Jason Aaron: Discussing Scalped, Other Side

By Tim O'Shea

Jason Aaron’s quest to become a successful storyteller is a story in and of itself. Perseverance is not a strong enough word to describe his efforts. SBC recently email interviewed Aaron to discuss last year’s The Other Side collaboration with Cameron Stewart (which is up for an Eisner) and his ongoing Scalped series (Vertigo) with artist R.M. Guéra. Here’s his official bio to peruse before reading the interview: "I write comic books, like the Eisner-nominated Vietnam War mini-series The Other Side and the ongoing Native American crime series Scalped, both for DC/Vertigo, plus upcoming projects for Marvel, Wildstorm, Top Cow and Oni."

Tim O’Shea (TOS): Anyone who knows how you broke into the industry (as detailed in a recent 4/26/07 New York Daily News story), quickly understands how you refused to take no for an answer. Your first work for Vertigo was rejected (in proposal form) by both Marvel and Vertigo. And yet, you still sent a Vertigo editor a full script for the first issue of The Other Side? What made you keep plugging away at Vertigo and how hard was it to keep trying in the face of the initial rejection?

Jason Aaron (JA): Actually, it was rejected by more than just Marvel and Vertigo. It was rejected by most everybody. I sent that pitch all over the place. But out of any company, Vertigo was my ideal. And I was so excited to even get a response from an editor there that I wasn’t going to give up that easy. So I was persistent, but still always polite and patient, which I think helped my case. And through it all, I never lost faith in my story. I felt like I had an interesting idea and that I could pull it off as a writer. It’s not like I was pitching for Batman or the X-Men. I was pitching a story that I sincerely believed I was born to tell.

TOS: What, if any, reaction have you received (positive and negative) from Vietnam veteran groups regarding your work?

JA: The response from vets has been overwhelmingly positive, which for Cameron and I both has been the most rewarding part of doing the book. I’ve also received several moving emails from the children of vets who are fans of the books and have passed it on to their dads.

TOS: Also, do you believe that on some level your miniseries has helped bring greater attention/respect to your cousin, Gustav Hasford?

JA: I surely hope so. I owe a great debt to Gus for the influence he’s had on me, and so I’ll continue to try and bring more attention to him and his legacy. My friend Scott Bradley and I plan to write a full-fledged biography of Gus in the next couple years, which is a project I’m really looking forward to.

TOS: And on a related note, how fares your efforts to get his works back in print?

JA: No progress on that front. If it was just as simple as finding a publisher, there’d be no problem at all. Unfortunately, it’s more complicated than that.

TOS: Can you detail your reaction when you found out The Other Side was nominated for an Eisner?

JA: I was thrilled, of course. It feels like a bit of vindication, I suppose, not just for me but for Cameron and colorist Dave McCaig and our editors Will Dennis and Casey Seijas, who all worked their asses off on this book. And for Karen Berger for taking a chance on the book to begin with.

TOS: What are the odds we'll get to see you collaborate with Cameron Stewart again?

JA: Pretty good, I think. We’ve talked about doing something else together. Something totally different than The Other Side. We’ll see.

TOS: Your Scalped artist, R.M. Guéra, recently shared some of his influences over at your blog. After reading them (and after having worked with him for awhile) were there any particular works that really surprised you or (to the other extreme) struck a chord with you as well?

JA: Guéra and I first really bonded over westerns, especially the books of Elmore Leonard and the film versions of Hombre and Valdez is Coming. And also the films of Sam Peckinpah. I was initially approaching Scalped as a straight crime story, and Guéra was looking at it as a modern-day western, so I think the finished product is somewhere in the middle, which works out perfectly.

TOS: That being said, while trying to construct a work set on an Indian reservation, do you take some comfort in the fact that as successful as HBO's Sopranos may be, there are still Italian-American interest groups that disavow the show (such as this site). What I mean, are you comfortable with the fact that, try as you might, you cannot please all concerned consumers?

JA: With both The Other Side and Scalped, I’m dealing with highly charged subject matter where you’re never going to please everybody. And really, if you’re not pissing somebody off somewhere, then you’re just not trying hard enough. You’re not taking chances. Still, as with The Other Side, the response to Scalped has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve received emails from Native Americans from all over the country who are fans of the series. Yes, it’s a violent and profane book where it’s often hard to tell the heroes from the villains, so it’s definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But the people who do enjoy it seem to respond strongly, and that’s gratifying.

