After exploring the grim and grounded side of the DC Universe with the acclaimed GCPD: The Blue Wall, Academy Award-winning writer John Ridley, along with fellow GCPD creative team members Stefano Raffaele, Brad Anderson, and Ariana Maher, are launching the bold IDW Publishing series, The Ministry of Compliance. Launching this November, the series follows Earth after it is secretly invaded by an extraterrestrial race known as the Devolution. One of the ministries established to steer humanity toward its eventual assimilation is the Ministry of Compliance. Heading the Ministry's mission is no-nonsense warrior Avigail Senna, who uncovers a conspiracy that threatens to completely upend the Devolution's conquest and makes her question everything she knows across a bloody, globe-trotting adventure.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, The Ministry of Compliance creator John Ridley and colorist Brad Anderson delved into the larger themes behind the series, explained how they crafted a fun and hard-hitting comic book that doesn't shy away from violence and horror, and teased what readers can expect when The Ministry of Compliance goes on sale from IDW Publishing on Nov. 15. IDW also shared a side-by-side preview of The Ministry of Compliance #1, showcasing Raffaele's pencils and inks with Anderson's colors.
CBR: John, between The Ministry of Compliance and GCPD: The Blue Wall, you're writing about bureaucratic systems set up to help society that have failed it. What was it about exploring that theme from a sci-fi angle here?
John Ridley: You bring up an interesting comparison because I hadn't thought of it like that, but you're absolutely correct. A lot of what I do and what I've done over the last 10 years has dealt with very real-world systems and things -- whether other people want to believe it or not -- that I believe are there. There is systemic violence and human failure. All of us try to step up and do our best, and things get complicated. I am appreciative that, in many spaces -- film, television, and graphic novels --I've found the partners and companies as well as an audience that [are] willing to go there. These are challenging stories to varying degrees.
GCPD: The Blue Wall is very tough and very real and different from I Am Batman or The Other History of the DC Universe, but that is a through line, as you were saying. What does the system mean, and what does it really mean to the people who are outside of the prevailing culture? With The Ministry of Compliance, if you had not brought it up and someone asked what was similar, I would've said, "Working with Stefano Raffaele, Brad Anderson, Ariana Maher, and great editors." It's very much about a system. The old saw of, "write about what you know..." I think the reality is, "Write about [the] things you're passionate about."
One of the things that I'm just aware of and part of my life, certainly anyone outside of the prevailing culture, is systems. How do we get in, and what do we mean, once we're in, to ourselves, to our communities, and to the space in general? With The Ministry of Compliance, it's taking those issues that I am attracted to in a way that is, for lack of a better word, more fun for an audience. There's a setup, the plot, allusions to systems, colonialism, and things like that, but beyond that, it's seeing these issues in lighter play. The fun of it coming in is this group of individuals who think they're smarter than everybody else, and we're all a bunch of flat-earthers. Halfway through the first book, that gets upended. We're not the smartest people in the room. We're outnumbered a gajillion-to-one, so what do we do? [laughs]
There's also the human play -- even though the central characters aren't necessarily human. It's playing in the sense that, in writing about what you know, I've been doing this a long time in the same job and company for a while. You get to that point where you think, "Who am I separate from my work? What are the relationships that I developed? Why did I pick a job where I'm away from home three-quarters as much as I am at home?" [These are] mature individuals, not mature in the sense that they're more grown-up emotionally, because God knows the characters in our story are not the most grown-up characters, but mature in the sense that you've been around for a minute and start to ask those questions in life.
With Avigail and Quinn, who is basically her best friend and #2 at work, and then you bring in Kingsley, this wide-eyed underling -- [for him], it's like wanting to work on Wall Street and getting to work at Goldman Sachs or wanting to work in the auto industry and getting to be #2 at Tesla or GM. Now, he gets to see what this world is about.
After 10 years of telling stories, what is a space where I can tell a story, and I hope that it [is fun]. That isn't to say I didn't enjoy the other work, but writing about slavery and negative experiences between police and the community weighs on you. I enjoyed working on this with IDW and really enjoyed teaming up with, ironically, the same team of artisans that were able to put together GCPD: The Blue Wall.
Brad, after working with John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele on GCPD: The Blue Wall, how was it reuniting with them for The Ministry of Compliance?
Brad Anderson: When they first approached me about this project, I was immediately interested. I knew it was going to be a cool story that was going to take you on a crazy ride with emotional and intense visuals. I was very familiar with the work they both do and totally comfortable jumping on board.
You hit the ground running, with Avigail literally cutting loose with her sword, Greymatter. What appealed to you about starting the story this way and with this distinct weapon?
Ridley: With Avigail, everything about her is about her character, the way she represents her age on the page. She's not old, but she's certainly an adult. It's where she is, what she's sacrificed for this job, people that she's alienated; no pun intended. She looks around and wonders why, at this age, she's so very alone and why she's feared but not necessarily appreciated.
