The second volume of THE UNWRITTEN, Inside Man comes out today everywhere books are sold and since THE UNWRITTEN is about the story behind stories, I thought it’d be fun to celebrate Volume 2 by going through the secret origin of Mike Carey and Peter Gross’ history at Vertigo; a kinda 3-part series about and how they went from individually breaking in to writing a New York Times Bestseller. What they came back with, though, far outshadows that, and for anyone looking to break into Vertigo –for anyone looking to break into comics in general – these are great examples to learn from.

MIKE CAREY

1. Sandman Presents: Lucifer - The Morningstar Option #1-3 (prequel to Lucifer) (1999)

I’d been banging on the door at Vertigo for about two years at this point. I had a lot of stuff coming out for smaller American publishers – Malibu first, then Caliber – and everything I wrote I would send in to Alisa Kwitney (who was then editing The Sandman), along with a begging letter containing some variation on the theme, “gee, I sure would like to work for you.”

Then one day I got a call from Alisa, in which she invited me to pitch for the new Sandman Presents title. It had to be a Lucifer story, and the pitch had to be completed and sent through in about 48 hours. The solicits were ready to go out, I think, and then at the eleventh hour somebody very senior had decided not to go with the story that they had. So everything was back in the melting pot, and they needed a workable script fast.

My first outing at Vertigo – and it teamed me up with Scott Hampton! It was a huge thrill, and a steep learning curve, because I’d only ever once worked with a painter before – Ken Meyer Jr – and Ken was far too nice to slap me down if I asked for something unreasonable.

2. The Sandman Presents: Petrefax #1-4 (2000)

Just before Alisa left Vertigo, she commissioned a second Sandman Presents miniseries from me, which Joan Hilty took over as editor. I had really ambitious plans here. I wanted to write an eighteenth century picaresque novel in comic book form, with bawdy comedy, high adventure, ridiculous coincidences, the works. The journeyman undertaker, Petrefax – from the Worlds End arc of The Sandman – seemed to be the perfect protagonist for a story like that, in that he’s a romantic figure, an innocent abroad, and a great narrative voice.

As things turned out, this was one of the most purely enjoyable books I’ve ever worked on. We packed more twists, reveals and reversals into a four-issue miniseries than you could shake a stick at, and accomplished most of what we’d set out to do. Sadly, a sub-plot involving a nymphomaniac landlady (modeled on Yootha Joyce’s character from Man About the House) had to be cut for reasons of space, but that was my only cause for regret.

Second outing at Vertigo – art by Steve Leialoha. Somebody up there seemed to like me.

3. "The Wedding Breakfast" (in Flinch #16, 2001)

This is a weird parenthesis – and it comes before Lucifer, even though it was published six months or so after Lucifer#1.

On the basis of having written The Morningstar Option (aka Sandman Presents Lucifer) and having pitched the Petrefax mini, I did two things in the summer of 1999 by way of furthering my connections to the Vertigo imprint. One was to write a short story for the Flinch anthology, which Alisa Kwitney was editing, and the other was to travel out to that year’s San Diego Comic-con.

At San Diego I approached the DC booth, bearing my sparse and tattered credentials, and asked editor Shelly Roeberg (now Shelly Bond) if she’d meet with me and talk possible projects. She agreed to meet, and invited me to cold-pitch some ideas to her, but… you know how sometimes you just feel like you’re off your game, and nothing you do is going to come out right? It was like that. I was over-awed, far from home, and it felt like anything that came out of my mouth was going to sound like garbage.

So having gotten Shelly to give up an hour of her valuable time for me, I only talked generalities with her instead of actually pitching anything substantial. But I did say “Look, I know you’re taking over the editing reins on the Flinch anthology when Alisa leaves. There’s a script of mine in there – “The Wedding Breakfast.” If you like it, then let me know, and I’ll pitch you some stuff in the same sort of vein.”

She did like it, and she found the perfect artist for it (Craig Hamilton). It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Shelly’s still one of my favourite editors to work with, and she’s shaped my writing in more ways than I can count.

