Ed Brisson Talks 'Sons of Anarchy' #13, Charlie Hunnam's Jax Teller, David Labrava's Happy! [Mstars News/NYCC Exclusive]

Based on the popular motorcycle drama on FX, BOOM! Studios continues the final ride of Charlie Hunnam's Jax Teller with Sons of Anarchy #13. During the New York Comic Con 2014, MStars News spoke with writer Ed Brisson about the Sons of Anarchy comic book and the upcoming one-shot special featuring David Labrava's Happy.

As we continue coverage of the seventh and final season, audiences who still want their fix of the motorcycle club should take a look at the comic book adaptation. Keeping with the tone and feel created by Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy #13 the motorcycle club in turmoil with more enemies and less allies as  the Slaughter MC quickly honing in on SAMTAZ territory

MStars spoke with the Robocop scribe about the Sons of Anarchy, the role of Jax Teller (Hunnam) as a family man, and the upcoming one-shot specials that will feature some of the other SAMCRO members, including Happy, Tigs (Kim Coates) and Juice (Theo Rossi). 

MStars News: Tell me how you became involved with the Sons of Anarchy comic.

Ed Brisson: I don't know, actually the way I first became involved was that, I think Eric Harburn, that I was writing some RoboCop stuff for at the time, put me in touch with Dafna Pleban, who's editor on Sons of Anarchy. He recommended me to take over. 

Initially, I was only going to do a single issue. Basically, I talked to her about doing a solo one-shot issue, which was issue #7, and from there, I was going to do 3 more issues, and all of a sudden now I'm writing it as a series writer. Unfortunately, it's not a super exciting story but that's how it went down.

MS: With the show now in its seventh and last season, is it a challenge for you to do your own spin while following someone else's continuity?

EB: Yeah and no. It all depends on where, because the first couple of arcs I did were between two seasons. That had been sort of the set-up they've done before, where you tell a story between seasons or filling in the gaps. But after that, I kind of tried doing something where we were doing stories that could have taken place at anytime almost, where it could take place now essentially. This didn't involve any of the characters who are no longer on the show anymore and became side adventures with them. That was a lot of fun. It was kind of freeing and the show writers were really open to it, which was great!

I was really into the show anyway. It was a way of just doing something on the side from the show, still involving the characters, keeping true to I think the feel of the show and to those characters. We're able to do something that doesn't rely as heavily on show continuity, while still following show continuity.

MS: Charlie Hunnam's Jax Teller is an outlaw, but he really wants to go straight for family. Family always the theme. Tell me more about that.

EB: He's definitely a conflicted guy, and he's a guy who seems to have resolve, but he keeps flip-flopping too. He keeps going back and forth, so he's got resolve on whatever he's into at the moment. It's really about family for him and sort of trying to protect them. 

I think in the following arc, we don't touch too much on his family, their side of town, but definitely in the prison stuff. 

I'm a father myself and I find it fairly easy to tap into that sort. What would I do in these situations if my wife or kid were threatened? It's almost an easy thing to slide into because I can easily relate to it.

MS: Tell me about your collaboration with the artist Damian Couciero.

EB: Mostly for this, when I do the tentative creator-owed books, it's a lot more the artist and I going back and forth with. With this, it's more the editor and I, then the show writers and I, or the show writers through the editor, we kind of firm it up.

 So there's still a process where I get to check out the thumbnails and all that sort of stuff. Its been really fun actually, because Damien, who draws the majority of the Sons, he's actually the first guy who I  tried breaking into comics with. He and I had done pitches way back in 2004, trying to get picked up to do a series. So it's kind of cool that we got to come back together and work again, and, you know, we'll have chats periodically. And since I've worked with him before, I sometimes know with the scripts, I can trust that he's going to be able to pull off what I'm putting down on the page and kind of write a bit to his strengths. We don't have a ton of direct contact, but because he and I know each other, we talk and it's a pretty good thing. He's usually pretty open to notes and sometimes he'll improve scenes that I've written through better visual storytelling. 

MS: One of my personal favorite characters on the show is Happy, because he's this assassin but, you know, he's not really like his nickname.. Who is your favorite of the ensemble?

EB: You know, it changes from time to time. I think right now, my favorite is Juice, and I'm a few episodes behind but I'm terrified about what's going to happen to him because I feel like something bad is going to happen. I feel like he alway gets caught in between something, more so than anyone else, and he's always, he's more like more morally conflicted. 

I do really like Happy. I'm writing actually a solo issue about Happy coming up, and trying to flush out that character a bit more and give a little bit of a back-story, but I think Juice right now is my favorite. But it's gone back and forth. Tig! I really like Tig as well, and Bobby at different point as well.

MS: What direction would you like to take the series after issue #13?

EB: I'm trying to think because I'm ahead of it in the writing. After issue 13, what we're doing is a bunch of solo stories. Each character is going to get a spotlight issue. So the first one, I hope I'm not spoiling anything, I think of these have all been solicited, but like the first one is actually going back and it's kind of a story where they re-meet with the minor character from the first season. Just in case it hasn't been solicited, I won't spoil who it is, but it's someone who, in my watching the show, had always wondered what had happened to him afterwards. 

We never really got that, they never really got back to him in the show really, and I'm sure it was never really planned to. So I got to do that a bit, and then doing a solo story with Juice, one with Bobby, and one with Happy. I like the idea of having these guys off by their own and to deal with the same sort of sh*t they're dealing with the crew, but seeing how they deal with it on their own. So that's the goal for the next arc anyway.

MS: What other projects are you working on now?

 EB: Right now, the last issue of The Field just came out, which is a book I did with Simon Roy at Image, and a trade paperback that is out next week. We're wrapping up on Sheltered, we got three more. Well I guess there's four more issues to come out, but I have two more scripts to write until we finish that. And then I've got four confirmed creator-owned projects for 2015.  None have been announced, so unfortunately I can't say.

I've got a new Murder Book, which is a crime series that I started self-publishing years ago before I was picked up a publisher. Dark Horse has now picked that up and running new stories, starting in November I think. Declan Shalvey, Michael Walsh are the artists in the book. Next March they're putting out a thick collection, almost 200 pages. I'm excited about that!.

Other than that, it's just a whole lot of talking, nothing confirmed, and just hustling.

Definitely worth picking up, Sons of Anarchy #13 is out in stores now. Sons of Anarchy #14 will arrive on October 15, 2014.

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