I was amazed by the beatnik era of the 1950s. It was a period when post-World War II realities reshaped society and ushered in an era of free thought and avant-garde expressionism, at least behind the scenes of the underground counterculture and intellectual movements of the time. . A secret group opposed to McCarthyism.
HOWL #1 explores all of this and more, but not through a science fiction lens. This is a comic book story drawn by the phenomenally talented Maurice and loosely based on the parents of comics industry veteran author Alisa Kwitney. In particular, the life of his mother, who lived in a New York village with her father, science fiction writer Robert Sheckley. In this sweet interview, which you can read below, we spoke to Kwitney about this new comic released by AHOY, along with her own writing career.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity
HOWL #1 Cover A by Mauricet
Christian Angeles: This may sound strange, but I read Chronicles of a Foretold Death many years ago and really liked your take on destiny. Thank you for being a creator. my first question is this. As someone who has already dealt with the concept of time in your career, what was it like creating a historical drama about the lives of your own parents?
Alisa Whitney: Thank you so much…I still have my DC Comics Destiny t-shirt and statue, and they are prized possessions!
I loved writing about the plague, and God knows my taste for body horror hasn’t waned over the years and wearing low-rise jeans, but back in my twenties and thirties. had a completely different approach to writing historical novels than we do today. .
When I was young, I was influenced by the historical novels I read, the big, thick medieval novels by Frank Yarby, the wartime stories by Herman Uck, and the prehistoric stories by Jean Auer. Having lived through what I now consider to be historic times, I find it easier to tell the story in a natural voice, with more humor and less pomp. I feel it.
When it came to writing about my own parents, I probably knew my mother better than most people. She raised me single-handedly, so we had very similar tastes and temperaments. She allowed herself to be known, warts and all. And I still hear her voice inside me. Her voice is poignant, warm, and reflective, commenting on everything and everyone.
Angels: Looking back, was a career as a writer always considered part of your… destiny?
Kwitney: Oh, sure. I grew up with my mother, who was an avid reader and a great writer (though she struggled with her inability to write all her life), my father’s bookshelves, my father’s own stories and novels, his mentors and rivals. I was brought up on books by friends. My mother gave me books and poems and talked to me about the editing process. Because of her, I wrote poetry (free verse) when I was in third grade and ended up publishing a book through a teacher-writer collaboration when I was eight years old. After that, I hit writer’s block. Nothing spoils more than early success. you are awake
When I was a teenager, my father moved back to New York and we built a relationship based on books and writing. I remember showing him what I had written and longing for him to anoint me and say, “This is what I wrote. You are a writer! ” Instead, he shrugged and said, “Well, for what it’s worth, you have talent.” I stung and asked, “Well, for what it’s worth, you have talent. “So what’s important, if not talent?” He told me that sitting down and writing was what really mattered. Approach storytelling like a plumber fixes a leaky pipe. As a teenager, I was disappointed in this reaction. Now I think that’s great and true.
HOWL #2 Cover by Maurice
Angels: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is a hell of a pitch. What other 1950s influences did you explore in writing this?
Kwitney: Oh, let’s see. Book…The Fifties by David Halberstam. Mary Gabriel’s “The Woman on 9th Avenue.” Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson (that was a re-read). I watched Roger Corman’s Bucket of Blood and rewatched a lot of 50’s movies… and best of all, with Alzheimer’s… I interviewed my mother and read her diary before she lost her memory. It was actually the early ’60s, but close enough to get a feel for it.
Angels: What about science fiction?
Kwitney: My father is the science fiction writer Robert Sheckley, and I grew up loving his short stories. Because they were absurd, sinister, and truly a facet of horror. Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, Frederick Brown, Zena Henderson, AEVan Vogt…all these clever sociologist writers wrote all their stories, fast, clean, sharp, and deliciously disturbing. I think many people who love Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” don’t realize how much of the material is yellowing and falling apart in used bookstores.
HOWL #3 Cover by Maurice
Angeles: I had no idea. What was it like working with artist Maurice?
Kwitney: Maurice and I just talked…he finished the last page of issue #5 just as issue #1 hit the stands, and we’re planning what’s next. (I said, “Horror!” and he said, “Romance!” Maybe we’ll find a way to combine the two.) We can pick up on each other’s interests and enthusiasms, so I I love working with him.
Angels: Now, I have a specific question about Howl. I love how the aliens see beatniks as an existential threat, especially to New Yorkers at the time. Why make such a creative choice? Why focus on non-conformists in a conformist post-World War II boomer society?
Kwitney: It all started with the character of Myrtle Morell, who was partially inspired by real-life celebrity psychotherapist Mildred Newman. Mildred is my mother’s therapist, and the group includes my mother, my mother’s best friend Peggy, Peggy’s husband Saul, and an Abstract Expressionist painter and his wife (I met their daughter while researching this book). was leading the Mildred also met directors Mike Nichols and Paul Simon, actors Anthony Perkins, and Richard Benjamin and his wife Paula Prentice. She went on to co-author the bestseller How to Be Your Own Best Friend. This is what I thought. Why was this woman so greedy to acquire prominent patients in the art world? Was it their fame? Was it their creativity? That felt a little unhealthy, so I came up with the idea of giving it a sci-fi horror twist. What if an alien general decides that controlling creative nonconformists is the key to taking over the United States? Was that the key to conquering all humanity?
Howl #4 Cover Maurice
Angels: Science Fiction Writers Association was a smart device. A science fiction creative’s perspective on situations that require creative science fiction thinking. Was this meta-commentary about your own family, or was it something you noticed about the writers and currents of thought of the era?
KWITNEY: Well, my mom wrote a letter about going to the Hydra Club (the group’s real name) and getting a passionate hug from Isaac Asimov, aka “Ike.” In the late 1950s, people began interacting in person. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall of my father, Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, and others.
But that was also how these futurists arrived at the idea that they could envision a world where aliens are humans, but not fully grasping the idea that women are fully human, just like men. I couldn’t. When I was a child, there were no words to describe the experiences of girls reading about the experiences of boys and men. It seemed to me that the experiences of white boys and men were being presented as the basic default state of being human. Being a woman was a strange offshoot of the default human experience. I know there is a word for it now. I think sociology and critics call it the “unmarked state” or “unmarked category.” But when I was younger, I felt as if I was the only one aware of this…we were all fish swimming in the water of casual sexism. So we didn’t notice any water.
Angels: Extramarital sexuality is a good theme to explore at the dawn of the second wave feminist movement. Was there anything you wanted to explore further in Howl with your use of character expression?
Kwitney: Oh, you want to know if there’s more sex? Well, there’s a significant love scene later in the series, but this one has a lot of important story features, so I’m going to give it quite a bit of space. I gave it. But sexuality, creativity, and individuality are all recurring themes. Also, you didn’t ask for this, but I’ll give it to you as a free gift. After this, a motorcycle gang comes out. Because how can you write about the 50s without a bike or two?
Howl #5 Cover Maurice
ANGELES: Lastly, is there anything else you would like to say about the rest of the upcoming issues in this series or what it was like working with AHOY?
Kwitney: I love working with Tom Payer. Sometimes we talked about old movies and comics, sometimes we played around with plot points. I visited him during the eclipse and ended up giving him the British Film Institute’s book on John Carpenter’s The Thing. Rob Bottin, the practical effects genius who created the shape-shifting aliens in that movie, was a big influence on the fungal aliens in Howl, both for me and Morissette. But you’ll have to stick around until the final issue to see the full-body horror showdown!
Something like this:
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