I wasn’t aware of Unstoppable comics until Joe Martino backed the Kickstarter for Unstoppable Origins TPB and a notice popped up in my email. I follow Joe and we have similar taste in comics. I was immediately taken back by the fact that the Kickstarter goal was less than $600 to produce the trade paperback. So I had some questions about the entire Unstoppable Universe and JayDee Rosario was nice enough to stop by First Comics News and let me know all about Unstoppable comics.
First Comics News: How did you come up with $595 to produce and ship your trade paperback?
JayDee Rosario: I came up with the price by finding out how much it was going to cost me to print and then cut the printing price in half. I missed on my first Kickstarter by more than 2 grand when I was asking for $5,500. Since then I’ve settled on the glass half full theory. I’d rather have half of my printing fees than none at all, so I shoot for a lower goal. Lucky since I’ve been doing it this way, I’ve always come up with the complete printing fees. So at this point I don’t want to mess with the strategy.
1st: Let’s start at the beginning, what is the Unstoppable Universe?
Jay: The Unstoppable Universe is my take on the superhero genre. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel at all. Just put my spin on things with my influences.
1st: How does your diversified Universe differ from what Marvel is doing in titles like Hulk, Ironman, Thor and Captain America?
Jay: Well to start with you don’t have 60 years plus of continuity to follow or get bogged down with. Do we have similarities? Sure, there are certain archetypes that are going to be hit. Like we have a very prominent shield slinger in the Unstoppable universe but his backstory is tied to Arthurian mythology, and his stories will lean that way where as Marvel’s is mixed with patriotism and political intrigue.
1st: The Unstoppable Universe consists of 5 titles, Stormchasers, Dragonstorm, Interceptor, Unstoppable Origins, Unstoppable Comics: Character Guide, but two of the titles are support titles for Stormchasers so what is Stormchasers about?
Jay: Stormchasers is our team book, our spin off book. I don’t have the big budget other companies have to roll out titles at the drop of a hat. So stormchasers serves as a testing ground for our readers. Each arc has a mix of old and new characters, the ones that gravitate to the readers more like Interceptor get spun out. But for now we are at the limit of titles we can produce so any characters that gain some momentum will have their story told in Unstoppable origins.
1st: How many characters are in Stormchasers?
Jay: I try to stick to the rule of seven, with support characters popping up here and there.
1st: What do the Stormchasers chase?
Jay: The storm, the battle, the problems with powered people to big to handle by normal means.
1st: How are the Stormchasers different from the Avengers and the Justice League?
Jay: I didn’t have to retcon 60 years of continuity to show diversity. Other than that they are not that much different. They are the super team that takes on the world threatening events, but with our cast.
1st: So far there are 7 issues of Stormchasers and to follow those characters there are 3 Character Guides, what is in the Character Guides?
Jay: I loved source books growing up. I felt it was an easy way to dive into the universe I was reading about. So if you liked Marvel’s handbook or D.C.’s who’s who you’ll feel right at home with the character guide. We are currently working on the fourth one.
1st: How do you choose which characters from the Character Guides deserve an Origin issue?
Jay: Feed back from cons, emails, and how much story I can build around them, and are they pivotal to the overall tapestry to the Unstoppable Universe. Those are the main factors.
1st: The 4 origin issues are the ones being collected for the Kickstarter, who are the characters featured in the Unstoppable Origins?
Jay: Included in the TPB are the origins of the heroes Starstriker, Interceptor and Phantomhawk. The fourth character is a villain named Dr Zero. He is the main antagonist in the first stormchaser arc and his origin almost serves a a zero issue to Stormchasers because it shows an earlier incarnation of the team.
1st: Interceptor also has his own title, what is it about Interceptor that has struck a chord with readers?
Jay: Some people liked his look, some people liked the shield, others liked the fact that he’s tied to Arthur in mythology
1st: What is Pryewinter?
Jay: Pridewinter is the name of Interceptor’s shield, just like Excalibur is the name of Arthur’s sword. It was established in shield of the Interceptor #3, that the shield is called pridewinter because it was forged during the winter solstice, in a time the avalonians call the the pride of winter.
1st: How is Pryewinter connected with the fabled sword Excalibur?
Jay: They were both forged from the same material. Queen Titania commissioned the shield to be made as a counter to the sword. For me though it goes back to captain Britain’s origin. For me the choice between the sword or the amulet felt a little off. I always thought it should have been a shield.
1st: I notice that the main title is Stormchasers and there is also a Dragonstorm. Are they related Storms or us that coincidental?
Jay: No just coincidental. It was early on and I did not know which would last, so I felt if it sounded right might as well go for it.
1st: Why does Dragonstorm care about Lyllian’s wellbeing?
Jay: He doesn’t want her death to be on her shoulders. The main villain preys upon the hero’s sense of morals. When Dragonstorm says yes to taking Lyllian he just thinks it’s to get her out of immediate danger. Dragonstorm doesn’t learn until later that there is more to it than that.
1st: What else should readers know about the Unstoppable Universe?
Jay: Oh man a bunch of stuff. Our next release will be a trade collecting the 1st 3 issues of Dragonstorm and as an added bonus artist Craig Shepard has illustrated a brand new zero issue. The original (not done by Craig) was only 12 pages. The zero redux will be 23 pages long. Then after that we are finishing up the 1st shield of the Interceptor story arc with issue #4. Finally by the summer we should be releasing the Interceptor action figure which we unveiled at New York Comic Con.
You can support Unstoppable Comics with their Kickstarter and help them remain unstoppable.
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