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37-496: Brian Azzarello (born August 11, 1962) is an American comic book writer and screenwriter who first came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets , published by DC Comics ' mature-audience imprint Vertigo . Azzarello is best known for his numerous collaborations with artists Eduardo Risso ( 100 Bullets , Batman: Broken City , Spaceman , Moonshine ) and Lee Bermejo ( Batman/Deathblow , Luthor , Joker , Batman: Damned ), his contributions to

74-453: A plot script the artist works from a story synopsis from the writer (or plotter ), rather than a full script. The artist creates page-by-page plot details on their own, after which the work is returned to the writer for the insertion of dialogue. Due to its widespread use at Marvel Comics beginning in the 1960s, primarily under editor-dialogist Stan Lee and writer-artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko , this approach became commonly known as

111-670: A couple of paragraphs to something much longer and more elaborate". The Marvel method was in place with at least one artist by early 1961, as Lee described in 2009 when speaking of his and Ditko's "short, five-page filler strips ... placed in any of our comics that had a few extra pages to fill", most prominently in Amazing Fantasy but even previously in Amazing Adventures and other " pre-superhero Marvel " science-fiction / fantasy anthology titles. I'd dream up odd fantasy tales with an O. Henry type twist ending. All I had to do

148-488: A fiery nova in the background, which transports them to an island where they continue to fight. Lois and all the others that disappeared in The Vanishing return to Earth. Having restored the victims of The Vanishing, Superman has saved the day again. He proceeds to construct a new Fortress of Solitude in the midst of a 'jungle'. Reminiscing about the events, he asks himself, while he has saved countless millions of lives over

185-555: A planet's destiny and put the world in the Phantom Zone , erasing his memory of creating it. The story opens with Superman struggling with the fact that he could not save all the people that were caught in The Vanishing. He visits Father Leone, a priest suffering from cancer, in his church. Superman tells him how he was in outer space saving Green Lantern Kyle Rayner when The Vanishing occurred, outlining his feelings of guilt as he feels he abandoned Earth when it needed him most. This

222-420: A plot in which a megalomaniac bent on interplanetary conquest begins his attempt to capture his targets, and fighting through a heavy heart, Superman must stop him. Coming off of the wildly successful Batman story arc Hush , Jim Lee 's involvement as penciller on this story made it very highly anticipated. Although Azzarello's story received mixed reviews, Lee and Williams' artwork was highly praised, and

259-400: Is Superman's creation of an alternate reality, which he meant to use as a refuge for the people of Earth to use in the event of planetwide emergency, such as the one that befell Krypton . When creating this reality, Superman also built robots in the likeness of Jor-El , Lara and Clark Kent to protect it. However, upon its completion, he felt that it was not his place to change the course of

296-547: Is a first of several 'confessionals' between Superman and Father Leone. At their next encounter, Superman explains how he traced the source of The Vanishing to an unnamed foreign country in the Middle East. In the midst of a war, Superman removes from one side all of their weapons; on the other he faces General Nox, a military leader intent on taking over the country. Nox refuses to stand down and, along with his super-powered minion Equus , fights against Superman's interference. Equus

333-616: Is injured and, in a last-ditch attempt to escape, activates the Vanishing Device, creating a second "Vanishing", which vanishes himself, General Nox and 300,000 more inhabitants of Earth. This leads to Superman having to face the anger of the public and the JLA . Taking control of the Vanishing Device, Superman and Father Leone travel to the Fortress of Solitude , where they try to perfect the device so that Superman can vanish himself to discover where

370-436: Is physically modeled after Azzarello. Comic book writer In comics, a script may be preceded by a plot outline, and is almost always followed by page sketches drawn by a comics artist and inked , succeeded by the coloring and lettering stages. There are no prescribed forms of comic scripts, but there are two dominant styles in the mainstream comics industry , the full script (commonly known as " DC style") and

407-481: Is working for a mysterious group of powerful individuals described by Orr himself as having "80% of the world population working for them in one way or another". Superman fights Wonder Woman and then tells her that the Fortress is set to self-destruct. He also asks her to save Mr. Orr and Father Leone. Moments before the Fortress explodes, he vanishes himself, transporting him to Metropia, the paradise world he had created in

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444-552: The Before Watchmen project, focusing on Comedian and Rorschach . In 2014, Azzarello became the co-writer of the weekly series The New 52: Futures End along with Jeff Lemire , Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens . In 2016, Azzarello launched the 12-issue maxi-series Moonshine with frequent collaborator Eduardo Risso at Image . In 2019, the series resumed publication with issue #13 as an ongoing title. The series lasted for 28 issues, ending in 2021. Azzarello and Risso won

481-601: The Watchmen prequel project Before Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns sequel series DK III: The Master Race , as well as for his stints on the long-running Vertigo series Hellblazer and The New 52 relaunch of the Wonder Woman title. Azzarello grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio , where his mother managed a restaurant and his father was a salesman. As a child, he read monster and war comic books, but avoided

