Charles Soule's Strange Attractors
We all live in complex systems, a situation explored in great detail (and lush artistry) in Charles Soule’s latest graphic novel, Strange Attactors. In it, a grad student named Heller Wilson gets swept up in the seemingly crazy work of Dr. Spencer Brownfield, who has appointed himself the keeper of order in the maelstrom of activity and chaos that is New York City. Someone has to keep things running smoothly in the Big Apple…otherwise, how would anything work at all? Delving into complexity theory made my head spin, so I decided to get some answers from Soule. Here’s what he had to say.
I live in New York City, and the first page of your book scared the hell out of me. Should I keep living here?
Of course! NYC is great --- if it wasn't, I probably wouldn't have written a whole book about it. I've been living in New York for sixteen years, and I have no intention of leaving.
That said, the scene you're referring to talks about the fact that New York City's many, many interwoven systems (infrastructure, transportation, food/water delivery, social, etc.) are so complex that they're essentially beyond understanding. When you look at NYC from a rigorous systems-analysis perspective, the fact is that it shouldn't work --- it should have all fallen down around us ages ago. Or, if that's too broad a statement to make, we can say that the way it all works together isn't fully understood. New Yorkers (you and me included) live inside this crazy, knotted sort of miracle, and that's both scary and wonderful.
How would you explain your book to the mathematically and scientifically challenged among us?
The story of Strange Attractors follows on from some of the ideas described in the previous answer. Basically, the idea is that a mathematics grad student, Heller Wilson, is writing his thesis on NYC, and he discovers what I just alleged --- the city shouldn't still be here. It should have collapsed in on itself long ago. Somehow, though, it's managed to hold itself together. He goes in search of the missing X factor that makes it all work, and finds Dr. Spencer Brownfield, an eccentric (to put it mildly) old man who claims to have been single-handedly keeping NYC going using very specific and calculated applications based in complexity theory --- basically the famous Butterfly Effect.
Spencer is delighted that Heller has found him, because he needs someone to take over the job, as he's a bit old and sick. Heller's a little less enthused --- he was just looking to get his degree and move on to a cushy job at a think tank somewhere. Add to that a looming crisis that's going to destroy the city unless Heller learns Dr. Brownfield's techniques in time, and you've got a nice ticking clock to build the story around.
It's a fun, grounded sort of sci-fi thriller, a bit like a Christopher Nolan movie without Batman.
When did you first learn about complexity theory?
I've known about it for a long time --- it's hard to say for sure, but I think my first glimpse was probably the original Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton. He focused on chaos theory, but that's just complexity theory's slightly wilder cousin. I read a lot as a general matter, and so I'm sure I stumbled across it here or there. As far as Strange Attractors goes, though, I absolutely ramped up my reading once I knew that this was what the story would be about. I'm no mathematician, although I do love numbers in a layman sort of way. I tried to make the theory behind the ideas work as best as I could --- although I have a feeling a true expert in the field might have some notes for me. I think it hangs together pretty well, though --- the ideas in the book are just this side of plausible, which is where you want to be.
How long did it take to research this book?
I'd say I spent a few months reading just about everything I could find about complexity theory. There are some great books on the subject. Some are written for a non-specialist audience, and others…aren't, to put it mildly. Still, I got something out of everything I read.
I’m curious if there were some astounding facts uncovered by delving into complexity theory --- something remarkable you learned about everyday life.
Something remarkable? This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but here are two interesting things I learned: First, complex systems (like a city, or the stock market, or a flock of birds) are constantly on the verge of collapsing into chaos. Somehow, they don't. There's a mysterious organizing principle in effect that's hard to quantify or even understand. I like that.
Second, chaotic systems (for example, liquid poured into another liquid, like cream into coffee) can spontaneously generate patterns (sections of order) within themselves, for apparently no reason other than the fundamental nature of the universe seems to like them. Those patterns are called strange attractors --- that's where the title of the book comes from. I'm oversimplifying a bit, but that's the idea.
Greg Scott’s artwork on this is pretty amazing. How did you work together to create the whole look of the book?
