The Big Question with Myatt Murphy
Interview with: Troy Brownfield

On Wednesday the 7th, the first issue of Two Over Ten landed on the newsstands. The writer of this new comic is a young guy who has made quite the name for himself in journalism in the past eight years. Murphy has been writing over fifty features a year for publications such as Cosmopolitan, Details, Esquire, GQ, Maxim, Men’s Health and Penthouse. Combined with international issues, Murphy’s work reaches more than 40 million readers annually. Frankly, you wouldn’t believe some of the things this guy has gotten to do in the name of reporting.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Myatt Murphy!

THE BIG Q&A

Q1. What are your earliest memories of having a love for comics?

A1. Back in 1974, long before the words ‘comic’ and ‘collectible’ ever became used in the same sentence, store owners still used to rip the covers off of whatever comics they didn’t sell and mail them back to their distributors for full credit (shudder when you fathom how many X-Men #94’s were senselessly slaughtered to recoup that whopping quarter buy-back!).

My Dad used to work as a soda vendor delivering cases of 7-up and stuff to supermarkets and other Mom and Pops (convenience stores) so he would grab every coverless comic he could find and bring them home to me. If it was Marvel, DC or (yes, I’ll admit it…choke!) Archie, I read it from 1974-1979. I’d like to say I read them cover to cover, but that would require them having covers in the first place. I couldn’t tell you what the outside looked like to this day, but the first comic I ever read was an old Flash where he battled The Top and finished the issue telling his wife Iris about it over a good pipeful of Prince Albert or whatever the Hell he was smoking back then. Since the glory days of free books, I’ve eventually found all the comics I read as a kid (old Flash and Green Lantern being my two all-time favorites) but not without serious effort, since I don’t know what the comic ever looked like. To this day, I’ll look at a comic I don’t recognize, wonder if I ever read it, open it up and have an instant flashback (followed by an immediate escort out of the comic store for opening up every 70’s book I find.)

Q2. How did you get into your magazine writing gig?

A2. I took a job answering letters in 1993 for Men’s Health (a magazine that wasn’t nearly as popular then as it is today.) Back then, my days were spend answering phones where readers would tell me they wanted to know if we ever ran any articles on genital warts or 10 ways to lose 50 pounds. I would find it, xerox it, mail it and then pray for God to find me a better job, like freelance boil lancing or something equally exotic. To keep from hating my life, I used to put art up from comic books I liked, so all the editors knew I was a comic fan. I would get asked all the important questions like “What was that thing that Kirk used to shoot people with?” and “Didn’t Batman have some kind of man servant?” when editors needed to add some pop culture to their stories or prove to others that I was a geek.

One day, an editor was doing a freelance piece on comic collecting, saw my wall of tribute to Dave Sim, Neal Adams and the like, and asked to interview me. I accepted and four months later, there I was, on the stands, telling thousands of Boy’s Life readers a Mylar Snug wasn’t an illegal wrestling hold and that Valiant was a wise investment (If you took my advice back then, please don’t hate me. I’m still sitting on 10 copies of Bloodshot #1 myself, alright?!?)

I dug seeing my name in print, started asking to do some writing at the magazine and then eventually ended up writing about a third of it every month under three different pen names (All three of my personas were oddly enough all underpaid. Note to all writers: If you see the words ‘Work for hire’, run like John Goodman thinks you’re free food.) That led to writing for all the major men’s and women’s magazines from GQ, Details, Maxim, Penthouse, Cosmo, Glamour, Sports Illustrated, etc. It’s good money (plus, working at home lets me type in the nude. My old editor at the Christian Monitor never really understood that side of me…)

Q3. Reading over your bio, you’ve had some amazing experiences. Brief us on running with the DEA and wrestling reptiles, among others.

A3. Yes, the jury’s still out on whether I’m really brave or very, very, very, very stupid (The smart money’s on the latter.) The alligator wrestling was just perfect timing. I was on Marco Island in Florida doing a travel story when I heard about this 80+ year old guy who used to be a gator wrestler. The locals told me he could still do it (even though he was now legally blind and lucky when he could make it through the day without pissing on his shoes) I went to interview this modern-day Matt Murdock at his gator petting zoo, watched him hop on some 300-lb. living handbag and jump off. When I challenged him if the thing was even breathing, let alone alive (since it barely moved when he was on him) he dared me to do it. Not to be shown up by some guy that couldn’t beat Bob Hope in a foot race, I did it. All four limbs accounted for, but I did drop about a gallon of sweat all over that things back. I came back, told an editor at Maxim about the experience and he had me write an article teaching others how to do it (You know, in case you ever get the urge…)

I’ve done other fun stuff like being thrown in a simulated concentration camp, cave diving, learning sex tips from Amsterdam prostitutes and even spending time with a high-speed narcotics unit in Dayton, OH with David Morrell (author of First Blood, you know, Rambo) and Marcus Wynne (author of No Other Option). It was fun, if you’re into wearing flak jackets, shooting really, really big guns. I was just grateful at the end of the day if I still had a pulse and didn’t have scabies from whatever crack dealer brushed past me on the way to the paddy wagon.

Q4. You’ve interviewed the Tennis Goddess, herself, Ms. Anna. Is she really that hot in person?

A4. Mmmmm…yes. Shorter, but no less sexually intimidating. And, I’m proud to say that after being flown down to spend the entire day with her and even telling her how to stand for the photo shoot, the woman still wouldn’t recognize me on the street. Sigh…but can you really stay mad at someone like Anna? I mean really!

