PROPINION: All Families are Psychotic
Authored by David Hopkins

Many writers have a particular niche or genre where they set up camp. In corporate speak, we'd say they're creating brand recognition for their product, that being their stories. They can market themselves by building a niche, and it's easier to gain readership from a pre-existing group of genre fans - sci-fi, horror, spy thriller, crime fiction, romantic comedies, westerns, and super heroes. It's not just about the genres, some writers are known for particular subject matter. Brian Wood is an incredible writer who is known for his stories about hip and disaffected urban youth who take extreme measures to settle the score. (Damn, Brian, seriously good niche.) The trick of a good niche is that any lesser writer who sneaks a story into that area will be doomed to comparisons as a watered-down version of whomever. Didn't Jarvis Cocker say it? Everybody hates a tourist.

Not that it matters. I'm a writer, dammit. I stay up late, wear a corduroy jacket, drink rum and cola, operating with appropriately obscure music taste and a well-balanced demeanor of irony and cynicism. I don't care about what "those people" say, because you know nothing is as unsexed as desperation.

The dilemma is, I've been writing for a few years now and I'm still niche-less, and a bit of a genre-hopper. Does it matter? Does it affect my allure to potential publishers? God, I hope not. But for sake of finishing this essay, and because Charlie Rose isn't going to interview me anytime soon, I started looking for my niche.

How do I reconcile my previous work? Some Other Day, a mini-comic about an east Texas town on the day of the Columbia space shuttle explosion. Karma Incorporated, a three issue series about a non-lethal hit squad that delivers justice to deserving jerks. Emily Edison, a graphic novel about an interdimensional custody battle and the super powered teenage girl who must save the world from her evil grandfather. How about my alleged inspirations? My two favorite movies are The Royal Tenenbaums and Seven Samurai. My favorite author is Douglas Coupland. Is there no unifying theme or idea within my creative guts?

And then, like a genetic history for heart failure, it was right there in front of me. And I never noticed it. My niche. The only thing I seem capable of writing about are dysfunctional families...oh, and now my left arm feels numb.

The interconnected stories within Some Other Day all deal with family conflict amidst the greater national tragedy. Karma Incorporated has to save a family from a crazed gun-totting father -- not to mention, the subplot of an estranged father and daughter within the team. Emily Edison is about divorce, having to live your life in-between two sides of a family. As far as inspirations, Royal Tenenbaums is a quirky family epic. According to film scholar Joan Mellen, Seven Samurai is essentially a house drama. Douglas Coupland's novels often explore a family on the verge of collapse. Not surprisingly, my future projects, The Last Babysitter and Omisoka Bridge are both about family. And for the record, I'd happily write Fantastic Four.

Which leads me to my latest comic book, coming out in October, it's a single issue adaptation of the Greek tragedy Antigone. This story is the final piece of the Sophocles' Oedipus trilogy. If the Odyssey represents the early mythic roots of the super hero story, then surely Oedipus is the mythic origin for stories like Nabokov's Lolita, American Beauty, The House of Yes, Death of a Salesman, The Squid and the Whale, War of the Roses, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Thumbsucker. These stories are about facing the consequences of dark family secrets brought into the light, about the death of a family. It deals with the loss of love, the penalty of arrogance, and the cruelty of the inevitable.

For those not familiar with the basic story, when Oedipus was born to the king and queen of Thebes, the prophet Teiresias foretells that the boy will eventually kill his father and marry his mother. Horrified, they give Oedipus to a shepherd, requesting he leave the boy for dead in the wilderness. The shepherd has compassion and gives Oedipus to the childless king and queen of Corinth. Later, Oedipus finds out about the prophecy, and believing the Corinthian king and queen to be his actual parents - he leaves home and heads to Thebes. Through a twist of fate, he ends up unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy. He kills a stranger on the side of the road who was his father, and marries the widowed queen of Thebes after saving the city from the Sphinx. Once the truth of the prophecy is revealed, Oedipus gouges out his eyes and his mother commits suicide. Oedipus' two sons fight for the throne of Thebes, and end up killing each other in battle. Their uncle Creon takes over. This story is about the two remaining daughters of the incestuous marriage: Ismene and Antigone. Antigone opposes King Creon for the right to bury her brother Polyneices.

Yes, the story also deals with political injustice and the authority of God's law of man's law. Good directors will often take great liberty with Antigone in deciding which aspects they want to emphasize and how. For me, though, I've been most fascinated with the family dynamic. Antigone, as a public figure, having to deal with her parents' actions. Something she had no control over, and yet it's shaped her entire life. Ultimately, I believe the story has very little to do with Polyneices' body or the law of the Gods. For my adaptation, Creon's law against Antigone's right to bury her brother is the final insult. She's been pushed around by forces beyond her control her whole life. The humiliation she's suffered has gone on long enough. If there's dignity in defying Creon, even if it costs her life, Antigone must do it. Ismene's refusal to help Antigone is a case of denial. Ismene will not acknowledge their family shame. If they lay low, and not make any trouble, everything will blow over and be okay. This is why I have Antigone kiss Ismene in the prologue -- something that doesn't happen in any other version I'm aware of. Antigone does this to force the subject of incest, humiliating Ismene, bringing her down to Antigone's level.

I wonder about Jocasta, the mother of Oedipus. I'd wager she knew all along Oedipus was her son. Gross, I know. After all, she knew about the prophecy. Her first husband's dead and gone. Now a man, who would be the age of her son, who looks a lot like the deceased King, marries her. Maybe Ismene took after her mother? Denial is a powerful force, especially in dealing with family tragedy.

All families are psychotic. They provide interesting characters and infinite conflict; themes of love, responsibility, humor, and pain abound. We all identify. The archetypes are rooted in our earliest experiences. The family drama can adapt to any genre, and can be told from numerous perspectives. I like the ambiguity and absurdity, how something as small as taking out the trash can lead to Antigone-like defiance and conflict.

Damn good niche. I think I'll stay here awhile.

David Hopkins is the writer for Emily Edison and Karma Incorporated, both published by Viper Comics. His next book Antigone (published by Silent Devil) will be available in October. David is a regular contributor to the Smart Pop series for BenBella Books, and a columnist for Pop Syndicate. He lives with his wife Melissa and daughter Kennedy in their house in Arlington, Texas. For more information you can visit his website - AntiHero Comics.com.


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