J.H. Williams III (Promethea, The Sandman: Overture, Batman) and W. Haden Blackman (Star Wars, Elektra) are reuniting for the sprawling event series Echolands, which will deliver its unique landscape format of storytelling to Image Comics in August.
CBR has an exclusive look at interior pages from the first issue, along with statements from both Williams III and Blackman that break down the events taking place on each page.
"The pages shown here have a couple features that I find interesting. The first spread [p. 10/11] has this nice sense of building drama. Something about the layout creates a kind of cinematic pacing, but then boldly breaks it with the large wide close-up of Hope," Williams III said. "That close-up image causes a lingering pause in the action, reinforcing something important is happening, before moving back again into more cinematic movement."
"Hope Redhood has stolen a gem from Teros Demond, the despotic ruler of the city. Soon after, she and her ally Cor find themselves cornered by Demond's overzealous coppers," Blackman said in regard to the spread of pages 10-11. "This spread shows off the widescreen format -- we're able to use it to build from the initial confrontation through Hope's use of her innate powers and the copper's realization that something is amiss… We're still very conscious of using the page turn for reveals, so here we end on a bit of a cliffhanger before we showcase the full effect of Hope's 'red.'"
"The next spread [p. 16/17] does a nice job of selling a recognizable urban setting while juxtaposing one of our villains, showcasing that they almost seem out of place in the visual context of the setting. It makes for an intriguing visual," Williams III added. "The last two panels were a spur-of-the-moment decision that didn't exist in the original script. Haden and I spend a lot of time writing very thorough scripts and outlines, but yet even with that, occasionally something comes to mind during the drawing process that can add a fun new detail to play with that can affect upcoming sequences, and this is a good example of that."
As for Blackman's thoughts on pages 16-17, he said, "This spread is the first appearance of one of our major antagonists -- Teros Demond's daughter. As Hope and her fellow thieves will soon learn, Demond's daughter is relentless and nearly unstoppable, but we wanted all of her abilities to feel very organic and a bit alien. When writing this, we were very cognizant of giving the character a worthy entrance -- she gets an entire panel to herself, and we immediately get a sense that she is something more than human beneath her mask and robes. The city in the background is our futuristic San Francisco, portions of which have fallen into disrepair."
Echolands #1
- Written by J.H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman
- Art by J.H. Williams III, Dave Stewart and Todd Klein
- Cover by J.H. Williams III
- On sale Aug. 25
- A MAJOR IMAGE COMICS 2021 EVENT!
- The story of Earth’s last war starts with Hope’s sticky fingers…
- The multiple award-winning Batwoman team, J. H. WILLIAMS III (Promethea, The Sandman: Overture, Batman) and W. HADEN BLACKMAN (Star Wars, Elektra), reunites for an all-new ongoing series! They’re joined once again by colorist supreme DAVE STEWART and master letterer TODD KLEIN.
- In a bizarre future world that has forgotten its history, a reckless thief, Hope Redhood, holds the key to excavating its dark, strange past—if only she and her crew can escape a tyrannical wizard and his unstoppable daughter. But fate will send them all on a path leading to a war between worlds.
- ECHOLANDS is a landscape format, mythic-fiction epic where anything is possible—a fast-paced genre mashup adventure that combines everything from horror movie vampires to classic mobsters and cyborg elves, to Roman demigods and retro rocket ships. It’s going to be a helluva ride!
- Each issue of the series will offer a Raw Cut edition, featuring the art from J. H. WILLIAMS III as it looked leaving his work studio.
Echolands #1 goes on sale Aug. 25 from Image Comics.
Source: Image Comics