The Art of Neil Gaiman 9781781575178, 1781575177

Citation preview

HAYLEY CAMPBELL

FOREWORD BY AUDREY N IF F E K E R

HAYLEY CAMPBELL

FOREWORD BY AUDREY N IF F E K E R

The A rt of Neil Gaiman First published in the United Kingdom in 2014 by ILEX 210 High Street Lewes East Sussex BN7 2NS

C O N te N tS ■ '

Distributed worldwide (except North America) by Thames & Hudson Ltd., 181A High Holborn, London WC1V 7QX, United Kingdom Text Copyright © 2014 Hayley Campbell NG Archive Images Copyright © Neil Gaiman Book Copyright © The Ilex Press, Ltd. SANDMAN and all SANDMAN-related character; are ™& © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission. BATMAN, SWAMP THING and BLACK ORCHID and all related characters are ™& © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission. All other images Copyright © their respective copyright holders. Publisher: Alastair Campbell Executive Publisher: Roly Allen Managing Editor: Nick Jones Senior Project Editor: Natalia Price-Cabrera Specialist Editor: Frank Gallaugher Assistant Editor: Rachel Silverlight Manuscript Editor: Jennifer Eiss Commissioning Editor: Tim Pilcher Art Director: Julie Weir Designers: Amazing15 Any copy of this book issued by the publisher is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including these words being imposed on a subsequent purchaser. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ebook ISBN: 978-1-78157-517-8 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form, or by any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or information storage-and-retrieval systems - without the prior permission of the publisher. Colour Origination by Ivy Press Reprographics Printed and bound in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Cover design by Alastair Campbell Cover photo by Allan Amato

,

.■

.

.

6 10

Foreword by Audrey Niffenegger Introduction

CHapteR ONe: pReLuDes 22 30

Very Early Neil Punk

34 38

One of Those First Novel Things Top Shelf

44

Peace and Love Only Existed on Weekends The End of Peace and Love

50 54 58 60 64

Ghastly Beyond Belief Duran Duran Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion Good Omens

*

-

*

.

v »

CHapteR fouR: a com ics misceLLaisry

CHapteR six: siLveR scReeNS

138

264

Hollywood

268 272 276 277 279 280

Princess Mononoke Beowulf Post-Beowulf The Fermata Modesty Blaise, Black Hole Babylon 5 and The Road to En-dor A Short Film About John Bolton Who Killed Amanda Palmer and Statuesque

140 146 148 150 154

160 166 168 174 178

Signal to Noise Miracleman Spawn Marvel 1602 The Eternals “Being an Account o f the Life and Death of the Emperor Heliogabolus” A 24-Hour Comic

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street The Books o f Magic The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy o f Mr. Punch The Last Temptation Batman

CHapteR two: BRitiSH com ics 68 72

1984 2000 AD

CHapteR five: BeyoND coMiCS^ 184

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

76 82

Borderline Violent Cases

194 198

Short Stories

CHapteR tHRee: veRtigo HeigHts

202

90 96

Black Orchid Sandman

209 210

122 130 132 134

And Then There Is . . . Death

216 220 222 228 230 232

Death Gallery Death Talks About Life The Sandman: Overture

* • '

236 238 240 244 247 248 250 252 254 256 260

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains Poetry Novels

Neverwhere Stardust Stardust: the Film American Gods Coraline Coraline: the Movie Anansi Boys Odd and the Frost Giants InterWorld The Graveyard Book The Ocean at the End o f the Lane Picture Books

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish The Wolves in the Walls Blueberry Girl and Instructions Crazy Hair Monkey and Chus Day Fortunately, the Milk

284 286 290 292 296

Words and Music

MirrorMask Doctor Who

CHapteR seveN: ReflectiONS ^ 302 304

Radio Plays As for How He Does It All . . .

306

Afterword

310

Bibliography

315 316 318

Sources Picture Credits Index

320

Acknowledgments

. X 7 A y /// /ih\ * 'i *A1 \\\ \1 \\1 \\ \\ '\11"\\\ ì

s? s.

yyyr

1/ ■

The A rt of Neil Gaiman First published in the United Kingdom in 2014 by ILEX 210 High Street Lewes East Sussex BN7 2NS

C O N te N tS ■ '

Distributed worldwide (except North America) by Thames & Hudson Ltd., 181A High Holborn, London WC1V 7QX, United Kingdom Text Copyright © 2014 Hayley Campbell NG Archive Images Copyright © Neil Gaiman Book Copyright © The Ilex Press, Ltd. SANDMAN and all SANDMAN-related character; are ™& © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission. BATMAN, SWAMP THING and BLACK ORCHID and all related characters are ™& © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission. All other images Copyright © their respective copyright holders. Publisher: Alastair Campbell Executive Publisher: Roly Allen Managing Editor: Nick Jones Senior Project Editor: Natalia Price-Cabrera Specialist Editor: Frank Gallaugher Assistant Editor: Rachel Silverlight Manuscript Editor: Jennifer Eiss Commissioning Editor: Tim Pilcher Art Director: Julie Weir Designers: Amazing15 Any copy of this book issued by the publisher is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including these words being imposed on a subsequent purchaser. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ebook ISBN: 978-1-78157-517-8 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form, or by any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or information storage-and-retrieval systems - without the prior permission of the publisher. Colour Origination by Ivy Press Reprographics Printed and bound in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Cover design by Alastair Campbell Cover photo by Allan Amato

,

.■

.

.

6 10

Foreword by Audrey Niffenegger Introduction

CHapteR ONe: pReLuDes 22 30

Very Early Neil Punk

34 38

One of Those First Novel Things Top Shelf

44

Peace and Love Only Existed on Weekends The End of Peace and Love

50 54 58 60 64

Ghastly Beyond Belief Duran Duran Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion Good Omens

*

-

*

.

v »

CHapteR fouR: a com ics misceLLaisry

CHapteR six: siLveR scReeNS

138

264

Hollywood

268 272 276 277 279 280

Princess Mononoke Beowulf Post-Beowulf The Fermata Modesty Blaise, Black Hole Babylon 5 and The Road to En-dor A Short Film About John Bolton Who Killed Amanda Palmer and Statuesque

140 146 148 150 154

160 166 168 174 178

Signal to Noise Miracleman Spawn Marvel 1602 The Eternals “Being an Account o f the Life and Death of the Emperor Heliogabolus” A 24-Hour Comic

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street The Books o f Magic The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy o f Mr. Punch The Last Temptation Batman

CHapteR two: BRitiSH com ics 68 72

1984 2000 AD

CHapteR five: BeyoND coMiCS^ 184

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

76 82

Borderline Violent Cases

194 198

Short Stories

CHapteR tHRee: veRtigo HeigHts

202

90 96

Black Orchid Sandman

209 210

122 130 132 134

And Then There Is . . . Death

216 220 222 228 230 232

Death Gallery Death Talks About Life The Sandman: Overture

* • '

236 238 240 244 247 248 250 252 254 256 260

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains Poetry Novels

Neverwhere Stardust Stardust: the Film American Gods Coraline Coraline: the Movie Anansi Boys Odd and the Frost Giants InterWorld The Graveyard Book The Ocean at the End o f the Lane Picture Books

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish The Wolves in the Walls Blueberry Girl and Instructions Crazy Hair Monkey and Chus Day Fortunately, the Milk

284 286 290 292 296

Words and Music

MirrorMask Doctor Who

CHapteR seveN: ReflectiONS ^ 302 304

Radio Plays As for How He Does It All . . .

306

Afterword

310

Bibliography

315 316 318

Sources Picture Credits Index

320

Acknowledgments

. X 7 A y /// /ih\ * 'i *A1 \\\ \1 \\1 \\ \\ '\11"\\\ ì

s? s.

yyyr

1/ ■

fOReWORD

Neu gaimaN, tH us f m e t N e il G a im a n

I

and

H a y le y C a m p b e ll a t th e

p o r t r a i t o f t h e a r t i s t as a y o u n g p u n k , p lu s b a b y p i c tu r e s

s a m e p a rty , a t th e s a m e m o m e n t. I w a s in S y d n e y ,

a n d s t o r i e s o f b a d h a i r c u t s . T h is b o o k c o n t a i n s e v e r y ­

A u s tr a lia in

th i n g y o u w a n t o r n e e d to k n o w a b o u t N e il G a im a n

a w a re h o u s e -lik e

s p a c e fille d w i t h

b lu e l i g h t a n d t h u m p i n g m u s i c . I t w a s o n e o f t h o s e( t h u s f a r ) . It w ill b e o n e - s t o p - s h o p p i n g f o r N e il s c h o l a r s o p e n i n g n i g h t p a r t i e s l i t e r a r y f e s tiv a ls t h r o w i n a no f t h e f u t u r e .

e f f o r t t o m a k e t h e i r f e s tiv a ls s e e m m o r e f e s t i v e . I d i d n ’t

H o w d o w e fin d th e th i n g w e a re m e a n t to d o ? H o w

k n o w a n y o n e a n d s o I s t o o d t o t h e s id e w i t h m y d r i n k

d o w e b e c o m e o u r s e lv e s ? T h e s e a r e e n o r m o u s q u e s tio n s

a n d w o n d e r e d h o w s o o n I c o u l d p o lite ly s n e a k a w a y . I

fo r e v e ry y o u n g a r tis t, b u t th e y c a n o n ly b e a n s w e re d

w a s v e r y je t-la g g e d .

i n r e t r o s p e c t . W e s e e t h e p a t h o n l y a f t e r w e ’v e b e e n o n

N e i l a p p e a r e d a t m y s id e a n d s a i d , “ H e l l o , I ’m N e i l

it f o r q u ite a lo n g tim e . W e r e a d a b o o k a n d w e w o n d e r

G a i m a n a n d t h i s is H a y l e y C a m p b e l l .” I m u s t h a v e

h o w it w a s m a d e . W e w o n d e r a b o u t th e p e r s o n w h o

lo o k e d co n fu s e d b e c a u s e h e th e n e x p la in e d th a t h e

m a d e it. W e w o n d e r i f w e c o u l d m a k e s o m e t h i n g lik e

w a s i n t e r v i e w i n g m e o n s t a g e t h e n e x t d a y . N e i l is a

th a t o u rse lv e s.

k i n d p e r s o n . H e w a s v e r y r e l a x i n g t o t a l k t o . H e a ls o

A f t e r t h a t p a r t y in S y d n e y I f o u n d m y s e l f e n g a g i n g in

k n e w m a n y p e o p le in th e r o o m , a n d a fte r a w h ile h e

a lo n g -r u n n in g , f a r-r a n g in g c o n v e r s a tio n w ith N e il th a t

w a n d e re d o ff to ta lk to s o m e o f th e m . I lo o k e d u p a t

h a s t a k e n p l a c e o n s t a g e s , in c e m e t e r i e s , w a x m u s e u m s ,

H a y l e y (I a m t a l l , s h e is t a l l e r ) a n d a s k e d , “ H o w d o

k itc h e n s , a n d v a r io u s h o te l b r e a k f a s t b u ffe ts o n t h r e e

y o u k n o w N e il?” H a y le y e x p la in e d th a t h e w a s a frie n d

c o n t i n e n t s . H e is a g o o d f r i e n d , b u t w e d o n ’t o f t e n t a l k

o f h e r f a m ily , s h e ’d k n o w n h i m a ll h e r life . W e t a l k e d

a b o u t p e r s o n a l t h i n g s (w e t a l k a b o u t f a i r y t a l e s a n d

a b o u t th is a n d th a t, a n d H a y le y m e n tio n e d th a t sh e

m u s ic a n d s u c h ) so I w a s v e r y p le a s e d to r e a d th is b o o k

w a s a b o u t t o m o v e to L o n d o n . I s a i d w e s h o u l d g e t

a n d fill m a n y g a p s in m y k n o w l e d g e o f h i s w r i t i n g

t o g e th e r o n c e sh e w a s th e r e . It w a s a lif e -c h a n g in g

a n d life .

c o n v e r s a tio n , b u t a t th e tim e it s e e m e d v e r y o rd in a ry , as m o s t lif e -c h a n g in g th in g s a re a p t to s e e m .

H a y le y d id m o v e to L o n d o n . S h e b e c a m e a w r ite r a n d a c lo s e f rie n d o f m i n e (a n d a f e w y e a rs a fte r th a t

A s t i m e r u n s a l o n g w e c a n all l o o k b a c k a n d t r a c e t h e

p a r t y in S y d n e y s h e i n t r o d u c e d m e t o t h e m a n I lo v e ,

l a r g e e v e n ts i n o u r liv es ( m a r r i a g e s , c h i ld r e n , v o c a t i o n s ,

b u t t h a t ’s a n o t h e r s t o r y ) . S o m e d a y , w h e n a y o u n g w r i t e r

a r t i s t i c t r i u m p h s ) t o s o m e s m a l l c o n v e r s a t i o n in a p u b ,

is w r i t i n g a b o o k a b o u t H a y l e y ’s w o r k , t h i s b o o k w i l l

a b o o k e n c o u n t e r e d a t r a n d o m in a l i b r a r y o r a c h a n c e

b e th e a u s p ic io u s firs t o f m a n y .

m e e tin g o n th e s tr e e t. In th is b o o k , H a y le y C a m p b e ll

H a y le y C a m p b e ll h a s k n o w n N e il G a im a n f o r a lo n g

r e w in d s N e il G a im a n ’s life a n d e x p lo r e s t h e c o n n e c t i o n s

t i m e a n d b y th e tim e y o u fin is h r e a d in g th is y o u w ill

b e tw e e n

fe e l th a t y o u h a v e , to o .

h is lif e , h is id e a s

and

h is w o r k ; sh e h a s

in te r v ie w e d N e il a b o u t e v e ry c o m i c , n o v e l, s h o r t s to r y a n d m o v i e h e ’s e v e r c r e a t e d , e x c a v a t e d o l d p h o t o s a n d

A u d r e y N iffe n e g g e r

m a n u s c r i p t s o u t o f b o x e s in N e i l ’s a t t i c a n d s p o k e n t o

L o n d o n , Jan u ary 2 5 , 2 0 1 4

m a n y o f N e i l ’s c o l l a b o r a t o r s , e d i t o r s a n d f r i e n d s . S h e h a s w r i t t e n a d e lig h tf u lly c o m p r e h e n s i v e , m a t t e r - o f - f a c t

o p p o si t e : Neil and Audrey at the 2011 Edinburgh International Book Fair. Photo by Chris Close.

%

t6

a n d s o m e tim e s s u rp ris in g a c c o u n t o f th e d e v e lo p m e n t o f N e i l ’s e n t i r e b o d y o f w o r k t h u s fa r. T h u s f a r : b e c a u s e , o f c o u r s e , N e il is still w r i t i n g . T h is is a s o r t o f m i d - c a r e e r r e t r o s p e c t i v e c o m b i n e d w i t h a

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Audrey Niffenegger is the author o f the international best-sellers The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry and the graphic novel The Night Bookmobile.

fOReWORD

Neu gaimaN, tH us f m e t N e il G a im a n

I

and

H a y le y C a m p b e ll a t th e

p o r t r a i t o f t h e a r t i s t as a y o u n g p u n k , p lu s b a b y p i c tu r e s

s a m e p a rty , a t th e s a m e m o m e n t. I w a s in S y d n e y ,

a n d s t o r i e s o f b a d h a i r c u t s . T h is b o o k c o n t a i n s e v e r y ­

A u s tr a lia in

th i n g y o u w a n t o r n e e d to k n o w a b o u t N e il G a im a n

a w a re h o u s e -lik e

s p a c e fille d w i t h

b lu e l i g h t a n d t h u m p i n g m u s i c . I t w a s o n e o f t h o s e( t h u s f a r ) . It w ill b e o n e - s t o p - s h o p p i n g f o r N e il s c h o l a r s o p e n i n g n i g h t p a r t i e s l i t e r a r y f e s tiv a ls t h r o w i n a no f t h e f u t u r e .

e f f o r t t o m a k e t h e i r f e s tiv a ls s e e m m o r e f e s t i v e . I d i d n ’t

H o w d o w e fin d th e th i n g w e a re m e a n t to d o ? H o w

k n o w a n y o n e a n d s o I s t o o d t o t h e s id e w i t h m y d r i n k

d o w e b e c o m e o u r s e lv e s ? T h e s e a r e e n o r m o u s q u e s tio n s

a n d w o n d e r e d h o w s o o n I c o u l d p o lite ly s n e a k a w a y . I

fo r e v e ry y o u n g a r tis t, b u t th e y c a n o n ly b e a n s w e re d

w a s v e r y je t-la g g e d .

i n r e t r o s p e c t . W e s e e t h e p a t h o n l y a f t e r w e ’v e b e e n o n

N e i l a p p e a r e d a t m y s id e a n d s a i d , “ H e l l o , I ’m N e i l

it f o r q u ite a lo n g tim e . W e r e a d a b o o k a n d w e w o n d e r

G a i m a n a n d t h i s is H a y l e y C a m p b e l l .” I m u s t h a v e

h o w it w a s m a d e . W e w o n d e r a b o u t th e p e r s o n w h o

lo o k e d co n fu s e d b e c a u s e h e th e n e x p la in e d th a t h e

m a d e it. W e w o n d e r i f w e c o u l d m a k e s o m e t h i n g lik e

w a s i n t e r v i e w i n g m e o n s t a g e t h e n e x t d a y . N e i l is a

th a t o u rse lv e s.

k i n d p e r s o n . H e w a s v e r y r e l a x i n g t o t a l k t o . H e a ls o

A f t e r t h a t p a r t y in S y d n e y I f o u n d m y s e l f e n g a g i n g in

k n e w m a n y p e o p le in th e r o o m , a n d a fte r a w h ile h e

a lo n g -r u n n in g , f a r-r a n g in g c o n v e r s a tio n w ith N e il th a t

w a n d e re d o ff to ta lk to s o m e o f th e m . I lo o k e d u p a t

h a s t a k e n p l a c e o n s t a g e s , in c e m e t e r i e s , w a x m u s e u m s ,

H a y l e y (I a m t a l l , s h e is t a l l e r ) a n d a s k e d , “ H o w d o

k itc h e n s , a n d v a r io u s h o te l b r e a k f a s t b u ffe ts o n t h r e e

y o u k n o w N e il?” H a y le y e x p la in e d th a t h e w a s a frie n d

c o n t i n e n t s . H e is a g o o d f r i e n d , b u t w e d o n ’t o f t e n t a l k

o f h e r f a m ily , s h e ’d k n o w n h i m a ll h e r life . W e t a l k e d

a b o u t p e r s o n a l t h i n g s (w e t a l k a b o u t f a i r y t a l e s a n d

a b o u t th is a n d th a t, a n d H a y le y m e n tio n e d th a t sh e

m u s ic a n d s u c h ) so I w a s v e r y p le a s e d to r e a d th is b o o k

w a s a b o u t t o m o v e to L o n d o n . I s a i d w e s h o u l d g e t

a n d fill m a n y g a p s in m y k n o w l e d g e o f h i s w r i t i n g

t o g e th e r o n c e sh e w a s th e r e . It w a s a lif e -c h a n g in g

a n d life .

c o n v e r s a tio n , b u t a t th e tim e it s e e m e d v e r y o rd in a ry , as m o s t lif e -c h a n g in g th in g s a re a p t to s e e m .

H a y le y d id m o v e to L o n d o n . S h e b e c a m e a w r ite r a n d a c lo s e f rie n d o f m i n e (a n d a f e w y e a rs a fte r th a t

A s t i m e r u n s a l o n g w e c a n all l o o k b a c k a n d t r a c e t h e

p a r t y in S y d n e y s h e i n t r o d u c e d m e t o t h e m a n I lo v e ,

l a r g e e v e n ts i n o u r liv es ( m a r r i a g e s , c h i ld r e n , v o c a t i o n s ,

b u t t h a t ’s a n o t h e r s t o r y ) . S o m e d a y , w h e n a y o u n g w r i t e r

a r t i s t i c t r i u m p h s ) t o s o m e s m a l l c o n v e r s a t i o n in a p u b ,

is w r i t i n g a b o o k a b o u t H a y l e y ’s w o r k , t h i s b o o k w i l l

a b o o k e n c o u n t e r e d a t r a n d o m in a l i b r a r y o r a c h a n c e

b e th e a u s p ic io u s firs t o f m a n y .

m e e tin g o n th e s tr e e t. In th is b o o k , H a y le y C a m p b e ll

H a y le y C a m p b e ll h a s k n o w n N e il G a im a n f o r a lo n g

r e w in d s N e il G a im a n ’s life a n d e x p lo r e s t h e c o n n e c t i o n s

t i m e a n d b y th e tim e y o u fin is h r e a d in g th is y o u w ill

b e tw e e n

fe e l th a t y o u h a v e , to o .

h is lif e , h is id e a s

and

h is w o r k ; sh e h a s

in te r v ie w e d N e il a b o u t e v e ry c o m i c , n o v e l, s h o r t s to r y a n d m o v i e h e ’s e v e r c r e a t e d , e x c a v a t e d o l d p h o t o s a n d

A u d r e y N iffe n e g g e r

m a n u s c r i p t s o u t o f b o x e s in N e i l ’s a t t i c a n d s p o k e n t o

L o n d o n , Jan u ary 2 5 , 2 0 1 4

m a n y o f N e i l ’s c o l l a b o r a t o r s , e d i t o r s a n d f r i e n d s . S h e h a s w r i t t e n a d e lig h tf u lly c o m p r e h e n s i v e , m a t t e r - o f - f a c t

o p p o si t e : Neil and Audrey at the 2011 Edinburgh International Book Fair. Photo by Chris Close.

%

t6

a n d s o m e tim e s s u rp ris in g a c c o u n t o f th e d e v e lo p m e n t o f N e i l ’s e n t i r e b o d y o f w o r k t h u s fa r. T h u s f a r : b e c a u s e , o f c o u r s e , N e il is still w r i t i n g . T h is is a s o r t o f m i d - c a r e e r r e t r o s p e c t i v e c o m b i n e d w i t h a

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Audrey Niffenegger is the author o f the international best-sellers The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry and the graphic novel The Night Bookmobile.

I

t n i N k stORies aRe impoRtaNt, stORies aRe

vitaL. stORyteLLeRS aRe I N some seNse veRy vitaL. i ' m someBODy W H O makes tHiNgs

up foR a LiviNg. wHeN i was a kiD, peopLe saiD, 'Neil, DoN't make tHiNgs up—you'Re makiNg tHat up.' aND tHese Days, wHat i D O is make stuff up. somewHeRe I N tHe Back o f m y HeaD, a smaLL, stiLL voice occasioNaLLy wHispeRs tHat tHis is pRoBaBLy Not aN occupatioN foR a gRowN maN, aND mayBe i ougHt t o go aND

get a ReaL J O B . But it's WHat i ' m gooD at, it's WHat i D O . as faR as i ' m coNceRNeD, tHe W O R L D is composeD o f stoRies. foR aRcmtects, tHe W O R L D IS

tee

composeD o f BuiLDiNgs, foR actORS

W O R L D IS

composeD o f teeateRS,

eveR. foR me, tee

W O R L D IS

OR

wHat¬

simpLy composeD

of stORies; WHeN i Look, teat's WHat i see. NEIL GAIMAN,

1994

A

I

t n i N k stORies aRe impoRtaNt, stORies aRe

vitaL. stORyteLLeRS aRe I N some seNse veRy vitaL. i ' m someBODy W H O makes tHiNgs

up foR a LiviNg. wHeN i was a kiD, peopLe saiD, 'Neil, DoN't make tHiNgs up—you'Re makiNg tHat up.' aND tHese Days, wHat i D O is make stuff up. somewHeRe I N tHe Back o f m y HeaD, a smaLL, stiLL voice occasioNaLLy wHispeRs tHat tHis is pRoBaBLy Not aN occupatioN foR a gRowN maN, aND mayBe i ougHt t o go aND

get a ReaL J O B . But it's WHat i ' m gooD at, it's WHat i D O . as faR as i ' m coNceRNeD, tHe W O R L D is composeD o f stoRies. foR aRcmtects, tHe W O R L D IS

tee

composeD o f BuiLDiNgs, foR actORS

W O R L D IS

composeD o f teeateRS,

eveR. foR me, tee

W O R L D IS

OR

wHat¬

simpLy composeD

of stORies; WHeN i Look, teat's WHat i see. NEIL GAIMAN,

1994

A

INtRODUCtION “As far as I’m concerned, the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning.’

N e i l g a i m a N DeSCRIBeS H is j o b as makiNg stuff up aND wRitiNg it d o w n . He Has maNageD to avoiD gettiNg up i n tHe moRNiNg By wRitiNg tHe kiNDs of stoRies tHat peopLe faLL i n Love witH s o HaRD tHat tHey LeND tHem to fRieNDs aND LoveRs, aND fRieNDs NeveR give tHem Back, o r tHey DisappeaR iNto tHe suitcase of aN ex-giRLfRieND as sHe cLoses tHe d o o r o n a ReLatioNsHip. gaimaN’s woRk, Like Life, is sexuaLLy tRaNsmitteD. e is a bestselling author whose countless fans have probably bought each of his books more than once just to replace the ones they’ve lost. I had to replace my copy of Good Omens for the purposes of this book. In doing so, I remembered that you cannot buy a Gaiman book discreetly. Someone will always say something. As you slide a copy of American Gods across the counter the chirpy clerk will say something like, “It’s a great summer read" but actually mean it. Slipping your receipt between the pages, she’ll follow it up with, “It’ll make you want to go on a road trip when you’re done" and you’ll say, “I know," because of course this is also a replacement copy and you already went on that road trip. A cult author is known to relatively few people yet loved by those few with a rabid eagerness. You get that from Gaiman fans, but they are not few, and they are everywhere. The man we’re talking about by the cash register and in this book is tall-ish and pale, usually dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans to match his mop of unruly dark hair that is almost more famous than he is. He used to wear a leather jacket and indoor sunglasses as a way of making himself memorable and cartoonable in a world full of cartoonists, although he has recently shelved the jacket until his hair turns white. Born in Portchester in the south of England, he has spent the last couple of decades living

H

pRevious page; Artwork by Christian Ward.

aBOVe: “Create a mythology” in the Stardust notebook. opposite: Neil drafts his own introduction.

t 10

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

in the part of America where everyone sounds like Frances McDormand in Fargo, though it hasn’t affected his accent as much as it would have done anyone elses. He is still exceedingly polite and English: he apologizes almost constantly, drinks unimaginable quantities of tea, and lets down his Englishness only in that he tends to talk about more interesting things than the weather. During breaks between inter­ views for this book as we walked through the craggy, Middle-earth landscape on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, he would tell stories about the mythical wren, sunken stone circles, or simply tales of Scottish people murdering one another in elaborate Scottish ways. He has an entire filing cabinet of stories and trivia in his head that come out occasionally over dinner and disappear only once he’s found a home for them in his work. He loves Japanese food and is the kind of person who’ll pull up a stool at the sushi bar and ask the chef to send him whatever he would like to cook. Gaiman likes things to be adventures: his career and his life, certainly, but also his dinners. As a kid he read the likes of C. S. Lewis, Rudyard Kipling, Ray Bradbury, Lewis Carroll, and Roger Lancelyn Green, all of whom feed into the pool of fairy tale and myth that is at the core of his writing. In the New Yorker he said G. K. Chesterton in particular left him with “an idea of London as this wonderful, mythical, magical place,” which became the way he saw the world. He later used Chesterton as a basis for Fiddler’s Green, a much-loved character in Sandman. Gaiman’s fiction has a heart that feels personal and true. They are stories that sit in a particular room of the mind that everybody has: one filled with memories of jam and toast, old books with wizened old men attached to graying beards. He weaves long-standing fictional elements into the story’s tapestry so it takes on a feeling of timelessness, like the story was always there and he was just the first person to put it on the page. He creates worlds with their own rules and logic—in The Sandman, in American Gods, in The Graveyard Book, in the shortest of short stories—and they work and make sense according to their own little

INtRODUCtION “As far as I’m concerned, the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning.’

N e i l g a i m a N DeSCRIBeS H is j o b as makiNg stuff up aND wRitiNg it d o w n . He Has maNageD to avoiD gettiNg up i n tHe moRNiNg By wRitiNg tHe kiNDs of stoRies tHat peopLe faLL i n Love witH s o HaRD tHat tHey LeND tHem to fRieNDs aND LoveRs, aND fRieNDs NeveR give tHem Back, o r tHey DisappeaR iNto tHe suitcase of aN ex-giRLfRieND as sHe cLoses tHe d o o r o n a ReLatioNsHip. gaimaN’s woRk, Like Life, is sexuaLLy tRaNsmitteD. e is a bestselling author whose countless fans have probably bought each of his books more than once just to replace the ones they’ve lost. I had to replace my copy of Good Omens for the purposes of this book. In doing so, I remembered that you cannot buy a Gaiman book discreetly. Someone will always say something. As you slide a copy of American Gods across the counter the chirpy clerk will say something like, “It’s a great summer read" but actually mean it. Slipping your receipt between the pages, she’ll follow it up with, “It’ll make you want to go on a road trip when you’re done" and you’ll say, “I know," because of course this is also a replacement copy and you already went on that road trip. A cult author is known to relatively few people yet loved by those few with a rabid eagerness. You get that from Gaiman fans, but they are not few, and they are everywhere. The man we’re talking about by the cash register and in this book is tall-ish and pale, usually dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans to match his mop of unruly dark hair that is almost more famous than he is. He used to wear a leather jacket and indoor sunglasses as a way of making himself memorable and cartoonable in a world full of cartoonists, although he has recently shelved the jacket until his hair turns white. Born in Portchester in the south of England, he has spent the last couple of decades living

H

pRevious page; Artwork by Christian Ward.

aBOVe: “Create a mythology” in the Stardust notebook. opposite: Neil drafts his own introduction.

t 10

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

in the part of America where everyone sounds like Frances McDormand in Fargo, though it hasn’t affected his accent as much as it would have done anyone elses. He is still exceedingly polite and English: he apologizes almost constantly, drinks unimaginable quantities of tea, and lets down his Englishness only in that he tends to talk about more interesting things than the weather. During breaks between inter­ views for this book as we walked through the craggy, Middle-earth landscape on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, he would tell stories about the mythical wren, sunken stone circles, or simply tales of Scottish people murdering one another in elaborate Scottish ways. He has an entire filing cabinet of stories and trivia in his head that come out occasionally over dinner and disappear only once he’s found a home for them in his work. He loves Japanese food and is the kind of person who’ll pull up a stool at the sushi bar and ask the chef to send him whatever he would like to cook. Gaiman likes things to be adventures: his career and his life, certainly, but also his dinners. As a kid he read the likes of C. S. Lewis, Rudyard Kipling, Ray Bradbury, Lewis Carroll, and Roger Lancelyn Green, all of whom feed into the pool of fairy tale and myth that is at the core of his writing. In the New Yorker he said G. K. Chesterton in particular left him with “an idea of London as this wonderful, mythical, magical place,” which became the way he saw the world. He later used Chesterton as a basis for Fiddler’s Green, a much-loved character in Sandman. Gaiman’s fiction has a heart that feels personal and true. They are stories that sit in a particular room of the mind that everybody has: one filled with memories of jam and toast, old books with wizened old men attached to graying beards. He weaves long-standing fictional elements into the story’s tapestry so it takes on a feeling of timelessness, like the story was always there and he was just the first person to put it on the page. He creates worlds with their own rules and logic—in The Sandman, in American Gods, in The Graveyard Book, in the shortest of short stories—and they work and make sense according to their own little

universes, as all the best stories do. In the notebook in which he wrote Stardust there is a note he wrote to himself: “create a mythology.” It could have been found in the margins of any of his notebooks. He doesn’t conform to single genres, preferring to tell the stories he wants to tell and then adding genre to the mix as if it were a collection of spices: a spoon of horror, a cup of fantasy, a pinch of science fiction to taste. These are the ingredients of myth, modern or otherwise, and these are what keep the pages turning. Gaiman’s cultural influence is vast and has taken him from his humble beginnings as a jobbing journalist to a guest role on The Simpsons. Between those two moments in time were millions of words read and loved by thousands of people the world over. This book is about how it happened. Having abandoned the world of journalism—leaving a Duran Duran bio­ graphy and a book about Douglas Adams in his wake—he set his sights on doing what he had told a baffled school career advisor he wanted to do all those years ago: write comics. He started off, as many UK comic creators did, in the science fiction anthology 2000 AD. In the chaotic and exciting world of early eighties British comics, a meeting for a subsequently aborted proj ect brought the young Gaiman together with art student Dave McKean. Together they made Violent Cases, the book that would soon be seen by the people who needed to see it and launch his career in the United States. It was about misremembered tales of adults, gangsters, and doctors filtered through the mind of the child who overheard them; an astonishing piece of work at any point in a career, a staggering one to come at the start of one. It was the beginning of a lifelong partnership with McKean that would produce countless books and works of art, their names, lives, and bibliographies forever entwined. When asked if all of his stories look like Dave McKean drawings in his head like they do in mine, Gaiman went one further. “My memories,” he said, “the stuff I was writing about in Violent Cases and Mr. Punch . They now look like Dave McKean drawings.”

to p : Neil in the town of Gaiman in Patagonia, 1998.

aBOVe: Self-portrait of the cartoonable Gaiman, in shades and leather jacket. Date unknown.

t 12

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

In 1987, after three years of Alan Moore’s

The Saga o f the Swamp Thing changing the terrain of American comics, editors from DC were shipped over to the UK to look for other English writers, hoping the rainy little island could be mined for new stories featuring the same deep, human themes as Moore’s. With Violent Cases under his belt, Gaiman had already touched on ideas that would have a constant presence in his burgeoning career— stuff about memory and imagination, fear, dreams, gods and myth, sexuality and death. It was not the regular stuff that filled the panels of stale superhero comics, but edgier, smarter, and just what they were looking for. It was the

British Invasion of American comics, and Gaiman—along with writers Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, and Peter Milligan—was to be one of the tea-drinking interlopers. His first project for D C was Black Orchid, illustrated once again by McKean. The Sandman, the series that made him famous, would soon follow. Gaiman moved to America in the early nineties with his American wife, Mary, and his children (Mike and Holly, and later, Maddy) when The Sandman was at the peak of its popularity—when teenage goth girls were dressing like the comic’s most popular character, Death, wearing top hats and smiles and adorning their

TNtRODUCtlON

aBOVe L eft: The cartoonable Gaiman, by Sandm an artist Jill Thompson, by fax.

13 t

universes, as all the best stories do. In the notebook in which he wrote Stardust there is a note he wrote to himself: “create a mythology.” It could have been found in the margins of any of his notebooks. He doesn’t conform to single genres, preferring to tell the stories he wants to tell and then adding genre to the mix as if it were a collection of spices: a spoon of horror, a cup of fantasy, a pinch of science fiction to taste. These are the ingredients of myth, modern or otherwise, and these are what keep the pages turning. Gaiman’s cultural influence is vast and has taken him from his humble beginnings as a jobbing journalist to a guest role on The Simpsons. Between those two moments in time were millions of words read and loved by thousands of people the world over. This book is about how it happened. Having abandoned the world of journalism—leaving a Duran Duran bio­ graphy and a book about Douglas Adams in his wake—he set his sights on doing what he had told a baffled school career advisor he wanted to do all those years ago: write comics. He started off, as many UK comic creators did, in the science fiction anthology 2000 AD. In the chaotic and exciting world of early eighties British comics, a meeting for a subsequently aborted proj ect brought the young Gaiman together with art student Dave McKean. Together they made Violent Cases, the book that would soon be seen by the people who needed to see it and launch his career in the United States. It was about misremembered tales of adults, gangsters, and doctors filtered through the mind of the child who overheard them; an astonishing piece of work at any point in a career, a staggering one to come at the start of one. It was the beginning of a lifelong partnership with McKean that would produce countless books and works of art, their names, lives, and bibliographies forever entwined. When asked if all of his stories look like Dave McKean drawings in his head like they do in mine, Gaiman went one further. “My memories,” he said, “the stuff I was writing about in Violent Cases and Mr. Punch . They now look like Dave McKean drawings.”

to p : Neil in the town of Gaiman in Patagonia, 1998.

aBOVe: Self-portrait of the cartoonable Gaiman, in shades and leather jacket. Date unknown.

t 12

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

In 1987, after three years of Alan Moore’s

The Saga o f the Swamp Thing changing the terrain of American comics, editors from DC were shipped over to the UK to look for other English writers, hoping the rainy little island could be mined for new stories featuring the same deep, human themes as Moore’s. With Violent Cases under his belt, Gaiman had already touched on ideas that would have a constant presence in his burgeoning career— stuff about memory and imagination, fear, dreams, gods and myth, sexuality and death. It was not the regular stuff that filled the panels of stale superhero comics, but edgier, smarter, and just what they were looking for. It was the

British Invasion of American comics, and Gaiman—along with writers Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, and Peter Milligan—was to be one of the tea-drinking interlopers. His first project for D C was Black Orchid, illustrated once again by McKean. The Sandman, the series that made him famous, would soon follow. Gaiman moved to America in the early nineties with his American wife, Mary, and his children (Mike and Holly, and later, Maddy) when The Sandman was at the peak of its popularity—when teenage goth girls were dressing like the comic’s most popular character, Death, wearing top hats and smiles and adorning their

TNtRODUCtlON

aBOVe L eft: The cartoonable Gaiman, by Sandm an artist Jill Thompson, by fax.

13 t

aBOVe: Notes for a Sandm an plotline that was never used, ca. 1990. Note the lines, “As delicate as a razor/As dangerous as a dream " which in another incarnation would be used more than twenty years later for The Ocean

at the End o f the Lane. o p p o s ite : Photo by Allan Amato, early 2010.

t 14

own eyes with Horus’s in midnight-black eyeliner. The move was partly because it was about time his kids got to meet their American relatives, but also because in the United States, Gaiman could buy the kind of great big Addams Family house that doesn’t exist in England. He still occasionally lives in it, a brick Queen Anne from the 1880s out in the woods of Wisconsin. It has hallways and high ceilings, and shelves lined with awards—a Hugo, a Nebula, a Newbery Medal. Everywhere there isn’t a shelf of books or awards there is art, be it a portrait of the writer James Branch Cabell or a Charles Addams cartoon to match the house. These days the rambling old building is divided into the cat-half and the doghalf, with white German shepherds ruling one side of the house—Lola and, until his death in 2013, Cabal (whom Gaiman found shivering on the roadside and named after King Arthur’s hound)—and the everchanging cast of felines eyeing them from the other. The place has a shingled turret and an enviable basement library with thick carpet, sleeping cats, big old armchairs, and one member of that peculiarly American phenomenon: a jackalope. But, despite stories about the rest of the house, there are no ghosts here in the library. The ghost lives in the attic and runs down the hallways and causes some houseguests to run out of the house screaming in the night, although as Neil explains to visitors dragging their suitcase up to the spare room, it has never bothered him. He writes in the gazebo at the bottom of the garden where there is a table and chair, a heater, and massive windows that look out into the garden and the woods beyond. When he types on his laptop, which currently sports a sticker that says, “It was covered in bees when I got here" he tends to hum Lou Reed songs, though whether or not hes aware of it is anyone’s guess. Outside the door there’s an occasionally gloved sculptural zombie hand bursting through the undergrowth, a gift from a fan to accompany the headstone for someone called Behling, though no Behling resides beneath it. There are beehives, vegetables, and flowers; it’s a place where the seasons feel like exaggerated versions of themselves.

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

He takes the dogs for walks by the cornfields and occasionally Lola brings home a mousenibbled deer antler between her teeth. Having moved to America, Gaiman discovered that the country was weird in ways that no one had ever told him. Seeing things from an outsider’s perspective led him to write American Gods, his big sprawling novel about the gods that immigrants bring with them when they arrive. Like Stardust that came before it, American Gods spent weeks on the best­ seller lists. Subsequent novels Coraline, Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book, and The Ocean at the End o f the Lane would do likewise. When asked why his work hasn’t been ghettoized like that of other fantasy writers, left to the dark and neatly ordered corner of the bookshop where bestselling books dare not tread, Neil figured it was down to luck and packaging. “And also because what I tend to write, with perhaps the exception of Stardust, which is a classic fairy tale, tend to be books that have at least one foot in this world. Most of my books—American Gods, Anansi Boys, or Neverwhere— are at least recognizable as being sort of part of this world even if it’s a rather delirious version of this world, or a heightened version of the world, or a world in which metaphors are roaming freely" His highly adaptable talent would make him a hot property not just within the realms of science fiction and comics, but music too. In the early nineties he was approached by theatrical rock superstar Alice Cooper who wanted, well, a concept for his concept album. Long ago, he found a friend in Tori Amos, who was Sandman’s soon-to-be-famous fan when she wrote Gaiman and his Dream King into a song that would feature on her first album, Little Earthquakes. Since then, he has penned lyrics for musical artists both known and unknown, most famously his modern classic love song “I Google You" which he has sung live, accompanied by his second wife and punk force of nature, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls, on piano. He has written his own T V show, Neverwhere, and two episodes of Doctor Who. As for the silver screen: Stardust was adapted into a live-action film in 2007,

aBOVe: Notes for a Sandm an plotline that was never used, ca. 1990. Note the lines, “As delicate as a razor/As dangerous as a dream " which in another incarnation would be used more than twenty years later for The Ocean

at the End o f the Lane. o p p o s ite : Photo by Allan Amato, early 2010.

t 14

own eyes with Horus’s in midnight-black eyeliner. The move was partly because it was about time his kids got to meet their American relatives, but also because in the United States, Gaiman could buy the kind of great big Addams Family house that doesn’t exist in England. He still occasionally lives in it, a brick Queen Anne from the 1880s out in the woods of Wisconsin. It has hallways and high ceilings, and shelves lined with awards—a Hugo, a Nebula, a Newbery Medal. Everywhere there isn’t a shelf of books or awards there is art, be it a portrait of the writer James Branch Cabell or a Charles Addams cartoon to match the house. These days the rambling old building is divided into the cat-half and the doghalf, with white German shepherds ruling one side of the house—Lola and, until his death in 2013, Cabal (whom Gaiman found shivering on the roadside and named after King Arthur’s hound)—and the everchanging cast of felines eyeing them from the other. The place has a shingled turret and an enviable basement library with thick carpet, sleeping cats, big old armchairs, and one member of that peculiarly American phenomenon: a jackalope. But, despite stories about the rest of the house, there are no ghosts here in the library. The ghost lives in the attic and runs down the hallways and causes some houseguests to run out of the house screaming in the night, although as Neil explains to visitors dragging their suitcase up to the spare room, it has never bothered him. He writes in the gazebo at the bottom of the garden where there is a table and chair, a heater, and massive windows that look out into the garden and the woods beyond. When he types on his laptop, which currently sports a sticker that says, “It was covered in bees when I got here" he tends to hum Lou Reed songs, though whether or not hes aware of it is anyone’s guess. Outside the door there’s an occasionally gloved sculptural zombie hand bursting through the undergrowth, a gift from a fan to accompany the headstone for someone called Behling, though no Behling resides beneath it. There are beehives, vegetables, and flowers; it’s a place where the seasons feel like exaggerated versions of themselves.

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

He takes the dogs for walks by the cornfields and occasionally Lola brings home a mousenibbled deer antler between her teeth. Having moved to America, Gaiman discovered that the country was weird in ways that no one had ever told him. Seeing things from an outsider’s perspective led him to write American Gods, his big sprawling novel about the gods that immigrants bring with them when they arrive. Like Stardust that came before it, American Gods spent weeks on the best­ seller lists. Subsequent novels Coraline, Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book, and The Ocean at the End o f the Lane would do likewise. When asked why his work hasn’t been ghettoized like that of other fantasy writers, left to the dark and neatly ordered corner of the bookshop where bestselling books dare not tread, Neil figured it was down to luck and packaging. “And also because what I tend to write, with perhaps the exception of Stardust, which is a classic fairy tale, tend to be books that have at least one foot in this world. Most of my books—American Gods, Anansi Boys, or Neverwhere— are at least recognizable as being sort of part of this world even if it’s a rather delirious version of this world, or a heightened version of the world, or a world in which metaphors are roaming freely" His highly adaptable talent would make him a hot property not just within the realms of science fiction and comics, but music too. In the early nineties he was approached by theatrical rock superstar Alice Cooper who wanted, well, a concept for his concept album. Long ago, he found a friend in Tori Amos, who was Sandman’s soon-to-be-famous fan when she wrote Gaiman and his Dream King into a song that would feature on her first album, Little Earthquakes. Since then, he has penned lyrics for musical artists both known and unknown, most famously his modern classic love song “I Google You" which he has sung live, accompanied by his second wife and punk force of nature, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls, on piano. He has written his own T V show, Neverwhere, and two episodes of Doctor Who. As for the silver screen: Stardust was adapted into a live-action film in 2007,

b y th e e d ito r a n d a n s w e re d q u e s tio n s f r o m h is f a n s a ll o v e r t h e w o r l d . H e s h o w e r e d th e m w ith lim ite d -e d itio n th in g s a n d to ld th e m

h o w t h e w r itin g o f h is la te s t b o o k

w a s g o in g . H e n u r tu r e d a fa n b a s e , g e n tly and

g e n e ro u sly ,

and

th e y

in

tu rn

have

fo llo w e d h i m w h e r e v e r h e g o e s , o ffe rin g h im

feed b ack w h en

“Nobody expects you to be talking in iambic pentameter when you’ve written about cleaning up

h e n e e d s it. P e o p le

h a v e m e t t h e i r f u t u r e s p o u s e s o n G a i m a n ’s

catsick at three o’clock in the morning.”

e a rly in te r n e t m e s s a g e b o a r d s . To

h im ,

h is

m a ss— fro m

fa n s

a re

not

a

fa c e le s s

e n d le s s to u r i n g a n d a p p e a r ­

a n c e s a t c o n v e n tio n s h e h a s c o m e to k n o w h u n d r e d s o f t h e m p e r s o n a lly in th e tim e h e sp e n d s h a n g in g o u t in th e h o te l lo b b y a n d t h e b r e a k f a s t b a r . A s i g n i n g w ill g o o n f o r h o u r s p a s t t h e t i m e i t is s u p p o s e d t o h av e w ra p p e d up. H e h a d a b lo g b e fo re p e o p le h a d b lo g s, w h i c h h e ’d a c t u a l l y t h o u g h t a b o u t s t a r t i n g e a r l i e r b u t d i d n ’t. “I w a s ju s t w r itin g I

d i d n ’t

have

American Gods t h e n ;

a n y th in g

to

say.”

O ne

of

th e r e a s o n s h e s ta r te d w a s b e c a u s e p e o p le h a d a p i c t u r e o f w h a t G a i m a n w a s lik e in t h e i r h e a d s , w h i c h h e f e lt n e e d e d a little a d ju stin g . H e to ld jo u r n a lis t P e te r M u rp h y , “ I ’d aBOVe: “Me age about sixteen loving Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius stories and trying to do a Jerry Cornelius com ic of my own. It’s mostly me loving A Cure fo r

Cancer and The English Assassin. O r trying to write a Jerry Cornelius novel in 27 panels."

Coraline w a s

an O sca r-n o m in a te d m a s te r­

p ie c e b y th e g re a t s to p -m o tio n H e n r y S e lic k , a n d s c rip t

(w ith

R oger

Beowulf,

Z e m e c k i s ’s

G a im a n

d ire c to r

c o w ro te

A v ary )

for

th e

R o b e rt

sh ow

up

w h a te v e r,

p la c e s

and

to

t h e y ’d

th a t

I

do

sig n in g s

a ll b e

w a s n ’t

v is ib ly

th e

or d is ­

p ia n o w ith p la y in g c a r d s , fo rk s , a n d m e ta l

a p p o in te d

v i b r a t o r s s h o v e d b e t w e e n it s s t r i n g s — a n d

T h e y ’d o b v i o u s l y b e

a t o y p ia n o .

w h o w a s s i x f o o t fiv e a n d k i n d o f g l o o m y

e x p e c tin g

Sandm an. som eon e

a n d a ll w r a p p e d u p i n t h e b e a u t i f u l s a d n e s s

f in a lly r e l e a s e d in 2 0 0 7

W h e r e o n c e y o u c o u ld id e n tif y G a im a n

o f p a in s ta k in g p e r f o r m a n c e -

fa n s in th e s tr e e t, n o w it c o u ld b e a n y o n e .

o f th in g s ,

c a p tu r e a n im a tio n . T h e re a r e o th e r m o v ie s

H e c la s s if ie s t h e m b y t h e i r o n e c o m m o n

p e n t a m e t e r . . . a n d t h e y ’d g e t m e ! A n d t h e

and

f e a t u r e : t h e y a r e b i p e d s . T h e y a r e “a h a n d ­

b lo g

fu l o f b e a u tifu l g o th s

a h an d fu l o f

b e c a u s e n o b o d y e x p e c ts y o u to b e ta lk in g

a h a n d f u l o f s c i- f i

in i a m b i c p e n t a m e t e r w h e n y o u ’v e w r i t t e n

a fte r y e a rs

te le v isio n

sh ow s

in

th e

p i p e l in e ,

w as

p re fe ra b ly

a

ta lk in g

lo v e ly w a y

to

in

ia m b ic

co u n te r

th a t

Death: The High Cost o f Living, Murder Mysteries, a n d a n American Gods

boys

te le v is io n sh o w , b u t a s G a im a n h a s sa id

fa n s a n d a h a n d f u l o f n e r v o u s y o u n g g irls

a b o u t c l e a n i n g u p c a t s i c k a t t h r e e o ’c l o c k

h im s e lf,

w ith

in t h e m o r n i n g .”

in c lu d in g

in

H o lly w o o d ,

“t h i n g s

happen

u n le s s t h e y d o n ’t.”

in

d resses

and

m u ltic o lo re d

and

h a ir

and

th e

p e o p le

w h o lo o k n o r m a l a n d th e p e o p le w h o lo o k

H is s t o r i e s h a v e b e e n a d a p t e d f o r t h e

Violent Cases

lik e

s o m e b o d y ’s

m u m .”

G a im a n

e x ists,

A G a im a n a p p e a ra n c e m o r e o fte n th a n n o t in v o lv e s a r e a d in g , p o s s ib ly th e o n ly

o n ly a

as h e p u t it to C N N , a t th e in te r s e c tio n

p l a c e in t h e w o r l d w h e r e a p o e m g e t s t h e

1 9 8 7 . S in c e

o f a d o z e n V e n n d ia g r a m s . T h e lo n g e v ity

k in d

o f h i s s u c c e s s is n o

d o u b t d o w n to th e

reserv ed

for

ro ck

a

s tr o n g c o n n e c tio n h e h a s m a in ta in e d w ith

re a d in g s

are

a w o n d erfu l

“m u s i c a l p a n d e m o n i u m ” i n S c o t l a n d t h a t

th e s e fan s o v e r th e y e a rs . F r o m th e v e ry

a u th o r

w o u ld th e n g o o n to to u r th e U K a n d h av e

b e g in n in g h e u s e d w h a te v e r te c h n o lo g y

s p e n d s s o m u c h o f t h e i r t i m e a l o n e in a

a s h o r t r u n in N e w Y o r k . In 2 0 0 9 M a g n e t i c

w a s a v a i l a b l e t o k e e p in t o u c h w i t h h is

ro o m

F ie ld s f r o n t m a n a n d m a s t e r l y r i c i s t S te p h in

re ad ers,

of

“ T h e r e is n o f e e d b a c k f r o m e i t h e r o f t h e s e

s ta g e , b e g in n in g w ith

y e a r a f t e r its p u b l i c a t i o n

in

t h e n w e ’v e s e e n h i s c h i l d r e n ’s b o o k

Wolves in the Walls

tra n sfo rm e d

The

in to

fro m

th e

e m b ry o n ic

days

o f scre a m s

to

do,

and

a p p la u s e g e n e r a lly

sh ow s.

sim p ly

He

say s

th in g

b ecau se

a

for

th a t an

w rite r

w ith a p ie c e o f p a p e r a n d a p e n .

C o m p u S e r v e to n o w h a v in g tw o m illio n

th in g s . S o th e jo y o f r e a d in g a s to r y o u t

p a rts

fo llo w e rs o n T w itte r. H e h a d a q u a rte r ly

l o u d t o a b u n c h o f p e o p l e w h o l a u g h in t h e

p l a y e d o n p i a n o a s w e ll a s a “p r e p a r e d ”

e m a i l f a n z i n e in w h i c h h e w a s i n t e r v i e w e d

r i g h t p l a c e s c a n n o t b e o v e r e s t i m a t e d .”

M e r r i t t p r e m i e r e d h is m u s i c a l a d a p t a t i o n o f G a i m a n ’s n o v e l

t 16

p ia n o — an a v a n t-g a rd e a tta c k o n a re g u la r

Coraline, f e a t u r i n g

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

aBOVe: Evidence of time spent on phones.

INtRQDUCtlON

17t

b y th e e d ito r a n d a n s w e re d q u e s tio n s f r o m h is f a n s a ll o v e r t h e w o r l d . H e s h o w e r e d th e m w ith lim ite d -e d itio n th in g s a n d to ld th e m

h o w t h e w r itin g o f h is la te s t b o o k

w a s g o in g . H e n u r tu r e d a fa n b a s e , g e n tly and

g e n e ro u sly ,

and

th e y

in

tu rn

have

fo llo w e d h i m w h e r e v e r h e g o e s , o ffe rin g h im

feed b ack w h en

“Nobody expects you to be talking in iambic pentameter when you’ve written about cleaning up

h e n e e d s it. P e o p le

h a v e m e t t h e i r f u t u r e s p o u s e s o n G a i m a n ’s

catsick at three o’clock in the morning.”

e a rly in te r n e t m e s s a g e b o a r d s . To

h im ,

h is

m a ss— fro m

fa n s

a re

not

a

fa c e le s s

e n d le s s to u r i n g a n d a p p e a r ­

a n c e s a t c o n v e n tio n s h e h a s c o m e to k n o w h u n d r e d s o f t h e m p e r s o n a lly in th e tim e h e sp e n d s h a n g in g o u t in th e h o te l lo b b y a n d t h e b r e a k f a s t b a r . A s i g n i n g w ill g o o n f o r h o u r s p a s t t h e t i m e i t is s u p p o s e d t o h av e w ra p p e d up. H e h a d a b lo g b e fo re p e o p le h a d b lo g s, w h i c h h e ’d a c t u a l l y t h o u g h t a b o u t s t a r t i n g e a r l i e r b u t d i d n ’t. “I w a s ju s t w r itin g I

d i d n ’t

have

American Gods t h e n ;

a n y th in g

to

say.”

O ne

of

th e r e a s o n s h e s ta r te d w a s b e c a u s e p e o p le h a d a p i c t u r e o f w h a t G a i m a n w a s lik e in t h e i r h e a d s , w h i c h h e f e lt n e e d e d a little a d ju stin g . H e to ld jo u r n a lis t P e te r M u rp h y , “ I ’d aBOVe: “Me age about sixteen loving Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius stories and trying to do a Jerry Cornelius com ic of my own. It’s mostly me loving A Cure fo r

Cancer and The English Assassin. O r trying to write a Jerry Cornelius novel in 27 panels."

Coraline w a s

an O sca r-n o m in a te d m a s te r­

p ie c e b y th e g re a t s to p -m o tio n H e n r y S e lic k , a n d s c rip t

(w ith

R oger

Beowulf,

Z e m e c k i s ’s

G a im a n

d ire c to r

c o w ro te

A v ary )

for

th e

R o b e rt

sh ow

up

w h a te v e r,

p la c e s

and

to

t h e y ’d

th a t

I

do

sig n in g s

a ll b e

w a s n ’t

v is ib ly

th e

or d is ­

p ia n o w ith p la y in g c a r d s , fo rk s , a n d m e ta l

a p p o in te d

v i b r a t o r s s h o v e d b e t w e e n it s s t r i n g s — a n d

T h e y ’d o b v i o u s l y b e

a t o y p ia n o .

w h o w a s s i x f o o t fiv e a n d k i n d o f g l o o m y

e x p e c tin g

Sandm an. som eon e

a n d a ll w r a p p e d u p i n t h e b e a u t i f u l s a d n e s s

f in a lly r e l e a s e d in 2 0 0 7

W h e r e o n c e y o u c o u ld id e n tif y G a im a n

o f p a in s ta k in g p e r f o r m a n c e -

fa n s in th e s tr e e t, n o w it c o u ld b e a n y o n e .

o f th in g s ,

c a p tu r e a n im a tio n . T h e re a r e o th e r m o v ie s

H e c la s s if ie s t h e m b y t h e i r o n e c o m m o n

p e n t a m e t e r . . . a n d t h e y ’d g e t m e ! A n d t h e

and

f e a t u r e : t h e y a r e b i p e d s . T h e y a r e “a h a n d ­

b lo g

fu l o f b e a u tifu l g o th s

a h an d fu l o f

b e c a u s e n o b o d y e x p e c ts y o u to b e ta lk in g

a h a n d f u l o f s c i- f i

in i a m b i c p e n t a m e t e r w h e n y o u ’v e w r i t t e n

a fte r y e a rs

te le v isio n

sh ow s

in

th e

p i p e l in e ,

w as

p re fe ra b ly

a

ta lk in g

lo v e ly w a y

to

in

ia m b ic

co u n te r

th a t

Death: The High Cost o f Living, Murder Mysteries, a n d a n American Gods

boys

te le v is io n sh o w , b u t a s G a im a n h a s sa id

fa n s a n d a h a n d f u l o f n e r v o u s y o u n g g irls

a b o u t c l e a n i n g u p c a t s i c k a t t h r e e o ’c l o c k

h im s e lf,

w ith

in t h e m o r n i n g .”

in c lu d in g

in

H o lly w o o d ,

“t h i n g s

happen

u n le s s t h e y d o n ’t.”

in

d resses

and

m u ltic o lo re d

and

h a ir

and

th e

p e o p le

w h o lo o k n o r m a l a n d th e p e o p le w h o lo o k

H is s t o r i e s h a v e b e e n a d a p t e d f o r t h e

Violent Cases

lik e

s o m e b o d y ’s

m u m .”

G a im a n

e x ists,

A G a im a n a p p e a ra n c e m o r e o fte n th a n n o t in v o lv e s a r e a d in g , p o s s ib ly th e o n ly

o n ly a

as h e p u t it to C N N , a t th e in te r s e c tio n

p l a c e in t h e w o r l d w h e r e a p o e m g e t s t h e

1 9 8 7 . S in c e

o f a d o z e n V e n n d ia g r a m s . T h e lo n g e v ity

k in d

o f h i s s u c c e s s is n o

d o u b t d o w n to th e

reserv ed

for

ro ck

a

s tr o n g c o n n e c tio n h e h a s m a in ta in e d w ith

re a d in g s

are

a w o n d erfu l

“m u s i c a l p a n d e m o n i u m ” i n S c o t l a n d t h a t

th e s e fan s o v e r th e y e a rs . F r o m th e v e ry

a u th o r

w o u ld th e n g o o n to to u r th e U K a n d h av e

b e g in n in g h e u s e d w h a te v e r te c h n o lo g y

s p e n d s s o m u c h o f t h e i r t i m e a l o n e in a

a s h o r t r u n in N e w Y o r k . In 2 0 0 9 M a g n e t i c

w a s a v a i l a b l e t o k e e p in t o u c h w i t h h is

ro o m

F ie ld s f r o n t m a n a n d m a s t e r l y r i c i s t S te p h in

re ad ers,

of

“ T h e r e is n o f e e d b a c k f r o m e i t h e r o f t h e s e

s ta g e , b e g in n in g w ith

y e a r a f t e r its p u b l i c a t i o n

in

t h e n w e ’v e s e e n h i s c h i l d r e n ’s b o o k

Wolves in the Walls

tra n sfo rm e d

The

in to

fro m

th e

e m b ry o n ic

days

o f scre a m s

to

do,

and

a p p la u s e g e n e r a lly

sh ow s.

sim p ly

He

say s

th in g

b ecau se

a

for

th a t an

w rite r

w ith a p ie c e o f p a p e r a n d a p e n .

C o m p u S e r v e to n o w h a v in g tw o m illio n

th in g s . S o th e jo y o f r e a d in g a s to r y o u t

p a rts

fo llo w e rs o n T w itte r. H e h a d a q u a rte r ly

l o u d t o a b u n c h o f p e o p l e w h o l a u g h in t h e

p l a y e d o n p i a n o a s w e ll a s a “p r e p a r e d ”

e m a i l f a n z i n e in w h i c h h e w a s i n t e r v i e w e d

r i g h t p l a c e s c a n n o t b e o v e r e s t i m a t e d .”

M e r r i t t p r e m i e r e d h is m u s i c a l a d a p t a t i o n o f G a i m a n ’s n o v e l

t 16

p ia n o — an a v a n t-g a rd e a tta c k o n a re g u la r

Coraline, f e a t u r i n g

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

aBOVe: Evidence of time spent on phones.

INtRQDUCtlON

17t

Dark Horse Comics founder Mike Richardson said that “Neil is one of those very few writers who has crossed over into what is known as ‘mainstream.’ Neil never forgets where he’s come from. He looks at comics not as a stepping stone but as part of a widening base of readers.” And as a result his fans follow him, from comedic novels to substantial serious ones, from children’s books to poems. They find new books to read and music to listen to just by following him online, because people like Neil and they want to know what Neil likes. And when he goes and marries a rock star, people who have never heard of her go to her gigs. Their fan bases have intermingled, and Gaiman and Palmer have become an art chimera. Growing up in the time of punk meant that the idea was instilled in young Gaiman’s head that anyone is capable of anything, and if they want to do it they should just do it. Probably this is why his career is so varied and wild. To a biographer, it is insane. It makes no sense. When did he sleep? When can I sleep? If I sleep he’ll do something in the time I’m not looking and that will mean writing another chapter. Sifting through his attic of archives it becomes abundantly clear that he always wanted to do lots of different things; that while he has always had his eye on writing science fiction and fantasy, there was no real distinction between different art forms in his head. There are endless pieces of paper and faxes and letters in which comic book artists give him tips for sketching—artists like Bryan Talbot, McKean, and Jill Thompson—in case he ever wanted to draw properly. There are bits of paper with ideas for films, short stories, novels, poems, song lyrics, and comics. There are ancient Post-its that are notes for things not even Neil can decipher, but they are kept there, in the attic, just in case someone ever wanted to go through them for a big coffee-table book about the full and varied career of Neil Gaiman. This is that book, and I am your guide through those boxes of things. Those boxes of scrawled notes on hotel notepads, diaries, photographs, artwork, and news-

o p p o s i t e : Evidence of

aBOVe RIgHt:

time spent in restaurants.

A portrait drawn by the author, age six.

aBOVe: From under the bed, prized twenty-year-

RIgHt: A sample of

old com ic, the thenfour-year-old author’s

Neil’s notes. The first line wound up, in an

introduction to the work of Neil Gaiman.

altered form, in The Sandman: The Wake.

paper cuttings that live at the top of his Addams Family house in big plastic tubs. With the ghost. It’s the story of his career, how he got to where he is, and the stuff he made along the way. The art. But part of the art of Neil Gaiman is how he traverses the terrain and flits between worlds, how he bluffed his way in and then nobody asked him to leave because he’s nice and smiley and funny. Above all, they let him stay because he is an incredible storyteller with a beautiful heart and an ability to make you fall in love with anything at all. And, while I have made my best efforts to organize events chronologically, a lot of stuff in Neil’s life happens all at once. He doesn’t work like fiction. I first met Neil in late 1992 when I was six and he came to stay at our house. My dad, Eddie Campbell, had told me that

Neil Gaiman was coming to stay and said it with such excitement in his face that I gave up my bedroom and slept on the sofa quite willingly because Neil Gaiman was coming to stay. I didn’t know who he was, although I knew he was the writer of my favorite story at the time, “A Dream of a Thousand Cats,” otherwise known as The Sandman #18.

INtRODUCtlQN

That year I was the guinea pig for The Day I Swapped My Dad fo r Two Goldfish, which he had only just finished, and which he read off a thing I had never seen before in my life: a laptop. When it came out four years later he dedicated it to Hayley Campbell, “although she may be too big for it.” ❖

19 t

Dark Horse Comics founder Mike Richardson said that “Neil is one of those very few writers who has crossed over into what is known as ‘mainstream.’ Neil never forgets where he’s come from. He looks at comics not as a stepping stone but as part of a widening base of readers.” And as a result his fans follow him, from comedic novels to substantial serious ones, from children’s books to poems. They find new books to read and music to listen to just by following him online, because people like Neil and they want to know what Neil likes. And when he goes and marries a rock star, people who have never heard of her go to her gigs. Their fan bases have intermingled, and Gaiman and Palmer have become an art chimera. Growing up in the time of punk meant that the idea was instilled in young Gaiman’s head that anyone is capable of anything, and if they want to do it they should just do it. Probably this is why his career is so varied and wild. To a biographer, it is insane. It makes no sense. When did he sleep? When can I sleep? If I sleep he’ll do something in the time I’m not looking and that will mean writing another chapter. Sifting through his attic of archives it becomes abundantly clear that he always wanted to do lots of different things; that while he has always had his eye on writing science fiction and fantasy, there was no real distinction between different art forms in his head. There are endless pieces of paper and faxes and letters in which comic book artists give him tips for sketching—artists like Bryan Talbot, McKean, and Jill Thompson—in case he ever wanted to draw properly. There are bits of paper with ideas for films, short stories, novels, poems, song lyrics, and comics. There are ancient Post-its that are notes for things not even Neil can decipher, but they are kept there, in the attic, just in case someone ever wanted to go through them for a big coffee-table book about the full and varied career of Neil Gaiman. This is that book, and I am your guide through those boxes of things. Those boxes of scrawled notes on hotel notepads, diaries, photographs, artwork, and news-

o p p o s i t e : Evidence of

aBOVe RIgHt:

time spent in restaurants.

A portrait drawn by the author, age six.

aBOVe: From under the bed, prized twenty-year-

RIgHt: A sample of

old com ic, the thenfour-year-old author’s

Neil’s notes. The first line wound up, in an

introduction to the work of Neil Gaiman.

altered form, in The Sandman: The Wake.

paper cuttings that live at the top of his Addams Family house in big plastic tubs. With the ghost. It’s the story of his career, how he got to where he is, and the stuff he made along the way. The art. But part of the art of Neil Gaiman is how he traverses the terrain and flits between worlds, how he bluffed his way in and then nobody asked him to leave because he’s nice and smiley and funny. Above all, they let him stay because he is an incredible storyteller with a beautiful heart and an ability to make you fall in love with anything at all. And, while I have made my best efforts to organize events chronologically, a lot of stuff in Neil’s life happens all at once. He doesn’t work like fiction. I first met Neil in late 1992 when I was six and he came to stay at our house. My dad, Eddie Campbell, had told me that

Neil Gaiman was coming to stay and said it with such excitement in his face that I gave up my bedroom and slept on the sofa quite willingly because Neil Gaiman was coming to stay. I didn’t know who he was, although I knew he was the writer of my favorite story at the time, “A Dream of a Thousand Cats,” otherwise known as The Sandman #18.

INtRODUCtlQN

That year I was the guinea pig for The Day I Swapped My Dad fo r Two Goldfish, which he had only just finished, and which he read off a thing I had never seen before in my life: a laptop. When it came out four years later he dedicated it to Hayley Campbell, “although she may be too big for it.” ❖

19 t

pReLuDes «

·

-

.

-

·

t-Vi e

ml ( f t

n r \

o f

nre.sf

μ

ΪΠ

pReLuDes «

·

-

.

-

·

t-Vi e

ml ( f t

n r \

o f

nre.sf

μ

ΪΠ

veRy eüRly N efl^ •

■'

V.

··«

I w is h y had an o rig in S o ry fo r y u . W hen J WaS fo u r, I WaS b itte n by a ra d 'o a cttV

school I told the dirty joke that I ’d heard the night before. And these kids thought it was hilarious, especially the one who went home and told his parents. The next morning I found myself in the principal’s office with the headmistress and they said, “Neil, do you know what a four-letter word is?”Now I was a smart eight-year-old proud o f my vocabulary so I said, “Oh yes, T H I S is a fou r letter word,” and started listing words with fou r letters until they told me to stop. Then they started asking me about jokes that I ’d heard and I suddenly realized where the conversation was going. My mother was called in to see them and that night she came home and she said, “Apparently, you said a word so bad that they would not repeat it to me. What did you say?” and I said, “Fuck.” And she said, “That word is so bad you must never, ever ever ever say that again to anybody.”And I thought: C o o l . Y o u

L eft: A note from the doctor. Neil arrived bang on time.

a B O V e : “In Sussex,

aged about twenty-two months. Waiting for my sister to be born. Such a neat child (although I’ve probably been dressed by my grandmother). You pushed the roundabout around until it went fast and then you jumped on. Or you tripped and were pulled around, face-down, skinning your knees” (Henderson, 2009).

c a n d o th a t w ith ju s t a w o rd !

NeiL RICHaRD gaimaN was BORN

NOvemBeR 10, 1960, to DaviD aND SHeiLa gaimaN (Née goLDmaN) aBOve a gROceRy stORe o n WHite HaRt LaNe, poRtcHesteR, a smaLL towN i n HampsHiRe o n tHe soutHeRN coast of eNgLaND. o n

In the end, the school was going to expel me but then the other kids parents pulled him out and the principal decided she could not lose two sets o f schoolfees. I felt very much like a troublemaker at that point. T h e firs t s t o r y h e e v e r w r o te w a s a r o u n d

s a g r o w n m a n h e w o u l d p l u n d e r h i s f a m i l y h i s t o r y in h a l f - r e m e m b e r e d g l i m p s e s

A

a n d m i s r e m e m b e r e d d e ta ils f o r f ic tio n . B u t b e f o r e th e y w e r e fe d t h r o u g h th e

th e

f ilte r o f G a i m a n ’s p e n , t h e f a c t s — o r a t l e a s t t h e o r i g i n a l v e r s i o n o f t h e s t o r i e s —

w a s a s e rie s o f s h o r t s to r ie s — a n d it w a s

l o o k e d a b i t lik e t h i s . H is f a t h e r r a n t h e f a m i l y g r o c e r y b e f o r e f i n d i n g t h a t t h e r e w a s m o r e m o n e y t o b e

a B O V e : “When I was

about four or five, my hair was bothering me, so I took matters into my own hands. I found a pair of scissors, climbed into bed, got under the sheets, to hide, I suspect, and gave myself a haircut. It was the sort of haircut you give yourself in the dark under your sheets at the age of five. This was after the attempt to repair it by my father."

t 22

s a m e tim e

d e f in ite ly a

a s h is n e a r - e x p u l s i o n . It

series, n o t

ju s t a o n e -o ff— a b o u t

a n a lie n f r o g w ith a s p a c e s h ip th a t lo o k e d

m a d e i n t r a d i n g p r o p e r t y , a n d h is m o t h e r w a s a p h a r m a c i s t . T h e y w e r e m a r r i e d in 1 9 5 9

lik e

a n d N e i l w a s t h e f i r s t t o b e b o r n , f o l l o w e d b y h is s i s t e r s C l a i r e a n d L iz z y . N e i l s a y s h e w a s

tra v e lin g p ro fe s so r, a n d th e ir o c c a s io n a l

a

fo o tb a ll,

h is

a s s is ta n t

th e

tim e ­

A n d I t h o u g h t , A h , t h a t ’s i n t e r e s t i n g , y o u

o r tw e n ty -tw o , a n d I re a lly sh o u ld h a v e

c a n ’t t a k e c h a r a c t e r s f r o m

k n o w n b e t t e r b y t h a t p o i n t .” )

o n e s c h o o l to

a lw a y s t h e w e i r d o n e o f t h e b u n c h , a l t h o u g h i t n e v e r o c c u r r e d t o h i m a t t h e t i m e . “ T h e

c o m p a n i o n , N e il G a im a n . “T h e y d g o o ff

a n o t h e r ’ I t w a s lik e d i f f e r e n t u n i v e r s e s . I

lo v e l y t h i n g a b o u t b e i n g t h e f i r s t c h i l d is t h a t n o b o d y h a s a n y t h i n g t o m e a s u r e a g a i n s t ,

a n d h a v e m a d tim e -tr a v e l-y a d v e n tu re s . I

h a v e t o l e a v e t h o s e c h a r a c t e r s t h e r e .”

s o n o b o d y k n o w s t h e y ’r e w e i r d ” ( A n d e r s o n , 2 0 0 1 ) .

r e m e m b e r fe e lin g v e r y p r o u d o f m y s t o r i e s ,

A t th is p o in t N e il m o v e d o n to a k in d o f

a n d g e ttin g a lo t o f a tte n tio n so I ju s t k e p t

fa n -f ic tio n in w h ic h C o n a n th e B a r b a r ia n

r e u s in g th e s e c h a ra c te r s fo r th e re s t o f m y

m e e t s t h e c h a r a c t e r s in K e n n e t h B u l m e r ’s

F r o m th e v e r y b e g in n in g , e v e ry th in g w as a b o u t w o rd s.

s ta y a t th a t s c h o o l. E v e r y E n g lis h essay, I d

n o v e l,

In 1 9 6 5 th e fa m ily m o v e d to E a s t G r in s te a d in W e s t S u sse x , w h e r e th e E n g lis h c e n te r

w rite a s to r y a b o u t th e tim e -tra v e lin g fro g

s w o rd -a n d -s o rc e ry

f o r S c i e n t o l o g y is f o u n d , s o h i s J e w i s h p a r e n t s c o u l d b e g i n t a k i n g D i a n e t i c s c l a s s e s .

a n d th e p ro fe s so r a n d m e , o r a m e -c h a r a c te r ,

e v e r e n c o u n te r e d . ( “It w a s v e ry , v e r y d is ­

1 9 6 3 w h e n G a i m a n w a s o n ly tw o o r t h r e e

W h e n G a im a n w a s e ig h t y e a rs o ld h e w a s e n r o lle d a t A s to n H o u s e in S u s s e x , a p la c e

a n d w e d b e g o in g o ff a n d h a v in g a m a z in g

a p p o in tin g , m a n y y e a rs la te r m e e tin g K en

h im s e lf . “ I r e m e m b e r t h e r e w e r e c o m i c s

h e l a t e r w r o t e a b o u t in t h e h i g h l y a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l s h o r t s t o r y “C l o s i n g T i m e . ” H e w a s

a d v e n tu re s . A n d th e n I w e n t to m y n e w

B u l m e r a t s o m e c o n v e n t i o n . In m y h e a d

w h e r e a n o v e r w e i g h t p o l i c e m a n fe ll a s le e p

n e a r l y e x p e l l e d f o r s a y i n g t h e w o r d “f u c k ” :

sc h o o l,

I

K e n B u l m e r l o o k e d lik e C o n a n . A n d i f y o u

a n d flo a te d o u t to se a . A n d I r e m e m b e r fo r

p u lle d o u t th e s e c h a r a c te r s , w r o te a s to r y

e v e r s e e a p h o t o o f K e n B u l m e r y o u w ill

t h e n e x t y e a r o r t w o , w h e n I ’d g e t t h e m ,

B e fo re h e d le a rn e d so m u c h as th e a lp h a b e t, G a im a n w a s w r itin g p o e m s . H e r e m e m b e r s h a v i n g t o d ic ta t e t h e m t o h is m o m s i n c e h e c o u l d n ’t a c t u a l l y w r i t e t h e m d o w n h im s e lf .

I ’d heard some dirty jokes from some kids walking home from school. They were from different schools but we’d walk home together. And so the next day when I got to

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

A rd in g ly .

F irs t

E n g lis h

essay,

Swords o f the Barbarians , book

th a t

th e firs t G a im a n

h e firs t b o o k s

T

w ere

g lo v e p u p p e t in a

Sooty

G a im a n

e v e r re a d

a n d l i k e d w e r e E n i d B l y t o n ’s

Noddy

s to rie s , b u t th e firs t a c tu a l c o m ic s

he

e n c o u n te re d

about

S o o ty

th e

an n u al fro m about

Pippin , w h i c h

a b o u t th e m , a n d g o t b a c k a C g ra d e w ith a

d i s c o v e r h e d i d n o t l o o k lik e C o n a n . A n d

c o m i c s w o u l d b e t h i n g s lik e

c o m m e n t s a y i n g , ‘T h i s a ll s e e m s v e r y silly.’

it w a s a s h o c k — b e c a u s e I w a s tw e n ty -o n e

w e r e a i m e d a t l i ttle k id s a n d a l m o s t n e v e r

C H a p te R 1 | pReLuDes

23 t

veRy eüRly N efl^ •

■'

V.

··«

I w is h y had an o rig in S o ry fo r y u . W hen J WaS fo u r, I WaS b itte n by a ra d 'o a cttV

school I told the dirty joke that I ’d heard the night before. And these kids thought it was hilarious, especially the one who went home and told his parents. The next morning I found myself in the principal’s office with the headmistress and they said, “Neil, do you know what a four-letter word is?”Now I was a smart eight-year-old proud o f my vocabulary so I said, “Oh yes, T H I S is a fou r letter word,” and started listing words with fou r letters until they told me to stop. Then they started asking me about jokes that I ’d heard and I suddenly realized where the conversation was going. My mother was called in to see them and that night she came home and she said, “Apparently, you said a word so bad that they would not repeat it to me. What did you say?” and I said, “Fuck.” And she said, “That word is so bad you must never, ever ever ever say that again to anybody.”And I thought: C o o l . Y o u

L eft: A note from the doctor. Neil arrived bang on time.

a B O V e : “In Sussex,

aged about twenty-two months. Waiting for my sister to be born. Such a neat child (although I’ve probably been dressed by my grandmother). You pushed the roundabout around until it went fast and then you jumped on. Or you tripped and were pulled around, face-down, skinning your knees” (Henderson, 2009).

c a n d o th a t w ith ju s t a w o rd !

NeiL RICHaRD gaimaN was BORN

NOvemBeR 10, 1960, to DaviD aND SHeiLa gaimaN (Née goLDmaN) aBOve a gROceRy stORe o n WHite HaRt LaNe, poRtcHesteR, a smaLL towN i n HampsHiRe o n tHe soutHeRN coast of eNgLaND. o n

In the end, the school was going to expel me but then the other kids parents pulled him out and the principal decided she could not lose two sets o f schoolfees. I felt very much like a troublemaker at that point. T h e firs t s t o r y h e e v e r w r o te w a s a r o u n d

s a g r o w n m a n h e w o u l d p l u n d e r h i s f a m i l y h i s t o r y in h a l f - r e m e m b e r e d g l i m p s e s

A

a n d m i s r e m e m b e r e d d e ta ils f o r f ic tio n . B u t b e f o r e th e y w e r e fe d t h r o u g h th e

th e

f ilte r o f G a i m a n ’s p e n , t h e f a c t s — o r a t l e a s t t h e o r i g i n a l v e r s i o n o f t h e s t o r i e s —

w a s a s e rie s o f s h o r t s to r ie s — a n d it w a s

l o o k e d a b i t lik e t h i s . H is f a t h e r r a n t h e f a m i l y g r o c e r y b e f o r e f i n d i n g t h a t t h e r e w a s m o r e m o n e y t o b e

a B O V e : “When I was

about four or five, my hair was bothering me, so I took matters into my own hands. I found a pair of scissors, climbed into bed, got under the sheets, to hide, I suspect, and gave myself a haircut. It was the sort of haircut you give yourself in the dark under your sheets at the age of five. This was after the attempt to repair it by my father."

t 22

s a m e tim e

d e f in ite ly a

a s h is n e a r - e x p u l s i o n . It

series, n o t

ju s t a o n e -o ff— a b o u t

a n a lie n f r o g w ith a s p a c e s h ip th a t lo o k e d

m a d e i n t r a d i n g p r o p e r t y , a n d h is m o t h e r w a s a p h a r m a c i s t . T h e y w e r e m a r r i e d in 1 9 5 9

lik e

a n d N e i l w a s t h e f i r s t t o b e b o r n , f o l l o w e d b y h is s i s t e r s C l a i r e a n d L iz z y . N e i l s a y s h e w a s

tra v e lin g p ro fe s so r, a n d th e ir o c c a s io n a l

a

fo o tb a ll,

h is

a s s is ta n t

th e

tim e ­

A n d I t h o u g h t , A h , t h a t ’s i n t e r e s t i n g , y o u

o r tw e n ty -tw o , a n d I re a lly sh o u ld h a v e

c a n ’t t a k e c h a r a c t e r s f r o m

k n o w n b e t t e r b y t h a t p o i n t .” )

o n e s c h o o l to

a lw a y s t h e w e i r d o n e o f t h e b u n c h , a l t h o u g h i t n e v e r o c c u r r e d t o h i m a t t h e t i m e . “ T h e

c o m p a n i o n , N e il G a im a n . “T h e y d g o o ff

a n o t h e r ’ I t w a s lik e d i f f e r e n t u n i v e r s e s . I

lo v e l y t h i n g a b o u t b e i n g t h e f i r s t c h i l d is t h a t n o b o d y h a s a n y t h i n g t o m e a s u r e a g a i n s t ,

a n d h a v e m a d tim e -tr a v e l-y a d v e n tu re s . I

h a v e t o l e a v e t h o s e c h a r a c t e r s t h e r e .”

s o n o b o d y k n o w s t h e y ’r e w e i r d ” ( A n d e r s o n , 2 0 0 1 ) .

r e m e m b e r fe e lin g v e r y p r o u d o f m y s t o r i e s ,

A t th is p o in t N e il m o v e d o n to a k in d o f

a n d g e ttin g a lo t o f a tte n tio n so I ju s t k e p t

fa n -f ic tio n in w h ic h C o n a n th e B a r b a r ia n

r e u s in g th e s e c h a ra c te r s fo r th e re s t o f m y

m e e t s t h e c h a r a c t e r s in K e n n e t h B u l m e r ’s

F r o m th e v e r y b e g in n in g , e v e ry th in g w as a b o u t w o rd s.

s ta y a t th a t s c h o o l. E v e r y E n g lis h essay, I d

n o v e l,

In 1 9 6 5 th e fa m ily m o v e d to E a s t G r in s te a d in W e s t S u sse x , w h e r e th e E n g lis h c e n te r

w rite a s to r y a b o u t th e tim e -tra v e lin g fro g

s w o rd -a n d -s o rc e ry

f o r S c i e n t o l o g y is f o u n d , s o h i s J e w i s h p a r e n t s c o u l d b e g i n t a k i n g D i a n e t i c s c l a s s e s .

a n d th e p ro fe s so r a n d m e , o r a m e -c h a r a c te r ,

e v e r e n c o u n te r e d . ( “It w a s v e ry , v e r y d is ­

1 9 6 3 w h e n G a i m a n w a s o n ly tw o o r t h r e e

W h e n G a im a n w a s e ig h t y e a rs o ld h e w a s e n r o lle d a t A s to n H o u s e in S u s s e x , a p la c e

a n d w e d b e g o in g o ff a n d h a v in g a m a z in g

a p p o in tin g , m a n y y e a rs la te r m e e tin g K en

h im s e lf . “ I r e m e m b e r t h e r e w e r e c o m i c s

h e l a t e r w r o t e a b o u t in t h e h i g h l y a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l s h o r t s t o r y “C l o s i n g T i m e . ” H e w a s

a d v e n tu re s . A n d th e n I w e n t to m y n e w

B u l m e r a t s o m e c o n v e n t i o n . In m y h e a d

w h e r e a n o v e r w e i g h t p o l i c e m a n fe ll a s le e p

n e a r l y e x p e l l e d f o r s a y i n g t h e w o r d “f u c k ” :

sc h o o l,

I

K e n B u l m e r l o o k e d lik e C o n a n . A n d i f y o u

a n d flo a te d o u t to se a . A n d I r e m e m b e r fo r

p u lle d o u t th e s e c h a r a c te r s , w r o te a s to r y

e v e r s e e a p h o t o o f K e n B u l m e r y o u w ill

t h e n e x t y e a r o r t w o , w h e n I ’d g e t t h e m ,

B e fo re h e d le a rn e d so m u c h as th e a lp h a b e t, G a im a n w a s w r itin g p o e m s . H e r e m e m b e r s h a v i n g t o d ic ta t e t h e m t o h is m o m s i n c e h e c o u l d n ’t a c t u a l l y w r i t e t h e m d o w n h im s e lf .

I ’d heard some dirty jokes from some kids walking home from school. They were from different schools but we’d walk home together. And so the next day when I got to

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

A rd in g ly .

F irs t

E n g lis h

essay,

Swords o f the Barbarians , book

th a t

th e firs t G a im a n

h e firs t b o o k s

T

w ere

g lo v e p u p p e t in a

Sooty

G a im a n

e v e r re a d

a n d l i k e d w e r e E n i d B l y t o n ’s

Noddy

s to rie s , b u t th e firs t a c tu a l c o m ic s

he

e n c o u n te re d

about

S o o ty

th e

an n u al fro m about

Pippin , w h i c h

a b o u t th e m , a n d g o t b a c k a C g ra d e w ith a

d i s c o v e r h e d i d n o t l o o k lik e C o n a n . A n d

c o m i c s w o u l d b e t h i n g s lik e

c o m m e n t s a y i n g , ‘T h i s a ll s e e m s v e r y silly.’

it w a s a s h o c k — b e c a u s e I w a s tw e n ty -o n e

w e r e a i m e d a t l i ttle k id s a n d a l m o s t n e v e r

C H a p te R 1 | pReLuDes

23 t

had word balloons. They’d have a picture and text underneath instead. There was one comic about these little cute woodland creatures, things that looked kind of like weasels, and jam —their problems making lots of jam, and their obsession with jam. I loved those comics.” Neil says he was probably more of a book guy than a T V guy simply because his parents weren’t that into T V —he was allowed to watch Children’s Hour TV, which wasn’t actually an hour but just fifteen minutes of bad puppet shows. But at his grandparents’ house in Portsmouth he could watch what he liked, and not only did he meet Doctor Who in their sitting room, he also met Batman. “I fell in love with the Batman T V show. I’m not sure there’s any other way to describe it. It was the best thing in the world. There was nothing about the Batman T V show I did not love. The moment it started show­ ing on British television, I was watching it. Batman was primal. In weird, huge scary ways, Batman was primal.” The popularity of the T V show led the publishers of the British comic Smash !— which consisted mostly of humor strips but also some American Marvel reprints— to start including a similarly camp (and similarly reprinted) syndicated newspaper strip that took its lead from the T V show rather than the D C comic. It occasionally had guest appearances by people like the American comedian Jack Benny, another of Neil’s lifelong loves (he has written an as-yet-unproduced musical based on Benny’s life). Smash! was one of a handful of comics that Caiman’s father brought back from his job in Portsmouth. Neil talked him into getting Smash! every week, which then extended to Wham!, Pow!, Fantastic, and Terrific too. It was here he met SpiderMan, Hulk, and the X-M en. And he read them to the exclusion of all else. He was someone for whom the pages served as blinkers, and he was regularly frisked for books before family gatherings lest he disappear off into a corner to read and stay there for the whole afternoon. When Caiman was seven years old, a boy at the end of the lane had a copy of The

jheie waS nothing abou t th e ^Batjmanv

TV

show I did n ot (oVc.

Penguin Charles Addams, an oversized black-and-white paperback that he would go over and read until the day the boy moved and took the book with him. The Addams cartoons were a focus of con­ centrated fascination not because they were funny, but because they were like riddles and puzzles to be unlocked or solved. “I’d stare at these drawings of people in haunted houses knitting baby clothes with too many limbs, or of ski tracks going around trees, or of one small face staring up at a screen with joy from which everyone else in the audience was staring at in horror, repulsed, and I’d work hard to figure out the story of the image, the what was going on, the why and the whether it might be funny, the what-happened-before and what-wouldhappen-after, and, one-by-one, they would make me happy. “Then again, I was a seven-year-old kid whose favorite short story was probably Bradbury’s ‘Homecoming.’”

“Homecoming” was the first of Ray Bradbury’s work he had ever read, and it changed him. “I identified more with Timothy, the boy being brought up by a loving family of vampires and monsters than I had ever identified with any fictional character before. Like him, I wanted to be brave, to not be scared of the things in the darkness. Like him, I wanted to belong.” In his grandparents’ sitting room he also discovered IT V ’s 1967 production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and immediately set out to own a copy of the book—purchasing it for himself at the age of six, as well as the third book in the series, The Voyage o f the Dawn Treader, but missing out on the second because the shop had an incomplete collection. It got sorted out in the end, though: “I remember, for my seventh birthday, my parents got me a boxed set of the Narnia books, all seven of them, and I lay on my bed and read them. That’s what I did on my seventh birthday:

C H ap teR 1

|pReLuDes

o p p o site top: “Mr. Punch territory. My cousin Sara, my paternal grandfather, and me (and an anonymous passerby) on the seafront in Southsea. July 1963” (Henderson, 2009). o p p o site miDDLe: “My sister, my mother, her mother, and me. September 1963” (Henderson, 2009).

o p p o site B o tto m : Neil and his mother, about 1964. She would have been twenty-eight. “She’s on the right, and I’m the dark-haired threeyear-old sitting below her. (My sister Claire’s at the front left, and behind them, my late Aunt Myra and my cousin, ace photographer Elliott Franks). And the wallpaper means the photo was taken at my grandparents’ house, at Parkstone Avenue in Southsea” aBOVe Left: ‘About three? Down at the bottom of the garden in Purbrook, in Hampshire, on the swing” (LitPark.com, 2009). aBOVe RigHt: Three generations of Gaiman men: Neil, his father, and his grandfather in 1967.

25 f

had word balloons. They’d have a picture and text underneath instead. There was one comic about these little cute woodland creatures, things that looked kind of like weasels, and jam —their problems making lots of jam, and their obsession with jam. I loved those comics.” Neil says he was probably more of a book guy than a T V guy simply because his parents weren’t that into T V —he was allowed to watch Children’s Hour TV, which wasn’t actually an hour but just fifteen minutes of bad puppet shows. But at his grandparents’ house in Portsmouth he could watch what he liked, and not only did he meet Doctor Who in their sitting room, he also met Batman. “I fell in love with the Batman T V show. I’m not sure there’s any other way to describe it. It was the best thing in the world. There was nothing about the Batman T V show I did not love. The moment it started show­ ing on British television, I was watching it. Batman was primal. In weird, huge scary ways, Batman was primal.” The popularity of the T V show led the publishers of the British comic Smash !— which consisted mostly of humor strips but also some American Marvel reprints— to start including a similarly camp (and similarly reprinted) syndicated newspaper strip that took its lead from the T V show rather than the D C comic. It occasionally had guest appearances by people like the American comedian Jack Benny, another of Neil’s lifelong loves (he has written an as-yet-unproduced musical based on Benny’s life). Smash! was one of a handful of comics that Caiman’s father brought back from his job in Portsmouth. Neil talked him into getting Smash! every week, which then extended to Wham!, Pow!, Fantastic, and Terrific too. It was here he met SpiderMan, Hulk, and the X-M en. And he read them to the exclusion of all else. He was someone for whom the pages served as blinkers, and he was regularly frisked for books before family gatherings lest he disappear off into a corner to read and stay there for the whole afternoon. When Caiman was seven years old, a boy at the end of the lane had a copy of The

jheie waS nothing abou t th e ^Batjmanv

TV

show I did n ot (oVc.

Penguin Charles Addams, an oversized black-and-white paperback that he would go over and read until the day the boy moved and took the book with him. The Addams cartoons were a focus of con­ centrated fascination not because they were funny, but because they were like riddles and puzzles to be unlocked or solved. “I’d stare at these drawings of people in haunted houses knitting baby clothes with too many limbs, or of ski tracks going around trees, or of one small face staring up at a screen with joy from which everyone else in the audience was staring at in horror, repulsed, and I’d work hard to figure out the story of the image, the what was going on, the why and the whether it might be funny, the what-happened-before and what-wouldhappen-after, and, one-by-one, they would make me happy. “Then again, I was a seven-year-old kid whose favorite short story was probably Bradbury’s ‘Homecoming.’”

“Homecoming” was the first of Ray Bradbury’s work he had ever read, and it changed him. “I identified more with Timothy, the boy being brought up by a loving family of vampires and monsters than I had ever identified with any fictional character before. Like him, I wanted to be brave, to not be scared of the things in the darkness. Like him, I wanted to belong.” In his grandparents’ sitting room he also discovered IT V ’s 1967 production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and immediately set out to own a copy of the book—purchasing it for himself at the age of six, as well as the third book in the series, The Voyage o f the Dawn Treader, but missing out on the second because the shop had an incomplete collection. It got sorted out in the end, though: “I remember, for my seventh birthday, my parents got me a boxed set of the Narnia books, all seven of them, and I lay on my bed and read them. That’s what I did on my seventh birthday:

C H ap teR 1

|pReLuDes

o p p o site top: “Mr. Punch territory. My cousin Sara, my paternal grandfather, and me (and an anonymous passerby) on the seafront in Southsea. July 1963” (Henderson, 2009). o p p o site miDDLe: “My sister, my mother, her mother, and me. September 1963” (Henderson, 2009).

o p p o site B o tto m : Neil and his mother, about 1964. She would have been twenty-eight. “She’s on the right, and I’m the dark-haired threeyear-old sitting below her. (My sister Claire’s at the front left, and behind them, my late Aunt Myra and my cousin, ace photographer Elliott Franks). And the wallpaper means the photo was taken at my grandparents’ house, at Parkstone Avenue in Southsea” aBOVe Left: ‘About three? Down at the bottom of the garden in Purbrook, in Hampshire, on the swing” (LitPark.com, 2009). aBOVe RigHt: Three generations of Gaiman men: Neil, his father, and his grandfather in 1967.

25 f

I r e a d m y w a y t h r o u g h t h e c o m p l e t e s e t. I

g o t to

a l r e a d y h a d T h e L io n , t h e W itc h a n d t h e

th in g

see w h a t th e y co u ld

m any

w o u ld lo v e to k n o w . O n e o f th e la s t c o n ­

W ardrobe and

th a t

G ilb e rt w as

d o . “E v e r y ­

a b o u t, in

p l e t e l y c l u e le s s o n . T h e r e a r e t h i n g s t h a t I

T he V oyage o f th e D a w n

w a y s , is t h e m a g i c o f w o r d s , e v e n a ll t h e

v e rs a tio n s I h a d w ith m y d a d , I m e n tio n e d

T r e a d e r , b u t I d id n ’t h a v e t h e o t h e r s . I

q u e s t i o n s o f i d e n t i t y t h a t G i l b e r t ’s p l o t s s o

t h i s b o x o f c o m i c s a n d h e s a i d , ‘O h y e a h ,

a c tu a lly c o v e re d th e s e t in c e llo p h a n e . I

im p ro b a b ly

m a d e m y p a re n ts g e t m e c e llo p h a n e , a n d

b a s e d ” (W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ).

w e w r a p p e d m y N a r n ia b o o k s in th e m ,

h in g e

on

a re

a lw a y s w o r d -

I k n o w w h e re y o u g o t th o s e fro m . I k n o w w h e r e t h e y c a m e f r o m .’ I d id n ’t say , ‘W h e r e ?

A p a r t f r o m y e a r l y v is i t s t o S a d l e r ’s W e lls , th e

(W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ).

c in e m a , a lth o u g h th is w a s la rg e ly a g a in s t

t i m e I s e e h i m I ’ll s a y : s o , t e l l m e a b o u t m y

N e i l ’s w ill. A t fiv e h e h a d t o g o a n d b u y

b o x o f c o m i c s .’” H e n e v e r f o u n d o u t , b u t

R e a d i n g C . S . L e w is w a s t h e f i r s t t i m e

o th e r tr a d itio n a l o u tin g w a s to

th e

W h o ? T e ll m e ! ’ I p u t i t o ff. I f i g u r e d , ‘O h

lik e b o o k s w e r e w r a p p e d i n t h e l i b r a r y ”

g o o d , i t s o u n d s lik e t h a t ’s a s t o r y . N e x t

a

h i m s e l f a c o p y o f P. L . T r a v e r s ’s M a r y P o p p in s

th is w a s th e p e r s o n w h o in t r o d u c e d N e il

o f th e

o n a c c o u n t o f th e o n g o in g situ a tio n w ith th e

G a i m a n t o S a n d m a n . I t’s a ll t h e i r f a u lt.

G ilb e rt a n d

f ilm a n d h o w n o o n e w o u l d t a k e h i m t o s e e

“I t w a s in a J u s t i c e L e a g u e /J u s t ic e S o c i e t y

it. “I w o u l d h a v e g o n e t o s e e M a r y P o p p in s

c r o s s o v e r . ‘T o t o u c h A n t i - M a t t e r M a n w a s

m a s t e r p i e c e s s u c h a s H .M .S . P i n a f o r e a n d

as m a n y tim e s as a n y o n e w o u ld ta k e m e .

to r is k in s ta n t d e s t r u c t i o n !’ sa id th e c o v e r.

T h e P ir a te s o f P e n z a n c e — w h o w as to b e a

T h e o n l y th i n g t h a t a n y b o d y t o o k m e t o t h a t

A n d th e A n ti-M a tte r M a n w a s th is w e ird

m o r e s u b v e r s iv e o b s e s s i o n .

w a s a ro u n d fo r-fu c k in g -e v e r— it w a s a ro u n d

g u y w h o w a s w a lk in g b e tw e e n E a r th O n e

fo r y e a rs , a n d p e o p le k e p t ta k in g m e , a n d I

and

h a t e d i t, e v e r y t i m e I ’d h a t e i t w o r s e — w a s

a p a r t b y T h e S p e c t r e , w h o is v e r y , v e r y b i g

G a im a n

re m em b ers

book, but

it w a s

g o in g

W.

S.

V ic to ria n -e ra th e a tric a l d u o S u l l iv a n — t h e t e a m

crazy

G ilb e rt

b e h in d

co m ic

for

o p era

I w a s t a k e n to m y f i r s t G ilb e r t &

E a rth

Tw o,

w h ic h

are

b e in g

h e ld

S u lliv a n w h e n I w a s th r e e b y m y a u n t

T h e S o u n d o f M u s ic . A d u l t s w o u l d t a k e y o u

a n d ca p a b le o f h o ld in g tw o p la n e ts a p a rt.

D ia n e , w h o d i e d o f l e u k e m i a a c o u p le

t o s e e it a s i f t h e y w e r e d o i n g y o u a f a v o r ,

A n d e v e r y b o d y is h a v i n g a b a t t l e o n t h e

o f y e a r s la te r. A n d it w a s I o la n th e a n d

a n d I w o u ld s h o o t m y fin g e rs o ff r a th e r

S p e c t r e ’s b a c k w h i l e t h e A n t i - M a t t e r M a n

I l o v e d it b e c a u s e it h a d m a g ic in. M y

th a n g o a g a in ” (W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) .

is w a l k i n g u p a n d d o w n , t u r n i n g e v e r y ­

ta s te s h a v e n o t c h a n g e d . I ’m v e r y m u c h

b o d y ’s p o w e r a g a i n s t t h e m . S o u n d s a b i t

t h a t th in g t h a t I ’v e a lw a y s b e e n . T h e

s illy n o w I c o m e t o e x p l a i n it.”

s u b tit le o f I o l a n t h e is ‘T h e p e e r a n d th e

he

next

im p o rta n t

th in g

th a t

O u tsid e o f th e b o x , a n d w ith o n ly a

w illin g to p u t u p w ith th e p e e r s f o r th e

T

A m e ric a , n o t ch o p p e d up a n d r e ­

c o m ic p e r w e e k . In o rd e r to m a k e s u re h e

p e r is . I t h a d a v e r y s c a r y f a i r y Q u e e n ,

a r ra n g e d in sm a ll B r itis h p a p e rb a c k s w ith

p i c k e d t h e r i g h t o n e , h e w o u l d s t a n d in t h e

a n d it h a d m a g ic . D id n ’t h a v e m u c h

o n e p a n e l to a p a g e . “It w a s m y firs t re a l

c o r n e r s to re o n E a s t G rin s te a d H ig h S tre e t

m a g ic — t h e b e s t y o u c a n s a y f o r it is

e x p o s u r e to A m e r i c a n c o m i c s a n d i t w a s

a n d “s a m p l e ” t h e w a r e s , t r y i n g t o r e a d as

t h a t a t t h e e n d a ll o f t h e lo r d s g r o w

a b s o l u t e ly lik e g i v i n g s o m e b o d y T h e D r u g .

m a n y a s h e c o u l d b e f o r e h e g o t t o l d o ff. “ I

w in g s, m a g ic a lly , a n d b e c o m e f a i r i e s

T h e th in g th a t y o u w a n t, th e th in g th a t y o u

d o r e m e m b e r t h e m a c tu a lly p ic k in g m e up

to o . B u t I w a s w illin g to p u t u p w ith

n e e d . A n d it w a s a g re a t, w o n d e rfu l b o x o f

a n d p u ttin g m e o n th e sid e w a lk a n d m e

e v e r y t h in g t h a t w a s n ’t m a g ic a l b e c a u s e

c o m ic s so m e tim e a ro u n d 1 9 6 8 -is h . M ay b e

g o i n g ‘N o ! I k n o w w h a t I ’m g o i n g t o b u y ! ’

1 9 6 7 . T h e re w e re lo a d s o f F a n ta s tic F o u rs

T h e y d id a c tu a lly le t m e b a c k in to b u y

P e r i ’. A p e r i is a k i n d o f P e r s ia n fa ir y . A n d w h e n I w a s t h r e e I w a s a b s o lu t e ly

fro m

t h e r e w a s m a g ic th e re . I m a d e m y M u m g o a n d g e t m e th e

h a p p e n e d w as th e b o x o f A m e r ic a n

s m a ll

c o m ic s : p ro p e r fo u r-c o lo r c o m ic s

n a m e , N e il c o u ld a ffo rd o n e sin g le n e w

am ount

o f p o ck et

m oney

to

h is

i n i t, t h e S i l v e r S u r f e r s tu ff. I t h a d

The

so m e th in g a n d w h a t I b o u g h t w as a B a tm a n

r e c o r d o f Io la n th e . A n d I m a d e h e r

B rave an d

and

T V t i e - i n n o v e lla . It w a s n ’t a c o m i c , a n d I

g e t m e t h e C h i l d r e n ’s M i k a d o — it w a s

G reen

a re o n th e f r o n t in ir o n

a ss u m e I b o u g h t th a t b e c a u s e I th o u g h t I

t h e s t o r y o f M i k a d o t o l d f o r c h ild r e n ,

s t o c k s s a y i n g ‘N o , n o s a v e y o u r s e l f ! ’ A n d

co u ld g e t m o r e s to r y fo r m y m o n e y . I w as

w it h q u o t e s f r o m s o m e o f t h e s o n g s in

th e o n e w h e re B a tm a n a n d H a w k m a n are

a lw a y s o b s e s s e d w i t h h o w m u c h s t o r y y o u

it. T h a t a n d t h e C h i l d r e n ’s H i a w a t h a ,

o n t h e c o v e r t r y i n g t o p u l l o f f e a c h o t h e r ’s

c a n g e t f o r y o u r m o n e y .”

w h ic h is a n e d i t e d d o w n H i a w a t h a

m a s k s w h i l e t h e y ’r e i n t h e a ir . A n d t h e r e

s h e u s e d to r e a d m e a t n ig h t b e f o r e I

w as

w e n t to s le e p , w h ic h I lo v e d . ‘B y t h e

s o m e S p i d e r - M a n .”

th e B o ld w h e re B a tm a n

L a n te rn

I n h u m a n s in

th e r e ,

and

th e re

w as

It w a s p a r tly th is id e a th a t le d G a im a n to

w ander

o u ts id e

o f co m ics

w h ere

he

d is c o v e re d M ic h a e l M o o r c o c k w ith S to r m -

m ig h t y G it c h e G u m e e , b y t h e s h in in g

T h e r e w e r e s e v e n ty to e ig h ty m i d - 1 9 6 0 s

b r in g e r . “M o o r c o c k ’s S to r m b r in g e r , a g e n i n e ,

b ig - s e a - w a t e r s , s t o o d t h e w ig w a m o f

c o m i c s in t h a t b o x t h a t h e r e a d s e v e r a l

f u c k e d m y h e a d in r e a l l y g o o d w a y s . A n d

N o k o m i s . . .’ L o v e l y b o u n c y s y lla b le s .

t i m e s o v e r , a n d G a i m a n s t ill h a s n o i d e a

th e f a c t t h a t it e n d s w ith E l r i c t h e h e r o

h o w t h e y c a m e i n t o h is life . “E v e r y n o w a n d

p lu n g in g

th e n I g e t g ru m p y a b o u t m y d a d h a v in g

b e a u tifu l p r in c e s s — w h o h a s n o w b e c o m e

th e

d ie d b e c a u s e t h e r e a r e t h i n g s I w o u l d lo v e

tr a n s f o r m e d b y th e p o w e rs o f c h a o s in to

w o rd s. H e g o t w o rd s f r o m G ilb e rt, a n d h e

t o h a v e a n s w e r e d t h a t m y m o t h e r is c o m ­

s o m e k in d o f h o r rib le m a g g o t c r e a tu r e —

W h a t h e l o v e d m o s t o f a ll a b o u t t h e s e G ilb e rt

t

26

and

S u lliv a n

m u s ic a ls w e re

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

h is

sw o rd

in to

Z a ro z in ia

h is

L eft: Justice League o f America #47 (October 1966). ™ & © DC Comics. Used with Permission.

C H a P te R 1 |p R e Lu D e s

27 t

I r e a d m y w a y t h r o u g h t h e c o m p l e t e s e t. I

g o t to

a l r e a d y h a d T h e L io n , t h e W itc h a n d t h e

th in g

see w h a t th e y co u ld

m any

w o u ld lo v e to k n o w . O n e o f th e la s t c o n ­

W ardrobe and

th a t

G ilb e rt w as

d o . “E v e r y ­

a b o u t, in

p l e t e l y c l u e le s s o n . T h e r e a r e t h i n g s t h a t I

T he V oyage o f th e D a w n

w a y s , is t h e m a g i c o f w o r d s , e v e n a ll t h e

v e rs a tio n s I h a d w ith m y d a d , I m e n tio n e d

T r e a d e r , b u t I d id n ’t h a v e t h e o t h e r s . I

q u e s t i o n s o f i d e n t i t y t h a t G i l b e r t ’s p l o t s s o

t h i s b o x o f c o m i c s a n d h e s a i d , ‘O h y e a h ,

a c tu a lly c o v e re d th e s e t in c e llo p h a n e . I

im p ro b a b ly

m a d e m y p a re n ts g e t m e c e llo p h a n e , a n d

b a s e d ” (W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ).

w e w r a p p e d m y N a r n ia b o o k s in th e m ,

h in g e

on

a re

a lw a y s w o r d -

I k n o w w h e re y o u g o t th o s e fro m . I k n o w w h e r e t h e y c a m e f r o m .’ I d id n ’t say , ‘W h e r e ?

A p a r t f r o m y e a r l y v is i t s t o S a d l e r ’s W e lls , th e

(W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ).

c in e m a , a lth o u g h th is w a s la rg e ly a g a in s t

t i m e I s e e h i m I ’ll s a y : s o , t e l l m e a b o u t m y

N e i l ’s w ill. A t fiv e h e h a d t o g o a n d b u y

b o x o f c o m i c s .’” H e n e v e r f o u n d o u t , b u t

R e a d i n g C . S . L e w is w a s t h e f i r s t t i m e

o th e r tr a d itio n a l o u tin g w a s to

th e

W h o ? T e ll m e ! ’ I p u t i t o ff. I f i g u r e d , ‘O h

lik e b o o k s w e r e w r a p p e d i n t h e l i b r a r y ”

g o o d , i t s o u n d s lik e t h a t ’s a s t o r y . N e x t

a

h i m s e l f a c o p y o f P. L . T r a v e r s ’s M a r y P o p p in s

th is w a s th e p e r s o n w h o in t r o d u c e d N e il

o f th e

o n a c c o u n t o f th e o n g o in g situ a tio n w ith th e

G a i m a n t o S a n d m a n . I t’s a ll t h e i r f a u lt.

G ilb e rt a n d

f ilm a n d h o w n o o n e w o u l d t a k e h i m t o s e e

“I t w a s in a J u s t i c e L e a g u e /J u s t ic e S o c i e t y

it. “I w o u l d h a v e g o n e t o s e e M a r y P o p p in s

c r o s s o v e r . ‘T o t o u c h A n t i - M a t t e r M a n w a s

m a s t e r p i e c e s s u c h a s H .M .S . P i n a f o r e a n d

as m a n y tim e s as a n y o n e w o u ld ta k e m e .

to r is k in s ta n t d e s t r u c t i o n !’ sa id th e c o v e r.

T h e P ir a te s o f P e n z a n c e — w h o w as to b e a

T h e o n l y th i n g t h a t a n y b o d y t o o k m e t o t h a t

A n d th e A n ti-M a tte r M a n w a s th is w e ird

m o r e s u b v e r s iv e o b s e s s i o n .

w a s a ro u n d fo r-fu c k in g -e v e r— it w a s a ro u n d

g u y w h o w a s w a lk in g b e tw e e n E a r th O n e

fo r y e a rs , a n d p e o p le k e p t ta k in g m e , a n d I

and

h a t e d i t, e v e r y t i m e I ’d h a t e i t w o r s e — w a s

a p a r t b y T h e S p e c t r e , w h o is v e r y , v e r y b i g

G a im a n

re m em b ers

book, but

it w a s

g o in g

W.

S.

V ic to ria n -e ra th e a tric a l d u o S u l l iv a n — t h e t e a m

crazy

G ilb e rt

b e h in d

co m ic

for

o p era

I w a s t a k e n to m y f i r s t G ilb e r t &

E a rth

Tw o,

w h ic h

are

b e in g

h e ld

S u lliv a n w h e n I w a s th r e e b y m y a u n t

T h e S o u n d o f M u s ic . A d u l t s w o u l d t a k e y o u

a n d ca p a b le o f h o ld in g tw o p la n e ts a p a rt.

D ia n e , w h o d i e d o f l e u k e m i a a c o u p le

t o s e e it a s i f t h e y w e r e d o i n g y o u a f a v o r ,

A n d e v e r y b o d y is h a v i n g a b a t t l e o n t h e

o f y e a r s la te r. A n d it w a s I o la n th e a n d

a n d I w o u ld s h o o t m y fin g e rs o ff r a th e r

S p e c t r e ’s b a c k w h i l e t h e A n t i - M a t t e r M a n

I l o v e d it b e c a u s e it h a d m a g ic in. M y

th a n g o a g a in ” (W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) .

is w a l k i n g u p a n d d o w n , t u r n i n g e v e r y ­

ta s te s h a v e n o t c h a n g e d . I ’m v e r y m u c h

b o d y ’s p o w e r a g a i n s t t h e m . S o u n d s a b i t

t h a t th in g t h a t I ’v e a lw a y s b e e n . T h e

s illy n o w I c o m e t o e x p l a i n it.”

s u b tit le o f I o l a n t h e is ‘T h e p e e r a n d th e

he

next

im p o rta n t

th in g

th a t

O u tsid e o f th e b o x , a n d w ith o n ly a

w illin g to p u t u p w ith th e p e e r s f o r th e

T

A m e ric a , n o t ch o p p e d up a n d r e ­

c o m ic p e r w e e k . In o rd e r to m a k e s u re h e

p e r is . I t h a d a v e r y s c a r y f a i r y Q u e e n ,

a r ra n g e d in sm a ll B r itis h p a p e rb a c k s w ith

p i c k e d t h e r i g h t o n e , h e w o u l d s t a n d in t h e

a n d it h a d m a g ic . D id n ’t h a v e m u c h

o n e p a n e l to a p a g e . “It w a s m y firs t re a l

c o r n e r s to re o n E a s t G rin s te a d H ig h S tre e t

m a g ic — t h e b e s t y o u c a n s a y f o r it is

e x p o s u r e to A m e r i c a n c o m i c s a n d i t w a s

a n d “s a m p l e ” t h e w a r e s , t r y i n g t o r e a d as

t h a t a t t h e e n d a ll o f t h e lo r d s g r o w

a b s o l u t e ly lik e g i v i n g s o m e b o d y T h e D r u g .

m a n y a s h e c o u l d b e f o r e h e g o t t o l d o ff. “ I

w in g s, m a g ic a lly , a n d b e c o m e f a i r i e s

T h e th in g th a t y o u w a n t, th e th in g th a t y o u

d o r e m e m b e r t h e m a c tu a lly p ic k in g m e up

to o . B u t I w a s w illin g to p u t u p w ith

n e e d . A n d it w a s a g re a t, w o n d e rfu l b o x o f

a n d p u ttin g m e o n th e sid e w a lk a n d m e

e v e r y t h in g t h a t w a s n ’t m a g ic a l b e c a u s e

c o m ic s so m e tim e a ro u n d 1 9 6 8 -is h . M ay b e

g o i n g ‘N o ! I k n o w w h a t I ’m g o i n g t o b u y ! ’

1 9 6 7 . T h e re w e re lo a d s o f F a n ta s tic F o u rs

T h e y d id a c tu a lly le t m e b a c k in to b u y

P e r i ’. A p e r i is a k i n d o f P e r s ia n fa ir y . A n d w h e n I w a s t h r e e I w a s a b s o lu t e ly

fro m

t h e r e w a s m a g ic th e re . I m a d e m y M u m g o a n d g e t m e th e

h a p p e n e d w as th e b o x o f A m e r ic a n

s m a ll

c o m ic s : p ro p e r fo u r-c o lo r c o m ic s

n a m e , N e il c o u ld a ffo rd o n e sin g le n e w

am ount

o f p o ck et

m oney

to

h is

i n i t, t h e S i l v e r S u r f e r s tu ff. I t h a d

The

so m e th in g a n d w h a t I b o u g h t w as a B a tm a n

r e c o r d o f Io la n th e . A n d I m a d e h e r

B rave an d

and

T V t i e - i n n o v e lla . It w a s n ’t a c o m i c , a n d I

g e t m e t h e C h i l d r e n ’s M i k a d o — it w a s

G reen

a re o n th e f r o n t in ir o n

a ss u m e I b o u g h t th a t b e c a u s e I th o u g h t I

t h e s t o r y o f M i k a d o t o l d f o r c h ild r e n ,

s t o c k s s a y i n g ‘N o , n o s a v e y o u r s e l f ! ’ A n d

co u ld g e t m o r e s to r y fo r m y m o n e y . I w as

w it h q u o t e s f r o m s o m e o f t h e s o n g s in

th e o n e w h e re B a tm a n a n d H a w k m a n are

a lw a y s o b s e s s e d w i t h h o w m u c h s t o r y y o u

it. T h a t a n d t h e C h i l d r e n ’s H i a w a t h a ,

o n t h e c o v e r t r y i n g t o p u l l o f f e a c h o t h e r ’s

c a n g e t f o r y o u r m o n e y .”

w h ic h is a n e d i t e d d o w n H i a w a t h a

m a s k s w h i l e t h e y ’r e i n t h e a ir . A n d t h e r e

s h e u s e d to r e a d m e a t n ig h t b e f o r e I

w as

w e n t to s le e p , w h ic h I lo v e d . ‘B y t h e

s o m e S p i d e r - M a n .”

th e B o ld w h e re B a tm a n

L a n te rn

I n h u m a n s in

th e r e ,

and

th e re

w as

It w a s p a r tly th is id e a th a t le d G a im a n to

w ander

o u ts id e

o f co m ics

w h ere

he

d is c o v e re d M ic h a e l M o o r c o c k w ith S to r m -

m ig h t y G it c h e G u m e e , b y t h e s h in in g

T h e r e w e r e s e v e n ty to e ig h ty m i d - 1 9 6 0 s

b r in g e r . “M o o r c o c k ’s S to r m b r in g e r , a g e n i n e ,

b ig - s e a - w a t e r s , s t o o d t h e w ig w a m o f

c o m i c s in t h a t b o x t h a t h e r e a d s e v e r a l

f u c k e d m y h e a d in r e a l l y g o o d w a y s . A n d

N o k o m i s . . .’ L o v e l y b o u n c y s y lla b le s .

t i m e s o v e r , a n d G a i m a n s t ill h a s n o i d e a

th e f a c t t h a t it e n d s w ith E l r i c t h e h e r o

h o w t h e y c a m e i n t o h is life . “E v e r y n o w a n d

p lu n g in g

th e n I g e t g ru m p y a b o u t m y d a d h a v in g

b e a u tifu l p r in c e s s — w h o h a s n o w b e c o m e

th e

d ie d b e c a u s e t h e r e a r e t h i n g s I w o u l d lo v e

tr a n s f o r m e d b y th e p o w e rs o f c h a o s in to

w o rd s. H e g o t w o rd s f r o m G ilb e rt, a n d h e

t o h a v e a n s w e r e d t h a t m y m o t h e r is c o m ­

s o m e k in d o f h o r rib le m a g g o t c r e a tu r e —

W h a t h e l o v e d m o s t o f a ll a b o u t t h e s e G ilb e rt

t

26

and

S u lliv a n

m u s ic a ls w e re

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

h is

sw o rd

in to

Z a ro z in ia

h is

L eft: Justice League o f America #47 (October 1966). ™ & © DC Comics. Used with Permission.

C H a P te R 1 |p R e Lu D e s

27 t

L eft: An early Gaiman written-and-drawn comic, dating from 1976, when Neil was sixteen.

a n d h e s u c k s h e r life w i t h h i s b i g b l a c k

m e t a k e s a n d w ic h e s . I w a s a b s o lu t e ly

a d i f f e r e n t p e r s o n . O n e o f w h i c h is S a m u e l

sw o rd a n d th e n b rin g s a b o u t a n e w w o rld

f i n e g iv e n t h e p r o s p e c t o f a d a y s p e n t

R . D e l a n y ’s T h e E i n s t e in I n t e r s e c t i o n , w h i c h

a n d t h e n t h e s w o r d k ills h i m a n d t h e n t h e

w ith b o o k s a n d n o t e a tin g . S a n d w ic h e s

is a r e i n v e n t i o n o f t h e l e g e n d o f O r p h e u s

sw o rd

la u g h in g

w e r e e m b a r r a s s in g . B u t i f I w a s g iv e n

in

d a n c i n g d e m o n t h i n g t h a t s a y s , ‘F a r e w e l l

s a n d w ic h e s , I w o u ld t a k e t h e m d u t i­

f a r , f a r f u t u r e w h e r e p e o p l e h a v e le f t t h e

m y d e a r f r i e n d , I w a s a lw a y s m o r e e v il

f u l l y to t h e lib r a r y a n d I w o u ld c a r r y

w o rld a n d th in g s h a v e c o m e a n d a re s o r t

t h a n y o u ! ’ a n d flie s o f f . . . y o u ’r e s o r t o f

t h e m a r o u n d w ith m e f o r t h e m o r n ­

o f i n h a b i t i n g t h e s h a p e s t h a t w e le f t, a n d

g o i n g : I d i d n ’t k n o w y o u c o u l d e n d a b o o k

in g a n d t h e n w it h r e lie f, s o m e w h e r e

t h e m y t h i c s t r u c t u r e s t h a t w e le f t. I t’s k i n d o f l ik e O r p h e u s v e r s u s B i l l y t h e K id . I t’s a

tra n s fo rm s

in to

th is

a s c i e n c e - f i c t i o n a l c o n t e x t s e t in t h e

lik e t h a t . H e w a s a h e r o ! H e j u s t g o t f u c k e d

a r o u n d lu n c h , I w o u l d g o a n d s it o u t

b y th e sw o rd ! A n d h e w a s a b o u t to sav e

in t h e p a r k i n g lo t, e a t m y s a n d w i c h e s ,

s tr a n g e , b e a u tifu l b o o k . I re a d it w h e n I

th is

And

t h r o w th e b a g a w a y , v e r y h a p p ily , a n d

w a s t e n , e le v e n m a y b e . I d id n ’t u n d e r s t a n d

k il l e d ! T h a t ’s s o c o o l ! I w a s n i n e a n d t h a t

g o b a c k in n o lo n g e r h a v i n g to w o r r y

i t b u t i t d i d n ’t m a t t e r . I t h i n k w h a t e v e r

w a s a s g o o d a s i t g o t .”

a b o u t s a n d w ic h es .

y o u g e t fro m th o s e b o o k s — y o u m a y n o t

p rin c e s s !

And

sh e w as

dead!

be

g e ttin g

e v e ry th in g , y o u

m ay

n o t be

g e t t i n g w h a t y o u ’r e m e a n t t o b e g e t t i n g — b u t y o u ’ll g e t s o m e t h in g . A n d s o m e t i m e s s i m p l y k n o w i n g t h a t t h e r e is m o r e t o b e

I WaS always obSeSSef w ith hw jhuch Story

k n o w n a n d t h a t y o u d o n ’t u n d e r s t a n d it is a s i m p o r t a n t a s a n y th in g .” I f y o u a sk e d e le v e n -y e a r-o ld N e il w h a t

you tatvg e t for your ¡money.

h e w a n te d to b e a t th is p o in t h e w o u ld have

sa id

a h ard

s c ie n c e f ic tio n

a u th o r.

“ T h e f a c t t h a t I w a s n ’t a c t u a l l y t e r r i b l y i n t e r e s t e d in h a r d s c i e n c e w a s s o m e t h i n g th a t I fig u re d w o u ld h a p p e n . T h a t w o u ld

I

H is t e n t h b i r t h d a y p r e s e n t w a s a se lf­

w o u ld

read

u n til

th e

lib r a r y

c o m e in tim e . I w o u ld su d d e n ly d e v e lo p a

a s s e m b ly s h e d , w h i c h h is p a r e n t s c o n s t r u c t e d

c l o s e d a t 6 :3 0 a n d t h e y w o u l d t h r o w

p a s sio n

for an d

f o r h i m a t t h e b o t t o m o f t h e g a r d e n . H e r e in

m e o u t a n d I w o u ld w a lk h o m e . A n d

p h y s ics

about

h is u n d i s t u r b e d b o o k i s h h a v e n h e a b s o r b e d

s o m e t i m e s I w o u l d t a k e b o o k s o u t, i f I

t e s t i c l e s d r o p p e d , p r o b a b ly . A n d m y v o i c e

t h e w o r k o f L e w is C a r r o l l , R u d y a r d K ip lin g ,

k n e w I w a s n ’t g o i n g to g e t b a c k th e n e x t

ch an ged

W i l l i a m B u r r o u g h s , R . A . L a f f e rty , B a r o n e s s

d a y . T h e y h a d o ld - s t y le c a r d c a t a lo g s

p l a c e s . A n d i t d i d n ’t h a p p e n .”

O r c z y , H . P. L o v e c r a f t , B r a m S to k e r , J a m e s

w ith s u b je c ts , w h ic h w e r e j u s t s o g r e a t

B ran ch

He

b e c a u s e I c o u l d l o o k u p “m a g i c ” a n d

m itz v a h g ifts a n d r e a d th in g s h e m i g h t n o t

b o r r o w e d t h e f irs t t w o v o l u m e s o f J. R . R .

j u s t g o t h r o u g h a n d f i n d e v e r y t h in g

h a v e p i c k e d u p o n h is o w n — S h a k e s p e a r e

T o lk ie n ’s T h e L o r d

h is

w it h m a g i c in . I c o u l d g o t h r o u g h a n d

a n d T h e C o m p l e t e W o r k s o f O s c a r W ild e —

s c h o o l lib r a r y , c o n s t a n t l y r e a d i n g t h e m a n d

f i n d g h o s t s , a n d l o o k u p w it c h e s , a n d

a s w e ll a s t h e B i b le s t o r i e s h e p e r s u a d e d h is

r e t u r n i n g t h e m a n d b o r r o w i n g t h e m a g a in ,

j u s t r e a d e v e r y b o o k o n t h a t s u b je c t . I

i n s t r u c t o r t o t e a c h h i m i n s te a d o f s t u d y i n g

b u t i t w a s n ’t u n t i l h e w o n b o t h t h e E n g l i s h

tr ie d g o in g a lp h a b e t ic a l, n o t r e a d in g

f o r sa id b a r m itz v a h . H e m o v e d s c h o o ls

p riz e a n d th e s c h o o l re a d in g p riz e th a t h e

e v e r y th in g b u t r e a d in g a n y th in g th a t

a g a in , to W h itg if t in C r o y d o n , o u ts id e o f

w a s a b le t o r e q u e s t T h e R e t u r n o f th e K in g

l o o k e d in t e r e s tin g . T h e n t h e r e c a m e a

L o n d o n . C o m i c s w e r e h is f ir s t m e a n s o f

a s h is r e w a r d a n d f in d o u t h o w t h e s a g a

p o i n t w h e r e I ’d f i n i s h e d t h e k i d s ’ b o o k s

c o m m u n ica tio n

end ed.

a n d I h a d to f i g u r e o u t h o w to r e a d a n

s c h o o l. F o u r o f th e m w o u ld d o th e r o u n d s

C a b e ll,

G a im a n

and

K u rt

V o n n e g u t.

o f th e R in g s f r o m

m a i n t a i n s h is s u c c e s s in

th e o re tic a l

tim e

h a i r in

th a t

my

in te re s tin g

h e r e c e iv e d b o o k s as b a r

w ith

th e

o th e r b o y s

in

m o s t s u b je c ts a t s c h o o l h a d n o t h i n g t o d o

a d u lt lib r a r y b e c a u s e

t h e r e w e r e n ’t

o f C r o y d o n ’s s e c o n d - h a n d b o o k a n d m a g ­

w ith a n y p a r tic u la r a p titu d e , b u t b e c a u s e

s u b je c t c a r d s . S o I j u s t h a d to g o “O k a y ,

a z in e s h o p s . A c o u p le o f y e a r s la te r , G a i m a n

h e w o u ld r e a d th e b o o k s as s o o n as h e w a s

I ’ll s t a r t a t A ’ I g u e s s .”

a n d h is p a l D a v e D ic k s o n w o u ld g o to th e

s i m p l y k n e w w h a t w a s c o m i n g up .

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

sam e

I g re w

A t th irte e n

h a n d e d t h e m o n t h e f irs t d a y o f s c h o o l . H e

t 28

and

a d e l i g h t in

th e

c o m ic m a r ts a n d r e n o w n e d s c ie n c e -f ic tio n He

w o rk e d

h is

w ay

th ro u g h

th e

sh o p D a r k T h e y W e r e , a n d G o ld e n E y e d .

sh e lv e s , le a r n e d th e i n n e r w o rk in g s o f th e

B u t b e f o r e t h e y d is c o v e r e d t h o s e p la c e s t h e y w e re m a k in g e n d - o f - t e r m p ilg rim a g e s to a

I w a s g o i n g to t h e lib r a r y to o . I ’d g e t

i n te r lib r a r y lo a n , a n d a te h is e m b a r r a s s in g

m y p a r e n t s to d r o p m e o f f a t t h e lib r a r y

s a n d w ic h e s . H is m i n d w a s b e in g c h a n g e d

s h o p c a l l e d F a n t a s y U n l i m i t e d i n L o n d o n ’s

o n t h e ir w a y to w o r k in t h e m o r n in g

and

E ast End.

d u r in g s c h o o l v a c a t io n s . S o m e t im e s m y

e v e r y w e e k . “I c o u ld p r o b a b ly lis t m a y b e

d a d w o u ld e m b a r r a s s m e b y m a k in g

a d o z e n b o o k s w ith o u t w h ic h I w o u ld b e

m o ld e d

by

dozens

of new

CHapteR 1 | pReLuDes

w rite rs

T hen

punk

hap pened

and

N e il

had

r e c o r d s t o b u y in s te a d . A n d h a ir d y e . ❖

29

t

L eft: An early Gaiman written-and-drawn comic, dating from 1976, when Neil was sixteen.

a n d h e s u c k s h e r life w i t h h i s b i g b l a c k

m e t a k e s a n d w ic h e s . I w a s a b s o lu t e ly

a d i f f e r e n t p e r s o n . O n e o f w h i c h is S a m u e l

sw o rd a n d th e n b rin g s a b o u t a n e w w o rld

f i n e g iv e n t h e p r o s p e c t o f a d a y s p e n t

R . D e l a n y ’s T h e E i n s t e in I n t e r s e c t i o n , w h i c h

a n d t h e n t h e s w o r d k ills h i m a n d t h e n t h e

w ith b o o k s a n d n o t e a tin g . S a n d w ic h e s

is a r e i n v e n t i o n o f t h e l e g e n d o f O r p h e u s

sw o rd

la u g h in g

w e r e e m b a r r a s s in g . B u t i f I w a s g iv e n

in

d a n c i n g d e m o n t h i n g t h a t s a y s , ‘F a r e w e l l

s a n d w ic h e s , I w o u ld t a k e t h e m d u t i­

f a r , f a r f u t u r e w h e r e p e o p l e h a v e le f t t h e

m y d e a r f r i e n d , I w a s a lw a y s m o r e e v il

f u l l y to t h e lib r a r y a n d I w o u ld c a r r y

w o rld a n d th in g s h a v e c o m e a n d a re s o r t

t h a n y o u ! ’ a n d flie s o f f . . . y o u ’r e s o r t o f

t h e m a r o u n d w ith m e f o r t h e m o r n ­

o f i n h a b i t i n g t h e s h a p e s t h a t w e le f t, a n d

g o i n g : I d i d n ’t k n o w y o u c o u l d e n d a b o o k

in g a n d t h e n w it h r e lie f, s o m e w h e r e

t h e m y t h i c s t r u c t u r e s t h a t w e le f t. I t’s k i n d o f l ik e O r p h e u s v e r s u s B i l l y t h e K id . I t’s a

tra n s fo rm s

in to

th is

a s c i e n c e - f i c t i o n a l c o n t e x t s e t in t h e

lik e t h a t . H e w a s a h e r o ! H e j u s t g o t f u c k e d

a r o u n d lu n c h , I w o u l d g o a n d s it o u t

b y th e sw o rd ! A n d h e w a s a b o u t to sav e

in t h e p a r k i n g lo t, e a t m y s a n d w i c h e s ,

s tr a n g e , b e a u tifu l b o o k . I re a d it w h e n I

th is

And

t h r o w th e b a g a w a y , v e r y h a p p ily , a n d

w a s t e n , e le v e n m a y b e . I d id n ’t u n d e r s t a n d

k il l e d ! T h a t ’s s o c o o l ! I w a s n i n e a n d t h a t

g o b a c k in n o lo n g e r h a v i n g to w o r r y

i t b u t i t d i d n ’t m a t t e r . I t h i n k w h a t e v e r

w a s a s g o o d a s i t g o t .”

a b o u t s a n d w ic h es .

y o u g e t fro m th o s e b o o k s — y o u m a y n o t

p rin c e s s !

And

sh e w as

dead!

be

g e ttin g

e v e ry th in g , y o u

m ay

n o t be

g e t t i n g w h a t y o u ’r e m e a n t t o b e g e t t i n g — b u t y o u ’ll g e t s o m e t h in g . A n d s o m e t i m e s s i m p l y k n o w i n g t h a t t h e r e is m o r e t o b e

I WaS always obSeSSef w ith hw jhuch Story

k n o w n a n d t h a t y o u d o n ’t u n d e r s t a n d it is a s i m p o r t a n t a s a n y th in g .” I f y o u a sk e d e le v e n -y e a r-o ld N e il w h a t

you tatvg e t for your ¡money.

h e w a n te d to b e a t th is p o in t h e w o u ld have

sa id

a h ard

s c ie n c e f ic tio n

a u th o r.

“ T h e f a c t t h a t I w a s n ’t a c t u a l l y t e r r i b l y i n t e r e s t e d in h a r d s c i e n c e w a s s o m e t h i n g th a t I fig u re d w o u ld h a p p e n . T h a t w o u ld

I

H is t e n t h b i r t h d a y p r e s e n t w a s a se lf­

w o u ld

read

u n til

th e

lib r a r y

c o m e in tim e . I w o u ld su d d e n ly d e v e lo p a

a s s e m b ly s h e d , w h i c h h is p a r e n t s c o n s t r u c t e d

c l o s e d a t 6 :3 0 a n d t h e y w o u l d t h r o w

p a s sio n

for an d

f o r h i m a t t h e b o t t o m o f t h e g a r d e n . H e r e in

m e o u t a n d I w o u ld w a lk h o m e . A n d

p h y s ics

about

h is u n d i s t u r b e d b o o k i s h h a v e n h e a b s o r b e d

s o m e t i m e s I w o u l d t a k e b o o k s o u t, i f I

t e s t i c l e s d r o p p e d , p r o b a b ly . A n d m y v o i c e

t h e w o r k o f L e w is C a r r o l l , R u d y a r d K ip lin g ,

k n e w I w a s n ’t g o i n g to g e t b a c k th e n e x t

ch an ged

W i l l i a m B u r r o u g h s , R . A . L a f f e rty , B a r o n e s s

d a y . T h e y h a d o ld - s t y le c a r d c a t a lo g s

p l a c e s . A n d i t d i d n ’t h a p p e n .”

O r c z y , H . P. L o v e c r a f t , B r a m S to k e r , J a m e s

w ith s u b je c ts , w h ic h w e r e j u s t s o g r e a t

B ran ch

He

b e c a u s e I c o u l d l o o k u p “m a g i c ” a n d

m itz v a h g ifts a n d r e a d th in g s h e m i g h t n o t

b o r r o w e d t h e f irs t t w o v o l u m e s o f J. R . R .

j u s t g o t h r o u g h a n d f i n d e v e r y t h in g

h a v e p i c k e d u p o n h is o w n — S h a k e s p e a r e

T o lk ie n ’s T h e L o r d

h is

w it h m a g i c in . I c o u l d g o t h r o u g h a n d

a n d T h e C o m p l e t e W o r k s o f O s c a r W ild e —

s c h o o l lib r a r y , c o n s t a n t l y r e a d i n g t h e m a n d

f i n d g h o s t s , a n d l o o k u p w it c h e s , a n d

a s w e ll a s t h e B i b le s t o r i e s h e p e r s u a d e d h is

r e t u r n i n g t h e m a n d b o r r o w i n g t h e m a g a in ,

j u s t r e a d e v e r y b o o k o n t h a t s u b je c t . I

i n s t r u c t o r t o t e a c h h i m i n s te a d o f s t u d y i n g

b u t i t w a s n ’t u n t i l h e w o n b o t h t h e E n g l i s h

tr ie d g o in g a lp h a b e t ic a l, n o t r e a d in g

f o r sa id b a r m itz v a h . H e m o v e d s c h o o ls

p riz e a n d th e s c h o o l re a d in g p riz e th a t h e

e v e r y th in g b u t r e a d in g a n y th in g th a t

a g a in , to W h itg if t in C r o y d o n , o u ts id e o f

w a s a b le t o r e q u e s t T h e R e t u r n o f th e K in g

l o o k e d in t e r e s tin g . T h e n t h e r e c a m e a

L o n d o n . C o m i c s w e r e h is f ir s t m e a n s o f

a s h is r e w a r d a n d f in d o u t h o w t h e s a g a

p o i n t w h e r e I ’d f i n i s h e d t h e k i d s ’ b o o k s

c o m m u n ica tio n

end ed.

a n d I h a d to f i g u r e o u t h o w to r e a d a n

s c h o o l. F o u r o f th e m w o u ld d o th e r o u n d s

C a b e ll,

G a im a n

and

K u rt

V o n n e g u t.

o f th e R in g s f r o m

m a i n t a i n s h is s u c c e s s in

th e o re tic a l

tim e

h a i r in

th a t

my

in te re s tin g

h e r e c e iv e d b o o k s as b a r

w ith

th e

o th e r b o y s

in

m o s t s u b je c ts a t s c h o o l h a d n o t h i n g t o d o

a d u lt lib r a r y b e c a u s e

t h e r e w e r e n ’t

o f C r o y d o n ’s s e c o n d - h a n d b o o k a n d m a g ­

w ith a n y p a r tic u la r a p titu d e , b u t b e c a u s e

s u b je c t c a r d s . S o I j u s t h a d to g o “O k a y ,

a z in e s h o p s . A c o u p le o f y e a r s la te r , G a i m a n

h e w o u ld r e a d th e b o o k s as s o o n as h e w a s

I ’ll s t a r t a t A ’ I g u e s s .”

a n d h is p a l D a v e D ic k s o n w o u ld g o to th e

s i m p l y k n e w w h a t w a s c o m i n g up .

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

sam e

I g re w

A t th irte e n

h a n d e d t h e m o n t h e f irs t d a y o f s c h o o l . H e

t 28

and

a d e l i g h t in

th e

c o m ic m a r ts a n d r e n o w n e d s c ie n c e -f ic tio n He

w o rk e d

h is

w ay

th ro u g h

th e

sh o p D a r k T h e y W e r e , a n d G o ld e n E y e d .

sh e lv e s , le a r n e d th e i n n e r w o rk in g s o f th e

B u t b e f o r e t h e y d is c o v e r e d t h o s e p la c e s t h e y w e re m a k in g e n d - o f - t e r m p ilg rim a g e s to a

I w a s g o i n g to t h e lib r a r y to o . I ’d g e t

i n te r lib r a r y lo a n , a n d a te h is e m b a r r a s s in g

m y p a r e n t s to d r o p m e o f f a t t h e lib r a r y

s a n d w ic h e s . H is m i n d w a s b e in g c h a n g e d

s h o p c a l l e d F a n t a s y U n l i m i t e d i n L o n d o n ’s

o n t h e ir w a y to w o r k in t h e m o r n in g

and

E ast End.

d u r in g s c h o o l v a c a t io n s . S o m e t im e s m y

e v e r y w e e k . “I c o u ld p r o b a b ly lis t m a y b e

d a d w o u ld e m b a r r a s s m e b y m a k in g

a d o z e n b o o k s w ith o u t w h ic h I w o u ld b e

m o ld e d

by

dozens

of new

CHapteR 1 | pReLuDes

w rite rs

T hen

punk

hap pened

and

N e il

had

r e c o r d s t o b u y in s te a d . A n d h a ir d y e . ❖

29

t

PUNk \>

n

.

j j e beenmaking, a lis t o f the things they d p ^ t teach, you a t School.

t H e e x - e x e c s w e R e o ffe R e D a r e c o r d co n tra ct

T h ’ ey d o n t teach you how to loje Somebody. 'T hey d o n t teach you how to be 'famous. T h ey d o n t teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. 'T hey d o ^ t teach you how to

som e

p o in t,

by

C ro y d o n .

T hey

N e i l ’s s o n g

w a n te d

“V i c t i m s ”

rem em b er

H eat

c o o l, in d ie

la b e l fo u n d e d in a r e c o r d

ju s t

walk away~frojm Someone you d o n t loje any longer. 'T hey d o n t teach you how to know

at

R e c o rd s , su p p o s e d ly a

as

ta k in g

s h o p in

to

a

re le a se

a

45.

“I

c o n tra c t

w e w e re g iv e n b y H e a t R e c o r d s to th is A u s tra lia n g u y w h o m a n a g e d a

w hats going on in Someone elseS mind.. T h ey d o ^ t teach you w hat to Say

b a n d , a n d s a y i n g , ‘W o u l d y o u r e a d th e

c o n tra c t,

I

d o n ’t

u n d e rsta n d

w h a t I ’m b e i n g a s k e d t o s i g n h e r e ,

to Someone whoS dyingThey d o n t teach you anything worth knowing.

I ’m

six te e n

not

H e h a d a f irm th e o ry , n u rtu re d b y L o u

( b u t o n l y t e m p o r a r i l y b e c a u s e h e le f t t h e

R e e d , t h a t y o u d i d n ’t a c t u a l l y h a v e t o b e

b a n d o r v ic e v e rs a ). G a im a n ev e n s ta r te d a

h e s a i d , ‘C o m e o v e r t o m y p l a c e a n d

a b le t o s i n g t o d o v o c a l s , s o h e f r o n t e d

m a g a z in e , a x e r o x e d , fo ld e d -o v e r p a m p h le t

I ’ll t a l k to y o u a b o u t it.’” I t t r a n s p i r e d

h is o w n p u n k b a n d c a lle d C h a o s , w h ic h

ca lle d

t h e c o n t r a c t w a s s t r u c t u r e d in s u c h

s o o n b e c a m e t h e E x - E x e c s i n s t e a d ( “j u s t

IN g a i m a N ’S aDDReSS t o pHiLaDeLpma’s UNiveRSity of

an u n fa ir a n d e x p lo ita tiv e w a y th a t

b e c a u s e y o u c o u ld w r ite it X X X ” ). “W e d id

I got a small collective o f friend s

tHe aRts gRaDuatiNg cLass of 2012—His “make gooD aRt” speecH, puBLiSHeD in Book foRm in 2013—He gave tHe kiND of usefuL aDvice tHey DoN’t give you in school.

e v en if th e b a n d g o t a n u m b e r o n e

a te rrib le c o v e r v e rs io n o f

Suffragette City.

together: Geoff Notkin, Dave Dickson,

s in g le

W e d id

b e c a u s e y o u h a d to .

Steve Gett, and me. A n d we fo rm ed

th e

th a t

I

U K , th e y w o u ld

be

Sweet Jane

Mystery Girls,

l u c k y t o e a r n £ 1 0 0 e a c h . “ I t w a s n ’t

Q u ite a g o o d

re a lly th e a m o u n ts

D o lls n u m b e r. T h e b e s t c o v e r w e d id w a s

o f m o n e y th a t

th e N e w Y o rk

M e tro .

It was my name. It was a really

good nam e because it sounded like

as if

something you’d heard of. It meant that

it w a s b e in g d o n e b y th e S tra n g le rs , re a lly

you could get on the phone to people

doing. This is great. People who know what they’r e doing know the rules,

a b o u t m o n e y , b u t it w a s d e fin ite ly

s l o w a n d m e n a c i n g .”

and they know what is possible and what is impossible. You do not. A nd

t h a t p o i n t o f m e g o i n g : T h is is n o t

W

a

in v o lv e d ,

safe

h e a lth y

b ecau se

th in g .

I

T h is

d o n ’t

is

Something’s Got a Hold o f M y H eart

Metro.

th in k I re a lly u n d e r s to o d o r c a r e d

you should not. The rules on what is possible and what is impossible in the arts were

and say, “I ’d like to interview Michael

T h e w h o le e th o s g av e h im a n e w w a y

not

o f th in k in g . “T h e D I Y

a ttitu d e o f p u n k

do

h as c e rta in ly in fo rm e d

a ll o f m y c a r e e r ,

made by people who had not tested the bounds o f the possible by going beyond them,

a good

and you can. I f you don’t know its impossible its easier to do. A n d because it hasn’t

th is

been done before they haven’t made up rules to stop anyone doing that particular

of

th e

thing again. . . . I f you have an idea o f what you want to make, what you were pu t

do

th e th in g . A n d

I ju s t th o u g h t

p la n s to b e c o m e a c o m p a r a tiv e th e o lo g ia n

here to do, then just

t h e r e w a s s o m e th in g fu n d a m e n ta lly

w h ile d r e a m in g w is tfu lly o f b e c o m i n g a

sc re w e d . I u n d e r s to o d th e c o n c e p t

w r i t e r ” (L a w le y , 1 9 9 1 ) .

g o a n d d o th a t.

T h e r o o t o f t h i s i d e a — o f j u s t g o i n g a n d d o i n g i t , e v e n t h o u g h y o u d o n ’t a c t u a l l y k n o w

t 30

in

a n y th in g

c e rta in ly d o n ’t

w ere

aBove aND opposite:

I ’m

u n d e r s t a n d .’ A n d t h e g u y r e a d i t a n d

hen you start out on a career in the arts you have no idea what y o u ’re

Band photos by Nick Harman—The Ex-Execs.

and

s ig n in g

w h a t y o u ’r e d o i n g — c a n b e t r a c e d b a c k t o p u n k . W h e n G a i m a n w a s in h is f i n a l y e a r a t

th in g .

th in g .

I d o n ’t w a n t t o

And

band

I

re a lly

th in k d id

o f b e i n g s c r e w e d .”

th e w ant

magazine.”

M e tro

A n d they’d go, “Oh, okay” There were three or fo u r issues o f I think. It did actually launch

rest

in c lu d in g c o m ic s . W ith o u t p u n k I p r o b a b ly

M e tro ,

to

w o u ld h a v e g o n e th r o u g h w ith m y o rig in a l

the journalistic career o f Steve Gett, who fo r

interviewed

M e tro ,

the

band

UFO

and Rush, too. He went

off to work fo r

T h e b a n d in c lu d e d th e f u tu r e e m in e n t

Sounds

a fo u n d er m em ber o f

and became K e r r a n g !—

com ed y p ro ­

huge heavy metal fan . Anyway, we

Meteorite M en’s G e o f f

couldn’t afford any typesetting, but

a r tis t A la n K in g s b u ry , U K

C r o y d o n ’s W h i t g i f t S c h o o l i n 1 9 7 7 i t w a s t h e d e a f e n i n g p e a k o f t h e p u n k e r a , a n d h e w a s

d u c e r G r a h a m S m ith ,

a t th e c e n te r o f it, g e o g ra p h ic a lly .

N o tk in , a n d s o m e o n e ca lle d S im o n W ils o n

tHe aRt o f N eil gaim aN

Moorcock. Its fo r

CHapteR 1 | pReLuDes

what we

c o u ld

afford was Steve Gett’s

31 t

PUNk \>

n

.

j j e beenmaking, a lis t o f the things they d p ^ t teach, you a t School.

t H e e x - e x e c s w e R e o ffe R e D a r e c o r d co n tra ct

T h ’ ey d o n t teach you how to loje Somebody. 'T hey d o n t teach you how to be 'famous. T h ey d o n t teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. 'T hey d o ^ t teach you how to

som e

p o in t,

by

C ro y d o n .

T hey

N e i l ’s s o n g

w a n te d

“V i c t i m s ”

rem em b er

H eat

c o o l, in d ie

la b e l fo u n d e d in a r e c o r d

ju s t

walk away~frojm Someone you d o n t loje any longer. 'T hey d o n t teach you how to know

at

R e c o rd s , su p p o s e d ly a

as

ta k in g

s h o p in

to

a

re le a se

a

45.

“I

c o n tra c t

w e w e re g iv e n b y H e a t R e c o r d s to th is A u s tra lia n g u y w h o m a n a g e d a

w hats going on in Someone elseS mind.. T h ey d o ^ t teach you w hat to Say

b a n d , a n d s a y i n g , ‘W o u l d y o u r e a d th e

c o n tra c t,

I

d o n ’t

u n d e rsta n d

w h a t I ’m b e i n g a s k e d t o s i g n h e r e ,

to Someone whoS dyingThey d o n t teach you anything worth knowing.

I ’m

six te e n

not

H e h a d a f irm th e o ry , n u rtu re d b y L o u

( b u t o n l y t e m p o r a r i l y b e c a u s e h e le f t t h e

R e e d , t h a t y o u d i d n ’t a c t u a l l y h a v e t o b e

b a n d o r v ic e v e rs a ). G a im a n ev e n s ta r te d a

h e s a i d , ‘C o m e o v e r t o m y p l a c e a n d

a b le t o s i n g t o d o v o c a l s , s o h e f r o n t e d

m a g a z in e , a x e r o x e d , fo ld e d -o v e r p a m p h le t

I ’ll t a l k to y o u a b o u t it.’” I t t r a n s p i r e d

h is o w n p u n k b a n d c a lle d C h a o s , w h ic h

ca lle d

t h e c o n t r a c t w a s s t r u c t u r e d in s u c h

s o o n b e c a m e t h e E x - E x e c s i n s t e a d ( “j u s t

IN g a i m a N ’S aDDReSS t o pHiLaDeLpma’s UNiveRSity of

an u n fa ir a n d e x p lo ita tiv e w a y th a t

b e c a u s e y o u c o u ld w r ite it X X X ” ). “W e d id

I got a small collective o f friend s

tHe aRts gRaDuatiNg cLass of 2012—His “make gooD aRt” speecH, puBLiSHeD in Book foRm in 2013—He gave tHe kiND of usefuL aDvice tHey DoN’t give you in school.

e v en if th e b a n d g o t a n u m b e r o n e

a te rrib le c o v e r v e rs io n o f

Suffragette City.

together: Geoff Notkin, Dave Dickson,

s in g le

W e d id

b e c a u s e y o u h a d to .

Steve Gett, and me. A n d we fo rm ed

th e

th a t

I

U K , th e y w o u ld

be

Sweet Jane

Mystery Girls,

l u c k y t o e a r n £ 1 0 0 e a c h . “ I t w a s n ’t

Q u ite a g o o d

re a lly th e a m o u n ts

D o lls n u m b e r. T h e b e s t c o v e r w e d id w a s

o f m o n e y th a t

th e N e w Y o rk

M e tro .

It was my name. It was a really

good nam e because it sounded like

as if

something you’d heard of. It meant that

it w a s b e in g d o n e b y th e S tra n g le rs , re a lly

you could get on the phone to people

doing. This is great. People who know what they’r e doing know the rules,

a b o u t m o n e y , b u t it w a s d e fin ite ly

s l o w a n d m e n a c i n g .”

and they know what is possible and what is impossible. You do not. A nd

t h a t p o i n t o f m e g o i n g : T h is is n o t

W

a

in v o lv e d ,

safe

h e a lth y

b ecau se

th in g .

I

T h is

d o n ’t

is

Something’s Got a Hold o f M y H eart

Metro.

th in k I re a lly u n d e r s to o d o r c a r e d

you should not. The rules on what is possible and what is impossible in the arts were

and say, “I ’d like to interview Michael

T h e w h o le e th o s g av e h im a n e w w a y

not

o f th in k in g . “T h e D I Y

a ttitu d e o f p u n k

do

h as c e rta in ly in fo rm e d

a ll o f m y c a r e e r ,

made by people who had not tested the bounds o f the possible by going beyond them,

a good

and you can. I f you don’t know its impossible its easier to do. A n d because it hasn’t

th is

been done before they haven’t made up rules to stop anyone doing that particular

of

th e

thing again. . . . I f you have an idea o f what you want to make, what you were pu t

do

th e th in g . A n d

I ju s t th o u g h t

p la n s to b e c o m e a c o m p a r a tiv e th e o lo g ia n

here to do, then just

t h e r e w a s s o m e th in g fu n d a m e n ta lly

w h ile d r e a m in g w is tfu lly o f b e c o m i n g a

sc re w e d . I u n d e r s to o d th e c o n c e p t

w r i t e r ” (L a w le y , 1 9 9 1 ) .

g o a n d d o th a t.

T h e r o o t o f t h i s i d e a — o f j u s t g o i n g a n d d o i n g i t , e v e n t h o u g h y o u d o n ’t a c t u a l l y k n o w

t 30

in

a n y th in g

c e rta in ly d o n ’t

w ere

aBove aND opposite:

I ’m

u n d e r s t a n d .’ A n d t h e g u y r e a d i t a n d

hen you start out on a career in the arts you have no idea what y o u ’re

Band photos by Nick Harman—The Ex-Execs.

and

s ig n in g

w h a t y o u ’r e d o i n g — c a n b e t r a c e d b a c k t o p u n k . W h e n G a i m a n w a s in h is f i n a l y e a r a t

th in g .

th in g .

I d o n ’t w a n t t o

And

band

I

re a lly

th in k d id

o f b e i n g s c r e w e d .”

th e w ant

magazine.”

M e tro

A n d they’d go, “Oh, okay” There were three or fo u r issues o f I think. It did actually launch

rest

in c lu d in g c o m ic s . W ith o u t p u n k I p r o b a b ly

M e tro ,

to

w o u ld h a v e g o n e th r o u g h w ith m y o rig in a l

the journalistic career o f Steve Gett, who fo r

interviewed

M e tro ,

the

band

UFO

and Rush, too. He went

off to work fo r

T h e b a n d in c lu d e d th e f u tu r e e m in e n t

Sounds

a fo u n d er m em ber o f

and became K e r r a n g !—

com ed y p ro ­

huge heavy metal fan . Anyway, we

Meteorite M en’s G e o f f

couldn’t afford any typesetting, but

a r tis t A la n K in g s b u ry , U K

C r o y d o n ’s W h i t g i f t S c h o o l i n 1 9 7 7 i t w a s t h e d e a f e n i n g p e a k o f t h e p u n k e r a , a n d h e w a s

d u c e r G r a h a m S m ith ,

a t th e c e n te r o f it, g e o g ra p h ic a lly .

N o tk in , a n d s o m e o n e ca lle d S im o n W ils o n

tHe aRt o f N eil gaim aN

Moorcock. Its fo r

CHapteR 1 | pReLuDes

what we

c o u ld

afford was Steve Gett’s

31 t

amazingly beautiful handwriting. So Steve would handwrite the entirety o f M e t r o and they’d be reproduced from those. And advertising space was sold, mostly fo r Webster’s bookshop in the Whitgift Center. The tragic thing is that I don’t think the stuff I did made it in. But the two things that I did were a Michael Moorcock interview (which Dave Dickson was meant to transcribe and never did) and a Roger Dean interview. We went down to Brighton after school on the train and it was tragic because the interview was really good and really long but the batteries went fla t on our tape recorder. The only good thing to come from it was that at every interview I ever did as an adult journalist I had spare batteries and spare tapes with me, always. Because I knew that things could go wrong, and I remember the sheer horror o f getting home and playing an interview and Roger Dean going, Oh yeah well the original idea behind those Yes covers was reallykindofthethingblibburrrrrrrr.. ’.

a i m a N , f o R a v e r y b r i e f p e r i o d in t i m e , d id n o t h a v e

S

h is f a m o u s d a r k m o p o f h a ir . L ik e p r e t t y m u c h e v e r y s ix te e n -y e a r -o ld , h e m a d e a h a ir m ista k e .

G e o f f N o t k in a n d I w e r e o n ly s u r e o f o n e th in g , w h ic h

w a s t h a t B i lly I d o l s h a i r w a s t h e b e s t p o s s i b l e h a i r in t h e w o r ld . A n d th is w a s B i lly I d o l w it h G e n e r a t i o n X — h e w a s n ’t B illy I d o l y e t . S o w e w e n t o u t t o g e t h e r to B o o t s t h e C h e m i s t a n d b o u g h t h a i r b l e a c h w it h p i c t u r e s o f l a d i e s w it h h a i r t h e c o l o r o f B i lly I d o l s h a i r o n t h e f r o n t s o w e k n e w it w o u l d w o r k . A n d w e b l e a c h e d o u r h a ir . F o r s e v e r a l h o u r s w e l e t it s it t h e r e , w e r e a d c o m ic s , w e t a lk e d , w e p l a y e d m u s ic . T h e n w e w a s h e d t h e s t u f f o f f a n d w e l o o k e d a t t h e r e s u lts . G e o f f ’s h a i r w a s b lo n d e , a n d l o o k e d k i n d o f c o o l. M y h a ir , w h ic h h a d t o o m u c h r e d in it to s t a r t o f f w it h , w a s a h o r r i b l e s t r a w - o r a n g e . S o I t h o u g h t , “W ell, i t ’s p u n k a n d I ’v e d y e d it.” A n d I w e n t h o m e . I w a s s it t in g in t h e r o o m o f o u r h o u s e t h a t t h e p i a n o w a s in, w r i t in g s o n g s , w h ic h is w h a t I d i d m o s t o f t h e t im e b a c k th e n , w h e n m y d a d w a l k e d p a s t , s t o p p e d , c a m e b a c k , d i d a d o u b l e - t a k e , l e a n e d in, a n d b l e w h is to p . “W h a t d o y o u

i t is t o g e t a n i n t e r v i e w w i t h L o u R e e d ( i t ’s c a lle d “W a itin g f o r th e M a n ” ), b u t o n c e h e g e ts h i m o n t h e p h o n e — h a l f a n h o u r b e f o r e R e e d is s u p p o s e d t o g o o n s t a g e — h e a sk s h im q u e s tio n s t h a t m a k e it w o r t h it, a n d t h e f a m o u s l y d if f i c u l t R e e d is i n t e r e s t e d e n o u g h th a t th e y ta lk r ig h t u n til c u rta in ca ll, w h e n th e b u z z e rs a re g o in g o ff a n d th e b a b b le o f p e o p le c a n b e h e a r d in th e b a c k g ro u n d . T h e y ta lk a b o u t w ritin g a n d about

a rtistic

v is io n ,

and

G a im a n

a sk s

t h e q u e s t i o n s o f s o m e o n e w h o k n o w s h is s u b j e c t lik e a l i f e l o n g f a n . G a im a n q u o te d th e s o n g “G o in g D o w n ” f r o m R e e d ’s f i r s t s o l o a l b u m o n t h e b a c k o f h is

firs t

co m ic

fo r

DC,

Black Orchid.

D u r in g th e A n E v e n in g w ith N e il G a im a n a n d A m a n d a P a lm e r to u r , P a lm e r s a n g a d iffe re n t

V e lv e t

U n d erg ro u n d

son g

fo r

e v e r y n i g h t o f t h e t o u r a s a b i r t h d a y g ift. In O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3 L o u R e e d p a s s e d aw ay. G a im a n w ro te an a rtic le fo r

The Guardian

e x p l a i n i n g R e e d ’s i n f l u e n c e o n b o t h h i m a n d h is w o rk , n o t le a s t

The Sandman.

“I t

w a s a ll a b o u t s t o r i e s ,” G a i m a n w r o t e . “ T h e s o n g s im p lie d m o r e th a n th e y to ld : th e y m a d e m e w a n t to k n o w m o r e , to im a g in e , t o t e l l t h o s e s t o r i e s m y s e lf .” ❖

t h in k y o u ’r e d o in g ? ” A n d I s a id , “W ell, I ’v e d y e d m y h a ir ” A n d h e s a id , “N o , n o . T h a t ’s d is g u s tin g . T h a t ’s r e v o ltin g .

G a i m a n d i d n ’t i n t e r v i e w R e e d u n t i l h e

Y ou c a n ’t liv e h e r e . I f y o u ’r e g o i n g to h a v e h a i r l i k e t h a t I ’m

h a d g iv e n u p jo u r n a l i s m in f a v o r o f fic tio n

t h r o w i n g y o u o u t o f t h e h o u s e ” A n d I s a id , “W ell, y o u ’r e t h e o n e t h a t ’s r e a lly b ig o n h u m a n r ig h ts , w h a t a b o u t m y h u m a n r ig h t s ? ” A n d h e s a id , “W ell, y o u a b s o lu t e l y h a v e y o u r h u m a n r ig h ts , I w ill g i v e y o u £ 1 5 a w e e k a n d y o u c a n h a v e y o u r h a ir a n y c o lo r y o u lik e a n d y o u ca n g o a n d r en t a h o u s e , I ’ll k e e p p a y i n g y o u r s c h o o l f e e s , y o u c a n r e n t a r o o m a n y w h e r e in to w n . B u t y o u ’r e o u t o f h e r e ” T h o s e d a y s I w a s v e ry g o o d o n c o m ic s b u t n o t s o s tro n g o n t h e p r a c t i c a l i t i e s o f life . T h e m e o f t h e s e d a y s w o u ld s im p ly c a l l h is b lu ff. A n d t h e m e o f t h e s e d a y s w o u l d say, “O h , o k a y . I ’ll m o v e . G iv e m e t h a t £ 1 5 a w e e k a n d I ’ll s t a r t a r r a n g i n g f o r s o m e w h e r e to liv e ” B u t a t t h a t p o i n t it s e e m e d t e r r ify in g to m e . H e l e f t t h e h o u s e s a y in g , “I ’ll b e b a c k a t m id n ig h t a n d w h e n I g e t b a c k y o u r h a i r h a s to b e d a r k a g a i n ” B u t it w a s s ix o ’c l o c k a t n ig h t — e v e r y w h e r e t h a t y o u c o u l d p o s s i b l y b u y h a i r d y e h a d c l o s e d a t 5 .3 0 p .m . S o I p h o n e d m y c o u s in L e ig h ( b e c a u s e m y c o u s in L e ig h

I said, “I have to dye my hair dark, do you have any hair dye?” And she said, “Yeah, I ’ve got a box o f raven black around here somewhere. Come and get it.” So I ran over, got the box o f raven black. I put the stuff on my hair, having never dyed my hair dark before, and did not read the instructions about making sure you have rubber gloves. I left it on fo r an hour and a half, washed it off, and when I got up the next morning my fingernails were black. And what was cool was having dyed my hair to an orange and then put black on it, I then had jet-black hair with purple highlights. The blue-black highlights hit the orange, and it was purple. The next day my Dad was happy; honor was satisfied. Later on I was at the band gig that we were dying our hair fo r in the first place. G eoff’s hair was still blonde, and I had hair that was actually significantly cooler than the sad bleach thing, a n d I had the story to go with it. And that is the story o f how G eoff and I dyed our hair.

f o r a b o u t th r e e y e a rs o r s o , in 1 9 9 2 . T h e p i e c e h e w r o t e is l a r g e l y a b o u t h o w d if f ic u lt

BeLoW: Neil as a young punk, leaning on a window displaying Lou Reed’s Transformer, 1976.

RIgHt: Gaiman, age seventeen and in a photo booth.

w a s t h e p e r s o n w h o w a s m o s t lik e ly to h a v e h a i r d y e ) a n d

t 32

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

33 t

amazingly beautiful handwriting. So Steve would handwrite the entirety o f M e t r o and they’d be reproduced from those. And advertising space was sold, mostly fo r Webster’s bookshop in the Whitgift Center. The tragic thing is that I don’t think the stuff I did made it in. But the two things that I did were a Michael Moorcock interview (which Dave Dickson was meant to transcribe and never did) and a Roger Dean interview. We went down to Brighton after school on the train and it was tragic because the interview was really good and really long but the batteries went fla t on our tape recorder. The only good thing to come from it was that at every interview I ever did as an adult journalist I had spare batteries and spare tapes with me, always. Because I knew that things could go wrong, and I remember the sheer horror o f getting home and playing an interview and Roger Dean going, Oh yeah well the original idea behind those Yes covers was reallykindofthethingblibburrrrrrrr.. ’.

a i m a N , f o R a v e r y b r i e f p e r i o d in t i m e , d id n o t h a v e

S

h is f a m o u s d a r k m o p o f h a ir . L ik e p r e t t y m u c h e v e r y s ix te e n -y e a r -o ld , h e m a d e a h a ir m ista k e .

G e o f f N o t k in a n d I w e r e o n ly s u r e o f o n e th in g , w h ic h

w a s t h a t B i lly I d o l s h a i r w a s t h e b e s t p o s s i b l e h a i r in t h e w o r ld . A n d th is w a s B i lly I d o l w it h G e n e r a t i o n X — h e w a s n ’t B illy I d o l y e t . S o w e w e n t o u t t o g e t h e r to B o o t s t h e C h e m i s t a n d b o u g h t h a i r b l e a c h w it h p i c t u r e s o f l a d i e s w it h h a i r t h e c o l o r o f B i lly I d o l s h a i r o n t h e f r o n t s o w e k n e w it w o u l d w o r k . A n d w e b l e a c h e d o u r h a ir . F o r s e v e r a l h o u r s w e l e t it s it t h e r e , w e r e a d c o m ic s , w e t a lk e d , w e p l a y e d m u s ic . T h e n w e w a s h e d t h e s t u f f o f f a n d w e l o o k e d a t t h e r e s u lts . G e o f f ’s h a i r w a s b lo n d e , a n d l o o k e d k i n d o f c o o l. M y h a ir , w h ic h h a d t o o m u c h r e d in it to s t a r t o f f w it h , w a s a h o r r i b l e s t r a w - o r a n g e . S o I t h o u g h t , “W ell, i t ’s p u n k a n d I ’v e d y e d it.” A n d I w e n t h o m e . I w a s s it t in g in t h e r o o m o f o u r h o u s e t h a t t h e p i a n o w a s in, w r i t in g s o n g s , w h ic h is w h a t I d i d m o s t o f t h e t im e b a c k th e n , w h e n m y d a d w a l k e d p a s t , s t o p p e d , c a m e b a c k , d i d a d o u b l e - t a k e , l e a n e d in, a n d b l e w h is to p . “W h a t d o y o u

i t is t o g e t a n i n t e r v i e w w i t h L o u R e e d ( i t ’s c a lle d “W a itin g f o r th e M a n ” ), b u t o n c e h e g e ts h i m o n t h e p h o n e — h a l f a n h o u r b e f o r e R e e d is s u p p o s e d t o g o o n s t a g e — h e a sk s h im q u e s tio n s t h a t m a k e it w o r t h it, a n d t h e f a m o u s l y d if f i c u l t R e e d is i n t e r e s t e d e n o u g h th a t th e y ta lk r ig h t u n til c u rta in ca ll, w h e n th e b u z z e rs a re g o in g o ff a n d th e b a b b le o f p e o p le c a n b e h e a r d in th e b a c k g ro u n d . T h e y ta lk a b o u t w ritin g a n d about

a rtistic

v is io n ,

and

G a im a n

a sk s

t h e q u e s t i o n s o f s o m e o n e w h o k n o w s h is s u b j e c t lik e a l i f e l o n g f a n . G a im a n q u o te d th e s o n g “G o in g D o w n ” f r o m R e e d ’s f i r s t s o l o a l b u m o n t h e b a c k o f h is

firs t

co m ic

fo r

DC,

Black Orchid.

D u r in g th e A n E v e n in g w ith N e il G a im a n a n d A m a n d a P a lm e r to u r , P a lm e r s a n g a d iffe re n t

V e lv e t

U n d erg ro u n d

son g

fo r

e v e r y n i g h t o f t h e t o u r a s a b i r t h d a y g ift. In O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3 L o u R e e d p a s s e d aw ay. G a im a n w ro te an a rtic le fo r

The Guardian

e x p l a i n i n g R e e d ’s i n f l u e n c e o n b o t h h i m a n d h is w o rk , n o t le a s t

The Sandman.

“I t

w a s a ll a b o u t s t o r i e s ,” G a i m a n w r o t e . “ T h e s o n g s im p lie d m o r e th a n th e y to ld : th e y m a d e m e w a n t to k n o w m o r e , to im a g in e , t o t e l l t h o s e s t o r i e s m y s e lf .” ❖

t h in k y o u ’r e d o in g ? ” A n d I s a id , “W ell, I ’v e d y e d m y h a ir ” A n d h e s a id , “N o , n o . T h a t ’s d is g u s tin g . T h a t ’s r e v o ltin g .

G a i m a n d i d n ’t i n t e r v i e w R e e d u n t i l h e

Y ou c a n ’t liv e h e r e . I f y o u ’r e g o i n g to h a v e h a i r l i k e t h a t I ’m

h a d g iv e n u p jo u r n a l i s m in f a v o r o f fic tio n

t h r o w i n g y o u o u t o f t h e h o u s e ” A n d I s a id , “W ell, y o u ’r e t h e o n e t h a t ’s r e a lly b ig o n h u m a n r ig h ts , w h a t a b o u t m y h u m a n r ig h t s ? ” A n d h e s a id , “W ell, y o u a b s o lu t e l y h a v e y o u r h u m a n r ig h ts , I w ill g i v e y o u £ 1 5 a w e e k a n d y o u c a n h a v e y o u r h a ir a n y c o lo r y o u lik e a n d y o u ca n g o a n d r en t a h o u s e , I ’ll k e e p p a y i n g y o u r s c h o o l f e e s , y o u c a n r e n t a r o o m a n y w h e r e in to w n . B u t y o u ’r e o u t o f h e r e ” T h o s e d a y s I w a s v e ry g o o d o n c o m ic s b u t n o t s o s tro n g o n t h e p r a c t i c a l i t i e s o f life . T h e m e o f t h e s e d a y s w o u ld s im p ly c a l l h is b lu ff. A n d t h e m e o f t h e s e d a y s w o u l d say, “O h , o k a y . I ’ll m o v e . G iv e m e t h a t £ 1 5 a w e e k a n d I ’ll s t a r t a r r a n g i n g f o r s o m e w h e r e to liv e ” B u t a t t h a t p o i n t it s e e m e d t e r r ify in g to m e . H e l e f t t h e h o u s e s a y in g , “I ’ll b e b a c k a t m id n ig h t a n d w h e n I g e t b a c k y o u r h a i r h a s to b e d a r k a g a i n ” B u t it w a s s ix o ’c l o c k a t n ig h t — e v e r y w h e r e t h a t y o u c o u l d p o s s i b l y b u y h a i r d y e h a d c l o s e d a t 5 .3 0 p .m . S o I p h o n e d m y c o u s in L e ig h ( b e c a u s e m y c o u s in L e ig h

I said, “I have to dye my hair dark, do you have any hair dye?” And she said, “Yeah, I ’ve got a box o f raven black around here somewhere. Come and get it.” So I ran over, got the box o f raven black. I put the stuff on my hair, having never dyed my hair dark before, and did not read the instructions about making sure you have rubber gloves. I left it on fo r an hour and a half, washed it off, and when I got up the next morning my fingernails were black. And what was cool was having dyed my hair to an orange and then put black on it, I then had jet-black hair with purple highlights. The blue-black highlights hit the orange, and it was purple. The next day my Dad was happy; honor was satisfied. Later on I was at the band gig that we were dying our hair fo r in the first place. G eoff’s hair was still blonde, and I had hair that was actually significantly cooler than the sad bleach thing, a n d I had the story to go with it. And that is the story o f how G eoff and I dyed our hair.

f o r a b o u t th r e e y e a rs o r s o , in 1 9 9 2 . T h e p i e c e h e w r o t e is l a r g e l y a b o u t h o w d if f ic u lt

BeLoW: Neil as a young punk, leaning on a window displaying Lou Reed’s Transformer, 1976.

RIgHt: Gaiman, age seventeen and in a photo booth.

w a s t h e p e r s o n w h o w a s m o s t lik e ly to h a v e h a i r d y e ) a n d

t 32

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

33 t

w h e n I s t a r t e d o f f b u t I d id n ’t h a v e a v o i c e . Y o u c a n ju s t se e m e d o in g v o ic e s , d e p lo y in g e v e r y b o d y . B u t t h e r e w a s j u s t o n e p a g e in it w h ic h w a s p u re m e . T h e n w e p u t it b a c k in t h e b o x a n d s e n t i t b a c k u p t o t h e a t t i c

O N e o f tH O S e

w h e r e I h o p e i t w ill r e m a i n a t l e a s t u n t i l I d ie . I n m y m e m o r y it w a s a g r e a t d e a l b e t t e r t h a n it a c t u a ll y w a s .”

f IRSt NoveLt

But sto rie s —

at

th e

tim e

pre-Coraline,

of

w ritin g

p re -M a d d y ,

th o se p re-

e v e ry th in g th a t b r o u g h t a b o u t th e b o o k y o u ’r e h o l d i n g — G a i m a n w a s n ’t s h o w i n g th e m to a n y o n e .

“pUNk Still INfoRmS eveRytHINg I DO,” gaimaN in

aN iNteRview

in

saiD

2011. “you Have to Be wiLLiNg to m ake

m istakes, aND you Have to Be wiLLiNg to m ake m istak es

in

puBLic. so m etim es tHe Best way to LeaRN sometHiNg is By DoiNg it wRoNg aND LookiNg at wHat you

W

d id

.

h e n I w a s f if te e n g o i n g o n s i x t e e n , p u n k r o c k — t h e i d e a o f h e r e ’s a c h o r d , h e r e ’s a n o t h e r , h e r e ’s o n e m o r e c h o r d , n o w f o r m a b a n d — is o n e t h a t s o r t o f a lw a y s s t a y e d w i t h m e . F i g u r e o u t w h a t y o u n e e d a n d l e a r n t h e r e s t o f i t , a n d

y o u d o it. A n d t h a t w a s p u n k . I t s till s e e m s t o b e t h e s m a r t e s t , m o s t g l o r i o u s w a y t o d o a n y th in g : Y o u d o it” (S te e l, 2 0 1 1 ) . In ste a d o f g o in g to u n iv e rsity — c o n s id e r in g th e fo u r y e a rs h e w o u ld sp e n d th e re as ju s t a f o u r -y e a r d e la y b e f o r e h e c o u ld s t a r t b e c o m i n g th e w r ite r h e w a n te d to b e — G a im a n ju s t p ic k e d u p a p e n a n d s ta r te d w ritin g . “I w a s a lw a y s w r i t i n g f i c t i o n , b u t I w a s m o s t l y w r i t i n g f i c t i o n f o r s c h o o l . I f o u n d a b u n c h o f s tu ff th e o th e r d a y w h e n I w a s b a c k a t h o m e , w h ic h w a s b e in g w r itte n d u rin g t h a t p e r i o d . V e r y l a t e t e e n s , v e r y e a r l y t w e n t i e s . L a b o r i o u s l y h a n d w r i t t e n . S o m e o f it t y p e d u p o n c e I ’d l e a r n e d t o t y p e , w h i c h c a m e la t e . I t h i n k f o r a f e w o f t h e e a r l y s t o r i e s I

aBOVe: The famed “Now Form a Band” illustration, from punk zine S niffin ’ G lu e, which is where Neil probably came across it first (although it originally appeared in another magazine, S id eb u rn s #1 in December 1976).

m a y h a v e a c t u a l l y p e r s u a d e d g i r l f r i e n d s t o t y p e f o r m e .” H e l e a r n e d to ty p e e v e n tu a lly , w h e n h e w a s w r itin g h is firs t n o v e l,

Ermintrude.

My Great Aunt

H e w a s tw e n ty -o n e a t t h e tim e a n d h a d b o u g h t a ty p in g m a n u a l b u t fin is h e d

w r i t i n g h is n o v e l b e f o r e h e f i n i s h e d r e a d i n g t h e m a n u a l . H e s t ill f u n c t i o n s a s a h u n t - a n d p e c k ty p is t to th is d a y b e c a u s e o f it, w h ic h g o e s to s h o w th a t s o m e tim e s le a p in g s tra ig h t i n d o e s n ’t a lw a y s t u r n o u t m a g i c .

My Great Aunt Ermintrude

is a c h i ld r e n ’s b o o k , w h i c h h a s liv e d i n a b o x in t h e a t t i c

e v e r s in c e G a i m a n d e c i d e d t h a t h e ’d d o n e o n e o f t h o s e “f i r s t n o v e l t h i n g s ” a n d t h a t w h a t e v e r y b o d y s h o u ld d o w i t h h is f irs t n o v e l is p u t i t in a b o x in t h e a t t i c a n d f o r g e t a b o u t it. B u t in t h e w a k e o f t h e s u c c e s s o f

Coraline, h e

f is h e d i t o u t t o r e a d t o h is d a u g h t e r M a d d y ,

w h o w a s s e v e n . “I f i g u r e d a f t e r t w e n t y y e a r s y o u c a n ’t b e e m b a r r a s s e d a b o u t t h e t h i n g s y o u d id w r o n g , a n d t h e t h i n g s y o u d id n ’t k n o w h o w t o d o . I c o u l d n ’t r e a l l y e v e n r e m e m b e r t h e p lo t.” W i t h d e c a d e s b e t w e e n t h e w r i t i n g a n d t h e r e a d i n g , G a i m a n w a s s t r u c k b y o n e s in g le p a g e o f th e m a n u s c r i p t . “ T h e b o o k d o e s n ’t s o u n d lik e m e e x c e p t f o r o n e p a g e , w h i c h w a s r e a lly , re a lly ,

really

w e ird . Y o u c a n se e m e d o in g H u g h L o ftin g , o r R o a ld D a h l, o r N o e l

L a n g le y , w h o w r o t e t h e

t 34

Land o f Green Ginger.

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

Y o u c a n s e e I w a s a r e la tiv e ly g o o d m i m i c

Ed just write stories. I f I got to the end o f a story Id be proud o f myself. And then I got really serious about being a writer. And I went: I have to do this. I have to do this properly. I remember a really bad night. I never kept any kinds o f diaries back then so I have no idea when it was. I was twenty-one, maybe twenty-two. I was in bed imagining my life, and I got to the point in my imagining when I was old and dying, and I thought: if I die and I haven’t been a writer, I will lie on my deathbed going, “I could have been a writer. Really could have been a writer.” Whatever it is that I ’ve done—if I ’ve been any o f the things I wanted to be or the things I didn’t want to be, or the things that I thought were inevitable, like becoming an English teacher—I ’d be lying there on my deathbed going, “I could have been a writer” and I wouldn’t know if I was kidding myself. I wouldn’t know if I really could have been a writer. And the thing that would kill me would not be having failed, it would be this idea o f having had this life and having had this idea that t h i s was the thing I wanted to be and t h i s was the thing I could have been, and not knowing if I was lying to myself. And at that point it all got really simple. I went: what I need to do is I need to go and be a writer. And if I fa il and I ’m not a writer, then I will never have that problem. I will go to my death going, “Well, at least I knew I wasn’t a writer. And you know

what? I was a very good estate agent.” Or whatever it was I wound up being. I just remember that bad night. I don’t deal terribly well with insomnia. I don’t normally have it. I was just lying there thinking this stuff, and that night kind o f changed everythingfor me. The truth was I had no Plan B. There was nothing in my head except “I ’m gonna write stuff and I ’m going to sell what I write, and that’s what I ’m going to do” And I remember spending about a month doing very little other than

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

aBOVe· The plotted sequel.

35 t

w h e n I s t a r t e d o f f b u t I d id n ’t h a v e a v o i c e . Y o u c a n ju s t se e m e d o in g v o ic e s , d e p lo y in g e v e r y b o d y . B u t t h e r e w a s j u s t o n e p a g e in it w h ic h w a s p u re m e . T h e n w e p u t it b a c k in t h e b o x a n d s e n t i t b a c k u p t o t h e a t t i c

O N e o f tH O S e

w h e r e I h o p e i t w ill r e m a i n a t l e a s t u n t i l I d ie . I n m y m e m o r y it w a s a g r e a t d e a l b e t t e r t h a n it a c t u a ll y w a s .”

f IRSt NoveLt

But sto rie s —

at

th e

tim e

pre-Coraline,

of

w ritin g

p re -M a d d y ,

th o se p re-

e v e ry th in g th a t b r o u g h t a b o u t th e b o o k y o u ’r e h o l d i n g — G a i m a n w a s n ’t s h o w i n g th e m to a n y o n e .

“pUNk Still INfoRmS eveRytHINg I DO,” gaimaN in

aN iNteRview

in

saiD

2011. “you Have to Be wiLLiNg to m ake

m istakes, aND you Have to Be wiLLiNg to m ake m istak es

in

puBLic. so m etim es tHe Best way to LeaRN sometHiNg is By DoiNg it wRoNg aND LookiNg at wHat you

W

d id

.

h e n I w a s f if te e n g o i n g o n s i x t e e n , p u n k r o c k — t h e i d e a o f h e r e ’s a c h o r d , h e r e ’s a n o t h e r , h e r e ’s o n e m o r e c h o r d , n o w f o r m a b a n d — is o n e t h a t s o r t o f a lw a y s s t a y e d w i t h m e . F i g u r e o u t w h a t y o u n e e d a n d l e a r n t h e r e s t o f i t , a n d

y o u d o it. A n d t h a t w a s p u n k . I t s till s e e m s t o b e t h e s m a r t e s t , m o s t g l o r i o u s w a y t o d o a n y th in g : Y o u d o it” (S te e l, 2 0 1 1 ) . In ste a d o f g o in g to u n iv e rsity — c o n s id e r in g th e fo u r y e a rs h e w o u ld sp e n d th e re as ju s t a f o u r -y e a r d e la y b e f o r e h e c o u ld s t a r t b e c o m i n g th e w r ite r h e w a n te d to b e — G a im a n ju s t p ic k e d u p a p e n a n d s ta r te d w ritin g . “I w a s a lw a y s w r i t i n g f i c t i o n , b u t I w a s m o s t l y w r i t i n g f i c t i o n f o r s c h o o l . I f o u n d a b u n c h o f s tu ff th e o th e r d a y w h e n I w a s b a c k a t h o m e , w h ic h w a s b e in g w r itte n d u rin g t h a t p e r i o d . V e r y l a t e t e e n s , v e r y e a r l y t w e n t i e s . L a b o r i o u s l y h a n d w r i t t e n . S o m e o f it t y p e d u p o n c e I ’d l e a r n e d t o t y p e , w h i c h c a m e la t e . I t h i n k f o r a f e w o f t h e e a r l y s t o r i e s I

aBOVe: The famed “Now Form a Band” illustration, from punk zine S niffin ’ G lu e, which is where Neil probably came across it first (although it originally appeared in another magazine, S id eb u rn s #1 in December 1976).

m a y h a v e a c t u a l l y p e r s u a d e d g i r l f r i e n d s t o t y p e f o r m e .” H e l e a r n e d to ty p e e v e n tu a lly , w h e n h e w a s w r itin g h is firs t n o v e l,

Ermintrude.

My Great Aunt

H e w a s tw e n ty -o n e a t t h e tim e a n d h a d b o u g h t a ty p in g m a n u a l b u t fin is h e d

w r i t i n g h is n o v e l b e f o r e h e f i n i s h e d r e a d i n g t h e m a n u a l . H e s t ill f u n c t i o n s a s a h u n t - a n d p e c k ty p is t to th is d a y b e c a u s e o f it, w h ic h g o e s to s h o w th a t s o m e tim e s le a p in g s tra ig h t i n d o e s n ’t a lw a y s t u r n o u t m a g i c .

My Great Aunt Ermintrude

is a c h i ld r e n ’s b o o k , w h i c h h a s liv e d i n a b o x in t h e a t t i c

e v e r s in c e G a i m a n d e c i d e d t h a t h e ’d d o n e o n e o f t h o s e “f i r s t n o v e l t h i n g s ” a n d t h a t w h a t e v e r y b o d y s h o u ld d o w i t h h is f irs t n o v e l is p u t i t in a b o x in t h e a t t i c a n d f o r g e t a b o u t it. B u t in t h e w a k e o f t h e s u c c e s s o f

Coraline, h e

f is h e d i t o u t t o r e a d t o h is d a u g h t e r M a d d y ,

w h o w a s s e v e n . “I f i g u r e d a f t e r t w e n t y y e a r s y o u c a n ’t b e e m b a r r a s s e d a b o u t t h e t h i n g s y o u d id w r o n g , a n d t h e t h i n g s y o u d id n ’t k n o w h o w t o d o . I c o u l d n ’t r e a l l y e v e n r e m e m b e r t h e p lo t.” W i t h d e c a d e s b e t w e e n t h e w r i t i n g a n d t h e r e a d i n g , G a i m a n w a s s t r u c k b y o n e s in g le p a g e o f th e m a n u s c r i p t . “ T h e b o o k d o e s n ’t s o u n d lik e m e e x c e p t f o r o n e p a g e , w h i c h w a s r e a lly , re a lly ,

really

w e ird . Y o u c a n se e m e d o in g H u g h L o ftin g , o r R o a ld D a h l, o r N o e l

L a n g le y , w h o w r o t e t h e

t 34

Land o f Green Ginger.

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

Y o u c a n s e e I w a s a r e la tiv e ly g o o d m i m i c

Ed just write stories. I f I got to the end o f a story Id be proud o f myself. And then I got really serious about being a writer. And I went: I have to do this. I have to do this properly. I remember a really bad night. I never kept any kinds o f diaries back then so I have no idea when it was. I was twenty-one, maybe twenty-two. I was in bed imagining my life, and I got to the point in my imagining when I was old and dying, and I thought: if I die and I haven’t been a writer, I will lie on my deathbed going, “I could have been a writer. Really could have been a writer.” Whatever it is that I ’ve done—if I ’ve been any o f the things I wanted to be or the things I didn’t want to be, or the things that I thought were inevitable, like becoming an English teacher—I ’d be lying there on my deathbed going, “I could have been a writer” and I wouldn’t know if I was kidding myself. I wouldn’t know if I really could have been a writer. And the thing that would kill me would not be having failed, it would be this idea o f having had this life and having had this idea that t h i s was the thing I wanted to be and t h i s was the thing I could have been, and not knowing if I was lying to myself. And at that point it all got really simple. I went: what I need to do is I need to go and be a writer. And if I fa il and I ’m not a writer, then I will never have that problem. I will go to my death going, “Well, at least I knew I wasn’t a writer. And you know

what? I was a very good estate agent.” Or whatever it was I wound up being. I just remember that bad night. I don’t deal terribly well with insomnia. I don’t normally have it. I was just lying there thinking this stuff, and that night kind o f changed everythingfor me. The truth was I had no Plan B. There was nothing in my head except “I ’m gonna write stuff and I ’m going to sell what I write, and that’s what I ’m going to do” And I remember spending about a month doing very little other than

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

aBOVe· The plotted sequel.

35 t

drinking tea, writing stories, typing them up and sending them out. G a im a n say s th a t w h e n h e re a d s th o s e s t o r i e s n o w i t ’s c l e a r t h e y w e r e n ’t r e a l l y g o o d e n o u g h ; h e d id n ’t k n o w h o w t o e n d a s t o r y , o r b e g i n i t, a n d h e d id n ’t r e a l l y s o u n d lik e h i m y e t , a l t h o u g h h e d id n ’t t h i n k i t a t t h e t i m e . “ T h e a w f u l t h i n g is , is i f a n e i g h t e e n - o r n i n e t e e n - y e a r - o l d c a m e u p to m e w i t h t h o s e s t o r i e s a n d s a id , ‘I w a n t to b e a w r i t e r ! W i l l y o u r e a d t h i s s t u f f a n d te ll m e i f I ’v e g o t w h a t i t t a k e s ? ’ I d o n ’t k n o w t h a t I w o u l d h a v e r e a d i t a n d s a id , ‘Y e s , k id , y o u ’r e g o i n g t o b e a w r ite r .’ I t h i n k I m i g h t h a v e r e a d i t a n d s a id , ‘E s t a t e a g e n c y m i g h t l o o k p r o m i s i n g . G e t i n t e r e s t e d in h o u s e s .’ B u t I c h o s e t o b e l i e v e I w a s b r illia n t.” It w a s a f te r

My Great Aunt Ermintrude

c a m e b a c k f r o m K e s tr e l B o o k s w i t h a n o t e s a y i n g t h a t it w a s g o o d b u t n o t g o o d e n o u g h th a t G a im a n b e c a m e e v e n m o r e a ss u re d o f h is o w n b r illia n c e . H e e x p la in s h is b o ld n e s s u s i n g t h e s a m e m a t h e m a t i c a l p r i n c ip l e t h a t c a n b e a p p lie d t o t h e s tu p id , h o w s o m e t i m e s th e

s t u p id

su cceed

b ecau se

th e y

d o n ’t

k n o w t h e y ’r e s tu p id , a n d i f t h e y w e r e o n ly 5 p e r c e n t le ss s tu p id t h e y w o u l d b e s m a r t e n o u g h to k n o w t h e i r p la n s w o u l d n ’t w o r k . “T h e g re a t th in g a b o u t n o t b e in g v e ry g o o d y e t is I d id n ’t k n o w I w a s n ’t v e r y g o o d y e t . I t h o u g h t I w a s b r illia n t. A n d t h i n k i n g t h a t I w a s b r illia n t g a v e m e t h e c o n f i d e n c e to k e e p g o i n g u n til I a c t u a ll y h a p p e n e d to l e a r n m y c r a f t e n o u g h to n o t b e c r a p . “I t h o u g h t : i f I ’m b r illia n t, a n d i f t h e s e s t o r i e s a r e g o o d , a n d i f I ’m g o o d , t h e n it’s n o t t h a t I’m n o t w r i t i n g w e ll e n o u g h , i t ’s t h a t I d o n ’t k n o w h o w it a ll w o r k s . I’m g o i n g to f in d o u t h o w it w o r k s . T h a t w a s t h e s m a r t e s t t h i n g I e v e r th o u g h t . Q u i t e p o s s ib ly n o t h i n g e ls e h a s e v e r b e e n q u ite t h a t s m a r t.” ❖

R IgH t: Blurb for My

G reat Aunt Ermintrude.

o p p o s ite : The one page from M y Great

A untErm intrude that sounds like Neil also happens to be the one page from M y G reat

A unt Erm intrude that he would not let me read. So we'll have to take his word on it.

t 36

tHe aRt o f Neil gaim aN

drinking tea, writing stories, typing them up and sending them out. G a im a n say s th a t w h e n h e re a d s th o s e s t o r i e s n o w i t ’s c l e a r t h e y w e r e n ’t r e a l l y g o o d e n o u g h ; h e d id n ’t k n o w h o w t o e n d a s t o r y , o r b e g i n i t, a n d h e d id n ’t r e a l l y s o u n d lik e h i m y e t , a l t h o u g h h e d id n ’t t h i n k i t a t t h e t i m e . “ T h e a w f u l t h i n g is , is i f a n e i g h t e e n - o r n i n e t e e n - y e a r - o l d c a m e u p to m e w i t h t h o s e s t o r i e s a n d s a id , ‘I w a n t to b e a w r i t e r ! W i l l y o u r e a d t h i s s t u f f a n d te ll m e i f I ’v e g o t w h a t i t t a k e s ? ’ I d o n ’t k n o w t h a t I w o u l d h a v e r e a d i t a n d s a id , ‘Y e s , k id , y o u ’r e g o i n g t o b e a w r ite r .’ I t h i n k I m i g h t h a v e r e a d i t a n d s a id , ‘E s t a t e a g e n c y m i g h t l o o k p r o m i s i n g . G e t i n t e r e s t e d in h o u s e s .’ B u t I c h o s e t o b e l i e v e I w a s b r illia n t.” It w a s a f te r

My Great Aunt Ermintrude

c a m e b a c k f r o m K e s tr e l B o o k s w i t h a n o t e s a y i n g t h a t it w a s g o o d b u t n o t g o o d e n o u g h th a t G a im a n b e c a m e e v e n m o r e a ss u re d o f h is o w n b r illia n c e . H e e x p la in s h is b o ld n e s s u s i n g t h e s a m e m a t h e m a t i c a l p r i n c ip l e t h a t c a n b e a p p lie d t o t h e s tu p id , h o w s o m e t i m e s th e

s t u p id

su cceed

b ecau se

th e y

d o n ’t

k n o w t h e y ’r e s tu p id , a n d i f t h e y w e r e o n ly 5 p e r c e n t le ss s tu p id t h e y w o u l d b e s m a r t e n o u g h to k n o w t h e i r p la n s w o u l d n ’t w o r k . “T h e g re a t th in g a b o u t n o t b e in g v e ry g o o d y e t is I d id n ’t k n o w I w a s n ’t v e r y g o o d y e t . I t h o u g h t I w a s b r illia n t. A n d t h i n k i n g t h a t I w a s b r illia n t g a v e m e t h e c o n f i d e n c e to k e e p g o i n g u n til I a c t u a ll y h a p p e n e d to l e a r n m y c r a f t e n o u g h to n o t b e c r a p . “I t h o u g h t : i f I ’m b r illia n t, a n d i f t h e s e s t o r i e s a r e g o o d , a n d i f I ’m g o o d , t h e n it’s n o t t h a t I’m n o t w r i t i n g w e ll e n o u g h , i t ’s t h a t I d o n ’t k n o w h o w it a ll w o r k s . I’m g o i n g to f in d o u t h o w it w o r k s . T h a t w a s t h e s m a r t e s t t h i n g I e v e r th o u g h t . Q u i t e p o s s ib ly n o t h i n g e ls e h a s e v e r b e e n q u ite t h a t s m a r t.” ❖

R IgH t: Blurb for My

G reat Aunt Ermintrude.

o p p o s ite : The one page from M y Great

A untErm intrude that sounds like Neil also happens to be the one page from M y G reat

A unt Erm intrude that he would not let me read. So we'll have to take his word on it.

t 36

tHe aRt o f Neil gaim aN

It c a n n o t b e a r g u e d t h a t J o h n C o o p e r C la rk e p u t th e se x in to not

a n y t h i n g , s o i t ’s

P en th ou se

s u rp ris in g

sa id

no.

But

th e s tra n g e p u n k r o c k p e r f o r m a n c e p o e t

to p S H e Lf

c o u l d n ’t h a v e b e e n a m o r e p e r f e c t p i t c h f o r th e p la c e G a im a n ca lle d n e x t. “ I ’d

gone

re se a rch

out

o n ce

in

th e

th e

sp irit

o f p u re

firs t P e n t h o u s e

s to ry

h a d s o l d . I ’d b o u g h t m y s e l f e v e r y t o p - s h e l f m a g a z in e o n th e ra c k s a n d g o n e th r o u g h th e m

a ll— K n a v e , M e n

O n ly , t h e w h o l e

r u n o f th e m — a n d e n d e d u p g o in g : K n a v e is r e a l l y i n t e r e s t i n g . I lik e t h e s e n s i b i l i t y h e r e . T h e r e ’s r e a l l y i n t e r e s t i n g a r t i c l e s a n d t h e y ’v e g o t [ s c i e n c e - f i c t i o n w r i t e r ]

g a i m a N H atCH eD a p la N to Become a jouRNaList, figuRiNg that journalists are allowed to ask questions.

t h e o t h e r o n e s .”

" f1’ e c o u l d u s e h i s n e w v a g u e l y o f f ic ia l p o s i t i o n t o f i n d o u t e v e r y t h i n g h e n e e d e d t o

H

k n o w a b o u t th e w o rld o f b o o k s w ith a v ie w to s q u e e z in g h is w a y in , a n d w h ile

h e w a s d o in g it h e w o u ld b e p a id to le a r n h o w to w r ite cris p ly , e c o n o m ic a lly ,

D ave

L a n g f o r d w r i t i n g f o r t h e m ; t h i s is n ’t lik e

r

jd bought¡mySelf every top-S helfjmag,agine on

a n d o n d e a d l i n e . A l s o h e w o u l d b e a b le t o f e e d h i m s e l f , a p r o b l e m M y G r e a t A u n t

E r m i n t r u d e w a s n o t h e l p i n g w i t h . H e b o u g h t a c o p y o f t h e W r it e r s ’ & A r t i s t s ’ Y e a r b o o k — w h ic h h a s th e a d d re sse s a n d p h o n e n u m b e rs o f e v e ry e d ito r o f e v e ry m a g a z in e , n e w sp a p e r, p e r io d ic a l, a n d p u b lis h e r in th e c o u n t r y — a n d s ta r te d o n p a g e o n e . B u t m o s tly , as a lw a y s, h e ju s t m a d e it u p as h e w e n t a lo n g .

I w a s t w e n t y - t w o a n d a f e w th in g s h a p p e n e d v e r y c l o s e to g e t h e r . I s a w t h a t G e n e

th e racks andgone through. thejm a ll . . . and ended up going: KnaVe is

W o lfe w a s g o i n g to b e in E n g l a n d f o r F a n t a s y C o n 1 3 , in B i r m i n g h a m a t T h e N e w I m p e r i a l H o t e l. I c a l l e d h is p u b l is h e r , G o lla n c z , a n d I s a id , “I ’m a f r e e l a n c e j o u r n a l i s t

really interetnj,.

a n d I ’d l i k e to d o a n i n t e r v i e w w it h G e n e .” A n d t h e y s a id , “C o o l, w e ’v e a l s o g o t R o b e r t S il v e r b e r g w h o ’s g o i n g to b e a g u e s t a t t h e s a m e c o n v e n t i o n ” S o I p h o n e d a f e w e d it o r s . I p i t c h e d it to E d i t o r #1 a n d h e s a id , “N o , b u t w h y d o n ’t y o u tr y t h e D a i l y T e l e g r a p h W a y o f t h e W o r ld c o lu m n ? T h e y d o s o m e o d d s t u ff” A n d I th o u g h t , w ell, i t ’s n e v e r g o i n g to b e in t h e D a i l y T e l e g r a p h W a y o f t h e W o r ld c o lu m n ,

a B O V e : Interview

with Fish out of the band Marillion, 1984. “Id not yet had the courage to go black. I told my grandmother, when I was eleven or twelve, that when I grew up I was probably going to wear black. And she got really upset with me, because she believed

that the only people who ever wore black were fascists. I really wanted to wear black, went halfway there and then finally, I think in about 1987, I went oh, fuck it, she's been dead since 1979. She probably isn’t going to mind. And I bought my first black T-shirt.”

K nave

w as

a

s o ft-co re

p o rn o g ra p h y

m a g a z in e fa r t a m e r a n d e ss e n tia lly m o r e

b u t s c r e w it, I ’ll g i v e t h e m a c a ll. S o I p h o n e d t h e D a i l y T e l e g r a p h a n d t h e y s a i d

E n g lis h

“G e n e W o lfe ? W h o is h e ? ” A n d I s a id , w h a t a b o u t B o b S ilv e r b e r g ? “W h o ’s h e ? ” W ell,

w a s a ls o u n d e r g o i n g s o m e m a s s i v e c h a n g e s

B o b S il v e r b e r g s t h e g u y w h o p u t s e x in t o s c i e n c e f i c t i o n . ( I t ’s n o t r e a l l y tr u e , b u t i t ’s

th a n k s to a n e w ly a p p o in te d e d ito r , Ian

t r u e - is h . Y ou c a n m a k e a c a s e f o r it.) A n d h e s a i d a s e n t e n c e a t t h a t p o i n t t h a t

P e m b le , w h o w a s g iv in g th e w h o le m a g ­

c h a n g e d t h e c o u r s e o f m y life f o r t h e n e x t f i v e y e a r s a n d a c t u a l l y a l l o w e d m e to b e f e d

a z in e a n o v e r h a u l f o r t h e s a k e o f h is o w n

th a n

its

A m e ric a n

e q u iv a le n ts .I t

a n d m a d e e v e r y t h i n g p o s s i b l e . H e s a id , “W h y d o n ’t y o u t r y P e n t h o u s e ? T h e y lik e

s a n i ty , a n d a ll o f w h i c h h a p p e n e d a r o u n d

a n y t h i n g a r t s y w it h a s e x e d g e ”

th e tim e G a im a n p ic k e d u p a c o p y f ro m

S o I p h o n e d t h e e d i t o r o f P e n t h o u s e w h o w a s a v e r y n ic e A u s t r a l i a n g u y , s a id , “H e llo , I ’m a f r e e l a n c e j o u r n a l i s t , g o t a n i n t e r v i e w w it h B o b S ilv e r b e r g , t h e m a n w h o

th e n e w s sta n d . “ T h e re w a s a w h o le se rie s o f s tra n g e

p u t s e x in t o s c i e n c e f i c t i o n ” H e s a i d “O h ! G r e a t ! Y e a h ! W e lo v e t h a t ! A n d i f y o u c a n

c o in c id e n c e s

g e t u s a n i n t e r v ie w w it h D o u g la s A d a m s to o , I ’m a h u g e H i t c h h i k e r ’s f a n ” I s a id , “I ’ll

i t ’s t h e r e i t ’s life a n d y o u d e a l w i t h i t . B u t

th a t

happened

and

w hen

see w h a t I can d o ” S o I w e n t o f f to B i r m i n g h a m , i n t e r v i e w e d B o b S ilv e r b e r g , s e n t t h e i n t e r v ie w o f f to P e n t h o u s e . A n d t h e n I h a d a n i d e a f o r s o m e b o d y e ls e I w a n t e d to in t e r v ie w . J o h n

C o o p e r C l a r k e w a s g o i n g to b e o n t h e in t e r v i e w c ir c u it — I ’m a h u g e J o h n C o o p e r C l a r k e f a n . I t h o u g h t t h a t ’d b e f u n , s o I c a l l e d P e n t h o u s e ; t h e y s a id , “N o , n o t f o r u s ”

t 38

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

R I g H t : Table of contents

Knave

from Volume 17 #8, 1985, showing Neil’s story “Manuscript Found in a Milkbottle.”

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

39 t

It c a n n o t b e a r g u e d t h a t J o h n C o o p e r C la rk e p u t th e se x in to not

a n y t h i n g , s o i t ’s

P en th ou se

s u rp ris in g

sa id

no.

But

th e s tra n g e p u n k r o c k p e r f o r m a n c e p o e t

to p S H e Lf

c o u l d n ’t h a v e b e e n a m o r e p e r f e c t p i t c h f o r th e p la c e G a im a n ca lle d n e x t. “ I ’d

gone

re se a rch

out

o n ce

in

th e

th e

sp irit

o f p u re

firs t P e n t h o u s e

s to ry

h a d s o l d . I ’d b o u g h t m y s e l f e v e r y t o p - s h e l f m a g a z in e o n th e ra c k s a n d g o n e th r o u g h th e m

a ll— K n a v e , M e n

O n ly , t h e w h o l e

r u n o f th e m — a n d e n d e d u p g o in g : K n a v e is r e a l l y i n t e r e s t i n g . I lik e t h e s e n s i b i l i t y h e r e . T h e r e ’s r e a l l y i n t e r e s t i n g a r t i c l e s a n d t h e y ’v e g o t [ s c i e n c e - f i c t i o n w r i t e r ]

g a i m a N H atCH eD a p la N to Become a jouRNaList, figuRiNg that journalists are allowed to ask questions.

t h e o t h e r o n e s .”

" f1’ e c o u l d u s e h i s n e w v a g u e l y o f f ic ia l p o s i t i o n t o f i n d o u t e v e r y t h i n g h e n e e d e d t o

H

k n o w a b o u t th e w o rld o f b o o k s w ith a v ie w to s q u e e z in g h is w a y in , a n d w h ile

h e w a s d o in g it h e w o u ld b e p a id to le a r n h o w to w r ite cris p ly , e c o n o m ic a lly ,

D ave

L a n g f o r d w r i t i n g f o r t h e m ; t h i s is n ’t lik e

r

jd bought¡mySelf every top-S helfjmag,agine on

a n d o n d e a d l i n e . A l s o h e w o u l d b e a b le t o f e e d h i m s e l f , a p r o b l e m M y G r e a t A u n t

E r m i n t r u d e w a s n o t h e l p i n g w i t h . H e b o u g h t a c o p y o f t h e W r it e r s ’ & A r t i s t s ’ Y e a r b o o k — w h ic h h a s th e a d d re sse s a n d p h o n e n u m b e rs o f e v e ry e d ito r o f e v e ry m a g a z in e , n e w sp a p e r, p e r io d ic a l, a n d p u b lis h e r in th e c o u n t r y — a n d s ta r te d o n p a g e o n e . B u t m o s tly , as a lw a y s, h e ju s t m a d e it u p as h e w e n t a lo n g .

I w a s t w e n t y - t w o a n d a f e w th in g s h a p p e n e d v e r y c l o s e to g e t h e r . I s a w t h a t G e n e

th e racks andgone through. thejm a ll . . . and ended up going: KnaVe is

W o lfe w a s g o i n g to b e in E n g l a n d f o r F a n t a s y C o n 1 3 , in B i r m i n g h a m a t T h e N e w I m p e r i a l H o t e l. I c a l l e d h is p u b l is h e r , G o lla n c z , a n d I s a id , “I ’m a f r e e l a n c e j o u r n a l i s t

really interetnj,.

a n d I ’d l i k e to d o a n i n t e r v i e w w it h G e n e .” A n d t h e y s a id , “C o o l, w e ’v e a l s o g o t R o b e r t S il v e r b e r g w h o ’s g o i n g to b e a g u e s t a t t h e s a m e c o n v e n t i o n ” S o I p h o n e d a f e w e d it o r s . I p i t c h e d it to E d i t o r #1 a n d h e s a id , “N o , b u t w h y d o n ’t y o u tr y t h e D a i l y T e l e g r a p h W a y o f t h e W o r ld c o lu m n ? T h e y d o s o m e o d d s t u ff” A n d I th o u g h t , w ell, i t ’s n e v e r g o i n g to b e in t h e D a i l y T e l e g r a p h W a y o f t h e W o r ld c o lu m n ,

a B O V e : Interview

with Fish out of the band Marillion, 1984. “Id not yet had the courage to go black. I told my grandmother, when I was eleven or twelve, that when I grew up I was probably going to wear black. And she got really upset with me, because she believed

that the only people who ever wore black were fascists. I really wanted to wear black, went halfway there and then finally, I think in about 1987, I went oh, fuck it, she's been dead since 1979. She probably isn’t going to mind. And I bought my first black T-shirt.”

K nave

w as

a

s o ft-co re

p o rn o g ra p h y

m a g a z in e fa r t a m e r a n d e ss e n tia lly m o r e

b u t s c r e w it, I ’ll g i v e t h e m a c a ll. S o I p h o n e d t h e D a i l y T e l e g r a p h a n d t h e y s a i d

E n g lis h

“G e n e W o lfe ? W h o is h e ? ” A n d I s a id , w h a t a b o u t B o b S ilv e r b e r g ? “W h o ’s h e ? ” W ell,

w a s a ls o u n d e r g o i n g s o m e m a s s i v e c h a n g e s

B o b S il v e r b e r g s t h e g u y w h o p u t s e x in t o s c i e n c e f i c t i o n . ( I t ’s n o t r e a l l y tr u e , b u t i t ’s

th a n k s to a n e w ly a p p o in te d e d ito r , Ian

t r u e - is h . Y ou c a n m a k e a c a s e f o r it.) A n d h e s a i d a s e n t e n c e a t t h a t p o i n t t h a t

P e m b le , w h o w a s g iv in g th e w h o le m a g ­

c h a n g e d t h e c o u r s e o f m y life f o r t h e n e x t f i v e y e a r s a n d a c t u a l l y a l l o w e d m e to b e f e d

a z in e a n o v e r h a u l f o r t h e s a k e o f h is o w n

th a n

its

A m e ric a n

e q u iv a le n ts .I t

a n d m a d e e v e r y t h i n g p o s s i b l e . H e s a id , “W h y d o n ’t y o u t r y P e n t h o u s e ? T h e y lik e

s a n i ty , a n d a ll o f w h i c h h a p p e n e d a r o u n d

a n y t h i n g a r t s y w it h a s e x e d g e ”

th e tim e G a im a n p ic k e d u p a c o p y f ro m

S o I p h o n e d t h e e d i t o r o f P e n t h o u s e w h o w a s a v e r y n ic e A u s t r a l i a n g u y , s a id , “H e llo , I ’m a f r e e l a n c e j o u r n a l i s t , g o t a n i n t e r v i e w w it h B o b S ilv e r b e r g , t h e m a n w h o

th e n e w s sta n d . “ T h e re w a s a w h o le se rie s o f s tra n g e

p u t s e x in t o s c i e n c e f i c t i o n ” H e s a i d “O h ! G r e a t ! Y e a h ! W e lo v e t h a t ! A n d i f y o u c a n

c o in c id e n c e s

g e t u s a n i n t e r v ie w w it h D o u g la s A d a m s to o , I ’m a h u g e H i t c h h i k e r ’s f a n ” I s a id , “I ’ll

i t ’s t h e r e i t ’s life a n d y o u d e a l w i t h i t . B u t

th a t

happened

and

w hen

see w h a t I can d o ” S o I w e n t o f f to B i r m i n g h a m , i n t e r v i e w e d B o b S ilv e r b e r g , s e n t t h e i n t e r v ie w o f f to P e n t h o u s e . A n d t h e n I h a d a n i d e a f o r s o m e b o d y e ls e I w a n t e d to in t e r v ie w . J o h n

C o o p e r C l a r k e w a s g o i n g to b e o n t h e in t e r v i e w c ir c u it — I ’m a h u g e J o h n C o o p e r C l a r k e f a n . I t h o u g h t t h a t ’d b e f u n , s o I c a l l e d P e n t h o u s e ; t h e y s a id , “N o , n o t f o r u s ”

t 38

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

R I g H t : Table of contents

Knave

from Volume 17 #8, 1985, showing Neil’s story “Manuscript Found in a Milkbottle.”

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

39 t

goiNg tHRougH gaimaN’s attic you can see that in the beginning he catalogued everything—every article he wrote was carefully Stanley-knifed at the fold and was archived in a ring binder. Knave photographers evidently favored that a model lie with her head on the left of the double-page spread, her waist at the crease, and her lower half on the right-hand side. The design and flow of the magazine meant that Caiman’s articles tended to fall on the page after the center spread. Consequently, there is a file in Caiman’s attic featuring just the lower-halfs of headless 1980s porno­ graphic models. “I kept everything,” he said, “back when I thought these kinds of things mattered.” But there is an obvious point where the noise just got too loud, everything moved too fast, and the magazines were thrown in a bucket, whole, if at all.

looking back it was quite extraordinary,” says Ian Pemble, an incredibly nice man wearing what he referred to as “an absolute riot of beige” and nothing like what you would expect an old editor of an eighties porn magazine to be. Pemble spent his academically unim­ pressive university years secretly writing poetry, and only admitted to it when he moved to London and started doing read­ ings in rooms above pubs in Notting Hill. “In the sixties you didn’t admit to poetry. It was a very unmanly thing to do.” It was around then that a friend offered him a job as assistant editor on the magazines Knave and Fiesta, both under the Galaxy Pub­ lications umbrella. By 1982 Pemble was out of work when the job of editor for Knave came along, and despite being thoroughly sick of writing about sex for a living, he took a punt. “I probably wouldn’t have taken it, or even gone for it, but I’d never been an editor. And it was kind of unfinished business.” At the time, Knave was as artless as any other pornographic magazine. It was owned

RIgHt: John Cooper Clarke, Neil's first interview for

Knave, 1984.

tHe aRt of Neil gaiman

by Russell Cay, a glamour photographer in the fifties and the head of Galaxy Public­ ations. In an unlikely turn of events, Cay suddenly needed to sell the company. “Russell left unexpectedly, although I don’t remember there being an official explan­ ation. However, we later heard he’d moved to Monaco, and its reputation as a tax haven might be pertinent. More importantly for me and the rest of the staff we discovered he’d sold out to our printers.” At its peak, Knave had a circulation of 50,000, but its sister title, Fiesta, was nearer 600,000, so the printers, who feared losing the biggest job they had, bought the lot. Suddenly they found themselves with a publishing empire, and they had no idea what to do with it. “They had no option but to let me and the other editor, a guy called Chris, just get on with it. I gradually evolved this idea that I would keep the naked ladies—I think even the printers would have balked if I’d tried to get rid of them—and all the readers’ letters. But I made a rule that

CH apteR 1 |pReLuDes

aBOVe: Neil’s Silverberg piece for Penthouse in 1984 begins on the same page as a piece by someone else on Duran Duran.

41 f

goiNg tHRougH gaimaN’s attic you can see that in the beginning he catalogued everything—every article he wrote was carefully Stanley-knifed at the fold and was archived in a ring binder. Knave photographers evidently favored that a model lie with her head on the left of the double-page spread, her waist at the crease, and her lower half on the right-hand side. The design and flow of the magazine meant that Caiman’s articles tended to fall on the page after the center spread. Consequently, there is a file in Caiman’s attic featuring just the lower-halfs of headless 1980s porno­ graphic models. “I kept everything,” he said, “back when I thought these kinds of things mattered.” But there is an obvious point where the noise just got too loud, everything moved too fast, and the magazines were thrown in a bucket, whole, if at all.

looking back it was quite extraordinary,” says Ian Pemble, an incredibly nice man wearing what he referred to as “an absolute riot of beige” and nothing like what you would expect an old editor of an eighties porn magazine to be. Pemble spent his academically unim­ pressive university years secretly writing poetry, and only admitted to it when he moved to London and started doing read­ ings in rooms above pubs in Notting Hill. “In the sixties you didn’t admit to poetry. It was a very unmanly thing to do.” It was around then that a friend offered him a job as assistant editor on the magazines Knave and Fiesta, both under the Galaxy Pub­ lications umbrella. By 1982 Pemble was out of work when the job of editor for Knave came along, and despite being thoroughly sick of writing about sex for a living, he took a punt. “I probably wouldn’t have taken it, or even gone for it, but I’d never been an editor. And it was kind of unfinished business.” At the time, Knave was as artless as any other pornographic magazine. It was owned

RIgHt: John Cooper Clarke, Neil's first interview for

Knave, 1984.

tHe aRt of Neil gaiman

by Russell Cay, a glamour photographer in the fifties and the head of Galaxy Public­ ations. In an unlikely turn of events, Cay suddenly needed to sell the company. “Russell left unexpectedly, although I don’t remember there being an official explan­ ation. However, we later heard he’d moved to Monaco, and its reputation as a tax haven might be pertinent. More importantly for me and the rest of the staff we discovered he’d sold out to our printers.” At its peak, Knave had a circulation of 50,000, but its sister title, Fiesta, was nearer 600,000, so the printers, who feared losing the biggest job they had, bought the lot. Suddenly they found themselves with a publishing empire, and they had no idea what to do with it. “They had no option but to let me and the other editor, a guy called Chris, just get on with it. I gradually evolved this idea that I would keep the naked ladies—I think even the printers would have balked if I’d tried to get rid of them—and all the readers’ letters. But I made a rule that

CH apteR 1 |pReLuDes

aBOVe: Neil’s Silverberg piece for Penthouse in 1984 begins on the same page as a piece by someone else on Duran Duran.

41 f

everything else had to be interesting and/ or funny. If it was about sex, it had to be genuinely good and not just dirty jokes and swear words. And with fiction I banned sex altogether. The men’s magazines were about the only place where you could still get original fiction published. Certainly in those days. So after fourteen years of hacking out boring sex stuff—and I really didn’t want to do that anymore, I wanted to put some good stuff in this magazine—I got a call from the young Neil Caiman.” Says Caiman:

I phoned Ian Pemble at Knave and said: John Cooper Clarke. He said “Absolutely.” I did a photo session, did the interview, handed it in, and it was really good. I was starting to learn how to write, how to flex my weird writing muscles and discovering I had an aptitude fo r journalism. And also an aptitude fo r figuring out how people talked and getting it down on paper in a way that evoked how they talked without necessarily being the exact words. Knave was a wonderful, weird magical happenstance. It was fo rt­ uitous that the point I came along was really the point at which Ian, who’d been editing and assistant editing men’s magazines fo r a while, had just sort o f gone: Fuck it, people are buying this magazine fo r the photographs o f the naked ladies and the mucky reader’s letters. That’s why they buy it. I ’m going to try and experiment and I ’m just going to put stuff in the magazine I ’d like to read. I ’m not actually going to care if it has a sex angle, or if it doesn’t have a sex angle, it’s just going to be stuff I ’d like to read. So he said yes to John Cooper Clarke, and then said, “Do any other interviews you want, the only thing is they have to be interesting;.” And that was suddenly my key on the interview thing. No sex angle had to happen, the only thing was interesting people, and I wasn’t allowed to just do science-fiction writers. But he did fit those writers in whenever he could, making connections and lasting

t 42

I waS starting to learn how to write, how to flex my weird writing ¡muStleS.

friendships with the likes of horror writer Ramsey Campbell, Clive Barker, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, Harry Harrison, William Cibson, and Douglas Adams. Then there were the other guys: Patrick Macnee of The Avengers, Denholm Elliott, Pink Flamingos’ infamous Divine, British comedian Rik Mayall, Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, Richard O’Brien of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and more. Through­ out all of these interviews Caiman was not

tHe aR t o f N eil g a im a n

just a faceless scribe for hire: the voice was clearly his own, and his personality ran through the articles. He even turned up in the pictures. “He was networking before it was even invented,” said his old editor. “Normally these people get interviewed by some hack who hasn’t done their research properly and is asking all the obvious questions. But Neil was a totally creative person who understood and got people talking.” ❖

to p L e ft: Gaiman

to p R IgH t: Neil and

interviewed Dave Sim in the Savoy Hotel in 1986,

Clive Barker in 1996, years after they first met.

when Sim was thirty and Gaiman just twenty-six.

They were often mistaken for each other in these

It was the first time they met, and Sim’s com ic

early years. “We were about the same height

Cerebus had been running for almost

and had dark hair and big noses" said Neil.

a decade. This photo appeared on the back

aB O ve aND R IgH t:

cover of Cerebus #126 five years later.

Interview with Terry Jones, 1984. Neil turns up in the pictures.

CHAPTER 1 |pReLUDeS

everything else had to be interesting and/ or funny. If it was about sex, it had to be genuinely good and not just dirty jokes and swear words. And with fiction I banned sex altogether. The men’s magazines were about the only place where you could still get original fiction published. Certainly in those days. So after fourteen years of hacking out boring sex stuff—and I really didn’t want to do that anymore, I wanted to put some good stuff in this magazine—I got a call from the young Neil Caiman.” Says Caiman:

I phoned Ian Pemble at Knave and said: John Cooper Clarke. He said “Absolutely.” I did a photo session, did the interview, handed it in, and it was really good. I was starting to learn how to write, how to flex my weird writing muscles and discovering I had an aptitude fo r journalism. And also an aptitude fo r figuring out how people talked and getting it down on paper in a way that evoked how they talked without necessarily being the exact words. Knave was a wonderful, weird magical happenstance. It was fo rt­ uitous that the point I came along was really the point at which Ian, who’d been editing and assistant editing men’s magazines fo r a while, had just sort o f gone: Fuck it, people are buying this magazine fo r the photographs o f the naked ladies and the mucky reader’s letters. That’s why they buy it. I ’m going to try and experiment and I ’m just going to put stuff in the magazine I ’d like to read. I ’m not actually going to care if it has a sex angle, or if it doesn’t have a sex angle, it’s just going to be stuff I ’d like to read. So he said yes to John Cooper Clarke, and then said, “Do any other interviews you want, the only thing is they have to be interesting;.” And that was suddenly my key on the interview thing. No sex angle had to happen, the only thing was interesting people, and I wasn’t allowed to just do science-fiction writers. But he did fit those writers in whenever he could, making connections and lasting

t 42

I waS starting to learn how to write, how to flex my weird writing ¡muStleS.

friendships with the likes of horror writer Ramsey Campbell, Clive Barker, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, Harry Harrison, William Cibson, and Douglas Adams. Then there were the other guys: Patrick Macnee of The Avengers, Denholm Elliott, Pink Flamingos’ infamous Divine, British comedian Rik Mayall, Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, Richard O’Brien of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and more. Through­ out all of these interviews Caiman was not

tHe aR t o f N eil g a im a n

just a faceless scribe for hire: the voice was clearly his own, and his personality ran through the articles. He even turned up in the pictures. “He was networking before it was even invented,” said his old editor. “Normally these people get interviewed by some hack who hasn’t done their research properly and is asking all the obvious questions. But Neil was a totally creative person who understood and got people talking.” ❖

to p L e ft: Gaiman

to p R IgH t: Neil and

interviewed Dave Sim in the Savoy Hotel in 1986,

Clive Barker in 1996, years after they first met.

when Sim was thirty and Gaiman just twenty-six.

They were often mistaken for each other in these

It was the first time they met, and Sim’s com ic

early years. “We were about the same height

Cerebus had been running for almost

and had dark hair and big noses" said Neil.

a decade. This photo appeared on the back

aB O ve aND R IgH t:

cover of Cerebus #126 five years later.

Interview with Terry Jones, 1984. Neil turns up in the pictures.

CHAPTER 1 |pReLUDeS

peace aND love exISted onLy w on eek eN D S O

n

t o p

ro p e d th e

in

o f

t h

a fe w

r e s t o f th e

W

e

c o u N tle s s

frie n d s

to

iN te rv ie w s

c o lla b o r a te

o n

H e d i d , G a s im a N m

a te r ia l to

a ls o

f ill o u t

m a g a z iN e .

ith K im N e w m a n , w h o m h e h a d m e t a t a B ritis h F a n ta s y S o c ie ty o p e n n ig h t, a n d E u g e n e B y rn e , w h o w e n t to s c h o o l w ith N e w m a n , G a im a n w r o te fu n n y a r t i c l e s a n d s h o r t f i c t i o n o c c a s i o n a l l y u n d e r p s e u d o n y m s s o i t d i d n ’t l o o k

lik e o n e g u y w a s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e w h o l e m a g a z i n e ( G e r r y M u s g r a v e , R i c h a r d G r e y , a n d W . C . G u l l a r e a ll h i m ) . T h e y w r o t e o n g o i n g s e r i e s lik e t h e i r “ H o w T o ” a r t i c l e s ( “ H o w t o B e a B a r b a r i a n ,” “ H o w t o B e P s y c h o ,” “ H o w t o B e a C u l t ” ) , t h e i r “A D a y i n t h e L i f e o f . . .” ( “A D a y i n t h e L if e o f S p o c k : V u l c a n C o n f e s s i o n s ,” “A D a y i n t h e L i f e o f a M a n w i t h N o N a m e ,” “A D a y i n t h e L i f e o f E m m a n u e l ” — i t w a s a m e n ’s m a g a f t e r a l l ) , a n d fa k e i n t e r v i e w s w i t h f a k e p e o p l e a b o u t e d u c a t i o n , o r r e l i g i o n , o r m a k i n g f ilm s . O r S a n t a . “M y in f l u e n c e s f o r t h i s s t u f f w e r e t h i n g s lik e M a d m a g a z i n e ,” s a y s N e w m a n . “ I r e m e m b e r w e h a d a l o t o f t h e p a p e r b a c k s a n d c o l l e c t i o n s o f t h a t , a n d w e ’d a ll r e a d t h o s e u n t i l t h e y fe ll a p a r t . A n d w e w o u l d a l s o s i t a r o u n d a n d w a t c h S gt. B i l k o a lo t.” A r t i c l e s w o u l d e a r n t h e m c o l l e c t i v e l y a b o u t £ 2 0 0 t o £ 2 5 0 a p o p , b u t t h e y c o u l d n ’t g e t K n a v e t o c u t t h r e e c h e c k s . In o r d e r t o g e t a r o u n d t h e m e s s i n e s s o f d i v v y i n g o u t

th e m o n e y , th e tr io g o t th e m s e lv e s a jo in t b a n k a c c o u n t in to w h ic h th e y w o u ld p o o l

aBOve aND o p p o site: 7ft e M ise r y o f S ex , a book that never happened. Notes and typed outline by Eugene Byrne.

t h e m o n e y a n d t h e n d o l e i t o u t o n a q u a r t e r l y b a s i s . G a i m a n a n d N e w m a n s till g e t a t r e a s u r e r ’s r e p o r t f r o m B y r n e , t h e c u s t o d i a n o f w h a t t h e y c a l l e d T h e P e a c e a n d L o v e C o r p o r a t i o n . “W e h a v e n ’t s e e n e a c h o t h e r f o r y e a r s , a l t h o u g h t h e b a n k a c c o u n t s till e x is ts , a n d c o n ta in s s e v e r a l p o u n d s , a n d E u g e n e , as c u s to d ia n o f t h e a c c o u n t , e m a ils u s b o t h e v e r y y e a r a n d l e t s u s k n o w t h a t i t ’s s t ill t h e r e . O u r c u r r e n t p l a n i n v o l v e s n o t e v e r ta k in g a n y th in g o u t o f th e b a n k a c c o u n t a n d th e n , u s in g th e m ir a c le o f c o m p o u n d in te r e s t, in s e v e r a l t h o u s a n d y e a r s ’ tim e o w n in g th e g a la x y , b e f o r e b e in g w ip e d o u t in th e s to c k m a r k e t c r a s h o f O c to b e r 3 7 1 9 .” P e a c e a n d L o v e e x i s t e d o n l y o n w e e k e n d s . “ E u g e n e w o u l d h a v e c o m e u p f r o m B r i s t o l ,” s a y s N e il. “A n d P h i l N u t m a n , o r S t e f a n J a w o r z y n . W h a t e v e r c o m b i n a t i o n o f u s w a s t h e r e . W e ’d g e t t o g e t h e r , w e ’d d o a w e e k e n d , a n d w e w o u l d r o u g h o u t a d o z e n a r t i c l e s o r d o a m u s i c a l o r w h a t e v e r . T h e y w e r e a lw a y s d o n e in t h e s e m a d t h i r t y - s i x h o u r b e n d e r s w h e r e y o u w o r k u n t i l y o u c a n ’t t h i n k a n y m o r e , g o o u t f o r a p i z z a , d r i n k c h e a p w h i t e w i n e , a n d e a t p â t é , a n d a t s o m e p o i n t t h e r e a r e fiv e o f y o u s i t t i n g o n t h e f l o o r a n d g o i n g t o s le e p w h e r e v e r t h e r e a r e c u s h i o n s a n d b l a n k e t s . A n d t h e n y o u g e t u p t h e n e x t m o r n i n g

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

45 f

peace aND love exISted onLy w on eek eN D S O

n

t o p

ro p e d th e

in

o f

t h

a fe w

r e s t o f th e

W

e

c o u N tle s s

frie n d s

to

iN te rv ie w s

c o lla b o r a te

o n

H e d i d , G a s im a N m

a te r ia l to

a ls o

f ill o u t

m a g a z iN e .

ith K im N e w m a n , w h o m h e h a d m e t a t a B ritis h F a n ta s y S o c ie ty o p e n n ig h t, a n d E u g e n e B y rn e , w h o w e n t to s c h o o l w ith N e w m a n , G a im a n w r o te fu n n y a r t i c l e s a n d s h o r t f i c t i o n o c c a s i o n a l l y u n d e r p s e u d o n y m s s o i t d i d n ’t l o o k

lik e o n e g u y w a s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e w h o l e m a g a z i n e ( G e r r y M u s g r a v e , R i c h a r d G r e y , a n d W . C . G u l l a r e a ll h i m ) . T h e y w r o t e o n g o i n g s e r i e s lik e t h e i r “ H o w T o ” a r t i c l e s ( “ H o w t o B e a B a r b a r i a n ,” “ H o w t o B e P s y c h o ,” “ H o w t o B e a C u l t ” ) , t h e i r “A D a y i n t h e L i f e o f . . .” ( “A D a y i n t h e L if e o f S p o c k : V u l c a n C o n f e s s i o n s ,” “A D a y i n t h e L i f e o f a M a n w i t h N o N a m e ,” “A D a y i n t h e L i f e o f E m m a n u e l ” — i t w a s a m e n ’s m a g a f t e r a l l ) , a n d fa k e i n t e r v i e w s w i t h f a k e p e o p l e a b o u t e d u c a t i o n , o r r e l i g i o n , o r m a k i n g f ilm s . O r S a n t a . “M y in f l u e n c e s f o r t h i s s t u f f w e r e t h i n g s lik e M a d m a g a z i n e ,” s a y s N e w m a n . “ I r e m e m b e r w e h a d a l o t o f t h e p a p e r b a c k s a n d c o l l e c t i o n s o f t h a t , a n d w e ’d a ll r e a d t h o s e u n t i l t h e y fe ll a p a r t . A n d w e w o u l d a l s o s i t a r o u n d a n d w a t c h S gt. B i l k o a lo t.” A r t i c l e s w o u l d e a r n t h e m c o l l e c t i v e l y a b o u t £ 2 0 0 t o £ 2 5 0 a p o p , b u t t h e y c o u l d n ’t g e t K n a v e t o c u t t h r e e c h e c k s . In o r d e r t o g e t a r o u n d t h e m e s s i n e s s o f d i v v y i n g o u t

th e m o n e y , th e tr io g o t th e m s e lv e s a jo in t b a n k a c c o u n t in to w h ic h th e y w o u ld p o o l

aBOve aND o p p o site: 7ft e M ise r y o f S ex , a book that never happened. Notes and typed outline by Eugene Byrne.

t h e m o n e y a n d t h e n d o l e i t o u t o n a q u a r t e r l y b a s i s . G a i m a n a n d N e w m a n s till g e t a t r e a s u r e r ’s r e p o r t f r o m B y r n e , t h e c u s t o d i a n o f w h a t t h e y c a l l e d T h e P e a c e a n d L o v e C o r p o r a t i o n . “W e h a v e n ’t s e e n e a c h o t h e r f o r y e a r s , a l t h o u g h t h e b a n k a c c o u n t s till e x is ts , a n d c o n ta in s s e v e r a l p o u n d s , a n d E u g e n e , as c u s to d ia n o f t h e a c c o u n t , e m a ils u s b o t h e v e r y y e a r a n d l e t s u s k n o w t h a t i t ’s s t ill t h e r e . O u r c u r r e n t p l a n i n v o l v e s n o t e v e r ta k in g a n y th in g o u t o f th e b a n k a c c o u n t a n d th e n , u s in g th e m ir a c le o f c o m p o u n d in te r e s t, in s e v e r a l t h o u s a n d y e a r s ’ tim e o w n in g th e g a la x y , b e f o r e b e in g w ip e d o u t in th e s to c k m a r k e t c r a s h o f O c to b e r 3 7 1 9 .” P e a c e a n d L o v e e x i s t e d o n l y o n w e e k e n d s . “ E u g e n e w o u l d h a v e c o m e u p f r o m B r i s t o l ,” s a y s N e il. “A n d P h i l N u t m a n , o r S t e f a n J a w o r z y n . W h a t e v e r c o m b i n a t i o n o f u s w a s t h e r e . W e ’d g e t t o g e t h e r , w e ’d d o a w e e k e n d , a n d w e w o u l d r o u g h o u t a d o z e n a r t i c l e s o r d o a m u s i c a l o r w h a t e v e r . T h e y w e r e a lw a y s d o n e in t h e s e m a d t h i r t y - s i x h o u r b e n d e r s w h e r e y o u w o r k u n t i l y o u c a n ’t t h i n k a n y m o r e , g o o u t f o r a p i z z a , d r i n k c h e a p w h i t e w i n e , a n d e a t p â t é , a n d a t s o m e p o i n t t h e r e a r e fiv e o f y o u s i t t i n g o n t h e f l o o r a n d g o i n g t o s le e p w h e r e v e r t h e r e a r e c u s h i o n s a n d b l a n k e t s . A n d t h e n y o u g e t u p t h e n e x t m o r n i n g

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

45 f

m em ber

P h il

N u tm a n

fo r

som e

lo w -

b u d g e t h o r r o r m o v ie id e a s o f w h ic h h e , N e w m a n , G a i m a n , a n d S te f a n J a w o r z y n d u ly d e liv e re d fo u r. N o m o v ie s w e r e m a d e so N e w m a n p ic k e d th e m b a c k u p a n d — f ig u rin g h e w o u ld r a t h e r h a v e a p u b lis h e d n o v e l th a n

an u n p ro d u c e d sc re e n p la y —

tu r n e d B a d D r e a m s in to h is s e c o n d n o v e l, w h ile B l o o d y S t u d e n ts b e c a m e a b o o k c a lle d

O r g y o f t h e B l o o d P a r a s it e s . “C o n s e q u e n t l y , I ’m s u r e N e i l , S t e p h a n , a n d P h i l c o u l d l o o k at th a t

novel

and

sa y w h ich

b its

th e y

w r o t e " h e say s.

N eil jm ight Say th a t I discovered him·

L o ts o f th e s e n o te s , a lo n g w ith s m a ll la k e s o f c o r r e c t i o n f lu id a n d l e t t e r s f r o m G a i m a n a p o l o g i z i n g f o r b e i n g l a t e , a r e in a r i n g b i n d e r in N e w m a n ’s h o u s e , n e x t t o th e s c r ip t fo r th e m u s ic a l th e y w r o te ca lle d

R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R o c k R o c k R o c k f o r r e a s o n s k n o w n o n ly

I remember when N eil waS writing funny stu ff he waS

t o t h e a u t h o r s . “I n a w e e k e n d w e c o u l d a t le a s t g e t e ig h t o r te n a rtic le s fo r K n a v e

actu ally a lo t gmore ViciouS than he is in hiS funny

o u t l i n e d ,” s a y s N e w m a n , a m a n w h o c a n w r i t e a n o v e l i n t h e t i m e i t t a k e s t o t y p e it.

S tu ff now.'H ’e SeejhS to haVe yellow ed.

“ E u g e n e ’s t h e f u n n i e s t o f t h e g r o u p . H e ’s t h e l e a s t s e l f - c e n s o r i n g . A l t h o u g h a c t u a ll y , I r e m e m b e r w h e n N e il w a s w r itin g f u n n y

aBOVe: T h e C o m p le te

"I

t 46

T h e P e a c e a n d L o v e C o r p o r a tio n e x iste d

t h a n h e is i n h i s f u n n y s t u f f n o w . H e s e e m s

fo r a b o u t a y e a r a n d a h a lf, a lth o u g h th e r e

to

g e n tle ,

w a s n o d e f i n i t e e n d t o it. N e w m a n s a y s : “I t

a n d y o u d o i t a g a i n u n t i l y o u a ll r u n o u t

l o n e m a n ’s n e a r - f u t u r e s t r u g g l e t o r e t r i e v e

m a y b e i t ’s h a v i n g k i d s . A l t h o u g h h a v i n g

m u s t h a v e e n d e d s o m e t h i n g lik e m a y b e

o f s te a m , a n d th e n w h o e v e r t o o k n o te s

h is w e lfa re e n title m e n ts in th e f a c e o f a

k id s m a d e E u g e n e m o r e v i c i o u s .

(b e c a u s e

h e a r t-le s s b u re a u c r a c y . T h a t s o r t o f th in g

w e ’d

a lte rn a te

th e

n o te -ta k in g

have

m e llo w e d

and

b ecom e

1 9 8 8 , m a y b e 1 9 8 7 . T h e r e ’s a p o i n t w h e n

“N e il m ig h t s a y t h a t I d is c o v e r e d h im ,

th e m a g a z in e s ch a n g e d a n d th e y s to p p e d

p r o c e s s ) w o u ld th e n h a v e to ty p e t h e m up

w as

b u t o n l y o n a t e c h n i c a l i t y : i t ’s n o t a s i f

r u n n in g a rtic le s , a lth o u g h w e c a r r ie d o n

a n d t u r n i t in t o a n a r t i c l e . S o t h e o n e s t h a t

B y rn e . T h e y p la n n e d a v id e o g a m e b a s e d

h e ’d b e e n

w o rk in g fo r a m a g a z in e ca lle d T h e T ru th ,

I r e m e m b e r r e a lly w e ll a re a n y th in g t h a t I

on

y e a rs a n d I p lu ck e d h im f r o m

h a d to t y p e u p .”

r e s e m b la n c e to

sa tiric a l b a c k

th e

novel

in

th a t

th e

e ig h tie s ”

a c tu a lly

says

has

no

t h e n o v e l , in w h i c h

th e

w a ilin g in

th e w ild e rn e s s fo r o b s c u rity .

H e w o u ld h a v e b e e n d is c o v e r e d a n y w ay ,

w h i c h d i d q u i t e s i m i l a r s tu ff . W h e n

The

T r u th c e a s e d p u b l i c a t i o n a s a m a g a z i n e a ll

p la y e r h a s to fin d o u t w h o th e y a re b e f o re

s o o n e r ra th e r th a n

o f th e

o u r m a rk e ts fo r th is s o r t o f stu ff h a d g o n e .

th e y p re m a tu re ly e x p lo d e . B ritis h h o r r o r

t a l e n t . B u t t h e f u n n y t h i n g is , h e c o u l d n ’t

W e d i d n ’t c a r r y o n , a l t h o u g h n o t i o n a l l y

s e v e r a l n o v e ls n o o n e w o u ld b u y , in c lu d in g

film

h a v e s e n t stu ff to a n e d ito r th a t w a s b e tte r

s o m e o f t h e f ilm p r o j e c t s w e r e s t i l l a c t i v e

o n e c a l l e d N e u t r in o J u n c t i o n , “a b o u t o n e

o c c a s io n a l P e a c e

p l a c e d t o p u b l i s h i t t h a n w h e n h e d id .”

b u t n o th in g e v e r h a p p e n e d w ith th e m .

T h e t h i n g t h e y m o s t l y d id w h e n t h e y

G u id e to B lo o d y E v ery th in g ,

another book that never happened. Typed by Eugene, the first of the bunch to get a computer.

stu ff h e w a s a c tu a lly a lo t m o r e v ic io u s

got

to g e th e r

w as

p la n .

T hey

tHe aR t o f N eil g a im a n

p la n n e d

d ire c to r

N o rm a n and

J.

W a rre n

Love

ask ed

C o rp o ra tio n

la te r b e c a u s e

CHAPTER 1 |pReLUDeS

a B O V e : Letter from Pete Tamlyn about a computer game—Tamlyn was then a freelance game designer and regular contributor to leading role-playing magazine W h it e D w a r f. Says Newman: “The computer game thing. Neil knew somebody who was sort of an innovator in computer games. And we went and had a meeting with

him and we outlined what was probably doable now, but then was probably impossible. I think it’s one of those things where the guy [not Tamlyn] was a complete crook. I remember I mentioned I had an agent and he literally went white in the meeting, and I thought: This isn’t going to happen.”

47 t

m em ber

P h il

N u tm a n

fo r

som e

lo w -

b u d g e t h o r r o r m o v ie id e a s o f w h ic h h e , N e w m a n , G a i m a n , a n d S te f a n J a w o r z y n d u ly d e liv e re d fo u r. N o m o v ie s w e r e m a d e so N e w m a n p ic k e d th e m b a c k u p a n d — f ig u rin g h e w o u ld r a t h e r h a v e a p u b lis h e d n o v e l th a n

an u n p ro d u c e d sc re e n p la y —

tu r n e d B a d D r e a m s in to h is s e c o n d n o v e l, w h ile B l o o d y S t u d e n ts b e c a m e a b o o k c a lle d

O r g y o f t h e B l o o d P a r a s it e s . “C o n s e q u e n t l y , I ’m s u r e N e i l , S t e p h a n , a n d P h i l c o u l d l o o k at th a t

novel

and

sa y w h ich

b its

th e y

w r o t e " h e say s.

N eil jm ight Say th a t I discovered him·

L o ts o f th e s e n o te s , a lo n g w ith s m a ll la k e s o f c o r r e c t i o n f lu id a n d l e t t e r s f r o m G a i m a n a p o l o g i z i n g f o r b e i n g l a t e , a r e in a r i n g b i n d e r in N e w m a n ’s h o u s e , n e x t t o th e s c r ip t fo r th e m u s ic a l th e y w r o te ca lle d

R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R ock R o c k R o c k R o c k f o r r e a s o n s k n o w n o n ly

I remember when N eil waS writing funny stu ff he waS

t o t h e a u t h o r s . “I n a w e e k e n d w e c o u l d a t le a s t g e t e ig h t o r te n a rtic le s fo r K n a v e

actu ally a lo t gmore ViciouS than he is in hiS funny

o u t l i n e d ,” s a y s N e w m a n , a m a n w h o c a n w r i t e a n o v e l i n t h e t i m e i t t a k e s t o t y p e it.

S tu ff now.'H ’e SeejhS to haVe yellow ed.

“ E u g e n e ’s t h e f u n n i e s t o f t h e g r o u p . H e ’s t h e l e a s t s e l f - c e n s o r i n g . A l t h o u g h a c t u a ll y , I r e m e m b e r w h e n N e il w a s w r itin g f u n n y

aBOVe: T h e C o m p le te

"I

t 46

T h e P e a c e a n d L o v e C o r p o r a tio n e x iste d

t h a n h e is i n h i s f u n n y s t u f f n o w . H e s e e m s

fo r a b o u t a y e a r a n d a h a lf, a lth o u g h th e r e

to

g e n tle ,

w a s n o d e f i n i t e e n d t o it. N e w m a n s a y s : “I t

a n d y o u d o i t a g a i n u n t i l y o u a ll r u n o u t

l o n e m a n ’s n e a r - f u t u r e s t r u g g l e t o r e t r i e v e

m a y b e i t ’s h a v i n g k i d s . A l t h o u g h h a v i n g

m u s t h a v e e n d e d s o m e t h i n g lik e m a y b e

o f s te a m , a n d th e n w h o e v e r t o o k n o te s

h is w e lfa re e n title m e n ts in th e f a c e o f a

k id s m a d e E u g e n e m o r e v i c i o u s .

(b e c a u s e

h e a r t-le s s b u re a u c r a c y . T h a t s o r t o f th in g

w e ’d

a lte rn a te

th e

n o te -ta k in g

have

m e llo w e d

and

b ecom e

1 9 8 8 , m a y b e 1 9 8 7 . T h e r e ’s a p o i n t w h e n

“N e il m ig h t s a y t h a t I d is c o v e r e d h im ,

th e m a g a z in e s ch a n g e d a n d th e y s to p p e d

p r o c e s s ) w o u ld th e n h a v e to ty p e t h e m up

w as

b u t o n l y o n a t e c h n i c a l i t y : i t ’s n o t a s i f

r u n n in g a rtic le s , a lth o u g h w e c a r r ie d o n

a n d t u r n i t in t o a n a r t i c l e . S o t h e o n e s t h a t

B y rn e . T h e y p la n n e d a v id e o g a m e b a s e d

h e ’d b e e n

w o rk in g fo r a m a g a z in e ca lle d T h e T ru th ,

I r e m e m b e r r e a lly w e ll a re a n y th in g t h a t I

on

y e a rs a n d I p lu ck e d h im f r o m

h a d to t y p e u p .”

r e s e m b la n c e to

sa tiric a l b a c k

th e

novel

in

th a t

th e

e ig h tie s ”

a c tu a lly

says

has

no

t h e n o v e l , in w h i c h

th e

w a ilin g in

th e w ild e rn e s s fo r o b s c u rity .

H e w o u ld h a v e b e e n d is c o v e r e d a n y w ay ,

w h i c h d i d q u i t e s i m i l a r s tu ff . W h e n

The

T r u th c e a s e d p u b l i c a t i o n a s a m a g a z i n e a ll

p la y e r h a s to fin d o u t w h o th e y a re b e f o re

s o o n e r ra th e r th a n

o f th e

o u r m a rk e ts fo r th is s o r t o f stu ff h a d g o n e .

th e y p re m a tu re ly e x p lo d e . B ritis h h o r r o r

t a l e n t . B u t t h e f u n n y t h i n g is , h e c o u l d n ’t

W e d i d n ’t c a r r y o n , a l t h o u g h n o t i o n a l l y

s e v e r a l n o v e ls n o o n e w o u ld b u y , in c lu d in g

film

h a v e s e n t stu ff to a n e d ito r th a t w a s b e tte r

s o m e o f t h e f ilm p r o j e c t s w e r e s t i l l a c t i v e

o n e c a l l e d N e u t r in o J u n c t i o n , “a b o u t o n e

o c c a s io n a l P e a c e

p l a c e d t o p u b l i s h i t t h a n w h e n h e d id .”

b u t n o th in g e v e r h a p p e n e d w ith th e m .

T h e t h i n g t h e y m o s t l y d id w h e n t h e y

G u id e to B lo o d y E v ery th in g ,

another book that never happened. Typed by Eugene, the first of the bunch to get a computer.

stu ff h e w a s a c tu a lly a lo t m o r e v ic io u s

got

to g e th e r

w as

p la n .

T hey

tHe aR t o f N eil g a im a n

p la n n e d

d ire c to r

N o rm a n and

J.

W a rre n

Love

ask ed

C o rp o ra tio n

la te r b e c a u s e

CHAPTER 1 |pReLUDeS

a B O V e : Letter from Pete Tamlyn about a computer game—Tamlyn was then a freelance game designer and regular contributor to leading role-playing magazine W h it e D w a r f. Says Newman: “The computer game thing. Neil knew somebody who was sort of an innovator in computer games. And we went and had a meeting with

him and we outlined what was probably doable now, but then was probably impossible. I think it’s one of those things where the guy [not Tamlyn] was a complete crook. I remember I mentioned I had an agent and he literally went white in the meeting, and I thought: This isn’t going to happen.”

47 t

“We kept trying to put together sort of a humor book, because they were quite popular in the eighties. And we even had some meetings about them, and for one reason or another we never sold it. It may well be that we weren’t as funny as we thought we were. I remember we wanted to do a book, and we were really annoyed because somebody later used our title, How to Lose Friends and Irritate People. But again, nobody bought it. So that’s another thing that’s not on

"f

Ity m o y w e ll be t h a t we w e re n t aS f u n y aS we th o u g h t we were.

our resumes.” ❖

C H apteR 1 |pReLuDes

o p p o s i t e : A bit of The Creeps by Neil. He says the dialogue is taken straight from the Knave offices. “I’ve toned it down a lot, otherwise you’d never believe it . . ”

aBOVe: The Smedley Diaries. Kim Newman has no m em ory of this. “I don’t know what it was about, I don’t know if it would have been any good. Brian Smedley was this guy who was at school with me and Eugene so we used the name Smedley a lot in things. And you know what? He didn’t think it was very funny. Particularly when it was in porn magazines. But that made us do it m ore”

49 t

“We kept trying to put together sort of a humor book, because they were quite popular in the eighties. And we even had some meetings about them, and for one reason or another we never sold it. It may well be that we weren’t as funny as we thought we were. I remember we wanted to do a book, and we were really annoyed because somebody later used our title, How to Lose Friends and Irritate People. But again, nobody bought it. So that’s another thing that’s not on

"f

Ity m o y w e ll be t h a t we w e re n t aS f u n y aS we th o u g h t we were.

our resumes.” ❖

C H apteR 1 |pReLuDes

o p p o s i t e : A bit of The Creeps by Neil. He says the dialogue is taken straight from the Knave offices. “I’ve toned it down a lot, otherwise you’d never believe it . . ”

aBOVe: The Smedley Diaries. Kim Newman has no m em ory of this. “I don’t know what it was about, I don’t know if it would have been any good. Brian Smedley was this guy who was at school with me and Eugene so we used the name Smedley a lot in things. And you know what? He didn’t think it was very funny. Particularly when it was in porn magazines. But that made us do it m ore”

49 t

I lik e d

lik e d

d o in g

d o in g

lo n g

B u t I w ound

tHe eND o f p ea ce and LoVe

c c

A

I

and

w as a

h a d e v e r o f f e r e d m e a r e a l jo b t h a t w o u l d

v a g u e ly in c r e d u lo u s p a u s e o n m y s id e

c o m m i t s u ic id e .” T h e r e

h a v e c o m e w ith a p a y c h e c k a n d e v e ry th in g .

a n d I s a id ,

B u t I t h o u g h t t h e r e ’s th is t h i n g t h a t I’m

“W ell,

n o ! ” T h e y s a id ,

“W h y n o t ? ” I s a id , “W ell, b e c a u s e I ’m

g o in g f o r — I re a lly w a n t to b e a w rite r, I

l a n c e r w o r k i n g f o r m o s t o f t h e b ig

n o t w o r k in g f o r y o u a n y m o r e ,” a n d I

w a n t to w r ite b o o k s , I w a n t to w r ite c o m ic s .

L o n d o n n e w s p a p e r s , a n d I w a s te r r ib le .

h u n g u p t h e p h o n e . T h a t w a s r e a lly

If I go

I w a s r e a l l y a p p a l lin g . A n d I u s e d to

h o w I q u it jo u r n a lis m . I a c tu a lly h a v e

P e n t h o u s e t h e r e is a c a r e e r a r c f r o m th e r e .”

g e t r e a l l y u p s e t w h e n p e o p l e w o u ld

m o r e r e s p e c t , s t r a n g e ly e n o u g h , f o r

H e tu r n e d it d o w n .

r e w r i t e m y s tu ff. I r e m e m b e r I o n c e

A m e r ic a n jo u r n a lis m , th a n I d o f o r

“T h e a m a z in g th in g w a s th a t w ith in

d i d a n i n t e r v i e w w it h t w o l a d y c o m ­

E n g lis h jo u r n a l i s m . A m e r i c a n j o u r n a l ­

f o u r o r f iv e m o n t h s o f h a v i n g g o n e ‘R i g h t ,

e d ia n s — a c tu a lly

one

o f th e m

and

b ecom e

fe a tu re s

e d ito r

on

w as

is m t e n d s to b e m o r e b a la n c e d , p o s s ib ly

t h a t ’s i t — a s o f t o m o r r o w I a m a f r e e l a n c e

D aw n

b e c a u s e th e y k n o w th a t i f th e y g o to o

j o u r n a l i s t ,’ I h a d t w o

t h o u g h t t h e y w e r e r e a lly

f a r o v e r b o a r d , s o m e b o d y is g o i n g to

g r e a t a n d w e r e a lly g o t on . I ty p e d up

b e s u in g t h e m f o r m illi o n s o f d o lla r s .

a n d h a v in g n e v e r w r itte n a n y th in g lo n g e r

t h e in t e r v ie w , a n d w h e n I s a w it in

W h e r e a s E n g lis h j o u r n a l i s m s e e m s to

th a n

p r in t,

be

ty p in g

W ax

th e h e a d lin e w a s

and

“W ill T w o

d e s ig n e d

to

sen d

c o n tr a c ts to w rite

tw o b o o k s , h a v in g n e v e r w r itte n a b o o k

o th e r p e o p le s

a

3 ,0 0 0 -w o r d out

th e

a rtic le .

w o rd s:

I rem em b er

‘D o n ’t

le t

your

M a n - E a t i n g F e m in i s t s M a k e M i n c e ­

c h ild r e n h o m e in te a r s . I d i d n ’t l i k e it,

m o u t h w r i t e n o c h e c k y o u r t a i l c a n ’t c a s h .’

m e a t o f O u r R e p o r t e r ? ” I s a i d “W h a t

so I sto p p ed .

I t’s a B o D i d d l e y q u o t e . A n d I c u t i t o u t

B e fo re h e s to p p e d h e e a r n e d s o m e e x tr a

kn ew

is

th is ? ” T h e n

a b o u t tw o

or

th r ee

w e e k s la t e r I g o t a p h o n e c a l l f r o m t h e

a n d I s tu c k it to m y ty p e w r ite r, b e c a u s e I th a t I w a s p la u sib le

enough

th a t

th e y

c a s h w o r k i n g a s a s t a n d - i n e d i t o r f o r F it n e s s

s a id , “W ell, y o u a r e o u r f a n t a s y a n d

m a g a z in e w h e n th e re a l e d ito r s u d d e n ly

I h a d n o id e a w h a t I w a s d o in g . C a n

s c ie n c e fic t io n c o r r e s p o n d e n t, a n d w e

q u i t , g h o s t i n g h a l f o f o n e i s s u e o f F it n e s s so

w r i t e a b o o k ? I d o n ’t k n o w . G o t a c o n t r a c t .

n ew sp ap er,

c a lle d T o d ay , a n d

p e o p le

w ere

g iv in g

me

c o n tra cts.

And I

w a n t y o u to d o a p i e c e o n D u n g e o n s

e x p e r t l y h e c a n ’t e v e n te ll w h i c h b its a r e h is .

My

a n d D r a g o n s . N o w w h a t w e w a n t is

W h e n h e w a s o f f e r e d a p e r m a n e n t j o b as

m o u t h w r itin g c h e c k s a n d m y ta il h a v in g

e d ito r o n P e n th o u s e , h e h a d

a n a r t ic le s h o w in g h o w it d r iv e s p e o p l e

fe a tu re s

m a d a n d m a k e s t h e m u s e b l a c k m a g ic

t h i n k a b o u t it. “ I t w a s t h e f i r s t t i m e a n y b o d y

to

e n tire

career

has

co n s iste d

of m y

to fig u re o u t h o w to c a s h t h e m ” ( L o c u s

O n l in e , 2 0 0 5 ) . ❖

" T ' h a t w a s g r e a t w a s i t w a s n ’t s c i e n c e f i c t i o n /f a n t a s y , i t w a s a m i x t u r e .

% / % / T

and

p ie c e s .

n e w s p a p e r jo u r n a lis m . I w a s a f r e e ­

F ren ch . I

me gooD as a wRiteR (i wouLd poiNt to mayBe HaLf a DOzeN key tHiNgs), oNe wouLd Be CHRistopHeR LLoyD—wHo was tHe eDitoR o f f i e s t a aND aLso, UNDeR tHe Name of m. j . DRUitt, kNave’s Book RevieweR—DeciDiNg He was sick of ReviewiNg Books aND askiNg if i wouLd Like tHe Book Review coLumN.

m a g a z in e

u p d r ift in g o v e r in to

A m e r ic a n — R u b y

“LooklNg Back ON kNave IN teRms of tHiNgs tHat did

in t e r v ie w s ,

▼

S u d d e n ly I w a s g e t t i n g e v e r y p u b l i s h i n g c a t a l o g u e a n d j u s t g o i n g t h r o u g h th e m w ith o u t a n y re g a rd fo r g e n re , w ith o u t a n y re g a rd fo r fictio n o r

n o n f i c t i o n , j u s t g o i n g o h , t h a t lo o k s i n t e r e s t i n g , I ’ll o r d e r t h i s , I’ll o r d e r t h a t . T h e r e m i g h t b e a d e te c tiv e b o o k , a b o o k a b o u t p h o to g ra p h y , a m o v ie th in g . I w a s s im p ly a s k in g p u b lis h e rs f o r s t u f f t h a t w a s i n t e r e s t i n g .” G a im a n w o u ld r e a d a n d r e v ie w e v e ry th in g h e w a s s e n t a n d g o t a lo t o f it d o n e o n th e t h r e e - h o u r c o m m u t e i n t o L o n d o n f r o m S u s s e x , a v e r a g i n g t w o o r t h r e e b o o k s a d a y . “S o I w o u n d u p s p e n d in g th r e e o r f o u r y e a rs r e a d in g c o n tin u a lly a n d so lid ly o u ts id e o f m y c o m f o r t z o n e , a n d o u t s i d e o f w h a t I t h o u g h t o f a s m y i n t e r e s t s .” K im N e w m a n , w h o w a s a lr e a d y a p ro lific r e v ie w e r a n d o n t h e p re s s lis t f o r a n y film s c r e e n i n g g o i n g , a ls o w a n g l e d i n v i t e s f o r G a i m a n , w h i c h p r o v i d e d G a i m a n w i t h a n o t h e r th in g to w rite a b o u t. F r o m

a b o u t th e e n d o f 1 9 8 3 G a im a n sa w a n d re v ie w e d e v e ry

f ilm t h a t c a m e o u t f o r P e n t h o u s e . “ T h e n t h e r e w a s t h i s h o r r i b l e p o i n t i n 1 9 8 7 w h e r e I r e m e m b e r th in k in g : H o w m a n y film s h a v e I s e e n as a f ilm r e v ie w e r in th e la s t f o u r y e a rs ? H o w m a n y o f t h e m l e f t m y life i m m e a s u r a b l y e n h a n c e d ? A n d h o w m a n y o f t h o s e f ilm s w o u l d I n o t h a v e s e e n n a t u r a l l y , t h a t I ’m s o g r a t e f u l I s a w t h e m b e c a u s e I w a s e x p o s e d t o s o m e t h i n g I ’d n e v e r h a v e s e e n ? M a y b e B r a z i l. I m i g h t n o t h a v e s e e n B r a z i l. D e f i n i t e l y w o u l d n ’t h a v e s e e n P u m p i n g I r o n 2 : T h e W o m e n . A n d I t h o u g h t : t w o f ilm s is n o t e n o u g h ,

Ppposite o aND aBove:

# ' ' .

Two-page comic Neil wrote and drew for the ' Chicago Comicon 1994 ashcan called “Harlan & * . Me," plus design sketches for the comic.

t 50

I t h i n k I ’m d o n e . S o I s t o p p e d . I l e t e v e r y b o d y k n o w I w a s n ’t f i l m r e v i e w i n g a n y m o r e a n d w a s ju s t g ra te fu l to g e t m y tim e b a c k . I g o t f o u rte e n e x tr a h o u rs a w e e k ” E l s e w h e r e , G a i m a n ’s j o u r n a l i s m a p p e a r e d i n S p a c e V o y a g e r , R e f l e x , A m e r i c a n F a n t a s y ,

F a n ta s y E m p ir e , th e B F S [B ritish F a n ta s y S o c ie ty ] J o u r n a ls , T he C o m ic s Jo u r n a l, T o d a y , P u b l i s h i n g N e w s , a n d o c c a s i o n a l K n a v e - c o l l a b o r a t o r S t e f a n J a w o r z y n ’s u n d e r g r o u n d h o r r o r f a n z i n e , S h o c k X p r e s s . I n a n i n t e r v i e w w i t h A l e x A m a d o , G a i m a n s a id :

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CH apteR 1 |pReLuDes

51 t

I lik e d

lik e d

d o in g

d o in g

lo n g

B u t I w ound

tHe eND o f p ea ce and LoVe

c c

A

I

and

w as a

h a d e v e r o f f e r e d m e a r e a l jo b t h a t w o u l d

v a g u e ly in c r e d u lo u s p a u s e o n m y s id e

c o m m i t s u ic id e .” T h e r e

h a v e c o m e w ith a p a y c h e c k a n d e v e ry th in g .

a n d I s a id ,

B u t I t h o u g h t t h e r e ’s th is t h i n g t h a t I’m

“W ell,

n o ! ” T h e y s a id ,

“W h y n o t ? ” I s a id , “W ell, b e c a u s e I ’m

g o in g f o r — I re a lly w a n t to b e a w rite r, I

l a n c e r w o r k i n g f o r m o s t o f t h e b ig

n o t w o r k in g f o r y o u a n y m o r e ,” a n d I

w a n t to w r ite b o o k s , I w a n t to w r ite c o m ic s .

L o n d o n n e w s p a p e r s , a n d I w a s te r r ib le .

h u n g u p t h e p h o n e . T h a t w a s r e a lly

If I go

I w a s r e a l l y a p p a l lin g . A n d I u s e d to

h o w I q u it jo u r n a lis m . I a c tu a lly h a v e

P e n t h o u s e t h e r e is a c a r e e r a r c f r o m th e r e .”

g e t r e a l l y u p s e t w h e n p e o p l e w o u ld

m o r e r e s p e c t , s t r a n g e ly e n o u g h , f o r

H e tu r n e d it d o w n .

r e w r i t e m y s tu ff. I r e m e m b e r I o n c e

A m e r ic a n jo u r n a lis m , th a n I d o f o r

“T h e a m a z in g th in g w a s th a t w ith in

d i d a n i n t e r v i e w w it h t w o l a d y c o m ­

E n g lis h jo u r n a l i s m . A m e r i c a n j o u r n a l ­

f o u r o r f iv e m o n t h s o f h a v i n g g o n e ‘R i g h t ,

e d ia n s — a c tu a lly

one

o f th e m

and

b ecom e

fe a tu re s

e d ito r

on

w as

is m t e n d s to b e m o r e b a la n c e d , p o s s ib ly

t h a t ’s i t — a s o f t o m o r r o w I a m a f r e e l a n c e

D aw n

b e c a u s e th e y k n o w th a t i f th e y g o to o

j o u r n a l i s t ,’ I h a d t w o

t h o u g h t t h e y w e r e r e a lly

f a r o v e r b o a r d , s o m e b o d y is g o i n g to

g r e a t a n d w e r e a lly g o t on . I ty p e d up

b e s u in g t h e m f o r m illi o n s o f d o lla r s .

a n d h a v in g n e v e r w r itte n a n y th in g lo n g e r

t h e in t e r v ie w , a n d w h e n I s a w it in

W h e r e a s E n g lis h j o u r n a l i s m s e e m s to

th a n

p r in t,

be

ty p in g

W ax

th e h e a d lin e w a s

and

“W ill T w o

d e s ig n e d

to

sen d

c o n tr a c ts to w rite

tw o b o o k s , h a v in g n e v e r w r itte n a b o o k

o th e r p e o p le s

a

3 ,0 0 0 -w o r d out

th e

a rtic le .

w o rd s:

I rem em b er

‘D o n ’t

le t

your

M a n - E a t i n g F e m in i s t s M a k e M i n c e ­

c h ild r e n h o m e in te a r s . I d i d n ’t l i k e it,

m o u t h w r i t e n o c h e c k y o u r t a i l c a n ’t c a s h .’

m e a t o f O u r R e p o r t e r ? ” I s a i d “W h a t

so I sto p p ed .

I t’s a B o D i d d l e y q u o t e . A n d I c u t i t o u t

B e fo re h e s to p p e d h e e a r n e d s o m e e x tr a

kn ew

is

th is ? ” T h e n

a b o u t tw o

or

th r ee

w e e k s la t e r I g o t a p h o n e c a l l f r o m t h e

a n d I s tu c k it to m y ty p e w r ite r, b e c a u s e I th a t I w a s p la u sib le

enough

th a t

th e y

c a s h w o r k i n g a s a s t a n d - i n e d i t o r f o r F it n e s s

s a id , “W ell, y o u a r e o u r f a n t a s y a n d

m a g a z in e w h e n th e re a l e d ito r s u d d e n ly

I h a d n o id e a w h a t I w a s d o in g . C a n

s c ie n c e fic t io n c o r r e s p o n d e n t, a n d w e

q u i t , g h o s t i n g h a l f o f o n e i s s u e o f F it n e s s so

w r i t e a b o o k ? I d o n ’t k n o w . G o t a c o n t r a c t .

n ew sp ap er,

c a lle d T o d ay , a n d

p e o p le

w ere

g iv in g

me

c o n tra cts.

And I

w a n t y o u to d o a p i e c e o n D u n g e o n s

e x p e r t l y h e c a n ’t e v e n te ll w h i c h b its a r e h is .

My

a n d D r a g o n s . N o w w h a t w e w a n t is

W h e n h e w a s o f f e r e d a p e r m a n e n t j o b as

m o u t h w r itin g c h e c k s a n d m y ta il h a v in g

e d ito r o n P e n th o u s e , h e h a d

a n a r t ic le s h o w in g h o w it d r iv e s p e o p l e

fe a tu re s

m a d a n d m a k e s t h e m u s e b l a c k m a g ic

t h i n k a b o u t it. “ I t w a s t h e f i r s t t i m e a n y b o d y

to

e n tire

career

has

co n s iste d

of m y

to fig u re o u t h o w to c a s h t h e m ” ( L o c u s

O n l in e , 2 0 0 5 ) . ❖

" T ' h a t w a s g r e a t w a s i t w a s n ’t s c i e n c e f i c t i o n /f a n t a s y , i t w a s a m i x t u r e .

% / % / T

and

p ie c e s .

n e w s p a p e r jo u r n a lis m . I w a s a f r e e ­

F ren ch . I

me gooD as a wRiteR (i wouLd poiNt to mayBe HaLf a DOzeN key tHiNgs), oNe wouLd Be CHRistopHeR LLoyD—wHo was tHe eDitoR o f f i e s t a aND aLso, UNDeR tHe Name of m. j . DRUitt, kNave’s Book RevieweR—DeciDiNg He was sick of ReviewiNg Books aND askiNg if i wouLd Like tHe Book Review coLumN.

m a g a z in e

u p d r ift in g o v e r in to

A m e r ic a n — R u b y

“LooklNg Back ON kNave IN teRms of tHiNgs tHat did

in t e r v ie w s ,

▼

S u d d e n ly I w a s g e t t i n g e v e r y p u b l i s h i n g c a t a l o g u e a n d j u s t g o i n g t h r o u g h th e m w ith o u t a n y re g a rd fo r g e n re , w ith o u t a n y re g a rd fo r fictio n o r

n o n f i c t i o n , j u s t g o i n g o h , t h a t lo o k s i n t e r e s t i n g , I ’ll o r d e r t h i s , I’ll o r d e r t h a t . T h e r e m i g h t b e a d e te c tiv e b o o k , a b o o k a b o u t p h o to g ra p h y , a m o v ie th in g . I w a s s im p ly a s k in g p u b lis h e rs f o r s t u f f t h a t w a s i n t e r e s t i n g .” G a im a n w o u ld r e a d a n d r e v ie w e v e ry th in g h e w a s s e n t a n d g o t a lo t o f it d o n e o n th e t h r e e - h o u r c o m m u t e i n t o L o n d o n f r o m S u s s e x , a v e r a g i n g t w o o r t h r e e b o o k s a d a y . “S o I w o u n d u p s p e n d in g th r e e o r f o u r y e a rs r e a d in g c o n tin u a lly a n d so lid ly o u ts id e o f m y c o m f o r t z o n e , a n d o u t s i d e o f w h a t I t h o u g h t o f a s m y i n t e r e s t s .” K im N e w m a n , w h o w a s a lr e a d y a p ro lific r e v ie w e r a n d o n t h e p re s s lis t f o r a n y film s c r e e n i n g g o i n g , a ls o w a n g l e d i n v i t e s f o r G a i m a n , w h i c h p r o v i d e d G a i m a n w i t h a n o t h e r th in g to w rite a b o u t. F r o m

a b o u t th e e n d o f 1 9 8 3 G a im a n sa w a n d re v ie w e d e v e ry

f ilm t h a t c a m e o u t f o r P e n t h o u s e . “ T h e n t h e r e w a s t h i s h o r r i b l e p o i n t i n 1 9 8 7 w h e r e I r e m e m b e r th in k in g : H o w m a n y film s h a v e I s e e n as a f ilm r e v ie w e r in th e la s t f o u r y e a rs ? H o w m a n y o f t h e m l e f t m y life i m m e a s u r a b l y e n h a n c e d ? A n d h o w m a n y o f t h o s e f ilm s w o u l d I n o t h a v e s e e n n a t u r a l l y , t h a t I ’m s o g r a t e f u l I s a w t h e m b e c a u s e I w a s e x p o s e d t o s o m e t h i n g I ’d n e v e r h a v e s e e n ? M a y b e B r a z i l. I m i g h t n o t h a v e s e e n B r a z i l. D e f i n i t e l y w o u l d n ’t h a v e s e e n P u m p i n g I r o n 2 : T h e W o m e n . A n d I t h o u g h t : t w o f ilm s is n o t e n o u g h ,

Ppposite o aND aBove:

# ' ' .

Two-page comic Neil wrote and drew for the ' Chicago Comicon 1994 ashcan called “Harlan & * . Me," plus design sketches for the comic.

t 50

I t h i n k I ’m d o n e . S o I s t o p p e d . I l e t e v e r y b o d y k n o w I w a s n ’t f i l m r e v i e w i n g a n y m o r e a n d w a s ju s t g ra te fu l to g e t m y tim e b a c k . I g o t f o u rte e n e x tr a h o u rs a w e e k ” E l s e w h e r e , G a i m a n ’s j o u r n a l i s m a p p e a r e d i n S p a c e V o y a g e r , R e f l e x , A m e r i c a n F a n t a s y ,

F a n ta s y E m p ir e , th e B F S [B ritish F a n ta s y S o c ie ty ] J o u r n a ls , T he C o m ic s Jo u r n a l, T o d a y , P u b l i s h i n g N e w s , a n d o c c a s i o n a l K n a v e - c o l l a b o r a t o r S t e f a n J a w o r z y n ’s u n d e r g r o u n d h o r r o r f a n z i n e , S h o c k X p r e s s . I n a n i n t e r v i e w w i t h A l e x A m a d o , G a i m a n s a id :

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CH apteR 1 |pReLuDes

51 t

tHe fiRst sHORt stoRy Gaiman ever sold was called “Featherquest” to Imagine Magazine in 1984, but the first time he was actually proud of a published short story was “We Can Get Them for You Wholesale” that same year. “I thought: this is good, what a real short story. What a pity that nobody in the world is ever going to see it because it’s in Knave and nobody reads Knave” It’s all like Kurt Vonnegut’s character, Kilgore Trout: supposedly the greatest science-fiction writer in the world but known to nobody simply because all his work was published in pornographic magazines. While the few short stories of Gaiman’s from Knave later reappeared in collections (“We Can Get Them for You Wholesale” being one of them—it was rejected by Pemble initially until Gaiman rewrote the ending), there is one that languishes forgotten in the basements of vintage magazine shops of London’s Soho: “Manuscript Found in a Milkbottle,” published in 1985. Says Gaiman: “It’s pretty awful. There is a reason it has never been reprinted.”

f 52

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

CH apteR 1 |pReLuDes

53 f

tHe fiRst sHORt stoRy Gaiman ever sold was called “Featherquest” to Imagine Magazine in 1984, but the first time he was actually proud of a published short story was “We Can Get Them for You Wholesale” that same year. “I thought: this is good, what a real short story. What a pity that nobody in the world is ever going to see it because it’s in Knave and nobody reads Knave” It’s all like Kurt Vonnegut’s character, Kilgore Trout: supposedly the greatest science-fiction writer in the world but known to nobody simply because all his work was published in pornographic magazines. While the few short stories of Gaiman’s from Knave later reappeared in collections (“We Can Get Them for You Wholesale” being one of them—it was rejected by Pemble initially until Gaiman rewrote the ending), there is one that languishes forgotten in the basements of vintage magazine shops of London’s Soho: “Manuscript Found in a Milkbottle,” published in 1985. Says Gaiman: “It’s pretty awful. There is a reason it has never been reprinted.”

f 52

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

CH apteR 1 |pReLuDes

53 f

GHaStly BeyOND BeLIef

You could tojmpile the

worsthook in the world

fiivSSyeS'f^ojh the hett writers in the world

B U t W H a t H a p p e N S i f you pick out tHe woRSt Bits fRom tHe woRSt WRiteRS? gH astly BeyoND B elief, puBLiSHeD

apRiL 1985 aND coeDiteD By Kim NewmaN, waS a compiLatioN of guoteS fRom tHe woRSt aND moSt BizaRRe Science fictioN BookS, teLeviSioN s h o w s , aND movieS: a Book-LeNgtH tRiBute to teRRiBLe pRoSe. in

t came about when Gaiman and Newman were introduced at the British Fantasy Society by Gollancz editor Jo Fletcher, when Gaiman was just twenty-two and Newman twenty-three. Gaiman mentioned he wanted to do a collection of science-fiction/ fantasy quotations called Beam Me Up, Scotty. Newman leaped at the idea, said he’d do the film half of it, and within two days had mailed a sample chapter and outline. Gaiman in turn wrote his part and sent them both—along with a proposal—to three publishers. One of them didn’t reply, one of them said no, the other— Faith Brooker, then a very junior editor at Arrow Books, whom Gaiman had also met at the BFS—liked the idea. She took them out for lunch to discuss it. “The boys came in together with the idea, which, I believe, was to be seen as a fairly serious, completist, and, dare one say, nerdy endeavor,” says Brooker. “SF fans, as you may be aware, have a certain penchant for such things.” Over the course of their lunch it became increasingly obvious that the quotes that made them laugh worked best, so Brooker suggested they push it toward that. Obviously a book of bad science-fiction quotes needs a very particular kind of cover, so that important element was decided on before the lunch plates were cleared away. “Nobody had told me at that point that authors weren’t supposed to get involved with cover designs,” said Neil in a later interview. “So I just designed a cover on a napkin, indicating the word ‘ghastly’ had to be green, the girl has to be running away, and here’s the brain monster behind her, and we need Saturn in the sky, and a rocket ship. Brooker didn’t know authors didn’t do that either, so she gave it to an art director, who gave it to an artist

I

aBOVe: G h a stly B e y o n d B e l i e f c o v e r drafts, 1984.

The notes indicate Gaiman and Newman's requests had been registered. The very first sketch (the napkin one) never made it out of Arrows art department.

t 54

o p p o site : Cover by Alan Craddock.

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

GHaStly BeyOND BeLIef

You could tojmpile the

worsthook in the world

fiivSSyeS'f^ojh the hett writers in the world

B U t W H a t H a p p e N S i f you pick out tHe woRSt Bits fRom tHe woRSt WRiteRS? gH astly BeyoND B elief, puBLiSHeD

apRiL 1985 aND coeDiteD By Kim NewmaN, waS a compiLatioN of guoteS fRom tHe woRSt aND moSt BizaRRe Science fictioN BookS, teLeviSioN s h o w s , aND movieS: a Book-LeNgtH tRiBute to teRRiBLe pRoSe. in

t came about when Gaiman and Newman were introduced at the British Fantasy Society by Gollancz editor Jo Fletcher, when Gaiman was just twenty-two and Newman twenty-three. Gaiman mentioned he wanted to do a collection of science-fiction/ fantasy quotations called Beam Me Up, Scotty. Newman leaped at the idea, said he’d do the film half of it, and within two days had mailed a sample chapter and outline. Gaiman in turn wrote his part and sent them both—along with a proposal—to three publishers. One of them didn’t reply, one of them said no, the other— Faith Brooker, then a very junior editor at Arrow Books, whom Gaiman had also met at the BFS—liked the idea. She took them out for lunch to discuss it. “The boys came in together with the idea, which, I believe, was to be seen as a fairly serious, completist, and, dare one say, nerdy endeavor,” says Brooker. “SF fans, as you may be aware, have a certain penchant for such things.” Over the course of their lunch it became increasingly obvious that the quotes that made them laugh worked best, so Brooker suggested they push it toward that. Obviously a book of bad science-fiction quotes needs a very particular kind of cover, so that important element was decided on before the lunch plates were cleared away. “Nobody had told me at that point that authors weren’t supposed to get involved with cover designs,” said Neil in a later interview. “So I just designed a cover on a napkin, indicating the word ‘ghastly’ had to be green, the girl has to be running away, and here’s the brain monster behind her, and we need Saturn in the sky, and a rocket ship. Brooker didn’t know authors didn’t do that either, so she gave it to an art director, who gave it to an artist

I

aBOVe: G h a stly B e y o n d B e l i e f c o v e r drafts, 1984.

The notes indicate Gaiman and Newman's requests had been registered. The very first sketch (the napkin one) never made it out of Arrows art department.

t 54

o p p o site : Cover by Alan Craddock.

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

BeLow L eft: Original book proposal, December, 1983. Says Neil: “The original outline had us trying to do something slightly more serious. We wanted it to be the definitive science-fiction book of quotations. Science Fiction Fantasy Book o f Quotations

from films and books and comics and everything." Letter from Neil to Kim, December, 1983. BeLow RIgHt:

[Alan Craddock], and that’s why we got that cover" (Wagner, 2008). Legendary science-fiction writer Harry Harrison provided an introduction after being cornered one night in the Troy Club on Hanway Street, “a very small room upstairs where quite a lot of showbiz and publishing industry people would be sat around there destroying their livers. It was called the Troy Club because the woman who ran it was called Helen." Harrison wrote the introduction for nothing, which was undoubtedly an incredible boost for two nervous young writers who had so far not done all that much. As for how the book did when it made it to the shelves, it’s mysterious. Kim said that if anyone’s to blame for the lack of sales it’s probably the guys who designed the cover on a napkin in the pub and then got exactly what they asked for. Gaiman reckons there’s more to it. The numbers on the royalty statements did not quite add

up. On paper the 10,000 print run didn’t sell out, and Newman and Gaiman never earned out their advance. Arrow (who was largely uncommunicative after Faith Brooker left for fairer publishing climes) claimed to have pulped the entire run. Yet when Neil toured Australia in 1992 he found that an unlikely number of people were sliding copies of Ghastly Beyond Belief across the signing table.

By that point they’d become rare as hen’s teeth in the UK, and I said to the Australians, how do you all have these? They said they’d been in dollar shops fo r years. What Arrow had obviously done was ship all the copies o f Ghastly Beyond Belief that they were telling us that they’d pulped, and had not let us buy, at a time when people loved it, to Australia and were selling them in dollar shops. Which made me sad. I would have bought a

box. By that point they were fifty quid each, and these days they’re a hundred and fifty quid a copy. The trouble was by that point people would actually have reprinted them, only Kim and I looked at it and thought, “There are so many errors that got into this book, and it’s such an odd mish-mash o f things. . ” But I ’m just pleased somebody published it. It’s one o f those things where it might have sold better with cartoons o f bad quotes, but I don’t think it would have sold much better. It was this mad little idea o f a book o f quotes—some o f which were terrible, and some o f which were great. It was a mixture o f things that we loved, a weird book that it didn’t know what it wanted to be, but I got a lot o f things out o f it. I even got my friendship with Polly Samson, who is still, almost thirty years later, a good friend o f

mine. She was our publicist at Arrow, and I think it was her first publicity job, and this was her first book. It was everybody’s first go. ❖

" f1

i t WaS thiS m d little idea o f a book o f quoteS— Sojhe o f which were terribde, and Sojme o f which fi

wereg reat.

RIgHt aND BeLow: Ghastly Beyond Belief

royalty statement, December 1985, in which Newman and Gaiman still owe their publisher £128.28. The form cover letter comes across as ever so slightly sarcastic given what it’s attached to.

From 1985. “We got reviewed in everything" says Kim. Back then publishers used to cut out reviews and post them to you. These days you have to do your own googling. Featuring reviews by Anne Billson, Colin Greenland—people who were not their friends at the time but soon became friends. R Ig H t:

f 56

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

57 f

BeLow L eft: Original book proposal, December, 1983. Says Neil: “The original outline had us trying to do something slightly more serious. We wanted it to be the definitive science-fiction book of quotations. Science Fiction Fantasy Book o f Quotations

from films and books and comics and everything." Letter from Neil to Kim, December, 1983. BeLow RIgHt:

[Alan Craddock], and that’s why we got that cover" (Wagner, 2008). Legendary science-fiction writer Harry Harrison provided an introduction after being cornered one night in the Troy Club on Hanway Street, “a very small room upstairs where quite a lot of showbiz and publishing industry people would be sat around there destroying their livers. It was called the Troy Club because the woman who ran it was called Helen." Harrison wrote the introduction for nothing, which was undoubtedly an incredible boost for two nervous young writers who had so far not done all that much. As for how the book did when it made it to the shelves, it’s mysterious. Kim said that if anyone’s to blame for the lack of sales it’s probably the guys who designed the cover on a napkin in the pub and then got exactly what they asked for. Gaiman reckons there’s more to it. The numbers on the royalty statements did not quite add

up. On paper the 10,000 print run didn’t sell out, and Newman and Gaiman never earned out their advance. Arrow (who was largely uncommunicative after Faith Brooker left for fairer publishing climes) claimed to have pulped the entire run. Yet when Neil toured Australia in 1992 he found that an unlikely number of people were sliding copies of Ghastly Beyond Belief across the signing table.

By that point they’d become rare as hen’s teeth in the UK, and I said to the Australians, how do you all have these? They said they’d been in dollar shops fo r years. What Arrow had obviously done was ship all the copies o f Ghastly Beyond Belief that they were telling us that they’d pulped, and had not let us buy, at a time when people loved it, to Australia and were selling them in dollar shops. Which made me sad. I would have bought a

box. By that point they were fifty quid each, and these days they’re a hundred and fifty quid a copy. The trouble was by that point people would actually have reprinted them, only Kim and I looked at it and thought, “There are so many errors that got into this book, and it’s such an odd mish-mash o f things. . ” But I ’m just pleased somebody published it. It’s one o f those things where it might have sold better with cartoons o f bad quotes, but I don’t think it would have sold much better. It was this mad little idea o f a book o f quotes—some o f which were terrible, and some o f which were great. It was a mixture o f things that we loved, a weird book that it didn’t know what it wanted to be, but I got a lot o f things out o f it. I even got my friendship with Polly Samson, who is still, almost thirty years later, a good friend o f

mine. She was our publicist at Arrow, and I think it was her first publicity job, and this was her first book. It was everybody’s first go. ❖

" f1

i t WaS thiS m d little idea o f a book o f quoteS— Sojhe o f which were terribde, and Sojme o f which fi

wereg reat.

RIgHt aND BeLow: Ghastly Beyond Belief

royalty statement, December 1985, in which Newman and Gaiman still owe their publisher £128.28. The form cover letter comes across as ever so slightly sarcastic given what it’s attached to.

From 1985. “We got reviewed in everything" says Kim. Back then publishers used to cut out reviews and post them to you. These days you have to do your own googling. Featuring reviews by Anne Billson, Colin Greenland—people who were not their friends at the time but soon became friends. R Ig H t:

f 56

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

57 f

W h ile G a im a n h a d n o p e r s o n a l in te re st in t h e b a n d its e lf , t h e b o o k d o e s s o u n d lik e N e i l . It s t a r t s w i t h a n e s s a y a b o u t t h e n a t u r e o f life a n d a r t a n d t h e p e n d u l u m

DURaΝ duran :

thefirstyeaRS o f tHe f ab fiv e

s w in g — h o w

e v e ry

has a m ov em en t

m ovem ent

that

this

w ay

w a y . H e w a s a b le t o

w e d g e i n a p i e c e a b o u t p u n k , b e c a u s e it w a s p u n k ’s c o u n t e r s w i n g t h a t b e c a m e t h e new

ro m a n tic s , th e fla m b o y a n t p e a c o c k

p e o p le w ith th e ir p u ffy s h irts a n d m a s c a r a . H e t a l k s a b o u t t h e b a n d ’s i n f l u e n c e s a n d f o c u s e s o n D a v id B o w ie a n d R o x y M u s ic ; a n y c o m m is s io n e d w rite r w o u ld h a v e d o n e th e s a m e b u t p ro b a b ly w o u ld h a v e d e v o te d le s s o f t h e w o r d c o u n t t o t h e m . G a i m a n so m eh o w

B o o k I’ve eveR wRitteN tHat was DNey. aND it wasN’t eveN veRy mucH veRy youNg aND veRy HUNgRy, aND ou te e opportunity to wRite a Book, aLex amaDo. is t h a t G a i m a n d o e s n ’t e v e n o w n a c o p y o f h i s f ir s t Ly o f t h e h u g e l y s u c c e s s f u l E n g l i s h p o p g r o u p D u r a n r, in t h e d a r k c o r n e r j u s t t o t h e r i g h t o f t h e j a c k a l o p e g b in d e r o f a d o le s c e n t fic tio n , f f w r i t i n g a b o o k c a l l e d N ig h t m a r e M o v i e s w h e n t h e y n e e d e d s o m e m o r e w r i t e r s f o r a li n e o f r o c k - a n d -

“I

ro ll b io g ra p h ie s th e y w e re d o in g . K n o w in g h is p a l N e il h a d w r itte n s w a th e s o f p ie c e s

spentseveralmonthswritingabookthatIwouldn’thave

f o r r o c k m a g a z in e s — re v ie w s o f g ig s a n d a lb u m s — N e w m a n p u t h im f o r w a r d . “I g o t a p h o n e c a l l f r o m a l a d y n a m e d K a y R o w le y , w h o w a s K i m ’s e d i t o r , a n d s h e s a i d w o u l d

wantedtoread.”

y o u lik e t o w r i t e a r o c k - a n d - r o l l b o o k f o r u s ? A r o c k - a n d - r o l l b i o g r a p h y ? A n d I t h o u g h t ‘O h G o d , y e s ! I ’m i n ! ’” G a i m a n s t a r t e d r a t t l i n g o f f n a m e s o f b a n d s h e ’d lik e t o d o : T h e V e lv e t U n d e r g r o u n d , D a v i d B o w i e , m a y b e L o u R e e d o n h i s o w n a n d a f t e r t h a t , E l v i s C o s t e l l o ? “A h . L e t m e te l l y o u w h a t y o u r c h o i c e s a r e . W e ’v e a l r e a d y f i g u r e d o u t w h a t b o o k s t h e r e a r e . T h e y ’r e o n t h e s c h e d u l e . N i n e m o n t h s f r o m n o w t h e y ’ll b e p u b l i s h e d . Y o u r c h o ic e s : d o y o u w a n t to w rite th e D u r a n D u r a n b o o k , th e B a r r y M a n ilo w b o o k , o r th e D e f L e p p a rd b o o k ? ” G a im a n th o u g h t a b o u t th e th r e e u n a p p e a lin g o p tio n s , b u t n o t f o r v e r y lo n g . “I fig u re d D u r a n D u r a n h a d d o n e m u c h le s s . T h e y ’d d o n e t h r e e a l b u m s b y t h a t p o i n t a n d w e r e j u s t a b o u t to b r in g o u t a f o u r th . W i t h B a r r y M a n ilo w , I fig u re d I w a s g o in g to h a v e to lis te n to , y o u k n o w , f o r ty B a r r y M a n ilo w a lb u m s ” (R ic h a r d s , 2 0 0 1 ) . S o h e s ig n e d th e d e a l a n d s u g g e s t e d D a v e D i c k s o n f o r t h e D e f L e p p a r d o n e , s i n c e h e ’d a l r e a d y w r i t t e n a b o u t t h e b a n d fo r K e r r a n g ! a n d w o u ld b e s im ila rly e n a m o r e d w ith th e £ 2 ,0 0 0 a d v a n c e . “ It w a s t h e k i n d o f b i o g r a p h y w h e r e y o u g o d o w n t o t h e B B C a n d y o u s a y : ‘H e l l o , B B C p r e s s c u t t i n g s l i b r a r y ? I w o u l d lik e t o b u y e v e r y t h i n g y o u h a v e w i t h t h e w o r d s “ D u r a n D u r a n ” in it.’ A n d y o u p a y £ 1 5 0 f o r a ll t h e i r p h o t o c o p y i n g a n d y o u t a k e it a w a y a n d y o u ta k e a ll o f t h e s e p r e s s c l i p p i n g s a n d y o u w r i t e it i n t o a b o o k . A n d y o u l i s t e n t o t h e a l b u m s (R ic h a rd s , 2 0 0 1 ) . “ It s e e m e d v e r y , v e r y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d . A n d h o n e s t l y it w a s . I w r o t e a b o o k . B u t I w a s d e a d n o t p r o u d o f it.”

m a n a g e d to

m a k e th e b e s t o f

a le s s -th a n -id e a l s itu a tio n

b y fittin g th e

s u b j e c t i n t o its p l a c e in t h e w o r l d , o r its p la c e in

his w o r l d .

T h e b o o k w a s p u b lish e d a t th e h e ig h t o f D u r a n D u r a n ’s f a m e , a n d b e c a m e a m i n o r b e s ts e lle r w ith th e firs t p r in tin g s e llin g o u t in m e r e d a y s . B u t .

What happened then was the publisher, before they could go back fo r the second printing, was taken into involuntary bankruptcy. And that was that. That was a really good thing, actually. I got the £2,000 up front but I never got any o f the royalties I should have gotten. It never went on to m ake me any money, which meant that I got to stop and take stock. And I thought, Okay, so I spent several months writing a book that I wouldn't have wanted to read. I don't think I'll ever do that again. And I learned a lesson that every now and then the universe conspires to remind me of. I f somebody was to write my life as one o f these comedic tragedies they would point to this as one o f those recurring themes that I need to be retaught every now and again, which is: W h e n e v e r I d o t h i n g s fo r th e m o n e y . . .

Whenever I do things because I want to do it and because it seems fun or interesting and so on and so forth, it almost always works. And it almost always winds up more than paying fo r itself. Whenever I do

things fo r the money, not only does it prove to be a pain in the neck and come with all sorts o f awful things attached, but I normally don't wind up getting the money, either. So after a while, you do start to learn to just avoid the things where people dangle huge wads o f cash in front o f you. Go fo r the one that seems interesting, because even if it all falls apart you've got something interesting out o f it. Whereas, the other way, you normally wind up getting absolutely nothing out o f it.

G a i m a n k e p t t h e b o o k m o r e o r le ss a se c re t,

d ro p p in g

it

fro m

b ib lio g r a p h ie s

a n d n e v e r m e n t i o n i n g it in in te r v ie w s . It w a s n ’t u n til 1 9 9 6 t h a t h e c a m e c le a n t o n o n e o t h e r t h a n le a d s in g e r S im o n L e B o n , o n a y a c h t in t h e M e d i t e r r a n e a n . “W e d s p e n t a c o u p l e o f d a y s t o g e t h e r , a n d I t h o u g h t th is is b e c o m i n g k i n d o f a w k w a r d , s o I s id le d o v e r t o h i m a n d to l d h i m w h e n I w a s a v e r y y o u n g h u n g ry jo u rn a lis t I w ro te a b o o k a b o u t D u ra n D u ra n . H e ask e d w h ich o n e a n d w h e n I t o l d h i m h e s a id : ‘W e lik e d t h a t ’ I r e l a x e d a little — m y t w e n t y - t h r e e - y e a r - o l d s e lf w a s g r a t i f i e d ” ( M a s t e r s , 2 0 1 0 ) . ❖

W h ile G a im a n h a d n o p e r s o n a l in te re st in t h e b a n d its e lf , t h e b o o k d o e s s o u n d lik e N e i l . It s t a r t s w i t h a n e s s a y a b o u t t h e n a t u r e o f life a n d a r t a n d t h e p e n d u l u m

DURaΝ duran :

thefirstyeaRS o f tHe f ab fiv e

s w in g — h o w

e v e ry

has a m ov em en t

m ovem ent

that

this

w ay

w a y . H e w a s a b le t o

w e d g e i n a p i e c e a b o u t p u n k , b e c a u s e it w a s p u n k ’s c o u n t e r s w i n g t h a t b e c a m e t h e new

ro m a n tic s , th e fla m b o y a n t p e a c o c k

p e o p le w ith th e ir p u ffy s h irts a n d m a s c a r a . H e t a l k s a b o u t t h e b a n d ’s i n f l u e n c e s a n d f o c u s e s o n D a v id B o w ie a n d R o x y M u s ic ; a n y c o m m is s io n e d w rite r w o u ld h a v e d o n e th e s a m e b u t p ro b a b ly w o u ld h a v e d e v o te d le s s o f t h e w o r d c o u n t t o t h e m . G a i m a n so m eh o w

B o o k I’ve eveR wRitteN tHat was DNey. aND it wasN’t eveN veRy mucH veRy youNg aND veRy HUNgRy, aND ou te e opportunity to wRite a Book, aLex amaDo. is t h a t G a i m a n d o e s n ’t e v e n o w n a c o p y o f h i s f ir s t Ly o f t h e h u g e l y s u c c e s s f u l E n g l i s h p o p g r o u p D u r a n r, in t h e d a r k c o r n e r j u s t t o t h e r i g h t o f t h e j a c k a l o p e g b in d e r o f a d o le s c e n t fic tio n , f f w r i t i n g a b o o k c a l l e d N ig h t m a r e M o v i e s w h e n t h e y n e e d e d s o m e m o r e w r i t e r s f o r a li n e o f r o c k - a n d -

“I

ro ll b io g ra p h ie s th e y w e re d o in g . K n o w in g h is p a l N e il h a d w r itte n s w a th e s o f p ie c e s

spentseveralmonthswritingabookthatIwouldn’thave

f o r r o c k m a g a z in e s — re v ie w s o f g ig s a n d a lb u m s — N e w m a n p u t h im f o r w a r d . “I g o t a p h o n e c a l l f r o m a l a d y n a m e d K a y R o w le y , w h o w a s K i m ’s e d i t o r , a n d s h e s a i d w o u l d

wantedtoread.”

y o u lik e t o w r i t e a r o c k - a n d - r o l l b o o k f o r u s ? A r o c k - a n d - r o l l b i o g r a p h y ? A n d I t h o u g h t ‘O h G o d , y e s ! I ’m i n ! ’” G a i m a n s t a r t e d r a t t l i n g o f f n a m e s o f b a n d s h e ’d lik e t o d o : T h e V e lv e t U n d e r g r o u n d , D a v i d B o w i e , m a y b e L o u R e e d o n h i s o w n a n d a f t e r t h a t , E l v i s C o s t e l l o ? “A h . L e t m e te l l y o u w h a t y o u r c h o i c e s a r e . W e ’v e a l r e a d y f i g u r e d o u t w h a t b o o k s t h e r e a r e . T h e y ’r e o n t h e s c h e d u l e . N i n e m o n t h s f r o m n o w t h e y ’ll b e p u b l i s h e d . Y o u r c h o ic e s : d o y o u w a n t to w rite th e D u r a n D u r a n b o o k , th e B a r r y M a n ilo w b o o k , o r th e D e f L e p p a rd b o o k ? ” G a im a n th o u g h t a b o u t th e th r e e u n a p p e a lin g o p tio n s , b u t n o t f o r v e r y lo n g . “I fig u re d D u r a n D u r a n h a d d o n e m u c h le s s . T h e y ’d d o n e t h r e e a l b u m s b y t h a t p o i n t a n d w e r e j u s t a b o u t to b r in g o u t a f o u r th . W i t h B a r r y M a n ilo w , I fig u re d I w a s g o in g to h a v e to lis te n to , y o u k n o w , f o r ty B a r r y M a n ilo w a lb u m s ” (R ic h a r d s , 2 0 0 1 ) . S o h e s ig n e d th e d e a l a n d s u g g e s t e d D a v e D i c k s o n f o r t h e D e f L e p p a r d o n e , s i n c e h e ’d a l r e a d y w r i t t e n a b o u t t h e b a n d fo r K e r r a n g ! a n d w o u ld b e s im ila rly e n a m o r e d w ith th e £ 2 ,0 0 0 a d v a n c e . “ It w a s t h e k i n d o f b i o g r a p h y w h e r e y o u g o d o w n t o t h e B B C a n d y o u s a y : ‘H e l l o , B B C p r e s s c u t t i n g s l i b r a r y ? I w o u l d lik e t o b u y e v e r y t h i n g y o u h a v e w i t h t h e w o r d s “ D u r a n D u r a n ” in it.’ A n d y o u p a y £ 1 5 0 f o r a ll t h e i r p h o t o c o p y i n g a n d y o u t a k e it a w a y a n d y o u ta k e a ll o f t h e s e p r e s s c l i p p i n g s a n d y o u w r i t e it i n t o a b o o k . A n d y o u l i s t e n t o t h e a l b u m s (R ic h a rd s , 2 0 0 1 ) . “ It s e e m e d v e r y , v e r y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d . A n d h o n e s t l y it w a s . I w r o t e a b o o k . B u t I w a s d e a d n o t p r o u d o f it.”

m a n a g e d to

m a k e th e b e s t o f

a le s s -th a n -id e a l s itu a tio n

b y fittin g th e

s u b j e c t i n t o its p l a c e in t h e w o r l d , o r its p la c e in

his w o r l d .

T h e b o o k w a s p u b lish e d a t th e h e ig h t o f D u r a n D u r a n ’s f a m e , a n d b e c a m e a m i n o r b e s ts e lle r w ith th e firs t p r in tin g s e llin g o u t in m e r e d a y s . B u t .

What happened then was the publisher, before they could go back fo r the second printing, was taken into involuntary bankruptcy. And that was that. That was a really good thing, actually. I got the £2,000 up front but I never got any o f the royalties I should have gotten. It never went on to m ake me any money, which meant that I got to stop and take stock. And I thought, Okay, so I spent several months writing a book that I wouldn't have wanted to read. I don't think I'll ever do that again. And I learned a lesson that every now and then the universe conspires to remind me of. I f somebody was to write my life as one o f these comedic tragedies they would point to this as one o f those recurring themes that I need to be retaught every now and again, which is: W h e n e v e r I d o t h i n g s fo r th e m o n e y . . .

Whenever I do things because I want to do it and because it seems fun or interesting and so on and so forth, it almost always works. And it almost always winds up more than paying fo r itself. Whenever I do

things fo r the money, not only does it prove to be a pain in the neck and come with all sorts o f awful things attached, but I normally don't wind up getting the money, either. So after a while, you do start to learn to just avoid the things where people dangle huge wads o f cash in front o f you. Go fo r the one that seems interesting, because even if it all falls apart you've got something interesting out o f it. Whereas, the other way, you normally wind up getting absolutely nothing out o f it.

G a i m a n k e p t t h e b o o k m o r e o r le ss a se c re t,

d ro p p in g

it

fro m

b ib lio g r a p h ie s

a n d n e v e r m e n t i o n i n g it in in te r v ie w s . It w a s n ’t u n til 1 9 9 6 t h a t h e c a m e c le a n t o n o n e o t h e r t h a n le a d s in g e r S im o n L e B o n , o n a y a c h t in t h e M e d i t e r r a n e a n . “W e d s p e n t a c o u p l e o f d a y s t o g e t h e r , a n d I t h o u g h t th is is b e c o m i n g k i n d o f a w k w a r d , s o I s id le d o v e r t o h i m a n d to l d h i m w h e n I w a s a v e r y y o u n g h u n g ry jo u rn a lis t I w ro te a b o o k a b o u t D u ra n D u ra n . H e ask e d w h ich o n e a n d w h e n I t o l d h i m h e s a id : ‘W e lik e d t h a t ’ I r e l a x e d a little — m y t w e n t y - t h r e e - y e a r - o l d s e lf w a s g r a t i f i e d ” ( M a s t e r s , 2 0 1 0 ) . ❖

Tp

DON’t paN IC :

tHe official HitcHHikeR’s guiDe to tHe gaLaxy compaN IO N M

r

'

i

'

«

j t s a ll absolutely dV S ttin yly tu e —eX upt th e b it th a t are lies . . .

gaim aN Has SaiD tH at 0Ne of tHe tHiNgs He was veRy gooD at as a young w riter was deploying voices.

cc

■ y w a s v e r y , v e r y g o o d a t t a k i n g a v o i c e t h a t a l r e a d y e x i s t e d a n d j u s t p a r o d y i n g it.” I

W h i l e n o t e s s e n t i a l l y a p a r o d y , h i s b i o g r a p h y a n d g u i d e t o D o u g l a s A d a m s ’s

.X . Galaxy ,

p u b lish e d w h e n

G a i m a n w a s t w e n t y - s e v e n , is b r i l l i a n t l y w r i t t e n in

A d a m s ’s o w n v o i c e . I t’s o n e o f m a n y p r o j e c t s t h a t s p r a n g f r o m G a i m a n ’s t i m e a s a s t a r v i n g (o r a t le a st v e r y h u n g r y ) jo u r n a lis t. In th e e a rly e ig h tie s,

Hitchhiker’s h a d

a lre a d y b e e n a ro u n d fo r y e a rs : th e r e h a d b e e n a

r a d i o s e r i e s , t h r e e o f fiv e n o v e l s , a T V s e r i e s , a c o m p u t e r g a m e , b u t , d e s p i t e t h e g r e a t e s t o f e f f o r ts , t h e r e h a d n ’t y e t b e e n a f ilm . A r t h u r D e n t , F o r d P r e f e c t , t h e t w o - h e a d e d Z a p h o d

aBOVe: Neil and Douglas, 1984. Photo by John Copthorne. “This would have been the second time I met him. It was for the interview, because sent a photographer and there was just a test snap with me in the picture. He was a grown-up and I wasn't, when I first met him, but I wasn’t nervous. I don’t think I was nervous meeting I was cocky, I guess. I was really inter­ ested, I wanted to do a good interview.” Douglas is playing Marvin’s “How I Hate the Night” song, and Neil is twenty-two, still smoking, and still wearing gray.

Knave Knave

anybody.

t 60

L eft: Neil’s interview with Adams in 1984. Adams talks about how his family loved (“which makes a change”), but it’s nowhere near as popular as

B e e b le b ro x , a n d M a rv in th e p a r a n o id a n d ro id w e re h o u s e h o ld n a m e s . B a c k w h e n G a im a n g o t h is firs t c o m m is s io n f o r a n in te r v ie w f o r

Penthouse, t h e

Knave,

e d ito r

m e n tio n e d th a t h e w a s a b ig fa n o f D o u g la s A d a m s a n d th a t i f N e il c o u ld g e t a n in te r v ie w

I d id . A n d b y t h e t i m e I g o t t h e i n t e r v i e w , t h a t e d i t o r h a d a l r e a d y b e e n f i r e d . B u t D o u g l a s s p o k e s o m u c h t h a t n o t o n l y d i d I s e ll

that i n t e r v i e w , b u t l e f t o v e r b i t s o f t h e i n t e r v i e w Knave a n d Fantasy Empire . S o , b y t h e e n d

q u e s tio n w e n t to tw o o th e r m a g a z in e s —

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

in of

Gaiman suggests it’s a bit of a sleeper, and Adams says, “Yes. No. Well, it’s not much of a sleeper—it’s number four in the bestseller lists.” “And he’s complaining? I should have such problems!” says our young journalist (and future number one bestseller) in indignant brackets.

d o i n g o n e i n t e r v i e w , I ’d d o n e t h r e e D o u g l a s A d a m s i n t e r v i e w s ” ( H u d d l e s t o n , 2 0 0 4 ) . M u c h lik e

Duran Duran: The First Four Years o f the Fab Five, Don’t Panic w a s K i m Hitchhiker’s Guide to

N e w m a n s f a u lt. “A g u y c a l l e d R i c h a r d H o llis h a d b e e n h i r e d t o w r i t e a

the Galaxy c o m p a n i o n . A n d

R ic h a r d w a s a re a lly n ic e g u y w h o w o rk e d a t F o rb id d e n P la n e t,

a n d I d o n o t k n o w w h y it d id n ’t h a p p e n . H e w r o t e a f e w c h a p t e r s , w h i c h h e g a v e m e , b u t I d o n ’t t h i n k t h e r e w a s a n y t h i n g in t h e m I u s e d . B u t h e f la k e d o u t , s o T i t a n P u b l i s h i n g ’s b o s s N ic k L a n d a u ask e d K im if h e w o u ld w rite a

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy b o o k ,

a n d K im

s a id , ‘N o , b u t N e i l h a s i n t e r v i e w e d D o u g l a s a l o t , N e il k n o w s D o u g l a s , N e i l w o u l d d o a g r e a t jo b .’ S o I s p e n t t h e s e c o n d h a l f o f 1 9 8 6 d o i n g m o r e in t e r v i e w s .

Times

“I ’d s it in c o r n e r s o f h is o f f i c e g o i n g t h r o u g h o l d f i l i n g c a b i n e t s , p u l l i n g o u t d r a f t a f t e r d raft o f

Hitchhiker’s i n

its v a r io u s in c a r n a tio n s , l o n g -f o r g o tte n c o m e d y s k e tc h e s ,

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

The

Meaning of Liff

w i t h h i m t h a t w o u l d b e a n o t h e r j o b i n t h e b a g . “S o I p h o n e d u p D o u g l a s ’ p u b l i s h e r s a n d

Doctor

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

New York

61 t

Tp

DON’t paN IC :

tHe official HitcHHikeR’s guiDe to tHe gaLaxy compaN IO N M

r

'

i

'

«

j t s a ll absolutely dV S ttin yly tu e —eX upt th e b it th a t are lies . . .

gaim aN Has SaiD tH at 0Ne of tHe tHiNgs He was veRy gooD at as a young w riter was deploying voices.

cc

■ y w a s v e r y , v e r y g o o d a t t a k i n g a v o i c e t h a t a l r e a d y e x i s t e d a n d j u s t p a r o d y i n g it.” I

W h i l e n o t e s s e n t i a l l y a p a r o d y , h i s b i o g r a p h y a n d g u i d e t o D o u g l a s A d a m s ’s

.X . Galaxy ,

p u b lish e d w h e n

G a i m a n w a s t w e n t y - s e v e n , is b r i l l i a n t l y w r i t t e n in

A d a m s ’s o w n v o i c e . I t’s o n e o f m a n y p r o j e c t s t h a t s p r a n g f r o m G a i m a n ’s t i m e a s a s t a r v i n g (o r a t le a st v e r y h u n g r y ) jo u r n a lis t. In th e e a rly e ig h tie s,

Hitchhiker’s h a d

a lre a d y b e e n a ro u n d fo r y e a rs : th e r e h a d b e e n a

r a d i o s e r i e s , t h r e e o f fiv e n o v e l s , a T V s e r i e s , a c o m p u t e r g a m e , b u t , d e s p i t e t h e g r e a t e s t o f e f f o r ts , t h e r e h a d n ’t y e t b e e n a f ilm . A r t h u r D e n t , F o r d P r e f e c t , t h e t w o - h e a d e d Z a p h o d

aBOVe: Neil and Douglas, 1984. Photo by John Copthorne. “This would have been the second time I met him. It was for the interview, because sent a photographer and there was just a test snap with me in the picture. He was a grown-up and I wasn't, when I first met him, but I wasn’t nervous. I don’t think I was nervous meeting I was cocky, I guess. I was really inter­ ested, I wanted to do a good interview.” Douglas is playing Marvin’s “How I Hate the Night” song, and Neil is twenty-two, still smoking, and still wearing gray.

Knave Knave

anybody.

t 60

L eft: Neil’s interview with Adams in 1984. Adams talks about how his family loved (“which makes a change”), but it’s nowhere near as popular as

B e e b le b ro x , a n d M a rv in th e p a r a n o id a n d ro id w e re h o u s e h o ld n a m e s . B a c k w h e n G a im a n g o t h is firs t c o m m is s io n f o r a n in te r v ie w f o r

Penthouse, t h e

Knave,

e d ito r

m e n tio n e d th a t h e w a s a b ig fa n o f D o u g la s A d a m s a n d th a t i f N e il c o u ld g e t a n in te r v ie w

I d id . A n d b y t h e t i m e I g o t t h e i n t e r v i e w , t h a t e d i t o r h a d a l r e a d y b e e n f i r e d . B u t D o u g l a s s p o k e s o m u c h t h a t n o t o n l y d i d I s e ll

that i n t e r v i e w , b u t l e f t o v e r b i t s o f t h e i n t e r v i e w Knave a n d Fantasy Empire . S o , b y t h e e n d

q u e s tio n w e n t to tw o o th e r m a g a z in e s —

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

in of

Gaiman suggests it’s a bit of a sleeper, and Adams says, “Yes. No. Well, it’s not much of a sleeper—it’s number four in the bestseller lists.” “And he’s complaining? I should have such problems!” says our young journalist (and future number one bestseller) in indignant brackets.

d o i n g o n e i n t e r v i e w , I ’d d o n e t h r e e D o u g l a s A d a m s i n t e r v i e w s ” ( H u d d l e s t o n , 2 0 0 4 ) . M u c h lik e

Duran Duran: The First Four Years o f the Fab Five, Don’t Panic w a s K i m Hitchhiker’s Guide to

N e w m a n s f a u lt. “A g u y c a l l e d R i c h a r d H o llis h a d b e e n h i r e d t o w r i t e a

the Galaxy c o m p a n i o n . A n d

R ic h a r d w a s a re a lly n ic e g u y w h o w o rk e d a t F o rb id d e n P la n e t,

a n d I d o n o t k n o w w h y it d id n ’t h a p p e n . H e w r o t e a f e w c h a p t e r s , w h i c h h e g a v e m e , b u t I d o n ’t t h i n k t h e r e w a s a n y t h i n g in t h e m I u s e d . B u t h e f la k e d o u t , s o T i t a n P u b l i s h i n g ’s b o s s N ic k L a n d a u ask e d K im if h e w o u ld w rite a

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy b o o k ,

a n d K im

s a id , ‘N o , b u t N e i l h a s i n t e r v i e w e d D o u g l a s a l o t , N e il k n o w s D o u g l a s , N e i l w o u l d d o a g r e a t jo b .’ S o I s p e n t t h e s e c o n d h a l f o f 1 9 8 6 d o i n g m o r e in t e r v i e w s .

Times

“I ’d s it in c o r n e r s o f h is o f f i c e g o i n g t h r o u g h o l d f i l i n g c a b i n e t s , p u l l i n g o u t d r a f t a f t e r d raft o f

Hitchhiker’s i n

its v a r io u s in c a r n a tio n s , l o n g -f o r g o tte n c o m e d y s k e tc h e s ,

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

The

Meaning of Liff

w i t h h i m t h a t w o u l d b e a n o t h e r j o b i n t h e b a g . “S o I p h o n e d u p D o u g l a s ’ p u b l i s h e r s a n d

Doctor

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

New York

61 t

Who scripts, press-clippings” (Gaiman, 2003). Adams was keen for the book to exist and would answer questions and explain the things dug up from the filing cabinet, and he always made sure Gaiman had a cup of tea on the go.

ABOVE: N eil as T he B o o k . In 2 0 1 2

Hitchhiker's

G uide to th e G alaxy rad io series w as staged live, b rin g in g to g eth er the original cast o f S im on Jon es, M a rk W in g -D av e y , G e o ffre y M c G iv e rn , Susan S h erid a n , and S tep h e n M o o r e fo r th e first tim e in y ears. P e te r Jo n es, v o ice o f T h e B o o k in b o th th e rad io and on te lev isio n , died in 2 0 0 0 , so a different g u est star w ould step in every n ig h t w ith G a im a n e n liste d in fo r th e E d in b u rg h P lay h ou se p erfo rm an ce . “I always loved P eter Jon es' delivery o f th e G u id e , and all I can h op e to do on stage is th at, re a lly ” (R u d d e n , 2 0 1 2 ) . B y all a cco u n ts, he did.

t 62

I was an enormous fan. I was awed. He was living at the time in a house in Islington—the house itself turns up in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. He’d just come back from America, where he’d spent a very miserable year or so trying to get the Hitchhiker movie o ff the ground. It was one o f those recurring motifs in Douglas’ life. And he’d just returned to London, to his spiritual base, and was very keen on talking. I think at the time his book, The Meaning of Liff, which he did with John Lloyd, had just come out. A book he was

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

desperately proud o f and loved promoting. And I think he was happier with it than he was with many o f his later novels. He was enthusiastic, tall, amiable, terribly polite. I learned as an author so much about how to treat fan s and how to treat journalists from just watching Douglas. He treated everybody with unfailing affability and politeness (Huddleston, 2004).

"f I learned a lo t abou t th e

p itfa lls o f a w riters life ~flom Watching ^^touglaS.

Don’t Panic is not a biography of Adams, but more a biography of an idea—the fivebook trilogy, the computer games, the towel, the television series—how they came into being, and how and where they fit in the world. It’s full of anecdotal stories about what did and didn’t work in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, how stuff that worked on radio didn’t work in the television series, and how things that work in a television series don’t always work in a novel. This was still Gaiman very much learning his craft by going out and asking questions—figuring out the mechanics of books by asking the people who make them. He told the story right up until 1987, when his interview tape ran out, and over the years more chapters and appendices have been added by other people. “What I walked away with from writing Don’t Panic was the sense that ‘I can do this’ (Wagner, 2008).

“It was my first real excursion into nonfiction. I could definitely see myself doing another nonfiction book. It would be fun. I learned a load of things from it, and it would be nice to go back. I learned a lot about the pitfalls of a writer’s life from watching Douglas. I also think for me Don’t Panic represents a road not taken. I could have gone on and become somebody who wrote books about other people. Having said that, I had so much fun with the style of Don’t Panic, writing in this classic English humorist sort of style, that I then went on and did a book called Good Omens with Terry Pratchett. So if it hadn’t been for Don’t Panic there would never have been a Good Omens” (Huddleston, 2004). ❖

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

63 t

Who scripts, press-clippings” (Gaiman, 2003). Adams was keen for the book to exist and would answer questions and explain the things dug up from the filing cabinet, and he always made sure Gaiman had a cup of tea on the go.

ABOVE: N eil as T he B o o k . In 2 0 1 2

Hitchhiker's

G uide to th e G alaxy rad io series w as staged live, b rin g in g to g eth er the original cast o f S im on Jon es, M a rk W in g -D av e y , G e o ffre y M c G iv e rn , Susan S h erid a n , and S tep h e n M o o r e fo r th e first tim e in y ears. P e te r Jo n es, v o ice o f T h e B o o k in b o th th e rad io and on te lev isio n , died in 2 0 0 0 , so a different g u est star w ould step in every n ig h t w ith G a im a n e n liste d in fo r th e E d in b u rg h P lay h ou se p erfo rm an ce . “I always loved P eter Jon es' delivery o f th e G u id e , and all I can h op e to do on stage is th at, re a lly ” (R u d d e n , 2 0 1 2 ) . B y all a cco u n ts, he did.

t 62

I was an enormous fan. I was awed. He was living at the time in a house in Islington—the house itself turns up in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. He’d just come back from America, where he’d spent a very miserable year or so trying to get the Hitchhiker movie o ff the ground. It was one o f those recurring motifs in Douglas’ life. And he’d just returned to London, to his spiritual base, and was very keen on talking. I think at the time his book, The Meaning of Liff, which he did with John Lloyd, had just come out. A book he was

tHe aR t o f N eil gaim aN

desperately proud o f and loved promoting. And I think he was happier with it than he was with many o f his later novels. He was enthusiastic, tall, amiable, terribly polite. I learned as an author so much about how to treat fan s and how to treat journalists from just watching Douglas. He treated everybody with unfailing affability and politeness (Huddleston, 2004).

"f I learned a lo t abou t th e

p itfa lls o f a w riters life ~flom Watching ^^touglaS.

Don’t Panic is not a biography of Adams, but more a biography of an idea—the fivebook trilogy, the computer games, the towel, the television series—how they came into being, and how and where they fit in the world. It’s full of anecdotal stories about what did and didn’t work in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, how stuff that worked on radio didn’t work in the television series, and how things that work in a television series don’t always work in a novel. This was still Gaiman very much learning his craft by going out and asking questions—figuring out the mechanics of books by asking the people who make them. He told the story right up until 1987, when his interview tape ran out, and over the years more chapters and appendices have been added by other people. “What I walked away with from writing Don’t Panic was the sense that ‘I can do this’ (Wagner, 2008).

“It was my first real excursion into nonfiction. I could definitely see myself doing another nonfiction book. It would be fun. I learned a load of things from it, and it would be nice to go back. I learned a lot about the pitfalls of a writer’s life from watching Douglas. I also think for me Don’t Panic represents a road not taken. I could have gone on and become somebody who wrote books about other people. Having said that, I had so much fun with the style of Don’t Panic, writing in this classic English humorist sort of style, that I then went on and did a book called Good Omens with Terry Pratchett. So if it hadn’t been for Don’t Panic there would never have been a Good Omens” (Huddleston, 2004). ❖

CHapteR 1 |pReLuDes

63 t

P ra tc h e tt

gooD om eN S

tHe Nice aaNDccuRate o f agNes NutteR, H pRopHeCIe s witC

by

th is

p o in t

had

a lre a d y

w r itte n a b o u t f o u r o f th e D is c w o r ld n o v e ls,

BefoRe tHe Book was

b u t h e w a s s t ill a f e w y e a r s a w a y f r o m b e ­

a n d P r a tc h e tt ta lk e d a b o u t w h o s e n a m e

c o m i n g t h e U K 's b i g g e s t s e l l i n g a u t h o r o f

w o u ld g o firs t o n th e b o o k a n d d e c id e d

th e 1 9 9 0 s . “ P e o p le te n d to f o r g e t th a t T e r r y

t h a t P r a t c h e t t w o u l d g o f ir s t in t h e U K ,

w a s n 't ‘T e r r y P r a t c h e t t ' b a c k t h e n ,” s a y s

b e c a u s e h e s o l d m o r e b o o k s in t h e U K

G a i m a n . “ H e w a s n 't t h i s c o n t i n e n t - s i z e d ,

t h a n G a i m a n , a n d G a i m a n ’s w o u l d g o f ir s t

v a st, o n e -in -e v e r y -th re e -b o o k s -b o u g h t-in -

in A m e r i c a b e c a u s e h e s o ld m o r e th e r e .

th e -U K -is -a -T e rry -P ra tc h e tt-ty p e

a u th o r.

G a i m a n a l w a y s h a d p la n s f o r a m a r k e t i n g

H e ’d d o n e h a l f a d o z e n o r s o b o o k s , a n d

re issu e : a n e d itio n o f tw o b o o k s , o n e w ith

w a s d o i n g o k a y ”’ P r a t c h e t t , w h o h a d a lso

a w h ite c o v e r, o n e w ith a b la c k — o n e w ith

fo u n d

o n ly

P r a t c h e t t ’s n a m e f ir s t, o n e w i t h h is o w n .

to fo c u s o n w ritin g

I n 2 0 0 6 i t f in a lly h a p p e n e d , w h e n t h e r ig h ts

h is

sta rt

in

jo u rn a lis m ,

r e c e n t l y q u it h is j o b

had

f i c t i o n f u l l - t i m e . “H e w a s b a r e l y N e il G a i m a n

ch an g ed

t h e n , a n d I w a s o n l y j u s t T e r r y P r a t c h e tt ,” h e

M o rro w . “I g e t th e w h ite c o v e r w ith th e

t o ld L o c u s m a g a z i n e in 2 0 0 6 .

b l a c k d e m o n o n i t ; h e g e ts t h e b l a c k c o v e r

B u t G a im a n h a s f re q u e n tly d e s c r ib e d

funny notelabout the end f the world and

we re all going to dge.

p u b lish e d , G a im a n

fro m

A c e ’s

hands

to

W illia m

w i t h t h e w h i t e a n g e l o n it. W h i t e w ill b e t h e n e w b l a c k ” ( L o c u s O n lin e , 2 0 0 6 ) .

th e te a m -u p as an a p p re n tice sh ip . “T e r ry c o u l d b u i l d a n o v e l lik e a f in e C h i p p e n d a l e c h a i r m a k e r c o u l d m a k e a p i e c e o f f u r n itu r e .

NOW IN HIS l a t e tW e N tie S , witH HIS feet ftRmLy pLaNteD i n tHe ReaLm o f eNgLiSH HumoR, gaimaN WROte tHe BegiNNiNg Of a StORy He DiDN’t kNOW HOW tO fiNiSH.

cc

in 1990. Said Gaiman on his blog: “It was taken in Kensal Green Cemetery in February. “Terry borrowed the white j acket from our editor, Malcolm Edwards, and grumbled that it did nothing to keep him warm on a very cold day. ‘Sometimes you have to be cold to look cool' I told him. ‘It’s all right for you' he said. ‘You’re wearing a leather jacket'

t 64

have

th e

th in k s I w r o te a n d I th in k h e w r o te , a n d

been

A p o c a l y p s e in t h a t t h e y ’v e b e c o m e q u ite

t h e r e a r e b its t h a t I ’m q u ite s u r e t h a t I w r o t e

in v ite d

in to

th e

w o rk sh o p

to

be

s h o w n h o w it w a s d o n e . “It w a s a lo t o f fu n

v e ste d

th e G a te s o f E d e n —

in te re s ts

in

a v e rtin g

c o m f o r t a b l e in t h e i r h u m a n liv e s .

a r e h i m r e v i s e d b y m e . T h e r e a r e b its h e

a n d h e c l a i m s t h a t h e w r o t e . I s o r t o f w is h

w r i t i n g it. T e r r y lik e s w r i t i n g a l o t m o r e

B y th e tim e G a im a n a n d P r a tc h e tt h a d

t h a n I d o . I q u i t e l ik e h a v i n g w r i t t e n , a n d I

fin is h e d t h e n o v e l, th e c h a r a c te r w a s n o

t h r o u g h i t w i t h m a r k e r s th e n

l o v e g o i n g t o w r i t e . G o i n g t o w r i t e is g r e a t .

lo n g e r c a lle d W illia m , a n d A d a m th e A n ti­

d o w n w h o s e b its w e r e w h o s e d o w n to t h e

n o w t h a t w h e n i t h a d j u s t c o m e o u t , I’d g o n e a n d n o te d

B u t T e r r y a c t u a l l y lik e s w r i t i n g , w h i c h I

c h r is t d i d n ’t h a v e t h e s a m e r i n g t o it. “W i t h

w o r d , b e c a u s e I c o u l d h a v e d o n e it t h e n ;

d o n ’t b e c a u s e i t m a k e s m y b a c k h u r t ; a n d

W illia m th e A n tic h r is t, y o u h a d W illia m

n o w I c o u l d n ’t ” ( C o m ic s J o u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ) .

a b a n d o n e d it . . . I h a d t h e t h o u g h t t h a t ‘T e r r y P r a t c h e t t is t h e g u y w h o w r i t e s

a n y w a y , th e r e a r e p e o p le I sh o u ld b e o n

t h e C o n q u e r o r . T h a t h a s a n i c e r i n g t o it.

T h e y b o t h b r o u g h t d if f e r e n t s e n s ib ilitie s

. X . f u n n y f a n t a s y n o v e l s , I w ill b e c o n s i d e r e d t h e g u y w h o w r i t e s f u n n y h o r r o r n o v e l s ,

t h e p h o n e t o . S o I ’d w a k e u p i n t h e e a r l y

T e r r y a n d I s p e n t t h r e e w e e k s a f t e r w e ’d

t o t h e s a m e s t o r y b u t t h e y m e l d e d s o w e ll

a n d t h a t is n o t w h e r e I w a n t t o live.' I k n e w e n o u g h a b o u t m y s e l f t o r e a l i z e I w o u l d b e

a f t e r n o o n a n d t h e r e ’d b e t h i s m e s s a g e f r o m

fin is h e d it, th r o w in g title s b a c k a n d f o r t h

i t ’s s e a m l e s s .

d o o m e d i f I w a s th a t o n e th in g . A lr e a d y I d se e n frie n d s o f m in e , m o d e r a te ly s u c c e s s fu l,

h im

sa y in g ,

a t e a c h o th e r . It w a s te r rib le , th e a m o u n t o f

t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e b o o k t h e y w a n t e d t o d o t h a t t h e i r p u b l i s h e r s w o u l d n 't l e t t h e m d o ,

‘G e t u p , y o u b a s t a r d . G e t u p . G e t u p . I ’v e

a w fu l title s w e c a m e u p w ith , a n d th e n o n e

to -b e -sn e e z e d

b e c a u s e i t w a s n 't lik e t h e l a s t o n e , i t d id n 't fit s o m e p r e c o n c e i v e d n o t i o n ” ( W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) .

b e e n h e r e s i n c e s e v e n o ’c l o c k t h i s m o r n i n g ,

d a y I p h o n e d T e r r y u p a n d s a i d , ‘I ’v e g o t it:

p u b lish e d in 1 9 9 0 w h e n h e w a s th irty , a n d

G a i m a n ’s s t o r y w a s a p a r o d y o f R i c h m a l C r o m p t o n 's W illia m b o o k s , h u g e l y p o p u l a r

a n d I ’v e w r i t t e n a ll th is .’ T h e n I ’d r i n g h i m

G o o d O m e n s ” (K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ).

fu n n y s h o r t s to rie s th a t r a n f r o m th e 1 9 2 0 s f e a tu r in g a m is c h ie v o u s e le v e n -y e a r-o ld b o y

b a c k a n d w e ’d t a l k . A n d t h e n I ’d w o r k o n

I

“‘You could wear a leather jacket too' “‘I ’m wearing white' said Terry, pointedly. ‘That way, when they come after us for writing a blasphemous book, they'll know I'm the nice one'” From the U.S. hard­ cover edition published by Workman Pub., 1990.

a cq u a in ta n c e s fro m

O n lin e , 2 0 0 6 ) . I t w a s a s i f G a i m a n h a d

so rt o f

■ y w r o te th e firs t f iv e -th o u s a n d -w o r d

a B O V e: Neil and Terry

H e k n e w h o w th e y w e re cra fte d ” (L o c u s

sc e n e o f G o o d O m e n s , a n d th e n

on

th e

a n s w e rin g m a c h in e

I t w a s G a i m a n ’s f i r s t n o v e l ( w i t h a n o t at

p rin t

ru n

of

9 0 ,0 0 0 ) ,

h e a n d h is c o a u t h o r w e r e n o m i n a t e d f o r

T h e b o o k t o o k n i n e w e e k s t o w r i t e . In

b o th L o c u s a n d W o rld F a n ta s y A w a rd s th e

a n d h is g a n g o f f r i e n d s , t h e O u t l a w s . U n d e r t h e w o r k i n g t i t l e o f W illia m t h e A n t ic h r is t ,

S a n d m a n a n d B o o k s o f M a g i c a n d s t u f f lik e

th o s e

w rite rs

f o llo w in g y e a r. P r a tc h e tt w e n t o n to w rite

G a i m a n s fiv e t h o u s a n d w o r d s c o v e r e d e v e r y t h i n g l e a d i n g u p t o t h e b i r t h o f t h e c h i l d t h a t

t h a t u n t i l a b o u t tw o o ’c l o c k i n t h e m o r n i n g ,

w o u ld p h o n e e a c h o th e r a n d p o s t a flo p p y

m o r e D is c w o r ld n o v e ls, a n d G a im a n w as

w o u ld b r in g a b o u t th e a p o c a ly p s e . H e s e n t it o ff to a fe w f rie n d s , w e n t o ff a n d w r o te a

as I r e m e m b e r , a n d th e n a t tw o , n o m a tte r

d is k b a c k a n d f o r t h , u n til r ig h t a t th e e n d

a lr e a d y c h a s in g th e m o n th ly d e a d lin e s fo r

p ile o f o t h e r t h i n g s , a n d t h e n l a r g e l y f o r g o t a b o u t t h e s t o r y 's e x i s t e n c e u n t i l T e r r y

w h e r e I w a s a t o r w h a t I ’d d o n e , I w o u l d g o

w h e n th e y b o th o w n e d m o d e m s , th o u g h

T h e S a n d m a n , th e c o m ic th a t w o u ld m a k e

P r a t c h e t t , w h o w a s o n e o f t h e p e o p l e w h o ’d b e e n s e n t a c o p y o f t h e o p e n i n g s c e n e ,

o v e r a n d d o fiv e h u n d r e d w o r d s o f G o o d

th e y w e r e w o r k in g a t a s p e e d so s lo w th a t

h im fam o u s.

p h o n e d h i m u p a n d a s k e d h i m a b o u t it.

O m e n s ” (C o m ic s Jo u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ).

P r a t c h e t t w a s a n o t h e r c o n n e c t i o n G a i m a n h a d m a d e w h i l e w o r k i n g a s a j o u r n a l i s t . It w a s t o p r o m o t e t h e r e l e a s e o f P r a t c h e t t 's n o v e l , T h e C o l o r o f M a g i c , a n d h a p p e n e d in a

The

s to r y s tr e tc h e d

n o v e l— a

q u a s i-p a ro d y

an d g re w o f th e

d ay s,

th e

tw o

G a im a n a n d P r a tc h e tt c o u ld h a v e d ic ta te d

in to

f ilm

p re -e m a il

H e t o l d P e t e r M u r p h y , “T e r r y a n d I h a v e

a

t h e s t o r y d o w n t h e p h o n e f a s t e r t h a n it

w ritte n

The

u p lo a d e d . I n te rv ie w s w ith th e d u o w e re a t

b u t t h e r e ’s s o m e t h i n g a b o u t p e o p l e t u r n i n g

a l o t o f t h i n g s t h a t p e o p l e lo v e ,

u p a t sig n in g s w ith th e ir c o p ie s o f G o o d

C h i n e s e r e s t a u r a n t d u r i n g t h e t i m e w h e n G a i m a n w a s s till s p o r t i n g a n i l l - a d v i s e d g r a y h a t

O m e n a n d th e n s o m e . It w a s a b o u t th e

t h e t i m e — a n d s till a r e , w h e n i t o c c a s i o n a l l y

in a n e f f o r t t o l o o k a s s u a v e a s K i m N e w m a n ( w h o a t t h a t t i m e w a s s t r i d i n g a r o u n d t o w n

b ir th o f th e A n tic h r is t, th e c o m in g o f th e

h a p p e n s — v e r y m u c h lik e t h e i r c o l l a b o r a t i v e

O m e n s th a t h a v e b e e n a ro u n d th e w o rld

in a d a p p e r t r i l b y ) . “ I t w a s T e r r y 's f i r s t i n t e r v i e w a s a n a u t h o r w h e r e s o m e b o d y t o o k h i m

E n d T im e s , a n d th e v a rio u s a tte m p ts o f

sty le : a d o u b l e - a c t o f tw o p e o p le r a c i n g

w ith

o u t to lu n c h a n d a sk e d h im q u e stio n s. I w a s in te rv ie w in g h im f o r S p a c e V o y a g er m a g a z in e .

A z ira p h a le

e a c h o t h e r t o t h e g o o d b its .

th e y g o t d r o p p e d in th e b a th o r in s o m e

A m a g a z in e so p o o r , I h a d to ta k e th e p h o to s o f T e r r y a fte r th e lu n c h ” (G a im a n , 2 0 0 1 ) . C u t t o t h r e e y e a r s l a t e r , i n 1 9 8 8 : “ I g o t t h i s p h o n e c a l l f r o m T e r r y , s a y i n g ‘R e m e m b e r

angel

t h e m , y ’k n o w , t h e y ’r e

s w o lle n

cos

and

th e

dem on

C ra w ly ,

th e

serp en t

“S o t h a t w a s h o w w e w r o t e t h e n o v e l

s o u p o r a p u d d l e , a n d t h e y ’r e h e ld t o g e t h e r

d i d n o t f a ll b u t S a u n t e r e d V a g u e l y

t o g e t h e r . A n d t h e r e a r e b its o f t h e b o o k t h a t

w i t h t a p e a t t h e b a c k a n d t h e y w a n t th is

C ro w le y w ho

th e

(fo rm e rly

t h a t p lo t? I k n o w w h a t h a p p e n s n e x t . D o y o u w a n t to c o lla b o r a te o n it, o r d o y o u w a n t to

D o w n w a r d s ), to sto p t h e m f r o m h a p p e n ­

a r e m e , t h e r e a r e b its t h a t a r e h i m , t h e r e a r e

t h in g s ig n e d b e c a u s e i t ’s b e c o m e a p l a c e

s e ll i t t o m e ? ' A n d I s a i d , ‘I 'l l c o l l a b o r a t e , p l e a s e '” ( L o c u s O n lin e , 2 0 0 6 ( 1 9 9 1 ) ) .

i n g . B o t h t h e a n g e l a n d t h e d e m o n — o ld

b its t h a t a r e m e r e v i s e d b y h i m , a n d b its t h a t

t h a t y o u g o w h e n th i n g s g e t ro c k y .” ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

CHAPTER 1 |pReLUDeS

65 t

P ra tc h e tt

gooD om eN S

tHe Nice aaNDccuRate o f agNes NutteR, H pRopHeCIe s witC

by

th is

p o in t

had

a lre a d y

w r itte n a b o u t f o u r o f th e D is c w o r ld n o v e ls,

BefoRe tHe Book was

b u t h e w a s s t ill a f e w y e a r s a w a y f r o m b e ­

a n d P r a tc h e tt ta lk e d a b o u t w h o s e n a m e

c o m i n g t h e U K 's b i g g e s t s e l l i n g a u t h o r o f

w o u ld g o firs t o n th e b o o k a n d d e c id e d

th e 1 9 9 0 s . “ P e o p le te n d to f o r g e t th a t T e r r y

t h a t P r a t c h e t t w o u l d g o f ir s t in t h e U K ,

w a s n 't ‘T e r r y P r a t c h e t t ' b a c k t h e n ,” s a y s

b e c a u s e h e s o l d m o r e b o o k s in t h e U K

G a i m a n . “ H e w a s n 't t h i s c o n t i n e n t - s i z e d ,

t h a n G a i m a n , a n d G a i m a n ’s w o u l d g o f ir s t

v a st, o n e -in -e v e r y -th re e -b o o k s -b o u g h t-in -

in A m e r i c a b e c a u s e h e s o ld m o r e th e r e .

th e -U K -is -a -T e rry -P ra tc h e tt-ty p e

a u th o r.

G a i m a n a l w a y s h a d p la n s f o r a m a r k e t i n g

H e ’d d o n e h a l f a d o z e n o r s o b o o k s , a n d

re issu e : a n e d itio n o f tw o b o o k s , o n e w ith

w a s d o i n g o k a y ”’ P r a t c h e t t , w h o h a d a lso

a w h ite c o v e r, o n e w ith a b la c k — o n e w ith

fo u n d

o n ly

P r a t c h e t t ’s n a m e f ir s t, o n e w i t h h is o w n .

to fo c u s o n w ritin g

I n 2 0 0 6 i t f in a lly h a p p e n e d , w h e n t h e r ig h ts

h is

sta rt

in

jo u rn a lis m ,

r e c e n t l y q u it h is j o b

had

f i c t i o n f u l l - t i m e . “H e w a s b a r e l y N e il G a i m a n

ch an g ed

t h e n , a n d I w a s o n l y j u s t T e r r y P r a t c h e tt ,” h e

M o rro w . “I g e t th e w h ite c o v e r w ith th e

t o ld L o c u s m a g a z i n e in 2 0 0 6 .

b l a c k d e m o n o n i t ; h e g e ts t h e b l a c k c o v e r

B u t G a im a n h a s f re q u e n tly d e s c r ib e d

funny notelabout the end f the world and

we re all going to dge.

p u b lish e d , G a im a n

fro m

A c e ’s

hands

to

W illia m

w i t h t h e w h i t e a n g e l o n it. W h i t e w ill b e t h e n e w b l a c k ” ( L o c u s O n lin e , 2 0 0 6 ) .

th e te a m -u p as an a p p re n tice sh ip . “T e r ry c o u l d b u i l d a n o v e l lik e a f in e C h i p p e n d a l e c h a i r m a k e r c o u l d m a k e a p i e c e o f f u r n itu r e .

NOW IN HIS l a t e tW e N tie S , witH HIS feet ftRmLy pLaNteD i n tHe ReaLm o f eNgLiSH HumoR, gaimaN WROte tHe BegiNNiNg Of a StORy He DiDN’t kNOW HOW tO fiNiSH.

cc

in 1990. Said Gaiman on his blog: “It was taken in Kensal Green Cemetery in February. “Terry borrowed the white j acket from our editor, Malcolm Edwards, and grumbled that it did nothing to keep him warm on a very cold day. ‘Sometimes you have to be cold to look cool' I told him. ‘It’s all right for you' he said. ‘You’re wearing a leather jacket'

t 64

have

th e

th in k s I w r o te a n d I th in k h e w r o te , a n d

been

A p o c a l y p s e in t h a t t h e y ’v e b e c o m e q u ite

t h e r e a r e b its t h a t I ’m q u ite s u r e t h a t I w r o t e

in v ite d

in to

th e

w o rk sh o p

to

be

s h o w n h o w it w a s d o n e . “It w a s a lo t o f fu n

v e ste d

th e G a te s o f E d e n —

in te re s ts

in

a v e rtin g

c o m f o r t a b l e in t h e i r h u m a n liv e s .

a r e h i m r e v i s e d b y m e . T h e r e a r e b its h e

a n d h e c l a i m s t h a t h e w r o t e . I s o r t o f w is h

w r i t i n g it. T e r r y lik e s w r i t i n g a l o t m o r e

B y th e tim e G a im a n a n d P r a tc h e tt h a d

t h a n I d o . I q u i t e l ik e h a v i n g w r i t t e n , a n d I

fin is h e d t h e n o v e l, th e c h a r a c te r w a s n o

t h r o u g h i t w i t h m a r k e r s th e n

l o v e g o i n g t o w r i t e . G o i n g t o w r i t e is g r e a t .

lo n g e r c a lle d W illia m , a n d A d a m th e A n ti­

d o w n w h o s e b its w e r e w h o s e d o w n to t h e

n o w t h a t w h e n i t h a d j u s t c o m e o u t , I’d g o n e a n d n o te d

B u t T e r r y a c t u a l l y lik e s w r i t i n g , w h i c h I

c h r is t d i d n ’t h a v e t h e s a m e r i n g t o it. “W i t h

w o r d , b e c a u s e I c o u l d h a v e d o n e it t h e n ;

d o n ’t b e c a u s e i t m a k e s m y b a c k h u r t ; a n d

W illia m th e A n tic h r is t, y o u h a d W illia m

n o w I c o u l d n ’t ” ( C o m ic s J o u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ) .

a b a n d o n e d it . . . I h a d t h e t h o u g h t t h a t ‘T e r r y P r a t c h e t t is t h e g u y w h o w r i t e s

a n y w a y , th e r e a r e p e o p le I sh o u ld b e o n

t h e C o n q u e r o r . T h a t h a s a n i c e r i n g t o it.

T h e y b o t h b r o u g h t d if f e r e n t s e n s ib ilitie s

. X . f u n n y f a n t a s y n o v e l s , I w ill b e c o n s i d e r e d t h e g u y w h o w r i t e s f u n n y h o r r o r n o v e l s ,

t h e p h o n e t o . S o I ’d w a k e u p i n t h e e a r l y

T e r r y a n d I s p e n t t h r e e w e e k s a f t e r w e ’d

t o t h e s a m e s t o r y b u t t h e y m e l d e d s o w e ll

a n d t h a t is n o t w h e r e I w a n t t o live.' I k n e w e n o u g h a b o u t m y s e l f t o r e a l i z e I w o u l d b e

a f t e r n o o n a n d t h e r e ’d b e t h i s m e s s a g e f r o m

fin is h e d it, th r o w in g title s b a c k a n d f o r t h

i t ’s s e a m l e s s .

d o o m e d i f I w a s th a t o n e th in g . A lr e a d y I d se e n frie n d s o f m in e , m o d e r a te ly s u c c e s s fu l,

h im

sa y in g ,

a t e a c h o th e r . It w a s te r rib le , th e a m o u n t o f

t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e b o o k t h e y w a n t e d t o d o t h a t t h e i r p u b l i s h e r s w o u l d n 't l e t t h e m d o ,

‘G e t u p , y o u b a s t a r d . G e t u p . G e t u p . I ’v e

a w fu l title s w e c a m e u p w ith , a n d th e n o n e

to -b e -sn e e z e d

b e c a u s e i t w a s n 't lik e t h e l a s t o n e , i t d id n 't fit s o m e p r e c o n c e i v e d n o t i o n ” ( W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) .

b e e n h e r e s i n c e s e v e n o ’c l o c k t h i s m o r n i n g ,

d a y I p h o n e d T e r r y u p a n d s a i d , ‘I ’v e g o t it:

p u b lish e d in 1 9 9 0 w h e n h e w a s th irty , a n d

G a i m a n ’s s t o r y w a s a p a r o d y o f R i c h m a l C r o m p t o n 's W illia m b o o k s , h u g e l y p o p u l a r

a n d I ’v e w r i t t e n a ll th is .’ T h e n I ’d r i n g h i m

G o o d O m e n s ” (K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ).

fu n n y s h o r t s to rie s th a t r a n f r o m th e 1 9 2 0 s f e a tu r in g a m is c h ie v o u s e le v e n -y e a r-o ld b o y

b a c k a n d w e ’d t a l k . A n d t h e n I ’d w o r k o n

I

“‘You could wear a leather jacket too' “‘I ’m wearing white' said Terry, pointedly. ‘That way, when they come after us for writing a blasphemous book, they'll know I'm the nice one'” From the U.S. hard­ cover edition published by Workman Pub., 1990.

a cq u a in ta n c e s fro m

O n lin e , 2 0 0 6 ) . I t w a s a s i f G a i m a n h a d

so rt o f

■ y w r o te th e firs t f iv e -th o u s a n d -w o r d

a B O V e: Neil and Terry

H e k n e w h o w th e y w e re cra fte d ” (L o c u s

sc e n e o f G o o d O m e n s , a n d th e n

on

th e

a n s w e rin g m a c h in e

I t w a s G a i m a n ’s f i r s t n o v e l ( w i t h a n o t at

p rin t

ru n

of

9 0 ,0 0 0 ) ,

h e a n d h is c o a u t h o r w e r e n o m i n a t e d f o r

T h e b o o k t o o k n i n e w e e k s t o w r i t e . In

b o th L o c u s a n d W o rld F a n ta s y A w a rd s th e

a n d h is g a n g o f f r i e n d s , t h e O u t l a w s . U n d e r t h e w o r k i n g t i t l e o f W illia m t h e A n t ic h r is t ,

S a n d m a n a n d B o o k s o f M a g i c a n d s t u f f lik e

th o s e

w rite rs

f o llo w in g y e a r. P r a tc h e tt w e n t o n to w rite

G a i m a n s fiv e t h o u s a n d w o r d s c o v e r e d e v e r y t h i n g l e a d i n g u p t o t h e b i r t h o f t h e c h i l d t h a t

t h a t u n t i l a b o u t tw o o ’c l o c k i n t h e m o r n i n g ,

w o u ld p h o n e e a c h o th e r a n d p o s t a flo p p y

m o r e D is c w o r ld n o v e ls, a n d G a im a n w as

w o u ld b r in g a b o u t th e a p o c a ly p s e . H e s e n t it o ff to a fe w f rie n d s , w e n t o ff a n d w r o te a

as I r e m e m b e r , a n d th e n a t tw o , n o m a tte r

d is k b a c k a n d f o r t h , u n til r ig h t a t th e e n d

a lr e a d y c h a s in g th e m o n th ly d e a d lin e s fo r

p ile o f o t h e r t h i n g s , a n d t h e n l a r g e l y f o r g o t a b o u t t h e s t o r y 's e x i s t e n c e u n t i l T e r r y

w h e r e I w a s a t o r w h a t I ’d d o n e , I w o u l d g o

w h e n th e y b o th o w n e d m o d e m s , th o u g h

T h e S a n d m a n , th e c o m ic th a t w o u ld m a k e

P r a t c h e t t , w h o w a s o n e o f t h e p e o p l e w h o ’d b e e n s e n t a c o p y o f t h e o p e n i n g s c e n e ,

o v e r a n d d o fiv e h u n d r e d w o r d s o f G o o d

th e y w e r e w o r k in g a t a s p e e d so s lo w th a t

h im fam o u s.

p h o n e d h i m u p a n d a s k e d h i m a b o u t it.

O m e n s ” (C o m ic s Jo u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ).

P r a t c h e t t w a s a n o t h e r c o n n e c t i o n G a i m a n h a d m a d e w h i l e w o r k i n g a s a j o u r n a l i s t . It w a s t o p r o m o t e t h e r e l e a s e o f P r a t c h e t t 's n o v e l , T h e C o l o r o f M a g i c , a n d h a p p e n e d in a

The

s to r y s tr e tc h e d

n o v e l— a

q u a s i-p a ro d y

an d g re w o f th e

d ay s,

th e

tw o

G a im a n a n d P r a tc h e tt c o u ld h a v e d ic ta te d

in to

f ilm

p re -e m a il

H e t o l d P e t e r M u r p h y , “T e r r y a n d I h a v e

a

t h e s t o r y d o w n t h e p h o n e f a s t e r t h a n it

w ritte n

The

u p lo a d e d . I n te rv ie w s w ith th e d u o w e re a t

b u t t h e r e ’s s o m e t h i n g a b o u t p e o p l e t u r n i n g

a l o t o f t h i n g s t h a t p e o p l e lo v e ,

u p a t sig n in g s w ith th e ir c o p ie s o f G o o d

C h i n e s e r e s t a u r a n t d u r i n g t h e t i m e w h e n G a i m a n w a s s till s p o r t i n g a n i l l - a d v i s e d g r a y h a t

O m e n a n d th e n s o m e . It w a s a b o u t th e

t h e t i m e — a n d s till a r e , w h e n i t o c c a s i o n a l l y

in a n e f f o r t t o l o o k a s s u a v e a s K i m N e w m a n ( w h o a t t h a t t i m e w a s s t r i d i n g a r o u n d t o w n

b ir th o f th e A n tic h r is t, th e c o m in g o f th e

h a p p e n s — v e r y m u c h lik e t h e i r c o l l a b o r a t i v e

O m e n s th a t h a v e b e e n a ro u n d th e w o rld

in a d a p p e r t r i l b y ) . “ I t w a s T e r r y 's f i r s t i n t e r v i e w a s a n a u t h o r w h e r e s o m e b o d y t o o k h i m

E n d T im e s , a n d th e v a rio u s a tte m p ts o f

sty le : a d o u b l e - a c t o f tw o p e o p le r a c i n g

w ith

o u t to lu n c h a n d a sk e d h im q u e stio n s. I w a s in te rv ie w in g h im f o r S p a c e V o y a g er m a g a z in e .

A z ira p h a le

e a c h o t h e r t o t h e g o o d b its .

th e y g o t d r o p p e d in th e b a th o r in s o m e

A m a g a z in e so p o o r , I h a d to ta k e th e p h o to s o f T e r r y a fte r th e lu n c h ” (G a im a n , 2 0 0 1 ) . C u t t o t h r e e y e a r s l a t e r , i n 1 9 8 8 : “ I g o t t h i s p h o n e c a l l f r o m T e r r y , s a y i n g ‘R e m e m b e r

angel

t h e m , y ’k n o w , t h e y ’r e

s w o lle n

cos

and

th e

dem on

C ra w ly ,

th e

serp en t

“S o t h a t w a s h o w w e w r o t e t h e n o v e l

s o u p o r a p u d d l e , a n d t h e y ’r e h e ld t o g e t h e r

d i d n o t f a ll b u t S a u n t e r e d V a g u e l y

t o g e t h e r . A n d t h e r e a r e b its o f t h e b o o k t h a t

w i t h t a p e a t t h e b a c k a n d t h e y w a n t th is

C ro w le y w ho

th e

(fo rm e rly

t h a t p lo t? I k n o w w h a t h a p p e n s n e x t . D o y o u w a n t to c o lla b o r a te o n it, o r d o y o u w a n t to

D o w n w a r d s ), to sto p t h e m f r o m h a p p e n ­

a r e m e , t h e r e a r e b its t h a t a r e h i m , t h e r e a r e

t h in g s ig n e d b e c a u s e i t ’s b e c o m e a p l a c e

s e ll i t t o m e ? ' A n d I s a i d , ‘I 'l l c o l l a b o r a t e , p l e a s e '” ( L o c u s O n lin e , 2 0 0 6 ( 1 9 9 1 ) ) .

i n g . B o t h t h e a n g e l a n d t h e d e m o n — o ld

b its t h a t a r e m e r e v i s e d b y h i m , a n d b its t h a t

t h a t y o u g o w h e n th i n g s g e t ro c k y .” ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

CHAPTER 1 |pReLUDeS

65 t

Chapter 2

BRItISH com Ics *

Chapter 2

BRItISH com Ics *

XÈ yJ B

f

JT

m..i.m '·

"i

·

4

in $ , 1 discoveredA^an Nfore in Victoria(Station, not personally,, but copueS ofS)wamp 'Thing.

E i g h t y e a r s b e f o r e t h i s discoveRy, Gaiman Had essentially abandoned any hope of working in comics, the idea having been squashed out of him by the kind of schooI careers advisor tHat stereotypes are built on. C C

A

t th a t p o in t I p r e tty m u c h g a v e u p th e id e a o f w r itin g c o m ic s , a n d th e n I

L \ .A .

s t o p p e d r e a d i n g c o m i c s . T h a t w a s a b o u t ’7 6 , ’7 7 , I w a s s i x t e e n g o i n g o n

.^ .s e v e n t e e n ; it w a s a tim e w h e n c o m i c s h a d d r o p p e d to e ig h te e n p a g e s a n

i s s u e , a n d t h e y s t a r t e d p r i n t i n g t h e m o n b l o t t i n g p a p e r , a n d a ll t h e p e o p l e w h o s e w o r k I th o u g h t w a s in te re s tin g h a d e ith e r sto p p e d d o in g in te re s tin g w o rk o r sto p p e d w o rk in g i n c o m i c s . T h e o n l y t h i n g I c a r r i e d o n b u y i n g o v e r t h e n e x t fiv e y e a r s w a s t h e S p i r i t r e p r i n t s , a n d t h e n i n a b o u t ’8 2 o r ’8 3 , I ’d b e c o m e a w a r e o f W a r r i o r ” ( F a n t a s y A d v e r t i s e r # 1 0 9 , 1 9 8 9 ).

W a r r io r w a s a B r itis h c o m ic s a n th o lo g y e d ite d b y D e z S k in n — a f o r m e r M a r v e l U K e d ito r ia l d ir e c to r — th a t r a n f o r th r e e y e a rs b e fo re it e n d e d in F e b r u a r y 1 9 8 5 . W h ile i t o n l y h a d a s h o r t l i f e s p a n , i t ’s n o t a b l e o n t h e B r i t i s h c o m i c s m a p f o r b e i n g t h e p l a c e w h e r e ( t h e t h e n e m e r g i n g - t a l e n t ) A l a n M o o r e ’s r e i n v e n t i o n o f M a r v e l m a n w i t h G a r r y L e a c h firs t a p p e a re d , a s w e ll a s h is d y s to p ia n v is io n V f o r V e n d e t ta w ith D a v id L lo y d . D C C o m ic s e d ito r L e n W e in w a s a r e g u la r r e a d e r o f th e m a g a z in e , w h ic h m e a n s th a t if w e e x t r a p o l a t e t h e g r a p h , A l a n M o o r e w o u l d n ’t h a v e b e e n h i r e d t o r e v i v e t h e d y i n g t i t l e

S w a m p T h in g i f t h e r e h a d b e e n n o W a r r io r , a n d w i t h o u t A l a n M o o r e t h e r e w o u l d h a v e aBOVe: Swamp Thing

o p p o s ite : Gaiman's

b e e n n o B r i t i s h I n v a s i o n . I n 1 9 8 9 G a i m a n t o l d B r i a n H i b b s , o w n e r o f S a n F r a n c i s c o ’s

#28, September 1984.

Swamp Thing “Jack in

C o m ix E x p e rie n ce :

the Green” story. A rt by Bissette. Released in Neil Gaimans Midnight

Days TPB (a collection of his DC short stories) for the first time. “It's a ten page story about a man dying— very ‘Neil Gaiman' really, in that nothing happens” (Howe, 1999).

T |

t 68

O n e d a y in e a r ly ’8 4 I w a s in V ic t o r ia S t a t io n in L o n d o n a n d t h e y h a d a p i l e o f c o m ic s a t t h e n e w s a g e n ts , in c lu d in g S w a m p T h in g . I t w a s a title t h a t I h a d lo v e d a s a k id , s o I p i c k e d it up, t h u m b e d th r o u g h it, a n d th o u g h t , “H a n g o n , th is is lit e r a t e , th is is r e a lly in te r e s tin g .” B u t b y th is p o i n t I h a d a v e r y d e e p ly in g r a in e d p r e j u d i c e a g a i n s t c o m ic s , a n d p u t it b a c k d o w n . O v e r t h e n e x t m o n t h o r s o I ’d p i c k u p t h e S w a m p T h in g s , f l i p th r o u g h t h e m , a n d p u t t h e m b a c k d o w n a g a in . A n d fin a lly , I t h in k it w a s S w a m p T h i n g # 2 8 — I b o u g h t it a n d t o o k it h o m e w ith m e , a n d t h a t w a s th a t. I ’d d i s c o v e r e d

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

CHapteR 2 |BRItlSH c o m ic s

69 t

XÈ yJ B

f

JT

m..i.m '·

"i

·

4

in $ , 1 discoveredA^an Nfore in Victoria(Station, not personally,, but copueS ofS)wamp 'Thing.

E i g h t y e a r s b e f o r e t h i s discoveRy, Gaiman Had essentially abandoned any hope of working in comics, the idea having been squashed out of him by the kind of schooI careers advisor tHat stereotypes are built on. C C

A

t th a t p o in t I p r e tty m u c h g a v e u p th e id e a o f w r itin g c o m ic s , a n d th e n I

L \ .A .

s t o p p e d r e a d i n g c o m i c s . T h a t w a s a b o u t ’7 6 , ’7 7 , I w a s s i x t e e n g o i n g o n

.^ .s e v e n t e e n ; it w a s a tim e w h e n c o m i c s h a d d r o p p e d to e ig h te e n p a g e s a n

i s s u e , a n d t h e y s t a r t e d p r i n t i n g t h e m o n b l o t t i n g p a p e r , a n d a ll t h e p e o p l e w h o s e w o r k I th o u g h t w a s in te re s tin g h a d e ith e r sto p p e d d o in g in te re s tin g w o rk o r sto p p e d w o rk in g i n c o m i c s . T h e o n l y t h i n g I c a r r i e d o n b u y i n g o v e r t h e n e x t fiv e y e a r s w a s t h e S p i r i t r e p r i n t s , a n d t h e n i n a b o u t ’8 2 o r ’8 3 , I ’d b e c o m e a w a r e o f W a r r i o r ” ( F a n t a s y A d v e r t i s e r # 1 0 9 , 1 9 8 9 ).

W a r r io r w a s a B r itis h c o m ic s a n th o lo g y e d ite d b y D e z S k in n — a f o r m e r M a r v e l U K e d ito r ia l d ir e c to r — th a t r a n f o r th r e e y e a rs b e fo re it e n d e d in F e b r u a r y 1 9 8 5 . W h ile i t o n l y h a d a s h o r t l i f e s p a n , i t ’s n o t a b l e o n t h e B r i t i s h c o m i c s m a p f o r b e i n g t h e p l a c e w h e r e ( t h e t h e n e m e r g i n g - t a l e n t ) A l a n M o o r e ’s r e i n v e n t i o n o f M a r v e l m a n w i t h G a r r y L e a c h firs t a p p e a re d , a s w e ll a s h is d y s to p ia n v is io n V f o r V e n d e t ta w ith D a v id L lo y d . D C C o m ic s e d ito r L e n W e in w a s a r e g u la r r e a d e r o f th e m a g a z in e , w h ic h m e a n s th a t if w e e x t r a p o l a t e t h e g r a p h , A l a n M o o r e w o u l d n ’t h a v e b e e n h i r e d t o r e v i v e t h e d y i n g t i t l e

S w a m p T h in g i f t h e r e h a d b e e n n o W a r r io r , a n d w i t h o u t A l a n M o o r e t h e r e w o u l d h a v e aBOVe: Swamp Thing

o p p o s ite : Gaiman's

b e e n n o B r i t i s h I n v a s i o n . I n 1 9 8 9 G a i m a n t o l d B r i a n H i b b s , o w n e r o f S a n F r a n c i s c o ’s

#28, September 1984.

Swamp Thing “Jack in

C o m ix E x p e rie n ce :

the Green” story. A rt by Bissette. Released in Neil Gaimans Midnight

Days TPB (a collection of his DC short stories) for the first time. “It's a ten page story about a man dying— very ‘Neil Gaiman' really, in that nothing happens” (Howe, 1999).

T |

t 68

O n e d a y in e a r ly ’8 4 I w a s in V ic t o r ia S t a t io n in L o n d o n a n d t h e y h a d a p i l e o f c o m ic s a t t h e n e w s a g e n ts , in c lu d in g S w a m p T h in g . I t w a s a title t h a t I h a d lo v e d a s a k id , s o I p i c k e d it up, t h u m b e d th r o u g h it, a n d th o u g h t , “H a n g o n , th is is lit e r a t e , th is is r e a lly in te r e s tin g .” B u t b y th is p o i n t I h a d a v e r y d e e p ly in g r a in e d p r e j u d i c e a g a i n s t c o m ic s , a n d p u t it b a c k d o w n . O v e r t h e n e x t m o n t h o r s o I ’d p i c k u p t h e S w a m p T h in g s , f l i p th r o u g h t h e m , a n d p u t t h e m b a c k d o w n a g a in . A n d fin a lly , I t h in k it w a s S w a m p T h i n g # 2 8 — I b o u g h t it a n d t o o k it h o m e w ith m e , a n d t h a t w a s th a t. I ’d d i s c o v e r e d

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

CHapteR 2 |BRItlSH c o m ic s

69 t

a n d L e a h , as th e ir b e d tim e b o o k . W ith t h e k i d s s a f e ly a s l e e p h e ’d c o m e b a c k o u t a n d ta lk a b o u t c o m i c s . “I r e m e m b e r th e s tu ff th a t h e w a s

te llin g m e

a b o u t th a t

h a d n ’t c o m e o u t y e t . H e w a s t e l l i n g m e a b o u t t h e la s t S u p e r m a n s t o r y ( “W h a te v e r H a p p e n e d to

th e

M an

o f T o m o rro w ? ”),

w h i c h h a d n ’t y e t c o m e o u t . A n d h e w a s te llin g m e a b o u t a th i n g h e d id t h a t cam e and

never

o u t, w h ic h w a s B e r n ie W rig h ts o n h im

G o e s to

c o lla b o ra tin g

on

“S u p e r m a n

H e ll” a n d L e x L u t h o r g o in g to

r e s c u e h im .

says NeiL, “ i DON’t

Alan Moore, discovered what he was doing. I realized you could do work in comics that was as every bit as mature, and interesting, and exciting, as anything that was being done in mainstream fiction or in modern horror literature. It was like coming back to an old lover, and discovering that she was still beautiful.

lik e t h e t i t l e , a n d

I d o k n o w h o w t o s p e ll J u d g e D r e d d and

R osco e

n ic e

M o sco w , b u t

p e n -p o rtra it

of

h e r e ’s

A la n

a

M o o re

w r itte n a t th e e n d o f 1 9 8 5 , p u b lish e d in t h e M a r c h

1 9 8 6 is s u e o f

Knave,

s o m e m o n t h s b e f o r e t h e f i r s t is s u e

Watchmen

a b s o l u t e l y i n c r e d i b l e , h e r e ’s s o m e t h i n g I ’v e d o n e , I h o p e y o u lik e it,’ a n d I g o t a p h o n e c a l l t h e n e x t d a y o r t h e d a y a f t e r s a y i n g ‘I ju s t lo s t a w h o le d a y th a n k s to y o u . L o v e d t h e b o o k .’ “W e

c h a tte d

on

th e p h o n e e v e ry fe w

w e e k s o r m o n th s o r w h a te v e r, a n d h e w a s a b i g f a n o f p e o p l e lik e C liv e B a r k e r a n d R a m s e y C a m p b e l l a n d d id n ’t k n o w a n y o f t h e m , a n d I k n e w a ll t h e s e g u y s . T h e B r i t i s h F a n ta s y C o n v e n tio n w a s c o m in g u p a t th a t

r e a d t h e f ir s t t h r e e is s u e s b y t h e n , in

h i t t h e s h e lv e s a n d s o h a d G a i m a n ’s f i r s t

t i m e s o I s a id , ‘W o u l d y o u lik e t o c o m e

l o v e ly D a v e G i b b o n s p h o t o c o p i e s .) ”

book,

“I t w a s a b o u t

d o w n t o t h e c o n a n d I ’ll i n t r o d u c e y o u t o a ll

In

about

th e tim e o f th e m e n s t r u a l w e r e w o lf s to ry .

t h e s e g u y s a n d l o o k a f te r y o u ? ’ A n d h e d i d ”

e n d e a rin g ly

I h a d n e v e r w r itte n a le tte r to a c o m i c a n d

(Fantasy Advertiser # 1 0 9 ,

s u p e r h e r o ” — w h o s e re in s h e

I t h o u g h t , w e ll, m a y b e I o u g h t t o w r i t e a

th e

w as

a rtic le

M i r a c l e m a n — “a s t u p id

p u b lish e d .

M o o re re a lly

ta l k s

w o u ld la te r h a n d o v e r to G a im a n .

( I ’d

B y S e p te m b e r 1 9 8 5

Swamp Thing # 4 0

had

of

Ghastly Beyond Belief.

f a n le t t e r , a n d I d i d n ’t r e a l l y k n o w

how

y o u w e n t a b o u t d o i n g it. S o I g o t a c o p y of

Ghastly Beyond B elief a n d

D ia n a W y n n e

Jo n es, w h o

w as

g u est o f

h o n o r a t w h a t w a s th e firs t c o n v e n tio n sh e

I s h o v e d i t in

h a d e v e r a tte n d e d . N e il k e p t h e r c o m p a n y

a n e n v e lo p e a n d p o s te d it to A la n — I g o t

w h ile sh e s to o d n e r v o u s ly a t th e b a r, a n d

h is a d d r e s s f r o m I a n a t t h e

Knave

o ffic e —

a n d s a id , ‘I t h i n k w h a t y o u a r e d o i n g is

t 70

1 9 8 9 ).

A t th a t s a m e c o n v e n tio n G a im a n m e t

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

d o w n s t a i r s M o o r e w a s r e a d i n g J o n e s ’s

Ogre Downstairs

The

t o h is d a u g h t e r s , A m b e r

At one point I sat him down and said, “Right. How do you do it? How do you write comics? Not plots and dialogue and that sort o f thing, but what does a comic script look like?” Because I didn’t have a clue. So he showed me on h alf a sheet o f notebook paper and just sort o f explained how to write comics the Alan Moore way. In terms o f what you tell your artist, and showed me page one, panel one. “Some people, Neil, do lowercase fo r the caption description, and then they go uppercase fo r the dialogue, but I don’t like doing that because it makes it look like every­ body’s shouting.” So I went o ff and I wrote a John Constantine short story called “The Day My Pad Went Mad,” and I wrote it in the offices o f P e n t h o u s e , which would have been back when I was being features editor, or doing a stint ghosting on F i t n e s s magazine, one o f those two. It was about John Constantine returning home to his little apartment in East Croydon — don’t know why it was East Croydon, just because I knew East Croydon, probably—and something horrible happening. He’d got back after six months and something horrible has been growing in the fridge—evil stuff, tentacles coming out—and he has to fight his way through. I think there may have been an antichrist in the story, some kid who could have been the antichrist who John Constantine sort o f talks out o f it—a thing that

I later went back to from a slightly different direction. Anyway, I sent it to Alan and I said, “What do you think?” He said, “Yeah, it’s alright. Endings a bit iffy.” Then I wrote my “Jack in the Green” story (which eventually was drawn fifteen years after it was written). And I sent it to Alan. And he said “Yeah, that’s good. I would have liked to have written that.” Years later, I phoned Alan, and said, “Guess what? Steve Bissette and John Totleben are going to draw my ‘J ack in the Green’story!”And he said “Fair enough Neil, but the one that I really liked was the one about that stuff growing in John Constantine’s fridge.”

I d id n t have a clue. (^So he Showedm on h a lf a sh eet o f notebook paper andj u t S ort o f explained how to w rite toJhitS th e A^lan M^ore way.

A t M e x ic o n in e a rly 1 9 8 6 , G a im a n a n d M o o r e m e t a g a in , b u t th is tim e

M o o re

h a d t w o is s u e s o f t h e a s - y e t - u n p u b l i s h e d

Watchmen

in h is b a g . “I w a s r e a d in g t h e m

a n d g o i n g : t h i s is s o m e t h i n g s p e c i a l . T h i s is n o t t h e s a m e .”

Watchmen

w o u ld d o m in a te

Time Out

an a rtic le G a im a n w r o te fo r

in

S e p t e m b e r , b y w h i c h p o i n t f o u r is s u e s o f th e c o m i c h a d c o m e o u t a n d th e se rie s h a d b ecom e a phenom enon. In c id e n ta lly , A la n

M o o re

has

a lw a y s

w o rk e d o n t h e s a m e B o D id d le y p r in c ip le a s N e il. M o o r e s a i d , “ I a m

a cre a tu re o f

im p u ls e ; b u t I h a v e to c a s h th e c h e c k s th a t m y m o u t h h a s w r itte n . I h a v e s o m e b ig e x tr a v a g a n t id e a o f w h a t I a m g o in g to do a n d I t e ll e v e r y b o d y a b o u t i t ; t h e n I h a v e t o d o i t s o I d o n ’t l o o k l ik e a t w a t.” ❖

CHapteR 2 |BRItlSH com ics

71 t

a n d L e a h , as th e ir b e d tim e b o o k . W ith t h e k i d s s a f e ly a s l e e p h e ’d c o m e b a c k o u t a n d ta lk a b o u t c o m i c s . “I r e m e m b e r th e s tu ff th a t h e w a s

te llin g m e

a b o u t th a t

h a d n ’t c o m e o u t y e t . H e w a s t e l l i n g m e a b o u t t h e la s t S u p e r m a n s t o r y ( “W h a te v e r H a p p e n e d to

th e

M an

o f T o m o rro w ? ”),

w h i c h h a d n ’t y e t c o m e o u t . A n d h e w a s te llin g m e a b o u t a th i n g h e d id t h a t cam e and

never

o u t, w h ic h w a s B e r n ie W rig h ts o n h im

G o e s to

c o lla b o ra tin g

on

“S u p e r m a n

H e ll” a n d L e x L u t h o r g o in g to

r e s c u e h im .

says NeiL, “ i DON’t

Alan Moore, discovered what he was doing. I realized you could do work in comics that was as every bit as mature, and interesting, and exciting, as anything that was being done in mainstream fiction or in modern horror literature. It was like coming back to an old lover, and discovering that she was still beautiful.

lik e t h e t i t l e , a n d

I d o k n o w h o w t o s p e ll J u d g e D r e d d and

R osco e

n ic e

M o sco w , b u t

p e n -p o rtra it

of

h e r e ’s

A la n

a

M o o re

w r itte n a t th e e n d o f 1 9 8 5 , p u b lish e d in t h e M a r c h

1 9 8 6 is s u e o f

Knave,

s o m e m o n t h s b e f o r e t h e f i r s t is s u e

Watchmen

a b s o l u t e l y i n c r e d i b l e , h e r e ’s s o m e t h i n g I ’v e d o n e , I h o p e y o u lik e it,’ a n d I g o t a p h o n e c a l l t h e n e x t d a y o r t h e d a y a f t e r s a y i n g ‘I ju s t lo s t a w h o le d a y th a n k s to y o u . L o v e d t h e b o o k .’ “W e

c h a tte d

on

th e p h o n e e v e ry fe w

w e e k s o r m o n th s o r w h a te v e r, a n d h e w a s a b i g f a n o f p e o p l e lik e C liv e B a r k e r a n d R a m s e y C a m p b e l l a n d d id n ’t k n o w a n y o f t h e m , a n d I k n e w a ll t h e s e g u y s . T h e B r i t i s h F a n ta s y C o n v e n tio n w a s c o m in g u p a t th a t

r e a d t h e f ir s t t h r e e is s u e s b y t h e n , in

h i t t h e s h e lv e s a n d s o h a d G a i m a n ’s f i r s t

t i m e s o I s a id , ‘W o u l d y o u lik e t o c o m e

l o v e ly D a v e G i b b o n s p h o t o c o p i e s .) ”

book,

“I t w a s a b o u t

d o w n t o t h e c o n a n d I ’ll i n t r o d u c e y o u t o a ll

In

about

th e tim e o f th e m e n s t r u a l w e r e w o lf s to ry .

t h e s e g u y s a n d l o o k a f te r y o u ? ’ A n d h e d i d ”

e n d e a rin g ly

I h a d n e v e r w r itte n a le tte r to a c o m i c a n d

(Fantasy Advertiser # 1 0 9 ,

s u p e r h e r o ” — w h o s e re in s h e

I t h o u g h t , w e ll, m a y b e I o u g h t t o w r i t e a

th e

w as

a rtic le

M i r a c l e m a n — “a s t u p id

p u b lish e d .

M o o re re a lly

ta l k s

w o u ld la te r h a n d o v e r to G a im a n .

( I ’d

B y S e p te m b e r 1 9 8 5

Swamp Thing # 4 0

had

of

Ghastly Beyond Belief.

f a n le t t e r , a n d I d i d n ’t r e a l l y k n o w

how

y o u w e n t a b o u t d o i n g it. S o I g o t a c o p y of

Ghastly Beyond B elief a n d

D ia n a W y n n e

Jo n es, w h o

w as

g u est o f

h o n o r a t w h a t w a s th e firs t c o n v e n tio n sh e

I s h o v e d i t in

h a d e v e r a tte n d e d . N e il k e p t h e r c o m p a n y

a n e n v e lo p e a n d p o s te d it to A la n — I g o t

w h ile sh e s to o d n e r v o u s ly a t th e b a r, a n d

h is a d d r e s s f r o m I a n a t t h e

Knave

o ffic e —

a n d s a id , ‘I t h i n k w h a t y o u a r e d o i n g is

t 70

1 9 8 9 ).

A t th a t s a m e c o n v e n tio n G a im a n m e t

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

d o w n s t a i r s M o o r e w a s r e a d i n g J o n e s ’s

Ogre Downstairs

The

t o h is d a u g h t e r s , A m b e r

At one point I sat him down and said, “Right. How do you do it? How do you write comics? Not plots and dialogue and that sort o f thing, but what does a comic script look like?” Because I didn’t have a clue. So he showed me on h alf a sheet o f notebook paper and just sort o f explained how to write comics the Alan Moore way. In terms o f what you tell your artist, and showed me page one, panel one. “Some people, Neil, do lowercase fo r the caption description, and then they go uppercase fo r the dialogue, but I don’t like doing that because it makes it look like every­ body’s shouting.” So I went o ff and I wrote a John Constantine short story called “The Day My Pad Went Mad,” and I wrote it in the offices o f P e n t h o u s e , which would have been back when I was being features editor, or doing a stint ghosting on F i t n e s s magazine, one o f those two. It was about John Constantine returning home to his little apartment in East Croydon — don’t know why it was East Croydon, just because I knew East Croydon, probably—and something horrible happening. He’d got back after six months and something horrible has been growing in the fridge—evil stuff, tentacles coming out—and he has to fight his way through. I think there may have been an antichrist in the story, some kid who could have been the antichrist who John Constantine sort o f talks out o f it—a thing that

I later went back to from a slightly different direction. Anyway, I sent it to Alan and I said, “What do you think?” He said, “Yeah, it’s alright. Endings a bit iffy.” Then I wrote my “Jack in the Green” story (which eventually was drawn fifteen years after it was written). And I sent it to Alan. And he said “Yeah, that’s good. I would have liked to have written that.” Years later, I phoned Alan, and said, “Guess what? Steve Bissette and John Totleben are going to draw my ‘J ack in the Green’story!”And he said “Fair enough Neil, but the one that I really liked was the one about that stuff growing in John Constantine’s fridge.”

I d id n t have a clue. (^So he Showedm on h a lf a sh eet o f notebook paper andj u t S ort o f explained how to w rite toJhitS th e A^lan M^ore way.

A t M e x ic o n in e a rly 1 9 8 6 , G a im a n a n d M o o r e m e t a g a in , b u t th is tim e

M o o re

h a d t w o is s u e s o f t h e a s - y e t - u n p u b l i s h e d

Watchmen

in h is b a g . “I w a s r e a d in g t h e m

a n d g o i n g : t h i s is s o m e t h i n g s p e c i a l . T h i s is n o t t h e s a m e .”

Watchmen

w o u ld d o m in a te

Time Out

an a rtic le G a im a n w r o te fo r

in

S e p t e m b e r , b y w h i c h p o i n t f o u r is s u e s o f th e c o m i c h a d c o m e o u t a n d th e se rie s h a d b ecom e a phenom enon. In c id e n ta lly , A la n

M o o re

has

a lw a y s

w o rk e d o n t h e s a m e B o D id d le y p r in c ip le a s N e il. M o o r e s a i d , “ I a m

a cre a tu re o f

im p u ls e ; b u t I h a v e to c a s h th e c h e c k s th a t m y m o u t h h a s w r itte n . I h a v e s o m e b ig e x tr a v a g a n t id e a o f w h a t I a m g o in g to do a n d I t e ll e v e r y b o d y a b o u t i t ; t h e n I h a v e t o d o i t s o I d o n ’t l o o k l ik e a t w a t.” ❖

CHapteR 2 |BRItlSH com ics

71 t

2000a D

2 0 0 0 CLD LaUNCHcu ± i n

//

¿und was uKi^uNaLLy iNteNDeD as a weekly science-fiction comic for boys but, as Gaiman put it in his piece, it “rapidly accum ulated an older readership due to the lunatic, mutant-battling exploits of Judge Dredd, an all-in-one cop, judge, and ju ry in a post­ apocalyptic America.”

time out

o t s o f B r i t i s h c r e a t o r s h a d t h e i r s t a r t in 2 0 0 0 A D — B r i a n B o l l a n d , D a v e G i b b o n s ,

L

K e v in O ’N e i l l , a n d A l a n M o o r e a m o n g t h e m . M o o r e c r e a t e d a b u n c h o f c h a r a c t e r s f o r t h e m o v e r t h e y e a r s — t w o a l i e n j u v e n i l e d e l i n q u e n t s , D R a n d Q u i n c h , a n d H a lo

Jo n e s , a f if tie th -c e n tu r y e v e ry w o m a n in a h a r d s c ie n c e f ic tio n s to r y — b u t b e f o re th e y e x i s t e d , M o o r e w a s a n u n k n o w n e n t i t y in t h e w o r l d o f c o m i c s . H e s t a r t e d o u t t h e s a m e w a y e v e r y u n t e s t e d w r i t e r d id : h e w r o t e s o m e F u t u r e S h o c k s . S i x y e a r s l a t e r , G a i m a n w o u l d f o l l o w s u it.

F u t u r e S h o c k s a r e 2 0 0 0 A D ’s s h o r t , s e l f - c o n t a i n e d , t w i s t - e n d i n g p i e c e s , f o u r o f w h i c h w e r e w r i t t e n b y G a i m a n b e t w e e n 1 9 8 6 a n d 1 9 8 7 . “ I d i d ‘Y o u ’r e N e v e r A l o n e

aBOVe: Cover to 2000

AD prog 536, August

1987, in which Gaiman’s third tale appeared. Also notable for the first appearance of Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowells

Future Shocks

Zenith.

w i t h a P h o n e ,’ w h i c h w a s t h e f i r s t t h i n g t h a t J o h n H i c k l e n t o n e v e r d r e w , a b o u t h o w

“The Great Cool Challenge” from #1, September 1988, art by Shane Oakley. “This was a script kept turning down, and I couldn’t understand why they turned it down, because I loved it. Eventually it got drawn by Shane Oakley for and it was basically me doing Snoopy versus Zaphod Beeblebrox. It was just silly and funny. But that one got rejected.” One reviewer, unknow­ ingly, called it an “above average

te le p h o n e s a r e g o in g to g e t m o r e a n d m o r e in te llig e n t, a n d t h e n t h e y w ill a c tu a lly s t a r t

BLAAM!

ta lk in g to e a c h o th e r a n d ig n o re u s. W h ic h I th in k w a s re m a rk a b ly p re s c ie n t w h e n I t h i n k a b o u t it.” I t w a s h is f i r s t c o m i c , a n d t h e f i r s t t i m e G a i m a n g o t t o s e e h o w h is s c r i p t t r a n s l a t e d

2000 AD

to th e d r a w n p a g e . “I r e m e m b e r ju s t b e in g s h o c k e d a t th is b it w h e r e I h a d a s ix ty -w o r d w o r d b a llo o n . I te ll p e o p le th e m o s t i m p o r t a n t th i n g s o m e tim e s a b o u t le a r n in g to b e a w r i t e r is s e e i n g y o u r m i s t a k e s in p r i n t , b e c a u s e t h e m o m e n t y o u s e e t h e m y o u t h i n k , ‘O h , w e ll, I w o n ’t d o t h a t a g a i n . I t h o u g h t I c o u l d p u t t h i s w h o l e t h i n g i n t o a p a n e l , b u t I c o u l d n ’t a n d t h i s is t e r r i b l e .’”

BLAAM!

“C o n v e r s a t i o n P i e c e ,” d r a w n b y D a v i d W y a t t , w a s a t w o - p a g e s t o r y b e t w e e n t w o d is e m b o d ie d v o ic e s a b o u t th e u se o f th e p la n e t e a r th as a d e c o ra tiv e o r n a m e n t th a t f o l l o w e d in S e p t e m b e r . “ T h a t w a s a r e a l l y g o o d s t o r y . ‘P h o n e ’ w a s n ’t v e r y g o o d .” H is n e x t F u t u r e S h o c k — “ I ’m a B e l i e v e r ,” p u b l i s h e d i n A u g u s t 1 9 8 7 a n d i l l u s t r a t e d b y M a s s im o B e la r d in e lli— w a s th e p o in t a t w h ic h G a im a n s ta r te d to g o o ff th e w h o le id e a o f 2 0 0 0 A D , h a v in g o n ly re a lly ju s t b e g u n .

It w a s a s to ry th a t w a s a c tu a lly b a s e d on s o m e th in g t h a t m y c o m p u te r r e p a ir m a n

Future Shock."

to ld m e. I j u s t r e m e m b e r h im s a y in g t h a t th e r e w a s o n e c o m p u te r t h a t th e y h a d

t 72

tHe aR t o f Neil g a im a n

CHAPTER 2 |BRItlSH COmiCS

73 t

2000a D

2 0 0 0 CLD LaUNCHcu ± i n

//

¿und was uKi^uNaLLy iNteNDeD as a weekly science-fiction comic for boys but, as Gaiman put it in his piece, it “rapidly accum ulated an older readership due to the lunatic, mutant-battling exploits of Judge Dredd, an all-in-one cop, judge, and ju ry in a post­ apocalyptic America.”

time out

o t s o f B r i t i s h c r e a t o r s h a d t h e i r s t a r t in 2 0 0 0 A D — B r i a n B o l l a n d , D a v e G i b b o n s ,

L

K e v in O ’N e i l l , a n d A l a n M o o r e a m o n g t h e m . M o o r e c r e a t e d a b u n c h o f c h a r a c t e r s f o r t h e m o v e r t h e y e a r s — t w o a l i e n j u v e n i l e d e l i n q u e n t s , D R a n d Q u i n c h , a n d H a lo

Jo n e s , a f if tie th -c e n tu r y e v e ry w o m a n in a h a r d s c ie n c e f ic tio n s to r y — b u t b e f o re th e y e x i s t e d , M o o r e w a s a n u n k n o w n e n t i t y in t h e w o r l d o f c o m i c s . H e s t a r t e d o u t t h e s a m e w a y e v e r y u n t e s t e d w r i t e r d id : h e w r o t e s o m e F u t u r e S h o c k s . S i x y e a r s l a t e r , G a i m a n w o u l d f o l l o w s u it.

F u t u r e S h o c k s a r e 2 0 0 0 A D ’s s h o r t , s e l f - c o n t a i n e d , t w i s t - e n d i n g p i e c e s , f o u r o f w h i c h w e r e w r i t t e n b y G a i m a n b e t w e e n 1 9 8 6 a n d 1 9 8 7 . “ I d i d ‘Y o u ’r e N e v e r A l o n e

aBOVe: Cover to 2000

AD prog 536, August

1987, in which Gaiman’s third tale appeared. Also notable for the first appearance of Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowells

Future Shocks

Zenith.

w i t h a P h o n e ,’ w h i c h w a s t h e f i r s t t h i n g t h a t J o h n H i c k l e n t o n e v e r d r e w , a b o u t h o w

“The Great Cool Challenge” from #1, September 1988, art by Shane Oakley. “This was a script kept turning down, and I couldn’t understand why they turned it down, because I loved it. Eventually it got drawn by Shane Oakley for and it was basically me doing Snoopy versus Zaphod Beeblebrox. It was just silly and funny. But that one got rejected.” One reviewer, unknow­ ingly, called it an “above average

te le p h o n e s a r e g o in g to g e t m o r e a n d m o r e in te llig e n t, a n d t h e n t h e y w ill a c tu a lly s t a r t

BLAAM!

ta lk in g to e a c h o th e r a n d ig n o re u s. W h ic h I th in k w a s re m a rk a b ly p re s c ie n t w h e n I t h i n k a b o u t it.” I t w a s h is f i r s t c o m i c , a n d t h e f i r s t t i m e G a i m a n g o t t o s e e h o w h is s c r i p t t r a n s l a t e d

2000 AD

to th e d r a w n p a g e . “I r e m e m b e r ju s t b e in g s h o c k e d a t th is b it w h e r e I h a d a s ix ty -w o r d w o r d b a llo o n . I te ll p e o p le th e m o s t i m p o r t a n t th i n g s o m e tim e s a b o u t le a r n in g to b e a w r i t e r is s e e i n g y o u r m i s t a k e s in p r i n t , b e c a u s e t h e m o m e n t y o u s e e t h e m y o u t h i n k , ‘O h , w e ll, I w o n ’t d o t h a t a g a i n . I t h o u g h t I c o u l d p u t t h i s w h o l e t h i n g i n t o a p a n e l , b u t I c o u l d n ’t a n d t h i s is t e r r i b l e .’”

BLAAM!

“C o n v e r s a t i o n P i e c e ,” d r a w n b y D a v i d W y a t t , w a s a t w o - p a g e s t o r y b e t w e e n t w o d is e m b o d ie d v o ic e s a b o u t th e u se o f th e p la n e t e a r th as a d e c o ra tiv e o r n a m e n t th a t f o l l o w e d in S e p t e m b e r . “ T h a t w a s a r e a l l y g o o d s t o r y . ‘P h o n e ’ w a s n ’t v e r y g o o d .” H is n e x t F u t u r e S h o c k — “ I ’m a B e l i e v e r ,” p u b l i s h e d i n A u g u s t 1 9 8 7 a n d i l l u s t r a t e d b y M a s s im o B e la r d in e lli— w a s th e p o in t a t w h ic h G a im a n s ta r te d to g o o ff th e w h o le id e a o f 2 0 0 0 A D , h a v in g o n ly re a lly ju s t b e g u n .

It w a s a s to ry th a t w a s a c tu a lly b a s e d on s o m e th in g t h a t m y c o m p u te r r e p a ir m a n

Future Shock."

to ld m e. I j u s t r e m e m b e r h im s a y in g t h a t th e r e w a s o n e c o m p u te r t h a t th e y h a d

t 72

tHe aR t o f Neil g a im a n

CHAPTER 2 |BRItlSH COmiCS

73 t

story, and so I wrote a Future Shock, and I must have been writing Don’t Panic or researching it at that point, because I had all those Hitchhiker-y rhythms in my head—I wrote it as a Douglas Adams thing. And they went through and they took out all the jokes before it was published and I thought: They may not have been the greatest jokes, but there wasn’t much point to this short story without them. It would be like editing Douglas Adams and taking the jokes out and keeping the plot. The plot isn’t very good, and if you take out the jokes you really don’t have much left.

I a lw ays had th is theory

which Was: I should b et on mySelf. k

/

..

A^nd in vest in m yself.

The fourth and final of Gaiman’s Future Shocks harked back to his days as a starving journalist, when he was prolific enough

2000 AD Future Shock: “I'm a Believer" August 1987.

b

t 74

back in his homebase that they kept around to play as a practical joke fo r the young computer trainees, because piece by piece there was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t work. You could test every single piece and everything worked, then you assemble this thing, turn it on, nothing happened and nobody could figure out why. So they’d keep it fo r whenever a new guy would come in. They’d say: This one’s just come in, can you just figure out what’s wrong with it? And then watch somebody spend a day slowly going mad. I thought that was a fun little

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

that he had to pretend to be several people at once. Drawn by Steve Yeowell, it was called “W hat’s in a Name?” and was about a man who had to have his pen names surgically removed. “It was a story about my own personal travails with pen names, because I’d had a lot of pen names. And there were times when I would actually use pen names in person because it was easier. I was Penthouse’s film reviewer as Gerry Musgrave, and it was so much easier to phone the film company and say ‘Gerry Musgrave from Penthouse, I need to attend this film screening, can you put me on the list’ than it was ‘Neil Gaiman, writing for Penthouse as Gerry Musgrave.’ So I would wind up meeting people and using the pen names, and then people would get confused, and I would get confused, and

it was silly. So I wrote this story about somebody who has to have his pen names surgically removed and the nice thing about that was I got to list all my old pen names at the end.” There was one last 2000 AD story after that. It appeared in the 1988 Judge Dredd Annual, and it wasn’t a Future Shock.

It was a short story called “Sweet Justice.” I think I titled it “Justice Is Sweet" and they changed it. It was Judge Hershey (because Leigh Baulch wanted to draw Judge Hershey) going to Brit-Cit. And I put Judge Pratchett in it and people said things like, “Mind how you go, now” I remember the bad guy was Hunter Tremayne, although I believe he was called Severian Clute in the thing. It was about somebody who thought they were dealing sugar but they were actually dealing tiny sweet spider eggs, and the giant spiders came and I think people may have erupted into spiders. Years later they came to reprint it by which point they had actually gone to Brit-Cit and whatever I ’d written in that short story was no longer canon. So they got somebody else in to rewrite it. I ’ve never reread it—either version. They never asked me, they never sent it. And I know it’s still in print out there somewhere. It’s one o f those things that I see from time to time: This book includes Neil Gaiman’s ‘Sweet Justice!’” Then, as the final nail, the mid­ eighties publishing company Quality Communications— set up in 1982 by Dez Skinn to release Warrior—took on the task of repackaging 2000 AD for the American market. “They were stretching it on a photocopier, changing the proportions so everyone was long and thin. And coloring them in very, very badly. Mostly sort of garish oranges. And then my thing came out and I didn’t get a copy, and I didn’t get any royalties. And I thought, ‘That’s why I don’t want to do that anymore.’” It wasn’t the fact that it was a low-paid gig that made Gaiman go off it.

Low-paid gigs are fine as long as the thing you did goes off into the world exactly the way you want it to, and that it makes you happy. “But I always had this theory which was: I should bet on myself. And invest in myself. And it seemed to me like writing something that you were never going to get royalties on, no matter what happened or what success it had, was not betting on yourself, was not investing in yourself. That’s one-off. That seemed wrong. “And that was it. That’s why my entire work for 2000 AD consisted of four Future Shocks and a short story.” ❖

CH apteR 2 |BRitisH c o m ic s

to p : 2000 AD Future Shock: “What's in a Nam e?” September 1987. L e ft: Credit listing with all the pseudonyms Gaiman used in his journalism career.

75 t

story, and so I wrote a Future Shock, and I must have been writing Don’t Panic or researching it at that point, because I had all those Hitchhiker-y rhythms in my head—I wrote it as a Douglas Adams thing. And they went through and they took out all the jokes before it was published and I thought: They may not have been the greatest jokes, but there wasn’t much point to this short story without them. It would be like editing Douglas Adams and taking the jokes out and keeping the plot. The plot isn’t very good, and if you take out the jokes you really don’t have much left.

I a lw ays had th is theory

which Was: I should b et on mySelf. k

/

..

A^nd in vest in m yself.

The fourth and final of Gaiman’s Future Shocks harked back to his days as a starving journalist, when he was prolific enough

2000 AD Future Shock: “I'm a Believer" August 1987.

b

t 74

back in his homebase that they kept around to play as a practical joke fo r the young computer trainees, because piece by piece there was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t work. You could test every single piece and everything worked, then you assemble this thing, turn it on, nothing happened and nobody could figure out why. So they’d keep it fo r whenever a new guy would come in. They’d say: This one’s just come in, can you just figure out what’s wrong with it? And then watch somebody spend a day slowly going mad. I thought that was a fun little

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

that he had to pretend to be several people at once. Drawn by Steve Yeowell, it was called “W hat’s in a Name?” and was about a man who had to have his pen names surgically removed. “It was a story about my own personal travails with pen names, because I’d had a lot of pen names. And there were times when I would actually use pen names in person because it was easier. I was Penthouse’s film reviewer as Gerry Musgrave, and it was so much easier to phone the film company and say ‘Gerry Musgrave from Penthouse, I need to attend this film screening, can you put me on the list’ than it was ‘Neil Gaiman, writing for Penthouse as Gerry Musgrave.’ So I would wind up meeting people and using the pen names, and then people would get confused, and I would get confused, and

it was silly. So I wrote this story about somebody who has to have his pen names surgically removed and the nice thing about that was I got to list all my old pen names at the end.” There was one last 2000 AD story after that. It appeared in the 1988 Judge Dredd Annual, and it wasn’t a Future Shock.

It was a short story called “Sweet Justice.” I think I titled it “Justice Is Sweet" and they changed it. It was Judge Hershey (because Leigh Baulch wanted to draw Judge Hershey) going to Brit-Cit. And I put Judge Pratchett in it and people said things like, “Mind how you go, now” I remember the bad guy was Hunter Tremayne, although I believe he was called Severian Clute in the thing. It was about somebody who thought they were dealing sugar but they were actually dealing tiny sweet spider eggs, and the giant spiders came and I think people may have erupted into spiders. Years later they came to reprint it by which point they had actually gone to Brit-Cit and whatever I ’d written in that short story was no longer canon. So they got somebody else in to rewrite it. I ’ve never reread it—either version. They never asked me, they never sent it. And I know it’s still in print out there somewhere. It’s one o f those things that I see from time to time: This book includes Neil Gaiman’s ‘Sweet Justice!’” Then, as the final nail, the mid­ eighties publishing company Quality Communications— set up in 1982 by Dez Skinn to release Warrior—took on the task of repackaging 2000 AD for the American market. “They were stretching it on a photocopier, changing the proportions so everyone was long and thin. And coloring them in very, very badly. Mostly sort of garish oranges. And then my thing came out and I didn’t get a copy, and I didn’t get any royalties. And I thought, ‘That’s why I don’t want to do that anymore.’” It wasn’t the fact that it was a low-paid gig that made Gaiman go off it.

Low-paid gigs are fine as long as the thing you did goes off into the world exactly the way you want it to, and that it makes you happy. “But I always had this theory which was: I should bet on myself. And invest in myself. And it seemed to me like writing something that you were never going to get royalties on, no matter what happened or what success it had, was not betting on yourself, was not investing in yourself. That’s one-off. That seemed wrong. “And that was it. That’s why my entire work for 2000 AD consisted of four Future Shocks and a short story.” ❖

CH apteR 2 |BRitisH c o m ic s

to p : 2000 AD Future Shock: “What's in a Nam e?” September 1987. L e ft: Credit listing with all the pseudonyms Gaiman used in his journalism career.

75 t

af

BORDeRLi N e j

Jfaet

ttiou yk λ ßm^Ajine fy jv t

ofjieoßile to \sc>ijc on

Λ

ha^ietiè

it , λΛ$ w it innotent

ine^ei^ ,.. ^

w f Jo likely n ot t Iteren nnf one o f tke/fa w 4 * Jt)M/e cenf one v /tf J¡¡m.

The 1980s comics scene

iN tHe uk was buzziNg,

co n v olu ted , and com plex. h e r e w e r e a c o u p l e o f k e y p la y e r s , m a n y l e s s e r p la y e r s , a n d o c c a s i o n a l c r a z y p e o p le .

T

G a i m a n c a u g h t a n e x c e l l e n t s n a p s h o t o f t h e t i m e in h is p i e c e f o r T im e O u t, “ T h e C o m i c s E x p l o s i o n ," d e s c r ib i n g t h e w h o le s c e n e f r o m t h e t o p d o w n : A l a n M o o r e ’s

W a t c h m e n , t h e n o n l y f o u r is s u e s in , w a s a l r e a d y a p h e n o m e n o n w a r r a n t i n g a c o v e r s to r y ,

a l t h o u g h it w a s c h a n g e d a t t h e la s t m o m e n t w h e n t h e e d i t o r g o t c o l d f e e t a n d d i t c h e d t h e i r D a v e G ib b o n s W a t c h m e n c o v e r in f a v o r o f S c o t t i s h d a n c e r M i c h a e l C la r k . M o r e a n d m o r e s h o p s w e r e o p e n i n g t h a t s o ld n o t h i n g b u t c o m i c s , a n d L o n d o n w a s t h e e p i c e n t e r o f t h e w h o le th in g . T h e B r itis h c o m i c s i n d u s t r y h a d b e e n f a irly a n o n y m o u s u p u n til t h i s p o i n t , b a r r i n g

2 0 0 0 A D , w h e n a n a s s o r t m e n t o f m a v e r i c k s a p p e a r e d — W a r r io r , E s c a p e , a n d H a r r ie r . T o n y B e n n e t t ’s K n o c k a b o u t h a d b e e n a r o u n d s in c e t h e m i d - s e v e n t i e s , p r i m a r i l y a s a w a y o f g e ttin g G i l b e r t S h e lto n ’s p o t - s m o k i n g F a b u l o u s F u r r y F r e a k B r o t h e r s t o B r i t i s h p e o p l e b u t h a d e x p a n d e d t h e i r lin e b y t h e m i d - e i g h t i e s . W a r r io r , a l r e a d y m e n t i o n e d , w a s a c o m i c b u ilt o n t h e i d e a t h a t c r e a t o r s s h o u ld h a v e m o r e f r e e d o m a n d r e t a i n t h e r i g h t s t o t h e i r o w n w o r k , u n lik e w h a t w a s g o i n g o n in r e g u l a r c o r p o r a t e s e tu p s w h e r e i n c r e a t o r s w e r e ( a n d still f o r t h e m o s t p a r t a r e ) e x p l o i t e d o r n o t g iv e n d u e c r e d i t . E s c a p e , in 1 9 8 3 , w a s P a u l G r a v e t t

aBOve: Advertisement for Borderline from UKCAC 1986 booklet.

op p osite: “The Light Brigade,” originally created for Borderline, written and drawn in 1986, published in 1989 in Trident #1 alongside Eddie Campbell’s “Bacchus” and Grant Morrison and Paul Grist’s “St. Swithin’s Day.”

t 76

a n d P e t e r S t a n b u r y ’s a n s w e r t o A r t S p ie g e lm a n a n d F r a n ç o i s e M o u l y ’s R a w m a g a z i n e , a n a n t h o l o g y t h a t t o o k its c u e s f r o m t h e w e l l - p r o d u c e d a n d r e s p e c t e d F r e n c h c o m i c s a s a w a y o f d i s ta n c i n g th e m s e l v e s f r o m t h e A m e r i c a n s p a n d e x v a r i e t y a n d B r i t a i n ’s o w n 2 0 0 0 A D . M a r t i n L o c k ’s H a r r i e r c a m e a y e a r l a t e r a n d f e a t u r e d a n u m b e r o f b ig n a m e a p p e a r a n c e s b e f o r e its d e a t h a t t h e e n d o f t h e d e c a d e : G ib b o n s , M o o r e , O ’N e ill, E d d i e C a m p b e l l , a n d G le n n D a k in w e r e a ll t h e r e . P u b lis h e r s w e r e l o o k i n g f o r t h i n g s t o p u b lis h . I n 1 9 8 6 G a i m a n w a s n o t q u i t e t w e n t y - s i x , w a s s till w o r k i n g a s a j o u r n a l i s t , a n d h a d w r i t t e n a c o u p l e o f s t o r i e s f o r 2 0 0 0 A D . A l o t o f h i s t i m e w a s s p e n t in t h e C a f e M ü n c h e n

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 2 |BRitiSH c o m i c s

77 t

af

BORDeRLi N e j

Jfaet

ttiou yk λ ßm^Ajine fy jv t

ofjieoßile to \sc>ijc on

Λ

ha^ietiè

it , λΛ$ w it innotent

ine^ei^ ,.. ^

w f Jo likely n ot t Iteren nnf one o f tke/fa w 4 * Jt)M/e cenf one v /tf J¡¡m.

The 1980s comics scene

iN tHe uk was buzziNg,

co n v olu ted , and com plex. h e r e w e r e a c o u p l e o f k e y p la y e r s , m a n y l e s s e r p la y e r s , a n d o c c a s i o n a l c r a z y p e o p le .

