The Devil's Concubine: Like, RED

A friend of mine just e-mailed me this picture he shot in New York city. Seems the publicity people behind the new Willis actioner "Red (Special Edition)" have paid a visit to the "Devil's Concubine" website. Thanks for the homage!

Writing experience: FUSION

Some time in the early Nineties, I was involved in a grandiose project of making a generic role-playing game for the Danish market. Somewhere between 20 and 30 writers participated in what was supposed to be three books; a rule book (“Vision”), a fantasy book and a near-future one (working title “Fusion”). I was – and still am – a huge fan of “Blade Runner” and loved the prospect of making an investigation game set in a dark future. My co-writer Malik Hyltoft insisted we set it in Copenhagen, and we started doing research and reading crime stories, while others shook their heads at the setting. Copenhagen was just not noir enough and Danish crime was pitifully non-dramatic. Until then, any contemporary setting had to be America, and any other setting had to be fantasy. Our Danish detective game was a joke.

The ambitious “Vision” project started falling apart after a year or two, due to difference in opinions and egos the size of Ohio. My friend Malik Hyltoft and I were the only ones who kept going, not giving a damn what anybody thought.

Almost ten years later FUSION finally saw the light of day, published by Høst & Søn, to whom we will forever be grateful. They took us seriously and helped RPG tremendously just by being a “real” publishing house, not an obscure underground genre publisher. We anticipated a fight, when we insisted not to have “how to play a roleplaying game” chapter in the book, but they never questioned our vision, knowing Fusion was meant for mature readers and second generation roleplayers. They backed us up as far as they could, even throwing some money into the trailer as I recall.

Despite our different approaches, Malik remains one of the best writing partners I have ever had. We understand and respect each other completely. When presented with his work, I have rarely had any objections, and I know he feels the same way. I have no idea who wrote what in the books, it just interlaced seamlessly. During all the years we wrote on and off, we were always able to focus on the story when we did get together. Within minutes, we were back in the game, and could jump in and out of sequences and storylines. Even though they were rough drafts done verbally months before, we both knew exactly what we were talking about. Malik understood and respected my mostly intuitive approach and added the mathematical elements of plot, the weight of real knowledge. I got all my ideas from TV episodes or crime novels.

I built us a zappy racecar, Malik was the one who put the engine in and made sure it worked.

Not much Blade Runner influence remains in the books, but a few supernatural elements have snuck in. The game turned out to be more social critizism than I had expected, tackling some heavy political and moral issues as well. Perhaps one of the reasons for it's moderate succes - I suspect roleplayers of being somewhat turned off at elements that hit too close to home. We published the last book in the series ourselves, pouring in all the money we ever made on the first two. “Fusion” is still available in some stores, and the website is still there, full of resources for a Noir Copenhagen detective game.

Work in progress: STILETTO

Part 4: References

I mentioned earlier, that films such as “The French Connection” and “Bullit” are some of my major influences on this project. It’s a contemporary story, and yet the cops look like they wandered out of an episode of “Streets of San Francisco”. I wanted them to look off, like they’re relics in a fast-moving world, completely out-dated and useless. As you can see below, the police station is actually borrowed from “French Connection II”.

Having digested my share of crime novels, cop shows and gangster movies, it’s actually a big help to pick out a few works and say: That’s my reference. It helps to keep focus, hopefully giving the book a unique look and style.

The one thing I’ll miss the most, if I ever leave the studio I work in, are a set of reference books called “The Fairburn System”. They're absolutely great. Full of black-and-white photos of men and women posing, in suits, running, carrying things, walking up stairs, falling down. From every angle. And the best thing is; They’re from the Seventies. It fits my story perfectly. Thank you, Fairburn, whoever you are!

Work in progress: STILETTO

Part 3: Shark Sequence

What’s the first color you think of, when you think of a cop drama?

Blue, right?

So I decided I wouldn’t use blue in at all. I started doing the book in monochrome, yellowish-grey tones, with the plan to go over it again on the computer. But having done the first few pages, I realized there wasn’t much need. My coloring is now more like color correcting, tweaking an image here or there or adding a sudden splash of red or green, just to keep the readers on their toes. The yellowish tones help give the feeling of a dusty, smog-filled south-european city, and a morally unclear environment. There isn’t much black and white in this story, only shades of grey.

And yes, I do use blue. But only as flashbacks, dream sequences and cut-aways. By tinting a panel blue, the reader can quickly gather that the action is not happening here and now. I use color to tell the story, to help the reader navigate through the panels, drawing attention to only what’s important. And sometimes, just to throw them off track, I draw attention to something completely unimportant. Ever hear of red herrings?

