Know a Nominee, Part Five: Brandon Seifert
Welcome to the fifth installment of “Know a Nominee,” the interview series that takes you inside the minds of this year’s Bram Stoker Awards nominees. Today’s interviewee is Brandon Seifert, who’s nominated in the Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel category for Witch Doctor, Vol. 2: Mal Practice (Image Comics).
DM: Can you please describe the genesis for the idea that eventually became “Witch Doctor: Mal Practice?”
BS: I’ve always been a fan of Marvel Comics’ character Doctor Strange… or rather, I’ve been a fan of his core concept, but never really the character. At his core is this idea of “a jerk doctor learns magic and has to save the world a bunch.” I think that’s great. It makes me imagine Dr. Gregory House from House, M.D. with a grimoire in one hand and a magic wand in the other, not sure which he should be frowning about more. I love that. But Doctor Strange has never actually been presented as that character. So when “Witch Doctor” artist Lukas Ketner and I were brainstorming project ideas when we first wanted to work together, I brought that one.
That’s one of the crucial ideas in “Witch Doctor.” The doctor. The other crucial idea, to me, was the concept of having ALL the monsters in the series be crossed with terrifying stuff from real-world biology and medicine. Having vampires with anticoagulants and vasodilators in their saliva, “demonic possession” that’s just the parasitic larval stage of the demon life cycle. Half the concept is the hero. And the other half is the monsters.
DM: What was the most challenging part of bringing your idea to fruition? The most rewarding aspect of the process?
BS: Most challenging is always… the actual work. The writing of the thing. The pre-writing, the brainstorming and plotting and all of that, is fun. And while editing and promoting aren’t that much fun, they aren’t fraught with peril. Not the way actually writing is. Once I start writing a story, I have no idea how well it’s going to turn out, or if the plot or character arcs I’ve been planning will even work once I have to slot them into actual pages.
Most rewarding is getting the work out there. I’m definitely of the “I hate writing, I love having written” school. I love having my work finished, and having my work published. I love getting to see feedback on these things that had just been living in my head. Even negative feedback is rewarding in its way!
DM: What do you think good horror/dark fiction should achieve? How do you feel the work for which you’ve been nominated work fits into that ideal?
BS: The easy answer is that it should “scare” people. But that’s extremely difficult. Lots of us just don’t get scared by stories that often. So, I think a lot of the time the best you can hope for is a sensation in the “scared” family of emotions. Creeped-out, disturbed, disgusted, unsettled. Those are all great. But overall, I think horror and dark fiction are more about a tone than anything else. A… and I wish I had a different word to describe it… “Dark” tone.
I don’t personally find Witch Doctor: Mal Practice scary. But I’m also really used to it. I’m told often that the book is very disturbing, creepy and gross. And I’ll take that! I also think, when we go for a dark tone for it, we hit it well. A lot of that is my artist, Lukas Ketner. He’s extremely talented, and he can hit a lot of different tones and emotions. Which I exploit a lot in my writing. Lots of times I’m trying for a comedic tone, or an action-packed feel, or other things besides “darkness.” But when we go dark, I think we do it quite well.
DM: I’m curious about your writing and/or editing process. Is there a certain setting or set of circumstances that help to move things along? Where do you often find yourself getting stuck, and why?
BS: Hmm. Mostly, I just need to get out of my own way. My tendency is to overthink everything. And that’s paralyzing. Plus, I find it leaves my work kind of flat at the end. I need to capture the fun and imagination that attracted me to a story idea initially. So, yeah, just hurrying up and getting boots on the ground while the idea’s still fun for me. Comic books are short enough that if a first draft needs a lot of work, I can always do a second draft. I can fix lots of stuff in a second draft. But what’s hard to fix is a lack of enthusiasm.
Honestly, I get stuck at all points of the creative process. Like lots of writers I’m very analytical, very focused on details. Sometimes it’s easy to let details block my view of what I’m doing overall.
DM: What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Bram Stoker Awards/WHC?
BS: I’m tabling in the dealer room this year. That’s the part I’m most looking forward to: Spending the weekend at the show, getting to talk to horror fans. I table at a lot of comics conventions, but I’ve only done a couple of horror cons. I’m really excited to be behind the table at WHC this year!
About Brandon Seifert
Brandon Seifert is a comics writer from Fairbanks, Alaska, based in Portland, Oregon. Brandon’s debut original series Witch Doctor was hand-picked by Robert Kirkman as the launch title for Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment at Image Comics. Brandon’s Marvel Comics series Disney Kingdoms: Seekers of the Weird has received acclaim for its urban fantasy take on the “lost” real-life Disneyland attraction the Museum of the Weird. Brandon and Clive Barker co-wrote the 12 issue Hellraiser: The Dark Watch series from BOOM! Studios. Brandon can be found online at Brandon-Seifert.com, on Twitter (@BrandonTSeifert), and on Facebook (facebook.com/brandontseifert).
