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INDY SPOTLIGHT: JUSTICE FOR HIRE, COMMON FOE
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10-26-2007, 06:16
AM
#1
MattBrady INDY SPOTLIGHT: JUSTICE FOR HIRE, COMMON FOE
by Ryan McLelland
Justice For Hire #1 and 2
Creative Impulse Publishing - $3.99
Website: http://www.creativeimpulsepublishing.com,
http://www.justice-for-hire.com
Written by: Jan Lucanus & Jan Childress
Penciled by: Antonio Rojo
Inked by: Antonio Garovillo
RATING: 4 stars (of 4)
I love kung-fu just as much as I love comic books. I can spend
countless hours reading Strangers in Paradise, Teen Titans,
Ultimate Spider-Man, and the other billions of trade
paperbacks I have on my book shelf (not to mention a kazillion
single issues) but, on the flipside, I can also spend days listening to Cantonese, reading
bad subtitles, and watching Yuen Biao, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, Jet Li,
Donnie Yuen, and countless others who kick major butt on the big screen.
I’ve enjoyed martial arts comics for countless years snagging Master of Kung-Fu and any
import that might have made their way from Western audiences to here. However over
recent years kung-fu comics have disappeared from the mainstream, especially with the
huge push these days with superhero, zombie, horror, and western comics that have
continued to fill comic book stores.
It filled me with a lot of glee to have found Justice For Hire –
one of the first books put out by the new Creative Impulse
Entertainment. The company is out to push kung-fu into the
mainstream once again by reinforcing the positive ideals of
martial arts with a great story, phenomenal artwork, and some
of the most realistic kung-fu sequences ever drawn for a comic
book. CIE is not only here to bring out comic books; the
company has tie-ins and fans in the mainstream martial art
world, putting on exhibitions (most recently in Los Angeles),
and self-financing their own films as well.
It’s the future – 2010 to be exact. A law called the Citizens and
Property Security Act has just been enacted that has
authorized the establishment of private counter-terrorist
security forces to thrive. The law has come about because the
world, in just a few short years from now, is not the greatest
place to live. Out of this many ‘retribution teams’ have arisen and one is the aptly named

2. Justice For Hire consisting of Ebony (he’s the black guy), Ivory (he’s the, um, white guy),
and their chauffeur Louisa (she’s the incredibly hot driver) who have taken over the family
business from their fathers who have retired.
The trio first rolls into a building of some skeezy business types who happen to deal in
underage sex slaves. The duo roll right in for some kung-fu action and take out the guards
and the skeezies one-by-one. Louisa, the non-kung-fu type, simply takes out whoever with
her gun. Their mission to save one little girl who was kidnapped by the is a success,
something broadcast on live television, and all of New York City is grateful for the job their
kung-fu heroes are doing.
Everyone, that is, except their competition. Because the JFH force are the ones on-top the
other ‘hire me to kick some butt’ mercenary/security teams out there aren’t getting the
business they deserve so the Acela Fight Team decides to add Esaya to their pack of
fighters and hooligans. Esaya’s the man, a young black Bruce Lee type who is simply ‘the
master’. You get the feeling here that while this Heroes-For-Hire team is out to help save
the world there’s a lot of ‘politics’ as JFH gets a lot of business so it’s only natural that the
crews in the same industry are out to do them the most harm.
It’s a fun plot, one filled with some great characters in the JFH team, and some of the best
drawn kung-fu sequences out there. It’s as if the artists are drawing straight from real life
rather than drawing a page of ‘Page Two – Panel Two – Bad Guy swings at Good Guy.’
The comic is cinematic genius put down on a printed page with a plot and characters you
haven’t seen before. Nothing feels rehashed and therefore it feels fresh from the very first
panel.
Seeing how specific the comic was and how it is bringing a positive spin on martial arts to
new readers I was quickly in touch with Jan Lucanus, CIE’s CEO/President/Writer of
Justice For Hire, to get the skinny on the comics. A life-long martial artist himself,
Lucanus coupled that love with his degree from NYU’s Tisch Film School to form his new
company and reveals his link to the comic book world as well.
I started off by asking Lucanus how the company came about.
“Truthfully, I had been writing "Creative Impulse" on all of my
creative works since I was in high school,” said Lucanus.
“When I got to college, my friends and I were doing all types of
media projects under (the name Creative Impulse). I was a
junior in 2003 when I started to think about the importance of
officially incorporating the company, then spoke to my father's
friend, who was a lawyer, to get a general idea of how the
whole process worked. A few weeks later, I received a
corporate kit in the mail that said "Creative Impulse
Entertainment" - dad's friend incorporated the company in my
name as a surprise! That was the official beginning. We
immediately started producing music videos and films under the
CIE banner while I was still in film school.”
Do any of these films bear the origins of Justice For Hire?
You bet they do. “We were about to begin shooting my senior
thesis film ‘Justice-For-Hire.’ I was talking to my dad about how many possibilities JFH had
in terms of characters, and how I wanted to see more than what we were shooting. I asked
him if he wanted to expand the story in a comic book and he immediately started creating.
At the time, he was already writing ‘Tengu’ (our '08 comic title and upcoming videogame).
Then lightning struck. All at once, a dear friend, Sage Michael - a musician and protégé of
the multi-platinum recording group Dru Hill - approached me about starting a music
production company together. Then, another friend, Deegan Winters - just coming back

