Icing on the Cape: Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?
While my first two novels were an homage to sci-fi/dystopia with noir undertones and classic hardboiled cinema (Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat) and surreal, slipstream fantasy (One Hundred Years of Vicissitude), this latest tome pays respect to two things I love the most — one of them being 1930s-40s noir detective stories.
In particular that written by Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye) and Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man) and the film adaptations by rather brilliant directors like John Huston, Robert Altman and Howard Hawks.
But I have a confession to make to anyone who’ll listen — I also adore 1960s comicbooks and am obsessed with comic artist Jack ‘King’ Kirby. A bit, anyway. His work for Marvel in the ’60s, the so-called Silver Age or pop art era, remains mind-boggling for me 50 years after it was first drafted.
READ MORE HERE.
In particular that written by Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye) and Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man) and the film adaptations by rather brilliant directors like John Huston, Robert Altman and Howard Hawks.
But I have a confession to make to anyone who’ll listen — I also adore 1960s comicbooks and am obsessed with comic artist Jack ‘King’ Kirby. A bit, anyway. His work for Marvel in the ’60s, the so-called Silver Age or pop art era, remains mind-boggling for me 50 years after it was first drafted.
READ MORE HERE.
Flash in Japan: Cape Capers
I have a wee confession to make.
Even though I live left-of-centre in the heart of Tokyo (actually Setagaya, about 25 minutes by train from Shibuya), lately I haven’t been thinking about Japan at all. My brain has shelved lingua franca, ignored the neon signage, sushi train restaurants, the manga and anime - heck, even the saké.
Instead, I’ve had my head stuck in comicbooks. And, yes, I do put the two words together (“comic” + “book” = “comicbook”) since I recently saw Stan Lee’s rant on Twitter about doing so. No that I’m having a go at Lee regarding said rant.
What he said rang true, and the truth is I’ve been pretty much a life-long fan of The Man.
My next novel, which I actually just finished writing this week (I’m still editing and tweaking it into better shape) is called Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?...and it’s an homage to what Stan Lee established at Marvel in the 1960s - the so-called Silver Age of comicbooks - aided and abetted by creative types like Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Syd Shores, John and Sal Buscema, Barry Windsor-Smith, Artie Simek, George Roussos and Sammy Rosen.
READ MORE HERE.
Even though I live left-of-centre in the heart of Tokyo (actually Setagaya, about 25 minutes by train from Shibuya), lately I haven’t been thinking about Japan at all. My brain has shelved lingua franca, ignored the neon signage, sushi train restaurants, the manga and anime - heck, even the saké.
Instead, I’ve had my head stuck in comicbooks. And, yes, I do put the two words together (“comic” + “book” = “comicbook”) since I recently saw Stan Lee’s rant on Twitter about doing so. No that I’m having a go at Lee regarding said rant.
What he said rang true, and the truth is I’ve been pretty much a life-long fan of The Man.
My next novel, which I actually just finished writing this week (I’m still editing and tweaking it into better shape) is called Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?...and it’s an homage to what Stan Lee established at Marvel in the 1960s - the so-called Silver Age of comicbooks - aided and abetted by creative types like Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Syd Shores, John and Sal Buscema, Barry Windsor-Smith, Artie Simek, George Roussos and Sammy Rosen.
READ MORE HERE.
Interview @ the Middle East & Asia Comic Collectors Club
Chandler and Hammett stand out for me—I constantly re-read their work. I love the snappy dialogue and the offbeat characters, the cynicism and the humour. It’s hard to believe that The Maltese Falcon was published in 1930.
But the thing that shaped my childhood was the garden-variety comic book. I was always mostly a Marvel fan, forever enamoured with the written words of Stan Lee in collusion with Jack Kirby (script/pencils) and Joe Sinnott (inks) when they together worked a kind of magic on the mid 1960s direction of Fantastic Four from #44 (which coincided with the unveiling of the Inhumans). I also love The Avengers yarns in 1968 concocted by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema—along with the astounding artistic inroads of both Kirby and Jim Steranko later that decade on Captain America and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I should also throw in here mention of DC Comics’ Mr. District Attorney, the Skrull Kill Krew, Marvel’s Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid, Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie, DC’s Secret Hearts #83 (the issue Roy Lichtenstein plundered for his painting ‘Drowning Girl’), Tintin, Warren Publishing’s Eerie comics, Wonder Woman, Barbarella creator Jean-Claude Forest, Judge Dredd, even Uncle Scrooge comic #17—all of these things pack some kind of punch in my next novel, a 473-page beast that pays as much homage to superheroes and comic books as it does things noir and hardboiled, and will be published through Perfect Edge Books in the UK.
READ MORE HERE.
But the thing that shaped my childhood was the garden-variety comic book. I was always mostly a Marvel fan, forever enamoured with the written words of Stan Lee in collusion with Jack Kirby (script/pencils) and Joe Sinnott (inks) when they together worked a kind of magic on the mid 1960s direction of Fantastic Four from #44 (which coincided with the unveiling of the Inhumans). I also love The Avengers yarns in 1968 concocted by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema—along with the astounding artistic inroads of both Kirby and Jim Steranko later that decade on Captain America and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I should also throw in here mention of DC Comics’ Mr. District Attorney, the Skrull Kill Krew, Marvel’s Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid, Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie, DC’s Secret Hearts #83 (the issue Roy Lichtenstein plundered for his painting ‘Drowning Girl’), Tintin, Warren Publishing’s Eerie comics, Wonder Woman, Barbarella creator Jean-Claude Forest, Judge Dredd, even Uncle Scrooge comic #17—all of these things pack some kind of punch in my next novel, a 473-page beast that pays as much homage to superheroes and comic books as it does things noir and hardboiled, and will be published through Perfect Edge Books in the UK.
