Everyone who reads comics wants to write comics. Yes, you too.
Comics are the second easiest storytelling media to create, behind prose. All you need to make a comic is the ability to make words and pictures come together on a page to make a story. If you can draw, take photos, or use an image program like Illustrator or Photoshop, you’re halfway there. All you need now is a story, right?
Wrong. You need time and dedication, and that’s why most people don’t make comics.
Steven Seagle and Stefano Gaudiano didn’t have a lot of time in the 80s; both were full-time students at the University of Colorado at Boulder. But Steven sold Kafka to Deni Loubert’s Renegade Press on one condition- the book had to be published immediately or not at all. Loubert, best known as Dave Sim’s ex-wife, had an unexpected opening in her publishing schedule and needed to fill it. Within 40 days, they completed the first issue- two color covers, 25 pages of story (lettered by Seagle and his girlfriend), ads, and three design pages. The result was so good (and the deadline was so tight) that Seagle and Gaudiano sent the following five issues of the series directly to the printer without having Loubert look at it first.
The result? A tense thriller about a man in a witness relocation program who finds out that his new identity has been leaked to those he’s hiding from. Not only is his life at risk, but the life of the wife he had to leave behind is threatened. Chased through airports and two countries, he eventually discovers the truth behind the US agency protecting him and the crime cartel pursuing him.
Because of the time pressure, Gaudiano chose a rough, expressive art style for the story. At times, it’s confusing, but it’s otherwise clear and serves the story well. Seagle’s plot is taught, and the dialogue is quickly paced. The story has all of the paranoia of a Franz Kafka story, even though the title doesn’t refer to the famed author of The Metamorphisis. "Kafka" was a term used in World War II prison camps referring to those who vanished at the hands of the Nazis.
Did I mention the series was so good it was nominated for an Eisner? The fairy tale ends there, of course. After all, it was up that year against another series you might have heard about: Alan Moore’s Watchmen. Still, Seagle and Gaudiano used the book as a jumping point to other work, and both still work in comics today. Seagle is writing American Virgin at DC/Vertigo, while Gaudiano is inking Michael Lark on Marvel’s Daredevil series.
Seagle and Gaudiano took a rare opportunity and created a book that propelled them into comics as a career. These days, the opportunity isn’t so rare; anyone can publish a comic through the web and through self-publishing services. You too can create a comic. All you need is the same determination these artists had.
Steve and Stef made this
book in forty days still read
twenty years later.
Buy this book at Amazon.com.
