Broken Frontier

This October, Garth Ennis teams with John Woo on Seven Brothers, easily Virgin Comics' highest profile title to date. BF briefly spoke to Ennis about the book.

BROKEN FRONTIER: Neither the solicit info nor last month’s press release give a whole lot away about Seven Brothers. I know it’s a pretty generic opening question, but what’s the series’ 101 from its writer’s point of view?

GARTH ENNIS: Seven immensely powerful men are charged with saving the world from evil. Unfortunately they have no idea how, they don’t understand their powers, and they don’t really even like each other that much. Only one long-suffering woman, guided by an ancient Chinese legend, has any hope of getting these boys to work together. And she’d better hurry up, because evil is on its way: all-consuming, all-powerful, and really rather well-dressed.

BF: The concept for Seven Brothers originated with John Woo and is based on elements from Chinese folklore. Did you have to do a lot of research in that domain, or were there aspects you were already familiar with?

GE: I read a book called 1421, written by Gavin Menzies, which has some interesting things to say about China’s place in history- things that might surprise a lot of people. That was really the starting point for the story I decided to tell.

BF: In any case, the series seems to be like a return to stories cut from the same supernatural mould as The Darkness, as opposed to your more recent efforts on gritty war-themed stories Avatar’s 303 and Marvel’s Punisher and Nick Fury: Peacemaker. Are supernatural tomes your second pet peeve, then?

GE: I don’t really have a hierarchy of favourites or anything like that. Supernatural stories can be good fun, and it’s been a while since I’ve done one. Except Ghost Rider, but it’s already a year since I finished that.

BF: When we interviewed Darrick Robertson on The Boys, he said that you’ve soured on much, if not all things superhero-related. Why is that? And, in related, does it make you feel all charged up each time you get to work in other genres than the most dominating one in the industry?

GE: Superheroes dominate the industry, as you say, which is probably my main bone of contention with them. I’d like to see mainstream comics featuring the same variety of genres as film or novels, say. Beyond that I don’t really care about them one way or the other, beyond the fact that they seem a bit silly to me; I think you have to come to superheroes as a kid to have any kind of feeling for them. I didn’t.

BF: In film and tv, there have been quite a few stories with characters from dramatically different backgrounds whose faiths are somehow intertwined. Productions such as Crash, Magnolia and Lost come to mind. What kind of role does fate play in the lives of the seven characters that form the cast of Seven Brothers?

GE: The usual one. Extremely fickle.

BF: What kind of an experience is working for a new-but-instant-behemoth company as Virgin turning out to be? What made you say yes when they came calling?

GE: No complaints so far. They were nice guys who offered me a good deal, combined with the opportunity to work with John Woo.