5
MINUTES WITH: MIKE CAREY AND MICHAEL AVON OEMING
Premiering
with a specially priced #0 issue (juts one measly quarter),
Dynamite Entertainment will be unleashing an "ultimate" Red
Sonja to comics shops around the world this Spring.
Following
the incredible success of #0 (a staggering 200,000+ copies),
the creative team of Red Sonja must be feeling a little pressure,
right?
We
grabbed the writers, artists, and colorists to see how the
heck you follow such a high-profile debut!
First
up, series writers Michael Avon Oeming and Mike Carey*!
YOU
GUYS HELPED SELL A TON OF COPIES OF SONJA #0. BUT, WHAT'S
IN THE ACTUAL ISSUE TO INSURE READERS WANT TO COME BACK FOR
MORE WHEN #1 HITS THE STANDS?
[Writer] MIKE CAREY: I think the most straightforward
answer to that is that it's got Sonja - Sonja doing her thing.
What we tried to do in the #0 issue was to give a real sense
of the character by putting her in an archetypal situation
and showing how she responds to it. It all centers on one
scene, essentially, where Sonja is facing a threat from an
unexpected quarter when her guard is down, and she just does
what she has to do to survive and to turn the tables on her
opponents. It states what Sonja is very succinctly, and if
people like how that plays then they'll come back.
[Writer]
MICHAEL AVON OEMING: Honestly - great story and great
art. I can say so with confidence, because Mike Carey, one
of the best writers in the industry (hell, Neil Gaiman is
HIS fan!) co wrote it, [Sonja artist] Mel's [Rubi] art is
just amazing, there's a huge line up of great cover artists
and it's a classic character people love.
DOES
THE SPOTLIGHT AND SUCCESS CREATED BY THE PHENOMENON OF ISSUE
#0 CHANGE AT ALL THE WAY YOU HAVE CRAFTED #1, OR ANY PART
OF THE FIRST ARC?
CAREY: No, not at all. It's great that the potential
audience is so huge, but we're staying on the course we already
plotted. When you're already on the tightrope, you don't stop
in the middle to look down...
OEMING:
It only raises the stakes, but we have all -- artists, writers
and editors -- been working very hard on insuring a quality
project from the start. Everyone involved is a fan.
WHAT
DO YOUR PARTCULAR SKILLS BRING TO THE SONJA CHARACTER AND
SERIES? HOW ABOUT TO THE "FANTASY" GENRE?
CAREY: To Sonja, I think, an awareness of and a respect
for the character not so much as Robert E. Howard created
her but as Roy Thomas re-imagined her for the Hyborian age
of Conan the Barbarian. Both Michael O. and I loved those
great adaptations of the Howard classics, and the vividness
of the characters and situations at the heart of them. We
want to recreate that excitement and immediacy for a new generation
of readers.
To the
fantasy genre, a willingness to go beyond heroic cliches and
to juxtapose fantastic situations with psychological realism
in a way that should be powerful and revealing.
OEMING:
I think my understanding of mythology, my ability to evoke
the mythical and fantasy as seen in my Thor run for Marvel.
However, all that's peanuts compared to the art of Mel Rubi
and Mike Carey's talent.
DYNAMITE
IS PULLING OUT ALL THE STOPS ON THE COVER ARTISTS FOR ISSUE
#1 AND BEYOND, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE COVERING YOUR WRITTEN
WORK?
CAREY: Well they already got Michael Kaluta in... It
would be great to see Chris Moeller and Duncan Fegredo, Scott
Hampton, John Van Fleet, Mike Perkins...
OEMING:
I'd love to see Alan Lee and John Howe - two amazing fantasy
artists who worked on Lord of the Rings films, but they aren't
comic book guys. Who knows?
WHILE
RELAUNCHING SONJA AND CREATING HER WORLD MUST TAKE UP THE
BULK OF YOUR TIME, WHAT ELSE ARE YOU WORKING ON?
CAREY: Oh, you know, everything. I'm moving with great
relish into the wrap-up of my last long Hellblazer arc, and
also piloting Lucifer into its final year - we're aiming to
close with issue 75 in May of 2006. I just finished a short
Ultimate Fantastic Four arc, and the adaptation of the FF
movie. I'm writing Spellbinders for Marvel, and I've got a
couple of OGN projects in the pipeline for Vertigo - one with
John Bolton and the other with the My Faith in Frankie team
of Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel. I've also just had a new Vertigo
miniseries approved, but I can't talk about that just yet
- and I've been talking to Harris about doing a Vampirella
two-parter.
Outside
of comics, my ghost story Frost Flowers is about to go into
production with UK's Hadaly Pictures, and I'm working on a
second screenplay for them at the moment, provisionally titled
Red King Dreams. I'm also about to deliver the first novel
in the Felix Castor series to Orbit.
So life
isn't boring, I'll tell you that for free...
OEMING:
Powers, a Thor mini for Marvel and I have two creator books
ready to come out 86 Voltz The Dead Girl, and Wings of Anansi
from Image. There's also a new Hammer of the Gods TPB and
a first-ever Modi statue coming out this summer.
For
more information on Dynamite Entertainment, including more Army
of Darkness and Red Sonja product, please visit the Dynamite
Entertainment website at www.dynamiteentertainment.com Check
out DF's selection of Red Sonja Comics and Collectibles here!
* This piece originally appeared on Newsarama.com,
thanks to Matt B. and Dynamite for allowing us to repost it
here! |
