Everyone I know is working on a web comic (myself included). The market is oversaturated and more often than not, the comics aren’t totally awesome. It’s for these reasons and more that Battle Creek, NE was such a pleasure for me to read.

Created by writer Mike Steele (great name) and artist Julia Philip (less great, but only because you can’t trust someone with two first names), Battle Creek, NE is young but promising regularly updated web comic. I won’t give too much away because you can head over to BattleCreekNEComic.com right now and check it out for yourself, but I can tell you that an intergalactic battle of the bands may be involved.

It’s great stuff (this Geeks of Doom review written by a staggeringly handsome young journalist says as much), which is why speaking with the comic’s creators was such a blast. I caught up with Steele and Philip to speak about the finer points of web comics and getting noticed in the brutal world of digital publishing.

Why did you decide to put out Battle Creek, NE as a web comic instead of pitching it to publishers?

Julia: I personally read more online comics than I read comics I buy. I also think that doing it as an online comic we can more easily build a fanbase, and maybe then consider selling it, knowing we’ll have people buying it.

Mike: The idea of pitching the idea to a publisher never even crossed my mind. Maybe it’s just me not knowing how I could even start a process like that, but in my head, this was always gonna be a web comic, down to the way we structure the pages and everything. (if you were to put all the pages in a regular 24 page comic type format, I would imagine people would notice the gaps in time that sometimes pop up between pages).

How did you and Julia start working together on this comic?

Mike: Julia was dating someone that was a regular listener of my weekly podcast (jim and them) and so she started listening to it as well. We eventually became friends on Facebook and I had complimented her on her art in the past, even asking her to do some art for the show a few times. She eventually asked me if I’d ever be interested in doing a comic with her at all. I was thrilled when she asked because I’ve always enjoyed writing, comics, and web comics but never had the art chops to do anything about it. I pitched her the idea I’d had for a while that became Battle Creek, NE (at the time I just called it The Battle of the Bands) and it kind of went from there.

Because there are so many web comics online, it is often hard for creators to get noticed. How are you making sure that Battle Creek, NE gets out there and gets noticed?

Julia: I mostly make posts about it on my Deviantart and Tumblr etc. and hope that people will notice it.

Mike: It helps that we both had existing audiences from the get go because of her presence on Deviantart and the existing listeners of my weekly podcast. Having had a bit of a built in audience from the get-go made spreading it around social networks like Facebook and Twitter a lot easier. I’ve also made sure to get us on a few of the more popular web comic portal websites (Comic fury and Smack Jeeves), which has done a good job of giving complete strangers a place to find our comic who would be unlikely to stumble across our website. Everything else I’m sort of just winging it on: Requesting reviews online, befriending other artists online and most importantly continuing to update the comic on a regular basis.

Mike, you’ve focused heavily on character development in this comic. Why is this so important to you, especially in the medium of web comics, where characters are often neglected?

Mike: Well, you pretty much said it yourself right there. I think there is a bit of a web comic renaissance going on these days, where you can find professional quality stories and art in web comics, and I wanted to be a part of that. You can close your eyes and randomly type a word into google and find a 3-4 panel gaming comic, and don’t get me started on how annoyed I am the amounts of garbage rage comics there are flooding the web, but you have to try a heck of a lot harder to find someone telling a good story. On top of that though, it’s just always been the way I wanted to write. Whether it’s short stories, message board RP’s, D&D or whatever, I’ve always enjoyed the character creation and interaction part of writing. Since I have no formal training in writing, outside of what I learned in high school, I don’t think I’m great at it just yet, but it’s nice to know a LITTLE bit of what I’m trying to do with these characters is coming through.

Julia, how did you come up with the designs for the various alien species in this comic?

Julia: I try to just do whatever comes to my mind. I know that Mike and I both kinda agreed on that we didn’t wanna go too crazy with the alien designs, keep them mostly humanoid. Mike wanted to have the characters of them shine through rather than just having them be interesting because of how they looked. I like keeping the designs pretty simple. Just including features to a basic humanoid idea or a funky skin-colour is usually enough. I know Mike’s only concern was that we make sure they don’t stray too far into the realm of “Fantasy” looking characters, but I think we’ve done good at avoiding that so far.

How do you guys work as a team? Julia, do you prefer Mike write out direction in detail or leave room for you to stretch artistically?

Julia: I like it when he describes the things with a lot of detail, as much as he can give me. I hate making mistakes because I might have misunderstood something. Usually I handle more of the environment based direction myself though, since as a writer there is really only so much you can say to convey the blocking of how a page is set up. I know Mike always says he feels like I can read his mind though, because so far he says stuff tends to look exactly how he pictured it. I also love pages that have very little dialogue, it leaves more room for me to do more fun things with the characters.

Mike: For the most part we use Skype, Livestream and Facebook. I won’t lie and say its exactly like being in the same room, but as far as the fact that I live in Las Vegas, NV and she lives in Sweden, I feel like we have a nice utility belt of tools that that allow us to work on stuff together in a way that definitely doesn’t feel like were on opposite sides of the planet. When we can hop on Skype and she can stream her Photoshop on Livestream for me in real time, it becomes pretty easy to work on laying out pages and designing characters together with nothing lost in our distance from each other.

Mike, how do you usually write your scripts? Similar to the way traditional comics are written or different for Web?

Mike: I basically write them like a mix between a short story outline and a screenplay. I break out out dialogue and directions of characters, facial expressions, their more subtle feelings, and position of the characters when its important. When I feel like that stuff should be more organic though, I’ve found that Julia is very good at taking a little bit and filling in the holes the way she see’s fit in a way that I’m always okay with. Julia is excellent with body blocking, facial expressions and expressing emotion in the ways she draws our characters, so sometimes it can be a strength to let me leave that stuff to her.

Any advice for aspiring comic creators?

Julia: Try and keep moving on. Your first comic pages will always look terrible, so don’t go backwards and try drawing the first ten pages over and over, you won’t get anywhere. Try and push yourself to do things you’ve never done before, and don’t avoid drawing the backgrounds (people always ignore backgrounds!) Your readers can easily lose track of where the characters are.

Mike: Don’t kill yourself over the small stuff. Take your idea, break it down into a few broad pieces and just go with it. You’re always gonna end up wishing you did something different (I can’t count the amount of things I think are awful in some of our early pages that I’m sure no one EVER noticed) but the more you put put there, the more you’re gonna just naturally get better and feel more comfortable doing. Also, don’t be afraid to try something different. There is no better feeling of satisfaction, than to be told that you’re doing something creative and unique.

Check out Battle Creek, NE RIGHT HERE!

In our year and a half or so of life, we here at Panel Bound have always been huge fans of just about anything put out by comic publisher Archaia.  Their next graphic novel will be no exception.

The highly anticipated The Reason for Dragons  by Chris Northrop (colorist for Oni Press) and Jeff Stokely (Fraggle Rock) is rapidly approaching its May 15th release date.  It’s ready for pre-order over at Archaia.

I may be a little biased as I still can’t get over “Skyrim,” but anything having to do with dragons rocks my socks more than two awesome things.  The preview art that I have seen for this book looks fabulously whimsical.  If you take a quick look at the description on Archaia’s page, then you can see how easy it’ll be to get hooked on The Reason for Dragons. Abandoned Renaissance Fair grounds?  Coming of age stories?  Count me in.

The Reason for Dragons has another huge named attached to it — Sean Murphy with concept credits. With Murphy being attached to stories like Punk Rock Jesus and American Vampire, it is safe to say that you can keep your expectations high.

