Broken Frontier

The best horror films, books and comics often play on the basic theme of supernatural justice. Ghosts and ghouls return from the dead to wreck havoc on those who have done them wrong. Some crimes are so bad that the victims return from beyond the physical world to enact metaphysical vengeance. This is horrifying because of the shared complicity that humans have in all atrocities. If we didn’t commit the crime, did we do enough to stop it?

Children of the Grave is a military/horror comic book that has been collected into a trade paperback for IDW. Tom Waltz and Casey Maloney have improved the artwork and included a stack of extras from their breakaway indie hit.

BROKEN FRONTIER: Do you consider Children of the Grave to be a success yet? If not now, when will you?

TOM WALTZ: Well, in regards to sales numbers, it's too early to say what the trade orders are going to be. I'm hoping for the best and doing as much as I can to promote the book, but realistically speaking, it's a tough road in the comics industry when you are an independent, even with a well-placed company in the market like IDW Publishing.

We're competing with established titles from the Big Boys, as well as a number of high-selling and super-hyped Big Events, so both artist Casey Maloney and I are keeping our fingers crossed, but we're not holding our breath for huge initial numbers. That said, we are very confident in the story and the quality of the trade – especially all the extras and enhancements -- and are hoping positive word-of-mouth will lead to substantial re-orders and long term sales.

I will say, though, that the critical acclaim we've received since the story first came out last year during the initial Shooting Star Comics run, not to mention the wonderful support we've gotten from our dedicated readers, have been fantastic and are both definite forms of success that Casey and I are very proud to claim. Our fans have been beyond great, and the comics press, pretty much across the board, have gone out of their way to write about us, talk about us, and generally support us. Nobody has to give us any kind of attention -- let's face it, there's a lot of titles to choose from out there. The fact that they do is, for me, the ultimate compliment to our work and means the world to both Casey and me.

Sure, we'd love sky rocketing sales, but if that never happens, I'll still walk away from Children of the Grave with a smile on my face, a warm feeling in my heart, and no regrets. This has been one of the best experiences in my creative career by far.

BF: The art has been re-mastered - if you will - and the TPB contains a host of extra material. Is the TPB the new DVD?

TW: Ha! That's a great way of putting it, actually. Yeah, I guess it is the new DVD in a lot of ways. Heck, we're even calling the COTG tpb from IDW a "Director's Cut", so I suppose the DVD comparison is an accurate one. We put some hard work into it, that's for sure. Casey went back and fully gray scaled the artwork, I adjusted some of the text and dialogue, we've got some great pin-ups from talented guest artists, a fun intro by comics veteran Beau Smith, a never-before-seen 8-page sequential story by Casey Maloney and me, and a beautiful new cover by Dan Brereton. So, yeah, plenty of extras just like a DVD. You just don't need expensive electronic equipment to make it work.

BF: The book tackles some serious issues - what role do you think fiction plays in the wider world of genocide and terrorism and Guantanamo Bay?

TW: I think fiction is a reflection of reality, just as much as it's an escape. In the case of Children of the Grave, if you cut away the supernatural aspects of the story, I think what you have is a commentary on the sinister proliferation of genocide and terrorism throughout the world. I want readers to walk away not only thinking about how terrible these atrocities are, but to also realize that its worse to let them continue to happen. Genocide, terrorism, war crimes... all these things need to be attacked and eliminated. Any less than that is a complete failure of humanity as a whole in my mind.

BF: What are you and Casey up to now?

TW: Casey and I are both working on separate projects for Platinum Studios right now, and as soon as we get those finished, we are going to start work on a sci-fi/military drama called The Last Fall, which will be our first official project from our new creative studio, Studio Eye Five. We are actively talking to a number of publishers about The Last Fall and hope to have an official announcement soon. I'm also developing a follow-up to COTG, which will most likely be the second project put out by Studio Eye Five.

I've done some writing on the UK-based online comic, Night Warrior, and have plans to do more in the near future. Casey and I did an 8-page story there that I think will appear in an NW print anthology soon. I'd like to bring some of my superhero prose stories from iHero Entertainment's Cyber Age Adventures over to the graphic format. Any artists out there who are interested in doing some creator-owned stuff with me (no money up front, but 50/50 across the board), drop me a line at tom@tomwaltz.com. I've got Casey plenty busy, so I'll need some help with other stuff when the time comes.

I'd like to close by thanking Matthew Clark and Broken Frontier Magazine for once again coming through like champs and giving Casey and me the wonderful opportunity to talk about Children of the Grave and our other projects. Thanks guys! And thanks to our fans and family for your continued support and enthusiasm for all things Waltz/Maloney. We hope to see you at the big Con in San Diego in July!

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Children of the Grave is available for pre-order from Diamond Distributors until June 10th. Please give the Diamond ordering code JUNE063212 to your local comics seller. If you do not have access to an LCS, COTG is also available for pre-order at online booksellers such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Walmart.com, Booksamillion.com, etc.