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I briefly met Ray Fawkes at the Toronto Comic Book
Expo in August. He is a writer of a Vertigo 6
issue mini series called Mnemovore. In this
interview we talk about breaking into comics via
Vertigo, writing in general, marketing and his
future project with Cameron Stewart.
Jamie:
What made you want to write comic books?
Ray Fawkes:
I've had a great love of comic books ever since I
was very small. When I was first starting out as a
writer, it wasn't in my mind to write comics, but
I discovered that the worlds of prose and film
were criss-crossed with all kinds of taboos,
marketing strictures, and a tendency to exhaust
faddish subjects while excluding anything that
wasn't fashionable. Comics as a whole medium are
much less tainted by these faults (although they
do show up now and then) and I eventually decided
I'd like to go where I felt the most free to tell
original stories.
Jamie:
I assume you mean freedom outside the superhero
arena. Do you have any desire to work in a more
restricted environment on a big name superhero
title?
Ray Fawkes:
Hmm. I'd be happy to do a big name superhero book,
I'm sure. The freedoms and potential I'm talking
about are still there in a title like Batman or
Spiderman, they're just bounded differently.
Jamie:
I couldn't help but notice your business card
simply says "Writer" on it. Do you do any writing
outside of comic books?
Ray Fawkes:
Yes. I write background game material (i.e.
"world- building") on Vampire: The Requiem - a
role-playing game for a company called White Wolf.
In the past, I've worked as a script doctor for an
indy film producer and, I'm sorry to say, done a
few turns as a marketing writer.
Jamie:
I assume the game material pays better than the
comic books?
Ray Fawkes:
Ha ha. Well, it depends on which comic company you
work for, I suppose, and which gaming company.
Every job is different.
Jamie:
How did you develop your skill as a writer? Are
you strictly self taught or did you get some
schooling?
Ray Fawkes:
I'm strictly self-taught. I'm also firmly of the
belief that while structure and grammar can be
improved by instruction (or, in my case,
research), style and subject are wholly
instinctive developments.
Jamie:
Ray Fawkes:
Mnemovore was inspired by a combination of a few
elements, most notably a long night watching
nature documentaries about the evolution of
camouflage defense mechanisms in animals. I tied
my thoughts about that into some concept I'd
scribbled in one of my ever-present notebooks
about writing a story from the perspective of a
character who has no conscious identity. From
those beginnings grew the basic idea behind the
book.
Jamie:
How did you hook up with artist Mike Huddleston
& co- writer Hans Rodionoff? Did you meet them and
do the Mnemovore pitch together or did one of you
pitch it and DC found the rest of collaborate?
Ray Fawkes:
I met Hans at a show in San Diego, and we got on
very well. He was approached by Vertigo to do
something after the success of his book
"Lovecraft", and he proposed that we do Mnemovore
together there. I agreed, and they hooked us up
with Mike.
Jamie:
Now that you had one successful pitch accepted
and published by Vertigo, are you finding your
other pitches are getting more attention by
editors?
Ray Fawkes:
I believe so. It's certainly easier for me to
communicate with them, now that they know me.
However, I've seen the editors at Vertigo take on
completely untested talent just on the strength of
a submitted script...
Jamie:
What advice would you give to people trying to
pitch a new mini series to Vertigo?
Ray Fawkes:
Don't give them anything less than the best, the
most passionate, and the most outrageous piece
you've ever done. Don't strategize or dim it down
for their benefit - they want the best you've got.
Jamie:
Hans Rodionoff is also listed as a writer for
the series. How do you two work together?
Ray Fawkes:
Hans and I had a very easy-going partnership. We'd
start a chapter by talking about all the points we
needed to hit that month, working from the summary
we originally provided to Vertigo. I'd go on to
write the first draft, and then we'd bounce it
back and forth, each making little tweaks and
changes, until we were both satisfied, and then
we'd send it off to the editors for the second
round of back-and-forth.
Jamie:
I couldn't help but notice Mnemovore deals with
the idea of advertising, history and information.
I got the impression that you think advertising is
re-writing our society to be something it's not.
What are your views on what advertising is doing
to our culture?
Ray Fawkes:
Well, as I mentioned earlier (not without a small
shudder, I'll add), I have a background in
marketing and advertising. I think it's nothing
more or less than an incredibly well- funded
system of manipulation, and I grind my teeth to
consider how well the money that goes into it
could be used elsewhere. I am also a person who
can't stand noise, and I think that about eighty
to ninety percent of the advertising information I
see is unwelcome noise.
I can't say whether it's re-writing our society,
since we are habitual and happy consumers, and
advertising seems to be tied up rather neatly in
that. We want to know about what we'd like to buy,
and so we get told. I'd say it's an intrinsic part
of our culture.
Jamie:
Okay, as a former marketing writer how would
you market comic books differently?
Ray Fawkes:
I'm not going to touch that one. For one thing,
I've left the marketing world behind with a smile,
and I'd really rather not return to it, even
notionally. For another, I think that subject's
been well covered by a lot of intelligent people
already, and I don't want to get repetitive.
Jamie:
I can't help but notice that Mnemovore wasn't
described as a mini series (on the cover or in On
the Ledge part) until issue #3. Was there
originally a hope that this could become an
ongoing title?
Ray Fawkes:
That's strange, I didn't even notice. As far as I
know, MNEMOVORE was planned as a six-issue series
from day one. That's what my contract says,
anyhow.
Jamie:
Have you heard if Mnemovore will be collected
into a graphic novel or not?
Ray Fawkes:
I don't know if there are specific plans in the
works just yet. We've talked about wanting to do
it, and my editor is hopeful. One supposes that
it's all up to the executive powers at DC/Vertigo.
Jamie:
Do you have any more work coming out soon?
Ray Fawkes:
I'll have an OGN called THE APOCALIPSTIX coming
from Oni Comics next year, illustrated by Cameron
Stewart of SEAGUY and THE MANHATTAN GUARDIAN fame.
There are also a couple of other projects in the
pipe but not yet green-lit, so I can't mention
their details except to say: yes. Expect more work
from me soon. Much more, if I get my way.
Jamie:
What is THE APOCALIPSTIX about?
Ray Fawkes:
It's about the best all-girl rock band in the
world rocketing pell-mell across a post-nuke
America in a jet powered tour bus, telling
road-trip jokes and killing mutant pirates all the
way. I can hardly believe what they get up to, and
I wrote the damn thing! Beyond that, you'll have
to wait and see.
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