Talking With Garth Ennis About His Newest Sword & Sorcery Satire, ‘Babs: The Black Road South’

Garth Ennis: Most obviously we’re looking at a quest for an item of great power and its subsequent volcanic destruction — although that didn’t work out quite the way that was intended, and Babs is now having to deal with the fallout. Several characters from other famous barbarian series make brief cameo appearances too.

 

The question of sacred cattle in any genre is an interesting one. I think it was Pat Mills who related a good line from Archie Goodwin, who said that making fun of a guy’s favourite superhero is like calling his mother a whore. For some people, that’s true. But Pat also talked about a great many superhero fans (and editors, writers, artists etc) who saw what he and Kevin O’Neill were doing on Marshal Law and said, “yeah, we love this, go further.”

 

That’s superheroes rather than sword & sorcery, of course, but it’s a nice illustration of the division between those who are far too precious about fantasy fiction, and those who have it in the right perspective.

 

 

Ennis: Not this story in particular, but as soon as I started writing Babs I knew I wanted to do more than one series. She’s a great character to write, her shitty attitude and nasty sense of humour make her a very comfortable fit for me. Some of my own favourite characters haven’t been your standard high-minded heroes on grand quests or missions, those who’ve granted themselves license to follow some higher calling — instead, they’ve just been trying to survive day to day.

 

 

 

 

Ennis: There’s a bit of that, but I’m going to put it largely on the back-burner this time around, probably come back to it in the third series. What I found more interesting this time was taking a closer look at Babs herself, delving into her past to see what she’s been up to. I’m interested in seeing just how far I can push the audience’s sympathies for the character — a question of idealism versus practicality, you might say. We all like to imagine we’d do the right thing in any given situation, but if we’re being honest, how many of us would just go for the gold?

 

 

Ennis: Extremely so in both cases. The trouble with being an expert at one thing is that you can accidentally find yourself employing that expertise in unfortunate ways, convinced that your skills will carry the day. Overconfidence is a right bastard, as I think Milton has the archangel Lucifer saying just before he gets the boot.

 

 

Ennis: Initially, his facility with character, on which I knew Babs was going to stand or fall. Vague, overly textured art with scratchy, slab-faced people has never been any use to me, although I do understand its popularity. I need the audience to be able to see what a character’s thinking, what mood they’re in — or what they’re trying to hide. Beyond that, Jacen’s ability to handle any kind of story, whether he’s employing absolute accuracy for the sake of realism or creating a world from scratch for a good, workable fantasy, was obviously going to be an advantage. And he’s a superb storyteller — I sometimes think of him as a kind of cross between Steve Dillon and Frank Quitely, in that his narrative progression is flawless but he’ll occasionally take a chance or two as well. Also our senses of humour click, which is vital.

 

I do indeed keep going back to the same artists, which I think is only good sense. When I think of the people I have books with at the moment — Jacen, Keith Burns, Steve Epting, Paddy Goddard, several others — I see people I know I can rely on. It takes an awful lot to put me off an artistic collaborator, although it has occasionally been done.

MacNamee: I’ve noticed you’ve got another long-time collaborator and childhood friend, John McCrea, producing variant covers for this series. It must be great being back in Blighty once again and able to catch up with friends like these more regularly.

Ennis: It really is, I’m glad you mentioned that — although John and I were in touch pretty regularly for my two decades in the US. In the last couple of years, I’ve been doing a number of shop signings and cons throughout the UK, all highly enjoyable — among the latter were Bedford, Lawless, Enniskillen and Thought Bubble, which gave me a great look at the British scene but also the opportunity to catch up with many old pals. Thought Bubble I found particularly enjoyable because not only is it comics only, it’s just so big — infact for me it’s the closest in feel to the old UKCACs of the 1990s, you get the sense that everyone’s made it along.

 

 

Ennis: Some years ago, Babs took the Black Road South to the accursed land of Mordynn and only escaped by the skin of her teeth. Having sworn never to return, she is of course doing exactly that. She has some interesting traveling companions, some old, most new. And lurking out there in the shadows is someone she never thought she’d see again, a little fart of a guy she dispatched with an offhand remark and a kick in the balls. Turns out she shouldn’t have done that, because all hell is about to break loose and this creep is doing his best to bring it down on her head. And, Babs being Babs, it turns out she’s done half his work for him.

 

A punch-drunk dragon, a lord of evil with a mincing machine, an interesting barbarian subculture and some dodgy goings-on atop a mountain of fire. All these things and many more. Cheers!