The 13 Marshals were a group of secret lawmen operating under
President Abraham Lincoln during the 1860s. But after Lincoln's death,
new President Jackson ordered the group disbanded and sent the 13th
Marshall to do it. His mission isn't a simple A-To-B; the last gun –
save his own – has been stolen and the original holder killed. Holding
it now is an insane mining baron named York who wants the pistol for all
the wrong reasons.
That's the story of 13 Chambers graphic novel coming out October 8th from Image and 12 Gauge Comics. The book is written by Dust
author Christopher "Mink" Morrison, with interior illustrations by
Denis Medri and covers by Paolo Parenta. The writer has nicknamed his
own style 'Twistory' as seen in Dust and now 13 Chambers for the inclusion of various elements through time into one cohesive drama. For more on this book, we talked to the writer.
Newsarama: Mink, what is 13 Chambers all about?
Christopher "Mink" Morrison:13 Chambers is about the
adventures of the 13 Marshals and their Presidential issued 13
chambered peace keeper pistols; all set in a ‘Twistory’ style fantasy
1800’s (a universe filled with sand monsters, electricity, volcanoes,
crack shot ladies, rogue architecture, specter trains, conquistador
zombies, mammoth sized vultures, and much much more).
NRAMA: One of the key ideas to this is the idea of a 1800s group of secret US lawmen called the 13 Marshals. What's their job?
MINK: In my story the 13 Marshals is a group created by
President Lincoln to execute his most important legal and secret
executive orders, as well as to settle any disputes or state uprisings
that might occur from a growing economy and the proliferation of new
firearms across America. Each Marshal was personally chosen by
President Lincoln from each of the 13 territories across America, and
given a number 1 through 13. These men were chosen for loyalty to their
country, high moral character and flawless skill with all firearms. The
13 men never knew the other Marshal's names (they were addressed by
their numbers), locations and never met each other in order to keep
their identities safe and free from reprisal. They were each issued the
greatest weapon ever created; the 13 chambered peace keeper pistol.
Commissioned and built by 13 different gunsmiths, the gun has six
normal rounds and seven long range sniper rounds (in the same weapon)
that can be activated through a series of secret combination pressure
plates on the pistol grip and five triggers. It also has an internal
power-gyroscope inside the handle and connected to the barrel of the
gun that stabilizes the weapon for use on horseback, running, or on a
moving train. The gun parts were built in three different regions of
the country and then assembled and hand engraved by the 13th Marshal,
who was an artist and gunsmith in his own right.
NRAMA: Central to this is the 13th Marshall and his job to force the other twelve Marshals to give up their badge. Who is he?
MINK: This book introduces the main characters of the series and
establishes the tone. In this issue I chose to drop the audience
roughly into the middle of the story. That may sound strange but it
will help explain the principle players far better to approach it this
way. So this books story takes place years after Lincoln's death. The
new President of the United States looses a bet in a card game, causing
the Marshal program to be dismantled. He orders the 13th Marshal to
travel the country in 13 months and collect all the pistols and return
them to Washington to be vaulted forever; never to return to service.
In future series I intend to work both before and after this portion of
the story to open the world up even more.
NRAMA: He's well on his way to complete his mission when he
founds out the 12th Marshall was killed and his pistol stolen by a
mining baron named York. What's York set-up like, and why does he want
the pistol?
MINK: York is a false prophet con man turned mining baron. He
literally just decided to be in the mining business and then used his
ability to talk, a secret murder, some hired muscle and his made up
spiritual guidance to turn a small shanty town into Yorkville, the
center of his precious metals mining operation. He ran the old mining
family out of business, took over their ranch and convinced the
townspeople, through spiritual guidance, that God had sent him to save
them and in order for them to be saved they must build a set of stairs
to Heaven (and his new town Yorkville, complete with buildings for
York’s casino and brothel). The mine he took over was mostly marble
with the precious metals underneath, so he uses the townspeople to
remove the marble and has them build the giant marble set of stairs to
God, with a matching weird art deco town in his honor. After the first
year he was mining so much silver the US government started buying his
silver directly for US dollars and this made him a very powerful man
very quickly. Once his legend grew, word got out that perhaps he had
arrived to his powerful position through unjust means. The 12th Marshal
(who was stationed near Yorkville) was sent to make sure that this
wasn't going to become a rogue territory that would succeed the union.
This 12th Marshal, supposedly disillusioned by the country since
Lincoln's death, sold his pistol to York and then disappeared after
that meeting just months before 13th Marshal arrived to disarm him. So
in this story York wants the ultimate weapon to go along with the
ultimate power of precious metals. The actual shooting range for most
sidearms in the 1800s was minimal, so you can imagine what a sniper
weapon with gyro stability and 13 shots could do in both damage and
intimidation.
NRAMA: There's more to this than testosterone – I see our lead
with a woman on the cover? Who's she, and how does she fit into the
story?
MINK: Belle is the heroine of the story and she is a big part of
this and the stories to come. She is the daughter of one of York's
employees and a close friend of the former mining family that was run
out of town. They rescued her from poverty and a terrible life and she
has never been ok with what York has done to them, or her father's
willingness to go along with it. York also wanted all the attractive
women of the area to work in his Casino or Brothel but spared her
because of her father’s wishes. She is a crack-shot with any firearm
and knows the true story of what happened to the 12th Marshal. She
knows how badly York wants to learn how to use the 12th Marshal’s
pistol and is determined to make sure that does not happen. She is
equally as beautiful and she is capable of handling any situation. She
will steal both the Marshal’s and the reader's heart.
NRAMA: This isn't your first time in comics — you previously wrote Dust. What inspired you to come up with this idea?
MINK:Dust was my first official step into published
comics. This process and partnership with 12 Gauge, Image and Paolo
Parente has enriched my creative passions profoundly. Dust then led me to create and write a graphic novel called Shinjuku,
based on my time in Japan, which will be out from Dark Horse in 2009,
featuring art by the legendary Yoshitaka Amano. So between Paolo and
Amano I have been very blessed so far to be working with some
extraordinary art talents and publishing talents of 12 Gauge/Image and
Dark Horse. In order to live up to that creative forces potential, I
have developed the "Twistory" style to carry in all my work. Twistory
is a technique that breaks down the art & science of story. I use
Twistory to take actual historical, social, cultural, current and past
moments that interest me and Twist them against a wide open, no rules
imagination approach to the writing, into something I think is
exciting, fresh and fun. So after our success with Dust, both
in book and toy form, I wanted to add another member to the family.
This particular story is something I have been fooling with based on my
love of the tech and landscapes of America in the 1800's.
NRAMA: What kind of research did you do for this book?
MINK: My research is really based on the things I love and
interest me. That ranges from fine art to Nascar racing and back again.
Creative writing, or my style, Twistory, allows me take things that
inspire me and then add them to my own stories and create something
that is new. After all, nothing new in art is really ‘new’ and only a
percentage of your audience will really like your art or get it anyway.
So as an artist I want to keep pushing, risk-taking and trying new ways
of making Twistory better for me. In turn I think it makes the work
better. Even though I am a working artist I still continue to have so
much to learn and explore from so many, including the fans. I suppose
all this fancy coffee house chit chat is an over complicated way of
describing research or influences, but so far on my artistic journey
Twistory has only just begun to get going, and damn is it fun.
