JEFF PARKER ON VIRGIN'S GAMEKEEPER & MORE

[MattBrady]

by Zack Smith

Jeff Parker’s witty, action-packed tales for such books as X-Men: First Class, Agents of Atlas and the various Marvel Adventures titles have made him a fan-favorite creator. In March, he’ll take a decidedly darker turn with a run on Gamekeeper, the Virgin Comics series created by writer/director Guy Ritchie and previously written by Andy Diggle. Parker, who previously wrote the series Walk-In for Virgin, previewed the new series (with a little help from a friend), and let us know what’s coming up in his Marvel books and his creator-owned project The Interman.

Newsarama: Jeff, for those unfamiliar with Gamekeeper, tell us a little about the concept and characters.

Jeff Parker: For real consistency, let me introduce assistant editor Charlie Beckerman, who has been with this book longer than me. Charlie?

Charlie Beckerman: What Guy wanted from the start was a kind of anti-hero. Picture James Bond in all his slickness and suaveness and then think about the exact opposite... a rough-around-the-edges guy who personifies the phrase "still waters run deep." That's our Brock.

Originally from Chechnya, Brock works as gamekeeper on the estate of Jonah Morgan, who he met ten years earlier during a skirmish in the Chechen mountains the Russian FSB (more or less, the post-Soviet KGB). Brock's a dark, quiet man, owing largely to the loss of his young son during that same encounter, but there's an animalistic quality inside of him that comes out when it is needed most.

Jonah Morgan, Brock's friend and employer, was a scientific publisher before he was killed by mercenaries during a raid on his estate. He took Brock in after the loss of his son, but had also been harboring the secret of the Draganov equation, a secret Jonah died protecting.

Amanda Morgan is Jonah's widow, a tough old bird who values her family above all else. It was Amanda that implored Brock to find Jonah's killer.

Krista Morgan is Jonah and Amanda's only daughter. After Brock tracked Jonah's killer to a carbon broker in Amsterdam by the name of Van Allan, he discovered Krista dating him. It was Krista who unwittingly spilled the secret of the Draganov equation to Van Allan, who had commissioned the mercenaries to extract it.

In the fight during which Brock lost his son those many years ago in Chechnya, we met Sadic, who led the operation to capture and extract the Draganov equation from the scientist. In the battle that followed, Sadic surrendered an eye to Brock's rage, and that's a hard thing to forgive.

And then, lastly, new in this arc, you're going to see the Soccer Club, a team of mercenaries led by a man named Volkes. They're a rough-and-tumble crew, but they're efficient. Their star player: a young sharpshooter named the Raven.

NRAMA: Thanks, Charlie! Now, Jeff, what were the challenges of following up on Andy Diggle's story? Will you need to have read the initial storyline to understand this?

JP: The main challenge was that I started before he was finished with the first storyline, but Andy made that as smooth as possible by sending me everything and answering my pestering questions. Besides being a great writer, he's a great guy when you need help. In fact I'm about to barrage him with some London logistics questions when we're done here!

NRAMA: Good luck with that! Have you had any contact with Guy Ritchie regarding how to approach the storyline?

JP: Again, that's a very "Charlie" question...

CB: Guy's been reading the scripts and the outlines, making sure what we're doing here is in line with what he envisioned when he conceived the story. He's been most emphatic about the relationship between Brock and nature, really painting Brock as a part of the natural world with one foot in the civilized world. Most of my contact has been through the guys at Virgin, but Guy has been with us the whole way on this, and that's been pretty exciting.

JP: Thanks Charlie! Now back to buttering toast with you.

NRAMA: So, who’s your artist on this storyline?

JP: I'm working with studio mates of mine from PERISCOPE in Portland Oregon- Ron Randall, who's been drawing Wonder Woman and Outsiders lately, is laying out the pages, and they're finished by Ron Chan, who got lots of critical attention last year on Dummy's Guide to Danger from Viper Comics.

While it probably drives them nuts to have me walk over and blab on about how I see the characters looking and behaving, I have to say it's great for me! They're doing a spot-on job at keeping the action fast and dangerous, while infusing some personality and humor in The Soccer Club.

NRAMA: Now, your last book for Virgin, Walk-In, recently got collected, and got good marks from Pushing Daisies director Barry Sonnenfeld in its introduction. The book didn't get much promotion in its initial form, but do you feel it's finding an audience now?

JP: Yes, for whatever reason it's starting to truly exist in trade form, and I'm glad. I'm very proud of that story, and new comics artist Ashish Pedlekar really knocked himself out on it. It was fun doing pure trippiness for that long. I keep hearing of people who've just discovered it and want more. I'd be perfectly fine with more adventures of Ian and Astrid.

NRAMA: Also, Walk-In featured your both writing and drawing the final issue. Any plans to do some art for Gamekeeper?

