Dave Dorman made himself available to fans at C2E2 last weekend, and between signings of comics and video game cartridges, he found some time to talk about his new book from Magnetic Press, “The Wasted Lands”
What this book is about?
Dorrin: The Wastedlands is a graphic novel series. This omnibus is the first of five books. It’s sort of a Sergio Aragonés-fantasy-magical-science fiction-adventure ride.
That’s quite a mix up.
DD: Yeah, it’s basically all the things that I’m interested in, putting them in a blender to create some characters that I can create a story around. So it’s sort of a western, but it’s also a steampunky science fiction thing. There’s a little bit of fantasy involved. It began as a set of characters that I had designed for a video game, and after a couple years of developing their backstories, I just started working on a linear story I could introduce those characters into.
“The Wastedlands Omnibus” is a reprint of my graphic novel “Rail” that Image put out in 2001. However, after 13 years of being a better artist and understanding how to color comics a little more – you’d think that being a painter I’d understand how to color comics, but no – I recolored the whole book, I re-lettered the whole book, and I actually did some new artwork to bring some of the new material up to-date. The omnibus contains the “Rail” graphic novel and three other short stories that tie in with the characters. That’s why we’re calling it an omnibus – it’s more than just the first graphic novel.
How did you get connected to Magnetic Press?
DD: I’ve known Mike Kennedy for a number of years, from back when he was just writing comics. This was before he was editing or publishing comics, any of that. We’ve stayed friends over the years and we’ve talked about doing projects. One of those was taking “Rail” and doing a reprint. When he started Magnetic Press, he came to me and said “I’m starting this line of books, would you be interested in bringing “Rail” back into publication?” I said sure, and we worked it out. We added the new material to make it more than just a reprint of the original, and it turned out very well. It’s since been nominated for an Eisner award for Best Presentation of Previously Published Material, which is very cool for both Mike and myself. Mike is the one who put the package together and designed it. My part in the actual production was minimal. Creatively, I did a lot of work, but he put it together. We’re certainly looking forward to how the Eisners turn out with that. Mike’s a great guy, and I wish him the best with Magnetic Press and I’m working on the second graphic novel in this series. We’ll be publishing it sometime in the late fall or early winter.
Have the sales of the book been what you hoped for? Have you had a good reaction to it?
DD: It’s been…not as much as I’d hoped for, but it’s a larger size book and it’s a bit more expensive than the usual 48 page graphic novel because of the extra material. We didn’t expect skyrocketing sales, but we’re happy with them as they are and we think that as I continue to produce new material, people will come back to it and it’ll be a constant seller. For me, it doesn’t necessarily mean the first two or three months of the book sales are the total sales. I see this as part of a long term thing and I think that’s the way Mike looks at it as well.
When do you think the whole series be wrapped up?
DD: I’m trying to do one a year, which is the European style of graphic novels. I’m not the fastest guy doing continuing interior work, so I figure one a year. If I can somehow get a large influx of cash and can take the time off to work on it continuously rather doing it between my regular commercial work, certainly I could do it a little bit faster. But, to be on the very conservative side, one a year is comfortable for me.
Continued belowWhat else are you working on right now?
DD: Right now, I’ve done a variant for “Star Wars” for Marvel, and I’ll be doing a couple more pieces with them. That’s good, because it puts me back in Star Wars, which the fans love, and I love doing it. I’m also working on a cover for “Archie” #1, for the big relaunch of that series. I have some promotional material I’m doing for a computer game called “Battlecasters“. I’m also doing some private commissions and some one-off covers here and there. The same things I’ve been doing most of my career, really.
I’ve also done an alternate cover for a new series called “Lantern City” from Boom! Studios that will be out May 13th, I believe. It’s a really cool still-life cover. Most of my cover work tends to be more action oriented, but this is a focus on one of the science-fiction style helmets for one of the characters. In the glass and the goggles, you can see an airship explosion. The rendering on that is very realistic, almost photo realistic. That’s something I enjoy doing, but it’s not something I do within the science-fiction/fantasy comic realm. This gave me an opportunity to do something that would not necessarily be recognized as my art. I think it’s going to draw a lot of attention. Hopefully I’ll be doing some more stuff with Boom! and “Lantern City.”
When you do a cover, are you usually given the script, and do you get to pick out what moment you want to capture, or do you like to pick something more iconic?
DD: Every project I take is different. With comics, I’m in touch with the editor or art director and they’ll suggest an image if they have something specific in mind. Sometimes they’ll send me a paragraph or two synopsis of the story and let me choose what I think might be a good scene. Those are usually books I have some experience with. If I’m doing a cover for, say, a paperback book or a computer game, sometimes I’ll get the whole manuscript and the editor will say “choose something that’s dynamic.” Other times they’ll say “do the scene on page 36.” Every one’s different, but they’re usually flexible. They’re trusting me to do a quality image, so it’s collaborative when I’m doing a project for any company.
Dave Dorman is always happy to talk with fans. You can email him at Dormanart@yahoo.com or follow along with him on Facebook. He also has a Facebook page especially for “The Wasted Lands” that provides some extra material and news about the series.
