Ciao cowpokes,
To those in the Western Hemisphere: staying cool?
It’s been a swampy last few weeks here in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Lots of heat punctuated by thick droplets of rain. But that does not dissolve our resolve!
Last week we premiered “Glistening Scar” by me, Dan Lauer and Amal Desai. The story follows K.P. Roc, a small town sheriff in Montana Territory, as he deals with the aftermath of strange outsiders who visited the town years earlier.
I love Westerns (duh), but I love Sci-fi even more. A genre that’s even broader than the Western, Science Fiction is a never-ending horizon of wonder and wit. Aliens, technology, time-travel, war and weaponry, society and politics – these are topics that storytelling with a futuristic slant tackle so well. Authors like Wells, Bradbury, Ellison, Applegate, Coville and a billion comic book writers shaped my youth in untold ways. That’s not even jumping into the vast worlds of TV and film, where sci-fi has expands and thrives exponentially.
Chief among those stories is the venerable Star Trek franchise, a mainstay of the genre for 60 years (and still going!). I love Trek, and recently I’ve engaged in (re-)watching the bulk of the series and movies. As is known, creator Gene Roddenberry promoted the The Original Series as a sort of a Western set in space, and the franchise has a special relationship with the Old West, with at a handful episodes ( namely, “Spectre of the Gun”, ” A Fistful of Datas”, “The Magnificent Ferengi” and “Horizon”) that homage those aesthetics.
In many sci-fi worlds where time travel is a possibility, there are certain periods where it feels almost obligatory for the protagonists to wade around in. 70s hippy culture, the medieval era, prehistoric cave-man time…but maybe above all, time-hopping stories love a Western setting. There’s an allure to cowboy hats and saloon fights and horses that keeps the temporal journeymen coming back.
That idea launched “Glistening Scar”. What happens after the strange, new visitors muck things up on the thoroughfare and go back to their adventures elsewhen? What kind of impact would have have on a community?
I enlisted Dan to execute this story, and I’m extremely satisfied with the result. I love his style, sort of edgy and fierce, but with a supple tone that lets him operate in a gritty/friendly mash-up that evokes the marriage of a Sci-fi Western. Dan hit the landing on so many aspects of this story, from the character designs, to the landscapes and nature, and of course some of the weirder elements, like terrifying animal/machine hybrids.
Amal (who also designed the All-True logo!) was just the guy I needed to letter this story. We did some tricky narration things here, and all that is laid out on the page in a concise and satisfying way, thanks to him. Amal’s professionalism, speed and openness to collaboration are all traits to be admired.
This story, a lot like “The Splendid Fleeing”, is one where I could have written sooo much more — like issues upon issues — but I think we did a really great job of laying down the roots of the world and rattling off a cool plot and interesting characters in ten awesome-looking pages.
I hope you enjoy this one, and as always:
Westward!
~Jamil