Fraction by the numbers

Fans of independent comics have known about writer Matt Fraction for a while. He turned the 1970s-style action pic genre on its side with “The Last of the Independents,” united Mark Twain and Nicola Tesla to fight crime in “Five Fists of Science” and now is jumping into the Marvel Universe with Punisher War Journal #1 and Immortal Iron Fist #1 due next month.

But the ultimate Fraction reading experience so far is Casanova, an ultracool take on the spy genre that’s near and dear to the Kansas City-based writer’s heart.

“I’ve always loved the super-spy genre — and not even necessarily the John le Carre or ‘Sandbaggers’ sort of working-class spy. I want ‘The Ipcress File,’ I want ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,’ ” he says.

The impetus for Casanova, published by Image Comics, sprang from the format Warren Ellis developed for Fell — a 24-page book with a 16-page comic story and eight pages of text material published monthly for a mere $1.99. Fraction says that format was almost like a challenge.

“I thought: ‘Sixteen pages. I can find the time somewhere to scribble down 16 pages,’ ” he says, adding that he had at the time a full-time job working on videos and commercials for local studio MK12.

The format also made sense for other reasons. “It’s a $2 book, and that really kind of minimizes everybody’s financial risk across the board — retailer, publisher and consumer.”

The result is a trippy series about the scion of the family behind the secret, world-dominating spy org E.M.P.I.R.E. The tales are an unusual and intoxicating mix of daredevil violence, sex, family rivalries and the twists and turns of loyalty that come part and parcel with the spy genre. Illustrated by Brazilian artist Gabriel Ba, whose work includes the excellent graphic novel “Ursula,” Casanova has earned critical attention from discerning fans and mainstream media such as Entertainment Weekly.

Writing those 16 pages a month is, however, not as simple as it may seem as the format demands a density of story that belies its relative brevity. Fraction says he recently finished writing the first volume of the series, which will run seven issues, and says it feels like he has crammed three to four years’ worth of story into that space.

Fraction says he’s thrilled to have Ba illustrating the series, which is black and white with green spot color. Ba also has designed and executed the striking covers, which are unlike anything else on the comic book stands. “He’s really kind of making them work as a set,” Fraction says.
Image also published this summer Fraction’s original graphic novel “The Five Fists of Science,” illustrated by Steven Sanders. An admirer of both Twain and Tesla, Fraction says that his first thought upon learning the two men were real-life friends was that they would fight crime together, not realizing how close to reality that instinct was.

“I just tugged at this loose thread hanging off of this sweater and suddenly there’s this amazing story in my lap where Twain and Tesla were in fact really close friends and had this plan to bring about world peace,” he says. “We were halfway into the book and Sanders found this essay by Tesla about war automatons after we’d already sort of made it up. We thought we were making up more than we actually were.”

Fraction says a lot of thought was given to whether the book should be serialized first. “To commit to a monthly schedule we would have had to have had the last issue finished anyway by the time we solicited it. It seemed like a graphic novel and that was what we always wanted to do and there it was,” he says. “Neither one of us were terribly well known, so I don’t know that it would have done any better one way or the next.”

Fraction has made inroads with other publishers, writing a serial for 30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales and a Wolverine story drawn by Sam Keith for X-Men Unlimited #9. Now, he’s planting his feet firmly in the Marvel Universe with the debut of the new Punisher War Journal series. The title debuts Nov. 22 with art by Ariel Olivetti and will have the character interact more with the Marvel Universe than he does in Garth Ennis’ Punisher title.

Fraction says he sees the vigilante character as having gotten over the trauma of seeing his family killed. “Frank’s mission is to prevent other Franks from happening,” he says.

And while the tone will differ from that of Ennis’ book, there is no escaping the character’s potential for comedy. “It’s impossible not to find moments of black humor in anybody that’s that single-minded and psychotic. It’s just a really enjoyable thing to write,” he says.

Punisher War Journal #1 is followed the next week by the release of Immortal Iron Fist #1, written by Fraction and Ed Brubaker and featuring art by David Aja. Iron Fist has never had much success as a solo character — his original series only ran 15 issues before it was merged into the mildly popular 1980s series Power Man and Iron Fist — and more recent attempts to establish him as a solo star have fallen short.

Fraction says the goal on the new book is simply to bring out the cool facets of Iron Fist while staying true to the character’s origins as part of Marvel’s take on the grindhouse films of the 1970s.

“He’s a billionaire kung-fu master who has this crazy burning fist that can destroy things when he punches it and he goes around kicking people and being a billionaire and has a really hot girlfriend,” Fraction says. “We want to write a big kung-fu comic, an awesome fight comic with a kind of sleazy exploitation-y superhero awesomeness.”

Now writing comics full time, Fraction says he feels lucky to have entered the field able to focus on quality rather than having to take any available work to make ends meet.

“I’m not afraid to walk away if I know I’m not sticking the landing rather than embarrass myself and produce something that’s mediocre,” he says. “Which might end up being sort of megalomaniacal and presumptuous and suicidal as time goes on, but it lets me look at myself in the mirror so I’m pretty happy with it.”