Rob Williams

Daredevils, a black and white British monthly comic from 1983, probably changed my life. I was 12 and liked comics but I picked up issue one of Daredevils and read, for the first time, Frank Miller’s reprinted Daredevil run and Alan Moore and Alan Davis’ Captain Britain, and they both blew my tiny mind. I’m fullly aware that Moore has done more sophisticated work since, but – that run on Capt. Britain – The Fury, The Special Executive, Mad Jim Jaspers, the blatant Tory bashing – it remains one of my favourite comics over a quarter of a century later. I love Captain Britain and thoroughly enjoyed Paul Cornell’s MI:13 book of recent years. I was sorry to see it it go.

So, getting the chance to write Captain Britain is an absolute thrill for me. In DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #893, coming in May, the merc with a mouth comes to London to steal Slaymaster’s old assassin tech, and Brian Braddock isn’t about to let that happen. Yes, this is the Slaymaster I read in Daredevils back in ‘83 – it all comes back around.

Lots of fun writing Deadpool too. I’ve never read a lot of Deadpool comics but it occurred to me that he’s pretty much Low Life’s Dirty Frank in the ‘batshit crazy for comedy’ stakes, and I enjoy writing those sorts of strips. And the art by Matteo Scalera, an Italian artist I wasn’t aware of prior to working together here, is pleasingly great. He’s got a nice attitude and energy about his pages which suits Deadpool really well, I think. I’m sure you’ll see him on other Deadpool books in the future. And a cover by Humberto Ramos too!

Just a quick update to say that, in the new JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE (#294, March), the bagged ‘graphic novel’ is BREATHING SPACE by myself, Pete Doherty and Laurence Campbell.

I’m really happy to see this collected. It was my second story for 2000AD, written, probably, back in 2002-03, if memory serves. We opened with Pete Doherty (Shaolin Cowboy) on art, and the first episode by Pete still looks terrific. Pete had to drop out and Laurence Campbell took over. It was the first collaboration between Laurence and I, something we’ve since taken on to Wolverine, Punisher Max and hopefully more in the future. The series was eventually published in 2005, I think.

Reading it back in one sitting this weekend, it has its flaws, and some of the storytelling and panel layouts I was playing with are the most ambitious I’ve ever attempted. I’ve certainly not tried anything like it since.

But I have a huge soft spot for this story. There’s so many things I love about Breathing Space – the atmosphere, the overall sombre tone, the doomed narrative, which is wilfully uncommercial. I pitched it to 2000AD’s editor as a one-off. Every 2000AD series wants to create sequels and follow-ups, but Breathing Space definitely wouldn’t be back. I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say the protagonist dies in episode one… It’s also the most personal story I’ve ever written, probably, reflecting my state of mind at the time.

And it looks gorgeous. Laurence did his usual stunning job on it (Lee Townsend provided inks, so fans of Laurence’s US work where he inks himself can contrast and compare) and Pete came back to colour the series with the same uniform cold blue/grey tone that we talked about when we conceived the story. Pete’s colour job on Breathing Space is my favourite I’ve had on any of my comics. And he works with Laurence brilliantly. It’d be great if the three of us could do something else together in the future.

Happy New Year and huge apologies that I’ve not updated the site since October. Yes, I’ve been busy but that’s no excuse. Both my arms fell off when I sneezed one day. That would be an excuse. And a bad one. Anyway…

The imminent upcoming is the debut of the new ROBOCOP ongoing from Dynamite, which is out January 27th. Written by myself and drawn by the excellent Fabiano Neves (Red Sonja, Army Of Darkness), hopefully it’ll give fans the same visceral Verhoeven-like thrill they received from the first movie, back in the ’80s. That’s the tone we’re aiming for anyway. Lots of ED-209s, hyper violence and a “little bit of satire” as Ben Elton may have said years ago, right before he went off and wrote an uplifting musical about the troubles in Northern Ireland with Andrew Lloyd Webber (a short-lived run in London’s West End, if you can believe that. I know, me neither. Shame).

The alternate cover from issue one, by Johnny D, below.

And while we’re at it, here’s the cover from #2, by Stephen Segovia:

PUNISHER MAX: GET CASTLE came out January 6^th, right when Britain was enduring a second ice age. Personally, I was incredibly happy with how this turned out. It was one of the few times in my comics career I’ve read the final proof and couldn’t believe I’d written something this good. And a lot of the praise for that goes to Laurence Campbell, whose storytelling matched my script pretty perfectly – nailing the tone, the atmosphere, hitting exactly the right dramatic beats. It’s one of the high points of my comics career thus far, for me, regardless of sales and CV. It was exactly the story I wanted to tell, if that makes sense. Considering how nervous I was of writing the same world that Garth Ennis created in his extraordinary Punisher Max run, and my wondering whether I could write something that dark, the end result was incredibly pleasing. If a little worrying. I suddenly feel the Catholic guilt-like need to write some sweet children’s stories to make penance. Possibly with bunnies, and bears, and M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAWs). NO!!! Get Castle seemed to go down pretty well, with excellent reviews from IGN, Blair Butler, Ain’t It Cool News and iFanboy. Shame the CBR reviewer decided to kick me repeatedly until I internally bled, but you can’t win them all.

The JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE in March (#295, I think) will feature a one-off Judge Dredd tale by myself and one of my absolute favourite artists, Guy Davis (BPRD, The Marquis). I couldn’t believe it when Guy agreed to draw this, especially given the fact that he was named ‘Best Penciller/Inker’ in the 2009 Eisner Awards. Anyone who’s seen his incredible talent for creature designs (and Revolution-era French architecture, in visually arresting The Marquis) will know that he’s an amazing talent with a fairly unique style, and it turns out, a very nice guy. When I was writing for Star Wars Tales for Dark Horse Comics I’d asked Guy if he’d like to draw a short Star Wars story. It never came off but I’d remembered that he was a big fan of Judge Dredd and the early 2000AD Cursed Earth stories, so when I was asked to pitch a Dredd tale in the Cursed Earth, I thought I’d chance my arm and ask Guy if he was interested. He said yes. Very much looking forward to seeing this in print.

I’ve got another ten page one-off Dredd on the way, this time drawn by Dylan Teague (see pic below). The other night I received some of Dylan’s pages; the next morning I received Guy’s pencils. It felt, within a 12-hour span, that I’d been given something like my own Brian Bolland and Mick McMahon Dredd strips. Both brilliant, both in enormously different styles, but still absolutely Dredd. I think the long time 2000AD fans are going to bust something when they see Dylan’s pages for this – his Dredd is like the bastard son of Bolland. Getting pages of your stories sent to you by world-class artists is one of the major joys of doing this job. It’s a great feeling when you can’t believe how good someone is making your story look. Of course, very occasionally you can’t believe how bad an artist is making your story look, but thankfully that’s a very rare occurrence. There are a lot of hugely talented artists in the comics biz.

There’s a bunch of other things happening that I can’t talk too much about here, including a few exciting things for American publishers, although I will say that the latest LOW LIFE pitch has been approved by 2000AD and I’ll be starting work on that soon. That’s a ten-parter called ‘Hostile Takeover (Paranoia Mk. 2)’ and it looks as though D’Isreali will be back on that – speaking of hugely talented artists. I loved CREATION the story we did together in 2009, so it’ll be fun to work together again.

And finally, for now, there’s a few signings to report. I’ll be at the Com.X ‘Forty-Five’ signings at Forbidden Planet in Cardiff on Jan 23^rd and in London on Feb 4^th. I’ll also be at the Exeter Comics Expo on Feb 13^th. There’s a load of top writers and artists appearing at each of those, so it should be worth attending. Say hello if you come along.

www.fantasyevents.org/exetercomicexpo/index.html

Just a quick update to say that Marvel have announced their January solicits and they include PUNISHER MAX: GET CASTLE by myself and Laurence Campbell. Oh, and a cover by the amazing Tim Bradstreet too (see below).

First and foremost, it was a complete joy to work with Laurence again. We’ve done a few stories together now – BREATHING SPACE for 2000AD and WOLVERINE: BETTER TO GIVE for Marvel a couple of years back. Not only is he a very good friend but he also happens to be one of my favourite artists and, in terms of storytelling sensibility, we’re usually on exactly the same page. I’d love to show you some of his work from this issue but I’d better not yet. But some of it – two pages from the final act in particular – are, for my money, the best work he’s done. Just extraordinarily good.

