The brick sized TCJ #302 should be out this Autumn. As usual, full of more reading than you can probably get through before Christmas.

But noteably, it has an interview with Maurice Sendak, something we’d talk about anyway, but made all the more important by his death this month. Essential reading.

Gary Groth has posted a sneak preview over at TCJ blog:

Groth, from his introduction:

“The fact is, we got along incredibly well. We had several 30-40 minute conversations that ranged all over the place, but which usually centered on the state of the world and how much he loathed it. He was quite cheerfully and gregariously grumpy about it all, an attitude and a point of view that I appreciated, and even shared. It was obvious that he took no small measure of delight in inveighing against contemporary degradations, and I have to admit that I took no little delight in listening to him. He would cite specifics about the world going to hell in a hand-basket and I would inevitably, and truthfully, concur.”

The actual interview itself mostly consists of Groth and Sendak chatting one afternoon and evening in Sendak’s house, his yard, wandering around the neighbourhood. As Groth says:

“He didn’t throw me out; in fact, quite the opposite, he spoke animatedly all afternoon and into the evening, mostly while we walked around his property, sat on a bench in his sprawling backyard (more like a private park), and strolled down the street, the tape recorder going much the time, and yielding the most unconventional, conversational interview I’ve ever done.”

And a few quotes from Sendak:

“Well, I get criticized for doing too serious books. Why is there a dead child in so many of your books? Why is there a chagrined mother? Because that’s the way it is. It works both ways. You either become very superficial, and do it strictly for the money, or you become very serious and turn people off. And if it’s a book for children, my God! I would not know how to write a book for children.I’ve never written a book for children.”

“Bush was president, I thought, “Be brave. Tie a bomb to your shirt. Insist on going to the White House. And I wanna have a big hug with the vice president, definitely. And his wife, and the president, and his wife, and anybody else that can fit into the love hug.””

Yes, sounds like essential reading.

Part one:

Part two:

Comic Con France : L’interview de Sara Pichelli from COMICSBLOG.fr on Vimeo.

Interview with Mira Furlan from Highlight Media on Vimeo.

“Crikey: Did you read many comics growing up? Which were your favourites? Which most influenced your art?

Rufus: I was incredibly lucky in that my parents not only allowed comics, but actively encouraged and indulged this rampant obsession. I had two obsessions: WWII and science fiction. From the earliest age, it was WWII comics, with Fleetway Picture Libraries being my favourite, stunning images of Germans being blown to bits by our gallant lads. Then it was 2000AD, Battle Picture Weekly, The New Eagle, Starlord, so many! And then there was the American stuff. From Marvel, I liked a lot of the toy-related comics: Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, Rom Space Knight, and GI Joe. I loved Larry Hama’s stuff. From DC (whom I massively preferred; they were my favourites, although more old-fashioned, more like Fleetway comics) there was Sgt Rock, Enemy Ace, The Unknown Soldier, GI Combat, Weird War Tales, Jonah Hex, Weird Western Tales… basically, anything that Joe Kubert did a cover for, I wanted.”

(art from The Royal Escape, coming soon from IDW, art by Rufus and pinched shamelessly from his blog)

In this interview, Goodbrey and Azzopardi chat about, among other things, how Necessary Monsters came about, the process of working together for the first time and also give us their thoughts on the British comics scene generally. Questions by Matt Badham, interview copy-edited by Matt Badham, Joe Gordon, Sean Azzopardi and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey.

Matt: Could you both please give us a bit of background on your involvement in comics, both as creators and fans?

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: Let’s see… as a fan I started with The Eagle and more specifically Dan Dare, which my dad used to buy and read to me before I was old enough to read for myself. My first real comics love as a kid was the UK Transformers comic, which I think a surprising number of UK creators have in their comics-DNA somewhere. Later I eventually discovered US comics via a stint as an X-Men zombie in the ‘90s, before finally swearing them off and making a concentrated attempt to broaden out my comics reading when I headed to university.

As a creator I started on the web around ‘98 in the early days of experimental web comics.  I was a multimedia student and there just seemed to be all this untapped potential for what comics might become when mutated via the web and computer screen.  I spent my initial years in comics trying out one crazy formalist idea after another (all archived here) but over time I started to become more interested in telling longer stories and this led to a gradual slide towards print comics.

