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------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/bGIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ----------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Interviews Paul Dale Roberts Silhouet98@cs.com Interview with: Robert Young, Editor of The Comics Interpreter! Interviewed by Paul Dale Roberts, Publisher - Jazma Universe Online! Question: Tell us something personal about yourself. Maybe where you were born, something about your family background, schools you attended, etc. I was born and raised in Charleston, SC and grew up on a small island. My elementary school was actually built in the center of a World War II battery so you had to drive past 15-foot high black walls to get to my school. And the playground was just a few hundred yards from the beach. You can still see Fort Sumter, which is perched out in the middle of Charleston Harbor, from my school playground. It's the place where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Also Edgar Allen Poe supposedly wrote many of his stories on Goldbug Island which is nearby. Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? Giant-Size Defenders #1. I'm not sure if it's the first comic I ever read, but I remember it being one of the first. I remember seeing it on the magazine shelf at the Drugstore and I just had to have it, so my Grandmother bought it for me. Then I wrote my name across the chests of all the characters on the front cover. It was 68-pages and cost .50 cents. It had a Gil Kane cover and really cool Jim Starlin art inside that threaded together a bunch of older reprints like a Steve Ditko Dr. Strange story, and a Stan Lee/John Buscema Silver Surfer story where the Surfer was battling Quasimodo. At the time I had never heard of Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, so I thought Quasimodo was another Stan Lee creation (I'm sure Stan would've wanted it that way). I guess I've come full circle because right this moment I'm reviewing a comic book adaptation of Victor Hugo's poetry, published by NBM. Question: What were your favorite comic books growing up? I always loved The Avengers. The era I remember as my favorite was when David Michelinie and George Perez were working on the book. And John Byrne did some great issues too. I also had an affinity for Captain America & The Falcon. But Cap's best moments seemed to take place in The Avengers. Later Chris Claremont, Byrne, and Terry Austin really blew me away on X-Men. Question: For readers unfamiliar with The Comics Interpreter, can you brief us about what this publication is about? TCI is a magazine that covers all aspects of the comics medium. The initial idea was to sort of bridge the gap between the adolescent focus of Wizard and the vastly more serious, but often pretentious content of The Comics Journal. TCI is willing to cover all facets of the industry, but without the inherent prejudices against genre and mainstream comics held by TCJ, and also without the relative disregard for minicomics and small publishers perpetuated by Wizard. Also the focus is primarily on current comics as opposed to the nostalgic focus held by something like Comic Book Artist, which is a nice magazine, but one that didn't cover new comics or creators until very recently. Question: How did The Comics Interpreter come about? Secret origins of The Comics Interpreter? I grew up reading comics and then like so many people I sort of outgrew them and/or my interests shifted to other obsessions like music, girls and sports. So basically I stopped reading comics for about seven or eight years. Then at some point I read a long article in Details magazine about the phenomenal success of Image, and how they had overtaken Marvel as the number one publisher in the industry. That made me curious about the state of comics at the time and led me back into a store to check out what was happening. Needless to say I was amazed by how much things had changed, how many new titles were on the shelves, and the new hierarchy of artists in the mainstream. So I kind of dove back in and educated myself about the current state of the industry (and the art form). A few years later I found myself collaborating on a project with an artist but it seemed like it was taking forever to get anything done; so I decided that while I was waiting I should try something comics-related on my own. I wasn't an artist, but I had previously been a music critic so I turned my attention to writing about comics and started TCI as a 52-page photocopied zine. Question: How can someone order The Comics Interpreter? It's now carried by Diamond, so by all means if you don't see it at your local shop, ask the retailer to order a few copies. TCI #3 is in the new August Diamond Previews (the one with the Conan cover), page 366. It features a great cover interview with James Jean, the man responsible for all those stunning Fables covers. Also the amazing story behind the collapse of Big Numbers, which remains one of Alan Moore's most ambitious projects ever. And too many other features and