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KIRKMAN on 'INVINCIBLE/TECH JACKET'
by Michael Doran
Continuing our series of interviews regarding Image Comics
just announced new line of superhero comics, today we catch
up with writer Robert (Battle Pope) Kirkman,
to talk about his contribution to the January-debuting line,
Invincible with artist Cory Walker, as well
as Kirkman’s previously announced new Image title Tech
Jacket, which may also wind in the publisher’s
new cohesive superhero universe.
According to Kirkman, Invincible is about
a “mild mannered” 17 year-old boy named Mark Grayson
who’s just begun inheriting a fraternal family legacy
- superhuman powers from his superhero father…
“Mark has grown up knowing his dad can do these amazing
things that he and his mother can't,” explained Kirkman.
“It's accepted and normal in his house, so when he finds
that he's getting powers, his initial response is, ‘It's
about time’.
“I'm trying to play up the aspect that we've really
seen it all before and no matter how spectacular and wondrous
things are in this comic, people that have been reading comics
wouldn't exactly be blown away by these things every time
they see them, so neither would a character who's been around
this stuff all his life. This is a book about a guy who is
a superhero ... we see equal parts of his life, and no one
aspect overshadows the other. Some may describe this as being
real world superheroes, but it's really superhero world superheroes,
the way these character's interact is by no means normal or
real... they live in a world where strange and fantastic things
happen, and as a result, these things seem normal to them.
“It's a book where the main character can sit down
to eat dinner with his parents and when the question ‘what
happened with you today’ comes up he can reply, ‘I
think I'm starting to get superpowers’, and the mom
can say, ‘That’s nice, pass the beans’.”
While Kirkman’s said pretty much all contemporary superhero
books are about deconstructing superhero mythology to some
degree, the point of Invincible, “first and foremost”,
is to entertain.
“I want people to enjoy this book, and want to read
it again at the end of every issue,” he said. “I'm
not trying to write some deep look at the state of the industry,
I want this to be something that kids can read and go, ‘hey,
that's neat’, but yet offers depth that a more sophisticated
reader is going to catch.
“Will there be fights and stuff? Yeah, oh yeah. Will
there be dramatic character moments? Yeah! This book will
be about fun. Having fun with superheroes, which I think the
bigger companies are shying away from...”
Kirkman said the series will be released monthly and ongoing,
so long as readers and retailers support it, which he says,
“in this day and age is a long shot”.
“I want to give potential readers that promise up front,
monthly, unless one of us dies, as long as we're not losing
out shirts. I think if people are going to go to the trouble
of actually purchasing this book among the sea of other titles
out there, they deserve at least a regular schedule.”
As with Jay Faerber, we asked Kirkman why he thinks Image
Comics is launching a new superhero line after years of somewhat
of getting away from it?
“I think for a company of Image's size to really flourish
there needs to be a ‘universe’ that people can
identify the company with,” Kirkman said. “Jim
Valentino and Eric Stephenson are smart guys, they know what
they're doing. This is an industry that thrives on reader
devotion, there are no movie fans that say, ‘I only
like to see movies from Universal pictures’, but there
are plenty of readers that only read Marvel, or DC... or at
least prefer one over the other.
“When this line comes out, if people like Venture
or Dominion, there's a chance they may like
Invincible, or Fire Breather,
or The Clockmaker ... if we establish a loyal
fan base each book can feed off the other and we'll have a
really cool thing going that readers can enjoy.
“I don't think this is to cash in on any trend. I think
it's a move to strengthen Image, and in that aspect at least,
I think it will succeed. These books are all solid interesting
concepts that I think people can get into, there's not a dud
in the bunch.”
Kirkman describes his artist on the series, Cory Walker,
one of the most dedicated artists he’s worked with…
“The man really knows how to chain himself to his table
when he needs to,” he said. “The stuff he's done
on SuperPatriot is absolutely amazing, each page he turns
in looks better than the last, by the time Invincible makes
it out in January there won't be many in this industry that
can touch him. I think his work could be best described as
a cross between Dave Johnson and Rob Haynes.
“He's got an animation background, and subscribes to
the ‘If it doesn't add to the drawing, it takes away’
philosophy. What you end up with is clean professional art
that tells a story with grace and ease that most artists can't
dream of achieving, he's the master of facial expressions
and could pretty much get the story across without word balloons
mucking things up, which is what every writer dreams of having.
Sorry if I'm gushing a bit too much, I'm a fan.”
We also asked Kirkman about Tech Jacket,
his new ongoing monthly series launching in November with
artist E.J. Su, originally described by Image as “manga-tinged’.
“The ‘manga-tinge’ in Tech Jacket
comes from artist E.J. Su's background, he's full blooded
Taiwanese, and those Asian influences show through in his
art,” explained Kirkman. “I'm not attempting to
mirror and Asian storytelling techniques with my writing ...
but I think the mix will turn out nicely. Solid American story
with kinetic ‘Manga-tinged’ art.”
Tech Jacket and Invincible
are parallel in many ways, both lead characters are young,
but they come from very different family's and are very different
characters. My main goal in all my comics is to entertain,
I'm not looking to write the next Watchmen,
but it's my hope that after you finish a Robert Kirkman book,
you're anxious to find out what happens next.
“Tech Jacket is the tale of Zack Thompson,
who comes into possession of an alien weapon with enough power
to destroy planets. Not exactly the kind of thing you want
your average 16 year-old kid to have access to. The initial
arc is a grand intergalactic saga, but it will eventually
settle into a more super-heroic tone, though the stories will
be no less grand.
"Tech Jacket essentially takes the
whole 'with great power comes great responsibility' thing
and cranks it up to 11. It's really more a case of, 'with
infinite power comes infinite responsibility’."
Though not a part of the official Image superhero launch,
Kirkman said he believes Tech Jacket will
eventually be integrated into the superhero universe along
with title like Noble Causes and Savage
Dragon.
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