We are delighted to be joined by creator, writer and editor Joseph P. Illidge. We had the chance to sit and chat with Joseph all about comics.
Hi Joseph, it’s so great to have you here with us.
Joseph Illidge: Thanks, Shabbir! Good to be here. Looking forward to chatting with you about all things comics, from my personal history within the industry, to editorial projects with DC and beyond, my current writing projects with Image, and more, plus the launch of ILLUMINOUS!
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
JI: Sure! My name is Joseph Phillip Illidge. I’m a writer, editor, and publishing professional of 32 years now. I started at Milestone Media, creators of the character “Static” from the Static Shock and Young Justice cartoons from Warner Bros., a groundbreaking veteran editor of the Batman line of books from DC Comics including Batman: No Man’s Land, Batman: The Hill, Batgirl and Birds of Prey, and I was also the Editor-in-chief of the legendary Heavy Metal Magazine.
Now I’m writing for Image Comics and Todd McFarlane Productions on the new Spawn Universe series Bloodletter, my new DC Comics/Milestone book The Shadow Cabinet is in comic book shops and bookstores, and I’ve launched my new creative services company, ILLUMINOUS!
What can you tell us about Illuminous?
JI: ILLUMINOUS is a story and strategy studio for hire by clients, companies, and creators to realize their original ideas in the form of comic books and graphic novels. Within those services is guidance on how to develop IP with staying power. If you want to create the next The Walking Dead, Iyanu: Child of Wonder, Invincible, or The Boys.
With my experience working on Batman, arguably one of the most popular intellectual properties worldwide, I bring that authentic knowledge of idea development and brand creation to my clients, whether they’re an ambitious comic book creator, an entrepreneur, or a company looking to introduce their new, big idea to the world as a comic book series or graphic novel.
There is no better time for people to take the money they invest in popular IP and reroute that money into investing it for the development of their original IP, because the comic book industry is amazingly robust in its production of comic books, and the publishers are tirelessly working to meet that demand.
I think it’s one of the reasons Todd McFarlane, an entrepreneur who changed comics forever through his work on Marvel’s Spider-Man and co-founding Image Comics with his character “Spawn”, has now chosen after decades of developing Spawn into cartoons, film, and an incomparable toy line, to expand the brand into The Spawn Universe, for which I’m writing a new series called Bloodletter.
Can you tell us about the origins of Bloodletter?
JI: Bloodletter is a horror action spy series that takes place right in the center of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn Universe, starring a new character named Tasha Thornwall, who’s an ex-CIA operative and a mystic with a specific revenge mission to kill Spawn.
The series is co-written by me and Tim Seeley, and when we pitched the idea to Thomas Healy, the E-I-C of Todd McFarlane Productions, he took it to Todd, and that led to a one-hour Zoom call with Todd that sealed the deal!
Who is Tasha Thornwall?
JI: Tasha Thornwall is a woman who suffered a trauma 10 years ago and has been living in the shadows, learning mysticism to survive in a world with renegade angels, demons, and every kind of entity in between.
Spawn, in his former life as Al Simmons, destroyed Tasha’s life during a covert ops mission, so Tasha wants to destroy him permanently to find some peace.
Their battle is coming, and it’s going to get messy.
What is it like working with Todd McFarlane, Tim Seeley, and Christian Rosado?
JI: Todd is really the Spawn Sensei, and it’s been educational learning from him in terms of his universe of characters, their voices, their moods.
Tim Seeley and I are friends, and we gel really well in the writing and the development of Tasha’s character and story.
We’re using the story of Tasha Thornwall’s life to reveal the secret history of the Spawn Universe through flashbacks, and having these stories illustrated by Christian Rosado is a dream come true. Christian is an amazing storyteller with great visual instincts, and his art has a visceral quality that is perfect for the dangerous world of Bloodletter.
How would you describe Bloodletter?
JI: John Wick meets John Constantine, Hellblazer, with a side order of Matt Reeves’ Batman Cinematic Universe.
Batman: The Hill just celebrated its 25th anniversary. Can you tell us what made Batman: The Hill so special?
JI: So many things make Batman: The Hill special!
At the top of the list is it’s one of my pride and joy books I edited during my time in Batman Editorial because Christopher Priest’s story about Batman visiting a section of Gotham City he neglected called “The Hill” and finding out his legend had no power there, it was a brilliant way to look at Batman through a prism of civic responsibility and socio-economics, and years before Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer did the same in their film Batman Begins.
Additionally, 25 years after its publication, Batman: The Hill has stood the test of time as a highly-regarded Batman story that readers continue to discover and recognize as a different animal than the usual Batman-fights-costumed-villain story.
It was a fight behind the scenes to get Batman: The Hill published, and every day I’m glad I pushed hard and worked hard to make sure it saw the light of day.
Finally, I got to work with writer Christopher Priest, a co-founder of Milestone Media, the comic book publisher where I started my career in comics in 1993, the same year Wu-Tang Clan debuted in the music scene!
What can you tell about Milestone Universe: The Shadow Cabinet?
JI: Milestone Universe: The Shadow Cabinet is my new book in comic book shops and bookstores worldwide, based on the 4-issue series I wrote for DC Comics.
It takes place in the Milestone Universe of superheroes in the aftermath of an invasion by Superman’s AI archenemy, Brainiac. The various superheroes have stopped fighting and become scattered, leaving a 17-year-old girl named Raquel Ervin as Rocket, the only superhero in the world.
Her actions lead to an intervention by The Shadow Cabinet, a secret society of superheroes who have been covertly saving the world from destruction for the past 50 years. They come out of the shadows to prevent the next great disaster, and both Rocket and the former teen superhero called Static are at the center of it.
It’s a story about the inheritance of power, and what different people do with it.
Is power something you own or something you take? Is it a burden or a noble privilege?
Do you wait for other people to save the world…or do you get up on your feet and stand for something?
Milestone Universe: The Shadow Cabinet is about all of that, wrapped in a superhero story with spies, billionaires, high-tech adventure, and conspiracies.
Can you tell us what projects you are currently working on?
JI: I’m writing two graphic novels for Harper Collins, one of which is based on the historical abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
The three-part comic book series, Noir Is The New Black Season Two, published by FairSquare Graphics, features an original story by me and artist Chriscross, who just finished a series run on Marvel Comics’ Weapon X-Men series. Our story is called The Winterfields, about a father and son bodyguard duo protecting people for money in 1920s Harlem, New York, during the Harlem Renaissance.
I’m one of the writers of the just-announced Kickstarter comic book based on fictional comic book characters from the universe of The Comic Shop, the new hit YouTube live action series about a group of people who work in a comic book store, so it’s meta on all kinds of levels!
The campaign launches September 22nd on Kickstarter!
Finally, I’m editing the new comic book series based on the ’90s hit animated series SWAT KATS! Working directly with the show’s creators, Christian and Yvon Temblay, has been an amazing experience so far!
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
JI: Reading comics is good for you, and thank you all for being part of the comics community!
P.S. Buy Bloodletter and join the revenge mission!
We would like to say a big thank you to Joseph for chatting with us and wish him the best of luck with all of his projects.
