportunity to offer a beginning and an end to the story. With Book Smart from Kickstart comics, that's what we get.

The idea of a character getting amnesia but having access to ass-kicking skills might sound a little familiar but it's that mystery and suspense that adds to the story. We have no idea what the character's story or motivation was at the beginning. As she tries to figure out who she is and avoid the attempts on her life by the mysterious bad guys, we sort of become part of the mystery. We're right there with her, not knowing what the next page will hold.

The Bad

A woman gets amnesia but can kick everyone's ass. Lucky for her, she gets set up with an American teacher in Nepal that is able to hold his own when they're attacked by armed thugs. He also happens to be a good pickpocket and what do you think the chances are of the two developing an attraction towards each other?

You have to have a good villain to move the story along. The one we have here has several opportunities to show us just how evil he can be. There were times when his dialogue came across as a little cheesy. And throughout the story when we don't know what the big mystery is, it's hard to understand what his motivation is, besides a possible hunger for wealth or power.

The Verdict

The great thing about the Kickstart books is you get a complete story for a reasonable price. Long running comics are great but having a story with a beginning and an end is a nice change of pace. The story dealing with an amnesiac woman waking up in Nepal with killers after her and uncanny abilities to defend herself almost gives the impression you know where the story is going to end. I'll admit I was a little concerned while reading but I should have known better and put my trust in the fact that the book was written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. Without spoiling anything, there are twists that won't see coming. It's a fun read. The twist is a nice one and the book can be read by anyone without having to worry about years of continuity.



A Beautiful Gory Display – Kickstart’s BOOK SMART

By EJ Feddes On October 19, 2011 ·  

After writing 52 reviews last month, I thought I was out of the game for a while.  But then, our good friends at Kickstart Comics sent over a copy of this week’s new release, Book Smart.  Written by the team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (All-Star Western, and about a hundred other series) with art by Juan Santacruz (Kickstart’s Endangered), Book Smart is an absolute blast.  Mystery, adventure, and a surprising amount of comedy all come together in this story of an amnesiac woman and the large number of people who want her dead.

Book Smart’s protagonist may or may not be named Samantha Rayne, and she’s a great addition to Kickstart’s line of strong female lead characters.  She wakes up in Kathmandu with amnesia after being injured in an expedition.  Samantha doesn’t get much time to reflect on her situation, because henchmen start trying to rough her up almost immediately.  And that’s when she finds out that even if she doesn’t know her name, she’s got fighting skills that point to some sort of training and a possible dark past.

This is one of my favorites of the Kickstart line, which if you’ll recall, is made up of books that I like a whole lot.   The story is relentlessly clever and well-conceived.  Throughout the action, Palmiotti and Gray never lose sight of the fact that the main character doesn’t know who she is.  She doesn’t completely give herself over to the fun of finding out that she kicks all sorts of ass, which I appreciated.  They really have a strong take on the amnesia concept (which is a hard thing to make work), where they don’t lose sight of the information that Samantha doesn’t have.  She can’t let herself be attracted to Sean, the teacher who ends up dragged along on the adventure.  After all, she doesn’t know if she’s actually married or engaged.  And in a nice inversion of the usual formula, Sean is the one who’s immediately lovestruck and Samantha is the badass.  (Which is not to say that Sean doesn’t have his moments – after all, he’s a guy who helps move the plot along with the line “I picked the guy’s pocket while we were on fire”.  You can’t tell me that isn’t awesome.) 

The character work is really good here, always a strong suit for the team of Palmiotti and Gray.  Amnesia is usually a shortcut to avoid defining characters and circumvent sketchy motivations, but this is the best use of the plot device I’ve seen in a long time.  Samantha’s attempts to deal with her lack of identity while insane things happen all around her lifts Book Smart beyond just being a fun action thriller.

