An Interview with Andi Ewington about [Forty Five] 45
 |
Andi Ewington is a relative newcomer to the Comic industry. His first comic project is the incredibly ambitious [Forty Five] 45, a 132 page OGN (Original Graphic Novel) set to be released by com.x on December 09, 2009.
[Forty Five] 45 is written as series of interconnected Superhero interviews documented by the fictional character James Stanley. The Story, or rather interviews, are written by Andi Ewington and what makes the project unique is that each of the forty five pages of art that accompany the interviews have been illustrated by different artists, with no predetermined brief given, and just using the accompanying interview text for inspiration.
The story is a series of interconnected interviews documented by the fictional James Stanley. As a soon-to-be father, James wants to find out what lies in store for his family if his unborn child turns out to have a Superpower.
The story of Forty Five follows Journalist, James Stanley, who is faced with the imminent birth of his child. Having decided to forego the test that would determine whether his child is carrying the all-important “Super-S” gene, which differentiates the genetic makeup of a superhero from that of a normal person, James sets out on a quest to interview forty-five super-powered individuals in the hope that their experiences may better prepare him for the birth of a child that is potentially gifted with extraordinary abilities. On his journey, he encounters characters from all walks of life; from single mothers struggling to raise gifted children, to rebellious super-teenagers, all the way through to those reaching the end of their lives. But what starts as a voyage of personal discovery becomes something far more ominous when he crosses paths with an organization known as XoDOS.
To learn more about this curious sounding project I decided to contact Andi Ewington, who was kind enough to take some time out of his schedule and give me the inside scoop on [Forty Five] 45
- How would you describe [Forty Five] 45 to a potential fan, say, a convention-goer who has just wandered up to your table?
AE: I’d say something like: It’s an Aweesome story that follows a journalist on a mission to interview a whole bunch of cool superheroes, each at different stages of their lives. Along the way he becomes the focus of attention from a sinister organisation called XoDOS. Each interview is told in transcript form and accompanied by a fantastic piece of comic art by a different industry comic artist; the likes of Sean Phillips, Jock, Liam Sharp, Charlie Adlard and Dan Brereton to name a few.
- So what is the layout here? The tale is broken up into 45 interviews with narrative bookends?
AE: Pretty much. There’s the obligatory narrative at the beginning and the story does indeed progress with each interview. As for the ending, I don’t want to give too much AEay so I’m going to leave that for the reader to discover.
- How are the interviews presented? Do you have the interview as a page of text opposite the accompanying artwork?
AE: That’s exactly right. You have the stand alone interview on the right and the accompanying artwork on the left. When I initially took the idea to Com.x, we thought about adhering to traditional sequential structure, but we felt that that wasn’t the right way to go with this project and would have made it convoluted, so we opted for a more linear approach that could be more easily read.
- Are there connections between the interviews, giving the overall story a narrative flow?
AE: The interviewer is the one, main constant throughout the book; his voice is the one we hear throughout the entire journey. But you’ll have plenty of sub-plots and cross-overs that intertwine with each other for those that love digging a little deeper.
- Can we expect to see all the common archetypes represented here I.E. the boy scout, the billionaire crime fighter, the antihero… an so on? How many of the characters would you say are wholly new creations
AE: Of course – you’ll have all those that you mentioned. It’s a tough task to come up with original superheroes nowadays, but I’ve tried my best and tried to give each one their own personal twist. I’d like to think that most are unique, but I don’t know every superhero that’s out there in the public domain, so my best guess could be really wide of the mark! Let’s be diplomatic and say that there is at least one that is a wholly new creation!
- What would you say makes this project closer to comic than illustrated prose?
AE: I’ve tried to be respectful to fans of traditional comics, most of whom no doubt love the sequential format. With that in mind, I decided ‘Forty-Five’ needed a nice balance of both splash pages and sequentials, Also, there’s the fact that 99% of the art has been created by comic industry experts, so I’m confident this falls squarely into the ‘Comicbook’ category.
- What inspired you to begin work on this title?
AE: The imminent birth of my son. That alone drove the project and created the underlying theme for the book.
- Did you always envision this project having a separate artist depict each of the 45 superheroes interviewed? If not, how did this decision come about?
AE: It was Eddie Deighton at Com.x that came up with the idea of different artists for each interview. I was still concentrating on the writing when I started talking to them about ‘Forty-Five’. Once I had discussed the art approach with them, I was more than up for the challenge.
- What sort of brief was each artist given to work from?
AE: A short one! I told them they had an almost complete free-reign on the page; the only constraints that were dictated where whether the page should be a sequential or a splash. I gave them the list of interviews available, they picked the one they wanted, and I supplied the relevant transcript. Everything that they created came from their interpretation of the transcript. They were also given a style-guide for the interviewer so there was some semblance of consistency, and any extra cross-over character reference to help maintain continuity.
- What went into deciding upon the different artists to be involved. Did Com.x do a general casting call, so to speak, or where their certain artists who were approached for the project?
