THE ADVENT OF ROB WORLEY RISING AT 360EP

[raul grau]

By Remy Minnick, Comixfan Staff Writer

Rob Worley might not be a name you recognize but he's been working with the comics and movie industries for eight years now. Starting as a journalist for the Comics2Film website, Rob Worley got a chance to make contacts and understand the inner workings of both businesses. His comic book break came in the form of writing the Young Ancient One for Marvel's short lived Epic line of books. Now, you can find him writing Advent Rising, the first comic book from Bill Jemas' 360 ep's publishing division. We caught up with him recently to talk about writing a video game time-in, his time at Marvel and his life now working for 360 ep.

Comixfan: For those who may not be familiar with your name, what is your background and what work have you done in comics before this point?

Rob Worley: I've been buzzing around the periphery of the comics and film industries for over eight years now as a journalist with my website Comics2Film.com. As far as familiar comics works would go, the only published thing that anyone would have seen was my Young Ancient One (YAO) comic, published by Marvel as one of the last gasps of the Epic line. That came out last February under the cover of Epic Anthology Presents.

Comixfan: Has your work covering comics and film for the past eight years given you any insights that you take with you as you've started writing in the same mediums?

Worley: It's definitely given me some perspective about how things work, and how difficult the work can be at times. I've listened to many stories from many writers who are far more successful than I, but suffered through their share of frustrations, false starts and failed projects. So it's given me a little more patience than I might have otherwise had.

And, as of that work I've formed a network of friends and associates that I couldn't be happier about. Some days I can't believe I have a support structure that includes creators who I've admired for years, twenty years, some longer than that. That's not a bad thing at all.

Comixfan: As the old saying goes, every dark cloud has a silver lining. Looking back on your time writing for Marvel's Epic line, what was the silver lining there?

Worley: I think the obvious thing was gaining association with Teresa and Bill. I did find Marvel's handling of the Epic situation painful and unfortunate on many levels, but the fact is, I'm working on Advent today because of everything that happened back then.

I also consider Andy Kuhn, who drew Young Ancient One, to be a good friend. I may never have met him were it not for that project. We're working on a creator-owned thing together even as I type this.

My young readers book, The Legend of Tiger Fist, is a project that was an indirect result of that work as well.

It might have been hard to see it 18 months ago, but I was on a path that was going somewhere, and the pothole in the road wasn't really as big or terrible as it seemed then.

Comixfan: How did you get involved with 360ep and the Advent Rising comic book?

Worley: As I'm sure everyone recalls, 360ep chief Bill Jemas was the mastermind behind the Epic line at Marvel (among many other things) and 360ep director of development Teresa Focarile was an editor on YAO. They both remembered me from that.

So, when the comic publishing imprint at 360ep started moving, they rang me up and asked me if I was available and I was. I then proceeded to harass them incessantly until the Advent Rising project came up.

Comixfan: Originally working for Marvel's ill-fated Epic line, how does it feel to be working with Bill Jemas again?

Worley: It's been great! I didn't really work with Bill much on YAO so it's been fun getting acquainted with him. He's got great insights into comics on so many levels, so it's really been educational for me. I find him and everyone involved with the book to be so easy to work with.

Comixfan: For those unfamiliar with the title, Advent Rising is a video game by Majesco and GlyphX Games. What is Advent Rising about?

Worley: Advent Rising is an epic, science fiction story. It tells the story of the mankind's first contact with an alien race. The good news is, the Aurelians are a benevolent race that reveres humanity. The bad news is, they've inadvertantly led another alien species, their nemeses The Seekers, to the human homeworld of Edumea, and the Seekers arrive to destroy the human race.

It's up to Gideon Wyeth, his big brother Ethan, his fiance Olivia and a soldier named Marin Steel to save species from anihilation.

Comixfan: How close does the comic follow the storyline of the video game? With the video game being planned as a trilogy, will the comic give a glimpse into what is to come?

Worley: The comic is actually quite different from the game in both tone and story. We're backing up ten years from the start of the game, to a point where Gideon and Ethan are teenagers. They've just moved from Edumea the sister planet of Artemus on family business. They're struggling to fit in, make friends and establish themselves on this new world.

