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Hawken #1

The father/son team of Tim & Ben Truman bring you Hawken, a western tale of revenge, from IDW. Tim Truman’s name is familiar to comic fans for his work on such books as GrimJack, Scout, as well as Conan. Ben, who has done a Conan story for Myspace Dark equine provides in addition to work in the video game industry,  may not be also understand however that is sure to modification after visitors get a look at Hawken. Westfield’s Roger Ash contacted Tim as well as Ben to discover more about the project.

Westfield: exactly how did the book come about?

Ben Truman: The people came out to go to me in Tucson, Arizona. We explored the specify for about a week, making great deals of stops from The Grand Canyon to Tombstone.

Don’t understand what prompted it, however somewhere around Sunset Crater I asked my dad if there was ever a story about a guy who survived a scalping.

Tim Truman: believe it or not, that’s all it took to plant the seed. It’s extremely strange, however that’s exactly how it works out sometimes — the strangest things can sometimes kick begin a project.

Ben: before we understood it, there it was in front of us, as well as after that Hawken was all we might talk about. mom was stuck in the back seat, required to listen to dad as well as I produce this awful human being’s ghastly past.

Tim: Well, we’ve been married for 30 years so she’s quite utilized to it by now. She really got a kick out of it, listening to Ben as well as me begin to brainstorm.

That evening, we were walking with Flagstaff looking for a location to have dinner. Ben stated “He should look like a mountain man.” I stated “Yeah, as well as his name is ‘Hawken’” — a tip of the hat to the famous frontier rifle that all the mountain guy favored. I believe we came up with the concept for his dog, Caramba, on that walk, too, as well as the truth that Hawken can see the ghosts of all the people he’s ever killed.

Ben: Which naturally led to our coming up with just terrible methods for Hawken to have killed all these people.

As we visited areas like Tombstone as well as Bisbee, we came up with concepts for Hawken’s long history of occupations. It most likely came from Doc holiday being a dentist as well as a gunfighter. Living in the southwest demands an capability to adapt to survive, so Hawken has a patchwork past that always ensures a technique up his sleeve.

Tim: Hawken is totally Arizona-inspired. the most important elements of the story grew out of the history as well as scenery, particularly the Sonora Desert country.

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Westfield: who is Hawken as well as what can people look ahead to in the book?

Ben: Hawken is a grizzled old bastard, with bit trust as well as a huge temper. people can expect great deals of huge action sequences as well as snappy dialog. The set pieces are strange as well as offbeat, as well as when the story gets going it winds up in locations that people won’t expect.

Tim: Ideally, Hawken takes the iconic western “loner” character as well as the “revenge quest” legendary as well as bounces them on their heads. We utilize problem 1 to kind of kick down the door as well as get peoples’ attentions — to wake them up as well as get them curious about what’s going on. With problem 2, we begin stacking on the story, as well as with every problem that complies with people discover more as well as more about the people Hawken is hunting, the reasons for his vendetta, who a few of these ghosts may be, as well as the reason that they keeping popping as much as provide him unwelcomed advice.

Hawken is a tough, bloody, brutal book. however it isn’t just about bodies stacking up. There’s a ton of story here, as well as some truly subtle characterization touches.

Ben: Also, the action in Hawken is truly different from the traditional fare. We’ve come up with a great deal of unique action scenes, and  fun twists on old western standards. When Hawken completes somebody, it’s going to be unforgettable in the exact same method the action scenes are unforgettable in an Indiana Jones film.

When you believe of those specific movies, you can most likely keep in mind exactly how every person dies since each fight ends with a extremely rewarding pay off. The enemies aren’t expendable in the exact same method one more action movie may have a guy just just shot as well as killed. We likewise mix in aspects from the cinematic feel of Sergio Leone as well as the visceral bits of Hong Kong action cinema.

Hawken #1 variant cover

Westfield: exactly how do you two work together on the book? who does what?

