Comic Pro Spotlight: Gary Reed
by Bill Nichols
What was your first work in comics? What do you remember about that first assignment?
The first comic writing I did was a short story called True Love which appeared in the first issue of Caliber Presents. It was penciled by Vince Locke and inked by Mark Bloodworth. I'm pretty sure that was the first because about the same time, I did a Gideon's story that was drawn by Jim O'Barr. When I launched Caliber Presents which was to be an ongoing anthology, I wanted some regular features so I came up with Street Shadows which were tales of ordinary people in a big city and True Love was the lead off and then I created Gideon's which was about a magical pawn shop that could exist at any time period and any setting. But also at the same time, I was working on a series with Guy Davis called Baker Street. So, not sure what was exactly first in terms of doing but I think True Love came out first....I think.
How long ago was that, if you don't mind saying?
A long time ago, hence the lack of memory on it. Would have to have been early 1989 when Caliber launched.
At a guess, how much work have you produced over the years in comics, in terms of pages or book?
That's really hard to determine. I mean, Deadworld alone is over 50 issues and I had runs of over 13 issues on Realm, Saint Germaine, and all the Raven Chronicles tie-ins. The Tome Press material is really tough to figure out as I would do a lot of text pages or adaptations. I know that right now, I have over 30 graphic novels in print and there are a few more that will be coming into print and of course, some material that likely won't be compiled. I'm guessing that it's somewhere around 250 issues or some 7,000 pages. But I could be way off.
What are you best known for?
Likely Deadworld, just because it's in the moment and I've worked on that the longest. Some people know me primarily from Baker Street as it was with Guy Davis and received a number of award nominations. I do have some people, mostly foreign, who associate me more with Saint Germaine. In some circles, I'm known for the historical comics since I written a number of titles for the Tome Press line dealing with history and war.
What are some of your best moments in comics?
Most of the time at Caliber was good. It was an exciting time as we were doing some great books, introducing a lot of great new talents, and I had a fantastic staff that was just enjoyable to be around. Work was fun and yet we also were doing something that was growing. I loved the launch of the Tome Press line and the hardest part was deciding what to do.
A funny aside, someone sent me an email that had a section from an interview with a creator talking to the Comics Journal, I think. Not sure what they were discussing but when the subject of the Tome Press line came up, it seemed they couldn';t understand the logic of that. Of course, also every book in the Tome line outsold this creator's issues but he still didn't get it.
On a personal level, I think it was working with Byron Preiss and mapping out a series of books on famous rock bands and American History in addition to the horror line I was doing. Two of the horror adaptations came out and the Beatles books was well underway when Byron was tragically killed in a car accident. That was likely one of my saddest moments.
Your worst, something you have regrets about?
I don't really look back with regrets. I mean, most decisions are based on what's applicable at the moment and if something doesn't turn out, you can regret it later but going in, if you did it for a reason, I don't think you can view it in hindsight negatively. But I probably would've kept more of a focus on Deadworld. I had rotating artists on it for awhile and then let it slip into hiatus in order to accommodate the movie option and looking back, should've just kept it going and ignored all the potential that was thrown at me. I learned that Hollywood lives in a different world than most of us so I'm sticking to the more tangible one nowadays.
What are best examples of your work that sum of your work or your "style"?
When you write a lot of different stuff like I do, I don't know if I really have a style. When I first started writing comics on a regular basis, I would force myself to tackle different types of narrations to see what would work best and find out what felt right. I think what I did with Saint Germaine was probably what I felt best about and the series I enjoyed the most. I feel most natural with it. Of course, sometimes the work itself dictates a certain style like with Renfield, I wanted to structure it so that all scenes were from Renfield's point of view yet we never got inside of his head. I wanted to do it in a cinematic way so that it unfolded in front of him and the audience at the same time. That proved to be difficult in some scenes but since it was a self enclosed story, at least I knew the events from beginning to end while writing it. In the more recent Deadworld stories such as Slaughterhouse and the upcoming Infection, I think I shifted towards a style more in tune with what I like to do.
What have been some of your best collaborations, and that can mean best work produced or other creators with whom you've worked?
Renfield with Galen Showman stands out. Also, Saint Germaine with most of the artists I worked with on the series. The Raven Chronicles series was a lot of fun because each issue was a stand-alone so I worked with different artists on each one. I really liked working with Galen on one issue and enjoyed Craig Brasfield on the first issue. I've been happy with most of the collaborations and often work with the same people if I can. I've had some tough moments with others but no need to go into that.
Why do you think you aren't working in comics? Or working as much as you once did?
Time. I teach college biology courses full-time so I just don't have the time to write comics as much as I used to. But I still do some and a lot of my comic time is spent putting collections together or prepping stuff for digital release. I usually reserve the summers for my writing, although I write year round, but I worked on a couple big projects that sucked up quite a bit of time. One was a novel that I was paid quite well for but I have no idea of when or if it will be released because the company restructured and is re-evaluating their focus. It wasn't a comic company but someone launching a whole new property in many different ways.
What do you think of comics today?
On one hand, I think there are probably more good comics now than ever...but they just don't get any kind of traditional distribution. But on the other, as far as the mainstream- only in comics does mainstream mean things with limited appeal like superheroes—I have no interest. Any of the Big Two superhero titles have totally lost me including on the nostalgic factor. I read them all as a kid and when I started my stores, I started reading them again. There was a sense of coherency and history. Now, anything that happens is irrelevant because it would all be different in a year. Only in comics do they retool the characters continuously. Could you imagine Harry Potter coming out in a new book each year and throwing out all the back history and re-inventing the character each time? I tried to read a few of the Marvel titles and just found them unreadable.
Is there a project, character or title you would want to re-visit to continue or re-boot?
Well, I'm continuing with Deadworld but I really would like to get back to Saint Germaine. But even though there were some 15 issues or tie-ins, I don't know if it could do well in today's market. The market is pretty small and the vast interest is still on the Big Two or licensed material. I mean, I know I can do it non-traditional ways but that requires more energy and until I have the time to devote to it, I don't want to get it started. I've also gotten a lot of requests to do another A Murder of Scarecrows book. That was surprising as it didn't do that well in the comics market yet I can hit up about that all the time.
Do you have new projects you'd like to pursue?
Right now, I have the first five issues of the next Deadworld series, called Deadworld Infection, completed. It's by Sami Makkonen who did Deadworld Slaugherhouse, and it is fully painted in color. Looks fantastic. I hope to have news on that shortly. I may take it to Kickstarter just to be able to provide it to publishers ready to go or even publish it myself. Lots of things to consider. I have the next Saint Germaine collection coming out. This third book will collect the Magus storyline plus the full length story that came out as the lead feature in the last issue of the second volume of Negative Burn and has a brand new 33-page story of Germaine giving a French writer an idea for a story about a hunchback. I'm working on a couple of novels but the next comic project I want to invest my time with is a murder mystery set at the turn of the century. I plan to do it as a lengthy maxi-series, almost like an ongoing but it will have an end. But generally, I don't discuss things until they're almost ready to go and I have a few things getting close to announcing.
And my webcomic with Robin Ator: Arteest http://arteestcomics.com
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