San Diego Comic-Con rolls out the big guns

Elena Buckley | Reportero SDUN

It’s time for San Diego Comic-Con International’s (SDCC) annual appearance at the San Diego Convention Center, 111 W. Harbor Dr. Running from Thurs. July 21 through Sun. July 24, from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (5 p.m. on Sunday), this behemoth convention brings together representatives from the collective worlds of anime, comic books, graphic novels, film, television shows and just about every other form of visual media you can imagine. This will be the convention’s 41st year since the first 3-day festival held in 1970, and allows for up close and personal interaction with a bevy of talented writers and artists.

Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett
A phenomenal husband and wife duo, Guinan and Bennett produce the Eisner-nominated graphic novel series, “Heartbreakers,” the more recent “Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel,”—which Bennett describes as “a gateway drug for steampunk”—and the upcoming “Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention.” They’ll be previewing “Frank Reade” at their table in Artists’ Alley along with “Boilerplate,” as well as participating in a spotlight panel on Sat. July 23 at 3:30 p.m. Guinan and Bennett will also be presenting at the convention’s Eisner Awards. For more information, visit bigredhair.com.

San Diego Uptown News: Are you working on or promoting any specific work at the moment?

Paul Guinan: We had a book come out recently called, “Boilerplate,”… . It’s the story, or visual biography of a robot from about a hundred years ago and its recent claim to fame is that it was optioned by Paramount Pictures to be made into a movie produced by J.J. Abrams. And then we are just finishing up the follow-up to that book. That book was rather successful; it’s in its second printing, and so the publisher wanted a kind of sequel, but the story of “Boilerplate” is finite. We have his whole arc from beginning to end, so we couldn’t really do a sequel…;instead we did a spin-off. We took a minor character from the “Boilerplate” book and are giving him his own treatment. The new book, which will come out at the very beginning of next year, is called “Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention.”

SDUN: In general, which aspects of your work are most meaningful to you?

P: One of the things that’s most exciting for us about “Boilerplate” and our upcoming book “Frank Reade” is that it incorporates real history into the storyline. Even though the robot is fiction, his, I guess you would call it, lifespan covers a 25-year period at the turn of the last century, which I think is one of the most important periods in American… history, and not a lot of people really are aware of the significance of it and how it eventually is the origin of our modern society. Not just the invention of airplanes and telephones, but also things that we may take for granted today, like women getting the right to vote and child labor laws being passed so kids don’t have to work in horrific mines and factories. Just little day-to-day things, like the idea of an eight-hour day where we’re not required to work for 12 hours; those kinds of things all began in this one 20- year period.

The book kind of reveals that kind of stuff in a way that’s very entertaining for people, so [for] most people who might think of history as a dry or boring subject, or had some kind of trauma with their history teacher, this is the ideal way to get them excited about history. So we’re particularly proud of that and we get a wonderful reaction from a variety of people, from eight-year-old boys into robots to 80-year-old men who are into history.

A: And ladies too.

P: And ladies too [laughs]. We have the robot, his inventor has a sister, and so we’re able to talk about women’s issues from that period as well, like the suffrage movement. So that’s something we’re most proud of, is bringing all that material to light in a very entertaining way.

SDUN: What types of fan feedback do you find most rewarding?

P: When we have, say for instance at our last show there was this wonderful story of this fellow who uses the book to do homeschooling for his kids and to get them excited about historical stories….Actually one of my favorite stories is this father bought the “Boilerplate” book for his eight-year-old boy, who got so engrossed in it that one evening when he was supposed to come downstairs to watch his favorite television show “Spongebob Squarepants,” he was nowhere to be found, and the dad went looking for him and found him in his bedroom totally absorbed by this book, which is written actually for a junior high, high school and up audience, so an eight-year-old boy couldn’t possibly be picking up on all the stuff that’s in the text. But he just dug the presentation so much; it’s so entertaining, colorful, full of all these wonderful illustrations. So for our blog entry on that anecdote we put, “Boilerplate beats Spongebob.”

SDUN: What’s your earliest memory of being interested in making comic books or graphic novels?

P: That would go back to almost my earliest memory period. Folding together 8 ½ by
11 typing paper and just drawing right on it, pretending it’s a published comic. I’ve always been a fan of comics ever since I was a little kid, so the idea of drawing comics professionally when I grew up is kind of a dream come true.

