News: Lady Death

[Ralph Kruhm]

Lest das hier von "The Pulse" und kippt um:

CROSSGEN KEEPS PULIDO'S LADY DEATH ALIVE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's been speculation about the fate of Lady Death since Chaos! announced bankruptcy, and it was learned that CrossGen owned the rights to one if its core characters, Lady Death. THE PULSE has now confirmed the fate of one of comic's first bad girls! Joining the new Code 6 line will be Lady Death as we've not seen her before written by Brian Pulido with art by another Lady Death alumni, Ivan Reis. Pulido spoke exclusively with THE PULSE about this new project.
THE PULSE: Who are some of your creative influences? Who inspires you to write?

BRIAN PULIDO: I have no idea where the impulse to tell stories comes from. There is no "who" to inspire me to write. I know my Father had a gift with words, especially poetry, but he didn't apply it. I can say that I have a drive to imagine things, so I guess the who is me!

In terms of influences, that's largely a matter of the material I'm working on. I'll draw from anywhere. Nothing is safe when I'm looking for reference or researching.

THE PULSE: What made you want to work in comics?

PULIDO: It was by default actually. I had written a screenplay and was making a move to direct it. The producers agreed, but they would get all the rights in return. Though the money was good (relative to my meager means at the time), I declined. I looked around for a way to bring this story into the world, and turned to my hobby comics. I figured by making the story a comic, it would put a little more leverage on my side.

THE PULSE: What do you like the best about the comics industry?

PULIDO: The opportunity to tell stories that aren't restricted by a budget. I worked as an assistant director for commercials and music videos and was painfully aware of the financial limits even on multi-million dollar commercials. That's not an issue in comics. You simply write Ten thousand warriors storm the great wall and it gets done.

THE PULSE: How long have you and Mark Alessi been friends? When Alessi talked to you about his ideas for CrossGen what did you think of the company?

PULIDO: Mark and I met about a year before CrossGen launched. It was at a party in San Diego thrown by Wizard. Jim Mclauchlin from Wizard introduced us and we had a connection from the start. When I learned about Mark's plan for CrossGen I was stoked but was skeptical that they could keep the books coming out on time. He's proven me wrong and I couldn't be happier for them.

Mark and his team realized that to support the retailers and promote consistent sales, books have to come out on a regular basis. That way, retailers can count on the revenues. To accomplish this and maintain the commitment to quality CrossGen has, they decided to re-establish the bullpen approach to making comics. I've now witnessed that first-hand and it is amazing. The writer can talk face to face to the penciler, who can talk to the inker, letterer or colorist. The synergy is very, very cool.

There are other initiatives that CrossGen has introduced I haven't touched upon that are revolutionary to comics. That includes profit participation for employees and a global view of the comic reading market place.

CrossGen's plan will change how comics are made, marketed and sold. That's exactly what this industry need right now.

THE PULSE: What do you like the best about CrossGen Comics?

PULIDO: The commitment to the highest possible quality books. I like big, lush battle scenes. So does Crossgen. The commitment to a long, evolving saga. When I was offered this opportunity, one thing I wanted to do forever was to keep the Lady Death story set in medieval times. Mark loved that. The commitment to on-time shipping. I strived for that in Chaos! Comics to support the retailer. I am disappointed that publishers won't get their acts together and ship their products on time. It' is so important to the stability of the industry and helps retailers cash flow. I can't claim perfection in this area, but historically, our company did a good job.

THE PULSE: Who is Lady Death?

PULIDO: The essence of Lady Death is that she is an outsider. She is strong and smart, but belongs nowhere.

THE PULSE: When you first created Lady Death there seemed room for various paths for the character to take. What made you choose the path of Heaven and Hell?

PULIDO: Keep in mind that I created Lady Death very instinctually. I didn't plot out long story arcs. I just asked myself," what's cool? What hasn't been done before?" At the time, I wanted to deal head on with the most villainous evil of all time Lucifer. The duality of Heaven and Hell attracted me and so did the locations. I made Lady Death a little of both Heaven and Hell, but shunned by both sides.

THE PULSE: How will this version of the character be different from her prior incarnations?

PULIDO: Interesting story. When I first created Lady Death I had two distinct directions for her. The first direction was the one I published for nine or so years. The other direction is what I will present in "A Medieval Tale".

