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AlphaFlight.net is proud to present an interview with Ed Brisson, author of the upcoming HEROES REBORN: WEAPON X AND FINAL FLIGHT oneshot.
Hi Ed, many thanks for taking the time to talk to us again.
Although many Alpha Flight fans will know you through your work on OLD MAN LOGAN or ALPHA FLIGHT: TRUE NORTH, I first discovered your writing on your Image series COMEBACK (although in retrospect, I do briefly remember your name from the fan-forums on this very site!), but before that you had started to gain a reputation in comics with the self-published series MURDER BOOK.
EB: Yeah! I remember being on the boards back in the day. There was a time that I was going to do my own self-published Canadian superhero team and think that’s what first led me there. I was trying to hunt down other Canadian books and heroes. That book ALMOST came to be, but unfortunately was not meant for this world.
Can you tell us a bit about your journey into comics, both as a writer and a letterer?
What made you want to get into the industry?
I’ve wanted to work in comics for about as long as I can remember. Initially, I wanted to be an artist and went to university for fine arts in the 90s to hone my skills. Back then, I didn’t really have much interest in writing, even though I’ve always been a big reader.
I was living in Kelowna at the time and tried to find a writer to team up with. I got introduced to a couple through local comic shops, but neither were folks I found I had much interest in working with -- our interests didn’t line up and they both weirdly had a similar approach to how collaborations would work, which was that as the “idea” men, everything would belong to them and I would merely be some sort of (unpaid) vessel for their ideas. So, I decided I’d rather just write for myself for the time being.
From about 1994 through 2010, I wrote, drew, lettered, and occasionally coloured my own comics that I’d print off as mini-comics, submit to college papers or publish online. I would do a lot of local comic conventions in Vancouver and started to travel further out to go to conventions from about 2005 onward.
In 2006, I stumbled across a gig lettering for manga. Now, I wasn’t a manga guy, so when they gave me a lettering test, I flubbed it pretty badly. Luckily, they desperately needed people and so gave me a shot anyway. That gig led to regular work lettering manga and eventually I started taking on gigs for North American style comics and ended up working on Dark Horse, Oni, and Image books as well as doing a bunch of manga for Viz after that initial manga publisher folded.
The big moment for me, however, was in 2010, when I finally realized that I hate drawing. I liked the idea of it, but the truth was that I loved writing comics, not drawing them. On my birthday, I made the decision to put the pencil down and just focus on my writing.
I started writing a series of short crime stories entitled MURDER BOOK and managed to rope some friends into drawing them -- folks like Simon Roy, Johnnie Christmas, Michael Walsh, Vic Malhotra and Jason Copland. Once complete, I posted them online for free and found that I was finally starting to get some attention as a comic creator.
In 2012, Michael Walsh and I pitched COMEBACK to Image, which was accepted and released in the latter half of the year.
The following year, I was tabling at C2E2. At the end of the show, I was packing up and realized I only had a few copies of MURDER BOOK left. Rather than taking them home with me, I just handed them out to folks as they were leaving the convention center. Little did I know that one of the people I’d handed copies to was Marvel editor Lauren Sankovitch.
About three months later, she called me up and asked me to write on a couple of issues of SECRET AVENGERS, filling in for Nick Spencer.
I was terrified when writing those books. Just so scared of screwing up that opportunity. Unfortunately, I think that comes through in my writing on those issues. That was late 2013 and, aside from one 10 pager in 2015, I didn’t get any further work for Marvel until BULLSEYE in 2017. However, I’ve been lucky enough to work pretty steadily with them since then.
And that answer was probably much, much longer than you or your readers wanted!
Throughout the years many readers have felt frustrated by the fact that a lot of writers tend to get geographical details wrong or write the team as stereotypes. Whilst we are dealing with a fictional version of Canada, as a Canadian (and multiple Joe Shuster Awards Best Canadian Writer nominee) how do you approach the characters on the occasions you’ve written them?
