Talking with Tim

No Jeff Parker’s not in jail or imprisoned in any metaphorical or actual manner.

And he’s gonna be annoyed that I don’t post with any graphics. But hey, he’s the guy who just posted an eight-part prose piece at his blog.

That’s where the free part comes into play here. While this first ran elsewhere in anticipation of his Marvel Comics 2006 miniseries, Agents of Atlas, Parker recently re-ran the eight-part Menace from Space story. Here are links to part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven and part eight. Jeff’s a great writer and the gives folks great dialogue lines like:

“I’m not finding the pulse.”

“Well I couldn’t find a suspect, so we’re even,” said Marvel Boy.

Thanks for the free entertainment, Jeff.

Writer/artist Terry Moore is on a very short list of successful, long-term self-publishers. Last year, Moore wrapped up Strangers in Paradise, after a 14-year run. This month, he launched a brand new series, Echo, a bimonthly ongoing series about (at its core) “Julie Martin, a photographer taking pictures in the desert [who]… finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time.” As if that is not enough, he is also writing two series for Marvel, Runaways and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. The bulk of this email interview focuses on Echo, understandably.

Tim O’Shea: More than a decade and a half ago was that last time you started self-publishing a comic book. On this go-round (in albeit a vastly different market) what are you doing different to make the book a better product (both for retailers and readers)? What logistical challenges are you dodging on this round?

Terry Moore: I’ve found I can’t work faster or slower anymore. Whether it’s a con sketch or a cover for the comic, I only have one speed because every drawing now has to be good. I’ve lived with deadlines so long they no longer scare me, I’m more interested in the final product, so the book will always be the best I can make it. I think that showed in the last couple of years of SiP and it shows in Echo. That’s the best thing I can do for my retailer partners, is make the best book I can and then go out and promote the hell out of it.

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As much as I hope to broaden the scope of interview topics in the weeks and months to come, there’s no escaping my interest and connections in the comic book industry. It’s where the bulk of my reputation as an interviewer is known.

So for folks who were wishing to see me do more comic book/graphic novel interviews, the next few weeks will be good for you. Tomorrow we will be running an interview with Terry Moore (known for his long run on Strangers in Paradise), who recently embarked on a new self-published title, Echo. The week after that I have an interview to run with Fred Chao, the creative force behind Johnny Hiro (AdHouse).

So, I hope you enjoy the upcoming comic book interviews, but I am open to suggestions on all pop culture fronts. Please drop me a line if you would like to suggest a topic to cover or a person to interview. My content can only improve with your insightful perspectives.

A month or so ago, when I first contacted Joey Weiser, mainly it was to discuss his 2007 AdHouse book, The Ride Home. As with most good interviews, the email exchange took us in different interesting directions. Also as luck would have it, Weiser recently announced the release of his new collection, Tales of Unusual Circumstance, which is published by Author House and can be purchased here. Tales of Unusual Circumstance is a collection of work he’s done in mini-comics, anthologies or elsewhere over the past four years, as well as 48 pages of previously unreleased material. Here’s the core official line on the creator before we launch into the interview: “Joey Weiser was born on April 5, 1983, and has lived most of his life in Bloomington, Indiana. He is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). Weiser’s comics have appeared in several anthologies, and his first graphic novel, The Ride Home, was published in 2007 by AdHouse Books.”

Tim O’Shea: For your first major project after earning your degree from SCAD, I’m wondering what made you opt for an all ages project like The Ride Home?

Joey Weiser: There wasn’t really a decision to make an all ages story. The Ride Home is just the kind of story that I write naturally. My older work was a bit more all over the place, but once I recognized that the kind of story that I enjoy creating is typically categorized as “all ages” it’s pretty easy to omit an occasional “Oh crap!” or whatever that might come through in a first draft that might keep it from being okay for everyone. But, honestly, I didn’t give it much thought.

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Well to be honest, Saturday was my birthday, so I was swamped offline for a good part of the day.

That being said, I’ve decided to join my friends over at Blog@Newsarama, as a regular contributor with its Quote, Unquote column. Here is my first installment.

Then tonight, I decided to lurk in the comments section of PopSmart (Creative Loafing Atlanta’s A&E blog) while they liveblogged the Oscars. It was the most fun I ever had watching the Oscars, honestly. An I got to learn more about a local indie movie theater and a filmmaker while talking with fellow commenters.

I’m unsure how well I will keep doing the third post of the week on the blog. Of course, as the readers, I understand if you say to yourself: “I’m unsure how well I’ll come by to read your blog, pal.” But rest assured, I will always have an interview up by late Monday evening and a post on Wednesday. The Saturday post is slowly morphing into a “sometime during the weekend” timed post. But hopefully my thoughts while late, will still interest.

Visitors to the site may remember my late January used bookstore discovery of Bill Mauldin’s 1944 World War II book, Up Front. That discovery ultimately led me to contact Todd DePastino, regarding both his latest work, a biography of Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front (which is to be released by W. W. Norton on February 25) and Mauldin’s Willie & Joe: The WWII Years (edited by DePastino and set to be released on March 24 by Fantagraphics). I can honestly say I enjoy every interview I do for this blog, but when DePastino’s replies hit my email in-box, I just sat and savored it for at least 15 minutes. After reading it once, I stood up from my computer and paced for a moment or two, that’s how engaging I found his responses. While it may be apparent that I had not gotten my hands on a copy of the biography before this interview, I have since been able to peruse an advance copy. As interesting as you (hopefully) will find this interview, it’s only a small aspect of the wealth of information that DePastino packs into the 320-page book. Before starting the interview, here’s DePastino’s official bio blurb: “Todd DePastino is the author of Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America and the general editor of the cartoon collection Willie & Joe: The WWII Years. He teaches at Waynesburg College and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” It seems only fitting that we also got a chance to discuss the upcoming Fantagraphics book, given that I first learned of Mauldin thanks to Dirk Deppey writing about him back in late 2002.

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So I was watching the Harry Carey documentary, Hello Again Everybody: The Harry Carey Story, this afternoon and I think to call it a documentary is a misnomer. It’s more of an endearing tribute, clearly done with the cooperation and participation of his family and friends. There were few bits of an objective inkling to the project, except for acknowledging that he was not strongly connected to his family until the last 10 years of his life.

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There are any number of reasons that I have Bill Mauldin on my mind these days.

The first reason would be that a few weekends back, I stumbled across a Seventh Printing (August 1945) edition of his 1944 book, Up Front. The book conveys (through some text as well as single panel cartoons of his soldier characters, Willie and Joe) the risks, absurdities and triumphs that he experienced while serving in World War II. I was astounded to get my hands on a copy printed at such a pivotal time, August 1945, when atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki–ultimately leading to the end of the war. Realize that 1945 was also when 23-year-old Mauldin won a Pulitzer Prize for his work.

But the other reasons that Mauldin is at the forefront of my mind is what is coming up in February and March. Next month will feature the release of a new Mauldin biography (Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front by Todd DePastino). But also DePastino has edited Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, a 600-page collection of Mauldin’s work due to be released by Fantagraphics in March 2008. If I am lucky, this blog will have additional coverage about these two projects in the weeks to come, so please keep an eye out for updates.

As you can tell from the post’s headline, I’m curious if the world has a reasonable equivalent to Mauldin in the present day. Depending on your perspective and political leanings, some (not myself) might point to Ted Rall. For myself, however, the storyteller artist coming closest to Mauldin would be Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau. Trudeau amazes me with the outlet he gives troops, as well as their loved ones. On one level, he does it by giving voice to their struggles with injuries and stress upon returning home, as played out through longtime character B.D. and his supporting cast. Of equal importance is the platform Trudeau gives readers on the homefront and soldiers still serving, through such web forums as Blowback (for readers) and The Sandbox (dispatches from troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan).

As a guy who considers himself a frustrated moderate, I’m glad to see Trudeau keeping the executive and legislative branch’s respective feet to the fire, while leaving the troops out of the political metaphorical crossfire. In a highly political world, Trudeau does great political commentary while also showing his readers what matters more than politics and the heavily fortified political lines of partisanship.

Andy Schmidt is a former Marvel Comics editor who I found consistently brought an engaging vibe to the books that bore his name. When I learned last year that he was going freelance (for a number of positive reasons, most importantly to care for his newborn child) , I was eager to see where his professional path went next. Soon enough, I found that path included tapping into his teaching and editorial skills in one spot, Comics Experience. As detailed at the website, Comics Experience is where “…you can learn to be be a comic book writer; be a comic book artist; self-publish your own comic book; [and/or] learn how to break into comics…”. The latest round of classes started last week (January 7). Schmidt and I discussed what’s coming up in the short-term as well as the long-term.

Tim O’Shea: At present, the main classes are Introduction to Comics Writing, Introduction to Comic Book Art, as well as advance versions of both classes. Based on response and interest, are there any other classes you might consider offering down the road?

Andy Schmidt: Oh, definitely, I’ve been talking about doing an inking class and a coloring class and even more recently a Manga class. The response to what I’m offering has been incredibly positive from students and creators alike. So, I’m hoping to grow this out a bit.

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Michel Gagné is a visual storyteller with a cultural reach and creative appeal that very few of his contemporaries enjoy. I first became aware of him through his Spore story for DC Comics in 2003. I have an immense amount of respect for the depth and variety of mediums that Gagné explores to tell his tales. No matter what realm of pop culture you may favor, it is likely you have been exposed to his work in some way in the past several years.

Tim: It’s been a few years since we last did an interview. When we last spoke, a majority of your printed work was self-published. So I was surprised to see in more recent years that you have been participating in the Flight anthologies. What drew you to allowing your new Rex installments in Flight, rather than published by you?

Michel: I have a tremendous amount of respect for editor, Kazu Kibuishi and his vision in putting together the Flight anthology. When he asked me to be a part of it, I couldn’t refuse.

To date, the experience of being involved with Flight has been nothing but positive. All the artists involved are so talented and encouraging. I look at their work and I get inspired and hopefully they get inspired looking at my work too. We all feed off each other’s creative energy.

Since I started with Flight, a few publishers have voiced their interest in publishing the graphic novel of the completed story (the final chapter will run in Flight 7) so I’ll probably let somebody else publish that as well. To tell you the truth, I’m probably going to work more and more with publishers in the future. I enjoy self-publishing but it’s very time consuming and time is something I don’t have enough of already.

Tim: How much has your participation in Flight broadened your audience?

Michel: Flight has now become the bestselling comic anthology in America so Rex gets a heck of a lot more exposure then if I was publishing it myself. A lot of people are discovering my work through Flight which is awesome.

Tim: In that same vein, how many new doors of creative offers opened in the wake of your highly regarded and high profile work on Ratatouille?

Michel: Everything I do gets me some exposure in one way or another. Hopefully, I proved to Pixar that I could integrate my own brand of hand drawn animation in one of their movie. I’d hope to do that with The Incredibles but it didn’t pan out. I’m glad we were successful with Ratatouille. I’d love to do more work with Pixar if we find the right fit.

I’ve been very fortunate in the animation industry to work for and meet the right people. I always give my very best on every assignment and I am devoted to creating work that’s original and interesting. The word always gets around and every year, I receive offers to do the type of animation I consider really fun. I’m doing six shots right now for the upcoming Horton Hears a Who movie that are just totally the kind of animation I love to do.

Tim: Music has always been a major influence and/or role in your creative pursuits. How did your recent collaboration with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir go, and will you be collaborating with them again?

Michel: I was very proud of the work I did for the project although; the actual show for me was a bit of a mixed bag. In one hand, the musical performance was astounding, but the shadow puppet part was under-rehearsed and not to the level I would have liked it to be. Every one did the best they could but the resources were lacking. The problem when you work for the “arts” is that the budgets are very limited and most of the people involved work on a voluntary basis. To get things to look the way I had them in my head, we would have needed about 10 times the budget and 10 times the time.

As far as working with them again… Yes, I’d be totally open to it. Perhaps we can keep perfecting The Spectre’s Bride and make it really shine.

Tim: Did your upcoming 2009 work with the Vancouver International Jazz Festival result from your work with the choir?

Michel: Actually, I’ve been working on getting things going with the Jazz Festival for over a year. That’s way before I was approached by the Victoria Philharmonic. I’ve got a lot of stuff planned with them including some truly ground breaking animation projects. One of these projects is already completed and will have its premiere at the Festival in 2009. We’re talking about premiering the film by projecting it on the side of a skyscraper in downtown Vancouver! I can’t talk too much about all this because we’re still raising the funds to achieve everything I have in mind but I can honestly say that it’s going to be one of the coolest things of my career.

Tim: Am I correct in thinking that ZED is produced on an annual basis, and if so, when do you expect to finish the next installment?

Michel: I love doing ZED but it’s pretty tough fitting him in my schedule. ZED is for all intent and purpose, a hobby. I do it for fun. I’ve already started issue 9 and it’s coming along nicely. I’m planning on having it done for the summer of 2008. Then, issue 10 will be release the following year, and that will be a wrap. The complete ZED series will be 10 issues.

Tim: When was the first time you found out folks were getting tattoos made based on your work? Were you surprised by this development–of your insane character designs is there one that sticks out as one you hope you never see come to life in a tattoo?

Michel: I started seeing people with my artwork tattooed at conventions. At first, it took me a bit by surprise. One time, I walked into a store in Seattle and the girl at the cash register had one of my drawings tattooed on her arm. I didn’t expect that! Another time, I got an email from a guy who tattooed most of his upper body with my artwork. He didn’t want me to put his picture on my website though.

If people like my art and want to put it one their skin, that fine by me; any of it.

Tim: What can you tell folks about the potential for a new film project in 2008 and/or the video game you currently are developing?

Michel: The video game is called “Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet” and I’ve teamed up with an amazing crew to produce it. I’m designing the visuals and doing a lot of the animation myself. We haven’t signed with a publisher yet, but we should have a deal ironed out early in 2008. You can watch the trailer at http://www.insanelytwistedshadowplanet.com.

Starting in mid-January, I’m going to be production designing an animated movie produced by Gary Kurtz (Star Wars, Dark Crystal). I was contacted by the writer, Sabina Spencer, about a year ago and since then, the first phase of financing has come through which will allow me to begin the design work. I really like the story and I see a lot of potential there. A friend of mine, animator Richard Bazley (The Iron Giant), is also involved. All four of us, Gary, Sabina, Richard and myself, hung out in London for three days to brainstorm about the project and we’re all very excited. I really can’t say much more at this point except that the film is a perfect match for my design sensibilities.