cmx499 Interview with The Elephant Man Creator Tom Ward

Our first interview. 

That alone would be cool enough.

A digital distribution and a free first issue? Pretty cmx499 cool too.

A Kickstarter project? Cool.

Our hero is the freakin' Elephant Man?! That's so cool.

But I'll always remember how Tom Ward and I connected, how easily we did this interview and just how much fun it was to talk to him and hear about the entire creative process behind the books. 

You never forget your first, right?

Why the Elephantman? Or maybe better put, as your title does, why Joseph Merrick?

The original idea struck me that there was Spiderman, Batman, Antman, Hawkman, Animalman etc. And then there was this real guy called the Elephantman but no one had touched on it before. Was his skin really as thick as an elephant's? Then I started reading up on Joseph Merrick and his story was fascinating; the more I read, the more interesting stuff I came across. The setting and characters were perfect for a comic if you overlooked a few key points such as his lameness from a hip injury and his difficulty communicating. Joseph would go out in public wearing a mask to hide his identity, just like the classic super heroes, that got me to thinking what if the disabilities displayed to the world as the Elephantman were actually part of a secret identity? That he was hiding in plain sight? What if his condition actually gave him the impervious skin of an elephant and enhanced strength, and he portrayed these disabilities to prevent his actions being traced back to him. I then learned that on 3 occasions Merrick left the London hospital to go on holiday and was taken by a private train, what if these weren't holidays? What if they were adventures?

When I was reading up on Frederick Treves I discovered he was best friends with Thomas Hardy, an English writer who had a fascination with the occult and was a member of the same gentleman's club as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a believer in spiritualism and a Freemason. So what if these three men were part of a secret society dabbling in the occult who could make use of a man with Merrick's extraordinary abilities? And then it struck me as strange that Treves referred to Merrick as 'John' rather than 'Joseph' when writing about him, he must have know it was wrong? Or was he lying about Merrick's real name for some reason? Why would he do that?

That's really when the whole thing came together, I figured that would be something I'd want to read myself.

Did you do a lot of background research for the book? I know that you've set this in his world with actual people in his life.

Hours and  hours and hours, but it was fun. I’ve read numerous books through a few times each, The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell & Peter Ford was a good one and I’ve got a copy of The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves himself which was invaluable. I’ve read, and continue to do so, everything I can find, wikipedia has been a great tool, I don’t know how writers managed without it! I also watched the David Lynch film a few times, obviously our story is very different though.

How did/do you combine history and fiction? Did/do you feel that it's a difficult combination?

I found it easy, the story almost wrote itself, the key was research. The locations are real, the characters are pretty much all people who existed, there's even a few instances where I've managed to slip recorded quotes into the dialogue. The trick was to take liberties and weave the fictional element of the story in between the facts. I worked this out by making a timeline of Merrick's life and the lives of the supporting cast and marking important events that happened to them and wider events on it. Most of the events in issue #01 are true to history: Merrick was found by the police at Liverpool Street Station who summoned Treves when they found his card; the way Treves and Merrick meet after Treves' visit to the Penny Gaff; the closure of the Gaff; the betrayal by the European tour manager; all that stuff happened!

The Victorian period really lends itself to this kind of book, on one hand it was the birth of the industrial revolution, it was an age of science and discovery, but then at the same time there was still so much unknown, people were interested in mediums and spiritualism and dusty old books and secret societies and there was a huge sense of excitement, anticipation, exploration and adventure.

So how did you and Luke partner up?

I found Luke on the ZWOL.org 'seeking comics artists/writers' message board. I'd had another artist fall through on the project and I would occasionally check on ZWOL from time to time to check out the ads being posted there. Luke had posted his portfolio in reply to someone else’s advert but when I checked it out I knew it would be a perfect fit for Merrick so I got in touch.

And how long have you been working on this project?

I first put pen to paper on this project in 2012, but I'd been thinking about it for a couple of years before that. Luke's been on board since around June 2013. So yeah, it's been something of a long time coming. 

Now, if I understand this correctly, this story arc has a set number of issues but that there will be more story arcs. If that's the case, do you envision a series that just goes from #1 to final issue or are you planning to use the "season 1, season 2" approach? Was there any reason behind one decision or another?

