Show Notes
Acclaimed writer Ed Brisson joins us tonight and talks with Robert about how he got started, his passion for crime stories, and one hell of a plumping bill.
Find Ed online:
https://twitter.com/edbrisson
http://www.edbrisson.com/
https://www.murderbookcomic.com/
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https://scpod.net/podcasts/bridging-the-geekdoms/
https://scpod.net/podcasts/shootin-the-sith/
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Ed Brisson - Interview WAV
[00:00:00] Robert: and what's going on everybody. This is Robert here I am with ed Brisson. Now ed Brisson is a comic book writer.
He is known for a whole bunch of different types of things. currently he's working a Marvel, with, with a few different. titles go currently. ghost writer and new mutants, but he's also done some, some amazing other things such as, uh, come back from image comics, sheltered, as well as book called murder book, which was.
Distributed by dark horse, So how are you doing today, ed person?
Ed: Yeah, I'm doing okay. I'm doing all right. I'm just got back from doing my grocery shopping and you know, I'm just, just chilling out.
Robert: Excellent. Excellent. now I kind of want to dive into things cause I mean, we could absolutely cover everything that you're doing currently, but I want to.
Get a little bit of background on how you got to this point. I was doing a little research showing you, you know, taking a look and seeing, where you came from, where you started and it seems like [00:01:00] you're. Big break kind of happened in 2012 with comeback, under image clinics. But prior to that, what, what were you working on?
How did you get to that point?
Ed: Yeah, I I've been around for far, far too long. I started, self publishing comics way back in 1994. I originally wanted to be a comic book artist. so right around the time I was going to find arts in postsecondary. And learning how to sort of hone my skills as an artist and a, I didn't know any writers, so I just started writing stuff for myself.
So I'd have something to draw. internet was not really the thing that it is today, obviously. So, it wasn't like I could just pop on the digital webbing or something like that and find writers. So, yeah, I started in 94, did a terrible, terrible book anthology book with some friends called hardcore, which I, I don't think anyone will be able to find.
I hope that nobody will be able to find this book, which was a weird sort of superhero. [00:02:00] It was three stories. Mine was, about a, uh, It was very like influenced by spawn and, and CRO and some other stuff that I was into at the time. And it was about a guy who'd been sent to hell and had to come back and collect souls for the devil.
And some reason was collecting them from drug dealers. I, I don't, I don't know what I was thinking anyway, that was sort of my first thing. And then I self published stuff for a long time. So it was 94 to about 2010. It was roughly 16 years. I was writing and drawing, lettering, sometimes coloring my own work, put out like many comics or zenes along the way, a certain point.
I did web comics, web comics for a little bit. and yeah, it was, I was doing that. And, and in the midst of that, around 2006, I was talking to a friend who was lettering for among a company. And they need to let her as badly. And [00:03:00] lettering is the thing that I never really like my own hand lettering is, is not great.
so it's not anything I ever thought I'd get into, but you know, most lettering is digital. And, so I. I ended up getting hired on by DNP was a publisher and littering, a bunch of Maga from sort of 2006 onward. And through, through the lettering of Monga, I managed to pick up some lettering, work in more mainstream or, Like North American stock comics, superheroes, or crime books or whatever they were.
yeah, it was a lettering from 2006, actually right up until 2016. So even when I was initially first writing for Marvel, I was still doing a bunch of Monga lettering for vis, at the time. But, yeah, I let her for awhile. And then, you know, around 2010, I, got fed up with, I realized I hate drawing.
I really don't like drawing a lot. Even though I'd always imagined I'd be accomplished artist one day. You know, I [00:04:00] really want it to be taught McFarland. but, but, yeah, 2010 on my birthday, I sort of had like a moment of, getting real with myself and to realize I hated drawing. I really enjoyed writing, which, like I said, it was something I'd sort of taken down, at a necessity So I decided to focus on writing and just because I'd been involved in self publishing comics for a long time, I already knew, you know, artists.
I was friends with a lot of artists. So when I started writing stuff, I just talked to a few friends, see if they wouldn't be interested in drawing some of the short stories that I was writing, which were, that was murder book. I started that in 2010. yeah, I did that for, I think I produced close to 200 pages of murder book stories, and that was with artists like Simon, Roy, Johnny Christmas, Michael Walsh, Vic Mahal, tra Jason Copeland's, later on, Declan Shalvey came in and did one, I am blanking right now.
I know I'm leaving someone's name out and they're going to be upset and [00:05:00] feel terrible about it. Anyway, I did about Brian level. who's a good friend. we did, did a bunch of these over a period of time. And as you mentioned earlier, I'd been self publishing them, putting them online and, and printing them.
And then in 2015, a dark horse collected them into, you know, Of volume. So you can get all the, all the, all the murder books stories in one, one book, if you can find it now, I believe it's now at a print, so it's a little bit tougher to find. but yeah, through, during, through that process, I ended up, working with, Michael Walsh on the short story.
I'd lettered a pitch. He was doing early in 2010. I liked his art and asked him if he wanted to do a murder book story. Which he agreed to. And, he and I really hit it off. We had like similar, very similar tastes, very similar, interests and sort of drive. And so I think sometime in early, mid 2011, we had this idea.
That he and I were going to pitch books together to image, but we were going to take a year and just hammer them with pitches. And so they relented [00:06:00] and the plan was that we would come up with an idea. I would sit down, I would write the pitch. I would write it. The, the five pages when you're pitching the image, you need five pages of our plus to cover.
I would work on those and then I would hand them off to Walsh and Walsh would take them and he started drawing them. And while he was drawing them, I would start working on the next one. And we were going to kind of do assembly line like that until image, sort of, accepted one. And thankfully for us, it was our second pitch, which was come back at, I got through.