Ben: Basically, I write, he draws. We both assembled the idea as well as primary plot, however I do the page-to-page bits, block out the action, craft the dialog, plot the character arcs. then dad as well as I pass the script back as well as forth later on up until whatever seems just right.

Tim: It’s a fantastic method to work, though quite time-consuming. The benefit is that we each get equal input into the general concept, as well as that a person may catch something that hadn’t occurred to the other. Plot-wise, it’s extremely collaborative process.

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Westfield: working as a father/son team has the prospective to be contentious. exactly how have you discovered working together?

Ben: perhaps it wouldn’t have worked so well when I was 13, however at 28 it’s quite awesome. I’m discovering a great deal about visual storytelling as well as narratology. We’ll have quibbles over little story points, like should Hawken state a specific line of dialog right here or there, however we both comprehend the huge parts of the story as well as understand exactly how whatever needs to autumn together to finest serve the story.

Working together is quite simple too, thanks to the Web as well as wise phones.

I’ll usually phone call whenever I’m walking to work to talk about the latest script concepts as well as developments.

Tim: We’ve been working on the whole idea for over a year now, going at it hard. We haven’t had any type of fights, which is surprising, since we both can be quite hard-headed as well as stubborn. working with Ben is like working with a associate rather than my son. Of course, the truth that he is my son as well as that we’re having this fantastic time together makes Hawken all the more exciting. The job is just as fresh to us now as it was over a year ago.

Hawken #2 cover

Westfield: If this miniseries does well, do you have more Hawken tales to tell?

Ben: We sure do. There is a sprawling back story delegated explore, as well as an fascinating future as Hawken plows ahead on his quest for revenge. And, when you discover that the ghosts who comply with him might be old friends, bested rivals, or somebody who just looked at Hawken the wrong way, this vast history between Hawken as well as these supporting characters opens up.

Tim: I’d like Hawken to just go on as well as on as well as on. We might quickly do four or more arcs of material. I’ve never rather so welded to a job before. This thing is epic. We have to take it past the very first arc.

Ben: The method this story started was we were just throwing concepts for scenes back as well as forth, back as well as forth. We wound up with a big stack of scenarios, as well as we chosen the ones that stuck out the most as well as started discovering all the pieces where they might in shape together. In the end we came up with a truly solid story full of huge action sequences, plot twists, cat-and-mouse elements, detective bits, drama, as well as heart.

I can’t wait up until people have checked out all six issues. I believe they’ll be extremely happy with the whole experience.

Hawken #3 cover

Westfield: are there any type of other jobs that either of you are working on that you’d like to mention?

Ben: I had stories published in each volume of FUBAR, a WW2 zombie anthology. There are big pools of indie skill in each book. They’re both fantastic jump off points to discover other independent comics produced by smart, innovative folks.

Also, I’m the story Lead for a computer game called Black Mesa Source, a remake of the prominent PC game Half-Life.

And just recently, dad as well as I got a possibility to adapt a story for an anthology of stories written by native Americana.

Tim: Besides working on Hawken, I’m composing Conan: Phoenix On The Sword miniseries for Dark Horse. I still enjoy doing the Conan stuff rather a bit. Tomas Giorello is drawing the miniseries.

Besides that, I still do a great deal of book cover work for Subterranean Press. as well as starting in October people can go to the Grateful Dead website, www.Dead.net,  as well as see some new work that Rhino Records asked me to do for the band. They’re doing the band’s newsletter, the Grateful Dead Almanac completely on the internet now, as well as they asked me to do some new “Grateful Dead Comix” pages for them. The new pieces will be interactive — when you click on different parts of the drawings, something will happen: a verse will play from the tune that I’m adapting, the drawing may change, or there may be some kind of visual effect. It’s quite exciting.

Other than that, I’m likewise composing as well as recording some special Hawken “soundtrack” tunes that will be offered to inspect out online, via my website at www.timothytruman.com as well as at IDW’s site.

Westfield: any type of closing comments?

Ben: just thanks for the opportunity, Roger, as well as I hope you enjoy Hawken.

Tim: What my partner said.

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Hawken #1

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