Can't You Hear Me Knocking v.2: Tom Manning
Jason McNamara

I first discovered Runoff at the Alternative Press Expo in 2003. Or rather I was told I had to buy it by a friend of mine. I took the advice seriously as this friend of mine who shall remain nameless pretty much hates any comic book printed after 1979. Going beyond saying something complimentary he was absolutely fucking nuts about Runoff. In fact he said "Best book you'll ever read". In polite disbelief I chimed "Get the fuck outta here".

"Really, check it out. The kid who does it is real nice too" he assured me. Then he took his stack of Runoff's to an empty corner across from my table and started reading. I was there to hawk my first issue of Less Than Hero. This consisted of me yelling at passerby's "Hey, now here's a book that'll put hair on your chest!" , "Add 3 inches of comic books to your love life", and other crowd turn offs. Between fleeing towns folk I'd peer over at my cynical friends face as he read Runoff. He was laughing, then he jaw was open, then he looked worried, then he laughed again...Fuck this I thought. I asked the kids next to me to watch my table while I went over to Tom Manning's booth to straighten this shit out. We'd see about this best book I've ever read...

I discovered Tom's half table on the main floor. Looking sober, clean cut, relaxed and professional, Tom was every thing I wasn't that weekend. We talked about his book for a while and I bought most of the series. He was out of number ones and was selling the rest of the series at a dollar an issue. He offered to e-mail me a pdf of the first issue if I was interested. At the time I didn't know a pdf from an STD so I declined.

I ended up borrowing my friend's copy of #1 and putting the books in a pile for a while. Late one night months later I decided to read "the best book I'll ever read". Big mistake. Reading the first five issues of Runoff gave me the same feeling I got when I saw Halloween for the first time. I was seriously terrified. And just when I thought it couldn't get any freakier... the time animals started talking "I'm hungry" What the fuck!! It really is the best comic book I've ever read!

That was last year. Since then Tom's self published series has been picked up by OddGod Press. A busy guy with a day job, Tom was cool enough to take some time out to talk about Runoff and his adventures in self publishing.

Jason: How would you describe Runoff?

Tom: Now that is a tough question. Seriously, by now one would think I would have some magic sentence to describe Runoff. But I haven't found one yet. I'll take another crack at it, though (deep breath):

Runoff is story about a town called Range in Washington State. For a reason not yet known, anyone who enters Range is trapped there. And what then unfolds in Range is the product of all the different types of people and genres trapped together. It's part horror, part humor, part realist, part cartoon. It's forcing all aspects of humanity to live with each other: our monsters, our pets, our cartoons, our fears.

Tom, first of all I wanted to personally thank you for killing all those children in Runoff 5:Lunatic. Nobody does that. You didn't cop out. Those little brats got torn to shreds. That never happens in a horror story. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. You know, those little kids had to understand that they are no match for Mr. Teeth. And when you don't understand that, you get torn to shreds. That's one to grow on, kids!

Runoff strikes the perfect balance between light heartedness and horror. Not many writers can manage that. So I've got to wonder...how would you describe yourself?

I'm not one to give much weight to Zodiac sings, but I guess I really live up to being a Gemini. I'm a very social person, but I'm also a crazy workaholic who will often turn down a social event and work through the night. I am interested in a wide variety of things, and I think I love seeing a variety of things done really well: comedy, horror, film, comics, books, art, radio, anything. And I guess my varied interests kind of inspired Runoff's quilt of genres and moods, because there are so many things I love watching done right, but they aren't melded together often enough. I wanted to create something that incorporated all these different interests I have.



The book has a large cast of characters. You've given each one an individual voice and depth. Additionally most of them have their own piece of the plot. Yet, the book never seems over crowded. How as a writer do you keep track of them all?

I'm glad to know you felt it doesn't feel crowded to you. I wanted to make Runoff a story with no clear protagonist and no narrator. And to do it correctly, I had to create an ensemble story that would weave the story together through different experiences and points of view. I try to keep it from feeling too crowded by making sure the main story is always being unfolded, so you don't feel like you are reading one unnecessary aside after another. And as far as keeping track of them all, I get so tied up in each character...in a way I can't wait to get back to them. So it's really hard for me to forget them, in fact, it's even harder figuring out how to use each of them correctly. In a way, they are all like spices, which you want to use in just the right amount at just the right times.

