NAIFEH AND CRANE GET LOATHSOME

[MattBrady]

Go one full pendulum swing away from Ted Naifeh’s Courtney Crumrin, and you’ll find his newest project, a collaboration with writer Tristan Crane called How Loathsome. A four issue, black and white miniseries from NBM, it’s…well, as the publisher describes it: “Part Queer as Folk, part Trainspotting, this deeply personal, sexually bizarre, drug-addled adventure is a gothic walk on the wild side of gender-benders.” Newsarama caught up with Naifeh and Crane to hear more.

The March-debuting miniseries begins with Catherine Gore being dragged to an S&M party. While she goes out of curiosity, Catherine finds herself entranced by Chloe, a transsexual. Catherine is drawn in by Chloe, unknowing if she’s actually in love with her, or just obsessed. Add in that Catherine is a lesbian, and you’ve got a love story of a decidedly different flavor. And for mature readers.

See – it’s different than a little girl who goes to live with her uncle and finds a whole population of Night Things living around his mansion, or a big, friendly monster, isn’t it?

On Naifeh’s side, the project began as a follow-up to Gloomcookie, and went much, much darker. “I started bouncing ideas off Tristan, and eventually we decided that we needed to collaborate, and co-write the series,” Naifeh said. “I wanted the book to be a goth series, but Tristan started steering me away from that direction, into even darker territory.”

“I write pretty much constantly, and for some reason had shown a few pieces to Ted,” Crane added. “At the same time he began drawing sketches of the lanky, wild-haired figure that became the ‘voice’ of the stories, Catherine. We collaborate on the scripts, and while we’ll bat a script around for far too long I think ultimately the book is much better for it. I do get very specific ideas sometimes of how I want to story to ‘flow’ and Ted’s very, very good at capturing this. Ted does the art and greytones, I’m on lettering and photo-reference for the covers.”

As for the “deeply personal” line in the solicitation copy, don’t think that you’re going to learn things you didn’t really want to know about Naifeh and Crane – it’s not personal in that sense, really.

“It's a book about things that really don't often get discussed,” Naifeh said. “The main character, Catherine, reveals very private things about herself, the way she thinks, even her unconscious inner process. The comic includes short stories, written by the main character, as a way of revealing her imaginative inner life. They're sort of the myths that drive her desires and needs.

“For me, Catherine is a representation of ideas about gender, sexuality and aesthetics. They’re not necessarily my original ideas, though I find them interesting. There’s a huge charge of fascination around transsexualism and androgyny that many people feel, but is rarely reflected in media. David Bowie traded on it in the early seventies, and lost a huge amount of fans when he retired his orange kabuki mullet and heavy pink makeup. One of the things we wanted to do with Catherine is show that world through her eyes, the eyes of someone who’s captivated by that sort of beauty and mystery, and enjoys it for it’s own sake.

“But more than that, Catherine is a student of life, always trying new things, and feeling her way through the world and soaking up experience. She gets herself in a lot of trouble, and goes through a lot of pain for her experiences, but essentially what makes her interesting is that she’s not afraid of emotional pain.”

“I don’t think it’s that she’s not afraid of emotional pain, it’s just that she accepts that it’s going to happen,” Crane countered. “While being completely fascinated by her friends, who are masters at denial. Catherine represents a certain balance, the duality and the confusion that arises from that duality. It’s a difficult thing, to embody both the male and female, and Catherine’s friends recognize that’s what she’s doing. They respect it, but it’s a challenge for everyone around her, just as it’s a personal challenge.”

On the opposite side of the coin is Chloe, an experimenter in her own right. “Instead of being fascinated by the transience of gender, she’s focused on the polarization,” Naifeh said. “She’s committed to being female and living a ‘normal’ life, while Catherine isn’t interested in normality. Of course, Catherine doesn’t see this at first.”

“I feel a little sympathetic towards Chloe at times,” Crane added. “She’s a bit scared, she’s made that ultimate jump from Male to Female and now just want to enjoy the end of that leg of her journey. So she wants to fit in, I think that’s something that everyone can relate to.”

As mentioned above, the story begins in an S&M club, something that is a large part of the full experience Naifeh and Crane are seeking to give to their readers, that is, a means of further exploration of gender.

