Spring Break
A professor who gets graphic
Brian Coburn
Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: Inside WCC
Caliber was in need of accumulating titles to get it off the ground, and one of them came from Reed himself. Although he has never done illustrations, he discovered his talents as a writer and idea man. His debut was a collaboration with Davis -- Baker Street, a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery set in London's punk scene. The series got the duo nominated for a Harvey Award, which recognizes achievement in comics.
"Writing graphic novels … the best thing I can compare it to is writing film strips," he said. "It's the same thing. You go through the page, you lay out each scene and even what angle. And when you get a good artist like a Guy Davis or a Vince Locke, you can trust that they're going to have their own view of it. It's very much like directing a film. I put the words in people's mouths."
Showing a knack for working quickly, Reed became Caliber's most prolific author. He dabbled largely in original mystery stories (Renfield, St. Germaine), classic horror adaptations (Frankenstein, Dracula) and historical tales (Jack the Ripper, Troy, Cortez and Fallen Aztecs, and Red Diaries - a story about Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedy brothers).
"When it's a historical source, I really try to stay true to it. I don't want any historian ever calling me up and saying something nasty," he said. "I spend a lot of time researching. I started doing this before the Internet, so my basement is just covered with books - pretty much all non-fiction."
Caliber hasn't printed a title since 2000. The company never recovered after a fiasco with the printing of a planned series of "Power Cardz" - a game similar to Magic: The Gathering that would feature Caliber characters-and was forced to declare bankruptcy.
After Caliber's end, Reed answered an ad to teach biology at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn and in addition to there and WCC, also teaches at part-time at Schoolcraft. But he has never thought of leaving the world of comics behind.
He uses his work and reputation in the business to get a number of deals with new publishers for his projects -- including industry giants like Penguin and Simon & Schuster. He has even had new publishers reissue some of his old work from Caliber. These reissues are being released under Reed's real name, though many were originally under pen names like Randall Thayer and Brent Truax.
"Writing graphic novels … the best thing I can compare it to is writing film strips," he said. "It's the same thing. You go through the page, you lay out each scene and even what angle. And when you get a good artist like a Guy Davis or a Vince Locke, you can trust that they're going to have their own view of it. It's very much like directing a film. I put the words in people's mouths."
Showing a knack for working quickly, Reed became Caliber's most prolific author. He dabbled largely in original mystery stories (Renfield, St. Germaine), classic horror adaptations (Frankenstein, Dracula) and historical tales (Jack the Ripper, Troy, Cortez and Fallen Aztecs, and Red Diaries - a story about Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedy brothers).
"When it's a historical source, I really try to stay true to it. I don't want any historian ever calling me up and saying something nasty," he said. "I spend a lot of time researching. I started doing this before the Internet, so my basement is just covered with books - pretty much all non-fiction."
Caliber hasn't printed a title since 2000. The company never recovered after a fiasco with the printing of a planned series of "Power Cardz" - a game similar to Magic: The Gathering that would feature Caliber characters-and was forced to declare bankruptcy.
After Caliber's end, Reed answered an ad to teach biology at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn and in addition to there and WCC, also teaches at part-time at Schoolcraft. But he has never thought of leaving the world of comics behind.
He uses his work and reputation in the business to get a number of deals with new publishers for his projects -- including industry giants like Penguin and Simon & Schuster. He has even had new publishers reissue some of his old work from Caliber. These reissues are being released under Reed's real name, though many were originally under pen names like Randall Thayer and Brent Truax.
Be the first to comment on this story