Rise of The Red Star – Part 4

Continued from Part 3

DT: From the story so far and hints from other interviews and message boards, it seems you’re setting up the Antares family to challenge some of the institutions and traditions that have led the URRS to its current state. Is that something you think our own society needs to do? If so, since we lack skyfurnaces and spell protocols, how do you think we can accomplish that?

CG: Indeed. The Antares family is our symbol of hope against all odds. Their courage represents the best chance their nation has to overcome the tragic legacy that imprisons them. They are the heroic face in a cycle of renewal that civilization has engaged in since it was born. In the eternal struggle of humanity vs. society, they are the hands of freedom that tear down the walls of any nation that has forgotten the basic truth of law. Law must serve humanity to build their civilizations. When humanity becomes a blinded slave to their civilization’s laws, that society must renew itself somehow, if it is to survive.

I think it’s clear that, given my answer to the previous question, I feel our nation is on the brink of a very difficult transition. The transition from an industrial to an information society is something that is going to cause major international flux. It is a time in which the resources of the world, and the structures of power that profit from their distribution, are going to be challenged. New players on the world scene have become powerful, others have become weak. The aftermath of the Cold War has left us in a calm before what I feel will be a very destructive storm. In the analogous world of my fiction, the Antares family represents the common people, whose lives will somehow have to find a way to survive as the scheming manipulators that rule the world throw it into a chaos of their own greed.

To get back to the last part of your question, how can common folk not only survive, but challenge the institutions that are leading us? Well, history has the answers listed quite clearly. The catch is, such actions represent a subset of human endeavors that are incredibly costly, selfless and bloody. To write a comic about revolution, this is simplicity itself– but inspiring large hordes of humanity to take their destiny into their hands for better or worse? This is history at its most vital, and most complex.

BK: Well, even protocols and skyfurnaces weren’t doing it — both are state controlled. It’s personal conviction, sacrifice, and courage ultimately that must be brought to bear in order for things to change. We, in our own time can only do our little part, but the sum of millions of little parts is unstoppable. First, is to keep informed: read, read, read, and then read some more. Next is to use this information in making judgments when dealing with elections, propositions, candidates etc. “Turn on to democracy or democracy will turn on you,” as Nader likes to put it. Support campaign finance reform, look to the problems of government and address them however you can. Don’t necessarily trust standard channels of information–many news providing agencies have an agenda, and that agenda does not include informing the masses truthfully or impartially. When was the last time you heard on ANY of the main channels that we bomb Iraq on a daily basis and that hundreds of children die of disease and malnutrition there every week because of ridiculous sanctions imposed by our own government? Blaming Saddam Hussein here is just plain asinine. Stay aware and don’t be afraid to make your opinion heard, even if it is unpopular.

DT: Chris, you said that we can effect positive change, but that the actions required to do so are “incredibly costly, selfless and bloody.” Upon one reading, that comment seems pretty pessimistic . . . do you really think that’s the only way to make things better?

CG: Actually, yes. As you say, the pessimistic reading is only one take on this comment. My own sentiment when I expressed this thought was more objective than emotional. When in human history has positive change not been incredibly costly, selfless and bloody? Martin Luther King’s quest to bring civil rights to the black community wasn’t a Disneyland ride. Nor was Abraham Lincoln’s fight to preserve the Union from the southern hordes of racist farmers. The Russian people pushing back the Nazis in the 1940’s was a journey of utter horror, but without the sacrifice of the Red Army, Hitler could not have been defeated before millions more were killed on all fronts. Let us also give due time to all the American soldiers that were shot to pieces on the beaches of France, or Guadalcanal, or Iwo Jima or any other bloody pyre upon which history is decided.

Nothing truly worth achieving is simple. The easier something is to achieve, the less likely it is to effect any kind of far-reaching change.

DT: You also seem to dismiss writing about revolution when you call it “simplicity itself” — what, exactly, do you think is necessary to transform ideas into action? In your wildest dreams, what do you see people learning, thinking, and doing as a result of reading The Red Star? What else do you feel that you, personally, need to do to put the ideals you express into practice?

