 WIZARD UNIVERSE WEEKLY FEATURES |  | WIZARD Q&A: BEN TEMPLESMITH | | The artist talks drawing alien horrors from his new Image book 'Dead Space' set as a prequel to the upcoming video game | | | By Kevin Mahadeo | | Posted 3/4/2008 | |  | |  Dead Space is a prequel to the video game of the same name set to be released by Electronic Arts later this year. How did you get approached to do this project?
I’d like to say it was through Antony Johnston, the writer, because I was doing covers for his book, Wasteland. And, for some reason, they got around to thinking about what artist to use for [Dead Space]. And he was already on board as writer and such, so I’d like to think there was a link there. But otherwise I guess they chose me because they know my work. And they e-mailed me to ask if I’d be interested and I said yes.
I understand you knew Antony from before Wasteland. You guys had an online webcomic back in 2000?
Yeah. One of the first things I ever did. We basically met on the old Warren Ellis forum, and we did a “choose your own adventure” little comic online. Back when people thought they’d make a huge amount of money off online comics. [Laughs] So, he was one of my first collaborations, ever.
I wasn’t able to find any of those. Do you still have copies?
I don’t own any originals, and I don’t think it’s online anymore either.
Did you guys destroy all copies?
I think someone put it up ages ago. But I never thought about it till now. [Laughs]
It’s been revealed the comic follows the mining colony that sends out the distress signal at the beginning of the game. Obviously, you can’t say too much, but what can you tell us about what will be happening in the comic?
I think of the comic sort of like the movie “Aliens: The Special Edition,” where you get the extra footage at the beginning that shows what the hell goes down at the colony before the marines all come in. It’s like the director’s cut where you get the backstory on what happened to set the whole thing in motion in the beginning before you have to start killing everything—which happens in the game.
Your style has been very popular for the horror genre. What do you think it is about your style that makes it so fitting?
[Laughs] I don’t know. That’s really a question other people would have to answer because I think they’re crazy when they hire me. One thing I try to work on is mood and atmosphere. And, probably, when you’re dealing with horror, most people, kind of, don’t do that too much, and it’s sort of the crucial element horror needs if it’s going to work in any way. Traditionally drawn comics can be done as horror, but it would be the equivalent of showing a horror movie with the lights on. Horror movies visually have a different look than a romantic comedy. So, comics shouldn’t be any different from that, I thought. And it works for me. I make a living. [Laughs]
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If you take your most famous example, 30 Days of Night, one of the things I noticed was that color plays a big role—the reds are extremely vibrant in certain parts. Is there a particular color scheme you’re going for with this particular comic?
It’s kind of a scene-by-scene thing. When you’re outside on the planet, it’s very washed out and bluish-gray. But when you’re inside there’s much more warm colors. There’s no overall theme because there’s various different location that the whole thing takes place. You’ve got to kind of clearly define them, I think, rather than go for one monotonous look overall. I’m a fan of color theory and making things work visually rather than have a classic candy coloring—everything bright, everything different colors. It’s got to work a bit more tonally.
It’s got to blend, basically.
Yeah. The film “Matrix” actually had like a yellow filter over pretty much everything that was in the Matrix world. The color was slightly off on everything compared to when they were in the real world. Same logic, I guess.
For this comic, there are a lot of monsters and creatures involved. Where you behind any of the designs or did EA already have monsters they wanted you to use?
Well, I wasn’t behind the initial designs. But since I went up to EA studios and saw what they were doing, it’s an evolving process. They sort of bounced things off me a little bit, and they’re showing me new monsters—Necromorphs they’re called—and I’m like, “Oo! Can we put that one in the comic because that’s really cool, I’d like to draw that one!” And they were like, “Maybe we can throw in a couple of these other ones rather than just have them in game.” But they’re not going to show everything. There are some really cool, twisted creatures that I get to draw. And the level of gore in this game is just amazing, so I wanted to get some of that.
Have you seen a lot of the screenshots?
Yes. I’ve seen a bunch of stuff. They basically played the game for us when we were there. It was pretty gruesome. I asked them if there was an easy save function because people are going to just want to kill themselves [in the game]. It’s really fun watching yourself die in this game. And that’s nothing to killing the monsters, which is fun anyway.
So, it’s definitely all-around good times for the game?
Well, it’s the sort of game I’d buy and play anyway, regardless of being involved in it. I’m a big fan of horror and science fiction—“Event Horizon” and “Dark City.” This sort of encapsulates the nastiness and darkness of weird, science-fictiony stuff. I’m a huge fan of this stuff. It’s great!
Can you talk about some of the monsters you’ve drawn?
The Necromorphs, the basic ones, are sort of warped, dead humans and something else is utilizing them. It just makes them human yet alien at the same time, which is really unsettling. And a lot of fun to kill!
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Is there a scene that you actually got scared drawing or thought, “Holy crap, this is going to be horrifying”?
[Laughs] If I was scared trying to do some of this stuff, I probably won’t be able to do it. The stuff I’ve done so far is sort of the ramping up to the fun, fun stuff. But, accidentally cutting someone in half was kind of cool. And that’s not even dealing with the aliens. It’s just, “Oops! Oh. Half of you is there, and half of you is there. That’s not good.” I’m just getting into the gore now. And honestly, the gore is fun stuff—heads exploding, stuff like that, that’s the fun stuff for me.
I guess this is the obvious question to ask, but what scares you?
Being behind on my taxes, child abuse kind of scares me, and my wife sometimes scares me. [Laughs] Oh man, in the morning when they wake up… Oh no! Don’t put that in the interview! She’s lovely!
Are there any other genres you want to explore?
Well, everything I do kind of has that horror tinge to it. I mean, there is the genre of horror and then the aspects of horror that can be in various things. I do Fell, which is like a very moody, kind of horrific sometimes, crime drama. And I’ve done horror comedy as well with Gentleman Corpse. I’ve done war horror. I’ve science fiction horror as well. I kind of get around, but it’s all got this tinge of nastiness to it and atmosphere to it. You won’t be seeing me doing a romantic comedy, let’s put it that way.
What if it’s a romantic comedy horror?
Well, if it’s with a zombie, maybe. I could do a very interesting version of the X-Men, I guess. But it wouldn’t exactly be what they’re used to either. I know my area, and I’m pretty comfortable with that. But, at the same time, I challenge myself every now and again and take a couple of steps away from it, but it’s still within the sphere.
What would you say to fans to get them hyped up and go check out this comic?
If they’re fans of dark, science-fiction horror—as I am—one that sort of amalgamates lots of the things about the classics of the genre, then this is sort of the thing you’d want to get into. And it’s intelligent, too. It weaves religion into the mix as well. Not normal religion, but a futuristic religion sort of thing. It’s really interesting on a bunch of levels, and it’s not a giant beat-them-up, shoot-them-up comic. There’s actually a story there as well.
So, I understand your birthday is March 7.
Yes, it is.
What do you plan on doing?
Actually, I’ll be getting drunk with the director of “30 Days of Night,” with luck, and a few lovely friends up in LA.
[Laughs] Planning a few sequels maybe?
Maybe. At least trying to forget that I’ve turned 30.
Check back with Wizard Universe tomorrow for an interview with Dead Space writer Antony Johnston and more preview pages.
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