TALKING TRON: 88MPH's NEW TAKE ON DISNEY'S TRON

[MattBrady]

by Matt Brady and Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

Ah, the neon otherworld of the high-tech ‘80s. Disney’s Tron is being pulled into comics thanks to 88MPH Studios’ Tron 2.0: Derezzed miniseries kicking off in February. Newsarama chatted up 88MPS’s Sebastien Clavet, writer Andrew Dabb, and penciller Gabe Bridwell for more on the project.

Newsarama: Let's go way back to the basics with a trip down history lane, or rather a trip back to the future of the past...what is Tron?

Sebastien Clavet: Tron was a 1982 movie written and directed by Steve Lisberger that starred Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner. The plot revolved around a hacker named Flynn being zapped into a digital world, populated by living programs that existed inside a computer. Once inside Flynn did battle with the Master Control Program, an evil artificial intelligence bent on taking over the world. For the comic, we’re taking the big idea that drove the movie, that there is an electronic universe inside our computers, and expanding on it.

Andrew Dabb: The movie Tron is probably best remembered for being the first film to make heavy use of computer generated images, but it was also an extremely philosophical story, mixing elements of everything from the life of Christ to Jungian theory. If you go back and watch it now, you can really see that subtext. The action and dialogue are dated, but the big ideas that drive Tron, specifically the human/program dynamic, are actually pretty sophisticated and well thought out. A lot more so than some recent movies that trod the same ground. Usually, Tron is written off as campy, early ‘80s sci-fi, but I think it actually has something of a timeless quality which a most people overlook.

And, yes, I realize by saying that I’ve just revealed how big a nerd I really am.

NRAMA: The comic isn’t the first “revival” of the property. Buena Vista Interactive released the Tron 2.0 video game earlier this year, which advanced the timeline of the property to the present day. Given that the comic and game share some similar design specifics, how are they related?

SC: The Tron 2.0 game is really our starting point. Everything from the characters we use to the visual look of the book is based on the work Buena Vista International has done. However, that doesn’t mean you have to play the game to understand the comic, all the basics will be recapped.

NRAMA: So, spill the basics – where does the comic pick up, and what is it about?

AD: Jet Bradley is a fairly typical twenty year old, he’s laid back, a bit cynical and big into video games. But thanks to his father - Alan Bradley, a character from the original movie, Jet has access to equipment that can zap him into the digital world. Once there, he goes from an average guy with a 9-5 job, to a superpowered champion beloved by millions. Needles to say, he’s been spending more time inside than out lately.

Derezzed, our first mini-series, picks up a few months after the events of the game, and Jet has spent that time exploring and competing on the Game Grid - a high tech gladiatorial arena, basically just enjoying everything the weird new realm has to offer and having fun. But all that changes when one of his friends, a seemingly harmless program, is murdered. That event leads Jet, and his ally Mercury, on a long twisting path through dives and back alleys where they gradually uncover the darker side of this neon world. Ultimately, Jet is put in a position where he has to stop looking at this whole experience as one big video game and make the choice to become a hero. Which is a lot easier said than done.

NRAMA: Andrew, let’s go into some of your background. Let’s hear the Cliff’s Notes version…

AD: I’ve been writing comics for about seven years now. I started with a self-published project, Modern Grimm, when I was a Freshman in college and haven’t stopped yet. My most high profile work was Happydale: Devils in the Desert which came out from DC/Vertigo in 1999, but I’ve also done work for a variety of small press companies, most of which have since gone out of business, and a bunch of webcomics for Opi8.com and Nextcomics.com. I’ve also written scripts for Flash animation, done some work on the White Wolf role-playing game Exalted and had a few screenplays optioned. But comics are my first love and I come back to them whenever I can.

Gabe Bridwell: I graduated from The Joe Kubert School in 2002 and spent most of the following year working on various independent projects. I've done a few pinups this year and a short story for Heavy Metal, which I believe will be in stores the first week of December. Other than that, I started working on Tron 2.0 in June, and that's been occupying most of my time since.

SC: Finally, Blond will be coloring, he’s worked for Arcade Comics and on the He-Man comics. Chuck Gibson, who has done projects for CrossGen and Wildstorm, will ink.

NRAMA: So – we’ve got Jet, and Mercury…can you run them down as well as point out who else will be playing major roles in the storyline?

