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"Imagine, If You Will, A World With Only Three Channels…" – Mark Rahner Talks Twilight Zone

Published Fri, 27 Mar 2015 22:00:59 -0500

David Avallone, writer of the Altered States: The Shadow one shot, talks with writer Mark Rahner about Twilight Zone: Shadow and Substance #3, both on sale now. Covers by Guiu Vilanova, Francesco Francavilla and Jonathan Lau.

DAVID AVALLONE: Obviously, you're a big fan of The Twilight Zone. How old were you when you saw your first episode? Do you remember what it was? Or what episode first really grabbed you?

MARK RAHNER: I don't recall discovering The Twilight Zone at any age so much as it always being a presence and shaping my sensibilities. Although when I was a kid in Spokane, one of the TV stations had an annual Golden Days of Television thing, and TZ was always by far the coolest part of that – especially compared to stuff like Leave it to Beaver.

Imagine, if you will, a world with only three channels – four, counting PBS – where you have to wait for things to be broadcast, and there's no home video or internet. Talk about your willing suspension of disbelief.

I read all the short story collections when I was young, too. Devoured them. And I can't be the only one who's re-purchased Twilight Zone every time there's a new video format.

DA: Writing the narration… did you hear Rod's voice? Do you – like so many of the fans, myself included – do a Rod Serling impression?

MR: Not only do I have a Serling impression, but if you search YouTube for "Mark Rahner's Blight Gallery," you can see it. But this was more orange-tanned Serling from the Night Gallery days, as a promotion for a horror convention called Crypticon. Occasionally, I'll lapse into Serling on the talk-radio show I do too. I love him.

Anyhow, I do try to channel Serling when I write my narration. I know his bio, his work before and after Twilight Zone, and think I've internalized him as much – probably more – than is healthy. You don't see his likeness, but I hope I can make you hear his voice. It wouldn't be a Twilight Zone story without that narration.

DA: As you know, TZ used science fiction/fantasy allegory to comment on universal themes and current events. Are you doing that here? And is it a universal theme or current events?

MR: You bet I am. The first story, "Stumbling Distance," was more of a personal one with some time-travel, but the new one, "Jailbreak," has plenty to chew on. For starters: How can we be so complacent with all that's happening around us? And if we do choose to notice, then aren't we obligated to act?

Other TZ stories I've done have been very on-the-nose. In "Hangnail on a Monkey's Paw," an obvious – and frail – Dick Cheney type is kidnapped by a Middle Eastern ex-detainee who makes a magic wish for him never to die … so he can face charges for war crimes. In "Takers," an insufferable young senator who wants to slash the social safety net gets whisked back to the Depression-era Dust Bowl.

Some people forget (or never knew) what an angry liberal Serling was, and what a Trojan Horse he intended The Twilight Zone to be. Just using it for cute, little morality fables with twist endings would be to dishonor the guy's massive nerve and how he risked himself.

DA: Aside from Serling and The Twilight Zone, what are your other literary influences?

MR: Too many to boil down. I was such a junkie that I got a couple of lit degrees, then one in philosophy to make myself even less employable! That said, I've always loved short stories by Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, Fredric Brown … and lots more. Short stories are a dead art, and Twilight Zone was a perfect venue for them.

DA: Like me, you had a career before comic books. I was surprised that I found more freedom working in comics than I had in film. What has surprised you?

MR: I was a newspaper guy first – reporter, critic, celebrity interviewer. You can find some evidence of that at www.markrahner.com. Whole different universe, although some skills do translate.

What's surprised me is how great readers are, and how much they remember. Newspaper stories are more or less disposable. But comics become part of people's libraries, and they remember the stories.

I see what you mean about freedom too. You probably know the condition the newspaper industry's in. I'll just say that my satisfaction in the funny book field isn't a huge stretch from Serling's. Outside of comedy like The Daily Show, there are few other ways to comment truthfully, let alone achieve some wish-fulfillment.

DA: Do you have to fight the urge to avoid Serling-isms like "picture if you will" or "portrait of a man.", etc? Or do you just go for it sometimes?

MR: You'll never see me write "Submitted for your approval" in a comic, or any of his well-known lines. The "imagine, if you will" line above was a meta-wisecrack. But in The Twilight Zone, that crosses into imitation and fan fiction – even self-parody – as far as I'm concerned. My goal's to write stories, and in a voice, that are utterly faithful to the spirits of Serling and The Twilight Zone, yet original and raw.

DA: In one of the many TZ reboots, they revisited Jerome Bixby's "It's A Good Life," complete with middle-aged Billy Mumy. Is there a story from the original series you'd like to write a sequel to?

MR: I suppose a sequel to "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" would involve Fox News, right?

But no, I've never spent one moment wanting to revisit any original TZ story. What would Henry Bemis in "Time Enough At Last" do after his specs broke on the library steps? Would it be like Cormac McCarthy's The Road? …

Seems cheap to me.

I can see hitting familiar notes here and there. "Stumbling Distance" is the closest I'll come, as a tough variation on the theme of "Walking Distance." I also had one brewing called "Give Til It Hurts" that would have been a very distant cousin to "Night of the Meek." But if you're lucky enough, or cursed enough ever to write The Twilight Zone, you'd better have your own stories to tell. And I've got plenty.

For more on Twilight Zone: Shadow And Substance #3, click here.

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