|
ComicBookNetworkEmag Archives Index
|
|
| << December04, 2004 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 500.04 |
December04, 2004 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 500.07 >> |
|
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/bGIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ----------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Interviews Paul Dale Roberts Silhouet98@cs.com Interview with: Tom Waltz, Writer of Children of the Grave 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. My name is Tom Waltz and I was born and raised in Clinton, Michigan, but have made San Diego, California my home for more than 13 years. I graduated from Clinton High School in 1987 and joined the United States Marine Corps right after, where I served four years of active duty, including service in Operation Desert Storm. I was also a Military Policeman in the California Army National Guard for five years. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Liberal Studies from National University. I'm 35 years old, married, and the father of two wonderful daughters, one 15 years old, the other 1 1/2 years old. Oh, I also have a Siberian Husky dog named Loba who seems to believe staying in our yard is optional - just ask our neighbors. I've been a staff writer for the Writer's Digest award-winning magazine Cyber Age Adventures (www.ihero.net) for the last six years, as well as a contributor to San Diego Sports Magazine (www.sdsports.com) for the last two. I'm also currently serving as a staff writer for the amazing UK-based online comic NIGHT WARRIOR (www.nw-comic.co.uk). Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? Wow! That's going way back. I'm going to have to guess it was Richie Rich - at least that's the earliest one I remember reading. Question: What were your favorite comic books growing up? I would read pretty much anything I could get my hands on - things like the Avengers, Defenders, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Archie, Savage Sword of Conan, Batman, Sgt. Rock, Captain America... you name it, I read it. But, I have to admit that Frank Miller's run on Daredevil and Chris Claremont's run on the X-Men (especially "The Brood Saga") played a huge part in opening my eyes to the story-telling power of comics, as well as churning my desire to write my own someday. Question: For readers unfamiliar with Children of the Grave, can you brief us about the storyline? CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE is the story of Team Orphan - Lieutenant Michael "LT" Drake, Sergeant Reginald "Shiv" Reese, and Sergeant Pedro "Lil' Pete" Rodriguez - an American Special Forces team tasked with ridding the world of the maniacal Colonel Akbar Assan, a rogue terrorist who is accused of mass murder through ethnic cleansing, specifically against the children of his enemies. In their effort to assassinate Assan, Team Orphan will soon learn that they are not the only ones who seek his death. Assan's many small victims -- the children he has destroyed -- have somehow returned from the dead, bent on revenge, and Team Orphan is caught in the middle, wondering who they should fear most: Colonel Assan, themselves, or the CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE? Question: Who came up with the Children of the Grave concept? I came up with the concept a few years ago after watching ghastly news reports of mass graves that were being unearthed in the former-Yugoslavia, parts of Africa, and in the Kurdish regions of Iraq. It just boggled my mind that such evil existed in our world, with the morbid capacity for mass murdering innocent men, women and children. Babies even! It's the worst kind of human insanity. The murderers almost always claim religious or political tenets as the driving force behind their actions, but the plain truth is that it is nothing more than cowardly butchery. And that is what terrorism is when you get down to it: pathetic inhuman cowardice. After seeing these reports, I was listening to an old Black Sabbath CD one day, and Sabbath's classic tune "Children of the Grave" came on. The last verse goes, "So you, children of the world, listen to what I say / If you want a better place to live in, spread the words today / Show the world that love is still alive - you must be brave / Or you, children of today, are Children of the Grave, Yeah!" The song got me thinking about how impotent the adults of the world seem to have been in eliminating the evil of terrorism, and how its most innocent victims, the children, suffer the most. I had a vision of the smallest victims of genocide returning from death, seeking revenge against their terrorist murderers. The idea eventually evolved into CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE. Question: You must be inspired by some horror masters. What horror writers do you