Jeremy
In honor of the opening of THE BATMAN in theaters today, John and I decided to kick off a series we have been discussing for awhile now, centering around some of the work he had done in the past at DC and elsewhere that never saw the light of day. One of the amazing things you find in digging into the editorial side of comics is that there are sometimes entire issues scrapped after they have been fully pencilled and perhaps even further completed.
Once upon a time, I was lucky enough to be on the DC comp list. Anyone who has worked in this business for more than a decade will know that this was one of the great perks of the industry if you could swing it. Every month you would receive 2-3 boxes of EVERYTHING the company published over a month’s time, which would give you a true sense of JUST HOW MUCH material they were releasing it into the market each month. All of the floppies, all of the collections, all of the original graphic novels…It would be impossible to read all of it. Every month, I would go through what I was sent, grab what I wanted, and leave the boxes out for my friends and colleagues at Dark Horse to pick through. What was left after a few days would invariably make it to world famous Powell’s Books in downtown Portland.
I remember BATMAN BEYOND: HUSH BEYOND’s appearance on the still under two years old New York Times Graphic Bestseller List vividly, as it coincided with the first appearance of the DAYTRIPPER graphic novel written and drawn by my friends Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá on that same list. They took the number 1 and 2 spots respectively, and both books went home with me from that month’s pile of trades from DC. I was a fan of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES when I was a kid, so a new story written by Adam Beechen is going to be of immediate interest, but I had admittedly missed reading this in issues amidst so many other serials (remember this was a time before DC’s massive “New 52” campaign and there were SO MANY SERIES coming out at that time). Still when I did get around to reading it in trade finally, I bought into the hype. The story had all of the mystery I would want from a HUSH storyline with an unexpected science fiction twist that shouldn’t have worked but did. John inks had all of the heavy atmosphere the story needed, and well, obviously the critics and fans responded with that top gun spot on the list.
Today, John has a treat for all of you that I would have loved to have seen published, but before I say too much else, I had better pass it to him…
John
So, it’s 2012 and it’s a turning point moment in my career. Coming off the success of Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond, I honestly felt like I wasn’t sure I was going to ‘climb higher’ in my work as an inker. Also, I had this nagging voice in my head saying, ‘y’know, you DID want to be a penciller ALLLLLLL the way back in the beginning’.
So, maybe it was time to really do it. Basically, put a ‘stop’ on pursuing inking and…announce to the world I’M A PENCILLER NOW!!!! So…..I did. And….crickets. Tumbleweeds and….well, a LOT of crickets. Hmmm, maybe it wasn’t going to be as easy as all that. Maybe, y’know, I might have to develop the penciling and I don’t know, work up a portfolio of some kind and, y’know, prove to people I could do it.
CUT TO: Two years later.
It’s 2014 and, actually, I did work up the penciling and a kind soul ( and good editor) named Chris Ryall, gave me a bunch of gigs over at IDW. Some really fun stuff and I had a chance to work out my chops a bit penciling and inking my own work.
On the heels of that, it was time to go back to DC and convince folks I could do this.
Brian Cunningham gave me a great shot on a Constantine inventory story that I pencilled and inked. REALLY fun stuff and, maybe in another newsletter, we’ll show you those pages!
I took those pages over to Chris Conroy, my editor on Batman Beyond and asked for a shot. Now, you have to understand that A: Chris is one of the BEST editors in the game, B: is a SUPER nice guy and C: was the editor of the Batman books, so, it was kind of a big ask even for a super great guy like Chris. BUT, at the time, Chris was editing the Batman Eternal book which had one and two off stories. Not a huge commitment….and it looked like not everything on the Batman eternal slate was assigned. Sensing blood in this editorial water, I pounced. Ok, I didn’t pounce. I…very gently, and with great reverence, asked if I could take a one or two issue slot. I may have bowed my head.
Chris said yes.
There was a really cool two issue story called GANGS OF GOTHAM, written by Frank Tieri and, without giving too much away (in the very very small chance DC ever wants to pick this up someday), it tells the story of Gotham in the 1800’s and who were the first folks to don masks and why they did. It gives us a look into some of the ancestors of our favorite characters and, trust me, there were a TON of surprises.
Frank wrote a GREAT story of Gotham in it’s formative, brutal time. It’s a story about immigrants and gangs forming to just try to survive in this dark, crime filled world. Just killer stuff. We were doing two issues but Frank had a larger story planned and I SO wanted to do the whole thing.
I got to work and pencilled, I think, around thirty pages. We had Scott Hanna on board to ink and it was looking great.
Then…DC decided to move to L.A….and other changes. Changes that swept through the company and, in it’s aftermath, apparently, a whole bunch of ‘underway’ projects just didn’t go forward, including Gangs of Gotham.
These things happen. It’s all a part of the industry and I’m very, very grateful to Chris Conroy and the good folks at DC for giving me the shot. It was shortly after working on Gangs Of Gotham, that I had the notion of starting my creator owned series LIFEDEATH, which of course, led to my meeting Jeremy Atkins and the rest…isn’t history to absolutely ANYONE except for well, me and Jeremy!! But you get the idea!!
But, every once in a while, I’ll look these pages over and think…sigh, I REALLY wish we would have seen this through. Now, I basically consider this to be in the realm of fan fiction, so that’s why we decided to share the art with all of you.
So, without further adieu, here’s a whole lot of the GANGS OF GOTHAM pages, including two covers, for your perusing pleasure.
Enjoy!!!