We’re thinking about creating some Gravedigger merchandise for sale through this site – specifically a tee-shirt and poster with art by Rick Burchett (to start). Is there any interest in such things?
– Chris
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I’ve noticed – and been frustrated by – the fact that the Gravedigger website has had some connectivity issues over the last month or so, with visitors frequently finding the site down and receiving 533 Error messages.
If you’ve tried to visit and found it offline, thanks for trying again. Between the efforts of our hosting company’s support team and my technically-proficient wife/webmistress, I think we’ve tracked down and resolved the problems.
Thanks for your patience!
– Chris
Browsing through this site’s referrals yesterday, I came across my favorite description of the Gravedigger comic ever, in a recommendation (!) posted on a fan forum:
“Gravedigger by Christopher Mills and Rick Burchett: hard-boiled noir short stories featuring an unlikeable greedy asshole surrounded by other unlikeable greedy assholes who eventually end up dead.”
Rick and I agree that this person completely “gets” what we’re doing.
– Chris
I’ve been an admirer of artist (and Gravedigger fan) Flint Henry since the mid-80s, when he began drawing a back-up comic in Timothy Truman’s Scout, called Monday: The Eliminator. A while later, he became the artist of my all-time favorite comic, Grimjack. I also enjoyed the work he did with writer Chuck Dixon on a book called Lawdog a few years later.
I’ve never had the honor of working directly with Flint, but while I was editing comics in the 1990s for an outfit called Tekno*Comix, I did talk to him a few times about the possibility of having him do some work for the company. It didn’t pan out, but I enjoyed our conversations, and was pleasantly surprised when he gifted me a CD of John Zorn’s Spillane album. Obviously, this was a man after my own hardboiled heart.
Anyway, here’s a terrific caricature of Digger McCrae’s favorite actor by one of my favorite artists.
– Chris
© Flint Henry. Used with Permission.
While the influence of the “Parker” novels by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake) and the crime films of Lee Marvin on Gravedigger are readily apparent, one of the other big inspirations for the character may be less obvious: Golgo 13, a manga series written and illustrated by Takao Saito.
Golgo 13 is the oldest manga still in publication, having begun in 1969. It has sold over 200 million copies in various formats, including compilation books. It has been adapted into two live-action feature films, two animated movies, a television series and five video games. I’ve been a great admirer of Saito’s creation since I discovered a handful of English-translated G13 graphic novels back around 1988-89.
Golgo 13 is the codename of a ruthless professional assassin named Duke Togo. Saito gives the reader virtually no insight into Togo’s personal history (we pretty much only know that he is of mixed, Eurasian descent), his motivations, nor even his emotions (if he has any, they’re deeply buried). Even on the rare occasions that Togo is given a thought balloon, it usually contains only an ellipse! (“…”) All we really know about him is that he’s an expert marksman, capable of making extraordinarily difficult shots under extreme conditions, and that he is well-paid for his talents.
Still, despite this, the stories are intricately plotted, usually centering around “impossible” assassination plans, and Togo’s coldly efficient approach to pulling them off. As an aspiring comic creator at the time that I discovered G13, I was impressed by Saito’s ability to make the reader root for a clearly irredeemable bad guy… a trick I’ve tried to pull off with Gravedigger – although I think “Digger” McCrae is a lot more human than Saito’s creation.
Over the years, I’ve picked up a handful of English-language Golgo 13 comics from various publishers. I have no idea whether there are any editions currently available, but they’re worth hunting down.
I do know that episodes of the recent anime series are available for streaming online through Netflix and Hulu Plus. They’re pretty cool, too, although I prefer the manga.
You, know, I was just thinking that I have no idea if Rick is familiar with Golgo 13; I don’t believe we’ve ever discussed the long-running manga nor its influence on my writing. I’ll have to bring it up next time we speak.
– Chris