T

G a i m a n c a u g h t a n e x c e l l e n t s n a p s h o t o f t h e t i m e in h is p i e c e f o r T im e O u t, “ T h e C o m i c s E x p l o s i o n ," d e s c r ib i n g t h e w h o le s c e n e f r o m t h e t o p d o w n : A l a n M o o r e ’s

W a t c h m e n , t h e n o n l y f o u r is s u e s in , w a s a l r e a d y a p h e n o m e n o n w a r r a n t i n g a c o v e r s to r y ,

a l t h o u g h it w a s c h a n g e d a t t h e la s t m o m e n t w h e n t h e e d i t o r g o t c o l d f e e t a n d d i t c h e d t h e i r D a v e G ib b o n s W a t c h m e n c o v e r in f a v o r o f S c o t t i s h d a n c e r M i c h a e l C la r k . M o r e a n d m o r e s h o p s w e r e o p e n i n g t h a t s o ld n o t h i n g b u t c o m i c s , a n d L o n d o n w a s t h e e p i c e n t e r o f t h e w h o le th in g . T h e B r itis h c o m i c s i n d u s t r y h a d b e e n f a irly a n o n y m o u s u p u n til t h i s p o i n t , b a r r i n g

2 0 0 0 A D , w h e n a n a s s o r t m e n t o f m a v e r i c k s a p p e a r e d — W a r r io r , E s c a p e , a n d H a r r ie r . T o n y B e n n e t t ’s K n o c k a b o u t h a d b e e n a r o u n d s in c e t h e m i d - s e v e n t i e s , p r i m a r i l y a s a w a y o f g e ttin g G i l b e r t S h e lto n ’s p o t - s m o k i n g F a b u l o u s F u r r y F r e a k B r o t h e r s t o B r i t i s h p e o p l e b u t h a d e x p a n d e d t h e i r lin e b y t h e m i d - e i g h t i e s . W a r r io r , a l r e a d y m e n t i o n e d , w a s a c o m i c b u ilt o n t h e i d e a t h a t c r e a t o r s s h o u ld h a v e m o r e f r e e d o m a n d r e t a i n t h e r i g h t s t o t h e i r o w n w o r k , u n lik e w h a t w a s g o i n g o n in r e g u l a r c o r p o r a t e s e tu p s w h e r e i n c r e a t o r s w e r e ( a n d still f o r t h e m o s t p a r t a r e ) e x p l o i t e d o r n o t g iv e n d u e c r e d i t . E s c a p e , in 1 9 8 3 , w a s P a u l G r a v e t t

aBOve: Advertisement for Borderline from UKCAC 1986 booklet.

op p osite: “The Light Brigade,” originally created for Borderline, written and drawn in 1986, published in 1989 in Trident #1 alongside Eddie Campbell’s “Bacchus” and Grant Morrison and Paul Grist’s “St. Swithin’s Day.”

t 76

a n d P e t e r S t a n b u r y ’s a n s w e r t o A r t S p ie g e lm a n a n d F r a n ç o i s e M o u l y ’s R a w m a g a z i n e , a n a n t h o l o g y t h a t t o o k its c u e s f r o m t h e w e l l - p r o d u c e d a n d r e s p e c t e d F r e n c h c o m i c s a s a w a y o f d i s ta n c i n g th e m s e l v e s f r o m t h e A m e r i c a n s p a n d e x v a r i e t y a n d B r i t a i n ’s o w n 2 0 0 0 A D . M a r t i n L o c k ’s H a r r i e r c a m e a y e a r l a t e r a n d f e a t u r e d a n u m b e r o f b ig n a m e a p p e a r a n c e s b e f o r e its d e a t h a t t h e e n d o f t h e d e c a d e : G ib b o n s , M o o r e , O ’N e ill, E d d i e C a m p b e l l , a n d G le n n D a k in w e r e a ll t h e r e . P u b lis h e r s w e r e l o o k i n g f o r t h i n g s t o p u b lis h . I n 1 9 8 6 G a i m a n w a s n o t q u i t e t w e n t y - s i x , w a s s till w o r k i n g a s a j o u r n a l i s t , a n d h a d w r i t t e n a c o u p l e o f s t o r i e s f o r 2 0 0 0 A D . A l o t o f h i s t i m e w a s s p e n t in t h e C a f e M ü n c h e n

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 2 |BRitiSH c o m i c s

77 t

“i was a veRy proud twenty-five-year-old journalist, because this was the first big article on comics to be published in the UK, in a ‘real’ magazine. It’s hard to communicate, in this golden age of geeks, how hard this was to make happen, or how important it was for a number of things, including morale.” The Comedian with the gun (perhaps the assassination of Kennedy) is an image that did not appear in the original Watchmen book. Originally it was slated to be the Time Out cover image, but the editor at the time went for something else at the last minute instead. “The follow up to it was a huge article on comics commissioned by the Sunday Times Magazine, for which I interviewed everyone, got original Brian Bolland art, and which was rejected by the editor when I sent it in because, he explained, ‘it lacked balance’ I asked what kind of balance he needed. There was a pause. ‘Well, these comics . . ’ he said. And then blurted out, ‘You seem to think they’re a good thing’”

Dave McKean's ad for Borderline, 1986.

t 78

underneath London’s Centre Point building, chosen by virtue of its proximity to Forbidden Planet, a comic shop owned by Nick Landau—himself a publisher of books and graphic novels under the umbrella Titan Books, launched in 1981. These days Forbidden Planet is a gaping museum of geek fandom filled with fluorescent light and linoleum, but in the mid-eighties they were still operating out of the same tiny little shop at 23 Denmark Street they had been in since 1978. The nearby Cafe München was, as writer and activist Roz Kaveney wrote, “a place to meet, and a place to wait for Neil Gaiman, who was always late for everything; it had cold beer, and microwaved goulash, and chairs that were not actively uncomfortable. If writing and freelancing beats working for a living, the München was the place most of us treated as our office. It was a place where SF editors got drunk and suggested unviable projects to aspiring writers, a place where

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

bad fantasy trilogies were thought of and forgotten.” It was probably where Kim Newman and company started writing their play Waiting fo r Neil and finished it while waiting for Neil. The sign for the Cafe München fire escape is still up by the bins around the back of Centre Point. If you go through that door you can drink where it’s always 1986, which is when this happened: “I went into the Cafe München and ran into Gamma [Paul Gamble, who oversaw the science-fiction and fantasy books at Forbidden Planet]. Gamma had just come back from a funeral, and was with somebody else who’d been at the funeral and introduced him. He said, ‘This is Hunter Tremayne, who writes comics’ I said, ‘I’ve always wanted to write comics’ And we chatted a bit.” This is the same Hunter Tremayne who was the baddie in Neil’s 1988 Judge Dredd Annual strip, “Sweet Justice,” so his story already has a certain trajectory. This is how

it got that way: “A few days later my phone rang. And it was this guy Hunter Tremayne saying, ‘I got your number from Gamma and were you serious? Do you want to write comics?’ I said, ‘Yeah!’ And he said, ‘Great, I’ve got funding for this amazing comic. We’ve got £50,000 to launch the first issue with. Come along to the meeting on Thursday afternoon’” Tremayne was the self-appointed head of a brand new one-man publishing house he called Heart of Ice. He wanted to pro­ duce a British anthology along the lines of Escape and other anthologies floating around at the time, only with people who had never done comics before—all new, untried fresh talent. If you flip through comics news magazines from the late seventies there are mentions of a Hunter Tremayne wanting to do this kind of thing years before. Those never happened, and neither did this. But Gaiman wasn’t to know that. “So I went to the meeting on

Thursday afternoon and there were a few people there, one of whom was Leigh Baulch, who at that point was art director or something-or-other at Titan Books. And the following meeting, a week later, Leigh had brought Dave McKean along because he’d seen Dave’s fanzines and got in touch. So there was me, Dave McKean, eventually Mark Buckingham and Matt Brooker, Nigel Kitching, Floyd Hughes. Good young people.” Tremayne had bought loads of advert­ ising for Borderline, getting mentions in the UKCAC (United Kingdom Comic Art Convention) program as well as Gravett’s Escape magazine. Gravett had gone down to the meeting to see what this thing was that he was advertising, and to meet all the new bright young things so he could write an article about it. Ideas-wise, Gaiman was working on three things at those ongoing Thursday meetings. First was “The Light Brigade,”

CH apteR 2 |BRitisH c o m ic s

aBOVe: Neil’s piece on Watchmen in Time Out, September 1986.

79 t

“i was a veRy proud twenty-five-year-old journalist, because this was the first big article on comics to be published in the UK, in a ‘real’ magazine. It’s hard to communicate, in this golden age of geeks, how hard this was to make happen, or how important it was for a number of things, including morale.” The Comedian with the gun (perhaps the assassination of Kennedy) is an image that did not appear in the original Watchmen book. Originally it was slated to be the Time Out cover image, but the editor at the time went for something else at the last minute instead. “The follow up to it was a huge article on comics commissioned by the Sunday Times Magazine, for which I interviewed everyone, got original Brian Bolland art, and which was rejected by the editor when I sent it in because, he explained, ‘it lacked balance’ I asked what kind of balance he needed. There was a pause. ‘Well, these comics . . ’ he said. And then blurted out, ‘You seem to think they’re a good thing’”

Dave McKean's ad for Borderline, 1986.

t 78

underneath London’s Centre Point building, chosen by virtue of its proximity to Forbidden Planet, a comic shop owned by Nick Landau—himself a publisher of books and graphic novels under the umbrella Titan Books, launched in 1981. These days Forbidden Planet is a gaping museum of geek fandom filled with fluorescent light and linoleum, but in the mid-eighties they were still operating out of the same tiny little shop at 23 Denmark Street they had been in since 1978. The nearby Cafe München was, as writer and activist Roz Kaveney wrote, “a place to meet, and a place to wait for Neil Gaiman, who was always late for everything; it had cold beer, and microwaved goulash, and chairs that were not actively uncomfortable. If writing and freelancing beats working for a living, the München was the place most of us treated as our office. It was a place where SF editors got drunk and suggested unviable projects to aspiring writers, a place where

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

bad fantasy trilogies were thought of and forgotten.” It was probably where Kim Newman and company started writing their play Waiting fo r Neil and finished it while waiting for Neil. The sign for the Cafe München fire escape is still up by the bins around the back of Centre Point. If you go through that door you can drink where it’s always 1986, which is when this happened: “I went into the Cafe München and ran into Gamma [Paul Gamble, who oversaw the science-fiction and fantasy books at Forbidden Planet]. Gamma had just come back from a funeral, and was with somebody else who’d been at the funeral and introduced him. He said, ‘This is Hunter Tremayne, who writes comics’ I said, ‘I’ve always wanted to write comics’ And we chatted a bit.” This is the same Hunter Tremayne who was the baddie in Neil’s 1988 Judge Dredd Annual strip, “Sweet Justice,” so his story already has a certain trajectory. This is how

it got that way: “A few days later my phone rang. And it was this guy Hunter Tremayne saying, ‘I got your number from Gamma and were you serious? Do you want to write comics?’ I said, ‘Yeah!’ And he said, ‘Great, I’ve got funding for this amazing comic. We’ve got £50,000 to launch the first issue with. Come along to the meeting on Thursday afternoon’” Tremayne was the self-appointed head of a brand new one-man publishing house he called Heart of Ice. He wanted to pro­ duce a British anthology along the lines of Escape and other anthologies floating around at the time, only with people who had never done comics before—all new, untried fresh talent. If you flip through comics news magazines from the late seventies there are mentions of a Hunter Tremayne wanting to do this kind of thing years before. Those never happened, and neither did this. But Gaiman wasn’t to know that. “So I went to the meeting on

Thursday afternoon and there were a few people there, one of whom was Leigh Baulch, who at that point was art director or something-or-other at Titan Books. And the following meeting, a week later, Leigh had brought Dave McKean along because he’d seen Dave’s fanzines and got in touch. So there was me, Dave McKean, eventually Mark Buckingham and Matt Brooker, Nigel Kitching, Floyd Hughes. Good young people.” Tremayne had bought loads of advert­ ising for Borderline, getting mentions in the UKCAC (United Kingdom Comic Art Convention) program as well as Gravett’s Escape magazine. Gravett had gone down to the meeting to see what this thing was that he was advertising, and to meet all the new bright young things so he could write an article about it. Ideas-wise, Gaiman was working on three things at those ongoing Thursday meetings. First was “The Light Brigade,”

CH apteR 2 |BRitisH c o m ic s

aBOVe: Neil’s piece on Watchmen in Time Out, September 1986.

79 t

L e ft: “The End of

R IgH t: The front page

the Third Form at St. Andrews Eve"

for The Panelologist (1977) features a small piece

1983/1986. Script by Neil. Pages one and two are lost to time,

on Hunter Tremayne, who was talking about an ambitious new anthology comic he was

but this is most of it.

going to be editing. That never happened either.

b l i n d g u y o n a m i s s i o n o f v e n g e a n c e ,” sa y s

Paul Gravett saw this stuff and asked Dave and me to do something fo r E s c a p e . I think he just wanted a ten-page strip, and when we came to him and said, ‘Can we do an original forty-eight-page graphic novel called V i o l e n t C a s e s ? ’ he said yes. Bless him. But all this was done fo r a comic that wasn’t printed. Gradually we realized that it wasn’t quite working like we thought it was going to work. And it looked like the offices in Wimpole Street we were going to were the offices o f a telephone sales company from which Hunter appeared to have been fired but still had access. And some o f these telephone sales people were going to fund this thing except maybe they weren’t, actually. And then it all got weirder and weirder. We watched B o r d e r l i n e go down, like a ship, sinking. There was this weird point toward the end where it seemed like the thing would come out except that he was doing everything he could to stop it coming out, and that’s the point where I thought, I don’t think he wants to be the publisher o f a magazine, I think he just likes being part o f this group o f people who are talking about putting out a magazine. But by then, Dave and I were doing

N e il) c a l l e d “G o i n g t o C a l i f o r n i a .”

V io le n t C a se s. ❖

la te r

d raw n

e v e n tu a lly

by

N ig e l

p u b lis h e d

i n a u g u r a l is s u e o f

K itc h in g

y ea rs

Trident,

la te r

and

in

th e

a 1 9 8 9 a n th o lo g y

s e r ie s e d i t e d b y M a r t i n S k i d m o r e . “I t w a s m y little c y b e r p u n k t h i n g , s o f t w a r e p ir a te s o ff th e S p a n ish m a in f ra m e . A n d th e s e w e ird k id s in c y b e r s p a c e w e r e a s o r t o f p e c u l i a r

tHe

miDNigHt

Rose

coLLective

su p e rh e ro crew "

c o n s is te d o f N e il, R o z K a v e n e y , A le x S te w a rt,

and

M ary

G e n tle .

They

S econ d F o rm

w as

“T h e

End

o f th e

a t S t. A n d r e w ’s E v e ” w i t h

T h ird M a rtin

d e v ise d a n d e d ite d a n th o lo g ie s th a t

G r if f ith s , w h i c h a l m o s t f o u n d a h o m e in

p u b lish e d th e w o r k m o s tly (b u t n o t

Harrier ,

e n tire ly ) o f p e o p le s ittin g n e a r th e m

t o f i n i s h it. P a u l G r a v e t t o n c e d e s c r i b e d i t

in

th e

C a fe

Temps—

M ü n ch en .

a n d i ts s e q u e l

th e p re m is e

T h ere

w as

Eurotemps—

o f w h ic h G a im a n

b u t G a i m a n d i d n ’t h a v e t h e t i m e

as B illy B u n te r b le n d e d w ith

Night o f the

Living D ead .

say s

G a im a n s th ir d p r o je c t w a s “T h e O ld

c a m e b u r b l i n g f r o m h i m in a b a r l a te

M a g ic ” w ith N ig e l H ills , w h ic h w a s n e v e r

o n e n ig h t a t th e M ilfo rd S F w rite rs

d raw n

c o n f e r e n c e , “m u t t e r i n g t h a t i f t h e r e

h a d a p lo t a n d it w a s a b it m e h , s o I t o o k

r e a l l y w e r e s u p e r h e r o e s in t h e

UK

it a n d m a d e it w o rk . It w a s a b o u t a y o u n g

a ll w i n d u p a s c i v i l s e r v a n t s

m a g ic ia n l e a r n in g m a g i c in s o m e s o r t o f

th e y d

but

p lo tte d .

“H u n t e r

T rem ay n e

w o r k i n g f o r s o m e u s e le s s g o v e r n m e n t

sw o rd

d e p a rtm e n t

th a t

w a s , in c id e n ta lly , th e a r tis t w h o p r o v id e d

th e

w ro n g

o n e .”

th e

fra m in g

w o u ld

sen d

G a im a n

s to ry

w ith

you

c o w ro te K aveney

The Weerde. b o o k s — The Weerde: Book o f the Ancients a n d Villains— d i d n ’t h a v e a n y t h i n g b y

for

The

th e ir

next

C o l l e c t i v e ’s

G a im a n in th e m .

book,

o th e r

th e

and

so rcery

illu s tra tio n s

to

w o r l d .”

go

( N i g e l H ills

a lo n g s id e

one

of

G a i m a n ’s s h o r t s t o r i e s , “ M a n u s c r i p t F o u n d in a M i l k B o t t l e ,” in

Knave .)

A t th e s a m e tim e , D a v e M c K e a n , ju s t t w e n t y - t w o a n d still a t a r t s c h o o l , w a s w r i t i n g a n d d r a w i n g t w o s t o r i e s : a p e r i o d d e t e c ti v e s to r y ca lle d “ T h e F o x ,” a n d a th rille r r o a d m o v i e s t o r y ( “I t w a s g o i n g t o b e a b o u t a

CH apteR 2 |BRItlSH c o m ic s

81 t

L e ft: “The End of

R IgH t: The front page

the Third Form at St. Andrews Eve"

for The Panelologist (1977) features a small piece

1983/1986. Script by Neil. Pages one and two are lost to time,

on Hunter Tremayne, who was talking about an ambitious new anthology comic he was

but this is most of it.

going to be editing. That never happened either.

b l i n d g u y o n a m i s s i o n o f v e n g e a n c e ,” sa y s

Paul Gravett saw this stuff and asked Dave and me to do something fo r E s c a p e . I think he just wanted a ten-page strip, and when we came to him and said, ‘Can we do an original forty-eight-page graphic novel called V i o l e n t C a s e s ? ’ he said yes. Bless him. But all this was done fo r a comic that wasn’t printed. Gradually we realized that it wasn’t quite working like we thought it was going to work. And it looked like the offices in Wimpole Street we were going to were the offices o f a telephone sales company from which Hunter appeared to have been fired but still had access. And some o f these telephone sales people were going to fund this thing except maybe they weren’t, actually. And then it all got weirder and weirder. We watched B o r d e r l i n e go down, like a ship, sinking. There was this weird point toward the end where it seemed like the thing would come out except that he was doing everything he could to stop it coming out, and that’s the point where I thought, I don’t think he wants to be the publisher o f a magazine, I think he just likes being part o f this group o f people who are talking about putting out a magazine. But by then, Dave and I were doing

N e il) c a l l e d “G o i n g t o C a l i f o r n i a .”

V io le n t C a se s. ❖

la te r

d raw n

e v e n tu a lly

by

N ig e l

p u b lis h e d

i n a u g u r a l is s u e o f

K itc h in g

y ea rs

Trident,

la te r

and

in

th e

a 1 9 8 9 a n th o lo g y

s e r ie s e d i t e d b y M a r t i n S k i d m o r e . “I t w a s m y little c y b e r p u n k t h i n g , s o f t w a r e p ir a te s o ff th e S p a n ish m a in f ra m e . A n d th e s e w e ird k id s in c y b e r s p a c e w e r e a s o r t o f p e c u l i a r

tHe

miDNigHt

Rose

coLLective

su p e rh e ro crew "

c o n s is te d o f N e il, R o z K a v e n e y , A le x S te w a rt,

and

M ary

G e n tle .

They

S econ d F o rm

w as

“T h e

End

o f th e

a t S t. A n d r e w ’s E v e ” w i t h

T h ird M a rtin

d e v ise d a n d e d ite d a n th o lo g ie s th a t

G r if f ith s , w h i c h a l m o s t f o u n d a h o m e in

p u b lish e d th e w o r k m o s tly (b u t n o t

Harrier ,

e n tire ly ) o f p e o p le s ittin g n e a r th e m

t o f i n i s h it. P a u l G r a v e t t o n c e d e s c r i b e d i t

in

th e

C a fe

Temps—

M ü n ch en .

a n d i ts s e q u e l

th e p re m is e

T h ere

w as

Eurotemps—

o f w h ic h G a im a n

b u t G a i m a n d i d n ’t h a v e t h e t i m e

as B illy B u n te r b le n d e d w ith

Night o f the

Living D ead .

say s

G a im a n s th ir d p r o je c t w a s “T h e O ld

c a m e b u r b l i n g f r o m h i m in a b a r l a te

M a g ic ” w ith N ig e l H ills , w h ic h w a s n e v e r

o n e n ig h t a t th e M ilfo rd S F w rite rs

d raw n

c o n f e r e n c e , “m u t t e r i n g t h a t i f t h e r e

h a d a p lo t a n d it w a s a b it m e h , s o I t o o k

r e a l l y w e r e s u p e r h e r o e s in t h e

UK

it a n d m a d e it w o rk . It w a s a b o u t a y o u n g

a ll w i n d u p a s c i v i l s e r v a n t s

m a g ic ia n l e a r n in g m a g i c in s o m e s o r t o f

th e y d

but

p lo tte d .

“H u n t e r

T rem ay n e

w o r k i n g f o r s o m e u s e le s s g o v e r n m e n t

sw o rd

d e p a rtm e n t

th a t

w a s , in c id e n ta lly , th e a r tis t w h o p r o v id e d

th e

w ro n g

o n e .”

th e

fra m in g

w o u ld

sen d

G a im a n

s to ry

w ith

you

c o w ro te K aveney

The Weerde. b o o k s — The Weerde: Book o f the Ancients a n d Villains— d i d n ’t h a v e a n y t h i n g b y

for

The

th e ir

next

C o l l e c t i v e ’s

G a im a n in th e m .

book,

o th e r

th e

and

so rcery

illu s tra tio n s

to

w o r l d .”

go

( N i g e l H ills

a lo n g s id e

one

of

G a i m a n ’s s h o r t s t o r i e s , “ M a n u s c r i p t F o u n d in a M i l k B o t t l e ,” in

Knave .)

A t th e s a m e tim e , D a v e M c K e a n , ju s t t w e n t y - t w o a n d still a t a r t s c h o o l , w a s w r i t i n g a n d d r a w i n g t w o s t o r i e s : a p e r i o d d e t e c ti v e s to r y ca lle d “ T h e F o x ,” a n d a th rille r r o a d m o v i e s t o r y ( “I t w a s g o i n g t o b e a b o u t a

CH apteR 2 |BRItlSH c o m ic s

81 t

s o m e th in g f o r h is a n th o lo g y . E s c a p e

on

gave th e m

fre e re in to d o a n y th in g th e y

l ik e d , w i t h t h e ( l a t e r i g n o r e d ) s t i p u l a t i o n th a t it w a s o n ly s u p p o s e d to b e a fe w p a g e s

vioLeNtco se

l o n g . M c K e a n a n d G a i m a n t a l k e d a b o u t it a n d fo u n d th e y b o th w a n te d to d o a c o m ic for

p e o p le

w ho

d i d n ’t

s o m e th in g w ith n o

read

co m ics—

su p erh ero es an d n o

i d e n t if i a b l e g e n r e . S o m e t h i n g e ls e . G a im a n w r o te a s to r y te n ta tiv e ly ca lle d “In

^ iû ien t

\scd frtettij,ßviutii M itten

th e

it to

ολ

Land

o f th e

G ia n ts ”

t h a t y e a r ’s M i l f o r d

and

s c ie n c e

to o k

fictio n

w o rk sh o p w h e re p ro fe s sio n a l w rite rs w h o w a n t to g e t b e tte r s p e n d a w e e k in te n siv e ly

\sitti jü tt iiW - J ijt t

in is t.

c r itiq u in g sto rie s a n d n o v e ls -in -p r o g re s s a n d w o rk s h o p p in g id e a s . It w a s th e s e c o n d o n e h e ’d b e e n t o .

I was starting to (earn

In an interview in

1987, GaimaN tRied to explaiN w h y theRe was a new w ave happening in the w ord of comics, w h e re p reviou sly it had been m ore o r less stagnant.

cc

and understand the uSe

of

Subtept andjmetaphor. ■

y 1 9 7 6 c o m i c s w e r e v e r y m u c h a t a d e a d e n d , e v e n t h o u g h t h e r e w a s s till s o m e i n t e r e s t i n g s t u f f g o i n g o n . W h e r e a s n o w a ll t h e v i s u a l l y c r e a t i v e p e o p l e

_ E » - T w h o w o u l d h a v e w r i t t e n b o o k s o r m a d e m o v i e s o r g o n e i n t o f in e a r t s a r e

I f i r s t w e n t I t h i n k in

s a y i n g , ‘W e l l h e c k , t h i s is a s v a l i d a m e d i u m a s a n y o t h e r . W h y d o n 't I p u t t h o s e i d e a s

th a t w a s a c o m p le te tu r n a r o u n d f o r

d o n e in c o m i c s ? ' T h a t's w h a t a t t r a c t s p e o p l e t o c o m i c s , t h e i n t e r p l a y b e t w e e n w o r d s a n d

m e . I w r o t e a s h o r t s to ry , a n d it w a s t o r n to p ie c e s . I m a y o r m a y n o t h a v e

p i c tu r e s .” V io le n t C a s e s is o n e o f t h o s e t h i n g s t h a t c o u l d o n l y b e d o n e a s a c o m i c . M c K e a n s a i d , “ I u s e d t o p i c k c o m i c s u p w h e n I w a s tw e l v e o r t h i r t e e n , a n d I a lw a y s

a B O V e : Dave McKean

and Neil in 1988. Neil's holding the Mekon Award they had just won for Violent Cases.

le a r n e d

a l o t a b o u t w r itin g ,

but I

h a d th e fe e lin g th a t s o m e th in g re a lly v e r y g o o d c o u ld b e d o n e w ith c o m ic s . B u t I u s e d

l e a r n e d a h e ll o f a l o t a b o u t r e a d in g .

to s p e n d f o u r m o n th s lik in g N e a l A d a m s a n d th e n th e n e x t o n e a lo n g th e lin e a n d so o n .

I

B u t t h e n ‘H i t I t !' c a m e o u t , d r a w n b y B i l l S i e n k i e w i c z [a M o o n K n ig h t s t o r y w r i t t e n b y

and

D o u g M o e n c h in 1 9 8 2 ] , a n d t h a t k n o c k e d m e d o w n a n d I g o t in te r e s te d in c o m i c s a g a in .

p r o b a b l y t h e m o s t e m i n e n t c r it ic in

it w a s n ’t w h a t I ’d r e a d . A n d I w a s

I t s h o w e d t h a t s o m e b o d y w a s in t h e r e t r y i n g s o m e t h i n g n e w ” ( S p e a k e a s y # 7 9 , 1 9 8 7 ) .

s c i e n c e f i c t i o n . G w y n e t h J o n e s is a n

w r o n g , a n d t h e y w e r e r ig h t.

w as

s it t in g

b etw een

Jo h n

G w y n eth Jo n e s. Jo h n

C lu te

C lu te

is

in c r e d ib ly p e r s p i c a c i o u s c r itic , a n d a

I t w a s a t t h e s a m e t im e in c r e d ib ly

t e r r ify in g ly d e n s e w r ite r . I l i k e s o m e ,

h u m b l i n g a n d in c r e d ib ly e d u c a t i o n a l .

e x p r e s s i o n i s t i c t e c h n i q u e b e i n g e m p l o y e d i n s t r a n g e a n d s u r r e a l w a y s b y t h e lik e s o f

n o t a ll, o f G w y n e t h s w r itin g , b u t a s a

I l e a r n e d h o w to r e a d , w h ic h r e a lly

A m e r i c a n a r t i s t M a r s h a ll A r is m a n (th e s e d a y s m o s t f a m o u s f o r h is c o v e r to B r e t E a s to n

c r it ic s h e ’s a l a s e r b e a m .

chan ged

A t a r t s c h o o l D a v e M c K e a n d is c o v e r e d e x p r e s s io n is m th r o u g h th e w o r k o f A m e r ic a n pop

a r tis t Jim

D in e

and

c a r to o n is t R a lp h

S te a d m a n ; h e

la te r f o u n d

th a t k in d

of

E llis's A m e r i c a n P s y c h o ) , B r a d H o l l a n d , a n d M a t t M a h u r i n . T h e b o l d d e s i g n s o f P o l i s h

A n d I w a s s it t in g b e t w e e n

th e se

th in g s

w h en

I

sta rted

to

tw o p e o p l e , a n d t h e r e w a s th is h o r r i b l e

to le a r n a n d u n d e r s t a n d t h e u s e o f

in f a m o u s ly w e ird w o r k o f f ilm m a k e r Ja n S v a n k m a je r — a re in flu e n ce s th a t c o n tr ib u te d

m o m e n t t w o o r t h r e e d a y s in t o t h e

s u b te x t, th e u s e o f m e t a p h o r , th e u s e o f

t h in g w h e n I r e a l i z e d t h a t t h e s t o r ie s I

a l l u s i o n — t h e t o o ls o f f i c t i o n . B e c a u s e

“I r e c a l l t h e b u z z in T i t a n B o o k s ' b a s e m e n t w h e n M c K e a n b r o u g h t in t h e m o o d y

w a s r e a d i n g w e r e n o t t h e s t o r ie s t h e y

I ’d

c o v e r a r t m o n t a g e d w ith f a d e d p h o to s , a t o r n d o lla r b ill a n d p la y in g c a r d , a n d r e a l iv y

w e r e r e a d in g . T h e y w e r e r e a d i n g a ll

s t a r t e d to u n d e r s t a n d s o m e t h i n g t h a t

le a v e s . C o m i c s w e r e n 't s u p p o s e d t o l o o k lik e th is ,” s a i d P a u l G r a v e t t — e d i t o r o f E s c a p e

t h e w o r d s . T h e y w e r e p u t t i n g it a ll

o n ly c r y s t a lliz e d a b o u t e ig h t m o n t h s

a n d th e c h e e r y f a c e o f th e F a s t F i c t i o n ta b le a t th e b im o n th ly W e s tm in s te r C e n t r a l H a ll

to g e t h e r . T h e y w e r e d o i n g t h e w o r k .

l a t e r w h e n I s t a r t e d to w r i t e V i o l e n t

C o m i c M a r t s — i n C o m i c s I n t e r n a t i o n a l in 2 0 0 3 . E d d i e C a m p b e l l n a m e d h i m “ T h e M a n

I ’d lis te n to t h e m t a l k i n g a b o u t w h a t

C a s e s . T h a t h o n e s t y is im p o r t a n t . A ll

a t t h e C r o s s r o a d s ,” b e c a u s e i t w a s G r a v e t t 's i d e a f o r G a i m a n a n d M c K e a n t o c o l l a b o r a t e

t h e y ’d r e a d in t h e s e s t o r ie s a n d r e a l i z e

o f m y fic tio n

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

a B O V e : Cover of an early edition of the book (Escape/Titan, 1987).

w rite fic t i o n a fte r th a t. I w a s s ta r tin g

p o s t e r a r t i s t s S t a s y s E i d r i g e v i c i u s , J a n L e n i c a , a n d F r a n c i s z e k S t a r o w i e y s k i — a n d t h e s till

h e a v i l y t o t h e k i n d o f w o r k M c K e a n w a s p r o d u c i n g in t h e e i g h t i e s .

t 82

’8 5 , a n d

i n t o c o m i c s ? ' O r b e t t e r s till, ‘W h y d o n 't I c o m e u p w i t h s o m e i d e a s t h a t c a n o n l y b e

seen

how

th e se g u y s

d id

it. I

h a d b e e n u s in g o t h e r

CHapteR 2 | BRitisH co m ics

83

t

s o m e th in g f o r h is a n th o lo g y . E s c a p e

on

gave th e m

fre e re in to d o a n y th in g th e y

l ik e d , w i t h t h e ( l a t e r i g n o r e d ) s t i p u l a t i o n th a t it w a s o n ly s u p p o s e d to b e a fe w p a g e s

vioLeNtco se

l o n g . M c K e a n a n d G a i m a n t a l k e d a b o u t it a n d fo u n d th e y b o th w a n te d to d o a c o m ic for

p e o p le

w ho

d i d n ’t

s o m e th in g w ith n o

read

co m ics—

su p erh ero es an d n o

i d e n t if i a b l e g e n r e . S o m e t h i n g e ls e . G a im a n w r o te a s to r y te n ta tiv e ly ca lle d “In

^ iû ien t

\scd frtettij,ßviutii M itten

th e

it to

ολ

Land

o f th e

G ia n ts ”

t h a t y e a r ’s M i l f o r d

and

s c ie n c e

to o k

fictio n

w o rk sh o p w h e re p ro fe s sio n a l w rite rs w h o w a n t to g e t b e tte r s p e n d a w e e k in te n siv e ly

\sitti jü tt iiW - J ijt t

in is t.

c r itiq u in g sto rie s a n d n o v e ls -in -p r o g re s s a n d w o rk s h o p p in g id e a s . It w a s th e s e c o n d o n e h e ’d b e e n t o .

I was starting to (earn

In an interview in

1987, GaimaN tRied to explaiN w h y theRe was a new w ave happening in the w ord of comics, w h e re p reviou sly it had been m ore o r less stagnant.

cc

and understand the uSe

of

Subtept andjmetaphor. ■

y 1 9 7 6 c o m i c s w e r e v e r y m u c h a t a d e a d e n d , e v e n t h o u g h t h e r e w a s s till s o m e i n t e r e s t i n g s t u f f g o i n g o n . W h e r e a s n o w a ll t h e v i s u a l l y c r e a t i v e p e o p l e

_ E » - T w h o w o u l d h a v e w r i t t e n b o o k s o r m a d e m o v i e s o r g o n e i n t o f in e a r t s a r e

I f i r s t w e n t I t h i n k in

s a y i n g , ‘W e l l h e c k , t h i s is a s v a l i d a m e d i u m a s a n y o t h e r . W h y d o n 't I p u t t h o s e i d e a s

th a t w a s a c o m p le te tu r n a r o u n d f o r

d o n e in c o m i c s ? ' T h a t's w h a t a t t r a c t s p e o p l e t o c o m i c s , t h e i n t e r p l a y b e t w e e n w o r d s a n d

m e . I w r o t e a s h o r t s to ry , a n d it w a s t o r n to p ie c e s . I m a y o r m a y n o t h a v e

p i c tu r e s .” V io le n t C a s e s is o n e o f t h o s e t h i n g s t h a t c o u l d o n l y b e d o n e a s a c o m i c . M c K e a n s a i d , “ I u s e d t o p i c k c o m i c s u p w h e n I w a s tw e l v e o r t h i r t e e n , a n d I a lw a y s

a B O V e : Dave McKean

and Neil in 1988. Neil's holding the Mekon Award they had just won for Violent Cases.

le a r n e d

a l o t a b o u t w r itin g ,

but I

h a d th e fe e lin g th a t s o m e th in g re a lly v e r y g o o d c o u ld b e d o n e w ith c o m ic s . B u t I u s e d

l e a r n e d a h e ll o f a l o t a b o u t r e a d in g .

to s p e n d f o u r m o n th s lik in g N e a l A d a m s a n d th e n th e n e x t o n e a lo n g th e lin e a n d so o n .

I

B u t t h e n ‘H i t I t !' c a m e o u t , d r a w n b y B i l l S i e n k i e w i c z [a M o o n K n ig h t s t o r y w r i t t e n b y

and

D o u g M o e n c h in 1 9 8 2 ] , a n d t h a t k n o c k e d m e d o w n a n d I g o t in te r e s te d in c o m i c s a g a in .

p r o b a b l y t h e m o s t e m i n e n t c r it ic in

it w a s n ’t w h a t I ’d r e a d . A n d I w a s

I t s h o w e d t h a t s o m e b o d y w a s in t h e r e t r y i n g s o m e t h i n g n e w ” ( S p e a k e a s y # 7 9 , 1 9 8 7 ) .

s c i e n c e f i c t i o n . G w y n e t h J o n e s is a n

w r o n g , a n d t h e y w e r e r ig h t.

w as

s it t in g

b etw een

Jo h n

G w y n eth Jo n e s. Jo h n

C lu te

C lu te

is

in c r e d ib ly p e r s p i c a c i o u s c r itic , a n d a

I t w a s a t t h e s a m e t im e in c r e d ib ly

t e r r ify in g ly d e n s e w r ite r . I l i k e s o m e ,

h u m b l i n g a n d in c r e d ib ly e d u c a t i o n a l .

e x p r e s s i o n i s t i c t e c h n i q u e b e i n g e m p l o y e d i n s t r a n g e a n d s u r r e a l w a y s b y t h e lik e s o f

n o t a ll, o f G w y n e t h s w r itin g , b u t a s a

I l e a r n e d h o w to r e a d , w h ic h r e a lly

A m e r i c a n a r t i s t M a r s h a ll A r is m a n (th e s e d a y s m o s t f a m o u s f o r h is c o v e r to B r e t E a s to n

c r it ic s h e ’s a l a s e r b e a m .

chan ged

A t a r t s c h o o l D a v e M c K e a n d is c o v e r e d e x p r e s s io n is m th r o u g h th e w o r k o f A m e r ic a n pop

a r tis t Jim

D in e

and

c a r to o n is t R a lp h

S te a d m a n ; h e

la te r f o u n d

th a t k in d

of

E llis's A m e r i c a n P s y c h o ) , B r a d H o l l a n d , a n d M a t t M a h u r i n . T h e b o l d d e s i g n s o f P o l i s h

A n d I w a s s it t in g b e t w e e n

th e se

th in g s

w h en

I

sta rted

to

tw o p e o p l e , a n d t h e r e w a s th is h o r r i b l e

to le a r n a n d u n d e r s t a n d t h e u s e o f

in f a m o u s ly w e ird w o r k o f f ilm m a k e r Ja n S v a n k m a je r — a re in flu e n ce s th a t c o n tr ib u te d

m o m e n t t w o o r t h r e e d a y s in t o t h e

s u b te x t, th e u s e o f m e t a p h o r , th e u s e o f

t h in g w h e n I r e a l i z e d t h a t t h e s t o r ie s I

a l l u s i o n — t h e t o o ls o f f i c t i o n . B e c a u s e

“I r e c a l l t h e b u z z in T i t a n B o o k s ' b a s e m e n t w h e n M c K e a n b r o u g h t in t h e m o o d y

w a s r e a d i n g w e r e n o t t h e s t o r ie s t h e y

I ’d

c o v e r a r t m o n t a g e d w ith f a d e d p h o to s , a t o r n d o lla r b ill a n d p la y in g c a r d , a n d r e a l iv y

w e r e r e a d in g . T h e y w e r e r e a d i n g a ll

s t a r t e d to u n d e r s t a n d s o m e t h i n g t h a t

le a v e s . C o m i c s w e r e n 't s u p p o s e d t o l o o k lik e th is ,” s a i d P a u l G r a v e t t — e d i t o r o f E s c a p e

t h e w o r d s . T h e y w e r e p u t t i n g it a ll

o n ly c r y s t a lliz e d a b o u t e ig h t m o n t h s

a n d th e c h e e r y f a c e o f th e F a s t F i c t i o n ta b le a t th e b im o n th ly W e s tm in s te r C e n t r a l H a ll

to g e t h e r . T h e y w e r e d o i n g t h e w o r k .

l a t e r w h e n I s t a r t e d to w r i t e V i o l e n t

C o m i c M a r t s — i n C o m i c s I n t e r n a t i o n a l in 2 0 0 3 . E d d i e C a m p b e l l n a m e d h i m “ T h e M a n

I ’d lis te n to t h e m t a l k i n g a b o u t w h a t

C a s e s . T h a t h o n e s t y is im p o r t a n t . A ll

a t t h e C r o s s r o a d s ,” b e c a u s e i t w a s G r a v e t t 's i d e a f o r G a i m a n a n d M c K e a n t o c o l l a b o r a t e

t h e y ’d r e a d in t h e s e s t o r ie s a n d r e a l i z e

o f m y fic tio n

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

a B O V e : Cover of an early edition of the book (Escape/Titan, 1987).

w rite fic t i o n a fte r th a t. I w a s s ta r tin g

p o s t e r a r t i s t s S t a s y s E i d r i g e v i c i u s , J a n L e n i c a , a n d F r a n c i s z e k S t a r o w i e y s k i — a n d t h e s till

h e a v i l y t o t h e k i n d o f w o r k M c K e a n w a s p r o d u c i n g in t h e e i g h t i e s .

t 82

’8 5 , a n d

i n t o c o m i c s ? ' O r b e t t e r s till, ‘W h y d o n 't I c o m e u p w i t h s o m e i d e a s t h a t c a n o n l y b e

seen

how

th e se g u y s

d id

it. I

h a d b e e n u s in g o t h e r

CHapteR 2 | BRitisH co m ics

83

t

aBOVe: W hen the book was released in 1987 the reader would not have known what Gaiman looked like, though anyone reading it now would easily recognize him.

people’s voices. And there was a point around then that I started to realize that all one has to offer as a writer is oneself. All that makes me different from all the other writers out there is me. Violent Cases was the first thing that did that (Comics Forum #1, 1992). It was Milford attendee Garry Kilworth who pointed out that the title had been sitting in the text all along, right there in the gangsters’ violin cases with their

t 84

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

tommy-guns. The story traveled around with Gaiman on thin crinkly typing paper folded into a rectangle. Roz Kaveney remembers it being the first thing she ever read by him, pulled out of his pocket at the Cafe München. “It was originally written as a text story,” Gaiman explained. “That was because I didn’t know how to write for Dave, to get the best out of Dave, so I wrote it as prose, and then we got together. He did some breakdowns, we talked about them, he did different things, and then I re-edited it and wrote it up.” Violent Cases is about two things. “It’s about violence on large and small levels, and it’s about the unreliability of memory on a load of different levels. How reliable is what people are telling you, how much you remember, or say you remember, what you remember, how much of it you got from films, how much you got from people telling you what you were doing at the time, how much you remember from earlier memories. It’s trying to examine all of those in a way that you couldn’t do in prose fiction and you couldn’t do in the movies” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989). It was a story that could only be told in comics, and yet it was using comic book tools in new and strange ways to do it. “I was also taking on board some of what I was being shown in comics. Like the stuff Eddie Campbell was doing. It was very important. You couldn’t have had Violent Cases without Alec. What I learned from Eddie was the value of minute incidents in the building up of fraudulent biographical narrative. I wouldn’t say it was influenced by Eddie, but the only place in comics that Violent Cases plugs into from a story viewpoint is to Eddie. W hich you don’t see because the visuals are Dave” (Comics Forum #1, 1992). From the outside it is a young man’s recollection of several trips to an aging osteopath in late sixties Portsmouth, England, starting when he was four years old after an accident in which his father dislocates the boy’s arm while trying to drag him upstairs to bed. Through the foggy and imperfect remembrance of things the boy was told but was not old enough

1988 vioLeNt cases was adapted into a stage play in London. Or, rather, it wasn’t adapted, and that was precisely what was wrong with it. in

“As an excited young person who’d just written his first graphic novel I was thrilled when a director approached me and said, ‘We want to do it completely faithfully on stage’ And I said absolutely, whats the script? And he said, ‘The script is the graphic novel’ I said wow, brilliant. And I came along to the first night of Violent Cases on stage, and the script was so accurately the graphic novel that I could mutter under my breath along with what was happening on stage. But I discovered—absolutely fascinated—that things that were huge and important in the graphic novel went by in a second on the stage and were trivial or did not even register, whereas moments that were trivial little here-issomething-that-is-about-to-illuminate-what-happens-next in the graphic novel became the moments of stage magic. And it became this rather soft-focused, rather warm and cuddly thing, having been this rather hellish graphic novel. With not a word changed. Totally faithful adaptation and totally wrong. But it taught me an amazing lesson, which is you cannot transliterate. You have to translate. You have to be willing to go: this medium is not this medium, lets recreate it, and let’s do it in a way that will work. Which is why I’ve always been very open for people to, up to a point, play with things and see what makes them work.”

to understand at the time, we learn that the osteopath had once treated legendary gangster Al Capone. It features all the psychological complexities of memory and imagination that would come to be Gaiman hallmarks: the adult world viewed from eyes that don’t comprehend it, that don’t understand why grown-ups leave the house smelling like strangers or come home red-faced and arguing in whispers. What Gaiman likes most is how the story is structured like a childhood memory bubbling up in the cold light of adulthood. He said in 1992, “I wanted to do something that would recreate for other people that kind of emotional state that I would get from Robert Aickman’s fiction, an English

writer who died about ten years ago and wrote chiefly short stories. He creates things that are obviously unities, they make sense, but he leaves you at the end with the feeling that you must have missed something. Somebody palmed a card, if there was a card. The feeling that you’ve been given a story that would all make sense if only you had the key, if there is a key, and there must be a key, or there wouldn’t be a story. “The ending is built up too. It has a feeling that childhood things remembered in adulthood have. Shapes change, patterns change . . . sometimes things that you didn’t grasp at the time fall into place. You suddenly realise, oh! My uncle must have been having an affair, that was why no one

CH apteR 2 |BRitisH c o m ic s

aBOVe: Stage play program, featuring new art by Dave McKean, 1988.

85 t

aBOVe: W hen the book was released in 1987 the reader would not have known what Gaiman looked like, though anyone reading it now would easily recognize him.

people’s voices. And there was a point around then that I started to realize that all one has to offer as a writer is oneself. All that makes me different from all the other writers out there is me. Violent Cases was the first thing that did that (Comics Forum #1, 1992). It was Milford attendee Garry Kilworth who pointed out that the title had been sitting in the text all along, right there in the gangsters’ violin cases with their

t 84

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

tommy-guns. The story traveled around with Gaiman on thin crinkly typing paper folded into a rectangle. Roz Kaveney remembers it being the first thing she ever read by him, pulled out of his pocket at the Cafe München. “It was originally written as a text story,” Gaiman explained. “That was because I didn’t know how to write for Dave, to get the best out of Dave, so I wrote it as prose, and then we got together. He did some breakdowns, we talked about them, he did different things, and then I re-edited it and wrote it up.” Violent Cases is about two things. “It’s about violence on large and small levels, and it’s about the unreliability of memory on a load of different levels. How reliable is what people are telling you, how much you remember, or say you remember, what you remember, how much of it you got from films, how much you got from people telling you what you were doing at the time, how much you remember from earlier memories. It’s trying to examine all of those in a way that you couldn’t do in prose fiction and you couldn’t do in the movies” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989). It was a story that could only be told in comics, and yet it was using comic book tools in new and strange ways to do it. “I was also taking on board some of what I was being shown in comics. Like the stuff Eddie Campbell was doing. It was very important. You couldn’t have had Violent Cases without Alec. What I learned from Eddie was the value of minute incidents in the building up of fraudulent biographical narrative. I wouldn’t say it was influenced by Eddie, but the only place in comics that Violent Cases plugs into from a story viewpoint is to Eddie. W hich you don’t see because the visuals are Dave” (Comics Forum #1, 1992). From the outside it is a young man’s recollection of several trips to an aging osteopath in late sixties Portsmouth, England, starting when he was four years old after an accident in which his father dislocates the boy’s arm while trying to drag him upstairs to bed. Through the foggy and imperfect remembrance of things the boy was told but was not old enough

1988 vioLeNt cases was adapted into a stage play in London. Or, rather, it wasn’t adapted, and that was precisely what was wrong with it. in

“As an excited young person who’d just written his first graphic novel I was thrilled when a director approached me and said, ‘We want to do it completely faithfully on stage’ And I said absolutely, whats the script? And he said, ‘The script is the graphic novel’ I said wow, brilliant. And I came along to the first night of Violent Cases on stage, and the script was so accurately the graphic novel that I could mutter under my breath along with what was happening on stage. But I discovered—absolutely fascinated—that things that were huge and important in the graphic novel went by in a second on the stage and were trivial or did not even register, whereas moments that were trivial little here-issomething-that-is-about-to-illuminate-what-happens-next in the graphic novel became the moments of stage magic. And it became this rather soft-focused, rather warm and cuddly thing, having been this rather hellish graphic novel. With not a word changed. Totally faithful adaptation and totally wrong. But it taught me an amazing lesson, which is you cannot transliterate. You have to translate. You have to be willing to go: this medium is not this medium, lets recreate it, and let’s do it in a way that will work. Which is why I’ve always been very open for people to, up to a point, play with things and see what makes them work.”

to understand at the time, we learn that the osteopath had once treated legendary gangster Al Capone. It features all the psychological complexities of memory and imagination that would come to be Gaiman hallmarks: the adult world viewed from eyes that don’t comprehend it, that don’t understand why grown-ups leave the house smelling like strangers or come home red-faced and arguing in whispers. What Gaiman likes most is how the story is structured like a childhood memory bubbling up in the cold light of adulthood. He said in 1992, “I wanted to do something that would recreate for other people that kind of emotional state that I would get from Robert Aickman’s fiction, an English

writer who died about ten years ago and wrote chiefly short stories. He creates things that are obviously unities, they make sense, but he leaves you at the end with the feeling that you must have missed something. Somebody palmed a card, if there was a card. The feeling that you’ve been given a story that would all make sense if only you had the key, if there is a key, and there must be a key, or there wouldn’t be a story. “The ending is built up too. It has a feeling that childhood things remembered in adulthood have. Shapes change, patterns change . . . sometimes things that you didn’t grasp at the time fall into place. You suddenly realise, oh! My uncle must have been having an affair, that was why no one

CH apteR 2 |BRitisH c o m ic s

aBOVe: Stage play program, featuring new art by Dave McKean, 1988.

85 t

C h ild re n a re e x c ite d b y a m b u la n c e s , p o lice c a r s , a n d c r o w d s . I t’s o n l y w h e n y o u g e t o ld e r th a t y o u re a liz e th a t th e r e a re p e o p le w h o h a v e b e e n t u r n e d i n t o m i n c e m e a t in t h e r e ” ( Speakeasy # 7 9 , 1 9 8 7 ) . M cK ean

added,

“In

m ost

A m e ric a n

c o m i c s t h e r e is a t r e m e n d o u s a m o u n t o f v i o l e n c e , b u t i t ’s a lw a y s t h e s a m e v i o l e n c e ; it’s a lw a y s p e o p l e b e i n g p u n c h e d t h r o u g h o ff ic e b l o c k s . T h e n t h e y s te p o u t o f t h e

example the first gangster story you get is the story o f Legs Diamond, it’s a true story. The next stuff about being buried in silver coffins, has elements o f truth in it, but I ’ve exaggerated and played around with it. Then you get the stuff about the party; it’s not true at all. It’s a sort o f folk memory version o f what actually happened ( F a n t a s y A d v e r t i s e r #109,1989).

r u b b l e , d u s t t h e m s e l v e s o ff, a n d s a y , ‘N o w

Violent Cases

y o u ’v e m a d e m e r e a l l y a n g r y .’ W e w a n t e d

O n e o f th e re a so n s

to d o s o m e th in g a b o u t h o w w e p e r c e iv e

is t h a t t h e t w o c r e a t o r s w e r e i n c o n s t a n t

w o rk e d

v io le n c e , so th a t th e r e a d e r h a s a b it m o r e o f

c o n t a c t w ith e a c h o th e r v ia p h o n e c a lls ,

a g u t r e a c tio n . T h e th in g th a t re a lly b rin g s

v i s i t s ( t h e b o y is b a s e d o n r e f e r e n c e p h o t o s

it a ll h o m e is t h a t i t ’s a b a s e b a l l b a t . I f i t h a d

M cK ean

b e e n a g u n i t w o u l d n ’t h a v e b e e n t h e s a m e .

a n d i n p u t f r o m b o t h s i d e s . “A l o t o f t h e

B u t a b a s e b a l l b a t is s o v i s u a l , a n d y o u

A m e r ic a n c o m ic s a re p r o d u c e d b y p e o p le

a c tu a lly n e e d th a t c o n t a c t, y o u n e e d a c tu a l

liv in g th o u s a n d s

p h y s ica l s tre n g th . S o it h a d m u c h m o r e

p r o b a b l y n e v e r e v e n m e t e a c h o t h e r ,” s a i d

to o k

of

C a i m a n ’s

o f m ile s

so n ,

M ik e ),

a p a r t , w h o ’v e

i m p a c t . B u t t h e b o y w h o ’s h e a r d a ll a b o u t

M c K e a n . “ I n e v i t a b l y t h e r e ’s a c o m p r o m i s e ;

th e s e te rrib le th in g s th a t g a n g ste rs h a v e

in e v ita b ly p e o p le

d o n e is w a v i n g a t t h e m w h e n h e s e e s t h e m .

w r i t e r ’s

W h e n o n e o f t h e m n o t i c e s t h e b o y h e tip s

b e c a u s e t h e a r t i s t g e t s t h e s c r i p t s a n d i t ’s

h is h a t , a n d t h e c h i l d is a b s o l u t e ly o v e r t h e

n o t r e a l l y w h a t h e w a n t e d , b u t h e ’ll d o it

m o o n a b o u t i t ” ( Speakeasy # 7 9 , 1 9 8 7 ) .

a n y w a y . T h a t is n o t t h e r e c i p e f o r g o o d

T h e m o d e l f o r t h e m a n is m i d - t w e n t i e s

a re

d is a p p o in te d

d is a p p o in te d . w ith

th e

The

p ic tu re s

c o m i c s ” ( Speakeasy # 7 9 , 1 9 8 7 ) .

N e il w ith b la c k T -s h ir t, i n d o o r a v ia to r s u n ­ g l a s s e s , a n d c l o u d s o f c i g a r e t t e s m o k e , a ll o f w h i c h a d d a n o t h e r l a y e r o f u n r e l i a b il i t y , o f h o w -m u c h -o f-th is -is -tru e .

w o u ld ta lk to h i m f o r a y e a r. T h e th in g s a d u lts d o , t h a t y o u n e v e r q u e s t i o n ; t h e y ’r e j u s t t h e r e ” ( Comics

Forum

# 2, 1 9 9 2 ).

T h e b o o k is q u i e t l y v i o l e n t b u t in a w a y t h a t ’s m o r e lik e a c o l d , c r e e p i n g r e a l i z a t i o n r a t h e r th a n h a r d a n d b lu n t. “T h e r e a r e tin y little a c t s o f v i o l e n c e a ll t h e w a y t h r o u g h t h e b o o k , a n d t h e r e ’s t h i s h u g e a c t o f v i o l e n c e a t th e e n d . B u t sin ce th e v ie w p o in t o f th e c h a r a c t e r is o f a f o u r - y e a r - o l d , i t d o e s n ’t u p se t h im . Y o u h a v e to

be

o ld

to

of

im a g in a tio n

d e v e lo p

so m e

k in d

enough

b e fo re y o u s ta r t w in c in g a t a c a r a c c id e n t.

t 86

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

Part o f it is my memories. I ’d compare it to a mosaic; all the little red tiles are my memories, but a red tile may be half a sentence, the other half is fiction. A lot o f it had to do with the fact that my son Michael was at the time about three going on four, and I was remembering a lot o f stuff, because I was doing a lot o f stuffthat my parents did to me that I swore I ’d never do to my kids. Throwing a kid over your shoulder and carrying him up to bed fo r the fourteenth time that evening, being utterly pissed off, dumping him on the bed and saying “Now s t a y there!” and stomping out, shutting the door . . . and I ’d think, “Did I just do that?” Part o f it came from a very bad case o f flu and a rather weirdfever dream. The story, as you go through, drifts further and further awayfrom the truth, so for

p a r t o f i t tame from a Very bad taSe o f flu attf a rather weirffVer dream·

p u b lis h e d in O c t o b e r t h a t s a m e y e a r in th e

Al Capone’s Osteopath. Dreams and Houses

U K b y T i t a n B o o k s , in a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h

is a b o u t w h e n y o u a r e o l d e n o u g h t o b e

It

w as

Escape.

fin ish e d

in

e a rly

1987

and

th e n th e w o rk in g title f o r th is o n e w a s

It w a s r e p r o d u c e d in b la c k a n d

sca re d

o f th in g s ,

w h i t e , a n d i t w a s n ’t u n t i l 1 9 9 1 t h a t t h e U .S .

S ca re d

o f th e stra n g e

T u n d r a e d i t i o n p u b l i s h e d M c K e a n ’s a r t in

h a n g in g

a ll its i n t e n d e d b l u e s , g r a y s , a n d b r o w n s .

(Speakeasy # 7 9 ,

T h e r e w e r e v a g u e p l a n s f o r s e q u e l s . In

on

th e

sca re d

back

“ Violent

(Fantasy Advertiser # 1 0 9 ,

a t th e age

th e

d o o r”

A n d t h e t h i r d o n e is a b o u t t r a v e l . T h e y ta k e

is a ll n a r r a t e d

of

1 9 8 7 ).

t h e y e a r o f its p u b lic a tio n , C a i m a n s a id ,

Cases

o f e v e ry th in g .

sh a p e s o f c lo th e s

p la c e

a t a b o u t f o u r-y e a r in te rv a ls ” 1 9 8 9 ).

Mr. Punch,

o f fo u r. T h e n e x t b o o k w ill b e a t t h e a g e

w r itte n in 1 9 9 4 , w a s n o t th e se q u e l th e y

o f e i g h t a n d w i l l b e a b o u t f e a r . T h e r e ’s a

h a d p la n n e d , b u t it w a s a th e m a tic se q u e l

w o rk in g title o f

Dreams and Houses,

but

o f so rts . ❖

CH apteR 2 |BRitisH c o m ic s

87 t

C h ild re n a re e x c ite d b y a m b u la n c e s , p o lice c a r s , a n d c r o w d s . I t’s o n l y w h e n y o u g e t o ld e r th a t y o u re a liz e th a t th e r e a re p e o p le w h o h a v e b e e n t u r n e d i n t o m i n c e m e a t in t h e r e ” ( Speakeasy # 7 9 , 1 9 8 7 ) . M cK ean

added,

“In

m ost

A m e ric a n

c o m i c s t h e r e is a t r e m e n d o u s a m o u n t o f v i o l e n c e , b u t i t ’s a lw a y s t h e s a m e v i o l e n c e ; it’s a lw a y s p e o p l e b e i n g p u n c h e d t h r o u g h o ff ic e b l o c k s . T h e n t h e y s te p o u t o f t h e

example the first gangster story you get is the story o f Legs Diamond, it’s a true story. The next stuff about being buried in silver coffins, has elements o f truth in it, but I ’ve exaggerated and played around with it. Then you get the stuff about the party; it’s not true at all. It’s a sort o f folk memory version o f what actually happened ( F a n t a s y A d v e r t i s e r #109,1989).

r u b b l e , d u s t t h e m s e l v e s o ff, a n d s a y , ‘N o w

Violent Cases

y o u ’v e m a d e m e r e a l l y a n g r y .’ W e w a n t e d

O n e o f th e re a so n s

to d o s o m e th in g a b o u t h o w w e p e r c e iv e

is t h a t t h e t w o c r e a t o r s w e r e i n c o n s t a n t

w o rk e d

v io le n c e , so th a t th e r e a d e r h a s a b it m o r e o f

c o n t a c t w ith e a c h o th e r v ia p h o n e c a lls ,

a g u t r e a c tio n . T h e th in g th a t re a lly b rin g s

v i s i t s ( t h e b o y is b a s e d o n r e f e r e n c e p h o t o s

it a ll h o m e is t h a t i t ’s a b a s e b a l l b a t . I f i t h a d

M cK ean

b e e n a g u n i t w o u l d n ’t h a v e b e e n t h e s a m e .

a n d i n p u t f r o m b o t h s i d e s . “A l o t o f t h e

B u t a b a s e b a l l b a t is s o v i s u a l , a n d y o u

A m e r ic a n c o m ic s a re p r o d u c e d b y p e o p le

a c tu a lly n e e d th a t c o n t a c t, y o u n e e d a c tu a l

liv in g th o u s a n d s

p h y s ica l s tre n g th . S o it h a d m u c h m o r e

p r o b a b l y n e v e r e v e n m e t e a c h o t h e r ,” s a i d

to o k

of

C a i m a n ’s

o f m ile s

so n ,

M ik e ),

a p a r t , w h o ’v e

i m p a c t . B u t t h e b o y w h o ’s h e a r d a ll a b o u t

M c K e a n . “ I n e v i t a b l y t h e r e ’s a c o m p r o m i s e ;

th e s e te rrib le th in g s th a t g a n g ste rs h a v e

in e v ita b ly p e o p le

d o n e is w a v i n g a t t h e m w h e n h e s e e s t h e m .

w r i t e r ’s

W h e n o n e o f t h e m n o t i c e s t h e b o y h e tip s

b e c a u s e t h e a r t i s t g e t s t h e s c r i p t s a n d i t ’s

h is h a t , a n d t h e c h i l d is a b s o l u t e ly o v e r t h e

n o t r e a l l y w h a t h e w a n t e d , b u t h e ’ll d o it

m o o n a b o u t i t ” ( Speakeasy # 7 9 , 1 9 8 7 ) .

a n y w a y . T h a t is n o t t h e r e c i p e f o r g o o d

T h e m o d e l f o r t h e m a n is m i d - t w e n t i e s

a re

d is a p p o in te d

d is a p p o in te d . w ith

th e

The

p ic tu re s

c o m i c s ” ( Speakeasy # 7 9 , 1 9 8 7 ) .

N e il w ith b la c k T -s h ir t, i n d o o r a v ia to r s u n ­ g l a s s e s , a n d c l o u d s o f c i g a r e t t e s m o k e , a ll o f w h i c h a d d a n o t h e r l a y e r o f u n r e l i a b il i t y , o f h o w -m u c h -o f-th is -is -tru e .

w o u ld ta lk to h i m f o r a y e a r. T h e th in g s a d u lts d o , t h a t y o u n e v e r q u e s t i o n ; t h e y ’r e j u s t t h e r e ” ( Comics

Forum

# 2, 1 9 9 2 ).

T h e b o o k is q u i e t l y v i o l e n t b u t in a w a y t h a t ’s m o r e lik e a c o l d , c r e e p i n g r e a l i z a t i o n r a t h e r th a n h a r d a n d b lu n t. “T h e r e a r e tin y little a c t s o f v i o l e n c e a ll t h e w a y t h r o u g h t h e b o o k , a n d t h e r e ’s t h i s h u g e a c t o f v i o l e n c e a t th e e n d . B u t sin ce th e v ie w p o in t o f th e c h a r a c t e r is o f a f o u r - y e a r - o l d , i t d o e s n ’t u p se t h im . Y o u h a v e to

be

o ld

to

of

im a g in a tio n

d e v e lo p

so m e

k in d

enough

b e fo re y o u s ta r t w in c in g a t a c a r a c c id e n t.

t 86

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

Part o f it is my memories. I ’d compare it to a mosaic; all the little red tiles are my memories, but a red tile may be half a sentence, the other half is fiction. A lot o f it had to do with the fact that my son Michael was at the time about three going on four, and I was remembering a lot o f stuff, because I was doing a lot o f stuffthat my parents did to me that I swore I ’d never do to my kids. Throwing a kid over your shoulder and carrying him up to bed fo r the fourteenth time that evening, being utterly pissed off, dumping him on the bed and saying “Now s t a y there!” and stomping out, shutting the door . . . and I ’d think, “Did I just do that?” Part o f it came from a very bad case o f flu and a rather weirdfever dream. The story, as you go through, drifts further and further awayfrom the truth, so for

p a r t o f i t tame from a Very bad taSe o f flu attf a rather weirffVer dream·

p u b lis h e d in O c t o b e r t h a t s a m e y e a r in th e

Al Capone’s Osteopath. Dreams and Houses

U K b y T i t a n B o o k s , in a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h

is a b o u t w h e n y o u a r e o l d e n o u g h t o b e

It

w as

Escape.

fin ish e d

in

e a rly

1987

and

th e n th e w o rk in g title f o r th is o n e w a s

It w a s r e p r o d u c e d in b la c k a n d

sca re d

o f th in g s ,

w h i t e , a n d i t w a s n ’t u n t i l 1 9 9 1 t h a t t h e U .S .

S ca re d

o f th e stra n g e

T u n d r a e d i t i o n p u b l i s h e d M c K e a n ’s a r t in

h a n g in g

a ll its i n t e n d e d b l u e s , g r a y s , a n d b r o w n s .

(Speakeasy # 7 9 ,

T h e r e w e r e v a g u e p l a n s f o r s e q u e l s . In

on

th e

sca re d

back

“ Violent

(Fantasy Advertiser # 1 0 9 ,

a t th e age

th e

d o o r”

A n d t h e t h i r d o n e is a b o u t t r a v e l . T h e y ta k e

is a ll n a r r a t e d

of

1 9 8 7 ).

t h e y e a r o f its p u b lic a tio n , C a i m a n s a id ,

Cases

o f e v e ry th in g .

sh a p e s o f c lo th e s

p la c e

a t a b o u t f o u r-y e a r in te rv a ls ” 1 9 8 9 ).

Mr. Punch,

o f fo u r. T h e n e x t b o o k w ill b e a t t h e a g e

w r itte n in 1 9 9 4 , w a s n o t th e se q u e l th e y

o f e i g h t a n d w i l l b e a b o u t f e a r . T h e r e ’s a

h a d p la n n e d , b u t it w a s a th e m a tic se q u e l

w o rk in g title o f

Dreams and Houses,

but

o f so rts . ❖

CH apteR 2 |BRitisH c o m ic s

87 t

C H a p te R

Vertigo Heights

C H a p te R

Vertigo Heights

BLack ORCH ID “There are two Black Orchids. One is th other is the one that hit the paper. I’m still terribly proud of the one in my head. When I see the comic or the book, I’m reminded that that isn’t the one the world got.” Most American superhero com ics

by tHe mid-

1980s Had becom e hidebouNd; th ey Read at best lik e a m ix tu re o f w h a t had com e b efo re, and at w o rst th ey w ere lik e b lu rre d photocopies o f a photocopy. o m p a r e d t o A l a n M o o r e s g r o u n d b r e a k i n g w o r k o n S w a m p T h in g a n d W a t c h m e n ,

C

th e y w e re b o r in g a n d u n in s p irin g — a n d A m e r ic a t o o k n o tic e . S in ce B r ita in h a d p r o d u c e d o n e A la n M o o r e , D C C o m ic s w o n d e r e d i f th e r e m ig h t b e m o r e w h e re

h e c a m e f r o m . S o D C C o m i c s e d i t o r s D i c k G i o r d a n o a n d K a r e n B e r g e r f le w t o L o n d o n o n a m is s io n . T h e y w e r e a p p ly in g th e B e a tle s p r in c ip le to c o m ic s . A t t h e p r e v i o u s y e a r ’s U K C A C in S e p t e m b e r 1 9 8 6 , G a i m a n h a d g i v e n B e r g e r h is “J a c k

aBOVe: Gaiman in December 1988. o p p o s ite : Black Orchid

#1, 1988.

in t h e G r e e n ” s c r i p t t h a t h e ’d w r i t t e n a s a t r y o u t f o r M o o r e . B y t h e e n d o f F e b r u a r y , V io le n t

C a s e s w a s s till u n f i n i s h e d b u t a l m o s t t h e r e , a n d G a i m a n h e a r d t h a t t h e D C s c o u t s w e r e in t o w n . H e r a n g T i t a n ’s N i c k L a n d a u a n d f o u n d o u t w h e r e t h e y w e r e s ta y i n g . H e g o t t h e m o n th e p h o n e a n d m a n a g e d to se t up a m e e tin g . “S o I p h o n e d D a v e a n d s a i d , ‘W e ’r e g o i n g t o s e e D i c k G i o r d a n o ’ a n d D a v e s a y s , ‘T h e y d o n ’t w a n t to s e e u s.’ I p r a c t i c a l l y p u t a g u n t o h i s b a c k , f o r c e d h i m t o b r i n g h i s p o r t f o l i o u p . ( A f e w m o n t h s e a r l i e r , D a v e h a d g o n e o v e r t o N e w Y o r k a n d s h o w n h is s t u f f t o M a r v e l a n d D C a n d C o n t i n u i t y a n d e v e r y b o d y h a d s a i d , ‘Y e s , w e ’ll g e t b a c k t o y o u ’ a n d n o b o d y e v e r h a d .) ” ( F a n t a s y A d v e r t i s e r # 1 0 9 , 1 9 8 9 ) . I f y o u ta lk to p e o p le w h o h a v e w o rk e d w ith G a im a n , o r w h o h a v e h a d s to rie s p itc h e d to th e m b y G a im a n , a lo t o f t h e m h a v e n o id e a h o w it h a p p e n e d . P e o p le a c c id e n ta lly a g r e e t o d o t h i n g s a n d t h e n s u d d e n l y t h e y ’r e d o i n g t h i n g s t h e y h a d n o i d e a t h e y w e r e g o i n g t o d o t w o m i n u t e s a g o . “ I t’s w e i r d . I h a d a ll t h e s e g r e a t s u r v i v a l s k ills I a l m o s t n e v e r u s e a n y m o r e . E v e r y n o w a n d t h e n I h a v e t o p u l l t h e m o u t — t h e s e d a y s I ’ll p u l l t h e m o u t d u r i n g g i a n t H o l l y w o o d m e e t i n g s , b u t t h e y w e r e h o w I s u r v i v e d in t h e e i g h t i e s . I t w a s lik e r e w r i t i n g t h e w o r l d . P o o r D a v e w a s j u s t w a l k i n g a r o u n d b e h i n d m e g o i n g , ‘T h e y

t 90

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

BLack ORCH ID “There are two Black Orchids. One is th other is the one that hit the paper. I’m still terribly proud of the one in my head. When I see the comic or the book, I’m reminded that that isn’t the one the world got.” Most American superhero com ics

by tHe mid-

1980s Had becom e hidebouNd; th ey Read at best lik e a m ix tu re o f w h a t had com e b efo re, and at w o rst th ey w ere lik e b lu rre d photocopies o f a photocopy. o m p a r e d t o A l a n M o o r e s g r o u n d b r e a k i n g w o r k o n S w a m p T h in g a n d W a t c h m e n ,

C

th e y w e re b o r in g a n d u n in s p irin g — a n d A m e r ic a t o o k n o tic e . S in ce B r ita in h a d p r o d u c e d o n e A la n M o o r e , D C C o m ic s w o n d e r e d i f th e r e m ig h t b e m o r e w h e re

h e c a m e f r o m . S o D C C o m i c s e d i t o r s D i c k G i o r d a n o a n d K a r e n B e r g e r f le w t o L o n d o n o n a m is s io n . T h e y w e r e a p p ly in g th e B e a tle s p r in c ip le to c o m ic s . A t t h e p r e v i o u s y e a r ’s U K C A C in S e p t e m b e r 1 9 8 6 , G a i m a n h a d g i v e n B e r g e r h is “J a c k

aBOVe: Gaiman in December 1988. o p p o s ite : Black Orchid

#1, 1988.

in t h e G r e e n ” s c r i p t t h a t h e ’d w r i t t e n a s a t r y o u t f o r M o o r e . B y t h e e n d o f F e b r u a r y , V io le n t

C a s e s w a s s till u n f i n i s h e d b u t a l m o s t t h e r e , a n d G a i m a n h e a r d t h a t t h e D C s c o u t s w e r e in t o w n . H e r a n g T i t a n ’s N i c k L a n d a u a n d f o u n d o u t w h e r e t h e y w e r e s ta y i n g . H e g o t t h e m o n th e p h o n e a n d m a n a g e d to se t up a m e e tin g . “S o I p h o n e d D a v e a n d s a i d , ‘W e ’r e g o i n g t o s e e D i c k G i o r d a n o ’ a n d D a v e s a y s , ‘T h e y d o n ’t w a n t to s e e u s.’ I p r a c t i c a l l y p u t a g u n t o h i s b a c k , f o r c e d h i m t o b r i n g h i s p o r t f o l i o u p . ( A f e w m o n t h s e a r l i e r , D a v e h a d g o n e o v e r t o N e w Y o r k a n d s h o w n h is s t u f f t o M a r v e l a n d D C a n d C o n t i n u i t y a n d e v e r y b o d y h a d s a i d , ‘Y e s , w e ’ll g e t b a c k t o y o u ’ a n d n o b o d y e v e r h a d .) ” ( F a n t a s y A d v e r t i s e r # 1 0 9 , 1 9 8 9 ) . I f y o u ta lk to p e o p le w h o h a v e w o rk e d w ith G a im a n , o r w h o h a v e h a d s to rie s p itc h e d to th e m b y G a im a n , a lo t o f t h e m h a v e n o id e a h o w it h a p p e n e d . P e o p le a c c id e n ta lly a g r e e t o d o t h i n g s a n d t h e n s u d d e n l y t h e y ’r e d o i n g t h i n g s t h e y h a d n o i d e a t h e y w e r e g o i n g t o d o t w o m i n u t e s a g o . “ I t’s w e i r d . I h a d a ll t h e s e g r e a t s u r v i v a l s k ills I a l m o s t n e v e r u s e a n y m o r e . E v e r y n o w a n d t h e n I h a v e t o p u l l t h e m o u t — t h e s e d a y s I ’ll p u l l t h e m o u t d u r i n g g i a n t H o l l y w o o d m e e t i n g s , b u t t h e y w e r e h o w I s u r v i v e d in t h e e i g h t i e s . I t w a s lik e r e w r i t i n g t h e w o r l d . P o o r D a v e w a s j u s t w a l k i n g a r o u n d b e h i n d m e g o i n g , ‘T h e y

t 90

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

a B O V e: Gaiman was

effects, are we?’ and he

writing sequences not that much further along

said no. I wanted a sequence where we got

than what McKean was drawing. His art at the

a tap dripping, and the solution to getting that

beginning of the book wound up feeding back

effect was to use the space between the panels,

into the story at the end of it. “There were also

pulling the panels apart to use space between

things like solutions to problems becoming

them, that actually wound up becoming a technique

motifs. Like, there is a point at page thirteen of

that was used through the rest of the books.

Black Orchid #1— which,

They stop being gutters and start being further

bear in mind, I wrote in about May 1987. I rung Dave saying, ‘We aren't

pieces of information”

going to have any sound

#109, 1989).

t 92

(Fantasy Advertiser

don’t mean it’ I’m going, ‘Sshhhh. Don’t look down. We’re okay’ He went through that entire first meeting with D C Comics just baffled. ‘I think they’re just saying this to be polite.’ No, they think we’re great. We’re doing this. I was very good at it. And I don’t think anybody minded.” Without that ability to bullshit, possibly none of this would have happened. “We went into the room and Karen was there; she was pleased to see me. She went, ‘Oh, Neil! I was going to try and get in touch with you! I read your “Jack in the Green” story on the plane coming over, I really liked it’ So I did my pitch for Phantom Stranger, and they said, ‘Weirdly enough, Grant Morrison was in this morning, he did a pitch for Phantom Stranger too. Yours is really

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

good, his is really good—unfortunately we’ve got this Paul Kupperberg piece, which is not very good but it is what it is. So you can’t do that’ Then they looked at Dave’s art and suddenly Dick Giordano took us very, very seriously. So we had Dave’s art, we had the fact that she liked my ‘Jack in the Green’ story, and we had the fact they liked the first pitch. Then Dick said: ‘What do you want to do?’” Gaiman rattled off a list of characters he had jotted down, going further and further down the list until he was ransacking the bottom of the DC bins for stuff that nobody was going to pick. The Phantom Stranger, Cain and Abel, Nightmaster, Black Canary, Green Arrow, John Constantine, Hawk and Dove, and Klarion the Witch Boy. He even

pitched Sandman, although that character (the original incarnation) was already spoken for in the Justice Society of America. Deadman, the Demon, the Forever People... “And then I said: Black Orchid? And Karen, famously and to her embarrassment even to this day, said, ‘Black Hawk Kid? Who’s he?’ And Dick said, ‘Oh Black Orchid. I remember her, great costume. Yeah, do a Black Orchid proposal for us’” Black Orchid was a character created in 1973 who had appeared only sporadically since her creation, languishing in backups and cameos in various D C titles. She was essentially only an idea, appearing so infrequently that she remained a character with no secret identity and no official origin story. She was a vague mix of Superman and Batman in pinky-purple spandex. A superheroic detective with a black orchid calling card. “We went down to the bar, and Dave looked up at me and said, ‘I’m going to have to draw cheesecake. Oh god this is awful, I don’t want to do this,’ and I said, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ He said, ‘I prefer the “Jack in the Green” idea you had, we could do something like Amazonian rain forests, the destruction of the rain forests and that kind of thing’ and I said, ‘Yes, don’t worry, it will work. Trust me.’ I was lying. I didn’t know what I was doing” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989). Gaiman plotted Black Orchid on the train home to Sussex. By the time the train pulled in an hour or so later, he had outlined the first thirty pages of something that was definitely not cheesecake. The story gave Black Orchid an overhaul and an origin: instead of an anchorless superhero, she became a plant-hybrid with ties to the Green and everybody in it, the mythic universe of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. Gaiman wanted it to be a film noir story influenced by E. E. Cummings, a pacifist fable in which violence happened but was deeply unpleasant, in which meditation and beauty played an important part. Most of all he wanted to do a comic for people who actually read comics, unlike Violent Cases. Gaiman phoned McKean at his art school dormitory the next morning and told him the entire plot in a phone call so

L e ft: “Black Orchid was the hardest character to write. Thats why I talk about E. E. Cummings, because he was where I ended up going to try to get how to express her thought processes, to try to use the imagery for her. I’m still not sure she works. I hope she does” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989).

long that other students thought McKean was staging a piece of performance art.

It was about forty-five minutes on the payphone in his college; thirty people were lining up behind him in the hallway waiting to use the phone. And he didn’t say a word. I got to the end and he said, “Alright.” And he went away and he painted six paintings o f Black Orchid. Just beautiful. On the Saturday night, DC held a dinner party in some Soho restaurant, and we were invited. But the following morning, Dave and I went to their hotel and we dropped o ff my outline and Dave’s drawings. Years later Karen told me that the reason

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

we got the job, the reason they took us seriously even though neither o f us had any credits actually, in any real terms, was because we met them on Thursday, and on Sunday morning before they went back to America they had the pitch. They had the paintings and they had the outline, even though I didn’t really have an ending fo r the story. I never really had an endingfo r Black Orchid. But it was basically the first two parts. The pitch brought in other characters from the D C Universe—Lex Luthor, Batman, a trip to Arkham Asylum to meet Poison Ivy—which Gaiman says was a combination of the thrill of being let loose

93 t

a B O V e: Gaiman was

effects, are we?’ and he

writing sequences not that much further along

said no. I wanted a sequence where we got

than what McKean was drawing. His art at the

a tap dripping, and the solution to getting that

beginning of the book wound up feeding back

effect was to use the space between the panels,

into the story at the end of it. “There were also

pulling the panels apart to use space between

things like solutions to problems becoming

them, that actually wound up becoming a technique

motifs. Like, there is a point at page thirteen of

that was used through the rest of the books.

Black Orchid #1— which,

They stop being gutters and start being further

bear in mind, I wrote in about May 1987. I rung Dave saying, ‘We aren't

pieces of information”

going to have any sound

#109, 1989).

t 92

(Fantasy Advertiser

don’t mean it’ I’m going, ‘Sshhhh. Don’t look down. We’re okay’ He went through that entire first meeting with D C Comics just baffled. ‘I think they’re just saying this to be polite.’ No, they think we’re great. We’re doing this. I was very good at it. And I don’t think anybody minded.” Without that ability to bullshit, possibly none of this would have happened. “We went into the room and Karen was there; she was pleased to see me. She went, ‘Oh, Neil! I was going to try and get in touch with you! I read your “Jack in the Green” story on the plane coming over, I really liked it’ So I did my pitch for Phantom Stranger, and they said, ‘Weirdly enough, Grant Morrison was in this morning, he did a pitch for Phantom Stranger too. Yours is really

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

good, his is really good—unfortunately we’ve got this Paul Kupperberg piece, which is not very good but it is what it is. So you can’t do that’ Then they looked at Dave’s art and suddenly Dick Giordano took us very, very seriously. So we had Dave’s art, we had the fact that she liked my ‘Jack in the Green’ story, and we had the fact they liked the first pitch. Then Dick said: ‘What do you want to do?’” Gaiman rattled off a list of characters he had jotted down, going further and further down the list until he was ransacking the bottom of the DC bins for stuff that nobody was going to pick. The Phantom Stranger, Cain and Abel, Nightmaster, Black Canary, Green Arrow, John Constantine, Hawk and Dove, and Klarion the Witch Boy. He even

pitched Sandman, although that character (the original incarnation) was already spoken for in the Justice Society of America. Deadman, the Demon, the Forever People... “And then I said: Black Orchid? And Karen, famously and to her embarrassment even to this day, said, ‘Black Hawk Kid? Who’s he?’ And Dick said, ‘Oh Black Orchid. I remember her, great costume. Yeah, do a Black Orchid proposal for us’” Black Orchid was a character created in 1973 who had appeared only sporadically since her creation, languishing in backups and cameos in various D C titles. She was essentially only an idea, appearing so infrequently that she remained a character with no secret identity and no official origin story. She was a vague mix of Superman and Batman in pinky-purple spandex. A superheroic detective with a black orchid calling card. “We went down to the bar, and Dave looked up at me and said, ‘I’m going to have to draw cheesecake. Oh god this is awful, I don’t want to do this,’ and I said, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ He said, ‘I prefer the “Jack in the Green” idea you had, we could do something like Amazonian rain forests, the destruction of the rain forests and that kind of thing’ and I said, ‘Yes, don’t worry, it will work. Trust me.’ I was lying. I didn’t know what I was doing” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989). Gaiman plotted Black Orchid on the train home to Sussex. By the time the train pulled in an hour or so later, he had outlined the first thirty pages of something that was definitely not cheesecake. The story gave Black Orchid an overhaul and an origin: instead of an anchorless superhero, she became a plant-hybrid with ties to the Green and everybody in it, the mythic universe of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. Gaiman wanted it to be a film noir story influenced by E. E. Cummings, a pacifist fable in which violence happened but was deeply unpleasant, in which meditation and beauty played an important part. Most of all he wanted to do a comic for people who actually read comics, unlike Violent Cases. Gaiman phoned McKean at his art school dormitory the next morning and told him the entire plot in a phone call so

L e ft: “Black Orchid was the hardest character to write. Thats why I talk about E. E. Cummings, because he was where I ended up going to try to get how to express her thought processes, to try to use the imagery for her. I’m still not sure she works. I hope she does” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989).

long that other students thought McKean was staging a piece of performance art.

It was about forty-five minutes on the payphone in his college; thirty people were lining up behind him in the hallway waiting to use the phone. And he didn’t say a word. I got to the end and he said, “Alright.” And he went away and he painted six paintings o f Black Orchid. Just beautiful. On the Saturday night, DC held a dinner party in some Soho restaurant, and we were invited. But the following morning, Dave and I went to their hotel and we dropped o ff my outline and Dave’s drawings. Years later Karen told me that the reason

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

we got the job, the reason they took us seriously even though neither o f us had any credits actually, in any real terms, was because we met them on Thursday, and on Sunday morning before they went back to America they had the pitch. They had the paintings and they had the outline, even though I didn’t really have an ending fo r the story. I never really had an endingfo r Black Orchid. But it was basically the first two parts. The pitch brought in other characters from the D C Universe—Lex Luthor, Batman, a trip to Arkham Asylum to meet Poison Ivy—which Gaiman says was a combination of the thrill of being let loose

93 t

L eft: Black Orchid #1. Gaiman said: “I suggested we do natural things in bright colors, and dead things sort of m onochro­ matic, and there was a progression through the book, from the cities to wildlife, from these tight little panels to the full bleeds. Dave took that one step further, and did the world outside in black and white, with natural things in full color. Also, it would bounce backwards and forwards, because by the time I was halfway through part two, I had seen the paintings that Dave had done for part one, so then I took some of those things and put them back into part two” (Kraft, 1993).

in the sweet shop and also a commercial decision on his part. “It wasn’t a commercial decision from the viewpoint of selling it to the public, but rather to sell it to DC. That was why we didn’t come up with something that was ours and try to sell it to DC. What we did was take an old D C character and say, ‘You’ll own the project, and we’re

t 94

going to have these DC characters running through it’” (Kraft, 1993). Not only did Gaiman tie Black Orchid to the Green for the purpose of a single story, he wrote a whole essay about the mythology and placed her in a plant-based family with Floronic Man and Poison Ivy: “I wrote an article called ‘Notes Towards a

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

Vegetable Theology’ which was meant to be in Black Orchid but only gets glanced on. Basically they asked me to work out a whole system, how to do all the vegetable characters correctly, and that’s the kind of thing I get a real kick out of, designing religions and designing systems and so on” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989). Having seen what kind of material Gaiman and McKean were capable of, DC Comics decided against releasing Black Orchid in the normal six-issue miniseries they had originally billed it for. Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns had done well the previous year in their new Prestige Format—square-bound comics with longer extents, better quality paper, and cardstock covers— so they phoned Gaiman and said that’s what they were doing. “I was going, the Dark Knight format? The only thing they’ve done is the Dark Knight? Aaah!” While it was a vote of confidence (and not just a little bit terrifying in that anything following Dark Knight would then be compared to Dark Knight), it did require a bit of a rethink in the writing. Gaiman wound up doing two issues of the original plot in each double­ sized issue—which was “a slight change in pacing, especially because it didn’t fit” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989).

“And then halfway through issue two they got cold feet.” Gaiman was told later, by editor Paul Levitz, that D C originally saw Black Orchid as a non-commercial but arty and prestigious book, something that they would be proud to publish alongside the comics they usually published but not something they expected to be a big commercial hit. Having now actually seen the comic, they realized it could feasibly wind up being a financial success, except for one thing: nobody had ever heard of Neil Gaiman or Dave McKean.

I got a phone call from Karen saying, “Look, you’re two guys nobody’s ever heard of, doing a character that nobody’s ever heard of, and its a fem ale character and fem ale characters don’t sell. So we’re all kind o f worried. What we’ve decided to do is give Dave a Batman script by Grant Morrison. He wrote the annual, but we think Dave can do it as a whole book called Arkham Asylum. And we’d like to give you a monthly comic, and we’ll build you guys up a bit before we bring out Black Orchid.” This did not sit well with Dave, because Dave was already sick o f the style he was doing Black Orchid in, it was a mistake, it was wrong, he’d seen Bill Sienkiewiczs Stray Toasters and that was the future o f comics. The joy o f working with Dave, which was also the pain in the arse o f working with Dave, is that he was always in search o f the correct way to do it. The right way. I never thought there was a right way to do anything, I was just throwing mud at a wall—you hope some o f it sticks. But Dave was always looking fo r the right way to do comics, so halfway through Black Orchid he was pretty sure that Black Orchid was not the right way to draw comics. Then by the time he was halfway through Arkham Asylum he knew that was not the right way to draw comics, but he had to keep going. Dave was really grumpy because he did not want Arkham Asylum to come out before

Black Orchid, because he felt that the

entire comics world would feel that he had taken a huge step back as an artist if it happened. In the end, and more to the point, DC was not prepared to sit on 120 pages o f fully painted comics fo r an extra year and a h alf given that they’d paid lots o f money fo r it to be done. The Sandman #1, although it had a cover date for January 1989, was released in October 1988, one month before the first issue of Black Orchid, which arrived on the shelves in three Prestige parts in November, December, and January. Gaiman worried that people would be

wondering who this Gaiman guy was, whom they had never heard of last week, and who this week had flooded their new release shelves (it wasn’t really a fair point given that it was a year and a half’s worth of work arriving at the door at once). But for all this worrying about Black Orchid’s commercial viability, Gaiman got to do

The Sandman. “I figured that Sandman would be this little horror comic that no one would notice, and Black Orchid would come out and everyone would go gosh, wow, and jaws would drop and we’d be famous. As it was, Orchid had all the impact of rose petals falling onto the surface of a pond” (Comics Forum #2, 1992). ❖

“The joy of working with Dave, whioh was also the pain in the arse of working with Dave, is that he was always in search of the correct way to do it.”

J postscRipt: Probably of equal importance to his coming career is what the royalty check from

Black Orchid bought him. With the first real money he’d ever made in comics, Gaiman bought a foot-high Groucho Marx statue. “For the first time pretty much in my life, I was in the black, and I had some money and I thought I can just go out and buy this thing. So I did. I bought myself Groucho and he sits up on my book shelf and he looks down at me, and it’s very hard to take yourself too seriously. I mean, it’s the occupational hazard of writers. Everything else: the broken marriages, the ruinous addiction, the living in penury, the lower back pain—all these you feed back into your work. Take yourself too seriously and you’re lost. You’ll wind up teaching creative writing somewhere. So, Groucho helps me on that. When I take myself too seriously I look up and there’s this tacky Groucho Marx statue staring down at me holding his cigar” (Vince, 1990). r

^

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

95 t

L eft: Black Orchid #1. Gaiman said: “I suggested we do natural things in bright colors, and dead things sort of m onochro­ matic, and there was a progression through the book, from the cities to wildlife, from these tight little panels to the full bleeds. Dave took that one step further, and did the world outside in black and white, with natural things in full color. Also, it would bounce backwards and forwards, because by the time I was halfway through part two, I had seen the paintings that Dave had done for part one, so then I took some of those things and put them back into part two” (Kraft, 1993).

in the sweet shop and also a commercial decision on his part. “It wasn’t a commercial decision from the viewpoint of selling it to the public, but rather to sell it to DC. That was why we didn’t come up with something that was ours and try to sell it to DC. What we did was take an old D C character and say, ‘You’ll own the project, and we’re

t 94

going to have these DC characters running through it’” (Kraft, 1993). Not only did Gaiman tie Black Orchid to the Green for the purpose of a single story, he wrote a whole essay about the mythology and placed her in a plant-based family with Floronic Man and Poison Ivy: “I wrote an article called ‘Notes Towards a

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

Vegetable Theology’ which was meant to be in Black Orchid but only gets glanced on. Basically they asked me to work out a whole system, how to do all the vegetable characters correctly, and that’s the kind of thing I get a real kick out of, designing religions and designing systems and so on” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989). Having seen what kind of material Gaiman and McKean were capable of, DC Comics decided against releasing Black Orchid in the normal six-issue miniseries they had originally billed it for. Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns had done well the previous year in their new Prestige Format—square-bound comics with longer extents, better quality paper, and cardstock covers— so they phoned Gaiman and said that’s what they were doing. “I was going, the Dark Knight format? The only thing they’ve done is the Dark Knight? Aaah!” While it was a vote of confidence (and not just a little bit terrifying in that anything following Dark Knight would then be compared to Dark Knight), it did require a bit of a rethink in the writing. Gaiman wound up doing two issues of the original plot in each double­ sized issue—which was “a slight change in pacing, especially because it didn’t fit” (Fantasy Advertiser #109, 1989).

“And then halfway through issue two they got cold feet.” Gaiman was told later, by editor Paul Levitz, that D C originally saw Black Orchid as a non-commercial but arty and prestigious book, something that they would be proud to publish alongside the comics they usually published but not something they expected to be a big commercial hit. Having now actually seen the comic, they realized it could feasibly wind up being a financial success, except for one thing: nobody had ever heard of Neil Gaiman or Dave McKean.

I got a phone call from Karen saying, “Look, you’re two guys nobody’s ever heard of, doing a character that nobody’s ever heard of, and its a fem ale character and fem ale characters don’t sell. So we’re all kind o f worried. What we’ve decided to do is give Dave a Batman script by Grant Morrison. He wrote the annual, but we think Dave can do it as a whole book called Arkham Asylum. And we’d like to give you a monthly comic, and we’ll build you guys up a bit before we bring out Black Orchid.” This did not sit well with Dave, because Dave was already sick o f the style he was doing Black Orchid in, it was a mistake, it was wrong, he’d seen Bill Sienkiewiczs Stray Toasters and that was the future o f comics. The joy o f working with Dave, which was also the pain in the arse o f working with Dave, is that he was always in search o f the correct way to do it. The right way. I never thought there was a right way to do anything, I was just throwing mud at a wall—you hope some o f it sticks. But Dave was always looking fo r the right way to do comics, so halfway through Black Orchid he was pretty sure that Black Orchid was not the right way to draw comics. Then by the time he was halfway through Arkham Asylum he knew that was not the right way to draw comics, but he had to keep going. Dave was really grumpy because he did not want Arkham Asylum to come out before

Black Orchid, because he felt that the

entire comics world would feel that he had taken a huge step back as an artist if it happened. In the end, and more to the point, DC was not prepared to sit on 120 pages o f fully painted comics fo r an extra year and a h alf given that they’d paid lots o f money fo r it to be done. The Sandman #1, although it had a cover date for January 1989, was released in October 1988, one month before the first issue of Black Orchid, which arrived on the shelves in three Prestige parts in November, December, and January. Gaiman worried that people would be

wondering who this Gaiman guy was, whom they had never heard of last week, and who this week had flooded their new release shelves (it wasn’t really a fair point given that it was a year and a half’s worth of work arriving at the door at once). But for all this worrying about Black Orchid’s commercial viability, Gaiman got to do

The Sandman. “I figured that Sandman would be this little horror comic that no one would notice, and Black Orchid would come out and everyone would go gosh, wow, and jaws would drop and we’d be famous. As it was, Orchid had all the impact of rose petals falling onto the surface of a pond” (Comics Forum #2, 1992). ❖

“The joy of working with Dave, whioh was also the pain in the arse of working with Dave, is that he was always in search of the correct way to do it.”

J postscRipt: Probably of equal importance to his coming career is what the royalty check from

Black Orchid bought him. With the first real money he’d ever made in comics, Gaiman bought a foot-high Groucho Marx statue. “For the first time pretty much in my life, I was in the black, and I had some money and I thought I can just go out and buy this thing. So I did. I bought myself Groucho and he sits up on my book shelf and he looks down at me, and it’s very hard to take yourself too seriously. I mean, it’s the occupational hazard of writers. Everything else: the broken marriages, the ruinous addiction, the living in penury, the lower back pain—all these you feed back into your work. Take yourself too seriously and you’re lost. You’ll wind up teaching creative writing somewhere. So, Groucho helps me on that. When I take myself too seriously I look up and there’s this tacky Groucho Marx statue staring down at me holding his cigar” (Vince, 1990). r

^

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

95 t

saNDmaM. “I started Sandman in a state of absolute delirious terror. I’d written some fiction, not much. But Id never come up with one story every month"

“saNDmaN is iNteNtioNaLLy aN attempt to create a—hopefully valid— mythic structure, and one that is inclusive. Partly that is because I have the D C Universe to play with but also . . . one of the things I wanted to specifically look at was, what does the twentieth century do with, to, and about myth? Thus you’ll get something like Dream Country, which is basically a series of four essays on influence that forgotten myths still have. Death has a line at the end where she says, ‘Myths and legends live on in a kind of Dream Country’ And that’s what it’s about. You know, myths, and legends still have power; they get buried and forgotten, but they’re like landmines.”

Opposite: #1, January 1989, based on Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy.

t 96

ThSandman

W ith B l a c k ORCHID in a state of suspended animation, Gaiman needed to come up witH an idea for an ongoing comic tHat would make a name for him, that would give B l a c k o r c h i d some chance of not dying before waking. e tossed a few ideas at Karen Berger. “The one I’d really wanted to do was the Phantom Stranger. And she said she’d talked to Dick and the Phantom Stranger just wasn’t heroic enough. ‘But what about that Sandman idea you were talking about over dinner?’” In the first draft of Black Orchid, Gaiman had included a restaurant scene in a dream sequence in which some old characters from the D C dreamworld—Cain and Abel and Sandman—turned up as waiters. He wound up taking it out of the second draft, but the idea was still floating around in his head when Berger and Jenette Kahn, thenpresident of DC Comics, came over for another editorial meeting early on in Black Orchid’s creation. Comic book characters go through so many changes and reinventions that there is a word to describe the act of pretending the current incarnation was always so: “retcon,” or retroactive continuity. It makes for a messy world. But the Sandman has been through so many overhauls in his lifetime that they are basically entirely new characters every time. Created in 1939 by Gardner Fox and Bert Christman for Adventure Comics #40, Wesley Dodds was a pulp noir mystery man sporting a green business suit, fedora, and gas mask who used a gun emitting sleeping gas to sedate criminals. He was good at hand-to-hand combat, but had no superheroic powers barring the ability to see the future in his dreams. In 1941 the character was rejigged by Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris, who put him in a yellow and purple costume and gave him a sidekick called Sandy the Golden Boy. He carried a pouch of dream dust and his main aim was to protect sleeping children from the monsters in their heads. This was the version that Joe Simon and Jack Kirby took over later that year, and then in 1974 created an entirely new Sandman for another short-lived series.

H

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

saNDmaM. “I started Sandman in a state of absolute delirious terror. I’d written some fiction, not much. But Id never come up with one story every month"

“saNDmaN is iNteNtioNaLLy aN attempt to create a—hopefully valid— mythic structure, and one that is inclusive. Partly that is because I have the D C Universe to play with but also . . . one of the things I wanted to specifically look at was, what does the twentieth century do with, to, and about myth? Thus you’ll get something like Dream Country, which is basically a series of four essays on influence that forgotten myths still have. Death has a line at the end where she says, ‘Myths and legends live on in a kind of Dream Country’ And that’s what it’s about. You know, myths, and legends still have power; they get buried and forgotten, but they’re like landmines.”

Opposite: #1, January 1989, based on Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy.

t 96

ThSandman

W ith B l a c k ORCHID in a state of suspended animation, Gaiman needed to come up witH an idea for an ongoing comic tHat would make a name for him, that would give B l a c k o r c h i d some chance of not dying before waking. e tossed a few ideas at Karen Berger. “The one I’d really wanted to do was the Phantom Stranger. And she said she’d talked to Dick and the Phantom Stranger just wasn’t heroic enough. ‘But what about that Sandman idea you were talking about over dinner?’” In the first draft of Black Orchid, Gaiman had included a restaurant scene in a dream sequence in which some old characters from the D C dreamworld—Cain and Abel and Sandman—turned up as waiters. He wound up taking it out of the second draft, but the idea was still floating around in his head when Berger and Jenette Kahn, thenpresident of DC Comics, came over for another editorial meeting early on in Black Orchid’s creation. Comic book characters go through so many changes and reinventions that there is a word to describe the act of pretending the current incarnation was always so: “retcon,” or retroactive continuity. It makes for a messy world. But the Sandman has been through so many overhauls in his lifetime that they are basically entirely new characters every time. Created in 1939 by Gardner Fox and Bert Christman for Adventure Comics #40, Wesley Dodds was a pulp noir mystery man sporting a green business suit, fedora, and gas mask who used a gun emitting sleeping gas to sedate criminals. He was good at hand-to-hand combat, but had no superheroic powers barring the ability to see the future in his dreams. In 1941 the character was rejigged by Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris, who put him in a yellow and purple costume and gave him a sidekick called Sandy the Golden Boy. He carried a pouch of dream dust and his main aim was to protect sleeping children from the monsters in their heads. This was the version that Joe Simon and Jack Kirby took over later that year, and then in 1974 created an entirely new Sandman for another short-lived series.

H

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

“ I ’d b e e n t h i n k i n g a b o u t t h e S a n d m a n a lo t, n o t th e

o rig in a l b u t th e

K irb y a n d

S i m o n g u y w h o liv e s in t h e d r e a m - d o m e th in g .

And

I

had

th is

id e a

th a t

b e fo re

e v e ry o n e

lo s t

th e ir

n erv e

over

Black Orchid. B e r g e r t h o u g h t t h e r e w a s s o m e t h i n g in

w as

t h e S a n d m a n id e a . R o y T h o m a s w a s a l r e a d y

b a s ic a lly : w h a t if th a t w a s ju s t h o w th is o n e

d o in g s o m e th in g w ith th e 1 9 7 0 s S a n d m a n ,

k id sa w h im , as a b ig y e llo w a n d p u rp le

s o s h e t o l d G a i m a n t o j u s t m a k e u p h is

s u p e r h e r o ? W h a t i f h e w a s s o m e o n e e ls e

o w n v e rs io n : k e e p th e n a m e , b u t c o m e up

f o r d iffe re n t p e o p le w h o

w ith s o m e th in g e n tir e ly n e w . It w a s th e

saw h im ? A n d

I w a s re a lly , r e a lly a t t r a c t e d b y th e id e a o f s o m e b o d y w h o liv e s i n d r e a m s .”

Orchid

w as v e ry

lin e a r, v e r y

s to ry th a t w a s v e ry m u c h

Black

p ro s a ic ,

g ro u n d e d

fifte e n th

of

O c to b e r,

and

he

w as

ju s t

s ta r tin g to t h i n k a b o u t a n o u tlin e f o r th e

a

se rie s w h e n th e G r e a t S to r m o f 1 9 8 7 h it

in

E n g la n d , a h u rric a n e o f su ch fe ro c ity th a t

re a lity , p a r tly b e c a u s e t h e y h a d t r ie d to

i t f a m o u s l y l e f t L o n d o n ’s S e v e n o a k s w i t h

g iv e t h e b o o k a film ic q u a lity b y b a s in g a

ju s t o n e o a k . “In s o m e w a y s th e h u r r ic a n e

lo t o f im a g e r y o n p h o to g ra p h ic re fe re n c e s .

w a s th e b e s t th in g fo r S a n d m a n . B e c a u s e I

If th e re

w a s t r a p p e d . I n m y h o u s e .”

is

one

th in g

th a t

c h a ra c te r iz e s

G a im a n as a w r ite r (a n d M c K e a n

as an

At

th is

p o in t

G a im a n

w as

liv in g

in

a r t i s t , f o r t h a t m a t t e r ) , i t ’s t h a t h e lik e s

N u tle y , a s m a ll v illa g e in E a s t S u s s e x , in a

to k e e p m o v in g o n , a h a b it th a t w a s n o

b ig o ld h o u s e c a lle d L ittle m e a d

d o u b t b o r n d u r in g h is tim e as a jo u r n a lis t

la te r im m o r ta liz e d in

th a t h e

Coraline.

a n d s e e in g w r ite rs b e in g tr a p p e d in b o x e s fro m

w h ich

th e y

can

never

escap e.

He

w a n te d to d o s o m e th in g as fa r a w ay f ro m

Black Orchid

as h e c o u ld a n d h a d flo a te d

th e id e a o f d o in g a s ta n d -a lo n e S a n d m a n g ra p h ic n o v e l to

K ahn

a n d B e r g e r lo n g

I woke up the next morning and the village was cut off. An hour after I came down the road, all o f the trees came down. People had been killed, and we had no power. And I couldn’t

aBOVe: Neil and Mike Dringenberg doing a signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe com ic shop for

Sandman #1 in Staten Island. Neil has said only six or seven people showed up to get their books signed that day. R IgH t: Early designs for Morpheus by Leigh Baulch, 1987. o p p o s i te : Sam Kieth’s Morpheus design, 1987.

f 98

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

99 f

“ I ’d b e e n t h i n k i n g a b o u t t h e S a n d m a n a lo t, n o t th e

o rig in a l b u t th e

K irb y a n d

S i m o n g u y w h o liv e s in t h e d r e a m - d o m e th in g .

And

I

had

th is

id e a

th a t

b e fo re

e v e ry o n e

lo s t

th e ir

n erv e

over

Black Orchid. B e r g e r t h o u g h t t h e r e w a s s o m e t h i n g in

w as

t h e S a n d m a n id e a . R o y T h o m a s w a s a l r e a d y

b a s ic a lly : w h a t if th a t w a s ju s t h o w th is o n e

d o in g s o m e th in g w ith th e 1 9 7 0 s S a n d m a n ,

k id sa w h im , as a b ig y e llo w a n d p u rp le

s o s h e t o l d G a i m a n t o j u s t m a k e u p h is

s u p e r h e r o ? W h a t i f h e w a s s o m e o n e e ls e

o w n v e rs io n : k e e p th e n a m e , b u t c o m e up

f o r d iffe re n t p e o p le w h o

w ith s o m e th in g e n tir e ly n e w . It w a s th e

saw h im ? A n d

I w a s re a lly , r e a lly a t t r a c t e d b y th e id e a o f s o m e b o d y w h o liv e s i n d r e a m s .”

Orchid

w as v e ry

lin e a r, v e r y

s to ry th a t w a s v e ry m u c h

Black

p ro s a ic ,

g ro u n d e d

fifte e n th

of

O c to b e r,

and

he

w as

ju s t

s ta r tin g to t h i n k a b o u t a n o u tlin e f o r th e

a

se rie s w h e n th e G r e a t S to r m o f 1 9 8 7 h it

in

E n g la n d , a h u rric a n e o f su ch fe ro c ity th a t

re a lity , p a r tly b e c a u s e t h e y h a d t r ie d to

i t f a m o u s l y l e f t L o n d o n ’s S e v e n o a k s w i t h

g iv e t h e b o o k a film ic q u a lity b y b a s in g a

ju s t o n e o a k . “In s o m e w a y s th e h u r r ic a n e

lo t o f im a g e r y o n p h o to g ra p h ic re fe re n c e s .

w a s th e b e s t th in g fo r S a n d m a n . B e c a u s e I

If th e re

w a s t r a p p e d . I n m y h o u s e .”

is

one

th in g

th a t

c h a ra c te r iz e s

G a im a n as a w r ite r (a n d M c K e a n

as an

At

th is

p o in t

G a im a n

w as

liv in g

in

a r t i s t , f o r t h a t m a t t e r ) , i t ’s t h a t h e lik e s

N u tle y , a s m a ll v illa g e in E a s t S u s s e x , in a

to k e e p m o v in g o n , a h a b it th a t w a s n o

b ig o ld h o u s e c a lle d L ittle m e a d

d o u b t b o r n d u r in g h is tim e as a jo u r n a lis t

la te r im m o r ta liz e d in

th a t h e

Coraline.

a n d s e e in g w r ite rs b e in g tr a p p e d in b o x e s fro m

w h ich

th e y

can

never

escap e.

He

w a n te d to d o s o m e th in g as fa r a w ay f ro m

Black Orchid

as h e c o u ld a n d h a d flo a te d

th e id e a o f d o in g a s ta n d -a lo n e S a n d m a n g ra p h ic n o v e l to

K ahn

a n d B e r g e r lo n g

I woke up the next morning and the village was cut off. An hour after I came down the road, all o f the trees came down. People had been killed, and we had no power. And I couldn’t

aBOVe: Neil and Mike Dringenberg doing a signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe com ic shop for

Sandman #1 in Staten Island. Neil has said only six or seven people showed up to get their books signed that day. R IgH t: Early designs for Morpheus by Leigh Baulch, 1987. o p p o s i te : Sam Kieth’s Morpheus design, 1987.

f 98

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

99 f

w a s k in d o f s a d a b o u t th a t b e c a u s e I

th a t w a s su p p o se d to p u t h im o n r e a d e r ­

r e a l l y w a s l o o k i n g f o r w a r d to d o i n g

rad ars

m y L u c i f e r q u i t t in g s to ry . T h e n I w a s

L e ig h B a u lc h , w h o h a d p re v io u s ly w o rk e d

s e t t in g u p w it h s o m e b o d y in L o n d o n

w ith G a im a n o n 2 0 0 0 A D , w as n o t k een

to g o a n d s t a y a t t h e i r p l a c e w h e r e

o n d r a w i n g a n y t h i n g b e y o n d h is o r i g i n a l

t h e y h a d p o w e r , I t h i n k it w a s M i k e

c h a ra c te r

L a k e , o n c e t h e y ’d c l e a r e d t h e r o a d s ,

M o r p h e u s w e r e a lit t l e m o r e D a v i d B o w i e

b u t t h e y s till d i d n ’t h a v e t h e p o w e r

th a n I w a s h a p p y w ith , b u t h e w a s b rillia n t

b e fo re

B la c k

d e s ig n s .

O r c h id

“H is

tu rn e d

up.

d ra w in g s

of

lin es up. A n d th e n s u d d e n ly th e p o w e r

a t th e m . H e h a d th is b e a u tifu l s o r t o f B a r r y

c a m e o n . T h e f i r s t t h in g I d i d w a s I

S m i t h - i n f l u e n c e d s ty le , a n d th a t w a s w h y I

w e n t to t h e c o m p u t e r , t u r n e d it o n ,

d i d t h a t ‘S w e e t J u s t i c e ’ s t o r y f o r h i m . B u t

t y p e d “T h e S a n d m a n ” a n d w r o t e a

h e a ls o h a d a w if e a n d a m o r t g a g e a n d a

p a r a g r a p h a n d a h a lf.

g o o d j o b a t T i t a n . A n d h e w a s v e r y slo w . S o w h a t L e ig h r e a lly w a n te d to d o w a s a

G a im a n sa y s th a t o n e o f th e se e d s o f th e

fe w s p o t illu stra tio n s h e re a n d th e re . H e

w h o le S a n d m a n id e a w as th a t th e w o rd

d id n o t w a n t to d ro p e v e ry th in g a n d d r a w

“d r e a m ” h a s m o r e t h a n

c o m i c s .” G a i m a n n e e d e d a n a r t i s t .

o n e m e a n i n g : it

c a n b e t h e s c e n e s t h a t p l a y in o u r s l e e p in g

“K a re n , D a v e , a n d I w e n t o u t fo r th e

h e a d s , o u r h o p e s a n d a s p ira tio n s , o r th e

w o r s t m e a l t h a t I ’v e e v e r h a d in S o h o . It

s t o r i e s w e t e ll o u r s e l v e s t o m a k e s e n s e o f

w a s o n e o f th o s e th in g s w h e re y o u ju s t

th e w o rld . H is o rig in a l c o m p u te r n o te s ,

w a l k in a n d g o , ‘O h , t h i s l o o k s n i c e .’ A n d

p r in te d o u t o n a n o ld d o t m a t r i x p r in te r ,

it

p r e d a te th e fin is h e d p r o p o s a l h e s e n t to

p o s s i b l y b e . T h e f o o d w a s a w f u l , a n d it

B e r g e r . T h e e a rly n o te s a re N e il th in k in g

w a s d e p re s s in g , a n d w e g o t b a c k to h e r

a lo u d o n p a p e r, a s tr e a m o f c o n s c io u s n e s s —

h o te l r o o m , a n d K a re n a n d I w e re sittin g

h a lf se n te n c e s

th e re ju s t tr y in g to th in k o f a rtis ts . I th in k

w h a t th e y

and

id e a s

bad

as

a n y th in g

co u ld

I s u g g e s t e d T o m Y e a t e s b e c a u s e I ’d lik e d s o m e o f h i s S w a m p T h in g s tu ff. A n d s h e

th e

s a id ,

b e in g

com e

as

w h e r e o r w h e n t h e y b e c o m e t r u e . H e f lo a ts o f th e re

th e y

ju s t

fro m ,

id e a

are, w h ere

ab o u t d ream s,

w as

th re e

b ro th e rs

( “S le e p , D r e a m , a n d ? ” ) , h e q u o t e s T . S.

‘S a m

K ie th ? ’

I ’d

seen

som e

Sam

K i e t h — I ’d s e e n h i s i n k s o n M a g e , w h i c h

E lio t a n d C a rl Ju n g . T h e re a re g lim m e rs o f

I ’d

w h a t S a n d m a n w o u l d b e c o m e , b u t b a r e ly .

t w o - p a g e s t o r y h e ’d d o n e f o r F a n t a g r a p h i c s

T h e r e a r e n o E n d l e s s ; t h e r e is n o D r e a m i n g . G a im a n

th e n

w ro te

an

e ig h t-is s u e

re a lly lik e d , a n d

ca lle d

W a n d e r in g

I th in k

I ’d

S ta r s, w h i c h

seen

a g a in ,

r e a l l y lik ed .” K i e t h is a n A m e r i c a n

a

I

a rtis t

o u tlin e a n d g a v e it to M c K e a n a n d L e ig h

w h o w a s a t t h i s p o i n t in h i s m i d - t w e n t i e s

B a u lc h f o r c h a r a c te r d e s ig n s to s e n d a lo n g

a n d w h o s e firs t c o m ic s w o r k h a d a p p e a re d

to B e r g e r . M c K e a n b a s e d h is v e r s io n D ream

o n s tills f r o m

of

a U 2 v id e o , w h ile

B a u l c h ’s s k e t c h e s w e r e m o r e o f a w h i t e ­ faced ,

b la c k -h a ire d

B o w i e ’s A l a d d i n

v e rs io n

of

D a v id

S a n e . B e r g e r lik e d

th e

tu r n o n t h e c o m p u t e r , a n d I c o u l d n ’t

c o n c e p t b u t w a s n ’t s u r e G a i m a n h a d t h e

w ork. S o I ju s t w a lk e d a ro u n d a n d

w ritin g

t h o u g h t a lo t. I t w a s t o o d a r k e v e n to

b e c o m i n g k i n d o f c o n v e n t i o n a l , s o p u t it

aBOVe: Original computer notes from FA #109. Predates the October 1987 hurricane but only slightly.

h a n d w r i t e . T h e lig h t s w e r e s till o ff.

a s i d e t o t h i n k a b o u t it. M e a n w h i l e , K a h n

opposite top:

t h a t I c o u l d n ’t d o it b e c a u s e h e w a s

Neil draws Delirium.

g o i n g to d o a s i m i l a r s t o r y in w h ic h

th e

opposite Bottom:

L u c i f e r q u it, c a l l e d K i n g H e ll. H e w a s

c o lle c te d in a b o o k o f th e ir v e r y o w n — b u t

Gaiman draws Dream.

w r i t in g S w a m p T h i n g a t t h e t im e . I

w a s b u s y d o i n g A r k h a m A s y lu m , t h e t h i n g

t 100

ch op s

to

p u ll it

o ff w ith o u t

it

T he p h o n e s w o rk ed , so I r e m e m b e r

a n d G io rd a n o a sk ed to see th e o u tlin e a n d

h a v i n g a lo n g p h o n e c a l l w it h R ic k

e n d e d u p lik in g it so m u c h t h a t S a n d m a n

V e itc h te llin g h i m a b o u t t h e S e a s o n

w a s a g o w h e th e r G a im a n c o u ld p u ll it o ff

o f M is ts s t o r y lin e a n d h i m te llin g m e

o r n o t.

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

D ave

M cK ean

co v e rs— w o rk

w as so

on

b o ard

g org eo u s

“Karen, Dave, and I went out for the worst meal that

to

do

th e y

are

Ive ever had in Soho. It was one of those things where you just walk in and go, ‘Oh, this looks nice'

?

And it was just as bad as anything could possibly be.”

CH apteR 3 |veR tigo HeigHts

101 t

w a s k in d o f s a d a b o u t th a t b e c a u s e I

th a t w a s su p p o se d to p u t h im o n r e a d e r ­

r e a l l y w a s l o o k i n g f o r w a r d to d o i n g

rad ars

m y L u c i f e r q u i t t in g s to ry . T h e n I w a s

L e ig h B a u lc h , w h o h a d p re v io u s ly w o rk e d

s e t t in g u p w it h s o m e b o d y in L o n d o n

w ith G a im a n o n 2 0 0 0 A D , w as n o t k een

to g o a n d s t a y a t t h e i r p l a c e w h e r e

o n d r a w i n g a n y t h i n g b e y o n d h is o r i g i n a l

t h e y h a d p o w e r , I t h i n k it w a s M i k e

c h a ra c te r

L a k e , o n c e t h e y ’d c l e a r e d t h e r o a d s ,

M o r p h e u s w e r e a lit t l e m o r e D a v i d B o w i e

b u t t h e y s till d i d n ’t h a v e t h e p o w e r

th a n I w a s h a p p y w ith , b u t h e w a s b rillia n t

b e fo re

B la c k

d e s ig n s .

O r c h id

“H is

tu rn e d

up.

d ra w in g s

of

lin es up. A n d th e n s u d d e n ly th e p o w e r

a t th e m . H e h a d th is b e a u tifu l s o r t o f B a r r y

c a m e o n . T h e f i r s t t h in g I d i d w a s I

S m i t h - i n f l u e n c e d s ty le , a n d th a t w a s w h y I

w e n t to t h e c o m p u t e r , t u r n e d it o n ,

d i d t h a t ‘S w e e t J u s t i c e ’ s t o r y f o r h i m . B u t

t y p e d “T h e S a n d m a n ” a n d w r o t e a

h e a ls o h a d a w if e a n d a m o r t g a g e a n d a

p a r a g r a p h a n d a h a lf.

g o o d j o b a t T i t a n . A n d h e w a s v e r y slo w . S o w h a t L e ig h r e a lly w a n te d to d o w a s a

G a im a n sa y s th a t o n e o f th e se e d s o f th e

fe w s p o t illu stra tio n s h e re a n d th e re . H e

w h o le S a n d m a n id e a w as th a t th e w o rd

d id n o t w a n t to d ro p e v e ry th in g a n d d r a w

“d r e a m ” h a s m o r e t h a n

c o m i c s .” G a i m a n n e e d e d a n a r t i s t .

o n e m e a n i n g : it

c a n b e t h e s c e n e s t h a t p l a y in o u r s l e e p in g

“K a re n , D a v e , a n d I w e n t o u t fo r th e

h e a d s , o u r h o p e s a n d a s p ira tio n s , o r th e

w o r s t m e a l t h a t I ’v e e v e r h a d in S o h o . It

s t o r i e s w e t e ll o u r s e l v e s t o m a k e s e n s e o f

w a s o n e o f th o s e th in g s w h e re y o u ju s t

th e w o rld . H is o rig in a l c o m p u te r n o te s ,

w a l k in a n d g o , ‘O h , t h i s l o o k s n i c e .’ A n d

p r in te d o u t o n a n o ld d o t m a t r i x p r in te r ,

it

p r e d a te th e fin is h e d p r o p o s a l h e s e n t to

p o s s i b l y b e . T h e f o o d w a s a w f u l , a n d it

B e r g e r . T h e e a rly n o te s a re N e il th in k in g

w a s d e p re s s in g , a n d w e g o t b a c k to h e r

a lo u d o n p a p e r, a s tr e a m o f c o n s c io u s n e s s —

h o te l r o o m , a n d K a re n a n d I w e re sittin g

h a lf se n te n c e s

th e re ju s t tr y in g to th in k o f a rtis ts . I th in k

w h a t th e y

and

id e a s

bad

as

a n y th in g

co u ld

I s u g g e s t e d T o m Y e a t e s b e c a u s e I ’d lik e d s o m e o f h i s S w a m p T h in g s tu ff. A n d s h e

th e

s a id ,

b e in g

com e

as

w h e r e o r w h e n t h e y b e c o m e t r u e . H e f lo a ts o f th e re

th e y

ju s t

fro m ,

id e a

are, w h ere

ab o u t d ream s,

w as

th re e

b ro th e rs

( “S le e p , D r e a m , a n d ? ” ) , h e q u o t e s T . S.

‘S a m

K ie th ? ’

I ’d

seen

som e

Sam

K i e t h — I ’d s e e n h i s i n k s o n M a g e , w h i c h

E lio t a n d C a rl Ju n g . T h e re a re g lim m e rs o f

I ’d

w h a t S a n d m a n w o u l d b e c o m e , b u t b a r e ly .

t w o - p a g e s t o r y h e ’d d o n e f o r F a n t a g r a p h i c s

T h e r e a r e n o E n d l e s s ; t h e r e is n o D r e a m i n g . G a im a n

th e n

w ro te

an

e ig h t-is s u e

re a lly lik e d , a n d

ca lle d

W a n d e r in g

I th in k

I ’d

S ta r s, w h i c h

seen

a g a in ,

r e a l l y lik ed .” K i e t h is a n A m e r i c a n

a

I

a rtis t

o u tlin e a n d g a v e it to M c K e a n a n d L e ig h

w h o w a s a t t h i s p o i n t in h i s m i d - t w e n t i e s

B a u lc h f o r c h a r a c te r d e s ig n s to s e n d a lo n g

a n d w h o s e firs t c o m ic s w o r k h a d a p p e a re d

to B e r g e r . M c K e a n b a s e d h is v e r s io n D ream

o n s tills f r o m

of

a U 2 v id e o , w h ile

B a u l c h ’s s k e t c h e s w e r e m o r e o f a w h i t e ­ faced ,

b la c k -h a ire d

B o w i e ’s A l a d d i n

v e rs io n

of

D a v id

S a n e . B e r g e r lik e d

th e

tu r n o n t h e c o m p u t e r , a n d I c o u l d n ’t

c o n c e p t b u t w a s n ’t s u r e G a i m a n h a d t h e

w ork. S o I ju s t w a lk e d a ro u n d a n d

w ritin g

t h o u g h t a lo t. I t w a s t o o d a r k e v e n to

b e c o m i n g k i n d o f c o n v e n t i o n a l , s o p u t it

aBOVe: Original computer notes from FA #109. Predates the October 1987 hurricane but only slightly.

h a n d w r i t e . T h e lig h t s w e r e s till o ff.

a s i d e t o t h i n k a b o u t it. M e a n w h i l e , K a h n

opposite top:

t h a t I c o u l d n ’t d o it b e c a u s e h e w a s

Neil draws Delirium.

g o i n g to d o a s i m i l a r s t o r y in w h ic h

th e

opposite Bottom:

L u c i f e r q u it, c a l l e d K i n g H e ll. H e w a s

c o lle c te d in a b o o k o f th e ir v e r y o w n — b u t

Gaiman draws Dream.

w r i t in g S w a m p T h i n g a t t h e t im e . I

w a s b u s y d o i n g A r k h a m A s y lu m , t h e t h i n g

t 100

ch op s

to

p u ll it

o ff w ith o u t

it

T he p h o n e s w o rk ed , so I r e m e m b e r

a n d G io rd a n o a sk ed to see th e o u tlin e a n d

h a v i n g a lo n g p h o n e c a l l w it h R ic k

e n d e d u p lik in g it so m u c h t h a t S a n d m a n

V e itc h te llin g h i m a b o u t t h e S e a s o n

w a s a g o w h e th e r G a im a n c o u ld p u ll it o ff

o f M is ts s t o r y lin e a n d h i m te llin g m e

o r n o t.

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

D ave

M cK ean

co v e rs— w o rk

w as so

on

b o ard

g org eo u s

“Karen, Dave, and I went out for the worst meal that

to

do

th e y

are

Ive ever had in Soho. It was one of those things where you just walk in and go, ‘Oh, this looks nice'

?

And it was just as bad as anything could possibly be.”

CH apteR 3 |veR tigo HeigHts

101 t

Looking back at his artwork with twenty-

in 1984. There wasn’t all that much to see so far.

five years’ hindsight, you can’t help agreeing

“Karen had his number, so we phoned

with Kieth. His inks were perfectly suited

him up. It was something like 11.30 p.m. He

to Matt Wagner’s Mage, but The Sandman was a different beast. The seventies horror

answered the phone, and I just remember Karen saying, ‘Hi Sam, it’s Karen Berger, DC Comics. Got a writer with me, Neil Gaiman, and he’s got a comic, Sandman, and we want to know if you’d like to draw it. Yes of course I know who you are Sam, that’s why I called you. No, no this isn’t a joke. No Sam, nobody’s turned it down.’

comic style—in which the ugliness of every­ thing is exaggerated, the faces are drawn, and the mouths are sunken—was not where Gaiman was going with the series. In later issues, even when Morpheus went to Hell, it was beautiful.

bad blood. Gaiman always knows who’s going to be illustrating a story—he will not begin writing a story until he knows who is going to be drawing it. He plays to his own strengths, but he also plays to the strengths of his collaborators and everyone comes out looking good. Every script is a letter to the artist. He asks them what they like to draw, what they want to draw, and builds a story around the stuff they’re good at. But aside from a couple of things, Gaiman didn’t

There is an incredibly sweet phone interview by Kieth with Gaiman in Comics

really know the work of Sam Kieth, and they’d never met—Sandman #1 was almost

‘Well, who turned it down before? Did lots o f people say no? Is that why you’re calling

Interview Super Special, published in 1993.

written in a vacuum. “The first issue was

Time enough had passed for the dust to

me?’ We had to convince him that we knew

settle. It really was a case of musical diff­ erences, not of any pushing and shoving or

probably, for both of us, the furthest away from what we would have wanted it to be,

“He’s doing that thing where he’s going,

who he was, and we had seen his stuff. I was listing all o f the things I’ve seen by

said Gaiman. “You have this sort o f platonic ideal in your head of what a comic could be

him. ‘So are they making you have me?’ ‘No, I thought you’d be really good.’ Then he suggested Mike Dringenberg as inker,

what either of us would have really wanted,”

like . . .” And Kieth added, “And then there’s

“Sam said to me, ‘I

#1” (Kraft, 1993). In terms of script, the first three issues

off. Sam got progressively more and more miserable and after issue #3, he quit. And

feel like Jimi Hendrix

were largely set in stone, but come #4,

cheered up a little. As he said to me: ‘I feel like Jimi Hendrix in the Beatles, I am in

in the Beatles.’”

who came on board and the ship lumbered

the wrong band. This is not what I want to be doing.’”

Gaiman wrote an issue entirely for Kieth, who still had two issues to do after handing in his notice. “It was: let’s do stuff that Sam will actually enjoy doing. W hich is why we got that double-page spread of demons from horizon to horizon, and Lucifer’s Tower and all that kind o f stuff” (Kraft, 1993). Even though Kieth’s artwork references the style o f Bernie Wrightson and comic book horrors, there was a moment in issue #5, Kieth’s last, that gave him pause. Escaped Arkham Asylumpatient Dr. Destiny has jumped into a car driven by a nice lady called Rosemary who, even with a gun to her head, suggests that her new terrifying and naked companion make use o f the coat on the backseat so he doesn’t get cold. Later, he shoots her point­ blank in the face. Kieth’s problem with the whole thing was that he’d grown fond o f the character, that in a universe o f abstracts and fantasies Rosemary was the first three-dimensional average kind of character to enter the

tH is spReaD : A handful of Neil’s dream diaries from a box in the attic.

CHapteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

103 t

Looking back at his artwork with twenty-

in 1984. There wasn’t all that much to see so far.

five years’ hindsight, you can’t help agreeing

“Karen had his number, so we phoned

with Kieth. His inks were perfectly suited

him up. It was something like 11.30 p.m. He

to Matt Wagner’s Mage, but The Sandman was a different beast. The seventies horror

answered the phone, and I just remember Karen saying, ‘Hi Sam, it’s Karen Berger, DC Comics. Got a writer with me, Neil Gaiman, and he’s got a comic, Sandman, and we want to know if you’d like to draw it. Yes of course I know who you are Sam, that’s why I called you. No, no this isn’t a joke. No Sam, nobody’s turned it down.’

comic style—in which the ugliness of every­ thing is exaggerated, the faces are drawn, and the mouths are sunken—was not where Gaiman was going with the series. In later issues, even when Morpheus went to Hell, it was beautiful.

bad blood. Gaiman always knows who’s going to be illustrating a story—he will not begin writing a story until he knows who is going to be drawing it. He plays to his own strengths, but he also plays to the strengths of his collaborators and everyone comes out looking good. Every script is a letter to the artist. He asks them what they like to draw, what they want to draw, and builds a story around the stuff they’re good at. But aside from a couple of things, Gaiman didn’t

There is an incredibly sweet phone interview by Kieth with Gaiman in Comics

really know the work of Sam Kieth, and they’d never met—Sandman #1 was almost

‘Well, who turned it down before? Did lots o f people say no? Is that why you’re calling

Interview Super Special, published in 1993.

written in a vacuum. “The first issue was

Time enough had passed for the dust to

me?’ We had to convince him that we knew

settle. It really was a case of musical diff­ erences, not of any pushing and shoving or

probably, for both of us, the furthest away from what we would have wanted it to be,

“He’s doing that thing where he’s going,

who he was, and we had seen his stuff. I was listing all o f the things I’ve seen by

said Gaiman. “You have this sort o f platonic ideal in your head of what a comic could be

him. ‘So are they making you have me?’ ‘No, I thought you’d be really good.’ Then he suggested Mike Dringenberg as inker,

what either of us would have really wanted,”

like . . .” And Kieth added, “And then there’s

“Sam said to me, ‘I

#1” (Kraft, 1993). In terms of script, the first three issues

off. Sam got progressively more and more miserable and after issue #3, he quit. And

feel like Jimi Hendrix

were largely set in stone, but come #4,

cheered up a little. As he said to me: ‘I feel like Jimi Hendrix in the Beatles, I am in

in the Beatles.’”

who came on board and the ship lumbered

the wrong band. This is not what I want to be doing.’”

Gaiman wrote an issue entirely for Kieth, who still had two issues to do after handing in his notice. “It was: let’s do stuff that Sam will actually enjoy doing. W hich is why we got that double-page spread of demons from horizon to horizon, and Lucifer’s Tower and all that kind o f stuff” (Kraft, 1993). Even though Kieth’s artwork references the style o f Bernie Wrightson and comic book horrors, there was a moment in issue #5, Kieth’s last, that gave him pause. Escaped Arkham Asylumpatient Dr. Destiny has jumped into a car driven by a nice lady called Rosemary who, even with a gun to her head, suggests that her new terrifying and naked companion make use o f the coat on the backseat so he doesn’t get cold. Later, he shoots her point­ blank in the face. Kieth’s problem with the whole thing was that he’d grown fond o f the character, that in a universe o f abstracts and fantasies Rosemary was the first three-dimensional average kind of character to enter the

tH is spReaD : A handful of Neil’s dream diaries from a box in the attic.

CHapteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

103 t

f o l l o w e d i t , y o u ’ll g e t t h e o t h e r k i n d t o o : “J u s t lit t l e l i f e - a f f i r m i n g s t o r i e s t h a t a r e a lit t l e h e a r t w a r m i n g . Y o u h a v e t o h a v e b o t h s id e s ” ( K r a f t , 1 9 9 3 ) . K i e t h f e lt h e w a s a t o d d s w i t h t h e u n i ­ v e rs e G a im a n w a s c re a tin g , a n d th o u g h t D rin g e n b e rg w as o u tc la s s in g h im

a t th e

tim e as a n illu s tra to r, so s u g g e s te d th a t h e

The Sandman

ta k e o v er. W ith

#6 D r i n g e n ­

b e rg b e c a m e p e n c ile r a n d M a lc o lm Jon es I II , w h o s e w o r k G a i m a n h a d s e e n a n d lik e d on

The Question,

w a s o n in k d u tie s . T h e

s i x t h i s s u e is t h e f i r s t t i m e t h e a r t i s t a n d t h e w r i t e r f e e l lik e t h e y ’r e o n t h e s a m e p a g e . It is a l s o k i n d o f a w a t e r s h e d m o m e n t in th e h is to r y o f

The Sandman

a n d w h e r e it

w a s g o i n g , n o t in t e r m s o f c o n t e n t , b u t in te r m s o f e m o t i o n a l s c o p e , c h a n g e , a n d a ll­ o u t w e i r d n e s s : t w e n t y - f o u r h o u r s in a d i n e r in w h ic h c u s to m e r s a re p u p p e te e r e d a n d u ltim a te ly m u r d e r e d b y a m a d m a n . P r o p e r h o r r o r s h o w . “A l l o f t h e c h a r a c t e r s in t h e d in e r in is s u e # 6 , s o m e o f t h e m p e o p le , s o m e o f th e m b u t t h e y ’r e

real

aren’t

a re n ic e

n ic e p e o p le ,

p e o p l e . A n d I t h i n k t h a t ’s

w h a t h u rts . B u t o n e

o f th e n ic e th in g s

a b o u t h a v i n g d o n e #6 is i f I w a n t t o d o s o m e t h i n g o f f b e a t n o w , i t ’s s o r t o f l ik e #6 e s ta b lis h e d th a t I w a s g o in g to g o b e y o n d a n y th in g th a t a n y b o d y h a d p re v io u s ly d o n e in c o m ic s , o r in m a in s tr e a m

c o m ic s . S o ,

a f t e r t h a t , I ’v e b e e n p r e t t y m u c h l e f t a l o n e ”

be gone. Which is really crazy because how can you cancel something after one issue? You’re canceling it before you ’ve actually got the sales report back. There were a lot o f comics, things that Jack Kirby did, that would run fo r three issues. There were these weird little comics that would just sort o f come and go. But by 1986/1987, the way that they would do it is that things ran fo r twelve issues. Bob Rozakis, ’M a z i n g M a n , twelve issues. The stuff that people like Cam Kennedy were doing, these comics would run fo r twelve issues. And what would actually happen is they’d figure they’d run it fo r a year, so everyone’s under contract fo r a year. Round about issue eight, you would know whether you were fo r the chop or not. But they’d still run you to issue twelve because then it’s not a failure. So I plotted eight issues, because I figured at eight issues I ’ll get the phone call saying: minor critical success, absolute commercial failure. And I will shrug, and that will be that, and then I ’ll do fou r short stories and we’ll close out. And that’ll be S a n d m a n . And fo r the first fou r issues we were on line fo r that.

(K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ). L a rg e ly , th o s e k in d s o f s to r ie s w e r e a

“ W a ke u p , s ir. W e’re here.”

m in o rity . B u t ju s t th e f a c t th a t h e co u ld d o th e m m e a n t th a t G a im a n w a s c h a n g in g th e

a g a in , m u c h in t h e s a m e w a y M o o r e h a d

G a im a n p u ts d o w n to th e D a v e M c K e a n

Swamp Thing.

in g o f e n d in g s.

no one will find if he hides them in the attic.

h o rro r

title ,

w h ic h

w a s , i n h is

t h e a d a p t e d T . S . E l i o t lin e . ( “‘I w ill s h o w y o u f e a r in a h a n d f u l o f d u s t ’ w a s s u d d e n l y

h e a d , a fin ite s t o r y w ith a d e fin ite e n d in g ,

‘I w i l l s h o w y o u t e r r o r in a h a n d f u l o f d u s t.’

a lb e it a n e n d i n g t h a t w a s a l o n g w a y o ff. H e

T h e y w e re te rrifie d th e T. S. E lio t e sta te

p i c t u r e . H e d i d n ’t r e a l i z e t h a t G a i m a n h a d

d id n ’t k n o w i f t h e se rie s w o u l d e v e r g e t th e r e ;

w o u l d c o m e a f t e r us.” ) B u t m o s t l y h e h a s

“It

m e r e ly c r e a te d h e r ju s t to k ill h e r o ff a fe w

h e f i g u r e d h e ’d g e t w h a t m o s t o t h e r p e o p l e

n o i d e a . “ I d o n ’t k n o w . I t w a s j u s t w e i r d .

c o p ie s . I th in k th e y h a d a f o r ty -th o u s a n d -

p a g e s la te r . “ I lik e t h e i d e a t h a t I h a v e t h i s

e ls e g o t : tw e l v e is s u e s a n d n o t h i n g m o r e .

Swamp Thing

c o p y ro y a lty c u t o ff— if y o u

t a k e p l a c e . Y o u c a n ’t s e e m e g e s t u r i n g w i t h

t o K i e t h . “B u t I h a v e t h i s

huge

te rrito ry .

A n d p a r t o f i t is s h e e r b l a c k h o r r o r .” B u t f o r e v e r y h o r r o r s t o r y , lik e t h e o n e w i t h R o s e m a r y , o r t h e o n e s e t in t h e d i n e r t h a t

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

had

been

s e llin g

in

th e

tw e n ty th o u s a n d s , a n d A la n h a d g ra d u a lly

h u g e te r r i t o r y in w h ic h S a n d m a n sto rie s

m y a r m s ,” s a i d G a i m a n d o w n t h e p h o n e

t 104

The Sandman

DC

c o v e r a n d th e a d v e rtis in g c a m p a ig n w ith

F r o m th e b e g in n in g , G a im a n w a s th in k ­

while writing an issue. The ones he thinks that

#1 so ld b e tte r th a n a n y

co m m e n su ra te

done b ack on

aBOVe: One of the tiny comics Gaiman makes

The Sandman

r u l e s a n d e x p e c t a t i o n s o f c o m i c s a ll o v e r

Early on, like in the 1960s and 1970s, if DC felt something wasn’t selling, they’d just stop it. In the seventies, when they really got into this canceling idea there’d be comics that would come out fo r one issue and

I s s u e f o u r w a s t h e l o w e s t p o i n t f o r s a le s . w as

so m e th in g

lik e

fo rty

th o u sa n d

so ld b e lo w

A n d w e n e v e r g o t b e lo w th a t p o in t, b u t

i s s u e w a s a b o u t f ifty t h o u s a n d a n d t h a t

w ith # 4 w e w e re c lo s e — it w a s o n ly a b o u t

w a s th o u g h t to b e a s g o o d a s a h o r r o r title

$300

d o u b le -siz e d

Sandman

issu e — a n d

ro y a ltie s. A n d

th e n

#5

p ic k e d

a lit t l e b i t . A n d t h e n #6 p i c k e d u p a little

it

b it. A n d th e n # 7 p ic k e d u p a b it. W e w e re

d id

I

th in k

Eddie Campbell, 1994.

up

#1 ca m e o u t—

e i g h t y o r n i n e t y t h o u s a n d c o p i e s .”

Sandman Gallery, by

f o r t y t h o u s a n d y o u d i d n ’t g e t a n y r o y a l t i e s .

ta k e n it u p to t h e f o r tie s . I th i n k h is la s t

c o u ld g e t. T h e n

aBOVe: Dream on a Lobster, from the

p ic k in g up 5 0 0 - 6 0 0 p e o p le a m o n th .

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

105 t

f o l l o w e d i t , y o u ’ll g e t t h e o t h e r k i n d t o o : “J u s t lit t l e l i f e - a f f i r m i n g s t o r i e s t h a t a r e a lit t l e h e a r t w a r m i n g . Y o u h a v e t o h a v e b o t h s id e s ” ( K r a f t , 1 9 9 3 ) . K i e t h f e lt h e w a s a t o d d s w i t h t h e u n i ­ v e rs e G a im a n w a s c re a tin g , a n d th o u g h t D rin g e n b e rg w as o u tc la s s in g h im

a t th e

tim e as a n illu s tra to r, so s u g g e s te d th a t h e

The Sandman

ta k e o v er. W ith

#6 D r i n g e n ­

b e rg b e c a m e p e n c ile r a n d M a lc o lm Jon es I II , w h o s e w o r k G a i m a n h a d s e e n a n d lik e d on

The Question,

w a s o n in k d u tie s . T h e

s i x t h i s s u e is t h e f i r s t t i m e t h e a r t i s t a n d t h e w r i t e r f e e l lik e t h e y ’r e o n t h e s a m e p a g e . It is a l s o k i n d o f a w a t e r s h e d m o m e n t in th e h is to r y o f

The Sandman

a n d w h e r e it

w a s g o i n g , n o t in t e r m s o f c o n t e n t , b u t in te r m s o f e m o t i o n a l s c o p e , c h a n g e , a n d a ll­ o u t w e i r d n e s s : t w e n t y - f o u r h o u r s in a d i n e r in w h ic h c u s to m e r s a re p u p p e te e r e d a n d u ltim a te ly m u r d e r e d b y a m a d m a n . P r o p e r h o r r o r s h o w . “A l l o f t h e c h a r a c t e r s in t h e d in e r in is s u e # 6 , s o m e o f t h e m p e o p le , s o m e o f th e m b u t t h e y ’r e

real

aren’t

a re n ic e

n ic e p e o p le ,

p e o p l e . A n d I t h i n k t h a t ’s

w h a t h u rts . B u t o n e

o f th e n ic e th in g s

a b o u t h a v i n g d o n e #6 is i f I w a n t t o d o s o m e t h i n g o f f b e a t n o w , i t ’s s o r t o f l ik e #6 e s ta b lis h e d th a t I w a s g o in g to g o b e y o n d a n y th in g th a t a n y b o d y h a d p re v io u s ly d o n e in c o m ic s , o r in m a in s tr e a m

c o m ic s . S o ,

a f t e r t h a t , I ’v e b e e n p r e t t y m u c h l e f t a l o n e ”

be gone. Which is really crazy because how can you cancel something after one issue? You’re canceling it before you ’ve actually got the sales report back. There were a lot o f comics, things that Jack Kirby did, that would run fo r three issues. There were these weird little comics that would just sort o f come and go. But by 1986/1987, the way that they would do it is that things ran fo r twelve issues. Bob Rozakis, ’M a z i n g M a n , twelve issues. The stuff that people like Cam Kennedy were doing, these comics would run fo r twelve issues. And what would actually happen is they’d figure they’d run it fo r a year, so everyone’s under contract fo r a year. Round about issue eight, you would know whether you were fo r the chop or not. But they’d still run you to issue twelve because then it’s not a failure. So I plotted eight issues, because I figured at eight issues I ’ll get the phone call saying: minor critical success, absolute commercial failure. And I will shrug, and that will be that, and then I ’ll do fou r short stories and we’ll close out. And that’ll be S a n d m a n . And fo r the first fou r issues we were on line fo r that.

(K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ). L a rg e ly , th o s e k in d s o f s to r ie s w e r e a

“ W a ke u p , s ir. W e’re here.”

m in o rity . B u t ju s t th e f a c t th a t h e co u ld d o th e m m e a n t th a t G a im a n w a s c h a n g in g th e

a g a in , m u c h in t h e s a m e w a y M o o r e h a d

G a im a n p u ts d o w n to th e D a v e M c K e a n

Swamp Thing.

in g o f e n d in g s.

no one will find if he hides them in the attic.

h o rro r

title ,

w h ic h

w a s , i n h is

t h e a d a p t e d T . S . E l i o t lin e . ( “‘I w ill s h o w y o u f e a r in a h a n d f u l o f d u s t ’ w a s s u d d e n l y

h e a d , a fin ite s t o r y w ith a d e fin ite e n d in g ,

‘I w i l l s h o w y o u t e r r o r in a h a n d f u l o f d u s t.’

a lb e it a n e n d i n g t h a t w a s a l o n g w a y o ff. H e

T h e y w e re te rrifie d th e T. S. E lio t e sta te

p i c t u r e . H e d i d n ’t r e a l i z e t h a t G a i m a n h a d

d id n ’t k n o w i f t h e se rie s w o u l d e v e r g e t th e r e ;

w o u l d c o m e a f t e r us.” ) B u t m o s t l y h e h a s

“It

m e r e ly c r e a te d h e r ju s t to k ill h e r o ff a fe w

h e f i g u r e d h e ’d g e t w h a t m o s t o t h e r p e o p l e

n o i d e a . “ I d o n ’t k n o w . I t w a s j u s t w e i r d .

c o p ie s . I th in k th e y h a d a f o r ty -th o u s a n d -

p a g e s la te r . “ I lik e t h e i d e a t h a t I h a v e t h i s

e ls e g o t : tw e l v e is s u e s a n d n o t h i n g m o r e .

Swamp Thing

c o p y ro y a lty c u t o ff— if y o u

t a k e p l a c e . Y o u c a n ’t s e e m e g e s t u r i n g w i t h

t o K i e t h . “B u t I h a v e t h i s

huge

te rrito ry .

A n d p a r t o f i t is s h e e r b l a c k h o r r o r .” B u t f o r e v e r y h o r r o r s t o r y , lik e t h e o n e w i t h R o s e m a r y , o r t h e o n e s e t in t h e d i n e r t h a t

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

had

been

s e llin g

in

th e

tw e n ty th o u s a n d s , a n d A la n h a d g ra d u a lly

h u g e te r r i t o r y in w h ic h S a n d m a n sto rie s

m y a r m s ,” s a i d G a i m a n d o w n t h e p h o n e

t 104

The Sandman

DC

c o v e r a n d th e a d v e rtis in g c a m p a ig n w ith

F r o m th e b e g in n in g , G a im a n w a s th in k ­

while writing an issue. The ones he thinks that

#1 so ld b e tte r th a n a n y

co m m e n su ra te

done b ack on

aBOVe: One of the tiny comics Gaiman makes

The Sandman

r u l e s a n d e x p e c t a t i o n s o f c o m i c s a ll o v e r

Early on, like in the 1960s and 1970s, if DC felt something wasn’t selling, they’d just stop it. In the seventies, when they really got into this canceling idea there’d be comics that would come out fo r one issue and

I s s u e f o u r w a s t h e l o w e s t p o i n t f o r s a le s . w as

so m e th in g

lik e

fo rty

th o u sa n d

so ld b e lo w

A n d w e n e v e r g o t b e lo w th a t p o in t, b u t

i s s u e w a s a b o u t f ifty t h o u s a n d a n d t h a t

w ith # 4 w e w e re c lo s e — it w a s o n ly a b o u t

w a s th o u g h t to b e a s g o o d a s a h o r r o r title

$300

d o u b le -siz e d

Sandman

issu e — a n d

ro y a ltie s. A n d

th e n

#5

p ic k e d

a lit t l e b i t . A n d t h e n #6 p i c k e d u p a little

it

b it. A n d th e n # 7 p ic k e d u p a b it. W e w e re

d id

I

th in k

Eddie Campbell, 1994.

up

#1 ca m e o u t—

e i g h t y o r n i n e t y t h o u s a n d c o p i e s .”

Sandman Gallery, by

f o r t y t h o u s a n d y o u d i d n ’t g e t a n y r o y a l t i e s .

ta k e n it u p to t h e f o r tie s . I th i n k h is la s t

c o u ld g e t. T h e n

aBOVe: Dream on a Lobster, from the

p ic k in g up 5 0 0 - 6 0 0 p e o p le a m o n th .

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

105 t

B eLoW :

Hunters com ic adaptation by P. Craig Russell, 2006. Pencils.

ThDream B o t t o m : Gaiman’s first draft of Sandman: The Dream Hunters, a stand-alone story illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.

“Issue #8 was this one where DC actually had enough confidence and they wanted to give Sandman a push. So I went out and got quotes from people who were friends of mine and who were horror people saying this is good, and I wrote the telling-the-story-so-far thing, and DC overprinted by a third. They sent the comics out unordered to stores, and told them they could do what they wanted with them. They just said: here you go. Some stores sold them, but the smart stores gave them away.” Some of them went back to D C and asked for more. Instead of making two dollars off a comic once, D C were expanding the readership, getting people to try something new for absolutely nothing. They were teaching them to fish. Brian Hibbs at San Francisco’s Comix Experience put labels with the shop’s name and address on the free comics and then left them at barbershops and on buses and ended up gaining about 100 readers for the 400 copies he dropped around the city. They came back, they bought Sandman, and they bought lots of other comics, too. “ I w a lk w it h h e r, a n d I h e a r th e g e n tle b e a tin g o f m ig h ty w in g s .” Up until the eighth issue it’s fairly easy to see whose style Gaiman was writing in.

Much like My Great Aunt Ermintrude, he was putting on voices and sometimes they fit awkwardly like a borrowed jacket with the sleeves a little too short: there was Dennis Wheatley in the first issue, whose occult novels had a big influence on nineyear-old Neil; old EC comics in the second; Ramsey Campbell and Clive Barker for the third, and the fourth issue was Unknown Worlds, the science fiction magazine edited by John W. Campbell. “In my mind, it owes a lot to Heinlein’s Magic, Inc. where I shamelessly stole the idea of lining up every demon in Hell and finding the one causing trouble” (Wagner, 2008). He built the beginning of Sandman using Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing arc American Gothic as his model: they are all short stories except for the last three. But somewhere between the twentyfour hours in the diner of #6 and The Sandmans eighth issue, he stopped trying to be anybody else. It was no longer Neil Gaiman playing in the D C sandpit, it was Neil Gaiman’s Sandman with its own little world and rules and people. It’s palpable from the first page. The Sandman is ultimately a story about family, but you really don’t get that until you meet them. The issue was called “The Sound of Her Wings,” and in it we finally got to meet Dream’s older sister, Death. She turned up after seven issues of Dream running around trying to retrieve things stolen from him during his imprisonment—his helm, his ruby, his pouch of sand, all sold on or passed on to mortals who haven’t the power to deal with them—in a storyline that was basically a straight fantasy quest novel about revenge and getting stuff back. In the end we find Dream moping in Washington Square Park in New York, feeding the pigeons. The preceding issues felt made up; when Death arrives, the characters feel alive and real. They are grounded in the real world, not in a world of horror or fantasy, of revenge or violence, but pigeons and people kicking balls around in a park. Death quotes from Mary Poppins, does a Dick Van Dyke-doing-a-terrible-Cockney-accent impression, is cute and smiley and every­ one falls in love with her. In issue #8 we

realize what Sandman is all about: it’s a story about life and death, people and love. With Death, Dream visits hospital rooms, cribs, and underpasses, watching her do her job. He muses on humanity’s attitude to his sister, gives us verses to a song singing Death’s praises, a forgotten poet who understood her gifts like no other. It’s beautiful and poetic and quiet. It’s the beginning of Dream’s personal story, the one that will ultimately leave us in tears sixty issues later. It feels like something we’ve not seen before. Also, it’s the first time the sun comes out.

By #8 I don’t know what we were selling. We were suddenly selling sixty thousand a month. Or fifty thousand a month. We climbed and we climbed and we climbed with real readers who were staying. That was fascinating. So I didn’tget canceled, but I was expecting it. And then once I knew that I wasn’t going to be canceled, which was every­ thing after #8, it was just like: okay. Nobody’s going to stop me. Nobody knows what I ’m doing now. I ’m not even sure what I ’m doing but I ’ve got all this stuff in my head. I sat down and took a look at what I had done so far, and what I wanted to do with the rest o f it. That was interesting, because there were a lot o f things the fan s obviously liked about the first eight issues and I thought I had two alternatives: either I could go back and do a lot more o f the stuff the fan s liked about the first eight issues, bringing in the DC characters, what are Mr. Miracle’s dreams like or Batman’s dreams, and that kind o f thing, or I could go o ff and do the kind o f things that I wanted to do at that point which was stuff like The Doll’s House. I decided I wanted to keep moving, and if nobody likes it, they’ll go away and fine, we’ll go down the tubes. In the meantime, what the hell? This is my comic, and I ’ll take it where I want to take it. That was what I did, and what

veRtigo kaReN BeRgeR’s taLeNt scoutiNg trip in 1987 landed her with a collection of British writers (Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan) who did things differently. As Gaiman said in 1993: “The flak that the English used to get, and occasionally still do, from mainstream writers who say things like, ‘Gee, look what these guys are doing. They can get away with it in mainstream comics because they’re English.’ And you turn around and you say, ‘Well, have you ever tried anything like that?’ And they say, ‘O f course not. I know exactly what management would say if . . .’ There is definitely an idea in America that you can’t do interesting stuff within the mainstream because They Will Stop

You. I’ve never worried about that. With me, there is very, very little compromise that goes into Sandman these days. And there’s been less and less compromise as the years have gone on. I do what I do” (Comics Journal #155, 1993). In 1993 she gave the Brits a room of their own: a DC imprint called Vertigo, a ship she captained right up to 2013. She took post-Moore Swamp Thing and Hellblazer with her. The Sandman #47 was the first in the series to go out on the shelves with Vertigo emblazoned on its cover. And as for its exciting launch title, Gaiman took care of that too: Death: The High Cost o f Living. Death was the canary in the cage. She chirped.

“This is my comic, and 111 take it where I want to take it"

L e ft: Gaiman’s notes on a hotel notepad for Sandman #63 (September 1994, above) in which Lyta Hall talks

cont. page 110

to the Furies.

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

107 f

B eLoW :

Hunters com ic adaptation by P. Craig Russell, 2006. Pencils.

ThDream B o t t o m : Gaiman’s first draft of Sandman: The Dream Hunters, a stand-alone story illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.

“Issue #8 was this one where DC actually had enough confidence and they wanted to give Sandman a push. So I went out and got quotes from people who were friends of mine and who were horror people saying this is good, and I wrote the telling-the-story-so-far thing, and DC overprinted by a third. They sent the comics out unordered to stores, and told them they could do what they wanted with them. They just said: here you go. Some stores sold them, but the smart stores gave them away.” Some of them went back to D C and asked for more. Instead of making two dollars off a comic once, D C were expanding the readership, getting people to try something new for absolutely nothing. They were teaching them to fish. Brian Hibbs at San Francisco’s Comix Experience put labels with the shop’s name and address on the free comics and then left them at barbershops and on buses and ended up gaining about 100 readers for the 400 copies he dropped around the city. They came back, they bought Sandman, and they bought lots of other comics, too. “ I w a lk w it h h e r, a n d I h e a r th e g e n tle b e a tin g o f m ig h ty w in g s .” Up until the eighth issue it’s fairly easy to see whose style Gaiman was writing in.

Much like My Great Aunt Ermintrude, he was putting on voices and sometimes they fit awkwardly like a borrowed jacket with the sleeves a little too short: there was Dennis Wheatley in the first issue, whose occult novels had a big influence on nineyear-old Neil; old EC comics in the second; Ramsey Campbell and Clive Barker for the third, and the fourth issue was Unknown Worlds, the science fiction magazine edited by John W. Campbell. “In my mind, it owes a lot to Heinlein’s Magic, Inc. where I shamelessly stole the idea of lining up every demon in Hell and finding the one causing trouble” (Wagner, 2008). He built the beginning of Sandman using Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing arc American Gothic as his model: they are all short stories except for the last three. But somewhere between the twentyfour hours in the diner of #6 and The Sandmans eighth issue, he stopped trying to be anybody else. It was no longer Neil Gaiman playing in the D C sandpit, it was Neil Gaiman’s Sandman with its own little world and rules and people. It’s palpable from the first page. The Sandman is ultimately a story about family, but you really don’t get that until you meet them. The issue was called “The Sound of Her Wings,” and in it we finally got to meet Dream’s older sister, Death. She turned up after seven issues of Dream running around trying to retrieve things stolen from him during his imprisonment—his helm, his ruby, his pouch of sand, all sold on or passed on to mortals who haven’t the power to deal with them—in a storyline that was basically a straight fantasy quest novel about revenge and getting stuff back. In the end we find Dream moping in Washington Square Park in New York, feeding the pigeons. The preceding issues felt made up; when Death arrives, the characters feel alive and real. They are grounded in the real world, not in a world of horror or fantasy, of revenge or violence, but pigeons and people kicking balls around in a park. Death quotes from Mary Poppins, does a Dick Van Dyke-doing-a-terrible-Cockney-accent impression, is cute and smiley and every­ one falls in love with her. In issue #8 we

realize what Sandman is all about: it’s a story about life and death, people and love. With Death, Dream visits hospital rooms, cribs, and underpasses, watching her do her job. He muses on humanity’s attitude to his sister, gives us verses to a song singing Death’s praises, a forgotten poet who understood her gifts like no other. It’s beautiful and poetic and quiet. It’s the beginning of Dream’s personal story, the one that will ultimately leave us in tears sixty issues later. It feels like something we’ve not seen before. Also, it’s the first time the sun comes out.

By #8 I don’t know what we were selling. We were suddenly selling sixty thousand a month. Or fifty thousand a month. We climbed and we climbed and we climbed with real readers who were staying. That was fascinating. So I didn’tget canceled, but I was expecting it. And then once I knew that I wasn’t going to be canceled, which was every­ thing after #8, it was just like: okay. Nobody’s going to stop me. Nobody knows what I ’m doing now. I ’m not even sure what I ’m doing but I ’ve got all this stuff in my head. I sat down and took a look at what I had done so far, and what I wanted to do with the rest o f it. That was interesting, because there were a lot o f things the fan s obviously liked about the first eight issues and I thought I had two alternatives: either I could go back and do a lot more o f the stuff the fan s liked about the first eight issues, bringing in the DC characters, what are Mr. Miracle’s dreams like or Batman’s dreams, and that kind o f thing, or I could go o ff and do the kind o f things that I wanted to do at that point which was stuff like The Doll’s House. I decided I wanted to keep moving, and if nobody likes it, they’ll go away and fine, we’ll go down the tubes. In the meantime, what the hell? This is my comic, and I ’ll take it where I want to take it. That was what I did, and what

veRtigo kaReN BeRgeR’s taLeNt scoutiNg trip in 1987 landed her with a collection of British writers (Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan) who did things differently. As Gaiman said in 1993: “The flak that the English used to get, and occasionally still do, from mainstream writers who say things like, ‘Gee, look what these guys are doing. They can get away with it in mainstream comics because they’re English.’ And you turn around and you say, ‘Well, have you ever tried anything like that?’ And they say, ‘O f course not. I know exactly what management would say if . . .’ There is definitely an idea in America that you can’t do interesting stuff within the mainstream because They Will Stop

You. I’ve never worried about that. With me, there is very, very little compromise that goes into Sandman these days. And there’s been less and less compromise as the years have gone on. I do what I do” (Comics Journal #155, 1993). In 1993 she gave the Brits a room of their own: a DC imprint called Vertigo, a ship she captained right up to 2013. She took post-Moore Swamp Thing and Hellblazer with her. The Sandman #47 was the first in the series to go out on the shelves with Vertigo emblazoned on its cover. And as for its exciting launch title, Gaiman took care of that too: Death: The High Cost o f Living. Death was the canary in the cage. She chirped.

“This is my comic, and 111 take it where I want to take it"

L e ft: Gaiman’s notes on a hotel notepad for Sandman #63 (September 1994, above) in which Lyta Hall talks

cont. page 110

to the Furies.

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

107 f

saNDmaN coveRS ONe o f tHe tHiNgs that set The Sandman apart from every other comic on the shelfwas the Dave McKean covers. While the artists and design on the inside changed frequently, the covers were always McKean, every month. He defined the look of Sandman for those who read it and those who didn’t. “I remember having the argument, way, way back, about whether or not we were going to put the title character on the cover,” said Neil. “It was a very strange argument to me, but it was a make-or-break argument with Sandman—whether he was going to be on the cover of every single comic. And at some point somebody actually said, ‘How will they know that hes in it?’ We said, ‘Well, the comic will say Sandman at the top. In large letters. And it will have a number’ We assume a certain level of intelligence and literacy, which we seem to have been proved right on. The same thing with redesigning the comic completely. ‘Oh, won’t people think it’s a completely different comic?’ ‘No, they’re really bright—it says Sandman on the cover’” (Comics Journal #155, 1993). The first eight were designed as a gallery of portraits, with each portrait bordered by shelves with things on them—things scavenged by both Neil and McKean in Covent Garden: an hourglass, a Buddha, a black cat. They look like something out of a Peter Greenaway film. After the eighth issue, McKean did away with the borders and stuff got weird in different ways every single time. He used his friends and wife and dead spiders as models, and sometimes even Neil. L eft: The Sandman #4, April 1989. o p p o s i t e : The cover to The

Sandman #16, June 1990, featuring Neil sitting in McKean’s living room.

t 108

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

saNDmaN coveRS ONe o f tHe tHiNgs that set The Sandman apart from every other comic on the shelfwas the Dave McKean covers. While the artists and design on the inside changed frequently, the covers were always McKean, every month. He defined the look of Sandman for those who read it and those who didn’t. “I remember having the argument, way, way back, about whether or not we were going to put the title character on the cover,” said Neil. “It was a very strange argument to me, but it was a make-or-break argument with Sandman—whether he was going to be on the cover of every single comic. And at some point somebody actually said, ‘How will they know that hes in it?’ We said, ‘Well, the comic will say Sandman at the top. In large letters. And it will have a number’ We assume a certain level of intelligence and literacy, which we seem to have been proved right on. The same thing with redesigning the comic completely. ‘Oh, won’t people think it’s a completely different comic?’ ‘No, they’re really bright—it says Sandman on the cover’” (Comics Journal #155, 1993). The first eight were designed as a gallery of portraits, with each portrait bordered by shelves with things on them—things scavenged by both Neil and McKean in Covent Garden: an hourglass, a Buddha, a black cat. They look like something out of a Peter Greenaway film. After the eighth issue, McKean did away with the borders and stuff got weird in different ways every single time. He used his friends and wife and dead spiders as models, and sometimes even Neil. L eft: The Sandman #4, April 1989. o p p o s i t e : The cover to The

Sandman #16, June 1990, featuring Neil sitting in McKean’s living room.

t 108

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

happened was that we lost a few readers at the point where we started T h e D o l l ’s H o u s e . Sales dropped, but then they also picked up. It was like we were losing some o f the younger readers, but as we lost them, the older readers came in (Kraft, 1993). The Sandman

w a s t h e r e o n t h e s h e lv e s

e v e r y m o n t h , m o r e o r le s s , f r o m J a n u a r y 1989

to

M arch

1 9 9 6 , w h ic h ,

c o m b in e d

w ith th e o th e r w o r k h e w a s d o in g a t th e s a m e tim e , se t a g ru e lin g p a c e th a t m e a n t G a im a n s p e n t a lo t o f tim e w r itin g w h ile h e w a s tra v e lin g . “ I w o u ld w r ite in h o te l r o o m s . I s till w r i t e i n h o t e l r o o m s . N o t q u ite

as

m u ch

b ecau se

now

th e y

have

i n t e r n e t s o I d o e m a i l s i n h o t e l r o o m s as m u c h as I w rite . A n d I w a s m u c h m o r e d riv e n th a n I a m n o w . I c o u ld d o th e th in g o f b e in g a t a c o n v e n tio n a n d h a v in g fo u r p a g e s t o w r i t e , a n d r e a l i z i n g I w a s n ’t d u e on a p an el fo r X -a m o u n t o f h o u rs, an d go u p t o m y r o o m , s it d o w n , w r i t e t h o s e f o u r p a g e s, o r w rite th o s e th r e e -a n d -a -h a lf p ag es a n d h e a d b a c k a b it e a rly o r w h a te v e r, a n d d id . I w a s v e r y , v e r y g o o d a t d o i n g t h a t k i n d o f th in g . I th in k s o m e o f th a t c a m e f ro m h a v i n g t o w r i t e in o ffice s . I’d w r i t e s u r r o u n d e d by

p e o p le ,

lik e

Penthouse . I t’s

w hat

I

w as

d o in g

on

n o t lik e I h a d m y q u i e t little

o ffice — I w a s in

a b ig r o o m

fille d w i t h

p e o p le a n d I w a s tu r n in g o u t th e co p y , g o in g

c h u n k e ty ch u n k e ty c h u n k e ty c h u n k -

c lin g ! C h u n k e ty c h u n k e ty c h u n k e ty c h u n k c l i n g ! W r r r . P u t i t d o w n . M a r k i t u p .” H e s a i d i n 1 9 9 3 : “ I c a n d o i t b e c a u s e it does

have

som eh ow

a

fin ite

end.

I

te ll m y s e lf e v e n

can

a lw a y s

at th e

w o rst

m o m e n t s , ‘T h i s t o o w i l l p a s s . Y o u w ill n o t d o th is f o re v e r. I w ill g e t to t h e e n d o f th e s to r y .’ A n d t h e n I ’m d a m n e d i f I w ill e v e r do a m o n th ly co m ics fo r a p e rio d o f m o re th a n s ix m o n th s o r w h a te v e r a g a in in m y life ” ( Comics

Journal # 1 5 5 ,

1 9 9 3 ).

W o rk in g a t s u ch a sp e e d , G a im a n w as aBOVe: “One of the reasons Season o f Mists works is because it was really written for Kelley Jones. All those huge things larger than life,

boxes, are Kelley things”

tr a n s c r ib in g th in g s s tr a ig h t f r o m h is s u b ­

( ComicsJournal #155, 1993). Around the same

co n s c io u s

w ith o u t

m u ch

of

a

filte r—

time Jones was working on Season o f Mists he collaborated on a

R IgH t: Dave McKean’s

gods and demons and angels and princesses of

non-Sandman piece for A-1 #5 called

artwork for The Sandman: The Doll’s House trade

Chaos and cardboard

“Cover Story.”

paperback, 1991.

f 110

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

happened was that we lost a few readers at the point where we started T h e D o l l ’s H o u s e . Sales dropped, but then they also picked up. It was like we were losing some o f the younger readers, but as we lost them, the older readers came in (Kraft, 1993). The Sandman

w a s t h e r e o n t h e s h e lv e s

e v e r y m o n t h , m o r e o r le s s , f r o m J a n u a r y 1989

to

M arch

1 9 9 6 , w h ic h ,

c o m b in e d

w ith th e o th e r w o r k h e w a s d o in g a t th e s a m e tim e , se t a g ru e lin g p a c e th a t m e a n t G a im a n s p e n t a lo t o f tim e w r itin g w h ile h e w a s tra v e lin g . “ I w o u ld w r ite in h o te l r o o m s . I s till w r i t e i n h o t e l r o o m s . N o t q u ite

as

m u ch

b ecau se

now

th e y

have

i n t e r n e t s o I d o e m a i l s i n h o t e l r o o m s as m u c h as I w rite . A n d I w a s m u c h m o r e d riv e n th a n I a m n o w . I c o u ld d o th e th in g o f b e in g a t a c o n v e n tio n a n d h a v in g fo u r p a g e s t o w r i t e , a n d r e a l i z i n g I w a s n ’t d u e on a p an el fo r X -a m o u n t o f h o u rs, an d go u p t o m y r o o m , s it d o w n , w r i t e t h o s e f o u r p a g e s, o r w rite th o s e th r e e -a n d -a -h a lf p ag es a n d h e a d b a c k a b it e a rly o r w h a te v e r, a n d d id . I w a s v e r y , v e r y g o o d a t d o i n g t h a t k i n d o f th in g . I th in k s o m e o f th a t c a m e f ro m h a v i n g t o w r i t e in o ffice s . I’d w r i t e s u r r o u n d e d by

p e o p le ,

lik e

Penthouse . I t’s

w hat

I

w as

d o in g

on

n o t lik e I h a d m y q u i e t little

o ffice — I w a s in

a b ig r o o m

fille d w i t h

p e o p le a n d I w a s tu r n in g o u t th e co p y , g o in g

c h u n k e ty ch u n k e ty c h u n k e ty c h u n k -

c lin g ! C h u n k e ty c h u n k e ty c h u n k e ty c h u n k c l i n g ! W r r r . P u t i t d o w n . M a r k i t u p .” H e s a i d i n 1 9 9 3 : “ I c a n d o i t b e c a u s e it does

have

som eh ow

a

fin ite

end.

I

te ll m y s e lf e v e n

can

a lw a y s

at th e

w o rst

m o m e n t s , ‘T h i s t o o w i l l p a s s . Y o u w ill n o t d o th is f o re v e r. I w ill g e t to t h e e n d o f th e s to r y .’ A n d t h e n I ’m d a m n e d i f I w ill e v e r do a m o n th ly co m ics fo r a p e rio d o f m o re th a n s ix m o n th s o r w h a te v e r a g a in in m y life ” ( Comics

Journal # 1 5 5 ,

1 9 9 3 ).

W o rk in g a t s u ch a sp e e d , G a im a n w as aBOVe: “One of the reasons Season o f Mists works is because it was really written for Kelley Jones. All those huge things larger than life,

boxes, are Kelley things”

tr a n s c r ib in g th in g s s tr a ig h t f r o m h is s u b ­

( ComicsJournal #155, 1993). Around the same

co n s c io u s

w ith o u t

m u ch

of

a

filte r—

time Jones was working on Season o f Mists he collaborated on a

R IgH t: Dave McKean’s

gods and demons and angels and princesses of

non-Sandman piece for A-1 #5 called

artwork for The Sandman: The Doll’s House trade

Chaos and cardboard

“Cover Story.”

paperback, 1991.

f 110

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

W h ic h is n ’t to s a y t h a t I e v e r w e n t

w id e -e y e d fan w ith a n o te b o o k a n d p e n c il

b a c k a n d r e r e a d t h e m , b u t it is to s a y

i n t h e i r la p , w a i t i n g t o c a p t u r e t h e s e c r e t :

s o m e o f t h e t im e t h e a c t i o n o f w r i t in g

“W h e r e d o y o u g e t y o u r i d e a s ? ” G a i m a n ’s

s t u f f d o w n m o v e s it f r o m

e v a p o r a t e . . . it m o v e s it f r o m

b e in g

sh ru g ,

m akes

w ritte n

b e in g

s im p le

th a t

w r i t t e n o n t o p a p e r . In t e r m s o f t h e

h a v in g

to

b o x e s o f y o u r m i n d th in g s a r e in , it s

h a v in g

to rn

c h a n g e d . T h e s c a r y t h in g a b o u t t h a t

r a g e s . H e u s e s t h e c o n c e p t i n “ C a l l i o p e ,”

in

m e lt in g s n o w ,

th e

fro m

p retty

it

sou n d

p ro b a b ly

buy

new

th e irs

so

in fu ria tin g ly

th e re sh irts

in

a re

w rite rs

a ll t h e

tim e

G a im a n -in d u c e d

S a n d m a n # 1 7 : a b lo c k e d w rite r, R ic h a rd

m u ch

M a d o c , n in e m o n th s p a s t d e a d lin e

and

s t o p p e d c o m p le t e ly . I w o u l d j o k e t h a t

s till u n a b l e t o d e l i v e r t h e p r o m i s e d f o l l o w ­

th e p e o p le w h o w er e d o in g th e m w ere

u p t o h is s u c c e s s f u l f i r s t n o v e l , m a k e s a

so

d e a l w ith

d e e p ly p u t o u t by

m y r e a c tio n

w as n ot w h at w as

an

o ld e r

and

in fin ite ly m o r e

s u c c e s s f u l w r i t e r in e x c h a n g e f o r t h e G r e e k

“When I was writing Sandman I would occasionally

tH e CHlLDReN’S CRusaD e s c h o o lb o y s

to

t im e s o f d o i n g

n ig h tm a re s

to t h e m , w h ic h

19 9 3 , t H e

up. O u t o f

m y h e a d .” — w h i c h is o f t e n c o u p l e d w i t h a

th a t,

D ecem B eR

u su al a n sw er— “I m a k e th e m

b o x in y o u r h e a d o f s t u f f t h a t w ill

w a s th a t a fte r a f e w

in

t h is w e i r d

steal imagery from my dreams, almost never got plots, but occasionally images were incredibly useful.”

tw o

dead

Sandm an

#25

w e r e b r o u g h t b a c k in T h e C h i l d r e n ’s

C ru sad e, se rie s

a

se v e n -is s u e

bookended

Sandm an

by

e d ito r a n d

cro sso v er

G a im a n

and

ex p ected

n o v e list A lis a

K w itn e y , w i t h a r t b y S a n d m a n

w h en

sen d in g

som ebody

m u s e h e k e e p s l o c k e d in h is h o u s e . H e

h o r r i b l e n ig h t m a r e s .

and

In

D e a t h : T h e H ig h C o s t o f L i v i n g ’s C h r i s

A

G am e

ra p e s h e r o n a c o ld a n d m u s ty b e d , a n d

o f You,

in

H a z e l ’s

t h e n t h e i d e a s s t a r t t o flo w . G a i m a n c h a r t s

B a c h a l o . I t w a s t h e f i r s t t i m e a b ig

d r e a m , w h e r e s h e ’s o n a tr a in , a n d s h e

M a d o c ’s m e t e o r i c r i s e : h is a p p e a r a n c e s o n

cro sso v er w as

g o e s in to t h e b a s e m e n t o f th e tr a in ,

b e s t s e l l e r lis ts a n d t a l k s h o w s , h is p l a y s , h is

a tte m p te d

by

K a re n

w h ic h is r e a lly w e ir d , b e c a u s e s h e d id n ’t

O s c a r - w i n n i n g f ilm s . H e w i l l n o t l e t h e r g o

a n d d id n ’t g o s o w e ll. In f a c t , t h e w a lls

f o r g e t y o u d id , so o n e c a n b e fo r g iv e n f o r

I u s e d to h a v e r e a l n ig h t m a r e s a n d

k n o w tr a in s h a d b a s e m e n t s . T h e r e ’s a

b ecau se

and

a sk in g if a n y o f th e s to rie s in T h e S a n d m a n

t h e y u s e d to w o r r y m e . I n m y te e n

d e a d b a b y t h a t lo o k s lik e it ’s a lr e a d y

W hen

c o m e f r o m h is d r e a m s .

y e a r s a n d m y e a r l y t w e n t ie s I h a d

u n d e r g o n e a n a u to p s y , a n d s h e p i c k s it

e n d le s s id e a s

n ig h t m a r e s s u c h t h a t I w a s s c a r e d to

up, a n d th e n it s o r t o f s ta r ts a t t a c k in g

m a n y th a t p a g e s c a n n o t h o ld th e m , a n d h e

go

B e r g e r ’s t h e n - n e w

d e m a rc a tio n s

V e rtig o

of

th e

im p rin t,

V e rtig o

u n i v e r s e w e r e r e t o o l e d in s u c h a w a y t h a t it n e v e r h a p p e n e d a g a in .

“Made of? They’re just dreams.. W h e n I w a s w r i t in g S a n d m a n I w o u ld

head.

F i n a l l y , f o r p e a c e o f m i n d , h e le t s h e r g o .

h o r r ib le

im a g e r y .

W h en

it

b u t o c c a s i o n a l l y im a g e s w e r e

n ig h t m a r e ! B e i n g p u r s u e d

p a g e s . I n h is a t t i c t h e r e a r e tu b s fu ll o f n o te s

i n c r e d ib ly

rip p e d f r o m

i f t h e r e ’s

h o te l n o te p a d s , P o s t-it n o te s w ith d e c a d e s

o f a ffe c tin g

o f f lu f f c o l l e c t e d o n t h e i r o n c e - s t i c k y b a c k s .

it d o w n .

T h e y c o n ta in th e k in d o f in s a n e sc ra w ls

le a r n e d

Sandm an.

t 112

e m o t io n a lly ,

W h ic h to

do

th is d a y

w as

w h ile

I

I ’ll

e n d le s s

c o r r id o r s

by

a

th r o u g h

guy

w ith

T hat w as

lik e

sta n d a rd -issu e

“N e il N ig h t m a r e s ” (W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ) .

Som e

Sandm an

end s

fa n s

d e s p e ra te w rite r, a n d

O n e p a r t i c u l a r s t o r y in D r e a m C o u n t r y

“Writers are liars.”

o f h is

have

fin g e rs .

ta k e n

th e

th e s e

crazed

and

th e m

in to

tu rn e d

s to rie s a n d p o e m s o f th e ir o w n .

s p a g h e t t i f o r a f a c e ! T h a t ’s b r i l l i a n t ! ” S o I w o u ld w rite th e m d o w n p a r t ly b e c a u s e y o u ’d n e v e r k n o w w h a t w a s

d e a ls

g o i n g to b e u s e f u l in r e t r o s p e c t , o r

q u e s tio n , th e o n e th a t u s u a lly c o m e s f r o m

w h a t m ig h t b e im p o r t a n t in r e tr o s p e c t.

e ith e r

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

b lo o d ie d

“— Swift as a shadow, short as any dream— ”

w rite

d o in g

th e

p r e m is e s , b a b b le d f r o m

s o m e th in g I w as

so

scary,

p lo t s ,

to

t h e w r i t e r ’s h e a d ,

s c r a t c h e s t h e m o n t o t h e w a lls o f h i s r o o m

t h o u s a n d s o f i d e a s p o u r e d i n t o S a n d m a n ’s

t h a t ’s j u s t s o r t

id e a s . p o u rs

w ith

“O h m y g o d ! I j u s t h a d a h o r r i b l e

d ream

no he

th in g — t h a t w a s s t r a ig h t o u t o f m y

tu r n e d u p I w o u ld w a k e up a n d go,

u s e fu l. A n d

he

h e r w ith s h a r p te e th , a n d i t ’s a r e a l

im a g e ry

a

in to

has

in te rv e n e s ,

b a d s tu ff. A n d

m y d r ea m s , a lm o s t n e v er g o t

y o u s c rib b le in th e h a lf-lig h t, ro ll o v e r a n d

stea l

h e r,

th en I d id S a n d m a n a n d I n e e d e d

fr o m

th e b a c k s o f e n v e lo p e s, o ff

o c c a s io n a lly

to s le e p . F u ll- o n

w ith o u t M o rp h e u s

d ire c tly

an

w ith

th is

u n in v e n tiv e

sam e

so rt

in te rv ie w e r

or

of

a

I f y o u a r e a w r ite r , y o u t e n d to h a v e s o r t o f a m a g p i e h e a d . Y ou s t o r e

CHapteR 3 |veR tigo HeigHts

113

t

W h ic h is n ’t to s a y t h a t I e v e r w e n t

w id e -e y e d fan w ith a n o te b o o k a n d p e n c il

b a c k a n d r e r e a d t h e m , b u t it is to s a y

i n t h e i r la p , w a i t i n g t o c a p t u r e t h e s e c r e t :

s o m e o f t h e t im e t h e a c t i o n o f w r i t in g

“W h e r e d o y o u g e t y o u r i d e a s ? ” G a i m a n ’s

s t u f f d o w n m o v e s it f r o m

e v a p o r a t e . . . it m o v e s it f r o m

b e in g

sh ru g ,

m akes

w ritte n

b e in g

s im p le

th a t

w r i t t e n o n t o p a p e r . In t e r m s o f t h e

h a v in g

to

b o x e s o f y o u r m i n d th in g s a r e in , it s

h a v in g

to rn

c h a n g e d . T h e s c a r y t h in g a b o u t t h a t

r a g e s . H e u s e s t h e c o n c e p t i n “ C a l l i o p e ,”

in

m e lt in g s n o w ,

th e

fro m

p retty

it

sou n d

p ro b a b ly

buy

new

th e irs

so

in fu ria tin g ly

th e re sh irts

in

a re

w rite rs

a ll t h e

tim e

G a im a n -in d u c e d

S a n d m a n # 1 7 : a b lo c k e d w rite r, R ic h a rd

m u ch

M a d o c , n in e m o n th s p a s t d e a d lin e

and

s t o p p e d c o m p le t e ly . I w o u l d j o k e t h a t

s till u n a b l e t o d e l i v e r t h e p r o m i s e d f o l l o w ­

th e p e o p le w h o w er e d o in g th e m w ere

u p t o h is s u c c e s s f u l f i r s t n o v e l , m a k e s a

so

d e a l w ith

d e e p ly p u t o u t by

m y r e a c tio n

w as n ot w h at w as

an

o ld e r

and

in fin ite ly m o r e

s u c c e s s f u l w r i t e r in e x c h a n g e f o r t h e G r e e k

“When I was writing Sandman I would occasionally

tH e CHlLDReN’S CRusaD e s c h o o lb o y s

to

t im e s o f d o i n g

n ig h tm a re s

to t h e m , w h ic h

19 9 3 , t H e

up. O u t o f

m y h e a d .” — w h i c h is o f t e n c o u p l e d w i t h a

th a t,

D ecem B eR

u su al a n sw er— “I m a k e th e m

b o x in y o u r h e a d o f s t u f f t h a t w ill

w a s th a t a fte r a f e w

in

t h is w e i r d

steal imagery from my dreams, almost never got plots, but occasionally images were incredibly useful.”

tw o

dead

Sandm an

#25

w e r e b r o u g h t b a c k in T h e C h i l d r e n ’s

C ru sad e, se rie s

a

se v e n -is s u e

bookended

Sandm an

by

e d ito r a n d

cro sso v er

G a im a n

and

ex p ected

n o v e list A lis a

K w itn e y , w i t h a r t b y S a n d m a n

w h en

sen d in g

som ebody

m u s e h e k e e p s l o c k e d in h is h o u s e . H e

h o r r i b l e n ig h t m a r e s .

and

In

D e a t h : T h e H ig h C o s t o f L i v i n g ’s C h r i s

A

G am e

ra p e s h e r o n a c o ld a n d m u s ty b e d , a n d

o f You,

in

H a z e l ’s

t h e n t h e i d e a s s t a r t t o flo w . G a i m a n c h a r t s

B a c h a l o . I t w a s t h e f i r s t t i m e a b ig

d r e a m , w h e r e s h e ’s o n a tr a in , a n d s h e

M a d o c ’s m e t e o r i c r i s e : h is a p p e a r a n c e s o n

cro sso v er w as

g o e s in to t h e b a s e m e n t o f th e tr a in ,

b e s t s e l l e r lis ts a n d t a l k s h o w s , h is p l a y s , h is

a tte m p te d

by

K a re n

w h ic h is r e a lly w e ir d , b e c a u s e s h e d id n ’t

O s c a r - w i n n i n g f ilm s . H e w i l l n o t l e t h e r g o

a n d d id n ’t g o s o w e ll. In f a c t , t h e w a lls

f o r g e t y o u d id , so o n e c a n b e fo r g iv e n f o r

I u s e d to h a v e r e a l n ig h t m a r e s a n d

k n o w tr a in s h a d b a s e m e n t s . T h e r e ’s a

b ecau se

and

a sk in g if a n y o f th e s to rie s in T h e S a n d m a n

t h e y u s e d to w o r r y m e . I n m y te e n

d e a d b a b y t h a t lo o k s lik e it ’s a lr e a d y

W hen

c o m e f r o m h is d r e a m s .

y e a r s a n d m y e a r l y t w e n t ie s I h a d

u n d e r g o n e a n a u to p s y , a n d s h e p i c k s it

e n d le s s id e a s

n ig h t m a r e s s u c h t h a t I w a s s c a r e d to

up, a n d th e n it s o r t o f s ta r ts a t t a c k in g

m a n y th a t p a g e s c a n n o t h o ld th e m , a n d h e

go

B e r g e r ’s t h e n - n e w

d e m a rc a tio n s

V e rtig o

of

th e

im p rin t,

V e rtig o

u n i v e r s e w e r e r e t o o l e d in s u c h a w a y t h a t it n e v e r h a p p e n e d a g a in .

“Made of? They’re just dreams.. W h e n I w a s w r i t in g S a n d m a n I w o u ld

head.

F i n a l l y , f o r p e a c e o f m i n d , h e le t s h e r g o .

h o r r ib le

im a g e r y .

W h en

it

b u t o c c a s i o n a l l y im a g e s w e r e

n ig h t m a r e ! B e i n g p u r s u e d

p a g e s . I n h is a t t i c t h e r e a r e tu b s fu ll o f n o te s

i n c r e d ib ly

rip p e d f r o m

i f t h e r e ’s

h o te l n o te p a d s , P o s t-it n o te s w ith d e c a d e s

o f a ffe c tin g

o f f lu f f c o l l e c t e d o n t h e i r o n c e - s t i c k y b a c k s .

it d o w n .

T h e y c o n ta in th e k in d o f in s a n e sc ra w ls

le a r n e d

Sandm an.

t 112

e m o t io n a lly ,

W h ic h to

do

th is d a y

w as

w h ile

I

I ’ll

e n d le s s

c o r r id o r s

by

a

th r o u g h

guy

w ith

T hat w as

lik e

sta n d a rd -issu e

“N e il N ig h t m a r e s ” (W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ) .

Som e

Sandm an

end s

fa n s

d e s p e ra te w rite r, a n d

O n e p a r t i c u l a r s t o r y in D r e a m C o u n t r y

“Writers are liars.”

o f h is

have

fin g e rs .

ta k e n

th e

th e s e

crazed

and

th e m

in to

tu rn e d

s to rie s a n d p o e m s o f th e ir o w n .

s p a g h e t t i f o r a f a c e ! T h a t ’s b r i l l i a n t ! ” S o I w o u ld w rite th e m d o w n p a r t ly b e c a u s e y o u ’d n e v e r k n o w w h a t w a s

d e a ls

g o i n g to b e u s e f u l in r e t r o s p e c t , o r

q u e s tio n , th e o n e th a t u s u a lly c o m e s f r o m

w h a t m ig h t b e im p o r t a n t in r e tr o s p e c t.

e ith e r

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

b lo o d ie d

“— Swift as a shadow, short as any dream— ”

w rite

d o in g

th e

p r e m is e s , b a b b le d f r o m

s o m e th in g I w as

so

scary,

p lo t s ,

to

t h e w r i t e r ’s h e a d ,

s c r a t c h e s t h e m o n t o t h e w a lls o f h i s r o o m

t h o u s a n d s o f i d e a s p o u r e d i n t o S a n d m a n ’s

t h a t ’s j u s t s o r t

id e a s . p o u rs

w ith

“O h m y g o d ! I j u s t h a d a h o r r i b l e

d ream

no he

th in g — t h a t w a s s t r a ig h t o u t o f m y

tu r n e d u p I w o u ld w a k e up a n d go,

u s e fu l. A n d

he

h e r w ith s h a r p te e th , a n d i t ’s a r e a l

im a g e ry

a

in to

has

in te rv e n e s ,

b a d s tu ff. A n d

m y d r ea m s , a lm o s t n e v er g o t

y o u s c rib b le in th e h a lf-lig h t, ro ll o v e r a n d

stea l

h e r,

th en I d id S a n d m a n a n d I n e e d e d

fr o m

th e b a c k s o f e n v e lo p e s, o ff

o c c a s io n a lly

to s le e p . F u ll- o n

w ith o u t M o rp h e u s

d ire c tly

an

w ith

th is

u n in v e n tiv e

sam e

so rt

in te rv ie w e r

or

of

a

I f y o u a r e a w r ite r , y o u t e n d to h a v e s o r t o f a m a g p i e h e a d . Y ou s t o r e

CHapteR 3 |veR tigo HeigHts

113

t

away all sorts o f weird and wonderful trivia, which pops out when you need it. A lot o f the mythology stuff, maybe ninety-five percent o f it, I know fairly well and I ’m interested in. And then there’s stuff that you ’ll read fo r pleasure. I remember this book called Funeral Customs Around the World.

“There are areas where you know your shit and there are areas where you fake it.”

aBOVe: A panel from “Three Septembers

o p p o s ite : A page from the story “Facade”

and a January” in TheSandman #31,

featuring Element Girl, The Sandm an #20,

October 1991. Art by Shawn McManus.

October 1990. Art by Colleen Doran.

t 114

It was wonderful. I picked it up on a whim and started reading and got completely fascinated by the different ways different cultures—based on different environments—have o f disposing unwanted corpses. There are cultures in which you can’t bury them, so what do you do? Sometimes you drop them in a river to be eaten by crocodiles. In Tibet, where they don’t have any wood to burn them with, and don’t have any rivers to throw them in, and the ground is too hard and rocky to bury them, they wind up grinding them up and feeding them to the birds mixed with a little corn as a way o f getting rid o f them. It’s called sky burial. I remember reading that and going, ‘That’s an issue o f Sandman,’ and doing my funeral issue set in a necropolis, with this huge graveyard where all the different burial methods get demonstrated and discussed, just because I thought it was cool. There are areas where you know your shit and there are areas where you fa k e it. The art o f writing is the same as the art o f convincing a teacher that you really did do your homework or you studied something that you didn’t. It’s the art o f lying convincingly and it’s amazing how much you can learn from a little (Salisbury, 1999). Sometimes, a lot o f the time, structure will give me the shape o f the story. And, sometimes, I even wind up abandoning the structure. Sandman #6, “24 Hours”—the horrible one set in the diner—came from a desire at the point, going, “You know, I ’m in a twenty-four-page comic; wouldn’t it be cool to do a story called ‘24 Hours’ in which I do one hour per page?”

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

And then, o f course, I wound up abandoning that structure slightly, because I needed six pages to set up the first hour, and many o f the later hours were done in h alf pages. But that was the idea. I just liked the idea o f doing these beats, hour by hour, through a story. And the story it generated was this nightmarish, monstrous story that probably wouldn’t have existed if I hadn’t thought o f the structure (Wagner, 2008). F r o m w h e r e w e a r e n o w , i t l o o k s lik e G a i m a n k n e w w h a t h e w a s d o i n g a ll a l o n g . B u t i f y o u a s k h i m o u t r i g h t h e ’ll l o o k a t y o u w id e -e y e d , a s to n is h e d it e v e r w o rk e d a n d t h a t h e g o t a w a y w i t h it. H e l ik e n s t h e p ro cess

o f w ritin g

a m o n th ly

c o m ic

to

b e i n g a lit t l e lik e j u m p i n g o u t o f a p l a n e a n d t r y i n g t o k n i t y o u r s e l f a p a r a c h u t e as y o u fa ll. “ I f y o u ’r e w r i t i n g a n o v e l , y o u c a n b e h a lfw a y th r o u g h it o r m o r e b e fo re y o u k n o w w h a t i t ’s a b o u t o r h o w i t ’s g o i n g t o w o rk . Y o u g e t to th e e n d a n d y o u re a liz e h o w t h e e n d fits t o g e t h e r , a n d y o u g o b a c k t o c h a p t e r o n e a n d y o u p l a n t a ll t h e c lu e s t h a t m a k e i t o b v i o u s h o w i t ’s g o i n g t o e n d . W h e n y o u ’r e w o r k i n g o n a m o n t h l y c o m i c , t h a t ’s

not

f e a s ib le

b ecau se

a p art

fro m

a n y t h i n g e ls e , w h e n y o u g e t t o t h e p a r t w h e r e y o u r e a l i z e w h a t i t ’s a ll a b o u t a n d h o w it e n d s, th e p a rts h a v e a lre a d y b e e n p r i n t e d , e v e r y b o d y ’s r e a d t h e m , a n d y o u c a n ’t g o b a c k a n d c h a n g e t h e m n o w . B y t h e tim e I g o t to th e e n d o f w as

w ritin g

th e

The Dolls House

s e c o n d -to -la s t

I

e p is o d e ,

a n d I s u d d e n l y r e a l i z e d I d i d n ’t h a v e a c l u e a b o u t w h a t w a s g o in g to h a p p e n in th e la st o n e ” (K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ). T o a d d to th e p re ss u re o f n o t k n o w in g w h a t w as g o in g to h a p p e n n e x t, G a im a n w a s a b o u t to b e c o m e

th e lin c h p in

in

a

m a j o r s h i f t in c o m i c s p u b l i s h i n g , a n d in c o m ics

fin d in g

th e ir

w ay

in to

re g u la r

b o o k sh o p s. N o w ad ay s, a tra d e p a p e rb a ck c o lle c tio n

is t h e w a y m a n y p e o p l e b u y

c o m ic s , r a th e r th a n in w e e k ly o r m o n th ly in s ta llm e n ts — it a r riv e s n o t lo n g a fte r th e la s t

issu e

in

a

sto ry lin e

and

u s u a lly

c o n t a i n s a b o u t s i x t o e i g h t is s u e s . L o t s o f p e o p le

ch o o se th e m

o v e r c o lle c tin g th e

i n d i v i d u a l is s u e s i n t e e t e r i n g p ile s i n t h e

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

115 t

away all sorts o f weird and wonderful trivia, which pops out when you need it. A lot o f the mythology stuff, maybe ninety-five percent o f it, I know fairly well and I ’m interested in. And then there’s stuff that you ’ll read fo r pleasure. I remember this book called Funeral Customs Around the World.

“There are areas where you know your shit and there are areas where you fake it.”

aBOVe: A panel from “Three Septembers

o p p o s ite : A page from the story “Facade”

and a January” in TheSandman #31,

featuring Element Girl, The Sandm an #20,

October 1991. Art by Shawn McManus.

October 1990. Art by Colleen Doran.

t 114

It was wonderful. I picked it up on a whim and started reading and got completely fascinated by the different ways different cultures—based on different environments—have o f disposing unwanted corpses. There are cultures in which you can’t bury them, so what do you do? Sometimes you drop them in a river to be eaten by crocodiles. In Tibet, where they don’t have any wood to burn them with, and don’t have any rivers to throw them in, and the ground is too hard and rocky to bury them, they wind up grinding them up and feeding them to the birds mixed with a little corn as a way o f getting rid o f them. It’s called sky burial. I remember reading that and going, ‘That’s an issue o f Sandman,’ and doing my funeral issue set in a necropolis, with this huge graveyard where all the different burial methods get demonstrated and discussed, just because I thought it was cool. There are areas where you know your shit and there are areas where you fa k e it. The art o f writing is the same as the art o f convincing a teacher that you really did do your homework or you studied something that you didn’t. It’s the art o f lying convincingly and it’s amazing how much you can learn from a little (Salisbury, 1999). Sometimes, a lot o f the time, structure will give me the shape o f the story. And, sometimes, I even wind up abandoning the structure. Sandman #6, “24 Hours”—the horrible one set in the diner—came from a desire at the point, going, “You know, I ’m in a twenty-four-page comic; wouldn’t it be cool to do a story called ‘24 Hours’ in which I do one hour per page?”

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

And then, o f course, I wound up abandoning that structure slightly, because I needed six pages to set up the first hour, and many o f the later hours were done in h alf pages. But that was the idea. I just liked the idea o f doing these beats, hour by hour, through a story. And the story it generated was this nightmarish, monstrous story that probably wouldn’t have existed if I hadn’t thought o f the structure (Wagner, 2008). F r o m w h e r e w e a r e n o w , i t l o o k s lik e G a i m a n k n e w w h a t h e w a s d o i n g a ll a l o n g . B u t i f y o u a s k h i m o u t r i g h t h e ’ll l o o k a t y o u w id e -e y e d , a s to n is h e d it e v e r w o rk e d a n d t h a t h e g o t a w a y w i t h it. H e l ik e n s t h e p ro cess

o f w ritin g

a m o n th ly

c o m ic

to

b e i n g a lit t l e lik e j u m p i n g o u t o f a p l a n e a n d t r y i n g t o k n i t y o u r s e l f a p a r a c h u t e as y o u fa ll. “ I f y o u ’r e w r i t i n g a n o v e l , y o u c a n b e h a lfw a y th r o u g h it o r m o r e b e fo re y o u k n o w w h a t i t ’s a b o u t o r h o w i t ’s g o i n g t o w o rk . Y o u g e t to th e e n d a n d y o u re a liz e h o w t h e e n d fits t o g e t h e r , a n d y o u g o b a c k t o c h a p t e r o n e a n d y o u p l a n t a ll t h e c lu e s t h a t m a k e i t o b v i o u s h o w i t ’s g o i n g t o e n d . W h e n y o u ’r e w o r k i n g o n a m o n t h l y c o m i c , t h a t ’s

not

f e a s ib le

b ecau se

a p art

fro m

a n y t h i n g e ls e , w h e n y o u g e t t o t h e p a r t w h e r e y o u r e a l i z e w h a t i t ’s a ll a b o u t a n d h o w it e n d s, th e p a rts h a v e a lre a d y b e e n p r i n t e d , e v e r y b o d y ’s r e a d t h e m , a n d y o u c a n ’t g o b a c k a n d c h a n g e t h e m n o w . B y t h e tim e I g o t to th e e n d o f w as

w ritin g

th e

The Dolls House

s e c o n d -to -la s t

I

e p is o d e ,

a n d I s u d d e n l y r e a l i z e d I d i d n ’t h a v e a c l u e a b o u t w h a t w a s g o in g to h a p p e n in th e la st o n e ” (K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ). T o a d d to th e p re ss u re o f n o t k n o w in g w h a t w as g o in g to h a p p e n n e x t, G a im a n w a s a b o u t to b e c o m e

th e lin c h p in

in

a

m a j o r s h i f t in c o m i c s p u b l i s h i n g , a n d in c o m ics

fin d in g

th e ir

w ay

in to

re g u la r

b o o k sh o p s. N o w ad ay s, a tra d e p a p e rb a ck c o lle c tio n

is t h e w a y m a n y p e o p l e b u y

c o m ic s , r a th e r th a n in w e e k ly o r m o n th ly in s ta llm e n ts — it a r riv e s n o t lo n g a fte r th e la s t

issu e

in

a

sto ry lin e

and

u s u a lly

c o n t a i n s a b o u t s i x t o e i g h t is s u e s . L o t s o f p e o p le

ch o o se th e m

o v e r c o lle c tin g th e

i n d i v i d u a l is s u e s i n t e e t e r i n g p ile s i n t h e

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

115 t

happened b o o k s lik e

Returns,

so m e tim e s

Watchmen

for

b ig

a m b itio u s

The Dark Knight

and

b u t it w a s in n o w a y e x p e c te d . A t

le a s t, n o t b y N e il: “W e h a d n o id e a th a t

ageNtiNplace

a n y th in g w a s g o in g to b e c o lle c te d a t th a t p o in t. I f w e h a d , have b een

Dream Country

f iv e , m a y b e

w o u ld

a youNg LiteRaRy ageNt

s i x is s u e s r a t h e r

f r o m t h e r e w a s c o l l e c t e d in a w a y t h a t w a s

o r b i t w h e n T i t a n B o o k s a s k e d h e r to

v ia b le f o r b o o k s h o p s . It w a s a n i m p o r t a n t

h a n d l e t h e U .S . r i g h t s t o

p i e c e in t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n

H a v in g b a g g e d

o f th e g ra p h ic

saw

n o v e l o u tsid e o f c o m ic sh o p s.

aBOVe: Notes for

c o r n e r s o f r o o m s — t h e y s a y t h i n g s lik e “ I ’ll

The Sandman #60, #61, and #62.

w a it fo r

o p p o s ite :

th e ir h e a d , co m p le te w ith p e rfe c t m a tc h in g

A double-page spread in The Kindly Ones, The

s p in e s . B a c k in 1 9 8 9 w h e n t h e l a s t i s s u e o f

Sandman #69, July 1995, by M arc Hempel.

t 116

th e

tra d e ” an d

th e sh o p , a v isio n

The Doll’s House

w ander

out of

o f t h e i r b o o k s h e l f in

w a s a b o u t to la n d , tr a d e

p a p e rb a c k s d id n o t u s u a lly h a p p e n . T h e y

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

ca lle d

M e r r i l e e H e i f e t z f le w i n t o G a i m a n ’s

th a n f o u r ” (W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) . E v e r y s to r y a rc

It was one o f those things that if you look back on it, you think, “My God. Wasn’t Gaiman a brilliant career strategist,” but the way it happened was that DC had heard that in R o l l i n g S t o n e ’s “Hot Issue” o f 1989, they had picked S a n d m a n as the hot comic. Bruce Bristow [vice president o f sales and marketing at DC Comics] decided to take out an ad. The economics o f taking out an ad meant they had to have something to sell. The sudden idea was, we’re going to do a graphic novel collection o f T h e D o l l ’s H o u s e , the book we were already on. Which meant that suddenly, issue sixteen was hitting the stands and T h e D o l l ’s H o u s e collection was coming out at exactly the same time, looking like it had been designed over a couple o f days. Which is exactly what happened, because they only had two days to put it together, no corrections really o f any kind at that point got made. We were bugging out. Bristow was convinced it was an enormous failure, because only a dozen people called the number o ff the ad to order it, and he wasted fifty thousand dollars o f DCs money, or whatever, except because we had this book, actually, it seemed to be selling, and Bruce wanted to stand behind this thing, and he and Bob Wayne [DC Comics’ retail promotions manager] had the idea o f S a n d m a n Month because now we had the book after and the book before—we had P r e l u d e s & N o c t u r n e s and we had D r e a m C o u n t r y . They came up with various things: a poster, and a watch, and a

th e b o o k b e c o m e

a

stu n n e d

to

m eet

a fte r

N e il

th is

O c to b e r

d e a l th a t

a b e s tse lle r,

G a im a n

w om an .

