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After starring in a number of comic book adaptations, including X-Men: Apocalypse and Marvel Studios' Moon Knight, actor and producer Oscar Isaac is teaming up with his lifelong friends Robert Johnson and John Alvey to create the original graphic novel Head Wounds: Sparrow. Published through Legendary Entertainment and Isaac's production company Mad Gene Media, the graphic novel is written by hardboiled crime writer Brian Buccellato and hauntingly illustrated by superstar artist Christian Ward. The graphic novel tells the tale of morally conflicted New Orleans police detective Leo Gator who ho finds himself on a path of redemption as he literally inherits the physical wounds of the community around him.
Oscar Isaac, Robert Johnson, and John Alvey sat down with CBR for an exclusive interview about Head Wounds: Sparrow. The trio revealed the intensely personal inspiration behind the story and their collaborative process with Buccellato and Ward, and they teased the themes in the story and where they'd like to see it go next.
CBR: You guys have known each other and collaborated together for a long time. What was it about Head Wounds: Sparrow that was almost like the culmination of this friendship and collaborative process between you guys?
Robert Johnson: It's different than the other stories that we've done together because I was dying and really evaluating myself. I had Stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and was given six months. That was well over 10 years ago, and I'm still here. I was scared shitless and really evaluating myself. We were just talking about when you get into the visceral part of yourself when you get sick, you really jump to the spiritual, and that's how I got into this mindset. This is the craziness that came out of me. John fixed it, everyone else made it into a thing, and that's what happened.
Of all the potential mediums to pursue this in, what was it about the comic book medium that made you want to bring this to life in?
Oscar Isaac: The world that Bob and John created was vast around Head Wounds. As Bob has mentioned, not only is his body at war, but spiritually you're at war with what that means. He depicted that in a very visceral way, and they created this massive epic world around it. When we started talking about it as a film or a TV series, we definitely felt like it was more of a serial story to tell. I think because of the epic nature of the story and visuals, we felt it was an amazing opportunity to do it as a graphic novel. When Legendary, in particular, got excited about it, it felt like a no-brainer. Sure enough, we were able to get amazing people -- Brian Buccellato to write it, narrow it down, and condense it, and Christian Ward to unleash hellfire upon it. What we got is this right here.
I've been following Christian's work since ODY-C, and he always brings this psychedelic surrealism. What was it about exploring the dark side of that with this religious stigmata story?
Johnson: Christian is a genius. His art isn't just great comic book or graphic novel art -- it's just great art. The man has a soul that comes out through his instruments, and we love that. We love the collaboration and seeing what he does. We're like little kids on Christmas morning, waiting for the next Christian Ward drawing to come to us, and I miss it! I went into a depression because it stopped. I don't get a Christian Ward drawing once a week.
Isaac: And the fact that he was willing to take a risk, because you're right, this is not the kind of stuff he does. He doesn't do dark noir or gritty realism. His stuff is psychedelic. It's out there, there's space, and it's galactical. The fact that he keyed in to us wanting to tell this story in a very different way, I think he got excited at the possibility of doing something different. If there's no risk, there's just no point in doing it.
In working with Brian and Christian as a comic book and seeing their work come in, how did that change your initial story and world as you originally planned it however many years ago?
John Alvey: We didn't envision a graphic novel in the beginning. We were just trying to work on a script, like Oscar said, and that changed everything. The first time we got a script from Brian, and we saw how much goes into a graphic novel script and how different it was from what we were trying to do, it's just so eye-opening. With every panel and foreground, that guy is good. He's really good.
Johnson: I like books with pictures in them. [laughs] They were amazing, both of them. Christian and Brian, Robert from Legendary -- everybody was teaching us what the hell we were doing. We love comic books, but we've never been on the other side of the curtain. We had never created in that way, and it was awesome. We learned a lot, and it grew so quickly, like that fire I set in my mother's house just that one time. [laughs]
I love New Orleans. It's like a slice of Europe in Louisiana. What made you want to set this story down on the bayou?
Isaac: I went to kindergarten there. My brother was born in New Orleans.
Johnson: A lot of family lives in Kenner-Metairie, and over in the swamp. I come from some Cajun stock. I've gone there and always had a child-like wonder. We've met voodoo people and hoodoo people, and I was scared of them until I met them. Most of them are cool people. They're deeper and definitely different from me and the way that I was raised. They taught us so much about herbs and how to use this thing for tea and that kind of thing. The place itself is alive, whether you're in the swamp or the city. There's just something different about Louisiana. It's alive, has its own soul, and like you said, there's a lot of European roots. It's just a beautiful place, and for me, it's my creamy, spiritual center, and that's why I wanted to start there.
What's the story behind having Leo as the protagonist? Oscar, you're no stranger to playing characters like this -- I'm thinking of A Most Violent Year, where nobody really comes off clean. How was it having Leo on a redemptive arc, taking on the literal wounds of his community?
Isaac: That's just it. That's not what human beings are like, or at least not in my experience. You're constantly at war with yourself for what the right thing is, doing the right thing, what the wrong thing is, why you're doing the things that you're doing, and not really understanding. I think there was an opportunity to tell that kind of gritty '70s antihero story with Leo Gator and have that kind of arc. That's the point of it. That's the way Bob first talked about it, and it was just so intriguing, just from a point of empathy. How do you force someone to have empathy, especially with people who are meant to protect others? It's their job to protect others. If those people were forced to suffer the same fate and wounds as the people they're meant to protect, maybe they'd be more apt to do their job.
As a quick aside, Oscar, who would you like to see Moon Knight square up against in the MCU?
Isaac: I don't know, man. Ghost Rider?
You had mentioned considering this for television or film. Is that still the endgame for Head Wounds: Sparrow looking ahead?
Isaac: It's a massive world that they've created. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot more story to tell, whether it's in more books in conjunction with seeing it come to live-action. We're definitely excited about the possibilities.
Johnson: We've got a big pot of soup. We just have to wait and see if people want seconds and thirds of it. It exists, but it's up to you and everyone else whether you like it or not and if you want more. It's always that way. Also, none of us are that good at endgame stuff. We're neck-deep in planning and creating. Wherever it goes, it'll be awesome. Wherever it goes will be badass!
Developed by Oscar Isaac and Jason Spire from a story created by Robert Johnson and John Alvey, Head Wounds: Sparrow is written by Brian Buccellato and illustrated by Christian Ward. The original graphic novel is on sale now from Legendary Entertainment and Mad Gene Media through Kickstarter and other major comic book publishers.