To keep your mind off of the crippling anticipation that is waiting for The Reason for Dragons, take a look at some Panel Bound exclusive art, and a quote from creator Chris Northrop about future projects:

I’d like to do another creator owned book or limited series. One is about a burnout private detective in Burbank who has been scrapping the barrel, resorting to finding lost dogs for quick cash rewards. And there is a really large conspiracy about the missing dogs. It’s a comedy, but there is a lot of pathos to the protagonist. So I’m shopping it around. I started talking with Archaia about doing it with them after Dragons maybe. And I’ve be working with penciler Kevin Castaniero on that one.

Sometimes when the written word just isn’t enough to capture the sheer awesomeness of an interview, we turn to a more liberating medium. In this case, an interview with Tradd Moore the artist behind The Legend of Luther Strode, we decided to do things via the wonders of podcasting.

Panel Bound’s Eastyn caught up Moore recently to discuss the joys of working from home, and having significant others who feel the need to make sure they see daylight.  They also talk about comics and stuff.  Matthew was unfortunately unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts of needing to save the world.  

Listen To The Interview Here

The End Times of Bram & Ben might just be what is needed to help shake off our collective 2013 existential comic crisis. Created by veteran comic writer James Asmus and actor/writer Jim Festante, The End Times… is a breath of light-weight comedic fresh air that couldn’t come soon enough.

The Rapture has come, and 20 somethings Bram and Ben were not among the lucky few to ascend to heaven. This of course, has left them dealing with life after the end times, which sometimes is a drag, but most of the time its business as usual. The mini series’ third issue drops on March 13, 2013 and will mark the second to last issue in this four part series.

Jim and James are two writers with an infinite love of comics. I caught up with the duo, who shared some insight into exploring uncomfortable territory like religion and working together as a comedic writing team.

First off, how did you guys end up working with each other and eventually Image Comics?

JIM: James and I met through a mutual friend in comedy while doing improv in Las Vegas and LA. We discovered a shared love of End Times stories and began collaborating on a web series that eventually became END TIMES. We originally sought to publish the first book ourselves, using Kickstarter to raise funds for an artist and printing, but were extremely fortunate to have interest in the book from Image.

Jim, you have a long resume as a host, actor and writer for television and the stage. Why comics?

JIM: I’ve written a lot of scripts for TV and web projects, but was always interested in comic books. Ultimately, the freedom to do whatever you want is a huge draw — an angel/demon fight that ends in an apartment building collapsing like something out of Rampage would require a budget. A very large budget. Also, it’s such a collaborative endeavor, since you have an artist interpreting your script to realize your world. My comedy training is based in improv so I’ve always believed that a give-and-take between several creative people can lead to something really amazing and unique — Rem Broo’s art for END TIMES, I think, proves that.

James, you’ve written on Dark X-Men and Gambit, how did you first get started in comics?

JAMES: I had been working as a playwright in Chicago, and once we took a crazy little show I wrote to the New York Fringe Theatre festival. I knew a few folks working at Marvel and invited them to see the show, just hoping I could geek out with them. Soon after, though, they offered me the chance to write a short comic for an X-Men anthology book. I guess they were happy with the results, and continued hiring me from there! I know it’s not the most helpful breaking-in story on the surface, but I think it still highlights what you need – the dedication to actually create work, initiative, and your own voice.

The End Times of Bram & Ben is written in such a way where religion, specifically, isn’t mocked for no reason. Why was it important to write this comic without falling into easy territory of poking fun at something that is arguably easy to poke fun at?

JAMES: To me, the whole benefit of exploring uncomfortable questions through a fictional narrative is that they (can) become wrapped in a coating that makes them easier and more appealing to engage in. The truth is, I want as many people to engage in this story, and the ideas lurking within it, as possible. The hope is, our different characters reflect different ideas – and the conflicts between them raise the questions that we find most compelling. Every character is going to have their blind-spots and foibles called out, but that (in my opinion) is when satire is at its best. If your lead character is just a cipher for your opinion, and he’s always right, then you’re just a bully. And not only is that not funny, but if you really did want get someone to consider a new idea – too bad, they stopped listening to you the minute you were kicking sand in their face. Besides, our beliefs in the unknowable Truth of Existence are so personal, that if I made a story about what I actually believed, very few people would agree with it. Instead, we can poke at the kinds of questions we think are important (and too often not asked), and it engages and has value to many, many more people. The sex jokes help with that, too.

