INSIDE ATOMIC POP ART WITH SHON BURY

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

“It’s all about the pop!”

That’s the corporate motto of Atomic Pop Art Entertainment, a new comic book publisher aiming to make a splash on the scene in 2008.

Founded in 2005 by Tracy Duty as an independent publishing and production company, Atomic Pop Art is dedicated to the production of company-owned and licensed properties, as well as creator-owned comic books, original graphic novels, collected trades, and other illustrated publications.

We caught up with the power behind the pop, Editor-in-Chief and VP of Publishing Shon C. Bury for a look inside the company’s plans for 2008. Also, find out what veteran and fan favorite creators such as Jeff Mariotte and Keith Giffen, and Newsarama’s own Mike San Giacomo are doing with these guys at Atomic Pop Art.

Newsarama: What led you to form Atomic Pop Art?

Shon C. Bury: With how competitive the industry is, that’s a very good question. The short answer is a love for comics and a need to create and share pop properties. With that said, APA fully appreciates that comics are not a Field of Dreams proposition. We knew going in that we’d have to have some great books and fight hard to earn every reader. But our love for making comics, ultimately, is what led to the formation of APA.

NRAMA: What's the company's vision and mission?

SCB: APA’s vision is to publish books that readers want to read and to provide a home for books of all flavors, a home where the books have a chance to breathe.

In order to make this vision a reality, APA publishes a large number of books from diverse genres and age groups, from collected trades of Bluewater’s all-ages 10th Muse and Legend of Isis, to Mike San Giacomo’s teen plus Phantom Jack: Director’s Edition, to my teen plus OGN Nox and the Miller Bros’ original comic Redball 6.

NRAMA: Some of the initial releases from Atomic Pop Art are actually reprints and collections of previously published properties such as Bluewater Production's 10th Muse, Legend of Isis, Victoria's Secret Service, and Power of the Valkyrie, Mike Sangiacomo's Phantom Jack, and Shon C. Bury's Nox, which was a previously solicited miniseries from the now defunct Narwain Publishing known as Shon C. Bury's Threshold. What attracted you to each of these properties?

SCB: They’re good books that deserve to be read and that deserve to have a good home. Many of the Bluewater books as well as Mike’s Phantom Jack bumped around as many as four previous publishers each before landing at APA, while Narwain folded before Nox was ever published.

Specifically what attracted us to these books is as diverse as the books themselves. In the case of the Bluewater books, Darren G. Davis has done a fantastic job of building a huge catalogue of properties filled with great all-ages material and with an absolute army of awesome artists like Mike Wieringo, Bill Tucci, Roger Cruz, and newcomers Nadir Balan and Randy Kintz. We have nine volumes of 10th Muse alone that we’ll be publishing throughout 2008. Most of the Bluewater properties are set to become either movies or television shows, like 10th Muse, Legend of Isis, and VSS.

In the case of Phantom Jack, EIC Shon C. Bury had become familiar with the book and had gotten to know Mike San Giacomo through the Speakeasy fallout. Mike had done a fantastic job of creating an Everyman newspaper reporter who one day learned he could become invisible. The modern take on a “mundane” superhuman power grounded in the world of investigative reporting that Mike knows so well made Phantom Jack an incredibly engrossing read. Again, a book that deserved to be read and that deserved to have a good home. With the Director’s Edition, the Phantom Jack trade is everything a reader could ask for: The entire original mini, the unpublished origin story, Mitch Breitweiser art, retouched letters, and 80 pages of new material. Besides, when Bendis, Vaughan, and Meltzer praise a book...that book should be read.

Nox came to APA after the fallout of Narwain. APA owner Tracy Duty knew me from the agent circuit and from my previous writing at Marvel and DC. Tracy wanted to publish the book I based on Joseph Campbell’s Hero Cycle after enjoying my naturalistic and quirky writing style and the amazing art by Allan Goldman (Action Comics, Countdown). It was quickly decided to turn the book into an original graphic novel. Through the course of talking about comics, changes in the industry, and APA’s business plan, the job of EIC was offered to me.