I have to say, Book Smart made me actually laugh out loud twice.  Once with the reveal of Samantha’s true identity, which was truly surprising but also made perfect sense with everything that had been established.  The second time came near the end when the intelligence agencies of two different countries get into a gunfight over who gets to kill the heroes.  As character-focused as the story is, the action scenes are deeply satisfying.

The action scenes are suitably over-the-top, yet grounded in the real world.  The fight scenes are executed so well – there’s a momentum to the fight scenes where every action is clear and choreographed.  Scenes of regular people fighting often fail in comics, because it’s a visual language that lends itself more to guys getting punched through buildings or blasted to atoms.  Juan Santacruz does a fantastic job with the storytelling and just drawing regular people.  His previous Kickstart book, Endangered, was an insane sci-fi epic with crazy aliens and technology and it looked gorgeous.  And somehow his style translates to normal human people with normal clothing.  It’s great work, and if you look at both of Santacruz’ Kickstart books, you’ll be amazed at his versatility. 

And to get slightly off-topic here, I’ve been reviewing a lot of comics lately – all 52 first issues in the DC Relaunch.  One thing that really had me down by the end of that stretch was the treatment of women.  (Not in all of the titles, by any means.  But the ones that were bad were so bad.)  I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but Kickstart, from Day One, has really been excellent at portraying female characters.  Strong, capable, but distinct – they’re not just pulling from a “Female Character” spreadsheet, and while attractive, they’re not hyper-sexualized.  Here, Samantha is drawn as an attractive woman, but she also dresses like an adult with good judgment – she’s not going to Nepal in something skintight and low-cut.  Her neckline remains distinctly neck-adjacent throughout the book.  It’s just really heartening to see something like Book Smart right now.  And heck, it really makes me happy that I can recommend any book in Kickstart’s line without having to be a little embarrassed by boob shots or weird sexual politics.  Books like Witch, Book of Lilah, Headache, Bad Guys and many others have well-written and tastefully portrayed female leads, which is exactly what the industry needs right now. 

Book Smart is available today – it’s a great read and really helped turn around some of my misgivings about the state of comics today.  Thanks again to the folks at Kickstart!

Comics Reporter Interview: Mark Sable

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_sunday_interview_mark_sable/

October 9, 2011

*****

I was pitched an interview with the writer Mark Sable by one of his publishers. I usually don't respond to those kinds of pitches, but I knew I had heard the name before, and went to look him up.

A picture started to form. Mark Sable is one of those constantly-employed writers that splits his time between his own projects, comics series and stand-alones for various smaller publishers and start-ups, and occasional but not always reliable work at the big two companies, mainly but not limited to one-shots and fill-ins. I think that's a fascinating place for a writer to be in their career: getting a lot of work but maybe not the exact kind of work that might come eventually come to you, with hundreds of comics readers that are wannabe writers wanting to take your place, all without the kind of high-profile gig that stamps you in the mind of the majority of the medium's fans. I read from two ongoing/forthcoming projects from Sable in specific preparation for this talk: Graveyard Of Empires from Image, and Decoy from Kickstart. I found compelling much of what Mark Sable had to say about his work and orienting himself towards writing in general, and I thank him for the time in doing the piece and taking a peek at the transcript before publication. -- Tom Spurgeon

*****

TOM SPURGEON: I take it from what I've read you're a lifelong comics reader or at least a long-time comics reader?

SABLE: Yeah, lifelong. I think like everyone else there's a short break in high school. I'd like to say it was to chase girls [laughs] but I think it was the fear of being a social outcast building up stronger than in other years. The story I tell sometimes is that I was bar mitzvahed and literally the theme of my bar mitzvah was Marvel Comics.

SPURGEON: Decoy is one of the comics you sent me. There are thriller elements to it, which makes me think that pacing is important. How much information are you providing the artist in terms of pacing issues: say, the number of panels per page, or the panel shapes and sizes. Do you provide more information now than you used to as far as storytelling rhythms go?

