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July08, 2006 - [ComicBookNetwork E-Mag] CBEM 581.15 >> |
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***** Tyler Chin-Tanner writer on "Adrenaline" from A Wave Blue World interviewed by Richard Vasseur www.jazmaonline.com RV: What is the storyline of "Adrenaline"? TCT: A global epic adventure told in eight issues, "ADRENALINE" is the story of American billionaire playboy, Alex Lowder and Dr. Saida Nri, a beautiful Nigerian development worker. After their first explosive encounter on an illegal hunting trip in Africa, Alex hatches a plan to win back his position as heir to the Lowder media empire. He devises "ADRENALINE", a new reality television program starring himself and Saida. As leaders of two teams of extraordinary people, they are pitted against each other in the most extreme, death-defying, globe-trotting race ever to have been filmed. RV: Who is the star and what are they like? TCT: The two main characters are Dr. Saida Nri and Alex Lowder. Saida is a headstrong, independent woman who is determined to make the world a better place, especially her native continent, Africa. She is frustrated when the people she tries to help don't want to listen to her and by those who care more about their personal interests than their responsibility to the global community. Alex is the irresponsible son of a billionaire media giant. He is self-absorbed and has never been motivated by anything other that finding the next thrill, until he is passed up on inheriting his father's business. Now he seeks to prove, with the help of Saida, that he is worthy of running Lowder Broadcasting. RV: Who are the supporting characters? TCT: The supporting characters for this story consist of the people Alex dupes into believing that he has set up a legitimate reality TV show, when actually he is filming it with only the hope that the company will pick it up. These characters are all expecting the show to make them rich or at least famous, as they are struggling with their current lives and/or careers: Jon Ruiz, ex-Marine and Iraqi war veteran; Alison Wunderle, triathlete; Magda Reyes, professional boxer; Ben Wong, Hollywood stuntman; Gia Tulao, personal trainer; and Casey Davis; failed pro baseball prospect. RV: Who does the colors on "Adrenaline", they certainly stand out? TCT: The colorist for "ADRENALINE" is also our penciler, James Boyle. It's interesting that you should ask this specifically, because I initially interested in James as the colorist for "ADRENALINE" back when we had our original penciler Khary Randolph. When Khary left to do storyboarding, James wanted to give the penciling a shot. He is a very skilled illustrator and I am sure he would like to do a project in the future where he does the complete pencil to color artwork. For now he still needs our inker Fabio Redivo to clean and smooth out his lines and add the appropriate line weight. RV: Why do a comic without superheroes? TCT: The simple answer is that this industry doesn't need anymore superhero comics. Believe me, I am a fan, but that market is oversaturated. Comics are a great medium to tell action-packed adventure stories, but why limit it to only costumed characters or special powers? RV: What are your duties as Creative Director? TCT: To break down the term, I am in charge of the creative direction of the company. This means I oversee the stages of writing, penciling, inking, coloring, lettering, design, and production. RV: Where does your inspiration come from? TCT: The inspiration for "ADRENALINE" came from my year working as a teacher in Africa. I went with an organization that brought volunteers over to help African communities. We get a lot of images here about how much Africans need our help, and there definitely is a lot of need there. But what I learned during my stay was that there are a lot of very capable Africans, especially women, who are doing incredible work to help their dire situations of their surrounding community. Saida is based on a number of women I met and was inspired by during my time in Africa. RV: Do you have any future projects? TCT: I actually have a number of future projects that I am working on, and am very excited about, but I don't want A Wave Blue World to get ahead of itself. We are concentrating on making "ADRENALINE" as good as it can be, then we will step up to the next project. RV: What is the most important thing in your life? TCT: The most important thing in my life is my beautiful and intelligent wife, Wendy Chin-Tanner, who is also the editor for "ADRENALINE." RV: Have you worked on any other comics? TCT: This is my first published comic. RV: Would you or have you done any writing besides comics? TCT: I've had some training in creative writing and journalism. There are many possibilities for what I might write and I am sure comics will not be the only thing. RV: If you could have one super power what would it be and why? TCT: Healing factor would be pretty convenient since I have a tendency to injure myself. RV: How can someone contact you? TCT: My