Currently re-reading: Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, American Flagg! and Stumptown.

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About a year ago my boss lent me the manga series Bakune Young. I don’t know if you’re particularly familiar with the series as it came out of Viz’ PULP magazine which ran from 1997 to 2002. I’d never heard of it previously but it’s creator Toyokazu Matsunaga is an amazing talent. Everything is completely over the top in an absolutely wonderful way. It flows with kinetic energy; turning the pages is a gleeful process to see how he’s going to top the preceding page.

Bakune Young’s plot doesn’t really matter, it’s an excuse to toss as many cool and innovative designs at us. The level of ultra-violence is so graphic that it’s hard to really take seriously. Check out this sequence with the french ninja (wearing a hoodie with ninja written on it) taking out a yakuza heavy with a simple pen-to-the-back-of-the-head:

The use of sound effects in this book rival Naoki Urusawa’s – a man who placement and literal translations offering one of the most engrossing reading experiences this side of Paul Pope.

Hey look at this: Farel Dalrymple draws Mister Miracle.

Dalrymple is one of those wonderful artists that always seems like he’s about to break out to more commercial success. He draws the best, most vibrant cities injecting them as a character in their own right just as much as Will Eisner ever did.

If you haven’t had a chance to see his and Jonathan Lethem’s re-imagining of Steve Gerber’s Omega the Unknown – I’d strongly suggest checking it out. A wonderful fever dream of a comic that showcases Dalrymple’s strengths as a storyteller. Highly recommended.

Congrats to Ramon Perez: dude is in for a hell of a year. In case you were too captivated by our Wizard World Toronto coverage to check other sites for news from C2E2, you may have missed the big Archaia announcement. Looks like they’ve adapted A Tale of Sand, a ‘lost’ Jim Henson story, into a graphic novel with beautiful Ramon Perez art.

“It is always a daunting task when working on something where you hold the creator in such high regard. Growing up, Jim Henson’s visions were an inspiration to my hungry imagination, and it is now an honor to be able to bring one of his unproduced manuscripts into the graphic novel medium.

Jim’s script is so visually meticulous that it is a joy to conceptualize his words onto the page. The first time I sat down to read A TALE OF SAND it was akin to watching a movie in the theatre of my minds eye. The true challenge for me is translating Jim’s visual language and storytelling sensibilities from film onto paper.”

-Ramón Pérez

This on top of the fact that he recently finished a few books for Marvel, has the graphic novel The Green River Killer (based on true events) coming out through Dark Horse and well, it looks like this is his year.

Hell, pretty much all of the Transmission X crew seem to be rolling in prestige, critical acclaim and I can only guess fly hats and mink coats. Andy Belanger is DESTROYING it on Kill Shakespeare (Ardizzi took me to class explaining Belanger’s layouts being some next level sh*t that, quite frankly, I’m surprised I didn’t notice them earlier.. usually a good sign of storytelling.)

Pretty good time to be a comic book fan in Toronto.

Bagley’s a good artist but his DC output was pretty terrible. Did Trinity even happen, or was that just some weird fever dream I had that lasted for 52 issues? If you asked me what it was about, let alone what happened I probably couldn’t tell you. Which is a shame when you think of the talent behind that venture.

Either way I don’t know if DC will be playing Miss U for Bagley. It was always weird seeing him draw DC characters, like seeing your step dad hold your mother’s hand while dressed in your Dad’s housecoat and slippers.

I’ve recently started reading Scott McCloud’s Zot. I’ve owned it for a while, but just never got around to reading it. It’s pretty wonderful stuff. By no means is it the best thing I’ve ever read, but it’s a lot of fun. The influence of Tezuka on it is very apparent. It’s the closest I’ve come to having someone pin down the tone of one of his books on the western market.

So We’re all agreed that Jason Aaron is the best thing going for superhero comics right now, right? Dude takes crap and spins it into a Chocolat. Wolverine has been a stagnant character for as long as I can think of, and Aaron came along and actually made me care about him. Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine could have been just a pretty terrible cash-grab of a title. Instead we’re getting a pretty solid super-hero romp with Morrison-type ideas (DOOM the Living Planet, a gun that shoots a bullet of Phoenix Force, etc…) mixed with amazingly good character moments and spot on writing.

This isn’t much a of a surprise, Scalped is one of the best books on the stands right now. It’s also the first book since Brubaker and Phillips’ Sleeper to give me anxiety. The depths of despair that Aaron puts his characters through makes me put down the book to pace before I flip a page. I’ve come to like every character in the book (Spoiler: Even Diesel, but he’s not much of an issue anymore!) and I’ve gone through all the stages of grieving for these characters. It’s not so much when they’re going to die, but how and by who.

I no longer want to read any book with dialogue by Brian Michael Bendis. Everyone has the exact same voice. I loved Goldfish and Jinx and Torso, but dude at this point it’s a horrible crutch for you. You’ve got three issues of plot and six issues of dialogue. Read some Hemingway or Ellroy. They wrote how people talked, but they got to the point. You’re a helluva talented writer – but I feel you haven’t grown at all. Don’t get stagnant. Bendis brought that whole Superheroes They’re Just Like Us type of dialogue and well, frankly… you succeeded, now do something different.

But at least Bendis is doing creator owned work; which is more than I can say for Geoff Johns. Mr. Johns – you of all people should remember that comics are more about maintaining the status quo than they are about anything else. If you want to be remembered as a great writer break-free from mining continuity from your favourite comics you read as a kid and create something new and exciting. With the exception of a few dialogue quirks, I wouldn’t know your writing. It doesn’t stand out whatsoever. I’m not saying everyone needs to be an auteur but don’t you want to make something that’s 100% yours, and not just a great run that will either a. be mined for storylines by future writers or b. be retconned away to the dismay of people who grew up on your run?

