@’s by GHOST SOURCE ZERO’s
Larry Hama!!!
Russ Sheath here.If you are a fan of GI Joe then the name Larry Hama won’t be new to you. Widely regarded as the Godfather of GI Joe, Hama has lent his name to 200 issues of GI JOE storytelling, turning a simple action figure concept into a phenomenon spanning 30 years. Beyond GI Joe, Hama has created the likes of 'Bucky O’ Hare', 'Nth Man The Ultimate Ninja’, has written numerous issues of WOLVERINE (amongst others) and is the Editor behind the acclaimed series THE ‘NAM.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Larry Hama is venturing into the world of Kickstarter with GHOST SOURCE ZERO an episodic live action cyberpunk series in 12 parts and has partnered with an award winning film maker to bring the series to you.
I spoke with Larry Hama about his new project, the fantastic rewards and all things GHOST SOURCE ZERO.
RUSS SHEATH (RS): Larry, tell us about how the Kickstarter for GHOST SOURCE ZERO came about?LARRY HAMA (LH): We had been looking into various forms of indie backing, most of which would involve surrendering a lot of control and creative integrity. A number of very knowledgable people suggested crowd funding, and Bob's your uncle.
RS: What’s the objective - what will be the ‘end result’ if GHOST SOURCE ZERO hits its target for funding?
LH: We’ll be able to produce a killer pilot episode and have a solid package to take us to the next step with no compromises to our vision, intent, or artistic pride. We are sticking to a malleable and flexible mind-set that will allow us to adjust format, length, and other factors to whatever we need to tell our story the way we want to tell it.
RS: Can you give us some insight into the story?LH: A lot of that is explained in the Kickstarter pitch and in the trailer we produced. The story is about the tacit enslavement of sentient entities (androids/cyborgs) by a callous society, the subsequent uprising by that under-class, and the moral dilemma of the armed forces charged with suppressing the revolt.
RS: Tell us about the collaboration with Mark Cheng and how that came about?
LH: Mark sent me a of his GI JOE fan film, OPERATION RED RETRIEVAL and I was impressed enough to meet him for lunch and toss around possibilities for a collaborative effort. Mark had screenplay he had written for GHOST SOURCE ZERO and I liked the basic concept enough to do an extensive rewrite, and everything progressed from there. It started as a feature film concept and morphed into a serialized story that could be we insides, a cable series or any new media iteration that came along. When we started working on the "trailer" as a pitch device, the fake reality show format presented itself and clicked. I love it when stuff like that happens!
RS: One of the fun aspects of Kickstarter is the rewards for pledging - have you got any favourites?LH: I love the fact that the lowest level pledge is actually a prepay for a copy of the show.
RS: Of course you are, arguably, most well known as the man behind GI Joe for over 30 years now - will there be any similarities in the projects?
LH: Not a lot, except for my "voice" and my world view and sensibilities. It just occurred to me to stick in some PSAs!
RS: What are you looking forward to the most about seeing GHOST SOURCE ZERO come to fruition?LH: Everything.
RS: Thanks to Larry Hama for talking part and look for his 200th anniversary issue of G.I. Joe from IDW in March.
Check out the GHOST SOURCE ZERO Kickstarter here! With funding closing on Monday March 3rd - there’s not long to go!
And you can watch Episode one of GHOST SOURCE ZERO below!
You can follow Russ Sheath's blog Russwords here and @russellsheath on Twitter here.
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