SABLE: Yes and no. The one thing I've always done, and I'll always continue to do it unless mandated otherwise, is indicate the number of panels. That's not to say an artist can't say to me, "I want an extra panel" or "I don't need as many panels." But if I don't do that, I'll over- or underestimate what I can fit on a page.

The other thing I'm very careful about is with double-page spreads; I try not to have panels that run horizontally across two pages. It's very hard to pull off, and if I don't tell an artist, sometimes they'll do it. I don't think it's even the artist's fault. There's a sequence in Graveyard Of Empires that Paul and I sat down and worked out, it was meant to work that way.

I'm not that specific with the shape of the panels. That's something for the artist to decide. I'm not at the point where I feel comfortable having a strong opinion on the matter. I give panel size, and I try to indicate the pacing to some degree: "Okay, this panel should be larger." Also, someone like Andy McDonald, although it's the first time I've worked with him, I've known him a long time personally. I've followed his work. I feel like there's a level of trust with him where it's always like, "Okay here's the script. If you find a better way to do it..." That's a situation where there's enough creative participation and collaboration that we can go back and forth on a particular thing. Should this be a splash? Should it not?

SPURGEON: It seems to me you're at the point in your career where you don't have those recurring mainstream gigs that define the rest of your schedule. How do you manage a career where a writer is where you are? What projects you take on and what do you take a pass on? How much attention to you pay to projects in terms of getting you from one place to another career-wise, or do you just take things as they interest you and work as much as possible?

SABLE: There's a little bit of both there. Ideally, I'd like to have stability of the sort that as a freelancer I don't completely have -- at least in terms of my writing. I teach writing as well, primarily screenwriting and TV writing, and that's really rewarding in and of itself. Having a source of income outside of comics is helpful just to live, but it also lets me have a little bit of say. There are some things I can say no to. Not everyone can, and it's easy on the outside to wonder how a creator could say yes to a project that seems so obviously wrong for them.

I don't want to complain. I've been extremely fortunate. But comics don't pay a lot. How many comics creators get healthcare? I'd certainly love more regular gigs from the Big Two, but that being said I want them to be the right gigs. Not that I'm not hungry, but I think I felt desperate in the beginning and a little dazzled. They approached me to do Teen Titans stuff right after Grounded, and I was so flattered that I didn't wonder if that was the right fit for me.

Another issue about doing work for the Big Two is that no matter what it's going to be read by more people than read my creator-owned stuff. I don't know what the percentage is, but I think I've done much more creator-owned work than Big Two work. But those work-for-hire books that I've done can stand out a lot more in casual readers' minds. When I was doing Teen Titans and Supergirl, just little arcs, the Cyborg story, I felt like I was getting maybe typecast a bit as the teen guy. I have no problems writing books like that. I wouldn't have written Grounded if I felt I had nothing to say in that genre. But I don't want to get limited to it.

When I look at people's careers I admire the most, they're people who are able to do some version of both. Brian K. Vaughan is someone I have a lot of respect for. There's an example of someone who's been extremely choosy about his work. It's hard to think of anything he's done that's not exceptional in some way. I know that when he started out he was doing some Marvel and DC stuff that are back-issue bin kind of stuff. He was fortunate enough to do work that would eclipse that. But who knows if he'd be able to be as choosy if he were not getting all that work from Hollywood?

There are a number of different scenarios I could see myself being happy doing. I could be very happy just doing comics, even after all those years of wanting to do film. I'm not above compromising. If Marvel or DC wanted to sign me to an exclusive, I'd be very happy to do that. They let you carve out exceptions for creator-owned work, so that would be fine. If I could do creator-owned and work on a television show -- it doesn't have to be Lost -- that would also be fine. Or to have something like Kirkman's career, where he really is making a living off of independent stuff. But the list of those people? It's like Kirkman and...


SPURGEON: Something like this Decoy book. How does that fit in to your desire to do a certain kind of work? What's the appeal of the project in that sense?