Yeah, I feel you on that point. I remember a comic that will remain unnamed, that was set in Canada and had a scene take place in the “Warehouse District of British Columbia”! What the hell is that? That’s like saying “The Warehouse District of Texas”! I mock it, though, do sometimes worry that any time I’ve written something set in a country I’ve never been to that folks there roll their eyes equally hard.
I’ve lived in Ontario, BC, and now Nova Scotia and have driven coast-to-coast several times over the last 20 years. I love exploring this country and I’m always trying to use Canadian locations that I know and do my best to write them as authentically as possible.
But, as to how I approach the characters…I think that’s a tough one. So many ALPHA FLIGHT fans are those who discovered the team during John Byrne’s run and I feel like the hope is always that new ALPHA FLIGHT books will somehow be the same, while not feeling copycat, which…it’s not possible. So, my approach has always been to respect the past but look for opportunities to push the characters forward, into new and unexpected directions. You can’t do this by trying to emulate what’s come before.
Throughout your career you’ve worked on many Licensed Properties, such as SONS OF ANARCHY, 24, ROBOCOP, and the upcoming PREDATOR. Does writing for these differ in many ways with regards to the editorial process and what you can and can’t do?
Licensed Properties differ in that there’s always an extra party involved in the editorial and approval process. If I’m doing a Marvel property, I’d send in my pitch/outlines/whatever and the editor on the project can usually approve, though there tends to be internal discussions with the EIC and other editors. Still, any notes are handled in-house.
With licensed books, I go through the same steps, but once the pitch/outline looks good to them, then it goes off to the licensor, who will generally have their own ideas to approach. Sometimes it’s great -- SONS OF ANARCHY for example, was a great experience. Kurt Sutter and his people are comic fans and so respected the writing process and seemed genuinely invested in what I was doing. PREDATOR has been a similar experience as well. Everyone seems to be clicking and they seem really into the story that Kev and I are telling.
In the past, I’ve had situations where the process wasn’t nearly as smooth. In those cases, it can become a lot more work as you’re all of a sudden at the whims of a licensor that thinks nothing of making you revise all of your work because they’ve changed their mind on the direction they think the property should go.
That said, my experience has mostly been very pleasant. I don’t know if I’m just lucky in that regard?
Is there a particular piece of your work that you’re most proud of?
Is there a title that you would recommend to readers that have only read your work-for-hire titles?
If I had to pitch a couple of books for folks to check out, I’d probably suggest either THE VIOLENT or SHELTERED. Both of those encapsulate the type of story I generally like to tell -- dark tales about troubled people trying to survive in a world that seems hellbent on bringing them down.
THE VIOLENT -- like MURDER BOOK (a collection of short crime stories by me and a myriad of artists) -- is a crime tale set in Vancouver that is as much a crime story as it is a commentary on the housing crisis and problems with drug addiction that plague that city and how those two things can impact one another. It’s a pretty heartbreaking story and the hope is that Adam Gorham (the artist) and I will be able to get back and do future volumes. But, for now, there’s a complete volume out there that I’d love for more people to pick up.
SHELTERED, on the other hand, is about a group of survivalists who’re in the early stages of setting up their own off-the-grid compound where they’ll be able to survive a litany of catastrophic scenarios. However, when it looks like one of those scenarios might be a reality, which would force the group underground for three years, they have to make some very brutal decisions when they discover that they only have enough supplies for half of them to survive. The book follows the consequences of these decisions both among the group and from the outside world who’ve discovered the grisly crimes that have happened within the fenced walls of the compound.
Also! I have a new Creator-Owned coming out in July -- my first in several years. BEYOND THE BREACH is a series that follows Vanessa, a 30-something who goes on a roadtrip after the death of her mother and discovering that her boyfriend is cheating on her (with her own sister!). She heads to California to lose herself among old-growth forests, bit the trip quickly turns when the Breach hits. A bizarre anomaly in the sky plunges California into a nightmare-world populated with strange, extra-dimensional creatures. Vanessa, with an orphaned child named Dougie, and Kai, a strange, fuzzball of a beast, have to fight to survive if they ever hope to make it back home. If there's even a home to return to.
