The first time I met Thomas Jane, he was swaggering barefoot through a hall at Comic-Con, answering questions for an hour after the midnight screening of his film, Give âEm Hell, Malone. During our first interview, last year at the Saturn Awards, he told Joel Silver and Sylvester Stallone to go shoot themselves before lamenting some of the lesser films he has been a part of and promising to only make projects he wanted to make from now on. âIf someoneâs gonna screw it up, it should be me,â said Jane.But it doesnât look like heâs screwing anything up just yet. Yesterday afternoon, I got on the phone with Jane (The Punisher, Hung) and his Raw Studioâs compatriot, Tim Bradstreet (Eisner Award-winning cover artist for, Hellblazer) to discuss their companyâs new digital distribution deal with Comixology and their premiere release, a graphic novel adaptation of Janeâs directorial debut, Dark Country.  During our exclusive interview, the pair discussed the future of digital comic books and how it relates to David Foster Wallaceâs Infinite Jest, Janeâs next directorial effort, The Magnificent Death, why boutique companies have an edge on the majors, a proposed Alien Pig Farm movie that has David Gordon Green attached, Vampire: The Masquerade, a whole slew of upcoming comic books, the importance of patience, and much, much more.  Hit the jump for our exclusive interview and some art from the duoâs upcoming projects.Collider: Your press release says that youâre about to direct The Magnificent Death, a Western starring Nick Nolte. Is that the 3D Western you told me about at the Saturn awards?THOMAS JANE: Iâd love to make a 3D Westernâ¦John Wayne, John Wayne! I donât think theyâve made a 3D western since John Wayneâs Hondo. I would be trying to do that if it werenât for the fact that trying to make a Western is hard enough on itsâ own. And doing it in 3D, I think would be damn near impossible right now. So, Iâm gonna stick with the traditional Cinemascope Western and weâre gonna shoot in widescreen, anamorphic lenses, as close to Cinemascope as we can get. The beautiful, what I like so much about Terry Malick films. Weâre gonna shoot in Monument Valley where John Ford made most of his great Westerns with John Wayne. So, Iâm excited about The Magnificent Death. Nick Nolte is starring in the film, Iâll be directing and acting in it too. Thatâs something Iâve been actively working on. I helped write the script and feel very passionately about The Magnificent Death.Are you going to be doing a standalone comic for Magnificent Death like you did for Dark Country?TIM BRADSTREET: I think if we do â lemme answer this one Tom, if I can â itâll be after we do the movie. Itâs not something we could get into while, what do you think Tom? Itâs not really something we could get into while weâre trying to lift [the feature version] off, is it?JANE: Well, thatâs what we did with Dark Country. We did the graphic novel after. If we did do it, it would be the same thing.BRADSTREET: Thatâs actually something that we hadnât previously discussed. And I think it would be interesting to see how we could make that different too. So that itâs not just a straight movie adaptation.JANE: Yeah, the one thing about Dark Country, or anything that we do is that weâre gonna try and bring a unique experience to the graphic novel so that itâs a unique experience and not just a straight adaptation. Thereâs something original about the graphic novel too. Youâre getting a distinctive story that is all itsâ own. Thatâs what we did with Dark Country.So, how is the film Dark Country, different from the comic Dark Country, different from the short story Dark Country and is there any interaction between the three?JANE: Yeah! Theyâre all in the same world; just different takes on the same story. Thereâs stuff thatâs in the short story that we left out of the film and then thereâs stuff that Thomas Ott [the comicâs author] added in his interpretation of the short story. So thereâs three distinct stories that have different authors.BRADSTREET: Kinda through three different lenses. And the cool thing about the short story, which comes with the graphic novel, is that itâs told from the first person perspective, which brings a real creepy and lurid vibe to that thing. Like, almost like youâre being controlled by, like youâre being narrated by yourself in a kind of way. Itâs almost like the control voice in The Outer Limits. Itâs just creepy.You guys are releasing your comics digitally now and I have a friend who recently picked up a digital version of Infinite Jest, which is a book that has hundreds of pages of endnotes. And he was saying how itâs actually easier to read the iPad version than the physical version because you can use hyperlinks to the endnotes in the book. When you guys are releasing comics, is there anything you can do to play with form or do things that you couldnât do on the page?BRADSTREET: Oh man. Infinite Jest isâ¦JANE: Yeah, man. Thatâs cool! I mean, I think weâre in the progressive stages of figuring out what you can do in the digital format. Thereâs a lot more possibilities. I know that Madefire is an example. Theyâre creating digital comic books that are exactly like what youâre describing. Theyâve got hyperlinks that theyâre mobile in ways that they break the page in a way that conventional comic books donât. And they employ a bit of motion comics and they have a way of manipulating the page where your iPad becomes a window and that window you can use that in endless variety of ways to tell your story which is way more flexible than a hardcopy piece of paper. So the comic book world is just beginning to catch on to the possibilities of digital landscaping. And weâre somewhere in the middle of that transformation right now, which is exciting. We just canât see the endgame yet.BRADSTREET: Itâs a brave new world; digital comics and where it can take digital storytelling experiences. Itâs something thatâs very much evolving every day in everything that comes out. It shows something else you can do. And who knows where it will take everyone. But Tom and I are big fans of the printed page, so weâll always embrace that. But I think you have to involve the digital technology too, because thereâs just so much you can do with it and if you turn your back on it and youâre just going to be a purist, I think youâre just going to end up a dinosaur, you know?JANE: The cool thing about what weâre trying to do is to make sure that we stay innovative. You know, Dark Country was the first digital 3D movie. We started filming Dark Country when there were no 3D cameras in town. We had to make our own cameras, invent our own workflow. We had to hire a production company that did 3D movies for amusement park rides to get our movie done because it was the first entirely digital 3D film. And then with our comic book we also, this is one of the first all digital releases of a graphic novel, which I think is cool. Itâs an exclusive digital release and I think itâs going to be that way for about three months and then weâre gonna bring out a limited edition hard copy for collectors and fans. And I think that Comixology says that weâre one of the first, if not the firstâ¦BRADSTREET: Original content, yeahâ¦JANE: In a purely digital format.BRADSTREET: Itâs not like weâre out to be first with the stuff. But I think that what we do is just follow where the cutting edge is. Tom has always had his ear to the floor on that and he embraces that. And I do too. I think we both have a very similar sensibility when it comes to those type of things. But itâs not like we just reach out in the dark. The people we get in bed with in the stuffâ¦again, we have to find that connection. We have to make sure that these guys are of like mind. That these guys are making good product, if weâre going to go through the effort of releasing our stuff in that format. [â¦] Weâre just an independent, tiny little entity. Itâs me and tom. Weâre a boutique publisher. So it takes something like Comixology to get something out there and make it available everywhere so that people can see what weâre doing.JANE: Digital is great, especially for the boutique publisher. It opens up our stuff to a new audience. Thatâs exciting. Thatâs what itâs all about. Weâre hoping it opens things up for us to keep doing what weâre doing.When you wrote Dark Country, you wrote that to be on paper, but now youâre releasing it digitally. With other things youâre developing, are you considering them first from a digital standpoint? Or, is it always, paper first and then you find something to do with it afterwards?JANE: As a boutique publisher, weâre always interested in the book. Weâre interested in collecting what we do into a volume of work. But whatâs exciting is that weâre starting to realize that you can do both. We think. This Madefire thing is really interesting because itâs not just digital comic books on digital paper. Itâs a new animal. And I think weâre seeing that thatâs a possibility. I think that Dark Country, youâre right, is intended to be collected as a hard paper comic book. So, what youâre seeing on digital is going to be the same experience. What you see is a digital version of a hard paper comic book. But I do think thatâs changing.BRADSTREET: And in the case of Madefire, which is something completely new, I donât even think theyâre live yet.JANE: But itâs gonna be real soon!I think theyâre premiering in October or November based on what I saw at Comic-Con.BRADSTREET: With that, weâre kinda looking at the projects we have. What would be right for this experience? Whatâs the right thing to go out and make a project with madefire with the stuff we have in our hip pocket? You know, you donât just choose something arbitrarily. You find something that you feel like is going to be a good fit, something that is going to fit, that is going to be the right kind of project to release in that format. And weâre still juggling that right now.In your press release you use the phrase, âElevated genre.â What exactly is elevated genre? And how do you pick the projects you want to pursue?BRADSTREET: I think itâs whatever is hot. And generally Tom will pick that and Iâll just kind of follow his lead. But if I have a project I feel really passionately about, you know, Iâll take it to Tom and he considers it. There are a couple of things that Iâm really thinking hard about that I havenât fully gone to Tom with yet. But that will all come soon. It really just matters whatâs hot. You know, Tom will come up and say, âI really wanna do this crime anthology.â Not that we have something like that now. But itâs like Crime anthologies, or crime comics, or adventures, or science fiction. And mostly we just go after stuff that kind of, tickles our sweet spot and that is not something that is being done somewhere else. We look for stuff that we canât find somewhere else, so we kind of take it upon ourselves. âYou know what? No oneâs doing science fiction comic books and I have a great idea for an epic sci-fi story, so letâs do this.â And that was Bad Planet. And Dark Country was one of those things whereâ¦during the movie, or somewhere around the movie, Tom was thinking about a graphic novel version of the movie because he knew that the short story would be perfect for it. So heâs like, âWhat do you think of this?