INSIDE BIG CITY COMICS

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

Over the last decade or so, we’ve seen several high profile players entering the comic book publishing business such as Valiant Comics, Malibu Comics, Dreamwave Productions, Crossgen, Speakeasy Comics and others.

While some banked on top guns in the industry and others relied on properties that appealed to the masses rather than just the superhero community at large, from licensed franchises to cross-genre stories that wander into science fiction, mystery, romance, horror and fantasy territories, not one of those publishing companies are in the business today due to management takeovers and bankruptcy.

Yet, the current comics landscape is fast a-changing, with new ventures in the areas of web and print comics (and not forgetting manga) entering the playing field daily.

One such player is Jeffrey Kaufman’s Big City Comics, which debuted its first wave of titles recently, including the relaunch of controversial and former Arcana and Image Comics series Ant by equally controversial creator Mario Gully.

We spoke with Kaufman and Gully about doing comics in today’s crowded marketplace, got ourselves acquainted with some of the new launches and then gazed into the crystal ball for a peek at Big City’s planned crossover for next summer which will involve the talent of a fan favorite artist.

Newsarama: Didn't you guys used to create/co-create new intellectual properties/creator-owned projects at Image Comics?

Mario Gully: That's not entirely correct. First of all, I'm not a fellow creator of Big City [Comics]. Big City is Jeff's baby. I'm just doing a 6-issue Ant mini and I still own all of my rights. I help the Big City guys out when I can because I have some experience in this [business]. As far as us creating stuff at Image, that's not entirely the way it went down. I had the Image deal and later around issue #9 of Ant, Jeff came aboard to help me out. Yes, we were a team and I think we did some great stuff. But… [just] so things are not confusing, Ant is my deal and Jeff simply helped me out on a few issues.

Jeffrey Kaufman: My earlier contribution to the comic book industry was helping artists, sculptors and writers with their legal problems. Mario and I then started work on our title Totem and then he asked me to take up the writing duties on Ant as of issue #9 and went through issue #11.

NRAMA: Big City Comics was founded in 2006 as a vehicle to support Image's comic book Ant. How much did the much publicized "fall out" with Erik Larsen and the guys at Image Comics contribute to Big City Comics going solo?



MG: Jeff can answer this question better then I can. That "fall out" with Image wasn't like that really. It was like I left Image to do some cool stuff elsewhere and I turn around and see two guys arguing on message boards. Truthfully, Big City was already up and running months before all that jazz happened, I believe.

JK: I think Image does a lot for new artists. We just felt since we had five projects in production that we needed them all to be at the same company and have more control of the company.

NRAMA: Thanks for stopping by, Mario. Moving on then. Jeff, what's the company's corporate vision and mission statements?

JK: We see ourselves in the role of clean-up hitters. We’ve had the opportunity to see what Marvel and DC are doing and lived at Image for awhile and want to take the best from all three. We also want to pepper our books with some reality. What would cause a person to be a hero when everything says take the easy route? I truly believe that if I was able to give a whole room of regular people the power to become invisible within 48 hours half the people in the room would commit some kind of crime whether it be bank robbery or simple voyeurism. I want our readers to say, “Yeah I would say that or yeah I would do that”.

NRAMA: What're some of the high and low points that you've experienced since striking out on your own?

JK: As in any business, it’s normally the actual costs and the ability to complete all the tasks we took for granted publishing through Image. Printing… Advertising… Promotion… Assembly of the books… etc.

NRAMA: The most high profile title is probably the relaunch of Mario Gully's Ant with Ant: Unleashed. What kind of benchmark are you guys setting for the Big City Comics line of comic books?

JK: We don’t see a limit but we’re not naive. When you’re looking up, sometimes you tend to bump into things in your path. I guess that’s why I have surrounded myself with a lot of backseat drivers. We plan to take this company as far as possible while enjoying the ride along the way.

NRAMA: What’s the high concept for the first three debut titles, namely Dragon Cross, Tempest and Totem?

JK: Dragon Cross is the only book outside of Big City’s main world. I have never spent too much time in fantasy themed projects. That being the case, I wanted to bring a more realistic and humane treatment to this book. Rob Richardson’s and I created this world ruled by dragons that spend the majority of time in human form. The main character is Talon the first red dragon born who is destined to be the messiah and clearly does not want the job. It has a “kung-fu meets Dragon Slayer” feel to it with Conan undertones.

Totem is our “Smallville on crack” book. Ian Baker is an orphan living in a foster home his parents were drug dealers killed in front of him and they are currently stuck in purgatory. They weren’t bad enough to go to hell but clearly not good enough to go upstairs. Since purgatory is filling up the angel Michael and Satan have come up with a solution. They will bestow powers from the Totem to some of the children of these people and how they use these powers will determine if their parents go up or down. For Ian, it is not a choice. He has a solid moral compass but he is 17 and will make mistakes.



Tempest is probably my favorite book since it allows me to completely bastardize years of fiction. Vlad Tempest is a criminal prosecutor and a vampire who is destined to rule all the vampires. The vampires have created the myths concerning sunlight, garlic, crosses and holy water so that they can hide in plane sight. In our world Vampires have to kill every fifteen days. It’s part of the human soul that keeps them immortal and alive. You think that’s fun just see what we do with werewolves.

NRAMA: And Omega One?

JK: Omega One is the ultimate team book. First off, it’s a painted book which takes three months per issue and has three full time artists working on different four issue story arcs. The basis behind Omega One is we’re taking away choice and allegiance while forcing heroes and villains to work together. You could be fighting your arch enemy and suddenly when the government needs you, you’ll have to fight on a team with them. I also feel that you never get those moments where people who have fought alongside one another meet and don’t even give each other the “half-bro” hug. It’ll be a nice ride.

NRAMA: How did you manage to convince legendary creator Alex Saviuk to contribute variants covers to January's Dragon Cross #3, Tempest #3, Totem #1, Ant: Unleashed #2 and Omega One #1?

JK: I kissed a lot of ass. Used a whole bucket of chopstick. No really, I did. Actually, Alex is someone I have great respect for and I begged. I and the artists at Big City had the privilege of working with Alex and it has been the first of what are hope are many highlights for my company.

NRAMA: A month later, Mario Gully will provide variant covers for February's issues of Totem, Tempest, Ant Unleashed, Dragon Cross and Omega One. What are your views on offering variant covers, especially from a new publisher like Big City Comics, in today's oversaturated (and highly volatile) comic book market?

JK: First off, I have a rule at Big City. The interior artist gets to do the regular retail cover. While not popular, I believe that not allowing the interior artist to do the cover also is basically telling him you’re good enough for the grunt work but you’re not good enough for the cover. I know there are different opinions but lets just agree to disagree.

That being the case I only allow non interior artists to do our variant covers. I’m giving the retailers a bonus. They don’t pay extra for my variants. They order five they get the variant for free. This allows then if they sell the variant for retail price to basically get three of our other books for free. Big City Helping the industry, one variant at a time.

So my answer is no in Big City’s case variants are gifts to the retailers and the fans.

NRAMA: You've recently announced that ChrisCross has signed on for next summer's planned crossover event, currently titled "Tainted", right? How did the fan favorite artist come into the creative picture?

JK: Chris is a ridiculously gifted artist and has a set of values that parallel my own. We talked about what our company stood for and he supported the ideals here. Also, it is a pretty unique thing. Instead of doing fill-in issues, I came up with the idea of using a well established artist to do a six-issue crossover in over three of our books. Fans benefit and the artists at Big City are able to keep on schedule without killing themselves. The first issue starts off in Tempest and end in Chris’s 2nd issue of Ant: Unleashed.

