ROBERT KIRKMAN AND BRUCE BROWN TALK BRIT

[MattBrady]

Back when Robert Kirkman was busy becoming Robert Kirkman, the prolific creator put out Brit, a series of three one shots released by Image, starring an older hero, but one that still was quite capable of kicking ass when the job called for it. In the world of altruistic super-heroes, he was strictly blue-collar. Fighting the bad guys was a job, first and foremost. Think an older, and slightly cynical Captain America, and you’re starting to get the idea. He’s a touch jaded, to put it lightly.

Semi-retired, Brit owned a strip club, had a wife and a kid, but would come back when asked, and…hey – if we can borrow a page from the unrepentant salesman Kirkman, check out the darkly comic Brit trade released earlier this year - not to mention Image’s Free Comic Book Day offering, or here for a 26 page look at the first Brit one-shot. Over the years, Brit has become one of the recurring characters in Kirkman’s sub universe within the larger Image universe.

In August, Brit returns in a new series, but with a new name in the writers’ credit box – Bruce Brown. No, he’s not Kirkman’s Richard Bachman, he’s really Bruce Brown.

Instead of having Newsarama do the howdoyado? interview, we tapped Kirkman to introduce us to his friend – oh, and give us a peek at the series’ art by Cliff Rathburn.

We’ll just get out of the way now…

Robert Kirkman: First off, Bruce--tell me a little about yourself. I know you. Hell, I LOVE you, but to some people you're a new name to the comic industry. But you've in fact been writing comics here and there for some time. There's a reason I hand-picked you to take over Brit. Could you just chat about yourself for a bit and tell these good people who you are and where you've been?

Bruce Brown: To kill the rumors, I'm not Robert Kirkman. I did go through a Mark Twain phase-- worked the indie trenches and wrote a pair of Batman bits for DC as Kimo Temperance (one of which appeared recently in the Volume 3 Batman Black and White hardcover). I finally decided it was more interesting to be me than a matchstick man. And I couldn't carry Mark Twain's moustache. Lately, I'd been out in the wilderness punching bears. Then Brit. It was nice to be hand picked for the series, like a Florida orange.

KIRKMAN: Very much like a Florida orange actually. Okay, I'm trying to make a joke here and it's just not coming... moving on. I know what Brit's about, you know what's Brit's about, but to fill in the uninitiated few – what's the story behind Brit? What differentiates it from the other superhero books on the stands? Is it obvious I'm reading some of these questions from a card?

BROWN: Not too obvious, no. Brit is the unrelenting super soldier. He's spent the majority of the last century in government work, and he's come out of retirement because the work still needs an unkillable man. Brit is even older than he looks but he's approaching death in slow motion. He's not stronger or smarter or more skilled, but he's just a diamond man in a world built like bird bones. I don't think we're remarketing the wheel here, but I do think the difference will be in the stories. We'll take all the old things, break them off the frame and twist them in happy distortions that will please the buttery lizard bits of your comic brain.

KIRKMAN: With each Brit one-shot I attempted to move the character to another stage of his life. He went from a swinging – if not elderly - bachelor, to a caring boyfriend to finally a doting dad. Where are you starting Brit off and where would you like to take him?

BROWN: I'm starting Brit off at the verge of divorce, and going downhill from there. Or uphill, hells of union vary. Physically Brit is the unbreakable man, so I'm looking for the different ways people shatter. Brit won't be serial hopelessness, but there will be razor bitters with the joys.

KIRKMAN: I ate almost a whole box of Razor Bitters for breakfast this morning. Brit shares a lot thematically with Invincible, namely the importance of family. Do you foresee yourself expanding on that with the series? We've seen Brit's wife's folks, will we be finally seeing more of Brit's origins?

BROWN: At the moment I think that the whole of Brit's origin should be undiscovered country, more interesting untouched. I'm interested in visiting some of his history, glimpse his tours of duty. He's been a soldier for a long time, and I love a good war story. But until they need to meet, I'd rather think forward than work backwards. We'll definitely meet some of Brit's family; see that's fallen from an odd tree. Dysfunctional makes the best families .

KIRKMAN: Not only is Brit thematically linked with Invincible, but it also has a very set place and relevance in from that book's universe. Are there any particular characters you're dying to bring to the new ongoing? Will we be seeing any familiar faces?



BROWN: I'd love to get hold of Invincible, but out of costume. I'm scheming on co-opting some Invincible second stringers for some Dirty Dozen/Suicide Squad shenanigans, but you have a grip like a brick mason. And I'd love to work a Tech Jacket vs. Donald thing.

