WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING TO CATER TO A-HOLES THAT DIDN’T READ YESTERDAY’S ARTICLE. THIS IS PART TWO OF A TWO PART INTERVIEW. CLICK HERE TO READ PART ONE AND GET UP TO SPEED. WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING…
R2AK: How important do each of you consider social online media in your respective journeys to comic book superstardom? I was reading an article on the subject the other day…
Michael May: Social media: muy importante.
Jason Copland: Sadly, social networking is paramount to your success.
MM: Sadly?
JC: It’s so tiring to keep up on. And I only do Facebook and Twitter, and some forums like Digital Webbing. (Speaking of Facebook: check out the ‘Kill All Monsters!’ Facebook page here!)
MM: Yeah, it can be time consuming. But you’re right, it’s vital. I mean, it’s not like I’m a household name or anything… But any exposure I’ve got right now comes from blogging and being available online.
JC: Going to conventions is a must, too.
MM: Yeah, conventions. It’s so important – and fun – to meet other people in the comics industry.
R2AK: So, tell us a little bit about the digital new world. Are you guys excited about essentially saying “To hell with it. We’ll do it ourselves?”
JC: I know I am. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Seriously, I’m so into the idea of just doing the work and worrying about finding a home for it (in print) later. Or not. I’ve seen some pretty cool self-published books make their way out into the world. We can definitely go that route, too.
MM: Absolutely. It’s very exciting.
R2AK: What are some of the adjustments you’ve had to make? Word has it that the format will not be a standard vertical sheet?
JC: Yeah, the format will be a landscape format, which I’m very excited about!
MM: It’s also freeing in terms of pacing too. Before, I was trying to write it as a graphic novel, but keeping an eye on issue breaks in case someone wanted to publish it that way instead.
R2AK: I was going to ask that! Michael, how does it affect what you write? And what you draw Jason? How much of a challenge is it to think horizontally?
JC: The idea began as a way to have a more pleasurable online reading experience, meaning that there will be no scrolling of the page to read it. It will all be there, in the relatively same proportion as the monitor.
MM: From a writing standpoint, it means I’ve got no idea how the pages are going to look until Jason shows them to me [laughs]. I’ve been writing with a standard, portrait orientation in mind, so it’ll be interesting to see how Jason translates that into landscape. Has it been hard, dude?
JC: Hell, yeah! But I LOVE the fact that we can make this as long or as short as we want it to be. I’ve been recklessly making a page of Michael’s script into two pages. It’s a blast to be working in this format.
MM: Oh, sure. Just change whatever you want [laughs].
JC: The pages are screaming (to me) to have less panels, and let the other panels really have a chance to make an impact.
R2AK: Uh oh! Honeymoon’s over! So: R2AK is housing ‘Kill All Monsters!‘ under it’s brand-new online comics imprint: Kamikaze Comics. When does everything go live? Is there a definite start date? As a writer for this site, I should probably know the answer but I’ve been too busy in my laboratory, experimenting with Coke and pop rocks.
JC: We are a go for this Friday, the 19th of November.
R2AK: Gunpowder treason!
MM: V for Vendetta!
R2AK: So are you guys putting all of your spare time into this book? Or do either of you have other projects in the works?
MM: It’s the only fiction that I’m writing right now. I’m about a hundred pages into the script. I want to finish it with plenty of time for Jason to have the whole script to work from while he’s still drawing the early stuff. But I’m also blogging for Robot 6 and on my own blog, so it’s not like ALL my free time is KAM.
R2AK: A hundred pages Michael? I don’t think I wrote a hundred pages during my entire English Lit undergrad degree.
MM: Eh. It’s all punching and ripping off tentacles. Easy.
JC: One hundred pages when it gets handed to me. One hundred and twenty plus once I started adding splash pages and such!
R2AK: And Jason? You’ve got other stuff on your plate…
JC: I’m working on this pretty much full time. I have another short story commitment in place (the third part of a three-part Zombie story for ZombieBomb!) and I’ll be doing some short story experiments for a blog that Noel Tuazon (Elk’s Run, Tumor) and I have created called, Poutine. And, I have been given the thumbs up on another Perhapanauts one-shot, this time with writer Rich Woodall. There is no set schedule for that, yet.
R2AK: Okay, last question! How often would you guys say you’ve been put in a “casting couch” situation? Like, some editor goes “I’d really like to publish your stuff, but I gotta know what’s in it for me…”
JC: Ha! I’m still waiting for a publisher to put me on that couch!
MM: Jason keeps sending publishers naughty pictures of me, so I get that all the time…
Remember, remember the 19th of November: Kamikaze Comics makes it’s debut this Friday with Kill All Monsters! on this very site. See you then!
