"Codeflesh" hardcover on sale in February

For Joe Casey, February is the month when everything old is new again. While the rest of his compadres in the Man of Action Studio are prepping for the launch of all-new comics series to warm fans' hearts in the cold winter month, the writer who already counts ongoing series "Gødland" and "Charlatan Ball" to his credit used Image Comics' Man of Action month to reintroduce fans to one of his out of print classic indie series: the sci-fi fugitive drama "Codeflesh." CBR firstbrought you newsof the titles in Man of Action's February slate of comic books fromImage, but when it comes to digging into the nitty gritty of the new imprint, creators Joe Kelly, Steven T. Seagle, Joe Casey and Duncan Rouleau make it easy for fans to get the scoop by simply interviewing each other! In "Codeflesh," a super bail bondsman whose identity is concealed by a barcode-adornedmask mixes it up in a noirish world of escaped super criminals. With art by Charlie Adlard ("The Walking Dead"), the cult comic has been long out of print. However, the new edition contains a revived color scheme as well as an all-new tale of tracking by Casey and Adlard. To wrap up our MEN ON ACTION month, artist Duncan Rouleau chatted up Casey on "Codeflesh" as well as his position as a writer who rides the line between Big Two superhero titles and indie books to unexpected and inventive effect.Duncan Rouleau: Your body of work has spanned both sides of the field- the commercial stuff like "UncannyX-Men" and "Superman" as well as independent titleslike "Gødland"and "Nixon's Pals." I know for myself there were differences between what Iimagined working on an established project would be like and what actually working on those titleswere. I'm curious, what are some of the distinctions you've come across betweenwhat you imagined doing a creator-owned book would be like and the actual reality of doing a creator-owned book?Joe Casey: The best thing about creator-owned comics is that it's as close anexperience as I've gotten to being a kid, drawing my own, terrible comics, which is something I used to do endlessly from age six to about agetwelve.Hopefully, the ones that people are actually paying money for aren't as terrible as the goofy shit I did as a kid.DR: How do you like handling the day-to-day aspects ofmarketing and design choices for your creator-owned stuff? Is it something youlike to sink your teeth into, or do you see it as follow-through for the comicitself?JC: That stuff is fairly easy, it comes second nature.Many times I triedto involve myself in those aspects of my work-for-hire gigs, much to the dismay of anyoneat the big publishers who did those specific jobs.But creator-ownedwork, if you take a step back from it, involves much more than the comic itself.It's an entire process of creation, execution and marketing that you have to immerse yourself in 100%.In a very real sense, it all mixestogether.DR: I've been looking over the list of books you're currently working on - it's an impressive and long list. How doyou find the indie titles you've been working on for the last several years havebeen informed by the commercial work you've been doing?JC: They obviously influence each other in pretty profound ways.Theexperiments I try out on my own, lower-profile titles are then carried over - in a much more refined way - to the bigger, company-owned titles.As forthe list being particularly long, I don't know what to say about that exceptthat I like to stay busy.Life's too short, and all of thatstuff.DR: You've been doing the indie thing for a whilenow. On the eve of this big Man of Action Comics launch with Image, have you beenthinking about a creative voice you are attempting to establish with your creator-ownedtitles?JC: I think with all of us Man Of Action guys doing books now, it's impossible to conceive of someoverall voice.The consistent factor is hopefully quality.All thesebooks will be good.For myself, I just go from project to project.Ikind of leave it to other people to identify whatever links them. There'scertainly going to be enough of them in the coming year.DR: In both "Nixon's Pals" and "Codeflesh,"your main characterswork insideestablished governmental systems - one a bail bondsman, the other a paroleofficer.Is it the built-in framework for villains and conflict orsomething more specific about these bureaucracies that attracts you? Why do youthink those themes show up in your work?JC: The kind of characters I like to write always have to be pushingagainst something, or be oppressed by something that's beyond just a bad guyvillain-type. I think there's probably some subconscious link to the monolithicinstitutions that all creative people end up bumping into.Those obstacles have been placed in front of me my entire career.But I'mnot complaining, those kind of conflicts keep you creatively competitive.DR: This a re-mastered volume of "Codeflesh." What are the aspects that you changed? Did you find yourself revisiting any of the written material?JC: Revisiting? No. But there's a kick-ass new story, never before seen, that we did specifically for this edition. On the older stories we went back to color - the first trade was in black and white. We re-colored some pages, but even then it wasto preserve the look of the original color comics that were released back in2001. I'm pretty much at peace with the work I did on the book, andCharlie's work definitely holds up.Then again, he's always been so good,so there's no surprise there.DR: The great Charlie Adlardis the artist on "Codeflesh." His style is a perfect fit for both the brutal andmoodyaspects of the story.Did you have him in mind whenconstructing the project or was it a case of you two trying to find a project towork together on? How did it come about?JC: My afterward in the hardcover pretty much covers my history withCharlie.Long story short, I was a fan of his art before I even turnedpro, and I sought him out to work with.Luckily, he was happy to be soughtout.DR: What is it about the modern noir story that attractsyou? What other material informs your writing when approaching this style ofstorytelling?JC: I'm a big Elmore Leonard fan, mainly because his stories - his crimestories - are about people first.Yes, the crime element is always there,generally as some sort of plot engine, but the focus for me is hischaracters.I'm nowhere near that level of proficiency when it comes tocharacterization. I'm well aware that even something like "Codeflesh"relies asmuch on superhero tropes as it does anything else.But somewhere in thereI hope there's some deeper stuff going on.The friendship between Cameronand his partner, Staz, is more important to the series than most readers haveever picked up on.The "Codeflesh" Definitive Hardcover goes on sale in February from Image Comics, and can be found on page 146 of the December Previews catalogue.