In why things get going from the jump, there's the mythology of the sword. Whether it's King Arthur, Lone Wolf and Cub, or Star Wars, there's something about a person with a weapon in hand. It's not about getting people from a distance. It becomes its own mythology, and it's a terrific mythology. To have it and say how Avigail is different from Lone Wolf and Cub, King Arthur, and Luke Skywalker, but at the same time, having those moments where you see her wielding it and you [realize] this is someone who is not going to approach situations and circumstances like anyone else.
There are conversations around the sword Greymatter where we set up the mythology, but there is a point with Kingsley where she goes, "At the end of the day, there is nothing special about this sword. This is me. When you see me coming after you with a hunk of metal in my hand, the battle is half over."
To me, it's two things. It's being able to work in a space where we're really building a mythology that has its own legacy. There are equivalencies in storytelling, but it has its own thing. To have, by Page 2, Avigail already in action, this is not a slow burn or a story that has an exorable march towards something that, hopefully, isn't self-important, but important. It's on. Sit down, buckle up, don't put your hands outside the ride. We're going! [laughs]
This is very much within the realm of a political thriller, even with the more sci-fi elements. How did you want to maintain that cloak-and-dagger tone?
Anderson: To be honest, I am just playing off their lead. First, the tone of the story in regards to page-to-page and panel-to-panel. With the art, I'm trying to push whatever Stefano is doing. John has an idea of what is important in the panel-to-panel, so I want to keep what he wants, certain colors being consistent throughout to play off key points of the story, [and] characters' clothes, weapons [and] stuff that will tie to them throughout.
I love that this story defies genre constraints. It has science fiction, globe-trotting espionage action, and cyberpunk. How was it blending and reconciling all these elements for The Ministry of Compliance?
Ridley: To me, it really is not to put the kitchen sink in here, but what are those things that I really enjoy and appreciate? If I could set a story, and one minute it's in Vietnam, and the next, they're in a jet going to London to investigate, it has that James Bond/Mission: Impossible globe-trotting feel for people who would really love an international spy thriller. I had the opportunity to set that up a little bit when I did Black Panther, where it was international and going around the world. I enjoy this and like these characters having these characters on amazing backdrops.
How do I take what's on the page and set up something that's cinematic and feels bigger than what is ultimately a really tight story? This is about three characters who are discovering each other and learning about each other. How do you say to an audience, "This is worth your money?" It's going to be big. Every page you turn is going to have amazing art. What you don't necessarily lead with is, "It's a really tiny, intimate story. This is going to be the tiniest, most intimate story that you've read." It's the same with the bigness of the action or its unexpected nature.
Sometimes, I struggle with violence. We live in a violent world, but I have two young boys, and they're into Mortal Kombat. Every time a new iteration comes out, I'm [leery], and they're like, "Dad, this ain't real, and we know it's not real and can deal with it." There's a level of violence that's different from what I would normally have the opportunity to do with Jace Fox or T'Challa, which allows for things that are not necessarily gratuitous but are graphic.
To me, that's an opportunity to take things I work with a little bit differently. Every step of the way, it is saying to the audience, "This is an international thriller. There is sci-fi." But at the end of the day, it is grounded. It's about these characters and their development, and page-to-page, this is about Avigail, Quinn, and Kingsley and their relationships.
What tones and colors did you want to bring with the more horrific settings that surface in the story?
Anderson: Oh man, you're not kidding. Horrific is the perfect word. Yeah, really just want to push each setting and scene, keep it different from the last, and make sure the reader knows exactly where they are. They almost smell the scene. I want to have a lot of textures, moods, and locations that are clean and elegant.
While you're fresh off working with Stefano Raffaele, Brad Anderson, and Ariana Maher on GCPD: The Blue Wall, this is visually and tonally a completely different story. How was it working with the team in bringing The Ministry of Compliance to visual life?
Ridley: It's great! It's nice going from one project right into the next project. They were terrific on The Blue Wall. I really, truly try to stay out of the way of the art. They've got the hardest part. There's so much that they have to interpret. There are so many ways that they bring a specific identity to it. Rather than micromanage, I'm trying to be explicit in terms of what I'm looking for on the page, but not be reductive, like that I don't want to see other ideas. To me, it's similar to working in film and television. You have a D.P. that you work with because he/she/they're an expert, and it's the same with production design, make-up, gaffing, [and] all of these artisans. They're important and there for a reason. If you trust and communicate well, you get the pleasure of seeing the ideas that they bring.
These pages would come in, and there were no notes. If anything, I would look at them and think I needed to be more clear about certain things, but I didn't want to be more prescriptive or directive. It's a graphic novel, and I'll even say this, as a writer, the words and text can be secondary. It's about the graphics, the look, and the design. This team is great, so why get in their way?
There is a heightened brutality to the action set pieces in the story. How did you want to accentuate the violence with the colors?
Anderson: Again, I am really playing off Stefano here. I will try and keep key points on the page brighter and cleaner to draw the reader there. Keeping certain elements in the action scene with clean color against the moody backgrounds, blood, swords, gunfire, etc, [is] a great chance to play with lighting when stuff is happening -- side light, backlight, or even adding a different reflective light, like a slight red reflecting on faces from pools of blood on the ground.