AE: Initially, as I worked closely with Com.x, they would suggest artists that they had good relationships with already; guys like Jock, Sean Phillips, John Higgins, Trevor Hairsine, for example. As time went by I found that the artists already onboard would recommend other artists that might be interested and we would open up the dialogue. Others I found through places like DeviantArt.com, or through portfolio reviews at Cons, such as the Bristol Comic-Con or the Birmingham Comic-Con (both in the UK).
- Where their any artists where, when you were creating the characters, you had their specific style in mind?
AE: No, not at all. All the interviews were already drafted and pretty much locked down before I started looking at the art side of things. Also, you have to remember, I let the artist pick which interview they would tackle, so there was no way I could control which one they would choose!
- What do you think that having each character drawn by a different artist brings to this project?
AE: Well, I think it helped portray the variety of superhero characters and show the diversity of each one by having so many creators involved. I also think it brings an insight into what each artist was thinking at the time and what they garnered from the interview. It’s exciting to see how each artist interpreted their particular page; something that you don’t often get to experience.
- As a first comic this is rather an ambitious project, what would you say your major challenges were?
AE: I think the real challenge was keeping the project moving forward. I was the real driving force in keeping the momentum going, chasing art and making sure everything was on track. Logistically, it was a mammoth task. Bringing one artist in on time can be difficult, but I had forty-five of them to direct.
- How did you end up working with com.x?
AE: Some might say it was a minor case of nepotism, but I can assure you it was anything but. In my day job I work for a design company called An.x, and by sheer coincidence, my boss Eddie Deighton owns Com.x. Take my word for it that I had to work double-hard to prove I was serious about being published!
- I have heard mention of a sequel to 45. What would the setting for that be. Will it be villains instead of heroes this time?
AE: Well, it’s certainly too early to tell, seeing as my first project hasn’t hit the shelves yet, but I have been playing with the idea of 45+1, which would be set one year later than the current book. But, now you’ve mentioned it, do you mind if I borrow your suggestion for a villain version? 
EK: Hell yes! Feel free!
- Do you have any other comic work or novel work planned for after [Forty Five] 45 and the potential sequel?
AE: Definitely. In fact, something happened only a a few weeks ago that was totally out of the blue and resulted in a second book being talked about. I can’t say too much at the moment, but I’m already writing it, so watch this space!
EK: Well thanks for joining us today Andi! I for one cannot wait to check out the book out, so if the nice people a com.x decide to send out review copies I’ll be sure to do an advance review *AHEM*
I have included the the ordering information below, along with a gallery of images for readers to feast their eyes on:
Release date: December 09, 2009.
Format: FC, 132pg.
Price: £11.99, $17.99 (US), ~$19.50 (CAN)
ISBN: 978-1-61584-713-6
Preview
Featuring the art of:
Liam Sharp • John Higgins • Sean Phillips • Charlie Adlard • Jock • Lee Garbett • Admira Wijaya • Carlo Pagulayan • Rodin Esquejo • Matt Timson • Neil Edwards • Trevor Hairsine • Andie Tong • Rufus Dayglo • Dom Reardon • Sally Hurst • Andrew Wildman • Stephen Thompson • Jeff Anderson • Frazer Irving • Ben Oliver • Eduardo Francisco • Dan Brereton • Barry Spiers • Robert Atkins • Fiona Staples • Bob Wiacek • Boo Cook • Gary Erksine • Ross Dearsley • Lee Carter • Sean O’Connor • Kevin Kobasic • Dave Ryan • Randy Green • Tim Vigil • Simon Coleby • Calum Alexander Watt • Steve Sampson • Kit Wallis • Anthony Castrillo • Seb Antoniou • Dan Boultwood • Dan Fraga • Kenneth Rocafort
And the colouring of:
Kat Nicholson • Jason Cardy • Teodoro Gonzalez • Alex Owens • Matthew Wilson • Frank D’Armata • Bob Pedroza • Tom Smith
About Com.x
Com.x is an independent comic company that has been creating unique, innovative and highly respected intellectual properties for the last nine years. After launching our flagship sampler, ‘Issue#Zero’ in April 2000, we released our first titles into the comics marketplace in February 2001. The first wave of titles were: ‘Bazooka Jules’, ‘Razorjack’ and ‘Puncture’, followed by ‘Cla$$war’, ‘Sky Between Branches’, ‘Codename: Babetool’, ‘N-jin’, and the collected edition of ‘The Last American’.
Related posts:
- Graphic Novel Review: Andi Ewington’s [Forty Five] 45 [Forty Five] 45 is a 132-page Original Graphic Novel (OGN)...
- An Eighteen Page Sneak Peek Preview of [Forty Five] 45 [Forty Five] 45 is a brand new Original Graphic Novel...
- Com.x Announces 2009-2010 Projects at Long Beach Comic Convention 2009 Com.x just revealed to Hypergeek details of all their upcoming...
- Interview: Evan Dorkin on Beasts of Burden Beasts of Burden is a four-issue Dark Horse Comics miniseries...
- Stumptown Interrogations: An Interview with Artist Matthew Southworth Stumptown is a brand new ongoing crime series from Oni...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
