Paperback writer

Comic book writer to read at library

XAVIER ZARAGOZA/The Daily Dispatch

In 1996 Jeff Mariotte's break as a comic book writer came when he was asked to do a western.

At that time, however, westerns weren't doing very well, so his take on the topic had to be different.

Pulling scenes from an unsold western novel he had written a while back, Mariotte, 49, soon created a proposal for Desperadoes, a western comic book in which the main characters encounter supernatural elements.

Gideon Brood, Abbey DeGrazia and Gerome Alexander Betts do not have supernatural powers, but nevertheless encounter it through their journey across the American West.

One issue of the Desperado series, titled Banners of Gold, is set in Cochise County. Brood, DeGrazia and Betts begin their trek in Lochiel, cut across Sulfur Springs Valley and end up in Clifton.

The 16 issues of Desperadoes have been collected into four books and can be purchased at Pyramid Comics in Sierra Vista.

Mariotte and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Hart, will visit the Douglas Library on Tuesday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in which they will present the "Love of Reading" lecture.

Mariotte, who has been writing since he was 10 years old, said the fun part of writing for comics is seeing someone else take what you've written and turn it into an image.

"When you write a novel, it is a group of words that live in your head and in the readers' head," he said. "But with a comic you have an artist who takes what you've written and puts it into pictures."

And the pictures and words are beautifully done in the Desperadoes series. The artist uses a lot of dark and moody imagery, which suggests a noir flavor to the work.

Mariotte began his interest in comics when he started reading the Roy Rogers comic books. As a result, he feels he is keeping up with the western tradition.

The supernatural elements that appear in his work had their start during his formative years. As a teenager during the 1970s, the culture was steeped in an interest of the occult, astrology and numerology.

Even movies like The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby did a lot to influence him toward the supernatural in his writings, Mariotte said.

Part of the fun for Mariotte is checking in on his characters.

"I can see how they will react to stuff," he said. "So I come up with problems and watch how they get themselves out of it."

Some of his work has won the Brams Stoker Award, which is the highest award given in the horror genre.

In between writing comic books, Mariotte has also written novelizations for shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Charmed and Star Trek.

Since 1999 he has written about 26 novels, including an original novel titled The Slab.

His next project is title 30 Days of Night, a vampire story set north of the artic circle.

For more information on the reading series, call the Douglas Library at 364-3851.