The core of the character remains the same. She is a strong willed outsider, but the setting and the foes will be different.

In this incarnation, the story is set in medieval Europe. Hope is the offspring of a unique coupling between a human being and an Eldritch a race of near immortal, pale skinned chaos lords who occupy a different plane of existence. She possesses the finest qualities and powers of both races, but essentially belongs to neither.

The Eldritch are beautiful, capricious near immortals who view humans as we view rats. We are simply playthings to them. When humans start encroaching on their lands, they start to hunt them. A religious order of Teutonic Knights opposes the Eldritch. But the Eldritch are faster than humans and heal quickly. Iron and the sign of the cross hurt them. They attack only at night. Their oblique eyes cannot face the day. And they are magical beings.

Hope is born in this struggle smack dab in the middle. Neither human nor Eldritch, but part of both.

Between the earth and the Eldritch lands is another realm called the Borderlands. Both races must cross it to get to the other land. They access the Borderland by a roaming storm-gate. It's filled with dangerous mythological beasts and civilizations. You will see my takes on all sorts of cool creatures like Nixies, goblins, Manticore, griffins, ghosts, savages, Hillsmen, you name it.

THE PULSE: What do you like best about exploring the fantasy aspects of Lady Death?

PULIDO: I looked back on my career and noticed that my readers responded best when I was taking them to places they've never been before. I inject the passion and action my stories contain and we're off to the races. That happened in the early Lady Death stuff and in Purgatori, Chastity, even The Undead.

This type of story causes me to research and discover new things. My excitement transfers to the pages and appears to get the fans going too.

THE PULSE: What other characters will be in this series?

PULIDO: I'm reluctant to give away much, but here's some tid bits. Lady Death's teacher is Wolfram Von Bach, a German warrior knight who has separated from the church (he has a rebellious streak like LD). In the first two years of the story line, I will introduce Celeste, an Irish battle-maiden who becomes great friends with Lady Death; Niccolo will be re-introduced as the Michael Angelo of his time.

The Eldritch, the villains of the series, aren't truly villains. From their perspective, they are simply cleaning up pests. Not only do they hunt humans; they dazzle them, fool them and generally play around with them like a cat does with a mouse.

The House of Tvarus is one of the many ruling Houses among the Eldritch Chaos lords. Tvarus is Lady Death's natural Father. His behavior is very unpredictable. Obsidia is her jealous manipulative, StepMother. The House of Tvarus is filled with cousins, uncles, servants and slaves. It's a big cast, filled with intrigue.

THE PULSE: What made Ivan Reis perfect to draw this story?

PULIDO: First, I wanted to help out all the former Chaos! creators I could. I made calls to CrossGen and other publishers to get guys (and gals) placed. CrossGen picked up Ivan for fill ins. When I saw he was doing work, I recommended him for the title because he is a tremendous talent. He can do a monthly book, no problem. He loves to attack new subject matter. He loves to put in detail.

When Chaos! Comics filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, I contacted Ivan. The Company owed him money for about three issues of books. Even in the face of that, he wrote back and said he loved what we did together and would love the chance to work together again. I thought that was amazing. He didn't view me as his adversary as others did. He chalked up the failure of Chaos! to the loss of sales and was willing to stay in communication. I am deeply grateful for his handling of the situation.

THE PULSE: Will this be an ongoing series or a series of minis? What are the pros to the way you choose to present this title?

PULIDO: This is a monthly. I see only good things going in this direction. Now, I have accepted a freelance assignment as an independent contractor to Code 6 to write this new version of Lady Death. It will come out under the Code 6 label, even though CrossGen owns 100 percent of the property, because Lady Death does not fit into the CG Sigil-verse. So, Code 6 became the most logical place to release this title. I believe there will be an announcement soon on the release date of issue #1. As the writer, I intend to take readers on a wild ride. I haven't seen this type of story in comics. I'm excited at the prospect of writing a book and not being concerned about the managerial aspects of running a company.

THE PULSE: How will this series appeal to existing Lady Death Fans?

PULIDO: I'm guessing that folks who read my stuff liked how I unraveled a story. They liked the characterization, the action, the suspense and the wild places I would take them. When I brought in other writers on my characters, they didn't always get that. This story is pure, undiluted Pulido and Lady Death is still the kick-ass, pale skinned warrior with a sword that they love.

