Mike Murphy is a comic book writer, creator, and (with Celina Hernandez) co-founder of Chibi Comics and a life-long comic book fan.

“Ever since I could read, I’ve been reading comics, ever since I could draw, I’ve been drawing them,” Mike said. “I think the first books I remember were a Comico Gumby Summer Special, and an issue of Sword of The Atom.

Mike had intended to become a comic book artist, and he said that, aside from a five-year stint with his old punk band Myopia, that goal never changed.

“However, once I started attending the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and I hooked up with friends who also wanted to draw comics,” Mike said, “it became obvious someone was going to have to handle the writing side of the equation. I pulled the short straw. That said, over the years I have really grown to love being a writer. Even more than being an artist, I think. I’m a faster writer than I am an artist, and I also think I’m better at writing than drawing. So, there’s that.”

Mike is currently writing Red Town, Nothing Ever Lasts, Bodies: The Difference Between Here And Gone, and Days Apart for Chibi and has a variety of other projects in the works.

T.E. Pouncey: I instantly became a fan of your Red Town series after reading the first issue. How hard is it to plot a mystery comic book?

Mike Murphy: Plotting a mystery never seemed that hard to me; come up with the drive of the story (Bill killed Amy because of Blahbiddy-boo, for etc….), and then fast forward to your main character discovering the body, or the crime scene, or whatever. The hard part is covering the main plot up, throwing in convincing red herrings, and keeping the readers guessing. It’s like a magic trick as story. It’s all about misdirection.

TEP: The art of Celina Hernandez blends as well with your style in Red Town and Bodies as Sir John Tenniel’s art blended with Lewis Carroll’s prose or Ralph Steadman’s art meshed with Hunter S. Thompson’s writing. How much input do you have into her art design?

MM: Red Town we do differently than just about everything else we work on, or have worked on. If I have a very specific look that I’m going for, I’ll do the layouts for that issue. Then, sometimes, if I think she’ll come up with a better look and/or angle, I’ll let her run wild. Then there are times when I’ll give her almost no direction in the script at all, and I’ll have her interpret a scene based almost purely on the dialog. That’s how issue ten (the funeral) worked. To this day, that’s one of my favorite things that I’ve written.

TEP: If Red Town was made into a movie and you could chose either David Lynch or Brian DePalma to direct, who would you pick?

MM: Can I choose a third option? Chris Nolan. If I had to choose one of the above, David Lynch.

TEP: I enjoy your super-hero team comic Nothing Ever Lasts. What can be done with a super-hero team that hasn’t already been done a gazillion times?

MM: I think Sergio and I are still trying to figure that out! For one thing, freedom comes into play a lot when you’re working on your own personal superhero story. There are no limits. And that’s not to say I’m not a fan of the “Big Two”; quite the opposite, actually. I really enjoy the new series, and the Atom and the Avengers books these days. Still, at the end of the day, there’s only so far you can go creatively with those titles. As I think Matt Fraction said: “You can take dad’s car out for a spin as long as you get it back home.” He also noted that while that’s true, you can still take the car for an amazing journey while you’ve got it. I think that’s why I’d love the chance to work on some of those characters one day.

Back to the question. I like superhero titles that do their best to push established concepts, and introduce new ones. Invincible, for example, is a series that, on the surface, looks like a classic superhero universe. And yet, none of the stuff in that book could happen at the big two. Sergio and I like to think we’re building towards that with NEL. To ease people into the universe, we’re playing with what may seem to be very typical archetypes and situations, but as the series progresses, we’re going to pull the rug out from under them. That’s the fun of writing a capes title with no limitations.

TEP: After all these years, why do you think super-heroes have remained so popular?

MM: I honestly believe people love the rush of new ideas and big concepts.The argument is always that America has the only comic industry in the world that’s dominated by superheroes. And while that may be true to a degree, you can’t look at something like the anime series Speed Grapher or R.O.D., or even something like Doctor Who, and tell me that it’s not superhero fiction without the costumes and the logos. Would The Paper Sisters from R.O.D. or The Doctor even, be out of place in the New Avengers or the Justice League? I think they’d fit in perfectly. It’s all storytelling. It’s all action/adventure. Some characters just happen to be wearing spandex.

TEP: Sergio Calvet does some amazing art on Nothing Ever Lasts. How did you begin working with him?

MM: I know, isn’t he just amazing? It’s a shame he’s yet to make it big over here. That’s become one of my personal goals- make him a household name. I first noticed his work in the early days of Millarworld. We were some of the first people to sign up, and I always noticed his work. Then, I became an editor for the short-lived anthology site pulp21.com, where he was a regular contributor. NEL was a concept I’d been sitting on for years. One day, I decided I was sick of not doing anything with it. I reworked it from the ground up, and asked if he was interested. Luckily, he loves superheroes, and was itching to get back to them. We’ve totally been on the same page with the book ever since.

TEP: A common thread in your writing — whether it’s Red Town, Nothing Ever Lasts, or Bodies: The Difference Between Here And Gone — is the nature of relationships. What do you consider the key to a successful relationship?

MM: Thanks for spotting that. Honesty and communication. They have to be there, no matter what the context of the relationship. I’ve let one or the other slip from a few relationships, and they’ve all ended badly. And I regret all of them. No matter if it’s family, personal, professional, or friendship, you have to keep those first and foremost at all times, even if it hurts.

TEP: You are currently writing Days Apart about your relationship with Celina. Is it cathartic or just plain scary to put your relationship on a dissecting table for everyone to see?

MM: A bit of both. We’ve been through a lot over our four-plus years together. Some of it good, some of it bad. There’s going to be lots of people who won’t exactly be happy with the content of the book, but we’re trying to keep it as honest a depiction as possible. We’ve made a lot of headway through the book, but we’re waiting for the third act to happen in our lives before we can finish the book. And when that third act happens isn’t in our hands, so I can’t give a definitive answer as to when it’ll be out. Soon, I hope!

TEP: You attend many, many comic book conventions. Which is the best convention you’ve been to and why?

MM: The Stumptown convention. It’s local for us, so there’s no travel, and it’s focused on us indie guys. There’s always a great sense of community and easy-going fun there. We always look forward to it.

TEP: Which one of the comic characters you’ve created would I want to have my back if Batman decided to mop the floor with my forehead?

MM: Serious answer? Sym from NEL. We’ve seen from Identity Crisis that Bats never put much thought into protecting his noggin, and Sym is the king of mental-based powers. He’d have him prancing through Gotham in a tutu in two minutes flat. Fun answer? Jessica Harms from Red Town. She’d melt his cold, bitter heart.

TEP: What new projects will you have for us by the end of 2007?

MM: Well, we’ve got 5 Past Midnight running now over on the Chibi Comics page (http://myspace.com/chibicomics), and we’ll also have another series, House Of Silence, up and running by November. Next year, there’s a lot on the table. With luck, you’ll finally see I Go Bump, Meanwhile, Newborn, Bandages, Violet Eyes, Heaven Is In Our Pants, Lotus Wolf, and some other stuff we can’t talk about yet.