Humans have long been fascinated with the mind: specifically, the limits of what it can and can’t do. For some, it’s about the mind reaching its learning potential. For others, there are less conventional ways, yet to them no less real, powers of the mind to be unlocked, harnessed, and studied.
James Massey is a parpsychologist and a true believer that the mind can do things long seen as impossible—including giving humans ESP. And in the graphic novel RSVP: E.S.P.—from writers Dirk Manning and Josh Malerman, artist Joshua Ross, colorist Colin Johnson, letterer Dave Lentz, and editor Drena Jo and now funding on Kickstarter—Massey may have been rewarded for his search when he discovers two young boys who might have some level of extrasensory perception. But inviting them into his home for study may have been a misstep, as Massey may have welcomed reality-warping trouble to his doorstep.
I spoke with Josh Maleman and Dirk Manning recently about the idea behind RSVP: E.S.P., the collaboration with the creative team, the Kickstarter itself, and why we find stories of kids with mental powers so creepy and unnerving.
RSVP: E.S.P. cover
FreakSugar: That first chapter, man: It feels so disarmingly safe and kept me with a hitch in my chest. What is the conceit of RSVP: E.S.P.?
Josh Malerman: So, Dr. Massey is hellbent on proving the existence of ESP. He scours the internet and newspapers, looking for evidence of potential ESP in people, and he believes he’s found it in these two young boys. He invites them to his home/laboratory for two weeks of study, having no idea how unfathomably powerful the boys really are. One of them loves the doctor, the other loathes him. And so begins a tug-of-war for the doctor’s entire reality, even as he believes he’s running conventional tests on the boys’ potential, no idea he’s invited two god-like boys into the house.
Dirk Manning: These two kids are omega-level psychics who literally start rewriting reality around Massey as part of this battle between themselves. It starts small, but things escalate very quickly… and, quite frankly, horrifically.
FS: From the jump, it’s clear that RSVP: E.S.P. is going to be a slow burn. Was that always your intent?
DM: You know, it’s interesting, when I first approached Josh about writing a graphic novel and he brought me this story idea, I told him that this was a story that was meant to be developed as a graphic novel more than a prose novel – based on both the way he paced the story structure, but also based on how the horrific visual aspects start-out so subtle but then get more and more intense, invasive, and ultimately all-encompassing as the story goes on.
JM: Only perhaps in the set-up. I definitely wanted the boys’ abilities to be revealed piecemeal before their all-out war for the doctor’s reality really begins.
FS: What can you tell us about James Massey and the boys we meet?
JM: Massey is the kind of guy who believes so strongly in ESP and the like, that he’s flummoxed by people who believe in, say, ghosts, and equate their studies with his own. In a strange way he has blinders on, but the subjects he’s focused on are super open minded! So there are absolute layers to his personality. As go the boys… Elliot is thrilled at the opportunity to delve into his abilities. While Matthew doesn’t want to become a lab rat. That’s the real dichotomy between them. Meanwhile, they’re two of a kind, despite being adversaries here. Unbelievably rare people.
DM: I think it was important that we also show that Massey isn’t played as a comedic fool/foil in this story, but rather as a multi-faceted character whose positive nature combined with his desperation to prove that psychic powers are real make him very relatable and sympathetic. I mean, really, how many of us haven’t let an overbearing sense of optimism perhaps cloud our judgement a bit?
FS: The art and words and lettering marry brilliantly. What is the collaboration process like with the creative team?
DM: When Malerman came to me with this story idea, the only person I could envision illustrating it was artist Joshua Ross – despite that meaning there would now be two Joshes on the team. Haha! In all seriousness, I’ve worked with Joshua for over two decades on horror comics including NIGHTMARE WORLD and TALES OF MR. RHEE, but I can say without any hesitation that some of the scenes he’s drawn for this book are among the most visually awe-inspiring – and horrifying – that I’ve ever seen him do. When you then add Colin Johnson’s colors and Dave Lentz’s letters to the mix, it really is a dream team of creatives all coming together to make a great new horror graphic novel.
JM: I’m new to the graphic novel world so for me, every step of the way has been majestic. I’d never read a GN script before and Dirk’s script blew my lid. Then Joshua’s drawings. Then Colin’s coloring. And the color palate was a big deal to all of us. And Dave’s lettering was like the shrink-wrap to me… it brought it all to the highest level and I really saw, in real time, how this is done.
FS: What are some of your favorite E.S.P. tales on film or in print?
DM: Movie-wise, on Malerman’s nudging, I finally checked The Brood off my “to-watch” list after about three decades, and I’m glad I did. That third act! Wowza! Blending film and literature, I was also floored by what Mike Flanagan managed to accomplish when adapting the book Doctor Sleep to film, and how he managed to make it a sequel to both the film and prose versions of The Shining (both the book and the movie are favorites of mine) at the same time! In regards to strictly literature, if there’s a better psychic story out there than Harlan Ellison’s Mephisto in Onyx, I can’t think of it at the moment…
JM: The third segment from Twilight Zone: The Movie. Scanners. The Shining. The Dead Zone is a brilliant take.
FS: Following up on that, what is it about stories focusing on ESP/mind powers and kids that we sometimes find so unnerving?
JM: I totally feel this. Maybe it’s because we naturally think kids (and sometimes animals) know more than we do? That they’re in tune with something more nascent, more natural, than the adult mind, coupled with many concerns (often unduly), is? And so a story about younger people who can read minds or move objects touches a deep place in us, a longing almost, and we’re like… see! We were right! Kids and dogs ARE all knowing!
DM: I grew-up – and was largely molded by – so many of the stories Rod Sterling either wrote or curated in The Twilight Zone, which tended to just take the dials of reality and twist them just a tiny bit, you know? Well, in RSVP: E.S.P., we’re exploring two characters who can turn dials as fast, hard, and far as they want… so it makes for a wild ride to read and enjoy, you know?
FS: On to the Kickstarter itself, what can you tell us about the campaign?
DM: Through this campaign we’re offering backers a Kickstarter Exclusive Lenticular hardcover edition of the book – which I’m especially excited about, as this is the first time I’ve ever offered readers a lenticular cover. That aside, we’ve designed a really cool limited-edition T-shirt for this one, a chance to get a personalized “Psychic Experience” commission by Joshua Ross, a digital edition of the graphic novel, and several other combo deals.
JM: What I love about it is it’s all about the book. The stretch goals, the exclusive offers… all about the book.
FS: If you had one final pitch for RSVP: E.S.P., what would it be?
JM: It’s a legitimate experience. Filmic in scope.
DM: For a long time, Josh Malerman has been one of my absolute favorite horror writers, and his continued success in the world of both books and now film is demonstrative of the fact that thousands of other people share this opinion! Now that Malerman is entering the world of graphic novels, this is your chance to get in on the ground floor with a limited-edition version of his first graphic novel in a format that’s Kickstarter Exclusive through the campaign at www.RSVP-ESP.com – so don’t wait!
As of press time, the Kickstarter for RSVP: E.S.P. has almost doubled its initial funding goal, with 20 days left to go in the campaign. Take it from someone who’s read the first pages of the graphic novel: You’ll be hooked from the jump. That intro is so unnerving and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. If you’re into beautifully paced, stomach-churning horror, this Kickstarter is worth a look!