IDW Publishing

October 2006

IDW Sets the Clock Back for a 24 Prequel
Jack Bauer Returns to Comics in November
with 24: Nightfall

Following on the success of previous 24 offerings-including 24 Stories and 24: Midnight Sun-IDW Publishing is presenting 24: Nightfall, an all-new six-issue mini series featuring everybody's favorite Federal Agent-Jack Bauer.

If you thought Jack Bauer had rough days started with the first season of 24, think again. 24: Nightfall is a prequel to the on-going hit Fox television series. Before the clock started ticking on season one, Jack Bauer was the head of an elite Special Forces team sent to take down the mass murderer Victor Drazen. Not an easy mission by any means, especially in the war-torn former Yugoslavia. Events quickly spiral out of control, as the hunters become the hunted—and the true facts of the pivotal Operation: Nightfall are revealed.

24: Nightfall is a six-issue mini series premiering in November and is written by J.K. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes, the team that brought you 24: Midnight Sun, and with art by Jean Diaz.

IDW managed to get Vaughn and Haynes to clear some space in their 24-hour day-planners in order to answer some timely questions regarding 24: Nightfall.

IDW: Why tell a story that takes place before the timeline already established by 24 the television series?

J.C. Vaughn: Good question, but this timeline was established by the series. The events of Day One (Season One) take place two years to the day after this mission. What happened that day in Jack Bauer's life (and Senator David Palmer's, too) was Victor Drazen's revenge for the events that are the backbone of our story.

Mark L. Haynes: From a storytelling standpoint, this mini-series is the "cause" that goes along with the devastating "effects" that Season One has for Jack Bauer and the other characters. From a fan's viewpoint, this story is being told in order to answer the all-important question of "why?" Why is Victor Drazen out to destroy David Palmer and Jack Bauer? Why does Jack act the way he does? The comics can explore all that.

IDW: What are the constraints of writing a story based on a well-established property such as 24? And what liberties due you feel that you have writing 24 within the comic book medium?

MLH: Far from a constraint, a well-established property allows substantially more freedom. All good stories are based, in large measure, on the motivations of the characters. After five seasons of the show, our writing is governed by the simple question: "What would Jack Bauer do?" From there, the comic book medium allows us to show Jack operating in a wider world. While his actions certainly have global impact, comics allows us to take Jack out of the L.A. area and drop him into any situation to reinforce just how good he is at his job.

JCV: Rather than think of constraints, it's more fun to take the situation as a positive. 24 is the one comic I don't have to sketch before I script. The visual paradigms of the show are well established in the readers' minds, too, so we're not re-inventing the wheel here. Mark and I plot it very, very tightly, because frankly as fans of the show that's what we would demand if we were reading it instead of writing it. Once we're plotted, that frees us to do one thing-concentrate on the craft of writing, creating the best additions to the world of 24 that we can.

IDW: What is it that makes Jack Bauer "tick," so to speak? What separates him from the countless other tough-guy maverick heroes of page and screen?

JCV: It's like those internet jokes: Jack Bauer once lost his car keys and tortured himself for a half hour until he confessed where the keys were. And he makes onions cry. Seriously, though, Jack Bauer is a relentless, purpose-driven patriot who knows that there are scary people out there who want to kill us simply because we're American and/or they can make some money doing it.

MLH: While there are similarities between Jack Bauer and characters like John McClane (Die Hard) and Martin Riggs (Lethal Weapon), Jack differs in that he's not a loner when it comes to a mission, and he is not inclined to take chances if there is any other possible way to solve a crisis.

IDW: So why is it that no one seems to have a worse day than Jack Bauer? What is it that Jack could have possibly done in a previous life to deserve such horrible periods of 24 hours?

MLH: There are people that have worse days than Jack. They're the insurance adjusters that show up the next day.

JCV: Jack is a high caliber problem solver. The problem with solving difficult problems effectively is that you generally are then given even more difficult problems to solve. Nobody sends the lady at the DMV, whose main decision is whether to look put out or just disinterested, to deal with the terrorists who have just taken over the In and Out Burger down the street from Meltdown Comics. They send Jack Bauer. Or one of us, but only because it's near a comic shop.

November Releases from IDW Publishing

24: Nightfall #1
Angel: Auld Lang Syne
CSI: Dying in the Gutters #4
Fallen Angel #11
The Great and Secret Show #
Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty #9
Road to Hell #3
Spike: Asylum #3
Super Bad James Dynomite #4
Transformers Animated Movie Adaptation #2
The Transformers: Escalation #1
The Transformers: Escalation #1-Black & White Variant
Transformers: Generations #9
Transformers Spotlight: Hot Rod
The Transformers: Infiltration Manga TPB
Turistas: The Other Side of Paradise #1
Zombies: Eclipse of the Undead #1
Angel Scriptbook TPB (collecting 1-5)
Remains TPB 2nd Printing
Sencilla Finale
Sparrow: Phil Hale

More IDW News...