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Throwaways No Longer Expendable

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by Vince Brusio

What would you think if you looked at yourself and thought you were no better than scrap metal in a garbage dumpster? How would you go on living if your self-worth couldn’t be measured because you were nothing more than a failed experiment? In Throwaways from Image Comics, such questions are posed and then answered. And the answers give way to Caitlin Kittredge and Steven Sanders’ new comic series in which birds of the feather work best together when it comes to showing trauma and human tragedy.

Throwaways Volume 1 TP (OCT160669) is in comic shops December 21.

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Vince Brusio: In Throwaways #1 (MAY160548), we are introduced to Abby Palmer and Dean Logan, two people who seem to be (at first glance) on the road to becoming professional barflies. In truth, there’s so much more under the surface, correct? They’re not throwaways in a bar. They’re government leftovers. Or would you put it another way?

Caitlin Kittredge: Abby and Dean are the wreckage that an age of government spying and dirty wars has left behind. They were both affected in very different ways, but their disparate journeys are what draw them together at the start of the story.

Vince Brusio: For both of you, the job of getting into the characters’ heads was a big part of the project. How did you approach that task? What do you do in either words or pictures to convey that inner turmoil?

Caitlin Kittredge: For me, writing Abby in particular, it was way more about what she doesn't say. She's very quiet, almost taciturn at times, in comparison to Dean, who's much more outgoing and communicative. Abby plays things very close to her chest and I used the contrast of her speech patterns against the other character's to make her stand out.

Steven Sanders: Hm. Probably the biggest way for me to do that is by using myself as photo reference for most of the characters. So I had to act out all of their feels, and then pull that emotion onto the page through body language, facial expression, and framing of the characters in the panel. 

Vince Brusio: What resources did you consult to help you get a feel for how you can show PTSD, or other maladies one could incur from combat? Did either or both of you have the job of referring to any research, case studies, or other documentation on war vets?

Caitlin Kittredge: I read a lot on PTSD, both firsthand accounts and more clinical descriptions. I really soaked up everything I could from accounts of soldiers who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, or been in the special forces. Abby is also half Pashtun, and I was lucky to meet a fantastic source on that half of her heritage who was kind enough to fact check me and give me tons of information on the intricacies of the culture and what Abby's experience of growing up biracial would be like.

Steven Sanders: I happened to have already read up about it through a personal project involving WWII, and a hobby of being interested in psychology. (Keeping a copy of the DSM around is weirdly handy) So, thousand-yard stares, Patton slapping a shell-shocked soldier, how the people who went into combat came back to their civilian lives to find themselves completely changed and aliens in their own society. It's all terrible and fascinating. I also know someone who was a sniper in Afghanistan, and try to let what little I know about their experience, and their behavior now, inform the work.

Vince Brusio: How is this story personal to you? How did you bleed a part of yourself onto paper, or keyboard?

Caitlin Kittredge: In a roundabout way, I got the idea for Dean's character and by extension the book that became Throwaways by reading an article about Rachel Weaver, who is the daughter of Randy Weaver, the man involved in the Ruby Ridge standoff. It was about her as an adult, how she coped with what her father's actions had done to the course of her life. I was about 8 or 9 when that was going on, along with the Branch Davidian standoff, Oklahoma City, and so on. I got the idea to write about a character who had that sort of infamous family legacy. I've also been a big history buff always, and in college started getting really into Cold War history, which lead me to reading about the MK-ULTRA program and all the other secret CIA programs that involved unwilling or unknowing soldiers and citizens. All of it gelled into Throwaways, so I'd say it's my most personal story to date, distilled from several of my purest and most formative influences.

Steven Sanders: I tend to dovetail a lot with Caitlin here. There's a fascinating "crypto-history" of sorts involving all of these old CIA and OSS programs, and the manner in which information about it is passed around lends itself to the creation of all kinds of conspiracy theories that can bleed over into the realm of modern myth-making. That part of our culture is an amazing rabbit hole to go down.

Vince Brusio: If you were teaching an art class or writing class, and used Throwaways as a textbook example on how to move the audience emotionally with a story, how would you show that Throwaways accomplishes that objective?

Steven Sanders:  It's been a lot of fun, and a great learning experience getting the chance to draw Caitlin's story, since, at least for me, drawing something involves making it real in my head; as real as any memory. Throwaways is making some pretty unforgettable memories.

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Vince Brusio writes about comics, and writes comics. He is the long-serving Editor of PREVIEWSworld.com, the creator of PUSSYCATS, and encourages everyone to keep the faith...and keep reading comics.

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