After a self-proclaimed “difficult time”, Chicago publisher Devil’s Due’s comic books are back in stores. With economic troubles facing several Chicago Nerd organizations (see Midway Games), it is now more important than ever to support your local nerdery. And with books like the soon-to-be-a-movie Hack/Slash and Heroes‘ Milo Ventimiglia’s Rest, Devil’s Due makes it easy. Buy D.D. @ Chicago Comics.
Alex Robinson is the artist and writer behind the hit graphic novels Box Office Poison, Tricked and his newest work, Too Cool to Be Forgotten. Recently, Max got to talk with Robinson about his work.
Your work on Box Office Poison and Too Cool To Be Forgotten appears to be heavily autobiographical. Is this actually the case or is that a common misinterpretation?
I used to be sort of in denial that Box Office Poison was as autobiographical as people seemed to think it was but looking back now–I finished the book almost ten years ago I realize it was closer than I thought. Not necessarily in terms of the details of my life, though there is some of that, but more in terms of the things I was working out in my head. I would say it was psychologically autobiographical, if that didn’t sound too pretentious. Obviously certain details were taken from my own life: Sherman worked in a bookstore, Ed was an aspiring cartoonist, I had a crazy landlady, but for the most part it was fiction.
With Too Cool I definitely took a lot of elements from my own life and put them in the story. That was an inspiration for doing the book, a sort of art therapy dealing with my feelings about growing up and high school and whatnot. It didn’t quite pan out the way I expected, but there were still a lot of details from my own life. Andy’s house is the house I grew up in, for instance, but some things are different. I didn’t have an older brother or sister, for instance.
It gets harder to take stuff from my own current life since my experience is so limited now. I work at home as a full time cartoonist, so it makes it harder to mine my own life.
The subject of struggling as an artist plays a major role in BOP. Now that both that piece and Too Cool to Be Forgotten have achieved a certain level of success, do you personally still feel some of those pressures? How has your outlook changed (if at all) as your work has received acknowledgment?
Well, the pressures are still there. It’s the same basic neuroses but they’re just updated to suit my current position. That was one of the things I wrestled with in Tricked, the idea of Now That You Got It how do you Keep It and how do you get more. You always have to be careful talking about these kinds of ideas because it’s easy to seem like an ungrateful whiner. That said, I’m constantly battling with my own professional jealousy, as a friend put it. I’m always wary of who is “ahead” of me in the biz and who is coming up behind. I’m also a glass-half-empty kind of person so even with whatever successes I’ve achieved I tend to downplay them or spin them in a negative way. It’s terrible!
How did you get your start? What advice do you have (if any) for those who want to try their hand at creating a graphic novel?
After I graduated from art school I started doing mini comics and sending them to publishers. After goofing off through four years of college I figured it was time to get serious so I really tried to be as productive as I could. Eventually, Antarctic Press picked up what would become the serialized version of Box Office Poison and it just kind of grew from there.
I guess my advice is to do it if you really love it. There’s so little money to be made that you can’t think of it as an occupation so much as a hobby. Once you accept that you’ll be a lot happier (or less unhappy). The key for me was creating the kind of comic I wanted to read. Comics are very labor intensive and you’re going to be spending a lot time with these characters and situations so you’d better make sure it’s something you enjoy.
On a more specific and practical note, you might want to consider making the first few chapters of your “novel” fairly self-contained. This way, if you get sick of the concept you can abort the project and just offer those chapters as a shorter work (if you’ll notice the first sixty pages of Box Office Poison are more or less simple short stories in which I was getting to know the characters, there isn’t really any overall plot).
In most cases, you seem to pull double duty, both writing and drawing your work. Is there a particular reason for this? Do you have any interest in collaborating or do you just prefer to work alone?
I guess ever since I started making my own comics as a kid I did it all myself so I just never stopped. I enjoy both aspects so I want to do both. I think most people seem to like my writing better than my art but I have much more fun drawing than I do writing. They just use different parts of your brain, I guess.
I think I prefer to work alone but I’d be curious to try collaboration. I think the problem is that everyone wants to collaborate with someone better than them, right? Most of the people who have talked to me about collaborating are aspiring amateurs. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if I feel like I can draw better than someone there’s not really much incentive for me to write something with that person in mind–I would just draw it myself. Similarly, I would love to draw from an Alan Moore script or write a story for John Cassaday to draw, but I’m sure they both have better things to do and would lump me in with the “aspiring amateur” group.
I think it would be interesting to write a script knowing that someone else would be drawing it. I know I have certain limitations as an artist so I would never write, say, a fight on the rooftop of a cathedral because I know I could never draw that. So writing a script for a really good versatile artist would be an interesting experiment.