And so I think we pitched that in very early 2012. I want to say like January, February of 2012, and then coming out in November of 2012. So it was my first piece of work that came out through a publisher that was not myself. And that was come back as a five issue, mini sort of a, a crime time travelling type of thing.
Robert: Yeah. I was taking a look at your history and you know, that, that timeframe 2012, when comeback, comeback came out, it [00:07:00] seems like you were, you kind of, it was a little bit of a slow period, but all of a sudden you just blew up. Like so many things then started coming out, like crazy after that point. And like I said, I was looking at.
Your your history. And I saw some things pre 2012, but it really seems like everything blew up around that time for you now. Right. When you're looking at a comeback. And then I see after that, it looks like it was sheltered and, you know, staying with any image comics. you have the field, the mantle, the violent.
How did those all come about? I mean, was it that image just really like what you did with comeback and you kind of went on to do sheltered and the rest
Ed: I think we lucked out. So when, when, come back, came out, that was right at the time that, wave sort of started when the, when image, books really sort of hit this, this way, where they were selling like crazy.
And so when our first issue came out, I know it sold twice what they had sort of. Pulled us to [00:08:00] expect. And they were surprised by it. We were surprised by it. We were happy about it, but I was surprised. and I I'd been sort of, I had pitched a few things too. I think like what time come back out through.
That was probably my 10th pitch to image. Like I'd done pitches with other artists before, also when I met up and I knew enough that if the book did well. To have another pitch immediately ready to go. So Johnny Christmas and I, and Johnny was the artist on sheltered. he and I met, I was living in Vancouver still and, he just moved to Vancouver and we met through like a mutual.
Friend and comics, because Johnny was looking for studio space and I had a, a studio that I shared with three other creators. in this one, there's this one building in Vancouver, that's on main street. That is almost like the hub of like the Vancouver comics scene or at least was, unfortunately people are moving away.
So it's starting to [00:09:00] fall apart a little bit, but there was one building where like, You know, I had a, an office and, you know, Robyn Buju was in there. He does a ASEAN called sinless sewer and, James Lloyd, who was drawing Futurama was in there. And he did some Simpsons comics. And then like across the hall from us was Ian Boothby who was writing Simpsons and Futurama and Pia Guerrera, who's doing wild ass man and other stuff.
And then down the hall, they, there was another studio opening up that I was able to sort of recommend Johnny to. And he moved in there. And he, and I would see each other in the halls all the time. Cause we both worked late at night. I had a day job. That's what we'll come to the studio to write or to let our comics load at night and sometimes be there until two, three in the morning.
And I'd seen him in the, in the halls all the time. And, we ended up like striking up conversation and friendship and he was showing, you know, Showing me a pitch that he put together that he was sending off to publishers. And I thought his art was really great. So I sort of roped him into pitching something [00:10:00] with me.
so when I had come back greenlit and before it came out, Johnny and I were already working. On sheltered on that, the pitch package for it. And I think within a week or two of comeback coming out and doing better than expected, doing quite well for what books were doing at the time I pitched them shelter right away.
I had this thought that like, you know, 2012 I'd been publishing. Since 94. Right. So I'd been 18 years invested and I felt like I finally had my foot through the foot in the door and I wasn't going to take it out. So I pitched sheltered. it got approved pretty, almost right away. And even when sheltered came out, I had the field ready to pitch a case shelter did well.
We pitched, the field and then I guess, towards the end of shelter, cause [00:11:00] sheltered was probably my longest project. That's. Had an image was 15 issues. I had, we pitched the field, sorry, the mantle, which I did with Brian level and then right towards the end. I pitched the violent, which I think came out like three months after the last issue of sheltered.
So I was always like pitching things while I had something else going on and just kind of trying to stay in that ecosystem there. I grew up a big image fan when they first debuted. I thought it was one of the most incredible things I had ever seen or heard of. And I always wanted to be part of it.
And then once I was part of it, I just didn't want to. Not be part anymore.
Robert: Uh, yeah, that makes sense. And yeah, obviously, I mean, with the exception of your, what the work I see at Marvel, it seems like you were pretty much at image comics. I mean, not for a long period of time, but you got a lot of workout through, through image comics.
But I also see during that time, there are a couple of other. Projects off to the [00:12:00] side that, that it looked like you were doing, such as sons of anarchy, and 24 underground. I think that's what it's called. Yeah. 24 underground.
Ed: I think you might be right.
Robert: now with those, like, how did those come about?
Because first off I, I, and I'm going to be completely honest. I'm a huge, I was a huge, huge sons of anarchy fan when the show was on. And I always heard about the, you know, the little side comics and the, you know, the side projects they had going on, but I never really. Jumped into them because, you know, I was like, well, is it, is it common to be able to live up to, you know, to what the show was?
I'm kind of kicking myself now. Cause I've been looking at them now for the past couple of days. I'm like, man, I knew that I need to jump into those and check those out. How would that, like, how did you get pulled into something like that?
Ed: I just got an offer I think when come back and, and, sheltered came out and they both did well.
I was able to sort of, you know, Like, I think I got, you know, I got some attention through it. Wa Michael Walsh got attention, Johnny got attention. And [00:13:00] I just, again, like it had been so long that I've been trying to break into industry that I was really trying to take advantage of opportunities as they Rose.
I didn't want to, take on things I wasn't interested in. so. You know, like, if a project came up and it was interesting to me, even if it was like, kind of off the beaten path a little bit or not something I wouldn't normally fought about. you know, initially when I, when I thought about having a career in comics, you know, I usually try to take it.
And Sunday anarchy was a weird one in that. during the time that I was pitching books, I had a pitch that I'd worked up called the one percenters, which was a book about a biker gang. And it was, you know, an amalgam of, of, real stuff involving biker gangs and such. my dad, my dad was a cop. he's retired now, but he dealt with a lot of biker gang.