AD: Jet Bradley is our main character. He’s the son of Alan Bradley, who is the only character from the movie that we’re bringing back as a regular. The biggest challenge with Jet was not to make him Peter Parker, that is, a bookish, wide-eyed innocent suddenly given superpowers. That might have worked in the 1960’s, but I don’t think it applies today at all. Look at the average twentysomething in the year 2003 and you’re going to find someone that has definite opinions and a fair amount of cynicism about, well, everything, from the government, to the news media, to his own life. That’s not to say they’re - or we’re, since I’m one of them - always right, but it was important for us to make Jet more than Cliché Gen-Y Slacker #2.

Our major supporting characters are Alan Bradley and Mercury. Unlike Jet, Alan isn’t really interested in exploring the digital world. He’s a lot more focused on finding an application for it, a way it can make the Earth a better place. He’s spent the last twenty years of his life trying to re-create the technology that zapped Flynn into the computer, and now that he’s done it, he feels the need to prove he wasn’t wasting his time. As a single parent, Alan is at the stage where he knows Jet is old enough to make decisions for himself, but he still wants to protect his son. It’s a delicate balance, and Alan doesn’t always do the best job maintaining it. Mercury is Jet’s closest ally inside, she’s a veteran game program that has been just about everywhere on the ‘net. She’s at once his guide, trainer and fiercest defender.

Beyond Alan and Mercury we have a vast supporting cast of weird programs, from Tek, our own digital Viking, to Odorus, who tracks other programs by their smell. We’ll also be bringing back, or at least explaining what happened to a number of characters from the first movie like Lora, Tron, Dumont, Yori and, yes, Flynn.

GB: Visually, we really want to draw a distinction between the characters when they’re in the real world and in the electronic world. For example, when Jet is inside he is almost a superhero. He possesses abilities and powers much greater than almost any other program, and so his appearance is kind of an ideal self image. As he crosses over, he goes from a 175lbs guy of average build, to a 240lbs physical specimen. In the digital world he is faster and stronger than any program has ever been. He’s virtually a god.

NRAMA: Over the years, Tron has maintained a devoted, core following who will surely be here for the series, but why should comic fans check out Tron 2.0?

AD: Because Tron offers them something that very few comics bother with anymore; spectacle. The big push in comics right now has been toward reality. Everyone, from Captain America to Superman, is focused on real world issues and the minutiae of daily life. Superheroes have become ordinary and sort of dull, they save the world with a grimace instead of a smile. Even cosmic guys like the Green Lantern and Silver Surfer have been handcuffed to Earth. Now, I’m not saying this trend is bad, it’s certainly lead to some amazing stories, but it’s not what we’re all about.

The Tron stories we’re telling have a lot more in common with Kirby and Golden Age DC stuff than, say, Punisher. I love reading those old stories because every one had so much imagination packed into it. In any given issue, Superman could fight a mugger, or hop to another dimension that was something out of Lewis Carroll. You never knew what you were going to get, new ideas were flying at you from every direction. It was great. And since the digital reality allows us to do pretty much anything we want, that’s the kind of atmosphere we’re looking to create. Where every page has something new and interesting for the reader.

There are plenty of comics you can buy if you want to get a grim and gritty take on superheroes. Tron isn’t about how Joe Hero washes the blood from his tights after a day of dispensing vigilante justice. It’s about a guy given a free pass into a world where fantasies are real. It’s about recreating a sense of wonder that, unfortunately, a lot of comics have tossed aside.

GB: I couldn't agree with Andrew more. We've spent a lot of time developing and designing the various characters and areas of Tron and the digital world, and I think we've done a good job of coming up with some things that people haven’t seen before. But we realize that for the visuals to have an effect there has to be some drama there too, the reader has to be into the story. So we’re trying to balance the intense visuals and action with some really good character development and human drama. There’s a lot more to spectacle than just pretty pictures, it has to mean something.

NRAMA: On the flipside, why would the comic appeal to gamers?

AD: Because Tron is a gamer’s fantasy come to life--or at least the page. The reason we play computer games is to pretend we’re living another life, one a lot more exciting than our own. Now imagine you had the chance to really be a knight, or a Jedi, or a rock star. The only problem is, once you’re inside there are no saved games and no cheat codes. That army of goblins charging at you doesn’t care that you’re really an accountant from Ohio, they just want to eat your bones. That’s the situation Jet’s in, what he thought was an elaborate game becomes all to real, all to fast and he has to deal with it.