And yes, this is the Punisher comes to Wales. Why British writers feel the need to bring US characters to their stomping ground is a persistant mystery. From my point of view there’s something very funny about Frank Castle catching the 4.15 from Hereford. And I think he fits right in with some of the meaner parts of my South Wales home. There’s certain rough pubs where Frank walking in would make perfect sense.

It’s been a weird couple of weeks. I knew that Eddie Deighton and Com.X had been actively pushing Cla$$war in Hollywood for several years. Every now and again Ed would ring to update me with little titbits of information, and while it was all good fun for me to imagine a Cla$$war movie, it was never concrete enough to publically talk about. A few months ago he told me that Mandeville Films (Surrogates, The Proposal) were interested but, again, it wasn’t enough to get truly excited about. Then, around a week before the Long Beach Comic Con, I got word that Mandeville and producer Rick Alexander were willing to make an announcement regarding their involvement. Hmmm, I thought. That does sound concrete. We’ll see. Next thing I know, the story’s all over the internet. And in print. In VARIETY, for God’s sake. Now, that suddenly feels VERY, VERY concrete.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009534.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

And Rick Alexander, one of the producers on Cla$$war (it has producers now), speaks a little about how the Mandeville deal came about, and little things like a potential release date, here:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=23229

Quoting the CBR piece, Alexander says: “In terms of giving credit where credit is due, I’d just like to cite a colleague who couldn’t be here today. His name is David Manpearl, and he’s the VP of Development over at Mandeville. He and I were talking a few months back about what we might do together, and I exposed the digital version of the collected edition [of 'Cla$$war'] to him. He read ‘Cla$$war,’ he read it quickly and read it insightfully, and he said, ‘Listen. You’ve got to come in and speak to David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, my bosses, about this, because I think it’s terrific.’ And I said ‘I agree with you, there is a huge movie here.’ So I went over to Disney and sat down with the guys. They had read the book by the time I got there. They were very excited about the material and its potential for film, and asked me to bring Ben Shahrabani (from Com.X), who’s local, back with me. So a couple weeks later, we had another meeting. And I guess five grown men fell in love.”

Bonkers.

So, not only do pages and pages of google links suddenly appear online about this, but I spend part of the week experiencing oddities like two Hollywood agents ringing within an hour or so of one another.

My life is now going to be like Entourage, one voice in my head whispers. Fortunately, the other, louder voice in my head, then points out that I’m 38, bald and have two children, so maybe this won’t be the case. Maybe I could be Turtle and go and fetch things for a Vince figure? That’s something to aspire to.

And, as exciting as all this is, we still have a long way to go. I’m told that they’re in discussions with a screenwriter, but nothing’s signed yet. And, of course, a director would have to be attached at some point if it’s going to progress. But it feels like we’re getting some excellent momentum. It was interesting for me to interview Andy Diggle and Jock last week for a feature I’m writing for The Word magazine. The Losers (their excellent Vertigo action comic-turned major Hollywood movie) took around four years of ‘it’s happening’, ‘it’s not happening’ ups and downs before it actually made it to first day’s filming. Both Andy and Jock talked about not allowing yourself to get too excited in case nothing happens – a defence mechanism. That’s kind of the state I’m enforcing upon myself.

It would be amazing though…

What else is going on? I’ve just finished issue one of a six issue series for a major American publisher. Can’t say any more about that yet. The third issue of Robocop is done and I’m seeing some cool looking art for issue one, so that’s on its way from Dynamite. I’ve written a Low Life special for the 2000AD Christmas Prog – which is a thrill as it feels like I’m in the same 2000AD Christmas annuals I loved as a kid. The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azreal… is into its final act.

And I’m going to be starring in Entourage. Entourage’s bald, middle-aged spin-off.

