ROSS AND KRUEGER ON SUPERPOWERS

[MattBrady]

Earlier today, Newsarama brought you the very first look at Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s follow-up to Justice: SUPERPOWERS coming from Dynamite Entertainment. As many posters have surmised, the project appears to star dozens of characters who exist in the public domain.

Why are they together? What threat do they face? How did all of this get rolling?

We spoke with Ross and Krueger for more.

Newsarama: How did this project get started? Was this something that you and Jim came up with together or something that Dynamite pitched your way?

Alex Ross: Nick Barrucci is a very old friend and this is his brain child, his passion. It started with him, and his making use of historical material that can then be taken to this larger level that we then, Jim, Nick, Dynamite and myself, all together, can craft the best, most striking, valid story.

NRAMA: Obviously the origins of the project differ to some extent in how you and Jim have worked together previously…

AR: The difference is, in the case of Dynamite you have creative energies coming from people who want to tell a story and create a project and make it the biggest thing they possibly can for their company, which is ultimately nothing we have ever experienced with the other publishers. We have never been the focus of a publisher before, and that in its own is a very special situation.

Even if we have had strong focus from a publisher with projects like Justice or Earth-X, where we have done very well for the publishers, and someone gets a feather in their cap, or something that just earns its keep, we have never been within the beating heart of the company before. We have always been outsiders.

NRAMA: Being in the “beating heart” also applies a different kind of pressure to some extent, there’s a lot riding on this for Dynamite, so does that factor in at all to the creative process?

AR: My feeling is that the only pressure that's really there is to make the best possible thing out of all this. That's all that matters to me creatively, and when I filter in all the ideas, all the contributions made by everybody talking, it's with the thought that "is that going to be the best idea?" That's mostly were a lot of the conversations, debates, and quarreling that's ever regarded this entire project heads, “are we making a bigger, better thing? Are we making a valid creative project?”

NRAMA: Jim, your projects with Alex are often thematic in nature, so does SUPERPOWERS fall into that category? If so, what bigger picture are you exploring here?

Jim Krueger: It does. One of the big themes at work is an attempt to answer the question as to how someone actually does stop and destroy evil -- and the answers are more complex than anyone ever wants to admit! A lot of people think they have the answer to this... some think it’s achieved via knowledge and social understanding. Others believe that religion and magic are the means of stopping evil… Many think that evil can be stopped through force and social conventions, or philosophy. Anyhow, these approaches and beliefs comprise the motivations that heroes have to do what they do, and just as these different approaches create conflicts between people in our society, so will they create conflict between heroes. The various ways in which this evil is dealt with (one of the big super hero themes of all comics) is something we're going to tackle here in a way that really has not before.

NRAMA: The naming of the project is obviously very conscious – SUPERPOWERS – and that name brings a lot to it, both political and “comic”. For you Alex, how does the name inform and reinforce the theme?

AR: Well the main theme in this is the idea of power as given to nations -- the combined might of people, as paired with the fantastic concept of power embodied in a single person. Power that, not necessarily to be like a “god”, but the power of a person to exceed the limitations of mankind and actually have a demonstrative effect, externally, upon their environment, upon the world. And then having these two realistic iterations of the term come into collision and conflict. They impact upon each other.

If the nations that are “superpowers” can corrupt the individuals who are “superpowers” and use them and abuse them, or subjugate them, this project further defines that reality and it's a theme that's been explored in projects like Kingdom Come and more recently with Marvel's Civil War, which explores this theme to great depth.

NRAMA: Could this be considered a follow up to any of your previous works? If so, which ones and how?

JK: Not a follow up as much as a continued involvement with the lore of heroes, and a working out of the themes of why they do what they do. We're not trying to tell the under-study of an entire mythos here… this is a desire to take “lost” characters and show how great they are, and even how much our modern (and even Silver-age characters) owe to the bar these characters, and this era, set.

NRAMA: Looking at some of the characters from the cover, we see some familiar faces… can you provide some introductions?

AR: Well with someone like the Black Terror, he is, despite appearances, not simply a skull-emblazoned kill-em-all type character. He is, in fact, a sort of, “pirate superman”, a black-clad Captain America or Superman -- a variation on those themes. He is not simply, by motivation or behavior, the Batman archetype.

The Green Lama holds the classic appearance of knowledge embodied in a super hero, whether by magical or religious means, and as a lama hews to a religious base, an eastern philosophy serves as both the drive and the empowerment of this character. He also fills in all the various mystical roles of characters like your Dr. Strange's, Dr. Fate's, Spectre's, etc.

In the case of the ‘Devil, he embodies, frankly one of the coolest, slickest “looks” in comics history and one of the most dramatic reasons to create such a series as Superpowers is to get a character like this back into the thick of publishing. His return to comics is important to me, as one of the most dominant pieces of graphic design -- something I think ultimately is the forebear of so many modern costume designs, in particular, probably the most attractive costumes in comics, Spider-Man's, holds some historical allegiance to the forerunning of The ‘Devil.

Now, somebody like Samson is a character I have always thought of as being your primal kind of Thor/Superman/Hercules archetype, that I have always wanted to see more done with. I have always imagined doing something with a character archetype fitting that role, so, picking up this guy from the 40's and doing the type of things we are doing with him now is great for me. He is literally blinded like the biblical Samson and holds some of that weight in his appearance and in fact on the cloak he wears is the letter - which if you read Hebrew which is read backwards - it's the first letter in the Hebrew name for Samson.

The Crusaders are based upon the American Crusader -- another great Superman/Captain America type character from the 40's, who could do all those fantastic things, flight , superpower, etc. In our modern interpretation of how time has gone on in the series, there is a certain amount of reproduction of both the bodies and the abilities of some of these classic superpowers that are put in play for our government and army as an elite force, almost like an stealth squadron of supermen. These men are called Crusaders based upon that old 40's hero.

The F-Troop are taken from the 1940's long-running Frankenstein comic strip and we’ve applied to him the more serious interpretation. We're showing super heroes historically and how they would have a presence in our modern world, and his particular appearance, evoking the fact that he's himself been a replicated, if not imitated, work based upon the original doctor's design; so it must be something used for sort of a quick and dirty army where the bodies of dead soldiers are recycled for an additional, later purpose.

NRAMA: And the American Spirit? That’s something you had a hand in creating for the project, right? Plays a major role with the series’ protagonist, the Fighting Yank?

AR: The American Spirit is the embodiment for all patriotic clad superheroes over the years – all of these characters coming from one root, that the flag itself could be this manifested creature, a "Christmas Spirit" of sorts that could be a very striking presence in comics to announce itself as sentient.

NRAMA: Jim, At this point, you and Alex have been each others’ regular collaborators for years, dozens of stories, thousands of pages…what’s the working relationship like now? How does say, SUPERPOWERS go from bare bones ideas to a completed story?

JK: It begins with a number of long phone conversations. Really long… like three to four hours! Battery-draining, too-much diet-coke-drinking, headache inducing middle of the night stuff that's completely fantastic.

What's great about the relationship is when we throw out ideas the other doesn't like, there's still a sense of listening to those ideas and then reworking the ideas. We get what the other person is going for, even if something doesn't fit with what I like. Or what Alex likes. And that makes for a good way to work. From all that I write an overview. Then more discussion. I write a more detailed overview. More discussion as the overview and overall story comes more and more into focus. Then I write a script. Get notes, and finish the script. And all the while, Alex is sending out sketches and images and background research and more. It's very all-consuming.

NRAMA: For you, what is it about Alex that keeps you around and working with him, almost to the exclusion of other creators?

JK: I would never say that I work with Alex at the exclusion of other creators. There are a load of people I'd like to work with that I just haven't yet. As to Alex, though, and why we work together so much a number of things, really. One, Alex is a friend. Our friendship grew out of working together so much. And now, it's like it's a part of my life. Before I even had much work in the industry, Alex was supporting my ideas and me as a writer. Alex challenges me and makes my ideas better. As I develop as a writer in comics (and now film and books), I only want to work with people who make me better.

NRAMA: And you, Alex, what’s Jim’s appeal as a collaborator?

AR: [laughs] Jim is my diminutive, bald little Svengali who has some sort of power over me that keeps me from seeking out other writers! But truthfully and seriously… Jim is probably the most giving writer I have had a chance to work with -- there is opportunity to refine, and in many cases, throw out, ideas that I know in other relationships I wouldn't have that kind of input invited from a collaborator. With Jim, I know that I'm likely to get as many of my own ideas put into the material and be able to say at the end of the day it truly was an even-handed collaboration.

NRAMA: Of course, one of the hallmarks of your collaborations with Alex are his designs for the characters, but at the same time, you’re the one putting the words in their mouths. With SUPERPOWERS, where the characters can be as blank of slates as you want them to be, how did you go about “designing” the characters on the inside? Did you have a set of archetypes that needed to be in the story, for lack of a better term, and assign them to characters, or were you using the original versions as inspiration and working from there?

JK: This is sort of a complex one. I like to layer things, and hide things between the layers. So yes, there's a sense of archetypes here. But there's also a look at the history of heroes and who they are and what their flaws are and how to invest that into these characters. There's looking at projects like Civil War and looking at all the interpersonal stuff there. And then there's the purpose I want those characters to serve in the story. So it's not just characters determine the story. It's a blending of plot, character and theme that determines who they are and who they become.

NRAMA: With Earth-X and Justice and other projects, Alex, you've “re-imagined” the respective world of Marvel and DC -- creating definitive and stylized versions of their most famous heroes. With SUPERPOWERS you are working with iconic characters as well, although they are certainly not as well known. What's the difference from an artistic standpoint? What is the difference between working with The Black Terror and say, Batman? And what's the appeal to you, as an artist?

AR: Well, in some ways there is still the draw of finding the common archetypes visually and character-wise; character archetypes that exist within all stories -- your lead, strong guy, your dark, brooding hero, your fun-loving humorous hero. Finding all of those archetypes and understanding how we break them down in ways that are hopefully, unique for our own approach.

