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"Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s City Lights is stalled right now. It's an extremely personal book, something that everyone wants to be exactly as imagined, so the agreement is that it gets done when it's time to do it, and it has its home at Vertigo when the time comes.

 

No Preacher one-shots are planned, despite rumors, as the story and characters are effectively wrapped up.

 

War Stories will see trades next year, likely four issues each due to size."

 

This news courtesy of THIS article.

 

What the Hell is City Lights? Is this the first time that the title has been heard? I want more info NOW!

Edited by mysterytramp
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mysterytramp is mad as hell, and he's not gonna take it anymore!!

 

Well, if you manage to land a copy of Vertigo X (the $1 preview issue of upcoming shit, they put it out a few monthts back...thankfully a lot cheaper than their old Vertigo: Winter's Edge stuff), the last few pages had those 2 talking about the series rather vaugely...they said theyve wanted to do this story for years, that its basically a few guys on a roadtrip and how it ends up. They seemed fairly excited, but yeah, Wizard's hints of a Preacher link seem way off.

If you cant find the issue, lemme know: its a short interview, i can try to post it here.

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Yeah, i barely got my copy...not that ive found so far but like i said, ive got it nearby, i can always just type the key parts on in...its less than a page overall, those 2 dont interview for very long. Might scan it if i can find me a scanner.

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Two for the road: Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon on City Lights

 

V (Vertigo): You guys seem to work together a lot, ie Preacher, Punisher.  Don't you guys ever get sick of each other?  Do you guys ever fight?

G (Garth): Don't ever talk to me about that son of a - Oh, jesus, is this thing live?

S (Steve): I can't tell you how pleased I was when he moved three thousand miles away from me.

 

V: Does your relationship dictate which projects you guys work on together?

G: No.

S: No.

 

V: Do you go in knowing you want to work together on projects from the get-go?

G: Very much so.  I know the kinds of stories Steve likes - heavily charcter-based, lots of social interacting, letting him do a lot of what he calls "acting", i.e., facial expressions and body language, capturing all the requisite nuances.  We'll tend to work together on that kind of stuff; Steve's not so keen on all-out action, at least not for an extended period.

S: We don't exactly have the same taste in stories but there is a very large crossover area that we can both work in quite happily - though I wish the swine wouldn't keep making me draw animals.

 

V: How does this relationship motivate your work on a project like City Lights?

G: For me, Steve's preference for talking heads and everyday life is an enourmous advantage; I don't have to "spice up" the story with robots, spaceships, gunfights, tits in tights, etc.  I can tell exactly the story I want to tell. "Just give me a good story" he once told me, which is exactly what any writer wants to hear.  Keep him interested and he'll do the job right.

S: We are virtually telepathic when it comes to work now, and that will prove to be very important when it comes to City Lights.  In a dialouge-driven story it really hepls that the writer doesn't have to spell out every gesture or facial expression and that the artists doesn't constantly feel the need to double check his interpretation of any particular character or scene. 

 

V: What is City Lights and what can we expect from the two of you?

G: City Lights is a several-hundred page serialized graphic novel about four friends and the four cities they live in and visit.  Completely non-genre, just slice-of-life stuff; a tale of male friendship, loyalty, emigration, what you take with you and what you leave behind.  Steve'll be doing it in black & white, no color.  It is, I suppose, our attempt to pool our resources and show what comics are truly capable of.  We'll either triumph with choirs of angles singing hosannas to our names, or fall flat on our stupid faces.  But we've been wanting to do this thing for twelve years; there's no stopping us now. 

S: City Lights is something we have to do now before it becomes to big in our heads to apporach it.  This one's for us but it goes without saying that I hope people who read it will get something from it, too.  It would be great to get this story out there as it willl free our brains and give us space to come up with our next annoyingly personal project.

 

- A conversation with Garth, Steve & Zachary Rau

 

Courtesy Vertigo X: Preview page 46

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah, they speak of it as if its a limited series, i dont know how many books. Sounds like it'd me more akin to Pride & Joy or Unknown Soldier in length, but i could be way off.

Incidentally, anyone know when/if War Story gets made into trade? Cant fuckin wait...

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  • 1 year later...

Taken from Newsarama's inverview with Dillon on the new Bullseye mini-series..

 

Issue #4 of Bullseye is coming up shortly on his drawing board, and once the mini is over, as he mentioned, City Lights.

 

No, really.

 

Since the end of Preacher, Ennis and Dillon’s fans have wondered what the duo would be up to next in regards to a creator-owned follow-up, and the answer was simple: City Lights. But you try to follow-up a critically acclaimed, award-winning run on a series of your own creation, and see if you’re champing at the bit to get right back into the game.

 

Ennis and Dillon weren’t, for a variety of reasons. Sure, the two had a healthy run on Marvel's The Punisher, and were both finding other work, but…well, City Lights had grown to mythic proportions in the creators’ respective heads, and that can kind fo slow you down when it comes to getting started.

 

“It’s a project that was twelve to thirteen years in the making, and we’re finally getting moving on it,” Dillon said, adding that he’s been working on it off and on for the past several months. “It became a big thing in both mine and Garth’s heads, and it took Garth years to get down to writing it, because he had to be in the right frame of mind for it, because we’d just built this thing up so much. So I was badgering him, and threatening physical violence to him to get the scripts started and something in to me. But the minute he did, I suffered from the same problems he did. I looked at it, and though, ‘Christ, I’ve really got to get this right. This has got to be the thing.’ It’s difficult.

 

“In that sense, it was nice to get that Hellblazer #200 job just to get me moving on something, because I’d stalled a bit in looking at City Lights, just because I’d built it up so much in my mind. But now, doing the Bullseye thing as well, things are flowing. I’ve promised Will that he’s going to get some City Lights in the next month or so, and I’m sure once I’ve started it, it won’t be a problem. It was a bit similar with starting Preacher, but City Lights is a bigger thing in my head than Preacher was, but again, as we felt with Preacher, Garth and I see City Lights as being something that could be the best thing since sliced bread, or something that no one will understand. But, as I said, once I started on Preacher, it just went, and I’ve gotten to a point where I really miss something like that – I really miss doing Preacher, but I’m sure City Lights will be the same.”

 

As he said, Dillon lays the vast bulk of the hesitation on his part to internal fears, rather than the fishbowl effect of meeting people’s expectations – although there is some of that as well.

 

“Since its been building up for years – and Karen [berger, Vertigo Executive Editor]’s been on us for years to get it written and drawn, there is a bit of worry about how people will see it, but I think it’s mostly our own expectations – if, after all this time, we don’t pull put all the stops and do the best job we can. Even if nobody likes it, if we know that we’d done the best job we can on something we’d been talking about for that long, then we’ll be happy. Hopefully, the audience will like it as well.”

 

But make no mistake – this ain’t Preacher 2. “It’s nothing like Preacher. It’s just a story about four friends. Obviously, there will be dramatic impact in it, but no fantasy or anything like we put into Preacher. A lot of comics fans might not go for that. Hopefully, if we do the best we can, that will communicate, and people will like it. It is a bit daunting, though.”

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Hah! Someone else caught that....didnt bendis also say his mother was a whore (in a serious way), and he got his powers through some dumb incident that DD didnt actually say?

They dont have to stick to alla that, just curious. And yeah, i enjoyed it too, wanna see where this one's going...out of the new series (i think theyre minis), i only went for this one and Ultimate Elektra, written by Carey (Hellblazer). I dont know if im up to giving Gambit or the others a go yet.

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  • 4 months later...

Good news from Newsarama for Marvel Knights fans...

 

GriderElephant.jpg

 

ENNIS, CRAIN TAKE ON GHOST RIDER

In this week’s Wizard, confirmation is finally made that Ghost Rider will get his wheels back, courtesy of Garth Ennis and Clayton Crain (who will paint the miniseries). The project will take shape as a six issue miniseries coming out through the Marvel Knights imprint, according to the article.