4. Lucifer #1-75 (2000-2006)

By this time, I’d met Karen Berger (Vertigo group editor and progenitor) at a convention in London, and we’d had a memorable conversation about breaking into comics. When I told her I was waiting for my big break to come along, she said, “There’s no such thing – it’s a whole lot of little breaks.” She was right, and actually that perfectly describes my career up to 1999.

But the Lucifer monthly was a break on a different scale from anything that had happened to me up to then. It was my first monthly book, and it’s really impossible to over-estimate the importance of that. Having to meet that monthly deadline and to work within the rhythms of an ongoing book is a great proving ground for a writer: it was certainly a huge turning point for me.

No, let’s be honest: it was THE turning point. Through Lucifer I forged friendships and professional relationships that changed the course of my whole life. Shelly Bond. Peter Gross. Chris Moeller. Dean Ormston. Todd Klein. The list goes on. If every action births a universe, then the universes where I didn’t write Lucifer probably all have much less happy and fulfilled Mike Careys in them. Boy, I’m glad I don’t have to live there!

The amazing thing, when I look back on it, is that it ended up being such a personal book. Peter and I never talked about it much up front, but gradually we morphed the cosmic story of the Adversary and his war against God into a family drama about sons seeking to free themselves from their fathers’ influence. Lucifer is one of the scariest monsters I ever created, but I think it’s still easy to identify with him because I wrote him as Everyman: mutatis mutandis, the stuff he’s struggling with is stuff that we all have to go through.

PETER GROSS

1. Swamp Thing # 102 inking (1990)

Swamp Thing #102 was the 2nd thing I ever inked for DC and the first for what would later be Vertigo. It was also the first job I ever did with editor Stuart Moore who became one of my best friends in the comic biz. I had been doing a self-published series called Empire Lanes that got me some attention in comics and had even led to a lunch with Karen Berger at a Chicago Comic convention where she asked me to submit some ideas to DC.

The thing I remember most about that inking job was that the penciller called me up to complain about the way I inked him. But Stuart was okay with it, and life went on. I think I even got to pitch a Swamp Thing story out of it--one that I can’t even remember the details of anymore.

2. Shade the Changing Man # 36 (1993)

I was sitting in my studio working one day, I think that it was a slow time because Doctor Fate, which I had been penciling and inking had been cancelled (because it dropped below 40,000 copies per issue--those were the days!) and the phone rang. It was Shelly Roeberg (before she became Shelly Bond). Shelly had briefly been my editor at Comico on Empire Lanes. I hadn't talked to Shelly in a few years and as far as I knew she had completely left the world of comics. "So guess where I am?" she said. I'm sure I replied with something witty but I don't remember what it was, and that's not the point of this story. She continued, " I'm in Karen Berger's office in New York. How would you like to draw a fill-in issue of Shade the Changing Man?"

That fill-in was my first Vertigo work, appearing about 4 months into the imprint, and it's been pretty much steady Vertigo work ever since. I’m pretty sure I've done more art for the imprint than any other artist, and I might even be the only artist or writer who has produced work during every year of Vertigo's existence (can that be true?)

The other thing that I remember that issue of Shade for is that it was the last time I inked on acetate (a clear film media). Because part of the issue was drawn on paper by Chris Bachalo and part on acetate by me, it was all set up and photostatted to the same exposure, so my pages ended up reproducing pretty terribly. I decided if I couldn't control the scanning I’d better switch to paper, and it's been paper ever since!

3. Arcana Annual # 1 full art (1994)

Stuart Moore hired me to draw the Tim Hunter part of The Children’s Crusade, the first and, to my memory, only Vertigo-wide crossover event. The Arcana Annual was going to lead to the launch of a Tim Hunter series intended to be called Arcana ( rather than the much more obvious Neil Gaiman derived “Books of Magic.” (What were they thinking calling it Arcana anyway?)

I remember this book most for two things: first that it was a lot of pages and I was only going to pencil it or at least wasn't meant to ink the whole thing but as we were looking for an inker I kept inking away and by the time we got to where someone we wanted was free I had basically finished the whole thing.

Secondly, I remember that Stuart asked me if I was interested in working on the Tim Hunter series that was going to launch soon after, and I passed. I was working on Hellstorm at Marvel and thought I was finally going to make my mark there, and I thought the Tim Hunter series was going to bomb. The annual was a lot of pages where not a whole lot of stuff happened and it was written by someone who was not Neil Gaiman, so I thought it had no chance.

