 Danny Simmons celebrates the ‘80s with a graphic novel
By Michael A. Gonzales A small crowd of fans moves to the back of Forbidden Plant bookstore in Manhattan as writer Danny Simmons and illustrator Floyd Hughes prepare for a signing of their new graphic novel, ’85 (Atria). As Run-DMC’s classic “King of Rock” blares over the store’s stereo (Rev. Run and mogul Russell are Danny’s little brothers), there’s a buzz of excitement, even though most of the twentysomethings waiting for the dynamic duo to sign their books were babies when Simmons was a young man on the Lower East Side scene.
Adapted from Simmons’ novel, Three Days as the Crow Flies (Washington Square, 2004), ’85 is a throwback that transports readers to a decadent New York City during its artistic heyday and delves deep into the psyche of a con man and coke fiend named Crow. After stealing a few paintings from his best friend at the beginning of the story, Crow journeys to the Lower East Side and falls head first into a wild world of art snobs, new-jack hustlers, and slumming savants. Like an intoxicated Alice drunkenly tumbling down the rabbit hole into a wonderland of sex, drugs, and arty souls, Simmons’ version of the ’80s is on point.
For those who were not a part of the “old” New York of the 1980s, hanging out in the East Village was to bear witness to a balancing act between artistic expression and environmental despair. While there were numerous bands, small galleries, and artistic spaces, there were also rats the size of small dogs and notorious drug dealers prowling the streets.
The life of art god Jean Michel Basquiat, who’s depicted within the pages of ’85 in a party scene, is a perfect metaphor for the period. At the height of his fame, Basquiat was the king of the Lower East side: making evocative art, hanging out with Madonna, and spending money as fast as he made it. Only a few years later, however, in 1988, he overdosed on heroin in his Great Jones Street apartment.
Though some writers have waxed poetic when covering this period in New York history, Simmons handles the paradox that made the East Village both exciting and dangerous very well. “The Lower East Side was on edge back then,” says Simmons. “There was a melding of race and class … that doesn’t exist anymore. I can remember being at clubs like Save the Robots, and you’d have a break dancer from the projects standing next to a rock star like Mick Jagger; you could go to an art opening and some uptown graffiti kids would be in the same room with David Bowie.”
For Simmons, a comic book aficionado who has been a fan “since the days of Jack Kirby,” creating a graphic novel is something that satisfies his inner geek. “I’m one of those guys who buys [comic books] every week,” says Simmons, “so to have my own comic book makes me feel like a giddy kid.” Citing Brit comic book writers Garth Ennis and Warren Ellis as his favorites, Simmons recruited respected Pratt Institute professor and artist Floyd Hughes to help bring his sequential visions for ’85 to fruition.
“It’s kind of funny, because I was still living in England in 1985, so everything I knew about New York during that decade came from Danny’s original novel,” Hughes says. Yet, since Simmons didn’t use photo references, the Lower East Side seems like a strange netherworld.
“I wasn’t really concerned with being realistic; it was more a matter of making it my own.” In addition to teaching, Hughes also has three kids. “Chaos is a part of my process,” Hughes says, laughing. “Each page of this book was drawn in the car, in the waiting room of doctors, or at my dining room table.”
According to Simmons, this may not be the last we see of Crow: “Russell has been talking to director Abel Ferrara [King of New York] about doing a film adaptation, and I’m hoping to write a sequel.”
As they used to say in Marvel Comics years ago: ’Nuff said.
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