Sandman

Don’t Panic .

a $ 5 0 ,0 0 0

w a n te d

O ne

m o n th

# 1 h i t t h e s h e lv e s in

1 9 8 8 , G a im a n m e t H e ife tz

t o t a l k a b o u t h is f u t u r e . S a y s H e if e tz : “ H e s h o w e d m e h is c o m i c s a n d sa id h e n e e d e d a n a g e n t to n e g o tia te h is

next

deal

w ith

DC,

but

s a id

h e w o u l d b e w r i t i n g n o v e ls in

th e

near

one

f u tu re .

B ack

th e n ,

no

p u b l i s h e d g r a p h i c n o v e l s . T h is w a s n o t c o n s id e r e d to b e a n in te r e s tin g o r lu c ra tiv e a r e a o f p u b lis h in g — a n d

T-shirt, and I was the one going, “Why are you guys trying to bring all this stuff out in one month? For God’s sake, spread it out!” They said, “No, no, no, it’s going to be S a n d m a n Month!” I thought they were stupid. And they did it, and it went huge. It worked, and I had to apologize. Statues! It was the first statue. Suddenly, we had a little line o f books, and part o f S a n d m a n Month was that you got a slipcase (Wagner, 2008). T h e tim in g w as e x a c tly rig h t, a n d

Sandman N e il e v e n

w a s p ro p e lle d ta lk e d

to

a new

le v e l.

re le a sin g th e

a n y th in g , th e re

a re

an

co n s id e re d

to

be

a t a ll.

B u t even

t h a t ’s t h e d e l i g h t o f i t f o r m e . W h e n y o u g e t

b o o k r e a d e r p e r se, I w a s co m p le te ly

t o t h e e n d t h e r e is o n e w a y t h a t i t

had

to

g o . T h a t ’s w h y i t c a n t a k e m e fiv e o r s i x

b e g u ile d

th o u g h

p u b lish in g

in fin ite n u m b e r o f w a y s t h a t it c a n g o . A n d

by

th e

I w a s n ’t a c o m i c

w ritin g

and

th e

sto ry , a n d I k n e w N e il G a im a n w a s

d a y s t o w r i t e t h e f i r s t fiv e o r s i x p a g e s o f a

u n q u e s tio n a b ly th e re a l d e a l. A n d I

Sandman . I

j u s t t h o u g h t , ‘I r e a l l y w a n t t o w o r k

w ill n o r m a l l y d o t h e l a s t e i g h t

p a g e s in a n i g h t . B y t h e t i m e y o u g e t t o

w ith

p a g e s e v e n te e n , th e r e s t o f it h a s d e fin e d

d o e s w r i t e n o v e ls s o m e d a y t h e y w ill

its e lf .

p r o b a b l y b e in c r e d ib l e .’ S o I a g r e e d

The

b ra n c h in g

p a th s

are

g e ttin g

th is

gu y b ecau se

if h e

re a lly

fe w e r a n d fe w e r w ith e a c h d e c isio n th a t

to

y o u m a k e . I t t h e n g o e s o f f a n d i t ’s g r a v e n in

DC

s t o n e . W h i c h is w h a t t h e w r i t i n g o f f i c t i o n

a d v a n c e s sim p ly b e c a u s e h e w a s ju s t

is a ll a b o u t . U n l e s s y o u ’r e i n t o

th a t g o o d . B u t n o o n e h a d an ag e n t

‘C h o o s e

n e g o t i a t e h is l o n g , i m p e n e t r a b l e c o n tra c ts

for

re la tiv e ly

sm a ll

fo r c o m ic s a t th a t p o in t. T h e re w e re

in h a r d ­

a ll t h e y d o is g i v e y o u t h e i l l u s i o n o f b e i n g

b ig c o m i c b o o k w r ite rs , A la n M o o r e

c o v e r . “ I t m a d e t h i n g s h a p p e n , in t e r m s

a b le t o f o l l o w p a t h s a n d m a k e c h o i c e s . I

f o r i n s t a n c e , b u t n o o n e g o t i n t o th is

o f th e w a y w e w e re lo o k e d

d o n ’t t h i n k o n e s h o u l d b e a b le t o f o l l o w

b u s in e s s f o r th e m o n e y a n d n o b o d y

every

n e e d e d a n a g e n t . D C h a t e d h a v i n g to

g o t N o rm a n

in to

s ta r t a sto ry , o r

t h e c o m i c s b u s i n e s s w a s n ’t a c t u a l l y

Y o u r O w n A d v e n tu re ’ g a m e s . E v e n th e n ,

fo u rth v o lu m e ,

DC

The

p i c k i n g u p a s h e w e n t a l o n g . “W h e n y o u

Season o f Mists,

a t, a n d w e

M a ile r to g iv e u s a q u o te ”

(W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ).

p a th . I th in k o n e o f th e g r e a t th in g s

a b o u t f i c t i o n is t h a t i t t a k e s t h e c h a o s o f life a n d f e e d s i t b a c k t o o n e i n a f o r m t h a t is e m o t i o n a l l y s a t i s f y i n g ” ( V i n c e , 1 9 9 0 ) .

W hen

Sandman

G a im a n

s ta rte d

w ritin g

The

( “in a s ta te o f a b s o lu te d e lirio u s

In

a ra re

o ccu rre n ce ,

h e ’d

g e t lu c k y

d e a l w i t h m e .” H e ife tz

is

s till

h is

agent

to d a y

a n d n e g o tia te d th e d e a l fo r th e b o o k y o u ’r e h o l d i n g n o w .

a n d e n d u p d o in g th e w h o le th in g in a

t e r r o r ” ) it t o o k h i m a b o u t a w e e k - a n d - a -

w e e k e n d — l ik e

h a lf to tw o w e e k s to w r ite a c o m p le te s c rip t

C a t s ,” w h i c h w a s w r i t t e n i n j u s t a c o u p l e o f

f o r a sin g le is s u e , s lo w e r a t th e s t a r t a n d

days

fo llo w in g

“D r e a m

a

d riv e

of

a

dow n

T housand

a n a rro w

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

117 t

happened b o o k s lik e

Returns,

so m e tim e s

Watchmen

for

b ig

a m b itio u s

The Dark Knight

and

b u t it w a s in n o w a y e x p e c te d . A t

le a s t, n o t b y N e il: “W e h a d n o id e a th a t

ageNtiNplace

a n y th in g w a s g o in g to b e c o lle c te d a t th a t p o in t. I f w e h a d , have b een

Dream Country

f iv e , m a y b e

w o u ld

a youNg LiteRaRy ageNt

s i x is s u e s r a t h e r

f r o m t h e r e w a s c o l l e c t e d in a w a y t h a t w a s

o r b i t w h e n T i t a n B o o k s a s k e d h e r to

v ia b le f o r b o o k s h o p s . It w a s a n i m p o r t a n t

h a n d l e t h e U .S . r i g h t s t o

p i e c e in t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n

H a v in g b a g g e d

o f th e g ra p h ic

saw

n o v e l o u tsid e o f c o m ic sh o p s.

aBOVe: Notes for

c o r n e r s o f r o o m s — t h e y s a y t h i n g s lik e “ I ’ll

The Sandman #60, #61, and #62.

w a it fo r

o p p o s ite :

th e ir h e a d , co m p le te w ith p e rfe c t m a tc h in g

A double-page spread in The Kindly Ones, The

s p in e s . B a c k in 1 9 8 9 w h e n t h e l a s t i s s u e o f

Sandman #69, July 1995, by M arc Hempel.

t 116

th e

tra d e ” an d

th e sh o p , a v isio n

The Doll’s House

w ander

out of

o f t h e i r b o o k s h e l f in

w a s a b o u t to la n d , tr a d e

p a p e rb a c k s d id n o t u s u a lly h a p p e n . T h e y

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

ca lle d

M e r r i l e e H e i f e t z f le w i n t o G a i m a n ’s

th a n f o u r ” (W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) . E v e r y s to r y a rc

It was one o f those things that if you look back on it, you think, “My God. Wasn’t Gaiman a brilliant career strategist,” but the way it happened was that DC had heard that in R o l l i n g S t o n e ’s “Hot Issue” o f 1989, they had picked S a n d m a n as the hot comic. Bruce Bristow [vice president o f sales and marketing at DC Comics] decided to take out an ad. The economics o f taking out an ad meant they had to have something to sell. The sudden idea was, we’re going to do a graphic novel collection o f T h e D o l l ’s H o u s e , the book we were already on. Which meant that suddenly, issue sixteen was hitting the stands and T h e D o l l ’s H o u s e collection was coming out at exactly the same time, looking like it had been designed over a couple o f days. Which is exactly what happened, because they only had two days to put it together, no corrections really o f any kind at that point got made. We were bugging out. Bristow was convinced it was an enormous failure, because only a dozen people called the number o ff the ad to order it, and he wasted fifty thousand dollars o f DCs money, or whatever, except because we had this book, actually, it seemed to be selling, and Bruce wanted to stand behind this thing, and he and Bob Wayne [DC Comics’ retail promotions manager] had the idea o f S a n d m a n Month because now we had the book after and the book before—we had P r e l u d e s & N o c t u r n e s and we had D r e a m C o u n t r y . They came up with various things: a poster, and a watch, and a

th e b o o k b e c o m e

a

stu n n e d

to

m eet

a fte r

N e il

th is

O c to b e r

d e a l th a t

a b e s tse lle r,

G a im a n

w om an .

Sandman

Don’t Panic .

a $ 5 0 ,0 0 0

w a n te d

O ne

m o n th

# 1 h i t t h e s h e lv e s in

1 9 8 8 , G a im a n m e t H e ife tz

t o t a l k a b o u t h is f u t u r e . S a y s H e if e tz : “ H e s h o w e d m e h is c o m i c s a n d sa id h e n e e d e d a n a g e n t to n e g o tia te h is

next

deal

w ith

DC,

but

s a id

h e w o u l d b e w r i t i n g n o v e ls in

th e

near

one

f u tu re .

B ack

th e n ,

no

p u b l i s h e d g r a p h i c n o v e l s . T h is w a s n o t c o n s id e r e d to b e a n in te r e s tin g o r lu c ra tiv e a r e a o f p u b lis h in g — a n d

T-shirt, and I was the one going, “Why are you guys trying to bring all this stuff out in one month? For God’s sake, spread it out!” They said, “No, no, no, it’s going to be S a n d m a n Month!” I thought they were stupid. And they did it, and it went huge. It worked, and I had to apologize. Statues! It was the first statue. Suddenly, we had a little line o f books, and part o f S a n d m a n Month was that you got a slipcase (Wagner, 2008). T h e tim in g w as e x a c tly rig h t, a n d

Sandman N e il e v e n

w a s p ro p e lle d ta lk e d

to

a new

le v e l.

re le a sin g th e

a n y th in g , th e re

a re

an

co n s id e re d

to

be

a t a ll.

B u t even

t h a t ’s t h e d e l i g h t o f i t f o r m e . W h e n y o u g e t

b o o k r e a d e r p e r se, I w a s co m p le te ly

t o t h e e n d t h e r e is o n e w a y t h a t i t

had

to

g o . T h a t ’s w h y i t c a n t a k e m e fiv e o r s i x

b e g u ile d

th o u g h

p u b lish in g

in fin ite n u m b e r o f w a y s t h a t it c a n g o . A n d

by

th e

I w a s n ’t a c o m i c

w ritin g

and

th e

sto ry , a n d I k n e w N e il G a im a n w a s

d a y s t o w r i t e t h e f i r s t fiv e o r s i x p a g e s o f a

u n q u e s tio n a b ly th e re a l d e a l. A n d I

Sandman . I

j u s t t h o u g h t , ‘I r e a l l y w a n t t o w o r k

w ill n o r m a l l y d o t h e l a s t e i g h t

p a g e s in a n i g h t . B y t h e t i m e y o u g e t t o

w ith

p a g e s e v e n te e n , th e r e s t o f it h a s d e fin e d

d o e s w r i t e n o v e ls s o m e d a y t h e y w ill

its e lf .

p r o b a b l y b e in c r e d ib l e .’ S o I a g r e e d

The

b ra n c h in g

p a th s

are

g e ttin g

th is

gu y b ecau se

if h e

re a lly

fe w e r a n d fe w e r w ith e a c h d e c isio n th a t

to

y o u m a k e . I t t h e n g o e s o f f a n d i t ’s g r a v e n in

DC

s t o n e . W h i c h is w h a t t h e w r i t i n g o f f i c t i o n

a d v a n c e s sim p ly b e c a u s e h e w a s ju s t

is a ll a b o u t . U n l e s s y o u ’r e i n t o

th a t g o o d . B u t n o o n e h a d an ag e n t

‘C h o o s e

n e g o t i a t e h is l o n g , i m p e n e t r a b l e c o n tra c ts

for

re la tiv e ly

sm a ll

fo r c o m ic s a t th a t p o in t. T h e re w e re

in h a r d ­

a ll t h e y d o is g i v e y o u t h e i l l u s i o n o f b e i n g

b ig c o m i c b o o k w r ite rs , A la n M o o r e

c o v e r . “ I t m a d e t h i n g s h a p p e n , in t e r m s

a b le t o f o l l o w p a t h s a n d m a k e c h o i c e s . I

f o r i n s t a n c e , b u t n o o n e g o t i n t o th is

o f th e w a y w e w e re lo o k e d

d o n ’t t h i n k o n e s h o u l d b e a b le t o f o l l o w

b u s in e s s f o r th e m o n e y a n d n o b o d y

every

n e e d e d a n a g e n t . D C h a t e d h a v i n g to

g o t N o rm a n

in to

s ta r t a sto ry , o r

t h e c o m i c s b u s i n e s s w a s n ’t a c t u a l l y

Y o u r O w n A d v e n tu re ’ g a m e s . E v e n th e n ,

fo u rth v o lu m e ,

DC

The

p i c k i n g u p a s h e w e n t a l o n g . “W h e n y o u

Season o f Mists,

a t, a n d w e

M a ile r to g iv e u s a q u o te ”

(W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ).

p a th . I th in k o n e o f th e g r e a t th in g s

a b o u t f i c t i o n is t h a t i t t a k e s t h e c h a o s o f life a n d f e e d s i t b a c k t o o n e i n a f o r m t h a t is e m o t i o n a l l y s a t i s f y i n g ” ( V i n c e , 1 9 9 0 ) .

W hen

Sandman

G a im a n

s ta rte d

w ritin g

The

( “in a s ta te o f a b s o lu te d e lirio u s

In

a ra re

o ccu rre n ce ,

h e ’d

g e t lu c k y

d e a l w i t h m e .” H e ife tz

is

s till

h is

agent

to d a y

a n d n e g o tia te d th e d e a l fo r th e b o o k y o u ’r e h o l d i n g n o w .

a n d e n d u p d o in g th e w h o le th in g in a

t e r r o r ” ) it t o o k h i m a b o u t a w e e k - a n d - a -

w e e k e n d — l ik e

h a lf to tw o w e e k s to w r ite a c o m p le te s c rip t

C a t s ,” w h i c h w a s w r i t t e n i n j u s t a c o u p l e o f

f o r a sin g le is s u e , s lo w e r a t th e s t a r t a n d

days

fo llo w in g

“D r e a m

a

d riv e

of

a

dow n

T housand

a n a rro w

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

117 t

fo ld e d -u p , s c rib b ly v e rs io n o f th e c o m ic as h e w e n t . “ I ’d t a k e t w e l v e p i e c e s o f p a p e r a n d fo ld t h e m o v e r so y o u h a v e t h e c o v e r, and

e v e ry th in g

ir rita te

DC

in c lu d in g

b ecau se

th e

I ’d w a n t

ad s. to

I ’d

know

w h e re th e ad s w e re g o in g to b e p la c e d . T h e y h a t e d t h a t , b u t i t ’s k i n d o f u s e f u l ” (S a lis b u ry , 1 9 9 9 ) . W ith

D ave

M cK ean ,

G a im a n

v e ry

r a r e l y w r i t e s a f u ll s c r i p t , b u t t h e n G a i m a n a n d M c K e a n h a v e a w e ird s o r t o f te le p a th ic c o n n e c t i o n . W i t h a ll t h e s e n e w p e o p l e o n b o a r d , n o t h i n g c o u ld b e le ft to c h a n c e . H e w o rk e d o u t e v e ry p a n e l p ro g re s s io n ; e v e ry l i n e w h e r e a n y c h a r a c t e r is s t a n d i n g is a ll in t h e s c r i p t . “ T h e r e ’s n o t h i n g a c c i d e n t a l in

Sandman,

b ecau se

was miserable on deadlines and was not set out fo r deadlines, and everybody was happier, including Mike. Suddenly we realized that we had this new weird world. And the new weird world was one in which we may as well get lots o f different artists to do short stories, and I could sometimes audition people fo r a longer storyline—just try and find the right artist. That was really interesting, trying to fin d the right artist fo r the right storyline. Going okay, I love Shawn McManus but I love it when he does this. So I wonder if I can get him to do t h i s .”

I w a n t it to

be

th e re .

am

a

Sandman

I

is

O f a ll t h e a r t i s t s , Jill T h o m p s o n o f

Godmother f a m e

Scary

h a s th e b e s t o rig in s to ry .

c o n c e r n e d . T h o s e a r e t h e t e r m s t h a t i t ’s d o n e o n . I f y o u w a n t to d o a n is s u e o f y o u ’r e g o i n g t o g e t f o r t y - e i g h t

p a g e s o f c lo s e ly -w r itte n s c rip t f r o m

m e”

(K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ).

Sandman

a rtis ts — a n d

th e re

w e re

m a n y — c a m e i n t o t h e f o l d in v a r i o u s w a y s . I n itia lly , t h e i d e a l w a s t o d o t h e t h i n g t h a t S ie g e l a n d S h u s t e r d i d , w h e r e t h e w r i t e r a n d a r tis t t e a m s tic k s t o g e th e r f o r e te rn ity . B u t th e n S a m K ie th b a ile d .

c o u n t r y r o a d o u ts id e o f L o n d o n . “I s a w a

aB O ve aND o p p o s ite : Michael Zulli’s pencils for

l a r g e c a t s i t t i n g o n t h e s id e o f t h e r o a d ,

The Wake, The Sandman

v e r y b ig , a n d v e ry , v e r y b la c k , ju s t lo o k in g

#70, August 1995.

lik e a little p a t c h o f n i g h t . A n d I t h o u g h t : Y o u k n o w , if th e S a n d m a n w a s a c a t,

that’s

w h a t t h e c h a r a c t e r w o u l d lo o k lik e ” ( B a k e r , 2 0 0 7 ). T h at w as

The Sandman

# 1 8 in t h e

b a g , as it w e re . B u t m o s tly h e d d e v o te h a lf a m o n th

t 118

to

one

sc rip t, m a k in g

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

a lit t l e

M a r c H e m p e l ’s a r t c a m e a s a s h o c k t o th e

sy s te m

for m a n y read ers w h o

Sandman

b u y in g

w e re

e v e ry m o n t h , e sp e cia lly

to a n y o n e w h o h a d b e e n r e a d in g re g u la r co m ics

a lo n g s id e

a n g u la r

and

The Kindly Ones.

ca rto o n y

a rtw o rk

H is

c la s h e d

w ith e v e ry th in g , in c lu d in g th e a rtis ts o n t h e is s u e s p r e c e d i n g i t — a r t i s t s lik e M i k e A llre d

and

Joh n

W a tk iss

d o in g

sh o rt

World’s End . B u t t h i s w a s o n l y as c o m i n g o u t . The Kindly Ones w a s

s t o r i e s in it w a s

fix e d b y tim e .

a n d i f s o m e t h i n g is t h e r e , i t ’s

b e n e v o le n t d ic ta to r as fa r as

Sandman,

was going to be maybe a five-issue arc. I did not expect it to be thirteen or whatever. It just never stopped.

And when Sam bailed, we figured it would be me, Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm fo r eternity. Only, Mike Dringenberg was a little bit slow. So we’d occasionally need fill-ins, and also sometimes I ’d write a double­ length issue, so we’d need fill-ins. So that was where I went and got Chris Bachalo and Michael Zulli. And then Mike Dringenberg was meant to do B o o k s o f M a g i c #2. So he needed fou r months to do that. So I wrote T h e D r e a m C o u n t r y storiesfo r individual artists while Mike went o ff and did B o o k s o f M a g i c . (But he never did it, he just never quite got to it. Which got a bit awkward.) So then he did the intro story and the out-story fo r S e a s o n o f M i s t s but Kelley Jones became the artistfo r that storyline. And then having done that, Mike Dringenberg left, because Mike

I didn’t have an artist fo r B r i e f I was at San Diego and somebody came over with a drawing o f Death naked that he’d just had done as a convention sketch. And I said: “This is really brilliant. Who did this?” And he said: Jill Thompson. And that afternoon Jill Thompson was in my signing line. She said, “Hello, I ’m Jill Thompson.”And I said: “Y o u ! You drew Death naked!” She turned bright red and started apologizing and going “Sorry, sorry, it was this guy! He asked fo r a naked Death! I ’m sorry!” I said: “No, no, no, I think you’re really good. Do you want to draw a whole S a n d m a n storyline?” I think she was doing W o n d e r W o m a n at that point. And she’s like: “Yeah!” And that’s how Jill came on board. Marc Hempel was meant to be [ H e l l b o y creator] Mike Mignola. For T h e K i n d l y O n e s I knew I wanted somebody whose art style was very blocky and filled with shadows and shapes and just sort o f dark, and flames. I also knew that I wanted to follow that with something very, very detailed and realistic, so T h e W a k e would be such a contrast. But having said that, that was also at the point where I thought T h e K i n d l y O n e s L iv e s .

T h e K i n d l y O n e s has the best rating o f any o f the individual S a n d m a n books on Amazon.com. You may spend an issue or twenty pages going argh, I ’m not sure about this Marc Hempel, and then you forget about it. And then you’re drawn into it. And then Marcs storytelling style takes over. I think when people read it as a whole, and if you don’t have to reacclimatize yourself to Marc and to this sort o f slightly cartoon-y, very powerful, very simplistic, very design-oriented style every month, I think it works a lot better. And also, by T h e K i n d l y O n e s , it was the only time I was writing it absolutely and completely fo r the graphic novel. By T h e K i n d l y O n e s I genuinely, fo r the only time, did not care about the reviews, because I knew the monthly comic was coming out, I knew it was going to work, I knew people were going to buy it. I knew I was going to get to the end. I also knew, by that point, that the thing that was going to last would be the graphic novel. All o f these graphic novels existed, all o f them were going to continue to exist. So I was able to do things that I honestly would never have done earlier in S a n d m a n ’s run just in terms o f not recapping. In everything else I recap, and I recap really well and I hide recaps. So you don’t even know that you ’re being

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

to p : Dream speaks in white on black because Neil wanted him to be distinctive. Dream should sound like the voice in the back of your head.

119 t

fo ld e d -u p , s c rib b ly v e rs io n o f th e c o m ic as h e w e n t . “ I ’d t a k e t w e l v e p i e c e s o f p a p e r a n d fo ld t h e m o v e r so y o u h a v e t h e c o v e r, and

e v e ry th in g

ir rita te

DC

in c lu d in g

b ecau se

th e

I ’d w a n t

ad s. to

I ’d

know

w h e re th e ad s w e re g o in g to b e p la c e d . T h e y h a t e d t h a t , b u t i t ’s k i n d o f u s e f u l ” (S a lis b u ry , 1 9 9 9 ) . W ith

D ave

M cK ean ,

G a im a n

v e ry

r a r e l y w r i t e s a f u ll s c r i p t , b u t t h e n G a i m a n a n d M c K e a n h a v e a w e ird s o r t o f te le p a th ic c o n n e c t i o n . W i t h a ll t h e s e n e w p e o p l e o n b o a r d , n o t h i n g c o u ld b e le ft to c h a n c e . H e w o rk e d o u t e v e ry p a n e l p ro g re s s io n ; e v e ry l i n e w h e r e a n y c h a r a c t e r is s t a n d i n g is a ll in t h e s c r i p t . “ T h e r e ’s n o t h i n g a c c i d e n t a l in

Sandman,

b ecau se

was miserable on deadlines and was not set out fo r deadlines, and everybody was happier, including Mike. Suddenly we realized that we had this new weird world. And the new weird world was one in which we may as well get lots o f different artists to do short stories, and I could sometimes audition people fo r a longer storyline—just try and find the right artist. That was really interesting, trying to fin d the right artist fo r the right storyline. Going okay, I love Shawn McManus but I love it when he does this. So I wonder if I can get him to do t h i s .”

I w a n t it to

be

th e re .

am

a

Sandman

I

is

O f a ll t h e a r t i s t s , Jill T h o m p s o n o f

Godmother f a m e

Scary

h a s th e b e s t o rig in s to ry .

c o n c e r n e d . T h o s e a r e t h e t e r m s t h a t i t ’s d o n e o n . I f y o u w a n t to d o a n is s u e o f y o u ’r e g o i n g t o g e t f o r t y - e i g h t

p a g e s o f c lo s e ly -w r itte n s c rip t f r o m

m e”

(K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ).

Sandman

a rtis ts — a n d

th e re

w e re

m a n y — c a m e i n t o t h e f o l d in v a r i o u s w a y s . I n itia lly , t h e i d e a l w a s t o d o t h e t h i n g t h a t S ie g e l a n d S h u s t e r d i d , w h e r e t h e w r i t e r a n d a r tis t t e a m s tic k s t o g e th e r f o r e te rn ity . B u t th e n S a m K ie th b a ile d .

c o u n t r y r o a d o u ts id e o f L o n d o n . “I s a w a

aB O ve aND o p p o s ite : Michael Zulli’s pencils for

l a r g e c a t s i t t i n g o n t h e s id e o f t h e r o a d ,

The Wake, The Sandman

v e r y b ig , a n d v e ry , v e r y b la c k , ju s t lo o k in g

#70, August 1995.

lik e a little p a t c h o f n i g h t . A n d I t h o u g h t : Y o u k n o w , if th e S a n d m a n w a s a c a t,

that’s

w h a t t h e c h a r a c t e r w o u l d lo o k lik e ” ( B a k e r , 2 0 0 7 ). T h at w as

The Sandman

# 1 8 in t h e

b a g , as it w e re . B u t m o s tly h e d d e v o te h a lf a m o n th

t 118

to

one

sc rip t, m a k in g

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

a lit t l e

M a r c H e m p e l ’s a r t c a m e a s a s h o c k t o th e

sy s te m

for m a n y read ers w h o

Sandman

b u y in g

w e re

e v e ry m o n t h , e sp e cia lly

to a n y o n e w h o h a d b e e n r e a d in g re g u la r co m ics

a lo n g s id e

a n g u la r

and

The Kindly Ones.

ca rto o n y

a rtw o rk

H is

c la s h e d

w ith e v e ry th in g , in c lu d in g th e a rtis ts o n t h e is s u e s p r e c e d i n g i t — a r t i s t s lik e M i k e A llre d

and

Joh n

W a tk iss

d o in g

sh o rt

World’s End . B u t t h i s w a s o n l y as c o m i n g o u t . The Kindly Ones w a s

s t o r i e s in it w a s

fix e d b y tim e .

a n d i f s o m e t h i n g is t h e r e , i t ’s

b e n e v o le n t d ic ta to r as fa r as

Sandman,

was going to be maybe a five-issue arc. I did not expect it to be thirteen or whatever. It just never stopped.

And when Sam bailed, we figured it would be me, Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm fo r eternity. Only, Mike Dringenberg was a little bit slow. So we’d occasionally need fill-ins, and also sometimes I ’d write a double­ length issue, so we’d need fill-ins. So that was where I went and got Chris Bachalo and Michael Zulli. And then Mike Dringenberg was meant to do B o o k s o f M a g i c #2. So he needed fou r months to do that. So I wrote T h e D r e a m C o u n t r y storiesfo r individual artists while Mike went o ff and did B o o k s o f M a g i c . (But he never did it, he just never quite got to it. Which got a bit awkward.) So then he did the intro story and the out-story fo r S e a s o n o f M i s t s but Kelley Jones became the artistfo r that storyline. And then having done that, Mike Dringenberg left, because Mike

I didn’t have an artist fo r B r i e f I was at San Diego and somebody came over with a drawing o f Death naked that he’d just had done as a convention sketch. And I said: “This is really brilliant. Who did this?” And he said: Jill Thompson. And that afternoon Jill Thompson was in my signing line. She said, “Hello, I ’m Jill Thompson.”And I said: “Y o u ! You drew Death naked!” She turned bright red and started apologizing and going “Sorry, sorry, it was this guy! He asked fo r a naked Death! I ’m sorry!” I said: “No, no, no, I think you’re really good. Do you want to draw a whole S a n d m a n storyline?” I think she was doing W o n d e r W o m a n at that point. And she’s like: “Yeah!” And that’s how Jill came on board. Marc Hempel was meant to be [ H e l l b o y creator] Mike Mignola. For T h e K i n d l y O n e s I knew I wanted somebody whose art style was very blocky and filled with shadows and shapes and just sort o f dark, and flames. I also knew that I wanted to follow that with something very, very detailed and realistic, so T h e W a k e would be such a contrast. But having said that, that was also at the point where I thought T h e K i n d l y O n e s L iv e s .

T h e K i n d l y O n e s has the best rating o f any o f the individual S a n d m a n books on Amazon.com. You may spend an issue or twenty pages going argh, I ’m not sure about this Marc Hempel, and then you forget about it. And then you’re drawn into it. And then Marcs storytelling style takes over. I think when people read it as a whole, and if you don’t have to reacclimatize yourself to Marc and to this sort o f slightly cartoon-y, very powerful, very simplistic, very design-oriented style every month, I think it works a lot better. And also, by T h e K i n d l y O n e s , it was the only time I was writing it absolutely and completely fo r the graphic novel. By T h e K i n d l y O n e s I genuinely, fo r the only time, did not care about the reviews, because I knew the monthly comic was coming out, I knew it was going to work, I knew people were going to buy it. I knew I was going to get to the end. I also knew, by that point, that the thing that was going to last would be the graphic novel. All o f these graphic novels existed, all o f them were going to continue to exist. So I was able to do things that I honestly would never have done earlier in S a n d m a n ’s run just in terms o f not recapping. In everything else I recap, and I recap really well and I hide recaps. So you don’t even know that you ’re being

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

to p : Dream speaks in white on black because Neil wanted him to be distinctive. Dream should sound like the voice in the back of your head.

119 t

People who were picking up The Kindly Ones on a monthly basis were also only

aBOVe: Final issue of

Sandman, M arch 1996.

getting pieces of story—the issues were not self-contained shorts—so readers would miss the immediacy of the story. “If you’re reading it over seven or eight months, you get one episode of it that is pure out-and-out horror, followed a month later by one episode that is pure, out-and-out fantasy, and it’s sort of as if somebody’s saying, ‘Well, I’m making a sandwich here, and the first thing we have is one piece of rye bread.’ And you wait a month and they say, And we’ve got peanut butter.’ And you wait another month and they say, ‘A nd we’ve got cucumbers.’ What? Huh? This is too weird. But when you’re just handed it as a sandwich, it works fine” (Kraft, 1993). The story that followed The Kindly Ones was to be the last. Michael Zulli’s softly colored pencils gave a quiet respect to the somber tone of the book. And it was always going to be that way.

o p p o s ite : The last

Sandman story, printed in Dustcovers, 1997— Neil's anecdotal, personal coda to the series, in which he glimpses Morpheus in the night.

recapped. Nobody ever says “the story so far" but somewhere in the first three pages I ’ve tried to plant enough information that if this is the first copy o f Sandman you’ve ever picked up, you can pretty much follow what’s going on. And with The Kindly Ones, I didn’t really bother. It was like: if you’re lost, this is okay. This is being written fo r the graphic novel people.

t 120

“ The re a l p r o b le m w it h s to rie s — i f y o u ke e p th e m g o in g lo n g e n o u g h , th e y a lw a y s e n d in d e a th .”

I floated my little trial balloon along about issue twenty-two, twentythree. We’d been doing thisfo r a couple o f years, and I remember saying to Karen somewhere in there, “I think I ’m going to want Sandman to stop when I stop.”And she said, “You know that will never happen” and so on. A few months later, I was having dinner with Jenette Kahn, and during the course o f the dinner, I said, “I think I ’m going to want Sandman to stop when I stop” and she said, “Oh, sweetie, you know, that’s not the way we do things in comics” and so on. And I said, “Okay, not a problem”

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

And I just carried on with my grand plan, and everything kept going. And then people started asking me in interviews what I ’m going to be doing, and how its going to work once Sandman stops. And I said, “DC will stop Sandman when I ’m done, which I would really like, or they’ll carry on, and I would not do any further work everfo r DC. I f they stop it when I stop it, I will maintain a very cheerful business relationship with DC” And that’s basically what they did. Whether those interview quotes did any good or not, I don’t know, but it is very true that around issue sixtyish, well over two years away from the end o f Sandman, I remember Karen just saying to me at some point, “We really aren’t going to be able to continue this when you’re done, are we? We should just end this” and I said, “Yes” And it was never more complicated or big or grandiose than that. Years had gone by, and honestly, now it was obvious. The problem I think I managed to avoid by stopping Sandman after ten years was that I was no longer the twenty-six-year-old who began Sandman. When I ended, I was still more or less him. I can write things that are cooler or smarter, but I can’t write them with the sheer sense o f exuberance, the sense that I was breaking new ground, that he did (Wagner, 2008). And that was Sandman. “ Y ou w o k e u p ” ❖

People who were picking up The Kindly Ones on a monthly basis were also only

aBOVe: Final issue of

Sandman, M arch 1996.

getting pieces of story—the issues were not self-contained shorts—so readers would miss the immediacy of the story. “If you’re reading it over seven or eight months, you get one episode of it that is pure out-and-out horror, followed a month later by one episode that is pure, out-and-out fantasy, and it’s sort of as if somebody’s saying, ‘Well, I’m making a sandwich here, and the first thing we have is one piece of rye bread.’ And you wait a month and they say, And we’ve got peanut butter.’ And you wait another month and they say, ‘A nd we’ve got cucumbers.’ What? Huh? This is too weird. But when you’re just handed it as a sandwich, it works fine” (Kraft, 1993). The story that followed The Kindly Ones was to be the last. Michael Zulli’s softly colored pencils gave a quiet respect to the somber tone of the book. And it was always going to be that way.

o p p o s ite : The last

Sandman story, printed in Dustcovers, 1997— Neil's anecdotal, personal coda to the series, in which he glimpses Morpheus in the night.

recapped. Nobody ever says “the story so far" but somewhere in the first three pages I ’ve tried to plant enough information that if this is the first copy o f Sandman you’ve ever picked up, you can pretty much follow what’s going on. And with The Kindly Ones, I didn’t really bother. It was like: if you’re lost, this is okay. This is being written fo r the graphic novel people.

t 120

“ The re a l p r o b le m w it h s to rie s — i f y o u ke e p th e m g o in g lo n g e n o u g h , th e y a lw a y s e n d in d e a th .”

I floated my little trial balloon along about issue twenty-two, twentythree. We’d been doing thisfo r a couple o f years, and I remember saying to Karen somewhere in there, “I think I ’m going to want Sandman to stop when I stop.”And she said, “You know that will never happen” and so on. A few months later, I was having dinner with Jenette Kahn, and during the course o f the dinner, I said, “I think I ’m going to want Sandman to stop when I stop” and she said, “Oh, sweetie, you know, that’s not the way we do things in comics” and so on. And I said, “Okay, not a problem”

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

And I just carried on with my grand plan, and everything kept going. And then people started asking me in interviews what I ’m going to be doing, and how its going to work once Sandman stops. And I said, “DC will stop Sandman when I ’m done, which I would really like, or they’ll carry on, and I would not do any further work everfo r DC. I f they stop it when I stop it, I will maintain a very cheerful business relationship with DC” And that’s basically what they did. Whether those interview quotes did any good or not, I don’t know, but it is very true that around issue sixtyish, well over two years away from the end o f Sandman, I remember Karen just saying to me at some point, “We really aren’t going to be able to continue this when you’re done, are we? We should just end this” and I said, “Yes” And it was never more complicated or big or grandiose than that. Years had gone by, and honestly, now it was obvious. The problem I think I managed to avoid by stopping Sandman after ten years was that I was no longer the twenty-six-year-old who began Sandman. When I ended, I was still more or less him. I can write things that are cooler or smarter, but I can’t write them with the sheer sense o f exuberance, the sense that I was breaking new ground, that he did (Wagner, 2008). And that was Sandman. “ Y ou w o k e u p ” ❖

say , “H a v e y o u g o t a n y m o r e ? ” W h e n t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p w o u l d c o lla p s e , t h e g ir ls w o u l d t a k e t h e S a n d m a n s , a n d t h e y w o u l d h a n d t h e m to t h e ir n e x t

ÜND tH eN tH . IS eR

b o y fr ie n d S lo w ly ,

DeatH

or

th ey

th e ir

n e x t g i r lfr ie n d .

becam e

th is

s e x u a lly

t r a n s m i t t e d th in g . S a n d m a n s p r e a d . I w a s in c r e d ib ly p r o u d o f t h a t. I t h a d a lw a y s s e e m e d

to m e j u s t p e c u l i a r

t h a t h a l f t h e h u m a n r a c e d i d n ’t r e a d c o m ic s . I w a s w r i t in g a

c o m ic f o r

e v e r y b o d y , t r y in g to k e e p a g e n d e r b a l a n c e o f t h e c h a r a c t e r s a n d tr y in g

“People are used to the idea of Death with a s ic w

to w r i t e s o m e t h i n g t h a t w a s n ’t t h e p r e a d o le s c e n t

wanted to do a Death that would challenge people’s conception. I

m a le

p o w e r fa n ta s y

(S te e l, 2 0 1 1 ) .

wanted to do the kind of Death that I would want to m eet w hen I die."

“Sandman was a comic that guys would hand to their girlfriends”

US SOON a s SH e W a L k e D iN to tHe c ity sguaRe on page tHRee of “tHe sound of HeR wiNgs” aND BouNceD a Baguette off HeR mopiNg BRotHeR’s teaseD HaiR, faNs feLL in Love witH HeR.

Young

g o th y

w om en

w e a rin g

ank hs

a n d e y e lin e r w o u ld d ro p in a t th e c o m ic sh o p , p ic k u p a n issu e o f S a n d m a n , a n d

o b o d y c o u ld h e lp it; D e a t h s to le th e sh o w . T h e id e a th a t a t t h e e n d o f y o u r

w a lk s tr a ig h t o u t. A lo t o f t h e m

life y o u g e t t o w a l k o f f h o l d i n g t h e h a n d o f a g i r l lik e t h a t w a s s o m e h o w lif e -

o th e r th in g s o f c o u r s e , b u t th e r e w e re th o s e

a f f i r m i n g , lik e e v e r y t h i n g w o u l d t u r n o u t a ll r i g h t in t h e e n d . G a i m a n t h i n k s

w h o w e re sim p ly th e r e f o r M o rp h e u s a n d

N

o n e o f th e r e a s o n s sh e b e c a m e so in s ta n tly p o p u la r w a s d u e to th e f a c t th a t sh e w a s

bought

h is s is te r .

s i m p l y v e r y n i c e in a t i m e w h e n t h e r e w e r e v e r y f e w n i c e p e o p l e in c o m i c s . C h a r a c t e r s

G a i m a n h a d b e e n t h i n k i n g a b o u t g iv in g

w e r e la r g e l y c o l o r l e s s o r f u ll o f a n g s t . “S h e ’s s e n s i b l e , n o t n a i v e , b u t i n n o c e n t . S h e h a s

D e a th h e r v e r y o w n m in is e r ie s f o r a w h ile ,

t h e i n n o c e n c e o f o n e w h o h a s b e e n t h e r e a n d d o n e t h a t a n d c o m e o u t t h e o t h e r s i d e . I t’s

u n t i l K a r e n B e r g e r p h o n e d in

a l m o s t a s o r t o f h o l y i n n o c e n c e . S h e ’s t h e k i n d o f p e r s o n y o u ’d lik e t o m e e t a n d s p e n d a

g a v e h i m a r e a s o n t o a c t u a l l y d o it.

1991

and

d a y w ith .” D e a t h is t h e p e a c e k e e p e r a m o n g t h e E n d l e s s , lik e s h o t d o g s , p a r t i e s , b o o k s w i t h h a p p y e n d i n g s , a n d D i s n e y f ilm s . S h e d r e s s e s e n t i r e l y in b l a c k , w e a r s t o o m u c h e y e l i n e r , a n d w a s a b o u t as fa r a w a y f r o m c o m i c b o o k c h a r a c te r s as y o u c o u ld g e t. Y o u c o u ld se e D e a t h i n t h e s t r e e t , a n d a f t e r S a n d m a n , y o u f r e q u e n t l y d id . I t w a s k i n d o f N e i l ’s f a u l t — h e g o t a lo t o f w o m e n to re a d c o m ic s .

T h e p o i n t t h a t I r e a l i z e d t h a t w a s h a p p e n i n g w a s a b o u t y e a r t w o o r y e a r th r e e , a n d I ’d b e g o i n g to p l a c e s l i k e t h e S a n D ie g o c o m i c b o o k c o n v e n t io n . F a t, u n w a s h e d g e n t l e m e n in s t a i n e d T - s h ir t s w o u l d c o m e u p to m e a n d e x t e n d t h e i r h a n d s in

aBOVe: Death: The High Cost o f Living notes.

g r a t i t u d e a n d say , “L e t m e s h a k e y o u r h a n d ! Y ou b r o u g h t w o m e n in t o m y s t o r e .” A n d t h e r e w a s a p a r t o f m e t h a t a lw a y s w a n t e d to g o , “I f y o u s w e e p it, t h e y ’ll c o m e b a c k ! ” W h a t w a s g r e a t a b o u t S a n d m a n w a s y o u h a d a c o m ic th a t g u y s w o u ld h a n d

L eft: Death and doo-wop, by Neil.

to t h e i r g i r l f r i e n d s a n d sa y , “L o o k , r e a d th is .” A n d t h e g i r l f r i e n d s w o u l d r e a d it a n d

t 122

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

CHapteR 3 |veRtigo HeigHts

123 t

say , “H a v e y o u g o t a n y m o r e ? ” W h e n t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p w o u l d c o lla p s e , t h e g ir ls w o u l d t a k e t h e S a n d m a n s , a n d t h e y w o u l d h a n d t h e m to t h e ir n e x t

ÜND tH eN tH . IS eR

b o y fr ie n d S lo w ly ,

DeatH

or

th ey

th e ir

n e x t g i r lfr ie n d .

becam e

th is

s e x u a lly

t r a n s m i t t e d th in g . S a n d m a n s p r e a d . I w a s in c r e d ib ly p r o u d o f t h a t. I t h a d a lw a y s s e e m e d

to m e j u s t p e c u l i a r

t h a t h a l f t h e h u m a n r a c e d i d n ’t r e a d c o m ic s . I w a s w r i t in g a

c o m ic f o r

e v e r y b o d y , t r y in g to k e e p a g e n d e r b a l a n c e o f t h e c h a r a c t e r s a n d tr y in g

“People are used to the idea of Death with a s ic w

to w r i t e s o m e t h i n g t h a t w a s n ’t t h e p r e a d o le s c e n t

wanted to do a Death that would challenge people’s conception. I

m a le

p o w e r fa n ta s y

(S te e l, 2 0 1 1 ) .

wanted to do the kind of Death that I would want to m eet w hen I die."

“Sandman was a comic that guys would hand to their girlfriends”

US SOON a s SH e W a L k e D iN to tHe c ity sguaRe on page tHRee of “tHe sound of HeR wiNgs” aND BouNceD a Baguette off HeR mopiNg BRotHeR’s teaseD HaiR, faNs feLL in Love witH HeR.

Young

g o th y

w om en

w e a rin g

ank hs

a n d e y e lin e r w o u ld d ro p in a t th e c o m ic sh o p , p ic k u p a n issu e o f S a n d m a n , a n d

o b o d y c o u ld h e lp it; D e a t h s to le th e sh o w . T h e id e a th a t a t t h e e n d o f y o u r

w a lk s tr a ig h t o u t. A lo t o f t h e m

life y o u g e t t o w a l k o f f h o l d i n g t h e h a n d o f a g i r l lik e t h a t w a s s o m e h o w lif e -

o th e r th in g s o f c o u r s e , b u t th e r e w e re th o s e

a f f i r m i n g , lik e e v e r y t h i n g w o u l d t u r n o u t a ll r i g h t in t h e e n d . G a i m a n t h i n k s

w h o w e re sim p ly th e r e f o r M o rp h e u s a n d

N

o n e o f th e r e a s o n s sh e b e c a m e so in s ta n tly p o p u la r w a s d u e to th e f a c t th a t sh e w a s

bought

h is s is te r .

s i m p l y v e r y n i c e in a t i m e w h e n t h e r e w e r e v e r y f e w n i c e p e o p l e in c o m i c s . C h a r a c t e r s

G a i m a n h a d b e e n t h i n k i n g a b o u t g iv in g

w e r e la r g e l y c o l o r l e s s o r f u ll o f a n g s t . “S h e ’s s e n s i b l e , n o t n a i v e , b u t i n n o c e n t . S h e h a s

D e a th h e r v e r y o w n m in is e r ie s f o r a w h ile ,

t h e i n n o c e n c e o f o n e w h o h a s b e e n t h e r e a n d d o n e t h a t a n d c o m e o u t t h e o t h e r s i d e . I t’s

u n t i l K a r e n B e r g e r p h o n e d in

a l m o s t a s o r t o f h o l y i n n o c e n c e . S h e ’s t h e k i n d o f p e r s o n y o u ’d lik e t o m e e t a n d s p e n d a

g a v e h i m a r e a s o n t o a c t u a l l y d o it.

1991

and

d a y w ith .” D e a t h is t h e p e a c e k e e p e r a m o n g t h e E n d l e s s , lik e s h o t d o g s , p a r t i e s , b o o k s w i t h h a p p y e n d i n g s , a n d D i s n e y f ilm s . S h e d r e s s e s e n t i r e l y in b l a c k , w e a r s t o o m u c h e y e l i n e r , a n d w a s a b o u t as fa r a w a y f r o m c o m i c b o o k c h a r a c te r s as y o u c o u ld g e t. Y o u c o u ld se e D e a t h i n t h e s t r e e t , a n d a f t e r S a n d m a n , y o u f r e q u e n t l y d id . I t w a s k i n d o f N e i l ’s f a u l t — h e g o t a lo t o f w o m e n to re a d c o m ic s .

T h e p o i n t t h a t I r e a l i z e d t h a t w a s h a p p e n i n g w a s a b o u t y e a r t w o o r y e a r th r e e , a n d I ’d b e g o i n g to p l a c e s l i k e t h e S a n D ie g o c o m i c b o o k c o n v e n t io n . F a t, u n w a s h e d g e n t l e m e n in s t a i n e d T - s h ir t s w o u l d c o m e u p to m e a n d e x t e n d t h e i r h a n d s in

aBOVe: Death: The High Cost o f Living notes.

g r a t i t u d e a n d say , “L e t m e s h a k e y o u r h a n d ! Y ou b r o u g h t w o m e n in t o m y s t o r e .” A n d t h e r e w a s a p a r t o f m e t h a t a lw a y s w a n t e d to g o , “I f y o u s w e e p it, t h e y ’ll c o m e b a c k ! ” W h a t w a s g r e a t a b o u t S a n d m a n w a s y o u h a d a c o m ic th a t g u y s w o u ld h a n d

L eft: Death and doo-wop, by Neil.

to t h e i r g i r l f r i e n d s a n d sa y , “L o o k , r e a d th is .” A n d t h e g i r l f r i e n d s w o u l d r e a d it a n d

t 122

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

CHapteR 3 |veRtigo HeigHts

123 t

aBOVe: Letter from Neil to Chris Bachalo

R IgH t: Death: The High Cost o f Living tiny comic

preceding the script to

by Neil, 1992.

issue two of High Cost o f Living, late 1992. Every script is a letter to the artist (not just a script to nobody) and this one mentions the problems with Eclipse relating to Miracleman. to p RIGHT: Death:

The Time o f Your Life promotional art.

t 124

Before the whole summer conven­ tion season, I got a phone call from Karen—and Id been talking, actually, mainly with Mike Dringenberg about doing a Death miniseries fo r a while— and she said, “Well, were just about to do a poll, and were going to put a load o f DC supporting characters into this poll fo r the summer convention season and let the people at the cons just vote fo r who they want to see.” And I said, “So?" And she said, “Well, we were thinking o f putting Death on.” And I said, “Okay, and . . . ?” And she said,

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

“The thing is, if we put Death on, she’ll win. So basically, do you want to do the series now? You know, do you want to do it within a year? I f you don’t want to do it within a year, we won’t put her on the list.” So I thought about it and I figured, okay, it was a nice excuse to actually get me to turn the story from a nice idea and something I wanted to do one day, into something I was definitely going to do. So I said, sure, put her on the list. And she won. The fan s voted fo r Death (Kraft, 1993).

TOP: Notes for two pages of Death: The Time o f Your Life, in which Foxglove is falling asleep on a plane. l e f t : How the above looked in the finished com ic, 1996. ABOVE: Elvis Costello's thoughts on death, scribbled down by Neil.

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

125 t

aBOVe: Letter from Neil to Chris Bachalo

R IgH t: Death: The High Cost o f Living tiny comic

preceding the script to

by Neil, 1992.

issue two of High Cost o f Living, late 1992. Every script is a letter to the artist (not just a script to nobody) and this one mentions the problems with Eclipse relating to Miracleman. to p RIGHT: Death:

The Time o f Your Life promotional art.

t 124

Before the whole summer conven­ tion season, I got a phone call from Karen—and Id been talking, actually, mainly with Mike Dringenberg about doing a Death miniseries fo r a while— and she said, “Well, were just about to do a poll, and were going to put a load o f DC supporting characters into this poll fo r the summer convention season and let the people at the cons just vote fo r who they want to see.” And I said, “So?" And she said, “Well, we were thinking o f putting Death on.” And I said, “Okay, and . . . ?” And she said,

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

“The thing is, if we put Death on, she’ll win. So basically, do you want to do the series now? You know, do you want to do it within a year? I f you don’t want to do it within a year, we won’t put her on the list.” So I thought about it and I figured, okay, it was a nice excuse to actually get me to turn the story from a nice idea and something I wanted to do one day, into something I was definitely going to do. So I said, sure, put her on the list. And she won. The fan s voted fo r Death (Kraft, 1993).

TOP: Notes for two pages of Death: The Time o f Your Life, in which Foxglove is falling asleep on a plane. l e f t : How the above looked in the finished com ic, 1996. ABOVE: Elvis Costello's thoughts on death, scribbled down by Neil.

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

125 t

left:

D e a t h film treatment. Page one.

BelOW left: A page from the D e a th film script written by Gaiman in the mid-1990s.

D e a t h : T h e H ig h C o s t o f L i v i n g c a m e o u t in t h r e e m o n t h l y p a r t s f r o m M a r c h 1 9 9 3 . C h ris

B a c h a lo ,

w h ose

firs t p r o fe s s io n a l

c o m i c s jo b w a s o n S a n d m a n # 1 2 in T h e D o ll’s

H o u s e , w h e r e h e g o t to d r a w o ld B ro n z e A g e S a n d m a n , ju m p e d

a t th e

ch an ce

to

d o p e n c ils . M a r k B u c k in g h a m t o o k o n th e in k in g

d u tie s.

“W h a t ’s

in te re s tin g

is

it

d o e s n ’t a c t u a l l y l o o k lik e C h r i s B a c h a l o a n d i t d o e s n ’t l o o k lik e M a r k B u c k i n g h a m . I ’m n o t s u r e w h o i t a c t u a l l y d o e s l o o k lik e , i t ’s s o r t o f lik e a p u n k B r i a n B o l l a n d o r s o m e th in g ” (K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ).

“It is genuinely terribly funny. Its got this kind of Catcher in the a y o u n g la d y b y th e n a m e o f D id i, w h o se e n tir e fa m ily w a s k ille d a fe w m o n th s b a c k

Re-ish feel to it.”

in a r a t h e r n a s t y a c c id e n t, a n d w h o h a s g o n e a lit t l e b i t c r a z y ” ( K r a f t , 1 9 9 3 ) . T h e t h i n g t h a t s e ts t h e s t o r y a p a r t f r o m

S a n d m a n — w h i c h c a n , a t it s d a r k e s t , f e e l T h e b a s i c p r e m i s e is m u c h lik e D e a t h

lik e a n e v e r - e n d i n g s l e e p le s s t h r e e a . m . —

T a k e s a H o lid a y , t h e o l d 1 9 3 4 f i l m s t a r r i n g

is t h a t D e a t h is a c t u a l l y f u n n y , w h i c h is

F r e d r i c M a r c h : D e a t h ta k e s o n a p h y s ic a l

s o m e th in g

f o r m fo r o n e d a y e v e ry 1 0 0 y e a rs to b e tte r

w o u l d p i c k u p o n . It’s q u i r k y a n d f u n a n d

G a im a n

hoped

th a t

p e o p le

u n d e r s t a n d w h a t i t ’s l ik e t o b e m o r t a l . S h e

r e a d s in a n e n t i r e l y d if f e r e n t w a y f r o m a n

sp e n d s h e r d a y e a tin g th in g s a n d g e ttin g

e p i s o d e o f S a n d m a n . “ It is g e n u i n e l y te r r i b l y

s tu ff f o r

fu n n y . A n d it’s g o t th is k i n d o f, I d o n ’t k n o w ,

fre e ,

and

“w a n d e r i n g

aro u n d

w ith a y o u n g m a n b y th e n a m e o f S e x to n

C a t c h e r in t h e R y e - i s h fe e l t o it in a f u n n y

F u r n i v a l , w h o ’s a b o u t s i x t e e n a n d c o n s i d e r s

k i n d o f w a y . A t l e a s t in t e r m s o f S e x t o n , w h o

life u n f a i r , n o t l e a s t b e c a u s e h e g o t c a l l e d

in s o m e w a y s is t h e h e r o , a n d in o t h e r w a y s

S e x t o n F u r n i v a l .” F r o m

S e x t o n ’s p o i n t o f

y o u j u s t w a n t t o sla p h i m a r o u n d t h e f a c e

v ie w , D i d i is j u s t s o m e s i x t e e n - y e a r - o l d

a n d s t a n d h i m in a c o r n e r u n t i l h e c h e e r s

g i r l w h o t h in k s s h e ’s D e a t h , f i g u r i n g t h a t

u p . Y o u k n o w , ‘W h a t h a v e y o u g o t t o b e

a n y b o d y w h o cla im s to b e th e in c a rn a tio n

w e l t s c h m e r t z - y a b o u t ’” ( K r a f t , 1 9 9 3 ) ?

o f d e a t h is p r o b a b l y n u t s . A n d t h e t h i n g

D i d i , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , is s o c h e e r y

is , s h e m i g h t w e l l b e j u s t t h a t . T h e r e ’s a n

s h e d o e s n ’t e v e n g e t u p s e t w i t h o l d M a d

e l e m e n t o f d o u b t in t h e s t o r y i n w h i c h it

H e t t i e w h o h a r a s s e s h e r a ll d a y — t h e o n e

is “p e r f e c t l y p o s s i b l y t h a t s h e r e a l l y is j u s t

d a y s h e ’s a l l o w e d t o w a n d e r a r o u n d lik e a

aBOve Left aND Left: Death statue design by Chris Bachalo, 1995. Versions one and two.

aBOve: Death merchandise designs by Bachalo, 1995.

127 t

left:

D e a t h film treatment. Page one.

BelOW left: A page from the D e a th film script written by Gaiman in the mid-1990s.

D e a t h : T h e H ig h C o s t o f L i v i n g c a m e o u t in t h r e e m o n t h l y p a r t s f r o m M a r c h 1 9 9 3 . C h ris

B a c h a lo ,

w h ose

firs t p r o fe s s io n a l

c o m i c s jo b w a s o n S a n d m a n # 1 2 in T h e D o ll’s

H o u s e , w h e r e h e g o t to d r a w o ld B ro n z e A g e S a n d m a n , ju m p e d

a t th e

ch an ce

to

d o p e n c ils . M a r k B u c k in g h a m t o o k o n th e in k in g

d u tie s.

“W h a t ’s

in te re s tin g

is

it

d o e s n ’t a c t u a l l y l o o k lik e C h r i s B a c h a l o a n d i t d o e s n ’t l o o k lik e M a r k B u c k i n g h a m . I ’m n o t s u r e w h o i t a c t u a l l y d o e s l o o k lik e , i t ’s s o r t o f lik e a p u n k B r i a n B o l l a n d o r s o m e th in g ” (K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ).

“It is genuinely terribly funny. Its got this kind of Catcher in the a y o u n g la d y b y th e n a m e o f D id i, w h o se e n tir e fa m ily w a s k ille d a fe w m o n th s b a c k

Re-ish feel to it.”

in a r a t h e r n a s t y a c c id e n t, a n d w h o h a s g o n e a lit t l e b i t c r a z y ” ( K r a f t , 1 9 9 3 ) . T h e t h i n g t h a t s e ts t h e s t o r y a p a r t f r o m

S a n d m a n — w h i c h c a n , a t it s d a r k e s t , f e e l T h e b a s i c p r e m i s e is m u c h lik e D e a t h

lik e a n e v e r - e n d i n g s l e e p le s s t h r e e a . m . —

T a k e s a H o lid a y , t h e o l d 1 9 3 4 f i l m s t a r r i n g

is t h a t D e a t h is a c t u a l l y f u n n y , w h i c h is

F r e d r i c M a r c h : D e a t h ta k e s o n a p h y s ic a l

s o m e th in g

f o r m fo r o n e d a y e v e ry 1 0 0 y e a rs to b e tte r

w o u l d p i c k u p o n . It’s q u i r k y a n d f u n a n d

G a im a n

hoped

th a t

p e o p le

u n d e r s t a n d w h a t i t ’s l ik e t o b e m o r t a l . S h e

r e a d s in a n e n t i r e l y d if f e r e n t w a y f r o m a n

sp e n d s h e r d a y e a tin g th in g s a n d g e ttin g

e p i s o d e o f S a n d m a n . “ It is g e n u i n e l y te r r i b l y

s tu ff f o r

fu n n y . A n d it’s g o t th is k i n d o f, I d o n ’t k n o w ,

fre e ,

and

“w a n d e r i n g

aro u n d

w ith a y o u n g m a n b y th e n a m e o f S e x to n

C a t c h e r in t h e R y e - i s h fe e l t o it in a f u n n y

F u r n i v a l , w h o ’s a b o u t s i x t e e n a n d c o n s i d e r s

k i n d o f w a y . A t l e a s t in t e r m s o f S e x t o n , w h o

life u n f a i r , n o t l e a s t b e c a u s e h e g o t c a l l e d

in s o m e w a y s is t h e h e r o , a n d in o t h e r w a y s

S e x t o n F u r n i v a l .” F r o m

S e x t o n ’s p o i n t o f

y o u j u s t w a n t t o sla p h i m a r o u n d t h e f a c e

v ie w , D i d i is j u s t s o m e s i x t e e n - y e a r - o l d

a n d s t a n d h i m in a c o r n e r u n t i l h e c h e e r s

g i r l w h o t h in k s s h e ’s D e a t h , f i g u r i n g t h a t

u p . Y o u k n o w , ‘W h a t h a v e y o u g o t t o b e

a n y b o d y w h o cla im s to b e th e in c a rn a tio n

w e l t s c h m e r t z - y a b o u t ’” ( K r a f t , 1 9 9 3 ) ?

o f d e a t h is p r o b a b l y n u t s . A n d t h e t h i n g

D i d i , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , is s o c h e e r y

is , s h e m i g h t w e l l b e j u s t t h a t . T h e r e ’s a n

s h e d o e s n ’t e v e n g e t u p s e t w i t h o l d M a d

e l e m e n t o f d o u b t in t h e s t o r y i n w h i c h it

H e t t i e w h o h a r a s s e s h e r a ll d a y — t h e o n e

is “p e r f e c t l y p o s s i b l y t h a t s h e r e a l l y is j u s t

d a y s h e ’s a l l o w e d t o w a n d e r a r o u n d lik e a

aBOve Left aND Left: Death statue design by Chris Bachalo, 1995. Versions one and two.

aBOve: Death merchandise designs by Bachalo, 1995.

127 t

r e g u la r p e r s o n — b e c a u s e , as sh e e x p la in s to S e x to n : “I f y o u k n o w s o m e o n e r e a lly w e l l , i t ’s h a r d t o s t a y m a d a t t h e m f o r v e r y l o n g . I k n o w e v e r y b o d y r e a l l y w e ll.” T h e film a d a p ta tio n h a s b e e n flo a tin g a r o u n d s in c e th e m id -n in e tie s , o c c a s io n a lly b e in g k ic k e d a r o u n d d iffe re n t p r o d u c tio n c o m p a n ie s , k ic k e d b a c k to t h e s a m e p r o ­ d u c tio n c o m p a n ie s , g re e n lit, th e n e x tin g ­ u i s h e d , a n d t h e n g r e e n l i t a g a i n . S a i d N e il:

“ Death :

The High Cost o f Living h a s

been

in d e v e l o p m e n t h e c k , w h i c h is lik e d e v e l o p ­ m e n t h e ll b u t s lig h tly m o r e e n c o u r a g in g ” (S a n d e r s o n , 2 0 0 8 ) . H e h a s w ritte n se v e ra l d r a f t s a n d w o u l d lik e t o d i r e c t h i m s e l f . H e h u n g o u t w ith G u ille rm o d e l T o ro o n th e s e t o f Hellboy 2 t o l e a r n h o w t o m a k e a film .

Death

B u t p la n s f o r

c h a n g e a ll t h e t i m e .

“ I t w ill h a p p e n u n l e s s i t d o e s n ’t.” In

1 9 9 7 th e sa m e

c re a tiv e te a m

to g e th e r a n o th e r m in is e r ie s c a lle d

The Time o f Your Life , w h i c h

put

Death:

b ro u g h t b ack

t h e le s b ia n c o u p l e F o x g l o v e a n d H a z e l f r o m th e

Sandman

arc

A Game o f You. ❖

L e ft: Fax from Mark Buckingham, 1996.

o p p o s ite : Death promotional counter standee, 1993.

B eLoW : Fan mail, sent to Neil through channels at DC, forwarded on by Berger, 1997. “This book saved my life. I was thinking (seriously) of committing suicide before I read this book, I realised how percious (sic) just one day of life is. More importantly I'm not really afraid of death anymore.”

t 128

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

r e g u la r p e r s o n — b e c a u s e , as sh e e x p la in s to S e x to n : “I f y o u k n o w s o m e o n e r e a lly w e l l , i t ’s h a r d t o s t a y m a d a t t h e m f o r v e r y l o n g . I k n o w e v e r y b o d y r e a l l y w e ll.” T h e film a d a p ta tio n h a s b e e n flo a tin g a r o u n d s in c e th e m id -n in e tie s , o c c a s io n a lly b e in g k ic k e d a r o u n d d iffe re n t p r o d u c tio n c o m p a n ie s , k ic k e d b a c k to t h e s a m e p r o ­ d u c tio n c o m p a n ie s , g re e n lit, th e n e x tin g ­ u i s h e d , a n d t h e n g r e e n l i t a g a i n . S a i d N e il:

“ Death :

The High Cost o f Living h a s

been

in d e v e l o p m e n t h e c k , w h i c h is lik e d e v e l o p ­ m e n t h e ll b u t s lig h tly m o r e e n c o u r a g in g ” (S a n d e r s o n , 2 0 0 8 ) . H e h a s w ritte n se v e ra l d r a f t s a n d w o u l d lik e t o d i r e c t h i m s e l f . H e h u n g o u t w ith G u ille rm o d e l T o ro o n th e s e t o f Hellboy 2 t o l e a r n h o w t o m a k e a film .

Death

B u t p la n s f o r

c h a n g e a ll t h e t i m e .

“ I t w ill h a p p e n u n l e s s i t d o e s n ’t.” In

1 9 9 7 th e sa m e

c re a tiv e te a m

to g e th e r a n o th e r m in is e r ie s c a lle d

The Time o f Your Life , w h i c h

put

Death:

b ro u g h t b ack

t h e le s b ia n c o u p l e F o x g l o v e a n d H a z e l f r o m th e

Sandman

arc

A Game o f You. ❖

L e ft: Fax from Mark Buckingham, 1996.

o p p o s ite : Death promotional counter standee, 1993.

B eLoW : Fan mail, sent to Neil through channels at DC, forwarded on by Berger, 1997. “This book saved my life. I was thinking (seriously) of committing suicide before I read this book, I realised how percious (sic) just one day of life is. More importantly I'm not really afraid of death anymore.”

t 128

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

DeatH galleR y B eLoW : Buckingham sent in two drawings for the

Death Gallery in 1993. This was the second.

saiD gaimaN in 1993: w ith

a b s o lu te ly

no

Death: The

“W e d id

High Cost o f Living, w h i c h ,

ca te g o ric a lly an d

c o n te n d e rs ,

w as

th e

b e s t s e l l i n g m a t u r e r e a d e r s c o m i c t h e r e ’s e v e r b e e n . E v e r y b o d y w o u ld lo v e m o r e D e a th . A n d C h r i s B a c h a l o h a s s e t a s id e t i m e t o w a r d th e e n d o f 1 9 9 4 to b e g in d ra w in g a n o th e r D e a t h s to r y . B u t in t h e m e a n t i m e , e v e r y b o d y s e e m s t o w a n t m o r e D e a t h stu ff, a n d w e d o n ’t h a v e a n o t h e r s t o r y f o r t h e m . S o it’s lik e , w h a t a r e w e g o i n g t o

Superman Gallery

a n d th e

d o h ere? T h e

Batman Gallery

w e r e v e r y w e ll r e c e i v e d , a n d t h e y p r i m a r i l y c o n s i s t e d o f r e p r i n t m a t e r i a l . S o w i t h th is o n e , w e t h o u g h t , le t’s d o a

Death Gallery. I

k n o w sh e ’s o n e o f t h e f a v o r i t e c h a r a c t e r s f o r c o n v e n t i o n s k e tc h e s , b o o k l e t s , s o o k a y , le t’s g iv e p e o p l e

a ch an ce

to

d raw

h er. A n d

le t’s a s s e m b le a g r e a t c a s t o f a r t i s t s t o d o it” ( Previews, 1 9 9 3 ) . The

Death Gallery

w a s re le a se d

as a

c o m i c a n d h a d a r u n in a c o m i c b o o k a r t g a l l e r y in N e w Y o r k C i t y ’s S o H o . I t i n c lu d e d

aBOVe: Page of

p ie c e s b y l o t s o f p e o p l e , m o s t o f w h o m n e v e r

opening night photographs, 1993.

h a d a c h a n c e to d ra w D e a th a t a n y o th e r faR L eft: Death Gallery submission

p o in t a sid e f r o m c o n v e n tio n s k e tc h b o o k s : A rth u r

A d am s,

Paul

C h a d w ic k ,

A dam

from Michael Zulli,

H u g h e s , J o n J. M u t h , M i c h a e l W m . K a l u t a , D ave

M c K e a n , K e v in

1993. Later colored by Daniel Vozzo for

N o w la n , B r a n d o n

P e t e r s o n , J o e P h i l li p s , G e o r g e P r a t t , C h r i s

the com ic; probably colored by Maddy

B a c h a lo , Jo e

Gaiman for the fridge.

Q uesada,

Je ff S m ith , B r y a n C h a rle s

V ess,

P. C r a i g

R u sse ll,

T a l b o t , Jill T h o m p s o n ,

G ahan

W ils o n ,

L eft: Invitation tp the opening, 1993.

M ich a e l

Z u lli, B r ia n B o lla n d , M ic h a e l A llr e d , M a r c H e m p e l, D a v e G ib b o n s , C o lle e n

D o ra n ,

G e o f D a rro w , M a r k B u c k in g h a m , V in c e L o c k e , R e e d W a lle r, a n d K e n t W illia m s . F o u r C o lo r Im a g e s p r e m ie re d th e sh o w on O c to b e r 2 8 , 1 9 9 3 , a n d it e n d e d u p b e in g th e b ig g e s t o p e n in g in th e ir c a r e e r as an a rt g a lle ry w ith

m o re

th a n

400

p e o p le

th ro u g h th e ir d o o rs . ❖

t 130

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

CHAPTER 3 |v e R tig o HeigHtS

131 t

DeatH galleR y B eLoW : Buckingham sent in two drawings for the

Death Gallery in 1993. This was the second.

saiD gaimaN in 1993: w ith

a b s o lu te ly

no

Death: The

“W e d id

High Cost o f Living, w h i c h ,

ca te g o ric a lly an d

c o n te n d e rs ,

w as

th e

b e s t s e l l i n g m a t u r e r e a d e r s c o m i c t h e r e ’s e v e r b e e n . E v e r y b o d y w o u ld lo v e m o r e D e a th . A n d C h r i s B a c h a l o h a s s e t a s id e t i m e t o w a r d th e e n d o f 1 9 9 4 to b e g in d ra w in g a n o th e r D e a t h s to r y . B u t in t h e m e a n t i m e , e v e r y b o d y s e e m s t o w a n t m o r e D e a t h stu ff, a n d w e d o n ’t h a v e a n o t h e r s t o r y f o r t h e m . S o it’s lik e , w h a t a r e w e g o i n g t o

Superman Gallery

a n d th e

d o h ere? T h e

Batman Gallery

w e r e v e r y w e ll r e c e i v e d , a n d t h e y p r i m a r i l y c o n s i s t e d o f r e p r i n t m a t e r i a l . S o w i t h th is o n e , w e t h o u g h t , le t’s d o a

Death Gallery. I

k n o w sh e ’s o n e o f t h e f a v o r i t e c h a r a c t e r s f o r c o n v e n t i o n s k e tc h e s , b o o k l e t s , s o o k a y , le t’s g iv e p e o p l e

a ch an ce

to

d raw

h er. A n d

le t’s a s s e m b le a g r e a t c a s t o f a r t i s t s t o d o it” ( Previews, 1 9 9 3 ) . The

Death Gallery

w a s re le a se d

as a

c o m i c a n d h a d a r u n in a c o m i c b o o k a r t g a l l e r y in N e w Y o r k C i t y ’s S o H o . I t i n c lu d e d

aBOVe: Page of

p ie c e s b y l o t s o f p e o p l e , m o s t o f w h o m n e v e r

opening night photographs, 1993.

h a d a c h a n c e to d ra w D e a th a t a n y o th e r faR L eft: Death Gallery submission

p o in t a sid e f r o m c o n v e n tio n s k e tc h b o o k s : A rth u r

A d am s,

Paul

C h a d w ic k ,

A dam

from Michael Zulli,

H u g h e s , J o n J. M u t h , M i c h a e l W m . K a l u t a , D ave

M c K e a n , K e v in

1993. Later colored by Daniel Vozzo for

N o w la n , B r a n d o n

P e t e r s o n , J o e P h i l li p s , G e o r g e P r a t t , C h r i s

the com ic; probably colored by Maddy

B a c h a lo , Jo e

Gaiman for the fridge.

Q uesada,

Je ff S m ith , B r y a n C h a rle s

V ess,

P. C r a i g

R u sse ll,

T a l b o t , Jill T h o m p s o n ,

G ahan

W ils o n ,

L eft: Invitation tp the opening, 1993.

M ich a e l

Z u lli, B r ia n B o lla n d , M ic h a e l A llr e d , M a r c H e m p e l, D a v e G ib b o n s , C o lle e n

D o ra n ,

G e o f D a rro w , M a r k B u c k in g h a m , V in c e L o c k e , R e e d W a lle r, a n d K e n t W illia m s . F o u r C o lo r Im a g e s p r e m ie re d th e sh o w on O c to b e r 2 8 , 1 9 9 3 , a n d it e n d e d u p b e in g th e b ig g e s t o p e n in g in th e ir c a r e e r as an a rt g a lle ry w ith

m o re

th a n

400

p e o p le

th ro u g h th e ir d o o rs . ❖

t 130

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

CHAPTER 3 |v e R tig o HeigHtS

131 t

DeatH talks aBoutLife tHe sam e yeaR as The High Cost o f Living, DC Comics wanted to do an AIDS benefit book. They asked Gaiman to do it and he said no, arguing that doing so would merely be preaching to the converted. He said at the time: “The only people who will buy AIDS:

The Comic Book, John Constantine Fights AIDS or whatever, are the converted, the people who are interested or care already and go, oh, this is a good cause, I will plunk down my $1.50. So there’s that aspect of things. Two, you don’t need a benefit book at this time. The most a benefit book is going to raise, if it goes huge, is $20,000 or whatever. You would be much better off giving everybody the information free, sacrificing $80,000 worth of advertising revenue, and donating the paper and so on and so forth, and educating.” Instead of the benefit book, they ran an eight-page story in the back of every Vertigo title that month, illustrated by Dave McKean. Death talks about sexually transmitted diseases and risky behavior and calls over an embarrassed John Constantine to hold a banana while she demonstrates how to use a condom. It’s funny, and Death is, as always, cute and smart and to the point. She eats the banana.

It was a bastard to write. What was hardest about it in some ways was the day that I actually sat down to write it, I got a phone call saying that a friend o f mine had just died o f AIDS and had asked that I be contacted, but nobody knew where I was because I was in the process o f moving continents. Eventually somebody tracked me down and said, by the way, Don Melia died two months ago. Don was actually the first person I ’d know reasonably

T 132

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

well ever to die o f AIDS. There were other people that I ’d known periph­ erally, but Don used to be the publicist at Titan Books fo r a while, had pub­ lished a magazine called Heartbreak Hotel, and was part o f the English comics scene. The last time I saw Don, not the last time I spoke to him, but the last time I actually saw him, I was being interviewed, the Amazing Heroes interview that Mike Maddox did. And I was in Titan and Don wandered past and stopped and said hi, and we turned o ff the tape recorder and chatted, and he told me about his ex-roommate who had just died o f AIDS the previous week. She was a transsexual who’d got AIDS from bad blood during a transfusion, and the last thing she’d ever read was The Doll’s House. It was the first comic she’d ever read and the last thing that she read. I always figured that was one o f the places that Wanda came from, just being told that. Anyway, the morning I sat down to write the AIDS thing, I ’d been really looking at trying to do . . . you know, how will I make this elegant, how will I make itfunny, how will I make it this and that, and then I got this phone call saying by the way, Don Melia died and

asked that you be told. And all o f a sudden I didn’t really give a shit about being elegant and funny and intelligent and so on, all I wanted to do was get up on a little soapbox and start shouting very loudly through a megaphone, and I think to some extent that’s what I did in the end. The sheer pointlessness o f it is really stupid. There is no reason to die. It’s a stupid thing to do. Especially when, with fifty cents worth o f rubber, you don’t have to (Kraft, 1993). He dedicated the story to Melia. ❖

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

aBOVe: Complaint letter from a Christian parent, 1994.

133 T

DeatH talks aBoutLife tHe sam e yeaR as The High Cost o f Living, DC Comics wanted to do an AIDS benefit book. They asked Gaiman to do it and he said no, arguing that doing so would merely be preaching to the converted. He said at the time: “The only people who will buy AIDS:

The Comic Book, John Constantine Fights AIDS or whatever, are the converted, the people who are interested or care already and go, oh, this is a good cause, I will plunk down my $1.50. So there’s that aspect of things. Two, you don’t need a benefit book at this time. The most a benefit book is going to raise, if it goes huge, is $20,000 or whatever. You would be much better off giving everybody the information free, sacrificing $80,000 worth of advertising revenue, and donating the paper and so on and so forth, and educating.” Instead of the benefit book, they ran an eight-page story in the back of every Vertigo title that month, illustrated by Dave McKean. Death talks about sexually transmitted diseases and risky behavior and calls over an embarrassed John Constantine to hold a banana while she demonstrates how to use a condom. It’s funny, and Death is, as always, cute and smart and to the point. She eats the banana.

It was a bastard to write. What was hardest about it in some ways was the day that I actually sat down to write it, I got a phone call saying that a friend o f mine had just died o f AIDS and had asked that I be contacted, but nobody knew where I was because I was in the process o f moving continents. Eventually somebody tracked me down and said, by the way, Don Melia died two months ago. Don was actually the first person I ’d know reasonably

T 132

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

well ever to die o f AIDS. There were other people that I ’d known periph­ erally, but Don used to be the publicist at Titan Books fo r a while, had pub­ lished a magazine called Heartbreak Hotel, and was part o f the English comics scene. The last time I saw Don, not the last time I spoke to him, but the last time I actually saw him, I was being interviewed, the Amazing Heroes interview that Mike Maddox did. And I was in Titan and Don wandered past and stopped and said hi, and we turned o ff the tape recorder and chatted, and he told me about his ex-roommate who had just died o f AIDS the previous week. She was a transsexual who’d got AIDS from bad blood during a transfusion, and the last thing she’d ever read was The Doll’s House. It was the first comic she’d ever read and the last thing that she read. I always figured that was one o f the places that Wanda came from, just being told that. Anyway, the morning I sat down to write the AIDS thing, I ’d been really looking at trying to do . . . you know, how will I make this elegant, how will I make itfunny, how will I make it this and that, and then I got this phone call saying by the way, Don Melia died and

asked that you be told. And all o f a sudden I didn’t really give a shit about being elegant and funny and intelligent and so on, all I wanted to do was get up on a little soapbox and start shouting very loudly through a megaphone, and I think to some extent that’s what I did in the end. The sheer pointlessness o f it is really stupid. There is no reason to die. It’s a stupid thing to do. Especially when, with fifty cents worth o f rubber, you don’t have to (Kraft, 1993). He dedicated the story to Melia. ❖

CH apteR 3 |v e R tig o H eigH ts

aBOVe: Complaint letter from a Christian parent, 1994.

133 T

tHe sûNDmaN: ^ oveRtuRe r^J. ' in 2003 gaimaN w rc eNDLleSS NIGHts, a collection of seveNstoRiesaBouteacH of tHe eNDLess tHat LaNDeD a GRapHIC NoveL ON tHe New yORk tImes Best Seller list for the very first time. B u t it’s BeeN teN yeaRS siNce tHeN, aND tweNty-tive siNce w e m e t m o R p H e u s aN D

W

h is

s tR a N g e B R o tH e R s aN D

s is te R s .

h e n t h e s e v e n ty -f ifth a n d fin a l is s u e o f S a n d m a n h a d c o m e o u t, a n d th e s e rie s w a s d o n e , G a i m a n s till h a d s t o r i e s i n h is h e a d t h a t h e n e v e r g o t t o te ll. T h e r e w a s o n e a b o u t t h e d r e a m s o f a n u n b o r n f e tu s h e a b a n d o n e d b e c a u s e i t w o u l d

p ro b a b ly w in d u p b e in g a d o p te d a n d m is u s e d b y p ro -life rs ; th e re w as a n o th e r a b o u t D e lir iu m ; b u t m o s t l y th e o n e h e r e a lly w a n te d to te ll w a s a t t h e v e r y b e g in n in g . H e h a d s t a r t e d t h e s e r i e s o n r e e l t w o o f t h e f i l m a n d t h a t w a s w h e r e w e a ll c a m e i n : w i t h M o r p h e u s n a k e d a n d i m p r i s o n e d i n a g la s s c e ll. G a im a n h a d p lo tte d th e s to r y fo r h o w h e g o t th e re y e a rs ag o b u t n e v e r fo u n d a p la c e t o fit i t i n . W h e n t h e t w e n t i e t h a n n i v e r s a r y o f t h e s e r i e s r o l l e d a r o u n d h e p u t t h e i d e a to D C C o m i c s t h a t t h e y d o a m in is e r ie s . F o r v a r io u s r e a s o n s , it n e v e r h a p p e n e d . B u t th e

c ir c a 1 9 8 9 , w h a t p e o p l e w e r e s a y in g

m o m e n t n e w p e o p le w e re r u n n in g D C , th e firs t th in g th e y d id w a s c a ll o n G a im a n . F o r

th e n n e v e r c h a n g e d . F o r th e n e x t s e v e n

S a n d m a n s tw e n ty -fifth a n n iv e rs a ry , N e il h a s w r itte n T h e S a n d m a n : O v e r tu r e , th e s to r y

y e a r s o f c o m ic s a ll th e y s a i d w a s “I t ’s n o t

o f h o w th e D r e a m K in g w a s c a u g h t b a c k in a b o u t 1 9 1 5 .

a s g o o d a s it u s e d to be.” T h e e a r lie r s t u f f

B y J u ly 2 0 1 2 , h e h a d w r i t t e n fiv e p a g e s o f s c r i p t f o r w h a t w ill e n d u p b e i n g a s i x - i s s u e

w a s w h a tev er a n y b o d y h a d p ic k e d up

m i n i s e r i e s i l l u s t r a t e d b y J. H . W i l l i a m s I I I . “ I ’m e x c i t e d a b o u t t h e f i r s t fiv e p a g e s b e c a u s e

f i r s t a n d lo v e d . A n d it c a r r ie d o n , w ith

t h e y e x i s t a n d t h e y ’r e r e a l l y g o o d . I ’m t e r r i f i e d a b o u t t h e r e s t o f it. B u t y o u k n o w , K a r e n

p e o p l e t a lk in g a b o u t w h e n S a n d m a n

s e n t m e a n o t e w h e n s h e r e a d t h e f i r s t fiv e p a g e s a n d s h e s a i d , ‘T h is is lik e c o m i n g h o m e ! ’

w a s g o o d , a ll th e w a y th r o u g h to # 75.

W h i c h is r e a l l y n i c e t o h e a r . B e c a u s e t h e f i r s t fiv e p a g e s a r e a b s o l u t e l y c o m p l e t e l y w e i r d ,

I t ’s p e o p l e , a n d i t ’s h u m a n n a tu r e .

n o t h i n g lik e a n y t h i n g t h a t ’s h a p p e n e d b e f o r e , n o t s e t a n y w h e r e , y o u b a r e l y e n c o u n t e r

A n d w h a t ’s f u n n y is t h a t n o w n o b o d y

a n y b o d y w h o m i g h t b e s o m e b o d y y o u ’v e m e t b e f o r e i n S a n d m a n , b u t i t ’s s t ill d e f i n i t e l y

k n o w s th a t. N o w p e o p l e p i c k u p th e

fiv e p a g e s o f S a n d m a n ’. ’

g r a p h i c n o v e l b o o k s a n d t h e y m ig h t

N o t w a n tin g to s p o il a n y th in g , h e la rg e ly k e e p t q u ie t a b o u t th e s e rie s u n til it s ta r te d

“The first five pages are absolutely completely weird.”

h a v e f a v o r i t e s — t h e y m ig h t lik e S e a s o n

a r r i v i n g i n 2 0 1 3 . H e g a v e o n e i n t e r v i e w a b o u t i t t o W ir e d w h e r e h e t a l k e d a b o u t t h e f e a r s

o f M is ts , o r G a m e o f Y o u , o r B r i e f

th a t g o w ith w ritin g so m e th in g so tre m e n d o u s ly p o p u la r:

L i v e s . B u t T h e K i n d l y O n e s , w h ic h

p e o p l e h a t e d w h e n it h a d c o m e o u t a s

t 134

I ’m im a g in in g a h y p e r c r it ic a l a u d ie n c e o f r o u g h ly f i f t e e n m illio n p e o p l e lo o k in g o v e r

a c o m ic , n o w g e t s t h e b e s t r e v ie w s o f

m y s h o u ld e r s g o i n g “H u h . W ell t h a t ’s n o t S a n d m a n .” B u t th e n I th in k th e g r e a t th in g

a ll. S o I t a k e a lo n g - t e r m v ie w o n this.

a b o u t S a n d m a n is f r o m th e m o m e n t t h a t I d is c o v e r e d th e in ter n e t, a n d t h a t p e o p l e w e r e

I a lm o s t d o n ’t c a r e w h a t p e o p l e w ill s a y

t a lk in g a b o u t S a n d m a n o n th e in ter n e t, w h ic h w o u ld h a v e b e e n lik e r e c .a r t s .c o m ic s .d c

w h e n it c o m e s o u t. ❖

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

aBOVe aN D R IgH t: Pages from T he S a n d m a n : O v e r tu r e #1, December 2013, illustrated by J. H. Williams III.

CHapteR 3 |veRtigo HeigHts

135 t

tHe sûNDmaN: ^ oveRtuRe r^J. ' in 2003 gaimaN w rc eNDLleSS NIGHts, a collection of seveNstoRiesaBouteacH of tHe eNDLess tHat LaNDeD a GRapHIC NoveL ON tHe New yORk tImes Best Seller list for the very first time. B u t it’s BeeN teN yeaRS siNce tHeN, aND tweNty-tive siNce w e m e t m o R p H e u s aN D

W

h is

s tR a N g e B R o tH e R s aN D

s is te R s .

h e n t h e s e v e n ty -f ifth a n d fin a l is s u e o f S a n d m a n h a d c o m e o u t, a n d th e s e rie s w a s d o n e , G a i m a n s till h a d s t o r i e s i n h is h e a d t h a t h e n e v e r g o t t o te ll. T h e r e w a s o n e a b o u t t h e d r e a m s o f a n u n b o r n f e tu s h e a b a n d o n e d b e c a u s e i t w o u l d

p ro b a b ly w in d u p b e in g a d o p te d a n d m is u s e d b y p ro -life rs ; th e re w as a n o th e r a b o u t D e lir iu m ; b u t m o s t l y th e o n e h e r e a lly w a n te d to te ll w a s a t t h e v e r y b e g in n in g . H e h a d s t a r t e d t h e s e r i e s o n r e e l t w o o f t h e f i l m a n d t h a t w a s w h e r e w e a ll c a m e i n : w i t h M o r p h e u s n a k e d a n d i m p r i s o n e d i n a g la s s c e ll. G a im a n h a d p lo tte d th e s to r y fo r h o w h e g o t th e re y e a rs ag o b u t n e v e r fo u n d a p la c e t o fit i t i n . W h e n t h e t w e n t i e t h a n n i v e r s a r y o f t h e s e r i e s r o l l e d a r o u n d h e p u t t h e i d e a to D C C o m i c s t h a t t h e y d o a m in is e r ie s . F o r v a r io u s r e a s o n s , it n e v e r h a p p e n e d . B u t th e

c ir c a 1 9 8 9 , w h a t p e o p l e w e r e s a y in g

m o m e n t n e w p e o p le w e re r u n n in g D C , th e firs t th in g th e y d id w a s c a ll o n G a im a n . F o r

th e n n e v e r c h a n g e d . F o r th e n e x t s e v e n

S a n d m a n s tw e n ty -fifth a n n iv e rs a ry , N e il h a s w r itte n T h e S a n d m a n : O v e r tu r e , th e s to r y

y e a r s o f c o m ic s a ll th e y s a i d w a s “I t ’s n o t

o f h o w th e D r e a m K in g w a s c a u g h t b a c k in a b o u t 1 9 1 5 .

a s g o o d a s it u s e d to be.” T h e e a r lie r s t u f f

B y J u ly 2 0 1 2 , h e h a d w r i t t e n fiv e p a g e s o f s c r i p t f o r w h a t w ill e n d u p b e i n g a s i x - i s s u e

w a s w h a tev er a n y b o d y h a d p ic k e d up

m i n i s e r i e s i l l u s t r a t e d b y J. H . W i l l i a m s I I I . “ I ’m e x c i t e d a b o u t t h e f i r s t fiv e p a g e s b e c a u s e

f i r s t a n d lo v e d . A n d it c a r r ie d o n , w ith

t h e y e x i s t a n d t h e y ’r e r e a l l y g o o d . I ’m t e r r i f i e d a b o u t t h e r e s t o f it. B u t y o u k n o w , K a r e n

p e o p l e t a lk in g a b o u t w h e n S a n d m a n

s e n t m e a n o t e w h e n s h e r e a d t h e f i r s t fiv e p a g e s a n d s h e s a i d , ‘T h is is lik e c o m i n g h o m e ! ’

w a s g o o d , a ll th e w a y th r o u g h to # 75.

W h i c h is r e a l l y n i c e t o h e a r . B e c a u s e t h e f i r s t fiv e p a g e s a r e a b s o l u t e l y c o m p l e t e l y w e i r d ,

I t ’s p e o p l e , a n d i t ’s h u m a n n a tu r e .

n o t h i n g lik e a n y t h i n g t h a t ’s h a p p e n e d b e f o r e , n o t s e t a n y w h e r e , y o u b a r e l y e n c o u n t e r

A n d w h a t ’s f u n n y is t h a t n o w n o b o d y

a n y b o d y w h o m i g h t b e s o m e b o d y y o u ’v e m e t b e f o r e i n S a n d m a n , b u t i t ’s s t ill d e f i n i t e l y

k n o w s th a t. N o w p e o p l e p i c k u p th e

fiv e p a g e s o f S a n d m a n ’. ’

g r a p h i c n o v e l b o o k s a n d t h e y m ig h t

N o t w a n tin g to s p o il a n y th in g , h e la rg e ly k e e p t q u ie t a b o u t th e s e rie s u n til it s ta r te d

“The first five pages are absolutely completely weird.”

h a v e f a v o r i t e s — t h e y m ig h t lik e S e a s o n

a r r i v i n g i n 2 0 1 3 . H e g a v e o n e i n t e r v i e w a b o u t i t t o W ir e d w h e r e h e t a l k e d a b o u t t h e f e a r s

o f M is ts , o r G a m e o f Y o u , o r B r i e f

th a t g o w ith w ritin g so m e th in g so tre m e n d o u s ly p o p u la r:

L i v e s . B u t T h e K i n d l y O n e s , w h ic h

p e o p l e h a t e d w h e n it h a d c o m e o u t a s

t 134

I ’m im a g in in g a h y p e r c r it ic a l a u d ie n c e o f r o u g h ly f i f t e e n m illio n p e o p l e lo o k in g o v e r

a c o m ic , n o w g e t s t h e b e s t r e v ie w s o f

m y s h o u ld e r s g o i n g “H u h . W ell t h a t ’s n o t S a n d m a n .” B u t th e n I th in k th e g r e a t th in g

a ll. S o I t a k e a lo n g - t e r m v ie w o n this.

a b o u t S a n d m a n is f r o m th e m o m e n t t h a t I d is c o v e r e d th e in ter n e t, a n d t h a t p e o p l e w e r e

I a lm o s t d o n ’t c a r e w h a t p e o p l e w ill s a y

t a lk in g a b o u t S a n d m a n o n th e in ter n e t, w h ic h w o u ld h a v e b e e n lik e r e c .a r t s .c o m ic s .d c

w h e n it c o m e s o u t. ❖

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

aBOVe aN D R IgH t: Pages from T he S a n d m a n : O v e r tu r e #1, December 2013, illustrated by J. H. Williams III.

CHapteR 3 |veRtigo HeigHts

135 t

r4 te p a h C

a comics misceLLaNy

r4 te p a h C

a comics misceLLaNy

SIG

I h a d a t h e m e t h a t I w a n t e d to

“ T h e j o y o f S ig n a l to N o is e w a s t h a t o n c e

ta c k le , w h ic h w a s t h e w h o le k i n d o f

e v e r y m o n t h I’d s it d o w n a n d w r i t e t h e n e x t

m ille n n ia l, a r m a g e d d o n - y , a p o c a ly p t i c

fo u r p ag es. W h e re v e r I w as at th a t m o n th ,

ty p e o f th in g — th e w a y t h a t it h a d

t h a t w a s w h a t I’d d o , a n d i f I w a n t e d t o d o it

a lr e a d y h a p p e n e d on ce,

in a d if f e re n t s ty le , o r D a v e w a n t e d t o u s e a

1000, a n d

N

a

L

t o

N

O

I S e

th ere h a d

in t h e y e a r

been

a

m a jo r

d if f e re n t v i s u a l s ty le , it w a s lik e S ig n a l to

a n t i- c lim a x . A n t i - c lim a x e s a r e a lw a y s

N o is e w a s a s e r ie s o f P o l a r o i d s o f w h e r e w e

a b ig p a r t o f m y f i c t i o n . I w a n t e d to

w e re a t th e tim e ” (K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ).

d o s o m e t h in g a b o u t th a t, a n d D a v e w a n ted

“And I ask myself. Why am I writing a film I will never make, writing something no one will ever see? The world is always ending for someone. It’s a good line.”

to

do

s o m e t h in g a b o u t th e

I t’s a g o o d e x a m p l e o f h o w c o l l a b o r a t i o n w o r k s — t h e i r s in p a r t i c u l a r , b u t j u s t t h e a c t

d e a t h o f E is e n s te in . S o w e t r ie d to c o m -

a n d a r t o f c o l l a b o r a t i o n its e lf . T h e r e w a s

z p r o m is e a n d d o s o m e t h in g a b o u t a

n o p a s s e n g e r ; th e r e w e re tw o d riv e rs a t th e

d y in g f i l m d ir e c t o r a n d t h e a p o c a ly p s e

w h e e l o f th is v e h ic le . “ I t h i n k w h a t y o u g e t

t h a t n e v e r h a p p e n e d . W h a t g o t in te r e s t­

w h e n y o u p u t t w o s e n s i b i l i t i e s t o g e t h e r is

in g w a s I s a t d o w n a n d w r o te , a s f a r a s

s o m e th in g th a t n e ith e r se n sib ility c o u ld

I r e m e m b e r , s e v e n f i r s t e p is o d e s . S o m e

h a v e d o n e in d e p e n d e n tly in q u ite t h a t w ay .

o f t h e m d id n ’t g e t v e r y f a r . S o m e o f

I d o n ’t t h i n k y o u c o u l d h a v e e v e r g o t t e n

t h e m w e n t a p a g e a n d a h a lf. A n d w e

S a n d m a n s ‘A M i d s u m m e r N i g h t ’s D r e a m ’

g o t to th e p o i n t w h e r e t h e d e a d li n e w a s

e x c e p t b y p u ttin g m e

h a p p e n in g . A n d D a v e c a m e o v e r a n d

t o g e t h e r , a s a n e x a m p l e . Y o u w o u l d n ’t h a v e

and

C h a rlie V ess

s a id , “W h a t h a v e y o u g o t ? ” A n d I j u s t p r i n t e d t h e m a ll o u t a n d s a id , “I ’v e g o t s ta g e f r ig h t . I c a n ’t d o it. H e r e .” H e j u s t w e n t th r o u g h a n d t o o k th e b its h e lik e d th e b e s t a n d t u r n e d t h e m in to th e f i r s t e p is o d e . W h ic h th e n m e a n t t h a t a to n e h a d b e e n s e t a n d it h a d b e e n d o n e ,

"^Signal to N °iSe WaS a Series o f Polaroids o f wheit $I

a n d a f t e r th a t, w r it in g it w a s v e r y easy.

we were a t th e tim e.

B u t I w a s w r it in g th e s e s c r ip t s t h a t I

to Noise

p U B L lS H e D IN 19 8 9 , S l g N d l is a tiNy, peRSONaL apocalypse. It’s aBOut a miDDLe-ageD fiLm DiRectOR w h o ’ s ju st BeeN toLD He’s goiNg to Die: a tumoR i n h i s LuNgs speLLs tHe eND.

d o n ’t t h in k a n y b o d y e ls e w o u ld h a v e u n d er sto o d ” (C o m ic s Jo u rn a l # 155, 1 9 9 3 ).

G a i m a n sa y s t h e s c r i p t s w e r e u n lik e a n y o f th e o n e s h e h a d d o n e fo r M c K e a n in th e

lik e

th a t

excep t

by

p a s t : i t w a s n o t lik e V io le n t C a s e s , a s h o r t

N o is e . I t is i n t h e c o n j u n c t i o n t h a t S ig n a l to

h o m e a n d w r i t e s h is f in a l s c r i p t : a f ilm a b o u t t h e a p o c a l y p s e . T h e w o r l d is a lw a y s e n d i n g

s t o r y h a n d e d o v e r w i t h i n s t r u c t i o n s t o “r u n

N o is e a c t u a l l y w o r k s . I t’s t h e f a c t t h a t i t ’s

f o r s o m e o n e , h e fig u re s . T h e s t o r y is a b o u t t i m e , a b o u t c l o c k s r u n n i n g o u t o f it, a n d it’s

w i t h it,” n o r w a s i t t h e f o r m a l “p a g e o n e ,

tw o p e o p le , b o t h t r y in g to d o th in g s th a t

p a n e l o n e ” s c r i p t o f O u t r a g e o u s T a le s f r o m

o v e rla p , th a t a r e d iffe re n t. H a v in g to d o

a b o u t e n d in g s , a n d a b o u t h o w e v e r y t h i n g t h a t m a t t e r s h a s o n e ; it’s a b o u t c o m i n g t o t e r m s

th e O ld

w ith

w i t h life a n d d e a t h a n d t h e c e r t a i n t y o f u n c e r t a in t y .

S ig n a l to N o is e w a s d o n e in s o m e s t r a n g e

I

T e s t a m e n t ( m o r e o n t h a t l a te r ).

c o m m u n ica tio n

arcs

and

a ll

aBOVe: Earlier version of an image used again for M ir a c le m a n #22 cover. Men in the sky, hoisted aloft by gray balloons.

th a t

s tu ff” (C o m ic s Jo u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ).

S ig n a l to N o is e b e g a n a y e a r a f t e r S a n d m a n a r r i v e d , a n d w a s s e r i a l i z e d i n a n E n g l i s h

f o r m a t th a t o n ly h e a n d M c K e a n w o u ld

T h e s e ria liz e d m a g a z in e s to r y w a s e x ­

T h e F a c e : a h u g e ly in f lu e n tia l B r itis h c u ltu r e , m u s i c , a n d fa s h io n

u n d e r s t a n d a w o r d o f, a n d i t o n l y w o r k e d

p a n d e d a n d c o lle c te d in to a b o o k in 1 9 9 2 ,

and

M u s i c a l E x p r e s s j o u r n a l i s t N i c k L o g a n . It

t h e w a y it d i d b e c a u s e t h e y h a d b e e n o n t h e

p u b lish e d

so u n d .

d i s a p p e a r e d in 2 0 0 4 , c r o w d e d o u t o f t h e m a r k e t b y i m i t a t o r s , b u t in 1 9 8 9 i t w a s a t

p h o n e a b o u t i t f o r a m o n t h a n d a h a lf . “I

a d a p te d f o r th e sta g e b y M a r c R o s e n b u s h

“ P e o p l e g e n e r a l l y s e e m t o n e e d p i c t u r e s to

t h e p e a k o f its p o w e r s — T h e F a c e o f t h e t i m e s . G i v e n t h a t i t w a s s o i n t r i n s i c a l l y e i g h t i e s ,

ta l k e d e v e r y t h i n g t h r o u g h w i t h h i m

and

b e re co g n iz a b le , b u t s o u n d sca p e s a re b y

m a g a z in e

ca lle d

m a g a z in e la u n c h e d

13 8

C ases

n s t e a d o f g o i n g t h r o u g h a b a t t e r y o f te s ts a n d s u r g e r i e s , h e s ig n s o f f o n life. H e sits a t

to ld in a q u ie t, m e t r o n o m i c h u m o c c a s i o n a l l y p u n c t u a t e d w i t h v i s u a l b u z z a n d n o i s e . It’s

t

V io le n t

got

p u t t i n g m e a n d D a v e t o g e t h e r , o r S ig n a l to

in

1980

by ex -N ew

w ay

by

G o lla n cz .

R o b e rt T o o m b s

In

1999

it w a s

o f N O W th e a tre

in

n o ise As

in

th e

he

s a id

p u re st in

h is

p o s s ib le :

in tr o d u c tio n :

th e m a g a z in e to y e d w ith t h e id e a o f k illin g its e lf o ff in 1 9 9 0 . S h e ry l G a r r a tt, th e e d ito r a t

a h e a d o f tim e , a n d th e n I ju s t g a v e h im s o m e

C h ic a g o , b u t th r e e y e a rs b e f o re th a t it w a s

d e fin itio n

th e tim e , d e c id e d to c o m m is s io n a s e r ia liz e d c o m i c s to r y as a fin a l fa n f a re b e f o re th e

w o r d s , w i t h a f e w c o m m e n t s in b r a c k e t s .

th e B B C r a d io p la y th a t c a p tu r e d th e id e a

b a c k g ro u n d n o ise s o m e tim e s sw a m p s th e

e n d . M c K e a n h a d a lr e a d y w o rk e d f o r t h e m o n a tw o -p a g e e d ito r ia l s p re a d c a lle d “W ip e

A n d h e w e n t a w a y a n d tu r n e d th a t in to a

b e s t. A d a p te d b y G a im a n a n d b r o a d c a s t

f o r e g r o u n d . Y o u f e e l i t, lik e y o u f e e l t h e

O u t ” — t h e t e x t o f a n a r t i c l e o n c o m p u t e r h a c k i n g s l i c e d u p a n d “s e m i - r a n d o m l y p a s t e d

c o m i c ” ( C o m ic s J o u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ) . It w a s

in 1 9 9 6 , it f e a tu r e d m u s ic a l c o m p o s itio n s

e m o t i o n in m u s i c . I t d o e s n ’t n e e d e x p l a n ­

b a c k t o g e t h e r in a f r a g m e n t e d l o o p i n g m o n o l o g u e ” o v e r tw e l v e m u r k y p a n e l s o f a m a n

ill u s t r a t e d , l e t t e r e d , a n d d e liv e r e d

o n th e

b y M c K e a n , w h o is n o t o n l y a s t e l l a r a r t i s t

a tio n ” (M c K e a n , 2 0 0 7 ) .

s m o k in g a t h is c o m p u te r ( M c K e a n , 2 0 0 7 ) . G a r r e t t c a lle d h i m a n d a sk e d h im to c o m e u p

f irs t w e e k o f t h e m o n t h a n d b y t h e f o u r t h , it

b u t a ls o a n i n c r e d i b l e m u s i c i a n . M c K e a n

w i t h s o m e id e a s f o r o n o n g o i n g s t o r y . M c K e a n p h o n e d N e il.

w o u ld b e o n th e m a g a z in e ra c k s .

f e lt t h a t i t d e a l t w i t h t h e t h e m e s o f s i g n a l

tHe aRt o f Neil gaim an

chapter

4 | a com ics m iscettaN y

im p re s s io n is tic ,

w ay

a b s tra c t.

The

M c K e a n h a s p la n s to t u r n i t in to a f ilm , b u t i t h a s n ’t h a p p e n e d y e t. ❖

139 t

SIG

I h a d a t h e m e t h a t I w a n t e d to

“ T h e j o y o f S ig n a l to N o is e w a s t h a t o n c e

ta c k le , w h ic h w a s t h e w h o le k i n d o f

e v e r y m o n t h I’d s it d o w n a n d w r i t e t h e n e x t

m ille n n ia l, a r m a g e d d o n - y , a p o c a ly p t i c

fo u r p ag es. W h e re v e r I w as at th a t m o n th ,

ty p e o f th in g — th e w a y t h a t it h a d

t h a t w a s w h a t I’d d o , a n d i f I w a n t e d t o d o it

a lr e a d y h a p p e n e d on ce,

in a d if f e re n t s ty le , o r D a v e w a n t e d t o u s e a

1000, a n d

N

a

L

t o

N

O

I S e

th ere h a d

in t h e y e a r

been

a

m a jo r

d if f e re n t v i s u a l s ty le , it w a s lik e S ig n a l to

a n t i- c lim a x . A n t i - c lim a x e s a r e a lw a y s

N o is e w a s a s e r ie s o f P o l a r o i d s o f w h e r e w e

a b ig p a r t o f m y f i c t i o n . I w a n t e d to

w e re a t th e tim e ” (K ra ft, 1 9 9 3 ).

d o s o m e t h in g a b o u t th a t, a n d D a v e w a n ted

“And I ask myself. Why am I writing a film I will never make, writing something no one will ever see? The world is always ending for someone. It’s a good line.”

to

do

s o m e t h in g a b o u t th e

I t’s a g o o d e x a m p l e o f h o w c o l l a b o r a t i o n w o r k s — t h e i r s in p a r t i c u l a r , b u t j u s t t h e a c t

d e a t h o f E is e n s te in . S o w e t r ie d to c o m -

a n d a r t o f c o l l a b o r a t i o n its e lf . T h e r e w a s

z p r o m is e a n d d o s o m e t h in g a b o u t a

n o p a s s e n g e r ; th e r e w e re tw o d riv e rs a t th e

d y in g f i l m d ir e c t o r a n d t h e a p o c a ly p s e

w h e e l o f th is v e h ic le . “ I t h i n k w h a t y o u g e t

t h a t n e v e r h a p p e n e d . W h a t g o t in te r e s t­

w h e n y o u p u t t w o s e n s i b i l i t i e s t o g e t h e r is

in g w a s I s a t d o w n a n d w r o te , a s f a r a s

s o m e th in g th a t n e ith e r se n sib ility c o u ld

I r e m e m b e r , s e v e n f i r s t e p is o d e s . S o m e

h a v e d o n e in d e p e n d e n tly in q u ite t h a t w ay .

o f t h e m d id n ’t g e t v e r y f a r . S o m e o f

I d o n ’t t h i n k y o u c o u l d h a v e e v e r g o t t e n

t h e m w e n t a p a g e a n d a h a lf. A n d w e

S a n d m a n s ‘A M i d s u m m e r N i g h t ’s D r e a m ’

g o t to th e p o i n t w h e r e t h e d e a d li n e w a s

e x c e p t b y p u ttin g m e

h a p p e n in g . A n d D a v e c a m e o v e r a n d

t o g e t h e r , a s a n e x a m p l e . Y o u w o u l d n ’t h a v e

and

C h a rlie V ess

s a id , “W h a t h a v e y o u g o t ? ” A n d I j u s t p r i n t e d t h e m a ll o u t a n d s a id , “I ’v e g o t s ta g e f r ig h t . I c a n ’t d o it. H e r e .” H e j u s t w e n t th r o u g h a n d t o o k th e b its h e lik e d th e b e s t a n d t u r n e d t h e m in to th e f i r s t e p is o d e . W h ic h th e n m e a n t t h a t a to n e h a d b e e n s e t a n d it h a d b e e n d o n e ,

"^Signal to N °iSe WaS a Series o f Polaroids o f wheit $I

a n d a f t e r th a t, w r it in g it w a s v e r y easy.

we were a t th e tim e.

B u t I w a s w r it in g th e s e s c r ip t s t h a t I

to Noise

p U B L lS H e D IN 19 8 9 , S l g N d l is a tiNy, peRSONaL apocalypse. It’s aBOut a miDDLe-ageD fiLm DiRectOR w h o ’ s ju st BeeN toLD He’s goiNg to Die: a tumoR i n h i s LuNgs speLLs tHe eND.

d o n ’t t h in k a n y b o d y e ls e w o u ld h a v e u n d er sto o d ” (C o m ic s Jo u rn a l # 155, 1 9 9 3 ).

G a i m a n sa y s t h e s c r i p t s w e r e u n lik e a n y o f th e o n e s h e h a d d o n e fo r M c K e a n in th e

lik e

th a t

excep t

by

p a s t : i t w a s n o t lik e V io le n t C a s e s , a s h o r t

N o is e . I t is i n t h e c o n j u n c t i o n t h a t S ig n a l to

h o m e a n d w r i t e s h is f in a l s c r i p t : a f ilm a b o u t t h e a p o c a l y p s e . T h e w o r l d is a lw a y s e n d i n g

s t o r y h a n d e d o v e r w i t h i n s t r u c t i o n s t o “r u n

N o is e a c t u a l l y w o r k s . I t’s t h e f a c t t h a t i t ’s

f o r s o m e o n e , h e fig u re s . T h e s t o r y is a b o u t t i m e , a b o u t c l o c k s r u n n i n g o u t o f it, a n d it’s

w i t h it,” n o r w a s i t t h e f o r m a l “p a g e o n e ,

tw o p e o p le , b o t h t r y in g to d o th in g s th a t

p a n e l o n e ” s c r i p t o f O u t r a g e o u s T a le s f r o m

o v e rla p , th a t a r e d iffe re n t. H a v in g to d o

a b o u t e n d in g s , a n d a b o u t h o w e v e r y t h i n g t h a t m a t t e r s h a s o n e ; it’s a b o u t c o m i n g t o t e r m s

th e O ld

w ith

w i t h life a n d d e a t h a n d t h e c e r t a i n t y o f u n c e r t a in t y .

S ig n a l to N o is e w a s d o n e in s o m e s t r a n g e

I

T e s t a m e n t ( m o r e o n t h a t l a te r ).

c o m m u n ica tio n

arcs

and

a ll

aBOVe: Earlier version of an image used again for M ir a c le m a n #22 cover. Men in the sky, hoisted aloft by gray balloons.

th a t

s tu ff” (C o m ic s Jo u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ).

S ig n a l to N o is e b e g a n a y e a r a f t e r S a n d m a n a r r i v e d , a n d w a s s e r i a l i z e d i n a n E n g l i s h

f o r m a t th a t o n ly h e a n d M c K e a n w o u ld

T h e s e ria liz e d m a g a z in e s to r y w a s e x ­

T h e F a c e : a h u g e ly in f lu e n tia l B r itis h c u ltu r e , m u s i c , a n d fa s h io n

u n d e r s t a n d a w o r d o f, a n d i t o n l y w o r k e d

p a n d e d a n d c o lle c te d in to a b o o k in 1 9 9 2 ,

and

M u s i c a l E x p r e s s j o u r n a l i s t N i c k L o g a n . It

t h e w a y it d i d b e c a u s e t h e y h a d b e e n o n t h e

p u b lish e d

so u n d .

d i s a p p e a r e d in 2 0 0 4 , c r o w d e d o u t o f t h e m a r k e t b y i m i t a t o r s , b u t in 1 9 8 9 i t w a s a t

p h o n e a b o u t i t f o r a m o n t h a n d a h a lf . “I

a d a p te d f o r th e sta g e b y M a r c R o s e n b u s h

“ P e o p l e g e n e r a l l y s e e m t o n e e d p i c t u r e s to

t h e p e a k o f its p o w e r s — T h e F a c e o f t h e t i m e s . G i v e n t h a t i t w a s s o i n t r i n s i c a l l y e i g h t i e s ,

ta l k e d e v e r y t h i n g t h r o u g h w i t h h i m

and

b e re co g n iz a b le , b u t s o u n d sca p e s a re b y

m a g a z in e

ca lle d

m a g a z in e la u n c h e d

13 8

C ases

n s t e a d o f g o i n g t h r o u g h a b a t t e r y o f te s ts a n d s u r g e r i e s , h e s ig n s o f f o n life. H e sits a t

to ld in a q u ie t, m e t r o n o m i c h u m o c c a s i o n a l l y p u n c t u a t e d w i t h v i s u a l b u z z a n d n o i s e . It’s

t

V io le n t

got

p u t t i n g m e a n d D a v e t o g e t h e r , o r S ig n a l to

in

1980

by ex -N ew

w ay

by

G o lla n cz .

R o b e rt T o o m b s

In

1999

it w a s

o f N O W th e a tre

in

n o ise As

in

th e

he

s a id

p u re st in

h is

p o s s ib le :

in tr o d u c tio n :

th e m a g a z in e to y e d w ith t h e id e a o f k illin g its e lf o ff in 1 9 9 0 . S h e ry l G a r r a tt, th e e d ito r a t

a h e a d o f tim e , a n d th e n I ju s t g a v e h im s o m e

C h ic a g o , b u t th r e e y e a rs b e f o re th a t it w a s

d e fin itio n

th e tim e , d e c id e d to c o m m is s io n a s e r ia liz e d c o m i c s to r y as a fin a l fa n f a re b e f o re th e

w o r d s , w i t h a f e w c o m m e n t s in b r a c k e t s .

th e B B C r a d io p la y th a t c a p tu r e d th e id e a

b a c k g ro u n d n o ise s o m e tim e s sw a m p s th e

e n d . M c K e a n h a d a lr e a d y w o rk e d f o r t h e m o n a tw o -p a g e e d ito r ia l s p re a d c a lle d “W ip e

A n d h e w e n t a w a y a n d tu r n e d th a t in to a

b e s t. A d a p te d b y G a im a n a n d b r o a d c a s t

f o r e g r o u n d . Y o u f e e l i t, lik e y o u f e e l t h e

O u t ” — t h e t e x t o f a n a r t i c l e o n c o m p u t e r h a c k i n g s l i c e d u p a n d “s e m i - r a n d o m l y p a s t e d

c o m i c ” ( C o m ic s J o u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ) . It w a s

in 1 9 9 6 , it f e a tu r e d m u s ic a l c o m p o s itio n s

e m o t i o n in m u s i c . I t d o e s n ’t n e e d e x p l a n ­

b a c k t o g e t h e r in a f r a g m e n t e d l o o p i n g m o n o l o g u e ” o v e r tw e l v e m u r k y p a n e l s o f a m a n

ill u s t r a t e d , l e t t e r e d , a n d d e liv e r e d

o n th e

b y M c K e a n , w h o is n o t o n l y a s t e l l a r a r t i s t

a tio n ” (M c K e a n , 2 0 0 7 ) .

s m o k in g a t h is c o m p u te r ( M c K e a n , 2 0 0 7 ) . G a r r e t t c a lle d h i m a n d a sk e d h im to c o m e u p

f irs t w e e k o f t h e m o n t h a n d b y t h e f o u r t h , it

b u t a ls o a n i n c r e d i b l e m u s i c i a n . M c K e a n

w i t h s o m e id e a s f o r o n o n g o i n g s t o r y . M c K e a n p h o n e d N e il.

w o u ld b e o n th e m a g a z in e ra c k s .

f e lt t h a t i t d e a l t w i t h t h e t h e m e s o f s i g n a l

tHe aRt o f Neil gaim an

chapter

4 | a com ics m iscettaN y

im p re s s io n is tic ,

w ay

a b s tra c t.

The

M c K e a n h a s p la n s to t u r n i t in to a f ilm , b u t i t h a s n ’t h a p p e n e d y e t. ❖

139 t

j f

What were attempting to do with Miracleman is strip away a lot o f the

miRaCLeman

^hC’ itliiAa( li[itl^ li[fi f atdraC tod^pli-’ iv j

»

waS th e idea o f Setting SorieS in ''Utopia. J ^ /h a t do you do w ith 'U topia

aS a writerl W ^atdo you uSe thoSe SorieS to comment on? [ J t w as] an opportunity to do a Series o f stôrieS t h a t aSk, j f you Ve taken awayjhoSt o f th e protUjM o f human e}UStence, w hat are you le ft w ith? A^nd w hat you re l i f t w ith iS people continue to be people. ^ou t l l g e t StôrieS; StôrieS d o a t Stop. Youj u t g e t a different S et. J lik e( th e fa c t t h a t J had no SupercriminalS t worry about, no alien inVaSionS.

miRaclemaN lived in GaimaN’s before posiNg

on

the page i n

B

heaD fo r years his bLue spaNDex.

efore that, he lived in Alan Moore’s head, and before that he took up space in Mick Anglo’s. He’s a character with a long and convoluted history, one which saw him being fought over right up to 2013, by several parties, in a custody battle in which biological details are hazy. Nobody quite knows who gave birth to Miracleman, although as of 2014, his adoption papers seem to have been settled. Marvelman, as he was called in the beginning—before Marvel Comics suggested a rebrand—was Moore’s reimagining of a cheesy 1950s British comic by Mick Anglo—a sort of Captain Marvel with Dan Dare voices. It first appeared in the pre-Watchmen days of 1982 in issue one of the Dez Skinn-edited Warrior and was a distinctly unusual kind of superhero comic; it was groundbreaking before the word “groundbreaking” was permanently grafted onto the front of Alan Moore’s name. Moore said at the time:

t 140

tHe aRt o f Neil gaim an

accumulated clichés and dross that have built up around the superheroes, and try to get back to what we perceive as the original idea—which was probably something very closely akin to the original function o f the Greek and Norse legends. When those particular legends were current, when they had just been evolved, they were contemporary; they weren’t set in an exotic faraway land or a faraway time, they were happening at the end o f the street. What we are trying to do is reinterpret the idea o f a god amongst people, which is basically what the idea o f a superhero is, even though the original idea had been diluted. We’ll also be going into the psychology o f the character, trying to get into what it would feel like to actually do all this bizarre and miraculous stuff. Anytime someone jostled you in the line at the cafeteria you could just throw them into orbit. I think it would probably change your view o f society slightly. Those are the areas we’re going to get into; what it feels like fo r the person himself being a god amongst creatures that must look to him like animals. What it feels like fo r the humans suddenly being confronted with something that’s a million times better than they are (Amazing Heroes Preview Special #2, 1986). Moore had taken the superhero on the page and turned him into a god relevant to the twentieth century. “It’s like a new synthesis of politics and religion, a new definition of godhood in comic terms, with social, sexual, and religious implications. It’s best described as taking the essential images of the superhero tradition, the Jack Kirby Thor and Asgard imagery, and trying to make them strange and different” (Amazing Heroes Preview Special #5, 1987). Then, having carefully removed all of the devices and hooks of comics, making it a purely Alan Moore fiction, he decided to hand it over to someone else: Gaiman.

It was 1986. Violent Cases was still being drawn, Gaiman was untried, untested, and absolutely green. Black Orchid was not even a glint in the milkman’s eye and Alan Moore was on the phone asking him to take over when he was done. Gaiman had only phoned to ask him to put in a good word with Karen Berger (who was just about to

chapter

4 | a com ics misceLLaNy

aBOve: Full-page spread in Eclipse Comics’ M i r a c l e m a n #24, August 1993, art by Mark Buckingham. This was the fifth last page of M i r a c l e m a n art to be published up to now.

141 t

j f

What were attempting to do with Miracleman is strip away a lot o f the

miRaCLeman

^hC’ itliiAa( li[itl^ li[fi f atdraC tod^pli-’ iv j

»

waS th e idea o f Setting SorieS in ''Utopia. J ^ /h a t do you do w ith 'U topia

aS a writerl W ^atdo you uSe thoSe SorieS to comment on? [ J t w as] an opportunity to do a Series o f stôrieS t h a t aSk, j f you Ve taken awayjhoSt o f th e protUjM o f human e}UStence, w hat are you le ft w ith? A^nd w hat you re l i f t w ith iS people continue to be people. ^ou t l l g e t StôrieS; StôrieS d o a t Stop. Youj u t g e t a different S et. J lik e( th e fa c t t h a t J had no SupercriminalS t worry about, no alien inVaSionS.

miRaclemaN lived in GaimaN’s before posiNg

on

the page i n

B

heaD fo r years his bLue spaNDex.

efore that, he lived in Alan Moore’s head, and before that he took up space in Mick Anglo’s. He’s a character with a long and convoluted history, one which saw him being fought over right up to 2013, by several parties, in a custody battle in which biological details are hazy. Nobody quite knows who gave birth to Miracleman, although as of 2014, his adoption papers seem to have been settled. Marvelman, as he was called in the beginning—before Marvel Comics suggested a rebrand—was Moore’s reimagining of a cheesy 1950s British comic by Mick Anglo—a sort of Captain Marvel with Dan Dare voices. It first appeared in the pre-Watchmen days of 1982 in issue one of the Dez Skinn-edited Warrior and was a distinctly unusual kind of superhero comic; it was groundbreaking before the word “groundbreaking” was permanently grafted onto the front of Alan Moore’s name. Moore said at the time:

t 140

tHe aRt o f Neil gaim an

accumulated clichés and dross that have built up around the superheroes, and try to get back to what we perceive as the original idea—which was probably something very closely akin to the original function o f the Greek and Norse legends. When those particular legends were current, when they had just been evolved, they were contemporary; they weren’t set in an exotic faraway land or a faraway time, they were happening at the end o f the street. What we are trying to do is reinterpret the idea o f a god amongst people, which is basically what the idea o f a superhero is, even though the original idea had been diluted. We’ll also be going into the psychology o f the character, trying to get into what it would feel like to actually do all this bizarre and miraculous stuff. Anytime someone jostled you in the line at the cafeteria you could just throw them into orbit. I think it would probably change your view o f society slightly. Those are the areas we’re going to get into; what it feels like fo r the person himself being a god amongst creatures that must look to him like animals. What it feels like fo r the humans suddenly being confronted with something that’s a million times better than they are (Amazing Heroes Preview Special #2, 1986). Moore had taken the superhero on the page and turned him into a god relevant to the twentieth century. “It’s like a new synthesis of politics and religion, a new definition of godhood in comic terms, with social, sexual, and religious implications. It’s best described as taking the essential images of the superhero tradition, the Jack Kirby Thor and Asgard imagery, and trying to make them strange and different” (Amazing Heroes Preview Special #5, 1987). Then, having carefully removed all of the devices and hooks of comics, making it a purely Alan Moore fiction, he decided to hand it over to someone else: Gaiman.

It was 1986. Violent Cases was still being drawn, Gaiman was untried, untested, and absolutely green. Black Orchid was not even a glint in the milkman’s eye and Alan Moore was on the phone asking him to take over when he was done. Gaiman had only phoned to ask him to put in a good word with Karen Berger (who was just about to

chapter

4 | a com ics misceLLaNy

aBOve: Full-page spread in Eclipse Comics’ M i r a c l e m a n #24, August 1993, art by Mark Buckingham. This was the fifth last page of M i r a c l e m a n art to be published up to now.

141 t

b o a r d t h a t f lig h t t o L o n d o n t o f in d n e w

M o o re

fig u re d

it w o u l d b e

a b o u t six

B r i t i s h w r i t e r s ) , a n d n o w h e w a s b e i n g g iv e n

m o n t h s , b u t i t w a s m o r e lik e t h r e e y e a r s b y

Miracleman.

t h e t i m e G a i m a n t o o k t h e r e in s . W h e n h e

T h is

no

doubt

s te e le d

h is

n e r v e s a n d p u ff e d h is c h e s t in t h a t m e e t i n g

g o t it, th is

w ith D C C o m ic s . A s h e to ld A le x A m a d o :

w e a th e re d th e d e a th o f ch an ge,

Alan is a very hard act to follow. They’re very large shoes to get into and carry on walking in, especially since M i r a c l e m a n was the first and set the tone fo r superheroes in the 1980s. It’s where it all started. W a t c h m e n and everything that came after it, it all goes back to M i r a c l e m a n . He actually asked me to do it a couple o f months before I met with DC and talked about doing B l a c k O r c h i d . We are going back a long time. It meant that I actually had a long time to think about it. I had

p a rtic u la r h o rse

e n o rm o u s ly

had

Warrior,

lo n g

a lr e a d y a nam e­

p rin te r

fig h ts o v e r p a y m e n t , a n d

d e la y s ,

p ro b le m s w ith

p u b lis h e r s . N o b o d y k n e w w h o o w n e d t h e id e a b u t M o o r e t r a n s f e r r e d w h a t e v e r it w a s h e th e o re tic a lly o w n e d to G a im a n , h a n d in g h im

th e

b ab y , b a s k e t,

Miracleman

and

all.

A

sh o rt

s to r y , “S c r e a m i n g ,” a p p e a r e d as

Miracleman p u b l i s h e r E c l ip s e s Total Eclipse # 4 in J a n u a r y 1 9 8 9 , t h e s a m e m o n t h a s The Sandman # 1 . B y t h e t i m e a b a c k u p in

G a im a n 's f irs t f u ll is s u e a r r i v e d in J u n e 1 9 9 0 ,

Sandman w a s w e ll u n d e r w a y ; t h e la s t is s u e The Doll’s House m o r e o r le ss c o i n c i d e d w i t h Miracleman # 1 7 . of

G a im a n

lik e d

th a t

he

co u ld

be

as

s t r a n g e a n d e x p e r i m e n t a l a s h e w a n t e d in

Miracleman . H e

s a id t o A m a d o , “I c a n g o o f f

o n t a n g e n t s t h a t I p r o b a b l y w o u l d n 't a llo w m y s e l f t o d o in

M\iratlejman . . . S et th e tone for Superheroes I *

"

in th e 1980S. I t s where i t a ll started.

Sandman .

In

Sandman ,

if

t h e r e ’s a c h o i c e b e t w e e n t e llin g a s t o r y tw o w a y s — o n e o f w h i c h m i g h t w o r k v e r y w e ll o r m ig h t b e a to ta l fia sco , a n d a n o th e r w a y o f t e llin g it w h i c h p r o b a b l y w ill w o r k — I w ill g o f o r t h e o n e w h i c h p r o b a b l y w ill w o r k . In

Miracleman

I a m fa r m o r e te m p te d to g o fo r

th e w a y th a t m ig h t b e a c o m p le te m is ta k e , m ig h t b e a m a jo r fia s c o , m ig h t m a k e m e th e

o p p o s ite : A fax of a letter from a reader, 1993, expressing a wish that the wait for #25 isn't as long as that for #24. At time of writing, twenty years on, Miracleman #25 remains unpublished. Note also the request for more script pages the top of the fax.

three years to think about it. During that same conversation, I said, “What are you going to do? How’s it going to end?” and he said, “Well, how it’s going to end is that Miracleman is going to take over the world, and he’s going to make it into a perfect utopia, all peace and light and happiness, and there will be no war, no criminality, no danger o f invasions from space, no insanity, no illness, and it will be a particularly perfect world, thus in one fell swoop I ’ve taken away from you every device fo r telling superhero stories.” I found that concept fascinating, so that was where I started. There was also a level where what I wanted to do began to feed what Alan was doing. I told him what I was planning to do and we fed that back into the last few issues o f M i r a c l e m a n that he was doing.

l a u g h i n g s t o c k o f t h e c o m i c s i n d u s tr y . I 'm m o r e te m p te d to g o fo r th e stra n g e r, m o r e o u t-o n -a -lim b w ay, to

s e e i f it’s g o i n g to

w o r k o r n o t.” O n e o f th e s tra n g e s t a n d m o s t g lo rio u s th in g s a b o u t

Miracleman ,

a n d w h i c h still

re m a in s so , m o r e th a n tw o d e c a d e s sin ce it

firs t

a p p e a re d ,

is

th e

art

by

M ark

B u c k i n g h a m . “B u c k y ” w a s j u s t t w e n t y w h e n h e m e t N e il a t t h e S o c i e t y o f S tr ip I l l u s tr a tio n b a c k in t h e

Borderline d a y s ,

a n d N e il r e c a l l s ,

“H u n t e r T r e m a y n e t o o k u s a ll d o w n t o t h e S S I,

I

th in k

p r e s e n t a ti o n

b ecau se on

we

Borderline.

w ere

d o in g

a

A n d th e n w e

k e p t g o i n g b a c k o n t h e f irs t T h u r s d a y o f e v e r y m o n t h o r w h a t e v e r it w a s . A f t e r a y e a r o r so I w a s d ra g o o n e d o n to th e b o a rd o f d i r e c t o r s o n t h e b o a r d o f t h e S S I. S o I w e n t a lo n g to b o a r d m e e tin g s a n d th e n I fo u n d m y s e l f c h a i r m a n o f t h e S S I. S o I h a d t o g o . I w e n t e v e ry m o n th . A n d M a rk B u c k in g h a m ,

b o a r d t h a t f lig h t t o L o n d o n t o f in d n e w

M o o re

fig u re d

it w o u l d b e

a b o u t six

B r i t i s h w r i t e r s ) , a n d n o w h e w a s b e i n g g iv e n

m o n t h s , b u t i t w a s m o r e lik e t h r e e y e a r s b y

Miracleman.

t h e t i m e G a i m a n t o o k t h e r e in s . W h e n h e

T h is

no

doubt

s te e le d

h is

n e r v e s a n d p u ff e d h is c h e s t in t h a t m e e t i n g

g o t it, th is

w ith D C C o m ic s . A s h e to ld A le x A m a d o :

w e a th e re d th e d e a th o f ch an ge,

Alan is a very hard act to follow. They’re very large shoes to get into and carry on walking in, especially since M i r a c l e m a n was the first and set the tone fo r superheroes in the 1980s. It’s where it all started. W a t c h m e n and everything that came after it, it all goes back to M i r a c l e m a n . He actually asked me to do it a couple o f months before I met with DC and talked about doing B l a c k O r c h i d . We are going back a long time. It meant that I actually had a long time to think about it. I had

p a rtic u la r h o rse

e n o rm o u s ly

had

Warrior,

lo n g

a lr e a d y a nam e­

p rin te r

fig h ts o v e r p a y m e n t , a n d

d e la y s ,

p ro b le m s w ith

p u b lis h e r s . N o b o d y k n e w w h o o w n e d t h e id e a b u t M o o r e t r a n s f e r r e d w h a t e v e r it w a s h e th e o re tic a lly o w n e d to G a im a n , h a n d in g h im

th e

b ab y , b a s k e t,

Miracleman

and

all.

A

sh o rt

s to r y , “S c r e a m i n g ,” a p p e a r e d as

Miracleman p u b l i s h e r E c l ip s e s Total Eclipse # 4 in J a n u a r y 1 9 8 9 , t h e s a m e m o n t h a s The Sandman # 1 . B y t h e t i m e a b a c k u p in

G a im a n 's f irs t f u ll is s u e a r r i v e d in J u n e 1 9 9 0 ,

Sandman w a s w e ll u n d e r w a y ; t h e la s t is s u e The Doll’s House m o r e o r le ss c o i n c i d e d w i t h Miracleman # 1 7 . of

G a im a n

lik e d

th a t

he

co u ld

be

as

s t r a n g e a n d e x p e r i m e n t a l a s h e w a n t e d in

Miracleman . H e

s a id t o A m a d o , “I c a n g o o f f

o n t a n g e n t s t h a t I p r o b a b l y w o u l d n 't a llo w m y s e l f t o d o in

M\iratlejman . . . S et th e tone for Superheroes I *

"

in th e 1980S. I t s where i t a ll started.

Sandman .

In

Sandman ,

if

t h e r e ’s a c h o i c e b e t w e e n t e llin g a s t o r y tw o w a y s — o n e o f w h i c h m i g h t w o r k v e r y w e ll o r m ig h t b e a to ta l fia sco , a n d a n o th e r w a y o f t e llin g it w h i c h p r o b a b l y w ill w o r k — I w ill g o f o r t h e o n e w h i c h p r o b a b l y w ill w o r k . In

Miracleman

I a m fa r m o r e te m p te d to g o fo r

th e w a y th a t m ig h t b e a c o m p le te m is ta k e , m ig h t b e a m a jo r fia s c o , m ig h t m a k e m e th e

o p p o s ite : A fax of a letter from a reader, 1993, expressing a wish that the wait for #25 isn't as long as that for #24. At time of writing, twenty years on, Miracleman #25 remains unpublished. Note also the request for more script pages the top of the fax.

three years to think about it. During that same conversation, I said, “What are you going to do? How’s it going to end?” and he said, “Well, how it’s going to end is that Miracleman is going to take over the world, and he’s going to make it into a perfect utopia, all peace and light and happiness, and there will be no war, no criminality, no danger o f invasions from space, no insanity, no illness, and it will be a particularly perfect world, thus in one fell swoop I ’ve taken away from you every device fo r telling superhero stories.” I found that concept fascinating, so that was where I started. There was also a level where what I wanted to do began to feed what Alan was doing. I told him what I was planning to do and we fed that back into the last few issues o f M i r a c l e m a n that he was doing.

l a u g h i n g s t o c k o f t h e c o m i c s i n d u s tr y . I 'm m o r e te m p te d to g o fo r th e stra n g e r, m o r e o u t-o n -a -lim b w ay, to

s e e i f it’s g o i n g to

w o r k o r n o t.” O n e o f th e s tra n g e s t a n d m o s t g lo rio u s th in g s a b o u t

Miracleman ,

a n d w h i c h still

re m a in s so , m o r e th a n tw o d e c a d e s sin ce it

firs t

a p p e a re d ,

is

th e

art

by

M ark

B u c k i n g h a m . “B u c k y ” w a s j u s t t w e n t y w h e n h e m e t N e il a t t h e S o c i e t y o f S tr ip I l l u s tr a tio n b a c k in t h e

Borderline d a y s ,

a n d N e il r e c a l l s ,

“H u n t e r T r e m a y n e t o o k u s a ll d o w n t o t h e S S I,

I

th in k

p r e s e n t a ti o n

b ecau se on

we

Borderline.

w ere

d o in g

a

A n d th e n w e

k e p t g o i n g b a c k o n t h e f irs t T h u r s d a y o f e v e r y m o n t h o r w h a t e v e r it w a s . A f t e r a y e a r o r so I w a s d ra g o o n e d o n to th e b o a rd o f d i r e c t o r s o n t h e b o a r d o f t h e S S I. S o I w e n t a lo n g to b o a r d m e e tin g s a n d th e n I fo u n d m y s e l f c h a i r m a n o f t h e S S I. S o I h a d t o g o . I w e n t e v e ry m o n th . A n d M a rk B u c k in g h a m ,

a c o n d o m o v e r h is h e a d u n t i l i t e x p l o d e d .

The Truth

It w a s s p o tte d b y t h e p e o p le a t

m a g a z in e , a n d h e la n d e d a jo b illu s tra tin g fu n n y

a rtic le s

by

th e

Peace

and

p r i n t w a s Miracleman # 2 4 , in A u g u s t 1 9 9 3 . Miracleman # 2 5 , t h o u g h b o t h w r i t t e n a n d d r a w n , h a s y e t t o b e p u b lis h e d .

Love

M o o r e s p ro b le m s w ith

Miracleman

and

C o r p o r a t i o n — th e v e r y firs t G a im a n /B u c k ­

E c l ip s e w e r e p a r t o f t h e p a r c e l h e h a n d e d

in g h a m

over

c o lla b o r a tio n . H is la te r s trip fo r

Heartbreak Hotel, G a im a n , w a s

th e o n e h e s h o w e d to

ca lle d

“T h e

W ild

S id e

of

to

G a im a n .

E c l ip s e s

u n p r o f e s s io n a l

d e a lin g s a n d “c r e a t i v i t y ” w i t h t h e r o y a ltie s all p la y e d a p a r t in t h e d e la y s t h a t p la g u e d t h a t

L if e .” P u r e l y c o i n c i d e n t a l l y , i t w a s a s t r i p

s e r ie s (s o u n t r u s t w o r t h y w a s t h e c o m p a n y

Miracleman

th a t G a im a n a n d B u c k in g h a m w o u ld n o t

in s p ire d b y th e w o r k o f tw o

s t a r t a l i c k o f w o r k o n t h e n e x t is s u e u n til

a r tis ts , G a r r y L e a c h a n d A la n D a v is . “M a r k h a d d o n e a s t o r y in i t w h e r e h e ’d

t h e y h a d b e e n p a i d in fu ll f o r t h e l a s t, a n d

a d a p te d th e s o n g , th e H o n k y T o n k A n g e l

E c l ip s e w e r e s lo w t o o p e n t h e i r w a l l e t ) . A ls o ,

s to r y . Y o u k n o w , ‘D i d n ’t k n o w g o d m a d e

G a i m a n a n d B u c k i n g h a m n e v e r r e a lly h a d

h o n k y t o n k a n g e ls , m i g h t ’v e k n o w n y o u ’d

a n y d e a d lin e s . A c c o r d i n g t o B u c k i n g h a m :

h a v e n e v e r m a d e a w if e , y o u g a v e u p t h e

We were supposed to have dead­ lines, but it became a very fluid situation. Certainly, we seemed to have more editors than we had issues o f comics. I think there was one issue we actually got through three editors before it was finished. I was inking stuffand doing bits and pieces elsewhere, but M i r a c l e m a n was always the real personal gem project; it was always the little baby that I was nursing in the corner. Others would come passing through, but that was the one I held gently and took the most care of. It just meant that sometimes it took a long time to actually get the issue together. Certainly Neil never turned out a script fo r M i r a c l e m a n without being careful o f what he was writing; he would write when he was ready, not because it was asked for, and so I showed equal reverence with the art. There were times when it was a shame we weren’t getting it out quicker. Certainly I think if we had been sticking rigidly to the schedule we might have finished the series before Eclipse suddenly collapsed (Khoury, 2001).

o n ly o n e w h o e v e r lo v e d y o u a n d w e n t b a c k t o t h e w i l d s id e o f life’? A n d in it, a c o w g i r l flie s

off. A n d

t h e r e ’s th is j u s t w o n d e r f u l

lig h tn e s s a n d m a g i c t o t h e d r a w in g . A n d I s a id

to

M ark :

Miracleman ?

w o u ld

you

lik e

to

d raw

A n d h e s a id : S u re ! T h a t w a s

h o w M a r k b e c a m e p a r t o f m y g a n g .” G a i m a n p l o t t e d t h r e e b o o k s o f s i x is s u e s e a c h , a f te r w h i c h h e p l a n n e d t o h a n d i t o v e r t o a n o t h e r w r ite r .

The Golden Age

s e r i e s o f s h o r t s to r i e s s e t in

Silver Age

w as a

U to p ia ,

The

w a s a l o n g s t o r y l i n e f a llin g a w a y

f r o m U to p ia , a n d

The Dark Age w a s

g o i n g to

s p a n j u s t t w o d a y s , 200 y e a r s i n to t h e f u tu r e . T h e p la n f o r

Miracleman

w a s t o s t a r t s lo w

a n d s p e e d u p o v e r t i m e . S a id G a i m a n in 1 9 9 2 : “ I w a n t e d , in itia lly , t o j u s t e x p l o r e in a le is u r e ly w a y th is i n c r e d ib l e w o r l d t h a t A l a n h a d c r e a t e d . A l s o , p a r tly , I w a n t e d to s p e n d

The Golden Age in o r d e r t o Miracleman m i n e . B e c a u s e e v e r y o n e t h a t Miracleman w a s A l a n M o o r e . It

a lo n g tim e o n m ake knew

w a s p r e tty m u c h w h e re h e s ta rte d . W e w e re t r y i n g , d e lib e ra te ly , n o t t o d o v e r y m u c h in t e r m s o f p l o t , b u t t o d o a l o t in t e r m s o f aB O ve aND o p p o s ite : Another 1990

w h o h a d a ls o t u r n e d u p r i g h t a t t h e e n d o f

w o r l d a n d c h a r a c t e r . S o t h a t w h e n I b r i n g a ll

Borderline,

w a s c o m i n g t o t h e SS I a n d h e

o f A l a n ’s c h a r a c t e r s b a c k o n s ta g e , p e o p le

Gaiman/Buckingham collaboration. It began

s h o w e d m e a s tr ip h e d id in a m a g a z i n e b y

d o n ’t g o , ‘O h , b u t it’s n o t lik e A l a n d id it.’

as a dream that Gaiman tried to get down on paper. While he thought that Bucky did an excellent job of painting it, Gaiman was never happy with it as a com ic, so he rewrote it as a short story to get it right.

D on

M e lia

and

L io n e l G r a c e y -W h itm a n

Heartbreak Hotel’.’ Heartbreak Hotel w a s

th e

m a g a z in e

M e l i a a n d h is b o y f r i e n d G r a c e y - W h i t m a n

Strip Aids,

T h a t w a s a b i g g e r c o n c e r n o f m i n e in 1 9 8 6 , w h e n I p lo tte d

c a lle d

Miracleman , t h a n

w a s n ’t c o n f i d e n t in

( Comics

Forum

i t is n o w . I

m y o w n v o i c e th e n ”

# 2, 1 9 9 2 ).

In t h e y e a r s s i n c e t h e r e w e r e m u r m u r s of

Miracleman

o f G a im a n

and

m a k in g B ucky

a

re a p p e a ra n ce ,

b e in g

g iv e n

th e

a ch a rity c o m ic

B u t i n t h e e n d , t h e y o n l y g o t h a lf w a y

to ra ise m o n e y fo r an A ID S c a r e c e n te r

th r o u g h th e se c o n d b o o k w h e n th e b o tto m

c o m p l i c a t i o n s o v e r o w n e r s h i p s t o p p e d it

i n L o n d o n . B u c k i n g h a m ’s c o n t r i b u t i o n t o

fe ll o u t o f t h e p u b l i s h i n g c o m p a n y . G a i m a n

fro m

a o n e -p a g e s t o r y c a lle d “T h e

a n d B u c k y w r o t e a n d il l u s t r a t e d n i n e is s u e s

an n ou n ced

P a r t y T r ic k ,” w h i c h w a s j u s t a g u y i n f l a t i n g

b e f o r e E c l ip s e d ie d , a n d t h e la s t is s u e t o s e e

o f f its c r e a t o r M i c k A n g l o . I n e a r l y 2 0 1 4 ,

p r o d u c e d a fte r

Strip Aids w a s

c h a n c e to fin is h w h a t th e y s ta r te d . B u t th e

h a p p e n i n g . In 2 0 0 9

M a rv e l C o m ic s

th e y h a d b o u g h t

Miracleman

Warpsmiths are Garry Leach’s so unless we get permission from Garry...I don’t know. We’llfind out.

M a r v e l f in a lly b e g a n r e p u b l i s h i n g t h e s e r ie s , b e g in n in g w ith th e A la n

M o o r e sto rie s.

G a i m a n sa y s:

I would love at some point one day in the future to finish the story if I can. I ’m holding on to M i r a c l e m a n in my head, and there’s definitely part o f me going well I s o r t o f remember it. I think between me and Mark Buckingham we could. But I wrote the first seven pages o f M i r a c l e m a n #26 in 1993, twenty years ago. There was a long delay between M i r a c l e m a n #15 and #16, but when Alan went back to M i r a c l e m a n it was five years after he’d stopped writing it. Twenty years. .. it would be very weird to try and go back, and go, well okay: this is what I was saying. The next issue was the big Warpsmiths one, but the

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m i s c e t t a N y

Says

B u c k in g h a m ,

“ It

re m a in s

th e

p r o je c t I w o u ld d ro p e v e ry th in g to r e tu rn t o . J u s t b e c a u s e i t ’s t h e m o s t o b v i o u s l y m e o f a n y th in g

I ’v e

done.

So

m any

o th e r

p r o j e c t s I ’v e w o r k e d o n o r t h i n g s I ’v e d o n e have or

sh ow n

have

in f lu e n c e s

been

me

o f o th e r

ta ilo rin g

p e o p le

m a te ria l

to

fit w h a t ’s g o n e b e f o r e o r w h a t I ’m f e e lin g th e

a u d ie n c e w a n ts f r o m

w ith

Miracleman

m e.

C e rta in ly

it w a s v e r y m u c h

my

p e r s o n a l i t y a n d N e i l ’s p e r s o n a l i t y c o m i n g to

th e

fo re

and

te llin g a

s to ry th a t w e

w a n t e d t o t e l l i n a w a y w e w a n t e d t o te ll it. I d o n ’t t h i n k I ’v e fre e d o m

ever h ad

as m u c h

c r e a t i v e l y o n a n y t h i n g e ls e a n d

w o u l d r e l i s h t h e c h a n c e to b e p u r e a g a in ” (K h o u ry , 2 0 0 1 ) . ❖

145 t

a c o n d o m o v e r h is h e a d u n t i l i t e x p l o d e d .

The Truth

It w a s s p o tte d b y t h e p e o p le a t

m a g a z in e , a n d h e la n d e d a jo b illu s tra tin g fu n n y

a rtic le s

by

th e

Peace

and

p r i n t w a s Miracleman # 2 4 , in A u g u s t 1 9 9 3 . Miracleman # 2 5 , t h o u g h b o t h w r i t t e n a n d d r a w n , h a s y e t t o b e p u b lis h e d .

Love

M o o r e s p ro b le m s w ith

Miracleman

and

C o r p o r a t i o n — th e v e r y firs t G a im a n /B u c k ­

E c l ip s e w e r e p a r t o f t h e p a r c e l h e h a n d e d

in g h a m

over

c o lla b o r a tio n . H is la te r s trip fo r

Heartbreak Hotel, G a im a n , w a s

th e o n e h e s h o w e d to

ca lle d

“T h e

W ild

S id e

of

to

G a im a n .

E c l ip s e s

u n p r o f e s s io n a l

d e a lin g s a n d “c r e a t i v i t y ” w i t h t h e r o y a ltie s all p la y e d a p a r t in t h e d e la y s t h a t p la g u e d t h a t

L if e .” P u r e l y c o i n c i d e n t a l l y , i t w a s a s t r i p

s e r ie s (s o u n t r u s t w o r t h y w a s t h e c o m p a n y

Miracleman

th a t G a im a n a n d B u c k in g h a m w o u ld n o t

in s p ire d b y th e w o r k o f tw o

s t a r t a l i c k o f w o r k o n t h e n e x t is s u e u n til

a r tis ts , G a r r y L e a c h a n d A la n D a v is . “M a r k h a d d o n e a s t o r y in i t w h e r e h e ’d

t h e y h a d b e e n p a i d in fu ll f o r t h e l a s t, a n d

a d a p te d th e s o n g , th e H o n k y T o n k A n g e l

E c l ip s e w e r e s lo w t o o p e n t h e i r w a l l e t ) . A ls o ,

s to r y . Y o u k n o w , ‘D i d n ’t k n o w g o d m a d e

G a i m a n a n d B u c k i n g h a m n e v e r r e a lly h a d

h o n k y t o n k a n g e ls , m i g h t ’v e k n o w n y o u ’d

a n y d e a d lin e s . A c c o r d i n g t o B u c k i n g h a m :

h a v e n e v e r m a d e a w if e , y o u g a v e u p t h e

We were supposed to have dead­ lines, but it became a very fluid situation. Certainly, we seemed to have more editors than we had issues o f comics. I think there was one issue we actually got through three editors before it was finished. I was inking stuffand doing bits and pieces elsewhere, but M i r a c l e m a n was always the real personal gem project; it was always the little baby that I was nursing in the corner. Others would come passing through, but that was the one I held gently and took the most care of. It just meant that sometimes it took a long time to actually get the issue together. Certainly Neil never turned out a script fo r M i r a c l e m a n without being careful o f what he was writing; he would write when he was ready, not because it was asked for, and so I showed equal reverence with the art. There were times when it was a shame we weren’t getting it out quicker. Certainly I think if we had been sticking rigidly to the schedule we might have finished the series before Eclipse suddenly collapsed (Khoury, 2001).

o n ly o n e w h o e v e r lo v e d y o u a n d w e n t b a c k t o t h e w i l d s id e o f life’? A n d in it, a c o w g i r l flie s

off. A n d

t h e r e ’s th is j u s t w o n d e r f u l

lig h tn e s s a n d m a g i c t o t h e d r a w in g . A n d I s a id

to

M ark :

Miracleman ?

w o u ld

you

lik e

to

d raw

A n d h e s a id : S u re ! T h a t w a s

h o w M a r k b e c a m e p a r t o f m y g a n g .” G a i m a n p l o t t e d t h r e e b o o k s o f s i x is s u e s e a c h , a f te r w h i c h h e p l a n n e d t o h a n d i t o v e r t o a n o t h e r w r ite r .

The Golden Age

s e r i e s o f s h o r t s to r i e s s e t in

Silver Age

w as a

U to p ia ,

The

w a s a l o n g s t o r y l i n e f a llin g a w a y

f r o m U to p ia , a n d

The Dark Age w a s

g o i n g to

s p a n j u s t t w o d a y s , 200 y e a r s i n to t h e f u tu r e . T h e p la n f o r

Miracleman

w a s t o s t a r t s lo w

a n d s p e e d u p o v e r t i m e . S a id G a i m a n in 1 9 9 2 : “ I w a n t e d , in itia lly , t o j u s t e x p l o r e in a le is u r e ly w a y th is i n c r e d ib l e w o r l d t h a t A l a n h a d c r e a t e d . A l s o , p a r tly , I w a n t e d to s p e n d

The Golden Age in o r d e r t o Miracleman m i n e . B e c a u s e e v e r y o n e t h a t Miracleman w a s A l a n M o o r e . It

a lo n g tim e o n m ake knew

w a s p r e tty m u c h w h e re h e s ta rte d . W e w e re t r y i n g , d e lib e ra te ly , n o t t o d o v e r y m u c h in t e r m s o f p l o t , b u t t o d o a l o t in t e r m s o f aB O ve aND o p p o s ite : Another 1990

w h o h a d a ls o t u r n e d u p r i g h t a t t h e e n d o f

w o r l d a n d c h a r a c t e r . S o t h a t w h e n I b r i n g a ll

Borderline,

w a s c o m i n g t o t h e SS I a n d h e

o f A l a n ’s c h a r a c t e r s b a c k o n s ta g e , p e o p le

Gaiman/Buckingham collaboration. It began

s h o w e d m e a s tr ip h e d id in a m a g a z i n e b y

d o n ’t g o , ‘O h , b u t it’s n o t lik e A l a n d id it.’

as a dream that Gaiman tried to get down on paper. While he thought that Bucky did an excellent job of painting it, Gaiman was never happy with it as a com ic, so he rewrote it as a short story to get it right.

D on

M e lia

and

L io n e l G r a c e y -W h itm a n

Heartbreak Hotel’.’ Heartbreak Hotel w a s

th e

m a g a z in e

M e l i a a n d h is b o y f r i e n d G r a c e y - W h i t m a n

Strip Aids,

T h a t w a s a b i g g e r c o n c e r n o f m i n e in 1 9 8 6 , w h e n I p lo tte d

c a lle d

Miracleman , t h a n

w a s n ’t c o n f i d e n t in

( Comics

Forum

i t is n o w . I

m y o w n v o i c e th e n ”

# 2, 1 9 9 2 ).

In t h e y e a r s s i n c e t h e r e w e r e m u r m u r s of

Miracleman

o f G a im a n

and

m a k in g B ucky

a

re a p p e a ra n ce ,

b e in g

g iv e n

th e

a ch a rity c o m ic

B u t i n t h e e n d , t h e y o n l y g o t h a lf w a y

to ra ise m o n e y fo r an A ID S c a r e c e n te r

th r o u g h th e se c o n d b o o k w h e n th e b o tto m

c o m p l i c a t i o n s o v e r o w n e r s h i p s t o p p e d it

i n L o n d o n . B u c k i n g h a m ’s c o n t r i b u t i o n t o

fe ll o u t o f t h e p u b l i s h i n g c o m p a n y . G a i m a n

fro m

a o n e -p a g e s t o r y c a lle d “T h e

a n d B u c k y w r o t e a n d il l u s t r a t e d n i n e is s u e s

an n ou n ced

P a r t y T r ic k ,” w h i c h w a s j u s t a g u y i n f l a t i n g

b e f o r e E c l ip s e d ie d , a n d t h e la s t is s u e t o s e e

o f f its c r e a t o r M i c k A n g l o . I n e a r l y 2 0 1 4 ,

p r o d u c e d a fte r

Strip Aids w a s

c h a n c e to fin is h w h a t th e y s ta r te d . B u t th e

h a p p e n i n g . In 2 0 0 9

M a rv e l C o m ic s

th e y h a d b o u g h t

Miracleman

Warpsmiths are Garry Leach’s so unless we get permission from Garry...I don’t know. We’llfind out.

M a r v e l f in a lly b e g a n r e p u b l i s h i n g t h e s e r ie s , b e g in n in g w ith th e A la n

M o o r e sto rie s.

G a i m a n sa y s:

I would love at some point one day in the future to finish the story if I can. I ’m holding on to M i r a c l e m a n in my head, and there’s definitely part o f me going well I s o r t o f remember it. I think between me and Mark Buckingham we could. But I wrote the first seven pages o f M i r a c l e m a n #26 in 1993, twenty years ago. There was a long delay between M i r a c l e m a n #15 and #16, but when Alan went back to M i r a c l e m a n it was five years after he’d stopped writing it. Twenty years. .. it would be very weird to try and go back, and go, well okay: this is what I was saying. The next issue was the big Warpsmiths one, but the

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m i s c e t t a N y

Says

B u c k in g h a m ,

“ It

re m a in s

th e

p r o je c t I w o u ld d ro p e v e ry th in g to r e tu rn t o . J u s t b e c a u s e i t ’s t h e m o s t o b v i o u s l y m e o f a n y th in g

I ’v e

done.

So

m any

o th e r

p r o j e c t s I ’v e w o r k e d o n o r t h i n g s I ’v e d o n e have or

sh ow n

have

in f lu e n c e s

been

me

o f o th e r

ta ilo rin g

p e o p le

m a te ria l

to

fit w h a t ’s g o n e b e f o r e o r w h a t I ’m f e e lin g th e

a u d ie n c e w a n ts f r o m

w ith

Miracleman

m e.

C e rta in ly

it w a s v e r y m u c h

my

p e r s o n a l i t y a n d N e i l ’s p e r s o n a l i t y c o m i n g to

th e

fo re

and

te llin g a

s to ry th a t w e

w a n t e d t o t e l l i n a w a y w e w a n t e d t o te ll it. I d o n ’t t h i n k I ’v e fre e d o m

ever h ad

as m u c h

c r e a t i v e l y o n a n y t h i n g e ls e a n d

w o u l d r e l i s h t h e c h a n c e to b e p u r e a g a in ” (K h o u ry , 2 0 0 1 ) . ❖

145 t

SpawṆ

aNgeLa

IN 1993 gaim aN WROte a siNgLe issue of a comic outsiDe of His own paRticuLaR kiND of worLd, aND cReateD a cHaRacteR to Live in it. teN yeaRs LateR, aND foR tHe BetteR paRt of a DecaDe, gaimaN’s aNgeLa was tHe suBject of a couRt case. t all started at a room in a convention in Atlanta. Neil had been signing for hours, Todd McFarlane had been signing for hours, both in the same room but never getting the chance to say hello. “So at the end of the Saturday of the con, I went over and I said hi to Todd after Id finished signing. I think there was a level on which he seemed a little nervous that I was coming over, because he didn’t know what I thought of his stuff or anything. We chatted, and I thought, gee, hes really nice. Then at the awards ceremony that evening, we met again, and I thought the same” (Kraft, 1993). In 1992 Todd McFarlane had founded Image Comics along with several other high profile comics illustrators as a response to the bum deal they had at Marvel. Their main complaint was that although their artwork and newly created characters were being merchandised heavily, the artists weren’t receiving any money above their standard page rate or whatever modest royalties they got on the sales of comics. Marvel declined to hand over ownership and creative control of the artists’ work, so they walked. Image was set up with the singular ideal that creators could publish their work and own it outright. One of the first and most successful of these new creator-owned characters was Spawn, a murdered CIA agent turned demon whom McFarlane dug out of his old high school sketchbooks, dusted off, and sent out into the world. But the problem was that the Image guys were primarily artists, not writers. Said Neil in an interview in 1993:

I

[McFarlane] rang me up and he said, “Hey, Neil, they’re all sticking it to me cos I ’m not a writer! And I never said I was a writer. I ’m a fu ck who plays baseball, y ’know? So I figured I ’d ask you guys who, like, win awards, and the critics love ya, to write some issues o f Spawn. Are you interested?” (Comics Journal 155,1993) So what do I do at this point? I have two options: either I take a moral stand and say no, Image comics have bad writing and therefore I will not write an episode, or I could do something to improve it. And it was sort o f like, yeah, fine, I have no moral objections to a well-written Image comic. What the hell, they are creator-owned; there is a million times less compromise than with Marvel. So his attitude was basically, “You have carte blanche. I will draw it but that’s as fa r as it goes, you have complete and utter carte blanche” (Kraft, 1993). Also, by this point Gaiman had a son who was ten years old, watched X-Men on Saturday mornings, and took it as a personal insult that his dad never wrote the kind of comics he liked. “He regards it as very unfair. Here I am writing all these comics, and I don’t write

t 14 6

m

tHe aRt o f Neil gaim an

a B O V e : S p a w n #9,

March 1993.

anything that he likes, with people hitting each other and having cool superpowers” (It #1, 1994). McFarlane lined up four different award­ winning writers to do an issue each: Alan Moore, Gaiman, Dave Sim, and Frank Miller. It was Alan’s first superhero story in five years, and although he had no idea who McFarlane or Spawn was when he was asked to do it, he did it because Image was neither Marvel nor DC. A rogue troublemaker. He liked the idea of it. Gaiman said at the time: “It was really fun reading Alan’s issue of Spawn. They sent me Alan’s script, and it was obvious that Alan was doing basically what I’m doing with mine. W hich is saying, ‘Okay, I’m writing a good story for twelve-year-olds.’ The readership of Spawn is not the reader­ ship of Sandman. I would hope that in a few years’ time some of them may be my readers, but frankly, right now, most of them would be bored shitless by having to read a Sandman. And they wouldn’t even want to be in the same room as Signal to Noise—one look would convince them that this is not a comic. And I’m not sure I’d argue with them” (Comics Journal 155, 1993). ❖

aLaN mooRe's issue was about the afterlife in the Spawn universe, and Gaiman went from there. “I have a thing for angels. Every year or so I think, ‘Good, that was it, that was the last piece of fiction I ever do about angels, angels are now out of my system.’ And then a year or two later, I go back and do something else with angels. And it was just some of the stuff about the afterlife, and the idea that these spawn are sort of the army of hell and so on, and I thought, okay, let’s go. It’s time for Neil to do some more stuff with angels. “I was thinking that the only reason that you’d have an army of hell is if the other side was worse. You don’t have an army to fight librarians and milk monitors; I’m sorry, you don’t need one. So it’s one little story about an angelic hitman, or hitlady” (Kraft, 1993). This angelic hit lady, Angela, appeared for the first time in Spawn #9 (1993), again in Spawn #26 (1994), and later in a follow-up miniseries called Angela (1994), also scripted by Gaiman, that gave her a proper introduction to the Spawn universe. Then McFarlane decided that Gaiman was work-for-hire and had no hold over Angela or the two other characters he introduced—Cogliostro and Medieval Spawn. McFarlane claimed that all previous agreements were null and void, that he was the sole owner of everything, and that Gaiman was entitled to no royalties or credit in their later appear­ ances, nor from the reprints of the stories he had already done. The previous agreements were made in 1997, when Gaiman tried to use the Angela situation

ch a pter

4 |a comics miscettaNy

to his advantage. In 1996 McFarlane had purchased what he thought were the rights to Miracleman, along with all of (the then-bankrupt) Eclipses copyrights, film, and remaining stock and inventory, with the intention to include the much fought-over character in Spawn at some point. In July of the following year, Gaiman suggested they do a swap: Angela, Cogliostro, and Medieval Spawn in exchange for Miracleman and outstanding royalties. Despite agreeing in writing, McFarlane had reneged on the deal by October and filed three trademark registrations for Miracleman. Come February 1999, Gaiman had received a letter saying the deal and all previous deals were off. In 2002 Gaiman filed and won a lawsuit against McFarlane. In 2010 they were back in court again disputing the ownership of Spawn characters. The crux of the argument was whether or not a character (Cogliostro) based on a stock character (an old wino) becomes sufficiently distinctive to be copyrightable when the character is drawn, named, and given speech. Judge Posner decided that without Gaimans input, it would have been merely a drawing, and in 2012 when it was finally over the characters were split 50/50, and Gaiman felt that much good had come out of it. “I think the various decisions, particularly the Posner decision, were huge in terms of what the nature of dual copyright in comics is. What is copyrightable in comics is now something that there is a definite legal precedent for. There were a lot of things that were misty in copyright [law] that are now much clearer.”

147 t

SpawṆ

aNgeLa

IN 1993 gaim aN WROte a siNgLe issue of a comic outsiDe of His own paRticuLaR kiND of worLd, aND cReateD a cHaRacteR to Live in it. teN yeaRs LateR, aND foR tHe BetteR paRt of a DecaDe, gaimaN’s aNgeLa was tHe suBject of a couRt case. t all started at a room in a convention in Atlanta. Neil had been signing for hours, Todd McFarlane had been signing for hours, both in the same room but never getting the chance to say hello. “So at the end of the Saturday of the con, I went over and I said hi to Todd after Id finished signing. I think there was a level on which he seemed a little nervous that I was coming over, because he didn’t know what I thought of his stuff or anything. We chatted, and I thought, gee, hes really nice. Then at the awards ceremony that evening, we met again, and I thought the same” (Kraft, 1993). In 1992 Todd McFarlane had founded Image Comics along with several other high profile comics illustrators as a response to the bum deal they had at Marvel. Their main complaint was that although their artwork and newly created characters were being merchandised heavily, the artists weren’t receiving any money above their standard page rate or whatever modest royalties they got on the sales of comics. Marvel declined to hand over ownership and creative control of the artists’ work, so they walked. Image was set up with the singular ideal that creators could publish their work and own it outright. One of the first and most successful of these new creator-owned characters was Spawn, a murdered CIA agent turned demon whom McFarlane dug out of his old high school sketchbooks, dusted off, and sent out into the world. But the problem was that the Image guys were primarily artists, not writers. Said Neil in an interview in 1993:

I

[McFarlane] rang me up and he said, “Hey, Neil, they’re all sticking it to me cos I ’m not a writer! And I never said I was a writer. I ’m a fu ck who plays baseball, y ’know? So I figured I ’d ask you guys who, like, win awards, and the critics love ya, to write some issues o f Spawn. Are you interested?” (Comics Journal 155,1993) So what do I do at this point? I have two options: either I take a moral stand and say no, Image comics have bad writing and therefore I will not write an episode, or I could do something to improve it. And it was sort o f like, yeah, fine, I have no moral objections to a well-written Image comic. What the hell, they are creator-owned; there is a million times less compromise than with Marvel. So his attitude was basically, “You have carte blanche. I will draw it but that’s as fa r as it goes, you have complete and utter carte blanche” (Kraft, 1993). Also, by this point Gaiman had a son who was ten years old, watched X-Men on Saturday mornings, and took it as a personal insult that his dad never wrote the kind of comics he liked. “He regards it as very unfair. Here I am writing all these comics, and I don’t write

t 14 6

m

tHe aRt o f Neil gaim an

a B O V e : S p a w n #9,

March 1993.

anything that he likes, with people hitting each other and having cool superpowers” (It #1, 1994). McFarlane lined up four different award­ winning writers to do an issue each: Alan Moore, Gaiman, Dave Sim, and Frank Miller. It was Alan’s first superhero story in five years, and although he had no idea who McFarlane or Spawn was when he was asked to do it, he did it because Image was neither Marvel nor DC. A rogue troublemaker. He liked the idea of it. Gaiman said at the time: “It was really fun reading Alan’s issue of Spawn. They sent me Alan’s script, and it was obvious that Alan was doing basically what I’m doing with mine. W hich is saying, ‘Okay, I’m writing a good story for twelve-year-olds.’ The readership of Spawn is not the reader­ ship of Sandman. I would hope that in a few years’ time some of them may be my readers, but frankly, right now, most of them would be bored shitless by having to read a Sandman. And they wouldn’t even want to be in the same room as Signal to Noise—one look would convince them that this is not a comic. And I’m not sure I’d argue with them” (Comics Journal 155, 1993). ❖

aLaN mooRe's issue was about the afterlife in the Spawn universe, and Gaiman went from there. “I have a thing for angels. Every year or so I think, ‘Good, that was it, that was the last piece of fiction I ever do about angels, angels are now out of my system.’ And then a year or two later, I go back and do something else with angels. And it was just some of the stuff about the afterlife, and the idea that these spawn are sort of the army of hell and so on, and I thought, okay, let’s go. It’s time for Neil to do some more stuff with angels. “I was thinking that the only reason that you’d have an army of hell is if the other side was worse. You don’t have an army to fight librarians and milk monitors; I’m sorry, you don’t need one. So it’s one little story about an angelic hitman, or hitlady” (Kraft, 1993). This angelic hit lady, Angela, appeared for the first time in Spawn #9 (1993), again in Spawn #26 (1994), and later in a follow-up miniseries called Angela (1994), also scripted by Gaiman, that gave her a proper introduction to the Spawn universe. Then McFarlane decided that Gaiman was work-for-hire and had no hold over Angela or the two other characters he introduced—Cogliostro and Medieval Spawn. McFarlane claimed that all previous agreements were null and void, that he was the sole owner of everything, and that Gaiman was entitled to no royalties or credit in their later appear­ ances, nor from the reprints of the stories he had already done. The previous agreements were made in 1997, when Gaiman tried to use the Angela situation

ch a pter

4 |a comics miscettaNy

to his advantage. In 1996 McFarlane had purchased what he thought were the rights to Miracleman, along with all of (the then-bankrupt) Eclipses copyrights, film, and remaining stock and inventory, with the intention to include the much fought-over character in Spawn at some point. In July of the following year, Gaiman suggested they do a swap: Angela, Cogliostro, and Medieval Spawn in exchange for Miracleman and outstanding royalties. Despite agreeing in writing, McFarlane had reneged on the deal by October and filed three trademark registrations for Miracleman. Come February 1999, Gaiman had received a letter saying the deal and all previous deals were off. In 2002 Gaiman filed and won a lawsuit against McFarlane. In 2010 they were back in court again disputing the ownership of Spawn characters. The crux of the argument was whether or not a character (Cogliostro) based on a stock character (an old wino) becomes sufficiently distinctive to be copyrightable when the character is drawn, named, and given speech. Judge Posner decided that without Gaimans input, it would have been merely a drawing, and in 2012 when it was finally over the characters were split 50/50, and Gaiman felt that much good had come out of it. “I think the various decisions, particularly the Posner decision, were huge in terms of what the nature of dual copyright in comics is. What is copyrightable in comics is now something that there is a definite legal precedent for. There were a lot of things that were misty in copyright [law] that are now much clearer.”

147 t

a llo w n o n - M a r v e l r e a d e r s — t h e f a n s w h o

maRvel 1602

o n l y p o p p e d i n to c o m i c s h o p s o n c e a m o n t h t o p i c k u p a n is s u e o f

Sandman —

t o j o i n in

w i t h o u t h a v i n g to b r u s h u p o n t h e b a c k s t o r y . W h a t G a i m a n h a d a lw a y s lik e d a b o u t M a r v e l , a n d p l a n n e d t o i n c o r p o r a t e i n to t h e s e r i e s , w a s t h a t M a r v e l w a s o n e g r e a t b ig u n i v e r s e in w h i c h e v e r y c h a r a c t e r i n t e r a c t e d w i t h e v e r y b o d y in t h e u n i v e r s e o n e w a y o r a n o t h e r . “ T h e D C U n i v e r s e a lw a y s fe e ls lik e a b u n c h o f d i s c r e t e e l e m e n t s w h e r e , in o r d e r t o g e t f r o m s o m e b o d y ’s c o m i c t o s o m e b o d y e ls e s c o m i c , y o u p r a c t i c a l l y n e e d a p a s s p o r t , o r a t le a st a lo n g b u s rid e . W h e r e a s y o u

BefoRe we go Back 400-ODD yeaRS, w e’LL go Back to 2001 wHeRe marvel: 1602 ties iNto tHe wHoLe toDD mcfaRLaNe case, w h i c h was at tHat poiNt BeiNg pRepaReD But HaD Not yet maDe it to couRt.

a lw a y s f e e l t h a t M a r v e l is , f o r g o o d o r ill, a u n iv e r s e . A s a k id t h a t w a s in c re d ib ly f ru s tra tin g

b ecau se

in

E n g la n d ,

w h ere

c o m i c s c a m e o v e r a s b a l l a s t o n s h ip s , t h e o n ly ru le s w e re e v e ry M a r v e l c o m ic w o u ld b e c o n t i n u e d in a d if f e re n t M a r v e l c o m i c . T h a t w a s r u le o n e . R u le tw o w a s y o u w o u ld

o e Q u e s a d a h a d b e e n e d ito r -in -c h ie f a t M a rv e l fo r a y e a r a n d w a s k e e n to lu re G a im a n

J

Sandman

n e v e r f in d t h a t c o m i c ” ( W e i l a n d , 2 0 0 1 ) .

h a d f in is h e d fiv e y e a r s p r i o r t o t h i s , a n d G a i m a n h a d n ’t

G a i m a n r o p e d in a s m a n y o f t h e M a r v e l

w r i t t e n a c o m i c s i n c e , h a v i n g s p e n t t h e i n t e r v e n i n g t i m e d o i n g n o v e ls a n d c h i ld r e n ’s

ch a ra c te rs as h e c o u ld a n d h a d th e m in te ra c t

o v e r f r o m D C ’s c a m p .

b o o k s . B u t n o w h e h a d a r e a s o n a n d a n e e d t o r e t u r n t o c o m i c s , s p e c if ic a lly t o M a r v e l

c o m i c s . In o r d e r t o t a k e M c F a r l a n e t o c o u r t , G a i m a n n e e d e d a le g a l f i g h t i n g f u n d , a n d w h o b e t t e r to j o i n f o r c e s w i t h t h a n t h e c o m p a n y t h a t w o u l d b e n e f i t i f

Miracleman/Marvelman

"f I decided · · · i t probably

w a s c u t l o o s e f r o m its le g a l b in d s ? O n O c to b e r 2 4 , G a im a n a n d M a rv e l a n n o u n c e d a n e w c o m p a n y ca lle d M a rv e ls a n d M ir a c le s L L C a n d s a id t h a t a ll p r o f its f r o m G a i m a n ’s c o m i c w o u l d g o s t r a i g h t i n t o t h e f u n d , “w h i c h I f o r m e d in itia lly t o h e lp c l a r i f y t h e r i g h t s t o t h e m u c h - m i s s e d

Miracleman,

w aS n tgoing to have any

so th a t

u ltim a te ly o ld a n d n e w s to r i e s c a n a g a in b e p u t i n t o t h e h a n d s o f Miraclemans r e a d e r s ,” s a id

guns or planes in it .

G a i m a n a t t h e c o n f e r e n c e . “O n c e t h o s e r i g h t s h a v e b e c o m e c le a r , I p l a n t o d e d i c a t e a ll o f t h e p r o f its w h i c h a n y

Miracleman

p u b lish in g m ig h t g e n e ra te , b e y o n d th o s e n e e d e d to m a k e

su re th a t th e o rig in a l c re a to rs a re b e in g p ro p e rly p a id , to a c o m ic s -r e la te d ch a rita b le o r g a n iz a tio n ” ( W e i l a n d , 2 0 0 1 ) . T h e p r e v i o u s m o n t h w h e n t h e y w e r e d i s c u s s i n g id e a s f o r t h e c o m i c , M a r v e l s u g g e s te d G a i m a n d o s o m e t h i n g a l o n g t h e lin e s o f a

aBüve aND opposite: Notes for M a r v e l: 1 6 0 2 .

Secret Wars

s t o r y — o n e b i g s t o r y w i t h a ll t h e

M a r v e l h e r o e s a n d v illa in s in it. B u t th is w a s j u s t a f te r t h e W o r l d T r a d e C e n t e r a t t a c k s a n d

o f y o u n g p e o p le w ith u n u su a l p o w e rs a re

t h a t is g r o u n d e d in t h e r e a l i t y o f 1 6 0 2 — its

b e i n g p e r s e c u t e d b y t h e I n q u is itio n . C a l l e d

a n d a l o t o f p e o p le t a k i n g a l o n g t i m e to g e t

h i s to r y , its r e lig io n .

th e W itc h b re e d , a lo t o f t h e m ta k e s a n c tu a r y

p l a c e s , w h i c h is r e a lly i n te r e s tin g . It c h a n g e s

w ith

t h e w a y y o u h a v e t o te ll t h e s t o r y ” ( W e ila n d ,

w a rs w e re a lo n g w a y a w a y f r o m w h a t G a im a n w a n te d to d o .

“ I t w a s a n i c e p l a c e t o s e t t h e s t o r y . It

an

e x ile d

S p a n ia rd

C a rlo s

w ith

stra n g e

Ja v ie r.

i n N o r t h e r n I ta ly , a n d I w o u n d u p w i t h a d a y o n m y o w n in V e n i c e j u s t t o s i t a n d p l o t

t h i n g s t h a t I w a n t e d in t e r m s o f t h e w a y

w e a th e r a n d ta lk o f th e e n d o f th e w o rld .

w h a te v e r it w a s I w a s g o in g to d o f o r M a r v e l. I d e c id e d th a t w h a te v e r I d id , g iv e n th e

th e w o rld w a s c h a n g in g . It a ls o g a v e m e

G a i m a n s a id t h a t w r i t i n g t h e s e r ie s w a s

f e e t a g a i n . W h a t d id n ’t h e lp w a s w h e n t h e

m o o d I w a s i n a t t h a t p o i n t , i t w a s n ’t g o i n g t o h a v e s k y s c r a p e r s , i t w a s n ’t g o i n g t o h a v e

t h e s e n s e o f w o n d e r a n d m a g i c . I t’s r i g h t a t

o d d . If y o u ta k e 4 0 0 y e a rs o f te ch n o lo g ica l

s to r y w e n t f ro m b e in g s ix th ir ty -s ix -p a g e

b o m b s , a n d i t p r o b a b l y w a s n ’t g o i n g t o h a v e a n y g u n s o r p l a n e s in it. T h a t w a s s i m p l y

t h e e n d o f Q u e e n E li z a b e th ’s r e i g n . I w a n t e d

d e v e lo p m e n ts a n d s u p e rh e ro p o w e rs o u t o f

c h a p te rs to e ig h t tw e n ty -tw o -p a g e c h a p ­

to

s h e ’s v e r y o l d ” ( W e i l a n d ,

y o u r s u p e r h e r o c o m i c , y o u s u d d e n l y f in d

te rs — h e lo st f o rty p a g e s o f s to ry a n d h a d

s o r t o f fe ll

s e t it w h e n

b e g in s

ca lle d

g a v e m e A m e r ic a , a n d it g a v e m e a lo t o f

1602

E v e ry th in g

o n e fly in g c h a r a c te r , o n e le v ita tin g c h a r a c te r ,

“ T h e f ir s t d a y p l a n e s w e r e f l y i n g a g a i n , I h a d t o g o t o a s c i - f i / c o m i c s t h i n g i n T r i e s t e ,

w h a t I f e lt lik e a t t h e t i m e . A s s o o n a s I p u t t h a t t o g e t h e r , t h e i d e a s o f

2 0 0 3 ) . A l s o , h e h a d n ’t w r i t t e n a n y c o m i c s in h a l f a d e c a d e a n d n e e d e d to f in d h is

2 0 0 3 ) . H e g a v e t h e c h a r a c te r s E liz a b e th a n

t h a t c o m i c d o e s n ’t w o r k t h e w a y i t u s u a lly

to d o a lo t o f c h o p p in g a n d c h a n g in g a n d

H is i d e a w a s t o w r i t e a s t o r y w i t h t h e s a m e s o r t o f p la y f u ln e s s h e r e m e m b e r e d f r o m th e

n a m e s a n d a d a p te d th e ir p o w e rs a n d ro le s

d o e s . “I k e e p b e in g fa s c in a te d a n d f ru s tra te d

t h r o w i n g t h i n g s o u t.

e a r ly M a r v e l C o m i c s d a y s o f S ta n L e e , J a c k K irb y , a n d S te v e D i t k o , o n l y s e t 4 0 0 y e a r s a g o in

f o r E liz a b e th a n tim e s , a n a lo g s o f c u r r e n t

w h e n I w r i t e th is b y t h e l e n g t h o f t i m e it

T h o u g h it s o ld w e ll, t h e c r i t i c a l r e c e p t i o n

s e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y E n g l a n d a n d c o m p l e t e l y a p a r t f r o m t h e g o in g s o n in c o m i c s in t h e e a r ly

M a r v e l c h a r a c te r s . S ir N ic h o la s

ta k e s p e o p l e t o g e t p la c e s . W e ’r e s o u s e d to

w a s m i x e d — s o m e lo v e d it, s o m e h a t e d it,

2 0 0 0 s . A s G a i m a n p u t it in h is l e t t e r t o t h e il l u s t r a t o r A n d y K u b e r t , “W e ’r e n o t t r y i n g to

head

in te llig e n ce

sta n d a rd su p e rh e ro c o m ic s o r e v en sta n d a rd

a n d s o m e t h o u g h t it w a s t o o in -jo k e y . S o m e

m i r r o r t h e M a r v e l U n i v e r s e h e r e : w e ’r e d o i n g s o m e t h i n g t h a t ’s m o r e f u n t h a n t h a t — w e ’r e

o r g a n i z a t i o n , D r . S t e p h e n S t r a n g e is h e r

f i c t i o n in w h i c h p e o p l e h o p i n t o a ir p la n e s ,

t h o u g h t i t w a s n ’t

c o u r t p h y s ic ia n a n d m a g ic ia n , a n d a g ro u p

g e t i n to c a r s , o r t h e y fly. C u r r e n t l y I h a v e

a lw a y s d o . ❖

s tr a ig h t in to m y h e a d ” (W e ila n d , 2 0 0 1 ) .

t r y i n g to c r e a t e it. W e g e t to m a k e u p o u r o w n ” ( G a i m a n ,

t 148

w i t h t h e r e a l w o r l d o f t h e t i m e : it’s a s e r ie s

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Marvel 1602 # 1 ,

2 0 0 3 ) . It w o u l d a lso

of

Q ueen

E l i z a b e t h ’s

F u r y is

CHapteR 4 |a comics miscettaNy

Sandman ,

b u t th e n s o m e

14 9 t

a llo w n o n - M a r v e l r e a d e r s — t h e f a n s w h o

maRvel 1602

o n l y p o p p e d i n to c o m i c s h o p s o n c e a m o n t h t o p i c k u p a n is s u e o f

Sandman —

t o j o i n in

w i t h o u t h a v i n g to b r u s h u p o n t h e b a c k s t o r y . W h a t G a i m a n h a d a lw a y s lik e d a b o u t M a r v e l , a n d p l a n n e d t o i n c o r p o r a t e i n to t h e s e r i e s , w a s t h a t M a r v e l w a s o n e g r e a t b ig u n i v e r s e in w h i c h e v e r y c h a r a c t e r i n t e r a c t e d w i t h e v e r y b o d y in t h e u n i v e r s e o n e w a y o r a n o t h e r . “ T h e D C U n i v e r s e a lw a y s fe e ls lik e a b u n c h o f d i s c r e t e e l e m e n t s w h e r e , in o r d e r t o g e t f r o m s o m e b o d y ’s c o m i c t o s o m e b o d y e ls e s c o m i c , y o u p r a c t i c a l l y n e e d a p a s s p o r t , o r a t le a st a lo n g b u s rid e . W h e r e a s y o u

BefoRe we go Back 400-ODD yeaRS, w e’LL go Back to 2001 wHeRe marvel: 1602 ties iNto tHe wHoLe toDD mcfaRLaNe case, w h i c h was at tHat poiNt BeiNg pRepaReD But HaD Not yet maDe it to couRt.

a lw a y s f e e l t h a t M a r v e l is , f o r g o o d o r ill, a u n iv e r s e . A s a k id t h a t w a s in c re d ib ly f ru s tra tin g

b ecau se

in

E n g la n d ,

w h ere

c o m i c s c a m e o v e r a s b a l l a s t o n s h ip s , t h e o n ly ru le s w e re e v e ry M a r v e l c o m ic w o u ld b e c o n t i n u e d in a d if f e re n t M a r v e l c o m i c . T h a t w a s r u le o n e . R u le tw o w a s y o u w o u ld

o e Q u e s a d a h a d b e e n e d ito r -in -c h ie f a t M a rv e l fo r a y e a r a n d w a s k e e n to lu re G a im a n

J

Sandman

n e v e r f in d t h a t c o m i c ” ( W e i l a n d , 2 0 0 1 ) .

h a d f in is h e d fiv e y e a r s p r i o r t o t h i s , a n d G a i m a n h a d n ’t

G a i m a n r o p e d in a s m a n y o f t h e M a r v e l

w r i t t e n a c o m i c s i n c e , h a v i n g s p e n t t h e i n t e r v e n i n g t i m e d o i n g n o v e ls a n d c h i ld r e n ’s

ch a ra c te rs as h e c o u ld a n d h a d th e m in te ra c t

o v e r f r o m D C ’s c a m p .

b o o k s . B u t n o w h e h a d a r e a s o n a n d a n e e d t o r e t u r n t o c o m i c s , s p e c if ic a lly t o M a r v e l

c o m i c s . In o r d e r t o t a k e M c F a r l a n e t o c o u r t , G a i m a n n e e d e d a le g a l f i g h t i n g f u n d , a n d w h o b e t t e r to j o i n f o r c e s w i t h t h a n t h e c o m p a n y t h a t w o u l d b e n e f i t i f

Miracleman/Marvelman

"f I decided · · · i t probably

w a s c u t l o o s e f r o m its le g a l b in d s ? O n O c to b e r 2 4 , G a im a n a n d M a rv e l a n n o u n c e d a n e w c o m p a n y ca lle d M a rv e ls a n d M ir a c le s L L C a n d s a id t h a t a ll p r o f its f r o m G a i m a n ’s c o m i c w o u l d g o s t r a i g h t i n t o t h e f u n d , “w h i c h I f o r m e d in itia lly t o h e lp c l a r i f y t h e r i g h t s t o t h e m u c h - m i s s e d

Miracleman,

w aS n tgoing to have any

so th a t

u ltim a te ly o ld a n d n e w s to r i e s c a n a g a in b e p u t i n t o t h e h a n d s o f Miraclemans r e a d e r s ,” s a id

guns or planes in it .

G a i m a n a t t h e c o n f e r e n c e . “O n c e t h o s e r i g h t s h a v e b e c o m e c le a r , I p l a n t o d e d i c a t e a ll o f t h e p r o f its w h i c h a n y

Miracleman

p u b lish in g m ig h t g e n e ra te , b e y o n d th o s e n e e d e d to m a k e

su re th a t th e o rig in a l c re a to rs a re b e in g p ro p e rly p a id , to a c o m ic s -r e la te d ch a rita b le o r g a n iz a tio n ” ( W e i l a n d , 2 0 0 1 ) . T h e p r e v i o u s m o n t h w h e n t h e y w e r e d i s c u s s i n g id e a s f o r t h e c o m i c , M a r v e l s u g g e s te d G a i m a n d o s o m e t h i n g a l o n g t h e lin e s o f a

aBüve aND opposite: Notes for M a r v e l: 1 6 0 2 .

Secret Wars

s t o r y — o n e b i g s t o r y w i t h a ll t h e

M a r v e l h e r o e s a n d v illa in s in it. B u t th is w a s j u s t a f te r t h e W o r l d T r a d e C e n t e r a t t a c k s a n d

o f y o u n g p e o p le w ith u n u su a l p o w e rs a re

t h a t is g r o u n d e d in t h e r e a l i t y o f 1 6 0 2 — its

b e i n g p e r s e c u t e d b y t h e I n q u is itio n . C a l l e d

a n d a l o t o f p e o p le t a k i n g a l o n g t i m e to g e t

h i s to r y , its r e lig io n .

th e W itc h b re e d , a lo t o f t h e m ta k e s a n c tu a r y

p l a c e s , w h i c h is r e a lly i n te r e s tin g . It c h a n g e s

w ith

t h e w a y y o u h a v e t o te ll t h e s t o r y ” ( W e ila n d ,

w a rs w e re a lo n g w a y a w a y f r o m w h a t G a im a n w a n te d to d o .

“ I t w a s a n i c e p l a c e t o s e t t h e s t o r y . It

an

e x ile d

S p a n ia rd

C a rlo s

w ith

stra n g e

Ja v ie r.

i n N o r t h e r n I ta ly , a n d I w o u n d u p w i t h a d a y o n m y o w n in V e n i c e j u s t t o s i t a n d p l o t

t h i n g s t h a t I w a n t e d in t e r m s o f t h e w a y

w e a th e r a n d ta lk o f th e e n d o f th e w o rld .

w h a te v e r it w a s I w a s g o in g to d o f o r M a r v e l. I d e c id e d th a t w h a te v e r I d id , g iv e n th e

th e w o rld w a s c h a n g in g . It a ls o g a v e m e

G a i m a n s a id t h a t w r i t i n g t h e s e r ie s w a s

f e e t a g a i n . W h a t d id n ’t h e lp w a s w h e n t h e

m o o d I w a s i n a t t h a t p o i n t , i t w a s n ’t g o i n g t o h a v e s k y s c r a p e r s , i t w a s n ’t g o i n g t o h a v e

t h e s e n s e o f w o n d e r a n d m a g i c . I t’s r i g h t a t

o d d . If y o u ta k e 4 0 0 y e a rs o f te ch n o lo g ica l

s to r y w e n t f ro m b e in g s ix th ir ty -s ix -p a g e

b o m b s , a n d i t p r o b a b l y w a s n ’t g o i n g t o h a v e a n y g u n s o r p l a n e s in it. T h a t w a s s i m p l y

t h e e n d o f Q u e e n E li z a b e th ’s r e i g n . I w a n t e d

d e v e lo p m e n ts a n d s u p e rh e ro p o w e rs o u t o f

c h a p te rs to e ig h t tw e n ty -tw o -p a g e c h a p ­

to

s h e ’s v e r y o l d ” ( W e i l a n d ,

y o u r s u p e r h e r o c o m i c , y o u s u d d e n l y f in d

te rs — h e lo st f o rty p a g e s o f s to ry a n d h a d

s o r t o f fe ll

s e t it w h e n

b e g in s

ca lle d

g a v e m e A m e r ic a , a n d it g a v e m e a lo t o f

1602

E v e ry th in g

o n e fly in g c h a r a c te r , o n e le v ita tin g c h a r a c te r ,

“ T h e f ir s t d a y p l a n e s w e r e f l y i n g a g a i n , I h a d t o g o t o a s c i - f i / c o m i c s t h i n g i n T r i e s t e ,

w h a t I f e lt lik e a t t h e t i m e . A s s o o n a s I p u t t h a t t o g e t h e r , t h e i d e a s o f

2 0 0 3 ) . A l s o , h e h a d n ’t w r i t t e n a n y c o m i c s in h a l f a d e c a d e a n d n e e d e d to f in d h is

2 0 0 3 ) . H e g a v e t h e c h a r a c te r s E liz a b e th a n

t h a t c o m i c d o e s n ’t w o r k t h e w a y i t u s u a lly

to d o a lo t o f c h o p p in g a n d c h a n g in g a n d

H is i d e a w a s t o w r i t e a s t o r y w i t h t h e s a m e s o r t o f p la y f u ln e s s h e r e m e m b e r e d f r o m th e

n a m e s a n d a d a p te d th e ir p o w e rs a n d ro le s

d o e s . “I k e e p b e in g fa s c in a te d a n d f ru s tra te d

t h r o w i n g t h i n g s o u t.

e a r ly M a r v e l C o m i c s d a y s o f S ta n L e e , J a c k K irb y , a n d S te v e D i t k o , o n l y s e t 4 0 0 y e a r s a g o in

f o r E liz a b e th a n tim e s , a n a lo g s o f c u r r e n t

w h e n I w r i t e th is b y t h e l e n g t h o f t i m e it

T h o u g h it s o ld w e ll, t h e c r i t i c a l r e c e p t i o n

s e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y E n g l a n d a n d c o m p l e t e l y a p a r t f r o m t h e g o in g s o n in c o m i c s in t h e e a r ly

M a r v e l c h a r a c te r s . S ir N ic h o la s

ta k e s p e o p l e t o g e t p la c e s . W e ’r e s o u s e d to

w a s m i x e d — s o m e lo v e d it, s o m e h a t e d it,

2 0 0 0 s . A s G a i m a n p u t it in h is l e t t e r t o t h e il l u s t r a t o r A n d y K u b e r t , “W e ’r e n o t t r y i n g to

head

in te llig e n ce

sta n d a rd su p e rh e ro c o m ic s o r e v en sta n d a rd

a n d s o m e t h o u g h t it w a s t o o in -jo k e y . S o m e

m i r r o r t h e M a r v e l U n i v e r s e h e r e : w e ’r e d o i n g s o m e t h i n g t h a t ’s m o r e f u n t h a n t h a t — w e ’r e

o r g a n i z a t i o n , D r . S t e p h e n S t r a n g e is h e r

f i c t i o n in w h i c h p e o p l e h o p i n t o a ir p la n e s ,

t h o u g h t i t w a s n ’t

c o u r t p h y s ic ia n a n d m a g ic ia n , a n d a g ro u p

g e t i n to c a r s , o r t h e y fly. C u r r e n t l y I h a v e

a lw a y s d o . ❖

s tr a ig h t in to m y h e a d ” (W e ila n d , 2 0 0 1 ) .

t r y i n g to c r e a t e it. W e g e t to m a k e u p o u r o w n ” ( G a i m a n ,

t 148

w i t h t h e r e a l w o r l d o f t h e t i m e : it’s a s e r ie s

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Marvel 1602 # 1 ,

2 0 0 3 ) . It w o u l d a lso

of

Q ueen

E l i z a b e t h ’s

F u r y is

CHapteR 4 |a comics miscettaNy

Sandman ,

b u t th e n s o m e

14 9 t

tHe eteRNa S L afteR tHe sales success of 1602, guesaDa tRieD His Luck agaiN. foR tHe foLLowiNg coupLe o f yeaRs, eveRy tim e gaimaN aND guesaDa w o u Ld Bump iNto eacH otHeR, He’D ask if tHeRe weRe aNy iDeas foR a secoND pRoject. here always were, but after taking them back to the Marvel office and batting them around, it would inevitably transpire that someone else (usually Brian Michael Bendis) was doing something a bit too similar. “That happened maybe three or four times, and to be honest, I don’t actually think that any of the ideas I had, once they were executed, would have been particularly like anything Brian would have done anyway. But we kept following little trails, and ending with ‘Oh, okay—I guess I’m not going to do that.’” For a while Gaiman liked the idea of taking 1602 and flipping it— doing a series called 2061 in which we’d find out how everything played out after 1602 . “I had all that stuff plotted out, and all these things with the 1602 Nick Fury in our time, or in the future. It was a fun story, but it didn’t really set Joe on fire, and I wasn’t particularly burning to do it” (Newsarama , 2006). Quesada suggested Gaiman do something with the Eternals, a bunch of superhumans created in earth’s prehistory by alien giants called the Celestials, but actually created by Jack Kirby in 1976 after he’d left Marvel for D C and come back again. In a lot of ways The Eternals was Kirby continuing with a stream of ideas he’d had at D C in the canceled series The New Gods, as if he were trying to fit in things that he had wanted to do originally but hadn’t had the chance. Gaiman was about sixteen when he read The Eternals as a monthly comic and hadn’t been that impressed (although he points out he bought all of them, so he must have liked them). After Quesada brought the idea up he went back and reread the whole lot. “It’s not his absolutely classic best thing ever where he has more great ideas than anybody can do anything with, but you can see this weird struggle going on— and I don’t know the real story of what was going on back then—but there’s this editorial struggle going on. It’s very obvious that what Kirby wants to do is not quite what he’s doing, and there’s some kind of pressure being exerted from above. I definitely don’t feel that this is Kirby not on the top of his game because he was getting old; I feel that it reads more like Kirby’s not on top of his game because they tied one hand behind his back and weren’t quite letting him be ‘Kirby.’ It’s a different kind of thing as a result” (Newsarama , 2006). It was these pressures from above that caused Kirby to quit Marvel for the second time. After that, no one really knew what to do with the Eternals. They tried to fit bits of Eternals mythology into the Marvel Universe, but it was awkward. “It was like someone trying to mix a really, really fine jet fuel with a really nice vintage red wine, and in the

T

t 150

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

end, you produced something that you couldn’t drink, nor could you put it in your car. It didn’t really work” (Newsarama , 2006). Quesada wanted Gaiman to take this strange free-floating idea and do something with it, fit it into the Universe and make it stick. Gaiman’s Eternals was published in 2006, with artwork by John Romita, Jr., and was supposed to be six issues long but sprawled into seven. The biggest change between Kirby’s Eternals and Gaiman’s was that the Celestials did not create the human race but instead took proto-Homo sapiens and made the Eternals (and their opposites, the Deviants) from that. “I had an enormous amount of fun sitting down with my copies of New Scientist and trying to figure things out from a Darwinian perspective and trying to figure out why they don’t work from a Darwinian perspective. The most obvious way is that if the Eternals don’t die, and are that amazingly perfect, why didn’t they outbreed humanity half a million years ago? That, oddly enough, was the starting point for most of the plot. It began with asking myself that question, and it got to a lot of really interesting places. I got to play with the Celestials as they wandered into the storyline, and I got to ask what the Eternals are as that point was raised in the

op posite aND aBove: Handwritten notes on Eternals from Neil’s notebooks. Left: Notes on Eternals written on the back of a loose tip-in signing page for the limited edition of American Gods. CHapteR 4 | a com ics misceLLaNy

151 t

tHe eteRNa S L afteR tHe sales success of 1602, guesaDa tRieD His Luck agaiN. foR tHe foLLowiNg coupLe o f yeaRs, eveRy tim e gaimaN aND guesaDa w o u Ld Bump iNto eacH otHeR, He’D ask if tHeRe weRe aNy iDeas foR a secoND pRoject. here always were, but after taking them back to the Marvel office and batting them around, it would inevitably transpire that someone else (usually Brian Michael Bendis) was doing something a bit too similar. “That happened maybe three or four times, and to be honest, I don’t actually think that any of the ideas I had, once they were executed, would have been particularly like anything Brian would have done anyway. But we kept following little trails, and ending with ‘Oh, okay—I guess I’m not going to do that.’” For a while Gaiman liked the idea of taking 1602 and flipping it— doing a series called 2061 in which we’d find out how everything played out after 1602 . “I had all that stuff plotted out, and all these things with the 1602 Nick Fury in our time, or in the future. It was a fun story, but it didn’t really set Joe on fire, and I wasn’t particularly burning to do it” (Newsarama , 2006). Quesada suggested Gaiman do something with the Eternals, a bunch of superhumans created in earth’s prehistory by alien giants called the Celestials, but actually created by Jack Kirby in 1976 after he’d left Marvel for D C and come back again. In a lot of ways The Eternals was Kirby continuing with a stream of ideas he’d had at D C in the canceled series The New Gods, as if he were trying to fit in things that he had wanted to do originally but hadn’t had the chance. Gaiman was about sixteen when he read The Eternals as a monthly comic and hadn’t been that impressed (although he points out he bought all of them, so he must have liked them). After Quesada brought the idea up he went back and reread the whole lot. “It’s not his absolutely classic best thing ever where he has more great ideas than anybody can do anything with, but you can see this weird struggle going on— and I don’t know the real story of what was going on back then—but there’s this editorial struggle going on. It’s very obvious that what Kirby wants to do is not quite what he’s doing, and there’s some kind of pressure being exerted from above. I definitely don’t feel that this is Kirby not on the top of his game because he was getting old; I feel that it reads more like Kirby’s not on top of his game because they tied one hand behind his back and weren’t quite letting him be ‘Kirby.’ It’s a different kind of thing as a result” (Newsarama , 2006). It was these pressures from above that caused Kirby to quit Marvel for the second time. After that, no one really knew what to do with the Eternals. They tried to fit bits of Eternals mythology into the Marvel Universe, but it was awkward. “It was like someone trying to mix a really, really fine jet fuel with a really nice vintage red wine, and in the

T

t 150

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

end, you produced something that you couldn’t drink, nor could you put it in your car. It didn’t really work” (Newsarama , 2006). Quesada wanted Gaiman to take this strange free-floating idea and do something with it, fit it into the Universe and make it stick. Gaiman’s Eternals was published in 2006, with artwork by John Romita, Jr., and was supposed to be six issues long but sprawled into seven. The biggest change between Kirby’s Eternals and Gaiman’s was that the Celestials did not create the human race but instead took proto-Homo sapiens and made the Eternals (and their opposites, the Deviants) from that. “I had an enormous amount of fun sitting down with my copies of New Scientist and trying to figure things out from a Darwinian perspective and trying to figure out why they don’t work from a Darwinian perspective. The most obvious way is that if the Eternals don’t die, and are that amazingly perfect, why didn’t they outbreed humanity half a million years ago? That, oddly enough, was the starting point for most of the plot. It began with asking myself that question, and it got to a lot of really interesting places. I got to play with the Celestials as they wandered into the storyline, and I got to ask what the Eternals are as that point was raised in the

op posite aND aBove: Handwritten notes on Eternals from Neil’s notebooks. Left: Notes on Eternals written on the back of a loose tip-in signing page for the limited edition of American Gods. CHapteR 4 | a com ics misceLLaNy

151 t

aBOVe: More notes. o p p o s ite : Character designs by John Romita Jr.

t 152

story. I realized that I could do a kind of weird reboot of part of the plot that was completely faithful to more or less every­ thing that had gone before, particularly the Kirby stuff. But it also shows that things you thought you knew either didn’t happen quite like that, or they didn’t mean what you thought they did. Everything from the arrival of the Second Host to the arrival of Arishem in 1996. They mean different things to what we thought they meant” (Newsarama, 2006). Gaiman’s series sees the Eternals loose in the world and living as humans, unaware of who they really are. The story is about awakening them, making them realize how they are different, and why they are here. We get to see superheroes

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

discovering that they are superheroes, that they have ties to the divine. It’s a great classic hero story, and Kirby was along for the whole ride. “One of the things that fascinates me is that whenever I get stuck on a plot point on Eternals, I go back and look at it, and it’s there. It’ll be in a line of dialogue or a small scene that makes you realize he knew far more about these characters than ever made it on to the page. I’m actually far more impressed by the Eternals now since I’ve started to write it than I was when I first read it through and was getting ready to write it. I thought, initially, that there was all this stuff that Jack hadn’t figured out, but now I know—he had it all figured out” (Newsarama, 2006). ❖

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

aBOVe: More notes. o p p o s ite : Character designs by John Romita Jr.

t 152

story. I realized that I could do a kind of weird reboot of part of the plot that was completely faithful to more or less every­ thing that had gone before, particularly the Kirby stuff. But it also shows that things you thought you knew either didn’t happen quite like that, or they didn’t mean what you thought they did. Everything from the arrival of the Second Host to the arrival of Arishem in 1996. They mean different things to what we thought they meant” (Newsarama, 2006). Gaiman’s series sees the Eternals loose in the world and living as humans, unaware of who they really are. The story is about awakening them, making them realize how they are different, and why they are here. We get to see superheroes

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

discovering that they are superheroes, that they have ties to the divine. It’s a great classic hero story, and Kirby was along for the whole ride. “One of the things that fascinates me is that whenever I get stuck on a plot point on Eternals, I go back and look at it, and it’s there. It’ll be in a line of dialogue or a small scene that makes you realize he knew far more about these characters than ever made it on to the page. I’m actually far more impressed by the Eternals now since I’ve started to write it than I was when I first read it through and was getting ready to write it. I thought, initially, that there was all this stuff that Jack hadn’t figured out, but now I know—he had it all figured out” (Newsarama, 2006). ❖

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

T hen panel

G a im a n

s tr ip

d rew

in s te a d

a o n e -p a g e , fo u r-

(r e v e a l i n g

th e

tru th

a b o u t w h y h e w e a r s s u n g la s s e s ) j u s t t o g e t

“BeiNg aN accouNt of tHe Life and "DeatH of empeROR S U B ga Io eL H

t h e n e e d t o d o a c o m i c o u t o f h is s y s t e m . H e f a x e d i t o f f t o B is s e tt e , w h o m u s t h a v e a s k e d t o p r i n t it b e c a u s e t h e r e ’s a n o t h e r a n c i e n t f a x in a tu b in G a i m a n ’s a tt i c : a o n e - p a g e c o m i c in w h i c h M r . B e e lz e b u b d e liv e r s a m e s s a g e f r o m h is b o s s , N . G a i m a n E s q ., s a y i n g n o , h o l d t h e p h o n e s , y o u c a n ’t p r i n t t h a t — h e s g o i n g t o d o it p r o p e r l y : t h e r e w ill b e a 2 4 H o u r C o m i c f o r th c o m in g . C u e th e b a llo o n s a n d t h e F X , h e sa y s. N e i l ’s 2 4 - H o u r C o m i c s t a r t s w i t h a o n e page

tria l

fa x e d

o ff to

D ave

M cK ean .

