BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO One of the great finds for me this year at the Pittsburgh Comic Con was The Serial Squad. I'm a big fan of World War II era stories and this one, featuring serial heroes turned superheroes, was a lot of fun to read. It felt true to the time period, exciting, and, most importantly, fun. Paul E. Schultz has crafted quite an entertaining tale of a bygone time that I hope is but the first of many issues to come. He told us what it was like doing the time warp to the '40s with these heroes ....
THE PULSE: Just looking at the cover for The Serial Squad, you can see some archetypes of typical Pulp and Golden Age comics characters. I'm sure that's intentional with a story set in World War II, but how did you come up with your leads The Scarlet Archer, The All-American, The Nightflyer, Captain Nighthawk, The Blue Wave and El Rojo?
PAUL E. SCHULTZ: I was searching for archetypes of Saturday morning serial heroes. Ones who would be functional as super heroes, if given working versions of their props and devices, in comic book form where the reader can hopefully suspend a little disbelief. It wouldn't take a person long to figure out where the models for the Squad came from. Captain Nighthawk, for instance, is a shameless homage to Captain Midnight. El Rojo, though not really a main character, is actually a play on how until Antonio Banderas came along, Hollywood never cast an actual Latino as Zorro, possibly the most famous Latino hero of all.
The thing I tried to remain conscious of when creating the characters was to not simply make carbon copies of serial icons like the Phantom, Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician. I mentioned Captain Nighthawk was an homage to Captain Midnight, but there's more to him than just a two-fisted ace pilot. Midnight was something of a moral paragon whereas Nighthawk is a chain-smoking, womanizing burn-out by the time the story begins. I think the personalities of the characters helps separate the Squad from their iconic counterparts enough to keep me happy and the reader entertained.
THE PULSE: Why did you only use a few of these characters in the adventure? Are you saving the other two for something else?
SCHULTZ: Originally, I had planned on having about twenty heroes show up on the island. Some were useful, some simply for show only to have a good many of them wiped out in a surprise attack. Then two things happened. One, I got too attached to some and thought they'd be better suited for upcoming stories, so why kill them off? Two, such a substantial loss to their ranks would probably be too much them to handle and they'd all suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for the rest of their lives. In reality that's what would logically happen, but I'm not exactly trying to capture reality in the story, just aspects of it where needed. Initially I was going for a sort of ultra reality but I just couldn't get it to work considering the heroes would be dealing with the aftermath of a Martian invasion. I held on to certain harsh aspects since the story takes place during one of the darker periods in world history.
THE PULSE: You were creating all these Golden Age feel type characters of your own, so why did you want to use Mike Indovina's character of The Chimera and Ken Holewczynski's Tasma the Congo Queen? Why not just create your own Spirit and Sheena types?
SCHULTZ: I've been a fan of Mike Indovina's Chimera character for awhile now. I even had the good fortune of drawing him in Mike's new series "The Chimera Strikes!" Since I was going to create a character similar to him anyway, I asked Mike if he'd let me use my own version of Chimera for the Squad, and he was cool enough to let me. Tasma the Congo Queen was created twenty years ago by my friend Ken Holewczynski. I wasn't much more than a kid when Ken was doing his thing and he was a great help with all his advice and support, so using Tasma is my way of saying thanks.
Both Mike and Ken have as much love for the genre as I do and it shows in the characters they created, which was also part of the appeal in using Chimera and Tasma. One of the things I had to do with Tasma however was tame her costume a bit. Ken's original creation wore a lot less costume than the serials would've allowed, but I think my alterations weren't too drastic. I think she still holds true to her original look.
THE PULSE: I kind of laughed when I see Tasma, who could probably kick half these guys' butts, as the team photographer. Were you poking fun at the fact that the Justice Society Of America had Wonder Woman as their secretary?
SCHULTZ: Absolutely. I purposely made her tougher and smarter than most of the men on the team because female serial heroes were still, when it came down to it, little more than damsels in distress.
My making her the team photographer, however, wasn't an attempt to make her a Lois Lane-type who'd be easily captured and barely escape death with the helping hand of her male counterpart. Tasma, or rather Kay Campbell, is a war-time photojournalist who has seen some pretty hairy stuff. She's probably the most qualified member on the team to be right where she is.
THE PULSE: Much like how the president began the All-Star Squadron in the DC Comics Universe history, the president was responsible for the use of the Serial Squad here. What does that add to the tale having the Commander-in-Chief be the driving force here?
SCHULTZ: It just seemed as over the top as the rest of the book. I love it in the Golden Age books when presidents, vice-presidents and even generals make appearances. It just shows how much authority the heroes have to rub shoulders with such powerful men. I remember one scene in Captain America #255, which retold his origin back in the early '80s, when Cap was given his shield by President Roosevelt. What a powerful image! That image stuck with me for decades and was probably the seed for my planting Roosevelt in my own story. We tend to think of the presidents from the eras of our parents and grandparents as larger than life anyway, so putting the Commander-in-Chief in the story kind of showed that as well as grounded the book to that time period. The president was supposed to have a much bigger role that his one cameo, but I liked the character I refer to as "Patch" so much that he sort of became the team's official liaison. His love/hate relationship with the heroes makes for some interesting character conflict.