THE PULSE: Why should people who maybe passed on the Chaos! Lady Death, give this new series a try?

PULIDO: From a perception point of view, I believe a lot of readers got scared off by the Heaven and Hell stuff and from a perception that the book was all boobs and blood. Chaos! didn't help this when we did all the sexy covers we did. I'm not apologizing for that. Far from it, but it did prevent access for other readers.

Fan who read the books knew LD and the other books I published were not all boobs and blood. The Chaos! universe was a cohesive, continuity driven universe that respected the long time reader and listened to the fans. Our stories were thought provoking and suspenseful.

People should give this book a try for all the reasons above.

THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?

PULIDO: This is the only comic book based project I am working on. I have co-founded a film production company, Eternal Entertainment, LLC (along with former Chaos! Comics CFO Adam Goldfine) for producing television shows and movies. We already have optioned three scripts and I have written a treatment and first act of a new thriller. I started out as a NYU film school grad and figured it is time to put my degree to use.

[Lady Dark]

^^ War schon etwas schneller als Du, siehe Chaos! Welt. :P Bald könnt ihr mich Chaos! Botschafterin nennen, aber erst nächstes Jahr. Jetzt bin ich ja noch German Chaos! Fiend of the year 2002.

*freu *freu* das Milady ein neues Zuhause hat und das Brian wieder schreibt. Nur schade, dass es wahrscheinlich keine Variantcover geben wird.
Ich bin mal wirklich gespannt, wie eine Lady Death ohne ihre Erzfeinde und Verbündeten aussehen wird.
Obwohl es nicht schlecht wäre, wenn es für die laufende Chaos! Serie einen passenden Abschluß geben würde.

[Csar]

Original geschrieben von Lady Dark
Nur schade, dass es wahrscheinlich keine Variantcover geben wird.

Wer braucht denn sowas noch?
Trotzdem: super Nachricht, das.

[Lady Dark]

Och, ich finde es immer interessant, wenn Künstler ihre Ideen mehrfach umsetzten. Mein totaler Favourit ist im Moment das Super Premium Cover von Purgatori Heartbreakers. Ich hab diese Vampirlady noch nie so stoned erlebt....

Aber Hier mal ein Vorgeschmack auf die herauskommende Lady Death Ausgabe (bin vernarrt in dieses Cover ): http://www.comicon.com/pulse/images...death_cover.jpg

[Ralph Kruhm]

Ich bin auch nicht gerade der Freund von Variants. Wenn ein Künstler `ne klasse Idee für ein Pin-Up hat, soll er es halt auch als solches hinten im Heft präsentieren und mich als Sammler nicht dazu zwingen, ein komplettes Heft zweimal zu kaufen, nur weil vorne drauf ein Stück Papier anders bedruckt ist. Die absolute Unverschämtheit war damals Darkness #11 mit elf Variant-Covern. Damals habe ich aufgehört, Comics gezielt zu sammeln, weil ich mich völlig verarscht gefühlt habe, und erst wieder angefangen, als CrossGen vom Start weg ankündigte, keine Variants zu machen. Das haben sie bis heute durchgehalten, und u.a. deswegen ich überhaupt hier...

[Clint Barton]

... und ich hatte schon gehofft, ich wär' den Scheiss los... Wenn's eine fortlaufende Serie ist, ist es ja ok, aber nichts ist frustierender, als 16645 Miniserien von 416 Charakteren für eine Bestellung zusammensuchen zu müssen, zumal die Leute ja auch nicht 1 oder 2 Hefte bestellen, sondern gleich das halbe Programm... Purgatori kommt bestimmt als nächstes zurück, die Nachfrage nach deren Serien ist in den letzten Wochen förmlich wie eine Rakete in die Höhe geschossen...

[Ralph Kruhm]

Lady Death hat bereits ein eigenes Forum im US-Board. Das ging schnell...

[Ralph Kruhm]

A makeover for Lady Death
By Nathan Melby

When Chaos Comics’ Lady Death fought Satan and his minions in Hell, she was notable for her lack of clothes and her expanse of chest. Now that she’s being prepared for life at CrossGeneration Comics, her appearance may change and her stories may take a different path.

