Exclusive Interview with Annihilator’s Frazer Irving

Today saw the release of Grant Morrison's Annihilator, a new miniseries from Legendary Comics, where fictional Hollywood screenwriter Ray Spass taps into another reality straight from his imagination. Each issue features artwork from the extremely talented Frazer Irving, and I had the pleasure of talking with him about his latest project:

When you started working on Annihilator, was the story already laid out by Grant Morrison? How much input did you have on the individual issues?

There was a degree of pre-planning. Grant always has an idea going into things, but he changes as new ideas present themselves. Because this was our fourth or fifth collaboration I know that now, so there was a premise and an ending there, but  I knew he would flesh it out as time went on.

The first script was as fleshed out as it could be, but I had been slowly nudging it with artistic choices, allowing the characters to take over on the page and see how much influence that has on the story.

The first issue of Annihilator takes the reader to two distinct worlds, where we're not really sure what is real. What artistic choices did you make to help separate these worlds to the readers?

It comes down to color coding. I also tried to keep textures consistent between the individual worlds. We  have the two separate realties and they are distinctly color coded and I made sure that some colors didn't appear in other environments. On an unconscious level, it gives the reader a feeling of something different or awkward. You're going to a reality which may or may not be the real one.

With issue one being released, how far into the mini-series are you?

We're coming up the penultimate issue. It took long while for me to get into it due to the nature of the characters. I had to explore them while sketching, but once I got into the grove, they came alive far more vigorously than I expected. By the time I got to issue four, I'm at the exciting part: The fear of the new project is gone, uncertainty of new characters has evaporated, and I'm being sucked into this madness, which is exactly why I got into this career.

Can you give our readers a little tease of what's ahead? Is there a favorite panel or character you can tell us about?

This is the first time in my 14 career, where there's an issue where I like every page. It's a good sign. Page 30 in issue 4 is a favorite panel of mine. I've drawn a monster that I'm very pleased with and there's a scene where Max is painting and I'm leaving that cryptic. It's a huge favorite of mine because of the sheer audacity of some of the things going inside. In issue 2 there is an attempted suicide, which I find quite beautiful. I feel really awkward talking about my own work in those words, but I think it's a nicely composed panel.

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ONE MAN’S MIND IS THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

Legendary Comics proudly presents Annihilator, an original graphic novel odyssey from the extraordinary mind of Grant Morrison. This 6-issue series is a subversive sci-fi adventure like no other, brought to life with stunning artwork from Frazer Irving (Judge Dredd, Necronauts).

Washed-up Hollywood screenwriter Ray Spass is caught in a downward spiral of broken relationships, wild parties and self-destruction. Out of luck and out of chances, he’s one failed script away from fading into obscurity. Little does he know he’s about to write the story of his life.

As his imagination runs rampant, Ray must join forces with his own fictional character Max Nomax on a reality-bending race to stop the entire universe from imploding… without blowing his own mind in the process.