|
Interview:
Talking Infamy (continued)
By Adam White
Published: 05 Feb 2006
|
|
ADAM: What was the inspiration for Living in Infamy ?
DERIC: Ben calling me at 8:00 in the morning really excited
about this idea he came up with over the course of the previous night,
and when he told me about it I couldn’t stop thinking about it
and we just had to run as far as we could with it.
RMB: All my inspiration for the book comes from creators Ben
Raab and Deric Hughes… with an able assist from
“Affable” Ashley Miller, whom I knew from our
collaboration on the feature film Agent Cody Banks.
BEN: Living in Infamy was born of insomnia and the
insecurity of not knowing where my next writing gig was coming from.
But the biggest inspiration for the series was the title, taken from
that old FDR speech. It was a familiar phrase that I knew would
resonate and stick in people’s minds… Plus, it made for
such a great conceptual double entendre — a place called Infamy
where people with checkered pasts live… In this case, ex-super
villains who’ve turned States’ Evidence and gone into
Witness Protection… Everything else just flowed from there.
ASHLEY: It was a great idea for a story that deserved to be
told. As soon as Ben and Deric shared it with me, I became determined
to make it happen. I still can’t quite believe we did it.
ADAM: Did everyone on the creative team know each other
previously, or were you brought together by the project?
BEN: Deric and I have been screenwriting partners since we
met and had an argument in a comic book store back in 2001. At the
time, he was the writers’ assistant on Gene Roddenberry’s
Andromeda, where he worked with our editor Ashley Miller who
eventually went on to co-write the movie Agent Cody Banks which was
produced by Robert Meyer Burnett, the writer/director of the cult
classic Free Enterprise. So on the publishing side of it, this
collaboration was a quintessential Hollywood, “It’s Who
You Know” story.
As for the rest of the team… Pat Quinn introduced me to the
work of Greg Kirkpatrick last year and I dug his stuff right off the
bat. John Lucas has been a buddy of mine for years, so I was psyched
when he came aboard as inker. Green Lantern colorist Moose Baumann
turned me on to the work of Allen Passalaqua. And Richard
Starkings’ Comicraft and I go waaaay back to my days as the
Assistant Editor on the X-Men books.
Without the least bit of irony, I can say that working with
Ludovico Technique has been unlike any other publishing experience
I’ve ever had. Not just because it’s a multimedia company
whose bread and butter is the production of Behind-The-Scenes DVD
content for big budget blockbusters like the upcoming Superman
Returns, but because Living in Infamy is their very first foray
into publishing original content. In this case, I’m not just a
writer or just an editor. With Ludovico, I have the good fortune of
simultaneously working both sides of the desk on my own project as a
writer and as the VP of Publishing and Manufacturing…
That’s something I’ve never done before in my career.
Which makes it both fun and exciting, yet challenging. As any new
publisher can attest, there’s definitely a learning curve to all
of this. But given the quality of Ludovico’s output so far,
I’d say we’re starting off way ahead of that curve…
DERIC: Ash has been a real good friend of mine for over five
years now. Ben, four and some change. Rob somewhere in between that.
Ben and I met Rob through Ash. It’s one big family affair. As
for Greg, Allen and John those connections came through Ben.
GREG: I had never met ANY of these magnificent fellows
before Infamy. I came on board through a lucky series of events
which involved needing a new art team and friend Pat Quinn who does
The Phantom and Cryptopia with Ben (Thanks, PQ!).
Working with the gang at Ludovico has been excellent. Ben, Deric, Ash
and Lucas have been supportive and tolerant while boosting my
ever-so-fragile artist ego!
ASHLEY: I knew all of the individual players and brought
them together. Once I discovered that Rob a) wanted to publish comics
and b) had the cash to make it happen, I brought Infamy to him
immediately. I think it took me roughly 43 seconds to sell it. Beyond
that, the experience of working with all of these guys has been
terrific.
RMB: I’ve loved working with the boys. I’m
constantly amazed by their creative talent. I thank Ashley for
introducing all of us and bringing the band together.
ADAM: What motivated the idea to explore super-powered
individuals trying to make it as “ordinary” folks in a
small town (that being role-reversal of the usual comics fare)? Was it
a conscious decision or did it evolve along the way?
BEN: It was definitely a conscious decision and one
that’s built into the concept of the series. Can’t have a
bunch of ex-super villains running around in tights, beating the crap
out of each other in public when they’re supposed to be
underground in Witness Protection, now can we?
RMB: I’m a big fan of what I consider to be
“real” world comics and movies… such as Astro
City, The Ultimates, Ex Machina or even
Watchmen and Bryan Singer’s X-Men films. Stories
which attempt to deal with superpowers as if they really existed. It
was only natural to want to see super-villains in the same way.
