Top Shelf’s Robert Venditti Brings The Homeland Directive to comiXology

It’s been a busy few weeks here at comiXology HQ. We’ve upgraded, expanded and even added a few new books to the collection along the way. Earlier last month comiXology teamed up with Top Shelf Productions to bring some of the best comics around to the digital market. This week We’ve got a whole new slew of quality Top Shelf books coming out alongside the week’s other releases.

In honor of the occasion we got the chance to sit down with Top Shelf creator Robert Venditti, whose thrilling Graphic Novel The Homeland Directive is now available on comiXology. In this first part of our latest two part interview Robert was nice enough to talk about his early experiances in comics as well as some of the inspiration behind The Homeland Directive. Check out part one below:

So The Homeland Directive is an excellent addition to the Top Shelf library. What was it that drove you to purse such an in-depth project?

VENDITTI: In the months and years after 9/11, it occurred to me that Americans are somewhat paradoxical when it comes to the demands we place on government. We ask that our elected leaders protect us from the terrorist threat, but if government attempts to do so in a way that we perceive as intrusive, we rebel against it. If we were to be attacked again, however, the first thing we’d do is look for someone in government to blame. Added to that is the fact that often the very same freedoms we defend so stridently when faced with government intrusion, we’ll willingly trade for the sake of mere convenience. I’m not passing judgment on anyone, and I’m not suggesting that I’m any different. I just think that our contradictory nature puts government in a no-win situation. The Homeland Directive is about what happens when government tries to win anyway.

Any chance you could shed some light on your own government experience?

VENDITTI: I’ve never worked in government, so my interaction with it has for the most part been limited to filing annual tax returns and waiting to renew my license at the DMV. Oh, and I was on an airline flight where a pair of air marshals drew their sidearms and held the cabin under guard for about an hour (with good cause, in my opinion). But that’s happened to everyone, right?

How did you get into comics?

VENDITTI: I didn’t start reading comics until I was well into my twenties, so when it finally dawned on me that I wanted to write them, I had no idea how to make that happen. In 2002, I volunteered to work in the warehouse at Top Shelf Productions, with the goal of acquiring a better understanding of the industry and maybe making a few contacts, too. I gave Chris Staros, Top Shelf’s editor, my script for The Surrogates, hoping he would introduce me to a publisher that might be interested in a sci-fi detective story, which at the time was unlike anything Top Shelf had done. Chris ended up liking it, though, and I was thrilled to have the book become Top Shelf’s first genre miniseries. So I literally started out in the mailroom.

What drew you to analyze the interaction between politics and scientific research?

VENDITTI: It’s difficult to say where ideas come from. One minute you’re having a typical day, and the next you have an idea for a political/medical thriller that involves the surveillance state and a weaponized bacterium loosed on an unsuspecting population. I will say, though, that I’ve long had an interest in politics (one of my college degrees is in political science). And when it comes to sheer terror, I’d be hard pressed to think of something scarier than a microscopic killer than can be anywhere, anytime. Those two things bouncing around in my subconscious probably led in some way to the conspiracy at the heart of The Homeland Directive, but the exact dots are impossible to connect.

What kind of stories did you read growing up?

VENDITTI: The first grown-up novel I remember reading is Watership Down, which I read when I was in elementary school. From there I moved on to Tolkien, and in middle school and high school I was into Stephen King and Tom Clancy.

We’ll be back with more from Robert a little later in the week. In the meantime be sure to check out a FREE ten page preview of The Homeland Directive, pick up the full 136 page Graphic Novel and keep an eye out for the latest releases From Top Shelf Productions and comiXology!

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