SABLE: There's a couple of things. I like espionage. I'd love to do a straight espionage book. It's something I've been trying to pitch, and it's been really hard. Quite frankly, outside of Queen and Country, which was a black and white for a small publisher, it's a genre that doesn't seem to have a lot of attraction at least as far as editors and publishers are concerned. So just the espionage aspect of it interests me, although the idea drifted pretty far from the hard kind of espionage I'd like to be doing. [Spurgeon laughs]

I'm trying to think of where the idea came from, it's always hard to pinpoint, and I'm sure the Life Model Decoy stuff from Marvel was somewhere in the mix there. I think Casanova was somewhat of an influence just in my getting excited -- it's my favorite book on the stands right now, period -- about espionage being something you could have fun with without veering off into Austin Powers territory. The thing that was maybe the clincher for me was I was reading a book called Wired For War. This is one of those things that if I lack that visual arts background that most creators have, I'd like to think my interests are one of the things I bring to the table. I mostly read non-fiction and things that are outside what most people would consider reading for fun.

This book Wired For War is about the roboticization -- if that's a word -- of warfare. Just thinking about drones, how that's changed warfare. Just in the war in Iraq, the amount of drones just blew up. Even under Obama. You think of all the moral and ethical implications of what that means. That book opened my mind to that, as well as to what's technologically possible in robotics now and what's expected to be in the near future.

Other than the decoys in that book -- that's a pretty big "other than," it's like "other than the zombies -- but other than the decoys all the robotic stuff in there is pretty realistic. Some scenes have been cut, but there's a walker that one of the characters has, walkers like out of Robocop, but basically there's a real one out there that's been built. Some of the powers that Decoy has, like the synthetic aperture radar that allows him to see through things, they're real. That book exposed me to a host of things.

I'm going to blank on the name... it was a movie I saw [Transcendent Man]. It's based on a book by Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near, and its idea is that technology is increasing. Technological growth is increasing exponentially. Kurzweil believes that between nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and genetics, we're all going to be cyborgs. To an extent we already are, with our smart phones. He thinks within our lifetime we'll see self-aware AI.

There's two sides to this vision. There's the Rise Of The Machines/Terminator scenario. They became self-aware and they don't need us. But there's also this optimistic idea that these beings will allow us to become god-like and immortal. Kurzweil is in the optimist camp, and I'd never really been exposed to that side of things He's a technologist/futurist. He's also an inventor. He invented a reader -- I don't know if he invented the scanner, but you scan it over a page and it reads out loud to the blind. He has a ton of patents. He lost his father, which I did last year. He wants to come to terms with his own mortality, or not come to terms with it. He's on this quest of getting artificial intelligence and robotic, accelerate it.

How does all this relate to Decoy? The story of Decoy is this guy wakes up and he realizes he's a robot -- not just any robot, but a Life Model Decoy for a spy. Instead of the spy using the decoy out in the field, so the bad guy thinks he's killed the spy when he really killed the decoy, the spy uses the decoy at home to be the perfect father and perfect husband and the spy goes out and enjoys shooting people. [laughter] He's into gambling and womanizing and all those things. So there are character things that appeal to me there.

Relating this back to robotics, when this decoy is forced to take on the role of the spy, the two organizations that are the threats in the book reflect both sides of this philosophy. There's a neo-Luddite group that fears the Rise of the Machines scenario and wants to send mankind back into the Dark Ages. There's another one that believes AI is a good thing but they happen to be a criminal syndicate. They believe there's a virtual heaven for everybody; they just want to control the gates. Getting to play with those ideas is something that interests me. As you can tell, I can ramble on about it. [Spurgeon laughs]

Ultimately to me the hook into it as a writer when it became something more than conceptual was the idea of what would you if you found out your entire family, all your family relationships were something that was programmed into you. They feel real but they're not, and maybe you can let them go. What do you do? Somebody asked me at one point if I had a robot, what would I do. It would be somewhat similar to what Zekiel Dax, the spy in the book, does. I don't think I'd use it so I could go out whoring.