reviews to list here. And TCI #2 which features interviews with Eisner winner George Pratt (Enemy Ace, Netsuke) and Alex Maleev is at the printers right now and will be on shelves at the end of August. If all else fails, people can order back issues and eventually the newest issues via Paypal on my website [see below] or through snail mail. It's easy. Question: What other projects are in store for you? Hopefully more issues of TCI if I can generate additional interest and support from the industry. I'd like to compile all the TCI interviews and the best essays and reviews in a book at some point (any takers?). I'd also like to get back to more creative writing, be it short stories, a novel, or comics (in which case I'll need a collaborator). And I have a musical side- project called Jung Robot. As a result there's an entire CD of songs written about comics called Graphic Music. It's linked on the front page of the website, and there are a couple of MP3's that people can listen to. Question: Do you have a website and if you do, what is the URL address? http://tci.homestead.com If someone can't remember that, just Google "Comics Interpreter" and it'll come right up. Question: How can somebody contact you? comicsmag@yahoo.com This is where you can send letters to TCI, queries about submissions, or make lucrative offers for my services (yeah right!). If people want to mail review copies of their comics or call me about something just email for further info. Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why? A solar-powered laptop with some sort of wireless, satellite internet connection with a free ISP. An IPod with a couple thousand songs on it including the entire catalogs of The Pixies, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, and David Bowie (it runs on an inexhaustible tritium battery). And a book of photos of my girlfriend and family. Or maybe just skip all that and take a Genie in a bottle. Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry? Creatively the industry's never been richer. There are more good comics on the shelves and more amazing creators in play right now than there's ever been. Financially perhaps it's never been shakier. You've got mainstream companies fighting out of bankruptcy (Marvel) or teetering on the brink (CrossGen?); and you've got independent companies that were just pulled back from the abyss (Top Shelf, Fantagraphics) even as others have one foot on the ledge (Alternative, Drawn & Quarterly). And this is at a juncture when things are purportedly looking up. Still comics aren't going anywhere, especially as long as they prove fertile ground for Hollywood carpetbaggers. In recent years you can have both the biggest film of the Summer resulting from a comic (Spider-Man, X-Men), and/or arguably the best film of the year coming from the medium (American Splendor, Crumb). But I guess it's a constant source of frustration (both for Marvel and for Harvey Pekar) that film-goers are rarely converted into fans of the source material. Anyway, the hope is that the book trade will continue to grow and that square bound collections in bookstores will continue to proliferate and snag more new readers to the medium in the process. Maybe then the stigma will slowly lift from comics, and comics specialty stores will get an influx of new customers looking for stuff they can't find in the chain bookstores that still mostly carry GN's from the big publishers. Either that or perhaps we'll all slip into a massive abyss. Question: Your 3 favorite fictional heroes and why? Odysseus because he could've written the best Lonely Planet entries ever! Indiana Jones because he made archaeology look like good, sexy, fun. And um...Curious George. Question: Your 3 real life heroes and why? I'll go current with this one: My girlfriend who's a nurse, confronts things on a daily basis that most people couldn't handle. She's comforted and cared for people dying from cancer and she's delivered babies. And everything in between. I'm in awe of her. Also Lance Armstrong. And Michael Moore. Question: What cons are you going to? I wish I could afford to go to all the cons. But only SPX in October. Anyone reading this who's going, by all means stop by and chat. Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? Films: Anything by Jean Pierre-Jeunet (City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, Amelie). Also Fahrenheit 9/11 was the best, and yes, most important, movie this year. Cartoons: It took me a long time to catch on to it, but Cowboy Bebop is great. Also Miyazaki's stuff. And mentioning The Simpsons is a no-brainer. TV: I watch way too much of the reality show junk. I never tire of Nick & Jessica (or does that count as a cartoon?). Also Farscape which looks like it'll be back with a 4-part miniseries. CNN; and every single stage of the Tour de France. Question: What books do you read? I love Paul Bowles' short stories. I just finished reading Ted Rall's Generalissimo el Busho for review purposes. Ditto for the aforementioned The Adapted Victor Hugo. Occasionally I read Robert Silverberg and Larry Niven; and