Interview: Frank J. Barbiere & Morgan Beem go meta in THE AUTHOR IMMORTAL

DEANNA DESTITO: What inspired this story?

FRANK J. BARBIERE: I’ve been wanting to write a story that dealt with authorship, storytelling, and a fictional “story world within a story” for a long time. When I wrote Five Ghosts in 2013 at the beginning of my career, there were many seeds of these ideas, but they were filtered through an action-adventure story. As I spent some time away from comics, I thought deeply about the one story I wanted to tell, which became The Author Immortal. Things clicked into place after I was introduced to Morgan; her art kick-started my brain, and all the ideas I had been thinking about came together. Seeing her sketches and having her enthusiasm for the story helped it take shape.

Like many writers, I’ve spent a long time thinking about the combative relationship readers currently have with stories and writers. With many of our most beloved writers betraying our values, falling from grace, or letting us down, audiences have grown skeptical of stories. Coupled with the rise of AI and story as “content,” we’ve lost faith. I’m an optimist who believes in the power of stories to heal, guide, and entertain, so I wanted to infuse as much of that as possible into this book. At its core, it is a fantasy story, but it also addresses many real-world issues, including the death of the author and embracing one’s identity. While I don’t necessarily have answers for everyone, the book explores these tough questions, and it can help many readers feel seen during a challenging time in a world that doesn’t always seem optimistic.

One big inspiration for me is the ’00s-era Vertigo books, particularly The Unwritten. Mike Carey’s and Peter Gross’s work is one of my all-time favorite stories, and the format of the “long ongoing series” is something I’ve wanted to approach for most of my career. Using The Unwritten as a thematic touchstone, we’ve created something that complements it and offers our perspective on metafiction, literature, and the power of stories in the modern world.

DESTITO: How does this team work creatively? Does everyone do their thing, or is it more collaborative?

BARBIERE: We are a very collaborative team, and working with Image Comics, we have complete control of the book down to the design and what is on every page of each issue. I kick things off by writing a script, which I’ll then start reviewing with our editor, Arden Ripley. We’ll pass that along to Morgan Beem, who will thumbnail it out and always elevates the material; while I write a full script, working with a talent like Morgan is always a thrill as she adds so much to the page layout and pace, as well as amazing character and creature designs. We’ll then circle up on a call to review the details, and from there, Morgan will finalize the pages. Often, especially when working on corporate IP, you lack a personal connection or the time to review everything with your collaborators. It’s a truly special process for us to collaborate on every page at every stage of the project, and it shows in the love and care that go into the final product.

This also extends to design and lettering. Hassan [Otsmane-Elhaou] will letter over the final art, and he always elevates the project with his font choices and balloon design. We let him do his thing and review afterward, as I believe in allowing my collaborators to bring their best to a project. Sasha E Head works similarly; we share the book with her, and she’ll get her own design choices and artistry for the issue. It’s been a joy to see it come together, and we’ve assembled a truly exceptional team.

MORGAN BEEM: The art style has a watercolor look because it is, in fact, traditional watercolor! When I color my own work, that is my preferred method. When Frank first approached me about this project, we discussed the style and feel we wanted the book to have. Not only did I (selfishly, haha) want more control over the visual mood, but we also thought the watercolor could lend a softer, slightly dreamy quality to a book mostly set in a fantasy world. We crafted a lot of extra little bits, in addition to the colors, to really immerse readers in that fantasy book feel. One example of this is the decorative panel borders for the “in-book” scenes, which I drew a lot of inspiration from medieval decorative text for. I also hoped sticking with watercolor might give us some visual interest to stand out on the shelves in a sea of other well-drawn comics. 

DESTITO: Deb is clearly a reference to another real-life writer who has definitely ostracized her fanbase. Why did you include this detail?

BARBIERE: One of the key themes of the story is the lengths we will go to create meaningful work and become “immortal.” As we’ve seen in the real world, authors are humans with failings, and unfortunately, some of them have views that are dangerous or largely divorced from the content of their work. I believe one of the “great wounds” of my generation is the fall of some of our most beloved authors, and I think it’s important to address this within fiction. As The Author Immortal is a story about the power of stories, authors, and how we can define ourselves in light of what a story’s writer believes, it seemed very relevant and necessary to reference the real-world failings of modern authors through characters, as well as through larger allegory. The death of the author (the idea that we can divorce creative work from its writer) as a literary concept can be highly divisive, and we wanted to investigate it within our story. While there are no easy answers, these questions are at the core of The Author Immortal, and ultimately, we want a story about embracing identity and finding your way through a world that isn’t always easy to navigate.

DESTITO: Any teasers you want to share?