George Ferramdi | Superhero, Sidekick, Gaggle of Ghosts

Artist's Introduction

There is a failing superhero, ill-equipped for each of the many crises to which he is summoned. (As it turns out, the poor souls need emotional rescues.)

There is his side-kick/assassin/lover, either planning our hero’s surprise party or plotting his demise.

There is a gaggle of ghosts, presumably of failed rescues, all trying to teach this hero the things he can only really learn from their mistakes.

(baking soda baking powder lust excuse almost destiny self-doubt = compass timing = everything glitter = gold)

Something about this is like reading a book and writing it at the same time. (Or maybe hiding money from yourself.)

There is the necessary trust that the reader will make sense of it. (It is, after all, you.) If you edit too soon, there is no vapor—only nothing. Your mistakes are shining coat hooks. Signatures in scar tissue.

There is a necessary fascination with what secrets the writer will tell. (They are, after all, yours.) Don’t let it go on too long. Overwound, it’s a dead watch—no hopes of turning left for another undoing.

The pudding is in the middle . . . in the sparring between these awkward pairings: story/form reader/writer trust/fascination logic/secrets . . .

Make the strange mark. Dark, so you have to work hard to erase it. This scrubbing ghost is your own(ed) steam.

—George Ferrandi