Tom "Punished" King

>>85961964
>“[Writing Sheriff] was not how I wanted to spend my days, being back in those memories,” he said. “PTSD is a weird thing where it can do two things to you and do it simultaneously. They always show one side of it on TV. You know, ‘I’m so ashamed of what I did,’ or, ‘Something bad happened to me. It brings back these memories of fear.’ But PTSD also does this other thing where it’s, like, when I was there and I was in danger, but I was also happy because I had a simple goal. Now I’m back here and I’m with my family and I don’t know what’s good and what’s bad. I feel bad and guilty at the same time, like I want to be there and I don’t want to be there.”

What it turns out that King had the CIA equivalent of a desk job?

I'm not saying he's a fraud but it's a thought that keeps popping up in my head.

>>85962039

You'll never be able to prove it.

>>85962039
/co/ will keep memeing how he was tortured by every jihadist AND HOW HE HAS SEEN SOME SHIT.

>>85962039
He actually goes into that

>“I think it’s like any work environment,” said King. “I think the thing that’s most surprising is that the young people in their 20s do all the work, and that the people who are older are doing a lot of management of HR and stuff like that. Like, in the movies, you always see the head of CIA, and he’s down in the street, doing all these clandestine meetings and stuff. No, that’s like seven levels higher up from what’s actually being done.” He continues: “I remember I worked in the ops room, you know, like Tom Clancy’s ops room. It was during the Iraq War. ‘This is going to be amazing, I’m working in an ops room.’ And it’s mostly just dudes watching CNN trying to get through the night. The work gets done, but it’s not what you think it is.”

>>85962039
Remember Micah Ian Wright?

>>85961964
Hey so guys, here's a thing. tom King lives close to me, like REALLY close by. and I am an extremely low level comics journo. The type of guy whose ambition always out steps his discipline ; but who actually has one or two decent "hits" on a resume and something approaching a working relationship with a couple of mid tier outlets.

I want to ask Mr. King for an interview. But i am not sure of how the process should go down. I am legit a huge fan and i find his story history and career path very interesting so I want to come correct here.

Should I build up my portfolio more before hitting up his agency for an interview? I actually have "credentials" with Sequart so it wouldn't seem like a cold call from some rando but my output is pretty low

>>85962140
He got called out almost immediately. Also Tom King's writing is very true to life. He either was there or is a REALLY good writer to fake it so well.

>>85962140
He did only one thing in the comic book industry since then: the graphic novel Duster. He's also a vidya writer until recently, and is now a screenwriter.

>>85962039
BROOOT!

>>85961964
>Tom: I feel people don’t understand what PTSD is—my experiences with it and my friends’ experiences with it. I feel like they always think of it in terms of it creating crazy, dangerous people, but I think it’s a much more complicated condition than that. It’s more than just thinking that you went through something horrible. It’s also about thinking that you went through something important, and you were sort of on the edge of the world and when you pushed it, it moved. Then you come back to your normal life and you’re doing your thing, you’re writing comics for a living and watching the news, and you don’t feel important anymore. You don’t feel that sense that you’re doing the right thing all the time.

>It’s not always about the horror. It’s not always about thinking you’re going to get shot. It’s sort of about the difference between a life where you thought you were making a difference and a life where you weren’t. I think that creates a lot of stress in people and people haven’t acknowledged that. There’s some misunderstanding in a lot of popular culture where they assume it’s this one thing and it’s so much more complicated.


>King considers his work at the CIA to be the best job he’s ever had. If not for his growing family (he and his wife have three children), he would have stayed on. “I couldn’t really be the father I wanted to be and the operations officer I wanted to be at the same time,” he said. “People do it, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. The thing I most loved about being in the CIA was being in war zones and being overseas. My wife and I spent the first four years of our marriage apart about half the time. When you have a kid, it’s a whole different thing, right? I grew up without a dad, and I just didn’t want to do that to my kids.”

>>85962039
>What it turns out that King had the CIA equivalent of a desk job?

he wasn't an agent he was, he wasn't involved in anything clandestine, he never had a high security clearance, he never was in any dangerous situations, he was a low level cubicle monkey.

>>85961964
>Batman literally opened with 9/11

>>85962243

When Dc hired him i am sure there number was on his resume; in fact you can even see his work brought up before he got into comics again

>>85961964
>Kyle Rayner is a dadless comic maker brought into a farflung war by outside circumstances where the initial idealist egotism of heroism fall sway to the brutal horrors of warfare


Bravo

>>85962150
Go for it. Worst that happens is you get rejected.

Post that shit on there too. If you don't mind telling, what questions you gonna ask?

>>85962323
Well in short.

1. How did he get into the industry originally at vertigo
2.His motives for joining the cia
3.How vertigo has influenced him given it was his first comics job and how Vertigo editors Doyle and Berger were key to his career
3.His thoughts on being part of this "new school'
4. Some talk on his near unprecedented career path and acclaim
5. A detailing into the influence of his military work on his writing in comparison to other greats who were veterans such as Kirby, Hama and Kannigher and how those themes reflect in Omega Men, Vision, Babyon and Batman
6.Why he thinks Snyder's run was the best Batman run of all time


Also would it be super unprofessional to bring shit for him to sign?