admire? Well, I've read quite a bit of Stephen King in my time, as well as some of Dean Koontz's earlier works. Clive Barker is another, and Edgar Allan Poe. Heck, even Lewis Carroll freaked me out at times. Horror films have inspired me, too. John Carpenter's work on The Thing and The Fog comes to mind, The Exorcist and Kubrick's The Shining, the Alien series, and most recently, movies like The Ring and Pitch Black. Question: Who are some of the main characters in Children of the Grave? There's a three-man American Special Forces team called Team Orphan. Their boss is Lieutenant Michael "LT" Drake, former Army Ranger and one-time Delta Force operative. Sergeant Reginald "Shiv" Reese is also a former Army Ranger and a bladed-weapons expert. Sergeant Pedro "Lil' Pete" Rodriguez is a former Marine and sniper extraordinaire. Team Orphan's enemy is Colonel Akbar Assan, a rogue terrorist from the fictional Middle Eastern country of Stinwan. And, of course, we can't forget the children of the grave. Question: Who is your artist for Children of the Grave? The artist is an exciting newcomer out of Los Angeles named Casey Maloney, and I can't say enough good things about this great guy. I first saw his fantastic work on Digital Webbing's artist forum and immediately shot him off an email asking if would be willing to collaborate with me on a number of projects I had planned, including CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE. He said yes, and it's been a treat working with him ever since. So far we've worked together on an 8-page short I wrote for the upcoming iHERO PRESENTS #1 from Shooting Star Comics (www.shootingstarcomics.com/iheropresents.html), an 8-page short I wrote for Dark Elf Productions' and J.S. Earls' SORROW #0 (http://www.freewebs.com/thesorrow/index.htm), as well as an 8- page short for the NIGHT WARRIOR project. Throughout all this, Casey has been professional, consistently on time, versatile, visionary, and just plain fun to have as a creative partner and a friend. The work he is doing on CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE is going to open many influential eyes in the comics industry and I'll be proud to say someday that I collaborated with him early in his career before the Big Boys stole him away from me. Question: When can we expect Children of the Grave to be on the racks? CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE #1 is scheduled to hit retailers' shelves in January 2005, and is currently being solicited in the Diamond Previews November issue, code #NOV042877 (page 313). It is a 4- issue mini-series that will be published bi-monthly. Casey and I already have the first two issues "in the can" and ready to go, and are currently working hard on issue #3. Question: Do you have a website and if you do, what is the URL address? The main Shooting Star Comics URL is www.shootingstarcomics.com and to learn more about CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE specifically, please go to www.shootingstarcomics.com/childrenofthegrave.html. I also have a personal website www.tomwaltz.com which has the latest info about the projects I'm working on, as well as lots of other cool extras being added all the time by my great webmaster, Laura Rucker. You can learn more about Casey Maloney at www.caseymaloney.com. Question: How can somebody contact you? The best way to get a hold of me these days is via the CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE discussion forum on the Shooting Star Comics website. I'm watching it daily and would love for fans to stop by and lend their words and opinions to the discussions going on there. Or email me at tom@ihero.net. Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why? Hmmm... let's see. A knife, because it is a versatile tool, hunting device and weapon all in one. A humongous crate of matches to keep the home fires burning. And lots and lots of toilet paper for... well, not for blowing my nose, let's just say that much. Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry? You know, I'm fairly new to the industry, but so far I can honestly say that I've personally found a lot of support in many different places within the business. My local retailer, Robert "Comickaze" Scott, who heads up the Comic Book Industry Alliance (CBIA), has been tremendous in offering me much-needed advice regarding the creation and successful promotion of CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE. Another person who has my undying respect and appreciation at this early stage in my comics career is writer Beau Smith (IDW Publishing) - he's literally taken Casey and me under his wings, not only sending plenty kind words our way about our book, but also pointing us in the right direction when it comes to getting the word out to the public about what we are doing. Even Kurt Busiek took the time to drop me an email