Cue my next vertigo milestone; inking Books of Magic...

4. Books of Magic # 1- inking (1994)

I was happily working over at Marvel after finishing the Arcane Annual and I got a call from Vertigo editorial (it must have been Stuart but I'm not totally sure) asking if I might be able to do some inking for Books of Magic. The first issue, drawn by relative newcomer Gary Amaro had come in and the powers-that-be weren't totally happy with the way the inked art looked. So they asked me to re-ink the issue from photocopies of the original pencils. I thought sure, I could handle that (and not take any blame for the failure I knew the series was going to be). To my surprise, the story by John Ney Rieber was great, as were Gary's pencils on the book. So I inked that issue and signed on as the regular inker on the book.

5. Books of Magic # 4 - 75 - (1994-2000)

So it turns out that relative newcomers to comics often discover that they aren't as fast as they need to be and about the fourth issue of BoM, Gary Amaro had fallen behind on his deadlines. They had me pencil 1/2 of the issue in addition to inking. It was the issue with Death appearing, maybe the first official non-Neil scripted appearance of Death and the first time I got to work on the character. You'd be amazed to find out how many convention sketches I’ve done of Death since then! What a great character. BoM was also nominated for the best new series of the year--a tradition I'd be lucky enough to repeat on all my Vertigo series yet to come!

Next week, both the guys hit Vertigo milestones: Peter becomes one of the first artists to write and draw an ongoing series for Vertigo, while Mike takes on a Vertigo icon.

There’s a very specific category of readers – a category that, judging by online chatter and the people I meet at conventions – is actually growing. They’re the readers who’ll buy a comic book in both the single issues and the trades. Even with a rough economy and a lot of competition, they love that comic so much, they want that monthly fix of “what happens this month in…” and they want the collection of that comic to keep on their bookshelves. And, honestly, for a comics creator, you can’t ask for a better fan.

So, with the first volume of SWEET TOOTH hitting comics stores today, Jeff Lemire and I thought we’d do something fun with that thinking in mind.

You see, when it was time to put the first volume of SWEET TOOTH together, Jeff and I realized there were changes we had to make from the published comic to the trade. To be exact, there were two changes Jeff and I decided to make that affected three pages of the trade paperback. They’re not corrections, censorships or special features. They’re things (one more subtle than the other) that we felt needed to be changed, because if we published the pages the exact same way in the trades as in the single issues, they would look like mistakes in the trade, even though they read wonderfully in the single issue.

What were they? Well, I figured I’d ask you.

If you can find out what those two changes were from the comics to the trade AND the reasons why we made them, we’ll send you a copy of SWEET TOOTH Vol. 1 signed by the ENTIRE creative team, that’s Jeff, Jose Villarrubia, Pat Brosseau, (and I’ll even scribble on it too). If I know Jeff, he’ll also throw in a sketch of Gus in there as well. Just email your answers to Pamela.mullin@dccomics.com and we’ll give out prizes to the first ten people that get it right.

West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin once said that he makes his shows for the least passive members of the audience. For the fans that point out that the amount of wine in someone’s glass differs from shot to shot. Because these things don’t work without engagement. I can speak for Jeff, Jose, Pat and myself: We agree 100%. We make this book for the engaged. And for those so engaged they’re willing to double-dip, we make this book especially for you, and this contest is kind of our gift back.

Official Rules:

1. TO ENTER: NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY. One entry per person. To enter read the blog post From The Editor’s Desk: Pornsak Pichetshote--Be the Editor of SWEET TOOTH and send your answers with your full name, age, physical mailing address, email address and phone number to Pamela.mullin@dccomics.com no later than 11:59PM EST on 5/23/10. Entrants must use their own names. Only entries with valid phone numbers and email addresses are eligible. Entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. Sponsor is not responsible for illegible, inaccurate, or incomplete entries or for any failures, malfunctions, omissions or defects in entry transmission. Use of any device or computer software to automate the entry process is prohibited. By participating in this Sweepstakes, each entrant accepts the conditions stated in these Official Rules, agrees that the Sponsor has the sole right to decide all matters and disputes arising from this Sweepstakes and that Sponsor’s decision is final and binding, warrants that he or she is eligible to participate in this Sweepstakes, and agrees to release Sponsor and its parent companies, subsidiaries, agencies and affiliates, and all of their respective employees, officers, directors and agents from any and all liability, loss or damages arising in connection with participation in this Sweepstakes including, but not limited to, the awarding, receipt and/or use or misuse of any prize. By participating, entrants also agree that Sponsor may contact them from time to time for market research. Participation in Sponsor’s market research will not be required and will not increase odds of winning this Sweepstakes. Use of all personal data submitted by entrants will be subject to DC Comics’ privacy policy available at http://dccomics.com/about/?action=privacy. Subject to DC Comics’ Privacy Policy, entrants grant Sponsor the right to use their names and any information provided in their entry forms, in any medium of communication, including print, Internet, radio and/or television and for any purpose, including advertising, promotional or other purposes, by Sponsor or its affiliates, without additional compensation.

2. ELIGIBILTY: Sweepstakes open to legal U.S. residents only who are at least eighteen (18) years of age as of 5/16/2010. Employees of DC Comics, Warner Bros. and Time Warner and their families are not eligible.

3. PRIZES: The first ten (10) people to submit the correct answers to Pamela.mullin@dccomics.com will win a signed copy of SWEET TOOTH Vol. 1. Winners will be notified by email, on or before 11:59 p.m. (EST) 5/26/2010. Each winner will receive one copy of Vertigo/DC Comics’ SWEET TOOTH Vol. 1 signed by the entire creative team (approximate retail value $9.99 each for total approximate retail value of $100.00). The prizes are non-transferable, non-negotiable and not redeemable for cash, credit or merchandise. The winners may be required to execute an affidavit of eligibility, release of liability/publicity release (where legal) within ten (10) days of notification attempt. If any prize becomes unavailable for any reason, Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of comparable value. If any prize is not claimed or if an affidavit is not received within ten (10) days of the date notification of the prize has been given or if a winning entrant is found to be ineligible, alternative winners will be selected on same basis as original winners. If a minor is selected as a winner, Sponsor may award the prize in the name of a parent or legal guardian. Winners are responsible for any applicable taxes.

For a full list of the prize winners, please check the Vertigo blog post entitled: Be the Editor of SWEET TOOTH WINNERS on or before 5/26/2010.

4. SPONSOR: Sweepstakes is sponsored by Vertigo/DC Comics, 1700 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

5. GOVERNING LAW: Sweepstakes rules and conduct shall be governed and enforced pursuant to New York law, excluding choice of law provisions. Any and all legal actions or claims arising in connection with this Sweepstakes must be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction within the United States. Federal and state regulations apply. Void where prohibited and subject to all Federal, State, and local laws.

Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to fiction, I’m kind of a technique freak. I love learning how it’s all put together. And for a guy interested in that, editing is a great seat to have. For example, I edit two completely different books, THE UNWRITTEN and UNKNOWN SOLDIER. THE UNWRITTEN is a fantasy book written by Mike Carey that involves a conspiracy so big it encompasses the entirety of world literature; on the other end of the room is UNKNOWN SOLDIER -- an action book written by Joshua Dysart that’s very much about revealing the conditions in war-town Uganda to a new audience. And one of the things I find so interesting is not only are Mike and Josh fans of each other’s work, but both have admitted to me that they’re kind of in awe at the amount of research the other one must do for their books.

So I thought I’d do a short group interview. Get the two of them together to talk craft and how they use research. Is it similar? Is it different? Some of their answers honestly surprised me…

MC: I guess one of the main differences between THE UNWRITTEN and UNKNOWN SOLDIER is that almost all my research is secondary - it's reading books and articles. I can do first-hand research on locations, but that's about it.

For an arc like “Jud Suss,” where the precise reference both to the text and its place in history is really central to what we're doing, I'll take the research very seriously and go out and read all the relevant texts I can find. In other cases, though, I'll sometimes just make a glancing reference to something I know very little about, and use the internet to shore up the reference. So I'm not consistent about research. Sometimes I'm meticulous, other times I bluff. I like to think I make the effort where it matters.

