Who is up for a little mystery thrill ride complete with socialites and missing diamonds? If that’s you, The Other Half might be what you’re looking for. The Ignition Press series written by Jim McCann features art by Joe Eisma, colors by Peter Pantazis, and letters by AndWorld Design.
I chatted with McCann at the San Diego Comic-Con Ignition Pavilion for details.
DEANNA DESTITO: How has San Diego been for you?
JIM MCCANN: San Diego has been amazing. There’s been so much love for the book and such great reception, which is really, really nice. We’ve reached our LGBTQ audience, and then also it’s nice to have some people embracing a gay rom-com for it. So yeah, we’ve sold a lot. The important thing is we’ve met a lot of people and a lot of fans, and they’ve just been wonderful. After having not been in the game for a little bit, it’s such a welcoming experience coming back.
DESTITO: Let’s talk about The Other Half.
MCCANN: It’s about a down-on-his-luck detective and his Upper East Side socialite husband. They get embroiled in a diamond theft and have to switch societal roles and see how the other half lives to get to the bottom of the mystery, figure out who did it, and one of them is actually a prime suspect. So that’s the mystery, and it’s a cozy rom-com mystery with an old Hollywood feel; it’s very inspired by classic films. It’s got that fast patter, lots of drinks, and a very, very judgmental blind cat.
DESTITO: Excellent. I love that. How was it working with Joe Eisma?
MCCANN: He was my first choice. I’ve known his work since Morning Glories. I’ve wanted to work with him for so long. We got the chance [to work with] him and Pete, the colorist. I couldn’t ask for a better art team. And with Joe, I couldn’t ask for a better collaborator.
DESTITO: What about working with Ignition?
MCCANN: Well, it’s been fantastic. I’ve known Filip Sablik for a really long time. We both entered comics at the same time and did kind of similar roles. I was at Marvel, and he was at Top Cow at the time. Then he moved more on the publishing side, and I moved more on the writing side, but we always kept in touch. As soon as it was announced that he was doing something redacted at the time, I texted him, and I said, “I need to know what you’re doing. What is it?” And he said, “Let’s have coffee.” I told him I had a few ideas. He said, “Email them to me.” I had three pitches that I sent in, and The Other Half was the one I thought they were not gonna pick, but they did.
It’s like coming home. It is a very great atmosphere. The other creators really support each other on social media and just emails, and we’ll swap PDFs and support each other. Jamie Rich, Jeremy Haun, and Filip are fantastic. Bree is great. Everybody on the sales and marketing team. They’re all fantastic, and they do such a great job. I really, really love it, especially since I’ve worked with a number of other publishers. It’s probably been the best comic experience so far.
DESTITO: Do you feel like you have fewer boundaries? Like you can really express yourself and really push your work a little bit with them?
MCCANN: Absolutely. I’ve been out of the closet for years, but I worked at Marvel and was afraid to come out because I was this kid who lived in Nashville, Tennessee, and moved up to the big city. I’ve written a number of stories, and none of them were queer-coded or anything like that. And like I said, The Other Half was the first one they picked, and oh my god, I just went on a tangent.
I’m definitely able to push my creativity in this. This is probably the most authentic book I’ve ever done. I never thought that a publisher would let somebody do an out gay romance comic, especially one inspired by movies like The Thin Man and The Philadelphia Story, movies from the ’30s and ’40s. But they were like, absolutely. I was able to stay absolutely truthful to myself. In the book, them being gay is not the thrust of it. They just are.
DESTITO: That’s just who they are.
MCCANN: We don’t beat people over the head. It’s not a plot point at all. I’ve had a lot of people come back up to me and say, you know what, thank you, I feel the same way. And I’m like, I get it. I think Ignition really helped bring that out of me and pushed me to be as authentic as I wanted to be. They gave me free rein.
DESTITO: I was just talking with a couple of the other creators about representation, and how that’s improving in comics. Do you feel like Ignition and your work with them, or even just your work in general, that you are now a part of bringing that representation to the forefront?
MCCANN: I definitely feel that way. Here at San Diego, we’ve had a number of queer fans come up and say thank you. Representation absolutely matters. It’s a hashtag that I use on every social media post about the book.
We honestly need it, especially in the days we live in, when it kind of seems like the world’s on fire. And certain people’s, certain communities’ rights are being stripped away or threatened. Joe and I both hope that our book not only shows representation but also gives you a little bit… because it’s cozy…gives you a little bit of joy and escapism, and makes you feel a little warm for however long it takes you to get through 22 pages, 44 if you decide to reread it.
DESTITO: A break from the dumpster fire. What else are you working on that you can talk to about?
MCCANN: I am pitching around and hope to land one of those somewhere very soon, but I have a Speed Racer: Tales from the Road issue #4 story that I’m super excited about from Mad Cave.
And it’s actually introducing a character in the police department who goes undercover to try and bring down Dante Ferno’s organization. The licensor, when they received that pitch, they’re like, oh my God, nobody’s doing any stories about the police department, so go for it. So I was given free rein to create a new character in this vast, long-standing franchise. I’m so excited to see what people think.
Janet Lee, who is my co-creator and artist on Return of the Dapper Men, which we won the Eisner for, we are doing the sequel to that right now. It’s taken a while to kind of break the story, but we’re both working on that right now, and hopefully that will be out at some point.
I’m also working on bringing to life my first all-ages middle-grade reader original graphic novel. I honestly believe that comics and graphic novels really assist reluctant readers. I worked in library services for a company and really got to see what product was being put out there. Nowadays we hear that kids aren’t reading.
DESTITO: I’m an elementary school teacher as well.
MCCANN: So you know kids aren’t really reading in these days of screens, but they’re reading graphic novels. So I’m like, all right, well, this is a great market. Let’s go. I got a story.
DESTITO: Let’s do it.
