Posted in: Comics | Tagged: jimmy palmiotti, kickstarter, Painkiller Jane

Jimmy Palmiotti, Painkiller Jane, On Being the Squeaky Wheel of Comics

Jimmy Palmiotti is returning to Kickstarter with a new Painkiller Jane story with artists Juan Santacruz and Vittotrio Astine on Kickstarter.

Published Thu, 02 Mar 2023 12:57:11 -0600

by Rich Johnston

Comments

Jimmy Palmiotti is returning to Kickstarter with a new Painkiller Jane story, the character created almost 30 years ago with Joe Quesada for Event Comics, the character went on to star in a series of series, crossover titles with the likes of the Punisher, Vampirella, and Hellboy and both a TV film starring Emmanuelle Vaugier and a TV series starring Kristanna Loken. She last appeared in the Painkiller Jane: Trust The Universe graphic novel in 2019.

Now with artists Juan Santacruz and Vittotrio Astine, Jimmy Palmiotti is launching a two-issue graphic novel Painkiller Jane: Beautiful Killers with the unhurtable Jane joined by "her best gal pal Ajira, on a continued European adventure featuring high stakes, high drama, sexual themes, and TONS of action makes this a Mature Audience title." And covers from Joe Quesada and Peach Momoko, in which lies a tale.

"Our story begins in Sicily where we found Jane and Ajira recovering from their last mission and taking on some dicey high-paying freelance work that brings them to the heart of VENICE, Italy where they meet up with their contact and take on a group of gangs terrorizing the city. While this is all underway, they themselves soon become hunted by the famous MK KILLER after he finds out they were behind his last unsuccessful gig. With Jane's world being turned upside down, they are soon joined by the rest of her regular cast Detective Maureen Fernandez, her best friend, and Doctor Seth as they all try to help Jane stay alive while being hunted down for a big payout."

Which afforded me the chance to have a chat with Jimmy Palmiotti. I like this for a Thursday. Maybe I should do more Thursday Interviews…

Rich Johnston: Since Kickstarter came along, there have been other options now on the scene for crowdfunding. Substack has been popular amongst a number of big comic creators, Zoopoffers a soup-to-nuts solution for comic creators, so they'll actually print and deliver, you have taken advantage of Zestworld and their PR packahes. Indiegogo gives you all the money even if you don't reach a goal. So, what is it that brings you both back to Kickstarter for Painkiller Jane?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Painkiller Jane is a character that I co-created with Joe Quesada that I still have a lot of stories to tell and so far, Kickstarter has been the best place for me to tell them the way I want to. Kickstarter was the first crowdfunding platform I used and I've formed a relationship not only with the people behind the scenes, but the support of the customers that keep coming back for more. This is a working relationship that I take very seriously that I've built up for over 10 years now. I have nothing against Indiegogo, it's just that everything they can do for me I have found Kickstarter can do as well, but in my specific case, even better with more reach to the public.

Substack and Zestworld are not crowdfunding sites. They are both subscription models and deal with mailers and Digital comics for the most part, where on Kickstarter I am funding physical books and the runs are based on the actual backers dictating the print numbers with their sales. Amanda and I currently have new material on Zestword with our titles FOUND and BOOM POW! But these are not physical books and have been created specifically to premiere on their website as digital content only.

Rich Johnston: Painkiller Jane is a comic book for grown-ups, mostly. There are nice big warnings all over it, and the Kickstarter page, to keep away any stray youths. Of late, warnings have been getting bigger, have been added to things that didn't have warnings or have been pulled from libraries, words altered and you can't get those early Captain Marvels for love nor money What's your take on… well… all of it?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Well, I'm not a fan of censorship on any level, hate that people are going into classics and changing the actual written word to fit an agenda and so on, so my take on all of it is I wish people spent more time worrying about the planet and less time hyper focusing on things that get greedy politicians attention and social media outrage. I think a simple heads up at the beginning of any book reminding the reader of the time the book was written and the state of the world should be enough.

With Painkiller Jane, I put a warning on my Kickstarters, but not on the books, because the people buying them understand I like my comics a bit over the top with language, nudity, and adult situations. Look, these books are not making it to any library I know of…and I'm fine with that. I'm creating entertainment for a group of people that like the things I like. I'm a grown-up [ maybe] fully aware I'm creating content for other grown-ups, but the simple warning on the Kickstarter page is as far as I go. The beauty of comics is we have a limitless budget, and you can flex your unlimited imagination and go wild, so I feel it's my duty to push the envelope as much as I can. If people don't like it, well, the good news is no one is forcing anyone to buy it.

