Rob Williams

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.

Just noticed that you can buy the Cla$$war collected edition on Amazon.com in the States - and UK folks, they deliver over here too, which saves you going into smelly comic shops, should such things offend you. No amazon.co.uk listing at the moment though.

http://www.amazon.com/Cla-war-Collected-Rob-Williams/dp/160743816X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236859377&sr=8-1

Saw the proof a few weeks back and this will be a lovely package. There’s the brand new eight page story by myself, Trev Hairsine and Len O’Grady, the original six issues, my initial script, posters by the likes of Mick McMahon and Ben Oliver, introductions by Andy Diggle, Craig Johnson and myself, sketches by Trev and Travel Foreman. Capacious. 

We’ll be selling and signing these at the Bristol Comics Expo in May, where Com.X will have a stand.

Also, just noticed that Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods 4 has now been delayed until March 25th. Sigh.

Just spotted that the preview for the fourth and final issue of my Indiana Jones mini-series is up on darkhorse.com. Bart Sears, replacing Steve Scott, has done a very nice job here. This is on sale March 18th… if the stars are in alignment. 

The first episode of the Dirty Frank-starring eight parter will be appearing in this week’s 2000AD and I’m currently feeling very positive about this series. The main reason being that it’s drawn by D’Isreali, who I’ve been a fan of for some time and, now having worked with him, I’m even more appreciative of his abilities. I’ve often said that an artist can make a script much better than it actually is or a lot worse than it actually is. D’Isreali is, fortunately, one of the former models. The amount of detail he puts in the background of panels - wondrous depictions of Mega City 1 architecture here - is just amazing. What’s even more impressive though is the fact that the detail doesn’t come at the expense of the storytelling. His narrative sense is spot on. Great ‘performances’ from his characters too, which is an absolute godsend for a comedy script, which is what a Dirty Frank story is…

Well, mainly a comedy strip anyway. There’s got to be a dramatic spine to the silliness. As much fun as Frank is I’d been thinking for a while that there would have to come a cut-off point for Justice Department, where his eccentricity become too much for them to deal with. He’s Wally Squad (an undercover Judge), so some cookiness is expected. But, at what point would Frank’s ‘madness’ push them to pull the plug on him? Also, while wanting to tell a funny Frank tale, I wanted to give some kind of idea of what makes him tick, so that this wasn’t just another ‘whacky’ Frank caper. So, silly and heavy and action packed all at the same time. Hmmm…

And the thing about writing for D’Isreali was, I had complete confidence that he could depict my scripts no matter how surreal and big I made them, and this pushed me to keep thinking ‘how can I make this more spectacular?’ He was, no doubt, cursing me as my scripts would arrive asking him to draw the increasingly bizarre, although I suspect, knowing his work, that he probably thrives on this (if he attempts to beat me next time I see him at a con, or just blows hateful, disdainful rasberries at me from across the hall, I will have been proved incorrect) . But I think that’s possibly a healthy thing for a writer, to keep thinking throughout the process “just how far can I push this?” (or just how much work can I get an artist to do? Heh. It’s all for the good of the story, you know.) And this being Frank’s world, he doesn’t really have many limitations when it comes to his imagination, which is also kind of what the story’s about.

We interrupt the blog’s random babbling about things I liked in 2008 to actually talk comics for a second. I was just about to flag up that Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods #4 was due for release on February 18th when it came to my attention that it’s now been pushed back to March 18th. No, I’m not entirely sure why either.

Nice cover though, this time by Steve Scott. I particularly like the depiction of Indy with the whip at the bottom of the page. That’s spot on.

While I’m discussing Tomb, it seems that the graphic novel collection has a release date too. June 24th, barring freakish act of god. And no delays between issues, here!

Oop. So much for one a day and discipline.

The story I’m currently writing for 2000AD, The Grievous Journey Of Ichabod Azreal (And The Dead Left In His Wake), is, as I’ve previously mentioned, a supernatural western, and its inspiration came from me loving three things in 2008. One is The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (long ungainly titles rule and piss off sub and art editors on magazines no end, heh), which is a beautiful, poetic, gloriousy cinematic slow-moving movie and one of the best films I’ve seen in years.  OK, so it came out in ‘07 but I saw it in ‘08. Watched it on the projector one Sunday night, and I’m glad I did, because it’s one of those movies that really needs to be shown on as wide a screen as possible. Lovely Terence Malick-like long shots of clouds pasing over fields. Slow paced. Gorgeous to look at. I loved the ambiguous sense of fate of this movie, that the characters seem to know they’re stuck on a set path and can’t get off it. And superb performances by all concerned, particulary Casey Affleck, Brad Pitt and the always great, underrated Sam Rockwell.

Which led me to the beautiful Nick Cave and Warren Ellis soundtrack - Song For Bob is just one of the most moving, sad, uplifting pieces of music. I’ve been listening to Cave’s work throughout writing Ichabod. The far more sparse soundtrack for The Proposition, again written with Ellis, an awful lot of the balladic Nocturama (which allmusic.com thinks is one of his worst albums but I love. Go figure). Cave’s dark, biblical themes and occasinal sense of romance fit this type of material perfectly, I think.

