Gears of War And Comics
SAN DIEGO, CA--Joshua Ortega, scriptwriter for the upcoming November 7 Gears of War 2 game and author of the Gears of War DC Comic series was on hand at Comic-Con International, along with Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski, to discuss the upcoming game-comic-novel crossover and sign autographs for the gaming fans. Ortega took some time to divulge details on the new Gears of War comic in this interview.
GameCore: What has it been like working with Cliff Bleszinski on the project?
Joshua Ortega: Awesome. Cliff and I hit it off immediately and our creative visions and goals are quite similar. We both want to push the medium forward and tell great stories, and we've definitely learned a lot from each other. He's taught me a lot about gameplay design and I've returned the favor with storytelling techniques…though that's not to say that Cliff doesn't come up with a ton of story ideas himself. The guy's got a treasure chest full of great ideas, and we have a blast brainstorming new stuff all the time. We make a pretty mean team.
GameCore: What about Gears of War makes it good for a comic book series?
Joshua Ortega: It's visually dynamic, action-packed, and has a great cast of characters. There's also a ton of backstory to explore as well, so it makes the franchise ripe for the comic book treatment.
GameCore: Can you talk about the direction you're taking with the story?
Joshua Ortega: Yeah, we'll be introducing the first new Gear outside of the games: Jace Stratton, a young soldier with a haunted past. He'll be joining up with Marcus, Dom, and Delta, and through him we'll be learning more about the six months in-between Gears 1 and Gears 2.
GameCore: Will the story connect to both games or the film or novels in any way?
Joshua Ortega: Oh yeah! We've made sure to integrate everything, and I've worked closely with Mike Capps (Epic president), Cliff, and Rod Fergusson (Gears senior producer) to ensure all of the Gears multimedia projects are true to the world of Gears and have a coherent continuity. Nothing pisses off fans more than when you muck up continuity, and we're all doing our best to make sure we keep the fans happy.
GameCore: How much crossover is there between these two art forms?
Joshua Ortega: More than many would think. Videogames are in many ways more similar to comics and novels than they are to other media such as television or film…the latter are passive media, whereas games, comics, and novels are interactive media. They only work when you "power" them and interact with them. If you stop reading a comic or playing a video game, you're done, it's over…TV and film will just keep on going, they don't require your participation at all.
I think there's a huge potential for crossover between the two media, especially when you figure that so many game players dig comics and vice-versa.
GameCore: Has gaming impacted comic book sales like it's impacted TV watching?
Joshua Ortega: Kids are intuitively drawn to comics, you just have to give them the right material and offer them a wide range of genres and styles. Games do that incredibly well, and have for a long time.
GameCore: Epic has talked about using comic books to test and launch IPs that would then go to games, if successful, what are your thoughts on comics being used in this way?
Joshua Ortega: It's a great idea, as long as it's not done at the expense of the comic's art form itself. You can tell amazing stories with comics… stories you can't tell anywhere else. If they only become a vehicle for new IP, you'd miss out on a wealth of great stories.
John Gaudiosi