ALEX COX: THE COMIC BOOK SEQUEL TO REPO MAN

[MattBrady]

by Zack Smith

It’s 4.a.m. Do you know where your graphic novel is?

…sorry.

In 1984, Universal Studios released Repo Man, a low-budget comedy written and directed by Alex Cox. Starring an eclectic cast of actors including Emilio Estevez, Harry Dean Stanton and Tracey Walter, and featuring a killer soundtrack with Iggy Pop, the Circle Jerks and the Ramones, it told the extremely strange story of Otto (Estevez), a disaffected punk who falls in with Bud (Stanton), a repo man in pursuit of a gold ’64 Chevy Malibu with…something in the trunk.

Filled with offbeat humor and endlessly quotable dialogue (“Duke, let’s go do some crimes.” “Yeah, let’s go get some sushi and not pay!”) Repo Man didn’t make much of a dent at the box office, but soon became the very definition of a “cult classic,” playing hard at revival theaters, midnight screenings and on video.

But what few people know is that there was a sequel.

Cox, who’s meticulously kept track of his career on his web site, wrote a sequel to Repo Man in 1995…which never got made, despite several efforts. However, readers will finally get a chance to find out what happened next this March when the sequel, Waldo’s Hawaiian Holiday, premieres as an original graphic novel from Australian publisher Gestalt Comics.

It was a natural fit – Cox, who also directed Sid & Nancy and co-wrote the screenplay to the film version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, originally pitched Repo Man to producer Mike Nesmith (yes, the guy from the Monkees) with a four-page comic, the art from which is reprinted here. In addition, wrote a Godzilla comic in the early days of Dark Horse, worked on an unproduced Dr. Strange screenplay with Stan Lee, and profusely illustrated his original Waldo script.

Waldo’s Hawaiian Holiday picks up the story of Otto (now called “Waldo”) as he returns from space, finds the world has moved on, and settles into a series of increasingly pointless jobs manned by the mysterious Duke Mantee. Luckily, he stumbles onto a pair of tickets for a Hawaiian getaway, but finds that leaving LA…isn’t as easy as it used to be. We were able to send some questions to Cox and artist Chris Bones about this new story. Put your seatbelt on, and remember…the life of a repo man is always intense.

Newsarama: Alex, to start, can you give our readers a brief history of Waldo’s Hawaiian Holiday?

Alex Cox: Ten years after we made Repo Man, I and the producers proposed Waldo’s Hawaiian Holiday to the studio as a sequel. They turned it down; here it is at last!

NRAMA: Why did you ultimately decide to tell the story as a graphic novel, and how did you come to work with Gestalt?

AC: I don't decide these things. If I was in charge of my destiny it would be quite something! You'll have to ask the outstanding artist Bones about the Gestalt connection, for it is his.

NRAMA: Well, let’s ask him. Bones, how did you first become aware of Waldo?

Chris Bones: I found out about it when browsing (Cox’s) website some years back. At the time, I was looking for a project to work on to keep me busy while recovering from a leg injury. I guess I had just enough pain killers in me to think it was a good idea...

NRAMA: What appealed to you about the script?

CB: I'd been working on a post-apocalyptic western just before this, and I think the fact that Waldo had an opposite-end-of-the-spectrum feel to it appealed. The western was a Mad Max end-of-the-world (story), whereas Waldo was more Orwellian - kind of “we're already past the apocalypse, and we don’t even know it.”

The story just felt right for the time. It's hard not to feel constantly watched and imprisoned by choice in this day and age.

NRAMA: Now, Alex, you initially wrote the script in 1995. How has the story evolved since its original conception?

AC: The book is very faithful to the original script. But it has expended immensely, of course, with these extraordinary images.

NRAMA: Bones, what was it like translating the story into the comic?

CB: Adapting the script was hell. Even worse (was) when the original plan was to have it published in single-issue form – having to break the script into a set number of pages at a time, ensuring logical and dramatic endings occurred (every) 23 pages when working from a stupendously illogical script proved to be profoundly challenging.

Let's just say I had a lot of free time on my hands at that point.

NRAMA: What's it been like working with Alex?

CB: I never really worked with him as he gave me free reign over the book, for better or worse. Lucky for him I stopped taking all those pain killers around page 7 or so...

NRAMA: Alex, how closely did you work with Bones and Justin Randall, and what, in your opinion, did they bring to your story?

AC: Not closely at all. Chris showed me the first few pages as they were done but I live in very primitive circumstances, and my internet connection is half a telephone line. So it wasn't possible to send me the thing as email.

I hadn't seen the finished book till yesterday!

NRAMA: You've been involved with comics for a long time, including the original Repo Man pitch and that Godzilla comic for Dark Horse. Have you worked on other comics, and what is the appeal of the medium for you? Are there other comics you currently enjoy?

AC: No, I haven't done any other comics work. I was a great fan of the underground San Francisco comics back in the day... Crum, Shelton, S. Clay Wilson, and their successors, Mavrides, Robins, & co.

Waldo fits right into that world, I think. But I was also a fan of Steve Ditko - Dr. Strange and Tales of the Mysterious Traveler - and of Wally Wood and Bill Elder in MAD.

NRAMA: Now, speaking of Dr. Strange – there’s that script you wrote with Stan Lee. Could you tell us about that experience – how it came about, and what it was like working on that project?

