Posted in: Comics | Tagged: atomika, Comics

Adam's Apples – Talking To Atomika's Sal Abbinanti

Published Sat, 23 Jun 2012 13:00:41 -0500

Adam Messinger writes for Bleeding Cool;

After reading and writing about Atomika, I decided I must speak to the genius who made this. Sal Abbinanti, or "Uncle Sal" as he is known on the podcast circuit, is the artist and creator of Atomika.

Adam Messinger: How did Atomika develop? Was it a concept that you developed before you drew it? Did you draw him and then develop the concept

Sal Abbinanti: I tried for a long time to get work at Marvel and DC and they told me "I sucked so many times that I had to either go out and publish on my own or join the Chicago Fire Department. All The editors I met with told me my style was "too European" to work in American comics so being a child of the 70's where Russia was always the evil empire i always thought the Soviet Union would be a cool setting for a title. Growing up a Kirby guy, Atomika came together quickly with a visual style in mind that channeled an indy mind set.

AM: In a story rife with evil gods, why did you choose the human Arohnir as your villian?

SA: Arohnir is the second son of Mother Russia (The government) and being the political side he needed to be human wanting to be a God. In the end the human side of mankind always screws up the highest political and religious aspirations.

AM: There is a lot of amazingly rendered architecture in the series. Where did you find the inspiration for drawing it?

SA: I always felt the setting needs to be an extension of the character and can add a lot of emotional. Growing up in the city your surroundings are always evolving and a combination of many time periods all mashed together.

AM: What is your favorite part of the story,and which part are you proudest of?

SA: Getting the series finished without any money, yet pushing through and getting it done regardless. I'm very proud of the fact that my work got better as the series progressed.

AM: What was the process behind designing such a unique cast of characters? Did you have a reference source of Russian mythology or did you design them on your own after seeing their back story?

SA: [There was] lots of research in Russian Mythology. Most of those characters are right there. When you research Stalin the story can write itself. He was worse to his own people than Hitler. [It was a] tremendously sad part of history and the more I dug into the Soviet history the more ideas flowed. I tried to design them with the idea that they didn't look like an American designing Russian character. I wanted them to look organic and not like bad 90's comics where they gave everyone bad armor.

AM: Throughout the series you had Buzz on inks on and off. Did you prefer letting someone handle the inking or did you prefer having control over the final look of the pages? Why or why not?

SA: Buzz's inks gave the series the professional polish it needed. His brush work is second to none in the business. I would have preferred to do the entire series myself but Buzz and I have been friends forever and having him ink over my madness was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. I was floored with Buzz's draftsmanship Every time I received a batch of pages from him. Tremendous, tremendous artist and a dear friend.

AM: What was the process like working with Andrew? Did you guys hash out the story before you started drawing it, or did he script it before you started drawing it?

SA: I had fleshed out many of the core ideas and thought I was a great writer…. Showed some of it to Andrew and realized I was far from it. Andrew and I ran over where we wanted the series to travel and eventually end. Atomika was definitely a creative collaboration. Andrew offered to take a stab at it and knocked it out of the park. So much of Atomika is the brilliance of Andrew's writing, [and I'm] so grateful to be friends with him. I would send him xerox's and he would write over the artwork. Many, many people have expressed their love for Andrew's writing on the series and I could not agree more.

AM: In issue 6 we see the birth of Chernobyl from Atomika battling Baba Yaga. How did you and Andrew come up with the concept of such an unconventional birth?

SA: I think we ran some ideas around on the phone and decided regular intercourse wouldn't work well for such a crazy cast of characters..

AM: What was the biggest challenge is self-publishing Atomika?

SA: Money, printers, trying to hold everything together and not lose sight of the work.

I discovered the work is the most important thing. Getting stores and comic readers to give an indy title is a tough proposition. There is a tremendous amount of brand loyalty in comics. Thats why I asked big name cover artists to do my covers, I wanted to give the store owners a reason to put Atomika on their shelves.

AM: At the end of the story Atomika leaves Earth and lets humanity develop without the Gods. Where do you think he went and what do you think happened to him?

SA: The God is red story arc was always meant to run its course and then let the character move on. Atomika is a metaphor for technology becoming the God of the 20th century. The Soviet state told its people that we will solve all your problems and that religion was counterproductive to "the state". Atomika discovered he could destroy the planet but not cure the real ills of his people (disease, class division and human corruption). Atomika is out there and will return I promise.

AM: How can readers purchase everything Atomika related?

SA: www.mercurycomics.com comes directly to me, and I'll take care of everything.

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