Jeremy Barlow: Telling Tales

By Mike Jozic

Star Wars Tales has long been a staple of Dark Horse's Star Wars line of comic books, featuring out-of-continuity and "what if?" stories by some of the industry's finest creators. This past October, however, the title received something of a makeover under the care of new editor, Jeremy Barlow.

Having previously been an assistant editor on the line for several years, Barlow comes to the quarterly series with no shortage of experience or ideas on how to shake things up a bit - in a good way. And while the changes to the book do go deeper than just the cosmetic, they still keep the same level of quality art and storytelling that fans of Star Wars comics have come to expect.

I recently interviewed Jeremy by e-mail on the new direction for the series, as well as his future plans for the book.


MIKE JOZIC: Why the change for Star Wars Tales to continuity based stories?

JEREMY BARLOW: It's not so much a change as a refocusing. The silly “what if” stories are fun in moderation, but it seemed, at least to me, that by focusing solely on the off-beat we were missing a considerable chunk of the Star Wars fanbase whose appetites weren't being sated by either of our other series - Republic & Empire. The Star Wars mythology is a vast, sweeping thing -- the saga of the Jedi Order's rise, fall, and redemption has an almost Tolkien-esque depth to it - and our other series, by nature, are only able to focus on very specific corners of it. With so many eras and perspective to play with, Tales seemed like the perfect vehicle to do some exploring in. We just had to get it out of the garage and gassed-up first.

JOZIC: Will the change be strictly enforced, or will fans of the previous “what if” or humorous features get the occasional treat?

BARLOW: Don't worry, the bathwater's gone, but the baby's still fine. I'm not completely doing away with the humorous stories, just moving them to the backseat in favor of the more serious tales. I like funny stories, too, but in moderation, and only when they're really good.

Same goes for the "what if?" stories. To me, the best kind of "what if?" scenarios are the ones that have no chance of fitting in with what's come before, but are just too cool to pass up. We did a story in Star Wars Tales #19 called "Into the Great Unknown" [written by Haden Blackman], that had Han Solo crashing the Millennium Falcon into a familiar-looking planet, only to have it discovered a few centuries later by a certain adventuring Archeologist called "Indiana." It also implied that Chewbacca went into hiding after the crash and became the basis for our Sasquatch legends; it was a great little story. I'd love to do more like that, but pitches that good don't cross my desk every day. That, and I'm not allowed to look at unsolicited Star Wars ideas, so the filter's set on "high."

Ideally, the audience of the "old" Tales will still find enough familiar and enjoyable to stick around. Continuity has become such a dirty word in some comics circles, and I'm wondering if I did the book a disservice by pushing the term so strongly in the marketing. The great thing about Tales is that having prior Star Wars Expanded Universe knowledge is not a prerequisite. Anyone, regardless of their Star Wars experience, can pick the book up and enjoy it.

JOZIC: The next issue is going to have a cardstock cover and you’ve switched from the square-bound format to a stapled spine. Is everything on this book getting a makeover?

BARLOW: More or less, yeah. I really liked how hefty DC's The New Frontier felt when I picked it up, and since Star Wars Tales has the same page count, it seemed like a nice trade-off from the perfect (square) binding. I'm hoping the readers will agree.

JOZIC: Are you concerned that the switch to the new format may compete with the attention and pocketbooks of your Republic & Empire audience?

BARLOW: Not really. Perhaps if Tales were a monthly book like the others it might be a concern, but then if that were the case, Tales would likely be the standard 22 story pages with the standard $2.99 cover price. Since we're a quarterly, though, I don't expect we'll hurt the sales of the other series.

The great thing about Tales, too, is that it essentially offers three issues worth of material for the price of two. It was hard to see that before, when we were running five to seven short stories every issue. I've honed it down to three longer pieces per book, which should help it feel like it’s "worth the money."

JOZIC: Do you find that, in Tales, you have a lot more freedom to explore and expand upon the Star Wars universe than the teams on Empire and Republic?

