Every month since late 2007, Zuda Comics hosts a competition between webcomics, with the winner becoming a regular strip on the site. In Zudist Colony, I interview the contestants via email, asking each of them the same five questions, which hopefully gives you a little more insight into the strips and the creators themselves.
This time around I asked them to share their favorite of the eight pages they submitted to Zuda, which is the artwork you'll see with their answers. Also, I only heard back from nine of the 10 contestants this time around.
So let's get to it ...
*****
Diego Cordoba, Mystery Jungle
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
Diego: Actually it’s a story I did a couple of years ago. I’m a big fan of the comics and artists from yesteryear. Nowadays people don’t take the time to read a comic book and want it to be over in less than five minutes. It’s a pity, but then again it shows the poor state of the whole comic book industry. They all look like video games now! As I said, I like the classic comic books, done in pen, brush and ink with some spotting and then the coloring. My entry was done because I like stories set in the jungle, I was born near the Amazon jungle, and I like dinosaurs. That’s all there is to it. Oh yeah, and the writing from the old pulps, where people outside of Europe or America were called “savages” and where you could run into dinosaurs just by going into an unknown territory. It was just an ode to the good old pulps, which apparently few people “got."
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
Diego: I’ve done comics for quite some time. I stopped because of the pay. I make more money doing a simple illustration that takes me a couple of hours as opposed to a complete comic book that takes me months to do. So there you go.
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
Diego: The whole thing is plotted and most of it already written out. It’s a long story, so the fact that there’s hardly any character development in the first eight pages is normal. How can you have fully developed characters with only eight pages? As far as I know, it wasn’t a short story contest. I had that story lying around my studio and instead of letting it gather more dust, decided to submit it to Zuda to see the reaction it got. Which by the way was negative (laughs)!
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
Diego: I don’t have a favorite, but I picked the opening page, because it pretty much settles the whole story.
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
Diego: Absolutely nothing! It was turned down by a syndicate some years back, and they eventually pulled the plug on the whole series, which had been going on for nearly 80 years!!
Some of my other stuff can be seen here.
*****
Fernando Pinto, Marked
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
Fernando Pinto: To be honest, the first spark for the idea was that I reeeeally dig the way the “x’s” that straight edge people mark on their hands. I know it sounds kinda stupid (And I’m not a subscriber to the straight edge movement… though more power to ‘em ) but as a graphic element I always thought it looked cool.
And the setting came from some relationships I’ve had in the past. It can be really hard to manage a relationship with someone you love and a full time job that you are deeply committed to. The story, as it unfolds, is about how both those things make you mature as a person, even if you don’t want them to.
Then I just threw some demons and punching (so I'd get to draw cool stuff), and Marked was born.
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
Fernando Pinto: I’ve been lucky enough to do some work for the TMNT books (both as a writer and artist), and some other indy titles like Hack Slash (issue 6), Ursa Minors (at SLG, with former Zuda contestant, and all-around great guy Neil Kleid) and the first volume of Popgun (with the amazing Tim Seeley), amongst others.
You can see some artwork from all of those at my site.
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
Fernando Pinto: I know how it starts, what happens in page 52 (which would be the ending of the first “season” if it gets to go that far… *wink wink*) and most of the steps in between. I know how Evan grows into the man you see in pages 1 and 2, but I don’t have the whole script written down at this point.
You gotta leave room for it to be fun along the way…
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
Fernando Pinto: Page 8. When Evan’s life is changed forever and he has no idea how or why. He knows just as much about what happened to him as the reader does (I always like when you get to find out about the story as it goes, instead of having captions dictating everything. I think it makes you more of a participant than an observer).
And you can tell how he feels by the look on his face.
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
Fernando Pinto: Email, Facebook groups, forum postings and everything else under the sun I can think of (and is also legal to do). I’ve been buggin’ everybody I know to vote for me. I just hope they don’t end up hating me too much for it.
It’s been a new experience for me, ‘cause self promotion is not really my strong suit. We’ll see how it pans out for old Evan when Sept. 30 hits.
*****
Adam Lucas, Goldilocks
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
Adam: Goldilock follows an ensemble cast of scientists and explorers as they discover new and amazing species of life and the adventures they have on a newly discovered planet in "The Goldilocks Zone" of a nearby galaxy. I think of the first arc as Jurassic Park meets Tarzan, on an alien planet.
