Interview with Alan Abbadessa
As conducted by Chris Buchner

What first got you into writing?
My initial curiosity came from my brother. I must have been in the fourth or fifth grade and he was in junior high when one day he told me that he had started writing a novel. I knew very little about it, but looked up to him, as all younger siblings do, and decided I would try and do the same. I’m sure if I were to find today what I had written then I’d be horribly embarrassed, but I can tell you that, no matter the questionable quality of the piece, it was an invigorating experience actually doing it. I’m not sure if my brother ever finished writing his book (I know I didn’t finish mine) as his interest sort of dwindled over the next few years, but I was hooked and couldn’t stop. I’ve been writing ever since.

What made you decide on this as your career?
I’ve had so many crappy jobs over the years, ranging from retail to corporate, that drove me a little insane, but also to the point where I am now. When I finished broadcasting school, I was in debt and in need of immediate paying work. So I left my retail job for a well paying job in an office and started working those school loans down, putting my aspirations on the back burner for the moment. Spending a year and a half in a cubicle will drive anyone to the brink. At that point, you have two choices: Climb the corporate ladder and hope to have the comfortable life with the house in Long Island and the wife and kids that we’ve all been told is the new American dream (at the cost of your sanity) or pursue the real dream, to do what you love to do and live off your work. It was in that cubicle that I realized you have to forge the roads you want to travel or you’ll wake up one morning living somebody else’s life.

Did you study writing anywhere or was it just natural skill you evolved through practice?
A little from column A and a lot from column B. I was a communications major in college and went to broadcasting school after that. In those years I studied all forms of communication, of which writing is just one. I focused on TV, radio, print journalism, art history, and economics, but the extent of my formal education was limited by my finances. I’d say my real schooling came from staying up at night writing whatever I could and honing a skill until I felt confident enough to put it out there for others to read. By trying, and often failing, I feel you can learn so much more about yourself and your art than any class can teach you.

What type of stories do you write?
Oh man, I get asked that question a lot and never know how to answer. I’ve tried many times in the past to write a “type” of story, aiming to please this person or that person and always coming up feeling disappointed in the end. About two years ago, after self publishing a comic anthology in the way I thought comic readers wanted, I realized I was perverting my own dream. Immediately after that I wrote a story for myself, in the way I wanted…the sort of thing I’d want to read. I found that experience so much more rewarding and saw how much the writing improved when you actually felt passionately about the piece. I promised myself that those would be the only type of stories I’d write from that point on. That’s kind of vague, I know, but it’s my honest answer.

Any favorite genre?
I’m open to all genres as long as they’re done well. That’s not to say I feel that I’ve mastered every genre, as there are a few that intimidate the hell out of me, but I do think every genre has its own amazing potential. The Big Two (or The Big Few as it may now be) are just like any other major distributor (whether that be film companies, TV stations, record labels, etc.) and get caught up in what’s “hot” at the moment. If Noir is hot, you’ll see fifty Noir projects that year, until the market is saturated and the last drop of blood is pressed from the stone. Genre doesn’t excite me, quality excites me.

Do you have any interests in screenwriting or theater? Why or why not?
Yes and no. I love film, I fucking adore it. …But, man do I hate the film industry. Removing myself from the conversation for a moment, as I don’t see myself as the savior of the film or any industry, I can tell you what makes me hesitant. The current system we have in place puts money men (distributors, marketers, union bosses) in control of projects and uses the creative talent as cogs in their machine. There’s something obviously wrong when it costs a minimum of 300 million dollars to make a film and it sucks. Of all the films made in a year, how many are good?
I’m well aware that when I talk about this subject I sound like a pretentious prick, but take a moment and consider the question. If you’re going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on something, shouldn’t it be good? You could spend that money to house the homeless, cure diseases, feed the hungry…whatever. We’re now at the point where all the films we make are put through a process that takes original ideas and turns them into formulaic garbage. If writers were able to write a screenplay without being strong-armed into putting in a love interest, a whacky next-door neighbor, and a dramatic turn specifically on page 30, we’d see a vast improvement in the quality of our films.
As for my part in the battle, a start-up film company with only a few million in their budget approached me two weeks ago about writing a script for them. If their smaller budget gives them a greater independent sensibility, I will be a very happy man, but we shall see.

