Comicscape - June 14, 2006

By: KURT AMACKER
Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2006

After a successful run with indie publisher Shooting Star Press, Tom Waltz and Casey Malone's CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE has found a new home in trade paperback form at IDW. The black and white miniseries tells the chilling story of a black ops squad of only three men called Team Orphan. They've been sent to the fictitious Middle Eastern country of Stinwan to assassinate a deposed colonel-turned-terrorist named Akbar Assan, who not only disrupts his country''s peace talks, but wantonly slaughters children to eliminate any future enemies. Unfortunately for him, those children won't stay dead. CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE coexists comfortably within both the war and horror genres, but at its heart, it presents an unusually human portrayal of both the American military and the terrorists they fight. The members of Team Orphan -- Lt. Michael "LT" Drake, Sgt. Reginald "Shiv" Reese, and Sgt. Pedro "Lil' Pete"" Rodriguez -- all share lingering guilt over violent episodes from their past. Even the diabolical Colonel Assan gets a somewhat sympathetic origin story, but Waltz never stoops to excusing his behavior, as you'll read below.

Kurt Amacker: Can you give us a little background on the inception of CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE? How did you hook up with Casey Maloney? How long did it take to get published? How did you hook up with IDW? Go nuts.

Tom Waltz: Well, a number of years ago, I caught a TV news report about a mass grave being unearthed in Iraq. I was utterly shocked by the images I was seeing, because not only were men and women being pulled from the ground, but so were children and babies. All of these innocent people had been brutally murdered for some twisted religious and political reason, and the very idea that someone was capable of ordering and carrying out such an atrocity left me both horrified and mystified. I was......angry as hell. Look, terrorism in general - no matter who is conducting it - is, to me, a burning example of human failure and...weakness. From the lowliest gang-banger on the streets of America committing drive-bys into unsuspecting and defenseless crowds, to the Osama Bin Ladens of the world carrying out mass murder against office workers in high-rises, terrorists are cowards and lunatics and, honestly, a waste of oxygen. Seeing the images of the mass grave in Iraq and all those poor, dead babies only solidified that belief in my heart, as much as it served to boggle my brain.

Not too long after seeing the news report, I was listening to the classic Black Sabbath tune, "Children of the Grave." I think bassist Geezer Butler wrote the song, and during this particular listen, I happened to pay close attention to the final verse, which goes, "So, you, children of the world, listen to what I say / If you want a better place to live in, spread the words today / Show the world that love is still alive, you must be brave / Or, you, children of today, are Children of the Grave, Yeah!" Instantly, I was struck by the power and the tragedy contained within the message. I interpret the song to represent a final challenge to the children of the world to fix things for themselves because the adults have screwed it all up (the environment, peace, the future, etc.), and the only chance kids have must come from themselves. I was mesmerized by the idea of children being the sole hope for [themselves]. It's a terrible notion, no doubt about it, but seemingly relevant in so many ways. I''m not so pessimistic as to think adults can't make a difference, but I could certainly understand why many children who are currently suffering on this planet might think they only have themselves to count on.

Anyway, long story short, taking the message in the song and combining it with the real world news reports of genocide, I came up with the idea for CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE. So, I started writing the story while going in search of an artist at the same time. Man, I totally lucked out, because I came across a picture Casey Maloney was showing on Digital Webbing that he had done for one of their draw-off competitions. It was a picture of Daredevil fighting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a sewer tunnel. It was friggin' fantastic . I immediately contacted Casey via email and asked if he had any sequential samples he could show me. He sent me some Spider-man and Batman stuff he'd done for his Con portfolio...that made me drool. I told him about CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE and other projects I had in mind. One thing lead to another, and here we are promoting the trade and enjoying a very satisfying creative relationship.

After hooking up with Casey, I pitched the idea...to Sean Taylor at Shooting Star Comics. Sean was serving as Shooting Star's EIC at the time, and he and I had been working together since 1999 at iHero Entertainment's CYBER AGE ADVENTURES. Sean was very receptive to the idea and got the green light from the rest of the Shooting Star camp to make CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE one of their titles. We put the book together and it was shipped under the Shooting Star banner starting in January 2005, with the fourth and final issue hitting store shelves in September 2005.

During Free Comic Book Day 2005, I was introduced to IDW's vice president, Ted Adams, by Robert "Comickaze" Scott, who is my local comic book seller and a huge supporter of COTG from the get-go. Ted told me he was enjoying COTG...and said we should get together for lunch to discuss the comics business some time. I eventually pitched an idea for another story to Ted and Chris Ryall at IDW, but they weren't looking for anything new at the time. However, they did tell me that they were interested in collecting COTG at IDW. It was exciting news, and Casey and I decided to take them up on their offer. We had originally planned on doing the trade at Shooting Star, but SSC was preparing to move on to new titles and imprints. Casey and I didn't want to wait, so we made the move, amicably, to IDW. We feel very fortunate to have been involved with both great companies and I hope to do more with Shooting Star and IDW in the future.


