If you're reading this, then you've probably already heard of Steve Orlando. He was a guest at our first annual Flame-Con and is the writer of one of the best LGBTQ superhero books being published today (and my superhero crush), Midnighter. He's not only a great writer, but he's a really great dude. I got to read an advanced copy of his new book, VIRGIL, and I can say it's pretty damn top shelf.
He's also done a lot of other things, I mean, just read over this bio he sent me:
Steve Orlando's first book ever was poorly drawn in fifth-grade classroom pencils on Xerox paper, and featured a doughboy with superpowers, and names changed from trademark purposes. He was a precocious child. Today he writes and produces comics, including VIRGIL, Undertow and stories in the Eisner Award Nominated Outlaw Territory at Image Comics. As well, he launched Midnighter as well as taking part in Justice League: Gods and Men, Batman and Robin Eternal and CMYK: Yellow at DC Entertainment. Find him at your convenience deep down the rabbit hole of discussing wine, spirits, or mythology.
VIRGIL is currently available for pre-order on Amazon (and from coutnless other places) - you can follow Steve on Twitter here, where he tweets about LGBTQ news and issues, comic books, and everything in between. If you haven't already, you should definitely pick up Midnighter (which was sold out at my local comic shop last week - which is a good thing even though now I have to wait even longer to read that scene of Midnighter and Nightwing shirtless together) and make sure to pick up VIRGIL.
Steve was nice enough to want to talk to us about the new book, so buckle up - because Steve is a wonderful angel and I ask a super shameless question at the end:
Panel from VIRGIL
Ian Carlos Crawford: So, where did you come up with the idea for VIRGIL?
Steve Orlando: At a movie theater! I was just walking out of Django Unchained, and decided somebody should take that type of revenge epic and bring in queer themes. To do something bold, risky, and out of the box when it comes to action narrative. I already knew I wanted to create a noir comic with artist JD Faith, from our both taking part in the Nobodies, Volume 2 anthology. We just didn’t know what the subject matter would be, besides punching and revenge.
And I realized I didn’t want to wait for someone else, I wanted it to be me, to be us, myself, JD and Chris, to make this thing happen. To take grindhouse, exploitation fiction, and create queersploitation. The audience was there, the audience was hungry, and so was I, to do something that hadn’t been done in comics yet.
ICC: What made you pick the setting of present day Jamaica for VIRGIL?
SO: I had recently seen a TIME Magazine article naming Jamaica as “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth.” Now, of course, the reality is always more complex, and a lot of anti-gay tensions grows out of a long term legacy of colonialism and the outsourcing of hate-driven religious rhetoric. But the fact remained that in this place often thought of as a vacation paradise, the queer community was fight a life and death fight. In fact, the majority of gay men where living homeless, in a sewer drain, known as “The Gully.” There is a great VICE documentary summing it up: Young and Gay: Jamaica’s Gully Queens. It can be found on youtube.
So I wanted to set the book in Jamaica to further do the work of exploitation – to open new eyes to a community’s struggle, a fight a lot of people didn’t even know was being fought. And I wanted to do the work of comics, to take readers to a place they’ve maybe never gone, and show it to them in a way they’ve never seen. To show them things they’ve never seen, with no budget, no restrictions, just raw screaming passion.
Page from VIRGIL
ICC: How much research went into this book?
SO: A large amount! The documentary I mentioned above was the inciting point, but from there I delved into not just news stories, photo reference, facts and statistics, but personal accounts as well. In the age of social media and the internet, there are first hand sources, first hand accounts aggregating daily from people speaking under the safety of anonymous internet handles. And beyond that, our kickstarter edition of the book, a rough hardcover, reached some people living the life day to day in Jamaica, and so I was able to make direct contact and get their opinions of the story, allowing that to inform the wide release version that hits on September 9th.
ICC: What would you say were some of your biggest influences with writing VIRGIL?
