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A Conversation with John Ostrander and Jan Duursema

John Ostrander and Jan Duursema have been working on the Star Wars monthly since early 2000, introducing readers to new rogues and heroes in the Expanded Universe like the gruff Jedi Quinlan Vos and the Devaronian bounty hunter, Villie. Another one of their creations, the Twi'lek Jedi Aayla Secura, has even caught the attention of Star Wars creator George Lucas who included the character in several scenes of the second film.

Now the pair have left their monthly haunts to focus their creative talents on a series of specials featuring the reluctant Generals of the Clone War, the Jedi, spotlighting them in their own solo adventures while continuing to develop the overarching storyline begun in Episode II. The first of these one-shots featured the popular Mace Windu, and their most recent effort has been the Jedi: Shaak Ti special. Coming this summer they will be revisiting Aayla Secura when she stars in her own Jedi special.

Cliched as it may sound, John and Jan took some time out of their busy schedules to participate in our four-week Star Wars event here at SBC, and I'm pleased to present their interview as the first.

MIKE JOZIC: Considering his importance in the films, it didn't surprise me at all that Mace Windu got a one-shot out of all of this, but I have to ask, why Shaak Ti?

JOHN OSTRANDER: She's very interesting visually and Jan really wanted to do her. Plus, a lot of fans seem really intrigued by her and Shaak Ti had made an appearance in the film. We had a male for the first one, Mace Windu, and we wanted to balance it with a strong female.

JOZIC: Who chooses the Jedi who are to be put in the spotlight?

OSTRANDER: Mostly Jan and I. We propose our candidates to both Dark Horse and Lucasfilm Ltd. and so far no one has disagreed!

JOZIC: The solicitation mentions guest-stars galore for the Shaak Ti special. Can you mention a few who will make an appearance?

OSTRANDER: Plo Koon is there, as is Agen Kolar. Count Dooku has a cameo. Sagoro Autem from the “Honor and Duty” storyline in Star Wars: Republic 46-48 returns but a lot has happened to him since we last saw him. And a surprise or two here and there.

JOZIC: Individually, you guys have done everything from Westerns to Fantasy to Super-heroes over the course of your careers in comics. How does writing and drawing for Star Wars compare, both creatively and as a fan, to the rest of your material?

OSTRANDER: Well, as a fan, it's great! And I've been a fan since before the first movie came out; I actually read the original novel before I saw the movie. You get not only to play with George Lucas' universe but sometimes even with the actual characters. Creatively, it's not a whole lot different than dealing with any other comic book franchise.

For example, even if you're doing Superman or Batman, any change you make is likely to be minor because they are franchise characters. It's a given they'll be back next month. You can do a lot within the parameters, however. And, sometimes, that's why we've created our own characters within the Star Wars universe. We have more control over them than, say, Anakin, for example.

We try to keep a mixture of both and try to bring out certain aspects of character even within the franchise characters. It all has to get LFL approval, of course, but we've done pretty well, I think.

JOZIC: Jan?

JAN DUURSEMA: Creatively, Star Wars has been a blast! There is so much in Star Wars to explore. As a fan it has been an incredible privilege to be able to draw these books. I find myself thinking constantly about what I can do with the art on the page and I try to pull as many visual cues as I can from all the Star Wars material I've seen. There is such a wealth of information in the Star Wars universe to draw from that I feel like a kid in a toy store. I know there isn't time to play with all the toys I see, but I sure as heck want to try!

One of my favorite things is looking for background flora and fauna I can put into the panels. Throwaway stuff, I suppose, as it isn't necessary to include it to tell the story - but I think it adds to the overall texture and imparts a visual richness to the places being shown. As with other work I've done - whether it was X-Men, Hawkman or AD&D, I throw my creative energies totally into the lives of the characters and try to understand what motivates them - how they walk, gesture - when they smile - what makes them angry or sad. I try to give each character their own visual personality and identity in the way they move and react. When I'm done with a story, I want to feel like I made these characters come alive for the reader.

Yet, somehow with Star Wars, it is different too. A lot of the 'superhero' books I've worked on get re-vamped every so often, the legends change dramatically and everything I have done on them is gone. Star Wars isn't like that and that makes working on this both cool and scary sometimes. The Star Wars legend is something that is constantly being built upon. There is more of a feeling of adding a small piece to a much larger mythos. It's important to get it right the first time because it will always be there.

