INSIDE COHEED & CAMBRIA'S AMORY WARS @ 12 GAUGE

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

Musicians doing comics is nothing new – but the size and scope of The Amory Wars positions it to possibly be the most intricate one yet. Claudio Sanchez, lead singer/guitarist for the band Coheed & Cambria, is bringing the stories from his albums into comics form. Each album that Coheed and Cambria has released represents a corresponding chapter in a five-part science fiction concept that Sanchez's lyrics narrate.

The first issue of this inaugural five-issue miniseries is scheduled to be released in early June, and will correspond with the Coheed and Cambria album "The Second Stage Turbine Blade". This new series is published through Image Comics and Sanchez' Evil Ink Comics, and Claudio Sanchez is joined by artist Gus Vasquez and cover artist Tony Moore to tell his story. We spoke with the busy musician and writer to find out more about his tale.

Newsarama: The miniseries starts out with a married couple, Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon. Can you tell us what their life is like starting out?

Claudio Sanchez: The book centers on a typical suburban family. A Dad with a hard job, and a stay-at-home Mom who keeps the family together. The kids are great -- Josephine's the oldest, almost an adult herself, a young woman with terrible taste in men; Claudio is an unbelievable artist, kind of quiet, like I was; and Matthew and Maria are the twins, just cute young kids. That's that basic platform but it isn’t that easy for them and they find out a few pages later that there is more to them than just their simple life as they know it.

NRAMA: The cover betrays the fact that their lives don't remain that "typical suburban family" life. What happens to them in the first issue?

CS: In the first issue, Coheed and Cambria discover they are not "normal" humans, but rather were built as part of a terrorist plot by their creators. Their creator planted a virus in them that would eventually destroy the solar system that they live in. Deftinwolf tells them the virus has been passed on to their children. They later find out they have been lied to and they are part of a much bigger plan. I should also mention that Claudio has acquired a power through genetics and we learn a lot more about what his role is in the later books ("In Keeping Secrets…" and "Good Apollo"). He has a small role in this book.

NRAMA: Can you tell us about Jesse?

CS: Jesse is a counterpart to the group that Coheed and Cambria are a part of. He is also called the Inferno; he is the mainframe or the main organizer. Coheed and Cambria have been led to believe that Jesse is Coheed's brother, but he is really a counterpart to the group they were all created for, the KBI -- the Knowledge (Cambria), the Beast (Coheed), and the Inferno (Jesse).



NRAMA: Who are they up against? Who are the bad guys, and what are they after?

CS: One of the bad guys is the Supreme Tri-Mage Wilhelm Ryan, he is the main antagonist. In these first two mini-series there are multiple side-men, but the other main bad guy is Mayo Deftinwolf, who is the general of the Red Army (and basically Ryan's henchman). There was once a Mage war, because Heaven's Fence had a Mage that led each sector. Eventually the Mages got greedy and there was a war between them, and Wilhem Ryan emerged as the victor of that war. Now, 40 years later, no one thought it possible but a new Mage has been born on Sector 12 and her name is Maria Antillarea. She is trying to form an army on Sector 12 to essentially overthrow Wilhem Ryan’s rule. It's Mayo's plan to dispose of Maria Antillarea by using the virus inside Coheed and Cambria.

NRAMA: One of the big pictures for this comic is the universe they live in, which is called Heaven's Fence. Can you tell us about that?

CS: Heavens fence is 78 planets aligned in triangular form and they are divided into 12 sectors and are bound together by a beam of light called the Keywork. The Keywork is powered by seven power star transformers, known as the Stars of Sirius. This is what the Coheed Keywork band logo represents. The Keywork keeps the planets aligned so they don’t shift and at the same time supply the essential elements needed to sustain life on each of the planets. Coheed and Cambria's planet very much resembles our planet and technologies; I wanted to have the readers understand the characters and have something to relate to and have a parallel, but as we go into the other planets in the universe we start to see all these new technologies and it gets pretty out there, different architecture, transportation, etc. It's going to feel massive once we start to jump from planet to planet.

NRAMA:. Claudio and Jessie share the names of you and your brother and Jesse is also a boxer like Jesse in the comic book. What led you to borrow some elements from your life to impart into the story you're telling?