With the continuing popularity of comic book-based movies, both large (Dark Knight, Iron Man) and smaller (American Splendor, Ghost World), are there any plans to transfer you’re work to the big screen or other media? Is that even something you would want?
There have been some nibbles over the years but nothing that has panned out. We’ve all heard stories about the nightmarish development hell that is hollywood so I’m not exactly betting on anything happening but I’m hopeful. Personally, I would love for it to happen. I don’t have a lot of faith that a good movie would come out of it–it’s more for the fame/respect and, most of all, the money. Once I got the cash they could do whatever they wanted. Cast Carrot Top as Sherman or the Jonas Brothers play Andy Wicks, I don’t care–actually that last one might be good because it means the movie would at least make money. Where do I sign?
What can Alex Robinson fans, (myself included) look forward to? What projects are you working on or releasing in the near future?
My next project is kind of out of left field on a few levels. Harper Collins approached me about a new series they’re doing where different cartoonists adapt classic Christmas stories into comics form and I thought it sounded like an interesting project. It’s proven a real challenge on a few fronts but hopefully it will be out in time for Christmas 2009. I’m adapting L. Frank Baum’s “A Kidnapped Santa Claus.” It will be a short book, only sixty pages or so. I have some ideas for stuff after that but nothing definite. I like the idea of doing another very long book, like Box Office Poison, but maybe serialize it over a few paperbacks. I don’t know if I could wait to release it in one big chunk this time, since it would probably take me ten years to do a five hundred page book.
Thank you, Alex.
Get Alex Robinson’s work @ Chicago Comics.
Remember when the coolest part of waiting for Christmas was flipping through the Christmas catalog? Wishbookweb.com has scans of the pages from most of the Sears Wishbooks from 1940-1988. So, you can go there and drool over the toy sections of the Wishbooks of your youth all over again. However, the other sections of the books are well worth a trip down memory lane, too!
Below is the official trailer for X-men Origins: Wolverine. I’ll say, I’m impressed. I like what I see of Gambit so far and the possibility of the White Queen intrigues me as well. X-men Origins: Wolverine will be released May 1st 2009
Video Courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
With the Holidays fast approaching, I’ve got a few long train rides in my immediate future. For me, a little bit of planning ahead helps to turn the otherwise painfully long trips into a a chance to catch up on some reading. Thus, my recent acquisition of Jack Kirby’s The Demon Omnibus.
From DC Comics:
Written by Jack Kirby; Art and cover by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer
One of Jack “King” Kirby’s most memorable creations returns in this title collecting the entire, original 16-issue series from the early 1970s! Part man, part elemental fury, Etrigan the Demon was bound to Jason Blood by Merlin to defend Camelot, only to become a demonologist in the modern-day DC Universe.
I’m a big fan of Kirby’s style, and this massive hardcover book beautifully reproduces his original run on The Demon. The paper stock that DC chose to reprint these Kirby omnibus books on is really cool, because it is very similar to vintage comic book paper stock, but with considerably more ink saturation. Because of this, the “pop” of the colors on each page is really amazing!
Is it any good? I’ve not read it yet. But it’s Jack Kirby’s medieval demonic opus from the mid 70’s. How can it not be good?
Last night, Max went and saw the Wu-Tang Clan and the less-shitty-than-I-remember-but-still-shitty House of Blues in Chicago, and they ruled. Although Method Man was not there, and O.D.B. is dead, the Clan still managed to bring the house down. Max’s favorite members, Ghostface Killah, the Rza, the Gza and Raekwon were all “in effect”, as were lesser-known but equally awesome utility players Inspectah Deck and U-God, and their energy and set list were truly impressive. For all those suckas not in the know, The Wu-Tang Clan is pretty much the nerdiest/best rap group ever.
With side projects including a Wu-Tang video game, Wu-Tang and Method Man comic books, The Rza’s work on Kill Bill and Afro Samurai, and Ghostface Killah’s alias Tony Stark, The Wu-Tang Clan seems to have almost a preturnatural understanding of Nerd culture. Their music has always been reference heavy, utilizing kung fu movies, and their lyrics are heavily steeped in comic book lore. The point is Wu-Tang is the shit, and if you’re a nerd, and you’re not listening to them, you should be.
Neccessary homework includes (but is not limited to) 36 Chambers, the Gza’s Liquid Swords, Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, the Rza’s Bobby Digital, anything by Ghostface, Return to the 36 Chambers and Nigga Please (both by O.D.B.). and Method Man’s masterpiece Tical. Check it.
I gotta tell ya, this movie rules. Now I’ve read a lot of bad reviews about “Punisher: War Zone“, and it is currently tanking at the box office, but this is seriously one of the best comic book movies that no one will ever see. For the record, I am huge Punisher fan. I’ve been reading the books since I was a kid, including spinoffs like “War Journal” and his appearances in “The Nam“. Garth Ennis‘ recent reinterpretation of the character has helped keep the Punisher pertinent, and the new movie is heavily influenced by Ennis’ storylines, over-the-top violence, and physically grotesque villainy.
