FRANK TIERI ON DARKNESS/WOLVERINE

[MattBrady]

The first team-up special to roll out from the recently forged relationship between Marvel and Top Cow, August’s Darkness Wolverine falls pretty easily in the no-brainer category of stories. Take the respective company’s (and universe’s) toughest hombres, and pitch them at each other…

Well, sorta.

Given that the darkness is a gift/curse that’s passed from father to son and that Wolverine is extremely long-lived, there’s some room for exploration, and that’s what writer Frank Tieri and penciler Tyler Kirkham are aiming to do.

We spoke with Tieri for more on the August-shipping one-shot.

Newsarama: So how did you land on this one? Were you pitching as soon as you heard about the Marvel/Top Cow deal, or were you in on it earlier than that?

Frank Tieri: Actually, I had no idea I was even being considered for anything like this until I got the actual call. I guess I was a pretty logical choice—I’ve worked on both Wolverine and the Darkness before and fans of those characters have been asking me for a while when I’d be revisiting them again. I knew one day I eventually would—though not necessarily together

Whatever the case, my decision to take the gig really was an absolute no brainer. A chance to work with two of my favorite characters and two of my favorite people in the biz again? That would be the lovely Renae Geerlings and the very unlovely Axel Alonzo. Needless to say, I’m pretty pumped

NRAMA: As the solicits revealed, you're writing a story that concerns an earlier adventure of Wolverine, and the earlier days of the Darkness - compared to what we've seen in the series - why take that approach? Why not, set it all in present day, this is their first meeting, etc...

FT: Well, we’ll really be getting a bit of both -- the best of both worlds, if you will—because in reality, we’re actually telling two stories here. One is told through flashback and involves Wolvie’s first encounter with Jackie’s grandfather (Roberto Estacado), and the other will focus on Wolvie’s first encounter with Jackie, years later. It’ll be sort of how Lost does it with the flashback story feeding into the main, current story.

Now, why do an earlier Darkness story set in the past at all?

NRAMA: The flow in this interview just flipped…

FT: Work with me… I just thought it would be a cool angle to use-- when you take Wolvie’s long life into consideration, along with the level of ____ he’s been through during that long life, I figure there’s a good chance he might have run into a Darkness bearer at some point.

And I’ll admit it - for purely selfish reasons, it also allows me to address a bit one of the major regrets I had after I left Wolverine. Fans of projects like Apocalypse Vs Dracula and Hercules can guess that I’m a pretty big history nut, so you could see how I would have loved to be doing something along the lines of what they’ve got going on now with Wolverine: Origins. The thing is, though, because of the original Origin, Marvel totally handcuffed me as far as playing with Wolvie’s past. So I guess, this story is allowing me to scratch that itch a little bit.

NRAMA: Let’s talk about Wolverine and Grandpda Estacado - tease out that backstory a little - when did Wolverine first run into the Darkness power? Who won that little tete a tete?

FT: I’ve always sort of seen Wolvie during his black ops/covert/spy/whatever-the-hell-he-was-back-then days as the guy the government would send in to straighten the shit out that needed to be straightened. Then, once that was all done and the bodies were buried and what have you, he’d get the ____ out of dodge and move on to the next thing that required “fixing”. That’s pretty much how we’ve set up things up here.

It’s World War II, German occupied France, 1942. Wolvie’s been sent in by the Allies to beef up the French Resistance there and make them a genuine thorn in the Nazis’ collective sides. Wolvie’s done that and then some—in fact, he’s done almost too good of a job. The Nazis now see him as someone that needs to be whacked immediately-- and who do they call when they need a whacking to happen? Yep, you guessed it, Jackie’s grandpappy -- good ol’ Roberto Estacado. Roberto’s pretty much the top assassin in the world at this time. In fact, he’s such a bad mo-fo that he usually doesn’t just knock out his target-- he knocks out entire populations.

So what happens when these two who are the “best there is” at what they do, try and do it to each other? Lots of blood, lost limbs, dead nuns and… yeah, I said dead nuns. That’s right, I went there.

NRAMA: And now? What brings the two together this time?

FT: Three words: Payback time, bitch.

Let’s just say the Darkness wasn’t exactly wild about how the whole Wolvie/ Roberto affair went down. So now we’re in the present day, we’re in one of Jackie’s strip clubs—and who should also happen to be in there, paying homage to silicone enhanced gazombas with multiple dead presidents ? If you guessed a certain clawed lunatic of Canadian descent, you’d be correct.

Just to be clear, that would be Wolverine, not Celine Dion.

So the Darkness is out for Logan’s blood -- and it wants Jackie to get it for them. The thing is-- is this something Jackie really wants to get himself involved with? Maybe not—but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t end up knee deep in it anyway.

NRAMA: So where does this all lead Wolvie and Jackie?

FT: At each others’ throats.

NRAMA: So – to be clear – this is not a team up?

FT: Oh, hell no. This is not some goofy team up where two heroes meet and end up fighting some mutual enemy that showed up for no apparent reason bullshit—these two are the enemy. I’ll make no bones about it, these guys will absolutely be trying to kill each other—and the end result is one of the most violent and unique fight scenes I’ve ever written.

