INTERVIEW: ‘Ultraman’ writer joins with NFL legend for new graphic novel
Image courtesy of The Trap / Provided by official site.
Lance Briggs, former Pro Bowl linebacker for the Chicago Bears, has partnered with Ultraman writer Kyle Higgins on a new graphic novel that is currently raising funds via Kickstarter. The Trap features the main character of Jaylen Robinson and his desire to become an interstellar surfriding champion, but when something goes horribly wrong only a few days before a big race, the hero finds himself facing complete ruin.
Both Briggs and Higgins have worked on The Trap for more than a year, according to a press release, and they eventually joined up with artist Danilo Beyruth. Their final efforts will displayed in an oversized, deluxe hardcover book (digital copies are also available).
Higgins is an accomplished comic writer whose work can be seen in Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Nightwing, Batman Eternal, Ultraman, The Winter Soldier, Hadrian’s Wall and The Dead Hand. Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with the writer about the new project. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
How did the idea for The Trap first come about?
I’ve known Lance Briggs for several years now. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and am still a huge Bears fan — Lance was a staple of some of my favorite teams, a four-time Pro Bowl linebacker and a genuine star. I loved the way he played the game. The fact that he was also a big comic book fan made him that much cooler.
And you know how they say don’t meet your heroes? Well, that was not the case with Lance. He’s a great guy and has great taste in stories and comics. We stayed in touch over the years, and for about the last year and a half now, we’ve been working on what has now become The Trap.
This is epic sci-fi storytelling, and we’ve done a lot of work on developing how the world works. The story is set 200 years in the future, and it delivers widescreen action. Lance came up with the idea for surfriding, which is the interstellar sport of the future.
Our story follows a rising surfriding star named Jaylen Robinson. Days before a big race, everything changes for him. His surfrider board needs to be repaired. He’s desperate because he doesn’t have the money. So he does something reckless — he agrees to boost the ship belonging to one of Earth’s interstellar senators. And then things go very, very wrong.
What do you love about the Jaylen Robinson character? How would you describe him?
Jaylen is ambitious. He knows that surfriding is his way out of a tough situation, and then he panics and makes a bad decision which jeopardizes all his hard work. And that’s of course a really human thing to do. And that’s what I love about him: his humanity.
A lot of journalists have asked Lance if he is the basis for Jaylen, and he isn’t. But something Lance and I have talked about a lot while developing The Trap is how many athletes, growing up, have really limited opportunities ahead of them.
How is The Trap allegorical? Are you commenting on real issues that we face in 2020?
The best genre movies and books smuggle in politics in subtle ways. In The Trap, we’re addressing economic disparity and systemic racism, and we’re doing it through what we hope is a gripping action story.
In The Trap, Earth has been annexed into an interstellar coalition of planets, but due to certain events over the generations, we’ve become both the red-headed stepchild of the coalition, as well as prime real estate for the interstellar drug trade. So what that does is it creates a situation and a status for our world where the problems of marginalized communities are the problems for all of us — because we are all in ‘the trap’ together.
Creating Jaylen Robinson provides a way to talk to so many kids that are living in less-than-ideal environments amongst systems that have failed their own. I see you, and I want you to know — you are special. Even if it doesn’t feel like it.
How did you gather such an A-team of talent?
I’ve been wanting to work with so many of these creators for years. The artist of The Trap, Danillo Beytruth, is going to be a huge, huge star. Colorist Tamra Bonvillian is already a superstar. I’m not sure there’s a more respected letterer than Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and Sasha Head is one of the sought after designers in comics.
I was thrilled when they shared the enthusiasm for the story we’re telling.
Why did you go the Kickstarter route? What will happen if it’s funded?
There’s not as many comics or graphic novels about sports as you might think, so there was not necessarily an obvious publisher for the book. But the number one reason we went to Kickstarter is that when you bring together this calibre of creative team, you want to keep the team together, which means getting everyone an advance.
Right now we’re just under a week left, and we’re just funded, which covers the advances for the artists and the designer. But we’re hoping to get to at least $50,000 to make sure we cover all shipping costs.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Trap, written by Lance Briggs and Kyle Higgins, is currently raising money via Kickstarter. Click here for more information.