SDUN: Do you still consider there to be growth areas in your work?

P: I think it’s tremendously important to always challenge yourself, to hopefully evolve your work in some way. There are plenty of artists in the commercial world, not just comics, but also in ad agencies, that find a style that they’re comfortable with and works for them and that they can market, and then they just remain fixed with that style. And that’s fine. But it’s important for me to constantly move forward with my work and one of the things that “Boilerplate” gave me…is that the storyline demanded a multimedia approach to tell this robot’s life story in a convincing way. I not only needed to provide drawings of what this robot did, but photographs to sell the idea that this creature, this construction actually existed a hundred years ago and that it would make it more real to people and more believable and more fun, quite frankly.

So it allowed me to work in different mediums—photography and painting—and each time you do that, each time you step outside your discipline…you can bring some of those ideas across…I’m very conscious of trying to constantly improve my work and try new approaches to storytelling. One of the most exciting things about working in comics is that it’s not just about drawing; it’s about telling stories through your drawing.

Ethan and Malachai Nicolle
These two brothers, age 30 and 7, came together to create “Axe Cop,” a fun, borderline, violent and hilariously action-packed comic where older brother Ethan—already an Eisner-nominated artist—takes care of the illustrating, and younger brother Malachai—the youngest Comic-Con special guest in history—handles the writing. For more information or to read a couple of the comicS online, visit axecop.com.

San Diego Uptown News: Is this your first time attending Comic-Con as a special guest?

Ethan Nicolle: Yes it is. I have been attending annually since 2002 when I was just carrying around art samples. It’s a real honor to be a special guest, and Malachai is the youngest special guest in the Con’s history.

SDUN: Are you working on/promoting anything specific right now?

E: Mainly “Axe Cop,” which is still currently being produced online at axecop.com and my new Web comic that will launch Aug. 3, called “Bearmageddon” at bearmageddon.com.

SDUN: Where did the idea for “Axe Cop” and for this unique partnership come from?

E: It came from playing with my 7-year-old brother Malachai during a Christmas visit with the family. He sort of combined the idea of a firefighter and a cop into one thing and asked if I would play “Axe Cop” with him. We ended up chopping some dinosaur’s heads off. The whole thing played out in my head as a hilarious comic, so I drew it, and then drew about four more episodes during that same visit. After posting those four to five comics online, “Axe Cop” went viral. I never intended for it to be the comic I spend all my time doing; its success was totally unexpected.

SDUN: Which aspects of your work are most meaningful to you?

E: “Axe Cop” is unique because, even though it is so ridiculous, I think it is the most meaningful work I have done yet, because it unintentionally went to the essence of what comics are all about, which is boundless imagination. It’s pure fun, and even though it is technically very violent, it is also very innocent and uplifting.

SDUN: What’s your earliest memory of your interest in this type of work?

E: I always loved drawing as long as I remember, and I always loved telling stories with my art. As soon as I saw comics in the newspaper, and in comic books I bought at 7-Eleven, I began to imitate them.

SDUN: What types of fan feedback do you find most rewarding?

E: I love our comments on the episodes I post online. A lot of comments sections are full of people being very mean, trying to be as cruel as they can… . The comments we get on “Axe Cop” comics are fun, light-hearted and people seem to be joining in the fun. “Axe Cop” is literally play time in comic book form, and people who get it and love it join in.

SDUN: What do you still consider to be growth areas in your work?

E: I can always be a better artist for sure. I also am still new at writing but have a passion to write and draw my own comics. I have a lot of learning to do when it comes to writing. Drawing comes naturally for me, but writing is laborious and exhausting.

Ernie Chan
Ernie Chan came to the United States from the Philippines in 1970 at the age of 30. Since then, he’s gone on to draw Batman, Claw, Sandman, Swamp Thing, Jonah Hex and many covers for DC Comics in addition to Dracula, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, Doc Savage, Thor, Fantastic Four, Luke Cage, Hulk, and Conan at Marvel Comics. For more information, visit erniechan.com.

San Diego Uptown News: Do you have anything that you’re currently working on or promoting?