“Basically we’re dealing with, for lack of a better word, alternative lifestyles, and we just wanted to show a glimpse of the grand experiment,” Naifeh said. “In the S&M world, people get to redefine gender roles, power roles, the role of sexuality in a relationship, etc. That’s what the book is about. Everybody knows somebody who’s into S&M, and my guess is that no two couples follow the same sort of relationship rules. Different models for gender and power roles pop up all the time. Strangely, it’s frequently the case that each couple thinks their rules are the rules, that this is the only true way one can achieve true intimacy. But that’s what straight people think too, and of course, they’re wrong. That’s part of what we’re trying explore with the setting, the idea that all styles of intimacy are valid.”

While the preview and solicitation may give the impression that the miniseries is one continuous story, Naifeh clarified the point a little. “Actually, each issue is going to be a different story in Catherine’s life,” Naifeh said. “I know its novel in the comic format, but I personally am fond of comics where you buy an issue and get a story. The next issue won’t have Chloe in it at all, and the issue after… well, you’ll just have to read on.”

And while any story that has a girl in love with a guy who’s now a girl seems like it may lead to tragedy at the end, that’s not really the point, according to Crane. “Is love ever really a tragedy? I know that sounds really cheesy, but How Loathsome is about life, and while things don’t always work out, it’s all about what you learn along the way. Can the audience turn away? Of course, but I hope not. It’s certainly easier sometimes, to just turn away. I always wonder what you miss out on when you do.”

For Naifeh, the project is important in that it further broadens his range, as well as what the comics audience considers he is capable of. “I don’t think it’s interesting to continue doing cute little goth books exclusively for the rest of my career,” Naifeh said. “I have more stuff like that in the pipeline, but I also have How Loathsome, I have Eva: Iron Kitten, an anime-style action book and other things that look nothing like Courtney or Gloomcookie.”

Finally, as to why How Loathsome landed at NBM, rather than say, Oni or SLG (publishers of Naifeh’s other projects), it came down to one word. “NBM said yes first,” Naifeh said. “Joe Nozemack wasn’t too sure about How Loathsome, and I had so many projects in the works over their already, I didn’t think I should force it down their throats. And Terry Nantier really loved it. NBM is a great company, they put out top quality books, and more importantly, they have a reputation for edgy, controversial adult material. It’s all about branding. That being said, Oni has been very supportive of How Loathsome. Jamie Rich even mentions it on the Oni message board when it gets a press release or a review. Those guys are awesome.”

Crane agreed with his collaborator. “Partly because they said ‘Yes’, as Ted pointed out,” Crane said. “Also because I work at a comic book store, Isotope - the infamous comic lounge of San Francisco owned by James Sime - and we go through a steady stream of indie books. I knew what was out there, and which companies were publishing what types of books. NBM knows how to market a book like this, and they have been very supportive of our mad venture.”

[blankpoint]

this looks quite good... just that Gloomcookie is very weakly written, I hope this series works out better.

[Jamie S. Rich]

[quote]Originally posted by blankpoint:
this looks quite good... just that Gloomcookie is very weakly written, I hope this series works out better.

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You should try Courtney Crumrin. Ted's own writing is quite fantastic (if I may say so, completely biased as I am). http://www.onipress.com/titles/titles.php?id=CC1

[Kurt Avery]

[quote]Originally posted by Jamie S. Rich:
You should try Courtney Crumrin.http://www.onipress.com/titles/titles.php?id=CC1

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I've wanted to try CC for some time now (and not just because we have the same initials ). Can you order the collection directly from the Oni site?

CC

[Barry]

I preordered this based on how much I enjoyed Ted's work on CC, but after reading this article I'm really looking foward to the first issue.

[Redmond]

Wow, who ever drew those first two pics is an amazing artist with great sensibility!

[Ted Naifeh]

HAH! All me! Sometimes sensiblility is all about time and color. Also, the other pages were drawn over 2 years ago.

Check out the How Loathsome website at:

http://www.howloathsome.com

The inner pages are all updated with a graytone treatment.

Also, Chuckles Cat, if you want to order Courtney, go to:

http://www.dkcomics.com

Everything is discounted. It's awesome.


ted

[Elayne Riggs]

[quote]Originally posted by Ted Naifeh:
HAH! All me! Sometimes sensiblility is all about time and color. Also, the other pages were drawn over 2 years ago.

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I'm just glad they all have noses.

- Elayne

[Ted Naifeh]

well, Tristan wouldn't put up with anything like that.