Jay Faerber: Finding Reward in Creative Independence
Fresh on the heels of Image Comics' announcement that his first issue of Dynamo 5 sold out, Jay Faerber sat down with SBC for an interview about his new series. As detailed at Faerber's site: "Faerber got his start writing comic books at Marvel and DC Comics, where he worked on such series as The Titans, New Warriors, Generation X, and others.
In 2001, he launched his first creator-owned series, Noble Causes, which has gone on to garner critical acclaim.
Since then, Faerber has carved out a niche for himself as a creator of independent comic books such as Dodge’s Bullets, Firebirds, Venture," and the new Dynamo 5, which was released in mid-March. This interview does contain spoilers (even if they are small ones).
Matthew McLean (MMcL): For those who missed out on Noble Causes, they might not know that it and Dynamo 5 take place in the same universe. Would you like to fill in some details for those who don’t know much about the world that Dynamo 5 inhabits?
Jay Faerber (JF): It's your basic super-hero universe. The average citizen is aware that super-heroes and villains exist, but few of them have ever seen one in person. The Nobles are a world-famous family of super-heroes -- sort of like the Kennedy family, but with super-powers. They're the subject of gossip magazines and E! True Hollywood Story-style TV shows. Captain Dynamo was a top-flight super-hero before his untimely death.
MMcL: Where did the idea for Dynamo 5 come from? How did it develop?
JF: That's a question I get asked a lot, and I wish I had a more entertaining answer, but the truth is ... I don't remember. I've had the idea for a good six or seven years now. It's just sort of been sitting there in my "Ideas" folder, and it's only been recently that I decided to dust it off and actively develop it.
MMcL: What changed that you decided to pick up the idea and develop it?
I don't know, exactly. I guess I just felt like I had room in my schedule, and I felt I'd finally learned enough about this sort of thing to launch a new book the right way. Plus, I found Mahmud. I was only going to pitch this thing if I could get the right artist to collaborate with. I wasn't going to settle for just anyone.
MMcL: For those not familiar with the title, why don’t you tell us about the characters that make up the Dynamo 5 team? 
JF: Dynamo 5 consists of the five offspring of Captain Dynamo, each of whom have inherited one aspect of his super-powers. Slingshot is Olivia Lewis, an overachieving, civic-minded college student who can fly at super-speed. Visionary is Hector Chang, a slightly nerdy high school student who has various vision-related powers -- he can blast things, see through things, etc. Scatterbrain is Gage Reinhart, a burly, obnoxious football player from Texas. He's the "big guy" of the team, but instead of being our strong character, he can read peoples' minds -- a power he's not at all impressed by. Myriad is Spencer Bridges, a charming loner who grew up in a series of foster homes. He inherited the power to impersonate anyone. Scrap is Bridget Flynn, a petite girl trying to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter, who possesses super-strength and durability/ The team is monitored and organized by Maddie Warner, Cap's widow, a retired investigative journalist.
MMcL: You’re dealing with quite a few recognizable archetypes in Dynamo 5: Captain Dynamo, FLAG, The Veil. What new are you hoping to do with these?
JF: I basically want to have as much fun with as many super-hero conventions as I can. I want to play with all the toys, basically -- secret identities, secret headquarters, signal watches, shady government agencies, the works. I don't have a specific "message" or anything, I'm just out to have fun and entertain.
MMcL: Does working with characters that are new to the super-hero world make that easier or harder?
I never thought about it that way. It's harder in the sense that I have to convey the characters' own sense of discovery, since this is all new to them. If I was writing a group of characters who'd been super-heroes for awhile, I wouldn't need to cover that ground. But, making it new to the characters helps in a book with brand new characters and settings, since the readers will be essentially on the same page as the characters, in terms of the learning curve. So that's the upside.
MMcL: In the first issue you took a classic comic book plotline, that of a character being captured and rescued by his teammates, and turned it around to use it as a narrative device to fill the readers in on Dynamo 5 as a team. How did that idea come to you?
JF: We haven't exactly nailed that down. I'd say more than a couple weeks, but less than 6 months. That's about as specific as I can get right now. I'm not sure. It's hard to pin-point exactly how I get ideas. But I know I worked very hard on that first issue to make it an exciting, jam-packed story that told us as much as possible about the characters. I basically wanted to have my cake and eat it, too. I wanted to have the team in action, fighting bad guys, but I also wanted to do an origin story. By utilizing flashbacks, I was able to accomplish both, in a (hopefully) entertaining way. 
MMcL: So how much time passed between the death of Captain Dynamo and the recruiting of his children by Maddie?
JF: We haven't exactly nailed that down. I'd say more than a couple weeks, but less than 6 months. That's about as specific as I can get right now.
