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Interview: Jason Rand, Juan Ferreyra, Clayton Brown, Angel Marin, Jim Valentino   The Emissaries of Emissary By John L. Daniels, Jr. Published: 2006-07-15

I had the opportunity to ask the creative team some questions concerning Emissary #1. Here are their thoughts about this incredible title.

Jason Rand – Writer

John Daniels: On the heels of your previous work on the series Small Gods, how does this story differ from that one?

Jason Rand: The short answer is: in many ways – but it’s also similar in many ways. The fact about any writer’s work is that there’ll always be similarities from one story to the next, simply because of who that person is and what’s shaped them. For me, that means a tendency toward decompression and character-oriented stories. The latter is definitely something that I specifically brought across from Small Gods; because Emissary is an “our world but different” kind of tale, I wanted to make the characters as realistic as possible. But I think you’ll find that the similarities are only stylistic; the kind of story being told in Emissary and where it’s intended to go is completely different from the kinds of stories we were telling with Small Gods. While focusing on certain characters, Emissary is global in scale and it deals with global issues – how the events depicted affect everyone, not just how events in one person’s life affects those around him.

JD: What is involved in creating the stories behind characters – in particular the story behind Emissary?

JR: One of the things that we talked about when fleshing out Emissary was that we wanted the story to be seen from the POV of other characters as much as from Emissary’s. We wanted these fantastic events to be relatable. So to that end I set about creating the supporting cast – people like Tara Bright, Josh Wu-Lee and Honor Rivas, people who would be interesting to the readers, who could realistically become involved in the unfolding story and who would each give us a unique viewpoint into events. Once I had that basic framework it was just down to delving into my imagination for the details that would form each of them.

Emissary was a different matter entirely, as his background was to a great extent already set as soon as the concept came about. For him, I took what Jim gave me and just bounced a few questions back and forth to get him settled in my head. I had a bit of freedom to decide how he would behave, but it all had to fall within the confines of the established character.

“If you don’t care about the characters you’re reading about, why would you keep reading?” – Jason Rand

JD: What is your motivation for writing a story?

JR: This story? Any story? For me it always comes down to being something of a born entertainer. I love writing just for its own sake, but more than that I love the ability it gives me to entertain others. Getting a story out where people can read and enjoy it, that’s the big thing for me.

JD: How would you feel if an alien being wanted to lead us into the future?

JR: I honestly don’t know. Despite the fact I’m writing a story somewhat along those lines (which, I hasten to point out, is not to say that Emissary is an alien – you don’t get answers that easily) it’s not something I’ve really thought about in real terms. Maybe I just don’t like to think about the possibility of intelligent life being out there (probably because deep down I’m afraid that intelligent life would be more Alien or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy than Star Wars). I have trust issues already with politicians; whether I’d have an easier or harder time with alien leadership is something that I really couldn’t answer unless it actually happened.

JD: The character dialogue before the entrance of Emissary flowed effortlessly. How important was the introduction of the characters for setting up the reader for his arrival?

JR: I would say it was crucial – or we wouldn’t have done it that way. One thing I always kept in mind when I was writing the script was that with the central character being mysterious and rather inscrutable, the characters surrounding him had to be believable and relatable; otherwise no one would care about them. And if you don’t care about the characters you’re reading about, why would you keep reading? As well as that it helped to establish the normality of the situation, which was another critical point. The world of Emissary is not one of superheroes and gods and daily wonders. It’s a place where the appearance of just one superhuman is a matter of amazement the world over. Those are the kinds of things I felt we needed to convey in the opening scenes.

“The world of Emissary is not one of superheroes and gods and daily wonders. It’s a place where the appearance of just one superhuman is a matter of amazement the world over.” – Jason Rand

Juan Ferreyra – Artist

JD: Your penciling is clean and visually stunning! How important is it to show detailed expression of the characters — especially new ones?

JF: One of the things that I enjoy the most is drawing facial expressions on characters, and all the characters in Emissary have a lot of them; the only character that doesn’t show too much emotion is Emissary himself, so he is pretty easy to draw. New characters are always hard because it always takes time to adjust to them, to get to know them, which is why they always end up looking different later on. But it’s like seeing a person in real life for the first time; the way they look changes after some time passes, so here the same thing applies; the only difference is that you can take the earlier issues and see that they actually look different!

JD: How does this character differ from your work on Small Gods?

JF: Well, this is a regular cast with a main character; Small Gods had revolving characters. The characters in Emissary are all real people, and we can see how different personalities react to a shared situation.

JD: What additional action panels might we see in the following issues of Emissary?

JF: Additional? I don’t know, that might depend more on the writer than on me. If it was for me, I would draw Emissary taking down a building with a punch, but that wouldn’t serve the story at all! But anyway, I don’t think Emissary is about the action as in “superhero punches,” but that he takes action in problems around the world and the way we live in it. But to answer you more properly, I think the real action will take place in the second part of the story (issues 5–8).

“I don’t think Emissary is about the action as in superhero punches, but that he takes action in problems around the world and the way we live in it.” — Juan Ferreyra

JD: Your spread page panels are very detailed. How long does a panel take to pencil? How enjoyable is it when you see a two-page spread?

