It's a rarity in comic books. A brand new character given his own mini-series within one of the main superhero universes.
Yet with El Diablo, the six-issue mini-series by writer
Jai Nitz that kicks off in September, DC Comics is introducing a new
character to current continuity. Drawn by penciler Phil Hester and
inker Ande Parks, the mini-series will focus on a modern-day gang
leader who dons the mantle after meeting the original El Diablo.
Nitz, best known recently to DC readers for being the writer of the Spanish issue of Blue Beetle, pitched the idea for the El Diablo
comic to DC and got an immediate yes, yet another rarity. Described by
Hester as being like a "middle ground" between Vertigo and DC, El Diablo promises to be nothing if not different, with its Robin Hood approach to heroism and its focus on a young newcomer to the DCU.
Newsarama talked to Nitz and Hester about the mini-series to find out
why this idea was one that DC green-lighted for its own mini-series,
and what readers can expect as it hits stores in September.
Newsarama: Jai, this is a big break for you to be working in the DCU, isn't it?
Jai Nitz: It's extraordinarily exciting to be doing something in
mainstream DC that everybody's super excited about. Phil Hester and
Ande Parks and Guy Major were the art team on Green Arrow and Nightwing
together, and they are getting the band back together. And I get to be
the lead singer. And that's awesome, because people are really
responding to it.
NRAMA: So you've gotten a lot of positive feedback from fans?
JN: When we talked about El Diablo in Chicago, people
were really excited that there is going to be something unique and
different coming out from DC that is still in continuity. A new
character with a new take on superheroes. I think fans appreciate that.
Of course, it helps to be on the team with Phil and Ande. I did a panel
where they introduced people like Greg Rucka, Gail Simone... and they
got these big hands. And then they introduced me: Jai Nitz! And people
were like, who? We don't know who that dude is. But then when I was
asked, "what are you working on?," and I'd say, "I'm working with Phil
Hester and Ande Parks," everyone was like, hey! We love seeing those
guys doing something at DC again! So it's exciting to work with guys I
know, guys I like, guys that I know fans like. The people who really
get comics get their stuff. I just hope that, when they see my stuff,
I've succeeded in keeping them entertained and that I'm telling the
kind of great story we're hoping to tell in El Diablo.
NRAMA: Now before people get confused, this is a modern El Diablo, right? Because the original El Diablo, Lazarus Lane, lived back in the days of Jonah Hex.
JN: This story and this character are set in the modern DCU in
2008. It is a brand new character in the modern DCU. And the original
El Diablo from the 1870s is still around; he's just 170 years old.
People are like, how's that possible? And my answer is, a guy from
Krypton's flying around, so you're probably not going to have a problem
with why this guy's so old. But it is not set in the 1870s. It is not
an old-timey Western comic at all.
NRAMA: What can you tell us about this new El Diablo?
JN: This new El Diablo is named Chato Santana, and he meets up
with the old El Diablo character. Chato is a modern-day Robin Hood.
He's a drug dealer and kind of an awful human being who puts kids in
the line of fire for his gang, but in his neighborhood, he's respected
and helps people out. It's a little bit of a clash of culture where if
he were in my suburban neighborhood, I would think he was a menace, but
if I were in his neighborhood, I would think he's the president and the
most awesome guy in the world. So I'm trying to take some of the stuff
people see in the real world and applying it to a comic book character
where he's not a walking stereotype.
I always make the joke that I've always said I wanted to create a
hispanic comic book character who is like one of my cousins -- somebody
that could be related to. But then here, the first thing out of my
mouth when I pitched this to DC was, "So he's this drug dealer..."
[laughs] So my cousins will love to hear that.
But he's really unique because, whether or not he's a good guy depends on your point of view.NRAMA: How does Chato run into the old El Diablo, and what happens when he does?
JN: I don't want to give too many details. You'll see in issue
#1 how Chato becomes the new El Diablo. But there is a good reason why
the old El Diablo is there. It makes a lot of sense. I guess I can tell
you that a very hateful federal agent named Jason Aaron is trying to do
these awful things to Chato. And one of the things he does is to put
him in this hospital room in a bed next to this 170-year-old man. And
you'll have to read the book to see the meaning behind that and how it
all happens from there.
NRAMA: Hmmm... that name Jason Aaron sounds vaguely familiar. Would this federal agent be named after comic book writer Jason Aaron?
JN: Yeah! Well, the evil federal agent in Jason's comic Scalped
is named Agent Nitz. He's named after me. So the evil federal agent in
our book is named Jason Aaron.
NRAMA: That's only fair.
JN: I think so.
NRAMA: Let's talk about how you landed this gig, Jai. It's so
rare to see a brand new character get its own mini-series. How did this
come about?
JN: I've known the editors at DC for a number of years, and I
met a few more recently. And Jann Jones at DC was talking to me about
what I would really like to do. She said they like getting people on
board who are really passionate about a project. And I said I really
want to do a Hispanic comic character, someone who I really like and
care about and am really passionate about. So she said I should pitch
one. And right then I reached in my bag and said, here you go! And I
handed her a pitch for El Diablo. She said, OK, I'll get it on
Dan DiDio's desk. Five minutes later, Dan read it without my knowledge.
She just gave it to him and said, "Read this." The next thing I knew,
Jann was telling me I had a meeting with Dan in 15 minutes to pitch the
character. And he loved it so much that he edited the first issue
himself.
NRAMA: What was it that caught his eye?
JN: It's different. It's new. It's a new take. It's something
that, when people saw it and understood the idea behind it and the
story we're telling, they knew it was something different and something
they didn't expect.
NRAMA: Phil, you got to design these characters for Jai?
Phil Hester: Yeah. I was there at the beginning, doing designs
on the new character. At one point, it looked like a lava monster, and
at one point it looked like a cowboy. And we finally ended up with our
undead luchador from hell.
JN: [laughs] A Tex-Mex Ghost Rider.
PH: [laughs] Yeah. A Tex-Mex Ghost Rider.
NRAMA: Do you agree that the story is something unique?
PH: Definitely. The story is great. It's something I've been
looking for for a long time now. It's kind of this middle ground
between DC and Vertigo. It's the darker edges of the DC Universe, but
still accessible without the Vertigo label attached to it. So it's a
chance to do edgier stuff that's still superhero stuff. And that's
where my natural aesthetics lie. So it's a good gig for me.
NRAMA: So that was the appeal of the story to you?
PH: Yeah, it's that. But I was also attracted to the project
because it was going to have a little of everything I like to draw. It
has action, it has intrigue... and the action isn't inconsequential.
People get hurt for real and stay hurt. I mean, Chato suffers a
traumatic injury in the first issue, and he suffers from it for the
rest of the book. So it's got a little more edge to it than a superhero
book where they knock down buildings but nobody gets hurt. It's got
that sort of darker, realist appeal to it, and that's what appealed to
me.
El Diablo #1 is due in stores on September 3rd.
