An interview with Greg Rucka, by Chris Butcher.
If you ask any comics writer how to break into the field of comics writing, they'll usually regale you with stories of countless years of fruitless efforts; of schmoozing and submitting and unpaid assignments until one day, finally, they got their big break (usually an 8 page back up story in the back of a soon-to-be-cancelled anthology). But not always. Sometimes you can break into comics without going through the hassle. Greg Rucka found the easy way into comics; he became a successful novelist first.
The celebrated writer of the Atticus Kodiak series of novels, KEEPER (1996), FINDER (1997), and SMOKER (1998), had a passion for the Antarctic, and an idea for a visually intensive story. So with the help of publisher Oni Press, and talented artist Steve Lieber, that story became Whiteout, a four issue mini-series that was recently collected into one Trade Paperback.
But how did a 29 year old, happily married Oregonite develop this passion for the Antarctic? We at PopImage have decided to probe the stark and windswept mind of Mr. Rucka in an effort to discover just that.
We have chosen to feature the WHITEOUT Trade Paperback as a Popping Cherries feature, a comic that is easily read by non-comics readers. There are many factors that make WHITEOUT accessible, but foremost among them is the absence of "costumes." WHITEOUT is not a superhero comic; rather it is a crime/suspense story. Steve Lieber's art is very evocative, and very honest; it is not the standardized mainstream garbage of over-muscled men, and women who clearly have no basis in human anatomy. WHITEOUT has been described as a mystery book that doesn't reach back to pulp novels of the 30s.
PI: What would you count among your influences in writing WHITEOUT?
GR: A lot of public television specials about Antarctica, and a lot of Westerns. I'm a fan of the Western, and all of the elements were in place for WHITEOUT; we had a Marshal, we had a mining town (McMurdo), we had the wide open spaces and the lawless, harsh land. I think that was probably the greatest influence.
PI: For those who haven't had a chance to read it, describe WHITEOUT in your own words.
GR: The initial series is, in essence, a murder mystery set in Antarctica. The protagonist is Carrie Stetko, a US Deputy Marshal stationed on the Ice. She's got a dead body in the middle of nowhere, several thousand square miles of continent to cover, and 3,000 suspects. In the course of her investigation, she teams with a British agent named Sharpe, and together the two women try to solve the crime before winter sets in, and locks Antarctica away in ice for 8 months.
PI: Why did you decide to work in the comic medium?
GR: Again, there are a couple of reasons for this. First, and primarily, I'm a fan of the medium, and have been for several years, going back to my early teens. But additionally, WHITEOUT was a story that desperately needed a strong visual sense. Antarctica is visceral, and visually stunning, and I firmly believed that no matter how good my words were, they would not capture the power of the place without help. It was an appropriate marriage for the story, and I think the results speak for themselves. I'm very proud of the work Steve and I have done.
PI: How did Whiteout come about? Did you always intend it to be a comic story?
GR: I had toyed with it as a novel for over a year and a half before meeting with (then Editor-in-Chief at Oni) Bob Schreck. During the course of our conversation, I pitched WHITEOUT to him, and he saw what I did; that the visual opportunities in comics would work ideally with the story I was describing. Schreck and his partner, publisher of Oni Joe Nozemack, then set about trying to find an artist for the work while I began the scripts. They suggested Steve Lieber, and it took Steve and I only a couple of meetings before we were certain we'd be able to do good work together.
PI: Bob Shreck recently left Oni Press to become an editor at DC Comics. Has this affected your working relationship with Oni in any way?
GR: Not at all, really. Jamie Rich, who took over for Bob as Editor-in-Chief, is great to work with, and while he doesn't have Bob's years of experience, he certainly has the same passion and commitment towards the work. A lot of people were saying that Bob's departure would spell doom for Oni; they're wrong, and I think it says more about the speaker than the industry or company itself.
PI: Did it help you get your foot in the door at DC?
GR: Yes and no. My entry to DC actually occurred about a year before Bob left. Now that he's there, though, he's someone that I know I can work well with. But his move really has had little to no bearing on my relationship with DC.
PI: You're a successful novelist, did you consider adapting one of your previous novels into comics, as opposed to coming up with the new situations of WHITEOUT?
GR: No, actually, I never even entertained the idea. It would be a disservice to both mediums, I think. My novels stand as what they are, works of words. Comics are far more collaborative, and require a ready give-and-take between writer and artist. Taking Atticus (the protagonist of my first three novels) and trying to fit him into comics would have been both an exercise in futility and ultimately pointless. It wouldn't have worked, and as a result, both creations would have suffered.
PI: Do you think then that fans of your prose work will be able to appreciate your comics work with it's many differences?
GR: Some of them have already bridged the "gap" (such as it is), and for the most part seem to have weathered the journey just fine. I think it's harder for people familiar with my novels to cross-over, rather than for people who discover me through the comics. So far, though, a cross-over does seem to be happening, which is very flattering, to say the least.
PI: The setting of Whiteout, Antarctica, is a location I haven't seen tackled much in either comics or novels. Is there a special love of "the Ice" that compelled you to write a story set there?
GR: More and more, actually. I did a lot of research on the subject, and for some reason that I've been unable to articulate, the more I looked, the more compelled by the continent I became. I desperately want to visit at some point, just to see it, just to stand on ice that's 10,000 years old and to feel the cold. I think there's something magical about the Ice, in the way that all those lands unknown are magical. What started as an interest only a couple years ago has become a major passion. I've got Antarctica on the brain, now. Kinda sad, I suppose.
