A quick look at the Q&A attached to my column over at Comic Related for later in the day/tomorrow:

Blog@Newsarama: So year one is wrapped and there’s a lot of story that’s become clearer in here—can you tease a little bit about what we’ll be seeing next? So—this might be something that you want to keep up in the air…but the tattoos, nakedness, armpit hair and smoking on the other folks seem to suggest that the place where we find Danny at the start of the book is not, as one might guess given the conversation, at a lunatic asylum against his will. 

David Lapham: Well, it could be a hippy commune mental health retreat.  Must be.  Yeah.  That’s what it is.   

Course it could be a Martian spider brainwashing mental de-fortification facility.  But what do I know.  

BLOG@: So we all know that we can’t trust Danny to tell the truth—but is he even sane? The first few pages of this story are one thing if he thinks he’s telling the truth, another thing if he is and another still if he’s just making it up to screw with people.  

DL: Yes.  But witch is it.  It’s my opinion that there is an earnestness to Danny.  Danny only lies to hide the facts, not the truth. He’s not insane.  I don’t think he is anyway.  Some people think that I’M insane, but I think those people are spending too much time following me around and hiding in my bushes. 

BLOG@: I don’t know about this doctor’s logic—that inherently if the baby is Danny’s then it makes him a rapist.  

DL: If Big C says he raped her and he says he never had sex with her, then if the kid is his he probably raped her.  Unless she’s lying.   Really though I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the doctor.  He’s either a hippy or a spider probably, so who can believe him? 

BLOG@: Waaaay back when we first talked, you had mentioned that you hoped, but were not positive, that this story was going to go past the first year. At issue 12, we’re getting some pretty disturbing revelations at the start of the book. Was this intended to be a resolution in case the book didn’t continue past the first year?  

DL: Twelve was definitely designed as an ending of sorts.  I think there’s a lot of closure in the last few pages, but also a jumping off point for the future.  And now I know there will be a third trade. 

BLOG@: One problem I have here—if we’re to believe that the doctor is honest (I know, I know, let’s not assume that with anyone in this series), how do we explain the Sadie wall? Those photos make no sense if she died at six. 

DL: Well, in issue 12 we see that the “Sadie” wall is actually full of pictures of Big C, the girl he may have raped, right?  What does it all mean?  I could tell you, but I’d have to lie.  

Okay, you twisted my arm.…what it is, is that they made a huge mistake at the photolab.  All those involved have been fired.  

Or maybe just reprimanded.  (We’re not heartless.) 

BLOG@: Despite the jumping-around setup of the series, the ending of this issue seems like a really clear start point, pretty self-explanatory and not at all confusing if it’s true.  

DL: Yes.  It’s that way on purpose, not only because when I wrote this I wasn’t sure if there would be a 13, but also because that’s how I perceive this book.  There are a lot of endings, but then they spin into a larger web.  Ultimately it’s not meant to be confusing, at least not in the way you might mean.  Yes it’s surreal at times and it’s a little mind warping, but there is a truth beneath the lies.   

BLOG@: So year one is wrapped and there’s a lot of story that’s become clearer in here—can you tease a little bit about what we’ll be seeing next? 

DL: Yeah.  It gets a little simpler, but a little more strange as well,  Danny finds himself living with Loreli in Browning, AZ with no memory of what has come before.  Why is he here ad what it’s all about becomes the next mystery.  We learn a lot more about Annie X and just what it takes to be a hero.  Honestly, this book has taken on so many surprises, even for me.  What I thought was going to be a straightforward girl action hero book, has just grown and expanded and warped into this fertile playground for my imagination.   It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.  Fans come up to me and say, “You really blew my mind with that one.”  I love that.  They mean it in the best way, too.  They get that it’s a story about Danny and are really trying to figure this guy out.  It’s really a lot of serendipity that the elements of this series came together to provide me with a format like this.  I’m grateful for it; it makes it as much fun as Stray Bullets to get to work in the morning.  Maybe more because I’m older and appreciate it more. If you look at issue #1, then #12 then #15—the one I’m working on now–it’s like, “How the heck did I get here?”  But it makes total sense, at least to me, anyway.  It’s the only way to get where I’m going

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