Broken Frontier

Cyclone Bill & The Tall Tales, an original graphic novel from Moonstone comics, delves deep into the dark heart of rock and roll. It revolves around the death of Bill Czynkowski, guitarist and band leader for Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales. Bill was shot dead in front of a packed house and in piecing together what happened that night, the remaining Tall Tales wonder if a supernatural force was behind his murder. Only filmmaker Maggie Bloom has the footage to solve the mystery, but she may have lost her mind in her search for fame. It seems she's being haunted by a man whose soul is one with rock n roll itself. Who is this man, and with what power does he confront the players in the tale? From stardom's dizzying heights to midnight's darkest crossroad, the answer will terrify all who seek quick deals for fame and immortality.

Writer and artist Dan Dougherty answered a few questions about his book which is slated for a January 2006 release.

Broken Frontier - What are the themes and central concepts of Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales?

Dan Dougherty - When we’ve been plugging the book in the promos, I think there’s been an emphasis on the “faustian deceit” element. You know, the kind of story old blues musicians tell about going down to the crossroads and selling your soul for the ability to play a guitar. Certainly that is a big element of the book, since most of the main characters have sold their soul to the devil for one reason or another. But what has really driven Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales from the first draft is this fascination I have with the mythology of rock n’ roll. I always liked reading about my favorite bands, the interviews, the biographies, sometimes even the coroner’s reports. Like a lot of people, when I get into a band I really get into them.

What I came to notice though, was that I have not really been fascinated by a band’s history since Nirvana. I’ve listened to many a band since 1994, don’t get me wrong, but there hasn’t been one of those wild, bittersweet, larger than life stories since Kurt Cobain died. (And hey, I like Elliot Smith too, but he wasn’t as iconic.) I found myself going backwards in time to get a good rock story, reading up on people like Elvis, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, so on and so forth. And it’s hard to believe that we haven’t come up with any more of these big stories in the past decade or so.

So Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales is that story that I’ve been missing, complete with excess, feuds, ambition, meddlesome girlfriends, bus crashes, and – to make things more interesting – the hand of the devil. It’s done “documentary style”, that is to say that I made it so that the only information you get is from the footage of the characters that are filming the action. Because of this, there’s no internal monologue, there’s no one true narrator, and nothing is spelled out for you. It still tells a big story, but in ways that (I think) ask the reader to really dive into this world and try to put it together.

BF - What makes this book different to other similar books on the market?

DD - Honestly, I might not be the best person to ask, since I’m sure my current comic collection isn’t up to par with most of your readership. I didn’t mention this, but one element of the comic that I don’t think we’ve really talked about is the fact that three of the characters – The Tall Tales – are actually real people. The Tall Tales is my old band, and when I started this book we were still together.

My decision to use myself in the book sounds odd, but it was a move I made after seeing the movie Adaptation , which does the same thing but in a different way. In that movie, writer Charlie Kaufman was the main character, but he also had sort of an insecure god complex thing because he was able – through writing – to influence the plot of the movie. I put myself and the band in the comic in what turns out to be a lesser role, and I liked it because it spoke on a very childish level. Like most kids, I always wanted to be in the comic I was reading and be cool and all that, and the idea of actually doing it now that I have the power to made creating this book all the more exciting to me. It still was scary, since I didn’t want to come off as pompous, but I thought of people like Grant Morrison and Paul Pope who have also come up with clever ways to insert themselves into their work, and it helped to muster up the nerve.

BF - Were there any sudden breakthroughs in the creation of this book or its concept?

DD - Yeah, almost too many to count. I’ve actually drawn almost a hundred pages of story elements that didn’t work, because when I started doing this the book had a different ending. I won’t tell you what it is, but it isn’t nearly as exciting as what made it to print. I didn’t really hit my stride until I decided to make the book a “documentary” and make the director a major character as well. Then things started making more sense to me thematically. Also, I changed my mind a few times on who actually killed Cyclone Bill. I wanted it to be a mystery, but I wasn’t using the right characters for it. Again, I won’t spoil the story, but once I figured out my characters’ motives and all the angles, everything came together much better.

BF - Which creators or books have fans who will like Cyclone Bill ?

DD - That’s tricky. Again, I’m not as up to date with things as I’m sure your readership is, but there was a period of about three years when I worked at a comic store and knew my stuff. My boss has a firm grasp on what is good and not good out there, and he got me off the standard books I’d been reading and gave me a pretty broad education in comics.

Two people he really exposed me to were Paul Pope and Eddie Campbell, and when I show him my work today he will occasionally point out moments that seem influenced by them. I definitely love how Paul Pope creates specific sites and periods for his characters to work in, and I wish I had his brush stroke. And then Eddie Campbell, I admire his instincts. He goes from really tight ink work to the ugliest lines you will see, and it all makes sense somehow.

I like comics that shoot from the hip, and if you like that too you will like this book.