THE NEW DEADWARDIANS

“A PAGE’S PROGRESS”

It’s often the writer and artist of a series who get the lion’s share of the attention. And that makes perfect sense...it’s their baby and they have to cherish it, promote it, defend it and mean it. DAN ABNETT and I.N.J. CULBARD are doing amazing work writing and drawing THE NEW DEADWARDIANS and they deserve the attention.

But every great book is only as good as the team backing up the writer and artist. In this case, the team is slightly smaller than usual (because I.N.J does his own inks and covers) but just as vital:

TRAVIS LANHAM is the letterer who puts the words in your head. He’s a super-chilled out guy who’s been doing great work for me since the first issue of NORTHLANDERS. He really knows his stuff and has an easy-going style that suits our team.

PATRICIA MULVIHILL is the colorist extraordinaire. We’ve been working together for years and she still continues to impress me. She’s a bit of a perfectionist and given me more than a few grey hairs (K20!) over the years running right up to our deadlines, but it’s always worth it. She’s one of the absolute best ever in this business and I’m always thrilled to have her with me. 

MARK DOYLE is our Associate Editor and he’s really the glue that holds us all together. His game is just airtight. And on top of assisting me on THE NEW DEADWARDIANS (and all my other books) he’s a crack editor in his own right, having been the driving force behind AMERICAN VAMPIRE!

Click here for some process pages from our Issue #2. Blue Line “pencils”, lettered inks and gorgeous full color.  Enjoy!

Will Dennis

Most series I’ve developed over the years at Vertigo don’t come with an artist attached. Vertigo has always been a writer-driven imprint so usually the writer and editor will get the idea polished to the point that it’s a “go” and then start trying to find the right person to draw it. But that was not the case with THE NEW DEADWARDIANS...
 
When Dan Abnett sent me his apologetic pitch (see Tuesday’s blog post!), he said there was already an artist attached to it. He said his name was I.N.J. CULBARD and described him as the bastard son of Herge, the artist of TINTIN. I’m ashamed to say I’d never heard of I.N.J....especially since the TINTIN connection would be close to my heart as everyone is always making fun of me for looking like TINTIN (or more like his dad!).
 
Anyway, after I saw his samples I was totally sold. I.N.J. is a fantastic artist and a super cool guy. We’ve had long talks about our mutual interests and about having kids obsessed with STAR WARS. I’m glad Dan brought him on board.
 
Check out THE NEW DEADWARDIANS #1 that’s on sale now and see the below original sketch of our detective – then called DEKAY, now called GEORGE SUTTLE.
 

And no, I.N.J. is not his real first name. His real name is ________.
 
Will Dennis

THE PITCH:
 
As I told you during SAUCER COUNTRY #1 week (not too late to pick that issue up!), all projects start with a pitch. Now some writers want to do the Hollywood two-minute pitch version, some write quick emails, some hand you elaborate documents in fancy folders – there’s no end to the ways that writers will try to get your attention. But there is one thing that all pitches have in common and it’s that the writers always try to make you see that “you’ve never read anything like this before.” I can’t really blame them (and sometimes they’re right!) because if they don’t believe the idea is brilliant then how can they hope to convince me?  It makes perfect sense and it’s always part of the pitch.
 
Well...almost always.
 
See, when Dan Abnett first emailed me his pitch on THE NEW DEADWARDIANS, he started with an apology. Yeah...that’s not a typo. He literally said he was SORRY that he was pitching me another zombie/vampire story. I think his exact words were, “I promised myself I’d never do this!”...What a salesman, right?
 
But oddly enough, it really got my attention. It was just so refreshingly honest and upfront. And the idea was so cool to me that I couldn’t say ‘NO’. He’d taken what felt like a pretty oversold genre and breathed some fresh life into it. Maybe it didn’t hurt that I was fast becoming a huge fan of DOWNTON ABBEY and had always loved a good vampire tale. Whatever the reason, it was all in the pitch and by the time I was done reading it, I was totally sold.
 
So sometimes it pays to come at life from a completely different direction. I’m very glad Dan Abnett had the guts to do it and I hope you’ll check out THE NEW DEADWARDIANS #1 on sale tomorrow!
 
Will Dennis
 
(Below is a heavily redacted version of Dan’s original pitch. No spoilers! Note especially the name change of our hero, GEORGE SUTTLE. These things happen.)

THE NEW DEADWARDIANS (A Seance Fiction)

Written by Dan Abnett

Art by I.N.J. Culbard

This is a story about zombies and vampires, but don’t reject it wholesale on those grounds. It’s essentially a Victorian Gothic detective story set in an alternate history England, circa 1900. It’s Downton Abbey (hugely popular British period drama) meets THE WALKING DEAD. I imagine it having quite a formal, serious style, like From Hell as drawn by Herge. With an emphasis on the Victorian/Gothic/Literary aspects and less on the whole Vampires vs. Zombies thing...which has worked to great success with books such as PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES.

Here’s the premise:

 In a world where everybody is either a vampire of a zombie, someone is actually killing people. The central character, a police detective named INSPECTOR DEKAY tries to track down the murderer. In doing so, he explores the nature of this alternate England for the benefit of the reader, and exposes a few darker-than-dark secrets.

What he reveals is this:

when Prince Albert died in 1861, Victoria was grief stricken soREDACTED!!!!!!

It worked...kinda.

REDACTED!!!!!!

Zombies are EVERYWHERE, eating the living, making more zombies. The zombies are known as THE RESTLESS.

REDACTED!!!!!!

British Society undertook elective vampirism and, by becoming undead, became invisible to the zombie masses. Vampires are known as THE YOUNG.

REDACTED!!!!!!

Other cultural details:

Some men are slave to the passion of vampiric cravings, and secretly visit Bloodhouses or Thirsty shops, where underclass women are procured for their lusts.

Vampirism is an upper-class thing. Many lower class people didn’t get the chance to become Young.

REDACTED!!!!!!

People who aren’t Young or Restless are called BRIGHT.

REDACTED!!!!!!

Vampirism is an antidote to the Restless Curse. If a bitten human gets a shot of vampire bloodREDACTED!!!!!!

Anyway, our hero (the only traditional homicide detective left at Scotland Yard because actual murder happens so rarely), is called in because an eminent gentleman, a Young, has been murdered. And he has not been killed by any of the conventional “three methods” (silver bullets, a stake through the heart, decapitation). One of the undead has been made actually dead.

DeKay’s investigations take him toREDACTED!!!!!!

Last week, we linked to all of the exclusive previews of the new Vertigo series launching in March. Below, take a look at all the previews that ran (sorted in the order of publication and separated by cover--FAIREST March 7, SAUCER COUNTRY March 14, DOMINIQUE LAVEAU: VOODOO CHILD March 21, THE NEW DEADWARDIANS March 28), compiled here in one easy location for your convenience. [gallery link="file"]