TOS: Of the characters introduced so far in Scalped, who do you think has grown the most as a character, both in terms of narrative as well as your affinity/comfort/tendency toward writing a voice for that character?

JA: Dash is the easiest character to write, just because I get to funnel so much pure anger and aggression through him. But Red Crow has become my favorite, probably because I’m always drawn to characters who are tortured and haunted by their pasts. Dino Poor Bear (the kid Dash meets outside the meth lab in issue #2) will have a much bigger role in the series as things move forward, and I can’t wait to dig into his character.

TOS: Do you see a finite end to Scalped, or are there a myriad number of directions you could go with the series depending upon reader response (and/or consumer support for certain arcs)?

JA: I have a definite plan for the series, and did when I first pitched it to Vertigo. But obviously, whether or not we get all the way there depends on reader response. My philosophy is that I’ll just keep writing like the book’s future is assured, until The Powers That Be tell me different. Though hopefully that day will never come, and Guéra and I will get to play out all the different character arcs we’ve started.

TOS: A few months back, when I was interviewing Matt Fraction, he said the following about you: "Jason Aaron, whose Scalped and The Other Side both function to me as self-contained experiences that connect to a larger whole, absolutely knocks me out."

When writing, do you set out to write stories that entertain on both the small and large scale, or are you merely writing to entertain yourself (and hopefully others)? Also were you aware what Fraction thought the baove of your work before he expressed it in the interview, or did this totally blindside you?

JA: Matt and I know each other. We both live in Kansas City so we see each other around at barn raisings and hog killings and such. I was still really flattered by his comments, especially since I’m a huge fan of the work he’s doing these days. If you’re not buying Casanova and The Immortal Iron Fist, then what the hell are you doing with your life?

I can’t say I went into writing The Other Side and Scalped with the idea that I wanted to make each issue function as a self-contained experience. I guess that’s just how it came out. I’ve always been a guy who goes to the comic shop on Wednesdays to buy his books, instead of waiting for the trade. So I suppose as a writer I just naturally tried to create books that could be enjoyed on a month by month basis. Then again, I’ve only written about a dozen comics in my life at this point, so maybe I’m still just figuring out what the hell I’m doing.

TOS: Around this time last year, your blog featured a few posts devoted to comic book characterizations of the Vietnam War. Would you ever consider doing a longer article or book considering the medium's approach toward Vietnam, or are you too busy looking ahead and telling your own stories to look back and do historical media criticism at present?

JA: That’d be interesting, but no, I don’t have the time these days. And I’m sure there are people out there a lot more qualified to tackle a subject like that. In fact, a friend of mine, the Vietnam War scholar and author David Willson, wrote a great piece about Vietnam War comics in an issue of the Comics Journal from several years ago. Don’t remember the issue number off-hand [SBC Side Note: no. 136 (July 1990)], but it was an all Vietnam War issue, featuring interviews with ‘NAM writer Doug Murray and Vietnam Journal creator Don Lomax.

TOS: Is there anything you'd like to discuss that I did not ask about?

JA: The trade paperback of The Other Side is due out May 23, featuring an introduction by Capt. Dale Dye (technical adviser on Platoon and Saving Private Ryan), a short piece I wrote about my cousin, the Vietnam War author Gustav Hasford, Cameron Stewart's photos and dispatches from his trip to Vietnam, sketches, layouts and more. All that for only $12.99. Issue #6 of Scalped kicks off a new six-part arc titled “Casino Boogie” that’s all about the night of the casino’s grand opening, but each issue is from the perspective of a different character. I’ve also written a gritty little bit of nasty for Wolverine #56 which should be out in August, with art by the legendary Howard Chaykin. And I did a Ripclaw one-shot for Top Cow that was a real blast, featuring Jorge Lucas on interiors and a cover by some two-bit punk named Tony Moore. And if you want to see me in person this summer and tell me how much I suck, then look for me at the San Diego Comic-con in July.

Discuss this interview on the Feature Fiends Forum!