Tom Taylor is a busy guy. Many know him from the crazy action in the Injustice comics or the brilliant things he's doing in All-New Wolverine. He also created a comic series call The Deep with James Brouwer. The comic has been adapted as an animated series on Netflix and is now coming to the U.S. courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
The FOC for the first issue is Monday, December 19. That means you need to let your comic shop know to order you a copy by then. We spoke to Tom and James about the book and what changes we might expect.
Comic Vine: I'm sure you've been asked this many times. What's your quick elevator pitch on The Deep?’’
Tom Taylor: The all-ages, action-packed adventures of the Nekton family. A multiethnic family of daring Aquanauts who live on a submarine and explore the underwater world, searching for monsters, myths and lost civilizations.
James Brouwer: A family, a fish, a submarine. Danger in the depths! Mystery in the murk. What more could you ask for?
With the comic originally published in Australia and adapted into a Netflix animated series, how does it feel to have the book coming to American audiences through BOOM! Studios?
Taylor: Having the TV series on all around the world is incredible, but I’m first-and-foremost a comics fan, and this is where The Deep began. This is how James and I first imagined it. I’ve wanted a wider readership to hold these comics for a long time, especially those who only know my work from Injustice or Wolverine or Star Wars. These books are nothing like those works. These are books which can be read by anyone, they’re entertaining for any age group, and I’d encourage any parent to read these WITH a child. We’ve wanted the comics to set sail as far and wide as the Nektons travel for a long time, and we couldn’t be happier that it’s happening through BOOM! Have to say a very big thank you to editor, Dafna Pleban!
Brouwer: It feels FANTASTIC. BOOM! fits The Deep like a glove and we’re so happy to be welcomed into such a great family.
With your continued growing success, are you in a different place or mindset from when you first wrote the series?
Taylor: Honestly, it doesn’t feel like it. I’m just happy that I get to work in comics and TV, and this feeds my family. And my mindset hasn’t really changed from when I was a professional juggler and fire-eater. I still just want to entertain people.
Brouwer: We started on the comics with a handful of people—now there are over 100 spread across the globe, actively involved in The Deep. I think a different mindset is unavoidable in that situation. However, I’d like to think the comics will be our Happy Place that we can return to, where the Nektons will always be just the way we left them.
Will there be any changes or tweaks made to the book? Covers? Colors? etc.
Taylor: There are all-new covers by James and some great variants from Brooke Allen (Lumberjanes) and Jorge Corona (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Teen Titans Go). As for changes and tweaks, we haven’t gone full George Lucas, but it has been re-lettered by Wolfgang Bylsma, and James has certainly tweaked the art a bit for this release.
Brouwer: We’re definitely stoked to have such great artists providing new covers!
The animated series was renewed for a second season. How involved are you guys with the show?
Taylor: We’re very involved, as well as being the creators, I’m the head writer, and James is the Art Director. It’s a full-time job, which I do on top of all my other full-time jobs.
Brouwer: IT RULES MY LIFE. Seriously though, when it's in production, we live and breathe The Deep.
Taylor: It’s hard to breathe The Deep. It’s underwater.
You're pretty busy with Justice League/Power Rangers, All-New Wolverine, and Injustice. Do you have more stories for The Deep to tell?
Taylor: Absolutely! We’ve always had a third chapter (and beyond) in mind, and only the amount of work we have to do on The Deep TV series has kept us from working on that. Generating 39 episodes of TV with our writing team is a lot of work. And James and the design team then have to work really intensely to make it all come together with modelling, animation, lighting, and FX at DHX. But I do hope we’ll be able to bring more Deep stories out through BOOM! in the not-too-distant future. I know the most asked question I get at conventions is, “When’s the next Deep comic?” I can say that we’ve begun work on a Deep prequel comic as well, set in the 1800s, telling the story of some Nekton ancestors. I’ve finished the script, and James is already working on the art.
What's your favorite thing or what are you most proud of with The Deep?
Taylor: No one’s ever asked us that before.
Um, James?
Brouwer: You know that scene in Ant-Man where Scott Lang goes subatomic and he’s falling through those seemingly infinite fractals? Trying to answer this question is a bit like that…
Taylor: Yeah. This is definitely a post-fight-with-giant-Thomas-the-Tank-engine question. I guess I’m just proud that it worked, and it worked the way we envisioned it. James and I (along with Wolfgang Bylsma, Skye Ogden, and Gary Edwards at Gestalt Publishing) set out to create a genuinely fun and entertaining comic that we could share with our kids. We wanted to show that a comic and a TV series could be truly all-ages, and entertain and excite everyone without resorting to violence as a solution. Now, we have people watching all over the world, in a whole lot of languages and, come January, they’ll also be able to read the comics. I grew up pretending to be the heroes I saw in comics and cartoons. It’s incredible to think there are kids around the world pretending to be Ant and Fontaine Nekton.
Set sail, Junior Nektons. And have faith in the fish.
The Deep #1 is on sale January 11, 2017. FOC is Monday, December 19. Check out these process preview pages:
