Broken Frontier

RED HERRING is a conspiracy thriller with comedy – “The X-Files” meets “The Daily Show.”  But what does that really mean?  Well, Philip [Bond] and I wanted to do something fun.  That’s how it started. 

At the same time, we were both gob-smacked (Philip is amused when I try to use British slang) at the amount of idiocy in American politics.  Wasn’t anyone paying attention?  The Emperor had new clothes, and he was selling them on QVC. 
[PLEASE note: that refers to the previous administration.] Philip and I had worked together on ANGEL & THE APE, a naughty and silly little murder mystery at Vertigo.  It was time to do it again.  This is that story.

Page 1/Page 2

We OPEN on a pretty young woman in her underwear.  Yes, it’s one of the things Philip does best – but more to the point, we want it clear that MAGGIE MAC GUFFIN isn’t just sexy, she’s sexual.  She’s a modern young woman who’s comfortable with her body (she walks around in front of her roommate’s boyfriend in her bra).  As we find out later in the issue – and throughout the series – Maggie’s made some questionable decisions about her sexual partners.  But at 22, who hasn’t?  It makes her a real person, in an honest way women (and men) aren’t portrayed in comics. 

That’s what we’re going for.  Two other things I’d like to point out.  1) The stuffed APE on the bed is an homage to our version of Sam Simeon in “Angel & The Ape”; and 2) Maggie is named after my wife.  She’s been bugging me for 10 years to name a character after her, and I finally did. 

Page 6/Page 7   

RED HERRING is a political story, based in Washington, D.C., and this scene at the Lincoln Memorial gives us a sense of Place.  We also meet another important character in the book, and well meaning but inept MEYER WEINER. 

The dialogue and the events in this scene are funny – which is not what you expect from government agents and an obvious cover-up.  We’re in the real world, but our perception is skewed, and we’re going to have fun with your expectations of the genre.  And why does AGENT MOORE have RED hair?  Hmmmm. 

Page 8

Every conspiracy has to start somewhere.  Ours starts in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1951.  The little green men DO exist, and the Cold War U.S. Government is going to make damn sure God-fearing Americans don’t get caught with their pants down. 

RED HERRING is intended as a series of 6-issue mini-series, each one dealing with a different Conspiracy Theory.  We have our own, unique way of looking at those conspiracies, taking what you think you know and what you don’t expect, and smashing them together to make you think, “Hey, you know what?  That actually COULD happen.”  For this first mini, we went with the biggest conspiracy of all – the Roswell crash and the threat of alien invasion. 

Page 11/Page 12

Maggie works as a congressional aide to DAMORGE CHANNEL, who represents the good people of Florida.  He’s also married.  But he’s smart and powerful and Maggie has issues with her father, and it’s completely natural that she’d have an affair with him.  I mean it. 

The job also gives us another side of Maggie’s character; the well educated and socially conscious young adult who’s really trying to make a difference.  Philip makes that office make-out scene damn sexy, don’t you think?  For us, Maggie’s job in Washington is as important as a superhero’s war on crime.  As we’ll see later in the issue, it’s also as dangerous.

Page 13

The CAPRICORN GROUP, a Washington think tank (a fictional cross between companies lines Blackwater and Haliburton), where Jack Fost rules with an iron fist.  The same Jack Fost who met with the US Army General in 1951, making him aware of the alien invasion.  Fost is almost 60 years older than when we saw him on Page 8, and Meyer Weiner’s boss.  This ties Fost and Capricorn to Weiner – and to Agent Moore. 

Page 15

What happened to AFI KOMEN’s $300,000 – and why does he refer to the man we know as “Agent Moore” as RED HERRING?  Did Agent Moore use the name “Red Herring” when he worked a case with Afi?  Or is Red Herring pretending to be “Agent Moore.”  At this point, we don’t know.  Huh.  Keep reading. 

Also, how silly is the name Afi Komen.  (For those of you not celebrating Passover this year, “Afi Komen” is a game played at the Seder, where a piece of matzoh is hidden in a napkin, for the children to find after dinner.)   Afi is going to be a thorn in Red Herring’s side throughout the series.

Page 16

We see Agent Moore and Agent Cook (named after the great British comedy team of Dudley Moore and Peter Cook) in the car on a rainy night.  Let’s get more into Agent Moore.  To say he doesn’t suffer fools well is putting it mildly.  He’s kind of a prick.  He believes the way he sees the world is the right way, and that most people are stupid. 

Guess what?  He’s right.  At least about that second part.  He has a lot to learn, and Maggie is going to help soften some of those hard edges.  He also has a GLASS EYE.  Nobody knows how it happened, and every issue of the series supplies another possible accident.  It’s his business, and he’d prefer to spin elaborate lies about how he lost his eye, than tell you the truth.  It says a lot about who Agent Moore is.  

Page 18/Page 19

Maggie thinks she’s waiting for Damorge in the Park, but is surprised and attacked by Hoyle.  This links Damorge to Capricorn, and we know Agent Moore is looking into Capricorn.  RED HERRING may seem to have a lot of characters, but this scene shows us that they’re all intertwined, in a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” kind of way. 

Also, Philip’s style is so lush and beautiful; I wanted to see how it would look against a really violent physical attack.  This is not a glorification of that violence; Hoyle is a brutal guy, and he really beats the crap out of Maggie here.  We feel her fear, and we’re on pins and needles, hoping she can reach that cell phone.  The contrast works, and I think this is one of the best scenes in the issue.  It also shows the book is going to surprise you – just when you think it’s a laugh-fest, our pretty young heroine is going to be attacked and left for dead. 

This is also our fictionalized shout-out to Washington sex scandals, and how the media twists the facts to keep ratings high.  It’s closest to the still-unsolved disappearance of Chandra Levy, but little pieces of other high-profile scandals (some people have seen a bit of the Elliot Spitzer mess) worked their way in, too.  As we’ll see in subsequent issues, Maggie’s relationship with Damorge is not only exposed, but put under a microscope.  It’s not pretty, and this look at the media actually is a subtle set-up for the second mini-series (a completely different story set in Los Angeles, with Red and Maggie facing a new opponent, but with similar themes to this sub-plot). 

Page 22

Maggie is alive.  She’s been rescued by Agent Moore.  Or Red Herring.  Or maybe they’re TWINS.  It doesn’t matter.  He is a man who believes there are no coincidences; that nothing happens by accident.  He believes he found Maggie for a reason.  And that she is the key to his success against the Capricorn Group.

In a book called RED HERRING, with a main character named MAGGIE MAC GUFFIN, nothing is what it seems.  Plot threads have been thrown, but keep reading.  As the issues continue, it will all make sense.  Every piece of the puzzle will find its home.  It’s a funny, scary story.  Secrets are revealed.  People die.  And two very different people find each other, and become heroes. 

Before we go, I just want to thank Philip Bond, for making each page look better than it did in my head (not an easy thing to do).  I’d also like to give shout outs to David Hahn, who’s inking Philip here, and who adds his own sense of cartoon/realism to Philip’s pencils.  And to the awesome color work of Guy Major. I’d buy him a glass of wine, but that man has expensive tastes.  Driving the boat is our editor, Scott Peterson, a man of infinite patience who (always) stands up for his creators.  Kristy Quinn saved my ass a number of times.  That lady’s got a good eye.  And to Hank Kanalz, who makes Wildstorm run, who believed in this idea from Day One, and hit the green light to make it happen.  Thank you all.  I want to do it again.