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Marvel Icons: Dream Police

Posted by kgcarini on April 22 2005 – 01:44:52

Taken from The Pulse
BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO One of the long rumored projects that J. Michael Straczynski’s been working on is the Dream Police. The story was originally supposed to be published through the Joe’s Comics imprint at Top Cow, but is now a member of the Marvel Icon line. The story has been described by Straczynski on his website as “Dragnet in the Dreamscape”. Artist Mike Deodato Jr., told THE PULSE, “[The Dream Police are] Detectives Joe Thursday and Frank Stafford who patrol this supernatural landscape of Los Angeles fighting to keep the order in the dreamscape.” Deodato Jr. became involved in the project through perfect timing. “I had a few open days in my schedule between books, because the Amazing Spider-Man scripts were getting late,” Deodato Jr. began. “You know the good thing about working with J. Michael Straczynski is that he’s a great writer and one of the most popular in the business. The bad thing is that means he is frequently tardy with his scripts. So, in the interest of keeping me busy, Axel Alonso asked me if I could tackle this side project also written by Straczynski, the Dream Police. I said ‘yes’ immediately of course! It’s a great original story that could work perfectly as a movie. I just fell in love with it.”

Deodato Jr. told THE PULSE that he had highly detailed descriptions for the characters and creatures that are in the Dreamscape. He said from those noted he “tried………..

Extended News Taken from The Pulse
BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO One of the long rumored projects that J. Michael Straczynski’s been working on is the Dream Police. The story was originally supposed to be published through the Joe’s Comics imprint at Top Cow, but is now a member of the Marvel Icon line. The story has been described by Straczynski on his website as “Dragnet in the Dreamscape”. Artist Mike Deodato Jr., told THE PULSE, “[The Dream Police are] Detectives Joe Thursday and Frank Stafford who patrol this supernatural landscape of Los Angeles fighting to keep the order in the dreamscape.” Deodato Jr. became involved in the project through perfect timing. “I had a few open days in my schedule between books, because the Amazing Spider-Man scripts were getting late,” Deodato Jr. began. “You know the good thing about working with J. Michael Straczynski is that he’s a great writer and one of the most popular in the business. The bad thing is that means he is frequently tardy with his scripts. So, in the interest of keeping me busy, Axel Alonso asked me if I could tackle this side project also written by Straczynski, the Dream Police. I said ‘yes’ immediately of course! It’s a great original story that could work perfectly as a movie. I just fell in love with it.” Deodato Jr. told THE PULSE that he had highly detailed descriptions for the characters and creatures that are in the Dreamscape. He said from those noted he “tried to make the characters as real as possible.” He explained the Dreamscape is the place where everyone dreams. However, he was quick to point out that there are rules also involved in the realm. “Everyone there has his or her job to do,” Deodato Jr. began. “When someone doesn’t do it right, then the Dream Police come to fix things up. It’s a place where all sorts of supernatural things can happen, but it is faced by our heroes as a simple, normal, daily thing for them – and that’s the funny part. The artist told THE PULSE it took him about eleven months to draw this tale. He said he worked on creating pages while also working on Amazing Spider-Man. He cited noir movies as his greatest influence for drawing Dream Police. He also listed “Humphrey Bogart, Jim Steranko, and Will Eisner” as art influences. “I had recently watched The Man Who Wasn’t There,” began Deodato, Jr. of his influence for the look and feel of Joe Thursday and Frank Stafford. “So, I thought the likeness of Billy Bob Thornton would be perfect for Joe Thursday. Dennis Quaid was my inspiration for Frank Stafford.” He continued, “Dream Police needed a more haunting, ethereal feel to it than Amazing Spider-Man or Hulk, so I inked it myself in a style a bit more impressionistic than I usually use. It becomes gritty and moody where it needs to be and more dreamlike in the right places. As always, the writing is my guide on how to handle the art.” As one might imagine almost anything and everything can happen in the Dreamscape. Deodato Jr. told us a little about some of the problems these Dream Police officers face. “This night there’s Sister Mary, whose convent is taking over by a sinister force,” he began. “Also ‘Two-Pack’ Benny, who’s trying to keep his hand in the dream-molding game. Plus Little Albert with his big, bad, monster threatening the peace of the Dreamland.” “It is one of the best stories JMS has ever wrote in my opinion,” he continued. “I had the chance to dive deeply into my noir style and do something different from superheroes, which I love, but have to take a break from once in a while. This project is so great. I had no problems at all with it. I think that my only difficulty was the discontinuity on the process of drawing it. I could only do it in the space between each issue of Amazing Spider-Man, so it was hard to get in the mood again after almost a month without working on it.” Deodato Jr. added, “It is an innovative tale, with funny characters, in a fantastic world drawn in a very realistic style. I’m very proud of this project. I’m hoping it strikes a chord – and becomes popular enough for Marvel to do it on a more permanent format sometime with behind-the-scenes goodies. It’s worth keeping. Simply put, this is very good reading. You can’t miss it!”

The one-shot Dream Police makes its debut from Marvel’s Icon imprint this June.