>>85962509
> Why he thinks Snyder's run was the best Batman run of all time.

Seriously we need to know.

>>85962509
These are all great questions, damn. I was wondering about the Vertigo influence myself: I see that same darkness, that same dread present in a lot of comics from that era in his comics.

Tho, I would remove his motives for joining the CIA question, it's been asked a thousand times already.

I have no idea, ask the agency?

>>85962274
>fact you can even see his work brought up before he got into comics again

Working for the CIA does NOT mean you are an agent, he was a cube monkey no different than if he worked in a cube farm for any other company.
The guy who empties the garbage cans in a CIA buildings also works for the CIA the guy who writes the press releases at the CIA works for the CIA, the guy who hooks up the new monitors at peoples desks works for the CIA.
King never had any security clearance so he didn't see/do shit

>>85962509
>2.His motives for joining the cia
Already known.

>"new school'
??

Ask about his time in comics before joining the CIA and if he had any plans to go further back then. The reaction to going from an unknown to one of the most accliamed writers in the industry in basically a few months is a good quesiton

>Also would it be super unprofessional to bring shit for him to sign?
Yeah.

>>85962594
Prove it.

>>85962620
King is part of a recent explosion of newly public creators in dc, mostly centered around the Batman lines. Steve Orlando, the Gotham Academy Crew; even stuff like Batgirl and Gotham By Midnight and of course Grayson

This thread got me curious. How many comic writers and artists are former military/cops/etc?

>>85962860
Just King. No one else.

>>85962917
Really?
I know Kirby was a war vet, so with King being a CIA I expected there are more people with backgrounds like that.

>>85962860
Strictly former military turned writers/artists? Or served at any time? Kirby served at one time. Not sure if Larry Hama served in the military before or after getting into the industry.

>>85962860
Kirby, Hama,Lee,John Romita,Dick ayers , Doug Murphy,

>>85962755
google is your friend faggot

>>85961964
>The Viceroy, who is the Citadel officer in charge of the Vega System, is taken from the worst parts of myself during my time in the CIA. It's hard to describe if you haven't been there, but there's a certain (and certainly sinister) energy you get from being the representative of a great empire in a far corner of the Earth. It's like a high. You sort of think you can change things. You can push on the world, and it will move, and if you push it in the right way, you're the hero of every story. The Viceroy is addicted to this energy. He thinks he understands the people of the Vega system better than they understand themselves; he knows what's good for them. I had that thought. I had it a lot. I'm not sure if I was always wrong. I'm not sure if being not sure about that is a good thing. So I put all this in him.

Key difference being is that he got away with it.

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>>85961964

>>85963083
I am pretty sure this guy has killed children.

Like 50/50
40/60 at worst
very few people can i say that about.

>>85963091
Make your choice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjdDyvGE8gE

>>85963091
I've never played Specs Ops, but it's really that shit?.

>>85962998
Ok, I'm gonna assume you're full of shit then.

>>85963182
It is a great game. Try it.

>>85961964
Didnt writing batman give Snyder a psychological breakdown?

A shudder to think the worst case scenario here.

>>85962248
urg.

>>85962248
Man you fucking people. You half ass skim a comic then complain about it. Firstly it didn't hit anything. Secondly he had Batman fly between Finger and Kane towers to signify his Rebirth. Glad you are too dumb to pick up on that though.

>>85964071
>Comics can only have a single meaning
>terrorist attack involving planes and towers doesn't invoke 9/11 imagery

You're the dense one

> Interestingly enough, I know a handful of people who have worked at NCTC for well over a decade. I'm going to ask them if they've ever heard of Tom King. I already know the answer.

I'm fine with people pushing false or overblown credentials. I get it. That's like 95% of politicians these days. I just find it offensive when they purposefully use incorrect labels and terms interchangeably to try and muddy up matters. Since our last discussion on this, I've seen interviews where King refers to himself as an "operations officer" (he wasn't), a "CIA agent" (he wasn't), and an "analyst" (he was). Those are WORLDS apart in both reality and the connotations that come associated with them.

This latest bullshit about having to vet everything he writes through the Agency...I MEAN LOL. Hell, any US citizen can just submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the CIA and see how full of shit he is in 20 business days. Nobody is reviewing Tom King comics to prevent exceptionally grave damage to US interests. Not that I'd expect comics journalists to, you know, actually question stupid claims and do some digging. There's not enough room left when your column is unadulterated praise.

>Yeah, that definitely did not happen. Nobody in Langley sat down and redacted shit in a Tom King comic book. Nobody in the Agency even remembered who Tom King was until he started invoking their name. There's nothing in that book that even approaches the realm of classified data.

>>85964071
It was a plane at twin towers, my a man who was personally deeply affected by and some woudl say "reborn' by 9/11

>>85964983
Are you cping from neogaf?

>>85964983
So basically he spent his time on a desk, saw some gore pictures and read some ''top secret'' documents?

Given that he doesn't have any higher level academic credential and is writing comic books, it's a good bet that he didn't do anything top secret or of important at the CIA.