(a frame from The book of merl, a hypercomic by and (c) Daniel Merlin Goodbrey)

I began in the small press by doing mini-comics, which eventually led to me winning the Isotope Award in San Francisco. This opened some doors for me in the print world and my first proper book, The Last Sane Cowboy, came out from AiT/Planet Lar in 2007. This in turn lead on to some work-for-hire opportunities at Marvel, with me writing an Avengers short story in 2008 and an Iron Man 2020 series being serialized in Astonishing Tales in 2009.

Some-when in all of the above I started working on Necessary Monsters with Sean, initially serializing it on the web, then bringing out mini-comics for the UK small press scene before finally seeing it collected by AiT/PlanetLar for the US/UK direct market. This path for Monsters kind of encapsulates my approach to longer narrative comics, I think – not working to any one format but instead trying to access as many different markets as possible during the life of a work.

Alongside the print comics I’ve also tried to keep one foot in the world of the web. At the busiest point of last year I was actually doing new comics five days a week on the web (Necessary Monsters on Mondays and Wednesdays, my own All Knowledge Is Strange on Tuesdays and Thursdays and The Rule Of Death with Douglas Noble on Fridays). I’m also still trying to do the crazy hypercomic stuff, although finding the time for that is sometimes a bit of a stretch. This year I managed to do one new hypercomic, Four Derangements, as part of a retrospective of my work in South Korea and a new hypercomic installation with David Baillie at a children’s mental health clinic in Paris. Busy, busy, busy!

(one of Daniel’s brilliant All Knowledge is Strange strips, (c) Daniel Merlin Goodbrey)

Sean Azzopardi: I have read comics on and off for as long as I can recall. There was the newsagent era in the ‘70s, then rediscovering them in the ‘80s, with Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Dark Knight etc. Then a big gap until the late ‘90s. And I have stuck with them since then.

As a creator, in the ‘80s I attended the Portobello Project (1986-88), which ran comic classes taught by David Lloyd and Nick Abadzis. I then drifted into fine art, a crazy detour that lasted 12 years. Around 2001 I decided to have another go at comics, and started on the slow road to learning self-publishing. The job I was in at the time facilitated two important elements to this progression. One being a photocopier and the second a regular Internet connection. Through the latter I discovered most of the people I know now, through yahoo groups and the Warren Ellis Forum (WEF) – how influential has that been!?! I then made mini-comics and started attending conventions, and it all developed from there.

(a page from the highly recommended Twelve Hour Shift by and (c) Sean Azzopardi)

DMG: Ooh, good point. The first major webcomic project I was involved in – Rust at Popimage, with me doing the art and Alasdair Watson writing – came about as a result of the WEF too.

Matt: How did Necessary Monsters and your collaboration on that project come about?

SA: I had a table next to Daniel and Douglas (Noble) at the 2007 UK Web & Mini Comix Thing. I had read a lot of Daniel’s work, but had never really spoken to him. I asked both Doug and Daniel if they would like to collaborate on something. We talked again at that year’s Caption, and we began exchanging emails, on likes and interests. At this point, there was no solid idea of what we would do.

Matt: Did you guys brainstorm Necessary Monsters together then?

SA: After that initial email, no. I told Daniel what I had in mind, there was a brief period of silence and then the first script appeared. There was no input from me. The script, set-up, ideas were all from Daniel’s fertile brain.

DMG: That brief period of silence was me wracking my brain to try and figure out exactly what story we were going to collaborate on. I was really excited to have the opportunity to work with Sean on a graphic novel-length project, but for a long time I just couldn’t figure out what would make for the best fit between the two of us. I think to start with I had these notions of a very Indie, very low-key kind of narrative but nothing I came up with felt quite right. It was only when I tried reversing my thinking a bit, aiming at something that was actually a bit more commercial – a bit more of a romp – that ideas began to stick together into the eventual shape of Necessary Monsters.

Monsters grew out of a collection of odd character names – Charlotte Hatred, Cowboy 13 and Chicken Neck – that I noticed together in my notebook and thought might be the start of some sort of team. I also had this other name, Gravehouse, which I was turning over in my head as some kind of supernatural thriller set in a graveyard. I think I then took a longish train journey, during which time the ideas got all tumbled up together in my head and the basic premise of Necessary Monsters fell out the other side.

