Exclusive Interview With Action Figure Sculptor Jean St. Jean

Article originally published 04/15/2008 at popculturezoo.com

If you dig action figures, chances are you own something that was created by Jean St. Jean Studios. The sculpting house, founded by St. Jean himself, has grown since its creation in 2005 and now boasts clients such as NECA, Diamond Select and DC Direct. Jean began his career making dolls and preschool toys for Appollo-Juno, Inc but soon moved to McFarlane Toys, where he eventually rose through the ranks to become Sculpting Supervisor. A few years later, Jean ventured out on his own and eventually founded Jean St. Jean Studios, which has become one of the most popular and highly-regarded sculpting houses in the industry.

Jean was kind enough to answer a few questions about his career, what influences him and what may lie on the horizon for Jean St. Jean Studios.

PCZ: You’ve been in the sculpting industry for a number of years. After all the work you have done, what stands out as your favorite, or the project that you are most proud of?

Jean: There are two actually; The Tomb of Dracula Marvel Milestones for Diamond Select Toys and the 18” Pumpkinhead for SOTA. The Dracula in particular was something I had wanted for someone to make, let alone get the chance to design and sculpt it myself. The Marvel Dracula had been ignored for years and I’m very glad it was me that got to do the first statue. I put a lot of time into rereading the whole series and studying Gene Colan’s art, especially the face and body language.

Production issues aside, I love the Pumpkinhead; partly because I never thought any company would be nuts enough to do an 18″ action figure. Also because typically, I’m not the guy folks come to with monster jobs. Generally, I’ve been typecast as a realism and portrait sculptor, so when something like Pumpkinhead or the Day of the Dead figures for Amok Time come up, it’s a nice change.

PCZ: In the Diamond Select Stargate series, you were able to incorporate ‘build-a-figures’ such as the Stargate and MALP. How does your approach to sculpting these large-scale devices/accessories differ from a standard action figure? Do you prefer working on action figures or accessories?

Jean: The ‘build-an-accessory’ idea was Diamond’s and I think it is awesome. From a fan standpoint it allows us to make oversize accessories that are iconic elements of the shows. It also adds a buying incentive for collector’s to pick up the whole set. Having said that, they have to be sized and decorated within certain cost parameters to make them a reasonable addition to each of the blisters. These things are very expensive to produce so in order to get them out to fans, compromises have to be made.

There are plenty of examples of companies promising the moon on some insanely expensive product and then having it slip below the radar because of unrealistic costing for production. Within my team of artists I have guys that specialize in fabrication (or, a more mechanical form of sculpting) for vehicles, weapons and architectural elements. I’ve begun doing more of it myself, for instance the (DC Direct) World of Warcraft Gnome Mechanostryder as well as the weapons for my Warcraft figures. Figural and accessory sculpting each have elements which I enjoy doing, again because I prefer to have variety in my workload.

PCZ: Has there been an instance where the final packaged product has drastically differed from your original sculpt? What is your reaction to this and how much control do you have over the finished product?

Jean: Rarely does a final PVC toy look like a hand painted prototype. In fact, never does the final product nail the prototype. Concessions have to be made for cost and for practicality of reproduction. Because I understand this, I generally expect to be underwhelmed, though I’m mostly pleasantly surprised. That’s not negativity, it’s just practicality. However, McFarlane has made some amazing innovations in the production process that have completely changed the look of the average action figure. They have forced everyone else to pick up their game. The average collector is much more discriminating and savvy of the production process.

PCZ: Not many fans know that you are also an accomplished musician with a degree in classical piano. To what extent does music influence your sculpting work (or vice versa)?

Jean: Over the last ten years I’ve traded one obsession for another. Where I used to practice (music) 16 hours a day, now I work those hours making toys and statues. I’ve gotten to sculpt a few of the musicians I listened to like the Kiss Alive Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper and the ‘Roid Rage’ Ozzy Osbourne for McFarlane. I also worked on the (Iron Maiden) Phantom of the Opera Eddie and Freddie Mercury in the yellow jacket. Both of these were for NECA.

PCZ: Can you tell us a little about what some of your upcoming projects are? Anything new with Diamond Select or are you working with other companies?

Jean: As far as I know (Diamond Select) is still rolling ahead with Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica. On other fronts I’m working on Mezco’s Cinema of Fear (wave three was my first line), DC Direct AmiComi (Poison Ivy was the first) and Day of the Dead and other cool properties coming up for Amok Time.

PCZ: Have you ever worked on a project that required you to work with source material that you were unfamiliar with? Have any of your projects made turned you into a fan of a show/book/movie that you were previously unexposed to?

Jean: Actually, Stargate was a property I had only passing knowledge of before the Diamond gig came up. I started cramming to become immersed in the show, and thank God I ending up really liking it. I’m more of a horror guy than a sci-fi enthusiast but (Stargate) is a fun show with really well written characters and great casts. Plus… there are some cool aliens!

PCZ: You have mentioned in previous interviews that you got started in this business as a toy collector. What new toys keep you hunting shelves to add new items to your collection?

Jean: Indeed. An addiction worse than crack, I’d wager. Super Powers started it for me in my ‘20’s and I just can’t get clean! Right now I collect mostly anime figures and PVC statues. Just this weekend I picked up two of the Hasbro Iron Man movie figures and two of the Gentle Giant Hellboy figures.

PCZ: Have you ever worked on a line that didn’t make it though final approval with the licensor (for whatever reason)? Anything that you wish you had a second chance with?

Jean: The only thing that comes to mind is Samara from The Ring for NECA, but that had nothing to do with the sculpt; it was an issue of international versus domestic licensing rights. I’d love to attack that and other Japanese horror properties at some point.

PCZ: What’s on your short-list of musicians that you would want to turn into an action figure?

Jean: I think a Diamond Dogs, Aladdin Sane and Ziggy Stardust Bowie would be cool. Also, guitarists like Ritchie Blackmore and Michael Schenker or a line of metal screamers like Rob Halford, Tate Dickinson… and especially Ronnie James Dio.

PCZ: What are your long term goals in the sculpting industry? You are already the owner of your own company… where do you see yourself a few years down the road?

Jean: More of the same but with more capacity and efficiency. I’m constantly trying to improve on my own abilities. Maybe, eventually doing some of my own manufacturing.

PCZ: We here at PCZ are big fans of your work on NECA’s Highlander box set. What future do you see in kilted action figures? Do you think that it’s high time that Scotsmen were given their due in the toy industry?

Jean: I think the irrepressible engineer Scotty from Star Trek and Connor MacLeod are forced to carry the banner of the Scots alone. However, the kilted action figure allows for more range of motion for the ball joints (Nyuk! Nyuk!) and easy access for long wedgie-prone car rides. Personally, it took me eons to get out of black jeans and into shorts , so unless I’m an immortal like MacLeod and his ilk, it’s unlikely I’ll ever make the bold fashion statement of the kilt, where junk roams free and wedgies are a thing of the dark and distant past.

We want to thank Jean St. Jean for the time and patience (especially with that last question) he took in this interview. You can see more of Jean’s work over on his MySpace page. Or, run down to your local toy shop and pick up one of the many amazing figures sculpted by Jean St. Jean Studios!

Exclusive Interview With Kip Winger

Article originally published 05/15/2008 at popculturezoo.com

He has perhaps one of the most recognizable last names in rock & roll. Kip Winger is a testament to the belief that rock & roll doesn’t die… it just lies dormant for a short time, only to return in a new and unexpected form. Winger’s latest incarnation comes in the release of his newest solo album From the Moon to the Sun, which continues to explores the musician/composer’s venture into more melodic and diverse sounds. We caught up with Kip and asked him a few questions about both his experiences with Winger and the evolution of his musical career…

PCZ: Working both with Winger and as a solo artist, you have incorporated a wide range of musical styles. How do you respond to those who are still quick to dismiss you as a ‘hair metal’ musician?

KW: Ignorance is bliss!

PCZ: How was the decision made to select comic book artist Ethan Van Sciver to create the album art for Winger IV? Were you previously aware of Sciver’s work before he started on the artwork for your album?

KW: A friend who is really into comics knew him and turned me on to him. Ethan is really cool and wanted to contribute to the cause.

PCZ: Describe the differences and challenges you face when working on developing a film score. Was this something that you had always aspired to do? Have you any ambitions to write your own screenplay?

KW: No, I’m about the music. Film scores are very creative. The main difference is that when writing to a scene, you’re trying to musically describe the emotion rather then being free to write whatever you are feeling.

PCZ: How do you approach producing another musician? Is there ever an impulse to take too much control or is it easier to just sit back and guide the music?

