Bodies Everywhere

I know; it’s been a minute.

The first half of 2022 has been crazy (but pleasantly) busy. I’ve been working on a crime novel, audio drama scripts, comic book scripts, screenplay rewrites… as well as assorted pitch docs, idea memos, mission statements and letters that are the freelance writer’s version of cosmic background radiation. They have been there since the beginning; they will be there until the heat death of the universe.

I’ll have more to say about the novel soon. But available right now is my new graphic novel from Storm King Comics: Civilians, which is part of the John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction line. Pencils by Andrea “Madman” Mutti! Inks by Gigi “Badass” Baldassini! Colors by Valerio “The Awesome” Alloro! Lettering by Janice “The Legend” Chiang! Edited by “Hurricane” Sandy King, and with covers by “Terrifyin’” Tim Bradstreet! Scripts by… “me.”

(Note: none of these nicknames are real. I just made them up. But I’d love it if we could make them stick!)

And here’s a Civilians trailer, complete with original music by John Carpenter! (I’m too nervous to give Mr. Carpenter a nickname. I mean, he’s tight with Sutter Cane.)

I’ll be signing copies of Civilians this coming week at San Diego Comic-Con (more on that down below). I thought I’d share my intro to the collected edition right here…

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Some of the People, All of the Time

Story ideas can come from anywhere. A pop song on the radio. A random quote from a beloved book. Or even a terrifying global pandemic followed by a summer of civil unrest and constant threat of the total breakdown of society.

First, the pop song.

Okay, it’s not exactly “pop,” but the Animals’ cover of Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” is both a longtime favorite but also a personal mission statement. You don’t have to like what I say or what I write. But please don’t misunderstand me, or presume to know what’s in my heart. And in the lazy, hazy crazy summer of 2020, it felt like many of us were running around misunderstanding the living shit out of each other. Sometimes, even in our own households.

Which brings me to the quote, which appeared in (of all things) Carl Gottileb’s Jaws Log, about the making of the film:

“There’s two hundred million people out there just walkin’ around, and there ain’t nobody in charge.”

Right there—a complete horror story in one sentence. I don’t worry about a single person losing their mind. I worry about everybody going coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. Or large groups of otherwise well-intentioned people falling under the spell of a charismatic monster with the ability to talk them into truly horrific thoughts and deeds.

Which brings us right back to the pandemic, the protests, the breakdown, etc.

Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock

All of this stuff was a thick stew sloshing around my skull during the summer of 2020, when I first started making little notes on what would eventually become the short comic series in your hands. I kept returning to one central idea: How can so many people just sign on to be totally fucking awful to other people? Is it something inside of us, like a big flamin’ HATE switch ready to be flipped on? Or are we so distracted that human suffering doesn’t break through the noise?

Human beings are notoriously unresponsive to statistics; we suffer from what scholars like Paul Slovic of the University of Oregon call “psychic numbing,” in which our comprehension and empathy decline as the death toll rises.

Or as Mel Brooks once put it:

“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”

So yes: imagine me, these dark thoughts in my head (“You’re not human tonight, Marlowe,” as Raymond Chandler once wrote) driving around the streets of L.A., trying to make sense of everything, and failing miserably. Whenever I get like this, I usually try to work it out in a piece of fiction. I put a whole bunch of thoughts and ideas down on a series of index cards that could probably double as EXHIBIT A in a serial killer’s trial. And I still failed.

That is, until Sandy King and Sean Sobczak reached out to see if I had any ideas for a short (three issue) arc of John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction… and I told them, “Boy, I have the perfect light and whimsical tale for you!”

I kid. They knew exactly what they were getting into.

But do you? I don’t know. Let me know what you think, if you pick up a copy of Civilians.

The Pacific Surfliner to Nerdsville

The last time I attended San Diego Comic-Con was 2019, but due to the time-distorting effects of COVID, I’d swear it was only last year. But indeed, three years have gone by, and I’m not sure what to expect, other than a lot of us dweebs in masks. (And I don’t mean the cosplay kind.) If you’re attending, be sure to stop by give me a fist bump at the Storm King booth. Here’s the full Storm King schedule:

That’s all for now. Be kind to each other, and see you on the other side of summer.

WHO THE ??? You’ve signed up for a newsletter from writer Duane Swierczynski, who has written a dozen novels, hundreds of comic books, a fistful of screenplays and audio dramas, and grocery lists. Born and raised in the City of Brotherly Love, he now lives with his family near the City of Angels. Learn more at linktr.ee/swierczy.