Can you ever truly escape the sins of your past? It's a question that ex-soldier Blue faces in Time Waits, a terrific new time travel thriller from the team of writers Chip Zdarsky and David Brothers, artists Marcus To and Marvin Sianipar, colorist Matt Wilson and letterer Ariana Maher.
Published by DSTLRY, the new series mixes its intriguing science fiction premise with a heartfelt story about the relationship between Blue and his partner, Grace, as they start to plan a future for their family. Unfortunately, this is exactly the moment that people from Blue's old life come after him with vengeance in mind.
Hi Chip and David! Can you tell us a little bit about the origins of this book? Where did the idea for Time Waits start?
Chip Zdarsky: It started from David and I wanting to write something together! For the past several years we’ve been doing the Mangasplaining podcast with our friends Chris and Deb and it became pretty apparent our story interests were highly overlapping circles in a venn diagram. One of our favourite tropes is the man running from his violent past, and there's something about the word "past" there that made us think about time and time travel melded with the concept.
David Brothers: The time travel angle gave us a fun sci-fi perspective to start building a story from, and grounding the story in a small town and with a small cast let us stretch from one extreme to the other, from street-level crime fiction to sci-fi action. Crime is a favorite genre of mine, and this was a nice chance to test our collective might – Chip and I with the story, Marcus and Marvin with the linework, Matt with the colors, and Ariana with the letters – while also trying to kick things in fun new directions.
Your central character is Blue, a soldier from a future conflict. What can you tell us about him and the world that he's fleeing?
Brothers: In the future, Blue was expected to treat human life cheaply at the request of his corporate sponsor. No life was above their pursuit of profit and control, an expectation which eventually broke him. Now that he's safe in our day, he's pushing in the other direction, trying to find something that makes him click, that makes him feel connected to humanity. He knows there's something out there for him. He just doesn't know what it is yet, but he's trying. He loves Grace, who grants him the space to find his thing in her own way.
Who is Grace and what challenges does she face in the story?
Zdarsky: I feel like every relationship has someone who's more put together, and Grace is that here. To tie into the time travel themes, she's supportive of Blue, but also wants to move forward in time, to not stay stuck in their routines. So while Blue is moving slowly, figuring out who he is, Grace is eager to expand their family, to take their bounty and share it with more than just them.
You mentioned that the series explores the trope of "guy who left his violent past behind gets pulled back in." What draws you back to this idea?
Brothers: A necessary part of growing up is shedding certain things as you go. We try on new clothes, new ways of thinking, new friends, and new hobbies. Some of them stick around, most of them don't, and the worst of them need a crowbar and years of therapy to separate yourself from. Imagine any of the things or people you've needed to leave behind in order to become who you are today. Now, imagine those things reaching out and pulling you back into their orbit, insisting on you returning to a way of life that was never yours.
In the classic mode for these stories, the reintroduction of the violent past necessarily results in a violent reaction. But fear, desperation, and confusion are common ingredients in that mix as well, and offer a range of options for the person being pulled back. The stakes are deeply human in these stories. Do our characters want peace? Are they at risk of dying, losing something they love, or being exposed for a liar? Do they want to return to their old ways, or permanently escape from it? These stories are a good way to explore difficult emotions and depict some fun action scenes simultaneously, a fantastic skeleton to hang a story on.
How's it been working together on a comic? And how do you find the co-writing process?
Brothers: It's been great. Despite being the man who touched the souls of thousands with Sex Criminals, and then went on to write pretty good takes on Spider-Man, Daredevil, and then somehow Batman as well, Chip is a really easy going guy. Chip has written tons more comics than I have (though I think the crime comics I've done with Alissa Sallah in Iron Circus's Perfect Crime Party anthology and Nick Dragotta in our work together has been pretty good) but there was never a question of it being anything but equal partnership.
I tried to take advantage of his experience when needed, of course. I love laconic dialogue, but sometimes you do actually need to explain things to people to keep the story moving along. But really, co-writing was painless and genuinely ego-free. We split up pages, went over each other's work, and blurred a lot of lines. Even if an idea seemed way out-there, we took each other's thoughts very seriously before discarding it or figuring out a way to make it on the page. The best mode of comics for me is getting to make something beautiful with good people, and this was a chance to develop our own take on a classic idea, something that spoke to our shared fears about the future and today and the thrill that can be found in watching someone attempt to escape their past.
What can you say about working with Marcus To on this book?
Zdarsky: Every layer of Marcus's art is incredibly solid. A great storyteller, perfectly realized environments, amazing gestures and expressions, he's just the total package of comic book artists. And on top of that he’s got such a lush line, every panel just feels sexy? Can I say that? 'Cause it's true!
Brothers: I've been reading Marcus To for years, and we even shared a masthead once in the old Cyborg 009 graphic novel. Before writing began, I studied a bunch of his recent work with a critical eye, trying to identify things he was particularly good at and what we could take advantage of. His talents at sci-fi action are self-evident – Marcus is great at making unreal things feel like they are subject to gravity, like they exist in our reality. So, a lot of our approach to this is a reaction to that fact. We know that Marcus can knock sci-fi out of the park, and that definitely plays a part in our story, but we made sure to aim for some of his more subtle storytelling strengths too. He can make a quietly emotional conversation on the outskirts of a small town look as good as a big and booming X-Men battle with all the teams doing their thing. There's a bit of grappling in the first issue I think he absolutely nailed. Not to mention just how good Matt Wilson makes everything look in the end. It's like nothing else.
This is the first of four new series you've committed to at DSTLRY, Chip. What makes them an exciting publisher to work with?
Zdarsky: Oh man, it's just total freedom in an exciting format. I saw the final book this week and I was blown away by how gorgeous it is at that size. Matt Wilson’s colours pop, Ariana Maher's letters are crisp and lovely, it's all beautiful. Beyond that, DSTLRY just supports us fully with promotion and production. I can't stress enough how solid of a company they are to work with. I think readers are going to love what we've got planned for Time Waits and beyond.
Time Waits #1 is out now from DSTLRY. The second issue follows on November 13.
DSTLRY also recently launched sci-fi thriller LIFE from Brian Azzarello and Stephanie Phillips. Find out more in our exclusive interview.
