Keith Giffen Gets AMBUSHed By His BUG
Artist Keith Giffen was surprised when asked to return to Ambush Bug, his quirky '80s creation. But he was more surprised to discover what he was allowed to do with him.
Ambush Bug is back. Even though he never really left.
Keith Giffen, who birthed the wacky pseudo-hero in the early 1980s, will plot and pencil a six-issue mini-series entitled Ambush Bug: Year None, while original Bug collaborator Robert Loren Fleming once again supplies the word balloons, and Al Milgrom steps in for original inker Bob Oksner, who passed away last year.
With more than 20 years of experience in the comic book industry, Giffen most recently has been a driving force (as breakdown artist) behind DC's 52 and Countdown, while also cranking out his own projects. Then, in December '07, DC VP Dan DiDio announced that he and Coordinating Editor Jann Jones had talked newly-exclusive Giffen into returning to the Bug.
"What can I say? I have a thing for funny men in green insect costumes," admitted Jones, who's known to be a huge fan of Ambush Bug. "The book...was funny, quirky, irreverent and kind of sweet in a weird way--kind of like me."
Ambush Bug first appeared as a rather ineffectual villain in several '80s Superman comics, but his humorous antics and biting quips earned him two mini-series and several specials over the next decade. This gave Giffen and Fleming plenty of space to poke fun at the comic book industry through stories that featured such recurring characters as Ambush Bug's babydoll adopted son/sidekick, Cheeks the Toy Wonder.
"I think part of Ambush Bug's appeal is he's...kind of innocent and oblivious to things going on around him," said Giffen. "Most of the humor is generated from that. And I'll say right up front, that heart and that innocence of the character comes directly from Bob Fleming, because if I did Ambush Bug solo, I know he'd be a darker character."
Giffen was quick to point out that, even without his creator to guide him, Ambush Bug never really went away, having made several cameo appearances over the years in various DC comics. Most recently, he appeared as part of Firestorm's short-lived Justice League of America in 52 #24, in which he quipped, "Hello, room service? Send up a plot and three pages of dialogue right away! The weekly grind is tearin' me apart! Fifty-two!!!"
"It wasn't even my idea to put Ambush Bug in 52--that was the big four," Giffen explained in January, referring to writers Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. "I pretty much figured the character had run its course."
Even after DiDio and Jones convinced him otherwise, Giffen still was a little nervous coming back. "It had been 15 years since I had drawn any kind of Ambush Bug project. But it was really like slipping on a pair of old comfortable slippers. Once I put pencil to the page, it just kept getting easier and easier and easier and easier. Working with Bob, it was almost like we picked up where we left off."
Where they left off was with a creative process more akin to the famed Marvel Method than to DC's standard script/art procedure. On Ambush Bug, Giffen pencils pages like storyboards for a silent film, then hands them off to Fleming with no notes or directions. In fact, he won't even talk about them. Fleming will know the basic thrust of the plot, but if he receives art that deviates from the original story, he must decide on his own how to work it in.
Though he doesn't have as much history with Al Milgrom as with Fleming, Giffen knew after working with the veteran inker on an Action Comics cover that he was the man for the Ambush Bug job. "He's got this nice, fluid approach that will soften some of the edges. Milgrom is one of these inkers who deserves better recognition than he's gotten for his work."
So, with his team in place, Giffen went off exploring the DCU. By way of a loose structure, he's set the new miniseries within an examination of six major event storylines, as seen through Ambush Bug's eyes. The goal is for each issue to feel like a "lost" chapter from Identity Crisis, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown to Final Crisis and even Final Crisis, which will be released concurrently with Giffen's book.
"No event, character, writer or editor is safe," said Jones, who is editing the mini herself. "Because he has been such an integral part of the DCU over the years, [Giffen] has unique credibility to satirize our work. It is guaranteed to be an equal opportunity offender."
"I've handed in pages and held my breath and wondered, 'OK, can I go too far?'" Giffen admitted. "And so far the stuff is just sailing through. The huge amount of support we're getting from DC proper in just being allowed to rampage through the DC Universe is kind of stunning."
During this rampage, Giffen also will drag some old characters out into the light again. "And they're characters that I'm sure DC would pretty much rather the fans would forget about."
But he's not taking for granted that his creation isn't one of those (largely) "forgotten" characters. Although the book won't be a reboot, it will take some time to acquaint new readers with its star.
"I'm approaching it from the fact that the character has existed, but there might be people who aren't aware of the character," said Giffen. "So there will be little diversions into 'who is Ambush Bug?' And we'll lie about his origin again."
Every time Giffen and Fleming have told Ambush Bug's origin, it's been a different story. In the most commonly accepted origin tale, Brum-El of the supposedly doomed planet Schwab rocketed his wardrobe into space, only to have it intercepted by a giant radioactive spider. This detour sent the rocket spiraling to Earth, where it crash-landed into the apartment of one Irwin Schwab, who found two "surviving" articles of clothing: a green, skin-tight bodysuit with orange antennae, and Argh!Yle!, an argyle sock with a metal mask and an evil, Doctor Doom-like complex.
The variety of origin stories is something Giffen considers part of the character's patented absurdity, which also includes the fact that he's one of the few denizens of the DC Universe to know that he is a comic book character. Because of this, many readers regard some of the Bug's exploits as non-canonical.
But that's okay with Giffen, who insists that there is no deep meaning to Ambush Bug. "There's no hidden agenda or anything like that. It's just goofy fun."
The first issue of Ambush Bug: Year None has been solicited for July.
[Original posts by Newsarama's VANETA ROGERS. Thanks to Wikipedia and to the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe for biographical info on Mr. Schwab.]