During my time and tenure at ZomBcon I got to interview some cool people about zombies, this one just happened to be local. The following was an interview with Mark Rahner about the zombie political western Rotten:
Single Bullet Theory: Rotten
has not been at all shy when it comes to expressing its opinions on modern day
politics from Terry Schivo to pedophilic priests, even Wade's own disgruntled
remarks about Hayes mirroring the same sentiments as peoples reaction to George
W Bush being re-elected... so I'm curious, what else will be mirrored in the
story?
The distinguished Mark Rahner
Mark Rahner: We’re certainly not in any danger of running out of
material these days. My god, the freaks have really been coming out like
debutants lately. But I should point out that nobody buys a comic to read an
editorial. Rotten is first and foremost horror and action, played very
straight, and we hope, unsettling.
Having said that, our character Father von Becker
in issues 10 and 11 was a lot of fun to write, as he bears a striking
resemblance to a certain despicable former Fox News personality. And he’s a
full-fledged character instead of the cameos by, say, the zombie Palins in
issue 7 who got what they deserved in a very cathartic way.
Indeed!
How did
JJ and Wade come to meet in the first place?
They were officers in the Civil War. We’ll delve
more into their past and why Wade hates the Army so intensely in future issues.
Although getting reconscripted after 12 years as a civilian after the war would
piss off anyone. Flynn, on the other hand, is a career officer, slightly older
and less fulminating with rage than Wade. He’s more willing to work the system.
The two men hadn’t seen each other for a long time when they meet in the first
issue, but they’re like brothers.
Whats
the backstory with Wade's hat?
On one level, it’s simply one of the only
indulgences that he allows himself. It’s not that Wade’s necessarily an austere
guy, but he’s extraordinarily disciplined and he’s used to having everything
taken away from him. And it’s a damn fine hat. But you’re picking up some other
breadcrumbs we’ve left, and yes: there’s more to the hat. Keep watching.
Pale rider Aubrey, the 'White Man who brings death'
When are
we going to find out more about Aubrey, the 'White Man who brings death'?
Things are going to pick up with Aubrey faster now.
He’s been very enigmatic and a little scary so far. Then he closes out the 11th
issue with a WTF moment that’ll continue to play out as we go. The series was
always planned to pick up steam slowly at first and then grab you exactly like
an HBO series, and Aubrey’s part of that. Unfortunately, the sporadic
publishing schedule has made gratification even more delayed than we intended.
If you think you know Aubrey’s deal, you don’t. He’s not a simple bad guy and
he’s more than just an adversary.
Will
President Hayes appear in person as a character?
I am forbidden to reveal that under pain of being
renditioned, water-boarded and forced to wear a diaper for no less than one
month.
What about two months in a cloth adult diaper held together with an oversized
safety pin and being waterboarded by Sarah Palin who talks incessantly about
being a maverick every time you come up for air?
If you could just add Rick Santorum talking about
gay people, I’d pray for a quick death. Whether or not you see Hayes, he’s always a presence in the story.
Wade’s hatred of him and his corruption never fades.
Moving onto favorites: What's
your favorite zombie movie?
There are a lot of good ones, and a whole lot more
bad ones. But I always go back to the three that really got me going. “Dawn of
the Dead,” “Night of the Living Dead” and Lucio Fulci’s “Zombie, which I saw in
that order. Each one made an impact and was genuinely disturbing. Everything
after them is a copy.
How
about western?
Good lord, there are so many. We make a point of
not making Rotten something just based on movies we’ve seen, and we don’t want
it to be a Tarantino-like pastiche – even though I like Tarantino. But I have
asked Dougherty to, for instance, check out Sergio Corbucci’s “The Great
Silence” for its striking, unusual snowbound look when he drew the “Frost Bite”
story. And Spaghetti Western buffs will notice I’m a fan of the eye-close-up
shot.
Anyhow, I’ll throw out some of my favorite titles,
in no order: “Django,” also by Corbucci, anything by Sergio Leone except for
maybe “Duck, You Sucker.” “The Searchers,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “High
Plains Drifter,” anything by Sam Peckinpah, particularly “The Wild Bunch” and
“Ride the High Country,” and Budd Boetticher’s masterful little movies with
Randolph Scott.
[Authors note: The next line of questions was going to be a recurring theme I wrote about entitled Dead in 60 Seconds, putting someone in a situation with 60 seconds between defending themselves and the jaws of death] So did you
ever come up with a zombie plan? I know I bugged you about this once upon a time at Crypticon
Seattle once already. Would you try and get out of the city or would you stay and fortify
your place to make a stand?
Barricade myself inside a liquor store.
Okay so
since you've chosen to barricade yourself in a liquor store:
What
label do you drink first just to get rid of it? Which bottles do you save for
last?
For
defense: do you bust heads with the bottles Old West bar-brawl style or use
molotovs to make zombie flambe and risk immolation?
You’re really not letting this go, are you? First
of all, we don’t waste perfectly good alcohol, despite what you saw in Rotten
No. 6. Second, don’t you think there are scarier things to plan for at the
moment? What’s your teabagger defense plan?
What's
your opinion on comic books being downloadable now? Is print actually dead?
Everyone in comics is still trying to figure that one out, but coming
from a career in the newspaper industry, I think I can tell you what not to do
with online material and the decline of print: everything newspapers have done.
Anyhow, my opinion’s evolving like everyone else’s. Right now, I’m
thinking that it would work for digital comics to be cheap so people can just
read ‘em, and there’s still the floppies if you want to collect and cherish and
stroke them. That sounded kind of repulsive, didn’t it?
Only if you wanted it to! Can you
give any details on Robert Horton's recent transcription of The Lost Diaryof John J. Flynn?
Yeah, it’s an all-prose book by Wade’s partner that
serves as a kind of prequel to the events in issue 1. Horton’s “transcriptions”
are very creepy and wryly funny. Do not miss this book. You’ll love it.
How did
you get your start in writing?
Jeez, I’ve been writing practically since I was in
diapers, and will until I’m in them again. Had a humor column in my high school
paper, the whole nine yards. As far as making my living as a writer, I started
doing movie reviews for a paper in Indiana while I was working on a PhD. at
Purdue and doing a radio show. One day, they asked me if I wanted to work at
the paper full-time – and if I could pass the drug test. And here we are.
You're
obviously a very busy man, aside from Rotten what other titles are you
working on presently?
I’ve got a Green Hornet annual coming out from
Dynamite – here’s the link:
He goes berserk! I’m also working on a “Warlord of
Mars” annual for them, which I’m planning to be just as over-the-top violent.
Any
chance of Rotten being opted for a TV series?
There’s been talk about that from the beginning,
but I’ve learned not to uncork the champagne until Something is actually in
progress. But it would make a damn fine show, don’t you think?
I would certainly think so! PS: One final question: Is
the term 'revenant' a subtle nod to our mutual friend Geoff Bough?
No, “revenant” came about a long time ago and much differently for us. We
figured that in the 1870s, nobody would see someone raised from the dead and
call it a zombie. They aren’t really zombies anyhow – we’ve got a Hatian
storyline coming up in the future that features some of those. If we were truly
wiping the slate clean, people wouldn’t know what to call the things. It would
be beyond their frame of reference. They’d be freaking the hell out and turning
to religion – like some of our dumber citizens have been doing since 9/11. And
that’s where the term comes from. It annoys Wade, because he has zero patience
with religious nonsense.
To conclude, an awesome piece of video and song by Fever Ray "Keep the Streets Empty For Me"... we'll follow the man in black across the desert next time in the 3rd installment of When The West Was Dead
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