If you’re reading 20th Century Boys – please leave a comment below and tell me what you thought of the end of the last issue. (Wol 12? I think?) Man, that book absolutely destroys anything else I’m reading.

Oh hey Jeff Lemire, thanks for giving us some of the best covers of the last year. Sweet Tooth is amazing, well written and your artwork is getting better and better. That said; the highlight of each issue is seeing what you and Jose Villarubia come up with for each new cover. Not since JH Williams III’s Promethea covers has there been someone taking more risks and mining different types of art styles to come up with more and more visually interesting covers.

I’ve whittled down my DC/Marvel comics for this year. DC has Grant Morrison’s Batman Inc and Snyder/Jock/Francavilla’s ‘Tec run. Marvel has Brubaker’s Secret Avengers/Captain America and…… that’s it. (I’m not counting Criminal or Incognito, as they’re creator owned stuff.) Usually I’d put Daredevil on Marvel’s list but frankly I just don’t really care anymore.

Daredevil has been – since it was relaunched – a crossover free zone. (Sure Daredevil makes an appearance in Civil War, but that was actually Iron Fist.*) I read bits and pieces of Shadowland, and frankly it left me cold. Especially when SPOILER WARNING it’s revealed that Murdock is actually just possessed. Seemed like a straight up cop-out. I’ve always looked to Daredevil as being the book that paints itself into a corner. Daredevil has always been a bit off – I mean, he’s had at least three nervous breakdowns – it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to have him actually go to the other side.

Diggle’s run has been okay – I’m still a fan – but I feel like there’s been too much editorial interference. I’ll check out Daredevil: Reborn, especially since I’ve been a fan of Davide Gianfelice since I discovered his work on Northlanders. Though, I’ll be honest when I feel like this storyline will be a rehash of the Miller/Buscema Daredevil #219 – only with more guilt and introspection tossed Murdock’s way.

Just make sure to hand Daredevil over to Jason Aaron and Franco Francavilla when you’re done, okay?

Do you think we’ll ever see Frank Quitely draw the New Gods again? I wonder if Morrison has sort of said everything he’s wanted to say the New Gods. He’s tackled them a few times now and seems to have a really good grasp. I don’t want him to Hunger-Dogs-it-up or anything, but I’d love to see him give us the further adventures of Mister Miracle and his Motherboxxx, Sunny Sumo and the Super Young Team as they travel around the globe/universe being fabulous and dealing with the odd threat of Darkseid. All of this drawn by Quitely ..and maybe Cameron Stewart ..and Ramon Perez

Oh and while we’re at it: Ramon Perez should be on a monthly book. He’s too talented not to be.

*Which makes that whole “I’ve been carrying around a silver dollar under my tongue to give to you Tony Stark” scene incredibly weird. I mean first of all who carries around a silver dollar under their tongue? Second of all that’s a fairly Catholic metaphor for a guy who isn’t actually Catholic, I guess Danny Rand really gets into character.

This week, the always entertaining Comic Twart collective illustrated everyone’s favorite stogie-chomping super-spy — Colonel Nicholas Joseph Fury. Furthermore, they went the extra mile and drew the 1960s Swingin’ Steranko version of Nick.  (check out the above image by Evan Shaner.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t showcase Franco Francavilla‘s awesome Nick Fury strip: imagine how cool a Ed Brubaker/Francavilla Nick Fury Origin story would be?

Be sure to check out the rest of Comic Twart’s designs at their website.

Reflections on Day One:

On the drive into the city today for the second day at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), I had a few moments to reflect about yesterday, what I did, and what the atmosphere of the event was. I was able to put these thoughts down on paper as I was exceptionally lucky to have someone driving me into Toronto from my current home north of the city. (Props to Jordan!)

The first thing I thought of this morning is, WHAT IS UP WITH THIS SNOW? It’s MAY! It wasn’t that I was surprised, per se. We always get a last skiff of snow sometime in April (though this year it I thought we had escaped that fate). However, my outrage was far more superficial than paying attention to weather patterns in the great province of Ontario. Rather, I had been expecting to be able to wear one of my cute little sundresses to the festival. Rather, I had to dig around the closet for my winter coat, realizing too late that I had prematurely packed it away for summer.

Now, since this ISN’T my personal blog, how about we talk some TCAF, eh?

The more I write for the website, the more I realize that cons are now different for me. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m not bemoaning the fact that I have to work at cons now. It’s kind of like when I was working the Big B booth at Fan Expo a couple of years back. The con experience is just different when you’re working behind the scenes (or, like now, when I’m covering the event). In both instances, you plan a little differently – you still have the freedom and time to have fun and do what you want to do, but you also have to keep in mind that, despite all that, you’re there to do a job.  

It all comes down to what you’re paying attention to and what your overall purpose of the day is. Yesterday was spent networking with creators, lining up interviews, “taking in” the whole of the experience (more on that later), and going to a couple of panels that I thought looked interesting. I still got the chance to get some stuff signed, buy some books, and have a great lunch with Pete, David, and Scott.

Now, this is my first TCAF. It’s always been on my list of things to do during the summer but it kind of always fell by the wayside. And it’s very different from the cons I’ve been to. You have the opportunity to really interact with comic creators and it’s really groovy to just be able to talk with them one-on-one. Yesterday was a little hairy to do that (the venue was packed!), so I hope today that I’ll have more of an opportunity to do so. Though, don’t let the fact that it was packed deter you from talking with the creators. It’s not like you couldn’t possibly get through the throng of people to talk with someone. People could and were taking the opportunity to do so. I simply took more of a spectator approach as I knew that the last day of a con tends to be a little less hairy as a lot of people only attend the first day (which is also why we try to schedule all of our interviews on these days).