Oh, and I should add that the Cla$$war collected edition (great reviews, now has producers etc) is soon to be released in its softcover incarnation. December, it’s due. The ideal purchase for those too cheap to buy the handsome hardcover. Here’s the Diamond order code:

OCT090824 – CLA$$WAR SERIES 1 COLLECTED ED TP

When I met my girlfriend back in around ‘96 she played the cello – still does in fact. So, over the years I’ve seen her play in numerous orchestras and every time I meet her after the concert she asks me what I thought, and I ALWAYS reply “you were the best one in your row.” It’s a (no doubt irritating) running joke and it is, of course, stolen from one of my favourite movies – Ghostbusters. Pete Venkman says it to Dana Barrett when he waits for her outside her orchestra practice. And it’s wonderful and witty and joyful and it’s not even one of the best loved lines from the movie – that’s how good a film it is – one of the best scripts of all time, for my mainstream-loving money. And the performances from Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd are ridiculously charming. Murray, especially. They don’t give out Oscars for comedy but show me a movie performance that’s more emminently watchable and engaging than Bill Murray in Ghostbusters. The guy commands the screen in the style of someone like Richard Burton or Morgan Freeman (at his best). The difference is, he doesn’t even look like he’s trying.

I love Ghostbuters. So, you can imagine how delighted I was to get to write these characters. GHOSTBUSTERS: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE is a Christmas one-shot from IDW that will be solicited in the upcoming Diamond catalogue. It features art by Chilean artist Diego Jourdan (ASTRO BOY) and covers by Nick Runge. One of these highlights the Dickensian influence of the story and the other, my favourite, going for a Norman Rockwell style.

And yes, this is the Ghostbusters vs. the Christmas Carol ghosts of past, present and future. And no, I didn’t make any Scrooged references, although I was very tempted.

Writing dialogue for Pete Venkman was great fun for me. Right up there with writing Han Solo and Indiana Jones. I’m ticking these off one by one.

Here’s the Ghostbuters covers, along with a preview page of art from the upcoming THE GRIEVOUS JOURNEY OF ICHABOD AZREAL (AND THE DEAD LEFT IN HIS WAKE). This was given a cool full-page ad in the excellent 2000AD Prog 1650 last week – to digress, 2000AD is on a bit of a run at the moment, some fantastic work there. Ichabod is a supernatural western by the brilliant Dom Reardon (Caballistics Inc) and myself, with colours by Pete Doherty (Shaolin Cowboy). Pete coloured my and Laurence Campbell’s BREATHING SPACE in 2000AD a few years back and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have colour a comic of mine. Anyway, keep a look out for this one. It’s kind of The Assasination Of Jesse James mixed with an apocalyptic Gram Parsons album. If that makes any sense:

Nothing for months and then two posts in a couple of days. Like London busses, this blog.

Just heard from Eddie Deighton @ Com.X that you can now buy Cla$$wars issues 1 & 2 through the iTunes store for 99c (that’s 59p to Brits). Read it on your iPhone or iPod Touch! Details below:

Com.x are pleased to announce, in collaboration with Iconology, Inc., that Com.x comics are now available for download from the iTunes store. The first wave of releases features Cla$$war #1, #2 and Path. These will be followed by the rest of the Cla$$war series and other, soon to be announced, titles.

The application is available for £0.59 or ¢99, dependent upon your location. Once you have purchased the app, which enables you to read the comics, you will be able to download Cla$$war #1 and the first chapter of Path FREE OF CHARGE! If you like what you see, you can then download the rest of the books for 59p/99¢ and £1.79/$2.99 for Cla$$war and Path, respectively.

[About Iconology, Inc. - Since 2007 Iconology, Inc. has been working to expose more people to the world of comics, through comiXology.com and related applications. comiXology.com, brick-and-mortar comic book
retailer tools, iPhone and Blackberry apps and digital comics are all connected through the comiXology platform.]

In other news, my DARK X-MEN: THE BEGINNING story is in issue two, on sale July 29. Gorgeous cover from Jae Lee here:

Comic Book Resources have just put a three page preview of my story online. You can find it at:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/prev_img.php?pid=3107&pg=7

And my MEET DARREN DEAD story did indeed start in the Judge Dredd Megazine this week (issue 287). It’s on the cover, in fact – beautifully drawn by John Higgins. This is a three-parter that features the ghost of a giant panda murdering its way through the Magic Circle of Mega City One.

And finally, the new issue of SFX has just turned up, which features a six-page interview I recently did with Grant Morrison, which tries to cover his entire career, and fails.

God, it’s been ages since I updated. Apologies. So much so that I can barely remember everything that’s happened since my last post. Erg.