I have an end point for the series and a general idea for a number of story arcs in between. I love the setting and the characters so much, and one of my favourite things about comics is the ongoing aspect of them, so the idea was always to have something of a long running series but with a definite beginning, middle and end. One of the best things about comics is the flexibility they offer and with doing this ourselves we’re not forced to stretch or compress stories into six issue arcs ready to be turned into trade paperbacks. If we can tell a story in 2 issues we’ll just do 2 issues, if another one takes 10 properly we’ll use 10 to tell it, each one will be an enjoyable contained story in its own right but with an overarc. If the first Kickstarter is a success then I’ll script the next arc in the story and as we release issue #4 we’ll launch a Kickstarter for the next part of the story. If people enjoy the first arc then I hope that together we can continue the story. Myself and Luke are both something of perfectionists already but doing it this way also ensures that we’ll have to maintain a consistently high level of quality to keep fans engaged. 

I can't help sometimes in certain pics and panels seeing Hellboy? Am I wrong in seeing that? How many thousands of times have you heard that? Are you sick of hearing that?

Ha, y'know we have got this a little bit but not too bad. Luke is a huge fan of Mike Mignola, everyone has their influences and with the angular line work and heavy inks you can see Mignola's influence on Luke but I think he brings something of his own to the table too. 
Other than that I think the characters are quite different really. Hellboy is a Demon and although Merrick’s appearance could be described as monstrous and the general public certainly view him as something of a monster he is actually just a man. And I think that’s probably where the main difference lies, Merrick is more grounded and has more of a human focus on the story. Hellboy had a nice upbringing with Professor Trevor Bruttenholm acting as a loving father figure and seems to be generally well liked, Merrick has had a horrible life forced to leave home at a young age before a stint in the workhouse and then making a living in travelling freak shows where he is hounded by the public almost every step of the way. Hellboy and his right arm of doom have to live under the weight of a destiny that he will destroy the world, Merrick has no destiny, just a constant struggle for his own survival and the very human worries that go along with being something of an outcast, rejection, self-doubt, naivety.

One review we’ve had has described Merrick as more of a ‘mood book’ and I think I’d agree with that. Dr Frederick Treves is just as an important character in the book as The Elephantman himself and alot of the story is about their relationship. I think people will find Merrick moves slower and is more character based rather than jumping straight to punching monsters in the face.

You say that you love both print and digital, however the campaign is mostly about the incredible high-quality "vinyl" versions you run. Are the digital versions only for those who pledge to your kickstarter campaign? If that is the case, why?

Not at all, the digital issues will be available as they're released after the Kickstarter, we'll ensure that. I think digital is going to become more and more popular, I'm a fan myself, tablets are almost perfect for reading comics. They can be put out cheaper, you can save on postage, better for the environment and you can reach people all round the world instantly. On the other hand I realise that people also enjoy having a product that they can hold in their hands, I get that too! There's a demand for physical comics and they've been very popular with our backers. That's why I want to make sure that if we're producing something it's got to be of a high quality that people will want to collect and keep, not just a disposable floppy comic that might end up in the bin.
 
I read my digital books off my tablet and your using Mega for the download of issue #1 jumped out at me right away, though not for anything to do with Mega themselves. It almost forced me to get the Mega app and it especially made me have to get an account for them to download your comic. For me that felt like a potential barrier. Why did you use Mega for your downloading? If I understood that process correctly do you feel that you may be adding unnecessary barriers to people easily reading your #1? (And I stress here that Mega itself has nothing to do with it just the steps to download a .cbr of #1.)

To be honest, I didn't realise you needed an app to download on a mobile with Mega, I only tested it from my pc, that's my bad! We put the comic out for free and in .pdf and .cbr to make it accessible to as many people as possible, it's also viewable on Issuu. The only reason I went with Mega is because I've played in a lot of bands and we always gave our music away for free, we hosted it on megaupload which we never had any problems. Megaupload got closed down and reopened as Mega I believe. If Mega makes things difficult for people then I'll be looking into an alternative place to host the files.

I looked at Comixology but there was a few barriers, they wouldn't let me put the book at for free and they didn't allow me to keep the ads in the back of the book which is a way for us to support the guest artists who have been amazing helping us out.

Drivethrucomics.com was another site I looked at but there was no way to have the file as a free download with them without allowed them to run print copies, which was something I didn't want to do.

Ideally I'd love to do something like a bandcamp for comics, bandcamp only takes 15% of sales (and drops to 10% after you hit $5000) + 4-6% transaction charge and it allows you to put stuff out for free or allows you to set up "pay-what-you-want", to me that's a much better deal than Comixology throwing you 50% after they've taken credit card charges off and far more flexible. Marcos Martin and Brian K. Vaughan have essentially gone for that set up with their digital only comic Private Eye. I'd love to do something like that. 

