BAZOOKA JULES RETURNS WITH LESEAN THOMAS

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

Neil Googe’s Bazooka Jules became an instant hit amongst comics fans when the sixteen-year-old Julie Glocke transformed into every fanboy’s dream superheroine: a gun-toting buxom babe.

To date, three issues have been released. However, the Com.x office was broken into and a lot of materials and artwork were lost in the process. Things got to a halt and Googe himself has been sick during these times.

After being in hiatus for so long, creator Googe is still determined to complete this story and he has promised his fans that he would finish it eventually. However, what he didn’t promise, though, was that he would be drawing the rest of the issues. He posted on the Com.x message boards that “it's impossible for me to keep any kind of regular schedule on the comic. So I can either carry on, slowly, with no guarantee on the delivery date of the next issue (let alone any others) or I can get another artist and guarantee its delivery date.”

Later on in the thread, Googe posted that his favourite artist to take over the art duties was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’s LeSean Thomas but “I think he's probably pretty tied up with Arkanium and I’m having trouble getting in touch [with him]. So I'm still hunting and getting in touch with people, I'm just finishing up the script and have got someone in to help me polish it so an artist can draw it. It's one thing drawing my ideas, it's another thing entirely writing them.”

Despite all these obstacles, Googe is now able to finish off Bazooka Jules the way he had intended. With LeSean Thomas on board as the artist and Coy Turnbul doing background assists and Rick Ketcham on inks.

Googe provided Newsarama with the concept and a recap of the story so far. “Bazooka Jules is a 16 year old school girl, who becomes host to a top secret, military simbiote. The story then follows the adventures of a girl, who wants nothing more than to lead an ordinary teenage existence. This proves a little difficult due to the fact that everyone and their mother (literally) want to get their hands on the simbiote.

“On her way to school, Jules collides with the super powered thief Eddie Daytona, as he makes his escape from R&D company White Sheep Technologies (WST). Having just stolen their most prized possession, he stashes the object in Jules's school bag with the hopes of being able to retrieve it later.

“Later at school, Jules unknowingly activates the object and becomes fused with the object which turns out to be a top secret military simbiote.

“From this point on, whenever in danger, Jules becomes a walking arsenal, as well as having all physical attributes enhanced... in more ways than one.

“Jules, despising the whole bad girl genre of comics and action heroines, becomes the thing she hates most.

“She is now hunted by WST, as they are desperate to get back their only working prototype of this new weapon. To aid them in their efforts, they awaken the highly unstable original versions of her prototype known only as the ‘Family’.

“She heads to her school professor for help, who does, but it would appear [that] he has more up his sleeve than just Jules’ well being. It turns out she is also being monitored by a secret organization whose only wish for the downfall of WST. The third issue ends with Jules being confronted by the formidable ‘Family.’

“Throw into that strange space pirates, more from Eddie Daytona, the super powered registration agency and a few other twists and turns and you've got yourself the first three issues.”

Revealing the reasons for including Thomas into the creative puzzle, Googe admitted that there have been a few problems with scheduling. “Okay, as you may have noticed my scheduling on this project has not been great. Understatement, I know but hey. Which to be honest bothers me... a lot. I am a great hater of late comics believe it or not, people shouldn't be left waiting for ages and typically it turns out that I've become the worst in the industry for it.

“Anyway, running a company plus writing and drawing a comic just didn't work. I had a whole host of other stuff on my plate, including commissions. As a young company, we knew comics would never make ends meet at first and so I had to take on commissions to make ends meet for the company. Don't get me wrong, the commissions have helped greatly in boosting our exposure in other industries and have led to some huge things for us (which will be revealed shortly) but it meant I had no possible way of hitting that monthly... or bi monthly... or to be honest, yearly schedule. So I decided rather than just let it fall by the way I'd look for a new artist.

“The reason I picked LeSean is one, he is great, and I don’t just mean great, I mean really great,” he stressed. “I actually can’t think of anyone more suitable for the project. I had a short list of three people I would absolutely love to work on the project (although never in a million years believed I'd get them). Dave Johnson, Jason Pearson and... LeSean. LeSean’s work is dynamic, fun, exciting and powerful plus he draws youth like no other, his characterisation is outstanding. Basically, he can do everything that Jules needs. Trust me, there's not many people that could really do what I had in mind for the story and character justice (including me). I wanted it to be as much about Jules and her friends as I did about her powers and the villains she fights, so it does need good characterisation. He has a great fluid, flowing style and as depressing as it is, he'll do a far better job than I ever could have done.”

For Thomas, the project is a solid match – something he’s been interested in for a good while. “The first time I had even heard of Bazooka Jules was in a very old article in Wizard magazine,” recalled Thomas. “The designs looked cool and had a cool style and quirky dynamic edge. It caught my eye. But I couldn’t get to the actual books because it was so hard to find at the retailers. I managed to only get a hold of issue #2. The designs are really creative and is the type of thing I’d get into, much like the type of fun on Dreamwave’s Arkanium series I produced. It makes sense that this series would be up my alley.

“On how it wound up in my hands,” Thomas added, “Well, I’d have to give a big shout out to James McEwan, aka LoudPlug, for making this meeting happen. He came to me asking if I had heard the news that my name came up a couple times on The Intake forums, as the artist to finish Jules. I was interested. He got at Neil, we exchanged email addys, and here we are.”

