There are some works of art that never see the light of day. The mystery surrounding them inspires speculation. What insight would these unseen artifacts give about the minds of their creators? Would they change the way the artist is perceived? The Wu canon has it's share of unreleased treasures; jewels known to exist, in part or in full, but just out of reach. You might not know it yet, but James Reitano's GZA graphic novel, Advance Knight, might be one of these treasures. I spoke with Reitano, known best for directing Madvillain's "All Caps" video, about his experience working with GZA on the graphic novel.
Ian: What is your professional background? Are you from a comics background? Graphic Design?
James Reitano: A little of all of the above. Primarily trained as an illustrator/graphic designer, and later moving into animation and motion design. Comic book art was always something I've been doing since school, and as a hobby mostly. These two worlds clashed when I directed the MadVillain 'All Caps' music video.
Ian: How did you get this gig? Were you familiar with the source material before you landed it?
James Reitano: Most folks saw the comic book background in a lot of my animation work , and this ultimately led to my being hired for the GZA book. I got an email from the publisher one day asking "wanna do this?". I jumped at the chance, and it took a while for it to sink in,. But it started looking like we were gonna develop a full length 100 page graphic novel from scratch.
Ian: How closely did you work with GZA on this?
James Reitano: We met in person, over at Muggs studio, and I showed him a bunch of stuff I did, as well as some books I was hoping to emulate. He sat and told stories of how he battled Big Daddy Kane, etc. I swear, that whole studio sat around the table and listened to him. That experience gave me the initial idea for the book.From there, we talked about twice a month. Mostly lengthy conversations about Hip Hop, etc. He made it clear to me early on that he wasn't that knowledgeable about comics, but, he had some ideas about what kind of a story he wanted to. He really wanted it to be a sort of caper involving Chess.
Ian: How much creative freedom were you given?
James Reitano: He pretty much put it in my lap. Like I said, he trusted me to come up with something that involved the elements he noted. I really wanted to do this as somewhat of a personal/character driven story. I noticed the other guys (Method and Ghostface) were going much more action/sci-fi. I lobbied hard for this one to be something much more cerebral and smart. Emphasizing the 'novel' side over the 'graphic'. That's kind of how I always saw GZA's role in Wu-Tang. My art style is much more 'indie-comic' as opposed to superhero style, and I wanted the book to reflect that.
Ian: Did you write and illustrate?
James Reitano: Yes. I originally was going to enlist someone to at least consult with me on scripting. I was going to have Jeff Chang write it with me, but he ended up being tied up with his new book. I pumped out about 4 drafts of the script. Got it approved, and started on pencils.
Ian: What is the story about? How does it relate to GZA?
James Reitano: Following along the original concept I had, the story involved GZA, RZA and ODB as kids. It took place in 1986, which I saw as a real pivotal year for Hip Hop, kind of when the old-school was making way for the new players as well as the major labels getting involved, and how that really changed things.
This was also when crack cocaine was introduced, and, I was really interested in that being a background element considering, you had so many Hip Hop players fall victim to that epidemic. The basic story was how the three of them (who were the original group, known then as All in Together Now) made their way through this world. GZA uses his Chess skills to outsmart some pretty nasty circumstances, one of which involves a murder of a prominent rapper. I knew I was taking a huge chance in going this 'close to home' but I figured, if this worked, it could be great!
Ian: Is this project going to be released? If not, was there a reason given?
James Reitano: As it stands now, the project has been officially shelved by the publisher. A lot of reasons, but, mostly due to the fact that I think we went a bit too 'close to home' on some of the characterizations. It wasn't supposed to be so much as a biography, but, i think GZA saw it as such, and, had some problems with that. He was never really comfortable in being the main character.
Ian: What was GZA's response when he saw the finished product?
James Reitano: Initially, he was excited, especially when he saw the rough draft. His son is a huge Manga fan, and, had liked what he saw. Ultimately, as I said above, it got a bit too personal, which I think GZA thought just didn't fit the Wu-Tang brand. I knew in basing it somewhat in a real life setting with fictional characters, we were taking a risk. I think I might have pushed it a bit too far.
Ian: What were your over all impressions of this experience?
James Reitano: It was an incredible experience, and, much like the movie making process, it's fraught with pitfalls and shortcomings. GZA ended up being a great collaborator, and, in the end, I got paid to make a 100 page graphic novel. I'm disappointed the public will never see it, but, I'm proud that I actually pulled it off.
You can check out Reitano's work at:
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