Midnight Western Theatre is one of the most consistently fun indie comics you’ll read. Each issue has a great sense of humour and adventure as two gothic cowboys, one undead and one a vampire, travel across the outlaw-ridden wild west. For the very first time, the series is being collected into one complete trade paperback edition, available to back now on Zoop. The Beat reached out to writer Louis Southard on what it was like to bring back Midnight Western Theatre and reflecting on the series years later.
This interview has been transcribed and edited for clarity.
JARED BIRD: Hello and thank you so much for your time. Midnight Western Theatre: The Complete Collection is available on Zoop now, with the crowdfunding campaign ending on the 28th of February. What was it like to revisit one of your earliest comics?
LOUIS SOUTHARD: I would say it’s been very fulfilling. Technically I broke into the industry in 2019 but my first comic never actually came out. That was very disappointing, but then I got an email from Scout Comics who were interested in one of my submissions, a goth cowboy comic that was a backburner project for me. I was young and I was making my first comic. I got to produce it, market it and I got to actually hold it. I remember holding the first copy of issue #1 realising ‘this is real , I can make comics’. It motivated me to make a career out of it. I legally can’t speak about certain topics, but if you’re savvy with Google you’ll be able to piece together a narrative as to what happened. I have the publishing rights back, and I have complete creative control, so I’ve been able to make something I’ve always wanted, which is a complete paperback edition. I was always told it was impossible, but now I have the chance to make it a reality. It collects all of Volume 1 and 2, the complete original series run, with a lot of never-before-seen supplementary material. Artwork, alternative covers, even a cosplay promotional shoot I did with an old friend of mine. We’re really digging through the archives to make a very satisfying tome, a goth cowboy bible, both for long-time fans and anyone interested in it now. I’m very proud of this end result that we are hoping to fund by the end of the month.
BIRD: What a blessing to be able to get the rights to it back and be able to do something with it again. I can imagine that in and of itself is an exciting and surreal experience. ‘Okay, this book is entirely mine, what am I going to do with it?’
SOUTHARD: Yeah exactly! I think we are in a weird time, because there are very few options if you’re trying to submit a project and break into the industry. Most people have relatively performative submission portals, and while other companies are more likely to say yes they might be more predatory or toxic as a working environment. A few years removed, I can’t say I’m famous but I can’t say I’m nobody. I’d say I’m an incredibly niche microcelebrity comic book writer. Having the experience I have under my belt and taking this series I know works – it got a sequel and was nearly adapted into a television show – that’s enough motivation to do something more with it. The proof of concept is here and there’s no one telling me what to do or telling me I’m an idiot. I can make my artistic vision as true to myself as I want it to be, and keep true to the artists and creative team who helped make this project to begin with. I’ve loved getting to reconnect with David Hahn, who drew the original series, and Butch Mapa who did the sequel series, as well as colorists Ryan Cody and Sean Peacock. For this I’ve busted out my secret weapon, one of the best illustrators right now, Julianne Griepp. She drew an exclusive cover for this project, and I really just want this to fund so I can see that cover and put it in my collection.
BIRD: It really is a gorgeous cover! What were your biggest influences when originally writing Midnight Western Theatre?
SOUTHARD: You’re getting me with the simple questions that have long answers! I’m going to say this and shock everyone. I’m not a fan of westerns! I’ve had editors and publishers call me ‘The Cowboy Guy’ when in reality I’m not a huge fan. When I was nineteen, I was writing Villain Seeking Hero for Action Lab Entertainment, which was a superhero comic that was akin to The Venture Brothers meets Invincible. It was very continuity heavy and every minute detail counted, and writing it was very fun but at the same time you get a little bogged down because of how strict the continuity was. I wanted to do another project that was looser. I’ll never forget this because it was the day that kick-started my comics career – I was at a Starbucks, staring at the writers’ accursed blank page and not knowing what to do or what to make. I wanted a backburner project that could just be something fun and not necessarily go anywhere. I was listening to The Cure, and I had just recently seen Westworld which was big at the time. I thought ‘Goth cowboys, I’ve never really seen that before.’ and I shot up like a bolt of lightning. I collected all my things and ran home to my apartment, and I drew Ortensia and Alexander in like twenty minutes. I thought to myself ‘this is it, this is something!’. I messaged David Hahn, who had done a one-shot of Villain Seeking Hero, and I knew he loved drawing goths, so I pitched it to him and he was on board immediately. The original run was more of an anthology approach, so I could play around with time and jump around on the timeline. The sequel is actually Ortensia’s origin story, so it’s more of a linear narrative. You can read it in any order you want though, it doesn’t really matter. If you read it all, it creates a succinct and full world and story about a young woman trying to make it in the wild west.
