Death Comes to Dillinger: Q & A With James Patrick

It'’s a familiar image for a western. The mysterious stranger that rides into a town. Only this time that stranger is the embodiment of death himself. That'’s the premise for Death Comes to Dillinger, a two-part story being published by Silent Devil Productions in March. The series is written by James Patrick with art and color by se7enhedd and JM Ringuet.

James Patrick's previous work includes Crackurz and Lionxor. He was kind enough to talk with TGC about his work and background.

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HZ: So, where did you grow up? Go to School?

James: I'm from a bunch a bunch of places. I was born in Youngstown, Ohio. My family moved to Conneaut, Ohio, where I spent many impressionable years. Then I went back to Youngstown and attended Youngstown State University where I studied Psychology.

HZ: Why did you want to be a writer? What was your first writing job? For comics?

James: I guess part of me is a masochist. I don't know why anyone wants to be a writer. It just sort of happened. At some point, I had to put things down that were in my head or I was going to explode. I started and I couldn't stop.

I wrote for some websites here and there, but my first pay job -- the first check I ever got -- I can't say because not everybody was getting paid that was doing work for them and I don't want to people who weren't getting paid to give them shit. I'll just say that I've done pay work for a number of places, including ssscomics and for Strhess productions. It's a tough industry, and I feel fortunate to have gotten paid work while I'm trying to build a reputation.

HZ: For "Death Comes To Dillinger" how did you get paired up with the artist se7enhedd and J.M. Ringuet.

James: I saw se7enhedd's work on a website and pursued him just short of a restraining order. I lured him with a nice company that was interested in Dillinger at the time. While the company didn't end up publishing Dillinger, it found a nice home and Jay stayed on the book and ended up kicking complete ass on it.

JM was one of a hundred colorists work I looked at, and it stood so much out from the rest I waited for him to do some moving so he could do the book. I'm so glad I did. I can't imagine anyone other than Jay and JM together on the book now.

HZ: Are you much of a fan of the Western and Horror genres? If so, what are your favorites?

James: Yeah. I'm a huge horror fan. There are Western movies I love like High Noon and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, but I'd be lying if I said I was a huge fan. The thing about Dillinger is the setting or genre tell the story best. It was part of the idea that came to me at once with the story rather than me saying I wanted to write a Western.

HZ: As a creator on a small-press books, how do you deal with the challenges of bringing attention to your work?

James: You know, bang my head against a wall a couple hundred times. I mean, yeah, it's frustrating. And there's nothing you can do because there's no science to it. I did Crackurz and had no press and the book, with its 3.99 price, did okay. My next book Lionxor went through Previews and I did interviews and previews and there was all this great reaction to preview, and it didn't do very well at all. There really is no approach I have to it other than to go out on messageboards and news sites and do wheverybodyody else is dong. You either strike a cord with people or you don't. And sometimes even if you do strike a cord, they still don't buy or they wait for the trade. And there's nothing you can do about it. Who is there to be angry at? I look at a market like the weather. You can't change it. You can either do what you want to do and hope it catches on or do what you want to do and be happy doing it despite numbers or anything. I was happy people loved those (Crackurz and Lionxor) books. That's all I can be. It did well with critics and the people who read them. The market is there because of the industry's own choices and because other things are more appealing, and I've decided to put my hat in knowing that. I get irked when people get annoyed when people say they're waiting for the trade. They're doing that because that's how they play it safe, or that's how they're satisfied. What's that person supposed to do? Say, "Well, I really don't like singles, but I'm going to go out there and do it for the industry." That doesn't work. People have to be compelled to bsomethinging. They have to want or in some way need to buy it. It's not like you can change the desire somebody feels for something, including a format. If trades take over the industry, then that's how it is. If small press titles aren't selling, then creators have to find away to make them sell. I hate when the market is BLAMED. You can't blame a market. You can give it as a reason, but you can't BLAME it, if that makes any sense. Yeah, I know, I've digressed. I deal with it by understanding these things, and knowing the ball is in my court to make something appealing. I think I made something appealing and at the same time something I wanted to do with Dillinger. So, in this case, that's how I dealt with it.

HZ: The basic idea for Death Comes Dillinger is one of those concepts that's so good that it sounds obvious after the fact. Having Death embodied as a gunslinger is such a natural fit. How did you develop the idea for the book?


James: It really was a "chain of thought" as I just told somebody else. I mean, first of all, I'm not sure about how exactly original the idea is, I just know it was original to me. I'd never seen it specifically. Sure, there were skeleton cowboys and skull cowboy images lurking around, but I'd never seen it actually be Death itself. And sure, we've seen Death on a horse before in a hood and being the classic image, but that wasn't a Western. And all of it just kind of came to me, and I said, how come this hasn't been done before? Maybe it has. I did some research, but didn't find anything. So I came up with this concept that Death, like a drifter, was basically this dirty, dusty SOB that rides from town and town and, if he's in your little hell hole, it means somebody is going to die. Then he leaves. Why wouldn't he conduct his business like everyone else in the West? And that concept of it with the image of a skull cowboy in my mind really made it all work for me. Sold it to myself. Now, having said all that, a year after I started developing it, wouldn't you know I saw someone do Death as a cowboy -- though it had nothing to do with the story I was telling. Oddly enough, the artist in that story was one of the first artists I approached -- a year earlier -- for the project. I'm sure it wasn't anything done on purpose, but I did do a double take when I saw it.

HZ: Do you have anything else in the works? Are you able to talk about it?

James: Yeah, I've got stuff. For one, I'm back to doing backup stories in Hero Happy Hour now that it's making its return. I've been doing a work-for-hire book with Derek Hess and Strhess Productions, though I'm not sure when that will hit. And you're right, everything else I can't really talk about.

What is nice ice is some publishers are genuinely interested in what I have now, and I hope after Dillinger comes out it will build on any of that. Guess we'll see.

HZ: Thanks for all your time, I really appreciate it.

James: No prob.

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Related Links:

The Silent Devil Productions Home Page.
Preview pages at Newsarama.

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