True Believer Reviews

The Light is a five-issue horror/suspense/mystery book where a strange light is around a small town in Oregon killing people.  It poses the question of how do you react and survive when the light is everywhere?   The series is a little more than halfway over, and The Light has done very well for Image.   Once it was sold out, Newsarama posted the first issue for free: http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?gid=1922 in order to help promote the series.   It’s a very thought provoking series, with a unique and gorgeous art style.

Nathan Edmondson, the series writer took the time to answer some of my questions about his writing, and about what’s to come.

Otomo: I read that you started writing comics because you met several members of the industry.  Can you tell us about that?

Edmondson: I’d hesitate before identifying any person as the reason I began writing comics.  Writing is a compulsion, or more aptly, an impulsion.  The world of comics was opened up to me by a few generous titans of industry, however, and my access was further facilitated by the fact that I developed friendships with these folks far before I had any inclination toward working in their arena in a professional capacity.  I’m speaking, by the way, of Tony Harris, J.D. Mettler, Glen Brunswick, Brian Vaughan, and a few others.

Otomo: The Light is a really interesting concept, and three issues into the series, we still don’t know exactly what’s causing the characters to have problems.  Were you going for a mystery when you wrote this book?

Edmondson: Writers know that they can write no experience which will ever compare to the gulf of the reader’s imagination, and the best stories, I think–particularly frightening stories–are those whose edges fade away into something uncertain and only hinted at and in those places the reader’s imagination will expand like a nebula in space.  This is at the heart of H.P. Lovecraft’s success.  So to answer your question, I didn’t intend for THE LIGHT to be a mystery, no.  The goal of the characters is not to uncover some truth, or the truth.  But the book is richer with an element of mystery in it, I think.

Otomo: When working with artists, how closely do you direct them to make sure your vision ends up what’s on the printed page?

Edmondson: As little as possible.  So far I’ve been so fortunate as to work with artists whom I truly admire–I don’t believe I’d have it any other way.  I want to see their art–and their inspiration–come through as strongly and truthfully as possible.  So unless I feel certain story elements need highlighting I tend to write my scripts quite sparsely and step back and let the artists, well, be artists.

Otomo: A lot of what you seem to be focused on is the humanity of disasters and situations, and how people would honestly react to them.  The daughter, over and over, keeps asking to take the blindfold off even though she knows she’s not supposed to, just like a real teenager who wouldn’t want to do what her father told her.  Do any of the characters’ quirks stem from interactions you’ve had in your life with people?

Edmondson: Yes; with all kinds of people, every day.  I haven’t consciously drawn from any one person so far in this story but I have tried to write what feels like true friction in Coyle and Avery’s relationship.  One of the problems I ran into early on, however, was that bad fathers and rebellious teenagers and alcoholism and abuse are so common I didn’t think they would make any reader even blink.  So I had to plot the beats of their estrangement carefully, and emphasize certain facets of the characters’ personalities in an almost exaggerated way (though sadly, not really all that exaggerated from real life).

Otomo: At the end of each book, there’s a page that gives the reader a message about what they just read.  How did this come about, and what point are you trying to get across, if any?

Edmondson: Joe Keatinge at Image suggested that we give the books some extra material, and something a bit fresh.  I already had in mind the poem quotes and he advised me (wisely, as it’s turned out) that many readers are starting to glaze over at “behind the scenes” sketch pads and things like that.  I’ve read plenty of afterwards that are process-oriented or author-oriented I thought I should take a stab at something more thought provoking.  The essays behind each issue have also given me that moment of pause to really consider what’s going on in the books and to take apart elements of the script, which I normally write rather quickly.

Otomo: You’ve managed to create a very suspenseful storyline even though there’s not a lot of action.   How do you break things up in your writing to try to keep the reader on edge?

Edmondson: In this story it’s really just happened as I’ve gone along.  I mean, there are certainly mechanical choices (need a cliffhanger here, need to break up this car driving scene, etc) but for the most part this is just a story the very fabric of which is intense, breathtaking, and fierce.

Otomo: Issue #3 really had a reversal for the characters, who were running away, but now are headed to an area they believe to be a source of the problem.  What in your mind tripped them to take on a more heroic attitude?

Edmondson: It was always in my mind that this was the journey.  At first they don’t have much direction because they are simply shocked, numb, trying to cope and trying to understand.  While those psychological factors never really disappear in the story there are introduced a few elements (Avery’s desire to see her mother, the confident brothers) that give the characters firm footing for stepping in a definite direction.

Otomo: Sales have been really great for The Light.  It took me going to four different comic shops to finally find issue #2, which from what I understand is sold out at the distributor.  When you wrote this story, did you have a feeling it was going to be this successful?

Edmondson: I knew Brett’s work would be well received.  Other than that there is a wide blind spot between conception and release when I simply hunker down and write and become immersed in the world and acquainted with the characters.  I only hope that when I look ahead again there are signs of good fruit on the vine.

Otomo: Does the ending of The Light leave room for a potential sequel series?

Edmondson: Certainly, though it does not necessitate a sequel.

Otomo: You now have two series published by Image, so they must be pretty happy with your work.  Is there anything soon on the horizon you could tell us about that fans of Olympus or The Light might be interested in?

Edmondson: All I can do is show you this, and ask: ARE YOU LISTENING?