GB: We want this to feel like a living video game. Visually, it has bits and pieces from RPGs, strategy games, first person shooters, everything. Some of the landscapes are things you might see in EverQuest or Star Wars Galaxies, and when I’m drawing the action sequences, I’m looking to the Capcom and Sammy fighting games for inspiration. I think gamers will really get a kick out of all the little things we've thrown in the book just for them.

NRAMA: So where from here? Are there plans for more Tron?

SC: We have another four issue mini-series planned as a follow-up to Derezzed, but, really, as long as there’s an audience, we’ll do Tron comics. The great thing about Tron is that, unlike a lot of characters and properties, it hasn’t been wrung dry. Since the movie there has been almost no further exploration of the Tron world, so its potential is untapped. The digital world isn’t cyberspace, it’s more like another dimension made of light an energy where anything is possible. So there are an almost endless number of stories we could do, and we want to get as many on paper as we can.

As with Ghostbusters, and literally taking a page from Previews, an order form for Tron 2.0 #1 is available on 88MPH Studios’ website to print out and take to comic shops.

Tron 2.0 is ©Disney, 2003

[Bullwinkle]

So, will this one be available outside the States?!

:: fingers crossed ::

- Chris

[Cartoon Jay]

Is there really a lot of demand for a Tron comic book? The art looks good, the creative team seems solid, but what not focus that talent on something new?

[StoneGold]

Originally posted by Cartoon Jay
Is there really a lot of demand for a Tron comic book? The art looks good, the creative team seems solid, but what not focus that talent on something new?

Because while there may not have been much demand for a Tron book, there is no demand for something new? Look at the sales charts.

[kingofcities]

I have to admit that I am looking forward to this book. None of the other 80's nostalgia books have interested me much, but I've been looking forward to this since they first announced it. Love Tron from back in the day. Not sure yet how the story will read but the art is tight! Good luck to 88MPH Studios!

Kent

[DigiHal]

This looks hot!!!!

I am in!

DH!

[mpg]

the eighties are almost completely back

[kingofcities]

Originally posted by mpg
the eighties are almost completely back

Kind of ironic your post was 1980.

Kent

[mpg]

Originally posted by kingofcities
Kind of ironic your post was 1980.

Kent

i am stuck in the eighties! argh!

[Reliant]

I've never been much into anything retro...G.I. Joe, Robotech and Transformers didn't do anything for me at all--but the more obscure '80s stuff like Tron, I always had a soft spot for...perhaps because these were properties that had a smaller, but dedicated cult following than the more familiar ones. I also think Tron was more of a story-driven venture than a marketing one.

I've been looking forward to this new Tron 2.0 series from 88mph studios ever since I first saw the first promotional piece a couple of months ago, and the interior art is even better than I thought it would be.

I'm already sold on this one...

[Cayman]

Blond rocks.

Cay

[idkidd]

Good interview -- I liked the roundtable aspect. One area I would have liked questioned about is the whole licensing process. Was it tough to get Disney to embrace this idea? This company is also doing Ghostbusters -- how did the ychoose these two properties? Did they just make up a list of properties that were still available? Are there plans for more properties? It's pretty cool how a comic company can come out of nowhere and get attention by using an established Name and I'd like to know more about how that works and the ideas behind it.

[Jacentury]

Has this been solicited in Previews yet?

I loved Tron as a kid and I have been thinking about picking up the new DVD.

Has anyone else seen it? Has the film dated badly?

Jason

[Benjamin Ong]

Originally posted by Jacentury
Has this been solicited in Previews yet?

Jason

Check out December's Previews.

[beta-ray]

Hmn, I was looking forward to the Tron 2 movie... which was pretty much killed. Also wonder whatever happened to "Warriors of Tron"... I've always liked the idea of Tron and think that the movie was somewhat revolutionary at the time.

Like Ghostbusters, I am cautiously optimistic about this project... Hope for success!

[chuck gibson]

Originally posted by Cayman
Blond rocks.

Cay

HELL YEAH HE DOES!!!


best
chuck gibson

[Kintoun]

I'm pleased to see 88mph Studios Inc. is releasing a variant chromium ink "retro" cover for Tron: Derezzed #1. Does anyone remember the last time that type of enhancement was used for a comic book? VALIANT's Geomancer #1 from 1994 is the only story that pops to mind.

Kintoun

[FIG]

This title is something new, its based on the new Tron 2.0 videogame. After I saw the cover I was uninterested but onece I glanced at the interiors I'm glad to see the same Joe MAD/Humberto Ramos proportions aren't in use