Broken Frontier

In 2010, Andi Ewington's debut graphic novel Forty-Five was released by British publisher Com.x to massive critical acclaim. The first long-awaited spin-off from that OGN, BlueSpear, sees Ewington partnered by Com.x ed-in-chief Eddie Deighton on the writing chores, and Cosmo White providing the visuals. Eddie Deighton provided Broken Frontier with this exclusive "writer's commentary" on the one-shot...

You'd expect, with 46 characters to choose from, that we'd have a hard time choosing which one to feature in their own story arc first. That wasn't the case with the Super-S known as the BlueSpear. After months of editing the original graphic novel, Andi Ewington (creator of Forty-Five) and myself had grown very fond of the character and his estranged relationship with his brother, so we already knew he would be our character of choice for the first spin-off and we had a pretty fixed idea of how his preliminary story should play out.

Andi and myself wanted to show how we could develop a world of characters and take them off on individual, creative adventures, yet still have them rooted in the same superhero universe. We wanted each project to act as a standalone story that would give the reader sufficient depth of content to enjoy the book, but we also wanted to pepper each story with enough additional content so that the reader that picked up all the books would get much more out of their reading experience.

The plan was to write a trilogy of books between us that would not only expand upon specific characters from the Forty-Five universe and their respective stories, but also resolve one of the main, pivotal story-arcs that appeared in the original book. BlueSpear was to be the first of those books, followed by X and SkyLine.

We agreed on restricting ourselves to 40 pages of content per book so that, by the time the reader had purchased all three, they would have a concise, 120-page story that showed how three very different characters were intrinsically connected by their powers and the choices they'd made through their lives. That, and the fact that we were restricted by budget constraints and we also wanted to get these books out sooner rather than later!

BlueSpear is special to me because, despite Com.x being my publishing company and my 'baby', this is the first time that I'll be publicly recognised as a co-writer on a project. It's something I've always intended on doing (publishing my own comic book) but my primary focus has always been as Editor-in-Chief of the company and making sure that I am committed to the other writers and artists that have worked so hard to generate great content for us.

Most of the creators we've worked with will (hopefully) tell you that I'm an extremely passionate comic publisher and whatever I'm involved in, I will do my utmost to make sure it is the best book we can possibly publish, whether it be adding my input on the graphic design and lettering, or story structure, colouring and artwork. So to be directly involved in a story from the ground up is both exciting and incredibly daunting; there's no third-party to apportion blame to this time around if readers don't enjoy the book!


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Page 1

This is where we jump right into the events surrounding Yuji Tomikawa's metamorphosis into the BlueSpear. This particular scene is referred to in Forty-Five through the story told by Yuji's brother (and we've included this story at the beginning of the book for those who didn't pick up Forty-Five before it sold out!) but here, we wanted to play it out visually, to convey the moment Yuji comes into contact with the spear. Andi had a very specific feel that he wanted for the dialogue for the opening scene and I thought it worked very well, so we plotted the panels out accordingly.

It was important for us that the reader should feel slightly unnerved that it's a young boy impaled on the spear, but we didn't want to overly dramatise the fact. Cosmo White (the artist) did an amazing job on this scene - the combination of serenity and graphic imagery plays out just right.

Page 2

The top panel shows Yuji resuscitated; eyes wide open, aware. Panel 2 shows how calm Yuji is as he pulls the spear from his own chest. I love the way Cosmo has drawn the blood mingling with the surrounding water. And then we get the close-up of Yuji's chest, showing that the injury from the spear has already healed.

We kept the dialogue to a minimum on these pages as we wanted them to be more emotive than informative. The focus was on how Yuji was feeling and what he was thinking more than anything else and, the more you read into the original Forty-Five story and the rest of the book, the more appropriate this monologue is. Especially the last box-out.

Page 3

We cut to some time and place during present day. The BlueSpear is dishing out justice to a Yakuza gang. As pages 2 & 3 work next to each other as a spread, we wanted there to be similarity across the panel layout; the sort of panel editing you'd see in a movie. Almost a mirror image of each other. And is that a lettering error, I here you cry? Nope - we thought it would be a nice touch if we repeated the monologue here, to show that, despite the years that have passed, the same issues and emotions still resonate with the BlueSpear. We also liked the way the spear's role has reversed; from initially bequeathing Yuji his new powers and a new life, to now being used as a weapon and taking life from the bad guys.

