INTERVIEW: Monster Club members unite! Christopher Chaos is back!
Image courtesy of Dark Horse / Provided with permission.
Christopher Chaos is back and ready to take on some new monsters, thanks to writers James Tynion IV and Tate Brombal. The first two issues of the new Dark Horse miniseries The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night recently premiered, with two more issues on the horizon.
This time around, Christopher has started another school year, but his plans for a quiet life are disrupted when a new monster starts haunting New Briar City, according to press notes. It’s up to Christopher and his Monster Club to assemble and take on the villains in town. New characters include Dr. Jekyll and monster hunter Helbound. There’s also a special, eight-page insert in each comic called Monsters in Love, which features the work of various writers and artists, all creating stories that wouldn’t be out of place in an issue of EC Comics.
Recently Brombal and artist Isaac Goodhart exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox to talk about the ongoing adventures of Christopher Chaos. Goodhart’s previous credits include Postal for Image Comics and a host of DC titles, everything from Batgirl to Wonder Woman to Victor and Nora, among others. Brombal is known for House of Slaughter and Batgirl. Both were heavily involved in Christopher Chaos’ first series, which lasted 15 issues and concluded in January of this year. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can fans expect from the new characters Dr. Henry Jekyll and Helbound?
BROMBAL: People can definitely expect a new spin on what they know for both of these characters. We have an exciting new take for Dr. Jekyll that fits perfectly within our universe while developing upon what Robert Louis Stevenson was drawing from over 140 years ago! In our world, Dr. Jekyll doesn’t only have one alternate personality in Edward Hyde. He has multiple Hydes who are always vying for control over his body. We will meet Jekyll’s monsters little-by-little across this story arc!
Meanwhile, Helbound is a character that I have wanted to introduce for a very long time. We’ve dropped hints in the past that the Helwing family was severed in a civil war, and if half of the family created the Helwing Corp … what happened to all the other Helwing cousins? Helbound is our introduction to the other side of the Helwing coin and how that part of the family operates. He’s also just really freaking cool looking.
GOODHART: My favorite thing about Christopher Chaos is how James and Tate subvert and recontextualize horror tropes and concepts. I’m very excited for readers to see our approach to Jekyll and his multiple other selves. We have a lot planned for him, and this first arc only scratches the surface! Helbound and Jekyll are the first villains I was able to design on my own for our series. The great Nick Robles designed our original core cast, and I’m very pleased with how our aesthetic sensibilities mesh.
Were more adventures for Christopher always in the cards, or did you have to wait for the success of the original series?
BROMBAL: Christopher’s story was always planned to be an epic with many, many adventures along the way. There are big moments that James and I discussed over two years ago that we still haven’t gotten to in the series! James’ confidence and support of the book is a key factor here, as well as the overwhelming response from Christopher’s fans. We had to open a letter column because so many people were sending us love and sweet stories about how the book had impacted them. Honestly, seeing Christopher’s story resonate with readers has been the best thing about this whole experience. We’ll keep creating these stories as long as people keep reading and love them!
GOODHART: We did have to wait to see the response from readers before announcing more stories, but we were always very hopeful! Let the record show that I want to keep creating new adventures for these characters as long as y’all will have us! Trust us, we have plenty more stories left to tell.
Do you feel that the Monster Club gives its participants a feeling of safety and community that they don’t find elsewhere in the world?
BROMBAL: Definitely! The Monster Club is a collection of outsiders, and they’ve found safety in each other. At the end of the day, that’s the reality for a lot of folks. Our friends and our found families are the ones who keep us going day-to-day.
GOODHART: Found family is a huge theme in Christopher Chaos. Early on the first thing Tate and I bonded over was our love of Rupaul’s Drag Race, and I think it’s pretty fair to say our Monster Club has some strong Untucked vibes! Even if they fight (and they do in this arc for sure), they’re a part of the same community, and there is strength in that.
What inspired the Monsters in Love section of each comic?
BROMBAL: This was 100% a James Tynion IV idea! He texted me one day out of the blue extremely excited and pitched the whole idea to me. I loved it, of course. More comics are always a good thing — especially romance comics and especially ones that allow us to showcase some of our favorite creators and cartoonists. I’m really grateful to James for the idea and to our fearless editor, Greg Lockard, for curating this marvelous collection of horrors!
GOODHART: This is something I am extremely excited about. I’ve read a couple of our upcoming Monsters in Love installments and they are incredible. It’s rare these days to find artists with such strong points of view and unique outlooks. The storytellers James, and our editor Greg have enlisted are some of the most dynamic and interesting creatives coming up right now. They’re going to all be the biggest things in comics, and I’m just happy and proud to share a book with some of them.
Christopher has gotten older, right? How much older compared to the original miniseries?
BROMBAL: About one year has passed since our very first issue! The kids are growing up with all the pains that come with it.
Is the art more or less in the same style as the original miniseries?
BROMBAL: Definitely. What I love, though, is seeing how much Isaac has grown across the series. This book fully found its voice because of him and all the incredible work he brings to the page. Seeing him bring in new influences and ideas as the world and story developed has been a highlight for me, personally.
GOODHART: I do like to think I’m getting better! The scope is bigger, and the action scenes are more intense! Tate is always bringing new challenges for me, and I love him (even if I hate him) for it.
How important is it to have LGBTQ+ representation in comics?
BROMBAL: Really important! I know that many people who have never needed to think twice about representation may roll their eyes at this thought, but even 10 years ago, the world and media were very different! When I was in high school, it felt like we were stuck in this rut of the same, old bare minimum of representation for queer characters. Now, characters of all kinds exist as a reflection of the real world we all live in!
People like us have always existed. That’s a fact. That is human history. For so long, however, queer people were treated like monsters and kept to the shadows on the fringes of society. That has started to change, though we are already seeing the pendulum swing in the opposite direction. Many people in the world don’t like it when the monsters leave the shadows because then the world will see that they were never very monstrous to begin with.
Queer people just want to exist in peace, in happiness, like everybody else. That’s why we can’t back down. We can’t give up on this representation even if people are rolling their eyes or trying to ban our books. We exist. We will continue to exist. The world should know our stories and our names.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night, issues #1 and #2, are now available from Dark Horse, with issues #3 and #4 on the horizon. Click here for more information.
