Broken Frontier

After having helped to create two of the biggest characters ever to appear in the pages of a Top Cow book—Jackie Estacado and Sara Pezzini—David Wohl returns to regular comics writing with The Innocents, hitting this month from the Image imprint Wohl has called home for over a decade.

BROKEN FRONTIER: You’ve created or co-created several ever-popular properties for Top Cow, most notably Witchblade and The Darkness, which dwell in mysticism and, for lack of a better term, ancient rituals. Is The Innocents cut from the same mold?

DAVID WOHL: Hmm, now that you mention it, it is! [Laughs] Yeah, I guess I’m a fan of that type of story; one that is pretty much realistic and then you throw a supernatural element into it. I think we’ll stay away from ancient rituals in The Innocents . Wait. I guess I should check before I say anything, now that I think about it!

This one is definitely different from those other two, though, in mythology. With both Witchblade and Darkness , we pretty much created mythologies and placed our characters within them.  This time, we’re grounding it with real-world Eastern philosophies, touching on Yin and Yang as well as other concepts. There definitely still are supernatural elements at work, but this time, if I’m not clear in my explanations, you’ll be able to Google them and know what we’re talking about!

BF: To what, if any, extent is the series your ‘typical’ Top Cow book in that it exudes a feel akin to the one readers can find in other books from the company?

DW: Well, although these days there are definitely different types of Top Cow books, between Wanted and The Freshmen and Common Grounds and The Magdalena, I think they’re all connected in a way that they all try to present real-life stories in fantastic ways. What I mean by that is the characters can be considered superheroes or supervillains in the conventional sense, but their stories—the trials they need to go through—are still based in the real world. I think we always want our characters to be relatable. Even a guy like Wesley in Wanted or Jackie Estacado in The Darkness should be, in some way, relatable to every reader. I think all the creators at Top Cow strive for that. I know I definitely do.

I also always remember the question that Marc Silvestri asked us to consider whenever we create something new: “Would the reader WANT to be this character?” That’s the question I always ask myself when I work on a new concept. If the answer is no, then I definitely still have work to do. When it came to Grace Stokes, the star of this book, I think she could definitely be considered a Top Cow hero. She’s strong, she’s smart, she gets involved in some harrowing adventures she initially doesn’t understand, and she’s pleasing to the eye, as well!

BF: As you mentioned, the star of the series is Grace Stokes, a young woman in her early thirties, who’s made it in life. At the start of the story, the poor girl doesn’t realise life will soon take a turn for the worse, does she?

DW: No. She really doesn’t. At the beginning of the story, Grace seems like she has it all. She’s an X-Games legend who’s broken every record there is to break, in multiple sports. And she did it all without even breaking a SWEAT. By the time our story starts she’s already retired, ready to embark on a new career as a clothing designer and entrepreneur. But she’s still definitely a thrill seeker, and keeps trying to do death-defying feats to get that adrenaline rush she used to get when she competed—because now she feels like her life is empty. If she knew what fate, and I, had in store for her, she’d probably be happy the way things are!

BF: How come Grace ends up in the sticky situation you’ll be placing her in?

DW: Well, what Grace eventually comes to learn is that she is part of a lineage of special people who basically, through their actions, can affect all of mankind. They’re sort of living embodiments of Yin and Yang. That’s one reason why life came so easily for Grace, and why she ultimately gets into trouble. As someone famous once said, “with great power comes great responsibility,” and so far Grace hasn’t lived very responsibly. But she realizes pretty quickly that she needs to turn her life around—fast!

And if you think SHE’S bad, wait until you see the OTHER Innocent!

BF: The Innocents is a rather interesting name… According to the info in the solicitation copy for #1, a mysterious group wants them dead. Can they be as innocent as their moniker suggests them to be?

DW: Well, that’s really their whole problem. Since they’re innocent, they don’t realize their power! And that is what gets them into trouble when they’re suddenly hunted by a man who KNOWS exactly who they are and what they represent!

BF: The artist on the title is Bing Casino, who’s making his comic book debut. Where did you meet him? Going by his last name, not at a roulette table in Las Vegas, I hope? [Laughs]

DW: HAHA! Yeah; he does have an interesting name. Though his name was slightly misspelled in the initial solicits. It’s actually CANSINO. He was brought to my attention by Brian Haberlin, who has an impressive array of artists at his disposal (and is quite the artist in his own right!) Brian and I go back a long way, since we both started at Top Cow around the same time, a very long time ago. We’ve worked together on countless projects, and even came up with the initial concept of Witchblade over lunch on the Santa Monica Pier!

When I began working on The Innocents , I asked Brian if he knew of anyone who would be a good fit for the kind of book we wanted to do. He showed me Bing’s work and I instantly fell in love! In truth, I haven’t met him yet since he lives in the Philippines. But I’m hoping that someday I’ll be able to meet him. Brian’s studio actually handles all the art chores on the book, from pencils to coloring!

BF: It’s been some time since you’ve written an ongoing monthly. What made you decide to give it a go again with The Innocents ?

DW: I guess all I keep thinking about is Michael Corleone and how whenever I get away they pull me right back in. Maybe I paraphrased a bit. Basically, I’ve been involved with comics for a very long time; since I was a senior in high school when I took an internship at Marvel Comics in 1985. And there have been a few times along the way that I’ve left comics and tried to do something else. Most recently I’ve been working in videogames, first at a company called Tiger Hill with John Woo, and then for my own company that I’m a partner (and still involved) in, called Titan Productions, but all along I’ve kept working on comics.

Truth be told, I love comics. I love reading them, I love working on them, and when I’m not involved in them I miss them. So, when this opportunity came along I jumped at it.  I have a few other projects in the works as well that I’m very excited about too! A Darkness videogame adaptation that I’m working on with Paul Jenkins, as well as the ongoing City of Heroes comic based on the NC Soft game. I also have some newer projects I’m not at liberty to talk about yet, but they’re VERY cool and exciting!

BF: Speaking of your earlier writing, do people still talk to you about your run on Witchblade ?

DW: Quite often, actually! Those early stories really seem to have resonated with a lot of people—along with the TV show on TNT. I get into a lot of conversations about that too! I enjoy reminiscing about those days. It was a whole team effort and it really showed in the final result.

BF: Sara Pezzini will star in her 100th issue this month. Back in 1995, did you ever think she’d make it this far?

DW: Well, you never know what will happen, but I was hoping she would. It’s such a cool milestone to achieve. And the issue that Top Cow put together is just awesome! I’m very proud of the books’ success and hope it makes it to issue #1000! I guess I’d be dead by then, but it would still be pretty cool.

BF: By the way, what do you think of Ron Marz’ run on the book and what he’s done with the character and her supporting cast?

DW: I’m a HUGE fan. I think that the way that he’s kept a lot of the old flavor while creating a new cast of characters is great! The only issue I have, to be honest, is this whole new wielder thing. Not that I’m against it, though—it’s actually something that I wanted to do a long time ago but was shot down by the powers that be. So, I’m a little envious that Ron is getting to do it now! But I can’t complain too much, because from what I’ve seen, he’s set up something VERY cool!

The Innocents #1: The Beginning ships this month from Top Cow Productions.