So, we're not going to be presenting something so enormous as an interplanetary war between several races. Instead it's the formative years of the characters that gamers have come to know. We get to see Gideon's first encounter with Olivia. We learn why Gideon tends to live in Ethan's shadow, just as he is when the game begins.

All of this is being done with the guidance and approval of Donald Mustard, who has said in previous interviews that this is really the begining of the story that comes to a world-spanning climax in the video games.

Comixfan: With the in depth plot lines of today's video games, why the need for a comic book?

Worley: With something as massive as the Advent video game series, it seems to me there's always room to go more in-depth. The game starts with the idea that Ethan is a famous and much-beloved war hero and Gideon is seen as kind of a loose cannon. So gamers might be wondering how that dynamic originated. Or how Olivia and Gideon became engaged to be married. And what happened during the war that made Ethan a hero?

There are really a wealth of stories that occur in the ten-year gap between Rock the Planet and Rising. And those stories suggest other stories. Gamers who read the comic might be wondering: what happened to the planet Artemus during the gap.

And, if we can rewind on the game's primary characters, what about the secondary characters. I would personally love to go back and tell the story of Enorym, the Auerillan hero from the game. Or Marin Steel. Or even the Seekers.

Comixfan: How much creative freedom did you have with the series and how close did you work with the game designers?

Worley: Donald Mustard of Glyphx has been involved with the comic from the start. Advent is a story that he's been developing for most of his life, I think, so it'd be impossible to do it without him.

He's worked with Bill and Teresa to develop the big story concepts that appear in Rock the Planet, including the social, economic and political structure of the planet Artemus as well as some of the big plot points for the story.

Donald reviews all materials for the comic and freely offers suggestions, but for the most part he's been happy with the work we've been doing.

Comixfan: What has the experience been like working with Cliff Richards on the title?

Worley: Cliff's a great guy. He's a very talented artist and really easy to work with. I know he's been very patient with me when I've asked for things in the artwork that I should have asked for earlier.

I'd be remiss if I failed to talk about Arthur Dela Cruz, who is doing the layout art for the book. We're working in a very dynamic development style that is new to me but going very well. Arthur has the critical task of laying out my plots as story pages so Bill, Teresa, Donald and myself can get an very early look at what an issue will be like before we send it off to Cliff.

I'm really happy working with both Arthur and Cliff on this book.

Comixfan: Working on a comic book based on a video game, do you play video games yourself? What is your favorite game and for which system?

Worley: Obviously the Advent Rising game has a place near and dear to my heart. Mostly I'm a PC-gamer. I tend to like strategy games like Warcraft, but also can get into multi-player frag-fests like Doom and Quake and the endless follow-ons in that category.

Comixfan: Do you have any other projects coming up?

Worley: I'm working with Bill on another book for 360ep that he created. Bill's actually plotting that book and I'm writing the dialogue. Arthur is on that book as well.

There's also The Legend of Tiger Fist, an illustrated chapter book for young readers. It'll be published by Komikwerks.com as part of a new intiative they're launching early next year.

I've got a number of short stories coming up in Brian Yuzna's Horrorama from a new publisher out of Italy called Narwain. The first issue of that is out in November, I think.

And a few more comics projects besides, that are in the early stages, as well as a few screenplays.

[Eric J. Moreels]

Hey Rob, if by chance you're reading this, it's great to hear that you're continuing on with what began with Epic. I have to agree with you that while Epic did turn fairly disastrous, for those of us that got so close to actually being published and for those that got an issue out before the plug was pulled, it still did teach some valuable lessons.

YAO was a great read, and a true shame it never got the chance to go beyond one issue, so I'll definitely be checking out Advent Rising!

[Robbo]

Hey, Eric! Thanks for the good words. It was a grand experiment and I'm sure a lot of people here would have loved to have seen your Epic concepts realized. Here's hoping they find their way out there at some point.

And thanks to Remy for the nice writeup. I hope everyone digs the book!