This November, Vertigo's new series SLASH & BURN takes a look at a firefighter with a passion: fire. The series, written by Si Spencer and featuring art from Max Dunbar and inks by Ande Parks, hits stores on 11/11 and the creative team talked to us about the upcoming book.
COMIC VINE: What's SLASH & BURN all about?
SI SPENCER: Fire. Addiction. Murder. The Sins of the Past. Control. Desire. Withdrawal.
MAX DUNBAR: Slash and Burn is about pyromaniac firefighter Rosheen Hayes.
She uses her job to be closer to fire, to interact with it in as safe and legal a manner as possible, but still struggles with her compulsions. She also uses her profound understanding of fire and compulsive behavior to start an investigation into some strange, fire-related incidents that start to happen in her hometown. It’s a character piece, it’s a crime thriller and a detective story.
CV: Personality-wise, what is Rosheen Hayes like?
SPENCER: Conflicted. Strong, courageous, intelligent, funny, loyal and passionate at her best, vulnerable, impulsive, afraid, frightened, self-protective and suspicious at her worst. She’s a human being with everything that goes with that territory.
DUNBAR: Rosheen is definitely not an easy person to categorize or describe quickly. She is very complicated and mysterious, constantly at odds with her own compulsions and desires, trying to fit in as best she can. I think the inner turmoil she has to deal with makes her a little rough around the edges socially, and quick to anger, but she is also trying to be a good person.
CV: Where did the idea for the book come from?
SPENCER: Initially from bouncing around high concepts with Vertigo exec Shelly Bond. We wanted to find a new fresh take on a familiar but brilliant trope; the detective with issues. This seemed to be the perfect dichotomy of that trope – the thing she kills is the thing she craves.
CV: The solicit seems that the book is dealing with giving into the darker parts of humanity. Is there any balance between the dark and the light in SLASH & BURN?
SPENCER: Wait – there’s light in humanity? Goodness? Morality? I’ve heard about those things – Lord of the Rings has that stuff, right? And Star Wars.
Nah, I’m messing wit’ ya, I know about that ‘light’ stuff. But truth be told, there ain't a whole lot of it in Slash and Burn. There’s redemption and justice but as we know they don’t always come from gleaming angels with pretty wings and haloes, sometimes they do their work in cleansing beautiful fire.
CV: Max & Ande, fire, without trying to sound like a pyromaniac, is a very beautiful and flowing element. How do you tackle an element like that which is a part of this book?
DUNBAR: Right off the bat, most of the credit with making the fire seem alive and capturing the dangerous beauty of it, goes to our colorist, Nick Filardi. He is doing some really spectacular, unexpected things when it comes to breathing life into the pyrotechnics.
On my end, it’s a lot of quick, fluid pencil strokes to try and make the fire seem as liquid and kinetic as possible. I’m trying to add as much detail as I can into the line art of the flames, but ultimately it’s making sure that Nick can really run loose with his colors and take it to the next level.
PARKS: Effective comic art is all about shorthand… about finding an efficient way to totally convince the reader that what they're seeing on the page is what the artists intended. Grass doesn't have to look just like grass. Charles Schulz drew grass all the time in Peanuts. It's nothing more than a few quick scribbles, but it works because he developed a convincing shorthand that he shared with the reader. The same goes for fire, whether you're drawing it realistically or simply.
The first piece Max and I drew for Slash & Burn was a promo that featured Rosheen in front of A LOT of flames. When I saw how Max had penciled the fire, I knew right away how I was going to ink it, and I felt pretty confident that I knew how Nick would follow suit. Our flames are light… they dance and jump. They're unpredictable. It may sound a bit much to apply such descriptions to static drawings, but I think we've developed a shorthand that says all of that.
CV: Artistically, was there anything new either of you wanted to try for this book?
DUNBAR: Typically I’ve had a little bit more an open, slightly cartoony look to my work. For Slash and Burn, it didn’t seem to be wholly appropriate, so I’m trying to bring in the shadows a little and darken it up. It’s not like flipping a switch however, and changes haven’t been instant. I think as the book continues my style will continue to evolve in that direction.
PARKS: Because I was kind of retired from inking for six years (I was writing full-time during that stretch), it all seems a bit new to me! It's been a little daunting, but really fun. I'm rediscovering the tools of the trade and how to use them. It took more than a full issue for me to decide exactly how to approach Max's line. That doesn't mean I didn't know what I was doing before then, or that the work isn't all there. I just had to find the tools that give me the lines I want with the least effort. Making a monthly comic is a hell of a lot of work, so you don't want to waste time at the drawing table.
I'm really happy with how Slash & Burn looks, and really proud to be a part of it. It's good to be inking again.
CV: Si, you've done quite a few books for Vertigo, what keeps drawing you back working here?
SPENCER: What’s not to love about Vertigo? People take Vertigo way too much for granted. I dunno why - maybe it’s because not every book they release sets the world on fire, maybe it’s because they’re connected to some supposedly corporate bad guy. Well here’s the thing – if you’re going to be innovative, risky, ambitious and nourish new talent that’s coming from a totally different perspective, it’s not always going to work commercially. Nobody bought most of the greatest art of the last 150 years when it first came out. And if you want to continue producing stuff that takes risks and nurtures new voices, you better have deep pockets or know someone who has, so thank God for DC. Vertigo is the only imprint out there that has the perfect storm of faith, vision, editorial talent, marketing clout and resources to keep people who want to create something truly new fed and housed.
Thanks to Si Spencer, Max Dunbar, and Ande Parks for talking to us and make sure to check out this series when it debuts on 11/11.