Jeremiah traveled a great distance from the roots of the Belgian comic book that spawned it. This week Comics2Film talked with Ervin Rustemagic, an executive producer on the show and founder of Strip Art Features, the Slovenia based publisher who has been responsible for bringing Hermann Huppen's comic to the rest of the world.

C2F: For American fans who aren't familiar with Hermann's work, what can you tell us about him and the Jeremiah comics?

Ervin Rustemagic: Hermann does all the work on the Jeremiah comics himself -- he writes it, he pencils the pages, he paints the colors and he letters the original French texts -- while my company SAF (Strip Art Features) is doing all the production work and prepares Jeremiah for publication in many languages. To some publishers we only license the publishing rights and for some publishers we print the graphic novels at our own printing plant in Slovenia.

Hermann is a true professional. In the past 30 years I do not remember him being one day late with his work. The Jeremiah comics are very much popular in Europe and the series has a great fan following, especially in countries like France, Belgium, Holland, Italy...

We might say that Jeremiah is a cult comic in Europe. It greatly influenced George Miller when he was creating his original Mad Max movie, which he wrote and directed. At that time a friend of his from Germany was sending him installments of the Jeremiah comic that were published in the German "Zack" magazine.

C2F: How does the show differ from the comics?

E. R.: There is not much similarity in the stories, although we might say that the atmosphere is there. Roman Polanski, who is a great fan of Hermann's work, once said that each book of Hermann is an excellent movie. I think so, too, and if we were making a movie, each book of Jeremiah could serve as a great plot for a movie. That would make a wonderful franchise. But what we are doing is a TV series and the parameters there are very different.

C2F: How does J. Michael Straczynski's take compare to Hermann's original?

E. R.: It is hard to compare one to the other because what he is doing is very much different from Hermann's original. Joe Straczynski is a proven professional in the TV-media and I think he knows what he is doing.

C2F: You founded Strip Art Features in 1972. How did you come to be interested in publishing comics?

E. R.: Bad luck! This is what I use to answer to such questions. I am working 14-16 hours a day, seven days a week, 30 years in a row.

I have two kids - Maja, my daughter, is 21, studying medicine in Slovenia. My son Edvin is 17, goes to school and plays handball and guitar. I did not see them grow, because I was always in my office, swamped with my work, and never at home. My wife Edina, who is a professor of philosophy, could not work in her profession because she had to take care of the kids (and of me, too). And now it is too late for me to baby-sit Maja and Edvin. I must say I am happy they are not interested in their dad's profession. I want to see them devote some time to their future families.

C2F: 10 years ago you were running Strip Art Features from war-torn Sarajevo. You've since relocated to Slovenia. Now you're on the brink of launching a major U.S. TV show. How does that feel?

E. R.: I am someone who walks on the earth, not in the clouds, as we use to say over here. It was very emotional for me to see Jeremiah 'coming to life', after I have been producing the comic for so many years.

C2F: What can you tell us about your other projects that are being adapted for film or TV? Which look most promising?

E. R.: I am partnered with Mike Richardson of Dark Horse. We have a publishing and entertainment joint-venture called "Venture". Our Venture entertainment company has offices in Beverly Hills and we have a number of projects in development. Some of them will probably go into production in the near future.

I will only name some of the titles here: Blood Ties, Bird, Zachary Holmes. You can find these books in your book shops (all published by SAF Comics) and you will probably witness their screen adaptations in the following years.