KICKSTART Bonus: Opening the BOOK OF LILAH

KICKSTART Bonus: Opening the BOOK OF LILAH

Pulled from www.newsarama.com

By Chris Arrant March 7, 2011

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/kickstart-bonus-book-of-lilah-110307.html

Newsarama Note: Check out our other Kickstart stories from last week by clicking here!

They're the hidden threat that no one knows about.

Librarians.

Seriously.

In the upcoming graphic novel The Book of Lilah from Kickstart, a secret cabal is revealed that keeps a firm grasp on mankind by controlling its knowledge through books. These Keepers as they're called believe some knowledge is too risky for society to possess and keep it hidden away. But when a teenage undergrad named Lilah accidently gets ahold of one of their most taboo books, the Keepers – and the world – are in for an awakening.

The Book of Lilah is the latest in a line of slimline graphic novels that Kickstart plans to put out this spring. Coming from the world of film, Kickstart's comics line features talent from comics and film teaming up. In the case of this book, it's Pushing Daisies writing room alum Jack Monaco. Monaco's bounced around the TV dail, working on things like Star Trek: Voyager and The Dead Zone to the recent series on the Hub, R.L. Stine's Haunting Hour. But this experience is a new kind of story – and a new medium for Monaco, who partners with artist and fellow newcomer Javi Hernandez.

Good for them this book about a secret world of books and book-hoards seems like an ideal place to start.

Newsarama: Tell us Jack – what is The Book of Lilah about?

Jack Monaco: The Book of Lilah is the story of Lilah, an unassuming college girl whose mind expands exponentially when she inadvertently reads from an ancient and mystical Book of Knowledge. Suddenly she’s caught between Xerxes St. Martin, a power-hungry wealthy industrialist and the Keepers, a secret society that’s manipulated mankind for centuries. Oh, and as if her life didn’t just get crazy enough, the future of mankind may just hang in the balance... 

Nrama: Although her name is in the title, Lilah knows as little about this centuries-old book as we do. What’s she about?

Monaco: Lilah’s a sophomore at a community college. Major: undecided. Her Dad pressured her to go Ivy League (she’s smart enough for it) but she wasn’t interested. He’s this big time professor at Georgetown who, in her words: “is obsessed with knowing everything.” She’s always felt she came second (or third) to his quest for knowledge and so has grown up suspicious of books and learning.   

Nrama: Earlier you mentioned a secret society called 'The Keepers'. What's their story?

Monaco: The Keepers are an ancient and powerful, far reaching secret organization, some might say “cabal” ... of librarians. They endeavor to control mankind’s acquisition and application of knowledge. Allegedly for our own good. They believe that some knowledge is just too dangerous for us to possess. But are they right? And why do they get to decide?

Nrama: Can you give us some real world examples of the kinds of things the Keepers would be involved in?

Monaco: Sure.  Without giving too much away... Since the beginning of civilization the Keepers have had a hand in practically every great leap in human knowledge. And have prevented countless other leaps. They were there at the burning of the Library at Alexandria. They were there when da Vinci created some of his most amazing inventions. And when his inventions failed, you can bet they had a hand in that. They also had a surprising role in the dawn of the nuclear age.

For the record, the Keepers are lovers of knowledge. 

Nrama: How does Lilah get wrapped up in protecting the Keepers?

Monaco: Well, I wouldn’t say Lilah is protecting the Keepers. In fact, one of her struggles throughout the book is figuring out: are these Keepers good or evil? 

Early on, she learns she has a latent “talent” related to the Keepers’ organization. A talent certain forces want to exploit.   

Nrama: Your name is new to comics, but I remember you from the credits on the TV show Pushing Daises. Can you tell us about your writing background and how you ended up doing comics?

Monaco: Funny you should bring Pushing Daises; it’s connected to my entry into the world of comics. I’d been working primarily in animation, writing for many kids’ shows, including the anime-inspired Megas XLR for Cartoon Network and selling stories to Star Trek: Voyager and The Dead Zone. A few years back Bryan Fuller was adapting the Mike Mignola comic The Amazing Screw-On Head for Kickstart and Sci-Fi. It was such a bizarre and fantastic property that Sci-Fi actually thought it might be too weird, even for them.  To show them what the series could be, Bryan brought me and Mike Taylor (Battlestar Galactica, The Dead Zone) in to write the first couple of scripts.  Awesome experience.  And I think we wrote some great stuff.  I guess it was still pretty out there, because Sci-Fi passed.