email is listed on the web site www.awaveblueworld.com. That one is more for business related messages. We have a letter column at the back of each issue to discuss comic book issues. It is wavebluewords@gmail.com. RV: Any last words of wisdom? TCT: For comics to be more socially relevant, it isn't necessary for them to take a headline from a newspaper and have two heroes duke it out while arguing opposing political view points. Real- world relevance should emerge naturally from the makeup of the narrative, characters, and the environment in which the story exists. _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- COMICS OBSCURA Mike Curtis shandafa@cyberback.com [COMICS OBSCURA are facts Mike Curtis has dug out during his 30 years of collecting Superman and writing about comics. His website for his comic imprint is www.shandafantasyarts.net ] HE WUZ WHAT HE WUZ Many people do not know that the THIMBLE THEATER characters of POPEYE, WIMPY and OLIVE OYL were based on real people. You can have a look at them at this site. http://www.everwonder.com/david/popeye/based.html ROCKY FIEGEL was the inspiration for Popeye, and in 1996, his unmarked grave received a tombstone inscribed with the face of the famous sailor man. _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- [7] Interviews Paul Dale Roberts Silhouet98@cs.com Interview with Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa - Creator of The 99. Interviewed by: Paul Dale Roberts - Publisher - Jazma Online! www.jazmaonline.com Question: Tell us something personal about yourself. Maybe where you were born, something about your family/work background, schools you attended, etc. I was born in Kuwait in 1971. I grew up in Kuwait and spent my summers at a camp in New Hampshire from 1978 to 1988. I attended Tufts University as an undergraduate and was granted my doctorate at Long Island University. I returned to school for an MBA from Columbia University. Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? Probably an Archie while at camp. Question: What were your favorite comic books growing up? Archie, Batman and Spider-Man. Question: Please tell us about The 99. The 99 is a group of superheroes based on Allah's 99 attributes. Virtues like generosity, strength, wisdom, foresight and dozens of others all of which combine to become the super powers of superheroes wit the caveat of course that no one superhero has more than one attribute and no one attribute is manifested to the degree that Allah possesses it. These are attributes that Islam shares with all civilizations but unfortunately are not adjectives that are used to describe Islam in the media today. Question: Please tell us about the FIHQ award you won recently? The Brazilian press has been fantastic in its coverage of The 99. As a result of this, I was one of the recipients of the FIHQ award this summer (winter in Brazil!) along with Peter Kuper. I was very honored and am hopeful that The 99 will help bridge the cultural divide. Question: What inspired you to create a superhero team that is based on Islamic culture? As a psychologist I worked with former POWs and Survivors of Torture. Because of my language skills, my patients were predominantly from the Islamic World. This led me to an empty feeling that our kids had no modern day heroes to emulate. I decided to create these heroes. As for the spark-that was pure luck meeting a solid education. My sister casually reminded me that I had promised to go back to writing for children after having self imposed an exile on my pen for several years due to being frustrated by local censors. My response to her was that after all my education-whatever I chose to do had to have the potential of Pokemon. This is where luck played a part. Had I said Disney or Marvel-the following chain of thoughts would not have been triggered. My following thought was that Pokemon had been banned in some countries as there was a fatwa issued against it-my next thought was "oh my God..what happened to Islam and who are these ignorant-hateful gatekeepers>-my next thought was of Allah and how disappointed this must make him-my next thought was of Allah's 99 attributes. This brought me full circle tot he Pokemon-thus was the spark that initiates this journey... Question: How do you think people will react to superheroes that are of Muslim faith? Islam is used as an archetype in the property but the books are not religious. There is no mention of Islam or Muslims or prayer or Allah, etc...These books will be Islamic in the same vein that Marvel and DC's heroes are based on a Judeo-Christian archetype yet we rarely see a church or a bible in these stories. Question: How did you get involved in the comic book industry? Again-luck. When I decided to get into creating heroes for the Islamic World, I sent an email to the Columbia Business School community asking for advice. A fellow alumnus told me that he had just finished shooting a documentary entitled "Sex, Lies and Superheroes" where he interviewed top people at Marvel and DC. He brokered introductions to a few people