TEXEIRA TALKS PSCYTHE

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

What’s Mark Texeira so “pscythe”-d about these days?

This September, Texeira presents Pscythe, a two-issue miniseries created, written and illustrated by the artist best known for his work on Wolverine, Spider-Man, Sabertooth, Ghost Rider and more recently, Just a Pilgrim and the Marvel Knights Black Panther series.

The 40-page Image comic comes wrapped with back-up tale featuring Industry of War co-written by Jordan Raskin and Andrew Lelling with art by Raskin.

The front cover will have Texeira’s Pscythe while the back cover will feature Raskin’s Industry of War.

In the first of a two-part feature, we take a look at Texeira’s creator-owned work.

First off, what is a “Pscythe” anyway? “Pscythe isn’t so much the name of the character as it is what it’s referred to by those who see it,” Texeira explained. “The character does, after all, carry a really big “scythe” and it’s the most recognizable part of him. So if a group of frightened eyewitnesses were to see him, that’s the first thing they’d remember about it.

“I’m really trying to avoid going into too much explanation because I don’t want to give away important story plots, which will unfold later. But to sum it all up, following the end of Lucifer’s war, his legions of fallen angels were banished to Hell to suffer an eternity for their actions. For one of those fallen, it’s suffering is about to end. Pscythe, once one of the most powerful angelic entities, is being granted a chance at redemption. But to do so, it must inhabit the sub-consciousness of a human being in order to understand and appreciate the lessons on earth that it did not learn in the past. Without her knowledge, Angela Zirtaeb, a novice bounty hunter, is chosen to be that vessel, placing her in the middle of a spiritual struggle for Pscythe’s allegiance.

“Angela Zirtaeb is the daughter of a bail bondsman in Manhattan who’s had her on the payroll off and on as a secretary for the last four years,” he added. “Her father really doesn’t want her going into the “family business” as anything more than that. Like most fathers, he’s protective of his daughter. Angela has a mentor and friend in her pal, Juugy, a 14-year veteran in the field and ex-military. But he also happens to be a close friend of her father, Mr.Zirtaeb. Juugy is really only mentoring Angela to try and dissuade her from being a bounty hunter.”

“It’s black and white and I plan to keep it that way,” he continued. “It’s not a cost issue for me so much as a love of the medium. I’ve always loved the Batman Black & White series and have always loved great noir films like Bogart's Maltese Falcon. Books like Frank Miller’s Sin City and Stray Bullets have set a standard I hope to follow. I’m painting the story in grey tones similarly to how I approached the Black Panther work I did for Marvel (only without the computer color on top). The miniseries story will be 18 pages each issue. The cost for the 40-page book (between me and Jordan) will be $3.95.”

As for the inspiration for Pscythe, Texeira confessed that religion played a divine role in the formation of the series. “I’ve always been interested in history. Religion and other myths throughout mankind’s history always fascinated me. Those interests just got my mind going and I decided this would be a great story to tell based on all the stuff I’ve read about. In this series I’ll pose questions and circumstances that will keep the audience engaged as the characters and story develop.”

Landing this project in the Image office is no heavy task for the creator. “I’ve always had a good relationship with the guys at Image. So a number of years ago, I approached Jim Valentino about the idea of me doing a creator-owned book. He was very enthusiastic for it, but my schedule was always so full that I never had time to develop my ideas to pitch until about two years ago. Jordan was developing his creator-owned project and his enthusiasm for doing his own book was really inspiring. I said, “Hey! What am I waiting for?” so I decided it was time for me to make my move.”

How did Raskin get into the picture then? What brought about his decision to feature Raskin’s Industry of War as a back-up feature in his Pscythe series? “While Image Comics offers an incredible deal to its creators, they don’t pay you anything to work on your own project. It’s all on you to create the material while figuring out how to pay your bills. Like I said earlier, Jordan’s enthusiasm was simply infectious. He helped keep my energy up and my focus on getting this project done when my desire would wander to doing other things that paid the bills. I knew by keeping our publishing schedule tied together, he would help keep me excited about working so hard for no money [laughs]. So I guess basically you could say we’re two friends helping each other out.”

Although Pscythe is a two-issue limited series, the creator does have plans to continue to explore and expand the universe. “I plan on continuing Pscythe as an ongoing series of miniseries. I’m working on the three-issue follow-up to the two-issue miniseries right now and plan to have all five issues finished by 2005 (crozzing fingerz). My long-term plan for the title is to continue the story as five issue 22-page story arcs, once a year every year. I also plan to continue doing small work for hire jobs throughout the industry in between so you’ll see my work in lots of places this year.

“Jordan is planning on continuing Industry of War after this miniseries on his own. He’s being very ambitious and is planning on releasing chapters of his story in large chunks as opposed to shorter monthly episodes.”

More on Industry of War tomorrow.

[valentine]

I remember Texeira talking about this series in WW Philly 2 years ago. I've been waiting since then for it to release. It was worth the wait.
Jaw-dropping-ly good stuff.

[FIG]

Way to go on having Tex interviewed Matt! I Love Texeiras artwork ever since I first saw it as a teenager and like it even more now. I also can't wait to see Jordan Raskins latest effort. I miss his work ever since the Ripclaw miniseries.

[Strike]

This looks interesting. It's been added to my list.

[alistairUK]

Nice twist on the concept and lovely artwork, but from Tex that´s natch.

[AlexLothos]

Mark Texeira.

That's pretty much all the article had to say, and I'm there.

Okay, Mark Texeira and the date to when I can pick it up.

[drdash]

looks kick ass!!!!!!!!!!!!
can't wait for this, i'm a huge fan of tex's work. probably my favorite work of his is punisher war journal 50. one of my alltime favorite stories.

ciao
drdash

[jeferreyra]

Wow, just amazing art by Texeira, I love those greytones!
amazing!
cant wait to get this book on my hands!

[FigNewton]

Tex's art sure has evolved since the time I first saw his work in a He-man mini comic that came with the figures when I was a kid! Looks like an interesting mini.

[Darkhawk]

I remember Texira's art from some of the Union mini-series.

I normally don't check out b&w comics, but some of this preview art might change my mind.

Thanks for the article

[boomboom]

best known for his work on Wolverine, Spider-Man, Sabertooth, Ghost Rider and more recently, Just a Pilgrim and the Marvel Knights Black Panther series.

Only talking about Marvel stuff... You forgot one of his most precious works on Vampirella/Pantha!!

http://jump.to/boomboom/tex.html
http://195.241.101.14/boomboom/tex.html

Really...those things he has done for Vampirella are awesome pieces!!!


Richard Boom

[AlexLothos]

Originally posted by FigNewton
Tex's art sure has evolved since the time I first saw his work in a He-man mini comic that came with the figures when I was a kid! Looks like an interesting mini.

Heh, I only discovered that like a month or two ago (that he did the early MOTU mini comics). I guess I was programmed early to like Tex's work!

[PhillipVargas]

I've been a HUGE fan of Texira's art, ever since his Wolverine run. I'll be picking up this book as soon as it comes out.

[pez dispenser]

I've been reading comics since the mid seventies, and Tex is probably my favourite comic artist ever.
I just wish he had more comics that we could enjoy.

Gorgeous stuff here.