Nrama: And that brought you to comics?

Monaco: Yes. Long story long, that’s how I was introduced to Kickstart and the world of comics. I worked with Kickstart again adapting another project, and when they decided to start their own original comics, they asked me if I had any ideas. And so The Book of Lilah was born...  

Nrama: What have you been reading to get up to speed for The Book of Lilah, Jack?

Monaco: Since I’m a recent convert to the world of comics, I immersed myself in the medium, and ever since a friend introduced me to Y: The Last Man and Fables, I’ve been absolutely hooked. Can I just say how cool it’s been seeing the art come back?  You see the story so clearly in your head and you hope and pray that the artist “gets it,” but once Javi’s pages started coming in, they were even better than I imagined.



KICKSTART DAY: Brothers Saving an ENDANGERED Space Hero

KICKSTART DAY: Brothers Saving an ENDANGERED Space Hero

Pulled from www.newsarama.com

By Chris Arrant March 2, 2011

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/kickstart-day-endangered-110302.html

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...”

No, that’s not it. In the upcoming slimline graphic novel Endangered, this space drama takes place in the here and now – starting with Earth and two young boys who find out there father is a laser-wielding space hero. That’s right. It’s like finding your Christmas presents a month early times.... Well, a million.

But there’s some bad news. In their dad’s space-faring adventures, he’s made an enemy out of gang of evil aliens called the Decay who have kidnapped him. With no rescue in site, the fate of their space-faring father is in the hands of two brothers named Chris and Mikey. This is all told to them by an attractive teenage alien girl that shows up in their living room. She’s the last of her kind, and the key to all the trouble, and she’s going to help them get their father back.

Endangered comes out of the mind of writer Joshua Williamson. Williamson came onto the comic scene in 2007 with the miniseries Necessary Evil. After following it up with the Dear Dracula graphic novel and several other miniseries, the writer got picked up on the Big Two’s radar where he’s done work for such titles as Superman/Batman and The Incredible Hulks. But as these creator-owned ideas brought him into the industry, he’s returning to it – and thanks to Kickstart editor Jimmy Palmiotti he’s paired with artist Juan Santacruz (X-Men, The Resistance). This graphic novel is scheduled to hit comic shops and your local Wal-mart this Spring, and Williamson is excited to launch this next big creator-owned project.

Newsarama: After some early success with work at DC, it’s good to see you returning with some new creator-owned projects Joshua. What is Endangered about?

Joshua Williamson: Thanks, Chris. I try to do a bit of everything and working with the big boys and doing creator owned at the same time is my goal. My head is usually exploding with ideas so getting back to the wonderful world of creator-owned was a long time coming.

Endangered is about two brothers, Chris and Mikey, who think their dad is this quiet guy but then find out he is an intergalactic space hero. However they only discover this after he has been kidnapped by a group of evil aliens called the Decay. Once their dad is kidnapped his space ship comes back to earth to get them and make Chris the new pilot/space hero of the Dad’s ship. But it grabs both Mikey and Chris, and they then fight over who should be in charge. Before they can rescue their Dad, they must first complete his last mission: Saving the last of an endangered race from The Decay. It just so happens the last of this endangered race is an attractive female alien who could also destroy the Decay.

Nrama: What’s life like for these two brothers before aliens enter the picture?

Williamson: They are of pair of teenage risk takers. Chris builds it and Mikey drives it.... Or at least crashes it.

They’ve always been the kids that will try to build rocket packs in their back yard, skydive off buildings with home made parachutes and when the story starts they have taken up building crash cars for demolition derbies and driving them. 

They used to get along but because Chris is a few years older and starting to grow up, getting ready for college and all that... it’s caused a rift between the two brothers.

Nrama: What’s their dad like that he could be an intergalactic superhero and them not know it? Could my dad secretly be a space ace too?

