INTERVIEW: Jay Faerber on POINT OF IMPACT

Jay Faerber has been tearing it up with his action/crime comic Near Death, but even with that ongoing series, he’s still got some crime stories to tell. At the San Diego Comic-Con, Image Comics announced a 4 issue mini-series written by Faerber with art by Koray Koranel called Point of Impact. Being a big fan of Faerber’s work, I caught up with him after the con to get the dish on what we can expect from this mini-series as well as pry an as yet unseen by the public preview of the first issue. Luckily, I succeeded in both.  Check out the interview below followed by 6 pages of art from Point of Impact #1

iFanboy: At this past San Diego Comic-ConAt SDCC, a new 4 issue mini-series written by you, Point of Impact, was announced. For those who missed that announcement, can you fill us in on what Point of Impact is? What can we expect from the story?

Jay Faerber: Point of Impact is a 4-part murder mystery. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever written before. It’s a totally finite story that’s not designed to go past these four issues, and I think that gives it a certain unpredictability. We’re not trying to set up a franchise with these characters — it’s 4 issues, then their story is complete. The story begins with the death of a woman named Nicole Rafferty, who is apparently thrown off the top of a building. But by who? And why? And why was she on the roof in the first place? These are all questions to be asked by our three main characters: her husband Mitch, an investigative reporter; her secret lover Boone, an ex-soldier, and her friend Abby, a homicide detective. These three characters — none of whom know each other — investigate Nicole’s death and they each follow different paths. The reader gets to follow all three, and in doing so gets to know the whole story.

iF: We’re coming up on a year of your ongoing series, Near Death, which is also a crime book, but not super noir-y. How would you compare Point of Impact to Near Death or other crime comics? 

JF: I think Point of Impact is pretty different from everything else out there, simply because of the nature of the story. It’s a way for me to examine how a person can mean different things to different people. You behave differently when you’re with a friend compared to how you behave when you’re with a spouse. We play different roles, fulfill different needs. And I wanted to explore that as our three main characters learn about these different sides of Nicole they never knew. That said, there’s plenty of action and suspense, and definitely twists and turns — it’s a murder mystery / thriller, after all.

iF: This mini-series is going to be black and white? Why take that approach for this story? Does the B&W format factor into the type of story? The cover image is quite stunning in black and white with a sketchy/style -is this a taste of the look of the book?

JF: Yeah, it’s straight b&w, cover to cover — that includes covers and ads and everything. It was really something Koray and I wanted to do more out of a stylistic preference than anything else. So he drew the book knowing it would be b&w, which is different than simply drawing a book and then not having it colored. He inked and shaded it so that the b&w format would have maximum effect. And yeah, Koray did the cover and the interior art, so the cover is a good representation of what you’ll see inside.

iF: You’ve always been a great source of finding new art talent, tell us about your artists, Koray Kuranel and how you came together to work on Point of Impact?

JF: I was introduced to Koray by my friend and Noble Causes collaborator, Yildiray Cinar. Koray is a storyboard artist in Turkey and when you see his interior pages you’ll see immediately what a strong storyteller he is. He’s a tremendous talent and we’ve been working on this book for a LONG time. We’re really excited for it to finally come out.

iF: Near Death has been set in Seattle and LA, what city does Point of Impact take in and how important is the setting for a story, especially a crime story?

JF: I took a different approach with Point of Impact, in that it’s set in an unnamed city. I generally really enjoy writing specific locales, but in this instance I wanted the city to have an anonymous sort of feeling — an Anytown USA kinda thing. So we never pin down exactly where it takes place.

Point of Impact #1 hits comic shops in October, be sure to pre-order your copy today!  As if you needed convincing, check our these 6 pages from the first issue: