January 27, 2006

Steve Bryant on Athena Voltaire
by Rik Offenberger

Eisner Award Nominee Athena Voltaire has just made the jump from web comic to print comic, with Speakeasy's release of Athena Voltaire, Flight of the Falcon. Steve Bryant talked to Newsarama about the transition and what new fans can expect.

Newsarama: Athena didn’t start out as an aviatrix, “Athena Voltaire, Space Ranger” was the original concept. How did she become 1930’s pilot/adventurer?

Steve Bryant: About 8 years ago, I was teaching at a community art center. We were preparing an instructor’s show and all the pieces in the show needed to be titled. I had a very retro-looking “space babe” image, complete with a fin-like headpiece, that I was including in the show. I wanted to come up with an appropriately fun retro title for the piece and settled on “Athena Voltaire, Space Ranger” because it made me laugh.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked that name and thought it had a classic quality to it. I was thinking about trying to break into comics at the time and thought it would make a great name for a character. But I’m not really the best guy when it comes to hardware.

I’ve always enjoyed pulp adventures: lost cities, jungles, Tarzan, Indiana Jones, Bogart movies, so the 1900s seemed like a logical setting for Athena Voltaire.

NRAMA: Athena is loosely based on the exploits of real life pilot Florence Lowe Barnes. How much is actually historic?

SB: This is where Paul Daly comes into it. Paul’s an old friend of mine, an illustrator, and writer/artist. I had known Paul for a few years at that point and had wanted to collaborate on something with him. At that point, I had the bare bones of the concept, the name and the fact that I wanted her to be a pilot and take on occult and fantastic threats in the 30s.

Paul took it and ran with it. He cited the historical precedent of Pancho Barnes (Note: Florence Lowe Barnes was nick named "Pancho") and pointed out her variety of skills, stunt woman, pilot, trick rider, sharp shooter, etc. and we were underway.

NRAMA: How is that used in the story?

SB: Really, just the idea that someone could have all this unique skill set. Everything else is just us having fun.

NRAMA: Athena Voltaire has been a web comic for quite some time. How does it translate from web comic to printed comic?

SB: Very well, I hope! The episodic nature of a weekly web comic is such that we needed to move the story along every week and couldn’t linger on details; it was the ultimate in compression storytelling. The nice thing about the move to print is that every installment is 22 pages. We’re able to pace the story differently and allow for more exploration of Athena’s back story.

Additionally, I get the opportunity to really define our most important supporting character: the locations. Athena’s our lead character, but in a globetrotting pulp adventure, it’s critical to be able to make the locations look grand. When we have full-page, or nearly full-page, images, it’s either the first time you see our heroine or defining an important set-piece where the action takes place. We couldn’t do that sort of thing in the web comic, but in print, it really gives you a sense of place and hopefully pulls you into the story.

NRAMA: Is Athena Voltaire, Flight of the Flacon an original story of a print version of the web comic?

SB: Brand new. We ran a teaser of it online, but it was created with print in mind.

NRAMA: With a web comic it’s posted almost immediately, but it’s a much longer process with a printed comics. What is it like having to wait?

SB: Maddening! Marshall Dillon, Speakeasy’s production guy/traffic manager/creator point-man, has the patience of a saint with me. I’m constantly dropping him emails asking about how the printing’s coming, when I’ll see my copies, etc.

NRAMA: The web comic was nominated for an Eisner Award, is that what brought it to the attention of publishers?

SB: I’m not really sure. We pitched it back in 2001 before we landed on the web, but didn’t receive much interest. I think that our skills have improved since that time, but I’m sure that the Eisner nomination didn’t hurt us when I shopped it around last Spring.

NRAMA: The first printed Athena Voltaire comic was in Law Dog Comics’ Territory 51. Why didn’t the printed series end up at Law Dog Comics?

SB: Jim Heffron, Law Dog’s Top Dog, did us a favor by letting us run what was essentially an extended ad for the web comic. It was like 2-parts ad and 2-parts featurette. We never really had plans to publish through Law Dog.  Publishing is hard work and costly, Jim’s an idea machine and his resources are best directed on his own material!

NRAMA: How did the mini-series end up at Speakeasy?

SB: We shopped it around to a good response from a number of publishers. It was a tough call, because there are a number of terrific publishers out there, most of whom I’d love to work with down the line, but at the end of the day, we felt that Speakeasy was the best fit for Athena Voltaire.

NRAMA: Was there any concern that previewing Athena Voltaire: The Flight of the Falcon in black and white at www.graphicsmash.com might hurt sales of the comic?

SB: Not at all. In fact, as pages were colored, we kept updating the b/w versions, as well. It was important for us to stay somewhat on the radar until the print version came out.

NRAMA: For people who have not followed the web comics, who are the main characters?

SB: Athena Voltaire is a former air racer and Hollywood stuntwoman/starlet. At the time of our story, she’s put all of that behind her and is running an air charter service specializing in getting into remote locales, and more importantly, out of tricky situations. She has a nasty habit of crossing paths with the Nazis and keeps getting pulled into a supernatural war between darkness and light.

We meet her supporting cast over the course of the series.

NRAMA: I assume that everything the reader has to know about Athena Voltaire is recapped in the comic so no prior knowledge is necessary?

SB: Very new-reader friendly! We’re using the template of the James Bond and Indiana Jones movie to kick off the story: we see the slam-bang conclusion of an adventure to establish the tone of the story. Then we set up all the players of the story and what they’re after.

NRAMA: What is the mini-series about?

SB: Athena is hired by her Far East contact to transport an artifact from Asia to the U.S. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. The artifact has a mystical significance in that it can unlock the door to a lost civilization of super-beings below the earth. Athena finds herself taking on occultists, Nazis, and Japanese Kempi-Ti agents, all of whom want to unlock the secrets of the hollow earth and harness its power.

NRAMA: The mini-series takes place in the 1930’s in Peru, Germany, France and the United States. How much reference work do you have to do for a story like this?

SB: …and that’s just in the first issue!! It takes a ton of research, and there’s still a bunch of stuff that I’m sure I may be off on. Thank God for the internet, though.

Seriously, it’s been a terrific challenge, as well as a real learning experience for me. I get to draw such diverse locations as the ones you listed, as well as Hong Kong, Burma and the Middle East…zeppelins, sea planes, Chinese junks…jungles, cities, the desert…you name it!

But like I said earlier, it’s the locations and the setting that sells the series. We want the reader to really buy into the settings. In the 30s, the world just seemed bigger, more exotic. We need to convey that sense of exoticism in order for the adventure to have the right sense of scale.

NRAMA: The mini-series has an Indiana Jones and Rocketeer feel to it. Do you see Athena Voltaire as a movie down the line?

SB: Oh, definitely. I was initially contacted about the film rights a couple of years back when we were web-only and would love to see Athena make the transition to the big screen. The big question is Kate Beckinsale or Evangeline Lilly?

NRAMA: Are follow up mini-series planned at this point?

SB: When we were first contacted about film rights, we came up with a huge story bible with a dozen or so adventure synopses and potential bad guys. And I’d love nothing more than to be able to draw every last one, and more!  As long as someone is willing to publish Athena Voltaire, we’ll keep putting her through the ringer!