Percy Carey’s Comic Book Corner: William Wilson5:31 pm | Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

[Each Wednesday, Complex columnist Percy Carey a.k.a. MF Grimm dives into the world of comic books with industry interviews, reviews and more.]

As some of you may know, over the last few months, I've become a part of an up and coming comic book and multimedia company called Arch Enemy Entertainment. But what you may not know is the man who created Arch Enemy, who goes by the name of William Wilson. So, I thought I'd interview this businessman who’s on the edge of a media revolution to talk bout his company and his love for comics…

Percy Carey: How did you first get into comics?

William Wilson: A very close friend of mine, Tone Rodriguez, got me in to comics. I met Tone through John Carpenter and the late Debra Hill, my mentors, while I was working on the third installment of the Snake Plisskin series. Tone was working on the comic book version, and Debra felt that we should meet. As they say, the rest is history.

Percy Carey: When did you discover you liked comics?

William Wilson: When I was a kid, my dad was a coal miner. When he would come home from work, he would stop and buy comics for me. When I got older, my close friend Chad Watson collected comics, everything from Batman to X-Men. That kept me into them. When I eventually started my own comic company in Arch Enemy Entertainment, who better to be my vice president than the man who kept me reading them, Chad.

Percy Carey: Tell us a little more about your company.

William Wilson: When I started Arch Enemy, my vision was always to do something different than traditional comic book companies. So I studied the history of comic book companies and made note of all of the best qualities and brrought those to a studio setting. The idea was to function as a studio and have partnerships with some of the best publishers out there. I've been blessed to work with such talented publishers as Jim Valentino and Kris Simon over at Shadowline, David Hedgecock and Brent Erwin over at Ape Entertainment, Jesse Garza at Viper Comics, and we have plans in the works to work with Robert Kirkman and Eric Stevenson with Image Comics. I've learned so much from these people and I continue to learn as our company grows and we continue to work in the industry. With the knowledge gained from those I have worked with, eventually, I would like to expand further. Not only would we have partnerships with other publishers, but also have the ability for our company to publish its own work. We always wanted to work with the best people, and one of those is my cousin, Chet Yeary. He's a graphic designer who’s put a number of our internal projects together, designed several logos, and given us one of the most ground-breaking websites in comics. His designs for us have actually been featured in a design book.

Percy Carey: What are some of the projects you've written?

William Wilson: GI Joe, UTF, Urban Monsters, and I contributed to the Sasquatch anthology.

Percy Carey: What is it about comics that you love so much?

William Wilson: I love the classic idea of the hero being the underdog and having to dig deep within himself and even dig deep through those around him to succeed, no matter the cost. It requires the strength of others to lift the hero up to the heights he needs to get the job done. It's often times how I've seen myself over the years. A lot of the challenges I've faced have caused me to find new depths within myself and within my friends.

Percy Carey: Comic books take the audience on a fantastic journey, where do they take you, as a creator?

William Wilson: They take me into territories and genres that make me either examine the genre or re-examine the genre. I want to find something new to bring the audience, and along the way I discover that aspect for myself, and get to keep that sense of interest that the audience gets to discover.

William and GZA

Percy Carey: Can you tell us about some of the guys currently working with you at Arch Enemy?

William Wilson: Currently, we've assembled some of the brightest up-and-coming minds and talents in comic books. We're working with greats in several industries, including Hollywood talent like Tyrese Gibson and Mike Le, and music giants like GZA to create unique stories for their brands. We're combining these high level stars and projects with some great rising stars. Some of these people are artists like Mark Flores, who is working on a '60s action thriller called John Solo, Eric Moore, who brings his own unique talent to a book for two high school kids and a video game that comes alive called Game Boys. Taylor Bills, who electrifies the pages of a story of a young girl fighting the things that go bump in the night called Aurora Rose, Christopher LaGrosse, whose classic stylings bring life to an old west/vampire story called Sun Up, Claudio Sepulveda, whose modern style energizes a story of a man who will get the job done called The Diplomat, and writers like J.K. Stevens who brings his award-winning writing to a superhero story that turns the conventions of caped heroics on its head called Versus, and a writer who’s become my protégé named Neil Herndon who brings a blockbuster style to a story of a trouble cop dealing with his own personal demons in the form of a hallucination that becomes his crime fighting partner called In Stability.

