Superwomen and the Luna Bros.

This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on April 4, 2006 Sign up now!

by Laurel Maury, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 4/4/2006

The comics writer and artist duo of Jonathan and Josh Luna look like they’re on the verge of really big things. The young Filipino-American brothers graduated from the Savannah College of Art in 2001 (Jonathan) and 2003 (Josh) and they've already published a popular stand-alone graphic novel, Ultra: Seven Days, a post-Watchmen super-heroine relationship graphic novel, and started Girls, a new series in a supernatural vein. Both are from Image comics, and Girls looks to be even more popular than Ultra. And now the brothers are working on Spiderwoman for Marvel.

Though both Ultra and Girls have a certain cheesecake factor —form-fitting spandex costumes in one, stylish nudity in the other—it's intelligent cheesecake. Unlike most superhero comics, Ultra and Girls appeal not only to men but to women and, surprisingly, lesbian, gay and bisexual readers. "We call it 'Sex in the City with Superpowers,'" says Image executive director Eric Stephenson.

"Ultra, for the most part, is a character piece," says Jonathan. "We wanted to make it about relationships." Josh adds, "As for why we chose female protagonists, we just thought it was a better fit. It deals with a lot of emotional themes. I couldn't see a lot of male superheroes expressing their feelings." Some influences on the duo are Hiroaki Samura, author of the popular manga classic, Blade of the Immortal; novelist Chuck Palahniuk; and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. "But we always read comics growing up," said Josh. "So we kind of approached superheroes in a way that would make them more sensible."

The popularity of Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis at DC Comics proved that relationship angst can pay off in superhero comics. It's paying off for Josh and Jonathan. Ultra is being made into a pilot for CBS by Barbara Hall, writer of Joan of Arcadia. Jonathan says the TV pilot won’t exactly follow the story of the comic, but that it's "like Smallville." And Girls is even more popular than Ultra. Though unwilling to give print numbers, the Luna brothers say at one point it had almost twice Ultra's sales.

”Girls isn't superheroes, it's supernatural," said Josh. "There are still sexual themes," added Jonathan, "but it's like Greek myth playing out in a modern way. Like what would happen if nymphs were born into our world." Strange, pearly-white naked women descend on a town, and people start to die. Girls plays cunningly on stereotypes. The reader can't be sure if the wives and girlfriends are being petty and small-minded, or correct in sensing danger. It's difficult to tell if the white-trash family is on a vendetta, or if they're justified to take up arms.

Both stories channel archetypes. The superheroine gal pals in Ultra are a cross between Candice Bushnell and Friends. Girls channels the dark energy of the maenads.

Despite a strong retailer response, Jonathan and Josh have no plans to continue Ultra, "and if we did anything else with it, we might go with a different main character." But Girls will continue in serials for two years. Josh and Jonathan don't seem to know how they come up with their stories, but it's the stories and the clever parodies of news, fashion and women's magazine covers in Ultra that help drive the book’s narrative.

The California-born brothers grew up attending an American school in Sicily, where their father was stationed with the U.S. military. However, they didn't mingle much with the locals. "No, we didn't draw Italian architecture. Sicily's mostly amphitheaters," says Jonathan.

Their art education was comics, which they read from when Jonathan was about age nine. One has the sense of two boys alone in a foreign country, maybe sharing a fantasy world. Certainly, they take the time to make their characters real people, something that many superhero comics don’t always do. Part of their success may be due to working in collaboration: since they're a team, their ideas have to make sense to each other before they enter the world. This may be part of why the Luna brothers' work holds together so well.

"Since we're brothers, we know each others' strengths and weaknesses pretty well," said Josh. Jonathan draws the art on Bristol board, then colors on the computer. Josh does the writing and some of the layouts. "We really have a strong synergy in our work. It's hard to tell where one begins and the other stops," he says. Listening to Jonathan and Josh talk is like hearing two voices attached to one big, laid-back brain.

Eric Stephenson agrees. "Aside from Dave Sim and Gerhard of Cerebus, I can't think of any comics team who work so closely. Even the Hernandez Brothers go off on their individual projects."