It’s been said that you choose to not use a computer whenever possible. Why is that?
That’s actually not true. I use a word processor for almost all my writing but I avoid the internet whenever possible. I’ve now gone over a year and a half without internet access and went three years without a television before that. I know that both of these things have kept me out of the loop to an extent but I’m okay with that. Despite the really good sites and programs out there, television and internet mostly just distract me. I see my disconnection from them as a sort of tin-foil hat keeping bad media from being beamed at my brain. We live in a society that has become so distracted by the wealth of stimuli we don’t have time to stop and analyze where we really are. I’d rather sit down with a printed book (whether comic or literature), which I feel is still the most interactive media to date, or in quiet meditation than act solely as a receiver for advertisements and corporate agendas. In the end, what am I really missing out on? Biased news analysis, celebrity-driven reality TV, and endless prodding to buy my way to happiness with consumer goods. The funny thing is that I do love the potential of these formats. I’ve studied radio, television, print, and internet, hoping to be a part of them. I just want to use them to different ends than the corporations that own the media outlets. I believe there is a war going on for the “hearts and minds” of the average American. Every second, somebody adds to the never-ending stream of media trying to get your dollar or your vote. I want to play my part by adding to the alternative media, simply putting another option on the table. Use the same tools that are brainwashing our populace to free them. Maybe convince one person that happiness comes from himself and not from the store. That’d make it all worthwhile.

Writer’s block is the bane of all writers. Do you ever find yourself struggling with this, and if so how do you overcome it?
More often than not, I suffer from the opposite. I have so many things I want to write and never get the chance to. Paying the bills and life responsibilities keep me from writing way too often. Life is my writer’s block. As for the other kind, I have suffered from it on two occasions. The solution? Walk away from the keyboard and start living. Life will inspire you, ideas are everywhere. If these two ideals seem hypocritical, they’re not. Too much life away from writing can hurt you, just as too much time away from life can. Seek the balance between the two, do your best, and you’ll be okay.

What first got you into comic books?
I was at a friend’s house back in elementary school and saw an X-Men comic sitting on his desk. I flipped through it and saw the amazing marriage of text and pictures. I’ve been a fan ever since.

Any favorite characters or titles currently out there?
My brother and I managed to collect every X-Men comic (including spin-offs) from 1963 to about 1999-2000. We bought mostly in reprints and trades, not caring about seller’s grade, only in the saga. I loved Stan Lee’s use of mutants to represent civil-rights era blacks and later their adaptation to represent gays and lesbians. Slyly using super-heroes to educate youth on tolerance and co-existence is a testimonial to the power of comics. I dropped out of comic collecting in the late 90’s as cover prices soared and as story quality took a back seat to creating collectors’ items. Though I haven’t read any of it, the concept of Marvel’s “Civil War” storyline excites me, as it’s a return to political awareness in the super-hero genre.

Talk about your best comics review.
Oh God, do you have time for a fucked-up story? One day I had the chance to check my e-mail at my girlfriend’s house and found the most random e-mail waiting for me. It was some guy from Seattle looking for some book of mine he’d read a review of. The book was called Comic Laundromat Sampler ’06, which consisted of two shorts Rammer Martinez and I did, the whole “book” consisting of maybe 14 pages. It wasn’t even a book; it was a few pages we had Xeroxed at Kinko’s months earlier and handed out at the Javits Center Convention after-party. There may have been 25 copies of it ever.

