451 Media caught up with best-selling writer George Pelecanos (The Wire, The Pacific, Treme) to give you a behind the scenes sneak peek of his graphic novel debut, SIX.
SIX is a searing tale of warfare at its worst and fighting soldiers at their best. When the wife of a former Marine buddy finds herself a target of a vicious Mexican cartel, she ends up turning to her husband’s old squad for help. Pelecanos is collaborating with Hollywood director Michael Bay’s 451 Media, which blends published content with digital video by using a technologically advanced ink in the printing process that accesses content via an app when a smart device is “touched” to it.
As a writer, what are the differences between writing for film and TV versus writing a graphic novel?
The process of writing a graphic novel is not significantly different from the process writing a film script in my opinion. You “see” both as a film as your writing. The matter of collaboration is also very similar between the two. Andi Ewington, a tremendous graphic novelist, did a bang-up job on SIX, as did the artist. I watched and learned.
Why do you think people still like to read graphic novels, be it traditional paper or on a tablet?
I think people still like to read graphic novels because they’re an intriguing blend of the arts, the visuals and the written word. The 451 concept takes the sensory experience of reading a graphic novel even further for audiences.
What was your inspiration for SIX?
I always liked the men-on-a-mission, searching-for-redemption films of my youth that got me stoked to be a writer. I’m talking about pictures like The Dirty Dozen and The Wild Bunch. Also, many of my recent novels and some of my TV projects involved soldiers and Marines returning from a war to a country they no longer feel comfortable in or understand, so I had a lot of research in my hip pocket. It’s a classic noir-adventure set-up, and I’d been thinking of it for a long while. But it never seemed to work for me as a straight novel. When this opportunity came along, it was a chance for me to tell my story in a new and more appropriate format.
What do you hope audiences take away from the experience of reading SIX?
I hope audiences take away energy and entertainment delivered in an exciting, intelligent package from SIX.
What has it been like working with 451 so far?
Working with 451 Media has been great. Writers generally don’t like to get notes, but my interaction with the executives at 451 has been pleasant and productive. Everyone I worked with made SIX better and I can’t wait to check out the finished product.
I finally sat and read issue one today and enjoyed it.
I was going to read my copy but sold it instead. I had to cut down on books cuz the wife saw all of the ones that I haven’t read and so I just sold it so that way I wouldn’t get into the series lol. “Happy wife, happy life” lol
Just sold one of mine as well. I have a huge “stack of shame” aka unread comics but was able to read a bunch of them this weekend.
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This book and Ex Mortis sounded really interesting, I just wish 451 would up their print runs, so I could actually read one of their books. The only one that I’ve been able to get a hold of is issue one of self storage, but then issue two sold out in advance like the rest.