518-494: The plot script (or " Marvel house style "). The creator of a script is known as a comics writer . In this style, the comics writer breaks the story down in sequence, page-by-page and panel-by-panel, describing the action, characters, and sometimes backgrounds and "camera" points-of-view of each panel, as well as all captions and dialogue balloons. For decades, this was the preferred format for books published by DC Comics . Peter David described his specific application of

555-448: The Marvel method or Marvel house style . Comics historian Mark Evanier writes that this "new means of collaboration . . . was born of necessity—Stan was overburdened with work—and to make use of Jack's great skill with storylines. . . . Sometimes Stan would type up a written plot outline for the artist. Sometimes, not". As comic-book writer-editor Dennis O'Neil describes,

592-586: The 2001 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story in 100 Bullets #15–18: "Hang Up on the Hang Low". Azzarello cites Jim Thompson and David Goodis among his influences. Azzarello was married to fellow comic book creator Jill Thompson . The couple resided in Chicago. In a 2021 interview with Word Balloon Podcast Network, Azzarello mentioned that he was no longer married to Thompson. The character "666" from Mark Waid and Alex Ross ' 1996 mini-series Kingdom Come

629-462: The Father Leone version of Equus. Disgusted at what he has become, he asks Superman to kill him. Horrified at this request, Superman refuses to do so. As Leone continues to argue with him, a recovered Equus attacks, probably thinking that Father Leone, a construct like himself will help him in fighting Superman. Father Leone, however, in a last act of desperation, lunges at Equus, driving them both into

666-464: The Marvel method "requires the writer to begin by writing out a plot and add[ing] words when the penciled artwork is finished. . . .[I]n the mid-sixties, plots were seldom more than a typewritten page, and sometimes less", while writers in later times "might produce as many as twenty-five pages of plot for a twenty-two page story, and even include in them snatches of dialog. So a Marvel Method plot can run from

703-416: The Marvel method over the full script method that have been cited by creators and industry professionals include: Cited disadvantages include: In a variation of the plot script, attributed to Harvey Kurtzman , the writer breaks down the story into page roughs or thumbnail sketches, with captions and dialogue jotted down inside the roughs. The artist (who is often the comic's writer as well) then fleshes out

740-602: The Phantom Zone. In Metropia, Superman is reunited with Lois Lane. He also learns of General Zod's existence in Metropia. It turns out that it was this Zod who was behind The Vanishing, as he was trying to build an empire in Metropia. The robots that Superman built attack Zod, Equus, who is now working for Zod, and Zod's other followers. The robots are destroyed, which prompts Superman to attack, defeating Equus and Zod. He transports everyone back to Earth and destroys Metropia. During

777-581: The architects of First Wave , a new publishing line for pulp characters then-recently acquired by DC Comics, set outside the main DC continuity . He wrote the opening one-shot for the line, Batman/Doc Savage , continuing with the First Wave limited series . In 2011, Azzarello spearheaded The New 52 relaunch of the Wonder Woman series with artist Cliff Chiang . The pair stayed on the title until issue #35 (Dec. 2014). In 2012, Azzarello wrote two limited series for

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814-495: The artist draws the story to fit all of this paste-up. This laborious and restrictive way of creating comics is no longer in general use; the last artist to use even a variation of EC style was Jim Aparo . For Tomorrow (comics) " For Tomorrow " is a 2004–2005 American comic book story arc published in Superman #204–215 by DC Comics . Written by Brian Azzarello and penciled by Jim Lee , with inks by Scott Williams ,

851-455: The fact that the mini-series were edited by the team of DC's Wildstorm imprint, experienced production problems and delays, causing Luthor to become a standalone work only loosely connected to "For Tomorrow". In the following years, Azzarello continued to write more Batman -related stories such as the 2008 graphic novel Joker , a serial for Wednesday Comics in 2009 and Flashpoint: Batman — Knight of Vengeance . In April 2015, Azzarello

888-437: The full script method: "I break down each page on a panel by panel basis and label them as PANEL A, PANEL B, and so on. Then I describe what's in each panel, and then do the dialogue, numbering the balloons. I designate the panels with letters and the word balloons with numbers so as to minimize confusion for the letterer". In addition to writing the scripts, Jim Shooter drew layouts for the artist in his early work for DC. In

925-480: The last moments of the alternate world, Superman tries to help Zod by saving his life, which the latter refuses to allow. As this is occurring, it is shown that Mr. Orr has talked to Father Leone about Superman. Mr. Orr has learned of Father Leone's cancer and says that he can cure him. The "cure" actually turns out to be a horrific biological experiment that transforms him into an enhanced version of Equus, called Pilate. Upon his return to Earth, Superman has to confront

