Interview:UNTHINKABLE Issue #3

I noticed that the second page of this issue was a call-back to

issue one, showing that Alan Ripley is now living in the same

world as one of his films; I’m guessing this is a deliberate call

back?

Yes, it was a deliberate call back to the first page of issue 1, where Alan's Ripley's fictional protagonist Jake Steiner (who is never named in the comic) is torturing a terrorist aboard a submarine. That torture leads to Jake getting the info he needs to stop a terrorist attack on the NY Stock Exchange.

 Alan's journey as a hero in Unthinkable is not just trying to stop the terror attacks and find out who is behind them. It's about him learning to become a real hero. Part of that learning process is seeing that things that he's written about in his book - that torture always works in a ticking clock scenario - aren't necessarily effective in real life.

 This scene and the whole sequence was the most visceral way I could show that. What helped was the Julian's original page from issue 1 that this references is the best opening visual an artist has ever done for any of my comics.

We see the editor being tortured by an X-box 360 with the “red ring of doom”, are you a big 360 fan yourself?

Ha, yes, maybe too much of one. It does not help that I write from home and have a 360 in the same place I work.

In terms of story, each Think Tank member is tortured in a way turns their greatest asset against them, which helps reveal a bit more about them for both old and new readers.

We also see Nuisance being water boarded which is presently a highly controversial issue, what made you want to include this in the issue?

Well, the reason that particular character is getting water-boarded is that he's a human rights lawyer who only deals with the issue of torture or "enhanced interrogation" in the abstract, and this was a way of bringing it home for him. It was hopefully a way to bring that home for the reader as well, although I hope I was able to do so without coming across as preachy.

 Ultimately, Unthinkable in my mind is not about the The War on Terror. It's about what the responsibility is of a writer when someone uses their creations for purposes they didn't intend. And first and foremost, it's a thriller.

 That said, it's impossible to do an espionage/counter-terror book without touching on how the world has changed since Tom Clancy and Jack Ryan. I know that there isn't room in a 22 page comic to adequately explore the complex issues like torture or religious extremism this issue touches on. Hopefully, it lends the book an authentic feel and maybe makes readers stop and think for a second - but not much longer than that.

There are several references to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in this issue, is this because you like the film yourself?

There are deliberate references to Raiders (which I love) and ones that turned out to be coincidence. For instance, I knew from the start the climax to this issue would take place underneath the Temple Mount and The Dome of The Rock. I knew there were archaeological tunnels down there, but I didn't know that the Well of Souls was real, let alone that it was underneath the Dome. It felt like serendipity when I came across that during my research.