SubHuman is an action-packed book with a complex sub-structure that stems from the creators' unique interest in science and scuba diving (two central ideas this title hinges on), and the finished product is so well refined and of such exemplary quality, it's hard for any serious reader not to wonder at how such a book comes together. With the exception of creator-owned titles and outstanding examples of books created solely by one artist, many comics today are put together in a sort of assembly-line process, where writers work with artists they've never met and have probably never spoken to, then the work is lettered and colored by individuals who may not seem very important to most fans.
Fortunately, many of these books turn out just fine or better with the right amount of editorial coordination and insight, but it's still a rare treat to see a book evolve from a long and thoughtful collaboration between its various creators. SubHuman is just such a book.
Mark Schultz and Michael Ryan have worked together and been friends for a number of years, and Petersen has worked with both writers on various titles. He would easily dismiss his role in the whole process as being a young artist getting a lucky break, but the luck goes both ways, as Schultz and Ryan are able to focus on the crafting of a great story knowing all the while that Roger's got the artistic bases covered. Schultz himself is one of the better artists in comics today, and his character sketches and visual mapping of the series help guide the young Petersen in the direction the writers have intended to take the story, and Ryan pushes his scientific knowledge to the limit in detailing events and circumstances that could conceivably ring true, were this project not a pop-art rendering of a great science-fiction tale.
The SubHuman team have worked across the dividing miles of a continent to put this series together, and at the San Diego International ComiCon, they all got a chance to sit down together in person with two other important players -- editor Phil Amara and SubHuman colorist Dave Stewart -- and hash out some of the finer details of the production of this project. I saw this as a rare opportunity to give readers a look at the inner-workings and complications of making a great comic, so a tape recorder was stuck in the middle of the table at this meeting, and we've since tried to decipher what transpired so that you might be able to get an idea of the sorts of things that are considered in detail when a comic is in production.
This was a fun, breakfast-meeting conversation full of thoughtful observations and sarcastic banter, so read on with a grain of salt and see if you can figure out why these guys make such a great team. And don't forget to catch SubHuman when the first issue of the four-part series hits comics shops November 18.
Shawna Ervin-Gore: So you guys don't get to work together very often like this, do you?
Mark Schultz: Michael's and my creative process, is largely, I think, an ongoing act of ping-ponging concepts and storylines and even dialogue back and forth between each other `til we're satisfied that we have what we want, or at lease what we can both live with. It's usually the former.
Michael Ryan: If I had to define the development of SubHuman, I'd have to say that I developed the basic concept, main characters (Jubal Early and Meriam DeVrome are mostly Mark's) and plot, and we fleshed out the concept and wrote the stories in a real collaborative effort.
MS: He shuttled the initial outline to me via e-mail (Michael lives in Alberta, I live in Pennsylvania -- our professional relationship wouldn't be economically feasible without e-mail) -- and I did a second draft, adding some concepts and characters of my own.Then back to Michael and back to me, and on and on. And that's pretty much our modus operandi right down to tweaking the dialogue on the individual issues.
Since we've got Dave here, I really want to talk about how this is going to be colored, because I'm not trying to be controlling, but the color here is important.
Dave Stewart: No, go ahead. I want to know this stuff.
MS: Well, this is obviously a lot more simplified, but you know the Flash Gordon comics from the '60s that Al Williamson drew? Do you have those in the Dark Horse vault?
Phil Amara: We have Boris the Bear and the Big adaptation . . .
MS: Maybe (Mike) Richardson has them.
PA: I'm sure he does in his personal collection.
MS: Well, will you show those to David, so he'll know what I'm talking about? In these old Flash Gordon comics there's a lot of white
showing . . .
PA: You mean the Flash Gordon you did?
MS: No! Listen! Jeez, Phil, keep up! The one Al Williamson did in the '60s.
PA: It's just this chocolate milk is running through my brain and
affecting my speech.
MS: Dave, the colors are warm and simple. They don't overpower the images. Keep the colors light and warm. Don't go too dark, because they seem to darken up in printing anyway.
DS: What kind of paper are we doing this on?
PA: It's not the REALLY good stuff . . .
MS: But we're still getting the good coverstock, right?
PA: Cardstock -- yep!
MS: Richardson said yes to that. I'll bellyache if we don't get it.
PA: You'll get it, especially now that it's on tape!
MS: (Loudly into recorder) Richardson promised we'd have a matte finish! A matte, UV finish!
Roger Petersen: And the one note I had made is on the first page where she's deadunderwater. I really hadn't thought about it, but I was thinking -- it's the Arctic, so she's dead (note: Roger is a genius -- SE). While we're underwater, we can keep the colors cool, but when we come up, we can warm it all up, the same way when she's underwater I've got black panel gutters.
DS: I can see the underwater scenes, being warm, too, though. If there's a scene where she's dead, we can run with cooler colors to enhance the mood. I can see there being a lot of transition in colors between scenes.
RP: Yeah, a lot of that alabaster-type skin-tones with violet shadows, and she's gotta have a pink nose.
PA: What, do we use Y2R2 for standard flesh colors?
DS: That's kind of standard, but I usually don't . . .
MS: Now, Phil, don't restrict him.
DS: I think we should go lighter.
MS: Well, she is DEAD in the first scene.
PA: But when Krill is walking around, cooking breakfast for people, she's still a little paler than most people.
MS: She's a blonde.
PA: But not a Southern California blonde?
MS: More of a Norwegian blonde.
SE: So let's talk about Krill for a second. What's her story?
MS: She's the latest in a long matriarchal lineage that has existed for thousands of years.
SE: You get bonus feminist points for the prevalent matriarchal heritage.
MS: Yes, well, we wanted her to be a really strong female lead, and having her come from a long line of strong women made sense. But she still looks good in a wet suit. Her lineage traditionally counters this ancient evil that predates humans -- predates all life, and it's now getting stronger.
She somehow has all the genetic memories of her predecessors and when the story opens, she's trying to come to terms with all this stuff she knows, but she's not sure how she knows it.
SE: And what's the deal with her blood? In the first issue there's a hint that it's not normal human blood.
MS: Well, you're right. It is blood, but it's not exactly human blood. She's not a homosapien, she's a homo-something else. You know what I mean. Ask Michael; he's the science boy.
MR: You want to know about her paranormal proteins?
SE: Is that what she has?
MR: Well, that's one of the phrases we decided would apply to her. Krill is . . . (Note: this section has been deleted because Michael went and gave everything about the story away and asked later that we not let on what the deal is with Krill. SubHuman is part mystery and suspense, and if we printed what Michael said, it would be a mystery no more!)
MR: . . . so, that's who Krill is and how she came to be where she is.
SE: Wow, that's utterly fascinating. I bet the readers are gonna go nuts with this one!