Antony Johnston - Sound In The Signals Interview

I recently had the chance to interview comics author Antony Johnston. We discussed his new comic Umbral, his comic Wasteland, the music he creates for his comics, and various other things. Check out the full interview after the jump.

You have a new series coming out on Image called Umbral. Can you tell me a little about how you came up with the concept for Umbral and how long you've been working on getting the series to fruition?

Chris and I have been planning UMBRAL since early last year, although originally we didn't know what format it would take, who would publish it, or really any of the details. We just knew we wanted to create a dark fantasy story together -- we're both big fans of the genre, and I was inspired by a warm-up sketch that Chris posted to Instagram, of a strange creature that looked kind of similar to what we now know as the Umbral.

From that tiny spark, it was "merely" a question of building the world around things that Chris would enjoy drawing, and I'd enjoy writing. That may sound daunting, and at times I was pulling my hair out, but it's something I do all the time. Worldbuilding is kind of my speciality (I also work in videogames, and worldbuilding is an essential skill in that medium).

In the essay at the back of the first issue I describe UMBRAL as a mash-up of my obsession with creating elaborate fantasy worlds, and Chris' obsession with drawing grotesque things that lurk in the shadows. And that's entirely true; although we're playing around in an established genre, we were determined not to be limited in how we tell the story, or what we introduce into it.

Lately it seems like everything Image releases has been really good. When working with Image and knowing the expectations of readers does it excite you to be able to put out your work through them? Is it ever daunting thinking about all the expectations readers have with Image series?

It's always exciting to put out work, no matter who the publisher is. Image doesn't operate like a "normal" publisher; the creators are, and must be, in complete control, because Image doesn't employ editorial staff. So we have to do all that ourselves, and basically turn in a finished book. Now, I spent many years working as an art director for magazines, so I'm very comfortable doing that. Nevertheless, everything really does ride on our shoulders; if things go wrong, there's nobody else to blame.

Of course, the flipside of that is if things go *right*, then we know it was down to our own hard work. So that's enormously gratifying.

And honestly, I think about reader expectations as little as possible, no matter what I'm doing. Second-guessing your audience inevitably leads to watering down your own tastes, and beginning to question perfectly sound decisions. That's no good for anyone.

The only rule of thumb I have is to respect the audience's intelligence, and not patronize them. If I do that, then whether they like the work or not, at least I can be proud of it.

You are working with Christopher Mitten again on this book. His work on the series looks great so far. How did it work out for both of you to work on this new project together?

Chris and I created WASTELAND, a post-apocalyptic series, for Oni Press back in 2006. We worked well together, and just kind of "clicked". Chris drew the first 28 issues of that series, before moving on to try new things -- he was even more of a newcomer than me when we started WASTELAND, so I understood completely, and we've remained good friends ever since.

Then, in early 2012, I got the urge to work with Chris again. I didn't even care what it was, really, I just felt it would be fun for us to create something new again. Luckily for me, Chris felt the same way, and so we started throwing ideas around. UMBRAL is what we came up with.

I read the preview for the first issue on CBR and you were kind enough to send over the theme song you wrote for Umbral and I re-read the preview while listening to the theme. It really sets the mood for the comic in an interesting way. I think the ideal of creating music for your comics is really interesting. Why did you decide to do it?

There's no denying that music has the power to set a mood and atmosphere like nothing else. There's a reason music is so prevalent in movies and TV, even just subtle little beds in the background, you know? The right piece of music can elevate a story to incredible heights, while the wrong choice can suck the life out of anything.

So it's partly that, a kind of non-narrative attempt to get over the atmosphere and feeling of the work. Of course, most people aren't going to listen to the music while reading the comic, as you did, but it all helps reinforce the worldbuilding.

And the other part is... well, just plain old self-indulgence, really. I spent much of my youth in and out of bands -- mostly heavy metal and goth bands, to nobody's surprise -- and writing songs.

Now I'm old and knackered, and haven't been in any kind of band for 15 years, but modern sequencing and sampling tech -- not to mention user-friendly software like Garageband -- means I can compose and record an entire song by myself. Which, if you're a control freak like me, is pretty much ideal.