Jim, as a newer comic writer, what things surprised or were tough for you when it came to writing a script?

JIM: The pauses! I love pauses, beats and silent reactions between characters, but you’ve just given up a panel of limited space to do so, so it better count. Also, learning how to structure your book properly, like setting up a page turn or landing on a good cliffhanger to keep the readers’ interest piqued. The arc of a mini-series is different than the arc of a TV show, so learning how to adjust your storytelling can be frustrating learning experience. Fortunately, I had James’ expertise to lean on and learn from. If you’re not reading his other books, you’re missing out — the guy is a fantastic storyteller!

James, both you and Jim are comedians, how did you get jokes into The End Times… that you were both happy with, but spoke uniquely to your own voices?

JAMES: I actually think there’s a very big overlap in our senses of humor. And the nature of improv is that you work to find the combination of your brains — not just trade off from one POV to the other. In the end, we both just kept flinging jokes until something genuinely made us both laugh.

JIM: We have a similar sense of humor, which lead to us wanting to work together. Writing the book was a blast — basically, whatever made the other person crack up was a good indication we were going in the right direction. It’s like getting an instant second- or third-pass on your writing, a constant punch-up for your jokes so they land strongly and clearly.

Any advice for aspiring comic creators who would like to put our their own creator-owned work?

JAMES: Especially when you’re starting out — make the thing you love, not the thing that you think will ‘sell.’ The truth is, your passion and idiosyncratic choices will be far more compelling to people than your thinly veiled Batman fan fiction. And by creating something no one would have, you define yourself so much more clearly. Especially early on, you’re better served by a smaller passionate audience than a larger, ambivalent one. Also — don’t underestimate putting your work online. Web comics, PDF sales on your site, or digital comics vendors are all great ways to get your work out and in many cases those get bigger audiences than a lot of stuff published and solicited to shops.

If someone hasn’t read The End Times… why should they start reading it now?

JIM: It’s a unique book and I’m so grateful that there was a publisher out there like Image willing to take a chance on it. I think it’s the kind of book you can read a second or even third time and get more from beyond your initial reading. So… you get your money’s worth? That’s a very grown-up reason! You can feel good knowing you’ve helped support independent comics and your parents can feel good knowing they raised a conscientiousness consumer.

Paul may have creeped you out recently. You just didn’t know it. The cover for the first issue of his brand new comic Colder was brutal to say the least.

Like I said, brutal.

Paul has been working in comics for years as a writer for houses like Marvel, DC and now the home of Colder, Dark Horse. As an industry veteran, this writer had an incredible amount of knowledge to pass along regarding working in comics and creating truly terrifying horror.

You have had a very successful career as a comic writer, how did you first get started in comics?

A couple of chance meetings, really. I went to college with Phil Hester, and he’d been doing comics, which was honestly the first time that I realized it was POSSIBLE to just… make comics. I thought creators needed special badges or something, I guess. We started to do work together, and I had fun, but can’t say how serious I was about it. I stepped out of the industry for a long time, basically until my wife, Colleen Coover wanted to make comics. I taught her how to do things, and then momentum kept me going. Then Jeff Parker asked if he should send in my name to Marvel Comics. I said, “Sure.” He did. Then, Marvel said, “Write for us.” I did. Lately I’ve been more focused on creator-owned material, but I still love Marvel / DC, and so many of the characters out there.

You’ve worked on hero comics, indie comics and adventure comics. Your latest book Colder is a horror book, why horror now?