M c K e a n fa x e d b a c k a t h r e e -p a g e a r t le sso n and ran

o u t th e

d o o r to

go

to

D u b l in .

G a i m a n is t h e n o n h i s o w n w i t h a p o t o f te a a n d

a n i d e a h e c o u l d n ’t w e d g e i n t o

Sandman :

t h e life

o f a w ild ly e c c e n tr ic

R o m a n E m p e r o r ca lle d H e lio g a b o lu s.

" f' I d a lw ays Wanted to

Noble ^Failure.

puut'Heiioga-boiuS in (^Sandman.

StepHeN R. BISSette set

tHe sceNe foR tHe maDNess o n h i s BLog tHis way: “scott [mccLouD] aND i BotH HaD BaD Reps foR BeiNg s-L-o-w caRtooNists, cHaLLeNgeD By eveN tHe m ost expansive of DeaDLiNes.” it was tHe R i n d of tHiNg tHat c o u L d oNLy Be fixeD By a siLLy DaRe, aND siLLy DaRes Have a teNDeNcy to get out of HaND. tHis was oNe of tHose.

a 24-HOUR C O M I C

“O c c a s i o n a l l y I g e t a n i d e a a n d I t h i n k , ‘I c o u l d n ’t r e a l l y g e t t h i s i n t o it w o u ld I ’d in

n e c e s s ita te

a lw a y s

w a n te d

Sandman ,

T

Zot!,

d a r e d h is f rie n d B is s e tte to d r a w a c o m p le te tw e n t y - f o u r - p a g e c o m i c in a

s in g l e d a y . H e t o o k u p t h e c h a l l e n g e , a n d s i n c e i t w a s h i s i d e a , M c C l o u d d i d o n e

to o . Ju s t tw e n ty -f o u r h o u r s , n o p r io r p lo ttin g : th e c lo c k s ta r ts a n d y o u w r ite , d ra w , a n d

a r g u i n g .’

H e lio g a b o lu s

b u t I lo v e d th is id e a o f a

Sandman ,

I d i d n ’t r e a l l y

t h i n k t h e y ’d b e b i g o n t h e i d e a o f a c o u n t r y r u l e d b y p e n i s s iz e . S o h e d i d n ’t a c t u a l l y w i n d u p in

Sandman , b u t i n m y 2 4 - H o u r Journal # 1 4 4 , 1 9 9 3 ) .

C o m i c ” ( Comics

l e t t e r y o u r e n t i r e b o o k t h e r e a n d t h e n . T h e r u l e s s t i p u l a t e t h a t t h e t i m e is c o n t i n u o u s :

S o m e w h e r e d u r i n g t h e s l e e p le s s n i g h t it b e c a m e a p p a re n t t h a t h e w a s n o t g o in g to

m a k i n g t i m e . T h e l i k e l i h o o d o f p a n i c a n d m a d n e s s is s o m e w h e r e o n t h e s c a l e o f

m a k e t h e f u ll t w e n t y - f o u r p a g e s . H e h a d n ’t p l a n n e d o u t t h e f u ll t w e n t y - f o u r p a g e s ; h e

T h e id e a m ig h t h a v e e n d e d th e r e — a n d n o t b e c o m e a g lo b a l p h e n o m e n o n w ith an

w a s ju s t d ra w in g e a c h p a n e l as it c a m e ,

a n n u a l e v e n t — e x c e p t M c C l o u d a n d B i s s e t t e s e n t c o p i e s o f t h e i r “b a s t a r d o f f s p r i n g ” t o a

th e n d o in g th e n e x t p a n e l, th e n f a x in g th e

b u n c h o f p a ls w h o d e c id e d th e y w a n te d to h a v e a g o to o . D a v e S im ,

t 154

put

b a t h r o o m a n d f o o d b r e a k s a r e o f c o u r s e a l l o w e d , b u t y o u ’r e c u t t i n g i n t o y o u r c o m i c ­

p r o b a b le to d e fin ite .

aBOVe: Cover of the final 24-Hour Comic, 1992.

to

Sandman ;

m u ch

p e n o c r a c y , a n d w h ile D C le t m e g e t a w a y w ith m u r d e r in

h e 2 4 - H o u r C o m i c id e a b e g a n in 1 9 9 0 w h e n M c C lo u d , c r e a to r o f th e c o m ic

to o

Ninja Turtles c o c r e a t o r

Teenage Mutant

K e v i n E a s t m a n , R i c k V e i t c h , a n d G a i m a n w e r e a ll r e a d y i n g t h e i r

p e n s a n d c a f f e in e .

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

p a g e s to

B is s e tte

and

M c C lo u d

L eft: One of Neil’s dreams, comicbooked for Rick Veitch. “The Body Inspector,” 1994.

as th e y

w e r e c o m p l e t e d . “S o m e h o w , w h e n

I got

n e a r th e e n d , th e d is p a r a te t h r e a d s k n o tte d

CHapteR 4 |a comics misceLLaNy

155 f

T hen panel

G a im a n

s tr ip

d rew

in s te a d

a o n e -p a g e , fo u r-

(r e v e a l i n g

th e

tru th

a b o u t w h y h e w e a r s s u n g la s s e s ) j u s t t o g e t

“BeiNg aN accouNt of tHe Life and "DeatH of empeROR S U B ga Io eL H

t h e n e e d t o d o a c o m i c o u t o f h is s y s t e m . H e f a x e d i t o f f t o B is s e tt e , w h o m u s t h a v e a s k e d t o p r i n t it b e c a u s e t h e r e ’s a n o t h e r a n c i e n t f a x in a tu b in G a i m a n ’s a tt i c : a o n e - p a g e c o m i c in w h i c h M r . B e e lz e b u b d e liv e r s a m e s s a g e f r o m h is b o s s , N . G a i m a n E s q ., s a y i n g n o , h o l d t h e p h o n e s , y o u c a n ’t p r i n t t h a t — h e s g o i n g t o d o it p r o p e r l y : t h e r e w ill b e a 2 4 H o u r C o m i c f o r th c o m in g . C u e th e b a llo o n s a n d t h e F X , h e sa y s. N e i l ’s 2 4 - H o u r C o m i c s t a r t s w i t h a o n e page

tria l

fa x e d

o ff to

D ave

M cK ean .

M c K e a n fa x e d b a c k a t h r e e -p a g e a r t le sso n and ran

o u t th e

d o o r to

go

to

D u b l in .

G a i m a n is t h e n o n h i s o w n w i t h a p o t o f te a a n d

a n i d e a h e c o u l d n ’t w e d g e i n t o

Sandman :

t h e life

o f a w ild ly e c c e n tr ic

R o m a n E m p e r o r ca lle d H e lio g a b o lu s.

" f' I d a lw ays Wanted to

Noble ^Failure.

puut'Heiioga-boiuS in (^Sandman.

StepHeN R. BISSette set

tHe sceNe foR tHe maDNess o n h i s BLog tHis way: “scott [mccLouD] aND i BotH HaD BaD Reps foR BeiNg s-L-o-w caRtooNists, cHaLLeNgeD By eveN tHe m ost expansive of DeaDLiNes.” it was tHe R i n d of tHiNg tHat c o u L d oNLy Be fixeD By a siLLy DaRe, aND siLLy DaRes Have a teNDeNcy to get out of HaND. tHis was oNe of tHose.

a 24-HOUR C O M I C

“O c c a s i o n a l l y I g e t a n i d e a a n d I t h i n k , ‘I c o u l d n ’t r e a l l y g e t t h i s i n t o it w o u ld I ’d in

n e c e s s ita te

a lw a y s

w a n te d

Sandman ,

T

Zot!,

d a r e d h is f rie n d B is s e tte to d r a w a c o m p le te tw e n t y - f o u r - p a g e c o m i c in a

s in g l e d a y . H e t o o k u p t h e c h a l l e n g e , a n d s i n c e i t w a s h i s i d e a , M c C l o u d d i d o n e

to o . Ju s t tw e n ty -f o u r h o u r s , n o p r io r p lo ttin g : th e c lo c k s ta r ts a n d y o u w r ite , d ra w , a n d

a r g u i n g .’

H e lio g a b o lu s

b u t I lo v e d th is id e a o f a

Sandman ,

I d i d n ’t r e a l l y

t h i n k t h e y ’d b e b i g o n t h e i d e a o f a c o u n t r y r u l e d b y p e n i s s iz e . S o h e d i d n ’t a c t u a l l y w i n d u p in

Sandman , b u t i n m y 2 4 - H o u r Journal # 1 4 4 , 1 9 9 3 ) .

C o m i c ” ( Comics

l e t t e r y o u r e n t i r e b o o k t h e r e a n d t h e n . T h e r u l e s s t i p u l a t e t h a t t h e t i m e is c o n t i n u o u s :

S o m e w h e r e d u r i n g t h e s l e e p le s s n i g h t it b e c a m e a p p a re n t t h a t h e w a s n o t g o in g to

m a k i n g t i m e . T h e l i k e l i h o o d o f p a n i c a n d m a d n e s s is s o m e w h e r e o n t h e s c a l e o f

m a k e t h e f u ll t w e n t y - f o u r p a g e s . H e h a d n ’t p l a n n e d o u t t h e f u ll t w e n t y - f o u r p a g e s ; h e

T h e id e a m ig h t h a v e e n d e d th e r e — a n d n o t b e c o m e a g lo b a l p h e n o m e n o n w ith an

w a s ju s t d ra w in g e a c h p a n e l as it c a m e ,

a n n u a l e v e n t — e x c e p t M c C l o u d a n d B i s s e t t e s e n t c o p i e s o f t h e i r “b a s t a r d o f f s p r i n g ” t o a

th e n d o in g th e n e x t p a n e l, th e n f a x in g th e

b u n c h o f p a ls w h o d e c id e d th e y w a n te d to h a v e a g o to o . D a v e S im ,

t 154

put

b a t h r o o m a n d f o o d b r e a k s a r e o f c o u r s e a l l o w e d , b u t y o u ’r e c u t t i n g i n t o y o u r c o m i c ­

p r o b a b le to d e fin ite .

aBOVe: Cover of the final 24-Hour Comic, 1992.

to

Sandman ;

m u ch

p e n o c r a c y , a n d w h ile D C le t m e g e t a w a y w ith m u r d e r in

h e 2 4 - H o u r C o m i c id e a b e g a n in 1 9 9 0 w h e n M c C lo u d , c r e a to r o f th e c o m ic

to o

Ninja Turtles c o c r e a t o r

Teenage Mutant

K e v i n E a s t m a n , R i c k V e i t c h , a n d G a i m a n w e r e a ll r e a d y i n g t h e i r

p e n s a n d c a f f e in e .

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

p a g e s to

B is s e tte

and

M c C lo u d

L eft: One of Neil’s dreams, comicbooked for Rick Veitch. “The Body Inspector,” 1994.

as th e y

w e r e c o m p l e t e d . “S o m e h o w , w h e n

I got

n e a r th e e n d , th e d is p a r a te t h r e a d s k n o tte d

CHapteR 4 |a comics misceLLaNy

155 f

themselves together: Everything made sense with that desperate, flat clarity that things attain after thirty-six hours without sleeping.” Although he didn’t get to tell us some of the things he wanted to tell us about Heliogabolus, he had got to a place that was a definite end, at fourteen pages in. Twenty-three hours, forty minutes. He left it there, and Sim printed the results in Cerebus #147, June 1991. Having gone the distance “at least where time and physical endurance were concerned,” McCloud christened it the Noble Failure Variant #1: The Gaiman Variation, wherein the artist reaches the twenty-four-hour mark and is not finished so ties it up as best he can and ends it there. This was in opposition to The Eastman Variation, wherein you keep going past the twenty-four hours until you are done. Kevin Eastman completed his in fifty hours. ❖

to p : Two pages of McKean's faxed art lesson to Neil, 1991. R IgH t: Neil’s one-hour, one-page trial faxed to Dave McKean in 1991. It was later printed in Rick Veitch’s Rare Bit Friends, a spin-off from his own 24-H our Com ic.

t 156

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

to p : Neil’s four-panel strip on sunglasses to Steve Bissette, 1991. faR L eft: Neil’s recall of the strip on shades and a promise to do a twenty-four-page com ic soon, 1991. L e ft: Not part of the 24-H our Com ic debacle, but another faxed drawing of a Roman Emperor, this time for Bryan Talbot in 1991.

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

157 t

themselves together: Everything made sense with that desperate, flat clarity that things attain after thirty-six hours without sleeping.” Although he didn’t get to tell us some of the things he wanted to tell us about Heliogabolus, he had got to a place that was a definite end, at fourteen pages in. Twenty-three hours, forty minutes. He left it there, and Sim printed the results in Cerebus #147, June 1991. Having gone the distance “at least where time and physical endurance were concerned,” McCloud christened it the Noble Failure Variant #1: The Gaiman Variation, wherein the artist reaches the twenty-four-hour mark and is not finished so ties it up as best he can and ends it there. This was in opposition to The Eastman Variation, wherein you keep going past the twenty-four hours until you are done. Kevin Eastman completed his in fifty hours. ❖

to p : Two pages of McKean's faxed art lesson to Neil, 1991. R IgH t: Neil’s one-hour, one-page trial faxed to Dave McKean in 1991. It was later printed in Rick Veitch’s Rare Bit Friends, a spin-off from his own 24-H our Com ic.

t 156

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

to p : Neil’s four-panel strip on sunglasses to Steve Bissette, 1991. faR L eft: Neil’s recall of the strip on shades and a promise to do a twenty-four-page com ic soon, 1991. L e ft: Not part of the 24-H our Com ic debacle, but another faxed drawing of a Roman Emperor, this time for Bryan Talbot in 1991.

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

157 t

Drawn years after the 24-H our Com ic, another unfinished com ic about his problem with customs. Neil has a problem with customs; he is always selected to be shuffled off into a partitioned room where they go through his stuff and don’t believe him when they ask what his business is. He apparently doesn’t look like what customs think writers look like, and there is no documentation for writers with which to prove themselves. W hen Neil flew to Australia for the Sydney W riters’ Festival in M ay 2006, he was delighted to find a full-page article about himself in the Australian newspaper he was handed on the plane. It had a picture of his face, a picture of his work, and an explanation for why he was in the country. He tore it out and folded it into his jacket pocket just in case.

to p RIgHt: For reasons that have long fallen out of the heads of the perpetrators: Gaiman and Bissette spent a lot of time in the early nineties sending each other drawings of vampiric rabbits over their fax machines. Neither party remembers why, but some of these rabbits appear in Gaiman’s one-page strip. RIgH t: Interior pages of the final 24-Hour Comic, 1992. o p p o s ite : Neil's other illustration efforts included “Murders on the Rue Morgue," an illustrated version of a song by Alan Moore. Appeared in Negative

Burn #13, July 1994.

f 158

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

Drawn years after the 24-H our Com ic, another unfinished com ic about his problem with customs. Neil has a problem with customs; he is always selected to be shuffled off into a partitioned room where they go through his stuff and don’t believe him when they ask what his business is. He apparently doesn’t look like what customs think writers look like, and there is no documentation for writers with which to prove themselves. W hen Neil flew to Australia for the Sydney W riters’ Festival in M ay 2006, he was delighted to find a full-page article about himself in the Australian newspaper he was handed on the plane. It had a picture of his face, a picture of his work, and an explanation for why he was in the country. He tore it out and folded it into his jacket pocket just in case.

to p RIgHt: For reasons that have long fallen out of the heads of the perpetrators: Gaiman and Bissette spent a lot of time in the early nineties sending each other drawings of vampiric rabbits over their fax machines. Neither party remembers why, but some of these rabbits appear in Gaiman’s one-page strip. RIgH t: Interior pages of the final 24-Hour Comic, 1992. o p p o s ite : Neil's other illustration efforts included “Murders on the Rue Morgue," an illustrated version of a song by Alan Moore. Appeared in Negative

Burn #13, July 1994.

f 158

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

S w e e N e y to D D tH e D e m o N B aR B eR

o f fL e e t s tR e e t

“Sweeney Todd is about Manners, and

Mirrors, and Meat. It’s about razors,

and women, and men. It’s about death, and about London.”

gaimaN aND micHaeL zuLLi met

1988 afteRmatH of a swamp trnNg coNtRoveRsy (gaimaN HaD NotHiN^ to do witH it DiRectLy, But BotH He aND zuLLi weRe iNvoLveD in tHe faUout). in

i c k V e i t c h , w h o w a s S w a m p T h in g ’s p e n c i l e r a n d b e c a m e w r i t e r o f t h e s e r i e s a f te r

R

A la n M o o r e , h a d w r itte n a n issu e th a t fe a tu re d Je su s C h r is t b e in g g iv e n w a te r b y

o p p o site : In the prologue, Zulli uses Neil's likeness in the same way that McKean did in , although he says it’s not Neil but just some guy who looks like Neil and is doing the exact same research as Neil. It was done in pen and ink, and Zulli decided that everything that came after the prologue was going to be in any and all media pen and ink. “It’s all going to be done in paint, pencil, pastels, shoe polish, spaghetti sauce, whatever I can get my hands on” 1992).

Violent

except

(Comics Buyers Guide, t 160

S w a m p T h in g as h e h u n g f r o m th e c r o s s . A lth o u g h D C h a d o rig in a lly a p p ro v e d

th e id e a a n d M ic h a e l Z u lli h a d b e g u n d r a w in g it, th e c o m p a n y g o t c o ld f e e t o v e r th e re lig io u s a s p e c t o f it a n d p u lle d th e p lu g , a n d V e itc h w a lk e d . G a im a n a n d J a m ie D e la n o h a d l o n g b e e n s l a t e d t o t a k e o v e r t h e s e r i e s w h e n V e i t c h ’s r u n e n d e d , b u t in l i g h t o f D C ’s

b e h a v io r a n d in s o lid a r ity w ith t h e ir f rie n d , t h e y s te p p e d d o w n , a n d G a im a n n e v e r g o t t o e x p a n d o n h is p l a n s i n t h e v e g e t a b l e t h e o l o g y e s s a y f r o m B l a c k O r c h id . Z u l l i a n d G a im a n m e t s o o n a fte r a t t h e S a n D ie g o C o m i c - C o n o n a p a n e l a b o u t r e lig io n in c o m i c s , w h e r e t h e y s a t d o w n a n d b la s te d D C f o r b e in g id io ts , in s te r e o . T h e i r f i r s t c o l l a b o r a t i o n f o l l o w e d a y e a r o r s o l a t e r i n T h e S a n d m a n # 1 3 , in w h i c h w e m e e t H o b G a d l i n g f o r t h e v e r y f i r s t t i m e — t h e m a n w h o b o a s t s t h a t d e a t h is a s u c k e r ’s g a m e a n d h e w ill h a v e n o t h i n g t o d o w i t h it. T h e w h o l e s t o r y h i n g e s o n a n e x p e r i m e n t : D e a t h g r a n t s t h e m a n i m m o r t a l i t y , a n d D r e a m c h e c k s in o n h i m o n c e a c e n t u r y , m e e t i n g o n th e s a m e d a y in th e s a m e p la c e e a c h tim e . A lth o u g h th e s e ttin g , th e p e o p le , th e c l o t h i n g , a n d t h e m a n n e r i s m s a ll c h a n g e , D r e a m a n d H o b a r e t h e s a m e t w o m e n m e e t i n g o v e r a b e e r , t a l k i n g a b o u t life w i t h o u t d e a t h . W e s e e t i m e p a s s i n t h e d e t a i l s — h a d t h e y n o t b e e n so t h o r o u g h ly r e s e a r c h e d th e s t o r y w o u ld h a v e d e fla te d , b e c o m e a m b ig u o u s a n d m e a n t n o t h i n g . “S a n d m a n # 1 3 w a s s e t i n a ll k i n d s o f h i s t o r i c a l p e r i o d s ,” s a i d N e i l in 1 9 9 2 . “I w e n t o u t a n d b o u g h t s i x t y t o s e v e n t y p o u n d s w o r t h o f r e f e r e n c e a n d I s a i d , in

tHe aR t o f N eil g a im a n

chapter 4 | a

comics misceLLaNy

16 1 t

S w e e N e y to D D tH e D e m o N B aR B eR

o f fL e e t s tR e e t

“Sweeney Todd is about Manners, and

Mirrors, and Meat. It’s about razors,

and women, and men. It’s about death, and about London.”

gaimaN aND micHaeL zuLLi met

1988 afteRmatH of a swamp trnNg coNtRoveRsy (gaimaN HaD NotHiN^ to do witH it DiRectLy, But BotH He aND zuLLi weRe iNvoLveD in tHe faUout). in

i c k V e i t c h , w h o w a s S w a m p T h in g ’s p e n c i l e r a n d b e c a m e w r i t e r o f t h e s e r i e s a f te r

R

A la n M o o r e , h a d w r itte n a n issu e th a t fe a tu re d Je su s C h r is t b e in g g iv e n w a te r b y

o p p o site : In the prologue, Zulli uses Neil's likeness in the same way that McKean did in , although he says it’s not Neil but just some guy who looks like Neil and is doing the exact same research as Neil. It was done in pen and ink, and Zulli decided that everything that came after the prologue was going to be in any and all media pen and ink. “It’s all going to be done in paint, pencil, pastels, shoe polish, spaghetti sauce, whatever I can get my hands on” 1992).

Violent

except

(Comics Buyers Guide, t 160

S w a m p T h in g as h e h u n g f r o m th e c r o s s . A lth o u g h D C h a d o rig in a lly a p p ro v e d

th e id e a a n d M ic h a e l Z u lli h a d b e g u n d r a w in g it, th e c o m p a n y g o t c o ld f e e t o v e r th e re lig io u s a s p e c t o f it a n d p u lle d th e p lu g , a n d V e itc h w a lk e d . G a im a n a n d J a m ie D e la n o h a d l o n g b e e n s l a t e d t o t a k e o v e r t h e s e r i e s w h e n V e i t c h ’s r u n e n d e d , b u t in l i g h t o f D C ’s

b e h a v io r a n d in s o lid a r ity w ith t h e ir f rie n d , t h e y s te p p e d d o w n , a n d G a im a n n e v e r g o t t o e x p a n d o n h is p l a n s i n t h e v e g e t a b l e t h e o l o g y e s s a y f r o m B l a c k O r c h id . Z u l l i a n d G a im a n m e t s o o n a fte r a t t h e S a n D ie g o C o m i c - C o n o n a p a n e l a b o u t r e lig io n in c o m i c s , w h e r e t h e y s a t d o w n a n d b la s te d D C f o r b e in g id io ts , in s te r e o . T h e i r f i r s t c o l l a b o r a t i o n f o l l o w e d a y e a r o r s o l a t e r i n T h e S a n d m a n # 1 3 , in w h i c h w e m e e t H o b G a d l i n g f o r t h e v e r y f i r s t t i m e — t h e m a n w h o b o a s t s t h a t d e a t h is a s u c k e r ’s g a m e a n d h e w ill h a v e n o t h i n g t o d o w i t h it. T h e w h o l e s t o r y h i n g e s o n a n e x p e r i m e n t : D e a t h g r a n t s t h e m a n i m m o r t a l i t y , a n d D r e a m c h e c k s in o n h i m o n c e a c e n t u r y , m e e t i n g o n th e s a m e d a y in th e s a m e p la c e e a c h tim e . A lth o u g h th e s e ttin g , th e p e o p le , th e c l o t h i n g , a n d t h e m a n n e r i s m s a ll c h a n g e , D r e a m a n d H o b a r e t h e s a m e t w o m e n m e e t i n g o v e r a b e e r , t a l k i n g a b o u t life w i t h o u t d e a t h . W e s e e t i m e p a s s i n t h e d e t a i l s — h a d t h e y n o t b e e n so t h o r o u g h ly r e s e a r c h e d th e s t o r y w o u ld h a v e d e fla te d , b e c o m e a m b ig u o u s a n d m e a n t n o t h i n g . “S a n d m a n # 1 3 w a s s e t i n a ll k i n d s o f h i s t o r i c a l p e r i o d s ,” s a i d N e i l in 1 9 9 2 . “I w e n t o u t a n d b o u g h t s i x t y t o s e v e n t y p o u n d s w o r t h o f r e f e r e n c e a n d I s a i d , in

tHe aR t o f N eil g a im a n

chapter 4 | a

comics misceLLaNy

16 1 t

BdBycakes “ONe o f tHe tHiNgs

I w a n t S w e e n e y t o b e a b o u t is m e a t,” s a id

N e il. “O n e o f t h e o t h e r p la c e s t h a t S w e e n e y s o r t o f c a m e f r o m w a s ‘B a b y c a k e s ’” ‘B a b y c a k e s ’ w a s a f o u r - p a g e c o m i c o r ig in a lly d o n e fo r C E T A (C re a to rs fo r th e E th ic a l T re a tm e n t o f A n im a ls ) an d l a t e r r e p r i n t e d in t h e 1 9 9 0 i s s u e o f

Taboo. “A l t h o u g h

M ich a e l an d

I a r e b o t h l e a t h e r - s h o e - w e a r i n g c a r n i v o r e s , w e say, o k a y , w h a t w o u ld h a p p e n if th e a n im a ls w e n t aw ay ? M a y b e w e w o u ld u se b a b ie s . T h e y a r e r e a lly s m a l l , t h e y d o n ’t m o v e m u c h , t h e y c a n ’t t h i n k , a n d t h e y c a n ’t c o m p l a i n . I t w a s j u s t s o r t o f c o m p a r i n g t h e tw o : u s i n g b a b ie s f o r a n i m a l p u r p o s e s . It w a s a little fab le.” Z u lli r e m e m b e r s s h o w in g th e c o m ic to p e o p le h e k n e w a n d w a tc h in g t h e i r r e a c t i o n : “I t e lic ite d a l o t o f c l e n c h e d f a c e s a n d s tr a in e d g ro a n s a n d so u n d s o u t o f p e o p le , so I k n o w th a t I h a d h it a n e r v e — i f n o t s e v e r a l ” ( Comics Buyers

Guide,

1 9 9 2 ).

S a id N e il, b e f o r e a r e a d i n g in 2 0 0 1 , “ T h is is t h e o n ly t h i n g I ’v e e v e r w r i t t e n t h a t h a s a c t u a ll y d i s tu r b e d m e . S o m e y e a r s a g o I d id a C D , a n a u d io C D c a l l e d

tH is p a g e : The Sweeney Todd

Warning: Contains Language, w h i c h

I

t h o u g h t w a s a r e a l l y g o o d title a n d w h i c h t h e D i a m o n d c a ta lo g u e

penny dreadful, 1992.

c a lle d Untitled Neil Gaiman Audio CD Beware Contains Foul Language, w h i c h k i n d o f m i s s e d t h e p o i n t. I h a d th is o n it. A f e w y e a r s a g o I c a m e d o w n s t a ir s a n d m y s o n w a s p la y in g it. A n d I w a l k e d in h a l f w a y t h r o u g h a n d h e a r d m y v o i c e r e c i t i n g th is a n d w e n t : E u r g h h , t h a t g u y is sick .”

th a t

ihiS is th e only thing Ve ever w ritten t h a t haS $i

flituM-lly disturbed¡me-

got

you

g rim

ta le s

o f b lo o d

and

l i v i n g o n i n p la y s a n d m u s i c a l s , a s w e ll as

B is s e tte (fe llo w 2 4 - H o u r C o m i c m a d m a n ) .

in th e h is to r ic a l p e r io d s w e

a re ta lk in g

I w a s sa y in g to h im th a t, o f c o u r s e ,

Taboo

c h a ir g e ttin g

p u b -lic a tio n b e s t k n o w n as th e b ir th p la c e

a c lo s e

sh ave w ith

a

c u t­

o f A l a n M o o r e a n d E d d i e C a m p b e l l ’s

and

G a im a n

used

th e

id e a

of

and

G a im a n

ch ose

From

it b e c a u s e

he

w o u l d b e a b le t o v a r y t h e l e n g t h s o f t h e

th e w o rld to S w e e n e y T o d d b e fo re th e y

ch a p te rs

b e g a n t h e ir o w n ta le . G a im a n p lu n d e r e d

n o n e e d t o s t r e t c h s o m e t h i n g o r c r a m it

th e

in to

B ritis h

M u s e u m ’s

ca ta lo g u e

fo r

as

he

needed

to — th e re

w as

th e tw e n ty -fo u r p a g e s o f a re g u la r

S w e e n e y T o d d m a y h a v e b e e n t r u e ( “t h e r e

Sandman

( ComicsBuyers

a re

th a n

in s ta llm e n ts , th is w a s a p a r tic u la r c o n c e r n

r u m o r s ”) , a n d to ld u s t h a t w r ite rs a re la z y

o f N e i l ’s g i v e n h e w a s p l a n n i n g o n m a k i n g

I

w ere

The

Guide,

e x is te n c e

of

th a t.

Hell,

S o m e w h e r e in t h e r e w e d e c i d e d t o d o it”

and

th a n

w as a s q u a r e -b o u n d , h ig h -q u a lity

in g

M ich a e l

fu rth e r

by

t i m e k n o w n a s ‘H i s t o r i c a l ’ W e w e r e w o r k ­ and

b ack

se m in a l

Sw een ey

to g e th e r,

goes

1 9 9 2 , th e

m a ste rm in d e d

a b o u t . I t c a n ’t b e i n t h a t l o o s e l y d e f i n e d

ta lk in g a n d s a y in g h o w m u c h fu n it w o u ld

1 9 9 2 ). an

a c tu a l

dem on

re se a rch

and

ru m o rs,

re p o rte d

and

b ack

p erh ap s

th a t

m o re

th a t

b e to d o a g e n u in e h is to r ic a l c o m ic b o o k

b a r b e r o n L o n d o n ’s F l e e t S t r e e t is s t r o n g l y

and

u s i n g a ll o f t h i s r e s e a r c h . W e t a l k e d a n

d i s p u t e d . H e a n d M r s . L o v e t t a n d h e r p ie s

d e riv a tiv e a n d n o b o d y k n o w s if a n y th in g

aw fu l

it

t u r n e d u p in a n 1 8 4 0 s p e n n y d r e a d f u l— a

is t r u e . T h e s i x t e e n - p a g e p a m p h l e t d e t a i l e d

o f us w e re

n a m e fo r th e k in d o f V ic to r ia n p e r io d ic a l

S w e e n e y ’s

lo t,

b ecam e

t 162

Todd.

a n th o lo g y

i n t h e m i n d o f e v e r y m a n i n h is b a r b e r ’s

th e p e n n y d re a d fu l as a w a y o f in tr o d u c in g

Sweeney

#6 i n J u n e

h o rro r

Z u lli

f a s c in a te d b y th e S o n d h e im p la y

Taboo

of

tin u e d o v e r e ig h te e n in s ta llm e n ts b e fo re

th r o a t ra z o r.

o r d e r f o r th is to w o rk , it h a s to b e ta n g ib ly

w a s s lip p e d in to e v e r y p r e - o r d e r e d c o p y

m u r d e r fo r a p e n n y — a n d th e s to r y c o n ­

and

so m ew h ere

a p p a re n t th a t b o th

in

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

th e re

lia b le

to

li e ,

e n tire

and

h is to r y

e v e ry th in g

to

d a te

is

and

c o m i c . H a v in g a lr e a d y s p e n t y e a r s fittin g

so m e th in g

in to tw e n ty -f o u r-p a g e m o n th ly

huge

and

im p o rta n t

and

n e e d e d r o o m to m o v e . In

D e c e m b e r th e fo llo w in g y e a r, th e

p ro lo g u e

w as

ch a pter

p u b lish e d

in

Taboo

4 |a c o m i c s m i s c e t t a N y

#7.

163 t

BdBycakes “ONe o f tHe tHiNgs

I w a n t S w e e n e y t o b e a b o u t is m e a t,” s a id

N e il. “O n e o f t h e o t h e r p la c e s t h a t S w e e n e y s o r t o f c a m e f r o m w a s ‘B a b y c a k e s ’” ‘B a b y c a k e s ’ w a s a f o u r - p a g e c o m i c o r ig in a lly d o n e fo r C E T A (C re a to rs fo r th e E th ic a l T re a tm e n t o f A n im a ls ) an d l a t e r r e p r i n t e d in t h e 1 9 9 0 i s s u e o f

Taboo. “A l t h o u g h

M ich a e l an d

I a r e b o t h l e a t h e r - s h o e - w e a r i n g c a r n i v o r e s , w e say, o k a y , w h a t w o u ld h a p p e n if th e a n im a ls w e n t aw ay ? M a y b e w e w o u ld u se b a b ie s . T h e y a r e r e a lly s m a l l , t h e y d o n ’t m o v e m u c h , t h e y c a n ’t t h i n k , a n d t h e y c a n ’t c o m p l a i n . I t w a s j u s t s o r t o f c o m p a r i n g t h e tw o : u s i n g b a b ie s f o r a n i m a l p u r p o s e s . It w a s a little fab le.” Z u lli r e m e m b e r s s h o w in g th e c o m ic to p e o p le h e k n e w a n d w a tc h in g t h e i r r e a c t i o n : “I t e lic ite d a l o t o f c l e n c h e d f a c e s a n d s tr a in e d g ro a n s a n d so u n d s o u t o f p e o p le , so I k n o w th a t I h a d h it a n e r v e — i f n o t s e v e r a l ” ( Comics Buyers

Guide,

1 9 9 2 ).

S a id N e il, b e f o r e a r e a d i n g in 2 0 0 1 , “ T h is is t h e o n ly t h i n g I ’v e e v e r w r i t t e n t h a t h a s a c t u a ll y d i s tu r b e d m e . S o m e y e a r s a g o I d id a C D , a n a u d io C D c a l l e d

tH is p a g e : The Sweeney Todd

Warning: Contains Language, w h i c h

I

t h o u g h t w a s a r e a l l y g o o d title a n d w h i c h t h e D i a m o n d c a ta lo g u e

penny dreadful, 1992.

c a lle d Untitled Neil Gaiman Audio CD Beware Contains Foul Language, w h i c h k i n d o f m i s s e d t h e p o i n t. I h a d th is o n it. A f e w y e a r s a g o I c a m e d o w n s t a ir s a n d m y s o n w a s p la y in g it. A n d I w a l k e d in h a l f w a y t h r o u g h a n d h e a r d m y v o i c e r e c i t i n g th is a n d w e n t : E u r g h h , t h a t g u y is sick .”

th a t

ihiS is th e only thing Ve ever w ritten t h a t haS $i

flituM-lly disturbed¡me-

got

you

g rim

ta le s

o f b lo o d

and

l i v i n g o n i n p la y s a n d m u s i c a l s , a s w e ll as

B is s e tte (fe llo w 2 4 - H o u r C o m i c m a d m a n ) .

in th e h is to r ic a l p e r io d s w e

a re ta lk in g

I w a s sa y in g to h im th a t, o f c o u r s e ,

Taboo

c h a ir g e ttin g

p u b -lic a tio n b e s t k n o w n as th e b ir th p la c e

a c lo s e

sh ave w ith

a

c u t­

o f A l a n M o o r e a n d E d d i e C a m p b e l l ’s

and

G a im a n

used

th e

id e a

of

and

G a im a n

ch ose

From

it b e c a u s e

he

w o u l d b e a b le t o v a r y t h e l e n g t h s o f t h e

th e w o rld to S w e e n e y T o d d b e fo re th e y

ch a p te rs

b e g a n t h e ir o w n ta le . G a im a n p lu n d e r e d

n o n e e d t o s t r e t c h s o m e t h i n g o r c r a m it

th e

in to

B ritis h

M u s e u m ’s

ca ta lo g u e

fo r

as

he

needed

to — th e re

w as

th e tw e n ty -fo u r p a g e s o f a re g u la r

S w e e n e y T o d d m a y h a v e b e e n t r u e ( “t h e r e

Sandman

( ComicsBuyers

a re

th a n

in s ta llm e n ts , th is w a s a p a r tic u la r c o n c e r n

r u m o r s ”) , a n d to ld u s t h a t w r ite rs a re la z y

o f N e i l ’s g i v e n h e w a s p l a n n i n g o n m a k i n g

I

w ere

The

Guide,

e x is te n c e

of

th a t.

Hell,

S o m e w h e r e in t h e r e w e d e c i d e d t o d o it”

and

th a n

w as a s q u a r e -b o u n d , h ig h -q u a lity

in g

M ich a e l

fu rth e r

by

t i m e k n o w n a s ‘H i s t o r i c a l ’ W e w e r e w o r k ­ and

b ack

se m in a l

Sw een ey

to g e th e r,

goes

1 9 9 2 , th e

m a ste rm in d e d

a b o u t . I t c a n ’t b e i n t h a t l o o s e l y d e f i n e d

ta lk in g a n d s a y in g h o w m u c h fu n it w o u ld

1 9 9 2 ). an

a c tu a l

dem on

re se a rch

and

ru m o rs,

re p o rte d

and

b ack

p erh ap s

th a t

m o re

th a t

b e to d o a g e n u in e h is to r ic a l c o m ic b o o k

b a r b e r o n L o n d o n ’s F l e e t S t r e e t is s t r o n g l y

and

u s i n g a ll o f t h i s r e s e a r c h . W e t a l k e d a n

d i s p u t e d . H e a n d M r s . L o v e t t a n d h e r p ie s

d e riv a tiv e a n d n o b o d y k n o w s if a n y th in g

aw fu l

it

t u r n e d u p in a n 1 8 4 0 s p e n n y d r e a d f u l— a

is t r u e . T h e s i x t e e n - p a g e p a m p h l e t d e t a i l e d

o f us w e re

n a m e fo r th e k in d o f V ic to r ia n p e r io d ic a l

S w e e n e y ’s

lo t,

b ecam e

t 162

Todd.

a n th o lo g y

i n t h e m i n d o f e v e r y m a n i n h is b a r b e r ’s

th e p e n n y d re a d fu l as a w a y o f in tr o d u c in g

Sweeney

#6 i n J u n e

h o rro r

Z u lli

f a s c in a te d b y th e S o n d h e im p la y

Taboo

of

tin u e d o v e r e ig h te e n in s ta llm e n ts b e fo re

th r o a t ra z o r.

o r d e r f o r th is to w o rk , it h a s to b e ta n g ib ly

w a s s lip p e d in to e v e r y p r e - o r d e r e d c o p y

m u r d e r fo r a p e n n y — a n d th e s to r y c o n ­

and

so m ew h ere

a p p a re n t th a t b o th

in

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

th e re

lia b le

to

li e ,

e n tire

and

h is to r y

e v e ry th in g

to

d a te

is

and

c o m i c . H a v in g a lr e a d y s p e n t y e a r s fittin g

so m e th in g

in to tw e n ty -f o u r-p a g e m o n th ly

huge

and

im p o rta n t

and

n e e d e d r o o m to m o v e . In

D e c e m b e r th e fo llo w in g y e a r, th e

p ro lo g u e

w as

ch a pter

p u b lish e d

in

Taboo

4 |a c o m i c s m i s c e t t a N y

#7.

163 t

most o f the story, and who is a journalist in the 1860s. From there we are going to go further back. We are actually going to have to follow Wilde, as he becomes obsessed with the story o f Sweeney, and as he tries to track it down and fin d out what truths it has and where truths are. The primary research is all being done in the 1860sfo r us by Mr. Wilde. The story is going to be told to us and told to Edmund by a number o f different people who all have their own take on this. . . . There will be all sorts o f Sweeneys in there. There will be all sorts o f Mrs. Lovetts— partly because one o f the dark stars around which my fiction tends to orbit is that o f mythology and religion, and I think that the mythology and religion o f Sweeney will begin to assume some very strange and interesting import-ance, as the idea o f Sweeney as a priest will continue to occur. Its definitely one o f the three basic archetypes that we are heading to and going back to. .. . The place where Sweeney was killing people is one o f the bounds o f the City o f London. We are looking at it as essentially a sacrificial act: the act o f murder as sacrifice (Comics Buyer’s Guide, 1992).

HaviNg aBaNDONeD swam p tHiNg in the wake of the Veitch controversy, Gaiman only wrote two more short stories within the vegetable theology he set out for Black Orchid. The first was “Brothers,” with art by Richard Piers Rayner and Mike Hoffman, which dragged back Brother Power the Geek. “The main problem with that story was that halfway through writing it, Swamp Thing#89 happened, and my enthusiasm for it went away. It was like in the first half, I was in there kicking and firing on all four cylinders, and then after that there was a very nasty taste in my mouth.” That same Swamp Thing Annual contained Gaiman’s ten-page response to D C s rejection of the crucifixion in the DC Universe: “Shaggy God Stories” illustrated by Mike Mignola. “I thought, ‘Well, let’s see how blasphemous I can be then’ and in that one story I think I managed to examine the use of the tree motif in every major religion, in the context of a lunatic ex-mad scientist and superhero having a conversation with a Venus fly trap. I felt I came out if it okay, that I had fun with it” (Kraft, 1993).

Illustrated in pencils and paints, collage and peacock feathers, it sees Gaiman and Titan’s Mike Lake looking for a piece of architecture from the past, taking two rolls of reference photos to send to Zulli in America. They talk about the history of London, a place so old and filled with stories that you don’t have to dig far to convince yourself that it’s a place of death and murder and that something evil has happened on every square inch of it; a place where heads of executed felons on spikes are never removed but fall off and get played with in the streets by dogs and children. In 1992 Gaiman said:

We go from there to a young gentleman named Edmund Wilde, who will be our eyes and ears through

t 16 4

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Sweeney Todd is a story about stories, “about urban legends and legendary towns.” It’s about “trying to figure out how much meat there is on a person and how much of it can go into pies. Part of Sweeney is having to figure out: do you bone the body down in the basement and carry the meat in a sack around the corner to Mrs. Lovett’s? Do you actually have under­ ground tunnels? Do you just cut off the good bits? All that kind of stuff” (Comics Buyer’s Guide, 1992). Or at least that’s what it was going to be about, but the prologue was the last we saw of Sweeney. Taboo lasted nine issues, and Sweeney Todd did not appear in either of the last two. In an interview with The Comics Journal in 1995 (the same one that caused

Alan Moore to sever all ties to his Swamp Thing collaborator), Bissette said that part of the reason why Taboo sank the way it did was because long-running fan-favorite serial From Hell had become available in its own installments outside of the anthology, and “the other death blow was Neil Gaiman’s aborted Sweeney Todd. Neil turned in the first prologue, the one that saw print, and never wrote another chapter. To argue on Neil’s behalf, I think Neil was able to perceive quicker than I was that Taboo was already a dead, stiff, cold corpse. Why invest further energy into a failed venture just as the Vertigo line was being launched with Neil as the clearest star in their firmament?”

"f /

Wje are looking a t

[jmuAde] aS eStentally

BetOW: Hob Gadling in T he S a n d m a n #13, February 1990.

a· Satrifitial a tt.

Said Neil in 2012, “I’ve only ever got grumpy with Steve Bissette once in my life. And it was some interview he did with The Comics Journal. In there he talked about the things that finished off Taboo, which included Neil and Michael not continuing with Sweeney Todd. And I phoned him up and I said: we handed in that Sweeney

Todd to you, you phoned us up and said you had a huge backlog of Taboo stuff and you would call us when it was time to start the next one. And that was the last thing that ever happened with Taboo. And he goes, ‘Oh yeah. It was, wasn’t it.’ I’m going, I wouldn’t mind but you’re now on record saying Neil and Michael killed Taboo, and we didn’t.” With Taboo gone, their plan was to find another publisher and carry on doing the story. It wasn’t dead, but on a hiatus from which it never recovered. There are still hopes that one day he and Zulli will figure out a way of getting it going again. ❖ CHapteR 4 | a

c o m ic s m isceL L aN y

16 5 t

most o f the story, and who is a journalist in the 1860s. From there we are going to go further back. We are actually going to have to follow Wilde, as he becomes obsessed with the story o f Sweeney, and as he tries to track it down and fin d out what truths it has and where truths are. The primary research is all being done in the 1860sfo r us by Mr. Wilde. The story is going to be told to us and told to Edmund by a number o f different people who all have their own take on this. . . . There will be all sorts o f Sweeneys in there. There will be all sorts o f Mrs. Lovetts— partly because one o f the dark stars around which my fiction tends to orbit is that o f mythology and religion, and I think that the mythology and religion o f Sweeney will begin to assume some very strange and interesting import-ance, as the idea o f Sweeney as a priest will continue to occur. Its definitely one o f the three basic archetypes that we are heading to and going back to. .. . The place where Sweeney was killing people is one o f the bounds o f the City o f London. We are looking at it as essentially a sacrificial act: the act o f murder as sacrifice (Comics Buyer’s Guide, 1992).

HaviNg aBaNDONeD swam p tHiNg in the wake of the Veitch controversy, Gaiman only wrote two more short stories within the vegetable theology he set out for Black Orchid. The first was “Brothers,” with art by Richard Piers Rayner and Mike Hoffman, which dragged back Brother Power the Geek. “The main problem with that story was that halfway through writing it, Swamp Thing#89 happened, and my enthusiasm for it went away. It was like in the first half, I was in there kicking and firing on all four cylinders, and then after that there was a very nasty taste in my mouth.” That same Swamp Thing Annual contained Gaiman’s ten-page response to D C s rejection of the crucifixion in the DC Universe: “Shaggy God Stories” illustrated by Mike Mignola. “I thought, ‘Well, let’s see how blasphemous I can be then’ and in that one story I think I managed to examine the use of the tree motif in every major religion, in the context of a lunatic ex-mad scientist and superhero having a conversation with a Venus fly trap. I felt I came out if it okay, that I had fun with it” (Kraft, 1993).

Illustrated in pencils and paints, collage and peacock feathers, it sees Gaiman and Titan’s Mike Lake looking for a piece of architecture from the past, taking two rolls of reference photos to send to Zulli in America. They talk about the history of London, a place so old and filled with stories that you don’t have to dig far to convince yourself that it’s a place of death and murder and that something evil has happened on every square inch of it; a place where heads of executed felons on spikes are never removed but fall off and get played with in the streets by dogs and children. In 1992 Gaiman said:

We go from there to a young gentleman named Edmund Wilde, who will be our eyes and ears through

t 16 4

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Sweeney Todd is a story about stories, “about urban legends and legendary towns.” It’s about “trying to figure out how much meat there is on a person and how much of it can go into pies. Part of Sweeney is having to figure out: do you bone the body down in the basement and carry the meat in a sack around the corner to Mrs. Lovett’s? Do you actually have under­ ground tunnels? Do you just cut off the good bits? All that kind of stuff” (Comics Buyer’s Guide, 1992). Or at least that’s what it was going to be about, but the prologue was the last we saw of Sweeney. Taboo lasted nine issues, and Sweeney Todd did not appear in either of the last two. In an interview with The Comics Journal in 1995 (the same one that caused

Alan Moore to sever all ties to his Swamp Thing collaborator), Bissette said that part of the reason why Taboo sank the way it did was because long-running fan-favorite serial From Hell had become available in its own installments outside of the anthology, and “the other death blow was Neil Gaiman’s aborted Sweeney Todd. Neil turned in the first prologue, the one that saw print, and never wrote another chapter. To argue on Neil’s behalf, I think Neil was able to perceive quicker than I was that Taboo was already a dead, stiff, cold corpse. Why invest further energy into a failed venture just as the Vertigo line was being launched with Neil as the clearest star in their firmament?”

"f /

Wje are looking a t

[jmuAde] aS eStentally

BetOW: Hob Gadling in T he S a n d m a n #13, February 1990.

a· Satrifitial a tt.

Said Neil in 2012, “I’ve only ever got grumpy with Steve Bissette once in my life. And it was some interview he did with The Comics Journal. In there he talked about the things that finished off Taboo, which included Neil and Michael not continuing with Sweeney Todd. And I phoned him up and I said: we handed in that Sweeney

Todd to you, you phoned us up and said you had a huge backlog of Taboo stuff and you would call us when it was time to start the next one. And that was the last thing that ever happened with Taboo. And he goes, ‘Oh yeah. It was, wasn’t it.’ I’m going, I wouldn’t mind but you’re now on record saying Neil and Michael killed Taboo, and we didn’t.” With Taboo gone, their plan was to find another publisher and carry on doing the story. It wasn’t dead, but on a hiatus from which it never recovered. There are still hopes that one day he and Zulli will figure out a way of getting it going again. ❖ CHapteR 4 | a

c o m ic s m isceL L aN y

16 5 t

tHe Books o f m agic JOHN CONStaNtlNe was tHe fiRSt comic Book CHaRacteR gaimaN eveR wROte. t was in a little tryout story to take back to Alan Moore to see if he’d got the hang of writing comics yet—the cautionary tale about emptying your fridge before you go on holiday. Later he turned up in “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” the third issue of Sandman, where Constantine takes Morpheus to get his stolen pouch of sand off his junky ex-girlfriend. In 1990 the trench coat cockney turned up again in The Books o f Magic and in a one-off Hellblazer story, “Hold Me.” “Hold Me” was illustrated and colored by Dave McKean (with a little help from Danny Vozzo), and was one of the few times in their collaborative life that McKean worked from a full script. It only happened that way because it was originally supposed to go to another artist, who flaked. In a world where the abundance of collaborators on Sandman would occasionally reveal distracting seams, “Hold Me” was a perfect little story created by just two people and remains one of Caiman’s favorites. There are no superfluous horrors (McKean took them out), there are no demons or tentacles; it’s an inky dark story about a forgotten homeless person who is simply very cold. Sort of. The Books o f Magic was a project inherited from the hands of J. M. DeMatteis. DC wanted a prose book highlighting their mystical characters, with spot illustrations by Jon J. Muth, Kent Williams, and McKean, and DeMatteis backed out after all three artists declined to take part. Karen Berger phoned Caiman. “Karen rang me up and said, ‘We want to do a book which would be a Who’s Who and a guide and a history for all our magical characters, and which has a story. Instead of a Who’s Who of the D C Universe, it would be a comic and it would have a plot. Can you do it?’ I laughed hollowly at her, said, ‘Don’t be silly,’ and put the phone down. About twenty-four hours later, I was sitting around and I suddenly figured out how you could do it and a way of making it work. I rang Karen back, flushed with the enthusiasm of my own genius, and said, ‘It can be done!’ and she said great and sent me a contract. Again, carried on by the enthusiasm of the project, I signed it and wound up writing it. In an alternate past, I would have said, ‘This is how you do it, now go and find someone to do it,’ but it turned out very well” (Kraft, 1993). Caiman scripted a four-part series about an English teenager called Timothy Hunter who discovers that he is destined to be the world’s greatest wizard. Along with his owl Yo-Yo, he is shown around every corner of the D C Universe in which there is magic with the Trenchcoat Brigade as his guides. The idea is that once he knows everything he needs to know about magic and the things magic entails, he will be able to make an informed decision about whether he wants anything to do with it or not. Phantom Stranger (two failed pitches and Caiman finally got him in somewhere) takes him to see the birth of the universe and the start of magic on earth, John Constantine

I

aBOVe: An unofficial Neil S u p e r m a n story, written at age sixteen. o p p o site : H e llb la z e r #27, March 1990. “Hold Me” with Dave McKean.

t 16 6

tHe aRt o f Neil gaimaN

takes him to America and dumps him on Zatanna, Dr. Occult walks him through Faerie, and Mister E takes him far into the future. “There was a level on which this was an artists’ book. Sandman is a writer’s book. With Sandman, I’m at the front. With Books o f Magic, I sat down and wrote something that was vaguely like a film script. It was a film script written for them to tell the story as they wanted” (Kraft, 1993). Each chapter was illustrated, and largely painted, by a different artist: John Bolton, Scott Hampton, Charles Vess (who was illustrating the award-winning Sandman issue “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that same year), and Paul Johnson, respectively. For everyone but Vess it was the first time working with Caiman, and each issue is completely different in tone and story. Four years after it was published, the film rights were sold. Caiman was signed up to be executive producer, which meant he got to read the scripts and offer opinions, although it didn’t mean they had to listen to his opinions. So far nothing more has happened with the film and a lot of that has to do with Harry Potter, who turned up seven years after The Books o f Magic. Despite the fact that Bolton designed the character of Hunter based on his own son, and Caiman’s character came from the archetypal boy wizard who has appeared in countless fictions, when J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter arrived on the scene Timothy Hunter was at the center of a newspaper­ born plagiarism controversy. Caiman quite rightly denounced it as “bollocks.”

I was certainly not the first writer to create a bespectacled kid who had the potential to be the worlds greatest magician. To create a kid with magical power—and more im­ portant, magical potential—and to use owls and so on, its all stuff that’s fairly obvious going on what went before. J. K. Rowling was not the first person to send a kid to wizard school. From Jane Yolen and Diane Duane in recent years—Diana Wynne Jones is marvelous—going back to T. H. White and E. Nesbit.

When I was eighteen, I started trying to write my first book, and I got nine pages into it. And because I didn’t really have any experience o f anything other than school, I was writing a story about a kid who was sent to wizard school, and Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar (who wound up in Neverwhere) were

CHapteR 4 |a comics miscettaNy

going to be the baddies. I was cleaning up and doing some tidying in the basement, and I came across these pages, and I thought, now if anybody ever foun d these, they’d be going, “Cool! Look at this Harry Potter ripoff!” Which is fine, except it was a Harry Potter rip-off I was writing in 1978 (The-trades.com, 2002). ❖

16 7 t

tHe Books o f m agic JOHN CONStaNtlNe was tHe fiRSt comic Book CHaRacteR gaimaN eveR wROte. t was in a little tryout story to take back to Alan Moore to see if he’d got the hang of writing comics yet—the cautionary tale about emptying your fridge before you go on holiday. Later he turned up in “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” the third issue of Sandman, where Constantine takes Morpheus to get his stolen pouch of sand off his junky ex-girlfriend. In 1990 the trench coat cockney turned up again in The Books o f Magic and in a one-off Hellblazer story, “Hold Me.” “Hold Me” was illustrated and colored by Dave McKean (with a little help from Danny Vozzo), and was one of the few times in their collaborative life that McKean worked from a full script. It only happened that way because it was originally supposed to go to another artist, who flaked. In a world where the abundance of collaborators on Sandman would occasionally reveal distracting seams, “Hold Me” was a perfect little story created by just two people and remains one of Caiman’s favorites. There are no superfluous horrors (McKean took them out), there are no demons or tentacles; it’s an inky dark story about a forgotten homeless person who is simply very cold. Sort of. The Books o f Magic was a project inherited from the hands of J. M. DeMatteis. DC wanted a prose book highlighting their mystical characters, with spot illustrations by Jon J. Muth, Kent Williams, and McKean, and DeMatteis backed out after all three artists declined to take part. Karen Berger phoned Caiman. “Karen rang me up and said, ‘We want to do a book which would be a Who’s Who and a guide and a history for all our magical characters, and which has a story. Instead of a Who’s Who of the D C Universe, it would be a comic and it would have a plot. Can you do it?’ I laughed hollowly at her, said, ‘Don’t be silly,’ and put the phone down. About twenty-four hours later, I was sitting around and I suddenly figured out how you could do it and a way of making it work. I rang Karen back, flushed with the enthusiasm of my own genius, and said, ‘It can be done!’ and she said great and sent me a contract. Again, carried on by the enthusiasm of the project, I signed it and wound up writing it. In an alternate past, I would have said, ‘This is how you do it, now go and find someone to do it,’ but it turned out very well” (Kraft, 1993). Caiman scripted a four-part series about an English teenager called Timothy Hunter who discovers that he is destined to be the world’s greatest wizard. Along with his owl Yo-Yo, he is shown around every corner of the D C Universe in which there is magic with the Trenchcoat Brigade as his guides. The idea is that once he knows everything he needs to know about magic and the things magic entails, he will be able to make an informed decision about whether he wants anything to do with it or not. Phantom Stranger (two failed pitches and Caiman finally got him in somewhere) takes him to see the birth of the universe and the start of magic on earth, John Constantine

I

aBOVe: An unofficial Neil S u p e r m a n story, written at age sixteen. o p p o site : H e llb la z e r #27, March 1990. “Hold Me” with Dave McKean.

t 16 6

tHe aRt o f Neil gaimaN

takes him to America and dumps him on Zatanna, Dr. Occult walks him through Faerie, and Mister E takes him far into the future. “There was a level on which this was an artists’ book. Sandman is a writer’s book. With Sandman, I’m at the front. With Books o f Magic, I sat down and wrote something that was vaguely like a film script. It was a film script written for them to tell the story as they wanted” (Kraft, 1993). Each chapter was illustrated, and largely painted, by a different artist: John Bolton, Scott Hampton, Charles Vess (who was illustrating the award-winning Sandman issue “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that same year), and Paul Johnson, respectively. For everyone but Vess it was the first time working with Caiman, and each issue is completely different in tone and story. Four years after it was published, the film rights were sold. Caiman was signed up to be executive producer, which meant he got to read the scripts and offer opinions, although it didn’t mean they had to listen to his opinions. So far nothing more has happened with the film and a lot of that has to do with Harry Potter, who turned up seven years after The Books o f Magic. Despite the fact that Bolton designed the character of Hunter based on his own son, and Caiman’s character came from the archetypal boy wizard who has appeared in countless fictions, when J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter arrived on the scene Timothy Hunter was at the center of a newspaper­ born plagiarism controversy. Caiman quite rightly denounced it as “bollocks.”

I was certainly not the first writer to create a bespectacled kid who had the potential to be the worlds greatest magician. To create a kid with magical power—and more im­ portant, magical potential—and to use owls and so on, its all stuff that’s fairly obvious going on what went before. J. K. Rowling was not the first person to send a kid to wizard school. From Jane Yolen and Diane Duane in recent years—Diana Wynne Jones is marvelous—going back to T. H. White and E. Nesbit.

When I was eighteen, I started trying to write my first book, and I got nine pages into it. And because I didn’t really have any experience o f anything other than school, I was writing a story about a kid who was sent to wizard school, and Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar (who wound up in Neverwhere) were

CHapteR 4 |a comics miscettaNy

going to be the baddies. I was cleaning up and doing some tidying in the basement, and I came across these pages, and I thought, now if anybody ever foun d these, they’d be going, “Cool! Look at this Harry Potter ripoff!” Which is fine, except it was a Harry Potter rip-off I was writing in 1978 (The-trades.com, 2002). ❖

16 7 t

tH e

tT a g ic a L

c o m e D y

o r c o m I C a l

tR a g e D y o f m R . p U N C H

“Now,MisterPunch,youaretobehungbytheneckuntilyouare Dead

—Dead —Dead!”

M R . P U N C H w o u l d h a v e been an entirely Different book

HaD Gaiman and McKean gone tHrougH witH tHem originaL pLan in 1988.

cc ■ythink we nearly did it, basically, in terror. Because we knew how we’d done Violent

aBOVe: Cover of the Bloomsbury edition, 2006, with “Tragical Comedy” and “Comical Tragedy” swapped in the title.

t 168

o p p o site : On the cover of January 1993.

The Comics Journal,

I Cases. And then we did Black Orchid, which was us going, ‘This is what a good .X . mainstream comic should be’ and neither of us was terribly happy with it. I rather liked a few pages, and that was about all. “After we did Black Orchid , we both felt very, very shaky, and we nearly went back and did another Violent Cases at that point. And I think it’s a good thing that we didn’t. Because we got to go on and do other things instead, and also we got to come back to this kind of territory at a time when we both had done an awful lot of other things, got a lot of experience under our belts, and I think changed our opinions a lot about what constitutes a story” ( Comics Journal #155, 1993). It started with a book Gaiman had picked up in a thrift store called How to Do a Punch and Judy. It explained how to put on a Punch and Judy show—a particularly peculiar British puppet show, a jagged diamond in the tacky crown of strange English seaside attractions. “The book ends with this wonderful little description of the plot: the baby starts crying, Punch throws the baby out the window and kills it; Judy comes up and complains; he kills her; a policeman comes to arrest him; he kills the policeman; he has a fight with a crocodile; the doctor comes to heal him; he kills the doctor; they come to hang him; he kills the hangman; the devil comes to take him off to hell; he kills the devil. And the last line was: tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 4 |a comics miscettaNy

169 t

tH e

tT a g ic a L

c o m e D y

o r c o m I C a l

tR a g e D y o f m R . p U N C H

“Now,MisterPunch,youaretobehungbytheneckuntilyouare Dead

—Dead —Dead!”

M R . P U N C H w o u l d h a v e been an entirely Different book

HaD Gaiman and McKean gone tHrougH witH tHem originaL pLan in 1988.

cc ■ythink we nearly did it, basically, in terror. Because we knew how we’d done Violent

aBOVe: Cover of the Bloomsbury edition, 2006, with “Tragical Comedy” and “Comical Tragedy” swapped in the title.

t 168

o p p o site : On the cover of January 1993.

The Comics Journal,

I Cases. And then we did Black Orchid, which was us going, ‘This is what a good .X . mainstream comic should be’ and neither of us was terribly happy with it. I rather liked a few pages, and that was about all. “After we did Black Orchid , we both felt very, very shaky, and we nearly went back and did another Violent Cases at that point. And I think it’s a good thing that we didn’t. Because we got to go on and do other things instead, and also we got to come back to this kind of territory at a time when we both had done an awful lot of other things, got a lot of experience under our belts, and I think changed our opinions a lot about what constitutes a story” ( Comics Journal #155, 1993). It started with a book Gaiman had picked up in a thrift store called How to Do a Punch and Judy. It explained how to put on a Punch and Judy show—a particularly peculiar British puppet show, a jagged diamond in the tacky crown of strange English seaside attractions. “The book ends with this wonderful little description of the plot: the baby starts crying, Punch throws the baby out the window and kills it; Judy comes up and complains; he kills her; a policeman comes to arrest him; he kills the policeman; he has a fight with a crocodile; the doctor comes to heal him; he kills the doctor; they come to hang him; he kills the hangman; the devil comes to take him off to hell; he kills the devil. And the last line was: tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 4 |a comics miscettaNy

169 t

‘And Mister Punch then goes off to spread joy and happiness to children all over the land'” (Hogan, 1994). Gaiman's story, another fractured narration of childhood memories and perception, is run through with a thread of violence that is as affecting, if not more, than that in Violent Cases. “Pretty much everything—all the weird little anecdotal stuff in Mr. Punch —is true, except for the things I made up” (Wagner, 2008). Gaiman's great-grandfather Morrie did own an amusement park with a mermaid in it (although it was sold long before Neil was born), and his great-uncle Monty really was a hunchback. He said in 1992, “Three weeks ago at a family wedding, I asked my Aunt Janet [about Monty]. She said, ‘He was dropped out of a window by your great-grandfather.' Then she paused and said, ‘No, no. That was one of the twins, who died.' Which considering I'm doing a story which begins with Mr. Punch throwing the baby out of the window means I'm in weird family territory” (Comics Forum #1, 1992). Gaiman wrote the first draft of the story and showed it to no one but McKean, who thought it was brilliant but unfocused. Gaiman had wanted the spine of the story to be the series of murders, but the system had got lost somewhere; the relentlessness of the murders had diffused. A long talk in a hotel lobby in New York at four in the morning led to a second draft, which McKean liked. Gaiman said:

aBOVe: Gaiman's great-uncle David Garcia and great-aunt Jean Garcia made up another strange branch on the family tree— they were the Amazing Garcias, a husband-wife mentalist act. This postcard was sent to Garcia's sister in the UK, in 1957. “I only realized seeing the postcard blown up on the screen that the other face is my great-aunt Jean in a blindfold.”

RIgHt: Newspaper clipping featuring the mentalists in the Perry NY H e r a ld circa 1954-1956.

opposite Bottom:

The actual subject matter o/Violent Cases, at the end o/the day, is the same subject matter as Mr. Punch. Its a

The boy and the books. One of the true bits.

subject matter that fascinates and obsesses me: violence, cruelty, madness, and what it’s like to be a kid in an adult world, and how horrible parties are, and all that stuff. And like Violent Cases, it’s essentially an autobiography full o/lies. It is unreliable autobiography, thronged by analogues o f my family. Here’s a thing that really did happen to me; here’s a thing that should have happened to me if things had happened to me the way things were in the story; here’s something that didn’t actually

t 170

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

happen at the time I say it did—it was a family legend that happened fifteen years earlier but I ’ve moved it up. All that kind o f stuff (Comics Journal #155, 1993). And then I give them to Dave, who wasn’t there, and he imposes his vision o f events on it (Roel, 1994). McKean’s artwork was unlike anything else on the shelves and remains so. It was a weird combination of built sets, puppets, paintings, and photography, and is McKean's favorite of their countless collaborations. Neil's, too. “Mr. Punch was the first time I've

'Jifce ^ ioh n tC^SeS, i t s essentially an autñbiograply'full flie S .

ever really felt that the thing that I wanted to do in my head when I started is there in the book, at the end. I don't feel any urge to apologize, which I normally do, when I finish something. You know, ‘I could have got it right if I had a few more pages, I could have got it right if . . . a little more time, a little more something.' Whatever. You could have got it closer to the vision, you could have got it closer to the strange Platonic ideal that was in the back of your head when you started. Mr. Punch really did it” (Roel, 1994). Probably if there was just one thing that he would have changed in hindsight, it would be to make the truth a little murkier by replacing McKean's English-looking models with old photographs of Gaiman's family. “One of the great things about my family is you've got this great Jewish nose running through the family. You have a bunch of people who all do look rather like Mr. Punch. I don't actually have it any­ where near as much, but my dad had a great ‘Punch beak,’ my grandfather had it—you had that sort of visual thing” (Wagner, 2008).

tHe gaimaNfamiLy gaim aN ’s gReat-gReat-gRaNDfatHeR w as the owner of the largest department store

in Lodz, Poland, where his name was not Gaiman but Chaiman, or Haiman. Gaiman's great-grandfather emigrated to Antwerp, Belgium, some time before 1914. He had married an older woman in the hope that it would cause him to settle down, and together they left Poland for Belgium, where he embarked on a doomed career as a diamond courier. A missing diamond and mislaid blame resulted in the move (or, rather, the escape) to England, whereupon he abandoned his family and disappeared entirely from the family's story, barring the occasional appearance in photographs and a couple of sightings almost mythic in their mystery. “My great aunt Betty, who is currently in her nineties, talks about how one day there was a knock on the door, and there was a very good-looking man with a distinguished beard who said, ‘I am your father' and she had no memory of ever having seen him before. Whether he was in prison, whether he abandoned them for long periods, or quite what happened, I don't know, and I don't think anybody is quite sure” (Wagner, 2008). Neil's grandfather Morrie, who in 1914 was eleven years old, became the sole breadwinner for the family, which was not a small one. With only a tentative grasp of the English language, he found employment as a busboy in a London hotel, and as a sideline he supplied American servicemen with black market whiskey during the First World War. Years later, his son David (Neil's father) remembered being in one such hotel with his father some time in the late 1940s and glimpsing the long-lost great-grandfather in a window across the street. “He was dining across the road with an attractive young blonde woman who was definitely not my great-grandmother. He may have been a conman—he was definitely a black sheep,” says Neil. “If I had known it at the time I wrote Mr. Punch, it would have gone in ” (Wagner, 2008). Incidentally, it was Neil's grandmother who changed the Polish surname to the one we see on that hefty wedge of novels on the shelf. And she did it simply because she liked it better that way. While not technically legal, it transpires that if you just write your name differently on some wedding announcements no one will ever say anything, and life goes on as if that's the way it always was. Making up the rules as you go along seems to be a dominant gene in the Gaiman family pool.

The book was adapted for the stage in 2008 by the Rogue Artists of America, and three years before that it was a one-hour radio play for the BBC written by Gaiman, with music by McKean, who said the experience reminded him “how powerful, and how slippery, as a narrative, it is” (Wagner, 2008). ❖

CHapteR 4 |a comics

miscettaNy

17 1 t

‘And Mister Punch then goes off to spread joy and happiness to children all over the land'” (Hogan, 1994). Gaiman's story, another fractured narration of childhood memories and perception, is run through with a thread of violence that is as affecting, if not more, than that in Violent Cases. “Pretty much everything—all the weird little anecdotal stuff in Mr. Punch —is true, except for the things I made up” (Wagner, 2008). Gaiman's great-grandfather Morrie did own an amusement park with a mermaid in it (although it was sold long before Neil was born), and his great-uncle Monty really was a hunchback. He said in 1992, “Three weeks ago at a family wedding, I asked my Aunt Janet [about Monty]. She said, ‘He was dropped out of a window by your great-grandfather.' Then she paused and said, ‘No, no. That was one of the twins, who died.' Which considering I'm doing a story which begins with Mr. Punch throwing the baby out of the window means I'm in weird family territory” (Comics Forum #1, 1992). Gaiman wrote the first draft of the story and showed it to no one but McKean, who thought it was brilliant but unfocused. Gaiman had wanted the spine of the story to be the series of murders, but the system had got lost somewhere; the relentlessness of the murders had diffused. A long talk in a hotel lobby in New York at four in the morning led to a second draft, which McKean liked. Gaiman said:

aBOVe: Gaiman's great-uncle David Garcia and great-aunt Jean Garcia made up another strange branch on the family tree— they were the Amazing Garcias, a husband-wife mentalist act. This postcard was sent to Garcia's sister in the UK, in 1957. “I only realized seeing the postcard blown up on the screen that the other face is my great-aunt Jean in a blindfold.”

RIgHt: Newspaper clipping featuring the mentalists in the Perry NY H e r a ld circa 1954-1956.

opposite Bottom:

The actual subject matter o/Violent Cases, at the end o/the day, is the same subject matter as Mr. Punch. Its a

The boy and the books. One of the true bits.

subject matter that fascinates and obsesses me: violence, cruelty, madness, and what it’s like to be a kid in an adult world, and how horrible parties are, and all that stuff. And like Violent Cases, it’s essentially an autobiography full o/lies. It is unreliable autobiography, thronged by analogues o f my family. Here’s a thing that really did happen to me; here’s a thing that should have happened to me if things had happened to me the way things were in the story; here’s something that didn’t actually

t 170

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

happen at the time I say it did—it was a family legend that happened fifteen years earlier but I ’ve moved it up. All that kind o f stuff (Comics Journal #155, 1993). And then I give them to Dave, who wasn’t there, and he imposes his vision o f events on it (Roel, 1994). McKean’s artwork was unlike anything else on the shelves and remains so. It was a weird combination of built sets, puppets, paintings, and photography, and is McKean's favorite of their countless collaborations. Neil's, too. “Mr. Punch was the first time I've

'Jifce ^ ioh n tC^SeS, i t s essentially an autñbiograply'full flie S .

ever really felt that the thing that I wanted to do in my head when I started is there in the book, at the end. I don't feel any urge to apologize, which I normally do, when I finish something. You know, ‘I could have got it right if I had a few more pages, I could have got it right if . . . a little more time, a little more something.' Whatever. You could have got it closer to the vision, you could have got it closer to the strange Platonic ideal that was in the back of your head when you started. Mr. Punch really did it” (Roel, 1994). Probably if there was just one thing that he would have changed in hindsight, it would be to make the truth a little murkier by replacing McKean's English-looking models with old photographs of Gaiman's family. “One of the great things about my family is you've got this great Jewish nose running through the family. You have a bunch of people who all do look rather like Mr. Punch. I don't actually have it any­ where near as much, but my dad had a great ‘Punch beak,’ my grandfather had it—you had that sort of visual thing” (Wagner, 2008).

tHe gaimaNfamiLy gaim aN ’s gReat-gReat-gRaNDfatHeR w as the owner of the largest department store

in Lodz, Poland, where his name was not Gaiman but Chaiman, or Haiman. Gaiman's great-grandfather emigrated to Antwerp, Belgium, some time before 1914. He had married an older woman in the hope that it would cause him to settle down, and together they left Poland for Belgium, where he embarked on a doomed career as a diamond courier. A missing diamond and mislaid blame resulted in the move (or, rather, the escape) to England, whereupon he abandoned his family and disappeared entirely from the family's story, barring the occasional appearance in photographs and a couple of sightings almost mythic in their mystery. “My great aunt Betty, who is currently in her nineties, talks about how one day there was a knock on the door, and there was a very good-looking man with a distinguished beard who said, ‘I am your father' and she had no memory of ever having seen him before. Whether he was in prison, whether he abandoned them for long periods, or quite what happened, I don't know, and I don't think anybody is quite sure” (Wagner, 2008). Neil's grandfather Morrie, who in 1914 was eleven years old, became the sole breadwinner for the family, which was not a small one. With only a tentative grasp of the English language, he found employment as a busboy in a London hotel, and as a sideline he supplied American servicemen with black market whiskey during the First World War. Years later, his son David (Neil's father) remembered being in one such hotel with his father some time in the late 1940s and glimpsing the long-lost great-grandfather in a window across the street. “He was dining across the road with an attractive young blonde woman who was definitely not my great-grandmother. He may have been a conman—he was definitely a black sheep,” says Neil. “If I had known it at the time I wrote Mr. Punch, it would have gone in ” (Wagner, 2008). Incidentally, it was Neil's grandmother who changed the Polish surname to the one we see on that hefty wedge of novels on the shelf. And she did it simply because she liked it better that way. While not technically legal, it transpires that if you just write your name differently on some wedding announcements no one will ever say anything, and life goes on as if that's the way it always was. Making up the rules as you go along seems to be a dominant gene in the Gaiman family pool.

The book was adapted for the stage in 2008 by the Rogue Artists of America, and three years before that it was a one-hour radio play for the BBC written by Gaiman, with music by McKean, who said the experience reminded him “how powerful, and how slippery, as a narrative, it is” (Wagner, 2008). ❖

CHapteR 4 |a comics

miscettaNy

17 1 t

Neil &mckeaN’s in 1994 mckeaN pLayeD Steadman to Neil’s Hunter S. Thompson in a gonzo tour diary from their time on the road. It was mostly just to keep themselves occupied while traveling and was never supposed to see print (McKean had his qualms about letting it out of the cage for this book, mumbling something to do with being unkind to Chinese restaurants). Says Neil, “It’s our little travel diary, which we kept on the road just to keep ourselves entertained. There was definitely no purpose in mind of ever getting it published; it was just this thing that we did in the days before Twitter. I’d write an account of our day and I’d give it to him and he’d do a drawing. Dave and I have done a lot of tours together. It’s been fun, actually. We tour relatively well together because we’re very different.”

th e a r t o f n e il g a im a n

Diary

Ultimately, the tour for Mr. Punch changed how Neil interacts with his readers. “It was an enormous signing tour, and it went on for ages. And by the end of it, we were completely fried, and I swore I would never do another signing tour” (Roel, 1994). But he did, in 1996 for Neverwhere, and he got around hating signing tours by devising a plan in which he would do readings and Q&A sessions at every stop. “It gives me something to do, otherwise, I wind up feeling like some kind of strange fraud: you just turn up somewhere and you sign—people put books in front of you, and you sign and they say thank you or they give you little presents. I thought if I’m actually at least getting out there and doing readings, I’m doing something” (Roel, 1994).

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

173 T

Neil &mckeaN’s in 1994 mckeaN pLayeD Steadman to Neil’s Hunter S. Thompson in a gonzo tour diary from their time on the road. It was mostly just to keep themselves occupied while traveling and was never supposed to see print (McKean had his qualms about letting it out of the cage for this book, mumbling something to do with being unkind to Chinese restaurants). Says Neil, “It’s our little travel diary, which we kept on the road just to keep ourselves entertained. There was definitely no purpose in mind of ever getting it published; it was just this thing that we did in the days before Twitter. I’d write an account of our day and I’d give it to him and he’d do a drawing. Dave and I have done a lot of tours together. It’s been fun, actually. We tour relatively well together because we’re very different.”

th e a r t o f n e il g a im a n

Diary

Ultimately, the tour for Mr. Punch changed how Neil interacts with his readers. “It was an enormous signing tour, and it went on for ages. And by the end of it, we were completely fried, and I swore I would never do another signing tour” (Roel, 1994). But he did, in 1996 for Neverwhere, and he got around hating signing tours by devising a plan in which he would do readings and Q&A sessions at every stop. “It gives me something to do, otherwise, I wind up feeling like some kind of strange fraud: you just turn up somewhere and you sign—people put books in front of you, and you sign and they say thank you or they give you little presents. I thought if I’m actually at least getting out there and doing readings, I’m doing something” (Roel, 1994).

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

173 T

running character Steven, whose first

tH e Last temptatIO N "H^ rangm up and Said j have an artisto h w Wants to do a concept a-Uyk. ^D>oyou haVe a concept.

g a i m a N o B s e R v e D i n tH e eaRLy Nineties tHat peopLe w h o LikeD saNDmaN weRe gRaDuaLLy BecomiNg pervasive. jasoN fiBeR of epic RecoRDs was oNe of tHem. He peRsuaDeD His Boss to ReaD some saNDmaN; tHe Boss eNDeD up LoviNg saNDmaN too aND pRomptLy got gaimaN o n tHe LiNe.

appearance was on Gaiman’s sole Alice Cooper purchase as a teenager. Steven has weaved in and out of albums ever since. Jobless, carless, girlfriendless, he basically lives in the 7-Eleven and wants to run away from the bore of authority and join the circus—his own private sideshow of freaks, “finger-lickin’ chicken-eating” geeks, and hunchback midgets. Cooper is there in his top hat waiting for him to sign on the bloody line. Almost immediately after the album was finished, three different comic com ­ panies decided to create music titles. Gaiman had piles of plots that never made it into the album, so he figured it was a good idea. He said in 1994 that “part of the thing about doing the Alice comic was almost the challenge. People have been doing rock-and-roll comics for about twenty years so far, and I can’t remember any good ones. I really can’t. They’re odd little things. Why aren’t there any good rock comics? Whenever one thinks of them, one thinks of those silly things that Malibu did, or the strange things that Marvel do. You know, rock-and-roll bands turn into superheroes. So what I wanted to do was take a look at Alice as an icon. Essentially, with Alice, what you’re being

cc ■yanswered the phone and a voice said ‘Hey, Neil, this is Bob [Pfeifer] from Epic I Records, and we have an artist who wants to do a concept album.’ And I said, .X . ‘A nd?’ And he said, ‘Well, he wants to know if you have a concept.’ And I thought this has got to be some kind of joke. And I couldn’t think of anyone on Sony apart from Michael Jackson and Barbra Streisand, and I didn’t really want to work with either of them. I said, ‘Who are we talking about here?’ and he said, ‘A lice Cooper’” (Roel, 1997). Gaiman has seminal memories of being about thirteen and watching Cooper doing “Teenage Lament ’74” on the B BC ’s Top o f the Pops music T V show. And like most people born around 1960, he owned one Alice Cooper album, which in his case was Welcome to My Nightmare, released when Gaiman was about fifteen.

opposite Bottom:

To get the story, Cooper and Gaiman got together and sat in a room and talked about what scares Alice. “We wound up talking about those movies they show high school kids in America to deter them from doing what society deems ‘bad things.’ They’re these really scary movies about sex, drinking, and rock music” (Comics Forum #7, 1994). They came up with the story that cast Alice Cooper as the Willy Wonka-style showman of a horrible old theater (with a staff of dead people) who attempts to lure an impressionable

A series of two Grand Guignol hand-drawn Sick Postcards. By Gaiman, playing on his fax machine again.

teenage boy into joining the staff. “It was a pretty organic experience; there was a lot of give and take between us, we both contributed ideas, and it was personally very refreshing to work like that. After we finished the story, Alice went away and made the album” (It #1, 1994). The album starts with an anthemic cry of a bored youth—Cooper’s long-

aBove aND opposite: All four issues had covers by Dave McKean.

^ k a t j Wanted to do WaS take a look a t \lice aS an icon.

175 t

running character Steven, whose first

tH e Last temptatIO N "H^ rangm up and Said j have an artisto h w Wants to do a concept a-Uyk. ^D>oyou haVe a concept.

g a i m a N o B s e R v e D i n tH e eaRLy Nineties tHat peopLe w h o LikeD saNDmaN weRe gRaDuaLLy BecomiNg pervasive. jasoN fiBeR of epic RecoRDs was oNe of tHem. He peRsuaDeD His Boss to ReaD some saNDmaN; tHe Boss eNDeD up LoviNg saNDmaN too aND pRomptLy got gaimaN o n tHe LiNe.

appearance was on Gaiman’s sole Alice Cooper purchase as a teenager. Steven has weaved in and out of albums ever since. Jobless, carless, girlfriendless, he basically lives in the 7-Eleven and wants to run away from the bore of authority and join the circus—his own private sideshow of freaks, “finger-lickin’ chicken-eating” geeks, and hunchback midgets. Cooper is there in his top hat waiting for him to sign on the bloody line. Almost immediately after the album was finished, three different comic com ­ panies decided to create music titles. Gaiman had piles of plots that never made it into the album, so he figured it was a good idea. He said in 1994 that “part of the thing about doing the Alice comic was almost the challenge. People have been doing rock-and-roll comics for about twenty years so far, and I can’t remember any good ones. I really can’t. They’re odd little things. Why aren’t there any good rock comics? Whenever one thinks of them, one thinks of those silly things that Malibu did, or the strange things that Marvel do. You know, rock-and-roll bands turn into superheroes. So what I wanted to do was take a look at Alice as an icon. Essentially, with Alice, what you’re being

cc ■yanswered the phone and a voice said ‘Hey, Neil, this is Bob [Pfeifer] from Epic I Records, and we have an artist who wants to do a concept album.’ And I said, .X . ‘A nd?’ And he said, ‘Well, he wants to know if you have a concept.’ And I thought this has got to be some kind of joke. And I couldn’t think of anyone on Sony apart from Michael Jackson and Barbra Streisand, and I didn’t really want to work with either of them. I said, ‘Who are we talking about here?’ and he said, ‘A lice Cooper’” (Roel, 1997). Gaiman has seminal memories of being about thirteen and watching Cooper doing “Teenage Lament ’74” on the B BC ’s Top o f the Pops music T V show. And like most people born around 1960, he owned one Alice Cooper album, which in his case was Welcome to My Nightmare, released when Gaiman was about fifteen.

opposite Bottom:

To get the story, Cooper and Gaiman got together and sat in a room and talked about what scares Alice. “We wound up talking about those movies they show high school kids in America to deter them from doing what society deems ‘bad things.’ They’re these really scary movies about sex, drinking, and rock music” (Comics Forum #7, 1994). They came up with the story that cast Alice Cooper as the Willy Wonka-style showman of a horrible old theater (with a staff of dead people) who attempts to lure an impressionable

A series of two Grand Guignol hand-drawn Sick Postcards. By Gaiman, playing on his fax machine again.

teenage boy into joining the staff. “It was a pretty organic experience; there was a lot of give and take between us, we both contributed ideas, and it was personally very refreshing to work like that. After we finished the story, Alice went away and made the album” (It #1, 1994). The album starts with an anthemic cry of a bored youth—Cooper’s long-

aBove aND opposite: All four issues had covers by Dave McKean.

^ k a t j Wanted to do WaS take a look a t \lice aS an icon.

175 t

t h e I n s i d e , a n d w a s h i s f i r s t a p p e a r a n c e as

aBOVe: Alice and Neil.

a c o m ic b o o k c h a ra c te r . T h e re s t o f th e e x p e rim e n ta l

M arv el

M u s ic

lin e

L eft: In the mid-ninties Caiman also worked on

w o u ld

d is a p p e a r in to o b s c u r ity p r e tty sw iftly — th a t

B illy

R ay

C yru s

o n e -sh o t

concepts for a series of comics published by

w as

Tekno Comix. He wrote the series bible, creating

a p a r tic u la r m is fire — b u t o v e r a d e c a d e l a t e r C a i m a n ’s T h e L a s t T e m p t a t i o n

s till

a number of new characters, which were

s e lls w e ll.

split between three com ics: Lady Justice,

H e t o o k t h e in i t i a l i d e a a n d f le s h e d it o u t i n t o a w h i m s i c a l l y d e m e n t e d s t o r y o f f a ith Notes from Neil and Alice Cooper's original brainstorming session

g i v e n t o p l a y w i t h is a f r e e h o r r o r i c o n .

w as

a

b id d in g

w ar

and

th e y

ic o n . E v e r y b o d y k n o w s th e

w e n t w ith M a rv e l, b e c a u s e A lic e w a s k e e n

A

to w o r k w ith t h e m a g a in a fte r th e s u c c e s s

s h o w n w h a t h i s life w o u l d b e lik e t h r o u g h

h a ir . H i m s t a r i n g o u t a t y o u . I t’s u p t h e r e

o f M a r v e l P r e m ie r e — an

a s e r i e s o f d a r k a n d t w i s t e d m o r a l i t y p la y s

sta rte d

in

W o l f m a n , o r J a s o n , o r F r e d d y . I t’s o n e o f

D ra cu la ,

or

F ra n k e n s te in ,

or

th e

in

e a rly

t h e i c o n s o f t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y h o r r o r ; it

te s tin g

th e

th e

e a rly

se v e n tie s

e ig h tie s,

g ro u n d

for

a n th o lo g y and

f u n c tio n in g

new

th a t

c h a ra c te rs

and

a h o m e f o r o ld o n e s t h a t h a d n o w h e r e e ls e

(It # 1 , 1 9 9 4 ).

a d a p t a t i o n o f C o o p e r ’s 1 9 7 8 a l b u m , F r o m

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

issu e

S te v e n

fe a tu re d

an

p ro v id e d

th e

illu stra tio n s.

It

w as

He’s pictured here promoting the comics

is

in C o o p e r ’s t h e a t e r o f h o r r o r s . C a i m a n ’s

to

fiftie th

w h ic h

b l o o d - a n d - g o r e c o m p a t r i o t M ic h a e l Z u lli

it. S o a ll I w a n t e d t o d o w a s g i v e i t a s t o r y ”

T h e ir

C a r o l in

d ie d

j u s t d o e s n ’t h a v e a s t o r y t h a t g o e s w i t h

go.

C h r is tm a s

as

a

Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man, and Teknophage.

a n d te m p ta tio n , a h o r r o r -tin g e d v e rs io n o f

f a c e , w ith t h e lin e s u n d e r t h e e y e s. T h e

A l i c e is a n

w ith

t 176

T h ere

and talking to Leonard Nimoy, who also “wrote” one, as two Mickeys (Mouse and Spillane) hug.

th e ir

f o u r th c o lla b o r a tio n a n d h is ty p ic a lly lu s h a n d a tm o s p h e r ic a r tw o r k le n t th e th r e e i s s u e m i n i s e r i e s a d e c i d e d l y c r e e p y a ir. ❖

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

177 t

t h e I n s i d e , a n d w a s h i s f i r s t a p p e a r a n c e as

aBOVe: Alice and Neil.

a c o m ic b o o k c h a ra c te r . T h e re s t o f th e e x p e rim e n ta l

M arv el

M u s ic

lin e

L eft: In the mid-ninties Caiman also worked on

w o u ld

d is a p p e a r in to o b s c u r ity p r e tty sw iftly — th a t

B illy

R ay

C yru s

o n e -sh o t

concepts for a series of comics published by

w as

Tekno Comix. He wrote the series bible, creating

a p a r tic u la r m is fire — b u t o v e r a d e c a d e l a t e r C a i m a n ’s T h e L a s t T e m p t a t i o n

s till

a number of new characters, which were

s e lls w e ll.

split between three com ics: Lady Justice,

H e t o o k t h e in i t i a l i d e a a n d f le s h e d it o u t i n t o a w h i m s i c a l l y d e m e n t e d s t o r y o f f a ith Notes from Neil and Alice Cooper's original brainstorming session

g i v e n t o p l a y w i t h is a f r e e h o r r o r i c o n .

w as

a

b id d in g

w ar

and

th e y

ic o n . E v e r y b o d y k n o w s th e

w e n t w ith M a rv e l, b e c a u s e A lic e w a s k e e n

A

to w o r k w ith t h e m a g a in a fte r th e s u c c e s s

s h o w n w h a t h i s life w o u l d b e lik e t h r o u g h

h a ir . H i m s t a r i n g o u t a t y o u . I t’s u p t h e r e

o f M a r v e l P r e m ie r e — an

a s e r i e s o f d a r k a n d t w i s t e d m o r a l i t y p la y s

sta rte d

in

W o l f m a n , o r J a s o n , o r F r e d d y . I t’s o n e o f

D ra cu la ,

or

F ra n k e n s te in ,

or

th e

in

e a rly

t h e i c o n s o f t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y h o r r o r ; it

te s tin g

th e

th e

e a rly

se v e n tie s

e ig h tie s,

g ro u n d

for

a n th o lo g y and

f u n c tio n in g

new

th a t

c h a ra c te rs

and

a h o m e f o r o ld o n e s t h a t h a d n o w h e r e e ls e

(It # 1 , 1 9 9 4 ).

a d a p t a t i o n o f C o o p e r ’s 1 9 7 8 a l b u m , F r o m

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

issu e

S te v e n

fe a tu re d

an

p ro v id e d

th e

illu stra tio n s.

It

w as

He’s pictured here promoting the comics

is

in C o o p e r ’s t h e a t e r o f h o r r o r s . C a i m a n ’s

to

fiftie th

w h ic h

b l o o d - a n d - g o r e c o m p a t r i o t M ic h a e l Z u lli

it. S o a ll I w a n t e d t o d o w a s g i v e i t a s t o r y ”

T h e ir

C a r o l in

d ie d

j u s t d o e s n ’t h a v e a s t o r y t h a t g o e s w i t h

go.

C h r is tm a s

as

a

Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man, and Teknophage.

a n d te m p ta tio n , a h o r r o r -tin g e d v e rs io n o f

f a c e , w ith t h e lin e s u n d e r t h e e y e s. T h e

A l i c e is a n

w ith

t 176

T h ere

and talking to Leonard Nimoy, who also “wrote” one, as two Mickeys (Mouse and Spillane) hug.

th e ir

f o u r th c o lla b o r a tio n a n d h is ty p ic a lly lu s h a n d a tm o s p h e r ic a r tw o r k le n t th e th r e e i s s u e m i n i s e r i e s a d e c i d e d l y c r e e p y a ir. ❖

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

177 t

BatmaN

“It s ta rts in a n a lle y w ith J o e C h ill.”

WHeN gaimaN was a

LittLe Boy IN his gRaNDpaReNts’ LiviNg Room watcHiNg BatmaN jump aRouND 0N-scReeN He pROBaBLy NeveR tHougHt He wouLd Be tHe guy to wRite His HeRo’s fuNeRaL. afteR aLL, tHe Last tHiNg He waNteD was foR BatmaN to get HuRt.

W

o p p o s i t e : Batman’s

appearance in 1989.

Orchid,

a B O V e : Alex Ross variant cover to #686.

Black

Batman

h e n I w a s f iv e , I w a s i n a c a r w i t h m y d a d a n d h e m e n t i o n e d t h a t t h e r e w a s

A n d t h e n , i n l a t e 2 0 0 8 , B a t m a n d ie d .

t h i s B a t m a n T V s h o w in A m e r i c a a b o u t a m a n w h o d r e s s e d u p in a c o s t u m e

O r h e s o r t o f d i e d . B a t m a n w a s d y in g , a n d

a n d fo u g h t c r im e . T h e o n ly b a t I e v e r k n e w w as a c r ic k e t b a t, so w h a t I

i f t h e r e ’s

anyone

in

D C ’s

arsen al w h o

t h o u g h t h e l o o k e d lik e w a s r a t h e r o d d , b a s e d o n t h a t . M o n t h s l a t e r , t h e s e r i e s h i t t h e U K ,

k n o w s h o w to w r ite d e a th , c a p ita l D

a n d I r e m e m b e r w a t c h i n g a n d b e i n g a f f e c t e d b y it. R e a l l y w o r r y i n g , g e n u i n e l y w o r r y i n g ,

o t h e r w i s e , i t ’s G a i m a n . D a n D i D i o p h o n e d

o n a d e e p p r i m a l le v e l , ‘W i l l h e b e o k a y ? ’ T h a t is t h e w a y i t w a s w i t h e v e r y d e a t h t r a p . I f I

and

m i s s e d t h e e n d o f a n e p i s o d e , I ’d g e t m y f r i e n d s t o t e l l m e h e w a s o k a y ” ( T h i l l , 2 0 0 9 ) .

B a tm a n w h a t th e y h a d d o n e tw e n ty -th r e e

T h e T V s h o w w a s t h e g a t e w a y d r u g t o c o m i c s a n d B a t m a n s t a y e d w i t h h i m f o r lif e , a n d g r e w u p w ith h im . T h e c a m p s ix tie s B a t m a n s u ite d th e y o u n g e r G a im a n ju s t fin e ;

y e a rs

sa id

th e y

b e fo re

w e re

w ith

g o in g

to

S u p erm an

do

or

and

w ith

A la n

M o o r e ’s W h a t e v e r H a p p e n e d to t h e M a n o f

N e a l A d a m s ’s l o n g - e a r e d s h a d o w y c h a r a c t e r t u r n e d u p j u s t in t i m e f o r h i s t e e n a g e

T o m o rro w ? : e n d th e m o n th lie s , r e b o o t th e

y e a r s ; a n d w h e n h e w a s t w e n t y - f i v e F r a n k M i l l e r ’s T h e D a r k K n ig h t R e t u r n s a r r i v e d .

n u m b e rin g ,

G a im a n w r o t e h is f irs t p ie c e o f a c a d e m i c c r i t i c i s m

s h e lv e s f o r a b i t . H e a s k e d i f G a i m a n w o u l d

o n a B a tm a n

c o m i c . It w a s n o

s u m m e r f lin g .

and

keep

B a tm a n

o ff

th e

w r ite th e la s t e v e r B a t m a n s to ry .

B e f o r e h e s a id h is g o o d -b y e to th e C a p e d C r u s a d e r , G a im a n g o t a c h a n c e to w r ite a h a n d f u l o f s t o r i e s o f t h e le s s f i n a l v a r i e t y : h e p u t h i m i n B l a c k O r c h i d a n d t h e f o l l o w i n g

It w a s o n e o f th o se stra n g e c o m ­

y e a r w r o te a s e c r e t o rig in o f th e b e a u tifu l a n d d e a d ly P o is o n Iv y f r o m th e p e rs p e c tiv e

b in a t io n s . I t h o u g h t t h a t i f I d i d n ’t d o

H a p p e n e d to th e M a n o f T o m o rro w ? .

o f a t h o r o u g h l y s e d u c e d p r is o n i n s p e c to r . S o o n a f te r c a m e a s t o r y a b o u t a f ilm c r e w

it,

That w as

in

e ls e

w o u ld

and

[th ey

h is

lo v e

le tte r

to J u liu s

a m ad

w o u l d ] m e s s it u p . B u t a ls o , I r e a lly

a n d d e l i r i o u s v i g n e t t e a b o u t t h e T V s h o w R i d d l e r l i v i n g i n a w a r e h o u s e w i t h a ll t h e

lo v e B a t m a n . T h e p l a t o n i c i d e a l o f

C u r t S w a n a n d a ll o f th e g u y s w h o

o ld p r o p s , p o n t i f i c a t i n g f r o m a t o p a n e n o r m o u s t y p e w r i t e r . T h e n i n 1 9 9 6 h e w r o t e a

B a t m a n , a s w e ll a s t h e n u m b e r o f

h a d w o r k e d o n S u p e r m a n . A n d it w a s

B a t m a n : B l a c k a n d W h it e s t o r y , a c o m p l e t e l y f u n n y a n d u n e x p e c t e d t h i n g in w h i c h

s p e c ific B a tm a n s

th e y e a r s . I

a lo v e l e t t e r to t h e S u p e r m a n w h o

B a tm a n a n d th e J o k e r a re w a itin g in th e g re e n r o o m f o r th e ir s c e n e , d o in g a c r o s s w o r d

t h o u g h t it w o u l d b e r e a l l y in t e r e s tin g .

liv e d in A l a n s h e a r t , w h o w a s n ’t g o i n g

G o th a m

tr y in g to

g e t s o m e in te r v ie w s w ith its b a d d ie s t h a t c o n t a i n e d

to b e a r o u n d a n y m o r e . I w a n t e d to

a n y w o r k t h e s e d a y s ) . E a c h o f G a i m a n ’s v i s i t s t o G o t h a m w a s e n t i r e l y d i s c r e t e a n d a ll

H a p p e n e d t o t h e C a p e d C r u s a d e r ? is

w r i t e t h e s a m e lo v e l e t t e r to B a t m a n

s o f le e t i n g .

a lo v e letter, a s w a s A l a n s W h a t e v e r

(T h ill, 2 0 0 9 ) .

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

In

a

lo t

of

ov er

w ay s,

S c h w a r t z a n d M o r t W e is in g e r a n d

W h a te v e r

t o p a s s t h e t i m e . T h e y w o n d e r h o w M r . F r e e z e a n d h i s f a m i l y a r e d o i n g ( h e n e v e r g e ts

t 178

som eon e

CHapteR 4 |a comics misceffaNy

a B O V e : ‘A Black and White World” with Simon Bisley (1996). The second of Gaiman and Bisley’s Batman stories but the only one that actually happened. In 1989 there were plans to do a fully painted Batman book called Gaiman got paid his $900 advance, Bisley did a painting for

Night Circus.

The

a ‘ slightly dubious” DC to convince them that he could do Batman, but for contractual reasons (Bisley was signed exclusively elsewhere) it never happened, although a couple of years later Bisley did paint the AD/DC Comics crossover,

2000

Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham.

179 t

BatmaN

“It s ta rts in a n a lle y w ith J o e C h ill.”

WHeN gaimaN was a

LittLe Boy IN his gRaNDpaReNts’ LiviNg Room watcHiNg BatmaN jump aRouND 0N-scReeN He pROBaBLy NeveR tHougHt He wouLd Be tHe guy to wRite His HeRo’s fuNeRaL. afteR aLL, tHe Last tHiNg He waNteD was foR BatmaN to get HuRt.

W

o p p o s i t e : Batman’s

appearance in 1989.

Orchid,

a B O V e : Alex Ross variant cover to #686.

Black

Batman

h e n I w a s f iv e , I w a s i n a c a r w i t h m y d a d a n d h e m e n t i o n e d t h a t t h e r e w a s

A n d t h e n , i n l a t e 2 0 0 8 , B a t m a n d ie d .

t h i s B a t m a n T V s h o w in A m e r i c a a b o u t a m a n w h o d r e s s e d u p in a c o s t u m e

O r h e s o r t o f d i e d . B a t m a n w a s d y in g , a n d

a n d fo u g h t c r im e . T h e o n ly b a t I e v e r k n e w w as a c r ic k e t b a t, so w h a t I

i f t h e r e ’s

anyone

in

D C ’s

arsen al w h o

t h o u g h t h e l o o k e d lik e w a s r a t h e r o d d , b a s e d o n t h a t . M o n t h s l a t e r , t h e s e r i e s h i t t h e U K ,

k n o w s h o w to w r ite d e a th , c a p ita l D

a n d I r e m e m b e r w a t c h i n g a n d b e i n g a f f e c t e d b y it. R e a l l y w o r r y i n g , g e n u i n e l y w o r r y i n g ,

o t h e r w i s e , i t ’s G a i m a n . D a n D i D i o p h o n e d

o n a d e e p p r i m a l le v e l , ‘W i l l h e b e o k a y ? ’ T h a t is t h e w a y i t w a s w i t h e v e r y d e a t h t r a p . I f I

and

m i s s e d t h e e n d o f a n e p i s o d e , I ’d g e t m y f r i e n d s t o t e l l m e h e w a s o k a y ” ( T h i l l , 2 0 0 9 ) .

B a tm a n w h a t th e y h a d d o n e tw e n ty -th r e e

T h e T V s h o w w a s t h e g a t e w a y d r u g t o c o m i c s a n d B a t m a n s t a y e d w i t h h i m f o r lif e , a n d g r e w u p w ith h im . T h e c a m p s ix tie s B a t m a n s u ite d th e y o u n g e r G a im a n ju s t fin e ;

y e a rs

sa id

th e y

b e fo re

w e re

w ith

g o in g

to

S u p erm an

do

or

and

w ith

A la n

M o o r e ’s W h a t e v e r H a p p e n e d to t h e M a n o f

N e a l A d a m s ’s l o n g - e a r e d s h a d o w y c h a r a c t e r t u r n e d u p j u s t in t i m e f o r h i s t e e n a g e

T o m o rro w ? : e n d th e m o n th lie s , r e b o o t th e

y e a r s ; a n d w h e n h e w a s t w e n t y - f i v e F r a n k M i l l e r ’s T h e D a r k K n ig h t R e t u r n s a r r i v e d .

n u m b e rin g ,

G a im a n w r o t e h is f irs t p ie c e o f a c a d e m i c c r i t i c i s m

s h e lv e s f o r a b i t . H e a s k e d i f G a i m a n w o u l d

o n a B a tm a n

c o m i c . It w a s n o

s u m m e r f lin g .

and

keep

B a tm a n

o ff

th e

w r ite th e la s t e v e r B a t m a n s to ry .

B e f o r e h e s a id h is g o o d -b y e to th e C a p e d C r u s a d e r , G a im a n g o t a c h a n c e to w r ite a h a n d f u l o f s t o r i e s o f t h e le s s f i n a l v a r i e t y : h e p u t h i m i n B l a c k O r c h i d a n d t h e f o l l o w i n g

It w a s o n e o f th o se stra n g e c o m ­

y e a r w r o te a s e c r e t o rig in o f th e b e a u tifu l a n d d e a d ly P o is o n Iv y f r o m th e p e rs p e c tiv e

b in a t io n s . I t h o u g h t t h a t i f I d i d n ’t d o

H a p p e n e d to th e M a n o f T o m o rro w ? .

o f a t h o r o u g h l y s e d u c e d p r is o n i n s p e c to r . S o o n a f te r c a m e a s t o r y a b o u t a f ilm c r e w

it,

That w as

in

e ls e

w o u ld

and

[th ey

h is

lo v e

le tte r

to J u liu s

a m ad

w o u l d ] m e s s it u p . B u t a ls o , I r e a lly

a n d d e l i r i o u s v i g n e t t e a b o u t t h e T V s h o w R i d d l e r l i v i n g i n a w a r e h o u s e w i t h a ll t h e

lo v e B a t m a n . T h e p l a t o n i c i d e a l o f

C u r t S w a n a n d a ll o f th e g u y s w h o

o ld p r o p s , p o n t i f i c a t i n g f r o m a t o p a n e n o r m o u s t y p e w r i t e r . T h e n i n 1 9 9 6 h e w r o t e a

B a t m a n , a s w e ll a s t h e n u m b e r o f

h a d w o r k e d o n S u p e r m a n . A n d it w a s

B a t m a n : B l a c k a n d W h it e s t o r y , a c o m p l e t e l y f u n n y a n d u n e x p e c t e d t h i n g in w h i c h

s p e c ific B a tm a n s

th e y e a r s . I

a lo v e l e t t e r to t h e S u p e r m a n w h o

B a tm a n a n d th e J o k e r a re w a itin g in th e g re e n r o o m f o r th e ir s c e n e , d o in g a c r o s s w o r d

t h o u g h t it w o u l d b e r e a l l y in t e r e s tin g .

liv e d in A l a n s h e a r t , w h o w a s n ’t g o i n g

G o th a m

tr y in g to

g e t s o m e in te r v ie w s w ith its b a d d ie s t h a t c o n t a i n e d

to b e a r o u n d a n y m o r e . I w a n t e d to

a n y w o r k t h e s e d a y s ) . E a c h o f G a i m a n ’s v i s i t s t o G o t h a m w a s e n t i r e l y d i s c r e t e a n d a ll

H a p p e n e d t o t h e C a p e d C r u s a d e r ? is

w r i t e t h e s a m e lo v e l e t t e r to B a t m a n

s o f le e t i n g .

a lo v e letter, a s w a s A l a n s W h a t e v e r

(T h ill, 2 0 0 9 ) .

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

In

a

lo t

of

ov er

w ay s,

S c h w a r t z a n d M o r t W e is in g e r a n d

W h a te v e r

t o p a s s t h e t i m e . T h e y w o n d e r h o w M r . F r e e z e a n d h i s f a m i l y a r e d o i n g ( h e n e v e r g e ts

t 178

som eon e

CHapteR 4 |a comics misceffaNy

a B O V e : ‘A Black and White World” with Simon Bisley (1996). The second of Gaiman and Bisley’s Batman stories but the only one that actually happened. In 1989 there were plans to do a fully painted Batman book called Gaiman got paid his $900 advance, Bisley did a painting for

Night Circus.

The

a ‘ slightly dubious” DC to convince them that he could do Batman, but for contractual reasons (Bisley was signed exclusively elsewhere) it never happened, although a couple of years later Bisley did paint the AD/DC Comics crossover,

2000

Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham.

179 t

A n d so , in F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9 , w e g o t th e

C o m m issio n e r

G o rd o n ,

th e

P e n g u in ,

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, w h i c h i n c l u d e d a d i r e c t

w h o s e c a r is g u a r d e d o u t s i d e b y a p r i d e o f

h o m a g e t o M o o r e ’s w o r k . T h e s e c o n d h a l f

a lle y c a ts .

firs t p a r t o f

fo llo w e d tw o m o n th s la te r. N e ith e r s ta y e d

P o is o n

Iv y ,

O n ly

i t ’s

and

not

of

a

co u rse

fu n e ra l.

C a tw o m a n ,

I t’s

B a tm a n

o n t h e s h e l v e s v e r y l o n g — n o t o n l y w a s it

s e e i n g h i s life f l a s h b e f o r e h is e y e s , n a r r a t e d

th e firs t G a im a n c o m i c in y e a r s , it w a s th e

b y th o s e w h o w e re th e re : e a c h c h a ra c te r

la st e v e r B a tm a n

te lls t h e i r v e r s i o n o f h o w t h e y s a w h i m d ie ,

sto ry . A t th e

G ra p h ic

F e s tiv a l in 2 0 1 2 , G a im a n s a id , “T h e id e a

each

w a s t h a t i t is a lw a y s t h e l a s t B a t m a n s t o r y .

t h e i r liv e s . B u t a ll t h e w h i l e B a t m a n

c h a r a c te r ta lk s o f h o w

he

a ffe c te d

In t w e n t y y e a r s f r o m n o w i t w ill h a v e b e e n ,

p ro te stin g ,

It didn’t happen like that.

is

T h ere

i t w ill s t ill b e , t h e l a s t B a t m a n s t o r y . T h a t

a re c o n tr a d ic tio n s , n o b o d y c a n b e te llin g

m a k e s m e h ap p y. Ju st th e id e a o f B a tm a n

t h e t r u t h , b u t i f B a t m a n is j u s t a n i d e a t h e n

a s a n id e a .”

m a y b e th e y are.

T h e s t o r y s t a r t s in a lit t l e b a r w i t h S e l i n a K y le

ta lk in g

to

Jo e

C h ill,

m u rd erer

“I w a n te d to p la y v e ry , v e r y f a ir w ith

of

t h e r e a d e r . S o w h a t I w a s t r y i n g t o s a y is

B r u c e W a y n e ’s p a r e n t s . B a t m a n is t h e r e ,

t h a t i t h o n e s t l y d o e s n ’t m a t t e r i f i t is i n o r

a d is e m b o d ie d p r e s e n c e g e ttin g to w a tc h

o u t o f c o n t i n u i t y . A n d i t d o e s n ’t m a t t e r

h is

w h ic h e v e r B a tm a n y o u lo v e , w h e th e r th a t

ow n

b a r in th e

f u n e r a l in

th e

b ack ro o m

C r i m e A lle y , d e a d in

p la c e

w h ere

he

w as

t h e t h i n g s a b o u t G a i m a n ’s

of a

a c o f f in in

b o rn .

O ne

of

post-Sandman

is F r a n k M i l l e r ’s

Dark Knight Returns Dark Knight, o r

C h r i s t o p h e r N o l a n ’s B a tm a n

TV

sh ow

or

even

and th e

th e v a rio u s , to p : Poison Ivy in “Pavane” with

f o r a y s i n t o c o m i c s is t h a t t h e y a r e s o r a r e

g l o r i o u s a n i m a t e d s e r i e s . T h is is t h e l a s t

th a t w h e n h e d o es th e m , h e d o e s th e m

B a t m a n s t o r y . H e ’s d e a d , a n d t h i s is w h a t ’s

in

a w a y t h a t a llo w s h i m

h a p p e n i n g . I t’s b e e n s e v e n t y y e a r s , a n d i t ’s

R IgH t: Scanned from the original, which hangs

M ark Buckingham (from Secret Origins

as

m any

b e e n w o n d e r f u l , b u t t h i s is t h e l a s t o n e ”

#36, 1989).

in the Gaiman house.

body

f 180

c h a ra c te rs

is h e r e :

D ick

as

to

p la y w ith

p o s s ib le .

G ra y s o n , th e

E v ery ­ Jo k e r,

(T h ill, 2 0 0 9 ) . ❖

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

181 f

A n d so , in F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9 , w e g o t th e

C o m m issio n e r

G o rd o n ,

th e

P e n g u in ,

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, w h i c h i n c l u d e d a d i r e c t

w h o s e c a r is g u a r d e d o u t s i d e b y a p r i d e o f

h o m a g e t o M o o r e ’s w o r k . T h e s e c o n d h a l f

a lle y c a ts .

firs t p a r t o f

fo llo w e d tw o m o n th s la te r. N e ith e r s ta y e d

P o is o n

Iv y ,

O n ly

i t ’s

and

not

of

a

co u rse

fu n e ra l.

C a tw o m a n ,

I t’s

B a tm a n

o n t h e s h e l v e s v e r y l o n g — n o t o n l y w a s it

s e e i n g h i s life f l a s h b e f o r e h is e y e s , n a r r a t e d

th e firs t G a im a n c o m i c in y e a r s , it w a s th e

b y th o s e w h o w e re th e re : e a c h c h a ra c te r

la st e v e r B a tm a n

te lls t h e i r v e r s i o n o f h o w t h e y s a w h i m d ie ,

sto ry . A t th e

G ra p h ic

F e s tiv a l in 2 0 1 2 , G a im a n s a id , “T h e id e a

each

w a s t h a t i t is a lw a y s t h e l a s t B a t m a n s t o r y .

t h e i r liv e s . B u t a ll t h e w h i l e B a t m a n

c h a r a c te r ta lk s o f h o w

he

a ffe c te d

In t w e n t y y e a r s f r o m n o w i t w ill h a v e b e e n ,

p ro te stin g ,

It didn’t happen like that.

is

T h ere

i t w ill s t ill b e , t h e l a s t B a t m a n s t o r y . T h a t

a re c o n tr a d ic tio n s , n o b o d y c a n b e te llin g

m a k e s m e h ap p y. Ju st th e id e a o f B a tm a n

t h e t r u t h , b u t i f B a t m a n is j u s t a n i d e a t h e n

a s a n id e a .”

m a y b e th e y are.

T h e s t o r y s t a r t s in a lit t l e b a r w i t h S e l i n a K y le

ta lk in g

to

Jo e

C h ill,

m u rd erer

“I w a n te d to p la y v e ry , v e r y f a ir w ith

of

t h e r e a d e r . S o w h a t I w a s t r y i n g t o s a y is

B r u c e W a y n e ’s p a r e n t s . B a t m a n is t h e r e ,

t h a t i t h o n e s t l y d o e s n ’t m a t t e r i f i t is i n o r

a d is e m b o d ie d p r e s e n c e g e ttin g to w a tc h

o u t o f c o n t i n u i t y . A n d i t d o e s n ’t m a t t e r

h is

w h ic h e v e r B a tm a n y o u lo v e , w h e th e r th a t

ow n

b a r in th e

f u n e r a l in

th e

b ack ro o m

C r i m e A lle y , d e a d in

p la c e

w h ere

he

w as

t h e t h i n g s a b o u t G a i m a n ’s

of a

a c o f f in in

b o rn .

O ne

of

post-Sandman

is F r a n k M i l l e r ’s

Dark Knight Returns Dark Knight, o r

C h r i s t o p h e r N o l a n ’s B a tm a n

TV

sh ow

or

even

and th e

th e v a rio u s , to p : Poison Ivy in “Pavane” with

f o r a y s i n t o c o m i c s is t h a t t h e y a r e s o r a r e

g l o r i o u s a n i m a t e d s e r i e s . T h is is t h e l a s t

th a t w h e n h e d o es th e m , h e d o e s th e m

B a t m a n s t o r y . H e ’s d e a d , a n d t h i s is w h a t ’s

in

a w a y t h a t a llo w s h i m

h a p p e n i n g . I t’s b e e n s e v e n t y y e a r s , a n d i t ’s

R IgH t: Scanned from the original, which hangs

M ark Buckingham (from Secret Origins

as

m any

b e e n w o n d e r f u l , b u t t h i s is t h e l a s t o n e ”

#36, 1989).

in the Gaiman house.

body

f 180

c h a ra c te rs

is h e r e :

D ick

as

to

p la y w ith

p o s s ib le .

G ra y s o n , th e

E v ery ­ Jo k e r,

(T h ill, 2 0 0 9 ) . ❖

CH apteR 4 |a c o m i c s m isceL L aN y

181 f

Beyonr Comics

Beyonr Comics

m

tHe comic B o k Legal DefeNsefU N D “Freedomof speechis anabsolute.The rule is, if you don’t like the pictures, you don’t look at them.”

tHe comic Book LegaL DeteNse Iund w a s fouNDeD i n 1986 t o s u p p o r t t h e f r e e d o m o f s p e e c h i n c o m i c s : t h a t c o m i c s , l i k e a n y o t h e r a r t f o r m i n t h e U n ite d S t a t e s o f A m e r ic a , s h o u l d b e a c c o r d e d t h e s a m e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r i g h t s .

I

t w a s n ’t p u r e ly m o v in g to A m e r ic a th a t g o t G a im a n in v o lv e d in th e C B L D F , b u t it h e lp e d . G a im a n g re w up in E n g la n d , w h e r e th e r e is n o F ir s t A m e n d m e n t a n d f r e e d o m o f s p e e c h is n o t g u a r a n te e d . T h e U K h a s law s lik e th e O b s c e n e P u b lic a tio n s

A c t, w h ic h m e a n s y o u c a n ’t p u b lish o b s c e n e th in g s , a n d th e O fficial S e c re ts A c t , w h ic h m e a n s y o u c a n ’t sa y s e c r e t th in g s.

Lady Chatterley tria l in

“I w a s b o r n th e d a y o f th e c o n c lu s io n o f th e

a B O V e : A ticket to

a CBLDF reading, 2003.

w a s d e c id e d th a t

Lady Chatterleys Lover, w ith

E n g la n d , th e d a y it

its sw e a rin g , b u g g e ry , a n d r a w s e x b e tw e e n

th e cla sse s, w as fit to b e p u b lish ed in a c h e a p e d itio n th a t p o o r p e o p le a n d s e rv a n ts c o u ld

o p p o site:

re a d . T h is w as th e s a m e E n g la n d in w h ic h , s o m e y e a rs e arlier, th e d ir e c to r o f p u b lic

Jill Thompson art from the sketchbook, 1992.

p ro s e c u tio n s h a d th r e a te n e d to p ro s e c u te P ro fe s s o r F. R . L eav is if h e so m u c h as re fe rre d

Sandman

to Ja m e s Jo y ce ’s

Ulysses in

a le c tu re , a n d in w h ic h , w h e n I w as six te e n a n d liste n in g to th e

S e x P isto ls , th e p u b lish e r o f

Gay News w as

s e n te n c e d to p ris o n fo r th e c r im e o f C r im in a l

B la sp h e m y , fo r p u b lish in g an e r o tic p o e m fe a tu rin g a fa n ta s y a b o u t Jesus.” G a im a n first g o t in v o lv e d in fu n d r a is in g fo r f r e e d o m o f s p e e c h in c o m ic s a b o u t 1 9 8 4 , w h e n K n o c k a b o u t C o m i c s — th e tin y p u b lish in g h o u s e in itia lly s e t u p b y T o n y B e n n e tt to d is trib u te G ilb e rt S h e lto n ’s in f a m o u s p o t - s m o k in g h ip p y c o m i c

Freak Brothers— s ta r te d

The Fabulous Furry

b e c o m i n g fr e q u e n tly e m b ro ile d in lo n g , e x p e n s iv e c o u r t ca ses

ju s t to g e t b o o k s b a ck . T h e y w e re p u lled u p b y c u s to m s fo r i m p o r tin g a n y th in g th a t c o n ta in e d ru d e w o r d s , s e x , a n d sto rie s in w h ic h c h a r a c te r s u se d m a r iju a n a , w h ic h in t e r m s o f u n d e r g r o u n d “c o m i x ” w as b a s ic a lly e v e ry th in g . P lu s, a n y th in g t h a t c a m e in th e s a m e b o x as th e d ir ty b o o k s w a s a lso d o o m e d .

m

tHe comic B o k Legal DefeNsefU N D “Freedomof speechis anabsolute.The rule is, if you don’t like the pictures, you don’t look at them.”

tHe comic Book LegaL DeteNse Iund w a s fouNDeD i n 1986 t o s u p p o r t t h e f r e e d o m o f s p e e c h i n c o m i c s : t h a t c o m i c s , l i k e a n y o t h e r a r t f o r m i n t h e U n ite d S t a t e s o f A m e r ic a , s h o u l d b e a c c o r d e d t h e s a m e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r i g h t s .

I

t w a s n ’t p u r e ly m o v in g to A m e r ic a th a t g o t G a im a n in v o lv e d in th e C B L D F , b u t it h e lp e d . G a im a n g re w up in E n g la n d , w h e r e th e r e is n o F ir s t A m e n d m e n t a n d f r e e d o m o f s p e e c h is n o t g u a r a n te e d . T h e U K h a s law s lik e th e O b s c e n e P u b lic a tio n s

A c t, w h ic h m e a n s y o u c a n ’t p u b lish o b s c e n e th in g s , a n d th e O fficial S e c re ts A c t , w h ic h m e a n s y o u c a n ’t sa y s e c r e t th in g s.

Lady Chatterley tria l in

“I w a s b o r n th e d a y o f th e c o n c lu s io n o f th e

a B O V e : A ticket to

a CBLDF reading, 2003.

w a s d e c id e d th a t

Lady Chatterleys Lover, w ith

E n g la n d , th e d a y it

its sw e a rin g , b u g g e ry , a n d r a w s e x b e tw e e n

th e cla sse s, w as fit to b e p u b lish ed in a c h e a p e d itio n th a t p o o r p e o p le a n d s e rv a n ts c o u ld

o p p o site:

re a d . T h is w as th e s a m e E n g la n d in w h ic h , s o m e y e a rs e arlier, th e d ir e c to r o f p u b lic

Jill Thompson art from the sketchbook, 1992.

p ro s e c u tio n s h a d th r e a te n e d to p ro s e c u te P ro fe s s o r F. R . L eav is if h e so m u c h as re fe rre d

Sandman

to Ja m e s Jo y ce ’s

Ulysses in

a le c tu re , a n d in w h ic h , w h e n I w as six te e n a n d liste n in g to th e

S e x P isto ls , th e p u b lish e r o f

Gay News w as

s e n te n c e d to p ris o n fo r th e c r im e o f C r im in a l

B la sp h e m y , fo r p u b lish in g an e r o tic p o e m fe a tu rin g a fa n ta s y a b o u t Jesus.” G a im a n first g o t in v o lv e d in fu n d r a is in g fo r f r e e d o m o f s p e e c h in c o m ic s a b o u t 1 9 8 4 , w h e n K n o c k a b o u t C o m i c s — th e tin y p u b lish in g h o u s e in itia lly s e t u p b y T o n y B e n n e tt to d is trib u te G ilb e rt S h e lto n ’s in f a m o u s p o t - s m o k in g h ip p y c o m i c

Freak Brothers— s ta r te d

The Fabulous Furry

b e c o m i n g fr e q u e n tly e m b ro ile d in lo n g , e x p e n s iv e c o u r t ca ses

ju s t to g e t b o o k s b a ck . T h e y w e re p u lled u p b y c u s to m s fo r i m p o r tin g a n y th in g th a t c o n ta in e d ru d e w o r d s , s e x , a n d sto rie s in w h ic h c h a r a c te r s u se d m a r iju a n a , w h ic h in t e r m s o f u n d e r g r o u n d “c o m i x ” w as b a s ic a lly e v e ry th in g . P lu s, a n y th in g t h a t c a m e in th e s a m e b o x as th e d ir ty b o o k s w a s a lso d o o m e d .

w ith

a c h a r a c t e r , g i v e n t h a t h e w a s in j a i l w h e n

c o m i c s a n d c e n s o r s h i p w a s i n la t e 1 9 8 7

H is

t h e w h o l e b u s i n e s s w a s g o i n g o n . B u t in

w hen

firs t

h is

p erso n al

w o rk

in

an

O u t r a g e o u s T a le s f r o m o rig in a lly

p u b lish e d

in v o lv e m e n t

ca lle d

1 9 9 0 th e w o rk o f d e S a d e w a s d e e m e d to o

t h e O ld T e s t a m e n t ,

a n th o lo g y

o b s c e n e f o r th e U K . N e x t tim e G a im a n

in

w a s in t h e U n i t e d S ta te s , h e b o u g h t t h e

1 9 8 7 , a lm o s t g o t a S w e d is h p u b lis h e r s e n t

by

K n ock b ou t

b o o k s a t B o rd e rs a n d sm u g g le d th e m b a c k

t o ja il.

i n h i s lu g g a g e . T h e n , in

I t w a s t h e f i r s t t h in g I w r o t e in

1 9 9 2 , h e e m ig ra te d . H e w as

b e i n g p a i d in A m e r i c a n

c o m ic s , o r a t l e a s t t h e f i r s t s o l i d w o r k

career

th a t I

w a s p r o fe s s io n a lly p a i d fo r ,

A m e rica . W h e n

w h ic h

a lm o s t im m e d ia te ly I fo u n d

w as

p re s e n te d

by

now

w ith

d o l l a r s a n d h is

a lm o s t

e n tire ly

in

h e le ft th e U K , h e w a s a

s k e tc h b o o k

m a ste r­

m y s e l f d e fe n d in g . I d i d a B B C R a d i o 4

m i n d e d b y h is o l d f r i e n d D a v e M c K e a n .

p h o n e -in

T h ere

t h in g d e f e n d i n g it a g a i n s t

a re

s o m e r e n t - a - q u o t e C o n s e r v a t iv e M e m ­

frie n d s

b e r o f P a r l i a m e n t w h o h a d n ’t r e a d it,

M ark

d ra w in g s

and

Sandm an

and

B u c k in g h a m ,

p a in tin g s f r o m

co lla b o ra to rs

K e lle y

Jo n es,

lik e

C h ris

b u t h a d b e e n t o l d w h a t it w a s a n d

B a c h a lo , C h a rle s V ess, a n d C e r e b u s c r e a to r

k n e w t h a t p e o p l e s h o u l d n ’t r e a d th is

D a v e S im . O v e r a d e c a d e la te r, in 2 0 0 4 ,

k i n d o f th in g . A n d t h e n e x t t h in g t h a t

p a g e s f r o m th e s k e tc h b o o k w e re in c lu d e d

h a p p e n e d w a s m y s to r y c a m e in c r e d ib ly

in

th e

p ro g ram

for

F i d d l e r ’s

G reen ,

a

c lo s e to s e n d i n g a S w e d is h p u b l i s h e r to p r i s o n ( f o r t h e S w e d is h e d it io n ) . I r e t e ll t h e s t o r y in t h e B o o k o f Ju d g e s th a t h a s a h o r r ib le g a n g r a p e

in it t h a t e n d s in m u r d e r , t h a t t h e n e n d s in t h e g u y c u t t in g u p h is w ife a n d s e n d i n g a c h u n k o f h e r to e a c h o f t h e t r ib e s o f I s r a e l to p r o t e s t t h is a w f u l

‘My story came incredibly close to sending a Swedish publisher

th in g t h a t ’s h a p p e n e d . A n d it ’s h o r r ib le . A n d it w a s w r i t t e n in t h e s c r ip t a s: t h i s is h o r r i b l e . A n d i t ’s in t h e B ib le ,

a n d p e o p l e s h o u l d k n o w t h e s t o r ie s in t h e B i b le . T h a t w a s t h e w h o l e p o i n t

S a n d m a n c o n v e n t i o n h e l d in M i n n e a p o l i s

o f O u t r a g e o u s T a le s f r o m t h e O l d

(a n d

T e s t a m e n t : w e w e r e n o t e x a g g e r a t in g .

c h a ra c te r)

nam ed to

a fte r

a

b e n e fit

f a v o rite th e

Sandm an

C o m ic

Book

T h e n I l e a r n e d t h a t o u r S w e d is h p u b ­

L e g a l D e fe n se F u n d , s o m e th in g G a im a n

li s h e r w a s f a c i n g a p r i s o n s e n t e n c e f o r

b ecam e

d e p ic t in g v io le n c e a g a i n s t w o m e n a n d

b a g s w e re u n p a c k e d in h is n e w h o u s e .

h e a v ily in v o lv e d

w ith

on ce

I w r o t e a n e s s a y f o r h is d e fe n s e . I t r e a lly The

w a s o n ly t h e f a c t , I s u s p e c t , t h a t t h e

C o m ic B o o k L e g a l D e fe n s e

s t o r y w a s t o ld c o m p le t e ly s t r a ig h t f r o m

F u n d h a d b e e n s o m e th in g th a t w a s

th e B ib le th a t a c tu a lly k e p t h im o u t

on

o f p r is o n .

r e a d i n g t h e c o m i c s p r e s s , in t h is c a s e I

M o s t f a m o u s o f a ll K n o c k a b o u t ’s c a s e s

G u i d e , a n d it b e g a n w h e n F r ie n d ly

m y r a d a r f o r a w h ile . I ’d

been

h is

aBOVe: Outrageous

Tales from the Old Testament, 1987. o p p o s ite to p : Bill Koeb art from the S a ed m ae sketchbook, 1992. o p p o s ite B o t t o m : Steve Bissette's contribution to the S a ed m ae sketchbook, 1992.

t h in k it w a s m o s t ly th e C o m i c s B u y e r s

im p o rte d

F r a n k s C o m ic s g o t b u s te d b y a c o p f o r

c o m ic s to c o in c id e

s e lli n g t h e c o p a c o p y o f O m a h a t h e

w ith a m a jo r B B C te le v isio n d o c u m e n t a r y

C a t D a n c e r . T h is g u y s a r r e s t e d a n d

w as

in

1996, w hen

so m e R o b e rt C ru m b

th e y

had

o n C ru m b , o n ly to h a v e th e m co n fisca te d .

h e ’s g o i n g to g o to p r i s o n , a n d h e ’s j u s t

B a c k in 1 9 9 0 , w h e n G a i m a n w a s t h i n k i n g

s o l d a n a d u l t c o m i c to a n a d u l t . S o

F re n ch

F r i e n d l y F r a n k s F ig h t in g F u n d w a s

R e v o l u t i o n in S a n d m a n # 2 9 , h e t h o u g h t

f o r m e d . P e o p l e t h r e w m o n e y in to d e ­

h e ’d lik e t o i n c l u d e t h e M a r q u i s d e S a d e a s

f e n d th is g u y a n d to d e f e n d t h e c a s e ,

a b o u t w r itin g a s to r y a b o u t th e

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

187 t

w ith

a c h a r a c t e r , g i v e n t h a t h e w a s in j a i l w h e n

c o m i c s a n d c e n s o r s h i p w a s i n la t e 1 9 8 7

H is

t h e w h o l e b u s i n e s s w a s g o i n g o n . B u t in

w hen

firs t

h is

p erso n al

w o rk

in

an

O u t r a g e o u s T a le s f r o m o rig in a lly

p u b lish e d

in v o lv e m e n t

ca lle d

1 9 9 0 th e w o rk o f d e S a d e w a s d e e m e d to o

t h e O ld T e s t a m e n t ,

a n th o lo g y

o b s c e n e f o r th e U K . N e x t tim e G a im a n

in

w a s in t h e U n i t e d S ta te s , h e b o u g h t t h e

1 9 8 7 , a lm o s t g o t a S w e d is h p u b lis h e r s e n t

by

K n ock b ou t

b o o k s a t B o rd e rs a n d sm u g g le d th e m b a c k

t o ja il.

i n h i s lu g g a g e . T h e n , in

I t w a s t h e f i r s t t h in g I w r o t e in

1 9 9 2 , h e e m ig ra te d . H e w as

b e i n g p a i d in A m e r i c a n

c o m ic s , o r a t l e a s t t h e f i r s t s o l i d w o r k

career

th a t I

w a s p r o fe s s io n a lly p a i d fo r ,

A m e rica . W h e n

w h ic h

a lm o s t im m e d ia te ly I fo u n d

w as

p re s e n te d

by

now

w ith

d o l l a r s a n d h is

a lm o s t

e n tire ly

in

h e le ft th e U K , h e w a s a

s k e tc h b o o k

m a ste r­

m y s e l f d e fe n d in g . I d i d a B B C R a d i o 4

m i n d e d b y h is o l d f r i e n d D a v e M c K e a n .

p h o n e -in

T h ere

t h in g d e f e n d i n g it a g a i n s t

a re

s o m e r e n t - a - q u o t e C o n s e r v a t iv e M e m ­

frie n d s

b e r o f P a r l i a m e n t w h o h a d n ’t r e a d it,

M ark

d ra w in g s

and

Sandm an

and

B u c k in g h a m ,

p a in tin g s f r o m

co lla b o ra to rs

K e lle y

Jo n es,

lik e

C h ris

b u t h a d b e e n t o l d w h a t it w a s a n d

B a c h a lo , C h a rle s V ess, a n d C e r e b u s c r e a to r

k n e w t h a t p e o p l e s h o u l d n ’t r e a d th is

D a v e S im . O v e r a d e c a d e la te r, in 2 0 0 4 ,

k i n d o f th in g . A n d t h e n e x t t h in g t h a t

p a g e s f r o m th e s k e tc h b o o k w e re in c lu d e d

h a p p e n e d w a s m y s to r y c a m e in c r e d ib ly

in

th e

p ro g ram

for

F i d d l e r ’s

G reen ,

a

c lo s e to s e n d i n g a S w e d is h p u b l i s h e r to p r i s o n ( f o r t h e S w e d is h e d it io n ) . I r e t e ll t h e s t o r y in t h e B o o k o f Ju d g e s th a t h a s a h o r r ib le g a n g r a p e

in it t h a t e n d s in m u r d e r , t h a t t h e n e n d s in t h e g u y c u t t in g u p h is w ife a n d s e n d i n g a c h u n k o f h e r to e a c h o f t h e t r ib e s o f I s r a e l to p r o t e s t t h is a w f u l

‘My story came incredibly close to sending a Swedish publisher

th in g t h a t ’s h a p p e n e d . A n d it ’s h o r r ib le . A n d it w a s w r i t t e n in t h e s c r ip t a s: t h i s is h o r r i b l e . A n d i t ’s in t h e B ib le ,

a n d p e o p l e s h o u l d k n o w t h e s t o r ie s in t h e B i b le . T h a t w a s t h e w h o l e p o i n t

S a n d m a n c o n v e n t i o n h e l d in M i n n e a p o l i s

o f O u t r a g e o u s T a le s f r o m t h e O l d

(a n d

T e s t a m e n t : w e w e r e n o t e x a g g e r a t in g .

c h a ra c te r)

nam ed to

a fte r

a

b e n e fit

f a v o rite th e

Sandm an

C o m ic

Book

T h e n I l e a r n e d t h a t o u r S w e d is h p u b ­

L e g a l D e fe n se F u n d , s o m e th in g G a im a n

li s h e r w a s f a c i n g a p r i s o n s e n t e n c e f o r

b ecam e

d e p ic t in g v io le n c e a g a i n s t w o m e n a n d

b a g s w e re u n p a c k e d in h is n e w h o u s e .

h e a v ily in v o lv e d

w ith

on ce

I w r o t e a n e s s a y f o r h is d e fe n s e . I t r e a lly The

w a s o n ly t h e f a c t , I s u s p e c t , t h a t t h e

C o m ic B o o k L e g a l D e fe n s e

s t o r y w a s t o ld c o m p le t e ly s t r a ig h t f r o m

F u n d h a d b e e n s o m e th in g th a t w a s

th e B ib le th a t a c tu a lly k e p t h im o u t

on

o f p r is o n .

r e a d i n g t h e c o m i c s p r e s s , in t h is c a s e I

M o s t f a m o u s o f a ll K n o c k a b o u t ’s c a s e s

G u i d e , a n d it b e g a n w h e n F r ie n d ly

m y r a d a r f o r a w h ile . I ’d

been

h is

aBOVe: Outrageous

Tales from the Old Testament, 1987. o p p o s ite to p : Bill Koeb art from the S a ed m ae sketchbook, 1992. o p p o s ite B o t t o m : Steve Bissette's contribution to the S a ed m ae sketchbook, 1992.

t h in k it w a s m o s t ly th e C o m i c s B u y e r s

im p o rte d

F r a n k s C o m ic s g o t b u s te d b y a c o p f o r

c o m ic s to c o in c id e

s e lli n g t h e c o p a c o p y o f O m a h a t h e

w ith a m a jo r B B C te le v isio n d o c u m e n t a r y

C a t D a n c e r . T h is g u y s a r r e s t e d a n d

w as

in

1996, w hen

so m e R o b e rt C ru m b

th e y

had

o n C ru m b , o n ly to h a v e th e m co n fisca te d .

h e ’s g o i n g to g o to p r i s o n , a n d h e ’s j u s t

B a c k in 1 9 9 0 , w h e n G a i m a n w a s t h i n k i n g

s o l d a n a d u l t c o m i c to a n a d u l t . S o

F re n ch

F r i e n d l y F r a n k s F ig h t in g F u n d w a s

R e v o l u t i o n in S a n d m a n # 2 9 , h e t h o u g h t

f o r m e d . P e o p l e t h r e w m o n e y in to d e ­

h e ’d lik e t o i n c l u d e t h e M a r q u i s d e S a d e a s

f e n d th is g u y a n d to d e f e n d t h e c a s e ,

a b o u t w r itin g a s to r y a b o u t th e

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

187 t

the case was won and there was money left over. So the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund wasformed. Truth­ fully it’s not necessarily the greatest name fo r essentially the Comics First Amendment Defense League or what­ ever it really is, but it began with a fightingfund. The idea was if you need legally defending, we have a fund here. The remit has expanded a little over the years beyond just that, and some­ times we go on the aggressive too.

o b s e s s i o n w i t h h o r r o r m o v i e s a n d a ll t h o s e s o r t s o f s t o r i e s . B u t I lik e M i k e D i a n a . I t h o u g h t M i k e D i a n a ’s c o m i c s w e r e p o w e r f u l a n d s t r o n g . I w a s s i g n i f i c a n t l y le ss o f a f a n o f t h e r e s t o f t h e z i n e , w h i c h r e a d lik e a s e r i a l k i l l e r f a n z i n e a n d I d o n ’t h a v e m u c h t i m e f o r s e r i a l k i l l e r s a n d I h a v e n o t i m e a t a ll f o r s e r i a l k i l l e r f a n s . T h e r e a l o n e s .” The

p re v io u s

y e a r,

a

p o lic e m a n

in

C a l i f o r n i a e n d e d u p w i t h a n i s s u e o f Boiled

Angel,

p a rts o f w h ic h re m in d e d h im o f th e

th e n -u n s o lv e d G a in s v ille s tu d e n t m u r d e r s in F lo r id a w h e r e D ia n a liv e d a n d w o rk e d

W h a t re a lly m o v e d th e C B L D F f ro m

i n h is f a t h e r ’s c o n v e n i e n c e s t o r e . I n 1 9 9 2 ,

b e in g a n a d h o c fig h tin g fu n d to s o m e th in g

a fte r b lo o d te sts r u le d h im o u t as a s u s p e c t

t h a t c o u l d a c t u a l l y s t a r t t o f ix t h i n g s w a s

in th e m u r d e r c a s e , th e y tr ie d D ia n a fo r

t h e f a c t t h a t D a v e S i m g a v e a ll h is m o n e y fro m th e

Spawn

i s s u e h e d id t o t h e m o n e y

o b s c e n ity

in s te a d .

He

becam e

th e

firs t

A m e r i c a n a r t i s t t o b e a r r e s t e d f o r o b s c e n ity .

p o o l . I t a ll h a p p e n e d a r o u n d t h e t i m e o f a c a r t o o n i s t ’s a r r e s t . “M ik e D i a n a g o t a r r e s t e d f o r e s s e n t i a l l y a fa n z in e h e w a s d o in g c a lle d It h a d

som e

p re tty

good

Boiled Angel. co m ics

in

it,

in t h e s e n s e t h a t t h e y w e r e p o w e r f u l , t h e y w e re p e r s o n a l, th e y w e re o b v io u sly h e a v ily in flu e n ce d

by

EC

h o rro r

co m ics.

M ik e

D ia n a ’s d r a w in g s ty le w a s n o t te r r ib ly p r e t t y ; i t w a s a v e r y r a w d r a w i n g s ty le s o e v e r y ­ th in g w a s v e r y s y m b o lic a n d it s e e m e d to b e r o o t e d i n M ik e ’s a b u s e a s a c h i l d a n d

Money needed to be raised in order to defend Mike Diana. I went out there and I did a couple o f gigs. We brought in the head o f the comic book museum in San Francisco, and we brought in Peter Kuperfrom New York to testify t h i s s t u f f is a r t . But Mike Diana was found guilty o f obscenity, and Mikes sentence involved over a thousand hours o f community service. He was not allowed within ten fee t o f

tH is spReaD : Chris Bachalo pages from the Sandman sketchbook, 1992.

the case was won and there was money left over. So the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund wasformed. Truth­ fully it’s not necessarily the greatest name fo r essentially the Comics First Amendment Defense League or what­ ever it really is, but it began with a fightingfund. The idea was if you need legally defending, we have a fund here. The remit has expanded a little over the years beyond just that, and some­ times we go on the aggressive too.

o b s e s s i o n w i t h h o r r o r m o v i e s a n d a ll t h o s e s o r t s o f s t o r i e s . B u t I lik e M i k e D i a n a . I t h o u g h t M i k e D i a n a ’s c o m i c s w e r e p o w e r f u l a n d s t r o n g . I w a s s i g n i f i c a n t l y le ss o f a f a n o f t h e r e s t o f t h e z i n e , w h i c h r e a d lik e a s e r i a l k i l l e r f a n z i n e a n d I d o n ’t h a v e m u c h t i m e f o r s e r i a l k i l l e r s a n d I h a v e n o t i m e a t a ll f o r s e r i a l k i l l e r f a n s . T h e r e a l o n e s .” The

p re v io u s

y e a r,

a

p o lic e m a n

in

C a l i f o r n i a e n d e d u p w i t h a n i s s u e o f Boiled

Angel,

p a rts o f w h ic h re m in d e d h im o f th e

th e n -u n s o lv e d G a in s v ille s tu d e n t m u r d e r s in F lo r id a w h e r e D ia n a liv e d a n d w o rk e d

W h a t re a lly m o v e d th e C B L D F f ro m

i n h is f a t h e r ’s c o n v e n i e n c e s t o r e . I n 1 9 9 2 ,

b e in g a n a d h o c fig h tin g fu n d to s o m e th in g

a fte r b lo o d te sts r u le d h im o u t as a s u s p e c t

t h a t c o u l d a c t u a l l y s t a r t t o f ix t h i n g s w a s

in th e m u r d e r c a s e , th e y tr ie d D ia n a fo r

t h e f a c t t h a t D a v e S i m g a v e a ll h is m o n e y fro m th e

Spawn

i s s u e h e d id t o t h e m o n e y

o b s c e n ity

in s te a d .

He

becam e

th e

firs t

A m e r i c a n a r t i s t t o b e a r r e s t e d f o r o b s c e n ity .

p o o l . I t a ll h a p p e n e d a r o u n d t h e t i m e o f a c a r t o o n i s t ’s a r r e s t . “M ik e D i a n a g o t a r r e s t e d f o r e s s e n t i a l l y a fa n z in e h e w a s d o in g c a lle d It h a d

som e

p re tty

good

Boiled Angel. co m ics

in

it,

in t h e s e n s e t h a t t h e y w e r e p o w e r f u l , t h e y w e re p e r s o n a l, th e y w e re o b v io u sly h e a v ily in flu e n ce d

by

EC

h o rro r

co m ics.

M ik e

D ia n a ’s d r a w in g s ty le w a s n o t te r r ib ly p r e t t y ; i t w a s a v e r y r a w d r a w i n g s ty le s o e v e r y ­ th in g w a s v e r y s y m b o lic a n d it s e e m e d to b e r o o t e d i n M ik e ’s a b u s e a s a c h i l d a n d

Money needed to be raised in order to defend Mike Diana. I went out there and I did a couple o f gigs. We brought in the head o f the comic book museum in San Francisco, and we brought in Peter Kuperfrom New York to testify t h i s s t u f f is a r t . But Mike Diana was found guilty o f obscenity, and Mikes sentence involved over a thousand hours o f community service. He was not allowed within ten fee t o f

tH is spReaD : Chris Bachalo pages from the Sandman sketchbook, 1992.

a n y o n e u n d e r t h e a g e o f e ig h t e e n , a n d

I t w a s t h e i d e a t h a t t h e y ’d n o t o n ly

l e a s t to tr y a n d f i n d c o m m o n g r o u n d .

h e w a s a c o n v e n ie n c e s to re c le r k s o i f

f o u n d h i m g u il t y o f o b s c e n i t y — t h a t I

B u t w h e n it c o m e s to t h e F ir s t A m e n d ­

a n y b o d y u n d e r t h e a g e o f e ig h t e e n

c o u ld s o r t of, s o m e h o w , o n s o m e w e ir d

c o m e s in t o t h e s t o r e h e h a d

le v e l, g o , “o k a y ”— b u t it w a s t h e f a c t

to g o

in t o t h e b a c k . H e h a d to p a y f o r a

th a t th ey w ere n ow

cou rse

p o lic e

ow n

in j o u r n a l i s t i c e t h ic s a t h is

e x p e n s e . H e w a s s e n t e n c e d to

p s y c h ia t r ic

trea tm en t

at

h is

w o u ld

not

c o m m it fu t u r e o b s c e n itie s . . .

s a y i n g to

m e:

from the Sandman sketchbook, 1992.

w e ll, a r e y o u s a y i n g p e o p l e s h o u l d b e

o p p o s ite to p : Michael

a l l o w e d to m a k e s n u f f m o v i e s ? A n d

Zullis and Dave Sim's contributions, 1992.

I ’m g o i n g n o , t h e y s h o u l d n ’t, b e c a u s e

I a b s o lu te ly u n d e r s ta n d s o m e b o d y

t h a t in v o lv e s m u r d e r in g s o m e b o d y , a n d

o p p o s ite B o t t o m :

e x p e n s e . H e w a s s e n t e n c e d to t h r e e

g o in g : y o u s h o u l d n o t b e a b l e to d e p i c t

m u r d e r is a c r im e , a n d y o u s h o u l d n ’t

Michael Chabon and Neil in 2007.

im a g e s o f v i o l e n c e t o w a r d s w o m e n .

b e m u r d e r in g a n y b o d y . A n d p e d o p h i l i a

A n d a ll o f t h e s e th in g s w e r e b a d ,

B u t t h e y ’r e lin e s o n p a p e r , a n d t h e y ’r e

is a m o n s t r o u s c r i m e a n d it is a m o s t

b u t n o n e o f th e m w er e a s b a d a s th e

c o v e r e d b y t h e F ir s t A m e n d m e n t . T h a t ’s

m o n s t r o u s c r i m e b e c a u s e it is h u r t in g

f a c t th a t th e lo c a l p o lic e w er e o r d e r e d

th e d e a l h e r e , b e c a u s e i f it d o e s n ’t c o v e r

k id s a n d t h a t ’s r e a l. A c h ild c a n n o t g iv e

to m a k e r a n d o m

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

a p p o in tin g th e

m a k e su re h e

T here a re p e o p le

ow n

y e a r s p r o b a t i o n a n d a $ 3 ,0 0 0 fin e .

t 190

to

m e n t , t h e r e is n o c o m m o n g r o u n d .

aBOVe: Mike Dringenberg artwork

tw e n ty -fo u r -h o u r -

th a t, th e n it d o e s n ’t c o v e r t h e s t u f f t h a t

c o n s e n t , th is is b a d . I g e t this. A n d th e n

s p o t c h e c k s o n M ik e a t w o r k a n d a t

y o u n e e d to s a v e . I n e e d e d to b e c o m e

s u d d e n l y I f i n d m y s e l f h a v i n g p o in t le s s

h o m e , u n a n n o u n c e d — th e y c o u ld b r e a k

a F ir s t A m e n d m e n t a b s o lu t is t , a n d I

a r g u m e n t s o n lin e w ith p e o p l e a b o u t

d o w n th e d o o r s i f th e y w a n te d — th e y

still f i n d it u n c o m fo r t a b le b e in g a F ir s t

J a p a n e s e m a n g a d r a w in g s o f c o u p le s

h a d to c o m e in s u d d e n l y to m a k e s u r e

A m e n d m e n t a b s o lu t is t . I w a s n o t p u t

w it h

h e w a s n o t d r a w in g a n y th in g a n d d id

o n t h is e a r t h to b e a n a b s o l u t i s t o f

w h a t e v e r . “T h is is b e i n g u s e d b y t h o s e p e d o p h i l e s to e x c i t e t h e m s e lv e s a n d

b a b y is h f a c e s

h a v in g

sex

or

n o t h a v e t im e to f l u s h a n y d r a w in g s ,

a n y t h i n g . I ’m s o m e b o d y w h o s e n a t u r a l

i f h e is c o m m it t in g a r t , d o w n t h e to ile t.

r e s p o n s e to a n a w f u l l o t o f s t u f f is to

w o r k t h e m s e lv e s u p ! ” A n d I ’m g o in g ,

A n d h o n e s t l y it w a s t h a t la s t th in g .

s a y : y e s , I s e e y o u r p o i n t o f v ie w , o r a t

N o . Y ou c a n ’t d o t h a t o n e . T h e s e a r e n o t

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

191 t

a n y o n e u n d e r t h e a g e o f e ig h t e e n , a n d

I t w a s t h e i d e a t h a t t h e y ’d n o t o n ly

l e a s t to tr y a n d f i n d c o m m o n g r o u n d .

h e w a s a c o n v e n ie n c e s to re c le r k s o i f

f o u n d h i m g u il t y o f o b s c e n i t y — t h a t I

B u t w h e n it c o m e s to t h e F ir s t A m e n d ­

a n y b o d y u n d e r t h e a g e o f e ig h t e e n

c o u ld s o r t of, s o m e h o w , o n s o m e w e ir d

c o m e s in t o t h e s t o r e h e h a d

le v e l, g o , “o k a y ”— b u t it w a s t h e f a c t

to g o

in t o t h e b a c k . H e h a d to p a y f o r a

th a t th ey w ere n ow

cou rse

p o lic e

ow n

in j o u r n a l i s t i c e t h ic s a t h is

e x p e n s e . H e w a s s e n t e n c e d to

p s y c h ia t r ic

trea tm en t

at

h is

w o u ld

not

c o m m it fu t u r e o b s c e n itie s . . .

s a y i n g to

m e:

from the Sandman sketchbook, 1992.

w e ll, a r e y o u s a y i n g p e o p l e s h o u l d b e

o p p o s ite to p : Michael

a l l o w e d to m a k e s n u f f m o v i e s ? A n d

Zullis and Dave Sim's contributions, 1992.

I ’m g o i n g n o , t h e y s h o u l d n ’t, b e c a u s e

I a b s o lu te ly u n d e r s ta n d s o m e b o d y

t h a t in v o lv e s m u r d e r in g s o m e b o d y , a n d

o p p o s ite B o t t o m :

e x p e n s e . H e w a s s e n t e n c e d to t h r e e

g o in g : y o u s h o u l d n o t b e a b l e to d e p i c t

m u r d e r is a c r im e , a n d y o u s h o u l d n ’t

Michael Chabon and Neil in 2007.

im a g e s o f v i o l e n c e t o w a r d s w o m e n .

b e m u r d e r in g a n y b o d y . A n d p e d o p h i l i a

A n d a ll o f t h e s e th in g s w e r e b a d ,

B u t t h e y ’r e lin e s o n p a p e r , a n d t h e y ’r e

is a m o n s t r o u s c r i m e a n d it is a m o s t

b u t n o n e o f th e m w er e a s b a d a s th e

c o v e r e d b y t h e F ir s t A m e n d m e n t . T h a t ’s

m o n s t r o u s c r i m e b e c a u s e it is h u r t in g

f a c t th a t th e lo c a l p o lic e w er e o r d e r e d

th e d e a l h e r e , b e c a u s e i f it d o e s n ’t c o v e r

k id s a n d t h a t ’s r e a l. A c h ild c a n n o t g iv e

to m a k e r a n d o m

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

a p p o in tin g th e

m a k e su re h e

T here a re p e o p le

ow n

y e a r s p r o b a t i o n a n d a $ 3 ,0 0 0 fin e .

t 190

to

m e n t , t h e r e is n o c o m m o n g r o u n d .

aBOVe: Mike Dringenberg artwork

tw e n ty -fo u r -h o u r -

th a t, th e n it d o e s n ’t c o v e r t h e s t u f f t h a t

c o n s e n t , th is is b a d . I g e t this. A n d th e n

s p o t c h e c k s o n M ik e a t w o r k a n d a t

y o u n e e d to s a v e . I n e e d e d to b e c o m e

s u d d e n l y I f i n d m y s e l f h a v i n g p o in t le s s

h o m e , u n a n n o u n c e d — th e y c o u ld b r e a k

a F ir s t A m e n d m e n t a b s o lu t is t , a n d I

a r g u m e n t s o n lin e w ith p e o p l e a b o u t

d o w n th e d o o r s i f th e y w a n te d — th e y

still f i n d it u n c o m fo r t a b le b e in g a F ir s t

J a p a n e s e m a n g a d r a w in g s o f c o u p le s

h a d to c o m e in s u d d e n l y to m a k e s u r e

A m e n d m e n t a b s o lu t is t . I w a s n o t p u t

w it h

h e w a s n o t d r a w in g a n y th in g a n d d id

o n t h is e a r t h to b e a n a b s o l u t i s t o f

w h a t e v e r . “T h is is b e i n g u s e d b y t h o s e p e d o p h i l e s to e x c i t e t h e m s e lv e s a n d

b a b y is h f a c e s

h a v in g

sex

or

n o t h a v e t im e to f l u s h a n y d r a w in g s ,

a n y t h i n g . I ’m s o m e b o d y w h o s e n a t u r a l

i f h e is c o m m it t in g a r t , d o w n t h e to ile t.

r e s p o n s e to a n a w f u l l o t o f s t u f f is to

w o r k t h e m s e lv e s u p ! ” A n d I ’m g o in g ,

A n d h o n e s t l y it w a s t h a t la s t th in g .

s a y : y e s , I s e e y o u r p o i n t o f v ie w , o r a t

N o . Y ou c a n ’t d o t h a t o n e . T h e s e a r e n o t

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

191 t

r e a l p e o p l e . T h e s e a r e d r a w in g s . A n d i f y o u th in k t h e y ’r e r e a l th e n y o u a ls o h a v e to im p r is o n p e o p l e f o r m u r d e r e v e r y t im e t h e y k ill a f i c t i o n a l c h a r a c te r .

G a i m a n w e n t o n t h e r o a d a ll t h r o u g h t h e 1 9 9 0 s t o r a i s e m o n e y f o r M i k e D i a n a ’s case

and

any

th a t

cam e

a fte r

it.

“T he

G u a rd ia n A n g e l T o u rs w e re ju s t m e . A n d p a r tly it w a s ju s t I lo v e d th e id e a o f ta k in g a t h e a t e r a n d d o i n g a r e a d i n g lik e C h a r l e s D ic k e n s u s e d to d o . B u t I a lso d id n o t h a v e th e s e lf -c o n f id e n c e to s a y : I a m g o in g to ta k e a th e a te r, b e c a u s e I th o u g h t it w a s a b i t w e i r d a n d b i g - h e a d e d . B u t I f e lt lik e I co u ld

d o it f o r th e C B L D F . T h a t w ay ,

“These are drawings. And if you think

I n s t e a d h e w o u l d d o t h i n g s lik e a u c t i o n i n g

they’re real then you

A n a n s i B o y s o n e B a y fo r $ 3 ,5 3 3 , w h ic h h a d

also have to imprison

C h a b o n h a d a le r te d N e il to th e f a c t th a t

o f f t h e n a m e o f a c r u i s e s h ip i n h is n o v e l

an

in te re s tin g

ro llo v e r

e ffe c t:

M ich a e l

fe llo w d e fe n d e rs o f fre e s p e e c h , th e F ir s t A m e n d m e n t P ro j e c t, w e re ra p id ly r u n n in g

people for murder

out

every time they kill a

of

m oney

d e fe n d in g

fre e

h a v in g

sp en t

it

sp eech .

So

b u n ch

a

a ll

on of

fa m o u s w r ite rs o rg a n iz e d a s im ila r th in g : w in th e a u c tio n a n d y o u c o u ld b e k ille d o ff

fictional character.”

in a S t e p h e n K i n g b o o k , h a v e t h e s p e l li n g a n d p r o n u n c ia tio n o f y o u r n a m e m u tila te d in a L e m o n y S n i c k e t n o v e l , o r b e a n a m e o n a g r a v e s t o n e in G a i m a n ’s n e x t n o v e l ,

p e o p l e d o n ’t h a v e t o lik e m e a n d I ’m n o t

aBOVe: One of the many things that Gaiman did for the CBLDF was put out a benefit book called Gods & Tulips (1999), which included two essays: one, a speech likening the teetering and fleeting heights of 1990s com ic book

economics to that of the Dutch tulip crisis; and a

o p p o s ite to p : Dave McKean's paint and gold-leaf Dream King

second one, on signings. Having already been on

was used for the cover of the program for the

the frontline of the world of signings for years— good and bad— Gaiman was as close to an expert as you were going to get.

next to handwritten novels and notebooks.

In 2 0 1 2 G a i m a n s t e p p e d d o w n f r o m t h e

w ill g o t o t h e C B L D F . I l o v e d it b e c a u s e I g o t

b o a r d o f d ire c to rs . T h a t y e a r h e fo u n d e d th e

t o g o o n t h e r o a d a n d r e a d t o a n a u d i e n c e .”

G a im a n F o u n d a tio n a n d g a v e $ 6 0 ,0 0 0 to

It w a s a lso a re a lly g o o d c h a n c e to t r y

t h e C B L D F i n o r d e r t o h e lp t h e m e d u c a t e

o u t s h o r t sto rie s , a n d in tr o d u c e fa n s o f

t h r o u g h v a r i o u s i n itia tiv e s (K id s R i g h t t o

S a n d m a n to h is o th e r w o rk . It w a s in 2 0 0 0

R e a d P r o j e c t , B a n n e d B o o k s W e e k , e t c .) .

o n t h e L a s t A n g e l t o u r , t h e f i n a l o f h is

T h e F o u n d a t i o n e x i s t s t o h e lp a v a r i e t y o f

C B L D F tra v e ls , th a t G a im a n s to o d b e fo re

c a u s e s . T h e C B L D F w a s its f i r s t s to p . ❖

a n a u d ie n c e a t th e A la d d in , in P o r tla n d ,

“Now this is a special thing," said Neil, handing

and

it over delicately.

at a h u ge

sta ck

2004 CBLDF benefit convention Fiddlers

u n p u b li s h e d n o v e l , A m e r i c a n

Green. Gaiman keeps the original in a little

ju s t s ta y in g u p rig h t. He

cabinet in his house,

I

p o in te d

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

o f p a p e rs

le a n in g a g a in s t th e w a ll. It w a s t h e a s -y e t-

sto p p e d

to u rin g

G o d s, o n ly

b ecau se

it

w as

b e c o m i n g in c r e a s in g ly d ifficu lt to fin d tw o sp a re

f 192

The G rav ey ard B o o k .

g e t t i n g t h e m o n e y f o r i t , a ll o f t h e m o n e y

|

w eeks

a y e a r in

w h ic h

to

do

it.

R IgH t: a McKean page from Outrageous Tales from the Old Testament, 1987.

|

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

193 f

r e a l p e o p l e . T h e s e a r e d r a w in g s . A n d i f y o u th in k t h e y ’r e r e a l th e n y o u a ls o h a v e to im p r is o n p e o p l e f o r m u r d e r e v e r y t im e t h e y k ill a f i c t i o n a l c h a r a c te r .

G a i m a n w e n t o n t h e r o a d a ll t h r o u g h t h e 1 9 9 0 s t o r a i s e m o n e y f o r M i k e D i a n a ’s case

and

any

th a t

cam e

a fte r

it.

“T he

G u a rd ia n A n g e l T o u rs w e re ju s t m e . A n d p a r tly it w a s ju s t I lo v e d th e id e a o f ta k in g a t h e a t e r a n d d o i n g a r e a d i n g lik e C h a r l e s D ic k e n s u s e d to d o . B u t I a lso d id n o t h a v e th e s e lf -c o n f id e n c e to s a y : I a m g o in g to ta k e a th e a te r, b e c a u s e I th o u g h t it w a s a b i t w e i r d a n d b i g - h e a d e d . B u t I f e lt lik e I co u ld

d o it f o r th e C B L D F . T h a t w ay ,

“These are drawings. And if you think

I n s t e a d h e w o u l d d o t h i n g s lik e a u c t i o n i n g

they’re real then you

A n a n s i B o y s o n e B a y fo r $ 3 ,5 3 3 , w h ic h h a d

also have to imprison

C h a b o n h a d a le r te d N e il to th e f a c t th a t

o f f t h e n a m e o f a c r u i s e s h ip i n h is n o v e l

an

in te re s tin g

ro llo v e r

e ffe c t:

M ich a e l

fe llo w d e fe n d e rs o f fre e s p e e c h , th e F ir s t A m e n d m e n t P ro j e c t, w e re ra p id ly r u n n in g

people for murder

out

every time they kill a

of

m oney

d e fe n d in g

fre e

h a v in g

sp en t

it

sp eech .

So

b u n ch

a

a ll

on of

fa m o u s w r ite rs o rg a n iz e d a s im ila r th in g : w in th e a u c tio n a n d y o u c o u ld b e k ille d o ff

fictional character.”

in a S t e p h e n K i n g b o o k , h a v e t h e s p e l li n g a n d p r o n u n c ia tio n o f y o u r n a m e m u tila te d in a L e m o n y S n i c k e t n o v e l , o r b e a n a m e o n a g r a v e s t o n e in G a i m a n ’s n e x t n o v e l ,

p e o p l e d o n ’t h a v e t o lik e m e a n d I ’m n o t

aBOVe: One of the many things that Gaiman did for the CBLDF was put out a benefit book called Gods & Tulips (1999), which included two essays: one, a speech likening the teetering and fleeting heights of 1990s com ic book

economics to that of the Dutch tulip crisis; and a

o p p o s ite to p : Dave McKean's paint and gold-leaf Dream King

second one, on signings. Having already been on

was used for the cover of the program for the

the frontline of the world of signings for years— good and bad— Gaiman was as close to an expert as you were going to get.

next to handwritten novels and notebooks.

In 2 0 1 2 G a i m a n s t e p p e d d o w n f r o m t h e

w ill g o t o t h e C B L D F . I l o v e d it b e c a u s e I g o t

b o a r d o f d ire c to rs . T h a t y e a r h e fo u n d e d th e

t o g o o n t h e r o a d a n d r e a d t o a n a u d i e n c e .”

G a im a n F o u n d a tio n a n d g a v e $ 6 0 ,0 0 0 to

It w a s a lso a re a lly g o o d c h a n c e to t r y

t h e C B L D F i n o r d e r t o h e lp t h e m e d u c a t e

o u t s h o r t sto rie s , a n d in tr o d u c e fa n s o f

t h r o u g h v a r i o u s i n itia tiv e s (K id s R i g h t t o

S a n d m a n to h is o th e r w o rk . It w a s in 2 0 0 0

R e a d P r o j e c t , B a n n e d B o o k s W e e k , e t c .) .

o n t h e L a s t A n g e l t o u r , t h e f i n a l o f h is

T h e F o u n d a t i o n e x i s t s t o h e lp a v a r i e t y o f

C B L D F tra v e ls , th a t G a im a n s to o d b e fo re

c a u s e s . T h e C B L D F w a s its f i r s t s to p . ❖

a n a u d ie n c e a t th e A la d d in , in P o r tla n d ,

“Now this is a special thing," said Neil, handing

and

it over delicately.

at a h u ge

sta ck

2004 CBLDF benefit convention Fiddlers

u n p u b li s h e d n o v e l , A m e r i c a n

Green. Gaiman keeps the original in a little

ju s t s ta y in g u p rig h t. He

cabinet in his house,

I

p o in te d

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

o f p a p e rs

le a n in g a g a in s t th e w a ll. It w a s t h e a s -y e t-

sto p p e d

to u rin g

G o d s, o n ly

b ecau se

it

w as

b e c o m i n g in c r e a s in g ly d ifficu lt to fin d tw o sp a re

f 192

The G rav ey ard B o o k .

g e t t i n g t h e m o n e y f o r i t , a ll o f t h e m o n e y

|

w eeks

a y e a r in

w h ic h

to

do

it.

R IgH t: a McKean page from Outrageous Tales from the Old Testament, 1987.

|

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

193 f

J

SHORt StORIes

“HORleQUIN v a L eN tiN e” “Oh, Harlequin in love is a sorry creature.” “HaRLeguiN vaLeNtiNe” is a pLay o n th e

“I believe we owe it to each otf

o ld

c o m m e d ia

d e ll’a r t e t r i c k s t e r

c h a r a c t e r , w r i t t e n in a b o u n c y , p la y fu l, and

Its as close to a credo as I have or win, i suspect, ever gei.

s lig h tly

u n h in g e d

w ay.

o r i g i n a l l y f o r a b o o k c a lle d

Attraction,

b e in g

a

It

w as

Strange

co lle ctio n

of

t w e n t y - f o u r p o e m s a n d s to r ie s b a s e d o n a F e r r i s w h e e l m a d e b y s c u lp to r L is a

S n e llin g s ,

G a im a n

w rite

w ho

re q u e s te d

so m e th in g

th a t

a b o u t th e

m a n w h o ta k e s t h e tic k e ts . “It’s a s t o r y f r o m t h e p o i n t o f v ie w o f a n in v isib le h a r l e q u i n w h o h a s fa lle n in lo v e w ith

ONe of tHe ReaSONS foR DOiNg tHe guaRDiaN aNgeL touRS

a y o u n g la d y a n d m u s t d e m o n s tr a te

tHat He NeveR ReaLLy meNtiONeD at tHe tim e was, veRy simpLy, stage fRigHt. gaimaN coNgueReD it i n mucH tHe same way as He coNgueReD eveRytHiNg eLse: He ju st got up aND d i d it.

h is lo v e . A s t h e s t o r y s t a r t s , h e h a s c u t

cc

c o m i c a y e a r la te r.

o u t h is h e a r t a n d p i n n e d i t t o h e r f r o n t d o o r ” (B a k e r, 2 0 0 7 ) . a rtist Jo h n

B o lto n

Books o f Magic

tu rn e d

it in to

a

■ y u s e d to g e t sta g e frig h t in m in d -m a n g lin g ly h u g e a n d im p o s s ib le q u a n titie s. I

S e rio u s c r ip p lin g sta g e frig h t. S o I fig u re d th e b e s t w a y to d e a l w ith se rio u s

. X . c r i p p l i n g s t a g e f r i g h t w a s t o l e a r n h o w t o g e t u p o n s t a g e in f r o n t o f t h o u s a n d s o f p e o p l e . W h i c h I d i d . A n d I n o w g e t i t a lit t l e . Y o u k n o w , i t ’s n e v e r c o m p l e t e l y g o n e a w a y , b u t I d o n ’t m i n d b e c a u s e I k i n d o f lik e t h e l i t t l e a d r e n a l i n b u r s t s t h a t I g e t n o w w h e n I ’m p e r f o r m i n g , o r a b o u t t o p e r f o r m a n y w a y . T h e j i t t e r y t e r r o r .” T h e s e d a y s y o u c a n c a tc h G a im a n r e a d in g s to rie s as a s u p p o r t a c t b e f o re a n A m a n d a P a lm e r g ig o r y o u c a n s ta y a t h o m e a n d w a tc h c o u n tle s s sh a k y Y o u T u b e v id e o s o f r e a d i n g s f r o m a ll a r o u n d t h e w o r l d . H e h a s g o n e o n s t o r y t e l l i n g t o u r b u s e s w i t h o t h e r s t o r y t e l l e r s , lik e a r o c k b a n d o n l y w i t h p e n s a n d b o o k s i n s t e a d o f g u i t a r s . H e u s e s r e a d i n g s t o s e e a u d i e n c e r e a c t i o n s , q u i e t ly g a u g i n g i f a s t o r y is w o r k i n g o r n o t . I n 2 0 1 2 , h a v in g fin is h in g a p ie c e c a lle d “ T h e S le e p e r a n d th e S p in d le ” a fte r s ix w e e k s o f w o rk in g

aBOVe: Cover by Gahan Wilson who also provided the cover for Gaiman’s short collaboration with Gene Wolfe, A W a lk in g T o u r o f t h e S h a m b le s in 2002, which took readers on a tour through a fictional part of Chicago and its nonexistent landmarks. Wilson also illustrated Gaimans “It Was a Dark and Silly Night . . ” for the L it t le L it anthology.

t 194

o n i t, h e o r g a n i z e d a n e v e n t f o r t h a t v e r y p u r p o s e . H e w a s f o r t h c o m i n g a b o u t i t . H e d id n ’t p r o m i s e i t w o u l d w o r k , a n d i n c a s e i t d i d n ’t , h e w a s g o i n g t o r e a d o t h e r w o r k s t o o .

I love the audience reactions. Writing something is such an incredibly solitary thing to do. And then you publish a story and it goes out and people come back and they say I really liked that thing you did, and I say thank you. But you weren’t there when they read it. With readings, what I like best is that moment in a reading when everything in the room gets hyper-quiet. You’ve reached a point in the story where it’s really, really important and everybody’s suddenly quiet. And everybody cares. And they aren’t moving because they know if they move it disturbs the air. And the lines about hearing pins drop? You can hear pins drop. And that, fo r me, is that’s what I love best. That

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

moment when you really feel that you’ve captured them. You’ve been going around gathering up people as if you’re gathering pieces o f string. Now suddenly you have this thing that you ’re holding that’s all o f them. You’re holding them all, weaved. And I love it when they laugh at the same time. And I love doing voices. It’s silly and fun. I love when I take something that I genuinely don’t know if it works or not, and I make it work. Not even that I m a k e it work, that I learn it works. That I put it on stage in front o f

an audience and it’s just me and there’s no props and there’s no anything: there’s just me and some words. And I fin d out if something works or not. That’s what I love. T h e firs t s h o r t s t o r y h e e v e r s o ld w a s “F e a t h e r q u e s t ” 1 9 8 4 issu e o f w as

It a p p e a re d

in

Imagine Magazine

tw e n ty -th re e ,

on

th e

th e

M ay

w hen he

s u g g e s tio n

of

C o lin G re e n la n d , w h o m h e h a d m e t a t a B r ia n A ld is s s ig n in g in F o r b id d e n P la n e t. “It w a s 8 ,0 0 0 w o rd s lo n g , a n d th e y sa id if y o u c u t i t t o 4 , 0 0 0 w o r d s , w e ’ll t a k e it. S o I

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

L eft: Dave McKean’s illustrations for the 2014 Subterranean Press edition of S m o k e & M irrors.

195 t

J

SHORt StORIes

“HORleQUIN v a L eN tiN e” “Oh, Harlequin in love is a sorry creature.” “HaRLeguiN vaLeNtiNe” is a pLay o n th e

“I believe we owe it to each otf

o ld

c o m m e d ia

d e ll’a r t e t r i c k s t e r

c h a r a c t e r , w r i t t e n in a b o u n c y , p la y fu l, and

Its as close to a credo as I have or win, i suspect, ever gei.

s lig h tly

u n h in g e d

w ay.

o r i g i n a l l y f o r a b o o k c a lle d

Attraction,

b e in g

a

It

w as

Strange

co lle ctio n

of

t w e n t y - f o u r p o e m s a n d s to r ie s b a s e d o n a F e r r i s w h e e l m a d e b y s c u lp to r L is a

S n e llin g s ,

G a im a n

w rite

w ho

re q u e s te d

so m e th in g

th a t

a b o u t th e

m a n w h o ta k e s t h e tic k e ts . “It’s a s t o r y f r o m t h e p o i n t o f v ie w o f a n in v isib le h a r l e q u i n w h o h a s fa lle n in lo v e w ith

ONe of tHe ReaSONS foR DOiNg tHe guaRDiaN aNgeL touRS

a y o u n g la d y a n d m u s t d e m o n s tr a te

tHat He NeveR ReaLLy meNtiONeD at tHe tim e was, veRy simpLy, stage fRigHt. gaimaN coNgueReD it i n mucH tHe same way as He coNgueReD eveRytHiNg eLse: He ju st got up aND d i d it.

h is lo v e . A s t h e s t o r y s t a r t s , h e h a s c u t

cc

c o m i c a y e a r la te r.

o u t h is h e a r t a n d p i n n e d i t t o h e r f r o n t d o o r ” (B a k e r, 2 0 0 7 ) . a rtist Jo h n

B o lto n

Books o f Magic

tu rn e d

it in to

a

■ y u s e d to g e t sta g e frig h t in m in d -m a n g lin g ly h u g e a n d im p o s s ib le q u a n titie s. I

S e rio u s c r ip p lin g sta g e frig h t. S o I fig u re d th e b e s t w a y to d e a l w ith se rio u s

. X . c r i p p l i n g s t a g e f r i g h t w a s t o l e a r n h o w t o g e t u p o n s t a g e in f r o n t o f t h o u s a n d s o f p e o p l e . W h i c h I d i d . A n d I n o w g e t i t a lit t l e . Y o u k n o w , i t ’s n e v e r c o m p l e t e l y g o n e a w a y , b u t I d o n ’t m i n d b e c a u s e I k i n d o f lik e t h e l i t t l e a d r e n a l i n b u r s t s t h a t I g e t n o w w h e n I ’m p e r f o r m i n g , o r a b o u t t o p e r f o r m a n y w a y . T h e j i t t e r y t e r r o r .” T h e s e d a y s y o u c a n c a tc h G a im a n r e a d in g s to rie s as a s u p p o r t a c t b e f o re a n A m a n d a P a lm e r g ig o r y o u c a n s ta y a t h o m e a n d w a tc h c o u n tle s s sh a k y Y o u T u b e v id e o s o f r e a d i n g s f r o m a ll a r o u n d t h e w o r l d . H e h a s g o n e o n s t o r y t e l l i n g t o u r b u s e s w i t h o t h e r s t o r y t e l l e r s , lik e a r o c k b a n d o n l y w i t h p e n s a n d b o o k s i n s t e a d o f g u i t a r s . H e u s e s r e a d i n g s t o s e e a u d i e n c e r e a c t i o n s , q u i e t ly g a u g i n g i f a s t o r y is w o r k i n g o r n o t . I n 2 0 1 2 , h a v in g fin is h in g a p ie c e c a lle d “ T h e S le e p e r a n d th e S p in d le ” a fte r s ix w e e k s o f w o rk in g

aBOVe: Cover by Gahan Wilson who also provided the cover for Gaiman’s short collaboration with Gene Wolfe, A W a lk in g T o u r o f t h e S h a m b le s in 2002, which took readers on a tour through a fictional part of Chicago and its nonexistent landmarks. Wilson also illustrated Gaimans “It Was a Dark and Silly Night . . ” for the L it t le L it anthology.

t 194

o n i t, h e o r g a n i z e d a n e v e n t f o r t h a t v e r y p u r p o s e . H e w a s f o r t h c o m i n g a b o u t i t . H e d id n ’t p r o m i s e i t w o u l d w o r k , a n d i n c a s e i t d i d n ’t , h e w a s g o i n g t o r e a d o t h e r w o r k s t o o .

I love the audience reactions. Writing something is such an incredibly solitary thing to do. And then you publish a story and it goes out and people come back and they say I really liked that thing you did, and I say thank you. But you weren’t there when they read it. With readings, what I like best is that moment in a reading when everything in the room gets hyper-quiet. You’ve reached a point in the story where it’s really, really important and everybody’s suddenly quiet. And everybody cares. And they aren’t moving because they know if they move it disturbs the air. And the lines about hearing pins drop? You can hear pins drop. And that, fo r me, is that’s what I love best. That

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

moment when you really feel that you’ve captured them. You’ve been going around gathering up people as if you’re gathering pieces o f string. Now suddenly you have this thing that you ’re holding that’s all o f them. You’re holding them all, weaved. And I love it when they laugh at the same time. And I love doing voices. It’s silly and fun. I love when I take something that I genuinely don’t know if it works or not, and I make it work. Not even that I m a k e it work, that I learn it works. That I put it on stage in front o f

an audience and it’s just me and there’s no props and there’s no anything: there’s just me and some words. And I fin d out if something works or not. That’s what I love. T h e firs t s h o r t s t o r y h e e v e r s o ld w a s “F e a t h e r q u e s t ” 1 9 8 4 issu e o f w as

It a p p e a re d

in

Imagine Magazine

tw e n ty -th re e ,

on

th e

th e

M ay

w hen he

s u g g e s tio n

of

C o lin G re e n la n d , w h o m h e h a d m e t a t a B r ia n A ld is s s ig n in g in F o r b id d e n P la n e t. “It w a s 8 ,0 0 0 w o rd s lo n g , a n d th e y sa id if y o u c u t i t t o 4 , 0 0 0 w o r d s , w e ’ll t a k e it. S o I

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

L eft: Dave McKean’s illustrations for the 2014 Subterranean Press edition of S m o k e & M irrors.

195 t

J

V,

“tHeprice A n d th e n th e r e

”

is the black cat.”

a paRtLy tRue sto ry about a strange cat that turned up on the Gaiman doorstep one night. A short animat­ ed film by Christopher Salmon is currently in production, funded by Kickstarter. A very tired Neil provided his own voice for the project. “I recorded the audio in the middle of a tour when I was completely exhausted. I got to the recording studio, recorded it, and then slept on a sofa for an hour or so. And then I had to do some signing. But I was completely trashed. So hopefully there’ll be a quality in the voice that will reflect the complete exhaustion.”

“I’d sold fiction. That was for me big and important.” aBOVe: On the right-hand page, the beginning of the short

a B o v e RigH t: “The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch” as written in Neil’s notebook. RigH t: The short story “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar” (2004 chapbook published by DreamHaven shown here) was not Gaiman’s first try doing Lovecraft. “I Cthulhu: or W hat’s a Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing in a Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47° 9’S, Longitude 126° 4 3 ’W )? ” turned up first in 1987.

t 196

cut it to 4,000 words. It wasn’t very good to begin with; it was worse when it was published. And they paid me £30. I think a few months later I wrote ‘How to Sell the Ponti Bridge’ and they published that, and again I got my £30 and was thrilled because I’d sold fiction. That was for me big and important. Everything else didn’t matter.

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

But selling short stories did.” “Featherquest” remained lost to everyone but mold and vintage magazine shops until 2011 when it was reprinted in The Little Gold Book o f Ghastly Stuff along with some essays and other forgotten things (Gaiman thought it was good enough to warrant restoring most of the lost words). Soon Ian Pemble at Knave was buying short stories off Gaiman, publishing the likes of “We Can Get Them for You W hole­ sale” and “The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds.” Life fed into story when Pent­ house commissioned him to write a piece of fiction for their twentieth anniversary issue in 1985. He gave them “Looking for the Girl,” which Gaiman pinpoints as the first time he had written a short story that sounded in any way like him, the point where he was edging toward a style. He researched it by flipping through two

story, “Other People.”

decades of magazines at the Penthouse office, two decades of girls who never aged. It was written at the age of twenty-five, “back when I thought thirty was old,” he says. “Short stories are fun, because you can see the end of them when you begin. Normally, for me, a short story is actually in the tone of voice. If you have an idea, and you have a voice for that idea, whether it’s a narrative voice or a character’s voice, you pretty much have a short story” (Baker, 2007). After Gaiman has written a short story (which usually only happens because some­ one’s asked him for something to put in an anthology), it goes out into the world. Sometimes it stays as text, gets reprinted in later collections, gets read aloud, breaks a heart, or maybe it mends one. Occasionally it turns into other things. ❖

L e ft: Beginning of “How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” written in a notebook.

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

197 t

J

V,

“tHeprice A n d th e n th e r e

”

is the black cat.”

a paRtLy tRue sto ry about a strange cat that turned up on the Gaiman doorstep one night. A short animat­ ed film by Christopher Salmon is currently in production, funded by Kickstarter. A very tired Neil provided his own voice for the project. “I recorded the audio in the middle of a tour when I was completely exhausted. I got to the recording studio, recorded it, and then slept on a sofa for an hour or so. And then I had to do some signing. But I was completely trashed. So hopefully there’ll be a quality in the voice that will reflect the complete exhaustion.”

“I’d sold fiction. That was for me big and important.” aBOVe: On the right-hand page, the beginning of the short

a B o v e RigH t: “The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch” as written in Neil’s notebook. RigH t: The short story “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar” (2004 chapbook published by DreamHaven shown here) was not Gaiman’s first try doing Lovecraft. “I Cthulhu: or W hat’s a Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing in a Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47° 9’S, Longitude 126° 4 3 ’W )? ” turned up first in 1987.

t 196

cut it to 4,000 words. It wasn’t very good to begin with; it was worse when it was published. And they paid me £30. I think a few months later I wrote ‘How to Sell the Ponti Bridge’ and they published that, and again I got my £30 and was thrilled because I’d sold fiction. That was for me big and important. Everything else didn’t matter.

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

But selling short stories did.” “Featherquest” remained lost to everyone but mold and vintage magazine shops until 2011 when it was reprinted in The Little Gold Book o f Ghastly Stuff along with some essays and other forgotten things (Gaiman thought it was good enough to warrant restoring most of the lost words). Soon Ian Pemble at Knave was buying short stories off Gaiman, publishing the likes of “We Can Get Them for You W hole­ sale” and “The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds.” Life fed into story when Pent­ house commissioned him to write a piece of fiction for their twentieth anniversary issue in 1985. He gave them “Looking for the Girl,” which Gaiman pinpoints as the first time he had written a short story that sounded in any way like him, the point where he was edging toward a style. He researched it by flipping through two

story, “Other People.”

decades of magazines at the Penthouse office, two decades of girls who never aged. It was written at the age of twenty-five, “back when I thought thirty was old,” he says. “Short stories are fun, because you can see the end of them when you begin. Normally, for me, a short story is actually in the tone of voice. If you have an idea, and you have a voice for that idea, whether it’s a narrative voice or a character’s voice, you pretty much have a short story” (Baker, 2007). After Gaiman has written a short story (which usually only happens because some­ one’s asked him for something to put in an anthology), it goes out into the world. Sometimes it stays as text, gets reprinted in later collections, gets read aloud, breaks a heart, or maybe it mends one. Occasionally it turns into other things. ❖

L e ft: Beginning of “How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” written in a notebook.

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

197 t

tHe tRutH is a cave in tHe Black m oUNtaINs There is one way there, and o,. A nd that way is treacherous and ha

t H I S IS O N e S H O R t stORy tHat staRteD witH sometHiNg

smaLL aNDweNt somewHeRe mucH BiggeR. It’s aBOut a scottiSH DwaRf a tiNy kiLt goiNg seaRCH of a cave fuLL of goLD, accompaNieD By a ReaveR caLLeD caLum mciNNes in

in

I

o f S k ye a n d s o m e th in g th a t w as su p p o se d to h a v e h a p p e n e d w ith th e B o r d e r R e a v e rs 3 0 0 y e a rs a g o — o r to s te a l a lin e f r o m

Good Omens,

i t ’s a s t o r y a b o u t “t h e S c o t s ,

th in g

t h i s is j u s t p e r f e c t ,” h e s a i d in a G r a p h i c

th a t

and

p u rp le ,

p u re ly

th e ir

ow n.

“T he

c r a g g y p la c e w ith a p a le tte o f

b la c k ,

G a i m a n m u r d e r i n g a d o z e n C a m p b e l l s in

w h a t t h e y ’d d o n e w i t h s o m e s u g g e s t i o n s r a t h e r n e r v o u s l y , a n d t h e n w e h a d a d a y to

illu s tra tio n s G a im a n

he

be

r e h e a r s e t h e d a y b e f o r e t h e sh o w . W h i c h

read ,

w a s b a s ic a lly m e r e a d in g w ith t h e m p la y in g a t th e s a m e tim e a n d a t th e e n d o f th a t, th a t w a s w h e n w e m a d e t h e b i g n o t e s . ‘T h e w a y

v is u a l a r t, c o m ic s , a n d o th e r f o r m s — s o m e th in g th a t in te r s e c te d w o rd s a n d p ic tu re s a n d

s h a d o w s , r o c k s a n d ja g g e d is la n d s ju ttin g

y o u ’r e d o i n g t h e e n d is t o o u p b e a t , i t n e e d s

m u s ic ; s o m e th in g th a t c o u ld b e a u n iq u e e v e n t o n sta g e a t th e S y d n e y O p e r a H o u s e . H e

f r o m g r a y s e a lik e t h e b o n e s o f t h e e a r t h .

to b e m o r e h a u n tin g u n til th e e n d a n d th e n

As

fo r

th e

b la c k

as

to

w ith

s a id h e h a d a s t o r y t h a t h e ’d j u s t f i n i s h e d a n d t h a t h a d n e v e r b e e n p u b l i s h e d o r s e e n

o f huge

d o it. H e

v e in s o f w h ite w a te r c u t ti n g t h r o u g h th e

th e n th e S y d n e y O p e r a H o u s e p h o n e d .

p ic tu re s

b e h in d

And

“S o I s e n t t h e s t o r y t o F o u r P l a y , t h e y

th e sto ry , E d d ie sig n e d u p to th irty -fiv e

g re e n .

F e s tiv a l in te rv ie w .

se n t m u s ic b a c k to m e , I se n t th e m n o te s on

p ro je c te d

and

and

d e s p ite

re v e n g e , s e c re ts a n d g h o s ts . It w a s o rig in a lly w r itte n f o r a n a n th o lo g y G a im a n e d ite d

Stories, b u t

w as

T r u th ” w o u ld p u t a S c o ts m a n b a c k in to a

p a in te d

T h e y a s k e d N e i l i f h e ’d lik e t o d o s o m e t h i n g f o r t h e G r a p h i c F e s t i v a l , a c e l e b r a t i o n o f

m u s ic ,

m o u n ta in s

th a t

w as

V e r z a r ’s i d e a .

fe s tiv a l He

m o v e b a c k in to th e m o v in g th e m e a n d th e n

a n y w h e r e b e f o r e , s e t in a s l i g h t l y s k e w e d v e r s i o n o f S c o t l a n d a f e w h u n d r e d y e a r s a g o .

c o c u ra to r Jo rd a n

sen t

y o u n e e d t o p u n c h u p t h e L a r a s i n g i n g to

“I t w a s t h e p e r f e c t l e n g t h a n d i t w o u l d g i v e t h e m s o m e t h i n g t o w o r k w i t h , a n d I t h o u g h t

G a i m a n s o m e F o u r P l a y m u s i c — “a n e l e c t r i c

h a p p e n h e r e a n d h e r e a n d h e r e t o l i n k in

t h a t E d d i e w o u l d b e t h e p e r f e c t a r t i s t f o r t h a t a n d h e ’s i n A u s t r a l i a . I t j u s t f e lt r i g h t ,

strin g

t h e t h e m e a n d m e m o r y . . .’ It w a s t h a t k i n d

th e S c o ttis h n e s s a n d

b e i n g n o t o n l y a v a n t - g a r d e b u t a ls o a r o c k

o f th in g . A n d th e y w o u ld g o o ff in to th e s e

g ro u p , ca p a b le o f g o in g f r o m

h u d d le s .

t h e A u s t r a l i a n e s s m e a n t t h a t I ’d b e g e t t i n g

s o m e th in g rig h t”

(H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) . E d d i e C a m p b e l l is a G l a s w e g i a n a r t i s t w h o m o v e d t o A u s t r a l i a in t h e m i d - e i g h t i e s .

q u a rte t

The Simpsons

fam o u s

in

A u s tr a lia

F o u rP la y

s q u a b b le

and

h u d d le

th e m e to to r c h s o n g s”— a n d

b e t t e r t h a n a n y b o d y . I t’s a m a z i n g . L a r a is

Doctor

b o s s y a n d t h e y a ll h a v e t h e i r r o l e s , lik e t h e

G a im a n say s th e y h a d h im a t th e

Watchmen a n d Love & Rockets. C a m p b e l l h a d s i n c e c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h e Sandman Gallery, i l l u s t r a t e d a G a i m a n - p e n n e d i s s u e o f The Spirit: The New Adventures (i n t h e s ty le o f W i l l E i s n e r ) , a n d a t h r e e - p a g e p r o l o g u e t o a Green Lantern s t o r y , b u t

Who

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

fo r

c la s s ic a l to

B a c k i n G a i m a n ’s j o u r n a l i s t d a y s , h e c h a m p i o n e d C a m p b e l l ’s a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l c o m i c s a lo n g s id e

t 198

s t a r t e d l i s t e n i n g t o t h e m o b s e s s i v e ly g o i n g :

l o c k e d i n e t e r n a l c o m b a t w i t h t h e i r m o r t a l e n e m i e s , t h e S c o t s .” I t’s f u ll o f m u r d e r a n d

w ith A l S a r r a n to n io ca lle d

o p p o site :

a n d ju s t b o u g h t e v e ry th in g b y th e m

s o m e th in g th a t w a s e n tire ly n e w , s o m e ­

co ld

t ’s a s t o r y t h a t m e l d s J a c o b e a n h i s t o r y w i t h a s i x t e e n t h - c e n t u r y l e g e n d a b o u t t h e Isle

Truth paintings.

h e a n d G a im a n h a d n e v e r co lla b o ra te d on

t h e m e . “I w a s j u s t l i s t e n i n g a n d g o in g :

F a n t a s t i c F o u r . I’m n o t e v e n g o i n g f u r t h e r

T h is . Is. B r illia n t. A n d g o i n g t h r o u g h e v e r y ­

i n t o t h a t b e c a u s e I k n o w p e o p l e w ill s t a r t

t h i n g e ls e , a n d t h e n I w e n t o n t o i T u n e s

s a y i n g , A r e y o u s a y i n g t h a t T i m o r P e t e r is

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

199 t

tHe tRutH is a cave in tHe Black m oUNtaINs There is one way there, and o,. A nd that way is treacherous and ha

t H I S IS O N e S H O R t stORy tHat staRteD witH sometHiNg

smaLL aNDweNt somewHeRe mucH BiggeR. It’s aBOut a scottiSH DwaRf a tiNy kiLt goiNg seaRCH of a cave fuLL of goLD, accompaNieD By a ReaveR caLLeD caLum mciNNes in

in

I

o f S k ye a n d s o m e th in g th a t w as su p p o se d to h a v e h a p p e n e d w ith th e B o r d e r R e a v e rs 3 0 0 y e a rs a g o — o r to s te a l a lin e f r o m

Good Omens,

i t ’s a s t o r y a b o u t “t h e S c o t s ,

th in g

t h i s is j u s t p e r f e c t ,” h e s a i d in a G r a p h i c

th a t

and

p u rp le ,

p u re ly

th e ir

ow n.

“T he

c r a g g y p la c e w ith a p a le tte o f

b la c k ,

G a i m a n m u r d e r i n g a d o z e n C a m p b e l l s in

w h a t t h e y ’d d o n e w i t h s o m e s u g g e s t i o n s r a t h e r n e r v o u s l y , a n d t h e n w e h a d a d a y to

illu s tra tio n s G a im a n

he

be

r e h e a r s e t h e d a y b e f o r e t h e sh o w . W h i c h

read ,

w a s b a s ic a lly m e r e a d in g w ith t h e m p la y in g a t th e s a m e tim e a n d a t th e e n d o f th a t, th a t w a s w h e n w e m a d e t h e b i g n o t e s . ‘T h e w a y

v is u a l a r t, c o m ic s , a n d o th e r f o r m s — s o m e th in g th a t in te r s e c te d w o rd s a n d p ic tu re s a n d

s h a d o w s , r o c k s a n d ja g g e d is la n d s ju ttin g

y o u ’r e d o i n g t h e e n d is t o o u p b e a t , i t n e e d s

m u s ic ; s o m e th in g th a t c o u ld b e a u n iq u e e v e n t o n sta g e a t th e S y d n e y O p e r a H o u s e . H e

f r o m g r a y s e a lik e t h e b o n e s o f t h e e a r t h .

to b e m o r e h a u n tin g u n til th e e n d a n d th e n

As

fo r

th e

b la c k

as

to

w ith

s a id h e h a d a s t o r y t h a t h e ’d j u s t f i n i s h e d a n d t h a t h a d n e v e r b e e n p u b l i s h e d o r s e e n

o f huge

d o it. H e

v e in s o f w h ite w a te r c u t ti n g t h r o u g h th e

th e n th e S y d n e y O p e r a H o u s e p h o n e d .

p ic tu re s

b e h in d

And

“S o I s e n t t h e s t o r y t o F o u r P l a y , t h e y

th e sto ry , E d d ie sig n e d u p to th irty -fiv e

g re e n .

F e s tiv a l in te rv ie w .

se n t m u s ic b a c k to m e , I se n t th e m n o te s on

p ro je c te d

and

and

d e s p ite

re v e n g e , s e c re ts a n d g h o s ts . It w a s o rig in a lly w r itte n f o r a n a n th o lo g y G a im a n e d ite d

Stories, b u t

w as

T r u th ” w o u ld p u t a S c o ts m a n b a c k in to a

p a in te d

T h e y a s k e d N e i l i f h e ’d lik e t o d o s o m e t h i n g f o r t h e G r a p h i c F e s t i v a l , a c e l e b r a t i o n o f

m u s ic ,

m o u n ta in s

th a t

w as

V e r z a r ’s i d e a .

fe s tiv a l He

m o v e b a c k in to th e m o v in g th e m e a n d th e n

a n y w h e r e b e f o r e , s e t in a s l i g h t l y s k e w e d v e r s i o n o f S c o t l a n d a f e w h u n d r e d y e a r s a g o .

c o c u ra to r Jo rd a n

sen t

y o u n e e d t o p u n c h u p t h e L a r a s i n g i n g to

“I t w a s t h e p e r f e c t l e n g t h a n d i t w o u l d g i v e t h e m s o m e t h i n g t o w o r k w i t h , a n d I t h o u g h t

G a i m a n s o m e F o u r P l a y m u s i c — “a n e l e c t r i c

h a p p e n h e r e a n d h e r e a n d h e r e t o l i n k in

t h a t E d d i e w o u l d b e t h e p e r f e c t a r t i s t f o r t h a t a n d h e ’s i n A u s t r a l i a . I t j u s t f e lt r i g h t ,

strin g

t h e t h e m e a n d m e m o r y . . .’ It w a s t h a t k i n d

th e S c o ttis h n e s s a n d

b e i n g n o t o n l y a v a n t - g a r d e b u t a ls o a r o c k

o f th in g . A n d th e y w o u ld g o o ff in to th e s e

g ro u p , ca p a b le o f g o in g f r o m

h u d d le s .

t h e A u s t r a l i a n e s s m e a n t t h a t I ’d b e g e t t i n g

s o m e th in g rig h t”

(H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) . E d d i e C a m p b e l l is a G l a s w e g i a n a r t i s t w h o m o v e d t o A u s t r a l i a in t h e m i d - e i g h t i e s .

q u a rte t

The Simpsons

fam o u s

in

A u s tr a lia

F o u rP la y

s q u a b b le

and

h u d d le

th e m e to to r c h s o n g s”— a n d

b e t t e r t h a n a n y b o d y . I t’s a m a z i n g . L a r a is

Doctor

b o s s y a n d t h e y a ll h a v e t h e i r r o l e s , lik e t h e

G a im a n say s th e y h a d h im a t th e

Watchmen a n d Love & Rockets. C a m p b e l l h a d s i n c e c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h e Sandman Gallery, i l l u s t r a t e d a G a i m a n - p e n n e d i s s u e o f The Spirit: The New Adventures (i n t h e s ty le o f W i l l E i s n e r ) , a n d a t h r e e - p a g e p r o l o g u e t o a Green Lantern s t o r y , b u t

Who

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

fo r

c la s s ic a l to

B a c k i n G a i m a n ’s j o u r n a l i s t d a y s , h e c h a m p i o n e d C a m p b e l l ’s a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l c o m i c s a lo n g s id e

t 198

s t a r t e d l i s t e n i n g t o t h e m o b s e s s i v e ly g o i n g :

l o c k e d i n e t e r n a l c o m b a t w i t h t h e i r m o r t a l e n e m i e s , t h e S c o t s .” I t’s f u ll o f m u r d e r a n d

w ith A l S a r r a n to n io ca lle d

o p p o site :

a n d ju s t b o u g h t e v e ry th in g b y th e m

s o m e th in g th a t w a s e n tire ly n e w , s o m e ­

co ld

t ’s a s t o r y t h a t m e l d s J a c o b e a n h i s t o r y w i t h a s i x t e e n t h - c e n t u r y l e g e n d a b o u t t h e Isle

Truth paintings.

h e a n d G a im a n h a d n e v e r co lla b o ra te d on

t h e m e . “I w a s j u s t l i s t e n i n g a n d g o in g :

F a n t a s t i c F o u r . I’m n o t e v e n g o i n g f u r t h e r

T h is . Is. B r illia n t. A n d g o i n g t h r o u g h e v e r y ­

i n t o t h a t b e c a u s e I k n o w p e o p l e w ill s t a r t

t h i n g e ls e , a n d t h e n I w e n t o n t o i T u n e s

s a y i n g , A r e y o u s a y i n g t h a t T i m o r P e t e r is

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

199 t

b

T M r . F a n t a s t i c ? ’ a n d I ’m n o t g o i n g t o g e t i n to th a t” (H u ff, 2 0 1 1 ) . In th e le a d -u p to th e e v e n t, G a im a n w as te r rif ie d . H e h a d n o id e a if it w a s g o in g to w o rk , b u t th a t w a s a ls o p a r t o f th e fu n . “I lik e t h e f a c t t h a t i t is u n i q u e . I t’s n o t lik e a n y t h i n g I ’v e e v e r d o n e b e f o r e . Y o u c a n ’t r e a lly p o i n t to a g r e a t tr a d itio n o f a u th o r s te llin g s to r ie s w h ile s tr in g q u a rte ts im p r o v m u s ic

over

it to

g ia n t

p a in tin g s

b e in g

p r o j e c t e d b e h i n d i t ” (H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) . I t w a s s u c h a n o d d ity th a t e x p la in in g to p e o p le w hat

it

w as

b ecam e

so m e th in g

of

a

d iffic u lty (f o r G a im a n a n d a n y o n e ), a n d th e c lo s e s t a n y o n e g o t w a s s a y in g it w a s a b i t l ik e m a k i n g a m o v i e in y o u r o w n h e a d . Y o u a r e g iv e n a u d io , v is u a l, a n d sto ry , a n d y o u c o m b in e th e e le m e n ts y o u rs e lf.