Stuff on the job. His police station was [00:14:00] actually bombed once by a biker gang. It was not, not a ton of damage. You know, it sounds really drastic the whole station. Didn't blow up a biker, toss, a pipe bomb in the, Front entrance of the, police station. You know, it was no one was hurt and, it caused quite a stir, anyway, but, I had a pitch called the one percenters.
And then when sons of anarchy, when I first discovered Sunday anarchy, it was almost the same thing. so I, I threw my pitch away. I was just like, like, I'm not going to try and do a book. That's that's. So similar to the TV show that's currently on. and then weirdly enough about a year and a half later, boom approached me to see if I'd be interested in running Sunday anarchy.
so I had already done all this research. I was a fan of the show as well. so I took it on, I was kind of excited to see if I could do something that would feel, Like, if they belonged in the same universe of the show, if it [00:15:00] would have that same feeling. And it was, it was an interesting project. I came on on issue seven, And there was another writer who was on before. Who D who did? I'm sorry. It was great. He worked with Damien who, I've worked with a lot over the years and that was, I think the, the. The lower, they got me to go on to, sons of anarchy partially because, Damon and I are quite tight. we, the very first comic I tried pitching back in gosh, 2005 or 2006 was with Damian anyway.
But, when they asked me to do this antiquey I was a fan of the show. Want to see if I could do something that was authentic? when I came on, I wrote. What I felt was authentic. And I didn't realize that the writer had done the first six issues hadn't used any swearing at all. Cause it was a comic.
And you know, when I came in, I was writing it as if it was sensory anarchy. So it was riddled with like, did you guys swear on this podcast? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Robert: So [00:16:00] it was
Ed: riddled with Fox, like every second word, not that bad, but a lot of fuck shit, piss, whatever I'm all over it. And a lot of like, sort of like real nasty, dirty biker language.
And it was really interesting in that, like when I sent my first script and the scripts went through Kurt solder's office first for like approval. Like I would get editor notes and it would go through them for approval. And, I remember getting a note back going, can we swear in comics from, from their office?
And I was like, I just assumed that we were. And then when I looked back at those first six issues and realized, like I had an actually the first writer, Christopher Golden, hadn't sworn the story is great, but there was there wasn't swearing. But, like I said, I, I, I was really into the, in the show and really until the show and just trying to make it feel like the show.
And, I actually, I think, you know, license work can be a real mixed bag and, I'm still like, that sounds antiquey stuff I'm still pretty proud of. I think, I like to think it holds up, You [00:17:00] know, I'm fans of the show seem to seem to like it. So,
Robert: yeah, I, I, like I said, I need to check it out. I'm kicking myself that I didn't follow along with it because I was such a big fan of that show.
And I was always clamoring for more, but, you know, at the time, you know, in my life, I was just like looking at like, comics, really? How is that going to be any good following in the footsteps of the show? But yeah, after looking at it, I definitely want to check it out now with that. I mean, I know you said.
Yeah, your,
Ed: your
Robert: drafts would run through Sutter's office. Did you ever get to meet him and talk to him to kind of get an understanding of the universe? No.
Ed: No. I never talked to him directly. I did get notes from his assistant and they were always there. I was really great, actually, you know, in terms of licensing books, like I said earlier, it can be a real mixed bag.
Sometimes you're dealing with people who don't understand. Comics at all or, or sort of, looked down on comics, but they were always, their notes were always really good. And it was one of the few times, like I remember, [00:18:00] you know, like periodically they would, give me notes and it would be like, one time they were like, Gemma, wouldn't do this.
This is Jim. All right. It's been so long since I seen Charlotte, Gemma, Gemma wouldn't do this because, and like I fired back a note and just going, I think she would. And here's why, and they're, and they would be, they'd be cool, but they'd be open to it. And they'd like, you know, they respond with like, you know what, you're right.
She would. And it all makes sense. You know, given those circumstances she would do this. So it wasn't a thing. Like I find sometimes I've had some experiences with license work where it's just soul crushing because, they just don't seem to get what you're trying to do. Or they just like note you to death or they're so protective of the, of the brand that they're they're stifling, any, any real, attempts at creativity.
it was refreshing, it was a lot of fun.
Robert: With, the, the, the, the size stuff, because, you know, you did it sons of anarchy, like I said, and that's 24 underground. Eh, can you explain [00:19:00] what that was? Again, another show that was very close to me, it was 24 and I loved that show. I loved everything that it did.
And, I, I, I never knew about this until looking all this up and now I want to go and grab this and take a look at it. How did you get into that? And what was that experience like?
Ed: that was, yeah, I, I just, you know, again, it was, a thing that I just got asked to do, IDW, just contact me to see if I'd be into it.
my wife and I had really binged all of 24, so, you know, I was, I was a fan of it. and that one was a bit more of a frustrating process, just because I think I went through like four different storylines. And there was a lot of like weird communication with, the licensors. And I even ended up on the phone with the producers at one point.
And it was, it was just, it was just not, I don't know if it was a good fit. like some of the questions made it clear that they didn't really understand how comics worked. so that one was a bit more, that was a, one of my [00:20:00] first sort of frustrating. Experiences as a writer, I think. And I think, I think the comics fine, but I do think that my frustration probably show through a little bit, I feel weird cramping.
Like I worked on, I'm not trying to, I was like, I think it's fine. It's fine for what it is. I did everything I could.
Robert: Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. I mean, you gotta be honest with yourself even, you know, when you're doing something. I mean, I I've, I've done that. In the past myself, if I'm just not feeling into it, if I'm not a hundred percent on board with what I'm doing, you know, I'm going to, it's going to show through my work.
It's going to you and you'll, and people should, will be able to notice that. And I gotta be honest with myself and you, as you do, just like, Hey, you know, this wasn't my best work. You know, it, there were some issues there. It makes sense. Yeah. I mean,
Ed: yeah. And it's, you know, it is what it is. And I hate saying it is what it is, but I just said it.