(some of the memorable cast from Necessary Monsters, from left to right: Charlotte Hatred, Cowboy 13 and Chicken Neck, art by Sean Azzopardi, (C) Goodbrey/Azzopardi)

Matt: Daniel, for those readers unfamiliar with Necessary Monsters, would you please give us a quick run-down of the plot/setting.

DMG: Necessary Monsters is your basic Mission Impossible-style spy thriller, only instead of focusing on a group of morally grey espionage specialists it stars a group of morally black supernatural psychopaths. The world of Necessary Monsters is one where the bad guys of modern horror movies – think Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Candyman and the like – are the ones secretly pulling the strings.

The story focuses on the actions of a covert agency known as The Chain, whose mandate is to ensure that no one supernatural menace becomes so powerful as to truly threaten the extinction of mankind. But far from doing this for altruistic reasons, The Chain’s real motive is simply wanting to ensure that there are always enough humans around to keep it’s monstrous founders amused and well fed. It’s worth stressing, The Chain are not the good guys, which for me was really the thing I wanted to explore in telling the story. I wanted to try a straight reversal of heroic fiction, but still keep the cast likable enough to carry the audience along without questioning exactly what kind of horrible creatures they were cheering for.

Matt: Daniel, how far did you succeed in the above, your stated aim?

DMG: I think we succeeded pretty well, judging from the positive reader feedback we’ve received so far. It’s something I want to keep pushing if we do more Necessary Monsters – especially with Creeping Tuesday, who’s kind of our Luke Skywalker by way of Freddy Krueger central character. With Tuesday I’m trying to do this perversion of the classic heroes journey, with the seductive forces of good trying to tempt her from the one true path of evil.

Something that I hadn’t counted on in the planning stages of Necessary Monsters was how much the spy fiction trappings of the series would throw off readers as to the characters’ motives. Several early reviews for the series made the assumption that the characters were somehow serving a greater good and so it was okay to enjoy reading them do all these terrible things. I thought I was pretty explicit up front about these being the bad guys, but I think people are just kind of used to their spies being bastards and so were happy to see them through grey-tinted glasses.

Matt: Sean, please tell us a little about the art.

SA: Once I received the story from Daniel I made the (with hindsight) mad decision to draw the whole book in Photoshop. To this day I can’t recall why, but if I ever find the bug that put the idea into my brain, it will get evicted for sure. I love stark black and white graphic approaches in comics and cartoons.  Despite the amazing advances in colouring and printing in comics, black and white is king. So, I half had in mind a combination of Eduardo Risso and John Ridgeway (solid blacks and negative space describing the design, with scratchy cross-hatching to model the form.)

Knowing Daniel’s work I was hoping that I would get to draw some crazy shit, and also stuff that I would have to research, as well as make up. I embraced a lot of behind-the-scenes approaches, using photographs, 3D models, tracing. Whatever got the job done really and made the pictures in my head possible.

On a side-note, me and Daniel are both writer/artists, and I really like this dynamic when it comes to working on a project. The understanding of the two roles bypasses a lot of problems that can rise from a non-artist/writer working with a non-writer/artist.

Matt: What were the pros and cons of the decision to work entirely in Photoshop?

SA: Well there were a lot of time-saving benefits. These were quickly replaced by constant crashes of computer, and far too much time wasted through having access to the Internet. I am trying to wean myself off too much usage, especially with the justification that ‘It’s research’. I am amazed at the amount of posting on FaceBook and Twitter that a lot of professionals do. Whatever project they are working on must be really boring.

Matt: Could you please expand on this statement a little: ‘On a side-note, me and Daniel are both writer/artists, and I really like this dynamic when it comes to working on a project. The understanding of the two roles bypasses a lot of problems that can rise from a non-artist/writer working with a non-writer/artist.’

SA: Yes, I wasn’t very clear on this. I found that working with Daniel he had a very visual idea of what was going on in the panels, and the page as a whole. It was very clear, because he has scripted and illustrated hundreds of pages for himself and for other artists. I have had scripts from writers that have very little visual awareness, and it can be very painful, and ultimately dull and uninspiring.