962-479: The light fantasy stories the imprint was known for at the time, and Azzarello was eventually hired as a writer. He contributed short stories to a number of Vertigo's anthology titles and penned Jonny Double , a 4-issue limited series which marked his first collaboration with Argentine artist Eduardo Risso . In August 1999, Azzarello and Risso launched 100 Bullets , a hardboiled noir series for Vertigo. The series ran for one hundred issues, from 1999 to 2009, and

999-410: The other people were taken. Before he gets a chance to do so, he is confronted by Wonder Woman , who attempts to stop Superman from carrying out his plan. She believes Superman's efforts are likely to result in his death, amounting to a suicide mission. The Fortress of Solitude is also visited by Mr. Orr, who tracked Father Leone via a painkilling injection Orr administered earlier. Orr is a mercenary who

1036-554: The roughs onto full-size art board. Writer/artists Frank Miller and Jeff Smith favor this style, as did Archie Goodwin . Attributed to William Gaines (Kurtzman's publisher at EC Comics ), the EC style is similar to the Kurtzman style, except the writer submits a tight plot to an artist, who breaks it down into panels that are laid out on the art board. The writer writes all captions and dialogue, which are pasted inside these panels, and then

1073-486: The series was financially lucrative enough for DC to publish an Absolute Edition hardcover in April 2009. "For Tomorrow" is told in medias res , centering upon two events that took place prior to the twelve-issue story arc's starting point. The first is "The Vanishing", where a million people mysteriously disappeared from the planet, including Lois Lane , leaving only ghostly shadows in the places they had vanished. The second

1110-450: The story begins a year after a million people (including Superman's wife, Lois Lane ) mysteriously vanish from the face of the earth. As the Man of Steel tries to solve the puzzle while dealing with his personal loss - as well as guilt over failing to prevent the disaster - a parallel story line concerns a priest questioning his faith and serving as Superman's confessor. This eventually gives way to

1147-477: The superhero genre. He attended the Cleveland Institute of Art , studying painting and printmaking. In 1989, after several years of working various blue-collar jobs, Azzarello moved to Chicago , where he became interested in the work of Black Lizard Press , a small publishing house which reprinted hardboiled detective and noir fiction . He also met his future wife Jill Thompson , a comic book artist who

Brian Azzarello - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-462: The years, who will save him when the end comes. With these threads tied, the story ends, but the issues of Mr. Orr and the mysterious organization are left unresolved. Equus returns in Countdown to Final Crisis #36 (2007), in which he is trying to instigate a strike on metahumans. The unnamed organization mentioned by Mr. Orr is revealed in the 2008 Cyborg limited series to be Project M, which

1221-519: Was announced as the co-writer of an eight-issue sequel to The Dark Knight Returns , titled The Dark Knight III: The Master Race , with Frank Miller and artist Andy Kubert . The series, released bi-monthly, was launched in late 2015. Azzarello's most recent Batman work was the Batman: Damned three-issue series for the DC Black Label imprint with artist Lee Bermejo . Azzarello was one of

1258-667: Was assigned to write arcs for DC Comics' Batman and Superman , commenting to Chicago Tribune , "DC is giving me the keys to both cars in the garage, the Maserati and the Ferrari ... Somebody told me, 'Don't drive drunk.'" The results were the 6-issue Batman: Broken City and the 12-issue " Superman: For Tomorrow ", which was supposed to be the centerpiece of a larger storyline consisting of several interconnected mini-series, including one written by Azzarello, Lex Luthor: Man of Steel . The initiative, unofficially dubbed "Superstorm" due to

1295-615: Was give Steve a one-line description of the plot and he'd be off and running. He'd take those skeleton outlines I had given him and turn them into classic little works of art that ended up being far cooler than I had any right to expect. The October 2018 issue of DC Comics' in-house previews magazine, DC Nation , featured a look at the creative process that writer Brian Michael Bendis and artists Ryan Sook , Wade von Grawbadger and Brad Anderson employed on Action Comics #1004, which included pages of Bendis' script that were broken down panel by panel, albeit without dialogue. Advantages of

1332-489: Was noted for Azzarello's use of regional and local accents, as well as the frequent use of slang and oblique, metaphorical language in his characters' dialogue. Azzarello's other work for Vertigo includes a run on Hellblazer , the 2005 western series Loveless with artist Marcelo Frusin and an original graphic novel Filthy Rich , one of the two titles that launched the Vertigo Crime line in 2009. In 2003, Azzarello

1369-476: Was working for DC Comics 's imprint Vertigo . Azzarello began working in comics in 1992, joining Comico as the production coordinator. He was soon promoted to managing editor, before becoming Editor-in-Chief—or, as he was often credited, "line editor"—the position he held from 1993 until the company's demise in 1997. During this period, Azzarello's wife Jill Thompson introduced him to Lou Stathis , an editor at DC Comics ' Vertigo who wanted to move away from

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