AC: I proposed it to Marvel and to Zoetrope. Wrote the script with Stan. No interest in it from the studios, and it would be too expensive to make as an independent picture, I suspect. But Stan is incredibly prolific and it was a lot of fun, and an honor, working with him.

NRAMA: Now, I’d like to get into the plot of Waldo a bit. In the graphic novel, "Waldo" is obviously Otto, but is the ubiquitous Duke the same Duke from the film? I noticed you had Harry Dean Stanton listed in the role in the original production notes.

AC: No, Duke Mantee is a character from High Sierra, where he was played by Humphrey Bogart, as I recall. Harry would have been wonderful, but as drawn by Bones the role is clearly played by Seymour Cassell. Dick Rude would have played the narco-satanist, had we made the film.

NRAMA: Repo Man depicts a very nihilistic society, but ends on a note of possibility. Waldo seems to take a much more downbeat view of society, seeing it as an inescapable prison, a la your City Limits script. Do you see the world as being worse today than it was in 1984, and what is your take on the devolution of the punk scene?

AC: The world was worse in 1995 than in 1984, and in 2008... oh dear. Consumerism, and denial, seem to have become an inescapable prison for many of us. And punk? Ach! As Bunuel said about surrealism, it was meant to be a revolutionary movement. The facts that some people made money off it or it's a cool fashion are irrelevant.

NRAMA: The 15-year gap in the story indicates that Waldo takes place in 1999,15 years after 1984. That still leaves 1999-2008. Do you see telling more stories of Waldo/Otto in the future?

AC: Otto/Waldo will return as an evangelist, leading us to heaven via the Rapture, in 2013.

NRAMA: O…kay. Do you currently have any plans to do other film projects as graphic novels?

AC: I have a project called Helltown, which would make a dandy one. But Bones may be too busy with real work after this.

NRAMA: Repo Man is well-known for its soundtrack, and American Laundromat Records is doing the tribute album. If Waldo had a soundtrack, what are some songs you'd like to see on there?

AC: I would like it to have a lot of Moroccan belly-dance music, such as La Mamounia, a lovely song whose author I don't know, unfortunately.

NRAMA: What'd you think of the Repo Man scavanger hunt The Believer covered in 2006?

AC: Was that in LA? I don't know since I didn't go on it. But I was at the screening afterwards, with a number of the actors from the film, and that was very nice.

NRAMA: Regarding your latest film, Searchers 2.0: Are there currently plans for a wide theatrical or DVD release in the U.S.?

AC: We would like it, yes. But that's down to (Roger) Corman and his ace sales team.

NRAMA: Bones, why do you feel Repo Man has such enduring appeal?

CB: Because it is completely insane, and yet for some reason, I feel like it could plausibly happen at any minute.

NRAMA: What's your favorite line from Repo Man?

CB: I've got two, and they're both from Bud:

"I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either. "

And my all time favorite:

"Goddamn-dipshit-Rodriguez-gypsy-dildo-punks! I'll get your ass!!"

NRAMA: All right! And finally, for Alex: Anything else you'd like to discuss?

AC: Nope.

Waldo’s Hawaiian Holiday will hit stores in March. For more of Cox’s work, including the original screenplays for Repo Man and Waldo, check out this section of his web site.

[gsam4ever]

I was really hoping for a sequel to either Maid to Order, Xanadu, or Brewster's Millions.

Go obscure movies, Go!!

I was going to brag that I had first post but then I realized it's to a Repo Man article....I'll probably be the ONLY post!!!!

[darrenmdr]

Oh fantastic. Alex Cox used to do a cult film series for the BBC called Moviedrome and he introduced me to loads of ace films. Can't wait to read this.

[gsam4ever]

Oh good, I have a buddy.

[jza1218]

Damn...I thought it was the return of Barry Darsow

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by jza1218

Damn...I thought it was the return of Barry Darsow

Didn't Adam Pearce already do that one?

[Dagman]

That was intense!

[NICKD]

Ordering my copy this week so I get free shipping.

[Sasori]

Originally Posted by Dagman

That was intense!

Life of a comic reader's always intense.

[jza1218]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

Didn't Adam Pearce already do that one?

He did it twice!

[WebHobbit]

Repo-Man is one of my all time favorite films! I have the Limited Edition DVD in the metal box with the Mailbu License Plate on the front.

[roblewmac]

Duke mantee is from "Petrafied forest" Not high Seairria that was "Fred C Dobbs"

[swanstand]

If you ever get the chance, watch the "made for TV" version of the film that Cox put together. He came up with his own dubbing for the more *ahem* colorful lines and somehow made the film even funnier.

"Flip you , you melonfarmer!"

[samnoir]

Repo Man is a classic. I'm not sure why it has fallen into relative obscurity.

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[SledgeHammer]

Plate 'o shrimp.

[yodabarr]

I wasn't singin', guy.
Why you so tense, guy?


LOL




Great news, this...

[Juisarian]

Originally Posted by gsam4ever

I was really hoping for a sequel to either Maid to Order, Xanadu, or Brewster's Millions.

Go obscure movies, Go!!

I was going to brag that I had first post but then I realized it's to a Repo Man article....I'll probably be the ONLY post!!!!

You don't want to eat from a machine.