So, tired of the same old super stuff, and crime comics. Want a comic book series that’s kind of out there, in there, and in between. well, that is the drive behind a new series coming from Image Comics on February 19th, 2020. Called Slow City Blues, this wild blend of noir, talking animals and weirdness blends several genres, and gives them a shot of caffeine. I recently got to talk to Sam Haine the series creator, and comics legend Jim Shooter, who is the series editor, and found out how this out of the park project came about. Their response are in bold.
How did this comic come about?
Haine: Oh I think like a lot of them do
Shooter: Just give The Reader’s Digest version.
Haine: Yeah, right, like a lot of things do, out of spite. You know I almost got a job at a comic book company, or, excuse me a video game company, that we won’t name. But they let you know they said we’ll let you know either way where you got the job, you know we love this, love these like you got something you know you’re young and it happened six years ago never heard anything, never a phone call, never an email. And I thought to myself, hey I want to do this, I could do this. And, so you know they had a head like a noir property like I could write noir, and I never written a noir. And it was exciting you know was something new different, a little scary. One day my brain opened up and the idea popped out, not the whole finished product, Jim will attest to that.
Shooter: Yeah
Haine:But it popped out and I was working at a Mexican restaurant at the time you know and I was on EBT which is like, the California version of food stamps, and so I was just really scraping by because L.A. here is an expensive city, you know, so I’m just cobbling together and I cobbled together fifteen hundred, you know I save up fifteen hundred dollars I get the first set of pages commission that ended up getting vastly changed as we mix everything out we tossed a lot out and thanks you know evolved and got honed. And I brought it to John Livesay and my now- producing- partner and so I brought it to John Livesay, and he went it’s a pretty good idea the, the story let me see what kind of legs it has. Okay cool like well I’m going to do is my first comic like we’ll, will put it out. And then he brings it to Jim freaking Shooter. As if there couldn’t be any higher stakes. Like oh great, for especially, for my first outing thanks ,thanks, John. You know because, we’ve known him for a little while at time, and I try to get it as ready as possible and thankfully Jim took mercy on me. you know like alright, I now was enrolled into the Jim Shooter School of storytelling and we got to work ,you know. And Jim is going to be modest and he’s going to downplay his involvement but we wouldn’t have an ending if it weren’t for Jim, we wouldn’t know the logic in a lot of the hard logic of the world if it wasn’t for Jim we I wouldn’t have stuck the landing on this first story arc in issue 6 if it wasn’t for Jim. You know he’s a legend for a reason and damn it if it doesn’t hold up. And if they like it’s all true you know the talent is all it’s all there.Still besides myself that I get to work I get a work with Jim Shooter here’s a bartender of slinging beers and I get to work with Jim ,this doesn’t make sense. So, it’s time the team it’s like and it’s all John’s, all because of John, he puts his team together. Jim and I didn’t give him an option he had to ink, he’s one of the best. After a while we got we found Shawn, you know and his eye his eye for action and his eye for expressionism you know especially with Mook the skunk is John is John Loris, his partner that skunk, for a second to none and he pulled JD and out of self retirement he put this amazing team together you know and and it it’s just this surreal thing you know and I don’t I’m saying a lot of words right now but honestly they can’t describe the feeling you know this surreal feeling of gratitude that I had toward everybody involved right and kind of building I watch image bete noire and surreal.
The initial plot summary and some of the promo images seem to have some serious pulp and Ralph Bashki-psychedelic elements there, were those influences?
Shooter: I haven’t heard the name Ralph Bakshi for a long time but yeah good you got it.
Haine: Yeah I mean on it it’s true and I say yeah there’s a good documentary on Ralph on YouTube and I just watch I watched it again but it very is that’s that’s a really good pull damn, well it’s a really was a really powerful.
Shooter: Yeah I worked with him,I know.
Haine: What oh that’s great I had no idea Jim.
Shooter: I’ve been around
Haine: Definitely I definitely if I think it’s you know especially the world that we get to play in you know it’s a very much a pastiche of all these different influences and all these different you know great, greater creators.
