@’s by DARKNESS Writer Phil Hester!
One such person is former mob hitman Jackie Estacado, who bonded with an otherworldly force which grants him fantastic and deadly powers. But that power has now turned on him, and it seems a sinister intelligence may lay behind it. Writer Phil Hester has been chronicling the story of THE DARKNESS for the past four years, and as his run heads towards its conclusion in the landmark 100th issue, Hester takes Estacado straight into the realm of the Darkness to confront, and perhaps destroy, the entity that has been threatening his life and the life of his loved ones. I spoke with Hester to learn more about his ground-breaking run, and what readers may learn about Jackie and The Darkness itself in “Total Darkness”, his final arc on the book, beginning in issue #96.MATT ADLER (MA): You've had the longest and most successful run on THE DARKNESS of any writer; what do you think made it work?
PHIL HESTER (PH): I'm glad someone feels that way! I think I had it easy in that all the talented writers and artists before me spent so much time building Jackie Estacado up as this ultimate badass, that when I took an angle that humanized him a little it was a nice contrast to the almost Conan-like persona he had before. That devil-may-care attitude and thirst for violence draw readers to THE DARKNESS to this day, but the everyday travails I saddled him with gave those characteristics new depth. I hope.
On a more nuts and bolts level, I tried to bring some new villains to the book that could actually hang with Jackie for more than a few minutes. I mean, he's basically a Green Lantern-by-night, but without any morality hindering his brutal imagination. His enemies have a high turnover rate.
MA: Do you have any particular favorite issues or stories within your run?
PH: I am still fond of the first arc, “Empire”. I'm proud of an issue I told from the POV of a mercenary sent to kill Jackie through a long voicemail for his estranged daughter while Jackie and his Darklings hunted him. There were a couple of issues I got to write and draw focusing on my absolute favorite topic: swamp creatures. I still like the issue in which I disclosed a traitor in Jackie's inner circle after building the reveal for years. There's a one-shot set during the Frazetta age of Viking lore that Mike Oeming drew. Also, I'm very, very satisfied with the final arc.MA: How long have you been laying the groundwork to conclude your run with issue #100?
PH: From the very beginning. I took the gig with the idea that I may not last very long, so I had to just spill all these ideas out as soon as possible. Rob Levin, Filip Sablik, and Matt Hawkins patted me on the head and told me I could stay a while and actually asked me for a three year plan during my first few months on the book. We've been sticking to that pretty much. It’s all been a perfect, crystalline lotus flower unfolding at my command.
MA: Does the reborn Top Cow universe affect this story at all?
PH: In a way. I've been building to this big status quo shift in THE DARKNESS, all the while knowing a similar shift was underway with the entire Top Cow Universe. It was a race, in a way. Who could get to their climax first-- hold on, that doesn't sound right. Well, the events of ARTIFACTS sort of overtook the changes in THE DARKNESS, but we found a way to synch up the universe-shattering ending of ARTIFACTS with the giant change in THE DARKNESS with only very minor obfuscation. This is the great thing about Top Cow--we're small enough to make changes to the canon that actually stick.
MA: You made the choice of opening this final arc with a largely silent issue; what gave you the idea for that?
PH: Since my first issue I've written the book Harvey Kurtzman-style. When Harvey wrote the war books at EC, or the Flash Gordon strip for Dan Barry, he'd do thumbnails of each page in lieu of traditional script pages. He'd essentially hand over a simplified mock-up of the entire comic to the artist, complete with roughed in word balloons. I've been employed mostly as an artist during my comics career, so I naturally visualized each page before even beginning to think about describing it verbally. It just seemed the most effective way to communicate my script requirements to the artist. So, I've been doing these little thumbnail versions of each issue, trying to focus on letting the visuals carry as much of the narrative as possible. This action-oriented issue seemed like a good place to really test how effective that idea was.Also, the issue features Jackie interacting with a very primitive tribe with an unknown language. I wanted the reader to be at as much of a loss as Jackie as to how they communicated. Plus, I'm a sucker for silent issues. I'm a storytelling nerd.
MA: Sheldon Mitchell was the artist for the issues leading up to this story, but for this arc, Romano Molenaar and Leandro Oliveira are taking over. Do you adjust your scripts depending on who is going to be illustrating them?
PH: Sure, but only to the extent that I play to their strengths. I never shy away from something because I think an artist can't handle it. Top Cow has pretty high standards, so I know if they bring someone aboard, they can handle the book. But, sure--if a guy is great at drawing monsters, bring in some monsters. If she's good at technology, bring in some robots, etc. It's why this job rules.
I've been lucky to work with really superb artists from day one on this book. Michael Broussard became a superstar over the course of our run. I got to meet and work with Jorge Lucas, Sheldon Mitchell, Whilce Portacio, Romano, Leandro, not to mention all the great folks who came in for one-shots or all-star chapters. Sometimes I look at issue 75 and just shake my head at the studs we got to work on that one.
MA: Given that the nature of darkness is to obscure things, will readers gain insight into the true nature of The Darkness from this arc? PH: Most definitely. Questions will be answered, but not in a way that slams any doors on future takes on the character. We do get a final resolution of Jackie's relationship with the demonic entity controlling The Darkness, but I'm sure David Hine will have no trouble cooking up new sorrows for our anti-hero.
MA: As your run comes to a close, do you have an opinion of what kind of a person Jackie Estacado fundamentally is? He seems to want to reform himself, but is it from real regret, or has he just tired of the lifestyle?
PH: Well, no one thinks they're the bad guy, right? Jackie is a brutal, murderous criminal, but he has a set of core values that he rarely, if ever, violates. He values family and loyalty, as we've seen over and over in both THE DARKNESS and ARTIFACTS. He's brave, but vindictive. He will stop at nothing to protect what he considers his. Sometimes that appears noble, other times venal. He's a flawed person, like all of us; it's just that his flaws come to life and eviscerate people.
He's always hated being under The Darkness' yoke, despite the power it granted him. My arc has just been an exploration of how he finally chose to throw that yoke off for good. Mostly, it's about the changes we all go through in our twenties. Jackie finally grew up and accepted responsibility for this hideous power he has. He tried running from it, he tried drowning in it, now he wants to run it instead of letting it run him. He has to.
Despite all this he remains a complete bastard.
MA: How does it feel to be leaving this series after four years?
PH: Scary, but exciting. It was time. 100 is a good benchmark to bail on. I did around 36 issues, and if I can't get my message over in that time I'm pretty useless. It's my hope that my whole arc holds together as a set.I'm really grateful to the powers that be at Top Cow, especially Filip Sablik and Marc Silvestri, for entrusting their major franchise to a writer who's been mostly an artist until just a few years ago.
I miss it already!
MA: What projects do you have coming up next? Any plans to stretch your artistic muscles again?
PH: I am drawing a few gigs right now, but am forbidden to speak about them. I'm collaborating with a legendary filmmaker on one of the most globally beloved comics ever, but I can't talk about that either. I'm co-writing with one of comics' hottest creators on one of his properties, but that's secret, too. I'm a crypto-douche, I guess.
I'm adapting Kevin Smith's BIONIC MAN for Dynamite Comics, and will be taking over the writing on that book when the adaptation of Kevin's screenplay concludes. Finally, something I can talk about openly!
MA: Look for THE DARKNESS #100 in stores this week from Top Cow!!!
Matt Adler is a writer/journalist, currently writing for AICN among other outlets. He’s been reading comics for 20 years, writing about them for 7, and spends way, way, too much time thinking about them, which means he really has no choice but to figure out how to make a living out of them. He welcomes all feedback.
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
