This week, the second issue of Skyman hits comic stands courtesy of writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, artist Manuel Garcia, and Dark Horse. The series is part of Dark Horse’s Project Black Sky which is the return of the publisher’s superhero line of comics, many of which have roots in the Golden Age of comics. While it might be a cohesive world, the individual series and their creative teams are the focus here.

Skyman follows Sgt. Eric Reid who dons the super suit after a meltdown by the previous user. He not only has to get up to speed quickly, overcome some bad PR, but also his own challenges of PTSD due to his time in the service and a physical disability as well. The superhero’s life isn’t made any easier by the confrontations with his handler and the shocking number of bugs plaguing his suit. And matters are made even worse as he discovers someone’s trying to sabotage the suit and smear his good name!

We went to the writer behind Skyman, and asked Joshua what got him on the project, the diversity of the series and what it’s like to be a part of a few different world building teams.

Graphic Policy: How did you become a part of Skyman ?

Joshua Hale Fialkov:   I’ve been buddies with a bunch of the guys at Dark Horse for a while, and Josh Williamson who writes Captain Midnight is one of my best friends. I think those two sides collided when they decided they wanted to launch the Skyman spinoff.

GP: The series has dealt with a lot of messages; let’s start with the most obvious race. The new Skyman is Eric Reid who is African American. How’d that come about and why did you think that was so important?

JHF: I got to see first hand the firestorm behind race in this industry, and, while it’s always been a priority to me to write as wide a berth of multicultural characters as possible, the uproar over John Stewart proved something very important. There’s a dearth of African-American characters in superhero comics, and there’s a voracious appetite for characters of color is there. We’ve been alienating a huge chunk of our potential audience by not aggressively creating comics that reflect the world we live in. We went down the rabbit hole of ‘grim and gritty’ but we never made it into the wonderland of actual reality.

GP: On top of being African American, he’s physically challenged from an event during his service. Where’d that aspect come from?

JHF: Well, a lot of it was about giving him something to overcome, but, also, I wanted him, as a character, to be a fighter, and I’ve never met anyone who fought harder than someone with a physical disability.

GP: Where did the diversity come from? Was that your idea? Dark Horses?

JHF: A little bit of both, I think. Dark Horse had wanted a more diverse lineup of characters than what they had, and, again, it’s something I’m constantly thinking about in my work.

GP: Then there’s a focus on the military being looked at as property and tools. This issue there’s the focus that the Skyman program is there to complete certain objectives and there’s little real thought as to the ramifications of those actions. It’s all not very superhero like. Why was it important to have Reid start at that point?

JHF: Well, first off, I think that it’s pretty realistic. I think no matter how compassionate our government portends to be, at some point, they have no choice but to look at soldiers and airmen as pieces on a chessboard. In part it’s to keep themselves from going insane, but, it’s also just the nature of making big decisions over thousands of smaller decisions. And I think that every soldier is put in a position of either giving over to the machine or fighting against it, and suffering those consequences.

GP: Finally it looks like Reid has some borderline PTSD issues. How much of that can we expect to see?

JHF: There’s this documentary that John Huston made in 1946 called Let There Be Light.  It’s about PTSD and it’s effect on soldiers coming home from the war. And in it, he makes the point that essentially, nobody comes back home from war undamaged. This film was considered so damaging at the time that it was banned by the military. They took it away from him, had police taking prints away from private screenings, all that stuff. It got released in the 80’s, and it’s spectacular.  On top of that, I grew up in Pittsburgh, where we had an unusually high concentration of Vietnam Vets, many of whom were my friends’ parents. So I got to see the ramifications of war on people first hand.  So it’s an issue that really stuck out to me, and something I’ve dealt with a lot in my work. So it’ll definitely be there throughout.

GP: How hard is it to balance all of that with entertainment and not come off as too preachy?

JHF: It can be challenging, but, I think those are all issues that people face everyday. So it’s less about building a composite list of challenges, and more about a character living through a life with this set of conditions. It’s hard to say how successfully we pull it off, though.

GP: This volume of Skyman is set for four issues. Are you planning more than that?

JHF: I know Dark Hose are discussing it right now. I’d love to tell more stories about Eric, absolutely.

GP: You’re part of a world building with Dark Horse’s Project Black Sky and Marvel’s Ultimate Marvel NOW! How is it coordinating with some many folks to craft a coherent world? How much planning goes into it all?

JHF: It’s very different than what I’m used to doing in comics, but, a bit closer to what I’ve done in Video Games and in TV.  I love collaborating, and I love getting to be a small part of a much bigger picture. It almost takes some of the burden off, and lets me really focus on my specific part, as opposed to in something like the Bunker which is a constant juggling act.

GP: What can we expect from you next?

JHF: Well, we’ve got the recently sold out The Bunker from Oni Press, and a second ongoing series coming from them later this year.  I’ve also got Ultimate FF over at Marvel, and the Devillers coming soon from Dynamite.  Plus, lots of non-comics stuff on the horizon, too.  It’s going to be a crazy 2014!