FLIGHT

thanks everyone - those who want will have theirs e-mailed to them and those who don't care will have theirs posted here

still some more people to chime in on the roundtable Q's

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

1) Tell us about your story and what inspired it.
Well, err... It’s a story about two people that “meet” in the bus. Something’s happening between them, like “good feeling” or “good vibes”. They know they could have been lovers maybe, but they’re already engaged on they’re own with someone else. So this is just about this instant, this little emotion, when you feel your life could have been different from this point.
Concering inspiration, well, I guess everybody took the bus once and kinda felt this way at least once in their lifetime. Honestly i dont know, it just came like this in y head “pop !”.

3) Did FLIGHT’s movement to Ballantine Books affect how you approached your contribution?
Absolutely not. I’m still free to do what I want the way i want to do it. So it’s no problem for me. On the contrary, if it gives Flight more places on the shelves and more audience, it’s good. But I won’t change my way of approaching my stories because of a new company.

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book?
Well, I don’t know. With this story I tried to bring a bit more emotion than I did with the previous one. Some stories are very fantasy, action, or arty, beautifully illustrated. My point on this one was to focus on a emotion, and I hope it is a good complement to the others stories.

5) One of the noticeable evolutions of FLIGHT seems to be the move from a more animation influenced look to that of a storybook style. Did anything or anyone have a particular influence on you work for FLIGHT, whether it be personally or artistically?
I have a lot of influences from everywhere in the comics, animation, illustration, movies industries. But I couln’t tell about a particular influence from the outside. Especially these days, where I’m a bit disappointed about the lack of quality and imagination in most of these media.

6) One of the strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?
The influence I got from these guys, is they pushed me to work on my own stories, to do it by myself. I’m not much a writer and it’s always painful to come up with a good idea and try to structure it.

7) What’s next for you following FLIGHT?
In Flight4 I’ll have 2 stories, one in collaboration with the talented Joel Carroll, for a story called “Tripod” based on the well known H.G. Wells book, and one I did by myself, where I tell my first skydiving jump. It’s gonna be a verry fun story (I hope).
I'm also finishing my first book in France called " les Enfants d'ailleurs" who's the first volume of a (long) series of fantasy books for children (in stores in January 2007).
I've got some other projects here and there, in france and in the US.

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Bannister.

1) Tell us about your story and what inspired it.

My story this time around is about two young men, one a believer in myths and legends and the other an eternal skeptic and debunker. In the woods near their town they find what seems to be the edge of the world, and they meet the cranky old hermit who lives there.

I wanted to tell a story with these characters, Tom and Felix, the doubter and the believer, because they represent the competing voices inside all of us. So I hoped it would be fun to watch them interact.

3) Did FLIGHT’s movement to Ballantine Books affect how you approached your contribution?

It did add some excitement.

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book?

I just cross my fingers and hope that it does! Really, I think as long as an artist puts forth a solid effort to tell a story that comes from his own thoughts and experiences, and doesn't fall into the trap of trying to make his story fit into some mold or resemble another artist's work, then everything will turn out all right.

When you're aiming for honest storytelling it's hard not to come up with something unique!

5) One of the noticeable evolutions of FLIGHT seems to be the move from a more animation influenced look to that of a storybook style. Did anything or anyone have a particular influence on you work for FLIGHT, whether it be personally or artistically?

I think my comics still lean more toward animation than illustration. As for influences, I'm always blown away by Jake Parker's draftsmanship, the sequential expertise of Phil Craven, the charm of Kazu's storytelling, the natural ease of Vera Brosgol's characters, the zeal of Kean Soo's work, and the sheer drawing skill of Rodolphe Guenoden. I wish every Flight artist had a book of his own, if only so that I could fill my shelves with them and bask in the creativity.

And outside of Flight the influences are in the hundreds.

6) One of the strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

Frankly, being part of the Flight community is, artistically, one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I am a mostly self-taught artist and before Flight I rarely had the chance to share my art, stories and creations with other artists.

Through sharing my work in such an open, friendly talented and creative environment, I've been able to improve a hundred times over. I really owe a great debt to all the Flight artists and particularly those who were instrumental in making the first book and the forum a reality.

7) What’s next for you following FLIGHT?

Well, I just recently turned in my story for Flight 4, which will be the print debut of my character Zita the Spacegirl (who has a small, rarely updated webcomic at www.zitaspacegirl.com).

