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"During the course of a few violent weeks in Nashville, Steve was handed three dismemberment cases. The detective working one of the cases pointed to a notch in a bone and asked Steve to tell him about it. Happy to have a chance to display his expertise, Steve drew himself up and said, in his most professorial voice, "Why, that's a saw mark in an arm bone.
The cop stared at Steve in disgust. "I know it's a saw mark in an arm bone," he snorted. "You're the bone doc; what kind of saw mark?"
Steve didn't know, but after he finished blushing, he decided to find out-not just about that particular saw, but about all types of saws.
At this point I can't help but add that I'd been trying for years, unsuccessfully, to interest a graduate student in researching saw marks."
Spent a quiet Sunday finishing Death's Acre, the story of Dr Bill Bass in his own words. Dr Bass is the founder of the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, better known as the Body Farm; a 2.5 acre patch of land in the Tennessee hills, surrounded by barbed wire, full of rotting human bodies. Grisly work, but invaluable to the advancement of forensic anthropology- teaching us the whens, whys and hows of human decomposition, providing vital clues that have both solved murders and exonerated the falsely accused in the half century since Dr Bass first dreamed up his little patch of Hell on Earth.
The chapters of the book are mostly structured as blow-by-blow accounts of specific murder cases Dr Bass has consulted on over the years, which is always fascinating stuff in itself, but to be honest I'd hoped for more logistic detail on the actual Body Farm. Perhaps that was considered less interesting to the average reader than the piecing together of circumstances behind violent crimes.
What I did enjoy very much is the one-upmanship and pettiness that creeps into the writing every so often when discussing Bass's peers and students, as in the extract above. It's very funny to read about people engaged in a fundamentally serious and macabre line of work trying to gross each out with crime scene photography over breakfast, and getting petulant about their pet theories regarding a decapitation. People are the same everywhere, in every line of work.
I probably enjoyed William Maples' Dead Men Do Tell Tales more, but would still recommend this if you're into this kind of thing.
This week I'm dividing time between two scripts- one being the final issue of an unannounced miniseries, the other being the seventh issue of an unannounced maxiseries, which means I'm just over the halfway line on that one.
On top of that I'm breaking ground on an outline for another book I've been asked to write for a franchise that's new to me, and addressing script notes on issue 121 of Nightwing- which is the third issue of my run with Dexter Soy. I had a call to check in with editor Jess Berbey last week, in which we discussed a guest appearance in an upcoming issue I'm champing at the bit to start writing.
It's good to be busy, but I'm very glad I took yesterday to just read and be a little still before breaching the tumult. I do try to treat weekends as weekends, which isn't always feasible as a freelancer- but I also don't think constant, manic turnover is great for the creative soul. Finished is better than perfect, but 'punted out the door to get it off my fucking plate' is the enemy. Ideas need to breathe. To be sat with and mulled over before they're committed to.
Out this week: Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor #2. And look! Preview pages. Which somewhat make up their own nasty little horror story:
Kelsey Ramsay has been a revelation as a collaborator on this book. To be able to capture likenesses while maintaining a distinct personal style is a hell of a skill, and her storytelling chops are clean and clever. Not to mention she's also designed my personal favourite Cybermen for this story, turning them into horrible, rusty, tendrilly bastards.
Last week I wrote a little about superhero comics and where they're going, which I was thinking about with the release of Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard's The Power Fantasy. You can read it here: https://thedeadairchannel.ghost.io/perspectiveshift/
It was also announced that I've signed up with Kinetic Collectibles for signings and appearances: https://thedeadairchannel.ghost.io/kinetic/
This morning I was also made aware that CBR have released a very kind article about my work in anticipation of my taking over Nightwing, which reaches all the way back to LIMBO, Caspar Wijngaard and my first Image book, which is still very dear to our hearts: https://www.cbr.com/nightwing-dan-watters-best-comics/
Right, I'd better get on with the whole scripting thing. I might try and keep this newsletter as a consistent Monday blast; it feels good to cleanse the cobwebs of the last week before diving into the new one.
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