Having a comic book character named after you is quite an honor, according to Russell Lissau, Medill BSJ ’93.
That’s why one of the villains in his first published comic, a 19-page entry in “Batman Allies Secret Files & Origins 2005,” is named Mikey Sullivan, after Lissau’s best friend.
But being the writer’s buddy didn’t guarantee Sullivan’s two-dimensional counterpart a rosy fate.
Instead, he ended up getting his head blown off.
“If you’re going to shoot someone in your comic book, why not make it your best friend?” said Lissau, a former Daily staffer, in a phone interview. “It’s an honor, I would hope. That’s how it was meant.”
Perhaps a greater honor for a comic book fan like Lissau was actually getting his work published in a field he calls a “closed industry, pretty Sopranos-like.” For Lissau, a reporter for the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, breaking into that industry is a dream come true. The book has sold about 27,000 copies since being released in June, Lissau said.
“I’ve been reading comics since before I was a teenager,” said Lissau, 34. “When I was a little kid, I wrote and drew my own comics with my sister, [but] I never thought about doing it professionally.”
Then, a few years ago, friends in the industry suggested that he give it a shot.
Lissau’s first assignment was turned down. Then he got an assignment in January to write a comic called “A Friend in Need” featuring Batman, one of his favorite superheroes. A few drafts later, the piece was published with the help of a crew of professional editors and artists.
The hardest part, he said, was trying to persuade those editors to give him a shot.
“Batman is a 60-year-old superhero; everyone knows who he is. He’s a literary icon,” he said. “I’m a newspaper reporter from Chicago. Are they going to take a risk in giving [me] that multi-million dollar icon and letting me drive the Batmobile for a while? And they did.”
Another of his scripts has been submitted to Ronin Studios for a comic called “Hope: New Orleans” from which all proceeds will go to the Red Cross to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims.
Lissau’s three-page non-superhero story is about a young reporter who witnesses a hurricane and tries to write about its destruction. It’s a story he’s “wanted to tell for a long time,” he said.
“When I was 20, I was a stringer for the Miami Herald when Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida, and this is a way for me to express the destruction of Hurricane Andrew back then. It’s not really autobiographical, but it’s based on my own experiences. It’s semi-autobiographical.”
A release date for that comic hasn’t been announced yet, but he said it will probably be printed in early 2006.
Lissau said he has a few more comic book stories to tell. He also hopes he’ll have as much success with them as he did with his last.
“I was going to be happy if anyone other than my wife and my relatives read the book,” he said. “I remember standing in my kitchen, holding the contract and there’s a line that says ‘Talent, Sign Here.’ And I looked at my wife and said, ‘Oh my God. I’m Talent!’ I was so excited. It’s just cool.”