Right now I'm working on painting and sculpture near Florence. When I return to the states in November I hope to be able to start designing and decorating churches in addition to taking on book and comics projects. I'm chronicling my progress at www.househatke.com.

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blog: Let Fly the Cannons!
househatke.com
Zita the Spacegirl

Sorry for the delay everyone - got a day off and locked myself in to make sure this kept going - here's a few of the one-on-one Q's to get things started - i'll be continuing with everyone else's later

So we'll start with Kazu:

You mention going edgier with your story and I admit I was blown away, it’s a strong story but the tone just wasn’t what I was expecting. Your past stories have had an emphasis on the seasons and a feeling of encroaching change or growth. Do you feel your work reflects this artistically? That you also place on an emphasis on consciously changing, growing, experimenting?

With works like DAISY and COPPER, their design has more of a simplicity or sense of cuteness but with your FLIGHT story featuring two grown men and having to capture expressions of panic and shock, was it a challenge to work with subjects with more character in their physical appearance?

These days everyone seems to be getting a book deal so tell us how having an agent helped further the reach of FLIGHT as well as your own work.

Right now you have loads of great artists interested in contributing in FLIGHT but how do you look to new contributors, do you seek out artists to contribute or do you have enough already simply coming to you?

You’ve some experience with writing screenplays and a lot of the FLIGHT creators lend themselves well to animation in their artistic styles. Do you see film as a next step for your work? Even the collective/collaborative nature of the FLIGHT crew reminds me of other such groups as PIXAR.

What was the inspiration for AMULET? It seems to have elements of Alice In Wonderland, Labyrinth and Disney all mixed together?

AMULET is the largest single volume piece you’ve taken on and your approach to the story has changed somewhat as you work on it, at its very core though what do you want to say about your characters personal journeys?

Do you feel there’s a drive to tell more all ages tales? Not just in your work but in general, there appears to be a great desire to create something that will appeal to a younger reader.

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

Kean [Mr. Book Deal]:

Working on something like JELLABY that’s an all ages story, what pushes you to fashion these pure fun loving characters? Does it help to keep that younger audience sensibility when you’re surrounded by other creators working in the similar vein?

What do your duties entail in regards to helping create and edit FLIGHT?

As to your recent book deal, how did you hook up with your literary agent? Did they scout you or did you seek out representation?

Will the JELLABY book begin anew from scratch or will the book take off from the webcomic?

As you’re very conscious of influences outside of the medium do you see yourself trying to integrate some of your other passions into JELLABY? For instance, a JELLABY soundtrack, JELLABY recipes, etc.?

So exactly how much of JELLABY was inspired by HELLBOY anyway?

What’s your work process like now that the JELLABY book has become a fulltime gig for the foreseeable future?

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

Neil:

Neil, when it comes to graphic novelists getting book deals you certainly come to mind as deserving one. You could do a romance book and call it SUMMER OF NEIL. But the book you’re working on now, would that be a continuation of your previous FLIGHT stories exploring your family and background?

Now that you’ve passed the bar, how do you juggle having two distinct career paths?

Do you feel there’s a stigma against autobiographical comic stories?

You mentioned that some extra time allowed you to add more detail to your art for your FLIGHT contribution. Your style has evolved quite a bit, I remember when I first saw your work you placed an emphasis on block colours with few black lines but now you seem to have moved to a more brush driven detailed ink style. Are you conscious of your own changes in style? Have you come to prefer working in black and white over the years?

When you tend to write about yourself your friends are often a large factor in influencing but also starring in your work. What sort of reactions do you get to involving them in your comics work?

Do crafting stories such as “In Due Time” act as a sort of catharsis for you?

(BTW – the ain’t no dancer story… holy fuck, nice work)

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

Joey:

For those new to THE RIDE HOME, tell us about the van gnome and what moved you to tell this tale?

You’ve had quite a few stories in anthologies introducing new characters and fun situations, what about THE RIDE HOME had to be serialized and expanded compared to other tales? I certainly think The Unremarkable Tree Frog has a future.

What sort of influence has living in Savannah had on your work, particularly being surrounded by so many young artists?

Outside of FLIGHT many of the contributors continue to fashion all-ages stories, yourself included. What’s the appeal for you to tell stories in that approach?

