Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, dynamite, entertainment, Johnny Desjardins, ray fawkes, Sovereigns

Writer's Commentary – Ray Fawkes Talks The Sovereigns #1

Published Fri, 19 May 2017 13:30:39 -0500

Straight from Dynamite, here's the writer's commentary for The Sovereigns #1 by Ray Fawkes. Doing covers and interiors for the book is Johnny Desjardins. The series takes the classic Gold Key characters of Magnus — Robot Fighter, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, and Doctor Spektor — and gives them a new spin.

Pages 1-3:

This is our first real look at Magnus in this series, and we wanted to give readers an idea of the impact he's had on the world. Oslo is the hub of his operations, and from it the machine consciousness, which he leads, monitors the entire world. I love how Johnny made everything in Oslo look shiny and futuristic, while keeping a kind of old-world aesthetic. Details like the mirror in Magnus's bedroom and the brick buildings as foundations for the glass towers say so much to me about Magnus, and how he feels affection for the past while building his vision of the future over it.

Long-time fans will notice that Magnus, who was once a warrior against A.I. is now being being treated very deferentially by the machines, and using them for his own ends. But getting there was obviously not easy — he's part machine himself, now.

Page 4:

Magnus hears the news about Turok. This is a very grave moment for him, and not just for personal reasons.

Pages 5-6:

Two things I love about Samson: his truly heroic toughness in the face of crazy obstacles, and the fact that his world is full of old-school giant monsters for him to wrestle with.

Pages 7-9:

And now, thanks to Magnus, we get our first glimpse of Spektor, the Grandmaster of Witches. This guy has seen some shit. And he loves making sure everybody knows it. You can count on Magnus, the science warrior, to try and push all the fancy frills aside and get to the truth of the matter, but Spektor's all about shock and awe. I like that Johnny focuses on Spektor's impenetrable glasses and Magnus' artificial eye in this scene: these are two heroes who literally cannot see eye-to-eye.

Pages 10-11:

Of course Turok went down fighting with all his heart. It could never be any other way.

Pages 11-13:

Spektor and Samson have their own approaches to illusion. It's Samson, though, who just soldiers forward while Spektor hangs back and questions.

Page 13:

A callback to Spektor's past as a Private Investigator. Magnus might be delivering it as an insult, but he ends up inspiring Spektor to act just like a Private Investigator would…go check out the scene for himself.

Page 14:

Johnny did a lovely job here of drawing all the little robots that surround Magnus, ready to serve. They actually form his armor out of their bodies — shielding him with themselves.

Page 15:

Some bad omens. I'll let readers draw their own conclusions about the timing on this one.

Pages 16-17:

And now we finally get a look at Solar and their "kingdom" — orbiting the Earth, providing power to mankind. Solar's speech patterns reflect that they are an amalgam of three different people — all of whom were at one time Solar.

Pages 18-20:

And now, while Spektor follows up on that Investigator's impulse, Solar explains the unique properties of the Lost Valley. One of the keys to the entire story. I love how Johnny choreographed the intercuts here — the real sense of dread and wonder he created as Solar reveals a crucial truth, Samson finds Turok's bones, and Spektor walks into a trap…

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