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Mairghread Scott (Transformers: Windblade) and artists Kelly & Nichole Matthews are giving the story of Macbeth a comics reinvention with Toil and Trouble, a 6-issue mini series coming out from Archaia/BOOM! next month. Formerly titled The Third Witch, this version focused on the three witches and their cauldron of woe for Scottish lord Macbeth. Riata, […]

Dynamite has had a lot of news this week in the busy Toy Fair/ComicsPRo period, including an exciting crossover event the return of two iconic heroes, and a new merchandise line. Here’s a digest version:

• Mark Waid is writing Justice, Inc.: The Avenger with artist Ronilson Freire. The series debuts in June and expands on the Justice, Inc., universe and vigilante industrialist Richard Henry Benson. variant covers include Alex Ross (Kingdom Come), Walter Simonson (The Mighty Thor), Francesco Francavilla (Afterlife with Archie), Marc Laming (All-New Invaders), and Barry Kitson (The Amazing Spider-Man).

In Justice, Inc.: The Avenger #1, Waid and Freire continue the adventures of Richard Henry Benson, a victim of a criminal attack that left his facial features forever deadened, gray in color and incapable of showing genuine emotion. And yet, the harsh stroke of fate gave him the ability to mold his face to match the appearance of anyone… a skill he could employ as the ultimate master of disguise. Driven to mete out retribution against those who would prey on the innocent, The Avenger finds himself on a collision course with a villain even more secretive, brutal, and unrelenting than himself: an Invisible Man.

Mark Waid’s participation in the Avenger launch fulfills a longtime writing goal; he says, “Moreso than The Shadow, moreso than Doc Savage, the Avenger has always, always been my favorite pulp hero, and I’ve been aching to write this story since I was eleven years old. What a blast! Having the opportunity to dive into the psyche of a crimefighter as unique as Benson has been a lifelong dream — I’ve been thinking about what his life and mind would be like ever since I read my first Avenger paperback back in the day. How does a man live his life when he has nothing to live for but justice? How does he navigate in a world of life and love and joy when his own features are frozen and stiff like putty, mirroring his cold, dead insides? There’s so much here to unpack.”

• Will Eisner’s The Spirit is coming back in a series written by Matt Wagner and covers by Alex Ross, Eric Powell, and Wagner. DEny Colt, a masked everyman crimefighter, was the center of an iconic series by Eisner and has been brought back most recently at DC.

“I discovered The Spirit via the black-and-white, magazine-sized reprints of the mid-70s. It was the first time that I truly perceived sequential narrative as a legitimate art form, of the immense creative power of a comic-artist in his prime,” says Wagner. “I can honestly say that seeing and experiencing The Spirit in my formative years ultimately led to my career as a comics author. It’s such an immense thrill and a professional honor to have the chance to contribute to Will Eisner’s legacy on the milestone 75th anniversary of his most influential and iconic character.”

• Joining the wave of female led titles that is changing the ace of the industry, in May Swords of Sorrow is a giant crossover event featuring Red Sonja, Vampirella, Dejah Thoris with an all-female writing team led by Gail Simone. The event kicks off with a Swords of Sorrow series by Simone, Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella / Jennifer Blood miniseries written by Nancy A. Collins (Vampirella, Swamp Thing); Swords of Sorrow: Chaos special by Mairghread Scott (Transformers: Windblade); and the Swords of Sorrow: Masquerade / Katospecial by G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel) and Erica Schultz (M3). In later months, more projects by Leah Moore, Marguerite Bennett, Emma Beeby, and Mikki Kendal will debut. That’s a lot of female writers!

In keeping with the theme, variant cover artists include a main cover byJ. Scott Campbell (Danger Girl); variants by Jenny Frison, Emanuela Lupacchino; a subscription edition by Robert Hack available to fans placing preorders with their local retailers; and incentive editions by Joyce Chin, Tula Lotay, Nei Ruffino, Cedric Poulat.  Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella / Jennifer Blood #1 and the Swords of Sorrow: Masquerade / Kato special both feature covers by Billy Tan, while the Swords of Sorrow: Chaos special spotlights Joyce Chin.

Gail Simone, who has been planning the project since her involvement was announced in July, says, “Here’s the thing: I love pulp adventure, always have. But as male-dominated as comics have often been, the pulp adventure world seems to be even more so.  Most of the big name stars and creators are dudes, and that’s fine, it’s great. But it hit me… what if that wasn’t the case? What if adventure pulps had also been written with female readers in mind, and awesome female characters in the spotlight? That’s the scenario we are imagining, and it’s just been a blast. The key players are Red Sonja, Vampirella, and Dejah Thoris, but it’s such an epic-spanning, world-hopping event that we also have Kato, Jungle Girl, Lady Rawhide, Jennifer Blood, and so many more. It’s the crossover I dreamed of when I was a kid, and now we get to make it happen.”

