Broken Frontier

Vampires, demons and angels, Rafael Nieves, has been bitten by all three, though it’s quite likely that the teeth of the first two creatures stuck a little deeper in the writer’s skin when they seduced him. That Nieves is a big proponent of horror and supernatural stories is exemplified by The Apocalypse Plan, his first project at Narwain Publishing. In this three-issue mini series, the writer, together with artist Aaron Kuder, takes a closer look at a war that has been going on for centuries—that between heaven and hell.

BROKEN FRONTIER: The Apocalypse Plan puts a corporate spin on the age-old war between Heaven and Hell as one ‘organisation’ attempts a hostile takeover of the other. With the word ‘hostile’ in play, is Hell looking to reign supreme? It would seem rather odd that the first strike would come from the heavenly gates...

RAFAEL NIEVES: Well, it’s only odd if you assume that it is a first strike. It is an age-old war, as you said, so, in theory, this could in fact be a retaliatory action by the Grace Corporation. On the other hand, Hell, in the form of Morningstar, Inc., is always trying to reign supreme! My attempt was to drop the reader into the middle of something that has been going on for millennia, and will continue to go on. The Apocalypse Plan is a glimpse of just one battle, not the whole war.

BF: With the risk of turning this into a caricature, is the title an outright supernatural story with monsters and angels running rampant, or is there more to it?

RN: You know, it’s always a risk, with this type of story. It’d be very easy to turn this into something very “in your face”, very surface, with all manner of beasties and baddies running around, blowing each other up. I’d like to believe that there is a deeper meaning to The Apocalypse Plan, a subtext that you don’t normally find in many comic books. Whether I succeeded is a whole other story!

BF: Since your track record includes Hellstorm and Vampire the Masquerade, the supernatural sure seems to be a favorite genre of yours. What drives you to the things we can’t empirically verify?

RN: I actually do like working in other genres, but horror and the supernatural are the genres that allow me to really write characters with emotions! By that I mean, using these genres as metaphors for life, for the struggles we all share, I can put characters through a very intense pace, and really dwell on their reactions to a situation. Horror by its nature pushes the envelope of emotion, and I like that very much. Hey, if I could write Batman or Superman and imbue them with the same kind of intense internal struggles I put my horror characters through, I would! But I don’t think anyone will let me do that.

BF: Heh, well, you never know! Will you express some of your personal opinions regarding economic globalisation or religion in the series? Or shouldn’t people really perceive it as a “child of its time”?

RN: Yeah, folks are always asking me to comment on the things that drive me to write what I do, and they always seem to find a subtext in my work that reflects or speaks about events or problems in modern society. The truth, embarrassing as it may be, is that, if I am doing that, it’s purely subconscious!  I have enough of an uphill battle just getting my work published and enjoyed as pure entertainment, let alone shoring up the work with deeper meaning than I intended. I leave that to smarter, more talented writers and readers.

BF: The tricky thing about a story dealing with Heaven and Hell is that the humane aspect—which is often the true engine of a story—may get lost in the scuffle. How have you tried to circumvent that problem?

RN: By ignoring it… No, seriously, with this particular Heaven/Hell story, the characters ARE human, or human-like, and so they act with the same kind of human foibles. This is a tenet to all my writing; make everyone as human as you can, regardless of their place of origin, unless it is their very un-humanness that drives the story, and then add a character who will act as a human guide for the reader.

BF: With that, and the subject matter, in mind, what creatures drive the story? Humans, angels, or demons?

RN: All of ‘em, in one way or another. Saying any more would divulge too much of the plot.

BF: Ok, let’s steer in another direction then. Drawing The Apocalypse Plan is Aaron Kuder, who, despite being a newcomer, already seems to have a knack for conceiving visually fluent material. How did the two of you hook up?

RN: I found Aaron on the penciljack.com site, which is actually where I’ve found a couple of artists who are working on projects with me. I was really impressed with his line work, and thought he’d be perfect for The Apocalypse Plan. I contacted him, and he agreed to draw the book. Aaron’s style is beautifully suited to The Apocalypse Plan; he gives the art a nice ‘Euro’ flavour, which I like a lot. I predict big things for Aaron; you heard it here first!

BF: With this being your first project for Narwain, how would you qualify your relationship with the company? What makes them a viable company in a comics industry crowded with relatively young publishers struggling for survival?

RN: Narwain has been absolutely great to work with! The initial trepidations that I would have had with any new publisher just dissipated after only a few exchanged emails. They really want to make their mark in the medium, and are doing all the right things to make that happen, from getting some top name talent (and me!) to giving their titles a high production value. Narwain is based out of Spoleto, Italy (near Rome), and it is that European feel to their books that appeals to me, as well as their ‘Euro’ attitude towards creators. I feel a very tangible respect from them, as a company and as individuals, towards me as the talent. I like to think of ‘em as family, and I have every indication that that’s how they view me.

It’s that level of commitment to the talent, to the product, that I think will carry them far in the field.

BF: Are you up to any other tricks at Narwain, or another publisher, perhaps?

RN: Well, there’s always something cooking in the stew pot of my brain!  I am talking to Narwain about a couple of other projects, but we’re going to wait and see how The Apocalypse Plan does first.

I also have a few books in the works with Moonstone Books, most notably The Phantom: Man-Eaters, which should surface in August. This is being done in Moonstone’s Wide Vision format, with some spectacular illustrations by Vatche Mavlian.

I’m also involved in the Phantom Annual, which should be out sometime this year. I’m very fortunate to be working alongside Ron Marz, Chuck Dixon, Tony Bedard, and Mike Bullock, along with some really talented artists!

The other big news is the announcement of TransFuzion, an intellectual property development studio I’ve formed with Gary Reed, Randy Zimmerman, and Steve Jones. We’re going to debut the studio at the Motor City Con the weekend of May 19th, and there will be more news on that very soon. I’m really excited to be involved in this new venture, as the boys and I find new and existing artistic talent with whom to collaborate on projects that we’ll pitch to comic, toy, and game companies!