At the core of all this is APA’s understanding of the industry’s move away from the standard, stapled comic book and towards graphic novels. Collected and original. A lot of these books had been “orphaned” for various reasons. All of these books are enjoyable reads and have varying degrees of name recognition and existing fan bases, so it was decided to invest the time and money in aggressively building our graphic novel library with recognizable titles--as opposed to dumping all our money into original properties printed and distributed in an increasingly outmoded publishing model that would receive a lukewarm response by both readers and retailers.

NRAMA: Now, some of those mentioned had previously partnered with other publishers like Arcana, Alias, etc. What does Atomic Pop Art offer to these creators and studios this time around?

SCB: Of course, we aren’t privy to previous deals by other publishers. However, APA offers a very generous creator-owned package that does not completely rob the property’s creators of their ancillary rights or tie up copy and publishing rights for years and years.

At the heart of the package is our belief that creators of creator-owned properties and their publisher are equal business partners. Each book should be approached differently in terms of marketing and distribution, and it’s for the best interest of both parties to work together to decide, then execute, the agreed upon plan. It slows things down a bit, but since our main focus is on building a trade library with cross-market appeal and penetration into several market places we’re obviously looking out for the long dollar and not next month’s sales report from Diamond.

Also, we reply to emails.

NRAMA: One of the new properties coming out from Atomic Pop Art is the Miller Bros.' Redball 6. This is the one that's set in a vibrant, hellish world in the tradition of Mike Mignola's Hellboy?

SCB: Yes, Redball 6 was our first 32-page “floppy.” Our first all-new creator-owned property brought to us by the painfully talented Miller Bros and Argentinean artist Jok. Redball 6 is an amazing book that will give Hellboy and The Goon a run for their money. That said, numbers were painfully soft on the first two issues. Although #1 has hit the stands (and can be purchased at our online store), we where forced to pull #2 from the catalogue. This is horribly, horribly unfortunate considering the rave reviews the book has received (and continues to receive as more people become aware of this absolutely addictive book). It’s also unfortunate considering that we have four issues in the can.

We’re currently working with the Miller Bros. to retool the last few chapters of the book so we can release the entire first arc as a 150-page graphic novel in time for convention season. You can see more Redball 6 goodness at the Miller Bros.’ site. It is so very much worth checking out.

NRAMA: Who's your target audience with the properties that you're developing?

SCB: Lovers of comics who get their fix for superheroes somewhere else. We have something to read for every age demographic. And we have almost every genre covered with the exception of superheroes, although an argument can be made for 10th Muse. In addition to our goal of having a huge graphic novel library very early on, we also want to break the mold that a publisher needs to settle on one niche genre. In a niche industry, limiting oneself to a specific genre could prove disastrous. That said, we don’t want to emulate the “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” model attempted by some notable failures in the recent past. Ultimately, it’s about believing in a property and working to bring that property to awareness in the market. Which is not a one-size-fits-all approach.

NRAMA: Has it been a long and winding road to reach out to the current and next generation of comic book readers?

SCB: Absolutely. The industry is going through many, very dynamic changes. Digital downloads. The viability of “floppies.” Online sales outlets. Effective marketing techniques. Retailer purchasing habits. These are topics that come up every day--and sometimes more than once a day. With Marvel and DC at the top of their game, the growing onslaught of manga, Hollywood’s interest in IPs generated in the comic industry, the scramble for market shares...it’s a guerilla war trying to get new readers of any type to notice that your hand is reaching out with a shiny, new pretty-pretty. It’s frustrating and utterly exhilarating to be building a publishing company in the market place today. So many challenges to face--and so much geek talk to be had while we figure out what works specifically for APA.

NRAMA: Perhaps the involvement of one of comic industry's veterans would be a boost to Atomic Pop Art's publishing plans. In saying that, what brought Jeff Mariotte and his two new properties, Fade to Black and Zombie Cop to Atomic Pop Art?