So there you go. I think. It was also the last time where I finished it. And I was so frustrated with the process. And this is not [00:21:00] the fault of anyone else involved in the book. Like, just to be clear, like I'm not blaming, you know, the editor editorial was great on it. You know, Mike Gatos Truro, he was great.
it was just my own feeling. With it afterwards. So that was actually the last time, that I took on something where I was kind of hesitant to take it on, to start with, but also was at a point where I'm like, you know, well, I also have bills. and that was the last time I took on a book where I'm like, you know, the last time I take on a book strictly just to, just to pay my bills.
Robert: Yeah. I want to get into, to murder book here. It seems like it was something that was. Pretty close, you know, like something that was dear to you, like something that you wanted to get out there. And, and the fact that dark horse picked it up and distributed it, you know, and it was, was it hard back that they did is distributed in softcover softcover
Ed: they wanted a hardcover, but I lost.
Robert: Gotcha. how was the, how did that come all about, I mean, you talked about your father being, You know, an officer [00:22:00] at one time or, you know, working for the police. Is that kind of how that fell into play? Did that have some influence on this book at all? A
Ed: yes, no. Maybe like, I think, you know, I don't know if you know anyone whose dad is a cop.
but we all tend to have the, a bit of preacher kid syndrome, which is that, we act up. No kids are cops tend to, to end, tend to act up when they're younger. cause not only, you know, you have to like sort of defy your parents in terms of authority. You got to defy. Almost the ultimate authority, which is a dude with a badge and a gun.
growing up, I was, like my parents also, divorced when I was eight. And so as a kid, I had a lot of anger towards that, you know, and I was, I was pretty rebellious. I was kind of a juvenile delinquent growing up a little bit. Oh, weirdly like a good student, but like would go out and get in a lot of fights and, you know, shoplift and stuff and get into all sorts of other troubles. [00:23:00]
and I think that sort of. Played a little bit, into my interests with it. I have, I don't, this is in no way, like an origin story, but like something, I think that happened to me that I was younger, that really sort of, made me interested in, in sort of crime and crime stories. More, more from a tourist perspective.
Not, not necessarily engaging is that when I was, 13. like I said earlier, my, my parents had divorced, my brother's sister and I went to a Catholic school in Ontario. And just to be clear for anyone who's not who doesn't live in Ontario, Canada, w which is where I grew up. Catholic schools are as prevalent as public schools.
They're not private schools. Anytime I say Catholic school, people think like a private school and they're absolutely not that they're just real shitty Catholics, public schools. so anyway, we had a priest at my, at my Catholic school who was a real Dick to my brother, sister and I, but I, my parents having divorced, did lots of like really just uncool stuff.
Like we'd be like, you know, a feud. If you [00:24:00] guys had stopped fighting in front of your parents, or it just kept your rooms clean, maybe they wouldn't be so stressed out and they wouldn't have gotten a divorce, you know, like, wow, like real cool, like cool shit. You're not supposed to be saying to kids. anyway, he had, talked my mom into sending the me and my brother and sister to two camps, a girls camp and a boys camp, over the summer when I was 13.
When I remember my dad dropped us off. Cause you had to be dropped off in Toronto to get picked up, to go to this camp. And I remember my dad taking me in me and my brother and, and, it was this loud sort of lunch room at a high school or something like that. And I can't remember. And, my dad sat down at one of the cafeteria tables with my brother and I, I still remember him scoping the room and then turning to me saying, give me your watch and give me your ring.
Like why it's like, you would get them back after. Right. And so I left and went on this thing and it turned out that this was a summer camp for troubled youth. So it's the kind of thing where they like marched you through the woods for four days on end. you know, [00:25:00] most kids there have some sort of record.
I didn't have a record, but you know, most kids there did. The reason my dad took my watch and ring is because he'd had rested. He had arrested some of the kids who'd been there, but was so looking forward to 10 days to the South that he just let us go anyway. Anyway. So I was at, you know, I went to summer camp for 10 days with all these other kids who are like a thing.
The oldest was 14, 15, who'd stolen cars and, and, you know, been arrested with drugs and all sorts of stuff. And, I remember like just being kind of fat, like, you know, sitting around and, and hearing all their stories and being like fascinated. Like I was a juvenile delinquent as a kid, but not on this level.
Anyway, this is sort of a tangent, but, I don't know if that's whatever, what sort of initially colored my sort of, interest, but I'd always really been interested in like crime movies, crime novels, you know, when I was, later on when, when I went to fine arts, when I was in my early twenties, I discovered, uh, [00:26:00] Elmore Leonard.
I picked up an element of Leonard book one day at a used bookstore. And I was so enthralled with the book. I read it in 24 hours and then went to all these bookstores. I was living in Colona at the time, all around Colona and bought all the Elmore Leonard books. I could find them. Dude's written like 40, 40 somewhat books.
So there's a lot. I stopped going to fine arts. Like I'd stopped going to school for like three weeks, I guess. I just sat. At home reading these books, cause I was so, so obsessed with them. So anyway, which is, this is a very long way of saying that there's always been these moments in my life where like sort of crime related stuff has popped up where, you know, Be it I'm at summer camp with a bunch of little criminals, or, you know, just reading crime fiction.
And again, my dad being a cop and me sort of being surrounded by like a lot of talk about that sort of stuff. My mom also worked in a victim services for awhile. So she also, you know, between [00:27:00] the two of them, there was just like nonstop crime taught growing up. So it was always just a thing that interested me.
It's a. In terms of, a genre that I wanted to work in. And, so when I started murder book, part of the reason I did it is I just wanted to write stories. I would, that I could connect with. And also just, like I'd been told from several publishers that crime books don't sell and crime is a harsh on or the push.