For inspiration, I've always been a sci-fi nut. Stuff like The Forever War and Armor really inspired me to try and make a story in an exotic alien environment but focus on what it does to the people in those situations and how they react and grow. And of course, 80's cartoons. I tried to give it a nostalgic feeling of watching those old shows like Voltron and of course, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors.
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
Adam: This is my first real dive into comics. When I'm not working on this I love doing concept art work and character designs. I've also just jumped into the world of storyboarding which is turning out to be quite the adventure in itself. Music too...love making music.
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
Adam: I had the ending of the first arc pictured in my head very early on. From there it was figuring out how to get to that point. Which is insanely fun. As for the first 8 pages, I wanted to begin to introduce everyone and show their role as well as get a general idea of their mission and give a lead into the direction it could possibly go. Tried to give little hints of their backgrounds and histories, show some conflict. Cause really it's all about the characters.
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
Adam: It has the least word balloons. Ha ha. It just feels kind of tranquil. It's one page that makes me wish I could have some sound effects playing in the background. Alien crickets, chirps, wind...stuff like that.
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
Adam: Everything humanly possible! I have a trailer here and a blog here. Gave out promotional materials and really just whatever I can think of to get the word out.
*****
Will Sliney and Dave Hendrick, The Symptoms
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
DH: Thematically it’s about two main things, work and what that says about you and rebellion and how sometimes the bravest form of rebellion is mere survival..
Both ideas are borne out through the exploits of The Symptoms, the last great band in the history of humanity. They know the world is lost but they refuse to lie down and die, hell they refuse to drop their guitars let alone their pickaxes. They’re slightly fortunate in the sense that they’ve these wonderful abilities that make surviving easier but to paraphrase a great man “with wonderful abilities comes a major pain in the ass.” The latter being in the form of their sense of duty to defend what’s left of New York from the murderous hordes of Zeno’s that hide in the darkness on the edge of town. They’d love nothing more than to be left alone to jam night after night but there’s flesh eating, disease spreading undead soldiers out there all gatecrashing the guest list.
I’m also a huge music fan and to me the closest we get in our world to real super heroes is our iconic rock stars. I suppose I married the two concepts kind of like what if Kurt Cobain had laser vision, or Hendrix had the ability to fly and took it from there. Also I’ve been in a couple of (really terrible) bands over the years and there’s a unique closeness that develops in those situations which when good is quite inspiring so I guess those days have always stuck with me and I’m subconsciously informed by them.
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
DH: I’ve always been involved in comics in Dublin in some form or another. My brother owned a comic book store for a long time here and he still organises the Dublin City Comic Con each year. I’ve been writing properly for ten years but through bad luck and life getting in the way I haven’t had an opportunity really to get anything out there until this year. My first proper comics work is an ongoing web comic called Downstairs about how the recession has impacted the criminal underworld, resulting in one case to the mob hiring a hitman who just can’t bring himself to off his targets so he keeps them sedated in his basement while he figures out what to do. It’s up at www.whosinthebasement.com.
When I’m not creating comics, I’m busiest working at being Super-Dad to my 2 year old son Liam and getting ready with my very understanding wife for our new arrival around Christmas. I’m also involved with a national newspaper group.
WS: I've been working full time in comics for a couple of years now. I started off with a local comic book called Atomic Rocket group here in Ireland. I managed to break into the American market last year and am now the artist on the new Farscape ongoing series with BOOM! Studios.
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
DH: The entire first arc is mapped and pretty much written. We definitely know where we’re going and what kind of surprises await the reader. I have to say there’s a twist in issue two that once written made me strut about like a bee-gee for a week or so.
Because I had the story mapped out prior to submission I was able to make a fairly informed decision as to just what to submit. So the introductory/documentary style opening that we went with is a good sampler of the characters and the action and I think piques enough reader curiosity to hopefully encourage readers to vote for us.
WS: The one thing I noticed about a lot of Zuda submissions is that after reading an entry I would often be left not understanding what the story was about. I liked how Dave's eight pages work well as an introduction to the story; it puts the band together and gets them ready to begin their crusade.
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
DH: Page two – It’s incredibly visceral, but because of Will’s beautiful art work it has a kind of innocence to it as well. The way Kinger’s just staring at himself with the one eye he’s got left with puzzlement and horror and awe. There he is on the verge of making (up to that point) the single biggest discovery he’s made about himself with a hole in his head the size of an orange and he looks like a frightened child.
