MattBrady
12-06-2002, 11:55 AM
A couple of months ago, Newsarama.com ran a preview of what AiT/PlanetLar is calling “Brian Wood Month 2K3” – that is, January, 2003, which will feature two new projects that expand upon the growing ‘Woodiverse’ (no, that’s not what he’s calling it, it was just too good of a gag to resist…) – and tell more stories in the worlds of his previous projects, Couscous Express and Channel Zero.
While we’ll take a look at the Channel Zero followup, Jennie One in a future article, but for now, it’s Couriers time.
A 72-page OGN follow-up to Couscous Express, The Couriers focuses on the characters Special and Moustafa, while Olive (the lead from Couscous Express) remains in the background. The art on The Couriers is by Rob (Teenagers from Mars) G.
Set in New York City, Moustafa and Special aren’t your normal bike couriers. “They’re at the top of their game, taking on the jobs no one else wants, ferrying crucial packages between clients orbiting way above the law,” Wood Told Newsarama.com. “If its not illegal big cash transfers between embassies, it’s stealing DAT master tapes for rival record companies, escorting an invaluable semen sample from the city's most eligible bachelor to the sperm bank, or something as simple providing covering fire while a mafia don skips town.
“Armed to the teeth and with an intimate knowledge of the city, Moustafa and Special take it all in stride, floating above the chaos, collecting the big money and living life on their terms.”
And while he never was involved in anything quite like the adventures of Special or Moustatfa, Wood admitted that an aspect of The Couriers is semi-autobiographical – he worked as a NYC bike messenger to put himself through art school. “Even back then, I kept telling myself that this would make a killer comic book,” Wood said. “So The Couriers is a longtime dream finally being realized.”
Wood was also willing to offer up a few of his own experiences, just as an indicator that some truly wild things do happen in the world of bike messengers. “The company I messengered for had Disney and MGM as clients, so often times we would be delivering things to actors, director, etc,” Wood said. “At least three times the celebrities would come to the door drunk off their asses, and once a major sci-fi movie actress, I shouldn’t say her name here, was so hammered I signed her name for her.
“Aside from that, I would just witness numerous fights, crime scenes, movie shoots, dead or dying messengers who lost a battle with a cab or bus, racist doormen, drunk drivers, you name it. I appeared in one Law and Order scene, very briefly as a messenger, plucked off the street as I was biking past. There were also many rumbles between messengers and cab drivers and bus drivers. I remember I carried one of those single-tube tire pumps with a baseball duct-taped to one end, for use specifically as a cattle prod-type tool, to either defend myself in a fight, or to use against vehicles who saw fit to play with my life. Other messengers just used the bike chains. I still have scars and pain from those years.
“I use my own experiences as a jumping off point for the stories in The Couriers. A few real-life details will slip in there, but Moustafa and Special aren't your run-of-the-mill bike messengers, so they don’t do the every day type stuff.”
According to Wood, Special and Moustafa’s story will just be the start – “My intention is so put out The Couriers as a series of stand-alone graphic novels, hopefully two or three a year, with different art teams. I have way too many story ideas for these characters...”
While we’ll take a look at the Channel Zero followup, Jennie One in a future article, but for now, it’s Couriers time.
A 72-page OGN follow-up to Couscous Express, The Couriers focuses on the characters Special and Moustafa, while Olive (the lead from Couscous Express) remains in the background. The art on The Couriers is by Rob (Teenagers from Mars) G.
Set in New York City, Moustafa and Special aren’t your normal bike couriers. “They’re at the top of their game, taking on the jobs no one else wants, ferrying crucial packages between clients orbiting way above the law,” Wood Told Newsarama.com. “If its not illegal big cash transfers between embassies, it’s stealing DAT master tapes for rival record companies, escorting an invaluable semen sample from the city's most eligible bachelor to the sperm bank, or something as simple providing covering fire while a mafia don skips town.
“Armed to the teeth and with an intimate knowledge of the city, Moustafa and Special take it all in stride, floating above the chaos, collecting the big money and living life on their terms.”
And while he never was involved in anything quite like the adventures of Special or Moustatfa, Wood admitted that an aspect of The Couriers is semi-autobiographical – he worked as a NYC bike messenger to put himself through art school. “Even back then, I kept telling myself that this would make a killer comic book,” Wood said. “So The Couriers is a longtime dream finally being realized.”
Wood was also willing to offer up a few of his own experiences, just as an indicator that some truly wild things do happen in the world of bike messengers. “The company I messengered for had Disney and MGM as clients, so often times we would be delivering things to actors, director, etc,” Wood said. “At least three times the celebrities would come to the door drunk off their asses, and once a major sci-fi movie actress, I shouldn’t say her name here, was so hammered I signed her name for her.
“Aside from that, I would just witness numerous fights, crime scenes, movie shoots, dead or dying messengers who lost a battle with a cab or bus, racist doormen, drunk drivers, you name it. I appeared in one Law and Order scene, very briefly as a messenger, plucked off the street as I was biking past. There were also many rumbles between messengers and cab drivers and bus drivers. I remember I carried one of those single-tube tire pumps with a baseball duct-taped to one end, for use specifically as a cattle prod-type tool, to either defend myself in a fight, or to use against vehicles who saw fit to play with my life. Other messengers just used the bike chains. I still have scars and pain from those years.
“I use my own experiences as a jumping off point for the stories in The Couriers. A few real-life details will slip in there, but Moustafa and Special aren't your run-of-the-mill bike messengers, so they don’t do the every day type stuff.”
According to Wood, Special and Moustafa’s story will just be the start – “My intention is so put out The Couriers as a series of stand-alone graphic novels, hopefully two or three a year, with different art teams. I have way too many story ideas for these characters...”