Nick Bertozzi has pulled off a rare feat – he has not one but two acclaimed graphic novels out at the same time, both of which deal with real-world historical figures. Houdini: The Handcuff King (Disney/Hyperion), which Bertozzi worked on from a script and layouts by Jason Lutes, tells the story of a day in the life of the world-famous escape artist, while Bertozzi’s long-awaited solo project The Salon (St. Martin’s Griffin) is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of 1907 Paris, starring the likes of Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein. We spoke with Bertozzi about his graphic double-header, what it’s like playing around in history, and how he’s responded to the controversial court case surrounding The Salon.
Newsarama: So, Nick, how do you feel about the reaction to The Salon? Not only has it gotten raves from the likes of Chester Brown and Paul Pope, but “mainstream” publications such as Playboy and Entertainment Weekly are giving it great marks as well.
Nick Bertozzi: The amount of interest in The Salon has floored me. I've been cartooning for fifteen years and I've never had readers respond to my comics like this one. I pinch myself with glee!
NRAMA: How’d you come to work on this project?
NUB: Back in 2002 my friend Tom Hart was starting up the online comics anthology Serializer.net with Joey Manley, and I really wanted to try making weekly comics. I had a couple of ideas for comics that I'd been knocking around for a while that I thought would be appropriate. One of the comics I'd wanted to do was a book about Cubism (since I'd been too hungover to understand what the Professor was talking about in Art History class) and another was about a magic absinthe that people could drink that would allow them to enter into any painting that they wanted and interact within. And the two ideas went together like chocolate and peanut butter.
NRAMA: Or Modernists and absinthe, anyway. How long have you been working on this one? Preview pages were released in 2005...
NUB: I drew the bulk of the book between 2002 and 2004, but I decided to wait for the centennial of the founding of Cubism (because) the book takes place in 1907.NRAMA: What kind of research did you do?
NUB: Lotsa biographies and art-books, but the best books were The Success and Failure of Picasso by John Berger and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein. Two great books that I'd highly recommend to anyone.
NRAMA: How was working on The Salon different from Houdini?
NUB: Houdini was great, since I wasn't responsible for writing the story, which is the hardest part for me.
NRAMA: How'd you become involved in this project? Had you worked with Jason before?
NUB: James Sturm wrote and I drew ten pitch pages for The Black Diamond Detective Agency, a job which Eddie Campbell eventually ended up drawing. James, having seen parts of The Salon, thought I'd be a good fit for drawing (Houdini), since I'd shown skill at drawing bowler hats and horse-drawn carriages.
NRAMA: This book has a slightly unusual distribution process, in that it’s coming out through the Center for Cartoon Studies, but Disney/Hyperion is releasing it. How does this work?
NUB: CCS is packaging this book for Hyperion. Imagine James Sturm is Madonna and he's opened his own "Maverick Records" to showcase his school and his favorite cartoonists.
NRAMA: I really, really don’t want to picture James as Madonna, but I’ll take your word for it. Had you worked with Jason before this?
NUB: I'd never worked with Jason before and when James asked me if I wanted to get paid to learn at the knee of one of my favorite cartoonists, the answer was an emphatic, "YES!"
NRAMA: What was your collaborative process like? I saw that you worked from Jason's layouts; did you have to adapt your style to work with his?
NUB: I tell my cartooning students at The School of Visual Arts that Jason's thumbnails are the Gold Standard of Cartoon Thumbnailing. In this sense, I wasn't so much collaborating with Jason as learning about clear pacing and composition. After twenty or so pages I felt confident enough to vary some shots and add some Bertozzi goofiness.
NRAMA: How long have you had an interest in Houdini?
NUB: I was never that interested in "magic.” But I liked the shape of Houdini's head, it was fun to draw.
NRAMA: How did Glen David Gold come to do the introduction, and what was it like having an author of his caliber comment on your work?