KA: I understand you were in the Marines before creating CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE. I was, too -- hoorah. But, how did your experience there influence the comic? Would you say it inspired the story itself, or did it just help you to get the details right?

TW: Honestly, my usage of military settings and/or characters probably reflects more of what I feel comfortable writing about than anything else. True, my years in the Marines and, later, the National Guard, definitely influenced my ability to write accurately about Team Orphan, but my military experience never inspired the actual story at the heart of CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE. [It] is a story I feel could be told in any format... it doesn't have to involve the military to get its point across, because it really, in the end, is a tale about the traumas of childhood and the lingering effects they can have throughout a person's lifetime. My story is about people coming to grips with the ghosts from their pasts and learning about the futility of living...in a time and a place that does not exist anymore. I guess if there is a quick theme to COTG, it's "What's done is done." That might sound too simple, but that's what I was trying to say. It goes back to the Sabbath song: "...you must be brave / Or, you, children of today, are children of the grave." If you can't be strong, if you can't overcome your past, learn from it and grow, then what kind of future do you have? You've got a fundamentally under-developed adulthood and then a hole in the ground waiting for you. These are the lessons the military and terrorists are faced with in CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE. But they are the hardest lessons anyone in this world, military or otherwise, could be forced to deal with.

KA: CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE gives a more realistic and, dare I say it, more favorable portrayal of the American military efforts in the Middle East than other comics. Do you see that as an intentional juxtaposition or counter to other, less favorable portrayals in comics? Or, did you not have any kind of agenda?

As I mentioned before, my only true agenda was to expose childhood suffering and trauma and its effect on individuals and society as a whole. That said, I will admit that I would never, ever paint the military in a negative light. For every horror story coming out of Iraq about our fine folks in uniform, there are a thousand other inspirational stories that aren't being told or heard. Am I saying military personnel are perfect? No, they aren't because they are human, and, ironically, I think that is important for people who aren't putting their lives on the line every second of every day in a hostile environment like the Middle East should keep in mind before they rush to judge all Marines, soldiers, airmen and sailors based on the mistakes of a few. If anything, I hope my story shows a more human and realistic side to our troops. These are people with real feelings, desires, hopes, and fears, just like you and me. And, besides, I think there are a lot of other comics writers other than myself who are putting out some positive stories about our military. You just gotta look for 'em. They're out there.


KA: Describe your creative process. Do you write full scripts or plots? Can you tell us about how you and Casey work together.

TW: Well...after I'm good and caffeinated, I start writing (and peeing a lot). Actually, I tend to mull an idea in my brain for a while before I put anything to paper. I rarely jot down anything more than cryptic notes to myself. I'm not a big outline guy and I find the whole treatment process to be excruciating. I don't usually start writing until I have a pretty good grip, in my head, of how the story is going to flow and unfold. As for comics, once I'm ready, I dive right into the scripting phase (unless an editor requires an outline and/or treatment... Gah!), and 9.5 times out of 10, my story will go off in directions I didn't expect when I started, but in ways that I think are necessary. I guess what I mean is, if a story wants to go right when I had on planned on taking it left, I'm going to let the story guide me and not try to force it in a direction. If a story, during its creation, is truly working, then the characters are "alive" and, damn it, worth listening to. If it's not working, then obviously you're telling the wrong story and maybe it's time to...mull things over for a bit.

While working with Casey, I've found that he and I function best when we work dynamically and by the seat of our pants. That is to say, I'll write a few pages of script, send them his way, he'll sketch out some ideas for the pages, send them back to me, I okay them, and he gets to draws them while I punch out the next few pages of script. That's how we did CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE from start to finish. I don't think I ever had a full script completed that I sent to him before he started the art. We were always working in tandem, and as disorganized as that may sound, it actually worked well for us because we were feeding off of each other's energy and ideas during the process, which, in the end, I believe helped in the overall evolution of the story. He and I are truly kindred spirits in the creative sense, always able to understand and interpret the other's thought processes and artistic desires.


KA: By the end of the book, I got the feeling that CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE serves to assert some very specific positions about the larger War on Terror. Did you intend to make the book didactic in that regard, or did it just emerge naturally when you wrote it?