KW: I focus on getting good performances out of musicians and bringing out the best in the song. The song is everything. Then, the performances.

PCZ: Now that Winger has done a bit of touring this year, can fans assume that the band is back for the foreseeable future? If so, will you also continue with your other projects (solo work, music producing, etc.)?

KW: Winger is what it is. We continue to write new stuff for people who are listening and when we play live, we enjoy performing the old stuff. But everyone in the band has moved on. I’m working on classical music at the moment and a three piece power trio I have called Blackwood Creek. I’m also promoting my solo record. Reb (Beach) is off in Whitesnake, Rod (Morgenstein) is Teaching at Berkley and John (Roth) is playing and teaching.

PCZ: You co-wrote a fantastic (and very creepy) song called ‘Gail’ with Alice Cooper. What was the experience like writing, playing and touring with Alice Cooper?

KW: (Working with) Alice Cooper was an amazing experience for me. I went from waiter to rock star overnight. I was with Alice for a few years and learned a lot about touring, recording, etc. It was the perfect platform to springboard me into my own band.

“I am an artist and I find it detestable to write the same song over and over again.”

- Kip Winger

PCZ: Years later, do you feel at all awkward about playing or talking about the song ‘Seventeen’? Has the resurgence that the song has received by its inclusion in the Guitar Hero video game made it more accessible to a new generation of music fans?

KW: Yes and it’s paying quite well! ‘Seventeen’ was a big hit song, who can complain about that. It’s awesome, but now “she’s only 35″.

PCZ: Pull was a significant departure from what many considered to be ‘the Winger sound’. It contained political themes and drew more from your personal prog-rock influences then the previous two albums. Is Pull still your favorite Winger album and how do you feel it holds up fifteen years later?

KW: Pull was a career-defining record for us. At a time when grunge was hitting big we released our best record and it did pretty well considering the climate of the business at the time. More importantly, it proved that we weren’t musically bankrupt like some of our many contemporaries. After that, no one was coming to the shows and we all wanted to do something else, so I went off to do other stuff. In 2006 came Winger IV which is FAR more sophisticated then anything we have done lyrically and melodically.

PCZ: After working on a couple of independent labels, what advantages do you think signing with Frontiers Records gives you?

KW: You go where people support you. In this business the ‘flavor of the month’ is really short now. The big companies are really good at marketing and it all about ‘hits’. Success is based off of how much bread you make them. I’ve been there… but in the end I am an artist and I find it detestable to write the same song over and over again. It’s like asking a painter to paint the same thing time and time again…. I can’t grow that way.

PCZ: What new music are you currently listening to?

KW: I listen to a bit of everything, It’s hard to find things that move you emotionally. I don’t listen to much, usually 20th century orchestral music.

We’d like to thank Kip Winger for taking the time to answer our questions. Formore information about Kip’s ongoing projects (both solo and collaborations) visit kipwinger.com. Or, you can check out the official Kip Winger and Blackwood Creek MySpace pages to hear samples of their music and become their friend!

Special thanks go out to Chrisopher Morris from Nicodemus and Rick Emerson for helping us out with this interview!

ECCC ‘08 - Catching Up With Robert Kirkman

Article originally published 05/19/2008 at popculturezoo.com

If Robert Kirkman knows one thing, its how to stay busy. These days the ‘Marvel Zombies’ scribe is firing on all cylinders with his comics being produced by both Image and Marvel. ‘Walking Dead’ and ‘Invincible’ are hitting issue #50, ‘Astonishing Wolf-Man’ is going monthly, he just finished up a successful run with ‘Ultimate X-Men’… and then there’s that little Killraven side-project with Rob Liefeld. Despite this multitude of projects, Kirkman was able to take a bit of time to make an appearance at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, Washington. We caught up with him for a brief Q & A session about all the current happenings in Kirkmania.

PCZ: First off, let me say that I’m a huge fan of ‘Wolf-Man’. I picked up the Free Comic Book Day issue and saw your name on it and initially, I didn’t know what to think. The art seemed very… Saturday-morning-cartoonish. But I read the first few pages and was just blown away. How has the reception been to ‘Wolf-Man’?

RK: It’s been received very well. It was a Free Comic Book Day comic, there were hundreds of thousands of copies of (the first issue). So, the book has been very well received. I think it was issue one or two that had more fan mail than I’ve ever gotten for a series. I’m having a lot of fun doing the book. We’re going monthly starting with issue eight in July. We’re going to ramp up production and put it out more often.

PCZ: Are you looking to maybe add more monsters into the ‘Astounding Wolf-Man’ series? You’ve already included vampires and werewolves…

RK: I don’t know. I don’t think we’re going to include like, Frankenstein’s Monster… it’s not going to be like Van Helsing. But it is a universe where that kind of stuff exists and we’ll be showing more of it as we go on. It could be a lot of fun.

PCZ: So, Wolf-Man will be involved in the ‘Monster Pile-Up’ issue coming up this summer, right?

RK: Yeah, he’ll be in it. There will be a new story that takes place between issues seven and eight that will appear in the ‘Monster Pile-Up’, which is shipping in August.

“The first page shows the main character punching a hole through somebody’s head. Whenever that can be your first page, it’s a pretty good sign.”

- Robert Kirkman on the upcoming Marvel Max ‘Destroyer’ series

PCZ: With ‘Waking Dead’ and ‘Invincible’, which are two of your longest running books, there are quite a few changes happening right now. A number of characters in ‘Walking Dead’ have been killed, Invincible is getting a new costume… what’s driving all these changes?

RK: Well, you’ve got to shake things up… you’ve got to keep it fresh. People who read the book like the book for what it is. If you don’t change things then after a while things start to get kind of boring. You can’t just do the same things over and over and over again. So, when I reached issue 50 (for both books) I stepped back and took a look at things and said “what can I do that’s different?” But not too different, you know? Because I don’t want to drive people away by changing the book too much. The book is obviously working as it is or it wouldn’t have lasted as long as it has. But I don’t want to feel like I’m sitting on my ass, letting the book just sell itself. It’s hard to look at both books and decide what I can do now that’s still cool. Being able to have the books last that long and have that much back story does allow me to do things that I couldn’t do when I was starting out. I think that, going forward, both books after issue 50 will be much richer and have more depth. I’ve got some very cool stuff planned for both series so I’m really excited to see them last for as long as they have. I think we’ll make it to issue 100 pretty quickly.

PCZ: In the Marvel panel yesterday, you talked a bit about the upcoming Marvel Max series you are writing which features Destroyer. It sounds like you are bringing back one of Stan Lee’s first characters with this five-issue series.

RK: Yeah, according to Wikipedia he’s one of Stan’s first characters. I haven’t asked Stan though.

PCZ: Is this book something that you pitched or did Marvel come to you with the idea?

RK: That started with my editor who worked with me on ‘Ant-Man’. He said had read ‘Brit’ and said “Brit is a real kickass book about an old man. Would you like to something else about an old man kicking ass?” I thought about it… and I said “yeah, I do!” Mainly, to work with Cory Walker again, because he had done some issues of ‘Ant-Man’ and I was looking forward to working with him again… it would be fun. So, I came up with some really cool ideas for it and I brainstormed a lot with Cory… we’ve got a lot of cool stuff planned. It’s going to be a really dark, dramatic series. It’s about a superhero at the end of his life. He’s in his 90’s and finds out that his heart is about to fail. So his villains aren’t left to take over the world when he’s gone, he decides that he’s going to hunt them all down and murder them. So, it’s five issues of him hunting these villains… when he’s 90. But he’s still got his superpowers.

PCZ: A lot of your books focus on some of the more hard-core, visceral themes in comics. Is this something that drew you to working within the Marvel Max line? Would you be interested in tackling other characters within Marvel Max?

RK: Yeah, I like the Max line and I wouldn’t be opposed to doing more books. The things that we’re going to be able to do in ‘Destroyer’ are going to shock a lot of people, so I like that aspect of it. The first page shows the main character punching a hole through somebody’s head. Whenever that can be your first page, it’s a pretty good sign. It’s pretty exciting stuff.

PCZ: Do you have any updated information about the ‘Killraven’ book you are doing with Rob Liefeld?

RK: Yeah, totally. He’s knee-deep into it. He’s pretty much done with the first three issues. We’re going to be moving forward now. Jeph Loeb was I guess a little bit late with his ‘Onslaught Reborn’ script, so we started issues one and two while he was working on that, so we’ve got a good amount of lead time. Hopefully it will come out around the end of the year.

PCZ: Do have more ‘Marvel Zombies’ planned, or is that line done for now?

RK: It’s possible but I think we’re going to let it rest for a while. Series two definitely had an open ending, so maybe someday. But right now there are no plans.

We’d like to thank Robert Kirkman for taking a few moments at this year’s Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, WA to chat with us. For updates on all of Kirkman’s projects, ramblings and musings, check out his Kirkmania website.

ECCC ‘08 - Interview With Rick Remender

Article originally published 05/25/2008 at popculturezoo.com

co-written with Ian Southworth

An alcoholic Texas spaceman. The last of the superheroes in a world in which the supervillains have prevailed. Zombie porn. These are but a few of the concepts that have been born from the fertile mind of writer/artist Rick Remender. At this year’s Emerald City ComiCon we sat down with this innovative creative and had a little chat.

PCZ: How has the convention season been going for you?

RR: Great! This is a really great show. Its my third year doing Seattle (ECCC) and I wouldn’t miss it. Its a great event.

PCZ: You announced at the Dark Horse panel yesterday that there are some new changes with End League.

RR: Yeah, Eric Canete and Naomi Baker are taking over as the art team and I couldn’t be more excited about it. They’ll start with issue five and we’ll be going monthly from that point. Eric is leaving his job as art director for Ben 10 to do the book, so we’ve got one of the most talented guys in the world coming on. We’re looking to move forward with the book on a regular basis.

PCZ: Fear Agent also looks to be changing with the addition of Tony Moore.

RR: Right. Tony’s first issue is about done and its great. We’re doing sort of a sci-fi western thing with it. We’re trying to incorporate some of the things we love about Sergio Leone, the spaghetti western, things like that. That will start I believe in June, which is Fear Agent month at Dark Horse. So, we’ve got a lot of promotional things going on at the same time. There’s a sketch variant cover. The Tales of the Fear Agent trade just came out, which is a collection of shorts and one-shots, with a brand new cover by Eric Powell.. we’re pretty proud of that.

PCZ: How has the move been to Dark Horse? You spent a bit of time working with Image previously.

RR: It’s been great. It was a smooth transition and everyone has been great.

PCZ: What was the reason for the move over to Dark Horse?

RR: It was a number of things. Mostly, it came down to after market and secondary media stuff that Mike (Righardson) was going to be involved with. It was simpler just to have him control the property.

PCZ: You are still working with Image on Crawl Space though. What is up next with that?

RR: We’re doing Army of Frankenstein next. It is basically the first ten minutes of the Terminator film, but instead of robots its of Frankenstein monsters. Its World War I trench-warfare with armies of Frankensteins. As the humans are wiped out, Igor robots burrow up from underground, collect the body parts and go back to the lair of Frankenstein to create more soldiers.

PCZ: That’s gotta be demoralizing.

RR: (laughs) Yeah, it is. As humanity is eroded away there are more and more Frankensteins and they are taking over the earth.

PCZ: Your work is so high-concept. Where are these ideas coming from?

RR: I don’t know, it’s mostly stuff from a visual place. As an artist I think about what I would like to see. Comic books are such a visual art form. I feel that if you don’t have something that’s visually enticing to people, something captivating and interesting or something that they recognize but maybe haven’t seen before… if you don’t tap into that then you get lost. Its the same in film, its the same in entertainment in general. I think that it starts with iconic visuals and sort of from there it develops. I wanted to do an army of Frankenstein monsters and so Keiron and I sat down and started batting around ideas and decided “Wow! That would work!” Usually with Fear Agent, it starts from a stance of… this is an aesthetic that I want to work in, here’s the style of character, what would be the best way to handle it?

PCZ: You have a history in animation. Have you ever wanted to return to doing artwork?

RR: The last thing I did was the Last Christmas with Gerry (Duggan) and Brian (Posehn) which came out a couple years back. I pencilled that and Hillary (Barta) inked it. Its currently being developed for a film, they’ve written the screenplay. That was the last thing I drew and then the writing just took off at such a pace that I derailed myself. You never know what’s going to happen. I was in a situation where I was writing stuff and storyboarding at EA and writing a game at EA… the comic book stuff exploded. On the writing end, I just haven’t had time to draw. My stuff is fairly Wally Wood and Will Elder inspired cartooning anyway, so its not necessarily in vogue with the what the majority of comic fans want. There’s the cult group that really enjoy the oldies and stuff… so I do it for myself now more than anything else. Most of my time is spent making other bastards draw my silly ideas.

PCZ: Now that your working with Dark Horse, have you thought about trying to work with another of their properties? Something that already exists, like Hellboy for example…

RR: Yeah. Eric Powell and I have put together a treatment for a Fear Agent/Goon crossover that we’ll get to at some point. We’ve got a Fear Agent/Aliens thing that we’ve been talking about forever and just need to put together. At this point my career is perfect, you know? I’ve got three or four creator-owned things between Image, Dark Horse and IDW. And then I’ve got a book with Marvel and DC. Everybody has been great. Its like that Simpsons episode where, before Maggie was born, Homer is walking around praying to God and saying “Don’t change a thing!” Its nice in that I’ve finally got all my ducks in a row and I get to work on plenty of creator-owned (projects) while also working in the sandboxes of the characters I grew up with as a kid. The stuff that comes up at this point… I can’t really do anything else. I’m just sort of… whole.

PCZ: It must be cool to be in that position, where you’re content with everything you are working on.

RR: Yeah, and overbooked! I’m really grateful for it.

PCZ: Will you be attending other con’s this season?

RR: I’m doing San Diego but I won’t be setting up. I’ll just be doing signings with Image and Dark Horse, maybe Marvel and DC as well since I’ll have a number of books out. It makes more sense with a show like that, which has become more of a media-centric star-fuckfest, where people want to get a Nick Cage signature. Its not a comic show. Its better just to go there and do some signings and hang out with friends, treat it as a bit of a vacation. I did New York, which is a great show. I did Wonder-Con, which is always a great show. I think that the medium shows are now the ones to do for comics. I hit Heroes Con the last couple of years but I’m not sure if I’m making that this year. I think Heroes, New York, Seattle, San Fransisco… those are the four that I’ll always try and make room for. And then San Diego and Chicago on the side, if its possible.

Thanks to Mr. Remender for taking the time out of his busy convention schedule to chat with us! You can learn more about his projects, both past and present, at RickRemender.com!

ECCC ‘08 - Interview With Tim Sale

Article originally published 06/7/2008 at popculturezoo.com

If you are a fan of comics, you know Tim Sale. If you are a fan of the television show Heroes, you know Tim Sale. For more than a decade, Sale has been part of the creative force behind some of the most widely-acclaimed comic books, including Batman: The Long Halloween, Superman For All Seasons and Daredevil: Yellow. Already a mainstay among comic fans, Sale was introduced to the rest of the world in 2006 as the artist who generated the clairvoyant paintings for the character Isaac Mendez on the CBS series Heroes. Since then, he has become a very busy man. We were able to sit down with Tim Sale at this year’s Emerald City ComiCon and ask a few questions about his work on Heroes, the effects of comics on mainstream media and his storied partnership with writer Jeph Loeb.

PCZ: You spoke a bit in your panel about the impact that your work on Heroes has had on your career, as well as introducing you to a different medium in television. Is that something that satisfied a creative need to work outside of comics?

TS: Well, I didn’t get involved with Heroes because I needed more ways to express myself outside of comics. So, I guess the answer is yes. I kind of fell into it and I don’t really have any ambitions to go further, which does not mean that I wouldn’t enjoy whatever might come up. I’m not pursuing it and Heroes was not done because I pursued it and wasn’t fulfilled somehow in comics.

PCZ: That was more of a product of Jeph Loeb coming to you with the project, right?

TS: Yeah… to have fun. That’s really what it was. I thought I’d be good for it and it turned out that they thought I’d be good for it too. So, that’s always really nice when that happens. I do get offers, not necessarily from TV, but for advertising or something where I’m clearly not a fit. Where I don’t know why they came to me, its not any fun… that kind of thing.

PCZ: Do you think that your work with Heroes has made both your stuff and comics in general more accessible to a larger audience of people who wouldn’t normally open a comic book or walk into a comic shop?

TS: I don’t have a sense of that. In the same way that I don’t really have a sense that if somebody likes the Spider-Man movie, they’re going to run down to their local comic book store and see what’s going on… which may or may not be a good thing. For me personally, its been great but I’m not really sure about a broader scale.

PCZ: You made the comment in your panel that comics are kind of an isolated industry. That if someone is raised with comics, the books become easier and more accessible than if they weren’t.

