Ask Bill Tortolini of Dabel Brothers Production what he’s been working on for the last four years and he’ll give you a secretive smile.
“Officially, I’ve been lettering books and designing the production templates,” he’ll say. “But behind the scenes, I’ve been brewing a revolution to fight back against the corporations.”
Not figuratively, of course – as the founder of comic book lettering and design firm Lithium Pro, Tortolini has plenty of corporate clients whom he’d never dream of deposing. But on the pages of his original comic book miniseries MARSHAL, Tortolini is all too happy to envision a future where a single corporation has made slaves of the citizens of the Earth’s first off-world colony… and where a lone vigilante who calls himself “the Marshal” is willing to fight back.
Originally announced in 2002, MARSHAL was intended to be part of the first wave of books from DB Pro (then “Roaring Studios”). But a series of setbacks and delays prevented the first issue from earning a firm release date. That was not necessarily a bad thing, however, explains Tortolini – in that time, he’s had the opportunity to refine the story and the art to the point that a once solid title will now be, in his words, “a killer book that any comics fan is going to want to have.”
“When I started working on Marshal, I had a pretty clear idea of the story I wanted to tell,” he said. “But while I’ve been waiting for the right time to arrive so I can get the book in readers’ hands, I’ve had a lot of time to tweak and edit the story, tightening things down and figuring out what was important for the initial story and what I could save for continuing chapters down the road. The result is four issues that are packed with action and surprises – as well as some cool twists that will turn everything happening on its head by the fourth issue.”
The story of MARSHAL takes place 500 years into the future and centers around Tranquility, Earth’s first off-world colony and one of mankind’s greatest achievements. While the colony was originally in close contact with its homeworld, some unknown catastrophe has severed the lines of communication between them, and the colonists have been left to fend for themselves. With no supply ships on the way and no authority to keep order, gangs and corruption take over, turning the once beautiful colony into a ruined and dangerous place not unlike the American Old West. It is during this time that “the Marshal” steps up to bring order back to his world – but in doing so, he’ll also have to fight against an enormous corporation called the Merkaid, which is profiting enormously off the suffering of the colonists and thriving throughout the increasing decay and despair.
“The story has somewhat of a ‘Wild West’ frontier sort of feel, but it’s very much a work of science fiction,” said Tortolini. “The main character, Curtis Masters, isn’t just some guy running around and shooting people – he’s an intelligent guy with a cause worth fighting for, and he’s working hard to build a regime that can return the colony to its former glory and throw off the yoke of the oppressive Merkaid.”
Which means, concluded Tortolini, that MARSHAL isn’t just an excuse for mindless action – “It’s a revolution.”
“We’ve always been big fans of MARSHAL,” explained Les Dabel, Vice President and New Business Director for Dabel Brothers Production, “and part of the reason this project has sat on our back burner for so long is because we really wanted to be the guys who had the chance to publish it. 2006 is going to be a great year to get this book on the shelves because it’s going to fit in well with our lineup of science fiction and fantasy stories, and we think it’s going to be big with fans of similar sci-fi properties that have risen up in the meantime since we originally announced this book, like SERENITY and FIREFLY.”
MARSHAL #1 will be available in early April at comic book retailers everywhere and continue as a four-part miniseries.
