Roger Langridge, writer of KING: Mandrake the Magician #2, talks with writer Paul Tobin about KING: Jungle Jim #4, both on sale June 17th!
ROGER LANGRIDGE: I'm not hugely familiar with Jungle Jim the comic strip, as I imagine is the case with most of your readers. I'm pretty sure this is a new take, though. Was that unfamiliarity something you felt was an advantage? Did it allow you to more or less rebuild the concept from the ground up without worrying about incurring the wrath of any long-term fans?
PAUL TOBIN: I think that really worked to my advantage. I could not only move around as many building blocks as I wanted, I could invent entirely new blocks, toss away some old ones, create new characters and drop them in literally a different part of the galaxy. I just wanted to remain true to the "adventure" spirit of the character, and then jolly him up from there!
LANGRIDGE: I love the idea that your Jim is a drunken, hedonistic, charming environmentalist. He feels really fresh and unusual, not a type I've encountered in a comic before - like Errol Flynn with a huge, redeeming social conscience. Did that come from anywhere in particular? Is it based on anyone real?
TOBIN: In my mind, I decided to write Jungle Jim as if he was written by PG Wodehouse, but a Wodehouse who'd been in the forest for too long and was a bit drunk and more than a little randy. Part of that is because Jim was literally plucked from time, with me moving his origin story even farther back than in his original incarnation, despite the seventy-odd years since he first appeared. So, I wanted him to speak differently, a bit archaic in the English, and in the English attitude. From there... it was just more fun that way for me, and I think for the readers.
LANGRIDGE: Was having to bring in the continuity from Kings Watch an advantage or a disadvantage? Or a bit of both, perhaps?
TOBIN: It gave me something to play with. Sometimes when I'm building a story, I almost like a disadvantage, because that jump-starts how to incorporate that element, or cheat like a madman and get around it. Either way, storytelling starts flowing, and it eventually transforms from the writer thinking about the plot point to the character doing the same, and then, boom... it's a story.
LANGRIDGE: Do you have ideas for further Jungle Jim stories? Is this a character you feel proprietorial towards and/or would like to return to?
TOBIN: I could probably run that up the flagpole again, yep. I'd have to do some serious bourbon, rum, and whiskey research, but I'm willing.
KING: JUNGLE JIM #4 is currently on sale! Check out the preview of issue #4 below!