T h e T r u th I s a C a v e in t h e B l a c k M o u n ­ t a in s w a s p e r f o r m e d , w o r d s , a r t , m u s i c , a n d a ll, in A u g u s t 2 0 1 0 . It s o l d o u t t h e S y d n e y O p e r a H o u s e c o n c e r t s ta g e , g o t a s t a n d i n g o v a tio n

w hen

it

w as

done,

and

it

got

G a im a n a n o p e n in v ita tio n to r e tu r n . T h e cu ra to rs

of

MONA

FO M A ,

T a s m a n i a ’s

m u s i c a n d a r t s f e s tiv a l, w e r e t h e r e t h a t n i g h t

“I like the fact that it is unique. It’s not like anything Ive ever done before” a n d a s k e d i f t h e y w o u l d d o i t a g a i n . It w a s

I ’m

p e r f o r m e d f o r t h e s e c o n d t i m e in J a n u a r y

th e b e a ts a re I c a n h it th e b e a ts w ith th e

re a d in g an d b e c a u s e I k n o w w h e re

2 0 1 1 , t o t h r e e t h o u s a n d p e o p l e , w i t h fifte e n

s e n te n c e

m o r e C a m p b e l l p a i n t in g s t h a n t h e firs t.

s o m e t h i n g g r e a t ” (H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) .

and

it c o m b in e s

and b ecom es

T h e w h o le w e ird e x p e r im e n t w a s s u c h a

N o o n e ’s h e a r d i t y e t , b u t u l t i m a t e l y t h e

h u g e a n d u n e x p e c te d s u cce ss th a t G a im a n

s t o r y w ill b e a v a ila b le in t h r e e f o r m a ts :

and

re co rd in g

o n e , as a g ra p h ic n o v e l p u t to g e th e r b y

s t u d i o a n d d i d a liv e e i g h t y - m i n u t e t a k e , a

C a m p b e ll, a n e ig h ty -p a g e c o lo r b o o k w ith

th e

band

w ent

in to

th e

cle a n r e c o r d in g r a th e r th a n

aBOVe: Neil writes about Will Eisner.

a fu zzy o n e

e v e n m o r e illu s tra tio n s th a n T a s m a n ia g o t;

f r o m th e n ig h t. “T h e r e a re p la c e s w h e r e I

t w o , t h e b o o k w i t h a r e c o r d i n g o f G a i m a n ’s

s t a r t r e a d i n g a n d I a l m o s t f e e l lik e I ’m t h e

v o i c e a n d F o u r P l a y ’s m u s i c ; a n d t h e t h i r d ,

f ifth i n s t r u m e n t . A l o t o f t h e t i m e I ’m t h e r e

a n e x p e r i m e n t a l e n h a n c e d e b o o k t h a t w ill

a n d I ’m t e l l i n g t h e s t o r y , b u t t h e r e a r e a

g iv e e b o o k s f u r t h e r r e a s o n f o r e x is tin g a n d

f e w p l a c e s w h e r e t h e y ’ll b e p l a y i n g a n d

d o u b te rs a re a s o n fo r envy. ❖

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

o p p o s ite : Will Eisner drawing for Neil thanking him for taking part in the new Spirit series, 1998. Gaiman’s story for the series, “The Return of Mink Stole” published in The Spirit: The New Adventures #2, April 1998, was drawn by Eddie Campbell.

201 f

b

T M r . F a n t a s t i c ? ’ a n d I ’m n o t g o i n g t o g e t i n to th a t” (H u ff, 2 0 1 1 ) . In th e le a d -u p to th e e v e n t, G a im a n w as te r rif ie d . H e h a d n o id e a if it w a s g o in g to w o rk , b u t th a t w a s a ls o p a r t o f th e fu n . “I lik e t h e f a c t t h a t i t is u n i q u e . I t’s n o t lik e a n y t h i n g I ’v e e v e r d o n e b e f o r e . Y o u c a n ’t r e a lly p o i n t to a g r e a t tr a d itio n o f a u th o r s te llin g s to r ie s w h ile s tr in g q u a rte ts im p r o v m u s ic

over

it to

g ia n t

p a in tin g s

b e in g

p r o j e c t e d b e h i n d i t ” (H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) . I t w a s s u c h a n o d d ity th a t e x p la in in g to p e o p le w hat

it

w as

b ecam e

so m e th in g

of

a

d iffic u lty (f o r G a im a n a n d a n y o n e ), a n d th e c lo s e s t a n y o n e g o t w a s s a y in g it w a s a b i t l ik e m a k i n g a m o v i e in y o u r o w n h e a d . Y o u a r e g iv e n a u d io , v is u a l, a n d sto ry , a n d y o u c o m b in e th e e le m e n ts y o u rs e lf.

T h e T r u th I s a C a v e in t h e B l a c k M o u n ­ t a in s w a s p e r f o r m e d , w o r d s , a r t , m u s i c , a n d a ll, in A u g u s t 2 0 1 0 . It s o l d o u t t h e S y d n e y O p e r a H o u s e c o n c e r t s ta g e , g o t a s t a n d i n g o v a tio n

w hen

it

w as

done,

and

it

got

G a im a n a n o p e n in v ita tio n to r e tu r n . T h e cu ra to rs

of

MONA

FO M A ,

T a s m a n i a ’s

m u s i c a n d a r t s f e s tiv a l, w e r e t h e r e t h a t n i g h t

“I like the fact that it is unique. It’s not like anything Ive ever done before” a n d a s k e d i f t h e y w o u l d d o i t a g a i n . It w a s

I ’m

p e r f o r m e d f o r t h e s e c o n d t i m e in J a n u a r y

th e b e a ts a re I c a n h it th e b e a ts w ith th e

re a d in g an d b e c a u s e I k n o w w h e re

2 0 1 1 , t o t h r e e t h o u s a n d p e o p l e , w i t h fifte e n

s e n te n c e

m o r e C a m p b e l l p a i n t in g s t h a n t h e firs t.

s o m e t h i n g g r e a t ” (H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) .

and

it c o m b in e s

and b ecom es

T h e w h o le w e ird e x p e r im e n t w a s s u c h a

N o o n e ’s h e a r d i t y e t , b u t u l t i m a t e l y t h e

h u g e a n d u n e x p e c te d s u cce ss th a t G a im a n

s t o r y w ill b e a v a ila b le in t h r e e f o r m a ts :

and

re co rd in g

o n e , as a g ra p h ic n o v e l p u t to g e th e r b y

s t u d i o a n d d i d a liv e e i g h t y - m i n u t e t a k e , a

C a m p b e ll, a n e ig h ty -p a g e c o lo r b o o k w ith

th e

band

w ent

in to

th e

cle a n r e c o r d in g r a th e r th a n

aBOVe: Neil writes about Will Eisner.

a fu zzy o n e

e v e n m o r e illu s tra tio n s th a n T a s m a n ia g o t;

f r o m th e n ig h t. “T h e r e a re p la c e s w h e r e I

t w o , t h e b o o k w i t h a r e c o r d i n g o f G a i m a n ’s

s t a r t r e a d i n g a n d I a l m o s t f e e l lik e I ’m t h e

v o i c e a n d F o u r P l a y ’s m u s i c ; a n d t h e t h i r d ,

f ifth i n s t r u m e n t . A l o t o f t h e t i m e I ’m t h e r e

a n e x p e r i m e n t a l e n h a n c e d e b o o k t h a t w ill

a n d I ’m t e l l i n g t h e s t o r y , b u t t h e r e a r e a

g iv e e b o o k s f u r t h e r r e a s o n f o r e x is tin g a n d

f e w p l a c e s w h e r e t h e y ’ll b e p l a y i n g a n d

d o u b te rs a re a s o n fo r envy. ❖

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

o p p o s ite : Will Eisner drawing for Neil thanking him for taking part in the new Spirit series, 1998. Gaiman’s story for the series, “The Return of Mink Stole” published in The Spirit: The New Adventures #2, April 1998, was drawn by Eddie Campbell.

201 f

pOetRy o p p o s ite l e f t a n d b e l o w l e f t : “The Day

the Saucers Came" as written. o p p o s i t e RIGHT:

“The Day the Saucers Came" Christmas print with art by Jouni Koponen.

p o e tR y SHOULD, teCHNICaLLy, ifweweReoRgaNiziNg a life ch ro n o lo g ic a lly , go at th e v ery beginning o f th is b o o k before jo u rn a lis m , b efore com ics, before e v e ry th in g -b e ca u se poem s w e re th e fir s t th in g s th a t g aim an w ro te. is m o t h e r t r a n s c r i b e d h is f i r s t c o m p o s i t i o n a t t h e a g e o f a l m o s t t h r e e , a n d

H

e v e ry th in g g re w fro m

th e re . B u t p o e m s , a lo n g w ith s h o r t sto rie s , m a k e a

G a i m a n r e a d i n g s p e c i a l . P e o p l e s c r e a m lik e t h e y d o a t r o c k s h o w s a t a G a i m a n

re a d in g , ev en fo r p o e m s .

BELO W :

“The White Road.”

I remember when I was a little bit older, probably eight going on nine, I ’d lie down on my bed and just write poem s that were big poem s about dragons, and knights coming and killing them with swords. They were very ripped o ff from , or heavily influenced by, Tolkien and C. S. Lewis who were my favorite things in the world at that age, so you know, poems about young dragons landing and taking over things and then being old dragons, and kings coming by and killing them and stuff. It was definitely poems first, but they were poems that were story poems. I will probably wind up at some point with a book o f poem s actually getting published, and I know I ’m not a real poet because I want everything to be a story. I definitely envy real poets. I think the genius o f poets is that they can encapsulate a moment or a mood or an emotion and just make it flash fo r you and give it to you in a way you’ve never felt it before, and my urge is to make everything into a story. I want beginnings, I want middles, I want ends. For me the perfect poem is something like “The Day the Saucers Came,” where stuff happens. Or even “Instructions.” Stuff happens. ❖

pOetRy o p p o s ite l e f t a n d b e l o w l e f t : “The Day

the Saucers Came" as written. o p p o s i t e RIGHT:

“The Day the Saucers Came" Christmas print with art by Jouni Koponen.

p o e tR y SHOULD, teCHNICaLLy, ifweweReoRgaNiziNg a life ch ro n o lo g ic a lly , go at th e v ery beginning o f th is b o o k before jo u rn a lis m , b efore com ics, before e v e ry th in g -b e ca u se poem s w e re th e fir s t th in g s th a t g aim an w ro te. is m o t h e r t r a n s c r i b e d h is f i r s t c o m p o s i t i o n a t t h e a g e o f a l m o s t t h r e e , a n d

H

e v e ry th in g g re w fro m

th e re . B u t p o e m s , a lo n g w ith s h o r t sto rie s , m a k e a

G a i m a n r e a d i n g s p e c i a l . P e o p l e s c r e a m lik e t h e y d o a t r o c k s h o w s a t a G a i m a n

re a d in g , ev en fo r p o e m s .

BELO W :

“The White Road.”

I remember when I was a little bit older, probably eight going on nine, I ’d lie down on my bed and just write poem s that were big poem s about dragons, and knights coming and killing them with swords. They were very ripped o ff from , or heavily influenced by, Tolkien and C. S. Lewis who were my favorite things in the world at that age, so you know, poems about young dragons landing and taking over things and then being old dragons, and kings coming by and killing them and stuff. It was definitely poems first, but they were poems that were story poems. I will probably wind up at some point with a book o f poem s actually getting published, and I know I ’m not a real poet because I want everything to be a story. I definitely envy real poets. I think the genius o f poets is that they can encapsulate a moment or a mood or an emotion and just make it flash fo r you and give it to you in a way you’ve never felt it before, and my urge is to make everything into a story. I want beginnings, I want middles, I want ends. For me the perfect poem is something like “The Day the Saucers Came,” where stuff happens. Or even “Instructions.” Stuff happens. ❖

tHIS SpReaD: “Melinda" which started out as a Christmas print illustrated by Polish artist Dagmara Matuszak and got out of hand. It was turned into a limited edition book by Hill House in 2004.

CHapteR

5|BeyoND c o m ic s

205 f

tHIS SpReaD: “Melinda" which started out as a Christmas print illustrated by Polish artist Dagmara Matuszak and got out of hand. It was turned into a limited edition book by Hill House in 2004.

CHapteR

5|BeyoND c o m ic s

205 f

t 206

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

207 t

t 206

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

207 t

Novels & X/Zfy

aBOVe: “A W riter's

BeLow RlgHt: Lim ited

Prayer" C h ristm as p rint.

ed ition scroll sent b y N eil to frien d s and family.

BeLow: “T he Song of th e L o s t" a p o e m for the 9/11 H eroes anthology.

f o is

é^tcíSK.

■fU, îU-cAju*' S

V * - '- '

λ

.

yas*'

cjl^JlL·.

s

Novels & X/Zfy

aBOVe: “A W riter's

BeLow RlgHt: Lim ited

Prayer" C h ristm as p rint.

ed ition scroll sent b y N eil to frien d s and family.

BeLow: “T he Song of th e L o s t" a p o e m for the 9/11 H eroes anthology.

f o is

é^tcíSK.

■fU, îU-cAju*' S

V * - '- '

λ

.

yas*'

cjl^JlL·.

s

NeveRWH eR It’s all Lenny’s

tHe to ta lly stoNkmg, si

(2ND UtteRly miNDBOggllNg comic for NeveRWHeRe, because it was on this that Gaiman met the R c l i c j c u i u i L · i s pciKLL · y

lu

« L a m e

English comedian Lenny Henry (who is also partly to blame for aNdNsi Boys). e n ry , to g e th e r w ith c o m e d y s c rip tw r ite r R ic h a r d C u r tis , fo u n d e d C o m i c R e lie f

H

in 1 9 8 5 a s a w a y o f g e t t i n g m o n e y t o s t a r v i n g p e o p l e i n E t h i o p i a . U s u a l l y t h e p u rs e strin g s o f th e B r itis h m a s s e s w e re c o a x e d

o p e n w ith a ce le b rity -le d

t e l e t h o n o n R e d N o s e D a y ( o n w h i c h s a i d m a s s e s s p o r t p l a s t i c r e d n o s e s ) b u t in 1 9 9 0 G a i m a n h a d a n i d e a t o d o a c h a r i t y c o m i c f o r it. T w o y e a r s b e f o r e t h i s , G a i m a n h a d c o n t r i b u t e d t o A l a n M o o r e ’s A A R G H ! a n t h o l o g y — A r t i s t s A g a i n s t R a m p a n t G o v e r n m e n t H o m o p h o b ia — to fig h t a n e w a m e n d m e n t to th e L o c a l A u th o ritie s A c t , w h ic h s tip u la te d t h a t l o c a l a u t h o r i t i e s w e r e n ’t a l l o w e d t o p r o m o t e o r e n c o u r a g e h o m o s e x u a l i t y . T h e b o o k ra is e d

o v e r £ 2 0 ,0 0 0 , so

co m ics h a d

a lre a d y p ro v e n

th e m se lv e s

as a v ia b le w a y o f

f u n d r a i s i n g . G a i m a n t o o k t h e i d e a t o R i c h a r d C u r t i s . “D a v e M c K e a n a n d I w e n t t o s e e

aBOVe: AARGH!, 1988.

Cover by Dave McKean. opposite: Gaiman’s short story in ARRGH!, “From Homogenous to Honey" was illustrated by TheAdventures o f Luther Arkwright creator and future Sandman artist Bryan Talbot.

h i m , L e n n y w a s w a i t i n g t h e r e , w e w e n t o u t f o r a p i z z a , a n d w e ’v e b e e n f r i e n d s e v e r s i n c e .” In th e e a rly 1 9 9 0 s , G a im a n w a s a ju d g e f o r th e A r th u r C . C la rk e a w a rd s a n d b u m p e d in to

H e n r y d u rin g an

a w a r d s m e e t i n g in L o n d o n ’s G r o u c h o

C lu b . “ H e c a m e o v e r

a f t e r w a r d s a n d h e s a i d , ‘T h e B B C w e r e j u s t t a l k i n g t o m e . W o u l d y o u b e i n t e r e s t e d in w r i t i n g a f a n t a s y T V s h o w ? ’ A n d I s a i d s u r e . A n d h e s a i d , ‘W e l l , t h e o n l y i d e a I ’v e g o t is s o m e t h i n g a b o u t t r i b e s o f h o m e l e s s p e o p l e i n L o n d o n . C a n y o u d o a n y t h i n g w i t h t h a t ? ’” G a i m a n t h o u g h t a b o u t i t a n d d e c i d e d h e d i d n ’t w a n t t o d o a n y t h i n g t h a t m i g h t m a k e i t a p p e a r c o o l t o b e h o m e l e s s in L o n d o n .

S o I s a id , L e t m e m a k e it a m e t a p h o r . I f I c r e a t e L o n d o n B e lo w , i f I c r e a t e a p l a c e t h a t d o e s n ’t e x i s t a n d p u t t r ib e s o f p e o p l e t h e r e , t h e n I ’m n o t g o i n g to h a v e a n y b o d y r u n n i n g a w a y to f i n d L o n d o n B e lo w . T h a t ’s n o t g o i n g to w o r k . S o t h a t w a s w h a t I c a m e b a c k w ith . A n d I w r o t e a n o u t li n e f o r N e v e r w h e r e , a n d t h e g r e a t t h in g w a s t h a t t h e o u t li n e w a s j u s t l i k e t h e o p e n in g . I h a d n o i d e a w h e r e it w e n t ; I j u s t k n e w h o w it b e g a n . A n d I t o o k C r o u p a n d V a n d e m a r , w h o w e r e c h a r a c t e r s w h o ’d b e e n liv in g in

t 210

tHe aRt o f N eil gaim aN

CHapteR 5 |

BeyoND com ics

211

t

NeveRWH eR It’s all Lenny’s

tHe to ta lly stoNkmg, si

(2ND UtteRly miNDBOggllNg comic for NeveRWHeRe, because it was on this that Gaiman met the R c l i c j c u i u i L · i s pciKLL · y

lu

« L a m e

English comedian Lenny Henry (who is also partly to blame for aNdNsi Boys). e n ry , to g e th e r w ith c o m e d y s c rip tw r ite r R ic h a r d C u r tis , fo u n d e d C o m i c R e lie f

H

in 1 9 8 5 a s a w a y o f g e t t i n g m o n e y t o s t a r v i n g p e o p l e i n E t h i o p i a . U s u a l l y t h e p u rs e strin g s o f th e B r itis h m a s s e s w e re c o a x e d

o p e n w ith a ce le b rity -le d

t e l e t h o n o n R e d N o s e D a y ( o n w h i c h s a i d m a s s e s s p o r t p l a s t i c r e d n o s e s ) b u t in 1 9 9 0 G a i m a n h a d a n i d e a t o d o a c h a r i t y c o m i c f o r it. T w o y e a r s b e f o r e t h i s , G a i m a n h a d c o n t r i b u t e d t o A l a n M o o r e ’s A A R G H ! a n t h o l o g y — A r t i s t s A g a i n s t R a m p a n t G o v e r n m e n t H o m o p h o b ia — to fig h t a n e w a m e n d m e n t to th e L o c a l A u th o ritie s A c t , w h ic h s tip u la te d t h a t l o c a l a u t h o r i t i e s w e r e n ’t a l l o w e d t o p r o m o t e o r e n c o u r a g e h o m o s e x u a l i t y . T h e b o o k ra is e d

o v e r £ 2 0 ,0 0 0 , so

co m ics h a d

a lre a d y p ro v e n

th e m se lv e s

as a v ia b le w a y o f

f u n d r a i s i n g . G a i m a n t o o k t h e i d e a t o R i c h a r d C u r t i s . “D a v e M c K e a n a n d I w e n t t o s e e

aBOVe: AARGH!, 1988.

Cover by Dave McKean. opposite: Gaiman’s short story in ARRGH!, “From Homogenous to Honey" was illustrated by TheAdventures o f Luther Arkwright creator and future Sandman artist Bryan Talbot.

h i m , L e n n y w a s w a i t i n g t h e r e , w e w e n t o u t f o r a p i z z a , a n d w e ’v e b e e n f r i e n d s e v e r s i n c e .” In th e e a rly 1 9 9 0 s , G a im a n w a s a ju d g e f o r th e A r th u r C . C la rk e a w a rd s a n d b u m p e d in to

H e n r y d u rin g an

a w a r d s m e e t i n g in L o n d o n ’s G r o u c h o

C lu b . “ H e c a m e o v e r

a f t e r w a r d s a n d h e s a i d , ‘T h e B B C w e r e j u s t t a l k i n g t o m e . W o u l d y o u b e i n t e r e s t e d in w r i t i n g a f a n t a s y T V s h o w ? ’ A n d I s a i d s u r e . A n d h e s a i d , ‘W e l l , t h e o n l y i d e a I ’v e g o t is s o m e t h i n g a b o u t t r i b e s o f h o m e l e s s p e o p l e i n L o n d o n . C a n y o u d o a n y t h i n g w i t h t h a t ? ’” G a i m a n t h o u g h t a b o u t i t a n d d e c i d e d h e d i d n ’t w a n t t o d o a n y t h i n g t h a t m i g h t m a k e i t a p p e a r c o o l t o b e h o m e l e s s in L o n d o n .

S o I s a id , L e t m e m a k e it a m e t a p h o r . I f I c r e a t e L o n d o n B e lo w , i f I c r e a t e a p l a c e t h a t d o e s n ’t e x i s t a n d p u t t r ib e s o f p e o p l e t h e r e , t h e n I ’m n o t g o i n g to h a v e a n y b o d y r u n n i n g a w a y to f i n d L o n d o n B e lo w . T h a t ’s n o t g o i n g to w o r k . S o t h a t w a s w h a t I c a m e b a c k w ith . A n d I w r o t e a n o u t li n e f o r N e v e r w h e r e , a n d t h e g r e a t t h in g w a s t h a t t h e o u t li n e w a s j u s t l i k e t h e o p e n in g . I h a d n o i d e a w h e r e it w e n t ; I j u s t k n e w h o w it b e g a n . A n d I t o o k C r o u p a n d V a n d e m a r , w h o w e r e c h a r a c t e r s w h o ’d b e e n liv in g in

t 210

tHe aRt o f N eil gaim aN

CHapteR 5 |

BeyoND com ics

211

t

m y h e a d s in c e I w a s a b o u t s e v e n t e e n , a n d p u lle d

th em

o u t, a n d R i c h a r d

tHe totally stoNkiNg, suRpRisrngly eDucatioNal, aND u tterly miNDBoggliNg com ic R elief comic.

M ay h ew , w h o I n a m e d a fte r H en ry M ayhew , a u th o r o f L o n d o n L ab o u r a n d th e L o n d o n P o o r. I t s e e m e d v e ry

a p p r o p r i a t e ( A u t h o r s in t e r v ie w ) .

T«T a LlY

A n d I w e n t a w a y a n d w r o t e a s c rip t, a n d a fte r a

w h ile t h e B B C

GaimaN, R ich ard Curtis, P e te r HogaN,

com m ­

a n d G r a n t M o r r is o n e d ite d a n d h e ld th e

is s io n e d m o r e s c rip ts, a n d e v e n t u a lly I

th in g to g e th e r, a n d th e b o o k fe a tu re d th e w o r k o f a h o s t o f B r itis h c o m ic s c re a to rs :

w r o t e t h e w h o le story . T h e f u n th in g

Ja m ie

w ith t h e B B C is t h a t y o u ’r e n o t d o i n g a

B u c k i n g h a m , S t e v e D i l l o n , D ’I s r a e l i , J a m i e H e w l e t t , B r y a n T a l b o t , a n d o n e u n c r e d i t e d

s e r ie s t h a t w ill r u n f o r e v e r ; t h e i d e a is

A la n M o o r e w h o h a d r e fu s e d to w o r k f o r th e p u b lis h e r F le e tw a y b u t s e c r e tly h e lp e d

y o u ’ll d o s o m e t h in g w ith a b e g in n in g , a

o u t o n th e n -g ir lf r ie n d (n o w -w if e ) M e lin d a G e b b ie s p a g e s. G a im a n w r o te tw o p a g e s

D e la n o ,

G a rth

E n n is ,

D ave

G ib b o n s ,

M ark

M illa r, S im o n

B is le y ,

M ark

m id d le , a n d a n e n d . S o I w r o t e it, t h e

o f “ T e e n a g e M u ta n t N in ja T u r tle s ” to im p r e s s h is s i x - y e a r - o l d - s o n , M ik e , it w a s

B B C s t a r t e d to f i l m

p u b l i s h e d in M a r c h 1 9 9 1 , s o l d o u t i n m i n u t e s , a n d r a i s e d o v e r £ 4 0 , 0 0 0 . “ T h e r e a s o n it

it, a n d rea lly , o n

t h e d a y o f film in g , I d e c i d e d it w a s t im e

n e v e r w e n t b a c k t o p r e s s is b e c a u s e D C g a v e p e r m i s s i o n t o u s e t h e i r c h a r a c t e r s , b u t

to

o n l y i f t h e y w e r e t r a c e d f r o m t h e S t a n d a r d P o s e s t h a t t h e y h a d , a n d w e c o u l d n ’t f i g u r e

sta rt

w r it in g

th e

n o v e l,

m a in ly

b e c a u s e I r e a lly w a n t e d t h e p o w e r o f

o u t h o w t o d o t h a t w i t h o u t l o o k i n g silly , s o w e d r e w t h e c h a r a c t e r s i n a c t i o n , f i g u r i n g

“b e c a u s e I s a y so.” W h ic h is s o m e t h in g

D C w o u l d r e a l i z e t h a t w e h a d s a v e d t h e m f r o m e m b a r r a s s m e n t , b u t t h e y d i d n ’t s e e it

t h a t a w r i t e r s u d d e n ly lo s e s a s s o o n a s

t h a t w a y .”

It U M > (

)hM‘

s o m e b o d y s ta r ts m a k i n g a T V s e r ie s , a s soon

as

th in g s s t a r t g e t t in g f i l m e d .

T h e r e a r e a h u n d r e d d iffe r e n t p e o p l e m a k i n g d e c is io n s . Y o u ’r e li k e a g e n e r a l b a c k a t b a s e , w h o ’s s u g g e s te d a w a y o f d o in g s o m e t h in g ,

but

th ere

are

an

th e se w e rs, a n d g re w e a tin g th e g u b b in s,

a w fu l lo t o f s o ld ie r s in t h e f i e l d , a n d

and

t h e y a ll h a v e t h e ir o w n id e a s , t h e y a ll

th in g s ,

h a v e t h e ir o w n in p u t (R o el, 2 0 0 7 ).

s e w e r s o f L o n d o n b a c k th e n , a n d it g r e w

th e

e x cre ta

and

w h a te v e r

he

huge, and T h e s e rie s c o n s is te d o f s ix t h i r t y - m i n ­

“how tHe marquis got His coat Back” 2002 gaimaN BegaN

to s o lv e a m y s t e r y f o r N e v e r w h e r e f a n s . “I s t a r t e d w r i t i n g th e

th e y w o u ld

a fte r

th is

dead

ca ts

fin d

sen d

in

en o rm o u s

in

and th e

h u n tin g

boar

th a t

u t e e p i s o d e s a n d s t a r r e d G a r y B a k e w e l l as

p r o w le d th e s e w e rs u n d e r L o n d o n . I lo v e d

R i c h a r d , B r e a k i n g B a d ’s L a u r a F r a s e r as

th is id e a ; it k in d o f a n te d a te d th e w h o le

D o o r , D o c t o r W h o ’s P a t e r s o n J o s e p h a s t h e

a l l i g a t o r s in t h e s e w e r s b i t , a n d i t s e e m e d

M a rq u is , a n d

lik e a f u n a n d i n t e r e s t i n g i d e a a n d s o m e ­

fu tu re D o c to r W h o

P e te r

“I

N ev erw h ere

a fte r a w h ile , I g o o ff to A u s tr a lia f o r a

a s f e e l i n g lik e I ’d w r i t t e n

w e e k to b e g u e s t o f h o n o r a t th e A u s tra lia n

had

N a tio n a l S c ie n c e F ic tio n C o n v e n tio n , an d

rem em b er sh o w and

d e s c r ib in g

R ob

L ie fe ld

d raw

it.

a b o u t m a k i n g u p t h e c o w ? G iv in g

c o w : a p l a c i d t h i n g w h o s t a n d s t h e r e in

f o r th e firs t o f th e G r e a t B e a s t s e q u e n c e s .

th e m id d le o f th e s h o t b e in g n o th in g b u t

t h e c o w a p r o s t h e t i c f a c e s o a t le a s t

r ig h t a b o u t th e te le v is io n s e rie s , G a im a n

And

a v e r y h a p p y -lo o k in g , c o n te n te d co w .

it d i d n ’t l o o k l i k e a c o w ? A n d t h e y

W h e n ask ed to p in p o in t w h a t w a s n o t

w r i t i n g in t h a t s o m e n i c e p e r s o n g a v e m e a t s o m e p o i n t . I t w a s n o t a h a p p y e x p e r i e n c e ,

h ere

a s t h e b o o k t u r n e d o u t to b e c h i c h i e n o u g h to h a v e little b its o f f lo w e r p e t a l in th e

p u t s h is h a n d s o v e r h i s f a c e , p e e p s h i s e y e s

th e

p a p e r , w h i c h m i g h t b e o k a y i f y o u ’r e w r i t i n g d o w n y o u r d r e a m s in a t h i c k fe lt p e n , b u t

over

en o rm o u s

w h i c h c o m b i n e w i t h a s c r i t c h y f o u n ta in p e n to r e n d e r t h e w h o l e t h i n g m o r e o r less

a b o u t b e in g v e r y e m b a rra s s e d a b o u t a cow .

ille g ib le f r o m t h e o ff. W h i c h is r a t h e r ir r i t a t i n g . I m a y s e e i f I c a n f in d a t h i c k e r - n i b b e d

“ T h e r e ’s a t h i n g i n N e v e r w h e r e c a l l e d

th e

to p ,

and

m u m b le s

so m e th in g

s iz e

am

I , I ’v e

o f an

d e s c r ib e d

th is p ig

and

T he id ea w as th a t w ed p h o to g ra p h

n o w , b u t w h e n y o u ’r e s t a n d i n g n e x t

s w o r d s s t i c k i n g o u t f r o m t h e s i d e o f it lik e

a w i l d b o a r in a w a y t h a t m a d e it

to it, it d id , a n d t h e p r o p s d e p a r t ­

M oby

my

l o o k h u g e . I ’d o n ly a g r e e d to t h e c o w

m e n t s a i d it w a s n ’t t h e i r j o b , a n d t h e

s u rp ris e w h e n a la rg e , h a iry , a n d r a th e r

o n th e g r o u n d s th a t th e y h a d a g ia n t

m a k e - u p d e p a r t m e n t s a i d it c e r t a in ly

f a c i a l p r o s t h e t i c s o it w a s n ’t g o i n g to

w a s n ’t t h e i r j o b , it w a s p r o p s ’ j o b ,

D ic k ,

w ith

and

you

o ld

can

sp e a rs

im a g in e

The

t h e m a r q u i s h a s in h is c o a t , a n d a b o u t t h e th in g s t h a t g o t l o s t in t h e m . . .” A d e c a d e

b a s e d o n a r e a l u r b a n le g e n d in L o n d o n

a m ia b le -lo o k in g

l a t e r G a i m a n f in is h e d t h e s to r y , f o r p u b lic a tio n in t h e 2 0 1 4 a n t h o l o g y R o g u e s .

fro m

a r o u n d th r o u g h th e se w e r” (R o e l, 1 9 9 7 ).

G reat B e a st

th e

of London,

s e v e n te e n th

p ig le t w h o r a n

ce n tu ry

and

t h a t ’s

about

a

a w a y in F le e t S tr e e t, g o t

s a id , “W ell, it m a y n o t l o o k s c a r y

e le p h a n t, th is b o a r w ith

tu s k s ,

f o u n t a i n p e n a n d d a r k e r in k . M e a n w h ile , I h a v e l e a r n e d a ll a b o u t h o w m a n y p o c k e t s

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

had Rob Liefeld draw it.”

I c o m e b a c k a n d th e y s h o w m e th e ru sh e s

A n d h e ’d g i v e n h i m a b a s e b a l l c a p .”

n e w N e v e r w h e r e n o v e lla , ‘H o w t h e M a r q u is G o t H is C o a t B a c k ' in a b l a n k b o o k f o r

t 212

show as feeling like Id written Sandman and

w r o te th is th in g in , th e G r e a t B e a s t. A n d

It w as n o t v e ry g o o d .

th e T V

“I remember describing Neverwhere the TV

t h in g th a t w ill b e n ic e to p la y w ith . S o I

C a p a ld i as th e A n g e l Islin g to n .

Sandm an in

p a rtie s

th e

c o u ld

The

h ig h la n d

p ro d u c tio n

te a m

cow

had

s h u ffle s

not

lo o k lik e a cow , a n d th e n th e y h a d

a n d n o b o d y c o u l d a g r e e ” S o i t ’s j u s t

been

w e a p o n s s t ic k in g o u t o f its s i d e a n d

a cow .

a v a il­

s tu ff. A n d I l o o k a t t h e r u s h e s a n d I

T h at m a d e m e so sad . B e c a u s e I

s a y : b u t w h a t a b o u t a ll t h a t s t u f f

f e l t l i k e it w a s a r e a l l y g o o d s c r ip t ,

i n t o t h e F l e e t D i t c h — w h i c h is w h a t t h e

r e m o te ly frig h te n e d

F le e t R iv e r h a d b e c o m e — d is a p p e a r e d in to

a b le , b u t w e r e v e r y im p r e s s e d w ith th is

b y th e b o a rs

CH apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m i c s

213 t

m y h e a d s in c e I w a s a b o u t s e v e n t e e n , a n d p u lle d

th em

o u t, a n d R i c h a r d

tHe totally stoNkiNg, suRpRisrngly eDucatioNal, aND u tterly miNDBoggliNg com ic R elief comic.

M ay h ew , w h o I n a m e d a fte r H en ry M ayhew , a u th o r o f L o n d o n L ab o u r a n d th e L o n d o n P o o r. I t s e e m e d v e ry

a p p r o p r i a t e ( A u t h o r s in t e r v ie w ) .

T«T a LlY

A n d I w e n t a w a y a n d w r o t e a s c rip t, a n d a fte r a

w h ile t h e B B C

GaimaN, R ich ard Curtis, P e te r HogaN,

com m ­

a n d G r a n t M o r r is o n e d ite d a n d h e ld th e

is s io n e d m o r e s c rip ts, a n d e v e n t u a lly I

th in g to g e th e r, a n d th e b o o k fe a tu re d th e w o r k o f a h o s t o f B r itis h c o m ic s c re a to rs :

w r o t e t h e w h o le story . T h e f u n th in g

Ja m ie

w ith t h e B B C is t h a t y o u ’r e n o t d o i n g a

B u c k i n g h a m , S t e v e D i l l o n , D ’I s r a e l i , J a m i e H e w l e t t , B r y a n T a l b o t , a n d o n e u n c r e d i t e d

s e r ie s t h a t w ill r u n f o r e v e r ; t h e i d e a is

A la n M o o r e w h o h a d r e fu s e d to w o r k f o r th e p u b lis h e r F le e tw a y b u t s e c r e tly h e lp e d

y o u ’ll d o s o m e t h in g w ith a b e g in n in g , a

o u t o n th e n -g ir lf r ie n d (n o w -w if e ) M e lin d a G e b b ie s p a g e s. G a im a n w r o te tw o p a g e s

D e la n o ,

G a rth

E n n is ,

D ave

G ib b o n s ,

M ark

M illa r, S im o n

B is le y ,

M ark

m id d le , a n d a n e n d . S o I w r o t e it, t h e

o f “ T e e n a g e M u ta n t N in ja T u r tle s ” to im p r e s s h is s i x - y e a r - o l d - s o n , M ik e , it w a s

B B C s t a r t e d to f i l m

p u b l i s h e d in M a r c h 1 9 9 1 , s o l d o u t i n m i n u t e s , a n d r a i s e d o v e r £ 4 0 , 0 0 0 . “ T h e r e a s o n it

it, a n d rea lly , o n

t h e d a y o f film in g , I d e c i d e d it w a s t im e

n e v e r w e n t b a c k t o p r e s s is b e c a u s e D C g a v e p e r m i s s i o n t o u s e t h e i r c h a r a c t e r s , b u t

to

o n l y i f t h e y w e r e t r a c e d f r o m t h e S t a n d a r d P o s e s t h a t t h e y h a d , a n d w e c o u l d n ’t f i g u r e

sta rt

w r it in g

th e

n o v e l,

m a in ly

b e c a u s e I r e a lly w a n t e d t h e p o w e r o f

o u t h o w t o d o t h a t w i t h o u t l o o k i n g silly , s o w e d r e w t h e c h a r a c t e r s i n a c t i o n , f i g u r i n g

“b e c a u s e I s a y so.” W h ic h is s o m e t h in g

D C w o u l d r e a l i z e t h a t w e h a d s a v e d t h e m f r o m e m b a r r a s s m e n t , b u t t h e y d i d n ’t s e e it

t h a t a w r i t e r s u d d e n ly lo s e s a s s o o n a s

t h a t w a y .”

It U M > (

)hM‘

s o m e b o d y s ta r ts m a k i n g a T V s e r ie s , a s soon

as

th in g s s t a r t g e t t in g f i l m e d .

T h e r e a r e a h u n d r e d d iffe r e n t p e o p l e m a k i n g d e c is io n s . Y o u ’r e li k e a g e n e r a l b a c k a t b a s e , w h o ’s s u g g e s te d a w a y o f d o in g s o m e t h in g ,

but

th ere

are

an

th e se w e rs, a n d g re w e a tin g th e g u b b in s,

a w fu l lo t o f s o ld ie r s in t h e f i e l d , a n d

and

t h e y a ll h a v e t h e ir o w n id e a s , t h e y a ll

th in g s ,

h a v e t h e ir o w n in p u t (R o el, 2 0 0 7 ).

s e w e r s o f L o n d o n b a c k th e n , a n d it g r e w

th e

e x cre ta

and

w h a te v e r

he

huge, and T h e s e rie s c o n s is te d o f s ix t h i r t y - m i n ­

“how tHe marquis got His coat Back” 2002 gaimaN BegaN

to s o lv e a m y s t e r y f o r N e v e r w h e r e f a n s . “I s t a r t e d w r i t i n g th e

th e y w o u ld

a fte r

th is

dead

ca ts

fin d

sen d

in

en o rm o u s

in

and th e

h u n tin g

boar

th a t

u t e e p i s o d e s a n d s t a r r e d G a r y B a k e w e l l as

p r o w le d th e s e w e rs u n d e r L o n d o n . I lo v e d

R i c h a r d , B r e a k i n g B a d ’s L a u r a F r a s e r as

th is id e a ; it k in d o f a n te d a te d th e w h o le

D o o r , D o c t o r W h o ’s P a t e r s o n J o s e p h a s t h e

a l l i g a t o r s in t h e s e w e r s b i t , a n d i t s e e m e d

M a rq u is , a n d

lik e a f u n a n d i n t e r e s t i n g i d e a a n d s o m e ­

fu tu re D o c to r W h o

P e te r

“I

N ev erw h ere

a fte r a w h ile , I g o o ff to A u s tr a lia f o r a

a s f e e l i n g lik e I ’d w r i t t e n

w e e k to b e g u e s t o f h o n o r a t th e A u s tra lia n

had

N a tio n a l S c ie n c e F ic tio n C o n v e n tio n , an d

rem em b er sh o w and

d e s c r ib in g

R ob

L ie fe ld

d raw

it.

a b o u t m a k i n g u p t h e c o w ? G iv in g

c o w : a p l a c i d t h i n g w h o s t a n d s t h e r e in

f o r th e firs t o f th e G r e a t B e a s t s e q u e n c e s .

th e m id d le o f th e s h o t b e in g n o th in g b u t

t h e c o w a p r o s t h e t i c f a c e s o a t le a s t

r ig h t a b o u t th e te le v is io n s e rie s , G a im a n

And

a v e r y h a p p y -lo o k in g , c o n te n te d co w .

it d i d n ’t l o o k l i k e a c o w ? A n d t h e y

W h e n ask ed to p in p o in t w h a t w a s n o t

w r i t i n g in t h a t s o m e n i c e p e r s o n g a v e m e a t s o m e p o i n t . I t w a s n o t a h a p p y e x p e r i e n c e ,

h ere

a s t h e b o o k t u r n e d o u t to b e c h i c h i e n o u g h to h a v e little b its o f f lo w e r p e t a l in th e

p u t s h is h a n d s o v e r h i s f a c e , p e e p s h i s e y e s

th e

p a p e r , w h i c h m i g h t b e o k a y i f y o u ’r e w r i t i n g d o w n y o u r d r e a m s in a t h i c k fe lt p e n , b u t

over

en o rm o u s

w h i c h c o m b i n e w i t h a s c r i t c h y f o u n ta in p e n to r e n d e r t h e w h o l e t h i n g m o r e o r less

a b o u t b e in g v e r y e m b a rra s s e d a b o u t a cow .

ille g ib le f r o m t h e o ff. W h i c h is r a t h e r ir r i t a t i n g . I m a y s e e i f I c a n f in d a t h i c k e r - n i b b e d

“ T h e r e ’s a t h i n g i n N e v e r w h e r e c a l l e d

th e

to p ,

and

m u m b le s

so m e th in g

s iz e

am

I , I ’v e

o f an

d e s c r ib e d

th is p ig

and

T he id ea w as th a t w ed p h o to g ra p h

n o w , b u t w h e n y o u ’r e s t a n d i n g n e x t

s w o r d s s t i c k i n g o u t f r o m t h e s i d e o f it lik e

a w i l d b o a r in a w a y t h a t m a d e it

to it, it d id , a n d t h e p r o p s d e p a r t ­

M oby

my

l o o k h u g e . I ’d o n ly a g r e e d to t h e c o w

m e n t s a i d it w a s n ’t t h e i r j o b , a n d t h e

s u rp ris e w h e n a la rg e , h a iry , a n d r a th e r

o n th e g r o u n d s th a t th e y h a d a g ia n t

m a k e - u p d e p a r t m e n t s a i d it c e r t a in ly

f a c i a l p r o s t h e t i c s o it w a s n ’t g o i n g to

w a s n ’t t h e i r j o b , it w a s p r o p s ’ j o b ,

D ic k ,

w ith

and

you

o ld

can

sp e a rs

im a g in e

The

t h e m a r q u i s h a s in h is c o a t , a n d a b o u t t h e th in g s t h a t g o t l o s t in t h e m . . .” A d e c a d e

b a s e d o n a r e a l u r b a n le g e n d in L o n d o n

a m ia b le -lo o k in g

l a t e r G a i m a n f in is h e d t h e s to r y , f o r p u b lic a tio n in t h e 2 0 1 4 a n t h o l o g y R o g u e s .

fro m

a r o u n d th r o u g h th e se w e r” (R o e l, 1 9 9 7 ).

G reat B e a st

th e

of London,

s e v e n te e n th

p ig le t w h o r a n

ce n tu ry

and

t h a t ’s

about

a

a w a y in F le e t S tr e e t, g o t

s a id , “W ell, it m a y n o t l o o k s c a r y

e le p h a n t, th is b o a r w ith

tu s k s ,

f o u n t a i n p e n a n d d a r k e r in k . M e a n w h ile , I h a v e l e a r n e d a ll a b o u t h o w m a n y p o c k e t s

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

had Rob Liefeld draw it.”

I c o m e b a c k a n d th e y s h o w m e th e ru sh e s

A n d h e ’d g i v e n h i m a b a s e b a l l c a p .”

n e w N e v e r w h e r e n o v e lla , ‘H o w t h e M a r q u is G o t H is C o a t B a c k ' in a b l a n k b o o k f o r

t 212

show as feeling like Id written Sandman and

w r o te th is th in g in , th e G r e a t B e a s t. A n d

It w as n o t v e ry g o o d .

th e T V

“I remember describing Neverwhere the TV

t h in g th a t w ill b e n ic e to p la y w ith . S o I

C a p a ld i as th e A n g e l Islin g to n .

Sandm an in

p a rtie s

th e

c o u ld

The

h ig h la n d

p ro d u c tio n

te a m

cow

had

s h u ffle s

not

lo o k lik e a cow , a n d th e n th e y h a d

a n d n o b o d y c o u l d a g r e e ” S o i t ’s j u s t

been

w e a p o n s s t ic k in g o u t o f its s i d e a n d

a cow .

a v a il­

s tu ff. A n d I l o o k a t t h e r u s h e s a n d I

T h at m a d e m e so sad . B e c a u s e I

s a y : b u t w h a t a b o u t a ll t h a t s t u f f

f e l t l i k e it w a s a r e a l l y g o o d s c r ip t ,

i n t o t h e F l e e t D i t c h — w h i c h is w h a t t h e

r e m o te ly frig h te n e d

F le e t R iv e r h a d b e c o m e — d is a p p e a r e d in to

a b le , b u t w e r e v e r y im p r e s s e d w ith th is

b y th e b o a rs

CH apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m i c s

213 t

l e f t : Trevor Peacock as Old Bailey with Paterson Joseph as the Marquis de Carabas in the 1996 BBC television production.

to ta l c o n tr o l a n d a b u d g e t fa r b e y o n d th a t o f t h e B B C ’s. T h e o n l y c o n s t r a i n t i n a n o v e l is i m a g i n a t i o n . W h at he ended

up w ith w as a b o o k

i n f i n i t e l y b e t t e r t h a n t h e T V s e r i e s . I t’s t h e s a m e s to r y , b u t it h a s a n e n tir e ly d iffe re n t fe e l to its o rig in a l v e rs io n . L o n d o n its e lf h a s th e s t a r r i n g r o le , a n d G a im a n ta k e s th e g ra y , re g u la r L o n d o n a n d m a k e s it m a g ic . K n ig h tsb rid g e

b ecom es

th e

te rrify in g

N i g h t ’s B r i d g e o v e r w h i c h n o t a ll c r o s s e r s

L eft: “Going through old papers a few months

a r riv e a t th e o t h e r sid e , t h e B la c k fr ia r s a re re a l Copyright © BBC

fria rs,

and

ru m o rs

of

ago I found chunks of a Croup and Vandemar

abandoned

story from when I was eighteen and a bit

s t a t i o n s a r e a ll t r u e a n d t h e y a r e s t ill in u s e

a n d t h e y h a d n ’t m a d e a r e a l l y g o o d

s o lo

T V s h o w o f it. I h a d n ’t w a n t e d to

a co lla b o ra tio n w ith th e g u y w h o

d id

“C r e a t i n g a s o r t o f m y t h i c L o n d o n w a s

n o v e l . “E v e n

N e v e r w h e r e f e lt lik e

in L o n d o n B e lo w .

w rite a n o v e l o f N e v e rw h e re . W h a t

t h e s c r i p t s . I w a s n ’t d o i n g t h i s t h i n g o f

in m a n y w a y s m u c h e a s i e r w r i t i n g i t in

I ’d b e e n l o o k i n g f o r w a r d to w a s m a k i n g

s ta rtin g w ith a b la n k p ie c e o f p a p e r a n d

p la c e s

lik e

a t e r r i f i c T V s h o w a n d t h e n b r in g in g

p u ttin g w o rd s d o w n

T exas,

or

u n til t h e r e w a s a

a

h o te l r o o m

sittin g

a ro u n d

in at

always there. They were very much like they

G a lv e s to n , hom e

are in Neverwhere. “The book never

in

o u t a s c r i p t b o o k w it h p h o t o g r a p h s .

n o v e l. W h a t I w a s d o i n g w a s t a k i n g a

M in n e a p o lis . O n e c o u ld iso la te w h y o n e

T h a t w a s m y p la n . A n d th en I s a w

b u n c h o f d ra fts o f a T V s h o w a n d fin d in g

w a n te d to m a k e it m y th ic , w h a t o n e w a s

w h a t t h e y w e r e d o i n g w it h t h e T V

a ll t h e b its I l i k e d a n d p u t t i n g t h e m i n ,

g o in g fo r. A n d I lo v e it w h e n p e o p le c o m e

s h o w a n d s u d d e n l y it w a s lik e : n o , I ’m

f u e le d w i t h a c e r t a i n a m o u n t o f r e s e n t ­

u p t o m e a t s i g n i n g s a n d sa y , ‘I j u s t g o t

w r i t in g t h e n o v e l.

m e n t a n d g r u m p i n e s s a t a ll o f t h e p l a c e s

b a c k fro m L o n d o n . B e fo re I w e n t, I re a d

w h e r e t h i n g s t h a t I ’d a s k e d a n d t h i n g s

N e v e r w h e r e , a n d w e s t a y e d i n E a r l ’s C o u r t

G a i m a n ’s f ir s t ( p u b l i s h e d ) n o v e l G o o d

scene from when I was twenty-one. They were

got finished. It was about a boy who was sent off to boarding school, which turned out to be a school at which you learn magic. I don’t think it’s one I’ll ever go back to”

t h a t I ’d w a n t e d h a d b e e n i g n o r e d , t h r o w n

a n d w e g o t t o g o t o K n i g h t s b r i d g e ,’ a n d

O m e n s w a s a c o l l a b o r a t i o n , a n d w h i l e h is

aw ay,

Ju st

i t ’s a s i f t h e s e p l a c e s a r e a c t u a l l y t a k i n g

is t h e o n l y n a m e o n t h e c o v e r o f N e v e r ­

fru s tra tio n

s tu ff th a t I

o n a m y th ic d im e n s io n f o r th e m ” (L o c u s

to Books o f Magic and it being a bit like

w h e r e , h e s till d o e s n ’t r e g a r d i t a s h is f ir s t

knew

O n l in e , 1 9 9 9 ) . ❖

Harry Potter.

f 214

I

s k ip p e d ,

cu t,

or

w h a te v e r.

b e c a u s e it w as

w o r k e d .”

He

had

c o m p le te

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

and

|

This is the one Gaiman mentioned in relation

|

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

215 f

l e f t : Trevor Peacock as Old Bailey with Paterson Joseph as the Marquis de Carabas in the 1996 BBC television production.

to ta l c o n tr o l a n d a b u d g e t fa r b e y o n d th a t o f t h e B B C ’s. T h e o n l y c o n s t r a i n t i n a n o v e l is i m a g i n a t i o n . W h at he ended

up w ith w as a b o o k

i n f i n i t e l y b e t t e r t h a n t h e T V s e r i e s . I t’s t h e s a m e s to r y , b u t it h a s a n e n tir e ly d iffe re n t fe e l to its o rig in a l v e rs io n . L o n d o n its e lf h a s th e s t a r r i n g r o le , a n d G a im a n ta k e s th e g ra y , re g u la r L o n d o n a n d m a k e s it m a g ic . K n ig h tsb rid g e

b ecom es

th e

te rrify in g

N i g h t ’s B r i d g e o v e r w h i c h n o t a ll c r o s s e r s

L eft: “Going through old papers a few months

a r riv e a t th e o t h e r sid e , t h e B la c k fr ia r s a re re a l Copyright © BBC

fria rs,

and

ru m o rs

of

ago I found chunks of a Croup and Vandemar

abandoned

story from when I was eighteen and a bit

s t a t i o n s a r e a ll t r u e a n d t h e y a r e s t ill in u s e

a n d t h e y h a d n ’t m a d e a r e a l l y g o o d

s o lo

T V s h o w o f it. I h a d n ’t w a n t e d to

a co lla b o ra tio n w ith th e g u y w h o

d id

“C r e a t i n g a s o r t o f m y t h i c L o n d o n w a s

n o v e l . “E v e n

N e v e r w h e r e f e lt lik e

in L o n d o n B e lo w .

w rite a n o v e l o f N e v e rw h e re . W h a t

t h e s c r i p t s . I w a s n ’t d o i n g t h i s t h i n g o f

in m a n y w a y s m u c h e a s i e r w r i t i n g i t in

I ’d b e e n l o o k i n g f o r w a r d to w a s m a k i n g

s ta rtin g w ith a b la n k p ie c e o f p a p e r a n d

p la c e s

lik e

a t e r r i f i c T V s h o w a n d t h e n b r in g in g

p u ttin g w o rd s d o w n

T exas,

or

u n til t h e r e w a s a

a

h o te l r o o m

sittin g

a ro u n d

in at

always there. They were very much like they

G a lv e s to n , hom e

are in Neverwhere. “The book never

in

o u t a s c r i p t b o o k w it h p h o t o g r a p h s .

n o v e l. W h a t I w a s d o i n g w a s t a k i n g a

M in n e a p o lis . O n e c o u ld iso la te w h y o n e

T h a t w a s m y p la n . A n d th en I s a w

b u n c h o f d ra fts o f a T V s h o w a n d fin d in g

w a n te d to m a k e it m y th ic , w h a t o n e w a s

w h a t t h e y w e r e d o i n g w it h t h e T V

a ll t h e b its I l i k e d a n d p u t t i n g t h e m i n ,

g o in g fo r. A n d I lo v e it w h e n p e o p le c o m e

s h o w a n d s u d d e n l y it w a s lik e : n o , I ’m

f u e le d w i t h a c e r t a i n a m o u n t o f r e s e n t ­

u p t o m e a t s i g n i n g s a n d sa y , ‘I j u s t g o t

w r i t in g t h e n o v e l.

m e n t a n d g r u m p i n e s s a t a ll o f t h e p l a c e s

b a c k fro m L o n d o n . B e fo re I w e n t, I re a d

w h e r e t h i n g s t h a t I ’d a s k e d a n d t h i n g s

N e v e r w h e r e , a n d w e s t a y e d i n E a r l ’s C o u r t

G a i m a n ’s f ir s t ( p u b l i s h e d ) n o v e l G o o d

scene from when I was twenty-one. They were

got finished. It was about a boy who was sent off to boarding school, which turned out to be a school at which you learn magic. I don’t think it’s one I’ll ever go back to”

t h a t I ’d w a n t e d h a d b e e n i g n o r e d , t h r o w n

a n d w e g o t t o g o t o K n i g h t s b r i d g e ,’ a n d

O m e n s w a s a c o l l a b o r a t i o n , a n d w h i l e h is

aw ay,

Ju st

i t ’s a s i f t h e s e p l a c e s a r e a c t u a l l y t a k i n g

is t h e o n l y n a m e o n t h e c o v e r o f N e v e r ­

fru s tra tio n

s tu ff th a t I

o n a m y th ic d im e n s io n f o r th e m ” (L o c u s

to Books o f Magic and it being a bit like

w h e r e , h e s till d o e s n ’t r e g a r d i t a s h is f ir s t

knew

O n l in e , 1 9 9 9 ) . ❖

Harry Potter.

f 214

I

s k ip p e d ,

cu t,

or

w h a te v e r.

b e c a u s e it w as

w o r k e d .”

He

had

c o m p le te

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

and

|

This is the one Gaiman mentioned in relation

|

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

215 f

StaRDUSt

BeiNg a RomaNcew N ItH tHe ReaLm offaeR ie ‘Its a little epic. I don’t kn< Sandman is huge.

you call epics that aren’t en

StCLRDUSt SpRRNg aLL UpSIDe DOWN fRom waLL.

in

September 1987, Gaiman had just signed the contract for B la c k o r c h id

and the American DON’t p a m c and could afford to do

something that had not been even remotely possible in his entire career as a jobbing journalist: he could afford to go on vacation. \o my wife Mary and I flew to Ireland, rented a car, and drove around Ireland from landing in Dublin, going down south, around Cork, and down around Bantry. I remember we loved Bantry Bay. It was on that drive that I remember looking across a field and there was a wall halfway across the field that had a hole in it. Or a gate. I think it was a gate in the middle. And I just thought: Wouldn’t it be interesting if the other side o f that wall was fairyland. And it was as simple as that. You’ve got a wall, and you cross it, and now you ’re in Faerie. And the idea just grew. On the flight over there had been an inflight magazine with a photograph o f a little town, and I think it may have been a town in Portugal or in France or Spain or somewhere that was just basically on an outcrop o f rock. And I thought I ’ll borrow that town and I ’ll put it somewhere in the north o f England. And I ’ll call it Wall. I came up with a story all about this town, and I wrote the first chapter and the introductory pages about Wall as well.

S

tHIS spReaD: Notes for and artwork for the 2007 DC/Vertigo notecard set.

Stardust,

t 216

Then he put it away. He had Sandman to write. Time passed and it was now 1991. The Sandman: Dream Country was finished, and Kelley Jones was busy drawing Sandman in Hell with Lucifer, who’s kicking out the last of the demons before he shuts the gate.

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Gaiman and Charles Vess are in Tucson, Arizona, for the World Fantasy Convention. Their Sandman issue, “Midsummer Night’s Dream " is nominated for Best Short Story alongside prose stories and wins. “We actually astonished ourselves and everybo dy else by winning the award" (Murray, 2006). Gaiman and Vess take their statues—busts of H. P. Lovecraft— and try not to lose them or leave them in the bathroom during their various states of inebriation.

That night there’s a party being held by Terri Windling. Charles stays back, but I ’m at this party. And I ’m outside talking to some friends o f mine, I ’m talking to Teresa Nielsen Hayden and Jane Yolen, and I think Ellen Kushner was there. And I ’ve gone outside probably to have a cigarette, because I smoked then. And I ’m wearing a big leather jacket I ’m incredibly grateful fo r because it is so hot during the day but it’s so cold, desert cold, at night. And we’re out in this little house in the middle o f the desert. And I look up and I see a falling star. And it’s like nothing I ’ve ever seen before. In the UK, if you see a meteorite, it’s a little pencil line o f light across the sky just slashed across the sky with a white pencil. This wasn’t that. This was a discrete glinting, burning, shining white thing falling

out o f the sky in a slow arc, in the desert where the night sky was velvet black. And I saw it and I thought: Wow, that was such a cool thing to see. Wouldn’t it be interesting if I could just go . . . I saw where that thing fell, I could get in a car, I could start walking and I ’d go and find it. And then I thought—and it was so bright, it was like a diamond—what if I find it and instead o f being just a lump o f meteoric rock, it’s a huge diamond burning bright. And then I thought: What if it was a girl? And what if somebody had promised his girlfriend, was trying to impress a girl by saying I will bring you back that

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

217 t

StaRDUSt

BeiNg a RomaNcew N ItH tHe ReaLm offaeR ie ‘Its a little epic. I don’t kn< Sandman is huge.

you call epics that aren’t en

StCLRDUSt SpRRNg aLL UpSIDe DOWN fRom waLL.

in

September 1987, Gaiman had just signed the contract for B la c k o r c h id

and the American DON’t p a m c and could afford to do

something that had not been even remotely possible in his entire career as a jobbing journalist: he could afford to go on vacation. \o my wife Mary and I flew to Ireland, rented a car, and drove around Ireland from landing in Dublin, going down south, around Cork, and down around Bantry. I remember we loved Bantry Bay. It was on that drive that I remember looking across a field and there was a wall halfway across the field that had a hole in it. Or a gate. I think it was a gate in the middle. And I just thought: Wouldn’t it be interesting if the other side o f that wall was fairyland. And it was as simple as that. You’ve got a wall, and you cross it, and now you ’re in Faerie. And the idea just grew. On the flight over there had been an inflight magazine with a photograph o f a little town, and I think it may have been a town in Portugal or in France or Spain or somewhere that was just basically on an outcrop o f rock. And I thought I ’ll borrow that town and I ’ll put it somewhere in the north o f England. And I ’ll call it Wall. I came up with a story all about this town, and I wrote the first chapter and the introductory pages about Wall as well.

S

tHIS spReaD: Notes for and artwork for the 2007 DC/Vertigo notecard set.

Stardust,

t 216

Then he put it away. He had Sandman to write. Time passed and it was now 1991. The Sandman: Dream Country was finished, and Kelley Jones was busy drawing Sandman in Hell with Lucifer, who’s kicking out the last of the demons before he shuts the gate.

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Gaiman and Charles Vess are in Tucson, Arizona, for the World Fantasy Convention. Their Sandman issue, “Midsummer Night’s Dream " is nominated for Best Short Story alongside prose stories and wins. “We actually astonished ourselves and everybo dy else by winning the award" (Murray, 2006). Gaiman and Vess take their statues—busts of H. P. Lovecraft— and try not to lose them or leave them in the bathroom during their various states of inebriation.

That night there’s a party being held by Terri Windling. Charles stays back, but I ’m at this party. And I ’m outside talking to some friends o f mine, I ’m talking to Teresa Nielsen Hayden and Jane Yolen, and I think Ellen Kushner was there. And I ’ve gone outside probably to have a cigarette, because I smoked then. And I ’m wearing a big leather jacket I ’m incredibly grateful fo r because it is so hot during the day but it’s so cold, desert cold, at night. And we’re out in this little house in the middle o f the desert. And I look up and I see a falling star. And it’s like nothing I ’ve ever seen before. In the UK, if you see a meteorite, it’s a little pencil line o f light across the sky just slashed across the sky with a white pencil. This wasn’t that. This was a discrete glinting, burning, shining white thing falling

out o f the sky in a slow arc, in the desert where the night sky was velvet black. And I saw it and I thought: Wow, that was such a cool thing to see. Wouldn’t it be interesting if I could just go . . . I saw where that thing fell, I could get in a car, I could start walking and I ’d go and find it. And then I thought—and it was so bright, it was like a diamond—what if I find it and instead o f being just a lump o f meteoric rock, it’s a huge diamond burning bright. And then I thought: What if it was a girl? And what if somebody had promised his girlfriend, was trying to impress a girl by saying I will bring you back that

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

217 t

b e k i n d o f f u n f o r p e o p l e , g o in g : O h

i t c o u l d h a v e b e e n w r i t t e n in

m y g o s h ! T h ere a r e th e H e m p sto c k s ,

m a g ic o f w r itin g , th o s e th in g s w e d o to

a n e p ic , w h ic h it t o o k e n o r m o u s p le a s u re

a n d t h e r e is th e p u b , I k n o w w h a t th e s e

c o n v i n c e o u r s e l v e s w e ’r e d o i n g i t t h e r i g h t

in n o t b e in g ” (G a im a n , 2 0 0 7 ) .

th in g s a r e ! I t ’ll b e f u n .

w ay . U p u n til 1 9 8 6 , I w r o te e v e ry th in g o n a ty p e w rite r. F r o m

B o o k s o f M a g ic , V e s s a n d G a i m a n ’s o t h e r

m y firs t c o m p u te r , I d id

co u ld

read

it th e

t h e 1 9 4 0 s , b e f o r e J. R . R . T o l k i e n , f i c t i o n

in F a e r i e w i t h a g a t e b e t w e e n w o r l d s t h a t

w r itte n . T h e n it c a m e to

S tard u st an d I

h a r k e d b a c k t o b o o k s l ik e L o r d D u n s a n y ’s

w a s v e r y m u c h lik e t h e o n e h e h a d in m i n d

t h o u g h t , ‘O K , I w a n t t o w r i t e t h i s in 1 9 2 0 .’

T h e K i n g o f E l f l a n d ’s D a u g h t e r p u b l i s h e d in

f o r W a l l . F a e r i e is a w o r l d i n s i d e V e s s ’s

I w e n t o u t a n d b o u g h t a fo u n ta in

pen,

1 9 2 4 , in w h i c h a p r i n c e s s f r o m E l f l a n d is

h e a d . T h e r e w a s n o o n e b e t t e r t o d r a w it.

w h ic h h a s a lo v e ly s o r t o f a r c o f c lo s u re to

sto le n a n d b r o u g h t to E n g la n d , a n d H o p e M i r r l e e s s L u d - in - t h e - M is t , “a q u i n t e s s e n t i a l ^

it, a fe e lin g o f c o m p le te n e s s . ‘‘I t h i n k i t r e a l l y c h a n g e d

se n te n c e

w h i c h is o n e o f G a i m a n ’s t o p t e n f a v o r i t e b o o k s a n d s e t in a t o w n o n t h e b o r d e r s o f

m e t e l l y o u t h i s s t o r y . I t h i n k I ’v e c o m e u p

i t ’s a l m o s t lik e t h r o w i n g d o w n a b l o b o f

F a iry la n d . T h e se w e re b o o k s a b o u t b o rd e rs

w ith

e v e ry th in g

c l a y a n d t h e n m o l d i n g i t a b i t . B u t I c a n ’t

b e tw e e n

th a t w a s in m y h e a d a b o u t th e s to r y a n d

d o th a t w ith a fo u n ta in p e n , so I th in k

e p ic f a n ta s y trilo g ie s a n d b o o k s h e lf g h e tto s .

t h e n a t t h e e n d h e s m i l e d a n d s a i d , ‘I c a n ’t

a b o u t i t a lit t l e m o r e ” ( L o c u s O n l in e , 1 9 9 9 ) .

th e

p a r ty — h o ld in g

s o m e t h i n g .’ I t o l d

a

h im

b o ttle

of

s t y l e is i n f l u e n c e d

it. Y o u t h i n k

a b o u t th e

E n g l i s h n o v e l o f t r a n s c e n d e n t o d d n e s s ,”

m o r e b e f o r e y o u w r i t e it. O n a c o m p u t e r ,

of

w ro te

th e w a y I

c e l e b r a t o r y c h a m p a g n e . I s a i d , ‘O k a y , l e t

b y th e g re a t E n g lis h

s tilte d

and

o ld -fa s h io n e d ,

it

fe e ls

c o m i n g h o m e . In a p i e c e in T h e G u a r d i a n n e w s p a p e r, G a im a n w r o te a b o u t h o w fa iry

it a s a n i l l u s t r a t e d b o o k . “H e s a id : t h e t h i n g

t a le s b e g a n as s t o r i e s f o r a d u lts , b u t w i t h

t h a t p is s e s m e o f f a b o u t c o m i c s is o n c e I ’v e

e a c h r e t e l l i n g t h e b ite w a s t a k e n o u t ; p a r e n t s

d o n e a p a n e l, I th e n h a v e to d ra w th e n e x t

w h o r e a d G r i m m s c o l l e c t e d t a le s t o t h e i r

p a n e l . I l l u s t r a t i o n s a r e a t l e a s t th in g s . A n d

c h i ld r e n

I s a i d s u r e . S o t h a t w a s w h a t w e d id .”

c o n t e n t , s o t h e G r i m m s s i m p l y t o o k i t o u t.

c o m p la in e d

about

th e

1 9 9 4 w h ile

G a im a n w a n te d to r e a d a f a iry ta le th a t w a s u n a p o l o g e t i c a l l y f o r a d u lts , b u t t h e r e w e r e n ’t

S t a r d u s t c a m e o u t in f o u r p a r t s t h r o u g h

a n y o n t h e s h e lv e s so h e w r o t e o n e in s te a d .

lo t

o f th e

sto ry

weight and clean lines of a fairy story.”

“I w a n te d to w r ite a f a ir y s to r y , w ith th e

“S t a r d u s t w a s v e r y c o n s c i o u s l y w r i t t e n ,

w e i g h t a n d c l e a n li n e s o f a f a i r y s t o r y . I ’d

t r y in g to p u t m y s e lf in a p re -T o lk ie n ia n

me

ju s t d o n e te n v o lu m e s o f S a n d m a n . S e v e n ty -

m in d s e t. T o lk ie n c h a n g e d th in g s . B e f o r e

g o i n g , ‘W o u l d n ’t i t b e f u n t o s e e C h a r l e s

fiv e i s s u e s , 2,000 p a g e s , s e v e n o r e ig h t y e a r s

h i m , t h i n g s w e r e n ’t p u b l i s h e d , r e g a r d e d ,

d r a w i n g s o - a n d - s o ? ’ A n d o c c a s i o n a l l y h e ’d

o f m y life . I t’s a s t o r y w h e r e e v e r y t h i n g is

o r r e v ie w e d as fa n ta s y . T h e y w e r e r e v ie w e d

d r a w s o m e t h i n g a n d I ’d g o , ‘T h a t ’s g o o d .

g r a y . A l l t h e c h a r a c t e r s a r e s h a d e s o f g ra y .

i n T h e N e w Y o r k T im e s b y W . H . A u d e n .

I ’m

W e liv e in a w o r l d w h e r e t h e i d e a o f f a n t a s y

a c tu a lly

p u sh ed

in to

e x iste n c e

by

g o i n g t o b r i n g t h a t b a c k ’” ( M o v i e s .

N o t h i n g is w h o l l y b l a c k a n d w h i t e , e v e r y o n e

a b o u t . c o m , 2 0 0 6 ) . A y e a r l a t e r — G a i m a n ’s

h a s fiv e d i f f e r e n t m o t i v e s f o r e v e r y t h i n g

a s b e i n g ‘s o m e t h i n g e lse ’ is p r e v a l e n t , w h e r e

a g e n t, M e r rile e H e ife tz , h a v in g n e g o tia te d

t h e y d o ; lit t l e t h i n g s in o n e p l a c e t u r n o u t

its s u c c e s s m e a n s i t h a s t o b e r e p l i c a t e d t o

w it h a b r o k e n l e g w h o d o e s n ’t w a n t to

a

te x t-o n ly

to b e i m p o r t a n t th in g s in a n o th e r , a n d v ic e

k e e p it c o m m e r c ia l. S ta r d u s t w a s in te n d e d

b e d r a g g e d a n y w h e r e o r p r e s e n t e d to

r ig h ts — it w a s p u b lish e d as a n o v e l w ith o u t

v e rs a . A n d I ju s t w a n te d to d o s o m e th in g

to b e a th r o w b a c k to th e tim e w h e re a

a n y b o d y ? A n d w h a t i f I d id th a t w eird

t h e p i c t u r e s , t o o . I t’s a s h o r t o n e — a b o u t

s im p le a n d e le g a n t” (H o w e , 1 9 9 9 ) .

n o v e lis t w o u ld sim p ly w r ite a f a iry ta le ,

3 9 S te p s t h in g w h e r e t h e y g e t b o u n d

six ty

it

I t is a b o o k w i t h n o s o c i a l a g e n d a , n o

a n d n o b o d y f e lt i t w a s a n y t h i n g d i f f e r e n t ,

t o g e t h e r ? T h a t ’s a s to ry . I l i k e th a t.

p ro b a b ly h a s s o m e th in g to d o w ith h o w h e

u n d e r ly in g a lle g o r y — s o m e th in g lig h t to

i t w a s n ’t a n a b e r r a t i o n , a n y m o r e t h a n t h e y

A n d it r e a l l y w a s t h a t q u ic k .

w r o t e it: in l o n g h a n d , u s i n g t h e f irs t f o u n t a i n

m a k e y o u fe e l h a p p ie r, s o m e th in g a k in to

w o u l d l o o k a t D i c k e n s a n d sa y , A h , i t ’s g o t

p e n h e h a d p ic k e d u p s i n c e h is s c h o o l d a y s ,

ic e

a m i s e r a n d t h r e e g h o s t s in it.’

in b ig , l e a t h e r - b o u n d b l a n k v o l u m e s .

p r e v i o u s c o n t a c t w a s w i t h G a i m a n ’s n o v e l

“ T h e e x i s t e n c e o f a s p e c i a l f a n t a s y s e c ti o n

A n d I t h o u g h t : W a ll. I ’v e g o t t h a t p l a c e a lr e a d y , t h e i d e a o f th is lit tle

d eal w h ereb y

th o u sa n d

N e il re ta in e d

w o rd s.

G a im a n

says

cream .

I t b a f f le d

jo u rn a lis ts

w h o se

f

t o w n b u i l t u p a g a i n s t t h e w a ll. W h a t

“S t a r d u s t h a s o n e b r i e f m o m e n t o f a l m o s t

N e v e r w h e r e , w h ic h at le a st h a d s o m e th in g

in a b o o k s h o p , s o m e h o w d if f e r e n t f r o m t h e

I ’ll d o is I ’ll s e t it in W a ll a n d I ’ll d o it

T a r a n t i n o - e s q u e v i o l e n c e , a c o u p l e o f g e n tle

to s a y a b o u t th e h o m e le s s . “T h e r e s e e m e d

r e s t o f t h e b o o k s h o p , is s u c h a n a s t o n i s h i n g l y

a s a p r e q u e l , s o w h e n I c o m e to w r i t e

se x sce n e s, an d th e w o rd

to b e a g e n e r a l c o n s e n s u s t h a t it w a s th e

r e c e n t d e v e lo p m e n t; it w o u ld h a v e b e e n

W a ll, i t ’ll b e 1 7 0 y e a r s l a t e r a n d i t ’ll

v e ry , v e r y sm a ll o n c e . B u t a p a rt f r o m th a t,

m ost

u n h e a r d o f in t h e p a s t ” ( W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) . ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

of a pirate by Neil.

“I wanted to write a fairy story, with the

w as

V e r t i g o in 1 9 9 7 a n d 1 9 9 8 c o m p l e t e w i t h “A

BeLoW : A drawing

a d u lt

s t a y i n g a t T o r i A m o s ’s h o u s e i n L o n d o n .

p a in tin g s .

a n o th e r, b e fo re

lik e

th a t in s te a d o f d o in g it as a c o m i c , t h e y d o

175

and

s o m e t h i n g y o u a lr e a d y k n o w ; it fe e ls lik e

b o o k illu s tra to r A r th u r R a c k h a m , ask ed

G a i m a n b e g a n w r i t i n g in

o u r w o rld

It w a s w r i t t e n in a v o i c e in s ta n t l y f a m i l i a r :

V e s s , w h o s e b e a u t i f u ll y d e l i c a t e , e th e r e a l

t 218

th a t y o u

j u s t c a m e o u t a s f i c t i o n . G a i m a n ’s S t a r d u s t

w a i t t o d r a w i t ’” ( M u r r a y , 2 0 0 6 ) .

in the portfolio A Fall o f Stardust, 1999.

id e a

on

out

aBOVe: “Song of the

e v e ry th in g

The

w r o n g w a y w a s a re la tiv e ly n e w o n e . B e fo re

th a t, e x c e p t m a y b e o n e s h o rt s to ry h a n d ­

“I w e n t b a c k to th e h o te l, f o u n d C h a r lie

Little Hairy Man," which saw print in a chapbook

1986, w hen I bou gh t

F a n ta s y fa n s, fo r e x a m p le , w a n te d it to b e

c o lla b o ra tio n , h a d fe a tu re d a m a rk e tp la c e

w h o w a s a t a d iffe re n t p a r ty , h a u le d h im

f a l l e n s ta r, a n d w in d s u p w it h a g ir l

1920. The

‘f u c k ’ p r i n t e d

in c o n s e q u e n tia l

of

my

n o v e ls .

CHAPTER 5 |BeyOND c o m ic s

219 t

b e k i n d o f f u n f o r p e o p l e , g o in g : O h

i t c o u l d h a v e b e e n w r i t t e n in

m y g o s h ! T h ere a r e th e H e m p sto c k s ,

m a g ic o f w r itin g , th o s e th in g s w e d o to

a n e p ic , w h ic h it t o o k e n o r m o u s p le a s u re

a n d t h e r e is th e p u b , I k n o w w h a t th e s e

c o n v i n c e o u r s e l v e s w e ’r e d o i n g i t t h e r i g h t

in n o t b e in g ” (G a im a n , 2 0 0 7 ) .

th in g s a r e ! I t ’ll b e f u n .

w ay . U p u n til 1 9 8 6 , I w r o te e v e ry th in g o n a ty p e w rite r. F r o m

B o o k s o f M a g ic , V e s s a n d G a i m a n ’s o t h e r

m y firs t c o m p u te r , I d id

co u ld

read

it th e

t h e 1 9 4 0 s , b e f o r e J. R . R . T o l k i e n , f i c t i o n

in F a e r i e w i t h a g a t e b e t w e e n w o r l d s t h a t

w r itte n . T h e n it c a m e to

S tard u st an d I

h a r k e d b a c k t o b o o k s l ik e L o r d D u n s a n y ’s

w a s v e r y m u c h lik e t h e o n e h e h a d in m i n d

t h o u g h t , ‘O K , I w a n t t o w r i t e t h i s in 1 9 2 0 .’

T h e K i n g o f E l f l a n d ’s D a u g h t e r p u b l i s h e d in

f o r W a l l . F a e r i e is a w o r l d i n s i d e V e s s ’s

I w e n t o u t a n d b o u g h t a fo u n ta in

pen,

1 9 2 4 , in w h i c h a p r i n c e s s f r o m E l f l a n d is

h e a d . T h e r e w a s n o o n e b e t t e r t o d r a w it.

w h ic h h a s a lo v e ly s o r t o f a r c o f c lo s u re to

sto le n a n d b r o u g h t to E n g la n d , a n d H o p e M i r r l e e s s L u d - in - t h e - M is t , “a q u i n t e s s e n t i a l ^

it, a fe e lin g o f c o m p le te n e s s . ‘‘I t h i n k i t r e a l l y c h a n g e d

se n te n c e

w h i c h is o n e o f G a i m a n ’s t o p t e n f a v o r i t e b o o k s a n d s e t in a t o w n o n t h e b o r d e r s o f

m e t e l l y o u t h i s s t o r y . I t h i n k I ’v e c o m e u p

i t ’s a l m o s t lik e t h r o w i n g d o w n a b l o b o f

F a iry la n d . T h e se w e re b o o k s a b o u t b o rd e rs

w ith

e v e ry th in g

c l a y a n d t h e n m o l d i n g i t a b i t . B u t I c a n ’t

b e tw e e n

th a t w a s in m y h e a d a b o u t th e s to r y a n d

d o th a t w ith a fo u n ta in p e n , so I th in k

e p ic f a n ta s y trilo g ie s a n d b o o k s h e lf g h e tto s .

t h e n a t t h e e n d h e s m i l e d a n d s a i d , ‘I c a n ’t

a b o u t i t a lit t l e m o r e ” ( L o c u s O n l in e , 1 9 9 9 ) .

th e

p a r ty — h o ld in g

s o m e t h i n g .’ I t o l d

a

h im

b o ttle

of

s t y l e is i n f l u e n c e d

it. Y o u t h i n k

a b o u t th e

E n g l i s h n o v e l o f t r a n s c e n d e n t o d d n e s s ,”

m o r e b e f o r e y o u w r i t e it. O n a c o m p u t e r ,

of

w ro te

th e w a y I

c e l e b r a t o r y c h a m p a g n e . I s a i d , ‘O k a y , l e t

b y th e g re a t E n g lis h

s tilte d

and

o ld -fa s h io n e d ,

it

fe e ls

c o m i n g h o m e . In a p i e c e in T h e G u a r d i a n n e w s p a p e r, G a im a n w r o te a b o u t h o w fa iry

it a s a n i l l u s t r a t e d b o o k . “H e s a id : t h e t h i n g

t a le s b e g a n as s t o r i e s f o r a d u lts , b u t w i t h

t h a t p is s e s m e o f f a b o u t c o m i c s is o n c e I ’v e

e a c h r e t e l l i n g t h e b ite w a s t a k e n o u t ; p a r e n t s

d o n e a p a n e l, I th e n h a v e to d ra w th e n e x t

w h o r e a d G r i m m s c o l l e c t e d t a le s t o t h e i r

p a n e l . I l l u s t r a t i o n s a r e a t l e a s t th in g s . A n d

c h i ld r e n

I s a i d s u r e . S o t h a t w a s w h a t w e d id .”

c o n t e n t , s o t h e G r i m m s s i m p l y t o o k i t o u t.

c o m p la in e d

about

th e

1 9 9 4 w h ile

G a im a n w a n te d to r e a d a f a iry ta le th a t w a s u n a p o l o g e t i c a l l y f o r a d u lts , b u t t h e r e w e r e n ’t

S t a r d u s t c a m e o u t in f o u r p a r t s t h r o u g h

a n y o n t h e s h e lv e s so h e w r o t e o n e in s te a d .

lo t

o f th e

sto ry

weight and clean lines of a fairy story.”

“I w a n te d to w r ite a f a ir y s to r y , w ith th e

“S t a r d u s t w a s v e r y c o n s c i o u s l y w r i t t e n ,

w e i g h t a n d c l e a n li n e s o f a f a i r y s t o r y . I ’d

t r y in g to p u t m y s e lf in a p re -T o lk ie n ia n

me

ju s t d o n e te n v o lu m e s o f S a n d m a n . S e v e n ty -

m in d s e t. T o lk ie n c h a n g e d th in g s . B e f o r e

g o i n g , ‘W o u l d n ’t i t b e f u n t o s e e C h a r l e s

fiv e i s s u e s , 2,000 p a g e s , s e v e n o r e ig h t y e a r s

h i m , t h i n g s w e r e n ’t p u b l i s h e d , r e g a r d e d ,

d r a w i n g s o - a n d - s o ? ’ A n d o c c a s i o n a l l y h e ’d

o f m y life . I t’s a s t o r y w h e r e e v e r y t h i n g is

o r r e v ie w e d as fa n ta s y . T h e y w e r e r e v ie w e d

d r a w s o m e t h i n g a n d I ’d g o , ‘T h a t ’s g o o d .

g r a y . A l l t h e c h a r a c t e r s a r e s h a d e s o f g ra y .

i n T h e N e w Y o r k T im e s b y W . H . A u d e n .

I ’m

W e liv e in a w o r l d w h e r e t h e i d e a o f f a n t a s y

a c tu a lly

p u sh ed

in to

e x iste n c e

by

g o i n g t o b r i n g t h a t b a c k ’” ( M o v i e s .

N o t h i n g is w h o l l y b l a c k a n d w h i t e , e v e r y o n e

a b o u t . c o m , 2 0 0 6 ) . A y e a r l a t e r — G a i m a n ’s

h a s fiv e d i f f e r e n t m o t i v e s f o r e v e r y t h i n g

a s b e i n g ‘s o m e t h i n g e lse ’ is p r e v a l e n t , w h e r e

a g e n t, M e r rile e H e ife tz , h a v in g n e g o tia te d

t h e y d o ; lit t l e t h i n g s in o n e p l a c e t u r n o u t

its s u c c e s s m e a n s i t h a s t o b e r e p l i c a t e d t o

w it h a b r o k e n l e g w h o d o e s n ’t w a n t to

a

te x t-o n ly

to b e i m p o r t a n t th in g s in a n o th e r , a n d v ic e

k e e p it c o m m e r c ia l. S ta r d u s t w a s in te n d e d

b e d r a g g e d a n y w h e r e o r p r e s e n t e d to

r ig h ts — it w a s p u b lish e d as a n o v e l w ith o u t

v e rs a . A n d I ju s t w a n te d to d o s o m e th in g

to b e a th r o w b a c k to th e tim e w h e re a

a n y b o d y ? A n d w h a t i f I d id th a t w eird

t h e p i c t u r e s , t o o . I t’s a s h o r t o n e — a b o u t

s im p le a n d e le g a n t” (H o w e , 1 9 9 9 ) .

n o v e lis t w o u ld sim p ly w r ite a f a iry ta le ,

3 9 S te p s t h in g w h e r e t h e y g e t b o u n d

six ty

it

I t is a b o o k w i t h n o s o c i a l a g e n d a , n o

a n d n o b o d y f e lt i t w a s a n y t h i n g d i f f e r e n t ,

t o g e t h e r ? T h a t ’s a s to ry . I l i k e th a t.

p ro b a b ly h a s s o m e th in g to d o w ith h o w h e

u n d e r ly in g a lle g o r y — s o m e th in g lig h t to

i t w a s n ’t a n a b e r r a t i o n , a n y m o r e t h a n t h e y

A n d it r e a l l y w a s t h a t q u ic k .

w r o t e it: in l o n g h a n d , u s i n g t h e f irs t f o u n t a i n

m a k e y o u fe e l h a p p ie r, s o m e th in g a k in to

w o u l d l o o k a t D i c k e n s a n d sa y , A h , i t ’s g o t

p e n h e h a d p ic k e d u p s i n c e h is s c h o o l d a y s ,

ic e

a m i s e r a n d t h r e e g h o s t s in it.’

in b ig , l e a t h e r - b o u n d b l a n k v o l u m e s .

p r e v i o u s c o n t a c t w a s w i t h G a i m a n ’s n o v e l

“ T h e e x i s t e n c e o f a s p e c i a l f a n t a s y s e c ti o n

A n d I t h o u g h t : W a ll. I ’v e g o t t h a t p l a c e a lr e a d y , t h e i d e a o f th is lit tle

d eal w h ereb y

th o u sa n d

N e il re ta in e d

w o rd s.

G a im a n

says

cream .

I t b a f f le d

jo u rn a lis ts

w h o se

f

t o w n b u i l t u p a g a i n s t t h e w a ll. W h a t

“S t a r d u s t h a s o n e b r i e f m o m e n t o f a l m o s t

N e v e r w h e r e , w h ic h at le a st h a d s o m e th in g

in a b o o k s h o p , s o m e h o w d if f e r e n t f r o m t h e

I ’ll d o is I ’ll s e t it in W a ll a n d I ’ll d o it

T a r a n t i n o - e s q u e v i o l e n c e , a c o u p l e o f g e n tle

to s a y a b o u t th e h o m e le s s . “T h e r e s e e m e d

r e s t o f t h e b o o k s h o p , is s u c h a n a s t o n i s h i n g l y

a s a p r e q u e l , s o w h e n I c o m e to w r i t e

se x sce n e s, an d th e w o rd

to b e a g e n e r a l c o n s e n s u s t h a t it w a s th e

r e c e n t d e v e lo p m e n t; it w o u ld h a v e b e e n

W a ll, i t ’ll b e 1 7 0 y e a r s l a t e r a n d i t ’ll

v e ry , v e r y sm a ll o n c e . B u t a p a rt f r o m th a t,

m ost

u n h e a r d o f in t h e p a s t ” ( W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) . ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a i m a n

of a pirate by Neil.

“I wanted to write a fairy story, with the

w as

V e r t i g o in 1 9 9 7 a n d 1 9 9 8 c o m p l e t e w i t h “A

BeLoW : A drawing

a d u lt

s t a y i n g a t T o r i A m o s ’s h o u s e i n L o n d o n .

p a in tin g s .

a n o th e r, b e fo re

lik e

th a t in s te a d o f d o in g it as a c o m i c , t h e y d o

175

and

s o m e t h i n g y o u a lr e a d y k n o w ; it fe e ls lik e

b o o k illu s tra to r A r th u r R a c k h a m , ask ed

G a i m a n b e g a n w r i t i n g in

o u r w o rld

It w a s w r i t t e n in a v o i c e in s ta n t l y f a m i l i a r :

V e s s , w h o s e b e a u t i f u ll y d e l i c a t e , e th e r e a l

t 218

th a t y o u

j u s t c a m e o u t a s f i c t i o n . G a i m a n ’s S t a r d u s t

w a i t t o d r a w i t ’” ( M u r r a y , 2 0 0 6 ) .

in the portfolio A Fall o f Stardust, 1999.

id e a

on

out

aBOVe: “Song of the

e v e ry th in g

The

w r o n g w a y w a s a re la tiv e ly n e w o n e . B e fo re

th a t, e x c e p t m a y b e o n e s h o rt s to ry h a n d ­

“I w e n t b a c k to th e h o te l, f o u n d C h a r lie

Little Hairy Man," which saw print in a chapbook

1986, w hen I bou gh t

F a n ta s y fa n s, fo r e x a m p le , w a n te d it to b e

c o lla b o ra tio n , h a d fe a tu re d a m a rk e tp la c e

w h o w a s a t a d iffe re n t p a r ty , h a u le d h im

f a l l e n s ta r, a n d w in d s u p w it h a g ir l

1920. The

‘f u c k ’ p r i n t e d

in c o n s e q u e n tia l

of

my

n o v e ls .

CHAPTER 5 |BeyOND c o m ic s

219 t

stüRDust: tHefilm miD-20oos,

o n e o f t h e e p ith e ts t h a t

S t a r d u s t w a s s o f a n ta s tic . I l o v e d t h e f ilm , it

p r e c e d e d G a i m a n ’s n a m e in a n y n e w s s t o r y

w a s o n e o f t h e b e s t t w o h o u r s I e v e r s p e n t in

in tH e

in v o lv in g m o v i e s w a s “t h e m o s t - o p t i o n e d

t h e c i n e m a . B u t I t h o u g h t t h e b o o k w a s a b it

a u t h o r in H o l l y w o o d w h o h a s y e t t o h a v e

b e tte r . B e c a u s e t h a t ’s r e a lly w h a t y o u w a n t.”

a n y o f h is w o r k t r a n s l a t e d t o t h e b ig s c re e n .”

A t t h e e n d o f t h e n i n e t ie s t h e o p t i o n f o r

s a id y e s. “W h a t I d id w i t h M a t t h e w w a s th is

T h e s a y in g firs t a p p e a r e d in t h e H o lly w o o d

S tard u st w a s a t M ira m a x . W h e n n o th in g

t h i n g y o u m u s t n e v e r d o . D o n ’t d o th is ; it is

R e p o r t e r in 2 0 0 5 , a n d it s tu c k . S ta r d u s t, o n e

h a p p e n e d b e f o r e its e x p i r a t i o n d a te , G a i m a n

v e ry , v e r y w r o n g : I g a v e h i m t h e o p t i o n f o r

in a s e a o f o p t i o n s , w a s t h e firs t to m a k e it o u t

w a s v e r y re lie v e d t o h a v e it b a c k .

n o th in g ” (V in e y a rd , 2 0 0 7 ) .

o f p ro d u c tio n

p u rg a to ry . B e fo re a n y th in g

W e ’ll t a lk th e n .” W e t a lk e d a f e w

“I t ’s b r illia n t. W h y d i d y o u w a n t m e to r e a d it? ” I s a id , “W o u ld y o u lik e to

“B u t I a ls o t r u s t e d h i m . In H o l l y w o o d ,

“I s a id n o t o p e o p l e w h o w a n t e d t o m a k e

d a y s la t e r a n d I

s a id , “W h a t to d o y o u th in k ? ” S h e s a id ,

th o u g h t a b o u t h o w

S tard u st fo r fo u r y e a rs . M ir a m a x h a d it fo r a

ly in g

lik e

d o t h e s c r ip t ? ” S h e s a i d y e s a n d th e n

in v o lv e d h e w a n t e d t o g e t. M u c h lik e c o m i c s ,

w h ile , a n d t h e y h a d n ’t g o t t e n i t to g e t h e r . W e

b r e a t h i n g , b u t M a t t h e w d o e s w h a t h e sa y s h e

I p h o n e d u p M a t t h e w a n d s a id , “G o

h e l o o k e d a t h o w A l a n M o o r e h a d d o n e it.

h a d a l o t o f d i r e c t o r s a s k f o r it. W e h a d a l o t

w ill d o a n d s tic k s t o h is w o r d a n d t h a t m e a n t

m e e t Ja n e . S e e i f y o u lik e h er.” A n d t h a t

o f b e a u tif u l y o u n g l a d y a c t r e s s e s w h o a s k e d

e v e ry th in g ” (C a rn e v a le ).

h o n e s tly w a s m y b ig thin g, g o in g , “I

w e n t a h e a d , G a im a n

“A la n h a s b e e n m y f r i e n d f o r tw e n ty -f iv e

is

so m e th in g

th a t

p e o p le

do

aBOVe: Neil in conference with

y e a r s , a n d h is p h i l o s o p h y h a s a lw a y s b e e n ,

t o b u y t h e r i g h t s f o r it t o b e a v e h ic le f o r

T h e y m e t u p w i t h T e r r y G illia m t o s e e if

th in k t h a t s h e ’ll b r in g t h e h u m a n i t y to

M atthew Vaughn on set.

t h e y g iv e y o u a c h e c k a n d it’s n o t h i n g t o d o

t h e m . B u t I w a s n ’t c o m f o r t a b l e w i t h S t a r d u s t

h e w o u l d d i r e c t it, b u t h a v i n g j u s t c o m e o f f

it, t h a t s h e ’ll g e t th e r o m a n c e ,” w h ic h I

w ith y o u a n d n o w t h e y c a n m a k e a film . A n d

b e i n g a v e h i c l e f o r a n y o n e . I w a n t e d i t to

B r o t h e r s G r i m m , G illia m “w a s n ’t g o i n g to

th in k M a t t h e w o n h is o w n m ig h t h a v e ,

t h e p r o b l e m is , b y t h e t i m e t h e y d id t h e t h i r d

b e a b o u t t h e sto r y . S o I w a s v e r y lu c k y t h a t

m a k e a n o t h e r f a i r y t a l e f o r lo v e o r m o n e y ”

s e lf- a d m itte d ly ,

f ilm o f h is w o r k t h a t h e w a s n ’t h a p p y w ith ,

C l a u d i a S c h if fe r w a s b o t h p r e g n a n t a n d h a d

(V i n e y a r d , 2 0 0 7 ) . V a u g h n b e c a m e d i r e c t o r

w a s a b ig p a r t (M u rra y , 2 0 0 6 ).

h e d is ta n c e d h i m s e l f c o m p le te ly . I t h i n k I

a b r o k e n f o o t — t h o u g h s h e w o u ld n ’t s a y s h e

by

c o u ld h a v e g o n e th a t ro u te . B u t I sa w h o w

w a s lu c k y — so s h e c o u l d n ’t d o m u c h a n d w a s

o f w ritin g th e s c rip t. H e tu r n e d it d o w n ,

L a t e r G a i m a n f le w to E n g la n d , sta y e d w ith

m is e r a b le A l a n w a s . It d id n ’t w o r k t o say,

d o i n g a lo t o f r e a d i n g . A n d s h e r e a d S ta r d u s t.

a r g u i n g t h a t h is v is io n w a s in t h e n o v e l a n d

M a t t h e w a n d Ja n e a t M a tth e w ’s “a b s o lu te ly

o p p o s ite : The flying pirate ship commanded by Robert De Niro's character, Captain Shakespeare, and the theatrical poster.

and

o ff e r e d

N e il

th e

w ith .

T hat

o p tio n

‘G o m a k e a f ilm t h a t h a s n o t h i n g t o d o w i t h

A n d sh e s a id , ‘T h is is j u s t lik e f a ir y ta le s to r ie s

t h e f ilm w a s g o i n g t o b e V a u g h n s . B u t , in

te r r if y in g ” c o u n t r y e s ta te , s a t d o w n a n d a c te d

m e ’ N o t w h e n e v e r y r e v i e w s a y s JS L e a g u e o f

I r e a d a s a k id , e x c e p t f o r a d u lts ’ a n d s h e h a d

lig h t o f M o o r e s e x p e r i e n c e s , h e s ig n e d o n as

t h e e n tir e s c r i p t t h r o u g h . “A t t h a t p o in t I h a d

E x t r a o r d in a r y G e n t le m e n is a r e a lly b a d film

[ h e r h u s b a n d ] M a t t h e w r e a d it, a n d h e s a id ,

p r o d u c e r . H e w a s in v o lv e d in c a s ti n g a n d s e t

m a d e f r o m a r e a lly g o o d c o m i c ’ W h y w o u l d

‘I w a n t t o m a k e it. I lo v e f a ir y ta le s , a n d I lo v e

l o c a t i o n s , b u t t h e f irs t t h i n g a n d t h e b ig g e s t

I h a d to f i n i s h s o m e t h in g — c o p y e d it in g

d o n ’t d o th a t. C h a n g e t h a t, lo s e th a t. I th in k

y o u w a n t t h a t t o h a p p e n ? I d o n ’t w a n t t o liv e

t h is , a n d I w a n t t o d o th is ’” ( V i n e y a r d , 2 0 0 7 ) .

t h i n g h e d id w a s p u t V a u g h n in t o u c h w i t h

A n an si B oys,

m y la s t n o v e l— a n d I

w h a t w e ’r e t r y i n g to d o h e r e is t h is ’ A t th a t

som eon e

a f a ir a m o u n t o f in p u t in ju s t s a y in g , ‘N o ,

in a w o r ld w h e r e e v e r y r e v i e w o f S ta r d u s t

M a t t h e w V a u g h n is a n E n g l i s h p r o d u c e r

of

w e n t o f f to J o n a t h a n a n d J a n e ’s h o u s e

p o i n t t h e y a lr e a d y h a d a s c r ip t so all I w a s

s a y s , ‘T h is is a r e a lly b a d f ilm m a d e f r o m a

w h o m a d e h is n a m e o n E a s t E n d g a n g s t e r

t h e f ilm in t h e r i g h t p la c e : h e f o u n d h i m a

in F lo r id a . I p h o n e d J o n a t h a n to le t

r e a lly d o i n g w a s ju s t filin g off a f e w r o u g h

r e a lly w o n d e r f u l illu s tr a te d n o v e l.’ B e c a u s e

m o v i e s lik e L o c k , S t o c k a n d T w o S m o k in g

c o w r i t e r in J a n e G o l d m a n .

h im k n o w t h a t I w a s th e r e s a fe , a n d

e d g e s a n d e n c o u r a g in g ” (M u r r a y , 2 0 0 6 ) .

h o n e s tly , o t h e r w i s e y o u b e c o m e o n e o f th e

B a r r e ls ,

R a y m o n d C h a n d le rs o f th e w o rld , w h o say

M a c h in e , b e f o r e d e b u tin g as d i r e c t o r h i m s e l f

H e s t a r t e d m e n t io n in g w r ite r s h e

S n a tc h ,

and

soccer

f ilm

w ho

w o u ld

keep

th e

h eart

M ean

a s k e d w h a t w a s h a p p e n in g w ith J a n e ’s

T h e f ilm s t a r r e d R o b e r t D e N i r o , C h a r lie

c u r r e n t n o v e l. H e s a id , “O h , I th in k s h e

C o x , C l a i r e D a n e s , a n d M ic h e lle P feiffer. It

s u r v iv e H o l l y w o o d is to

o n a n o t h e r g a n g s t e r f lic k , L a y e r C a k e . A t t h e

w a s s e e in g a n d I th o u g h t, “H a n g on ,

r e a lly w a n ts to d o s o m e screen p lay s..

e n d e d u p b e i n g a fu n n y , s m a r t , r o m a n t i c

s h o v e y o u r m o n e y in t h e t r u n k a n d d r iv e o f f

t i m e h is w ife s u g g e s te d h e r e a d S ta r d u s t, h e

a ll o f th e w r ite r s h e ’s t a lk in g to h e r e a r e

A n d s u d d e n ly a little e le c t r ic lig h t w e n t

f a n t a s y c o m e d y , t h e k in d o f th i n g y o u ’d file

a n d d o n ’t l o o k b a c k . B u t m o n e y c a n ’t p r e v e n t

w a s s la te d t o d i r e c t t h e t h i r d X - M e n film .

b o y s ’ w r ite r s a n d M a t t h e w is a b o y s ’

o n a b o v e m y h e a d . I s a id , “H a s s h e e v e r

a lo n g s id e T h e P r in c e s s B r i d e o n t h e sh e lv e s in

y o u f ro m b e in g m ise ra b le ” (V in e y a rd , 2 0 0 7 ) .

He

d ir ec to r . I f t h e b a la n c e h e r e isn ’t r ig h t

r e a d S t a r d u s t ? ” A n d h e s a id , “I d o n ’t

y o u r m i n d . It d id w e ll in t h e U K b o x o ffice ,

t h e o n ly w a y t o

t 220

d e f a u lt,

s tr u g g le d

b a ile d

d u rin g

p re p ro d u c tio n

b ecau se

In s h o r t , G a i m a n g o t in v o lv e d b e c a u s e

t h e y w a n t e d t h e f ilm m a d e in le ss t i m e t h a n

th e n it is g o in g to b e L o c k , S t o c k a n d

k n o w . I ’ll a s k her. J a n e , h a v e y o u e v e r

le ss w e ll in t h e U .S . b o x o ffice . In t h e e n d it

h e w a n t e d t h e f ilm t o b e a g o o d o n e . “W h a t

V a u g h n th o u g h t h e co u ld m a k e a g o o d o n e.

T w o S m o k i n g F a irie s .”

r e a d S t a r d u s t ? ” H e s a id ,

w a s a v e r y g o o d f ilm a n d g o t g o o d r e v ie w s

I r e a lly w a n t t o h a v e h a p p e n is p e o p le g o :

H e c a lle d G a i m a n u p , s a id h e w a n t e d to

W h a t h a p p e n e d th e n w a s I p h o n e d

o h , y o u d id t h a t ? O h g o d y o u d id S t a r d u s t !

m o v e a h e a d w i t h S t a r d u s t i n s te a d , a n d N e il

J o n a t h a n R oss. I w a s d o in g s o m e w o r k ,

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

“N o , t h a t ’s

t h e o n ly th in g o f y o u r s s h e ’s n o t r e a d .”

a n d w a s tw o h o u r s w e ll s p e n t, b u t t h e b o o k

I s a id , “T ell h e r to r e a d it b y M o n d a y .

w a s a b i t b e tte r . ❖

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

221 t

stüRDust: tHefilm miD-20oos,

o n e o f t h e e p ith e ts t h a t

S t a r d u s t w a s s o f a n ta s tic . I l o v e d t h e f ilm , it

p r e c e d e d G a i m a n ’s n a m e in a n y n e w s s t o r y

w a s o n e o f t h e b e s t t w o h o u r s I e v e r s p e n t in

in tH e

in v o lv in g m o v i e s w a s “t h e m o s t - o p t i o n e d

t h e c i n e m a . B u t I t h o u g h t t h e b o o k w a s a b it

a u t h o r in H o l l y w o o d w h o h a s y e t t o h a v e

b e tte r . B e c a u s e t h a t ’s r e a lly w h a t y o u w a n t.”

a n y o f h is w o r k t r a n s l a t e d t o t h e b ig s c re e n .”

A t t h e e n d o f t h e n i n e t ie s t h e o p t i o n f o r

s a id y e s. “W h a t I d id w i t h M a t t h e w w a s th is

T h e s a y in g firs t a p p e a r e d in t h e H o lly w o o d

S tard u st w a s a t M ira m a x . W h e n n o th in g

t h i n g y o u m u s t n e v e r d o . D o n ’t d o th is ; it is

R e p o r t e r in 2 0 0 5 , a n d it s tu c k . S ta r d u s t, o n e

h a p p e n e d b e f o r e its e x p i r a t i o n d a te , G a i m a n

v e ry , v e r y w r o n g : I g a v e h i m t h e o p t i o n f o r

in a s e a o f o p t i o n s , w a s t h e firs t to m a k e it o u t

w a s v e r y re lie v e d t o h a v e it b a c k .

n o th in g ” (V in e y a rd , 2 0 0 7 ) .

o f p ro d u c tio n

p u rg a to ry . B e fo re a n y th in g

W e ’ll t a lk th e n .” W e t a lk e d a f e w

“I t ’s b r illia n t. W h y d i d y o u w a n t m e to r e a d it? ” I s a id , “W o u ld y o u lik e to

“B u t I a ls o t r u s t e d h i m . In H o l l y w o o d ,

“I s a id n o t o p e o p l e w h o w a n t e d t o m a k e

d a y s la t e r a n d I

s a id , “W h a t to d o y o u th in k ? ” S h e s a id ,

th o u g h t a b o u t h o w

S tard u st fo r fo u r y e a rs . M ir a m a x h a d it fo r a

ly in g

lik e

d o t h e s c r ip t ? ” S h e s a i d y e s a n d th e n

in v o lv e d h e w a n t e d t o g e t. M u c h lik e c o m i c s ,

w h ile , a n d t h e y h a d n ’t g o t t e n i t to g e t h e r . W e

b r e a t h i n g , b u t M a t t h e w d o e s w h a t h e sa y s h e

I p h o n e d u p M a t t h e w a n d s a id , “G o

h e l o o k e d a t h o w A l a n M o o r e h a d d o n e it.

h a d a l o t o f d i r e c t o r s a s k f o r it. W e h a d a l o t

w ill d o a n d s tic k s t o h is w o r d a n d t h a t m e a n t

m e e t Ja n e . S e e i f y o u lik e h er.” A n d t h a t

o f b e a u tif u l y o u n g l a d y a c t r e s s e s w h o a s k e d

e v e ry th in g ” (C a rn e v a le ).

h o n e s tly w a s m y b ig thin g, g o in g , “I

w e n t a h e a d , G a im a n

“A la n h a s b e e n m y f r i e n d f o r tw e n ty -f iv e

is

so m e th in g

th a t

p e o p le

do

aBOVe: Neil in conference with

y e a r s , a n d h is p h i l o s o p h y h a s a lw a y s b e e n ,

t o b u y t h e r i g h t s f o r it t o b e a v e h ic le f o r

T h e y m e t u p w i t h T e r r y G illia m t o s e e if

th in k t h a t s h e ’ll b r in g t h e h u m a n i t y to

M atthew Vaughn on set.

t h e y g iv e y o u a c h e c k a n d it’s n o t h i n g t o d o

t h e m . B u t I w a s n ’t c o m f o r t a b l e w i t h S t a r d u s t

h e w o u l d d i r e c t it, b u t h a v i n g j u s t c o m e o f f

it, t h a t s h e ’ll g e t th e r o m a n c e ,” w h ic h I

w ith y o u a n d n o w t h e y c a n m a k e a film . A n d

b e i n g a v e h i c l e f o r a n y o n e . I w a n t e d i t to

B r o t h e r s G r i m m , G illia m “w a s n ’t g o i n g to

th in k M a t t h e w o n h is o w n m ig h t h a v e ,

t h e p r o b l e m is , b y t h e t i m e t h e y d id t h e t h i r d

b e a b o u t t h e sto r y . S o I w a s v e r y lu c k y t h a t

m a k e a n o t h e r f a i r y t a l e f o r lo v e o r m o n e y ”

s e lf- a d m itte d ly ,

f ilm o f h is w o r k t h a t h e w a s n ’t h a p p y w ith ,

C l a u d i a S c h if fe r w a s b o t h p r e g n a n t a n d h a d

(V i n e y a r d , 2 0 0 7 ) . V a u g h n b e c a m e d i r e c t o r

w a s a b ig p a r t (M u rra y , 2 0 0 6 ).

h e d is ta n c e d h i m s e l f c o m p le te ly . I t h i n k I

a b r o k e n f o o t — t h o u g h s h e w o u ld n ’t s a y s h e

by

c o u ld h a v e g o n e th a t ro u te . B u t I sa w h o w

w a s lu c k y — so s h e c o u l d n ’t d o m u c h a n d w a s

o f w ritin g th e s c rip t. H e tu r n e d it d o w n ,

L a t e r G a i m a n f le w to E n g la n d , sta y e d w ith

m is e r a b le A l a n w a s . It d id n ’t w o r k t o say,

d o i n g a lo t o f r e a d i n g . A n d s h e r e a d S ta r d u s t.

a r g u i n g t h a t h is v is io n w a s in t h e n o v e l a n d

M a t t h e w a n d Ja n e a t M a tth e w ’s “a b s o lu te ly

o p p o s ite : The flying pirate ship commanded by Robert De Niro's character, Captain Shakespeare, and the theatrical poster.

and

o ff e r e d

N e il

th e

w ith .

T hat

o p tio n

‘G o m a k e a f ilm t h a t h a s n o t h i n g t o d o w i t h

A n d sh e s a id , ‘T h is is j u s t lik e f a ir y ta le s to r ie s

t h e f ilm w a s g o i n g t o b e V a u g h n s . B u t , in

te r r if y in g ” c o u n t r y e s ta te , s a t d o w n a n d a c te d

m e ’ N o t w h e n e v e r y r e v i e w s a y s JS L e a g u e o f

I r e a d a s a k id , e x c e p t f o r a d u lts ’ a n d s h e h a d

lig h t o f M o o r e s e x p e r i e n c e s , h e s ig n e d o n as

t h e e n tir e s c r i p t t h r o u g h . “A t t h a t p o in t I h a d

E x t r a o r d in a r y G e n t le m e n is a r e a lly b a d film

[ h e r h u s b a n d ] M a t t h e w r e a d it, a n d h e s a id ,

p r o d u c e r . H e w a s in v o lv e d in c a s ti n g a n d s e t

m a d e f r o m a r e a lly g o o d c o m i c ’ W h y w o u l d

‘I w a n t t o m a k e it. I lo v e f a ir y ta le s , a n d I lo v e

l o c a t i o n s , b u t t h e f irs t t h i n g a n d t h e b ig g e s t

I h a d to f i n i s h s o m e t h in g — c o p y e d it in g

d o n ’t d o th a t. C h a n g e t h a t, lo s e th a t. I th in k

y o u w a n t t h a t t o h a p p e n ? I d o n ’t w a n t t o liv e

t h is , a n d I w a n t t o d o th is ’” ( V i n e y a r d , 2 0 0 7 ) .

t h i n g h e d id w a s p u t V a u g h n in t o u c h w i t h

A n an si B oys,

m y la s t n o v e l— a n d I

w h a t w e ’r e t r y i n g to d o h e r e is t h is ’ A t th a t

som eon e

a f a ir a m o u n t o f in p u t in ju s t s a y in g , ‘N o ,

in a w o r ld w h e r e e v e r y r e v i e w o f S ta r d u s t

M a t t h e w V a u g h n is a n E n g l i s h p r o d u c e r

of

w e n t o f f to J o n a t h a n a n d J a n e ’s h o u s e

p o i n t t h e y a lr e a d y h a d a s c r ip t so all I w a s

s a y s , ‘T h is is a r e a lly b a d f ilm m a d e f r o m a

w h o m a d e h is n a m e o n E a s t E n d g a n g s t e r

t h e f ilm in t h e r i g h t p la c e : h e f o u n d h i m a

in F lo r id a . I p h o n e d J o n a t h a n to le t

r e a lly d o i n g w a s ju s t filin g off a f e w r o u g h

r e a lly w o n d e r f u l illu s tr a te d n o v e l.’ B e c a u s e

m o v i e s lik e L o c k , S t o c k a n d T w o S m o k in g

c o w r i t e r in J a n e G o l d m a n .

h im k n o w t h a t I w a s th e r e s a fe , a n d

e d g e s a n d e n c o u r a g in g ” (M u r r a y , 2 0 0 6 ) .

h o n e s tly , o t h e r w i s e y o u b e c o m e o n e o f th e

B a r r e ls ,

R a y m o n d C h a n d le rs o f th e w o rld , w h o say

M a c h in e , b e f o r e d e b u tin g as d i r e c t o r h i m s e l f

H e s t a r t e d m e n t io n in g w r ite r s h e

S n a tc h ,

and

soccer

f ilm

w ho

w o u ld

keep

th e

h eart

M ean

a s k e d w h a t w a s h a p p e n in g w ith J a n e ’s

T h e f ilm s t a r r e d R o b e r t D e N i r o , C h a r lie

c u r r e n t n o v e l. H e s a id , “O h , I th in k s h e

C o x , C l a i r e D a n e s , a n d M ic h e lle P feiffer. It

s u r v iv e H o l l y w o o d is to

o n a n o t h e r g a n g s t e r f lic k , L a y e r C a k e . A t t h e

w a s s e e in g a n d I th o u g h t, “H a n g on ,

r e a lly w a n ts to d o s o m e screen p lay s..

e n d e d u p b e i n g a fu n n y , s m a r t , r o m a n t i c

s h o v e y o u r m o n e y in t h e t r u n k a n d d r iv e o f f

t i m e h is w ife s u g g e s te d h e r e a d S ta r d u s t, h e

a ll o f th e w r ite r s h e ’s t a lk in g to h e r e a r e

A n d s u d d e n ly a little e le c t r ic lig h t w e n t

f a n t a s y c o m e d y , t h e k in d o f th i n g y o u ’d file

a n d d o n ’t l o o k b a c k . B u t m o n e y c a n ’t p r e v e n t

w a s s la te d t o d i r e c t t h e t h i r d X - M e n film .

b o y s ’ w r ite r s a n d M a t t h e w is a b o y s ’

o n a b o v e m y h e a d . I s a id , “H a s s h e e v e r

a lo n g s id e T h e P r in c e s s B r i d e o n t h e sh e lv e s in

y o u f ro m b e in g m ise ra b le ” (V in e y a rd , 2 0 0 7 ) .

He

d ir ec to r . I f t h e b a la n c e h e r e isn ’t r ig h t

r e a d S t a r d u s t ? ” A n d h e s a id , “I d o n ’t

y o u r m i n d . It d id w e ll in t h e U K b o x o ffice ,

t h e o n ly w a y t o

t 220

d e f a u lt,

s tr u g g le d

b a ile d

d u rin g

p re p ro d u c tio n

b ecau se

In s h o r t , G a i m a n g o t in v o lv e d b e c a u s e

t h e y w a n t e d t h e f ilm m a d e in le ss t i m e t h a n

th e n it is g o in g to b e L o c k , S t o c k a n d

k n o w . I ’ll a s k her. J a n e , h a v e y o u e v e r

le ss w e ll in t h e U .S . b o x o ffice . In t h e e n d it

h e w a n t e d t h e f ilm t o b e a g o o d o n e . “W h a t

V a u g h n th o u g h t h e co u ld m a k e a g o o d o n e.

T w o S m o k i n g F a irie s .”

r e a d S t a r d u s t ? ” H e s a id ,

w a s a v e r y g o o d f ilm a n d g o t g o o d r e v ie w s

I r e a lly w a n t t o h a v e h a p p e n is p e o p le g o :

H e c a lle d G a i m a n u p , s a id h e w a n t e d to

W h a t h a p p e n e d th e n w a s I p h o n e d

o h , y o u d id t h a t ? O h g o d y o u d id S t a r d u s t !

m o v e a h e a d w i t h S t a r d u s t i n s te a d , a n d N e il

J o n a t h a n R oss. I w a s d o in g s o m e w o r k ,

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

“N o , t h a t ’s

t h e o n ly th in g o f y o u r s s h e ’s n o t r e a d .”

a n d w a s tw o h o u r s w e ll s p e n t, b u t t h e b o o k

I s a id , “T ell h e r to r e a d it b y M o n d a y .

w a s a b i t b e tte r . ❖

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

221 t

ameRicaNgo s D “Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are m ore difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.”

All through GaimaNs career He RefeRs back to tHiNgs wRiteRs saiD wHeN He was iNteRviewiNg tHem foR magazines in tHe miD-eigHties. f t e r S t a r d u s t , G a i m a n t h o u g h t h e w a s g o i n g t o w r i t e a n o v e l c a l l e d T i m e in t h e

A

S m o k e , a h i s t o r i c a l f a n t a s y s e t in r e s t o r a t i o n L o n d o n . H e d i d n ’t w r i t e i t , b e c a u s e

h is l a s t t h r e e n o v e l s h a d b e e n v e r y E n g l i s h a n d h e h a d l e a r n e d , a b o v e a ll, t h a t

n o r m a l - s i z e d b o o k it w a s o n ly h a l f ­

G a im a n th o u g h t h e h a d t r u ly g o n e s o lo

fin is h e d . I fig u r e d

it w a s t h e g o d s ’

th e

b ig g u n a u th o r s , a n d I r e m e m b e r r e a liz in g — o fte n n o t d u r in g th e in te rv ie w , b u t a f te rw a r d ,

d o i n g b o o k s t o r e s ig n in g s a n d r e a d in g s

s in c e S a n d m a n . It h a s th a t k in d o f te x tu r e ,

s ittin g a n d c h a ttin g — th a t f o r a lo t o f th e b e s ts e llin g a u th o r s , th e ir s u c c e s s w a s f ru s tr a tin g

I ’d a lw a y s say , w ell, I w r o t e th is a n d

a n d th a t k in d o f ta s te . O n ly a lo t m o r e se x ”

a n d lim itin g .

i t ’s 6 0 ,0 0 0 w o r d s a n d I d o n ’t s e e w h y

( G a i m a n L iv e , 2 0 0 1 ) .

c lo s e s t th in g to

S a n d m a n I ’v e d o n e

“I t m e a n t t h e y w e r e i n a b o x . T h e y ’d b e c o m e s u c c e s s f u l a s t h e p e r s o n w h o d o e s ‘X ’

b o o k s h a v e to b e t h e s e g i a n t b r i c k - l i k e

I t s t a r t e d w h e n G a i m a n ’s m o v i e a g e n t ,

w h e t h e r i t ’s s p y n o v e l s , h o r r o r , f a n t a s y , h u m o r , w h a t e v e r . A n d I ’d h e a r t h i s r e f r a i n o v e r

th in g s t h a t y o u c o u l d s tu n b u r g la r s

Jo n L e v in , h a d m e n tio n e d th a t R o b e rt D e N iro w a s lo o k in g fo r a m o v ie to d o , an d

a n d o v e r , a l o n g t h e l i n e s o f: ‘I w a n t t o d o t h i s F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n n o v e l , b u t m y p u b l i s h e r

w ith , a n d I w o u ld

w o n ’t l e t m e ’, a n d I ’d b e g o i n g , b u t y o u ’r e s o - a n d - s o , w h a t d o y o u m e a n y o u r p u b l i s h e r

p e o p l e l i k e T a d W illia m s u n m e r c ifu lly ,

sa id to le t h i m k n o w i f G a im a n h a d a n y

w o n ’t l e t y o u ? ” ( W r i t e a w a y .o r g .u k )

a n d s a y th in g s lik e , “T a d w r it e s t h e s e

i d e a s f o r a D e N i r o v e h i c l e . H e d i d n ’t , b u t

h u g e b o o k s a n d l o o k , I j u s t d i d it in

h e s ta r te d th in k in g a b o u t tw o c h a r a c te r s :

s a m e v e in . F o llo w in g b o o k s

lik e N e v e r w h e r e

and

S t a r d u s t w i t h a n o t h e r b o o k lik e

a lit tle o n e . A n d

m o c k v e r y n ic e

i t ’s w o n a ll t h e s e

o n e a T a x i D r iv e r - e r a D e N ir o , th e o th e r,

a w a r d s !” I fig u r e s o m e w h e r e u p th e re

R ip T o rn , w h o m G a im a n h a d e n c o u n te r e d

N e v e r w h e r e o r S ta r d u s t w o u ld se a l th e d e a l— h e w o u ld b e c o m e th e E n g lis h g u y w h o

t h e w r i t in g g o d s h e a r d m e , a n d t h e y

in N o r t h C a r o l i n a w h i l e w o r k i n g o n a G o o d

w r ite s th o s e k in d s o f n o v e ls . “In s o m e w a y s A m e r ic a n G o d s w a s m e s a y in g I n e e d e d to

w e n t “O h , o k a y . R ig h t.” A n d s o I h it

O m e n s film s c rip t in 1 9 9 1 .

d r a w a v e r y l a r g e t e r r i t o r y f o r m e t o w a l k w i t h i n ” ( W r i t e a w a y .o r g .u k ) .

6 0 ,0 0 0 w o r d s a n d t h e b o o k w a s b a r e ly

A m e r i c a n G o d s w a s G a i m a n ’s f o u r t h n o v e l , a n d o n e t h a t w e n t o n a l o t l o n g e r t h a n h e th o u g h t it w o u ld .

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

s t a r t e d , a n d I h i t 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 w o r d s a n d it w a s s till g o i n g ( G a i m a n L iv e , 2 0 0 1 ) .

aBOVe: Lots of notes.

o n . “ I t’s a v e r y s t r a n g e b o o k . I t’s p r o b a b l y

rev en g e on m e. W h en I w en t a ro u n d

W h e n G a i m a n b e c a m e a n a u t h o r o f p r o s e h e c o u l d v e r y c l e a r l y s e e a ll t h e r u l e s a n d

t 222

It e n d e d u p s o m e w h e re n e a r e r 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 , a 6 0 0 - p a g e d o o r s to p , a n d t h e firs t n o v e l

o n c e y o u g e t p u t in a b o x y o u c a n n o t g e t o u t o f it a g a in . “I w o u ld in te r v ie w b e s ts e llin g ,

b o x e s th a t w o u ld b e q u ick ly d ra w n a r o u n d h im w e re h e to d o a se rie s o f b o o k s in th e

aBOVe: Jacket of the U.S. edition of American Gods, 2001.

I t w a s m e a n t to b e s o r t o f n o r m a l ­ s iz e d . B y t h e t im e I h a d w r i t t e n a

H e h a d th e se r e a lly s tra n g e s p e a k ­ in g p a t t e r n s , w h ic h a c t u a lly t h e y p r e t t y

CHapteR 5 | BeyoND co m ics

223 t

ameRicaNgo s D “Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are m ore difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.”

All through GaimaNs career He RefeRs back to tHiNgs wRiteRs saiD wHeN He was iNteRviewiNg tHem foR magazines in tHe miD-eigHties. f t e r S t a r d u s t , G a i m a n t h o u g h t h e w a s g o i n g t o w r i t e a n o v e l c a l l e d T i m e in t h e

A

S m o k e , a h i s t o r i c a l f a n t a s y s e t in r e s t o r a t i o n L o n d o n . H e d i d n ’t w r i t e i t , b e c a u s e

h is l a s t t h r e e n o v e l s h a d b e e n v e r y E n g l i s h a n d h e h a d l e a r n e d , a b o v e a ll, t h a t

n o r m a l - s i z e d b o o k it w a s o n ly h a l f ­

G a im a n th o u g h t h e h a d t r u ly g o n e s o lo

fin is h e d . I fig u r e d

it w a s t h e g o d s ’

th e

b ig g u n a u th o r s , a n d I r e m e m b e r r e a liz in g — o fte n n o t d u r in g th e in te rv ie w , b u t a f te rw a r d ,

d o i n g b o o k s t o r e s ig n in g s a n d r e a d in g s

s in c e S a n d m a n . It h a s th a t k in d o f te x tu r e ,

s ittin g a n d c h a ttin g — th a t f o r a lo t o f th e b e s ts e llin g a u th o r s , th e ir s u c c e s s w a s f ru s tr a tin g

I ’d a lw a y s say , w ell, I w r o t e th is a n d

a n d th a t k in d o f ta s te . O n ly a lo t m o r e se x ”

a n d lim itin g .

i t ’s 6 0 ,0 0 0 w o r d s a n d I d o n ’t s e e w h y

( G a i m a n L iv e , 2 0 0 1 ) .

c lo s e s t th in g to

S a n d m a n I ’v e d o n e

“I t m e a n t t h e y w e r e i n a b o x . T h e y ’d b e c o m e s u c c e s s f u l a s t h e p e r s o n w h o d o e s ‘X ’

b o o k s h a v e to b e t h e s e g i a n t b r i c k - l i k e

I t s t a r t e d w h e n G a i m a n ’s m o v i e a g e n t ,

w h e t h e r i t ’s s p y n o v e l s , h o r r o r , f a n t a s y , h u m o r , w h a t e v e r . A n d I ’d h e a r t h i s r e f r a i n o v e r

th in g s t h a t y o u c o u l d s tu n b u r g la r s

Jo n L e v in , h a d m e n tio n e d th a t R o b e rt D e N iro w a s lo o k in g fo r a m o v ie to d o , an d

a n d o v e r , a l o n g t h e l i n e s o f: ‘I w a n t t o d o t h i s F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n n o v e l , b u t m y p u b l i s h e r

w ith , a n d I w o u ld

w o n ’t l e t m e ’, a n d I ’d b e g o i n g , b u t y o u ’r e s o - a n d - s o , w h a t d o y o u m e a n y o u r p u b l i s h e r

p e o p l e l i k e T a d W illia m s u n m e r c ifu lly ,

sa id to le t h i m k n o w i f G a im a n h a d a n y

w o n ’t l e t y o u ? ” ( W r i t e a w a y .o r g .u k )

a n d s a y th in g s lik e , “T a d w r it e s t h e s e

i d e a s f o r a D e N i r o v e h i c l e . H e d i d n ’t , b u t

h u g e b o o k s a n d l o o k , I j u s t d i d it in

h e s ta r te d th in k in g a b o u t tw o c h a r a c te r s :

s a m e v e in . F o llo w in g b o o k s

lik e N e v e r w h e r e

and

S t a r d u s t w i t h a n o t h e r b o o k lik e

a lit tle o n e . A n d

m o c k v e r y n ic e

i t ’s w o n a ll t h e s e

o n e a T a x i D r iv e r - e r a D e N ir o , th e o th e r,

a w a r d s !” I fig u r e s o m e w h e r e u p th e re

R ip T o rn , w h o m G a im a n h a d e n c o u n te r e d

N e v e r w h e r e o r S ta r d u s t w o u ld se a l th e d e a l— h e w o u ld b e c o m e th e E n g lis h g u y w h o

t h e w r i t in g g o d s h e a r d m e , a n d t h e y

in N o r t h C a r o l i n a w h i l e w o r k i n g o n a G o o d

w r ite s th o s e k in d s o f n o v e ls . “In s o m e w a y s A m e r ic a n G o d s w a s m e s a y in g I n e e d e d to

w e n t “O h , o k a y . R ig h t.” A n d s o I h it

O m e n s film s c rip t in 1 9 9 1 .

d r a w a v e r y l a r g e t e r r i t o r y f o r m e t o w a l k w i t h i n ” ( W r i t e a w a y .o r g .u k ) .

6 0 ,0 0 0 w o r d s a n d t h e b o o k w a s b a r e ly

A m e r i c a n G o d s w a s G a i m a n ’s f o u r t h n o v e l , a n d o n e t h a t w e n t o n a l o t l o n g e r t h a n h e th o u g h t it w o u ld .

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

s t a r t e d , a n d I h i t 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 w o r d s a n d it w a s s till g o i n g ( G a i m a n L iv e , 2 0 0 1 ) .

aBOVe: Lots of notes.

o n . “ I t’s a v e r y s t r a n g e b o o k . I t’s p r o b a b l y

rev en g e on m e. W h en I w en t a ro u n d

W h e n G a i m a n b e c a m e a n a u t h o r o f p r o s e h e c o u l d v e r y c l e a r l y s e e a ll t h e r u l e s a n d

t 222

It e n d e d u p s o m e w h e re n e a r e r 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 , a 6 0 0 - p a g e d o o r s to p , a n d t h e firs t n o v e l

o n c e y o u g e t p u t in a b o x y o u c a n n o t g e t o u t o f it a g a in . “I w o u ld in te r v ie w b e s ts e llin g ,

b o x e s th a t w o u ld b e q u ick ly d ra w n a r o u n d h im w e re h e to d o a se rie s o f b o o k s in th e

aBOVe: Jacket of the U.S. edition of American Gods, 2001.

I t w a s m e a n t to b e s o r t o f n o r m a l ­ s iz e d . B y t h e t im e I h a d w r i t t e n a

H e h a d th e se r e a lly s tra n g e s p e a k ­ in g p a t t e r n s , w h ic h a c t u a lly t h e y p r e t t y

CHapteR 5 | BeyoND co m ics

223 t

much used in The Larry Sanders Show, that’s more or less his speech patterns. And I just imagined these two people meeting on a plane (Wagner, 2008). I was lying in bed one night, and it wasn’t actually a dream, it was in that weird little half-state you get into before you actually fall asleep. And in my head there was a man running through an airport, and he’d already had a hell of a day. He’d gone to the wrong airport, the plane had been diverted due to weather, it had landed in the wrong airport. He’d run across, gate to gate, as I often have, trying to get there. When he gets onto the plane there’s somebody sitting in his seat. And the stewardess says come on, we have a seat in first class, we have to take off, and she sticks him down in first class. And the man sitting next to him in the seat turns to him and says: “You are late. Now, I want to offer you a job” (Gaiman Live, 2001). All Gaiman had was a beginning. The characters had no names, there was no Shadow or Mr. Wednesday. The notion lived in his head slowly accumulating ideas like orbiting moons. Added to this was the fact that he’d been living in America for about six years and was finding out that it was weird in ways that nobody had ever told him. He’d spent the pre-move years writing about America for American comics, setting stories within it, but it was an America in his mind—a place made out of bits of films and TV shows by an Englishman living in England. The America he discovered when he moved was something else entirely. I knew so much more about America before I came here! I remember initially assuming there was an awful lot underneath the surface, then living here for a little while and thinking, “Oh, there’s nothing underneath the surface—what you see is what you get.” And then, coming through that and deciding, “Yeah, there actually is an awful lot under the surface, but it’s not what I was looking

ABOVE: More notes.

† 224

the art of neil gaiman

for.” England has history; Americans have geography. Which goes back to that joke, “America is a country where 100 years is a long time, and England is a country where 100 miles is a long way.” Both of those things are true on many levels. There really isn’t a great English road trip tradition, because in three or four days, you’ve done it all. Whereas in America, the idea of the road trip is this magnificent long slog (Locus Online, 1999). The novel all snapped into focus in 1998, when Gaiman found himself sleepdeprived in Iceland, where the summer sun never set. “My travel agent had pointed out to me, since I was going to Norway, I could take advantage of a free stopover in Iceland. I flew to Iceland, it was around July the fourth; I left at seven o’clock in the evening, got in around six-thirty in the morning, local time there, and hadn’t slept on the plane because it was too quick—you hop over the Pole—and said, ‘You know, I’m not going to bed now.’ I never did. The room that I was in didn’t have curtains, and it was daylight. So, the following afternoon— Sunday, my twenty-four-hour day in Iceland—I hadn’t slept in a long time. I wandered into the corridors of this building, I bought a little piece of scrimshaw, and then I saw a little diorama showing the voyages of Leif Ericson across Iceland to Vinland [in North America], and the timeline: This is when they got in, they fought the Indians, they got driven out again. And I just thought, ‘I wonder if they left their gods behind’” (Wagner, 2008). He wrote a letter to his editor, Jennifer Hershey at Avon Books, saying he had an idea for a book and that he was going to call it American Gods until he came up with something better. A road-trip novel full of eerie Americana in which the old gods of immigrants are abandoned in favor of the secular gods of technology, a novel tinged with horror, full of stories and myth, and how godlike needs can be satisfied in small ways in human life. “Within a month or two, they sent me a mock-up of the cover, which was the cover. This was a really odd thing, and suddenly it was

LEFT: Plan for a chapter that never got written.

225 †

much used in The Larry Sanders Show, that’s more or less his speech patterns. And I just imagined these two people meeting on a plane (Wagner, 2008). I was lying in bed one night, and it wasn’t actually a dream, it was in that weird little half-state you get into before you actually fall asleep. And in my head there was a man running through an airport, and he’d already had a hell of a day. He’d gone to the wrong airport, the plane had been diverted due to weather, it had landed in the wrong airport. He’d run across, gate to gate, as I often have, trying to get there. When he gets onto the plane there’s somebody sitting in his seat. And the stewardess says come on, we have a seat in first class, we have to take off, and she sticks him down in first class. And the man sitting next to him in the seat turns to him and says: “You are late. Now, I want to offer you a job” (Gaiman Live, 2001). All Gaiman had was a beginning. The characters had no names, there was no Shadow or Mr. Wednesday. The notion lived in his head slowly accumulating ideas like orbiting moons. Added to this was the fact that he’d been living in America for about six years and was finding out that it was weird in ways that nobody had ever told him. He’d spent the pre-move years writing about America for American comics, setting stories within it, but it was an America in his mind—a place made out of bits of films and TV shows by an Englishman living in England. The America he discovered when he moved was something else entirely. I knew so much more about America before I came here! I remember initially assuming there was an awful lot underneath the surface, then living here for a little while and thinking, “Oh, there’s nothing underneath the surface—what you see is what you get.” And then, coming through that and deciding, “Yeah, there actually is an awful lot under the surface, but it’s not what I was looking

ABOVE: More notes.

† 224

the art of neil gaiman

for.” England has history; Americans have geography. Which goes back to that joke, “America is a country where 100 years is a long time, and England is a country where 100 miles is a long way.” Both of those things are true on many levels. There really isn’t a great English road trip tradition, because in three or four days, you’ve done it all. Whereas in America, the idea of the road trip is this magnificent long slog (Locus Online, 1999). The novel all snapped into focus in 1998, when Gaiman found himself sleepdeprived in Iceland, where the summer sun never set. “My travel agent had pointed out to me, since I was going to Norway, I could take advantage of a free stopover in Iceland. I flew to Iceland, it was around July the fourth; I left at seven o’clock in the evening, got in around six-thirty in the morning, local time there, and hadn’t slept on the plane because it was too quick—you hop over the Pole—and said, ‘You know, I’m not going to bed now.’ I never did. The room that I was in didn’t have curtains, and it was daylight. So, the following afternoon— Sunday, my twenty-four-hour day in Iceland—I hadn’t slept in a long time. I wandered into the corridors of this building, I bought a little piece of scrimshaw, and then I saw a little diorama showing the voyages of Leif Ericson across Iceland to Vinland [in North America], and the timeline: This is when they got in, they fought the Indians, they got driven out again. And I just thought, ‘I wonder if they left their gods behind’” (Wagner, 2008). He wrote a letter to his editor, Jennifer Hershey at Avon Books, saying he had an idea for a book and that he was going to call it American Gods until he came up with something better. A road-trip novel full of eerie Americana in which the old gods of immigrants are abandoned in favor of the secular gods of technology, a novel tinged with horror, full of stories and myth, and how godlike needs can be satisfied in small ways in human life. “Within a month or two, they sent me a mock-up of the cover, which was the cover. This was a really odd thing, and suddenly it was

LEFT: Plan for a chapter that never got written.

225 †

c a l l e d A m e r i c a n G o d s b e c a u s e t h a t ’s w h a t

m a g ic ia n

i t s a id o n t h e c o v e r . A n d i t h a d t h i s r o a d

hand

h e a d in g o u t, a n d th is lig h tn in g b o lt, a n d I

w h e n h e fle w to L a s V e g a s to se e P e n n a n d

th o u g h t , ‘O k a y , t h i s is t h e b o o k I’m w r i t i n g ’”

T e l l e r a f t e r t h e i r a p p e a r a n c e o n B a b y l o n 5.

(W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ).

“J a m y

H e m a d e s u r e t o p u t a l i g h t n i n g b o l t in

w ho

sp e cia liz e d

in

s le ig h t

a n d c a r d tric k s . G a im a n

and

A m e r ic a n

I w o u ld

have

G od s w h ere

of

m e t h im

a rg u m e n ts

I w o u ld

u se

in th e

w o r d ‘m i s d i r e c t i o n ’ a n d h e w o u l d sa y , ‘N o ,

th e s to r y so m e w h e re . G o i n g b a c k a n d l o o k i n g a t S a n d m a n in

th e re

is

no

m is d ire c tio n ,

th e re

is

o n ly

a p o s t - A m e r i c a n G o d s w o rld , s o m e issu e s

d i r e c t i o n , w h a t a m a g i c i a n is d o i n g is h e ’s

f e e l lik e p i e c e s o f A m e r i c a n

d ir e c t in g p e o p l e ’s a t t e n t i o n .’ S t u f f lik e t h a t .”

G o d s tra n s ­

p la n te d in to th e p a s t. O n e p a r tic u la r p o in t

In A p r i l 2 0 1 1 , t e n y e a r s a f te r t h e b o o k s t h a t A m e r ic a n

w h e r e t h i s is c l e a r e s t is t h e p a r t w h e r e a

r e l e a s e , it w a s a n n o u n c e d

g r a n d f a t h e r is t e l l i n g h is g r a n d d a u g h t e r a

G ods

s t o r y f r o m th e o ld c o u n t r y — a ta le o f g y p s y

s e r i e s , p r o d u c e d b y T o m H a n k s ’s c o m p a n y ,

w as

d e s tin e d

to

be

a

te le v is io n

w o m e n , fo re s ts , a n d w e re w o lv e s. T h e g irl

P la y to n e . G a im a n w a s g o in g to w rite th e

is b o r e d a n d w o u l d r a t h e r w a t c h T V , a n d

p i l o t e p i s o d e . “ T h e o v e r a l l p la n r i g h t n o w is

b ru s h e s o ff a n y re fe re n c e h e d ro p s to b e in g

t h a t t h e f i r s t s e a s o n w o u l d e s s e n tia lly b e t h e

v e ry , v e r y o ld (in th is c a s e c e n t u r ie s ) , a n d

b o o k , w i t h a f e w i n t e r e s t i n g d iv e r g e n c e s . . .

h e o n l y r e v e a l s a t t h e e n d t h a t h e is t h e o n e

A f t e r t h a t , t h e r e w a s a lw a y s so m u c h m o r e p lo t: o n w h a t h a p p e n s t o S h a d o w , o n w h a t h a p p e n s in t h e f a llo u t o f A m e r i c a n G o d s , s o w e ’r e j u s t g o i n g t o f o llo w it a l o n g ” ( D e n o f G e e k , 2 0 1 1 ) . In F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 t h e s e r ie s

"^American

waS th e fir s t thing Id done which.

m o v e d f r o m P la y to n e to F re e m a n tle M e d ia N o r t h A m e r i c a b e c a u s e H B O ’s o p t i o n h a d e x p i r e d , b u t t h e p i l o t h a d t o s t a y w h e r e it

WaS really lonely.

w a s — t i e d u p i n P l a y t o n e , a n d P la y t o n e is e x c lu s iv e ly H B O . S a y s N e il: “ I c o u l d w r i t e a n o th e r p ilo t e p is o d e b u t th e r e w o u ld b e o v e r la p b e c a u s e it’s b a s e d o n t h e n o v e l, a n d it w o u l d b e p o s s ib le f o r H B O t o b e g r u m p y

in th e m y th , b e fo re s a y in g g o o d n ig h t a n d

a b o u t it. I t is f a r e a s i e r a n d w i s e r n o t t o d o

a b ru p tly le a v in g th e r o o m .

it.” H e ’ll s t i c k a r o u n d a s e x e c u t iv e p r o d u c e r .

“A m e r i c a n G o d s w a s t h e f i r s t t h i n g I ’d

se c o n d A m e r ic a n

G o d s , w h i c h w il l lik e ly

l o n e l y b o o k . I t t o o k t h e b e s t p a r t o f tw o

feed in to th e T V

sh ow . In 2 0 1 1

y e a rs to w r ite a n d f o r th e firs t s ix m o n th s o f

“F o r m e , A m e r ic a n

w r itin g it I w e n t o ff o n m y o w n , I b o r ro w e d

m a k in g s e n s e o f A m e r i c a th e firs t tim e ,

h o u s e s f r o m f r i e n d s , a n d I d i d n ’t k n o w t h a t

a n d I th in k if I g o b a c k an d d o A m e r ic a n

o p p o s i te :

t 226

h e sa id ,

G ods w as a w ay of

I c o u l d d o t h i s t h i n g . I k n e w i t w a s g o i n g to

G o d s 2 , t h a t w ill b e m y w a y o f m a k in g

b e a b ig n o v e l, t h a t in o r d e r to w o r k it h a d

sen se o f w h a t A m e ric a h as b e c o m e , p o s t-

to b e th ic k a n d th a t I w as a im in g fo r a

9 /1 1 a n d p o s t - p o s t- 9 /1 1 , a p e c u lia r w o rld

q u a r te r o f a m illio n w o rd s . It w a s a s tra n g e

in w h i c h s o m e t h i n g s h a v e c h a n g e d , s o m e

t i m e ; I w a s i n h o u s e s I ’d b o r r o w e d f r o m

th in g s a re f r a g m e n t - i n g , a n d s o m e th in g s

T o ri A m o s a n d Jo n a th a n R o s s, a n d I w as

h av e n o r m a liz e d . Y o u h a v e th e s m a r tp h o n e

ju s t o n m y o w n w r itin g , m a k in g s tu ff u p

g e n e r a tio n w ith in c re d ib ly s h o r t a tte n tio n

a n d p r a c tic in g c o in tric k s . I f I g e t to th e

sp an s.

p o in t w h e re

so m e th in g

w o r l d o f i m m e d i a c y . I ’m f a s c i n a t e d b y t h e

G o d s a g a in , I c a n

n a t u r e o f i m m e d i a c y . A l l o f t h a t s t u f f is

a b s o lu te ly s e e m y s e l f d o i n g t h a t a g a i n , a n d

g o in g in t h e r e ” (S te e l, 2 0 1 1 ) . B u t, th e n ,

as lo n g

Even more notes.

A s o f 2 0 1 4 G a im a n w as w o rk in g o n a

d o n e w h i c h w a s r e a l l y l o n e l y . . . i t ’s a v e r y

I need

as A m e r ic a n

to

w rite

The

T w itte r

g e n e ra tio n .

And

a

i t ’s g o i n g t o b e h a r d e r ” ( W r i t e a w a y .o r g .u k ) .

G a i m a n is a n o v e l i s t w h o d o e s n ’t p l a n — h e

F o r th e c o in tric k s a n d m a g ic h e fo u n d

w r ite s to fin d o u t w h a t h e th in k s a b o u t

h e lp i n J a m y I a n S w is s , a r e n o w n e d s t a g e

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

s o m e th in g . E v e r y th in g c a n ch a n g e . ❖

c a l l e d A m e r i c a n G o d s b e c a u s e t h a t ’s w h a t

m a g ic ia n

i t s a id o n t h e c o v e r . A n d i t h a d t h i s r o a d

hand

h e a d in g o u t, a n d th is lig h tn in g b o lt, a n d I

w h e n h e fle w to L a s V e g a s to se e P e n n a n d

th o u g h t , ‘O k a y , t h i s is t h e b o o k I’m w r i t i n g ’”

T e l l e r a f t e r t h e i r a p p e a r a n c e o n B a b y l o n 5.

(W a g n e r, 2 0 0 8 ).

“J a m y

H e m a d e s u r e t o p u t a l i g h t n i n g b o l t in

w ho

sp e cia liz e d

in

s le ig h t

a n d c a r d tric k s . G a im a n

and

A m e r ic a n

I w o u ld

have

G od s w h ere

of

m e t h im

a rg u m e n ts

I w o u ld

u se

in th e

w o r d ‘m i s d i r e c t i o n ’ a n d h e w o u l d sa y , ‘N o ,

th e s to r y so m e w h e re . G o i n g b a c k a n d l o o k i n g a t S a n d m a n in

th e re

is

no

m is d ire c tio n ,

th e re

is

o n ly

a p o s t - A m e r i c a n G o d s w o rld , s o m e issu e s

d i r e c t i o n , w h a t a m a g i c i a n is d o i n g is h e ’s

f e e l lik e p i e c e s o f A m e r i c a n

d ir e c t in g p e o p l e ’s a t t e n t i o n .’ S t u f f lik e t h a t .”

G o d s tra n s ­

p la n te d in to th e p a s t. O n e p a r tic u la r p o in t

In A p r i l 2 0 1 1 , t e n y e a r s a f te r t h e b o o k s t h a t A m e r ic a n

w h e r e t h i s is c l e a r e s t is t h e p a r t w h e r e a

r e l e a s e , it w a s a n n o u n c e d

g r a n d f a t h e r is t e l l i n g h is g r a n d d a u g h t e r a

G ods

s t o r y f r o m th e o ld c o u n t r y — a ta le o f g y p s y

s e r i e s , p r o d u c e d b y T o m H a n k s ’s c o m p a n y ,

w as

d e s tin e d

to

be

a

te le v is io n

w o m e n , fo re s ts , a n d w e re w o lv e s. T h e g irl

P la y to n e . G a im a n w a s g o in g to w rite th e

is b o r e d a n d w o u l d r a t h e r w a t c h T V , a n d

p i l o t e p i s o d e . “ T h e o v e r a l l p la n r i g h t n o w is

b ru s h e s o ff a n y re fe re n c e h e d ro p s to b e in g

t h a t t h e f i r s t s e a s o n w o u l d e s s e n tia lly b e t h e

v e ry , v e r y o ld (in th is c a s e c e n t u r ie s ) , a n d

b o o k , w i t h a f e w i n t e r e s t i n g d iv e r g e n c e s . . .

h e o n l y r e v e a l s a t t h e e n d t h a t h e is t h e o n e

A f t e r t h a t , t h e r e w a s a lw a y s so m u c h m o r e p lo t: o n w h a t h a p p e n s t o S h a d o w , o n w h a t h a p p e n s in t h e f a llo u t o f A m e r i c a n G o d s , s o w e ’r e j u s t g o i n g t o f o llo w it a l o n g ” ( D e n o f G e e k , 2 0 1 1 ) . In F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 t h e s e r ie s

"^American

waS th e fir s t thing Id done which.

m o v e d f r o m P la y to n e to F re e m a n tle M e d ia N o r t h A m e r i c a b e c a u s e H B O ’s o p t i o n h a d e x p i r e d , b u t t h e p i l o t h a d t o s t a y w h e r e it

WaS really lonely.

w a s — t i e d u p i n P l a y t o n e , a n d P la y t o n e is e x c lu s iv e ly H B O . S a y s N e il: “ I c o u l d w r i t e a n o th e r p ilo t e p is o d e b u t th e r e w o u ld b e o v e r la p b e c a u s e it’s b a s e d o n t h e n o v e l, a n d it w o u l d b e p o s s ib le f o r H B O t o b e g r u m p y

in th e m y th , b e fo re s a y in g g o o d n ig h t a n d

a b o u t it. I t is f a r e a s i e r a n d w i s e r n o t t o d o

a b ru p tly le a v in g th e r o o m .

it.” H e ’ll s t i c k a r o u n d a s e x e c u t iv e p r o d u c e r .

“A m e r i c a n G o d s w a s t h e f i r s t t h i n g I ’d

se c o n d A m e r ic a n

G o d s , w h i c h w il l lik e ly

l o n e l y b o o k . I t t o o k t h e b e s t p a r t o f tw o

feed in to th e T V

sh ow . In 2 0 1 1

y e a rs to w r ite a n d f o r th e firs t s ix m o n th s o f

“F o r m e , A m e r ic a n

w r itin g it I w e n t o ff o n m y o w n , I b o r ro w e d

m a k in g s e n s e o f A m e r i c a th e firs t tim e ,

h o u s e s f r o m f r i e n d s , a n d I d i d n ’t k n o w t h a t

a n d I th in k if I g o b a c k an d d o A m e r ic a n

o p p o s i te :

t 226

h e sa id ,

G ods w as a w ay of

I c o u l d d o t h i s t h i n g . I k n e w i t w a s g o i n g to

G o d s 2 , t h a t w ill b e m y w a y o f m a k in g

b e a b ig n o v e l, t h a t in o r d e r to w o r k it h a d

sen se o f w h a t A m e ric a h as b e c o m e , p o s t-

to b e th ic k a n d th a t I w as a im in g fo r a

9 /1 1 a n d p o s t - p o s t- 9 /1 1 , a p e c u lia r w o rld

q u a r te r o f a m illio n w o rd s . It w a s a s tra n g e

in w h i c h s o m e t h i n g s h a v e c h a n g e d , s o m e

t i m e ; I w a s i n h o u s e s I ’d b o r r o w e d f r o m

th in g s a re f r a g m e n t - i n g , a n d s o m e th in g s

T o ri A m o s a n d Jo n a th a n R o s s, a n d I w as

h av e n o r m a liz e d . Y o u h a v e th e s m a r tp h o n e

ju s t o n m y o w n w r itin g , m a k in g s tu ff u p

g e n e r a tio n w ith in c re d ib ly s h o r t a tte n tio n

a n d p r a c tic in g c o in tric k s . I f I g e t to th e

sp an s.

p o in t w h e re

so m e th in g

w o r l d o f i m m e d i a c y . I ’m f a s c i n a t e d b y t h e

G o d s a g a in , I c a n

n a t u r e o f i m m e d i a c y . A l l o f t h a t s t u f f is

a b s o lu te ly s e e m y s e l f d o i n g t h a t a g a i n , a n d

g o in g in t h e r e ” (S te e l, 2 0 1 1 ) . B u t, th e n ,

as lo n g

Even more notes.

A s o f 2 0 1 4 G a im a n w as w o rk in g o n a

d o n e w h i c h w a s r e a l l y l o n e l y . . . i t ’s a v e r y

I need

as A m e r ic a n

to

w rite

The

T w itte r

g e n e ra tio n .

And

a

i t ’s g o i n g t o b e h a r d e r ” ( W r i t e a w a y .o r g .u k ) .

G a i m a n is a n o v e l i s t w h o d o e s n ’t p l a n — h e

F o r th e c o in tric k s a n d m a g ic h e fo u n d

w r ite s to fin d o u t w h a t h e th in k s a b o u t

h e lp i n J a m y I a n S w is s , a r e n o w n e d s t a g e

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

s o m e th in g . E v e r y th in g c a n ch a n g e . ❖

b o y , f r i g h t e n e d t h a t o n e d a y h is p a r e n t s

L eft: Chris Riddell’s artwork for the cover of the UK tenth anniversary edition of , 2013.

w o u ld g o o u t a n d th e p a re n ts w h o d ro v e up th e d riv e w a y a fe w h o u rs la te r w o u ld o n ly

CORaLIN w

Coraline

b e c o p i e s o f h is r e a l p a r e n t s , a n d h e ’d n e v e r s e e h is r e a l o n e s a g a i n . H e c o u l d n ’t f in d a n y s t o r i e s lik e it o n t h e s h e l f t o r e a d t o H o lly , so h e d e c id e d to w rite h e r o n e . T h e s u c c e s s o f th e

r e s u ltin g b o o k

s u g g e sts

w e ’r e

a ll

a fra id o f th e v e r y s a m e th in g . H e s t a r t e d i t in 1 9 9 0 , w h e n h e w a s s till l i v i n g in a b i g o l d h o u s e c a l l e d L i t t l e m e a d , in E a s t S u s s e x , a n d s e t t h e s t o r y t h e r e . “B u t

“Only her skin was as whiteaspaper. Only

I

to o k

th e

lit t l e

door

(th ro u g h

w h ic h

C o r a lin e e s c a p e s in to h e r f r ig h te n in g a d ­ v e n tu r e s ) f r o m th e h o u s e w h e r e I liv e d a s a b oy. O n e d o o r h a d b e e n b ric k e d up . I w a s c o n v i n c e d t h e r e h a d t o b e a w a y t o o p e n it

shewastallerandthinner. Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped

a n d if I d id , it w o u ld g o d o w n a p a s s a g e w a y w h e re stra n g e , w o n d e rfu l a n d m a y b e s c a ry

moving, and her dark red fingernails were curved and sharp.”

th in g s w o u ld h a p p e n to m e ” (O u z o u n ia n , 2 0 0 9 ).

O rig in a lly

he

th o u g h t

it

w o u ld

b e a s h o r t s to r y s o m e w h e re a r o u n d th re e th o u sa n d

w o rd s,

O c c a s io n a lly

he

but

it

w o u l d n ’t

kept

g o in g .

know

w hat

h a p p e n e d n e x t so h e w o u ld p u t th e s to r y aw ay , o n c e f o r as l o n g as f o u r y e a rs . It w a s w ritte n

tra in

cLiffoRD, puBLiSHeD i n 1882, caLLeD “tHe New motHeR.” aN aNgeLic

w h a t h a p p e n e d n e x t . It g r e w o v e r te n y e a rs

v e ry -re sp e c te d ,

e d ito r

m y h e a r t w a s in t h e r i g h t p la c e .’ S o , a l o t o f

aND LoviNg motHeR waRNS HeR cHiLDReN tHat if tHey aRe

in s p a r e m o m e n t s . “Y o u ’d t h i n k f o r s o m e ­

(n o w d e a d ). H e to ld m e h e th o u g h t it w a s

th e tim e m y b o o k s a n d s to rie s a re c h a irs .

th in g w ritte n so p e c u lia rly — a 3 0 ,0 0 0 - w o r d

a b s o lu te ly

T h e y ’r e g o o d c h a i r s , c h a i r s I ’m p r o u d o f.

n o v e l w ritte n o v e r a te n -y e a r p e rio d — th a t

p u b l i s h a b l e . H e s a i d , ‘T h e r e is n o w a y t h a t

H o w e v e r , w i t h C o r a l i n e I f e e l r a t h e r lik e I

aND tHat tHey wiLL g et a New motHeR to RepLace HeR: oNe witH

it o u g h t to b e c h o p p y a n d b u m p y a n d y o u

y o u c a n p u b l i s h s o m e t h i n g t h a t is a d a r k

fe e l a b o u t

gLaSS eyeS aND a wooDeN taiL tHat DRagS aLoNg tHe flooR.

s h o u l d b e a b le t o sa y , ‘G o s h , y o u c a n s e e

f a n ta s y n o v e l f o r c h ild re n

and

w o n d e rfu l, a n d I k n o w I w as th e re at th e ir

th is w a s w r itte n b y a t h ir ty -o n e -y e a r -o ld

a im e d

for

liv in g in E n g la n d , a n d th is w a s w r itte n b y

re a s o n s — th a t

a fo rty -o n e -y e a r-o ld

w o n d e r f u l h o r r o r n o v e l ’” ( I n d i e B o u n d ) .

K

liv in g

in

A m e r i c a .’

t h e c h i ld r e n a r e p e r f e c t l y b e h a v e d u n t i l t h e y m e e t a s t r a n g e g i r l o n t h e s id e o f th e

B u t t h e r e is n ’t a n y o f t h a t ; i t h a s its o w n

r o a d . S h e h a s a little m u s i c a l b o x a n d sa y s t h e r e a r e t i n y p e o p l e in s id e i t w h o w ill

v o ic e ” (I n d ie B o u n d ).

at

b e lo v e d

b rillia n t

b o th

B u t h o rro r

is

and

E n g lis h

co m p le te ly

m a rk e ts e ss e n tia lly

has

a w ay

a

un­

a d u lts— d iffe re n t d ark

o f b e in g

and

se lf-

my

c h ild re n , in

th a t

t h e y ’r e

c o n c e p t i o n , a n d I k n o w I ’v e h a d a f a ir ly in tim a te

d a y -b y -d a y

h e lp

w ith

th e ir

g ro w th , b u t I lo o k a t th e m a t th e e n d o f th e d a y a n d I t h i n k , ‘Y o u ’r e r e a l l y c o o l . H o w

s e le c tin g . C h ild re n r e a d it as a n a d v e n tu re

d i d y o u g e t t h e r e ? W h e r e d id y o u c o m e

d a n c e a n d te ll t h e m s e c r e t s , b u t o n l y v e r y b a d c h i ld r e n a r e a llo w e d t o s e e it. T h e c h i ld r e n

B y th e tim e h e h a d fin is h e d it, H o lly

s to ry a n d are n e v e r sc a re d b e c a u se C o ra lin e

f r o m a n d h o w d id y o u t u r n o u t lik e t h i s ? ’” (I n d ie B o u n d ).

e x p la in t h e t h i n g a b o u t t h e m o t h e r le a v i n g a n d h o w t h e y c a n ’t p o s s i b l y b e b a d , a n d t h e g irl

w a s n e a rly g ro w n up . L ittle M a d d y G a im a n ,

is n e v e r s c a r e d , w h i l e t h e a d u lts k n o w j u s t

r e p lie s m a t t e r - o f - f a c t l y , “ T h e y a ll t h r e a t e n t h a t k i n d o f t h i n g . O f c o u r s e r e a l l y t h e r e a r e n o

w h o h a d a r riv e d a fte r t h e firs t c h a p te r h a d

how m u ch

m o t h e r s w i t h g la s s e y e s a n d w o o d e n ta ils ; t h e y w o u l d b e m u c h t o o e x p e n s i v e t o m a k e .”

b e e n w r itte n , w a s s ix . It w a s a lw a y s g o in g

t h r o u g h t h e g a p s b e t w e e n t h e i r f in g e rs .

d a n g e r s h e is in

a n d r e a d it

T e n y e a r s l a t e r i t is a b e l o v e d b o o k , a P. C r a ig R u s s e ll c o m i c a d a p ta tio n , a m u s ic a l

It’s a V i c t o r i a n c a u t i o n a r y t a l e f o r c h i l d r e n , o n e o f t h o s e t h i n g s y o u r e a d a s a n a d u l t a n d

t o b e G a i m a n ’s E d w a r d G o r e y b o o k , e x c e p t

I t g r e w o r g a n i c a l l y a n d w a s w r i t t e n in

b y S te p h in M e r r itt, a n d a m o v ie b y H e n r y

fe e l y o u s h o u ld d o e v e ry th in g in y o u r p o w e r to p r e v e n t th e b o o k fa llin g in to th e h a n d s o f

h e f i n i s h e d i t t h r e e d a y s a f t e r G o r e y d ie d .

an e n tire ly m a d a n d u n re c o m m e n d e d w ay,

S e lic k . A s a H a l l o w e e n t r e a t in 2 0 1 2 , e a c h

c h i l d r e n , e x c e p t t h a t c h i l d r e n r e a d t h e s e s t o r i e s d i f f e r e n t l y t o a d u l t s s o t h e r e ’s n o n e e d .

It w e n t

D ave

o n e w h ic h G a im a n th in k s h e w ill n e v e r b e

o f th e th irte e n ch a p te rs w a s re a d o n c a m e r a

“I t’s h a u n t i n g lik e a n i g h t m a r e is h a u n t i n g ,” s a y s G a i m a n ( O u z o u n i a n , 2 0 0 9 ) . H is o w n

M c K e a n i l l u s t r a t i o n s i n s t e a d , in 2 0 0 2 , a n d

a b le t o r e p l i c a t e . C o r a l i n e is a s p e r f e c t as

by

C o r a l i n e h a s t h a t k i n d o f f e e l; p u r e G o t h i c h o r r o r , t i n g e d w i t h a n A lic e in W o n d e r la n d

w h a te v e r v e rs io n

s h e w ill e v e r b e . “W i t h m o s t o f m y b o o k s I

N e i l ’s f a i r y g o d d a u g h t e r N a t a s h y a H a w le y ,

d e p e n d s e n tir e ly o n h o w o ld y o u a re . T h e

fe e l m u c h

N e a l S h u s te rm a n , C a s s a n d ra C la re , A d a m

w o rd s a re e x a c tly th e sa m e .

s c u l p t u r e o r a c h a i r t h e y ’v e m a d e : ‘T h i s is a

R ex,

r a b b i t - h o l e w o n d e r . A n d h e d i d i t o n p u r p o s e . I t’s a b o o k h e w r o t e f o r h is o w n little g ir ls .

t 228

s ta r ts , in m u lti-p a g e

f ifty -w o rd b u rs ts o n

j o u r n e y s , la t e a t n i g h t — w h e n e v e r h e k n e w

n o w i n g th is t o b e a b s o l u t e ly a t r u e t h i n g t h a t w ill d e f in ite ly h a p p e n i f t h e y a r e b a d ,

Coraline,

fits a n d

tH e R e ’ S a SHORt StORy By a BRitiSH WRiteR caLLeD Lucy

NaugHty SHe wiLL Have to pack HeR BagS aND go away foReveR,

aBOVe: first U.S. paperback cover, 2003, with Dave McKean artwork.

in

c h u n k s o r in

W h e n s h e w a s f o u r , N e i l ’s d a u g h t e r H o l l y w o u l d c o m e h o m e f r o m k i n d e r g a r t e n , c r a w l

out

in to

th e

w o rld

w ith

o f th e b o o k y o u

re a d

as a c ra fts m a n

f e e ls a b o u t a

d iffe re n t

M e lissa

p e o p le — L e m o n y

M a rr,

F a iru z a

S n ick e t,

B a lk ,

Jo h n

u p o n h is la p , a n d d i c t a t e n i g h t m a r i s h s t o r i e s i n w h i c h h e r m o t h e r w a s t i e d u p i n t h e

“W h e n I b e g a n i t , I r e m e m b e r i n 1 9 9 0

g o o d c h a i r , I lik e it. I t’s s o lid .’ O r , ‘W e l l , t h e

H o d g m a n , H o l l y B l a c k , a n d R . L . S tin e ,

b a s e m e n t a n d r e p l a c e d b y a n e v il w i t c h . N e i l h a d h is o w n u n d e r l y i n g f e a r w h e n h e w a s a

sh o w in g th e firs t c o u p le o f c h a p te r s to a

le g s a re a b it w o n k y , b u t y o u c a n s e e th a t

b o o k e n d e d b y N e il. ❖

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

CHapteR 5 | BeyoND co m ics

229 t

b o y , f r i g h t e n e d t h a t o n e d a y h is p a r e n t s

L eft: Chris Riddell’s artwork for the cover of the UK tenth anniversary edition of , 2013.

w o u ld g o o u t a n d th e p a re n ts w h o d ro v e up th e d riv e w a y a fe w h o u rs la te r w o u ld o n ly

CORaLIN w

Coraline

b e c o p i e s o f h is r e a l p a r e n t s , a n d h e ’d n e v e r s e e h is r e a l o n e s a g a i n . H e c o u l d n ’t f in d a n y s t o r i e s lik e it o n t h e s h e l f t o r e a d t o H o lly , so h e d e c id e d to w rite h e r o n e . T h e s u c c e s s o f th e

r e s u ltin g b o o k

s u g g e sts

w e ’r e

a ll

a fra id o f th e v e r y s a m e th in g . H e s t a r t e d i t in 1 9 9 0 , w h e n h e w a s s till l i v i n g in a b i g o l d h o u s e c a l l e d L i t t l e m e a d , in E a s t S u s s e x , a n d s e t t h e s t o r y t h e r e . “B u t

“Only her skin was as whiteaspaper. Only

I

to o k

th e

lit t l e

door

(th ro u g h

w h ic h

C o r a lin e e s c a p e s in to h e r f r ig h te n in g a d ­ v e n tu r e s ) f r o m th e h o u s e w h e r e I liv e d a s a b oy. O n e d o o r h a d b e e n b ric k e d up . I w a s c o n v i n c e d t h e r e h a d t o b e a w a y t o o p e n it

shewastallerandthinner. Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped

a n d if I d id , it w o u ld g o d o w n a p a s s a g e w a y w h e re stra n g e , w o n d e rfu l a n d m a y b e s c a ry

moving, and her dark red fingernails were curved and sharp.”

th in g s w o u ld h a p p e n to m e ” (O u z o u n ia n , 2 0 0 9 ).

O rig in a lly

he

th o u g h t

it

w o u ld

b e a s h o r t s to r y s o m e w h e re a r o u n d th re e th o u sa n d

w o rd s,

O c c a s io n a lly

he

but

it

w o u l d n ’t

kept

g o in g .

know

w hat

h a p p e n e d n e x t so h e w o u ld p u t th e s to r y aw ay , o n c e f o r as l o n g as f o u r y e a rs . It w a s w ritte n

tra in

cLiffoRD, puBLiSHeD i n 1882, caLLeD “tHe New motHeR.” aN aNgeLic

w h a t h a p p e n e d n e x t . It g r e w o v e r te n y e a rs

v e ry -re sp e c te d ,

e d ito r

m y h e a r t w a s in t h e r i g h t p la c e .’ S o , a l o t o f

aND LoviNg motHeR waRNS HeR cHiLDReN tHat if tHey aRe

in s p a r e m o m e n t s . “Y o u ’d t h i n k f o r s o m e ­

(n o w d e a d ). H e to ld m e h e th o u g h t it w a s

th e tim e m y b o o k s a n d s to rie s a re c h a irs .

th in g w ritte n so p e c u lia rly — a 3 0 ,0 0 0 - w o r d

a b s o lu te ly

T h e y ’r e g o o d c h a i r s , c h a i r s I ’m p r o u d o f.

n o v e l w ritte n o v e r a te n -y e a r p e rio d — th a t

p u b l i s h a b l e . H e s a i d , ‘T h e r e is n o w a y t h a t

H o w e v e r , w i t h C o r a l i n e I f e e l r a t h e r lik e I

aND tHat tHey wiLL g et a New motHeR to RepLace HeR: oNe witH

it o u g h t to b e c h o p p y a n d b u m p y a n d y o u

y o u c a n p u b l i s h s o m e t h i n g t h a t is a d a r k

fe e l a b o u t

gLaSS eyeS aND a wooDeN taiL tHat DRagS aLoNg tHe flooR.

s h o u l d b e a b le t o sa y , ‘G o s h , y o u c a n s e e

f a n ta s y n o v e l f o r c h ild re n

and

w o n d e rfu l, a n d I k n o w I w as th e re at th e ir

th is w a s w r itte n b y a t h ir ty -o n e -y e a r -o ld

a im e d

for

liv in g in E n g la n d , a n d th is w a s w r itte n b y

re a s o n s — th a t

a fo rty -o n e -y e a r-o ld

w o n d e r f u l h o r r o r n o v e l ’” ( I n d i e B o u n d ) .

K

liv in g

in

A m e r i c a .’

t h e c h i ld r e n a r e p e r f e c t l y b e h a v e d u n t i l t h e y m e e t a s t r a n g e g i r l o n t h e s id e o f th e

B u t t h e r e is n ’t a n y o f t h a t ; i t h a s its o w n

r o a d . S h e h a s a little m u s i c a l b o x a n d sa y s t h e r e a r e t i n y p e o p l e in s id e i t w h o w ill

v o ic e ” (I n d ie B o u n d ).

at

b e lo v e d

b rillia n t

b o th

B u t h o rro r

is

and

E n g lis h

co m p le te ly

m a rk e ts e ss e n tia lly

has

a w ay

a

un­

a d u lts— d iffe re n t d ark

o f b e in g

and

se lf-

my

c h ild re n , in

th a t

t h e y ’r e

c o n c e p t i o n , a n d I k n o w I ’v e h a d a f a ir ly in tim a te

d a y -b y -d a y

h e lp

w ith

th e ir

g ro w th , b u t I lo o k a t th e m a t th e e n d o f th e d a y a n d I t h i n k , ‘Y o u ’r e r e a l l y c o o l . H o w

s e le c tin g . C h ild re n r e a d it as a n a d v e n tu re

d i d y o u g e t t h e r e ? W h e r e d id y o u c o m e

d a n c e a n d te ll t h e m s e c r e t s , b u t o n l y v e r y b a d c h i ld r e n a r e a llo w e d t o s e e it. T h e c h i ld r e n

B y th e tim e h e h a d fin is h e d it, H o lly

s to ry a n d are n e v e r sc a re d b e c a u se C o ra lin e

f r o m a n d h o w d id y o u t u r n o u t lik e t h i s ? ’” (I n d ie B o u n d ).

e x p la in t h e t h i n g a b o u t t h e m o t h e r le a v i n g a n d h o w t h e y c a n ’t p o s s i b l y b e b a d , a n d t h e g irl

w a s n e a rly g ro w n up . L ittle M a d d y G a im a n ,

is n e v e r s c a r e d , w h i l e t h e a d u lts k n o w j u s t

r e p lie s m a t t e r - o f - f a c t l y , “ T h e y a ll t h r e a t e n t h a t k i n d o f t h i n g . O f c o u r s e r e a l l y t h e r e a r e n o

w h o h a d a r riv e d a fte r t h e firs t c h a p te r h a d

how m u ch

m o t h e r s w i t h g la s s e y e s a n d w o o d e n ta ils ; t h e y w o u l d b e m u c h t o o e x p e n s i v e t o m a k e .”

b e e n w r itte n , w a s s ix . It w a s a lw a y s g o in g

t h r o u g h t h e g a p s b e t w e e n t h e i r f in g e rs .

d a n g e r s h e is in

a n d r e a d it

T e n y e a r s l a t e r i t is a b e l o v e d b o o k , a P. C r a ig R u s s e ll c o m i c a d a p ta tio n , a m u s ic a l

It’s a V i c t o r i a n c a u t i o n a r y t a l e f o r c h i l d r e n , o n e o f t h o s e t h i n g s y o u r e a d a s a n a d u l t a n d

t o b e G a i m a n ’s E d w a r d G o r e y b o o k , e x c e p t

I t g r e w o r g a n i c a l l y a n d w a s w r i t t e n in

b y S te p h in M e r r itt, a n d a m o v ie b y H e n r y

fe e l y o u s h o u ld d o e v e ry th in g in y o u r p o w e r to p r e v e n t th e b o o k fa llin g in to th e h a n d s o f

h e f i n i s h e d i t t h r e e d a y s a f t e r G o r e y d ie d .

an e n tire ly m a d a n d u n re c o m m e n d e d w ay,

S e lic k . A s a H a l l o w e e n t r e a t in 2 0 1 2 , e a c h

c h i l d r e n , e x c e p t t h a t c h i l d r e n r e a d t h e s e s t o r i e s d i f f e r e n t l y t o a d u l t s s o t h e r e ’s n o n e e d .

It w e n t

D ave

o n e w h ic h G a im a n th in k s h e w ill n e v e r b e

o f th e th irte e n ch a p te rs w a s re a d o n c a m e r a

“I t’s h a u n t i n g lik e a n i g h t m a r e is h a u n t i n g ,” s a y s G a i m a n ( O u z o u n i a n , 2 0 0 9 ) . H is o w n

M c K e a n i l l u s t r a t i o n s i n s t e a d , in 2 0 0 2 , a n d

a b le t o r e p l i c a t e . C o r a l i n e is a s p e r f e c t as

by

C o r a l i n e h a s t h a t k i n d o f f e e l; p u r e G o t h i c h o r r o r , t i n g e d w i t h a n A lic e in W o n d e r la n d

w h a te v e r v e rs io n

s h e w ill e v e r b e . “W i t h m o s t o f m y b o o k s I

N e i l ’s f a i r y g o d d a u g h t e r N a t a s h y a H a w le y ,

d e p e n d s e n tir e ly o n h o w o ld y o u a re . T h e

fe e l m u c h

N e a l S h u s te rm a n , C a s s a n d ra C la re , A d a m

w o rd s a re e x a c tly th e sa m e .

s c u l p t u r e o r a c h a i r t h e y ’v e m a d e : ‘T h i s is a

R ex,

r a b b i t - h o l e w o n d e r . A n d h e d i d i t o n p u r p o s e . I t’s a b o o k h e w r o t e f o r h is o w n little g ir ls .

t 228

s ta r ts , in m u lti-p a g e

f ifty -w o rd b u rs ts o n

j o u r n e y s , la t e a t n i g h t — w h e n e v e r h e k n e w

n o w i n g th is t o b e a b s o l u t e ly a t r u e t h i n g t h a t w ill d e f in ite ly h a p p e n i f t h e y a r e b a d ,

Coraline,

fits a n d

tH e R e ’ S a SHORt StORy By a BRitiSH WRiteR caLLeD Lucy

NaugHty SHe wiLL Have to pack HeR BagS aND go away foReveR,

aBOVe: first U.S. paperback cover, 2003, with Dave McKean artwork.

in

c h u n k s o r in

W h e n s h e w a s f o u r , N e i l ’s d a u g h t e r H o l l y w o u l d c o m e h o m e f r o m k i n d e r g a r t e n , c r a w l

out

in to

th e

w o rld

w ith

o f th e b o o k y o u

re a d

as a c ra fts m a n

f e e ls a b o u t a

d iffe re n t

M e lissa

p e o p le — L e m o n y

M a rr,

F a iru z a

S n ick e t,

B a lk ,

Jo h n

u p o n h is la p , a n d d i c t a t e n i g h t m a r i s h s t o r i e s i n w h i c h h e r m o t h e r w a s t i e d u p i n t h e

“W h e n I b e g a n i t , I r e m e m b e r i n 1 9 9 0

g o o d c h a i r , I lik e it. I t’s s o lid .’ O r , ‘W e l l , t h e

H o d g m a n , H o l l y B l a c k , a n d R . L . S tin e ,

b a s e m e n t a n d r e p l a c e d b y a n e v il w i t c h . N e i l h a d h is o w n u n d e r l y i n g f e a r w h e n h e w a s a

sh o w in g th e firs t c o u p le o f c h a p te r s to a

le g s a re a b it w o n k y , b u t y o u c a n s e e th a t

b o o k e n d e d b y N e il. ❖

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

CHapteR 5 | BeyoND co m ics

229 t

s n iffin g a r o u n d . H e w a n t e d th is f ilm t o b e m a d e , a n d h e w a n t e d S e l i c k t o m a k e it. T h r o u g h S e lic k s d r a f t s , C o r a lin e b e c a m e a (s lig h tly ) le ss c r e e p y v e r s i o n o f t h e b o o k , m o re

o f a H an sel and

s c e n a r io .

T h e b ig g e st

in tr o d u c tio n

coRaLiNe:

m ovie

of

a

G re te l s e d u c tio n ch an g es w ere

k id

c h a ra c te r

th e

c a lle d

W y b i e , a n d S e l i c k s e t t h e s t o r y in A m e r i c a b e c a u s e h e w a s m o r e c o m f o r t a b l e w r i t i n g in A m e r ic a n E n g lis h . C o n s e q u e n tly , th e h o u s e c h a n g e d f r o m L i t t l e m e a d in E n g l a n d t o a n e n t i r e l y d if f e re n t o n e t h a t G a i m a n k n o w s j u s t as w e ll: “B y s o m e p e c u l i a r c o i n c i d e n c e in e x p l ic a b l e t o

m

r

.

.

.

r

.

th e

hum an

m in d ,

H en ry

a n d h is a r t d i r e c t o r m a n a g e d t o s e t it in

jit s beautiful, i t s Spooky, i t s odd, andheS doing i t because j loVe

m y c u r r e n t h o u s e n e a r M in n e a p o lis , w h ic h t h e y ’v e n e v e r s e e n ” ( O u z o u n i a n , 2 0 0 9 ) .

hiS work. Wjhen j finished writing Coraline, j even fad d y agentSend

S e lick w a n te d to b a la n c e th e d a rk n e s s o f t h e s t o r y w i t h t h e li g h t a n d c o l o r o f a c la s s ic s to r y b o o k , so h e e m p lo y e d T a d a h iro U e s u g i

'Henry the book before anyone reaf it .

a s t h e p r o j e c t ’s p r e p r o d u c t i o n i l lu s tr a to r , a w e l l - k n o w n J a p a n e s e a r t i s t w h o s e w o r k is h e a v ily in f l u e n c e d b y A m e r i c a n ill u s t r a t o r s o f t h e la te fiftie s a n d e a r l y s ix tie s .

tHe BRiLLiaNt stop-motioN film

d ire c to r

k n e w o f G a im a n th r o u g h S a n d m a n b u t w as

T h e f ilm t o o k t h r e e y e a r s t o m a k e ( a b o u t

H e n r y S e lic k h a d b e e n o n G a i m a n ’s r a d a r

u n a w a r e o f a n y o f h is o t h e r w o r k u n t i l t h e y

t w i c e as l o n g a s a t y p i c a l l i v e - a c t i o n f i lm ) a n d

lo n g b e f o r e t h e y a c t u a l l y m e t . G a i m a n h a d

w e r e i n t r o d u c e d in 2 0 0 0 b y N e il’s m o v i e

re q u ire d a n a r m y o f a n im a to rs , d e s ig n e rs ,

been

a g e n t , J o n L e v i n . B y th is p o i n t C o r a lin e w a s

m o d e le rs ,

o n l y j u s t f in is h e d .

c a m e r a c r e w t o c o m p l e t e it. A t its p r o d u c t i o n

h e a rin g

a b o u t h im

fo r y e a rs

fro m

p e o p le w h o t h o u g h t t h e y s h o u l d c o l l a b o r a t e , and

he

had

seen

S e lic k s

T h e N ig h t m a r e

S a id

S e lic k ,

I re a d

p e a k th e r e w e re 4 5 0 p e o p le w o rk in g o n th e f e a t u r e s im u lta n e o u s ly . E a c h t h i n g s e e n o n

1 9 9 3 a n d lo v e d it. S e lic k , a ta ll t h i n m a n

p u b lis h e d , it w o u l d n ’t b e o u t f o r t w o y e a r s .

s c r e e n — e v e r y le a f, e v e r y

w h o m o v e s lik e h is o w n J a c k S k e llin g to n ,

So

ite m — w a s m a d e b y

s e e i t v e r y e a rly . In r e a d i n g

and

e x is ts

s o m e w h e r e in m i n i a t u r e . In t h e l e a d - u p t o its r e l e a s e , C o r a lin e w a s

se n sib ility . A n d I c o m e m u c h m o r e f r o m

t h e s u b j e c t o f a v e r y in v e n tiv e p r o m o t i o n a l

v is u a l

ca m p a ig n .

g a rn e re d critic a l a c c la im a n d w a s n o m in a te d fo r

dozens

o f a w a rd s, m o s t n o ta b ly

th e

A lfr e d

O s c a r f o r B e s t A n im a te d F e a tu re . G a im a n

g re a t ta le n t, a n d ju s t in s ta n t c o n n e c tio n . B y

H it c h c o c k P r e s e n ts -s ty le m o n o l o g u e a b o u t

a tte n d e d th e c e r e m o n y f o r w h ic h h e w r o te

th e tim e I w a s h a lfw a y th r o u g h th e b o o k , I

“k o u m p o u n o p h o b i a ” ( o r t h e f e a r o f b u t t o n s )

a fifte e n -se co n d se q u e n ce w h e re C o ra lin e

s to r y t e l l i n g .

H es

a

w o rd sm ith

of

G a im a n

film e d

an

in h is h o u s e , a n d fifty h a n d m a d e m y s t e r y

te lls a n i n t e r v i e w e r w h a t w i n n i n g a n O s c a r

b o x e s w e re s e n t o u t to

w o u l d d o f o r h e r . T h e a w a r d w o u l d g o to

s e le c te d b lo g g e rs

f r o m t h e s a m e p r o b l e m a s t h e V io le n t C a s e s

a ll a r o u n d t h e w o r l d . T h e y r a n g e d f r o m

P i x a r ’s Up.

s ta g e p l a y in t h a t it w a s f a r t o o f a ith f u l t o

f a s h i o n , k n i t ti n g , a n d s o c k - r e l a t e d b l o g g e r s

S a id N e il, “W e ’r e so p r o u d o f it. I f it w a s n ’t

t o a n i m a t i o n o n e s a n d N e il h im s e lf . O v e r

f o r t h e J o n a s B r o t h e r s s p o ilin g o u r m o j o ,

t h e b o o k i n to a m a c h i n e t h a t t r a n s f o r m e d it

th e w eek s th e y su rfa ce d o n th e in te rn e t,

w e m ig h t h av e b e e n

i n to s c r e e n p l a y f o r m , a n d it j u s t d id n ’t w o r k .

e a c h b l o g g e r in t u r n g le e fu lly r if lin g t h r o u g h

a n i m a t e d 3 D m o v i e e v e r m a d e . W h e n th e i r

“It d id n ’t fe e l lik e a m o v i e . I t d id n ’t h a v e

th e ir u n iq u e s ta s h o f m y s te rie s : w e a th e re d

f ilm c a m e o u t , C o r a lin e w a s p u lle d f r o m s o m e

l e tte r s w i t h w a x s e a ls , h a n d s a n d le g s a n d

t h e a te r s to m a k e sp a c e . T w o w e e k s la te r, w h e n

g o i n g t o g o a w a y . L e t ’s s e e w h a t h a p p e n s .’

v a rio u s

t h e J o n a s B r o t h e r s f ilm m a d e n o m o n e y , w e

A n d d u r i n g t h a t p e r i o d is w h e n I f o u n d

p in n e d , o r s e w n , o r b u tto n e d in to a b o x . W ith

a

s te lla r

p ie c e s

cast

of

c h a ra c te r s

i n c lu d i n g

the “Koumpounophobia” publicity short. aBOVe: Gaiman and Henry Selick on the set of Coraline. o p p o s ite : Film stills

t h e h i g h e s t -g r o s s i n g

t h e r i g h t p a c i n g , s o I h a d t o te ll N e il, ‘I’m

a n a to m ica l

to p : The Other Neil in

from Coraline.

t h e o r i g i n a l t e x t . H e lik e n e d i t t o p u t t in g

g o t p u t b a c k in to m o r e o f t h e m . B u t I a m so

D a k o ta

p r o u d o f w h a t H e n r y a n d e v e r y o n e d id ; it

o p t i o n o n t h e f ilm r a n o u t G a i m a n le t h i m

F a n n in g , T e ri H a tc h e r, Je n n ife r S a u n d e rs ,

a lso m a d e m e fe e l b e t t e r a b o u t t u r n i n g m y

k e e p it f o r f r e e e v e n t h o u g h D i s n e y w e r e

D a w n F r e n c h , a n d J o h n H o d g m a n , t h e f ilm

c o m i c s i n to m o v ie s ” (T h ill, 2 0 0 9 ) . ❖

m y v o i c e ” ( B i l l i n g t o n , 2 0 0 9 ) . W h e n S e lic k s

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

ey eb ro w , e v e ry

som eon e

c o l l a b o r a t o r , a l o s t b r o t h e r in N e il, w i t h a

S e l i c k w r o t e a f irs t d r a f t , b u t i t s u ff e r e d

I

and

it, it w a s

c o u ld see a m o v ie ” (B illin g to n , 2 0 0 9 ) .

f 230

c a rp e n te rs ,

b a s i c a l l y t h e f irs t d r a f t , a n d i t w o u l d n ’t b e

t h e s to r y , I j u s t fe lt lik e I’d f o u n d a t r u e

^

a rtis ts ,

B e f o r e C h r is t m a s t h e w e e k o f its r e le a s e in

I g o t to

“W h e n

s k e tc h

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

231 f

s n iffin g a r o u n d . H e w a n t e d th is f ilm t o b e m a d e , a n d h e w a n t e d S e l i c k t o m a k e it. T h r o u g h S e lic k s d r a f t s , C o r a lin e b e c a m e a (s lig h tly ) le ss c r e e p y v e r s i o n o f t h e b o o k , m o re

o f a H an sel and

s c e n a r io .

T h e b ig g e st

in tr o d u c tio n

coRaLiNe:

m ovie

of

a

G re te l s e d u c tio n ch an g es w ere

k id

c h a ra c te r

th e

c a lle d

W y b i e , a n d S e l i c k s e t t h e s t o r y in A m e r i c a b e c a u s e h e w a s m o r e c o m f o r t a b l e w r i t i n g in A m e r ic a n E n g lis h . C o n s e q u e n tly , th e h o u s e c h a n g e d f r o m L i t t l e m e a d in E n g l a n d t o a n e n t i r e l y d if f e re n t o n e t h a t G a i m a n k n o w s j u s t as w e ll: “B y s o m e p e c u l i a r c o i n c i d e n c e in e x p l ic a b l e t o

m

r

.

.

.

r

.

th e

hum an

m in d ,

H en ry

a n d h is a r t d i r e c t o r m a n a g e d t o s e t it in

jit s beautiful, i t s Spooky, i t s odd, andheS doing i t because j loVe

m y c u r r e n t h o u s e n e a r M in n e a p o lis , w h ic h t h e y ’v e n e v e r s e e n ” ( O u z o u n i a n , 2 0 0 9 ) .

hiS work. Wjhen j finished writing Coraline, j even fad d y agentSend

S e lick w a n te d to b a la n c e th e d a rk n e s s o f t h e s t o r y w i t h t h e li g h t a n d c o l o r o f a c la s s ic s to r y b o o k , so h e e m p lo y e d T a d a h iro U e s u g i

'Henry the book before anyone reaf it .

a s t h e p r o j e c t ’s p r e p r o d u c t i o n i l lu s tr a to r , a w e l l - k n o w n J a p a n e s e a r t i s t w h o s e w o r k is h e a v ily in f l u e n c e d b y A m e r i c a n ill u s t r a t o r s o f t h e la te fiftie s a n d e a r l y s ix tie s .

tHe BRiLLiaNt stop-motioN film

d ire c to r

k n e w o f G a im a n th r o u g h S a n d m a n b u t w as

T h e f ilm t o o k t h r e e y e a r s t o m a k e ( a b o u t

H e n r y S e lic k h a d b e e n o n G a i m a n ’s r a d a r

u n a w a r e o f a n y o f h is o t h e r w o r k u n t i l t h e y

t w i c e as l o n g a s a t y p i c a l l i v e - a c t i o n f i lm ) a n d

lo n g b e f o r e t h e y a c t u a l l y m e t . G a i m a n h a d

w e r e i n t r o d u c e d in 2 0 0 0 b y N e il’s m o v i e

re q u ire d a n a r m y o f a n im a to rs , d e s ig n e rs ,

been

a g e n t , J o n L e v i n . B y th is p o i n t C o r a lin e w a s

m o d e le rs ,

o n l y j u s t f in is h e d .

c a m e r a c r e w t o c o m p l e t e it. A t its p r o d u c t i o n

h e a rin g

a b o u t h im

fo r y e a rs

fro m

p e o p le w h o t h o u g h t t h e y s h o u l d c o l l a b o r a t e , and

he

had

seen

S e lic k s

T h e N ig h t m a r e

S a id

S e lic k ,

I re a d

p e a k th e r e w e re 4 5 0 p e o p le w o rk in g o n th e f e a t u r e s im u lta n e o u s ly . E a c h t h i n g s e e n o n

1 9 9 3 a n d lo v e d it. S e lic k , a ta ll t h i n m a n

p u b lis h e d , it w o u l d n ’t b e o u t f o r t w o y e a r s .

s c r e e n — e v e r y le a f, e v e r y

w h o m o v e s lik e h is o w n J a c k S k e llin g to n ,

So

ite m — w a s m a d e b y

s e e i t v e r y e a rly . In r e a d i n g

and

e x is ts

s o m e w h e r e in m i n i a t u r e . In t h e l e a d - u p t o its r e l e a s e , C o r a lin e w a s

se n sib ility . A n d I c o m e m u c h m o r e f r o m

t h e s u b j e c t o f a v e r y in v e n tiv e p r o m o t i o n a l

v is u a l

ca m p a ig n .

g a rn e re d critic a l a c c la im a n d w a s n o m in a te d fo r

dozens

o f a w a rd s, m o s t n o ta b ly

th e

A lfr e d

O s c a r f o r B e s t A n im a te d F e a tu re . G a im a n

g re a t ta le n t, a n d ju s t in s ta n t c o n n e c tio n . B y

H it c h c o c k P r e s e n ts -s ty le m o n o l o g u e a b o u t

a tte n d e d th e c e r e m o n y f o r w h ic h h e w r o te

th e tim e I w a s h a lfw a y th r o u g h th e b o o k , I

“k o u m p o u n o p h o b i a ” ( o r t h e f e a r o f b u t t o n s )

a fifte e n -se co n d se q u e n ce w h e re C o ra lin e

s to r y t e l l i n g .

H es

a

w o rd sm ith

of

G a im a n

film e d

an

in h is h o u s e , a n d fifty h a n d m a d e m y s t e r y

te lls a n i n t e r v i e w e r w h a t w i n n i n g a n O s c a r

b o x e s w e re s e n t o u t to

w o u l d d o f o r h e r . T h e a w a r d w o u l d g o to

s e le c te d b lo g g e rs

f r o m t h e s a m e p r o b l e m a s t h e V io le n t C a s e s

a ll a r o u n d t h e w o r l d . T h e y r a n g e d f r o m

P i x a r ’s Up.

s ta g e p l a y in t h a t it w a s f a r t o o f a ith f u l t o

f a s h i o n , k n i t ti n g , a n d s o c k - r e l a t e d b l o g g e r s

S a id N e il, “W e ’r e so p r o u d o f it. I f it w a s n ’t

t o a n i m a t i o n o n e s a n d N e il h im s e lf . O v e r

f o r t h e J o n a s B r o t h e r s s p o ilin g o u r m o j o ,

t h e b o o k i n to a m a c h i n e t h a t t r a n s f o r m e d it

th e w eek s th e y su rfa ce d o n th e in te rn e t,

w e m ig h t h av e b e e n

i n to s c r e e n p l a y f o r m , a n d it j u s t d id n ’t w o r k .

e a c h b l o g g e r in t u r n g le e fu lly r if lin g t h r o u g h

a n i m a t e d 3 D m o v i e e v e r m a d e . W h e n th e i r

“It d id n ’t fe e l lik e a m o v i e . I t d id n ’t h a v e

th e ir u n iq u e s ta s h o f m y s te rie s : w e a th e re d

f ilm c a m e o u t , C o r a lin e w a s p u lle d f r o m s o m e

l e tte r s w i t h w a x s e a ls , h a n d s a n d le g s a n d

t h e a te r s to m a k e sp a c e . T w o w e e k s la te r, w h e n

g o i n g t o g o a w a y . L e t ’s s e e w h a t h a p p e n s .’

v a rio u s

t h e J o n a s B r o t h e r s f ilm m a d e n o m o n e y , w e

A n d d u r i n g t h a t p e r i o d is w h e n I f o u n d

p in n e d , o r s e w n , o r b u tto n e d in to a b o x . W ith

a

s te lla r

p ie c e s

cast

of

c h a ra c te r s

i n c lu d i n g

the “Koumpounophobia” publicity short. aBOVe: Gaiman and Henry Selick on the set of Coraline. o p p o s ite : Film stills

t h e h i g h e s t -g r o s s i n g

t h e r i g h t p a c i n g , s o I h a d t o te ll N e il, ‘I’m

a n a to m ica l

to p : The Other Neil in

from Coraline.

t h e o r i g i n a l t e x t . H e lik e n e d i t t o p u t t in g

g o t p u t b a c k in to m o r e o f t h e m . B u t I a m so

D a k o ta

p r o u d o f w h a t H e n r y a n d e v e r y o n e d id ; it

o p t i o n o n t h e f ilm r a n o u t G a i m a n le t h i m

F a n n in g , T e ri H a tc h e r, Je n n ife r S a u n d e rs ,

a lso m a d e m e fe e l b e t t e r a b o u t t u r n i n g m y

k e e p it f o r f r e e e v e n t h o u g h D i s n e y w e r e

D a w n F r e n c h , a n d J o h n H o d g m a n , t h e f ilm

c o m i c s i n to m o v ie s ” (T h ill, 2 0 0 9 ) . ❖

m y v o i c e ” ( B i l l i n g t o n , 2 0 0 9 ) . W h e n S e lic k s

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

ey eb ro w , e v e ry

som eon e

c o l l a b o r a t o r , a l o s t b r o t h e r in N e il, w i t h a

S e l i c k w r o t e a f irs t d r a f t , b u t i t s u ff e r e d

I

and

it, it w a s

c o u ld see a m o v ie ” (B illin g to n , 2 0 0 9 ) .

f 230

c a rp e n te rs ,

b a s i c a l l y t h e f irs t d r a f t , a n d i t w o u l d n ’t b e

t h e s to r y , I j u s t fe lt lik e I’d f o u n d a t r u e

^

a rtis ts ,

B e f o r e C h r is t m a s t h e w e e k o f its r e le a s e in

I g o t to

“W h e n

s k e tc h

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

231 f

aNaNSI BOys “Godisdead.M eetthekids.”

QNÜ.NSI B o y s IS aN O tH eR project tHat was aLL LeNNy

HeNRy’s fault.

B

a c k in th e m id -n in e tie s , G a im a n

Neverwhere

TV

and

H e n ry w e re w o rk in g to g e th e r o n

th e

s h o w w h e n H e n r y s t a r t e d g r u m b l i n g . “ I w a s o v e r a t L e n n y ’s

h o u s e a n d h e w a s g ru m b lin g a b o u t th e f a c t th e r e w e re n o b la c k p e o p le in h o r r o r

m o v i e s . H e s a i d , ‘W h e r e ? W h e r e a r e t h e b l a c k p e o p l e i n h o r r o r m o v i e s ? W h y a r e n ’t t h e r e

in a v a g u e l y m e n a c i n g s o r t o f w a y a n d s h e

a n y b l a c k p e o p l e in h o r r o r m o v i e s ? ’ A n d I t h o u g h t : w h a t a n i n c r e d i b l y g o o d q u e s t i o n . S o

s a i d : ‘T h a t is a n o v e l.’ A n d I t h o u g h t o h ,

th a t w as w h e re

Anansi Boys

b e g a n . It w a s ju s t g o in g to b e a h o r r o r m o v ie w ith b la c k

c h a r a c t e r s . E x c e p t t h a t i f I ’m t h i n k i n g o f c a s t i n g L e n n y a s F a t C h a r l i e , a n d q u i t e p o s s i b l e

G a i m a n w r o t e a b o u t t h r e e s c e n e s in s c r i p t f o r m , b u t s a y s t h e y w e r e n ’t v e r y g o o d . “ It

c a l l e d F a t C h a r l i e N a n c y , w h o l e a r n s a t h is

i n t e r e s t i n g w a s M r . N a n c y , a n d h e w a s n ’t m u c h o f a c h a r a c t e r , in t h a t h e w a s g o i n g t o d ie

f a t h e r ’s f u n e r a l t h a t M r . N a n c y ( S r .) w a s

Anansi Boys s t a r t e d ,

o r ju s t as it s ta r te d . S o , I p u t it o n th e b a c k b u rn e r, n o t re a lly

a c t u a ll y t h e i n c a r n a t i o n o f t h e W e s t A f r i c a n

b e in g s u re w h a t it w a s ” (L a w le s s , 2 0 0 5 ) . In t h e m e a n t i m e , G a im a n w e n t o ff a n d w r o te

t r i c k s t e r g o d , A n a n s i . N o w t h a t h e ’s d e a d ,

Stardust,

American Gods. H e f it— Anansi Boys

o l d M r s . H i g g l e r f i g u r e s t h e r e ’s n o h a r m in

h e w a s a s p id e r g o d — b u t m o s tly G a im a n ju s t lik e d th e id e a t h a t w h e n

F a t C h a rlie k n o w in g , a n d h e r e to r ts , n o t

e v e n t u a l l y d i d h a p p e n w e w o u l d h a v e m e t h i m a lr e a d y . H e w o u l d h a v e h a d a c h a n c e t o

u n re a s o n a b ly , th a t if h e w a s a c tu a lly th e

and

Coraline,

a n d e n d e d u p b o rro w in g M r. N a n c y fo r

liv e in o u r h e a d s a s a c h a r a c t e r b e f o r e w e f o u n d h i m s i n g i n g “W h a t ’s N e w P u s s y c a t ” a n d

s o n o f a g o d t h e n w h y d o e s n ’t h e h a v e a n y

t h e n h a v i n g a h e a r t a t t a c k d u r i n g “ I A m W h a t I A m ” a n d d i s l o d g i n g a w o m a n ’s b r e a s t s

g o d lik e p o w e r s ? It tu r n s o u t h is b r o th e r

f r o m h e r tu b e to p o n h is w a y to t h e g r o u n d .

g o t a ll o f t h o s e . O n l y , F a t C h a r l i e d i d n ’t

A f t e r p l a y i n g a r o u n d w i t h t h e i d e a , G a i m a n d e c i d e d i t w a s n ’t a m o v i e a f t e r a ll. “ T h e n

o p p osite B o tto m : A n a n s i B o ys debuted

on the N e w Y ork T im es Best Seller list.

t 232

h e r to w a g g le a f o r k a t h im w a s a b o u t a g u y

w a s n ’t a liv e , a n d I w a s n ’t s u r e w h o t h e s e c h a r a c t e r s w e r e . T h e o n l y o n e w h o s e e m e d

b e fo re

writes the story of how A n a n s i B o y s came to be in a notebook.

Anansi Boys”

T h e s to r y G a im a n to ld B r e h l th a t c a u s e d

a s S p id e r , it ’s g o i n g t o b e f u n n y . B e c a u s e L e n n y ’s fu n n y .”

o p p o s i t e t o p : Neil

o k a y . I f y o u s a y s o . I ’ll g o a n d w r i t e i t t h e n . S o I w e n t o ff an d I w ro te

e v e n k n o w h e h a d a b r o th e r . E n t e r S p id e r

I h a d t h i s p la n t o d o a b o o k o f t h r e e n o v e l l a s f o r J e n n i f e r B r e h l a t H a r p e r C o l l i n s a n d t h e

a n d a w o r l d o f t r o u b l e in a b o o k a b o u t

How the Marquis Got His Coat Back

fa m ilie s a n d h o w to s u rv iv e th e m , a b o o k

n o v e lla s w e re g o in g to b e : (fo r

Stardust, w h i c h

is t h e o n e a b o u t g o i n g t o H e l l i n a h o t a i r

Neverwhere), Hellflyer b a l l o o n ) , a n d Anansi Boys . (fo r

t h a t is p a r t l y s c a r y , s l i g h t l y r o m a n t i c , a

It w a s m y firs t e v e r r e a l m e e t i n g w ith J e n n ife r, a n d w e w e r e h a v in g lu n c h in a n O r t h o d o x

fra c tio n

G r e e k r e s ta u r a n t, w h ic h m e a n t th a t e v e n th o u g h th is w a s tw o o r t h r e e w e e k s a fte r th e

in c re d ib ly fu n n y .

re s t o f th e w o rld h a d ce le b ra te d E a s te r th e r e w as a g ia n t E a s te r fe a st g o in g o n a ro u n d us. A n d w h e n I fin ish e d te llin g Je n n ife r th e s to r y o f

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

Anansi Boys ,

sh e w av ed h e r fo rk at m e

m y th ic ,

h u g e ly

th rillin g ,

and

T h e fa c t th a t it w as a fu n n y b o o k w as o n e o f th e r e a s o n s it t o o k so lo n g to ta k e

aNaNSI BOys “Godisdead.M eetthekids.”

QNÜ.NSI B o y s IS aN O tH eR project tHat was aLL LeNNy

HeNRy’s fault.

