Kevin J. Anderson: Q&A

Posted: Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Posted By: Tim O'Shea

Last month saw the release of The Saga of Seven Suns: Veiled Alliances, novelist Kevin J. Anderson’s graphic novel with art by Robert Teranishi (colored by Wendy Fouts-Broome) and published by Wildstorm. This 96-page hardcover graphic novel is a prequel to Anderson’s popular science fiction series, The Saga of Seven Suns. An inventory of Anderson’s literary accomplishments could very well dwarf this interview, so suffice it to say: “Since 1993, 28 of Kevin J. Anderson's novels have appeared on national bestseller lists; he has over 11 million books in print worldwide.” To find out more about his work, please read his diverse and interesting bio. According to Wildstorm, the graphic novel is about the following: “As the human race expands into the stars, they find themselves caught up in the politics and long-standing feuds of several powerful alien races. It's a tale of galactic empire building, filled with political and familial intrigue, love and war, and a host of alien lifeforms, all competing to be the supreme force in the universe!” My thanks to Anderson for his time and thoughts for the interview, and to Wildstorm/DC’s Adam Philips for facilitating the interview. SBC is particularly appreciative of Anderson’s willingness to discuss his upcoming collaboration with Barry Kitson for DC on Justice Society: Lord Dynamo.

Tim O’Shea: This book is a prequel to your novel series The Saga of Seven Suns. How did the graphic novel come about and could you envision doing graphic novel adaptations of The Saga of Seven Seas as well? When writing the novels in the first place, did you ever envision you'd end up doing a graphic novel connected to these characters?<<

Kevin J. Anderson: Directly or indirectly, comics were in the cards for this series from its very inception. While I was planning the whole universe and outlining the first three novels (so I could sell the proposal to a publisher) I got in touch with one of my favorite comic artists, my friend Igor Kordey. Igor and I had worked extremely well together on the painted Star Trek graphic novel for Wildstorm, The Gorn Crisis. Igor is full of ideas and enthusiasm, and we really clicked creatively.

Let me back up one more step -- when I was working with Lucasfilm on all my Star Wars projects, I spent a lot of time with the artist Ralph McQuarrie (particularly for our coffee table book, The Illustrated Star Wars Universe). Ralph told me the story that originally George Lucas was having trouble convincing movie studios how ambitious his vision for Star Wars was. They just didn't "get it." So he gave Ralph a draft of the script and had him produce a series of now-classic paintings showing highlights of the epic. George showed the Fox executives the paintings and said "This is the film I want to make" and they jumped onboard immediately.

I had a similar idea for Igor. I gave him my extensive proposal and outline and asked him to go wild. He designed my ships, my cities, my aliens, and even completed three paintings showing the scope of this series. I included all this with my proposal, and the publishers were extremely enthusiastic; I quickly had a significant three-book deal for the United States and the United Kingdom.

Because I have an extensive background in comics, too, this series seemed a natural for that format. I'd had a wonderful time working on the Tales of the Jedi comics for Dark Horse, and vast space operas are perfect for comic interpretations. So I sent the sample sketches and drawings to my editor at Wildstorm, Jeff Mariotte, and asked if they'd be interested in doing a graphic novel set in that universe. They were.

At first I considered doing straight adaptations of the existing story, but came to the conclusion that there wouldn't be much point in that. Novels and comics are really different mediums (media?) and stories that work well in books don't always translate well to comics, and vice versa. I decided instead to tell an original story, a prequel.

Unfortunately, Igor was tied up with numerous exclusive projects, and so we had to go elsewhere for our pages. Rob Teranishi picked up the gauntlet.

TO: What aspect of the art team of Robert Teranishi and Wendy Fouts-Broome did you appreciate the most?

KJA: I've worked on a lot of comics and I usually have a very tight relationship with my artist. I think comics is a truly collaborative field, and I don't like it when an artist does nothing more than just draw panels based on a script. I want them to have input, to share their ideas, to feel like they're in at the foundation of this project. Rob was very interested in sharing ideas, taking Igor's original design sketches, and going with it. I saw each pencilled page as it came in, and very rarely had any need to change things.

