BALDOCK, MOON, AND SMOKE & GUNS

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

The classic image of cigarette girls is an image that seems pulled straight out of classic cinema. Brightly costumed women offering a pack of cigarettes in a dimly lit restaurant or theatre. They deftly handle the cigarettes to costumers and offer a light to smokers without one of their own. But what's behind the costume? What's behind the smile?

Previewed in the first issue of Larry Young and John Proctor's Black Diamond, Smoke & Guns is scheduled to arrive in stores this summer. Created and written by Kirsten Baldock, it features artwork by Fabio Moon (Ursula), and tells the tale of a cigarette girl with a knack for getting into a little more trouble than she hoped for. Caught in the sights of other cigarette girls angling for a piece of the action, Scarlett relies on her skills, her tools and her friends to make a life out of it all. Newsarama sat down with both creators to talk about this book and where it all came from.

Newsarama: It's been talked about before, but we want your take. What's Smoke & Guns all about?

Kirsten Baldock: Smoke & Guns is a book about cigarette girls. In the real world, the cigarette girl is to smoking what the cocktail waitress is to drinking. It's an old tradition, one you've probably seen in the background of your favorite black and white movies. In particular, I remember that in that scene in The Big Sleep when Bogart goes to get Bacall out of Eddie Mars' gambling joint there are all sorts of cigarette girls in the background dressed up in their little uniforms with their trays of smokes doing their thing, selling cigarettes and being part of the atmosphere.

Scarlett, Smoke & Guns'leading lady, is a classic cigarette girl right out of the black and white tradition. She's beautiful, charming, and the consummate flirt. But she's got one major flaw. She's ambitious. She's always got a new scheme as to how to maximize her profits, whether that's a different outfit, a sales technique, or just a new gun. Her schemes invariably get her into trouble. If she's lucky, her best friend, Annie, can bail her out and, if not, Scarlett's pretty resourceful - even when she doesn't have her gun.

NRAMA: Where did the idea for 'warring gangs of cigarette girls' come from?

KB: During the time that I was a cigarette girl there were several rival cigarette girl companies in San Francisco and some of the girls took company loyal to the extreme. The dressing room was always full of war stories. Girls getting burned with cigarettes, girls shoving each other around when they'd run into each other on the street or in a bar, girls putting drugs in other girls' drinks - it got pretty vicious! I wouldn't say we were at war exactly, but the atmosphere of animosity was enough to spark the idea for Smoke & Guns.

NRAMA:In the preview, the use of shadows and really heightens the atmosphere of the book in an almost cinematic way. Fabio, what were you trying to convey with your artwork?

Fabio Moon: The story reads as an old black and white movie. A noir movie. But it's set in this timeless period which is now and also it's a bit of the future with elements of the past. So it couldn't only be like a old movie. I want to create a world that looks like timeless and that doesn't look only as a comic book, which is not a perfect answer, but it's the one I got.

NRAMA: In the past, Kirsten has described Smoke & Guns as "The Warriors with cigarette girls", referring to the classic street gang movie. Why are these cigarette girls fighting?

KB: In Smoke & Guns cigarette girls are the only people who can sell cigarettes. But the city is divided into districts and the girls are only licensed to sell in one particular district. Some girls, like Scarlett, aren't very good at playing by the rules and go where the money is regardless of the neighborhood. So, the girls take regulating the lines between their turf into their own hands and that usually means violent confrontations.

And the district uniforms, from cheerleading outfits to bell hop uniforms, make the girls look like gangs, too.

NRAMA: Seeing how the book is partially inspired by Kirsten's tenure as a cigarette girl, how much is based on real life events?

KB: Well, I'm certainly not Scarlett and she makes a lot of choices that I probably wouldn't if put in the same circumstances. Really, I was never in any life-threatening situations, and certainly never had a gun in my tray - though I got knocked around by some drunk tough guys once and I have to admit to thinking it wouldn't be an all bad idea.