Anyway, here is a dream sequence done in grey tones, and tinted at the click of a button in Photoshop. If you ask nicely, I’ll tell you which button.

The Devil’s Concubine: Trailer online

While we are waiting for the US edition of "The Devil’s Concubine", it’s now possible to enjoy – and rate! – the International trailer at comicbooktrailers.com. Go! Click! Five stars!

Work in progress: STILETTO

Part 2: INT: HOTEL

Always have someone killed in the first scene. That’s my goal, anyway. Originally this opening scene was longer, but something as mundane as page count made me decide to cut it here. More of a cliffhanger that way, too.

The inciting incident is actually borrowed from “Bullit”, just as there are references to “Serpico” and “The French Connection”

The story is sort of a spin-off of “The Devil’s Concubine”. I had a few characters left still standing, and I wanted to explore the problems of the contemporary male. All wrapped in a gritty 70’s style cop story, that looks just as straight-forward as it isn’t.

I saw these two cops during a vacation in Cannes. They were pulling over a car and walking up to the driver in a confident swagger, all sunglasses and tight t-shirts. I was working the script for "Stiletto" over in my head, and decided to use – and off – these two in this first scene. The hotel is called "Interlaken” and is actually found just across from the train station in Nice, France. Just as in "The Devil's Concubine", the setting is a non-specific Southern European town, so I tend to use places and people from all over Europe.

Well, not Finland, obviously.

"Stilletto" hits the streets the spring of 2012.

Writing experience: “DOWN THE ROAD”

My old friend Rune Christensen asked me to write the script for his animation short “Down the Road”. The premise was to make a cartoon thriller, in black and white, with a minimum of effects. In reality, this could have been filmed with just two people in a car, and be finished in less than half the time. But there was something compelling about making a cartoon, well, scary.

Rune owns the Aarhus based animation studio JA FILM (besides being a somewhat reluctant rockstar, but that’s a different story entirely) and wanted to do something of his own, besides doing commercial work. Him and JA FILM co-owner Anders Berthelsen had a basic idea and approached me for the script. We met in Aarhus, had dinner and a lot of beers and threw ideas around and I went back to Copenhagen with a hangover and a job to do.

I think I did a total of 5 drafts, where I liked the fourth one best. It differs from the finished film in many ways, but is probably less subtle than Anders and Runes final take. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

I can no longer tell who came up with what, but I think most of the dialogue came from me. I remember being surprised at the premiere, that they had changed so much in the script, but the film was always theirs, not mine. I guess I just got attached to the characters. All in all it was a great learning experience for me and I really like the final film. They stayed true to the premise and "Down the Road" gained numerous awards, including Best Short Film at CICDAF, Beijing (2008) and Best Animation Short at Euganea Film Festival, Italy (2009).

You can watch the finished film at indieflix.com and learn more at downtheroad.dk .

Enjoy the ride.

Work in progress: STILETTO

Part 1: A new project takes form

Having finished the script for “The Devil’s Concubine”, another story started brewing in my mind, starring the two cops, Maynard and Alphonse. I wanted it to look just like any other cop buddy-movie. Maynard a grumpy family man constantly worried about not being in control, Alphonse a young, cool, easy-going guy, not unlike Steve McQueens character in “Bullit”. I even put him in the same black turtleneck, and the same brown Ford – At least that’s what I thought. Until a fellow comic book artist pointed out, that what I had drawn was most definitely not a Ford Mustang. Well, never mind, it’s still a cool car.

Having inked “The Devil’s Concubine” in a slick, black-and-white style and colored the book by computer, I wanted to try something new, and hopefully faster. I often like my sketches better than the finished drawing, so I decided to “ink” the book in pencils, and then paint over it with Ecoline water colors. I wanted a more organic, gritty feel, and also wanted to take things in a more expressionistic direction. Before writing the script, I did a few tests, just to get an angle on the project. This page is one of the first.

This country is not big enough for my ego

My graphic novel “The Devil’s Concubine” is coming out in the US next year. I’m celebrating by cleaning the bathroom, having a coffee and changing the language on this blog to English.

While we’re anxiously waiting for my international career to take off, here’s a look at my next book, “Stiletto”, a spin-off more than a sequel to “The Devil’s Concubine”. It’s a stand-alone book, with a distinctly different tone and style. I’ll be writing about my working methods over the next period, giving a glimpse into the construction of a graphic novel.

“Stiletto” will hit the streets no later than the spring of 2012.