The guy read this review and wanted to purchase a copy but couldn’t find one in the Seattle area. I explained to him that he’d never find a copy anywhere as it really wasn’t much of anything, but said I’d be happy to find the original pages and run off another copy if he really wanted one. All I asked in return was that he tell me where he read this review. Turns out, someone at Comic Buyer’s Guide got a copy somehow, and they reviewed it. I was at work when I got the news, so I left my job for 15 minutes, ran over to Forbidden Planet and purchased a copy and there the review was: right beside Simpsons Comics, Wallace and Gromit, and Warren Ellis’ latest book. Our “book” even got a better review than Warren Ellis’, which blew my mind because he’s a writer I greatly respect. So here I am, on cloud 9, ecstatic about this unexpected review, on my way back to work with a huge grin on my face, despite the fact that all day my stomach had been bothering me.

A few hours later, I’m feeling a lot sicker but I was still excited, and I knew that more good news was on its way that night. I had plans to meet up with Rammer Martinez and James Rodriguez, and I was going to meet Peter Palmiotti and Larry Mayorga both for the first time that same evening. All is going well in the world.

Maybe 7 P.M. hits, Rammer meets me by my job and he wants to go to Kinko’s before meeting up with the other guys to print out some of the Psychosis pages to show Peter (who inked our Psychosis! piece). As we’re walking to Kinko’s, my stomach is bothering me more and more. I tell Rammer I’m going to piss at the Starbucks next-door while he runs off the copies. At this point, I’m sure that I’m going to shit my pants. As I wait in line I break into a sweat, the situation becoming more and more urgent. Finally, one of the two bathrooms opens up and I run inside, pulling my pants down mid-stride. My ass explodes upon contact with the toilet and in that exact second I become aware that there’s no toilet paper. I look around frantically, trying to see if there’s anything I can use to no avail. I open my bag, hoping to find some tissues or napkins or anything of the sort but there’s only one item in there...my copy of Comic Buyer’s Guide.

As I wipe my ass with the torn out pages of news print, I can only laugh at how quickly the day can change, and how important that magazine really was to me.

What do you have currently going on?
Well, I’m now working with three of the guys from that night on a variety of projects.

I just wrote another short based on something that happened to Rammer at the opening of Rocketship Comics in Brooklyn. On his way there, he witnessed a woman step on a mouse, crippling the creature in the process. He stopped to try and help the mouse and his involvement with it had a big impact on him that night. He wanted to turn it into a piece and, based on his account and a fantastic sketch he did, I was able to adapt it into a script I’m very happy with. I can’t wait to see what Rammer does with it.

On a much bigger scale, Peter Palmiotti and I have decided to do a full graphic novel together. The story takes place in an apartment building over the course of one night, showing the interconnectivity of what we perceive as separate lives. Peter and I are both excited about being able to really flesh out the characters and the story in this format. The graphic novel is tentatively titled “Squares That Touch” and we’re aiming to have it finished for his planned book tour next summer. The cover will be designed by graphic artist Larry Mayorga, director of the JKLM Creative Group, a company I also work with. The JKLM Creative Group in itself has huge news, as we have just recently been invited to join the KDU, one of the world’s largest and most influential design networks.
Keep an eye on the JKLM site as we’ll have updates on this project as it develops.

How did you get involved with the Comicbook Artists Guild (CAG) and Guild Works Productions (GWP)?
CAG published one of the shorts from that Xeroxed sampler I did with Rammer in their fourth anthology. Our piece has a game of Scrabble that turns into a metaphysics debate after someone uses the word “god” on their turn. After that, we were invited into their horror anthology, Psychosis!.