Readers are getting a bang for their buck with this increased page count for the debut issue. How was it working with that much additional creative real estate?
Ridley: I cannot say enough about everybody at IDW and everyone on this team. They have put so much support into this book. They've come at this, not worried about my perspective or ego, but what notes, thoughts, and ideas will make this the best book. They came to me and said, "We're looking at this first issue, and how would you feel if it was over-sized?" That was like someone asking me, "How would you feel if we handed you a Corvette?" [laughs] You don't necessarily get those kinds of comments all the time, and I understand why and what it means, with the price point and all of that.
But to offer the audience, when they have so many options of stories and heroes that they've loved from the first time they've gotten into graphic novels, to all the original and interesting ideas that are out there, to offer them something else at this price point twice the book and the opportunity to really see if they like this story and if it's worth their time and attention to really get to understand these characters, it's a bit of win-win weighted towards the audience.
They get to say, "I do like this! I do see what I'd get for a couple of issues!" It's a risk for IDW financially, but I think it's a reward because any time a company steps up and says, "Yes, we're here to make money, but it isn't just about the money. We really want you to get a fair read on this book at a fair price because we love it and think you're going to love it."
They're terrific! I've been really fortunate and treated very well at Marvel and DC, but what these folks have done at IDW, they've gone above and beyond, and I deeply appreciate it.
After working with artists like Jason Fabok and Gary Frank, what does Stefano uniquely bring to his pencils and inks as you work with him?
Anderson: I absolutely love the open feel of the art. It really gives me a chance to play with lots of textures. [I] totally love that. I also love the big, open, establishing shots that set up the scene. The open art on the faces, for example, allows me to drop in some harsh light and then add a complementary side light. [I'm] not sure if that's a good thing, but it's so fun to mess with.
You have a very unique protagonist in Avigail and her perspective on humanity. What themes did you want to explore with her?
Ridley: I wanted to explore issues that the prevailing culture seems very comfortable with. [If] you change the vessel with which those ideas are expressed, how does it change the perception of what those ideas are? The idea that there should be an imposed order, structure, or singular ideology -- we hear now that there are too many voices, and why should we acknowledge all these folks when things were so much better when everybody hewed to a certain ideology? That tends to come from a single demographic that feels that way and is nostalgic for a time and era that didn't really ever exist -- just kind of existed for them.
You have Avigail, a Black woman who is an "illegal alien" -- certainly an alien -- who arrives and says that this planet needs a little order and people of a particular intellect, like herself, that can impose that. All of a sudden, everyone is like, "Maybe we should talk about this, maybe we should discuss this." For me, it's taking things that are very fundamental. Going back to your first question, if there are things that I'm writing about that are very familiar in some regard, with DNA in a lot of the storytelling that I do, how does it change enough to be worth anybody's time, whether they're somebody who loves my work or wonders how it's going to be different from the last one, I think it's taking how it's represented.
Avigail is absolutely different from any other character I've written in all her regards, her stature, how she presents herself, what she's about, and where she's from. For me, that offers opportunities in storytelling that keep me invigorated and interested moment-to-moment and panel-to-panel because it isn't the same thing. Jace and T'Challa are very different, but they're still young Black men, and I'm very thankful for writing them. So was Red Tails. It was mostly young men of color being heroic.
A lot of things I do have been in that space so here's something different and changing that character. It's not about necessarily trying to do deeper dives into individual elements of the demographics, but it's changing who's doing the speaking.
John always adds a significant level of grounded verisimilitude to his stories, even within the superhero and science fiction space. How did you want to reflect that in your work?
Anderson: The art really helps push this, even using real locations and objects. As I said earlier, I am just playing off what they are doing. My thought while working on this is to have it have a movie feel -- dark, moody and then have key colors that will ground it in reality and attach certain elements to parts of the story, such as the clean gray of the sword or suits. I am using lighting from light sources in the scene, not just making up bright colors that aren't attached to the story at that point.
John, what else can you tease about The Ministry of Compliance?
Ridley: I can tease that, in this first issue, there are some twists and turns and surprises. There are two kinds of surprises, the kinds that are pure plot that happen about halfway through this story, and there are surprises that happen at the end of this elongated book on more personal terms, and we're learning things about more personal dynamics. [There will] be a lot of shifting dynamics. Why do they shift, how do you trust, and are your belief systems built in a way that they can absorb new realities? Are your belief systems built so they can absorb some things, or are they built so you can't allow for new realities?
For me, [the latter] is a bad thing, when your entire belief system is built on things that are absolutely intractable, and if you introduce something else, my whole world blows up. That's not a good thing. To me, it really is this character study, and hopefully, these twists and turns come out of real emotional drives. Without giving them all away, I'd say be prepared for the unexpected, but they'll be so unexpected you can't even prepare to be expected.
The Ministry of Compliance #1 goes on sale Nov. 15 from IDW Publishing. The series is written by John Ridley, illustrated by Stefano Raffaele, colored by Brad Anderson, and lettered by Ariana Maher.