The theme of the radical Comics panel at SDCC this year was 'heart'. Or possibly 'painted'.
With their first official panel as a comic publisher, Radical had a lot
to say in a very short amount of time as their panelists, both Dave
Elliott (editor-in-chief) and Barry Levine (president and publisher)
had a lot to say about every project they had.
Having debuted their original content at last year’s San Diego
Comic-Con when they weren't selling anything, the purpose then was
simply to show the quality of their work and what kind of work they
wanted to do. Not wanting to rush anything, they set a deadline for
themselves which would allow them to provide a new 'painted' look to
comics that epitomized the philosophy of the company. As Elliott and
Levine explained, 50% of Radical Comics is 'high concept work', with
writers as directors and artists as cinematographers. Stating that they
have an “incredible” level of contact between editors and both writers
and artists, Elliot explained that as a company, Radical didn't want to
do 'shotgun' approach, and will therefore be releasing only one book a
month until January 2009 where they'll start releasing two. The goal,
Elliott said is that everyone has to believe in the product and who
they were as a company, something which has been helped by a one-on-one
approach and 'grassroots' support, where they personally called retail
stores to get their input and sought support for their books.
Speaking to the depth of the work, Levine said that the creators
working at Radical are very involved in the art and their work, letting
ideas grow over years and very nearly pitching them the way one would
movies to a studio. Hercules,
for example, was highly researched as they worked on the project with
comics legend Jim Steranko and writer Steven Moore. Elliott said that
hey wanted to get away from more common mass market versions of the
character and get to the heart of the legend. The amount of detail and
work Steranko brought to the artwork and design for Hercules not only
set the tone for the book, but for the company as a whole. The quality
of the work was so strong, the rest of the books had to match that
intensity.
So far, their comics haven't disappointed in that quality; from the detail in Caliber, to the thought and theme brought to Freedom Formula
from writer Edmund Shern, who used influences from his Singapore
background as well as political themes of freedom and corporate
influence to tell his high octane story of a young boy street racing
mecha.
Other sci-fi projects brought to light were Steven Niles's City of Dust, a crime noir set in a future without imagination or creative thought and Shrapnel,
a “Greek epic,” described as a sort of Joan of Arc in space where two
great civilizations lurch towards ruinous war, egged on by ad hoc
rhetoric of politicians. Also due out is Aladdin, a particular
project of interest for Elliot who created the project. Wanting
something that’s both true to the original legend and also very dark
(the joke being that the first 22 pages were simply black), he handed
the reins to Ian Edginton and Imaginary Friends Studios. Proud of his
product both this series and City of Dust will start with
48-page #1 issues to allow the reader to learn about the world and
characters in enough time and space for the writer and artist to tell
them in.
The panelists noted that it's almost a running gag by now of how many
Radical Comics properties have been picked up by movie studios and
producers; Niles quipped that his City of Dust had been sold as a movie property while he was describing the book. It's no secret that John Woo attached himself to a Caliber
movie; announced recently, the director had always wanted to do
something in a Western tone and after both Levine and Elliot met with
him personally, hearing his ideas and watching him work, they are
excited about the project.
Also coming to the screen was the San Diego exclusive announcement of a Hercules project specifically themed towards the Radical comic. Peter Berg, director of Hancock,
along with Spyglass Entertainment and Universal Studios are very
specific on wanting to keep the painted scope and artistic style of the
comic and Levine was very firm on the fact that they're remaining true
to what they do - publishing comics, which is their first priority.