3. from 4 years in a Buddhist monastery - was experimenting with multiple art forms,
including short stories. Both guys are so brilliant. I asked Deegan if he wanted to do a
comic. Before I knew it, we had so much going on, the only way to keep it organized was
to open up three more companies to specialize in each avenue of media, yet still maintain
the ability to creatively intermix. This has always been a dream of mine. I just did not think
it would happen so soon.”
Obviously Lucanus mentions his father quite a bit and the man helps his son at every step
possible. Studying and teaching Tai-Chi for over 25 years, his father and co-writer on
Justice For Hire Jan Childress also has ties to the comic book world thanks to a man who
goes by the name of Jim Shooter.
“Ever since I was little, Dad and I talked about working together,” says Lucanus. “We would
always toss ideas back and forth, so it is very organic for us to be collaborating now. He
was writing way before he met Jim Shooter at Valiant and they worked together at Defiant
on The Good Guys. He continued to write extensively afterward as well. Some projects
were creative, the biggest of which was an incredibly epic novel about one of the world's
most recognized superheroes. It was 15 years ahead of it's time when he wrote it, and it's
being edited now. Much of his other writing was business related.”
“Justice-For-Hire was our opportunity to do something really big together. The idea came
about in high school and I made a short film about the 2 main characters, Ebony and Ivory,
but it was more so a character portrait than an action film. I directed a second Ebony and
Ivory film as a sophomore in NYU film, this time with rising martial arts fighting champion
Ian Morgan as the martial arts choreographer. People went nuts! The idea of Ebony and
Ivory being Justice-For-Hire came about then. Finally, we shot my senior thesis, Justice-
for-Hire, again, choreographed by Ian Morgan. It went on to win a bunch of awards. But it
has been the comic that has given us the ability to truly explore the word of JFH and the
Retribution Industry that it contains. Now we are prepping for the feature film. It will be
freakin' incredible - an action fan's dream! I sincerely mean that.”
Childress continues also explaining how they get that realistic
look of the comic’s kung-fu done, “My father's comic script
inspired our feature film screenplay, which was then re-adapted
into the comic book. There is such an interesting connection
between comics and cinema. It's deeper than just using the
comic as a storyboard. As we come to understand this, each
progressing issue of JFH gets more and more cinematic. And
with the mixed martial arts aspect of the action, it gets more and
more detailed. We're doing the reverse of 300 - shooting the
fighters beating the hell out of each other, then putting the
important moments on the comic book page. This has never
been done before. For me, the idea of JFH is a true culmination
of all of my influences in life. From being raised in a family of
martial artists in NYC's Chinatown and having comic read to me
by Dad before I could read myself, to constantly being
surrounded by multiculturalism and having a firm foundation in
spirituality.”
While CIE was at the San Diego Comic-Con the official launch of the company came at a
massive event thrown in Los Angeles. “Justice-For-Hire's Fight Night at Von Dutch LA went
great!” Childress exclaimed. “Golden Apple was one of the sponsors and they were
handing out invites. CBS radio promoted the event. Our fighters (including myself) all
stepped into the ring to duke it out for a round, as well as martial arts demos from my
father and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Master John Machado - with whom we are doing a comic
book with (he choreographed the upcoming David Mamet martial arts film "Redbelt"). We
packed 1100 people in the place. Pretty good for a company whose first comic hasn't even
hit stands yet (While the issues were available at SDCC - JFH #1 will hit in December). It
was a real high point for an incredible launch year. There were JFH/Von Dutch T-shirts
and we handed put gift bags full of goodies. This is the first of many Martial Arts/Comic
book events that Creative Impulse will have. Just wait till '08 when the rest of our titles hit
stores!”
With some incredible comic books and an upcoming JFH YouTube channel to help cross-
promote, CIE looks to be doing a great job in bringing kung-fu back in the mainstream. It’s
a welcome addition to the indy comic book market as I burned through the two issues of
Justice For Hire several times with a huge grin on my face. It’s a great launch for a great
series and I can’t wait to see where Ebony, Ivory, and Louisa take us next.
And this week’s honorable mention:
Common Foe TPB
Desperado Publishing - $18.99
Website: http://www.desperadopublishing.com