JF: It really depends on what a panel has in it and the size of it; if it is a close-up on a face it’s pretty fast; if it’s four characters talking on a crowded street, it takes a lot more time.

And I always moreso enjoy doing a page with a nice page design and good storytelling with interesting expressions than doing a two-page spread. Doing the spreads are intimidating and I always feel like I could’ve done those better. They usually take a lot of time, and when I finish one I feel more relieved than being proud of the work; maybe it’s because I haven’t yet done a spread that makes me happy.

Clayton Brown — Inker

JD: Your inking style is bold and brings depth to Ferreya’s pencils. What is involved in your feathering technique to bring a character’s emotions and expressions to life?

CB:

First of all, thanks for the kind words.

With Juan’s pencils being so tight there’s not much for an inker to do! But I approach all the feathering I do with basic brush techniques. Mostly I like to play off the light source(s) and mood of the page to enhance the pencilers style.

Angel Marin — Colorist

JD: The coloring in the panels of Emissary is subtle and shaded to realistic tones. How do you decide which colors of the palette to use?

AM: Juan draws realistic art himself, so it’s not hard for me to go that way. First of all, I select some photos from the Web and try to catch the feeling of a scene (street, indoors, whatever…). The tone of the script is realistic too; it happens on a not-so-different world from our world, so I couldn’t move too far from that base. I try to fit in with the script as much as I can. In the first issue we have normal characters doing usual things (having a cup, chatting in the office) and I try to color it subtle; my colors should not be noticed. But when things go to another level (guys walking in the air and stopping planes with a wave of a hand, things like that...) I try to energize the scenes by adding some unrealistic tones.

JD: Question to the entire creative team: How does it feel to be working on a series where the title character is of an ethnic descent?

JUAN: I really don’t give it too much of a thought; when I draw I just think if it as an interesting character (or not!). If the character is black, yellow, white, brown or red it’s the same for me; it doesn’t affect me at all.

CLAYTON: Honestly, It never really crossed my mind. I think it’s a unique opportunity to work on a project like this. And I’m glad to have the chance to be a part of it.

JIM: It’s not the first time for me. Usually ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation &#mdash; these things aren’t relevant to me. I write about PEOPLE and the shade of their epidermis doesn’t factor into the equation. People are people regardless of any of those things. But, this was a special case in that the color of his skin IS relevant to the story in how people react to him and whether or not they accept him. So, it’s interesting in that I find that mind-set very alien, thus intriguing. Why anyone would judge another person based on skin color or any factor other than the person they are always puzzles me. Hopefully, we’ll be able to explore that a bit.

“What I find interesting is that Emissary, despite the color of his skin, really doesn’t fall into the ‘ethnic’ category. He’s too weird and out there for anything as simple as that.” — Jason Rand

ANGEL: It’s great; it is one of the many things that makes Emissary different from many other titles. Juan, as I said before, has got a very realistic style and I could paint him purple or green and you would still notice he is of an ethnic descent.

JASON: Well, I see the value of strong ethnic characters in any form of entertainment, but I like (or dislike) characters for who they are, not for what their ethnicity is. As long as a character is well-written and believable, I’m going to like them (or dislike them if that’s the intent of the writer). That’s always the key to me – not where their parents or grandparents come from. Hell, I’m such a mongrel myself you could call me ethnic no matter where in the world I am, so it doesn’t make much sense to me to judge characters on their background. Which brings me around to Emissary.

What I find interesting is that Emissary, despite the color of his skin, really doesn’t fall into the “ethnic” category. He’s too weird and out there for anything as simple as that. It’s everyone else that we’ll see judging him on that basis. So when I’m writing him I’m not really writing a black man; and I’m just happy to be working on a thought-provoking story.

JIM VALENTINO — Creator/Publisher

JD: How did you come up with the idea for the title character Emissary?

JV: It was actually two different story ideas that weren’t quite coming together individually, but worked once I meshed them. The first was “What If Superman Was Black?” – the conceit there being, how would the world react if the most powerful person on the planet was a man of color? The second was an idea for a telekinetic televangelist, so you’d have the whole walking on water, Second Coming angle. Then I mixed those two with one of the Antichrist myths and the result was Emissary.

JD: How does it feel to see a character’s development and final design in print?

JV: It’s always great when something that’s floating around in your head can be made real and then shared with others – whether it gets them to think, or to laugh, or whatever. I still cannot think of anything cooler than that.

JD: How much fun was it working with the other creative members on this title?

JV: It’s always a joy to work with creators you admire and respect. Always.

JD: What is your vision for this remarkable title?

JV: You’ll see my vision in every issue of Emissary, albeit as filtered through the eyes of this talented creative team.

JD: Thanks to the creative team for taking the time out of their busy schedules to answer questions for the fans at ComicCritique.com.

A special thank you goes to the Editor-in-Chief of Shadowline, Ms. Kristen Simon for your help in forwarding these questions to the creative team of Emissary and being such a delight to talk with. A very big thank you goes to the creator of Emissary, and the publisher of Shadowline comics, the one and only Mr. Jim Valentino. I am truly grateful for the time you spent answering my questions for the “Comics of Color” column at ComicCritique.com.