BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO Today, we catch up with Patrick McEvoy to learn about his supernatural five-part series, Starkweather: Immortal.
THE PULSE: For our readers who might be meeting you for the first time in this interview, what work have you done in comics prior to your upcoming five-issue limited series, Starkweather: Immortal?
PATRICK McEVOY: I haven't done a lot in comics yet. I had a short-lived series with the short-lived Speakeasy Comics back in 2005, called "The Gatesville Company". It got some great reviews, but didn't survive the death of the publisher. Marc Bryant was the writer on that one, and I thought it was a pretty cool concept. We had an offer to revive it last year, but Marc and I were both too busy to take the financial risk again, so there it sits.
Other than that, I've done a couple of covers and pin-ups. Most of my work is outside of the comics field. My main income is in gaming - covers, interior illos and lots of collectible card games for companies like Upper Deck, Sony, Fantasy Flight, White Wolf, etc.
THE PULSE: Who is Starkweather? How did he become immortal?
McEVOY: Alex Starkweather is a young man - a slacker, actually - who is going to find out that he is actually the possessor of amazingly great power. He's the descendant of an ancient line of witches - the "divine blood" - whose power stems from Jesus. And Alex may be the most powerful one of all. We meet him in issue #1. First, however, in issue #0 we are introduced to Cartaphilus, an immortal Roman soldier who gained his immortality from Christ, also, in some... less than pleasant circumstances. And 2000 years later he's still the same bloodthirsty bastard he always was. Cartaphilus and Starkweather are pretty much polar opposites in terms of personality, so when they finally end up meeting, you can expect some interesting things to happen.
I'd ask readers to check out our Starkweather page on the ASP site, which includes an 8-page preview of issue #0, which is coming out soon! http://www.aspcomics.com/starkweather.php
THE PULSE: Who or what did you base his look upon when you were first working on the characters?
McEVOY: Dave Rodriguez first created Starkweather for a series from Arcana a few years ago, so I started with a character design already in place. The main difference was that the previous art style was a traditional comics pencil/ink/colors look, while I was brought on to try something different - using my Fantasy art chops to try a Photoshop-painted book.
So I brought Alex and the rest of the gang into the "real" world. Well, kind of real anyway. I do semi-realistic work with a dimensional look to it, not as realistic as, say, Horn, but not abstract like Templesmith. Somewhere in the middle maybe?
THE PULSE: You first told me about this project over a year ago. How, in that time, have things changed for the characters and storyline?
McEVOY: The first issue hasn't changed, but at that time it was going to be a one-shot from Arcana, and now it's a 5-issue series from Archaia. So, I guess it's bigger!
THE PULSE: What intrigued you the most about working on a series like this?
McEVOY: Well, to start with, I had wanted to try to find another series I could do in my particular style. It's not the sort of thing you see every day, mostly because it's pretty labor-intensive, but also because it's just not what people think of when they think "comics". Yet, anyway. So when Dave Rodriguez put out the word that he wanted a Fantasy-illustration style for his next series, I made a play for it immediately.
And I can't lie - the first issue's story is written by Piers Anthony, in his first only-for-comics story ever. How could I pass that up?
THE PULSE: How did Archaia Studios Press come to be the publisher for this story?
McEVOY: Basically it's a different sort of story from the first series, in many ways, and Dave realized that it wasn't a good fit with Arcana anymore. So he and they parted amicably and Dave found Archaia Studios Press, home of Mouse Guard, Artesia, and other great books. The similar publisher names are only a coincidence!
THE PULSE: What, if anything, does this have to do with the Arcana series, Starkweather?
McEVOY: This series is a prequel of sorts, going into the life of Alex Starkweather before that series took place, but it will also be a bit of a re-imagining. Sort of how Superman Returns is "kind of" a sequel to the '70's Superman films, but sort of different, too? Like that.
Only not.
THE PULSE: What have been some of the biggest challenges of getting the art for this created?
McEVOY: Mostly figuring out how to make comics - I'm still pretty new at this! Also, finding time to do it between all my other work is a hassle. But I'm sure every beginning comics artist has to deal with that at first. I guess the biggest challenge is the one I set for myself to do all the art work alone on a fully-painted, 25 page per-issue book. That can be daunting!
THE PULSE: When the first issue comes out, how far ahead on the art do you hope to be?
McEVOY: We'll be about 2 months ahead. I'm pretty fast, all things considered, so that should be fine.
THE PULSE: What have you enjoyed the most about being a part of this creative team?
McEVOY: Well, Dave is a dream writer. He listens to my ideas, welcomes input, and lavishes praise upon my sponge-like ego. Just what every artist needs! Also, as I mentioned before, working with Piers Anthony on Issue 0 is an amazing thing. Like so many of us, I spent much of my youth reading his Xanth novels. I can't say it's a dream come true because I never would have dreamed it!
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
McEVOY: I'm doing my usual game art, including lots of game cards for Upper Deck's World of Warcraft TCG. Also I just finished a series of covers for Boom! Studios' Fall of Cthulhu monthly. I've done a lot of Lovecraft-related art for the Call of Cthulhu games from Fantasy Flight in the past, so that was a good fit for me. Those are set to start at issue #6, I think.
Other than that, no other comics work - I'll be busy with Starkweather: Immortal for another six months or so. That ought to keep me out of trouble for a while.
Posts: 20779 | From: PA | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hey, I just wanted to add that issue #0 (the cover at the top of the page) is out right now! David Rodriguez and I had lots of fun selling copies and meeting people at SDCC and Wizard World Chicago over the last couple of weeks - if you're one of the folks who picked up the book there, I want to say thanks, and I hope you enjoyed it.
Also, just a note that the sequential pages here are from next issue, #1, which is out next month. The series will be bi-monthly and runs through #4.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