I kind of roll with my desires, really. I wrote so many All Ages books that I was starting to become known as an All Ages writer. Always a danger to be typecast. So I began to purposefully spread out, work in some of the other genres that interest me. I’ve always had a strong interest in horror, so when Scott Allie at Dark Horse asked if I’d like to do some horror comics, I was all over it. I love writing creeping, unrelenting unease.

The first cover for Colder was brutal and really chilling, how did you and artist Juan Ferreyra decide on that design?

That one’s ALL on Juan. When the horror line was getting underway at Dark Horse, theme was “Dark Horse horror… it gets under your skin.” So Juan thought about that can came back with a really chilling raw version of what ended up as the cover. He sent it to Scott first, and his wife couldn’t even be in the same room with the image. I thought that was funny until I found out that Colleen wouldn’t be in the same room with it, either. So, we knew we had a winner, and also I made it my screen saver for a few months just to be mean to Colleen.

As a comic writer, what have you found is the hardest part about breaking in and staying in the comic industry?

The unrelenting pace. There’s never a good time to rest. You aren’t always writing or setting up new writing. There’s no “or” to it. You will ALWAYS be writing AND setting up the next project. And you’ll be cleaning up the old ones. Just because a writer finishes a script doesn’t mean she’s done with it; she’ll have to herd it through rewrites, layouts, pencils, lettering, coloring, etc. Meanwhile, it’s writing new material, setting up new jobs, doing promotion, etc. It’s a hectic pace. Burn out is a real problem. That’s one of the main reasons I like to work in several different genres, because it keeps me fresh.

What is the key to writing a great horror comic like Colder?

I’m a huge fan of letting the audience help with the tension, building the horror in tandem. I grew up on “scare tactic” horror movies… axes to the head and killers leaping from closets, that sort of thing. But that’s cheap. It’s easy. And it doesn’t last. It wasn’t until I started watching Japanese and Korean horror films (Ichi the Killer, Audition, etc) that I really began to understand how I felt about horror. I like the slow tapping… the torture of having no control, of the world shifting beneath the character’s feet in slooooooow fashion. The moment the killer jumps through the window, the tension is broken. I don’t like the tension to be broken. NOW the characters can fight back. I like tension to build… and build… and build… and leave everyone helpless.

Declan is such an interesting and manic character. Where did the idea for Colder originate from?

The title came before anything else. I like the blunt aspect. And it comes with a question… WHAT is colder? Colder than WHAT? So it was effective that way. Afterwards… hmm… there wasn’t much process. Sometimes there are just things in my head and I don’t know where they came from. I hope that they come from a good place, but if not, well… I still love them.

Any advice for aspiring comic creators?

Just don’t quit. And don’t stop growing. When people say you aren’t good enough, don’t believe them, but get better anyway. Why not?

If someone isn’t reading Colder, why should they be?

Even if you don’t like horror, I think Juan Ferreyra’s imagery sells the book on its own. He’s led us into some really dark areas by creating some really wonderful art. And if you DO love horror, well… then you can share that love with a couple of creators who love it just as much as you do, and that love shows through by how many people have asked us, “Are you guys… really and honestly crazy?”

As I was perusing Tumblr the other day, I stumbled across a post by comic guru Ryley St. Batman with this alarming piece of information:

“In not so great news Captain Marvel is apparently not selling too hot and there’s legitimate worry of it being canned. Marvel will probably keep it on the shelves a little longer than they usually would a series because it’s fans (no matter how few they are) really adore it, and they want to try and keep more female lead books on the shelves, but unless something happens to boost sales it seems like it might not last too much longer.”

When I asked him where this information was coming from, he responded:

“When I wrote about it for Population GO I used Bleeding Cool as a source because they’ve been reporting on the rumor, but there’s also the trends of how Marvel functions when cancelling series and whatnot. Look at the numbers for series they’ve canned in the past and you can see that CM is around that same number or below. “

I just about lost my mind.  Captain Marvel (written by Kelly Sue DeConnick) is a well written book, with a strong female lead.

Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel is a refreshing female character who isn’t all about sex appeal. Nor is she meant to be an overtly feminist figure.

