This summer, Vertigo Comics' reprinted the original hit independent series DEMO
by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. With both of the creators becoming
Vertigo mainstays since the book's original publication in 2004, DEMO
became a hallmark for their successes. As the original thirteen stories
get re-printed and a new limited series on the horizon, Newsarama has
been talking with writer Brian Wood about the issues of the original
run.
Now in the fourth and final installment of "Doing The DEMO", we cover issues nine through twelve. Click here for part one, part two, and part three.
Newsarama: Following the theme of sour relationships in the last
issue, issue #9's "Breaking Up" shows a couple breaking up and
recounting the reasons why, from one perspective to the other. With
their similarities, was it a conscious thing for this to follow-up #8,
or just the way the stories came to you?
Brian Wood: I probably just had more to say on the subject and
it carried over. I went with it. But it wasn't a deliberate follow-up.
I was trying to avoid that sort of thing, really keeping a pure
done-in-one experience.
NRAMA: This story acts as a play-by-play of the lifespan of a
relationship, from the bright beginnings to a final conclusion: Angie
being the one initiating the break-up, and Gabe having to come to terms
with her decision. What were the thoughts coming to you as you worked
this from an idea into a final script?
BW: I had, sort of recently, been broken up with by a girl in
this exact same way, which at the time I had found so intensely
irritating. Granted, it was a bad relationship and if I had two brain
cells I wouldn't have even pursued it in the first place, but she
brought me to a coffee place and did it in public, presumably so I
wouldn't "freak out", just like I wrote in this story. It was so
calculated and so weirdly immature that I remember being more annoyed
at that than the actual breakup.
It seemed like an interesting dynamic to start this story off with.
Here's a couple, so dysfunctional and mismatched at their very core
that one cannot trust the other to act like an adult. And the fact that
they come to some kind of balance at the end, where neither is really that
upset by breaking up speaks volumes about them as a couple. My personal
feeling, which I didn't communicate in the script and don't really talk
about so much, is at the end when they trade "I love you"'s, both of
them are lying. Or deluding themselves. When you spend time with
someone so very wrong for you, and it ends and you're forced to think
back at the period of time that feels wasted, in a way, you might need
to cling to something positive to add some value to it, to give it some
meaning.
NRAMA: In the Q&A for the last issue I asked if this had
come from a personal story, and this issue leaves that in no doubt. The
dialogue here seems so personal it had to be true, but is it?
BW: I actually used real lines I either used or had used against
me, for this story. Not going to say which ones, though. I need a
certain degree of anonymity.
NRAMA: Gabe's power here is in some ways an afterthought on
first-read through, but the more I think about it the more it has a
longer lifespan and brings another layer to the story. I mean, the
thought of a vivid all encompassing memory of every high and every low
in your life – just as strong as what you're experiencing now – that's
pretty haunting. Is this something where the story came first and the
superpower came later?
BW: This is another one of those cases where, as I wrote this, I
was concerning myself far, far less with the idea of a superpower and
just trying to tell a story. But at the same time I knew there was
enough there for someone to 'see' a superpower and I didn't get in the
way of that. Becky saw it, and I think she called it "the golden
memory", and recalled a friend of hers who had an unerring ability to
scour up someone's words from the past to use it in the present. I
found that pretty funny.
But what you talk about in your question, the notion of someone
remembering the worst they've experienced in life, whether they want to
or not, is a pretty great DEMO concept and I kinda wish I had thought of it first!
NRAMA: In issue #10's "Damaged" story, it shows a man living the
corporate suit life with all it's perks who found by a wisened homeless
girl that adds something to his life he didn't know he was missing. If
you had to pick one, which do you find yourself more in common with?
What is your personal stake in this story?
BW: I'm not sure I have one, to be perfectly honest. I don't see
myself in either character, and that's really okay. It wouldn't be the
first DEMO story like that. I feel like I had a few ideas about
success vs. happiness that probably came from my time working a day
job, and some notions of manipulation and a couple scenes in my head,
and built a story around that. It doesn't set off any emotional
triggers for me.
NRAMA: Tommy seems like a very protective person, but the
homeless girl possesses the exact combination to get past his walls – a
wisdom beyond her years and a innocence that coaxes Tommy into a
protective role over her. How would you describe how their initial
relationship works for both of them?