Williamson:Their Dad has been pulling a “Clark Kent” for years. He has always been a strict boring father. In fact his day job cover is that of a safety inspector. His motto is “safety first” so you take that plus his two risk taking sons and you have a mix matched father and sons combo. As the story goes you learn that Chris knew a bit more about his Dad’s real life and Mikey was left in the dark... so of course this drives an even bigger wedge between Mikey and Chris.

And Yes... I hate to break it to you this way, Chris... but your dad is in fact... a space pilot.

Nrama: I knew it!

Back to Endangered, these two kids finally get clued in to their father’s extraterrestrial adventures via a young who is literally out of this world. What’s she like, Joshua?

Williamson: Caysea is a teen girl and the last of the Ximeno race. A race of beings whose sole mission in their lives was to bring hope to all life. They traveled across the universe helping planets out. Bringing a little bit of light every where they went. They were very peaceful, almost monk-like. But Caysea was always a bit of an outsider; she has a bit of rage inside her and just enough doubt that made her training difficult. When the Decay started to hunt the Ximenos down, she was hidden because she wasn’t trained enough to fight back.

The thing is now she is all that is left, and the only thing that can defeat the Decay. Which pisses her off. The only way she can ever get to her full potential is to let go of that anger. She cares less for the boys’ antics and just wants to get away from it all. She isn’t ready to be the universe’s savoir or hero. She just wants to be a teenage girl.

Nrama: Just what exactly are these two boys up against in getting their father back with these guys called the Decay?

Williamson: The Decay are lead by a dark being called Ruin. A Thanos-Darkseid like being who can create his own dark creatures to do his bidding. He’s created an army and space ships to fly across the universe and help him take over. Ruin also has an assistant named Drag, who is this female assassin who can track anything. Her job is to find the last Ximeno, Caysea, and bring her to Ruin. Drag creates quite a few problems for the boys all by herself.

But since the Ximenos are near wiped out the universe has become darker and hopeless place, making the criminal element come out and play. The boys have to navigate past a few nefarious criminal forces to get to safety. But at the end of the day they still need to take on Ruin, who is the personification of all that is evil in the universe. He is literally evil given life. And for sure two much for just two teenage boys from Earth.

Nrama: This seems like a very classic sci-fi flick from the 80s – Weird Science meets The Last Starfighter. How did this idea develop?

Williamson: Um. Well that’s a very... silly story. I’ll try to keep this quick. Batman artist Dustin Nguyen and I were talking about laser printers very late one night many years ago. We both had laser printers and started to joke that we were the “Laser Brothers.” This lead to me thinking about a cartoon featuring three brothers in space piloting “laser ships.” Eventually the book started to take shape, became a bit of an older tone in story, was cut down to two brothers and was renamed Endangered. Really I’ve always wanted to do a book that had a “Goonies in Space” feel to it and this is it. It’s that escapism, y’know? We all wish we could find out our parents were space pilots and are able to fly space ships in space. While working with Kickstart I was able to refine the idea into what we have now.

I’m a big fan of 1980’ sci-fi flicks that were this great hardcore sci-fi with a bit of humor tied into them. I was just watching Inner Space last night and thinking how much I loved that movie. I tried to go with that... it’s pretty much a buddy flick in space with two guys trying to save the universe.... Which is pretty 80s if you ask me.

Nrama: I’d ask you, but you already told me. This book follows two brothers finding out their father is an intergalactic hero on the sly. Do you have siblings, and if so, how is your relationship compared to the one you depict in the book?

Williamson: Actually I have two younger brothers and I can completely relate to not getting along with your siblings. We mouth off to each other and there is a level of competition between us that is just like Chris and Mikey in the book. My Dad was gone a lot when we were kids, so I channeled that into how the boys look at their father and how finding out he is this cool guy is a lot like what I think happens to a lot of people growing up. You think your parents are these fuddy duddys but the older you get and more you get to know then, hopefully you learn they are actually cool people.

Nrama: Speaking of buddies, for this you’re working with a favorite artist of mine, Juan Santacruz.. How did you two hook up – and hook up with Kickstart for that matter?

Williamson: Juan and I were matched up by Jimmy Palmiotti, who is working with Kickstart and Juan is just awesome. When I started getting his pencils I was blown away by his level of detail and depth. I’d be surprised... no, more like shocked if Juan didn’t blow up after this book. With each page he took what was in the script and went above and beyond what I asked for. It’s a space book that calls for a lot of elements which most artists would just skip, but Juan ran with it and turned out an amazing looking book. There are pages with so many space ships I tried counting them and just gave up.