This goes back to my earlier answer where I explained my sole desire to expose the effects the traumas of childhood can have on folks' actions during adulthood. That said, I think that, by using a military setting as I did, particularly in the Middle East, a message about terrorism naturally evolved from the overall story as well. I would never try to tell a reader what a story means, but I will say that I hope the story shows two things about terrorism. Firstly, that there is no cause, no belief, that justifies the killing of innocents. And this goes for everyone, not just Arab/Muslim extremists. There are some far right wing, white Christian extremists who are just as reckless and fundamentally prejudiced as the Islamic militants we see on TV every day. To deny this is to turn a blind eye toward reality. If you deliberately kill innocent folks - especially children - you are pathetic, cowardly scum in my opinion, and I'm not afraid to say that here or anywhere else, including my books.

The flip side to that, though (and I'm going to risk contradicting myself here), is the second hope I have for readers -- that it is important to remember that everyone, including terrorists, start out as innocent children, and that it is that experience that so often molds us into what we eventually become. In the case of my story, the antagonist, Colonel Akbar Assan, sets out on a bloody path of genocide after experiencing the same kind of terror against his own people when he was a boy. Do I think his own early traumas justify his later actions? Hell, no. However, my message is that by putting an end to the vicious circle of violence, we will finally put an end to the kinds of transformations that Assan goes through in the story: from innocent boy to ruthless murderer. Easier said than done? Obviously. But I feel it is important to talk about and consider, at least, before we get to the point where the children are, as Sabbath says in their classic song, the only hope for the children.

KA: There's a huge deus ex machina at the end when the ghosts start coming back. When writing, did you feel like that was the only way to resolve the situation you'd set your characters in, or had you intended that from the start?

TW: Honestly, I had planned this from the start. Without giving too much away, their appearance is part of the fated meeting of all the characters involved in the story - Team Orphan, Assan, and the dead children who have returned from the grave. The resolution of the conflict itself was, for me, the result of both destiny and freewill. The ghosts are manifestations of the extreme guilt the four main characters are carrying based upon traumatic incidents in their younger years. I never say who sends the ghosts to visit the men. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite scenes involves Team Orphan leader, Lt. Drake and the ghosts of his father and mother. When Drake asks his father's spirit who had sent them, the father answers, "Son, there's things in the universe that matter, and things that don't. Who sent us is one of them that don''t right now, okay?" This exchange gets the characters away from the "who" (God in the Machine) and to the "why" (destiny and freewill) of things. At this point, some explanation is given to why the characters are in the desert together, and hints are provided as to what needs to be done to make things better. But -- and this is a big but -- every character has to make the choice for themselves as to what path they will take next. Do they continue to be paralyzed by their perceived past failures and traumas, or do they overcome them and move forward, doing what they can to improve the overall situation for everyone involved? Free will can be both a curse and a blessing... it just depends on how you use it. I like to think that the ghosts in my story serve more as advisors rather than solvers. They are there to provide options to the human characters. Ultimately, though, the human characters have to decide for themselves, just like each and every one of us has to in this life.

KA: All three of the members of Team Orphan have lost their families, and all three suffer from a great deal of guilt based on their past experiences. That seems to influence their relationships with each other, and elicits a degree of sympathy from the reader. Care to comment?

TW: Again, I think it's important to remember that Team Orphan, just like military folks in real life, aren't simply robotic, soulless warriors. On the contrary, they are just as human as anyone else, with all the trappings - including guilt and pain - that go along with being human. As deep as the theme is at the heart of COTG, I like to think that the characters give the book its true strength, and I feel this is because Casey and I treat them with respect, understanding, and honesty. These guys are all representative of so many people I knew in my military career. Tough men, sure, but men nonetheless, with emotional depth and complexity. I hope that any sympathy elicited by these characters comes from the fact that readers are seeing and experiencing folks just like themselves. If this happens, maybe that will help folks to remember that the Marines, soldiers, airmen and sailors fighting and dying for us every day in real life are humans, too, and deserving of the same kind of respect and sympathy - more so, actually - that Team Orphan elicits.

KA: What are you working on now? Do you have any other plans for CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE in terms of other media or sequels?

TW: Casey and I are busy guys, no doubt. We are both working on separate projects for Platinum Studios, and as soon as we wrap those up, we are going to get busy finishing our next collaboration, a sci-fi/military drama called THE LAST FALL, our first effort under our new creative studio, Studio Eye Five. We''ve already begun work on the project and are talking to some interested publishers. We hope to have something to announce after the Comic-Con in San Diego this year. I continue to be involved with the great UK-based free online comic NIGHT WARRIOR, and an 8-page story Casey and I did together for NW should be available in a print anthology from NW publisher, Raging Psycho Comics, soon. I continue to serve as a staff writer for iHero Entertainment's award-winning superhero prose magazine, CYBER AGE ADVENTURES, and I hope to take some of the characters I've created at CAA and bring them to comics soon. As for Team Orphan, due to popular demand from readers of CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE, I'm currently developing a new story involving the team, and Casey and I plan to get working on that in the near future.


