MattBrady
01-09-2008, 05:56 AM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm2/horror/BadLand01.jpg" align="right">This week, writer Ron Marz is taking a trip somewhere new. Best known recently for his work on DC’s Green Lantern franchise, as well as his own <b>Samurai</b> stories at Dark Horse (with Luke Ross), Marz this week heads to Camp Crystal Lake for a two part <b>Friday the 13th</b> miniseries for Wildstorm entitled <b>Bad Land</b>, with art by Mike Huddleston
The story takes two parallel tracks – one set 250 years ago, and one present day. We spoke with Marz about the story, the property, and his view on horror entertainment today.
<b>Newsarama</b>: So Ron, how does a nice, respectable guy like yourself get all tangled up with <b>Friday the 13th</b> in the first place? Did you have a story, or did Wildstorm come knocking, asking if you'd like to write a little something?
<b>Ron Marz</b>: All Ben Abernathy's fault. He's the one who dragged me into all this mayhem and violence. He should be ashamed. Ben is actually one of my favorite editors in the business, and we've worked together on projects a couple of times. The most recent one was a few years ago at Wildstorm, but unfortunately the book never saw the light of day because the plug was pulled on the particular series. That one was one of the best scripts I've ever written, too.
Anyway ... one day Ben called me and said that Wildstorm was going to be taking on the licenses for <i>Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street</i>, and <i>Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i>, and asked if I'd be interested in taking a stab at one of them. No pun intended. Truthfully, Freddy and Leatherface don’t do much for me, but there's kind of a campfire ghost-story vibe about Jason, or at least the first couple of Friday movies, that appealed to me. I also haven’t written a lot of horror-oriented stuff, so this was a chance to stretch some different muscles, and do it in a mature readers context. And lastly, I can remember <i>Friday the 13th</i> being one of the first movies I ever took a girl to in ... what, junior high, I guess? ... so that didn’t hurt either.
My schedule was pretty booked up initially, but Ben checked in a couple more times, and sent black-and-whites of the first two <b>Friday the 13th</b> issues that Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray wrote. I really liked those issues; I thought they captured a great mood. So when I an idea occurred that I liked well enough to pursue, I pitched it to Ben and we went with it.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Speaking of the origin, the spark of your story...where did it come from? Just a cursory look at Friday the 13th and Jason gives the impression that he's a little shopworn, perhaps, and any stories being told are derivations of derivations - an impression, obviously, bolstered by the movies. What makes you look at Friday the 13th and say, "There's still a nook or cranny here that can be explored..."
<b>RM</b>: That's kind of like the first question a writer always gets: "So where do you get your ideas?" I have no idea; they just show up, thankfully. It's not like I sit down and say, "Okay, I'm going to have an idea now." You turn things over in your mind, but I think the best ideas just show up when you're not actively pursuing them. We live on a lake, and I try to take a walk around the lake every day. On one of those walks I was looking at the sun glint off the lake, and the idea for a Friday the 13th story set in the winter popped into my head. How creepy is it if you're huddled down in a cabin in a blizzard, and you think maybe somebody's lurking around outside? The story takes place in two time frames, one modern and one about 250 years ago, when the area around Camp Crystal Lake was <i>really</I> wilderness.
For me, this kind of story isn't about the hulking guy with a machete. He doesn't even talk; he's more like a force of nature than a character. It's about the other characters, which in this case is a trio of fur trappers circa 1750, and a trio of hikers in the present day. It's about what they do, and how they react when things go to hell around them.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Let's talk particulars - "Bad Land" - broad strokes, what are we talking about here – as you mentioned, this is about the historical significance of Camp Crystal Lake?
<b>RM</b>: I don't know if historical significance is quite the right phrase. The story is really about the notion that some places are just bad, that some land is tainted. Awful things happen there, whether it's now or 250 years ago. Camp Crystal Lake is one of those places, going back to the Native Americans in the region. The fur trappers seek out shelter in the blizzard, and end up in a lodge built by the Native Americans in the area. The hikers get caught in a late season blizzard and stumble upon some cabins in the woods. They each want to hunker down and wait out the storm, but that's not the way it works out. Events happen in both eras that are somewhat reflective of one another, so there's almost a sense that this has happened before. And the past and the present intersect in the second issue.
