Talking To Writer Charles Ardai About ‘Gun Honey: Doubles Down’ From Titan Comics

Gun Honey: Doubles Down #1 comes out this week from Titan Comics/Hard Case Crime. Joanna Tan returns as a weapons expert and undercover spy. And taking out a Russian dictator. And that’s just in the first few pages! Erotic espionage and dynamic action, it’s a roller coaster ride of a first issue. So, it was good to talk with the writer and creator of Gun Honey, Charles Ardai, to quiz him on the new series and an unexpected answer to a question referencing the late, great Robert McGinnis. Find out more in my interview below: 

Olly MacNamee: Joanna Tan returns in Gun Honey: Doubles Down #1, and we are immediately thrown into the action. Only … she kills a double of the Russian dictator, Dmitri Vulapin. I’d ask where do you come up with all your names, but I know you’re a fan of using anagrams in your comics. Even the title Gun Honey is based on an anagram, right?

Charles Ardai: Yes! “Gun Honey” began as an anagram of the name of my friend Euny Hong, and “Dmitri Vulapin” is an anagram of Vladimir Putin. When I created the spinoff series Heat Seeker, both the heroine and her nemesis, Dahlia Racers and Sarah Claride, were anagrams of my own name. And for the next series I’m writing now, the antagonist is the richest man in the world, Mel Konus.

 MacNamee: What I loved about this first issue is that it feels very much like the start of a big-budget Bond movie. Exotic locales, voluptuous, sexy women and big screen action. How does scripting a dynamic opening like the one in Gun Honey: Doubles Down #1 differ from writing in prose? And, are there any other challenges?

Ardai: The main difference is the one you keyed in on: you can actually show things in a comic, whereas you can only talk about them in a prose novel. To take advantage of that, I want to give readers a real feast for the eyes — in this case, a Black Sea resort with bikini-clad sunbathers right on page 1, followed by an underwater infiltration of a heavily guarded mansion, and then an escape via motorcycle and helicopter. This is just Issue #1 of 4, so the whole thing is kind of an opening sequence, and I wanted readers to have the same feeling of instant adrenaline and astonishment and delight that I felt watching the opening sequence of a new Bond movie in the theater growing up: the famous music would play, and you’d be right in the middle of the action. The challenge? In comics, it’s all still pictures! There’s no music, no motion. People talk about “action” in comics, but there is literally no action; it’s all freeze frames. So the trick is creating the illusion of action out of a slideshow of stills. There’s no movement, there’s no soundtrack, all the voices and sound effects still written out as words on the page. It’s a weird hybrid of media, but god bless it, somehow it works.

MacNamee: And where did the genesis for this new series come from?

Ardai: I wanted to give my heroine, Joanna Tan, a mission where the stakes were as high as they could possibly be — and an attempt by the US government to assassinate the ruler of Russia felt about as high-stakes as you could get. I wanted this to feel like a big summer blockbuster movie where the outcome of the plot would change the world forever, and where the risk to Joanna is constant and absolutely deadly. She’s on her own in hostile territory, trying to pull off one of the most difficult assignments you could imagine, the killing of one of the best-protected men on the planet. One false step, and she could get killed herself at any moment. I want readers on the edge of their seats the whole time.

MacNamee: And all choreographed by artist and previous collaborator, Ang Hor Kheng. I can only say … what an artist. An artist very much in the vein of Frank Frazetta and Wally Wood. Where did you find such a talent, originally?

Ardai: Ang’s lines are so fine, so detailed, and he does all of it traditionally, by hand, pen and ink on a drafting board — he’s a young guy, but he works like the old masters. Very much like Frazetta, both in terms of the meticulous detail and the fleshy sensuality. I originally saw Ang’s work on a site called ArtStation and reached out to him about the project before I was even aware that he lives in Malaysia, which randomly happens to be exactly the area Joanna is from. So not only did I get a brilliant artist, I also knew that any time we wanted Joanna to visit that part of the world, the depiction of the setting would be authentic!

MacNamee: And what would you say his art adds to your script? For me, he certainly evokes the classic espionage art of the sixties. Not just Frazetta and Wood, but Robert McGinnis too. 

Ardai: Bob McGinnis, who painted the original James Bond movie posters back in the ’60s and sadly died last year at the age of 99, was a good friend — he painted dozens of covers for us, including several for Gun Honey, and whenever I sent him copies of the comic, he was full of praise for Ang’s interior art, he really loved Ang’s style. Ang’s art is so detailed that it makes the universe feel real and lived-in: when he draws a mansion or a criminal’s lair, you really believe people live there, that there are rooms beyond the one you’re looking at. When he draws a craggy beach, you can practically feel the sun beating down on you. And when he draws a beautiful woman … well, you feel you’re looking at a real person with a real body, not a mannequin or a cartoon.

MacNamee: Big question now, Charles. There’s no getting away from this comic being very much aimed at the more mature readers market. Why is it that we have no problem with depicting violence to all-age readers, but sex is still taboo? 

Ardai: I think it’s habit more than anything — we’re used to seeing violence, and we’re used to hiding the naked human body, but it could’ve been the other way around, and honestly, I almost wish it were. I know I’d rather see a beautiful woman strolling naked along a beach than a man getting his bones broken or his head hacked off. One is a sight that inspires revulsion and horror, the other inspires pleasure, whether aesthetic or erotic…and which of those feelings would you rather experience? The strange thing is that there used to be pretty strict taboos around depictions of violence — you wouldn’t see actual bone-breaking or other explicit gore in mainstream entertainment — while, on the other hand, my parents didn’t think twice about taking me to see a Bond movie where artfully photographed naked women would be writhing under the opening credits. Today, the violence depicted in movies and comics has become quite a bit more explicit, whereas nudity has become far less common, more taboo, to the point where there’s a chorus of pearl-clutching when someone like Sydney Sweeney does a topless scene that would’ve been absolutely par for the course in the ’70s or ’80s. I think that’s unhealthy, and we’re doing our bit to nudge the pendulum back in the other direction.

MacNamee: One last one. And not as deep. As co-founder and editor of Hard Case Crime and a renowned author, how does it feel forging a career in comics, too? Your inter teen must be stoked!

Ardai: Oh my god, totally. I wake up each morning practically pinching myself that I get to do this. I get to make up stories, and then brilliant, gifted artists draw them, make them come to life. Every few months, I get a box in the mail full of copies of my latest comic, and unpacking it feels like Christmas morning: I sit there with my mylar bags and roll of Scotch tape and I’m right back to my childhood, trying to fill in gaps in my collection of the Barry Allen run of The Flash. I love movies, I love novels, I love lots of things — but nothing makes my heart leap with childish glee quite like opening the pages of a comic book.

Gun Honey: Doubles Down #1 is out on Wednesday, 10th June, from Titan Comics/Hard Case Crime.