BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO Mice Templar and Powers' Michael Avon Oeming said, “If Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton had a love child, it would the world of Fiction Clemens." If that description has you intrigued, just wait until you hear what writer Josh Wagner has to say about the misadventures of his womanizer, Fiction Clemens.
THE PULSE: I know a lot of children with strange names, but who would name a child Fiction Clemens? To me, just hearing that name I think he's an imaginary friend or something ....
JOSH WAGNER: I think that's as a good sign. If I had an imaginary friend like Fic I probably would have ended up a much calmer person. Fic isn't the sort of imaginary friend that wouldn't get a kid into much trouble. Except with women. Yeah, okay, that would be weird.
THE PULSE: What is Fiction Clemens about? I'm guessing a Puff the Magic Dragon sort of tale, this isn't!
WAGNER: It's more like a wolf in Puff's clothing. On the surface, this book is pure fun, high adventure, and comedy. But underneath is a story about reconciling chance and destiny, randomness and order. It's about breaking out of our cycles and getting on with the future. And other stuff… lots of little nuggets, depending on how far deep want to dig.
THE PULSE: Who or what inspired your intrepid womanizer, Fiction Clemens? Is he based on any of your adventures or adventures you wish you'd had with the fairer sex?
WAGNER: Nice call. His main story is based on adventures I wish I had NOT had. There was a time years ago when a really scary-looking guy caught me in, uh, the arms of his girl. I'll leave it to the reader's imagination as to which parts of Fic's confrontation with Kitchens are directly from that experience, and which are from the depths of my mind.
THE PULSE: We've seen a few movies and other stories where a man disguises himself as a woman, how is what you're doing with Fiction Clemens different?
WAGNER: It's different a few layers down. The whole "dressing as a lady" subplot exists for more than just comic purposes, and is the set up for yet another of Fiction's themes. When Kitchens sees his old rival in that dress, Kitchens falls in swooning, sparkling love. Without giving the ending of the series away, I'll just say that this leads to an inner conflict over just how fine a line there can be between love and hate.
THE PULSE: With glasses, Clark Kent; without, Superman! If Tiberius Kitchens is really Fiction's best friend, why can't he tell that this "woman" is his ex-pal?
WAGNER: It's easy to exaggerate in a universe this cartoony. I take my cue from Shakespeare, who had to use similar creative license from time to time (As if bearded Falstaff in drag could fool anyone!) But Kitchens isn't the brightest firefly in the swamp. He is blinded by passions, both in his hatred for Fiction and in his love of, uh, beautiful women.
THE PULSE: With his great attraction to Fiction in drag, does that mean Tiberius isn't the manly man he might think he is?
WAGNER: Exactly. Kitchens is a more complex character than issue 1 reveals. The book stops short of being homoerotic. That's not really the type of love I'm trying to explore. Kitchens is a romantic, and he is wrapped up in the ideas and games of life, the affections and the heartstrings. Love has been so narrowly sexualized in our culture over the last century, and while I'm no prude, there are so many more facets of love worth telling a story about.
THE PULSE: Why did you want to take a story like this and mix in an alien conspiracy and other sci-fi elements like that?
WAGNER: The alien conspiracy really parallels what's going on in Fiction's own life. He's caught in a cycle that he can't seem to escape. His world, too, is trapped in the Old West. Both of them need to progress, and it's going to take something pretty significant to make that happen. I think most satire these days is going to have some sci-fi elements, and when it comes to our own world's meager efforts in space-exploration, I suppose I've got a little axe-grinding to do.
THE PULSE: Are you at all afraid there might be too many different elements here that might bog down the readers?
WAGNER: Yeah, that's always been my worry, but it's a risk worth taking. One of my favorite films is "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels", which brings about numerous whirling elements into a brilliant series of coincidences. That movie was one inspiration for Fiction's structure. I guess if I could do it over again, I might make Fiction Clemens twice as long, to dig even deeper into the various elements, but I don't think I would ever trim the fat—it's just too tasty.
