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Thursday, September 2, 2010
A Superior Superhero Collection from AdHouse
Shawn Hoke talks to Chris Pitzer and Zack Soto
 Last year, AdHouse Books quietly released an anthology about robots and space titled Project: Telstar. Telstar, featuring work by Dave Cooper, Jeffrey Brown, Simone Lia, Paul Hornschemeier and several others including Zack Soto, was nominated for both Harvey (Best Anthology and Special Award for Excellence in Presentation) and Eisner (Best Anthology and Best Publication Design) Awards. Telstar was also one of last year’s most surprising and well-designed anthologies. Not content to bask in the accolades received from that book, AdHouse publisher Chris Pitzer has rounded up an even larger group of creators for Project: Superior.
From AdHouse Books: ”What could possibly be cooler than space & robots? How about SUPER HEROES? Or should I say PROJECT: SUPERIOR. (Legal disclaimer: Say ‘SUPERIOR’ out loud, it kind of sounds like superhero!) Chris Pitzer has decided to re-visit the "project" anthology and has challenged some of his favorite indy comics and alternative artist creators to work within this theme.” One of those indy creators is Zack Soto, who has just recently completed his excellent mini-comic Secret Voice. In fact, Chris liked Secret Voice so much that he has offered to publish it for Zack next year after Project: Superior hits the streets (February 2005). Zack’s story in Project: Superior features a super-being named The Smog Emperor. As this name conjures up weird visions of a Godzilla baddie for me, I asked Zack to explain the concept of The Smog Emperor: Young Timmy Wu was visited by a giant magical octopus on the night of his 12th birthday. This supernatural visitor stuck a tentacle deep into Timmy's chest, leaving him alive but with a tear shaped birthmark/scar. Now, when there is danger, Timmy touches his scar to become the avenging super-being THE SMOG EMPEROR!! In a flash of light and wind, Timmy's body is replaced by a grim visage, a muscular figure with crystal gauntlets and a whorl of dark smoke in place of a head. This cryptically-powered being seems to be almost all-powerful, and stops at nothing in his quest for vengeance and a dark brand of justice. Timmy, while operating as the Smog Emperor, is in control and yet affected by a persona inherent in his super-powerful guise. This causes Timmy to do things as the Smog Emperor that he would never do in normal life- such as killing. When he returns to normal, he is separated from the dispassionate persona of the Smog Emperor, and is often freshly shocked by his deeds in his other life. As such, Timmy's mind has become more and more fragile over the last two years since gaining his powers. Reality and imagination seem like two sides of the same coin, and he is often taken ill with stress-related illnesses. Despite all this, Timmy tries to maintain a positive outlook on life. Okay, I’m hooked. I asked Chris and Zack some questions about Project: Superior and Zack’s story in particular: Shawn Hoke (CWN): What were the things that made you approach Zack Soto for PROJECT SUPERIOR? Chris Pitzer: I think Zack has a very natural approach to his comics. It can be some of the most obscure or out there material, but it comes across as believable and interesting. I guess more than anything, I feel like he can "build worlds". After I invited him to play with Superior, he showed me some of his thoughts and where he wanted to go with it, and I was blown away.” CWN: Zack, what did Chris tell you about PROJECT: SUPERIOR and what made you want to take part in it?  Zack Soto: Well, I had done a story for Chris' Project: Telstar, and I'd had a pretty good time working on that. I like the idea of trying to imbue genre material with some unique personal spark, so when Chris invited me to do my own kind of super-hero story, I was of course very excited to do so. The fact that my story would get to be published in full color didn't hurt, either. This is the first thing I'll have published in full color that's more than just a single image, like a cover or illustration.
