GARY REED: LIVING IN THE DEADWORLD

[MattBrady]

special to Newsarama by Rafael Nieves and Gary Reed

Rafael Nieves has been writing comics for nearly 20 years and has reached into the horror genre with his Hellstorm series from Marvel, adaptations of Poe, the science fiction horror series of Orlak, Nosferatu, and his The Apocalypse Plan that has been announced from Narwain.

Here, Rafael interviews his friend and partner in the new venture of Transfuzion Studios (which Newsarama readers will hear about shortly), Gary Reed. Reed is the former publisher of Caliber Comics and has dabbled in the horror genre considerably with Renfield, Helsing, and Sinergy. But the best know of Gary's horror writing is Deadworld.

With over 50 issues of Deadworld written, and the series currently running from Image, Rafael talks to Gary about what's happening with Deadworld now and plans for the future including the new Dead-Killer trade paperback coming out from Image.

Newsarama: Deadworld is one of the longest running independent comic series on the market. After the 50 issues put out by Arrow and Caliber, mostly in the 1990’s, you’ve relaunched the series from Image last year. How are things going with it?

Gary Reed: Actually pretty good. We got off to a bad start because the original artist, Vince Locke, got bogged down by so many outside things. He was the artist on the graphic novel, A History of Violence, and the Deadworld was released right before the movie. Vince was attending premieres and because of the connection with the movie, he got a lot of requests for artwork. His gallery work has taken over. Can’t blame him… you don’t get too many opportunities like that.

So, after the second issue, we brought in Dalibor Talajic. He had a bit of a learning curve because he didn’t know the characters as Deadworld didn’t make it very big in Eastern Europe but he caught up quickly. Once #3 came out, #4 and now #5 are on a regular schedule and I expect that to continue.

NRAMA: What was the fan response to Dalibor taking over the art?

GR: Very positive. Sure, Vince will always be revered as the Deadworld artist because he was the first but so far, everyone’s been happy with Dalibor’s work. Dalibor puts a lot into it and it shows. The fans can tell.

NRAMA: When Deadworld first came out, it was one of the few zombie comics. Now there seems to be so many. How do you think Deadworld compares to the others?

GR: I have no idea. I don’t read any of the others as I don’t want to know what they’re doing. I don’t want to take the chance that we might be on a similar path.

NRAMA: But what happens if there are similarities?

GR: I can’t worry about that. Most of the things I’ve done with the new series are based on the old series so that ground was covered by me some years ago. I mean, the teens traveling on a bus was in the very first issue back in 1987. So, some things don’t worry me as I know that I’ve already been there so I’m just revisiting. I had the small town migrate to the cold and snow regions, I had Clarence in the prison, I had Rand and his people living in caves, I had the carnival setting… so there’s a lot of old ground I can still tap into.

NRAMA: So, is the Image series a re-telling of the Caliber series?

GR: No, not at all. It may seem a bit similar at first as I wanted to re-establish the characters and the setting but by the third issue, it starts to depart from the original and will continue to do so as the series continues.

NRAMA: What is this Slaughterhouse that we’re hearing about now? Is that a new mini-series of Deadworld?

GR: In a way. It starts with issue #7, so for someone that hasn’t read Deadworld, that would be a great spot to start. But I didn’t want to start off with a new number one, so [part one of] the Slaughterhouse storyline is Deadworld #7 and so on. It will be a bit more expansive than the first six but the same characters are there, just adding some.

NRAMA: What can we look to happen in Slaughterhouse?

GR: I would hope that the name gives some indication! I don’t want to give too much away but Deadworld has always been much more than zombies chasing humans. It’s always been about what humans do to humans. Like in the original series, when the teens are rescued by the military group in the helicopters, naturally they think that they’re safe and will be joining civilization. Of course, they found out that perhaps the zombies were more civilized than the humans they fell in with such as Moloch and Bowker.

NRAMA: When you say adding characters, are they going to be new characters or are they characters from the previous series?

GR: Both. I may bring back Albert and Clarence as I liked their interactions together. Albert lives in fear of the world and Clarence, having survived the prison turning to all zombies, has a much more aggressive nature. I like that dichotomy with the two of them together. Of course, I’ll be bringing back the Dead-Killer as he plays a vital role in the Slaughterhouse storyline.

Dead-Killer was a Deadworld mini-series that is now coming out in trade paperback from Image in September. The art is from Ron McCain who did several issues of Batman and some Daredevil plus other odds and ends.

NRAMA: The mini-series was the To Kill a King one, right?

GR: Yeah, and there was also the back up stories that ran in the first volume of Deadworld… issues #19-#21, I think.

NRAMA: Who is the Dead-Killer? Obviously, someone that kills the dead…

GR: He’s one of those who have accepted the new world, the dead world. He shuns humanity as he finds them to be as distasteful as the zombies. He makes a sport of hunting and killing zombies. But when he comes across the talking zombie, King Zombie, he finds a truly challenging opponent. Now, he has the prey he’s been looking for.