Kickstart and I started working together after they optioned my Image book Dear Dracula. They liked working with me and what I was coming up with for Dear Dracula so they approached me about doing books for the new comic line they were planning. I liked what they had to say and jumped at the chance. I actually had Endangered picked up before my other book with them, Mirror, Mirror, but Mirror, Mirror is coming out first.

Endangered is my first book of 2011, which is going to be a very busy year and I hope people enjoy Endangered as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

 

KICKSTART DAY: Editors Jimmy Palmiotti & Larry Young

KICKSTART DAY: Editors Jimmy Palmiotti & Larry Young

Pulled from www.newsarama.com

By Chris Arrant March 3, 2011

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/kickstart-day-palmiotti-young-110303.html

Kickstart Comics is the latest new face on the comics scene these past few months. Spiraling out of one of the most successful comics-to-film production companies in Hollywood, Kickstart was set-up to tell original stories and get them out not only to comic stores but the mass market. Through a unique distribution agreement with Wal-Mart and the strict publishing of slimline graphic novels, Kickstart has become a new place to find diversity in comics.

Although Kickstart's parent company Kickstart Productions has a long history of comics love with production credits on both Wanted and the upcoming feature Preacher, for this new comics venture they reached out to two veterans of the industry to guide the way. Jimmy Palmiotti (Marvel Knights, Black Bull, Fox Atomic) and Larry Young (AiT-PlanetLar) signed on to be editors of Kickstart Comics in 2010, ushering in their first group of titles on the marketplace late last year.

Over the past few months we've covered some of the titles Kickstart has been publishing, and now we turn to Kickstart's two leading men, Palmiotti and Young, to talk about the publisher's unique strategy and how it all came together.

Newsarama: Kickstart’s motto is “make good comics for a wide audience”. How do you do that?

Jimmy Palmiotti: You do that by telling great stories that actually make sense, have a beginning, middle and an end and most of all , thy should be  entertaining. You would be shocked how many books these days don’t stick to those rules. With the kickstart books, we are making them for everyone, not just the comic reader...so there is a level of clarity in the writing as well as the artwork. They are easily accessible to all audiences and feature universal themes. They really are a super solid line of books that I am proud to be part of. We hope to make non comic book readers become die hards for life with these titles.

Larry Young: My commercial instincts are completely mainstream-driven. You know I like the high-concept, Chris; "Astronauts in Trouble" and "Zombie Dinosaur" and the like does what it says on the tin, yeah? And yet, producing a good story... an entertaining story... isn't really a nine-to-five sort of job. It's reaching out to the lowest common denominator as well as saying an intensely personal thing to the individual reader, all at the same time. It's a tightrope walk, a belly laugh from a little kid, a swordplay exhibition, the smell of baking brownies, the brace of a good cocktail, and a pretty girl saying "yes" all at once. All of life should connect to a good story and say something to everyone. And the artists and writers should produce their story with a passion that, frankly, borders on insanity. That's the sort of stuff I look for, and that's the recipe for cooking up the good stuff for the widest possible audience.

Nrama: Jimmy, you’ve edited far and wide – and even helped Joe Quesada get Marvel back on the right path. But will you be writing anything for Kickstart?

Palmiotti: Helped Joe? Actually, Joe and I created the marvel knights line together and we “helped” Marvel get back on the right path with our line of books. I enjoy every aspect of creating comics so its fun from time to time to take on something like the kickstart books and work along with Samantha Olssen at kickstart on these titles. She has been doing a fantastic job and together we managed to get some spectacular talent attached to these titles. As far as writing one of the books...it’s in the works...but I didn’t want to do any till the launch was underway and till kickstart and I found the right project. Justin and I hit them with something we think is killer...so that will be announced soon I guess.

Nrama: How’d you two get involved with Jason Netter and Kickstart?