Page 4

Cut back to the young boy, Yuji, aware that he's changed. Notice the spear falling to the depths below? That has relevance when you read the opening story from Forty-Five. Panel 2 has a shark entering the frame, after being attracted by Yuji's blood, but in Panel 3 it stops in front of him, sensing that its prey is somehow different. There's some kind of telepathic connection between them and by Panel 4, the shark has moved on and Yuji is looking towards the surface, to the light and the beyond. The dialogue plays out appropriately and we know bigger things are on the horizon for our lead character. Also - a subtle note in Panel 5 - Yuji is gradually losing his hair as his body changes.

Page 5

Again, we maintained the visual contiguity with the panel layout and the repetition of the monologue from the opposite page. Notice how, in each instance, the roles are reversed; Panel 1 we have a gang member staring in fear at his hands, which have been amputated by the spear, whereas on the previous page, Yuji is calmly looking at his recently transformed body. Panels 2-4 have the BlueSpear in the role of the hunter (the shark on the previous page) and the Yakuza boss as his prey. Panel 5 leaves our Yakuza boss standing there, with his gang slaughtered around him. This eludes to the question - is there a reason the BlueSpear has left the gang leader alive?

It may be worth noting that Andi and myself didn't want to pull any visual punches or subject matter with this story; the BlueSpear, although a Super-S, will stop at nothing to protect the people Tokyo and will use whatever means necessary. None of this softly, softly catching the criminal and locking them up in jail for the rest of their life - he dispenses justice in whatever way he deems fit at the time. He's governed by a higher power.

But what's great about Cosmo's style is that we had no fear that any of the violence or sexuality would be portrayed in a crude manner. His linework and layout evokes a sophistication, and he's able to introduce the right level of visual humour into his panels.

Page 6

One splash-page broken into 5 panels. This page sees the final transition of Yuji into the BlueSpear as he makes his way to the surface, back to civilisation and his newfound destiny. In each panel, he's gradually transforming until, when you get to panel 5, he's fully mutated into his new form. The monologue box-out reinforces this. Cosmo reversed the direction of our character on the page so that, although he's heading for the surface, he appears to be swimming downwards. This was felt to be more visually appropriate because it wouldn't have been much fun to see just his feet in full-transformation in the end panel.

Page 7

For Andi and myself, this is where the real fun starts in the book, as pages 1-6 are what is essentially a prologue to the main story. We open on panel 1, where BlueSpear has his eyes open and rain is hitting his face from a horizontal (?) direction. We cut to panel 2, where we reveal that he's actually standing on the SIDE of a skyscraper, in the middle of Osaka, staring up at the sky, with one, small box-out enough to imply there's a change coming.

Panel 3, we get a close-up of his feet (no equipment or devices keeping this guy attached to the wall) and he sprints up the side of the building, defying gravity. This continues between panels 3-5, with a shocked office-cleaner punctuating the penultimate panel. A couple more quick jumps and BlueSpear lands on top of the building, hopefully prompting the reader to want to know more!


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So, in seven pages, we hope we've piqued the reader's interest by revealing Yuji's origin and mixing it with some fun, over-the-top action and effects - at least enough to make them either want to pick it up off the shelf in their local comic store, or to continue reading it because they've already purchased the book.

BlueSpear was originally solicited for release in July, but on making enquiries with a number of key retailers both in the UK and US, we found that a considerable number had overlooked it in Previews, so we decided to maximise the book's potential and re-solicit for August. This time around, Com.x will be communicating directly with retailers to make them aware that the book is available, in the hope they'll make a little bit of space for a copy or two amongst all the big comic events happening at the moment.

For those readers looking for great character development, entertaining writing and awesome art, and from the positive feedback and early reviews we've had on the book already, BlueSpear shouldn't disappoint.

For even more on BlueSpear check out the Broken Frontier interview from earlier this year here. For more on Com.x's titles check out their website here.