So making music for my books is a way of satisfying the urge to compose music, which I don't think ever goes away if it's inside you. I also do a soundtrack for WASTELAND, and I recorded trailer music for my graphic novel THE COLDEST CITY, and they were both the same thing -- a way to reinforce the worlds of those books, but also simply a self-indulgent bit of fun for me.

Creatively what type of headspace do you have to be in to write musical pieces for your comics?

Nothing special, really. I suspect it's because music isn't how I make my living, or something I do every day; so when I sit down to compose or record, it just kind of comes naturally, I don't have to force it. Of course, that's how I used to feel about writing, many years ago, before it became my career! So I know how quickly that can change when suddenly your livelihood depends on your creativity. I guess I'm fortunate that music has remained a hobby for me, something I dabble in rather than *have* to produce.

Do you listen to any music for inspiration when you're writing? If so what has been some of the stuff playing in the background when you write?

If I'm writing, I'm almost certainly listening to music. I know many writers who can't write with music playing, or can only listen to instrumental stuff, because otherwise it distracts them. But for me, it's the opposite -- the music helps me shut out the world and get into the flow of writing. If it's something I know well, like a Paradise Lost album, I'll literally find myself singing along without even consciously realising it, because it helps me focus on the work.

What I listen to is a real smorgasbord. Sometimes I'll listen to something specifically to get me in the mood -- I'll often stick the Fields of the Nephilim on shuffle while writing WASTELAND, for example -- but more often than not I just hit play on iTunes and let it shuffle around my library. That encompasses everything from classical concertos to doom metal epics, from '60s soul to '90s techno, from cheesy pop to po-faced goth. Just check my last.fm account [http://www.last.fm/user/antonyjohnston/] to get some idea of what I mean.

One thing I really like about the first issue is it is extra long but you guys were able to keep the price at just $2.99. Is that something you pushed for or is that more on Image's side of things? With this extra long issue what is your favorite page or panel of the issue?

That was our decision, and although Image could probably override it and force us to charge more, nobody even raised it as a concern. Extra-long first issues for no extra charge are fairly common in comics anyway (we did the same thing with WASTELAND), so I don't think anyone at Image was blindsided by it.

I think my favourite page overall is page 16 (of the story, page 18 of the printed issue). I'm not going to explain why, because MASSIVE SPOILERS, but I love it because it's the page where we pull the rug out from under the reader, where they realise this really isn't the kind of book they thought.

Although, I have to say I'm also kind of partial to the map!

You've worked on a lot of really great series. If you had to pick one project you are most proud of your work on (or just a personal favorite) what would it be and why?

WASTELAND, without a doubt. That was a series I'd been planning for 15 years before launch, and it's very personal to me. I can't thank Oni Press enough for giving me so much freedom on that book, to write and produce it exactly the way I wanted, without compromise or editorial interference. If I'll be remembered for anything it's almost certainly going to be WASTELAND, and I'm immensely proud of it.

When working on any series have you found that you have a preference for jumping on board a well established series or do you like working on something you created and get to build the world and story from the ground up?

The latter. This is a no-brainer for me; my notion of writing has always been that you make up your own stuff, and write original stories.

That's not to say I won't work on (and even enjoy playing with) pre-existing characters, or even stories -- I do a fair amount of work adapting prose into comic form, and enjoy it a lot -- but nothing can beat the creative fulfilment of writing something original, that I created myself.

I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else you'd like to add?

It was my pleasure. I guess the only thing I'd add is to remind people -- and I'm sure I don't need to stress this too much on a music site -- that if you find art you like and want to see more of, you must support it financially. Like music, like movies, even like books, comics is going through a massive upheaval right now thanks to the onslaught of digital. Every sale counts. Thanks!


IMAGE CREDITS AND RIGHTS UMBRAL is © & ™ Antony Johnston & Christopher Mitten WASTELAND is © & ™ Antony Johnston Author bio photo is © Antony Johnston / photo by Charlie Chu