How different is Thomas’ reimagination of Jules from the original version created and envisioned by Googe? “Well, the overall stylistic approach I feel will be similar. Neil [and I] watch the same stuff, so our animation, anime influences are hand in hand. Single line weights, open shapes, all those things are part of the Jules ‘feel.’

“My approach will probably be more on a kinetic/dynamic approach in terms of shapes. More along the lines of my work on Arkanium [and] not like the current work I'm doing on Dreamwave's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is more open and cartoonish in shape. Plus, with upcoming talent, Coy Turnbul, rolling with me on his intense background assists [in Arkanium #3, #4], it's definitely going to be illmatic.

“The approach I have in mind, theme-wise , will probably be along the lines of Yasoumi Umetsu's Kite, Hurricane Polymar and Mezzo Forte. Jules fans are going [to] be in for a real treat. I’ll give a new twist with a touch of the original integrity Neil started that fans have grown to love. And yes, unlike this early conceptual image displays, she will be toting "the co-stars", lol. Bazooka Jules is going to end with a BANG!”

Jules’ (mis)adventures would not just end with the sixth issue of the series, as Googe has big plans for the character both in and out of the comics industry. “There are a lot of things in the pipe line for Jules both in and out of the comics world - as per usual, can’t talk about them all yet. As for the comics, I have about the first 6 or 7 series already planned in rough, these will get done. I'd love to keep LeSean on them but we'll have to see what happens, as I said, he's a popular man. If he wants to stay on it after the nightmare of working with me, I'd love to keep him. I will continue to bring out Jules, though.

“As for the future story-wise…here’s a brief breakdown: the pirates feature more; Eddie has some interesting developments; Jules’ powers get more out of control before she gets them under control; there's a strange, bitter old man who proves to be very troublesome for Jules; school gets far worse as does her personal life; WST pull out all the stops and what you think is the case, very rarely is. And that’s just the stuff I want you to know... which is about a tenth of it.”

Despite bringing in Thomas, Googe aims to do back up stories for the remaining three issues, with an additional story for the collected edition.

No date is fixed on when issue #4 hits shops, though. “We'll see how that goes before we sit down and develop a schedule. But by the time issue #4 comes out, we will have a list of release dates for the remainder of the series,” said Thomas.

[ameriskin]

I was loving this series when the break-in occurred. I'm surprised it's taken so long to get another ish out, but based on the first 3, I'll wait and pick it up when it comes out.

[nano]

the sketches look awesome! I enjoyed the series so far and I definitively gonna pick up the rest!

[sythspawn]

Damn, I had forgotten all about this book! I think I missed #3 though (is that included in the "Bumper Edition"?). Will this still be published through Com.X?

[Reliant]

This is kewl news--I had thought this book had been cancelled or that Com.x had folded after Issue 3...


I loved Bazooka Jules because--despite the rather noticeable endowments of the title character--it wasn't as much a "bad girl book" as it was a satire of one.

The sketches by the new artist look really good, and I'm glad there are plans to continue this book beyond its current mini-series...

[FIG]

..I loved his work on Arkanum. His figures were very dynamic and the coloring was awesome. I'll give this comic a try even though I have never tried it before. Lesean, if you're listening, keep up the good work man.

[jasinmartin]

This is great news!

Jules and Cla$$war were two of the best books around and I've been waiting since the COM.X problems for them to get back on schedule. These books are great, and worth the wait...

LeSean is a great artist for this book, I really dig his work too. Sounds like a perfect match.

COOL!

[Benjamin Ong]

Originally posted by sythspawn
Damn, I had forgotten all about this book! I think I missed #3 though (is that included in the "Bumper Edition"?). Will this still be published through Com.X?

No, the Bumper edition only collects the first two issues...

[AForceOfOne]

Amazing work as always LeSean. Bringing back memories of the personal stuff you did on dw board.

Keeps getting better and better.

[Tue Sorensen]

Originally posted by Benjamin Ong
the Bumper edition only collects the first two issues...

Suits me - I only ever got hold of #3!

[Benjamin Ong]

Originally posted by Tue Sorensen
Suits me - I only ever got hold of #3!

Be sure to get a copy of the Bumper edition as it also features Cla$$war and some other goodies like Joshua Middleton's Sky Between Branches

[Charlie Hustle]

too bad about com x I was really into and supportive of their titles. And sky between branches looked great, i still flip through the preview edition.

Lesean is one of the more exciting artists working in comics right now

[Tue Sorensen]

Originally posted by Benjamin Ong
Be sure to get a copy of the Bumper edition as it also features Cla$$war and some other goodies like Joshua Middleton's Sky Between Branches

Already have those, but thanks anyway!

[stlfan79]

Com.X puts out some of the best comics out with Cla$$war, Puncture, Sky Between Branches and Jules. It's nice to see them completing this book and with an artist as wonderful as LeSean to only make the title better. Applause.

[beamable]

By the way, if you are missing any of the BJ or Cla$$war issues, we've got them available online at Beamable.com!

[LeSean]

Peace, all

whats really good?

just wanted to say good lookin out and thanx to Ben and Matt for the great article! thanx so much for the positive responses...

I'm havin a lotta fun on this project and i think Jules is a refreshment in the sea of BadGirl comics out there and still manages to poke fun and not take itself seriously...some real fun stuff..

thanx again,

Getcha weight up, not ya Hate up