Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters Sketchbook

This month creators Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti return (along with artist Renato Arlem and cover artist Dave Johnson) to Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters in a new eight-issue limited series.

The writing duo recently opened up the sketchbook of Daniel Acuña (artist of last year’s series) to for a look at dozens of characters designs from the series, and walked us through most of them. Click on the images to open larger versions...

Black Condor

JUSTIN: I guess we’ll start with Black Condor, a few of the earlier designs were very slick, but something about them gave the impression of a re-design on Nightwing. The idea with Black Condor, and this differs from Grant Morrison’s proposal, was that with the mythology behind Uncle Sam being representative of America left open the idea of another mythical American figure. Obviously we took liberties with the facts, but it was important to create someone with roots to the First Nations. Condor is designed to be a force of nature,soft spoken, stoic and ferocious in battle. He doesn’t speak very often but when he does people listen.

JIMMY: Most important on this character is designing something unique and yet understanding the roots of the character and his race and region. I think Dani nailed it and I could see this as a tattoo on somebody’s back and for that alone it works for me. It’s iconic and cool looking and pleasing to the eye. The name and drawing say it all

Doll Man

JUSTIN: Doll Man went through a few design changes, but the basic premise was to present a badass soldier who had seen more than his share of battles. A living G.I. Joe with some modern military hardware.

JIMMY: We took the name very literal and applied it to the character, so much so that in the first issue he makes his splash coming out of a toy box. G.I. Joe all the way on his design and I love it.

Father Time

JUSTIN: Father Time presented some interesting challenges because at the time we were developing USFF we weren’t aware that Grant would be using Father Time in the pages of his Frankenstein mini. Things became even more interesting when his physical appearance didn’t match. Creatively speaking we developed the idea that Father Time,much like the figure he’s named for, would change every year and in this case his appearance changes. The tease and twist was to have him look somewhat similar to Uncle Sam to throw people off.

JIMMY: Timing was a key thing and we pulled it off, but in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have had to. That said, the design was cool and menacing and classic in its facial features.

JUSTIN: Firebrand has been spared any connections to the previous costume, which would look right at home during an ice-skating competition with the sheer puffy sleeves, tights and bandanna. This Firebrand is inspired by the youthful exuberance and his lack of an accurate worldview. He’s passionate and often opinionated, a troublemaker like his namesake.

JIMMY: Regular guy…in a suit. That’s how I see him.

Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard

JUSTIN: Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard evolved from Grant’s original proposal into something very different. Instead of an updated version of Bozo the Iron Man, this creature is tied more closely to the events taking place now as we head into Final Crisis. He arrived as a vanguard to the changes, a wrench in the machine so to speak.

Human Bomb

JUSTIN: I had some very specific thoughts when it came to the Human Bomb. The idea that you’d be hanging out with or entering dangerous missions with someone who could detonate and kill thousands of people makes for a very interesting character. There’s no reason to want to have this guy on your team unless you had a death wish and therefore he should look the part, menacing, emotionless and the visage of death. To counter that the man inside the suit is gentle, lonely and very much an outsider looking for acceptance among his teammates.

JIMMY: He scares me, everything about him does, so all black and Darth-like seemed to work perfectly. He looks menacing and should look that way…the last guy you ever want to get into a fight with. Ever.

Miss America

JUSTIN: We abandoned this redesign of Miss America because we felt it was important to maintain some connections to the original team, the classic uniform has a nostalgic and yet timeless feel to it.

Phantom Lady

JUSTIN: Phantom Lady has always been controversial and that was the basis of Grant’s initial proposal. Dani’s decision to exaggerate her breast size only stood to further her reputation and presented an interesting duality. One aspect of her personality that we felt was important to mine was the difference between appearances and truth. At first glance we see this anatomically impossible figure and that causes people to judge her in a certain light, but the more you get to know her you discover that not only are appearances deceiving but they can also be a negative when trying to be taken seriously. She’s a genius but few people can see past her chest. Yes, make jokes now to illustrate my point.

JIMMY: This character design has a lot to offer…lol. I think he might have gone too big with her chest, but we left it to the artist’s preference. What Justin states is correct and I think I personally would have trouble paying attention to anything going on with her in a room, so it does help to distract the bad guys as well. Over the top and colorful, her character and persona are all bigger than life.

S.H.A.D.E. agents

JUSTIN: The S.H.A.D.E. agents again differ from what we’ve seen in Seven Soldiers as our interpretation saw them as slick video game participants with a touch of futuristic cop uniform thrown in.

JIMMY: Dani nailed it out of the gate on this design. You can really see people wearing this gear and suit.

Uncle Sam

JUSTIN: Uncle Sam, is there a more nostalgic figure in American history? It was important to give him a sense of myth and style. Dani’s redesign was an immediate and exciting look that helped in writing him.

JIMMY: Why mess with an icon? The character has been around for a long time and Alex Ross did an amazing job illustrating him a few years before that worked perfectly in Romany ways

The Ray

JUSTIN: The Ray, Stan Silver, is the kind of egotistic bastard people loved to hate. His uniform is slick to match his Teflon personality; a beam of living light fits a guy who think she’s better than everyone else. There’s a lot of Bret Easton Ellis in Stan Silver’s personality and hopefully we’ll have the chance to bring him back providing the Freedom Fighters catch on with people.

JIMMY: The design worked with the way Dani illustrated and colored the character…when in motion, he looks to fill a negative space area in the panel where line art drops out to color and form. I think it worked beautifully.

Originally published by Newsarama.com (newsarama.com/dcnew/FreedomFighters/sketchbook/preview.html)