Greg is pretty amazing! Greg and I met up because I wanted a New York-based artist, and he lives on Staten Island. As far as I know, he grew up there, although I could be wrong about that. The look of the book came about fairly organically --- Greg knew that I wanted realistic locations, and he is fantastic at that. He's also fabulous with facial expressions and character "acting." This book is at its heart a character piece, so getting the people right was a big deal too. Mostly, he got the script pages, we talked about them, kicked them back and forth. Nothing too unusual about the working process --- although the result, of course, is completely unique. I shouldn't leave out the contributions of Art Lyon and Matthew Petz on colors, Thomas Mauer on letters or Rebecca Taylor as editor (and the rest of the team at Archaia Entertainment, especially their book-design folks). They all did amazing things, and the book wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is without their work.
You also worked with artist Robert Saywitz to develop the complexity maps in the book. Are they authentic? How were they developed?
The complexity maps are used to depict, in a visual sense, the state of the balance between order and chaos in New York City at any given moment --- as well as a few other things. Robert and I worked very closely on these. I knew from the start that they would be a big element, as they would be a way to bring the reader into this mathematics-based world in a very easy-to-understand way. At a glance, you can understand what the characters are talking about. Robert is a Brooklyn-based fine artist and an old friend, and he absolutely worked himself half to death on these. There's a big feature in the back of the novel about the maps and how they came to be, which explains the process better than I could, but I'm so glad he was up for the project. He knocked it out of the park.
You spent a lot of years working on this book. Was it a labor of love? Frustrating? Somewhere in between?
I did. I wrote the script four or five years ago, and then I had to wait a while for the right time to put it into full production. The production phase took about two years, I'd say, which is a long time. I think I knew it would be big, but not that big. Still, I think the results speak for themselves, and I wouldn't change anything now --- we're all incredibly happy with how it all came together.
What was the most difficult part of the book to pull off?
The plot! Strange Attractors has a Swiss watch story, with lots of elements interacting in ways that are really finely balanced. Change one thing and all sorts of other stuff later in the book has to change too. I think I went through eight drafts before I was happy with it --- in comparison, a typical script of mine might have two or three. It was worth it, though.
This is a huge year for you: the publication of this book, plus Swamp Thing and Superman/Wonder Woman and the other books you’re working on. What can you tell us about what you have planned coming up in Swamp Thing?
Swamp Thing has been a blast to write --- in addition to the titles you mentioned, I'm also writing Red Lanterns for DC and Thunderbolts for Marvel. It's a crazy, crazy year so far, but I'm thrilled to be getting a chance to tell stories on such a wide scale to such large audiences. Like it or not, superhero books get most of the eyeballs in comics, and I'm having a great time with them. Swamp Thing specifically --- I've been working to build some new layers to the mythology of the character, including bringing in some of my own characters. Mostly, I'm putting that poor guy through the wringer. It's not a story if the hero isn't facing some serious challenges, and boy howdy, Swamp Thing is being challenged.
How will Superman/Wonder Woman tie into each character’s respective series? What issues are you planning to explore in their relationship?
That's a huge question! Basically, I want to treat them as people --- incredibly powerful people who are dealing with gigantic, planet-scale problems, but people nonetheless. They ask the same questions any couple in a relationship would ask: Sould we be together, how long will this last, does she/he feel the same way about me as I do about her/him? It's going to be epic, and most important, new. Comics have touched on this relationship in the past in a passing way, but this will be (I think) one of the more in-depth explorations of this idea we've seen, which is really cool.
Are you working on any new graphic novels you can talk about right now?
I am! I have a new series hitting from Oni Press this October called Letter 44. It's a sci-fi story based around real-world space travel, which is a topic I've always loved. In other words, more Apollo 13 than Star Wars. The premise revolves around the idea that an incoming president reads the letter left on the Oval Office desk by the last guy, and it tells him that seven years earlier, something was discovered up in the asteroid belt. A mission has been on its way to see what's up there for three years, and they're almost to the spot. The story follows the prez on Earth as he deals with this revelation, but also the half-crazy astronauts in their deteriorating ship as they get closer to whatever answers are up there. It's an ongoing series, and I'm really excited about it. If you'd like to know more about my stuff, you can always friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter (@charlessoule). I keep a blog at charlessoule.wordpress.com as well.
