MattBrady
11-21-2002, 11:51 AM
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/CM01_cov.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/CM01_cov_t.jpg" width="175" height="265" alt="The Clockmaker #1 cover" border="0" align="right"></a>The latest in Newsarama’s series of previews of upcoming Image comics in the publisher’s new superhero line is Jim Krueger’s The Clockmaker. Less superhero-y and maybe a little more Vertigo-esque, the series concerns the clock – the one buried in the mountains of Switzerland that keeps the earth moving.
While the series’ topic sounds a tad different from other books on the stands, its format will squarely set it apart from the rest of the pack – each issue will fold out and open up to a ‘Treasury Size’ format, allowing series artist Matt Smith to utilize a larger canvas to display the series’ art.
But enough from people who aren’t Jim Krueger – we tapped the writer to provide an introduction to the series as well as a more personal overview – which he did in spades.
Once upon a time...
… there was a giant clock that creaked and moaned within a hollow mountain.
It was a secret behemoth. A wonder the world would never know. The clock’s pendulum swung deep into the core of the earth. Hundreds of men that never aged maintained the old clock’s operation.
The ice that blanketed the exterior of the mountain melted into the earth becoming twin falls that moved giant wheels, in turn, driving juggernaut gears.
Walkways cobwebbed a labyrinth of pistons and cogs.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clock1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clock1_t.jpg" width="175" height="265" alt="The Clockmaker #1 , page 1" border="0" align="left"></a>Age-old generators hummed and sparked with ancient power, illuminating unforgiving crags and clefts in stone.
Without this clock, the planet would not move on its axis.
The tides would no longer wane nor wave.
There would be no past and no future.
Only a static and perpetual present marked by ice and darkness.
At least, that’s what God told the man who built the clockworks.
“The Clockmaker is the sort of story you'd get if you took Rosemary's Baby and had Jules Verne write the script for it, and then had Ridley Scott direct it. It's about Heaven, Hell, the devil, life, death and a couple hundred guys wearing Swiss Lederhosen.
"I am so fortunate to have the people working on this project I do. This is a creative team whose time has come, literally. The art by Zach Howard and Matt Smith is amazing. And the painted colors by Brett Weldele - who was voted by Wizard as one of the top five new artists in the industry is making this, literally, one of the greatest epics my name has been associated with.
"About the format. I'm a giant fan of Orson Welles. And Welles was an innovator not only in the stories he told, but in the ways he went about telling them. This new format will do the one thing all new formats must to make sense to fans and retailers-- it will still fit into comic bags with backing boards. Basically, it's like an issue of Comic Shop News with high-gloss cover-stock paper and artwork. The issue opens up to reveal that each page is the equivalent of a double-page spread in a normal comic. Each spread will be like 4 regular comic book splash pages. Reading this will be like seeing the artwork twice the size you normally see it in a regular comic. But again, it all folds back into a format that can be racked and collected. Secondly, a lot of people are talking about books being more cinematic. Make it more like a movie. Well, one way to do that is to make the screen bigger.
"These words will probably haunt me one day, but not today - I chose this format for this story because I think this is a giant epic and I'd be damning it if I put it on a small page. It really deals with everything from faith to fear to death and the tedium of everlasting life and leads to an ultimate confrontation between good and evil at the gates of Heaven itself. What's been so exciting about this project is how every new person who gets involved in it creatively can't believe this story. For those that thought Earth X was dark, there are a few moments here that make the future Alex and I told of the Marvel Universe look like Spidey Super Stories. Everything I love shows up in this book. From fantasy and adventure to dark irony and Shakespearean murders... I've been waiting a long time to do this story... and I've gone through a lot of personal rewrites to make it right."
Click on the thumbs below for larger images…
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clock2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clock2_t.jpg" width="140" height="214" hspace="2" alt="The Clockmaker #1, page 2" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clockpage3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clockpage3_t.jpg" width="140" height="214" hspace="2" alt="The Clockmaker #1, page 3" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clockpage4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clockpage4_t.jpg" width="140" height="214" hspace="2" alt="The Clockmaker #1, page 4" border="0"></a></center>
While the series’ topic sounds a tad different from other books on the stands, its format will squarely set it apart from the rest of the pack – each issue will fold out and open up to a ‘Treasury Size’ format, allowing series artist Matt Smith to utilize a larger canvas to display the series’ art.
But enough from people who aren’t Jim Krueger – we tapped the writer to provide an introduction to the series as well as a more personal overview – which he did in spades.
Once upon a time...
… there was a giant clock that creaked and moaned within a hollow mountain.
It was a secret behemoth. A wonder the world would never know. The clock’s pendulum swung deep into the core of the earth. Hundreds of men that never aged maintained the old clock’s operation.
The ice that blanketed the exterior of the mountain melted into the earth becoming twin falls that moved giant wheels, in turn, driving juggernaut gears.
Walkways cobwebbed a labyrinth of pistons and cogs.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clock1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clock1_t.jpg" width="175" height="265" alt="The Clockmaker #1 , page 1" border="0" align="left"></a>Age-old generators hummed and sparked with ancient power, illuminating unforgiving crags and clefts in stone.
Without this clock, the planet would not move on its axis.
The tides would no longer wane nor wave.
There would be no past and no future.
Only a static and perpetual present marked by ice and darkness.
At least, that’s what God told the man who built the clockworks.
“The Clockmaker is the sort of story you'd get if you took Rosemary's Baby and had Jules Verne write the script for it, and then had Ridley Scott direct it. It's about Heaven, Hell, the devil, life, death and a couple hundred guys wearing Swiss Lederhosen.
"I am so fortunate to have the people working on this project I do. This is a creative team whose time has come, literally. The art by Zach Howard and Matt Smith is amazing. And the painted colors by Brett Weldele - who was voted by Wizard as one of the top five new artists in the industry is making this, literally, one of the greatest epics my name has been associated with.
"About the format. I'm a giant fan of Orson Welles. And Welles was an innovator not only in the stories he told, but in the ways he went about telling them. This new format will do the one thing all new formats must to make sense to fans and retailers-- it will still fit into comic bags with backing boards. Basically, it's like an issue of Comic Shop News with high-gloss cover-stock paper and artwork. The issue opens up to reveal that each page is the equivalent of a double-page spread in a normal comic. Each spread will be like 4 regular comic book splash pages. Reading this will be like seeing the artwork twice the size you normally see it in a regular comic. But again, it all folds back into a format that can be racked and collected. Secondly, a lot of people are talking about books being more cinematic. Make it more like a movie. Well, one way to do that is to make the screen bigger.
"These words will probably haunt me one day, but not today - I chose this format for this story because I think this is a giant epic and I'd be damning it if I put it on a small page. It really deals with everything from faith to fear to death and the tedium of everlasting life and leads to an ultimate confrontation between good and evil at the gates of Heaven itself. What's been so exciting about this project is how every new person who gets involved in it creatively can't believe this story. For those that thought Earth X was dark, there are a few moments here that make the future Alex and I told of the Marvel Universe look like Spidey Super Stories. Everything I love shows up in this book. From fantasy and adventure to dark irony and Shakespearean murders... I've been waiting a long time to do this story... and I've gone through a lot of personal rewrites to make it right."
Click on the thumbs below for larger images…
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clock2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clock2_t.jpg" width="140" height="214" hspace="2" alt="The Clockmaker #1, page 2" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clockpage3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clockpage3_t.jpg" width="140" height="214" hspace="2" alt="The Clockmaker #1, page 3" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clockpage4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/clockpage4_t.jpg" width="140" height="214" hspace="2" alt="The Clockmaker #1, page 4" border="0"></a></center>