4. Written by: Keith Giffen and Shannon Eric Denton
Art by: Jean-Jacques Dzialowski
RATING: 4 stars (of 4)
I’m pretty much of the opinion that Keith Giffen and
Shannon Eric Denton should write every single war comic
out there. The duo’s Grunts was truly amazing. And the
two are one of the most outstanding writing duos on the
market today. Their Common Foe miniseries was a pure
action thriller that had you biting your nails as you turned
the page. It’s a war comic. It’s a horror comic. It’s flat-out
non-stop action that leaves you on the edge of your seat.
During World War II a platoon of U.S. troops are about to
converge upon their evil Nazi counterparts. Little does either side know that during the
course of one night they are going to have themselves a ‘common foe’ to face off against –
a series of completely vicious vampires. Not your normal ‘I come to suck your blood
vampires’ but some nasty monster-frackers who are out to tear the soldiers from both sides
limb from limb until there is nothing left. The soldiers don’t suddenly converge together to
fight against the vampires, oh no, there is no easy way out. Both sides find themselves
separately running as fast as they can from these unstoppable killing machines trying as
hard as they can to get away and survive.
So I sat down with Denton to get the skinny on Common Foe, the story itself, and what
we can expect from the trade. “This is one of those rare instances where we just wrote it
all out and had the finished manuscript as the pitch,” says Denton on how Common Foe
came to fruition. “The hardest part was figuring out where to break up the story for the
monthlies for the publisher as Keith and I had always envisioned it as a graphic novel. A
big part of why we're so excited about the TPB is because now people will be able to read
it in one sitting (because it) is how it was written in the first place. The final product looks
gorgeous.”
Does it ever and the story moves quite swiftly and fluidly now that all the issues are
together. As a former soldier myself and as a Jewish man it was very weird for me to read
Common Foe and actually feel sorry and sympathetic for the Nazis. How could I feel sorry
for the soldiers of the most evil men of the 20th century?
“Well we didn't intend for the Nazis to be likeable that's for sure,” Denton replied to me.
“Nazism was and is horrendous. So we approached it from the POV that some Germans
were forcibly caught up in the storm that was WWII and some of them enjoyed the storm.
We consciously wanted the Germans to read as human. I think when we forget that and
turn (the) Nazis into cartoons or stereotypes, history is apt to repeat itself. I mean, I just
read some new study shows most teens think we fought with the Germans in WWII against
the Russians. That's insane. So while Common Foe is strictly entertainment, I hope people
come away with an interest in the history of this period also.”
And on how him and Keith came to write this soldier/monster book in the first place Denton
says, “Keith and I really wanted to do a monster book. Monsters are scary. Where as
vampires are guys with capes who woo the ladies. We didn't want that. It's actually the
guys in our book who assume the creatures are vampires because of the way the
creatures feed but we never really say one way or another what they are. In our minds,
they're just monsters the world had never encountered before...or at least in a very long
time.”

5. He continues, “I feel comfortable writing stories about World War II as it happens to be a
time I know a lot about. My grandfather fought in World War Two and my dad was a
career soldier, so this stuff is accessible for me. "Having grown up on or around military
bases I know that soldiers, just like everyone else, can't wait for the work day to be done,
they love their families, they're just as different as anyone else in a profession and yet they
have this one unifying belief in something bigger than them that unites them. This is the
same belief that makes Spider-Man, Superman, and all the other mythical heroes work so
well. Most people want to believe they'd do the right thing with the gifts given to them. I
think the profession of soldier lends itself to storytelling because of this. I just look at my
doing multiple soldier stories in much the same way Anne Rice continues to do vampire
novels or Tarantino does crime films or Grisham writes about lawyers. I like the subject and
as long as I do I'll keep doing them. When I was a kid I was pretty convinced the only
person on the planet cooler than the Unknown Soldier was Sgt. Rock. As far as I was
concerned, he'd tear Wolverine apart!”
You’re not the only one Shannon, nothing beats Sgt. Rock! However Common Foe does
an amazing job of blending war and monsters together, coupling two genres together for a
story meant to be on your shelf. If you are a fan of war, vampires, or simply dig the works
of Denton and Giffen do yourself a favor and grab the Common Foe trade.
Have a comic needing review? Write Ryan at rdmclelland@hotmail.com
www.tfaw.com Feedback - Ads by Google
10-26-2007, 09:56
AM
#2
SmileOnADog JFH's art looks like it needs some work.

6. 10-26-2007, 11:15
AM
#3
ShinAkuma666 Common Foe got my attention by the great covers it had and doing a search for preview
pages on the book got me to order the TPB, cant wait for it to get here.
Best of luck with both projects.
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