Do you find your stories may stand out as they’re fun and easy whereas lately the mainstream is overfilling with a heavy and serious tone?

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

Michel:

I know when I think of animation artists I think Michel Gagné. Sometimes I’ll make jokes about how almost all the Canadian comic artists came out of Sheridan College, and you’re the original example. In 1998 you formed Gagné International Press and we started seeing your expressively odd and adaptive style available in book format. You’ve got to be the widest known artist in the FLIGHT book and yet you’re humble as hell. Are you at the point where you can essentially pick and choose what you want to work on or do you fall back to the starving artist mentality of never turning down work?

Let’s talk about Rex, the first story was a short and sweet sorta spiritual/psychological story tale of wisdom and journey for meaning. When you create a story like that, or something like ODD NUMBERS, who is your ideal audience? It seems like many of these pieces are created largely for yourself and we’re just lucky enough to see what comes out of it.

What’s your process for your FLIGHT contributions? From the weight of the lines in certain places it almost seems like part of it starts in your hand and another part with a wacom and then continues from there.

You must have a wide range of influences, your FLIGHT story almost looks like Bambi has been thrown into Heavy Metal, what artists do you feel have had the most influence on you as you shape your style, both artistically but also in your storytelling?

How did you get involved in the XEKO trading card game and what sort of research has this project pushed you to do?

Having your work appeared in animation, print, figurines, tattoos and even an NBA scoreboard, are there any mediums or venues you’ve yet to conquer that you’d like to work in some day?

The origin of ZED actually began years ago, how do you describe the book to new readers?

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

More to come - Dave, Ben, Tony, Bannister and Reagan - yours will be up soon

These are just to help kick things off and once again, sorry for the delay

best

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

Oh definitely. I've always been naturally drawn to work that emphasizes growth and change, and the changing of seasons provides a great backdrop for these kinds of stories. Much of it is drawn from the films of Akira Kurosawa, most notably his film Dreams. Whenever I think of how I want to present a story aesthetically, I almost always think of that film. I viewed the movie at three very different stages in my life, and my reactions to it were so varied they made me realize how much I had changed. My favorite works of art tend to be mirrors that reflect our lives, and whether or not it was intentional, Dreams had a profound effect on the way I viewed myself. I can only imagine that this is also what the changing seasons do to an individual, as I've never actually lived anywhere the seasons changed.



No, not at all. Before I began Copper, I hardly did any work that could be considered all-ages. As far as my taste in storytelling goes, I generally prefer reading material like "The Iron Gate". As a creator, I just enjoy the challenges presented by different types of storytelling. With Copper, I was challenging myself to make children's material that wasn't too saccharine or condescending, and with Daisy I wanted to create a genre piece that transcended the category. With "The Iron Gate", I wanted to create a short story that had the power of a good war movie.



We're still at the early stages of all this, but so far my agent Judy Hansen has been instrumental in helping us establish a great foundation upon which to build. Agents generally don't make the opportunities happen so much as help you navigate the territory once the interest in the material is there. Without Judy, I would have had book deals, but they wouldn't be very good deals. She made it so that we were protected from poor contracts, given much bigger advances, and she guides the project even beyond completion by following up with publishers to make sure they're on the ball. In short, Judy has been like a guardian angel. In fact, I just see her as my third mom now (the first being my own, and the second being Amy's).



Well, my fondest wish is to see the people that are already here return to the plate. I want to see them get better and better within this book, and not have to look for new talent. I love this team already, so I don't make an active effort to seek out new people. However, when someone with talent and the right sensibility strolls along, we definitely extend an invitation. This whole process actually happens very naturally and organically.



When I was in high school, I was pretty determined to become a filmmaker, but somewhere along the line I realized that without good storytelling, there would be no good films. And if there were no good films, there could still be good storytelling. That's when I saw that comics- something I had always done throughout my life- afforded me a great way to develop storytelling skills without taking on the kinds of risks a film would entail. I wouldn't rule out eventually being involved in film, but for now, I think I would rather focus on my comics and let the film people deal with the films.



Simply put- it's the comic book that I wished I had as a kid. I wanted to create something that would have made me sprint like crazy to the book fair before all the copies were sold out! Heheh. Seriously though, one of my career goals has been to create some of the greatest fantasy graphic novels ever made. Daisy Kutter was my warm up session, to see if I could do it, and Amulet is theory in practice.