SPURGEON: So what is your best work, Mark? What should we buy?

SABLE: [laughs] Fearless is being reintroduced in trade, and I hope people pick it up. But t's hard to think of anything I'm more proud of than Graveyard, Graveyard of Empires from Image. I'm genuinely proud of it. I'm finishing up the last issue with Paul. I think it's his best as well. I don't feel like I'm being disingenuous with that.

I think Decoy is very strong as well. The tone is lighter. Story structure is something I've always worked on very hard. In terms of character arcs, I don't think I've nailed it any better than in Decoy. And Andy MacDonald's art is great. I really feel those books are the best things I've done so far. Lest I sound too in love with my writing, nothing I write meets my expectations for my work. Every time something new comes out I'm overjoyed at the art and I cringe at the writing. I hate going back and re-reading things, and I don't unless I have to. But yeah, Decoy and Graveyard, in all sincerity I stand by those as the best two things I've written so far.

Seeing Double: DECOY Pits Clone Spy Versus Spy

By Chris Arrant, Newsarama Contributor
posted: 07 September 201; Pulled from: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/decoy-kickstart-mark-sable-110907.html

 Have you ever wanted a clone of yourself so you could leave them to do all the menial chores of your daily life and leave you to do the exciting things? What if you were the clone and someone else was living it up in your shoes? In the upcoming graphic novel Decoy from Kickstart Comics, an unassuming family man named Zekiel Dax finds out that he’s the stand-in duplicate for a jet-setting secret agent. When this Decoy finds out the truth of his existence and that his original is not the stand-up guy he is, he’s forced to make a choice --- but not before having to partner with his counterpart to save their wife and kids.

 Set for release on October 24th, Decoy is the latest in a string of creator-owned stories from writer Mark Sable after recent releases likeGraveyard of Empires and Rift Raiders earlier this year. Joining him on this standalone story is artist Andy MacDonald (NYC Mech, Terminator), who brings his penchant for robots, espionage and firepower to create this unique team-up drama. Sable spoke with Newsarama about this book, as well as the upcoming collection of his indie series Fearless from Image.

Newsarama: What can you tell us about Decoy, Mark?

 Mark Sable: Decoy is the story of an seemingly average guy who learns he's a robot when he miraculously survives a terror attack. But not just any robot - he's a robot replica for Agent Zekiel Dax, the world's deadliest secret agent.

   Unlike the Life Model Decoys that say, S.H.I.E.L.D. uses, Zekiel's Decoy wasn't created to be used in the field or fake his death. The Decoy was designed to safeguard Agent Dax’s family and otherwise provide cover while he's off saving the world.

   When Agent Dax is captured, The Decoy is forced to rescue him...only to learn that the man he was created to replace is a gambling, womanizing gun for hire. When the “family” the Decoy was programmed to protect is put in jeopardy; this unlikely pair has to team up to save them. 

Nrama: And this perfect family man who’s the Decoy -- tell us more about him, and what makes him so different from the original Zekiel Dax.

 Sable: The Decoy has been programmed to protect Agent Dax's family both at all costs. Unfortunately, that also makes him overly cautious. He's a beloved husband and father, but his family wishes he would take some more risks and loosen up.
    When the Decoy learns he's a robot - he has to ask himself if he's REALLY the perfect family man. Along from his caution, all his good qualities – loyalty, caring etc.- were not something he worked for. They are a function of his programming.

   Although he's an artificial being, that's something I think we all can relate to. Are we who are because of how we were born or raised? Are the choices we make our own? Are we capable of change?

Nrama: You described the original Zekiel Dax as a bit of a loose cannon. But just who is he? 

 Sable: Zekiel Dax is an agent of T.A.L.O.S., a centuries old organization dedicated to the advancement of artificial intelligence. In Greek mythology, Talos was a giant bronze automaton created to protect the isle of Crete. From the Bronze Age to the present, Talos has been protecting progress from those who would retard or reverse it.