WS: Mine is page two actually as well. I think I began to realize in this screen that having the pages horizontal can give a much more cinematic feel to them which is quite enjoyable to draw.
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
DH: We’ve done the usual stuff: Facebook group, e-mail shots and message boards. Our local Forbidden Planet in Dublin have kindly put posters around the store and are carrying flyers for us. Will has put together a pretty amazing blog here and that’s got all sorts of bonus material to peruse from magazine interviews with the band to album outtakes. We're also getting press and radio coverage here in Ireland.
WS: That blog is going to be a lot of fun to do. Next up on the blog is a magazine interview which I got a great kick out of when reading through it once I got the script from Dave.
Other areas we're promoting the entry is in a sketch blog that I share with other Irish comic book artists including Stephen Thompson (Star Trek, Die Hard Year One) Stephen Mooney (Angel), Nick Roche (Transformers, Doctor Who), PJ Holden (2000AD), Dec Shalvey (Frankenstein, 28 Days Later) and Bob Byrne (Mister Amperduke, 2000AD). Some of the guys there have already posted up their own take on the characters. I love getting to see other people draw characters I was lucky enough to design.
*****
Shannon Cronin, Revenge of the Homicidal Pumpkins
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
SC: The story is about a 13-year-old kid, Robbie Jarvis, who discovers that a series of seemingly accidental deaths are no accident at all. Instead they are the work of homicidal pumpkins who are hellbent on revenge and taking over a small Colorado town.
The idea is heavily influenced by my love of horror films. Specifically horror films from the eighties like The Lost Boys, Critters, The Thing, Near Dark and so many countless others. I was 11-years-old when I purchased my first horror comic book, Clive Barker's Hellraiser, and have been addicted since.
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
SC: This is my third comic creation. My first comic, The Timeline, is about a boy who goes missing only to show up 11 years later not having aged a day. My second comic is titled Lifespan and is set in a world where money doesn't exist and the estimated human life expectancy is used as currency. I'm also working on three other titles which I hope to have completed and submitted to publishers by Spring of 2010.
When I'm not writing, I enjoy spending time with my family, listening to the Howard Stern show, playing COD: Modern Warfare and offending people who get offended.
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
SC: The story is done and has been since 2004. After writing two other comics which were much more serious in tone and that dealt with social and political issues, I decided to do something completely opposite and lighthearted. It's just a fun B-rated horror comic.
I knew if it was going to be a true horror story I would need the opening kill scene, so that was a given. But I also had to introduce the protagonist, Robbie Jarvis, and do so in a way that people get a sense of who he is. I think I was able to do both of those things in these eight pages.
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
SC: It was a toss up between pages 4 and 7. But because page 4 may reveal too much, I decided to go with page 7. This shot is just beautiful. Iwan Nazif took a boring scene of two kids talking while on the way to school and gave it life. He gave it personality. You see the neighborhood, you get a sense of the season and the characters are illustrated in such a way you can almost tell what they're saying without reading the dialogue. So take Iwan's art and add Lisa's colors and the end result is this beautiful page.
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
SC: I honestly thought we'd be selected for the October competition. So I was thrown off a bit and had to scrap some of my marketing ideas when I learned we made in into September competition instead. I had some cool Halloween tie-ins I wanted to do as well as market this at the Long Beach Comic Con but had to change plans fast. After we scrambled a bit, I created two websites, HomicidalPumpkins.com and DontLetRickyDie.com. The first site is a standard promotional site where fans and supporters can go and grab avatars, wallpaper, banners and even watch a video about the development history of the title. I also had some artist friends who were nice enough to create some pin-up art for me and have posted it there.
The second site, Don't Let Ricky Die is the site I'm very proud of. I basically created a tie-in story which has one of Robbie's friends blogging from a basement where he's being held hostage. He's been kidnapped by the Homicidal Pumpkins and they're demanding that the comic receive 666 favorites before the competition ends. If they don't receive that amount of favorites they'll kill the kid. The site serves two purposes. Audience participation and trying to guilt people into supporting us. If you vote for anyone else, you're voting for a 13-year-old comic book fan to die. As someone mentioned the other day, it's basically a 'vote for us or we shoot the puppy' type of situation. Personally, I love it. I will say this though, if Ricky Myers is allowed to live and we do win the competition, he'll play a significant role in the storyline.