B

a c k in th e m id -n in e tie s , G a im a n

Neverwhere

TV

and

H e n ry w e re w o rk in g to g e th e r o n

th e

s h o w w h e n H e n r y s t a r t e d g r u m b l i n g . “ I w a s o v e r a t L e n n y ’s

h o u s e a n d h e w a s g ru m b lin g a b o u t th e f a c t th e r e w e re n o b la c k p e o p le in h o r r o r

m o v i e s . H e s a i d , ‘W h e r e ? W h e r e a r e t h e b l a c k p e o p l e i n h o r r o r m o v i e s ? W h y a r e n ’t t h e r e

in a v a g u e l y m e n a c i n g s o r t o f w a y a n d s h e

a n y b l a c k p e o p l e in h o r r o r m o v i e s ? ’ A n d I t h o u g h t : w h a t a n i n c r e d i b l y g o o d q u e s t i o n . S o

s a i d : ‘T h a t is a n o v e l.’ A n d I t h o u g h t o h ,

th a t w as w h e re

Anansi Boys

b e g a n . It w a s ju s t g o in g to b e a h o r r o r m o v ie w ith b la c k

c h a r a c t e r s . E x c e p t t h a t i f I ’m t h i n k i n g o f c a s t i n g L e n n y a s F a t C h a r l i e , a n d q u i t e p o s s i b l e

G a i m a n w r o t e a b o u t t h r e e s c e n e s in s c r i p t f o r m , b u t s a y s t h e y w e r e n ’t v e r y g o o d . “ It

c a l l e d F a t C h a r l i e N a n c y , w h o l e a r n s a t h is

i n t e r e s t i n g w a s M r . N a n c y , a n d h e w a s n ’t m u c h o f a c h a r a c t e r , in t h a t h e w a s g o i n g t o d ie

f a t h e r ’s f u n e r a l t h a t M r . N a n c y ( S r .) w a s

Anansi Boys s t a r t e d ,

o r ju s t as it s ta r te d . S o , I p u t it o n th e b a c k b u rn e r, n o t re a lly

a c t u a ll y t h e i n c a r n a t i o n o f t h e W e s t A f r i c a n

b e in g s u re w h a t it w a s ” (L a w le s s , 2 0 0 5 ) . In t h e m e a n t i m e , G a im a n w e n t o ff a n d w r o te

t r i c k s t e r g o d , A n a n s i . N o w t h a t h e ’s d e a d ,

Stardust,

American Gods. H e f it— Anansi Boys

o l d M r s . H i g g l e r f i g u r e s t h e r e ’s n o h a r m in

h e w a s a s p id e r g o d — b u t m o s tly G a im a n ju s t lik e d th e id e a t h a t w h e n

F a t C h a rlie k n o w in g , a n d h e r e to r ts , n o t

e v e n t u a l l y d i d h a p p e n w e w o u l d h a v e m e t h i m a lr e a d y . H e w o u l d h a v e h a d a c h a n c e t o

u n re a s o n a b ly , th a t if h e w a s a c tu a lly th e

and

Coraline,

a n d e n d e d u p b o rro w in g M r. N a n c y fo r

liv e in o u r h e a d s a s a c h a r a c t e r b e f o r e w e f o u n d h i m s i n g i n g “W h a t ’s N e w P u s s y c a t ” a n d

s o n o f a g o d t h e n w h y d o e s n ’t h e h a v e a n y

t h e n h a v i n g a h e a r t a t t a c k d u r i n g “ I A m W h a t I A m ” a n d d i s l o d g i n g a w o m a n ’s b r e a s t s

g o d lik e p o w e r s ? It tu r n s o u t h is b r o th e r

f r o m h e r tu b e to p o n h is w a y to t h e g r o u n d .

g o t a ll o f t h o s e . O n l y , F a t C h a r l i e d i d n ’t

A f t e r p l a y i n g a r o u n d w i t h t h e i d e a , G a i m a n d e c i d e d i t w a s n ’t a m o v i e a f t e r a ll. “ T h e n

o p p osite B o tto m : A n a n s i B o ys debuted

on the N e w Y ork T im es Best Seller list.

t 232

h e r to w a g g le a f o r k a t h im w a s a b o u t a g u y

w a s n ’t a liv e , a n d I w a s n ’t s u r e w h o t h e s e c h a r a c t e r s w e r e . T h e o n l y o n e w h o s e e m e d

b e fo re

writes the story of how A n a n s i B o y s came to be in a notebook.

Anansi Boys”

T h e s to r y G a im a n to ld B r e h l th a t c a u s e d

a s S p id e r , it ’s g o i n g t o b e f u n n y . B e c a u s e L e n n y ’s fu n n y .”

o p p o s i t e t o p : Neil

o k a y . I f y o u s a y s o . I ’ll g o a n d w r i t e i t t h e n . S o I w e n t o ff an d I w ro te

e v e n k n o w h e h a d a b r o th e r . E n t e r S p id e r

I h a d t h i s p la n t o d o a b o o k o f t h r e e n o v e l l a s f o r J e n n i f e r B r e h l a t H a r p e r C o l l i n s a n d t h e

a n d a w o r l d o f t r o u b l e in a b o o k a b o u t

How the Marquis Got His Coat Back

fa m ilie s a n d h o w to s u rv iv e th e m , a b o o k

n o v e lla s w e re g o in g to b e : (fo r

Stardust, w h i c h

is t h e o n e a b o u t g o i n g t o H e l l i n a h o t a i r

Neverwhere), Hellflyer b a l l o o n ) , a n d Anansi Boys . (fo r

t h a t is p a r t l y s c a r y , s l i g h t l y r o m a n t i c , a

It w a s m y firs t e v e r r e a l m e e t i n g w ith J e n n ife r, a n d w e w e r e h a v in g lu n c h in a n O r t h o d o x

fra c tio n

G r e e k r e s ta u r a n t, w h ic h m e a n t th a t e v e n th o u g h th is w a s tw o o r t h r e e w e e k s a fte r th e

in c re d ib ly fu n n y .

re s t o f th e w o rld h a d ce le b ra te d E a s te r th e r e w as a g ia n t E a s te r fe a st g o in g o n a ro u n d us. A n d w h e n I fin ish e d te llin g Je n n ife r th e s to r y o f

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

Anansi Boys ,

sh e w av ed h e r fo rk at m e

m y th ic ,

h u g e ly

th rillin g ,

and

T h e fa c t th a t it w as a fu n n y b o o k w as o n e o f th e r e a s o n s it t o o k so lo n g to ta k e

s h a p e . “S i n c e T e r r y P r a t c h e t t h a s s in g le h a n d e d ly

c o lo n iz e d

su ch

an

en o rm o u s

t e r r i t o r y o f c l a s s i c E n g l i s h h u m o r — la y i n g dow n

th e

s tre e ts , th e

sh ap e

o f jo k e s —

I d i d n ’t f e e l I c o u l d g o b a c k t o t h e k i n d

aNaNsi Boys w as BougHt

o f sty le th e tw o o f u s u s e d w h e n w e w r o te

m o v ie , w ith a sc rip t b y G a im a n , a n d

G o o d O m e n s . S o I h a d to f ig u r e o u t a w a y

in A u g u s t 2 0 1 0 G a i m a n s e n t o f f th e

to w rite a fu n n y n o v e l th a t w a s n o t a T e r ry

fin a l d ra ft. H e w a s m e a n t to h a v e

P ra tc h e tt

n o v e l.

I

d e c id e d

my

as

a

m o d e ls

s t a r t e d i t in M a r c h 2 0 0 9 , b u t th e n

w e r e g o i n g to b e T h o r n e S m i t h a n d P. G .

life d i d t h a t t h i n g w h e r e i t i m i t a t e d

W o d e h o u s e ” ( L o c u s O n l in e , 2 0 0 5 ) .

a r t . “ I w e n t o f f to N e w Y o r k a n d g o t

G a i m a n s p e d a h e a d d o i n g o n e o r tw o

a n u n e x p e c t e d p h o n e c a l l s a y in g m y

th o u s a n d w o rd s a d a y w h e n h e s u d d e n ly

f a t h e r h a d j u s t d ie d o f a s u s p e c t e d

l o o k e d u p a n d f o u n d t h a t a ll h is c h a r a c t e r s

h e a r t a t t a c k i n a b u s in e s s m e e t i n g .

h a d s t a r t e d d o i n g t h in g s h e h a d n ’t e x p e c t e d

A n d w h e n t h e d u s t h a d s e ttle d a n d

th e m

I o p e n e d u p t h e file t o w r i t e t h e f ilm

to

d o . H e h a d m o r e p lo t th a n h e

k n e w w h a t t o d o w i t h ; h is o r i g i n a l e n d i n g ,

s c r i p t , in w h i c h t h e f ir s t t h i n g t h a t

i f h e u s e d i t, w o u l d d o n o t h i n g b u t f iz z le ,

happens

s o h e p u t it i n a d r a w e r a n d l e t t h e s t o r y

f a t h e r d ie s in

c o m p o s t . “F i n i s h i n g i t w a s a n e x t r e m e l y

is

th a t

th e

an

p r o t a g o n i s t ’s

u n e x p e c te d w ay

o f a h e a r t a tta c k d u rin g k a ra o k e , I f o u n d m y s e l f t h i n k i n g , ‘I c a n ’t d o th is .’ I ’d o p e n it u p e v e r y c o u p l e o f d ay s a n d lo o k a t th e tw o p a g e s th a t

I had to f u e ou t a wwyté

e x i s t e d s o f a r a n d t h e n I ’d c l o s e it a n d g o a n d d o s o m e t h i n g e lse.” M o n th s la te r, G a im a n w a s a t th e

write a funny noVel th a t wwS h

J 1

V

A c a d e m y A w a r d s t o w a t c h C o r a lin e go

"

n ot a j my P ratchett novel.

h e a d -to -h e a d

w ith

P i x a r ’s

U p,

a n d w e n t t h o u g h “a s t r a n g e , r a t h e r m o u rn fu l,

ra th e r

odd

and

de­

p r e s s i n g d a y w h e r e I f e lt lik e I w a s an

a lie n

a t th e

O scars”

(P u rc e ll,

A n an si

B oys

fu n n y

novel

a n n i v e r s a r y o f h is f a t h e r ’s d e a t h , h e

w ith s o m e s c a r y a n d d is tu rb in g b its , a n d a

w as m e la n c h o ly a n d w a n te d to go

odd

e x p e rie n c e ,

o s c illa te s b e tw e e n

b ecau se b e in g

a

2 0 1 2 ) . It w a s tw o d a y s b e f o re th e

d is tu rb in g n o v e l w ith s o m e fu n n y b its, a n d

h o m e a n d w a l k w i t h h is d o g s in t h e

th e s e c o n d h a lf w a s , o n th e w h o le , fa irly

w o o d s . H e w r o te a p ie c e f o r

d a r k , a n d h a v in g fig u re d o u t h o w to w rite

G u a r d i a n a b o u t b e i n g in v is ib le o n

i t f u n n y o n c e a g a in I h a d t o a d m i t t h a t I

th e

h a d n o i d e a a t a ll o f w h a t I w a s d o i n g , a n d

R ach el

th e n I h a d to d o it a n y w a y . B u t e v e n tu a lly

th o u sa n d

i t f i n i s h e d i t s e l f in z e r o t h d r a f t ( w i t h a l o t

b e in g

o f h e lp f r o m m e ) ” ( L o c u s m a g a z in e , 2 0 0 5 ) .

sim p ly

L i k e F a t C h a r l i e a n d S p id e r , A m e r i c a n

l if te d .

G o d s a n d A n a n s i B o y s sh a re g e n e s, b u t th e y a re

c o m p l e t e l y d i f f e r e n t e n t i t i e s in

2 0 0 7 , tw o y e a rs

m ade

in

th e

m id -n in e tie s .

H en ry

a ls o

S e lle r lis t, A n a n s i B o y s w a s t u r n e d in to a

s o m e h o w , t h r o u g h h is v o ic e , it b e c o m e s

w h i l e A n a n s i B o y s is j o y f u l a n d l ig h t, m o r e

(h e a v ily c o n d e n s e d a n d w r itte n b y s o m e ­

m o r e l ik e A n a n s i B o y s t h a n A n a n s i B o y s

lik e a 1 9 3 0 s s c r e w b a l l c o m e d y . I t s h o c k e d

o n e e lse ) r a d io p la y f o r th e B B C W o rld

th e b o o k . L e n n y H e n r y h a s a w h o le a rm y

G a im a n

S e rv ic e . L e n n y

by

w in n in g

a

B ritish

F a n ta s y

O n e d e b u t o n th e N e w

a f te r its N u m b e r

G o d s is h u g e a n d s p r a w l i n g a n d s e r i o u s ,

w o rld s :

A m e r ic a n

In

d id a s te lla r jo b o n th e a u d io b o o k , a n d

d if f e r e n t

H e n r y g o t to

v o ic e

Fat

(a n d

b e a u tifu l

lo n e ly by He

tre a d in g

w o rd s

am ong

w ritin g

on

d r e s s ) — it ’s

p e o p le , i t,

a

about and

s o m e th in g

w e n t h o m e , w ro te

th e

C h a r lie a n d S p id e r, tw o c h a r a c te r s w h o s e

w ith

w i n a w a r d s !”

liv e s b e g a n i n a g r u m p y o b s e r v a t i o n h e

p e rso n a lity . ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

o ff. S i n c e t h e n it ’s t r a n s f o r m e d i n t o

aBOVe: Pages from

a te le v is io n sh ow . B e f o r e it b e c o m e s

Neil's Anansi Boys notebook.

a

te le v isio n

sh ow

it

m ig h t

w e ll

m o r p h i n t o s o m e t h i n g e ls e .

o f o ld J a m a ic a n la d ie s in h is h e a d , e a c h

S o c i e t y a w a r d b e c a u s e “f u n n y b o o k s d o n ’t

t 234

carp et

M c A d a m s ’s

s c r i p t f o r A n a n s i B o y s , a n d s e n t it

Y ork T im es B e s t

c o m p le te ly

red

The

her

ow n

in d iv id u a l

n u an ces

and

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

235 t

s h a p e . “S i n c e T e r r y P r a t c h e t t h a s s in g le h a n d e d ly

c o lo n iz e d

su ch

an

en o rm o u s

t e r r i t o r y o f c l a s s i c E n g l i s h h u m o r — la y i n g dow n

th e

s tre e ts , th e

sh ap e

o f jo k e s —

I d i d n ’t f e e l I c o u l d g o b a c k t o t h e k i n d

aNaNsi Boys w as BougHt

o f sty le th e tw o o f u s u s e d w h e n w e w r o te

m o v ie , w ith a sc rip t b y G a im a n , a n d

G o o d O m e n s . S o I h a d to f ig u r e o u t a w a y

in A u g u s t 2 0 1 0 G a i m a n s e n t o f f th e

to w rite a fu n n y n o v e l th a t w a s n o t a T e r ry

fin a l d ra ft. H e w a s m e a n t to h a v e

P ra tc h e tt

n o v e l.

I

d e c id e d

my

as

a

m o d e ls

s t a r t e d i t in M a r c h 2 0 0 9 , b u t th e n

w e r e g o i n g to b e T h o r n e S m i t h a n d P. G .

life d i d t h a t t h i n g w h e r e i t i m i t a t e d

W o d e h o u s e ” ( L o c u s O n l in e , 2 0 0 5 ) .

a r t . “ I w e n t o f f to N e w Y o r k a n d g o t

G a i m a n s p e d a h e a d d o i n g o n e o r tw o

a n u n e x p e c t e d p h o n e c a l l s a y in g m y

th o u s a n d w o rd s a d a y w h e n h e s u d d e n ly

f a t h e r h a d j u s t d ie d o f a s u s p e c t e d

l o o k e d u p a n d f o u n d t h a t a ll h is c h a r a c t e r s

h e a r t a t t a c k i n a b u s in e s s m e e t i n g .

h a d s t a r t e d d o i n g t h in g s h e h a d n ’t e x p e c t e d

A n d w h e n t h e d u s t h a d s e ttle d a n d

th e m

I o p e n e d u p t h e file t o w r i t e t h e f ilm

to

d o . H e h a d m o r e p lo t th a n h e

k n e w w h a t t o d o w i t h ; h is o r i g i n a l e n d i n g ,

s c r i p t , in w h i c h t h e f ir s t t h i n g t h a t

i f h e u s e d i t, w o u l d d o n o t h i n g b u t f iz z le ,

happens

s o h e p u t it i n a d r a w e r a n d l e t t h e s t o r y

f a t h e r d ie s in

c o m p o s t . “F i n i s h i n g i t w a s a n e x t r e m e l y

is

th a t

th e

an

p r o t a g o n i s t ’s

u n e x p e c te d w ay

o f a h e a r t a tta c k d u rin g k a ra o k e , I f o u n d m y s e l f t h i n k i n g , ‘I c a n ’t d o th is .’ I ’d o p e n it u p e v e r y c o u p l e o f d ay s a n d lo o k a t th e tw o p a g e s th a t

I had to f u e ou t a wwyté

e x i s t e d s o f a r a n d t h e n I ’d c l o s e it a n d g o a n d d o s o m e t h i n g e lse.” M o n th s la te r, G a im a n w a s a t th e

write a funny noVel th a t wwS h

J 1

V

A c a d e m y A w a r d s t o w a t c h C o r a lin e go

"

n ot a j my P ratchett novel.

h e a d -to -h e a d

w ith

P i x a r ’s

U p,

a n d w e n t t h o u g h “a s t r a n g e , r a t h e r m o u rn fu l,

ra th e r

odd

and

de­

p r e s s i n g d a y w h e r e I f e lt lik e I w a s an

a lie n

a t th e

O scars”

(P u rc e ll,

A n an si

B oys

fu n n y

novel

a n n i v e r s a r y o f h is f a t h e r ’s d e a t h , h e

w ith s o m e s c a r y a n d d is tu rb in g b its , a n d a

w as m e la n c h o ly a n d w a n te d to go

odd

e x p e rie n c e ,

o s c illa te s b e tw e e n

b ecau se b e in g

a

2 0 1 2 ) . It w a s tw o d a y s b e f o re th e

d is tu rb in g n o v e l w ith s o m e fu n n y b its, a n d

h o m e a n d w a l k w i t h h is d o g s in t h e

th e s e c o n d h a lf w a s , o n th e w h o le , fa irly

w o o d s . H e w r o te a p ie c e f o r

d a r k , a n d h a v in g fig u re d o u t h o w to w rite

G u a r d i a n a b o u t b e i n g in v is ib le o n

i t f u n n y o n c e a g a in I h a d t o a d m i t t h a t I

th e

h a d n o i d e a a t a ll o f w h a t I w a s d o i n g , a n d

R ach el

th e n I h a d to d o it a n y w a y . B u t e v e n tu a lly

th o u sa n d

i t f i n i s h e d i t s e l f in z e r o t h d r a f t ( w i t h a l o t

b e in g

o f h e lp f r o m m e ) ” ( L o c u s m a g a z in e , 2 0 0 5 ) .

sim p ly

L i k e F a t C h a r l i e a n d S p id e r , A m e r i c a n

l if te d .

G o d s a n d A n a n s i B o y s sh a re g e n e s, b u t th e y a re

c o m p l e t e l y d i f f e r e n t e n t i t i e s in

2 0 0 7 , tw o y e a rs

m ade

in

th e

m id -n in e tie s .

H en ry

a ls o

S e lle r lis t, A n a n s i B o y s w a s t u r n e d in to a

s o m e h o w , t h r o u g h h is v o ic e , it b e c o m e s

w h i l e A n a n s i B o y s is j o y f u l a n d l ig h t, m o r e

(h e a v ily c o n d e n s e d a n d w r itte n b y s o m e ­

m o r e l ik e A n a n s i B o y s t h a n A n a n s i B o y s

lik e a 1 9 3 0 s s c r e w b a l l c o m e d y . I t s h o c k e d

o n e e lse ) r a d io p la y f o r th e B B C W o rld

th e b o o k . L e n n y H e n r y h a s a w h o le a rm y

G a im a n

S e rv ic e . L e n n y

by

w in n in g

a

B ritish

F a n ta s y

O n e d e b u t o n th e N e w

a f te r its N u m b e r

G o d s is h u g e a n d s p r a w l i n g a n d s e r i o u s ,

w o rld s :

A m e r ic a n

In

d id a s te lla r jo b o n th e a u d io b o o k , a n d

d if f e r e n t

H e n r y g o t to

v o ic e

Fat

(a n d

b e a u tifu l

lo n e ly by He

tre a d in g

w o rd s

am ong

w ritin g

on

d r e s s ) — it ’s

p e o p le , i t,

a

about and

s o m e th in g

w e n t h o m e , w ro te

th e

C h a r lie a n d S p id e r, tw o c h a r a c te r s w h o s e

w ith

w i n a w a r d s !”

liv e s b e g a n i n a g r u m p y o b s e r v a t i o n h e

p e rso n a lity . ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

o ff. S i n c e t h e n it ’s t r a n s f o r m e d i n t o

aBOVe: Pages from

a te le v is io n sh ow . B e f o r e it b e c o m e s

Neil's Anansi Boys notebook.

a

te le v isio n

sh ow

it

m ig h t

w e ll

m o r p h i n t o s o m e t h i n g e ls e .

o f o ld J a m a ic a n la d ie s in h is h e a d , e a c h

S o c i e t y a w a r d b e c a u s e “f u n n y b o o k s d o n ’t

t 234

carp et

M c A d a m s ’s

s c r i p t f o r A n a n s i B o y s , a n d s e n t it

Y ork T im es B e s t

c o m p le te ly

red

The

her

ow n

in d iv id u a l

n u an ces

and

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

235 t

ODD aND tHe R f oSt CIaNtS

"H'aVing to w rite a conversation in which a sm art k id perSuadeS Something a hundred tp sS his size to go

I t s a book abou t using your head,

tpu it w ouldn't have happened w ithou t th a t

W

o r l d

fo R w aR D

B

o o k

g o aL : to

D

a y

g e t R

i s id s

a n

hepnwas the challenge.

a n n u a l

e v e n t

w ith

a

S izeiljm itation.

s tR a ig h t­

R e a D in g .

b u n c h o f a u th o r s w rite s o m e b o o k s f o r n o th in g , th e p u b lis h e rs p u b lis h t h e m fo r

A

n o th in g ,

and

th e n

k id s— w h o

have

re c e iv e d

th e ir W o rld

Book

D ay b ook

c o u p o n s — c a n sw ap th e m a t th e b o o k s h o p fo r a fre e b o o k o f th e ir v e r y o w n

f r o m t h e W o r l d B o o k D a y b u f f e t, w h i c h u s u a l l y c o n s i s t s o f a b o u t e i g h t t i t l e s . S i n c e e v e r y b o d y ’s d o i n g it f o r f r e e , it m a k e s f o r s o m e s h o r t r e a d s — e v e n t h e p r i n t e r is d o n a t i n g

t h e p a p e r , s o t h e y d o n ’t w a n t t o b e p u t t i n g o u t A m e r i c a n

G o d s b r i c k s o r t h e y ’d g o

b a n k ru p t.

O d d a n d t h e F r o s t G ia n t s w a s G a i m a n ’s W o r l d B o o k D a y b o o k i n 2 0 0 8 , c l o c k i n g in a t a r o u n d h a l f t h e l e n g t h o f C o r a lin e . I n it, h e t o o k p i e c e s o f o l d N o r s e m y t h o l o g y a n d p u t t h e m in t h e w o r l d o f a y o u n g b o y w i t h a b a d l e g c a l l e d O d d , w h o liv e s in N o r w a y w h e r e t h e w i n t e r is n e v e r e n d i n g a n d n o b o d y k n o w s w h y . T r e a t e d b a d l y b y h i s s t e p f a t h e r , h e le a v e s t h e v il l a g e a n d e s c a p e s t o t h e f o r e s t w h e r e h e m e e t s a b e a r , a f o x , a n d a n e a g l e w h o a re a c tu a lly L o k i, O d in , a n d T h o r tu r n e d in to fo re s t a n im a ls a n d c a s t o u t o f A s g a r d b y t h e m o s t e v il o f t h e F r o s t G i a n t s , w h o is a l s o t h e r e a s o n w h y t h e s p r i n g n e v e r c o m e s . G a i m a n is m o s t p r o u d o f h o w h e e n d e d t h e b o o k , w h i c h p r o b a b l y w o u l d h a v e b e e n v e r y d i f f e r e n t i f t h e r e h a d b e e n m o r e s p a c e / w o r d s t o m a n e u v e r : a n e x t r a fiv e t h o u s a n d w o r d s m i g h t h a v e s e e n “a n a w f u l l o t o f s h o u t i n g a n d r u n n i n g a b o u t a t t h e e n d ” (H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) . O d d c a n b a r e l y w a l k , u s e s a c r u t c h t o t r a v e l t h r o u g h h is i c y w o r l d , a n d w o u l d b e u s e le s s in a p h y s i c a l f ig h t. I n s t e a d h e c a l m l y a n d p o l i t e l y u s e s h i s h e a d t o w i n t h e b a t t l e a g a i n s t t h e F r o s t G i a n t . “ H a v i n g t o w r i t e a c o n v e r s a t i o n in w h i c h a s m a r t k i d p e r s u a d e s s o m e t h i n g a h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d t i m e s h i s s iz e t o g o h o m e w a s t h e c h a l l e n g e . B u t it w o u l d n ’t h a v e h a p p e n e d w i t h o u t t h a t s iz e l i m i t a t i o n ” (H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) . a B o v e aND o p p o s ite : Cover of the U.S. edition, 2009, featuring artwork by Brett Helquist, and expanded cover artwork for the UK edition, 2010, by Adam Stower.

f 236

I n 2 0 1 1 G a i m a n s t a r t e d w o r k o n a s e c o n d O d d b o o k t h i n k i n g it w a s g o i n g t o b e a n o t h e r s h o r t o n e , b u t h a v i n g g o t t h r o u g h t h e f i r s t c h a p t e r h e r e a l i z e d it w o u l d b e m u c h b i g g e r t h a n t h e f ir s t. I t’s g o t a w o r k i n g t i t l e o f O d d ’s S e a c h a n g e , a n d N e i l is s e n d i n g h i m o n a h o l i d a y t o J e r u s a l e m , o n t h e s a m e r o u t e t h e V i k i n g s t o o k in t h e O r k n e y in g a S a g a . T h e t h i r d b o o k is s e t a f e w y e a r s a f t e r t h a t o n e a n d h a s s o m e t h i n g t o d o w i t h A f g h a n i s t a n a n d I ra n , w h e r e th e V ik in g s g o t th e in g o ts o f c r u c ib le ste e l f o r th e b e s t s w o rd s . ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m i c s

237 f

ODD aND tHe R f oSt CIaNtS

"H'aVing to w rite a conversation in which a sm art k id perSuadeS Something a hundred tp sS his size to go

I t s a book abou t using your head,

tpu it w ouldn't have happened w ithou t th a t

W

o r l d

fo R w aR D

B

o o k

g o aL : to

D

a y

g e t R

i s id s

a n

hepnwas the challenge.

a n n u a l

e v e n t

w ith

a

S izeiljm itation.

s tR a ig h t­

R e a D in g .

b u n c h o f a u th o r s w rite s o m e b o o k s f o r n o th in g , th e p u b lis h e rs p u b lis h t h e m fo r

A

n o th in g ,

and

th e n

k id s— w h o

have

re c e iv e d

th e ir W o rld

Book

D ay b ook

c o u p o n s — c a n sw ap th e m a t th e b o o k s h o p fo r a fre e b o o k o f th e ir v e r y o w n

f r o m t h e W o r l d B o o k D a y b u f f e t, w h i c h u s u a l l y c o n s i s t s o f a b o u t e i g h t t i t l e s . S i n c e e v e r y b o d y ’s d o i n g it f o r f r e e , it m a k e s f o r s o m e s h o r t r e a d s — e v e n t h e p r i n t e r is d o n a t i n g

t h e p a p e r , s o t h e y d o n ’t w a n t t o b e p u t t i n g o u t A m e r i c a n

G o d s b r i c k s o r t h e y ’d g o

b a n k ru p t.

O d d a n d t h e F r o s t G ia n t s w a s G a i m a n ’s W o r l d B o o k D a y b o o k i n 2 0 0 8 , c l o c k i n g in a t a r o u n d h a l f t h e l e n g t h o f C o r a lin e . I n it, h e t o o k p i e c e s o f o l d N o r s e m y t h o l o g y a n d p u t t h e m in t h e w o r l d o f a y o u n g b o y w i t h a b a d l e g c a l l e d O d d , w h o liv e s in N o r w a y w h e r e t h e w i n t e r is n e v e r e n d i n g a n d n o b o d y k n o w s w h y . T r e a t e d b a d l y b y h i s s t e p f a t h e r , h e le a v e s t h e v il l a g e a n d e s c a p e s t o t h e f o r e s t w h e r e h e m e e t s a b e a r , a f o x , a n d a n e a g l e w h o a re a c tu a lly L o k i, O d in , a n d T h o r tu r n e d in to fo re s t a n im a ls a n d c a s t o u t o f A s g a r d b y t h e m o s t e v il o f t h e F r o s t G i a n t s , w h o is a l s o t h e r e a s o n w h y t h e s p r i n g n e v e r c o m e s . G a i m a n is m o s t p r o u d o f h o w h e e n d e d t h e b o o k , w h i c h p r o b a b l y w o u l d h a v e b e e n v e r y d i f f e r e n t i f t h e r e h a d b e e n m o r e s p a c e / w o r d s t o m a n e u v e r : a n e x t r a fiv e t h o u s a n d w o r d s m i g h t h a v e s e e n “a n a w f u l l o t o f s h o u t i n g a n d r u n n i n g a b o u t a t t h e e n d ” (H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) . O d d c a n b a r e l y w a l k , u s e s a c r u t c h t o t r a v e l t h r o u g h h is i c y w o r l d , a n d w o u l d b e u s e le s s in a p h y s i c a l f ig h t. I n s t e a d h e c a l m l y a n d p o l i t e l y u s e s h i s h e a d t o w i n t h e b a t t l e a g a i n s t t h e F r o s t G i a n t . “ H a v i n g t o w r i t e a c o n v e r s a t i o n in w h i c h a s m a r t k i d p e r s u a d e s s o m e t h i n g a h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d t i m e s h i s s iz e t o g o h o m e w a s t h e c h a l l e n g e . B u t it w o u l d n ’t h a v e h a p p e n e d w i t h o u t t h a t s iz e l i m i t a t i o n ” (H u f f , 2 0 1 1 ) . a B o v e aND o p p o s ite : Cover of the U.S. edition, 2009, featuring artwork by Brett Helquist, and expanded cover artwork for the UK edition, 2010, by Adam Stower.

f 236

I n 2 0 1 1 G a i m a n s t a r t e d w o r k o n a s e c o n d O d d b o o k t h i n k i n g it w a s g o i n g t o b e a n o t h e r s h o r t o n e , b u t h a v i n g g o t t h r o u g h t h e f i r s t c h a p t e r h e r e a l i z e d it w o u l d b e m u c h b i g g e r t h a n t h e f ir s t. I t’s g o t a w o r k i n g t i t l e o f O d d ’s S e a c h a n g e , a n d N e i l is s e n d i n g h i m o n a h o l i d a y t o J e r u s a l e m , o n t h e s a m e r o u t e t h e V i k i n g s t o o k in t h e O r k n e y in g a S a g a . T h e t h i r d b o o k is s e t a f e w y e a r s a f t e r t h a t o n e a n d h a s s o m e t h i n g t o d o w i t h A f g h a n i s t a n a n d I ra n , w h e r e th e V ik in g s g o t th e in g o ts o f c r u c ib le ste e l f o r th e b e s t s w o rd s . ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m i c s

237 f

o f a n e v e n in g , s p e n d a c o u p l e o f h o u r s

L eft: Cover of the 2013 U.S. paperback edition of InterWorld, artwork by James Jean.

c a t c h i n g up. W h a t a r e th in g s li k e o n y o u r w o r ld , N e il- w it h - W in g s ? W ell,

INteRwoRLD

fu n n y y o u s h o u ld a s k . . .

R e a v e s p itc h e d th e id e a to D re a m W o r k s a n d g o t tu r n e d d o w n . T h e y p itc h e d it e lse ­ w h e r e a n d g o t tu r n e d d o w n a g a in . E a c h t i m e t h e y p i t c h e d i t t h e y w e r e r u n n i n g i n to th e s a m e p ro b le m : th e p e o p le th e y w e re p itc h in g it to w e re n o t th ir te e n -y e a r -o ld b o y s . T h e y d i d n ’t g e t it.

o f th e S tu ff t h a t thirteen —year—old icgS haMe tie Zrcukle a it a ll understanding

W h a t w e f o u n d w a s w h ile th e lik e s o f [ f a m e d s c r e e n w r it e r s ] E l lio t t a n d

made ffty -fv e-g ear-old S tu d io efelutVeS th in k we were on crack.

R o s s io w o u ld r e a d th is t h in g a n d h a v e n o p r o b l e m s w ith it, t h e m o m e n t it w e n t to a s t u d io e x e c u t iv e e v e r y t h in g w o u ld g e t very, v e r y c o n fu s in g a n d w e ir d . B e c a u s e t h e y d i d

n ot u n d er­

s t a n d th e i d e a t h a t o u r h e r o is a lt e r n a t e v e r s io n s o f o u r h e r o f r o m

d iffe r e n t

r e a litie s . P e o p le w o u ld r e a d th is o u t ­

INteRW ORlD b e g a n a r o u n d t h e same tim e as tHe NeveRWHeRe Tv semes was happeNiNg. 1996 saw the eND of saNDmaN, by w h ich point th ere was a definite m ove in directions new a r a unknown, television being one of them.

lin e

and

t h e y ’d g e t c o n fu s e d

by

us

t a lk in g a b o u t m u ltiv e r s e s a n d m u ltip le v e r s io n s o f o u r h e r o — a ll o f t h e s t u f f t h a t t h ir t e e n - y e a r - o ld t r o u b le

at

a ll

boys hav e

u n d e r s t a n d in g

fifty -fiv e -y e a r -o ld

s t u d io

no

m ade

e x e c u t iv e s

th in k w e w e r e o n c r a c k . A n d s o M ic h a e l a im a n in itia lly m e t M ic h a e l R e a v e s in 1 9 9 3 w h e n R e a v e s w a s s c r ip t e d ito r o n

a n d I d e c i d e d to w r ite th e b o o k . W e

B a t m a n : T h e A n i m a t e d S e r ie s , a n d r a n i n t o h i m a y e a r l a t e r a t t h e W o r l d F a n t a s y

d id n ’t d e c i d e to w r ite th e b o o k to s e ll

C o n v e n t i o n in N e w O r l e a n s w h e n R e a v e s h a d m o v e d o n t o w r i t i n g D i s n e y ’s

th e b o o k , b u t b e c a u s e it w o u ld a c t u a lly

G a r g o y le s . R e a v e s h a d w o n a n E m m y f o r B a t m a n , h i s c a r e e r w a s o n t h e r i s e , a n d i n 1 9 9 6

b e e a s ie r to g iv e s o m e o n e t h e b o o k a n d

h e fo u n d h im s e lf w o rk in g a t D r e a m W o r k s w ith th e o p tio n to d o a c o m p le te ly o rig in a l

say, “H e r e y o u g o , th is is th e sto ry . T h is

a n im a te d se rie s. H e c a lle d G a im a n , w h o h a d n e v e r w r itte n a n a n im a te d T V sh o w , a n d

w o u ld b e th e f i r s t c o u p le o f e p is o d e s o f

a s k e d i f h e h a d a n y i d e a s . G a i m a n ’s p i t c h w a s I n t e r W o r ld .

a T V sh ow " S o w e h a d n o p a r tic u la r

G

in t e n t io n T h e i d e a is w e h a v e a n in f in it e n u m b e r o f u n iv e r s e s a n d in s o m e o f t h e m t h e m u l t iv e r s e is l e a d i n g t o w a r d s m a g ic , a n d in s o m e o f t h e m it s l e a d i n g t o w a r d s s c ie n c e ,

to

get

it p u b l i s h e d — t h e

t o g e t h e r a n d s e e i f it w a s w o r t h s a v in g . O u t o f th e m o th b a lls it c a m e . T h e y c o m b e d

W hat are thingS like onyour

w o rld it w e n t. It w a s p u b lis h e d in 2 0 0 7 , a n d D r e a m W o r k s w o u n d up b u y in g th e

world, N *t-w th-W ingS?

o p tio n

in t e n tio n w a s j u s t b a s i c a lly to u s e th e

decade

b o o k to g e t a T V d e a l, o r a f i l m d e a l.

sto p p e d

a n d y o u n o w h a v e t h e s e h u g e o r g a n i z a t i o n s t h a t a r e p u s h i n g to tr y a n d g e t a l l o f t h e

t 238

its h a i r a n d w i p e d its f a c e a n d o u t i n t o t h e

to

tu rn

a fte r

it i n t o

R eaves

tr y in g .

a film

and

“ T h e r e ’s

a lm o s t

G a im a n a

m o ral

a

had th e re

s o m e w h e r e ,” s a i d N e il. “B u t I h a v e n o i d e a

m u l t iv e r s e s to b e o n e t h in g o r t h e o th e r . A n d t h e n y o u h a v e I n t e r W o r ld , w h ic h is j u s t

T h e y w r o t e t h e n o v e l in a h o t e l in s n o w y

th is lit tle t h in g t h a t is t r y in g to k e e p th in g s m o r e o r le s s a s t h e y a r e . I t s a r e s is t a n c e

W i s c o n s i n in t h e m i d d l e o f w i n t e r , 1 9 9 8 .

R e a v e s w a s n ’t a c h i l d r e n ’s a u t h o r e i t h e r .

T h e n , h a v in g o rig in a lly p lo tte d a h u g e

g r o u p , b u t a r e s is t a n c e g r o u p w h ic h is t r y in g to h o l d t h e s t a t u s q u o . A n d o u r h e r o is

“M i c h a e l c a m e u p a n d t o o k a h o t e l r o o m

N e ith e r k n e w w h a t to d o w ith th e b o o k , so

g r a n d s c h e m e o f I n t e r W o r ld s tu f f b a c k in

a k i d w h o d i s c o v e r s h e c a n w a l k b e t w e e n t h e s e w o r ld s a n d t h e s u p e r t e a m t h a t h e is

a n d w e ju s t s a t n e x t to

e a c h o th e r a n d

it w e n t in to

th e

g o i n g to j o i n a r e v e r s io n s o f h i m s e l f f r o m a l t e r n a t e r e a lit i e s .

a lte rn a te d

a lte rn a te d

T h e n C o r a lin e h a p p e n e d .

c h a p te rs ,

or

h a lf­

d e s p ite

w ritin g

ca rto o n s

for

a

li v i n g ,

a d r a w e r a n d s ta y e d th e re .

w h a t i t is.”

days w h en

te l e v i s i o n

t h e y ’d e n v is io n e d it a s a

s e rie s , th e r e w a s r o o m

c h a p te r s . B a s ic a lly th e r u le w a s w h e n y o u

I n t h e m e a n t i m e , R e a v e s ’s life w a s n o t

y o u n g m a n w r i t in g S a n d m a n . I u s e d to t h i n k t h e r e a r e p r o b a b l y m illi o n s o f v e r s io n s

g o t s tu c k o n th e b it y o u w e re o n , w e sw a p p e d

g o in g as w e ll as it h a d b e e n g o in g . R e c e n tly

r e c e n t l y f le w o u t to L A f o r p l o t t i n g s e s s io n s

o f m e a c r o s s m illi o n s o f m u l t iv e r s e r e a lit i e s . W o u ld n ’t it b e n ic e i f s o m e t i m e s t h e y ’d

o u t.” I n t h e e n d , t h e b o o k d i d n o t h i n g t o

d ia g n o s e d w ith

w ith

d r o p in f o r a c o f f e e ? I ’d j u s t b e s it t in g t h e r e c h a t t i n g to m e , b u t h e ’d b e t h e m e w h o

c o n v i n c e s t u d i o e x e c u t i v e s o f its p o t e n t i a l

n o lo n g e r e n jo y in g th e c a r e e r o f th e E m m y

w o u l d b e c o v e r e d in f u r . T h e s o r t o f w e r e w o l f - y o n e , a n d o v e r h e r e ’s a l a d y - m e , a n d

s u c c e s s a s a T V s e r ie s . In 1 9 9 8 G a i m a n h a d

A w a rd -w in n in g w rite r

TV

a n d a l t h o u g h G a i m a n h a d a h u g e h a n d in

h e r e ’s a m e f r o m

a p l a c e w h e r e e v e r y o n e ’s in v i s ib l e w h e n t h e y ’r e in d i r e c t lig h t b u t

T h e D a y I S w a p p e d M y D a d f o r T w o G o ld fis h

sh o w s h e o n c e h a d , R e a v e s a sk ed G a im a n

th e p lo ttin g a n d s tr u c tu rin g o f th e b o o k s ,

t h e y s o r t o f g e t m o r e v is ib le in s h a d o w . A n d w e ’d h a v e c o ffe e , a n d w e ’d j u s t s o r t o f t a lk

b u t w a s n ’t r e a l l y a c h i l d r e n ’s a u t h o r , a n d

i f h e w o u ld d ig o u t th e o ld b o o k th e y w r o te

h e le f t t h e w r i t i n g u p t o t h e o t h e r tw o . ❖

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

P a r k i n s o n ’s D i s e a s e

o f a n im a te d

CHapteR 5 | BeyoND c o m ic s

and

I n t e r W o r ld 2

R eaves

a n d I n t e r W o r ld

fo r an

I t c a m e o u t o f th is w e i r d f a n t a s y t h a t I u s e d to s o m e t i m e s h a v e w h e n I w a s a

and

h is

3.

d a u g h te r

G a im a n

M a llo ry

R e a v e s , a n E i s n e r A w a r d - n o m i n a t e d w r ite r ,

239 t

o f a n e v e n in g , s p e n d a c o u p l e o f h o u r s

L eft: Cover of the 2013 U.S. paperback edition of InterWorld, artwork by James Jean.

c a t c h i n g up. W h a t a r e th in g s li k e o n y o u r w o r ld , N e il- w it h - W in g s ? W ell,

INteRwoRLD

fu n n y y o u s h o u ld a s k . . .

R e a v e s p itc h e d th e id e a to D re a m W o r k s a n d g o t tu r n e d d o w n . T h e y p itc h e d it e lse ­ w h e r e a n d g o t tu r n e d d o w n a g a in . E a c h t i m e t h e y p i t c h e d i t t h e y w e r e r u n n i n g i n to th e s a m e p ro b le m : th e p e o p le th e y w e re p itc h in g it to w e re n o t th ir te e n -y e a r -o ld b o y s . T h e y d i d n ’t g e t it.

o f th e S tu ff t h a t thirteen —year—old icgS haMe tie Zrcukle a it a ll understanding

W h a t w e f o u n d w a s w h ile th e lik e s o f [ f a m e d s c r e e n w r it e r s ] E l lio t t a n d

made ffty -fv e-g ear-old S tu d io efelutVeS th in k we were on crack.

R o s s io w o u ld r e a d th is t h in g a n d h a v e n o p r o b l e m s w ith it, t h e m o m e n t it w e n t to a s t u d io e x e c u t iv e e v e r y t h in g w o u ld g e t very, v e r y c o n fu s in g a n d w e ir d . B e c a u s e t h e y d i d

n ot u n d er­

s t a n d th e i d e a t h a t o u r h e r o is a lt e r n a t e v e r s io n s o f o u r h e r o f r o m

d iffe r e n t

r e a litie s . P e o p le w o u ld r e a d th is o u t ­

INteRW ORlD b e g a n a r o u n d t h e same tim e as tHe NeveRWHeRe Tv semes was happeNiNg. 1996 saw the eND of saNDmaN, by w h ich point th ere was a definite m ove in directions new a r a unknown, television being one of them.

lin e

and

t h e y ’d g e t c o n fu s e d

by

us

t a lk in g a b o u t m u ltiv e r s e s a n d m u ltip le v e r s io n s o f o u r h e r o — a ll o f t h e s t u f f t h a t t h ir t e e n - y e a r - o ld t r o u b le

at

a ll

boys hav e

u n d e r s t a n d in g

fifty -fiv e -y e a r -o ld

s t u d io

no

m ade

e x e c u t iv e s

th in k w e w e r e o n c r a c k . A n d s o M ic h a e l a im a n in itia lly m e t M ic h a e l R e a v e s in 1 9 9 3 w h e n R e a v e s w a s s c r ip t e d ito r o n

a n d I d e c i d e d to w r ite th e b o o k . W e

B a t m a n : T h e A n i m a t e d S e r ie s , a n d r a n i n t o h i m a y e a r l a t e r a t t h e W o r l d F a n t a s y

d id n ’t d e c i d e to w r ite th e b o o k to s e ll

C o n v e n t i o n in N e w O r l e a n s w h e n R e a v e s h a d m o v e d o n t o w r i t i n g D i s n e y ’s

th e b o o k , b u t b e c a u s e it w o u ld a c t u a lly

G a r g o y le s . R e a v e s h a d w o n a n E m m y f o r B a t m a n , h i s c a r e e r w a s o n t h e r i s e , a n d i n 1 9 9 6

b e e a s ie r to g iv e s o m e o n e t h e b o o k a n d

h e fo u n d h im s e lf w o rk in g a t D r e a m W o r k s w ith th e o p tio n to d o a c o m p le te ly o rig in a l

say, “H e r e y o u g o , th is is th e sto ry . T h is

a n im a te d se rie s. H e c a lle d G a im a n , w h o h a d n e v e r w r itte n a n a n im a te d T V sh o w , a n d

w o u ld b e th e f i r s t c o u p le o f e p is o d e s o f

a s k e d i f h e h a d a n y i d e a s . G a i m a n ’s p i t c h w a s I n t e r W o r ld .

a T V sh ow " S o w e h a d n o p a r tic u la r

G

in t e n t io n T h e i d e a is w e h a v e a n in f in it e n u m b e r o f u n iv e r s e s a n d in s o m e o f t h e m t h e m u l t iv e r s e is l e a d i n g t o w a r d s m a g ic , a n d in s o m e o f t h e m it s l e a d i n g t o w a r d s s c ie n c e ,

to

get

it p u b l i s h e d — t h e

t o g e t h e r a n d s e e i f it w a s w o r t h s a v in g . O u t o f th e m o th b a lls it c a m e . T h e y c o m b e d

W hat are thingS like onyour

w o rld it w e n t. It w a s p u b lis h e d in 2 0 0 7 , a n d D r e a m W o r k s w o u n d up b u y in g th e

world, N *t-w th-W ingS?

o p tio n

in t e n tio n w a s j u s t b a s i c a lly to u s e th e

decade

b o o k to g e t a T V d e a l, o r a f i l m d e a l.

sto p p e d

a n d y o u n o w h a v e t h e s e h u g e o r g a n i z a t i o n s t h a t a r e p u s h i n g to tr y a n d g e t a l l o f t h e

t 238

its h a i r a n d w i p e d its f a c e a n d o u t i n t o t h e

to

tu rn

a fte r

it i n t o

R eaves

tr y in g .

a film

and

“ T h e r e ’s

a lm o s t

G a im a n a

m o ral

a

had th e re

s o m e w h e r e ,” s a i d N e il. “B u t I h a v e n o i d e a

m u l t iv e r s e s to b e o n e t h in g o r t h e o th e r . A n d t h e n y o u h a v e I n t e r W o r ld , w h ic h is j u s t

T h e y w r o t e t h e n o v e l in a h o t e l in s n o w y

th is lit tle t h in g t h a t is t r y in g to k e e p th in g s m o r e o r le s s a s t h e y a r e . I t s a r e s is t a n c e

W i s c o n s i n in t h e m i d d l e o f w i n t e r , 1 9 9 8 .

R e a v e s w a s n ’t a c h i l d r e n ’s a u t h o r e i t h e r .

T h e n , h a v in g o rig in a lly p lo tte d a h u g e

g r o u p , b u t a r e s is t a n c e g r o u p w h ic h is t r y in g to h o l d t h e s t a t u s q u o . A n d o u r h e r o is

“M i c h a e l c a m e u p a n d t o o k a h o t e l r o o m

N e ith e r k n e w w h a t to d o w ith th e b o o k , so

g r a n d s c h e m e o f I n t e r W o r ld s tu f f b a c k in

a k i d w h o d i s c o v e r s h e c a n w a l k b e t w e e n t h e s e w o r ld s a n d t h e s u p e r t e a m t h a t h e is

a n d w e ju s t s a t n e x t to

e a c h o th e r a n d

it w e n t in to

th e

g o i n g to j o i n a r e v e r s io n s o f h i m s e l f f r o m a l t e r n a t e r e a lit i e s .

a lte rn a te d

a lte rn a te d

T h e n C o r a lin e h a p p e n e d .

c h a p te rs ,

or

h a lf­

d e s p ite

w ritin g

ca rto o n s

for

a

li v i n g ,

a d r a w e r a n d s ta y e d th e re .

w h a t i t is.”

days w h en

te l e v i s i o n

t h e y ’d e n v is io n e d it a s a

s e rie s , th e r e w a s r o o m

c h a p te r s . B a s ic a lly th e r u le w a s w h e n y o u

I n t h e m e a n t i m e , R e a v e s ’s life w a s n o t

y o u n g m a n w r i t in g S a n d m a n . I u s e d to t h i n k t h e r e a r e p r o b a b l y m illi o n s o f v e r s io n s

g o t s tu c k o n th e b it y o u w e re o n , w e sw a p p e d

g o in g as w e ll as it h a d b e e n g o in g . R e c e n tly

r e c e n t l y f le w o u t to L A f o r p l o t t i n g s e s s io n s

o f m e a c r o s s m illi o n s o f m u l t iv e r s e r e a lit i e s . W o u ld n ’t it b e n ic e i f s o m e t i m e s t h e y ’d

o u t.” I n t h e e n d , t h e b o o k d i d n o t h i n g t o

d ia g n o s e d w ith

w ith

d r o p in f o r a c o f f e e ? I ’d j u s t b e s it t in g t h e r e c h a t t i n g to m e , b u t h e ’d b e t h e m e w h o

c o n v i n c e s t u d i o e x e c u t i v e s o f its p o t e n t i a l

n o lo n g e r e n jo y in g th e c a r e e r o f th e E m m y

w o u l d b e c o v e r e d in f u r . T h e s o r t o f w e r e w o l f - y o n e , a n d o v e r h e r e ’s a l a d y - m e , a n d

s u c c e s s a s a T V s e r ie s . In 1 9 9 8 G a i m a n h a d

A w a rd -w in n in g w rite r

TV

a n d a l t h o u g h G a i m a n h a d a h u g e h a n d in

h e r e ’s a m e f r o m

a p l a c e w h e r e e v e r y o n e ’s in v i s ib l e w h e n t h e y ’r e in d i r e c t lig h t b u t

T h e D a y I S w a p p e d M y D a d f o r T w o G o ld fis h

sh o w s h e o n c e h a d , R e a v e s a sk ed G a im a n

th e p lo ttin g a n d s tr u c tu rin g o f th e b o o k s ,

t h e y s o r t o f g e t m o r e v is ib le in s h a d o w . A n d w e ’d h a v e c o ffe e , a n d w e ’d j u s t s o r t o f t a lk

b u t w a s n ’t r e a l l y a c h i l d r e n ’s a u t h o r , a n d

i f h e w o u ld d ig o u t th e o ld b o o k th e y w r o te

h e le f t t h e w r i t i n g u p t o t h e o t h e r tw o . ❖

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

P a r k i n s o n ’s D i s e a s e

o f a n im a te d

CHapteR 5 | BeyoND c o m ic s

and

I n t e r W o r ld 2

R eaves

a n d I n t e r W o r ld

fo r an

I t c a m e o u t o f th is w e i r d f a n t a s y t h a t I u s e d to s o m e t i m e s h a v e w h e n I w a s a

and

h is

3.

d a u g h te r

G a im a n

M a llo ry

R e a v e s , a n E i s n e r A w a r d - n o m i n a t e d w r ite r ,

239 t

jf

tH e gRaveya R D B o k “Rattle his bones Over the stones It’s only a pauper Who nobody owns.”

gaimaN’S oLd peace aND Love

coRpoRatiON coHORt Kim NewmaN saiD tHat gaimaN’s eaRLieR NoveL aNdNsi Boys was oNe of His Books foR gRowN-ups, “w h i c h meaNS tHat it’s a Lot Less RutHLess tHaN tHe mateRiaL He pRoDuces foR cHiLDReN.” His cHiLDReN’s NoveL tHe gRaveyaRD Book BegiNs witH a gLoveD HaND i n tHe DaRk HoLDiNg a BLooD-wet kNife, aND it DoesN’t go aNy easieR o n tHe ReaDeR afteR tHat. ike Mowgli in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (a book from which Gaiman takes his cues, replacing the creatures from the jungles with ghosts in the graveyard), Nobody “Bod” Owens is an orphan. When we first meet him he is barely a toddler, his family have just been murdered, and he unknowingly escapes the terrible fate himself by sheer curiosity—by clambering over the walls of his crib, sliding down the stairs on his cushioned behind, and venturing out into the night through the open front door. He totters up the hill to the graveyard where he is, after some discussion, adopted and raised by its occupants, a cast of dead people from times very long ago, like the Roman whose headstone was now nothing but a weathered rock, and others not so far back in time. The dead are not the people to be afraid of in this world—it’s the living that can hurt you. Mostly living people called Jack. The Graveyard Book had been gestating for some time before Neil put pen to paper. He had the idea back in 1985 when he was still living in England while watching his twoyear-old son Mike play in the graveyard across the road in lieu of the backyard they didn’t have. At the time, Gaiman was just twenty-five. Comics and Sandman hadn’t happened yet, and while he knew it was a good idea, he did not want to screw it up. He thought he’d wait. Every eight years or so he would write two pages of the story to check if he was good enough yet— always the same scene, where the baby enters the gates of the graveyard. Every eight years he would think he wasn’t good enough yet and put the idea back in the drawer. Life happened.

L

aBOVe: Cover of the 2009 UK paperback edition; art by Chris Riddell.

t

240

opposite: Limited U.S.-only adult edition of the book with a different cover and interior illustrations by McKean was produced by Subterranean Press.

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

By about 2003 two things were becoming obvious to me — one, I wasn’t getting any better and was now probably as good a writer as I was ever going to be, so I may as well write the book. And the other was that I ’d written Coraline, and it was starting to win awards. So I began to look at strategies fo r writing the other children’s book I had in my head that had been there forever. I knew the shape o f the book in my head—that it was a set o f short stories and that the hero would leave when he was about sixteen—and I thought: Why don’t I write about when B od’s eight years old [Chapter 4, “The Witch’s Headstone”], when he’s the protagonist. I wanted him as a person, not a baby, and I wanted to find out what the interactions with the other characters are like. So I was on holiday on Antigua, and I ’m crap at holidays. By day three I ’m usually looking fo r my notebook. Which is what happened this time, and I started writing the opening pages o f “Headstone” on the beach; I had just got to the point o f stopping, because I thought it was no good,

when my daughter came out o f the sea and asked me what I was doing. I told her and she asked me to read it to her, and when I ’d finished she wanted to know what happened next. During the holiday [the chapter] got done, and once that existed, the rest o f the book spread from it (Writeaway.org.uk). For years Gaiman had thought the graveyard in his head was a made-up thing—a crumbling old Victorian cem­ etery with a decaying chapel in the middle of it—but in 2002, during the filming of A Short Film About John Bolton, he found Stoke Newington’s Abney Park Cemetery in London. It’s a place full of winding paths that lead to other paths or nowhere at all, choked with the kind of trees that make the place impenetrable in the spring when they’re thick with leaves, and no less dense when the leaves fall. It feels every bit like a cemetery should: cool and quiet and shadowy. Gaiman thought, “This is the cemetery in my story. I thought I’d made it up, but here it is! Because a kid could absolutely live there. “A year later I was in Glasgow, working on The Wolves in the Walls opera for the CHapteR 5 | BeyoND

com ics

National Theatre of Scotland, and I went to the Necropolis. It was much, much, much too tidy, but I loved the hill with the view over the city, so I took Abney Park and put it on a hill like that, reconfigured the topography” (Writeaway.org.uk). In 2007, when the book was in the last stages of being written, Gaiman went on a research trip at Highgate Cemetery in London with fellow author Audrey Niffenegger. Niffenegger had spent the previous couple of years being an inter­ mittent graveyard guide while working on her own novel set in the graveyard, Her Fearful Symmetry. She guided the group through the winding mud paths, past ivycovered gravestones and the Egyptian Walk. Gaiman brought his note-book, occasionally falling to the back of the group to write down the kinds of strange Victorian names you only find on old weathered tombstones. Without that tour of the cemetery with Audrey, the last chapter would have been very different. For just an hour to have such a lasting effect on the book gives some sort of idea of how different the whole story would have been had Gaiman written it back when Mike was tiny and toddling around those headstones in 1985.

241

t

jf

tH e gRaveya R D B o k “Rattle his bones Over the stones It’s only a pauper Who nobody owns.”

gaimaN’S oLd peace aND Love

coRpoRatiON coHORt Kim NewmaN saiD tHat gaimaN’s eaRLieR NoveL aNdNsi Boys was oNe of His Books foR gRowN-ups, “w h i c h meaNS tHat it’s a Lot Less RutHLess tHaN tHe mateRiaL He pRoDuces foR cHiLDReN.” His cHiLDReN’s NoveL tHe gRaveyaRD Book BegiNs witH a gLoveD HaND i n tHe DaRk HoLDiNg a BLooD-wet kNife, aND it DoesN’t go aNy easieR o n tHe ReaDeR afteR tHat. ike Mowgli in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (a book from which Gaiman takes his cues, replacing the creatures from the jungles with ghosts in the graveyard), Nobody “Bod” Owens is an orphan. When we first meet him he is barely a toddler, his family have just been murdered, and he unknowingly escapes the terrible fate himself by sheer curiosity—by clambering over the walls of his crib, sliding down the stairs on his cushioned behind, and venturing out into the night through the open front door. He totters up the hill to the graveyard where he is, after some discussion, adopted and raised by its occupants, a cast of dead people from times very long ago, like the Roman whose headstone was now nothing but a weathered rock, and others not so far back in time. The dead are not the people to be afraid of in this world—it’s the living that can hurt you. Mostly living people called Jack. The Graveyard Book had been gestating for some time before Neil put pen to paper. He had the idea back in 1985 when he was still living in England while watching his twoyear-old son Mike play in the graveyard across the road in lieu of the backyard they didn’t have. At the time, Gaiman was just twenty-five. Comics and Sandman hadn’t happened yet, and while he knew it was a good idea, he did not want to screw it up. He thought he’d wait. Every eight years or so he would write two pages of the story to check if he was good enough yet— always the same scene, where the baby enters the gates of the graveyard. Every eight years he would think he wasn’t good enough yet and put the idea back in the drawer. Life happened.

L

aBOVe: Cover of the 2009 UK paperback edition; art by Chris Riddell.

t

240

opposite: Limited U.S.-only adult edition of the book with a different cover and interior illustrations by McKean was produced by Subterranean Press.

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

By about 2003 two things were becoming obvious to me — one, I wasn’t getting any better and was now probably as good a writer as I was ever going to be, so I may as well write the book. And the other was that I ’d written Coraline, and it was starting to win awards. So I began to look at strategies fo r writing the other children’s book I had in my head that had been there forever. I knew the shape o f the book in my head—that it was a set o f short stories and that the hero would leave when he was about sixteen—and I thought: Why don’t I write about when B od’s eight years old [Chapter 4, “The Witch’s Headstone”], when he’s the protagonist. I wanted him as a person, not a baby, and I wanted to find out what the interactions with the other characters are like. So I was on holiday on Antigua, and I ’m crap at holidays. By day three I ’m usually looking fo r my notebook. Which is what happened this time, and I started writing the opening pages o f “Headstone” on the beach; I had just got to the point o f stopping, because I thought it was no good,

when my daughter came out o f the sea and asked me what I was doing. I told her and she asked me to read it to her, and when I ’d finished she wanted to know what happened next. During the holiday [the chapter] got done, and once that existed, the rest o f the book spread from it (Writeaway.org.uk). For years Gaiman had thought the graveyard in his head was a made-up thing—a crumbling old Victorian cem­ etery with a decaying chapel in the middle of it—but in 2002, during the filming of A Short Film About John Bolton, he found Stoke Newington’s Abney Park Cemetery in London. It’s a place full of winding paths that lead to other paths or nowhere at all, choked with the kind of trees that make the place impenetrable in the spring when they’re thick with leaves, and no less dense when the leaves fall. It feels every bit like a cemetery should: cool and quiet and shadowy. Gaiman thought, “This is the cemetery in my story. I thought I’d made it up, but here it is! Because a kid could absolutely live there. “A year later I was in Glasgow, working on The Wolves in the Walls opera for the CHapteR 5 | BeyoND

com ics

National Theatre of Scotland, and I went to the Necropolis. It was much, much, much too tidy, but I loved the hill with the view over the city, so I took Abney Park and put it on a hill like that, reconfigured the topography” (Writeaway.org.uk). In 2007, when the book was in the last stages of being written, Gaiman went on a research trip at Highgate Cemetery in London with fellow author Audrey Niffenegger. Niffenegger had spent the previous couple of years being an inter­ mittent graveyard guide while working on her own novel set in the graveyard, Her Fearful Symmetry. She guided the group through the winding mud paths, past ivycovered gravestones and the Egyptian Walk. Gaiman brought his note-book, occasionally falling to the back of the group to write down the kinds of strange Victorian names you only find on old weathered tombstones. Without that tour of the cemetery with Audrey, the last chapter would have been very different. For just an hour to have such a lasting effect on the book gives some sort of idea of how different the whole story would have been had Gaiman written it back when Mike was tiny and toddling around those headstones in 1985.

241

t

“A t t h a t p o i n t I w a s t h e f a t h e r o f a t w o y e a r-o ld so n a n d a tw o -m o n th -o ld bab y. M y e x p e r i e n c e o f k i d s w a s f r o m t h e in s id e .

W h e n it w a s f in is h e d , h e w e n t o n a n i n e -

O n e o f t h e t h i n g s t h a t g iv e s T h e G r a v e y a r d

city re a d in g to u r, re a d in g a c h a p te r a t e a ch

B o o k its e m o t i o n a l h e f t a t t h e e n d is t h a t

s to p (s p li t t i n g t h e d o u b l e - l e n g t h o n e o v e r

i t ’s a b o u t t h e c y c l e o f c h i l d h o o d . I t’s a b o u t

tw o n i g h t s ) . It w o n b o t h t h e N e w b e r y a n d

le a v in g a n d th e g lo rio u s tr a g e d y o f b e in g a

C a r n e g i e M e d a ls , t h e H u g o A w a r d , a L o c u s ,

p a re n t, w h ic h m e a n s th a t th e re c o m e s a

a n d a W o r l d F a n t a s y A w a r d , a n d i t s ta y e d o n

p o i n t — i f y o u ’v e d o n e y o u r j o b r i g h t , i f y o u

t h e N e w Y ork T im e s B e s t S e lle r lis t f o r a y e a r.

h a v e n ’t s c r e w e d t h e m u p , a n d y o u h a v e a

G a i m a n s a y s h e h a s m o r e s t o r i e s t o t e ll,

w e l l - a d j u s t e d h u m a n b e i n g w h o is c a p a b l e

a n d w e h a v e m o r e th in g s to le a r n f r o m th e

o f g o in g

o u t in to

th e w o rld

and

b e in g

in h i s h e a d

rig h t y o u

you

G u a r d — b u t w h e n a s k e d i f t h e r e w ill e v e r

a d o r e , w h o is g o i n g t o g o a w a y . A n d t h a t ’s

b e a se q u e l h e says h e w o rrie s th a t T h e

r i g h t . B u t t h a t e m o t i o n a l h e f t is s o m e t h i n g

G r a v e y a r d B o o k w ill e n d u p l o o k i n g lik e

have

th is

p erso n , w h o m

a b o u t S ila s a n d t h e

H onor

w ith o u t

T h e H o b b i t t o t h a t b o o k ’s L o r d o f t h e R in g s .

a c t u a l l y h a v i n g t w o k i d s w h o ’v e d o n e i t ”

W h e th e r it e v e r h a p p e n s d e p e n d s m o s tly

c o u l d n ’t

have

w ritte n

about

( W r i t e a w a y .o r g .u k ) . W h at he ended

the graveyard by Neil.

d e a d — i n p a r t i c u l a r t h e r e ’s a n a d u l t n o v e l

h a p p y — th e y le a v e y o u . I f y o u d o y o u r jo b

I

aBOVe: A sketch of

h e c a n w i t h h is s h o r t life b e f o r e c o m i n g b a c k a n d j o in in g t h e m a g a in o n e d ay.

o n t i m e , a t h i n g G a i m a n a lw a y s s e e m s t o u p w ith w a s a b o o k

h a v e le s s a n d le s s o f.

a b o u t t h e m e a n i n g a n d v a l u e o f life p o p ­

A s f o r th e m o v ie , a t tim e o f w r itin g th e

B eL o w : Handwritten

u l a t e d b y d e a d p e o p l e w h o c a n ’t c h a n g e

o p t i o n is w i t h W a l t D i s n e y P i c t u r e s w i t h

Graveyard Book.

a n y th in g , w h o u rg e B o d to g o a n d d o w h a t

R o n H o w a rd a tta c h e d to d ir e c t. ❖

aBOVe: The same m om ent in the book illustrated by Dave McKean and Chris Riddell. “The man Jack paused on the landing.” R IgH t: Drawn in 2008 and scanned before he sent it off, the G raveyard

Book Christmas Card.

^

f 242

I

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

243 f

“A t t h a t p o i n t I w a s t h e f a t h e r o f a t w o y e a r-o ld so n a n d a tw o -m o n th -o ld bab y. M y e x p e r i e n c e o f k i d s w a s f r o m t h e in s id e .

W h e n it w a s f in is h e d , h e w e n t o n a n i n e -

O n e o f t h e t h i n g s t h a t g iv e s T h e G r a v e y a r d

city re a d in g to u r, re a d in g a c h a p te r a t e a ch

B o o k its e m o t i o n a l h e f t a t t h e e n d is t h a t

s to p (s p li t t i n g t h e d o u b l e - l e n g t h o n e o v e r

i t ’s a b o u t t h e c y c l e o f c h i l d h o o d . I t’s a b o u t

tw o n i g h t s ) . It w o n b o t h t h e N e w b e r y a n d

le a v in g a n d th e g lo rio u s tr a g e d y o f b e in g a

C a r n e g i e M e d a ls , t h e H u g o A w a r d , a L o c u s ,

p a re n t, w h ic h m e a n s th a t th e re c o m e s a

a n d a W o r l d F a n t a s y A w a r d , a n d i t s ta y e d o n

p o i n t — i f y o u ’v e d o n e y o u r j o b r i g h t , i f y o u

t h e N e w Y ork T im e s B e s t S e lle r lis t f o r a y e a r.

h a v e n ’t s c r e w e d t h e m u p , a n d y o u h a v e a

G a i m a n s a y s h e h a s m o r e s t o r i e s t o t e ll,

w e l l - a d j u s t e d h u m a n b e i n g w h o is c a p a b l e

a n d w e h a v e m o r e th in g s to le a r n f r o m th e

o f g o in g

o u t in to

th e w o rld

and

b e in g

in h i s h e a d

rig h t y o u

you

G u a r d — b u t w h e n a s k e d i f t h e r e w ill e v e r

a d o r e , w h o is g o i n g t o g o a w a y . A n d t h a t ’s

b e a se q u e l h e says h e w o rrie s th a t T h e

r i g h t . B u t t h a t e m o t i o n a l h e f t is s o m e t h i n g

G r a v e y a r d B o o k w ill e n d u p l o o k i n g lik e

have

th is

p erso n , w h o m

a b o u t S ila s a n d t h e

H onor

w ith o u t

T h e H o b b i t t o t h a t b o o k ’s L o r d o f t h e R in g s .

a c t u a l l y h a v i n g t w o k i d s w h o ’v e d o n e i t ”

W h e th e r it e v e r h a p p e n s d e p e n d s m o s tly

c o u l d n ’t

have

w ritte n

about

( W r i t e a w a y .o r g .u k ) . W h at he ended

the graveyard by Neil.

d e a d — i n p a r t i c u l a r t h e r e ’s a n a d u l t n o v e l

h a p p y — th e y le a v e y o u . I f y o u d o y o u r jo b

I

aBOVe: A sketch of

h e c a n w i t h h is s h o r t life b e f o r e c o m i n g b a c k a n d j o in in g t h e m a g a in o n e d ay.

o n t i m e , a t h i n g G a i m a n a lw a y s s e e m s t o u p w ith w a s a b o o k

h a v e le s s a n d le s s o f.

a b o u t t h e m e a n i n g a n d v a l u e o f life p o p ­

A s f o r th e m o v ie , a t tim e o f w r itin g th e

B eL o w : Handwritten

u l a t e d b y d e a d p e o p l e w h o c a n ’t c h a n g e

o p t i o n is w i t h W a l t D i s n e y P i c t u r e s w i t h

Graveyard Book.

a n y th in g , w h o u rg e B o d to g o a n d d o w h a t

R o n H o w a rd a tta c h e d to d ir e c t. ❖

aBOVe: The same m om ent in the book illustrated by Dave McKean and Chris Riddell. “The man Jack paused on the landing.” R IgH t: Drawn in 2008 and scanned before he sent it off, the G raveyard

Book Christmas Card.

^

f 242

I

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

C H apteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

243 f

The Ocean at the End of the Lane “As pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly’s wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark.” None of Gaiman’s child protagonists

are strictly him. There are pieces of him in Coraline, in Odd from Odd and the Frost Giants, and there is a bit of him in the Bod that finds quiet places in the graveyard to read his book undisturbed. But they are not him. The boy in The Ocean at the End of the Lane is as close to autobiography as Gaiman has got, and despite the main character being a seven-year-old boy, it is in no way a story for children.

I ABOVE: “When I was

opposite: “Thoughts:

a boy I used to climb down drainpipes, because boys in the books I read climbed down drainpipes. This is a photo of me aged seven.”

You should, on rewrite, Mr. Gaiman, make it so that the path in and out stays inside him.”

† 244

t’s a novel that started as a short story in 2011, written for his new wife, Amanda Palmer, simply because she wanted to know what he was like as a boy, and it was finished because he was half a world away and missing her. Gaiman summoned the voice of his younger self and stirred up memories of his boyhood home in Sussex for a short story that accidentally became a novel that nobody was waiting for and nobody was expecting. “It was an old manor which had been split into two, and had four or five acres, maybe ten. That house and garden for me were a complete wonderland. I don’t know what the guys who were there before us did, but we’d find these strange things in the attic like blocks of marble and bulbs with mercury in. We’d get the mercury out and play with it, and eat it” (Comics Forum #1, 1992). The Ocean at the End of the Lane wasn’t even called The Ocean at the End of the Lane until about an hour before Gaiman emailed the final draft to his publishers. It had been Lettie Hempstock’s Ocean and to Neil and those friends who received early, unsure drafts the art of neil gaiman

in their inboxes it will always remain so. It’s dark and haunting and fits into that same corner of fractured memory as Violent Cases and Mr. Punch. It is such a weird book because it’s the same kind of animal that Violent Cases is, and that Mr. Punch is, and that “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is, even the bits of “Troll Bridge” are, in that the narrative character is absolutely playing fast and loose with my memories and my identity, and he’s kind of me except when he’s not. And in the case of Lettie Hempstock, I really tried very hard to kind of make him as me as I possibly, possibly could. He came out of conversations with Amanda because she just wanted to know, so I said, I will make you something. I will show you. I was like this kid. When people asked about Violent Cases, I would say it’s like a mosaic in

which every red square is true. But the red squares aren’t the picture. And in Lettie it’s even weirder. Because it’s like: that’s true, that’s emotionally true, and that’s a complete lie, that’s fictional. And then there’s an awful lot of me moving things around to get them to work, and me having to sort of go back to being seven again to write it, in my head, and walking around the house that’s been knocked down for the best part of forty years. I had a wonderful conversation with my younger sister Lizzie, who’d read it, where I had to apologize to her that she doesn’t exist in it, because fictionally she couldn’t exist in this thing. I couldn’t have her. A two-yearold threw everything off, because I would have had to deal with her and account for her at all times. And I was trying to explain that it’s absolutely true except whenever it’s not. CHAPTER 5 | beyond comics

It begins with a narrator remembering forty years ago when a South African lodger stole the family’s car and gassed himself inside it. Somehow the act dislodged something in the structure of the world, and strange powers are set loose in the quiet green countryside of England. We see everything through the eyes of the boy, who is never named and is at the center of the horror, and who has no one to save him but the three Hempstock women who live in a ramshackle farm at the end of the lane. This is the same family to whom Daisy Hempstock of Stardust belonged and Liza Hempstock from The Graveyard Book. “I had this idea about the Hempstocks who have lived at the end of the lane since the Norman conquest,” says Neil. But he hasn’t written the Hempstock story yet. He borrows characters for other things occasionally—they are some of the oldest characters in his head. “I wrote the first five thousand words. We got up to the point where the kid and 245 †

The Ocean at the End of the Lane “As pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly’s wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark.” None of Gaiman’s child protagonists

are strictly him. There are pieces of him in Coraline, in Odd from Odd and the Frost Giants, and there is a bit of him in the Bod that finds quiet places in the graveyard to read his book undisturbed. But they are not him. The boy in The Ocean at the End of the Lane is as close to autobiography as Gaiman has got, and despite the main character being a seven-year-old boy, it is in no way a story for children.

I ABOVE: “When I was

opposite: “Thoughts:

a boy I used to climb down drainpipes, because boys in the books I read climbed down drainpipes. This is a photo of me aged seven.”

You should, on rewrite, Mr. Gaiman, make it so that the path in and out stays inside him.”

† 244

t’s a novel that started as a short story in 2011, written for his new wife, Amanda Palmer, simply because she wanted to know what he was like as a boy, and it was finished because he was half a world away and missing her. Gaiman summoned the voice of his younger self and stirred up memories of his boyhood home in Sussex for a short story that accidentally became a novel that nobody was waiting for and nobody was expecting. “It was an old manor which had been split into two, and had four or five acres, maybe ten. That house and garden for me were a complete wonderland. I don’t know what the guys who were there before us did, but we’d find these strange things in the attic like blocks of marble and bulbs with mercury in. We’d get the mercury out and play with it, and eat it” (Comics Forum #1, 1992). The Ocean at the End of the Lane wasn’t even called The Ocean at the End of the Lane until about an hour before Gaiman emailed the final draft to his publishers. It had been Lettie Hempstock’s Ocean and to Neil and those friends who received early, unsure drafts the art of neil gaiman

in their inboxes it will always remain so. It’s dark and haunting and fits into that same corner of fractured memory as Violent Cases and Mr. Punch. It is such a weird book because it’s the same kind of animal that Violent Cases is, and that Mr. Punch is, and that “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is, even the bits of “Troll Bridge” are, in that the narrative character is absolutely playing fast and loose with my memories and my identity, and he’s kind of me except when he’s not. And in the case of Lettie Hempstock, I really tried very hard to kind of make him as me as I possibly, possibly could. He came out of conversations with Amanda because she just wanted to know, so I said, I will make you something. I will show you. I was like this kid. When people asked about Violent Cases, I would say it’s like a mosaic in

which every red square is true. But the red squares aren’t the picture. And in Lettie it’s even weirder. Because it’s like: that’s true, that’s emotionally true, and that’s a complete lie, that’s fictional. And then there’s an awful lot of me moving things around to get them to work, and me having to sort of go back to being seven again to write it, in my head, and walking around the house that’s been knocked down for the best part of forty years. I had a wonderful conversation with my younger sister Lizzie, who’d read it, where I had to apologize to her that she doesn’t exist in it, because fictionally she couldn’t exist in this thing. I couldn’t have her. A two-yearold threw everything off, because I would have had to deal with her and account for her at all times. And I was trying to explain that it’s absolutely true except whenever it’s not. CHAPTER 5 | beyond comics

It begins with a narrator remembering forty years ago when a South African lodger stole the family’s car and gassed himself inside it. Somehow the act dislodged something in the structure of the world, and strange powers are set loose in the quiet green countryside of England. We see everything through the eyes of the boy, who is never named and is at the center of the horror, and who has no one to save him but the three Hempstock women who live in a ramshackle farm at the end of the lane. This is the same family to whom Daisy Hempstock of Stardust belonged and Liza Hempstock from The Graveyard Book. “I had this idea about the Hempstocks who have lived at the end of the lane since the Norman conquest,” says Neil. But he hasn’t written the Hempstock story yet. He borrows characters for other things occasionally—they are some of the oldest characters in his head. “I wrote the first five thousand words. We got up to the point where the kid and 245 †

Lettie had gone out and met this big ragged thing. And in my head it was a short story and all that was going to happen was they were going to go and see this big ragged thing and say, ‘Stop doing that' and it would, and that was that. And when I got to the big ragged thing I went, This isn't how this thing ends. This is the beginning. And I apologized to the nice editor, Jonathan Strahan, in Australia, whom I was writing it for, and sent him a poem instead. And then it just sat there in the notebook." The notebook went with him to Florida in early 2012 when he was supposed to be working on an American Gods sequel, a book which many are waiting for. “But it's always easier to write stuff for me that nobody has any expectations for. W hich is one reason why I'm terrible at doing sequels. I always mean to. And then I get distracted because I know that the trouble with sequels is that everybody has expectations, and everybody loved the first one and they want more. And you want to give them that. And you want to give them something like they had last time only better. And then there’s part of

b u t I d jhuth rather

aBOVe: Jacket art for the U.S. edition, 2013.

do th is Sory t h a t nobody is waiting (Or.

me that goes, ‘Oh, but Id much rather do this story that nobody is waiting for, and nobody knows they want yet’ Then I went for a jog. And the jogging jogged some­ thing in my head and I thought, I know what happens next in that thing I was writing that I don’t know what it is, but I think that scary ragged thing is going to turn up as their nanny" It grew from a short story, into a novelette, into a novella, and then once he had finished the handwritten version Gaiman sent a very apologetic and awk­ ward email to his editor saying that he hadn’t written the book he was supposed to write, but he had written this other

thing instead, which wasn’t quite a novel and wasn’t quite a short story either. The Ocean at the End o f the Lane is frightening and weird and strange and real. “And I don’t really know if it will be a commercial book. Maybe it will hit a nerve. W ith The Graveyard Book I knew what I was doing, I knew it would be a commercial book. With Lettie I have no idea what will happen." The novel went straight to number one on the New York Times Best Seller list and stayed on the list for ten weeks. Months before the book was released to bookstores, Playtone acquired the rights to the film for Joe Wright to direct. ❖

Lettie had gone out and met this big ragged thing. And in my head it was a short story and all that was going to happen was they were going to go and see this big ragged thing and say, ‘Stop doing that' and it would, and that was that. And when I got to the big ragged thing I went, This isn't how this thing ends. This is the beginning. And I apologized to the nice editor, Jonathan Strahan, in Australia, whom I was writing it for, and sent him a poem instead. And then it just sat there in the notebook." The notebook went with him to Florida in early 2012 when he was supposed to be working on an American Gods sequel, a book which many are waiting for. “But it's always easier to write stuff for me that nobody has any expectations for. W hich is one reason why I'm terrible at doing sequels. I always mean to. And then I get distracted because I know that the trouble with sequels is that everybody has expectations, and everybody loved the first one and they want more. And you want to give them that. And you want to give them something like they had last time only better. And then there’s part of

b u t I d jhuth rather

aBOVe: Jacket art for the U.S. edition, 2013.

do th is Sory t h a t nobody is waiting (Or.

me that goes, ‘Oh, but Id much rather do this story that nobody is waiting for, and nobody knows they want yet’ Then I went for a jog. And the jogging jogged some­ thing in my head and I thought, I know what happens next in that thing I was writing that I don’t know what it is, but I think that scary ragged thing is going to turn up as their nanny" It grew from a short story, into a novelette, into a novella, and then once he had finished the handwritten version Gaiman sent a very apologetic and awk­ ward email to his editor saying that he hadn’t written the book he was supposed to write, but he had written this other

thing instead, which wasn’t quite a novel and wasn’t quite a short story either. The Ocean at the End o f the Lane is frightening and weird and strange and real. “And I don’t really know if it will be a commercial book. Maybe it will hit a nerve. W ith The Graveyard Book I knew what I was doing, I knew it would be a commercial book. With Lettie I have no idea what will happen." The novel went straight to number one on the New York Times Best Seller list and stayed on the list for ten weeks. Months before the book was released to bookstores, Playtone acquired the rights to the film for Joe Wright to direct. ❖

m

tHe Day I Sw a p p e m y DaDfOR two COLoftsH “M y son looked at m e one day w hen I w as saying som ething horrible and unreasonable to him like, ‘Isn’t it tim e you went bed?’ H e was about eight and he looked up at m e and his low er lip trem bled and he said, ‘I w ish I didn’t have a dad.’ H e said, ‘I w ish I had som ething good, like som e goldfish.’ H e then stom ped off to bed angrily. I thought, W hat a great idea.”

IN 1 9 9 3 N O BO D y w a s waitiNg foR a CHiLDReN’s picture

Book By NeiL gaimaN. WHat tHey weRe waitiNg foR was tHe secoND episoDe of tHe N e ve R W H e R e tv seRies. But it was feBRuaRy in Wisconsin aND gaimaN was too coLd to tHiNk. His worLd HaD sHRUNk to wHat He couLd Heat—He NeeDeD to get out.

O n th e p la n e h e w r o te th e s ta r t o f a

t 248

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

re tu rn e d

h o m e , a fte r a

aBOVe: Ja ck e t o f the 2 0 0 4 H a rp e rC o llin s

c o n tin u e d it in th e b u s o n th e w a y to th e

h a d tw o th in g s n o o n e w a s w a itin g fo r, a n d

e d itio n . In o rd er to

h o te l, a n d

a f a i r l y s iz a b le c h u n k o f s o m e t h i n g t h e y

fin ish e d

it in

t h e lo b b y . B u t

n o b o d y w a s w a itin g f o r a w e ird

sexu al

S n o w W h i t e s t o r y e ith e r. L a te r , w h e n s tu c k

Neverwhere

e p is o d e tw o , G a im a n w e n t lo o k in g th r o u g h

/

he

w e e k in a h o t e l s o m e w h e r e w a r m , G a i m a n

s o m e w h e r e h a lfw a y th r o u g h

phoned the travel agent in the little town we were in and I said, “Look, do you have a copy o f U S A T o d a y with you?” And she said, “Yes” And I said, “Well, right now where we are is blue-y purple. And I would like to go somewhere orange. I don’t care where it is unless its orange.” And she said, “Galveston, Texas,” and I said, “Great.” And I went away fo r a week. And I stayed in a little hotel on the docks just next to where the shrimp boats come in. And it was the single most productive week o f my life, in retrospect.

done. W h en

s h o r t s t o r y c a l l e d “S n o w , G l a s s , A p p l e s "

h is h a r d d r i v e f o r i n s p i r a t i o n . H e f o u n d a d o c u m e n t w ith th e firs t p a r a g ra p h o f s o m e ­

th e b o o k , N eil sold th e

g r u m p y t h a t h e h a d n ’t f i n i s h e d

rig h ts to W h ite W olf,

e p is o d e

Neverwhere . H e n a m e d t h e r a b b i t in The Day I Swapped My Dad fo r Two Goldfish “G a l v e s t o n " i n t h e w e e k ’s h o n o r .

tw o o f

If w e

d o n ’t c o u n t t h e

c h ild r e n ’s b o o k

The Day I Swapped My Dad fo r Two Goldfish . Y e a r s h a d p a s s e d s i n c e h e

Miracleman ( s o m e m i g h t ) , The Day I Swapped My Dad fo r Two Goldfish w a s

h a d s t a r t e d i t , b u t t h e s t o r y h a d b e e n li v i n g

G a i m a n ’s f irs t b o o k f o r k id s . P a r t l y th is c a m e

in

f r o m t h e f a c t t h a t h is o w n c h i ld r e n w e r e n o w

h is

head

ever

sin c e :

he

kn ew

w hat

n e x t. F o u r h o u r s la te r it w a s

he fin ish e d th e a rt fo r

w e r e . H e w a s p l e a s e d ; e v e r y b o d y e ls e w a s

th in g ca lle d

happened

fin an ce D ave w hile

e p is o d e o f

a g am in g c o m a n y th at h ad a relatively su ccessfu l p u b lish in g im p rin t. It w as th e ir first and o n ly ch ild ren ’s b o o k ; th e rig h ts w ere late r tra n s fe rre d to H a rp e rC o llin s .

o ld e n o u g h t o s a y t h i n g s w o r t h s te a lin g . ❖

CHapteR 5 | BeyoN D

c o m ic s

249 t

m

tHe Day I Sw a p p e m y DaDfOR two COLoftsH “M y son looked at m e one day w hen I w as saying som ething horrible and unreasonable to him like, ‘Isn’t it tim e you went bed?’ H e was about eight and he looked up at m e and his low er lip trem bled and he said, ‘I w ish I didn’t have a dad.’ H e said, ‘I w ish I had som ething good, like som e goldfish.’ H e then stom ped off to bed angrily. I thought, W hat a great idea.”

IN 1 9 9 3 N O BO D y w a s waitiNg foR a CHiLDReN’s picture

Book By NeiL gaimaN. WHat tHey weRe waitiNg foR was tHe secoND episoDe of tHe N e ve R W H e R e tv seRies. But it was feBRuaRy in Wisconsin aND gaimaN was too coLd to tHiNk. His worLd HaD sHRUNk to wHat He couLd Heat—He NeeDeD to get out.

O n th e p la n e h e w r o te th e s ta r t o f a

t 248

tHe aR t o f Neil gaim aN

re tu rn e d

h o m e , a fte r a

aBOVe: Ja ck e t o f the 2 0 0 4 H a rp e rC o llin s

c o n tin u e d it in th e b u s o n th e w a y to th e

h a d tw o th in g s n o o n e w a s w a itin g fo r, a n d

e d itio n . In o rd er to

h o te l, a n d

a f a i r l y s iz a b le c h u n k o f s o m e t h i n g t h e y

fin ish e d

it in

t h e lo b b y . B u t

n o b o d y w a s w a itin g f o r a w e ird

sexu al

S n o w W h i t e s t o r y e ith e r. L a te r , w h e n s tu c k

Neverwhere

e p is o d e tw o , G a im a n w e n t lo o k in g th r o u g h

/

he

w e e k in a h o t e l s o m e w h e r e w a r m , G a i m a n

s o m e w h e r e h a lfw a y th r o u g h

phoned the travel agent in the little town we were in and I said, “Look, do you have a copy o f U S A T o d a y with you?” And she said, “Yes” And I said, “Well, right now where we are is blue-y purple. And I would like to go somewhere orange. I don’t care where it is unless its orange.” And she said, “Galveston, Texas,” and I said, “Great.” And I went away fo r a week. And I stayed in a little hotel on the docks just next to where the shrimp boats come in. And it was the single most productive week o f my life, in retrospect.

done. W h en

s h o r t s t o r y c a l l e d “S n o w , G l a s s , A p p l e s "

h is h a r d d r i v e f o r i n s p i r a t i o n . H e f o u n d a d o c u m e n t w ith th e firs t p a r a g ra p h o f s o m e ­

th e b o o k , N eil sold th e

g r u m p y t h a t h e h a d n ’t f i n i s h e d

rig h ts to W h ite W olf,

e p is o d e

Neverwhere . H e n a m e d t h e r a b b i t in The Day I Swapped My Dad fo r Two Goldfish “G a l v e s t o n " i n t h e w e e k ’s h o n o r .

tw o o f

If w e

d o n ’t c o u n t t h e

c h ild r e n ’s b o o k

The Day I Swapped My Dad fo r Two Goldfish . Y e a r s h a d p a s s e d s i n c e h e

Miracleman ( s o m e m i g h t ) , The Day I Swapped My Dad fo r Two Goldfish w a s

h a d s t a r t e d i t , b u t t h e s t o r y h a d b e e n li v i n g

G a i m a n ’s f irs t b o o k f o r k id s . P a r t l y th is c a m e

in

f r o m t h e f a c t t h a t h is o w n c h i ld r e n w e r e n o w

h is

head

ever

sin c e :

he

kn ew

w hat

n e x t. F o u r h o u r s la te r it w a s

he fin ish e d th e a rt fo r

w e r e . H e w a s p l e a s e d ; e v e r y b o d y e ls e w a s

th in g ca lle d

happened

fin an ce D ave w hile

e p is o d e o f

a g am in g c o m a n y th at h ad a relatively su ccessfu l p u b lish in g im p rin t. It w as th e ir first and o n ly ch ild ren ’s b o o k ; th e rig h ts w ere late r tra n s fe rre d to H a rp e rC o llin s .

o ld e n o u g h t o s a y t h i n g s w o r t h s te a lin g . ❖

CHapteR 5 | BeyoN D

c o m ic s

249 t

tHe wolves

INtHewaLLs

“Whenthewolvescomeoutofthewalls,it’sallover.”

mike may Have a paiR of goLüfisH, bl stRaigHt fRom maDDy was fouR, tHe Big aDD some woRk.

e w e r e liv in g in a n o u s e i n a i a e j i n u e i y n a a in in g s in m e w a n s.

W

1 liv e in i n a i

h o u s e n o w , b u t lo t s o f r e b u i l d i n g h a s h a p p e n e d a n d t h e in s id e a n d t h e

of Neil next to the stage play poster, 2006.

i f i t t o o k h i m s e v e n h o u r s t o w r i t e o r i f it

v e r s i o n o f T h e W o lv e s in t h e W a lls w a s a

The

N a tio n a l

T h e a tre

of

S c o t l a n d ’s

o u t s id e a r e a lit tle m o r e d is c r e t e , b u t b a c k t h e n t h e r e w e r e b a t s in t h e

“I d o a c tu a lly k n o w w h e r e I sto le th a t

w a s m o r e lik e t h r e e o r f o u r y e a r s . H e s e n t it

“m u s i c a l p a n d e m o n i u m ” p r o v i d e d b y N i c k

f r o m , a n d I w r o te h im a le tte r a n d to ld h im .

o v e r t o D a v e M c K e a n , w h o i l l u s t r a t e d it

P o w e ll (w ith o c c a s io n a l ly ric s b y G a im a n ),

t h e m . T h e y w o u l d s c r it c h a n d t h e y w o u l d s c r a t c h . . .

H e ’d t o l d m e h o w m u c h h e l i k e d i t , a n d I

w ith j a m a n d tu b a s a n d b a s e d th e b r o th e r

a n d c o d i r e c t e d b y J u lia n C r o u c h

s a i d , ‘A c t u a l l y , I t h i n k I g o t t h e k e y p h r a s e

a n d s is te r o n h is o w n b r o o d . H e w r e s tle d

Im p ro b a b le T h e a tre C o m p a n y w ith V ic k y

w a s s till s h a r i n g a b e d r o o m w it h m e a n d M a r y . S h e h a d h e r o w n lit tle b e d d o w n in

fro m

t h e p i g p u p p e t ( a g ift f r o m

F e a t h e r s t o n e o f t h e N T S . C r o u c h is t h e

t h e c o r n e r o f it, b u t s h e w a s a s l e e p in m y b e d . A n d s h e w o k e u p . S h e w a s c r y in g . I s a i d

b o o k T h e S n a r k o u t B o y s a n d th e A v o c a d o o f

n e w b o rn L ia m M c K e a n , a few y e a rs b e fo re )

d e s ig n e r

“W h a t ’s w r o n g ? ” S h e s a id , “T h e w o lv e s c a m e o u t o f t h e w a lls , t h e y t o o k o v e r t h e

D e a t h ; t h e r e is a c h a r a c t e r in i t w h o ’s t h e

o f f h is s o n l o n g e n o u g h t o p h o t o g r a p h it.

c r e e p y S h o c k h e a d e d P e t e r a n d t h e i n c r e d ib ly

y o u ’ T h at w as

D a n ie l

P i n k w a t e r ’s

N e il to

th e

r e s p o n s ib le

for

th e

o f th e

i n c r e d ib l y

f u n n y J e r r y S p r in g e r : T h e O p e r a . H is d e s ig n

h o u s e ! I h a d to r u n a w a y f r o m t h e m ” I s a id , “I t ’s o k a y , it w a s j u s t a d r e a m . ” S h e s a id ,

n a r r a t o r ’s u n c l e , a n d h e ’s a f a m o u s w r e s t l e r

“I t w a s n ’t a d r e a m . I c a n p r o v e it.” A n d I s a id , “H o w w ill y o u p r o v e it? ” S h e s a id , “I

w h o c o m p la in s a b o u t th e te r rif y in g th in g

about

c a n s h o w y o u t h e p l a c e in t h e w a l l p a p e r t h e y c a m e o u t f r o m . ” S o s h e s h o w e d m e t h e

a b o u t h a v in g to w re s tle o ra n g u ta n s , a n d

b e a u tifu l a n d

p l a c e in t h e w a l l p a p e r t h e y c a m e o u t f r o m .

w h o s a y s w o r d s t o t h e e f f e c t o f , ‘y o u h a v e to

o n e , is w h a t t h e y d i s c o v e r e d i n S c o t l a n d

o f w o l v e s , t h e h o u s e s p in s o n a n a x i s , a n d

w a tc h o u t w h e n w re stlin g o ra n g u ta n s th a t

w h e n th e y c a m e to p u t it o n sta g e . T h e y

t h i n g s fla p u p a n d d o w n . W h e n t h e w o lv e s

O v e r t h e n e x t f e w d a y s s h e w a s s till d e e p l y w o r r i e d a b o u t t h e w o lv e s in t h e w a lls .

“T h e o n ly th in g th a t w a s v e r y stra n g e D a v e ’s

w o rk ,

is

w e n t f u r t h e r t h a n b r i n g i n g M c K e a n ’s d r a w ­

e v e ry w ay b u t

i n g s t o life . T h e r e a r e a l o t o f w a lls a n d a l o t

w h ic h

p e r f e c t in

I

th in k

A n d I w o u l d te ll h e r lit tle s t o r ie s in w h ic h s h e a n d I w o u l d t a k e o n t h e w o lv e s in t h e

t h e y d o n ’t g e t y o u b y y o u r f e e t , b e c a u s e

s a i d ‘H a n g o n , t h e lit t l e g i r l is d e f i n i t e l y

d id

w a lls , a n d w e w o u l d w in o n c e t h e y c a m e o u t o f t h e h o u s e . T h e y w e r e d e fin it e ly w o lf-

w h e n a n o r a n g u t a n g e t s y o u b y y o u r f e e t,

y o u n g e r . S h e ’s t h e y o u n g e s t i n t h e f a m i l y ’

b iz a rre

b a t t l i n g s t o r ie s . A f t e r a w h i l e s h e s t o p p e d w o r r y i n g t h a t t h e w o lv e s w e r e g o i n g to

i t ’s a ll o v e r ’ T h a t p h r a s e j u s t s o r t o f s t u c k

A n d I s a i d , ‘Y e a h .’ A n d t h e y s a i d , ‘B u t i t ’s

a n d g lu e s tic k w ith t h e ir n e c k s a n d b o d ie s

c o m e o u t o f t h e w a lls a n d I t h o u g h t , T h i s is s u c h a s t o r y . T h i s is s o a w e s o m e .

w ith m e , a n d it ju s t c a m e o u t r ig h t as,

d r a w n w i t h h e r b e i n g o l d e r t h a n t h e little

b e in g th in g s o f in d e te rm in a te sh a p e w o rn

‘W h e n t h e w o l v e s c o m e o u t o f t h e w a l l s , i t ’s

boy’ A nd

a ll o v e r ’” ( W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) .

f a m ily a re h is m o d e ls , a n d so Y o la n d a a n d

f a c e s w e r e v i s ib le t o o , w h i c h a d d e d t o t h e

L i a m a r e th e k id s in th a t. A n d L ia m w a s

stra n g e n e s s. ❖

T h e D a y I S w a p p e d M y D a d f o r T w o G o ld fis h h a d c o m e o u t t h e p r e v i o u s y e a r , s o

f 250 * '

t r u s t e d it. C o n s e q u e n t l y , n o w h e ’s n o t s u r e

lik e . I t h i n k I h a v e a t o n e o f v o i c e .

w a lls , p o s s i b l y r a t s in t h e w a lls , d e fin it e ly m i c e in t h e w a lls . A n d y o u w o u l d h e a r

I w e n t u p s t a ir s a n d I h e a r d c r y in g c o m i n g f r o m t h e b e d r o o m . A n d a t t h a t t im e s h e

aBOVe: A photo

umiK i Know what the rest of this sounds

G a i m a n w a s n o w a w r i t e r o f c h i l d r e n ’s b o o k s , a n d h e s a t d o w n t o w r i t e w h a t w o u l d

G a im a n w r o te it tw ic e m o r e a fte r th a t,

b e c o m e T h e W o lv e s in t h e W a lls. A f t e r w a r d , h e l o o k e d a t h is t w o t h o u s a n d w o r d s a n d

in f u ll, b e c a u s e i t w a s s h o r t e n o u g h t h a t it

I s a i d , ‘T h a t ’s b e c a u s e

s ig n ifica n tly

sm a lle r

th a n

D a v e ’s

Y o la n d a .

So

h e r b r o th e r in

th e

d e c i d e d t h e y w e r e “r e a l l y life le s s a n d r e a l l y d u ll” a n d c o n t a i n e d n o n e o f t h e v i b r a n c y o f

w a s e a sie r ju s t to s ta r t f r o m th e b e g in n in g

L u c y is b i g g e r t h a n

t h e t h i n g in h is ( o r M a d d y ’s ) h e a d . “S o I w e n t a w a y a n d t h o u g h t a b o u t i t a b i t . A n d o n e

e a c h t i m e , g e t t i n g i t c l o s e r a n d c l o s e r to

b o o k . B u t a c tu a lly if y o u r e a d th e s to r y

d a y I w a s w a l k i n g h o m e a n d I s u d d e n l y t h o u g h t , ‘W h e n t h e w o l v e s c o m e o u t o f t h e

w h a t it n e e d e d to b e . T h e id e a h a d b e e n

c l o s e l y , i t ’s v e r y o b v i o u s t h a t s h e is a c t u a l l y

w a lls , it ’s a ll o v e r ’ A n d I k n e w t h e r h y t h m o f t h a t . A n d k n o w i n g t h a t , I t h o u g h t , O k a y , I

c o m p o s t i n g i n t h e b a c k o f h is h e a d , a n d h e

m e a n t t o b e t h e lit t l e o n e .”

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND com ics

and

com e

out

o f th e

w a lls,

sh a g g y p u p p e ts m a d e

d rap ed

th e y

w ere

o f b u rla p

o v e r th e p u p p e te e rs , w h o se

aBOVe: Pages of unused lyrics from the National Theatre of Scotland production of The Wolves in the Walls.

251 f

tHe wolves

INtHewaLLs

“Whenthewolvescomeoutofthewalls,it’sallover.”

mike may Have a paiR of goLüfisH, bl stRaigHt fRom maDDy was fouR, tHe Big aDD some woRk.

e w e r e liv in g in a n o u s e i n a i a e j i n u e i y n a a in in g s in m e w a n s.

W

1 liv e in i n a i

h o u s e n o w , b u t lo t s o f r e b u i l d i n g h a s h a p p e n e d a n d t h e in s id e a n d t h e

of Neil next to the stage play poster, 2006.

i f i t t o o k h i m s e v e n h o u r s t o w r i t e o r i f it

v e r s i o n o f T h e W o lv e s in t h e W a lls w a s a

The

N a tio n a l

T h e a tre

of

S c o t l a n d ’s

o u t s id e a r e a lit tle m o r e d is c r e t e , b u t b a c k t h e n t h e r e w e r e b a t s in t h e

“I d o a c tu a lly k n o w w h e r e I sto le th a t

w a s m o r e lik e t h r e e o r f o u r y e a r s . H e s e n t it

“m u s i c a l p a n d e m o n i u m ” p r o v i d e d b y N i c k

f r o m , a n d I w r o te h im a le tte r a n d to ld h im .

o v e r t o D a v e M c K e a n , w h o i l l u s t r a t e d it

P o w e ll (w ith o c c a s io n a l ly ric s b y G a im a n ),

t h e m . T h e y w o u l d s c r it c h a n d t h e y w o u l d s c r a t c h . . .

H e ’d t o l d m e h o w m u c h h e l i k e d i t , a n d I

w ith j a m a n d tu b a s a n d b a s e d th e b r o th e r

a n d c o d i r e c t e d b y J u lia n C r o u c h

s a i d , ‘A c t u a l l y , I t h i n k I g o t t h e k e y p h r a s e

a n d s is te r o n h is o w n b r o o d . H e w r e s tle d

Im p ro b a b le T h e a tre C o m p a n y w ith V ic k y

w a s s till s h a r i n g a b e d r o o m w it h m e a n d M a r y . S h e h a d h e r o w n lit tle b e d d o w n in

fro m

t h e p i g p u p p e t ( a g ift f r o m

F e a t h e r s t o n e o f t h e N T S . C r o u c h is t h e

t h e c o r n e r o f it, b u t s h e w a s a s l e e p in m y b e d . A n d s h e w o k e u p . S h e w a s c r y in g . I s a i d

b o o k T h e S n a r k o u t B o y s a n d th e A v o c a d o o f

n e w b o rn L ia m M c K e a n , a few y e a rs b e fo re )

d e s ig n e r

“W h a t ’s w r o n g ? ” S h e s a id , “T h e w o lv e s c a m e o u t o f t h e w a lls , t h e y t o o k o v e r t h e

D e a t h ; t h e r e is a c h a r a c t e r in i t w h o ’s t h e

o f f h is s o n l o n g e n o u g h t o p h o t o g r a p h it.

c r e e p y S h o c k h e a d e d P e t e r a n d t h e i n c r e d ib ly

y o u ’ T h at w as

D a n ie l

P i n k w a t e r ’s

N e il to

th e

r e s p o n s ib le

for

th e

o f th e

i n c r e d ib l y

f u n n y J e r r y S p r in g e r : T h e O p e r a . H is d e s ig n

h o u s e ! I h a d to r u n a w a y f r o m t h e m ” I s a id , “I t ’s o k a y , it w a s j u s t a d r e a m . ” S h e s a id ,

n a r r a t o r ’s u n c l e , a n d h e ’s a f a m o u s w r e s t l e r

“I t w a s n ’t a d r e a m . I c a n p r o v e it.” A n d I s a id , “H o w w ill y o u p r o v e it? ” S h e s a id , “I

w h o c o m p la in s a b o u t th e te r rif y in g th in g

about

c a n s h o w y o u t h e p l a c e in t h e w a l l p a p e r t h e y c a m e o u t f r o m . ” S o s h e s h o w e d m e t h e

a b o u t h a v in g to w re s tle o ra n g u ta n s , a n d

b e a u tifu l a n d

p l a c e in t h e w a l l p a p e r t h e y c a m e o u t f r o m .

w h o s a y s w o r d s t o t h e e f f e c t o f , ‘y o u h a v e to

o n e , is w h a t t h e y d i s c o v e r e d i n S c o t l a n d

o f w o l v e s , t h e h o u s e s p in s o n a n a x i s , a n d

w a tc h o u t w h e n w re stlin g o ra n g u ta n s th a t

w h e n th e y c a m e to p u t it o n sta g e . T h e y

t h i n g s fla p u p a n d d o w n . W h e n t h e w o lv e s

O v e r t h e n e x t f e w d a y s s h e w a s s till d e e p l y w o r r i e d a b o u t t h e w o lv e s in t h e w a lls .

“T h e o n ly th in g th a t w a s v e r y stra n g e D a v e ’s

w o rk ,

is

w e n t f u r t h e r t h a n b r i n g i n g M c K e a n ’s d r a w ­

e v e ry w ay b u t

i n g s t o life . T h e r e a r e a l o t o f w a lls a n d a l o t

w h ic h

p e r f e c t in

I

th in k

A n d I w o u l d te ll h e r lit tle s t o r ie s in w h ic h s h e a n d I w o u l d t a k e o n t h e w o lv e s in t h e

t h e y d o n ’t g e t y o u b y y o u r f e e t , b e c a u s e

s a i d ‘H a n g o n , t h e lit t l e g i r l is d e f i n i t e l y

d id

w a lls , a n d w e w o u l d w in o n c e t h e y c a m e o u t o f t h e h o u s e . T h e y w e r e d e fin it e ly w o lf-

w h e n a n o r a n g u t a n g e t s y o u b y y o u r f e e t,

y o u n g e r . S h e ’s t h e y o u n g e s t i n t h e f a m i l y ’

b iz a rre

b a t t l i n g s t o r ie s . A f t e r a w h i l e s h e s t o p p e d w o r r y i n g t h a t t h e w o lv e s w e r e g o i n g to

i t ’s a ll o v e r ’ T h a t p h r a s e j u s t s o r t o f s t u c k

A n d I s a i d , ‘Y e a h .’ A n d t h e y s a i d , ‘B u t i t ’s

a n d g lu e s tic k w ith t h e ir n e c k s a n d b o d ie s

c o m e o u t o f t h e w a lls a n d I t h o u g h t , T h i s is s u c h a s t o r y . T h i s is s o a w e s o m e .

w ith m e , a n d it ju s t c a m e o u t r ig h t as,

d r a w n w i t h h e r b e i n g o l d e r t h a n t h e little

b e in g th in g s o f in d e te rm in a te sh a p e w o rn

‘W h e n t h e w o l v e s c o m e o u t o f t h e w a l l s , i t ’s

boy’ A nd

a ll o v e r ’” ( W a g n e r , 2 0 0 8 ) .

f a m ily a re h is m o d e ls , a n d so Y o la n d a a n d

f a c e s w e r e v i s ib le t o o , w h i c h a d d e d t o t h e

L i a m a r e th e k id s in th a t. A n d L ia m w a s

stra n g e n e s s. ❖

T h e D a y I S w a p p e d M y D a d f o r T w o G o ld fis h h a d c o m e o u t t h e p r e v i o u s y e a r , s o

f 250 * '

t r u s t e d it. C o n s e q u e n t l y , n o w h e ’s n o t s u r e

lik e . I t h i n k I h a v e a t o n e o f v o i c e .

w a lls , p o s s i b l y r a t s in t h e w a lls , d e fin it e ly m i c e in t h e w a lls . A n d y o u w o u l d h e a r

I w e n t u p s t a ir s a n d I h e a r d c r y in g c o m i n g f r o m t h e b e d r o o m . A n d a t t h a t t im e s h e

aBOVe: A photo

umiK i Know what the rest of this sounds

G a i m a n w a s n o w a w r i t e r o f c h i l d r e n ’s b o o k s , a n d h e s a t d o w n t o w r i t e w h a t w o u l d

G a im a n w r o te it tw ic e m o r e a fte r th a t,

b e c o m e T h e W o lv e s in t h e W a lls. A f t e r w a r d , h e l o o k e d a t h is t w o t h o u s a n d w o r d s a n d

in f u ll, b e c a u s e i t w a s s h o r t e n o u g h t h a t it

I s a i d , ‘T h a t ’s b e c a u s e

s ig n ifica n tly

sm a lle r

th a n

D a v e ’s

Y o la n d a .

So

h e r b r o th e r in

th e

d e c i d e d t h e y w e r e “r e a l l y life le s s a n d r e a l l y d u ll” a n d c o n t a i n e d n o n e o f t h e v i b r a n c y o f

w a s e a sie r ju s t to s ta r t f r o m th e b e g in n in g

L u c y is b i g g e r t h a n

t h e t h i n g in h is ( o r M a d d y ’s ) h e a d . “S o I w e n t a w a y a n d t h o u g h t a b o u t i t a b i t . A n d o n e

e a c h t i m e , g e t t i n g i t c l o s e r a n d c l o s e r to

b o o k . B u t a c tu a lly if y o u r e a d th e s to r y

d a y I w a s w a l k i n g h o m e a n d I s u d d e n l y t h o u g h t , ‘W h e n t h e w o l v e s c o m e o u t o f t h e

w h a t it n e e d e d to b e . T h e id e a h a d b e e n

c l o s e l y , i t ’s v e r y o b v i o u s t h a t s h e is a c t u a l l y

w a lls , it ’s a ll o v e r ’ A n d I k n e w t h e r h y t h m o f t h a t . A n d k n o w i n g t h a t , I t h o u g h t , O k a y , I

c o m p o s t i n g i n t h e b a c k o f h is h e a d , a n d h e

m e a n t t o b e t h e lit t l e o n e .”

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND com ics

and

com e

out

o f th e

w a lls,

sh a g g y p u p p e ts m a d e

d rap ed

th e y

w ere

o f b u rla p

o v e r th e p u p p e te e rs , w h o se

aBOVe: Pages of unused lyrics from the National Theatre of Scotland production of The Wolves in the Walls.

251 f

a g irl. A n d sh e s a id , w o u ld I w r ite s o m e ­ th in g f o r h e r th a t w a s a p ra y e r? A n d w o u ld I w r ite s o m e th in g th a t w a s ju s t s o m e th in g th a t w o u ld b e sm a ll a n d m a g ic a l f o r h e r d a u g h t e r t o r e a d ? A n d I d id . A n d i t w a s a l o v e l y t h i n g t o d o in L a s V e g a s . I s u s p e c t m o s t p r a y e r s t h a t a r e u t t e r e d in L a s V e g a s

B L U eB eR yG iR LaN D IN StR U C tIO N S

a r e n o t a b o u t t h a t .” A t th e tim e , A m o s a n d h e r p a r tn e r w e re ca llin g th e b a b y th e b lu e b e r ry (la te r th e y c a l l e d h e r N a t a s h y a , a n d t w e l v e y e a r s a f te r th a t th e a rtis t fo r m e r ly k n o w n as B lu e b e rr y w o u l d r e a d a c h a p t e r o f C o r a l i n e f o r its te n th a n n iv e r s a r y v id e o re a d in g s ). G a im a n w r o t e h e r a p o e m a b o u t life a n d w i s d o m a n d h o p e , a s o r t o f m a g ic a l b e n e d ic tio n fro m

th o s e w h o

h ad tro d

b e fo re h e r, a

OVeR t H e y e a R S g a i m a N Has met HuNDReDs of aRtists w h o

Have tHeN BeeN caugHt up

in

tHe

His coLLaBORative Life. But tHeRe is oNe

w h o

is

n o

Said, would I write

tHat is

w h ir l w in d

ReguLaR

Sojmething for her t h a t

coLLaBORatOR; sHe Does Not iLLustRate His Books, aND He Does Not WRite HeR soNgs. tHey steaL fRom eacH otHeR. tHey feeD off

WaS a prayer?

eacH otHeR’s aRt. SHe’s Like a sisteR He coLLecteD somewHeRe oveR time.

G

o p p o s ite · j acket of th e U.S. edition, 2009.

t 252

v isio n

a p a r t m e n t , g a v e G a im a n a d e m o ta p e in t h e s ig n in g lin e a t S a n D ie g o C o m i c -

e x p e c ta tio n s . H e g a v e it to h is f rie n d Jo n

v e n tio n

C on

in

1 9 9 1 . R a n tz h a d

le ft a c o p y o f T h e D o lls H o u s e ly in g a r o u n d

th e

of

a g in g

and

g ro w in g

up

and

A t t h e F i d d l e r ’s G r e e n S a n d m a n c o n ­

a im a n firs t m e t T o ri A m o s w h e n h e r f rie n d R a n tz , w h o d b e e n c r a s h in g a t h e r

in

2 0 0 4 , G a im a n

g o t ta lk in g to

S in g e r to c a llig r a p h . J o n d id tw o c o p ie s —

C h a rle s V e ss, a n d b y th e e n d o f it th e y h a d

a p a r t m e n t , a n d s h e h a d e n d e d u p w r i t i n g N e i l i n t o a s o n g . “S h e s i n g s a b o u t y o u in o n e

o n e fo r p ra ctice , o n e

d e c i d e d t o t u r n i t i n t o a c h i l d r e n ’s b o o k

o f t h e s o n g s ,” s a i d R a n t z . “D o n ’t s u e h e r .”

real

fo r re a l— an d

th e

ta k en f o u r y e a r s on o u r fir s t b o o k , p r o m p t ly , w it h i n c r e d i b l e e n t h u s ia s m , fin is h e d

In s tru c tio n s

in

m o n t h s . A n d s in c e t h e n

li k e

th r ee

has m ade

near

a n d to g iv e p a r t o f t h e r o y a ltie s to R A I N N ,

ev ery b o d y , p a r tic u la r ly m e, p r o m is e

T h e t a p e w a s 5 0 p e r c e n t o f w h a t e n d e d u p b e i n g L it t le E a r t h q u a k e s , a n d in “ T e a r in

B l u e b e r r y ’s b e d , w h i l e t h e p r a c t i c e o n e w a s

th e r a p e a n d in c e s t c risis lin e c h a rity T o ri

n e v e r to tell a n y b o d y b e c a u s e o t h e r w is e

one

w as

p in n e d

so m ew h ere

Y o u r H a n d ,” A m o s s a n g a b o u t h o w i f y o u n e e d e d h e r s h e a n d N e i l w o u l d b e h a n g i n g o u t

t a p e d t o a f ilin g c a b i n e t in G a i m a n ’s o ff ic e .

h a d f o u n d e d . H e r a n th e id e a p a s t T o ri,

e v e r y b o d y is g o i n g t o e x p e c t t h a t f r o m

w i t h t h e D r e a m K i n g . H e p h o n e d h e r a n d t h e y s w if tly b e c a m e p h o n e p a l s . H e w e n t t o s e e

“P e o p le w o u ld c o m e in to th e o ffice , a n d

a n d sh e lik e d it, a n d V ess s p e n t f o u r y e a rs

h im a g a in .

o n e o f h e r s h o w s a b o u t a m o n t h l a t e r a t t h e C a n a l B r a s s e r i e n e a r N o t t i n g H ill i n L o n d o n .

t h e y ’d s t a n d , a n d t h e y ’d r e a d i t . A n d t h e y ’d

c a re fu lly p a in tin g e a c h d e lica te im a g e . T h e

W h e n I w r o t e it, s o m e y e a r s a g o ,

“W h e n I w a l k e d in s h e f i g u r e d i t h a d t o b e m e a n d w a v e d . T h is is le ss i m p r e s s i v e w h e n I

sa y , ‘C o u l d I h a v e a c o p y o f t h a t ? ’ A n d I ’d

b o o k c a m e o u t in 2 0 0 9 , N e il g o t to sto p

I t h o u g h t a b o u t it a s b e i n g a s e t o f

te ll y o u t h a t t h e a u d i e n c e c o n s i s t e d o f t h e p u b lic ity l a d y f r o m E a s t W e s t , o n e j o u r n a l i s t , a n d

s a y y e a h , o k a y . S o I ’d m a k e c o p i e s o f it.

c o p y i n g o u t p o e m s f o r v e r y p r e g n a n t la d ie s ,

in s t r u c t i o n s f o r n a v ig a t in g a n d s u r ­

a r o a d i e . A f t e r a g r e a t g i g , w e w a n d e r e d o f f t o g e t h e r . W e w a l k e d d o w n t o N o t t i n g H ill s t a tio n

A n d I w o u ld d o re a d in g s . A n d I w o u ld

a n d i t s p e n t fiv e w e e k s o n t h e N e w Y o r k

v iv in g a f a i r y ta le . A n d t h a t is w h a t I

a n d s h e s t o o d o n t h e p l a t f o r m a c t i n g o u t t h e e n t i r e v i d e o f o r ‘S ile n t A l l T h e s e Y e a r s ’ I w a s

a lw a y s sa y , ‘J u s t d o m e a f a v o r , n o m p 3 s

T i m e s B e s t S e l l e r lis t. T h e n G a i m a n ’s e d i t o r

s a t d o w n to w r it e . A n d it w a s o n ly

th i n k i n g , ‘T h is is o n e o f t h e c o o l e s t p e o p l e I’v e e v e r m e t ’” ( M c N a i r , 1 9 9 9 ) .

j u s t f o r t h i s l i t t l e b i t . D o n ’t t a p e it. T h i s w a s

c a l l e d . D u r i n g h is M c F a d d e n

w h e n I f i n i s h e d it, a n d I r e a d w h a t I ’d

O v e r t h e y e a r s s h e w r o t e h i m i n t o s e v e r a l m o r e s o n g s , a n d N e il m a d e h e r a t a l k i n g t r e e

f o r T o r i a n d h e r d a u g h t e r a n d l e t ’s j u s t

L e c t u r e in 2 0 1 0 , G a i m a n s a id :

in S ta r d u s t. H e w r o t e s h o r t s t o r i e s f o r h e r a l b u m s , B o y s f o r P e le a n d S c a r le t s W a lk ; le t t e r s f o r

k e e p it p r iv a te ’ A n d p e o p le d id , w h ic h I

t o u r b o o k s ; a n d s t o r i e s b e h i n d e a c h o f t h e c h a r a c t e r s in S t r a n g e L it t le G irls. A m o s sa y s t h a t

t h i n k is a c t u a l l y k i n d

w h e n h e r m u s i c c a r e e r t o o k o ff, h e w o u l d f a x h e r s t o r i e s a ll o v e r t h e w o r l d .

o f aw esom e. B u t

M e m o ria l

w r i t t e n , t h a t I t h o u g h t , y o u k n o w , it c o u l d a l s o b e a s e t o f in s t r u c t i o n s n o t

S h e s a id ,

“I w o u l d lo v e a n o t h e r

a fte r e a c h o f th e s e r e a d in g s p e o p le w o u ld

b o o k fr o m

B u t B l u e b e r r y G ir l d i d n ’t c o m e i n t o t h e p i c t u r e u n t i l A u g u s t 2 0 0 0 . “ I w a s s t a y i n g in a

s id le o v e r a n d s a y , ‘I h a v e a f r i e n d w h o ’s

a n d I t a l k e d o n t h e p h o n e a n d I s a id ,

h a v i n g c h o ic e s , a n d it s a b o u t w h a t

h o t e l in L a s V e g a s , b e c a u s e h o t e l s in L a s V e g a s a r e r e a l l y c h e a p . O r t h e y w e r e b a c k t h e n .

v e ry p re g n a n t, co u ld sh e h a v e a c o p y ? ’ a n d

“W h a t a b o u t I n s t r u c t i o n s ? ” A n d h e

y o u do.

A n d I h a d a b o o k to fin is h — I w a s w o r k in g o n A m e r ic a n G o d s a n d I h a d th is id e a th a t I

I ’d a lw a y s s a y y e s . S o I s t a r t e d t o t u r n i n t o

s a id , “Y ea h , I ’v e a lw a y s l o v e d t h a t . I

s h o u ld ju s t g o a n d fin d a h o te l a n d h o le u p in it a n d d o n o t h i n g b u t w r ite . . . .

s o m e b o d y w h o s e p ro fe s s io n w a s n o lo n g e r

w ill d o I n s t r u c t i o n s . ” A n d I t h o u g h t ,

“A n d t h e p h o n e r a n g o n e d a y . A n d i t w a s m y f r i e n d T o r i A m o s . A n d s h e w a s c a l l i n g t o t e ll m e t h a t s h e h a d h e r d u e d a t e f o r h e r b a b y , s h e h a d h e r u l t r a s o u n d , s h e k n e w i t w a s

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

y ou gu ys" A n d

C h a r le s

j u s t f o r s u r v i v in g a f a i r y ta le , b u t a ls o

w r itin g — it w a s ju s t g iv in g p e o p le co p ie s

T h a t ’s lo v ely . T h a t ’ll c o m e o u t in o h ,

o f ‘B l u e b e r r y G i r l ’”

2 0 1 3 . S o C h a r le s , o f c o u r s e , h a v i n g

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND com ics

f o r s u r v i v in g life . B e c a u s e it s a b o u t

T r u s t d r e a m s . A n d tr u s t y o u r h e a r t . A n d tr u s t y o u r s to ry . ❖

253 t

a g irl. A n d sh e s a id , w o u ld I w r ite s o m e ­ th in g f o r h e r th a t w a s a p ra y e r? A n d w o u ld I w r ite s o m e th in g th a t w a s ju s t s o m e th in g th a t w o u ld b e sm a ll a n d m a g ic a l f o r h e r d a u g h t e r t o r e a d ? A n d I d id . A n d i t w a s a l o v e l y t h i n g t o d o in L a s V e g a s . I s u s p e c t m o s t p r a y e r s t h a t a r e u t t e r e d in L a s V e g a s

B L U eB eR yG iR LaN D IN StR U C tIO N S

a r e n o t a b o u t t h a t .” A t th e tim e , A m o s a n d h e r p a r tn e r w e re ca llin g th e b a b y th e b lu e b e r ry (la te r th e y c a l l e d h e r N a t a s h y a , a n d t w e l v e y e a r s a f te r th a t th e a rtis t fo r m e r ly k n o w n as B lu e b e rr y w o u l d r e a d a c h a p t e r o f C o r a l i n e f o r its te n th a n n iv e r s a r y v id e o re a d in g s ). G a im a n w r o t e h e r a p o e m a b o u t life a n d w i s d o m a n d h o p e , a s o r t o f m a g ic a l b e n e d ic tio n fro m

th o s e w h o

h ad tro d

b e fo re h e r, a

OVeR t H e y e a R S g a i m a N Has met HuNDReDs of aRtists w h o

Have tHeN BeeN caugHt up

in

tHe

His coLLaBORative Life. But tHeRe is oNe

w h o

is

n o

Said, would I write

tHat is

w h ir l w in d

ReguLaR

Sojmething for her t h a t

coLLaBORatOR; sHe Does Not iLLustRate His Books, aND He Does Not WRite HeR soNgs. tHey steaL fRom eacH otHeR. tHey feeD off

WaS a prayer?

eacH otHeR’s aRt. SHe’s Like a sisteR He coLLecteD somewHeRe oveR time.

G

o p p o s ite · j acket of th e U.S. edition, 2009.

t 252

v isio n

a p a r t m e n t , g a v e G a im a n a d e m o ta p e in t h e s ig n in g lin e a t S a n D ie g o C o m i c -

e x p e c ta tio n s . H e g a v e it to h is f rie n d Jo n

v e n tio n

C on

in

1 9 9 1 . R a n tz h a d

le ft a c o p y o f T h e D o lls H o u s e ly in g a r o u n d

th e

of

a g in g

and

g ro w in g

up

and

A t t h e F i d d l e r ’s G r e e n S a n d m a n c o n ­

a im a n firs t m e t T o ri A m o s w h e n h e r f rie n d R a n tz , w h o d b e e n c r a s h in g a t h e r

in

2 0 0 4 , G a im a n

g o t ta lk in g to

S in g e r to c a llig r a p h . J o n d id tw o c o p ie s —

C h a rle s V e ss, a n d b y th e e n d o f it th e y h a d

a p a r t m e n t , a n d s h e h a d e n d e d u p w r i t i n g N e i l i n t o a s o n g . “S h e s i n g s a b o u t y o u in o n e

o n e fo r p ra ctice , o n e

d e c i d e d t o t u r n i t i n t o a c h i l d r e n ’s b o o k

o f t h e s o n g s ,” s a i d R a n t z . “D o n ’t s u e h e r .”

real

fo r re a l— an d

th e

ta k en f o u r y e a r s on o u r fir s t b o o k , p r o m p t ly , w it h i n c r e d i b l e e n t h u s ia s m , fin is h e d

In s tru c tio n s

in

m o n t h s . A n d s in c e t h e n

li k e

th r ee

has m ade

near

a n d to g iv e p a r t o f t h e r o y a ltie s to R A I N N ,

ev ery b o d y , p a r tic u la r ly m e, p r o m is e

T h e t a p e w a s 5 0 p e r c e n t o f w h a t e n d e d u p b e i n g L it t le E a r t h q u a k e s , a n d in “ T e a r in

B l u e b e r r y ’s b e d , w h i l e t h e p r a c t i c e o n e w a s

th e r a p e a n d in c e s t c risis lin e c h a rity T o ri

n e v e r to tell a n y b o d y b e c a u s e o t h e r w is e

one

w as

p in n e d

so m ew h ere

Y o u r H a n d ,” A m o s s a n g a b o u t h o w i f y o u n e e d e d h e r s h e a n d N e i l w o u l d b e h a n g i n g o u t

t a p e d t o a f ilin g c a b i n e t in G a i m a n ’s o ff ic e .

h a d f o u n d e d . H e r a n th e id e a p a s t T o ri,

e v e r y b o d y is g o i n g t o e x p e c t t h a t f r o m

w i t h t h e D r e a m K i n g . H e p h o n e d h e r a n d t h e y s w if tly b e c a m e p h o n e p a l s . H e w e n t t o s e e

“P e o p le w o u ld c o m e in to th e o ffice , a n d

a n d sh e lik e d it, a n d V ess s p e n t f o u r y e a rs

h im a g a in .

o n e o f h e r s h o w s a b o u t a m o n t h l a t e r a t t h e C a n a l B r a s s e r i e n e a r N o t t i n g H ill i n L o n d o n .

t h e y ’d s t a n d , a n d t h e y ’d r e a d i t . A n d t h e y ’d

c a re fu lly p a in tin g e a c h d e lica te im a g e . T h e

W h e n I w r o t e it, s o m e y e a r s a g o ,

“W h e n I w a l k e d in s h e f i g u r e d i t h a d t o b e m e a n d w a v e d . T h is is le ss i m p r e s s i v e w h e n I

sa y , ‘C o u l d I h a v e a c o p y o f t h a t ? ’ A n d I ’d

b o o k c a m e o u t in 2 0 0 9 , N e il g o t to sto p

I t h o u g h t a b o u t it a s b e i n g a s e t o f

te ll y o u t h a t t h e a u d i e n c e c o n s i s t e d o f t h e p u b lic ity l a d y f r o m E a s t W e s t , o n e j o u r n a l i s t , a n d

s a y y e a h , o k a y . S o I ’d m a k e c o p i e s o f it.

c o p y i n g o u t p o e m s f o r v e r y p r e g n a n t la d ie s ,

in s t r u c t i o n s f o r n a v ig a t in g a n d s u r ­

a r o a d i e . A f t e r a g r e a t g i g , w e w a n d e r e d o f f t o g e t h e r . W e w a l k e d d o w n t o N o t t i n g H ill s t a tio n

A n d I w o u ld d o re a d in g s . A n d I w o u ld

a n d i t s p e n t fiv e w e e k s o n t h e N e w Y o r k

v iv in g a f a i r y ta le . A n d t h a t is w h a t I

a n d s h e s t o o d o n t h e p l a t f o r m a c t i n g o u t t h e e n t i r e v i d e o f o r ‘S ile n t A l l T h e s e Y e a r s ’ I w a s

a lw a y s sa y , ‘J u s t d o m e a f a v o r , n o m p 3 s

T i m e s B e s t S e l l e r lis t. T h e n G a i m a n ’s e d i t o r

s a t d o w n to w r it e . A n d it w a s o n ly

th i n k i n g , ‘T h is is o n e o f t h e c o o l e s t p e o p l e I’v e e v e r m e t ’” ( M c N a i r , 1 9 9 9 ) .

j u s t f o r t h i s l i t t l e b i t . D o n ’t t a p e it. T h i s w a s

c a l l e d . D u r i n g h is M c F a d d e n

w h e n I f i n i s h e d it, a n d I r e a d w h a t I ’d

O v e r t h e y e a r s s h e w r o t e h i m i n t o s e v e r a l m o r e s o n g s , a n d N e il m a d e h e r a t a l k i n g t r e e

f o r T o r i a n d h e r d a u g h t e r a n d l e t ’s j u s t

L e c t u r e in 2 0 1 0 , G a i m a n s a id :

in S ta r d u s t. H e w r o t e s h o r t s t o r i e s f o r h e r a l b u m s , B o y s f o r P e le a n d S c a r le t s W a lk ; le t t e r s f o r

k e e p it p r iv a te ’ A n d p e o p le d id , w h ic h I

t o u r b o o k s ; a n d s t o r i e s b e h i n d e a c h o f t h e c h a r a c t e r s in S t r a n g e L it t le G irls. A m o s sa y s t h a t

t h i n k is a c t u a l l y k i n d

w h e n h e r m u s i c c a r e e r t o o k o ff, h e w o u l d f a x h e r s t o r i e s a ll o v e r t h e w o r l d .

o f aw esom e. B u t

M e m o ria l

w r i t t e n , t h a t I t h o u g h t , y o u k n o w , it c o u l d a l s o b e a s e t o f in s t r u c t i o n s n o t

S h e s a id ,

“I w o u l d lo v e a n o t h e r

a fte r e a c h o f th e s e r e a d in g s p e o p le w o u ld

b o o k fr o m

B u t B l u e b e r r y G ir l d i d n ’t c o m e i n t o t h e p i c t u r e u n t i l A u g u s t 2 0 0 0 . “ I w a s s t a y i n g in a

s id le o v e r a n d s a y , ‘I h a v e a f r i e n d w h o ’s

a n d I t a l k e d o n t h e p h o n e a n d I s a id ,

h a v i n g c h o ic e s , a n d it s a b o u t w h a t

h o t e l in L a s V e g a s , b e c a u s e h o t e l s in L a s V e g a s a r e r e a l l y c h e a p . O r t h e y w e r e b a c k t h e n .

v e ry p re g n a n t, co u ld sh e h a v e a c o p y ? ’ a n d

“W h a t a b o u t I n s t r u c t i o n s ? ” A n d h e

y o u do.

A n d I h a d a b o o k to fin is h — I w a s w o r k in g o n A m e r ic a n G o d s a n d I h a d th is id e a th a t I

I ’d a lw a y s s a y y e s . S o I s t a r t e d t o t u r n i n t o

s a id , “Y ea h , I ’v e a lw a y s l o v e d t h a t . I

s h o u ld ju s t g o a n d fin d a h o te l a n d h o le u p in it a n d d o n o t h i n g b u t w r ite . . . .

s o m e b o d y w h o s e p ro fe s s io n w a s n o lo n g e r

w ill d o I n s t r u c t i o n s . ” A n d I t h o u g h t ,

“A n d t h e p h o n e r a n g o n e d a y . A n d i t w a s m y f r i e n d T o r i A m o s . A n d s h e w a s c a l l i n g t o t e ll m e t h a t s h e h a d h e r d u e d a t e f o r h e r b a b y , s h e h a d h e r u l t r a s o u n d , s h e k n e w i t w a s

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

y ou gu ys" A n d

C h a r le s

j u s t f o r s u r v i v in g a f a i r y ta le , b u t a ls o

w r itin g — it w a s ju s t g iv in g p e o p le co p ie s

T h a t ’s lo v ely . T h a t ’ll c o m e o u t in o h ,

o f ‘B l u e b e r r y G i r l ’”

2 0 1 3 . S o C h a r le s , o f c o u r s e , h a v i n g

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND com ics

f o r s u r v i v in g life . B e c a u s e it s a b o u t

T r u s t d r e a m s . A n d tr u s t y o u r h e a r t . A n d tr u s t y o u r s to ry . ❖

253 t

CRazyH aIR Not th at long after

LockiNg Himself away iN a HoteL iN Las Vegas to finish amemcaNgoDs, Gaiman was in floRida doing the copy edits o n the huge, finished novel. ll th e traveling an d w o rk m e an t th a t h o m e w as rarely seen, an d he m issed his little girl M ad d y w ho w as only ab o u t six o r seven at th e tim e. T hey k ep t in co n tact b y em ail— sen d in g each o th e r p o em s o r “p o ry s” (th at’s a p o e m /sto ry acco rd in g to M addy), an d M ad d y w o u ld tell h im h o w m an y fish she n o w h a d (five) an d w h at she h ad for d in n e r (fish an d sea serp en t legs, an d also a pirate w ith legs o f pegs), an d N eil w o u ld reply w ith his ow n co m positions. For his fo rtieth b irthday, th e F abulous L o rrain e (typist to th e yo u n g est author, assistant to th e elder) arran g ed to have th e b est o f M ad d y ’s w o rk collected in a b o o k called Love, Fishie. She says in h e r in tro d u ctio n : “I live an d w o rk an d love in a w o rld w h ere p o em s are exchanged n ig h tly an d th e m issing gets a little less, w h ere m y sm all a u th o r w ill shake h e r h e ad an d sm ile an d giggle an d call m y big o ne ‘Such a silly’ over th e th in g s th a t he w rites.” G aim an’s h air has a life o f its ow n anyway, b u t th e F lorida clim ate m a d e it go really w eird.

A

I wrote M addy about the weirdness o f being me in Florida. Because my hair, I don’t know if yo u ’ve ever noticed this, is kind o f odd. I went to Florida with hair that looked kind o f normal, and I woke up the next m orning and it looked like a band o f rogue hairdressers had broken in in the night and given me a perm , which they had got halfway through before being disturbed by cops and fleeing through a window. So I had this hair that looked like it was halfperm ed and half not. Strange, corkscrew curls coming out o f my head at peculiar angles that seemed to mean nothing. . .

I had read some powerful passage

So I wrote an email to M addy about my hair. A n d she wrote a letter back to me

o p p o site : Jacket of the U.S. edition, 2009.

t 254

from

A m erican G ods.

It was 2001;

into line to talk to me. A nd I thought they were going to tell me that that

and it was addressed to D ear Mr. Crazy Hair. A n d I thought: what a great line. Crazy

it hadn’t come out yet. A nd I got to

little section o f A m erican

hair. I ’ll just write something fu n n y fo r M addy about my hair. So I wrote

the end and my time had run a little

heard is a work o f powering, towering,

in a mediocre sushi restaurant, waitingfo r the fo o d to come, in pencil in a notebook.

short. I was on my computer, and I was

unimaginable genius; it’s brilliant and

I typed it up, emailed it over to Maddy.

reading fro m the screen, so I flipped

they think its going to be a huge success.

documents and read them

A nd instead I had a dozen academics

C razy H air

The h a ir b ecam e a th e m e — a shared -w o rld ch aracter, a stock m e m b er o f th e G aim an universe. D ays after sen d in g it over to M addy, G aim an w as a guest at th e In tern atio n al C onference o f th e F antastic in th e A rts, th e ICFA, w h ere he did a reading. tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

C razy Hair.

A nd at the end o f the reading, lots o f these academics— the people who go to ICFA are mainly academics— all get

G ods

they

one by one ask if there was any way they could get a print out o f that C razy

H air thingfo r theirgrandkids.

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

H e gave it to Dave M cK ean to draw n o t th at long after, b u t M cK ean was just starting to w o rk on their film MirrorMask and decided to w ait u n til after he h a d finished th e film , by w h ich p o in t he w ould have got to grips w ith som e m agical com puter p rogram th at w ould allow h im to m ake all sorts o f crazy hair. “A nd there’s n o t m u ch m ore to tell. It is very silly” ❖ 255 t

CRazyH aIR Not th at long after

LockiNg Himself away iN a HoteL iN Las Vegas to finish amemcaNgoDs, Gaiman was in floRida doing the copy edits o n the huge, finished novel. ll th e traveling an d w o rk m e an t th a t h o m e w as rarely seen, an d he m issed his little girl M ad d y w ho w as only ab o u t six o r seven at th e tim e. T hey k ep t in co n tact b y em ail— sen d in g each o th e r p o em s o r “p o ry s” (th at’s a p o e m /sto ry acco rd in g to M addy), an d M ad d y w o u ld tell h im h o w m an y fish she n o w h a d (five) an d w h at she h ad for d in n e r (fish an d sea serp en t legs, an d also a pirate w ith legs o f pegs), an d N eil w o u ld reply w ith his ow n co m positions. For his fo rtieth b irthday, th e F abulous L o rrain e (typist to th e yo u n g est author, assistant to th e elder) arran g ed to have th e b est o f M ad d y ’s w o rk collected in a b o o k called Love, Fishie. She says in h e r in tro d u ctio n : “I live an d w o rk an d love in a w o rld w h ere p o em s are exchanged n ig h tly an d th e m issing gets a little less, w h ere m y sm all a u th o r w ill shake h e r h e ad an d sm ile an d giggle an d call m y big o ne ‘Such a silly’ over th e th in g s th a t he w rites.” G aim an’s h air has a life o f its ow n anyway, b u t th e F lorida clim ate m a d e it go really w eird.

A

I wrote M addy about the weirdness o f being me in Florida. Because my hair, I don’t know if yo u ’ve ever noticed this, is kind o f odd. I went to Florida with hair that looked kind o f normal, and I woke up the next m orning and it looked like a band o f rogue hairdressers had broken in in the night and given me a perm , which they had got halfway through before being disturbed by cops and fleeing through a window. So I had this hair that looked like it was halfperm ed and half not. Strange, corkscrew curls coming out o f my head at peculiar angles that seemed to mean nothing. . .

I had read some powerful passage

So I wrote an email to M addy about my hair. A n d she wrote a letter back to me

o p p o site : Jacket of the U.S. edition, 2009.

t 254

from

A m erican G ods.

It was 2001;

into line to talk to me. A nd I thought they were going to tell me that that

and it was addressed to D ear Mr. Crazy Hair. A n d I thought: what a great line. Crazy

it hadn’t come out yet. A nd I got to

little section o f A m erican

hair. I ’ll just write something fu n n y fo r M addy about my hair. So I wrote

the end and my time had run a little

heard is a work o f powering, towering,

in a mediocre sushi restaurant, waitingfo r the fo o d to come, in pencil in a notebook.

short. I was on my computer, and I was

unimaginable genius; it’s brilliant and

I typed it up, emailed it over to Maddy.

reading fro m the screen, so I flipped

they think its going to be a huge success.

documents and read them

A nd instead I had a dozen academics

C razy H air

The h a ir b ecam e a th e m e — a shared -w o rld ch aracter, a stock m e m b er o f th e G aim an universe. D ays after sen d in g it over to M addy, G aim an w as a guest at th e In tern atio n al C onference o f th e F antastic in th e A rts, th e ICFA, w h ere he did a reading. tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

C razy Hair.

A nd at the end o f the reading, lots o f these academics— the people who go to ICFA are mainly academics— all get

G ods

they

one by one ask if there was any way they could get a print out o f that C razy

H air thingfo r theirgrandkids.

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

H e gave it to Dave M cK ean to draw n o t th at long after, b u t M cK ean was just starting to w o rk on their film MirrorMask and decided to w ait u n til after he h a d finished th e film , by w h ich p o in t he w ould have got to grips w ith som e m agical com puter p rogram th at w ould allow h im to m ake all sorts o f crazy hair. “A nd there’s n o t m u ch m ore to tell. It is very silly” ❖ 255 t

moNkev a ND

CHU’S Day

IN 2 0 0 7 g a i m a N W e N t ON tHe fiRst of tHRee ReseaRCH tRips foR WHat He wouLd mysteRiousLy RefeR to as “tHe Next Big pRoject” on his BLog, BefoRe sigNiNg off, waviNg gooD-Bye, aND DisappeaRiNg BeHiND tHe gReat fiRewaLL of CHiNa.

I

t w a s g o in g to b e h is firs t n o n f ic tio n b o o k s in c e s o m e th in g b ig g e r a n d w e ird e r th a n

Don’t Panic ,

a n d h e w a n te d to d o

a n y o f t h e n o n f i c t i o n h e ’d d o n e b e f o r e . H e

w as o ff to d is c o v e r th e re a l s to r y b e h in d th e s ix te e n th -c e n tu r y n o v e l

Monkey ,

th e

fic tio n a liz e d a c c o u n t o f th e B u d d h is t m o n k X u a n z a n g a n d h is j o u r n e y to th e W e s t— p a r t a d v e n t u r e s t o r y , p a r t m y t h o l o g y , a n d r i g h t u p G a i m a n ’s s t r e e t . H e w e n t b a c k tw o y e a rs la te r to ta lk w ith th e a c t o r L iu X i a o L in g T o n g , w h o h a d p la y e d M o n k e y in t h e C h in e s e te le v is io n v e r s io n o f th e s to r y , a n d s o m e h o w r a c k e d up a $ 5 , 0 0 0 b ill f o r a t t e m p t i n g t o u s e t h e i n t e r n e t o n h i s p h o n e . S o w h e n h e w e n t b a c k f o r a th ir d tim e in th e w in te r o f 2 0 1 1 , h e re a lly d is a p p e a re d . T h e re w a s n o N e il f o r w e e k s. H e w a s j o u r n e y i n g t o t h e W e s t , w i t h t r a n s l a t o r s a n d g u i d e s , t h r o u g h p l a c e s lik e t h e X i n j i a n g P r o v i n c e , w h i c h h e s a i d f e lt “l ik e w a l k i n g i n t o

Arabian Nights

in s o m e w a y s,

a n d lik e g o i n g b a c k i n t i m e i n o t h e r s .” H i s v i s i t c a m e a f t e r a s e r i e s o f r i o t s i n U r u m q i a n d t h e g o v e r n m e n t h a d s h u t o f f a ll c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h t h e w o r l d o u t s i d e t h e r e g i o n . “I h a d a g r e a t g u i d e w h o w a s t e r r i f i e d I ’d t a l k p o l i t i c s , a n d I r a p i d l y d i s c o v e r e d t h a t e v e ry th in g e x c e p t c o n v e r s a tio n s a b o u t th e sp ic e -s e lle rs in th e m a r k e t o r d is c u s s io n o f th e p o m e g r a n a te c r o p c o u n te d as p o litic s . It m a d e m y j o u r n e y e v e n s tr a n g e r th a n it m i g h t h a v e b e e n a lr e a d y .” A ll th e w h ile G a im a n w a s r e s e a r c h in g (a n d f o r m u la tin g a film a d a p ta tio n o f ) th e a s - y e t u n w r i t t e n n e x t b i g p r o j e c t . I t is s t ill u n w r i t t e n , b u t b i t s o f i t e x i s t i n s e v e r a l d if f e r e n t n o t e b o o k s , w h i c h G a i m a n s a y s h e h a s t o r o u n d u p a n d s o r t o u t o n e d a y . “ I t h i n k my

Monkey

p r o j e c t w ill s till h a p p e n a s a b o o k . I t is j u s t t a k i n g l o n g e r t h a n I t h o u g h t

it w a s.

op p osite:

Art from the 2013 U.S. hardcover edition of C h u s D a y by Adam Rex.

t 256

The biggest trouble with M o n k e y is I probably could have written it really, really well if I ’d just done a week through China knowing almost nothing. I ran into that big problem that you run into when you actually start doing proper research, o f realizing how much you don’t know. Suddenly I ’d gone from the point where I could fa k e it

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

moNkev a ND

CHU’S Day

IN 2 0 0 7 g a i m a N W e N t ON tHe fiRst of tHRee ReseaRCH tRips foR WHat He wouLd mysteRiousLy RefeR to as “tHe Next Big pRoject” on his BLog, BefoRe sigNiNg off, waviNg gooD-Bye, aND DisappeaRiNg BeHiND tHe gReat fiRewaLL of CHiNa.

I

t w a s g o in g to b e h is firs t n o n f ic tio n b o o k s in c e s o m e th in g b ig g e r a n d w e ird e r th a n

Don’t Panic ,

a n d h e w a n te d to d o

a n y o f t h e n o n f i c t i o n h e ’d d o n e b e f o r e . H e

w as o ff to d is c o v e r th e re a l s to r y b e h in d th e s ix te e n th -c e n tu r y n o v e l

Monkey ,

th e

fic tio n a liz e d a c c o u n t o f th e B u d d h is t m o n k X u a n z a n g a n d h is j o u r n e y to th e W e s t— p a r t a d v e n t u r e s t o r y , p a r t m y t h o l o g y , a n d r i g h t u p G a i m a n ’s s t r e e t . H e w e n t b a c k tw o y e a rs la te r to ta lk w ith th e a c t o r L iu X i a o L in g T o n g , w h o h a d p la y e d M o n k e y in t h e C h in e s e te le v is io n v e r s io n o f th e s to r y , a n d s o m e h o w r a c k e d up a $ 5 , 0 0 0 b ill f o r a t t e m p t i n g t o u s e t h e i n t e r n e t o n h i s p h o n e . S o w h e n h e w e n t b a c k f o r a th ir d tim e in th e w in te r o f 2 0 1 1 , h e re a lly d is a p p e a re d . T h e re w a s n o N e il f o r w e e k s. H e w a s j o u r n e y i n g t o t h e W e s t , w i t h t r a n s l a t o r s a n d g u i d e s , t h r o u g h p l a c e s lik e t h e X i n j i a n g P r o v i n c e , w h i c h h e s a i d f e lt “l ik e w a l k i n g i n t o

Arabian Nights

in s o m e w a y s,

a n d lik e g o i n g b a c k i n t i m e i n o t h e r s .” H i s v i s i t c a m e a f t e r a s e r i e s o f r i o t s i n U r u m q i a n d t h e g o v e r n m e n t h a d s h u t o f f a ll c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h t h e w o r l d o u t s i d e t h e r e g i o n . “I h a d a g r e a t g u i d e w h o w a s t e r r i f i e d I ’d t a l k p o l i t i c s , a n d I r a p i d l y d i s c o v e r e d t h a t e v e ry th in g e x c e p t c o n v e r s a tio n s a b o u t th e sp ic e -s e lle rs in th e m a r k e t o r d is c u s s io n o f th e p o m e g r a n a te c r o p c o u n te d as p o litic s . It m a d e m y j o u r n e y e v e n s tr a n g e r th a n it m i g h t h a v e b e e n a lr e a d y .” A ll th e w h ile G a im a n w a s r e s e a r c h in g (a n d f o r m u la tin g a film a d a p ta tio n o f ) th e a s - y e t u n w r i t t e n n e x t b i g p r o j e c t . I t is s t ill u n w r i t t e n , b u t b i t s o f i t e x i s t i n s e v e r a l d if f e r e n t n o t e b o o k s , w h i c h G a i m a n s a y s h e h a s t o r o u n d u p a n d s o r t o u t o n e d a y . “ I t h i n k my

Monkey

p r o j e c t w ill s till h a p p e n a s a b o o k . I t is j u s t t a k i n g l o n g e r t h a n I t h o u g h t

it w a s.

op p osite:

Art from the 2013 U.S. hardcover edition of C h u s D a y by Adam Rex.

t 256

The biggest trouble with M o n k e y is I probably could have written it really, really well if I ’d just done a week through China knowing almost nothing. I ran into that big problem that you run into when you actually start doing proper research, o f realizing how much you don’t know. Suddenly I ’d gone from the point where I could fa k e it

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

r*

at Least oNe Book has definitely come out of the China visit—a picture book called Chu’s Day. Being an honored foreign guest will get you into many weird and interesting places around the world, and in China that place is Chengdu Panda Reserve. “It’s a wonderful thing being an honored foreign guest somewhere like that—you get shown all the cool stuff, get to see pandas, red ones and giant ones, and then find yourself put in a blue disposable smock and gloves (to protect the pandas from you, and not the other way around), and you get a yearold panda placed on your lap. Utter, utter happiness. Better than any number of awards. Makes being a writer completely worthwhile. I suspect that world peace and harmony would come about in weeks if people just got to put pandas on their laps every few months. Honest.” That year-old panda was the inspiration for Chu, about a baby panda who sneezes. And when he sneezes, extraordinary, impossible, enormous things happen. It’s illustrated by Adam Rex, who first met Gaiman as a twenty-two-year-old at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1995, when Gaiman was guest of honor. Rex, who was trying to carve out a career doing painted comics, gave Gaiman a piece of Sandman artwork which Rex says “he graciously accepted and said was lovely, which it wasn’t.”

top: Neil and a young panda. opposite: “Some early experiments with Chu”

o f th e thin gs jm Very uSe^ to theSe dayS iS being w illing for thin gs to take a long tim e.

convincingly to the point where I actually need to know my stuff. But we’ll see. I don’t think the Monkey book is dead. One o f the things I ’m very used to these days is being willing fo r things to take a long time. Coraline was put away after two years. It came

t 258

back and took ten years to be finished and published. The Graveyard Book, from idea and writing the first couple o f pages and looking at them and going, ‘This is crap,’ to finishing it was twenty-five years. Maybe twenty-two years. So I ’m very sanguine these days

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

about going yeah, that doesn’t quite work yet in my head, but it will. So I ’ll put it away, and I will assume that the little men in my head are o ff building it while my eyes are closed. ❖

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND comics

259 t

r*

at Least oNe Book has definitely come out of the China visit—a picture book called Chu’s Day. Being an honored foreign guest will get you into many weird and interesting places around the world, and in China that place is Chengdu Panda Reserve. “It’s a wonderful thing being an honored foreign guest somewhere like that—you get shown all the cool stuff, get to see pandas, red ones and giant ones, and then find yourself put in a blue disposable smock and gloves (to protect the pandas from you, and not the other way around), and you get a yearold panda placed on your lap. Utter, utter happiness. Better than any number of awards. Makes being a writer completely worthwhile. I suspect that world peace and harmony would come about in weeks if people just got to put pandas on their laps every few months. Honest.” That year-old panda was the inspiration for Chu, about a baby panda who sneezes. And when he sneezes, extraordinary, impossible, enormous things happen. It’s illustrated by Adam Rex, who first met Gaiman as a twenty-two-year-old at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1995, when Gaiman was guest of honor. Rex, who was trying to carve out a career doing painted comics, gave Gaiman a piece of Sandman artwork which Rex says “he graciously accepted and said was lovely, which it wasn’t.”

top: Neil and a young panda. opposite: “Some early experiments with Chu”

o f th e thin gs jm Very uSe^ to theSe dayS iS being w illing for thin gs to take a long tim e.

convincingly to the point where I actually need to know my stuff. But we’ll see. I don’t think the Monkey book is dead. One o f the things I ’m very used to these days is being willing fo r things to take a long time. Coraline was put away after two years. It came

t 258

back and took ten years to be finished and published. The Graveyard Book, from idea and writing the first couple o f pages and looking at them and going, ‘This is crap,’ to finishing it was twenty-five years. Maybe twenty-two years. So I ’m very sanguine these days

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

about going yeah, that doesn’t quite work yet in my head, but it will. So I ’ll put it away, and I will assume that the little men in my head are o ff building it while my eyes are closed. ❖

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND comics

259 t

FoRtUNateLy,tHemiLk

t

• I

f t took a ridituiouS ajmcutlt of time to write for M

Something th ats Short andfuny and eaSy.

tHe DaD at tHe BegiNNiNg f o R t W O g O lD flS H D o e s N O t H I N g B U t S

w lortimately, the Milk w as su p p o s e d to b e t I S s e q u e l to t h a t first o n e a b o u t sw a p p in g d a .L·. B u t th e b o o k g o t o u t o f h a n d a n d w e n t o n to o

^ lo n g to b e a p ic tu r e b o o k . It b e c a m e

a s h o r t n o v e l fo r k id s, h e a v ily illu s tra te d b y S k o ttie Y o u n g in th e U n ite d S tates a n d

Graveyard B ook’s

The

C h ris R id d e ll in th e U K , a n d th e o n ly g lim m e r o f re s e m b la n c e is th e

b e g in n in g , w ith a d a d b e in g b o r in g a n d r e a d in g th e n e w sp a p e r. A b r o th e r a n d s iste r a re left u n d e r th e c h a r g e o f th e ir d is tr a c te d d a d , w h o h e a d s o ff to th e c o r n e r sh o p to g e t s o m e m ilk . H e d o e s n 't c o m e b a c k fo r ag es a n d ag es. T h e k id s th in k o f e a tin g th e p ick le s o u t o f d e s p e r a tio n , w h ile th e ir m ilk le ss c e r e a l sits in b o w ls o n th e b re a k fa s t ta b le . T h e d a d a rriv e s h o m e a fte r an in d e c e n t a m o u n t o f tim e a n d tells th e m e x a c tly w h y h e w a s la te , b u t h o w fo rtu n a te ly , as th e y c a n see, th e m ilk s u rv iv e d d esp ite all th e th in g s h e ’d b e e n th r o u g h . T h is tim e th e d a d g e ts to b e a h e ro . “It t o o k a r id ic u lo u s a m o u n t o f tim e to w rite fo r s o m e th in g th a t’s s h o r t a n d fu n n y a n d e a sy (it is a v e ry , v e r y silly b o o k ). B e c a u s e I’d th in k a b o u t it a lo t. S o it te n d e d to g e t w ritte n in th o u s a n d w o r d b u r s ts , b u t it w as a t h o u s a n d -w o r d b u r s t h a v in g t h o u g h t a b o u t th e n e x t s c e n e fo r th r e e w eek s.” ❖

aBOVe: Cover of the 2013 U.S. hardcover edition, art by Skottie Young. RIgHt aND o p p o site: Chris Riddell artwork for the 2013 British hardcover edition.

t

260

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

261

t

FoRtUNateLy,tHemiLk

t

• I

f t took a ridituiouS ajmcutlt of time to write for M

Something th ats Short andfuny and eaSy.

tHe DaD at tHe BegiNNiNg f o R t W O g O lD flS H D o e s N O t H I N g B U t S

w lortimately, the Milk w as su p p o s e d to b e t I S s e q u e l to t h a t first o n e a b o u t sw a p p in g d a .L·. B u t th e b o o k g o t o u t o f h a n d a n d w e n t o n to o

^ lo n g to b e a p ic tu r e b o o k . It b e c a m e

a s h o r t n o v e l fo r k id s, h e a v ily illu s tra te d b y S k o ttie Y o u n g in th e U n ite d S tates a n d

Graveyard B ook’s

The

C h ris R id d e ll in th e U K , a n d th e o n ly g lim m e r o f re s e m b la n c e is th e

b e g in n in g , w ith a d a d b e in g b o r in g a n d r e a d in g th e n e w sp a p e r. A b r o th e r a n d s iste r a re left u n d e r th e c h a r g e o f th e ir d is tr a c te d d a d , w h o h e a d s o ff to th e c o r n e r sh o p to g e t s o m e m ilk . H e d o e s n 't c o m e b a c k fo r ag es a n d ag es. T h e k id s th in k o f e a tin g th e p ick le s o u t o f d e s p e r a tio n , w h ile th e ir m ilk le ss c e r e a l sits in b o w ls o n th e b re a k fa s t ta b le . T h e d a d a rriv e s h o m e a fte r an in d e c e n t a m o u n t o f tim e a n d tells th e m e x a c tly w h y h e w a s la te , b u t h o w fo rtu n a te ly , as th e y c a n see, th e m ilk s u rv iv e d d esp ite all th e th in g s h e ’d b e e n th r o u g h . T h is tim e th e d a d g e ts to b e a h e ro . “It t o o k a r id ic u lo u s a m o u n t o f tim e to w rite fo r s o m e th in g th a t’s s h o r t a n d fu n n y a n d e a sy (it is a v e ry , v e r y silly b o o k ). B e c a u s e I’d th in k a b o u t it a lo t. S o it te n d e d to g e t w ritte n in th o u s a n d w o r d b u r s ts , b u t it w as a t h o u s a n d -w o r d b u r s t h a v in g t h o u g h t a b o u t th e n e x t s c e n e fo r th r e e w eek s.” ❖

aBOVe: Cover of the 2013 U.S. hardcover edition, art by Skottie Young. RIgHt aND o p p o site: Chris Riddell artwork for the 2013 British hardcover edition.

t

260

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

CHapteR 5 |BeyoND c o m ic s

261

t

G a i m a n ’s f i r s t d e a l i n g s w i t h t h e w o r l d o f m o v ie s w a s

Good Omens. T h e r e

had been

s e v e ra l c o m p a n ie s b id d in g o n th e rig h ts w i t h a ll o f t h e m — b a r o n e — s t i p u l a t i n g in

HoLLywooD “The trouble is, it’s not funny. I mean, it’s very sad. And I think the only reason it carries on as long as it does is because people always assume, as I’ve always assumed, all the Hollywood stuff was a joke. I always assumed that when people told their Hollywood stories, they were only kidding, because it wouldn’t be that bad. G radually, you discover that it really is that bad.”

fR O m V e R y e a r ly IN

caReeR, gaimaN Has BeeN DeaLiNg witH HoLLywooD, usuaLLy in tHe foRm of DRiNkiNg spaRkLiNg wateR witH someBoDy in aN expensive London cLub aND tHeN HaviNg NotHiNg come of It. his

th e ir c o n d itio n s th a t P r a tc h e tt a n d G a im a n b e o n b o a r d to w rite th e s c rip t. T h e y b o th f le w o v e r t o L A f o r t h e m e e t i n g .

We were just about to go up to the boardroom fo r the first actual story meeting, and Terry sidled over to me and said, “I f this all goes wrong and we just need to get on a plane home to England we need a codeword. We need some kind o f codeword that says This Is Irredeemably Wrong and We Are Walking Out Together.”And I said, “Well it’ll have to be something neither o f us would actually ever say during the course o f conversation and something that Americans wouldn’t know what it means.” And he said, “Yes, have you got any ideas?” and I said, “How about Biggles?” So, he said “Yep, Biggles it is.” And we go into the boardroom, we’re waiting, we’re talking to the various producers and they’re waiting fo r the executive to come in. And the executive walks in and she says, ‘Okay, now G o o d O m e n s . Guys, we love this so much and we’ve actually been

W ith film s , i f i t works, god knows whose fa u lt *■ ·· i t is.

h e s e d a y s f ilm s a r e j u s t a s lik e ly t o g e t m a d e a s t h e y w e r e b a c k t h e n — t h e y h a p p e n

T

u n le s s t h e y d o n ’t. I n H o l l y w o o d t h i n g s a r e n e v e r d e a d ; o c c a s i o n a l l y id e a s t h o u g h t

lo n g fo rg o tte n

s t i r i n t h e i r g r a v e s , s o m e a r e d u g u p e n t i r e l y a n d liv e a g a i n .

H o l l y w o o d is , k i n d o f i r o n i c a l l y , u n p r e d i c t a b l e — u n p r e d i c t a b l e b o t h in t e r m s o f w h a t

g e ts m a d e , a n d i n w h a t k i n d o f t h i n g i t is o n c e i t h a s b e e n m a d e . W h e n y o u l o o k c l o s e l y at th e m e c h a n ic s o f h o w m o v ie s a re p r o d u c e d a n d h o w m a n y p e o p le w in d u p h a v in g a h a n d i n i t, i t ’s a s t o n i s h i n g t h a t a n y g o o d f ilm s g e t m a d e a t a ll. “I t m a y j u s t w i n d u p c r e a t i n g a r t , a n d i t m a y n o t . I t m a y b e a g o o d m o v i e , a n d i t m a y n o t . B u t t h e t h i n g s t h a t w ill m a k e i t a g o o d m o v i e a r e n o t n e c e s s a r i l y a n y t h i n g t o d o w i t h m e s i t t i n g w r i t i n g m y o u t l i n e , o r m e w r i t i n g m y s c r i p t . W h i c h m a y s o u n d s lig h tly a p a t h e t i c , b u t I t h i n k i t ’s e s s e n t i a l l y m o r e p r a c t i c a l . O n e o f t h e t h i n g s I l o v e a b o u t c o m i c s , I lo v e a b o u t r a d i o p l a y s , I l o v e a b o u t s h o r t s t o r i e s a n d n o v e l s : i f i t w o r k s , it’s m y f a u lt. I f it d o e s n ’t , it ’s m y f a u lt. A n d w i t h f ilm s , i f i t w o r k s , g o d k n o w s w h o s e f a u l t i t is ” ( B a k e r , 2 0 0 8 ) .

t

264

tHe aRt o f Neil gaimaN

thinking, weve already been, you know, tossing this one around a bit and we think it’s going to be a film in which you have your witchfinder—we figure he’s probably the Tom Cruise, and the witch girl, whatsername in the book, uh, Anathmawhatever, she’s Julia Roberts, and then you’ve got the kid and he has to decide okay, the witch guy—the witch hunter— he’s cool, the

witch, she’s cute, you know, and they get to walk in the fields and stuff and the d o g . . . " and I look over at Terry. And we didn’t Biggles that time, and looking back on it possibly we should have done, but if we had I wouldn’t have got to see the giant mechanism o f Hollywood Development Hell in action at such a young age and wouldn’t have realized that all o f the

chapter 6 |sifveR

scReeNs

aBOVe: A page from the G o o d O m en s screenplay.

265

t

G a i m a n ’s f i r s t d e a l i n g s w i t h t h e w o r l d o f m o v ie s w a s

Good Omens. T h e r e

had been

s e v e ra l c o m p a n ie s b id d in g o n th e rig h ts w i t h a ll o f t h e m — b a r o n e — s t i p u l a t i n g in

HoLLywooD “The trouble is, it’s not funny. I mean, it’s very sad. And I think the only reason it carries on as long as it does is because people always assume, as I’ve always assumed, all the Hollywood stuff was a joke. I always assumed that when people told their Hollywood stories, they were only kidding, because it wouldn’t be that bad. G radually, you discover that it really is that bad.”

fR O m V e R y e a r ly IN

caReeR, gaimaN Has BeeN DeaLiNg witH HoLLywooD, usuaLLy in tHe foRm of DRiNkiNg spaRkLiNg wateR witH someBoDy in aN expensive London cLub aND tHeN HaviNg NotHiNg come of It. his

th e ir c o n d itio n s th a t P r a tc h e tt a n d G a im a n b e o n b o a r d to w rite th e s c rip t. T h e y b o th f le w o v e r t o L A f o r t h e m e e t i n g .

We were just about to go up to the boardroom fo r the first actual story meeting, and Terry sidled over to me and said, “I f this all goes wrong and we just need to get on a plane home to England we need a codeword. We need some kind o f codeword that says This Is Irredeemably Wrong and We Are Walking Out Together.”And I said, “Well it’ll have to be something neither o f us would actually ever say during the course o f conversation and something that Americans wouldn’t know what it means.” And he said, “Yes, have you got any ideas?” and I said, “How about Biggles?” So, he said “Yep, Biggles it is.” And we go into the boardroom, we’re waiting, we’re talking to the various producers and they’re waiting fo r the executive to come in. And the executive walks in and she says, ‘Okay, now G o o d O m e n s . Guys, we love this so much and we’ve actually been

W ith film s , i f i t works, god knows whose fa u lt *■ ·· i t is.

h e s e d a y s f ilm s a r e j u s t a s lik e ly t o g e t m a d e a s t h e y w e r e b a c k t h e n — t h e y h a p p e n

T

u n le s s t h e y d o n ’t. I n H o l l y w o o d t h i n g s a r e n e v e r d e a d ; o c c a s i o n a l l y id e a s t h o u g h t

lo n g fo rg o tte n

s t i r i n t h e i r g r a v e s , s o m e a r e d u g u p e n t i r e l y a n d liv e a g a i n .

H o l l y w o o d is , k i n d o f i r o n i c a l l y , u n p r e d i c t a b l e — u n p r e d i c t a b l e b o t h in t e r m s o f w h a t

g e ts m a d e , a n d i n w h a t k i n d o f t h i n g i t is o n c e i t h a s b e e n m a d e . W h e n y o u l o o k c l o s e l y at th e m e c h a n ic s o f h o w m o v ie s a re p r o d u c e d a n d h o w m a n y p e o p le w in d u p h a v in g a h a n d i n i t, i t ’s a s t o n i s h i n g t h a t a n y g o o d f ilm s g e t m a d e a t a ll. “I t m a y j u s t w i n d u p c r e a t i n g a r t , a n d i t m a y n o t . I t m a y b e a g o o d m o v i e , a n d i t m a y n o t . B u t t h e t h i n g s t h a t w ill m a k e i t a g o o d m o v i e a r e n o t n e c e s s a r i l y a n y t h i n g t o d o w i t h m e s i t t i n g w r i t i n g m y o u t l i n e , o r m e w r i t i n g m y s c r i p t . W h i c h m a y s o u n d s lig h tly a p a t h e t i c , b u t I t h i n k i t ’s e s s e n t i a l l y m o r e p r a c t i c a l . O n e o f t h e t h i n g s I l o v e a b o u t c o m i c s , I lo v e a b o u t r a d i o p l a y s , I l o v e a b o u t s h o r t s t o r i e s a n d n o v e l s : i f i t w o r k s , it’s m y f a u lt. I f it d o e s n ’t , it ’s m y f a u lt. A n d w i t h f ilm s , i f i t w o r k s , g o d k n o w s w h o s e f a u l t i t is ” ( B a k e r , 2 0 0 8 ) .

t

264

tHe aRt o f Neil gaimaN

thinking, weve already been, you know, tossing this one around a bit and we think it’s going to be a film in which you have your witchfinder—we figure he’s probably the Tom Cruise, and the witch girl, whatsername in the book, uh, Anathmawhatever, she’s Julia Roberts, and then you’ve got the kid and he has to decide okay, the witch guy—the witch hunter— he’s cool, the

witch, she’s cute, you know, and they get to walk in the fields and stuff and the d o g . . . " and I look over at Terry. And we didn’t Biggles that time, and looking back on it possibly we should have done, but if we had I wouldn’t have got to see the giant mechanism o f Hollywood Development Hell in action at such a young age and wouldn’t have realized that all o f the

chapter 6 |sifveR

scReeNs

aBOVe: A page from the G o o d O m en s screenplay.

265

t

j o k e s y o u h e a r a b o u t H o lly w o o d a re

f o r th . H a n d e d it o v e r to th e m , a n d g e t a

a n d s t r u g g l i n g t o w r i t e s c r e e n p l a y s “a l o s t

tr u e . . . . I t is t h a t s t u p id . I t is t h a t

p h o n e c a l l b a c k s a y i n g , ‘W e l l , i t ’s n o t lik e

y e a r,” o n e i n w h i c h h e b e c a m e m o r e a n d

n o n s e n s ic a l. I t is t h a t s tr a n g e .

t h e b o o k , is i t ? ’ T h e s e a r e lik e p e o p l e w h o

m o r e d e p re s s e d a n d b e g a n to lo s e to u c h

o rd e r p iz z a

w ith th e th in g s th a t m a d e h im w r ite th e

T h e a r t f o r m o f H o l l y w o o d is n o t

and

th e n

c o m p la in

t h a t i t ’s

t h e m o v ie , t h e a r t f o r m is a c t u a l l y t h e

r o u n d a n d f la t a n d h a s a ll t h i s r e d a n d

co n tra ct,

y e llo w s tu ff o n th e to p . A n d a t th a t p o in t

and

ev ery

now

and

th en

s o m e f i l m s g e t m a d e a s a r e s u lt o f

e v e r y b o d y g o t fire d , a n d th e y w e n t o ff in to

t h is b e a u t i f u l a r t f o r m , t h e c o n t r a c t .

C h a p te r 11

E n o u g h o f t h e m e x is t a r o u n d a p r o j e c t

( C o m ic s J o u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ) .

a n d it a c t u a lly h a p p e n s (G r a n t, 2 0 1 1 ).

So

e m b itte re d

w as

he

by

th e

a n d w e g o t th e rig h ts b a c k ”

M y fr ie n d s w h o w er e a h e a d o f m e, w h o h a d w a lk e d th e m in e fie ld a h e a d o f m e,

A fte r th e G o o d O m e n s b u sin e ss , G a im a n

w h o le

w a y h e d id . A d a m s w a s g la d to b e h o m e .

becam e

in

som e

w ays

my

w a r n i n g s a s to w h a t e i t h e r to d o o r to

w e n t h o m e a n d sa id n o to a n y o n e f r o m

n o t to d o . A l a n M o o r e , C liv e B a r k e r ,

m o v i e s w h o c a m e c a llin g . H e s a id n o t o B o b

a n d D o u g la s A d a m s b e i n g t h e m o s t

G o o d O m e n s e x p e r i e n c e in H o l l y w o o d t h a t

a n d H a r v e y W e i n s te i n a n d t h e i r ( p o t e n t i a l l y

i m p o r t a n t th r e e . B e c a u s e I c o u l d l o o k

G a im a n

life -c h a n g in g )

a t A l a n a n d I c o u l d l o o k a t C liv e a n d

cam e

hom e

and

w ro te

“T h e

th r e e -m illio n -d o lla r

o ff e r

G o ld fish P o o l " a b le a k s to r y a b o u t a w r ite r

f o r t h e r i g h t s t o a ll o f h is s h o r t s t o r i e s ,

I c o u l d l o o k a t D o u g la s a n d g o o k a y ,

in L A t r y i n g to t u r n h is n o v e l in to a s c r ip t

b e c a u s e h e w o u ld h a v e n o

y o u to o k th a t p a th . A n d th a t w o rk ed

f o r a b u n c h o f e v e r-c h a n g in g m o v ie p e o p le

w h a t t h e y d id to th e m . H e sa id n o to h a c k

h e re a n d h ere,

w h o s e e m in g ly h a v e n e v e r r e a d t h e n o v e l,

s c r i p t r e w r i t e s . H e g o t h i m s e l f a g o o d , s o lid

w o r k t h e r e . A n d it w o r k s f o r y o u , b u t

n o r th e b lu rb , n o r th e o u tlin e s a n d t r e a t ­

H o lly w o o d

i t ’s n o t t h a t t h in g t h a t I w a n t to d o .

m e n t s t h e y k e e p te l l i n g t h e w r i t e r t o c h a n g e ,

w hat

not

C liv e e m b r a c e d H o lly w o o d . C liv e

w h i c h is p r e c i s e l y w h a t h a p p e n e d t o h i m .

t r y i n g to t u r n h i m u p s id e d o w n a n d w r in g

s l a m m e d H o lly w o o d u p a g a i n s t a w a ll

co n tro l o ver

a g e n t— o n e w h o

G a im a n

w as

a b o u t,

u n d e rs to o d

and

w as

b u t it d o e s n ’t r e a lly

a n d h a d e n th u s ia s tic c a r n a l k n o w ­ le d g e o f it. A l a n c l o s e d h is f r o n t d o o r a n d w h en p e o p le c a lle d f r o m

H o lly ­

w o o d , h e to ld th e m h e w a s o u t a n d n o t to c a ll b a c k . P e o p l e w o u l d a s k

friends who were ahead o f jme, who had walked th e

w h y I ’d g o t s o in v o lv e d w it h S t a r d u s t , o r w it h C o r a l i n e . A n d I sa y , w ell, lo ts

m inefiied ahead o f jme, became in Sojme wayS jimy

o f r e a s o n s . B u t t h e y s a y a h , b u t A la n M o o r e , h e j u s t le ts p e o p l e m a k e f i l m s .

warnings aS to w hat either to do or n ot to do-

A n d I s a id , w e l l y e a h , b u t t h e n h e ’s a lw a y s m i s e r a b l e a b o u t t h e f i l m s a n d d o e s n ’t s e e t h e m .

( A s f o r G o o d O m e n s , i t i s n ’t d e a d y e t . F o r a w h i l e i t l o o k e d lik e T e r r y G i l l i a m

f 266

H e a n d P r a t c h e t t w r o t e a f i r s t d ra ft: o f t h e

h im o u t u n til h e w a s ju s t a n o th e r b u r n t-

w a s g o i n g t o d i r e c t i t , a n d a s la t e a s 2 0 0 6

s c rip t

o u t H o lly w o o d h u sk . A H o lly w o o d a g e n t

t h a t w a s s till t h e c a s e . A t t i m e o f w r i t i n g

f ilm s lik e M y L e f t F o o t , R e v e r s a l o f F o r t u n e ,

w ho

to

T e r r y P r a t c h e t t ’s o w n p r o d u c t i o n c o m p a n y ,

a n d H a m l e t ) , a n d t h e y h a t e d i t . “ T e r r y s a id ,

th in g s , w h o w o u ld sa y n o to th in g s to o .

N a r r a tiv ia , h a s p la n s to t u r n it in to e ith e r a

‘F u c k th is f o r a g a m e o f s o ld ie r s . I t h i n k I ’m

A n d in t h e m e a n t i m e , G a i m a n w e n t o f f

t e l e v i s i o n s e r i e s o r a f i l m .)

g o i n g t o g o a n d w r i t e s o m e n o v e l s ’ I s a id ,

and

and

O v e r th e y e a rs G a im a n slo w ly b u ilt u p

aBOVe: The Good Omens

‘I w ill s t i c k it o u t f o r a s e c o n d d r a f t ’ S o t h e y

l e a r n e d t h a t m a n y o f t h e p r o b l e m s in f ilm

a n e tw o r k o f p e o p le h e tr u s te d a n d w a n te d

screenplay was published as A Screenplay in a very

f le w m e o u t t o N o r t h C a r o l i n a . W e h a d

a n d T V a re in tr in s ic to th e a r t fo rm .

to w o r k w ith , a n d h a s s in c e g o n e o n to

fo r

S o v e re ig n

P ic tu re s

(w h o

d id

w o u l d n ’t

d id

m in d

N ev erw h ere

h im

for

s a y in g

th e

no

BBC

limited edition by Hill House in 2004, produced

p lo t d is c u s s io n s , a n d th e y b a s ic a lly sa id ,

G a i m a n l o o k e d t o h is f r i e n d s t o s e e h o w

m a k e a m a z i n g m o v i e s w i t h t h e m . B u t it

‘W e l l , w e d o n ’t w a n t , y o u k n o w , c o u l d y o u ,

t h e y h a d d o n e it. W h e n h e f i r s t t u r n e d u p

s e e m s lik e t h e a r t f o r m

in H o l l y w o o d is

exclusively for subscribers. Title page of A Screenplay signed by Terry and Neil.

lik e , g iv e u s a n o t h e r p l o t ? ’ I f t h a t ’s w h a t

o n D o u g l a s A d a m s ’s d o o r s t e p in I s l i n g t o n

n o t m o v ie s , b u t s u rv iv in g in a s y s te m th a t

y o u w a n t, okay. S o I w e n t a w ay a n d p u t

in 1 9 8 3 , A d a m s h a d j u s t r e t u r n e d f r o m a

ch e w s p e o p le up.

to g e th e r

p lo t,

b a d tim e in H o lly w o o d w h e r e th e y h a d

w h ic h in te r s e c te d G o o d O m e n s at p o in ts

th is

c o m p le te ly

d iffe re n t

w a n t e d t o t u r n T h e H i t c h h i k e r ’s G u id e to th e

e n d i n g is n o t f in ite o r p e r f e c t . I t’s b u m p y

b u t w a s a d if f e r e n t p l o t a n d w h i c h , w h e n e v e r

G a la x y in to “S t a r W a r s w i t h jo k e s ” ( G a i m a n ,

a n d fille d w i t h a p p e a r a n c e s a n d d i s a p p e a r ­

th e s a m e th in g a c tu a lly d id h a p p e n , it w a s

1 9 9 3 ) . H e c o n s i d e r e d t h e t i m e h e s p e n t in

an ces, su ccesses

f o r a d if f e r e n t r e a s o n , a n d s o o n a n d s o

H o lly w o o d u n h a p p ily m is s in g h is frie n d s

M o n o n o k e w a s w e ird . ❖

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

U n lik e

m o v ie s ,

G a i m a n ’s

H o lly w o o d

a n d w e i r d n e s s . P r in c e s s

CHapteR 6 | siLveR scR eeN s

267 f

j o k e s y o u h e a r a b o u t H o lly w o o d a re

f o r th . H a n d e d it o v e r to th e m , a n d g e t a

a n d s t r u g g l i n g t o w r i t e s c r e e n p l a y s “a l o s t

tr u e . . . . I t is t h a t s t u p id . I t is t h a t

p h o n e c a l l b a c k s a y i n g , ‘W e l l , i t ’s n o t lik e

y e a r,” o n e i n w h i c h h e b e c a m e m o r e a n d

n o n s e n s ic a l. I t is t h a t s tr a n g e .

t h e b o o k , is i t ? ’ T h e s e a r e lik e p e o p l e w h o

m o r e d e p re s s e d a n d b e g a n to lo s e to u c h

o rd e r p iz z a

w ith th e th in g s th a t m a d e h im w r ite th e

T h e a r t f o r m o f H o l l y w o o d is n o t

and

th e n

c o m p la in

t h a t i t ’s

t h e m o v ie , t h e a r t f o r m is a c t u a l l y t h e

r o u n d a n d f la t a n d h a s a ll t h i s r e d a n d

co n tra ct,

y e llo w s tu ff o n th e to p . A n d a t th a t p o in t

and

ev ery

now

and

th en

s o m e f i l m s g e t m a d e a s a r e s u lt o f

e v e r y b o d y g o t fire d , a n d th e y w e n t o ff in to

t h is b e a u t i f u l a r t f o r m , t h e c o n t r a c t .

C h a p te r 11

E n o u g h o f t h e m e x is t a r o u n d a p r o j e c t

( C o m ic s J o u r n a l # 1 5 5 , 1 9 9 3 ) .

a n d it a c t u a lly h a p p e n s (G r a n t, 2 0 1 1 ).

So

e m b itte re d

w as

he

by

th e

a n d w e g o t th e rig h ts b a c k ”

M y fr ie n d s w h o w er e a h e a d o f m e, w h o h a d w a lk e d th e m in e fie ld a h e a d o f m e,

A fte r th e G o o d O m e n s b u sin e ss , G a im a n

w h o le

w a y h e d id . A d a m s w a s g la d to b e h o m e .

becam e

in

som e

w ays

my

w a r n i n g s a s to w h a t e i t h e r to d o o r to

w e n t h o m e a n d sa id n o to a n y o n e f r o m

n o t to d o . A l a n M o o r e , C liv e B a r k e r ,

m o v i e s w h o c a m e c a llin g . H e s a id n o t o B o b

a n d D o u g la s A d a m s b e i n g t h e m o s t

G o o d O m e n s e x p e r i e n c e in H o l l y w o o d t h a t

a n d H a r v e y W e i n s te i n a n d t h e i r ( p o t e n t i a l l y

i m p o r t a n t th r e e . B e c a u s e I c o u l d l o o k

G a im a n

life -c h a n g in g )

a t A l a n a n d I c o u l d l o o k a t C liv e a n d

cam e

hom e

and

w ro te

“T h e

th r e e -m illio n -d o lla r

o ff e r

G o ld fish P o o l " a b le a k s to r y a b o u t a w r ite r

f o r t h e r i g h t s t o a ll o f h is s h o r t s t o r i e s ,

I c o u l d l o o k a t D o u g la s a n d g o o k a y ,

in L A t r y i n g to t u r n h is n o v e l in to a s c r ip t

b e c a u s e h e w o u ld h a v e n o

y o u to o k th a t p a th . A n d th a t w o rk ed

f o r a b u n c h o f e v e r-c h a n g in g m o v ie p e o p le

w h a t t h e y d id to th e m . H e sa id n o to h a c k

h e re a n d h ere,

w h o s e e m in g ly h a v e n e v e r r e a d t h e n o v e l,

s c r i p t r e w r i t e s . H e g o t h i m s e l f a g o o d , s o lid

w o r k t h e r e . A n d it w o r k s f o r y o u , b u t

n o r th e b lu rb , n o r th e o u tlin e s a n d t r e a t ­

H o lly w o o d

i t ’s n o t t h a t t h in g t h a t I w a n t to d o .

m e n t s t h e y k e e p te l l i n g t h e w r i t e r t o c h a n g e ,

w hat

not

C liv e e m b r a c e d H o lly w o o d . C liv e

w h i c h is p r e c i s e l y w h a t h a p p e n e d t o h i m .

t r y i n g to t u r n h i m u p s id e d o w n a n d w r in g

s l a m m e d H o lly w o o d u p a g a i n s t a w a ll

co n tro l o ver

a g e n t— o n e w h o

G a im a n

w as

a b o u t,

u n d e rs to o d

and

w as

b u t it d o e s n ’t r e a lly

a n d h a d e n th u s ia s tic c a r n a l k n o w ­ le d g e o f it. A l a n c l o s e d h is f r o n t d o o r a n d w h en p e o p le c a lle d f r o m

H o lly ­

w o o d , h e to ld th e m h e w a s o u t a n d n o t to c a ll b a c k . P e o p l e w o u l d a s k

friends who were ahead o f jme, who had walked th e

w h y I ’d g o t s o in v o lv e d w it h S t a r d u s t , o r w it h C o r a l i n e . A n d I sa y , w ell, lo ts

m inefiied ahead o f jme, became in Sojme wayS jimy

o f r e a s o n s . B u t t h e y s a y a h , b u t A la n M o o r e , h e j u s t le ts p e o p l e m a k e f i l m s .

warnings aS to w hat either to do or n ot to do-

A n d I s a id , w e l l y e a h , b u t t h e n h e ’s a lw a y s m i s e r a b l e a b o u t t h e f i l m s a n d d o e s n ’t s e e t h e m .

( A s f o r G o o d O m e n s , i t i s n ’t d e a d y e t . F o r a w h i l e i t l o o k e d lik e T e r r y G i l l i a m

f 266

H e a n d P r a t c h e t t w r o t e a f i r s t d ra ft: o f t h e

h im o u t u n til h e w a s ju s t a n o th e r b u r n t-

w a s g o i n g t o d i r e c t i t , a n d a s la t e a s 2 0 0 6

s c rip t

o u t H o lly w o o d h u sk . A H o lly w o o d a g e n t

t h a t w a s s till t h e c a s e . A t t i m e o f w r i t i n g

f ilm s lik e M y L e f t F o o t , R e v e r s a l o f F o r t u n e ,

w ho

to

T e r r y P r a t c h e t t ’s o w n p r o d u c t i o n c o m p a n y ,

a n d H a m l e t ) , a n d t h e y h a t e d i t . “ T e r r y s a id ,

th in g s , w h o w o u ld sa y n o to th in g s to o .

N a r r a tiv ia , h a s p la n s to t u r n it in to e ith e r a

‘F u c k th is f o r a g a m e o f s o ld ie r s . I t h i n k I ’m

A n d in t h e m e a n t i m e , G a i m a n w e n t o f f

t e l e v i s i o n s e r i e s o r a f i l m .)

g o i n g t o g o a n d w r i t e s o m e n o v e l s ’ I s a id ,

and

and

O v e r th e y e a rs G a im a n slo w ly b u ilt u p

aBOVe: The Good Omens

‘I w ill s t i c k it o u t f o r a s e c o n d d r a f t ’ S o t h e y

l e a r n e d t h a t m a n y o f t h e p r o b l e m s in f ilm

a n e tw o r k o f p e o p le h e tr u s te d a n d w a n te d

screenplay was published as A Screenplay in a very

f le w m e o u t t o N o r t h C a r o l i n a . W e h a d

a n d T V a re in tr in s ic to th e a r t fo rm .

to w o r k w ith , a n d h a s s in c e g o n e o n to

fo r

S o v e re ig n

P ic tu re s

(w h o

d id

w o u l d n ’t

d id

m in d

N ev erw h ere

h im

for

s a y in g

th e

no

BBC

limited edition by Hill House in 2004, produced

p lo t d is c u s s io n s , a n d th e y b a s ic a lly sa id ,

G a i m a n l o o k e d t o h is f r i e n d s t o s e e h o w

m a k e a m a z i n g m o v i e s w i t h t h e m . B u t it

‘W e l l , w e d o n ’t w a n t , y o u k n o w , c o u l d y o u ,

t h e y h a d d o n e it. W h e n h e f i r s t t u r n e d u p

s e e m s lik e t h e a r t f o r m

in H o l l y w o o d is

exclusively for subscribers. Title page of A Screenplay signed by Terry and Neil.

lik e , g iv e u s a n o t h e r p l o t ? ’ I f t h a t ’s w h a t

o n D o u g l a s A d a m s ’s d o o r s t e p in I s l i n g t o n

n o t m o v ie s , b u t s u rv iv in g in a s y s te m th a t

y o u w a n t, okay. S o I w e n t a w ay a n d p u t

in 1 9 8 3 , A d a m s h a d j u s t r e t u r n e d f r o m a

ch e w s p e o p le up.

to g e th e r

p lo t,

b a d tim e in H o lly w o o d w h e r e th e y h a d

w h ic h in te r s e c te d G o o d O m e n s at p o in ts

th is

c o m p le te ly

d iffe re n t

w a n t e d t o t u r n T h e H i t c h h i k e r ’s G u id e to th e

e n d i n g is n o t f in ite o r p e r f e c t . I t’s b u m p y

b u t w a s a d if f e r e n t p l o t a n d w h i c h , w h e n e v e r

G a la x y in to “S t a r W a r s w i t h jo k e s ” ( G a i m a n ,

a n d fille d w i t h a p p e a r a n c e s a n d d i s a p p e a r ­

th e s a m e th in g a c tu a lly d id h a p p e n , it w a s

1 9 9 3 ) . H e c o n s i d e r e d t h e t i m e h e s p e n t in

an ces, su ccesses

f o r a d if f e r e n t r e a s o n , a n d s o o n a n d s o

H o lly w o o d u n h a p p ily m is s in g h is frie n d s

M o n o n o k e w a s w e ird . ❖

tHe aRt o f N e il g a im a N

U n lik e

m o v ie s ,

G a i m a n ’s

H o lly w o o d

a n d w e i r d n e s s . P r in c e s s

CHapteR 6 | siLveR scR eeN s

267 f

pRINcess moNoNoke “Those were the days of gods and demons.”

PRINCeSS mONONOke IS aN O tH eR stORy o f HoLLywooD maDNess, But a DiffeReNt BRaND to tHe oNe gaimaN expeRieNceD wHiLe HackiNg o u t DRafts o f gooD omeNs.

I

g o t a p h o n e ca ll f r o m H a r v e y W e in s te in a n d it w a s th e k in d o f p h o n e ca ll th a t

s e c o n d d r a f t s c r ip t . I w a s w a t c h in g

H a v i n g g o t to t h e s c r i p t in w h ic h

b e g i n s , ‘P l e a s e h o l d f o r H a r v e y W e i n s te i n .' I d id ."

t h e f i l m o v e r a n d o v e r a n d o v e r a g a in ,

lit e r a l ly e v e r y w o r d o f m y s c r i p t h a d

fr a m e by fr a m e by fr a m e by fr a m e ,

b e e n n e g o t ia t e d a n d a p p r o v e d b e c a u s e

T h i s w a s i n 1 9 9 7 w h e n B o b a n d H a r v e y W e i n s t e i n w e r e s t ill a t M i r a m a x , t h e

f ilm p r o d u c t i o n c o m p a n y t h e y f o u n d e d in t h e l a t e s e v e n t i e s , b u t w h i c h h a d , f o r t h e l a s t fe w y e a r s , b e e n u n d e r th e c o n t r o l o f W a lt D is n e y . D is n e y h a d s c o r e d a d e a l w ith S tu d io

t r y in g to m a k e t h e w o r d s fi t .

it h a d to b e a p p r o v e d b y M i y a z a k i

W h e n w e g e t to ( I t h in k it w a s ) t h e

G h ib li f o r H a y a o M i y a z a k i's g l o r i o u s a n i m a t e d f i l m M o n o n o k e H im e , t h e h i g h e s t g r o s s i n g

t h ir d d r a ft , th in g s g o t r e a l l y w e ir d . I

W e in s t e in , t h e y h a n d e d t h e a p p r o v e d

J a p a n e s e m o v i e o f a ll t i m e (f iv e y e a r s l a t e r M i y a z a k i w o u l d s m a s h b o x o ff ic e r e c o r d s

w a s v e r y h a p p y w it h m y f i r s t d r a f t

s c r i p t to a g u y w h o s e j o b it is to m a k e

a g a i n w i t h S p ir it e d A w a y ) . It's a m a g i c a l s t o r y s e t in a f o u r t e e n t h - c e n t u r y J a p a n e s e f o r e s t ,

b u t p e o p l e h a d n o te s . A n d t h e n t h e

s u r e t h a t a ll t h e d i a l o g u e t h a t I ’v e

a s t o r y a b o u t g h o u ls , b e a s ts , a n d a n c ie n t g o d s , o n e in w h ic h c h a r a c te r s a re d e a lt th e ir

s e c o n d d r a ft . B y t h e t h ir d d r a f t t h e

w r i t t e n w o r k s w it h t h e m o u t h f l a p s o f

d e a t h d a y s b e f o r e i t h a p p e n s a n d h a v e t i m e t o c o n t e m p l a t e life a n d w h a t i t m e a n s . It's

n o t e s w e r e g e t t i n g w e ir d , b e c a u s e I

th e ch a ra cters.

m e a n d e r i n g a n d b e a u t i f u l , b u t it's a l s o v i o l e n t a n d s t r a n g e , s o D i s n e y t h o u g h t i t b e t t e r t o

w a s g e t t i n g a s e t o f n o t e s in f r o m

r e le a s e th e film u n d e r th e a r t h o u s e M ir a m a x . T h e y h a n d e d it d o w n to th e W e in s te in s

S t u d io G h ib li, w h ic h c o u l d b e s u m ­

l i p - f l a p p y g u y . I w a s a t a c o n v e n t io n

w i t h t h e s a m e d e a l t h e y h a d a g r e e d w i t h S t u d i o G h ib li: n o t h i n g c o u l d b e c u t . N o t

m e d u p a s , “C a n y o u m a k e it m o r e

a n d h e p h o n e d a n d w e h a d t h is r e a lly

o n e fra m e .

J a p a n e s e , p le a s e .” A n d a s e t o f n o tes

w eird

fr o m

s a y in g h e r e a lly lik e d

M i r a m a x h a d a lit e r a l t r a n s l a t i o n o f t h e f ilm s s c r i p t , b u t lite r a l t r a n s l a t i o n s a r e a r tle s s a n d

M ir a m a x

w h ic h

c o u ld

be

c o n v e r s a t io n

w h ere

he

w as

t h e s u b t it le s

s u m m e d u p a s, “C a n y o u m a k e it le ss

a n E n g l i s h t r a n s l a t i o n s o t h a t it d id n 't e n d u p s o u n d i n g lik e a S a t u r d a y m o r n i n g c a r t o o n .

Ja p a n e s e , p le a s e ” A n d th e n o tes w ere

n e g o t ia t e d e v e r y lin e in h e r e . I f y o u

so s p e c ific a n d s o c o n tr a d ic to r y th a t

h a v e to m o v e th in g s a r o u n d to m a k e

a n d I w a s s a y in g , “T r u s t m e , w e ’v e

I s a id , w ell, s e n d m e a v id e o . A n d h e s a i d n o , w e ’r e g o i n g to f l y y o u to L A . A n d h e

I s a id , T h e r e is o n ly o n e w a y o u t o f

th em

f l e w m e to L A , in t o a h u g e s c r e e n i n g p l a c e w h e r e it w a s j u s t m e , a n d I s a t a n d w a t c h e d

th is, a n d I d i d d r a f t 4 a a n d 4 b a n d

d o n ’t y o u s e n d t h e m to m e a f t e r t h a t

w ork,

o b v io u s ly d o,

but w hy

a n d I ’ll a d j u s t t h e m ? ”

t h e f i l m . A n d I c a m e a w a y f r o m t h e f i l m a n d I t h o u g h t , I d o n ’t k n o w t h a t I w a n t to

s e n t t h e m b o t h in a n d s a id , “H e r e is

d o th is . B u t I d o k n o w t h a t I d o n ’t w a n t s o m e b o d y e ls e to s c r e w it u p . I t h i n k I c a n d o

o n e p e r t h e M i r a m a x n o te s , h e r e is

th is , a n d i f I s c r e w it u p a t l e a s t I ’ll b e s c r e w in g it u p w it h lo v e .

o n e p e r t h e S t u d io G h ib li n o t e s ” A n d

H a v in g h a n d e d in h is s c r ip t G a im a n

t h e y c a m e b a c k w it h n o t e s a n d I d i d a

w a s — a s is t r a d i t i o n a l w i t h s c r i p t w r i t e r s —

S o I w e n t in f o r s o m e m e e t in g s a t M i r a m a x w it h H a r v e y W e in s t e in a n d B o b

f i f t h d r a ft .

w a s b a s i c a l l y t h e A m e r i c a n a t S t u d io G h ib li a n d s p e a k e r - t o - A m e r i c a n s . W e g o t o n r e a l l y w ell, a n d I w e n t a w a y a n d w r o t e a f i r s t d r a f t s c r ip t . G o t n o t e s o n it. G o t a

268

I h a d o n e c o n v e r s a t io n w it h th e

c o ld . H a r v e y W e i n s te i n a s k e d i f G a i m a n w o u l d c o m e a n d s e e t h e f ilm w i t h a n e y e t o d o i n g

W e in s t e in , w h o w a s d e a l i n g w it h t h e f i l m , a n d S t e v e A l p e r t f r o m S t u d io G h ib li, w h o

t

a n d it h a d to b e a p p r o v e d b y H a r v e y

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

top: A scene from

c u t o u t o f th e p ic tu re a n d h e a rd n o th in g fo r n in e

W h a t h a p p e n e d n e x t w a s a b it o d d .

m o n th s .

In

th a t tim e , th e

li p -

f l a p p y g u y i g n o r e d G a i m a n 's s c r i p t , w e n t

CHapteR 6 |sitveR scReeNs

Princess Mononoke.

aBOVe: Creating the lyrics for the Englishlanguage version of the theme song for Princess Mononoke.

269

t

pRINcess moNoNoke “Those were the days of gods and demons.”

PRINCeSS mONONOke IS aN O tH eR stORy o f HoLLywooD maDNess, But a DiffeReNt BRaND to tHe oNe gaimaN expeRieNceD wHiLe HackiNg o u t DRafts o f gooD omeNs.

I

g o t a p h o n e ca ll f r o m H a r v e y W e in s te in a n d it w a s th e k in d o f p h o n e ca ll th a t

s e c o n d d r a f t s c r ip t . I w a s w a t c h in g

H a v i n g g o t to t h e s c r i p t in w h ic h

b e g i n s , ‘P l e a s e h o l d f o r H a r v e y W e i n s te i n .' I d id ."

t h e f i l m o v e r a n d o v e r a n d o v e r a g a in ,

lit e r a l ly e v e r y w o r d o f m y s c r i p t h a d

fr a m e by fr a m e by fr a m e by fr a m e ,

b e e n n e g o t ia t e d a n d a p p r o v e d b e c a u s e

T h i s w a s i n 1 9 9 7 w h e n B o b a n d H a r v e y W e i n s t e i n w e r e s t ill a t M i r a m a x , t h e

f ilm p r o d u c t i o n c o m p a n y t h e y f o u n d e d in t h e l a t e s e v e n t i e s , b u t w h i c h h a d , f o r t h e l a s t fe w y e a r s , b e e n u n d e r th e c o n t r o l o f W a lt D is n e y . D is n e y h a d s c o r e d a d e a l w ith S tu d io

t r y in g to m a k e t h e w o r d s fi t .

it h a d to b e a p p r o v e d b y M i y a z a k i

W h e n w e g e t to ( I t h in k it w a s ) t h e

G h ib li f o r H a y a o M i y a z a k i's g l o r i o u s a n i m a t e d f i l m M o n o n o k e H im e , t h e h i g h e s t g r o s s i n g

t h ir d d r a ft , th in g s g o t r e a l l y w e ir d . I

W e in s t e in , t h e y h a n d e d t h e a p p r o v e d

J a p a n e s e m o v i e o f a ll t i m e (f iv e y e a r s l a t e r M i y a z a k i w o u l d s m a s h b o x o ff ic e r e c o r d s

w a s v e r y h a p p y w it h m y f i r s t d r a f t

s c r i p t to a g u y w h o s e j o b it is to m a k e

a g a i n w i t h S p ir it e d A w a y ) . It's a m a g i c a l s t o r y s e t in a f o u r t e e n t h - c e n t u r y J a p a n e s e f o r e s t ,

b u t p e o p l e h a d n o te s . A n d t h e n t h e

s u r e t h a t a ll t h e d i a l o g u e t h a t I ’v e

a s t o r y a b o u t g h o u ls , b e a s ts , a n d a n c ie n t g o d s , o n e in w h ic h c h a r a c te r s a re d e a lt th e ir

s e c o n d d r a ft . B y t h e t h ir d d r a f t t h e

w r i t t e n w o r k s w it h t h e m o u t h f l a p s o f

d e a t h d a y s b e f o r e i t h a p p e n s a n d h a v e t i m e t o c o n t e m p l a t e life a n d w h a t i t m e a n s . It's

n o t e s w e r e g e t t i n g w e ir d , b e c a u s e I

th e ch a ra cters.

m e a n d e r i n g a n d b e a u t i f u l , b u t it's a l s o v i o l e n t a n d s t r a n g e , s o D i s n e y t h o u g h t i t b e t t e r t o

w a s g e t t i n g a s e t o f n o t e s in f r o m

r e le a s e th e film u n d e r th e a r t h o u s e M ir a m a x . T h e y h a n d e d it d o w n to th e W e in s te in s

S t u d io G h ib li, w h ic h c o u l d b e s u m ­

l i p - f l a p p y g u y . I w a s a t a c o n v e n t io n

w i t h t h e s a m e d e a l t h e y h a d a g r e e d w i t h S t u d i o G h ib li: n o t h i n g c o u l d b e c u t . N o t

m e d u p a s , “C a n y o u m a k e it m o r e

a n d h e p h o n e d a n d w e h a d t h is r e a lly

o n e fra m e .

