My ANT layouts

[Erik Larsen]

Okay--I'm a sucker for a good sob story and ANT was that for me.

ANT's creator Mario Gully was looking for a home for ANT and I took the book in like a kid rescuing a bird with a broken wing. I took it into my care and tried to help it thrive.

The thing was--I didn't think ANT, as it existed, was very good. ANT was at another publishing house and had an initial four-issue miniseries, which predated its Image run. The problem was--that there was too much Hannah--and not enough ANT and that Hannah was a little girl--and ANT was a figment of her imagination. There was simply no threat to ANT the superhero--we could care about her as a kid--but because ANT only existed in the pages of her diary--there was no imminent danger posed to the title character. She was never in any danger because she wasn’t “real.”

If ANT was to come to Image--there would need to be some changes made.

I could see the potential there. J. Scott Campbell had drawn a couple covers for ANT and they were smoking hot. As a visual ANT is very distinctive--icon even. There simply isn’t another character that looked like her. I saw the potential and I wanted to see it realized.

Mario and I talked. Mario made all kinds of promises about making deadlines and all the rest. If this was to work--he’d have to be timely. His book was anything but timely at his previous publisher. We talked story. We talked direction. We talked cover design and costume design and all the rest. J. Scott Campbell’s version was stronger than Mario’s was. He gave her costume more of a sheen and he used more blacks. Mario’s version looked empty, flat and uninteresting. He saw the light.

We agreed that Hannah should grow up. ANT would be the adventurer, an adult Hannah would be her other identity and the kid Hannah from the previous series would be seen in flashbacks only.

Here's the rough cover sketch I drew for issue #1:


But it was clear that this little bird was having problems. I did what I could, lining up guest stars like Dragon and Spawn and doing sketches when needed.

It wasn’t working.

Mario ran late and he kept working with writers who didn’t work out and his own writing was--well--not very good. His dialogue was sketchy, his plotting was weak and his spelling was terrible. I suggested that he get an editor. I even suggested somebody who might do the job. Mario had him re-write an issue and he was so pleased with the results that he asked him to write the book.

Then THAT fell apart.

He got a ANOTHER new writer and his work wasn’t very strong and all the while Mario’s output slowed to a crawl.

And the book got later and later and sales kept going down and down.

After a while it became clear that there was little chance of saving this patient. The book was dying. I talked to Mario about the options. It was clear that he had other needs--family needs. Mario was married with children and he was struggling to provide for them. His book wasn’t doing the trick. Its schedule wasn’t helping. He was offered paying work elsewhere and he took it.

I’d suggested lining up other creators to do a few fill-ins to get the book out there. But there was a problem--the book was in the middle of a story--Mario had drawn eight pages of the next issue and he wasn’t pleased with where it was going and any new creators couldn’t start without his story being wrapped up. Mario fired over the pages he’d drawn. I looked them over and I came up with an ending that would accomplish what he needed to accomplish. It wrapped things up in short order and cleared the deck. Whoever came on the book had a clean slate.

I even drew layouts for the balance of that issue:

























Mario was excited about it. He said it was the most excited about the book he’s been in years but communication was slow and his work slower still. It was often as much as a month between e-mails and it became obvious that there was no way this was going to get done any time soon and worse--the sales were now so low that digging out looked impossible. The book was hemorrhaging money. If Mario ever did finish the issue--neither party would see a dime.

And so, reluctantly, we agreed to cancel the title. I was hoping to have some closure and have the book come to some kind of end but it was not to be. Mario thought he might be able to make the book fly elsewhere but I’m long past the point where I want to see my work published anywhere other than Image so I requested that my efforts NOT be used and Mario agreed not to use them.

I don’t like giving up. It frustrates me that I wasn’t able to help make this work. I had high hopes of proving the naysayers wrong but it was not to be.

In any case I thought you might like to see what I did.
_________________
-Erik Larsen
Savage Dragon perpetrator

www.savagedragon.com
www.imagecomics.com

[Gavin, BotF]

Cool. I love seeing things like this. I like how you tried to personally ensure that a book coming out from your company got some closure so that the fans/readers wouldn't be left nuts from dangling plot threads. I hate them! ANT was a cool little book, I wish Mario well but hope we see the resolution some time.
_________________
- Gavin Higginbotham, BotF

[Friday]

Thank you for sharing this.

[Adam O. Pruett]

Dammit, that issue looks cool. I was wondering what was going to happen with Ant, and I can totally picture Mario's versions of those pages. It's too bad it didn't work out.

[Jettison]

I felt Mario was an example of an Image fan like so many of us....nursed on the original Image books with a eye for the exagurated and flashy....He had the chance to create an Image book that reached back into those old roots and 'reunited' the Universe (Dragon's appearance)......It's a shame it came to an end like this...

...BUT! What a shot of inspiration that would be (for me) to have Erik actually help you plotting, sketching, and discussing a book of your own! I just don't know how you could pass something like that up....I realize he has mouths to feed, but I believe if he had kicked ANT into high gear, it would have paid off....maybe I'm too much of an optomist, and I don't have children, or a REAL career yet, so I can't put myself in the guy's shoes....but I want to believe that with enough passion, your creation can and will eventually thrive.....

Thanks for showing this to us Erik...it just really makes me want to someday work for Image even MORE! Great to see that you care so much for the books that Image puts out....

[Venkman007]

Those rough layouts fuckin RULE!!
Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of "Image Event" in an issue? I recall Joe Keatinge saying something to the effect of "Old school Image fans'll be very happy"

Did that come out?
_________________
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[Jason Green]

[Ribs]

I love seeing this stuff.

Is there any chance that the rights to Ant could be sold to someone who could get the work done?

I mean, of course they'd still have to get the greenlight, but it seems as though the character has some immediate promise. It might have an upper hand on books that are not already situated.

Or is better to just let it die?

[The Godfather]

[MiseryCityTexas]

[Tommy Smith]

Erik, does this make you shy away from helping out a book like this in the future? I think this is fascinating.

[Jay Faerber]

[Gavin, BotF]

[Erik Larsen]

[Ribs]