Post by Fredo on Aug 12, 2005 0:41:34 GMT 1
Necromancer
Issue number one is going to be in the store on Wednesday. At this point Jim McLauchlin
turned the panel over to Ortega and Manapul so they could talk about the book they’ve been working on.
Ortega started off by giving a brief overview of the story line for Necromancer. The story is about a seventeen year old high school student named Abby who has a knack for the old ways. He explained that there are two kinds of magic users; those with natural abilities and those who have to train. Abby is a natural user and these powers have given her a charmed life. Her father is a Pastor disapproves very strongly of her lifestyle. “There are things that occur in the first issue that draw Abby into a 2000 year old plot to control the universe. She is only just beginning to discover who she is and what her powers are. Francis came up with brilliant designs! He’s been instrumental in co-creating the character and the entire world. Abby doesn’t look like anyone else in comics.”
McLauchlin informed the audience that there are three different covers available for issue one of
Necromancer including one by Greg Horn, one by Chris Bachalo, and one by Manapul.
Manapul explained how he got involved with Necromancer. “I actually turned down the book three times, but when I read the script and talked to Josh I got excited!” said Manapul. “I wanted to do something different with the look of the book, have it be as different from what’s out there as possible, even the approach to storytelling. Nothing too crazy, but just straight up great comics.”
Ortega stated, “Francis is a great visual storyteller. For me it was a great organic process with Francis, making sure I was playing to his strengths. Francis is an amazing storyteller. His pages read very smooth and I really enjoy working with him.”
McLauchlin let the audience know that if they wanted an introduction to Necromancer they could pick up Triple Play, which features 7 page previews of three Top Cow books.
Ortega explained how he has the entire story mapped out through issue 45. His background as a novelist plays a lot into that. “I’m writing in six issue arcs. It’s a great story that Abby goes through, not a rudderless boat. I know where the story ends. There’s always the opportunity for fun surprises when I get into the scripting, but I have the basic story line down. It’s very important that Abby changes and grows as a character. She’s not static at all. There are time jumps at points where you move six months to a year into the future. There’s a true character evolution.”
McLauchlin explained how Manapul always seemed to have had a grasp on Abby’s character. “From the moment he sat down on the floor to draw, the look hasn’t changed much. It’s like Manapul had it right on from the beginning.”
Manapul stated, “I wanted to give the character a very unique look because she’s a very unique character. That was very important to me.” You can see some early character designs for all the characters in the back of the issues.
Then the panel opened up to a Question and Answer session. This reporter tried to get the Q and A word for word as much as possible, but some questions and answers might have been paraphrased.
QUESTION: Francis, have you had to change any of Josh’s script as you were penciling. Josh has Francis ever drawn anything you had to work into a larger aspect of the story because you liked it so much.
MANAPUL: “I’ve only ever had to do a few small tweaks that I’ve chugged for storytelling purposes. Josh hands me a full script and we click really well. I haven’t had to change much of anything.”
ORTEGA: “One of the major things I changed was the character of Locke. I originally wanted him to have an old man look and Francis suggested having him look grizzled but no in a Gandolf kind of way.”
MANAPUL: “The old man with the long beard seemed very cliché. Lock has been around for a long time and has seem so much, so why would he choose to walk around
looking like a bum? I wanted him to be wearing Armani suits and looking stylish.”
ORTEGA: “Francis and I see eye to eye on most things. Things get really violent and brutal as the series goes on and we were deciding if we should be graphic or show the violence in silhouette. We ultimately decided that we’re Top Cow, if we want to see someone’s head being squished, then we’re going to do it right. That’s the nice thing about working with Top Cow, we’re not mainstream, so we have the ability to push the boundaries.”
MANAPUL: “As an artist, you’re allowed to play. That’s definitely the best part of working for Top Cow for me.”
QUESTION: How much mythology is involved in your story?
ORTEGA: “In the first year the story is pretty character driven. There’s a main cast of characters, but after the first year that will be expanded more. The second half of the first year there will be a lot of American mythology from Native American to tall tales. Locke will introduce more of the European mythology to the book later on.”
McLauchlin took a moment to talk about Witchblade #92, which is the tenth anniversary issue. It’s going to be 48 pages long and feature 12 guest artists including: Chris Bachalo, Darwyn cooke, George Perez, Marc Silvestri, Francis Manapul, and many others. Ron Marz is writing the story which starts in present day, goes back through time, and ends back in the present. The book is scheduled to be released in November and will tell the definitive origin of the Witchblade. After McLauchlin talked about the book, he opened the floor back up to questions.
QUESTION: Do you learn about what happened to the past wielders of the Witchblade?
McLAUCHLIN: “You learn about the origin of the Witchblade itself and you do find out about some of the past wielders. There’s a little bit of everything.”
QUESTION: What is your main influence in terms of story and mood?
ORTEGA: “Aleister Crowley is the main influence on the book. He’s always had a big influence on my writing. When I took on this project I studied the occult and everything from satanism to wicca. There are aspects of all of that research in my writing as well.
MANAPUL: Visually my main influence has been European books. My work started off very cartoony, but when I took on Witchblade I adjusted my style to fit that book. My art on Necromancer has a cartoony flair, but it’s still very realistic. I feel like my artistic style has come full circle.”
