SCARS AND BARS COMMENTARY
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Dateline: October 30, 2007, 10:04 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGES 20 & 21 Once, back in 1988, while we were living on Elizabeth Street, deep in the heart of Little Italy, we stepped outside for a cup of Joe. A procession of older Italian gents was making its way up from Mulberry Street, walking slowly, as if on their way to a funeral. The leader of this group was a dapper gent with a head full of well-coiffed grey hair, speaking in a whisper to those around him: John Gotti. We were awed. We respectfully stepped to the side and let them pass. This incident took place three years after the assassination of Paul Castellano outside Sparks Steakhouse and the Federalistas had the Ravenite Social Club wired like Kate Moss’s nostrils on a Saturday night. Hits and contracts were literally being arranged on the street. Ah yes…memories. In an adult lifetime of New York Moments, in an adult lifetime of people we have seen, met, talked to…that New York Moment in 1988 still takes the little gold statue. |
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Dateline: July 21, 2007, 10:03 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGES 18 & 19 Enter Mr. Dorian. A 4-page flashback sequence set in a clam bar on 241 Mulberry Street. Remo Dorian, the conspicuous ex-British wresting promoter offers Vincent “the deal”…and poor Vinnie begins the downward plunge. 247 Mulberry Street was the home of the Ravenite Social Club, located in the heart of Little Italy. In the 1980’s, The Ravenite was the Gambino crime families Manhattan headquarters, John Gotti’s home-away-from-home. Today, 247 Mulberry Street is a shoe boutique: lavender tissue paper and pricy velvet pumps have replaced dirty deals and shady Mafioso contracts. |
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Dateline: May 18, 2007, 10:01 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGES 16 & 17 More chatter on this two-page spread…and the 25-page dead spot continues. Vincent is on slippery ground while Vargas investigates the poor patsy’s intentions. Script was penned in 2002; art completed in late 2003. A weirdly photo-shopped set of panels on page 16 (look no further for a definition of “B-Comics” than this art) and the “Fighting Irish” New York State license plate is an amusing detail. |
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Dateline: March 30, 2007, 10:01 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGES 14 & 15 This two-page spread represents the start of a 25-page dead spot in the yarn: much information, history, plot set-up, not much action. Script was written in 2002; art was completed in late 2003. The chaos / claustrophobia of the Riker’s section has been replaced by open space / cruel uncertainty. Vincent now talks in a s-s-s-shaky voice. And Johnny Vargas speaks as well, fast-talking funnyman that he is. |
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Dateline: February 11, 2007, 2:09 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 13 Page 13 of Scars & Bars was written in the miserable year of 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art or text has been altered or excised. Chapter 3 introduces Johnny Vargas, a flamboyant and fast-talking gangster, in the only scene which takes place outside of the five boroughs (Ossining, NY). “Ground Zero” is a reference to 9/11, the horrific event which hovers over our tormented tale of torture. |
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Dateline: January 11, 2007, 2:09 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 12 Page 12 (script) was created in the depressing year of 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art has been altered or excised. Some text was cut, a line about “a fireworks display fading”. Page 12 has always been one of our favorite pages, art-wise, in the entire book. Our original instructions to J. Moser were to “do your best Jackson Pollack impersonation”. The conditions were right and he delivered one hell of a page. The 3-panel blackout technique at the chapter ending (bottom of page) is inspired via Jack Kirby. |
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Dateline: December 9, 2006, 2:06 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 11 Page 11 of Scars & Bars was penned sometime in the malevolent year of 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art has been altered or excised. This is a companion page to page 10, representing a change from the claustrophobia of the first 9 pages of the yarn. Vincent Madrid makes his first appearance outside and pays a heavy price. The background art (prison walls, barbed wire) is stock: Riker’s allows no cameras inside their facilities. We know…we tried… |
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Dateline: November 29, 2006, 1:06 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 10 Page 10 of Scars & Bars was written in the tumultuous year of 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art has been altered or excised. This scene was inspired by the Riker’s Prisoner Abuse scandal in the early 1990’s (see the Village Voice for further reading). Page 10 represents the first physical confrontation between Anton Majak and Vincent Madrid, a violent and brutal page…a metaphor for authority gone insane. |