In fact, the film is one of the most true-to-the-source-material comic book movies that I’ve ever seen. Appearances by such notable Punisher characters as dim-witted detective Soapy, mutilated psychopath Jigsaw, overweight assistant Microchip, (Wayne Knight) and lunatic black Irishman Mcginty, lend the movie some serious fan-boy cred. Rome’s Ray Stevenson is a great Frank Castle, and his gruff, man-of-few words disposition and imposing physical size perfectly match the character’s comic book counterpart.
And the violence, oh the violence. The Punisher has always been Marvel’s R-rated hero, and this movie perfectly understands this. War Zone is filled with holy-shit-that’s-awesome moments and any description of them would ruin the bloody surprise. The only film that I can think of that compares in the sheer amount of cheer-inducing deaths is Robert Rodriguez’s murder masterpiece, Planet Terror.
Garth Ennis has repeatedly mentioned Dirty Harry as an influence on his take on The Punisher, and this movie perfectly understands the idea of Castle-as-scary-gun-toting-anti-hero. Besides, what’s Christmas without a little over-the-top violence? (see Die Hard, Home Alone,) And with that in mind I say, Punisher War Zone is the best holiday movie so far. With “Four Christmases” a close second.
One of Max’s favorite comic publishers Top Shelf is waiving all shipping charges on new releases until December 14th. Place an order of $40 or more and get free priority mail shipping to any US destination. For those not familiar, Top Shelf has released such Nerd City favorites as Veeps, Too Cool To Be Forgotten, Blankets, and Max’s current read, the Eisner award winning Box Office Poison. These books make great gifts for the self-aware nerds (no matter the age) in your life. Learn all about them here.
So, it’s confession time. I heart “The Umbrella Academy“, the comic book by Gabriel Ba and frontman of one of my least favorite bands of all time, My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way.
Look, I promise I approached the first Umbrella Academy story, Apocalypse Suite, with heavy, heavy skepticism. I went in to the book with intentions of hating it. After all, how could any one associated with, ugh, My Chemical Romance, produce anything not suicide-inducing?
Yet regardless of my undying hatred for his previous work, I have to say, The Umbrella Academy is one of the best comics I’ve ever read. Seriously. It’s a mix of The Royal Tenenbaums, Hellboy, and Jules Verne, and the art by Gabriel Ba is some of the best I’ve seen. The book is a perfect fit for publishing house Dark Horse, and it has quickly become one of their flagship titles.
Issue #1 of the new storyline, “Umbrella Academy: Dallas” is available now, with issue #2 dropping on X-mas day. With a new line of toys coming out in April, and a confirmed movie due from Universal, The Umbrella Academy appears to be nothing short of a phenomenon, and I say hoorah! In fact, I hope The Umbrella Academy is so successful, Gerard Way never has to record a single song again.
Get The Umbrella Academy here.
Straight out of Empire Magazine, we get a new pic of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Taylor Kitsch as Gambit. Unfortunately we don’t see Gambit in costume or anything that would make you think that this actor was portraying the character, but it’s a good start. The word on the street is the full X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer will be with the The Day the Earth Stood Still movie that is released on December 12th. I really hope they don’t fuck up Gambit as most will agree with me that he is the coolest X-men character out there.
Images from Empire Magazine, comicbookmovie.com and screenrant.com
Recently, Lawrence, Kansas, home of Missoura-beating KU, where Nerd Citizens Max, Mike, and Kris all went to school, has been heavily featured in two of the more prominent nerd shows on TV: Heroes and Supernatural. The brothers on Supernatural are from Lawrence, and recently, on this much-improved (although far-from perfect) season of Heroes, super fast, very hot, maybe-villian Daphne is from Lawrence, and Hiro, love-able Asian time traveler even goes to a comic book store there (imaginary, unfortunately), where fellow nerds Seth Green and Breckin Meyer work. Weird.
Today Lucasarts may not be putting out their best efforts when it comes to video games, but 10+ years ago pretty much every PC title they put out was fantastic. From Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle to their early Star Wars games like Tie Fighter; Lucasarts has been a “force” to be reckoned with since the beginning. And coming soon (no release date yet) will be a coffee table book reviewing the history of the company. The book is available for pre-order at Amazon for $60. Could be an interesting read.
Rob Schrab is the shit. His work includes “Scud: The Disposable Assassin“, “Monster House“, “Heat Vision and Jack“, and “The Sarah Silverman Program“. (See his Nerd City profile here.) Max recently had a chance to ask Rob a few questions about his work, his future, and his recent return to Scud.