New Wallpaper in the Gallery

I just posted some new wallpaper in the Comic Book Wallpaper gallery, including some teaser’s for DC’s Countdown. Go check them out!

[tag]comic books[/tag], [tag]DC Comics[/tag], [tag]Marvel comics[/tag]

RON MARZ JOINS VIRGIN COMICS - NEWSARAMA

Glad to see that they are bringing in someone from the COMICS industry for a change…
 

RON MARZ JOINS VIRGIN COMICS - NEWSARAMA

RON MARZ JOINS VIRGIN COMICS

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Ron
Marz has worn many hats in the comic book industry over the years, and
recently, he’s putting on a new one at Virgin Comics. Marz and Virgin
have confirmed for Newsarma that Marz will be joining the company in an
editorial capacity, overseeing the three titles in the company’s Shakti
Line.

As far as the company’s Publisher and Editor in Chief are concerned,
the decision to place Marz in a position in the company was an easy
one.

Sharad Devarajan (Publisher, CEO): “When we began thinking about
collaborators in the industry we wanted to reach out to, Ron was one of
the first people that came to mind. His work outside of the superhero
genre with books such as Sojourn, The Path and Witchblade
have served as inspirations to many of our young artists and writers in
India who are striving to forge new ground with our mythic stories. We
are thrilled to bring his creative stewardship to some of our flagship
books including Devi, Ramayan 3392AD and The Sadhu.

Gotham Chopra (EiC, Chief Creative Officer): “We are so thrilled to
have some of Ron’s broad breath of experience working with us to
nurture the young talents in our studio. In the short few weeks that
we’ve already been working with Ron, I’ve seen tremendous growth
amongst some of our writers and artists and I am convinced that his
ongoing mentorship will have a dramatic effect on these young talents.
That combined with Ron’s ability to draw on industry vets who will be
working with us to create covers and other features for our books has
got me enormously excited about the months ahead and the future of
Virgin Comics.”

We caught up with Marz to talk about the new gig.

Newsarama: So who or what got you over to Virgin?

Ron Marz: Like a lot of stuff in this business, it came about
because I happened to bump into the right guy at the right time. At
least year’s New York City con, I ran into Frank D’Armata, who was a
buddy when we were at CrossGen and who is now kicking much ass at
Marvel, coloring Captain America, Moon Knight and X-Men.
Frank said, “Hey, did the guy from Virgin find you?” And I guess I
must’ve had a blank stare, because I didn’t have a clue what he was
talking about. So Frank explained that the guys running Virgin Comics
– Sharad Devarajan and Gotham Chopra — were fans of my CrossGen work
and wanted to talk to me. We never did manage to run across each other
at the con, but ended up getting in touch later on, and over the course
of the year had a number of conversations, and then a couple meetings
in New York to figure out what kind of working relationship would work
for everybody involved. We finalized it early this year, so I’m off and
running.

NRAMA: Was there any hesitation on your part? After all, as you
mentioned, there, you were part of Cross Gen who was, a start-up
company looking to make an impact in comics, only to end up going down
– hard.

RM: Believe me, I fully appreciate how hard it is for a start-up
company to make a go of it in this business. I had a ringside seat for
CrossGen’s crash and burn after it had started out with some real
promise. So the last thing I was looking to do is sign on to a venture
that didn’t have a real chance of success. I like the kind of books
Virgin is doing, and there’s a realistic approach to the business side
of thing. If nothing else, I can point out some of the missteps
CrossGen made and say, “Let’s not go there.” And let’s face it, having
a recognizable brand like Virgin behind it is a step in the right
direction.

I’m forever saying that the industry as a whole needs to be more
diverse in terms of subject matter, that we shouldn’t be as dominated
by superheroes as we are. This was a chance for me to put my money
where my mouth is, and help out a publisher who is doing material in a
wide range of genres.

NRAMA: Had you been keeping track of them at all before they got in touch with you?