Simone’s core Swords of Sorrow story serves as the starting point for a new universe of pulp adventure. Illustrated by Sergio Davila (Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure), the series features the supernatural heroine Vampirella, Martian princess Dejah Thoris, crimson-tressed swordswoman Red Sonja, martial artist Kato (from filmmaker Kevin Smith’s reboot of The Green Hornet), primal warrior Jungle Girl, and many more. Drawn from a dozen worlds and eras to face off against a legendary evil that threatens their homelands, Dynamite’s fiercest females must overcome their differences to harness the power of mystical blades — the eponymous Swords of Sorrow — in final conflict.

Gail Simone also serves as the architect for all storylines tied into the event, providing direction to her personally selected team of writers. “We got the best writers around, gave them a fun combination of characters and just let them go wild,” says Simone. “It’s creators like G. Willow Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, Nancy A. Collins and more, with book titles like Vampirella vs. Jennifer Blood, Kato vs. Masquerade, and Red Sonja vs. Jungle Girl. More about these tag teams will be coming soon, but it’s just a ridiculous amount of fun to set these characters against each other, and I’m very proud of the astounding team of writers, who I hand-picked from among the very best of new female adventure writers. There’s never been a crossover event in comics like this, ever.”

• Finally, Dynamite has entered into a partnership with The Brewing Factory, the merchandise development company founded by former DC vp Georg Brewer. The line debuts with Women of Dynamite, a line of female figures including Vampirella designed by Jason Smith and based on the artwork of J. Scott Campbell), set for June release.

“I’ve been really fortunate to work on some great projects these last few years, but my first love will always be comics,” says Georg Brewer. “Working with Nick and Joe at Dynamite, and their talented comics creators, has been a blast! It’s certainly been a fantastic way for me to get back to where it all started, and along with sculptor Jason Smith, we are creating an amazing line of statues.”

”We are extremely fortunate to work with someone of Georg’s knowledge, skill, experience, and sterling reputation,” says Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher ofDynamite Entertainment. “His passion and expertise in the development and manufacturing of cool fan collectibles is second to none, and our being able to work with Georg is going to help bring fans additional great product lines featuring Dynamite’s extensive library of characters. The debut product line resulting from our creative partnership will be Women of Dynamite statues inspired by J. Scott Campbell artwork, and from there, we will continue to delve into our expansive library of intellectual properties.”

Whew!

Next month sees a launch which The Beat has been following on and off for the last few weeks. A new Transformers miniseries will be launching at IDW in April, chronicling the introduction of Windblade. A female Transformer – causing raised eyebrows from fans who think Transformers are genderless despite being obvious blatant big male robots – Windblade will be entering the IDW Universe in the immediate aftermath of the crossover event storyline Dark Cybertron.

Written by Mairghread Scott and illustrated by Sarah Stone, the miniseries has already garnered a lot of attention, as Windblade was chosen to be created as part of a fan vote, and this miniseries will be the first Transformers comic with a female writer and artist onboard. But, y’know, beyond that – there’s a story here, and a character. So! In order to find out more about who Windblade actually is, I spoke to both Mairghread and Sarah about their plans for the characters, and the miniseries as a whole. Read on!

Steve: How did you first get involved with Transformers? Were you fans before you started working on the comics?

Mairghread: I watched Beast Wars as a child but I really fell away from the fandom until the Bay films and being hired on Transformers Prime. In a way it’s been a real blessing because I still have my childhood love of the Beast Wars transformers but I get to explore all the rest of the Transformers lore (the main lore, really) as an adult when I can appreciate it and the work it took to keep things rolling this far.

Sarah: I was! I grew up with Beast Wars originally, but sort of rediscovered my love for Transformers with Transformers Prime and that’s when I really got lost in it. From there I realized I needed more and learned about what IDW was doing with RiD and MTMTE, and I’ve been really hooked.

Steve: What do you think it is about the franchise which has had such enduring appeal?

Mairghread: First, it’s just AWESOME! Even if you don’t like Transformers (and you should) you have to admit that you can’t beat the brand for fantastic and mind-blowing action. But, underneath that, is a really core appeal that a lot of people miss. Transformers themselves are surprisingly human.

In fact, I think because they’re aliens we often write them as more human (emotive, social, flawed, a little irrational at times) than many characters that are actually human. That combination is super-rare and it’s something I just can’t get enough of.

Steve: This miniseries comes about following the end of the Dark Cybertron crossover event, which saw things get very bad for all the Transformers. What kind of world is Windblade entering into as your story begins?

Mairghread: It’s a world that mirrors our own in a lot of ways.  The war is over, but there are huge problems that everyone knows about but no one has been able to solve yet.  The leadership is corrupt, but not freakishly evil.  People are focused on making it day-to-day and the milestones characters set for themselves are getting smaller all the time. No one’s really dreaming the big dream anymore and that’s something Windblade is going to change – or try to, at least.

Steve: What do you think defines Windblade as a character? When you sat down with the character, what did you want to emphasize about her personality?

Sarah: What stands out for Windblade to me is her determination despite being completely overwhelmed. She’s thrust into this situation and conflict that most Cybertronians have had centuries to get adjusted to, but she has to adapt right now, and you can tell she’s behind the curve and it’s taking its toll. I wanted her to show signs of this weathering but she’s still trying her hardest anyway. She’s not perfect – she gets shaken up and lost, and I think we can all relate to that a little bit.

Mairghread: Our book starts a bit after the end of Dark Cybertron, so no one is in active triage-mode anymore as they would be during a huge life-or-death struggle like that was. Plus Windblade is an optimist. She really believes that she can help make Cybertron better, that everyone can help Cybertron be better.  Whether or not she’s right, that’s a whole different story.

Steve: How have you both found the collaborative process?

Mairghread: Fantastic. Sarah never thinks of what can’t be done, only how we can accomplish it. That kind of mindset is what’s given Transformers Windblade such a unique look. It is definitely going to be a comic that surprises people and is a great introduction to even those who’ve never been to Cybertron before… plus Issue 1 and 2 are still available for pre-order. So if you’ve ever thought about dipping your toe in the TF pool – now is definitely the time!

Sarah: I love working with Mairghread because she likes focusing on similar things that I do, and she’s really enabled and encouraged me to really push things where I might have been a bit to timid to otherwise. We have a lot of fun going through scripts and thumbnails to really push body language and interactions. Really I’m just trying to do justice to her script and these characters, and hope that in some way I succeed on the page.

Steve: One of the details I noticed in the preview pages of issue #1 is that you’re using her jet flames to convey her movement and transformations. How do you approach her body language and movements? She’s a giant robot sure, but she seems pretty deft and light-footed.

Sarah: Mairghread had to really extrapolate a lot off of a pre-existing design for a character that we didn’t know much about. What kind of a bot has this kind of makeup, or has such an elaborate sword? She guided me a lot when we first started, and we wanted Windblade to be graceful and kind of ceremonial. Since wind is kind of her element and she functions as sort of a diplomat, it seemed fitting.

I wanted her to feel light, especially compared to Chromia, her bodyguard, who is the exact opposite. I love them because they’re such great foils for each other – where Windblade is tactful and graceful, Chromia is both tactless and graceless. Windblade can sit down politely with her legs together, but Chromia sits like a total guy. They both serve to point out how different they are from one another, and it’s really fun.

Steve: Is it difficult to draw personality onto a robotic character? That question may be a little racist against robots, sorry

Sarah: It might be, but I live for it. It’s arguably one of my favorite parts of drawing the bots. I really love taking atypical features and giving them expression, just like we read expressions on animals without the same cues that we get from people. I love thinking about how personality can be expressed through their different features.

How does this guy hold his wings, can his helmet be used as sort of a brooding brow, does this part move when they’re scared? Stuff like that makes my job really fun.

Steve: One thing that comes across quickly in the preview is that she has quite a wry sense of humour about her. What’s her personality like? Do you want her to bring a sense of freshness with her, a lightness of tone?

Mairghread: She’s definitely in a younger mindset than most transformers. But more than anything she’s a three-dimensional character. She takes her job very seriously but that doesn’t mean she takes herself seriously (although she probably should, if I’m looking at her from a ‘mom’ perspective).

I wanted her to like Cybertron and like life; there’s enough dourness in the real world. Transformers Windblade is still a dramatic read, and we do get a little dark, but I’ve worked hard to make sure it never loses the optimism and hope that Windblade as a character has.

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Many thanks to Mairghread and Sarah for their time! The first issues of the series are still available for pre-order – today is the last day they will be – and issue #1 is due in stores this April. You can find Sarah at various places around the internet - on her blog, her DeviantArt, and Twitter. Mairghread is on twitter here, and you can find her Tumblr here