*****
Adrian Ramos, My T-Shirt Fairy Tale
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
Adrian: My entry is a fantasy love story called My T-Shirt Fairy Tale. It's about a guy named U and a girl named Felix who must find a way to break the curses put on them and get their happily ever after. And the storytelling is aided by people in T-shirts. Seriously, check it out and you'll see. The idea comes from a love of the T-shirt aesthetic and thinking that someone had to use T-shirts to tell a story at some point. On top of that, I like to draw fairy tale stuff.
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
Adrian: This is not my first comics work, no. I write and draw Count your Sheep, No Room For Magic, The Wisdom of Moo and Godmode Online on keenspot.com. Hey, it kinda sounds like a lot, doesn't it? When I don't do comics, I write, draw, and do something that resembles graphic design. Kinda.
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
Adrian: I have certain plot points planned out, although the specifics I like to write as I approach them. I wanted to give a sense of fullness to the eight pages, a tiny taste that could give you a complete idea of where the story is going.
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
Adrian: I like this page because it's the point when we dive into the fairy tale aspect of the story. Plus, it's so pretty!
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
Adrian: I'm going to try and show whoever lets me the merits of the comic, be it through social network or real world stuff. Selling non-important organs is not entirely out of the question either.
*****
Marc Borstel and Eric Hayes, Tessyleia 2.0
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
Marc: Tessyleia 2.0 is basically an action comic. At first glance, it’s the story about a woman who doesn’t want to die (ironically, by the end of the prologue, she's already died twice.) The reader quickly discovers that nothing is like it seems. The main conflict here is the struggle between the individual being and the corporate system that swallows, assimilates and globalizes all aspects of our modern society. Our heroine, Tess, differs greatly from other sci-fi android characters who strive to become human, in that, becoming human is the least of her concerns. Some readers may struggle empathizing with the main character's lack of soul, feelings and abandoned search for lost humanity. But that won't be the case with our "Villain," a cloned Tess with all her humanity derived from the original organic Tess (whose death predates this story.) On the technical side, Tessyleia 2.0 is a great testing ground for my experiments in storytelling. I'm trying to create a Cyberpunk world that fuses aspects of modern life (internet, information processing, technology) with alternative media (video games, anime, movies). Tessyleia 2.0 is my first chance to work on my own script, construct my own universe and develop my own characters and ideas. In that respect the readers' feedback has been amazing. In an effort to stay true to my original vision, I paid close attention to the detailed aesthetics of the environment I created. The character designs, screen displays and various graphic elements create a specific mood that builds to a climax. If it were possible, I would love to add some music and interactive pop-ups.
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
Marc: 2009 marks my 20th anniversary working in comics. For the last seven years, I've been working as a comic artist, illustrator and toy designer for projects in the US. The first project was a series, Krystal, from FemmeFataleStudios. Later I began work on a series of comics for Cinemacomics, with writer Jay Carvajal. In 2008 I collaborated as colorist on the graphic novel The Outer Space Men with writer Eric C. Hayes (A very talented NY writer). He is currently assisting me in the Tessyleia 2.0 script translation. While working on that project, I was invited by OSM publisher, Gary Schaeffer, to attend NYCC’09. This is where the Tessyleia seed was planted. The last several years I've been working on some projects for Ape Entertainment. I’m also currently working on a Graphic Novel. When I’m not working on comics and conducting 3D experiments, I spend my free time with my wife (whose idea it was to kill the main character on screen 7) and two little girls.
Eric: I was truly fortunate to work with Marc on my Graphic Novel, "The Outer Space Men." The completed pages he submitted always exceeded expectations. I felt honored when Marc asked me to collaborate on the script for Tessyleia 2.0. This comic has been a showcase for Marc to demonstrate how versatile he has become as a writer and an artist. He seems to magically reinvent himself with every project. I'm just happy to have my name associated with Tessyleia 2.0. I think anyone viewing the September contest at Zuda comics would agree, Tessyleia 2.0 is HOT!
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
Marc: The eight screens in Zuda Comics are just the prologue. I've already plotted 60-pages of the story and I can promise you one thing: Widescreen Revolution. Instead of "chapters," the script is divided into 3 “levels” with very detailed, choreographed action sequences and an explosive ending. I knew I had to place a very strong and dramatic cliffhanger in the last page of the prologue, because the next cliffhanger doesn't occur until screen 60. I never want to carry readers with obvious storylines. I'm constantly twisting the status quo to disorient readers and leave them with more questions than answers. Due to the 8-page contest guidelines, many ideas and essential secondary characters have yet to be explored.