TS: I think that was referring to my interest and the way that I like to do comics. It’s partly because I’m interested in reaching people that do not grow up in that insulated comic book reading world. I remember when my parents first started reading my work, God bless them… they had no other reason to than that I was their son, they didn’t know to go from right to left and top to bottom. If you don’t know that basic thing, and they are very literate people, it was like “What are those balloons, which balloon do I read next?” If the layout of the page is crazy and full of stuff, it ends up to be too much work for people. So, ironically the stuff that is often praised with an amazing sense of energy just turns most people off. It’s too much. And that’s more what I was talking about, not that the industry was isolated, because increasingly it’s not.

PCZ: With the recent success of comic-based movies, or even comic themes finding their way into television shows like Heroes, it seems like the line that divided comics from the rest of the entertainment industry has been blurred, if not completely erased.

TS: That’s true, although I think it mostly goes from comics to other media. It doesn’t feed back to comics very much.

PCZ: Not yet at least.

TS: Well, I’d be surprised if it did. Marvel is doing much more than DC but it’s still a very insulated world, what they do. The most that either company looks to bring movies or other pop culture stuff back into comics is with tie-ins, stuff like that… which usually blow. But, the other way around, the movies and TV (industry) has discovered all this talent who are dying to be in movies… just really talented writers. They are influenced by the art. I’m told that The Long Halloween has influenced the recent (director Christopher) Nolan Batman movie. Its not as though Jeph and I are involved in the movies or that there is something from those movies that would affect us. Really, pretty much 99% of it goes from comics to movies. What is true, and I absolutely agree with you, is what has been blurred is the stigma that has made movie and TV people not be interested in comics. They realize its a gold mine, both in terms of talent and in terms of money.

PCZ: Yeah, and I was speaking more towards talent rather than money, though money is always a part of it. With the amount of talent in the comic industry, both with the artists and writers, its amazing how much of it is influencing mainstream entertainment. I think it is pretty great that guys like you and your work have been able to get the type of wide-scale exposure that comes with being involved in a film or television project.

TS: My thing (with Heroes) is very… there’s nothing else like it, which is why I sort of fell into it. It’s nothing I created, but to my knowledge there’s no other show that involves art driving the plot, or movies where the art drove the plot. But it’s cool.

PCZ: You have mentioned in the past that you aren’t certain if your artwork from Heroes will ever be released commercially by the studios.

TS: I know I have no control over it and it hasn’t happened yet. I don’t get it. That’s money on the table.

PCZ: Will some of your Heroes pieces be in the new edition of Tim Sale: Black and White?

TS: There is some Heroes work in there. We’re trying to downplay it a little bit. I’m not putting out a book and saying “Hey, this is Heroes art!” There is some Heroes work in there but there’s also some Marvel and DC work in it as well. There is no ‘Art of Heroes’ book…

PCZ: It seems like that would be a no-brainer.

TS: Yeah, I don’t get it. There is a fair amount of merchandise but not beyond the level of like, coffee mugs and t-shirts. Not taking advantage of the uniqueness (of the show). There was that really cool hardcover book (Heroes Volume 1) that collected all the web comics. My art was in that as well.

PCZ: Apparently you are going to be doing the cover of this year’s San Diego Comic Con exclusive Heroes comic?

TS: I just learned that yesterday. I don’t know it officially… Richard Starkings told me in the panel.

PCZ: It has been confirmed that you will have new artwork in the upcoming season of Heroes. Are you hoping to continue your relationship with the show long-term or are you taking more of a wait-and-see approach?

TS: Well, I’d like it to be long-term but it is absolutely wait-and-see. I’m part of the crew… I kind of do what they tell me to do.

PCZ: How much of your artwork for Heroes influences how a particular scene in the show is constructed?

TS: No, its the other way around. Its in the script first absolutely and then I do what they tell me to do. There is some interpretation if the script isn’t really that detailed. Because, they aren’t writing a comic script that is describing every detail of the scene. Its mostly dialog and brief bits of description of the action. That’s a TV and movie script. So, something that is written as “character is flying around a wall” needs more information. What wall and where? What time of day is it? What is the character wearing? That type of stuff.

PCZ: Your newest project with Jeph Loeb is Captain America: White. What first brought you and Jeph together and what has the process been like working with him over your many projects?

TS: Well, that’s a very big question. We met at San Diego Comic Con around 1988. But, we were put together by Barbara Randall, who was the editor of DC. She had been working with Jeph to try and find an artist for Challengers of the Unknown. Jeph had been hired by Jeanette Kahn, who was the president and head of DC at the time, and she wanted to reach out to movies and television. To try and get people involved and begin what’s happening now… way back then. She knew that Jeph was involved in the very early stages of a Flash movie that was turned into a Flash television show. Anyway, he was decided that he was going to be the writer on Challengers in reviving that title.

PCZ: That was a good book.

TS: (laughs) Well, thank you. Diplomatically, I choose not to debate you on that. So, that’s how (Jeph and I) met. I took a portfolio to San Diego and showed it to a bunch of people… Matt Wagner, Diana Schutz, Bob Schreck and Barbara Randall. And from that one Con, I really had my career. They’re working with me focused on Bob, Diana and Matt. I did some early stuff for Dark Horse, some Grendel and some other odd jobs for them. I met Jeph through that. We kind of hammered away at each other for a while about what was the best way to work together. It took a while. He’s a really funny, interesting, smart man. We got along great, we’re very different but we got along really well. That made it easer for us to figure things out. It was always a very close working relationship. He wouldn’t just send me a script and not answer the phone… which is pretty common (in the industry).

PCZ: Do the two of you work together to decide which characters to work on?

TS: Yeah, we talk about it. One of us will ask “What do you want to do next?” But its always a combination of creative and financial concerns for both of us. What makes sense at the time… should it be once a month? Is there a movie coming out about the character? That kind of thing. We wouldn’t do it just to do it.

PCZ: Are there any characters that you haven’t done yet that you would like to tackle?

TS: Not really. I’m always happy to go back to Batman and Superman. I’d kind of like to try Spiderman again because I feel like I never really got it before. Characters like that. I love the Hulk, that was a lot of fun to do. Through that I had thought about doing Iron Man but now he’s blowing up. I loved drawing Iron Man in the tin can. But I don’t really think that way. If something seems to make sense at one point, then I’ll work on it. I’ve sort of done all the iconic characters, so there aren’t many left. I’ve got a couple original ideas that I’d like to work on, more creator-owned.

PCZ: Are the creator-owned projects something that you are hoping to produce more of long-term?

TS: Yeah, it just really makes sense. I’m not comfortable writing, so that’s been a big hurdle for me. I’m still hammering away at my own self and trying to figure that out. There’s something called The Killing Floor that I want to do. I’ve had it in my head for a long time. Its a noir series of stories that is tragic and romantic. I love drawing that stuff.

We’d like to thank Mr. Sale for taking time out of a very busy convention schedule to talk with us. You can chat with Tim over on the message boards at his official site.

A Chat With ‘Wondermark’ Creator David Malki

Article originally published 07/4/2008 at popculturezoo.com

Eighteenth century Victorian illustrations meets a commentary on today’s society with a hit of pop culture references? Welcome to the world of Wondermark. In his timely-yet-nostalgic universe, webcomic creator David Malki revives a lost art form while incorporating a hilarious juxtaposition of 20th century dialog with old-world imagery. Malki’s work has been a hit among webcomic fans for years and now he joins forces with Dark Horse Comics to release Wondermark strips in published form. His new hardcover collection, Beards of Our Forefathers, hit stores this week. We caught up with David Malki at this year’s Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle, WA and asked him a few questions about making the leap from webcomics to the printed page.

PCZ: Tell us a bit about Wondermark. It originally began as a webcomic and now you are working with Dark Horse, correct?

DM: Yeah, Wondermark is primarily a webcomic. The concept of the strip is that it is created entirely from illustrations from 19th century books. I have a collection of old periodicals and advertisements from the late 1800’s. I will scan the images of those engravings and wood-cuts and turn them into comic strips by adding dialog. Sometimes I’ll also rearrange the images to create humorous situations. Its very much a contemporary/pop-culture flavored strip but with the aesthetic of the late Victorian era.

PCZ: What inspired you to create this kind of comic?

DM: I’ve always been a fan of the style of illustration that you no longer see anymore. With these old engravers and wood-cut artisans, it used to be that was how you would get illustrations in magazines. That’s all there was if you wanted to make an illustration into a printed image. Once the images became cheap to reproduce, this entire art form was lost. There was no more need for it. Its the lost art that I am really attracted to. Bringing back the aesthetic. There’s a big resurgence of new-Victorian and steampunk themes right now. You don’t see work of this level of beauty and intricacy right now and if I can reintroduce that to a new audience then I’m happy to do that. And also, I just like to make comics. Those (artists), their work is more beautiful than anything I could come up with on my own.

PCZ: What types of topics do you like to cover with Wondermark?

DM: The subject matter of the comics themselves is very contemporary. Some of it is pop culture, sometimes its political, other times its just absurd relationship humor. The flavor of it is modern-day. The dialog is very modern. Stuff like “Hey man, what’s going on?” and “What’s up, yo?” If you cover up the dialog, it looks like an old-timey thing but if you read it then it becomes a modern-day thing. Sort of a clash of cultures and eras. It is a stand-alone gag strip. There’s no stories, no characters… its just a different joke every day.

PCZ: How did you become involved with Dark Horse Comics?

DM: Well, Dark Horse is starting to publish more webcomic collections in print. With Penny Arcade and Perry Bible Fellowship, it’s become very popular. The success of PBF in general has opened the door to new webcomic collections such as mine. So, Dark Horse approached me knowing that Wondermark was starting to get kind of popular and I was looking for a publisher. My strip was printed in The Onion, so it has a fair amount of an audience behind it. Again, because of the success of PBF, I think that some of the people at Dark Horse and other publishers are realizing that there is a big untapped audience of webcomics that are looking to see their favorite stuff in print.

PCZ: How long have you been creating webcomics?

DM: Around five years.

PCZ: Has your work been limited just to Wondermark?

DM: Well, yeah. I started publishing Wondermark on the web before I knew what webcomics were. Before I knew that there was such a thing as a webcomic community or a typical way to do things. The fact that other people were doing it as well, and making a living at it, it never entered my mind for years. I only gradually came to that realization over time. I think it was Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics, and I’m sure I’m not the only one to say this, that really opened the door to other distribution models I can now take advantage of. So I figured, why not? I’ll give it a try.

PCZ: Has your relationship with Dark Horse opened your work to a new fan-base? Maybe a readership that wouldn’t have otherwise found your comics on the web?

DM: Well, I’m hoping it will! I did one eight page story for their MySpace.com ‘Dark Horse Presents’. I don’t know exactly how many people have been turned on to my work from there, I hope there are some. I’m more excited about the book that I am doing with them which comes out in July. It is a hardcover collection of strips. That will be in book stores and comic shops, places hopefully where people will find it who are not familiar with the website already. I think it is important for a comic to have both a good print presence and a good web presence. The web presence allows you to connect with the passionate fans and the print presence allows you to connect with the people who didn’t know who you were because they’re going to stumble across your stuff in a book store. So far, I’ve been doing good on the web-front and this is going to be my first foray into book stores and comic shops. I’m hoping this will really open some doors to people who are finding it at random.

PCZ: Are you hoping to eventually collect in print the entire run of Wondermark?

DM: I’ve self-published a collection of the first 100 strips. There are over 400 strips on the website right now. The Dark Horse book will pick up where the first one left off and publish another 120 or so strips. Ideally, I’d like us to do more and collect portions of it periodically.

We’d like to thank David Malki for taking the time to chat with us in Seattle. Look for Beards of Our Forefathers in stores now, or pick up a copy online. Of course, you can find new Wondermark strips posted regularly at wondermark.com.

Interview With ‘The Mindscape of Alan Moore’ Director DeZ Vylenz

Article originally published 09/29/2008 at popculturezoo.com

DeZ Vylenz embodies all meanings of the word ‘artist’. Part mystic, part martial arts enthusiast, part wordsmith… Vylenz is a man whose creative medium has no limits. To this director, every location, culture and state of mind is its own canvas. As the co-founder of Shadowsnake Films, Vylenz focuses his talents on the production of mixed-media creations that showcase his passion for life and art. As part of this ongoing journey, Vylenz directed the documentary The Mindscape of Alan Moore, and was able to capture on film one of the most elusive and misunderstood creative minds in the comics world. In preparation for the release of Mindscape on DVD (September 30th), we were able to get a few questions answered by DeZ Vylenz regarding his various projects, his love of film and working with Alan Moore.

PCZ: Your influences clearly are seated in a number of mediums, with comics being the one that introduced you to Alan Moore’s work.

DV: Basically I love all kinds of storytelling, whether that’s the guys back home on street corners clutching their balls during macho tales or eloquent literary exercises on the page. But most of all I’ve always been attracted to the combination of pictures and words, which is extremely powerful. It goes back to the first cave drawings and shadowplay theater by campfires. Human beings are essentially visually oriented creatures, although the senses are merely the first windows to other worlds beyond.

PCZ: How do you balance your love of comics with the variety of other themes in your work?

DV: I think it was more of an issue for me back in the mid 90s when the comics medium wasn’t really recognized as a serious storytelling device. I did my university thesis in Amsterdam on the narrative in comics, film and literature and it was a great journey into the various techniques, tropes, strengths and limitations of each medium, but I like all of them. When there’s no money to do a film, you write it as a comic. When there’s no artist to work with, you do it as a book. So now I’m in the process of taking out various projects out of hibernation and pinning them down in the medium that best fits the stories. It’s only the last few years really that I fully understand the direction my writing is taking.

PCZ: Have you ever had aspirations of working more in comics, be it with a mainstream publisher or an independent title?

DV: I did start out with cartoons for the newspapers when I was 15-16, but I’m not gifted when it comes to drawing and I never had that monk like patience. So together with illustrators I produced quite a few pages that were destined to become a fully paid feuilleton, but then I left to study in Europe and the projects faded out. Then I picked it up later, but it’s hard to find dedicated artists who will have that stamina to finish page after page beyond he pre-studies phase. So yes, there are quite a few scripts in the fridge that would work better in comics than film which hopefully will get published some day.

It’s such an economical and effective medium and even if the world will be plunged into a Mad Max kind of state with no electricity, Internet or DVD players, I can see people finding comics with faded paper and treasuring them like some archaeological codex. Hopefully it will be some of the Moore titles.

PCZ: When you first approached Alan Moore with the concept of creating the film, was the inclusion of scenes adapted from ‘Watchmen’ and ‘V for Vendetta’ part of your original plans?

DV: Yes. I always loved that opening of Watchmen. It was my introduction to his work at the right time in my teens when I had the naive ambition to become a writer and filmmaker. Back in 2002 Watchmen, V for Vendetta and Hellblazer (later made by Hollywood as Constantine) were not adapted to film. None of his work was actually, except for From Hell I believe which was in production at the time. So to capture those works onto film was a great challenge and experiment. I decided that mood, atmosphere was the thing to go for, just to give a flavour of the man’s work.

PCZ: Given Mr. Moore’s well-chronicled trepidations to the film adaptation of his work, how was this originally received?

DV: He gave me complete carte blanche. Initially I asked for confirmation if certain decisions in terms of structure, themes and content were okay with him, but he really had faith in the project. So it was nice to hear from him later on that he actually enjoyed the dramatizations in the film and he was asking technical details, comparing it to German Expressionism and all that.

PCZ: Tell us a bit about your plans for the remaining films in the ‘Shamanautical / 5 Elements’ series. You have previously mentioned that additional films would include a focus on martial arts and location filming in the jungles of Suriname.

DV: Mindscape is the first part that lays down the worldview that will be present in the feature fictions. Those will be much more visceral, more dramatic and centered around martial arts, mysticism and the reality of survival. Chapter 2 will be part jungle, part urban. I’ve done most of the location scouting and am now in the last stages of the script. The country is 80% jungle, so logistics and planning are crucial. Kafka-styling concepts like “finance” and “development hell” we won’t get into here.

I can’t say too much about the story yet, the work title is Burning, but all I can say is I’m extremely hungry to shoot it and bring something to the screen that fills me with excitement if I’d watch the first cut, because it will present a mix of cultures you don’t get to see in the mainstream where films are increasingly stale, predictable and mediocre. It’s not as violent or fast paced as City of God or as tragic as Amorres Perros, in fact I don’t think it’s a good comparison, but those films definitely paved open the way for South American films.

PCZ: What do you see as the direction for these remaining films and what other mediums are you hoping to explore with them?

DV: Interesting that you ask about the other mediums, because in fact there will be a cross-over thing with part of the narrative in book form and part in feature film format, while some of the martial arts material lends itself perfectly to a more interactive medium like the video game. Particularly Part 4 is designed for it.

I am old school when it comes down to getting thought out narrative and solid storytelling as the foundation for whatever format you work in, but am by no means technophobic and would love to experiment more with some of the unexplored possibilities in video games. My ancestors also passed on their pioneer spirit, so it is in these new areas of technology that you can still break some ground. It’s frustrating to see the same ideas recycled all the time.

PCZ: Describe the journey from the original release of The Mindscape of Alan Moore in 2003 to the release of the DVD this month.

DV: Let’s say it’s been like a 100m Olympic sprinter who suddenly found himself in a 42-km marathon with the whole business of promotion, film festivals, negotiations with potential distributors and the hard reality of independent endeavors to bring out something with integrity. Then parallel to that Shadowsnake Films was founded as a production company, which meant investors had to be brought aboard, meaning more business, more paperwork and drifting away from the creative writing. All this while juggling film jobs for music gigs, videos, corporate films, workshops and whatever mercenary work you have to take as a film maker and writer. But film is not the only area I work in, so a lot of developments in my life have been going on parallel with Project Mindscape and it’s been an exponential learning curve that still continues.

There are times though I wish I’d become a chef, your work is there instantly and you move on to the next thing. People like it or spit it back on their plates if you screwed up.

PCZ: How did you approach revisiting the original film from the aspect of releasing it as a DVD and what ‘bonus features’ did you see as an absolute must for inclusion?

DV: The film obviously is a more intense experience when it’s projected in 35mm with Dolby Surround, but it’s also very dense. A lot of information to digest. So for multiple viewings the DVD format is a natural choice. As for the extras, I spent another 6 months putting those together. In essence as a filmmaker you have to step back and produce whatever you would prefer to see on a disc yourself. Audiences are much more film literate now and curious about collaborations, the creative process etcetera. But particularly the artists that worked with Alan Moore are all of serious creative caliber, so a lot of time went into making them comprehensive and engaging. It was almost like doing a second feature.

Half the time bonus features are just disappointingly rushed once you’ve bought a DVD and you wonder why you bothered. I wanted the whole package to be a nice little timeless document about the creative process, the Idea and spirituality in general. I used to be an avid vinyl record collector and trader, so I always loved elaborately designed album covers with liner notes, lyrics and all that. I guess this was unconsciously a digital version and with a killer designer like John Coulthart you can’t go wrong.

PCZ: Do you still communicate with Alan Moore?

DV: I’m still in touch, for example last year I had the honour to attend his wedding with Melinda Gebbie, which was worth a film in itself. This year we also did a signing together at Orbital Comics in London for the UK DVD release and have been talking on and off on the phone, but he’s a very dedicated writer so as with most busy people I’m always respectful of his time. He’s writing some serious magnum opus now called Jerusalem, I think he said it was around 1,500 pages. And here I thought me toiling away on a 90-page film script was something.

PCZ: What are your thoughts on yours being the only film to date that has had both his endorsement and support?

DV: It’s not something you think about once you finish a project, you just move on to the next mission. But it is a wonderfully inspiring thing to have his blessing and appreciation for your work, I guess a bit like an apprentice who gets encouragement to sharpen one’s craft to higher levels. At least you know you must be doing something right on that spontaneous and crazy path of creativity.

When I meet him, we just talk on the same level man to man or professionally when it involves work. But it’s when you attend a signing event or reading and you notice that he fills up thousands of seats or causes lines and traffic jams around the block, only then I’m reminded that I was lucky to work with a highly respected living legend and that it’s not something to be taken for granted.

In any case I can’t show up at his place with a badly written CGI driven film in my pocket. He’s very generous with advice, so it is a very constructive thing.

PCZ: With next year’s adaptation of Watchmen garnering so much attention, do you feel that the time has finally come for a faithful film version of Mr. Moore’s work?

DV: I don’t know how faithful one can truly be with an adaptation, different media often require a different approach. But respect to the integrity of the story is the least one would expect, because any dedicated author and particularly Alan Moore, writes with a specific effect in mind for a specific medium. You can’t take just the aesthetic aspects of a tragedy like Macbeth and change it to a hokey comedy for example. Or let’s just say I don’t see the point. Film is too expensive a medium to waste resources on whims and navel gazing. There are some occasional gems, but in general a lot of popular culture is so incestuous, recycling the same sources and calling it homage or retro. Lazy. For those in their teens it seems new and refreshing, but I’m seriously bored.

It’s too early to judge Watchmen, and I appreciate that Zack Snyder mentioned The Mindscape as reference for the Rorschach voice and mood, but three long films like Lord of the Rings, or a 6 part TV version would have been a better format to cover the scope. So I’m worried that it might be more of a visual exercise with CGI replicating the comic book panels and design. I remember a British journalist said to me last year that most comic book fans wanted EXACT adaptations of their favourite works and now they were getting it. However, I do believe there is still an audience out there that is more demanding than that.

But let’s see, with film being such a difficult and elusive medium, I always respect any feature film effort by a director, because it absorbs such a big chunk of your life. It’s like an engineering project really. Often the true human element of the story becomes a second priority.

I haven’t read the book, but have to say that Tom Tykwer did an incredible job on Perfume: Story of a Murderer. Stanley Kubrick considered this unfilmable, but the film really pulls off the whole olfactory experience within an audio-visual medium.

Same with No Country for Old Men. The Coen Brothers did a fantastic job too, but with something like Blood Meridian it’s much more difficult as it’s not plot driven but all about the apocalyptic language. A great novel doesn’t equal a great film necessarily.

PCZ: Are their any other artists whose work you would like to someday adapt or include in your films?

DV: There are too many untold stories lingering in my own brain or out there with talented writers to focus on adaptations, but in this business you can’t exclude anything. So if I had to choose, it would have to be maybe a new writer that surprised me or the challenge to adapt work by William Burroughs, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jerome Charyn or do a complete film with old Black Sabbath music, because those first six albums are serious aural assaults on the imagination when I play them on vinyl.

Music can be incredibly inspiring and I can imagine that working with somebody like Amon Tobin or Little Axe from scratch can lead you to some unexpected areas of cinema.

And that’s what it’s all about, fresh and surprising new directions, but I don’t see something new with that innovating blow of Electric Ladyland or Bitches Brew coming out soon when there is so much emphasis on recycling existing templates and works.

PCZ: Thank you for your time.

DV: Likewise, was a pleasure.

We’d like to thank Mr. Vylenz for taking the time to talk with us about his work both with Alan Moore and his upcoming projects with Shadowsnake Films. The Mindscape of Alan Moore hits stores on September 30.

Exclusive Interview With ‘Allison’ Creator Juan2.0

Article originally published 10/27/2008 at popculturezoo.com

A career in comics has been the dream of many a Spidey underoo-clad youngster. Like many of those who imagined their futures laid out in the monthly exploits of Doc Ock, Cap and Batman, Juan2.0 grew up with the certainty that he too would one day see his creations become a tangible reality. With the recent release of his creator-owned book Allision, Juan2.0 is now realizing the fulfillment of those dreams. In the first issue of this comic, Allison is thrown into an unfamiliar and fantastical world, with only a robotic rabbit to save her from what can only be described as an altogether surreal and frightening fate. We caught up with Juan2.0 and asked him to talk about his journey in comics so far and what is in store with Allison as she ventures deeper down the rabbit hole.

PCZ: Give me a history on the genesis of your artwork and how Allison came to be.

Juan2.0: I’ve always known that I wanted to be a comic book artist since I was five years old. My father and I went to the local grocery store for something or other and I happened across a spinner rack full of comic books. I remember he bought me an issue of Spectacular Spider-Man and Merc issue 5. That is what began my whole love/hate relationship with comic books and wanting to do this for a career choice. After I got those first two issues, I read and collected every comic book I could get my hands on.

I remember one time, when I was around 11, my mom had surprised me with a bunch of comics that she had bought from a local comic shop to help me pass the time on a bus field trip we were taking. In that stack, was Amazing Spider-Man issue 318 and 319 where Spidey fights the Scorpion and the Rhino. I was in awe as I flipped through those books. I had never seen anyone draw comics like that before and Todd McFarlane changed my life that day. He made me want to draw… and draw I did. After that, every chance I got, I would spend hours in my room with a pencil and printer paper trying to draw my own comic books. I mostly did it for fun… just something to do to pass the time away while growing up on a farm out in the middle of nowhere.

But at sixteen, I decided that after collecting comics and trying to learn to draw them for so many years, I was done. I don’t know why it happened, but I woke up one day, packed all my comic book boxes in the car, drove to the nearest comic shop and sold all of them for ten cents a book. I gave them away for next to nothing because I didn’t want anything to do with drawing or comics for as long as I lived. And I was serious too… I didn’t pick up a pencil again from then on until after I had turned 18 years old.

What changed my mind when I was 18 was this. My then girlfriend at the time had come over to my parents house to see me and while she was there, she saw some of my old drawings in my room. She said they were great and asked if I had anymore. I told her that I didn’t draw anymore and that those were just old ones I still had and I switched the subject to something else. I didn’t think anything of it… and then a week or so later, we went to a Dairy Queen for lunch and she’d brought up the comic thing again. I think I mentioned something about there being a local shop still in town, so we decided to check it out and see what they had to offer.

“I had never seen a drawing or a comic book done as beautifully as that before. Michael Turner changed my life that day.”

I hadn’t been in a comic book shop since I sold all those books and I went in not really expecting much to have changed, which it hadn’t. Spider-Man and Superman were still doing their thing. Batman was still around… everything was pretty much the same. But as I was walking down the aisle looking at the new release shelf, my eyes happened upon a copy of Witchblade issue 8 by Michael Turner. There was only one copy left and the shot of Sara on the cover with the Witchblade wrapped around her naked body blew me away. I had never seen a drawing or a comic book done as beautifully as that before. Michael Turner changed my life that day. I was back to drawing and buying comics full force again. I would spend countless hours staying up late into the mornings trying to learn to draw like him. I bought every comic book of his I could get my hands on. Just looking at his art was breathtaking and I couldn’t get enough of it. The fever was back with a vengeance and I knew from that day on that no matter what happened in this life, I would never again give up my dream of illustrating comic books for a living. This is what I was meant to do, it’s always what I was meant to do. I could just feel it in my heart and I’ve always believed that if you follow your heart it will never lead you wrong. I’ve been doing so ever since that day.

As for Allison, she didn’t come along until around 2004 or 2005. At the time I had been doing several eBay commissions to keep money flowing into my pockets for food and bills and a guy had approached me about doing my own full comic book series. He was willing to pay for the majority of the production fees while I focused on the art aspects of the endeavor. But without going into detail, things just didn’t work out. At that time in my life, I just wasn’t ready. Allison just wasn’t what I pictured her as being and as time passed, she died and was buried in the past and I moved on with my life.

Then in 2007, when I was completely fed up with my artwork and just about to throw in the towel and give up for good again, I called my mama one night and talked to her about how I was feeling. My heart wasn’t in anything that I was producing and every day I felt like a failure. But all she said was that it had to be my choice on what I wanted to do with my life and my art. Either I could stick with it and make it somehow or I could give up and get a different job working for a company somewhere. I told her that all I wanted to do was be a comic book artist, but that no matter what I did when it came to my artwork it just wasn’t good enough. None of it was ever good enough in my eyes. I would draw for eight hours a day and then at the end of the day, rip up everything that I had done. It was a vicious cycle and one that went on for a very long time. Eventually, a good friend, Adrian Sularyo, pointed me in a different direction with my artwork. He introduced me to the world of Ashley Wood and after that, my life and Allison’s were changed forever.

All I could think about from then on was Allison. How I needed to bring her to life and that now was the time. Not tomorrow, not next month, not next year… but NOW. So I got to work on reviving her. It’s been a very slow process. It’s taken me almost a year to get issue one out, but at the time I started doing this, I had no clue what I was doing or even how I wanted Allison’s book to look. None whatsoever. So it’s been a long nine months of trial and error and learning from my mistakes one step at a time.

PCZ: What inspired you to create your first published work in the form of a comic book instead of another medium?

Juan2.0: I love comic books. I’m very passionate about them and seeing as how I’ve studied them and how they are created for several years of my life, it was just natural that I should choose to bring Allison to life in that form over anything else.

PCZ: The book seems to be drawn on a number of inspirations, both through the art and storytelling. What artists or writers most influenced your work with Allison?

Juan2.0: Hands down, Ashley Wood and Lewis Carroll.

Ashley Wood is one hell of a great teacher. I’ve learned so much from him in such a short time period about what art is and what it can be. Gone are my days of perfectionism with pencils only. Life is so much better now. I feel like I have freedom with my art again and everyone who has come into contact with my artwork lately is really reacting to it, so I guess I must be doing something right.

But I’m not just an Ashley Wood clone either. I draw my influences and inspirations from a wide variety of others… I’ve always had this belief that you can learn something from every new piece of art you encounter, even if it’s what not to do. Art is everywhere, so I’m constantly studying new ideas and techniques to bring into my own work from every piece of art I encounter. Hell, just the other day I was studying a postcard that had come into the place I work. I really liked the design work on the lettering and image placement so I scribbled out a rough sketch on a post it note and brought it home to hodge-podge it with my other ideas for Allison.

As for writers, I chose Lewis Carroll because I’ve always loved his work on Alice in Wonderland, which obviously plays a major influence with my Allison book. But again my influences are far reaching, I never draw from just one pool. I read new books (actual books, not comic books) on an almost weekly basis and a lot of my storytelling comes from always wanting to be a writer as much as I’ve always wanted to become an artist. More of which you will all see in my Snippets art book coming out later this month. It’s more of a storybook than anything and really gives me a chance to improve upon my writing skills. If you like stories that deal with the end of civilization as we know it and zombies… definitely check it out.

PCZ: If you were to draw comparisons, what will this series most closely resemble once you are completed with it?

Juan2.0: It would closely resemble nothing. I don’t want my book to be like anything else out there on the stands… nor like anything else that has ever been offered. Allison is a hodge-podge of a lot of different things and I can’t think of anything else out there today that she is even remotely like. She’s very unique in her own right. A lot of people will read the first issue and think, ” Yeah, this is kind of like Allison in Wonderland”, but once they get farther into it they’ll see that it is much, much more than that. Not everything is as it appears and everything in Allison’s world has double or triple meanings to it. Keep that in mind as you follow her journey.

PCZ: This first book ends with a number of unanswered questions. Who is Allison? Where is she? Why is the android rabbit trying to help her? Why is she the only one who doesn’t seem to know what’s going on? Without giving too much away, tell us what we can expect from the next few issues.

Juan2.0: Probably more unanswered questions. Right now with the first few issues, I’m laying out the groundwork for what is to come. You’ll see and read a lot of things that you won’t understand in the first few issues. This might put some people off, but I am a fan of not spoon feeding people when it comes to storytelling. I’ve always felt the best books/movies are the ones where you get a tidbit here and there and by the end you’ve figured out exactly why such and such happened when and where it did. It’s all part of the bigger picture, the one that you don’t see or realize until later on through the story.

Allison is a hodge-podge of a lot of different things and I can’t think of anything else out there today that she is even remotely like.

In this next issue, you’ll get to meet the Nit Nam. A very evil character in the Allison world… one that is going to do some serious damage to our heroine.

PCZ: Why did you decide to create this story with four panels per page? Was this a stylistic choice (to separate it from more mainstream comics) or did the story naturally lend itself to this larger canvas?

Juan2.0: All of my favorite artists over the years have used the basic formula of 3 - 5 panels per page, so I guess subconsciously I just followed suit. I tend to like the larger panels. I’m not a fan of the claustrophobic pages some artists do with a million tiny panels on the page. In fact, I absolutely hate having to draw tiny panels. I need room when I work.

PCZ: Describe the process of self-publishing this book. What were some of the challenges you faced and how will this affect the way you publish future issues?

Juan2.0: Self-publishing this book has been a great challenge for me. Going into it, I honestly had no clue what I was doing. I had to teach myself everything from the coloring, to the lettering, the art style, layouts, design work… everything. It’s all been months and months of trial and error. Would I do it over again if given the chance? You bet your ass I would! Nothing beats good old fashioned trial and error to teach you what to do and what not to do. When you make a mistake on your own without anyone else giving you a helping hand, it’s a mistake that you will never forget and I, being the hardheaded stubborn mule that I am, tend to make many mistakes, but I learn from each and every one of them…so in that aspect my future issues should go a lot smoother. They always say your hardest challenge is getting through the first issue, because that’s where you learn your biggest mistakes from… and they are definitely right about that.

PCZ: What advice can you offer to artists or writers who are looking for a venue to publish their work?

Juan2.0: Honestly, I don’t know. With me, I just set out with the goal to get Allison off the ground this year and now that it’s finally happening, all the sleepless nights full of hard work (blood, sweat and tears) has been worth it. I guess the best advice I can give anyone is to just get out there and do it. There is all kinds of online publishing companies out there nowadays to get your work printed. You just have to be willing to put in the hard work and dedication to see things through no matter what the cost. If you don’t believe in yourself and your work, how can you expect anyone else to?

