Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment

As "Also Known As" Is Launched In Europe, We Talk To Tony Lee

By Olly MacNamee

The morning after the night before and I was able to catch up with New York Best-selling writer, Tony Lee, after his European launch of his new graphic novel, Also Known As who was good enough to sit down before his masterclass on storytelling at the Comics Uncovered event at the recent International Comic Expo right here in Birmingham and talk about the launch and plans for Hope Falls too.

Olly MacNamee: I noticed that the graphic novel is labelled as a sci-fi story, and yet many might think, on the surface, that this is more a supernatural tale.

Tony Lee: To be honest, a lot of science fiction and supernatural stories use the same ideas and the same tropes, but in this story, it's all about the technology. Imagine walking up to someone in 1662, for instance, with a Zippo lighter. They will think you're a magician. If you walk up to a caveman with a lighter, they'll think you're a god. If you were to have technology that could make a person fly, that looks like wings, and stood in front of somebody, say, in Bethlehem 2000 year ago, they may think you're an angel. It's all a case of perception. even today, people will go into the middle of parts of Africa, and find tribes that have barley had contact with  other cultures and see a smartphone as something out of this world. With technology, you can create something seemingly supernatural. Because we knew there was this otherworldly element, this inter-dimensional battle in our story; well, that's technologically driven.

OM: The graphic novel, as part of a larger transmedia planned project, had a quick turnaround, right?

TL: The graphic novel was a quicker thing to do because we'd already done the screenplay. I came onboard to re-write the screenplay. We already had the idea. We knew there was the (inter-dimensional) war, the ideas, the characters. A few changed along the way, but I read the screenplay – which took about a year to get correct, for us – and once we'd done the screenplay the graphic novel adaption was quite quick because I'd already done the groundwork. It was simply about taking the screenplay we had written and changing it for a different medium. The hardest part was Chris Jones and Charlie Kirchoff who had to draw it super-fast. They're both amazing and started last September but they didn't really get properly started until October and needed it ready for May if we were to launch at San Diego. That's 110 pages to pencil, ink and colour, in just 8 months. We literally went start to the wire, with Chris drawing, Charlie colouring and Aditya Bidikar in India, lettering. We were actually only a day over schedule by the end. The reception was brilliant at San Diego. Obviously, this is a graphic novel we can give to studios, with the graphic novel actually coming out next month. Anything I do that's rubbish, Chris Jones makes look incredible! I was very lucky to get guys at that level to raise my game up too.

OM: What are the challenges of adapting a screenplay into a comic book script then?

TL: Screenplay into comics is a lot harder, while comics into screenplays is a lot easier because you don't have any restrictions. If you take a screenplay and turn into a comic script, you are immediately hit by 'real estate'; you have a limited number of pages, in this case 110. If you're doing a film, you can go over and it can be 90 minutes, 100 minutes; it's all to do with the editor. We knew we had to take Also Known As and make it 110 pages no matter what and, you have some big, expansive moments as well as right-hand page-turners that had to be there. I had to really plan it out. But, because I'd lived with this story for a year or so, I could then visualise it a lot better. It would have taken someone else longer. But, when Boxflyfirst came to me they were talking about it as a trans-media property so I was always looking at it when I was scripting it at how it would look in other mediums. It is a very condensed book, it's not a decompressed book at all. Christopher Jones would often beg me to not put in so much detail! he would have liked the odd, simple panel every now and again.

OM: What next for the graphic novel? One big multi-media launch, or a slow-drip effect?

TL: It will be a slow drip effect, with different people working on different aspects of it, we could never have them all coordinated to get their stuff out all at once. In an ideal world, the book will do well, the film will do well, the games will do well, and they'll want to do more. We've built a world. The game, for example, is based on the world, not the book; The Rogues versus The Reapers, that's the game. Remember, Iw as brought on board to write it, it's not my project. I mean, it was somebody else's idea I took on board, I'm not involved in the game, or the other things they are doing. In an ideal world, again, I'd get to write a sequel.

OM: So, how did your relationship with Boxfly come about?

TL: Well, I'm working on about three or four properties for them. They were a new company when they first came to me. They'd got funding, they'd got backing, and when I first spoke to them they had a slate needing to be filled and asked me what did I have? I've done a wrestling film, a comedy and the guys at Boxfly loved it. Stoker's Monster is a historical thriller inspired by actual events. they met Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker's great-grand nephew, who was writing it with me and they liked that idea too, so they took that on. When they first came to me I was doing one of my Raindance talks (where Tony lectures to screenwriters on how to write for comics), but before they came along they bought a couple of my books, and Hope Falls was one of them and now I've know them for a couple of years now.

OM: So, where are you with Hope Falls now?

TL: Well, we had optioned Hope Falls back in 2011. We had to get three different meetings to get popped to sign off on the graphic novel, and I didn't want it to simply be a cheap film when it did finally come out. A dozen people have wanted to do Hope Falls but we've gone with Boxfly. We loved the pitch. And, I can exclusively reveal to you know that it will be pushed through and packaged within a year. Of course, since 2011 attitudes to certain characters have changed too. Hope Falls is a book about a woman who gets revenge. Back in 2011, I was told then that, while it's as great, the focus couldn't just be on the female character. Now, we can have the focus on her thanks to the rise of the female protagonist. There's been an upswell, but also a bit of a backlash sadly; Ghostbusters, Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But, as for Hope Falls, we've already got a couple of named people we're talking to about it. we already knew of a couple of directors who were keen before now too.

I also have a couple of projects with Noel Clarke's company, Unstoppable Entertainment, but they haven't been announced yet. But, keep watching this space because when it is announced, I think it'll surprise a lot of people.

Meanwhile, I've got a historical drama for ITV, a show for Netflix, a futuristic Robin Hood from the guys behind 300 and Immortals, which I was brought on because of my work on Robin Hood. That, and Flight 342; X-Files set on a plane. That's just a few I can talk about too.

OM: Well, you're cup certainly seems to be over brimming and when there are announcements, you know where to find us, Tony. Thanks once again.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!