I was happy to see that the event was packed and that a lot of indie creators were getting the opportunity to get their stuff noticed. One of the things I picked up was David Bruins’ and Hilary Leung’s  The Legend of Ninja, Cowboy, Bear, which a kids’ book about three friends coming to realize that no one is better than anyone else and appreciating their differences. It’s an awesome read and I’d recommend it for kids of all ages. A sequel to the tale will be released this September.

I got to go to two panels yesterday – one that reflected on the production process of comic books (aligning it with that of an assembly line) and one on manga censorship. I’ve posted the first and am in the middle of editing down my notes of the second (I have to admit, bringing my wee little net book to the event really made keeping on top of everything a lot easier – especially since the library offers free wireless internet). I may post some reflections on them later but I haven’t decided if I have anything to add to what was already said. I posted them for informational purposes more than anything else

So, that was day one. I look forward to beginning day two.

Reflections on Day Two:

More mayhem and craziness!

The day was a little less busy and less crowded than the Saturday, but it was still jam packed. I missed a couple of panels I wanted to go to (so, sadly, no more panels are covered by me) because of I was doing an interview with Faith Erin Hicks and it took a little longer than I anticipated.

All in all, the day was insane. And time just flew by. We arrived right as the festival opened and then, the next thing we all knew, we were getting word that the festival was closing.

The venue itself – the Toronto Reference Library – is very interesting. It’s pretty awesome to have all the creators set up in such an environment. Usually cons are held at convention centres and it’s just big empty rooms filled with tables. The ambiance of being surrounded by all of those books while talking about books just reminds me of my old elementary school and the book fairs we used to have in the library. So, there’s this comforting nostalgia of it all that leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling. I don’t even mind the crowds (as awesome as the venue is, even I have to admit that it’s a pretty small space to hold a con).

After interviewing Faith, I interviewed Danielle Corsetto, who does the web comic Girls with Slingshots. Both lovely ladies were such a pleasure to interview and ended up spending quite a bit of time talking with me.

All in all, it was an outstanding (if exhausting!) weekend.

From some of the stuff I picked up, I’d heartily recommend:

• David Bruins and Hilary Leung – The Legend of Ninja, Cowboy, Bear
• Danielle Corsetto - Girls with Slingshots
• Faith Erin Hicks – Zombies Calling and War at Ellesmere
• Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca - Afrodisiac and Rambo 3.5
• Ramón Pérez and Rob Coughler – Butternut Squash
• Marc Ellerby – Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter, Ellerbisms
• Sam Logan - Sam and Fuzzy
• Tim Plotrowski – Kool-Aid Gets Fired

Shelley Smarz is a MBA student and a comic book scholar. She enjoys good books, good food, and good times. Her cellular phone’s charger slot has broken and she is without a phone for the first time in a very long time (she feels naked without it). Her friends suspect that she might be addicted to dairy products but doesn’t think she has a problem. Her favourite yoghourt flavour is vanilla. Currently playing on her iPod is a Blaxploitation music mix she bought when she was in Paris.

Toronto Cartoonist Workshop, coordinated by Walter Dickinson, runs a variety of 8 week courses based on different aspects of comics and cartooning, and is taught by working professionals in the industry. Faculty includes Ty Templeton, Sam Agro, Ramon Perez, J. Bone, and Pat Davidson. Who knew there was so much talent in the GTA?  I was given the opportunity to sit-in on 2 of the 3 courses held last semester, and the ride is well worth the price of admission.

Writing for Comics: Finding Inspiration on a Schedule with Ty Templeton

Writing for Comics is an expansion of Ty’s popular Comic Book Bootcamp, and covers everything from basic structure to layout, dialogue, voice, and karma. He even answers a writer’s most asked question (Where do you get your inspiration?) by divulging 6 inspirational wells every writer can use.  Ty Templeton is not afraid to tell it like it is.  He knows what the industry is looking for and gives you the tools to get you there.  If your ideas are good, he’ll tell you.  If they don’t work, he’ll tell you. Either way he’ll give you suggestions to make them better.

I’ve talked to authors before, and have even read a few books on professional writing, so I thought I had an idea of what to expect coming to this class.  I was wrong.  This isn’t a class where you spend time crafting an epic masterpiece week after week or discuss lofty ideas of what makes great writing.  Ty Templeton strips it down the bare bones and builds us up from there.  It’s down and dirty and you have to think on your feet.  After each lesson you get 10 or 15 minutes to come up with an idea, and pitch it to the class. Sometimes is just a character or a title, others it’s a concept or a scene. In each class you’re actually forced to do—Plunge in head first.  It may be scary, but it works.  Ty Templeton doesn’t believe in writers block, only poor writers.  He gives his students the tools needed not to fall into that category.

Comic Book Inking: 4 Perspectives with J. Bone, Ramon Perez, Ty Templeton & Pat Davidson

I can tell you right now—inking is more than tracing.  Inkers create texture, movement, light and shadow in otherwise flat panels.  They can take a decent page and make it fantastic.  A simple brush stroke can change the entire feeling of the drawing.   I was completely intimidated walking into this classroom.  The last time I’d been in a formal art class was high school, and I didn’t even know what medium inkers worked in.  Do they actually use ink? (Yes)  Do they use marker? (Yes)  Isn’t everything digital now anyway? (No)  I could barely hold a brush without my hand shaking.  By the end I was at least attempting to ink the blue lines, handed out by each instructor. Where they good?  Not by a long shot, but I was improving, in 3 short classes I was improving.  Each instructor brought his own style to the class.  Some used brushes, others didn’t.  Some inked free-hand, while others used rulers and curves.