READ MORE HERE.
Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Andrez Bergen
I have a few different projects in the mix. Chief among these is novel #3, titled Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?
It’s a superhero romp with its heart torn between 1930s/40s detective noir – with the accompanying golden years of comic books – and the more street-smart, flippant silver age pop art of Marvel in the ’60s (which I actually prefer since I grew up with this). In some ways it’s also my love letter to Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Jim Steranko and those creative types at Marvel in the ’60s.
The novel brings something full circle for me, since I really wanted to be a comic writer/artist when I was in high school, and the central character is someone I created back then and actually ran by Stan Lee – who dug it, but had retired, and the newer editor-in-chief wasn’t so keen. Long story. Hopefully the novel is shorter! But I’m right into it, finished the first draft, and currently working on the second.
READ MORE HERE.
It’s a superhero romp with its heart torn between 1930s/40s detective noir – with the accompanying golden years of comic books – and the more street-smart, flippant silver age pop art of Marvel in the ’60s (which I actually prefer since I grew up with this). In some ways it’s also my love letter to Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Jim Steranko and those creative types at Marvel in the ’60s.
The novel brings something full circle for me, since I really wanted to be a comic writer/artist when I was in high school, and the central character is someone I created back then and actually ran by Stan Lee – who dug it, but had retired, and the newer editor-in-chief wasn’t so keen. Long story. Hopefully the novel is shorter! But I’m right into it, finished the first draft, and currently working on the second.
READ MORE HERE.
The Momus Report: Assimilating Golden Age Comic Book Character Captain Freedom
It may come as some surprise that one of the central references in this novel points to a character the creator of which nobody actually knows.
Captain Freedom first appeared in print in May 1941, inside Speed Comics #13—a product of Brookwood Publications soon acquired by Harvey Comics. Yes, the very same people who put out Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Baby Huey and Wendy the Good Little Witch.
Our baptismal hero wasn't even on the cover; that honour was reserved for someone since completely forgotten, Shock Gibson, a.k.a. the Human Dynamo. And Captain Freedom appeared hot on the heels of a similarly star-spangled officer-of-same-rank: The hugely popular Captain America, whose first issue was published in March of '41, via Marvel predecessor Timely Comics.
Patriotic, if occasionally copycat superheroes were de rigueur during World War II, pumped out in millions of ten-cent, 60+ page packages by the sweatshop-like publishing houses in New York—providing not just amusement for the kids back home, but urgent propaganda for the overseas American armed forces.
READ MORE HERE.
Captain Freedom first appeared in print in May 1941, inside Speed Comics #13—a product of Brookwood Publications soon acquired by Harvey Comics. Yes, the very same people who put out Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Baby Huey and Wendy the Good Little Witch.
Our baptismal hero wasn't even on the cover; that honour was reserved for someone since completely forgotten, Shock Gibson, a.k.a. the Human Dynamo. And Captain Freedom appeared hot on the heels of a similarly star-spangled officer-of-same-rank: The hugely popular Captain America, whose first issue was published in March of '41, via Marvel predecessor Timely Comics.
Patriotic, if occasionally copycat superheroes were de rigueur during World War II, pumped out in millions of ten-cent, 60+ page packages by the sweatshop-like publishing houses in New York—providing not just amusement for the kids back home, but urgent propaganda for the overseas American armed forces.
READ MORE HERE.
Loitering With Intent: The influences of Miss Fury & Tarpé Mills
One of the more meaningful characters in my next novel Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa? (to be published in September 2013) is actually an inanimate one.
We’re talking up a doll—which probably augers poorly for the book in question and isn’t the best advertisement for what I’m supposed to be hawking here. Disclaimers aside, this doll is the childhood plaything of central character Louise Starkwell, a bank clerk at the Warbucks & Erewhon Union Trust Bank, and it has a name: Tarpé Mills.
A reason for the meaningful nature of this pre-plastic thing made from glue mixed with sawdust is in nicking its moniker from another Tarpé Mills—the flesh-and-blood woman, real name June Mills, who created comic book daredevil Miss Fury way back in April 1941.
READ MORE HERE.
We’re talking up a doll—which probably augers poorly for the book in question and isn’t the best advertisement for what I’m supposed to be hawking here. Disclaimers aside, this doll is the childhood plaything of central character Louise Starkwell, a bank clerk at the Warbucks & Erewhon Union Trust Bank, and it has a name: Tarpé Mills.
A reason for the meaningful nature of this pre-plastic thing made from glue mixed with sawdust is in nicking its moniker from another Tarpé Mills—the flesh-and-blood woman, real name June Mills, who created comic book daredevil Miss Fury way back in April 1941.
READ MORE HERE.
Andrez Bergen - Writer Updates Nov. 2012
Right now I’m wrapping up novel #3, Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?, which at 82,000+ words is the longest one I’ve written thus far. It’s a double-homage to 1960s Marvel comics and 1930s/40s noir, as well as bearing a dystopic edge since it’s partially based in the Melbourne of Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat. More news over the next few months — I have a lot of editing, rejigging and rewriting to go.
READ MORE HERE.
READ MORE HERE.