including Tom DeFalco- Marvel's famed Editor in Chief. This led to our acquisition of Cracked Magazine and the hiring of a couple of Marvel Veterans including former publisher Michael Hobson and former head of marketing Sven Larsen (who lives in Kuwait now!) With such top caliber management talent came introductions to great writers and illustrators and The 99 was well on its way. In the interim we became Marvel and Archie's Arabic language partners. Question: What is your URL website address? www.teshkeel.com Question: How can someone contact you? My email is naif@teshkeel.com Question: If you can have 6 dinner guests, 3 fictional and 3 real, who would they be and why? Pat Conroy is my favorite living author-he is living proof that some talent can not be taught. John Lennon who I was obsessed with as a child and young adult-he was living proof that artists can change the world. The Prophet Mohammed who was a brilliant marketer and strategist. The fictional guests would have to be the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. They defined my childhood and they may as well be the two brothers and sister that I actually do have. Question: What is the most unusual thing that has ever happened to you? The Islamic cartoon controversy spurred by that little nobody newspaper in Denmark was the equivalent of the Red Sea parting for Teshkeel. The New York Times interviewed me in Dubai in early December. Because of a variety of factors- mostly outside of the reporter's hands (his new baby daughter was born/there was yet again a few hundred deaths in the Mecca pilgrimage) my interview was pushed for over 6 weeks and finally came out on January 22nd- a few days before the Islamic World exploded over the cartoon defamation of the Prophet Mohammed. Had my interview been published when it was supposed to be-we would have been old news by the time the controversy came about. Had the article been released a few days later- we would have been seen as posers- trying to cash in on the mental anguish of others. Instead- we became THE Islamic Cartoon company and everyone wanted to talk to us and write about The 99. This led to a lot of opportunities. Question: Your thoughts on the comic industry? I think that the Middle East is the last virgin territory for comics. We are fortunate to be in the business at the time that we are. Question: What cons are you going to? I was at the licensing show but will unfortunately not be at any cons. Maybe next year. Question: What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? Movies: Forest Gump TV Shows: 24 Cartoons: I used to love Speedy Gonzales! Question: What books do you read? I am a novel junkie. I go in reading and writing phases that do not coexist. I am now in a writing phase. My favorite author is Pat Conroy-he does to the should what Dan Brown's books do to the mind. I like Caleb Carr and Wally Lamb. As a young adult I became hooked on Robert Heinlein for about 40 books! Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities? Spending time with my 4 boys. That's about all I have time for anymore. Question: What comic books do you read now? I read everything we publish in Arabic. All of Marvel and now Archie. Question: That ends the interview, any last words of wisdom? Since I "found myself" in the comic world when only a few years ago I was working at a hospital, I would like to quote John Lennon from his song Beautiful Boy "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." ***** Interview with Melissa Gardner, Artist of Mini Comics! Interviewed by: Paul Dale Roberts, Publisher www.jazmaonline.com Question: Melissa, tell us something personal about yourself, your family life, schools you went to, etc. I was born in San Francisco. My parents were the stereotypical hippies - I was baptized in a tie-dye Christening gown. They traveled around a lot when I was little - we even lived in Granada for awhile. There's a picture of me as a baby floating in the Caribbean wearing water wings. Too bad I was well-traveled before I can remember any of it. Then they divorced and my mom moved back to her home town in Wisconsin and, for better or worse, I spent my formative years there. Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? Casper the Friendly Ghost. Then I moved on to Archie comics, which I still read (the old digests with stories from the 40's, 50's and 60's -- not the crappy new ones where Jughead has a girlfriend and everything is so annoyingly PC). My mom was cool though - she never made me throw out any of my comics and I still have them to this day. When I was in college I stumbled across "Twisted Sisters" in the University library and a firecracker went off in my brain. I knew then what I wanted to do. Shortly after that I dated a guy who showed me Watchmen by Alan Moore -- and then, of course, it was game over. Comics became my life. Question: How did you meet Brian John Mitchell, the writer of Mini Comics? Er...on Myspace. I saw his page and his Lost Kisses avatar and sent him a message because I thought it was cool. He thanked me and then immediately