How did you enter the comics world? What other creative enterprises have you been involved with?
I've sold fantasy and horror stories to WEIRD TALES, BLACK GATE, DARK WISDOM, and other mags. From '99 to '02, I wrote and illustrated my own dark fantasy comic called NECROMANCY. I published it myself and took it down to the San Diego Comicon every year, handing it out to editors, publishers, and pros (and anyone else who wanted a copy). I did a total of four issues, and although my art wasn't that great, my writing impressed a lot of people. So I made the smart move--I stopped trying to draw and concentrated on finding a terrific artist to work with. Which is about like searching for the Holy Grail, or the proverbial needle in the haystack. I had met Roel Wielinga back in '99 at the Chicago Con, and when I contacted him years later with my PRIMORDIA idea, he flipped for it, and he wanted to get back into comics. Hooking up with Roel as my co-creator has been the best thing that ever happened to me comics-wise. He's a true artistic genius, as you can see when you look at his pages. When I showed Mark Smylie our proposal in San Diego, he jumped at the chance to publish PRIMORDIA--he was a fan of Roel's art from back in the late 90s, when Roel was doing THE SEVENTH SYSTEM at the same indie publisher where Mark was doing ARTESIA. Being published by Mark's company, Archaia Studios Press, is the second-best thing that ever happened to me comics-wise. It's a terrific company with tons of amazing books, and high production standards.
Why did you choose to tell a story in the fantasy genre? What appeals to you about that and what past works in that genre in the comic book medium would you say were your favorites?
I am, first and foremost, a fantasy writer. Always have been. So to write a fantasy epic in the comics format has long been a dream of mine. Usually fantasy in comics isn't done too well, or it relies on fantasy clichés such as the old good-vs.-evil plotline. I wanted to tell an epic fantasy that involved characters who were capable of being both good and evil. I want to write (and read about) characters who are complex and three-dimensional. So the characters in PRIMORDIA aren't easily labeled as "good" and "evil." Although the casual reader might think of Alleyar as "good" and Driniel as "evil," it's not that simple...and this becomes evident the farther into the story you get. As for my favorite fantasy comics, here's a list of my Top 10 Fantasy Comics Ever (in no particular order):
1) CONAN THE BARBARIAN - I'm talking the original Barry Windsor Smith run; and the later John Buscema/Ernie Chan run. Both of these set the standard for heroic fantasy (or sword-and-sorcery) in the comics medium. Dark Horse has collected the entire run in newly recolored editions that are excellent.
2) THE FIRST KINGDOM - Jack Katz quit the mainstream comics industry to dedicate 12 years of his life to this 24-volume masterpiece. He blended stone age drama, heroic fantasy, and galactic adventure in an uncensored format that defied all the conventions of comics. It's an amazing testament to what a single writer/artist is capable of when he has free reign to let
his imagination fly.
3) PALEOLOVE - Gary Davis drew a series of amazing stone-age love stories in the pages of Dark Horse Presents from '88 to '94. In all, he only produced 10 installments, 108 pages, but they were fantastic, beautiful stories of young love set in the Paleolithic era. Amazing series that needs to be seen by more people.
4) VALLEY OF THE WORM - The immortal Gil Kane adapted this Robert E. Howard story in the pages of SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #3, way back in the early seventies. It remains today as one of the single most gorgeously illustrated and faithfully adapted fantasy stories in the history of comics.
5) DEN - Richard Corben's adult masterpiece originally ran in the pages of HEAVY METAL magazine in the late 70s, early 80s. Corben's art is one of a kind, and DEN is another outside-the-mainstream fantasy epic that deserves reprinting and more widespread recognition.
6) THE MIGHTY THOR - Jack Kirby's original 1960s run is arguably the best thing he did at Marvel Comics. Especially when he took the stories to Asgard and shook off the modern world completely. I really love the TALES OF ASGARD backups that ran in those books. Utterly fantastic...
7) DEVIL DINOSAUR - Jack Kirby also did some incredible stone-age storytelling in the late 70s, even though this series is often underrated. The power and excitement of Kirby's artwork is nowhere better seen than in his tales of the intelligent red dinosaur and his furry little dawn-man companion Moon Boy. The action practically leaps off the page...
8) RING OF THE NIBELUNG - P. Craig Russell is a true master of comics art; his adaptation of Wagner's classic opera is unlike anything else...exquisite artwork brings to life the tales of Odin, Loki, Siegfried, and the rest of the Norse Mythos. Russell's adaptations of Michael Moorcock's ELRIC stories are also spectacular.
9) SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN - The black-and-white companion mag to CONAN THE BARBARIAN, this mag brought a decidedly adult flavor to Conan comics...gore, nudity, unrelenting violence...this was the stuff that Howard put in his stories, so it was the stuff that needed to be in the comics. In the color comic, they couldn't do any of that stuff; they had to tone it down. But in<