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
Marc: My favorite screen is the fifth. The initial pages are slow-paced and packed with descriptive dialogue, this fleshes-out a futuristic universe the reader finds believable. Then, in screen 5 the story shifts gears and leaps into action. This lays the groundwork for the ending twist in the final scenes.
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
Marc: I have printed flyers and posters to promote my project in my hometown of Mar del Plata, Argentina. ( http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg135/iergoth/TessComingSoon02LR.jpg http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg135/iergoth/TessComingSoon01LR.jpg http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg135/iergoth/BannerTess01LR.jpg )
I’m doing some viral Internet marketing, via Facebook and Twitter. I’ve invited all my professional contacts in the field to read the comic, contest or not. I'm also supporting the story with a supplemental blog where you can find all kinds of extras related to Tessyleia 2.0. Visit the blog for promo pieces, sketches, the original storyboard, discarded ideas, the step-by-step process, some graphic designs, etc. Zuda Comics is an incredible platform for artists to display their work worldwide. Its an invaluable resource to receive instant feedback, through comments and critiques, from the reader. I've never experienced this type of Artist-Reader interaction with print comics before.
*****
Mike Odum, WheelJack Union
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
Mike: Wheeljack Union is a period comic that takes place during WWII. The story is not so much about the war itself, but about an engineer named Gene Recktor, and his personal struggle to stand out from beneath his father’s shadow.
Wheeljack Union is a merger of two ideas I wanted to pursue, the first being the story of an unappreciated engineer, and the second being a secret weapons project during WWII. The concept of Gene's issue with his father was the result of a conversation with a friend when discussing what Gene's character traits should be.
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
Mike: In a lot of ways, Wheeljack is my first comic because it is the first one I have had published in some form. But comics are my passion and I have always been pursuing that passion by making them, whether it be collaborating with other artists or working on my own stories. For those times when I can't pursue my craft I do freelance design work.
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
Mike: I have just about all the story mapped out but, I'm not sure exactly sure how I am going to end it. Well, I know what the ending is but I haven't figured out how I will resolve it.
For the first eight pages I wanted to set the reader in the period of the story, throw in some action for fun, and begin introducing the characters and their context. So I decided to open with action and then somewhat bleed into the main conflict to give me the opportunity for a cliffhanger.
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
Mike: Page four is my favorite one because the blacks move the eye through the panels the way I wanted and I feel it flows very well action-wise. Also on this page you get a good sense of scale for WheelJack. Aside from those things, the final panel is one of my favorites.
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
Mike: To market my comic I have printed off posters and hand-outs to post/give out around town. To further this effort I collaborated with friends and owners of local comic book stores to feature my promos. I will also be taking some printed versions of the comic to a small press expo at the end of the month.
*****
David Gunawan, Incarna
JK: What's your entry about? Where did the idea come from?
David: The story is about a man (sadly, he didn’t appear in my submission) who has mythical power in his left arm, but he doesn’t know where it came from. So he travels to search the truth behind it and to recover his lost memory.
About where the idea came from, I always love cowboy, samurai, vampire, werewolf, and any kind of mythology, so I thought that it’ll be cool to combine all of those into a comic. So the basic idea of this comic is about where eastern mythologies and western legends collide.
JK: Is this your first comics work? If not, what else have you worked on? And what do you do when you aren't creating comics?
David: Yes, it’s my first comic. When I’m not making comic, I’m helping my father at his shop and doing a lot of practice to improve my drawing skill, sculpting and playing games in my free time.
JK: How much of your story do you have mapped out at this point, beyond the eight pages that you submitted to Zuda? And how did you decide what to put into those eight pages?
David: Quite a lot actually, I had already thought about how the story goes and how the story will end. But I still need to carefully arrange the plots and to find an English editor, as you can see, my English is not good.
About the submission, well actually I just follow my story concept so I don’t have to re-arrange the plots to much, that’s why I don’t have the main character appears in that pages.
JK: I asked you to send me your favorite of the eight pages you submitted. What about this page makes it your favorite?
David: I like this one because it feels kind of epic to me, a god versus a dragon, and I also like the combination between comic illustration and the decorative cloud from old Japanese/Chinese art. It’s kind of weird, but I like it.
JK: What are you doing to market your comic this month?
David: Well I tried to contact all of my friends and tell them that my comic is in a competition and I need them to support me, that’s all.