Event plans more for 1997
Crossovers, creator-owned series, and a second ongoing series are all scheduled
By Rob Samsel
1996 was a year of development for Event Comics. The company, founded by art team Joe
Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti,
continued its Ash series and
launched a new girl-gang comic
book called 22 Brides. In addition
to its comics endeavors, Event.
also signed an agreement with
Dreamworks SKG to develop Ash
as an animated feature,
Quesada and Palmiotti said
they have decided to take things a
step further in 1997. In addition
to inter-company crossovers (with
DC and Top Cow), the Event line-up will expand to include creator-owned series by such professionals as Daye Ross, George Pérez,
and Tony, Harris. Event will also
launch its:second ongoing title, Painkiller Jane (a spin-off of 22
Brides), later in the year. CBG sat
down with Quesada and Palmiotti to get the lowdown on the company’s plans to make 1997 a huge coming-out party.
CBG: This March, Event and DC are producing Ash/Azrael.
What was it like returning to the
character that was responsible for
much of your early success?
Quesada: Returning to Azrael
as a real thrill. For me, it was
getting to work on one of the more
successful characters that I had
designed for another company.
Mixing him with Ash seemed like
a natural thing. Both characters
are based in fire, and, while Azrael is the reluctant hero, all Ash
wants to be is a hero; that dichotomy made for a very interesting
storyline. Working with Denny
O'Neil and Archie Goodwin, of
course, was the best part.
CBG: What was working on the
crossover like for you?
Palmiotti: It was 48 pages, so
it’s basically two issues of a comic
book, so it was a big project for me. It’s probably Joe’s best work to date. It’s a challenge from that standpoint and from having to fill
the shoes of[original Sword of Azrael inker] Kevin Nowlan, and those are huge shoes to fill. With this book, Joe is creating something new with every page, and it
definitely won’t look like any other comic book out there. I think it
will be one of those comics that will be re-ordered year ‘round, because it looks so good. It’s been a lot of fun.
CBG: Were you pleased with
the story?
Quesada: It was great! One
thing I told Denny was that I
didn’t want a story where they
meet, they fight, then they become friends. And Denny was in
favor of avoiding that scenario altogether. They meet, they fight
the bad guy, they walk away, and
it’s done.
We even get to use Firefly, one of my all-time favorite Batman
villains [laughter]. Batman is sort
of the catalyst that sets the story
in motion. A rash of fires have
broken out, and the description of
the arsonist is similar to what Azrael looks like, if someone were
seeing him for the first time, with
the fiery swords.
Batman accuses Jean-Paul Valley of setting those fires, which, of
course, offends him greatly. Bat-
man then tells Azrael to prove
that he’s not the killer, and that
mission takes him to New York
City, where he runs into New
York’s number one firefighter, Ash, I love drawing Azrael, so the
experience has been great so far,
but, then again, I’m partial. What
can I say? [Laughter]
CBG: Was it daunting for you to follow Kevin Nowlan’s inking
on Azrael?
Palmiotti: I can’t ink like Kevin. He's a little more than an inker. He goes in and redraws things, so in that respect, he’s not
an inker, he’s a finisher. He goes
in and makes things his own, where the artwork becomes more
Kevin than the guy who pencilled
the work.
When Kevin inked Azrael, his 2¢ were more like 48¢. He took
Joe’s look and changed things around to make them more Kevin
Nowlan-ish, if there is such a word in the English language. I’m not
doing that. I’m very loyal to Joe’s pencils. I may thicken some line
weights here and there, but that’s it. I'm taking a much different approach to this comic book than I normally do, This issue, in my
opinion, has a much slicker look
than Ash does. I handled it with
much more brushwork than I normally do. I just can’t say enough
about the job Joe’s doing on
Ash/Azrael. The fans will be very
pleased when they see it.
CBG: Your next crossover project is with Top Cow, crossing over
your Painkiller Jane character
with The Darkness. How has it
been working with Garth Ennis so
far?
Quesada: With just 24 pages,
he was able to come with the most
amazing story. All I'll say is that
the story is called “Stripper,” but
it’s not what you think.
Palmiotti: Garth is a dream to
work with. You give him the idea.
and he knows the characters, especially since he writes The Darkness. Lo and behold, we get a
script in the mail, and it’s fantastic. Joe, Amanda Conner, and I all
flipped out when we read it. It
was exactly what we wanted, and
it was typical Garth. It reeks of
fun, you can tell he had a great.
time writing it. Amanda is really
excited about this project, and it’s
just a dream job for both of us. I think Amanda’s going to take everyone by surprise with this
crossover. She’s a master storyteller, and people will discover how
great she really is with this.