JOZIC: I hear Clone War and comic books in the same sentence and I can't help but think to myself, Our Galaxy At War. Is that a fair assessment of what to expect from these books?

OSTRANDER: A little but not totally. We've also been looking at war movies as well and, under that, you would be surprised at what might fall under it. Certainly outright war movies such The Dirty Dozen, The Guns of Navarone, Patton, or The Longest Day but also films that have war as a backdrop, such as Casablanca. Certainly, war comics will also figure in as well but we're really trying to bring in as many different influences as possible. War has many faces; front-line battle and combat is one of them but not the only one. There is a great variety and depth of stories using war as the backdrop from which we can choose.

JOZIC: Jan, design or style-wise, are you approaching the artwork differently now that you've passed on into the Clone War period?

DUURSEMA: There was a definite style change between Episode I and II as we move into the Clone Wars. The hardware has changed a lot from Episode I to Episode II.

For instance, we're seeing the evolution of ships we will see in the classic trilogy. Both civilian and Jedi clothing styles have also changed. The civilian clothes especially seem to be moving toward a more "Imperial" direction. With some of the stories I have been working on, I have darkened the mood somewhat as well - and gone "grungier" in locations on the 'Wheel' and on Nar Shaddaa. One of the aspects of Star Wars that I've always liked is the used look of the hardware - scratches on the ships and guns, blaster marks on armor and used looking clothing - that stays no matter which era we are in!

JOZIC: Do you prefer working on the more "civilian" side of the Star Wars universe, or is there a particular appeal to drawing the Jedi and adding to their visual vocabulary?

DUURSEMA: While the "civilian' side is interesting, the prequel era is the time of the Jedi. Ever since Obi-Wan first appeared in A New Hope and I heard the word "Jedi", I've been wanting to take part in telling stories about these mysterious warriors. Visually, anything I can add to their legend and mythos is exciting to me. One of my favorite storytelling exercises is pacing out a lightsaber battle and choreographing it for the page. Visually, the Jedi should be diverse - both in the way they look and in how they fight. But I want the Jedi I portray to be remembered for more than the battles they fight.

There was always a sense in Star Wars that Obi-Wan and Yoda were not perfect, but struggled with questions and searched for answers. This is something I would like to see for the Jedi portrayed in this series as well. I would like to see them portrayed as real people, complex and flawed as any of us. They have emotions they must deal with and feelings they must sort out. They may be mysterious and almost magical, calm in the face of battle to the rest of the galaxy, but internally they are beings who are struggling to keep on the path of the Force while trying to find the same answers that the rest of us are looking for.

JOZIC: Who has been your favorite character, or characters, to draw for the Star Wars books?

DUURSEMA: All of them! There are so many. Darth Maul, Jango Fett, Quinlan Vos, Aayla Secura, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Shaak Ti, Yoda, Count Dooku, Agen Kolar - are my top 10. But there are so many others I haven't drawn yet. Each character is interesting to me and I learn so much about them as I draw them. Figuring out what a character is all about emotionally and how they move and react is fascinating to me.

JOZIC: Was it a real treat for you guys to see Aayla Secura, a character you created, make an appearance in Episode II?

OSTRANDER: Big time! Very, very cool!

DUURSEMA: How about creative thrill of a lifetime? When Chris Cerasi at LFL told me about Aayla's appearance in Episode II as I was finishing up the pencils on the Attack of the Clones adaptation, I was pretty sure I was dreaming. Then I got the photo reference for the character and was blown away with how beautiful she looked and how amazing the costume looked. I met Amy Allen, who plays Aayla, at Celebration II before I saw Episode II. We immediately hit it off and had a million things to talk about. And we both got to see the Aayla action figure being created right there at C2!

JOZIC: How much research do you do before tackling one of the lesser-known characters from the films, like Shaak Ti?

OSTRANDER: I look at the film, look at reference works, see if there's any additional info that Lucasfilm Licensing can give us, and then try and piece things together, speculate based upon given facts, and work from there. I try to do what I call "fair inference" or "fair extrapolation". If X is a given as an event, what leads up to it? If Y is a given fact, what can we reasonably extrapolate from it?