wishing me luck... that was pretty cool. And, of course, columnists such as yourself who are willing to promote us Small Pressers are a Godsend. It's tough competing with the Big Boys like Marvel and DC for attention, so it means the world to us to have such a fantastic platform to share our work with comics fans. There's a lot of great stuff being done out in the Small Press - fans just need to give it a chance and I'm sure they will be pleasantly surprised. Question: Your 3 favorite fictional heroes and why? Batman is my favorite fictional character. I've always been drawn to the dark, vigilante types, and Batman is the king of them all. He is America's very own Shakespearean Tragedy. Rick Deckard from Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic film Blade Runner. Again, another dark and mysterious figure, desperately struggling to survive, yet all the while questioning the validity of his existence. I love the irony that blankets this character. Harrison Ford's best role. Godzilla. I mean, we're talking a big, green, nuclear-powered lizard that can shoot fire from his mouth - what's not to love? I remember spending hours watching the big G on TV when I was kid, glorying in every victory for the beast from Tokyo. Great memories. Question: Your 3 real life heroes and why? My late-grandfather, Toivo Lehtomaki. Grandpa was the kind of guy everybody loved. A person who was always ready to lend a helping hand, unconditionally caring, loving to children, compassionate to animals, a great father and husband. A man who was as proud of America as he was of his Finnish ancestry. I miss him. My father, Roger Waltz. My biological father abandoned my sister and I when we were both small. My mom eventually re-married and my new stepfather, Roger, quickly took the steps necessary to adopt us under his name. He's never, ever treated us as anything but his real children, and I could never have asked for a better dad. We haven't always seen eye-to-eye over the years, but I've always known that he's got my back when it comes down to it, and I hope he's half as proud of me as I am of him. And, my mom, Linda Waltz. She's got the best sense of humor in the world and she's always encouraged and supported my creative tendencies, probably because she's got plenty of her own. Mom's a person I know I can always count on, no matter what, and she remains my favorite person to talk to about... well, about anything! Question: What cons are you going to? Definitely the San Diego Comic-con - that's practically in my backyard. I've been talking to the gang at Shooting Star Comics about making it out to the Chicago Wizard World this year, as well as getting up to Long Beach/Los Angeles for anything going on up there. Any other cons are still up in the air at this point. Question: What else is coming out from Shooting Star? I'm glad you asked. Shooting Star's Editor-in-Chief, Sean Taylor, has a 2-issue series being solicited in the November Previews (NOV042878, page 314) called FISHNET ANGEL: JANE DOE. This is a great story based on his popular Cyber Age Adventures character, illustrated by the very talented J.P. Dupras. Readers can learn more about this title by going to www.shootingstarcomics.com/fishnetangel.html. It is slated to hit the racks in January 2005 along with CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE. As I mentioned earlier, iHERO PRESENTS #1 will make its way to store shelves in 2005, as will the fantastic SHOOTING STAR COMICS ANTHOLOGY #6 -- www.shootingstarcomics.com/shootingstarcomicsanthology.html. Martheus Antone Wade and Janet Wade's exciting and sexy JETTA: TALES OF THE TOSHIGAWA should be in stores in April 2005. Also look for fun titles like Scott McCullar's THRILL SEEKER COMICS, Greg Noon and J. Morgan Neal's REX SOLOMON, Eric Burnham's hilarious NICK LANDIME and Scott Rogers' BEDBUG in 2005. Check out the Shooting Star website for more info on all these titles and more. As you can see, Shooting Star Comics plans on getting very busy putting out quality comics for many years to come. Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? My favorite movie is Blade Runner. My favorite cartoon is The Simpsons. My favorite TV show is ESPN's Sports Center. Question: What books do you read? I read pretty much everything. I recently finished two excellent books by Jason Henderson -- The Iron Thane and Spawn of Loki. Right now I'm reading Frank Fradella's remarkable first novel, Valley of Shadows, an addictive page-turner. I'm also anxious to get my hands on Greg Rucka's new Queen and Country novel. I keep hoping sci-fi writer Patricia Anthony will come out with something new soon - she's one of my favorites. I finally read Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game recently and loved it. And if K.W. Jeter is reading this, PLEASE continue your Blade Runner series! Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? Well, besides reading, I like to play racquetball, exercise, hang out with my wife and kids, and play my Playstation 2. I'm a certified Silent Hill and Max Payne freak, just to mention a few games I can't get enough of. I wish I could talk the folks over at IDW Publishing into letting me write a Silent Hill one shot for them... that would be awesome! Question: What comic books do you read now? I've been reading Queen and Country, The Losers, Hawaiian Dick, Identity Crisis, the Batman: Hush trades, The Red Star, Desperadoes, Silent Hill, The Walking Dead, Wynonna Earp, The Wicked West, Sword of Dracula, Sylvia Faust, and many more. Conan has returned to greatness, and I've recently been scooping up all the back-issues of Dark Horse's Ghost series and reading those, not to mention the early-90's Eclipse Comics trilogy The Black Terror by Beau Smith and Chuck Dixon, a title I wish they'd bring back with those two gents at the reins. I'm also a big fan of Mike Kennedy's Lone Wolf 2100. Kennedy is easily one of my favorite comics writers - I must have read his Dead to Rights one-shot a gazillion times - I'll buy anything he writes. I also find myself re-reading old favorites like Larry Young's Astronauts in Trouble and Rucka's Whiteout series every once in awhile, not mention Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchmen. I really liked Image's The Black Forest. AIT-PlanetLar put out a great one-shot called White Death that I bought at the San Diego Con this year and thoroughly enjoyed. I've been hearing good things about Birds of Prey, and I'm a big Huntress fan, so I'll have to check that out. Same for Marvel's Black Widow (a character I've always been totally in love with). I'm also looking forward to Peter David's new run on The Hulk - the art previews I've seen for that have been killer. I've also been reading a great military series from P4 Productions called Specwar. Oh, and Warren Ellis's Planetary - I love Planetary! Been buying up and reading the volumes collecting Alan Moore's work on Swamp Thing - classic! And I just bought a copy of Rocket Comics' Lone. Ben Templesmith's Sigularity 7 has been cool, and I love the work artist Nick Bradshaw is doing on Army of Darkness. And I can't wait to see what Chuck Dixon does with G.I. Joe: Reloaded. Man, I could go on and on... Question: If Children of the Grave were to become a Hollywood movie, who would play the character parts and why? Good question. Let's see... for LT Drake, I'd have to go with Bruce Willis, though he's a bit old to play a lieutenant. Maybe they could re-write the part as a crusty old major. For Shiv, I'd pick Michael Clarke Duncan. For Lil' Pete, I'd like to see Raymond Cruz play the part. Colonel Assan would have to be played by Edward James Olmos. I know Olmos is Mexican, not Middle Eastern, but he's one of my favorite actors and I know he's talented enough to pull off the role. Question: That ends the interview, any last words of wisdom? Well, don't take any wooden nickels, never spit into the wind, never piss off a pitbull, and always, always support the Small Press. Hey, buying CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE is a great place to start (laughs). Thanks so much for the awesome interview and all your stupendous support. It's been lots of fun and I want to send best wishes to you and all your fantastic readers! ******** Interview with: Juan Ferreyra, Artist of Small Gods! 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. I'm 26 years old, born in Cordoba, Argentina on the 8th of March of 1978. I started reading comics because my dad used to read them, mostly Argentinean and European comics; and I learned to draw by myself. Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? The first superhero and American comic book I read, or maybe that had strong impact was an issue of Action Comics, around 87, drawn and written by Byrne, where Superman fights the teen titans! Question: What were your favorite comic books growing up? Superman, The Justice League, Batman...mmm that's it. Question: For readers unfamiliar with Small Gods, can you brief us about the storyline? Small Gods is about a world pretty much like ours were some people have psychic abilities and how them and the normal people deals with this situation. On this setting we can find different levels of mental powers on different types of persons, from cops, to criminals, kids, etc. Question: Who came up with the Small Gods concept? Jason Rand the writer. Question: Your artwork is so detailed. You are an incredible talent. How did you get so good? I started drawing since I was a little kid, my dad draws pretty well and all my uncles too, I always wanted to draw comics so I started making my owns when I was like 11, I practiced a lot, self published some stuff and that's it. The more you draw the better you get, and