And so I figured if I'm not, if I'm doing these self publishing, these things. And I'm not worried about sales, then I'm just going to do what I want. And, so yeah, I did exactly that with, with murder book, a bunch of five to 20 page crime stories. Yeah.
Robert: Yeah. I want to find a way to check it out. Is it available digitally by any chance?
Cause. I you can,
Ed: I think you can buy it. Hold on. Let me have a look. I'm going to go on the Comixology site right now. you should be able to buy it there if you can't. my old site is still up, which is, murder book, [00:28:00] comic.com. And, you should be able to find it, not all of it, but I've, I posted a bunch of stuff there for people to read for free and yeah, it looks like you can on Comixology right now, you can get the digital version of murder book, for five 49, you know, but check your local comic shop.
Robert: Yes. Absolutely.
Ed: They may have copies still sitting there on the shelf.
Robert: Yeah. Unfortunately my, my, my local comic book shop is an hour and a half away, but yeah. you have no idea, no idea how rough it is. but yeah, I definitely want to check that out. It's it's crazy. Cause when I'm looking at things and, and seeing all the work that you've done.
There's so much of it. I'm like, how did I miss that? How did I not see that? You know? And I just want to kind of dive into it. And I think a lot of that has to play with, you know, the, the publishers and, and, and the distributors that you're working with. And currently you're. With Marvel. Now I see that you've been with Marvel for a number of years now, and [00:29:00] you've gotten a pretty good reputation over there.
It seems, right now I see and correct me if I'm wrong, because some of the information I found I found was kind of not, I don't think properly or correct, but I do see your own ghost rider, new mutants of vendors of wasteland, and then Punisher verse Barracuda. Now. I have all this come out. Are there some that are coming out in the future or has some issues already come out?
Ed: Ghost writer? I think, six issues are out so far. I'll be honest with a pandemic going on. at the best of times, I probably couldn't tell you what issue of a comic I worked on was just recently out, usually cause I'm working months ahead and, But I believe issue you six, a ghost writer has just come out or did it just came out before all this happened.
Issue seven is coming out in a month or so, new mutans I think the last one that came out was just nine or 10. I mean, issue nine, [00:30:00] Avengers of the wasteland, the first three issues came out. And then I believe just today, which is, May 20th, I guess, if you're not listening to this today, which you're probably not, eventual the wasteland for just drops on.
Digital song Comicology I guess, and number five will be out, which is the last issue. It's just a five issue mini series. that will be out sometime in June, digitally. I don't know, what the deal is with the print issues for that. again, just this pandemic is sort of messed up, publishing schedules and messed up plans.
So, I don't know. I don't know what they're planning to do, but I know that those two at least are coming up digitally. Punisher versus Barracuda. I don't know. It's driving me crazy because
Robert: well, I, I, it's funny you say that. Cause I was looking and that's the one that really caught me off guard because it said release date December 20, 29.
And I was like, that's really a long time for them to be planning a book to come out and. [00:31:00] And then I saw something that it was late 2020. So I didn't know if you had an idea for that at all.
Ed: I don't know. I've been asking and trying to find out 20, 29 would be my luck at this point with that. but no, it's a Punisher versus Barracuda.
I'll say like at Marvel, Punisher versus Barracuda and bullseye. and I, I would say our emphasis to are kind of the closest. To like me being able to do crime or genre stuff. It's the closest feeling of, of the stuff. I, a self publishing mash with the Marvel stuff. bullseye and, and, and Punisher versus Barracuda.
Specifically like stuff in Punisher versus Barracuda, that Marvel let me get away with, I'm still sort of in shock and because the book is not out yet, there's still part of me. That's like, are they gonna, are they gonna make me trim that back? Because it gets, it's a pretty intense book. It's a lot, like, I think, you know, for [00:32:00] Punisher fans who know Barracuda, they know him from the Macs, books, the Garth Ennis, max books, uh, he's never been in the, in the Marvel.
Universe proper. so he's never been in the six one, six or prime or whatever you want to call it. I call it six one six, but, he's never been, so this is kind of first time. So it was really interesting trying to ride him, in a way that we could get away with it in the six one six, cause obviously there's, you know, Max's rated R and, and they can get away with quite a bit more.
Robert: So. New meetings and ghost writer. And obviously eventually to the wasteland, those are kind of the current ones, the ones that are running right now that are coming out. How, what got you into to ghost writer? I mean, ghost writer is very different than grime. I, and that's that scene with new mutants and of the wasteland?
I guess we can. Kind of see some connections there, but for the most part, a ghost writer, new mutants, I mean that, those two are very far away from any kind of, you know, [00:33:00] crime detective work or anything like that. So what pulled you into those two stories? There? There's
Ed: two. Ghost rider was one that I knew Marvel was planning.
And then I harassed them for about six months. Let me write it because I was a big fan of the ghost rider series in the nineties. and then the stuff that Jason, Aaron did later on, I was a huge fan of, and, I'm a big, I'm a big. Horror film junkie, like going back to childhood. So, it's just, it's like comics and horror.
It's a, it's a nice mashup with ghost writer. And so I really wanted to sort of push that book into like some dark places and, and sort of, like we're using both Danny catch and Johnny blaze. So I really wanted to sort of, examine their relationship. how the two play off one another, and definitely didn't want to have to ghost writers.
So we, we, pretty quickly stripped down and catch of, of being of the spirit of engine. So he's no longer a ghost writer and we build [00:34:00] them into something else that I think is just as horrifying and just as cool. And I think really to my mind, it really works for him and works for that world. And so these are just things that, you know, When I first heard they were doing the book that I really wanted to do and really wanted to sort of, explore, in that book and, uh, you know, Love love the old sort of ghost writer, villains.