Where did the idea come from for your story in GWP’s Psychosis! publication?
To be honest, I had never written a horror story before and anything that I could think of that was “scary” or “horrific” probably wasn’t what GWP was looking for. To me, the scariest thing I could think of would be to turn 40 or 50 and still be stuck in a dead-end job asking myself what I was doing with my life. So, I asked Rammer to draw something “scary.” He drew a sketch of an arm coming out of a hole in a wall grabbing at someone. We then sat down and had a long session of just tossing ideas back and forth, developing the universe where these people were trapped. The concept was heavy and much more than could be explained in 8 pages so we decided to let the design say a lot.
Together we came up with the story progression and the layouts for most of the pages then I sat down to write the script. During the writing, the concept changed a little for me, or the meaning behind it anyway, and I hope even a fraction of what we wanted to say in that piece came across. To me, it’s the classic warring of opposing ideals. Most of us see things in stark blacks and whites but the only way “out” is by meeting in the middle. It’s in those shades of gray that we can thrive instead of going on hurting those that we imagine to be different or that we disagree with.

Where do your ideas come from? Is there a general thought process or do they just hit you?
I have no idea where they come from. Some come on slow and easy like a memory of a dream and I just fill in the rest. Some just bash me over the head and take full control. I know a piece works when I don’t remember writing it. The truly good ones write themselves. I may sit down with an idea but end up reading something unrecognizable from my original concept.

What is your work method like with Rammer Martinez?
It depends on the piece; Rammer and I have worked on a lot of stories together over the years. He’s probably my favorite artist to work with because of his ability to see where I’m going with something and to adapt my script to the final product. On our first work together I gave him nothing but caption boxes for each page, just to see what he came up with, and was very happy with what he did. With our Scrabble piece, I handed him what is, to this day, the most meticulous script I’ve ever written. I broke each panel down to the minutest detail and he was still able to come to me and say, “This panel right here needs to be changed to look like this.” Or “It might work better if you do it like this.” I might, in turn, tell him if a panel needs to be redrawn or whatever. We’re at a comfort level with each other and respect each other to the point that we can do that and give truly constructive criticism, knowing that it’s for the best.

What do you think sets your work apart from many of the others in the field?
I’m not doing comics with enormously large breasted women in spandex. That’s a big part of it. I’m not opposed to these books in any way, I collected spandex heroes for years, but the industry needs to evolve or it will die. If someone writes a story that doesn’t have a super-hero, it shouldn’t be automatically relegated to the specialty section of the comic shop.

I like to focus on dialogue and on “real” people instead of supers. I like to think of my work as real people in unreal situations. I’d also like to keep experimenting with page layouts and the entire presentation. I’m okay with something I do coming out not so great, as long as I know I’ve tried to do something different, that I took a chance.

Are there any writers or works that inspire you or you try to aspire to?
I’ve realized that I don’t want to aspire to be “like” anyone. However, there is a John Lennon quote that inspires the hell out of me. Lennon said, “When I sing I Wanna Hold Your Hand, hundreds of millions of people hear that, what if I say, Give peace a chance?” That speaks to the responsibility each of us as artists and creators have. If we’re putting media out there, comics, movies, songs, whatever, do we not have a responsibility to actually say something with it? Entertainment is fine but the world has a wealth of entertainment already. You could lock yourself in a room with only the magazines and DVDs already on the market and you’d die before getting through a fraction of it. How much of that material is pointless stimuli and how much of it makes a difference? I think we need to change the tide. I take that back, I know we have to do something about the world we live in. Once the artists stop caring, who is left to speak for what matters?

What advice would you have to give to people looking to break into the field?
Find your own voice and write for yourself. Learn from the comics that have come before but help the medium evolve; help elevate it to what it could be.

What would be your dream project if you had the opportunity to do it?
To produce a Melanie Safka and Emmylou Harris duet album. To take those amazing voices, harden their material just a bit, and make a hell of a sound.

There’s a hole in the creative wall, plug it here:
Watch for Squares that Touch; even if the book doesn’t go to press till the summer, there’ll be plenty of online material on the way before that. I’m very excited about this book, I’ll do my damnedest not to disappoint.
Keep an eye on the JKLM Creative Group, we’re doing amazing stuff there. Designs, comics, websites, fashion, videos, you name it.
That and I invite you to join the good fight. Now it’s media versus media.

Top© 2007 Atomic Media Group