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Billy Tucci: Shi's Back!
Then he signed with Franchise Pictures when they wanted to make a Shi movie. He got his first taste of development hell. Names like Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Lopez and other non-Asian actresses were mentioned for the role of Shi, Ana Ishikawa, who is clearly of Asian lineage. Tia Carrera was cast. Then she was un-cast. The story started changing in ways that really had nothing to do with his creation. Tucci persevered. During the process he found himself interested in movie making. Much like his comic book business, people warned him against doing it himself. Again, he persevered. His first effort, some trouble of a SeRRious nature, won the Long Island Film Festival in its rough cut. While signing a Shi film deal with another company, Tucci found himself re-energized for the character. He recently signed to publish Shi again, this time through Dark Horse Comics. Scoop caught up with Tucci while was working on the first issue. Scoop: It's been a while since you drew Shi. Scoop covered your film, some trouble of a SeRRious nature, but what else have you been up to? Billy Tucci: Making a movie is an incredibly time consuming process. The last full color comic book series I drew was 2000's Shi - The Year of the Dragon. Since then came a couple of one shots, including Shi:Akai, Wolverine/Shi - Judgment Night and most importantly, our 9/11 benefit comic Shi: Through the Ashes. I've also produced our annual Tour Books, and lots and lots of posters, prints and other types of merchandise. Last year we produced the seven-issue Shi: The Illustrated Warrior, a black and white series that will be collected as an illustrated novel retelling the original Way of the Warrior story arc. Up to the new series, Ju-Nen, I believe that series was my best work to date. I've also been doing a bunch of writing as well. I created and produced one-shots, or wrote screenplays for my projects such as The Undaunted, Victoria Cross and Gremlin Effect. All which will, I hope, find their way to comic racks as color series within the year. Scoop: You had a couple of mini-series come out through Avatar. Now you're at Dark Horse. How did that come about? Billy Tucci: A year and a half ago, my wife Deborah gave birth to our son. From the moment I learned she was pregnant, I wanted to get my priorities in order and that is to spend as much time with my family as possible, and to be able to create. That's really it. I need to lower my stress level and focus on "creating." The business aspects of comics have dominated my work time from day one (back in 1994) and if I can utilize all my time creating, just imagine the work that can be accomplished! I believe I've proven myself as a self-publisher and am good friends with Avatar's William Christensen, who suggested that he publish some Shi mini-series. I thought it was a terrific idea and we've produced some really great books with him while keeping Shi in the public eye. We're still planning on doing future projects with Avatar. Scoop: How has the reaction been since you made the announcement you were going to Dark Horse? Billy Tucci: Dark Horse is such a great company and the exposure alone from being associated with them has just been incredible. The hits on our website (http://www.crusadefinearts.com) has tripled as well as my emails. It seems both retailers and readers are pretty excited about the fact of Shi's return. I know that I am. I cannot wait till the books hit the comic racks. Scoop: This is the tenth anniversary of Shi. When you were starting out, did you ever think that the character would last that long? Billy Tucci: Yes. (Laughter) Scoop: What's different about drawing the character now as opposed to ten years ago? Billy Tucci: That's a terrific question. I believe my draftsmanship and storytelling has grown leaps and bounds since 1994. On the other hand, one of the reasons why I stopped publishing Shi was due to a sort of "burn out." While Shi: The Series was still going strong I pulled the plug. I had burned out of that passion associated with the character and Shi became more of a business entity than a living form of artistic expression. I created Shi out of a passion for storytelling of this wonderfully reactive character who turns her back on vengeance then must pay the consequences. But by taking time off and not having the burden of running a full-blown publishing business has lifted a great weight off my shoulders. To me Ana Ishikawa has been reborn, as my own creative fire has been rekindled. Scoop: What all will you be doing with Dark Horse? Billy Tucci: Dark Horse's faith in me and commitment to Shi on a long-term basis is truly inspirational. Just look at the cover and all those Shi pages in the current Previews! And that's just the beginning as we've already signed contracts to produce Ju-Nen and hope to spurn a Shi monthly series. They've also expressed great interest in my other titles so hopefully we'll be seeing more and more of the new titles and storylines I've been working on for the past couple of years. We're also planning a slew of merchandise (the new Shi and Tomoe action figures look incredible!), posters and lithographs. But what I'm really jazzed about is this summer's The Art of Shi coffee table book. Scoop: What other projects are you working on? And aside from Shi what is it you're most excited about? Billy Tucci: I'm currently working on the Shi screenplay for Mimi Gitlin's (Thelma and Louise, Trapped) Lioneyes Entertainment with Kevin Bernhardt. That's really exciting because we finally have a committed producer who truly gets the character and has a really interesting approach to the storyline and characters. I'm also proud to be one of the creators on a new project that I believe will rock the comics and film industries, The Magnificent 7th Graders, an adventurous coming of age story. My co-creators and I have been developing a script with Steven Peros (writer of The Cat's Meow, Around the World in 80 Days) and know it'll be a huge hit. I'm actually hoping to make it my feature film-directing debut.
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