THE PULSE: This comic really felt like a Golden Age adventure. What did you do to make your piece feel so authentic? Were there a lot of books you read or true superhero serials you watched to prepare?
SCHULTZ: I've been preparing for the Squad for decades. Since way back around 1980 in fact, when my dad introduced me to the Phantom. The Ghost Who Walks was the first serial hero I fell in love with and he opened the door for a whole lot more over the years. Commando Cody, "Crash" Corrigan and Captain Marvel just to name a few. I'd say I'm a student of the genre, but that makes me sound pretentious. There are a lot of folks out there who know a whole lot more about the serials than me. My pal Billy for instance, who gave me the idea for the Blue Wave, which is why his first name is William.
Although I started reading comics in the '70s, the Golden Age is my favorite period in comics history. The characters created back in the '30s and '40s remain in the mainstream today and that's a real testament to just how great they are. When I was creating the look of the characters and the book, I tried to recapture as much of the Golden Age as I could, right down to keeping it an all ages book. That's something Jon Hodges and I think is sorely lacking in today's comics.
THE PULSE: Why did you want to have a few of your characters here make the supreme sacrifice to further the story? I mean, couldn't you have achieved just as much by having them all make it out of there?
SCHULTZ: That's where I kept certain harsh aspects of reality in the story. Death is a part of war, as are blind patriotism and the loss of naivety. Sometimes the three just don't mix well. A whole platoon of Marines reached the island before the Squad and were utterly wiped out before they cleared the beach. The idea of the Hollywood heroes, no matter how brave or well-armed, walking away unharmed or without suffering the loss of some of their own just seemed impossible. The deaths that occur on the side of the heroes are symbolic as well, which I hope the audience picks up on.
THE PULSE: The story kind of felt a little final ... was this just a one-off tale or are there plans in the works for more adventures of The Serial Squad?
SCHULTZ: At first it was supposed to be a one-shot tale, but the more I worked on it, the more I came up with ideas for further adventures. I'm currently working on the script for the second book.
THE PULSE: What were some of the challenges of coming up with costumes for these heroes that didn't look like something we've seen before in comics -- especially since this is in black and white and the only color differences we'll see are on the cover ...?
SCHULTZ: The biggest challenge was creating my patriotic character the All-American. He's clearly a Captain America-type, but I didn't want him to just be a Cap clone. Color was another problem altogether. Watching serials, I don't really think of them as being in color in front of the camera, then being black and white on the big screen. Although I did color concept drawings, I didn't really consider their colors all that important, until we started doing the cover and the posters.
THE PULSE: What influenced you the most as you were both writing and drawing this special?
SCHULTZ: H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" is probably my favorite book of all time. I've read it more times than I can remember, so when I first started playing around with the idea of doing the Squad, Martians just seemed like natural adversaries to pit a bunch of serial heroes up against. The serials are filled with all kinds of wacky space adventures anyway, so why not Martians?
Artistically, my influences are all over the place, but when it came to doing this book, I wanted to capture the look of the old newspaper funnies. Comic strips like Flash Gordon, The Phantom and Prince Valiant are among some of the most visually beautiful stories ever told. There's no way I'm comparing the Squad to any of those strips, but I'd like to think I kept it in the same vein.
THE PULSE: Who came up with the idea to have decoder rings and other typical Golden Age hero stuff be included in this?
SCHULTZ: That's all on Jon Hodges. He came up with stuff like that that I never even thought of. His enthusiasm equals my own and I think we feed off of each other. He even convinced me to make it an all ages book. Jon's participation in the Squad goes a bit deeper than he'll admit.
THE PULSE: What kind of feedback have you gotten on The Serial Squad so far?
SCHULTZ: I'm stunned beyond words at how well it's being received. There doesn't seem to be an age limit on who's picking it up either. People who remember the serials love it, people who may not know too much about serials are into it because it's different and "retro" enough to get them interested.
THE PULSE: What's next for the team?
SCHULTZ: As I said before, I'm currently working on the script for the second book and the plot, as they say, is definitely getting thicker. Along with introducing some new members, we learn some deep dark secrets about "Operation: Serial Squad!," as well as secrets about the actual failed Martian invasion and its continued effects on humanity. Even though I'd only intended to do one story about the Squad, as long as folks take an interest in it, it'll be my pleasure to try and keep them entertained.
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
SCHULTZ: I'm working with a couple really talented guys on a number of different things. For Nik Havert of Pickle Press, I'm drawing "The Three Keys," a sword & sorcery buddy comic, "Salem, AZ," a weird western tale with Bill Wilkison on inks and an upcoming pulp-style comic book called "The Truth." I'm continuing to work on Mike's "The Chimera Strikes!" Aside from doing the Squad, I'm working with Robert "Hollywood" Swinton on relaunching his 1970s-era brainchild Big 'Fro Brown for an upcoming Bad Place book. I think that about covers it.
The first issue of The Serial Squad is available now.
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