FRAZETTA’S DEATH HAS A NEW DEALER

**MattBrady** · 07-11-2006, 02:19 PM

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

There is a new Death Dealer in town and his name is Joshua Ortega.

Back in January, Image Comics announced that writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, Bad Planet), artist Nat Jones (Spawn: The Dark Ages, Giant Monster, The Nail) and colorist Jay Fotos (Spawn) were bringing internationally renowned fantasy artist Frank Frazetta’s creation, Death Dealer, to life in a six-issue project scheduled to be released later this year.

However, when contacted by Newsarama, Ortega confirmed that he is taking over the writing duties on the new Death Dealer limited series.

The author, whose credits include, but not limited to, Necromancer, Spider-Man Unlimited, Star Wars Tales, Star Trek Manga and the critically acclaimed novel ((FREQUENCIES)), further elaborated that “Steve Niles and Nat Jones asked me to take over the writing duties on the book, Image approved, and after a few months of the project being stalled, it's now moving full speed ahead with a press release due from Image this week.

“There were two major factors that came into play with the creative changes,” he added. “The first is that Steve has a ton of projects going on right now, both in comics and in film, and he wasn't going to be able to get to Death Dealer for a little while longer. He knows how excited Nat and Jay are to get the book out to fans, so he decided to hand the writing reins over to me... which brings me to the second factor:

“Nat and I have been looking for a project to work on together for a few years now, so it was really serendipitous when Steve suggested me to Nat since I was also Nat's first choice for the project as well.

“My schedule is pretty packed these days–I'm working on a number of comic, film, and video game projects–but the chance to work on Death Dealer with Nat was simply too good to pass up. I mean, how often do you ever get to write a comic with a Frazetta cover? That's an amazing honor, and I'm really excited to be on the book.”

Death Dealer is based on the legendary painter’s six Death Dealer paintings. Previously, there were Verotik’s four-issue 1995 mini-series by Glenn Danzig, Simon Bisley and Liam Sharp, and the James R. Silke novels (Prisoner of the Horned Helmet, Lords of Destruction, Tooth and Claw and Plague of Knives).

As for the new Image mini-series, Ortega said that “[t]he Frazettas have actually asked us to re-imagine the character from the ground up. They don't want us to work with any of the old material (the Danzig comics and the novels), they simply want us to start anew, and really bring a fresh new take to the character.

“I don't want to give away too many details this early, but I can say that this new vision of the Death Dealer will be very epic in scope, with a large cast of characters and a lot of layers.

“The Death Dealer will be more like a force of nature than a man in this book, almost a mythological creation,” he continued. “You look at those Frazetta paintings, and there's just no way that's a normal dude... just look at those eyes, his horse, his stature. Plus, you don't want the Death Dealer running around spouting crappy punchlines... he's beyond all that. He's a being of legend, and the book will reflect that fact.”

How is this in line with Frazetta’s initial vision? “Our approach is this: just as Frank Frazetta’s paintings are a unique combination of fine art and dramatic storytelling, the Death Dealer comic book will combine classic literary themes with a dramatic, action-packed story,” Ortega said. “Since Frank Frazetta’s paintings are able to remain timeless and accessible throughout the ages, then a series based on one of his most famous creations just has to do the same... we've got a big task ahead of us, but we're all looking forward to the challenge!”

“Bringing Death Dealer to the mainstream is a pretty daunting task, there's so much great artistic

history to the character, lots of huge shoes to fill,” Nat Jones posted on Liam Sharp’s Sharpenings boards. “I'm attempting to keep the feel of Frazetta's work but I'm also aware that I can't even try to be Frazetta (something that I'm sure Liam has experience in dealing with). I think we have a good team working on this thing and I know we all have a lot of love and personal history with Death Dealer and Frazetta's work, so we're going to give it our best. I think the turn we're taking with the story is that it's less of a barbarian tale than the Verotik books, it will be character driven and probably not what anyone is expecting… It's kinda strange knowing that I have the opportunity to have an impact on the way such an iconic character is seen, more so than any Superman or X-Men book because here there is no established history, were starting completely from scratch. There's also a lot of pressure from the knowledge that the Death Dealer has been around so long with no official history that everyone has created their own idea of who he is, and know we're trying to step in and change that.”