But it's the small things in Smoke & Guns that are true-to-life cigarette girl moments. At the beginning of the book, Scarlett lights a cigarette for a customer - something that I did all the time. She wears a nurse uniform in one scene, which was my standard cigarette girl get-up. It's small things like that that are real.

Some of the true moments aren't mine, either, but things that happened to girls I knew. One evening when I went to work, there was a girl sleeping in the dressing room bathroom, still drunk from the previous evening, with no idea where she'd left her tray. There's a scene based on that.

Don't get me wrong, Smoke & Guns is first and foremost an action book, but it's punctuated by really girly moments, like pausing in a fire fight to worry about a broken heel. That's one of the things that people who have read the script really seem to like about it.

NRAMA: Correct me if I'm wrong Kirsten, but this is your first published comics work. How did you hook up with AiT-PlanetLar? How long have you had this story in your head?

KB: Yes, this is my first comic. At first I was thinking of writing a story that'd be more like a day in the life of a real cigarette girl. But every time I sat down to write that story, it just didn't come out sounding fun. And being a cigarette girl really is fun. What's more fun than getting into every cool bar in the city, drinking for free and being the center of attention?

Then one day I was reading The Interman by Jeff Parker and I thought to myself "comics should always be this much fun." So, I scraped what I was working on and wrote Smoke & Guns instead. The funny thing is that it captures the manic fun of being a cigarette girl more than a true story ever could.

Once I'd written the story, it really sounded like something AiT-PlanetLar would publish and when I showed the completed script to Larry, he thought so too.

NRAMA: Fabio, this is the first time you've worked on something without your twin brother Gabriel Ba. What's it been like doing this solo?

FM: For better or worse, it's only my point of view visually. My choices. He's only the reader and, as much as I talk to him about the book, it's my work now. I don't know if I like that yet, 'cause I like the mystery in our books of "who made what?", but in the end it's good for my work as an artist to get better, so it's a win-win situation.

It's challenging in a way that I'm doing something I have never done before, a story I didn't come up with with a writer I don't know. The script was fun and it is a great script to draw, which is how I want to approach scripts if I'm only the artist.

NRAMA: Fabio, this is your second work with AiT-PlanetLar, following up from your previous book Ursula with your brother Gabriel Ba. What is it about AiT-PlanetLar that hooked you in for this story?

FM: This is a high adventure action packed story, and it has AiT-PlanetLar written all over it. The fact that it was Larry who showed the script to me and offered me the book also helped. But I agreed to do it because I think AiT-PlanetLar really cares about making good comics.

NRAMA: Kirsten, in addition to your previous career as a cigarette girl, you also currently work at Isotope Comics in San Francisco. How has your experiences at Isotope prepared you for actually creating the comics?

KB: Working at the Isotope has been great. There are so many people there who are making comics that it's a really creatively charged atmosphere. It's hard to be there and not get inspired!

NRAMA: Looking at the preview for Smoke & Guns in the back of Black Diamond, this book seems guaranteed to be action-packed. How do you think it works as a flip side to Black Diamond?

KB: Wow, Black Diamond blows me away! I feel really honored to be on the flip side of that book.

And I think you're right, the combination of high heels and hot lead on the one side and high-octane hijinks on the other is sure to be an adrenaline-overload!

Smoke & Guns is written by Kirsten Baldock with artwork by Fabio Moon. Published by AiT/PLanetLar, it is a 96 page black & white original graphic novel scheduled to be published later this year. Look for a sneak preview of Smoke & Guns in the first issue of Black Diamond.

[Jason Seaver]

Heh, I'm in. Although when I see them in movies, I always thought (A) they worked for the bars and (B) it was a pretty much defunct practice.

And, hey, if this gets people associating cigarette sales with drug dealing, that's good too, although I don't know if that's part of the satire these guys are going for or if it's just me.

[gredenko]

Looks pretty neat, if a little... familiar.

