Chip Mosher: A Left on Mission Field Report

By Matthew McLean

Chip Mosher, writer/creator of Left on Mission (a monthly five-issue limited series published by BOOM! Studios), is clearly enthused about writing and life in general. Yesterday (May 16th) marked the launch of the series “for fans of gritty, dark espionage thrillers like Casino Royale and The Bourne Identity”. Mosher started a blog in the run-up to the series launch, where you can learn a great deal about Mosher and the series. SBC, eager to learn even more, recently interviewed him.

Matthew McLean (MM): Westfall, the protagonist of Left On Mission, is a man with a history. What can you tell readers about him?

Chip Mosher (CM): Well, as issue one opens, we learn that Eric Westfall has been called out of retirement for one last mission. The reader quickly discovers several things about Eric; that he used to be the top agent for an unnamed U.S. agency, that he has to leave his wife and newborn child behind, and that he definitely has his own agenda.

MM: Although Left On Mission is set in modern times, the first issue takes place in Havana. This, combined with the fact that the protagonists are up against the Russian mob, gives the story a very Cold War feel. Did you set out with this in mind?

CM: Well, we are living in the aftermath of the Cold War. Osama Bin Laden was our ally in Afghanistan against the U.S.S.R. in the eighties just as Saddam Hussein was our ally. Certainly one could say that the seeds of our current troubles were planted during the proxy war against the Russians in Afghanistan and our support of Hussein against Iran.

MM: How does the story play into that?

CM: You can't get away from the Cold War. Even as the U.S. proceeds with the "War On Terror," the immediate back drop is the Cold War. So in life, so it goes in the book. The Russian Mob, Cuba, all the things in issue one - are used to deal with current events, but hopefully in ways that makes the story as timeless as it can be, while still being topical. This is more evident in issue two and as the series evolves.

That said, I definitely wanted to use places and organizations that have been around awhile to tell this tale. I wanted to try and make sure that it wasn't too topical on those points as to seem anachronistic in a year or so. But make no mistake, this tale is happening in our present.

As an aside, with Cuba specifically, I think it's a great symbol of America's powerlessness. Here is a tiny island 90 miles away from the U.S. and we haven't been able to affect any real political change there for almost 50 years. And it's a joke that in a free society, U.S. citizens are not allowed to visit. Of course, being the contrarian I am, I had to visit and I did. Ten years ago this past March, I went on a humanitarian mission to the island. So every place in Havana you see in the book - the Jose Martî Airport, the Prado, everything - was based on my actually going there.

MM: The protagonist hits some pretty exotic locales in this series. Have you been to all of them?

CM: I don't think I am giving anything away by saying the book starts out in Havana, moves to Ibiza and ends up in Fes, Morocco. So yeah, I have been to Havana and Fes. Both are incredible cities with incredible people. I tried to, in the limited space I had, to really convey the wonder of those places. The only locale I wrote about that I haven't physically been to is Ibiza. But I have been there in my mind, if you know what I mean.

MM: For a man who goes on humanitarian missions you can write pretty mean. There’s a scene in Left On Mission #1 that has an enemy agent being tortured. While the reader can’t see what’s happening, it is suggested that the enemy agent is being subjected to something much more painful than waterboarding. Given the political debate over this type of treatment, how do you feel it is going to go down with readers?

CM: Waterboarding is not torture. We don't torture. But I don't talk about specific techniques. But if it was your family at risk, you would do what you have to do to make them safe. Seriously, did you see that 60 Minutes interview with George Tenet? What a jackass. I love how he simultaneously denies and justifies torture. What a low moment for our culture, for our country. But, yeah, sure, back to Left On Mission...I started thinking about the torture debate when notable left wing Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter wrote an editorial titled "Time To Think About Torture" right after 9/11. People's instant need to sink down to the terrorist's level to fight them, instead of doing what we as American's do best - rising above and taking care of business without condoning morally reprehensible actions -- that scared the living shit out of me. It's what made me write this story. So yeah, that scene is totally there for a reason. And issue 2 really starts to tackle the whole torture debate head on. I don't want people to think I am writing some message book, but I certainly use fiction as a vehicle to explore these issues...much in the same way Battlestar Galactica did in their last season.

MM: While it may not be a message book, the second and third issues touch on the affects of such extreme measures for the people that use them. Specifically, the cost to their humanity. Others think that people only feel guilty if they get caught. What’s your take on this?

CM: I think people build walls around their thinking to justify what they do or create worldviews to justify what they do. I think one of the more interesting things I am trying to do with Left On Mission is look at the consequences of people’s action in the context of the spy thriller genre.

MM: Torture in entertainment (a la 24) is sometimes used as justification for torture in real life. Given that Westfall uses it with a ‘whatever it takes’ attitude, what’s your take on this?