ASHLEY: I think Ben and Deric can speak more specifically to
the genesis of the idea, but I can say it has evolved along the way.
In the beginning, I think the tone and the intent were a lot more of a
parody than they are now. Not that Ben and Deric intended the book to
be a silly-fest, but it’s easy to get carried away with the
“fun” elements and let them overpower the characters and what I think
is a compelling world and point of view whether your tongue is lancing
your cheek or not. If I’ve made any real contribution to this
book, I think it’s been to help the guys navigate the very fine
line that this story walks. What we’ve ended up with is a very
successful look at extraordinary people trapped in an ordinary
situation — all of whom are on a journey to discover that their
so-called "ordinary" lives are the most important and extraordinary
adventure they’ve ever experienced. In short, they’re
finding meaning in the still places. And I think that’s just
terrific.
ADAM: Does Ludovico Technique intend to release other comics
in the near future, or are you guys testing the waters first with
Living in Infamy?
DERIC: Um, Rob?
RMB: Ludovico plans on releasing other comics, but only if
they can either meet or exceed the bar set with Infamy. Our
second title, which I’m very excited about, The Red Line,
was created by Geoffrey Thorne, a very talented writer I actually used
to run into at my favorite comic store, Golden Apple. After he wrote
some award-winning Star Trek stories that appeared in Pocket
Book’s Strange New Worlds anthologies, I asked him about
comic ideas. He pitched me The Red Line, and brought in artist
Todd Harris, who also blew me away with his work. Todd will be
creating all the art for The Red Line. Like with Infamy,
I hope to continue the tradition of tapping industry heavyweights to
create our outstanding covers, which I hope will be seen as our
company trademark.
BEN: There are definitely plans for more books, but
we’re not going to make the mistake of promising to flood the
market with all kinds of product at once and then not deliver on it
like so many other start-up publishers sometimes do. There’s no
reason for that and I think you undermine yourself if you try to
juggle too many balls at once. You have to focus on what’s in
front of you until you can get a working model in place that allows
for expansion. At least, that’s how I see it.
“At my recently-departed day job,
when I informed a friend there I was leaving to pursue art full-time
and that I would be drawing comic books, she asked if they still made
comic books any more! YAAARGH!” — Greg Kirkpatrick
|
ADAM: What future work do you each currently have lined up?
Will we see more Living in Infamy after the initial mini
series?
DERIC: Signs hazy. Ask again later.
ASHLEY: I hope so! We definitely know where this story is
going after the initial miniseries. A lot of what happens next with
this book depends on the community response — but I have to say
I’ve been really happy with that. I think a return to Infamy is
definitely in the offing.
BEN: From the get-go we said we wanted to follow the Hellboy
or Astro City model of releasing books. A miniseries here… A
one-shot there… A two-parter there… Whatever format the
stories we want to tell warrant. For a while now, we’ve been
discussing doing an “Origins Of Infamy” series of
one-shots that give us the backstory on some of our other ex-villains
like Shotgun, Chiller the Killer, the Ebony Emissary, the Masked
Mentalist, the Scream Queen, etc. But for the time being, we’re
just concentrating on wrapping up the four issues and penning the
screenplay adaptation. There’s been a lot of interest here in
Hollywood, so before we get too immersed in the next phase, we need to
stay focused and complete what’s already in front of us.
As for some of my other comic book work… Deric and I are
working on a book called The Service about a team of genetically
engineered Secret Service bodyguards who must uncover and stop an
assassination attempt on the President… We’ve been talking
to a few different indie publishers about it, but haven’t made
any commitments just yet. So stay tuned…
Also, I just completed a 96-page graphic novel for Moonstone Books
entitled The Phantom: Legacy. Basically, it’s the chronicle of
the very first Phantom as told by the original Ghost Who Walks himself
as a message to the future generations who will someday carry on his
tradition of fighting piracy, cruelty and injustice… It’s
definitely one of my most — if not THE most — ambitious
projects I’ve undertaken. Not only is it a collection of prose
pieces, but they’re all in the voice of a 16th century sailor!
Talk about challenging! Thankfully, my words are accompanied by the
amazing art of Pat Quinn and the coloring and design expertise of Art
Lyon of Top 10: The Forty-Niners fame.
And finally, there’s the story I did for The Phantom
#11 , masterfully illustrated by Rick Burchett that features the
return of a classic Phantom villain, due out in May.
RMB: Ludovico is hard at work creating all of the DVD
special edition material for Bryan Singer’s upcoming Superman
Returns, in addition to pre-production world on Free Enterprise
2. We’re also hoping to announce work on an feature film
version of Infamy soon. Obviously, it’s also our
intention to continue publishing Infamy, following the
Hellboy and Astro City formats of miniseries of varying
lengths. [continued on page 3]
—CCdC—
|