J a p a n e s e , p le a s e .” A n d a s e t o f n o tes

w eird

fr o m

s a y in g h e r e a lly lik e d

M i r a m a x h a d a lit e r a l t r a n s l a t i o n o f t h e f ilm s s c r i p t , b u t lite r a l t r a n s l a t i o n s a r e a r tle s s a n d

M ir a m a x

w h ic h

c o u ld

be

c o n v e r s a t io n

w h ere

he

w as

t h e s u b t it le s

s u m m e d u p a s, “C a n y o u m a k e it le ss

a n E n g l i s h t r a n s l a t i o n s o t h a t it d id n 't e n d u p s o u n d i n g lik e a S a t u r d a y m o r n i n g c a r t o o n .

Ja p a n e s e , p le a s e ” A n d th e n o tes w ere

n e g o t ia t e d e v e r y lin e in h e r e . I f y o u

so s p e c ific a n d s o c o n tr a d ic to r y th a t

h a v e to m o v e th in g s a r o u n d to m a k e

a n d I w a s s a y in g , “T r u s t m e , w e ’v e

I s a id , w ell, s e n d m e a v id e o . A n d h e s a i d n o , w e ’r e g o i n g to f l y y o u to L A . A n d h e

I s a id , T h e r e is o n ly o n e w a y o u t o f

th em

f l e w m e to L A , in t o a h u g e s c r e e n i n g p l a c e w h e r e it w a s j u s t m e , a n d I s a t a n d w a t c h e d

th is, a n d I d i d d r a f t 4 a a n d 4 b a n d

d o n ’t y o u s e n d t h e m to m e a f t e r t h a t

w ork,

o b v io u s ly d o,

but w hy

a n d I ’ll a d j u s t t h e m ? ”

t h e f i l m . A n d I c a m e a w a y f r o m t h e f i l m a n d I t h o u g h t , I d o n ’t k n o w t h a t I w a n t to

s e n t t h e m b o t h in a n d s a id , “H e r e is

d o th is . B u t I d o k n o w t h a t I d o n ’t w a n t s o m e b o d y e ls e to s c r e w it u p . I t h i n k I c a n d o

o n e p e r t h e M i r a m a x n o te s , h e r e is

th is , a n d i f I s c r e w it u p a t l e a s t I ’ll b e s c r e w in g it u p w it h lo v e .

o n e p e r t h e S t u d io G h ib li n o t e s ” A n d

H a v in g h a n d e d in h is s c r ip t G a im a n

t h e y c a m e b a c k w it h n o t e s a n d I d i d a

w a s — a s is t r a d i t i o n a l w i t h s c r i p t w r i t e r s —

S o I w e n t in f o r s o m e m e e t in g s a t M i r a m a x w it h H a r v e y W e in s t e in a n d B o b

f i f t h d r a ft .

w a s b a s i c a l l y t h e A m e r i c a n a t S t u d io G h ib li a n d s p e a k e r - t o - A m e r i c a n s . W e g o t o n r e a l l y w ell, a n d I w e n t a w a y a n d w r o t e a f i r s t d r a f t s c r ip t . G o t n o t e s o n it. G o t a

268

I h a d o n e c o n v e r s a t io n w it h th e

c o ld . H a r v e y W e i n s te i n a s k e d i f G a i m a n w o u l d c o m e a n d s e e t h e f ilm w i t h a n e y e t o d o i n g

W e in s t e in , w h o w a s d e a l i n g w it h t h e f i l m , a n d S t e v e A l p e r t f r o m S t u d io G h ib li, w h o

t

a n d it h a d to b e a p p r o v e d b y H a r v e y

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

top: A scene from

c u t o u t o f th e p ic tu re a n d h e a rd n o th in g fo r n in e

W h a t h a p p e n e d n e x t w a s a b it o d d .

m o n th s .

In

th a t tim e , th e

li p -

f l a p p y g u y i g n o r e d G a i m a n 's s c r i p t , w e n t

CHapteR 6 |sitveR scReeNs

Princess Mononoke.

aBOVe: Creating the lyrics for the Englishlanguage version of the theme song for Princess Mononoke.

269

t

β b a c k t o t h e o r i g i n a l s u b title s a n d r e w r o t e a

p l e a s e d , a n d I n e v e r r e a l l y f e lt lik e w e g o t

s c r i p t o f h is o w n b a s e d o n t h a t . A l l t h e lip

th e B illy B o b T h o r n to n p a r t th a t w e sh o u ld

fla p s m a t c h e d , h is j o b w a s d o n e , a n d h e

h a v e d o n e a fte r th a t. B u t w e h a d s o m e th in g

h a n d e d it o v e r t o t h e d i r e c t o r , J a c k F l e t c h e r .

th a t w a s s ig n ific a n tly b e tte r th a n th e th in g

He

t h a t t h e y ’d s h o w e d t h a t g o t b o o e d .”

and

C la ir e

h is

a ll-sta r

D an es,

c a s t — B illy

M in n ie

D riv e r,

C ru d u p ,

B illy

Bob

But

at

th e

p o in t

w h ere

e v e ry b o d y

T h o r n t o n — w e n t i n t o t h e r e c o r d i n g s tu d io

sh o u ld b e w ip in g th e ir b ro w s a n d p ra is in g

and

w h a te v e r

u n w itti n g l y r e c o r d e d

w ritte n

by

G a im a n

s o m e th in g n o t

( G illia n

A n d e r s o n ’s

god

th e y

l ik e

th a t

P r in c e s s

M o n o n o k e w a s re la tiv e ly sa v e d , sh e w a s

d i a lo g u e , w h i c h N e il h a d w r i t t e n , h a d b e e n

not

r e c o r d e d e a rlie r) a n d n o t a p p ro v e d b y e ith e r

m a d n e s s a w a ite d h e r : H a r v e y W e in s te in

o f t h e W e in s te i n s o r M i y a z a k i.

w a n te d to r e n e g e o n h is d e a l to n o t t o u c h a

in

th e

cle a r

y e t.

M o re

H o lly w o o d

M i r a m a x d id a m id n ig h t te s t s c r e e n in g

f r a m e o f M i y a z a k i ’s f i l m . A t d i n n e r , a f t e r a

o f t h e f i l m w i t h its n e w E n g l i s h d u b u n d e r

h u g e ly su c c e s s fu l s c re e n in g a t th e L in c o ln

a d if f e r e n t t i t l e s o n o b o d y k n e w w h a t w a s b e i n g s c r e e n e d . H a r v e y W e i n s t e i n w a s in th e c r o w d as th e film g o t b o o e d . “H a r v e y , I w a s t o l d , p r e p a r e d t o r i p m e a

new

a rse h o le

for

d e liv e rin g

su ch

in c re d ib ly c r a p p y s c rip t. H e c a lle d f o r m y s c r i p t , l o o k e d a t i t , a n d w e n t , ‘T h is w a s n ’t w hat

we

saw

la s t

n ig h t.

T h is

is n ’t

You have th is pmgitaL

an

thing th a ts n ot like

th e

anything else.

d i a l o g u e t h a t w a s s a i d , t h i s is s o m e t h i n g e lse .’ A t t h a t p o i n t I g o t b r o u g h t b a c k i n t o th e

e q u a tio n

h a v in g b e e n v e r y c u t o u t.

A n d I g o t to h a n g w ith J a c k F le tc h e r, th e d i r e c t o r , a n d I g a v e J a c k t h e fiv e d r a f t s o f

C e n te r in N e w Y o rk C ity a tte n d e d b y th e a c to rs ,

m y s c r i p t h e ’d n e v e r s e e n b e f o r e .” F l e t c h e r lo v e d t h e life a n d e n e r g y o f t h e v e r y f irs t d r a f t a n d w a n t e d t o r e - r e c o r d t h e

th e

d ire c to r,

M iy a z a k i,

and

h is

p r o d u c e r , T o s h io S u z u k i, W e in s te in to ld

in

G a i m a n t h a t h e w a n t e d t o c u t t h e f ilm .

to

Jap an

lo s t t h a t

I say, “W h a t h a p p e n e d ? ” A n d h e s a y s

g e t b e h i n d it a n d p u s h

p e r a c to r, th e y c o u ld n o t c h a n g e e v e ry th in g .

b a t t l e . T h e w h o l e t h in g — t h e r e a s o n

“O h , t h e y ’v e g o n e . T h e y d id n ’t lik e th e

c o m m e r c ia l su ccess, b u t th a t fe e l s a l­

G h i b li a n d r e a l l y h a d j u s t e x p e c t e d

T o g e th e r , G a i m a n a n d F l e t c h e r p u t b a c k a s

th ey c a m e o n

id e a . T h e y w e n t b a c k to th e h o te l. B u t

m o s t i r r e le v a n t . Y ou h a v e th is m a g i c a l

t o g o a n d s a y h e llo t o S te v e A l p e r t ,

m u c h o f t h e o r i g i n a l s c r i p t a s t h e y p o s s ib ly

b e g in n i n g o f t h is — w a s w e

a

y o u k n o w w h a t? Y ou w a it till t o m o r r o w .

t h in g t h a t ’s n o t l i k e a n y t h i n g e ls e .

p o s s i b l y s h a k e M r . M i y a z a k i ’s h a n d .

c o u ld , a l t h o u g h s o m e n o t e s f r o m M iy a z a k i

co n tra ct w h ere n o t a fr a m e can be

T h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s r e v ie w is g o i n g to

th a t

t o u c h e d . I t is a p o i n t o f p r i d e f o r t h e m

c o m e o u t, it ’s g o in g to s a y it ’s t o o lo n g , I

c o m e o u t to L A f o r t h e p r e m i e r e , a n d

an d sh ow ed m e a ro u n d an d sh ow ed m e th is w o n d e r f u l s o r t o f n u r s e r y

to d o it. W i t h j u s t o n e d a y o f r e c o r d i n g le ft

had

been

ca re fu lly

w o rk e d

in to

I

s a id

H a r v e y , y o u ’v e

v e r y p r o u d ly a t th e have

The

b ig w ig s

it to m o r e

a t M ir a m a x

d i d n ’t

G a im a n ’s s c r i p t h a d t o f a ll b y t h e w a y s i d e —

t h a t n o t a f r a m e w ill b e t o u c h e d . H e

w ill s h o w t h e m th a t, t h e y ’ll b e o n m y

w h e n I d is c o v e r e d th a t m y n a m e h a d

t h e g u n s a r e still c a l l e d “r ifle s ” a n d A s h i t a k a s

s a id , “Y e a h , y e a h , y e a h b u t y o u k n o w

s id e, it ’s g o in g to b e g r e a t.”

been

g ir lf r ie n d is still h is “little sister.”

w h a t?

T h e y ’ll

le t

m e.

Its

rem o v ed fr o m

th e p o ster ,

I w as th e re

And

I w e n t o u t to

in s te a d

he

to o k

th e

S tu d io

day

o ff

it

s c h o o l s p a c e t h a t h e ’s b u i l t f o r t h e

about

T h e n e x t d a y th e r e v ie w c a m e o u t

m a d e m e s a d . I t d i d n ’t d o j u s t ic e a n d

lit t l e k i d s i n t h e a r e a . H e s h o w e d m e

t w e n t y - fiv e m in u t e s t o o l o n g a n d i f I

a n d it s a i d it w a s ly r ic a l a n d it s a i d

r e s p e c t a n d lo v e to a r e m a r k a b l e f i l m

t h i s m a g i c a l h o u s e t h a t h e ’d b u i l t

b e c a u s e it w a s a b s o l u t e l y r i g h t a n d p e r f e c t

ju s t

be

it w a s m a g n e t ic a n d it c a lle d m y s c r ip t

a n d a b e a u t ifu l v is io n .

n e x t d o o r ju s t as a p la c e to g o a n d

in m y o rig in a l d ra ft, w h ic h w a s a p p ro v e d

b r illia n t .” S o I s a i d n o , I d o n ’t w a n t to

p o e t i c a n d it w a s a b e a u tifu l, w o n d e r fu l

by

b e t h e r e f o r t h a t c o n v e r s a t io n , y o u ’r e

r e v ie w , a n d a t t h a t m o m e n t H a r v e y

M ir a m a x re le a s e d th e film w ith p r a c t i c ­

o n y o u r o w n . G o o d lu c k .

k in d o f d u m p e d P rin c e ss M o n o n o k e .

a lly n o fa n f a re a t a ll— la y in g o n little to n o

ta lk e d a b o u t D ia n a W y n n e J o n e s ,

I t ’s a lo n g f i l m . A n d it is n o t a f a s t

a d v e r tis in g a n d o n ly g iv in g th e film a v e r y

we

f i l m , it is a r e la t iv e ly s lo w f i l m , b u t

l i m i t e d r u n in a s m a l l n u m b e r o f t h e a t e r s ,

s h o w e d m e a ll o f t h i s s t u f f t h a t w a s g o i n g t o b e P o n y o .”

“ T h e r e ’s s t u f f t h a t w a s f r u s t r a t i n g t o m e

e v e ry b o d y

in c lu d in g

M iy a z a k i.

And

t h e n w e h a d t o g o in a n d d o t h e v e r y b e s t w e c o u l d . I f e lt t h a t w e g o t 9 0 p e r c e n t o f w hat

t 270

2007 gaimaN weNt

f o r t h e r e l e a s e o f S t a r d u s t . “W h i l e

a c to r s b a s e d o n th a t. O n ly th e re w a s n o tim e

we

sh o u ld

have

g o t.

M aybe

80

cu t

it

dow n

i t ’s g o i n g

to

T o w a r d th e e n d o f th e m e a l, M r. M iy a z a k i

and

S u zu ki

n ip p e d

t h e a i r a n d s t u f f lik e t h a t . A n d w e

ta lk e d

about

life

and

a rt,

he

p e r c e n t. T h e h a r d e s t o n e w a s B illy B o b

o u ts id e f o r

c ig a r e tte , a n d H a r v e y

i t ’s s lo w in t h e w a y t h a t s o m e o f t h e

m e a n i n g its b o x o ff ic e p e r f o r m a n c e w a s

T h o r n t o n , w h o n e e d e d t o r e - r e c o r d a ll o f

w e n t o u t w ith t h e m a n d c a m e b a c k in

g r e a t J a p a n e s e f i l m s a r e slo w . I ’m n o t

le s s t h a n s p e c t a c u l a r ( a n d D i s n e y w a s n o t

H e r e a re M iy a z a k i, G a im a n , an d

h is lin e s a n d w a s s h o o t i n g a m o v i e , a n d h is

o n h is o w n . T h e r e is n o M iy a z a k i a n d

e v e n s a y in g H a r v e y w a s w r o n g f o r t h e

im p r e s s e d ). It w a s o n e o f th o s e th in g s th a t

M r. S u zu k i g rin n in g s u rro u n d e d b y

m o v ie h a d to b e sh u t d o w n f o r a d a y w h ile

th e r e is n o M r. S u z u k i. A n d th e r e is n o

A m e r ic a n a u d ie n c e . H e m ig h t w e ll h a v e

fa n s f o u n d a n d lo v e d o n D V D in s te a d . A

d r a w i n g s b y M i y a z a k i f o r h is 2 0 0 8

h e c a m e a n d r e c o r d e d h is p a r t in P r in c e s s

m o r e S tev e A lp e r t a n d th e r e is n o m o r e

b e e n a b l e to c h o p P r i n c e s s M o n o n o k e

M i y a z a k i f i l m is a t r e a s u r e , a n d p e o p l e w ill

m o v ie , P o n y o .

M o n o n o k e . I d o n ’t t h i n k h e w a s t e r r i b l y

th e ir tr a n sla to r . A n d I g o to H a r v e y a n d

d o w n to s o m e t h i n g s h o r t e r , a n d t h e n

a lw a y s f i n d h i m , H o l l y w o o d o r n o . ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

a

M r.

th in k a b o u t sto rie s , p a th s th r o u g h

CH apteR 6 |siLveR scR eeN s

271 t

β b a c k t o t h e o r i g i n a l s u b title s a n d r e w r o t e a

p l e a s e d , a n d I n e v e r r e a l l y f e lt lik e w e g o t

s c r i p t o f h is o w n b a s e d o n t h a t . A l l t h e lip

th e B illy B o b T h o r n to n p a r t th a t w e sh o u ld

fla p s m a t c h e d , h is j o b w a s d o n e , a n d h e

h a v e d o n e a fte r th a t. B u t w e h a d s o m e th in g

h a n d e d it o v e r t o t h e d i r e c t o r , J a c k F l e t c h e r .

th a t w a s s ig n ific a n tly b e tte r th a n th e th in g

He

t h a t t h e y ’d s h o w e d t h a t g o t b o o e d .”

and

C la ir e

h is

a ll-sta r

D an es,

c a s t — B illy

M in n ie

D riv e r,

C ru d u p ,

B illy

Bob

But

at

th e

p o in t

w h ere

e v e ry b o d y

T h o r n t o n — w e n t i n t o t h e r e c o r d i n g s tu d io

sh o u ld b e w ip in g th e ir b ro w s a n d p ra is in g

and

w h a te v e r

u n w itti n g l y r e c o r d e d

w ritte n

by

G a im a n

s o m e th in g n o t

( G illia n

A n d e r s o n ’s

god

th e y

l ik e

th a t

P r in c e s s

M o n o n o k e w a s re la tiv e ly sa v e d , sh e w a s

d i a lo g u e , w h i c h N e il h a d w r i t t e n , h a d b e e n

not

r e c o r d e d e a rlie r) a n d n o t a p p ro v e d b y e ith e r

m a d n e s s a w a ite d h e r : H a r v e y W e in s te in

o f t h e W e in s te i n s o r M i y a z a k i.

w a n te d to r e n e g e o n h is d e a l to n o t t o u c h a

in

th e

cle a r

y e t.

M o re

H o lly w o o d

M i r a m a x d id a m id n ig h t te s t s c r e e n in g

f r a m e o f M i y a z a k i ’s f i l m . A t d i n n e r , a f t e r a

o f t h e f i l m w i t h its n e w E n g l i s h d u b u n d e r

h u g e ly su c c e s s fu l s c re e n in g a t th e L in c o ln

a d if f e r e n t t i t l e s o n o b o d y k n e w w h a t w a s b e i n g s c r e e n e d . H a r v e y W e i n s t e i n w a s in th e c r o w d as th e film g o t b o o e d . “H a r v e y , I w a s t o l d , p r e p a r e d t o r i p m e a

new

a rse h o le

for

d e liv e rin g

su ch

in c re d ib ly c r a p p y s c rip t. H e c a lle d f o r m y s c r i p t , l o o k e d a t i t , a n d w e n t , ‘T h is w a s n ’t w hat

we

saw

la s t

n ig h t.

T h is

is n ’t

You have th is pmgitaL

an

thing th a ts n ot like

th e

anything else.

d i a l o g u e t h a t w a s s a i d , t h i s is s o m e t h i n g e lse .’ A t t h a t p o i n t I g o t b r o u g h t b a c k i n t o th e

e q u a tio n

h a v in g b e e n v e r y c u t o u t.

A n d I g o t to h a n g w ith J a c k F le tc h e r, th e d i r e c t o r , a n d I g a v e J a c k t h e fiv e d r a f t s o f

C e n te r in N e w Y o rk C ity a tte n d e d b y th e a c to rs ,

m y s c r i p t h e ’d n e v e r s e e n b e f o r e .” F l e t c h e r lo v e d t h e life a n d e n e r g y o f t h e v e r y f irs t d r a f t a n d w a n t e d t o r e - r e c o r d t h e

th e

d ire c to r,

M iy a z a k i,

and

h is

p r o d u c e r , T o s h io S u z u k i, W e in s te in to ld

in

G a i m a n t h a t h e w a n t e d t o c u t t h e f ilm .

to

Jap an

lo s t t h a t

I say, “W h a t h a p p e n e d ? ” A n d h e s a y s

g e t b e h i n d it a n d p u s h

p e r a c to r, th e y c o u ld n o t c h a n g e e v e ry th in g .

b a t t l e . T h e w h o l e t h in g — t h e r e a s o n

“O h , t h e y ’v e g o n e . T h e y d id n ’t lik e th e

c o m m e r c ia l su ccess, b u t th a t fe e l s a l­

G h i b li a n d r e a l l y h a d j u s t e x p e c t e d

T o g e th e r , G a i m a n a n d F l e t c h e r p u t b a c k a s

th ey c a m e o n

id e a . T h e y w e n t b a c k to th e h o te l. B u t

m o s t i r r e le v a n t . Y ou h a v e th is m a g i c a l

t o g o a n d s a y h e llo t o S te v e A l p e r t ,

m u c h o f t h e o r i g i n a l s c r i p t a s t h e y p o s s ib ly

b e g in n i n g o f t h is — w a s w e

a

y o u k n o w w h a t? Y ou w a it till t o m o r r o w .

t h in g t h a t ’s n o t l i k e a n y t h i n g e ls e .

p o s s i b l y s h a k e M r . M i y a z a k i ’s h a n d .

c o u ld , a l t h o u g h s o m e n o t e s f r o m M iy a z a k i

co n tra ct w h ere n o t a fr a m e can be

T h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s r e v ie w is g o i n g to

th a t

t o u c h e d . I t is a p o i n t o f p r i d e f o r t h e m

c o m e o u t, it ’s g o in g to s a y it ’s t o o lo n g , I

c o m e o u t to L A f o r t h e p r e m i e r e , a n d

an d sh ow ed m e a ro u n d an d sh ow ed m e th is w o n d e r f u l s o r t o f n u r s e r y

to d o it. W i t h j u s t o n e d a y o f r e c o r d i n g le ft

had

been

ca re fu lly

w o rk e d

in to

I

s a id

H a r v e y , y o u ’v e

v e r y p r o u d ly a t th e have

The

b ig w ig s

it to m o r e

a t M ir a m a x

d i d n ’t

G a im a n ’s s c r i p t h a d t o f a ll b y t h e w a y s i d e —

t h a t n o t a f r a m e w ill b e t o u c h e d . H e

w ill s h o w t h e m th a t, t h e y ’ll b e o n m y

w h e n I d is c o v e r e d th a t m y n a m e h a d

t h e g u n s a r e still c a l l e d “r ifle s ” a n d A s h i t a k a s

s a id , “Y e a h , y e a h , y e a h b u t y o u k n o w

s id e, it ’s g o in g to b e g r e a t.”

been

g ir lf r ie n d is still h is “little sister.”

w h a t?

T h e y ’ll

le t

m e.

Its

rem o v ed fr o m

th e p o ster ,

I w as th e re

And

I w e n t o u t to

in s te a d

he

to o k

th e

S tu d io

day

o ff

it

s c h o o l s p a c e t h a t h e ’s b u i l t f o r t h e

about

T h e n e x t d a y th e r e v ie w c a m e o u t

m a d e m e s a d . I t d i d n ’t d o j u s t ic e a n d

lit t l e k i d s i n t h e a r e a . H e s h o w e d m e

t w e n t y - fiv e m in u t e s t o o l o n g a n d i f I

a n d it s a i d it w a s ly r ic a l a n d it s a i d

r e s p e c t a n d lo v e to a r e m a r k a b l e f i l m

t h i s m a g i c a l h o u s e t h a t h e ’d b u i l t

b e c a u s e it w a s a b s o l u t e l y r i g h t a n d p e r f e c t

ju s t

be

it w a s m a g n e t ic a n d it c a lle d m y s c r ip t

a n d a b e a u t ifu l v is io n .

n e x t d o o r ju s t as a p la c e to g o a n d

in m y o rig in a l d ra ft, w h ic h w a s a p p ro v e d

b r illia n t .” S o I s a i d n o , I d o n ’t w a n t to

p o e t i c a n d it w a s a b e a u tifu l, w o n d e r fu l

by

b e t h e r e f o r t h a t c o n v e r s a t io n , y o u ’r e

r e v ie w , a n d a t t h a t m o m e n t H a r v e y

M ir a m a x re le a s e d th e film w ith p r a c t i c ­

o n y o u r o w n . G o o d lu c k .

k in d o f d u m p e d P rin c e ss M o n o n o k e .

a lly n o fa n f a re a t a ll— la y in g o n little to n o

ta lk e d a b o u t D ia n a W y n n e J o n e s ,

I t ’s a lo n g f i l m . A n d it is n o t a f a s t

a d v e r tis in g a n d o n ly g iv in g th e film a v e r y

we

f i l m , it is a r e la t iv e ly s lo w f i l m , b u t

l i m i t e d r u n in a s m a l l n u m b e r o f t h e a t e r s ,

s h o w e d m e a ll o f t h i s s t u f f t h a t w a s g o i n g t o b e P o n y o .”

“ T h e r e ’s s t u f f t h a t w a s f r u s t r a t i n g t o m e

e v e ry b o d y

in c lu d in g

M iy a z a k i.

And

t h e n w e h a d t o g o in a n d d o t h e v e r y b e s t w e c o u l d . I f e lt t h a t w e g o t 9 0 p e r c e n t o f w hat

t 270

2007 gaimaN weNt

f o r t h e r e l e a s e o f S t a r d u s t . “W h i l e

a c to r s b a s e d o n th a t. O n ly th e re w a s n o tim e

we

sh o u ld

have

g o t.

M aybe

80

cu t

it

dow n

i t ’s g o i n g

to

T o w a r d th e e n d o f th e m e a l, M r. M iy a z a k i

and

S u zu ki

n ip p e d

t h e a i r a n d s t u f f lik e t h a t . A n d w e

ta lk e d

about

life

and

a rt,

he

p e r c e n t. T h e h a r d e s t o n e w a s B illy B o b

o u ts id e f o r

c ig a r e tte , a n d H a r v e y

i t ’s s lo w in t h e w a y t h a t s o m e o f t h e

m e a n i n g its b o x o ff ic e p e r f o r m a n c e w a s

T h o r n t o n , w h o n e e d e d t o r e - r e c o r d a ll o f

w e n t o u t w ith t h e m a n d c a m e b a c k in

g r e a t J a p a n e s e f i l m s a r e slo w . I ’m n o t

le s s t h a n s p e c t a c u l a r ( a n d D i s n e y w a s n o t

H e r e a re M iy a z a k i, G a im a n , an d

h is lin e s a n d w a s s h o o t i n g a m o v i e , a n d h is

o n h is o w n . T h e r e is n o M iy a z a k i a n d

e v e n s a y in g H a r v e y w a s w r o n g f o r t h e

im p r e s s e d ). It w a s o n e o f th o s e th in g s th a t

M r. S u zu k i g rin n in g s u rro u n d e d b y

m o v ie h a d to b e sh u t d o w n f o r a d a y w h ile

th e r e is n o M r. S u z u k i. A n d th e r e is n o

A m e r ic a n a u d ie n c e . H e m ig h t w e ll h a v e

fa n s f o u n d a n d lo v e d o n D V D in s te a d . A

d r a w i n g s b y M i y a z a k i f o r h is 2 0 0 8

h e c a m e a n d r e c o r d e d h is p a r t in P r in c e s s

m o r e S tev e A lp e r t a n d th e r e is n o m o r e

b e e n a b l e to c h o p P r i n c e s s M o n o n o k e

M i y a z a k i f i l m is a t r e a s u r e , a n d p e o p l e w ill

m o v ie , P o n y o .

M o n o n o k e . I d o n ’t t h i n k h e w a s t e r r i b l y

th e ir tr a n sla to r . A n d I g o to H a r v e y a n d

d o w n to s o m e t h i n g s h o r t e r , a n d t h e n

a lw a y s f i n d h i m , H o l l y w o o d o r n o . ❖

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

a

M r.

th in k a b o u t sto rie s , p a th s th r o u g h

CH apteR 6 |siLveR scR eeN s

271 t

BeowULf WHeN Beou/ulfy DiffeReNt Beast to tHe WHeN He scRiBBLeD some

i N u i e s u in m u w

lu

vas aN eNtmeLy ns HeaD in 1982 l u k n tHe epic poem

into a feature film. It was also pretty far off the script he first drafted with Gaiman under a palapa in a Mexican quinta. h e s a g a o f th e

T

Beow ulf f i l m

s ta r te d , in a w ay , w ith

Sandman .

I n 1 9 9 6 A v a r y w a s s i t t i n g in L o r e n z o d i B o n a v e n t u r a s o ff ic e a t W a r n e r B r o s .

b e i n g t o l d h o w b r i l l i a n t h e w a s b y D i B o n a v e n t u r a , w h o h a d l o v e d A v a r y ’s

Zoe

Killing

s o m u c h h e w a s d e t e r m i n e d t o d o a f i l m w i t h h i m , h e j u s t d i d n ’t k n o w w h a t . H e

r a ttle d o ff a lis t o f o p tio n s f o r A v a r y to p ic k f r o m , a n d o n e o f t h e m w a s

Sandman.

A v ary ,

w h o h a d b e e n a fan o f th e c o m ic sin ce 1 9 8 9 , w as o u t-o f -h is -m in d e x c ite d a t th e id e a o f d o in g a

Sandman

m o v i e . H e h a d b a s i c a l l y a l r e a d y m a d e o n e in h is h e a d w h e n h e

d i s c o v e r e d t h e s e r i e s w h i l e w o r k i n g i n t h e m a i l r o o m o f a n a d v e r t i s i n g a g e n c y b a c k in t h e days w h en

True Romance

w a s s till u n m a d e . O n e o f t h e e x e c u t i v e s h a d a s t a n d i n g m a i l

o rd e r fo r D C C o m ic s , a n d sin ce th e y w e re o n ly fo r a d v e rtis in g p u rp o s e s a n d h e n e v e r a c tu a lly w a n te d th e m , A v a r y e n d e d u p ta k in g p ie c e s o f

The Dolls House

h o m e . I n h is

h e a d J o h n n y D e p p w a s D r e a m a n d F a iru z a B a lk w a s D e a th . H e im m e d ia te ly sig n e d o n to d ir e c t

Sandman ,

t o o k t h e s c r i p t h o m e , a n d w o r k e d o n a n o t h e r d r a f t w i t h its w r i t e r s ,

T e d E llio tt a n d T e r ry R o s s io , b e s t k n o w n th e s e d ay s fo r So A v ary w as o n

Sandman ,

Pirates o f the Caribbean.

a n d t h e n v e r y s o o n h e w a s n ’t . “R o g e r m a d e t h e f a ta l

m i s t a k e o f g o i n g i n f o r a m e e t i n g a n d p r o u d l y s h o w i n g t h e m J a n S v a n k m a j e r ’s f i l m

Alice

t o d e m o n s t r a t e h o w h e f e lt t h e s e q u e n c e s i n t h e D r e a m i n g s h o u l d l o o k a n d feel,” s a i d N e il, a f a c t w h ic h a c tu a lly w o u ld h a v e c lin c h e d th e d e a l f o r h i m p e r s o n a lly — a m a n w h o th in k s t h e D r e a m i n g s h o u l d l o o k a n d f e e l lik e a s t r a n g e h a l f s t o p - m o t i o n a n i m a t i o n m a d e o u t o f b its o f d o ll, t a x i d e r m y r a b b i t s , t i n y s k u lls , s o c k p u p p e t s , a n d c r a b

c la w s is a t l e a s t

d e m o n s t r a t i n g t h e r i g h t k i n d o f t h i n k i n g — b u t W a r n e r B r o s . b a l k e d . I n H o l l y w o o d i t ’s e a s i e r t o d o y o u r j o b b y s a y i n g n o t o t h i n g s , b e c a u s e i f y o u s a y y e s t o s o m e t h i n g a n d y o u ’r e w r o n g , y o u ’r e o u t o n y o u r e a r . E v e n t u a l l y , A v a r y w a l k e d . H e d i d n ’t w a n t t o b e t h e g u y w h o ru in e d

Sandman . H e

h a d a ls o n o t b e e n p a i d f o r a y e a r a n d a h a l f ’s w o r t h o f w o r k .

A s f o r C a i m a n ’s i n v o l v e m e n t in a n y

Sandman

film , h e s u b s c rib e s to th e S a m u e l

G o l d w y n a p p r o a c h : “ I n c l u d e m e o u t.” H e s a i d i n 1 9 9 4 , “ I f y o u g e t i n v o l v e d , y o u c a n g e t h u r t . Q u i t e s e r i o u s l y , t h i s is m y b a b y ; i t ’s s o m e t h i n g I ’v e b e e n l i v i n g w i t h f o r s e v e n y e a r s . N o b o d y s h o u ld b e a sk e d to b a r b e c u e th e ir o w n b a b y , n o b o d y s h o u ld b e a sk e d to c u t o ff its little f i n g e r s a n d m a r i n a t e t h e m ” ( R o e l , 1 9 9 4 ) . B u t h e h a d s p o k e n w i t h A v a r y w h i l e h e w a s w o rk in g o n it, a n d o b v io u s ly r e s p e c te d th e f a c t th a t h e w o u ld r a th e r w a lk th a n b a s ta r d iz e s o m e t h i n g h e lo v e d . H e p h o n e d h i m

u p a c o u p le o f m o n th s la te r sim p ly

b e c a u s e h e lik e d h i m a n d w a n te d to s e e h o w h e w a s d o in g .

t 272

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

I liked talking to him, I thought he was funny, I thought he was sharp, I liked K i l l i n g Z o e . While we were talking S a n d m a n , we’d talked enough about P u l p F i c t i o n to realize the things that I really liked about P u l p F i c t i o n in terms o f the odd plotting were all Roger. It was all the wherethe-fuck-did-that-come-from, howd o e s-a -m in d -c o m e-u p -w ith -th a t stuff—the willingness to just follow an idea as fa r as it would go. So Roger and I were talking about what he was working on, and what he had going on. He mentioned that he had a script fo r B e o w u l f , and I started saying, “Yeah, you know if I ever did B e o w u l f , I would love to make Grendels mum beautiful and scary" and he was saying, “Yeah, that’s what I want to do too. I want a Nastassja Kinski kind o f Grendels mum. The only thing I can never figure out is how you get from act two to act three.” And I said, “Well, you just make the dragon Beow ulf’s son” There was a millisecond’s hesitation and then he said, “When are you free?

When can we get a week and go o ff and write this?” T h r e e m o n t h s l a t e r , in M a y 1 9 9 7 , A v a r y

aBOVe: Beowulf (Ray Winstone) battles a dragon and encounters Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie).

a n d G a i m a n f le w t o P u e r t o V a l l a r t a ( v a g u e ly m id w a y b e tw e e n C a i m a n ’s

A v a r y ’s C a l i f o r n i a a n d

W isco n sin )

and

s ta y e d

in

a

b o r ro w e d h o u s e . T h e y tu r n e d th e stra n g e o l d A n g l o - S a x o n p o e m , w h i c h E n g l i s h lit stu d e n ts h av e

d read ed

fo r y e a rs , in to

a

Monty Python and the Holy Jabberwocky — o r in o t h e r w o r d s ,

m o v i e a b i t lik e

Grail a n d

CHapteR 6 |siLveR scReeNS

273 t

BeowULf WHeN Beou/ulfy DiffeReNt Beast to tHe WHeN He scRiBBLeD some

i N u i e s u in m u w

lu

vas aN eNtmeLy ns HeaD in 1982 l u k n tHe epic poem

into a feature film. It was also pretty far off the script he first drafted with Gaiman under a palapa in a Mexican quinta. h e s a g a o f th e

T

Beow ulf f i l m

s ta r te d , in a w ay , w ith

Sandman .

I n 1 9 9 6 A v a r y w a s s i t t i n g in L o r e n z o d i B o n a v e n t u r a s o ff ic e a t W a r n e r B r o s .

b e i n g t o l d h o w b r i l l i a n t h e w a s b y D i B o n a v e n t u r a , w h o h a d l o v e d A v a r y ’s

Zoe

Killing

s o m u c h h e w a s d e t e r m i n e d t o d o a f i l m w i t h h i m , h e j u s t d i d n ’t k n o w w h a t . H e

r a ttle d o ff a lis t o f o p tio n s f o r A v a r y to p ic k f r o m , a n d o n e o f t h e m w a s

Sandman.

A v ary ,

w h o h a d b e e n a fan o f th e c o m ic sin ce 1 9 8 9 , w as o u t-o f -h is -m in d e x c ite d a t th e id e a o f d o in g a

Sandman

m o v i e . H e h a d b a s i c a l l y a l r e a d y m a d e o n e in h is h e a d w h e n h e

d i s c o v e r e d t h e s e r i e s w h i l e w o r k i n g i n t h e m a i l r o o m o f a n a d v e r t i s i n g a g e n c y b a c k in t h e days w h en

True Romance

w a s s till u n m a d e . O n e o f t h e e x e c u t i v e s h a d a s t a n d i n g m a i l

o rd e r fo r D C C o m ic s , a n d sin ce th e y w e re o n ly fo r a d v e rtis in g p u rp o s e s a n d h e n e v e r a c tu a lly w a n te d th e m , A v a r y e n d e d u p ta k in g p ie c e s o f

The Dolls House

h o m e . I n h is

h e a d J o h n n y D e p p w a s D r e a m a n d F a iru z a B a lk w a s D e a th . H e im m e d ia te ly sig n e d o n to d ir e c t

Sandman ,

t o o k t h e s c r i p t h o m e , a n d w o r k e d o n a n o t h e r d r a f t w i t h its w r i t e r s ,

T e d E llio tt a n d T e r ry R o s s io , b e s t k n o w n th e s e d ay s fo r So A v ary w as o n

Sandman ,

Pirates o f the Caribbean.

a n d t h e n v e r y s o o n h e w a s n ’t . “R o g e r m a d e t h e f a ta l

m i s t a k e o f g o i n g i n f o r a m e e t i n g a n d p r o u d l y s h o w i n g t h e m J a n S v a n k m a j e r ’s f i l m

Alice

t o d e m o n s t r a t e h o w h e f e lt t h e s e q u e n c e s i n t h e D r e a m i n g s h o u l d l o o k a n d feel,” s a i d N e il, a f a c t w h ic h a c tu a lly w o u ld h a v e c lin c h e d th e d e a l f o r h i m p e r s o n a lly — a m a n w h o th in k s t h e D r e a m i n g s h o u l d l o o k a n d f e e l lik e a s t r a n g e h a l f s t o p - m o t i o n a n i m a t i o n m a d e o u t o f b its o f d o ll, t a x i d e r m y r a b b i t s , t i n y s k u lls , s o c k p u p p e t s , a n d c r a b

c la w s is a t l e a s t

d e m o n s t r a t i n g t h e r i g h t k i n d o f t h i n k i n g — b u t W a r n e r B r o s . b a l k e d . I n H o l l y w o o d i t ’s e a s i e r t o d o y o u r j o b b y s a y i n g n o t o t h i n g s , b e c a u s e i f y o u s a y y e s t o s o m e t h i n g a n d y o u ’r e w r o n g , y o u ’r e o u t o n y o u r e a r . E v e n t u a l l y , A v a r y w a l k e d . H e d i d n ’t w a n t t o b e t h e g u y w h o ru in e d

Sandman . H e

h a d a ls o n o t b e e n p a i d f o r a y e a r a n d a h a l f ’s w o r t h o f w o r k .

A s f o r C a i m a n ’s i n v o l v e m e n t in a n y

Sandman

film , h e s u b s c rib e s to th e S a m u e l

G o l d w y n a p p r o a c h : “ I n c l u d e m e o u t.” H e s a i d i n 1 9 9 4 , “ I f y o u g e t i n v o l v e d , y o u c a n g e t h u r t . Q u i t e s e r i o u s l y , t h i s is m y b a b y ; i t ’s s o m e t h i n g I ’v e b e e n l i v i n g w i t h f o r s e v e n y e a r s . N o b o d y s h o u ld b e a sk e d to b a r b e c u e th e ir o w n b a b y , n o b o d y s h o u ld b e a sk e d to c u t o ff its little f i n g e r s a n d m a r i n a t e t h e m ” ( R o e l , 1 9 9 4 ) . B u t h e h a d s p o k e n w i t h A v a r y w h i l e h e w a s w o rk in g o n it, a n d o b v io u s ly r e s p e c te d th e f a c t th a t h e w o u ld r a th e r w a lk th a n b a s ta r d iz e s o m e t h i n g h e lo v e d . H e p h o n e d h i m

u p a c o u p le o f m o n th s la te r sim p ly

b e c a u s e h e lik e d h i m a n d w a n te d to s e e h o w h e w a s d o in g .

t 272

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

I liked talking to him, I thought he was funny, I thought he was sharp, I liked K i l l i n g Z o e . While we were talking S a n d m a n , we’d talked enough about P u l p F i c t i o n to realize the things that I really liked about P u l p F i c t i o n in terms o f the odd plotting were all Roger. It was all the wherethe-fuck-did-that-come-from, howd o e s-a -m in d -c o m e-u p -w ith -th a t stuff—the willingness to just follow an idea as fa r as it would go. So Roger and I were talking about what he was working on, and what he had going on. He mentioned that he had a script fo r B e o w u l f , and I started saying, “Yeah, you know if I ever did B e o w u l f , I would love to make Grendels mum beautiful and scary" and he was saying, “Yeah, that’s what I want to do too. I want a Nastassja Kinski kind o f Grendels mum. The only thing I can never figure out is how you get from act two to act three.” And I said, “Well, you just make the dragon Beow ulf’s son” There was a millisecond’s hesitation and then he said, “When are you free?

When can we get a week and go o ff and write this?” T h r e e m o n t h s l a t e r , in M a y 1 9 9 7 , A v a r y

aBOVe: Beowulf (Ray Winstone) battles a dragon and encounters Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie).

a n d G a i m a n f le w t o P u e r t o V a l l a r t a ( v a g u e ly m id w a y b e tw e e n C a i m a n ’s

A v a r y ’s C a l i f o r n i a a n d

W isco n sin )

and

s ta y e d

in

a

b o r ro w e d h o u s e . T h e y tu r n e d th e stra n g e o l d A n g l o - S a x o n p o e m , w h i c h E n g l i s h lit stu d e n ts h av e

d read ed

fo r y e a rs , in to

a

Monty Python and the Holy Jabberwocky — o r in o t h e r w o r d s ,

m o v i e a b i t lik e

Grail a n d

CHapteR 6 |siLveR scReeNS

273 t

c a m p a i g n i n g f o r D e a t h : T h e H ig h C o s t o f

L iv i n g f o r r o u g h l y a d e c a d e .) “T h e n w e h a d to re w rite th e s c rip t a lo t o v e r th e

next

e ig h t m o n t h s

to

m ake

it

s o m e t h i n g t h a t w a s n o l o n g e r a little liv e ­ a c tio n , T e r ry G illia m -e s q u e m o v ie s h o t o n a b u d g e t , w h e r e w e w e r e t r y i n g t o f ig u r e o u t th e

t w o m o N tH s a f te R tH e E u r o p e a n p r e m ie r e o f B e o w u lf, R o g e r A v a r y

g o l d e n d r a g o n . S u d d e n ly w e w e r e m a k i n g

w a s i n a c a r c r a s h i n O j a i , C a l i f o r n i a , w h i c h s e r i o u s l y i n j u r e d h is w if e ,

e m b a rra s s in g

and

easy

w ays

to

do

t h e g o l d e n d r a g o n d iv e u n d e r t h e w a t e r t o

G r e tc h e n , a n d k ille d p a s s e n g e r A n d r e a s Z e d in i. A v a r y w a s a r r e s te d fo r

t r y a n d g e t B e o w u lf sh a k e n fre e , h e g ra b s an

D U I a n d s e n te n c e d to a y e a r in p r is o n . W h e n h e w a s in te r v ie w e d fo r

a n c h o r a n d h e t h r o w s it. V e r y R a i d e r s o f th e

th is b o o k , A v a r y w a s k e e n to ta lk a b o u t B e o w u l f a n d th e o th e r w o rk

L o s t A r k k i n d o f stu ff. A n d o n c e t h e s c r i p t

h e ’s d o n e w i t h G a i m a n , b u t m o s t l y h e j u s t w a n t e d t o t a l k a b o u t N e i l ’s

w a s r e w r i t t e n , B o b Z e m e c k i s d id h is o w n

i n c r e d i b l e a n d a d m i r a b l e w o r k e t h i c . “ H e i s n ’t h a i l e d e n o u g h f o r t h a t ,

d ra ft o n it w h ic h m o s tly w a s c u ttin g th in g s .

a n d a l s o w h a t h e t o l d m e a f t e r m y t e r r i b l e a c c i d e n t w h e n I w a s in

C u t t i n g d i a l o g u e , c u t t i n g t h i n g s d o w n .”

a n a b s o l u t e d e p r e s s i o n : ‘W r i t e , R o g e r . . . w r i t e .’ A n d s o I d id , a n d b y

The

E u ro p e a n

S q u a re

in

to rc h e s

b u rn e d

p re m ie re

London on

w as

at

L e ic e s te r

g o d i t s a v e d m y s a n i t y a n d p u l l e d m e o u t o f a k i n d o f h e ll t h a t I w i s h

M a s s iv e

o t h e r s w o u l d n ’t e v e r h a v e t o e n d u r e , b u t is a h u m a n c o n d i t i o n a s o ld

huge.

e ith e r

s id e

of

th e

a s h u m a n i t y . N e i l s a v e d m e . W i t h o u t q u e s t i o n . A s i d e f r o m m y w if e h e

c in e m a e n tr a n c e , m e n in lo in c lo th s b e a t

is t h e f r i e n d t o w h o m I o w e t h e m o s t .” L a t e r , w h i l e g o i n g t h r o u g h t h e

b a ttle d r u m s o n ro o fto p s , a n d th e th r o n g

n o t e b o o k s c a n s f r o m N e i l ’s a t t i c , t h i s o n e s t o o d o u t . H a v i n g s p o k e n to

o f p a p a ra z z i s tra in e d o v e r b a r r ie rs b y th e

R o g e r , i t a ll m a k e s s e n s e . L o o k a t t h e n a m e i n t h e t o p le f t c o r n e r .

A

r e d c a r p e t to g e t p ic tu r e s o f A n g e lin a Jo lie , G r e n d e l ’s b e a u t i f u l g o l d e n m o t h e r . I t w a s

aBOVe: Angelina Jolie

“a n

re la tiv e ly

w o rk in g o n th e film , th e o p tio n e x p ire d ,

as Grendel’s mother.

ir re v e r e n t, s e r io u s -b u t-fu n n y -b u t-s e rio u s ,

a n d B e o w u l f la y d o r m a n t. A v a r y w a s n o t

s e x y T e r r y G illia m -e s q u e film

so m u c h g r u m p y th is tim e as sa d .

in c re d ib ly

lo w

b u d g e t,

in w h ic h

In

e v e ry b o d y h a s b e e n s p ra y e d w ith d irt.

th e

e n d , Z e m e c k is

c o u ld

e x c i t i n g . It w a s a n e v e n t m o v i e . A ll m e d ia th e

n o t get

s tra n g e

w as

a tte n tio n

m anner

in

co n s tru cte d — o n e

w as

fo cu se d

w h ic h

th e

w h ic h

put

on film th e

“It w a s v e r y m u c h b o t h o f u s d o i n g it a t

B e o w u l f o u t o f h is h e a d . H e w a n te d to

a c to r s in id e n tic a l L y c r a b o d y s u its w ith

t h e s a m e tim e . W e h a d t w o c o m p u t e r s , w e

d i r e c t it h im s e lf , a n d h e w a n te d to u s e th e

w h ite

w ere

s a m e p e r f o r m a n c e - c a p t u r e t e c h n i q u e h e ’d

m o s tly th e s tr a n g e a n im a tio n sty le w o rk e d ;

b e tw e e n c o m p u t e r s , b u ild in g it u p . I w a s

p io n e e re d w ith T he P o la r E x p ress a n d u se

c e r ta in ly it h a d im p ro v e d te n fo ld s in c e th e

d o in g stu ff, h e w a s d o i n g stu ff, I w a s m u c k i n g

it to c re a te th e m o n s te r s a n d w o rld th a t

s lig h tly c r e e p y d e a d -e y e d c h ild re n in T h e

w ith h is , h e w a s m u c k i n g w i t h m i n e , a n d a t

w o u l d b e n e e d e d f o r a V i k i n g e p i c lik e

P o la r E x p ress.

b a c k in g

and

fo rth in g ,

c u t ti n g

s tu f f

I

B e o w u l f . H e a s k e d G a i m a n , w h o s a i d it

t h e e n d o f t h e w e e k w e h a d a s c rip t.”

w a s to ta lly

up

to

A v a r y . I t w a s A v a r y ’s

b a lls

d o tte d

aro u n d

th e m .

And

T h e f i l m w a s d e f in ite ly , u n e q u i v o c a l l y n o t a c a r t o o n f o r c h ild re n . B u x o m w o m e n

a lo n g w ith

s c r u b b e d b a n q u e t ta b le s as b r e a s ts c r a s h e d

w h a te v e r A v a ry w a n te d . In 2 0 0 4 Z e m e c k is

t o g e th e r in w a v e s , r u d e s o n g s w e r e s u n g , h id e o u s a r m s w e re a m p u ta te d in s la m m in g

b a b y a n d G a im a n w o u ld g o

T h e y w e n t h o m e , s e n t t h e ir s c r ip t to

s e n t in h is p a r t n e r S te v e B in g to t r y to

p e o p le in H o l l y w o o d , a n d w a i t e d . T h e s c r i p t

w r e n c h t h e s c r i p t o f f A v a r y in e x c h a n g e

d o o r s , a n d th e b lo o d y stu m p s w e re g o ry .

w a s s o ld a f e w m o n t h s l a t e r t o f o r m e r H o lly ­

f o r w h a te v e r h e a sk e d fo r. A v a r y w a s so

B u t it w o rk e d . B e o w u lf a g e d in a w a y th a t

b ig

w o o d a g e n t J a c k R a p k e a n d B a c k to t h e

s e t o n d ir e c tin g th e film h im s e lf h e h a d

l o o k e d f a r m o r e b e l i e v a b l e t h a n a n a c t o r in

r e t u r n h is p h o n e c a l l s . B u t t h e r e ’s p a r t o f

F u tu r e d i r e c t o r R o b e r t Z e m e c k i s ’s c o m p a n y

g r o w n a V ik in g b e a r d o f h is o w n to p r o v e

a r u b b e r o l d - m a n m a s k . I t w o r k e d s o w e ll

h i m t h a t h o p e s A v a r y w ill o n e d a y g r o w

Im a g e M o v e rs , w h o w e re th e n in c a h o o ts

i t ( a n d w o u l d n o t s h a v e i t u n t i l t h e f ilm

th a t p e o p le w e re m o s tly ju s t d a z z le d b y th e

h is V ik in g b e a r d

w ith

w a s m a d e , a n d b y th is p o in t it h a d r e a c h e d

a n im a tio n

th e f a c t th a t th e

h o p e t h a t o n e d a y s o m e b o d y g iv e s R o g e r A v a r y n o t m u c h m o n e y , s o m e t h i n g lik e

S te v e n

S p i e l b e r g ’s D r e a m W o r k s .

It

a n d m is s e d

enough

in

H o lly w o o d

th a t

p e o p le

a g a i n . “ In m y h e a r t I

h a d a n i m m e d ia te g r e e n lig h t, a n d in 1 9 9 8

h is

m ake

s c rip t w a s fu n n y (a lth o u g h R o g e r E b e r t

if th e re w as o n e th in g th a t G a im a n w as

Z e m e c k i s a n d B i n g g o a w a y , h e s a i d h e ’d

n o t i c e d ). In a film m a d e o n n o m o n e y w ith

fiv e m i l l i o n d o l l a r s a n d h i s o r i g i n a l s c r i p t

c e r t a i n o f it w a s t h a t B e o w u l f w a s g o in g to

o n ly p a r t w ith th e p r o je c t fo r th e m o o n o n

a c to r s r u n n in g a ro u n d sp ra y e d w ith d irt,

b a c k , a n d h e g e ts to s n e a k o ff a n d m a k e

b e m a d e . A n d th e n , a fte r a y e a r o f re w rite s ,

a stick . B in g p lu c k e d th e m o o n f r o m th e

f u n n y b e c o m e s m o r e o b v i o u s , h u m o r is

th is p i r a t e T e r r y G i l l i a m v e r s i o n o f B e o w u lf.

t h e g r e e n l i g h t g o t t u r n e d o ff. D r e a m W o r k s

sk y ,

b u i l t i n t o its r a m s h a c k l e f u n .

I ’d lo v e t o s e e t h a t .” ❖

h a d b o u g h t T h e 1 3 th W a r r io r , w h i c h w a s

a m o u n t o f m o n e y , an d A v a ry to o k it h o m e

n ip p le s).

m ade

it

In

an

lo o k

a tte m p t

lik e

an

to

a sto n ish in g

In

N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 7 , B e o w u lf w a s th e

a ls o B e o w u l f - i n f l u e n c e d , a n d d e c i d e d t h e y

a n d w a s h e a r ts ic k . (N e il u n d e r s ta n d s th e

b i g g e s t f i l m in A m e r i c a a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y ,

B e o w u lf- t y p e m o v ie s

n e e d t o d i r e c t y o u r o w n f i l m . H e ’s b e e n

a n d t h a t m e a n s t h a t G a i m a n ’s n a m e is n o w

d id

n o t w a n t tw o

g o in g o n a t th e s a m e tim e . S o Z e m e c k is and t 274

R apke

set

th e

m o v ie

up

o u tsid e

tHe o f D ream W o raRt k s . of ANeil f t e r gaimaN a n o th e r y e a r

of

CHapteR 6 |sitveR scReeNs

275 t

JΉ

c a m p a i g n i n g f o r D e a t h : T h e H ig h C o s t o f

L iv i n g f o r r o u g h l y a d e c a d e .) “T h e n w e h a d to re w rite th e s c rip t a lo t o v e r th e

next

e ig h t m o n t h s

to

m ake

it

s o m e t h i n g t h a t w a s n o l o n g e r a little liv e ­ a c tio n , T e r ry G illia m -e s q u e m o v ie s h o t o n a b u d g e t , w h e r e w e w e r e t r y i n g t o f ig u r e o u t th e

t w o m o N tH s a f te R tH e E u r o p e a n p r e m ie r e o f B e o w u lf, R o g e r A v a r y

g o l d e n d r a g o n . S u d d e n ly w e w e r e m a k i n g

w a s i n a c a r c r a s h i n O j a i , C a l i f o r n i a , w h i c h s e r i o u s l y i n j u r e d h is w if e ,

e m b a rra s s in g

and

easy

w ays

to

do

t h e g o l d e n d r a g o n d iv e u n d e r t h e w a t e r t o

G r e tc h e n , a n d k ille d p a s s e n g e r A n d r e a s Z e d in i. A v a r y w a s a r r e s te d fo r

t r y a n d g e t B e o w u lf sh a k e n fre e , h e g ra b s an

D U I a n d s e n te n c e d to a y e a r in p r is o n . W h e n h e w a s in te r v ie w e d fo r

a n c h o r a n d h e t h r o w s it. V e r y R a i d e r s o f th e

th is b o o k , A v a r y w a s k e e n to ta lk a b o u t B e o w u l f a n d th e o th e r w o rk

L o s t A r k k i n d o f stu ff. A n d o n c e t h e s c r i p t

h e ’s d o n e w i t h G a i m a n , b u t m o s t l y h e j u s t w a n t e d t o t a l k a b o u t N e i l ’s

w a s r e w r i t t e n , B o b Z e m e c k i s d id h is o w n

i n c r e d i b l e a n d a d m i r a b l e w o r k e t h i c . “ H e i s n ’t h a i l e d e n o u g h f o r t h a t ,

d ra ft o n it w h ic h m o s tly w a s c u ttin g th in g s .

a n d a l s o w h a t h e t o l d m e a f t e r m y t e r r i b l e a c c i d e n t w h e n I w a s in

C u t t i n g d i a l o g u e , c u t t i n g t h i n g s d o w n .”

a n a b s o l u t e d e p r e s s i o n : ‘W r i t e , R o g e r . . . w r i t e .’ A n d s o I d id , a n d b y

The

E u ro p e a n

S q u a re

in

to rc h e s

b u rn e d

p re m ie re

London on

w as

at

L e ic e s te r

g o d i t s a v e d m y s a n i t y a n d p u l l e d m e o u t o f a k i n d o f h e ll t h a t I w i s h

M a s s iv e

o t h e r s w o u l d n ’t e v e r h a v e t o e n d u r e , b u t is a h u m a n c o n d i t i o n a s o ld

huge.

e ith e r

s id e

of

th e

a s h u m a n i t y . N e i l s a v e d m e . W i t h o u t q u e s t i o n . A s i d e f r o m m y w if e h e

c in e m a e n tr a n c e , m e n in lo in c lo th s b e a t

is t h e f r i e n d t o w h o m I o w e t h e m o s t .” L a t e r , w h i l e g o i n g t h r o u g h t h e

b a ttle d r u m s o n ro o fto p s , a n d th e th r o n g

n o t e b o o k s c a n s f r o m N e i l ’s a t t i c , t h i s o n e s t o o d o u t . H a v i n g s p o k e n to

o f p a p a ra z z i s tra in e d o v e r b a r r ie rs b y th e

R o g e r , i t a ll m a k e s s e n s e . L o o k a t t h e n a m e i n t h e t o p le f t c o r n e r .

A

r e d c a r p e t to g e t p ic tu r e s o f A n g e lin a Jo lie , G r e n d e l ’s b e a u t i f u l g o l d e n m o t h e r . I t w a s

aBOVe: Angelina Jolie

“a n

re la tiv e ly

w o rk in g o n th e film , th e o p tio n e x p ire d ,

as Grendel’s mother.

ir re v e r e n t, s e r io u s -b u t-fu n n y -b u t-s e rio u s ,

a n d B e o w u l f la y d o r m a n t. A v a r y w a s n o t

s e x y T e r r y G illia m -e s q u e film

so m u c h g r u m p y th is tim e as sa d .

in c re d ib ly

lo w

b u d g e t,

in w h ic h

In

e v e ry b o d y h a s b e e n s p ra y e d w ith d irt.

th e

e n d , Z e m e c k is

c o u ld

e x c i t i n g . It w a s a n e v e n t m o v i e . A ll m e d ia th e

n o t get

s tra n g e

w as

a tte n tio n

m anner

in

co n s tru cte d — o n e

w as

fo cu se d

w h ic h

th e

w h ic h

put

on film th e

“It w a s v e r y m u c h b o t h o f u s d o i n g it a t

B e o w u l f o u t o f h is h e a d . H e w a n te d to

a c to r s in id e n tic a l L y c r a b o d y s u its w ith

t h e s a m e tim e . W e h a d t w o c o m p u t e r s , w e

d i r e c t it h im s e lf , a n d h e w a n te d to u s e th e

w h ite

w ere

s a m e p e r f o r m a n c e - c a p t u r e t e c h n i q u e h e ’d

m o s tly th e s tr a n g e a n im a tio n sty le w o rk e d ;

b e tw e e n c o m p u t e r s , b u ild in g it u p . I w a s

p io n e e re d w ith T he P o la r E x p ress a n d u se

c e r ta in ly it h a d im p ro v e d te n fo ld s in c e th e

d o in g stu ff, h e w a s d o i n g stu ff, I w a s m u c k i n g

it to c re a te th e m o n s te r s a n d w o rld th a t

s lig h tly c r e e p y d e a d -e y e d c h ild re n in T h e

w ith h is , h e w a s m u c k i n g w i t h m i n e , a n d a t

w o u l d b e n e e d e d f o r a V i k i n g e p i c lik e

P o la r E x p ress.

b a c k in g

and

fo rth in g ,

c u t ti n g

s tu f f

I

B e o w u l f . H e a s k e d G a i m a n , w h o s a i d it

t h e e n d o f t h e w e e k w e h a d a s c rip t.”

w a s to ta lly

up

to

A v a r y . I t w a s A v a r y ’s

b a lls

d o tte d

aro u n d

th e m .

And

T h e f i l m w a s d e f in ite ly , u n e q u i v o c a l l y n o t a c a r t o o n f o r c h ild re n . B u x o m w o m e n

a lo n g w ith

s c r u b b e d b a n q u e t ta b le s as b r e a s ts c r a s h e d

w h a te v e r A v a ry w a n te d . In 2 0 0 4 Z e m e c k is

t o g e th e r in w a v e s , r u d e s o n g s w e r e s u n g , h id e o u s a r m s w e re a m p u ta te d in s la m m in g

b a b y a n d G a im a n w o u ld g o

T h e y w e n t h o m e , s e n t t h e ir s c r ip t to

s e n t in h is p a r t n e r S te v e B in g to t r y to

p e o p le in H o l l y w o o d , a n d w a i t e d . T h e s c r i p t

w r e n c h t h e s c r i p t o f f A v a r y in e x c h a n g e

d o o r s , a n d th e b lo o d y stu m p s w e re g o ry .

w a s s o ld a f e w m o n t h s l a t e r t o f o r m e r H o lly ­

f o r w h a te v e r h e a sk e d fo r. A v a r y w a s so

B u t it w o rk e d . B e o w u lf a g e d in a w a y th a t

b ig

w o o d a g e n t J a c k R a p k e a n d B a c k to t h e

s e t o n d ir e c tin g th e film h im s e lf h e h a d

l o o k e d f a r m o r e b e l i e v a b l e t h a n a n a c t o r in

r e t u r n h is p h o n e c a l l s . B u t t h e r e ’s p a r t o f

F u tu r e d i r e c t o r R o b e r t Z e m e c k i s ’s c o m p a n y

g r o w n a V ik in g b e a r d o f h is o w n to p r o v e

a r u b b e r o l d - m a n m a s k . I t w o r k e d s o w e ll

h i m t h a t h o p e s A v a r y w ill o n e d a y g r o w

Im a g e M o v e rs , w h o w e re th e n in c a h o o ts

i t ( a n d w o u l d n o t s h a v e i t u n t i l t h e f ilm

th a t p e o p le w e re m o s tly ju s t d a z z le d b y th e

h is V ik in g b e a r d

w ith

w a s m a d e , a n d b y th is p o in t it h a d r e a c h e d

a n im a tio n

th e f a c t th a t th e

h o p e t h a t o n e d a y s o m e b o d y g iv e s R o g e r A v a r y n o t m u c h m o n e y , s o m e t h i n g lik e

S te v e n

S p i e l b e r g ’s D r e a m W o r k s .

It

a n d m is s e d

enough

in

H o lly w o o d

th a t

p e o p le

a g a i n . “ In m y h e a r t I

h a d a n i m m e d ia te g r e e n lig h t, a n d in 1 9 9 8

h is

m ake

s c rip t w a s fu n n y (a lth o u g h R o g e r E b e r t

if th e re w as o n e th in g th a t G a im a n w as

Z e m e c k i s a n d B i n g g o a w a y , h e s a i d h e ’d

n o t i c e d ). In a film m a d e o n n o m o n e y w ith

fiv e m i l l i o n d o l l a r s a n d h i s o r i g i n a l s c r i p t

c e r t a i n o f it w a s t h a t B e o w u l f w a s g o in g to

o n ly p a r t w ith th e p r o je c t fo r th e m o o n o n

a c to r s r u n n in g a ro u n d sp ra y e d w ith d irt,

b a c k , a n d h e g e ts to s n e a k o ff a n d m a k e

b e m a d e . A n d th e n , a fte r a y e a r o f re w rite s ,

a stick . B in g p lu c k e d th e m o o n f r o m th e

f u n n y b e c o m e s m o r e o b v i o u s , h u m o r is

th is p i r a t e T e r r y G i l l i a m v e r s i o n o f B e o w u lf.

t h e g r e e n l i g h t g o t t u r n e d o ff. D r e a m W o r k s

sk y ,

b u i l t i n t o its r a m s h a c k l e f u n .

I ’d lo v e t o s e e t h a t .” ❖

h a d b o u g h t T h e 1 3 th W a r r io r , w h i c h w a s

a m o u n t o f m o n e y , an d A v a ry to o k it h o m e

n ip p le s).

m ade

it

In

an

lo o k

a tte m p t

lik e

an

to

a sto n ish in g

In

N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 7 , B e o w u lf w a s th e

a ls o B e o w u l f - i n f l u e n c e d , a n d d e c i d e d t h e y

a n d w a s h e a r ts ic k . (N e il u n d e r s ta n d s th e

b i g g e s t f i l m in A m e r i c a a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y ,

B e o w u lf- t y p e m o v ie s

n e e d t o d i r e c t y o u r o w n f i l m . H e ’s b e e n

a n d t h a t m e a n s t h a t G a i m a n ’s n a m e is n o w

d id

n o t w a n t tw o

g o in g o n a t th e s a m e tim e . S o Z e m e c k is and t 274

R apke

set

th e

m o v ie

up

o u tsid e

tHe o f D ream W o raRt k s . of ANeil f t e r gaimaN a n o th e r y e a r

of

CHapteR 6 |sitveR scReeNs

275 t

JΉ

post-Beo fL U w Collaborations start looking like Russian dolls when you pick apart the pieces, but there are several projects that came from Beowulf, all as yet unmade o r D r e a m W o r k s in 2 0 0 0 , G a i m a n w a s c o m m i s s i o n e d t o

F

a d a p t a n o th e r a n c ie n t

e p ic , th is t i m e t h e h o l y S a n s k r i t t e x t , R a m a y a n a . H e w a s a t t h e D r e a m W o r k s o ffice s

t a lk in g t o J e ff r e y K a t z e n b e r g , h e a d o f a n i m a t i o n , a b o u t s o m e t h i n g e ls e e n t i r e l y w h e n

K a t z e n b e r g s t a r t e d t e llin g h i m a b o u t s o m e p i c t o r i a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o f t h e s t o r y o f R a m a a n d S ita h e ’d s e e n , w h i l e w a l k i n g t h r o u g h a t e m p l e in T h a ila n d . It s t r u c k h i m t h a t i t w o u l d

m a k e a g r e a t a n i m a t e d f ilm , a n d h e w a n t e d N e i l t o w r i t e it.

I h a d r e a d th e R a m a y a n a a s a y o u n g m a n in m y b a t t e r e d P e n g u in C la s s ic s e d it io n a n d j u s t r e m e m b e r e d it a s a s t o n k in g g o o d sto ry . A n d I s a i d y e s , I ’d lo v e to l o o k a t it. S o I w e n t a w a y , r e - r e a d t h e V a lm ik i v e r s io n , r e a d a n y o t h e r v e r s io n s t h a t I c o u ld f i n d — a lo v e ly b o o k o n t h e m a n y R a m a y a n a , a n d p ic t u r e b o o k s a n d c o m ic s , a n d j u s t s o r t o f s t e e p e d m y s e l f in it a n d in w a y s t h a t it h a d b e e n to ld . A n d th e n I s a t d o w n a n d d i d m y b e s t to d o a f a i r l y c o m p r e s s e d v e r s io n , in t h a t y o u n e e d to d e c i d e w h e r e y o u r s t o r y b e g in s a n d w h e r e y o u r s t o r y e n d s . A n d f o r a H o lly w o o d sto ry , I th o u g h t th e b e s t p l a c e f o r it to b e g in is j u s t b e fo r e h e m e e t s S ita a n d th e b e s t p l a c e f o r it to e n d is w ith h im h a v in g aBOVe: Ideas for Ramayana, written on hotel notepaper. o p p o site top : Pages from The Fermscript.

t 276

'jfd tHefeRmataOyj

r e s c u e d S ita a n d t h e y ’r e o n t h e ir w a y b a c k . A n d t h e n to j u s t try a n d s h a p e t h e s t o r y a n d tr y a n d tell it f a i r l y a n d h o n estly .

aRouND 2002, BefoRe Beowulf

had

r e v iv e d , G a i m a n

on

been

T h e f i r s t t im e t h a t B o b [ Z e m e c k i s ]

w h o r e a l l y c a n n o t c o m m u n i c a t e w ith

a f ilm

a s k e d m e to a d a p t T h e F e r m a t a I s a i d

w o m e n , b u t a c t u a l l y g i v e h i m a lit tle

m a g ic a lly p o w e r e d c h e e r fu l g o d - b u t - h e - i s n ’t - r e a l ly - b u t - h e - is - r e a lly m o n k e y s id e k ic k o f

a d a p t a t io n o f N i c h o l s o n B a k e r ’s n o v e l T h e

n o . B e c a u s e I j u s t d i d n ’t s e e h o w y o u

m o re ? L e t h im

H a n u m a n , y o u h a v e w o n d e r fu l d e m o n s , y o u h a v e a g o ld e n bow , y o u h a v e s o m e b o d y

F e r m a t a fo r R o b e rt Z e m e c k is . T h e F e r m a t a

c o u l d d o it a s a m o v ie . A n d t h e n h e

th em , a n d p a in t th em . S o th a t w a s

w h o h a s a d estin y , a n d y o u h a v e tr u e lo v e. A n d I th o u g h t , w h a t m o r e d o y o u n e e d ?

is a b o o k a b o u t a g u y c a lle d A r n o S tr in e w h o

cam e

w h e r e w e t o o k it: a s i f it w e r e s o r t

( G a im a n , 2 0 0 8 )

c a n s to p t i m e , o r “d r o p i n to t h e F o ld .” In t h a t

I w en t a n d I r e r e a d th e b o o k a n d I

of

t i m e h e is a liv e a n d a m b u l a t o r y a n d th i n k i n g

s a id , W ell, o k a y , y o u ’v e g o t a b o o k

A lle n , w h ic h

A n d y o u o b v io u s ly h a v e a ll t h e e le m e n t s o f c la s s ic a n i m a t i o n h e r e in c lu d in g th e

w a s w o rk in g

back

and

s a id ,

P lea se . A n d

th e

A n n ie

sto p

t im e ,

H a ll-p e rio d

u n d ress

W oody

is a l l a b o u t n e b b i s h e s

W h i l e d r a f t i n g t h e m a n y v e r s i o n s o f h is o w n R a m a y a n a ( a b o u t fiv e a ll t o l d ) , t h e s t o r y

a n d lo o k in g , w h ile t h e r e s t o f t h e w o r l d is

w h ic h is b a s i c a l l y a b o u t a g u y w h o

w h o c a n n o t r e a l l y c o m m u n i c a t e w ith

in G a im a n ’s h e a d l o o k e d v e r y m u c h lik e t h e w o r k o f 2 0 0 0 A D a r t i s t B r e n d a n M c C a r t h y ,

s t o p p e d o r p a u s e d . H e d o e s n ’t u s e t h a t t i m e

c a n n o t e m o tio n a lly c o n ta c t w o m en ,

w o m e n . H e s t o p s t im e a n d u n d r e s s e s

w h o h a d illu s t r a t e d a c o m i c b y G a i m a n ’s f e llo w B r i t i s h I n v a s i o n w r i t e r P e t e r M illig a n c a lle d

to ro b a b a n k , b u t h e d o e s u se it to u n d re ss

s o h is s o lu t io n is e s s e n t ia lly a t w e lv e -

th e m . B u t a t le a s t th e n

R o g a n G o s h , b a c k in t h e e a r l y 1 9 9 0 s . M c C a r t h y is k n o w n f o r h is w ild c o l o r s a n d s tr a n g e

t h e f r o z e n w o m e n in t h e o ffice h e s t e m p i n g

y e a r - o l d s f a n t a s y , w h ic h

le s s s c u z z y .

t im e , u n d r e s s t h e m , a n d m a s t u r b a t e .

is to s t o p

a r t w o r k , a n d R o g a n G o s h w a s o n e o f t h e w ild e s t. “B r e n d a n h a d h is s o r t o f R o a d t o D a m a s c u s

a t a n d t o w r i t e h is d e m e n t e d a u t o b i o g r a p h y

m o m e n t w h e r e h e r a n i n t o a p ile o f c o m i c s in I n d i a a n d w e n t : I lo v e t h is . T h e r e ’s a r t s t u f f

o n a C a s i o t y p e w r ite r . I t s a n i n c r e d ib ly f u n n y

W h ic h is v e r y m u c h t h e f a n t a s y o f

h e r e t h a t I’v e n e v e r s e e n in t h e W e s t a n d [h e ] s t a r t e d d o i n g s t u f f a n d p l a y i n g w i t h it, u s in g

b o o k t h a t , h a d it b e e n v e r y fa ith f u lly a d a p te d ,

s o m e b o d y w h o c a n ’t q u i t e c o p e w ith t a l k i n g to

th e

The

F erm ata

d ra fts ,

Z e m e c k is

w e n t a n d sp e n t y e a rs w o rk in g o n m o tio n -

t h a t im a g e r y . B r e n d a n b u r n e d in m y h e a d t h r o u g h e v e r y v e r s i o n o f t h e R a m a y a n a . T h a t

“w o u l d b e a n i n c r e d ib ly l o n g f ilm w i t h s o m e

th e id e a

c o m ic w a s o n e o f th e m o s t in te re s tin g m o m e n ts o f fu sio n b e tw e e n In d ia n a n d B ritis h a n d

r e a lly p e c u l i a r l y t e d i o u s m a s t u r b a t o r y bits.”

o p p o s ite s e x a n d s o fo r t h .

A m e r i c a n c o m i c s c u l tu r e ” ( G a i m a n , 2 0 0 8 ) . Y e a r s la te r , a f te r t h e R a m a y a n a m o v i e q u ie tly

O v e r t h e fiv e d r a f ts G a i m a n w r o t e , h e t u r n e d

w e j u s t p u s h it o n e d e g r e e o v e r a n d d o

h i m i f h e w a n t s t o d i g o u t t h e o ld s c r i p t

s a n k , G a i m a n t h o u g h t a b o u t d o i n g i t a s a c o m i c s i m p l y b e c a u s e t h e s t o r y is s o v i s u a l l y r i c h .

it i n to s o m e t h i n g else.

t h e W o o d y A lle n t h in g o f a p e r s o n

a n d g i v e i t life .

tHe aRt o f Neil gaimaN

o f a c tu a lly

A fte r

i t ’s s lig h tly

W hat if

CHapteR 6 |siLveR scReeNs

c a p t u r e f i l m s , b u t n o w t h a t h e ’s b a c k in t h e w o rld

o f liv e a c t i o n , G a i m a n

h as ask ed

277 t

post-Beo fL U w Collaborations start looking like Russian dolls when you pick apart the pieces, but there are several projects that came from Beowulf, all as yet unmade o r D r e a m W o r k s in 2 0 0 0 , G a i m a n w a s c o m m i s s i o n e d t o

F

a d a p t a n o th e r a n c ie n t

e p ic , th is t i m e t h e h o l y S a n s k r i t t e x t , R a m a y a n a . H e w a s a t t h e D r e a m W o r k s o ffice s

t a lk in g t o J e ff r e y K a t z e n b e r g , h e a d o f a n i m a t i o n , a b o u t s o m e t h i n g e ls e e n t i r e l y w h e n

K a t z e n b e r g s t a r t e d t e llin g h i m a b o u t s o m e p i c t o r i a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o f t h e s t o r y o f R a m a a n d S ita h e ’d s e e n , w h i l e w a l k i n g t h r o u g h a t e m p l e in T h a ila n d . It s t r u c k h i m t h a t i t w o u l d

m a k e a g r e a t a n i m a t e d f ilm , a n d h e w a n t e d N e i l t o w r i t e it.

I h a d r e a d th e R a m a y a n a a s a y o u n g m a n in m y b a t t e r e d P e n g u in C la s s ic s e d it io n a n d j u s t r e m e m b e r e d it a s a s t o n k in g g o o d sto ry . A n d I s a i d y e s , I ’d lo v e to l o o k a t it. S o I w e n t a w a y , r e - r e a d t h e V a lm ik i v e r s io n , r e a d a n y o t h e r v e r s io n s t h a t I c o u ld f i n d — a lo v e ly b o o k o n t h e m a n y R a m a y a n a , a n d p ic t u r e b o o k s a n d c o m ic s , a n d j u s t s o r t o f s t e e p e d m y s e l f in it a n d in w a y s t h a t it h a d b e e n to ld . A n d th e n I s a t d o w n a n d d i d m y b e s t to d o a f a i r l y c o m p r e s s e d v e r s io n , in t h a t y o u n e e d to d e c i d e w h e r e y o u r s t o r y b e g in s a n d w h e r e y o u r s t o r y e n d s . A n d f o r a H o lly w o o d sto ry , I th o u g h t th e b e s t p l a c e f o r it to b e g in is j u s t b e fo r e h e m e e t s S ita a n d th e b e s t p l a c e f o r it to e n d is w ith h im h a v in g aBOVe: Ideas for Ramayana, written on hotel notepaper. o p p o site top : Pages from The Fermscript.

t 276

'jfd tHefeRmataOyj

r e s c u e d S ita a n d t h e y ’r e o n t h e ir w a y b a c k . A n d t h e n to j u s t try a n d s h a p e t h e s t o r y a n d tr y a n d tell it f a i r l y a n d h o n estly .

aRouND 2002, BefoRe Beowulf

had

r e v iv e d , G a i m a n

on

been

T h e f i r s t t im e t h a t B o b [ Z e m e c k i s ]

w h o r e a l l y c a n n o t c o m m u n i c a t e w ith

a f ilm

a s k e d m e to a d a p t T h e F e r m a t a I s a i d

w o m e n , b u t a c t u a l l y g i v e h i m a lit tle

m a g ic a lly p o w e r e d c h e e r fu l g o d - b u t - h e - i s n ’t - r e a l ly - b u t - h e - is - r e a lly m o n k e y s id e k ic k o f

a d a p t a t io n o f N i c h o l s o n B a k e r ’s n o v e l T h e

n o . B e c a u s e I j u s t d i d n ’t s e e h o w y o u

m o re ? L e t h im

H a n u m a n , y o u h a v e w o n d e r fu l d e m o n s , y o u h a v e a g o ld e n bow , y o u h a v e s o m e b o d y

F e r m a t a fo r R o b e rt Z e m e c k is . T h e F e r m a t a

c o u l d d o it a s a m o v ie . A n d t h e n h e

th em , a n d p a in t th em . S o th a t w a s

w h o h a s a d estin y , a n d y o u h a v e tr u e lo v e. A n d I th o u g h t , w h a t m o r e d o y o u n e e d ?

is a b o o k a b o u t a g u y c a lle d A r n o S tr in e w h o

cam e

w h e r e w e t o o k it: a s i f it w e r e s o r t

( G a im a n , 2 0 0 8 )

c a n s to p t i m e , o r “d r o p i n to t h e F o ld .” In t h a t

I w en t a n d I r e r e a d th e b o o k a n d I

of

t i m e h e is a liv e a n d a m b u l a t o r y a n d th i n k i n g

s a id , W ell, o k a y , y o u ’v e g o t a b o o k

A lle n , w h ic h

A n d y o u o b v io u s ly h a v e a ll t h e e le m e n t s o f c la s s ic a n i m a t i o n h e r e in c lu d in g th e

w a s w o rk in g

back

and

s a id ,

P lea se . A n d

th e

A n n ie

sto p

t im e ,

H a ll-p e rio d

u n d ress

W oody

is a l l a b o u t n e b b i s h e s

W h i l e d r a f t i n g t h e m a n y v e r s i o n s o f h is o w n R a m a y a n a ( a b o u t fiv e a ll t o l d ) , t h e s t o r y

a n d lo o k in g , w h ile t h e r e s t o f t h e w o r l d is

w h ic h is b a s i c a l l y a b o u t a g u y w h o

w h o c a n n o t r e a l l y c o m m u n i c a t e w ith

in G a im a n ’s h e a d l o o k e d v e r y m u c h lik e t h e w o r k o f 2 0 0 0 A D a r t i s t B r e n d a n M c C a r t h y ,

s t o p p e d o r p a u s e d . H e d o e s n ’t u s e t h a t t i m e

c a n n o t e m o tio n a lly c o n ta c t w o m en ,

w o m e n . H e s t o p s t im e a n d u n d r e s s e s

w h o h a d illu s t r a t e d a c o m i c b y G a i m a n ’s f e llo w B r i t i s h I n v a s i o n w r i t e r P e t e r M illig a n c a lle d

to ro b a b a n k , b u t h e d o e s u se it to u n d re ss

s o h is s o lu t io n is e s s e n t ia lly a t w e lv e -

th e m . B u t a t le a s t th e n

R o g a n G o s h , b a c k in t h e e a r l y 1 9 9 0 s . M c C a r t h y is k n o w n f o r h is w ild c o l o r s a n d s tr a n g e

t h e f r o z e n w o m e n in t h e o ffice h e s t e m p i n g

y e a r - o l d s f a n t a s y , w h ic h

le s s s c u z z y .

t im e , u n d r e s s t h e m , a n d m a s t u r b a t e .

is to s t o p

a r t w o r k , a n d R o g a n G o s h w a s o n e o f t h e w ild e s t. “B r e n d a n h a d h is s o r t o f R o a d t o D a m a s c u s

a t a n d t o w r i t e h is d e m e n t e d a u t o b i o g r a p h y

m o m e n t w h e r e h e r a n i n t o a p ile o f c o m i c s in I n d i a a n d w e n t : I lo v e t h is . T h e r e ’s a r t s t u f f

o n a C a s i o t y p e w r ite r . I t s a n i n c r e d ib ly f u n n y

W h ic h is v e r y m u c h t h e f a n t a s y o f

h e r e t h a t I’v e n e v e r s e e n in t h e W e s t a n d [h e ] s t a r t e d d o i n g s t u f f a n d p l a y i n g w i t h it, u s in g

b o o k t h a t , h a d it b e e n v e r y fa ith f u lly a d a p te d ,

s o m e b o d y w h o c a n ’t q u i t e c o p e w ith t a l k i n g to

th e

The

F erm ata

d ra fts ,

Z e m e c k is

w e n t a n d sp e n t y e a rs w o rk in g o n m o tio n -

t h a t im a g e r y . B r e n d a n b u r n e d in m y h e a d t h r o u g h e v e r y v e r s i o n o f t h e R a m a y a n a . T h a t

“w o u l d b e a n i n c r e d ib ly l o n g f ilm w i t h s o m e

th e id e a

c o m ic w a s o n e o f th e m o s t in te re s tin g m o m e n ts o f fu sio n b e tw e e n In d ia n a n d B ritis h a n d

r e a lly p e c u l i a r l y t e d i o u s m a s t u r b a t o r y bits.”

o p p o s ite s e x a n d s o fo r t h .

A m e r i c a n c o m i c s c u l tu r e ” ( G a i m a n , 2 0 0 8 ) . Y e a r s la te r , a f te r t h e R a m a y a n a m o v i e q u ie tly

O v e r t h e fiv e d r a f ts G a i m a n w r o t e , h e t u r n e d

w e j u s t p u s h it o n e d e g r e e o v e r a n d d o

h i m i f h e w a n t s t o d i g o u t t h e o ld s c r i p t

s a n k , G a i m a n t h o u g h t a b o u t d o i n g i t a s a c o m i c s i m p l y b e c a u s e t h e s t o r y is s o v i s u a l l y r i c h .

it i n to s o m e t h i n g else.

t h e W o o d y A lle n t h in g o f a p e r s o n

a n d g i v e i t life .

tHe aRt o f Neil gaimaN

o f a c tu a lly

A fte r

i t ’s s lig h tly

W hat if

CHapteR 6 |siLveR scReeNs

c a p t u r e f i l m s , b u t n o w t h a t h e ’s b a c k in t h e w o rld

o f liv e a c t i o n , G a i m a n

h as ask ed

277 t

R IgH t: Gaiman's

'no moDesty Blaise (?^ '

treatment for the proposed M odesty

Blaise film I, Lucifer.

'

tH e B e R R o w B R o tH e R s ( D u r a n D u r a n ’s m a n a g e r s b a c k in t h e day, fa c t fa n s) a n d

M a rce llo

A n cia n o

“I d id a n o u tlin e , w h ic h I th i n k e v e r y b o d y lik e d a n d w r o te

(to g e th e r th e y w e re

a f e w s c e n e s o f s c r ip t to g o w ith it so y o u c o u ld g e t a fe e l o f

W a n d e r i n g S t a r M e d i a ) g o t in t o u c h w i t h P e t e r O ’D o n n e l l , t h e

w h a t k in d o f th in g it w o u ld b e . Q u e n tin w a s r id ic u lo u s ly b u sy .

c r e a t o r a n d w r ite r o f th e M o d e s t y B l a is e n e w s p a p e r c o m i c s trip

I s e t a s i d e s i x m o n t h s t o d o M o d e s t y B l a i s e (I t h i n k a ls o to

a n d n o v e l s e r ie s , a n d a c q u ir e d th e film r ig h ts to th e c h a r a c te r .

w o rk o n D e a th o r s o m e th in g ) a n d w o u n d up w ith six d e a d

W ith in a w e e k t h e y h a d d o n e a d e a l w ith th e W e in s te in s a t

m o n th s b e c a u s e I w a s sim p ly w a itin g f o r a w o rd to c o m e d o w n

M i r a m a x . T h a n k s t o J o h n T r a v o l t a ’s b a t h r o o m r e a d i n g i n P u lp

f ro m M ir a m a x th a t n e v e r c a m e . A t th e e n d o f th a t six m o n th s

F ic t io n , M ir a m a x k n e w Q u e n tin T a r a n tin o w a s a fa n o f th e

i t w a s o b v i o u s t h e t h i n g h a d e x p i r e d .”

s e r i e s s o h a t c h e d a p l a n i n w h i c h T a r a n t i n o w r o t e t h e f i r s t in a

F in a lly , in 2 0 0 3 M i r a m a x p u t o u t a d i r e c t - t o - D V D

h a lf -

d o u b le -b ill o f M o d e s t y film s , G a im a n w r o te t h e s e c o n d , a n d

b a k e d B - m o v i e c a l l e d M y N a m e is M o d e s t y a s a w a y o f e x t e n d ­

L u c B esson

in g t h e r ig h ts th e y w e r e a b o u t to lo se .

d ire c te d b o th . T a ra n tin o

c h o s e th e firs t n o v e l,

w h i l e G a i m a n s k i p p e d o n e a n d s e t t l e d o n t h e t h i r d , I , L u c ife r .

T h e b e s t p a r t o f a ll t h i s , a c c o r d i n g t o G a i m a n , is h e g o t to

“ I t h o u g h t i t w a s f i l m i c , I c o u l d i m a g i n e i t in m y h e a d ,” s a i d

have

N e i l . “ I t w a s t h e o n e t h a t w a s m o s t lik e a w e i r d h o r r o r / f a n t a s y

d is c o v e re d a n d lo v e d a t th e a g e o f s e v e n in th e f o r m o f th e

lu n c h

w ith

P e te r

O ’D o n n e l l ,

w h ose

w o rk

he

had

n o v e l a n d l e a s t lik e a s t a n d a r d s p y n o v e l . I t f e e ls lik e a c l a s s i c

s e c o n d M o d e s ty n o v e l, S a b r e - T o o t h ( 1 9 6 6 ) .

A v en g er s e p is o d e .

I have to bear in jm nd w h ile Ijm w ritin g th S t h a t I d i d n ’t e v e r w a n t t o h e a r ‘B i l l y D o n ’t B e a

th is iS n o tju S t a ym yth-

T h e m o v ie w a s b ro k e n

Black HoLe

I t iS a h o ly story-'

B u t w e g o t f i r e d . N o b o d y w a s e v e r g o in g to c a ll u s a g a i n o n th a t. A n d t h e n w e

H e r o ’ a g a in .” u p in to th re e

h e a r d t h a t D a v i d F in c h e r h a d b r o u g h t

a c ts w ith th e firs t to b e w r itte n b y A v a ry ,

in a y o u n g g u y , a n d w e h e a r d t h a t th e y

th e s e c o n d b y G a im a n , a n d th e th ir d b y

w e r e d o i n g d r a f t a f t e r d r a f t a f t e r d r a ft

b o th , a lth o u g h G a im a n

o f t h e s c rip t. A n d in d e e d

e n d e d u p d o in g

th e la s t o n e h im s e lf, b e c a u s e A v a r y w a s u p

th e y e a r s

h a v e p a s s e d , a n d D a v id F in c h e r h a s

t o h i s e y e b a lls in o t h e r w o r k . T h e y h a n d e d

n o t m a d e it. A n d t h e la s t c o n v e r s a t io n

it in , a n d it im m e d ia te ly g o t p ic k e d u p b y

I h a d w ith B l a c k H o le w a s w ith a

T h e p r o b le m w ith th e m o v ie w a s n o t

W h e n I w a s t r y in g to te ll it in i t ia lly

to b u r n y o u , a n d y o u k n o w t h a t y o u

( t o t a l l y ) l a c k o f m o n e y a s is u s u a l l y t h e

a s a n a n i m a t e d th in g , I f o u n d m y s e l f

w o n ’t a c t u a l l y b e h u r t i n g t h e m to t h e

in

ca s e , b u t a m is u n d e r s ta n d in g b e tw e e n h o ly

l o o k i n g a t it a n d g o in g , y o u k n o w , I

c o r e o f t h e i r b e in g . W ell, y o u m a y d o ,

b e in g

w e re

I g o t a p h o n e c a ll f r o m R o g e r th e

m y th a n d H o lly w o o d sto ry . G a im a n c o u ld

h a v e to b e a r in m i n d w h ile I ’m w r i t in g

a c t u a lly .

w o r k i n g o n a n o t h e r m o v i e t o g e t h e r . T h is

d a y D a v id F in c h e r s ig n e d o n s a y in g ,

t h e s c r ip t, a n d h o w m u c h h e h a d n o t

th is t h a t t h is is n o t j u s t a m y th . I t is

f u n n y t h in g s ” ( G a i m a n , 2 0 0 8 ) .

t i m e is w a s a n a d a p t a t i o n o f f e l l o w T a b o o

"W e w ill b e f i r e d

lo v e d a n y o f th e F in c h e r o n e s a n d w a s

a l u m n u s C h a r l e s B u r n s ’s b r i l l i a n t l y w e i r d

w ith F in c h e r . W e f a i l e d to d o a m o v ie

w o n d e r in g i f h e s h o u ld g o a n d t a lk to P a r a m o u n t o r w h o e v e r o n t h e s c r ip t s

see

th e

d iffe re n ce ,

but

th e

H o lly w o o d

A n g o -S a x o n

s c h o la r s

are

a h o ly s to ry . F o r h u n d r e d s o f m illi o n s

e x e c u tiv e s c o u ld n o t.

O n e o f t h e w e i r d e s t c o n v e r s a t io n s I h a d w a s w it h o n e o f t h e s e v e ry , v e r y

D a v i d F i n c h e r o f F ig h t C lu b f a m e .

eaRly 2006, wHeN B e o w u l f m ade,

A v ary

and

w as

G a im a n

d ir e c t o r in H o lly w o o d w h o s e s t a r w a s risin g , w h o w a s te llin g m e h o w m u c h

s till

n ow . I ’v e w o r k e d

he

had

lo v e d

o u r o r ig i n a l d r a f t o f

o f p e o p l e it is a s t o r y o f h o lin e s s t h a t

B y th e la s t d r a f t t h e s t o r y it h a d b e e n

g ra p h ic n o v e l, B l a c k H o le , a h o r r o r m o v ie

to g e th er . I k n o w h is m e t h o d o f w o r k in g ,

p e o p l e g e t k ille d , t h a t r i o t s h a p p e n ,

tu r n e d in to a fu tu ris tic W e s te rn a n d w as

p a s tic h e a b o u t a s e x u a lly t r a n s m itte d te e n

w h ic h in v o lv e s g e t t in g s o m e o n e to d o

b e c a u s e h e ’d v e r y m u c h lik e to m a k e it.

t h a t th in g s g e t b u r n e d

so

w as

p l a g u e in 1 9 7 4 , w h i c h m a n i f e s t s i t s e l f in

d r a f t a f t e r d r a ft . H e w ill w a n t n in e

S o a n y t h in g c o u ld h a p p e n .

to tw e lv e d r a ft s . A n d o u r d e a l is s u c h

dow n,

th a t

b en t and

ch an ged

th a t G a im a n

t o p e x e c u t iv e s w h e r e I s a id , “Y ou d o

t e m p e r s f l a r e , t h a t s c r e w in g u p t h e

c a l l i n g i t “t h e R a m a y a n a - i s h p r o j e c t ” f o r

g r o t e s q u e m u t a t i o n s , lik e t a i l s a n d s c a le s .

u n d ersta n d I c a n n o t d o th e s t u ff y o u

s to ry o f R a m a c o u ld b e p e r c e iv e d b y a

D r e a m W o r k s , w h o s a i d t h a t t h e y d i d n ’t s e e

S a id G a im a n o n h is b lo g in la te 2 0 0 6 , “ T h e

t h a t t h e y c o u ld n ’t a f f o r d to d o th a t. S o

w o u l d l i k e m e to d o w i t h o u t c h a n g in g

n u m b e r o f p e o p l e a s a d e e p l y o ffe n s i v e

a fu tu re fo r tr a d itio n a l tw o -d im e n s io n a l

s c r i p t f o r B l a c k H o l e is s t a r t i n g t o f e e l lik e

w e w ill b e f i r e d a n d s o m e b o d y y o u n g

w as g o in g to r o p e G a im a n

th in g s s o f u n d a m e n t a l l y t h a t p e o p l e

b la s p h e m y . W h ic h is n o t t r u e w h e n

a n i m a t i o n t h a t d i d n ’t p r o m i n e n t l y f e a t u r e

a r e a l m o v ie s c rip t, I th in k . R o g e r a n d I

w h o w ill d o t h e m d r a ft a f t e r d r a f t f o r

s u rr e a lis t a r tis t in a m o v ie a b o u t S a lv a d o r

w o u ld g e t o ffe n d e d .

D a li. B u t G a la D a li h a s n o t y e t h a p p e n e d

liv e

y o u ’r e p l a y i n g a r o u n d w it h s o m e t h i n g

T V c o m e d i a n s . S a i d G a i m a n in t h e p o s t -

b o u g h t a b u n c h o f C D s w i t h n a m e s lik e

W r it e r s ’ G u ild m in im u m

r e lig i o n .” A n d h e s a id , “N o , n o , n o , n o

li k e B e o w u l f . Y ou p l a y a r o u n d w ith

S h re k w o r l d o f 2 0 0 3 , “S o I t h i n k w e c a n

C H A R TBU STER S fr o m

t h e f i l m w ith in th r e e w e e k s . A n d th e n

a n d re m a in s h e re

I ’v e s p o k e n w it h m y a d v is o r s . I t s j u s t

B e o w u lf, y o u m a y h a v e s o m e A n g lo ­

a s s u m e t h a t ’s d e a d .” ❖

t h e m p l a y i n g in t h e b a c k g r o u n d a l o t o f

D a v i d w ill n e v e r m a k e it”

p a g e , lik e a f o o t n o t e .

a s to ry , it s a m y t h ; y o u c a n d o w h a t

S a x o n s c h o l a r s w h o g o , N o , th is is

th e tim e . O d d ly e n o u g h , th e in te rv e n in g

S o a f e w w e e k s la ter, w e w e r e f i r e d .

y o u w a n t w it h it”

b l a s p h e m o u s ! B u t t h e y a r e n ’t g o i n g

t h i r t y - t w o y e a r s h a v e n ’t e r a s e d h o w m u c h

N o b o d y a c t u a lly f i r e d u s to o u r f a c e s .

t 278

T h is

is a

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

19741

and

have

w ill b e o n

T h e r e w a s a ls o th a t id e a w h e r e A v a r y

CH apteR 6 |siLveR scR eeN s

in t o p l a y a

a t th e b o tto m

o f th e

279 t

R IgH t: Gaiman's

'no moDesty Blaise (?^ '

treatment for the proposed M odesty

Blaise film I, Lucifer.

'

tH e B e R R o w B R o tH e R s ( D u r a n D u r a n ’s m a n a g e r s b a c k in t h e day, fa c t fa n s) a n d

M a rce llo

A n cia n o

“I d id a n o u tlin e , w h ic h I th i n k e v e r y b o d y lik e d a n d w r o te

(to g e th e r th e y w e re

a f e w s c e n e s o f s c r ip t to g o w ith it so y o u c o u ld g e t a fe e l o f

W a n d e r i n g S t a r M e d i a ) g o t in t o u c h w i t h P e t e r O ’D o n n e l l , t h e

w h a t k in d o f th in g it w o u ld b e . Q u e n tin w a s r id ic u lo u s ly b u sy .

c r e a t o r a n d w r ite r o f th e M o d e s t y B l a is e n e w s p a p e r c o m i c s trip

I s e t a s i d e s i x m o n t h s t o d o M o d e s t y B l a i s e (I t h i n k a ls o to

a n d n o v e l s e r ie s , a n d a c q u ir e d th e film r ig h ts to th e c h a r a c te r .

w o rk o n D e a th o r s o m e th in g ) a n d w o u n d up w ith six d e a d

W ith in a w e e k t h e y h a d d o n e a d e a l w ith th e W e in s te in s a t

m o n th s b e c a u s e I w a s sim p ly w a itin g f o r a w o rd to c o m e d o w n

M i r a m a x . T h a n k s t o J o h n T r a v o l t a ’s b a t h r o o m r e a d i n g i n P u lp

f ro m M ir a m a x th a t n e v e r c a m e . A t th e e n d o f th a t six m o n th s

F ic t io n , M ir a m a x k n e w Q u e n tin T a r a n tin o w a s a fa n o f th e

i t w a s o b v i o u s t h e t h i n g h a d e x p i r e d .”

s e r i e s s o h a t c h e d a p l a n i n w h i c h T a r a n t i n o w r o t e t h e f i r s t in a

F in a lly , in 2 0 0 3 M i r a m a x p u t o u t a d i r e c t - t o - D V D

h a lf -

d o u b le -b ill o f M o d e s t y film s , G a im a n w r o te t h e s e c o n d , a n d

b a k e d B - m o v i e c a l l e d M y N a m e is M o d e s t y a s a w a y o f e x t e n d ­

L u c B esson

in g t h e r ig h ts th e y w e r e a b o u t to lo se .

d ire c te d b o th . T a ra n tin o

c h o s e th e firs t n o v e l,

w h i l e G a i m a n s k i p p e d o n e a n d s e t t l e d o n t h e t h i r d , I , L u c ife r .

T h e b e s t p a r t o f a ll t h i s , a c c o r d i n g t o G a i m a n , is h e g o t to

“ I t h o u g h t i t w a s f i l m i c , I c o u l d i m a g i n e i t in m y h e a d ,” s a i d

have

N e i l . “ I t w a s t h e o n e t h a t w a s m o s t lik e a w e i r d h o r r o r / f a n t a s y

d is c o v e re d a n d lo v e d a t th e a g e o f s e v e n in th e f o r m o f th e

lu n c h

w ith

P e te r

O ’D o n n e l l ,

w h ose

w o rk

he

had

n o v e l a n d l e a s t lik e a s t a n d a r d s p y n o v e l . I t f e e ls lik e a c l a s s i c

s e c o n d M o d e s ty n o v e l, S a b r e - T o o t h ( 1 9 6 6 ) .

A v en g er s e p is o d e .

I have to bear in jm nd w h ile Ijm w ritin g th S t h a t I d i d n ’t e v e r w a n t t o h e a r ‘B i l l y D o n ’t B e a

th is iS n o tju S t a ym yth-

T h e m o v ie w a s b ro k e n

Black HoLe

I t iS a h o ly story-'

B u t w e g o t f i r e d . N o b o d y w a s e v e r g o in g to c a ll u s a g a i n o n th a t. A n d t h e n w e

H e r o ’ a g a in .” u p in to th re e

h e a r d t h a t D a v i d F in c h e r h a d b r o u g h t

a c ts w ith th e firs t to b e w r itte n b y A v a ry ,

in a y o u n g g u y , a n d w e h e a r d t h a t th e y

th e s e c o n d b y G a im a n , a n d th e th ir d b y

w e r e d o i n g d r a f t a f t e r d r a f t a f t e r d r a ft

b o th , a lth o u g h G a im a n

o f t h e s c rip t. A n d in d e e d

e n d e d u p d o in g

th e la s t o n e h im s e lf, b e c a u s e A v a r y w a s u p

th e y e a r s

h a v e p a s s e d , a n d D a v id F in c h e r h a s

t o h i s e y e b a lls in o t h e r w o r k . T h e y h a n d e d

n o t m a d e it. A n d t h e la s t c o n v e r s a t io n

it in , a n d it im m e d ia te ly g o t p ic k e d u p b y

I h a d w ith B l a c k H o le w a s w ith a

T h e p r o b le m w ith th e m o v ie w a s n o t

W h e n I w a s t r y in g to te ll it in i t ia lly

to b u r n y o u , a n d y o u k n o w t h a t y o u

( t o t a l l y ) l a c k o f m o n e y a s is u s u a l l y t h e

a s a n a n i m a t e d th in g , I f o u n d m y s e l f

w o n ’t a c t u a l l y b e h u r t i n g t h e m to t h e

in

ca s e , b u t a m is u n d e r s ta n d in g b e tw e e n h o ly

l o o k i n g a t it a n d g o in g , y o u k n o w , I

c o r e o f t h e i r b e in g . W ell, y o u m a y d o ,

b e in g

w e re

I g o t a p h o n e c a ll f r o m R o g e r th e

m y th a n d H o lly w o o d sto ry . G a im a n c o u ld

h a v e to b e a r in m i n d w h ile I ’m w r i t in g

a c t u a lly .

w o r k i n g o n a n o t h e r m o v i e t o g e t h e r . T h is

d a y D a v id F in c h e r s ig n e d o n s a y in g ,

t h e s c r ip t, a n d h o w m u c h h e h a d n o t

th is t h a t t h is is n o t j u s t a m y th . I t is

f u n n y t h in g s ” ( G a i m a n , 2 0 0 8 ) .

t i m e is w a s a n a d a p t a t i o n o f f e l l o w T a b o o

"W e w ill b e f i r e d

lo v e d a n y o f th e F in c h e r o n e s a n d w a s

a l u m n u s C h a r l e s B u r n s ’s b r i l l i a n t l y w e i r d

w ith F in c h e r . W e f a i l e d to d o a m o v ie

w o n d e r in g i f h e s h o u ld g o a n d t a lk to P a r a m o u n t o r w h o e v e r o n t h e s c r ip t s

see

th e

d iffe re n ce ,

but

th e

H o lly w o o d

A n g o -S a x o n

s c h o la r s

are

a h o ly s to ry . F o r h u n d r e d s o f m illi o n s

e x e c u tiv e s c o u ld n o t.

O n e o f t h e w e i r d e s t c o n v e r s a t io n s I h a d w a s w it h o n e o f t h e s e v e ry , v e r y

D a v i d F i n c h e r o f F ig h t C lu b f a m e .

eaRly 2006, wHeN B e o w u l f m ade,

A v ary

and

w as

G a im a n

d ir e c t o r in H o lly w o o d w h o s e s t a r w a s risin g , w h o w a s te llin g m e h o w m u c h

s till

n ow . I ’v e w o r k e d

he

had

lo v e d

o u r o r ig i n a l d r a f t o f

o f p e o p l e it is a s t o r y o f h o lin e s s t h a t

B y th e la s t d r a f t t h e s t o r y it h a d b e e n

g ra p h ic n o v e l, B l a c k H o le , a h o r r o r m o v ie

to g e th er . I k n o w h is m e t h o d o f w o r k in g ,

p e o p l e g e t k ille d , t h a t r i o t s h a p p e n ,

tu r n e d in to a fu tu ris tic W e s te rn a n d w as

p a s tic h e a b o u t a s e x u a lly t r a n s m itte d te e n

w h ic h in v o lv e s g e t t in g s o m e o n e to d o

b e c a u s e h e ’d v e r y m u c h lik e to m a k e it.

t h a t th in g s g e t b u r n e d

so

w as

p l a g u e in 1 9 7 4 , w h i c h m a n i f e s t s i t s e l f in

d r a f t a f t e r d r a ft . H e w ill w a n t n in e

S o a n y t h in g c o u ld h a p p e n .

to tw e lv e d r a ft s . A n d o u r d e a l is s u c h

dow n,

th a t

b en t and

ch an ged

th a t G a im a n

t o p e x e c u t iv e s w h e r e I s a id , “Y ou d o

t e m p e r s f l a r e , t h a t s c r e w in g u p t h e

c a l l i n g i t “t h e R a m a y a n a - i s h p r o j e c t ” f o r

g r o t e s q u e m u t a t i o n s , lik e t a i l s a n d s c a le s .

u n d ersta n d I c a n n o t d o th e s t u ff y o u

s to ry o f R a m a c o u ld b e p e r c e iv e d b y a

D r e a m W o r k s , w h o s a i d t h a t t h e y d i d n ’t s e e

S a id G a im a n o n h is b lo g in la te 2 0 0 6 , “ T h e

t h a t t h e y c o u ld n ’t a f f o r d to d o th a t. S o

w o u l d l i k e m e to d o w i t h o u t c h a n g in g

n u m b e r o f p e o p l e a s a d e e p l y o ffe n s i v e

a fu tu re fo r tr a d itio n a l tw o -d im e n s io n a l

s c r i p t f o r B l a c k H o l e is s t a r t i n g t o f e e l lik e

w e w ill b e f i r e d a n d s o m e b o d y y o u n g

w as g o in g to r o p e G a im a n

th in g s s o f u n d a m e n t a l l y t h a t p e o p l e

b la s p h e m y . W h ic h is n o t t r u e w h e n

a n i m a t i o n t h a t d i d n ’t p r o m i n e n t l y f e a t u r e

a r e a l m o v ie s c rip t, I th in k . R o g e r a n d I

w h o w ill d o t h e m d r a ft a f t e r d r a f t f o r

s u rr e a lis t a r tis t in a m o v ie a b o u t S a lv a d o r

w o u ld g e t o ffe n d e d .

D a li. B u t G a la D a li h a s n o t y e t h a p p e n e d

liv e

y o u ’r e p l a y i n g a r o u n d w it h s o m e t h i n g

T V c o m e d i a n s . S a i d G a i m a n in t h e p o s t -

b o u g h t a b u n c h o f C D s w i t h n a m e s lik e

W r it e r s ’ G u ild m in im u m

r e lig i o n .” A n d h e s a id , “N o , n o , n o , n o

li k e B e o w u l f . Y ou p l a y a r o u n d w ith

S h re k w o r l d o f 2 0 0 3 , “S o I t h i n k w e c a n

C H A R TBU STER S fr o m

t h e f i l m w ith in th r e e w e e k s . A n d th e n

a n d re m a in s h e re

I ’v e s p o k e n w it h m y a d v is o r s . I t s j u s t

B e o w u lf, y o u m a y h a v e s o m e A n g lo ­

a s s u m e t h a t ’s d e a d .” ❖

t h e m p l a y i n g in t h e b a c k g r o u n d a l o t o f

D a v i d w ill n e v e r m a k e it”

p a g e , lik e a f o o t n o t e .

a s to ry , it s a m y t h ; y o u c a n d o w h a t

S a x o n s c h o l a r s w h o g o , N o , th is is

th e tim e . O d d ly e n o u g h , th e in te rv e n in g

S o a f e w w e e k s la ter, w e w e r e f i r e d .

y o u w a n t w it h it”

b l a s p h e m o u s ! B u t t h e y a r e n ’t g o i n g

t h i r t y - t w o y e a r s h a v e n ’t e r a s e d h o w m u c h

N o b o d y a c t u a lly f i r e d u s to o u r f a c e s .

t 278

T h is

is a

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

19741

and

have

w ill b e o n

T h e r e w a s a ls o th a t id e a w h e r e A v a r y

CH apteR 6 |siLveR scR eeN s

in t o p l a y a

a t th e b o tto m

o f th e

279 t

BaByLoN5 aN DtHeroadtoen-dor I n

t h e

l a te

1 9 8 0 s , b a c k

jo u r n a lis t J . M s p o t a s

B a b y lo n

ic h a e l S tra c z y n s k i to o k

h o s t o f a

2 5 . G a im a n

w a s

th e

S

p o s t-J M

b e f o r e

m a n

y e a r s

5

e x is te d , f o r m

o v e r H a r la n

id n ig h t s c i-f i r a d io

s h o w

to

ta lk

a b o u t th e

C o m

ic

E llis o n ’s

c a lle d

o c c a s io n a l g u e s t, s to p p in g

b y

e r

H o u r

e v e n

B o o k

in

L e g a l

D e fe n se F u n d w h ile o n h is L a st A n g e l to u r.

Y

e a r s la te r , w h e n S t r a c z y n s k i w e n t o n t o w r i t e h is t e l e v is u a l s p a c e o p e r a B a b y lo n 5, h e i n t r o d u c e d a s p e c ie s o f a lie n t h a t w e a r s a k i n d o f W o r l d W a r I l - e r a g a s m a s k t h a t lo o k s s t r i k i n g l y s i m i l a r t o t h e h e l m o f M o r p h e u s in S a n d m a n ( t h e y b r e a t h e

m e th a n e , n o t o x y g e n , h e n c e th e m a s k ). H e n a m e d th e m th e G a im . F o r y e a r s S t r a c z y n s k i h o u n d e d G a i m a n t o w r i t e a n e p i s o d e o f B a b y lo n 5 , a n d e v e n tu a lly in 1 9 9 7 , a f te r fiv e y e a r s o f so lid h o u n d i n g , G a i m a n h a d a g a p in h is s c h e d u l e . “ I s a id ‘O k a y , I c a n d o i t !’ I s a id , ‘I’v e g o t a n i d e a ’ a n d I t o l d h i m m y id e a . A n d h e s a id , ‘H m , I lik e t h a t . L e t m e r u n it b y t h e p r o d u c e r s ’ H e r a n g m e b a c k t h e n e x t d a y a n d h e s a id , ‘I r a n it b y t h e p r o d u c e r s . T h e y lik e i t ’ A n d I s a id , ‘O k a y , g r e a t . S h a ll I w r i t e y o u a n o u t l i n e n o w ? ’ A n d t h e r e w a s a p a u s e . J o e s a id , ‘D o y o u lik e w r i t i n g o u t l i n e s ? ’ A n d I s a id , ‘N o .’ A n d h e s a id , ‘N e i t h e r d o I ’ A n d I s a id , ‘In w h i c h c a s e , I h a v e o n e q u e s t i o n ’ A n d h e s a id , ‘F o r t y - t h r e e

p a g e s ’ w ith o u t m is s in g a b e a t” (F a rre ll, 2 0 0 8 ) . G a i m a n s e p i s o d e w a s t h e o n l y o n e w r i t t e n b y a n y o n e o t h e r t h a n S t r a c z y n s k i so la te in t h e s h o w ’s life. It w a s a n o u t - o f - c o n t i n u i t y o d d i t y c a l l e d “D a y o f t h e D e a d ,” in w h i c h c h a r a c t e r s w e r e v is ite d b y d e c e a s e d p e o p l e f r o m t h e i r p a s t , i n c lu d i n g t h e f a m o u s e n t e r t a i n e r s R e b o a n d Z o o ty , p la y e d b y t h e e q u a lly f a m o u s m a g i c i a n s P e n n a n d T e lle r. T e lle r r e m a i n s ty p i c a l l y s ile n t f o r t h e w h o l e t h i n g , b u t o c c a s i o n a l s t r a n g e lin e s a r e d e liv e r e d b y m a c h i n e ( v o i c e d b y H a r l a n E l lis o n ) .

I w a s a h u g e f a n o f P e n n a n d Teller. I ’d f i r s t s a i d h e llo to b o t h o f t h e m I t h in k in a b o u t 1 9 9 1 . O f f B r o a d w a y . I t h in k it w a s t h e P e n n a n d T e lle r R o t in H e ll tou r. T h e n t h e y w e r e in B a b 5 a n d I w e n t a l o n g to th e s h o o t in g f o r a d a y a n d I m e t t h e m . I w a s o p p o si t e : The cast of B a b y lo n 5.

t

28 0

g o i n g f r o m t h e r e to L a s V eg a s to s o m e k in d o f b ig c o m p u t e r s h o w w h e r e C o m p u S e r v e w e r e p a y i n g m y tr a v e l a n d p u t t in g m e u p to h a v e m e c o m e in a n d d o a o n e - h o u r s ig n in g

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

BaByLoN5 aN DtHeroadtoen-dor I n

t h e

l a te

1 9 8 0 s , b a c k

jo u r n a lis t J . M s p o t a s

B a b y lo n

ic h a e l S tra c z y n s k i to o k

h o s t o f a

2 5 . G a im a n

w a s

th e

S

p o s t-J M

b e f o r e

m a n

y e a r s

5

e x is te d , f o r m

o v e r H a r la n

id n ig h t s c i-f i r a d io

s h o w

to

ta lk

a b o u t th e

C o m

ic

E llis o n ’s

c a lle d

o c c a s io n a l g u e s t, s to p p in g

b y

e r

H o u r

e v e n

B o o k

in

L e g a l

D e fe n se F u n d w h ile o n h is L a st A n g e l to u r.

Y

e a r s la te r , w h e n S t r a c z y n s k i w e n t o n t o w r i t e h is t e l e v is u a l s p a c e o p e r a B a b y lo n 5, h e i n t r o d u c e d a s p e c ie s o f a lie n t h a t w e a r s a k i n d o f W o r l d W a r I l - e r a g a s m a s k t h a t lo o k s s t r i k i n g l y s i m i l a r t o t h e h e l m o f M o r p h e u s in S a n d m a n ( t h e y b r e a t h e

m e th a n e , n o t o x y g e n , h e n c e th e m a s k ). H e n a m e d th e m th e G a im . F o r y e a r s S t r a c z y n s k i h o u n d e d G a i m a n t o w r i t e a n e p i s o d e o f B a b y lo n 5 , a n d e v e n tu a lly in 1 9 9 7 , a f te r fiv e y e a r s o f so lid h o u n d i n g , G a i m a n h a d a g a p in h is s c h e d u l e . “ I s a id ‘O k a y , I c a n d o i t !’ I s a id , ‘I’v e g o t a n i d e a ’ a n d I t o l d h i m m y id e a . A n d h e s a id , ‘H m , I lik e t h a t . L e t m e r u n it b y t h e p r o d u c e r s ’ H e r a n g m e b a c k t h e n e x t d a y a n d h e s a id , ‘I r a n it b y t h e p r o d u c e r s . T h e y lik e i t ’ A n d I s a id , ‘O k a y , g r e a t . S h a ll I w r i t e y o u a n o u t l i n e n o w ? ’ A n d t h e r e w a s a p a u s e . J o e s a id , ‘D o y o u lik e w r i t i n g o u t l i n e s ? ’ A n d I s a id , ‘N o .’ A n d h e s a id , ‘N e i t h e r d o I ’ A n d I s a id , ‘In w h i c h c a s e , I h a v e o n e q u e s t i o n ’ A n d h e s a id , ‘F o r t y - t h r e e

p a g e s ’ w ith o u t m is s in g a b e a t” (F a rre ll, 2 0 0 8 ) . G a i m a n s e p i s o d e w a s t h e o n l y o n e w r i t t e n b y a n y o n e o t h e r t h a n S t r a c z y n s k i so la te in t h e s h o w ’s life. It w a s a n o u t - o f - c o n t i n u i t y o d d i t y c a l l e d “D a y o f t h e D e a d ,” in w h i c h c h a r a c t e r s w e r e v is ite d b y d e c e a s e d p e o p l e f r o m t h e i r p a s t , i n c lu d i n g t h e f a m o u s e n t e r t a i n e r s R e b o a n d Z o o ty , p la y e d b y t h e e q u a lly f a m o u s m a g i c i a n s P e n n a n d T e lle r. T e lle r r e m a i n s ty p i c a l l y s ile n t f o r t h e w h o l e t h i n g , b u t o c c a s i o n a l s t r a n g e lin e s a r e d e liv e r e d b y m a c h i n e ( v o i c e d b y H a r l a n E l lis o n ) .

I w a s a h u g e f a n o f P e n n a n d Teller. I ’d f i r s t s a i d h e llo to b o t h o f t h e m I t h in k in a b o u t 1 9 9 1 . O f f B r o a d w a y . I t h in k it w a s t h e P e n n a n d T e lle r R o t in H e ll tou r. T h e n t h e y w e r e in B a b 5 a n d I w e n t a l o n g to th e s h o o t in g f o r a d a y a n d I m e t t h e m . I w a s o p p o si t e : The cast of B a b y lo n 5.

t

28 0

g o i n g f r o m t h e r e to L a s V eg a s to s o m e k in d o f b ig c o m p u t e r s h o w w h e r e C o m p u S e r v e w e r e p a y i n g m y tr a v e l a n d p u t t in g m e u p to h a v e m e c o m e in a n d d o a o n e - h o u r s ig n in g

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

for good. And I said well, what about The Road to En-dor? The Road to En-dor was a book published in 1919 by Welshman E. H. Jones, a former lieutenant in the Indian Army who ingeniously escaped a prisoner of war camp in Turkey during World War I by convincing his captors that he and his fellow prisoner, an Australian called C. W. Hill, were mediums who could communicate with the “Spook” and read minds. He wrote the book soon after his escape to explain what happened. I had read The Road to En-dor because they had it in my school library at Ardingly when I was ten. And I’d read it and I’d loved it, and I’d loved it as much because it had an amazing how-to-read-minds foldout diagram set of instructions as anything else. And I learned how you do mind-reading tricks. But I also loved the story, and how it went right, and how it went wrong, and how they would organize things and it would be brilliant, and then the English would come in and screw them over. The English kept screwing them over. I mentioned this to Penn, and Penn just quietly ordered a copy from AbeBooks, told Teller about it, and they both read it and came back and said, “This is amazing. It should be a screenplay. Would you write it with me?” I said sure. So then we spent several years trying to find out who owned the rights and eventually we found Hilary. ABOVE: The mask worn by the Gaim—noticeably similar to the helm of Morpheus in Sandman.

OPPOSITE: Lyonesse notes from a notebook circa 1998.

† 282

on their stand. Since they’d also agreed to fly me into LA and put me up there for a night, it meant that I was going to see Babylon 5 and then going to Las Vegas. And I met Penn and Teller, and I discovered that they were actually flying in every night—they were still doing their Las Vegas shows, they were just commuting. I said I’ll be in Las Vegas tomorrow and they said, “Come along to the show,” so I did, and we hung out. I spent a very long

the art of neil gaiman

evening with Penn and Teller and Jamy Ian Swiss, and by the end of it we were friends. I was friends with both of them very individually, and Jamy wound up being my magic consultant for American Gods. Then Penn and I were emailing each other, and I do not remember in what context, but Penn made a blanket pronouncement that never in the history of humanity had the tricks of crooked medium shit ever been used

In a strange turn of happenstance, the owner of the rights to En-dor turned out to be Hilary Bevan Jones, an Emmy Award– winning British film and television producer who counts TV shows like Cracker, Red Dwarf, and Blackadder in her filmography. The production company she founded in 1994, Endor Productions, was named after her grandfather’s book. Bevan Jones flew out to Las Vegas to meet Gaiman and Penn, and plans were afoot: they were going to team up like the Three Musketeers and make

this film happen. It wasn’t until about 2006 that Penn and Gaiman actually sat down to write the script, eight years after Penn had sent the email that set off the dominoes. They held a reading, did a rewrite, and did another reading in London with Bill Nighy as one of the leads, along with Andrew Scott and Dan Bittner. The last bit of news on the film was back in 2008 when Bevan Jones was in discussion with potential directors. But, says Neil, “‘That is not dead which can eternal lie, yet with strange aeons even death may die . . .’ as nice Mr. Lovecraft said about giant octopus-faced things that come out of the ocean and destroy the world. Films are like that. Films are like giant octopus-faced people who sleep in R’lyeh. You think they’re dead. And then they turn out not to be dead.”

CHAPTER 6 | silver screens

Gaiman was working on another project with Bevan Jones called Lyonesse, a fantasy series set somewhere that looked like the strange islands of Scotland with swords and magic. “I’d originally plotted Lyonesse in about 1996 when there was no fantasy at all around. And definitely no sort of sword and sorcery. Right now you’ve got Game of Thrones, and you’ve got a lot of knock-offs of Game of Thrones. I think it is probably healthy if Game of Thrones runs its course and knock-offs of Games of Thrones run their course, and Lyonesse will still be around, because otherwise people will see it as one of them. So I put that on hold. I really like Lyonesse, and I have a pilot episode script more or less finished.” ❖

283 †

for good. And I said well, what about The Road to En-dor? The Road to En-dor was a book published in 1919 by Welshman E. H. Jones, a former lieutenant in the Indian Army who ingeniously escaped a prisoner of war camp in Turkey during World War I by convincing his captors that he and his fellow prisoner, an Australian called C. W. Hill, were mediums who could communicate with the “Spook” and read minds. He wrote the book soon after his escape to explain what happened. I had read The Road to En-dor because they had it in my school library at Ardingly when I was ten. And I’d read it and I’d loved it, and I’d loved it as much because it had an amazing how-to-read-minds foldout diagram set of instructions as anything else. And I learned how you do mind-reading tricks. But I also loved the story, and how it went right, and how it went wrong, and how they would organize things and it would be brilliant, and then the English would come in and screw them over. The English kept screwing them over. I mentioned this to Penn, and Penn just quietly ordered a copy from AbeBooks, told Teller about it, and they both read it and came back and said, “This is amazing. It should be a screenplay. Would you write it with me?” I said sure. So then we spent several years trying to find out who owned the rights and eventually we found Hilary. ABOVE: The mask worn by the Gaim—noticeably similar to the helm of Morpheus in Sandman.

OPPOSITE: Lyonesse notes from a notebook circa 1998.

† 282

on their stand. Since they’d also agreed to fly me into LA and put me up there for a night, it meant that I was going to see Babylon 5 and then going to Las Vegas. And I met Penn and Teller, and I discovered that they were actually flying in every night—they were still doing their Las Vegas shows, they were just commuting. I said I’ll be in Las Vegas tomorrow and they said, “Come along to the show,” so I did, and we hung out. I spent a very long

the art of neil gaiman

evening with Penn and Teller and Jamy Ian Swiss, and by the end of it we were friends. I was friends with both of them very individually, and Jamy wound up being my magic consultant for American Gods. Then Penn and I were emailing each other, and I do not remember in what context, but Penn made a blanket pronouncement that never in the history of humanity had the tricks of crooked medium shit ever been used

In a strange turn of happenstance, the owner of the rights to En-dor turned out to be Hilary Bevan Jones, an Emmy Award– winning British film and television producer who counts TV shows like Cracker, Red Dwarf, and Blackadder in her filmography. The production company she founded in 1994, Endor Productions, was named after her grandfather’s book. Bevan Jones flew out to Las Vegas to meet Gaiman and Penn, and plans were afoot: they were going to team up like the Three Musketeers and make

this film happen. It wasn’t until about 2006 that Penn and Gaiman actually sat down to write the script, eight years after Penn had sent the email that set off the dominoes. They held a reading, did a rewrite, and did another reading in London with Bill Nighy as one of the leads, along with Andrew Scott and Dan Bittner. The last bit of news on the film was back in 2008 when Bevan Jones was in discussion with potential directors. But, says Neil, “‘That is not dead which can eternal lie, yet with strange aeons even death may die . . .’ as nice Mr. Lovecraft said about giant octopus-faced things that come out of the ocean and destroy the world. Films are like that. Films are like giant octopus-faced people who sleep in R’lyeh. You think they’re dead. And then they turn out not to be dead.”

CHAPTER 6 | silver screens

Gaiman was working on another project with Bevan Jones called Lyonesse, a fantasy series set somewhere that looked like the strange islands of Scotland with swords and magic. “I’d originally plotted Lyonesse in about 1996 when there was no fantasy at all around. And definitely no sort of sword and sorcery. Right now you’ve got Game of Thrones, and you’ve got a lot of knock-offs of Game of Thrones. I think it is probably healthy if Game of Thrones runs its course and knock-offs of Games of Thrones run their course, and Lyonesse will still be around, because otherwise people will see it as one of them. So I put that on hold. I really like Lyonesse, and I have a pilot episode script more or less finished.” ❖

283 †

its r o o t s in t h e s h o r t s t o r y b y H . P. L o v e c r a f t ,

fin a l c u t ) . H e sa y s t h e y d id n ’t n e e d t o a c t all

“P i c k m a n ’s

t h a t h a r d o n a c c o u n t o f t h e w in e b e i n g r e a l.

M o d e l,”

in

w h ic h

an

a rtis t

T h e h ig h lig h t o f t h e f ilm

p a i n t e d n o t f r o m t h e d is e a s e d a n d r o t t i n g

a sHORtfiím CLBOUtJOHN B OLTtON

in te rv ie w e r

v is ite d b y t h e b e a s ts in h is s tu d io a n d d r e w

B o l t o n ’s s tu d io , t h e

t h e m f r o m life. “ T h e s u b je c ts o f m y p a in tin g s

t h e r u i n e d c h u r c h in t h e c e n t e r o f S to k e

c o m e t o m e ,” sa y s t h e q u ie t a n d r e s e r v e d

N e w i n g t o n ’s A b n e y

J o h n B o l t o n in t h e film . “I r e a lly d o n ’t h a v e

u s e d in T h e G r a v e y a r d B o o k . It’s t h e firs t t i m e

a n y i m a g in a tio n .” I n o n e B o l t o n in t e r v i e w

B o l t o n h a s le t a n y o n e se e h o w t h e p a in tin g s

P a rk

v is it t o

o f w h ic h

C e m e te ry ,

is

l a te r

a r e c r e a t e d , a n d B r i g s t o c k e l o o k s g e n u in e ly

( G a i m a n w r o t e a b o u t h i m f o r T h e E c o n o m is t

r e d d i v o r c e d f r o m t h e f ilm ic p a le tte ; a s t h e

in 2 0 1 3 ) .

t e n s io n

s o f o r t h , p e o p le n o w

u n d e r s t a n d all

h e ig h te n s

and

B rig s to c k e

sh o o ts

is

d e lib e ra te ly

b o o s te d

v e ry

s u b tly

and

s tra ig h t-fa c e d

e ffe ctiv e ly . A s m a t t e r i n g o f r e d le a v e s , r e d

c o m e d y d o c u m e n t a r y stu ff. W h e n w e d id it,

b u s h e s , a n d a r e d d o o r te ll u s w e a r e n o t in

it w a s still w e ir d a n d h o v e ry . I j u s t w a n t e d

t h e safe c o n f i n e s o f t h e c o l d g a l l e r y a n y m o r e ,

t o d o s o m e t h i n g t h a t t a s t e d h a lf w a y b e t w e e n

b u t s o m e w h e r e a liv e a n d fu ll o f p o r t e n t .

c o n v e n tio n s o f fa u x

B u t m o r e t h a n a n y t h i n g , it’s v e r y fu n n y .

youR Life wHeRe you say I’ve maDe a fiLm.

a d o c u m e n t a r y c r e w . I r e m e m b e r g iv in g m y

It p r e m i e r e d a t S a n D ie g o C o m i c - C o n in

f ilm c r e w a r e a lly h a r d t i m e , b e c a u s e I w a s

Ju ly 2 0 0 3 . ❖

h n

h n

oh

wHat’s it caLLeD?

BOltON. yeaH But wHat’s it caLLeD? a

BOltON. yeaH But wHat’s tHe Name o f tHe

fiLm? tHe Name o f tHe fiLm is a SHORtF ilm aBOut j o

h n

BOltON. n o

i

uNDeRstaND it ’s a sHoRt fiLm aBout j o h n BoLtoN, But Does it Have a titLe? you wiLL d o tHat uNtiL tHe eND o f youR Life.”

s a y in g , ‘N o , I w o u l d a c t u a ll y lik e y o u c a u g h t in t h e s h o t. I w a n t it slig h tly a w k w a r d . I w a n t

----------------------- s

y o u c a u g h t in r e f le c tio n s , I’m v e r y h a p p y f o r

tH e f iL m w a s s H o t in L o n d o n in a c o l d

a n o c c a s i o n a l m i c t o g o in to s h o t o r w h a te v e r .

N ovem ber

T h e w h o le i d e a is it’s a d o c u m e n t a r y ’”

t h e o n l y t i m e h e w a s a c t u a ll y w a r m

in

2002.

B rig s to c k e

sa id

S h o r t F ilm A b o u t J o h n B o lt o n o p e n s

w a s in B o l t o n ’s s tu d io , a s c e n e s h o t in

in a L o n d o n g a lle ry , w h e r e t h e la te s t e x ­

t h e s a m e d is u s e d h o te l in St. P a n c r a s

h ib itio n b y t h e a r t i s t h a s j u s t b e e n h u n g

fe a tu re d

h is w a s t h e s h o r t film t h a t G a i m a n w r o t e a n d d i r e c t e d a s a w a y o f p r o v i n g h e c o u ld .

in its cla ss y , c l e a n s u r r o u n d s : d is tu rb in g ly

c a n d le lig h t a n d a l o w s h u tte r s p e e d .

H e n e e d e d a p r a c t i c e r u n f o r D e a t h : T h e H ig h C o s t o f L iv in g , a film h e still w a n ts t o

lifelik e p o r t r a i t s o f b e a u tifu l u n d e a d w o m e n

G a i m a n ’s n o t e b o o k

d i r e c t h i m s e l f i f it e v e r h a p p e n s , s o h e w r o t e t h e s c r ip t, g r e w a b e a r d , a n d A S h o r t F ilm

s lith e r in g o v e r t o m b s t o n e s , s ta r i n g s tr a ig h t

m o s t l y c o n c e r n e d n o t w ith s h o ts o r

A b o u t J o h n B o lt o n h a p p e n e d . It’s a h a l f - h o u r i n v e s tig a tio n in to t h e q u e s tio n a n y o n e w h o ’s

o u t fro m

t h e c a n v a s in b lu e s a n d b la c k s .

n o t e s f o r t h e a c t o r s , b u t s o u p . T h e tw o

e v e r b e e n a t a Q & A w ill k n o w is a t t h e t o p o f e v e r y fa n ’s list: “W h e r e d o y o u g e t y o u r i d e a s ? ”

E n g lis h c o m e d i a n M a r c u s B r i g s t o c k e p la y s

n a k e d a c t r e s s e s w h o t u r n u p in t h e

T

I d j u s t d e c i d e d o n e d a y t h a t I w a s g o in g to w r ite a s c r ip t f o r m y self. I r a n m e n t a lly

BeLow: Marcus Brigstocke wearing the jeans.

m o r e p a i n e d lo o k s a t t h e c a m e r a , t h e r e d

S p in a l T a p a n d B l a ir W itc h , s o it ju s t felt lik e

SHORtF ilm aBOut j o

f 284

e x te rio r

tHeN you wiLL Have coNveRsatioNs witH peopLe uNtiL tHe eND o f it ’s a SHORtF ilm aBOut j o

aBOve: In these unknown waters, film director Terry Gilliam has served as a sort of mentor. In his notebook Gaiman mentions having lunch with Gilliam at some point during filming, who told him that directing was most hard on the feet. “The secret to directing,” he said, “is the shoes.” A sad and almost illegible scribble beneath the quote says that had Gilliam revealed this a week previous, Gaiman would have thought he was joking.

ra re

u n n e rv e d . G a im a n tr ie d to k eep th e c o lo r

o f th e

-a SHORt nLm aB O u t,’ B e c a u s e

a

s c e n e h e is s e a te d in f r o n t o f a s m a ll p o r t r a i t

and

CaLL a SHORt film

for

o f R i c h a r d D a d d , V i c t o r i a n a r t i s t a n d lu n a t ic

“ T h e s e d a y s , w ith th i n g s lik e T h e O ffic e

aD 0 N O t

is in v ite d

is w h e n t h e

c o r n e r s o f h is i m a g i n a t i o n b u t w a s a c t u a ll y

A

in

N e v e r w h e r e , u s in g

fro m

th e

o n ly

s e t is

t h e i n te r v ie w e r, w e a r i n g a s u e d e j a c k e t a n d

g r a n d fin a le ( t h o s e z e b r a s tr ip e s a r e

slig h tly t o o - t i g h t j e a n s — t h e k i n d o f c l o t h e s

t a t t o o e d b y t h e w a y ) w e r e n e v e r fa r f r o m a b o w l o f t o m a t o a n d le n til o r

th r o u g h a ll o f m y s h o r t s to r ie s a n d t h e th in g t h a t t h e b o y s in t h e b a c k r o o m o ffe r e d u p w a s,

T V h o s ts w e a r th a t re n d e r th e m

o f a ll th in gs, a n in t r o d u c t io n to a b o o k o f J o h n B o lt o n p a in t in g s t h a t I d d o n e . A n d it w a s

o u t c a s t in a n y p o s s ib le situ a tio n .” H e ta lk s

j u s t th is w e ir d little th in g w h e r e I d d e s c r ib e d J o h n B o lt o n , a n d I d m a d e u p a c o m p le t e ly

t o r e a l-life t a l k s h o w h o s t J o n a t h a n R o s s ,

f i c t i o n a l J o h n B o lt o n m o s t ly in s p ir e d b y th e f a c t t h a t h e u s e d to p a i n t h i m s e l f w e a r in g

w h o h a s t u r n e d u p t o b u y a n o t h e r p a i n t in g

a g a s m a s k . I w a s fe e l i n g v e r y lik e, “I d o n 't w a n t to d o a n o t h e r in t r o d u c t io n that's j u s t

b y t h e g r e a t B o l t o n t o a d d t o h is c o l l e c t i o n .

a n o t h e r b lo o d y cth is is h o w I m e t J o h n B o lt o n a n d th is is w h y I lik e J o h n B o lt o n a n d th is

R o s s , a l o n g t i m e f r i e n d o f G a i m a n ’s, is ju s t

“a s o c i a l

is w h y h is p a in t in g s a r e in t e r e s tin g " S o I w r o t e th is c o m p le t e ly f i c t i o n a l th in g a b o u t a

o n e o f th e m a n y c a m e o s th ro u g h o u t th e

p a i n t e r c a lle d J o h n B o lt o n w h o h a p p e n e d to h a v e p a i n t e d t h e p a in t in g s in J o h n s b o o k .

film ; e v e n t h e r e a l J o h n B o l t o n is o n e o f t h e

A n d th e n I th o u g h t: t h a t w o u ld b e a r e a lly g o o d th in g f o r a s h o r t f i l m . I lo v e d T h i r t y - T w o

g u e s ts o n o p e n i n g n i g h t t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e a r t

S h o r t F ilm s A b o u t G le n n G o u ld , s o I'll c a ll it A S h o r t F i l m A b o u t J o h n B o l t o n (r e a lly

o f J o h n B o l t o n , p la y e d b y J o h n O ’M a h o n y ,

s t u p id id e a ) .

w h o s p e n d s t h e o p e n i n g n i g h t p a r t y lo o k i n g

J o h n B o l t o n is a B r itis h a r t i s t f a m o u s f o r h is p h o t o r e a l i s t i c p a in tin g s o f d a n g e r o u s l y s e x y

u l a t e d t h e r e s t o f t h e p a r t y w ith p a ls s u c h a s

c h u n k y v e g e ta b le .

______ _________ r

d e ta c h e d a n d u n c o m fo rta b le . G a im a n p o p ­

v a m p i r i c w o m e n . W h i l e n o t s t r i c t l y li m i t e d t o t h e r e a l m o f h o r r o r ( h e w a s G a i m a n ’s firs t

C o l i n G r e e n l a n d a n d S te v e J o n e s , a n d g o t

a r tis t o n T h e B o o k s o f M a g ic ) , h e is m o s t w e ll k n o w n in th e s e p a r t s t h a n k s t o w o r k i n g w ith

D a v e M cK e a n to

C liv e B a r k e r o n th i n g s s u c h a s t h e H e llr a is e r c o m i c a d a p t a t io n . T h e i d e a f o r t h e film a ls o fin d s

w h i c h o n l y a fe w s e c o n d s w e r e u s e d in t h e

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

s h o o t s o m e fo o ta g e (o f

CHapteR 6 |siLveR scReeNs

285 f

its r o o t s in t h e s h o r t s t o r y b y H . P. L o v e c r a f t ,

fin a l c u t ) . H e sa y s t h e y d id n ’t n e e d t o a c t all

“P i c k m a n ’s

t h a t h a r d o n a c c o u n t o f t h e w in e b e i n g r e a l.

M o d e l,”

in

w h ic h

an

a rtis t

T h e h ig h lig h t o f t h e f ilm

p a i n t e d n o t f r o m t h e d is e a s e d a n d r o t t i n g

a sHORtfiím CLBOUtJOHN B OLTtON

in te rv ie w e r

v is ite d b y t h e b e a s ts in h is s tu d io a n d d r e w

B o l t o n ’s s tu d io , t h e

t h e m f r o m life. “ T h e s u b je c ts o f m y p a in tin g s

t h e r u i n e d c h u r c h in t h e c e n t e r o f S to k e

c o m e t o m e ,” sa y s t h e q u ie t a n d r e s e r v e d

N e w i n g t o n ’s A b n e y

J o h n B o l t o n in t h e film . “I r e a lly d o n ’t h a v e

u s e d in T h e G r a v e y a r d B o o k . It’s t h e firs t t i m e

a n y i m a g in a tio n .” I n o n e B o l t o n in t e r v i e w

B o l t o n h a s le t a n y o n e se e h o w t h e p a in tin g s

P a rk

v is it t o

o f w h ic h

C e m e te ry ,

is

l a te r

a r e c r e a t e d , a n d B r i g s t o c k e l o o k s g e n u in e ly

( G a i m a n w r o t e a b o u t h i m f o r T h e E c o n o m is t

r e d d i v o r c e d f r o m t h e f ilm ic p a le tte ; a s t h e

in 2 0 1 3 ) .

t e n s io n

s o f o r t h , p e o p le n o w

u n d e r s t a n d all

h e ig h te n s

and

B rig s to c k e

sh o o ts

is

d e lib e ra te ly

b o o s te d

v e ry

s u b tly

and

s tra ig h t-fa c e d

e ffe ctiv e ly . A s m a t t e r i n g o f r e d le a v e s , r e d

c o m e d y d o c u m e n t a r y stu ff. W h e n w e d id it,

b u s h e s , a n d a r e d d o o r te ll u s w e a r e n o t in

it w a s still w e ir d a n d h o v e ry . I j u s t w a n t e d

t h e safe c o n f i n e s o f t h e c o l d g a l l e r y a n y m o r e ,

t o d o s o m e t h i n g t h a t t a s t e d h a lf w a y b e t w e e n

b u t s o m e w h e r e a liv e a n d fu ll o f p o r t e n t .

c o n v e n tio n s o f fa u x

B u t m o r e t h a n a n y t h i n g , it’s v e r y fu n n y .

youR Life wHeRe you say I’ve maDe a fiLm.

a d o c u m e n t a r y c r e w . I r e m e m b e r g iv in g m y

It p r e m i e r e d a t S a n D ie g o C o m i c - C o n in

f ilm c r e w a r e a lly h a r d t i m e , b e c a u s e I w a s

Ju ly 2 0 0 3 . ❖

h n

h n

oh

wHat’s it caLLeD?

BOltON. yeaH But wHat’s it caLLeD? a

BOltON. yeaH But wHat’s tHe Name o f tHe

fiLm? tHe Name o f tHe fiLm is a SHORtF ilm aBOut j o

h n

BOltON. n o

i

uNDeRstaND it ’s a sHoRt fiLm aBout j o h n BoLtoN, But Does it Have a titLe? you wiLL d o tHat uNtiL tHe eND o f youR Life.”

s a y in g , ‘N o , I w o u l d a c t u a ll y lik e y o u c a u g h t in t h e s h o t. I w a n t it slig h tly a w k w a r d . I w a n t

----------------------- s

y o u c a u g h t in r e f le c tio n s , I’m v e r y h a p p y f o r

tH e f iL m w a s s H o t in L o n d o n in a c o l d

a n o c c a s i o n a l m i c t o g o in to s h o t o r w h a te v e r .

N ovem ber

T h e w h o le i d e a is it’s a d o c u m e n t a r y ’”

t h e o n l y t i m e h e w a s a c t u a ll y w a r m

in

2002.

B rig s to c k e

sa id

S h o r t F ilm A b o u t J o h n B o lt o n o p e n s

w a s in B o l t o n ’s s tu d io , a s c e n e s h o t in

in a L o n d o n g a lle ry , w h e r e t h e la te s t e x ­

t h e s a m e d is u s e d h o te l in St. P a n c r a s

h ib itio n b y t h e a r t i s t h a s j u s t b e e n h u n g

fe a tu re d

h is w a s t h e s h o r t film t h a t G a i m a n w r o t e a n d d i r e c t e d a s a w a y o f p r o v i n g h e c o u ld .

in its cla ss y , c l e a n s u r r o u n d s : d is tu rb in g ly

c a n d le lig h t a n d a l o w s h u tte r s p e e d .

H e n e e d e d a p r a c t i c e r u n f o r D e a t h : T h e H ig h C o s t o f L iv in g , a film h e still w a n ts t o

lifelik e p o r t r a i t s o f b e a u tifu l u n d e a d w o m e n

G a i m a n ’s n o t e b o o k

d i r e c t h i m s e l f i f it e v e r h a p p e n s , s o h e w r o t e t h e s c r ip t, g r e w a b e a r d , a n d A S h o r t F ilm

s lith e r in g o v e r t o m b s t o n e s , s ta r i n g s tr a ig h t

m o s t l y c o n c e r n e d n o t w ith s h o ts o r

A b o u t J o h n B o lt o n h a p p e n e d . It’s a h a l f - h o u r i n v e s tig a tio n in to t h e q u e s tio n a n y o n e w h o ’s

o u t fro m

t h e c a n v a s in b lu e s a n d b la c k s .

n o t e s f o r t h e a c t o r s , b u t s o u p . T h e tw o

e v e r b e e n a t a Q & A w ill k n o w is a t t h e t o p o f e v e r y fa n ’s list: “W h e r e d o y o u g e t y o u r i d e a s ? ”

E n g lis h c o m e d i a n M a r c u s B r i g s t o c k e p la y s

n a k e d a c t r e s s e s w h o t u r n u p in t h e

T

I d j u s t d e c i d e d o n e d a y t h a t I w a s g o in g to w r ite a s c r ip t f o r m y self. I r a n m e n t a lly

BeLow: Marcus Brigstocke wearing the jeans.

m o r e p a i n e d lo o k s a t t h e c a m e r a , t h e r e d

S p in a l T a p a n d B l a ir W itc h , s o it ju s t felt lik e

SHORtF ilm aBOut j o

f 284

e x te rio r

tHeN you wiLL Have coNveRsatioNs witH peopLe uNtiL tHe eND o f it ’s a SHORtF ilm aBOut j o

aBOve: In these unknown waters, film director Terry Gilliam has served as a sort of mentor. In his notebook Gaiman mentions having lunch with Gilliam at some point during filming, who told him that directing was most hard on the feet. “The secret to directing,” he said, “is the shoes.” A sad and almost illegible scribble beneath the quote says that had Gilliam revealed this a week previous, Gaiman would have thought he was joking.

ra re

u n n e rv e d . G a im a n tr ie d to k eep th e c o lo r

o f th e

-a SHORt nLm aB O u t,’ B e c a u s e

a

s c e n e h e is s e a te d in f r o n t o f a s m a ll p o r t r a i t

and

CaLL a SHORt film

for

o f R i c h a r d D a d d , V i c t o r i a n a r t i s t a n d lu n a t ic

“ T h e s e d a y s , w ith th i n g s lik e T h e O ffic e

aD 0 N O t

is in v ite d

is w h e n t h e

c o r n e r s o f h is i m a g i n a t i o n b u t w a s a c t u a ll y

A

in

N e v e r w h e r e , u s in g

fro m

th e

o n ly

s e t is

t h e i n te r v ie w e r, w e a r i n g a s u e d e j a c k e t a n d

g r a n d fin a le ( t h o s e z e b r a s tr ip e s a r e

slig h tly t o o - t i g h t j e a n s — t h e k i n d o f c l o t h e s

t a t t o o e d b y t h e w a y ) w e r e n e v e r fa r f r o m a b o w l o f t o m a t o a n d le n til o r

th r o u g h a ll o f m y s h o r t s to r ie s a n d t h e th in g t h a t t h e b o y s in t h e b a c k r o o m o ffe r e d u p w a s,

T V h o s ts w e a r th a t re n d e r th e m

o f a ll th in gs, a n in t r o d u c t io n to a b o o k o f J o h n B o lt o n p a in t in g s t h a t I d d o n e . A n d it w a s

o u t c a s t in a n y p o s s ib le situ a tio n .” H e ta lk s

j u s t th is w e ir d little th in g w h e r e I d d e s c r ib e d J o h n B o lt o n , a n d I d m a d e u p a c o m p le t e ly

t o r e a l-life t a l k s h o w h o s t J o n a t h a n R o s s ,

f i c t i o n a l J o h n B o lt o n m o s t ly in s p ir e d b y th e f a c t t h a t h e u s e d to p a i n t h i m s e l f w e a r in g

w h o h a s t u r n e d u p t o b u y a n o t h e r p a i n t in g

a g a s m a s k . I w a s fe e l i n g v e r y lik e, “I d o n 't w a n t to d o a n o t h e r in t r o d u c t io n that's j u s t

b y t h e g r e a t B o l t o n t o a d d t o h is c o l l e c t i o n .

a n o t h e r b lo o d y cth is is h o w I m e t J o h n B o lt o n a n d th is is w h y I lik e J o h n B o lt o n a n d th is

R o s s , a l o n g t i m e f r i e n d o f G a i m a n ’s, is ju s t

“a s o c i a l

is w h y h is p a in t in g s a r e in t e r e s tin g " S o I w r o t e th is c o m p le t e ly f i c t i o n a l th in g a b o u t a

o n e o f th e m a n y c a m e o s th ro u g h o u t th e

p a i n t e r c a lle d J o h n B o lt o n w h o h a p p e n e d to h a v e p a i n t e d t h e p a in t in g s in J o h n s b o o k .

film ; e v e n t h e r e a l J o h n B o l t o n is o n e o f t h e

A n d th e n I th o u g h t: t h a t w o u ld b e a r e a lly g o o d th in g f o r a s h o r t f i l m . I lo v e d T h i r t y - T w o

g u e s ts o n o p e n i n g n i g h t t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e a r t

S h o r t F ilm s A b o u t G le n n G o u ld , s o I'll c a ll it A S h o r t F i l m A b o u t J o h n B o l t o n (r e a lly

o f J o h n B o l t o n , p la y e d b y J o h n O ’M a h o n y ,

s t u p id id e a ) .

w h o s p e n d s t h e o p e n i n g n i g h t p a r t y lo o k i n g

J o h n B o l t o n is a B r itis h a r t i s t f a m o u s f o r h is p h o t o r e a l i s t i c p a in tin g s o f d a n g e r o u s l y s e x y

u l a t e d t h e r e s t o f t h e p a r t y w ith p a ls s u c h a s

c h u n k y v e g e ta b le .

______ _________ r

d e ta c h e d a n d u n c o m fo rta b le . G a im a n p o p ­

v a m p i r i c w o m e n . W h i l e n o t s t r i c t l y li m i t e d t o t h e r e a l m o f h o r r o r ( h e w a s G a i m a n ’s firs t

C o l i n G r e e n l a n d a n d S te v e J o n e s , a n d g o t

a r tis t o n T h e B o o k s o f M a g ic ) , h e is m o s t w e ll k n o w n in th e s e p a r t s t h a n k s t o w o r k i n g w ith

D a v e M cK e a n to

C liv e B a r k e r o n th i n g s s u c h a s t h e H e llr a is e r c o m i c a d a p t a t io n . T h e i d e a f o r t h e film a ls o fin d s

w h i c h o n l y a fe w s e c o n d s w e r e u s e d in t h e

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

s h o o t s o m e fo o ta g e (o f

CHapteR 6 |siLveR scReeNs

285 f

who

k

i L

L

e

D

amaNDa paLm eR I

aND

sta tu esq u e The s e c o n d s h o r t f i l m

gctiiiiaiN

j j ik c ll c jj

oNe of tweLve siLeNt film s to be scReeNeD

o n

w d sjiu iu o y u e ,

Sky iN tHe tweLve

Days before Christm as 2009.

I

n e a rly Ju n e o f th a t y e a r, H ila r y B e v a n Jo n e s h a d a sk e d h im if h e w a n te d to d o o n e of her

Ten Minute Tales,

a n d G a im a n h a d sa id h e w o u ld , as lo n g as h e g o t a n id e a .

T h a t n i g h t , w h i l e o n s t a g e w i t h A m a n d a P a l m e r a t N e w Y o r k ’s H o u s i n g W o r k s , h e

d id . I t w a s a n e v e n t p u t t o g e t h e r b y

Spin m a g a z i n e ,

a n e v e n i n g o f m u s i c a n d l i t e r a t u r e in

w h i c h G a im a n d id a r e a d in g a n d A m a n d a P a lm e r s a n g s o m e s o n g s , t h e g e n e r a l p o i n t o f w h i c h w a s t o h i g h l i g h t t h e m u t u a l e f f e c t s t h e y h a v e o n e a c h o t h e r , a s w e ll a s b e i n g a s o r t

Who Killed Amanda Palmer . Who Killed Amanda Palmer p h o t o b o o k h a d b e g u n a c o u p l e

h e w ro te

o f la u n c h p a r ty fo r h e r b o o k , The

o f y e a rs b e fo re . P a lm e rs

a q u i e t ly c r e e p y l e t t e r f r o m

a n d G a i m a n ’s liv e s w e r e c o l l i d i n g , t h r o u g h f r i e n d s a n d a r t , b e f o r e t h e y h a d e v e r m e t e a c h

re d h a ir w h o p a s se d h im

o th e r . P a l m e r h a d b e e n a s k e d t o c o n t r i b u t e t o a n a n t h o l o g y o f s o n g s a b o u t G a i m a n ’s w o r k ;

n e v e r n o tic e d .

e v e ry d ay an d

t h e D r e s d e n D o l l s ’ “J e e p S o n g ” h a d b e e n o n e o f G a i m a n ’s f a v o r i t e s o n g s s i n c e i t c a m e o u t in 2 0 0 3 . O n l o n g o v e r n i g h t f lig h ts a n d in l o n e l y e m p t y h o u s e s , t h e y w o u l d e m a i l e a c h o t h e r , a s r e la t i v e s t r a n g e r s , f r o m d i f f e r e n t e n d s o f t h e e a r t h . T h e n P a l m e r , w h o s e w o r l d is a c o l l a b o r a t i v e f r e n z y m u c h lik e G a i m a n ’s , a s k e d h i m i f h e w o u l d c o n t r i b u t e t o s o m e m a d id e a sh e h a d f o r a n a lte r n a te r e a lity g a m e c a lle d

Who Killed Amanda Palmer .

S h e w a n te d to d o s o m e th in g c o o l a n d s tr a n g e a n d i n t e r a c t i v e — a g a m e , a b o o k , a n d s o m e v i d e o s — w i t h t h e i d e a t h a t t h e b o o k w o u l d f le s h o u t t h e s t o r i e s h i n t e d a t i n t h e g a m e . A n d th e n it g o t s im p le r : s h e a s k e d h i m i f h e w o u ld w r ite s o m e s h o r t s to r ie s to a c c o m p a n y a se rie s o f p h o to s in w h ic h sh e w a s d e a d . A y e a r la te r at th e

Spin

l a u n c h , P a l m e r s a n g G a i m a n ’s “ I G o o g l e Y o u ” a n d w a s in t h e

m i d d l e o f s i n g i n g “ P e r f e c t F it,” a D r e s d e n D o l l s s o n g i n s p i r e d b y h e r t i m e a s a h u m a n s t a t u e in H a r v a r d S q u a r e , w h e n G a i m a n d u g o u t h i s n o t e b o o k a n d s c r i b b l e d s o m e t h i n g d o w n . H e h a d a n id e a f o r h is s ile n t film : a m a n d o c u m e n t i n g h u m a n s ta tu e s th e w a y b ir d -w a tc h e r s c h e c k o ff r a r e s p e c ie s . It w a s a v a r ia tio n o f a s h o r t s to r y G a im a n h a d w r i t t e n in 2 0 0 7 f o r a n a n t h o l o g y c a l l e d

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Four Letter Word: New Love Letters,

in w h ic h

a

h u m a n s ta tu e to th e w o m a n w ith th e lo n g

You have walked past me and looked at me and smiled, and you have walked past me and other times you barely noticed me as anything other than an object. Truly, it is remarkable how little regard you, or any human, give to something that remains completely motionless. You have woken in the night, got up, walked to the little toilet, micturated, walked back to your bed, slept once more, peacefully. You would not notice something perfectly still, would you? Something in the shadows?

aBOVe: “I went out to stay at Amanda’s place to work on these photos, because I knew that the only way I’d get this stuff written for her is if I was there. Because otherwise I’d do things for everybody else that they needed. So I went and I stayed at the Cloud Club and hung with her. It was her and me and Kyle Cassidy as this little mad team.” L eft: A slightly rude poem Neil wrote for Amanda and read aloud at the Sydney Opera House in 2011 during her show.

287 f

who

k

i L

L

e

D

amaNDa paLm eR I

aND

sta tu esq u e The s e c o n d s h o r t f i l m

gctiiiiaiN

j j ik c ll c jj

oNe of tweLve siLeNt film s to be scReeNeD

o n

w d sjiu iu o y u e ,

Sky iN tHe tweLve

Days before Christm as 2009.

I

n e a rly Ju n e o f th a t y e a r, H ila r y B e v a n Jo n e s h a d a sk e d h im if h e w a n te d to d o o n e of her

Ten Minute Tales,

a n d G a im a n h a d sa id h e w o u ld , as lo n g as h e g o t a n id e a .

T h a t n i g h t , w h i l e o n s t a g e w i t h A m a n d a P a l m e r a t N e w Y o r k ’s H o u s i n g W o r k s , h e

d id . I t w a s a n e v e n t p u t t o g e t h e r b y

Spin m a g a z i n e ,

a n e v e n i n g o f m u s i c a n d l i t e r a t u r e in

w h i c h G a im a n d id a r e a d in g a n d A m a n d a P a lm e r s a n g s o m e s o n g s , t h e g e n e r a l p o i n t o f w h i c h w a s t o h i g h l i g h t t h e m u t u a l e f f e c t s t h e y h a v e o n e a c h o t h e r , a s w e ll a s b e i n g a s o r t

Who Killed Amanda Palmer . Who Killed Amanda Palmer p h o t o b o o k h a d b e g u n a c o u p l e

h e w ro te

o f la u n c h p a r ty fo r h e r b o o k , The

o f y e a rs b e fo re . P a lm e rs

a q u i e t ly c r e e p y l e t t e r f r o m

a n d G a i m a n ’s liv e s w e r e c o l l i d i n g , t h r o u g h f r i e n d s a n d a r t , b e f o r e t h e y h a d e v e r m e t e a c h

re d h a ir w h o p a s se d h im

o th e r . P a l m e r h a d b e e n a s k e d t o c o n t r i b u t e t o a n a n t h o l o g y o f s o n g s a b o u t G a i m a n ’s w o r k ;

n e v e r n o tic e d .

e v e ry d ay an d

t h e D r e s d e n D o l l s ’ “J e e p S o n g ” h a d b e e n o n e o f G a i m a n ’s f a v o r i t e s o n g s s i n c e i t c a m e o u t in 2 0 0 3 . O n l o n g o v e r n i g h t f lig h ts a n d in l o n e l y e m p t y h o u s e s , t h e y w o u l d e m a i l e a c h o t h e r , a s r e la t i v e s t r a n g e r s , f r o m d i f f e r e n t e n d s o f t h e e a r t h . T h e n P a l m e r , w h o s e w o r l d is a c o l l a b o r a t i v e f r e n z y m u c h lik e G a i m a n ’s , a s k e d h i m i f h e w o u l d c o n t r i b u t e t o s o m e m a d id e a sh e h a d f o r a n a lte r n a te r e a lity g a m e c a lle d

Who Killed Amanda Palmer .

S h e w a n te d to d o s o m e th in g c o o l a n d s tr a n g e a n d i n t e r a c t i v e — a g a m e , a b o o k , a n d s o m e v i d e o s — w i t h t h e i d e a t h a t t h e b o o k w o u l d f le s h o u t t h e s t o r i e s h i n t e d a t i n t h e g a m e . A n d th e n it g o t s im p le r : s h e a s k e d h i m i f h e w o u ld w r ite s o m e s h o r t s to r ie s to a c c o m p a n y a se rie s o f p h o to s in w h ic h sh e w a s d e a d . A y e a r la te r at th e

Spin

l a u n c h , P a l m e r s a n g G a i m a n ’s “ I G o o g l e Y o u ” a n d w a s in t h e

m i d d l e o f s i n g i n g “ P e r f e c t F it,” a D r e s d e n D o l l s s o n g i n s p i r e d b y h e r t i m e a s a h u m a n s t a t u e in H a r v a r d S q u a r e , w h e n G a i m a n d u g o u t h i s n o t e b o o k a n d s c r i b b l e d s o m e t h i n g d o w n . H e h a d a n id e a f o r h is s ile n t film : a m a n d o c u m e n t i n g h u m a n s ta tu e s th e w a y b ir d -w a tc h e r s c h e c k o ff r a r e s p e c ie s . It w a s a v a r ia tio n o f a s h o r t s to r y G a im a n h a d w r i t t e n in 2 0 0 7 f o r a n a n t h o l o g y c a l l e d

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Four Letter Word: New Love Letters,

in w h ic h

a

h u m a n s ta tu e to th e w o m a n w ith th e lo n g

You have walked past me and looked at me and smiled, and you have walked past me and other times you barely noticed me as anything other than an object. Truly, it is remarkable how little regard you, or any human, give to something that remains completely motionless. You have woken in the night, got up, walked to the little toilet, micturated, walked back to your bed, slept once more, peacefully. You would not notice something perfectly still, would you? Something in the shadows?

aBOVe: “I went out to stay at Amanda’s place to work on these photos, because I knew that the only way I’d get this stuff written for her is if I was there. Because otherwise I’d do things for everybody else that they needed. So I went and I stayed at the Cloud Club and hung with her. It was her and me and Kyle Cassidy as this little mad team.” L eft: A slightly rude poem Neil wrote for Amanda and read aloud at the Sydney Opera House in 2011 during her show.

287 f

J ---------------------- N

gaimaN aND musicians

aBOVe: Amanda and Neil pictured during the filming of W h o K ille d A m a n d a P a lm e r .

opposite: S ta tu es q u e script.

t 288

The film was shot in September that year, in Watford, North London, starring Bill Nighy as Mr. Jellaby, jam sandwich enthusiast, who takes a packed lunch every day and sits and watches the human statues in the town square. Palmer, a particularly unloved and ignored sort of human statue (unloved even by Dave McKean’s son, Liam, in a small cameo), falls in love with Jellaby and decides to gently stalk him. Always frozen, always painted. It’s a classic tale of unrequited love and has a twist ending not unlike Gaiman’s Harlequin Valentine. Its temporary soundtrack of the Velvet Underground, Owls, Rasputina, David Bowie, Steeleye Span, Bela Fleck, Kate Bush, and Louis Armstrong was replaced by a real score by musician Sxip Shirey, and the film was broadcast on Christmas Day. As for whether or not Gaiman still has a taste for directing after his two attempts, he has this to say:

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

I enjoy directing. I love the process. I ’ve loved it each time I ’ve done it, which isn’t very often. But I think I get spoiled as a writer by being actually quite good at it. I would never look at a book o f mine and go, “Oh, I wish I was so-and-so, I would have done this so much better.” Whereas occasionally I get offered full-scale films to direct, and maybe one day one o f those films will come along and I ’ll go, “Yeah, I ’ll do you” but mostly I look at it and I think somebody else will do this better, and so I say no. I loved doing Statuesque, because it was nine minutes and it was a three-day shoot and two weeks prep and a week cutting it. It was a nice little chunk o f my life. But to do a full-scale film I ’d really need to want to say, Okay, this is a year o f my life, and I ’m the best possible person fo r it. ❖

I enjoy directing. J love th e pioteSS. J Ve loVed i t each, tim I Ve done it , which iS n t Very often.

CHapteR 6 |siLveR scReeNs

gaimaN aND paLmeR Have gone on to do several projects together, though they try to keep it to a minimum. “We actually work relatively well together, but I think both of us treasure coming home and having somebody who’s not involved in what’s going on to talk about it with. It’s the one thing we lose whenever we work together. We can’t go, oh god, this is happening. Because its happening with the other one too. “Also there’s an awkwardness in our sometimes working together be­ cause we are both completely used to having our own way. Its not that we don’t play well with others, because we do, but we normally play well with others in context of we have the last word. You can’t have two last words. Although we have both tried to have two last words.” They toured America in 2011 with “An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer,” a combination of spoken word, songs, chats, and stories. Part of the idea of this came from the fact that neither Gaiman nor Palmer is good at vacations— by doing a combined tour they got to spend time together while still technically working. She’s taken to dragging Gaiman up on stage to sing: four years ago it was Derek and Clives “Jump,” and lately its been Leon Payne’s “Psycho” accompanied by a sawchestra (and at a London show at Koko he was upstaged only by surprise guest Richard O’Brien doing the “Time Warp” in peach tights and pearls). Occasionally Gaiman will serve as her support band, reading a story alone on the stage.

289 t

J ---------------------- N

gaimaN aND musicians

aBOVe: Amanda and Neil pictured during the filming of W h o K ille d A m a n d a P a lm e r .

opposite: S ta tu es q u e script.

t 288

The film was shot in September that year, in Watford, North London, starring Bill Nighy as Mr. Jellaby, jam sandwich enthusiast, who takes a packed lunch every day and sits and watches the human statues in the town square. Palmer, a particularly unloved and ignored sort of human statue (unloved even by Dave McKean’s son, Liam, in a small cameo), falls in love with Jellaby and decides to gently stalk him. Always frozen, always painted. It’s a classic tale of unrequited love and has a twist ending not unlike Gaiman’s Harlequin Valentine. Its temporary soundtrack of the Velvet Underground, Owls, Rasputina, David Bowie, Steeleye Span, Bela Fleck, Kate Bush, and Louis Armstrong was replaced by a real score by musician Sxip Shirey, and the film was broadcast on Christmas Day. As for whether or not Gaiman still has a taste for directing after his two attempts, he has this to say:

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

I enjoy directing. I love the process. I ’ve loved it each time I ’ve done it, which isn’t very often. But I think I get spoiled as a writer by being actually quite good at it. I would never look at a book o f mine and go, “Oh, I wish I was so-and-so, I would have done this so much better.” Whereas occasionally I get offered full-scale films to direct, and maybe one day one o f those films will come along and I ’ll go, “Yeah, I ’ll do you” but mostly I look at it and I think somebody else will do this better, and so I say no. I loved doing Statuesque, because it was nine minutes and it was a three-day shoot and two weeks prep and a week cutting it. It was a nice little chunk o f my life. But to do a full-scale film I ’d really need to want to say, Okay, this is a year o f my life, and I ’m the best possible person fo r it. ❖

I enjoy directing. J love th e pioteSS. J Ve loVed i t each, tim I Ve done it , which iS n t Very often.

CHapteR 6 |siLveR scReeNs

gaimaN aND paLmeR Have gone on to do several projects together, though they try to keep it to a minimum. “We actually work relatively well together, but I think both of us treasure coming home and having somebody who’s not involved in what’s going on to talk about it with. It’s the one thing we lose whenever we work together. We can’t go, oh god, this is happening. Because its happening with the other one too. “Also there’s an awkwardness in our sometimes working together be­ cause we are both completely used to having our own way. Its not that we don’t play well with others, because we do, but we normally play well with others in context of we have the last word. You can’t have two last words. Although we have both tried to have two last words.” They toured America in 2011 with “An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer,” a combination of spoken word, songs, chats, and stories. Part of the idea of this came from the fact that neither Gaiman nor Palmer is good at vacations— by doing a combined tour they got to spend time together while still technically working. She’s taken to dragging Gaiman up on stage to sing: four years ago it was Derek and Clives “Jump,” and lately its been Leon Payne’s “Psycho” accompanied by a sawchestra (and at a London show at Koko he was upstaged only by surprise guest Richard O’Brien doing the “Time Warp” in peach tights and pearls). Occasionally Gaiman will serve as her support band, reading a story alone on the stage.

289 t

WORDS

m D N a U SIC )

0in8: tomorrows Supergroup, today.

ON apRlL 25, 2011,

paLmeR maDe gaimaN j o i n HeR BaND. it was foR aN expeRimeNt sHORtLy BefoRe tHe RetHiNk music coNfeReNce, aN eveNt tHat BROugHt togetHeR LegaL, Business, aND acaDemic expeRts to Discuss New moDeLs foR cReatiNg aND DistRiBUtiNg music.

aBOVe: The beginnings of what would become “Dark Sonnet” by Lorraine a' Malena.

opposite: Written on the London Under­ ground in December 2002 , during the week Gaiman was shooting A S h o r t F ilm A b o u t Jo h n B o lto n . The beginnings

of another song for Lorraine's band, as well as another piece of “Dark Sonnet”

t 290

s Palmer had not so long ago ditched her record company in favor of self­ management, she was invited to be a speaker, and the idea for 8in8 grew from that. It was Ben Folds’s (of Ben Folds Five) idea: instead of a talk, Palmer and her assembled supergroup would perform a record they made in a day: eight songs in eight hours, distributed over the internet just hours after it was made. They were opening up the process of making a record to fans, webcasting the whole thing to show how art is made or would be made if it was done by locking three musicians and an author in a recording studio. It was also, for the purposes of Rethink Music, an exercise in timing and distribution— showing what can be done with next to no money, showing what’s possible at the other end of the spectrum from Lady Gaga. Her group was Ben Folds on drums and piano and vocals, Damian Kulash of OK Go on vocals and various, and Neil Gaiman on lyrics. The band was set up and recorded live in the studio like an old jazz session, a desk for Gaiman in the corner where he churned out lyrics like he was dashing out copy for a front­ page exclusive. Suggestions for song subjects were crowdsourced from Twitter, and for some reason, in response to a request for a famous person to write about, the most suggested was the inventor Nikola Tesla. Said Amanda, “He just started riffing on the idea of Nikola Tesla as a love song, you know, a girl falling in love with Nikola Tesla, and he just scratched out the first verse and the first few lines. ‘I met Nikola Tesla in a diner in New York, he was eating cotton candy in the dark’ Hed start telling me what he was doing and Id guide a little, Id give him some ideas for the shape of the song. Being Amanda Palmer and very lovelorn of course I want this to be a sad, yearning one-sided relationship with Nikola Tesla, The Man Who Would Never Love. And so as soon as he had two verses cranked out he printed them out, I grabbed the page, I ran into a little isolation-booth with a piano set up, and I started with the first melody that came to my head and said whatever it is, that’s what it’s going to be. Let’s not be precious about it” (The Story, 2011).

A

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Gaiman sang the last song, “The Problem with Saints,” with Ben Folds on piano, because he hadn’t yet had a go on vocals and everybody else had, and also because the story needed an English accent and nobody else can sing a line like, “And the people that she hated will be neatly bifurcated and the English will no longer rule the world” quite like Neil can. Gaiman can’t really sing, despite being the front man of the Ex-Execs back in 1977. “I rapidly figured out that neither could Lou Reed or Bob Geldof or those guys. But I could certainly put across a song. It was storytelling, and I could do that. And I still can. The New York Times said I sing ‘like a novelist’ And I thought yes! I fucking do!” In the end they discovered that a song takes at least two hours to write and record. They got six songs in twelve hours and bailed at four a.m. They called the album

Nighty Night. It was a sort of twenty-fourhour comic but for music, another Noble Failure Variant. Other non-Palmer songs, such as “Post­ Mortem on Our Love,” “A Girl Needs a Knife,” and “Yeti,” were written over the years mostly for bands involving folk musician Lorraine Garland (also known as the Fabulous Lorraine, Gaiman’s former assistant) in the form of the Flash Girls with science fiction writer Emma Bull, and the Folk UnderGround. When Lorraine teamed up with Malena (Lorraine a Malena), Neil’s buxom Vampira-esque horror presenter assistant for Fox Movie Channels 13 Nights o f Fright (in which he got to introduce scary films in the lead-up to Halloween), he dragged out “Just Me and Eve” for them, a song about being chucked out of the Garden of Eden. “Like anyone else who has ever loved Gilbert and Sullivan I suspect, once in

CHapteR 6 |sitveR scReeNs

a while the urge to write a Gilbertian patter song wells up unbidden in the auctorial breast, and some years ago, I succumbed. I wrote the song for the Flash Girls, but Emma didn’t like the subject matter, so it went back to a drawer and was forgotten. When Lorraine and Malena started making music, I pulled it out of mothballs and handed it over to them (luckily Lorraine still had the back of the envelope on which I’d jotted down the chords all those years ago).” There was also One Ring Zero’s As Smart as We Are album, their critically acclaimed project in which they enlisted a bunch of famous authors to write their lyrics, and a one-off for singer-songwriter Olga Nunes called A Dream o f Gardens. And then there were rude ones in early drafts of Beowulf, songs about screwing virgins and nailing balls to walls, which he’d probably sing himself if you asked him nicely. ❖

29 1 t

WORDS

m D N a U SIC )

0in8: tomorrows Supergroup, today.

ON apRlL 25, 2011,

paLmeR maDe gaimaN j o i n HeR BaND. it was foR aN expeRimeNt sHORtLy BefoRe tHe RetHiNk music coNfeReNce, aN eveNt tHat BROugHt togetHeR LegaL, Business, aND acaDemic expeRts to Discuss New moDeLs foR cReatiNg aND DistRiBUtiNg music.

aBOVe: The beginnings of what would become “Dark Sonnet” by Lorraine a' Malena.

opposite: Written on the London Under­ ground in December 2002 , during the week Gaiman was shooting A S h o r t F ilm A b o u t Jo h n B o lto n . The beginnings

of another song for Lorraine's band, as well as another piece of “Dark Sonnet”

t 290

s Palmer had not so long ago ditched her record company in favor of self­ management, she was invited to be a speaker, and the idea for 8in8 grew from that. It was Ben Folds’s (of Ben Folds Five) idea: instead of a talk, Palmer and her assembled supergroup would perform a record they made in a day: eight songs in eight hours, distributed over the internet just hours after it was made. They were opening up the process of making a record to fans, webcasting the whole thing to show how art is made or would be made if it was done by locking three musicians and an author in a recording studio. It was also, for the purposes of Rethink Music, an exercise in timing and distribution— showing what can be done with next to no money, showing what’s possible at the other end of the spectrum from Lady Gaga. Her group was Ben Folds on drums and piano and vocals, Damian Kulash of OK Go on vocals and various, and Neil Gaiman on lyrics. The band was set up and recorded live in the studio like an old jazz session, a desk for Gaiman in the corner where he churned out lyrics like he was dashing out copy for a front­ page exclusive. Suggestions for song subjects were crowdsourced from Twitter, and for some reason, in response to a request for a famous person to write about, the most suggested was the inventor Nikola Tesla. Said Amanda, “He just started riffing on the idea of Nikola Tesla as a love song, you know, a girl falling in love with Nikola Tesla, and he just scratched out the first verse and the first few lines. ‘I met Nikola Tesla in a diner in New York, he was eating cotton candy in the dark’ Hed start telling me what he was doing and Id guide a little, Id give him some ideas for the shape of the song. Being Amanda Palmer and very lovelorn of course I want this to be a sad, yearning one-sided relationship with Nikola Tesla, The Man Who Would Never Love. And so as soon as he had two verses cranked out he printed them out, I grabbed the page, I ran into a little isolation-booth with a piano set up, and I started with the first melody that came to my head and said whatever it is, that’s what it’s going to be. Let’s not be precious about it” (The Story, 2011).

A

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

Gaiman sang the last song, “The Problem with Saints,” with Ben Folds on piano, because he hadn’t yet had a go on vocals and everybody else had, and also because the story needed an English accent and nobody else can sing a line like, “And the people that she hated will be neatly bifurcated and the English will no longer rule the world” quite like Neil can. Gaiman can’t really sing, despite being the front man of the Ex-Execs back in 1977. “I rapidly figured out that neither could Lou Reed or Bob Geldof or those guys. But I could certainly put across a song. It was storytelling, and I could do that. And I still can. The New York Times said I sing ‘like a novelist’ And I thought yes! I fucking do!” In the end they discovered that a song takes at least two hours to write and record. They got six songs in twelve hours and bailed at four a.m. They called the album

Nighty Night. It was a sort of twenty-fourhour comic but for music, another Noble Failure Variant. Other non-Palmer songs, such as “Post­ Mortem on Our Love,” “A Girl Needs a Knife,” and “Yeti,” were written over the years mostly for bands involving folk musician Lorraine Garland (also known as the Fabulous Lorraine, Gaiman’s former assistant) in the form of the Flash Girls with science fiction writer Emma Bull, and the Folk UnderGround. When Lorraine teamed up with Malena (Lorraine a Malena), Neil’s buxom Vampira-esque horror presenter assistant for Fox Movie Channels 13 Nights o f Fright (in which he got to introduce scary films in the lead-up to Halloween), he dragged out “Just Me and Eve” for them, a song about being chucked out of the Garden of Eden. “Like anyone else who has ever loved Gilbert and Sullivan I suspect, once in

CHapteR 6 |sitveR scReeNs

a while the urge to write a Gilbertian patter song wells up unbidden in the auctorial breast, and some years ago, I succumbed. I wrote the song for the Flash Girls, but Emma didn’t like the subject matter, so it went back to a drawer and was forgotten. When Lorraine and Malena started making music, I pulled it out of mothballs and handed it over to them (luckily Lorraine still had the back of the envelope on which I’d jotted down the chords all those years ago).” There was also One Ring Zero’s As Smart as We Are album, their critically acclaimed project in which they enlisted a bunch of famous authors to write their lyrics, and a one-off for singer-songwriter Olga Nunes called A Dream o f Gardens. And then there were rude ones in early drafts of Beowulf, songs about screwing virgins and nailing balls to walls, which he’d probably sing himself if you asked him nicely. ❖

29 1 t

mirrormask It’SHaRD to Believe tHatwHe.

A a B y R iN t H

was ReLeaseD, it wasN’t coNsmeReD a sue

T

he Dark Crystal

h a d to p p e d th e c h a rts fo u r y e a rs b e f o re it, b u t

Labyrinth

w a s so

d i s a p p o i n t i n g a t t h e b o x o f f ic e t h a t H e n s o n n e v e r d i r e c t e d a n o t h e r f i l m a g a i n . H a d h e n o t d i e d f o u r y e a r s l a t e r , h e w o u l d h a v e s e e n t h e lo v e f o r

Labyrinth

g ro w to cu lt

s ta tu s w i t h t h e o n s e t o f t h e h o m e v i d e o — t h e J i m H e n s o n C o m p a n y c e r t a i n l y d id . I n 1 9 9 9 , w h i l e l o o k i n g b a c k a t t h e i r D V D s a le s f i g u r e s , t h e y s a w t h a t b o t h

Crystal a n d Labyrinth

The Dark

w e r e h u g e l y p o p u l a r w i t h p r e t t y m u c h n o e f f o r t a t a ll o n t h e i r p a r t .

G e n e r a tio n a fte r g e n e r a tio n r e d is c o v e r e d th e m , a n d o v e r tim e th e y h a d b e c o m e cla s s ic s . The H en son

C o m p a n y w o n d e re d if th e y co u ld m a k e a n o th e r o n e , a d ir e c t-to -D V D

m o v i e , lik e a p r e q u e l t o

Dark Crystal o r

a se q u e l to

Labyrinth.

U ltim a te ly th e y d e c id e d to

m a k e s o m e t h i n g e n t i r e l y n e w b u t t h a t c o n t a i n e d t h e s a m e s p i r i t a s t h o s e o ld p u p p e t f ilm s . G a i m a n a l r e a d y h a d t i e s t o t h e J i m H e n s o n C o m p a n y s i n c e t h e y t h e o w n e d t h e f ilm a n d te l e v i s i o n r i g h t s t o

Neverwhere.

B u t e v e n so , C E O L is a H e n s o n th o u g h t th e r e w a s n o

w a y t h e y w o u l d b e a b le t o g e t a N e i l G a i m a n s c r i p t . T h e y s i m p l y c o u l d n ’t a f f o r d it: S o n y w a s p u t t in g u p j u s t f o u r m i l l i o n d o l l a r s f o r t h e p r o j e c t , w h i c h s o u n d s lik e a l o t o f m o n e y t o r e g u l a r f o l k b u t is a p i t t a n c e i n m o v i e l a n d . B u t s h e ’d s e e n D a v e M c K e a n ’s m o v i e s a n d k n e w w h a t h e w a s c a p a b l e o f o n l i t t l e - t o - n o - b u d g e t . S h e p h o n e d G a i m a n . “S h e s a i d , ‘I ’v e s e e n M c K e a n ’s f ilm s t h a t h e m a d e in h is m o t h e r ’s b a r n . D o y o u t h i n k h e c o u l d d o i t ? ’ I d o n ’t k n o w , b u t I t h i n k I c a n a s k h i m . ‘I k n o w w e c o u l d n ’t a f f o r d y o u t o w r i t e i t , b u t d o y o u

aBOVe: Gaiman and McKean during filming. opposite: Gina McKee as the Queen of Shadows.

t h i n k y o u c o u l d c o m e u p w i t h a s t o r y ? ’ I s a i d i f D a v e s a y s y e s t o d i r e c t i n g i t , I ’m g o i n g t o w r i t e it. W h y s h o u l d I l o s e t h e f u n ? ” ( K h o u r i , 2 0 0 5 ) . H a v in g d e a lt w ith H o lly w o o d e x e c u tiv e s fo r m o r e th a n a d e c a d e , c o n tin u a lly b e n d in g a n d b r e a k i n g i d e a s t o fit t h e i r m o l d , G a i m a n a n d M c K e a n w e r e g i v e n a n e w k i n d o f f r e e d o m a t H e n s o n . “T h a t w a s th e j o y o f

MirrorMask.

I w r o t e it f o r W r i t e r s ’ G u i l d T V

b a s ic , w h ic h w a s te c h n ic a lly I th in k o n e o n e -th ir tie th o f m y q u o te in H o lly w o o d a t th e p o i n t I w r o t e it. B u t t h e H e n s o n C o m p a n y w a s a b le t o o f f e r u s a n i n c r e d i b l y s i m p l e d e a l t h a t w a s v e r y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d , w h i c h w a s : ‘Y o u g e t f o u r m i l l i o n d o l l a r s t o m a k e a f a n t a s y m o v i e . W e c a n p a y y o u a b s o l u t e ly n o t h i n g , y o u ’ll b e w o r k i n g f o r b a s i c , b u t n o b o d y is g o i n g t o te ll y o u w h a t t o d o . I f w e lik e t h e s c r i p t , w e s i g n o f f o n i t , a n d y o u m a k e y o u r m o v i e . W e w a n t a f ilm lik e

Labyrinth ,

lik e

The Dark Crystal, lik e

t h e H e n s o n f ilm s w e m a d e b a c k in

t h e e ig h tie s . W e t h i n k it w o u l d b e a g o o d t h i n g t o m a k e a f a m i l y f a n t a s y m o v i e n o w . T h o s e f ilm s c o s t f o r t y m i l l i o n d o l l a r s b a c k in t h e e i g h t i e s . W e h a v e f o u r m i l l i o n d o l l a r s n o w . A ll w e c a n o ff e r y o u is y o u w i l l n e v e r h a v e t o s it t h e r e a t a t a b l e w h i l e a b u n c h o f p e o p l e in s u its te ll y o u h o w y o u ’r e g o i n g t o c h a n g e y o u r s c r i p t . W r i t e u s a s c r i p t , w e ’ll s ig n o f f o n it, a n d w e ’ll b e i n b u s i n e s s ’” ( K h o u r i , 2 0 0 5 ) . A s f o r M c K e a n , h e l o v e d t h e b u d g e t . H e lo v e s a c e i l i n g , a n d h e lo v e s h a v i n g b a r s t o p u s h a g a i n s t . It w a s , i f n o t h i n g e ls e , a c h a l le n g e .

t 292

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

mirrormask It’SHaRD to Believe tHatwHe.

A a B y R iN t H

was ReLeaseD, it wasN’t coNsmeReD a sue

T

he Dark Crystal

h a d to p p e d th e c h a rts fo u r y e a rs b e f o re it, b u t

Labyrinth

w a s so

d i s a p p o i n t i n g a t t h e b o x o f f ic e t h a t H e n s o n n e v e r d i r e c t e d a n o t h e r f i l m a g a i n . H a d h e n o t d i e d f o u r y e a r s l a t e r , h e w o u l d h a v e s e e n t h e lo v e f o r

Labyrinth

g ro w to cu lt

s ta tu s w i t h t h e o n s e t o f t h e h o m e v i d e o — t h e J i m H e n s o n C o m p a n y c e r t a i n l y d id . I n 1 9 9 9 , w h i l e l o o k i n g b a c k a t t h e i r D V D s a le s f i g u r e s , t h e y s a w t h a t b o t h

Crystal a n d Labyrinth

The Dark

w e r e h u g e l y p o p u l a r w i t h p r e t t y m u c h n o e f f o r t a t a ll o n t h e i r p a r t .

G e n e r a tio n a fte r g e n e r a tio n r e d is c o v e r e d th e m , a n d o v e r tim e th e y h a d b e c o m e cla s s ic s . The H en son

C o m p a n y w o n d e re d if th e y co u ld m a k e a n o th e r o n e , a d ir e c t-to -D V D

m o v i e , lik e a p r e q u e l t o

Dark Crystal o r

a se q u e l to

Labyrinth.

U ltim a te ly th e y d e c id e d to

m a k e s o m e t h i n g e n t i r e l y n e w b u t t h a t c o n t a i n e d t h e s a m e s p i r i t a s t h o s e o ld p u p p e t f ilm s . G a i m a n a l r e a d y h a d t i e s t o t h e J i m H e n s o n C o m p a n y s i n c e t h e y t h e o w n e d t h e f ilm a n d te l e v i s i o n r i g h t s t o

Neverwhere.

B u t e v e n so , C E O L is a H e n s o n th o u g h t th e r e w a s n o

w a y t h e y w o u l d b e a b le t o g e t a N e i l G a i m a n s c r i p t . T h e y s i m p l y c o u l d n ’t a f f o r d it: S o n y w a s p u t t in g u p j u s t f o u r m i l l i o n d o l l a r s f o r t h e p r o j e c t , w h i c h s o u n d s lik e a l o t o f m o n e y t o r e g u l a r f o l k b u t is a p i t t a n c e i n m o v i e l a n d . B u t s h e ’d s e e n D a v e M c K e a n ’s m o v i e s a n d k n e w w h a t h e w a s c a p a b l e o f o n l i t t l e - t o - n o - b u d g e t . S h e p h o n e d G a i m a n . “S h e s a i d , ‘I ’v e s e e n M c K e a n ’s f ilm s t h a t h e m a d e in h is m o t h e r ’s b a r n . D o y o u t h i n k h e c o u l d d o i t ? ’ I d o n ’t k n o w , b u t I t h i n k I c a n a s k h i m . ‘I k n o w w e c o u l d n ’t a f f o r d y o u t o w r i t e i t , b u t d o y o u

aBOVe: Gaiman and McKean during filming. opposite: Gina McKee as the Queen of Shadows.

t h i n k y o u c o u l d c o m e u p w i t h a s t o r y ? ’ I s a i d i f D a v e s a y s y e s t o d i r e c t i n g i t , I ’m g o i n g t o w r i t e it. W h y s h o u l d I l o s e t h e f u n ? ” ( K h o u r i , 2 0 0 5 ) . H a v in g d e a lt w ith H o lly w o o d e x e c u tiv e s fo r m o r e th a n a d e c a d e , c o n tin u a lly b e n d in g a n d b r e a k i n g i d e a s t o fit t h e i r m o l d , G a i m a n a n d M c K e a n w e r e g i v e n a n e w k i n d o f f r e e d o m a t H e n s o n . “T h a t w a s th e j o y o f

MirrorMask.

I w r o t e it f o r W r i t e r s ’ G u i l d T V

b a s ic , w h ic h w a s te c h n ic a lly I th in k o n e o n e -th ir tie th o f m y q u o te in H o lly w o o d a t th e p o i n t I w r o t e it. B u t t h e H e n s o n C o m p a n y w a s a b le t o o f f e r u s a n i n c r e d i b l y s i m p l e d e a l t h a t w a s v e r y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d , w h i c h w a s : ‘Y o u g e t f o u r m i l l i o n d o l l a r s t o m a k e a f a n t a s y m o v i e . W e c a n p a y y o u a b s o l u t e ly n o t h i n g , y o u ’ll b e w o r k i n g f o r b a s i c , b u t n o b o d y is g o i n g t o te ll y o u w h a t t o d o . I f w e lik e t h e s c r i p t , w e s i g n o f f o n i t , a n d y o u m a k e y o u r m o v i e . W e w a n t a f ilm lik e

Labyrinth ,

lik e

The Dark Crystal, lik e

t h e H e n s o n f ilm s w e m a d e b a c k in

t h e e ig h tie s . W e t h i n k it w o u l d b e a g o o d t h i n g t o m a k e a f a m i l y f a n t a s y m o v i e n o w . T h o s e f ilm s c o s t f o r t y m i l l i o n d o l l a r s b a c k in t h e e i g h t i e s . W e h a v e f o u r m i l l i o n d o l l a r s n o w . A ll w e c a n o ff e r y o u is y o u w i l l n e v e r h a v e t o s it t h e r e a t a t a b l e w h i l e a b u n c h o f p e o p l e in s u its te ll y o u h o w y o u ’r e g o i n g t o c h a n g e y o u r s c r i p t . W r i t e u s a s c r i p t , w e ’ll s ig n o f f o n it, a n d w e ’ll b e i n b u s i n e s s ’” ( K h o u r i , 2 0 0 5 ) . A s f o r M c K e a n , h e l o v e d t h e b u d g e t . H e lo v e s a c e i l i n g , a n d h e lo v e s h a v i n g b a r s t o p u s h a g a i n s t . It w a s , i f n o t h i n g e ls e , a c h a l le n g e .

t 292

tHe aRt of Neil gaimaN

I u n d e r s to o d w h y e v e ry th in g h a d b e e n cu t.

h u g . I lo v e d th e id e a o f c o n c re tiz in g th a t

I t h i n k D a v e G o e l z v o i c e d S ir D i d y m u s , s o

m e t a p h o r ; m a k i n g t h i s a ll h a p p e n a t t h a t

S ir D i d y m u s s o u n d e d a l o t lik e t h e G r e a t

c u s p m o m e n t w h e r e s h e ’s r e a l l y u n d e r t h e

G o n z o in t h e v e r s i o n I saw .” I t f e d b a c k in t o

g u n a n d u n d e r a n in c re d ib le a m o u n t o f

w h a t th e y w e re w ritin g d u rin g th e d a y —

p re ssu re ” (K h o u ri, 2 0 0 5 ).

s e c tio n s

o f L a b y r in th

DNA

s p l ic e d

“W e b o t h t a l k e d a b o u t w h a t w e lik e d a b o u t L a b y r in th , a n d w e b o th

h a d tw o w e e k s to d o it in , h a d b r o u g h t

s t o r y to k n o w it h a d a b e g in n in g , a

a l o n g h e a d s f u ll o f i d e a s : G a i m a n w i t h a

m id d le , a n d a n e n d , a n d j u s t s t a r t

P r in c e a n d th e P a u p e r v a ria tio n , a n id e a

w r i t in g a n d s e e w h a t h a p p e n e d . S t a r t

a b o u t a g irl w h o w as p a r t o f a tra v e lin g

m a k i n g s t u f f u p, h a v i n g f u n .

th e a te r

w ho

had

a

s ic k

m om ,

We

w h ile

to k n o w

a ls o

en ou gh

d is c o v e r e d

b e in g

c lo s e

c o lla b o r a to r s s in c e 1 9 8 6 , th e y h a d n e v e r

It w as

w arm ,

it w a s

p rim a ry

G i n a M c K e e is s i c k in a h o s p i t a l b e d , o r in

L a b y r i n t h a n d T h e D a r k C r y s t a l, w a s

d ark,

th e

F r o u d w o u l d d e s i g n , b u t in t h e e n d

and

d ark

w a s g o in g to d ir e c t s o m e th in g it w a s

clo ck w o rk

d o lls

g o in g

g irlh o o d

a

on on

b u n ch

sid e

and

young

b e in g

o th e r,

and

y o u ’r e

c h a r m , w a k e th e q u e e n , sa v e th e w o rld .

one th e

o f d e c isio n s

and

sw a llo w e d

I t’s a w o r l d

so rt

by

sh ad o w s.

t h a t is

F in d

creep y

and

about w ho

s in g a b r o k e n m u s ic b o x v e rs io n o f B u r t

you

are, w h a t y o u

are,

and

g o ld e n , o n e w h e re

e v e ry b o d y re a liz e d th a t if M cK e a n

o f in te r n a lly p r o c e s s in g a b u n c h o f s tu ff

th a t lin e r ig h t a t th e b e g in n in g w h e r e h e r

a

m o m s a y s a ll t h e s e k i d s w o u l d l o v e t o r u n

c a p t u r e d in b u t t e r f l y n e t s a n d m o l t p a g e s

F eb ru ary

o ff a n d jo in th e c ir c u s a n d H e le n a say s,

w hen

d e p r e s s e d . E v e r y f r a m e l o o k s lik e

S o n y a n d B r i a n a n d h is w if e , W e n d y

‘G r e a t ! I w a n t t o r u n a w a y a n d j o i n r e a l

D ave

M cK ean

life’” ( K h o u r i , 2 0 0 5 ) .

t h a t is w h a t i t is : m o s t o f i t e x i s t s o n l y

l o o s e l y b a s e d o n t h e o ld C e l t i c f o lk

a s a n i m a t i o n , a d r a w i n g b r o u g h t t o life .

b a l l a d “ T a m L in ,” in w h i c h T a m L i n

The

a

is r e s c u e d b y h is t r u e l o v e f r o m t h e

w o r l d o f M c K e a n ’s o w n m a k i n g . I n s t e a d

q u e e n o f th e fa irie s . G a im a n w r o te

j t had neVer ottured to

ro o m

of

f u ll

g re e n

of

either o f uS we tou ld n t 00

books

are

th e re

over

th a t

s im p ly

a cto rs

m ask s.

lib ra ria n

p re s id e s

a rtw o rk

p u p p e ts ,

p a p ie r-m a c h e

$

fly in g

ro o m

H e n s o n ’s

F ry

get

b ecau se

a d r i f t in

a re

M cK ean

e n d le s s

says

th a t

w a s n ’t

in te re s te d

in

co m m u n ica tio n

ra th e r

th a n

a f ig h t w i t h h e r m o t h e r . L a t e r h e r m o t h e r

h a v i n g i t l o o k lik e a n i n d i v i d u a l m a d e it,” h e sa id ( K h o u r i, 2 0 0 5 ) . The

t h o u g h t w a s a b s o lu t e l y t h e w e i r d e s t

“W h a t w a s f u n w a s w h e n w e h a n d e d in

s to ry

“I

o f keys

w as

in te re s te d

and

ch a rm s

w a s a g r a n d p ia n o , a n d h e h a d th e

H e le n a b e c a u s e s o m e tim e s in th e

sc rip t

t h e S ig n a l to N o is e r a d i o p l a y i n 1 9 9 6 . I t is

w o r k v e r y h a p p i l y in s e p a r a t e o ffic e s

b e s t t im e p l a y i n g t h e g r a n d p i a n o .

s h e ’s r e a c t i n g lik e a k i d

so m e tim e s

h a u n t i n g i n t h e s a m e w a y a s o l o v i o l i n in

and

A n d w e ’d m e e t in lo u n g e in t h e m id d le .

s h e ’s r e a c t i n g a s a y o u n g w o m a n .’ T h a t ’s t h e

I t w a s o n ly w h e n w e c a m e to w o r k

and

th e y w a tc h e d

th e

fifte e n -y e a r-o ld ,

even

a

te n /e le v e n -y e a r-

t h r e e - h o u r firs t c u t o f L a b y r in t h to g e th e r,

o l d , t h e r e a r e p o i n t s w h e r e t h e y ’r e t w e n t y -

m eth o d s.

w h ic h

fiv e a n d p o i n t s w h e n

to

d o e v e r y t h in g w ith lit tle c a r d s b e f o r e

tH e a R t o f N e il g a im a N

had

fe a tu re d

m any

la te r t r im m e d ,

scen es

and

th e

and

“i n

th e

a n e m p t y t u n n e l is h a u n t i n g .

w h o l e p o i n t w h e n y o u ’v e g o t a f o u r t e e n /

w e h a d c o m p le t e ly o p p o s i t e w r it in g o p p o s it e

reco v ered ,

th e n

m e n i n g i t i s .”

and

r o o m , b e c a u s e w e ’d n e v e r tr ie d . W e ’d

w a n ted

and by

p a s s a g e w a y s is a c c o m p a n i e d b y a n e q u a lly s t r a n g e s c o r e c o u r t e s y o f I a in B a l l a m y , w h o

D ave

tw o

“e a t e n

a f ilm

in

h a d w o rk e d w ith M c K e a n p re v io u sly o n

c o m p le t e ly

a b o u t d o in g

In

w ith

c o m p u te rs

c o u l d h a v e R a d i o 4 p l a y i n g in t h e

c o rp o ra tio n s .

t h e S o n y p e o p l e w a s , ‘W e d o n ’t q u i t e g e t

And

slo w ly

or

m et

lo o k f r o m th e b e g in n in g , a d ire c t h u m a n In t h e i r s c r i p t , t e e n a g e r H e l e n a C a m p ­

th e s c rip t, th e im m e d ia te re s p o n s e f ro m

m eth o d s.

o u tlin e

p ro je ct w as

happen.

w a n te d it to h a v e th e p a in te rly , h a n d m a d e

t h in g t h a t h e h a d e v e r s e e n , a n d h e

c r e a t in g

ta lk

d id n ’t G a im a n

t h a t I d e fin it e ly h a d n o t b e e n f i r e d a n d

d iffe re n t— h e

and

n ig h ts

F ro u d , to

an

it

2003,

any

b e ll ( S t e p h a n i e L e o n i d a s i n t h e f i l m ) h a s

a few

and

s u m m e r w a s to ld b y th e S o n y p e o p le

and I

O ver

m o v ie

He

w e n t u p to t h e th ir d f l o o r w h e r e t h e r e

on M irro rM a s k th a t w e d is c o v e r ed

a

e v e n w i t h a b u d g e t t e n t i m e s t h e s iz e o f

e ith e r

n ig h t.

B u t i t w a s n ’t t h e o n l y t i m e G a i m a n w a s a ll s e t t o w o r k w i t h F r o u d o n

M ir r o r M a s k t h e f i l m w o u l d n ’t h a v e l o o k e d

o f u s w e c o u ld n ’t w o r k in t h e s a m e

ev ery

and

p la y e d

c o l l a p s e s , is t a k e n o f f i n a n a m b u l a n c e , a n d

th e p h o n e

M c K e a n ’s v i s i o n ,

B a c h a r a c h ’s “C l o s e S te p h e n

Y o u .” A

be

m e , t h e k e y t o H e l e n a ’s i d e n t i t y w a s j u s t

by

to

to

F r o u d w a s p u s h e d o u t.

w h e t h e r t h a t ’s w h a t y o u w a n t t o b e . F o r

g u ilt c o n s u m e s o u r h e ro .

on

b o th

have

b a c k g r o u n d a n d t h e n tu n e it o u t. A n d

be

on

lo o s e ly p a r t o f th e p la n . T h e id e a

I w o u ld s it a n d w o r k . W h ic h D a v e

to

a rtis t

w a s th a t M c K e a n w o u ld d ir e c t a n d

a c tu a lly w o rk e d in t h e s a m e r o o m to g e th e r.

n ev er occu rred

con cep t

H e l e n a s d r e a m w o r l d s h e is a q u e e n o n h e r

T h e y d i s c o v e r e d t h e y c o u l d n ’t d o it.

It h a d

t 294

a n a lo g u e s o f p e o p le sh e k n o w s . T h e a c tre s s

as p a re n ts

I ca lle d m y a g e n t a n d a sk ed if th a t

to t h e b a s e m e n t , w h ic h w a s a k it c h e n .

D e s p ite

of th e

m e a n t I ’d b e e n f ir e d , a n d h e s a i d y e s .”

hou se an d

happened.

F ro u d ,

t h a t ’s g e n e r a l l y w h e r e t h e m o n e y g o e s . H e

a b s o lu t e l y d iffe r e n t . S o I w e n t d o w n

th in g

B ria n

o f f ic ia lly

d ire cto r

w hat

w e w a n t e d in a p l a c e to w o r k w a s

sa t d o w n to w o rk , a s tra n g e

and

m a k in g th in g s th a t lo o k e d p h o to re a l, a n d

a c ircu s a n d m a sk s

e n v isio n e d

M ir r o r M a s k ,

d e s ig n e r

o f th e th in g s

work in th e Sajm roojk·

a n d tw o m o t h e r s . B u t o n c e t h e y g o t to th e

M cK ean

a s tra n g e co lla g e d d r e a m p la c e p o p u la te d b y

s o le

to

a b o u t th e

th a t

th e

th e

e d ito r

a lo t o f th in g s

t h e y ’d c h a n g e d . “ I lik e d i t b e t t e r , a l t h o u g h

are

p o in ts w h e n

a n d th e re

t h e y ’r e

t h e y ’r e

s ix ! T h e r e

young

a re p o in ts w h e n

w om en,

th e y n e e d

a

·»}>