RM: I actually don’t get a chance to go into a store that often,
so I hadn’t seen any of their stuff when they first got in touch. But
they sent me what had been published to that point, and I was fairly
impressed. The first thing you notice is the production quality — nice
paper stock, glossy cardstock covers. Once I sat down and read them, I
thought they were pretty damn good comics. Solid writing, solid art.
But I could also see where they could be improved. Now I have a chance
to lend a hand in that process.

NRAMA: Do any titles stand out for you as real breakaway books?

RM: Well, excluding the books I’m working on, if I had to pick one favorite, I guess it’d be 7 Brothers.
It’s the kind of book you’d expect from John Woo and Garth Ennis, and I
mean that in the best way possible. People who enjoyed Preacher, or Garth’s Punisher run, should absolutely be picking up 7 Brothers. But Walk-In is a terrific, off-beat book, and I like Snake Woman as well.

NRAMA: So what will you be doing at Virgin, exactly?

RM: I’m taking over three titles in the Shakti line, directing
them editorially and just generally trying to put my stamp on them a
little bit. The Shakti line is rooted in Indian mythology, and I know
some readers initially think, “I don’t know anything about Indian
mythology, I’ll be lost.” But that’s not the case. These books are
steeped in Indian mythology the same way Thor is steeped in Norse
mythology — it’s a backdrop, not a barrier.

The titles I’m working on are Ramayan 3392 A.D., which is a science-fiction retelling of the Indian epic; Devi, which is about a modern-day woman who serves as a vessel for a warrior-goddess; and The Sadhu,
which is set in the British-occupied India of 150 years ago, and stars
a British officer who becomes a spiritual warrior, kind of a
19th-century John Constantine. So it’s three diverse books — one set
in the past, one set in the present, one set in the future.

I’m working with talent based out of Virgin’s Bangalore studio, except for the writer of Devi and Sadhu,
who lives in the exotic land of Massachusetts. There really hasn’t been
much of an Indian comics industry to this point, so a great deal of the
talent is pretty new to this, and doing some real accomplished work for
being relative rookies. Part of my job is to be a bit of a teacher, and
bring up the overall level of what they’re doing. I’ve been doing this
a while, and I’ve learned at least a few tricks, so it’s an opportunity
for me to pass along some of that to an eager audience in the studio.
The talent there is matched only by the enthusiasm.

So I’m reviewing scripts and artwork, assigning covers, but overall, I
really see my job as making sure the book is better when it leaves my
desk than when it arrived. It’s a different hat than I wear when I’m
writing, which actually makes it a nice change of pace.

NRAMA: When do “your” issues of those titles start coming out?

RM: The first issues under my watch will be out in June: Devi #12, The Sadhu: The Silent Ones #1, and Ramayan 3392 A.D. Reloaded #1.
Virgin was kind enough to give me a couple of #1 issues, so we have a
better chance at getting some new readers to give the books a try. I
want to make each of them as new-reader friendly as possible. As part
of that, I’m writing a series of short back-up stories in Ramayan, each
story concentrating on one of the main characters, so we have a better
sense of who they are. Mike Oeming is providing the art for the story
in issue #1, Jim Starlin is doing the honors in issue #2, and I have a
few other top-shelf guys lined up for ensuing issues. I brought in Mike
Oeming, Brian Stelfreeze and Tony Shasteen on my first batch of covers
for the respective series.

I also expect to be doing some additional writing for Virgin, as part
of the Director’s Cut or Voices lines, or possibly as part of the
partnership with SCI FI Channel that was just announced. We’re sorting through different things to see what the best fit is going to be.

NRAMA: And what about the rest of your writing? Are you still doing that?

RM: Yeah, no rest for the wicked. I’m still doing my creator-owned stuff at Dark Horse in Samurai: Heaven and Earth and Pantheon City. There’s Witchblade and the First Born crossover at Top Cow. And at DC I wrapped up Ion
and we’re figuring out what’s next. All that, plus my duties at Virgin,
take a few more hours each day, but it’s all stuff I enjoy. Everybody
should be so lucky.

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