KA: Anything else you'd like to add or discuss?

TW: Just that Casey and I want to thank each and every person out there who continues to support CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE and our other creative efforts. It truly means the world to us to have so many kind folks interested in what we are doing and we hope to be able to personally thank as many of you as possible at the big convention in San Diego this year.

And a massive thanks to Kurt Amacker and CINESCAPE for taking the time to talk to me about CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE and all things Casey Maloney and Tom Waltz. With so much going on at the Big Two these days, it does my heart good to know great magazines like CINESCAPE still make the effort to give independents some time in the spotlight.

KA: Guys, I swear he actually said that.

TW: And, last but not least, I've got to get the sales stuff out. CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE is currently available for pre-order from Diamond Distributors. Please give the Diamond ordering code JUNE063212 to your local comics seller. If you do not have access to an LCS, COTG is also available for pre-order at online booksellers such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Walmart.com, Booksamillion.com, etc. CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE will be released to stores in August 2006.

New This Week


By Al Brown and Kurt Amacker

Diamond couldn't get their act together by deadline yesterday, so...the following listings are probably mostly right. Check with your local store.

DARK HORSE

ALIENS PREDATOR PANEL TO PANEL TP $19.95

Kurt: It can''t possibly be any less violent than the Paul Anderson flick, so go nuts.

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #114 (MR) $2.99

CRYING FREEMAN VOL 2 TP (MR) $14.95

Al: A dramatization about when Morgan Freeman realized that he'd gotten drunk and starred in Driving Miss Daisy.

Kurt: Not nearly as hard as he cried after Hard Rain.

DREADFUL ED HC $12.95

HARLEQUIN PINK THE BACHELOR PRINCE TP $9.95

Kurt: Why did my internal porn alarm just go off?

HARLEQUIN VIOLET BLIND DATE TP $9.95

LITTLE LULU VOL 10 ALL DRESSED TP $9.95

Kurt: Well, I''m sure Al won't be buying this one.

NEXUS ARCHIVES VOL 3 HC $49.95

REIKO THE ZOMBIE SHOP VOL 3 TP $12.95

Al: Reiko hates when they try to come in and get the ol' five finger discount, but one of their fingers falls off.

Kurt: This is......a...shop...where...I...can...buy...ZOMBIES!? I'm already there.

STAR WARS CLONE WARS ADVENTURS VOL 1 SPANISH ED $6.95

Kurt: Man, I had the best illegal alien joke here, but good taste just restrained my wicked tongue.

STAR WARS CLONE WARS DEFENSE OF KAMINO VOL 1 TP SPANISH ED $14.95

STAR WARS EMPIRE BETRAYAL VOL 1 TP SPANISH ED $12.95

STAR WARS OMNIBUS X-WING ROGUE SQUADRON VOL 1 TP $24.95

YOSHITAKA AMANO FAIRIES HC $24.95

Kurt: Is this, like, hentai?

DC COMICS

100 Bullets #73 (MR) $2.99

52 Week #6 $2.50

Al: This week: Animal Man is gonna get so f&*ckin drunk on Thursday night! YEAH!

Kurt: And then, Martian Manhunter's going to suggest they explore their masculinity together.

American Virgin #4 (MR) $2.99

Al: There are actually only six virgins left in America, so you can expect your story to be coming soon!

Kurt: There were a lot more, but Al got to them before they got too "ripe." Freak.

Batman Legends Of The Dark Knight #207 $2.99

Batman Strikes #22 $2.25

Batman War Games Act Three TP $14.99

Kurt: Hey, there's bile rising in my throat! Imagine that!

Can't Get No SC (MR) $19.99

Al: I can get plenty of SC, I just choose not to.

Kurt: Man, think of all the things "SC" can stand for!

Cartoon Network Action Pack #2 $2.25

Checkmate #3 $2.99

Elric Making Of A Sorcerer #3 (of 4) (RES) $5.99

Ex Machina Special #2 (of 2) (MR) $2.99

Firestorm The Nuclear Man #26 $2.99

Flash The Secret Of Barry Allen TP $19.99

Green Arrow #63 $2.99

Al: Featuring my favorite line in all the solicitations for this week: "Brick is up to his neck in rabid, homicidal maniacs!" Ha ha, that sucks.

