Conspiracy, Comics and a ‘Red Herring’

They say hunting dogs were once trained by dragging a pungently preserved herring along the trace of a target, forcing them to concentrate on a weaker scent. Seems unlikely, but the idiom red herring stuck.

Written by David Tischman, who has worked with the legendary Howard Chaykin (American Century and Bite Club), and drawn by Philip Bond—perhaps best known for the eccentric classic, Kill Your Boyfriend—Wildstorm’s new six-issue mini-series disregards stinking fish and concentrates on an intriguing and complex tale of conspiracy, betrayal and murder set in Washington D.C. There’s even a bit of comedy—see character’s names—for good measure.

With the second issue already on sale, we know that the title character, Teddy “Red” Herring, is a secret agent convinced something big is about to go down. His reluctant partner, Maggie MacGuffin, isn’t buying it. But seeing as she’s got a few secrets of her own, who’s to say what’s going on? PW Comics Week talked with the book’s creators, who were able to offer a few clues.

PW Comics Week: How long had the idea for Red Herring been festering before you both made the book a reality?

David Tischman: The idea that there's a con man named Red Herring partnered with a hot Washington aide named MacGuffin—that was the easy part—but it's a pretty intricate story, and that took time to work through. So the lag time started after we sold the book. To make it make sense. But it does. At the end of Issue #6, there's only two things that are left open—and that's on purpose. But all the plot threads are sewn up. Tight.

Philip Bond: I think it was about two years ago that David dropped the bare bones of this Red Herring idea in my lap. Just as an aside originally, but I was immediately hooked and we started bashing the story about. We had a pretty decent proposal together quickly enough but it was most of another year before we had Wildstorm willing to give us a go.

PWCW: David: Philip's art seems as appropriate to the story and writing's stylistics as can be. Did you have him in mind all along?

DT: Philip is the only artist I even thought about talking to, and it was really early on. Like a week after I had the idea. I pitched it to him over a Domino's pizza during a horrible snow storm. Visually, his style IS the tone; the scenes are on the page the way I saw them in my head. Philip and I worked together before, on "Angel & the Ape" at Vertigo, and had a great time. I don't even know if Philip remembers this, but we had a conversation about three years ago, and he said he's always wanted to do a science fiction piece. With the alien angle on Red Herring, that was part of it, too. It's been a great collaboration, and Philip's a huge part of the story.

PWCW: Philip: You've been on hiatus for a while now. How does it feel to be back drawing comic books?

PB: It's great to be back on proper comics interiors again. I'd been doing covers for a while, mostly Vertigo's Exterminators, which means concentrated one or two week bursts of creativity. Red Herring is much more involved, and much more rewarding. I feel like it's our baby. Tischman does the feeding and I change the dirty diapers.

PWCW: The title character, Teddy "Red" Herring, is like a skewed incarnation of the X-Files Fox Mulder. Did the idea for the book evolve around him, or was he devised after the initial premise?

DT: Red was conceived to be much more caustic than Mulder. I don't know how it happened, but he mellowed a bit, since we started. But the idea came from his name. That was all I had. A guy named Red Herring. A con man. With red hair. From there, what else can you do, but partner him with someone named MacGuffin. And if your two main characters are based on literary conceits of misdirection, the best place to put them is dead center in the middle of a secret, world-wide conspiracy.

PWCW: Artistically, Red Herring is very meticulous. Is this due to a refined, detail-packed script?

DT: I'll let Philip speak to this—but I will say my scripts are filled with every detail I think that page of that scene needs to have. Sometimes that's a lot more than it needs. It's something I need to do, for me. Because once that script leaves my desk, it's out of my hands. And out of my control. My guess is, Philip just goes through them and picks out what he needs and rolls his eyes about the rest of it. Which is okay.

PB: That's in part due to my refined, detail-packed mind trying to make the real-world Washington DC a solid place. It's also part of the Red Herring-ness too - I tried to pack in lots of little details because you never know what's going to be significant and what's going to be a false lead.

PWCW: Many conspiracy-based stories, not least The X-Files, leave the audience hanging with cliffhangers and a sense of the unresolved. Will Red Herring be a self-contained, done-in-one fable, or will there be more to come?

DT: The story we're telling in Red Herring is self-contained in these six issues. But we designed the book to be a collection of six issue stories, with Red Herring and the MacGuffin taking on a different conspiracy in each series. As we learn later in this story, there are eight groups with interests around the globe. These groups are based on the most widely-discussed conspiracy theories, and they are at war with each other for control of the planet. We've tweaked all of them to add a comedic element. We start with the biggest conspiracy of all, Aliens and the Roswell crash, but we have the others mapped out, too. And there is an end to it all. An end that makes all these conspiracies make sense.

PWCW: Do you both enjoy the creative implications of working on a mini-series, and does the prospect of another ongoing book appeal to either of you?

DT: I love writing a mini-series for the simple fact that it has a beginning, a middle and an end. Especially for creator-owned ideas, like this. I love each project I do, but when it's over, I'm ready to move on to the next idea. Comics are great that way, and mini-series enable me to work in multiple genres. The monthly books I've worked on have been told in arcs, so it's basically the same thing. A monthly book is a different kind of writing—and that interests me. It's something I want to figure out how to do.

PB: The mini-series is a good length for me, I'd go mad if I couldn't see a rest stop coming up every few months. During the Red Herring proposal's time in the unpublished wilderness we came up with too many ideas for one mini though. I don't want to have to leave these characters now, they've got more journey ahead of them.

PWCW: What would you say people who've not yet read Red Herring are missing out on?

DT: This book is fun. It's as simple as that. Yes, there's a lot going on, and I think it's important for people to ask questions—conspiracies happen when people don't ask questions, or when information is withheld—but we make that point with a very silly, very satisfying story. Red Herring really is The X-Files meets The Daily Show. I also love Maggie MacGuffin. I think she's very different from other women we see in comics.

PB: The possibility of finding out who Glenn Beck is really working for.

PWCW: And for those of us who are up to date, what else can we expect to see?

DT: All of our characters have silly names. Meyer Weiner. Penny Candy. But people seem to be really loving Afi Komen. It took me six issues—and I had to rewrite a two-page scene at the end of Issue Six to do it—but we do hide Afi Komen.

PB: You'll find out what Red's really after, and how Maggie looks with short hair.

PWCW: Do either of you have any conspiracy theories of your own?

DT: Forget the Illuminati. Remember Enron? I don't think Ken Lay committed suicide. And Deborah Palfrey; she was a madam in Washington, D.C., with a very high-profile clientele. She hung herself. I don't buy that one, either. In the end, conspiracies are just big secrets. And everybody's got secrets.

PB: I am the only human on earth, everyone else is a robot programmed to test my patience.