On embracing what terrifies you

In Curious Haunts, you mentioned that as a kid you were afraid of everything. What tips would you give creators on how to best embrace fear and turn it into curiosity?

I think the thing that scares us always informs who we are on a broader scale. When I was a kid, so many environmental things around me really colored all of my fear. And until I understood that, until I embraced it, that fear ruled me. But then when it comes to storytelling, if you understand what scares you on both micro and macro levels, you can use that really effectively.

Whenever I’m writing a horror story, I’m often pulling in those things that upset me or scare me a little bit now, but I can take those things and weaponize them. I can affect others. Because the thing about it is the things that we feel are kind of universal for dealing in the idea of the unknown, of death, all these things. When we play with that, when we take what was there and then mold it as writers, we can tell something really special.

Ultimately, there’s an element of thinking about the end consumer that’s interesting. How do you share and grow, and almost teach people? What are some key titles for you in terms of comics and movies that helped shape your early case?

I was obsessed with short fiction when I was young. Both comics and prose. A lot of what I was able to get my hands on comics-wise when I was little, as a child of a single mother living in the Midwest, came from flea markets, garage sales, and places like that.

There was a particular flea market that we used to go to that always had a ton of old EC Comics. There was a lot of great science fiction stuff too, but most of what I was drawn to was the horror stuff like Tales From the Crypt and The Vault of Horror. That stuff is a master class in short form horror storytelling.

Right around that same time, in those same places, I found Stephen King’s short story collections. Specifically, Skeleton Crew. I remember there was a point, early on when I wasn’t quite brave enough to delve into horror, where I obsessed over the cover to that book at the bookstore–the one with the monkey with the cymbals on it. It scared the hell out of me, and for some reason I just kept going back to it–staring at it.

It was the same for me at the video store. I was terrified by the covers to those VHS tapes. I finally made the choice to get over being afraid of everything and made the decision to watch every horror movie at our local video store, A to Z. Which is…honestly kind of a terrible idea when you’re 12 years old. I saw stuff that I really, really should not have. But I stopped being afraid of everything, and learned that monsters were cool.

I think back on a lot of those movies that terrified me at the time and now realize what cheesy schlock they actually were. Somehow even that stuff, along with brilliant films like Halloween, The Exorcist, and Rosemary’s Baby, merged with those horror comics and novels to bring me to where I am today. I think that’s kind of a universal thing for horror fans. So many of us obsessed over those things. Whether we’re telling stories or watching or reading them, we’re all kind of wanting to feel that way again.

You’re hitting on a note that pairs nicely with what you talked about regarding obsessing over the cover for Skeleton Crew. I remember having instances like that where you see something in a story and you’re like, “Huh, something inside me is interested in this or is changing as a result.” You think and you obsess. Similarly with movies. I collect VHS, I love the covers. That’s part of my favorite, just chasing something like, “Oh, the art is really interesting.” Or alternative covers and titles for movies. We’re not the first to say it, but horror deals so much with things outside the schlock, the intensity of human emotions and how we deal with or don’t deal with certain situations. It’s a great proving ground for storytelling. How do you feel about Stephen King’s Night Shift?

That’s a great one. There are so many great stories in that collection. “Jerusalem’s Lot” was always one of my favorites.

I read that just after college and obsessed over it as a way to dip my toe into Stephen King, because I hadn’t read too much of him growing up. I loved that.

King’s short story collections are such a perfect examination of everything from human greed to fear of the unknown, to the power of hope. I think about the Bachman books a lot. And that was “The Long Walk,” “The Running Man,” “Rage,” and “Roadwork.” “Rage” is never getting printed again because it’s about a school shooting. I remember how much that story specifically scared and upset me as a kid. Of course, it also also made me think of the Pearl Jam song, “Jeremy,” which has my damn name in it. And we’re talking about this being in the early ’90s, and we weren’t quite yet living in the world we do today as far as a lot of that stuff goes.

That stuff is real horror. But yeah, King’s short stories were really special. They led me into finding other collections from other horror writers. Everything from Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft to Clive Barker and Joe R Lansdale. Each examining a different side of fear and humanity.

They aren’t exactly horror, but I think Ursula K. Le Guin has amazing short story collections. I made a stack of formative books the other week, and one that is in there is Mitsuru Adachi’s Short Program, which is a short story collection. The level of experimentation the short story format offers an author of being able to explore a really wild idea to whatever extent you want, it’s one of my favorite formats for sure. If someone puts out a short story collection, I am much more likely to buy it than a long-running series.

You’ve worked for nearly every major comics company in the industry, tackling some of the most popular characters of all time. When you approach an existing world, how does curiosity play into how you craft your story? Are there any questions that you like to ask to get started at the beginning of a process when you approach a project?

Every project starts with a question. We live in a time where so many brilliant stories about all of the characters have already been told. We’ve examined just about everything out there that you can do.

I always take a look at what exists and then try to ask myself what I would like to read, what I’d like to see told. Then I try to think about it in a way that respects what came before, but also asks a question about the world now that we live in and my personal experience. Often, if you can talk about a character through your eyes, that’s the way to hit onto something new.