Matt: Daniel, the series reads like a bit of a love letter to video nasties, Japanese horror films, espionage drama and even the Dirty Dozen (‘We’ve gotta get a team together!’). How do you strike a balance between riffing off these various sources while still crafting a story that is very much in your own style?

DMG: Having thought about this for a bit I would have to conclude that I don’t know. I usually tend to build the initial framework of a story out of the strange little moments and characters and names and titles that clutter up my head. I guess this results in an essential undercurrent of my own particular sort of strangeness permeating the story. Necessary Monsters was me trying to be deliberately quite commercial in one sense and, yeah, it’s riffing on all sorts of stuff, but the devil remains in the details.

Matt: From what you guys have said, you, Sean, are working from a full script provided by Daniel. What are those scripts like in terms of their art direction (do you, Daniel, make any comments/suggestions about the composition, page and panel layouts…)? And what was the process when it came to designing the world and characters? How much of a back-and-forth was there?

DMG: Lots of back-and-forth on the character designs. Most of the characters went through several iterations as we tried to figure out the right look for them, starting with some initial descriptions from me and then providing as much feedback to Sean as I could while he tried out different approaches to each character. I think Tuesday’s design was probably the hardest to nail down – certainly the last of the major cast to fall into place, anyway.

In terms of script, I wrote full script but most of the time focused just on what was going on inside the panels and left page layouts to Sean to figure out. Occasionally I’d make a suggestion on page layout (usually limited to indicating what should be the biggest panel on the page) but I really felt much happier leaving that down to Sean.

In terms of composition within the panels I’m a bit more vocal, often providing some sort of suggestion as to how to shoot a scene (yeah, shoot – I use film language a lot for this stuff – it’s just what makes most sense in my head). When we first started out Sean’s natural inclination was to use medium and full body shots of the characters and I tried to push him more towards closer shots to up the tension a bit and give proceedings a more filmic feel. As the series progressed I think the amount of direction I gave dropped off substantially as Sean and I became more and more attuned to each other’s sensibilities.

Throughout the series I kinda also served as the editor on the book, critiquing the pages as they came in from Sean and making suggestions where I felt it was needed. Sean, bless him, had the patience of a saint when it came to this process and one of the advantages of working digitally was that it wasn’t too difficult to make small changes when required. Again, I found there was less and less that needed doing on this front as the book progressed and Sean hit his stride on the artwork.

SA: The character design stage was a lot of fun, what’s not to make a person shout ‘YES!’ when you read Chicken Head ‘s description? As for the script and the process of Daniel being editor, it worked really well. Daniel’s other life is a tutor, and I learnt a lot throughout the various stages. My understanding of composition and design has advanced for sure.

Matt: Prompted by Daniel’s answer, I want to throw this question at you both:
Quoting Daniel: ‘Throughout the series I kinda also served as the editor on the book, critiquing the pages as they came in from Sean and making suggestions where I felt it was needed.’

Sean, Daniel, how useful would it have been to have an actual editor working on the book with you? And is this one of the downsides of working on Indie projects, that there often aren’t the resources to employ someone as an ‘outside eye’? Having said that, did you guys at any point tap into your friends and peers in the comics community for feedback about what you were doing?

DMG: Well, it would certainly have been nice to have someone to catch all the continuity errors we made, which got a bit painful at times. Although our online readers were actually very useful in this regard, letting us know via the comments thread for each page where we’d let mistakes slip through. Another advantage to the online serialisation was this: being able to fix as you go in a medium more forgiving of edits than print.

And I do tend to use other creators as a sounding board at times, yeah. Most often Douglas Noble as he’s usually around somewhere on a Friday, with a glass of vodka and Coke in his hand, more than happy to dispense some comics wisdom (I just asked him about this on MSN and he says, I quote, “Any and all good ideas were mine.” Lies, obviously, but his heart is the right place). I think in the case of Necessary Monsters, I talked more with Douglas in the early stages when I was trying to figure out exactly what I’d be working on with Sean. I kinda, sorta stole Sean from out of under Douglas, as they were mid-collaboration on Sightings of Wallace Sendek when we started work on Necessary Monsters. Sendek has since made it into the B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S anthology and can be read online here;  good stuff from the two of them, as always.

