Demons. Baseball bats. Bookshop owners. Tattoos. Writer Eric
Palicki is taking this unlikely mix of concepts and melding them into RED ANGEL
DRAGNET, his new supernatural thriller comic book that’s available now through
Kickstarter. In the book, he and artist Anna Wieszczyk tell the story of Nate
Reed and what he has to deal with just to get by. Eric was kind enough to talk
with me about his new book, his writing process, some previous works and
crowdfunding in general.
Mike: Let’s start with a nice, open question: Who is Nate
Reed?
Eric: Nate Reed is a Chicago
bookseller who, years ago, encountered a demon as it devoured its victim in an
alley. Nate's instincts kicked in, and he ran. Haunted by the creature's
existence and perhaps more so by his own cowardice, Nate has turned to the old
books he sells, looking for a way to protect himself, and he's covered himself
in tattoos, images of supposedly magic symbols intended to control or ward off
demons. Armed with a baseball bat and with the knowledge that his tattoos will
keep him safe, Nate ventures out into the world and endeavors to destroy the
demons that haunt Chicago .
Of course, Nate has inadvertently turned his own body into a
comprehensive magical text, which attracts the attention not only of the
supernatural forces he fights but also rival magicians. RED ANGEL DRAGNET is
the story of the worst day of Nate's life, during which all the consequences of
his earlier decisions come back to haunt him. Is that a pun? It feels like a
pun.
Mike: Nate’s tattoos are very detailed. Did you do much research
on symbology for that? Or did Anna (Wieszczyk, RED ANGEL DRAGNET’s artist) just
run with it?
Eric: I did a ton of research. The book was originally
inspired by a chance encounter I had with the Key of Solomon, a supposed
grimoire that made a cameo appearance on Sleepy Hollow, but which is
nonetheless a real book that you can buy on Amazon. It's filled with these
incredibly intricate sigils, which King Solomon purportedly used to conscript
demons when he built his temple in Jerusalem .
If you're going to do a story with a strong symbologic element, there's no
better medium than comics.
After I wrote the script, I went online and found a blank
copy of the worksheet that coroners use for reporting, which is, I think,
appropriate for the subject matter. The worksheet has a generic human figure on
it, front and back, that a coroner would use to describe the location of wounds
on a body. I drew in the location of all the tattoos, scanned it, and sent it
over to Anna with the script. I can't draw, so no human besides Anna is ever
likely to see that worksheet, but it exists.
Interestingly, after I sent the script, and Anna read it,
she replied that it was something she was "waiting for- I have
one sigil tattoo on me as well." Kismet.
Eric: That specific song is, well, it's not one of
their greatest hits, but it's a RAD title (that was DEFINITELY a pun), and I've
always thought it would look great plastered on the top of a comic book.
The Clash is more broadly a creative influence. I recommend
the documentary The Future is Unwritten with the same vigor that I recommend
Understanding Comics or Warren Ellis's Come In Alone.
Mike: Are you a fan of continuity? In other words, are RED
ANGEL DRAGNET and ORPHANS totally separate, or do they co-exist in the “Palicki-verse”?
Eric: I think they exist in two separate universes, but I'd
like to revisit both of them, and not necessarily with the same lead
characters. A few years ago, I wrote the first issue of a series called
BAREFOOT, with artist Gabriel Andrade (who's now working with folks like Dave
Lapham and Alan Moore at Avatar, the lucky bastard). Barefoot never went
anywhere, but it features a cameo by Nate Reed, making it technically his first
appearance. (Everyone can read Barefoot here for free: http://ericpalicki.com/free-comics-friday-barefoot-1-version-one/)
Mike: What’s your comics origin story? How and when did you
get into comics?
Eric: I was a late bloomer. I played with and enjoyed toys
-- and I was a child of the eighties, so my toys were LEGO and Star Wars and
G.I. Joe and the original metal Transformers -- for probably a year or two
longer than what was socially acceptable. Comics were how I weaned myself off
of creative play in fifth or sixth grade, as a way to exercise the same
creative impulses. If I'd had a different group of friends, I imagine I'd have
become an avid Dungeons & Dragons player, but I didn't know anyone who
played in high school or college.
Mike: Crowdfunding is giving a ton of up-and-coming creators
(comics or otherwise) a chance to get their work out there. Do you find the
risk to be worth the reward? What are your thoughts on the process?
Eric: I think it's great and I'm happy it exists. I owe
whatever exposure I've gotten during my nascent comics career to Kickstarter
and comiXology's SUBMIT program (where you can find my first graphic novel,
ORPHANS). I don't think there's much risk, really, except for heartbreak, and
the upside is huge. It's also a wonderful way to find new work, at last count,
I've backed over 120 projects, and I'd never have discovered Doc Unknown or
Oxymoron or Anathema without Kickstarter.
Mike: And the inevitable final question: where can we find
you online, and how can we get RED ANGEL DRAGNET for our very own?
Eric: I maintain a website at www.ericpalicki.com, and
I'm active on Twitter (@epalicki). The Kickstarter campaign for R.A.D. itself
is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/epalicki/red-angel-dragnet-volume-1-lose-this-skin.
I hope you'll check it out. Rewards include copies of RED ANGEL DRAGNET, both
physical and DRM-free digital, as well as copies of ORPHANS.
Thanks, Eric, and best of luck on the campaign!
~Mike