http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=140906
Yesterday, we spoke with Francesco Francavilla, the recently-announced artist for Dynamite Entertainment’s upcoming Zorro series. Today, we caught up with Zorro writer and art director Matt Wagner one more time to talk about the character, his process and his progress since we last checked in with him.
And he brought along his style sheets to show off.
Newsarama: Matt, you've mentioned before that you're taking inspiration from Isabel Allende’s novel. How much are you pulling from that, and where are you going your own way?
Matt Wagner: I’m actually taking inspiration from the many sources and variations of Zorro throughout the years. I consider the Allende novel to be more of a template for this version of the tale rather than this being a straight adaptation of that book. For one thing, an eight-issue comic series just doesn’t have the space for the level of detail and scope that a novel can provide. Additionally, while I find it wonderful on so many levels, the novel just doesn’t have the necessary structure and dynamics that a comic book story demands.
For instance, Zorro doesn’t show up in costume until the last thirty or forty pages of the novel. Not only do I realize that comic book readers won’t stick around that long waiting for the title hero to materialize…I wanna get to all the “good stuff” too! Even so, I play Zorro as quite a dark and mysterious presence for quite some time. It’s essential that his enemies know very little about him and, let’s face it, he strikes at night and in the dark while wearing black. Much like a certain archetypical DC character that Zorro helped to inspire, he’s trying to give the bad guys a good scare in order to rattle their nerves and throw off their defenses. So, the end result is X percent of both the Allende novel as well as the original pulp tale by [Zorro creator] Johnston McCulley, X percent of the various film versions of Zorro, and X percent of my long history as a comic book author. In essence, I’m taking all these many disparate parts and distilling them all down to make this the Dynamite brand of Zorro.
NRAMA: When we’e spoken before, the work was always off in the future a little - you're into the series now, so...how's it going in regards to the "fit" of the character? Is Zorro someone who, as a character, opens up to you, or is he someone that is somewhat enigmatic?
MW: I thought it would be much easier than it initially turned out to be. Admittedly, it took me a while to get into the groove of not only the time period but also Diego de la Vega’s distinct personality. He’s not a brooding loner like Bruce Wayne and so it took me a while to find his demeanor and voice. I got a lot of help from Sandy Curtis, who’s the Senior Vice President at Zorro Productions. She’s been an invaluable source, specifically for the period detail but also for outlining and defining the distinctions that make Zorro so very many things that Batman is not. Admittedly, at the very beginning we both seemed to be going in different directions on this project. As I said, she wanted to make sure that Zorro not become too dark or sadistic in temperament while I needed to constantly plug away at the fact that the character and the concept both needed a bit more reality and grit if it was going to appeal to a modern audience. In the end, I think we’ve reached a very nice equilibrium that has resulted in a pretty damn cool rendition. This Zorro is certainly the familiar masked face of old yet we’ve managed to return the character to his pulp roots as well as making the entire story have a certain resonant reality that, again, modern readers have come to demand.
NRAMA: Also since we last spoke, Francisco Francavilla has been named as the series' artist. What does he bring to the table in your view? Stylistically, how do the two of you mesh?
MW: Francesco is a perfect match for this story and I’m finding it incredibly easy to work with him. For one thing, we’re both just nuts for the same sort of stories and narrative genres. He’s a pulp junkie and so am I! Additionally, I’m discovering that Francesco is just an ace pro in every sense of the word. His enthusiasm for the project is explosive and his proficiency, reliability and sheer talent are pretty noteworthy in a field that too often seems dominated by prima-donna, hothouse flowers. Francesco loves what he does and it shows. I’m totally happy with what we’re getting out of him and his upbeat attitude really makes the entire experience just a joy.
NRAMA: Building on that, you're art directing, so how does this all work? Do you just supply say, sketches and designs, or are you doing more along the lines of thumbnailing things out?
