Posted on by michaelwconrad

DOUBLE WALKER/DARK HORSE

I’ve returned to this place to write something a bit more meaningful than a witless tweet about something I hold so dear. For those who have seen fit to click the link and read these words, I appreciate you very much. I know that time is a great commodity in this age of endless entertainment options, so the fact that you’ve squared away a few moments for this is meaningful. I’ll attempt to be brief as a thank you.

DOUBLE WALKER is in comic shops this week, and will be in bookstores in early January. If you’re unaware, DOUBLE WALKER is a psychological/folk horror graphic novel I wrote for Noah Bailey to illustrate. We did so in cooperation with ComiXology Originals, where the book has lived on that platform for well over a year since, and will remain available there for digital readers. Now you can purchase the actual print artifact of our baby thanks to the good people at Dark Horse Comics.

When DOUBLE WALKER came to me I was in a dark place. Honestly, I’m no stranger to darkness, but with the approach of the pandemic I was feeling pretty poorly about my future in comics. I knew nothing would stop me from making comics, but I was preparing myself to lose whatever momentum I believed I had been building in the lead up to the release of the second book Noah and I had made. TREMOR DOSE (currently available through both ComiXology and Dark Horse) was a big swing for us, our first collaboration, and ultimately a book we both learned a lot during. We really hoped to broaden the audience as we continued to grow as creators, and further pursue something that balances entertainment and art. 

Noah and I are fairly self aware creators. We know that what we do will not please everyone, and that our names were unlikely to attract sales on their own, but we were convinced that we had produced a work that captured something special. Upon its release DOUBLE WALKER didn’t disappoint, spending a good amount of time at the top of the best sellers on ComiXology.

Now we finally get to share our story with the folks who haven’t accessed it in its digital form, and to please the folks who prefer physical media. 

In the lead up to DOUBLE WALKER’s digital release, several people we respect deeply shared some words about the book. Maybe these quotes will inspire you to check the book out if you’re on the fence…

“With Double Walker, Noah Bailey and Michael W Conrad have crafted an eerie folk-horror fairy tale of the darkest sort, tying ancient superstitions about the fae with modern fears of guilt, loss, responsibility and failure. Beautiful and moody art and smart characterization make this something you need to check out as soon as possible.” Trevor Henderson (Horror Artist, Creator of Siren Head)

“A stinging, slow-creep horror comic where the chills rain like a highland downpour.” Patton Oswalt (Minor Threats., Writer, Comedian)

“I’ve always loved fairy tales that are as messed up and frightening as the old folklore. DOUBLE WALKER is an expert piece of comic book horror, with stunning art, and a deep humanity grounding the horror. Do not miss this book!” James Tynion IV (Batman, Department of Truth)

“A flawlessly crafted and unassuming mingling of energies. They have induced a world of neo-folk horror that pleases me to no end.” Skinner (Artist, Writer, Adult Swim)

With only a few days left of 2022, DOUBLE WALKER in print is perhaps my most important contribution to comics this year. I’m VERY proud of the work I have done for the variety of other publishers I was lucky enough to work with over the past year, not the least of which being DC where I co-wrote no less than 26+ full comics, as well as a number of shorts, back ups, and specials. Hell, 2022 saw the anthology, SUPERMAN RED AND BLUE get nominated for an Eisner, and that was my first solo effort for DC! All of this is huge, and counts so much, but with DOUBLE WALKER, Noah and I were able to operate without any oversight at all. It is purely us, a pure offering. Love it or hate it, that’s a Conrad/Bailey joint, with lovely lettering by Taylor Esposito and design work from Kyle Arends. 

We owe the people at Dark Horse so much for bringing this book to the shelves, particularly Daniel Chabon, who has been a champion of our work over there for quite some time. At ComiXology Originals, of course we owe Chip Mosher a major thanks for being the visionary willing to give our offbeat work a home, and to Bryce Gold for being there every step of the journey, and continuing to believe in our strange contributions to the line he now heads up.

I enter 2023 with the same degree of uncertainty that I have with every shifting year for quite some time now. I am coming to understand that this is simply my reality as a freelancer. I don’t know if publishers will continue to work with me. I don’t know if editors and creative teams trust in my ability to continue to tell stories worth investing in. I’d be lying if I said such concerns were irrelevant, but I remain committed more so now than ever before to the simple truth that I will neither stop, nor will I ask for permission to begin.

Here’s what seems certain for 2023:

-I will continue to co-write several projects for DC Comics, and I am always in pursuit of more work with them.

-X-O MANOWAR will debut in the spring, and will present a very different story than anything Becky and I have co-written to date. I think you’re gonna love it.

-I will continue to work with Noah, and several others on creator owned material.

-I will continue to seek homes for stories with a variety of publishers I respect.

-I will be putting in extra hours on screenwriting, and reapproaching novel ideas that seemed too daunting a year ago.

-I will make sure to completely produce and self publish at least one thing all on my own. This is a process I have a love/hate relationship with, but it’s an important reminder to myself. 

Naturally my capacity to achieve these things are largely shared with external actors, many of whom remain a bit mysterious to me, and some even seem confused about what I wish to do. I suspect this is a commonality among comic creators… I’m a poor salesman, I prefer to just commit to the work rather than figure out how to snakecharm someone into permitting me to do what I can do all on my own. I say that with little ego, I’m not proud of my deficits, but I can’t be ignorant of them either… Maybe my resolution should focus on that…

The point is, it’s currently 4:16AM and I have been unable to find sleep prior to typing this. I needed to get something out… To say thank you. I needed to express the underlying humanity and anxiety that’s so often unseen when consuming the stories I make. Ideally, you’ll show up because you know that when my name is on a book, it means that you enter into it with the understanding that I gave it my best. I wish to entertain you, to provide a place of controlled introspection, and dreaming, to allow both an escape and an embrace. My wish is to connect briefly through the pages, to share a moment.