Thanks to Juan2.0 for taking the time to share answer our questions about Allison and how she came to be. You can pick up your own copy of Allison #1 over at Juan’s Original Art. Also, you can follow Juan2.0’s exploits on his blog as he gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at Allison, Insomniac and his other works-in-progress.

Talking with ‘Janitor’ Director John Clisham

Article originally published 11/07/2008 at popculturezoo.com

Online film creator John Clisham absolutely loves 80’s slasher films. Want to know how you can tell? Check out his short film, Janitor on Xbox Live. This short film embraces all the standard cliches of the slasher-horror genre. Twenty-something hot chick pretending to be an innocent high school student… check. Creepy teacher who you just know is going to meet a horrible death… present. Uber-powerful, impossible to stop, supernatural bad guy… definitely. Last second save by good guy cop… you betcha.

Bottom line, if you dig old-school slasher flick action, you are definitely going to want to watch Janitor. For those of you that think the current plague of “torture porn” is real horror, find out how it used to be done much more effectively. Check out Janitor, playing now via free download on an Xbox near you.

We caught up with John Clisham, creator and director of Janitor and asked him a few questions about his influences, what it was like working on a project for Xbox and what it is like working in the horror genre.

PCZ: How did you get involved in doing a horror film for Xbox Live?

JC: Back in 2005, I worked at a small production company in Santa Monica. On nights and weekends I’d make short horror movies for my website - usually with a DVX100 or anything I could get my hands on. Microsoft did a lot of business in the same building and noticed me. They asked me to pitch - I did - and somehow they said yes.

PCZ: Janitor was originally announced as part of an anthology series, Assorted Nightmares. What can we expect for future installments in this series?

JC: You’ll see a wide variety of horror - the next episode is modeled after the 70’s horror films (Exorcist, Shining) whereas the third episode takes a tone that’s a little more in tune with the horror flicks of today (Saw, Hostel). The idea is that each episode, in its own way, is an homage to a certain style in the genre.

PCZ: Your background is in filming online content. Was the Xbox Live film familiar territory or were there new things you needed to take into consideration?

JC: There were a number of things I had to consider. Most importantly, Xbox Live is an HD medium - and a really good one at that. So my camera work, the visual effects, the prosthetics - all had to be on a level of which I’ve never worked before. The entire team had to up their game, because when the content is viewed in 720p, you see everything. We approached Janitor as if it were a feature film.

PCZ: Janitor draws inspiration from 80’s slasher films. Will you be doing further films that will pay tribute to other eras of horror?

JC: Absolutely. The Assorted Nightmares series is about honoring the genre. Janitor had many elements from the 80’s (comedy, monster, style) and my team is really excited about the second episode, where we see a more internal horror, a more restrained fear. I think The Shining is a good example of where we’d all like to see episode two go.

PCZ: In your opinion, what are the essential elements of a good horror flick?

JC: Everyone always says story, story, story… and they’re right. I also think great sound is a very integral part of a horror movie. Without the texture, without the sound effects, without the music - it’s just an image. The sound takes the story and makes it real. On Janitor, when I was cutting the first version, no one was scared. Microsoft looked at it - and I think they were starting to wonder where I was taking this. But once they watched the final cut - the screening room, with the sound blasted - they were scared senseless.

PCZ: Which horror film scared you the most?

JC: This is a tie - Exorcist for a long time scared me in ways that I can barely understand. But Fire in the Sky, even though it’s not a horror movie, scared the living crap out of me. I saw it when I was home from school, alone, it was dark and rainy out - and somehow, it felt real. aliens were in the sky, waiting…. it messed me up for a long time.

PCZ: Outside horror, what film genres are you most interested in exploring?

JC: I’m interested in comedy - but that’s a tough genre.

PCZ: What types of themes would you be most interested incorporating in to a feature length horror film?

JC: The idea of aging has been a recurring theme in my stories. Whether it’s the idea of the inevitability of it all, I’m not sure - but time passing by and the aging process are elements I’m sure you’ll see throughout Assorted Nightmares.

ARCHIVE: Interview - Stargate: Atlantis Actor David Hewlett

Article originally published 08/08/2007 at figures.com

Thanks to the folks at the SciFi Channel, we were given an opportunity to conduct a brief one-on-one interview with actor David Hewlett, otherwise known as the brilliant yet arrogant Dr. Rodney McKay on Stargate: Atlantis. We spoke with Hewlett about the upcoming season four of Atlantis, learning 'technobabble' and his reactions to the upcoming Diamond Select Rodney McKay action figure.

Figures.com: What would you like fans to know about what’s coming up in Atlantis?

DH: I’m sort of like referring it to the season of change. The fact is that McKay really never changes that much. There’s just a central core of badness that just will always be there. He’s not a nice person. The interaction for his character (in season four) becomes… it picks up quite a bit. There’s this wicked sci-fi stuff going on. All of a sudden, we’ve got Keller (Dr. Jennifer Keller played by Jewel Staite), we’ve got Amanda (Col. Samantha Carter played by Amanda Tapping) and then McKay’s got his own girlfriend, Katie Brown. So it makes it this incredibly awkward romance with McKay, which is kind of fun. I think that the appeal of the character is that (McKay) is in a room and is supposed to be explaining something but the underlying thing is just discomfort.

Figures.com: Right, McKay is never really comfortable with himself. He’s cocky but underneath it you can tell he’s never really sure. We all knew that guy… some of us were that guy.

DH: Yeah, we all knew him in high school. Everyone knew a McKay and everyone has their own McKay. But everyone wants to be the guy with their hand up in math class… the one who figures out the crossword puzzle first. And he’s that guy. I never was. So, they write the smart stuff and I do the silly and fun things.

Figures.com: How well do you do with all the technobabble on the show?

DH: First of all, learning lines is hell! I’m the worst person at learning lines. Everyone always says ‘oh you’re so good at learning your lines’… but I’m not.

Figures.com: It seems like you have some of the hardest lines.

DH: It’s just takes hours. I swear, I talk to my fiance’ more in character as McKay than we do as real people because I’m learning lines all the time.

Figures.com: Do you adapt (the technobabble) by using the Star Trek method, just making stuff up along the way?

DH: I wish I could. You can’t though. You go off on the wrong tangent and then all of a sudden it’s like ‘so… eh?’. You’ve got to get your orbits right and your Lagrangians… all sorts of stuff. Its funny, the more you do it though the more certain areas become familiar. When I start talking about zed-PM’s and power, I have a certain theory and geography figured out in my brain on how this stuff works. Usually its enough to talk about how this will follow you to this will follow you to that. But every episode (introduces) some new technology and I’ve got to explain it.

Figures.com: When you were first appeared as a guest on SG-1 years ago, did you ever think that McKay would be a regular in a full series?

DH: Not for a second. I went in and he was just the most unlikable character. He was an unlikable character and I made him even more unlikable by adding my own personality. I was a guest star and it really felt like that was going to be it. So, when they went to Atlantis and started throwing my name around… I got kind of nervous about it. As a guest star you can come in and be a jerk who thinks he knows all the answers, gets it wrong and then everyone else saves the day. All of a sudden I’m supposed to be coming up with the answers and getting along with people. It’s like, how do you marry those two completely different characters together? I think (the writers) have done a really good job of it. They have allowed me to still be that sarcastic kind of jerk but at the same time, still have a bit of a heart and help to explain why (McKay) is the way he is. Season four is really good for this.

Figures.com: It seems like you’ve been given the chance to really grow the character.

DH: Part of it is that, like you say, you were McKay growing up. I think a lot of the writers were as well. I think there’s an affinity with that character. They know how to write for him. They get his rhythm very well. So, in a strange way, learning lines becomes easier because they understand (my) rhythm and how much stuttering I’m going to do… and when I’m going to go off on tangents. They know that with anything they write, I’m going to try and say it differently than they want it to… just to be difficult.

Figures.com: So, what do you think of your new action figure? Diamond Select has a prototype of your figure down at their booth now.

DH: Really? They have that now? I’m dying to see that one!

Figures.com: Yeah, they have you in two different outfits. One in the standard uniform and a field ops version with a vest.

DH: Get out! Oh my god! When we did the head scan thing, everyone was this (looks serious) standing very still for the head scan. So I thought, what’s the best McKay (pose)? So, I did this (gives mouth open, astonished look)… he could give that (look) with a gun, a computer, it’s perfect McKay. That stuff is just… I can’t believe its me! I’m so thrilled, I’ve got to see these things!