(a recent page from Sightings of Wallace Sendek by and (c) Douglas Noble and Sean Azzopardi)

SA: The wider question of editors is an interesting one. In mainstream publishing, there seems to be a crisis in this area. I was reading one senior pro (the name has escaped me) saying that some editors dealing with their work just didn’t have sufficient knowledge of the medium to edit the work. I imagine as well that there are some editors who let the creator get on with it, assuming everything will be fine and just collecting the work for the deadline.

This shows in some shelf-bound product, with speech balloons so full of dialogue they are practically novels and speech balloon placement that unnecessarily obscures art (for me, ideally, the balloon placement should be integrated into the artistic process, not done afterwards, to avoid this problem).  It seems that the interventionist, Archie Goodwin-type editor is a thing of the past (which, reading about him, is a real shame). With regards to Indie publishing, we are, as Daniel has pointed out, our own editors. In this situation, working with someone else is so refreshing. We bounce off each other during the process, both picking at areas that need correcting or improving.

There are, though, some good models of editing that I’d like to mention now you’ve raised the subject.

The RAW model seemed ruthless in their editorial approach, and look at the fantastic results that Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly got.

In the UK, Tom Humberstone with Solipsistic Pop has taken on a curator/editor role, although I’m not sure if he actually has an input on the actual work. But the result is amazing – he’s clearly someone who has a strong idea of what they want – and the obvious care he’s taken on Solipsistic Pop has resulted in lush production values.

Matt: Could you guys just take me through the thinking behind publishing Necessary Monsters in the way you have, online, then as mini-comics and now in a collection?

DMG: The idea was basically just to get it out there in front of as many different audiences as possible. Initially our focus was web-comic serialisation to print collection, which I think is going to be the dominant model for independent comics for a while. We had the print deal with AiT agreed before we started serialising online, the idea being that the online version builds word of mouth and positive press for the eventual collection, which is where you (hopefully) make your money.

The mini-comics part of the puzzle came a little later – we realized we’d be doing tables at all these comic shows, so it made sense to have something physical to help promote the book and get another section of the comics audience talking about us. I think originally we’d maybe only thought of doing the first chapter as a mini to give a taste of the story, but response in the small press community was so strong that we decided to put out all five chapters as minis.

SA: I think Daniel has covered most of it. For me it was a first, serializing the material online, then printing it up as minis. It was a really immersive process, having feedback from Daniel, and then from people posting on the website (I was amazed at how many stuck with it from the beginning) and finally from the readers of the minis. I guess what I’m trying to say that there gave me an awareness that there was an audience, that the work wasn’t being thrown out into the void. (It’s certainly a good way of overcoming nerves, although not a way to banish self-doubt.)

Matt: What’s next for Azzopardi/Goodbrey, both as individuals and as a team? (And will there be more Necessary Monsters?)

DMG: I can reveal exclusively in this interview that there will be more Necessary Monsters, yes. We’ve both been taking a nice little break to recharge ourselves, but my notebook is starting to get so clogged up with sequel ideas that I think I’m just gonna have to break down and start writing the thing. Look for Necessary Monsters 2: Murder Box to start appearing online sometime later this year – probably in the summer, I should think.

Apart from Necessary Monsters I’ve a couple of new projects on the horizon, but neither of them are far along enough that I can talk about them without jinxing them. Instead I shall plug my other two ongoing webcomic series, The Rule Of Death with Douglas Noble and my own All Knowledge Is Strange.

(public transport continues to get worse in a scene from The Rule of Death by and (c) Douglas Noble and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey)

SA: Well, like Gravehouse I thought I was out of the game. (Although I have been writing a script/pitch of my own). Seems like that is about to change…

Matt: Oh, and I almost forgot, has NM – the trade – got any extra features, such as an intro, artists sketches, that sort of thing?

DMG: The trade features a brand new introduction from Kieron Gillen and reworked artwork across all five chapters. Think of it as the Special Edition of Necessary Monsters, now with better special effects and even more Azzopardiness but with Han still shooting first and less incongruous CGI dinosaurs.