SO: Grindhouse and Blaxploitation films! Films like Sweet Sweetback, Superfly, Across 110th Street, and Coffy. But not just that, the sort of bold, grotesque, unapologetic fiction of Philip Jose Farmer, who deals often in masculine farce and lampoons the traditional winning male traits. And the iconic crime comics as well, things like Scalped by Aaron and Guera, Ed Brisson’sMurder Book (which JD has worked on).
I tried to consume as much crime noir as I could in as many formats, to see what we could bring to the table. I know our starting point for the visuals of the book was Batman: Year One meets Drive.
ICC: How much say did you have in the art and character designs in this book?
SO: I try to stay out of it, and I consider that a good thing! I give starting point descriptions for the characters, but part of collaboration is trusting your collaborators and knowing when to let them do their thing. And with VIRGIL we have an amazing team, with a great vision for the book’s style – like I said, a bit of Drive and a bit of Year One. So I knew I wanted the characters to be distinct, especially in their facial structures, since they wouldn’t be wearing costumes to make them easy to identify. And I knew I wanted the setting to feel real. But most of all, I knew to step back and let JD and Chris accomplish these things in their own amazing way.
Page from VIRGIL
ICC: How did you end up joining forces with VIRGIL artist, J.D. Faith?
SO: JD and I met when we both took part in an anthology from DRAWMORE, INC called Nobodies, Volume 2. The idea was to get published work to have something to show larger companies and help get the word out about what we could do. I worked with Undertow’s Artyom Trakhanov on the book BEFORE Undertow came out from Image. And JD had his own story in the book. And I think it worked! Because JD and I saw each other’s stories when we got our comp copies and decided we needed to create something together! We new it would be crime, hard hitting action, and that’s where the creative team, and the story, grew from.
ICC: I love that the main character, a badass brawler, is a bottom - I found it pleasantly surprising in the best possible way. Can you talk a little about your decision to do that?
SO: I think it’s about maximizing the way we subvert masculine tropes. Any time you’re doing something bold, something disruptive, you’re upsetting the balance. And in the case of the action movie hero, the action lead, they often epitomize traditional masculinity. But why did they have to be like that?
And when it comes to traditional masculinity, queerness, and specifically gay male sexuality, is very threatening to that concept. Any system with so many rules about what “is” and “isn’t” masculine is a house of cards that is easy to pull down. So having an action hero that is also a bottom is a subversion of those tropes right out of the gate. The act of being the receptive sexual partner is in many ways the ultimate stand in the face of mainstream masculinity. To receive the very symbol of masculinity, a stereotypically feminine role. But in VIRGIL we’re saying that CAN be masculine. We’re breaking tropes, and saying something new about what makes a man, so to speak.
ICC: Would you say writing Midnighter was a gateway to creating VIRGIL?
SO: Actually, VIRGIL was in production long before Midnighter. But what Midnighter did give me is perspective when it came to refreshing the book for the wide release. I have written a gay superhero. I wanted to write a gay hero, someone with problems, mistakes, self doubt. Make him more real. And the audience of Midinghter has given me a wider range of people to get eyes onVIRGIL and the lives it presents.
ICC: Who would be your dream cast for a movie version of VIRGIL?
SO: I would have to say, I would really like Andre Holland for Ervan and John David Washington for Virgil. Washington’s charisma would be perfect for the character’s growth and attitude.
Panel from VIRGIL
ICC: This story is pretty self contained in VIRGIL - do you think you'll ever revisit these characters?
SO: Definitely! But if we did, it would be in a new setting, while maintaining the subversive themes, style, and point of view. We’d have new characters, new places and faces. But the same aggressive, raw, primal tone and grindhouse action.
ICC: Okay, last question, who would win in a fight between Virgil and Midnighter - and, follow up question, will Midnighter go on a date with me?
SO: I hate to say it, but Midnighter! He’s genetically perfected for fighting, and Virgil is just a man looking for revenge. But that’s why we love him!
And Midnighter would definitely go! If he hasn’t done something before, he wants to do it!
Facebook: Ian Carlos Photography
Twitter: @ianxcarlos