DUURSEMA: As much as possible. Sometimes the reference is there, other times it requires some creative detective work to fill in the gaps. Since a character like Shakk Ti is lesser known, there was not a lot more than basic reference available - some beautiful still shots, but not a lot of her in action. From there I can extrapolate and fill in the gaps - try and create a character on a sketchy framework.

But that's the fun part!

JOZIC: What's the most difficult, or complex thing that John has asked you to do for a book?

DUURSEMA: There is always one scene or one panel per issue that I agonize over. To date, the most complex thing John has asked for is probably the opening double page splash in Jedi: Shaak Ti. It's an all out battle scene with a lot of levels - and Shaak Ti had to be there looking awesome and beautiful at the same time. I kept wanting to add more and more elements, until I realized that the impact was vanishing with the detail - so I went back, simplified and went for the "gut punch" instead.

JOZIC: The two of you have been working on the Star Wars book for a while now, but how did you first get involved with the comic end of the franchise?

DUURSEMA: After seeing Episode I - the Jedi, the lightsaber battles and everything else - I knew I had to draw Star Wars. I got together a portfolio of work that I hoped would appeal to Dark Horse and pretty much begged them to let me draw anything Star Wars!

I drew my first story (written by Darko Macan) for one of the Chewbacca books. Then I worked with John Ostrander on a story for Star Wars Tales called “Deal with a Demon”. After that I drew two more stories for Tales, “Single Cell”, by Haden Blackman, “Ghost” which I wrote, “Twilight”, Darth Maul, “Darkness”, Attack of the Clones, “Rite of Passage” and Jedi.

The first Star Wars book I drew was for the old Marvel line of Star Wars books - issue #92.

OSTRANDER: My good friend, Tim Truman, was writing for them at the time and was going to be working on a special project.

They needed someone to fill in and Tim recommended me. I was a known quantity to Dark Horse. Tim and Star Wars parted ways after that and I wound up with the principal scripting assignment.

JOZIC: Have either of you had the opportunity to meet or speak with George Lucas? Does he read your stuff?

OSTRANDER: Never met or spoke to him but I've been told he reads the comics.

DUURSEMA: I've never had the opportunity to meet George Lucas. I've heard rumors that he does look at the comics. I understand he first saw Aayla on a cover from the “Darkness” arc that was painted by Jon Foster. It would be nice to talk to him someday so I could tell him how much I admire his work and Star Wars, but I think I can best express the enthusiasm I have for Star Wars through my drawing.

JOZIC: With a few exceptions, you two have been working together almost exclusively while on the Star Wars books. What is it about your working relationship that keeps you together?

OSTRANDER: The fact that we work well together, that we know each pretty well. The fact that Jan is a fabulous artist who really loves Star Wars. This really is her dream assignment and she pours everything she has into it and it shows. We work out plot elements together before I assemble it. She knows Star Wars so well. I know that, if I make her happy, I'm going to make the Star Wars fans happy as well.

DUURSEMA: There's this dynamic kind of energy that happens when John and I start to talk about what to do next with these characters and books. There are very few writers who would let an artist become part of the story planning process - thankfully John is one of them. If I get an idea that makes a scene work more visually for me, he trusts me to go for it. And I know if I get stuck for an idea about a character or panel, I can call him and he starts putting word pictures in my head. This is a very organic process of working, but it seems to work and really keeps the creativity flowing for me.

JOZIC: Since you are filling the gap between Episode II and III, do you know where Episode III will essentially begin, or is that still a major gray area?

DUURSEMA: Major grey area!

OSTRANDER: Not a gray area at all. It's pitch black. [laughs] I don't know a single thing at the moment that the general fan doesn't know. I suppose at some point we'll be told what they think we need to know when they think we need to know it. In the meantime - hey, we're making it up! [laughs]


	Mike Jozic has spent the last several years interviewing comic book creators and other entertainment related personalities for various publications. He has been published both online and in print, with his work appearing in The Comics Journal, FearsMag.com and Silver Bullet Comicbooks. He maintains his own website at www.meanwhile.net and currently serves as the Features Editor for SBC. His entire life prior to that is a grey area.

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