Adam McGovern might be one of the nicest guys in comics. Perhaps best known for his work on the site HiLoBrow, Adam also is a comic book writer, poet, corporate semiotician and freelance agitator. Starting with his 2006 Ignatz-nominated Dr. Id, Psychologist of The Supernatural with artist Paolo Leandri, the duo collaborated again in revival of Alias The Spider for Image’s Next Issue Project/Crack Comics #63. Adam has also contributed to Dean Haspiel’s TripCity.com and has also worked with Dark Horse Comics, GG Studio, The Rumpus and LA Review of Books,
Adam and I first became friendly several years ago, between the releases of Nightworld and Aquaria. For lack of a better word, Adam is a consummate storyteller. We spoke recently to both catch up and also discuss the upcoming crowdfunding campaign for his new book, The Night Brigade.
* * * * *
FOG!: Adam, in comics you’re best known for writing the series Nightworld and Aquaria, both for Image Comics. In mid-September you’re launching a crowd-funding campaign for your new project on Zoop. What prompted the decision to crowd fund this latest project?
Nightworld was actually crowdfunded too, even though we had a prominent publisher.
It seems that even the most marquee content companies incorporate crowdfunding campaigns at the start these days, so the question with The Night Brigade was who would we choose that could best bring our idea to those we know will be excited to read it.
Zoop is a comics-centered platform that we felt could devote the most attention and expertise to a project like ours.
They are almost like a co-publisher in the services they offer, and it reminded me of the kind of partnership we had at Image. We think they will get this campaign in front of many eyes, and the book into many hands — and we welcome any established publisher to join in!
The upcoming book is called The Night Brigade. What’s the book about?
It’s about the literal inhumanity of war, as officials plot to weaponize werewolves to expand their empires. It takes place in the Crimean War (1853-56), which historians call “World War Zero” because it was the first conflict with mechanized weaponry to cause mass slaughter, and the first war recorded by mass media: recent inventions like the camera and the telegraph brought the bloodshed to people’s homes. It started over a dispute about who had access to certain sites of religious significance in the “Holy Land” (sound familiar?), which was actually resolved quickly, but served as an excuse for rival powers taking various sides to try and take over more of each other’s territory in Europe.
In our book, young scientist Louis Pasteur is sent on a secret mission by the French government and uncovers an even more sinister plot, while pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale comes from England and groundbreaking Jamaican healer Mary Seacole sails from Jamaica to help the troops but they encounter horrors far beyond what they expected. This war that happened at the pivot point between old-school, chess-like combat and modern mass destruction seemed like the right setting for a plot about harnessing an ancient evil and unleashing it on the present day (with consequences for the future we now live in). As we say in one of our taglines, “The history you don’t know…can kill you!”
What was the genesis of the project?
Free association and a wandering attention span! One night 6 years ago my wife was mentioning a children’s book on Louis Pasteur that she’d greenlighted when she worked in publishing, and I started to think about how this scientist who’s credited with creating the rabies vaccine might have encountered werewolves (a legendary creature arguably inspired by what rabies does to humans).
This got my hidden-history speculation going, which led to my government-conspiracy instincts… if werewolves were real, would hubris cause society’s leaders to think they could harness this destructive power for war and empire? The dates of Pasteur’s life matched up with the Crimean War… which he wasn’t anywhere near in our reality, though there was that “leave” he took from the University of Strasbourg for 6 months in 1854… so we were off to the Crimea.
Then in further research I met the figures who really *were* there: Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing who battled the indifference of the British army, while more soldiers were dying by disease and deprivation than in combat; and Mary Seacole, the traditional healer from Jamaica who battled prejudice and rejection to get to the warfront and also minister to the troops, and then fought back from forgottenness when historians tried to erase her. There are as many astonishing real-life stories to tell as there are incredible yarns to make up — and The Night Brigade will give you both!
As we were developing the book, more references kept getting stirred in. For one, the hearings to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court got me thinking about the displacement of male animus onto a bestial alter-ego who’s disposable after the fact (along with any of the victims); Kavanaugh wears a robe instead of a frat jacket now, and how dare you put that other guy on trial?
As one of our valued supporters, Ann Nocenti, said when she saw some preview pages: “A werewolf as the heart of the uselessness of bloody wars? Very timely, or always timely, sadly” — Crimea as we speak is existing under military occupation, and the present-day heroes of war are doctors and nurses trying to help while civilians are the targets.
Every history story tells you a lot about the time it’s being told in.
Your collaborator on the book is Bruno Letizia, who has worked for such companies as Humanoids, and IDW, as both a writer and artist. How did he get involved with The Night Brigade and what do you think he brings to the project?
We were introduced by our Eisner-winning editor, Chris Stevens, whom I worked with on the Once Upon a Time Machine: Greek Gods & Legends anthology from Dark Horse and who has other exciting projects coming up with Bruno. As soon as I saw Bruno’s online portfolio I knew he could take on any style, and was especially suited to the moody drama of this book.
The influences he listed — like John Paul Leon and Sean Phillips — were among my own favs, and now Bruno is my new fav! He brings the seriousness, sophistication and sharp storytelling that’s special to European comics, and I should point out that for this “World War Wolf” story we’ve assembled an international creative force — Bruno, based in Italy; our lettering genius Ferran Delgado in Spain; and myself, Chris, and our logo maestro Tim Daniel here in the U.S.
What are you currently geeking over?
My two top comics of 2023 were the feminist historical horror (surprise!) of Becky Cloonan & Tula Lotay’s Somna and the surreal family-tragedy crime drama Slow Burn by Ollie Masters and Pierluigi Minotti; this year I can’t wait for Ram V’s take on The New Gods and Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre from Tom Scioli. For movies it’s gotta be the documentary my wife Heather Quinlan is working on: American Graveyard, about a burying ground for formerly enslaved people that is now the parking lot of a strip mall on Staten Island, NY. Another story stranger, sadder and more dramatic than fiction — but hopefully with no less potential to write a better ending to!
To Be Notified About The Launching of The Night Brigade, CLICK HERE!
You must be logged in to post a comment Login