Hayden Mears chats with Alex Paknadel about Incursion from Valiant Entertainment…
For comic writer Alex Paknadel, superpowered refrigerators are a relic of the Bush era. “Bush Senior,” he clarifies. “Senior.” None of that Bush Junior bullshit (my words, not his).
With superstar writer Andy Diggle as his initial guide, Paknadel writes Incursion, a four-issue event series meshing beloved elements of the Valiant continuity with exciting new concepts and happpenings. Diggle co-plotted and co-wrote the book’s first issue before handing the reins to Paknadel, his longtime friend and fellow creator. Legendary artist Doug Braithwaite draws the book.
Incursion follows the Eternal Warrior and his charge, Tama the Geomancer, as they fight to protect what’s good and green from Imperatrix Virago, a parasitic conqueror with a heart as black and withered as the husks in her wake. Accompanying her to her morbid buffet is the mysterious Syntilla, a young girl who’s not actually a young girl. She’s old as shit.
During an interview with Flickering Myth at C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo), Paknadel spoke about the challenges of writing what he called a “subtle invasion” and how the book forced him to grow as a writer. Delightful and passionate, Paknadel answered every question with a smile on his face and a gleam in his eyes. The guy’s definitely where he needs to be professionally.
Read on for more!
How would you describe Incursion to new readers?
Okay, I would describe it as an invasion of the Valiant universe through a realm of the dead. So it’s a very subtle invasion of Earth. Not a frontal invasion with spaceships everywhere. It’s a very subtle invasion by a cosmic threat called Imperatrix Virago. Standing in her way we have Gild, the Eternal Warrior and Earth’s guardian, the geomancer Tama, who is charged with protecting life.
You describe it as a subtle invasion. Why is the subtlety of it important? Usually, by definition, invasions are not subtle or they become not subtle. You’ve usually got encroaching alien ships coming in, screwing everybody up.
The controlling idea of the book is that the Deadside (not hell, not limbo) is actually a transport medium between worlds. You can get anywhere in the Valiant universe through the Deadside. The reason it’s subtle is that effectively what we wanted to do was an invasion storyline that also functions as horror. That’s where the subtlety comes in. Aliens is a fantastic movie, but it’s not a horror movie. Alien is a horror movie. It’s an invasion, but it’s creeping. It’s the thing in the pipes. So that’s how we were briefed on this. We wanted an invasion of Earth that crept up through the pipes.
Did you pitch the idea or was it assigned to you?
Andy Diggle and I go way back. He gave me the first sort of shots that I had in my career. I’d been writing comics professionally for three or four years, and Valiant had kind of given him this event book. The way he sort of said it to me was, “Okay, so this is an event book. I think this would be a really good way to put you on a bigger book to see if you can handle it.” It’s an event book. It’s a big ask. He said to me, “I think you’re ready. Do you think you’re ready?” And I said yes. This was all conducted over the phone. I was at a signing in London and within 48 hours I sat in a Brooklyn cafe thrashing it out with Valiant editorial. And it was locked from that point. The Valiant guys were really accommodating and really receptive to the idea. I was up and running within days.
How did it feel getting this opportunity? Surreal? Scary? Exciting?
Honestly, this is kind of out of school and I hope Andy doesn’t mind me saying this, but Andy’s been my friend since 2005. We’re neighbors. I bored him for years with all of my dumb ideas. I met him in my early 20s and I was just throwing around bullshit like, ‘”What if a fridge had superpowers?” But after a while, he eventually said, “Look, I’m gonna tough love you. It’s great that you have these ideas but I’m not gonna listen to any more of them unless you write them down. And eventually I got the message and actually wrote something, and within a week he got me a sit-down with Will Dennis at Vertigo, who got me my first gig at Boom! Once I actually did the work, he went to bat for me. I made a promise to myself to do the same. You gotta pay it forward. With Incursion, it was weird because I was super excited to be working with Valiant and I was equally excited that my friend, my mentor recognized that it was a big book and trusted me with it. I won’t lie: It was a moment.
So, uh, what if a fridge had superpowers?
It would obviously be a satire of the Bush era. Senior. Not Junior. That would be ridiculous.
So it’s a four-issue event, correct? As of this past week, two issues have been published already. How do you feel out how long an event should be?
Personally, the thing I really like about Valiant is that their events are grounded. There’s no creep. There’s no like, “Well, now I have to go to the store and pick up nine volumes.” They’re more novelistic and condensed, which I like. Whatever you’re picking up is kind of the marquee event. Whatever you’re picking up is the main thing going on. You have to ratchet up the tension or you lose everybody. And you have to make the stakes very, very clear. You also have to have clear beats and a definite endpoint. Things have to have changed by the end. In a Valiant event, the status quo has to be different for it to count. Otherwise, everyone feels cheated and they burn down the office. I love that because it allows you to maintain total focus. I’ve got 80 pages to do a galaxy-spanning threat. You’ve gotta reign yourself in but also cut loose. People don’t come to you for subtext. They come to you for entertainment.
A big thanks to Alex Paknadel for chatting with us! His new event series, Incursion, can be found wherever Valiant comics are sold!
Hayden Mears
