Hanging out with Jason Aaron

I was working at a comic book store back when Jason Aaron’s very first comic book The Other Side was released. Every month on the day of its release, an older guy that we called “Army Tim” would come in and purchase the latest issue. Army Tim didn’t buy any other comic books except for The Other Side, so I was impressed that he was always ready for the latest issue. Army Tim is a Vietnam War veteran and the reason he loved The Other Side so much was because he found comfort in reading comics about Vietnam.

“Maybe that’s a little weird,” he once said.

After The Other Side was collected, I met Jason Aaron at a Kansas City’s Planet Comic Con and I told him about Army Tim. Jason signed a copy of the trade handed it to me and said, “Be sure to give this to him and tell him ‘thanks’ for me.” From that point on, I knew I’d be a Jason Aaron fan.

Last week, Missouri State University had a class on graphic novels that was taught by Jen Murvin Edwards and the final day was a guest lecture by Jason Aaron. Jen invited me and my friend Thad to the lecture and to lunch afterward.

Jason’s lecture was accessible to people who were relatively unfamiliar to the industry and his work, but there was plenty of new information to keep old comic fans interested. The relationship between writer and artist was a particularly fascinating discussion as the class looked over various scripts that Jason has written accompanied by the artwork for the script pages.

For the first issue of the Other Side, Jason had written an Alan Moore-esque first page of the script (lots of background and setting for the artist to digest when working on the art). His later scripts feature some description, but he mostly lets the artist dictate the action.

Currently, Jason has five titles coming out: Scalped, Ultimate Comics Captain America, Astonishing Spider-man/Wolverine, Punisher Max, and Wolverine. I don’t read the regular Wolverine title, but I have the collected editions of Scalped and Punisher Max and I get the individual issues of Cap and Astonishing and I’m amazed at the range that Jason has. From gritty noir to fun and over-the-top action, Jason Aaron can seemingly do it all.

Personally, I think Astonishing Spider-man/Wolverine is some of his best work. It’s wild, but without being incomprehensible. It begins with Spider-man and Wolverine traveling back in time to the dinosaurs, and the next issue leaping to the future with Wolverine using something called a “Phoenix Gun” in order to kill Dr. Doom the Living Planet. It’s wildly imaginative with great dialogue and a believable relationship between Spider-man and Wolverine.

We went to lunch at MSU’s perennial favorite restaurant Bambino’s, and afterward, Jen asked Jason what he wanted to do until his signing. I turned to him and asked, “Thad and I were wondering if you’d like to go to the nastiest, most ridiculous book store in town, the Book Rack? The rows are so thin that you have to shuffle through, but there are tons of old long comic boxes with who knows what.”

Jason Aaron shrugged and said, “Sure. To the Book Rack we go.”

It was at the Book Rack that I saw the one person who made me care about Jason Aaron; Army Tim. He was looking at stack of books and his eyes brightened when he saw me. “Army Tim! You remember that comic, the Other Side?”

“Yeah, I really loved that old book.”

“See that guy there? That’s Jason Aaron and he wrote the Other Side.”

Army Tim got a big grin on his face and said, “Well, I better go talk to that old boy then.”

I saw the two of them shake hands and they talked for a moment. All in all, it was a great day, but seeing Army Tim was divine intervention.

I could go on and on about my day with Jason Aaron and share all sorts of stories from that day (ask my wife, she’s sick of hearing about them), but most of them are better told in person, so I’ll have to keep them private for now.

Be sure to keep up with Jason Aaron and his insights on the comic book industry with his column “Where the hell am I?” on Comic Book Resources because it is inspiring even if you don’t care about comic books.