Newcomers discuss their series' sexagenarian action heroes

By ANDREW A. SMITH
Scripps Howard News Service
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Age is no barrier to adventure.

This ancient adage, which I just made up, is proven by a new five-issue miniseries from DC/WildStorm, "The Highwaymen," written by newcomers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman.

Bernardin and Freeman aren't your typical comic-book novices, who are generally twentysomething with short resumes. Instead, both are mid-30s and have had successful careers elsewhere. Currently, Bernardin is an editor at Entertainment Weekly, and Freeman is the executive producer of "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" on A&E.

Further, the heroes of their "Highwaymen" series are sixtysomething! In this turbo-charged action story (now on sale), I. McQueen and Able Monroe are retired from a life as go-anywhere, do-anything "deliverymen," but return for the time-honored "one last job" at the recorded request of a dead president.

But sexagenarian heroes?

"In a world obsessed with youth, it's the old guy at the party who stands out," Bernardin said in an e-mail interview. "We knew that, if nothing else, 'The Highwaymen' would look like no other book on the stands. Besides, old guys are cool. You want them to be cool. I know that, as a kid, I always imagined that my grandfather had all of these adventures when he was young, stuff that I never knew about. ... What if, one day, your grandfather opened the locked chest at the foot of his bed, pulled out a pair of pistols and said, 'Look after your grandmother, I'll be back directly. Somethin' I gotta do'? How cool would that be?"

Freeman agreed. "When you flash back to Jason Bourne's history, you're looking back, at like ... Wednesday," he said. "These guys have years behind them. It's the only way they have gotten this good at what they do."

And what is it they do? McQueen is good with guns, Monroe good behind the wheel. The former is white, English and born to wealth, the latter is black, American and from a poor background. In "Highwaymen," which is set in the near future, a taped message from the deceased President Bill Clinton asks them to secure a biological weapon before unscrupulous black-ops government agents do -- a weapon that happens to be a teenage girl. What happens next?

"Action, with a heart," Bernardin said. "Of course, that heart is pumped to the gills with adrenaline and scotch."

"Fun," Freeman said. "To be honest ... we created comics that we wanted to read. I haven't seen anything like either when it comes to the action, the tone and the humor."

Which seems to be a combination of everything from James Bond to Westerns to chop-socky to buddy-cop movies.

"We're clearly suckers for action cinema, from John Woo to John Ford, and everything in between," Bernardin said. "There's just something about it that speaks directly to the part of the reader that, no matter how sophisticated or mature you may be, just wants to be able to say, 'Holy ..., that was awesome!' And that's what we wanted to bring to 'The Highwaymen' ... that enthusiasm for the genre, for the many genres we're playing with here."

Freeman added, "I think in the same way 'The Matrix' is a mash-up of everything the Wachowskis love -- kung fu, science fiction, mythology, etc. -- 'The Highwaymen' ... (is) to us. It may not be as cerebral, but that's only because we're not particularly bright."

And what would drive two settled, successful family men into the wacky world of freelance comics writing?

"Because I've always wanted to," Bernardin said. "And because it scratches an itch that journalism doesn't ... at least until I get to cover the path of wanton destruction caused by two senior citizens operating at the behest of a dead president."

"What he said," Freeman added. "We've been fans since we were zygotes. Would you like for the whole planet to be made of pizza? Would you like a harem at your disposal? Would you like to write a comic book? Hell, yeah! (To all three.)"

Bernardin and Freeman are also responsible for the graphic novel "Monster Attack Network" and some stories in upcoming anthologies. What next?

"We're working on some other stuff that's a little too far out to announce," Bernardin said. "And, you know, knocking on almost every door we can find."

"Oh, and I'm working on creating non-fat fat," Freeman said.

Which isn't anything a twentysomething writer would be worried about.

(Contact Andrew Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us/)