Matt Fraction: Walking Sideways in Casanova’s Footsteps

by Vince Brusio

Matt Fraction’s thief turned supercop and spy, Casanova, is in a sticky situation these days as he doesn’t have any self-awareness. None of the cylinders are firing. Without context for his life, imagine how much fun it is when “weird things” start happening. In this exclusive interview, Fraction explains that in Casanova: Acedia #1 (NOV140529), things are going exactly as planned. No mental management and lack of defense=fun time for the audience which reads a story not only on different footing, but which is “backed up” by Fraction’s colleague, Michael Chabon.

Casanova: Acedia #1 (NOV140529) is in comic shops January 28.

Download the PREVIEWS Prevue here.

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PREVIEWSworld: For those who may not be up to speed on your super thief, what would you say is the most recent profile one would read about Casanova Quinn?

Matt Fraction: Casanova Quinn was a thief turned supercop and spy when the bad guys kidnapped him out of his universe and brought him to a new one, where he was forced to play the part of… Casanova Quinn. He was, in effect, his own evil twin — but he turned all that around, grabbed his destiny by the throat, and fought hard to become someone he could stand to see in the mirror every morning.

PREVIEWSworld: How does Casanova: Acedia #1 stack up against previous stories? What's different? What's the same?

Matt Fraction: It’s all different. He’s here now, on our world, on our earth. No more superspy fantasy — he’s in a very normal, very real place. And he has absolutely no memory of who he was, who he is, where he came from, or how he got to this place in which we find him. He is, in effect, in the same place as a new reader. You don’t need to know anything beyond what’s on page one.  He doesn’t even know he’s Casanova Quinn.

What’s the same is that, of course, that idyll doesn’t last and Weird Things start happening.

PREVIEWSworld: Without giving away too much, what scene(s) would you most likely want to blog about as being representative of the tone or fun factor for the first story arc?

Matt Fraction: There’s a party scene in the first issue that’s pretty typical Casanova: an extravagant location, beautiful people, money, and a dangerous woman all seem to follow Casanova wherever he goes, or by whatever name he calls himself.

PREVIEWSworld: What is the most challenging aspect about writing this story? Is it thinking of new suits to put on your character as you portray him in other timelines? Thinking of new plots that would qualify as "super-espionage”?

Matt Fraction: Every arc has to reinvent itself. It’s always like pulling teeth until i find my footing. It’s more about the how-it-gets-told rather than the what-happens of the story. And I’m writing it a different way for Moon to draw, and then as if that wasn’t enough, there are backups by my co-creator Gabriel Bá and one of my very favorite authors, Michael Chabon, to have to deal with.

PREVIEWSworld:  If people want to contact you to learn more about this book, what social site are you most likely to use?

Matt Fraction: Signal flare, homing pigeon, smoke signals, hobo code left on building walls, old CIA dead drops, and/or messages in glass bottles tossed violently out to sea.