THE PULSE: Another thing that makes Fiction Clemens different is that characters were modeled after generous contributors who helped you fund the series. How did you come up with the idea for that?
WAGNER: It was my brother's idea. The reasoning goes back to the old shtick about a producer's daughter wanting to be an actress—give her a part and he'll fund your movie. We talked it over one night and figured it might just work for comics. Not that I can compare any of my contributors to a producer's daughter. They were all so generous, and it would have been a nightmare pulling this off without them.
THE PULSE: Who, if anyone, is Fiction based on? Did you use yourself as the model or the highest bidder?
WAGNER: I never put Fiction up for bid, and I've never actually asked Joiton if he based the character on me. A lot of people think that he did, and if so, it's probably because I played Fic in the short teaser we made to promote and pitch the story.
THE PULSE: How did Ape Entertainment come to publish Fiction Clemens?
WAGNER: SpaceDog Entertainment acted as my agency and pitched Fiction Clemens to Ape. They loved it, and Fic actually became the first property to partner up the two companies. Now that I've seen more of the books Ape puts out, I feel truly at home there. For a long time I was worried that Fiction was a little too eclectic to find more than an ephemeral Indie niche—destined to print out of some blacklit basement in San Francisco (and I would have been totally content with that, by the way), but it is so nice to be with a solid, hardworking company that isn't afraid to tell a bizarre story.
THE PULSE: What did you enjoy the most about creating this crazy world?
WAGNER: Working with [the artist] Joiton was a real treat. He and I mesh in a way that transcends language barriers. It was like he already knew the kind of world I was after. Pencils rarely had to go back for changes, and his layouts and perspectives often managed to capture my vision (and sometimes exceed it) on the first try. The colorists and editor all really got into the world as well. Everyone involved put a lot of love into the book, and we all had faith in the story and in each other. Writing is always fun, but partnering up to produce something like Fiction Clemens has been pure bliss.
THE PULSE: What did the entire creative process teach you about the intricacies of the comic book industry as a whole?
WAGNER: This book has been my university of comics. I'm sure I have a lot more to learn, but I went from knowing absolutely nothing about the industry, to feeling confident swimming with the sharks (which isn't a huge hurdle—comic book sharks are some of the kindest, most generous sharks around).
THE PULSE: Why shouldn't PULSE readers miss this story?
WAGNER: I honestly believe that nothing like this has been done in American comics before. My influences come from films, novels, children's books and movies. The art-style is clearly inspired by a lot of European and South American influences. Fiction Clemens succeeds on multiple levels. Whether you want to read a fun, wild story; or just check out some mind-blowing artwork; or if you prefer to dig deeper for the themes and interconnections—Fic works just as well for passing the time as it does for challenging the mind.
THE PULSE: What kind of response did you get at the New York Comic-Con about the series?
WAGNER: I couldn't be happier with how things went down in New York. Ape had a poster of the cover for issue 2 that came up to my shoulders. Fic starlet, Syllabus Shivvers is long and tall on this cover, and one con-goer fell so in love with the poster that he ran breathlessly over to me at the SpaceDog booth, demanding I tell him where and how he could get her. I took Fiction around to various booths only to find out that almost everyone I showed it to had either just seen it and were planning to pick it up, or had already ordered it. Those are the kind of coincidences that first inspired the story, and it's the kind of magic that has been building momentum for Fic over the last year.
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
WAGNER: I've got a lot up my sleeve. My prose novels are high priority right now, but I have several more OGN irons in the fire. I'm juggling a couple work for hire projects with some more of my own babies. A few of my comics short stories are on the near horizon (check out "Negative Burn 19", "Outlaw Territory", and "Less Than Three"). Most of what I have going on right now is in development, and I have to keep my mouth shut. Not an easy thing to do.
My biggest goal as a writer is to keep putting out a wide variety of styles. I don't want to become predictable, or end up retelling the same story. You should always be surprised by what a writer comes up with next.
The first issue of Fiction Clemens is due in stores this month from Space Dog Entertainment and Ape Entertainment.
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