We got to sit and chat with award-winning writer Garth Ennis about his new comic series, Babs from AHOY Comics. Babs #1 will be in comic stores on August 14th. The artist on Babs is Jacen Burrows. Jacen has worked on a number of comics, including Crossed and The Ribbon Queen. Garth has written many comics, including Hitman, The Punisher, Sara, Marjorie Finnegan, Temporal Criminal, The Boys and Preacher.
Hi, Garth; it’s so great to have you here with us again.
Can you tell us about the origins of Babs?
I’d enjoyed writing Hawk the Slayer for Rebellion and found myself thinking about the sword & sorcery genre. It wasn’t one I was naturally drawn to before, but I began to see some possibilities for dark humour.
How would you describe Babs?
Babs is the story of Babs, a barbarian woman constantly down on her luck, whose dreams of getting rich and living a life of unimaginable luxury are just that… dreams. High adventure beckons as she and her shi**y little magic sword, Barry, run into trouble with the Ivory Knights of Unblemished Virtue. Also a particularly di**ish bunch of orcs.
What has it been like working with AHOY Comics?
Great, Tom and Stuart are old pals from the Vertigo days. We were bound to do something sooner or later.
What made Jacen the right artist for Babs?
We’ve been working together for years and trust each other implicitly; it’s the creative equivalent of finishing each other’s sentences. Jacen is a total pro, expert storyteller, great with action, character and humour. There’s really nothing he can’t handle.
What can you tell us about Babs?
See 2. above. For all her down at heel demeanor and terrible luck, Babs is actually an extremely capable warrior, as certain people discover when they dig into her past. She’s one of my favourite types of character- good at the job but crap at life.
Who is Barry?
Barry is Babs’ magic sword, a whiny little b**ch of a blade who never fails to complicate our heroine’s life. Their witty banter back and forth is the stuff of legend, each exchange usually beginning and ending with “f**k you”. Bilbo got Sting, Elric got Stormbringer, Hawk the mindsword. Babs gets this bloody idiot.
How long have you been working on Babs?
Six episodes so six weeks. I probably finished it about this time last year.
When we recently talked with Tom Peyer, he told us you brought Babs to AHOY Comics. What made AHOY Comics the right home for Babs?
See 3. above. I never like to keep my eggs in one basket, it’s always interesting to try new publishers. With their focus on humour AHOY seemed like the right home for Babs.
The first issue of Babs has a number of variant covers; how did you select the artists for the variant covers?
Just cast around the people we like, saw who was available, affordable, interested.
Do you have a favourite cover for Babs?
So far it’s hard to beat Jacen’s first one, which sums up Babs in a nutshell—apparent triumph about to go horribly wrong. I also like Amanda Conner’s close up, and Jacen’s done another nice one with Babs and her best pal Izzy triumphant in a tavern.
What are you currently working on?
New series for 2000AD and Battle Action. Couple of horror stories I can’t go into too much detail on yet. Probably up first will be a new war story from TKO, Partisan, and my upcoming Punisher story with Jacen, Get Fury.
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
If you’re in the US, vote Democrat. In the UK, vote Labour. Or we’re f**ked beyond all recognition. Speaking as someone who’ll be spending quite a bit of time in both countries over the next few years.
We would like to say thank you to Garth for chatting with us. We would like to wish him and the whole of the Babs team the best of luck with the series.
