MOVIE NEWS – It’s nothing new that Hollywood stars try their hand at creating comic books. This has been a common practice since the publication of Jerry Lewis’s comic book at DC in the 1950s, but the trend is definitely intensifying with the involvement of Keanu Reeves in the Brzkr by BOOM! Studios, and Emelia Clarke’s creation of the comic book, Mother of Madness. These stars lend their own creativity and renown to comics. Jamie Lee Curtis, the leading lady of the Halloween films, can hardly wait to get her hands on her own comic book.

 

Oscar-winning Jamie Lee Curtis is the latest celebrity to dive into the world of comic books with her comic project, collaborating with co-writer Russell Goldman and artist Karl Stevens. Curtis is a well-known anime and manga fan and even hosted her daughter’s cosplay-themed wedding. The idea of creating a comic has been floating in her mind for 40 years, but now she’s finally realized it with Goldman and Stevens in their work, Mother Nature.

In an interview at the San Diego Comic-Con, Curtis revealed to GameSpot how long she’s been contemplating the idea of Mother Nature. “I was 19, and I knew we were ruining the world. I just knew it. I don’t know why. I wasn’t particularly eco-conscious as a child, I barely made it through high school. Not that I was smart. I was just aware,” said the horror film legend. “Then in 2018, I made the Halloween movie with David Gordon Green… and it rekindled my inner strength, and I started writing the story.”

She said that she met Goldman through a mutual friend and soon they started working on the story together. Curtis explained that Goldman took over the “Father Knows Best” part of the story, which focused on mothers and daughters, and the characters are from a native family.

“Their land is leased by Cobalt Energy, a large energy conglomerate whose engineer, Nancy Denton, has figured out how to clean fracking water. Cobalt puts a lot of pressure on her to implement the project as soon as possible. Then comes a native woman, Nova Terrel, who is a rebel and messes up their plans, wreaking havoc on the project.”

During the sabotage of the so-called Mother Nature project, Nova is struck by lightning and she herself becomes this demonic power of nature, while she is tied to a long-dormant horror. Goldman spoke about continuing the collaborative work with Curtis, emphasizing that it took a long time to find the right form for the story. “In the beginning, we approached the matter almost numerically, like a disaster movie, where we had to consider many character stories. Then we understood that we need a larger ensemble, a collective emotion that is hard to convey regarding climate change, as it is a global threat that affects everyone in a unique way.”

Goldman talked about how they resolved this challenge by focusing on personal feelings and emotions that readers can more easily understand. He mentioned that they used their own emotional reactions and the question of the world left to their generation in creating the story.

“So we focused on the story of two mothers and two daughters. Both mothers have different pasts and are forced to form an alliance, which we can see at the beginning of the story. Both are involved in the Mother Nature project in different ways, and they love their daughters so much, almost blindingly, that they sometimes can’t see what their daughters want or what would be best for them. And these factors contribute to the story taking the direction it does.”

The story was co-created with Karl Stevens, an award-winning artist known for his book Guilty and his work at the Boston Phoenix. Stevens said that in illustrating the story, he drew great inspiration from such Western painters as Thoman Moran and tried to accurately portray the Southwestern landscape.

“I thought that this majestic beauty, mixed with bloody violence, fits well with the larger themes of the story,” Stevens explained.

“During our research, we spoke with many people in New Mexico, oil workers, environmental lawyers who talked about water protection and recycling being the next big challenge,” Goldman added. “The world’s major oil companies are going to sell recycled water in places where access to water is difficult. And this story uncovered a large part of that.”

The book Mother Nature, written by the trio of Jamie Lee Curtis, Russell Goldman, and Karl Stevens, will be introduced by Titan Comics on August 8.”

Source: GameSpot