@’s by THE DARKNESS’
Jeremy Haun & David Hine !!!
MATT ADLER (MA): How did you guys come to be working on this book?DAVID HINE (DH): This is my second time out on THE DARKNESS, following the four-issue series THE DARKNESS: FOUR HORSEMEN. After I wrote that I was invited to pitch for the series when Phil Hester's run ended with issue 100. The guys at Top Cow seemed to think that I had a handle on Jackie Estacado. Certainly I found the mini-series a lot of fun to write, and Jackie was a natural to write.
JEREMY HAUN (JH): After working on ALIBI and then BERSERKER for Top Cow, Filip Sablik and I kept talking about the possibility of me coming back and doing something else for them. At the time I had been primarily working for DC for over a year. I had the tough problem of a lot of really amazing possibilities for the next couple years of my life. At NYCC 2010, Filip and I spent a lot of time talking about my creative goals, where I wanted to go with my career. A lot of what I wanted to do just seemed to fit at Top Cow. It wasn't long after that I agreed to come on exclusively with them and become the regular artist on THE DARKNESS.
MA: Was there anything in particular that attracted you to the character?
DH: I've always had a soft spot for anti-heroes and Jackie Estacado is the ultimate anti-hero. I was given a breakdown of the ARTIFACTS storyline, which ended with Jackie remaking the universe, and I could see some fascinating possibilities for where that could take Jackie. A personality as deeply flawed as his taking on a role of godlike power is asking for trouble.
JH: I remember the first time I saw THE DARKNESS, back in '96, with the cool armor, surrounded by Darklings. It was just the kind of thing I wanted to draw. Over the past few years of my career, I've drawn just about everything. Coming on to THE DARKNESS was a chance for me to draw my favorite things month after month. It's the perfect combination of street level crime stories and horror. Exactly where I want to be for a good long while.
MA: After 100 issues, what kinds of new places do you envision taking the series?
DH: Jackie has not only recreated our world, but, more importantly, he has brought his childhood sweetheart, Jenny Romano, back from the grave. The hook for this new series is essentially “Be careful what you wish for.” Just as in the story The Monkey’s Paw, the fulfillment of Jackie’s greatest desires may prove to be more curse than blessing. That’s just the starting point, though. As the cracks begin to open in his idyllic new world, all kinds of evil will begin to seep through. There’s a hidden mythology to the Top Cow universe that goes beyond the forces of the Darkness, the Angelus and the Artifacts. Those other forces are something we’ll be exploring and they are more based in supernatural horror of the Lovecraftian kind than the more fantasy-based themes we’ve seen in the past.
It will be less about the spectacle of big battles and cool costumes than about twisted psychological horror on a more cerebral level. The greatest horrors and conflicts are coming from inside the minds of the protagonists.MA: Are you picking up at all from the groundwork that Phil Hester laid in his run?
DH: I enjoyed Phil’s run on the book very much and we’ll respect the continuity of his stories and keep the characters consistent with the way Phil developed them. But I don’t want to be trying to reproduce what Phil has done, so there will be a very different feel to the book from here on. The visual appearance of the book is different too, with the Darkness itself along with the Darklings getting a revamped look. This isn’t change for the sake of it, but after 100 issues, Jeremy and I do want to put our own creative stamp on the book.
JH: I love Hester. His run on THE DARKNESS really got me back into the book. We can't reproduce that. David and I are taking the foundation that's been laid out for Jackie's world and having fun running with it. Jackie has been through just about everything imaginable over the 100 issues of the book. He's seen heaven and hell, lost nearly everyone around him, and remade the universe. We're trying to follow the natural progression of that story. Marc's design for Jackie is so perfect. I had NO desire to come in and mess with it too much. I just did some subtle things here and there that are true to where Jackie is in his journey. I'm really happy with the way it's coming out. I think it's going to be creepy as hell. Hopefully longtime Darkness fans dig it.
MA: How does the "reborn" Top Cow Universe factor into your plans?
DH: The Rebirth concept is very appealing. The new Universe is virgin territory and makes it a lot easier for us to do what I was talking about – to give the book a new look, a new feel, a new atmosphere.
MA: Now that the Top Cow Universe has become more closely knit, what kind of communication do you have with the folks working on the other books, and has it influenced what you're doing with this book at all?
DH: All the scripts are circulated between the writers as they are written. That's myself on THE DARKNESS, Ron Marz on ARTIFACTS and MAGDALENA and Tim Seeley on WITCHBLADE. We also have regular conference calls when we pick each others’ brains on future plans and suggestions for the underlying themes that we’ll be developing. For the next year, we’re all going to be concentrating on our own books, laying down the groundwork for the new world, and establishing the new status quo for all our characters. At some point down the line the threads will cross and we’ll see that this is indeed a single universe with shared themes. We’re taking great care to make sure that when elements do cross over between titles there’s absolute consistency. Seeing the scripts as they are written is also a great incentive to work harder when I see how high the bar is being set by Ron and Tim.
JH: After drawing ARTIFACTS I just assumed I'd be drawing all of the books afterwards. They reminded me that I'm ridiculous and need to share the fun. ARTIFACTS was such an epic book. I love the idea that each book is taking these characters back to their bare essence for a while. I like the idea of just focusing on Jackie for a while. Still...I'm constantly plotting ways to steal Tom Judge away from Ron and Stjepan.MA: Is this the first time the two of you have worked together? What's it like thus far?