I originally began tinkering with the project after I graduated from college. I had this story about these kids getting lost in an old puzzle maker's home. I knew it was really cool, but I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to say, so I shelved it. Shortly after college, my family went through a period of turmoil that eventually led to me having such a terrible nervous collapse that I was admitted into a hospital. I felt my life was over at that point, but after snapping out of my deep depression, I picked up the pieces and rebuilt my career with a very different outlook on life - one that was less predicated on decisions based on fear, and this became the foundation for projects like Flight. Years later, when I finally had the opportunity to do my first fantasy graphic novel, I remembered both the story of the children in the puzzle house and my experience with my family during that trying time. It made sense to bring these two things together, and all of a sudden I had a good book to work on.

As for the style of the piece, aside from the obvious love for Miyazaki, I have been very influenced by the work of Steven Spielberg, most notably E.T. and Jaws. Another major recent influence has been H.G. Wells's The Time Machine. I read an old printing of it (from 1912), in a small book format, and it felt like reading an exhilarating graphic novel since it was so short. It reminded me of the potential of powerful short form narrative, and bolstered my confidence in trying to create something that was short in length but epic in scope.




I am hoping that children and parents alike will be able to read this story and see their own relationship with each other. The idea being presented is that adults are simply older children, and that children are simply small adults. If the two can understand each other, they can begin working together. In the books, I want to chronicle the growth cycle of one family by following Emily and Navin's journey into adulthood.




In light of the themes in Amulet, without younger readers, we can't have older readers. If we only cater to the people sitting in the middle- who often have no desire to have children- then who will pass these books down to the younger generations? If comics want to grow, then they'll have to reflect human growth as well.

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For those new to THE RIDE HOME, tell us about the van gnome and what moved you to tell this tale?

The Ride Home is about a gnome named Nodo who lives in a human family's van in present day suburbia. However, durring a trip to the city, he gets chased from the van and loses his speeding home! So, he has to find his way back through the city, meeting other modern and not-so-modern creatures and characters along the way.

The story is revolves around the theme of "home" and what home is. You know, is it a place? Is it an occupation? Is it people? Is it a way of life? That kind of thing. Each destination and group of characters that Nodo comes accross is a different example from those questions and others. Of course, this isn't how it started. It just started from the concept of a "Van Gnome" and a fun story with Sewer Dragons, Junkyard Trolls, etc. But as I was writing it, I realized that it was pretty much the issues that I was dealing with finishing up college and figuring out where I go next.

You’ve had quite a few stories in anthologies introducing new characters and fun situations, what about THE RIDE HOME had to be serialized and expanded compared to other tales? I certainly think The Unremarkable Tree Frog has a future.

Ha ha, actually the plan for Tree Frog was that he was going to be my first large story. Tree Frog is a character that I've had forever, and started as a Tick rip-off, eventually growing into a more auto-bio form. I was going to continue doing Tales of Unusual Circumstance issues, as sort of my Eightball or whatever, and serialize Tree Frog's "adventures" there. However, even though I really liked the second story that I did, it felt more like a chore, and I didn't really have a clear sense of where I wanted to go with it. Tree Frog is very dear to me, so I want to get to him when I'm ready...

However, as this was going on, I was starting to think about a fun story with a lot of possibilities, and that was The Ride Home! I tinkered around with it for a while, first only creating Nodo, and the Sewer Dragon Ferdinand, and then expanding it a bit until I felt like it was the story that I wanted to tell! And by this time I was going full-force on shorts for minis and anthologies, and I felt like I had was ready to take on a larger story. In the initial outline of TRH I thought I only had an 80 page story, but thankfully it filled out to 150, so I could make it the graphic novel that I wanted it to be.

What sort of influence has living in Savannah had on your work, particularly being surrounded by so many young artists?

Life in Savannah was absolutely crutial in my development as a cartoonist. Before coming to Savannah, in high school, I was drawing hundreds of pages of comics, but they were just these unfinished pencils on computer paper, and they mostly consited of in-jokes amongst my friends and things like that. The Savannah College of Art & Design, which I attended, is a good school, and I had the opportunity to really refine my craft. Having professors like Ted Stearn, Linda Medley, John Lowe, amongst others really helped me explore tools and improve my writing.