 

Ghost Rider’s alter ego for the project: Johnny Blaze. Ennis rationale: he’s only ever read the original comics, and has no connection or attachment to Danny Ketch. According to Ennis, the storyline for the miniseries starts in Hell, with Blaze paying for selling his soul (which originally gave him his supernatural powers). In order to escape, Blaze agrees to hunt a runaway demon down on earth, and then becomes embroiled in a plot involving minions and Heaven, Hell, and everywhere in between.

 

According to the article, the miniseries is slated to launch in September, which, barring any delays, will have the final issue out in February, and a trade either later that month, or in March of 2006. It’s Marvel’s (and DC’s, as many Bat-projects are slated for release this summer) strategy at work again – provide a strong comic book tie-in for movie audiences, as the Ghost Rider movie is slated for a summer, 2006 release.

 

On the movie front, Ghost Rider is slated to start filming on January 31st, and wrap by early June. According to reports, Sony is looking for the Nicolas Cage starrer to be a summer release. Ghost Rider will be directed by Mark Steven Johnson, who directed Daredevil.

 

On January 15th, Johnson posted a message on the Super Hero Hype.com message boards, updating readers on the status of the movie, which will film in Melbourne, Australia.

 

Johnson wrote:

 

“So, first off. Casting. Mr. Cage will be Johnny Blaze. Take it from me. That's a done deal. And I could not be happier. Nic is in the shape of his life. Lean and mean, like a motorcycle stunt rider should. I've cast a few more parts but I should wait until the official announcements come (very soon)…

 

"The Budget. Nice to see that we've been "upgraded" from a $40 million dollar movie to a $51 million dollar movie! Maybe that's enough for a Dazzler movie but not for a Ghost Rider movie! Seriously, this is an event movie. And Sony knows how to make them right. Rest assured. That is not the budget. Not by a long shot.

 

"Johnny vs. Danny. The great thing about making a Ghost Rider movie is that I get to take the best from both the Johnny Blaze and the Danny Ketch versions of the comic. So even though I am telling the Johnny Blaze origin story, there are elements of the Danny Ketch stories that I love and will include in the movie (so don't worry, Flamehead! Your beloved Danny Ketch will be there in spirit!). Caretaker will be there. And Blackheart [already announced as being played by Wes American Beauty Bently]. But so will Mephisto and Roxanne and the Quentin Carnival.

 

"The script. People have mentioned the old David Goyer draft. Goyer wrote two really interesting versions of a Ghost Rider movie. I'd go to see either one of them. But my version is my own. The script is much closer to the comic. But at the same time, it's much more of a Western. A Supernatural Western is, I think, about the coolest idea ever. The Ghost Rider needs that open road as well as the city. I feel that is what makes him unique -- that he's a rider. Think Mad Max. Unforgiven. We have huge battles in the city but, ultimately, they will end up out in the desert.

 

"The Hellcycle. Well, it's simply unbelievable. It's sculpt is finished and it went into the molds last week. It's the Chopper from Hell. No doubt about it. This is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. The toys and the video game are already in the works and they are going to kick ass!”

 

Click on the link above for the full post from Johnson. The full article (with a ful page preview of art) about the Marvel Knights miniseries appears in this week’s Wizard #161.

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Yeah, i agree, but it might work as a Knights title - theyve always wanted a solid Ghost Rider book (last mini was...eh), cause he fits the profile. Personally, i thought it was weird they had such great books with Daredevil, Punisher, Inhumans, Black Panther etc but this hadnt yet.

Then again, Ghost Rider, in my mind, is one of those characters like Blade or Gambit: people like the look of him, but dont really know shit about him (bad villians, one dimensional character, etc) so a good writer can pretty much do whatever they want, i think. Ennis had so much fun with supernatural stories back in the day on Demon, I bet he's gonna enjoy this one - just wonderig if he'll make it a comedy like his first go at Punisher? I gotta re-read the article....

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