For six plus years now, I’ve been occupying a spot as colorist on the Vertigo title, DMZ. I’ve worked on hundreds of comic books and this is definitely one of my favorites. This past Wednesday, I made my way to my local comic store and picked up the last issue. Issue 72. That’s a record for me. I colored a ton of Catwoman comics and a number of Promethea comics, but not 72 issues. Well, 71 to be exact. Brian, the writer handled all the art chores on one of the 72. I get free comp copies of all the comics I color, but I’ve been going to comic stores for years now and I still like the feeling of picking the books up and buying them at the actual comic shop. Call me crazy. I didn’t know what I was going to feel seeing the last issue, but I couldn’t help but smile. Lots and lots of smiles. I probably looked strange to the people I passed as I walked to my car, the clerk at the pet store that was ringing up the crickets for my gecko and spider or the waitress as I sat down for breakfast at lunch time. Just lots of smiles. I’m not sure what it was. A sense of accomplishment, a sense of pride, joy in rewinding all of those issues and all of their individual stories in my head. I can’t explain it and then I thought to myself, I don’t want to explain it. I just want to enjoy it like I imagine everyone else has that have liked the book.
DMZ is not really a book to smile about. Dystopian future New York is not necessarily party material. Unless you’re into that kind of party, I guess. But you know what, good comics are something to smile about. Take me out of the equation, and this is a damn fine comic book. The book totally works with out color. Great lettering, great artwork, good personal stories, nice character development, politically engaging, put together well, cohesive. This book rocks.
Okay, put me back in. (Egosaurus) I was lucky enough to get the chance to color this book. Thanks Will. At some point, if you really get into coloring, you realize you’re like the DP of a movie, only for comics. You get to light the scene and apply a mood that best fits the story. DMZ was ripe with opportunities to paint different moods. Riccardo’s art, and some people hate when I say this, is completely strong enough to work without colors. Quite frankly, that’s how I get the pages. Black and white with no lettering. And the story is there. All of the artists that have worked on DMZ have this strong sense of black and white contrast and great storytelling. So my job has really been not getting in the way. That is, unless the storyline called for it. Sometimes you just leave everything flat to let the art breathe or allow the pace of the storytelling to move along. Other times you just wow the crap out of the reader by rendering the heck out of a scene or a bowl of noodles or a gun. I learned a lot working on this book. I really got to play with colors. I’ve been told that I handle primary colors well without looking childish. I take this to heart, because I grew up loving comic books and primary colors really speak to that visceral first impression. Then again, sometimes primary colors can really work against a mature mood. That’s probably one of my least favorite parts of my contribution to the book, but I really don’t regret it. When you’re working on a monthly schedule to get a book done and out on time, nuance really is a treat that you don’t always get to taste. You’re really going with your gut reaction as fast as possible to get 22 or 20 pages done and look as good as possible. One thing you’ll find if you’re working at this pace is happy accidents are your friends. Now, did that accidental drop of red on the page really come from some inner artistic genius, or did you look at it and think “…that looks good, how will that effect the rest of the page or the entire story?” 72 issues allows such experimentation. Most people that are interested, usually ask which of the issues was my favorite. I most likely will say the snow issue, and while true, I’ve grown to like individual issues less and less as years have gone on and like the entire series as a whole. The entire breadth of the work as it were. Probably sounds cheesy, but that’s the way it feels. There’s usually striking moments in the story lines that stand out, but that’s usually set up by good writing issues before. That explosion tears at your emotions because your cared about the character being ripped apart. Or that neighborhood being bombed is an actual borough in New York, so you can imagine this scene that much more. I actually felt guilty for a time working on the book, because I hadn’t actually made it to New York and all of my depictions were from my own imagination. Sure Brian’s reference, Riccardo’s renderings and Google Maps helped, but I hadn’t felt the actual vibe. Well, I did get a chance to see New York for myself and I think my imagination was pretty good. Upon visiting a couple of years ago, I kept thinking to myself, “Wow, for as much as New York has been depicted in film and television, they really haven’t got it right. I think the closest people have got is part Midnight Cowboy, part Woody Allen and part David Letterman exteriors, but not really. Naive, I know, but I think my point is, that the city is too massive to really capture. The sheer amount of people and their individual diversity is ridiculous. Again, it makes me smile. It makes me want to go back. All the things I did wrong and all of the things I want to do again. I didn’t mean to go off on a New York tourism pitch here, but I think that’s at the heart of this story. It’s a story about New York and if you find your chance to pick up the trades and read our take on it, you’re gonna get a different view of the city. Sure, we’re destroying it, but that makes you reflect on how much you appreciate the place and it’s people. Or the freedoms we take for granted or the trust we surrender. Okay, I’m getting to far off into the weeds here and I’m all out of tinfoil. This was a fun book to work on. I hope I get a chance to work on a book like this again, but then again, I don’t think most people get a chance to spend days in such worlds, let alone six years. I guess you do as a reader, but imagine that plus you’re turning on the lights or changing the colors of the vehicles, or shading a impending disaster. Cool stuff. My brain overfloweth. Let’s wind this up. Hit up your local comic store this week and pick up the last issue if you’ve been reading along or pick up that first trade and dive in. Heck, I think DC even made the first issue available for free. No excuse, loser. (smile) It may not be your cup of tea, but you may also find yourself thinking “I didn’t know they made comics like this.” Well, we did and it’s over and ready for you to read.
-J