Broken Frontier

They’ve already had cowgirls, zombies, undead people and young witches amongst their ranks. And this month, Viper Comics adds a bunch of hit men to that list with David Hopkins’ new mini series Karma Incorporated.

“Karma Incorporated is the story of five people who start a business, dedicated to wrecking havoc on ordinary people's lives,” he explains when asked about the premise of his book.  “I like to think of it as a non-lethal hitman service.  They won't kill you, but you'll sure wish you were dead after they're done. It's all done covertly, to look like coincidence, bad luck, or a series of unfortunate accidents.”

The cast of Viper’s latest mini series consists of Marsha, a former litigation attorney, Terry, a retired assassin turned critic and designer, Susan, a computer genius wanted by the FBI, Malcolm, a dot-com millionaire, and Art, a laid- off desk clerk for the U.S. Labor Department. “Let me say, I love these characters,” Hopkins gushes.  “They are so much fun to write.  Each of them has their own self-destructive quirks.”

‘Quirky’ might be the proper term to describe Karma Inc. The art, provided by Tom Kurzanski, is indeed quirky and seems to imply that these characters shouldn’t be taken all too seriously. Yet, Hopkins is quick to point out that the story may deceive readers who think it’s all fun first. “My favorite stories are the ones that mess with your expectations, and Karma Incorporated might do that,” he says.  “There are some funny moments-- the premise lends itself very well to that.  But Tom's style has so much emotional range; it would be a shame to not explore that with these characters.  There are moments that will just break your heart. I think about Romeo and Juliet or the Cameron Crowe film, Say Anything.  Both start off with every appearance of being a comedy, following the predictable genre patterns for that given era, the Elizabethan comedy or an '80s teen flick.  Then, right in the middle of the narrative, there's a turning point and everything changes.  So yeah, I hope it'll be fun, but be open for anything.”

Hopkins surely had some fun himself while coming up with the story and the world of Karma Inc., though the end result is quite different from the initial premise he concocted when starting work on the script. “The story has had such a lengthy evolution from the time when I first thought [it] up,” Hopkins admits. “Honestly, I was rather reluctant to work on it.  I had maybe three other stories I was working on.  Karma Incorporated, as I first envisioned it, seemed too difficult to write.  It was my wife Melissa who prodded me to work on [it some more]. 

“Those other three stories went nowhere, but at the San Diego Con, there were a few publishers interested in Karma Incorporated.  Go figure.  Melissa knows best.  I still didn't have a coherent outline, a script, or an artist.  Once I got home from San Diego, I think I finished the first draft of issue one in a weekend, which for me is fast.  Tom and I had been working on one of the other stories, an adaptation of Antigone.  I asked Tom if he wanted to do Karma Incorporated instead.  After he finished the first five pages, it was a no-brainer.  We knew we had something good. Plus, Tom is such a professional; he's got the kind of attitude and creativity that makes collaborations enjoyable.”

Hopkins and Kurzanski met each other online and worked together on a proposal for the adaptation of Antigone the writer just mentioned. Hopkins has nothing but praise for the work that his artistic collaborator produces. Contrary to Kurzanski, who is a complete newbie to the comics scene, Hopkins has already written a few short stories for books such as Western Tales of Terror and Dead@17: Rough Cut, to name a few. Still, publishing his first creator-owned project is as daunting as it is exciting.

“Both Tom and I have worked on the fringes of this scene for a few years now,” Hopkins adds.  “I don't know if I'd call Tom a complete newbie, though.  He's made a career for himself as a freelance illustrator, and anybody who can make enough money to survive in New York City has my respect!  I think this project has been both exciting and daunting.  If it weren't daunting, it wouldn't be nearly as exciting and vice versa.  There are no guarantees.  Karma Incorporated could be really popular and well received, or fall on its face.  That's how it goes.”

As Hopkins mentioned a few moments ago, several publishers thought that there was enough meat to the concept Hopkins had come up with. Yet, Karma Inc. ultimately found a home at Viper, which, appears to be the place where the writer/creator wanted his project to end up all along. The story of how the creator and publisher found one another starts in San Diego, the home of Comic-Con International: “Jessie Garza made a mistake,” Hopkins laughs.  He once bought me lunch in San Diego—you should never feed the starving writers; they're starving for a reason!—and then, of course, I kept lurking around the Viper booth hoping he’d do it again. 

“The truth is that Jessie and I have wanted to work together for some time,” he continues. “It was simply a matter of the right timing with their publishing schedule, and finding the right story.  As you may notice, Viper focuses on only a few titles at a time and making them absolutely the best they can be.  As a result, they frequently pass on very good submissions, which any other small press publisher would jump at to find the perfect match.  For about a year, it was only Dead@17 and then Daisy Kutter, then two more titles with Oddly Normal and Random Encounter, and now the Middleman and Karma Incorporated.  I had submitted other projects to Viper, which they passed on. Karma Incorporated was right for though.  Now Jessie buys me lunch all the time.”

While Hopkins hopes Garza will buy him more lunch at next week’s Con, fans can hold up hopes of an early look at Karma Incorporated #1, as Viper will have a San Diego convention exclusive cover available , which precedes the actual release by a week. “I believe you'll have to pick up the original cover version in stores,” Hopkins informs us. “We’re selling only the exclusive in San Diego.  Josh Howard and I have talked about this and neither one of us are fans of variant covers simply for the sake of being variant.  There has to be a reason a special signing or event, a convention, et cetera, and that’s also the case with the variant of Karma #1 Viper is releasing. 

”One thing that's particularly exciting is that Jim Mahfood did the back cover for issue one.  For anyone, like me, who's a fan of his work, that’s another reason right there to check out Karma Incorporated.”

Hopkins definitely hopes readers will have plenty of reasons to pick up not only Karma Inc. #1, but that they will stick around for the other two issues as well. In case fans embrace the series, Hopkins plans to explore the Karma world some more. “Hell yeah!” he gushes.  “I've got at least 30 more issues plotted out in my head with more to follow.  There are some great stories to tell with these characters.  In fact, right now, I'm working on a second series. Will it ever see the light of day? Let's hope so. It all depends on how this first series is received.

And that’s not the last the comic industry will have seen from Hopkins. After Karma completes in September, the writer has already planned some more projects through Viper. “In early 2006, I have a four issue series coming out from Viper called Emily Edison,” he unveils. “Artist Brock Rizy (www.beeow.com) and I are working on it.  Emily Edison is very different from Karma Incorporated.  This comic book is for my daughter.  It's all-ages, with lots of adventure surrounding some wild and fantastic events.  I'm excited.  And I can't wait until we get closer to that time, so I can talk about it more.”

For now, though, Karma Incorporated is where the bell tolls. Asked what he’s got coming up in the debut issue, Hopkins says the first instalment is all about what happens when you push a person too far: “The company of Karma Incorporated is all about creating chaos within a controlled environment.  However, sometimes there are unintended consequences to any action.  Their target, Rob Wilson, discovers Karma Incorporated and decides to strike back.  Not only that, there's some personal issues going on with Marsha, that make for a nice character arc throughout the story.”

Since Karma Incorporated #1 debuts at SDCC next week, running a sneak peek of that issue wouldn’t really be a preview now, would it? Luckily, we’ve got some preview pages for next month’s number two to work your karma some more: