Thursday, January 29, 2015

SONY PICTURES PICKS UP LEMIRE AND NGUYEN's DESCENDER


Sony Pictures Entertainment announced today that it acquired the feature film rights to Descender, the forthcoming comic book series from New York Times bestselling author Jeff Lemire and New York Times bestselling comic artist Dustin Nguyen. Josh Bratman will produce the film with Lemire and Nguyen attached to executive produce. The first issue of the eagerly awaited series will be published by Image Comics on March 4, 2015.  


"Jeff Lemire has dreamt up an emotional, imaginative new universe, lavishly brought to life by the great Dustin Nguyen. I can't wait to see where they take TIM-21 next."  - Brian K. Vaughan, SAGA

"I am already rooting for poor Tim, theorizing about the origin of the Harvesters and gripping the cross bar of the roller-coaster begging for another ride."-- Damon Lindelof- co- creator of Lost, and HBO's the Leftovers

“ ​Jeff Lemire has a real talent for ​drawing me into cold, alien worlds that I'd never dream I'd care about and then having me not want to leave them.”--Mark Waid, IRREDEEMABLE

“The craft on display in this first issue of DESCENDER is tour-de-force stuff — Lemire’s ideas are, as ever, as potent as his prose, and Dustin Nguyen’s art is deft and delightful, running from warmth to chilling, gentle to brutal. A wonderful start that makes you immediately want more.”-Greg Rucka, LAZARUS

“Two largely separate aspects of your own fandom have just come together to create the comics version of a superweapon.”-BLEEDING COOL

“I love @JeffLemire. I love @duss005. But believe me when I say Descender #1 is the best I've seen from both. This is a 5 star book!”--Mark Millar, KICK ASS

“Bloody hell, @JeffLemire and @duss005's DESCENDER looks fantastic... “--Declan Shalvey

“INSANELY good.”--Ray Fawkes



DESCENDER #1 is on sale MARCH 4, 2015. An EXTRA-SIZED first issue for only $2.99. Please pre-order from your local comic book store.

