Guest Column: Ian Brill’s Top 5 Influences for FREELANCERS

For the upcoming series Freelancers from BOOM! Studios, writer Ian Brill has tapped into a world of women and bounty hunters.  Not your typical comic series, we were curious what other works did he tap into for inspiration? In this guest column, Brill walks us through his Top 5 influences for Freelancers. And when we’re all done with the Top 5, we’ve got a bitchin’ cover gallery of the various covers for Freelancers #1 below.

Freelancers is a book detailing the trails of two female bounty hunters, raised in a kung fu orphanage, as they try to get by in Los Angeles. The action/adventure corner of the comics world still feels devoid of a lot of great female characters. But in writing these stories I have drawn influence from comics, film, and music all so I can write the characters I’d like to read. What kind is that? Well, take a look below and you’ll get a good idea.

Kill Bill

This film (and I count both volumes as one film) instilled a mythic and grand spirit into the “girls kicking ass” trend of the 90’s and earl 00’s (prominently seen with Buffy and Tomb Raider). From the diverse locations to its central, primal story of revenge it felt like a throwback to tentpole films of the past, but told in a vitally modern way. More than any other Tarantino film this is the most indebted to its influences: Lady Snowblood, the Shaw Brothers film, and Spaghetti Westerns. Granted because the film is such an echo of its influences it can be argued it is not as substantial a piece as Pulp Fiction or Inglorious Bastards. But I still feel this film offers something important. Keep in mind that when the two parts of this film were coming out (2003 and 2004), it was the dawn of Web 2.0, where all that was being referenced in Kill Bill could be found much easier than ever before. Generations of young film fans, including myself, discovered so much of what Hong Kong and Japanese cinema has to behold because of this film.

Catwoman (2002) #1-24

When this book arrived I remember feeling like it was something so many of us had waited for, and now that it was here it was even better than expected. Darwyn Cooke’s redesign of the Catwoman costume didn’t emphasize sexiness, it emphasized practicality… and that was sexy. Ed Brubaker’s stories used the hard-boiled crime world of Gotham’s skid row to give a humanity and dignity to a part of urban life that is too often forgotten in real life, let alone superhero comics. This book represented intelligence and respect for female superhero characters, the kind rarely achieved elsewhere.

Nova Rockafeller – “Call Me (BAT MAN)”

I’m a big fan of Jensen Karp’s podcast “Get Up On This” on Kevin Smith’s Smodcast network. When Karp said he was managing a new rapper I was interested, because he has impeccable taste in hip-hop, and is a living hip-hop encyclopedia. I was so impressed by his pick for talent, as Nova has incredible verbal skills, as well as a realistic take on the struggles of being an artist today. The song isn’t saying, “I made it” it’s saying, “I’ve got an uphill battle, and ready for it.” That’s a lot of Freelancers right there.

Batgirl (2009) #1-24

And so our “Batman” trilogy ends! This book feels like one of the few that continued what Catwoman started ten years ago. Bryan Q. Miller wrote this Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) as a positive and fun character in contrast to how dark Gotham could be. As a way to rise amongst her environment and her own past, her attitude showed more strength and bravery than we usually see in our superheroes. Lee Garbett and Dustin Nguyen’s art both have includes a lot of force and kinetic energy, without ever detracting from the glamour of the characters. You felt grand possibilities with this character, which just added to the excitement of every issue.

The Long Kiss Goodnight

It may be strange to call Shane Black underrated, after all he was known for a long time for his multi-million dollar screenplay sales. But I feel the schadenfreude that follows such Hollywood talk obscures his greatest accomplishment: bringing a literally noir sensibility to grand cinema spectacle. That noir influence was seen in full in his directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but it’s all over most of the films he wrote, including this one. The journey Geena Davis’ Samantha Kane/Charlie Baltimore takes is bigger in scope than what most action heroes go through, male or female. There is tension between her dual lives as a mother and as a government agent, but there are not played as contradictory or hurtful to each other. By the end of the film her ability to be both types of women is a sign of strength, not any type of concession. Also it’s the best Renny Harlin film, I don’t care what all you Deep Blue Sea fans say.

Freelancers #1 comes out this October from BOOM! Studios for just $1.00! Written by Ian Brill with art by Joshua Covey. Check out all the various covers that you can choose from: