HEY ADULTS! COMICS! The official 6 page preview of
The Deposit Man & The Last Great Gate of Mortality Act IIIWritten by
Cary Coatney. Art by
Larry Nadolsky.
Hello, I'm
Cary Coatney, writer and creator of a very, very low distributed, but always nicely complemented book called the
Deposit Man. What you're about to skim through here is my spanking brand new issue that's probably being in the process of being shipped to me now even as I'm writing this. So, for those on my mailing list and the regular people who click on to my blog - this is my gift to you, the first crack at the concluding act of my first mini-series-
The Last Great Gate of Mortality ..... with some abstract experimental commentary.
This is officially my sixth
Deposit Man issue. The first appearance of the
Deposit Man took place in a anthology title called
Malice published by a long forgotten defunct company out of Miami called
Death Comics way back in 1999. It was a very shoddy looking product as I recall, I wasn't very pleased with the outcome but yet, it sold something like 600 copies in the
Diamond Previews catalogue which baffles the ca-ca out of me to this very day. I remember how stoked I was seeing my name in the catalogue as a actual writer credit back then. A minor feat I haven't been able to duplicate since that time. Following that bittersweet victory, I went and released two one-shots afterwards called the
Deposit Man Kaleidoscopic Medicine Freak Show and the
Deposit Man Survival Guide to the Afterlife through some help of a friend of mine and Diamond just flatly refused to carry them for a variety of reasons stating both the quality of the product and the content as particular stand outs. I have a very hard time accepting these discretions because I truly feel that these two books were better produced than the one that was sold through them. I mean, those 600 copies of Malice were done on a Kinko's copier for cripessakes. And Larry Nadolsky, the artist that was set up for me by both
Scott Goodell and
Jay Allen Sanford was a twenty-year old veteran of the comic book industry who has achieved world reknown fame through his work on
Carnal Comics and
Heavy Metal magazine. So I thought that was a insult to him as well.
Luckily for me, Larry still enjoys working on the book. He enjoys the characters and the overwhelmingly haphazard situations that I grind them through and of course, he doesn't know very many comic books that take place 'exclusively' in the afterlife and nor is there very many lead stars of a book who tout himself as
' the landlord of the afterlife'. So Larry and I reunited to tell some backstory on the characters in this mini-series,
The Last Great Gate of Mortality, which premiered after a almost two year hiatus at a very diasterous comic book convention that took place in Las Vegas at the tail end of 2004. This time I upped the ante in terms of production, took the book to one of the major comic book printers called
Brenner Printing and see what I could do in souping up the quality. I was very pleased with the result of the first issue. Still, with the enhanced quality of the product, Diamond has still remained very biased towards it, even though one of their reps campaigned to get the book past the submissions board after last year's
APE show. They did say to re-submit it again when I have the entire mini-series in the can, and I mean to do that when I get back from San Francisco. In the meantime, only
FM Distribution are the only ones bold enough to solicit it in their catalogs. I have in the past also received kudos from both
Harlan Ellison and
Steven Grant for my efforts on these books.
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PAGE ONEI wanted to make this version of the Deposit Man very different from his two previous appearances and sort of hint of what the character's origin may be, but not to be too revealing, because I'll be saving that big suprise for the finale of my next proposed mini-series,
Deposit Man: Playgod. What I really wanted to explore was some of my supporting cast and sort to reveal how they all got into the afterlife. The first two acts focused on a lot of suggestive background on the sexy seductive chief of Heavenland Security, Betty Fusco, who always has her frisky advances rejected by our main titled anti-hero enigma. Particularly my main loco Mexican madman, Marty, played a major role in the last act- in fact, the title of the last book could've been referred as
''The Marty Man Show" as the Deposit Man only had brief cameos when the book simply had Larry's layouts as he had a conflict of schedule that couldn't allow him to do both pencils and inks on the last issue. In this issue, I wanted to focus somewhat on Spice Cakes, a somewhat undesirable crack whore that I introduced briefly in the Malice book and from there had given her more to do in the following two one shots- but I hadn't really given much substance to her character as much as I have done the others. We hadn't seen her yet in this mini-series and I've been meaning to tie up some loose ends from those books into the conclusion of this one, and major events of this mini-series do sort of involve her or people that are close to her.
Now Larry hasn't gone back to anatomy class to re-learn how to draw the human figure. These stick figures do serve a indeniable purpose. It's that if I reveal to you why they're there, it's going to blow a little surprise on Page 7. And I'm not going to show you Page 7 because I have to earn my money somehow.
