Five years ago Jim Massey was little more than a rabid fan-boy, reading comics without ever imagining that he could be a part of the industry. Today, as the writer of the Oni Press comic Maintenance, which was recently optioned by Warner Bros. for a feature film, Massey stands out as an encouraging example of the artistic and economic springboard made possible by Web-based comics publishing. The second collection of the ongoing comic is due out at the end of the October.
“I’ve loved comics my whole life, but didn’t consider creating them until I was old enough to know better,” Massey joked in an e-mail interview with PWCW.
In 2002, Massey was reading an online forum run by comics mainstay Warren Ellis, who challenged his readers to write a comic of their own. “I think he was trying to shake up people’s expectations about the publishing process, and get creators to stop worrying about ‘breaking in’ and just make stuff,” said Massey.
Massey responded to the challenge and penned a six-panel gag strip called Death Takes a Holiday. After he posted it online, some people wrote to him and said they liked it. So he wrote another, and then another. Over the next 18 months, Massey wrote hundreds of strips and self-published two collections of his work. “I guess then I was in comics,” Massey continued.
During a break from writing Death, James Lucas Jones, an editor at Oni Press, got in touch with Massey and asked if he would like to pitch a humor book. Revisiting a few characters that hadn’t made it out of his head yet, Massey pitched the premise of Maintenance to Jones.
The story follows Doug and Manny, who are two lowly maintenance workers at TerroMax, the world’s leading evil scientist corporation. The two main characters have to clean up the sizable mess of each failed attempt to take over the world.
“It’s a wacky comedy, with, hopefully, enough smarts to feel silly rather than stupid,” Massey explained. “There’s a kind of off-kilter tension between the protagonists, who are good at heart and just want to do their unglamorous job and clock out, and the environment they work in, which is dedicated to murder and mayhem.”
Liking the pitch, Jones contacted Robbi Rodriguez, the artist for the Image series Hero Camp. Rodriguez and Massey clicked, and now Rodriguez produces all the artwork for the black-and-white series, published both as single issues and three-issue anthologies.
The rapid transformation from fan-boy to Web author to monthly comic writer is impressive, one that showcases the power of the Internet to discover and nurture new talent. And the success story got a little sweeter when Hollywood came knocking.
After just a few issues, Warner Bros. optioned the story, and the project is being developed by director McG (Charlie’s Angels) and his production company. “I’m trying not to have any high expectations that could get dashed by the wacky world of show business. I would love to see it go all the way into production,” Massey stated flatly, before adding, “followed by sequels and TV series and action figures and lunch boxes. Is that so much to ask?”
