My Summer Lair Chapter #201: Who Murdered The Gas Station Attendant?
I’ve been reading Fabian Nicieza since the 90s…mostly in Marvel Comics. Notable notables: New Warriors (incredible!), Nomad (fun!), New Mutants (astonishing!), Cable & Deadpool (stunning!) and so much more.
In fact, it was during his work on the various X-Books where he was co-created Deadpool with Rob Liefeld. (The second Deadpool movie is fresh filthy fun!)
Have no fears; stay with me…this is not about nostalgia and my wayward youth where comics corrupted my innocence. (RIP Little Sammy’s innocence…)
Fabian has also written two murder mystery…ish novels: The Self-Made Widow just came out June 21, 2022. It’s still got that new book smell: mmm.
The Self-Made Widow is a follow up to his 2021 novel Suburban Dicks. (If you know Deadpool you can quickly gather how his co-creator could also issue a novel called Suburban Dicks. Everybody you know is a blessed with different gifts.)
This novel is a slow burn. It patiently sets up the New Jersey universe that it is set in. Just like Gotham City is a major character in Batman, New Jersey is a prominent character in Suburban Dicks.
And it is a character that comes with its own vibe, its own history, its own moods. So while this is a novel about Andrea Stern and Kenny Lee attempting to solve a murder of a gas station attendant, they happen to be solving this mystery in a New Jersey town that’s struggling to embrace its present evolution.
Fabian describes the novel “as a sarcastic suburban mystery.” However in our conversation he added: “When you ask me what Suburban Dicks is about; it’s about white fear of change and white fear of demographic upheavals that actually happened gradually, over the course of time in the areas in which you live in.”
Let’s visit West Windsor-Plainsboro, New Jersey, this is where Fabian’s novel Suburban Dicks starts with the odd murder a gas station attendant and…a child who needs to pee…badly.
Fabian Nicieza @ W • T • F
Host & Photography Sammy Younan
Recorded: Tuesday December 29, 2020 at 4pm
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