SCB: Jeff Mariotte and Shon have known each other for years, dating back to their WildStorm days. It was really as simple as Jeff asking to pitch a couple OGNs and APA liking those pitches. Both Fade to Black and Zombie Cop are in production, both slatted for late-2008 releases. With Indian superstar-artist Dheeraj Verma of Edge Studios and Space Goat Production’s Jon (Nightwing, Heroes for Hire) Bosco on the respective books, we know fans are really going to enjoy the awesome that Jeff has cooked up.

We're in talks with a number of industry veterans that straddle comics, Hollywood, and prose; and we have signed book deals over this past summer with Shannon Eric Denton (Jimmy Neutron, Common Foe, ZAPT!, Graveslinger) and Keith (how could you not know him?!) Giffen for two 2008 OGNs--previous to Giffen signing an exclusive with DC. The scripts are mind blowing and we can't wait to get them in production so we can start sharing art and more info with you all. (Hint: APA is very interested in both the Western and Horror genres)

NRAMA: Can you tease about those and other titles (including an original Phantom Jack OGN entitled Phantom Jack: Nowhere Man Agenda) that readers could expect from Atomic Pop Art in 2008? Other Bluewater Production properties to look out for? 10th Muse 800, perhaps? More from Shon C. Bury? Why should the general public give them a peek when they finally hit stores?

SCB: We have a pretty ambitious publishing schedule throughout 2008, to include a mix of collected trades as well as OGNs and original company-owned properties. Bluewater collections continue to roll out with Power of the Valkyrie, Blackbeard Legacy, Judo Girl, and every previously published 10th Muse book ever. We haven’t negotiated any new 10th Muse rights as of yet, but will be working closely with Bluewater to assist with any 10th Muse 800 initiatives put in place. We have talked about new Valkyries stories and a few other new properties, but nothing has been signed yet.

March 2008 gives you the next tale of Phantom Jack in the Nowhere Man Agenda. 100% original material with a fantastic painted cover and pin-ups by the amazing Nathan Fairbairn. Mike has pulled out all the stops to bring the “last” Phantom Jack story to readers. It’s a really amazing story that should not be missed. Sharp fans have already pieced together that Jack probably isn’t walking away from this story after his showdown with his evil counterpart, The Nowhere Man.

Late in the year brings us Jeff Mariotte’s Fade to Black and Zombie Cop, as well as some very nice treats from Shannon Eric Denton and Keith Giffen. Fade to Black is Jeff’s spot-on study of the 70s slasher film genre while Zombie Cop is a quirky zombie story about a cop... who finds himself growing zombified throughout the course of the story. It’s an amazing story about fighting crime and fighting for your humanity with an ending that you can not even imagine. It really puts the genre on its ear. Really great stuff, per usual with Jeff.

All these books pass a very simple litmus test in order to be added to our graphic novel library: 1) Are they good? and 2) do the respective creators make good business partners? If they pass that test, we want to publish the books and do everything in our power to get them into the hands of readers everywhere.

NRAMA: What about the Miller Bros.? Can we look forward to more from them under the Atomic Pop Art umbrella?

SCB: Philosopher REX is currently an Arcana book, last we checked, so there are no plans to publish that particular Miller Bros. book. However, APA is working closely with the Miller’s on a few new projects that aren’t quite ready to be talked about yet. And, yes, most will feature art by Jok--because he’s awesome personified.

For more on Atomic Pop Art, visit the official website at www.atomicpopart.net

[Mark Cardwell]

Soon people will run out of words beginning with "A" to name their comics companies, in the mad rush to get as close to the front of each month's issue of PREVIEWS.

[Eric Palicki]

Originally Posted by Mark Cardwell

Soon people will run out of words beginning with "A" to name their comics companies, in the mad rush to get as close to the front of each month's issue of PREVIEWS.

If I ever start a publishing company, I intend to call it "AAA Aardvark."