Here we go again with the re-publishing of an earlier article of ours (this time from 2014) when we profiled Dead Man’s Party by writer Jeff Marsick and artist Scott Barnett. We’ve long been a fan of Scott’s work, and wanted to bring some attention to him, and his comic.
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Just when you
think that all comicbooks these days are gritty superheroes in spandex, and
shuffling, brain-eating zombies, someone comes out with a comicbook that is not
only so outside of what you normally read, that it grabs you from the moment
you begin to read it and doesn’t let you go, even as you wait (sometimes
months) for that next issue. Well, writer Jeff Marsick and artist Scott Barnett
have done just that, with their thriller, noir comic Dead Man’sParty. Somehow these two indie creators have managed to do something that
this writer/reviewer has never quite seen in a comic. They have instilled
action and adventure. Yep, you read that right. Over the years we have read thousands
(hundreds of thousands) of comics, and sure many of them have been thrilling,
but what these two gents have managed to somehow do is instill a level of
frenetic action within the boundaries of flat, two-dimensional space that we
have rarely — if ever — seen in comicbook form.
As for the
comicbook itself, it is an action/adventure that doesn’t involve superheroes
but assassins. According to Barnett, “Dead Man’s Party (in its third
issue when this article was originally published), is about a world-class
assassin and what happens when he’s forced to put a contract out on himself.”
The reason for the arranging a hit on himself (A Dead Man’s Party — if you
will) is because the assassin (who goes by the name “Ghost” is diagnosed with
terminal cancer, and chooses to go out at the top of his game, killed by one of
his peers, rather than die a slow, lingering death felled by cancer. So he
calls a Dead Man’s Party, which is code for five assassins get to bid on his
contract, and the one that manages to kill him, gets all of his money, as well
as his “standing” in the assassin community (and also gets to now charge
Ghost’s rates for hits).
A Dead Man’s
party can’t be called off, can’t be stopped, and only ends with the death of
the assassin in question, only as soon as Ghost calls the hit, he discovers
that he has been scammed and he really doesn’t have cancer, so now he is in a
fight for his life, defending himself from his fellow assassins and attempting
to learn who wants him dead.
The comic was
originally self-published under the auspices of
Double CrossPresents by Marsick and Barnett, who (with the exception of some lettering
help on one of the issues) did it all, from soup to nuts. Marsick, a former
military officer spends his days as a Wall Street financial analyst (really),
but at night turns into a writer, penning novels, screenplays and comicbooks
(including
Z-Girl and the Four Tigers). He has also been a regular
contributor to the Newsarama website. Barnett, who currently works as a teacher
but has also worked as a freelance graphic artist/designer specializing in CGI
for consumer products and displays, got his start in the comicbook industry by
painting covers and pin-ups during the mid-‘90s, but when the speculator boom
trashed the industry, he moved on to other areas in the graphic arts, working
in commercial illustration, web design, graphic design, storyboarding, and 3D
modeling. “You never forget your first love,” he told us. “So, I came back and
decided to self-publish, which is where my collaboration with Jeff began.”
As for what
prompted them to do this particular story, Barnett stated “I honestly don’t
think there’s anything in comics quite like it, right now. Sure, there are
crime books out there, but we seem to have struck a chord with readers, as the
two most common responses are, ‘When’s the next issue coming out, dammit?’ or
‘This would make an awesome action film!’ And it would. And we’re workin’ on
it.” The way they came up with this thoroughly unique story is that Marsick and
Barnett had been friends for years and they’d been wanting to collaborate on a
project for a long time. “We passed some ideas around, but nothing really
gained any traction. Then, one night a few years back, an idea popped into my
head about a hitman putting a hit out on himself. Jeff happened to e-mail me
the very next day about the subject of working together again. I told him my
idea and his jaw hit the ground. It turned out that he had a hitman concept
that had been in the back of his head for years but didn’t yet have a home.”
From there, the
ideas came fast and furious, “We exchanged notes about our ideas, and it just
clicked. Jeff’s idea was the competition of the Party itself. A ‘Dead Man’s
Party’ is a way for an assassin to go out on his own terms; it’s a competition
amongst a set number of your peers, where they have 30 days to fulfill the
contract. Whoever gets there first gets your head on their resume, as well as
your Swiss bank account. Then, of course, we had to establish a twist that
would throw an already wild idea completely on its ear.” Which turned out to be
that Ghost was tricked into calling the party on himself.
When asked what
got him into comics, Barnett said, “Ha, that would be my oldest cousin’s fault!
He’s about a half-dozen years older than me and started showing me his
Spider-Man comics when I was about seven or eight. I was instantly hooked on
Marvel Comics and started collecting most of their line of books as a teenager.
As an adult, I ventured out and started finding comics that broke out of the
superhero mold.” All of which helped contribute to the framing of this
particular project. “I haven’t read any stories about hitmen setting themselves
up, especially not in the medium of comic books.” Barnett then went on to tell us
that he has a special way of thanking vocal supporters of the book. “Sooner or
later, you tend to find yourself in a crowd scene. Or maybe under a tarp. Or
being carjacked by our protagonist. Or dancing at the strip club in the book.” This even happened to this particular fan (your humble narrator), who found himself on the business end of Ghost's wrath — more than once.)
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Apparently we got just a ta
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Perhaps one of
the most unique aspects of this comic is that the main protagonist, Ghost,
looks suspiciously like Barnett, when we asked him about that, this is what he
told us. “Basically, most decisions on the artwork have been based on saving
time. I chose to ‘paint’ using markers because it was quicker and cleaner; we
chose black and white for the interior art because it’s quicker to create and
less expensive to print. And since I work from photo reference (many times
posing for it myself), I decided to just add my likeness because it was already
there in the photos. Initially, I had Jeff in there, as well, as another
important character, but he wound up writing that character out, at least for
now. I’ve been bugging him to allow me to use his likeness for a character, and
in this latest issue, he indulged me. Sorta. You’ll see.”
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Hurm, that guy looks real familiar...
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Right now, the
dynamic duo is working on the finale to Dead Man’s Party (issue 4).
Marsick is also wrapping up the first story arc in Z-Girl with his
collaborator there, while Barnett recently painted a cover for the assassin
comic series, M3 (issue #10). Meanwhile they are discussing their
plans for DMP’s sequel, and will hopefully have some exciting news about that,
bringing it to other media and a possible cross-over with another book in the
coming year.
Since this article
was written and published, Marsick and Barnett not only finished the series (pushing it out to five issues),
but re-packaged and compiled the series as a graphic novel through Darby Pop.
We have since been in contact with Barnett. Who has indicated that plans for a
sequel are currently underway.
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The Characters, Story
and Content of Dead Man’s Party are Trademark & © 2014 & 2020 by Jeff
Marsick and Scott Barnett. The text to Funnybook City is © 2014 & 2020 Robert J. Sodaro, D.B.A. Freelance Ink. All rights reserved by their respective
owners.
