IDW, CSI Go to Murder-Con
by Chris Arrant, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 3/6/2007
Starring the characters from CBS's hit crime series CSI, IDW Publishing's CSI: Dying in the Gutters presents an original murder mystery set right in the middle of the comic book industry's most visible territory—the comic book convention.
In this new story, the show's Gil Grissom and his CSI team are on the scene at a Las Vegas comic convention when one of the convention guests turns up dead and the suspects turn out to be a list of very well-known comics industry professionals. Indeed, the fictionalized world of comic books and the comic book industry, where characters die but rarely stay "dead," is probably the perfect place to stage a tongue-in-cheek murder mystery.
"IDW's CSI series have tended to do well in collection in the bookstore market but not terribly well in the comics market," said Steven Grant, writer of CSI: Dying in the Gutters, originally released as a five-issue miniseries and due out in trade paperback March 25. IDW has published five CSI miniseries to date in addition to several CSI: Miami one-shots and a CSI: NY miniseries. Grant said that IDW publishes for "the book market and the direct market [comics shops] and IDW copresident Ted Adams was trying to figure out a way to appeal to the comics market more and hit on a murder mystery set at a comics convention."
After the general scenario was laid out, Grant was brought in and took over the writing. IDW editor Chris Ryall got permission for several actual comics creators to appear in the story, adding an intriguing new element to the mystery. "Ted's plan seems to have worked," said Grant. "This series was the most ordered CSI series in the comics [direct] market."
The victim of the crime turns out to be one of the comics industry's own: Rich Johnston, the real life comic book industry gossip columnist. In the story, Johnston's murder at the convention turns the guest list of artists and comics pros into a list of murder suspects including such comics industry luminaries as Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, Robert Kirkman, Marc Silvestri and others. But just how did these real life people get involved in a CSI story?
"Chris Ryall from IDW asked me if I'd be game, and I said yes," said Johnston. "Even if it gets [me] killed off in the process." Johnston's work as a gossip columnist for the comics industry has made him a polarizing figure among comic professionals, which as it turns out is perfect fodder for this comic caper.
"In the CSI world, there are a lot of creators who would have a motive to kill him. So we took that idea and ran with it, and dozens of creators (as well as the gossip columnist himself) were willing to play along and let the story play off their online personas, making it even more fun for fans," said Ryall. "We definitely set out to tell a good CSI story first, so you don't have to have any knowledge of these people or the comics industry, but if you do have that familiarity, it offers another level of fun to the story."