I find that interesting. Part of cmx499 philosophy is the love of a good free number #1 (I won't touch the free #0 or the free preview though). That comes from my personal habit of devouring comic books, and free full issues are a great way to avoid going penniless sooner. Comixology for me has been a tremendous help with all the free #1 issues I can find there. Your comments really surprised me. What was their reasoning behind not letting you put your issue up for free when they have so many free #1 issues? Do they have a policy like, for example, you need to also have right then a book or two they can sell? I'm pretty sure that I've read a number of digital books from them that have ads at the end. What was their reasoning for denying you that?

Ha, I can't comment on the Comixology reasoning or policy, I never actually submitted in the end after reading the terms & conditions. Maybe I'm way off? Maybe it's just my own stubborn desire for independence and wanting to do things on my own terms. 

When looking at and participating in discussions with comic book professionals I hear independent creators talk all the time about the difficulties on using Kickstarter. The general feeling is that you had better understand that you will still have to put in serious time promoting and marketing. Some also comment that Kickstarter is best for creators who already have a following rather than the creator who's just starting out. How has your Kickstarter experience been?

I've been pretty happy with Kickstarter, there's a couple of improvements I wish they'd implement, for example:

The ability to have limited rewards tied into more than one tier, so if someone pledges it effects the total of all connected tiers. We want to do a limited run of 500, but then there's the comic bundled with other stuff too so we'd want the availability to go down by 1 on every tier.

A way to have add ons ran through the site so people can have more flexibility to build their own reward packages.

A universal payment collection process, being in Europe Kickstarter take card details and I've had a number of Americans message me asking why they can't use Amazon to handle the transaction as usual.

And I think it might benefit everyone if there was some kind of currency conversion implemented on site.

I think there's alot of creators who are naive, they think they're gonna put their project on Kickstarter and they can sit back and it's all just going to happen for them. I'm lucky I guess, since I was a teenager I've been involved with punk rock and hardcore where pretty much everything would be DIY, we'd be recording records in our bedrooms and them giving them away for free, putting on our own gigs, hassling other people to let us play their gigs, designing our own merch, networking and helping out other people doing the same thing. I think these are the exact same kind of skills and mindset you need in pretty much any creative endevour. The promotion never stops and I was prepared for that. As soon as I was getting pages back from Luke I was putting promo images and fliers together with his work and building abit of a fanbase on facebook.

Obviously if you're an established creator with a fanbase then you're at a huge advantage on Kickstarter. This is my first comic and my first Kickstarter and for the first 3 weeks of our campaign we were the most popular comic Kickstarter in Europe and we've been in and out of the top 20 worldwide, we've been a staff pick and the dashboard says around half our backers have found us via Kickstarter itself. I think that shows if you've got a professional product and you take the time to present and promote it people will back you. But you've got to be willing to put the time and effort in, you've got to hustle. Fingers crossed we're a success and can build on this to launch another Kickstarter for the next Merrick arc!

You mentioned Panel Syndicate. We are HUGE fans of Panel Syndicate and The Private Eye, for the book, the creators and for the great distribution model. They've said that they would like to grow and have other creators join the Syndicate. Would that be something you'd find interesting?

I would absolutely love to see Panel Syndiate expand! I don't think finding it interesting would cover it, they retweeted Merrick last week and I was totally psyched about it all day, ha.

What is your dream scenario for this book?

The dream scenario is to keep Merrick going, turn all my notebooks into completed comics and reach the end. Hopefully have it read by people who enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed dreaming it up and working on it. I’d like to keep doing small numbered runs of physical comics and once we have more issues do some collected editions. As long as I can find ways to continue funding the art I’ll keep working on this book and put it out.

What's next?

Well hopefully the Kickstarter will be a success and I can get issue #1 to print and then work with Luke on bringing the next 3 issues to life and script the next arc which I think will be 2 or possibly 3 issues.

I also have a Treves one shot that takes place years before the start of Merrick, which is more of a straight up horror comic. It’s all plotted out ready to script and I’m really excited about that one and am working on it whenever I get a chance. Regardless of what happens though I’ve got ideas for more comics in the pipeline and once I’ve decided which one to develop next I’ll hopefully be making a start on that this year too. I also really really want to find the time to finish reading Locke & Key!