Interview: Chuck Dixon & Graham Nolan on IDW’s Joe Frankenstein

Joe Frankenstein #1

Joe Frankenstein #1


Chuck Dixon has written many comics including memorable runs on Detective, Punisher, Birds of Prey, and many others. His series Winterworld is currently being published by IDW. Graham Nolan has drawn such comics as Detective and Hawkworld as well as the Phantom Sunday comic strip. Together, Dixon & Nolan created the popular Batman villain, Bane. Now, they’re joining forces for Joe Frankenstein, a new series coming from IDW. Westfield’s Roger Ash contacted them to learn more about this exciting new title.

Westfield: Joe Frankenstein has been in the works for quite a while. What can you tell us about the genesis of the series and the process you’ve gone through to get to this point?

Graham Nolan: The first concept for Joe Frankenstein goes back to 2006 when I was kicking around the idea of a Doc Savage kind of adventurer in a monster setting. I wanted to call it Doc Frankenstein but I found out the Wakowski Bros. already used that name. I was talking to Chuck one day about the name dilemma. He said change the name. I said “To what? I can’t just call him Joe Frankenstein”. There was a long pause and Chuck said: “Why not? That’s a great title”! With the name change came a different direction for the story. We kicked some ideas around and I asked Chuck if he would like work on this together. We were looking for a project to hook up on anyway so that’s how it came about.

Chuck Dixon: I’m Dwight Frye to Graham’s Colin Clive on this project. He came up with the concept and bounced it off me. As in any organic creative process it’s hard to recall who came up with what. But Graham is at the heart of this and was from the start. It grows from his intense love of the old Universal monster movies. I love them too but Graham as a special affinity for the material. It’s like when we worked on Batman together. I thought I was a huge Batman fan until I met Graham.

Joe Frankenstein preview page 1

Joe Frankenstein preview page 1


Westfield: What can you tell us about the story and who are some of the characters we’ll meet?

Dixon: Joe Pratt is an average guy just out of high school with no real plans for his life until Frankenstein’s monster arrives and informs Joe that he, Joe, is the heir to the Frankenstein legacy by blood. Not only that but a whole army of supernatural bad guys is out for that blood.

Nolan: The Monster’s bride needs Joe’s blood, which contains the key to unlocking the secret of eternal life! Something she doesn’t have.

Joe Frankenstein preview page 2

Joe Frankenstein preview page 2


Westfield: How do you two work together on the book? What is your creative process like?

Nolan: Chuck and I share many of the same storytelling sensibilities. We’ve been working together for so long that there are no egos to bruise. That makes a very freeing environment to toss out ideas, no matter how crazy they may sound.

Dixon: In this instance it started with Graham and the base concept. He did the opening sequence art you’ll see in issue #1 on his own. He asked me if I’d like to contribute and we started the back and forth of how to make it work.

Nolan: First we plot out the story together over the phone and through e-mail. Once that’s nailed down he writes it up, sends it to me and I will break the story down into images and pages. When the pages are finished I’ll send them on to Chuck with the dialogue I’ve written. He will make any changes and additions he wants then it will come back to me for any final changes. There’s a lot of give and take.

Dixon: My job is as the main story man like on an animation project. I suggest bits and gags and a way to tie them together. There’s either no egos between us or our egos are somehow joined. We can get pretty brutal with each other but there’s no hard feelings and Graham has no cause to think I cry myself to sleep over his “suggestions.”

Joe Frankenstein preview page 3

Joe Frankenstein preview page 3


Westfield: Frankenstein’s Monster is an iconic horror character. How do you go about making him, or any of the monsters in the series, your own?

Dixon: It’s all presentation. Does the world need another take on the Mary Shelley characters? Yes. Just one more. Ours.

This version is very much Nolan and Dixon. There are lots of twists and a dash of humor. It’s emblematic of the kind of material we like and do best together.

Nolan: There are so many versions of the Monster and because his backstory is so solid, we were able to create a horror/adventure version unlike any other. We’ve gone out of our way to try and tie into this story almost every version of the Frankenstein monster. Fans will recognize that Joe “Pratt” is named after William Henry Pratt, the birth name of one…Boris Karloff. Yeah, we’re fans.

Westfield: Do you have future plans for Joe Pratt and the Monster?

Nolan: Lots of plans! This is just the beginning!

Dixon: This first round is only an introduction to the world of Joe Frankenstein. It’s a complete story on its own but leaves the door open for many more adventures.

Joe Frankenstein Subscription Cover

Joe Frankenstein Subscription Cover


Westfield: Any closing comments?

Nolan: The first issue (with alternate cover) will be on sale February 25th.

Dixon: And there are 27 pages of story and art in each issue.

Purchase

Joe Frankenstein #1

 

 

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