CrossGen Publisher and CEO Mark Alessi told CBG, “I do have a standard philosophy in the company. For breasts it’s shape, not size; a woman’s nose can never be too small; and a woman’s legs can never be too long. When the new Lady Death comes out, you will notice those changes.”
He said he has seen the preliminary art and the story and described both as “phenomenal.”

“It has some consistencies with the concept of Lady Death being torn in belonging to neither world, but all the battles versus Satan and Hell are gone. Now, it is a medieval tale.”

Lady Death was one of Chaos Comics’ most popular characters, but the company filed for bankruptcy Aug. 15. Chaos fans will get a chance to read more adventures of the character when she makes her debut under CrossGen Comics’ Code 6 imprint in February. Former Chaos Publisher and Lady Death creator Brian Pulido, who sold Alessi the rights to the character shortly before Chaos went bankrupt, will write the series with art by former Lady Death artist Ivan Reis.

Alessi, who said he had always been a Lady Death fan, said he has reasons for changing the character to better suit CrossGen’s readers. “The first three issues that Brian wrote I thought were brilliant, but I thought that Lady Death became more of a sex symbol than a story, to the readers’ detriment.”

He commented, “If you want naked women, they actually make magazines these days where there are real naked women. In our world, Lady Death is a story that we believe has some long-term potential as an ongoing story with a great character. It’s certainly going to be different from the original Lady Death, but we’re really excited about the premise and the possibilities, and she has lots of clothes actually on her.”

Alessi said that, when Pulido and he began to talk about relaunching the title at CrossGen, they looked for a way for the character to fit in at CrossGen. “We talked about some ideas he had when he was originally developing the first Lady Death and we came up with a very cool implementation concept that was consistent with one of his directional ideas that he had originally considered. That made Lady Death into a very palatable CrossGen character without losing some of the Lady Death mystique. If CrossGen had made Lady Death from Day One, Square One, it would be this Lady Death. The beauty of it is that some of the underlying conflict that the character, Hope, goes through will be very appealing to Chaos fans, as well. We are not going to do Satanism and we are not going to be fighting Satan. We think there is a lot of incredibly cool stuff that is going to happen and we are beyond enthusiastic about the potential of this as a CrossGen book.”

He compared the evolved Lady Death to CrossGen’s Sojourn, adding that the new series will have conflict and imagery similar to the original Lady Death.

“It is very much a medieval tale, and, like most CrossGen books, there’s not necessarily a clear delineation between good and evil. We think that makes for a stronger, deeper Lady Death character, because she sits in the middle of these two different worlds. She is torn between them both, which makes in many ways the classic torn character who has to work her own way through that process. Most good fiction is based on characters being torn. We’ve tried to eliminate gender as an issue, religion, and American culture in our comics, because we want to make comics for the world, not just for the United States. Obviously, sometimes United States values creep in because we are Americans.”

Alessi then went on to attack reports that had questioned his and Pulido’s business practices when Pulido sold Alessi Lady Death for $12,500. “People don’t realize that he lost pretty much all of his wealth and all of his money that he had set aside from the Lady Death glory days to try to keep it afloat,” Alessi said.

“When people say these things, it is because there are a few who are looking for additional click-throughs or they are people who don’t care what they say, because they don’t do any basic research. The bottom line is that this was probably the worst five months of Brian’s life. I thought, Wouldn’t it be wonderful, once it became clear that he was going to go bankrupt, to salvage one part of a company that had existed for 10 years?

"What they wrote about Brian disgusted me. I take great insult in it, because he is one of the few honorable men in this business. He lost almost everything he ever had when he went through this. If we are able to salvage one of his best creations for posterity, good for the Chaos fans, good for the open-minded community, good for the CrossGen fans, and good for the industry.”

Alessi pointed out that every year Pulido has played host to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund auction and has always pitched in money for ACTOR to help struggling creators. “He’s loaned money to all sorts of people who have never paid him back, but that is never mentioned. And then he dumps almost everything he has in the world in attempting to pay people off and tries to keep the business afloat as long as he can and then he gets castigated. It is a shame and an injustice.”

[Orakel]

Och nee. Das klingt wirklich nicht gerade toll, was Crossgen da aus Lady D. machen wollen.

