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Comic books:an ancient evil returns
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Thulsa Doom:Image Courtesy of Dynamite Ent.
Dynamite Entertainment, has always provided its readers with great artists like Alex Ross and fantastic writers like Garth Ennis. The company has made a reputation for itself by being a reader oriented enterprise versus a corporate driven entity. It's also been able to breathe new life into some older characters like "The Lone Ranger," and "Zorro."
More recently the company has found great success with the Sword and Sorcery characters from the fantasy world created by Robert E. Howard. The founder of that particular genre and its premiere hero "Conan, the Barbarian." Now Dynamite is following their success with that title and his female counter part "Red Sonja," with a new book that explores the origin of their greatest nemesis. The Ancient evil wizard and leader of the Serpent cult, Thulsa Doom.
Writer Arvid Nelson gives a short explanation of his vision of the character's roots to Comic Book news. "The Thulsa Doom that most people are familiar with is the character played by James Earl Jones in the movie "Conan the Barbarian." That's going to be our biggest frame of reference, he ends his life as a false prophet and sorcerer, but it doesn't begin that way. In the Conan film, one of the characters says Thulsa Doom might be "a thousand years old." That always intrigued me."
Although Thulsa Doom was Howard's's greatest villain, how he came to be was a glaring omission. Arvid explains to Comic book news the direction of his interpretation."Our story is Thulsa's pre-history, a part of his life that's never been explored before. It begins with the destruction of Atlantis, thousands of years before Sonja's time. Thulsa is trying to keep his world from being ripped apart, but it's an impossible task. There's also a darkness inside of him that's always threatening to swallow him. That old saying "when fighting monsters , be careful lest you become a monster yourself," is very true for him.
Another component of the title's inspiration is actor Djimon Hounsou's interest in playing the character on film. Arvid continues in Comic Book News."My understanding is that they're still in the early stages of developing the film. Obviously the comic is a big step forward in visualizing certain paths the story on the big screen might take. I'd be pleased as punch if anything we developed for the comic found its way onto the screen."
The cover will be done by the master Alex Ross, interior art by the new and impressive Lui Antonio of Dynamite's "Terminator Revolution" series. Antonio is an import with years of experience. However when the comic book industry in his homeland of the Philippine Islands collapsed, he found work with Dynamite here in the states. He explains what drew him to the project to Comic book News."I much prefer illustrating babes with blades and fantasy tales filled with magic. I'm less keen on robotics unless there's a horror-suspense element."
For a new and thrilling take on a well established character reserve your copy today!
Thulsa Doom hits store shelves in August 2009.
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