ORDER CODE: JAN150567

Monday, January 26, 2015

DESCENDER: EXCLUSIVE BLEEDING COOL INTERVIEW

FROM BLEEDING COOL/ HANNAH MEANS-SHANNON:
When I heard Descender spoken about at the Image event at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, there was a perceptible but very limited 3/4 of a second of silence from the audience as they tried to grapple with the idea that Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen were teaming up on a book. It was one of those moments when you realize that two largely separate aspects of your own fandom have just come together to create the comics version of a superweapon. The magnitude of it got nearly a full second of silence before the enthusiasm cut loose. Revealing the promo imagery nearly prompted a silence again. It was just something that had to be seen to be believed. There was something so strangely perfect yet unpredictable about the feel that Nguyen had already so clearly established for the book that it definitely made a firm impression on the audience even amid all the announcements made that day.
DescenderCoverFinalLowRes-01-5984c (1)Now, we’re into Descender territory. The book is coming in a 30 page opening issue to stores in March, but I feel I ought to warn you that this book is so much more expansive than anything readers might be expecting. We knew it was about a cute kid robot in some way from the promo images, but what’s now becoming clear is that Lemire and Nguyen have exuberantly created an entire science fiction universe and are prepared to casually pile up the details to thoroughly convince you that you’re visiting foreign worlds. They are worlds oddly familiar, however, based in many ways on extensions of our own technological bent in the 21st century and the problems of industry that we currently face.
Two more teasers for what’s going to surprise you about the first issue of Descender: the absolute love of architecture and machinery that Nguyen throws into every panel of the book in trademark watercolor style to capture your imagination, and the unrushed but steady centrifugal force by which Lemire introduces and makes you care about the characters so far. In the end, the kickback on the first issue, no matter what you may be imagining, is going to be bigger than you expect.
Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen are kind enough to join us on Bleeding Cool today for a Q&A session about their new book.
STK666077-page-003Hannah Means-Shannon: Jeff, what made you decide you wanted to write a story that centered so much around technology, or at least the ways in which technology affects life in big ways?
Jeff Lemire: I think it’s just a projection of the world we live in. The difference between humanity’s reliance on technology from when I was a kid in the early 80’s to the world my own son, now 6, will grow up in is so immense.
Robotics, especially advanced robotics like what we have in the world of Descender, are sort of the ultimate example of this. Machines so complex that they are mirrors of us and become autonomous.
Having said that, I will say that the “humanity” of TIM-21 is at the core of the book, not so much an exploration of technology.
HMS: There are so many details and interesting contrasts in the first issue of Descender alone, like noting population levels at different locations at different points in time. Was it overwhelming creating the detail level for an entire planetary system, their history, and interrelationships?
JL: It was extremely FUN. I spend months building an entire universe. I have a big bible of the galaxy TIM-21 will be traversing. I know each planet, each alien species in great detail, and Dustin and I have worked really hard to give each world a very distinct look and feel. Even if all of this doesn’t make it onto the page, I think it will make the world feel more authentic in the end.
We also wanted a very diverse cast, not just robots, but aliens and humans of all kinds.
DESCENDER01p22-23 (1)HMS: People are afraid of what they don’t understand and stereotyping or generalizing is certainly one of our most impulse-driven reflexes. Is that kind of knee-jerk reaction partly what this story is about?
JL: Yes, it’s not hard to look at our own world, the way we treat each other, the way we react to other cultures and races, and not see this fear and ignorance. So of course, that it a big part of the book. Using science-fiction to comment on that. But, the book isn’t “preachy” either. The metaphors aren’t that ham-fisted (I hope). There is a lot going on inDescender. A lot of theses running through it. Fear and ignorance being one.
HMS: Can you tell us a little bit about how you developed the character traits and personalities of Doctor Quon and TIM? And why are those traits important to this story?
JL: That’s a tough one to answer without tipping my hat about what’s to come. A lot of the way Quon and Tim are presented in the opening of the story is informed by where they will be when the story ends.
Quon, in particular, is a pretty complex character. He seems like one thing at the beginning of the book, but there is a lot going on, and a lot that will happen, that will force the reader to constantly reframe how they view him. Likewise for Telsa, our other major supporting character.
HMS: How does Descender fit into your wider creative goals right now? Is working on a sci-fi story, for instance, something you try to return to from time to time?
JL: For me, Descender is the culmination of everything I’ve done. It takes a lot of the themes from Sweet Tooth and Trillium and, hopefully, takes those to a whole new level.
What I’m enjoying most is the sheer freedom. Being able to live in this huge world we’ve built and do whatever we want. We only have to answer to each other at Image. That freedom is exhilarating and really has me fired up, creatively.
DESC1 Variant lemire (1)[Variant cover by Jeff Lemire for Issue #1]
HMS: Dustin, here you are on a creator-owned book from Image. I know you’ve loved working on known characters and re-inventing them in some ways, but what is it like to be composing whole new worlds and characters of a sci-fi variety?
Dustin Nguyen: Its extremely, insanely, FUN. Plus being its a whole new property that we start from the ground up, there’s no restrictions or limitations, we can truly cut loose and do whatever the hell we want – which is the best part when it comes to making up new characters and worlds.
HMS: What has your process been like on a book that requires so much design and no doubt consistency? Do you have to do endless personal reference sketches for locations and characters?
DN: It’s actually been pretty freaking relaxing. Being Jeff and I are the only ones to answer to each other, it just makes it a TON easier, less cooks in the kitchen! We throw sketches and notes back and forth, it’s easy to reference your own work as well, and if anything needs changing or to be made up on the fly, I do it right there on the page. I trust Jeff to write amazing stories, and he trusts me to tell that story the way I see works. It’s how comics should be done, I think.
HMS: Can you tell us a little bit about what elements influenced your design of space ships and city-scapes and space-stations in the first issue?
DN: I grew up on mostly Transformers G1 material, and endless Macross/ Robotechmecha. I think you’ll see a lot of that…that clunky, very old-school style of machinery. I admit, its a bit dated in design, but damn I love it. Of course, in a setting as big as the one we’re creating, I also draw influences from plenty of other things so that we can vary different civilizations and cultures, relating to the anthropology of their inhabitants.
Stylistically, A lot of my actual interior and space station designs are call backs to the earlier years before comics, when I was doing 3D mechanical design and HVAC for different architectural firms. Again, probably dated in design, but I have a ton of fun drawing it.
IMG_20150106_214231 (1)[Sketch by Dustin Nguyen of TIM 21]
HMS: How did you devise the “look” of TIM’s unfolding of robot capabilities in the full-page spread in issue #1? Were there other iterations before you settled on this version?
DN: That was based off Jeff’s description of how TIM 21 reacts when threatened- kinda freaky. I did a few takes on it, but it was mostly to get TIM’s human aspects the way I wanted and not so much the robot parts. I sort of imagined it the way a Siamese fighting fish male flares out its gills when it sees another, or its own reflection.
HMS: What sorts of things are you most looking forward to illustrating as Descender continues?
DN: There’s a flashback sequence Jeff just wrote and the storytelling elements in it is fantastic. Besides that- the most exciting thing will be us trying out different ways to tell this gigantic story based around TIM, and having as much fun as we can. Oh, and some sweet aliens and robots :)
Descender #1 arrives from Image Comics on March 4th in a 30 page opening issue for $2.99. It is currently listed in PreviewsWorld with item code: JAN150567
*Side note: You really have to check out Dustin Nguyen’s Tumblr for teaser images in process for Descender and other cool stuff. Jeff Lemire’s blogspot will also keep you up to date on his approximately one million equally interesting comics projects.