   Agent Dax is an action junkie, and loves his work - and the perks that come along with it - more than his family. He's great at his job...but at least when the story starts, he's not a great guy. In fact, when he first learns his Decoy is aware of his existence, he wants the Decoy’s memory erased. He's effectively asking for another living person to cease to exist.

    The story is about Agent Dax and his Decoy working together to bring down common foes, and hopefully bring about the best in each other. The question is whether there's room in the world for both of them.

Nrama: These two sides of the same coin are pulled together when Dax’s wife and kids are in danger. Set it up for us. 

 Sable: When the terror attack on Decoy fails, Agent Dax disappears. That leaves Decoy standing between Agent Dax's enemies and his family. The Decoy lacks Dax's combat training, but despite the revelation of his false existence, he can't help but want to care for his "family".  

     The Decoy is under threat from two villainous organizations that I had a lot fun creating. The first is Vulcan, a neo-Luddite group named ironically for the Roman god of fire and smithy - essentially the armorer to the gods. From the longbow to the atom bomb, Vulcan believes that more technology means more war. And they kind of have a point.

     Vulcan wants to stop the creation of artificial intelligence for fear of a Terminator or Matrix-style "Artilect War"...even if that means taking mankind back to the Dark Ages.

On the other hand we have I.E.D, a cartel of hackers and criminals who are all for the technology that T.A.L.O.S. creates and safeguards - as long they control it. While they are criminals, they have the opposite view of Vulcan when it comes to what they see as the inevitable rise of AI.

     They believe that instead of robots turning on their masters, there will be a technological singularity where man and machine will merge together to become godlike beings. They are optimists...albeit greedy, amoral ones.

Despite these threats, it's not an easy choice for The Decoy to face them. Agent Dax and T.A.L.O.S. regard him as mere property. And although he loves his family, isn't that just because T.A.L.O.S. made him that way?

Nrama: You’ve always had a penchant for working with hot up & coming artists, from Paul Azaceta to Robbi Rodriguez and Sean Murphy. How’d you hook up with Andy Macdonald for Decoy? 

 Sable: I have to thank Ivan Brandon (DC's upcoming Men of War), Miles Gunter (Bastard Samurai with Mike Oeming) and Jeff Amano and Sal Cipriano for that. Andy MacDonald is comics’ best kept secret. Those guys were some of the first pros I met, and Ivan edited my first book (Grounded) and helped me out tremendously in my career.

      Ivan and Miles co-created NYC Mech with Andy, which proved nobody can create robots better than Mr. MacDonald. Jeff wrote Red Warrior, which showed me Andy could do espionage as well as hard sci-fi. I've been dying to work with him ever since I first saw his work. Given the mix of genres I'm dealing with in Decoy those projects made Andy seem like a perfect fit.

Nrama: You’ve also got a collection of your old miniseries Fearless coming out in this month’s Previews. It’s been a couple years since it’s original release, so there’s a lot of people who never heard of it. Since we have you, can you break it down for us?  

Sable:  Fearless is about a vigilante with a crippling anxiety disorder who needs an anti-fear serum not only to fight crime, but to function in everyday life. Our story concerns what happens when someone cuts off his drug supply. It's co-written by David Roth, a successful TV/feature/Don Draper advertising guy. The art is the real treat though - PJ Holden is best known for 2000 AD and Garth Ennis's Battlefields, but Fearless was his first American work. 

       I generally don't go back and read my own work, so there was a tiny part of me that was cringing when I heard it was finally being collected in trade paperback. But without jinxing anything, there's coincidentally been some heat in terms of Hollywood stuff with the book, so Dave and I have had to go back and read it to start working on treatments for other mediums. I think it really holds up.

     Mostly it's exciting because next to Unthinkable - the trade of which is no longer in print and extremely hard to find - Fearless is the book I get asked most about at conventions. Whether readers sampled some Fearless in singles issues and are craving more, or you're looking to get hooked on something new, I really hope you’ll give Fearless a try. Like any good drug...the first taste is always free! 

