TD Inman on Martian Trump

At the core of every writer, illustrator, designer, or artist is a soul trying to process their world through the act of creation. That’s exactly what this month’s featured author, T.D. Inman did with her serial political comic Martian Trump. 

Inman is an experienced writer with a talent for unusual project types. She’s written a variety of articles for Boston magazine, The Boston Globe, Fine Cooking, Parents, Yankee Magazine, and Cook’s Illustrated. She’s also the creator of a stunning cookbook, Wintersweet: Seasonal Desserts to Warm the Home, and a book of word puzzles, Twitterati Cryptograms: 350 Snarky Ciphers for Social Media Junkies.

Cover by Frankie B. Washington

With this varied background, it’s no surprise that when she needed to process her reactions to Trump's election and presidency her creative mind found its way to a new form - the comic. Words Unbound asked Inman a few questions about the process she went through to get her comic to readers in a timely manner. 

WU: What made you decide to write this story? 

I started writing it in 2017 after the first chaotic months of the Trump administration. I needed to channel my anxiety and anger into something constructive before it poisoned other aspects of my life.

I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea I just couldn’t shake: Donald Trump stranded on Mars. I must have just rewatched The Martian movie based on the book by Andy Weir, and the idea of placing Trump into an impossible situation, all alone, with only his self-described genius intellect to guide him seemed irresistibly ripe for parody.

WU: Why this format for this story? 

Originally, I envisioned the story as a movie script, but that didn’t seem likely to pan out. So I landed on the idea of a graphic novel, which could incorporate similar visual gags along with the script’s dialogue. My kids got me into comics and graphic novels initially. Since then, I've dabbled in more adult-focused graphic novels, like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half. And I'll read any comics series by Jeff Lemire (I'm currently in the middle of Gideon Falls). The art really heightens the reading experience for certain kinds of stories, and I'm excited that this genre is expanding. When I realized a graphic novel was going to take too long to illustrate and release, I broke it up into six comic-book-sized issues, releasing three of them in 2020. 

WU:  How is writing for a graphic novel different from other forms of writing? 

Writing the script for the series was challenging because you always had to move the action along very quickly, keep the dialogue short and snappy, and describe your vision of what’s happening in each panel concisely, in a way that an illustrator can replicate. It requires being a visual thinker. It was a challenge to get the pacing right. There were a lot of revisions before it went to my illustrator. It was also a challenge to get the tone right, to walk the right line between humor and outrage.

 It should also be noted that writing a comic book series is actually very different than writing a graphic novel. Each comic issue really needs to have its own arc within the larger story, and break at a compelling point in the action while simultaneously ending on a page number that is a multiple of four (because of the way comic books are printed). These are some of the things I learned as I went along.

WU:    Talk us through the process from idea to comic script.  

I wrote a complete draft of the whole story in about a year. That was the easy part because there was so much outrageous material to satirize. And then I spent another year editing, revising, and cutting with the help of my amazing writer’s group! That was the hard part: turning Martian Trump’s incoherent ramblings and personal failures into a cohesive and entertaining story about the triumph of humanity’s best qualities over its worst. I suppose we’ll never know if I succeeded in that regard, but I’m grateful that Trump decisively lost the 2020 presidential election. That was the ending the country needed.

WU:    And then you found an illustrator. How did you connect with Frankie B. Washington & Keith Gleason? 

Online, of course. The two sites I found most helpful in connecting with my illustrator were DeviantArt.com and freelanced.com. I was scouring freelance illustrator profiles and came across Frankie B’s portfolio. I was struck by two things: I loved his style, very dynamic and full of personality, and his portfolio just went on and on and on, great illustrations a mile deep. Very prolific, professional work, so I contacted him. Turns out he had just gotten married, but he was interested in the project. Dude, I said, get back to your honeymoon, we can talk later!

 Frankie’s been working in comics for decades for Marvel, Hasbro, even movie storyboarding. This was my first foray into the industry, so he was very patient with my learning curve and inane questions. He does all the penciling, inking, and coloring himself (which is not always the case in comics), so the only other person I had to hire was a letterer, Keith Gleason.

Keith writes his own comics series for Alterna. Keith was great with graphics and came up with the kick-ass logo for the front cover as well as my social media avatars. He has a great sense of humor that really came through in the different styles of speech bubbles and sound effects he used throughout. Also, it must be said--he was very patient with my constant stream of nit-picky last-minute edits.

WU: What was your collaborative process like? 

 The first step was to figure out a style for the art and develop character sheets for the major players in the story. I’d send Frankie some descriptions, he’d send me art, and we’d email back and forth until we settled on something. Same with the story. I’d send him the script and some notes, he’d sketch out rough thumbnails of the general action, then we’d go back and forth. Frankie had a lot of great ideas, so sometimes I’d revise the script to work with the art. Then he’d enlarge the thumbnails to full page on his lightbox, flesh out the details, ink them, scan them, and add color on the computer. Once the art is finalized, the letterer adds the speech balloons, which is a whole other craft.

WU: Tell us a little about the publishing platform you’re using.

 After I put out feelers into the industry it became clear no traditional publisher was going to touch my project with a 10-foot pole (actual quote from a literary agent). So I went the self-publishing route. This also meant I could get the issues out faster which was key for political satire. It helped that my goal was not to make money but to make a social and political statement. So I published it page by page on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Webtoon, and then put it up on my website for free (you can also buy print copies on my site: www.MartianTrump.com).

WU: How did you publicize Martian Trump? 

Social media, as we know, is very useful for promotion (for better or worse), but I learned that it doesn’t work very well for releasing serial stories because people don’t want to wait around for the next installment of anything when there’s so much other instant content out there. The algorithms aren’t great for continuity. Still, it’s a good way to connect with other people who share your viewpoint and sense of humor. Webtoon wasn’t really the right audience for political parody, either—it’s mostly manga and romance—but live and learn (shout out to my 6 fans on Webtoon!).

Besides social media outreach, I sent out an email newsletter and sent promotional copies to Democratic Senators and Congressmen, as well as the late-night shows. I also sent out review copies. One taker was World Comic Book Review in Australia.

WU: Was all the work worth it?

Definitely. Creators gotta create. The collaboration was my favorite part. Seeing what Frankie came up with for art was always very inspiring, and Keith added a lot to the process too. They were both so great to work with. I loved seeing each issue all put together for the first time, a culmination of lots of little decisions that add up to something that can only be created by this particular team in this particular moment.

 In November, after Trump was voted out of office, I decided to discontinue the series. I didn’t make it to the end of all I had written but I learned a lot and enjoyed the process. Not every project is going to be a success in quantifiable terms. Sometimes success is that you created something meaningful to you and made important personal connections.

 What’s your next project?

 I’m working on a new cookbook and a couple of narrative non-fiction book ideas. I’d love to do another comic book-style project someday, but I hope it will have absolutely nothing to do with politics!

 Read Martian Trump free or order print issues at ww.martiantrump.com

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