Review Fix Exclusive: Adrian Smith Talks ‘War in Heaven’

Review Fix chats with “War in Heaven” artist Adrian Smith who discusses the new Madefire book and the effect it’ll have on readers.

The first six-part issues to be released simultaneously for the company, Pinto, one of the most intriguing artists in the industry today talks about how it feels to set a new standard for the company, as well as his working relationship with fellow “War in Heaven” artist Adrian Smith.

For more information on the series, click here.

Review Fix: Can you talk about how “Paradise Lost” played a part in the creation of the series?

Adrian Smith: (I’m sure Ricardo will have a lot to say here) well its a classic even I’m familiar with. Great story, epic in scale and nature and such great imagery, it seemed a no brainer to try and do our own ‘version’ of the story ourselves.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite part/element of the series?

Smith: Well speaking as the artist its always the next panel you’re about to do thats the favourite part of the job. I don’t think theres anything in our story that I’m not looking forward to tackling. So far though, I’d say the misfortune that befalls our antihero in the middle of book one is my favourite parts so far.

Review Fix: What was the writer/artist working relationship like?

Smith: Haha. I’m looking forward to seeing what Ricardo has to say. Luckily we have known each other for a long time now and have worked together in the past. We are good friends so despite the odd tantrum it went well I think. He left me all the space I needed to do what I wanted to do, so you cant really ask for more than that….well I could, but I don’t.

Review Fix: What do you think you’ve learned during the creation process for this series? How will it benefit you moving forward?

Smith: We’ve learnt to work together. This is not as easy at it sounds. We can anticipate each other now a lot of the time and indeed are now working together on a number of other projects too. We’ve set a rhythm now for the rest of the story which will make things a lot easier next time round I’m sure.

Review Fix: For comic book creators interested in Madefire, how can you describe your experience working there?

Smith: The comic was finished before we approached Madefire. This meant that the Madefire builders had to do the magic on the story without any separate layers on the images or anything like that. It must have been hard work for them because of that but they really did do a great job. It looks like it was made for motion books now. Communication was great throughout and they did the job with sensitivity and respect to the story for which we are very grateful. Who wouldn’t want to work alongside that formidable list of artists and writers? I count myself very lucky.

Review Fix: For those that aren’t into the epic story, how else do you think they’d connect with the content?

Smith: Well Ricardo has done a great job of bringing the old classic story into a modern setting and I’m confident the audience will connect with at least one of the characters in the story. My aim was to make the whole imagery work on a level most people could connect with. The monotone work stops any distractions I find colour work can sometimes have. This makes it easier for me to ‘direct’ the viewers eye through the story. The monotone also lends itself to the dreamlike quality I wanted to achieve.

Review Fix: Madefire books are known for their cool visuals, panoramic panels, killer sound, what surprises do you guys have in store for readers?

Smith: I think the sound is superb. I’ve been looking at this artwork for a long time and so quite naturally was starting to doubt i’d achieved what I intended with the art. once I saw it with the Madefire magic though it really did come alive again for me. genuine chills up the spine sometimes, the builders and sound techs did a fantastic job.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be the first Madefire series to release six episodes at once?

Smith: Well there will be another two books to come. So three books, three sets of six….seems to make sense.

Review Fix: How do you want this series to be remembered?

Smith: As a good comic.

 

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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