The four-issue anthology, due out in March '95 mixes up views and positions on the issue at hand, offering as many answers as questions it asks, proving that there are many layers to the interaction between races in this country. Tolson explained that, "The anthology offers a multicultural mix of thoughts and ideas. The creators on the series incorporate the many voices that exist in modern America, ranging from black American perspectives, to that of Asian-Americans, and white Americans. With Colors in Black, I want to do with comics what Spike Lee has done with film -- to tell stories of black people in America, and in telling our stories, telling the whole story of all Americans."
Robert Sodaro: Growing up, did you live in a predominantly black neighborhood, or was there a racial mix?
Scott Tolson: All of us, Jason Lamb, Brian McDonald, and I grew up out here in Seattle. We all grew up in areas that were racially balanced. Unless we went someplace outside southeast Seattle, it was pretty much a balance of white, Asian, and black. Where we lived, four blocks to the west, it was more predominantly black. Four blocks to the east, it was more predominantly white. In this little area, everybody was earning around the same amount of money, and had the same educational background.
RS: Who else is working on this series?
ST: The first issue is pretty much me and Jason Lamb, who is a wonderful writer. Brian McDonald, one of the primary writers, is in the second, third, and fourth issues. Christopher Schenck is the artist who did "Red Hot Pizza Girls" in the first issue.
RS: That was a great story.
ST: Christopher has done a book for Dark Horse called Enemy, and I think he's working for DC now. Illustrator Wayne Cash and writer Brian McDonald, who teamed on the book Harry the Cop for Slave Labor, are together again in the second issue with a story called "Images." It's a really good little story about how black children perceive themselves and perceive beauty on television. Greg Simanson and I collaborated on a couple of stories. I pencilled the story "The Life that Jack Built," and Greg painted it. Jonathan Smith, who illustrated Universal Monsters: Dracula last year (for Dark Horse), illustrates a story written by Dave Kebo called "Hand of God" which is the one story that is going to piss off everybody. It's literally the whirlwind story of what happens when the American system runs out of checks and a man resorts to violence. "Passion Play" and "Hand of God" are the only two violent stories in the four issues. When we do it, we try to do it kind of loud. Sarah Byam, who is a really great writer, wrote a story in the second issue, called "Larry Can't Wash it Off," with the illustrations by Gil Ashby. She also wrote the series Billi 99 for Dark Horse a couple of years ago.
RS: Oh yeah, I read some of that.
ST: She was nominated for an Eisner award for that series, and also wrote Black Canary for DC Comics. Garrett Omatta wrote a story in the fourth issue called "American Born." It's a really good story about the tensions between Chinese-Americans and mainland Chinese. Bret Siler wrote a story in the third issue. It's a conversation between a black guy and a white guy, and it deals with the differences in perception. It deals with the stereotypical "white-guy" attitude of: "I know what's going on. I'm down on racism, but come on, black people are kind of like this." The story starts off with this guy saying, "I see a young black guy on a street corner, I know he's selling drugs, but I don't blame him. That's all this country has left him with." The black guy overhears him, and says, "Do you really believe that stuff? Think about what you're saying. If there was a drug industry, could black people do that? Is it possible for any one minority group to do that as a whole?"
RS: I understand that Colors in Black has been in development for two or three years now.
ST: Yeah, it's been almost three years from the time we actually came up with the idea. It came about when we were trying to come up with a vehicle for a couple of stories. Brian McDonald wrote the stories in the second, third, and fourth issues. He had written a couple of stories that were not common comic-book stories. One was about a boxer, another was about a jazz trumpeter. They were just little vignette stories and we needed a place to put them. I came up with the idea of actually establishing a format to showcase stories that are different than the nature of comics, but are not underground material. Stories that were highly illustrated with little text. Stories that were just slice-of-life things. From there it just snowballed. It got to where we had this jazz trumpeter of the '30s. "Hey, why don't we do a story about a boxer in the '20s, and hey why don't we do a contemporary vignette?" It turned into stories that had an afro-centric theme to them. We literally just tossed out the thought, "Well, hey, why don't we call it Colors in Black?"
RS: Did you get hooked up with Dark Horse first?
ST: No, originally we had a deal with Eclipse. That was sitting around with Eclipse for about a year, and nothing really happened. There was a lot of "Yeah, we want to do this," and, some miscommunication here and there. It just fell apart. I was being represented by Mike Friedrich at Star*Reach. After a year of waiting for a contract, we decided to go someplace else.
RS: Did you get hooked up with Dark Horse then, or at that point did you get hooked up with Spike?
ST: We got hooked up with Dark Horse, who had an arrangement with Spike to do a line of comics. It literally just fell in. We were in San Diego, and Brian McDonald went to one of the Dark Horse parties one night. He found out that they were doing a thing with Spike Lee. The next day, I was showing my portfolio around, and we gave a proposal, and we had a new package design for a promotion. I showed it to Chris Warner. He said, "Wow, they're looking for stuff like this now. Let me take it back with me, and give it to the right people."
RS: This was two years ago?
ST: Yeah. It was literally three days after the San Diego convention that I got a call from Mike Richardson saying, "This is the kind of stuff we're looking for right now." We fell into the right spot, and now it's going on.
"With Colors in Black, I want to do with comics what Spike Lee has done with film -- to tell stories of black people in America, and in telling our stories, telling the whole story of all Americans."