CG: Again, I was being objective. To write about revolution is easy — any marketing drone can splash ‘REVOLUTION’ on an advertisement for a luxury car and feel gratified by their own alleged genius — an actor can put on a costume and portray Che Guevarra or George Washington and perceive what it is to be a ‘revolutionary’ in some internal fashion; but to place ones self at the forefront of human conflict, to attempt to have your life alter the course of events, this is a very advanced set of human skills.

In my wildest dreams…well, I’m a writer, so my dreams get pretty wild. I’d feel more comfortable talking about my hopes and goals regarding the project. I’d like a continuation of what’s happening right now. Most days I get messages from people around the world or even in my own neighborhood talking about how The Red Star is touching them, affecting them, making them curious about what happened in Russia in the 20th Century, and how it affected their lives wherever they happened to live. Hungarians, Poles, Mexicans, Germans, and of course, Russians and Americans– our lives took place in an extraordinary period in human civilization. The Red Star is, at its best, a primer to remind us of that. It is also a valentine to the industrial age– a time quickly giving way to the era of computerization. The great thing is that these themes are working. People are getting it. My hope and goal is that more and more people out there continue to ‘get it’. What they do with it once they get it, that’s in the lap of providence. All I can do is stay true to the enthusiasm and vision that inspired me and try my best to make it all worthwhile to the phenomenal group of friends that decided to join me in this humble cause.

DT: You both spend a fair amount of time on the redstar.com message boards – what do you get from that interaction with readers?

CG: Fun! Concerning the message boards, publishing The Red Star is like beginning a conversation with as many strangers as possible, and the boards are the means by which that communication occurs. Obviously, we’re more invested in our work emotionally and artistically than a lot of teams out there in the mainstream. We’re not spread out over the entire nation, we see each other socially, we work very close, and we are telling a story that, according to your typical marketing drone, shouldn’t be as commercially or critically successful as it has proved to be. Therefore, communicating on our boards directly with the people who appreciate this work is very special for us. It’s just a reflection of who we are, really. We respect the fact that some artists don’t feel comfortable speaking directly to the public, and at the same time, why should this isolation be some kind of precedent? I suppose we’re so familiar with our computers that we’re not intimidated by this new form of human speech. It’s primitive, somewhat, it’s a bit more like ants bumping antennae than speech, but never in history has humanity done it this way, so how can we not participate, even in our own humble way?

BK: I personally get a lot out of it. Too many times when I have been a fan of this or that, actual contact with a creator was impossible, and too many times do they become aloof and insular. Now that the tables have been turned (about 1/10 of a degree) I feel that the buck should stop here. When I get questions directed to me, I like to answer them. Personal contact with people who enjoy our book is one of the things that makes Team Red Star stand out from the rest (with exceptions of course).

DT: What do you think the rest of the comics industry can learn from the success of The Red Star thus far?

BK: Stop using tried and true methods to sell (i.e.. tits and ass). It is stifling the industry both by giving the industry a worse name than it already has, and by turning off the very people who would make insightful and interesting readers. Be bold. Risk. Do things differently and with pride. I think the most important thing to learn is that yes, you can do it too–the field is wide open just waiting for a few brave souls to step forward and do it–the hard way.

CG: This is a question that I am asking myself. Will we influence the industry? In what way? Superficially? Will double-page spreads and big panels take hold? Technically? We’ve at least given 3D a long-awaited beachhead in the comics wars, but will other waves of soldiers support us as we continue the invasion? Artistically? Will our ‘no-ink’ style make obvious the fact that inking is no longer a necessity of production but a traditional, stylistic preference? Lyrically? Will our writing be of any impact? Will the story continue to gain respect? Will we keep getting offers from other companies to do what it is we do?

Since we can’t foresee what might happen, we are remaining thankful for the success we have. A comic book allegory about Russia? Boy, the looks I got the first few times I shared that idea with my friends in the industry! It’s really quite remarkable that we’re doing as well as we are.

I mean, let’s look at the Top 100 and see what’s there, shall we? The Fathom Swimsuit Issue is more commercially attractive to the market than a socio-politically minded book with literary aspirations and state of the art digital graphics. We’re somewhat bitter, but we laugh it off with a shrug. After all, comics are not the only medium to suffer from homo-sapiens’ biological hardwiring. In any commercial artform, there is more hokey crap than prestigious effort. If you’ll please forgive me for the use of a music analogy, there are people who work like Madonna, and there are people who work like Brian Eno. It turns out, in this hypothesis, that our sensibilities tend more toward the latter.