However, my greatest benifit may have been the friends that I made there. There's a large variety of work coming from the students in the Sequential Art department, but I eventually found my little indie-comics hub. Being friends with awesome cartoonists like Eleanor Davis, Drew Weing, Chris Wright, JP Coovert, and David Yoder (just to name a few!) was really great. We all had an effect on each other, artistically, and helped eachother grow in unique ways. Also, I wouldn't have known about mini-comics, or gone to good conventions like SPX or FLUKE, or have been motivated to build myself a website or any of that without them. It was really important.

Outside of FLIGHT many of the contributors continue to fashion all-ages stories, yourself included. What’s the appeal for you to tell stories in that approach?

It's just the type of story that I'm writing. I don't really have that in mind as a purpose, but it is something that I'm aware of. I suppose that, even though I have contemporary influences, the cartoons that I watched and the comic strips that I read as a child have probably have had a stronger, more lasting, hold on me. After doing many different kinds of stories, what I really want to do now, is tell actual all-ages material. I want it to be enjoyed by children just as much as adults. My stories are about things that I am thinking about, and stories that I would like to read. But knowing the kind of material that I produce, I'd love for children to read it.

Do you find your stories may stand out as they’re fun and easy whereas lately the mainstream is overfilling with a heavy and serious tone?

I hope so. It's hard to say. Stuff like Owly and Spiral-Bound are definitely a relief after wading through all the grit and grime in other comics, but it's hard to say. I read mainstream books as well as alternative books for many years, before I had to cut out monthly titles from my budget. I think there's a place for them, but not what I'm really into anymore.

What I really want to accomplish with The Ride Home is to tell a good adventure story. I thought more stories like it were around, but as I really looked, there weren't as many as I thought. Bone was of course a huge influence, and is an adventure story for sure, but I think this quality is what will really make TRH stick out.

As for my FLIGHT story, "The Lumbering Beast" I hope it stands out to people, amongst so much great work. It's more of an auto-bio story put into a fantasy world, like the Tree Frog stories.

Anyway, getting back to the issue of fun & light tones in my comics, that was sort of a decision that I made a few years ago. I was doing a lot of ironically cute, but sort of miserable comics. They had a good bite, and I still think that they were strong. Then I did a 3 page dinosaur story for the FLUKE anthology a couple years ago, and that was sort of an important realization moment. It was totally light hearted and 100% fun. Strangely enough, I felt a HUGE sense of relief pass over me as I was working on it, and it was much more enjoyable. Ever since then, I've been more into creating optimistic comics. I realized that I'd rather feel better, and I'd rather make others feel better, than just add to the already overwhelming misery that floats through the world...

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Visit the Tragic Planet!

Really? I don't see them as fun-loving characters -- more of the opposite, really. In my mind, I see Portia and Jason as those two weird kids in class that kept to themselves and never really talked to anyone very much. JELLABY so far has been more my rumination on childhood and growing up, and these two characters have been an opportunity for me to dig around and reflect on that period of my life, because children can be just as alienated as adults are, sometimes even more so. I do think the fact that they can have fun is also because of the fact that they're children, and all that weighty stuff can just roll off of their backs in the moment, like it sometimes does. Childhood is filled with all kinds of contradictions like that.

I've been making it a point not to think too consciously about the fact that I'm writing for a younger audience, or writing the characters as 'kids', because then you can fall into the trap of talking down to your audience, which was the biggest turn-off for me whenever I was reading anything when I was younger. I loved Roald Dahl's books for that very reason, because he treated the reader as an equal, and that's something that I've been very aware of as I work on JELLABY. Besides, it's not like I've ever really moved out of my adolescent phase anyway, so I suppose it's easy to treat a younger audience as equals...

However, it has been interesting hanging out with the Flight crew, because they can bring my attention to things I might not even think about. Chris Appelhans once mentioned to me in an off-hand sort of way that children often play differently than adults do, because of how their brains aren't necessarily weighed down by the logic of the working world. That was something that really stuck with me as I've been working on JELLABY, so I suppose it really does help in a subconscious sort of way, being surrounded by like-minded people.