CWN: Chris, what instructions or requests did you give contributors? Chris: Well... I asked them to most of all have fun. If it was going to be a chore for them, they shouldn't be doing this. I didn't want them to have to think of this as work. Then, I asked that they be careful of any copyright infringement. ;) With almost the entire American comic industry based within the genre, and having grown up with the heroes, the natural tendency is to want to play with those familiar characters. We wanted their own voice on the topic. CWN: Zack, can you tell me a bit more about the Smog Emperor's roots and maybe your own roots with super-hero comics? You mentioned the Golden Age Spectre and CC Beck's Captain Marvel. Zack: Well, the Smog Emperor is born out of my love for those kinds of super-heroes that are basically omnipotent, and the kind of fun anything goes type of storytelling of the day, with more random concepts shooting out of the stories than the cartoonists ever would really have room to develop. The Spectre is a good touchstone for that kind of thing, as well as the kind of dark intensity of the character that makes his adventures sort of creepy. Capt. Marvel is more of a general influence, for the kind of odd ideas and punchy storytelling of the Otto Binder/CC Beck stuff, especially the "sivanium" sequence reprinted in the Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Comics. The Smog Emperor is also a boy who changes into a full-grown super-hero, so that's sort of a reference to the character as well. The other main Golden Age influence is the work of Fletcher Hanks, like his Fantoma or Stardust, the Super-Wizard. He had a delightfully imaginative and loopy way of telling stories… Despite these influences mainly being from comics of the past, I didn't want my story to be a pastiche of "old comics" or any kind of homage to an era's visual tics. These are just starting points for where I was thinking about the kinds of stories I wanted to tell with the character.  As for my history with super heroes, I've been reading them off and on since I was a small child. The first thing I can remember going out of my way to get every issue of was Secret Wars, but I had been reading comics for years previous to that. I mostly read super-heroes until my early teens, at which point I discovered alternative comics, and since then I've gone in and out of the habit of reading super-comics. I liked Spider-Man and the Superman reboot stuff. Peter David's Hulk comics seemed really cool at the time. I was a big X-men fan, from the end of the John Byrne run, to around where it got really horrible and they were teleporting around the Australian outback. I love John Romita JR. There's really too much of that stuff clogging up my brains even now to think about it clearly. I read as much of it as I could for a long time, and I've had to wean myself of the idea of just buying comics out of habit several times in the last 10 years or so. Now if I read a super hero comic I try to make sure it's one of the really good ones, or at least well done entertainment. What I actually purchase these days is mostly art-comics, but I still keep abreast of the contemporary super-heroics.
CWN: Was the Smog Emperor something that you had been playing with before PROJECT: SUPERIOR, or did you think it up after Chris approached you for this book? Zack: The Smog Emperor is actually my second take on the otherworldly character with crazy powers. I originally had a character called "The SECRET VOICE" in another, unfinished story from a few years ago. I later used "The SECRET VOICE" as the title of my mini-comic series, and abandoned the idea of using it as a name for a character. The Smog Emperor was another name I'd come up with previously, and have used as kind of a background character who was never seen in another short piece I did. I like awkwardly pompous names like that. When Chris talked to me about Superior, I thought about the name again, and my plans for the character, and I kind of figured out all these ways that it could work both separate from my previous plans, and also sort of tie into them in a sideways sort of fashion. CWN: So the Smog Emperor, he kills people. Is he still a hero or is he a vigilante?  Zack: He's more of a force of nature, or some sort of supernatural whirlwind. The things he does, he does based on his own skewed sense of justice and righteousness. The character of the Smog Emperor is different from Timmy, the little boy who transforms into him. As the Smog Emperor, Timmy does things he'd never do on his own, like kill his enemies, often in somewhat mean-spirited ways. Timmy is in there and sort of in control, but is affected by the energy of the Smog Emperor.