Shooter: I don’t think Ralph actually was such an influence but I do think he’s a kindred spirit, you know I mean I think this is that’s one of the things attracted to me and this is also original so you know what, wild and never see anything like this before it’s it’s really good and Sam how a lot of the pieces, he didn’t have the whole thing assembled yet they a lot of the pieces when I when they asked me to read it and I said boy this is just good stuff it just needs you know it needs the Jim’s teller Shooter storytelling school. Which isn’t really the Jim Shooter storytelling school it’s the it’s the Mort Weisinger, Stan Lee, Curt Swan, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and pretty much every all and what else you can name. Russ Heath, because I worked with all of these guys. Wally Wood, Gil Kane, I listened to every word they said you know and, and I learned and so I had the greatest teachers ever you know and you know paid attention and then tried to pass it on to Sam. you know say hey here’s what they told you know and a lot of it I think when he you know he sees it and then we you know we have a meeting of the minds and I think as a result you know like they’re things of course, it’s gone pretty well and it that looks good.
Mr. Shooter, what attracted you to this story?
Shooter: Well if they worked for me and with me a number of times and so he when he called me up. Because I would give a look at this sure of course so I looked at and like I said I found it was it was it’s just it’s really brilliant stuff and and you know it but needed what I do which is I do architecture you know its architecture as well as art. And you know most of the time, when I had people working for me, they had the art part down they, just didn’t have the architecture. So, I, you know, I try to get people to just you know make it make sense. And in Hollywood they use the expression do the math you know.
And that’s exactly what we have to do and and so, so anyway and then I told them what I thought and then making but the two of them came back to me and said you know we want to have some kind of consulting arrangement with you. And so we worked support to that and it was easy and and I’ve been trying to help ever since. I mean they do all the heavy lifting and I have, that I’m in the wonderful position of just being able to look at other peoples work and say ‘oh no I don’t think that’s right’. We’re just ,which is great, because it’s you know makes you or it’s art, but I’m really impressed with where this has come from the beginning dude, I mean it started with a lot of great ideas and and it’s all kind of taken shape.
Also to Mr. Shooter, With all of the copy and paste ideas that seem to permeate the current comic industry, is it hard to bring to market something new and original?
Shooter:Yeah, I think that, you know, I look around a lot of this stuff and it’s so derivative, you know it’s like every it’s another version of what you’ve seen before. And you know, I think that I’m looking for the next revolution and this may be the beginning of it. You know I when I was a kid, you know the big comic books were DC Comics, and and then all of a sudden in 1961 this these newfangled Marvel comics come along and they were they were revolutionary and so I think we need another one of those right now.
Why publish through Image?
Shooter: They know what they’re doing there.
Haine: Yeah
Shooter: They later made a good arrangement with us the I really like Eric Stevens and I think he’s I think it’s a very very smart guy knows what he’s doing I think it’s a good ,it’s a good home.
Haine: Yeah I mean they let you know they like creators create, and they let us own it, you know they let us keep the ownership. You know we’ve put thousands upon thousands of ,you know, hours of blood sweat and tears into this. You know and they’re giving they’re giving us a platform, you know and I think that’s was what the intent of Image was in the beginning. right was to let it be a company of creators, by creators, for creators, of creators and you know and we get this wonderful, they have this wonderfully diverse catalog you know and it’s like who wouldn’t want to be a part of that you know. Walking Dead, Saga, East and West all of you know all these massive hits. You know The Maxx, Spawn like it’s it’s a no-brainer, like Jim said,it, and it’s an honor you know have to be working with Jim and Eric and have now have the backing and the blessing from all these people. Again. It’s surreal it really is.
In conclusion,where do you see the world of Slow City Blues going?
Haine: I have the second one right now it’s a bit longer than the first one you know, it’s a fractal theory kind of dictate, we have a definite end in sight.
Jim came in and gave that to us you know, it turned from this nebulous, like uh maybe this guy think he goes no, no, no, this right here, no we can learn.
Shooter: Here’s where you’re going with it.
Haine: Exactly, a limit and it’s made it so much easier to move toward, and so there’s a lot of this you know you the characters get more complex and you bring in more people in the world gets wider and deeper you know and more action more character more, character juiciness and so where we’re going next is the next story arc and it’s emo, it’s just as is crazy, it’s just as kooky, it’s just this narratively satisfying I’d like to think, you know, so we’re all excited for it, for all of it at least I am.
Shooter: No I think we all are
Look for this taste of newness in 2020 at your local comic shop. Folow their social media: Insta & Twitter: @scbcomic .
2020 February 19th is the first issues