The panel ended with Ortega inviting everyone to stop by the message boards and give feedback on the book. “It’s a great way to interact and get an idea of what you like and don’t like about the book. Feedback is great whether it’s negative or positive. I want the readers to be involved in the story.”
comicon.com
Issue number one is going to be in the store on Wednesday. At this point Jim McLauchlin
turned the panel over to Ortega and Manapul so they could talk about the book they’ve been working on.
Ortega started off by giving a brief overview of the story line for Necromancer. The story is about a seventeen year old high school student named Abby who has a knack for the old ways. He explained that there are two kinds of magic users; those with natural abilities and those who have to train. Abby is a natural user and these powers have given her a charmed life. Her father is a Pastor disapproves very strongly of her lifestyle. “There are things that occur in the first issue that draw Abby into a 2000 year old plot to control the universe. She is only just beginning to discover who she is and what her powers are. Francis came up with brilliant designs! He’s been instrumental in co-creating the character and the entire world. Abby doesn’t look like anyone else in comics.”
McLauchlin informed the audience that there are three different covers available for issue one of
Necromancer including one by Greg Horn, one by Chris Bachalo, and one by Manapul.
Manapul explained how he got involved with Necromancer. “I actually turned down the book three times, but when I read the script and talked to Josh I got excited!” said Manapul. “I wanted to do something different with the look of the book, have it be as different from what’s out there as possible, even the approach to storytelling. Nothing too crazy, but just straight up great comics.”
Ortega stated, “Francis is a great visual storyteller. For me it was a great organic process with Francis, making sure I was playing to his strengths. Francis is an amazing storyteller. His pages read very smooth and I really enjoy working with him.”
McLauchlin let the audience know that if they wanted an introduction to Necromancer they could pick up Triple Play, which features 7 page previews of three Top Cow books.
Ortega explained how he has the entire story mapped out through issue 45. His background as a novelist plays a lot into that. “I’m writing in six issue arcs. It’s a great story that Abby goes through, not a rudderless boat. I know where the story ends. There’s always the opportunity for fun surprises when I get into the scripting, but I have the basic story line down. It’s very important that Abby changes and grows as a character. She’s not static at all. There are time jumps at points where you move six months to a year into the future. There’s a true character evolution.”
McLauchlin explained how Manapul always seemed to have had a grasp on Abby’s character. “From the moment he sat down on the floor to draw, the look hasn’t changed much. It’s like Manapul had it right on from the beginning.”
Manapul stated, “I wanted to give the character a very unique look because she’s a very unique character. That was very important to me.” You can see some early character designs for all the characters in the back of the issues.
Then the panel opened up to a Question and Answer session. This reporter tried to get the Q and A word for word as much as possible, but some questions and answers might have been paraphrased.
QUESTION: Francis, have you had to change any of Josh’s script as you were penciling. Josh has Francis ever drawn anything you had to work into a larger aspect of the story because you liked it so much.
MANAPUL: “I’ve only ever had to do a few small tweaks that I’ve chugged for storytelling purposes. Josh hands me a full script and we click really well. I haven’t had to change much of anything.”
ORTEGA: “One of the major things I changed was the character of Locke. I originally wanted him to have an old man look and Francis suggested having him look grizzled but no in a Gandolf kind of way.”
MANAPUL: “The old man with the long beard seemed very cliché. Lock has been around for a long time and has seem so much, so why would he choose to walk around
looking like a bum? I wanted him to be wearing Armani suits and looking stylish.”
ORTEGA: “Francis and I see eye to eye on most things. Things get really violent and brutal as the series goes on and we were deciding if we should be graphic or show the violence in silhouette. We ultimately decided that we’re Top Cow, if we want to see someone’s head being squished, then we’re going to do it right. That’s the nice thing about working with Top Cow, we’re not mainstream, so we have the ability to push the boundaries.”
MANAPUL: “As an artist, you’re allowed to play. That’s definitely the best part of working for Top Cow for me.”
QUESTION: How much mythology is involved in your story?
ORTEGA: “In the first year the story is pretty character driven. There’s a main cast of characters, but after the first year that will be expanded more. The second half of the first year there will be a lot of American mythology from Native American to tall tales. Locke will introduce more of the European mythology to the book later on.”
McLauchlin took a moment to talk about Witchblade #92, which is the tenth anniversary issue. It’s going to be 48 pages long and feature 12 guest artists including: Chris Bachalo, Darwyn cooke, George Perez, Marc Silvestri, Francis Manapul, and many others. Ron Marz is writing the story which starts in present day, goes back through time, and ends back in the present. The book is scheduled to be released in November and will tell the definitive origin of the Witchblade. After McLauchlin talked about the book, he opened the floor back up to questions.
QUESTION: Do you learn about what happened to the past wielders of the Witchblade?
McLAUCHLIN: “You learn about the origin of the Witchblade itself and you do find out about some of the past wielders. There’s a little bit of everything.”
QUESTION: What is your main influence in terms of story and mood?
ORTEGA: “Aleister Crowley is the main influence on the book. He’s always had a big influence on my writing. When I took on this project I studied the occult and everything from satanism to wicca. There are aspects of all of that research in my writing as well.
MANAPUL: Visually my main influence has been European books. My work started off very cartoony, but when I took on Witchblade I adjusted my style to fit that book. My art on Necromancer has a cartoony flair, but it’s still very realistic. I feel like my artistic style has come full circle.”
The panel ended with Ortega inviting everyone to stop by the message boards and give feedback on the book. “It’s a great way to interact and get an idea of what you like and don’t like about the book. Feedback is great whether it’s negative or positive. I want the readers to be involved in the story.”
comicon.com