IAN EDGINTON talks KILLER INSTINCT #3, on sale in NOVEMBER from Dynamite!
BYRON BREWER: Ian, you said last time around that the Killer Instinct world is “essentially a fully-developed superhero universe” with “so much untapped potential.” Now that, as of this writing, you have two issues under your writing belt and about to unleash a third, which classic KI element (character, trope, etc.) have you had the most fun developing or plan to develop?
IAN EDGINTON: It’s more than just the one thing. I’ve really enjoyed the world- building aspect and especially how the characters interact with each other. In the game, their primary function is to beat the crap out of one another but what’s been fun is to work out the dynamics of their actual relationships, how they react and respond to each other in a larger setting.
For example Kim Wu, Jago and Tusk all know each other because they fought shoulder-to-shoulder when they were battling Gargos and his invasion of Earth. Kim is brash, sometimes bratty and fun loving, Jago is kind of broody and introspective and Tusk is the life and soul of the party!
BB: How is the collaboration going with artist Cam Adams? With such a well-known franchise and certain expectations, has there been any difficulties coping with the translation into comic book form? (Doesn’t look like it!)
IE: Cam is great to work with. His stuff is amazing. Occasionally he’ll suggest some changes to the pacing or panel beats to optimize the action but other than that it’s been a breeze!
BB: What can you tell us about this army of Wendigos the Coven has unleashed? Might it be more than at first it seems?
IE: When a vampire just won’t do, the Coven sends in the Wendigos. They’re the shock troops. The vampires are a surgical weapon, the Wendigos are the blunt instruments. The Wendigos are for when the Coven don’t just want an enemy taken down, they want them pounded into dust, which is why they send them after Jago.
BB: What can you tell readers about Tusk?
IE: He’s a warrior in the purest sense and one of the oldest Killer Instinct combatants.
Millennia ago, Tusk commanded an army to battle an invasion force originating from another plane of existence: a horde of human doppelgangers (called Mimics) controlled by Gargos. Tusk met Gargos on the field of battle, but was mortally wounded. As he lay dying, he was teleported to the Astral Plane by the benevolent beings known as Ichoriens. They infused him with Shadow Energy—thus making him immortal—then gave him a powerful weapon, and sent him back to Earth to continue his duel with Gargos. Tusk wounded the beast, forcing him to flee to a remote region of the Astral Plane. He and his surviving men wiped out the Mimics, thus saving the world.
Ever since, Tusk has served on Earth as a “Watchman of the Gods.” He wields phenomenal strength and cannot be slain by anything of this universe. His fate is tied to his blade - Warg-gram (Wolf-wrath), as he calls it. It’s a living thing, embedded with a fragment of the Ichorien communal soul, and forged from the most primal and unbreakable element of the Astral Plane. The sword guides him with visions, and, because of its Astral origins and adamantine properties, is one of the only weapons capable of piercing a Shadow Lord’s heart.
BB: Wassup with Kan-Ra? Can you give the uninitiated a little taste of this sorcerer’s backstory?
IE: He’s definitely a case of “my enemies’ enemy is my friend.”He’s motivated by his own self-interest and if that chimes with yours, all to the good. If it doesn’t, then you’d better watch out.
Kan-Ra was a vizier in Babylonian times—handsome and charismatic with the uncanny ability to sway people’s minds. His hubris led him to orchestrate a conspiracy against his monarch. The king, however, anticipated his betrayal and in turn used the darkest of magic to curse his traitorous adviser with a unique punishment.
The King stripped away Kan-Ra’s ability to influence people and exiled him from the realm. No one would follow him ever again of their free will. But Kan-Ra was determined to break this curse. In his thirst for knowledge, he sought out every magician, alchemist and sorcerer he could find, at the same time undergoing horrific surgeries and dark, corrupting magics to further his cause. In his obsessive quest, the dark arts that he embraced slowly consumed him. His body rotted and decayed, but even so he found he couldn’t die.