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Dateline: October 25, 2006, 1:08 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 9 The script to Page 9 was penned with an intense urgency sometime in 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art has been altered or excised. Some of the original Vincent Madrid voiceover text was killed-off, but we can’t remember the exact details. Page 9 is a prelude to violence: Vincent’s world shifts from the Riker’s prison cell to the Riker’s prison yard where a physical confrontation with “the law” awaits. On top of all that, our hard-luck anti-hero is hearing voices… |
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Dateline: September 29, 2006, 1:11 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 8 Page 8 art was written in a barrage of haziness in 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art has been altered or excised. Vincent’s text “I suppose I should be scared” was excised from panel 4 in 2005. Page 8 explores claustrophobia, denial of innocence, false accusations. The Riker’s section (pages 1-12) of S&B prefigures Guantanamo, Abu Grhaib, and the TV show Prison Break. Page 8 is proof that we predicted it all! |
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Dateline: August 29, 2006, 12:02 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 7 Page 7 art was written in an avalanche of ambiguity in 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art has been altered or excised; some text was modified in 2005. The two plot threads from our frenzied fable meet as one on this page, establishing the first encounter between the anti-hero (Vincent) and the anti-villain (Majak). The dialogue is stiff, stilted, stylized. The grey background is misleading. Page 7 is a lesson in polarization: good vs. bad / black vs. white / inside vs. outside / right vs. wrong. |
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Dateline: July 6, 2006, 11:02 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 6 The script to Page 6 art was done in a haze of uncertainty in 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art has been altered or excised. The NYPD Crime Blotter appears daily in the New York Tabloids. Before the Giuliani white-wash, gentrification and zero tolerance police enforcement, Alphabet City (circa 1990) was a quite literally a war-zone. The drug dealers didn’t lie: Avenue C was for Coke, Avenue D was for Dope. Perhaps it is fitting that this is where Vincent Madrid fell. |
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Dateline: June 18, 2006, 11:02 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 5 Page 5 art was written in 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art has been altered or excised. One sound effect was added in 2006. On this page, the reader is introduced to Majak’s donut-chewing partner, Kells. The “Koch Administration” refers to Mayor Edward Koch, the 105th mayor of New York City (1978-1989). The “tabloids” refer to that purveyor of scandal & semi-truth, the New York Post. The name “Kells” is an homage to Paul Cain’s hero Gerry Kells from his crime masterpiece, Fast One. In summation, page 5 proves that jokes + references = laugh-out-loud funny! |
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Dateline: June 11, 2006, 4:51 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 4 Page 4 art was written in 2002; art was completed in 2003. No art or text has been altered or excised. This page probes deeper into the mind of everybody’s favorite anti-villain C.O. Anton Majak. There is no “Fortress of Solitude”, no “Bat Cave” for our friend. No, a filthy, dank locker room at Riker’s Island is where this crime fighter dresses for action. |
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Dateline: May 22, 2006, 4:58 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 3 Page 3 art was created in June 2003. Neither art nor text has been revised in any way, shape or form. We are introduced to C.O. Anton Ilyich Majak, the authority figure in the book. Majak was born in Kiev, Russia (sometime during Leonid Brezhnev’s reign of cold politics), and emigrated to Coney Island, Brooklyn, as an 11 year old boy, thus explaining his stiff way of speaking. The chapter title “Rock Bottom” is a historical reference to the abuse scandal at Rikers Island in 1991. |
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Dateline: May 13, 2006, 3:51 EST S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 2 Page 2 was penned in the strangely apocalyptic year of 2002. Original art was crated in 2003 and then revised in 2004; Three sentences of text were excised in 2006. This represents the first homage page in S+B, with a reference to a Hammett metaphor “like a fist…” It has been years since the original text was written and the nightmare is alive and well. |
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S+B COMMENTARY: PAGE 1 Periodically, we will offer page-by-page commentary on S+B. Here goes: Page 1 was written sometime at the dawn of the twenty first century and has undergone minor revisions. The words “simmering testosterone” were cut from the original text. The art was revised once in 2004 and the ransom note S+B logo was added in 2006. We are introduced to Vincent, the anti-villain. We have never been to Atlantic City, nor have we ever encountered a “suitcase full of cash”. Conversely, we HAVE encountered numerous “class dames”. |