In April, Vertigo launched Vertigo Quarterly: CMYK, their latest anthology series featuring some of today’s hottest, and most talented creators. Each issue references the colors that compromise the four-color printing process: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. So far, the two issues released have kept up the quality I’d expect in any Vertigo comic, two more issues await to hit shelves.

We got to talk to four of the creators involved Rachel Deering, and Jody Houser who had contributions to Vertigo Quarterly: Magenta, and Matt Miner and Steve Orlando who will have contributions in the upcoming Vertigo Quarterly: Yellow.

We decided to ask all four creators the same questions about their experience, and history in comics, allowing you the reader to see how all four answered. We’ll be posting each interview one a day over the next four days (ish, we might skip the weekend). A big thanks to Steve Orlando who helped set this up!

Up first is writer Matt Miner, who you might know from Critical Hit, Liberator, both from Black Mask Studios.

Graphic Policy: How did you get started in the comic industry?

Matt Miner: I made my intro to comics about a year and a half ago with the first Liberator series, published by Black Mask Studios. Actually I think that first book came out the same day as the Occupy Comics issue I had a piece in, so I guess my intro was both books. I’ll be forever grateful to Black Mask for taking a chance on an unknown and unproven writer like myself and seeing the potential value in Liberator – a story about animal cruelty vigilante justice. I’m so happy to see their second slate is packed full of so much incredible talent – they’re a publisher to watch.

GP: How did you get to be a part of Vertigo Quarterly: Yellow?

MM: I was introduced to editor Sara Miller and while talking about other things, she asked if I wanted to pitch a story for CMYK. Of course the answer to that was a resounding “yes” and I was super psyched when my pitch was accepted and I was teamed with artist Taylan Kurtulus, whose work took the story to a whole new, beautiful, level.

GP: When you signed up for the project, what were you told as far as what you could do with your entry?

MM: What I really love about this anthology is that it’s really up to the creators to decide what the specific color means to them, and to incorporate that in the way they want. For me I see the color yellow as symbolic of rebirth, renewal, and change. I wasn’t given any directions on what I could or couldn’t write about, but Sara definitely helped me tell my story the best way possible.

GP: Did you talk to any of the other creators at all? Make sure you weren’t going to do similar things?

MM: No, it took awhile before I heard who else who was doing CMYK pieces and it never even occurred to me that someone might have a similar idea to mine – even thinking about it now I find the idea highly unlikely. Seems a lot of my friends and peers got in to this anthology – whenever there’s a new announcement there’s a bunch of familiar names and that makes me really happy.

GP: Did you go and look at the previous Vertigo Quarterly issues before coming up with your entry?

MM: The Cyan book had just come out while I was writing my entry, so I had seen those pieces, so I checked them out for pacing and what layouts really worked, but I didn’t consider their content in coming up with my story. Mostly I find inspiration from real life, and my piece with Taylan has a lot of very personal elements.

GP: What’s it like working with Vertigo? That publishing name has certain panache when it comes to what they produce.

MM: It was awesome! Working with Vertigo was frustration-free and I found the whole thing to be really rewarding. Sara let me tell the story I wanted to tell, and helped me tell it better, if that makes sense. I really enjoyed this experience and I’m honored to be part of such a gorgeous collection.

GP: Did it being a “Vertigo” comic change the approach to what you put together for the issue?

MM: I put my best effort forward with everything I do, and so that’s what I did with Vertigo, too. I’m serious about making comics so if I’m not giving it all I have then what’s the point, you know? Vertigo has a different work flow than my creator-owned projects, sure, but in terms of effort and dedication to putting out the best work I can, I never phone it in and I sure wouldn’t start doing that with a Vertigo story.

GP: It seems anthologies have been a constant in comics, though never at the forefront. What do you think an anthology brings to the table that might be different from other comics? Why do you think we don’t see more of them, especially to highlight new talent?

MM: Anthologies are great for discovering new writers and artists you may have been previously unaware of – it’s a sample-pack of short stories where you don’t need to know any of the character history or catch up on Wikipedia before being able to jump into the story. I think it’s a good intro to comics for new readers and a good intro to new talent for existing comic readers. I’m not sure it’s entirely accurate to say we don’t see a lot of them – just take a look at the slew of anthology projects on Kickstarter on any given day.

GP: What’s the difference between going about creating a short comic like this than a normal full issue?

MM: Short stories use different storytelling muscles. For me it’s about cutting your story down to the nuts and bolts and making full use of every panel, every word of dialogue, every caption, to really flesh out your world and characters and tell a compelling story.

GP: What advice would you give to those wanting to get started in comic industry?

MM: Work super hard and be a good person. Don’t use people to get ahead, and treat folks with respect.

GP: What else do you have on tap?

MM: In stores now is my Critical Hit miniseries with the eye-popping new art team of Jonathan Brandon Sawyer and Doug Garbark. It’s the continuation of my Liberator storyline, but takes the 2 reader-favorite women and thrusts them into a dark horror story when things in their vigilante animal work go terribly awry.

Then November 26 is Toe Tag Riot #1 that I’ve created with series artist Sean Von Gorman. It’s a comedy/horror about a punk rock band that’s cursed to become zombies whenever they play their music. Being ethical sometimes-zombies that they are, they use their new “powers” to rid the world of shitty people like racist hate groups, misogynist dudebros and religious homophobes, culminating in a showdown with the Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro called Sean and me “insincere pervs” and said the book will “SPLIT HELL WIDE OPEN” so you know it’s pretty much gonna rule.