“So far, plans are (as you know, stated in the release) [six] issues featuring all [six] Frazetta Death Dealer paintings as covers,” Jay Fotos posted on Image’s Death Dealer forum. “What's new and exciting, for each issue we will have two alternate cover issues by the industry’s leading artists! People, that's 12 alternate covers, nuts!

"What artists!?" you shout in the classic Billy Idol snarl and fist in the air.

“Berni Wrightson... cool, had enough, no? Eric Powell, still not enough? Ok, how about Mr. Bradstreet? I'll leave you with that thus far.

“Mr. Nat Jones is blowing my mind, folks, his effort thus far is amazing. The preliminary art we have been working on is fun and wait till you see the fully oil painted stuff he is doing, oh-my-goodness!”

Later on, he teased, “How 'bout a McFarlane cover?”

Lastly, Ortega said that a limited edition lithograph will be on sale at this month’s San Diego Comic-Con International. “Check out the limited-edition lithograph image... these guys [Nat Jones and Jay Fotos] do some incredible work together!

“And on that note, we'll be signing a limited number of copies of the lithograph at the Image booth at the San Diego Comic-Con, so make sure to come on by if you want to get yourself one of these babies...”

TheFinn1225 · 07-11-2006, 02:30 PM

I hope this will be as cool as when they did it a few years ago.

mrhelm · 07-11-2006, 02:52 PM

Well, I've tried to enjoy two attempts at this before, but perhaps the third time will be the charm.

The Death Dealer just exudes cool, so hopefully we will finally get to experience it with this take.

FYI to the folks writing this article, the Death Dealer was only one painting for years before the novel series started. Frank painted the other 5 then.

JoeGKushner · 07-11-2006, 02:59 PM

Must be a hard sell to write. With no history, and the painter himself kinda back and forth on WHAT Death Dealer is, it leaves a lot of room open for interpetation.

Steve Bryant · 07-11-2006, 03:06 PM

Matt, you scared the hell out of me with the title of the article!

I thought for a second that Frank had passed.

Thankfully, that's not the case and the book sounds terrific!

--Steve

creatorman · 07-11-2006, 03:17 PM

Totally looking forward to this.

Bakema NL · 07-11-2006, 03:50 PM

Change of writer before the series is even out.......ah well, as long as it will be cool when it comes out it's ok....I'll definitely buy it to find out.

Vyper · 07-11-2006, 03:52 PM

That bottom image is amazing. Can we see a larger version of the B+W one?

Titan Slade · 07-11-2006, 04:00 PM

I read the James R. Silke Death Dealer novels way back in the day, and they kicked 1000 kinds of @ss. I hope the comic books at least follow some of Silke's version of the character.

xomanowarfan · 07-11-2006, 04:24 PM

AWESOME!!!

Vyper · 07-11-2006, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titan Slade

I read the James R. Silke Death Dealer novels way back in the day, and they kicked 1000 kinds of @ss. I hope the comic books at least follow some of Silke's version of the character.

Interestingly enough, I remember reading an interview with Frazetta where he said that the novels never really captured the essence of the character as he envisioned him. I'm really looking forward to this new take.

Gary Dunaier · 07-11-2006, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Bryant

Matt, you scared the hell out of me with the title of the article!

I thought for a second that Frank had passed.

Me too!

There's a lot of people out there who know of Frazetta but aren't necessarily familiar with his work.

I'm one of them.

So when I saw the first two words in that headline... "FRAZETTA’s DEATH HAS A NEW DEALER"... the "FRAZETTA'S DEATH" part lead me to think... well, you know.