BW: I think the guy is probably just intrigued by this weird
girl who is talking to him for some reason, and he probably has a
mixture of curiosities about her, probably mostly 'will she sleep with
me and what would that be like?' Fairly typical stuff. But that's not
the dynamic once they start talking and he's off his guard and allows
himself to be pulled in as a result.
For her, she's a scam artist, pure and simple and for most of the story it never goes beyond that for her.
NRAMA: The girl's knack for knowing Tommy inside-and-out is
later revealed to not be some wisdom beyond her years, but by
down-to-earth spying on his life. This betrayal leads Tommy to question
the good things that he was prompted to do, coming from this now
less-than-holy source. This deception, the turn, and the story itself.
– how did it come to fruition?
BW: It's a timeless situation, a classic sort of story. He was
duped, and the chain of events leading from that ends up costing him
his life, albeit accidentally. It's tragic for him because the girl was
actually helping him see a few things, and scam or not, in time he
would have likely benefitted from her insights.
NRAMA: Regardless of her source or her ultimate intentions, the
girl does put Tommy on the course to a more fulfilling life. And while
being ultimately less-than-forthright, she wasn't all bad – she didn't
spend the money Tommy had given her. Ultimately going away from a
black-and-white good vs. evil type situation. Did you have any urge to
push her into a more negative and profiteering person?
BW: I think she was that person, but it ended prematurely for
her. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that she was building up
to really fleece Tommy good; it took his death to kind of snap her out
of it. I think a lot of small time scam artists, in order to do what
they do, convince themselves that there is never really any serious
fallout to what they do, and likely spend a lot of time making sure
they stay blissfully ignorant. The girl in this story chooses to let
herself really see this fallout, as a sort of penance for her sins.
NRAMA: Issue 11 brings a more light-hearted tone while still
covering big issues. "Midnight To Six" covers three friends who revisit
their slacker promise years later and find themselves each going in
different directions. This is a story about growing up, and how people
change from teenage years to adulthood. Despite the hard choices in
this story, it also has some of the most light-hearted and fun elements
of all the DEMO issues. How'd this story come about?
BW: We were almost at the end of the series, and most of DEMO
was downbeat in a lot of ways, very serious and at times dark. I merely
wanted to try something lighter, something that Becky could have a lot
of fun drawing. That's really all it was. This issue one of our
favorites of the series.
NRAMA: Speaking to your own experiences, how would you compare
the teenage Brian to the current state, and what do you think the
younger version of yourself would say to someone like you are now?
BW: The teenage me would not recognize the current me. I feel
like, in many ways, that was a different life. We're talking twenty
years. I feel like five years ago I would not be recognizable to who I
am now.
NRAMA: Going from the intangibles to tangibles, a majority of
this takes place in a closed supermarket. I know I for one would have
enjoyed this abandon at that age, supermarket, mall or something else.
What do you think draws people to enjoy that sort of thing?
BW: Right after I left high school, I worked for some friends
who had their own cleaning business. This was an interesting thing..
very common amongst the circle of people I ran with... where they
banded together and did work that kind of kept them off the beaten
path. I hesitate to use obvious labels, but my friends at the time were
the skaters, a couple bonafide punk rockers, burnouts, weird
metalheads, assorted losers, you name it. Whoever didn't easily fit
into the jock and redneck populations that filled the schools. Anyway,
one of the jobs we did was clean the floors of the local Kmart after
hours. Exactly how you see in this story - we'd get locked in for a few
hours and then let out, and how we spent that time was up to us, as
long as we did a good enough job to not get fired. It really was a lot
of fun.
NRAMA: "The Slacker Pledge" – is it something you created from
this story, or perhaps something taken from an earlier part of your
life?
BW: I just made it up. I feel like I've seen things like that in
films or TV, a bunch of dorks figuring out how to coast through life
with as little effort as possible. Hasn't that been a subplot in every
Judd Apatow film to date?
NRAMA: This isn't your first turn to a story about growing up
and leaving the people and things of adolescence behind. While it's
something that all of us experience at some point, putting that back at
you – what would you say to the fact that it's a frequent topic in some
of your stories?
