Cassie receives a strange anonymous suicide note and after reading it she begins a downward slide from a sane and controlled world into a world of twisted nightmarish images, a mysterious man who guides her along the dark path, and a pulling in her mind, to take her life and escape the nightmare. But, if she doesn't give into to the leading of the note to kill herself she must wonder a shadow world, forever unable to die.

We caught up with co-creator and writer, Jamison Kasian, to talk about SUICIDE NOTE.

Dan Royer: Hey Jamison thanks for taking time to talk with me about SUICIDE NOTE. First of all let’s talk about you. Who are you and what do you do?

Jamison Kasian: My name is Jamison Kasian and I am a comic book writer. I’m the writer and co-creator of Suicide Note, I drink a lot of coffee and I’m a scorpio. I like long walks on the--oh wait, am I doing it wrong?

Dan Royer: How did you find yourself getting into making comics?

Jamison Kasian: I’ve loved comics since I was a wee one, and I’ve been writing in one format or another since at least high school, if not before. So as my formal education headed in creative directions, my love of comics kind of took over and I naturally gravitated in that direction.

Dan Royer: Last week we talked with your co-creator, Dwayne Biddix about the book, so what can you tell us about SUICIDE NOTE?

Jamison Kasian: I can tell you that it’s like an old Twilight Zone episode on a peyote trip. It plays with an almost archetypal element- the mysterious letter. And it deals with very human, relatable ideas in responsibility and sacrifice. Genre-wise it’s all over the map- its horror, its sci-fi, family drama, black comedy. It’s got a little bit of everything.

Dan Royer: Dwayne let us know about Cassie finding the strage suicide note, can you expand upon that?

Jamison Kasian: Right, she finds this letter in the wake of her daughter having what appears to be a nightmare. Reading it starts a long slow descent into psychosis, which Cassie comes to believe is because of the letter- and can only be halted by her suicide.

So we sort of follow Cassie and see the effect this insane scenario has on her and her family, ultimately leading her on a desperate search for answers. Answers as to what this letter is, how it came to her and why. That’s probably the most I can say without giving away some of the fun of the mysteries.

Dan Royer: Dwayne filled us in on the idea coming from a Christmas commercial. What can you tell us about the idea for this book?

Jamison Kasian: Dwayne Biddix (pencils) and Chris Carpenter (editor) from Hard Way pretty much presented the high concept part to me, the “chain letter that causes the crazy” idea, so I just ran with that. I really wanted to find the drama and human side to it- take some real genre sort of elements and kind of exploit them in a very character based, almost inverse way.

Dan Royer: Would you agree with your penciler on the "R" movie style rating for this title?

Jamison Kasian: Rated R. No doubt about that. For language definitely, probably some disturbing images also. Might get some weird reasoning as for a certain rating-- I remember renting FIGHT CLUB on VHS years ago, and on the rental place’s sleeve around the case, it was one of those generic sleeves, and it had the rating and the reasons for the rating. I remember one of the reasons for the R rating was “violent anti-social behavior”. I thought that was awesome- not an R for nudity or language or some generic element, but something so specific- “violent anti-social behavior”. So maybe Suicide Note could get an R for, you know, graphic depictions of responsibility or something.

Dan Royer: What are you hoping readers can take away from this story?

Jamison Kasian: I hope they’re entertained, really. If they get creeped out and laugh and finish the book and enjoy the ride, well, then I’m happy. If you go back a second a time and look for all the little things, the clues and the signposts that are hidden and pointing the way, that’s cool too, you know, to know someone was so engaged with a story.

Dan Royer: Is this a series that we can expect more from in the future?

Jamison Kasian: I’m sure there could be other stories to tell, other people who receive the letter and what happens to them and why. That’s part of the fun of these kinds of stories.

Dan Royer: Can we expect more from you horror comic wise in the future?

Jamison Kasian: Absolutely, absolutely, hopefully work in a wide range of genres, often blending several. There’s a one shot from Hard Way that’ll hopefully make its way out later this year called The Shelter. That’s more of a straight-up horror book. There’s also another kind of genre-bending story full of bat-shit insane comic book fun- vigilantes, serial killers, rogue cops, psychics- that’s getting worked out now, so we’ll see what happens there.

Dan Royer: Can you talk a bit about your experiences so far with working in comics?

Jamison Kasian: It’s been like most creative endeavors- you have your moments of frustration, of joy, of kinda just being immersed in the work- and at the end of the day, you find that it’s all worth it. I’ve had some good experiences, some bad, some not worth mentioning, you know. But all of them are worth it to be able to make comics.

Dan Royer: Were you into any horror titles growing up that lead you to want to create a book like this?

Jamison Kasian: Not so much with the horror comics, no. I would say horror movies more as a kid, and Stephen King books, stuff like that. But as a kid- ‘90/’91 and for like a decade previous- my comic book attention was mainly focused on Marvel stuff, maybe a few DC books.

Dan Royer: What comics are you currently reading?

Jamison Kasian: Right now I’m loving John Layman and Rob Guillory’s CHEW- that’s a great story, big on the fun. Ex Machina, which is damn close to perfect storytelling in my opinion. I’m reading DMZ, also Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca’s Iron Man book, the Buffy Season 8 series- I can’t get enough of that Buffy universe stuff, there. Started reading Pax Romana in trade too- that is one beautiful crazy looking book. I could on forever.

Dan Royer: So where can readers find out more about this book?

Jamison Kasian: The Hard Way Studio site - WWW.HARDWAYSTUDIOS.COM. There are all kinds of things there and links to other wellsprings of info about the book.

Dan Royer: So in summary give me a quick recap on SUICIDE NOTE and why fans should give it a try.

Jamison Kasian: Suicide Note is scary and funny, dramatic and science fiction-y, disturbing and fun. If you consider all of that stuff in a reading experience fun. Hopefully it’s giving you a little different slant on some tried and true genre bits- putting them all together in a way that’s new and weird and interesting.

Dan Royer: Thank you for your time, Jamison. Best of luck with SUICIDE NOTE!

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