Valdosta Comic Book

By Dean Poling

VALDOSTA — A Lowndes County man hopes to make a transition that a superhero alter-ego can understand.

Like reporter Clark Kent becoming Superman, or newsphotographer Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man, Steve Ekstrom is hoping to switch from comic book journalist to comic book writer.

And local folks can help him make that change.

Ekstrom is the writer of “The Ares Imperative,” an online comic he created with Swedish artist Mikael Bergkvist and colorist Jesse Turnbull. Ekstrom describes “The Ares Imperative” as “a mixture of worldly adventure elements from the old cartoon ‘Johnny Quest’; it has a realist feel and timely chronological structure like the television show ‘24’; it has thematics and story elements from the ‘Bourne’ novels and films; and it has this really scary sense of conspiracy sort of like ‘The Manchurian Candidate.’”

This week, “The Ares Imperative” is a contender on Zuda.com, a branch of DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Zuda is dedicated to presenting free comic books online for an Internet audience. Each month, Zuda hosts “a vote-based ‘American Idol’-style contest for 10 selections with the winner receiving a publishing contract with the imprint which can potentially lead to further publication with DC Comics,” Ekstrom says.

It’s an opportunity to mild shift from free-lance comic book journalist to comic book writer. He began his journalism career by reviewing various books on MySpace under the pseudonym The Masked Comic Dork. Troy Brownfield of Shotgun Reviews invited Ekstrom to review books for his Web site. This offer grew into Ekstrom “unmasking” as The Masked Comic Dork to join Brownfield in his Best Shots column on Newsarama.com, “the CNN of comic book news.”

By January 2007, Ekstrom had received recognition from Marvel and DC and began providing reporting pieces for Newsarama.com. He also writes a blog for Fangoria.com, the Web site for the premier horror magazine.

He hopes “The Ares Imperative” wins the Zuda.com contest, but doesn’t want to completely walk away from comic book journalism.

“I have learned so much about the ins and outs of the industry as a journalist that I don’t think I’d ever want to completely walk away from being an objective voice within the medium with access to such a large portion of the fan base on a forum like Newsarama,” Ekstrom said. “I think I’d like to continue leading by example for other fans and folks with aspirations of getting into the medium.”

Visit Zuda.com to see ‘The Ares Imperative’ and vote for it,

THE VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES: Do you live in Valdosta-Lowndes County? And how long have you lived here? Do you wish to mention any family, local schools attended, etc.?

STEVE EKSTROM: “Yes, I'm from Lowndes County, actually; I was born at Moody Air Force Base and raised in Hahira. I’ve been living here since 1993 when my family returned to the area. I graduated from Lowndes High School in 1995, and I’m an alum of Valdosta State University. Most of my mother’s side of the family lives in the area and are too numerous to mention, but my uncle, Larry Bragg, teaches at J.L. Newbern, and my cousin, Andy Boutwell, was fairly well known for playing baseball in the area.”



THE VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES: When did you start reading comics? And what comic book titles got you hooked?

STEVE EKSTROM: “I was introduced to comic books at a very early age back when spinner racks were in every gas station and corner store in the area. My actual first real memory of anything involves being at a showing of ‘Superman’ at the Ashley Cinemas when I was a very small child. I was crying and miserable — like most little children dragged to movies by their parents — and then, all of a sudden, Christopher Reeves caught the helicopter with Margot Kidder in it ... and I was in absolute shock and awe.

“As I got older, comics that were licensed properties to toy companies influenced my pallet a great deal: G.I. Joe, Transformers, ‘Star Wars’ were all staples in my reading selection. As I got a little older, superhero comics: Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, all became fixtures in my life as I moved around as a military brat. I didn’t always know a lot of people or get to go out and do stuff because of our location overseas, but comics were always there.

“It’s crazy because here I am today —a 32 year old man — and every toy and cartoon I loved is being turned into a movie. I hope this amazing wave of nostalgia is nowhere near close to ending. I own a little over 10,000 comic books. I’m a big supporter of the medium as a fan. I even try to help promote the industry and reading by talking to kids at local schools about my career and how much fun it is to write comics.”



THE VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES: How did you get started writing about comic books online?

STEVE EKSTROM: “Well, I had been wanting to write comic books for many years, and I knew that I would need to establish some sort of credibility if I was going to ‘break in’ as a writer. I figured the journalistic end of the industry was a good place to start — so I put my English degree where my mouth was and I began to formulate ways to approach the industry.

“I actually got started by reviewing books as ‘The Masked Comic Dork’ on MySpace. I was contacted by a guy named Troy Brownfield, who owns the Web site Shotgun Reviews, and he invited me to start writing reviews for his Web site. I didn’t realize it at the time but he also wrote the column Best Shots for Newsarama.com. Newsarama.com is like the CNN of comic book news on the Internet. So I decided to unmask (figuratively) and write reviews for the Best Shots column with Troy. A few months later, after my reviews started getting mainstream industry recognition from Marvel and DC Comics, I started providing journalistic articles for the Web site itself. I’ve been with Newsarama since January of 2007. Recently, I’ve added Fangoria.com to my list of online haunts as a blogger. Fangoria is the most recognized horror magazine in the world.”



THE VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES: Have you long hoped to write comic books rather than writing about them? Do you hope to replace the journalism with writing comic books, or do you hope ‘The Ares Imperative’ will allow you to do both?

