This has been a year of shocks and surprises for the mainstream comics industry: the Jemas-Quesada double team continued to make a splash that could only be measured in decibel levels; regular comics reviews began appearing in Entertainment Weekly; Mark Waid got fired from FANTASTIC FOUR only a scant few issues after he started; CrossGen went out of business, etc. All big news.

Then, of course, we had the break-up of the Jemas-Quesada double team, the cancellation of comics reviews in Entertainment Weekly, the rehiring of Mark Waid a scant few weeks after the sacking, and the tentative 'salvation' of CrossGen.

All right, maybe it hasn't been all that surprising a year. In an industry that seems doomed to repeat its mistakes and continue on the path towards obscurity and bland superheroism hegemony, it's become harder and harder to surprise the general readership with bad news press releases, new creative teams, and exclusivity deals signed on a weekly basis. As always, the biggest surprises of the past year have been the comics themselves, and in those rare instances when a truly surprising series like HAWAIIAN DICK comes along, the work seems easily able to raise the collective eyebrows of the readership with its quirkiness and originality.

B Clay Moore, the writer of HAWAIIAN DICK, doesn't get it. "It's pretty stupid that HAWAIIAN DICK is seen as something off the wall by so many people," he says. "Yeah, it's unique to comics, but it's playing with genres that are pretty mainstream in other media". Yet even in dismissing the significance of his own work, Moore touches upon the very quality that makes it unique: there are no comics out there like his.

As diligently as so many creators give lip service to the basic appeal of good genre serials and the wondrous possibilities of pop storytelling, few put their money where their mouth is. HAWAIIAN DICK is a genre festival, Chandler and Bogart to the bone. All the necessities are there: Byrd, the dark hero with a secret; Bishop Masaki, the eccentric bad guy; Mo the loyal sidekick; Leilani the dame; and even the obligatory climax in the rain.

What saves HAWAIIAN DICK from having the stink of an imitation or the blandness of a composition class exercise is the personality it exudes from within its own pop culture core. In HAWAIIAN DICK's brightly coloured pages one can find zombies, Jazz records, Tiki culture, and an affection for the basic irreverence and eccentricities of adventure serials so typical of American pop culture. As a result, HAWAIIAN DICK reads more like the lost episodes of THE ROCKFORD FILES than a sister to THE BIG SLEEP.

Moore attributes this texture to his refusal to placate his own influences. "I'm probably dancing along the boundaries of traditional noir, something that hasn't really been done in comics," Moore says. "But," he adds, "I don't consciously think about any tradition. If I felt that way, I probably wouldn't have thrown zombies and the ghosts of Hawaiian warriors into the mix. I'm not leaning on any influences or standard-bearers ... I'm hoping to tell entertaining stories that don't look quite like anything people are used to seeing."

And, of course, it doesn't. Perhaps the biggest surprise with the series has been the astonishing artwork of Australian artist Steven Griffin, a complete newcomer to comics, HAWAIIAN DICK being what he calls his "first comic of any size."

"As for what he brings to the project... we don't have enough space," Moore says. "I am dead serious when I say Steven is one of the few major talents to show up in comics in the past few years. His potential is staggering." Though HAWAIIAN DICK was originally intended for another artist, Moore found Griffin through the Internet once the original artist had dropped out. "I put out a call online, and Steven was the only one who answered that came close to what I had in mind."

Though he now feels Griffin's work to be "essential" to the creation of the HAWAIIAN DICK world, he wasn't immediately hooked. "To be honest, I didn't think he suited the book at first. I initially tried to steer him toward doing something else with me, but ended up asking him to do some sample pages." Along with almost everybody who's read the book, Moore was knocked out by Griffin's bold, expressive colours, subtle cartooning, and graceful line work.

"I had Steven do a couple of full colour sample comic strips for the pitch when I was in Chicago last year," Moore says. Clay handed it to Image publisher Jim Valentino, who then passed it directly to marketing director Eric Stephenson. A week later, Image offered to do the book.

