matthew sturges

House of Mystery #1 On Sale Now

House of Mystery is available now at finer comic book retailers everywhere. Even some of the less-savory comic book retailers have it, but they might be resting a beer on it or something, so go to one of the finer ones just to be sure.

If you want to mouth off about it (or, indeed, anything else that I’ve written) you are most cordially invited to the fabletown.com forums, where merriment and affable conversation await you.

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House of Mystery Signing at Austin Books on May 7

I’ll be at Austin Books (here in Austin, Texas) doing a store signing on May 7, which is the day that issue one of House of Mystery is released. I’ll be there informally from around 11:30 to 12 (because I’m always there anyway) if you want to drop by, and then I’ll be signing from 5 until 7 or thereabouts. If you live in the area, you should consider stopping by, if not for me then because Austin Books has one of the best selections of any comic shop you’ve probably ever been to.

So come on down!

Notes on Salvation Run #6

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND! 

The penultimate issue finds Martian Manhunter caged, Joker and Luthor at each others’ throats, and the planet suddenly infested with Parademons. Well, if nothing else, it’s not dull…

The Cover: Appropriate, and very nicely executed. And the text-added-by-someone-not-me is a cute allusion to the Rann-Thanagar war.

Page 1: I can’t be the first person to ever have a character refer to Martian Manhunter as “My Favorite Martian.” The title of this issue is, of course, a reference to the Talking Heads song, which played so often on the MTV of my youth that I can hear it whenever I’m in an empty room, and the vision of David Byrne’s face projected on the receding roadway still haunt my dreams. What are we talking about again?

Page 2: In the script, Hyena here says, “You didn’t kill the Flash, you killed Impulse.” Which is a funny line, suggested by my friend Paul Benjamin. No idea why they changed it. And doesn’t part of you want to see Killer Croc eating J’onn J’onzz? Admit it.

Page 3: In another snafu, I had changed Heat Wave’s line at the bottom of the page to read something like, “I guess — if I have to.” His response as written is odd considering how freaked out he was on the previous page. I’d originally wrote the prior page a different way and . . . well, it’s not that interesting. But suffice to say the proofreading gremlins came out in this issue. Note that this is nobody’s fault — things in comics go fast and furious and something always slips through the cracks.

Page 4: I always wanted to do more with Bane, and show his more intellectual side, but he kept getting lost in the shuffle. I’d hoped I’d get a chance to redeem myself with him on Blue Beetle, but I couldn’t get him as a villain in that book. Someday, Bane. You and me. Count on it.

Page 5: I like how Steve Wands made the “SZZT” sound effect actually look like electricity.

Page 6: Brian Cronin, this page is for you.

Page 7: Wouldn’t you lose your shit if you had to put up with the Joker for weeks on end and couldn’t take a shower either?

Page 8: I believe the correct term is “bitchslap”.

Pages 9 - 10: Vandal Savage, immortal player. Does Tai Chi. Loves the ladies.

Page 12: I know the “I get a kick out of you” line is really, really cheesy. But I like it. I don’t know why.

Page 13: The thing about Joker’s temper being lost under the sofa cushions, however, I think is good.

Page 14: If this isn’t the first reference to The Atlantic Monthly in a DCU comic, then I don’t know what.

Page 16: The joker loves his job. This page is an homage.

Page 17: “What in the green gravy was that?” No clue where I got that.

Page 18: As my friend Dave Justus pointed out, “You got paid to write this page.” Yes, yes I did get paid to write the word “BOOM” seven times. In my defense, however, the panel descriptions were long.

Page 19: The last panel of this page is what they call a “Michael Bay” shot. Typically the character is saying “Oh my GOD,” but “What the hell?” works, too.

Pages 20-21: Damn! I asked for a lot of Parademons, and Sean drew a shitload of Parademons. Thanks, Sean! The last thing any comic book artist wants to read in a script is, “A thousand Parademons descend.”

Page 22: Jeez, I hope Hyena didn’t have any blood-borne illnesses, or Heat Wave will have to get some shots.

Okay, that’s it until next month, with the final issue, which contains a SHOCKING REVELATION. No crap. It really does contain a shocking revelation. I was shocked, anyway. And it also provoked the most unusual script note I’ve ever received from an editor. More on that next month…

And the New Series Is . . . Blue Beetle

Starting with issue 29, I’m the new ongoing series writer for Blue Beetle, a much beloved book starring Jaime Reyes, a teenager from El Paso who is the third to hold the name. It’s a very fun book; it’s got a lot of heart, and I’m way excited. Coincidentally, I just turned in my script for the first issue, so keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Here’s the solicitation. The book comes out on July 30.

CAPE!