CM: I actually wrote about this on the Left On Mission blog a while back. In February, there was a great article in the New Yorker discussing some of the ramifications of 24 - specifically in regards with the show's depiction of torture. Seems some West Pointers came to the show to try and get the 24 staff to try and change Jack Bauer's techniques because it was effecting their ability to train fresh recruits in proper interrogation techniques. It amazes me that instead of looking at themselves for guidance, West Pointers would want to change T.V. Another low point in our culture. It's T.V. man. Come on. If you can't train the recruits at West Point to separate T.V. from reality that - well, we are in some real trouble.

But, hey, I am a big fan of 24. It's a brilliantly done TV show. That said, I think Left On Mission has its own voice that is really 180 degrees away from what they are doing. Left On Mission at its baseline level is an exploration of the "whatever it takes" attitude. It resides in world where being a spy, being an assassin, takes a toll on your soul. But I don't want to get too heavy here - all this is wrapped up in a rip roarin' spy thriller that keeps your attention. Or at least that is the plan!

MM: You mentioned that you can’t get away from the Cold War. Back then, though, it was almost always the villain that did the torturing. Now, as you’ve mentioned, on TV and in books, it is often the hero that’s doing it. What do you think that says about our times? When that fact is brought up, can you look at shows like “24” and say, “It’s just TV?”

CM: I don't necessarily agree with your supposition there. I think sadistic heroes really come out of the pulp/noir tradition, which manifested itself during the Cold War. So while heroes torturing villains may not have been on TV in the 50s, 60s and 70s, it certainly was in the pulp books of those times. And the spy thriller genre certainly has a long history of sadism, dating back to at least the early Fleming Bond books - so it may not be there on the surface...but it certainly was there.

The fact of the matter is, is that it is just TV. TV, comics, movies - the type we are discussing - are mostly harmless male power fantasies. This stuff is great for us as a culture to vent what we can't do in our day to day lives and explore the ramifications of those actions. The problem happens when this fantasy becomes reality. People should be smart enough to know these things. Obviously if there are people who were admitted to West Point who don't know the difference, that is a problem.

Did you see the Petraeus letter?

Andrew Sullivan ran it on his blog. Basically, after 6 years, someone is coming out and saying that fighting terror depends on occupying the moral high ground. It's deafening in this leadership vacuum. So, no wonder West Point has a problem training their recruits when it takes this long for a person in a leadership position to take a stand for moral high ground. The fact that the head of our armed forces in Iraq had to write this letter, speaks volumes...

MM: While I think that’s a very deep subject we could discuss for hours, I'm sure SBC readers would love to hear about Left On Mission more. So...the book was originally scheduled for a March release. Do you think this delay hurt or helped the book (by giving you more time to market the series)?

CM: Yes, yes, back to funny books! Well, it's not that uncommon of a thing to happen to indie books to be late. We'd have loved it to ship that month, of course, but it just didn't turn out that way. I ended up compensating by really putting a big marketing push together for the book. So we did the Trailer contest. We did a giant size preview of the book in conjunction with Comic Book Resources and MySpace/ComicBooks. I think getting delayed was a blessing in disguise because it gave me time to do a bunch of legwork that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. And, for instance, we were able to show reviewers more than the first issue so people would know that issue one wasn't just a one hit wonder.

MM: There’s a contest for Left On Mission to see who can come up with the best trailer for the comic. Why don’t you tell the code geeks reading this about it?

CM: Well, I saw that great World War Hulk trailer and decided that I wanted to do something like that for Left On Mission. So I talked to my buddy Mike Griffen about doing a short musical theme for a trailer that I was going to create. He was into it. And then while he was working on it, I came up with this idea of doing the contest. And so what we ended up doing was giving people panels from the book, Mike's theme, and a script I came up with and said "go to town." I then got Keefe Boerner, the special effects producer on Sin City and Brad Blondheim the producer of Scratch to judge the contest. It all came together very quickly. You'll see the winning entry this Wednesday (go here for the details).

MM: Your wife is a screenwriter as well. Do you ever work with her on ideas or when you hit a snag?

CM: Kim's (Kim Krizan, writer on, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset) my inspiration. Just watching her work hard day to day is really great. I don't think I would have ever finally sat down and written anything if it wasn't for her encouragement. We talk about writing all the time. We both are really supportive of each other. I am a really lucky guy.

MM: Do you have any future projects you’d like to talk about?

CM: To quote my wife, writing's like cooking rice - the more you let the steam out, talk about things, the longer it takes to cook. So yeah, I have a ton of projects in the works, not anything that is set up yet. So we will see.

Be sure to visit SBC Contributor Matthew McLean’s website here.