CS: There are a lot of things that parallel my life in the book, and I'm not exactly sure why I did it. Maybe it's because I didn’t want to lyrically sing songs that were directly related to my family life, so I think I took those elements and wove them into the story. You know, Coheed and Cambria look like my parents. And the dragonflies have played a very big role in my life, metaphorically -- everything has some sort of tie to the real, and I guess I just thought it would be fun to do that, to impart my real life into the story. I think it gives the readers a lot more to think about, like here's these records that have a story to them and then behind that is another story.

NRAMA: If this first miniseries is successful, do you plan on doing further comics in The Amory Wars saga?

CS: Yes, without a doubt there's going to be a miniseries for the “In Keeping Secrets…” record, and of course there's a prequel story. The overall story takes place on "Heaven's Fence," in a universe that has 78 planets, so the possibilities are endless for stories that parallel this one. I'd love to see it go into many directions. The prequel, for instance, will explain more about the beginnings of Heaven's Fence and the Mage War that sets up our present-day story.

NRAMA: Several years ago you released two issues of a miniseries and an OGN about your saga. Can you tell us how this new miniseries relates to those?

CS: This story that we are putting out now, The Amory Wars, is loosely based on the "origin" story that started in those first two issues. We've expanded the story and really gotten into so much more of Coheed and Cambria's characters. Those original books are great, but there's a lot of new material and new action to look forward to in the new mini-series. The overall saga is titled The Amory Wars and the first five-book miniseries is subtitled the Second Stage Turbine Blade.

NRAMA: Why did you decide you decide to start again with Amory Wars, and with 12 Gauge Comics?

CS: The first time, I was publishing the books myself through our comic book imprint, Evil Ink Comics, and it was kind of difficult. This time around, Keven Gardner and the 12 Gauge guys are helping with all the steps in the process, whereas before it was me and my manager, and our schedule is so jam packed its hard to focus on it. The stories took years to come out before; this time around we have 12 Gauge's help to do each issue monthly.

NRAMA: Relating to your musical album of the same name. What is the literal meaning of "Second Stage Turbine Blade"?

CS: The Second Stage is actually a big part of it, because initiating Coheed and Cambria into Mayo Deftinwolf's plot is basically the "Second Stage" in the overall plan. As far as "Turbine Blade", I'll leave that a mystery for people to unlock as they go.



NRAMA: You're joined on this series with artist Gus Vazquez. How did you hook up with him, and how do you think his work influences how you tell this story in comic form?

CS: I met Gus through Keven Gardner at 12 Gauge, and I liked his style. It's a lot different from the look we had on the original book, and the style is more in keeping with this new incarnation of the story. I've had this story in my head for so long, and now that's it's down on the page in the scripts, it's really becoming real and concrete. And Gus's doing a really great job at visualizing the details. I'm really obsessive about the details and kind of have a gut feeling about how everything should look. In fact, I just created this new character; I'm really excited about him -- a new villain -- and I think he might be a part of book 4.

NRAMA: In your albums you tell this story out of chronological order. Are the comics going to be in chronological order?

CS: They are now. We released the Good Apollo graphic novel to coincide with the last Coheed record, but this time around we are releasing the story in chronological order. The only thing that will be out of sync is releasing the prequel last, but I think it’s more important to tell the story of Coheed and Cambria first because a lot of this story is based on lies they've been told.

NRAMA: You have a new album coming out this year, titled “Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow”. Do you plan on doing any cross-promotion with that and the comic?

CS: That's not entirely true. That’s kind of the title name I've been toying with, but the title isn't quite definite yet. I don’t know about cross-promotion between the two -- the comic is the comic and the album is the album, and I don't want people to think you need one to understand the other. The comic and the album both come out of my head, but they stand on their own.

[AbacusComics]

Fun stuff! Can't wait to get my hands on this series... For several reasons.

[Speedball93]

This sound confusing as hell. Do you need to know the lyrics to go along with the story? I can't seem to wrap my hands around why I should be getting this.

[PoisonElf]

Originally Posted by Speedball93

This sound confusing as hell. Do you need to know the lyrics to go along with the story? I can't seem to wrap my hands around why I should be getting this.

No, the comic can be read alone and is perfectly understandable.

CS: That's not entirely true. That’s kind of the title name I've been toying with, but the title isn't quite definite yet. I don’t know about cross-promotion between the two -- the comic is the comic and the album is the album, and I don't want people to think you need one to understand the other. The comic and the album both come out of my head, but they stand on their own.