BARLOW: Our other series are locked in to very specific points in the Star Wars timeline because of how closely tied to the movies they are, so in that sense Tales is more free to move around between the different eras and to explore the fringes of the Star Wars galaxy. Across the board, though, fellow Star Wars editor Randy Stradley and I both strive to tell the best stories we can against the Star Wars backdrop, and we can do that in any point in the Star Wars timeline.

JOZIC: What is your favourite Star Wars era to play in?

BARLOW: They each have their own advantages and drawbacks. You can't go wrong with the Classic Trilogy era, but the continuity around it is so tight you really have to get creative to make it work sometimes. Lately I've been enjoying the "Old Republic" period, as seen in the Knights of the Old Republic video game. The entire Star Wars saga, as far as the Expanded Universe is concerned, is a sweeping epic chronicling the rise, fall, and restoration of the Jedi Order. There are powerful themes throughout, and no era is limited.

JOZIC: Any plans to cross over Tales with Republic or Empire in the sense that a story could begin in one of the monthlies, and be expanded on in Tales – like an epilogue – or vice versa?

BARLOW: We've talked about it, but haven't made any solid plans. "Walking the Path..." could work that way and continue on in Empire. And there are a few Republic characters that I'm sure John Ostrander and Jan Duursema would like to expand upon, and Tales would be the perfect vehicle for something like that.

Again, no plans to do that yet, but the option is there if we need it.

JOZIC: How far ahead have you scheduled out the stories for the new Tales?

BARLOW: Generally, I like to work about a year ahead, which is easier with a quarterly. That's just four issues to worry about, and I'm treating those issues as a whole. It makes for a lot of work up front, but smoother sailing afterward. The first four issues and their
subsequent trade paperback collection will have a similar dramatic and visual feel. Lee Bermejo's doing all five covers, and so far they're just incredible.

JOZIC: Looking at the solicitation info for #22 I notice that Darca Nyl’s story will “continue” with the character reappearing in that issue. Will there be a number of stories that “carry over” from one issue to the next?

BARLOW: Not usually. The idea was to serialize "Nomad" over four issues — the first year of the "new" Tales — and to see how well that went, and to set it up so that it could be read both as four stand alone stories and as a complete arc.

"Walking the Path That's Given," the other cliffhanger in Star Wars Tales #21, came about almost by accident. It was supposed to be a stand-alone story, but it kept growing as it went on. We'll come back to it, but probably not until sometime next year.

Aside from those, though, we'll be sticking to the shorter, done-in-one style. So anyone can pick up any issue of the series and get a complete experience.

JOZIC: Star Wars Tales #21 was originally scheduled to come out Sept. 8th. I’m curious why there was such a delay on the book?

BARLOW: 'Cause you can't rush perfection, baby! Actually, getting the book where I wanted it in terms of content and design took longer than I expected. I hated to see the schedule slide like it did, but at the end of the day I have a book that I'm proud of. That's what helps me sleep at night, anyway. Just kidding - editors don't sleep. I'm working hard to keep everything on track from here on out.

JOZIC: What would your wish list for future contributors and future stories look like?

BARLOW: Actually - and this is going to sound like the typical suck-up answer, but I'm being completely sincere - I've been more than pleased with the creative line-up I have so far. Writer Rob Williams (Cla$$war) and artist Brandon Badeaux (Superman: Man of Steel) are two of the best out there right now, and it's only a matter of time before everyone else picks up on it. Lucas Marangon continues to amaze. Joshua Ortega and Thomas Andrews are a couple of up-and-coming writers that are going to do great things. Steve Pugh and Chris Warner are illustrating some upcoming stories, and Greg Tocchini's on deck for something soon, too. And Lee Bermejo on covers? I'm a lucky, lucky editor.

As for the wish list - yeah, there are a lot of guys and girls that I'd love to collaborate with, mostly those involved with the comics I'm reading: Andy Diggle, Peter Miligan, Scott Kolins, Olivier Coipel, etc. - but those pesky Marvel and DC exclusive contracts keep getting in the way.