Nrama: There’s a lot of “Fear” titles going on in comic, from Fear Itself to Marvel’s upcoming miniseries The Fearless. Have you talked to anyone about the name similarity to your book?

 Sable: Some people have tried to get me riled up about the title similarities. That's not hard to do. I've had to change titles because of similarities to titles from the big two. But working for Marvel has been a joy, and from what I've read so far Fear Itself has nothing in common with Fearless. Having been through it myself, I would never want to cause anyone the hassle of having to change a title, even if I could. Particularly Matt Fraction, since I'm a huge fan of Casanova, and any espionage book like Decoy stands in its shadow.

____

   Ultimately, it's not titles or even concepts that are important - it's execution. Hopefully with both Decoy and Fearless we've created original material that reads like nothing out there on the market.

Nrama: Coming full circle, what would you do if you found yourself a Decoy, Mark?

Sable: Honestly, I think I'd do the same thing that Zekiel did. I'd use him to fill in for me in all the unpleasant tasks in life so I could focus more on what I enjoy. The only difference is that I enjoy writing, not spying. No comment on when it comes to sleeping with femme fatales, though.

Kickstart’s KNOWBODYS – The Matt Maiellaro Interview

By EJ Feddes On August 11, 2011 · Pulled from: www.spunkybean.com

Our friends at Kickstart Comics have been putting out some excellent graphic novels over the last year.  I’ve been excited about each of their new releases, but when I found out about the upcoming KNOWBODYS (out in October), I freaked out a little.  See, it’s written by Matt Maiellaro, co-creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.  I’ve frequently gone on record with my love of ATHF (and its new incarnation as Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1), so I was really excited to see what he had brewing over at Kickstart.

I got to read a preview copy, and I loved it.  It’s the story of a husband-and-wife team of paranormal investigators, trying to save the world while not letting the kids know what they really do for a living.  There will be a full review later, but for now, I’ll just say that it’s a lot of fun.  It’s very funny, but in a different way than you might expect.  And it’s a story where the stakes are high and there are actual heroes, which is as far from the Aqua Teens as you can get.  It’s surprising and it’s really great.

And just to make things even better, I got to interview Matt Maiellaro.  (Yes, I totally freaked out.)  We talked about KNOWBODYS, Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, andAmerica’s next favorite character.  He is, unsurprisingly, a very funny guy.

You’ve been working in TV for a long time now – what brought you to comics?  Was KNOWBODYS created specifically to be a graphic novel, or did you initially think of it in terms of a TV series?

KNOWBODYS  was an idea I had for a movie a few years back.  In the original idea, the Knowbodys were created to track down a series of mutants that had escaped a secret bio-weapons lab.  The Knowbodys had powers – but not efficient ones – more like, stupid ones.  I pitched it around a tiny bit and then put it on the shelf.  Kickstart caught wind of the idea through a friend of mine and they called, wanting to make it into a graphic novel.  Since I had never written a graphic novel, I said yes immediately.  As the project developed we ended up changing some elements to give it a more grounded tone:  we added ghosts, goblins, ghouls, the Mothman, werewolves – all the ingredients of a well-grounded story.   I wanted to add a Tree-Shark but held back on that knowing it would make its own great story up the road “Shriek of the Tree-Shark.”  So yes, it was a television series turned into a comic.

How did you come to work with artist Jesus Redondo?  Was the script finished before you had an artist, or did his style influence the way you told the story?  (And did you have any idea Sylbert Raven was going to look that disturbing?)

Jesus was recommended to me via Samantha at Kickstart.  I like how he gave the book a unique, timeless, style.  Jesus lives in Spain, doesn’t speak English, and I’m not sure if he’s ever been to New Orleans but he sure nailed it.  I saw pencils of the characters in the beginning and I felt like he was hitting the mark pretty well, so I forgot about the drawing part while I was writing the script.  So no, he didn’t influence how I wrote but I strangely found myself listening to more and more Flamenco music.