And I just wanted a chance to bring them back. You know, Lilith Lilith plays a pretty big role in this, Blackhearts in it now as well. so it was just a chance for me to play with the horror side of the Marvel universe, which I'm a pretty big fan of
Robert: who's the artist on that? I'm sorry. I.
Ed: It it's, it's awfully it's between, Aaron Cooder, who did the first couple of issues.
And then one for Gary who comes in and, they trade off issues. Okay.
Robert: All right. yeah, I, I actually grabbed the, first issue today to start reading it because I was reading some of the synopsis. And like you said, it, it, it seems like it's, it's [00:35:00] pretty intense that, that run right there.
Ed: Yeah, I read, I read, like I said, I wanted to ratchet up.
I really wanted it to, I wanted it to feel like classic ghost rider, but while still like pushing it forward and not like retreading stuff that's already been done. I really wanted to sort of set a new mythology for the character going forward.
Robert: Yeah. How about with, with new mutants? I mean, right now, I'm going to, I want to be honest with you in new mutants.
I knew very little about until they announced that movie. What was it that like four years ago? And I started looking more into who they were, what, what the new mutants was all about, and I've not dived into any of the comic series or anything like that, but from what I've. Seeing and what I've experienced it there, they're kind of like an outcast, you know, of, of what the X men and what the mutants are.
at least that's what I've picked up from it. So how did you get pulled into doing that? Like, is that [00:36:00] something that you chase down? It looked like you were chasing down ghost rider, but what about new mutans?
Ed: that was when I was asked to come in and, correct an issue with Hickman and then take over the series from him.
But like I grew up, with the new mutants, you know, I was reading them, in my teens and I was always sort of fascinated with new mutans cause their whole thing initially is they were supposed to be the next wave of X-Men. So they were like, you know, professor X's next class that was supposed to become.
The X-Men, and it never really sort of panned out that way. Cause you know, we still have the X-Plan. and I, I think maybe when they brought it in, they were hoping that they would have the same sort of success as they did with 'em. You know, when they, when they did the relaunch, X-Men in 75 with all the new characters with Wolverine and, and the rest of them.
And, I think they were hoping it would be a similar thing where they would hit that hard. I think it did, but not in the way that they were expecting. And so, you know, I, for me, I, I liked them [00:37:00] growing up because it felt like I was there. You know, I started reading it fairly close to the start, so it felt like I was there on the ground floor for the next big team.
I thought the characters were really cool. Had a really interesting dynamic. I like that it sort of dipped into more sort of supernatural elements. And, just that they like, to me, there were the, like a little bit younger when I was younger and I liked that sort of, we get some sort of fresh blood.
the thing I wanted to do with, with writing the new mutans is I think, you know, it's weird to call a book. You mean when a Neiman's had been around for nearly 40 years at this point, So I really wanted to explore what excited me as a kid, which was that like sort of newer, younger mutans coming into the team and, and potentially sort of, graduating up into becoming major players.
So it's a place where some could become leaders and such. I do like that teenage sort of mentality. with a team where it's, their, their sort of motto [00:38:00] is that it's, it's better to bake forgiveness and ask permission. so they're often off. Doing their own thing. And you know, they're in the comic I'm working on right now.
They pay the price for that often where they, their intentions are good. and, but they, you know, they often fuck up and, and have to deal with with the consequences of that. and I think that. Is to me is, is fun. You know, you are following a bunch of new, so it's not just necessarily the core team you have, you know, bringing glob and I'm bringing armor and Nexium and minnow, which are two newer X-Men set.
I had introduced back in the extermination. I'm bringing some of those younger characters in and trying to elevate them a little bit, within the, this, You know, new world that a Hickman is built with the cacoa and such.
Robert: So with the Marvel side of things, what's been kind of the, the one draw to Marvel because I [00:39:00] do see you did jump off and at one point you did a little Batman run for a DC Batman and Robin eternal, but what's the draw to keep you up at Marvel.
Why is it. Just that you enjoy the characters more. I mean, I guess it's kinda hard to say that because you're somebody that's looking at you, it could be looking for a job at some point, but I mean, what's, what is the pull towards Marvel? You know,
Ed: I think like for me, I, I tend to be pulled more towards like character and Marvel has a lot of characters that I grew up reading and, And am interested in writing and working on.
So, you know, I think, you know, for me that, like I grew up reading a ton of Marvel books. And so it's just the place that I sort of saw myself, ending up
Robert: kind of, kind of like home. I mean, you're comfortable there after reading it for how many years that makes sense. so what has been [00:40:00] maybe your favorites or your passion project at Marvel that, that you've done there?
What's something that you're just over the moon about that. You're always happy though. Like, Hey, check this out.
Ed: Yeah, that's tough. you know, like both sides, one that like, it was a mini series about a villain. it was my first thing there and, you know, I still really enjoy it and try and push on people.
The iron fist stuff. I really had a ton of fun writing. Just, there's not much. That I, I'm not excited about that. I did, Marvel to be honest, like it, you know, it did like almost two and a half years of writing old man, Logan, you know, between old man, Logan and dead man, Logan, I'm really happy with how dead man, Logan.
It was a 12 issue thing where. You know, we, we tell you up front we're killing Logan. I was really happy with how that came out. We had 12 issues, same creative team throughout, which was really great, was the same with iron fist, this first 12 issues. It was the same creative team and that's something I, when I can, when we can do that, [00:41:00] it's something I love.
Like, cause you, you just get into a rhythm when you're with the same people. And I think, you know, you're able to sort of, Put more into it. And I think that shows through in the finished work. So I'm really, this is how, I guess, you know, I dodged questions by not really answering it, but
Robert: no, I mean, it's understandable.
Yeah. I tend to ask people that all the time that, you know, creators, I talked to you like, Oh, what's your favorite thing? And we're just kinda like, yeah, I like it all, you know, it's hard to answer and I understand that. I always, but I always have to ask,
Ed: I sure, sure.