She’s just an Avenger doing her job, and that’s what makes her character compelling.
The fact that she’s a woman is not a plot point (other than the fact that the previous Captain Marvel was a man), and so what you get is a wonderfully well-rounded character flying around and fighting giant robots made of WWII fighter planes.  It is fully brought to life by a series of wonderful artists, all with completely different styles, and cover art so good it makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry

You may be asking yourselves. “What are you so mad about, Eastyn, I understand that you’re sad it could be cancelled, but what’s the big deal?”

I am mad because I hear rumors of Captain Marvel being cancelled due to low readership, but the New 52 Catwoman is still in print.

I don’t even know where to begin my list of complaints. But, let us start with the terrible writing.  I started reading Catwoman a little bit ago, and realized it was a big waste of my money.

I kept reading in vain hope of it getting better, but it actually just got worse.  The writing is confusing, there’s no continuity, the language in it is appalling not to mention Catwoman is reduced to an over sexualized party girl (being sexy is one of Catwoman’s things but in this series, it’s her only thing) who has none of the intellect that one would expect from a master thief who manages to steal the heart of Batman.

Honestly I would watch Halle Berry as Catwoman rather than read this comic again.
Here is a gem from a Batman News review of the most recent Catwoman issue, #16:

“I don’t want to waste a lot of time talking about this comic. It’s garbage.”

I could definitely go on as to why it’s so terrible and why it makes me so sad that this comic is continually in production, but I won’t, because then I might be arrested for how negatively I feel towards Ann Nocenti’s writing.

A side note, Nocenti is also set to write Katana, which is a character I would be interested to learn about, but since she’s writing it, I just won’t even bother.

Now that you know how I feel about both comics.  It is difficult for me to not draw my own conclusions about the reasoning behind Catwoman having a larger readership than Captain Marvel.  It is no big surprise that the world of comics is heavily dominated by men (not to say that there are no ladies reading comics, but come on, let’s get serious here), and in a male dominated readership, what is going to be picked up faster?

This:

Or this:

I can’t just blame the men either.  What girl doesn’t want to be Catwoman?  Who doesn’t want to flip around in tight black body suits, stealing shinies, throwing out quick-witted quips and having a crazy romance with the one and only Batman?

Honestly, I picked it up regardless of the reviews because I wanted it to be good, I wanted to love Catwoman, but I just can’t justify purchasing this comic anymore.  I promise you that I am not the only one, there’s probably a good handful of ladies who pick it up for the exact same reason.  Catwoman is cool.  She’s edgy, and compared to her, Captain Marvel is a huge ‘L’ ’7′.

So here’s what I am suggesting.  Marvel, DC, are you listening?  I’m about to give you the best advice you could ever receive.  Marvel: Keep Captain Marvel.  Do some promoting of her.  Get her name out there.  She’s quite honestly the best, and I’m stoked with this comic in more ways than one.  Get the word out there!  Appeal to younger girls. She’s a great role model, and tell male readers that they aren’t going to be sold some feminazi insanity either.  She’s a super hero, her boobs just aren’t hanging out all the time, and it’s a wonderful world!

DC: Fire Ann Nocenti.  Get rid of her, just do it.  She’s ruining a wonderful character.  Hire me instead.  I’ve done the research, I even have a storyline planned and the first issue completely written out.  I did this out of pure rage for how the series was headed, so you know there’s heart behind it.

Anyways, how do you feel about this, dear Panel Bound readers.  Any fans of the new Catwoman? Captain Marvel?

So all three if you met at the [Creators] Conference?  How was that experience for all of you?

Adam: Well Chris and I knew eachother before that, but yes, we met Mimi at the creator conference.

Chris: Right, we did meet there. Our goal, from the outset, was to find someone to replace my sister, who was our original artist. It was an interesting event, which is that is was basically speed dating for an artist.

Mimi, how did you enjoy the conference, as an artist?