You know, since these characters already existed, we are trying to make the best approximation of their being put under one net, or banner... of being reborn as Superpowers. These are characters that had different titles in the past and so, not all of them were part of one grand scheme or groundwork originally, and what we are trying to say is "here is this groundwork of characters that makes up what would appear to be, to anyone’s senses, a very rich world, similar in scope to the majors."

NRAMA: So what can you say about that world? Obviously, this is an established world with super heroes – what’s the dynamic like between them all?

JK: When we open, it's not really a world of heroes at all. That isn't to say it wasn't in the past, but these are forgotten heroes, really, and the world has moved on. The heroes technology still exists in some forms of law enforcement, military use, etc. Some of the characters are still active, but not as heroes. Life has moved on. The story begins with one man, a retired hero, who realizes that he made a mistake. And his mistake has to be undone before he dies. That quest itself will result in a paradigm shift for the world. One that will change the very landscape.

NRAMA: What gets the ball rolling in the story?

JK: This Fighting Yank being told that the end is near and doesn't have much time left to undo the very purpose of his life.

NRAMA: Are we talking about a story with a big bad here, inner conflict, or…what?

JK: All story is conflict. This isn't an introspective story. The conflicts of the initial hero of the piece are what leads to all the action and trouble to come. This series will go global very quickly, which suggests another reason for the title and some of multiple ways/themes we're dealing with.

NRAMA: Finally – what are you looking to explore here? By the time the final issue rolls around, what questions will you have hoped to answer?

JK: SUPERPOWERS is about raising up questions and bringing light to complexities of how the "good fight" is fought and will be a more all-consuming vision of evil than ever.

[Baka baka]

I'm guessing it's lama like Dali Lama and not like the animal, Llama. Though that would be a hilarious superhero. He can hurdle tall buildings in a single spit, he's the Green Llama!

[GenerallZodd]

Badass. He may be an unapologetic old-school comics nuthugger, but he's got an unparalleled sense of design.

[MattZitron]

Who's drawing the comic? Did I miss that?

[KryptonSite]

I love that someone is using the Golden Age Daredevil, though I'm surprised Marvel never jumped on the chance if the character was available.

Still, looks beautiful.

[rafa24sasp]

Just AWESOME! Can wait for this!

[Justin Eger]

I cannot wait. I hope this expands and some of the characters get their own book. However, with this starting to feel a bit like "Watchmen" already, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Can't wait. Absolutely can't wait. 'Devil has alwyas been one of my favorite character designs.

[cncoyle]

With "exclusive" in italics on the front page, how could I resist reading this article?

[jedifish]

Sounds interesting. Did I miss where they announced the artist (ie is Alex painting this)?

[Zig Zag Wanderer]

Amazing looking stuff. Looking forward to it.

I can't read "F-Troop" without thinking of the Larry Storch/Ken Berry TV series, though.

[rwe1138]

Originally Posted by MattZitron

Who's drawing the comic? Did I miss that?

That's what I wanna know.

Oh well. This'll be Dynamite's best selling book ever.

[Colonsus]

Originally Posted by KryptonSite

I love that someone is using the Golden Age Daredevil, though I'm surprised Marvel never jumped on the chance if the character was available.

Still, looks beautiful.

And I'm surprised whoever owns that character isn't suing the crap out of them. We'll see, though...

[Chief Jon]

Okay, too cool. I'm getting goosebumps like I haven't since I finished Watchmen (no pressure Mrs Krueger and Ross). When I get to my LCS this afternoon for my WWH fix I'm adding this to my pull list.

[God-Man]

This is quite the coup for Dynamite. I'm definitely interested.

[rwe1138]

Originally Posted by God-Man

This is quite the coup for Dynamite. I'm definitely interested.

True nuff. They'll probably crak the top ten with this.

[KyleCowstar]

BLACK TERROR!!!!!

[ThorEl3]

Outstanding! I absolutely love obscure Golden Age characters, so this is a MOST welcome project.

Looking forward to it.

[bigdaddyhub]

Could this be something else to add to my buy pile? VERY INTERESTED.

[jsf]

Sounds great!

(And do I see MLJ's the Shield and Marvel's Captain America within the folds of the American Spirit ...?)

[kalorama]

Originally Posted by Colonsus

And I'm surprised whoever owns that character isn't suing the crap out of them. We'll see, though...

Nobody owns these characters. They're in the public domain.

[Amoebas]

As much as I'm in because of Ross - I'm more so in because of Krueger (very very underated!)

BTW - Matt - Krueger has two E's ("ROSS AND KRUGER ON SUPERPOWERS")

[Zhen Dil Oloth]

Cool characters and artwork.

Can't wait to see more.

[Kossa]

I was under the impression it was Ross doing the art.....

that said..should be good...as much as I like his work in trade format....gonna have to pick up the singles casue I can't wait for the trade on this....hope it is better the Justice...I liked it, but not as much as Kingdom Come or Earth-X

[Cadia]

As someone who's never heard of these character's, this doesn't do much for me.

I SO wish that Ross would do a Captain Harlock comic, now that would rock.

[Kikaider]

Well, I am old school and I am so down for this series. I really hope that Alex is doing the interior artwork. The guy can make the simplest designs look fantastic. Talk about bringing wide recognition to the forgotten!