[Pyrem]

Öhm, meine Englischkenntnisse sind zwar nicht die besten, aber so wie sich das anhört, wollen sie Lady Death mehr zu braven Nonne ( o_O" ) machen. Wenn ich das richtig verstanden habe, dann wurde in letzter Zeit LD viel zu sexy dargestellt.
Erinnert mich etwas an Mariah Carey, der ihre Plattenfirma ja auch verboten hat, sich zu aufreizend anzuziehen XD"
Falsch ich was falsch verstanden habe ( oder alles x_X ) korrigiert mich.^^"

[Orakel]

@Pyrem: Wenn, dann liegen wir beide falsch. Also mit dem letzten Chaos Lady D. Comic, der hier in Deutschland erscheint, mach ich persöhlich einen Schlussfaden unter das Kapitel und versuch die mir fehlenden alten Ausgaben nachzukaufen.
Ich will die Lady als das in erinnerung haben, was sie ist. Nicht irgendsoeinen Abklatsch von einem pryderie Verlag, da drüben.

[Pyrem]

Original geschrieben von Orakel
@Pyrem: Wenn, dann liegen wir beide falsch. Also mit dem letzten Chaos Lady D. Comic, der hier in Deutschland erscheint, mach ich persöhlich einen Schlussfaden unter das Kapitel und versuch die mir fehlenden alten Ausgaben nachzukaufen.
Ich will die Lady als das in erinnerung haben, was sie ist. Nicht irgendsoeinen Abklatsch von einem pryderie Verlag, da drüben.

Hmm, ich les Chaos schon seit so vielen Jahren ... und ich hab immer die Atmosphäre von den Heften bewundert, besonders bei Lady Death. Aber nach Armageddon wurde das ja schlechter und schlechter, jetzt dachte ich bei "Dark Alliance" geht es endlich wieder aufwärts ... und dann war Schluss. x_X

... Aber Pulido ist doch dabei, er hat ja die Rechte ... vielleicht wird ja wirklich etwas gute daraus. Ich geb die Hoffnung nicht auf.^^

[Schwarze Katze]

Original geschrieben von Ralph Kruhm
Alessi, who said he had always been a Lady Death fan, said he has reasons for changing the character to better suit CrossGen’s readers. “The first three issues that Brian wrote I thought were brilliant, but I thought that Lady Death became more of a sex symbol than a story, to the readers’ detriment.”

Was mir nicht gefällt, ist die Tatsache, dass man sich plötzlich an einer nahezu vollkommen anderen Zielgruppe orientiert. Es geht hier nicht darum, dass den CHAOS-Fans weiteres Material liebgewonnener Charaktere präsentiert wird sondern darum, dass man mit einem neuen Konzept neue Leser bekommt und alte durch den Namen "Lady Death" ködert.
Ich finde es auch schade, dass man die Lady plötzlich ihres Status als Sexsymbol beraubt, weil ich das immer recht interessant fand. Eine göttlich aussehende, verdammt gut gebaute Frau, die sich trotzdem durchsetzt.

Aber abwarten, vielleicht kommt ja doch alles anders.

†Fusselchen†

[L.N. Muhr]

"verdammt gut gebaut" - dass erinnert mich an eine schöne umschreibung aus der comic-speedline:

"ihr von leichengasen aufgeblähter körper" - bru-ha-ha. nix gegen silikon, aber bitte in maßen... (oder massen? dumme deutsche rechtschreibung.)

[Schwarze Katze]

Gegen eine Brustverkleinerung hätte ich wirkich nichts, aber ihren Kleidungsstil mag ich einfach zu gern

†Fusselchen†

[L.N. Muhr]

das ist wohl wahr... nur das schwert ist mir zu pieksig.

naja, ich tendiere ja an sich eher zu chas... und ganz an sich zu death von neil gaiman.

und ganz ganz an sich kann ich mit comicfrauen gar nix anfangen. sind mir zu papiern.

[Schwarze Katze]

Chas find ich auch toll. Gibt's für die eigentlich schon Pläne?
Es ist zu faszinierend zuzuschauen, wie sie versucht ein "normales" Leben aufzubauen, als das ich sie missen möchte.

Was Gaiman betrifft. Bin auf die Miniserie Bast gespannt, die demnächst erscheint. Wo's doch mit einer Katze zu tun hat

Menno, warum bekomm ich immer die schwarzen Felder ab?

