Writer Matt Fraction has been entertaining discerning comic book readers for a few years now, with the likes of The Annotated MANTOOTH!, Last of the Independents, and The Five Fists of Science as well as co-founding ArtBomb.Net and contributing to Comic Book Resources. His Image Comics series with artist Gabrial Bà, called Casanova has been winning acclaim and fans for its wild, dense form of storytelling, cramming more adventure than you could imagine into 16 pages every month for the low price of $1.99. Now his take on Marvel Comics’ the Punisher with the relaunched Punisher War Journal is on the stands, and The Immortal Iron Fist not far behind, and… well, Matt Fraction’s all up in the big time. Much to our delight, he agreed to answer some questions…

How did the desire to do a trippy sci fi spy book like Casanova come about? Any direct influences?

Casanova is inspired by everything happening to me or happening around me, every day, all the time. The superficial genre stuff is just the window dressing that disguises the emotional and relational undercurrents I’m trying to make sense of by doing the book. If that makes sense.

How far in advance are these adventures planned? Each issue is so wacky it’s easy to imagine you’re flying by the seat of your pants, but there’s obviously a lot of thought involved…

If sales allow, there will be seven arcs. I know what happens in each arc, if not each issue. I know where it ends. I know how it ends. The last word spoken in the book will be “Yes.”

You’ve mentioned how you sometimes feel ripped off by the increasingly common slower pacing in many current comics. Is Casanova your response to that? In 16 pages, you seem to get more story than two regular sized comics…

Yes. A reaction and a rejection to the boring and banal that passes for mainstream comics action these days. I would put Casanova up against any other book on the stands in terms of bang/buck. I feel like every issue of Casanova could be an arc in almost any other book.

Volume 2 will follow just one mission, however. Sort of.

Regarding the jam-packed pages, are the scripts super detailed and laid out? Or is there room for Gabriel to play?

It comes and goes, sometimes more than others. I write a full script. Gabriel does his own thing sometimes. I’ve never regretted it.

How did the two-tone coloring of the book come about? One would assume part of it was to keep the cost down, though it’s a cool style as well. I figured maybe there would be one rotating highlight color, but you guys have stuck with the green…

It made it look like Forest’s Barbarella. We thought it would save money, too. Ha, ha. It doesn’t. We’re paying the cost of a full color book, but we only choose to print two of those colors.
The next arc adapts a blue palette. I think. That might change. But it’s looking blue. Or maybe red? I don’t know.

Casanova uses the same $1.99 format as Fell, another excellent comic from Image. Did you have the idea for Casanova already, or did you see that format and want to play around with it?

Hm. Sort of. The format made me crystallize the idea, and is, to my way of thinking, as essential to its character as its characters are. I had the idea, but knowing I had a vehicle allowed the idea to form itself and start inching towards realization.

Casanova Quinn versus James Bond—who walks away alive?

Casanova. Because James Bond isn’t really real.

Casanova and his sister—what’s up with that? (You know what I’m talking about…)

What’s up with what? Some brothers and sisters pull pigtails and pinch. Others dry-hump and torture. It’s all high spirits.

Amidst all the far out super spy espionage shenanigans and various bad and worse guys double crossing each other, there’s a deeper bit at play, regarding family, generation gaps, and all sorts of very real world dramatic fodder. Can you talk about some of that? Because it’s easy to get hung up on the razzle-dazzle, but I think the book has some heart… however messed up and occasionally troubling…

It’s a book about identity. It’s about who you are and how you choose to define yourself. How you choose to allow your job, your family, your friends, and your fate to define who you are and how you live. It’s about asserting the right to live unencumbered by expectation and demand, by accepting the responsibility for each and every one of your actions and rejecting the burden of guilt others may foist upon you. Casanova is, at its heart, about the company we keep.
Everything else is just fun.

Casanova Quinn is a badass, there’s no doubt about it, but is he out of his league in his new reality? He seems to get his ass handed to him now and again… Is there something about the flawed hero (or anti-hero or “least evil villain”) in over his head that appeals to you?

If he’s not over his head and in trouble, then there’s no fun in it; there’s no drama, and there are no stakes. In this first arc, Cass learns the hard way he’s not the cleverest boy in the room like he thought he was. No matter how exciting Batman might be, you know that, every issue, Batman is gonna be okay at the end.

Casanova’s is the story of his adult self having to make good the checks his younger self wrote but couldn’t cover. That means a lot of flaws and failures need to be processed out and purified.

What’s it like to see Gabriel’s visualization of your scripts?

Gratifying, edifying, educational, thrilling, overwhelming, and joyous.

Whose idea was it to give super spy Casanova Quinn a subtle mullet?

Gabriel based the haircut on a certain period of Jagger from the mid sixties, a David Bailey photograph. It’s “Aftermath”-era stones; dig around, you can find it.

A reader has a copy of Casanova in one hand, a copy of Muscular Guys In Spandex Fighting Each Other in the other -- help the reader decide which to buy…

You have never read a comic like Casanova before. On the other hand, you know Batman is gonna be okay at the end. Wanna taste of something new?

Regarding the format, the interior pages seem to be of a thicker stock than the cover. Why not the other way around? Is it a price issue?

No, it’s all the same stock. I’d like to explore that with future volumes but, for now, the book is what’s called a “Self Cover” so it’s the same stock inside and out. For now, anyway.

Is Casanova going to be collected in trade format? Or do you want to stick to singles in all their floppy glory?

Yeah. I mean, yes, but yeah. The trades and the floppies will remain different animals. The backmatter doesn’t go into the trade, for example.

Is there an ending to Casanova planned?

Seven arcs. Not sure how many issues all in all. “Yes.”

What other goodies are you working on at the moment? Hype it up.

A few Marvel books -- Punisher: War Journal and The Immortal Iron Fist -- and doing research for a graphic novel about the presidential election of 1864.

How are you enjoying playing in the Marvel Universe?

It's great! It's fun, and weird, and a learning process, and frustrating and educational and all points in-between. It's one of those "You knew the job was dangerous when you signed up" sorts of deals, you know? I wanted to experience the whole enchilada, and I've had a blast so far. Creatively and professionally, through both the ups and the downs. It's a thrilling challenge as a creator, and as a professional, to learn how to play in that sandbox.

What's co-writing with Brubaker on Iron Fist like?

As a collaboration it's been an incredibly educational experience in how to write comics the Marvel way. I've relied on Ed a lot as a neophyte to the world of superhero comics and, I hope, have become a smarter, better writer because of it. Ed's been sort of a tutor and sounding board and cheering squad all in one. It's also given me the pleasure of crushing him, time and time again, at Ping Pong on the 360.

What should I have asked you about Casanova that’ll make me kick myself later?

You’ll maybe wish you’d not lead with the “influences” one. Oh! You could’ve asked “Why did Gabriel have to draw three wedding dresses?” Or “What was the real secret hiding out in the belly of the missile silo??” Or even “How much time passed between Karnes closing the door and Seychelle kicking it open?”