Young: I don't remember our first meeting with Jason Netter, because he's always been around my professional comics life. I know it was through Superstar Lawyer to the Comic Book Stars, Ken Levin, who, at the suggestion of Lisa Morales, I think, who was at John Wells at the time, was repping us on "Astronauts In Trouble" in the early days. Honestly, I don't really remember, because we've been through so much for so long with Jason and everyone at Kickstart, they've always felt like part of the family. And I hope we have felt that way for them, as well. But Jason and Samantha Olsson and everyone else have just been aces. When our son was born three years ago, Kickstart troubleshooter Heather Puttock had her mom knit him a sweater and blanket. I mean, come on. "Part of the family" doesn't even seem to really cut it. So when they said they were gearing up to start their own publishing house, I asked, "How can I help?" So I give story notes, talk about printers... spindle, fold, mutilate; that sort of thing. I'm a sounding board.

Palmiotti: That all started in a galaxy a long, long time ago. We met through a mutual friend and we hit it off. Jason and his company have always been firm believers in the work I do and have a ton of faith in my storytelling skills and we hit it off outside of work as well. He is a great guy, knows his business well and a guy I could hang out with outside of work. We have been working together for years on so many projects. ..I can’t even remember them all. In this business, when people appreciate you and treat you and your talent with respect, you keep them close by.

Nrama: Before Kickstart started this comic publishing division, they helped you put two creator owned books together for Image: Random Acts of Violence and Back To Brooklyn. How'd that come together?

Palmiotti: Putting together the book and publishing them are two different things. Before Kickstart was actually publishing, we partnered on a few books and had image publish them simply because if you want to keep the rights and get your book out there to a large audience, there is no better company to do work for than Image comics. Kickstart and I partnered, figured out the math and worked out the story for these books and they both were real experiments of titles outside the “safe zone” of publishing by both of them being adult oriented books. I am happy to say they both came out great and will soon be available for download any day now... for those who missed them. Back to Brooklyn was even nominated for a couple of awards, which we are very proud of. Anyone that picked up these titles already knows that there is a ton of love and work on those pages and along with kickstart, I was given the freedom to package the books as I saw fit. Yeah...I can go on and on all day about them...but in the end, the work speaks for itself.

Nrama: Larry, I know you both as a writer and editor doing titles for your AiT-PlanetLar labe. Any chance you’ll be penning a story for Kickstart?

Young: I'm sure if I come up with an idea that fits the Kickstart scene, I'll toss it up over the transom and see what Jason and Samantha think of it. We have pretty similar sensibilities and appreciate the same kinds of stories.

Nrama: Rounding out the books Kickstart is doing is the creators involved. The line-up of creative talent includes some familiar names from comics as well as people from the film industry. How’d you throw out your net to cast creators for these books?

Young: That's all Jason and Samantha. Every once in a while I can send one of my pals their way who has a great idea for a book I think will fit their scene, and I happily do that. At San Diego, Sam and I sat down with a well-known writer I've been trying to work with for ages, and Kickstart picked up his project, so that was cool. Back in the early days, I used to be pretty single-minded, and I'd say polarizing things like, "I'm not in comics to make friends; I'm in comics to make comics!" And, honestly, there's a part of me that still responds to that clarity of vision. But I have the luxury now of being able to make entertaining comics with my friends and not have to stick my head up over the parapet all the time, and that's a pretty cool place to be.

Nraam: Jimmy, I see a couple former collaborators of yours working on these books. So what's the talent picking like?

Palmiotti: That’s easy...for artists, we take out all the contract people, then once we have actual stories we like, which took a while, we try to match the right artist to the right project. That and the fact that we try to find good storytellers...which isn’t as easy as it seems. We have been pretty lucky...4 of the artists are people I have done books with before, which made the whole thing more fun for me.



KICKSTART DAY: Hollywood Writers Launch Season of the WITCH

KICKSTART DAY: Hollywood Writers Launch Season of the WITCH

Pulled from www.newsarama.com

By Chris Arrant March 2, 2011

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/kickstart-day-witch-110302.html

Although comics may seem like a realm of superheroes and mutants, magic has long cast its spell on the medium. From pulp legends like Mandrake the Magician to mid-century icons like DC’s Captain Marvel and Marvel’s Doctor Strange, magic is in comics’ blood. There have been magicians and sorcerers, warlocks and mages... and yes, more than a few witches.

