The 100 Bullets team is back with a new comic which is in stores now. I read the first issue and loved it.
We asked Brian Azzarello a few question about SPACEMAN. Issue one is out and only 1 DOLLAR!
Jon Jordan: It’s been two and a half years since 100 Bullets #100 came out, have you and Eduardo been planning to “put the band back together” for a while? You’ve got everyone from 100 Bullets right?
Brian Azzarello: Everyone– Including Gene Frenkle on cowbell.
JJ: I know a lot of the people who praise 100 Bullets talk about the dialogue. I notice in Spaceman you are creating if not a new language at least a whole new set of slang expressions. My favorite line so far was
the last in the book, “Ibee …. Trouble”
BA: That’s been fun for me, trying to project how people might speak. While Eduardo gets to create how this world looks, it’s my responsibility to create how it sounds. And that’s been really invigorating. Anybody that’s read my stuff before knows I love language. Having the opportunity to finesse one is a blast.
JJ: In addition to the Spaceman speak you and Eduardo have this set in a future that is I guess best called post-apocalyptic so you are also creating a whole new world. Is it liberating doing this?
BA: I wouldn’t call it post-apocalyptic… that denotes some kind of catastrophic event to me. The world we’re working is in the throws of terminal decay; it has wasting sickness. We’ve used many of the dire climate change predictions and the social/economic upheaval they would bring as a road map.
JJ: We find out by the end of the first issue that there seems to be at least some crime elements to the story. Do you find crime to be a platform for telling stories?
BA: Platform? Crime is the high-dive.
JJ: I think Eduardo nailed the art. It really looks like a world falling apart that has been neglected. Do you know if he was using anything in particular for references?
BA: Well, I know he looked at aftermath of Katrina. Chernobyl too. The Japanese ghost island… Detroit… urban places that are rotting. At the same time, he has to reference a modern sleek city too. I know Buenos Aires is part of it. His home town of Rosario as well– it’s on a river and there are shanties right on the edges.
JJ: 1 of 9, so this is going to be just the 9 issues and that’s it or is this part one of a larger saga?
BA: Let’s call it our first season; we’ll see if the network renews us.
JJ: If someone asked you “Why should I read this?” what would you tell them?
BA: Because Jon Jordan said it was like nothing he’s ever read before.