That’s part of the story. Another part is that the Dead-Killer finds himself drawn to a woman and although he doesn’t want to get involved, his resistant breaks down a bit. Of course, King Zombie finds out so now he has a tool to use against the Dead-Killer.

NRAMA: Is Deadworld a mature title?

GR: Yeah, but mainly because of the swearing and some gore. I try not to overdo it as otherwise readers get immune to it but I don’t shy away from it. Face it, if you’re doing a book about zombies eating people, sometimes you’re going to have zombies eating people. One scene in the Dead-Killer graphic novel got some attention as a fat zombie decides to go on a quick diet. Only a zombie could use a sharp knife to pare down to a thinner figure in a matter of minutes.

NRAMA: What else is going on with Deadworld?

GR: Lots of things. In addition to the Slaughterhouse storyline coming later this year and the Dead-Killer graphic novel in September, the T-shirts that were licensed from Rotten Cotton should be hitting the shelves soon. Not sure where they’ll be sold but they’re trying to get them into places like Spencer’s Gifts, Hot Topics, and mall kiosks. The entire original series was put on CD by Eagle One Media so you can get something like 48 issues worth of Deadworld on a single disk. I think it’s around 1,700 pages or so. And we just signed with Shocker Toys to do action figures on Deadworld and it looks like we’ll have costume masks made of King Zombie in time for next Halloween.

NRAMA: Anything new on the Hollywood front? What happened to the deal signed with George Clooney?

GR: We were signed to Clooney’s company for three years. The option expired and although the company wanted to renew the option, I said no. I figured if they couldn’t do anything with it in three years, having another year wouldn’t do much good. So, I’ve had other offers to option it but I find too many Hollywood people don’t understand what makes Deadworld… uh, Deadworld. After Shaun of the Dead came out, I got lots of calls to do Deadworld as a comedy. Yeah, right. So, Deadworld exists as it is. The only reason I’d sign it up is so I could get more people paying attention to the comic series… I don’t really care if its made into a movie or not. Like most people, I guess the money part of it would be nice but I don’t like the Hollywood scene so it’s all about the money. Sounds mercenary but I think most creators feel the same way. You want to bastardize my work? Then, pay me enough so I can live with it. That seems to be a fair arrangement.

For more information on Deadworld and the upcoming Dead-Killer graphic novel along with preview pages, visit www.deadworld.info

[AlexLothos]

You want to bastardize my work? Then, pay me enough so I can live with it. That seems to be a fair arrangement.

Congrats on continuing the series!

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

NRAMA: Who is the Dead-Killer? Obviously, someone that kills the dead…

GR: He’s one of those who have accepted the new world, the dead world. He shuns humanity as he finds them to be as distasteful as the zombies. He makes a sport of hunting and killing zombies. But when he comes across the talking zombie, King Zombie, he finds a truly challenging opponent. Now, he has the prey he’s been looking for.

That’s part of the story. Another part is that the Dead-Killer finds himself drawn to a woman and although he doesn’t want to get involved, his resistant breaks down a bit. Of course, King Zombie finds out so now he has a tool to use against the Dead-Killer.

Hail to the King!!

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

One scene in the Dead-Killer graphic novel got some attention as a fat zombie decides to go on a quick diet. Only a zombie could use a sharp knife to pare down to a thinner figure in a matter of minutes.

Nice.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

GR: We were signed to Clooney’s company for three years. The option expired and although the company wanted to renew the option, I said no. I figured if they couldn’t do anything with it in three years, having another year wouldn’t do much good. So, I’ve had other offers to option it but I find too many Hollywood people don’t understand what makes Deadworld… uh, Deadworld. After Shaun of the Dead came out, I got lots of calls to do Deadworld as a comedy.

Hollywood will never change, it seems. Sigh...

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Yeah, right. So, Deadworld exists as it is. The only reason I’d sign it up is so I could get more people paying attention to the comic series… I don’t really care if its made into a movie or not. Like most people, I guess the money part of it would be nice but I don’t like the Hollywood scene so it’s all about the money. Sounds mercenary but I think most creators feel the same way. You want to bastardize my work? Then, pay me enough so I can live with it. That seems to be a fair arrangement.

Wow. Well said.

[evilelvis696]

Had been looking forward to the Image version, but have been nothing but disappointed. It looked like Locke rushed it (which makes sense now that I know he was busy with the HOV movie), and then the lateness deal with the following issues. Lost me as a reader.

[garyreed]

Understood.

I hope you check out the last couple of issues with Dalibor. Since he's started, the book is coming out on a regular basis within the two months allotted for the bi-monthly schedule...almost to the day. #3 came out at beginning of April, #4 at beginning of June, and #5 is done and can be expected around the beginning of August or so.

So, the lateness deal was at the beginning, not currently. Issue 7 will not be solicited until its done so that's why you won't see it in the solicitations until Nov or Dec. It's a long lead time in the solicitation but then once it starts coming out (The Slaughterhouse storyline), it will be consistent and timely.

I can't argue about you bailing at the beginning. We had an opportunity and I realize we blew it with some fans. Things happen, often unexpectently, but we didn't live up to our side of the bargain.