Made in SA: David LissMade in SA: David Liss

San Antonio writer DAVID LISS is known primarily for historical thrillers, of which he’s written six. His novels — including A Conspiracy of Paper, The Whiskey Rebels and The Devil’s Company — have drawn critical praise, enthusiastic fans and even the coveted Edgar Award. This month, the release of DARING MYSTERY COMICS 70th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 marked David’s debut as a comic writer. The MARVEL book, set in the 1930s, follows the adventures of the Phantom Reporter, a masked vigilante journalist. We talked to David this week about the Phantom Reporter, the differences in writing novels and comics and his future plans in both literary forms.

Your novels are heavily steeped in conspiracy, corruption and historical detail – three things that don’t seem like they would necessarily translate well to comics’ sparer narrative form. Was it a difficult at all to adapt what you do to the comic page?

I’m not entirely sure I agree that it is hard to get corruption and conspiracy into comic books. Many titles thrive on them, after all (Brubaker’s run on both Daredevil and Captain America come immediately to mind, but I am sure there are many more examples). Characters in comic books often have hidden or secret motivations, or turn out to be working for the other side, etc. And corruption appears all the time as well — organizations secretly compromised or infiltrated. It’s all great dramatic stuff that transcends various media. As for historical detail, I think it is really just another sort of world-building, which comics do remarkably well. The tricky part of me was learning to use the visuals to do most of the heavy lifting.

How did the relationship with Marvel come about? Do you see it as a long-term thing or is this more of a one-shot or experiment?

My editor at Marvel contacted me about doing this issue, and I was thrilled to get the opportunity. He’d first proposed the idea of my writing for Marvel many years earlier, right after my first novel came out, but at that time I was still trying to figure out how to write novels, and I didn’t have the creative time or energy to dedicate to learning how to write in another medium. When I heard from him last fall, I was definitely ready to try my hand at scripting a comic book. And I very much intend to continue working in comics. In fact, right from the beginning I told my editor that if I were going to invest the time and energy into learning how to write a comic book script, I would want to continue writing them rather than have it be a one-time thing. I have begun my second project with Marvel — a five issue miniseries — and I am attempting to get a couple of other projects off the ground as well.

Have other comic companies approached you about writing?

Yes. I was approached by one of the independents, and I am in the process of trying to iron out the details of a proposal there. I also contacted another major imprint, and I was very gratified by how warmly they received my interest. Discussions are going on there as well, but it takes a lot of time and energy to get a project green lit.

You seem to put a lot of painstaking research into the historical accuracy of your novels. Did you do that for the late 1930s setting of Daring Mystery, or did you paint with a fairly broad brush given comics’ more fantastic style?

I admit it was more the latter. I think because, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of the historical work is done visually, I have to do less research myself. I read a fair amount about the period, as well as reading books from, and watching movies from, the 1930s to try and get a feel for the language, but there is no denying that I did far less research than I would have for a novel. On the other hand, it is a shorter project on a smaller scale, so that is probably only natural.

The protagonist in your comic is a reporter and uses those skills to break the case. However, to ultimately achieve justice, he resorts to vigilantism. Is that a statement about the infotainment-saturated masses’ ambivalence toward real journalism that asks tough, often-uncomfortable questions?

More than anything, I was responding to how the media functions in recent years. A story will break exposing some kind of wrong-doing or outright villainy, and you’ll think that a politician or a corporation or industry is finished, but then the next day it turns out to be yesterday’s news and the world goes on just the way it was before. My Phantom Reporter story stemmed from my frustration in watching honest journalism fail to produce what I would consider significant or meaningful results.

Did you grow up with comics? What did you read? Do you still read them?

I grew up reading comics, and continued to read them until my late 20s when the time and financial pressures of graduate school forced me to make some changes. I always loved Batman, Daredevil, Punisher, Justice League, Sandman, Nexus, Grimjack and tons others. When I began this project for Marvel I began reading comics again, so I could learn how other writers scripted and so I could get a sense of what was going on in the Marvel Universe. I remember when I was much younger searching for cool books, but now I feel like there are far more cool titles out there than I have time to read. Some of my favorites include Walking Dead, Invincible, Powers, Ex Machina and Scalped.

Did your absorption of comic narratives as a kid have any influence on your current storytelling style, either in the novels or in Daring Mystery Comics?

That’s hard to say. From a standpoint of craft or technique, writing a comic script is a very different experience form writing a novel. On the other hand, the elements of good story-telling transcend any one medium — they are fundamentally the same in fiction, comics, film, television, etc. I think comics often boil down narrative to a raw or fundamental level, and that is always instructive.

Have ever you dabbled in speculative fiction (sf, fantasy, horror, magic realism)? Any chance we’ll see you publish something in one of those genres?

The novel I am writing now, while I hope it will appeal to readers of my previous historical fiction, also has dominant elements of the supernatural. I think of it as historical urban fantasy. The working title is The Darkening Green. That may change. At this point, we are looking at a spring 2011 publication date.

Do you have any other comics in the works? Any chance we could see a David Liss graphic novel in the near future?

There’s no street date for my next Marvel project, but it is in the works. And I will announce other projects as soon as they get locked down (and I have permission). But the short answer is that I love scripting comics and plan to do as much as time and the powers that be will allow.

And finally, something we ask all (well, most) of our Made in S.A. participants: Name your five favorite sf, fantasy and/or horror books, your five favorite sf, fantasy and/or horror movies and your five favorite comics.

I don’t really believe in favorites, so think of this not as my ultimate list but some things I like that come to mind. I’m sure as soon as I send this in I will think of things I wish I’d put on the list, but that seems to me only natural. I’ve already listed the comics so…

Books:
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Films:
Spirited Away
The Incredibles
Excalibur
Spider-Man 2
The Matrix