Jeff Parker has earned a loyal fan base from such Marvel superhero books as X-Men: First Class and Agents of Atlas, but he’s about to take a trip outside the Marvel Universe to a Wildstorm series that’s…unfathomable. Mysterius: The Unfathomable, that is. The new miniseries, featuring art from Tom Fowler (Caper, Green Arrow),
tells of a magician who’s more than he seems, and the new assistant
who’s drawn into his world. Parker gave us a preview of this new
series…and even a link containing some clues about this “Mysterius” new
world.
Newsarama: So, Jeff – Mysterius! What phantasmagorical flight of fancy is this?
Jeff Parker: The turn of the 20th century was the heyday of the
stage magician. America and Europe hailed the biggest names- Houdini,
Carter, Mysterius...okay, so Mysterius wasn't as well known.
But in some circles, he's grown quite a reputation since then. In
truth, most of the popular stage magicians have always been exactly
what they hinted at, real magic users. They pull off the greatest
misdirection by telling audiences so it all seems like an act.
With his original assistant, the lovely Delfi, Mysterius traveled the
world for years in search of mystic secrets (he eventually found a way
to thwart aging), and he has lent his talents for hire to people
finding themselves in occult entanglements.
With each decade he's taken on a new assistant who always adopts the
Delfi name, and this is a relationship particular to him. With a true
Delfi, things seem to align better for coincidences and mystic
phenomena- his spells work better, his hunches more reliable.
But in recent years, after parting with his last assistant, Mysterius
has had no luck finding a new one. He's faded out of the scene and
become disconnected to the world of today. It's finally while on a
fairly demeaning job in Manhattan that a reporter for an
indy-alternative newspaper tries to interview him, and Mysterius
realizes that he's found his new Delfi.
And he's right! By "strange luck" the new girl Ella loses her job and
decides to give this magical assistant thing a try for a while.
It may not have been the wisest career choice she could have made.
NRAMA: How would you describe the relationship between Mysterius and Delfi as the series goes on?
JP: Delfi's curious and spontaneous nature help propel her
through a lot of things that a reasonable person should walk away from,
but she is going to start being more wary of her boss. More than an
assistant, she fills the role of his conscience – a very necessary
role, because there's no sign that he has one!
NRAMA: What kind of backstory have you built into Mysterius' world?
JP: Mysterius has been around a long time, and we'll gradually
find out more about his past. Whether he bothered to notice or not,
he's made a lot of enemies. We'll also be meeting other stage
magicians/real magic users who he often runs into since they tend to
migrate to the same points of interest. But you're not going to find
out his real name, because he keeps that closely guarded. Also, he may
have forgotten it.
Or if you’d like to know more, you might want to check out this website…
NRAMA: How did this story come about?
JP: I'd been wanting to do a couple of things for some time.
One, write a book based in the supernatural. Two, create a lead
character for once who not likable, at least in the sense that you
would not keep this person as a friend. Because someone doesn't have to
be likable to be interesting.
Then, Ben Abernathy contacted me and asked if I might like to create
something new at Wildstorm, to which I replied, "how about an unlikable
magical guy?"
NRAMA: Is it set within the ever-rebooted Wildstorm Universe proper, or is it stand-alone?
JP: The cheese stands alone! In fact, you'll see right off the
bat that the world of Mysterius is very close to our own, the same
history, news and so on. I want the world of the book to feel very
familiar and real to the readers, so when magic is used, it's not
something you might take for granted like in a Zatanna story – it feels
appropriately incredible.
NRAMA: What's the appeal of doing something older-oriented, and outside of a continuity-heavy superhero universe?
JP: I love writing all ages suitable material and established
characters, but it would be a strange thing if as a creator that was
all I wanted to do. Mysterius allows me to jump into some more
mature subject matter, and that's very energizing for my work. The
freedom of being able to build my own continuity is near-intoxicating.
NRAMA: What’s the low-down on this Tom Fowler, and how you two hooked up on this?
JP: Well of course, landing Tom is the greatest coup and what
makes the book a visual powerhouse. Tom was quite happy drawing and
painting for MAD Magazine, which pays handsomely, but I asked Ben if we could send him the proposal I had written.
In it, I had talked about wanting to capture some of the quality
of Douglas Adam's Dirk Gently novels. Lo and behold, what was Tom
reading just as this arrived in his inbox, but Long Dark Teatime of the Soul! Synchronicity like that can't be ignored, especially with this kind of subject matter.
Besides drawing the hell out of it (literally, as you'll see in issue
one), Tom also calls up with lots of good story suggestions. If he has
a strong sense of some character that's coming to him, I find a place
to work it in, because I feel that's some intangible part of our
gestalt that's kicking in.
He brings the cast completely alive. Even in a quiet uneventful moment,
watch their physical behavior. Everyone is always doing something that
thoroughly fits their personality, down to the mico-level. Even when I
try to save him some work and have people speak from off-panel, Tom
will often still draw them in there, because he wants readers to see
how they're saying the line. He might be insane.
NRAMA: Stage magicians have been an increasingly popular subject in history, from Carter Beats the Devil to The Prestige to The Illusionist to Jim Ottaviani ‘s Levitation GN. What's the appeal of the history of stage magic to you, and its place in popular culture?
JP: I enjoyed all those, except Illusionist, which I
never saw. It's hard to imagine now, but in the early 20th century,
when magicians were often sitting at the top of the entertainment food
chain, they really were blurring the line between show and the
paranormal, as far as audiences were concerned. Add to that the
magician's code of silence, and the whole field takes on this
fascinating mystique that's very appealing.
NRAMA: What kind of research did you do for the mystic elements
of the series, and what are the "rules" for magic in this universe?
JP: In Portland, Oregon, all I have to do is go get coffee and I
run into occult practitioners. We do have a chain here called VooDoo
Doughnuts.
As for the rules, I can't necessarily spell them out – showing the
trick robs all the magic, you know- but there is logic to it, and after
you see a few instances it should feel pretty intuitive. Also part of
the fun is learning how magic tends to work here, and I don't want to
spoil that.
NRAMA: Also, what are some of your favorite magic tricks, and have you ever tried doing magic yourself?
JP: At about 12 or 13, I checked out lots of library books,
trying to give the whole magic thing a shot. I tried things like tricks
where I had elastic bands up my sleeve, and quickly realized why
magicians tend to wear long sleeve suits. I was never smooth enough to
convincingly do a good routine, but in college I did learn one really
good card trick from a roommate. I wish I could remember it, because I
could make you pick your own card out of a shuffled deck, and it wasn't
a rigged deck or anything like that.
NRAMA: Is this miniseries self-contained, or do you see more stories in this world in the future?
JP: Wildstorm know what a hat trick it is to bring new
characters and books to the market, so they're seeing how it's
received, letting us do a story arc at a time. Ideas won't stop coming
to me for the book, so I'm hoping readers will really respond. I think
they will if we can just get the word out- readers tend to be very
supportive when they can tell creators are really into a book- which
will be pretty obvious in issue one!
Mysterius: The Unfathomable #1 magically appears in comic shops everywhere this January.