NUB: James Sturm asked him to do it and Glen, being the nicest person you'll ever talk to, couldn't resist, having tackled similar content in Carter Beats the Devil. I still have little welts on my arms from pinching myself.
NRAMA: I can imagine – that’s one of my favorite books, and it’s very cool that he participated in this project. Now, with the release through Disney/Hyperion Houdini has the potential to be seen by a wider (and much younger) audience than many of your comics. How do you feel about this exposure?
NUB: Having a young daughter myself, I'd like to see more comics that parents and kids can read together. I hope that The Handcuff King fits that bill.
NRAMA: Like The Salon, Houdini obviously required a lot of research, which you touch on in the back of the book. What kind of research did you have to do for this story?
NUB: When I started The Handcuff King, I'd just come off of two years drawing Paris in 1907 for The Salon, so I was familiar with the fashion and gas-lamps, and carriages, and cobblestone streets. Also, Jason sent me a ton of Houdini photos. I'm not very good at caricature and it took me a long while to get comfortable with Harry and especially with Bess.
NRAMA: What was your favorite part of drawing the book?
NUB: There are several pages that Jason laid to be read as two page spreads, in which he used the form of the panels to reinforce the content of the panels. The long, vertical panels that he laid out for the elevator sequence are perfect. That may sound obvious to a reader, but it's not something that comes naturally to me and it was good to get kicked in the butt this way.
NRAMA: What were some of the things you found out about Houdini while working on the book that were surprising to you, or that you didn't know before?
NUB: He was a jogger!
NRAMA: Do you have a favorite Houdini illusion?
NUB: I regret that we didn't get to show him "catching a bullet."
NRAMA: Who do you feel is the best audience for this book?
NUB: It's intended for 10-and-up. But I put a lot of sweat into making 1908 Boston believable, so I would say "Kids and Psycho-historians"!
NRAMA: With The Salon and Houdini, you're releasing graphic novels through major publishers. You're getting to work within a pretty unique, even elite market for an artist not dealing with superheroes or manga. How does it feel to be in this place, and do you have any advice for aspiring creators out there?
NUB: This is a great time to be a cartoonist and I realize that I'm very, very lucky and I bow deeply to Eisner and Spiegelman and all the others that built this foundation for me. If you want to do comics, turn off the computer and start drawing right now.
NRAMA: You recently hosted a CBLDF benefit for the Gordon Lee case (the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has been working to dismiss charges brought against Lee after he distributed a preview of The Salon containing nudity at Free Comic Book Day 2005)? You've obviously been working very hard to help out.
NUB: The Book Launch/CBLDF Fundraiser was incredible, I felt like the king of the prom! We blew past the fundraising goal and everyone left well-fed and a little tipsy and laden with The Salon.
The CBLDF has spent a small fortune on the Gordon Lee case and I'm confident that they'll persevere in June. I hope that the prosecutors will learn that conversation and not confrontation is the way to govern a society.
NRAMA: You've been doing a lot of comics based on real-world historical figures. What's the appeal in doing those types of books, and what are some of the unique challenges they offer?
NUB: I just finished a short story based on Sir Ernest Shackleton set in 1914, so I may have pigeonholed myself. The best thing about doing stories set in this period is that these people are long gone, so that it's easier to fictionalize their lives. But the latest comic that I've been working on is a sci-fi fantasy story. You can read it here.
NRAMA: What's next for you?
NUB: I just signed a contract with Houghton-Mifflin to draw a comics-bio of Lenny Bruce, written by Harvey Pekar! Due in late 2008.
NRAMA: What's it like working with Harvey, and how did that collaboration come about?
NUB: I haven't gotten the Lenny Bruce script from Harvey yet and we've only spoken on the phone once, but I'm familiar with his working process from being roommates with one of his frequent collaborators, Dean Haspiel. Dean told me to look forward to many phone calls.
Both The Salon and Houdini: The Handcuff King are in stores now. To find out more about the Gordon Lee case, visit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s official site.