Rich Johnston: Back in the day, you left Marvel Knights and not too long afterwards, Joe Quesada was made EIC, and your contribution to the legacy of Marvel Knights seemed to have been whitewashed, you were certainly a little irritated at the time. Joe is now out of Marvel, setting up his own projects, he'd doing a cover for this Kickstarter for a character he co-created, are there any plans for the two of you to work together again? Are you open to it?

Jimmy Palmiotti: I was just on the phone thanking Joe for the amazing cover he contributed to the Kickstarter and complimenting how just damn beautiful it was. I even told him he doesn't really need an inker anymore; his line work has gotten that good. As far as us working together, well, this is us working together right now with him supporting the Kickstarter. As far as what the future holds, we own a few characters together, so you never know, but at the moment we are both knee-deep in different projects and I am just super excited to have him on board this campaign.

To the concerns I had with Marvel, yes, they were upsetting at the time, and I should have been a bit more vocal to more of the actual people involved behind the scenes, but a few years back, I finally made my issues known to the right people, and they did something about it. These days I'm getting the deserved credit where applicable, the invites and other perks that I felt should have come my way years before. I learned that "squeaky wheel gets the oil" lesson once again for the 20th time. I'm glad because we get to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Marvel Knights this year, and things are so much better these days.

Rich Johnston: As part of the 5G Files we reported recently, we noted that the identity of The Next Batman was switched from the planned Luke Fox – who you created – to Tim Fox, who you did not. Our reports indicate this was specifically because of your long-term relationship with Dan DiDio going back to his first days at DC, and with Dan booted out, you got caught in the backwash. Were you aware of any of this?

Jimmy Palmiotti: First I am hearing this about the Luke Fox thing. I was told by DC Luke was going to be identity of the next Batman and then they put him on the WB Batwoman TV series for two full seasons, I thought, well, that's set. When they switched him out, I just thought that it was some behind the scenes promise or deal they made with another creator, and well, that was that. The character Justin and I put so much love into will one day come back in one way or another. That's just comics. I'm not so sure this isn't just a rumor.

I do know now I was caught in Dan being fired backwash and it was obvious when I was ghosted for almost a year by the company. It's what happens in corporations when you are close friends with people. New people come in and want a clean plate to work from, so some people get the boot. The good news was that there were other companies and projects waiting for us. In that time, Amanda and I got to work on a Blondie book for Z2 Comics, a Red Sonja series and Gargoyles covers for Dynamite, do a deal with Zestworld to produce new titles , got to Kickstart our own projects and took a month off to explore Europe for fun. Even better I just did a deal to write a monthly for someone I admire like hell, and I am coloring covers for Amanda, another thing I learned to do over the Covid "break"

I am a professional first and understand how things work so if there was some actual backwash, I think it's probably slowly washing away and my friends at DC are worrying about other things than me. I was recently offered a series there, but I thought the character wasn't the right fit so I turned it down. What I am doing for DC at the moment is coloring Amanda's covers, so we shall see what the future holds.

Rich Johnston: Peach Momoko is meant to be Marvel exclusive – and has been since late 2020. How did you get around that restriction for Painkiller Jane? Or was it drawn just a long time ago?

Jimmy Palmiotti: Amanda and I met Peach and her husband many years ago at a con, and we were admiring all the illustrations she had at her table and bought some and I had her illustrate a dream sequence and cover piece for me a few years back and I've been waiting for the right time and place to put it in one of the books. The time finally came. Her exclusive came later, so no worries. It's a dream sequence where Jane is drowning in a river that winds up leading to a pier in NYC and her partner Maureen finding her dead. It has deeper meaning within the story. As always, she did a beautiful job. She is just amazing.

Rich Johnston: There has been concern expressed (hasn't there always) about the future of comics. You've managed to step outside if the industry. There are millions of comic book readers ageing out of Dog Man and Raina Telegemeir. What should comics be doing to keep them in the fold?

Jimmy Palmiotti: We finally can see that superhero comics are just a tiny part of the comics world and Raina's work alone shows us by the numbers that the material itself, and comics overall, have to diversify genre-wise. That audience is looking for new challenges and different varieties of storytelling and if the big two continue to narrow the field to only superhero comics, I just don't see the long-term plan. What I've learned is that I have an audience for my work, slowly growing, always supportive, vocal, and clear what they are looking for. They want great-looking books, beautiful cover art, top quality production and a % want the rush of having a collectable as well. The future is going to be creators focused on their specific audience and big companies moving away from the field because the gain isn't enough to support the man power. Will this happen overnight? Probably not, but every time a comic company lends out their character to other publishers to create age focused titles, they harm their main publishing line and learn a lesson that they have no desire to hold on to, because it breaks the way they've been doing business for so many years. The proof is in the crowd funding sites when you see your favorite creators stepping out to do their own thing. I think a second digital revolution is on its way and sites like Webtoons that offer a variety of themes are a perfect example on how to engage a reader.