Damned

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I brought Damned the other week and read it for the first time.
Good stuff.

I really liked the extra ending the trade had, as I feel it really lifted the story above being just another crime story, as it totally changed the way you look at the main character.
However, from what I understand of the text piece at the back, although never printed in the original mini, this was always intended to be the ending.
How did the decision come about to leave it out?
Was it decided it just wasn't necessary, or was it a case of not being able to find anything else to cut out to give it space?
I'm just interested because I think it's one of the first times (in comics at least) I've seen an added/restored pages actually change/lift the entire story.

Also, I compared the script to the published pages and noticed there was often differences (mostly minor) from what was in the script to what was in the finished art.
Is this annoying as a writer, or is did more collaboration happen in-between script being received and art being penciled?

[will_butler]

I brought Damned the other week and read it for the first time.
Good stuff.

I really liked the extra ending the trade had, as I feel it really lifted the story above being just another crime story, as it totally changed the way you look at the main character.
However, from what I understand of the text piece at the back, although never printed in the original mini, this was always intended to be the ending.
How did the decision come about to leave it out?
Was it decided it just wasn't necessary, or was it a case of not being able to find anything else to cut out to give it space?
I'm just interested because I think it's one of the first times (in comics at least) I've seen an added/restored pages actually change/lift the entire story.

Also, I compared the script to the published pages and noticed there was often differences (mostly minor) from what was in the script to what was in the finished art.
Is this annoying as a writer, or is did more collaboration happen in-between script being received and art being penciled?

Wait a minute, so the trade had an extra ending, text pieces, and a script, in addition to everything the individual issues had? I bought the entire miniseries as it came out to support Brian Hurtt's work, and have even put the followup miniseries on my pull list, as we've heard so many times before that if you don't buy the monthlies there may not be a trade. But throwing in an entirely new ending makes me feel as though I got a bit hosed on this one. Crap. Whatever. I guess I'll pick the trade up as well, as I really did love that series.

Will

[K'Nort]

For those of us who bought (and enjoyed) the singles, what was the alternate ending?

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Wait a minute, so the trade had an extra ending, text pieces, and a script, in addition to everything the individual issues had? I bought the entire miniseries as it came out to support Brian Hurtt's work, and have even put the followup miniseries on my pull list, as we've heard so many times before that if you don't buy the monthlies there may not be a trade. But throwing in an entirely new ending makes me feel as though I got a bit hosed on this one. Crap. Whatever. I guess I'll pick the trade up as well, as I really did love that series.

Will

Hang on, it's possible I've smoked too much again and gotten the title wrong, but I was talking about Damned by Steven Grant and Mike Zeck, which originaly came out from Wildstorm, and was then collected by Cybrosia a few years ago...
Nice little crime story - probably ahead of it's time considering the come back crime stories are having in comics.

[K'Nort]

Hang on, it's possible I've smoked too much again and gotten the title wrong, but I was talking about Damned by Steven Grant and Mike Zeck, which originally came out from Wildstorm, and was then collected by Cybrosia a few years ago...
Nice little crime story - probably ahead of it's time considering the come back crime stories are having in comics.

That explains the thread being on the PD board. Thanks for the clarification. I hadn't heard of your version so made the same assumption that Will did.

The Bunn/Hurtt version is a nice little crime story too....

[Paul McEnery]

That explains the thread being on the PD board. Thanks for the clarification. I hadn't heard of your version so made the same assumption that Will did.

The Bunn/Hurtt version is a nice little crime story too....

I look forward to the next generation of derivative punk rockers putting out albums called Never Mind the Bollocks and London Calling.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I look forward to the next generation of derivative punk rockers putting out albums called Never Mind the Bollocks and London Calling.

(Ignoring your actual point but...) Why not?

The current generation of 'punks' have so little to do with punk that the bastardisation may as well go full circle, though I'm sure 'bollocks' wouldn't test well in the mid-west, so it'd probably end up being 'never mind the b-ll'.

[Steven Grant]

I think Paul's point is that people ought to do their goddamn homework when naming things. (And before anyone brings up BADLANDS... a completely different type of story 20 years old in a completely different medium... I was very familiar with the movie and didn't care.)

Matter of fact, I sent a very nice letter to Joe at Oni asking them to change the title, and was completely ignored. Suppose I should have had my lawyer send a cease-and-desist letter. My best guess is they reasoned a) since mine was DAMNED and theirs is THE DAMNED there are no grounds for confusion and b) nobody remembered mine anyway.

In any case, it didn't raise my blood pressure much.

Mike and I had always planned to do an attached ending for the collection. Most people who haven't read the trade find the conclusion in the comic satisfying, and that's about what the alloted space and editorial sensibilities of the time allowed for. (Jonathan Peterson, last I talked to him, really loved the first ending and absolutely hated the coda.) It was meant as a punctuation, as a little treat for those who bought the trade, and the final word on Mick's personality and code of honor. Just an experiment of sorts, really... and I really like the way that one little segment spins everything that came before without negating anything with the characters...

- Grant

[Steven Grant]

For those of us who bought (and enjoyed) the singles, what was the alternate ending?

Four years later.

Mick is working off his parole as a grocery clerk. Charlotte comes in, buys food and champagne, and presents Mick with his "done with parole" papers. With no strings on him, Mick quits his job and goes home with Charlotte, who is no longer his parole officers.

They have themselves a little off-panel love fest, but while she's sleeping, he dresses, writes her a grateful note and leaves. Returning to the church and graveyard of the final scene - the place is now deserted, condemned and due to be razed - Mick pries open a vault behind Doug Orton's grave. The money is there; the nun Mick tried to give it to refused it on the grounds that if it came from Doug Orton it was dirty money and she wanted nothing to do with it. With the money in a dufflebag and nobody looking for him or it anymore, Mick heads to the bus station and, as dawn creeps over the city, takes the first bus out of town. The end.

- Grant

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Mike and I had always planned to do an attached ending for the collection. Most people who haven't read the trade find the conclusion in the comic satisfying,

Fair enough - having only read the story in the trade, I can't imagine any other ending being satisfying.
(Hence my post).


Just an experiment of sorts, really... and I really like the way that one little segment spins everything that came before without negating anything with the characters...

- Grant

That's what I like - it's a twist that changes only the characters motivation/personality slightly, but makes you re-asses everything they did in the story up until that point.