I read somewhere that Runoff is an 18 issue mini series. Is that true? You're at issue five now. When do you expect to finish the run?

Well, I'm happy to say Chapter Two will be out in 2005, and will have issues 5, 6, 7 and 8 all collected in that chapter. OddGod Press and I decided to stop doing individual issues and just release chapter collections, and I would like to get one chapter out per year. Since there are four chapters, and 16-18 issues, I hope to have it all finished in 2007.

The individual issues of Runoff have an interesting design. Sized more like a magazine each issue is 32 black and white pages for $2. What attracted you to this untraditional comic book format?

I make my living as a graphic designer, and mostly as a print designer. So the idea of a "standard size" of anything printed is funny to me. Magazines can be all shapes and sizes, as can novels and other printed matter. What's with the idea of a standard comic size? I wanted people to pick up Runoff and read it with a different frame of mind. I also love black and white comics so, so much more than colour. I just get more joy from an artist who can pull off a wonderful page in black and white far more than one who does it in colour. I feel colour is too often used as a distraction and a crutch for comic artists. And don't even get me started on any computer lettering or inking. Yuck.

How did the self-publishing aspect of Runoff go?

I'm sure the only reason we're talking about Runoff today is because in 2000 I decided to put my time and energy into finishing the first issue and self publishing it instead of trying to explain it to any publishing company. Let's face it- Runoff is just too damn strange to have gotten a green light anywhere. So to the people who ask about getting their stories published, I say stop wasting your time running around and do it yourself, and do it your way. That will not only get your book out quicker, it will get it out the way you want it to be.

What was it like to be picked up by OddGod Press? Were you pursuing publishers prior to that?

OddGod has been fantastic. They have been kind enough to just basically say "keep doing what you want and we'll pay the publishing costs". They also allowed me to keep full ownership on my copyright and licensing to Runoff. In other words, the perfect publisher! I decided to start looking for a publisher after Runoff #5 came out, and (OddGod) heard I was looking and made me an offer I couldn't refuse.



Any self publishing pit falls you'd like to warn people about?

It starts taking a lot of your time. Dealing with Diamond and getting comic shipments and invoices out by myself was a lot of work. I realized at one point that I had been working a lot on Runoff, and none of it the work was actually making the next issue. So consider it a pitfall of the bigger it starts getting, the more administrative work you have to do. But then you have a product you can really show to a publisher- and I think that may actually be a better way to get a publishing deal in the end.

Any books comic or otherwise you would like to recommend?

All of Dave Sim's Cerebus is mind blowing to me. Say what you want about him, but I think he just finished the best comic series ever. Old Bloom County collected comics are a constant staple in my diet. As far as non-comics go, I am always re-reading The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, and Michio Kaku's Hyperspace. And I have to share that the absolute best thing to listen to while inking is the radio show Coast to Coast AM.

Tom, thanks for letting me pick your brilliant brain. Best of luck with Runoff.





Wow, nothing but great advice this week from Tom Manning. Recently there have been some internet columnists talking about the failure of horror comics to actually be scary. Anyone who has read Runoff can tell you that's complete bullshit. Not only is Run Off full of well-crafted characters and suspenseful situations. It's fucking terrifying. And then it's funny, in a small town dancing monkey way. Then it's fucking terrifying again. Then...well then you've got to wait for the next trade. Personally I think it would make an excellent Christmas present for that special someone. The Diamond order # is FEB04 2550. Your retailer would be happy to order it for you. You can check out Tom's site at Robots And Monkeys.com. More info on OddGod Press can be found at Odd God Press.com. And finally you can break my balls by emailing me at Jason @ Politestrangers.com.

Speaking of breaking balls... I recently drank a boot of beer and got in Brian K Vaughan's face about something one of his characters said about Joey Ramone in the pages of Y: The Last Man. Brian was nice enough to explain how fiction works and not everything a character says is what the creator believes in his heart. He does love and miss Joey Ramone very much. And so do I. Almost as much as beer (don't make me choose). Sorry dude, I guess I can get a little over protective of "the Brudders".

See you kids in two weeks when I interview up and coming brilliant artist...ah but that would spoil the surprise. In the meantime set your stereo's to destroy with Rhino's re-issue of Too Tough To Die. One, Two, Three, Four!

 

Jason McNamara is the author of the Less Then Hero mini-series, for more be sure to visit Polite Strangers.com.


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