MW: Well, I did some initial character sheets to nail down the defining characteristics of what makes this our version of Zorro. And I oversee and approve everything that comes down the pike in regards to the visual aspects of the book. For instance, when Dynamite first acquired this license, they were given an officially approved logo treatment from the licensor, Zorro Productions. I generally liked the look of the letterforms but it also had a graphic rendering of an ornate sword, replete with decorative ribbons and such, thrust through the logo’s center.
Now, I’ve always hated these sort of graphic elements in the midst of comic book logos. In fact, when I was the cover artist on the monthly Batman title several years ago, I was utterly frustrated by the then-current variation of the classic Batman logo; the one that features a graphic silhouette of his head, ears and eyes along with a bit of the edge of his cape. I know some fans might find that sacrilegious but, as an artist, I found it hard to work around the fact that, basically, this meant that Batman was featured on each and every cover twice! And, depending on how I chose to draw him, pose him, etc…that could create a real visual conflict that I thought was distracting at best and downright clumsy at worst. Okay so, similarly, I hated the presence of this sword in this Zorro logo. It made the image redundant and, in fact, on my second cover, the sword in the logo nearly touched tips with Zorro’s actual sword in my cover art.
So, I submitted a redesigned sketch that dumped the sword graphic and greatly enlarged the “Z” of the title. I mean, Zorro’s lucky enough to already have a way cool graphic element that defines his character (the “Z”
and I thought we didn’t need any further decoration on top of that. Thankfully, Zorro Productions agreed and now the logo has, I think, a much bolder and striking appearance. This was just one instance where the fact that this is a comic book and I’m such an experienced comic book creator came into play. That logo might have looked fine on, say, a movie poster or such, where it’s decorative graphic qualities would be contrasted with a photograph. But, on a comic book cover, it was just overdone and, again, contentious with the graphic nature of the art itself.
Other than that, I’m mainly just overseeing the artistic end of things much in the same as I would on a Grendel project that I might have written; Francesco turns in rough layouts and, on occasion, I’ll shoot him back a quick thumbnail that suggests a change here and there. Following that, he goes directly to his finished art (he inks his own work…quite nicely too). He’s also rendering the interior art using a bit of ink-wash technique. This provides a nice dimension to the art and really stresses the pulp characteristics that we both feel are so vital to the character.
NRAMA: So tease this first arc you're working on - are you starting with the origin?
MW: Yep, it’s his origin—“Zorro: Year One” —to use the popular phrasing. It begins when Diego is only ten years old and traces both his youth and his heritage in a way that fully defines his character and his purposes. Again, a lot of this comes from the Allende novel but I also contrast this end of our narrative timeline (basically flashbacks) with a contemporary thread that shows Zorro’s first mysterious strikes against the repressive California regime.
I’ll say it again…I needed to make this a comic book story and I think that, on that level, it succeeds quite well. The Allende novel has a “mystery” narrator and so do this series, although it’s a completely different character than in the book, one that has a certain ironic quality and uniquely intimate outlook on our hero. Another key element to structuring this tale was to truly make it the beginning of Zorro’s adventures. Much as this isn’t the novel, it also isn’t a two-hour film that needs to neatly wrap up its storyline and have Zorro valiantly best all his enemies and handily save the day before the credits roll. At the end of this first arc, our hero has merely just started his daring crusade and there are still many obstacles between him and his ultimate goals of liberty and equality for all. Still, Diego is a fairly undaunted personality and Zorro is prepared to do whatever is required to see justice done.
NRAMA: Finally, when we've spoken previously, you've implied that your stay was going to be limited. Any changes to its length in your view so far?
MW: Yeah, at this point, I’d have to say that I’m definitely interested in continuing my many capacities on this book for at least another storyline or two. When I first gave my initial plot outline/pitch to my seventeen year old son to read, he looked up at me about halfway through and said, “Dad, you definitely need to write more of these.” I took that as a pretty strong endorsement for my involvement with the series as a whole.
But, only time and the specifics of my future production scheduling will tell. I’ve got a variety of really exciting and fabulous projects percolating for the upcoming year and I’m sure you and I will be talking about those before too long as well!