And that’s saying a lot, coming from me.

NRAMA: So who has the edge as you see it—Jackie or Wolverine?

FT: That’s really a tough one.

NRAMA: Elaborate, please…

FT: See, with Jackie and the Darkness, you sort of have the ultimate offense. Jackie can pull pretty much whatever he wants out of the Darkness and toss it at you—knives, guns, missiles, hordes of darkness demons, Richard Simmons… what have you.

But now let’s look at Wolvie… sure, he’s got some nice “O” there with his claws and everything, but when you think about his healing factor and special training, etc, he sort of has the ultimate defense. You can throw just about everything and anything you want at this guy and he’s just going to keep coming and coming and coming…

Either way, in the end it’s really not going to be so much as to who wins this one, folks -- as it is to who survives.

NRAMA: Yeah, so you’re not going down the cliché road of having them fight and then teamup, but still…there are tons and tons of clichés that seem to always crop up in stories like this. How do you stay away from them?

FT: You stay true to the characters—who they are, what they’re about and how they’d act, etc. And then you put them in situations that make sense to each of them.

If you’re not going to do that, if you’re going to sell out and put two characters together just because you think you’ll sell a lot of comics, then don’t bother. Do us all a favor.

NRAMA: In holding Wolverine and Jackie up against one another, what have you found that makes them similar? What makes them different?

FT: Something that really struck me while writing this book was that the major thing both these guys have in common is something they’re fighting —and that’s the darkness. Jackie’s is obviously more visible and a more tangible thing, while Wolvie’s is an inner darkness he must fight—but by no means, is it any less dangerous

As for the major way these two differ, in my opinion, it’s control. I just think Jackie’s got his shit together a little bit better than Logan does. Sure, Jackie goes to that “edge” but he teeters there—something inside him always brings him back. While with Logan… I think Logan’s been back and forth many times over that “edge” and if he’s not careful, he could stay there.

That’s why when Wolvie fights Sabretooth or somebody like Roberto, it’s always so effective—under certain circumstances, Wolvie could have been Sabretooth. Hell, if he’s not careful, under certain circumstances, Wolvie will be Sabretooth.

While on the flip side, let’s take Jackie-- he could never be the murdering scumbag his grandfather Roberto is. Jackie ain’t somebody to be ____ed with, don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t think that he has it in him to be like a Roberto or a Sabretooth. And believe me, that’s not a bad thing

NRAMA: Flipping over to the art side, Tyler Kirkham is drawing this. Does the artist you’re working with influence how you write a story like this?

FT: First off, let me say it’s a real treat to be working with Tyler. I had the chance to spend some time with him at the Philly Con this year and not only is this guy going to be the next big thing, but he’s a Hell of a nice guy to boot

But to be perfectly honest here, I’m pretty much going to write how I’m going to write pretty much regardless of who the artist is—especially when it comes to a story like this. I mean, I’ve been writing comics since 2000-- by now people know what kind of stories I’m going to tell when they hire me, right? Ultra violent, grim, gritty, with some black humor and the occasional sick, twisted ____ thrown in kind of stuff seems to be my forte– which of course, is a perfect fit for a book like this.

Look, I’m not the editor—that’s his/ her job to pair me up with someone who equally fits. Which is why, with Axel [Alonso] and Renae [Geerlings] onboard, I had no worries about any of that. They know me well enough to know who fits my style and the style needed for a book like this and who doesn’t. And, as you can see by these pages, Tyler was as good as a fit as you can possibly get. The art and the coloring looks amazing

NRAMA: Alright, winding things up – as much as you’re having them duke it out, Jackie and Wolverine do have a lot of similarities. So what do you think—Jackie and Wolvie… could they – will they ever actually be friends?

FT: Ya know, I actually don’t think that’s as far fetched as it sounds. I mean, they both have an eye for the ladies, they’re both guys you don’t want to mess with and they’ve both had a shitload of tragedy in their lives. Under different circumstances—hey, who knows? I could even see them having a beer together

Of course, first they’d have to stop trying to horribly murder each other—know what I mean?

[Thor2006]

But the question I have is how did Wolverine get into the TopCow universe? dimensional gate opening or something?

[JonahsWhale]

Love Tieri - but I just can't get over all of those Cyblade/Elektra, Wolverine/Witchblade crossovers from last decade ...

[Andre MOP]

Haha, for a moment I thought it was another Marvel Zombies cover

(looking closer, it´s a nice looking cover)

[thefrogman]

Haha, for a moment I thought it was another Marvel Zombies cover

So did I. Cool cover though.

[Cupelix]

I'm digging the art on this. Random crossovers don't generally excite me, however. I also know nothing about Darkness, and am not a large enough Wolverine fan to get me to pick this up. Art is definitely pretty badass, though.

[bigshark]

The art looks great. Can't wait to check it out.