Like, all Toronto Cartoonist Workshops, the class focused on actually creating.  Instructors handed out copies of blue pencil pages.  Some were simple while others were challenging even to the instructors.  Each student took their time and made their own choices.  It is amazing how different pictures can look in the hands of different inkers.  Ramon Perez and J. Bone returned for the final class and critiqued the student’s work.  How often do you get one on one feedback from 2 professionals?  Stay tuned to comicbookdaily.com for my Spotlight on Inking.  You’ll get to see some of the art produced in this class, and maybe even some of my failed attempts.

To anyone contemplating taking one of these classes (and if you’re not, you should be) there are three things that set this program apart from others.

1. The Instructors: Not only are they professionals in the industry, but they also care about comics as much as we do. We’ve all sat through boring lectures by people who just don’t want to be there.  These people enjoy what they’re doing and want help you succeed. Every class you get to talk and ask questions. The small class sizes make one on one time nearly unavoidable.  Plus, you get to hear insider stories, and that’s always fun.

2. The Students: From the moment you step into the room you can feel the camaraderie. I only attended 3 classes but was accepted as part of the group.  The experience of the students varies.  Some have been published here and overseas while others have only shown their closest friends what they’re working on, but everyone’s there for the same reasons.  More than once class ran long without as much as a whisper from the class.  No one shuffles papers or looks longingly at the clock.  They’d rather catch the next subway train than miss out on the final bit of information.

3. The Connections: Not only are these workshops a place for learning new skills, and perfecting your craft, but also networking.  You can find out what other students are working on and get the word out about your future projects. Artist, inkers, and writers can find someone to collaborate with.  Walter Dickinson does everything he can to help new and upcoming creators. More than anything, The Toronto Cartoonist Workshop wants to help new and upcoming Canadian talent.  What better place to learn?

Next Semester’s Courses are:
Ty Templeton’s Comic Book Bootcamp Level One
Kidding Around: Writing Comics for Younger Readers with Sam Agro
Professional Layout and Story Telling for Comics and Graphic Novels with Ty Templeton

Contact Walter Dickinson at info@cartoonistsworkshop.com or by calling 647-502-7605.
For more information visit  http://cartoonistsworkshop.wordpress.com/ or find them on facebook.

I’ll be attending Ty Templeton’s Comic Book Boot Camp and documenting my experience at www.pagesandponderings.blogspot.com  I hope to see you there.

Jill Nagel is a correspondent for Comic Book Daily and is known to be a master of foam sword fighting on the weekends.

Ramon Perez Updated

As some of you may know, I have a terrible disease called Actuallyitis; where I use the word “actually” far too often. But! I may be beaten by Ramon in this regard, so listen on and we’ll take a final tally at the end!

CBD: Hello again, this is David Diep of ComicBookDaily with Ramon Perez; artist and writer of the webcomics: Kukuburi and ButterNutSquash and the artist of an upcoming graphic novel from Dark Horse based on the Green River Killings. It’s great to have you here with us today, Ramon.

Ramon: Oh, it’s great to be here man, thanks Dave.

CBD: Alright so, how’d you make your break into the comic book industry?

Ramon: Oh, that was a long climb actually [laughs]. I’ve been a freelance artist for about… oh must be 10 years now- 13 years and I’ve always been trying to edge my way into comics, it’s my first love. But you know- being- I always say being in the right place in the right time and I always seem to be getting positive feedback from the people I talk to. Various editors and other artists are always you know, looking at my portfolio and go; “Hey, you should be working” and I’ll be like “Great! When does that happen?” So my career took a tangent in the beginning; I went to role-playing game work and children’s books, magazine work, editorial stuff for newspapers. So I kind of really just got a chance to fine tune my abilities a lot before I actually made it into comics and that kind of happened as a fluke. My first connection came when I worked on the inking for The Incredibles for Dark Horse Comics; the movie adaptation. Basically, I was called by the artist; who was also a story boarder on the movie and I went to school with his wife.

CBD: Oh, so you met him that way? (David: Wow, that truly was a pointless interruption by yours truly, Pete must be rubbing off on me)

Ramon: Yeah, he always liked my inking work and they were having trouble finding an inker he was satisfied with to go over his pencils. So he suggested me and I made contact with-they- Dark Horse contacted me and that just kind of evolved into a relationship there. Having that under my belt, going to conventions, meeting people, networking and you know. That’s when I began to learn it’s your portfolio but also the social networking you do. Like at the shows, going to the bar and having a round of drinks with a few editors, hanging out with other artists and other writers. I began to slowly develop a relationship over the years and it’s like work began to funnel towards me. And you know, it’s a slow climb, but I’m kind of happy that way. All my bad art is kind of hidden in my past  [laughs] my abilities were more fine tuned when I entered the scene and I’m pretty happy with most of the stuff I worked on, so in that respect.

CBD: That’s right (David: That’s right? Yeesh, I gotta work on my topic transition skills), so you’ve done some work for Marvel and DC now. You did the JSA classified issues, the War of King one, a few issues here and there.

Ramon: Yeah, I did that. That was a quick- it was an online thing, I guess they published it recently. I also did some inking on NYX over Kalman Andrasofszky and-

CBD: Are there any titles over there that you would like to work on? As kind of the regular run artist? (David: Yes, I did indeed accidentally and quite rudely interrupt Ramon, but it’s kind of hard to backpedal after doing that!)

Ramon: I dunno, I’ve never really thought about that. I’ve always had a fascination with obscure characters, old quirky characters. With Marvel for example, I would love to work on Mr. Miracle and Big Barda of all characters. Everyone would be clamoring for Spider-Man, I would be happy with Mr. Miracle. At DC, I think there’s a little part of me that wants to work on Batman. I grew up with the character and you know…more so the TV Batman [laughs]

CBD: With the old Adam West? (David: My apologies to Mr. West, the word “old” slipped out of my mouth)

Ramon: [laughs] Yeah, which is a far cry from the current comic book version of Batman.

CBD: Are you sure you just don’t want to draw Batman doing the Bat-Tutsi?

Ramon: That would be pretty awesome, actually. I was actually-I’m going to be attending a con in France later this fall and their request; from the convention was to illustrate a piece of Batman; a Batman piece they could sell as a print. Part of me just wants to draw Adam West sitting in a lounge chair with the Bat-costume hanging on a coat hanger-

CBD: While smoking a pipe kind of thing?

Ramon: Yeah [laughs] I don’t know if they would go for that.

CBD: Is this one you are going to in addition to the one in Poland, I believe? (CBD Fact: The convention is called KOMIKS FESTIWAL)

Ramon: Yes, I’m going to be doing about…I haven’t really counted yet, but probably 8 or 10 shows.

CBD: All in Europe?

Ramon: Yeah, all in Europe. Well, there will be 2 in the U.K; one in London and one in Leeds. Thoughtbubble is one and the other one is…I can’t remember offhand..it’s..it’s more of an expo that lasts a few weeks. I think it’s called Comica.

CBD: Right, just for future reference, just in case you ever have to answer this question again, Mr.Mar- Mr. Miracle and Big Barda are DC characters actually; not Marvel ones.

Ramon: Oh! Geez yeah that’s- sorry. I’m- been a long week of late nights but yeah so.

CBD: Hitting those deadlines?

Ramon: Yeah, too many deadlines my brain is not working right. I think for Marvel it would just be X-Men really. I love team dynamics.

CBD: The big teams, the biggest team of guys that got the mutants? (Dave: Yeesh, I have no clue what I meant to say there. I am sure it was an awesome statement that didn’t come out right)

Ramon: Yeah, them or I think Alpha Flight would be another. The Canadian side of me wanted a go at it.

CBD: Alpha Flight!? The underdogs!

Ramon: I’d want to go in there and do it right, because I mean Alpha Flight has gotten the shaft for so many years on their book. It’s just like; come on!

CBD: They showed up in the Avengers just to be killed.

Ramon: Yeah, exactly! During the big crossover wasn’t it? And I’m like; come on! These guys have gotten the short end of the stick for so long. Let’s give them some love for a change.

CBD: I guess you know, except for Wolverine, we’ve got nothing good to come out of Canada in Marvel.

Ramon: [laughs] yeah, exactly.

CBD: I’m sure they see us as nothing but pine trees up here.

Ramon: Yeah, it’s a big forest up here; we’ve got nothing much else. Polar bears roaming all over the streets of Toronto.

CBD: And Maple Syrup vendors all over the place. (CBD Fact: Maple Syrup is delicious)

Ramon: Pretty much, yeah. It’s just funny. So yeah , that’s right. Mr. Miracle is DC, he would be my first go. Pretty much any of the Fourth World characters; Forever People or-

CBD:  The Kirby Stuff pretty much.

Ramon: Yeah, New Gods, I would love to do that kind of stuff. His character designs were phenomenal and just kind of quirky you know and the fact that Death is a guy on skis; really that’s kind of peculiar.

CBD: The Black Racer.

Ramon: Yeah, if you can make it work. I mean come on, that’s brilliant.

CBD: As mentioned on your website, one of your webcomics; ButterNutSquash which actually returned from a hiatus, has joined Kukuburi as part of the Transmission X project stuff. How’d you get involved with those guys?

Ramon: To be honest, I’ve been involved since the beginning. I was one of the, if you want to call it “founding” members. I just came in late because I was busy designing all of the web interfaces, so my time was taken up building the site and helping with the behind the scenes work. My own project was falling behind, so I ended up being launched with their second wave.

CBD: Ah, so that explains why they actually consider you the second wave on their site.

Ramon: Yeah, so it’s- but I’ve actually been there since day one. It’s interesting too, one of the guys who just joined T-X; Eric Kim who came in with Streta which premiered on September 9^th, he was actually a founding member too, but due to obligation and work, he had to kind of-

Ramon Perez and Rob Cloughler creators of the webcomic Butternut Squash

CBD: Step back?

Ramon: Step back. So it’s kind of funny. The core launch of people; maybe two, I think Andy Belanger and Arthur Dela Cruz were part of the original crew and guys like Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart came in afterwards, but they were there from the beginning. So it’s an interesting little kind of backstory.

CBD: How’d you guys actually start the crew?