Hasn't King himself played down his time over there in comparison to people who actually saw regular combat?

>>85964983

I got the impression King is tired of talking about it and would want to spend his time talking about his work

>>85962509
Ask him if his dad beat him up with a belt and called him a faggot.

protect his smile, /co/

>>85962509

Really weak anon. He's already answered most of these questions before and most of them come off like high school reporting. Ask him some actual open questions, this isn't a "Getting to Know You" questionnaire.

>Also would it be super unprofessional to bring shit for him to sign?

YES

>>85962509
Ask him about obscure comics he really loves but aren't that popular. Ask him who's the best hand to hand combatant working for DC right now. Ask him if he likes feet.

>>85962150
>>85962509
Definitely go through his people. And you have to be professional about it, don't bring shit to sign. I don't know a lot about comic-specific reporting but the same probably goes for other entertainment: no cheering in the press box.

>>85963182
It's incredibly well executed and put together. Easily among the best 'descent into madness' stories out their.

Also probably the most divisive game to try and discuss on /v/

>>85965359
>So basically he spent his time on a desk, saw some gore pictures and read some ''top secret'' documents?

No he had minor security clearance he was an analyst.
he was "in" the CIA he worked AT the CIA big difference

>>85961964
>And I think the most noble thing comics do is, they give someone who’s had a tough day five minutes away from that tough day. And they give someone an adrenaline rush and show them that, in the end, the good guys win.
Based.

>>85966026

Regardless of that anyone that would work for the CIA is a bad person by definition. hope he gets killed in a crash car.

>>85962509

You can actually get some of your questions answered by listening to some podcasts he's done. I honestly cannot for the life of me remember which podcasts, but maybe google can help.

1) his mom knew paul levitz which got him the job
2) 9/11 was a motivation and people were telling him that comics were going to die.

>>85961964
This guy is literally making a book called Batman into a Supergirl and her black boyfriend tales book. I'm sick of these overrated flavour of the year meme writers. There will never be another Frank Miller who can draw and write his own masterpiece. There will never be another Alan Moore who will end up defining an age. You will never again pick up a new comic book and be amazed.

>>85966527
It's the book Batfags deserve. If you actually care about King's comics you read Sheriff not that casual shit.

>>85966527
>Why doesn't a writer do something original like copying Miller
Are you the same anon from the other thread who wanted every Batman book to be street level drama?

>>85964983
>Freedom of Information Act
DENIED!
>Patriot act enacted

>>85964983
people like to pretend that the US Gov is some big bad machine but honestly the ineptitude and just idiocy is baffling. horrifying really, so yea people outside of this info would eat this shit up if hes saying it, and probably even boost sales (which is probably why he is *is* saying it in the first place)

>>85962039
>What it turns out that King had the CIA equivalent of a desk job?

IIRC, King was an operations officer (a.k.a. "case officer"), which does entail a lot of desk jockey work. This isn't to say that he didn't work "in the field"—at the very least, he's probably taken part in an enhanced interrogation session or two or a field debriefing—but the truth of the matter is, a lot of modern HUMINT/counterintelligence work, whether in a civilian agency like the CIA or in the military, involves a lot of sitting at a desk reading field reports, doing research, and writing documents. I do think that his operations officer experience gives King a better "big picture" view of the whole intelligence collection enterprise, at least in terms of using it as a reference for writing military/espionage-themed fiction.

The black ops "shooter" stuff that is glorified in fiction is just a small part of HUMINT/counterintelligence work, and that's usually conducted by either paramilitary operations officers (i.e., ex-military special operations operatives employed by the CIA) or actual active-duty military special operations units.

>>85962150
I've interviewed a fair number of "name" comics pros myself over the past several years (Larry Hama, Adam Warren, Steve Rude, Whilce Portacio, Kaare Andrews, Philip Tan, Ed Brisson, etc.) and in my experience, your odds of getting a formal interview are greatly improved by going through the creator's agent/publicist (if he/she has one) or through their publisher's PR/Marketing rep. If the creator is doing publicity for a new book and is attending a local comic convention, try contacting the convention organizers (or the convention's third-party PR firm) to arrange an on-site sit-down interview or a phone interview.

That said, they're probably not going to give you the time of day if you're not credentialed or if the interview will only be posted on a personal blog, but just leverage your experience/connections with Sequart and you should be fine.

If all else fails, try reaching out to the creator directly via social media. You could luck out (or you know, he could block you, but whatever).

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>>85962973
Hama was a combat engineer in vietnam, and Tunnel Rat from G.I. Joe was his self-insert character. dude has definitely seen some shit.

i remember once in a Joe letters page, a reader wrote in to criticize Hama for a scene in which Scarlett gets shot in the head and doesn't die. Hama responded 'well i personally know 4 people who took bullets to the head and lived, so stop watching so many movies.'

i mean, you don't personally know 4 people who got shot in the head without being close to some serious shit.

>>85968907
See this is closer to what I was trying to understand. Thank you.

>>85962860
all of the ones at fighting age in 1938-45

>>85964071
>>85962248
it was both

>>85963182
It's a very good game and plays the story well, but like lots of popular things some people got sick of the fans