It's mostly just a supporting role. Kazu's typically the guy that takes on the brunt of the production work, but I'm usually there to help pick up the slack on anything else that needs doing, whether it's flatting colours (particularly for Rodolphe's stories from FLIGHT 2 and 3), or helping people with rewrites (I had worked closely with Joana Carneiro for her story in FLIGHT 2, helping to clean up her dialogue and narration), I just work to fill in the gaps where ever it's needed.

I'm also pretty vocal in the early editing and critical process as well, but every once in a while I have to reel myself in after thinking to myself "whoa, I just told Michel Gagné, who's been doing this since I was practically in diapers, that this one particular bit of his story isn't that good and needs more work?" It's crazy like that sometimes, but I think there's a real mutual respect between all the Flight artists that allows us to be completely open and honest about our work, because it's ultimately about putting out the best stories that we possibly can.



I was the one that sought out representation, but I actually did it completely ass-backwards. When I was first contacted by a publisher with interest in JELLABY, I didn't have any kind of agent or representation at the time. After talking to Kazu about it, he had recommended that I get in touch with Judy Hansen, FLIGHT's agent (as well as Kazu's), who had just brokered our move from Image to Ballantine. We had met in Los Angeles right after the previous San Diego Comic-Con, and after seeing my work, she agreed to represent me in negotiations, and the rest is history, as they say.


The first JELLABY book will include the material from the webcomic and continue on where the web content ends. I've always had the full story swirling around in my head ever since I started posting material to the web.

I should note that one of my goals in the coming months will be to reboot the Secret Friend Society website to better reflect where Hope and I are now with SALAMANDER DREAM and JELLABY, seeing as Hope has since had her book published, and JELLABY is well on its way to seeing print. I'm still planning to post some new JELLABY stories to the site in the coming months though, so hopefully the SFS site will still be around in some shape or form for the next couple of years.


Haha, I would love to do a JELLABY cookbook. I definitely think my bizarre interests and odd personality quirks are slowly starting to filter into the characters themselves, but actually doing stuff that's outside the confines of the graphic novels is probably the farthest thing from my mind right now. I would love to slip stuff like that into the graphic novels, but I don't think there's much room for that as it stands at the moment. I really want to focus on putting together the best story I possibly can right now, and then maybe I can think about all that other fun stuff afterwards.


Very little, actually. I've always been fascinated by Mignola's page layouts and pacing more than anything else, and while I can't deny that that's been an influence on me, it's just one of the many things that has shaped my 'style' for JELLABY.


Well, I've only just transitioned into drawing comics full-time, and so far it's involved me watching lots of episodes of DEADWOOD and HOUSE, MD! But in all seriousness, it's been a bit daunting for me to find the proper balance of work and a social life, as I've already found myself drawing in 12+ hour days -- working until the sun rises basically -- which probably isn't the healthiest thing to be doing. Hopefully I can figure out a schedule that'll keep me happy, productive and sane, which is ultimately the goal, isn't it?

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keaner.net
the secret friend society

Michel:

I know when I think of animation artists I think Michel Gagné. Sometimes I’ll make jokes about how almost all the Canadian comic artists came out of Sheridan College, and you’re the original example.

MG: That makes me feel old...

In 1998 you formed Gagné International Press and we started seeing your expressively odd and adaptive style available in book format. You’ve got to be the widest known artist in the FLIGHT book and yet you’re humble as hell.

MG: Well, I don’t know about that…

Are you at the point where you can essentially pick and choose what you want to work on or do you fall back to the starving artist mentality of never turning down work?

MG: Let just say that I’ve had a blessed career so far.

Let’s talk about Rex, the first story was a short and sweet sorta spiritual/psychological story tale of wisdom and journey for meaning. When you create a story like that, or something like ODD NUMBERS, who is your ideal audience? It seems like many of these pieces are created largely for yourself and we’re just lucky enough to see what comes out of it.

MG: My target audience… hmmmm… that’s something I don’t think about very much. I do stuff that inspires me. If my wife likes it, I’m happy. If I like it, others will too. That’s how I think. Publishers, retailers and distributors can figure out who the target should be.

What’s your process for your FLIGHT contributions? From the weight of the lines in certain places it almost seems like part of it starts in your hand and another part with a wacom and then continues from there.