KIRKMAN: I did ask that question knowing full well that I'm not going to let you use anyone else. Silly me. Expanding beyond Invincible, where would you place Brit amongst the other Image superhero books? Do you view it closer to the off the wall superheroics of Savage Dragon or something more grounded like Jay Faerber's Noble Causes?

BROWN: I'm not sure where Brit would fit. I don't think in terms of a superhero book. I'll abuse the elements, but why not abuse and devour much, much more? I envy the character relationships that deftly center Noble Causes and I envy the gonzo plotting that makes Savage Dragon the chest hair and Charles Atlas of comics. You can't kick sand on rugged arms of dynamite. Those comics are chocolate and peanut butter to me. I'm hoping to magpie the spirit of those books and handfuls of my other favorite graphic drugs and influences into Brit.

KIRKMAN: The series artist, Cliff Rathburn, is, well... a goddamn genius. I try to use him on every book I do, whether it's coloring covers, penciling, inking, lettering, stapling, whatever. He's gray-toning, coloring covers and doing back covers for The Walking Dead. He's been inking She-Hulk for Marvel. He drew Fantastic Four: Foes, where he drew the Negative Zone Prison from Civil War for the first time ever. Now he's penciling, inking and coloring this book. How much do you engage him in your creative process? Has he altered the way you initially wanted to approach the book?

BROWN: As an artist Rathburn is the best spider, because he can take a script, suck it to a husk and then shit a beautiful web. He has altered the way I approach Brit. It's like feeding a fire. I keep throwing things at him to watch them burn. The detail and bent of his work is a creative push. In the past I've found it hard to trust artist any further than I could throw them bundled in the crawlspace but (hopefully) I'm learning to pare back the micromanaging of detail and panels and trust my brutally talented artist.

KIRKMAN: I've been working on Brit in one way or another since I started at Image. And, y'know... I'm totally awesome and stuff. How are you going about making a book that's been associated with someone else for so long your own? Is it tougher to do than an original work?

BROWN: The one reservation I had about Brit... was your addicts. Like any good chemist you have Kirkwhores, the walking invincibles. They're like dedicated antennas for radio free Kirkman. Pimping ain't easy when it's stranger candy to the old faithful. I've been trying to set deep hooks in familiar sweets. For the first few issues I've been attempting some sleight of Kirkman, layering mimics of your style from dialogue and plot patterns. The goal is to pay homage but still build my brand of nitroglycerine and let it uncurl like a headslug in Chekov.

Working on Brit is less like sharecropping at DC or Marvel, but I can still feel the limitations. It's like I don't own the riverboat but I get to deal the cards.



KIRKMAN: Well, I have know clue where the riverboat is going... so feel free to take it wherever. I probably wouldn't even notice. The book and characters have a lot of influences from outside of comics. Sometimes it's more reminiscent of those "one last job" Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson films from the 1970s. Are there any particular works you're drawing from outside of comic books to the series?

BROWN: Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Abraham Lincoln spaghetti westerns, Hong Kong cinema, new science, Carl Jung in a tentacle suit, the hammer sequence from Oldboy, space crack and volcanoes

KIRKMAN: This is always the part of the interview that I choke on, and I hate these kinds of questions... but I'm throwing it at you anyway. Without spoiling anything... can you give us some kind of tantalizing, insider information on all the cool things you have planned for the series? Make sure you mention the sharks with jet packs from issue #4. That's been my favorite part so far.

BROWN: I think that's all we need to say: sharks with jet packs.

KIRKMAN: Heh, you choked too. Anyway, when the all-new Brit series gets underway here in August I don't think anyone will be mistaking you for me after they see how much this series puts what I did with the character to shame. I can't wait to watch it all unfold.

Brit #1 is due in stores on August 15th, and will carry a $2.99 cover price.

[snikt!!]

Broken links to images

[Moored]

Originally Posted by snikt!!

Broken links to images

I can see them alright

[vbartilucci]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

BROWN: As an artist Rathburn is the best spider, because he can take a script, suck it to a husk and then shit a beautiful web.

This is a chapter of "How to draw comics the marvel way" that I must have missed...

[rob liefeld]

Buy BRIT!

It's fantastic. Great efforts by all involved!



rob

[Morten Pedersen]

Then maybe Brit, can come out on time, with another writer behind it.

[rochvail]

I've read all the one-shots and I enjoy Brit's appearances in Invincible, but I wasn't going to get the book (I'm already buying too much stuff). Why did they have to show preview pages? *Sigh* One more title to add to my pull-list.

[s*p rules]

Brit?

Yeah, Brett.

Like Brittany?

No, Brett.

[Earth-2 Mike]

Originally Posted by s*p rules

Brit?

Yeah, Brett.

Like Brittany?

