The idea of KIRBY: GENESIS is to take the loads of characters Jack Kirby created but never had the chance to do anything with. Creators have been given a chance to take these characters and expand on the notes and designs Kirby conceived. The newest additon is DRAGONSBANE.

KIRBY: DRAGONSBANE marks the first time writer Robert Rodi (THOR & LOKI: BLOOD BROTHERS) has worked with Dynamite Entertainment. The series will feature art by Fritz Casas, along with covers from Alex Ross and Jack Herbert.

What exactly is DRAGONSBANE about? That's what we set out to find out.

Comic Vine: How did you get involved with this project at Dynamite?

Robert Rodi: I'd been talking to Nick Barrucci and Joe Rybandt for a while, and when this project came up it seemed like a great fit for me. In fact if we hadn't been talking already, I'd have tracked them down and pitched myself for it. I love the whole idea of creating a new comics universe based on Jack Kirby characters and concepts, and I love being part of it.

CV: What is Dragonsbane about?

RR: The titular hero is Sigurd Dragonsbane, the greatest hero in Norse legend, who slew the dragon Fafnir and now resides in the mythic land of Valhalla with all the other legendary Norse and Viking heroes.

Our first story arc will provide him with a new quest, which will form the backbone of the series. But more broadly, the series is about the relationships of different heroes from different legendary and folkloric traditions—Graeco-Roman, Eastern European, Persian, and so on—who have come together in the aftermath of a mysterious event that has fused all the various "mythlands" into a single entity. We'll be exploring the geography of the united Mythlands in our first arc, and assembling our cast of characters along the way.

CV: Do you have complete control over the set, characters and story?

RR: I have as much control as I want and need. Dragonsbane is a spinoff of the Kirby: Genesis series, so every major character in the book has been designed, and in most cases christened, by Jack Kirby; and that's one of the attractions of the series to me—taking these unused concepts from the King's sketchbooks and giving them actual stories to inhabit. I have the freedom to flesh them out as I see fit—in other words, I'm obliged to use characters like Ulysses and Soothsayer and She-Demon, but I get to determine who they are as individuals. And yet even there, I've tried to do what I think Kirby would have done—how he would have had them speak and act and think. Ultimately I'd like Dragonsbane to be less a Kirby homage by Robert Rodi, than a Kirby book channeled by Robert Rodi.

CV: What makes Dragonsbane stand out compared to the other Kirby characters?

RR: Sigurd Dragonsbane is young, brash, and optimistic; I like the idea that this ancient hero, who's been residing in Valhalla for millennia, should be as eager and impulsive as any mortal 17-year-old. To me, that's very Kirbyesque; every time Jack took on a myth or a legend, he gave an aura of sunlit freshness to it, as though he were bringing it to life for the first time.

Most of Sigurd's colleagues will be more restrained and questioning—more "mature" if that word can be used about ageless immortals—but they'll have their own individual quirks. Honir, for instance, is a relentless ladies' man, while Ulysses is a bit of a braggart, and She-Demon is...well, she's She-Demon.

CV: How does Dragonsbane fit in with the rest of the Kirby: Genesis universe? What will others think of him?

RR: To find that out, you'll have to keep reading KIRBY: GENESIS. And DRAGONSBANE too; eventually we'll take Sigurd and his fellow heroes out of he Mythlands and bring them to Earth, where they may run into some of their fellow Kirby: Genesis characters. But for right now, the master plan for the Kirby universe is Kurt Busiek's, in the flagship title. My job is to explore the mythic side of it in Dragonsbane, and I couldn't be happier—or having more fun.

KIRBY: GENESIS DRAGONSBANE #1 is in stores January 11, 2012. Be sure to let your local comic shop know you want to check it out.

I hope there's some Celtic mythology in this

So... young Thor?

Its funny how these characters look so much like the characters in Marvel. I see Loki and Thor look really similar.

@doordoor123 Well I'm sure a lot of it is because most of the Kirbyverse ideas spawned out of Jack's work on Thor in the 50's and 60's. Marvel didn't like the ideas he was proposing so he made his own universe to flesh them out. I've really been enjoying these stories, the $3.99 price tag is a little steep, but the mythos are awesome and I really have been enjoying the art, it's beautiful. Truly astonishing covers. I love the kirbyverse. Anyone else remember or read the Kirbyverse comics in the 90's from Topps? Really awesome stuff that some legends from the silver age worked on.

@GregisPurple said:

So... young Thor?

My thoughts exactly!

See now this is something I can really get behind, not just it all relates to Kirby's world he created from the roots upward, but because there almost complete control by Rodi in the process of creating this fabulous story. Seriously considering getting this now.

@doordoor123 said:

Its funny how these characters look so much like the characters in Marvel. I see Loki and Thor look really similar.

Exactly, I was thinking.

@MetropolisKid41 said:

@doordoor123 Well I'm sure a lot of it is because most of the Kirbyverse ideas spawned out of Jack's work on Thor in the 50's and 60's. Marvel didn't like the ideas he was proposing so he made his own universe to flesh them out. I've really been enjoying these stories, the $3.99 price tag is a little steep, but the mythos are awesome and I really have been enjoying the art, it's beautiful. Truly astonishing covers. I love the kirbyverse. Anyone else remember or read the Kirbyverse comics in the 90's from Topps? Really awesome stuff that some legends from the silver age worked on.

Yes. I know that but its weird that they are using those designs when their designs so prominent in comics today.

Considering what Marvel's been doing with Thor lately (oddly enough, the only good Thor stories in the last few years have been those written by... Bob Rodi), this book is almost guaranteed to be an improvement on how to portray mythological characters in comics. Any similarities between Thor and Dragonsbane can be put down to their mythological origins and the fact that they're both Kirby creations. I'm pretty excited about Dynamite's whole "Kirbyverse" line, as I was for the Topps Comics version from the 90s, that sadly, went nowhere after the first 6 months. Sure hope this one lasts for more than a year.

Whoa, they came up with a cool name. Alex Ross is all heart on this project and it shows. Good for Dynamite.