<b>NRAMA</b>: The core, initial appeal of <i>Friday the 13th</I> was that it was a slasher story - crazed psycho(s) killing people because they were, well, crazy. Sure, there were superhuman-ish elements, given the resurrections and physical prowess, but that said, in light of "Bad Land" how much of a "mythology" and a backstory can a property like Friday the 13th hold?
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm2/horror/BadLand02.jpg" align="left"><b>RM</b>: I really went for the feel of the first couple of movies, of being out in the spooky woods with <i>something</i> lurking out there. Maybe Jason eventually went to Hell or to space or took a cruise on the Love Boat, but that stuff never even entered my thinking. I'm a history buff, so I was really intrigued by exploring the backstory, if you want to call it that, of Crystal Lake. Again, that idea of a bad place, where bad things are going to happen, even to essentially good people.
<b>NRAMA</b>: That said, you’re adding in historical elements, but what needs to be in a Friday the 13th story (aside from the major characters, of course) for it to work as a "Friday the 13th" story, rather than a generic slasher story?
<b>RM</b>: Well, yeah, there's generally a guy in a hockey mask. And, to be kind of obvious about it, somebody needs to wind up dead. I think part of the attraction to this sort of story is that the audience likes to guess who lives and who dies. The dumbass who goes off into the woods by himself probably doesn’t have a very good chance. The guy who barricades himself in the cabin might be a little more likely to be breathing in the morning. So part of the writer's job is to build characters the audience actually cares about. Why should the audience come back to see who lives and who dies if the characters are just cardboard cutouts?
<b>NRAMA</b>: Given that this is a licensed property that you were going in this new direction with, what kind of restraints did you have, and what kind of oversight was there from both Wildstorm and New Line? Were there any, say, ground rules that you were given?
<b>RM</b>: I just assumed the obvious ground rules, like you don't have Jason turn out to be Dick Cheney or Britney Spears under the mask. Beyond that, I just tried to tell a good story. Ben took care of the approvals from New Line, and presumably they went smoothly, because I didn't have to change a thing.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Bigger-picture wise, it seems that at least lately, horror has split into two more or less distinct camps, the overt (<i>Saw, Hostel</I>) and the more Eastern and psychological (<i>One Missed Call, The Ring</i>). Any thoughts on why we're not seeing Jason, Freddy and Michael playing larger roles now?
<b>RM</b>: Horror is cyclical, like anything else. Maybe even <i>more</i> cyclical than anything else. <i>The Ring</i> comes out and makes a lot of money, and suddenly there's a dozen knockoffs. It reaches a saturation point real fast, the audience gets overloaded, goes to look for something else. So then you get a bunch of torture-porn junk, which turns a quick buck, but inevitably there's one every other week because they're cheap to make, and it's not like a whole lot of thought goes into them. Like I said, cyclical. Michael had his reintroduction last year. Jason and Freddy have been around long enough that I could see both franchises going back to square one and starting over.
<b>NRAMA</b>: That said, like many other properties whose bloom has fallen off, these characters have found a home in comics. Any thoughts about this kind of "incubator" system that comics have become for these guys? After all, there are properties that have found their legs again after some time in comics...<i>Aliens versus Predator</i> for example...
<b>RM</b>: That's interesting, I hadn't really given that aspect a lot of thought. Certainly comics are a way to keep the properties percolating, and feed the hardcore audience that wants the material. And, to be honest, it's a way film companies to make a few bucks while the movie aspect of a property lies fallow. You know, it's kind of surprising that it isn’t done more, given the synergy between comics and movies these days. You'd think there's an audience for earnest projects springing from franchises like <i>Pirates of Caribbean</i> or James Bond, or even something like <i>Die Hard</i>.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Swinging back to “Bad Land” - you're working with Mike Huddleston. How are his interpretations of your deranged scenes?
<b>RM</b>: I was really, really happy with Mike's work. This wasn't the easiest job in the world, because the artist had to be adept at drawing contemporary stuff, as well as sequences taking place 250 years ago, and then set it all in the middle of a snowstorm. That narrows the talent pool considerably. But Mike nailed everything. There's a fair amount of stuff that had to be conveyed mainly visually in the story, both character stuff and plot points. The mantra in comics is "Show, don't tell" and Mike was a great collaborator for that. He does a lot of the heavy lifting here.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Final sales pitch - why should someone pick this up this week when they're in the comic shop?