Next up in California-based publisher Kickstart's growing line of titles is the slimline graphic novel Witch, following a teenage girl named Kylie that discovers she’s a witch – and one of the last of her kind. Aiding in the discovery of her hidden heritage is a black cat – traditional in witch lore, but different in that this little kitty is seven feet tall and named Ridley. Together, Kylie and Ridley try delve into the secret history of witches and the Old Ways while also trying to find her new family – witches – before a tyrannical breed of witchhunter snuffs them out for good.

Witch’s story comes out of the mind of two rising screenwriters named Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett. The duo has worked in Hollywood for years, and are currently writing for Steven Spielberg’s new series Terra Nova coming from Fox later this year. Kickstart editor Jimmy Palmiotti paired the comics’ newcomer with veteran artist Tony Shasteen to breathe life into their story, and the two comics-loving screenwriters have fallen in love with the comic-making process.

Newsarama: What can you tell us about Witch, guys?

Terry Matalas: Witch is a supernatural coming-of-age story. It touches on that awkward time in a lot of teenager's lives. That time when no matter what's going on, you feel like an outsider. No one understands you. Witch begins with a teenage girl dealing with a lot of those issues... and then discovers her whole life is not what she thought was. She's been hearing a voice in her head -- at times having full conversations with it. And one night she ends up in a dangerous part of the city, gets mugged and ends up summoning this voice into existence. Turns out the voice is in fact that of her Familiar -- which in witch lore is traditionally a black cat -- but in this case, is a seven foot demon-cat named Ridley that only she can see. And it follows her where ever she goes. So imagine having to deal with the torment of puberty, high school, over-bearing parents... and having a demon talking in your ear the whole time. Of course, this discovery thrusts her into an adventure and emotional journey that will ultimately define her as a hero.

Nrama: Can you tell us about the teenage girl at the center of this?

Travis Fickett: Her name is Kylie Woods. She’s been harboring this fear that she’s a nutjob – and that’s meant keeping people at arm’s length. That also means she’s developed a biting sarcasm as a defense mechanism.

Nrama: Tell us more about this cat familiar that Kylie has?

Fickett: Ridley's kinda like what would happen if you crossed the Cheshire Cat with Hannibal Lecter. He's a dangerous and powerful demon who has served at the side of witches for centuries. But in the old days, a witch was ready for their familiar – it was a tradition passed on from one generation to the next.

In Kylie's case, she's adopted... so she has no idea what's about to happen to her. Ridley could just be a form of schizophrenia. And unfortunately he can't just go away. Once you summon your Familiar, it's there for life. What's interesting about Ridley is he hasn't been at the side of a witch for some time. So the world has changed quite a bit.

Matalas: Now there's coffee... and he really likes that.

Nrama: Are these witch powers something Kylie inherits, or something she got just by chance?

Matalas: Well, without ruining too much for you, we can tell you that this is a whole new take on witch lore. There are no spells, no black pointy hats, no wands. Here, a witch's power come solely through control of their demon Familiar. Some Familiars are stronger, faster, smarter, bigger... and a few even fly.

Nrama: She can't be the only witch out there – can you tell us about the witching world she, and us readers, know nothing about?

Fickett: Witches have been hunted to an almost extinction by Hunters -- a war that's secretly raged on for centuries. Witch picks up basically AFTER the war is over. Both factions have been forced to return to the real world... no witches left to hunt, no hunters to kill. But Kylie is very significant to the possibility of things heating up again.

Nrama: Witches have been hunted throughout time – is our lead character hunted in Witch?

Matalas: Since she was born... although she doesn't know that yet.

Nrama: Speaking of hunting, I've hunted for other comics by yours but haven't found one. What can you tell us about yourselves?

Fickett: We're both avid comic readers -- and geeks to everything movie, television, anime, and books. At the moment we're writing on a TV show for May 2011 called Terra Nova on Twentieth Century Fox Television. It's science fiction adventure show being produced by Steven Spielberg and Peter Chernin.

Nrama: How'd you hook up with Kickstart Comics to do Witch with them?

Matalas: We met Jason and Samantha after pitching a feature film version of Voltron to them. What can we say? We also love giant robots.

Nrama: As first-time comics writers, you get to experience seeing your words drawn up and show up in your email box before anyone else sees it. Tony Shasteen is drawing Witch, so how has it been for you?