MG: I figure out the whole story in my head. Sometimes, that takes weeks. Once I’m happy with the idea, I thumbnail very loosely all the pages at ¼ size. Then, I do the pencil layouts on 11” x 17” Bristol boards, using a 0.9 technical pencil with a B or 2B lead. I ink with micron pens and sharpies on a separate piece of piece of paper. I scan the finished ink drawings in Photoshop. At that point, I make corrections to the line work and add color. It’s all pretty basic really.

You must have a wide range of influences, your FLIGHT story almost looks like Bambi has been thrown into Heavy Metal, what artists do you feel have had the most influence on you as you shape your style, both artistically but also in your storytelling?

MG: I take inspiration whenever or wherever it presents itself, be it personal stories, literature, music, comics, movies, televisions etc… These days, I find a lot of inspirations in Science-Fiction literature. Writers like B R Bruss, Jack Williamson, H G Wells, Lovecraft, Philip Wylie are all great storytelling inspirations.

But at a more basic level, I find that the Flight project is a huge inspiration in itself.

How did you get involved in the XEKO trading card game?

MG: My association with XEKO started in early 2005 when I met Amy Tucker at the Emerald City Comic-Con. She pitched her idea to me about a game where you could teach kids (and adults) about ecology and endangered species – a trading card game with a social conscience. The whole thing revolved around a made up mythology called Xeko (pronounced zeekoh). I did a first set of illustrations to help raise money for it. A few months later, I got a call from Amy announcing that investors had come through and the game was a go.

What sort of research has this project pushed you to do?

MG: I’m learning a lot about animals and endangered species. It’s awesome to bounce off artistically from the amazing designs that nature creates. Nature is the ultimate artist, that’s for sure. On a technical level, I’ve had to push my Photoshop skills way up from where they were. The paintings I’m doing now are a lot more detailed then what I could do just a year ago.

Having your work appeared in animation, print, figurines, tattoos and even an NBA scoreboard, are there any mediums or venues you’ve yet to conquer that you’d like to work in some day?

MG: Absolutely. Life is for the living. Any creative outlet has potential. I used to say that if there was no electricity, no paper and pencils, I’d go look in the garage to find small pieces to assemble together and make art out of it. I’m a compulsive obsessive person and art is my outlet. I’m open to any means to manifest my disease.

I mean, I’d like to design sets for a ballet, an opera or a heavy metal band. I want to invent stuff… I want to maybe write a novel, compose a symphony… who knows. I don’t want to put any limitation at this point.

The origin of ZED actually began years ago, how do you describe the book to new readers?

MG: ZED started in 2001. It was the realization of one of my pet dream: to have my own comic series. Issue #7 just came out at the beginning of this month (July). I do one issue a year which is a good pace for my busy schedule.

If I’d have to give you a description about what the series is about, I’d say, ZED is a cute and disturbing science fiction epic. It’s adorable, disturbing, juvenile, gory, reflective, cute, shocking, childish, mature, sadistic, spiritual, and innocent. ZED is full of contradiction.

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Here's some art (other than Flight) that you might want to include in the interview.

One of my recent XEKO painting:



Cover of ZED #7

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1) Tell us about your story and what inspired it.

My story (titled "Polaris"), is about a little girl with a gift who wants nothing more than to be "normal". When her wish finally comes true, her gift becomes her curse.


2) For those making their FLIGHT debut with this volume, how did you get involved with the book?

Johane Matte and I were sharing a table at San Diego Comic con in 2004, and she had been involved with Volume 2. Through her, I met Kazu and he was gratious enough to invite me to participate. Plus I slipped him $5.

3) Did FLIGHT’s movement to Ballantine Books affect how you approached your contribution?

My story was written and pencilled half a year before the move, so it didn't effect the story. It did give me a heck of a morale boost when I went into production though. Knowing that we cracked the book market is an amazing accomplishment.

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book?

I'm not the one to judge my story's place. I can only hope it holds up against the high standards and quality of the rest of the pieces included.

As for diversity, Flight has been, from its inception, a venue for artists to have their voice heard unfiltered. By its very nature, it's a showcase for unique and sincere work.

5) One of the noticeable evolutions of FLIGHT seems to be the move from a more animation influenced look to that of a storybook style. Did anything or anyone have a particular influence on you work for FLIGHT, whether it be personally or artistically?

I had done storyboarding for animation and film for years, but never really enjoyed it. It wasn't until I went back read some Shel Silverstein books and Edward Gorey that things started falling into place visually for my story.