I’ll be one of the guests at this year’s CAPE event in Dallas on May 3, which handily coincides with Free Comic Book Day. Other attendees include Gail Simone, Mark Waid, Robert Kirkman, Tony Bedard, Greg Pak, Mark Andreyko, Jim Mahfood, and about a zillion other people, including my pal (and writer of Marvel Adventures Hulk and Pantheon High) Paul Benjamin. If that’s not enough to convince you to go, how about the fact that they’re giving away a bunch of free comic books. I bet there’ll be snacks, too.

CAPE is an annual event hosted by Zeus Comics in Dallas, which is a great store and is run by the merely amazing Richard Neal.

I Have a new Series

I have a new book with DC that will be solicited in a couple of weeks, so I thought now would be a good time to taunt you about it without revealing any of its particulars whatsoever. Speculate away — first one to get the correct answer wins a signed something or other to be determined later . . .

Notes on Jack of Fables 21

This is late. I know that. I’m sorry.

So, Jack of Fables 21. This appears to have been a “love it or hate it” issue, from what I can tell. This is the last issue that I took the lead on for a while (the 1883 story was Bill’s baby, so notes on that one may not happen). Clearly this is a fill-in issue. It’s one that I wrote a while back without knowing precisely where it would fit into the schedule, which is the main reason why it takes place in the past. It doesn’t admit anywhere that it takes place in the past, for the sole reason that I didn’t want to screw up the reveal that it’s Wicked John and not Jack who’s the protagonist here.

Cover: Done by Zach Baldus, who’s a terrific illustrator. We looked at him for covers for House of Mystery, but ended up going with Sam Weber instead.
Page 1: The sticky note at the top was editor Shelly Bond’s idea, figuring that people would be so freaked out by this issue that they’d need some kind of reassurance that they hadn’t completely lost their minds. Tony added the “Auteur” frame, which I love. Note that Tony is inking himself here, which is something you don’t see much. Gone are Andrew Pepoy’s razor-sharp, technical lines. Tony is a much more expressive inker, if somewhat rougher than Andrew. For reasons unknown, I appear to be a big fan of opening an issue with a splash page of someone talking their face off, and artists have to find increasingly novel ways to keep the same image of a character have thirty word balloons spilling out of his head.

Pages 2 and 3: The play begins. Note Old Sam as Horitio and Scarecrow and Tin Man as Marcellus and Bernardo. Are these really supposed to be Danish names? What the fuck? The ghost of Hamlet’s father is being played by a bed sheet. Cuchulainn has been lured to the play by his Esquimaux friend with the promise of massive amounts of bloodshed.

Page 4: Walrus (from The Walrus and the Carpenter) as Claudius, and Mother Goose as Queen Gertrude.  You’re supposed to believe that the captions are Jack’s when in fact they are Wicked John’s. This is the first issue of Jack of Fables to feature narrative captions by anyone other than Jack. But not the last . . .

Page 5: I especially love Alice with the little scribble over her head here, which is a little homage to Peanuts.

Page 6: Alice is doing her level best to keep this train wreck going. She’s lovable.

Page 7: I realize that it’s insensitive to call someone a “retard.” Unfortunately, like the term “totally gay” to mean “lame”, it’s still funny, which trumps sensitivity.

Page 8: I don’t know why it says “Entr’acte” when Gary is clearly reciting lines from Act I, Scene 5. My bad. Also, I just realized that I didn’t specify any sound effects in this issue. I don’t know who added them, but they sure are funny. “BRANK!”

Page 9: “What are you doing with Guildenstern?” is the best line in this issue.

Page 10: “Sexy sex romp” is something my wife would say.

Page 11: I couldn’t let The Soliloquy go by without comment. All of that bullshit that the fairies are talking here could have been quoted verbatim from any number of pretentious essays I wrote in college. Fortunately, the page is saved by streaking.

Page 12: I may have this wrong, but I believe that the part of Gonzago in the dumbshow is being played by a toaster. And aren’t you always freaked out by a play within a play? I know I am.

Page 13: I couldn’t let one of my fave lines from the play go by without having Alice say it: “Lord, we know what we are, but we know not what we may be!” The bit in panel three, where Cobweb is saying Alice’s lines along with her, didn’t really come out the way I intended. It looks like Cobweb is doing her own version of the play, with Ethel Merman as Ophelia. This is probably as good a time as any to point out that Wicked John manages to unwittingly speak five lines of Hamlet in this issue. See if you can find them.

Page 14: It occurs to me that when you have someone shouting BOOO! in a comic, it’s impossible to tell whether they’re criticizing your performance or pretending to be a ghost.

Page 15: Note the stage lights, and even the stage itself, coming to life. Also, note the gratuitous panty shot.

