Ed Brubaker, author of the new graphic novel “Where the Body Was” with artist Sean Phillips, has created an incredible array of comics, from his “Criminal”series and the Hollywood noir “The Fade Out” to memorable runs writing superhero comics featuring Batman, Cat Woman, The Uncanny X-Men and Captain America – even creating the character The Winter Soldier and the storyline that later fueled the films. As well as his comics, Brubaker has worked in TV, most recently teaming up with novelist Jordan Harper for a Prime series based on “Criminal.” Here he takes the Book Pages Q&A.
Q. You always have a lot of comics projects going at once. Can you talk about your latest books coming?
Right now, I’m only doing a few comics, which is nearly impossible to juggle around the TV and film work I’m doing as well. But that’s a good problem to have. The big thing is the upcoming release of “Where the Body Was,” me and Sean Phillips’ next graphic novel, out in mid-December in comic shops and early January in the book market.
“Where the Body Was,” is easily the strangest and most experimental thing we’ve done so far. It uses a lot of things that you can really only do in comics, and tells this sprawling story about a group of people all living on the same street in the summer of 1984, whose lives overlap around the events of several crimes, some minor, and some murder.
But it tells the story from a bunch of different perspectives and plays with time. Some of it is them looking back from later in life, some of it is them reacting as it’s happening. It’s almost more like a fake true crime podcast in some ways, if the crime was just a backdrop to talk about love and passion and loss and how the passing of time changes us all, or doesn’t. It’s only 144 pages long, but it feels like the biggest thing we’ve ever done, twenty-something years into our collaboration.
Q. You’re also working with novelist Jordan Harper on a TV project. Can tell us something about that?
He and I are the co-showrunners for the “Criminal” TV show at Amazon, based on the graphic novel series by me and Sean Phillips. It goes into production soon. Jordan is one of the best crime writers in the world, and I love his novels, and our crime writer brains are nearly identical in some ways, so it’s been a really good fit so far. We’re having a lot of fun and getting to recreate the world of “Criminal” in real life, I’m still a bit overwhelmed it’s happening. Sean, I’m sure, still doesn’t believe it. He always says, “I’ll believe it when I’m at the premiere.”
Q. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?
For years any time I came across a used Ross Macdonald book I’d buy it no matter which one it was and give them away to friends. I did the same with early Parker novels by Richard Stark. And I’ve given away a lot of copies of Charles Burns’ masterpiece “Black Hole” over the years. I reread that book a lot and always get something out of it. For years I would give away copies of “Days Between Stations” by Steve Erickson, “This Flower Only Blooms Every Hundred Years” by Sherril Jaffee, and “The Joke” by Milan Kundera (the version that he translated himself). Vonnegut books like “Mother Night” or “Cat’s Cradle” or his non-fiction stuff I’d often give to people. I love Vonnegut.
It really depends on the reader and what they’re into. A smart mystery fan I would give Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt books to, or one of Megan Abbott’s novels. My tastes vary all over the place, so there’s stuff in all fields that I love.
Q. What are you reading now?
Today, I’m reading the graphic novel adaptation of “Watership Down” by my friend James Sturm and Joe Sutphin. It’s one of my favorite novels, so I wasn’t sure adapting it was a good idea, but it’s really fantastic. They really made this a beautiful thing and a great comic at the same time. The object itself is something you want on your coffee table. I think that’s important with books.
Before that, I was reading “I Have Some Questions for You” by Rebecca Makkai and an old book for research, “Hollywood Kryptonite.”
Q. How do you decide what to read next?
I’m at the age now where I have a constantly shifting to-read pile. I don’t have as much reading time as I want, so I’m trying to reorganize my life back to a more analog existence – let’s face it, we were all better off before we wasted hours every day online and we know it – so I can read more. But like with most things, my reading is either for work, or it’s for pleasure and in that case, it’s about what author I love just put out a new book.
But for new books, recommendations from writer friends, or reviews on places like Crimereads have turned me onto stuff I would’ve missed otherwise. Or interviews on podcasts.
Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?
Probably a Peanuts collection or an issue of Spiderman. Or maybe Dr. Seuss. The first books I ever remember being obsessed with were Encyclopedia Brown and The Great Brain.
Q. Is there a book you’re nervous to read?
Why would I be nervous about a book? Unless you mean jealous I didn’t write it. I guess some true crime books have made me queasy at times. But that’s my fault for reading them.
Q. Can you recall a book that felt like it was written with you in mind (or conversely, one that most definitely wasn’t)?
I guess that’s a thing that changes as you grow up and live your life. Books that used to speak to me at 25 sometimes have no meaning to me now at all, which I find strange. But definitely there were books that felt like they were written by people I was on the same wavelength as, or that I was the perfect audience for. “The Galton Case” by Ross Macdonald was one of those. “Mother Night” by Vonnegut. “High Fidelity” when it came out. “Trainspotting.” “The Basketball Diaries.”
Q. What’s something – a fact, a bit of dialogue or something else – that has stayed with you from a recent reading?
Is it cheating to use a line I wrote down from a recent interview? If not, then it’s this:
“Loss becomes a big part of life if you’re lucky enough to be around to experience it.” – Larry Charles
I think that’s something I’ve been trying to write about for a few years now and he said it so beautifully.
There was a sequence in “I Have Some Questions for You” that made me so jealous I didn’t write it. It’s a narrative section where she talks about all the different cases of missing and murdered women in the news over the years and the way she did it was just insane and perfect. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I took a photo of it and texted it to some writer friends because I was just dazed by it.
Q. Do you have any favorite book covers?
“The Great Gatsy” cover. And the original cover for “The Name of the Game Is Death” with the guy in the phone booth getting shot.
Q. Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any titles or narrators you’d recommend?
I listen to some when I’m on walks or road trips, but I’m more of a podcast listener these days. I’ll often buy a book and the audiobook of it at the same time and listen to it from wherever I stopped reading when I’m on a walk. It depends on the book.
Q. Is there a genre or type of book you read the most – and what would you like to read more of?
No, I’m all over the map as a reader. I read a lot more nonfiction than I do anything else these days.
Q. Do you have a favorite book or books?
I’m not sure I do anymore. I just have lots of books I love for different reasons.
Q. Which books do you plan, or hope, to read next?
“A Guest in the House” by Emily Carroll.
Q. Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life – a teacher, a parent, a librarian or someone else?
Yes, my dad. He was a voracious reader and the walls of our homes growing up were always covered in bookcases. He encouraged me as a kid to read and read comics and be an artist, and in my 20s when I was a stupid [screw-up] trying to survive and become a writer in comics, he paid my rent more then a few times a year without ever complaining much. He was very proud of my career by the time he died, just around when they announced the Captain America Winter Soldier movie, based on my books. It meant everything to have a parent’s support, because trying to make a living as a writer or artist is about the stupidest decision a person can make in this life.
Q. What do you find the most appealing in a book: the plot, the language, the cover, a recommendation? Do you have any examples?
In the books I love, that thing is ineffable. A good writer just draws you into a story and you don’t think about the language or the plot, you’re just in the flow. That’s the feeling I want with a book. If I’m noticing the sentences after the first few pages then I’m not getting lost in the writing.
Q. What’s something about your book that no one knows?
Hmm. I’m not sure I should say but some elements of “Where the Body Was,” are based on real things that happened in my life or the lives of my friends and family, including the part about the murder plot.
I probably shouldn’t have said that. Too late.
Q. If you could ask your readers something, what would it be?
Broadly? I think I’d want to know some of the same things you asked me. What books have meant a lot to them, what does reading mean to them as part of their life. Books and comics are such a big part of my cultural life that I can’t imagine a world without them, but the magic of reading is everyone’s experience is different, so I’d want to know what it means to them. Were they the kid under the covers with a flashlight, reading past their bedtime?
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