Ficket: Getting pages from Tony Shasteen has been one of the most creatively satisfying things to ever happen to us. When you write a movie or a television pilot, just because it may sell doesn't mean it will ever see the light of day. With comics, there's a sort of instant gratification of seeing your story come to life.

Matalas: Tony's art is simply incredible. His attention to detail and creature design are some of the best out there.

Fickett: We have his art hung all over our office. We're huge fans.

Tune in tomorrow morning for an interview with Kickstart Editors Jimmy Palmiotti and Larry Young!

KICKSTART DAY: Burn Notice Writer Gives The Gods a HEADACHE

KICKSTART DAY: Burn Notice Writer Gives The Gods a HEADACHE

Pulled from www.newsarama.com

By Chris Arrant March 2, 2011

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/headache-kickstart-day-110302.html

This is the first of four interviews about Kickstart Publishing for today, so stay tuned for more features, plus an interview with the big cheeses, Jimmy Palmiotti and Larry Young tomorrow!

Although it’s super-heroes who dominate the American comics landscape, they owe a lot to another group of super-powered people – the mythological gods of Greece. And on several occasions, Greek gods have made their appearance in comics but never quite in the way a new graphic novel from Kickstart are.

In the upcoming graphic novel Headache, the Greek Gods are living among us as the rich and the powerful. In many ways they do the same things they did in ancient times, just in a modern context. But although the times have changed, their struggles and squabbles are fresh as a new day. In this book, an eighteen year old girl named Sarah finds out that the father she’s never met in life is a god – Zeus, in fact – and by extension she is a god herself. Embodying the spirit of the goddess Athena, Sarah must navigate through this treacherous world and secret society of gods and goddesses while trying to escape the murderous gaze of her stepmother Hera and set things right with her philandering father Zeus. As one of the few humans with insight into the secret society of these supernatural beings, it’s up to her to take up for mankind in stopping her father’s family’s dangerous games.

Coming late this April, Headache is part of a second wave of titles coming out from the new publishing company Kickstart Entertainment. Using funding from the company’s Hollywood production shingle, Kickstart enlisted editors Jimmy Palmiotti and Larry Young to guide their titles and secured an enviable distribution deal with Wal-Mart amongst others to get their books into the public’s hands. And as part of this they solicited stories from outside the typical comic circles – in the case of Headache, it comes from Burn Notice writer Lisa Joy.

Newsarama: From the preview, I can see that Headache opens with a young girl in a mental institution who thinks she could be a god. What can you tell us about her and the book, Lisa?

Lisa Joy: Sarah, the hero of the book, is a 19 year old amnesiac locked up in a mental asylum in modern-day New York. She thinks she’s the Greek Goddess Athena. But the doctors and nurses assure her she’s just a paranoid schizophrenic with a delusional God complex.

In fact, Sarah is Athena, the Greek Goddess of war and wisdom. (Technically, she’s a demi-God – born of an illicit affair Zeus had with a mortal woman.) The other Olympians have a plan to destroy mankind and reassert their power. Because Athena is half-human and sympathetic to mankind, they worry she’ll try to stop them. So they erased her memories with Lethe, drugged her to weaken her, and locked her in a mental asylum so she’d doubt her own sanity.

What follows is a journey of (or more like a battle for) self-discovery where Sarah must learn to trust herself and her instincts in order to take on the other gods and save the world from a serious smiting.

Nrama: And those gods after Sarah – aka Athena – are led by Hera. Why is Hera out to get her?

Joy: Ostensibly, the answer is that Hera is in favor of Armageddon and doesn’t want Sarah standing in her way. Hera’s also not very pleased with Sarah – because she was born of an affair Zeus had with a mortal woman.

But the relationship between Hera and Sarah is more complicated than that. I wanted to play with the notion that women are each other’s worst enemy and maybe subvert it a little. So as Sarah discovers more and more about her past, she begins to see Hera in a somewhat different light. It’s a scarring (sometimes literally so) process where Sarah has to grow up and gain a little emotional maturity in order to see Hera not just as a “wicked stepmother” but as a complete and complex person in her own right.

Nrama: So gods do exist – when people think of Greek Gods they think white robes and Greek columns. What’s the life like for these Grecian immortals in modern times?