He studied arcane tomes that he had collected in his travels, trying to figure out a way to open a doorway to the Astral Plane—the home of celestial beings and powerful gods. He also had the fragments of a papyrus document recounting a great battle waged by creatures called Shadow Lords. He sought to control these beings and tapping into the Astral Plane drew tremendous energies through it, imbuing himself with enough power to create a stable connection to this other dimension.
Too late that he realized he’d been tricked by a malevolent Astral entity—one of the Shadow Lords…Gargos. Given a brief vision of the true power of the thing beyond, Kan-Ra recoiled in fear, realizing that he was nothing but a speck when compared to the horror that was waiting to invade Earth. Regaining his senses, he drew on all the energies he could muster to shut the portal, but it was too late. A connection was made, and soon the shadow beast would come for them all.
Undaunted, Kan-Ra knows the world is not without balance, and for every evil creature and dark desire, there are opposing forces and ideas that will rise up to face such threats. He turns his attention towards finding and studying these saviors, so that he can take their powers for his own, and then subjugate all with control over both forces.
BB: Talk about the complexity of Jago. Some of these decisions early-on bear a lot of subtext analysis for you as a writer, I would imagine. Especially in our real world. True?
IE: Jago’s an interesting and complex character. As a child, he was brought to a temple high in the Himalayas and taught to worship the Tiger Spirit; he was trained as a warrior, but it was a ruse. Jago had been tricked into worshipping a false god as the Tiger Spirit was merely the evil manifestation of the Shadow Lord Gargos, reaching to our world from the Astral Plane to corrupt Jago and turn him into his servant. Now Jago must find a new path leading to redemption.
I don’t want to give too much away but when we first meet Jago in this series, he’s renounced violence. Following the war against Gargos, he’s had a moment of clarity.
If you’re the hero fighting the bad guy yet in doing so you’re causing untold damage and civilian loss of life, can you legitimately call yourself a hero? To the man in the street, there’s no difference to him between you and your enemy. It’s causing Jago to reassess his life and determine what to do next. Unfortunately for him, he’s overtaken by circumstance and obliged to take up arms once more.
BYRON BREWER: Ian, you said last time around that the Killer Instinct world is “essentially a fully-developed superhero universe” with “so much untapped potential.” Now that, as of this writing, you have two issues under your writing belt and about to unleash a third, which classic KI element (character, trope, etc.) have you had the most fun developing or plan to develop?
IAN EDGINTON: It’s more than just the one thing. I’ve really enjoyed the world- building aspect and especially how the characters interact with each other. In the game, their primary function is to beat the crap out of one another but what’s been fun is to work out the dynamics of their actual relationships, how they react and respond to each other in a larger setting.
For example Kim Wu, Jago and Tusk all know each other because they fought shoulder-to-shoulder when they were battling Gargos and his invasion of Earth. Kim is brash, sometimes bratty and fun loving, Jago is kind of broody and introspective and Tusk is the life and soul of the party!
BB: How is the collaboration going with artist Cam Adams? With such a well-known franchise and certain expectations, has there been any difficulties coping with the translation into comic book form? (Doesn’t look like it!)
IE: Cam is great to work with. His stuff is amazing. Occasionally he’ll suggest some changes to the pacing or panel beats to optimize the action but other than that it’s been a breeze!
BB: What can you tell us about this army of Wendigos the Coven has unleashed? Might it be more than at first it seems?
IE: When a vampire just won’t do, the Coven sends in the Wendigos. They’re the shock troops. The vampires are a surgical weapon, the Wendigos are the blunt instruments. The Wendigos are for when the Coven don’t just want an enemy taken down, they want them pounded into dust, which is why they send them after Jago.
BB: What can you tell readers about Tusk?
IE: He’s a warrior in the purest sense and one of the oldest Killer Instinct combatants.
