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By
Vincent Moore
Over
the last few years, many Hollywood screenwriters, actors, and directors
have entered the comics industry. These people from the greatest
idea factory in the world have brought to comics new ideas and new
ways of telling stories, for good and for the not so good.
Amongst
those names is Kevin Grevioux, actor, screenwriter, and co-creator
of the hit horror-action film Underworld.
Entering
the comics industry with his own imprint brands Astounding Studios
and DarkStorm Studios, Kevin has brought a new voice and new concepts
to comics. That voice led him to Marvel Comics and working on the
revived New Warriors. He has also written What If? Civil War, Young
Avengers Presents and two issues of Spider-Man Family with African-American
artists Clayton Henry and Ray Anthony Height. All while working
on his own projects as well.
Later
this year will see the return of Grevioux's premiere superhero team
concept, The Vindicators. It is that return which is the subject
of this interview.
Please
enjoy.
UVC:
What are the origins of The Vindicators as a concept?
Kevin
Grevioux: Well, most of the characters are based on an idea about
an all-black superhero team called THE VANGUARDS that I created
when I was a kid. So this is before the 80s. Creating a team of
black superheroes is not a unique concept because as a black kid
growing up, just like other black kids who read comics, I wanted
to create something that, as a black kid, I could identify with.
So
when I finally got the means, I created this team called THE VANGUARDS
who dwelled on an Earth in another universe were Africa was the
center of the world and not America and Europe.
However,
the name VANGUARDS became unavailable to us when Larry Houston,
the story editor of the X-Men: The Animated Series and The Fantastic
Four animated series [of the 90s] told me he had a team named the
Vanguards. Out of respect for him, I changed the name and opted
for THE VANGUARDIANS, which then became THE VINDICATORS instead.
Vindicators seemed like a good alternative given that fact that
it's like the "Avengers" meaning "to avenge."
UVC:
What's The Vindicators about?
KG:
The Vindicators is about the world's premiere group of superheroes
on a world were Africa is the center of the world. The team is led
by a woman by the name of Sheba, who is arguably the most powerful
woman on the planet. However, she feels as if she's not up to the
task because she has to follow the legacy of the team left by her
father, a 1940s superhero named Vanguard.
There
is also going to be a mainstream more mature version of The Vindicators
that I'm writing right now. So I'm having a lot of fun with it.
UVC:
What are your thoughts on The Original Vindicators by Rob Williams?
Have there been any problems with the two sharing the same name?
KG:
I heard of it only recently. I didn't know about it until someone
pointed out that there was another book out there called The Vindicators.
I thought it was unusual, because I did an Internet search when
I was trying to come up with a name for the book and nothing came
up that was comic book or superhero team related.
Unfortunately,
we live in the Internet Age. Sometimes, people on the Web can take
things the wrong way or assume that their idea of how an event could
have happened is exactly how it happened.
Along
the way, one accusation made was that someone at Astounding must
have seen The Original Vindicators somewhere and decided to take
Mr. Williams idea. Which is funny, because from what I heard later
on, O.V. was a very small book with a small print run in a limited
area. My book was solicited and published nationally.
Another
accusation centered around how the costumes with my Vindicators
and Williams' are similar. Then someone else pointed out that the
characters' costumes of some of the Original Vindicators bites off
of both Marvel's Warpath character and DC's Atom Smasher. Which
is also funny, because if one takes the time to look, there is a
lot of similarity in costume designs over the whole history of superhero
comics.
So
for the creator to say we stole an idea of a black superhero team
that we've all had since we were kids, and the fact that the concepts
weren't even similar, is a little off base. Understandable in the
sense of someone feeling as if their only brainchild was being stolen
from them, but still it's very off base and upsetting.
And
in any event, it looks like the national exposure my book has received
appears to have revived Mr. Williams' book as well. So it will be
up to the fans to decide which book, which team, is better.
And
I would hope that many of the fans across the Internet come to understand
that just because there are similarities between projects that it
doesn't mean any kind of theft has gone on. As someone who's worked
in Hollywood for a while, I could tell you loads of stories about
scripts being developed that have certain ideas in common but there
wasn't any stealing involved. It's coincidence. That's just the
way it is.
UVC:
Who do you hope will read The Vindicators? What's the target audience?
KG:
I'm hoping EVERYBODY. Though in its current incarnation, it's an
all-ages book. I'll be doing a more mainstream version with hyper-realistic
art very soon.
UVC:
Who are the rest of the creative team working with you?
KG:
I'm working with Leonel Castellani and Javier Tartaglia at Pampa
Studios. Their art and designs are simple AMAZING.
UVC:
What are your long-term plans for the book?
KG:
I will be doing a series of miniseries and one-shots of each of
the
characters as time permits.
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