Tell us a bit about your latest work.
I am currently working on multiple creator-owned and self-publishing ventures including Spicy Pulp Comics, an adult-themed sci-fi fantasy anthology, Standstill a survival horror comic that takes place after a global pandemic paralyzes most of humanity, and a five-issue miniseries called Billy the Kit about a tornado god killing rabbit in the old west.
What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?
I think I’m kind of a cliché in many ways, shy kid, broken home, rich fantasy life, the same ingredients that make serial killers only I wanted to tell stories. Some of it might be in reaction to feeling helpless as a kid, wanting to have control of the world around you when you’re young is an interesting struggle. I wanted to escape reality quite a bit and first found that escape in comics. Unfortunately, I am not a good enough artist to illustrate what I see in my head. As a result, I turned to writing.
What inspires you to write?
What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?
I am fascinated by many things and tackle many genres. One thing that stands out is what happens when the structure of society is stripped away, and people are free to make moral choices without social watchdogs. I like confronting horror in human behavior, with a book like Standstill where there are only the rules, we place upon ourselves and what we can live within our choices be they good or bad. I also like escapist fantasy where the only point is to go somewhere impossible and do impossible things.
What would be your dream project?
Fortunately, in the last few years of doing my own work has been the dream. At this point it is less about writing what interests me which I’m so lucky I can do because of Kickstarter, but I would like to reach a wider audience and at a level where I can focus exclusively on being creative.
What writers have influenced your style and technique?
The answer to this is an ever-evolving list involving literary greats, songwriters, and contemporary writers in and out of comics. I’m always very excited to see someone innovative doing things within any given medium. A lot of non-superhero comics over the last couple of decades have been enamored with TV and film as an endgame. I get it, I’ve been there, honestly, there a lot more money outside of comics, but there is something to be said about maintaining the integrity of comics as what they are. I try to approach each book differently and apply a different tone and voice to them. It doesn’t always work that way, but I try, nonetheless.
If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?
Looking back is very difficult for me. I tend to want to keep moving forward rather than revisiting material from the past. I can certainly reexamine past work and be honest in my assessment that it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be or that it could be greatly improved. For example, Random Acts of Violence was adapted as a film, but it was also 10 years after it had been written and there are several things I would have changed and done differently. If the film didn’t exist it is unlikely, I would have reread the comic. When I did I saw plenty of opportunities to take it in a more compelling direction and some of that is a result of what Jay Baruchel did in the film.
Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?
That is an interesting question. I think of writing as a craft something you build with very specific tools. You are an architect of the imagination building worlds that can be viewed through many sets of eyes and many different personalities. It is my hope to get into people’s heads and take them somewhere that causes an emotional reaction of some kind. I guess you could say there is a science to it and an art to it. Science to me is more formulaic and art is more subjective. Somewhere in there, I look for the most organic way to reach the reader.
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
It varies. There are days where I have this uncontrollable dread, a panic that whatever I am doing is both terrible and a complete waste of my life. This is a thing that is so unsettling I immediately must shut it down or it will grow out of control. The creative process itself is enjoyable because if I hit a wall or feel empty on one project, I am almost always working on something else that is completely different in one and style. This gives one project room to breathe. The most difficult is 75% of what I do is not creative it is building graphics, packaging, and shipping products, wrangling projects, artists, colorists, making sure I’m in contact with the people that read and support my work. I might sit down and write every day during the creative process, but when that is done, I know I have at least 3 months of production ahead of me before that writing is realized in its final form.
How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?
What does literary success look like to you?
I have been incredibly lucky and have tried to capitalize on opportunities that came my way. Being able to do what I want successfully both in a creative and a financial sense is the dream. There was a time when I wanted to cast a wider net, but experiences with Hollywood and larger entertainment corporations have been a mixed bag. I would have answered this question differently 10 years ago and now having creative freedom is one of the major requirements.
Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?
In June I hope to launch a Kickstarter for issues 5 and 6 of Standstill, a book that I’m very passionate about, one where I collaborate with artist Branko Jovanovic to make this a unique reading experience. I like that it is just the two of us working together it makes for a very tight and symbiotic experience. I am also working toward the sixth issue of Spicy Pulp and will be launching a new book called Bloody Pulp, which is a horror and supernatural comic for adults. At some point this fall Blue Juice Comics will be publishing the Billy the Kit miniseries across 5 months leading to a trade paperback in 2022.
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