Millennia ago, Tusk commanded an army to battle an invasion force originating from another plane of existence: a horde of human doppelgangers (called Mimics) controlled by Gargos. Tusk met Gargos on the field of battle, but was mortally wounded. As he lay dying, he was teleported to the Astral Plane by the benevolent beings known as Ichoriens. They infused him with Shadow Energy—thus making him immortal—then gave him a powerful weapon, and sent him back to Earth to continue his duel with Gargos. Tusk wounded the beast, forcing him to flee to a remote region of the Astral Plane. He and his surviving men wiped out the Mimics, thus saving the world.
Ever since, Tusk has served on Earth as a “Watchman of the Gods.” He wields phenomenal strength and cannot be slain by anything of this universe. His fate is tied to his blade - Warg-gram (Wolf-wrath), as he calls it. It’s a living thing, embedded with a fragment of the Ichorien communal soul, and forged from the most primal and unbreakable element of the Astral Plane. The sword guides him with visions, and, because of its Astral origins and adamantine properties, is one of the only weapons capable of piercing a Shadow Lord’s heart.
BB: Wassup with Kan-Ra? Can you give the uninitiated a little taste of this sorcerer’s backstory?
IE: He’s definitely a case of “my enemies’ enemy is my friend.”He’s motivated by his own self-interest and if that chimes with yours, all to the good. If it doesn’t, then you’d better watch out.
Kan-Ra was a vizier in Babylonian times—handsome and charismatic with the uncanny ability to sway people’s minds. His hubris led him to orchestrate a conspiracy against his monarch. The king, however, anticipated his betrayal and in turn used the darkest of magic to curse his traitorous adviser with a unique punishment.
The King stripped away Kan-Ra’s ability to influence people and exiled him from the realm. No one would follow him ever again of their free will. But Kan-Ra was determined to break this curse. In his thirst for knowledge, he sought out every magician, alchemist and sorcerer he could find, at the same time undergoing horrific surgeries and dark, corrupting magics to further his cause. In his obsessive quest, the dark arts that he embraced slowly consumed him. His body rotted and decayed, but even so he found he couldn’t die.
He studied arcane tomes that he had collected in his travels, trying to figure out a way to open a doorway to the Astral Plane—the home of celestial beings and powerful gods. He also had the fragments of a papyrus document recounting a great battle waged by creatures called Shadow Lords. He sought to control these beings and tapping into the Astral Plane drew tremendous energies through it, imbuing himself with enough power to create a stable connection to this other dimension.
Too late that he realized he’d been tricked by a malevolent Astral entity—one of the Shadow Lords…Gargos. Given a brief vision of the true power of the thing beyond, Kan-Ra recoiled in fear, realizing that he was nothing but a speck when compared to the horror that was waiting to invade Earth. Regaining his senses, he drew on all the energies he could muster to shut the portal, but it was too late. A connection was made, and soon the shadow beast would come for them all.
Undaunted, Kan-Ra knows the world is not without balance, and for every evil creature and dark desire, there are opposing forces and ideas that will rise up to face such threats. He turns his attention towards finding and studying these saviors, so that he can take their powers for his own, and then subjugate all with control over both forces.
BB: Talk about the complexity of Jago. Some of these decisions early-on bear a lot of subtext analysis for you as a writer, I would imagine. Especially in our real world. True?
IE: Jago’s an interesting and complex character. As a child, he was brought to a temple high in the Himalayas and taught to worship the Tiger Spirit; he was trained as a warrior, but it was a ruse. Jago had been tricked into worshipping a false god as the Tiger Spirit was merely the evil manifestation of the Shadow Lord Gargos, reaching to our world from the Astral Plane to corrupt Jago and turn him into his servant. Now Jago must find a new path leading to redemption.
I don’t want to give too much away but when we first meet Jago in this series, he’s renounced violence. Following the war against Gargos, he’s had a moment of clarity.
If you’re the hero fighting the bad guy yet in doing so you’re causing untold damage and civilian loss of life, can you legitimately call yourself a hero? To the man in the street, there’s no difference to him between you and your enemy. It’s causing Jago to reassess his life and determine what to do next. Unfortunately for him, he’s overtaken by circumstance and obliged to take up arms once more.
Attached Files