Chris Beckett of For Your Consideration writes:

Inanna’s Tears, a five-issue bi-monthly series coming from Archaia Studios this August, is an amazing tour-de-force. These two creators understand the comic page and how to use the confines of that page to tell an exciting, emotional story. Originally serialized on the Modern Tales website, once I started reading it – which, sadly, is not a possibility now as Archaia prepares the book for print publication – I was hooked and found myself anxiously awaiting each weekly update.

Despite being set over four millennia in the past, Vollmar’s story is as topical today as ever. On its surface, Inanna’s Tears can be seen as a simple tale involving the conquest of one society by another, but when readers peel away that outer layer they discover so much more. Vollmar threads themes of sexual prejudice, personal growth, religious intolerance, and a resistance against change throughout the narrative. He deftly handles these multiple themes, allowing them to simmer just under the surface while adhering to the first rule of writing: tell an entertaining tale.

Marvin Mann, artist for the highly-acclaimed The Lone and Level Sands, turns in another wonderful job with this book. His storytelling is clear and fluid, and he grounds everything in a reality that lends itself well to a tale set in the dark recesses of the past. Mann’s line work reminds me a lot of Alex Toth. Using a minimal amount of lines to elicit emotion in his figures, the looseness of his inking imbues them with a feeling of movement that is difficult for many artists to achieve on the two-dimensional page. Mann inks his figures even more loosely when the timbre of the story demands it, such as a scene where those outside the city are overcome by panic as a fire spreads through the camp. The thought he puts into his artwork, utilizing any tools at his disposal, takes advantage of the unique workings of the comic story and adds depth to the tale conceived by these two artists.

...Mann also does the coloring for the book. Using a reserved palette that services the story well, he is able to “shock” readers with sudden bursts of color and layer an added emotional response onto an already moving story. Again, this is something that is almost unique to comics – some art house films have utilized color to similar effect – and it is a testament to these two creators that they examined the medium within which they work and sought best how to utilize the tools at their disposal.

Inanna’s Tears is an exciting book that I heartily recommend you seek out when it hits comic shops this August. A true collaboration between two consummate storytellers, this is one of those books all fans should have on their shelves.




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July 11: San Diego update!

I'll be at the con Thursday, Friday and Saturday, spending much of my time at the Archaia booth, and sitting in on the Archaia panel on Friday. The first issue of Inanna's Tears will be available at the con, with it appearing in comics stores in August. Inanna's Tears will be bi-monthly, so look for the second issue in October, and the third in December when the first issue ofSome New Kind of Slaughter will also appear.

But that's not all! I also have two stories in Dara Naraghi'sLifelike anthology coming from IDW in... December.

http://www.archaiasp.com/

ASP is growing by leaps and bounds with a major increase in forthcoming titles. They've put together a terrific catalog which can be downloaded at their site.


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Go read The Lone and Level Sands from Archaia Studios Press.

Its a retelling of the Exodus story from the perspective of Pharaoh Ramses the Great, a man trying to run his country, love his family and deal with a Divine Wrath. Winner of the Day Prize, nominated for three Harveys and part of YALSA's preliminary list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens. Written by A. David Lewis with color by Jennifer Rodgers.

http://cosmorynth.com/

marv@cosmorynth.com

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Inanna's Tears is a project that got its legs at The Engine when Rob Vollmar and I hooked up. He originally described it to me as "a political tragedy set in Sumeria circa 3000 BCE."

He had me with "Sumeria."

IT will be a 125 page story, broken into five 25 page acts. I thought it might be fun to share a short interview I conducted with Rob as a way to begin promoting our story. If you have any thoughts on our promotional efforts here or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you.

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> What fascinates you about Sumeria?

Sumeria is not merely a place but a place coordinated
with a specific time. In this sense, it doesn't even
exist in modern times except as an idea. It is
populated now only by ghosts, vestigial deities, and
the sightseers like myself who arrive with purposes
known only to themselves. Some of that lot I met more
than once as I turned to their own writing on the
topic to better flesh out my own understanding.

The Temple system which immediately preceded the rise
of the Kingship and the development and codification
of the Law had always intrigued me as utterly unique
in its construction. The system, in a nutshell, used
the Temple as a central repository for the
redistribution of the collective bounty of a city to
those who dwelt within it. One might be tempted to
think of it as a Theocratic Communism. It represented
the most durable bridge from simple hunting-gathering
strategies to what would become the modes of human
civilization after.

> Why does this seem fertile ground for a story?

Sumeria exists more today in the realm of ideas than
it does in the physical world. While there are
tendrils of history attached that nearly manage to
suggest its outline, it is the ideal soil for yielding
potent symbols that can carry an unmistakeable message
to all the peoples of the world regardless of the
specificities of the culture from which they perceive
it.

INANNA'S TEARS was inspired to some degree by Greek
theatre and, in that sense, I sought to design a
protagonist in Entika that would represent the
pinnacle of her culture. The stakes of her conflict
with Belipotash and the Lugals are enormously high.
This dance between them was played out in history over
and over again, from one city to the next, as the
Temple-centric governments eventually gave way to the
authority of secular landholders.

> What lessons from the past can we use to better
> understand our lives today?

I think the most valuable thing we can take away from
a frank study of the past is a meaningful sense of
perspective about the perishable nature of all human
civilization. With about 6,000 years at best under our
belt as a civilization, our efforts have stripped the
Earth of many of its vital natural resources and
trapped us into a death spiral that seems, at least,
to be unbreakable. In comparison to the hundreds of
thousands of years that we co-existed with nature
without irrevocably damaging it, it seems that there
may yet be lessons of tribal life that are worth
reconsideration if we intend to persist even another
500 years as a species.

> To what extent to relationships between the
> characters reflect the mores of
> their time, and to what extent do they reflect
> eternal truths about us?

There are definitely some fundamental differences
between this culture and, say, American culture of the
early 21st century. These Sumerians are patriarchal
but their supreme being is imagined as a woman. At
this phase in their development, they have few taboos
regarding sex before marriage and, on the whole, women
are treated more according to their social status than
by their gender.

There are also elements blended into this story that
ask universal questions about love, power, gender, and
belief. These are all (in varying degrees) meditations
upon abstractions that resonate in our everyday lives.


> When you first saw the art, which character most
> surprised you?

The character that seemed to come more to life after I
had met his illustrated form was the Sanga. I had
originally envisioned him like the Chief of Staff at
the White House (businesslike, able) but Marv's
version inspired a forceful character that still was
very comforting in his stoicism. I almost get the vibe
from him that he might have become a very dangerous
person but his interaction with Inanna through the
Temple forged him into a tool of unexpected precision
and utility.