Garth Ennis is travelling back in time to revisit his 2021 comic, Marjorie Finnegan – Temporal Criminal, on which he teamed with artist Goran Sudžuka, colorist Miroslav Mrva, and letterer Rob Steen.
Yes, if you haven’t seen already, publisher AWA Studios is running a Kickstarter campaign for a new expanded edition of that book right now. Funded in 7 hours, the book had raised upwards of $50,000 as of this writing. And it includes some great reward tiers and extras. The base book is a new softcover or hardcover, 250-page director’s cut, with a new oversized format and a wraparound cover by Amanda Conner.
In addition, there’s a new 20-page Marjorie Finnegan story in the book, along with never-before-seen backmatter. For superfans who want to opt for higher reward tiers, extras include a live Zoom Q&A conversation between Garth and AWA editor Axel Alonso, exclusive prints, stickers, copies of the script, and even a chance to be drawn into the book.
Personally, I’m happy to have a nice reason to revisit this world again. The original series was such a fast-pace, irreverent jaunt through time, with clever humor and pristine artwork. It’s a good one. Anyway, check out my own brief Q&A with Garth Ennis below, after the jump!
Interview: Garth Ennis talks new MARJORIE FINNEGAN Kickstarter
ZACK QUAINTANCE: What inspired the character of Marjorie Finnegan? And more specifically, how did you find her attitude and voice?
GARTH ENNIS: Once I knew I was doing a time travel comedy, I imagined someone racing through time completely unfettered by any kind of rules or regulations, moving at the pace that suited them- with their own particular rhythm. Which got me thinking musically, absentmindedly humming tunes that seemed to fit the beat I was looking for. What drifted into my mind was the music from The Usual Suspects, specifically the slightly whimsical but irresistible “now we’re doing crime” theme that plays when the Suspects are up to some shit. From that I got a name that fit the beat: Mar-jor-ie-Fin-eg-an-Temp-or-
At that stage it was a case of fitting a character to the name- someone totally free and irreverent, whose motivation was to keep going, keep jumping, always searching out more fun and adventure. Someone who laughs her way through life. She has no interest in anything serious, and in fact is slightly puzzled by it- and its adherents. Marj didn’t take too long to reveal herself after that.
ZACK: Have you ever had an idea for one of Marj’s excursions into time that you scratched, and if so, why?
GARTH: Not so far. I’m often asked if there’s anything I’ve balked at, anything I reckon is too extreme to write about. My answer is usually no, but that doesn’t mean I’ll throw any scene into any story- if I think something is inappropriate for Marj, for instance, I’ll find a home for it somewhere else. Marj’s particular tone is obvious enough that I’m not going to shoehorn anything really grim into one of her adventures.
ZACK: There’s some panels in here that are the exact type of comics pulp I love, like when Marj is fighting pirates with a dinosaur for example. I was wondering what the process was like for conceptualizing this book. Was being able to have Goran Sudžuka draw splashes like that something you aimed for from the start?
GARTH: Very much so. Once you establish that you can go anywhere in the past or future- the latter in particular giving you total visual freedom, because no one can really predict what’s coming- you need an artist who can handle literally anything. And that’s Goran. The scene that appears early in issue one, where the arrival of Viking raiders is interrupted by the sudden employment of German artillery from 1500 years later, is a case in point- Goran is able to make all that make sense, to make it seem like everything belongs where we’ve placed it (even though it doesn’t).
That scene, incidentally, was the starting point for the whole series- I was watching the show Vikings and finding it hard going, partly because our heroes seemed to take out all the opposition without even mussing their hair. And the idle thought that came to mind was, one shot from something big enough would blow that silly bloody longship out of the water. Too bad nothing’s been invented yet…
ZACK: What can you tell us about the new 20-page story in the book? I think all I’ve read about it is that it’s set in the Marjorie Finnegan Universe…
GARTH: This is where we wanted to give the people participating in the Kickstarter some real bang for their buck. Extras are always nice, but a brand new story- featuring the characters that drew readers to Marj and her world in the first place- is the icing on the cake. In fact it’s better, it’s an entirely new cake, with extra icing. Which is not to say I’m not looking forward to the other aspects of the Kickstarter, in particular, the Q&A- It’s always nice to give people an insight into the creative process. But ultimately telling stories is what I do, and the chance to tell a completely new one for people is what brings me the most enjoyment.
The story sees Marj, Harri, Tim and Dina (the latter on probation from Temporal Prison) playing Time Golf, in which you travel through time and hit the ball into certain pre-chosen receptacles. To cause minimal disruption they adopt disguises appropriate to each era- after all, Marj has a little public relations problem left over from the last series, and Dina is a Velociraptor. Coming up with new looks for them was something Goran and I had a lot of fun with- particularly Tim’s, just because he’s very much on Marj’s shit list at the moment.
ZACK: Finally, how do you feel about telling more stories with Marj and this world? Is that something that might be in the works after this new book is done?
GARTH: Very much so. As usual it’s a question of waiting until a decent story presents itself, but that shouldn’t be long in coming. It was extremely easy to slip back into the world of Marj for the Kickstarter story, as I think fans of the original series will see. So I’d say that a new Marj series shouldn’t be all that long in coming.
The Marjorie Finnegan — Expanded Director’s Cut campaign is live on Kickstarter now.
I loved the story, it’s quite gonzo, but it speaks to Ennis’ cult status that he could raise $50K within 7 hours to expand a pre-existing book,,,,,,,
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