Image Comics’ The Weatherman series is a full-bore sci-fi saga set on a fully inhabited Musk-less Mars. This is a dream project and dreamscape come to cosmic life after years of planning and fine-tuning. I wanted to get a clearer bead on how something this emotionally and technically complex comes into being, so I asked Nathan Fox—an Eisner-nominated graphic novelist, the artist and co-creator of the series, and founding chair of the SVA MFA Visual Narrative program—about the scope, trials and triumphs of producing this three-volume epic. Here he speaks for his collaborators (writer and co-conspirator Jody LeHeup, the former editor of Deadpool, Strange Tales and Uncanny X-Force, and master colorists Dave Stewart and Moreno Dinisio). You have to be a weatherman to know which way this wind blows.
Tell me the origin story. How did The Weatherman take form?
Jody basically cold-called me in late 2015 with the pitch and a few initial scripts from the series. I had just taken on a year-long short story project, was teaching and running the SVA MFA Visual Narrative program full time and trying to get back to writing my own personal book projects. The timing couldn’t have been worse on my end, but thankfully Jody was persistent. Cuz’ once I got a chance to read through the first script, it all just clicked. I knew immediately that this was a story I had to tell. The themes, questions and experiences Jody was wrestling with were the exact same ones I had been wrestling with in my own work. We had much more in common than either of us realized. The Weatherman became the dream project I didn’t know I was searching for. It did take that year plus another one before the first issue to hit the stands in 2018, but those two years of creative collaboration, idea exchange and story development became invaluable.
What is the crux of the story?
Our story takes place in the far future in the year 2770. Earth’s been destroyed by the worst terrorist attack in human history and all that remains of humanity is living on Mars, which, in our story, is fully terraformed and home to billions of people. Still, the loss of Earth is as surreal as it is devastating and the people of Mars are dealing with a lot of anger and grief. Especially since the terrorists that killed Earth are still out there and threatening Mars with a similar fate.
In that environment we’re introduced to local celebrity weatherman Nathan Bright. Nathan’s a hard-partying, class-clown type living his best life with his dog and his awesome new girlfriend when seemingly out of nowhere he finds himself accused of master-minding this attack on Earth. People are trying to kill him, bounty hunters are coming after him, etc. … and he’s like, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! You have DEFINITELY got the wrong guy!” The problem is there’s a hole in Nathan’s memory, and he can’t actually say whether he did it or not.
The only person standing between Nathan and an entire galaxy of parties that want to see him very dead is his awesome new girlfriend who, it turns out, isn’t his girlfriend at all. Her name is Amanda Cross and she’s a government intelligence agent. Her mission is to protect Nathan until he can lead her to what’s left of the terrorist group responsible for the attack on Earth (ostensibly Nathan’s old crew). In order to do it, the pair have to work together until they can fill in the gaps in Nathan’s memory and discover once and for all who Nathan Bright is and how to bring his old crew to justice.
Saying this is complicated is an understatement …
It’s once we start filling the gaps that things get really wild. There’s a wonderful oil and water dynamic between Nathan and Cross. Cross lost family in the attack on Earth and believes Nathan to be responsible for it. She hates and wants to kill him as much as everyone else on Mars, but can’t. And then there’s Nathan, who loves her and wants nothing more than for her to like him. Which we have a lot of fun with.
Ultimately it’s kind of a Midnight Run in the future with a lot of action and comedy and even horror and political intrigue as we go along. Sometimes it’s light and sometimes it’s dark. Even very dark. It’s tonally diverse in a great way, but we never lose focus of humanity and emotional journeys of the characters.
Did this plot develop over time or was the narrative planned out?
The narrative was planned out from the beginning but we were flexible and adjusted as needed and as characters revealed themselves in the telling.
How did you work together as collaborators?
We’re co-creators. Jody is the writer (amazing visual script writer) and I’m the artist (pencils and inks). We wanted the series to be unique, jump off the shelf (hence, the book design and colors) and be that “full-meal-comic” we loved reading, but rarely found as fans ourselves. One of the major challenges we knew we would have is finding the right colorist—someone who would bring their unique vision and color story to the series. We went to the amazing Dave Stewart first. I have been a fan of his work ever since I read my first issue of Hellboy and was lucky enough to work with him on Pigeons From Hell for Dark Horse Comics. He’s always busy, to say the least, and shot us down immediately. Over the next year, we reached out to other peers with no luck. Apparently my work can be a challenge to color, and the expectations we hoped to achieve for the series were definitely demanding. All out of options we held our breath and reached out again to Dave. His schedule had opened up, he was onboard and inevitably rocked the color work on Vol. 1.
