With Rage on Kickstarter right now (it went live yesterday) I was lucky enough to get a chance to send a few questions to writer Jimmy Palmiott. And readers, lemme just say, I want to be this man’s friend. Rage sounds amazing and his answers to my questions had me nodding along like I had any say in whether he got to write a steamy romance later on.
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How’d the idea for Rage come about?
JP: The main idea for RAGE probably had a lot to do with the pandemic and how both Scott and I were feeling about the world at the time. We were talking about working together again after the G.I. Zombie series for DC Comics and it just happened that the stars were aligned. We felt we didn’t really want to give away anything to another company or even share ownership and decided that once we had the idea set, we would self-publish it using Kickstarter to raise the funds. The core concept evolved during a series of phone calls where we both were throwing ideas around. I liked one of the ideas where we talked about how people change, almost transform when something major happens in their lives and we built the idea up and dropped it against a global disaster backdrop. The book’s main theme are connection and trauma and how these things can drive people of different outlooks. Nothing is simple and surface in RAGE except the reality happening around the characters. It’s a story of darkness and light and the beautiful connection people can have if they open their minds.
You’ve had a great year, what’s next? Aside from Rage?
JP: All my life I have been challenging myself. When you said that I had a good year I actually had to stop and look back- something I don’t do often. I totally get it’s a perspective thing and it’s funny because my brain went right to all my failures for the past year. I think the failures are fuel for me to keep trying new things while pushing my work. After RAGE, I have a brand-new Painkiller Jane graphic novel and two other completed original properties that will be out by the end of the year. I also have RED SONJA coming out monthly from Dynamite comics that I am co-writing with my wife, Amanda Conner. Outside of comics, I am taking on a few projects to pay bills and experiment more. There is a lot going on because I guess, but its always one step at a time.
How’d the collab go in a world still reeling from Covid?”
JP: Well, it sucked. At some point by now I would have been in the same room with Scott going over things, but the world needed to teach us a lesson or two about being careful and respecting things and here we are, setting ourselves up for another lesson. It’s been frustrating for me and my friends and family because we are a close group, but we do the best we can, stay positive and cherish any time we can have together. It’s hard to get inspired when all you wanna do is watch TV and sleep, you know?
I saw the Blondie and Anthrax news, is music a big part of your life?
JP: I feel we all have a soundtrack that should accompany our lives. I think maybe because I can’t play an instrument and my voice is the only musical thing I have, my love affair with music may even be bigger than my love for comics. I grew up with a brother that owned a recording studio that I would hang out at and listen to all the different types of music rehearsing and recording there. I love every single kind of music and can talk for hours about the subject. When I was in my late teens in NYC I would see New Wave and Punk Rock bands all the time and as I got older, I started to appreciate classical and Jazz. I dated a girl that was a recording artist and background singer to many pop stars and felt that if I failed in comics, I would be doing something musical with my life. Even as I write these answers for you, I am listening to a John Barry soundtrack.
You’ve done so many different genres recently, is there anything you’ve been wanting to get your hands on but haven’t been able to?
JP: I think writing a steamy romance book would be a blast, but I would want Amanda Conner co-writing it with me as well as her drawing. It would have to be adult and very European in its sensibilities. I am checking the genre list right now and see there isn’t many that I have not written, but now the key is to write them better. My learning curve is a big one.
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In Rage, Braden Radovick is a desperate man. He wakes up in a New York City holding cell to discover the world has changed overnight. Everywhere he goes, there are fires. The city is littered with corpses. People are losing their minds. The cops are so overwhelmed, they just let him walk out of the cell.
Braden’s journey is just beginning. He’s separated from his daughter Friday, who’s on the west coast, and absolutely nothing ― not even a global disaster ― will stop him from finding her. Before his cross country odyssey is over, Braden will be forced to use all his resources and skills to reunite with his daughter and save her.
