Hot Shot of the Week Companion Feature
Ten Question About Young Liars #3 With David Lapham
Russell Burlingame reporting for Comic Related
Comic Related: I guess the question that's on everyone's mind: What made you decide that it was necessary to offer a signature and a sketch to readers of this book, and how long are you going to hold the offer open?
David Lapham: For many years myself and my wife, Maria, had our own company and had to put ourselves out there to promote Stray Bullets, Murder ME Dead, etc. When I came into freelance work again, I thought, "Great! I'll just be creative and leave all the other stuff to other people. NO…You can't do that. I CARE about this book. I’ve worked for almost two years now on it. And I need to do anything I can to get the word out. I want to keep doing it. I never specified how long the offer would last. The point is to get people to try the book. But I’ll mostly cut it off except by special request by June 30.
CR: You're one of the most versatile writers out there, in terms of your ability to navigate a Batman story, Stray Bullets. A Spider-Man miniseries, Silverfish. How do you keep fresh ideas flowing?
DL: The short answer is, is that I work for a living. But more than that, each project is different. The characters are different. So even when I run them through the same mill of my mind they come out differently. The same but different. When in doubt though, I call 1-800-NewIdea. Never let me down yet!
CR: Do you have an ideal timeline for Young Liars? Will it be another sixty-issue Vertigo book, or more or less than that?
DL: Wouldn’t that be nice. Right now I have through 12. I know what I want to do with the next 12 after that. It’s going to be dictated by the fans. If they support the book, we’ll go to a conclusion. There will definitely be an ending, but truthfully, because of the way the system works, I have to be prepared for #12 being a possible ending. I sure hope not though.
CR: And that said, how long can Sadie hold out? Or is this like Spawn, where the degenerating condition will hold out as long as the sales on the book are alright?
DL: No. It’s unspecified. But…well…the book gets a little crazy as we go. Still though Sadie’s not good for more than a few years. However, the first six issues are the first storyline and take place over about a ten day span. So you can pack a lot of stories into a short life.
CR: With Donnie, and girls who beat people up, and a fish-out-of-water protagonist, this has a feel that's a lot like The Invisibles more than it does Stray Bullets. How did you decide on Vertigo as a home for the title?
DL: Vertigo was a place where I could do me creatively. Which is what I’m best at. I have a great working relationship with my editor, Shelly Bond, from working with her on Silverfish, and it’s been great working with her on this.
CR: To what degree do you control Young Liars? Is it creator-owned? Obviously Vertigo has always (to my knowledge) been pretty good about not exercising too much editorial power over anything but Hellblazer, but it's always a question if you could walk away and start up with Dynamite at issue seven.
DL: Well, it’s creator owned but I have contracts with Vertigo. So I can’t just walk into another company with it. I do feel I am doing what I want to do on the book. Ultimately Shelly or Karen could say “No, David, we won’t publish that picture of Sadie with a German Shepherd on the cover. But when it comes down to it. This is my idea and they signed a contract to publish this book because they WANTED a David Lapham book. They want me to do my thing. Honestly, as an editor, Shelly has enormous influence on me. we’re working on this book together and when she feels something’s not working, I kow I need to take a look at that again and ask myself if that’s what I intended. But ultimately I do the work I make the change or not.
CR: Structurally, the book has moved around a lot, with flashbacks and things...and we're only three issues in. Will it continue to be this manic, or will it settle into a groove?
DL: No. It’s all crazy.
CR: This probably isn't the only time we've seen a ninety-pound, teenage girl beat up a huge man, but it might be the only time I've seen her introduced that way. Is that the image that brought you to the character of Sadie?
DL: Yes. This started out as a pure action book. This kick ass chick with a bullet in her head and a white striped racing jacket beating and shooting people. Fun, fun, fun. As we went on I started building a cast and adding pieces until it evolved beyond that. The original title was going to be Bullet Girl. We lost the title because they wanted to avoid any confusion with a DCU character called…the Bulleteer I think. But it turned out for the best, because the book had evolved way beyond the Bullet Girl concept.
CR: Am I to take from the narration that the story of Young Liars is being told after Sadie's death?
DL: Yes. You probably should take it that way. Of course, after issue 12 you may think…differently.
CR: Because I like to do this with some of the smaller titles--give a pitch to new readers as to why the book is worth jumping onto, even if they've missed the first few!
DL: Well, look, not every book is for everyone. But if you like gut-wrenching dramatic stories mixed with music, brutal action, unrequited love, killer midgets, insane billionaires, revenge, obsession, castration, and kick-ass female protagonists then this book will blow your mind.
As far as coming in late. This is me. I’ve always prided myself on giving a story in each issue. If you tune in on issue 5 you’re going to get plenty out of it to have a satisfying read and want to go seek out the rest of the puzzle. None of this “you’re not invited unless you’ve been there from the beginning stuff.”
Check out more of David Lapham's work!
To learn more about David Lapham's work please visit his blog at davidlapham.blogspot.com. You can also chat with him in his forum at jasonaaron.org/index.php. Both sites deserve a visit.
Click here to visit our Young Liars #3
Hot Shot of the Week Review
Page last updated on May 18, 2008