[Stormbreaker]

I'm excited for this. I loved Tieri's Wolverine run, but I never read his Darkness. Can anyone tell me when it was? I have about the second half of the first volume and the first issue or two of the most recent volume (at least, I THINK it's the most recent. Paul Jenkins wrote it, that's all I remember), but I haven't picked it up since. But Tieri really gets these characters (as well as Sabretooth, unlike SO many writers. I am eternally greatful to him for that because Sabretooth is one of my favorite characters in comics), and Kirkham, while I don't own any of his work, looks to be impressive. I mean, he's getting this one-shot and the Phoenix: Warsong mini, so he's gotta be good. Can't wait!

[JmH Reborn]

I'm so excited for this one-shot...I think it'll kick some ass...

[Ace]

At least Tieri seems to have fun.

[ZampDiSata]

what's it gonna cost?

[Livewire2nd]

Originally Posted by Thor2006

But the question I have is how did Wolverine get into the TopCow universe? dimensional gate opening or something?

Who cares Just Pretend while reading the One shot that they share the Same Universe. I mean it is a Comic pretending shouldn't be that much of a streach of the imagination.

[Nobody]

Originally Posted by ZampDiSata

what's it gonna cost?

Your dignity?

[clerk976]

Originally Posted by Cupelix

I'm digging the art on this. Random crossovers don't generally excite me, however. I also know nothing about Darkness, and am not a large enough Wolverine fan to get me to pick this up. Art is definitely pretty badass, though.

Tieri most recent stint followed Ron Marz's arc on the book. It was issues #14-16 if I remember correctly.

Before that he handled the Darkness: Wanted Dead one-shot with Mar Texiera. The run on the book is kind of a sequel, so I'd recommend reading Wanted Dead first.

[budcali]

It seems Marvel and Top Cow share the same universe now hehe. Well there was already a Darkness/Hulk crossover, which was pretty good. Who knows what craziness will happen now - Witchblade joining the X-men, Lara Croft joining the Avengers?

[Alextron]

Originally Posted by budcali

It seems Marvel and Top Cow share the same universe now hehe. Well there was already a Darkness/Hulk crossover, which was pretty good. Who knows what craziness will happen now - Witchblade joining the X-men, Lara Croft joining the Avengers?

If Marvel buys Topcow you can say goodbye to Image. It's Silvestri, Valentino, larsen, and the issue Spawn that McFarlane has put out.

[alan brown]

Oh Top Cow, how you remind me of the bad ole 90's.

[alan brown]

Originally Posted by Alextron

If Marvel buys Topcow you can say goodbye to Image. It's Silvestri, Valentino, larsen, and the issue Spawn that McFarlane has put out.

Um, what?
I buy tons of Image stuff, and none of it is Top Cow.
In fact, non-Top Cow image stuff is probably the most intesting thing coming out of the big 4:
Walking Dead
Invincible
Fear Agent
Fell
Sea of Red
Strange Girl
Casanova
Rocketo

The Top Cow stuff, whatever. If that's your thing then fine, but it pretty much all blends together for me.

[deldredz]

Originally Posted by budcali

It seems Marvel and Top Cow share the same universe now hehe. Well there was already a Darkness/Hulk crossover, which was pretty good. Who knows what craziness will happen now - Witchblade joining the X-men, Lara Croft joining the Avengers?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158...832607?ie=UTF8

I would love to see Top Cow absorbed by the Marvel U. All the heroes are already in New York anyway. And the art for Darkness/Wolverine looks really good. I'm looking forward to this.

[DanVandafan]

Cool, I'll buy it.

[EdKaye]

Originally Posted by alan brown

Um, what?
I buy tons of Image stuff, and none of it is Top Cow.
In fact, non-Top Cow image stuff is probably the most intesting thing coming out of the big 4:
Walking Dead
Invincible
Fear Agent
Fell
Sea of Red
Strange Girl
Casanova
Rocketo

The Top Cow stuff, whatever. If that's your thing then fine, but it pretty much all blends together for me.

Not to mention Godland

[Wade Wilson]

Originally Posted by ZampDiSata

what's it gonna cost?

$3 for Darkness goodness.

[dirtymerkin]

The art looks okay...but I doubt if I'll buy it..I like Wolverine but I am not a big fan of the Darkness...wish I could get more excited about it because I also loved the Frank Tieri run on Wolverine, that was some good stuff...

[Derek Ruiz]

Originally Posted by alan brown

Um, what?
I buy tons of Image stuff, and none of it is Top Cow.
In fact, non-Top Cow image stuff is probably the most intesting thing coming out of the big 4:
Walking Dead
Invincible
Fear Agent
Fell
Sea of Red
Strange Girl
Casanova
Rocketo

The Top Cow stuff, whatever. If that's your thing then fine, but it pretty much all blends together for me.

I was the same way as you but then Ron Marz jumped on board at Topcow and made WitchBlade readible and the art as of late has been incredible....Mark Millars Wanted was awesome as well. The writing on Cyberforce is cool. And most people who shrug off TopCow havent checked them out in a couple of years.

[Frankfurt]

Wow, they really managed to make the art look awful with this lame coloring style.