Writing Ric McClune. The journey forward.
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When it comes to writing comics, my preference has always leant towards science fiction and a touch of horror, sometimes a combination of both. Never a big fan of capes, my reading pleasures tended to be more the same as what I liked to write. My comic script experience evolved from flash fiction. Short stories that would have no more than 150 words that contained a start, middle and end. Sometimes referred to as paragraphs with a punchline. But for me, a great jumping off point for adapting stories for four to five page scripts the type preferred by 2000AD magazine for their Future Shock stories, another big influence on me as a younger chap. To me it was like having a synopsis for your script already written. I have written 24 page one-shots, using the same method but fleshing out the story with more action and subplots. If you are new to comics I highly recommend this method to enhance and develop your writing style. As I have pretty much established, I was getting quite comfortable with this style and genres and it had worked well for me, not only as a niche to find publications to contribute but also to gain experience working with different artists and editors. Saying all this, I was a bit amiss when Reverie publisher Gary Dellar approached me about writing a 24 page one-shot for a character he had created named Ric McClune, who, it declared was the second fastest gun in the West.
That’s right,
a bloody Western. Were they even a thing anymore?
Thinking it
was time I moved out of my comfort zone, I decided to give it a whirl. What
could happen? Rejection. I’m a comic book writer, if that bothers you, you’re
in the wrong game. So, first things first,
I asked some
probing questions: what was the cannon? “We’re going to develop that as it goes
along.” Was the reply.
Ok, I surmised, he has a dog, rides a horse,
wears a pork pie hat and for some reason is the second fastest gun in the West.
Vague seemed to be the rule rather than the exception here. I was being given carte
blanche on the future of this character,
I was helping create cannon.
Lucky for me
one edition had recently been published, written by Haydn Spurrell
and drawn exquisitely by Ben Sullivan, I was able to garner more
insight into the character. It seemed our Ric was not averse to the odd bit of
justifiable murder, had friends in high and low places, oh yeah, he had a soft
spot for kids.
I had a
starting point.
Western were
once hugely popular in Australian comic history, back in the late 1940s through
to the 1960s Western style comics sold consistently in numbers we can only
dream of these days. We are talking sales of tens of thousands a month.
Then it
struck me. I had recently researched and wrote an article on one of the most
popular writers/ artists of that time who specialised in Western genre comics and
who went on to be Australia’s true comic book villain.
His name. Len
Lawson, A name that fell into infamy when at the absolute height of his fame
and career he sexually assaulted a group of girls whilst taking them on a photo
shoot and was given the death penalty as a result. This was later downgraded
when capital punishment was outlawed in Australia. He was released in 1961 after serving seven years. In hindsight
probably not a good idea as he then went onto greater notoriety when soon after
his release he murdered a young lady he had invited into his flat and then
murdered another teenage girl during a bungled hostage situation in a school.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment, only to strike again whilst in prison a
decade later by kidnapping a group of girls who were at Paramatta prison to
give a concert for inmates and holding a dancer hostage whilst pressing a knife
to her throat. He was overpowered by prison officials and inmates. Lawson died in
2003 the longest serving inmate in New South Wales history.
The point of
this is that I had made a link that made me feel a bit more comfortable in my
storytelling. A hidden horror within the telling of the tale. What had
possessed this man who created countless Western comics. Maybe if he channeled
that craziness into his stories we would have seen a whole new genre of Western
years ahead of its time.
So latent
horror it would be, but not supernatural, something more feasible. So, I
deduced that in the 1880s to some, science was indistinguishable from magic or
witchcraft. And since the dawn of modern science basically fell within this era,
I had some ideas bustling in my hedgerow.
I was going
to give Mister Ric McClune an adventure with a difference and hopefully one
that could introduce characters later on. We were technically world building
here.
Researching
the period was a fascinating study of human achievement. So much so that the Commissioner of the US patent office in
1899. Charles H. Duell declared that
"everything that can be invented has been invented." Though, woefully
short sighted. Mr. Duell did get bombarded with patents during this era that
involved most of the sciences (chemistry, biology and physics) electricity, and
innovations in engineering and architecture.
I
believe he was just exhausted.
So, to
the hicks riding around the mid-western deserts and plains avoiding Indians,
disease and skulduggery, what we take for granted would seem a bit unbelievable
to them.
Without
giving too much away, my story The Badlands uses this idea as the
main story plot but concentrates on Ric McClune’s attitude towards children and
those not as well equipped to protect themselves as he can. In as much, if
McClune does develop into a killing machine of unprecedented proportions, I can
at least cement this overriding sense of protection that had begun in issue one
of Roc McClune.
Reviving
a neglected genre was an exciting proposition and one that had many challenges.
I look forward to seeing how the many writers portray Ric McClune in their own
style whilst adding a new piece to the cannon that we hope will one day be the
legendary Ric McClune. Second fastest gun in the West.
