Amber Hale, Supermodel is currently in third place in May’s Zuda competition in another close battle to capture the contract with DC Comics. I talked with Daren Strange one of the writers and creators behind this great new comic and he explained to me why we should vote for a comic about a supermodel and how the story fits into the bigger universe of his Black Halo series.

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your comic Amber Hale, Supermodel. Who is on the creative team? How did the project come about?

Daren Strange: Lewis and I are the writers and Josh Howard is the artist. We started formulating our world sometime back in 2002. We began with an ensemble cast of characters for our flagship project Divinity. Over time, as we refined the characters, some of them proved interesting enough to give them their own story. With 5 planned on-going series and one mini-series within the same universe, the project became the “Black Halo Series”. Our timeline runs from 1700AD to sometime in the undetermined future (approx. 80-90 years from now). Amber is one of the Divinity characters to get a starring role in her own series. Her story begins toward the middle of our timeline and about 4 years before Divinity.

2) Give us your pitch, can you briefly summarize the concept behind the story for people not familiar with your comic?

Daren: In the undetermined future, Amber Hale is the most famous face in the world. But it’s later discovered she’s the first completely synthetic biological human being created by Kael Thane, an internationally respected businessman. This controversy puts the world in an uproar and her fame takes a drastic turn to fear and hatred. She’s now tasked with finding out exactly how she was created (something Thane is keeping from her) and thwarting the efforts of a group of mysterious assassins that want her dead. All the while, her journey to seek out her own soul may have dire affects on the balance of Heaven and Hell.

3) Did you run into any particular challenges while creating this entry?

Daren: We knew exactly what we needed to happen in Issue 1, so the whole thing was planned out before Josh started drawing. But, knowing we were going to submit it to Zuda, we also knew where page 8 needed to end. When we started working with Josh to actually draw the first 8 pages out, we found some problems, specifically with the photo shoot segment. In the end, we decided to cut it out completely, which, as some Zuda readers have pointed out, makes the pacing seem a bit rushed. I don’t disagree, but the best response I can give to any pacing issues is that it will work out when the entire 22 pages are available to read. Knowing the rest of the story, it’s the best way to edit it.

Our other challenge was the dialogue. We were so focused on “simplicity is best” that I think we may have overdone it just a bit. One comment we got was the dialogue seemed a bit forced in some segments. Looking at it now, I agree. Over all, though, I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what Josh does with the rest of Issue 1.

4) One thing that makes your entry stand out is that you have branded it with your creative company’s logo, Black Halo Entertainment. What is Black Halo and how does this branding strategy fit into your aspirations to win this month’s contest and your future as comic book creators?

Daren: Since Supermodel is part of the larger Black Halo Series mythos, we’ve marked it with the “BHS” logo you see at the top-right corner. This will appear on each comic within the BHS universe. They all connect together, even though they may seem entirely different from one another. For example, our next BHS story, Reign, is illustrated by Kirsi Salonen who did Lewis’ World of Chi: Chronicles. It has a traditional painted look to it which fits that story perfectly.

The BHS stamp is an instant signal to readers that the comic is part of the Black Halo Series canon, so, in one way or another, the events and characters within have an affect on the over all BHS storyline. Each series within BHS will be running simultaneously, but that doesn’t mean you have to read each one to know what’s going on. By having each comic series look and feel different, it will allow readers to pick the one(s) that interest them most. But, of course, you’ll get more insight into the characters and catch certain elements (inside jokes, history/relationships between characters, etc.) if you read them all. We’re going to give people as many options as possible so we can reach the widest audience.

Regarding the Black Halo Entertainment logo, the company was founded in 2006 and took its name from the Black Halo Series since it’s our primary project. There was a reviewer who was really harsh about us putting our logo on Supermodel. He said it was pretentious. The fact is, the logo was included because we want our products to be as professional as possible. The presentation of a quality product is very important to us. But if Zuda had a problem with it, Nika would’ve told us–and we would’ve gladly removed it. I was sorry to hear our efforts to be professional were taken by some as egotistical. That wasn’t the case at all. I look at it like “BHE in collaboration with Zuda presents”.

One day we hope to expand the company further by helping to produce and/or publish works by other creative teams. We’d love to get to a point where we have enough funding and reputation to make a positive impact in the indie community. We’re pushing toward that goal little by little each day.

5) You’re another returning competitor to Zuda and looking at your website it looks like you have another Zuda entry in the works as well. Aside from winning the competition, can you tell us what it is about Zuda that keeps you wanting to come back and go through the agony of the competition?

Daren: It’s very agonizing! That’s definitely the right word for it. Despite my best efforts, I stress out all month. But, really, there’s no other program like it. No one else can offer the opportunity Zuda does. We’ve got at least 2 (possibly 3) more comics to submit before the end of 2009. Depending on how things go, we may do more, or we may switch to print instead. We’ll just have to see.

6) You’re in second place at the moment, if your comic doesn’t win, do you have plans to continue it?

Daren: We keep switching between second and third with Sides (pretty cool comic, I might add). If we don’t win, then Issue 1 will be distributed in printed format instead. I can’t give an exact date, but we’ll definitely be finishing it and continuing with more issues at some point. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from people who’ve read the complete Issue 1 script. And the comic store owners we’ve presented it to have been genuinely excited about it. So, we’re working on plans to have it distributed the traditional way. A lot depends on Josh’s schedule and our priorities, but the goal is to have it out as soon as we can!

7) Last chance to plug your comic, why should anyone vote for a comic about a supermodel?

Daren: For those assuming it will be about a supermodel running around kicking butt, they’ve got a few big surprises coming their way. There’s a reason we’ve categorized it as Drama and not Action/Adventure (although it will have its fair share of action too). And, sure, on the surface we’ve got a supermodel who’s apparently been synthetically created and is now causing havoc. I admit that may seem a bit cliché, but once we start exploring her past in more detail, we’ll be delving into some really cool, unique stuff–and I hope readers agree. I wish I could reveal more without ruining the whole comic, but I can’t.

But I can say we’ll find out who the assassins are and why they’re after her. We’ll get clues as to what’s really happening at Kael Thane’s clinics and how it relates to Amber. We’ll touch upon some romantic elements with Trent and Amber, and watch how that gets shaken up when we introduce Caz (a prominent character in multiple Black Halo stories and the love of Amber’s life). And primarily, we’ll explore Amber’s psychological plot.

The key thing to remember here is, unlike in the real world, the existence of human souls are a fact in the Black Halo universe. The reader will know souls exist, so the premise of Amber potentially not having one is a bit jarring. What if she doesn’t? And if not, what happens if she dies? How would that affect the balance of Earth, Heaven, and Hell? That’s a journey for her and the reader to take together.

You can read Amber Hale, Supermodel on Zuda.com