[As for] future stories, [they] will continue to be nuanced, character-driven pieces. As far as I'm concerned, those are the only ones worth telling.

JOZIC: What have been your favourite Tales stories so far?

BARLOW: There have been some great ones! "Thank the Maker" by Ryder Windham and Kilian Plunkett (Star Wars Tales vol. 2) always stands out. It's a nice, quiet moment between Darth Vader and C-3PO on Cloud City after the droid's been blasted by the Stormtroopers.

"Into the Great Unkown" by Haden Blackman and Sean Murphy (Star Wars Tales vol. 5) is also a gem. Han and Chewie crash land on what turns out to be our own planet; decades pass and Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon, is discovered by a certain well-known adventuring Archeologist. It's a lot of fun. Man, I could go on...

JOZIC: If there was one as yet untold story from Star Wars you wish you could tell in Tales, which one would it be?

BARLOW: The advantage to being the editor is that I can tell those stories. Right now, what you're getting in this first year of Tales are exactly the kinds of Star Wars stories I've always wanted to see. I'm not interested in plugging continuity holes or creating stories to explain away inconsistencies or to show events that are mentioned in other sources. Dramatically, those sorts of things rarely work and are often unsatisfying.

JOZIC: How does the talent behind Tales come to work on the book? Do writers and artists come to you with ideas, or do you seek out creators?

BARLOW: It's a little of both. I'm very hands-on, so when it came time to remake the book, I sat down and made a list of what kinds of stories I wanted to see, which characters would best work and which time periods were best suited to present them, and then I set out to find the writers and artists who could best tell those stories. Often my initial notes were vague — I knew I wanted an Old Republic story in Tales #23 to coincide with the Knights of the Old Republic 2 game release, and I had some ideas of who I wanted to write it, but from there I left it up the writer to pull it off. And to some degree or another, that's how it's all come together so far. I've been tapping talent that I've seen doing great work in other places. Lucas Marangon, who's been doing those single-page editor cartoons in Tales, pitched a post-Return of the Jedi story that I just loved, and while I wasn't planning on doing something in that era for issue #22, I couldn't pass it up. I'm such a fan of Rob William's work that I had to do something with him. Fortunately, he was able to write "Nomad" for me. That sort of thing.

JOZIC: In the past, Tales has traded on the marquee value of some of the characters in the Star Wars universe - like the Boba Fett issue a while back, for example. Considering the format of the book – and not to slight the amazing talents that have already contributed to the series - I wondered why you don't often see any of the really high profile creators in the industry contributing a story? Like, would we ever see a Neil Gaiman Star Wars story, or something drawn by John Cassaday?

BARLOW: I hope so. For me, though, it's about who can tell the best, most memorable story rather then whose name will sell a few more copies. It's the work itself that holds up and will be remembered.

There are other factors, as well. That most of the big name talent is signed to an exclusive contract to either Marvel or DC doesn't help. That aside, getting everyone's schedules to line up is a real trick sometimes. But, yeah, if I knew someone like Neil Gaiman or John Cassaday or Brian Vaughan wanted to do a Tales story, I'd love to have them.

JOZIC: OK, mandatory question - what’s your favourite Star Wars movie and why?

BARLOW: The Empire Strikes Back — hands down. Don't get me wrong, they're all great, but Empire has such wonderful pacing and a terrific balance between pathos and humor. I find something new in it every time I watch it.

JOZIC: Finally, if someone wanted to pitch a Tales idea to DHC, how would they go about it?

BARLOW: That's a little tricky. We're contractually forbidden from even glancing at unsolicited submissions, which doesn't really stop the flood of envelopes we get. When we do find someone we like, it's usually because they've been previously published somewhere else. It's more a situation of us going out and finding the talent rather the talent finding to us.

Ironically, the way to 'get in,' is by not trying to.