Interview from Comics Values Monthly #106 (Sept 95) interview by Tekno Comics transcribed by vu "Isaac Asimov's I-BOTS" (6 pages) by Tekno Comics interview with Howard Chaykin, Steven Grant and George Perez Cover: George Perez

Isaac Asimov's I-BOTS
Interview by Tekno Comics

Isaac Asimov's I BOTS is the story of five biological androids on the run from the very corporation that created them. This is a fresh look at the super-powered hero story, where nothing is as it seems. Who are they? Why were they created? Should the public hail them, or fear them? The answers to these questions drove Isaac Asimov to create the series, and will, startle you in the months to come.

TeknoˇComix will be debuting Isaac Asimov's I BOTS in August. This, Tekno's first super-hero title, blends the science fiction concepts that made Isaac Asimov the master of the genre with the action and intensity of superhero comics. Brought to life through the talent of legendary artist George Perez, it has additional creative development from comics veteran Howard Chaykin, and plots and scripts by seasoned comic book writer Steven Grant When the series was first being developed, Tekno-Comix spent some time with Perez, Chaykin and Grant to talk about their relationships with Tekno, their regard for the works of Isaac Asimov and what it's like to create a whole new world.

Tekno: How did you get involved in Isaac Asimov's I BOTS?
Grant: I'm not sure, actually! (laughs) I have an agent named Harris Miller who is talking with Tekno about a number of things. I guess the subject came up and he suggested me for it, then Jim Chambers (editor on I BOTS got in touch with me and we talked about it. It sounded workable, and then George Perez came on as artist, which I've always wanted to work with George. Between the general concept of the thing and the opportunity to work for George and the opportunity to work with Tekno, 1 thought it sounded like a good idea. So, here I am!
Chaykin: The answer simply is that Asimov was a giant of the field. I thought the opportunity to develop comic book from a series of ideas he (Asimov) had before his death was an interesting chance to play with some truly mythic material.

Tekno: Did you ever meet him (Asimov)?
Chaykin: Well, yes, I was a science fiction reader as a boy and he was a mainstay at conventions. I met him a number of times. Would he have remembered me? That's another issue. I was just some comic book artist.

Tekno: Have you all been fans of Asimov's work?
Pérez: On and off I read a few books of his when I was in school, then unfortunately in my adult life I hadn't read as much as I'd like. The significance of the I BOTS name is obviously I, Robot and his robot-world theories were the things I remembered. I would say of the many, many, many sundry things that Isaac Asimov has written, that would be the one that I was most familiar with as far as tides that I ended up working on. Interestingly enough, one of the things that I had been reading as some nighttime reading... because I usually read to my wife... was a book of facts. I forget the exact title. It's just a listing of facts in categories that Isaac Asimov collected during the course of the years. It was interesting that I was reading an Isaac Asimov project at the same time that I had gotten the offer.
Grant: As a matter of fact, the first science fiction book I ever read was when I was about six years old, I think it was Pebble in the Sky, which I later found out was the first science fiction book that Asimov ever wrote. Probably my interest in science fiction developed from that, so I hold Isaac Asimov as a big influence on me.
Chaykin: Well, if you were a science fiction reader in the '60's and '70's, you were a fan. I must admit I gave up science fiction in the mid-seventies mostly because it got into material less and less about anything other than itself, although I still can usually write it because it's the field in which I work. But yeah, he's a lynch pin. I mean to this day, I still go back to his material as source. Absolutely.

Tekno: Do you see this as a similar scenario to your Power and Glory series?
Chaykin: No, I saw it as a much less ironic, straighter idea. They're trying to create an archetype... a group Of troubled superheroes. Because I believe that Power and Glory is a far more personal piece of work in a sense that it represents my own jaunted view of how superheroes would function in the real world, because whereas comic books tend to propose the idea that with great power comes great responsibility, the reality is, of course, with great power comes great corruption. On Power and Glory's level, I'm more fascinated about the concept of superhero as celebrity. Superman as Elvis (laughs) Whereas with I BOTS, Asimov was doing something a bit less ironic. Something aimed at a more earnest reader.

Tekno: You (Chaykin) wrote the bible for series correct?
Grant: He wrote the original development for it. We reworked the development somewhat, but Howard wrote it specifically with me in mind actually. Howard and I go back a long ways.

Tekno: This wouldn't be the first time you and Howard worked together?
Grant: Well, we've never actually work together, but we've known each other for two decades.

Tekno: In the American Flagg! series, did you work together then?
Grant: I ran ideas past him, but we weren't working together, no. I came in after he left.
Chaykin: Steve and I have known each other I think since, we were pre-natal! We go back at least twenty years, and we Share a number of similar enthusiasms. We both read the same things and tend to believe the same things. In many our work is interchangeable. It's a good working relationship.

Tekno: And George Perez?
Chaykin: I've known George since he was eleven. I think he was eleven years old when he started working in comics, right?

Tekno: So you're friends?
Chaykin: You have to understand. If you grew up in comic books in New York, as I have, you know everyone. One thing that is weird about comics right now is as it's expanded, there are a lot of people I never met, I never heard of. Whereas the guys that- I grew up with, we're still here! It's Like I found myself, you know... I'm still here!

Tekno: Were you looking for a project that would allow you to work together?
Pérez: Well, actually, I didn't even know Howard or Steve were involved in the project until my lawyer told me about it! I've followed both Howard and Steven's careers. Howard happens to be more visible because he's also an artist, so the idea of working with two people I'd never worked with before interested me. In the case of Howard who's view point on comics is a Little different from mine, it was interesting to see how this was going to work out because I had no idea about what the story was about. The only thing I had to go by was Howard's bible and then Steve Grant's overview. I've yet to see Steve Grant's plot because he's still working on that. It's interesting. The one thing that I did decide when working with two top people like Howard and Steven is that usually I like to co-plot a book and have a say in how the direction of the book is made out. But with Isaac Asimov's original ideas, Howard doing the bible, and Steve Grant working from there, one thing they didn't need was a fourth mind...a fourth cook on this recipe. So I'm here strictly as the artist on the book as opposed to a plotter- So Steve is working full script on this one so that I know exactly what they want because definitely after so many minds have been added, I don't want my mind to misinterpret what's going on.

Tekno: Did you know Josef Rubenstein has signed on to ink I BOTS?
Grant: Oh, no. I didn't.
Pérez: Oh, I didn't know that. How neat!

Tekno: Have you ever worked with him before?
Pérez: Yes, I have. He did Infinity Gauntlet with me; and he was an assistant somewhere in the studio where I first got into the business. He was a person who pointed out to me some of my weaknesses. Joe was very forthcoming, with his advice, but it was interesting when I did Infinity Gauntlet to work with him now that I was a seasoned artist It was very nice. We've both learned a lot in the course of a decade and a half since my starting my first project and my working with him on Infinity Gauntlet. Joe also inked the Avengers with me back in the 1970s.
Grant: Great. I had no idea who was the inker. It's going to be a good-looking book; then. That means we'll sell a lot of copies. You know, you can write a book as well as you want, but you're not going to sell a lot of comics on the writing.

Tekno: That has a certain amount of truth.
Grant: I mean, you will, you'll sell it on the writing in the long run, but in the short run you won't sell it on the writing. I mean in the long run, you've got to have the writing to keep them there. But you've got to have the art to get them there. So it sounds like it's going to be a terrific package.

Tekno: Could you go ahead and give us your breakdown of what the series is all about from your point of view?
Grant: Oh, boy! I knew you were going to ask that, but I'm never really ready for that question. I'm always kind of figuring It out as I go along. The idea is that there are robots existing in this world, but this is a: more sophisticated step up. These are more like androids than robots. More than robots, they are really artificial human beings, although they have sort of a robotic infrastructure. They are really artificial human beings. They are genetic robots is what they are. They are also capable independent thought. They are programmed for independent thought, which is one of the places the "I" in I BOTS comes from is "independent." They are originally developed to not have independent thought, but the guy who developed them took a detour. They were originally planned not to have independent thought by the people who were funding the project, but the developer had other ideas and took a detour because he didn't trust the people backing him. That's pretty much what it's about...these new life forms which straddle the line between human beings and robots. Trying to find a place for themselves. That's really what the series is about.
Chaykin: I think I BOTS is about a couple of people who are completely unprepared for the world that they've been thrust into. Rather than having grown up in the world and then being gifted with the ability to deal with it, they are totally unprepared for the world.

Tekno: As, teenagers, right?
Chaykin: I see them as late adolescents. 1 wrote it this way. I'm an aging teenager! I think these boys are Melrose Place age.

Tekno: That's not a teenager!
Chaykin: Oh, yes it is. It's a social teenager. They're late teens or early twenties.

Tekno: What is your impression of the Tekno Comix family of titles so far?
Grant: You're trying to do change things, which impresses me. You could have just come in and done a whole universe of superhero comics.
Chaykin: I'm, impressed.

Tekno: What's your favorite so far?
Chaykin: Well, frankly, I BOTS!

Isaac Asimov's I BOTS Issue #1, on sale in August, is the big one, the debut issue of TeknoˇComix's first superhero title! With a cover by Perez and a story full of surprises, it promises to be a smash.

Isaac Asimov's I BOTS follows the adventures of five young android heroes hunted by the evil forces that created them, and adored by a public that worships them. Bound by the Three Laws of Robotics, they find themselves forced to defend a world they don't understand. Are they truly heroes of the people or are they just pawns in the schemes of~vil men? After spoiling a bold kidnapping, the I BOTS begin to discover the conspiratorial forces shaping their destiny. They follow the trail back to World Tech, the shadowy mega- corporation that spawned them, and there a violent confrontation leads to more clues about the true nature of the I BOTS.

Follow the adventures of Isaac Asimov's I BOTS 's every month, only from TeknoˇComix!