Broken Frontier

Alex Starkweather is back. The young adept at witchcraft and wizardry switched from Arcana to Archaia for Starkweather: Immortal, a new five-issue mini series set to kick of this summer. The fun—or should we say, magic—starts a little earlier though with a special #0 prequel issue hitting in June.

To mark the new ground Alex is covering, his creative father David Rodriguez has brought along New York Times bestselling author Piers Anthony for a short story that acts as an introduction to the world of Starkweather.

BF spoke to Rodriguez about his new publishing home, how he got someone of Anthony’s ilk involved and what exactly he’s got in store for Alex Starkweather. To round things out, Archaia threw in a few exclusive preview pages.

BROKEN FRONTIER: How did Starkweather switch from Arcana to Archaia? Were you not satisfied with how your former publisher was treating the property?

DAVID RODRIGUEZ: Not at all. Sean and Arcana did a wonderful job getting the original Starkweather series off the ground, getting it recognition, and packaging the series. But besides that, Arcana was just a great publisher to work with. It helped that since I was just starting out to have Sean have so much faith and enthusiasm for the project.

The change has nothing to do with my level of happiness and everything to do with "product positioning." And you’d think I would have found a publisher that had more than two letters difference in their names. Try explaining to your parents that you’re not with ARCANA; you’re with ARCHAIA: "No…Dad…ARCHAIA. With an "H". The "H" is silent."

That being said, this new series is a bit of a change of direction from the first. The characters are the same, but it really is aimed at an older audience and deals with some very adult themes. After speaking with Sean, we came to the conclusion that Starkweather didn’t exactly fit in with the Arcana line-up anymore. So we started to talk about some possibilities for the new series and that led us to Mark and Archaia. Sean and I are still working together, both on aspects of Starkweather on some other projects that haven’t been announced.

BF: When looking for a new publisher, what were some of the factors that led you to sign with Archaia?

DR: The main factor is that Archaia already had a successful track record of publishing mature books with more of a painted/European feel to them. I also wanted a publisher that would be easy to work with and that would treat the book as if it were their own and not just throw it out there and hope for the best.

Coming off of a good experience with Arcana, I was very picky about where I wanted to go next and Archaia has totally lived up to its reputation.

BF: How so?

DR: The way Archaia treats its creators is exactly what you want from a publisher. The contract is simple and straightforward and they could easily leverage their position to be more in their favour. But they are just genuinely interested in publishing quality books and they are willing to back those titles.

With all of the horror stories you hear about indie publishers, it’s just nice to see someone doing it right.

BF: Was the delay between the last mini series, Legacy, and the current one mainly caused by the publisher switch?

DR: There are a few reasons for the delay of this series. The main reason is the change of artists and also a change of approach. This time I wanted to make sure that when this series launched, we’d have enough of a head start to make sure there were no delays. And now that Patrick is handling the art chores single-handedly, it is much easier for me to schedule and keep track of progress.

The book was signed around September of last year, after that we had to find a good slot in the schedule for Starkweather to launch, because there are several great books coming out from Archaia this year. And since then we’ve been moving forward on production.

BF: Where does the production stand at this point? Is the mini already completed?

DR: Patrick has wrapped up issue #1 and the scripts for the mini are already complete. So Patrick won’t ever be sitting and waiting for a new script to come in. Considering how much detail and attention is in his artwork he is extraordinarily fast. I have full confidence that we’ll be on time. You know, unless there’s an asteroid or something. And I like to think the fans will be understanding about that, but you never know really.

BF: Starkweather relaunches with a new zero issue. Since it takes place during the time of the Roman Empire, how does it tie into what’s come before?

DR: The zero issue focuses on Cartaphilus, a "villain" from the original series and how he became entangled in this whole war between the witches and the Templars. It tells the story of how he went from simple Roman soldier to an Immortal that wields one of the most powerful artefacts on the planet.

The story fills in the backstory that was revealed in the first series and lets readers jump right in for issue #1. And you also get that nifty Piers Anthony original story.

BF: How did that come about?

DR: When I decided to relaunch the series, I had originally planned to do a one-shot anthology book that was a series of short stories written by different authors, each one about a different character from Starkweather; sort of filling in the background of the characters before kicking off the new series. I thought that having one "headliner" for the anthology that was very well known but hadn’t worked in comics before would be an interesting hook.

Piers Anthony was probably the very first adult fantasy author I read. I don’t know that I SHOULD have been reading it—I was twelve. But I just remember being immediately drawn in. I think it was one of the Incarnations of Immortality series. As I grew older I started reading almost anything he wrote, but strangely enough not much Xanth. Everything I had read about him made him seem like a genuinely nice guy and also very approachable. So, I decide to just ask him.

A few back and forth messages and one delivered graphic novel later, he agreed to do it. In a very short time he turned in a story that very much deserved to stand on its own. He actually asked me if I wanted revisions! Seriously. Like I’m going to send revision requests to Piers @$^^#^ Anthony.

Anyway, instead of part of an anthology it became the prelude to a brand new series and it’s been one of the most exciting things I’ve ever had the privilege to work on. Piers Anthony is without a doubt one of the best people I know and I am deeply grateful to him for his contribution.

BF: Where does Alexander Starkweather, the title character after all, fit into all of this?

DR: Issue #1 brings our hero back into the spotlight, and the series takes place at the very beginning of his adventures. Legacy started someplace in the middle, with Alex already using magic and on the run. In retrospect this was a good and bad decision. I liked that it dropped the reader right in and that we were able to fill in some backstory as we went.

But looking back, I feel that we missed out on seeing what brought Alex to this point. There is just something special about an origin and watching the character evolve from his normal life into someone extraordinary.

BF: But, this basically being a prequel to Legacy, that also means the growth of the character should come in a future installment…

DR: Oh, I think Alex will always have a ton of room to grow. That’s what will keep him interesting…at least to me. But seeing him start from his humble line-cook beginnings and being introduced to his world at the same time he is gives the readers a unique perspective into his development.

BF: Patrick McEvoy is bringing a completely different look to the property than the more standard comic vibe Jon Bosco brought to the previous incarnation. Was that a deliberate move to help mark this as the dawn of a new age for the book?

DR: Absolutely. After reading the story that Piers Anthony created for the zero issue, I knew we couldn’t go back to the traditional art style we used before. Starkweather is a modern fantasy but it is still a fantasy. We really needed to sell that point with the art so that at first glance, you knew you were seeing something different from the first series.

I decided that we needed to go with someone who would make EVERY panel of the book look like a fantasy book cover. I talked with several artists before deciding that Patrick was hands down the man for the job. He’s just incredible. If you want the real reason there is a new series it’s because of Patrick.

BF: Immortal is a five-issue mini series. Is there more Starkweather down the pipeline once it concludes?

DR: Well that depends on how well received this series is, and whether or not I can beat Patrick into taking on a second series. I would love to keep working on this book and with these characters. We have a lot of stories we’d like to tell and this origin story sets up plenty for us to explore.

Starkweather: Immortal #0 goes on sale later this month through Archaia Studios Press. For more preview pages of the special zero issue, click here .