[Bakema NL]

This is good looking stuff...........and yeah, reminds us of something.

[Jason McNamara]

Congratulations Kirsten and Fabio! This book looks great, I can't wait.

Is there going to be an Isotope shooting range trip to launch the book? Nothing makes me comfortable than armed comic book readers.

[CarlBowen]

Heh...

Smoke and Guns... Smoke n Guns... Smoking Guns

I just got that.

I am S-M-R-T.

--Carl.

[kalorama]

Looks very good. I'll definitely be giving this a try. I'm generally not someone who makes buy decisions based on the publisher, but going on past experience, almost anything by AiT is at least worth a look.

[Cray_ws]

I can never get enough Noir comics, and I think this genre is the secret door to a wider audience.

[Greg T]

Sexiest idea for a comic ever! Fabio's art looks great, and I'm dying to see what Kristen has in store for us.

[James Sime]

Couldn't be more excited about getting to put this book in customer's hands!

Even though the idea is completely over the top, what with all the heavy artillery going on, Kirsten's characters and understanding of the real world of cigarette girls make it really come alive. And Fabio's art is absolutely gorgeous, I love that vintage movie feel he brings to every page. And his girls are hot!

And, for me, it's doubly exciting because it was written by a member of my staff. Way to go Kirsten, we're all proud of you and Fabio!

James Sime
Isotope - the comic book lounge
San Francisco
http://www.isotopecomics.com

[kbaldock]

Heh, I'm in. Although when I see them in movies, I always thought (A) they worked for the bars and (B) it was a pretty much defunct practice.

I think that cigarette girls probably did work for the bars back in the day.

Nowadays cigarette girls are primarily used as marketing tools for the cigarette companies. Though I think it's something they are doing less and less of already. I worked for an independent cigarette girl company in San Francisco which has been going strong since the 1980s, so if you ever want to see a cigarette girl, this is the place to be!

Thanks to everyone for the kind words!

Kirsten Baldock

[sythspawn]

That looks cool. Hopefully I won't miss the solicitation.

[ChipStark]

This book looks great. All the art and action looks wonderful. Keep it sexy without too much bloodshed and I'll certainly buy it.

[MadBandit]

Originally posted by gredenko
Looks pretty neat, if a little... familiar.

[Jason Rodrig]

So jazzed for this book.

[s richter]

Originally posted by MadBandit

To both of the "familiar" critics: Yes noir has been "done" before... it's not called a genre for nothing. But I want you to link for me 5 separate instances of cigarette girl gangs... Thanks!

This is one of the most original concepts I've heard in a LONG time. I'll be picking this up.

[MadBandit]

Originally posted by s richter
To both of the "familiar" critics: Yes noir has been "done" before... it's not called a genre for nothing. But I want you to link for me 5 separate instances of cigarette girl gangs... Thanks!

This is one of the most original concepts I've heard in a LONG time. I'll be picking this up.

No one saying you're wrong, man. It's just cool and eerie that S&M ( ) has a similiar look to Sin City.

[s richter]

Yeah, I prolly was commenting more on gredenko's post than your attachment. I think Fabio's art is frikkin fantastic and follows a long tradition of high contrast noir style, going back to Toth and probably before!

[Sean Maher]

Originally posted by CarlBowen
Heh...

Smoke and Guns... Smoke n Guns... Smoking Guns

I just got that.

I am S-M-R-T.

Yeah, you kinda gotta say it out loud and then the play on words clicks.

Can't wait for this, myself. I've been getting teased with fresh pages of art every few weeks at The Isotope (a lot of them posted above) and the wait to see the whole thing is driving me nuts. This is gonna slam.

[Scott Wherle]

Originally posted by MadBandit

Funny, because I'm seeing more Eisner than Miller, but y'know, that's why art is subjective.

This looks cool as hell. Sign me up.

[Santiago Casares]

This book looks amazing. The story sounds like a 40's film noir –while at the same time, a little bit out there.

I am looking forward to reading this book!