Green Lantern Corps #1 $2.99

Kurt: Man, I want a cinnamon roll. I'm gonna go get one!

JLA Classified #22 $2.99

JLA Classified New Maps Of Hell TP $12.99

Al: They say "New Maps of Hell," but this is just a bunch of pictures from Kurt's mom's colonoscopy.

Kurt: All right, I got my cinnamon roll. Man, is it tasty. Al, tell your mom she''s as good in the kitchen as she is bad in the sack.

Megatokyo Vol 4 $9.99

Monster Collection Vol 6 (MR) $9.99

Moon Child Vol 3 $9.99

Al: My mom once dared me to moon a duck tour (that's a Boston tourist bus). I totally did it. That was like a year ago.

Kurt: Your mom once dared me to choke her and call her nasty names. I totally did it. That was like ten minutes ago, before she made me cinnamon rolls.

Nightwing #121 $2.99

Red Sonja Claw Devil's Hands #4 (of 4) $2.99

Al: Are an idle plaything? I don't get the play on words.

Kurt: Al, maybe one day, if you work real hard, you can get a job serving all the nice people at the McDonald's down the street.

Showcase Presents Superman Vol 2 TP $16.99

Superman #653 $2.99

Superman Versus Lex Luthor TP $19.99

Kurt: In case, you know, you haven't seen them fight before.

IMAGE

Mage Vol 1 The Hero Discovered TP $29.99

Marc Silvestri Cyberforce #0 Litho $19.99

Al: Dear Silvestri, every day I love you less and less.

Kurt: I remember selling the first issue of CYBERFORCE to a guy on the playground for, like, three dollars when I was a kid.

Marc Silvestri Cyberforce #0 Litho Sgn $29.99

MARVEL

Annihilation Super Skrull #3 (of 4) $2.99

Al: I know I was in the minority in hoping that Annihilation would be fun. I don't even go for the cosmic stuff usually, but I really dig some of the characters here...well, Silver Surfer and Ronan at least. Unfortunately, it's been totally lackluster and I am now giving up.

Cable Deadpool #29 $2.99

Civil War #2 (of 7) $2.99

Al: This, on the other hand, got off to a great start with #1. Go Millar! I'm with Iron Man. Seriously, I am. Because you know who would actually be vigilantes in the real world? The Michigan Militia, that's who. Seriously unbalanced people.

Kurt: I just bought a really sweet Remington 870 Express with collapsible stock, just in time to go all paramilitary for hurricane season! Yee hah!

Civil War 1 For 75 Turner Sketch Variant #2 (of 7) PI

Kurt: Now I just want to go all paramilitary on this.

Civil War Turner Variant #2 (of 7) $2.99

Exiles #82 $2.99

Al: Finally, the conclusion of the "World Tour" epic that started out fun but refused to end. About time, I say.

Four #30 $2.99

Al: Last issue! I'm amazed this series lasted as long as it did. Not that it was terrible; it was perfectly serviceable. I just don't think anyone was exactly clamoring for another Fantastic Four book.

Kurt: Not like the Green Lantern Corps, eh?

Infinity Gauntlet TP New Ptg $24.99

Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #13 $2.99

Marvel Adventures Flip Magazine #13 $4.99

Marvel Heroes Flip Magazine #13 $4.99

Marvel Romance Redux Love Is A Four Letter Word $2.99

Marvel Westerns Two Gun Kid $3.99

Al: Speaking of things no one was clamoring for...

Kurt: All right, we've got Marvel Adventures, Marvel Heroes, and Marvel Romance. When the hell are we going to get Marvel Erotica?

Ms Marvel #4 $2.99

Al: I'm rooting for this series, but I'm not crazy about that weird alien bad guy she's been fighting. Even the Brood, while good fun, are too obvious as Alien ripoffs to be major players for anyone. I think Ms. Marvel would be better served by fighting more grounded heroes; a few cast-off Avengers foes would do just fine.

Sensational Spider-Man #27 $2.99

Al: Conclusion of the fairly entertaining "Feral" arc.

Kurt: Your mom's feral.

Spider-Girl #99 $2.99

Squadron Supreme #4 $2.99

Kurt: I admit, I'm totally behind on all things Squadron Supreme. I think I'm going to have a Squadron Saturday, where I start with Supreme Power and get up to speed again. Damn hurricane threw me off.

Thunderbolts #103 $2.99

Ultimate X-Men #71 $2.99

Wolverine Origins #3 $2.99

Kurt: I must admit, Nuke is possibly the lamest character ever. Other than that, I'm genuinely intrigued by this series, thus far.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@cinescape.com.