Mimi: When I explain it to people I use the term “speed dating” as well.  I thought it was a really great experience.  I got to see a bunch of other artist and what was out there in addition to getting actual work.  It was an awesome way to well… get commissions.  I wouldn’t have met Chris and Adam with out it.

So, how did they go about asking you to be their artist? Did they have to woo you a bit?

Mimi: Not really.  Their project seemed fun and my art style was close enough to what they were looking for.

Adam: I did wink at her pretty suggestively. I don’t think that’s what did it, though.

Chris: We were talking about whether or not we wanted to go forward with things, because Mimi sketched out Camille on the spot, which was totally cool. I think my words were, “…If we can afford you.”

How did the money negotiations go?

Chris: I think money negotiations went pretty well. I offered what I thought was “right” basically on the spot.  We followed up with some emails and talk about schedule of pages per week. Typical stuff, I imagine.

Sounds like that the Creators thing worked out wonderfully for all three of you.  So you have two issues out, what are your long term plans for RB?

Chris: Really, when we started, it was planned to be a typical, weekly webcomic that had a punchline at the end of each page/strip, but over the years that it took to get anything actually produced, we evolved into a full-fleshed story that we wanted to pitch to publishers.

WHY is it no longer a weekly webcomic?

Mimi: I know Chris as a specific answer for this, because I’ve asked the same thing.

Chris: Well, like I said, it started that way. I suppose it veered away from being a 4-panel strip into full pages. Back then, it was less of a story and more of a general premise that was going to be exploited for laughs, then eventually get some kind of continuity.

Adam: A lot of the first chapter was original written in this webcomic format. A few jokes survived from that period.

Chris: But, as we continued to work with it and evolved, I guess I got the “I want to publish this” bug and really pushed for full pages and a continuing story.

How has it been working with each other for writing, and Mimi, How is it drawing something that is not your story/vision?

Adam: It’s pretty easy as far as colaborations go. We have complimenting strengths when it comes to storytelling. He has the big ideas and the clear vision, and I provide the specific words for them.

Chris: And also, he’s a much better techical writer than I am, and usually adds the funny to my jokes.

Mimi: These two are actually very liberating to work with as far as most commissioners go.

Why so?

Mimi: I mean, I can do almost anything I want with the background enviornment and character, and even add some sight gags.

Adam: Mimi has contributed quite a few of my favorite sight gags.

Mimi: They give me a script and then I can just have fun with it.  Of course some times there are a few issues, like some character’s hair needs to be different, or Camille looks a little too angry in this picture and I fix it.  I’m glad when I get those notes, because I want these pages to be what they want.

Chris: That’s actually one of the things we wanted/encourage. My sister wasn’t very uhh…obedient? Is that a good word? We’d call something out in the script and she’d just do whatever she wanted instead, and it was usually funny.

Adam: Ha ha ha. Obedient  is not a good word, and I hope she doesn’t read it.

Mimi: Hmm, this is to imply that I am.

You guys all recently met, and started working together, and it appears to be going well for everybody with a solid plan in the future.  What do you think is the most important factor to keep that positive feel good feeling going?

Adam: Company retreat, maybe? I’m thinking Disneyland. But for real, I love that we each have our ideas, and everyone gets an input into the comic. Our various senses of humor have gelled into a project I’m pretty proud of.

Chris: Yeah, I agree with Adam. I think we have good communication and rapport these days. I trust Mimi to meet the deadline or let me know if there’s going to be a delay, and we know what to expect from her art.

Mimi: I think just making sure we all understand what is going on and being communicative.  This is the best job ever.

[End Interview]

If you would like to learn more about Rapture Burgers go to the Rapture Burgers website or check them out on twitter @RaptureBurgers.

Scott is an immensely talented artist who, since the inception of Atomic Robo has been bringing the wild, Nazi-busting visions of Brian Clevinger to life on the page. If you are an aspiring artist, Scott has more than a few lessons to impart, chief among them, well, see question six.