Here’s to many more of these moments. Here’s to us. 2023 will, almost certainly, present great and terrible moments, let’s meet them as they come and find bliss whenever we can. 

Posted on by michaelwconrad

Brave Fools

I spent the last two weeks in the UK with Becky exploring ruins, doing comic related things, and looking for giants in some of the most beautiful areas of Scotland. During that time I had a pitch I was pretty excited about die on the vine and faced the depression that accompanies a project nearing completion. It’s pretty messed up to be bummed while having the opportunity to do something I have long dreamed of doing, with the person I love.

Creativity has a way of making everything else melt away. I’m at my best when I’m chipping away and making headway, and now I am in the uncanny position of figuring out what comes next. 

Bizarre Adventures came out and people seemed really stoked on our Tomb Of Dracula story. I am so happy that my Marvel debut wasn’t a flop, but really, I knew it wouldn’t be with Becky on art, the same can be said for Doom Patrol which comes out in about a week. I know that it’s going to do well, because Becky is almost incapable of doing something that doesn’t connect with a big audience. In two days time a real test stands before me.

Tremor Dose, my 100+ page graphic novel with artist Noah Bailey drops as part of the comiXology Originals line. Noah and I worked on this book for 3 long years. It started as a small zine and just grew and grew and grew. I always knew the story I wanted to tell, but I just plain didn’t think I would be able to convince Noah to put so much time and energy into such a long form endeavor. When Chip Mosher and Ivan Salazar stuck their necks out for us and got us a contract all of that changed.

Our little boutique idea was suddenly so much more. We had a lot to finish and it was scary, and exhilarating, and supremely stressful. Prior to the contract we picked away at it, like most creators do with their passion projects. We found time to knock out a page here and there, and as such we had a lot of room to micromanage and make sure everything was just right. This set the bar incredibly high, so when it became funded we both had a lot of anxiety about being able to maintain that level of quality under deadline. There were intense moments, but we did it and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.

Now it’s done. We have PR people doing their thing, and we are of course doing what we can to spread the word. We know that we’re nobodies, and that only a small handful of folks will pick up the books on the power of our social reach, and know that this book will live and die by a number of factors well outside of our control. 

It’s fucking terrifying and sad.

The fear is normal, it exists because we care, and we have had our neural pathways written to expect failure. We are absolutely “dark cloud” kind of people, trying desperately to manifest goodness and success through positive thinking, but for guys like us that is abnormal and strange. The sadness comes from uncertainty. When we were working on Tremor Dose we were so incredibly hyped we began to dream. We dreamed of the book making a huge splash, throwing a giant boot right through the doors to our dream house, a place in which we would set up residence. We would chain ourselves to the radiators and keep it up until someone had enough of us and lit the structure ablaze. Even in fantasy sequences it would end, but the fact that there would be a moment of ease where we would be able to explore greenlights and less traffic on our creative path was what kept the cogs of the machine turning.

Now it’s about to happen and the reality of the matter is right there for us to sniff at and check it’s pulse. Reality is a grim prospect when you are done with a project, the dreams don’t last unless you tell someone about them, but that feels like bragging or pandering. So you kind of shut down and realize how hopeless it could really be… we could have done all that work to build a monument to our creative partnership only to have it swallowed up by the ivy of indifference. So you start to look at the next thing and transpose all your goodwill into it.

This is part of why people keep making things, because that sucking void at the end is too much and we have to drop anchor on another safer shore, a more mysterious place that hasn’t been spoiled by reality. 

I’m trying something different this time. I’m sticking around, prepared to go down with the ship. I think she’s sturdy and I think that she’s seaworthy enough to make it through. Tremor Dose is fucking good, it’s great, and I was part of it. Yes, as a freelancer I have to be looking for more work, but so often when something is done I have already taken off sprinting in the other direction to distance myself from whatever praise or critique or worse, indifference is earned. This time it’s different, this book is too much of my soul, I can’t leave.

I’ve done some awesome stuff you’ve never seen. I didn’t bounce out of the back of a turnip truck with comics in hand, I’ve been making things for years. I have made some things that I’ve felt were on par and better than some of your favorite books, I mean that! I have also made absolute shit, that I’m glad to have had avoid your radar. Like I say the Marvel and DC work has been carefully couched in the security of major publishers, multiple editors, and the Cloonan Midas Touch… Tremor Dose is different. Tremor Dose is the product of two men walking out of the wilderness with an offering of some obscure, esoteric origin. This alien thing that I struggle to explain plainly is about as much “me” as anything I have done, and that, dear reader, is the real horror. If this book is so much “me” and I cannot explain it, then who the fuck am I.

Does this post feel like a therapy session? Does any of it ring true to you? Am I the on on the couch or am I the one holding the clipboard? I think the answer is we are all in this thing together. We roam the labyrinth of our comically short lives seeking some validation and when we apply some totemic quality to what we have done it’s both brave and foolish. I have never claimed bravery, but I’m quite comfortable playing the fool.

So let it be written, let it be done.

M.

***Tremor Dose is available on comiXology on October 30 2019.