JP: No, because it doesn't have a talking bear with a rifle in it like the end of Walk-In did. If it did, I'd campaign to draw, but it just doesn't work in with the story.

NRAMA: Well, he is a gamekeeper, so there might be bears somewhere on that estate…

Given that you've had such success as a writer the last few years, do you see yourself going back to being an artist for other writers in the future, or writing/illustrating more of your own work? How has writing for other artists changed the way you approach your artwork?

JP: I'm finally drawing more Interman, so yes, I plan to team up with me more in the future. And definitely on some short stories. But I'm probably not going to draw other people's stories too much. I'm somewhat addicted to the start-ball-rolling stage now.

NRAMA: Which leads me to the question you’re probably asked the most – how are plans for more Interman coming along?

JP: I just started drawing Volume 2, and I actually have some art from Tomm Coker for a single issue that I was going to do. This whole working with my own studio thing is going so well I'm probably going to visit this well more often to assist me with getting Interman 2 moving. It's not deathly crucial that I letter and color it myself again.

NRAMA: And the other question you’re asked the most – the Agents of Atlas have become the Alec Baldwin of the Marvel Universe lately...um, more in the "Professional Guest Star" sense than the creepy voicemail sense. Any hints as to where they'll show up next?

JP: Hey, I still don't think that voicemail was that bad. I have a feeling they're going to show up in an odd place. Things keep chaotically changing pertaining to their next big appearance. So if you'd like a new miniseries with them, it wouldn't hurt to share that information with Marvel...

NRAMA: Newsarama readers – you heard the man. Now, Jeff, as you discussed on your blog recently, you want to move away from short stories and "done in one" pieces to do more longform stories. How's that transition going?

JP: It was going great until Nate Cosby tricked me into agreeing to write another arc of Marvel Adventures: The Avengers, so I'm at least doing four more stand alones. He did it in the most evil way too, he sent me some concept drawings that Leonard Kirk had worked up and got us on the subject of how fun it would be if Arnim Zola or Galactus showed up, and the next thing I knew I was plotting out ideas.

But, I do have many more multi part stories being developed for this year. More than done-in-ones. I just needed a break from them, because I was afraid of becoming formulaic.

NRAMA: Getting back to Gamekeeper – what's your overall experience working with Virgin Comics been like?

JP: MacKenzie Cadenhead and Charlie have been a blast to work with. They really go over the scripts thoroughly and care a lot about good storytelling. They also see through my lies, which keeps me on my toes. It's a little funny-because of the way the company is set up, lots of people have to sign off on the scripts before revisions and drawing can proceed. But everyone at Virgin must just stop whatever they're doing where ever they are and read the scripts immediately, because the process never gets hung up in that stage.

NRAMA: And finally, aside from what you’re already teased – what's next for you?

JP: Oh, I'd like to tell you, but we'll have to schedule another interview. It's really neat though, I can say that. I guess I can talk about X-Men First Class and our line up of guest star artists coming up in the next few months, though. Roger Cruz desperately needs a vacation, so we're letting him soak his drawing hand in a hot spring somewhere while other people get a crack at Chuck X's greatest team ever.

Next month, you'll see Eric Nguyen taking the team into the realm of horror under the burning-touch guidance of the Man-Thing. Then Roger's understudy, the amazing Julia Bax will be drawing an all-girl mutant adventure as Marvel Girl and Scarlet Witch are recruited by The Black Widow. After that the Prince of the Perhapanauts, Craig Rousseau, is drawing a Cyclops story that's actually kind of disturbing and will probably confuse and scare that segment of our readership who mainly want Bobby pranking people with ice antics.

And then we'll have the weirdest story yet, weirder even than the inside-Professor X's-head story, and the only person for that job is Nick Dragotta, who drew the weirdest story in the XFC Special last year.

And I swear I'm finally going to actually write a newsletter for those who sign up for it over at http://parkerspace.com , and probably give away some good stuff. ThatTHAT is my New Year's resolution.

[eltopo]

they still publish Virgin comics ?

[Eric Palicki]

Originally Posted by eltopo

they still publish Virgin comics ?

Virgin Comics does still publish Virgin Comics, yes.

[slice two]

the first run of Gamekeeper was amazing. i got the hardcover and it blew my mind.

i'm real excited for this.

[Lord Ice]

Gamekeeper was the best series of last year. It's good to see it continue. And having the writer of the equally good Walk-In series is just gravy.

[ShinAkuma666]

I got the TPB, glad there is a sequel ! Some great stuff coming up from Virgin, some issues can be read for free on their website, give it a try people !

[nwspencer]

Originally Posted by eltopo

they still publish Virgin comics ?

Virgin publishes a lot of great books, most notably Dock Walloper.

Congrats, Jeff!

[SunnyvaleTra]

First series was great, but I found I a bit anti-climactic. I might jump up for this, as I'd like to check out Jeff Parker.