CWN: You mentioned the influence of Japanese horror manga on Smog Emperor as of late. I can kind of see that in the use of hallways and maybe the TV. Can you talk briefly about that influence? Zack: Well, that's just one of the other stylistic influences on this story. Like I said, I didn't want this to be a fake Golden Age story, so I tried to come at the storytelling from a different angle. The influence of horror manga is more about the storytelling, and breakdowns of panels and pacing than any visual cues. That said, probably my biggest recent influences in this area is Junji Ito, who did Uzumaki, and a comic called Dragonhead by Minetaro Mochizuki. CWN: I can see a lot of potential for conflict between the Smog Emperor side of Timmy and the Timmy side, lots of stress for young Timmy. Does that become part of the story? Zack: It is part of the story, but the story itself is just another bizarre adventure for Timmy, so it doesn't quite come to a head. It's really just there to deepen the story and show some of the effects being the Smog Emperor has on Timmy. If there are more stories about the character in the future, you can bet there will be some more of that aspect. CWN: When I asked you initially about your story, you mentioned fighting giant spiders, electronic pornographers and teaming up with the Spectre-girls (who are mentioned on the first page), will these stories ever see print? Zack: Well, there is that possibility. I like the character, and I do have a new series coming out next year. Heh heh. You never know. If you have read all the stories it references, you'll notice that characters from both my story in Telstar and Kramers Ergot 3 are mentioned in this one, so it's kind of a larger world that you are just seeing a part of here. I'm not sure how many more super-hero type stories I will feel the need to tell though. Maybe a lot. Maybe one or two more… I never know what I'm going to really do until I get that bolt of inspiration. CWN: Chris, can you explain the structure of the book and the use of color? Chris: Sure. The book is broken up into three sections of color usage: black and blue, black and red, and four-color. When creating a book, the printer prints the pages in signatures (in this case 32 pages). So, sticking with the magic number of three, each section will get three sets of 32 pages. We start off with black and blue, then black and red, then four-color, then some more black and red, and end with black and blue. It's the circle of life! CWN: What's the process been like so far in getting the book ready for print? Any problems or surprises? Chris: Well, as far as the tricky color usage with signatures, the big problem is getting the creators to commit to a certain page count and then making those page counts work within the parameters. Then there are the technical aspects of the book. Everyone works a different way, and pulling together the files from 45 different sources can be tricky. So far, I think we're OK, but I actually have a call into the printer to ask a production question. CWN: Zack, Chris is going to print SECRET VOICE through AdHouse Books, what format will the book be in and how much of it will be new material? Zack: The Secret Voice is going to be all new material. Each issue is going to be 64 oversized pages, with black and white interiors and a color cover. There's going to be one or two continuing serials over the course of the series, but the anchor of each issue is one or more longer, self contained short stories, anywhere from 20-60 pages devoted to one story, with the other pieces falling around them and filling up the issue to capacity. My plan is to have a new issue out every 6 months. I'm about to be finished with art school, and as soon as I'm out, I'm pouring all my time and energy into making sure the Secret Voice is totally radical. The first issue will probably be out right before SDCC. CWN: Chris, you’ve picked up Josh Cotter's excellent book SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST, now Zack’s mini-comic, any other surprises for readers from AdHouse? Any other "Project" books in the works? Chris: Any other "Project" books?!? What are you trying to kill me? I wish I had the means to put out a "Project" book a year, but in my reality, I don't think that will happen. And, as far as other AdHouse surprises go, I'll say that there was one other creator who I met at SPX and who I plan to work with in 2005. The book is all done, but we need to run it through the solicitation machine. * * * * I’m thinking that it won’t be long before Chris comes up with another big AdHouse project, but we’ll let him rest for now. Until then, look for Project: Superior in February. Superior is 288 pages with a four color wrap around cover by Paul Hornschemeier. The price tag is a very low $19.95, especially when you consider the page count and the high level of production. This is one slick looking book and you can bet that it will be packed with entertaining stories. I’ve read a few of the pieces, including Jim Rugg’s (Street Angel, of course) Afrodisiac, and they offer a fresh look at a tired genre. Check Previews to order your copy. Here is a list of creators for the book: Nick Abadzis, Graham Annable, Tim Biskup, Jeffrey Brown, J. Chris Campbell, Scott Campbell, John Cassaday, Ronnie del Carmen, Victor Cayro, Martin Cendreda, Tony Consiglio, J. W. Cotter, Farel Dalrymple, Mike Dawson, Doug Fraser, Paul Hornschemeier, James Jean, R. Kikuo Johnson, Nathan Jurevicius, Dean Haspiel, Seonna Hong, John Kerschbaum , Daniel Krall, Jason Lex, John Lucas, Jim Mahfood, Brian Maruca, Tara McPherson, Scott Morse, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Onsmith, Chris Pitzer, Paul Pope, Joel Priddy, Ragnar, Paul Rivoche, Jim Rugg, Jay Ryan, Fermin Solis, Zack Soto, Jeremy Tankard, Jamie Tanner, Rob Ullman, Megan Whitmarsh, & Brian Wood Book details:
4C wrap-around cover by Paul Hornschemeier
288 4C & 2C pages
6" x 9" perfect bound
$19.95 US funds
ISBN 0-9721794-8-8
Shipping in February 2005
Diamond order #: DEC042290
-- Shawn Hoke
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