BIRD: What are some of the differences you’ve encountered between utilising the direct market for Midnight Western Theatre’s original run and the crowdfunding process you’re using currently?
SOUTHARD: I’m going to ask you a question. Where in this market is there a place for someone like me? We are currently in a turbulent, panicked time for the industry and for anyone trying to build a career in comics, there are very few places for you to start. Everyone’s averse to risk, because they’re on red alert and rightly so. Lots of good people are losing their jobs and it is the product of a system that hasn’t changed in decades. I’m not the person to say comics are dying, I wrote a whole comic about that very topic, but we are looking at a structure that has not had a real innovation to benefit companies, creators and stores for a very long time. I’m a creator that cares about other creators. I care about people’s working rights. I can’t say I’ve had the best of times with the direct market. Any interview I’ve done, I don’t look at all of my history with glowing remarks. I’ve been abused, I’ve been the victim of toxic working environments, and I’ve been told even in better places that I don’t belong because I’m just ‘not that person’.
You have to ask yourself, how does one become ‘that person’? My advice to any newcomers and younger creators trying to break in – we have a beautiful silver lining amongst all this chaos, which is crowdfunding. It’s a leveling ground for everyone. We’ve seen larger publishers using it and countless other creators using it for their personal projects. This is our shot. This is the place to be to make anything. There’s no boss, no one taking from your profits, no one expecting you to work on jobs you weren’t even paid for. Anyone doing comics is doing it as a labour of love. I do it because it’s a labour of love. At the end of the day, labour is still labour and free labour is theft. Doing it in the world of crowdfunding means you’re doing it for yourself and you’re doing it for your projects and everyone involved. Even if it’s for one person, or a hundred, or a thousand, you’re building an audience and you’re doing it the way you would like to. It’s the most freeing feeling and freeing option, and I get to make the projects I want to make. I would recommend it to anyone.
BIRD: Very eloquently put. I think especially given recent events, it’s on people’s minds. People are often too quick to give up hope – one bad thing happens and everyone thinks the whole thing will fall apart. I’m guilty of that too. Change is going to come and there’s always going to be good parts and bad parts to it. Hopefully crowdfunding is one of the places that is strengthened by that change.
SOUTHARD: Creator-owned? Definitely. I think there will be new ideas. Hopefully we are on the verge of an alternative comics boom with crowdfunding. I’ve spoken to publishers and editors at various companies and there is a shift towards nostalgia titles, creators who have a respected track record. It might just be company people trying to make sure the company is okay, and I can’t fault anyone for that. In terms of the next generation, I’m not sure the next generation is entirely welcome at this point in time. I had a colleague tell me that most people should quit right now, and most people can’t handle this industry. I told him that was the most cynical thing I’ve heard. I’d never tell anyone to quit their comics dream. Even if it doesn’t work out, there’s got to be more people like us who make it out of love and in service of our creative vision. People who want to make a book about goth cowboys who shoot guns and ride skeleton horses because it’s cool. I want to see more of that energy and we live in a great time where we can utilise that. Some will say there’s no market for that but there’s a market for everything, we just have to go out and make it and do it.
BIRD: Alexander and Ortensia’s relationship is at the core of Midnight Western Theatre. In retrospect, was it difficult to write?
SOUTHARD: No. A whiny man and a strong woman? That’s right in my wheelhouse!
BIRD: Ahaha.
SOUTHARD: When I was creating the two of them, I really loved the contrast of a very human character and a very monstrous character with lots of scary abilities and yet you’d be more scared of the more human person. I found that with Ortensia and Alexander, I’d hang out with Alexander, but I can’t say that Ortensia is someone I’d even want to talk to. I made her and I love her but I don’t think she’s a likeable person. She’s likeable to read, but she’s not a people person. She has lots of good reasons as to why she is the way she is. I love writing about broken people who are trying to find their way in the world, and that is their story entirely. They’re two broken souls trying to work together. That’s my wheelhouse.
BIRD: Midnight Western Theatre touches on problematic aspects of real world American history whilst maintaining a consistently fun tone throughout. Do you think more works in the western genre should try and tackle the realities of the countries’ past?
SOUTHARD: That’s a fantastic question. Yes! You can’t write a story about the past without confronting the way it actually was. If you didn’t, it would glamorise and infantilize what was. A lot of historical fiction paints a false picture of the cruel and harsh realities of the world. They say history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes. You look at any of the negative aspects of any era and you can find them in your own. The main problems of Midnight Western Theatre are problems anyone can face today. It’s about feeling different and being an outsider, especially with Alexander’s story. With Ortensia it’s about dealing with a life that’s been robbed from you. She’s a woman in a male-dominated space, and in Witch Trial we tackle that a bit more. I’m a man so I’m not entirely an expert on those things, but I’m proud to say a number of retailers told me they were happy to carry the series because it brought in new readers to the store, mostly women and members of the queer community. That’s all I’ve ever wanted – I’d love to create new readers that aren’t just someone who wants to read superheroes or is in a Nazi Frog Cult. I want to bring an average person into comics, rather than bringing in people who are already comic fans for life, which is a good chunk of everyone who’s into comics. That’s me, for pete’s sake.
