Trevor Hogg chats with Michael Geszel about his tribal vision of the future…
“My parents always loved art and movies, and read a lot,” remarks Michael Geszel who was very young when he became aware of comic books; a fan of We3, Transmetropolitan, and Sin City as well as a publisher at SoulCraft Comics, Geszel is not quite sure whether digital publishing has made earning a living easier for comic book writers. “Jury is out on that. Marketing becomes the challenge.” Tribes: The Dog Years which deals with the aftermath of a viral apocalypse that causes no one to live beyond the age of 21 and the quest for a cure from an “immortal” city situated under the sea was a debut project for the American novelist. “I do love the genre or sub-genre – adventure meets sci-fi, and I love trying to create a new story world with new rules.” The tale originally published in 2010 has been described as a Disney interpretation of Mad Max. “The origin of the idea – a virus that shortens the human lifespan – was based on science reading; there are these telomeres in our cells that determine our longevity. What if a virus or a manmade virus designed to do something else – like cure the common cold – malfunctioned in some way and accidentally shortened our lifespan?” 21 is a significant number. “It’s a threshold age; the Dawn of Adulthood. What if we died just as we became ‘adults’? What then?”
Serving as a co-writer was Peter Spinetta. “Peter and I had written screenplays together. We wrote a treatment for Tribes a long time ago. I started to build out the treatment and Peter came in after. We finalized the pages together.” Incorporating exposition while not without slowing down the story is tricky. Finesse and rewrites. Try it until you get it. Listen to the inner voice but also respect the process and the form.” Effective narration and dialogue comes down to the old adage that “less is more” as well “clarity is important.” The illustrations were created by Inaki Miranda (Coffin Hill) while the colouring was handled by Eva de la Cruz (Fairest). “Inaki would do a loose sketch version of a page either based on the script – but sometimes I didn’t panellise the page; he would try a version and I would comment and then we’d go to pencils. We ‘directed’ it together.” Geszel was the final editor and producer on project. “The cover was me and Inaki – an adventure ‘splash.’ It gave a sense of the scope of the story world – epic.” The artwork had an impact on the writing. “Inaki and Eva’s work was so marvellous I cut back on the script. I took OUT text because I wanted the images to tell the story. There’s usually so much text on a comic page and I find too much distracting.”
“Don’t put out a horizontal widescreen book unless you’re Frank Miller [The Dark Knight Returns],” notes Michael Geszel. “As beautiful as it came out, the format has been a huge burden in terms of getting into shops. Now a new hardcover edition should help; it makes the book a collectible whereas first edition was a trade paperback.” The deluxe version which arrives in July is being published by IDW Publishing. “There are new character designs and full page pencils. When I showed Frank Miller the pencils he said they should be published.” In comparing the original concept with the end result, Geszel remarks, “The look is there. Personally, I’m not satisfied with the way the kids talk; I struggled with that. I can’t say that I nailed it.” More Tribe stores will be appearing in the future but in a different format. “To do another widescreen graphic novel is not feasible. An adventure series in prose form looks to be the way to go with continuing the story and we’re working on that.”
Images courtesy of IDW Publishing.
Many thanks to Michael Geszel for taking the time for this interview.
To learn more make sure to visit the official websites for IDW Publishing and SoulCraft Comics as well as Amazon.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
Originally published May 25, 2014. Updated November 7, 2019.