You might want to consider editing the headline. (Unfortunately, that would mean people would wonder "what the heck are Steve and Gary talking about!?" But that's a risk I'm willing to take.

)

Camelot3000 · 07-11-2006, 06:41 PM

I don't care who's writing it ... I'm gonna pick this one up! But I must say, I am a bit relieved that Niles is off the project.

jayfotos · 07-11-2006, 06:54 PM

Thanks guys, we are REALLY excited about this project as well. If your in SDCC this year make sure to stop by and snag a Litho, they are SUPER bad ass! We'll be at the Image booth signing Thursday thru Sunday.

I also have Litho's for preoder for people who can't make it to the show, go here-

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=130006301397

Thanks- Jay

Livewire2nd · 07-11-2006, 07:19 PM

FREAKING SWEET!!!

Charlie Hustle · 07-11-2006, 08:58 PM

Does newsarama do any kind of research on things like creative changes or do we just get whatever the press releases say and go with that?

either way this book should be good.

jayfotos · 07-11-2006, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie Hustle

Does newsarama do any kind of research on things like creative changes or do we just get whatever the press releases say and go with that?

either way this book should be good.

We, the creative team give Newsarama the info and they pass it on.

HughSterb · 07-11-2006, 09:45 PM

Awesome! I'll definitely pick this up with Josh writing. Congrats, yo!

Mike Bullock · 07-11-2006, 10:11 PM

I hate you Joshua Ortega!

You know I'm kidding.

Congrats man! See you next week?

natjones · 07-11-2006, 11:37 PM

I'm really excited about having Joshua on board for Death Dealer, we've been looking for a project together for years so that excitement is adding to the energy and enthusiasm we already had for this book! Jay and I have put a lot of work into the story going in and Joshua has jumped right in running, things are definately starting to come together. I've had the honor of working with some of the industries best writers and Joshua is definately on that list, he's a guy to watch out for.

I still have a ton of horror filled goodness in the works with Steve Niles as well, so you'll definately get your Niles/Jones fix. Steve and I can't seem to have a conversation without creating a new story, we have more than enough projects on the dawing board to last for years.

samnoir · 07-12-2006, 05:58 PM

I loved Liam Sharp's work on the original Verotika series.

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JoshuaOrtega · 07-12-2006, 07:32 PM

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome on the book!

mrhelm: Looking forward to delivering you the DEATH DEALER story you've been looking for...here's to the third time being the charm!

JoeGKushner: In some ways a hard sell, in other ways that's the beauty of it: the freedom to create a new world and story. And of course, it's a Frazetta painting, which takes all of the selling out of it!

Titan Slade: Haven't read the books, and since the Frazettas have asked us to steer clear of past history, they'll remain a mystery to me at least through the writing of this series...

Hugh: Thanks, man, and congrats to you as well on the second year of FRESHMEN...that's no small feat! We've gotta grab a beer at the show and catch up, playboy!

Thanks, Mike, and yeah, I'll be there at the show next week! Good to hear you'll be there as well, and you've gotta give me the scoop on all of your projects!

And thanks, Nat...it's great to finally be working on a book together!! Your art's gonna blow people's minds on this one!

richbonk · 07-12-2006, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vyper

That bottom image is amazing. Can we see a larger version of the B+W one?

Vyper, I can send you a good-sized sample of the piece - I'm the guy who inked it - ya' know, the guy who's never mentioned when people comment on the piece...inkers are so disrespected...they should replace the term "inker" with "whipping boy".

PM me. -R

jayfotos · 07-12-2006, 07:56 PM

(taps Rich on sholder)

You know I love you big guy

(gives big hug)

Charlie Hustle · 07-12-2006, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richbonk

Vyper, I can send you a good-sized sample of the piece - I'm the guy who inked it - ya' know, the guy who's never mentioned when people comment on the piece...inkers are so disrespected...they should replace the term "inker" with "whipping boy".

PM me. -R

Yeah inkers are like NFL refs nobody mentions them unless they screw up.