BIRD: Me too! I think the western genre is interesting because in many ways it’s built on a lie. The glamorised cowboy frontier period that so many of these stories are built upon was not nice for most people but also completely different to how people imagine it. Your average ‘cowboy’ is actually someone coming up from Latin America, which is barely explored in a substantial way in most western stories I’ve seen. Midnight Western Theatre is a fun time, but it still talks about what’s in the lived experience then that’s still in there now.
SOUTHARD: In issue #3 of the original run, I wanted to focus on a Native American character, named Ata’halne. You cannot have a western story without Native American representation, but I’m not going to do the stereotypical story of cowboys coming to a village. I learned a lot about his culture’s history, including about The Long Walk, which refers to the relocation of Native Americans during the frontier period. He wants to be free, and seek glory. I was fairly young at the time and put myself into his shoes, trying to break away from a harsh reality in order to forge a better future. He’s a regular person bumping into the things scarier than his harsh reality, in this case ghouls and goblins and vampires. He’s found the two extremes and wants to find some place in the middle.
BIRD: Was there anything you wanted to put into Midnight Western Theatre, but never managed to do it?
SOUTHARD: This is a never before told tale. Volume 1 was originally six issues, and it was originally going to end with the tale of an escaped slave who grew up to become a Lawman. He’s assigned by the government to catch and kill two outlaws. Somebody dimed on them and let slip their location. He’s a law abiding, ‘good guy’ cowboy with a tragic past who’s made a new life for himself, and he goes out to find his targets. The two outlaws he has to kill or arrest are Ortensia and Alexander, and the issue was going to end with him winning! He manages to get them. He’s the hero of that story, but we’ve just read the rest of the book, so there’s this weird sense of duality. After Issue #5 it became clear that people would hate me forever if I killed Ortensia and Alexander. I also saw the potential of continuing their story, be it in Midnight Western Theatre or other books, so I didn’t want to create such a definitive ending. There is stuff made for that issue. There’s another reality where the two die. I wonder what that reality is like.
BIRD: I do like the open-ended nature of their story, imagining all the adventures they go on after the narrative ends, but that issue also sounds fascinating in premise.
SOUTHARD: No! Ortensia and Alexander for a thousand years. I’m going to make Midnight Western Theatre: Babies! Another project that nearly happened was a series of one-shots where they are in other genres with no explanation. Midnight Space Theatre , a retro sci-fi story, or Midnight Noir Theatre.
BIRD: I would read Midnight Noir Theatre in a heartbeat. What would you like new readers to take away from Midnight Western Theatre?
SOUTHARD: Goth cowboys are cool.
BIRD: Ahah!
SOUTHARD: I want them to enjoy the story and have a different type of comic book. A comic that feels like it’s for them and it creates a nice little bubble just for yourself. I want to welcome people into our little flock, and join the goth cowboy craze. They can discover it for themselves, or they can read it again. If this project funds, it all gets collected into one nice edition, and it’ll be all there and complete and you’ll have the whole story. People will hopefully enjoy it.
BIRD: What other works of yours would you recommend to readers of Midnight Western Theatre?
SOUTHARD: If you want to stay in the wild west, I recently did a story in Flash Gordon Quarterly #1 where Flash Gordon is a cowboy in another universe. If you want more of my comedy, currently on my Substack I am re-releasing all eighteen issues of Villain Seeking Hero, so if you want some superhero comedy-drama that’s there. If you want a more grounded story, tackling some of the more serious elements that Midnight Western Theatre does, check out The Blackout Bombshell, which is my 1960s noir drama. You can also get Comics Are Dying: The Comic in this same Zoop campaign, because we are doing a bundle of the two. That’s my career, that’s all I got for you.
BIRD: For now. Do you have anything upcoming?
SOUTHARD: I am doing a Kickstarter for a giant 80 page graphic novel which is a modern take on a classic Silver Age superhero story. It’ll feature classic characters from the independent comic book scene, and I can’t say who, but I’m giddy with joy about all the toys I get to play with in this toybox. If you’re curious, keep up with me on social media and I’ll provide more details soon.
BIRD: Have a lovely day.
SOUTHARD: You too!
Source link
