Vlad Yudin is a Russian writer, film director, and producer. He is most known for his documentary films. Vlad is now venturing into writing and creating comic books. His graphic Head Smash is set to hit the stands later this summer.
Head Smash was the talk of C2E2. There were huge signs promoting Head Smash everywhere. The Head Smash bags were a great giveaway. Vlad had a great booth with preview comics, t-shirts, and a video introducing the story. They had a wonderful presence throughout C2E2.
Vlad took a few minutes to discuss about the gritty graphic novel called Head Smash and some of his other projects with me. Below is the wonderful Interview.
GK (Geeky KOOL): You are known for your work in the film industry as a writer, director, and producer. What inspired you to venture into the comic book/ graphic novel side of entertainment?
VY (Vlad Yudin) : Head Smash is the graphic novel that we are currently promoting. We are setting up a brand new character. It is a brand new concept. It takes time. It has been a while since someone has introduced a new hero or character into the world. We are making a film next year of Head Smash. But I really want to focus on promoting the actual book and setting up the character- for grand recognition of the character. That is what we are doing here. We are here in Chicago for our first stop then Detroit, Philadelphia, Texas, and San Diego. Basically we are going everywhere. We will have our booth and a big presence. I am talking to these good people and tell them about Head Smash.
GK: That sounds great. What made you decide to go with the character in comics first instead of just creating the character for film?
VY: That is the thing. First of all, Head Smash is a natural fit for a graphic novel so that was always the idea. It seems like no one is paying attention to graphic novels. It seems like you find out about the graphic novels and comics after it is made into something else especially now days. You found out about Walking Dead after it is made into a TV show then you find out that it is based on the graphic novel. Back in the day, it was the other way around. First you read the book then the movie came out like Batman, Superman, and whatever else. I wanted to get back to its roots. I want to introduce the character. In my opinion, you have to introduce the character and build interest.
GK: With the Geek Community, especially the comic book geek community, you will get a big following. We are very loyal followers. But if the movie varies a little from the comic book, then some of the fans will get a little upset with you. That will probably be a challenge you will see with it.
VY: It is going to be the same exact story. I want to do a slight twist at the end. You can add a new character here or there but you want to stay true to the nature and spirit of the book.
GK: You will keep the fans happy that way.
VY: That is what we want. I want to keep them happy.
GK: What are the challenges you have writing comics compared to writing movies, directing, and the other roles you have preformed?
VY: It is a brand new world for me. I had to really get into it and learn about it. I had a great team of people. Dwayne Harris, who did the great comic -Amnesia, is handling our interior art. Tim Bradstreet, who has done great covers for comics like the Punisher, is a great guy and is handling the cover art for us. I have a great team of people supporting me. Of course, Arcana is publishing it for us. All of these people make it somewhat easier for me.
GK: You mentioned the covers will be handled by Tim Bradstreet. Bradstreet has won multiple Eisner Awards, which are the highest awards you can win the comic book industry. It is quite a score to land an Eisner Award winner to create your covers. How did you develop a relationship where he was chosen to do your covers?
VY: It developed organically. I love Punisher. I love his (Bradstreet) work. He loved the concept of Head Smash. We started communicating and then we came up with the idea and then executed it.
GK: After researching it and examining the comic book, it appears the graphic novel will be more adult themed and maybe too much even for teens. It has the feel of Sin City. Are you familiar with Sin City?
VY: I love Sin City. I would like to think it is not just for adults. We intentionally cleaned up the language so teens could enjoy it. You will still see some kick ass action. It seems like some other comics are extremely graphic and has a ton of language. I know parents would not appreciate it. But with this comic, I would say it should be appropriate if they are age fifteen or above. High school kids could read it and it is totally fine, I guarantee it.
GK: I know I was ready stuff like Head Smash when I was fifteen. I read Watchmen when I was fifteen, which was a little more graphic than my parents would have probably been comfortable with at the time.
GK: Tell me a little bit about the main character: Smash. He seems like an intriguing character set in a unique world. What is behind his character?
VY: Smash is an orphan. All of his life he is just fighting for survival. The orphanage, where he grew up, is more like a prison where kids gets tortured by the guards. It is a very dark environment. One day he gets saved by Maurice, who is a flamboyant character and a gangster who runs the horde, which is a brutal syndicate in the city of Ares. Maurice becomes his father figure and mentor that Smash has never had in his entire life. The Horde becomes his family. One day he gets sent on a mission and he gets betrayed. He survives and takes a special serum that makes him really powerful and strong. He goes back to the city of Ares and he is looking for answers. That is when the big story unravels. Why did this happen and what is going on? His pregnant wife is kidnapped by Maurice. He is looking for his future son. That is the puzzle he is trying to unravel.
GK: You mentioned Ares and I am assuming comes from the Greek god of War.