<b>RM</b>: Well, there's graphic violence, nudity, sex and profanity. These are not issues anyone should plan on showing to their mom. But they're issues I'm quite happy with, because I think they work as a story. Plus, where else are you going to see Jason in a blizzard?
The story takes two parallel tracks – one set 250 years ago, and one present day. We spoke with Marz about the story, the property, and his view on horror entertainment today.
<b>Newsarama</b>: So Ron, how does a nice, respectable guy like yourself get all tangled up with <b>Friday the 13th</b> in the first place? Did you have a story, or did Wildstorm come knocking, asking if you'd like to write a little something?
<b>Ron Marz</b>: All Ben Abernathy's fault. He's the one who dragged me into all this mayhem and violence. He should be ashamed. Ben is actually one of my favorite editors in the business, and we've worked together on projects a couple of times. The most recent one was a few years ago at Wildstorm, but unfortunately the book never saw the light of day because the plug was pulled on the particular series. That one was one of the best scripts I've ever written, too.
Anyway ... one day Ben called me and said that Wildstorm was going to be taking on the licenses for <i>Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street</i>, and <i>Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i>, and asked if I'd be interested in taking a stab at one of them. No pun intended. Truthfully, Freddy and Leatherface don’t do much for me, but there's kind of a campfire ghost-story vibe about Jason, or at least the first couple of Friday movies, that appealed to me. I also haven’t written a lot of horror-oriented stuff, so this was a chance to stretch some different muscles, and do it in a mature readers context. And lastly, I can remember <i>Friday the 13th</i> being one of the first movies I ever took a girl to in ... what, junior high, I guess? ... so that didn’t hurt either.
My schedule was pretty booked up initially, but Ben checked in a couple more times, and sent black-and-whites of the first two <b>Friday the 13th</b> issues that Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray wrote. I really liked those issues; I thought they captured a great mood. So when I an idea occurred that I liked well enough to pursue, I pitched it to Ben and we went with it.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Speaking of the origin, the spark of your story...where did it come from? Just a cursory look at Friday the 13th and Jason gives the impression that he's a little shopworn, perhaps, and any stories being told are derivations of derivations - an impression, obviously, bolstered by the movies. What makes you look at Friday the 13th and say, "There's still a nook or cranny here that can be explored..."
<b>RM</b>: That's kind of like the first question a writer always gets: "So where do you get your ideas?" I have no idea; they just show up, thankfully. It's not like I sit down and say, "Okay, I'm going to have an idea now." You turn things over in your mind, but I think the best ideas just show up when you're not actively pursuing them. We live on a lake, and I try to take a walk around the lake every day. On one of those walks I was looking at the sun glint off the lake, and the idea for a Friday the 13th story set in the winter popped into my head. How creepy is it if you're huddled down in a cabin in a blizzard, and you think maybe somebody's lurking around outside? The story takes place in two time frames, one modern and one about 250 years ago, when the area around Camp Crystal Lake was <i>really</I> wilderness.
For me, this kind of story isn't about the hulking guy with a machete. He doesn't even talk; he's more like a force of nature than a character. It's about the other characters, which in this case is a trio of fur trappers circa 1750, and a trio of hikers in the present day. It's about what they do, and how they react when things go to hell around them.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Let's talk particulars - "Bad Land" - broad strokes, what are we talking about here – as you mentioned, this is about the historical significance of Camp Crystal Lake?
<b>RM</b>: I don't know if historical significance is quite the right phrase. The story is really about the notion that some places are just bad, that some land is tainted. Awful things happen there, whether it's now or 250 years ago. Camp Crystal Lake is one of those places, going back to the Native Americans in the region. The fur trappers seek out shelter in the blizzard, and end up in a lodge built by the Native Americans in the area. The hikers get caught in a late season blizzard and stumble upon some cabins in the woods. They each want to hunker down and wait out the storm, but that's not the way it works out. Events happen in both eras that are somewhat reflective of one another, so there's almost a sense that this has happened before. And the past and the present intersect in the second issue.
<b>NRAMA</b>: The core, initial appeal of <i>Friday the 13th</I> was that it was a slasher story - crazed psycho(s) killing people because they were, well, crazy. Sure, there were superhuman-ish elements, given the resurrections and physical prowess, but that said, in light of "Bad Land" how much of a "mythology" and a backstory can a property like Friday the 13th hold?