The songs can simply enhance the whole experience if you've already are/ going to be a fan of the band, but they're not required to read the story.

Knowing the story makes the songs better, imo.

[KevenGardner]

Originally Posted by Speedball93

This sound confusing as hell. Do you need to know the lyrics to go along with the story? I can't seem to wrap my hands around why I should be getting this.

No, they can be enjoyed on their own. The album is the album and the comic is the comic. If you are a fan of the music then maybe you'll want to give the comic a try. If you like the comic, maybe you'll enjoy Claudio as a musician as well. If you just want one or the other, no problem.

As to why you should get? Sci-Fi story, lots of action, lots of mystery, nice art---hey, what's not to like

[MrNEWZ]

I was actually intrigued by this as well as the involvement of the music.

I think most people MISS the fact that C&C's music contains lyrics like that... but the amount of detail discussed in this post tends to assume we all know everything going in and there's too much going on before long in the interview that it moves from comprehendible to words words words...

[ziza9]

I'm all over this as well.

[Equinox]

Claudio Sanchez is a brilliant musician and writer; I remember reading the "Good Apollo" comic that came out with the album, and it was honestly muddled and hard to read through. Claudio explaining about it being just him and his manager putting it out makes a lot of sense. This is going to be the next big sci-fi epic piece, and while you don't have to listen to the albums to understand this, you ought to listen to them anyway: they're some of the most interesting and unique rock albums to grace recent media, with solos and nine-minute tracks that are more epic than the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy.

I can't wait for this.

[Egg]

Looking forward to this. I enjoy their music and am eager to sample the comic!

[panicbxmb]

i loved the previous unfinished Second Stage Turbine Blade mini, the Good Apollo trade, and the Amory Wars Sketchbook.... so, of course i'm all over this.

cannot effing wait

[lfhobbies]

Me too - as a fan of C&C as well as a retailer - stuff like this opens so many doors to our industry and should be supported by publishers as much as possible.

Kudos to Image for doing this

[geistbusters]

Love their music (been a fan for about 3 years)! If their book is half as good as their music, I'm going to be a very happy camper.

[Bullet_Train]

SO on this. Im a huge fan of the music and love the story. I had to track down the 2 Second Stage Turbine comics I have and I have the Good Apollo story. Isnt Apollo his dog? I could have sworn thats what In Keep Secrets... was about, a dream that is a reality but he recounts it to his dog after being woken up by the phone...In either event Im a fan of the Second Stage album but more interested in Claudio's transformation into the Crowing...

[panicbxmb]

Originally Posted by Bullet_Train

SO on this. Im a huge fan of the music and love the story. I had to track down the 2 Second Stage Turbine comics I have and I have the Good Apollo story. Isnt Apollo his dog? I could have sworn thats what In Keep Secrets... was about, a dream that is a reality but he recounts it to his dog after being woken up by the phone...In either event Im a fan of the Second Stage album but more interested in Claudio's transformation into the Crowing...

i've heard about Apollo being a dog before, but i dunno if that was ever confirmed by Claudio.

and yeah, the Crowing transformation is going to be insaaaaaane! just like the song

[Gutsu]

I'm a huge fan of C&C. Picked up the two issues and the GN earlier, and I cannot wait for this to be released.

Apollo is the dog. Claudio has posted on the Cobalt and Calcium boards and said this.

[Kolimar]

Sounds like a nice bit of fun, at the very least. The art looks pretty decent.

[Kolimar]

One more to add to Comic book creators and their work in other fields. What do you think?

[Royal Nonesuch]

I'm a big fan of Coheed and Cambria, but wasn't able to get my hands on the previous two comics. I hope those can be re-released. Also, looking forward to the new record.

[Svengoolie]

Originally Posted by Royal Nonesuch

I'm a big fan of Coheed and Cambria, but wasn't able to get my hands on the previous two comics. I hope those can be re-released. Also, looking forward to the new record.

The previous 2 are dead weight now. He's doing it all over again because the releases were just so erratic. However, having a first edition signed by Claudio should get me some good change in the coming years...

And yes, Apollo is the dog. Everyone always knew that, but it's also in the Good Apollo GN.