JD: How strong is your compulsion to get it all "right"?

In UNKNOWN SOLDIER, I couldn't justify hammering the worst aspects of these people's lives into a pulp action book unless I'd gotten as close to the real experience, and to them, as possible. There's a new kind of colonialism in the air these days. A well-meaning appropriation of the cultural landscape of the "developing world" by the "developed.”

The only failure, to my mind, this book ever faced was in becoming that very thing (I like to think the “Easy Kill” arc was about the complicated landscape of post-colonial good intentions to some degree).

But it's one thing to go on a vacation to an interesting place. It's another thing entirely to sit alone and pour over book after book. Do you feel that same way about the works of fiction you are invading and plundering?

MC: Well, I continue to be schizophrenic in my relationship with all our source texts. Where something is really germane then we let it emerge explicitly in our story: the rest of the time, we take the view that people will recognize the ribs of a story sticking through our structure. And while on the one hand, I'd really hate to have people who know and love the books have an "oh but that's not..." reaction. On the other, I firmly believe that these books are beyond our power to hurt or blemish. You know, they're mostly books that have stood the test of time and turmoil and cultural change. If we get it wrong, we don't hurt the great originals, but we do cheapen ourselves, sell ourselves short: and that’s the reason why research matters to us.

I think - I'm sure - that the moral imperative, and the sense of responsibility, is very different in your case.

JD: Yeah, but the danger of lecturing the audience is huge in UNKNOWN SOLDIER. A big part of our process is weeding through the massive amount of information attached to what I want to say about something and then trying to eliminate whatever isn't absolutely necessary to the understanding of the story.

The only thing I really refused to compromise on at the beginning was the complexity of the conflict and the fact that real human beings were involved on all sides. Once we established that I felt comfortable couching information in visuals, plot points, text pieces in the back and whatever other way I could get it to the reader.

MC: One of the things I really respect and admire about the book is that you’re never sermonising. Everything comes naturally out of story and character, and goes back there. That’s a tough trick to pull off with material this powerful and disturbing. The end of “Easy Kill”, in particular, was amazing.

JD: Mike, I think you're one of the smartest writers in comics, and THE UNWRITTEN, as I've said to you in private, is a masterstroke. You're one of the few people in comics that I try to learn from whenever I sit down to read your work.

THE UNWRITTEN is about the stories behind stories, so how’s this for appropriate?

Issue 5 is a one-off focusing on Rudyard Kipling, and while most people think The Jungle Book when you mention him, Mike and Peter thought Just-So Stories.

In that anthology of children’s tales, there’s a story called “How the Alphabet was Made.” It’s a whimsical tale about how a girl and her father invented the alphabet to be used as a secret code between them. But check out the poem at the end of the story:

OF all the Tribe of Tegumai
Who cut that figure, none remain,--
On Merrow Down the cuckoos cry
The silence and the sun remain.

But as the faithful years return
And hearts unwounded sing again,
Comes Taffy dancing through the fern
To lead the Surrey spring again.

Her brows are bound with bracken-fronds,
And golden elf-locks fly above;
Her eyes are bright as diamonds
And bluer than the skies above.

In mocassins and deer-skin cloak,
Unfearing, free and fair she flits,
And lights her little damp-wood smoke
To show her Daddy where she flits.

For far--oh, very far behind,
So far she cannot call to him,
Comes Tegumai alone to find
The daughter that was all to him.

The first time Mike Carey read it – I believe as a kid – he had no idea what it meant, but he knew it was about a helluva lot more than the alphabet.

It was. Kipling’s daughter died at some point before he wrote the book. Read it again with that in mind.

It’s amazing what you find in these little kid stories.

And that’s only the tip of how fascinating Kipling’s life is. THE UNWRITTEN 5 – “How the Whale Became” – gets into all of that and the mysterious unwritten conspiracy that’s got its eyes on Tom Taylor. It features cameos by Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and might cause you to take rethink some of the things you saw in the first 4 issues – or things you’ll see in the next storyline – which maybe we should have titled “The Song of Roland.” Everyone on board took extra time on this one. Don’t believe me? You can check out Peter’s extra care on the black and white art in this issue.