PI: Are you planning on visiting any time soon then?
GR: God, not soon enough! I honestly don't know when I'll be able to go. But I will go at some point. Maybe in five years, maybe in 20, but I will go.
PI: Your previous protagonist, Atticus Kodiak is male. Why did you want your protagonist to be female in this particular story?
GR: One of the thematic things I wanted to deal with in WHITEOUT was isolation and loneliness. Since the ratio of men to women on the Ice is something like 400 to 1, it was the logical extension to have my protagonist be female. But there was more to it. I wanted to do a "buddy" cop story, in a way, and I realized that I had never seen one with two female leads. I'm also very interested in issues of gender, and the Ice seemed a wonderful backdrop with which to explore those ideas, as well.
PI: Were there any challenges that came in writing a female lead?
GR: I'm not certain I'd say challenges, exactly. I've written female leads before, and in every case I try very hard to be honest and to always remember that gender is an issue. I am, for the most part, more careful when writing a female point of view, and I tend to cross-check my assertions and conclusions with the women I know and trust, namely my wife and a couple of friends.
PI: Comics are a different form of storytelling than straight prose, did you have any trouble adapting to the medium?
GR: Not especially. I've always written with a strong visual sense, and that served me well in transition. The most important thing I had to learn was that the artist (in this case, Steve Lieber) has a far better idea of how to convey story with images than I do, and consequently I needed to give him room to do just that. But Steve was very patient with me, and we collaborated quite well.
PI: Has working with Steve, who draws very realistic, proportioned figures changed your expectations of the artists you're working with on other projects?
GR: To some extent. I'm more used to working with an artist, now, than in a vacuum, which happens more often at DC. Steve and I talk to each other quite a lot during a project, checking and cross-checking. I'll ask him what sorts of things he'd like to draw, and he'll, in turn, ask for clarifications if I'm after something in particular. That's pretty much a unique experience for me thus far.
That having been said, though, I've been working with Shawn Martinbrough on DETECTIVE COMICS for over a month, now, and so far our communication has been excellent.
Now, having answered in that fashion, I'll cut to the real question, I suppose, which is, how do I feel about artists who draw women like genetic aberrations? I hate it. One of the joys of working with Steve was that both Carrie and Lily were "real," in that they appeared as people, not as fetish objects. While I understand the appeal of sexy characters and sexy art, I think it's being overdone, and in many cases, done so badly that the women represented are neither sexy nor artistic. And honestly, some of the art I've seen makes me feel ill. Without naming names, there are several artists in the business guilty of this. I've been exceptionally lucky in that the artists I've worked most closely with do not do this.
PI: Speaking of which, what else can we look forward to from you?
GR: The sequel to WHITEOUT, titled WHITEOUT: MELT, comes out this September. It's another four issue miniseries, again with Carrie as the star. In October, I'll have a plethora of Batman books beginning to appear, running all the way through December and the end of this year's storyline, No Man's Land. And then, in January 2000, I'll begin a stint as the regular writer on Detective Comics. Then there are the books. SHOOTING AT MIDNIGHT, my latest novel, will be out in October as well. In January, my novelization of the No Man's Land story will be released by Pocket Books. And finally, some time later in 2000, there will be an illustrated novel that I'm working on with industry-legend Matt Wagner, called GRENDEL: PAST PRIME. And other stuff, too....
PI: Can you tell me a bit about the sequel to WHITEOUT, WHITEOUT: MELT?
GR: MELT is less mystery than suspense. I've been thinking of it as "Die Hard on the Ice" but that's really unfair, frankly. Roughly, it starts with a small Russian research station exploding and Carrie is sent to investigate. I don't really want to say any more for fear of giving things away. It'll be solid, and it'll be fun, and Steve's art is even better than it was in WHITEOUT. I urge people to pick it up.
PI: What do you think of the comic industry, working in comics and the like?
GR: I think the industry is certainly in a rough patch right now, but, maybe because I'm a newcomer, I'm optimistic that this too will pass. As for working in comics... it's amazing. It is, in all honesty, some of the best, most enjoyable, and coolest work I've ever done, and I look forward to staying with comics for a long time to come.
PI: Is there a particular project you'd like to do?
GR: I'm hoping to one day work on Wonder Woman at DC, to really knuckle down and redefine and revitalize her character. I think she's been woefully mistreated in the past, and I firmly believe she should be as powerful, as popular, as Batman and Superman. That's the plan today, at least. Tomorrow I may have a different goal entirely....
PI: That's really interesting, just in the last week I've heard of 2 writers that would like to rework Wonder Woman. Do you think it has anything to do with their adolescences coming at the same time Linda Carter made her television debut?
GR: Hmm... it may, I've never really thought about it. Linda Carter is not who I see as Wonder Woman, though she certainly had some subconscious impact on me, I'm sure. But what draws me to the character is what draws me to any character--the strength of the personality, the depth of the same, and the room for exploration.
As a reader and fan of WHITEOUT, it's Greg's last sentence that I find the most telling. Because the things that attract him to other characters, their strength, depth, and believability, are exactly the types of things that readers of WHITEOUT have enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy. WHITEOUT: MELT #1 is out now. The original series is still available in trade paperback.
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