Broken Frontier

Heavy Metal, Metal Hurlant, Moebius, Humanoides Associés... global-minded comic fans are already familiar with these European names that have elevated the international comics scene since the seventies and onwards. About three decades later, another Euro has stepped up, hoping to capture the hearts and minds of a new generation of comic readers with a taste for the finer aspects of the medium. His name? Liam Sharp. His project? Event Horizon.

The list of both veteran and up-and-coming creators contributong to this huge anthology, released through Sharp's own Mam Tor Publishing, just goes on and on. Next to him, there's Alan Grant, Steve Niles, Rich Johnston, Greg Staples, Simon Bisley, Ben Oliver, Simon Thorpe, Ashley Wood, Glenn Fabry, Dave Kendall, Ali Powers, Szymon Kudranski, Mike Raicht, Shane McCarthy, Dan Wickline and Emily Hare, to name many, but not all. 

With the first book of Event Horizon having sold out and the second one coming your way on November 22, Liam Sharp, discusses his vision and how the project took shape.

BROKEN FRONTIER: How did you get all these different creators – often from a different background – to collaborate on a massive project like Event Horizon? What was your pitch that reeled them in?

LIAM SHARP: There was no need for a pitch!  Some of these guys were hungry to be in print and couldn’t find the right outlet.  Others, the better-known guys, had stuff up their sleeves they wanted to do, or they just always wanted to try something different.  The problem for us wasn’t selling it to the creators, it’s getting it the attention of the public! [Laughs]

BF: The illustrations I’ve seen remind me a lot of the basic concept of the early Heavy Metal magazines where the finest artists gathered to innovate an art form they clearly loved. Is that idea close to how you feel about your anthology?

LS: Absolutely. You nailed it right there. I’ve got an editorial in EH2 about that very thing.  When I was a teenager—when I really thought seriously about wanting to be in comics—the work that blew my mind was all that amazing stuff from Metal Hurlant, by Moebius, Dionnet, Bilal, Druillet, Corben…  It was fearless and beautiful. 

For some reason the major works of the 80’s have cast a shadow over the revolution that happened in the mid 70’s, and it’s like there was no grown-up comic market before Alan Moore invented himself, and Frank Millar reinvented the Dark Knight.  In 1975, those guys stuck fingers up at the world and said “We’re going to do what WE like doing!”, and they produced this just astonishing work, like Arzach, Den, Lone Sloane: Delirious, Exterminator 17, … the list goes on and on.

The seventies were a time for art.  The eighties had art and writing as equal.  The nineties saw the writer as king.  I’m trying to equal the balance a bit!  

BF: Event Horizon is a seventies book then, because, let’s face it, it is all about the art. At least that’s what will strike people once they see the previews and, ultimately, pick up a copy. As the driving force behind this book, don’t you fear that the artwork might outshine the writing too much?

LS: I keep hearing this, but in a time when it’s all about the writing, isn’t that only fair enough?  Why shouldn’t a book have merit because of the beautiful art within it?  Nobody bought a Neil Adams’ Batman, or Corben’s Den Saga because of the writing!  But really, that’s doing a disservice to our writers, because I believe we have some incredibly talented writers involved. 

Also, we have the illustrated prose sections, and here you have something substantial to get your teeth into.  We’ve got some pretty big name writers lined up down the line too, so I think we should be able to establish a reasonable balance.

BF: Which artist totally blew you away in the sense that the visuals he delivered may take his career to a whole new level?

LS: That’s tough to answer as everybody has upped their game for Event Horizon 2, and I have an enormous fondness for so much of it.  But unknowns who should be stars, you’ve got to love Bagwell, Dave Kendall, Emma Simcock-Tooth and Kev Crossley.  They will, I’m sure, all get a solid fan base very soon!  There are so many great artists involved though, I wouldn’t want to put anybody over another.  Lee Carter is also amazing.  Cardinal… they all are! 

BF: Is your upcoming work on Vertigo’s The Testament a direct consequence of the success of Event Horizon?

LS: Not really, I believe it was more of a direct consequence of “The Possessed” which I did with Geoff Johns a couple of years back…

BF: The anthology also seems to cover a handful of genres. What are some of those, and will we get to see somewhat of a new take on them?

LS: We’re making all of that more clear in Event Horizon 2 by dividing it into sections—fantastic, gothic and future science.  We also have a gallery section at the back, so yes, it’s more coherent now.  The first book was in that order, but we didn’t clarify it.

BF: Did the second volume outdo the first one in terms of preorders? At 60 extra pages for the same price of $19.95, one would think the answer is ‘Yes!’.

LS: We’ve printed more, but we’re still waiting for quite a few orders to come in—so we’ll see!  I hope that’s going to be the case, though…

BF: Aside from adding a hefty amount of pages, did you make any other production changes?

LS: Lots. The whole feel is livelier, less ponderous and dark.  Tom Muller did a whole new design job on it, and it’s kind of cooler and sexier I think.  It’s going to be something you’ll covet!

BF: Is it difficult to persuade readers to fork over twenty bucks all at once, even though they’re getting about 200 pages worth of story?

LS: I think the tough thing is getting people to be less narrow-minded about comics and to embrace the medium’s potential.  There’s so much online now about what’s good, what’s bad—and people read that stuff! (We wouldn’t be here if they weren’t! – ed.) They buy into it!  I think we’re trying to say “have your own mind” you know?  Go for something different, try something new, and don’t judge it by everything else, enjoy it for what it is: its OWN thing.  Twenty bucks for 208 beautiful pages the likes of which you won’t find anywhere else… if that’s not worth it, I might as well give up now.

BF: This instalment is Volume 2 in a series of anthologies. How many more like these are on the horizon?

LS: Well actually it’s Book 2 of Volume One, of which we’re going to produce 12.  If it’s still going strong, we’ll move onto Volume 2!

To order a copy of Event Horizone 2 or to view a boatload of web exclusive previews, check out the Mam Tor Publishing  website.