Way Out There

It doesn't say so on the website, but I promise, I have a short comic story in Mystery In Space #1, a new anthology out tomorrow from Vertigo Comics. My tale, "Verbinsky Doesn't Appreciate It," was a late addition; I had pitched a bunch of ideas just after the book had been filled. But then one story dropped out at the last minute (in comic book terms, anyway) and "Verbinsky" muscled its way into the contents. This is a huge thrill for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I'm a longtime Vertigo fanboy, especially Vertigo's occasional anthology series such as Flinch (aww, remember Flinch?), Weird Western Tales, Gangland, Weird War Tales, Strange Adventures, and so on. "Verbinsky" is a brand new comic, but it began life as an abandoned sci-fi short story I wrote while living in Brooklyn back in 1998. At one point, maybe six years ago, I gave this early version a lame non-ending and it was published on a (since defunct) flash fiction site, but I was never all that happy with it. So I relished the opportunity to revisit in a totally new form, with an ending I like. People often ask me how long it takes to write novels, comics or stories. I can honestly say that this 8-page sci-fi tale set in a New Jersey bar took me, um, fourteen years.