Robert: This is kind of a. Off the wall question a little bit here, but you know, you, you worked on iron fist and, you know, bulls-eye and stuff like that.
And I I'd be remiss if I didn't ask. What did you think of the portrayals of them on the television series? That that was on Netflix, you know, iron fist as well as, bull's eye on, I'm sorry. leaving me here. Yeah.
Ed: Was he on the
[00:42:00] Robert: daredevils?
Ed: I'll be honest. I haven't actually watched him. so I watched the first episode of ifs when it aired, when it, when they initially dropped.
But the thing I stopped watching just because I was also writing there and fifth at the time, and I wanted to write my iron fist and didn't want to be influenced by. ifs that was on TV and like, thankfully, you know, Marvel didn't have any sort of mandate for me to match what was going on on TV. They wanted, you know, an fist book that was like their iron fist.
so I don't really, like, I didn't really watch them. So I know that sounds like a copout. But yeah, I didn't watch them just cause I was working on the, on the projects at the time and I just haven't been able to get back around to watch. I know I will, at some point, depends how long this pandemic goes on.
I may do it, during the spend demic, as I seem to be crunching through shows like crazy.
Robert: Oh yeah. Tell me about it. That's what we've been doing here as well. speaking [00:43:00] of the pandemic though, I mean, how. Obviously it's affected you. I mean, you're, you're probably not able to really push any content out.
Marvel. I believe Marvel in next week, they're going to start printing again and sending comics out. And then this week, some other companies started to do that, but how has it, how has it affected you? Have, they kind of said, Hey, you got to put a halt on what you're doing or anything like that.
Ed: Yeah right now, I am mostly on hold.
I'm working on one thing right now that is sort of a, a project. I can't say too much about it, but, but beyond that, I'm on, I'm on hold. it's depend demic. I'll be honest, really mess with my mind. the first, Six weeks. I didn't have that like a, about a week into the sort of shelter in place.
we had this massive plumbing issue in my house, where we thought it was going to be like a $400 bill with a plumber. and we're up to just slightly over $20,000,
[00:44:00] cause, When our house was built, which was, you know, late sixties, up here in this part of Canada. And I think most of Eastern Canada around that time were using a type of, sewage pipe called no corrode, which was heritable, heralded for not rusting.
and the reason it didn't Russ is because it was essentially just cardboard wrapped in tar, wrapped in cardboard, wrapped in tar, like in layers. but that. Well, it doesn't Crow. It does break down. And unfortunately ours had started to break down. And so we had to have like our, our entire driveway dug up and a retaining wall knocked down just so they could get to it.
So I didn't start the pandemic, often the best way. Not that I think you could, but you know, it was, we had job anxiety on top of an absolutely insane plumbing bill. So for the first six weeks, I couldn't really work. I think I did 40 pages. I was able to write in the first six [00:45:00] weeks, which normally in a given month I would write about 80 pages, give or take, But something, I ended sort of a rough day, about a week and a half ago.
and I was just sort of frustrated and something just kind of pushed me over. And, I was like just angry that I was just like, I'm just not gonna, not gonna fucking sit around anymore. I think, yeah. you know, I was sort of sitting here feeling, feeling bad, cause I was just could not get motivated.
And then friggin Donnie Cates goes on Twitter and talks about how he wrote 20 pages that day. And I'm like, I like Donnie, this is not a, this is not a Slack on Donny, but I was like, goddammit. God damn, you've already 20 pages. And it just like those two things like me sort of like, having a bad day, him push you through it.
And his whole thing was just like, you know, he was not, I think, in the, in a great head space and he just sort of wrote himself through it and I'm like, well, fuck it. I'm going to do it too. [00:46:00] And so I sat down. Yeah, last a week ago, Friday, and I just started writing in it basically. It's like the dams burst open and I haven't stopped writing since, I've written three issues of creator own stuff.
I'm on the second issues on two of those right now that I'm working on. So it's, you know, it's going to be like within two weeks, I've written almost a hundred pages, which is more than I, you know, More than I normally do in a month. So it's kind of flipped the other way in that. I think I just needed to have that sort of, you know, when you hit, hit bottom, I guess, and sort of bounce back.
Yeah,
Robert: you know, the, this pandemic has been terrible for everybody and I can, I can kinda, See, I've, I've been in the same boat myself there. There's just been days where it's just like, alright, I just want to get back to the normal routine. I want to get back to what it was.
Cause he gave the first couple of weeks kind of like a little relaxing and you know, you can take some time to sit back, but then it gets to a point where you're just like, Oh, I gotta, I gotta get back to my routine [00:47:00] or it's going to be impossible to get back to it later on. And for me, I mean, I, unfortunately, I, I work in a customer service field.
You know, for my full time job and that's going to be hell getting back into, you know, once, once I do, once they open us back up and getting into all that. So, and I don't know what they've been doing up in Canada for you guys, you know, down in the States, they've, they're doing all these different things.
Like here's yellow phase and red phase and green phase and everything like that to open stuff back it's just kinda. You know, nerve wracking to a point because it's like, all right, are they going to open us too early? Or are they going to start letting people do things too early? And, you know, that's, that's really tough.
I, I wish I, I had a, a job where I could just, you know, my job was to just sit down in an office and just write all day. I do, because I would feel a lot safer for me as well as my kids. But that's not the case. And, you know, it, it, it sucks to hear that the problems that you had right at the beginning with the plumbing, I mean, that's, [00:48:00] that's horrible.
I mean, I couldn't imagine that right now, with everything going on.
Ed: You know, we'll survive, we'll come out of it. It's going to be fine. It's just, you know, I think like, I, I know that I do have it lucky cause you know, I don't have to, you know, other than like, I'm the one who does the grocery shopping here, other than that, I don't have to really deal with the public.
so I know I have a good and you know, that's why I was. Mad at myself for wallowing, but it was just really, I think that, you know, you start worrying like, Oh, like what's going on? Like, how bad is this going to be? Is this the industry going to shut down? You know, after. 20 plus years of trying to get into the industry.