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm2/horror/BadLand02.jpg" align="left"><b>RM</b>: I really went for the feel of the first couple of movies, of being out in the spooky woods with <i>something</i> lurking out there. Maybe Jason eventually went to Hell or to space or took a cruise on the Love Boat, but that stuff never even entered my thinking. I'm a history buff, so I was really intrigued by exploring the backstory, if you want to call it that, of Crystal Lake. Again, that idea of a bad place, where bad things are going to happen, even to essentially good people.
<b>NRAMA</b>: That said, you’re adding in historical elements, but what needs to be in a Friday the 13th story (aside from the major characters, of course) for it to work as a "Friday the 13th" story, rather than a generic slasher story?
<b>RM</b>: Well, yeah, there's generally a guy in a hockey mask. And, to be kind of obvious about it, somebody needs to wind up dead. I think part of the attraction to this sort of story is that the audience likes to guess who lives and who dies. The dumbass who goes off into the woods by himself probably doesn’t have a very good chance. The guy who barricades himself in the cabin might be a little more likely to be breathing in the morning. So part of the writer's job is to build characters the audience actually cares about. Why should the audience come back to see who lives and who dies if the characters are just cardboard cutouts?
<b>NRAMA</b>: Given that this is a licensed property that you were going in this new direction with, what kind of restraints did you have, and what kind of oversight was there from both Wildstorm and New Line? Were there any, say, ground rules that you were given?
<b>RM</b>: I just assumed the obvious ground rules, like you don't have Jason turn out to be Dick Cheney or Britney Spears under the mask. Beyond that, I just tried to tell a good story. Ben took care of the approvals from New Line, and presumably they went smoothly, because I didn't have to change a thing.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Bigger-picture wise, it seems that at least lately, horror has split into two more or less distinct camps, the overt (<i>Saw, Hostel</I>) and the more Eastern and psychological (<i>One Missed Call, The Ring</i>). Any thoughts on why we're not seeing Jason, Freddy and Michael playing larger roles now?
<b>RM</b>: Horror is cyclical, like anything else. Maybe even <i>more</i> cyclical than anything else. <i>The Ring</i> comes out and makes a lot of money, and suddenly there's a dozen knockoffs. It reaches a saturation point real fast, the audience gets overloaded, goes to look for something else. So then you get a bunch of torture-porn junk, which turns a quick buck, but inevitably there's one every other week because they're cheap to make, and it's not like a whole lot of thought goes into them. Like I said, cyclical. Michael had his reintroduction last year. Jason and Freddy have been around long enough that I could see both franchises going back to square one and starting over.
<b>NRAMA</b>: That said, like many other properties whose bloom has fallen off, these characters have found a home in comics. Any thoughts about this kind of "incubator" system that comics have become for these guys? After all, there are properties that have found their legs again after some time in comics...<i>Aliens versus Predator</i> for example...
<b>RM</b>: That's interesting, I hadn't really given that aspect a lot of thought. Certainly comics are a way to keep the properties percolating, and feed the hardcore audience that wants the material. And, to be honest, it's a way film companies to make a few bucks while the movie aspect of a property lies fallow. You know, it's kind of surprising that it isn’t done more, given the synergy between comics and movies these days. You'd think there's an audience for earnest projects springing from franchises like <i>Pirates of Caribbean</i> or James Bond, or even something like <i>Die Hard</i>.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Swinging back to “Bad Land” - you're working with Mike Huddleston. How are his interpretations of your deranged scenes?
<b>RM</b>: I was really, really happy with Mike's work. This wasn't the easiest job in the world, because the artist had to be adept at drawing contemporary stuff, as well as sequences taking place 250 years ago, and then set it all in the middle of a snowstorm. That narrows the talent pool considerably. But Mike nailed everything. There's a fair amount of stuff that had to be conveyed mainly visually in the story, both character stuff and plot points. The mantra in comics is "Show, don't tell" and Mike was a great collaborator for that. He does a lot of the heavy lifting here.
<b>NRAMA</b>: Final sales pitch - why should someone pick this up this week when they're in the comic shop?
<b>RM</b>: Well, there's graphic violence, nudity, sex and profanity. These are not issues anyone should plan on showing to their mom. But they're issues I'm quite happy with, because I think they work as a story. Plus, where else are you going to see Jason in a blizzard?