I think everyone is always improving. Question: What other comics have you worked on in the past? Just self-published stuff, 5 issues of a comic called "Elvisman", 2 issues of "El Lud" and some other short stories. I also made 3 issues for an underground comic book company in Denmark, the issues where for a character called "Dukse Drengen". Small Gods is my first mainstream comic. Question: How did you get the Small Gods gig? There was a post on the Digital Webbing Talent Engine looking for an artist for it, I sent samples, and after 2 selected guys left the project Jason called me and we started doing it. Question: Who are some of the main characters in Small Gods? The first story arc (issues 1-4) we have Owen Young, a precog cop and the main guy of the story, John Meyer his partner, Dani De Angelis, Owen's girlfriend, Jodi Asamori-Lane another of Owen's partners and Jerry Farrell, the telepath bad guy of the story. For the second arc we have Bobby Pope, a guy that uses his powers to cheat on card games and street fights until he runs into a corrupted cop Teddy Irvine. He will have different characters on each arc but some of them will be current characters. Question: Do you have a website and if you do, what is the URL address? www.smallgodscomic.com, we also hang out a lot on the image comics forum where we have our own Small Gods forum. Question: How can somebody contact you? You can send us an e- mail to Smalltalk@smallgodscomic.com or at the forum http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you and why? Satellite cell phone so I can call somebody to pick me up pronto! A lot of frozen beers to drink while I wait and some artist tools to sketch while waiting also. Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry? There was a comic industry in my country and people used to live working on it, but that doesn't happen anymore, so the comic industry I work for now is a paradise and I love it. Question: Your 3 favorite fictional heroes and why? I always liked Superman since I was a kid and because he's a true hero and the one with the best powers! Indiana Jones cause is freaking cool! Wolverine cause I like his haircut. Question: Your 3 real life heroes and why? Don't have....mmm maybe sports heroes like Manu Giniobili from the Spurs. Question: What cons are you going to? I want to go to San Diego next year, if I save enough money, went there in 2003 and in 99. Awesome! Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? Saving Private Ryan is one of my favourites (love war movies) Fight Club, the Usual Suspects that kind of stuff when I was younger I loved the Indy movies and the Back To The Futures, Star Wars too. Cartoons... The Simpsons and mmm a lot of them when I was a kid I loooved Robotech and He-Man. and TV shows... I don't watch too much TV... Indomables but that one is from Argentina. Question: What books do you read? The ones that have pictures on them? hee! I wish I read more books but I don't, the one I enjoyed the best lately was NO LOGO but that's an old one. Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? I play soccer and tennis, listen to a lot of music, play some video games, I like to hang out and drink sometimes. Question: What comic books do you read now? I wish I could read more, but because of our economy kind of collapsed the past years I cannot get comics, but for the little stuff I could read my favourites are 100 Bullets, Y - The Last Man, The Walking Dead, Invincible, Ultra, Forsaken, we3, The Ultimates. Question: If Small Gods become a Hollywood movie, who would play the character parts and why? I definitely would play the lead role, so I'd become a famous actor, make tons of money and then sit down and draw my own graphic novels and print them out whenever I want with nobody rushing me to finish them. Question: That ends the interview, any last words of wisdom? This is tough one! OK, read Small Gods and tell all your friends about it and don't drink wine while eating watermelon cause that could kill you! ******* 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. This messages may be reproduced only in its original form, and in its entirety for non-commercial purposes. Contact the original author(s) or the Editor for permission to use individual items. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ComicBookNetworkEmag/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ComicBookNetworkEmag-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ |
|
| << December04, 2004 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 500.04 |
December04, 2004 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 500.07 >> |
|
ComicBookNetworkEmag Archives Index
|
|
|
Archives powered by Zinester's Mailing List Service
Details on ComicBookNetworkEmag |
Browse for more newsletters at Zinester's Ezine Directory
Managed by Zinester's Mailing List Management |