No, Brett.

Heh. Flight of The Conchords.

Also: looking forward to this series.

Also also: the comic page preview images, when clicked, deliver the message, "The image “http://www.newsarama.com/ImageComics...it_02_001.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors." in both Firefox and IE7, for me. The cover images work fine.

[MattBrady]

images are fixed - sorry about that.

MattB

[Skinshark]

It's interesting how Cliff's style is in the same vein as Ottley and Walker's...it's pretty cool.

=s=

[Sean Walsh]

Originally Posted by Skinshark

It's interesting how Cliff's style is in the same vein as Ottley and Walker's...it's pretty cool.

=s=

Well, Cliff has been inking INVINCIBLE since day 1 so that probably explains it. Heck, I'll bet it's the other way around at times.

[Odjn Ouen]

Originally Posted by Sean Walsh

Well, Cliff has been inking INVINCIBLE since day 1 so that probably explains it. Heck, I'll bet it's the other way around at times.

No he hasn't. Cliff's only inked a few issues of Invincible total.

[rwe1138]

They had me at calling Hulk Hogan a bald, orange orangutan.

[Varrus]

I bought the Brit: Old Soldier trade a month or two ago and I had a total blast reading it. I'm definitely in for this new monthly series!

[ShinAkuma666]

Originally Posted by Varrus

I bought the Brit: Old Soldier trade a month or two ago and I had a total blast reading it. I'm definitely in for this new monthly series!

I also bought the tpb a while ago, but I am kind of behind in reading my tpbs...

Just wanted to say how much I like the colors on those preview pages, very nice and smart coloring, just great.

[idkidd]

So is Bruce Brown a buddy of Kirkmans that he''s giving a shot to like the old days of Image? Is it someone he's been apprenticing in the industry? What's he been doing up until this point beside those Batman shorts? Basically, this interview didn't tell us much about who this guy actually.

What led Kirkman to launch a new book with a writer other than him? Was it something he's been considering for awhile? What does his position of "editor" really mean? If this goes well, would he have an interest in trying with another character like Tech Jacket? All interesting questions I''d like to know the answers to. I think there could have been a lot better promotion leading up to this book's launch next month.

Rathbum's art has taken a leap and looks stronger than I remember.

I'm excited for this book and seeing how if a Kirkman character can fly and develop successfully with another creator. I also think it's pretty neat he's allowing this as basically he got the same chance writing Superpatriot solo as an unknown. Way to pay it forward!

[Kolimar]

Really fun interview. It looks like Brit is ready to kick some more butt.

[Robert Kirkman]

Originally Posted by idkidd

So is Bruce Brown a buddy of Kirkmans that he''s giving a shot to like the old days of Image? Is it someone he's been apprenticing in the industry? What's he been doing up until this point beside those Batman shorts? Basically, this interview didn't tell us much about who this guy actually is.

Bruce is a friend but don't think for an instant that's the only reason I've got him doing this. He's a fantastic writer who's been trying to break in for a number of years. I published some of his other work in the INKPUNKS anthology I published in 2001 back when I published. He used to work under the pen name "Kimo Temperance." This is the first work he's done under his real name. Brit is his breakout book and I think you'll all enjoy what he's done on it.

Originally Posted by idkidd

What led Kirkman to launch a new book with a writer other than him?

I really like Brit as a character, for one. Also, there's only so much time in the day so I just can't write everything. I like the idea of guiding other people on some of my other properties. Just because I don't have time to write it doesn't mean the book shouldn't exist.

Originally Posted by idkidd

Was it something he's been considering for awhile?

Yes.

Originally Posted by idkidd

What does his position of "editor" really mean?

It means I'm doing the job of an editor on this book. I'm reading over scripts and making suggestions, assembling the creative team, keeping people on schedule, and assembling the final book to turn into Image. I'm overseeing every aspect of the production of this series.

Originally Posted by idkidd

If this goes well, would he have an interest in trying with another character like Tech Jacket?

If it goes well, I would.

Originally Posted by idkidd

All interesting questions I''d like to know the answers to. I think there could have been a lot better promotion leading up to this book's launch next month.

Well, what book couldn't have had "better" promotion? Hopefully we'll do just fine. Thanks for asking these questions. I had a few free moments so I figured I'd take some time to answer them.

Originally Posted by idkidd

Rathbum's art has taken a leap and looks stronger than I remember.

It certainly has.

Originally Posted by idkidd

I'm excited for this book and seeing how if a Kirkman character can fly and develop successfully with another creator. I also think it's pretty neat he's allowing this as basically he got the same chance writing Superpatriot solo as an unknown. Way to pay it forward!

Fingers crossed!

-Robert