"We figured the book would end up in black and white at a smaller publisher," Moore says. "[But] the opportunity to do it in colour, with the exposure Image affords, made it an easy choice."

The choice proved a good one for Griffin, whose work has demanded an uncommon amount of attention from the industry. Many now consider Griffin to be one of a handful of new artists worth watching, and worthy of nomination for the Russ Manning Best Newcomer award.

Griffin, though, is pretty dismissive of the attention. "I was just happy to finish the series at all, that was a miracle in itself," he says. "To get nominated for an award was way more than I ever expected. Must have been a quiet year for new artists, I guess."

The Russ Manning nomination threw more fuel on the HAWAIIAN DICK media fire. The buzz surrounding the book and the creators has been plentiful, to say the least, with wall-to-wall industry coverage, a review in the recently cancelled comics section of Entertainment Weekly, and of course the ubiquitous talk of a Hawaiian Dick movie.

Moore remains nonplussed by the hype surrounding his book, and somehow seems to avoid the stereotype of the hot new comic guy that so many others have succumbed to. A relaxed, easygoing guy who sometimes reminds you of Byrd - his collection of Hawaiian shirts doesn't do anything to challenge comparisons - Moore is pretty serious when discussing his place in comics, and maintains a sense of individualism amidst a profession filled with young writers consciously aping one another's styles and scrambling for Big Two money.

"I have no problem working for other people," he says, "but at the end of the day I always want to be able to bring my own stories and characters to the public." Moore is confident with his work, comfortable with his ideals, and unimpressed when words like "sell-out" are thrown around when it comes to the possibility of a movie deal.

"I always figured that the kind of money a deal would bring would give me more freedom to do what I love," Moore says. "I mean... we have no deal right now. We have representation, we have writers working on a treatment, and we have an actor who's expressed interest in playing the role of Byrd... but I always want to do comics. Ideally, I'd like to reach a point where I can handle all facets of publishing."

Until he reaches that point, the HAWAIIAN DICK franchise continues to build steam at Image. Recently a trade collecting the first series has been released, which is followed by the new series, THE LAST RESORT. As with the first series, THE LAST RESORT exudes the same healthy irreverence towards self-imposed guidelines, guns, jazz, and liquor. Griffin sums it up nicely. "Quirky, eccentric mobsters, seaside resorts - meaning there'll be a couple of more palm trees in this one - Hawaiian mythology, and way, way too much drinking. The art's a lot different than the first series, more of a fully painted look, which takes about twice as long to do... and doesn't let you hide any mistakes with black ink."

After THE LAST RESORT, Moore and Griffin have plans to collaborate on a series of short stories, and Moore is looking forward to a project with another new artist, Azad, called CLEAN LIVING, which he says is "a coming-of-age story set in both the sixties and the present". There's also a series planned called ANTHEM, which Moore calls "a sort of dark, revisionist superhero story set in World War II". And, of course, he adds "there are other things hanging out there that will come to light soon enough."

With that in mind, does Moore ever see himself hanging up his Hawaiian shirt? "I really don't know. I have no set ending in mind for the book or the characters, to be honest," Moore says. "I think it's probably something I'd like to visit as often as possible, so long as Steven wants to stay involved. Having said that...you never know. At some point I may decide to fly completely off the handle and tell the Last Dick Story."

Whether or not the Last Dick Story ever sees the light of day, Moore asserts that he will continue "blending genres, and not worrying at all what's at the top of Diamond's sales charts. Following my muse wherever it takes me, and not being afraid to have fun with the medium."

Maybe that's what we've learned from the last year of faux surprises and bad business practices. Comics, when it's all said and done, should be about following the muse and having some fun. Griffin and Moore are having fun with HAWAIIAN DICK, and to them, that's all that really seems to matter.

John Parker lives, works, and writes in Kansas City, Missouri.

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