asked if I wanted to draw the next comic. Without really thinking about it, I just said, "Sure." I always sort of look before I leap. Good thing it was a good script or I would've been screwed. Question: Is it hard to draw in such limited space? It wasn't hard to do, but it wasn't the best way to go about it. I thought of it as a challenge, but it would have been more sensible to do what I've always done, which is to work in a larger size and then reduce. That would have let me be more detailed. I'm not sure what possessed me, but next time I'll stick with the normal Bristol board and crow quill instead of drawing on regular paper. Question: Have you ever created your own characters and if you did, what were some of the characters? I hope to see these characters in my art gallery! I do an autobio comic called Strange Snow. So the character is me. It isn't your normal sort of diary comic - obsessively recording what I ate for breakfast, the angst I feel, etc. (Although I love journal comics like that, I hasten to add) I draw the people I see on the street and the weird/interesting things observed. So one day you might find yourself in my strip - just a warning. Question: Do you plan to continue working with the comic book industry? Well, I'll always draw comics. Whether anyone will be willing to shell out money for them is another matter - unless Brian propels me to mini comic stardom. Question: What is your website URL address? www.strange-snow.com Go there! It will be loads of fun. Question: If you can have 6 dinner guests, 3 fictional and 3 real-life from any time period, who would those 6 people be and why? People always say they want to have dinner with Shakespeare in these scenarios - I don't know why. Most likely he'd have really bad table manners; picking up drumsticks in his hand, wiping his mouth on his sleeve...plus, it would probably be difficult to have a real conversation with him. Ok. I would choose, Bruce Campbell (because I'm a geek), Lillian Hellman, Joe Orton, Steppenwolf (just to make things awkward), Chris Knight (Real Genius) and Emma Bovary. With any luck they would all get into an interesting fight. Question: If you could go into any time machine, what year would you stop at and tell us why. New York in the 1940's. I'd love to experience the city during that time period. Question: What TV shows, movies, cartoons do you like? I absolutely love Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. It's one of the best cartoons out there. Six Feet Under when it was still on. Adult Swim. And the really cheesy giant bug and alien movies on Sci Fi. Any good documentary. Anything by Sam Raimi. All about Eve, Psycho, Withnail and I, The Life of Brian, The Producers (the first one, damn it), Brazil, Notorius, American Psycho, The Machinist... Question: What books do you enjoy? I read books without pictures once in awhile. I love Bill Bryson's travel books, Graham Greene, Andy Warhol and Joe Orton's diaries, P.G. Wodehouse, Flannery O'Conner, Margaret Atwood, David Sedaris, Joy Williams, Jonathan Lethem, Martin Amis, the LOTR trilogy, Julian Barnes, Jeanette Winterson, Ian McEwan, Annie Dillard and British mysteries by Reginald Hill, P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. Just to name a few. Question: What gives you your creative energy? Tough to say - if you just stop and look around you'll always find something interesting to write about. Question: This ends the interview, any encouraging words of wisdom? When I asked Mary Fleener this question years ago, she said, "Draw every day and finish what you start." She was right. _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- COMICS OBSCURA Mike Curtis shandafa@cyberback.com [COMICS OBSCURA are facts Mike Curtis has dug out during his 30 years of collecting Superman and writing about comics. His website for his comic imprint is www.shandafantasyarts.net ] WHILE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TOMBSTONES While there is no tombstone with the name of SUPERMAN on it, there is a death plaque. TV Superman GEORGE REEVES was cremated after his passing and his urn bears a plaque provided by his mother. It reads MY BELOVED SON SUPERMAN GEORGE REEVES. _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Comic Abstracts John Barker jbarker@mac.com [John Barker lives and works in New York City. He's lucky enough to have had 'Comic Abstracts' presented in the 'Comic Book E-Mag' intermittently since 1997. He's a big fan of all things Alan Moore, '100 Bullets', 'Planetary', 'The Authority', 'Eightball', and 'Optic Nerve'. He has no comic credits to his name, whatsoever. But he's written "a lot" of "stuff", according to several eye witnesses.] John S. Barker is: a) semi professional musician who plays sousaphone b) an IT director / web application developer at a NY production company c) living with his fiance in PA d) part-time club DJ e) all of the above if you picked 'E', you would have scored a 100 on this exam ------------------ TO DAVID LEBLANC Salute to one person who has down the Comic Book E-Mag right! The name