And then all of a sudden something happens and it shuts down, which sounds incredibly selfish. And I don't mean it that way. It just like, you know, it's, it's these slots that are running through your head. You're like, like, like what do I do after if this happens? What do I do for work? You know, how am I going to pay this, this, this plumbing bill, how, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
but yeah, I realized that I don't have to. [00:49:00] Go ahead and worry about facing people who are refusing to wear masks or, or whatever the case might be. But
Robert: yeah, no, but I, I mean, like you said, I mean it, even though there's, there's people that have to go and do that, the, the big thing is what are people going to be purchasing and what are they going to be buying, you know, with, with the way that the industry right now has, was pretty much on hold for the better part of two months.
That's two months of revenue and income that those publishers don't have, and that didn't come in and you could potentially see some cuts in some and, you know, some, even issues and, and, of series being canceled and everything like that. And that I can understand being. You know, kind of worrisome a bit, and it's unfortunate that we have to go through this, but I think, I think it's going to turn around.
I do, I, I just have this, this belief that everything's going to turn around here. Maybe not as quickly as we'd all like, [00:50:00] but I think, I think the industry will, will come out. Not necessarily. Just like with a bang right away. But I think, I think that the comic book industry, I I've personally, I know what the I've seen, the numbers I've seen, what's been going on out there.
I just, I feel like it's, there's, it's almost time for a big upswing for right. You know, and, and to me, I just, I hope that soon, especially after everything that just kind of occurred, I really do hope it, I hope it's soon.
Ed: Yeah, I'll take it.
Robert: Well, I mean, we've, we've been talking for about an hour here. It's, it's been great getting to know you to, to hear where you came from and, and everything that you've done.
is there anything else that you want to touch on? Talk about specifically that
Ed: no, not really. Like, I, I think like a, you know, like touching a murder book earlier on, you know, I, I forgot to mention that I am working on some new murder book. I don't know if it's just gonna be one or two stories, but I'll be posting some [00:51:00] stuff soon.
and then yeah, one of the creator on things that I'm working on right now is, Adam Gorman. I did a book called the violence that came out in 2016, 2017, that we've been meaning to get back to since forever and now, uh, With this, you know, I'm writing that again. So I'm on issue two of the second arc, which, would be great.
It feels good to kind of get back to that stuff. So, you know, I think, I think the one sort of silver lining to all this is that, for myself is that, I'm, I'm having this time to, to work through a whole bunch of creator owned stuff. I've been dying to get back to credit on stuff for awhile. And that's, that's not a knock against Marvel cause I'm perfectly happy with, with the Marvel stuff.
It's just, you know, there's there's just some stories that I want to tell that that can only be done that way. And, so, you know, I don't know what the scoop is for other people. I'm hoping that others are doing sort of similar and you know, maybe what we'll see in the next year is a nice spike in some big creator on stuff.
Robert: Yeah, that's, that's what I could see happening, [00:52:00] especially with now. It's, I'm shocked that we haven't seen more of it lately, especially with all the different types of websites out there, like Patrion and stuff like that, where people can jump on and say, Hey, you know, come subscribe. We'll get ya. You know?
And we'll, we're going to be putting out our own content. So to me, it's shocking. We haven't seen that yet because there's some innovative ways now that creators can get out there and get their stuff out. Out to the public. And, I'd definitely like to see that happen, you know? it's, it's a medium that doesn't get enough attention at the, in this day and age with so much technology, you know, and I just feel like, you know, comics, they were a thing of my past, you know, when I was, when I was a young kid that's I loved going to the spinner racks and stuff like that.
Didn't really ever have a comic book shop near me. So it was always spinner racks and the grocery store, but, you know, I love doing it. So I do hope that there's a enough swing and everything gets back on track with that. But
Ed: fingers crossed.
Robert: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And I look forward [00:53:00] to checking out murder book.
I really do. I, I wish I would have. Seeing that years ago, whenever it was first coming out, because it does look really, really interesting. but with that, thank you for being on. Is there a place or is there what's the best way for people to find your, your work? I do see you have a website and we'll put all that information to description, but is there another place that people can reach out to you and social media or anything like that?
Ed: yeah, I am cautiously on Twitter. so you can find me like twitter.com at, at Brisson. so it's, it's not a, I'm not hiding anywhere. I'm there on Twitter. A really simple way to find a really simple username. Yeah. You know, I do have Facebook, I'm a little bit more, cautious with who I, I had on Facebook though.
Just cause my family and stuff is on there and I don't need somebody coming in there as mad about, you know, the way I wrote new means or something like that. Swearing at me while my mom is. You know, they're, you know, [00:54:00] asking how I'm doing. but yeah, I think Twitter is kind of the best way. And, you know, if I don't, if people reach out to me on Twitter and I don't respond, please don't take it personally.
I do try to respond to everyone, but I also, try to limit my Twitter. Exposure. so I'm not on there nearly as often as I used to be.
Robert: No, I completely get it. I'm, I'm terrible with Twitter and place. I just, I'm a Facebook guy. I love Facebook. I could get on there and do everything. Twitter's just, I I'd say I'm not a big fan of it myself, but that's all right.
Ed: I used to love it. I used to love it. but like about a year and a half ago, I just had one day where I got real ugly and I took a, a Twitter break for a week. And I felt so much better as a human being that, I extended it to a year. So I was, I think I posted three times and, throughout 2019 and 2020, I sort of slowly crept back in.
But like I said, not that often.
Robert: All right. Well, again, Thanks. Thanks for being, being on here.
Ed: All right, [00:55:00] I'll talk to you later on. Alright.
Robert: Bye bye.
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