Quote:
by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean
In the world of Steve Niles’ 30 Days of Night, everyday is Halloween.
And the horror specialist has invited Dan Wickline to spread the disease in December in the five-part 30 Days of Night: Spreading the Disease by Wickline, artist Alex Sanchez, and colorist Jay Fotos, with covers by Sanchez and Nat Jones. Wickline has previously co-written 30 Days of Night: Dead Space with Niles (and artist Milx) but he’s going at it solo, writing-wise, with Spreading the Disease.
Newsarama: 30 Days of Night: Spreading the Disease picks up after the events in Dead Space, right? For the uninitiated, what's happened in the previous 3-issue limited series?
Dan Wickline: Dead Space tells the story of the Space Shuttle Icarus that launched on a routine mission only to lose contact with mission control shortly after obtaining orbit. Another shuttle, the Armstrong, is sent up to find out what happened. They discover the body of one of the crew and take it to the orbiting space station for an autopsy, but it turns out that the corpse is actually a vampire and horror ensues.
NRAMA: Who's who in your 30 Days stories?
DW: The new series picks up with Agent Michael Henson from the Dead Space series being sent off to exile in Alabama after trying to get people to take the vampire threat seriously. He is contacted by a mysterious caller that suggests the questions of ‘why someone would want to put a vampire in space’ still needed to be answered. So Henson takes the time he has before checking in at his new office to try and follow the fangs. This leads him into a much bigger and far more dangerous situation.
The rest of the characters in this tale are unique to the series… well, except for the girl from the bar but that would be telling too much.
NRAMA: What can readers look forward to in the December-debuting STD?
DW: Dead Space was pure blood and guts horror from start to finish. With Spreading the Disease, there is a mystery that builds through each issue and climaxes with what could be one of the most gruesome scenes ever done in comics. In the original 30 Days of Night we got to see that the vampires were organized, communicated with each other and had a social and structural hierarchy. I wanted to get back into that and to show that there is something more going on than just late night snacks.
Vampires are amazing literary creatures in that they are common humans changed into monsters. But how much of the original person remains? Would a devote member of PETA suddenly start munching on animals or would that part of their nature remain after the transformation? Would a serial killer suddenly only kill for food now that he has the ability to increase his body count a hundred fold?
These are the types of things I get into with Spreading the Disease, but there is still a lot of the “Oh My God!” moments 30 Days fans have come to expect.
I also think people are going to be blown away by the look of this series. Alex Sanchez was a suggestion by Dan Taylor who worked with him on Doomed and I couldn’t be happier with the pages I’ve seen. Alex can draw creepy and detailed which helps a lot in a story like this. This series is really going to put him on the map. And Jay Fotos is one of the most talented colorists I’ve ever met. He adds so much to a story by his choices of colors, lighting and textures; I feel really lucky to have him on this project.
NRAMA: Going back a little, how did you get the opportunity to with, and now continue working on, Steve Niles and his 30 Days property?'
DW: Just prior to the release of 30 Days of Night #1, Steve was looking for a way to help sales by summoning a demon… and he ended up stuck with me. That should teach you kids never step on the salt circle when doing a containment spell.
Steve and I have been friends for a few years now and he originally asked me to do a story for Bloodsucker Tales but that series didn’t continue after the first eight issues. But we started chatting about the autopsy scene in BT and discussing what organs a vampire would and wouldn’t need when I said something about them not needing lungs and how that would make the great astronauts. We joked for a bit then suddenly realized we had a cool concept going. With in seconds, and I’m not joking about that, he had an artist attached to do the book. I think Steve has a half-dozen artists on emergency standby at all times in case he comes up with a new idea. It’s kind of scary really.
The rest of this question carries into the next, so…
NRAMA: Is Steve involved at all in any way with STD?
DW: I originally pitched the idea for STD to Steve just as Dead Space was coming out and he liked it, we just had to see where it would fit into the schedule. About a month later Steve told me how incredibly swamped he was and suggested I do the series on my own. So I wrote up the idea, ran it by him and IDW and got green lights all around. So Steve saw all the scripts as they were finished but pretty much gave me free reign.
NRAMA: Are you planning a trilogy or something, with Dead Space being the first, followed by STD, then?
DW: After STD I’m going to be focusing on some other properties while I think Steve has something else up his sleeve for 30 Days of Night. Now, if Agent Henson survives the series, then I would love to take him through some more adventures… maybe werewolves or mummies. If you like the character, write IDW and ask for a spin-off series.
NRAMA: You're also doing Strange Cases for Image Comics. What's it about?
DW: I can’t say too much about the series at the moment, but it’s a new concept from Steve that he asked if I wanted to play with and after hearing it I couldn’t say no. We have the incredibly talented Mark Dos Santos working up the character sketches right now and should begin on pages soon. When it will hit the schedule is still being worked out right now.
NRAMA: What else have you got in the works?
DW: I’ve actually got quite a bit going on at the moment, but so little of it is ready to announce. What I can talk about is the next thing out in March; an original comedy graphic novel called Unusual Suspects and all proceeds will go to The Hero Initiative.
The project combines my previous book The Conversation (a story told in cut & paste art) with a collection of short concept pieces. I was originally calling it The Book of Bad Ideas because it’s basically a comic writer telling his friend about all the horrible comic concepts he created that year. So besides the cut & paste art of David Hedgecock, there is new material from Ben Templesmith, Nat Jones, Tone Rodriguez, Marat Mychaels, Dietrich Smith, Chris Moreno, Josh Medors, and many, many more. Seventeen artists in all contributed to this book. Also, there is an awesome cover by Mike Mayhew.