The ideas of stick figures do represent a sort of a parabolic journey. I don't remember where I exactly got the idea to use these figures as storytelling trail markers, unconsciously perhaps through some metaphysical shenanigans inspired in part by my readings of
Carlos Castenada at a very impressionable young age. Alan Sinder, my partner-in-crime on this blog digresses that the Deposit Man more closely resembles something out of subliminal lectures and essays by
Robert Anton Wilson. Nevertheless, I think this was very unique way to begin the story. In real life, I do get freaked out by moonlight- because you can actually see nasty shit fester in the dark.
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PAGE TWOThis is where Spice begins her overview of a flashback sequence that could have took place in between the one-shots with just a little exposition added. The panel where I have Marty deck out Sponge Cakes (Spice's twin sister) got Larry a little irked at me. Larry has told me in numerous long distance phone conversations that he's got some major concerns about my dominant male characters always decking out the girls. He always asks-
is this supposed to a homage to something personal that's happened in your life, Mr.Coatney? To be honest, I don't have an easy answer to that or to why this constantly seems to happen. (Well to be fair- The major villain does give his come-uppance) As far as I know, I haven't gotten in any situation that involves physical abuse with any woman in my life with the exception of not getting along with my half -sister in my teen years. I mean, that got a little physical at times- but my sister could lay a good haymaker on me that could leave a mark (and stitches, if I recall) - but as far as girlfriends, or acquiantances are concerned I have never gotten in a volitile situation that would cause me to lose my cool- (knock on wood.) I think deep down on a subconscious level, that there was always plenty of cartoon violence going on in my family growing up. My mother used to get a good shot in the mouth or a smack across the chops if she got a little snotty with my step-father and then my mom would turn to me and smack me up the love and down the assembly line it went to my sister. I used to get smacked up quite a bit by my step-father, but as I grew older, I found that I could find ways to get back at him and take him on. I mean, I nearly threw my stepfather's head into a television screen just before moving out of the house twenty or so years ago. So, it was like growing up in a
Three Stooges type of atmosphere. Supposedly, I was told by my mom and step-father last time I was visiting New Jersey, that it was typical in the day and age for families to settle their disputes this way- now everything has to be so goddamn politically correct- that if you lay a hand on a family member- it's off to the slammer for you. Damn, if I had known that it was illegal for my step-father to lay a finger on me, I could've given up evidence enough for him to serve 7 consecutive life sentences in a row.
But anyway, the last panel on this page is a painful remainder of what had occured in the first one shot,
The Deposit Man Kaliedoscopic Medicine Freak Show- which should now be available for a measely buck and a half at most comic book conventions. I'm trying to blow them out, so I'll have a excuse to make a trade paperback.
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PAGE THREENow this scene should give the reader some pause that the mind is playing some trick on you, even during Spice's narration. You might think I've lost sense of narrative grasp- but actually I'm hinting that things are not what they seem. I mean, where was Haupt Carl in the one shots and how is it that he all of a sudden comes to preside over Sponge Cakes funeral in this mini-series? This page marks the first apearance of some of Haupt Carl's Commando cherubs that are in the midst of preparing an invasion of earth and the afterlife. How is that Spice is able to see them in plain sight while others with the exception of Marty isn't? And how is it that Marty is reciting lines and phrase from what happened to him in the last issue? Stay tuned and find out at the end of this issue.
Believe it or not, my main inspiration for this scene came from an old
Spider-Man Rock'n'Roll LP that I once owned back in 1973 or somewhere during the . It was a couple of rock songs performed by the
Webspinners(?) mixed arround with a story that guest- starred
Dr.Strange helping him in a battle against the
Kingpin. There were some flashback scenes of Spidey's origin and I think it was the first time that a funeral scene for Uncle Ben wasever depicted. In the background accompanied by a choir signing Rock of Ages, Aunt May while consoled by Peter Parker starts freaking out. Although the events on that old dusty LP didn't happen to this extreme as to what is shown here- you can tell that I haven't been to many memorial services in my lifetime- 'cause I couldn't tell you if Haupt Carl is reading the correct passages from the Bible or not.
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PAGE FOURJeez, the lead star has to show up in the book some time, wouldn't you think?. I thought it would be sort of fun to chronicle the very first time that Spice Cakes met up with the Deposit Man or at least her variation of it. So just to break the dichotomous pace during the first half of the book and due to the fact that the Deposit Man doesn't have juicy stuff to do until the second half, I felt it necessary to demonstrate that the Deposit Man at first glance is not...a very likeable guy. Here we have the Deposit Man dis his lover from the first act, Jing Na in order to make himself look good in front of Spice. Now I don't publicize that the Deposit Man is.....openly gay and bigoted while I am hocking the book at conventions and shows. I don't feel that it's a major selling point - I rather that the readers discover for themselves his character strengths or flaws. I feel the reason I imbue these traits into him is because when I'm sitting down to write the book, I want to make sure that I writing about somebody I'm not or could ever aspire to be. At the end of the one shot
Survival Guide to the Afterlife , I've already demonstrated that the Deposit Man can be a little testy by having him spew his gay rights agenda so much that he winds up blowing up
HEAVEN with some kind of a nuclear device . Of course, with it being the afterlife and all, it probably didn't really have that much of a effect anyway. Some of the ramificiations of that one-shot will play a pivotal role towards the end of this book. And that's the only hint I'm going to be dropping.