DT: You both have made wisecracks and comments about more cheesecake-oriented books, and there definitely appears to be a commitment to a different portrayal of women in Red Star — the sorceresses are women, you have women tank commanders, one of the major supernatural forces takes the form of a woman. Were you making a deliberate attempt to put women at the center of this story? If so, was that at least in part motivated by the traditional or stereotypical treatment of women in mainstream comics? How much of it was a deliberate decision to try to show the industry a different way of telling stories?

CG: I am fortunate that I had a really great home life as a kid. My mother and father were amazing parents for their time. It was the 1970’s, and yet they weren’t doing what most kid’s parents were in Los Angeles. They weren’t swinging, they didn’t get divorced, they treated us like kids and tried to make the childhood of my brother and me very special. They did so. I didn’t know how good I had it until I got out into the world and talked to people and learned what they were going through as kids — it ain’t pretty.

Of course, when you see what passes for parents on those daytime talk shows — you know, the trailer trash weirdos that are being paraded across our living rooms as some kind of freak show of the damned — that’s when I get overwhelmed with appreciation for how unique my parents are, and when it comes to the Women of The Red Star, they are the true origin. My parents loved each other in a way that is rare and incredible. Their respect was born of adoration and my brother and I basked in the glow of it. My respect for women starts right there with the example of my father.

Going from there, Love as an element in fiction is what qualifies and separates heroic fiction and meaningless tales of commercial exploitation. Joseph Campbell talks about all Drama being concerned with human origin, with all feats of greatness supplying a metaphor for birth, death and rebirth of the soul.

To create a story in which the female, from whose womb all life comes, is reduced to a mannequin for the masturbatory purposes of publisher and reader alike, (I use the term ‘masturbatory’ here figuratively as well as literally, for the publisher of such content, there is no doubt a masturbatory thrill as he or she realizes that they are a big fish in the small pond of American comics publishing) is to trivialize these themes. Confront any creator of any cheesecake book, and they will scoff out such excuses as ‘Hey, that’s what people want to buy, so that’s what I give ’em’ or the ever dependable waiver on accountability, ‘Lighten up, man, it’s just a…(fill in the blank: comic book, movie, CD, video game, novel, relationship, etc. etc. etc.)

The Women of The Red Star: Maya, The Red Woman, Alexandra, Makita (who we’ll meet in issue 6) were never intended as some kind of artificial quota — they are the characters whose motivations and presence supply the best thrust and counterthrust for the motion of the story. The Men of The Red Star: Marcus, Urik, Brusilov, Kar Dathra, Troika, and a few more that we haven’t met yet, are the opposite rhythms, and hopefully all of them continue to weave a captivating dramatic harmony.

BK: I don’t think it was a deliberate decision to show the industry anything (they wouldn’t learn anyway). It was a more natural progression of character development, theme, and setting that led to a bunch of strong women characters than anything artificial or didactic. It is essential and necessary that we show that women of The Red Star are strong and capable so that we are true to those that we are basing our characters on: women of the former Soviet Union. These were and are some really tough people. By diffusion however I am determined to show women the world over as strong and capable. We reduce women to ridiculously indecisive and weak beings in this culture much too much. The comics industry is certainly no exception to that (I won’t mention specific companies-they know who they are). Maybe in our little way we can change this perception and in the process give the industry an example that they can either learn from, or leave altogether. It’s their choice.

DT: Looking ahead — what are your hopes and plans for 2001, now that Red Star is off the ground?

CG: 2001 is all about hitting our marks, thanking the retailers and readers for putting us in the ‘genuine hit’ category, and continuing to grow our audience with regularly scheduled releases. 2001 is kind of a reward for 2000. We made it, our numbers are steadily rising, and no one could possibly foresee the kinds of stuff we have planned.

BK: Put out more books of The Red Star and hopefully grow our publishing company from its embryonic stage. We have several new titles planned–I would like to see them executed in the next few years. Aside from that I will let the winds of fate guide my rather thin frame from interesting happening to exciting outcome.