David LeBlanc, to me, is the one guy who can handle putting together a class Emag the right way- formatting, organization, balanced news and reviews. Not just anyone can do this sort of thing, year in, year out, to the tune of 500+ columns! Sheesh! I had the notion to first contribute back in '97 (a lifetime ago for me), and David has been kind enough to pickup my submissions and put up with my whining (sorry David). There have been quite a few columnists over the years, but there can be a short shelf- life. But the key is having fun writing about comics. When it isn't fun, it doesn't get done. So cheers to David who can spend his Friday nights actually reading comics and spending time with his family. TRADES I'D LIKE TO SEE, BUT NEVER WILL Miracleman That goes without saying. Those first 16 issues are nothing short of genius. Genius, I tells ya! Garry Leach never looked so good, too. I have almost 2 sets of them, so it's not like I have to track them down anymore. But talk about the BEST superhero story... EVER! The best take on a costumed hero. At least, a Captain Marvel hero. Michael Moran walking down the street trying to remember his magic word- such a metaphor for life. Uh,,, 'kimota'. And what happened to John Totleben and his pointilist style? Keeping up with the drammar over the years, I guess it's locked up in that Eclipse aftermath and Todd McFarlane is sitting on it or something. Well, I don't care, I have Miracleman 1-16 to reread once a year, so... I'm happy. Scratch one off my list of things to do before I'm dead. Conversely, my collection of Moore & Veitch 'Swamp Thing' hasn't gone well at all. Giffen's Legion of Superheroes. From the v4 "5 Years Later" arc. Featuring some of the best artwork ever: Giffen, Brandon Peterson, Jason Pearson (remember that guy?!), and early Stuart Immonen (Immonen's one of my faves). Around the time of 1994's 'Zero Hour', I went to the Chicago Con, and chatted with Mark Waid. He was taking over the writing and said how Giffen's and Bierbaums' stuff was just too much, too difficult to understand. I can't speak for other people, but I enjoy complex storylines. Like- complex mental storylines- not "how did they remove and restore Wolverine's adamantium'? Cause then he had those stupid boney things coming out of his arms. Wait; was that Bob Harras' idea? good riddance... Wildcats v3.0 Some great writing, art, and a super awesome concept. HELLUVA LITERAL 'CLIFFHANGER' Remember J. Scott Campbell, Joe Madureira, and Humberto Ramos formed Cliffhanger? They bumped out some nice comics- but what the heck have they done since. That's a dead horse that's been significantly flogged. I'm not gonna rehash the freakin' obvious. Though it's more fun that waiting/not caring about 'Hellshock'. Speaking of Hellshock, when Jae Lee finally released an issue after a few years of working on it- where it was mainly expository shoe-gazing. THEN at the end he said he was sorry for taking so long, and that it was personal, yadda, yadda. I was just thinking 'yeah dude, yer not a writer! Howard Mackie- now THERE'S a WRITER! He could churn out comics without even trying! Of course, they also read like he hadn't been trying. Jae Lee is an excellent artist who, from 'Inhumans' and on has kicked butt. And taken names. THE NEXT ULTIMATES SERIES I'm still waiting for the Next 'Ultimate Defenders', rumored to be written by Bill Jemas, drawn by Ron Frenz, and inked by Al Milgrom. And if ya believe that, Ben O'Reilly is the real Spider- Man. SEARCHING FOR THAT FEELING At the Jewel supermarket chain in the Midwest, in the early 80s (it'd have to have been 1983), I picked up the Alpha Flight issue where Guardian dies. Guardian was so damn cool, especially for a kanuck, As a child of 12 at the time, I thought it too bad he blew up after he'd gotten his butt kicked, and he couldn't separate his power supply- in a wicked cool countdown where he, yeah, blows up. Of course, I didn't buy that comic (nor have my mom shell out the $.60 for it). I tracked it down some years later (after reading about Alpha Flight in my 'Dragon Magazine', which was profiling Marvel groups). That was a fun comic. AND when Guardian returns, having been to space and was rebuilt and all. THAT was cool. That's one of the last cool things Byrne did (last of which was 'Next Men'). ANYHOO- the reason I get comics- is remembering that visceral excitement when I read and reread books for the 2nd or 10th time. It's damn fun, and it stays with you. TO DAVID Thanks for 10.5 years of promoting a very important medium. It's always given me hope that folks who understand and appreciate comics can keep fellow fans in the loop, promote the industry, and inspire the industry and creators to hone their craft. _________________________________________________________________ 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. 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 All contents COPYRIGHT 2006 The Comic Book Network. This message 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/ |
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