†Fusselchen†

[L.N. Muhr]

weil ich jetzt wieder ins rote tippe?


die letzte marvel-arbeit von gaiman war aber eher nett, im vergelich zur qualität seiner dc/ vertigo-sachen.

[Schwarze Katze]

Ist ja eine Vertigo-Sache.

Nee, ich hab hier immer das Glück die dunklen Flächen zu erwischen.

†Fusselchen†

[Ralph Kruhm]

Eine voll bekleidete Dame kann wesentlich mehr Sexsymbol sein als eine Halbnackte, wenn sie die entsprechende Ausstrahlung hat. Ich würde Lady Death´s Image daher noch nicht betrauern, sondern abwarten, wie sie in den neuen Heften rüberkommt. In den Händen des richtigen Zeichners ist weniger eher mehr...

[Schwarze Katze]

Das ist an sich schon richtig, aber so wie sich das für mich anhört, wollen sie diesen Status "Sexsymbol" komplett wegrationalisieren, weil es nicht ins Bild der CG-Leser passen könnte.
Das ist es, was mich stört, denn mir scheint, dass man einen neuen Charakter unter altem Namen verkaufen will.

†Fusselchen†

[Ralph Kruhm]

Nun, es WIRD ein neuer Charakter, weil die Geschichte ja von vorne beginnt und es langweilig wäre, wenn sich alles wiederholt. Warum warten wir nicht alle ab und sehen, was passiert...?

[Schwarze Katze]

Ein Charakter definiert sich doch nicht darüber, was ihm geschieht sondern wie er reagiert.

†Fusselchen†

[Pyrem]

Original geschrieben von Ralph Kruhm
Nun, es WIRD ein neuer Charakter, weil die Geschichte ja von vorne beginnt und es langweilig wäre, wenn sich alles wiederholt. Warum warten wir nicht alle ab und sehen, was passiert...?

Das gefällt mir aber ganz und gar nicht!
Ich hoffe mal, dass Pulido seine Lady wieder so macht, wie sie war.
Stark,schön und unabhängig !!
Ich hab sie in den Jahren so "lieb gewonnen" , allein ihr Charakter, und wie sie die Dinge sieht waren für mich überwältigend. Nicht wie die ganzen 0815 Comic Püppchen, denen fehlt einfach die richtig Härte. Lady Death hat genug Qualen durchgestanden, und weiß auch was richtiger Schmerz bedeutet. Bin ich wirklich gespannt was die mit ihr anstellen.
*grummel*

[Lady Dark]

Tja, da zittern wir Alle drum. Aber da Ivan Reis das Zeichnen von Lady Death übernehmen wird, mach ich mir in der Beziehung keine Sorgen. Aber eine Lady Death ohne ihre Hauptfeinde? Ich möchte mal an dieser Stelle bemerken, dass die Lady Death Leserschaft ab dem Zeitpunkt zurückging, als die Feinde nur noch 2 Hefte überstanden haben. Es kein großes Klar definiertes Feindbild gab und einige Charas sich innerlich zur Ruhe setzen z. B. Purgatori. Außerdem verpasste man den Charas durch Gedächtnisschwund merkwürdige Charakterzüge (Lady Death ließ sich von anderen Leuten was sagen und war schwächer, Sakkara war plötzlich wie damals Hope Purgatori "gute Seele" und über das World Trade Special brauch ich ja wohl nix zu sagen.
Ein guter Comic definiert sich nicht nur über die Zeichnungen, sondern auch über charakteristische Eigenheiten und die Verknüpfung in den Handlungsstrang.
Ich bin z. B. nicht direkt damals mit den Hauptserien angefangen, sondern hab durch Zufall mit Suspira angefangen. Die Geschichte faszinierte mich und ich wollte mehr über den am Rand erwähnten Charakter Lady Death erfahren. Von Lady Death bin ich dann zu Purgatori gekommen und nach und nach wurd meine Sammlung immer mehr.
Ich kann nur für Pulido hoffen, dass er die Story diesmal fesselndhinkriegt, sonst werden die ganzen guten Zeichnungen nichts nützen.

Naja, immer hin bleibt uns der Lady Death Film noch erhalten....