6) One of the strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

There's a freshness to having non-comic artists doing comics. I find the industry has, for the past few years, lacked a certain enthusiasm because it was feeding on itself. Everyone was inspired by the same 5 people, and ended up doing variations of the same 5 stories.

Having some new blood come in kick the industry in the rear is just what it needed.

7) What’s next for you following FLIGHT?

Aside from another Flight story for Volume 4, I'm working on some more online material for my site www.guerrilla-comics.com, and a project with B.Clay Moore (Hawaiian Dick) is slowly brewing. I hope to do some more Sammy material over the year and I've started working on some scripts to some OGNs I've been pciking at for years.

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Friend to all small creatures everywhere (felines need not apply)

http://www.guerrilla-comics.com
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cubicz

Neil, when it comes to graphic novelists getting book deals you
certainly come to mind as deserving one. You could do a romance book
and call it SUMMER OF NEIL. But the book you're working on now, would
that be a continuation of your previous FLIGHT stories exploring your
family and background?

I'm not sure if the world is ready for SUMMER OF NEIL!

Those previous FLIGHT stories are actually fiction, but people often confuse them with autobiography despite the characters, I think because I wrote them in the same "slice-of-life" style as my journal comics, where the plot is pretty subtle.

Since then I've taken those snippets and reworked them into one longer complete story, so I would definitely like to make a book out of it. I've learned a lot about storytelling that I'm eager to practice in a longer form. Everything after my FLIGHT 3 piece is "more narrative" as my friends say.

I've also recently been working on a sort of cartoon fantasy that's completely different from my FLIGHT stuff, which is ironic since cartoon fantasies are probably more at home there.

Now that you've passed the bar, how do you juggle having two distinct
career paths?

Well that's not a new dilemma at all. (I've been called a "dabbler," which I like to remember when I need some motivation!) Although I like to blame this problem for my sparse output, anybody can be creative with a little time management effort. I often work on this stuff when other people would be doing recreational stuff like watching TV, etc. But making a book of course requires a much more solid commitment. I'm working on a way to resolve that, but I still struggle with it, to be honest. Hopefully things will be a lot smoother soon.

Do you feel there's a stigma against autobiographical comic stories?

I've been able to generate a lot of great response with just the ones on my website (even though I only have a few up at a time), and hopefully people will like my FLIGHT 3 story. So I don't feel any stigma yet. A lot of the most lauded graphic novels like "Maus," "Persepolis," "Blankets," etc. are biographical, and seem to be in large part responsible for increasing the appeal of the medium these days.

You mentioned that some extra time allowed you to add more detail to
your art for your FLIGHT contribution. Your style has evolved quite a
bit, I remember when I first saw your work you placed an emphasis on
block colours with few black lines but now you seem to have moved to a
more brush driven detailed ink style. Are you conscious of your own
changes in style? Have you come to prefer working in black and white
over the years?

I'm not sure if I'm completely conscious of it, but the FLIGHT 3 story was an experiment in lots of brush detail. I wanted all the panels to look sharp and miniature and detailed, something your eyes can settle on and explore, instead of big graphic explosions. I think I've always liked working with ink in black and white, and I've just come to have a better control of it. (I've also been practicing with digital painting, and I'd like to try applying it to comics soon.) The block coloring of the first story was a style imported from my quick early webcomics.

When you tend to write about yourself your friends are often a large
factor in influencing but also starring in your work. What sort of
reactions do you get to involving them in your comics work?

Well, sometimes I composite or fictionalize characters, so I know who they are and it's still very real to me, but it won't offend anyone. I think it's okay as long as it's truthfully inspired. In the FLIGHT 3 story, my friend who's seen at the beginning and the end is an actor in real life, so I figured he wouldn't mind. I also try not to ridicule people (other than myself) like a lot of 'journal comics,' though I have my lapses. Usually people are excited to see themselves portrayed.

Do crafting stories such as "In Due Time" act as a sort of catharsis for you?

It can be, but now I'm trying to give something to the reader rather than just provide a catharsis for myself. It's not an attempt at self-therapy, although there may be have been an element of that in my comics from a few years ago.

(BTW ? the ain't no dancer story? holy fuck, nice work)

Wow thanks! Now that's cathartic, a nice reader reaction.

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@rumrug
neilcomics.com