In the world of Steve Niles’ 30 Days of Night, everyday is Halloween.
And the horror specialist has invited Dan Wickline to spread the disease in December in the five-part 30 Days of Night: Spreading the Disease by Wickline, artist Alex Sanchez, and colorist Jay Fotos, with covers by Sanchez and Nat Jones. Wickline has previously co-written 30 Days of Night: Dead Space with Niles (and artist Milx) but he’s going at it solo, writing-wise, with Spreading the Disease.
Newsarama: 30 Days of Night: Spreading the Disease picks up after the events in Dead Space, right? For the uninitiated, what's happened in the previous 3-issue limited series?
Dan Wickline: Dead Space tells the story of the Space Shuttle Icarus that launched on a routine mission only to lose contact with mission control shortly after obtaining orbit. Another shuttle, the Armstrong, is sent up to find out what happened. They discover the body of one of the crew and take it to the orbiting space station for an autopsy, but it turns out that the corpse is actually a vampire and horror ensues.
NRAMA: Who's who in your 30 Days stories?
DW: The new series picks up with Agent Michael Henson from the Dead Space series being sent off to exile in Alabama after trying to get people to take the vampire threat seriously. He is contacted by a mysterious caller that suggests the questions of ‘why someone would want to put a vampire in space’ still needed to be answered. So Henson takes the time he has before checking in at his new office to try and follow the fangs. This leads him into a much bigger and far more dangerous situation.
The rest of the characters in this tale are unique to the series… well, except for the girl from the bar but that would be telling too much.
NRAMA: What can readers look forward to in the December-debuting STD?
DW: Dead Space was pure blood and guts horror from start to finish. With Spreading the Disease, there is a mystery that builds through each issue and climaxes with what could be one of the most gruesome scenes ever done in comics. In the original 30 Days of Night we got to see that the vampires were organized, communicated with each other and had a social and structural hierarchy. I wanted to get back into that and to show that there is something more going on than just late night snacks.
Vampires are amazing literary creatures in that they are common humans changed into monsters. But how much of the original person remains? Would a devote member of PETA suddenly start munching on animals or would that part of their nature remain after the transformation? Would a serial killer suddenly only kill for food now that he has the ability to increase his body count a hundred fold?
These are the types of things I get into with Spreading the Disease, but there is still a lot of the “Oh My God!” moments 30 Days fans have come to expect.
I also think people are going to be blown away by the look of this series. Alex Sanchez was a suggestion by Dan Taylor who worked with him on Doomed and I couldn’t be happier with the pages I’ve seen. Alex can draw creepy and detailed which helps a lot in a story like this. This series is really going to put him on the map. And Jay Fotos is one of the most talented colorists I’ve ever met. He adds so much to a story by his choices of colors, lighting and textures; I feel really lucky to have him on this project.
NRAMA: Going back a little, how did you get the opportunity to with, and now continue working on, Steve Niles and his 30 Days property?'
DW: Just prior to the release of 30 Days of Night #1, Steve was looking for a way to help sales by summoning a demon… and he ended up stuck with me. That should teach you kids never step on the salt circle when doing a containment spell.
Steve and I have been friends for a few years now and he originally asked me to do a story for Bloodsucker Tales but that series didn’t continue after the first eight issues. But we started chatting about the autopsy scene in BT and discussing what organs a vampire would and wouldn’t need when I said something about them not needing lungs and how that would make the great astronauts. We joked for a bit then suddenly realized we had a cool concept going. With in seconds, and I’m not joking about that, he had an artist attached to do the book. I think Steve has a half-dozen artists on emergency standby at all times in case he comes up with a new idea. It’s kind of scary really.
The rest of this question carries into the next, so…
NRAMA: Is Steve involved at all in any way with STD?
DW: I originally pitched the idea for STD to Steve just as Dead Space was coming out and he liked it, we just had to see where it would fit into the schedule. About a month later Steve told me how incredibly swamped he was and suggested I do the series on my own. So I wrote up the idea, ran it by him and IDW and got green lights all around. So Steve saw all the scripts as they were finished but pretty much gave me free reign.
NRAMA: Are you planning a trilogy or something, with Dead Space being the first, followed by STD, then?
DW: After STD I’m going to be focusing on some other properties while I think Steve has something else up his sleeve for 30 Days of Night. Now, if Agent Henson survives the series, then I would love to take him through some more adventures… maybe werewolves or mummies. If you like the character, write IDW and ask for a spin-off series.
NRAMA: You're also doing Strange Cases for Image Comics. What's it about?
DW: I can’t say too much about the series at the moment, but it’s a new concept from Steve that he asked if I wanted to play with and after hearing it I couldn’t say no. We have the incredibly talented Mark Dos Santos working up the character sketches right now and should begin on pages soon. When it will hit the schedule is still being worked out right now.
NRAMA: What else have you got in the works?
DW: I’ve actually got quite a bit going on at the moment, but so little of it is ready to announce. What I can talk about is the next thing out in March; an original comedy graphic novel called Unusual Suspects and all proceeds will go to The Hero Initiative.
The project combines my previous book The Conversation (a story told in cut & paste art) with a collection of short concept pieces. I was originally calling it The Book of Bad Ideas because it’s basically a comic writer telling his friend about all the horrible comic concepts he created that year. So besides the cut & paste art of David Hedgecock, there is new material from Ben Templesmith, Nat Jones, Tone Rodriguez, Marat Mychaels, Dietrich Smith, Chris Moreno, Josh Medors, and many, many more. Seventeen artists in all contributed to this book. Also, there is an awesome cover by Mike Mayhew.
