WINTERWORLD
is a three issue mini-series done by myself and Jorge Zaffino. It featured a future planet
Earth frozen over from pole to pole and the desperate struggles of Scully, an amoral
adventurer and a young orphan girl named Wynn.
The story was bleak and the action ruthless.
It didn't break any sales records but helped my reputation within the comics business.
A lot of pros, young and old, still ask me about it.
A sequel was written and Drawn by Jorge and I for Epic. It was called WINTERSEA. It
told the story of Scully and Wynn traveling across an ice covered Caribbean in search of
Wynn's homeland. If anything the story was even bleaker with a tribe of cannibalistic
pirates sailing the ice floes on a giant schooner. The two part mini was never published.
I'm sure hoping Marvel still has the original art. I've been asking for it back for a
couple of years now. The rights to both stories belong to Jorge and I. It's been
extensively collected and re-printed in Europe. But no collection has ever been published
here. When I get the art back from Marvel I may approach a few willing publishers to see
if they care to collect the whole thing in one volume. Who knows? I may get enough
interest to do WINTERWAR the concluding part.
- Author's Word
- Article originally published in WINTERWORLD #3 (March 1988)
-
I first saw
the work of Jorge Zaffino a little over a year ago. I only saw a couple of portfolio
pieces and a handful of pages from an Argentine comic story, but their effect on me was
immediate.
I wanted to work with this guy.
I had to work with this guy.
My introduction to Jorge's work came through Ricardo Villegran. Ricardo and I had been
working together on Evangeline for various companies for a while, and I was aware
that he had a studio in Argentina that was full of extremely talented artists (including
Ricardo's brothers, Enrique and Carlos) who were seeking work in North America and Europe.
I looked through samples of all the artists he worked with and was impressed with the
level of professionalism and draughtsmanship I saw there. These guys has grown up wanting
to emulate the best artists comics has to offer, artists like Raymond, Foster, Salinas,
Caniff, and Toth. Their work had a classic look to it that was perfect for adventure
comics. As I looked at each artist's sample I cataloged in my mind the type of story he
would be best for, the kind of story I would write for him if I were given the
opportunity.
Then I saw Jorge's work.
He combined all the strengths of the other Argentines, but brought a darker feel
to his work. There is a strength and passion and malevolence to his work that is
rare in comics from any country. Joe Kubert has it. Tim Truman has it. Rich Corben has it.
Zaffino can draw guys you don't want to meet. Ever. His work has an element of danger
to it. His characters have an animal vitality and ruthlessness about them that makes them
live on the printed page.
So what could I write for this guy?
Winterworld came to me a few days after seeing Jorge's drawings. Oh, not all at
once, but little by little I thought about a future world that was frozen over and lightly
populated with all kinds of desperate characters. The relationship between Scully and Wynn
grew out of this bare bones idea and became the core of the story. I wanted to do a story
atypical of the average American sci-fi comic. No flashy spaceships and monsters and dudes
in tights wielding alien-spawned super powers, just a bunch of gun-toting paranoids
fighting it out over ruins of a dead civilization. This wasn't going to be a story about
heroes battling to save the universe. This was going to be about folks who weren't sure
where, or when, their next meals was going to be and who they'd have to kill to get
it.
I felt that the story line was suited for Jorge's talents and , upon receipt of the
first issue's script, Jorge agreed. He was very enthusiastic about the story and sent me
two drawings of the characters. So, with the sample drawings and a simply worded proposal,
I shopped the mini-series around until it found home as part of the 4Winds line for
Eclipse.
If you've read the entire Winterworld saga, you already know what a tremendous
job Zaffino has done. I hope we'll be seeing more work from him in the future. He and I
plan a sequel to Winterworld so, if you want to see it, let us know.
For now, we reluctantly leave Scully, Wynn, and faithful Rah Rah to their
uncertain future in the world of perpetual winter...
- Chuck Dixon
- March 1988
- WINTER WORLD #1-3 was a full-color monthly mini-series by Chuck Dixon and Jorge
Zaffino
- Originally published by Eclipse Comics 1987
- copyright Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino
WINTERWORLD DRAWINGS BY JORGE ZAFFINO