Ernie Chan: I am currently illustrating a book of my own idea and characters entitled “Tof Kooky.” It is about Tof, an American-born Chinese girl interacting in funny situations with her dog Kooky.

SDUN: Which aspects of your work are most meaningful to you?

E: All aspects of my work are meaningful. I always do a 100 percent effort on each of them. Because if I do a sub-par on a job, they will come back and hound me.

SDUN: What’s your earliest memory of your interest in this type of work?

E: As I kid, I was always interested [in] reading the comics section of the newspaper. I remember I would try to copy the drawings of Tarzan, [and] also the Rip Kirby dailies.

SDUN: What types of fan feedback do you find most rewarding?

E: Fans who are in their middle age would approach me, sometimes with his/her son and/ or daughter at Comic-Cons, and [say that they] grew up appreciating my art and that it stays with them forever.

SDUN: What do you still consider to be growth areas in your work?

E: Art has no limit in growth. Every time I approach an art job [it] is always a new challenge. That’s what makes art always interesting.

Eric DrookerNew York-born Eric Drooker is known for his award-winning graphic novels including “Flood! A Novel in Pictures” and “Blood Song: A Silent Ballad.” In addition to his countless covers, all depicting different aspects and views of New York, for “The New Yorker,” Drooker recently completed the graphic novel and animation for “Howl,” a film based on the poems of Allen Ginsberg. For more information and samples of art visit drooker.com.

San Diego Uptown News: Are you currently working on or promoting anything at the moment?

Eric Drooker: I just completed this movie project that came out a few months ago called “Howl,” with James Franco and I did all the animation in it. The graphic novel version is out and I’m going to be giving a little slide lecture about the whole project on Friday afternoon.

SDUN: Which aspects of your work are the most meaningful to you?

E: Certainly, the books. Graphic novels are, I guess, the most personal. Certainly more personal than any illustration job I might be commissioned to do. The covers that I do for The New Yorker magazine are quite special because being a New Yorker, it’s a way of keeping the connection. New York City has shown me these hallucinations of a city boy, New York visions of a New York native.

SDUN: Which aspects of your graphic novels make them more personal than your other work?

E: Well, because they’re completely written and drawn by the artist. I’m not illustrating someone else’s story, in other words. It’s entirely … from my own head and drawn by my own hands and it’s all my own imagination—all the writing and all the imagery. Whereas an illustration job you’re illustrating someone else’s words, or someone else’s ideas for a magazine or a newspaper. So the graphic novels are entirely self-generated, so they’re closest to home in that regard.

SDUN: What’s your earliest memory of your interest in this type of work?

E: I’ve been drawing pictures since I can remember, and I started drawing comics when I was a kid. By the time I was, I don’t know, 9, 10, 11-years-old, I was drawing little comics, early examples of…art. [It’s] something that I’ve always enjoyed doing, and even when I wasn’t enjoying it felt like it was a powerful means of expression. So it was a way of expressing certain feelings and emotions, and ideas that I couldn’t really communicate in words.

SDUN: How did that path take you to where you are now?

E: By being faithful to the muse, by following the muse and continuing to create pictures regularly and not question them too much—or the economics of it too much—but keep going, following my intuition and doing artwork…that I had an emotional connection to and seemed important, stories that seemed important to be told. In my case not the same variation of some superhero, men in tights thing over and over again, because I feel that’s been played out a long time ago.

SDUN: What types of fan feedback do you find most rewarding?

E: I get a lot of feedback more and more these days. I got an e-mail this morning from someone [on the radio]; he’s the producer, he talks and plays records. He interviewed me a few months ago but I got a nice e-mail from him saying that he was having all of these dreams lately, that he was surrounded by my imagery. Like it had all come to life and he was in the world of my art, my visions. And he wasn’t sure what to make of it but that it had apparently made a deep impression on him. So that was just this morning and I think that’s one of the more meaningful, more kind of eloquent and poignant responses I’ve ever gotten to my work. He was responding to the body of my work, he wasn’t just responding to a particular book, graphic novel or picture. He was kind of absorbing it all and it was clearly hitting him at a very deep level.

SDUN: What do you still consider to be growth areas in your work?

E: Of course, always growing. The work is always changing and developing and it’s a matter of always being in the present moment and being open to new impressions and allowing that to go right into the work.