My copy of Watchmen appears to be missing. I suspect my roommate has stolen it and sold it for booze or drugs. Or maybe he's just hiding it because he hates me.

He already owes me over $500.00. Now he owes me over $500.00, plus one Watchmen trade.

     I will have justice.

More on Watchmen, and why I went looking for my copy in the first place, in a moment.

But first let's do some business:

And, no, I'm not just bringing up Watchmen because it's hot right now. Yes, you can buy the "Absolute" edition at your local comic store for $90 million dollars. Yes, it just got profiled in EW. And, yes, it's on a comparative fast track in Hollywood after years and years of false starts.

     (The false starts are coming fast and furious now.)

No, what sets Watchmen aside, re: today's column, is "backmatter."

What is backmatter? Well, if you've first heard the word recently, it's probably because of Warren Ellis. (Yes, him again.) In his new Image Comics title Fell, Ellis shoves 16 pages of story and 8 pages of "backmatter" into 24 pages for $1.99.

You know what story is. The backmatter is everything else. Letter column, behind the scenes stuff, etc. Now, I'm too lazy to trace the origin of the term, so it might have once referred to ads as well. But as of now it's more or less a catchall for "extra non-comics content."

Last time, we talked about how comics are quick reads. Ten minutes and your done. My roommate has told me that it takes him longer than ten minutes to read a comic, but I think he may be dyslexic and/or drunk.

Obviously, one way to extend the comics experience is to provide this sort of backmatter--this non-comics content. Also obvious, text features will be better for this purpose than artwork will. Why? Well, you'd probably spend more time reading through a letter column than you would admiring a pin-up of, say... Witchblade.

Um. Okay, maybe Witchblade is the wrong example. Let's pretend I said, uh... "Aunt May," instead.

     (Ahhh, Aunt May...)

Wait. We were talking about Watchmen, right? Well, Watchmen pioneered a special kind of backmatter that I call "ersatz backmatter."

But what the heck is an "ersatz?" (Beside the splenderiforous title of this week's column?)

The word "ersatz" is from the German, and it means "substitute" or "fake." It's most often used as an insult. (As in, "That accent is SO ersatz," or, "Did you check out that totally ersatz Prada handbag that Ebony was carrying?") But when it comes to writing, the word can take on a slightly different meaning.

"Ersatz writing" simulates (or "fakes") some other type of writing. A short story written in the style of a Rolling Stone interview would be an "ersatz interview."

So when I refer to ersatz backmatter, I mean content that is presented as if it originates from inside the comic's fictional world:

Brian Bendis puts together these great ninety-page letter columns for Powers. Warren Ellis has been writing some fascinating behind-the-scenes material for the back third of Fell. It's cool stuff, but it doesn't directly further the story.

The comic ends, and, oh, by the way, here's something else you might be interested in taking a look at. It's interesting supplementary information, but it's optional.

Ersatz material is required reading. Ersatz material furthers the story. Ersatz material takes your ten minute comic book experience and stretches it out to, well, at least twelve or thirteen minutes.

A well written ersatz piece will meet three standards:

     Um...
 

You know, I really expected my roommate to be back from the bar by now. Hmm. Well, I guess I can make up an example:

You remember at the end of Watchmen #2, how they included an excerpt from Rorschach's autobiography, Dude, That's Totally a Bat?

Of course, you do. So, what's so great about Dude, That's Totally a Bat?

First off, it's just a good read. I mean, who knew that Rorschach was funny? My favorite line (and remember this is from memory, so be kind) is when he says to the doctor, "Hurm, that one looks like a gaping maw TOO!"

     Hah! It cracks me up just thinking about it.

Second, it adds to the greater story that is Watchmen #2. For instance, remember how all through Watchmen #2, the Comedian is trying to find his glasses? Well, if you read the Dude excerpt, you find out that they were in his freezer the entire time!

     D'oh!

But the genius of Dude, That's Totally a Bat comes with how it changes the way we think about Watchmen overall. If you were just to read the comics portions only, you might finish the last issue thinking that it was just a comic about five guys who make watches. And that's a fair reading of the text.

But Dude gives us an opportunity to really get to know Rorscach. We see why he is who he is, and why he does the things he does. We understand that when he gives Ozymandias a hard time, it's because deep down he really loves him. We can reevaluate Rorscach's past actions in this light, and we can look on his future actions with increased clarity.

And ultimately we see that Watchmenjust about making five guys making watches, it's about one guy who can never make the one watch that really matters.

Or something like that. Like I said, it's been a while since I read the whole thing.

Right now, I'm finishing up the script for issue #4 of ArchEnemies, which comes out in July '06. (Mark your calendars now!) One of the advantages of working so far ahead is that I have plenty of time to plan out this sort of extra material for the book.

For instance, I'm hoping to fit an ersatz interview into issue #2 that focuses on one of the minor characters in the series. This character has a super small part in #2, but this interview will make that appearance much more meaningful. We'll have a better idea of who he is, where he came from, and why he says and does what he says and does. When this character appears again in the future, people will have a better idea of what to expect from him, and I can either fulfill or subvert those expectations as I see fit.

Beyond developing that one small character, this kind of ersatz backmatter gives me the opportunity to further establish the setting and reinforce its tone. How is this fictional world similar to our own? How is it different? These layers of detail help to make my fictional world more vivid. More real.

As my twelfth grade English teacher would have said, "It enhances the work's verisimilitude."

Ultimately, a comic is just words and pictures put to paper. There are things that comics will never be able to do. (Like beat me at chess, thank goodness.) So it's important that, as creators, we do everything we CAN do to make every page count.

That means great content. That means clever design and format. And, yes, that might mean supplemental non-comics content as well.

Here are ten random examples of ersatz backmatter, for people who are still worried that they haven't gotten their money worth on this column:

Drew Melbourne is hard at work on the script for the fourth issue of his debut series, ArchEnemies. This issue won't be out until sometime in July of '06. The first issue will be out in April, which is still a long time away, but it will be solicited in the February Previews and that Previews will be solicited in next month's Previews, which will be on the stands in a few weeks. Which is just around the corner. Look for additional updates of similar coherence periodically on DrewMelbourne.com.