This is my first book at Aftershock and I couldn’t be happier with how it’s all come together. I co-created the series with long-time collaborator Damian Couciero, who is also on art, and we’ve got Patricio Delpeche on colours. The book has been a lot of fun to write and we’re playing around with the type of world that I don’t normally get to play around in, which has been very exciting.
Was the WEAPON X AND FINAL FLIGHT title in the works as part of Jason’s plans and something you were asked to pitch for, or was it your suggestion to Marvel? How does the hiring process work for an Event such as this one?
Darren Shan, the editor, approached me about writing it. I believe it was planned for all along, as Weapon X and Alpha Flight do play a pivotal role in the Squadron Supreme of America’s past and Marvel wanted to have a book that would give more insight into their history.
For anyone unaware of the oneshot, could you give us a brief introduction to the title?
Well, for those who don’t know, in this reality The Squadron Supreme of America is the premier superhero team of the United States. They are unbeatable and their methods verge on the brutal. As a result, tensions between the Squadron and Canada have risen to the point of war, and Canada…Canada did not fare well in the conflict. Half of Alpha Flight was wiped out trying to defend our country.
The Squadron Supreme of America annexed British Columbia and Alberta for their resources and left the rest of Canada in ruins. The remnants of the Weapon X led Alpha Flight are still Canada’s last line of defense against the aggressors from the South, yet most of their existence is spent in hiding as they’re now wanted felons for their part in the war. Alpha Flight are outlaws in their own country.
Heroes Reborn is the latest in a long history of alternate reality Marvel tales. Without spoiling anything, how do these characters differ from the versions you’ve written in the 616 Universe?
I won’t delve too deeply into how they’re similar or different from their 616 counterparts but will say that this version of Alpha Flight has become more hardened than readers might be used to. They’ve seen their teammates killed and their country laid to waste and that’s had a massive impact on who they are and how they act.
Since the teaser artwork was first revealed, fans have debated as to who the armoured character is. Given your established love for Guardian this seems to be the guess of many, but are you able to give us any hints as to who it is? Will there be any surprise additions to the team, not seen in the artwork released so far?
All I can say about who is in the Guardian armor is that it’s someone that long time Alpha Flight readers will know, but probably not who they expect. Figuring out who I was going to put in the armor was one of the more fun bits of putting this all together and I only wish that there was time/space to do more with this team just so I could expand on this version of Guardian more.
Finally, for those who haven’t already pre-ordered the issue, can you tease us with something that may encourage them to take the leap?
One highlight that I haven’t mentioned so far is that we’ve got Roland Boschi on art and he is absolutely smashing it. He’s the perfect match for this rugged version of the team. His storytelling is top-notch. The action scenes are brutal and the character acting is impeccable. Even the quiet moments in the book are loaded with emotion. You can feel how heavy the situation weighs on the characters without them having to say a word.
On colours, we’ve got Chris O’Halloran, who’s fairly new to Marvel, but already you can tell he’s going to be a superstar colourist.
Beyond creative, this is an Alpha Flight book like we’ve never seen before. They're angry and desperate, fighting for their own survival and at odds internally. The ending of the issue is going to leave a lot of jaws on the floor.
I only wish this team was around for more than the one-shot!
Many thanks for your time Ed, here’s looking forward to June!
HEROES REBORN: WEAPON X AND FINAL FLIGHT #1 is due in stores, and digitally through ComiXology, on June 16th.
Final Pre-Order Cut-Off is May 24th and can be ordered using Diamond code APR210726 for the regular Tony Daniel Cover and APR210727 for the David Yardin Variant - We here at alphaflight.net strongly recommend pre-ordering.
Ed can be found online at http://www.edbrisson.com and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/edbrisson.
Digital Versions of his work can be purchased at https://www.comixology.com/Ed-Brisso...s-creator/5176.
Artwork used on this page by Tony Daniel, Carlos Pachecho & Aaron Kuder, respectively.
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