Percy Carey: Do you have any other media aspirations?

William Wilson: Well, personally I believe that media is on a crash course with itself and pretty soon we'll see a merging of everything. In that regard, myself and Arch Enemy will be making moves towards the music industry. I want to bring innovation to both sides, and do things like create soundtracks for books and package them together. With that idea in mind, Arch Enemy is looking at moving towards that, and creating its own music label. We're partnering with music giants Damien Matthias and James Womack because those two gentlemen have made their careers being innovators and creators, and that's exactly the mentality that I want to work with.

Percy Carey: What inspires you?

William Wilson: People who push me to be the best that I can be, people who believe in me. People close to me, like friends and family. My family has given me some of the greatest inspiration over the years; I wouldn't be doing what I am without them. People from this country and all across the world, all my friends inspire me. Even people that I barely know.

Percy Carey: You've done some work for Hollywood'can you talk about that?

William Wilson: Working in Hollywood is a really interesting adventure and is definitely a very enlightening experience. But the amazing thing about it is getting to see all of the innovation and creativity that the people who work here in LA produce. I've met several people who do perpetuate the old stereotype of yes men and short sighted executives, but honestly, all of the people that I've been in business with and all of my friends in the industry really do strive for innovation. It's exciting to be a part of a group of people who are very creative and really want to give a truly entertaining experience to the populace. To be able to work with people like Adam Marshall at Energy Entertainment, Ben Roberts at Valhalla, Braden Aftergood at Film 44, power playing producer Ben Haber, renowned comic artist Jason Craig, and Ryan Heppe, who's producing partners with movie legend David Foster, is one of the true joys of my life.

William with the Arch Enemy crew

Percy Carey: What about representation? Everyone always hears how agents are no good.

William Wilson: I disagree with that. Hollywood, like many other professions, tries to find a place for you, not a label, but a niche, a specialization. I find myself fortunate enough to be represented by CAA. My agent, Jon Levin and his associate Andrew Miller, represents some really big names, and does so because he can match a client with a unique vision for their future. Personally I feel like he does the best job at representing what I want out of my career and he strives to see that happen. He's one of the most sensational men I've met when it comes to making things happen.

Percy Carey: Truth be told, comics seems to be an industry primarily dominated by men. Do you see any break in that mold in the near future?

William Wilson: Absolutely. Over the years, I've seen many talented females who want to be in the industry. Each year at Comic Con, we see quite a few female artists, and I always pay special attention to what they can do because I want to see the stereotype of the comic book boys club be proven false. One artist in particular who I believe will set the industry on fire is a talented woman named Luisa Russo. Her art is absolutely fantastic.

Percy Carey: Who would win in a fight, Wonder Woman or Ms. Marvel?

William Wilson: I love both characters, they're actually my two favorite women from the two brands. But I think Wonder Woman would win because she's absolutely fearless. But more importantly, you can't bet against somebody whose initials are W.W. End of story.

Percy Carey: How can we get in contact with you and some of the people you work with?

William Wilson: I've always stood by the belief that if someone wants to get a hold of me, bring a question or comment, that they should be able to bring it right to me. Our website, www.arch-enemy.net, has contact info for my company, and I usually answer company e-mails personally from info@arch-enemy.net. For those interested, I'd also like to include Arch Enemy's first comic trailer, which can be seen at www.machmahn.com. As for direct contact to some of the people I work with, I'm sure they would rather I not give some of that information out, but they can be reached through their websites:

-www.chetyeary.com
-www.vipercomics.com
-www.imagecomics.com
-www.ape-entertainment.com
-www.luisarusso-gallery.it

Percy Carey: Well, on behalf of myself and the readers, I'd like to thank you for doing this interview and I'd like to wish you a very happy birthday.

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