DH: I've already collaborated with Jeremy on a number of Bat books for DC. Our first was BATTLE FOR THE COWL: ARKHAM ASYLUM, which was planned as a one-shot. This was the story of Jeremiah Arkham, the director of Arkham Asylum, and some very special inmates known as The Three Beauties. That worked out so well that we were offered a further three-part story, ARKHAM REBORN, and finally a couple of issues of DETECTIVE to wind up the story. We both enjoyed the collaboration and clearly there was something happening there that was greater than the sum of the parts, so when I was told that Jeremy would be my partner on THE DARKNESS, I was delighted. It’s a very real collaboration. Jeremy always gets exactly what I’m after with my scripts and his feedback is incredibly helpful.
JH: I've been very fortunate in my career to work with such great writers. David is a kindred spirit, though. He writes exactly the kind of stories I want to tell. After working together on the Arkham books for DC, I knew that I wanted to work with David again soon. When I found out that he was on the short list for THE DARKNESS ongoing I got super excited about getting to work on something long form. Now, as I gear up to start the fourth issue of our run, I've got to say...David is a sick, brilliant man. I can't wait for people to see what we're putting together here. It's...nuts.
MA: David, you wrote a well-received run on another Image founder's supernatural character, Spawn; is your approach to THE DARKNESS very different?
DH: I'm actually pursuing a similar theme to what we did with SPAWN, where Spawn brought about Armageddon, destroyed the world, then recreated it. I never got the chance to fully develop the idea of a flawed recreation of the Universe. This time I've plotted the first year of the storyline in detail and we'll really get to see just how awful the consequences can be to take on a role that we think of as belonging to God. The key difference this time is that we have that tightly plotted outline. I know exactly where we're going with THE DARKNESS, while with SPAWN I was being more spontaneous, doing things like Gunslinger Spawn and Warspawn. They were a lot of fun and good standalone stories, but in retrospect I felt that the central plot needed more direction. Also, this time out, I know that I'll be working long-term with Jeremy. That collaboration gives us a really solid base to build on.
MA: Jeremy, you've done a lot of work in the Batman universe, which also has its share of dark, street-level characters and environments; has that experience helped in approaching THE DARKNESS?JH: I think every project builds towards the next. I've learned a lot over the past decade in comics. That said, I'm still learning more every day. I tend to be a more street level kind of artist, but I try and take gigs that keep me on my toes. My work in the Batman universe was that perfect balance of atmosphere and scope. I'm always working on scope. Sometimes with street level stuff you end up just doing talking head shots and shadow-filled rooms. Batman tends to take that but then balance it against the epic backdrops and crazy battles. I took a lot of what I learned there over to ARTIFACTS, for my arc on the book. Epic...that would be the word I'd use for ARTIFACTS. Now THE DARKNESS is kind of the perfect combination of all of those things. It's certainly a moody, street level book, but I'm constantly trying to go big on these scenes whenever possible. Any time that we see the Darkness and the Darklings, I'm really letting go and killing myself to make the pages just absolutely insane.
MA: Any teases as to what's coming up in the book?
DH: It's hard to tease without giving too much away. Readers should expect the unexpected. The plot twists are character-based more than event-based. Psychological horror takes precedence over special effects. Jeremy and I are planning to take Jackie to his own personal hell, and he'll be taking a lot of people with him. It all goes back to that quotation in The Monkey’s Paw – “Be careful what you wish for. You may receive it.”
JH: I've drawn a lot of disturbing things in my career. I think it's got nothing on what I've got coming up on THE DARKNESS. David certainly is pulling out all of the stops on this one. The disturbing bits aside, I think we're going to give longtime fans of the book something that is really going to make them happy. We're going to be bringing back a lot of characters that we know (love or loathe) and also introduce a few new cast members. We've given Jackie everything he could ever want. I just hope he can survive...
MA: What else are you guys working on these days?DH: THE BULLETPROOF COFFIN is halfway through its second series. I'm already planning a double-size one-shot with Shaky Kane for later this year, which will further expand on the mythology we've been building with the two six-issue seasons. There are two other major projects due to be announced soon. One of those is a creator-owned project with a big-name artist, and something I'm very excited about. For the graphic novel publisher Selfmade Hero I'm working on an adaptation of Victor Hugo's THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, with Mark Stafford. That should be ready for early 2013. Everything I’m working on right now is either creator-owned or from independent publishers and that’s a situation I’m very happy with.
JH: I'm going to be pretty busy this year. I've always had multiple projects going at the same time, but balancing everything against art chores on a monthly is going to take a lot of focus and some real devotion.
My book THE BEAUTY, which I co-wrote with Jason Hurley, won this year's PILOT SEASON. We're working writing on the rest of the series now. I'm going to be drawing that one, too. Crazy, I know. I've been working hard on THE DARKNESS, though, to get ahead, so that I can fit THE BEAUTY into the schedule. Luckily I'm pretty fast. I love both books, though, and am absolutely devoted to getting them into people's hands.
Other than that, I've got a few more writing projects in the works. Honestly, though, while they are going to be coming out sooner than later, my first priority is going to be THE DARKNESS and THE BEAUTY. So really, not busy at all. Maybe I should look into running for political office in my spare time.
MA: Look for THE DARKNESS #101 in stores today from Top Cow!
Matt Adler is a writer/journalist, currently writing for AICN among other outlets. He’s been reading comics for 20 years, writing about them for 7, and spends way, way, too much time thinking about them, which means he really has no choice but to figure out how to make a living out of them. He welcomes all feedback.
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