VY: Yes.
GK: It sounds like a fitting name for this city. Is the entire city this dark violent city that I am imagining or are there some hidden beautiful parts to it?
VY: It is mostly dark due to the infrastructure being so corrupted. Any city has some decent parts but the bottom line is that you have all of these gang wars. The Horde has pretty much taken over. With all of this gang violence happening, you have a lot of bad turbulence in the city. The Horde is trying to take over the whole control with their evil plans. It is very deceiving what they are doing.
GK: Is this an image of our current society or are you just taking the extremes? Where are you pulling the image of the city?
VY: In today’s world, you are seeing a lot of uprisings happening all over the world. I don’t want to get political or anything but people are fighting for their freedoms and rights. Smash is a symbol of the fight for freedom. The Horde is oppressive. Smash stands up for himself and his family. He is trying to protect others and fight against what he knows is not right. I think it is a common theme in today’s world.
GK: I think you are right.
GK: A lot of times writers will put part of ourselves into a character or see a piece of ourselves, do you see any of yourself in Smash?
VY: I draw inspiration from everywhere. I can be here and see something that inspires me. As far as Smash, Smash is more about doing and less about talking. I guess I have some of that characteristic too. When I am going to do something, I like to show it to you. It goes from intangible with just talking about it to being able to show it to you. When you got into Comic Con (C2E2), you can see we are doing things rather than just talking about it. Maybe in that regard we are similar but he will do it in a different way. You can say I am more about doing and less about talking.
GK: That is a great personality trait to have.
GK: When can readers expect Head Smash on the book selves? We have some limited edition comics (preview comic- not the whole graphic novel) here at C2E2.
VY: July 31st. On July 31st, it will be everywhere: comic shops; online; all the book stores including Barnes and Noble. It is a wide release. It is not common for a graphic novel. You will see it at other comic cons and events.
GK: I want to ask you about a few other projects you are doing. You are a busy guy. It sounds like you have a lot of interests and you fingers in a lot of pots at one time. Do you have any trouble balancing all of your projects?
VY: I love doing different things. That doesn’t mean that I spend the same amount of time on each project. It keeps me going and I am always traveling. We are doing a big project call “Generation Iron”. It is the new chapter of the “Pumping Iron” legacy. “Pumping Iron” is a big classic hit with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno about working out. It is completely different than this. We are doing a new version of that. It stars Mickey Rourke. It is about the modern day building world and competing for Mr. Olympia, which is the biggest body building in the world. It is very intense too. It is very different from Head Smash but very intense film. It is a very strong Docu-Drama that we are finishing up right now. It is coming out in September in theaters.
GK: It sounds great. What inspired you to do a re-make of the classic Pumping Iron? Was there anything that really grabbed you in the original?
VY: Various reasons. Jerome Gary produced the original Pumping Iron. I met with him and discussed this concept. I did a lot of research on today’s body building world. I saw a lot of good characters. It is very character driven by these really muscular guys who have cool personalities to them. We did some casting options. We picked our top seven guys we wanted to work with. It will be really entertaining. Even people in the comic book world will see it as pretty cool.
GK: I would be remiss not to mention Catskill Park, your Sci Fi/ Horror movie. Where are you at in production with it.
VY: It is almost completely done. I don’t have a release date for it yet. We are finishing it up right now.
GK: Can you tell me a little bit about Catskill Park? Horror/Sci Fi is a great genre but it is one that you either can do it right or really wrong most of the time.
VK: Catskill Park is a found footage film. It is done in a documentary style. It is about four friends that go hiking in upstate New York in an area called Catskill Park. Everybody on the east coast knows where it is. It is a very large wooded mountain area in upstate New York. They go there for a hiking trip. They take a video camera with them. They wake up in the middle of the night and see a bright light right above them. They find out it is a U.F.O. type object that is right above them. The rest of the film is the recording from the video camera of how they survive through the night. It is about what happens to the human psyche in that state of uncertainty and what is going to happen next. It is a very cool psychological- horror-thriller film.
GK: That sounds great. I am looking forward to seeing it.
VY: We are very excited about it.
GK: Anything else our readers should know about you Vlad?
VY: Right now it is all about Head Smash. I want your readers to find out as much as possible about the book. I want to bring the excitement back. I want people to be looking forward to book.
GK:Thank you very much Vlad for your time and the wonderful interview.
My interview with Vlad was extremely pleasant and a ton of fun. Vlad was great host. He never side stepped a question. He appeared completely locked into me even though C2E2 had ten of thousands of people. Vlad Yudin was a great guy and a wonderful interview.
My review of the Head Smash preview issue will be posted later in the week. At that time, we will give away a copy of Head Smash. I am looking forward to reading the entire Head Smash Graphic Novel.