Well, the major news is that I was confirmed as the writer of the new ROBOCOP series from Dynamite. You’ll find an interview with me here at Newsarama about it:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/060916-Robocop-Williams.html

Should be loads of shooty, bullety fun, this. No Alan Bennett-like slice-of-life soliliques about biscuits going mouldy in the back of a corner shop here. No release date yet but I’ll keep the blog posted. Honest.

What else? I’ve got an 11-page Daken (son of Wolverine, mohican, claws, tattoes can’t miss him) story running in DARK X-MEN: THE BEGINNING. I’m pretty sure it’s issue two, although it could be three. Wherein I take Daken and Norman Osborn to the opera, because that’s what X-Men comics need more of. Opera. Huge fun to write Norman Osborn, and also nice to have a story in the same issue as Paul Cornell, who’s a friend. My other upcoming Marvel comic hasn’t been solicited yet, so I’ll keep schtum on that.

In similar shhhhhh style, I’ve also written a one-off Christmas special for a different ’80s film license. One of my favourite movies, this, so writing dialogue for the characters was on a par with writing Indiana Jones and Han Solo for me. A geeky fanboy thrill. Again, I’ll speak up as soon as I can. Oh, and I wrote it in the hottest week of the year, so snowy festive delight runs through it.

The CLA$$WAR hardcover continues to do well, both in terms of sales and press. I interviewed Geoff Johns (namedrop) this week for an upcoming SFX special and he told me how much he loved the hardcover and what a great package it is, which blew my mind, slightly. I still can’t get my head around the fact that people in California are reading my work, let alone people in California who happen to be one of the top writers in the industry.

And just heard today that the CLA$$WAR softcover is being solicited for an October release in Previews. So cheapskates can now get their copy too.

Speaking of which (softcovers, not cheapskates), I received my comp copies of the INDIANA JONES AND THE TOMB OF THE GODS graphic novel this weekend, a few weeks after my STAR WARS: VECTOR VOLUME TWO comps.

And, on top of all that, I’m sure MEET DARREN DEAD: EATS, SHOOTS AND KILLS starts in either the next JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE or the one after, with art by John (Watchmen) Higgins. No one tells me anything.

Sounds busy, doesn’t it? Good. Busy is good. More busy please.

I’ve neglected the website of late. Apologies for that. In fairness, my last entry was March 24th, I’ve just seen, and my daughter, Edie, was born on the 27th. And I’m recently back from a trip to New York where I was working on a feature about the NFL Draft for GQ Magazine. So things have been more than a little hectic lately.

Since my last entry, however, LOW LIFE: CREATION finished very satisfyingly in 2000AD. A beautiful job by D’isreali and a script that I’m really happy with. And I’ve been working on and finishing a book for Marvel which, even though I’ve worked for them before on WOLVERINE a few years back, remains a dream come true. Extremely dark and nasty, this one. More on that once it’s solicited.

My feature on the 1974 BRITISH LIONS TOUR TO SOUTH AFRICA is currently available in GQ SPORT (it’s the issue of GQ with Simon Pegg on the cover). It’s the best thing I’ve written in my journalism career and, for a rugby union fan such as myself, speaking to the likes of Gareth Edwards, Willie John McBride and JPR WIlliams was a thrill.

Other news comes from the widespread great reviews that the CLA$$WAR hardcover edition has been enjoying. SFX have it four and a half out of five, if I remember correctly, which was lovely. But the review that Ain’t It Cool News gave us this week was truly amazing. In the words of Trev Hairsine, when I sent him the link, “that’s a foaming review”. They absolutely loved it. My brain doesn’t cope well with this much praise:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/40993

So, take their lead and run out and buy a copy.

And finally, short notice this, but I’ll be at the Bristol Comics Expo this weekend, so come and say hello. I’m signing at 11am both days, I think. I’m sure I’ll be at the com.x and 2000AD tables too throughout the weekend and I’m on a panel on the Sunday afternoon. See you in the Ramada Inn.

… these nebulous occurrences are surely portents of the incredible and the downright unlikely. Yes, that’s right, according to reliable sources, this week will see the release in the UK of the rather sumptuous CLA$$WAR collected edition. The US release is apparently, following on Wednesday 8th April 2009. But if that weren’t head flappingly astonishing enough, the final issue of INDIANA JONES AND THE TOMB OF THE GODS can actually be bought this week too. Can’t be right. I sense a conspiracy. My hair’ll grow back too, no doubt.