Q5. Give us the inside on “Two Over Ten”.

A5. Well, the basic premise is simple: In Two Over Ten, everyone has a soul, but in this story, it’s called a ‘given’. Each given has its very own title. You may be the Sullen while your father is really the Break, etc. It’s the name the Gods know us by…but it also decides what powers we truly possess. It’s not as cool as it sounds. Your gift may be as lame as to be able to move only oyster crackers with your mind…or you could have a talent for recreating atmospheres on different planets and making them breathable. Either way, it really doesn’t matter, because you’ll never get a chance to use them. Casey o’Beirne is the seventeen-year old girl chosen by the Gods to make sure we never know about the abilities within ourselves. In her sleep, she secretly teleports into the rooms of babies throughout the world and essentially “clips the wings” of their givens by stealing a piece of them and retaining it within herself. The story starts when she arrives at the house of Brenden Wynne, an alcoholic whose wife has recently left him and the father of an 18-month old child named Joshua. When Casey appears to turn off Joshua’s given, she wakes up to find herself standing over the crib of the one ‘given’ that cannot be surpressed by her powers. The child is known as the Release. Touching the child causes hundreds of these ‘pieces’ to return to their rightful adult owners. And that’s when all Hell breaks loose.

One of the ‘pieces’ finds its way back to Miquel Zamudio, a small time thug who is instantly aware of his ability, which is to steal physical parts (muscle, brain matter, etc.) He builds himself into the perfect human being and quickly uses his newfound powers to soar up the ranks of the Mexican Mafia. The five issue mini-series deals with Casey’s struggle to reabsorb his given (and others like him) before their threat grows too large for her to handle, as well as decide the fate of the Release child. In her quest, he enlists the help of Brenden, who is unaware that as he helps her, he is helping the woman whose duty it is to kill his own child.

Once you understand the premise, it’s easy to tie the theory into anything and everything, even things that have explanation. It’s a timeless cosmic food chain that has gone on since the beginning of time…but it’s a cycle that sometimes breaks down once in a while. The incident that sets things in motion with Casey and the Release baby is one that, as a reader, you assume has been going on since the dawn of time, only with different individuals (since these powers, or givens, are passed on in a reincarnation way when we die). Could the elusive Chalk Giants been drawn by a child who only had the ability to simply move pieces of Earth? Could the disappearance of the Incas be linked to one native who lost control of their power for one brief moment in time? Could even certain religions have been born from just one individual who had his given returned and was believed to be a God, before having it silenced once again? That’s up to the reader to decide.

I’ll be curious to see how readers react to the difference between the dialogue and the narrative. One of my favorite stories is Harlan Ellison’s Star Trek episode where after letting Joan Collins become road pizza, they make it back to the future and Kirk’s closing line is simply “Let’s get the Hell out of here.” He could have fired off some well-rehearsed speech that would make readers grab their chins and ponder the intricacies of life but no, he chose something that felt out of place. It was real and human and believable and that’s why it’s a legend.

I don’t have the balls (or the stupidity) to draw parallels with Two Over Ten, but I wrote the ordinary characters as ordinary as possible, saving the poetic license for the narrator of the piece and the characters whose abilities would allow them to be intelligent enough to sound prolific.

Q6. Do you have more comic projects coming up?

A6. Sure do. The next series after Two Over Ten starting in April 2002 will be Fade From Blue. It’s the story of four half-sisters who come together after a series of accidents take the lives of their mothers. The story starts several years after these events, when one of the sisters learns that the one they believe is responsible is still alive. But don’t let the dark undertone fool you. There’s a lot of humor mixed in with the compassion and I think it’s a story that will be appreciated by both male and female readers alike. For a sneak peek, people can check out www.secondtosomestudios.com after November 20, 2001. As for Two Over Ten, the mini-series has a finite ending so readers won’t be disappointed, but the way it ends does lend itself to the possibility of continuing with the characters that remain. If we get a good enough response, I’d love to start the series from either where it ends or jump the storyline to the past or future, where other occurrences with the Release child could create an entirely new storyline all-together. It’s very much like the Crow in the sense that it could easily continue but with an entirely different cast of characters. What direction that takes however, I may leave entirely up to the readers.

Q7. Okay, your ultimate magazine cover story. What would it be?

A7. Back in the mid-90’s, I had been contacted by the USA Network to interview some obscure actress that was starring in some TV series. I thought the show would be a flop and passed to write on something far more significant to the average reader (I think it was an article about how to or something equally important.)

Years later, I’m visiting a friend in Miami who was in love with this show and got me hooked. The show was La Femme Nikita and I (like any guy with vision, a working imagination and an ounce of testosterone) became obsessed with Peta Wilson. Two months later, I’m rummaging through some useless stuff and I come across the old press kit I had been sent years back from USA. Yes, the woman they wanted me to interview was Peta Wilson. Yes, I processed to soak the press release with my own tears of regret and yes, I still have the 8 by 10 glossy that came with the kit hanging up in my bedroom.

So if you asked me what article I’d like to write, it would have to be…Exclusive interview with Peta Wilson: Why I fell in love with the short, socially-dyslexic writer who blew me off when I was nobody! Hell, I can dream, can’t I?

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We’d like to thank Myatt for taking the time with us here at the Big Question. Obviously, check out “Two Over Ten” and www.secondtosomestudios.com. Also, keep an eye out for his work in mainstream magazines. You’ve gotta respect a guy who writes about the DEA for Penthouse.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2001 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Comics, Culture, Interview, The Big Question (Interviews), Troy Brownfield. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.