The banter between Jing Na and the Deposit Man was loosely inspired by some dialogue I heard on an old
Philip Marlowe radio show. Most of my dialogue stems from listening to endless hours of talk radio, old time radio shows, and progressive rock lyrics. So go figure. Keep your eye on Jing Na in the next Deposit Man mini-series,
Deposit Man: Playgod. He plays a very crucial role in it.
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PAGE FIVEA short recap of the last two issues as annotated by Spice Cakes. Even though Spice wasn't seen in the last two issues, she was mentioned by Jing Na in the first issue as being their secret informant and stayed mainly behind the scenes. I never really clarified what governmental agency that Jing Na and the Deposit Man supposedly worked for... Apparently that may be explained is at the end of this issue also. Or not.
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PAGE SIXAnd here we come to the conclusion of your freebie page session. Now this scene I wrote with the memory in mind of a time when I lived in
North Hollywood across the street from this seedy non-descript bar that was frequented by nobody but illegals and it never failed that over the weekends that there wasn't some nefarious activity going on either on the street or in the doorway. I could peek through my window on a late Friday or Saturday night and see or hear all these crazy rock'em sock 'em slugfests, drug deals, or hookers getting their mitts on some johns. Heck, it wouldn' have surprised if there were having rooster fights in there. One time, some friend of mine visiting the area was curious about the joint and dragged me inside and jokingly let it slip out to the bar maid that I lived across the street was checking out all the hot hootchie action with a pair of binoculars. That certainly perked up a lot of ears. I moved out shortly after that little revelation. Anyway this has remained in the darkest recess of my mind of and probably serves as a what-if scenerio of what could have occurred inside this joint if I wasn't allowed to escape alive.
This is the last page that features the mystery of the stick figures. Like I mentioned before, to show you the next page would reveal too much and I certainly do want to make some small amount of pittance for my efforts.
I enjoy writing this series- 'cause it sometimes feel like I'm not in the driver's seat 99% percent of the time. The characters and situations practically write themselves because it's the way the events of society incorporates itself into a rich woven trapesty and all I really have to do is pump up the exaggeration to the level of which it just teeters to the brink of absurdity, flip it around and gently drop it like a feather and see how it plays out in a fantasy like setting. For example: the way real life drama such as
the Terri Schiavo fiasco that recently took place. Sometime current events can commandeer a solution to a problem you've been having with a loose plot end. I've been searching hi and low of how I can reach a amicable way in making the new antagonist of the first issue of my new mini-series acheive some kind of credibility in making his conflict something that people can identify with - which is hovering in spirit and facing tough decisions of where to wreak havoc; here or in the afterlife? -So I take my view of the whole Schiavo debacle and try to make it into something positive- a solution to a writer block problem.
I want to make something clear- I' m a writer still in search of his own voice. I can't bring myself to mimic another author's style or label my stuff to any particular genre. My main function to serve as messenger of ideas. I feel if I want to contribute to the comic book industry - I have to take a step back from the constant indigestion of the media and come up with something totally unique and original. And the only way I feel can accomplish that goal is to literally starve yourself of anything that going to distract you and make it slip into your work. You have to deprive yourself of everything that is surrounding you such as comic books lying around, video games, or dvds and videos, pick them up off the floor and lock it away in some kind of cold storage for awhile. Don't spend any money, because you're not going to need it. You're only going to spend it on those throwaway items that I mentioned above anyway. It's better safe to go broke- especially when creativity comes for free. That's what I had to do. I had to starve myself to come up with the complete concept of the Deposit Man and his world. He manifested himself at a low ebb in my life and I'm extremely grateful that he came into my life when he did. And I repaid the favor by getting back on my feet and raising the capitol for his endeavors. I'm now through the half-way point of where I want to be in the venture and I'm really itching to getting the entire saga told.
Well, there you have it- your first taste of the book that took a painstakingly long time to put together. But you'll see that there are no ads other than one that is on the back of the cover. So there's 33 pages of solid metaphysical mud-slinging action from cover to cover and not a single jack up in price. It's all yours still for a measely $2.95.
I'll be at
APE this weekend of April 9th & 10th at
Table # 543b.
Hope to see most of you there. Thanks for reading and listening. Although if you were hear my voice in your head and I'm not within earshot- I would say you definitely have a big problem and to seek professional help immediately after deleting this e-mail.
~ Coat