Wendy is the first colorist I've ever directly interacted with. She was really into this project because I think it stretched her skills to the limit and gave her a canvas where she could show her stuff. She would e-mail me jpeg files of each page as she finished. They blew me away -- I can't gush enough.

TO: I think many non-science fiction readers automatically dismiss it as one would a poorly made B-movie. What many of them don't appreciate is the element of political commentary and sometimes downright satire that makes up some of the stories told, such as by writers like yourself. Do you think the number of science fiction readers would increase (granted their numbers are already pretty substantial) if folks realized the political subtextual layers of the works?

KJA: For a genre that has struggled for respectability since its creation at the turn of the last century, science fiction sure has a lot of snobs who frown upon "other lowly forms" of SF. I think that's ridiculous. I've had some of my peers turn up their noses at the fact that I write novels set in an existing universe (Star Wars, X-Files, etc.), or that I do movie novelizations. But I love writing them, so why should I be expected to feel guilty? I am, and have always been, at heart a true Fan.

In recent years, comics and graphic novels have achieved a much higher level of respectability. I go to San Diego Comic Con every year and see the energy and enthusiasm readers have for comics (trust me, the World Science Fiction Convention is a dim candle by comparison).

TO: Do you think DC/Wildstorm would do well to have established novelists like yourself write comics for them, thereby bringing in new readership (your novel consumers) who might not otherwise buy a comic or graphic novel?<<

KJA: Wildstorm just released a big graphic novel by David Brin (and I know he's been very proud and excited for more than a year because of it). The comics field has a host of best-selling and critically acclaimed writers producing comics: Brad Meltzer, Kevin Smith, Peter David, Neil Gaiman, David Brin, myself...and probably a bunch of others I can't think of.

With the Seven Suns graphic novel we did something interesting. Since the novels are published by Warner Books and the graphic novel is published by DC/Wildstorm -- both of which are owned by the same parent company of Time-Warner -- we were able to achieve cooperative cross-promotion, that's usually unheard-of in the industry. In the back of the novel Hidden Empire you'll find an ad for the graphic novel, and in the back of the graphic novel you'll find a full-color ad for the hardcover books in the series. Recently, two magazines ran a full-page ad featuring both the novels and the comic, together. Ideally, the plan is to gently force the fans who love the novels to check out the graphic novel prequel even if they would never think to seek out a comic; and, to get comic readers who like the graphic novel to check out the books. Wildstorm even hired the same cover artist, Stephen Youll, and used a very similar cover design so they all look like a matched set.

TO: What did you set out to creatively achieve with Veiled Alliances, and do you feel you succeeded?

KJA: Whoa, just look at the finished product. It's amazing. Veiled Alliances captures the feel of the big universe I had in my head. It has a complex multi-plot storyline with political nuances and big splashy artwork. Readers who flip through it will get an instant impression of what The Saga of Seven Suns is all about. It also fills in important parts of the backstory and, I hope, tells a good yarn that can stand alone even for those who haven't read the novels in the series.

TO: What's the status of Justice Society: Lord Dynamo, your collaboration with artist Barry Kitson?

KJA: This is a really cool retro Justice Society six-issue miniseries coming out this year. The main character is famous pulp science fiction writer Jack Williamson (used with the real Williamson's permission) working for Amazing Stories magazine (used with permission from the owner of the real Amazing Stories magazine), teaming up with aspiring writer Johnny Thunder to tell the 'strange but true' adventures of the JSA superheroes. This is one of the most excellent projects I've ever worked on. The first issue should be out in the next six months. I just received the first 12 pages of pencils from Barry and he has captured everything. (I know it sounds like I gush about everything -- not usually, but I have been exceedingly fortunate with the talented artists who agree to tackle my projects.)

For those who want a more humorous story, my wife Rebecca Moesta and I also have a four-issue original miniseries from IDW, Grumpy Old Monsters, about the retired movie monsters trying to break out of the Rest In Peace nursing home. The first two issues of that are now out. A totally different style, but still it hits the nail on the head. Art and colors by Spanish team Paco Cavera and Guillermo Mendoza.

More details on these and all my various projects on www.wordfire.com.

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