NYCC 2024: Walking On ‘The 99 Legs’ With Writer Michael Conrad

Among the many new projects announced at Comixology’s press briefing as part of New York Comic Con is The 99 Legs, by writer Michael Conrad. Comicon.com sat down with Conrad to discuss his collaboration with artist Noah Bailey and how the pair have carved out their own unique corner of the Comixology line.

Tom Smithyman: You have a number of projects with Comixology. Talk about your newest book from that platform.

Micharl Conrad: We announced The 99 Legs, with my longtime coallaborator and friend Noah Bailey. We got our start at Comixology Originals with a book called Tremor Dose. We followed it up with Double Walker. When we sold Tremor Dose, we didn’t know how it was going to be marketed. And I think it might have been because our book is weird. It’s got more in line with a strange episode of The Twilight Zone than it does with real horror.

They really marketed it as a horror book, so with Double Walker, we really leaned into that, with a story about this young couple who take a trip while they are pregnant. While they are in Scotland, something bad happens to the pregnancy, and it spirals out of control. We had so much fun telling something that was just straight-up horror.

With this new announcement, we just turned the volume up on everything. It’s the product of our shared love of Italian giallo films.

Smithyman: OK, you’re going to have to help me out with those.

Conrad: Giallo movies are very lowbrow. It’s low art. It’s kinda like comics, where comics aren’t super respected in the arts community. But when you find a good comic, it is absolutely high art, and it’s the greatest thing in the world.

So we’re trying to approximate that kind of energy. We just trying to show up with something that is kinda dumb and cool but is also going to bring that high-art quality to the work. And I think when people see the stuff that Noah is creating, for these pages, it’s really going to be pretty mind-blowing for readers. Every single panel looks like the greatest panel for a horror book that you’ve ever seen.

Smithyman: You guys have been working together for a long time. What is that collaboration like?

Conrad: It starts with a conversation. Noah, being the artist, has to spend a lot more time with the material that I do as a writer. So it starts with: “What kinds of things do you feel like drawing?”

And with The 99 Legs, Noah said: “I really want to do a lot of backgrounds,” which you never hear an artist say. So this book is set in ambiguous city, but it’s very much based on 70s New York when New York was really in the struggles.

From there, I go and do full scripts. With Noah, I always put the caveat in there that I’m not precious about things. This is a complete, shared partnership. So quite often it will change. And it will affect the story as it goes. Sometimes I’ll get in there and tweak some things as a result of having him provide some inspiration visually.

Smithyman: So you react to the art and adapt the story accordingly.

Conrad: The 99 Legs is about 130 pages long. And we’ve already expanded on certain sections and leaned into things. It’s long enough that, if he gets 10 pages in and says: “Hey, I really like this character,” there’s enough time for me to get in there and spend more time with that character.

Smithyman: How long does it take for you to create these stories, start to finish?

Conrad: We’ve been working on this for close to two years. It would behoove us both to move at a quicker rate! We’d be able to make more books and ostensibly make more money. It’s not that we’re not interested in making money off of these projects. It’s that we’re interested in establishing a shared legacy. When those two make a book, it’s worth showing up for it.

Smithyman: At the end of the day, you just want to tell a good story, right?

Conrad: Yeah, and I think for the (Comixology) line, it makes sense. The place that Noah and I inhabit in the line is kind of a strange corner. Neither of us are very known quantities. I’ve done a bunch of work DC and other publishers, but when people show up for a book for me, it’s different than when they show up for a book from Kim-Joy or Scott Snyder. There’s a certain energy and vibe to those kinds of books.

With us we can show up. We can be as weird as we want. And we’re taking every advantage of that!

Smithyman: There has to be a creative freedom in that.

Conrad: Having done plenty of work for DC, if I had a good idea, by the time it goes through all the channels it kind of turns into something different. It doesn’t mean that I’m not as proud of that work as I am of this stuff, but there’s certainly more of my DNA in this material.

Smithyman: Best of luck with the new book and in carving out your own creative space!