Quesada: Both characters are on the hunt for this lowlife Mafia con man, and somewhere in the middle, they meet and realize
they’re after the same person, and
all kinds of wackiness ensue from
there. It’s vintage Garth insanity.
CBG: Since Painkiller Jane hasn't really made her debut yet as
of this writing, can you tell the readers a little about her?
Quesada: The crossover will spin Painkiller Jane into her own monthly series. Painkiller Jane is an ex-New York City undercover cop who lost everything in her life.
She lost a few years of her life in a coma, she lost her family, her fiancé: Basically, anything that was important to her, she lost. She has no special abilities, except for the fact that she may be immortal. She can take bullets
with the best of them, except they don’t bounce off her, they go through, and it hurts. The character’s going to be fleshed out much more thoroughly by Mark Waid and Brain Augustyn [who are writing the Painkiller Jane series]. The stuff we've seen so far is very film noirish, which is really cool.
The series may remind some people of Will Eisner’s early Spirit stuff, She’s a very tragic character. PKJ, as we like to call it, will be a rocking series. She will be going after some of New York’s more unapproachable villains. I think
it’s going to be a great series for Event.
Palmiotti: Garth gives Painkiller Jane/Darkness a real royal
treatment, and it’s great place to spin off from the ongoing series by Mark, Brian, Rick Leonardi, and me. The crossover will be something new, where the two main
characters are new, rather than
established icons. So readers will
learn something about both characters in the story. Garth is king.
and we lucked out getting him to
work with us. He did this because
he liked the project; it’s not as
though he doesn’t have enough
work to do.
Painkiller Jane will be monthly, and Rick Leonardi is drawing
the series. Rick’s real strength is
his storytelling. His art is beautiful, but we also needed someone
whose storytelling could be strong
enough to keep up with Mark and
Brian. The sketches he’s done are
great. As long as the public likes
the series, we'll keep doing it.
With Mark and Brian on it, it will be a very personality-driven series, and we're really psyched about it.
CBG: Will the series tie into 22 Brides?
Quesada: The Brides are going to be supporting characters to
Painkiller Jane. Through the series, we'll be able to focus on one
Bride at a time and be able to flesh the characters out better.
We'll be able to see why each of these girls became Brides and why the Brides were formed in
the first place. There are one or two Brides whom Jane is a little closer
to, because of their pasts, and we'll find
out more about that in the series.
CBG: Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, and Humberto Ramos are set to take over
Ash. Why are you bringing on a new creative team?
Quesada: It’s a decision we felt we had to make. Obviously, the biggest complaint- from retailers was that Ash always sells well when they have it, but
they don’t have it enough. We didn’t start Event with three issues in the bag
as we should have, which was an immature thing to do.
In order to rectify the situation, we decided to put out Ash on a monthly basis with a substitute creative team and then come back with Ash on a monthly
basis with me at the helm. We figured we couldn’t put just anybody in as the
team, so we figured we'd shoot for the top. We asked Waid and Augustyn, and
they were thrilled to do it, and we asked
Humberto, and he was dying to do it.
Mark, Brian, and Humberto will take over Ash for six issues, During the time
Humberto is working on Ash, I will be, too, but my issues won't begin seeing
print until November, in time for our third anniversary. James Robinson will
be writing the monthly series for me, which is very cool, also. James was going
to do a three-issue arc, but now he just wants to keep going on the series.
CBG: Are you nervous about Ash coming with a different creative team?
Palmiotti: No, I don’t have time to be nervous, because I'll be too busy inking it. I can’t wait, because I know Mark and Brian are going to develop the character in ways that Joe and I have been asking, due to the fact that we're novice
writers. I also can’t wait because we'll be
on the way to having Ash out monthly,
which is what everyone has been asking
for. So, actually, I’m excited.
I've been inking Humberto on and off for the past year and a half, so this will
be a ball for me. Nervous is the wrong word; excited is more like it. This will
give Joe and me more time to do the stuff with James Robinson. We'll have steady issues coming out, and I can’t wait for it.
CBG: Do Mark and Brian have to have everything approved by you two?
