With Megaton Man #4, artist-writer Don Simpson began to add depth to his cast of madcap characters.
In that issue, currently on the stands, the Man of Molecules and the See-Thru Girl dance a pas-de-deux across the rooftops of Megatropolis. Megaton Man is assailed with thoughts of Pamela Jointly during this interlude, but his guilt and longing are overcome by his beautiful, but vulnerable, companion.
Megaton Man is revealed to be more than a simple-minded, over-muscled dolt with feelings. In issue five, due in early August, the spotlight shines on the See-Thru Girl, the previously vapid being who is searching valiantly for herself and a “normal” life. Mixed in with Simpson’s astoundingly funny dialogue, heroic art, tableaux of domestic discord, action scenes, and the epic rantings of ever-startled superheroes, a poignant—yet funny—portrait emerges of the woman, Stella Starlight.
Simpson’s philosophy in doing Megaton Man is to both have fun with the superhero genre and—more importantly—to stretch and exercise it and perhaps break the barriers that keep such comics on a one-dimensional and predictable plane.
“All issues of Megaton Man are aggressively different from each other, and from other comics. I don’t know if I’m aiming for that, but I’m not afraid of it. I regard every issue as a 30-page short story. They’re all connected, but each one has a different tone, a different slant.
“I want to dispel the notion that Megaton Man is just another parody. The parody is only the starting point. It’s what triggers the story.” Simpson feels that readers were tipped off that Megaton Man was a different superhero comic at the end of issue one, when ace reporter (and Megaton Man’s secret heart-throb) Pamela Jointly and Stella Starlight abruptly left the main storyline to take up residence together in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“At the end of any normal superhero issue,” Simpson said, “things go back to being as they were. The story is set straight and all is right with the world again. But Pammy’s and Stella’s departure forced me to consider other options. I consciously burned that bridge so I had to do something else.
“The second issue was about the Megatropolis Quartet, and at the end of that, they dissolved their partnership. I can assure everyone that the group, as a group, is finished. It would be too cheap to keep using them.”
Simpson feels growth is crucial in his art, and says he’s not interested in perfecting formula work.
“I personally feel that most of the comics produced today are pretty dismal. Much of the writing in comics is done through cliché. In a better comics world, a writer like [Swamp Thing’s] Alan Moore would be an average writer. He’s different because he tears apart and examines the material he’s doing. He explores the possibilities that other writers can’t seem to see. It’s a fresh approach, and if more people took the few mental adjustments Alan Moore has taken, comics would be infinitely better.
“Each issue of a book should be valuable in and of itself. It should not be just a continuing, face-value entertaining adventure. It that’s all you do issue after issue, the adventure isn’t entertaining anymore.”
Simpson’s first effort at a comic book was Megaton Man, and his unusual success in his first time at bat has left him with a drive to grow and experiment with each new effort. His work methods have gone through a process of evolution since he began producing the book.
“I generally always work from an outline and notes,” he said. “That wasn’t entirely true of the first issue, which sort of built over the period of a year. I do skeletal scenes in random poses, and don’t hammer out the details of the sequences until I begin penciling.”
As mentioned, the first issue was done a page at a time. At the time, Simpson was learning the basics of his craft, and was trying to prove to himself that he could produce a sustained work. Pages were rejected and discarded and other added as he gradually built the book.
“The second issue was done in blue pencil first and I worked from layouts and thumbnail sketches. That helped the story flow immensely.
“The third issue was closely scripted, as was the fourth, but in that one, I kept the dialogue opne enough so I could change it as I went along.
“In the fifth issue, I basically did the writing with the penciling, while working from my outline. I think I’ll stay with that [approach] for awhile.”
Simpson recently moved to Princeton, Wisconsin, in order to be closer to Kitchen Sink Press’s studio.
“Moving from Detroit to Princeton is quite a change for me. My only outside worry here is the possibility of being mugged by a raccoon.
“This is not the center of the comics publishing world, but neither was Detroit. Working here, I can get instant feedback on what I’m doing.
“Working with [Art Director] Pete Poplaski gives me a conduit to a guy who knows comics history and knows art. Also, I’ve never worked in a place before that had original Joe Kubert art on the walls. Things like that are inspiring. On top of that, the rent’s cheap.”
Text by the late Dave Schreiner, editor of Megaton Man and Border Worlds; special thanks to Michael Fitzgerald Troy for scanning this article.
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| New Age Comics #1, a joint publication of several alternative publishers. Megaton Man by Don Simpson; Wonder Warthog and Prince Valiant by Pete Poplaski; Maggie Chascarillo by Jaime Hernandez, Dalgoda by Dennis Fujitake; and the Spirit by Will Eisner. |
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| The original Kitchen Sink spread, transcribed above. |
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