Metro Pulse/Pulp/Marc Bryant

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Bryant brings genre-busting thrills to the page

by Paul Lewis

Cocke County native and Knoxville resident Marc Bryant isn't the most obvious guy to write a science-fiction crime thriller—after all, he's worked as a furniture appraiser, antique restorer, country music radio announcer, and is an avowed fan of cornbread and iced tea. He sounds almost...rustic. But get him talking about writing and comic books, and you'll understand.

When asked why he began to think about telling a story in comic book format, of all things, he explains, "I've been making up stories all my life. Comics really opened my eyes to a lot of life's possibilities and led me in directions I might have never taken otherwise. I can say without a doubt that comics have enriched my life more than any other art form, and I want to make my mark on this medium that has had such a profound effect on me, corny as that sounds."

This mark comes in the form of Overtime, a story born as a serialized prose piece on the website opi8.com, and now published as a self-contained graphic novel from Cyberosia Publishing. Says Bryant, "I like to think of it as science fiction for people who don't like science fiction. It's a crime story, set in a future world where death no longer exists. People are living elbow to elbow. The worst crime you can commit in this world is to have a child. The story revolves around a rookie 'nativity cop,' as she investigates an illegal birth."

Bryant goes on to explain, "Originally, Overtime wasn't sci-fi at all. It was a road story, set in the present day. The protagonists were a mismatched couple, disenchanted with the world and looking for a way they could die together. That bored me just a few pages into the script, so I put the concept on the back burner for a year or so. I started reading more crime comics and novels and decided it would be interesting to set a mystery in a world of immortals." Bryant lists as influences for the finished product films such as Soylent Green and Logan's Run, television shows like Homicide and Law and Order, crime comics by writers Brian Michael Bendis, Greg Rucka, and Brian Azzarello, and "Kurt Vonnegut's more surreal stuff."

The publication of Overtime owes a lot to old-fashioned networking in a new-fangled paradigm—the Internet. Just like many other industries, the conception, execution, and marketing of the comic book has been aided and abetted considerably by wired creators and companies, and not just the original publishers at opi8. Bryant met his collaborator, artist Mal Jones, at a web forum for comic book writer Warren Ellis.

"Mal's work is very fluid," Bryant says, explaining his attraction to his artist's technique. "He has a very expressionistic, almost abstract style that lends itself perfectly to the comics page." The process of getting all 72 pages of artwork completed after the script was done took seven months. Then the more traditional networking began, at the largest trade and fan show in the comic book universe, Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. After presenting the pitch to Cyberosia, Bryant had a home for Overtime two months later.

Bryant is aware that publishing his work as a graphic novel instead of a traditional novel immediately lessens his potential audience, but he's ready to defend his chosen medium. "To me, saying you don't like comics is saying you don't like movies, or you don't like books. It's a very broad statement, considering there's something for everyone to enjoy in comics, if they know where to look. I think this story really offers the reader something different. Not only is it a tight, fast-paced story with what I hope is a good balance of humor and suspense, but it presents a new way of looking at some priorities and values that are a result of our very biology. It's speculative fiction, and hopefully it will stimulate some thought as it entertains the reader," he says.

Although he loves comic books, which are receiving renewed attention in the mainstream press and are going through the first rise in overall sales since the early to mid '90s, when asked about the golden ring that is option rights to other media, Bryant says, "I'd love to see my stuff adapted to film and television. I have no problem with gaining a large audience, and the more money I make from my stories, the more freedom I'll have to create. I'd like to be a publisher myself someday, and expanding into other media could really help that dream come true."

So Bryant continues writing, working part-time at Knoxville's own ComiXchange, and anticipating the new year, which will finally see his magnum opus reach the racks at comic book stores (and maybe even a few "regular" bookstores) across the world. Caught online at 3 a.m. to check a quote for the preceding story, Bryant is, you guessed it, working overtime—writing until his eyelids fuzz. "Seems like I'm always thinking about stories, no matter whatever else I'm doing," he concludes.