Ramon: It was just one day kind of sitting down with- it was actually myself and Eric Kim and Kalman Andrasofszky who hasn’t done anything with T-X yet but hopes to one day. We were sitting around coffee and just kind of bantering about doing something for- having an avenue to showcase our stories and the actual original inception was the idea of doing a magazine (David: I am going to cheat and count the word “actual” as an “actually”). Like an anthology magazine, bringing back the old school Creepy and Eeries. That kind of format where you have short stories and stuff like that. As we did research, we were like “whoa, there’s a lot of overheard there” you know; marketing and advertising and then slowly the gears began to turn and Eric Kim actually decided to take it as a web initiative and so then he collected myself and Kalman again and Belanger and Arthur De La Cruz and then Scott Hepburn joined up. We’re- a lot of us share a studio in Toronto here too and so we’re creating and doing all this stuff. And then you have guys like Cameron who are in the studio and kind of look over go “Hey, what are you guys doing over there?” He’s like “I’ve got some ideas, what about- could I?” So the group grows. It’s like the artists in Toronto are going to have to social network so then you have like Karl Kerschl who joined our studio and we saw the energy happening with that. You’re like “Come on up! Come on aboard” and it sort of organically grew as you see another guy at the table across from you doing something, creating something that is unique and his own and it sort of inspires you to do your own thing. So I think it was kind of infectious really all of us, like I said, 5 of us all share a studio here, but we also have lunch every week with 4 or 5 other artists from Toronto and creators who also became inspired like “hey, do you mind in onboard on that?”. And so it was pretty much a group of friends just kind of coming together and finding a way to kind of have some place to tell their own stories.

CBD: So do you guys see yourselves growing to a massive studio of like 100 people one day?

Ramon: [laughs] I hope not. I think we’re looking at keeping it relatively small. Like right now, we’re 5 people in the studio and Cameron and Karl have moved to a separate studio now in Montreal. A couple of the other guys work out of their house, but I think we see ourselves as kind of maybe- I can’t see us- I think we’re keeping ourself comfortable and small. We don’t want ourselves getting lost in a sea of creators, so I can’t see- eventually maybe going larger than 15 or 20 creators at a time. There will always be turn around as well. Maybe 1 or 2 will stop their projects as their story finishes, a couple new fresh faces might come in and lend their visions. Maybe those creators then who finish their stories might come back and have new creative ventures. I think we’re going to keep it small though. Nothing like; for example, if you go to Keenspot or these other web collectives that have hundreds upon hundreds of comics. I don’t think we want to go that route. We just want to keep it fairly tight. People we know, friends for the most part. That way everybody knows everybody. It has a kind of family-community vibe to it.

CBD: Going back to ButterNutSquash, why did it take it so long to get onto the Transmission-X site?

Ramon: Well recently, we were part of the Dayfree collective when we first started and technically we were part of them until two months ago. And I think for a while, I didn’t want to just automatically assume that I was bringing that project over.

CBD: Right

Ramon: So it had a life of its own. It was very separate. I didn’t want people to- I wanted to keep Kukuburi separate too. It was aimed at a different audience When we did the hiatus with ButterNut and we did a lot of touring with T-X in the summer trying to promote the individual creators. It became difficult to promote ButterNut as a separate entity, so it was- it was the logical choice for me in the beginning, but I think I just delayed it for probably silly reasons. Eventually I was just you know, makes perfect sense to bring it over you know. Everybody knows Rob; Rob who I do ButterNutSquash with everybody knows him well. He’s friends with everybody else, so it’s a natural fit. We’ve been part of the Dayfree collective like I’ve said for ages, but we’ve never actually showed with them at shows. They usually have their own tables and stuff like that, but for some reason we just never kind of gelled with that group. And they’re all great guys, but we just never connected.

CBD: You just weren’t at the cool table I guess.

Ramon: [laughs] Well, they were at the big table and we were at the little kiddy table in the corner. It was just a natural migration. It took a lot longer than it should have, but with the half years break in between- when ButterNut took a year off, it was a natural way to get there, now is the perfect time.

a sample of Perez and Coughler's Butternut Squash

CBD: How does the scripting between yourself and Rob work, actually? You’re mainly on the art duties. Do you do the writing with him?

Ramon: Yeah, we both write. I maybe plot a little more. I’ll think of the overarching story elements and stuff like that, but we just sit down and we have our ideas; he has his ideas, I have my ideas and we just sit and banter. We bounce them off each other; Rob has an idea and I’ll go “Oh, that’s fantastic. Let’s go with it” We’ll make each other laugh and say “that’s gold” and file that one away. And then if I put something forward he’ll be like “oh, that’s stupid” and I would be like “alright”. We’re a good sounding board for each other. We have very similar sense of humor and if we- if one of our ideas make the other guy laugh, it’s a good way to go. And if one falls on deaf ears, you go “alright, maybe that wasn’t such a great idea”. Or maybe I have an idea that’s kind of mediocre and by him coming in, he kind of punches it up a few levels or vice-versa. It’s a very cool dynamic. It’s very smooth sometimes but other times it can be butting heads as you try to force your ideas in there. But I think it actually makes for better material in the end because we’re like each other’s editors; possibly keeping each other on our respective toes.

CBD: So it’s very fine tuned. The writing afterwards; the final product.

Ramon: Yeah, we basically knock- sit down, knock out the idea. It’s very rough and then I take them and I go plot them out, I pace them out and draw them. And then we go back to the drawing board and script them. They’re never scripted beforehand; it’s almost like doing it the old Marvel way, where we have a rough idea. We know the punch line, the vague steps to the punch line and then once it’s drawn out, we go back in as writers then and sit down and we go through and script it properly.

CBD: So now that it’s officially back, can you give us any idea on what you and Rob have in store for us?