Recently, the last thing that I did really for the big two was the Knight Terrors: Black Adam, for DC Comics. It was a two-part tie-in for this big horror event, examining the fears of each of these heroes. Which is perfect for me, really. The project started with the question: deep down, past all of his bravado and blowhard bluster, what is Black Adam truly afraid of? I thought on it and felt that, for Black Adam, it’s two things—he never wants to be subservient to anything ever again and losing people that he loves.

One of the key elements of Black Adam’s character is that he’s constantly wanting to build the same kind of family that Billy has. He can’t ever quite admit it, but he needs that. It stems from the loss of his wife and children. He constantly tries to rebuild that family throughout time, and fails every single time. For him, loving, allowing himself to feel, and then losing that is the greatest fear. The whole story started with that question and I just ran with it. I took it to some amazingly different and fun places. I had a blast with it.

You have a robust collection of oddities. I’m sure this is an impossible question, so it’s okay if you don’t have one, but what is your favorite or favorites, if you want to pick a top five?

That’s really hard.

As someone who collects a lot of physical media, I know. I was thinking if someone asked me what my favorite comic is, I’d be like, “What do you mean? What my favorite manga is? What my favorite American comic is? What my favorite superhero comic is?” There are some subcategorizations that we as collectors of things traffic in, or the routes that we walk. Totally understand. Feel free to interpret the question or take it as needed.

So much of the way that I’ve always approached oddities is about vibe. One of my favorite things is walking through an oddity shop, flea market, or junk store and connecting with something—not really even always knowing why. Over the years of collecting stuff, some of my favorite things are not necessarily all that truly unique or esoteric.

In my YouTube video series Curious Haunts you can see part of my cabinet of curiosities collection on shelves in the background. There is a clown cookie jar right behind my head on the shelves., and it is the creepiest thing. Whenever I found it, I picked it up, and I was basically just hugging it. And I couldn’t stop giggling because it was easily one of the most disturbing things that I’ve ever found. Of course, my wife was like, “You’re so weird.” But I love that so much.

I’ve also got this giant old shop ledger from the 1800s. It’s massive. Bigger than a family bible– like some kind of wizard’s tome. Every once in a while just leaf through it. There are whole lifetimes in there. Everything is noted and annotated along the way. I love seeing that history.

I also have these little sub collections of strange little horror things from when I was a kid. I’ve got everything from monster Pez dispensers to vintage Ben Cooper creature masks. All that stuff gives me a connection back to the boy that was afraid of everything, but then found joy in learning that monsters and spooky stories were cool. So much of those little things are just nods to the late 80s and early 90s.

Of course, I ended up having to rebuy almost everything, because having two little brothers that destroyed most everything when we were growing up. I just love the through line for all that stuff.

I love the idea that I could have a strange cookie jar and old bones and specimens mixed in with weird ledgers and strange books that I found over the years. And then this funky McDonaldland plastic ephemera from horror movies and strange things that I liked and lost along the way. Somehow it all fits and is just very me.

I especially resonate with the almost revisiting elements of childhood or revisiting and rebuilding childhood collections. I’m do that a bit myself now, where I’ve been collecting an older card game from the 2000s that I was into as a kid when anime and manga were really kind of popping off. And now I’m like, oh, I actually understand the production and mechanics behind it. And revisiting it from that adult professional sense I think is also very… It’s a very gratifying experience to be able to look back and be like, oh, the things that inspired me, I can trace this timeline of helping me get to where I am now.

I was going to reserve this, but now that you’ve naturally brought it up a little bit with revisiting things. If you could have your pick of any character or property to work on next, what would it be, and why? And I’m curious if it coincides with any of that earlier interest, if there is a earlier property or anything that you feel like maybe is ripe for revival in our modern times.

That’s really hard. I had a conversation just recently in Seattle about characters we loved and how they informed who we are. And because I’m me, I have to go with a twofold answer on this. There’s the answer that I always say every time someone asks what character I’d like to work on.

I love superheroes. But for me, things like Enigma, Preacher and Shade, the Changing Man—all of that early Vertigo stuff was just transformative. And of those, the book that always informed who I am and so much of my love of comics was Hellblazer.

I was lucky enough to work on Constantine, the DCU version of Hellblazer for a bit, and we were even able to make it very Hellblazer-ish. But I would love to somehow go back and do the true Hellblazer at Vertigo. And that desire is almost more. about going back and working at Vertigo during that very particular time. It would’ve had to have been with one of the classic, seminal writers like Jamie Delano or Garth Ennis. Of course that’s never going to happen. Just a silly dream.

And yes, again, because I said that I had two things: The Shadow. I just love The Shadow so much. All the variations. Even the really crazy stuff where it’s his head on a robot body dual wielding UZIs. I loved all of that. I love the classic stories. I love the radio show. I even have such a weird love for the strange Alec Baldwin film. Such a great character. And to be able to take that and do something with that now would be a lot of fun. I think that I’d have to fight my temptation to go back and tell period stories, which is really what it should be.

The Shadow has alway had this network of people that worked for him. I’d love to take a look at how that would work now. We have space phones that can do anything. How would he use a network with near limitless knowledge and connectivity?

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of modern man? The Shadow knows!