Friday, January 9, 2015

PLUTONA by Lemire and Lenox This Summer



In addition to AD, I am also very pleased to announce PLUTONA, a new collaboration with artist EMI LENOX and colorist JORDIE BELLAIRE from Image Comics.


Plutona will use the superhero genre as the entry point into a dark journey that explores the nature of friendship and good and evil, all through the eyes of five children alone in the woods," hinted Lemire.

Lenox added: “The children in Plutona face some really dark situations and will realize that not everything is going to be okay. Don’t let the artwork fool you, this is not a children’s book. This is the kind of story I’ve been wanting to create for quite some time and am excited to do so with such talented folks like Jeff and Jordie."

PLUTONA follows the story of five suburban kids who make a shocking discovery while exploring the woods one day after school... the body of the world's greatest super hero, Plutona, laying dead among the mud and grass.

Led by the headstrong Mie and the troubled Teddy, the kids decide to keep their incredible discovery a secret, but it soon starts to tear their young lives apart, setting them against one another and pulling them into a darkness they may never be able to return from.

The series is set to launch from Image Comics in 2015.



AD: AFTER DEATH by SNYDER and LEMIRE This Fall



















































I am very excited to announce a brand new graphic novel from Image Comics this fall "AD: AFTER DEATH" to be written by my good friend SCOTT SNYDER and illustrated by myself.


The book takes place in a near future where a genetic cure for death has been developed, and asks the question, what happens next? How does the world and mankind change when death is no longer an inevitability.  The story follows one man who was at the centre of this discovery, and the multiple lives he lives as time stretches on and the world changes around him.

AD marks the first time I'll be drawing something of this size that I haven't also written myself, and I'm really excited to be collaborating with Scott. Not only is he one of my best friends, but he has proven himself to be one of the very best writers working in comics with his work on BATMAN, AMERICAN VAMPIRE, THE WAKE and WYTCHES.

You can read more about AD, including an interview with Scott and myself, at NY MAGAZINE

AD will be one of FOUR NEW CREATOR-OWNED PROJECTS I'll be releasing in 2015 along with DESCENDER (March), BLACK HAMMER (June) and PLUTONA (August)