Ramon: Right now, we’re just going to use the remainder of the year to wrap up old storylines. Because obviously there’s a whole bunch of things left hanging when we went off the air last year around this time. So we’re just going to try to wrap relationships up and then we’re hoping in the new year, to go to three times a week. We really want to make a push to take ButterNut to where it should have been ages ago, but we just never had the time or the ability to do it or take it to that next level. So we really wanna kind of make it more- you can develop more stories and punch lines without every week having everything hanging on a week by week basis. With three days a week, you can play with a little more or you can put in lighter things that might not work all the time just because you’re waiting another week for the next episode. So we wanted to develop the characters and make them work. Just go back to the more punch line driven stuff which we kind of went away from for a little bit. Have some fun with them. We’ve got silly things waiting to happen with Andy, Ramon and Rob; the characters obviously. And make it happen; dating sprees and you know. There’s one storyline where my character will encounter a porn studio in his building and some weird tangents will happen there. And this is all based on reality. I was walking to my home one day and there’s this porn studio around the corner from me. I was like “oh ho, what’s this?”

CBD: Did you try to walk in on the filming?

Ramon: Well, I was walking down the hallway and I hear this very orgasmic scenario going on and I’m like “wow, someone’s having a good time”

CBD: Orgasmic scenario, eh? (CBD Fact: David’s left eyebrow rose while saying this)

Ramon: I just hear these moans and groans and I’m like “ho ho, this is pretty outrageous” and then I hear “aaand cut”. I was like “Cut?” I was just standing by this door listening and I hear the director getting up and then I’m walking out of the building and I run into my superintendent. I’m like “I just walked out and I heard this”. “Oh yeah, that’s a porn studio”. I’m like “There’s a porn studio in my apartment…rock and roll”.

CBD: So if this comic thing doesn’t work out for you, you’ve got a new career in I guess…porn?

Ramon: Yup, they already have my headshots. But yeah, so we have odd things like that where we just go “oh my god, there’s so many possibilities where we can take that”. There’s all kinds of little scenarios like that, that spawn various ideas that have been written down, but haven’t been attended to yet. So over the next year, we hope to just really push the limits, get ourselves out there a little bit more, push the characters and make it a little more kind of raunchy if you will. We kind of played it safe for a while, so I think we just kind of want to get back out there and get back in touch with what the Squash was all about.

CBD: The raunch?

Ramon: Yeah, the stupidity, the cheese- whatever you want to call it. Just guys being guys having fun. Being honest about it and poking fun at it at the same time.

CBD: Speaking of raunch…shesmykindofgirl.com (CBD: This site is probably NSFW, unless you work in a porn studio). What to say…it’s kind of ah…how’d you get that started? (David: Real smooth right there…real smooth.).

Ramon: That was- many of us do a- we used to do a- that obviously hasn’t been updated in months I think. But it began as…on Fridays, most of the time in the studio when we’re not as crazy busy as we are now, we’ll have a little draw-off we call Girl Friday. We just draw a pin-up girl. Something to just chill out. It’s not a work obligation, it’s not anything, so that kind of spawned that website. We had all these great pin-ups, why not give them a home? Get them out there and have somewhere to showcase them. So that’s essentially how shesmykindofgirl.com came out. All of the pictures up there are most of our girl Friday sketch-offs and though I think 8 or 9 of mine on that site are from an ad campaign I did for a porn company about a year or two ago.

CBD: How’d you do things for porn companies?

Ramon: It just kind of fell in my lap. [Laughs] They were like “Hey, you wanna draw pretty girls?” How can I say no?

CBD: Wow, I was gonna have a joke about the site being for lonely guys on Friday nights, but you’ve gone and killed it right there.

Ramon: [laughs] No no, we do them during the day and then go out Friday night.

CBD: So, the Green River Killer Project. You’re working on that alongside Jeff Jenson; the son of the original investigator on the Green River project. How’d you land that gig?

Ramon: That came through Sierra; my editor at Dark Horse. I met Sierra about a year before and gave her my portfolio. She knows many of the guys at our studio and we’ve hung out with her at various cons. We met at the various conventions, I gave her my portfolio, so she just called me up one day and she just teases me with an offer. “Hey, would you be willing to work on this crime- true crime noir kind of book?” And I’m like “ohh, that’s one of my passions.” My first story idea for Transmission X was actually a crime noir which I ended up shelving. So I was like “whoa, this might be an opportunity to do that as a warm up, kind of play that field before I jump into my own crime noir in the future. And once I kind of expressed interest, she laid down the actual story and she sent me the outline of the book and the first prologue script for the story. I sat down and read it rather quickly and I was hooked. I was like “this is amazing”. It’s some of the best comic scripting I’ve read in ages and it sucked me in. And the fact that these are real people with stories of real people I was peering into added that much more visceral quality to it. It really sung to me. Then talking to Jeff afterwards, finding out that he’s the actual son of the investigator who hunted down Gary Ridgeway over the years and caught him over a multi-year period. I couldn’t put it down; I quickly jumped on it.

CBD: The graphic novel promises to be a behind the scenes look at the events. Did you have to do a lot of reference and research for this? Like look at crime scene photos, that kind of thing?

I did go to Seattle earlier this year and I met with Jeff and his father. And his father took us to various sites where bodies were found and talked to us about the investigation. I got to see their home and I got to see the place where- the actual story takes place the first five days or four days after, I can’t recall exactly, of the capture of Gary Ridgeway, so it’s very much a deconstruction of him those first four days of interrogation. A lot of flashbacks are involved in the story, stuff like that-

Note the lack of a river of a river on the cover!

Ramon:

Ramon: Yeah, I got to see videos of these talks and I saw some crime scene photos of various sites, stuff like that. So I got to see some really grim groovy and hear some groovy story from Jeff’s father himself.

CBD: So when can we expect it out, actually?

Ramon: I believe- I was talking to Sierra the other day and I believe they’re looking at a fall 2010 release. Probably solicited sometime in the mid-summer, I think. Yeah, with a fall release next year.