Palmiotti: We initially sat down and discussed where we wanted the story to
head in the six issues; basically what we
want to have happen and be taken care of during the six issues. Realistically,
we're giving Mark and Brian all the room they need, because they're great.
Quesada: Those guys are so darned good, they don’t have to approve anything with us, but they want to. They realize Ash is our baby, but they understand the character so well that, for those six issues, it'll be their baby.
Palmiotti: Those two guys can do no wrong as far as Joe and I are concerned.
We trust them with our character, which is the ultimate trust. Look at those two
guys right now, they’re on fire! Look at who we have writing for us in the next
year: Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, James Robinson, Garth Ennis. These
guys are writing some of the best comics in comics, and they’re all going to be
working for Event. That pact that Joe and I made with the devil must have
paid off, to get those guys to work with us.
CBG: What are the plans for a creator-owned title by Mark and Humberto?
Quesada: They’re not ready to talk about it yet. They're really happy working with Event, and anything they want to do is fine with us. They want to stick
around and have fun, and that’s the basic idea behind Event, having fun. Our
company is small, it’s comfortable, and
we have a good time.
Palmiotti: That'll probably happen
later in the year, once Mark and Humberto have a little more time. They have
carte blanche to do anything with us.
CBG: How are the other creator-owned things going for Event?
Quesada: We're really looking forward to putting out Tony Harris’ The
Hour of Reckoning.
Thrax is a really nice looking comic book, and I hope the readers pick up on
it, because Dave Ross is doing a tremendous job on it. George Pérez’s Crimson Plague is
awesome; it’s the best stuff I think George has ever done.
When talking about the Event creator-owned comics, regardless of whether
they're commercial or not, they'll all be great-looking, great-reading, top-quality comics.
Palmiotti: George's series will start in May, and it will be bimonthly. We
don’t know how many issues it will be, but it’s looking great. It’s a real thrill to
work with George. We talked with him at North Carolina at the Heroes Convention, and he said he was talking with other companies about publishing Crimson Plague. He felt Event was the place, I guess. I think the reason people want
to work with us is because of our personalities. We talk to creators on a professional level. We think creators know that we treat other people's creations as
if they were our own.
As far as Thrax goes, we hope that readers get to check it out, because
Dave's work is just beautiful. It’s one of those series that, once you see the first issue, you'll definitely want the second.
CBG: How do you plan on handling the future of Kid Death and Fluffy?
Quesada: It’s whatever Kid Death wants. It’s his world; he’s just letting us
live in it. The next. special, Legends of Kid Death, is hysterical. It’s four separate stories by four separate creators, and each take on Kid Death is just too funny.
I can’t even talk about this issue in a family magazine like CBG, it’s just too
offensive. [Laughter]
Palmiotti: Legends will be done by John Cebollero, Amanda Conner, Dan
DeCarlo, and Rick Parker. It will catch everyone by surprise with how sick it is.
People are always asking about Kid Death, and ‘we'll put out the specials as
Jong'ds they keep doing well for us, Kid Death’ has‘d great, underground following. The specials are almost a necessary evil for Joe and me, because we do such politically correct work most of the time, and this allows us to get our angst out.
Kid Death is our evil side on paper.
CBG: Jimmy, you’re doing so much work for Event these days, is it time to
become Event-exclusive?
Palmiotti: Not now. Maybe some time in 1997. I don’t know if I could be
exclusive to Event, because then I couldn’t do a cool project like this. I’m always open to something good. Being exclusive is a mistake in any freelancer’s
life, in my opinion, even though I have
my own company. I love comics and I
like to work for everybody.
CBG: Anything else you'd like the readers to know?
Quesada: I think it’s important for readers to know that Ash is not being
abandoned by its creators. We're still in the trenches. We're trying to get things going so that we can get this series out monthly for the fans. We know we've
been letting down the fans and retailers by not coming out more regularly, so we
don’t think we’re letting them down at all by putting Humberto Ramos on the series. We’re taking the bull by the horns and getting a little more responsible as a publishing company, in order to give the fans more Ash. If you can believe it, by God, at the end of the year we'll be corning out with Ash monthly, because there will be three issues in the bag. And you know when Ash comes out monthly, it’ll be the end of Western civilization as we know it!
Palmiotti: I just want people out there to know that Event isn’t a big money company, not yet. What we’re really in this for is to put out quality
comics, and we hope the fans are enjoying what we're doing, because we're doing it all for them.