STEVE EKSTROM: “That’s a great question. I have learned so much about the ins and outs of the industry as a journalist that I don’t think I’d ever want to completely walk away from being an objective voice within the medium with access to such a large portion of the fan base on a forum like Newsarama. I think I’d like to continue leading by example for other fans and folks with aspirations of getting into the medium.

“Right now, I’d like for ‘The Ares Imperative’ to succeed so I can stop waiting tables. Joking aside, winning the Zuda contest would be a huge step in the right direction for my career as a writer of anything at this point. DC Comics and Warner Bros. are two high-profile companies and this is a business where you’re not taken seriously unless the big guns consider you worthy of playing in their respective sandboxes.

”Beyond, establishing a career and a better source of income to help support my 3-year-old daughter, Katie, and her mother, Karyn, I really just want to create compelling stories to tell other people — to share the experience of wonder and entertainment that brought me to comic books as a child. I think the reward of knowing that I’ve actually brought some excitement into people’s lives via my comics would be the best feeling in the world.

“Webcomics are still relatively uncharted waters in the mainstream comic book industry; in my mind, being a pioneer of this new realm of electronic comics in a world where paper costs are becoming ridiculous is must. The print world is slowly going digital, sadly — with devices like Kindle and the Sony Reader becoming more fashionable. The iPhone is already capable of displaying Webcomics. What’s the old saying, ‘If you can’t beat ’em ...

“For the next month, I’m going to be talking to anyone and everyone about visiting Zuda.com, registering on the Web site, and voting for ‘The Ares Imperative’ — not to mention covering Comic-Con International in San Diego for Newsarama. Busy-busy!”



THE VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES: Did you create the artwork for ‘The Ares Imperative,’ too? If not, who is the artist and how did you begin this collaboration?

STEVE EKSTROM: “‘The Ares Imperative’ was actually created by Mikael Bergkvist. Mikael is from Sweden. We had been working on another project together — a creator-owned comic I had created called ‘The Mantle’ — and he was working on a book for publication in Sweden called ‘Next.’ Well, he had been struggling with his book industry folks were telling him, ‘This needs a writer’s touch.’ So one day, he asked me what I thought, and I started just riffing ideas out to him in an e-mail. He was flabbergasted by how easily I approached his concept and we decided to work on it together.

“His European art style and dynamic page layout sensibilities had caught my eye very early on; I noticed how geometrically perfect his panel work would fit the unique 4:3 ratio of the Webcomics format. So we began digitally ‘chopping’ his full-sized comic pages into slides for the web; basically, making one page of regular comic book art into two pages of Webcomic art.

“As we went on, my ideas for his story just kept transforming, and before you know it, ‘The Ares Imperative’ had organically grown out of his ‘Next’ concept and my ideas that were meant to enrich his project.”



THE VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES: What can you say about the storyline for ‘The Ares Imperative’?

STEVE EKSTROM: “‘The Ares Imperative’ has a classical sensibility to it. It’s a mixture of worldly adventure elements from the old cartoon Johnny Quest; it has a realist feel and timely chronological structure like the television show ‘24’, it has thematics and story elements from the ‘Bourne’ novels and films; and it has this really scary sense of conspiracy, sort of like ‘The Manchurian Candidate.’ It’s got a lot to offer a wide range of readers — not to mention amazing artwork from Mikael and brilliant coloring from our colorist, Jesse Turnbull.

“Our main character, Adam Geist, is an experiment — a Human Weapon of Mass Destruction — who has alien mitochondria powering his cellular structure. He’s got built-in WiFi in his head; he’s super-smart and bullet proof; but he’s also losing his humanity as this malevolent alien seed begins to embed itself within his DNA. As the story unfolds, readers will not only get a little bit of a history lesson into some of the cooler governmental conspiracies of the 20th century, but they’ll also get a thrilling, fast-paced story that they can access for free on the Internet.”



THE VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES: Will ‘The Ares Imperative’ be a single-shot story? Or do you hope for an on-going series?

STEVE EKSTROM: “Right now, the initial arc of ‘The Ares Imperative’ is a three-chapter story. If we win the Zuda contest, we will be contracted to tell the first chapter of that story. If fans (and the folks at Zuda) like what we’re doing then we will be asked to renew our contract and we will continue our story. I don’t want to jump the shark and say something to the effect of, ‘Yeah, we’ll be around forever ...’ but, yeah, if we win, I’d like for ‘The Ares Imperative’ to be a touchstone for my initial foray into mainstream Webcomics for as long as Mikael will allow me to carry out his concept.”



THE VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES: Any other projects?

STEVE EKSTROM: “In this industry, it’s a real ‘feast or famine’ type of ordeal; so I have several projects in the works currently. My first story, ‘Breakfast,’ is being printed for a third time in a small horror anthology called ‘Blister’ from Tin Star Studios. My next story, ‘Haunted,’ is being published by Image Comics later this year in the fourth volume of their popular ‘mixtape’ anthology series, ‘Popgun.’ I was just recently invited to write a short Western story for the anthology, ‘Outlaw Territory,’ from Image Comics. I’ve also been invited to write a short story for an upcoming anthology from APE Entertainment called, ‘Bizarre New World,’ where everyone on Earth discovers they have the ability to fly.

“I’m also working on a horror project with connections to actor Thomas Jane, and a modern crime novel set in Valdosta.”

Text Only