Angela Della Morte exploded last fall from wrtier / artist Salvador Sanz. Now Angela is back at Comic-Con and Salvador is with her. Find out more and check out our convention exclusives!
1. Tell us about Angela Della Morte!
The story takes place at a moment when there are bases at the Moon, but those are unknown to the general public. Only shady corporations know about them and use their secret technology to fight for the control of all that. The first story in ANGELA is from 2005. I was looking for a different female character, out of the range of the classical and physical stereotypes women were boxed in at that time; as we were able to see in supermodel action heroines.
2. There are a lot of different genres at work here. How challenging was that in the process of conceptualizing this story?
It has a lot of science fiction and horror. I love both genres and I believe their combination still has a lot of potential to explore. ANGELA is also an adventure saga, and one of the elements that I like about the adventure genre is where the story takes place: We go from the Moon to the Amazon jungle. I am interested in that feeling in which the story can happen anywhere. It makes me feel a huge amount of freedom.
3. There is a trade paperback collection of the first series being released, as well as a brand new series. What can fans expect from the upcoming series?
It’s the direct sequel to the first series. Some years have gone by but the war between corporations rages on, and the Fluo government has found the ultimate weapon to destroy Zibelius. This weapon can kill both body and soul at the same time. This is the end of the saga so far.
4. What can you tell us about your collaborators?
I am used to working alone, both with the script and art. Angela was originally published in black and white, but for this edition the color is by Gonzalo Duarte. I had colored the first 5 pages many years ago. He basically took over from there on, with his style, and merged palettes in a remarkable way. Martin Casanova is also doing a newer and more elegant lettering style.
5. What comics did you grow up loving that encouraged you to become a creator?
I read many classic Argentine comic books such as The Eternaut (El Eternauta) and American and European authors such as Moebius, Enki Bilal, Richard Corben, Charles Burns, Guido Crepax, etc.
6. Angela Della Morte involves a huge amount of world building. How long did the process of creating the world last before you began writing the scripts?
While the script is growing, it takes many months to develop the graphic aspect of a comic book like ANGELA. Because of character design and locations. The hardest part for me was the technological side of it and the robots. I researched many mecha Japanese designers and I used references. However, I decided that everything had to have a somber science fiction and not very futuristic.
7. What outside-influences unrelated to comics influence your work as a creative person?
Music always helps when it comes to developing my imagination. Many images stem out of music and those images are the starting point of my stories. Literature and movies are also a great influence.
8. What's next for Salvador Sanz?
I have just finished the first volume of MEGA, a 90 page color story about giant creatures which awake after thousands of years to wreak havoc. The story is very influenced by kaiju Japanese films, but with a Lovecraftian horror feel to it.