MMcL: It seems by the characterization of the team members in the first issue, particularly Spencer, that at least one of them would be tempted to use a sudden, new found power for personal gain. How did Maddie managed to convince the children of Captain Dynamo to work together to save Tower City?
JF: That's a good question. I think so far, Maddie's counting on the kids' inherent good nature -- along with her own oversight -- to keep the kids on the straight and narrow. The idea of them setting off on their own, for less-than-noble pursuits is an interesting one. We'll have to see how things play out! Speaking of Spencer, we'll eventually find out some surprising things about him. But it's too soon to get any more specific about that.
MMcL: You mentioned Mahmud earlier. Both he and the artist from Noble Causes are located in Turkey. What’s it like working with individuals that have a different frame of reference when it comes to comics and culture?
JF: I don't see any big differences, actually. Our conversations stay pretty close to comics, and I haven't noticed any foreign sensibilities, really. The only thing that happened was in an issue of Dynamo 5, Mahmud had the cars driving on the wrong side of the street. That's the only time there was ever an "issue."
MMcL: What about the opposite of “issues”. Any advantages in working with someone who might see things from a different perspective?
JF: Nothing that I can trace to Mahmud's nationality or ethnicity. Both he and Yildiray have fantastic work ethics, but I hesitate to chalk that up to their foreign perspective.
MMcL: As a writer, what lessons did you take from Noble Causes that you were able to transplant onto the Dynamo 5 project?
JF: It's not so much that I learned lessons as I writer, it's that I learned lessons as an independent comics creator, in terms of marketing and promoting. But I also learned more how to craft a first issue that is designed both to entertain and to hook readers. In the past few years, I've seen far too many comics start and in the first issue, the creator will literally say "This first issue is just a warm-up. Wait until issue #3 -- that's where things really start cooking!" That just stunned me that people say things like that. Things should be cooking with the first issue -- hell, with the first page! This is a very competitive market, and you can't afford to start slow. So I went to great lengths to make sure that first issue had a number of elements I thought were necessary, elements I've accumulated over the years both by practice and observation. 
MMcL: Provided you aren’t giving away trade secrets, can you tell us what elements you think are necessary?
JF: I think a first issue needs to introduce all the characters in the book -- or as many as possible -- and basically provide an accurate example of what the book is. None of this start-out-slow, or introduce-one-character- in-each-of-the-first-six-issues or anything like that. Brian Bendis can get away with having the first issue of Ultimate Spider-Man not even feature Spider-Man because 95% of the people reading that book are at least passingly familiar with Spider-Man. But when you're introducing people to a new set of characters, you can't wait that long.
You also have to open and close strong. The very first page and the very last page are the most important pages in the book. That last page has to convince you to come back next issue, and I think it's sort of a cheat to just rely on a traditional cliffhanger (i.e., a character in jeopardy). You want them to come back because they enjoyed their reading experience, not because they want to see if the lead character survives. And that first page and/or scene needs to hook the reader immediately, since those first few pages are what's going to get sent around to all the news sites as previews.
MMcL: Given that you’ve got two titles sharing the same universe, what’s the likelihood of readers seeing a third title?
JF: Pretty slim, right now. I don't want to spread myself too thin. I want to be able to pour as much as I can into Noble Causes and Dynamo 5. If I do decide to launch a 3rd title, it will almost certainly be something in a genre other than super-heroes.
MMcL: The first issue of Dynamo 5, in an odd twist, came out the same day Captain America died. Do you think that helped your sales, with the substantially increased foot traffic, or hurt because the spotlight was so firmly in a different direction?
JF: That's a very good question, and I wish I knew the answer. I honestly don't know. Perhaps time will tell.
MMcL: Where would you like to see your career going? Staying independent, working with a big publisher, branching out into new media…? 
JF: I've worked for all the big publishers already, and I prefer being independent. It took me a long time to come to that realization, because the money's a lot better at the Big Two. But writing stuff that I own and control is far more creatively rewarding. I'm also working on a novel, on the side.
MMcL: Any future projects you’d like to talk about?
JF: Nothing yet. I'm keeping plenty busy with Dynamo 5 and Noble Causes.
MMcL: Would you like to touch on the novel? Or drop any teasers for the fans of Noble Causes and Dynamo 5?
JF: It's too soon to say anything about the novel. As for Noble Causes, I urge people to check the book out. Issue #28 just came out, and we've got a new artist (Yildiray Cinar) who's just amazing. The book's never looked better, and his involvement has really pushed me to up the ante.
MMcL: Thanks for taking the time to go over all of this. Best of luck with both books.
Be sure to visit SBC Contributor Matthew McLean’s website here.
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