CBD: Right. You’ve got a lot on your plate right now with two active webcomics, the big Green Killer project, how do you balance them all out?

Ramon: [laughs] I work a lot. I have Green River, I also have a monthly comic I do for Owl magazine called Max Finder and yeah then I have Green River and the two webcomics. I also have other odd jobs that float my way as well. It just comes down to just trying to time manage. I have days devoted- when things are going smoothly I have every Monday I work on Kukuburi, every Tuesday I work on ButterNut and then Wednesday is devoted to corporate work, Thursday is Owl and maybe Friday I go back and do some scripting. When things work out ideally, that’s how I break it down. I devote days of the week to certain projects. And when things aren’t working out so smoothly, it’s a juggling scenario where I’m working 3 hours on that, 2 hours on that, jump on this project. So hopefully- I’ve been working towards fine-tuning. I’ve actually been turning down work because I think it’s an old freelancer habit where you’re always trying to make sure there’s money in the coffers. So you’re always jumping at the next job, no matter how busy you are. And the next thing you know- when Kukuburi and ButterNut went on hiatus last year, that was because I was literally juggling twelve contracts over three months. I was like- I even look back at it now and I don’t know how I accomplished the amount of work I accomplished in those three or four months. And the recuperation since- and then eventually Kukuburi came back online and ButterNut suffered for a little bit longer because it took more time for Rob and I to get – to be able to find the time to hook up and bang out some ideas. But yeah, I’ve been focused more of late on trying to keep the projects to a minimum. So right now, I’m at four and that’s more than enough to keep me busy and two of them are on my own and two of them are for corporate clients. So as long as I keep them happy and pay my rent so that I have time to work on my own stuff as well. Maybe eventually I can pare it down to three and eventually just two and then maybe just my own stuff whether it be the crime book or Kukuburi or ButterNut or one of the other dozen ideas I have in my little black book.

CBD: For your drawing, what kind of materials do you use?

Ramon: I’m pretty traditional for the most part. I usually mix up the materials between- I mean depending on the look of a project I’m working on. So for example; Green River Killer is very much a loose brush style, so it’s Indian ink with Sable brush. While Kukuburi, I wanted a very clean crisp style, so that’s all inked by using Staedtler fineliners, like just little markers. I’ve also used quill in the past. It really just depends on the project. But I’m pretty much traditional. I don’t do any inking digitally or anything like that. It’s all brush, quill or pens and then I do all my colouring on the computer right now with Photoshop. Though, I would like to get back to doing more traditional colouring. Before I got into comics, I used to do a lot more painting. I would love to bring back more watercolor, wash painting into my stuff.

CBD: Comic series. Are you reading right now?

Ramon: Ah, right now, ongoing stuff…very little actually. I’m reading Hellboy; the Fegredo illustrated Mike Mignola arc right now and that’s coming out rather slowly. What’s the mainstream stuff…I’m trying to think. It’s kind of a blur for the most part. I pick up a lot of Immonen’s books here and there and flip through them and- I’ve been buying a lot of old collections. The Creepy and Eerie collections being put out by Dark Horse.

CBD: Oh, those massive hardcover guys?

Ramon: Yeah, I’ve been really going back to a lot of that stuff. I picked up Mazzucchelli’s new book…I can’t remember the name right now…

Voice of God: Asterios Polyp (David: I honestly don’t know who said that, so I will attribute this to the voice of God.)

Ramon: Asterios Polyp and that was a phenomenal book. Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter as well.

CBD: That was a fantastic read.

Ramon: So I’ve been leaning more towards larger collections or just new graphic novels. I don’t really collect much on a monthly basis anymore. The last thing I was collecting in that respect was 100 Bullets.

CBD: Which recently finished its run in trade and single issues.

Ramon: Exactly, so a lot of the stuff I was collecting has actually wrapped up. So I’m kind of without any ongoing stuff for the most part. I’ll pick up a random here and there. I picked up an issue recently of Batman and Robin with Gorilla Grodd- wait not Batman and Robin, Batman and Superman. The Gorilla Grodd where he takes over. I think it’s a future alternative story or something like that, having a lot of fun. But yeah, it’s mostly whatever catches my eye on the shelf. I don’t read anything regularly anymore.

CBD: Right, any advice for those hoping to get into the comic book industry?

Ramon: I think it’s the cheesiest advice you always hear, but it’s just drawing and perseverance. Part is talent but part is putting yourself out there and talking to people and going to these shows, networking and meeting and shopping your portfolio around. Also, making those social connections that hopefully pay off in the future.

CBD: Well, thanks for all your time today, Ramon. It’s been a pleasure speaking to you.

Ramon: Oh, no problem, it’s been great.

CBD: Hope to talk to you again when the Green River Killer book comes out.

I hope you guys enjoyed this little conversation between Ramon and I. You can check out Ramon and the other Transmission-X guy’s work at www.txcomics.com and www.shesmykindofgirl.com. Don’t forget to check out Ramon’s travel blog as he tours around Europe at http://blog.ramonperez.com/.We’ll see you next time for the next interview! And by the way, final score? David: 4 actually to Ramon’s 17! Woohoo!

David Diep is the News Editor at ComicBookDaily and an assistant manager at Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario. He is fond of maple syrup and pancakes.

He’s been great enough to blog about his experiences thus far – and with quite a few of the transmission X guys going out later on – expect this one to be MUST READ if you’re a fan of good times and canadian comic book artists.

You can read the blog here.

You can also look forward to a pretty great interview between Ramon and Dave which should be up really, really soon.