BW: I am attracted to the notion of a definitive point in time,
where what happens in the next few moments, what your decision is can
change the course of your life. I use this a lot, for sure, but mostly
in Demo. I think its rife with story possibilities and its not like I'm
the only one working that angle. I like putting my characters in
difficult spots, stacking the deck against them a little bit, and
thinking about how they'd cope. Figuring out how they'd fuck it up. Or
not. How they're brains work. I like complicated people in messy
situations.
I get criticized a lot from some people for writing what they call an
"unlikeable" character. Which, by their definition, is what I would
consider a "human" character. Meaning an imperfect one who might not
make a decision that the reader agrees with. In other words, a person
like any of us. It's funny how, only in comics, the existence of a
flawed character be considered a mistake on the writer's part.
NRAMA: Mon Dernier Jour Avec Toi (My Last Day with You) With the
finality of it all, was writing the last issue different for you than
writing any of the other issues? Did you feel like you had to make a
specific coda or ending?
BW: I think readers were expecting some kind of a definitive
ending, rather than just another stand alone story, which is what I was
saying at the time I would do. I know my publisher and their Hollywood
rep were hoping something happened that would "normalize" the series,
like they all meet up and band together or something, a la the X-Men. I
absolutely was not going that route, but there was some thing nagging
at me from the back of my head to do something, to mark the ending in
some way.
I'm not sure what it was that made me decide to do the "music video"
route, but it felt fitting. Like music playing over end credits, or
something. I just decided to throw all caution to the wind and go with
it. That philosophy had served me well throughout the series. Taking a
risk is always better than not taking a risk. I stand by it 100%.
NRAMA: A song set to comics – that's the best way I can describe
"Mon Dernier Jour Avec Toi". Instead of dialogue, it's more a music
video with the lyrics only relating tangentally to Becky's artwork. In
the credits you're listed not as writer, but as 'lyricist'. As a
writer, you leave a lot of trust to Becky to take your sparse direction
and turn it into a fully-formed comic. Can you tell us how you feel
about that?
BW: I think I credited myself as writing "lyrics" only to signal
to the reader the context they should take this story in, that's is a
music video in spirit. The script for this story was lean, extremely
lean, often just a sentence or two per page, and I told Becky to treat
it like a video, to have fun with it. This was the end, and therefor
our last chance to let it all hang out, so to speak.
NRAMA: This comic contained two stories – the latter being a
sequel to the story from #1, with you drawing and Becky writing it.
What led to you doing this, and choosing to write continuation of #1
over any of the other stories?
BW: That was Becky's decision. She suggested the notion of
switching creative roles, and doing a little Marie and Mike story was
what she wanted to do. I personally never considered it to be a "13th
Demo story" or a sequel... its very much an extra, which is why it
wasn't included in either of the collected editions. I had fun with it,
but honestly, my art doesn't even begin to stand up to the quality of
Becky's art.
NRAMA:DEMO is primarily about teenagers and twenty-somethings. As you grow older, could you ever see yourself doing an older DEMO-graphic equivalents?
BW: Not as a gimmick. Demo, this first volume, runs the range
from 17 year-olds to, presumably, people in their early thirties. The
new DEMO stories I am writing, which will eventually be "volume
2", aren't deliberately older but I think the majority of them will be.
I'm older now, Becky's older now. If it ends up being so, it'll have
been a natural evolution.
NRAMA: At the end of DEMO, did you do anything special to celebrate its end?
BW: Not that I recall. It's a little funny, the way a comic is
made, it doesn't really have an "end" in the way you mean. I just went
through this with LOCAL. When I turn in the script for the
final issue, I am technically done, but its still a month or so before
the art comes in, and that's another milestone, because the artist is
done. Then the lettered pages come in and maybe I have to go back and
tweak something. Then the wait for the book itself to come out, and by
the time that happens I could have already moved on to the next
project. It's anticlimactic, but doesn't make me feel any less proud
and happy to have completed the project.
NRAMA: With us talking about the final issue of DEMO, an
obvious question would be 'are you going to do a sequel?' But since we
already know that answer, can you tell us what this original volume of DEMO means to you personally and professionally?
BW: I think it was the first time, speaking solely for myself
and not for any of my collaborators, that I really brought my "A" game
to a project, and it shows, and keeps on showing. It's a milestone for
me, and represents a big chunk of my professional output and serves as
a reminder of important times in my personal life. To say I'm proud of
the book doesn't do it justice.