I caught up with Scott via the magic of the Internet to talk about creator-owned projects and the not so final design of Atomic Robo’s titular “Robo.”

How did Brian get you onboard to draw Atomic Robo?

I think someone pointed him at my old website. I was looking for a long-term project that would allow me to start making comics full-time. I had a few offers, but Atomic Robo was the one that really appealed to me and felt like it had the legs for a good long run.

If someone approached you and asked you to draw their story, what would convince you to draw their comic?

Brian and I have got a really good thing going here. Creatively we play to each other’s strengths, we share a common vision of where our book will go, and we’ve become good friends. There is a very short list of people who are not Brian whom I would like to work with some day.

Creator-owned work is intensely personal. There is so much of who Brian and I are in these stories and characters that in a way, it’s almost offensive to me when people approach me to take on other projects. I’ll do short stories for friends when I can, and the occasional small project for a larger publisher from time to time. But in general I’m not interested in working on anything else.

What’s the best part about being a professional comic artist?

Working at home, drawing all day, creating characters, telling stories, meeting fans and fellow creators. There’s actually a whole lot about this life that is pretty amazing.

The worst part?

The money.

How did you arrive at the final design for Robo?

Who says I’ve arrived at the final design for Robo? Haha!

Robo changes subtly from volume to volume, and sometimes even from issue to issue. But I know what you meant . . .

I went through a pretty grueling design process for Robo. Dozens of different bodies, and probably over a hundred different heads. The version of Robo you see in the comics is actually the third “final design.” We thought we really had him nailed down in 2006. Then I worked on another project for a month or two, and when I came back to Robo I had a bunch of fresh ideas.

With any character, you want their physicality to tell you who they are. Robo is tough, headstrong, stubborn, and often kind of foolish. The version of him you see in Atomic Robo #1 tells you none of that. I think it was a good look, but as I learned more about my craft, he has changed. Back then he looked like a short guy in armor. Now he looks a bit like a beer keg with gorilla arms. I miss the simple cuteness of Vol.1 Robo, but his current design does it’s job a lot better.

How do you recommend aspiring comic artists start getting their work out there?

USE THE INTERNET. MAKE IT FREE. THE END.

Do you believe a comic artist should always be paid upfront for their work or possibly draw the comic with the promise to get paid once it gets picked up?

Did Brian tell you to ask me this? Because this topic is one that sends me into an instant frothing rage.

It depends. There are dozens of exceptions; projects with friends, kids still in school collaborating to make comics for fun, etc. Working for nothing on your own project is fine. Its a labor of love and, more importantly, it belongs to you. If it’s any good there is the potential that it will some day earn you money. You can also use it as a kind of on-going portfolio in order to get paid work along the way.

Working on someone else’s project for free? Hell no. I mean, okay sure, maybe you draw a few pages on spec to help sell an idea to a publisher. That’s a few day’s work invested and could possibly help get you a nice fat contract somewhere.

When you work for other people for nothing, you devalue yourself, and you devalue the work that we all do. You are saying, “My art is not important.” It sends a message. A very bad one. The chances that whatever comic you are drawing is going to get popular enough to be comfortably profitable, or optioned into a movie, are astronomical.

Some writers will try and convince you that even if the book fails the “exposure” will be good for you, and what great “experience” you will gain (oh boy XP!!!) Baloney! Assuming this person is halfway competent as a writer it took them a few days, maybe a week, to write this comic. It is going to take you weeks, and maybe months, to illustrate it.

I like to tell writers about this great idea I’ve got for a novel. I will draw the art for the dust jacket and I’d like them to write it for me on spec. If it get’s picked up I’ll split everything with them 50/50. That sounds insane, right? Because it is.

Any last minute advice for anyone looking to break into comics?

Do your own thing! Do you want to be the guy who created Batman, or do you want to be one of the largely forgotten artists who have worked on Batman?

Start digital and worry about making a physical book later on.