A year later, though, Dave had to leave the series and we started working with an equally stellar colorist, Moreno Denisio. Moreno went on to color the rest of the series and set the final tone and atmosphere we were looking for. It’s amazing what happens when you find the right collaborators for the right project. Same goes for our editors, Josh Johns and Sebastian Girner, book designer Tom Muller, and letterer Steve Wands. All of them brought their unique insights and skills to the series. The Weatherman would not be what it is without them and I could not be more proud of the work and crew.
Was it always destined to be three volumes?
Yes. From the get-go the series was always three complete arcs and volumes—19 issues in total. Neither of us is really a fan of ongoing, infinite series and my schedule isn’t built for a continuous monthly book. Every character in this series is deeply flawed and definitely the wrong person at the right time. The stakes are high from the get-go and all great stories have an ending. Hopefully this one is an amazing ride that exceeds expectations all along the way.
What surprises occurred that altered the trajectory of The Weatherman?
In the beginning, I think world-building and character development played a large part for me. It took a long time to figure out what made this world and story different on a visual character and design level. We could theorize and concept it all but figuring out who our main characters were and how they really related to each other on the pages was one of the most challenging things when we got started. But once we nailed down who Nathan and Ian were, along with Nathan and Amada’s relationship to each other, suddenly the entire world became tangible and evolved in unique and interesting ways that we couldn’t have anticipated in the script.
The other big surprise turned out to be my production schedule and the timing of the series; the pandemic really had the biggest effect on the trajectory of the series. I am not a full-time graphic novelist or illustrator alone. I run a graduate program and teach full time, and am the father of two amazing daughters (and a couple of adorably annoying dogs). So when the pandemic hit, like everyone else, priorities had to shift. My production on the series had to take a backseat to health, family and my faculty and students. Thankfully, we made it through the pandemic, but the final volume and remaining seven issues of the series would end up being delayed almost three years. Over those months and year, however, I kept plugging away at pages. Which, in hindsight, forced the time needed to make some very unique advancements in the story that truly elevated the art and final scenes of the series in the process. In the end, I have no regrets about the choices I had to make or the quality of the story we ended up achieving. The delay ended up being worth the wait, but it did unfortunately affect the series readership, distribution and sales on the self-publishing side. A hard thing to experience, but the dream project we set out to make was achieved.
Can you say what you want the reader to think, feel and see after they’ve finished the story?
I wouldn’t ever want to say what people should think or feel once they close the book. We don’t have any control over that, but from the responses we’ve received from the start, everyone will definitely feel what’s at stake for our characters (especially by the end of the first issue in Vol. 1) and take away their own unique reading. Whatever they think or feel is up to how they interpret the story. I will add though that this is a series that absolutely rewards re-reading, and I highly recommend it if one is so inclined. Everything we have to say is on the page—and by golly, we packed a lot of layers into The Weatherman and a lot of emotional subtlety for readers to unpack. It’s a rich reading experience.
Is there a plan for another series along the lines of The Weatherman?
Jody and I have tossed this back and forth a lot. We could easily live in the world of The Weatherman for years. There is so much more there in terms of characters and backstory that we’ve talked or joked about off and on. But the story is complete and the ending is there. It would also feel like a bit of a betrayal to the story we told and how things ended with each character and the choices they made, if we went back in to add more. Who knows, maybe down the line something will happen. But for now, The Weatherman exists and is.
That said, I think I can speak for us both when I say we are looking forward to working on new stories together in the future. As I hinted at before, something amazing happens when the right creative team and collaborators find each other—and it just clicks. I have learned so much from working with each of them. Stay tuned. Hopefully this is the first of many projects to come.
What does The Weatherman mean and say about you as a creator?
Oof. That’s a doozy. The Weatherman was a dream project and my first real creator-owned, co-created project. Now that it’s complete, I’m still processing it all but I can honestly say that I have way too many feels to share with all I experienced on this project. It’s hard to put into words, and probably a bit too personal to express. I know I’ve alluded to it previously, but both Jody and I have a lot of skin in the game when it comes to these characters, who they are and represent to us, why they made the choices they did and how the consequences of their actions ended up affecting others. In the end, I hope readers can feel how much of that “personal stuff” we put into the characters and the story. The sci-fi/fictional story-stuff aside, each character at their core are aspects and reflections of our shared rage, biases, assumptions and the product of the choices we make. That’s something we definitely felt deeply in the making of it all and is hopefully something the audience feels and takes away, or can reflect on. I have never had such a deep connection or learned so much from working on a story or project like this one. It was always more than just a cool (fantastically drawn) sci-fi action thriller, and the major reason why we invested in it so deeply. I am always amazed by the power stories have over us and how empowered they can make us feel. Working on this series has elevated my understanding of what my own characters and their stories are capable of—especially in comics. I could not be more excited for the next project, and to dive back in those powerful and empathetic waters once more.
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