The First Steps for Vampire Janitors
Last week I talked a bit about Clean Up Crew’s origins, dating back to my time working retail at a pharmacy. Since this was during my college years and I was majoring in media management with a big interest in film and television, I had dreams of making it into a movie. I could film it in the store overnight, just like Kevin Smith did with Clerks. I’m sure corporate would be fine with that right? Speaking of Kevin Smith, I was reminded of his quote about how anyone can make a movie, you just need $20 million and Ben Affleck. Needless to say, I had neither and the movie was never made.
The idea of Clean Up Crew stayed with me though. It was always this fun story that I could see play out entirely in my head. It meant something to me. Fast forward several years and I tried several times to write it out in a variety of formats. I finally sat down and knocked out a one-shot. It told the whole story of Miles and Roger and this fateful night in about 30 pages. I even shared it with a few other writers and got some notes. The overall feedback was positive so of course, I did nothing with it and let the script sit, untouched for ages.
After the first campaign for A Real Slobberknocker, I was anxious. There wasn’t anything else for me to do on that book at that point. The comic was printed and sent off to backers. Dan was working on the art for the next one. I could not contribute anything else. I needed another story to work on. After combing through my list of story premises (currently sitting at over 4 pages long), I dug up the Clean Up Crew script and read through it again. Hey! This isn’t half bad. I could do something with this and it’s basically plotted out already.
That was at least two years ago. The story has gone through a few iterations during that time, including one where I almost gave up on it entirely (which I’ll go into detail on next week). The core premise has remained the same. The driving force of the story through Miles’ life and the tough decision he has to make about his future stayed strong. That continues to be the driving force behind this series. So, if you want to check this out, be sure to follow the campaign so you’re the first to know when we launch over the summer. Just click the button below.
There is no one that does horror comics like Junji Ito. His work is so distinctive and it’s so very unsettling. He’ll take a normal person going about their day and throw them into the most bizarre and frightening situation that could include anything from skin melting to fish with robot legs to blood flowers. I’ve read a bunch of his books and I have a whole shelf on my bookcase dedicated just to him. This weekend, I read his latest collection, Moan.
I read this at the town pool. It was a sunny day. I was sitting outside. It was warm. Despite all that, I was still so freaked out by this book. You know when you see something really creepy and you get that kind of shiver up your spine? It’s not just a saying. It’s that “yuck” kind of vibe, like you’re so happy you’re just hearing about it and not experiencing it, but the description of it is enough to freak you out. That’s Ito’s work.
What’s striking is how quickly people fall into these crazy situations. Maybe this is the skeptical millennial in me, but I’d have a lot more questions if I was one of these characters. They often take things at face value. Of course there’s a giant waterfall just out of town that we’ve never seen before. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for it, but for now, why don’t we go check it out? Ultimately, this acceptance is needed for the story to progress because if the characters acted normally, it would grind everything to a half.
The only downside to this collection was that the endings often felt abrupt. Ito hits you with some crazy scares that build into bigger ones throughout the story, then they just end. There’s no denouement. It would be like watching a slasher movie where the killer stabs the last victim and just walks off. No explanation. I’m not saying I need a reason as to why people develop blood flowers or a guy is moaning through a sewer pipe. It’s fine to leave some mystery. I guess it’s more about wanting more. As unsettling as these stories are, I want more from these worlds.