How did you approach writing KNOWBODYS as opposed to the way you write Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1?  Is it harder to write a story where you don’t have the option of, say, killing everybody and bringing them back next week?

Here is what it’s like to write Aqua Unit:  10am.  “What if Meatwad made friends with a giant, inflatable gorilla who was secretly out to sacrifice Frylock to the original Planet of the Apes film print?”  “That’s good, let’s write it.” 12noon – done.  Record it tomorrow.  Move on to next episode.  Total anti-television and anti-storytelling, yet fun.  With KNOWBODYS, I wanted to graduate to real storytelling and have the reader embark on an emotional journey with characters that they cared about.

Speaking of Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, I just have a couple of questions I’m dying to ask.  Why the relaunch?  For me, it’s worth it for the new theme music alone, but what caused the title change?  Are you carrying the gag from “One Hundred” over into the real world?

We had to relaunch it under a new title because the ratings were so huge and we were starting to embarrass other shows on the network.  We thought a new title would curb the viewing audience but we discovered that our ratings were more enormous than ever.  As for the music, we reached out Josh Homme, who had done a voice on the show in the past, and he was game for creating a new theme.  We gave him the vibe of the new direction; 70’s style cop show and he turned in absolute gold.  For the end credit theme, we did a remix of his original instrumental stems from the open and I plugged in a Steinberger and shredded over the music.  Michael Kohler made the end-theme remix, he’s the genius sound designer behind all the shows and the movie.  We have to now change the title of the show each season.  What was the question?

There have been a couple of episodes that implied the end of the series.  (I’m thinking specifically of “The Last One”, and “The Last One Forever and Ever”.)  At the time, did anybody believe those actually were the last episodes, or do you just enjoy causing message board controversy?

We love causing controversy, as in the alleged fake bombs that shut down Boston.  We would run ads that would shut the show down every year just to give us something to giggle about.

This is probably a ridiculously nerdy question, but I have to do it.  When the show was called Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Frylock was the only one of the main characters who never died during an episode.  And now that it’s Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, he’s died several times.  Was that a conscious change with the new incarnation?

Hurt the ones that don’t deserve it?  I don’t know.  Maybe we haven’t persecuted Frylock enough, or maybe we’ve persecuted Shake, Meatwad and Carl too much.  The audience loves it when we turn a 180 and destroy what has never been destroyed.  It’s like showing Al Gore the video footage of snow in Burbank last year; it’s unexpected.

Back to your new book, I was really surprised by the tone of KNOWBODYS – While I think fans of your TV work will really enjoy it, I was surprised by the idealism of the characters.  You have characters who really care about one another, and Derk and Betty spend the book risking their lives to do good.  On AUPS1 and your other shows, the lead characters are cynical, simple, or sometimes both.  Basically, Derk Knowbody is the exact opposite of Master Shake.  Along those lines, there’s the scene with the Hallowed Passage.  It’s just this lovely little moment before all the monster fighting.  To me, it seems like it establishes that there’s good in their world that makes it worth fighting for, and I find it really interesting.  Is there anything you want to say about that scene?

It’s a great moment in the story that defines Derk and Betty, especially Betty.  She is keeping her pregnancy a secret and is discovering what’s most important in her life, while Derk is enjoying the romance of passing souls and probably hoping they will all obey the laws of the supernatural world.

I love Gymjangle.  I realize that’s not a question.  I just feel it needs to be said.

I love Gymjangle too, thanks. America will love him in the movie as well.  I foresee a whole spin-off with Gym.

Wrapping things up, do you have anything you want to say about KNOWBODYS, and in particular, why people should be ordering it?

I want to say that KNOWBODYS embraces a global value, which is; pay attention to what is most important in your life.   And one more thing; if you visit New Orleans, you are being watched.