Joy: The Gods have changed and evolved along with the times. They’ve swapped togas, acolytes, and temples for designer suits, personal assistants, and mansions.

Instead of ruling as they used to in Ancient Greece, they’ve found they’re able to exert more power and meet less resistance when they blend into society and control civilization from the sidelines.

Headache posits a world where the Greek Gods are the socio/economic/political “invisible hand” that has been guiding the course of human history for the last couple thousand years. But, some of the Gods are getting tired of being “invisible” and they want to give the smack down to humanity so they can return to ruling in the open.

Nrama: In the world of comics, more often than not people have powers. Does Sarah have anything here as the god Athena – even if she isn’t quite sure of it?

Joy: When we first meet Sarah, she’s weak, drugged up, frightened and insecure. But once she frees herself from the mental asylum, she discovers a strength (physical and otherwise) that she never knew she had.

As a half-God Sarah is much stronger than all humans. But she’s still physically weaker than the other Gods. Fortunately, as in the Greek myths, her real super-power doesn’t lie in brute strength – it lies in strategic thinking and warfare. So she’s able to make up for her inferior strength with her superior smarts.

Another important asset she has is a few unlikely allies she picks up along the way including Hades, who may or may not be the sinister figure she thinks he is; and the weapons forger Hephaestus, who despite his crippled leg and gentle nature – can be a force to be reckoned with.

Nrama: Can you explain the title, “Headache”, as it refers to the story?

Joy: The title refers to Athena’s birth. According to Greek Mythology, she sprang fully-grown and armed to the hilt from Zeus’ head. To me, it was a perfect jumping off point for a bit of reinterpretation. The idea that a “bastard child” emerged from Zeus’ skull seemed like the kind of far-fetched lie a philandering god might tell his suspicious and vengeful goddess wife. The truth, in Headache, is far more banal – Zeus cheated on his wife with a mortal woman, then tried to cover up his transgression by making up the whole spontaneous birth-via-skull yarn.  On another level, the title refers to the mental anguish Sarah feels as she’s locked in the asylum, and to the “headache” she causes her parents when she decides to rebel against them and the other gods.

Nrama: What other familiar Greek gods can we look forward to seeing in this book?

Joy: Sarah interacts with a bunch of Greek Gods and we get to see them all in their modern-day guises and lifestyles. Aphrodite owns a matchmaking service for high net-worth individuals. Neptune is a professional surfer. Ares is a hitman. Apollo is a movie star. Hades runs a seedy nightclub called “The Styx”. The debauched Dionysus is CEO a pharmaceutical company. Hera is a Stepford wife who lives in the suburbs with her ever-philandering husband, Zeus – who, like many powerful men with money to burn, is basically a man of leisure.

Nrama: Although Zeus is a man of leisure, you’re a woman of work. Although your name is new to comics, Samantha at Kickstart says you’ve been a busy writer. Can you tell us what you’ve written?

Joy: I got my first break straight out of law school as a writer on Bryan Fuller’s show Pushing Daisies. After a magical two years, I went to work at Matt Nix’s show Burn Notice where I continue to live out my Bond girl fantasies in Final Draft form.

I’m currently developing a pilot called Mind Fields with Bryan Fuller for the USA network. And what kind of writer would I be if I didn’t add that I’m working on my first feature too?
 

Nrama: We’ll give you that – even though Headache sounds like it’d be a good comic and a good movie. How’d the idea for Headache come about?

Joy: I’ve always had a girl-crush on Athena. She’s wise, strong, feminine and beautiful. She’s a great strategic thinker and brilliant at warfare – but she prefers compassion to violence and diplomacy to battle. In every sense, she’s a modern and liberated heroine – and that says a lot given her birthdate was sometime in the B.C.s – waaay before women’s lib.

By setting Athena in contemporary times, with a human alter ego, “Sarah” – I wanted to explore the girl behind the goddess. I imagine her struggling with a lot of really relatable, human issues: falling in love a guy who might be bad for her, fighting with imperfect parents, dealing with insecurity and self-doubt, and struggling to find a place where she belongs in the world.

I told Samantha Olsson at Kickstart about the idea and with her fantastic support, Jimmy Palmiotti’s fabulous editing, and Jim Fern’s amazing art – we were able to bring it to life.