â And I think itâs fantastic. We just had to do it. If weâre super enthusiastic about something, we just go out and do it. And we have another project that has kind of been in the background for the last three or four years called, The Lycan that weâre both really hot on, but for whatever reason, it doesnât sweep up to the forefront because of my schedule, Tomâs schedule, finding the right artist. So itâs taken four years to get this thing off the ground [â¦] Weâve got a great artist named Shawn OâConner. We went through several different guys and finally hit upon the style that we liked.JANE: The thing that really brought us down with The Lycan is that we donât do projects unless the writer and the artist are perfect for that project and thatâs what elevated is: the right writer with the right artist with the right story.You guys are working on a film version, with David Gordon Green of Alien Pig Farm, howâs that going?BRADSTREET: Todd Farmerâs Amazing Alien Pig Farm 3000. Yeah, thatâs a great one.JANE: Farmer did a great job with that book. Itâs perfect for a guy like David Gordon Green. Weâre currently looking for a writer, someone whoâll come from David Gordon Greenâs stock of guys. And to tell you the truth, weâre kinda taking a pause on that because there are so many alien movies coming out in the last couple of years. We just donât want it to get lost in the shuffle of, you know, this weekâs alien movie. Literally in the last couple of years there has been this glut of movies with freaking aliens. So, weâre putting that on the back shelf for a minute and saying, âLetâs wait until this alien thing dies down a bit so that it will be something kind of unique when it comes out.â Because right now it just doesnât feel like it would stand out as much as it should. And thatâs the deal, man! You gotta be patient! You really gotta beâ¦and thatâs the beauty of being a boutique company. If youâre a bigger company, youâve got a lot of demand and youâve got to pump out a lot of product. And doing that means, youâre gonna pump out a lot of shit.BRADSTREET: Yeah, youâre gonna compromise.JANE: The way we are, we can take out time with something. And weâve been lucky enough to break even on our projects so that we can stay in business. And thatâs by doing, really, one thing at a time. So weâre excited about Dark Country coming out. And then weâve got Bad Planet #7 coming out digitally. And then weâve got Bad Planet #8 coming out digitally. And then by that point, we should be seeing some Lycan books coming out. So itâs gonna be a really great year for Raw Studios. And all the stuff is coming out digitally through Comixology and then youâll be able to get the hardcover version two or three months later, after it comes out exclusively through Comixology.BRADSTREET: Dark Countryâs hardcover is coming out at comic-con this year. Weâll have gorgeous hardcovers available at the table. Thatâll be available there before itâs available anywhere else.JANE: If you make it down to comic-con, itâll be available there. And weâll have advanced copies of other books before theyâre available this fall.BRADSTREET: Early copies of the Dark Country graphic novel and also early black and white edition of Bad Planet Volume 2: part 1, which features the first two issues of the second series.Are you still working on that Glen Sherley bio-pic with Billy Bob Thornton, Tom?JANE: Bio-pics are hard to make and then movies about country music are really hard to make too. It seems like everything I really want to do is something that is really good is always challenging to get made because theyâre not the most popular genre that people wanna sink money into. So, Billy Bob and I still have this script about Glen Sherley. Glen Sherley is a great, classic country music story about a guy who literally sang his way out of Folsom prison and into the custody of Johnny Cash. He was released from Folsom Prison into Johnny Cashâs custody to go on tour with him. [â¦] The story of Glen Sherley is a great, unsung story and I hope to do it someday, and I hope that Billy Bob directs it. But at this time, weâre just looking for some guy crazy enough to put money into us.Tim, are you working on anything new with Vampire: The Masquerade?BRADSTREET: We just did the 20th anniversary edition last year and they released it at World of Darkness. They do a convention in New Orleans every year; itâs called The Grand Masquerade. Just a great launch. All new clan pieces for that. Limited edition book. So that was great. And I guess White Wolf, or CCP, which is the parent company. They laid off most of the pen and paper guys. Pen andâ¦whatâs it called?Ink and Mortar?BRADSTREET: They laid off most of those guys, they wiped out that whole division. And then the original guys who created it are back, and theyâre still CCP, but they kinda rearranged everything. So theyâre going to relaunch all new books and all new stuff and Iâve been asked to be a part of that. But Iâve been so busy in the last few months that I havenât been able to keep my finger on the pulse of what the White Wolf gang are doing. But you can be sure that I will be a part of that.Are you working on any other film stuff? I know you did Blade II with Del Toro and The Punisher films.BRADSTREET: Yeah, Iâm very choosey about stuff. I get offered stuff all the time, but Iâm actually kinda happy being an illustrator for the most part and working in the comic industry. I have a freedom there that I donât have elsewhere. And if Tom has something and wants to include me in it, then Iâm all in. Iâm usually ground floor on that. [â¦] All focus is on The Magnificent Death and making that a great film.JANE: Thatâs whatâs next. We were just talking about that on the phone before you hopped on.BRADSTREET: Which is infinitely more pleasing to me to work on a film in the capacity that I do with Tom than it would be for me to just do concept art, which is also a great experience. But youâre a spoke in the wheel. Youâre part of the creative machine. And anything I can do to take a bigger part in that, thatâs what I kind of gravitate towards.JANE: I say, ride on brother!