And the final inspiration was the work of Daniel Woodrell, an astonishingly good Missouri-based writer. He’s largely concentrated on crime fiction in the past. I read Winter’s Bone first - the story of a poor teenager trying to find out what’s happened to her father before the police take her house away in a guarded community of backwoods drug dealers. It’s a stunning, sparse thriller and Woodrell writes like a dream. Then I immediately picke up his Civil War-era story, Woe To Live On (how’s that for an ‘up’ title? It was turned into a movie by Ang Lee a few years back and someone, possibly interested in getting people to actually go see this, decided to change the title to Ride With The Devil) and it was even better. Just masterful writing. Gloriously lyrical in his language, great memorable characters and Woodrell finds hope and light in some horribly dark scenarios. Woe To Live On really inspired me to try writing the 19th century prose that the narrator of Ichabod speaks - for better or for worse. I’ve just picked up two more of his novels off ebay. This is the most excited I’ve been about a novelist in years.

Verrrrry late with this. I apologise. I meant to write it prior to New Year, and it does seem a little redundant now, but it’s been bugging me that I said I’d do it and I’ve kept meaning to do it. So…

No particular rhyme or reason to this. No set genres, or templates. Just bits and pieces of culture that got me enthusiastic in ‘08.

And since it’ll take me hours to write a full top ten list, and so it’ll be November before I finally complete it, maybe I’ll do one a day.  Learn me some discipline…

1) Kung-Fu Panda

This was lost amidst the WALL-E media love that seems to now be de rigueur with any Pixar release which is a shame as it’s the better film. I know, that sounds like heresy doesn’t it? Pixar being the modern storytelling holy grail and all. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Pixar, but WALL-E left me somewhat flat, especially it’s second half. Kung-Fu Panda, however, I completely dismissed on its cinema release. “Ah, Jack Black as an overweight panda who can’t do kung-fu”. And hilarity ensues. Avoid. But Trev Hairsine gave me a copy on DVD and insisted I watch it, and he knows his movies (he should do, he’s got a Blu-Ray projector that costs more than I earn in a year). And it had me laughing from the opening line. I really enjoyed it. Fun little film, I thought.

A week later I watched it again with my son as I thought he might like it. Enjoyed it some more. Watched it a third time and found myself involuntarily saying out loud at certain moments “this is a great movie.” And then the penny dropped and I stopped being a cultural snob towards it being Jack Black as a comedy panda, it being Dreamworks animation and not Pixar etc. and started appreciating it for what it is - it’s got a fantastic script, the best I probably saw from a movie this year, in fact. Funny, moving, great characters, fabulous moments, a wonderful theme about the potential of each individual no matter how awkward they appear to be. The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is glorious and full of gravitas. The animation’s superb - the facial performances of each ‘actor’ are hilarious. And it has the BEST action set-pieces.

Forget that this is talking animals we’re dealing with. Tai Lung’s escape from prison, his battle with the Five on the rope bridge, Po and Shifu’s fight over dumplings, Oogway’s beautiful departure beneath the blossom tree? These are extraordinarily good *movie* scenes. Forget that it’s animation, forget that it focusses on an overweight comedy panda. Kung-Fu Panda is a GREAT movie.

Christmas is done then and so we hurtle into the nihilistic nothingness of that weird week between Boxing Day and New Year where no one has a bloody clue what the hell’s going on and society crumbles as a result. Alien invaders take note, if you want to attack, this is the time to do it, when we’re all stuffed on Chrimbo dinners, port and single malt and Morecombe And Wise repeats. You will be greeted with only a disinterested, half drunk, vaguely overweight ‘whu?’. Open fire. You’ll be doing us a favour.

With such joviality in mind, it seems that the CLA$$WAR collected hardback edition will be in January’s Previews and is set for a March/April release. Extremely lovely cover with funky logo below.

What else happened? INDIANA JONES AND THE TOMB OF THE GODS #3 came out on Christmas Eve. You know, that day when everyone’s solely concerned with new comic releases above all else? Comics Bulletin noticed, however, and gave us a 5 out of 5 review, which is extremely nice. I don’t think I’ve had a 5 out of 5 before. My self-loathing even receded for a second and I felt oddly good about myself… briefly. It didn’t last of course. Like a giant tortoise poking its head out of its shell to have a look around to see if hibernation time has finished only to find that global warming has gone haywire and he’s in the middle of a blizzard, it quickly thought ‘bugger this’ and tucked its way back in the warm.

I’ve just compared my level of self loathing to a blizzard. That can’t be good. Anyway, Comics Bulletin review of Indy here:

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/123040784792655.htm

Paul Cornell, writer of TV’s Doctor Who and the enormously enjoyable Captain Britain And MI:13 for Marvel, also picked out Indy and The Big Tomb Of The Doodah as one of his ‘Obscure Best Of The Year’ picks. That was very kind of him:

http://paulcornell.blogspot.com/2008/12/12-blogs-5-best-of-year.html

Which partly inspired me to think that I should pick out my own Top Ten of 2008. Completely random things that I saw/read/heard/experienced in the past 12 months that were completely wonderful. That’ll follow after I do some work on the latest DIRTY FRANK script. Honest.