Pages 16 and 17: Nicely done, Tony Akins. I LOVE Gary’s expression in the inset panel there, where he’s saying “IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!” Note also the malicious fire hydrant.

Page 18: Ah, men. We really are that predictable. But admit it — you’d have done it, too.

Pages 19 -21. This was a first for me, in that for these pages, I just told Tony to “draw a swordfight.” I called him up and asked him if he’d rather choreograph it himself and he leapt at the chance. It was cool because I then got to go back and add dialog to those pages, with the added benefit of knowing in advance what the characters looked like saying them. Also, if you’re not familiar with the play, it ends with a swordfight between Hamlet and Laertes in which nearly everyone in the cast manages to somehow die of poisoning within a five-minute period. Hamlet’s killed by Laertes’ poisoned blade, just as Gary is subdued here.

Page 22: The ending here is a little rushed. I could never quite figure out what was wrong with it, but it just doesn’t quite work. Anyway, I like the skull getting the POONT at the end.

Overall, I like this issue a lot, though it has a few flaws that keep it from being everything I ever dreamed it could be — all on my end. Still, it’s a lot of fun, and that’s what counts.

Notes on Shadowpact 23 coming up soon!

Notes on Countdown to Mystery 6

Like most people in the comics world, I was deeply saddened by the loss of Steve Gerber, who was just a fantastic writer, and who was doing some of the best work of his career within the pages of Countdown to Mystery. It’s been a great privilege to share the book with him.

So, not much to say about this issue — I’ll be back with notes for issue 7, which is a lot of fun, and maybe I’ll swing back and put a few tidbits about this months issue then. Look for Plastic Man being a forklift near the end of the book, and Creeper talking about bubble wrap.

Tomorrow we’ll have the notes for Shadowpact 23, which will have a lot because there’s just all kinds of stuff going on in this issue.

Notes on Salvation Run 5

How did we get to issue five already?

So let’s get going. This issue is sort of the midway point of my run on the book, and it starts rolling down toward its inevitable conclusion. Wherein all of the villains die and are replaced by robotic zombie clowns.

Page 1: Mirror Master has an inner poet, I always thought, anyway. I like using the contraction “amn’t” which is something we should have here in America.

Page 2: Well, you can’t pull off a stealthy raid if they’re shining big shiny lights at you, now can you?

Page 4: See, his name is Mister Terrible, and he’s the opposite of Mister Terrific, and so instead of T-Spheres, he’s got T-Squares, which is funny because you couldn’t really hurt anyone with a T-Square unless you swung it really hard and . . . oh, forget it.

Page 5: The Joker needs only a big handgun and a smile to take on the entire world. That’s all he needs because that’s who he is. I don’t think that this is something that particularly needs to be explained, just as we don’t need to know how Superman can fly faster than light without achieving infinite mass and stopping time while doing so.

Page 6: Vandal Savage is such a dick. And it only gets worse from here, folks.

Page 8: I love Catwoman. I love Will Pfeifer’s Catwoman. This is me doing Will Pfeifer, is all.

Page 10: I love Joker kissing the gun here. I actually wrote the panel with Joker kissing his hand at the new arrivals, as if to say “Hello” to them. I don’t know if Sean misread the script or just used it as a jumping-off point, but it looks pretty cool.

Page 12: “Squillion” is a word Bill Willingham uses a lot. Also, Catwoman as Triplicate Girl is pretty nice.

Page 13: Martian Manhunter really wants to help them. At first.

Page 14: Tapeworm!

Page 15: Metallo has experienced the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. Unfortunately for him, it literally means he’s dead. Bye, Metallo!

Page 16: Haven’t you ever wondered how people in big slugfests are able to work around each other so effectively? Especially against a single adversary, it seems like it must be pretty difficult to find room to do your thing. It’s like trying to have a fight at an Ozzy concert.

Pages 18 - 19: This spread came out really well, I thought. Just the way I saw it in my head.

Page 20: Poor Heatwave. He’s just trying to get through the day, you know. It’s not like he set out to be Public Enemy #1.

Page 21: Unkshuss is supposed to be saying that he personally has improved thanks to the suffering meted out by Desaad, not that he himself has improved the suffering. My corrected line didn’t find its way into the finished book. I know that this was probably keeping you up nights. I tried to keep up with the Kirby tradition of naming characters with misspelled labels of their function in the story.
Page 22: ZOMFG! Parademons. Lots of ‘em. Everyone knows that Parademons are big pussies, so it takes a lot of them to be a credible threat. But man, there are lots and lots of them.

Next month: It’s the rumble in the jungle as Lex Luthor and Joker duke it out for control of the planet.