China Meiville looks promising. And tech books about Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? The usuals: Movies, music, and hanging out with my girlfriend. We just got back from Atlanta where we saw The Cure and Interpol in concert, which was incredible. I used to play a lot of sports until I ripped up my knee about a decade ago. I still do some biking and work out. But I also spend way too much time slumped over this infernal computer. Question: What comic books do you read now? These days mostly stuff that I review for TCI. But I still get excited over Love & Rockets. I also enjoy Vittorio Giardino's No Pasaran series. I'm getting into Fables now and it looks like one of the best things to come out of Vertigo in a long time. I'm soon to read and review It's A Bird... by Seagle and Kristiansen. I'm looking forward to the new Rosetta anthology by my friend Ng Suat Tong. I'm also interested in anything Hans Rickheit or David Choe put out. And I read a lot of comics criticism. Question: That ends the interview, any last words of wisdom? Two things of absolutely equal importance. 1) TCI #3, page 366 of August Diamond Previews (order code AUG04 3200) Tell your retailer you want a copy. Anyone who's ever complained that there's no comics magazine that speaks to them needs to give TCI a look. //////////////// Interview with: Steve Murphy of Tales of the TMNT! Interviewed by Paul Dale Roberts, Publisher - Jazma Universe Online! http://www.jazmaonline.com/ Question: Tell us something personal about yourself. Maybe where you were born, something about your family background, schools you attended, etc. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Currently live in western Massachusetts. I'm an only child and was pretty much left alone to do what I wanted as a kid. Not being much of a jock I instead became more of a bookworm... Question: What do you do for a living? Day job is Creative Director at Mirage Studios, where I oversee licensing of the TMNT. I write evenings and weekends, mostly TMNT-related assignments (comics, children's books for Simon & Schuster, scripts for the new cartoon), although I have some creator-owned comic book projects nearing completion that will be released in early 2005. Artists on those projects include Mike Hawthorne, Dario Brizuela and Jim Lawson. Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? Amazing Spider-man #71, where Spidey battles the mutant Quicksilver. Question: What were your favorite comic books growing up? By "growing up" I'll limit myself to childhood. Amazing Spider- man, Captain America, Daredevil, Avengers and Metamorpho. Late- sixties to early seventies stuff. Question: What new concepts will TMNT fans find in Tales of the TMNT? Concepts? Um, I guess solo stories and unseen history. "Tales" deals strictly with the past and barely touches the present. The future is off-limits (that's Peter Laird's domain in the "TMNT" title). As such we really can't further develop characters on a moving-forward basis, just looking back. Question: Tell us something about the creative staff on Tales of the TMNT. I handle the traffic managing and act as a funnel for all things. Eric Talbot is the production designer and contact with our printer and Diamond. Peter Laird looks over both our shoulders and approves all stories and art. We're the only staff. Everyone else involved with the book is a freelancer. Question: What is the situation with two publishers doing TMNT stories? Well, we're down to one publisher now, ourselves. Dreamwave cancelled their TMNT series with issue 7. The reason for the two publishers is basically because there are two Turtle universes -- the Mirage black and white comic book universe and the new cartoon/licensed product universe. Dreamwave's comic was based on the cartoon universe. What is the story behind this? The cartoon universe is, theoretically, designed for a younger audience. Although, just to confuse things, it is in a large part based on aspects of the Mirage universe. Question: What is in store with TMNT in future storylines? I have no idea what Peter Laird is up to his "TMNT" title. Upcoming issues of "Tales of the TMNT" feature stories about werewolves, a golem, demon drag racers, a Parisian ghost, speed freak Foot Soldiers and a two-parter starring more than one Leo. We've got "Tales" filled through issue 15. Issue 4 just came out and we go monthly with #7. Upcoming artists include Rick Remender, Mike Manley, D'Israeli, Scott Cohn, Chris Alan, Dan Berger, Jim Lawson and Hilary Barta. Question: Will there be anymore TMNT crossovers? There aren't any currently scheduled nor being discussed as far as I know. Although Peter Laird's fan-boy dream is to team the Turtles up with the Thing and the Demon! Question: Do you have a website and if you do, what is the URL address? We run two websites devoted the Mirage comic books: ninjaturtles.com and talesofthetmnt.com. There's also a website run by our licensing agency, 4Kids Entertainment, that is devoted to the cartoon: tmnt.tv. Question: How can somebody contact you? tales@talesofthetmnt.com Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why? My wife and our unborn child (our first -- due in 3-4 weeks!), all the books we own that we haven't read yet and a fishing pole with tackle. Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry? Same as it ever was, only bigger, louder and stupider. I miss seeing young kids in the comic stores that I frequent: it's a real pity that most comic books aren't geared towards children. I hate how film directors write comics in their down-time. I wish more European comics were translated into english. I love most of the work by Xeric grant recipients. Question: Your 3 favorite fictional heroes and why? That's a tough one. I guess I like Easy Rawlins from Walter Mosley's LA-based novels, basically because he means what he says and says what he means and is always thinking all the angles and living a life that is so foreign to my own. Hugo Pratt's character Corto Maltese because he's just so cool. And Marvel's old Fool Killer character from their Man-Thing comic... because he went around killing fools! Question: Your 3 real life heroes and why? Jesus because of his loving wisdom, Jacques Cousteau for his sense of wonder and respect for life, and Peter Matthiessen for his ability to say so much through his non-fiction. Question: What cons are you going to? I haven't been to a con in years but will attend San Diego in '05. Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? Strange as it sounds, I haven't watched cartoons since I was a kid. I don't even watch the new TMNT cartoon even though I've written a few scripts for it! I hate television and haven't watched anything since the 9-11 events were unfolding (we have cable for news of emergencies). (Although I was addicted to "Homicide: Life on the Streets" back in the day.) I'm more of a National Public Radio person, which I listen to during the half-hour of my morning and evening commutes. Favorite movies include the early films of Kubrick and Scorsese, and most anything by Pedro Almodovar, Jim Jarmusch, David Mamet, Errol Morris and Lars von Trier. My favorite director is Andrei Tarkovsky. I'll pretty much watch anything foreign. As you can see, I'm a real elitist cultural snob! Question: What books do you read? I'm more into non-fiction than fiction although I'm currently reading William Gibson's new novel, Pattern Recognition, which is excellent. I tend to juggle several books at once... I'm also reading Monster of God by David Quammen (about various man-eating predators and man's historical relationship with them), as well as The Expectant Father. I tend to read books on history, and mystery novels set in Europe... Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? Reading, traveling, ocean kayaking, bird watching. Question: What comic books do you read now? The Authority, Metal Hurlant, Hellboy, Queen & Country, Palookaville, 100 Bullets and old Tintin graphic novels. Question: That ends the interview, any last words of wisdom? Vote. ------------- Stephen Murphy Creative Director, Mirage Licensing Managing Editor, Mirage Publishing 413.586.7066x24 ////////////////// Thanks for subscribing to the Comic Book Network Electronic Magazine (CBEM) --------------------------->Disclaimer<--------------------------- This is an ANNOUNCE only mailing list, only the Editor can send messages to the list. No one else has access to the subscriber list. Replies to these messages will be received by the Editor ONLY, so you must CC: individual contributors if you want them to get your E-Mail. The E-mail to the E-mag MAY be used in future issues at the Editor's discretion UNLESS you specifically request that they not be. It is our policy to withhold names and/or Addresses, by request only, from letters of comment. All contributors are required to use their real name and have a valid Email address for their columns to be published. Send Email comments to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Material for inclusion in the Emag - press releases, solicitations, column submissions, Letters to the Editor, guesses for the trivia contest should be sent to ComicBkNet@aol.com The EDITOR, not the submitter, has final approval and edit rights on ALL material. Printed comic books and advanced copies for review in the Emag should be sent via US Mail or UPS to David L. LeBlanc 84 Heather Circle Jefferson, MA 01522-1419 TO Subscribe send a message FROM the intended address to: ComicBookNetworkEmag-subscribe@yahoogroups.com TO Unsubscribe send a message FROM the address to be dropped to: ComicBookNetworkEmag-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com You may also unsubscribe from the Egroups Web page at the short cut below. Shortcut URL to the Egroup page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ComicBookNetworkEmag All contents COPYRIGHT 2004 The Comic Book Network. 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| << August07, 2004 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 483.05 |
August07, 2004 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 483.08 >> |
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