NRAMA: Several high-profile but now defunct/out of business publishers in the past had tried their luck with company crossovers with varying degree of success. What's your view on doing a crossover event so early into the publishing game?



JK: I think it rocks. But at Big City, it’s not unusual to see a character in another character’s book. Big City’s about relationships not guest appearances. Totem and Tempest are friends so it’s not unusual for Totem to be drinking a Red Bull griping about getting his ass kicked.

NRAMA: Well, "Tainted" will only involve three of Big City Comics titles, right? Why only Ant, Tempest, and Totem instead of a company wide crossover event? You did mention just now that one is set in a separate universe while the other is a painted book… Could those be the reasons for not including them into the crossover?

JK: Well, honestly I’m punishing Rob Richardson of Dragon Cross but the truth is Dragon Cross is not in the same universe and Omega One is a painted book with four issues story arcs. While Chris is extremely talented, I can’t expect him to spend 6 months painting two issues of Omega One.

NRAMA: What steps is Big City Comics taking to avoid going the CrossGen route?

JK: First off, I’d spent my millions on just paying people off at Newsarama instead of parties. While we are not the “Big Two”, we would like to take the things that they do right instead of just trying to reinvent the wheel. CrossGen had great talent. It was the direction that seemed off and readers can pick up on that.

Other than Alex Saviuk and ChrisCross, it looks like Tommy Castillo (Batman, Detective Comics) has signed on to provide the variant covers for Big City’s April releases. He is also penciling, inking and painting Tempest as of issue #5 for a minimum of six issues.

To find out more about Big City Comics, visit the official website at www.bigcitycs.com

[Daxamite]

The Big City books are well worth checking out! I've gotten all of the titles and enjoy them. Ant is pretty much an adult title (definitely not for kids) and is labelled as such right on the front cover. I've always liked Ant and I'm glad to see it coming out again. I've not been disappointed with any of their books.The folks at BCC are a great bunch of guys... each time I've seen them at a show, they've always been cordial and eager to talk with fans. Having Tommy Castillo come onboard with Tempest I think will be very cool!

Good Luck Guys!
Dax

[Thephanboy]

good luck to this team. hope they succeed and look forward to seein their books on there shelves

[waterdragon]

MG: Jeff can answer this question better then I can. That "fall out" with Image wasn't like that really. It was like I left Image to do some cool stuff elsewhere and I turn around and see two guys arguing on message boards. Truthfully, Big City was already up and running months before all that jazz happened, I believe.

ROFL, can someone be as full as themselves as that comment? "I left Image to do some cool stuff elsewhere" sounds completely one-sided and probably a half truth. I mean for intents and purposes Image could go around say "Yeah we let Mario go because we wanted people with actual talent." Plus, why the hell is Ant ultra-mega-super-badass adult with explicit content now? What about the apology to the fans who thought that one issue under Image where the tone of the book was causing a storm online due to it being a tad more adult than it should have been? I think it was #7 where you see a stripper dancing or something.

[JohnLynch]

Originally Posted by waterdragon

"I left Image to do some cool stuff elsewhere" sounds completely one-sided and probably a half truth. I mean for intents and purposes Image could go around say "Yeah we let Mario go because we wanted people with actual talent."

I don't think he was saying "I was sick of doing the same old boring ____ at Image" but was in fact saying "I got some offers elsewhere and thought they sounded interesting."

[captainzero]

I want to wish Jeff and the boys luck.!!

I haven't picked up anything from this line.
I've always thought that some of the companies mentioned above that went bankrupt did so because they did NOT offer any Super-Heroes that many of us fans could connect with.

I don't see any title here that really interests me... but I do hope your line succeeds.

I think you're skating on "thin ice" when you ignore the marketplace... but maybe you can succeed with titles that look like these. Like I said: Good Luck!!

[UltimateMatt]

Totem sounds interesting. Everything else... not so much. Good luck to a new comic company, though. We need more of them.