SA: Yeah, all that. Thankfully I had time to correct a lot of the pages that were rushed, due to deadlines. There is a panel with Chicken Neck that has really benefited from a re-work.

Matt: Please give us your overview of the current state of the Brit’ comics industry. What’s good? What’s bad? What needs to change?

DMG: Hmm, lets see. Well, it was a good year in terms of conventions, I think. Between the injection of youth provided by the two MCM conventions and the crowning of Thought Bubble as the UK’s new première comics event, it feels like we’re on really solid ground again. I didn’t bother with Bristol or Birmingham this year and didn’t feel like I’d missed out on anything at all, so maybe those shows could both use a bit of a sprucing to compete with the new up-and-comers.

Apart from promoting Necessary Monsters at every available opportunity, I actually feel like I’ve been a bit removed from the Brit’ industry this yeah – quite a chunk of my time was spent back in the international world of hypercomics, with my Paris collaboration with David Baillie and a retrospective show at SICAF in Korea. So I don’t have that much more insight to offer. Sean? You got any pearls of wisdom for us?

SA: I feel out of touch with the scene now. I missed Bristol and Birmingham last year, and not having LUC (London Underground Comics) anymore has kind of sidelined me in terms of having an informed opinion of what is current. I think what I did learn last year is that there are massive amounts of opportunities for people to get their work seen, or to apply for grants and residencies. I think that there is an industry.

There is certainly an economic model, if someone would take the time to actual add up all sales of comics, in whatever format, that has been produced in the UK, I would imagine it would be a healthy total. All those two-pound minis, selling throughout the year, then trades, etc. I would have to say it’s in a healthy state, as much as print can be at the current point in time. It is at the point of moving into a new form, and the page is going to be another fetish form preserved by fanatical purists. Or something like that. But what is really positive is the amount of young people that are involved, as readers, as makers. I was involved in two separate workshops last year, and the enthusiasm for comics was inspiring.

(Bunuel and Dali eat your hearts out, this is how to do an eye-slicing scene! (c) Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Sean Azzopardi)

Matt: And, finally, what are you reading comics-wise? And are there any up-and-coming creators, Brit or otherwise, that you think we should be looking out for?

SA: At the moment I’ve the twin headed beast of Alec: The Years Have Pants (Eddie Campbell) and Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli on the go. People to look out for include Marc Ellerby, Adam Cadwell, Tom Humberstone, Julia Scheele, Matt Sheret and Lizz Lunney. Others from America are Alec Longstreth, Liz Baillie, and Liz Prince.

DMG: It feels like I’ve had less and less time to actually read comics this year, which shall probably result in a culling of my pull list sometime soon in the new year. I’ve been enjoying the usual names in US comics – Ellis, Ennis, Fraction, Bendis. Outside of that… well, it’s probably the year of Gillen & McKelvie, isn’t it? Those two chaps just keep going from strength to strength in all their comics endeavours.

In the world of the small press, it’s been great to see the return of Paul Fryer to active comics duty. He had two new ones out this year – Sticks and Rockfall – both of which were lovely little slices of perfectly staged action. In webcomics… well I always feel like I’m late to the party when I recommend a webcomic that people are probably all reading anyway but in the last year www.oglaf.com has caught my eye. Decidedly NSFW [not safe for work] and rather pornographic but also consistently funny and wonderfully illustrated. Worth a look, if you don’t mind the odd naked elf with your tea on a Monday morning.

FPI would like to thank Matt Badham, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Sean Azzopardi very much for sharing their time and thoughts with us; you can check out Necessary Monsters online here and the collected edition can be ordered here.

(some fabulous Promthea art by JH Williams III, borrowed from his Flickr gallery)

“Sardinian Connection: Could you talk about your collaboration with Alan Moore on Promethea? How did it start?”

“JH Williams III: Hmmm… I’m not sure where to start with this question, considering it has been around ten years since the time of starting Promethea. Basically I was working on a graphic novel called Son Of Superman at the time when I received a call from Scott Dunbier inquiring about my schedule. He was asking because I had been recommended to him By Todd Klein and Alex Ross for this new Alan Moore series titled Promethea. Of course I was thrilled to hear this. Scott quickly informed me that I was not their first choice because they had been looking for a more established artist that had a name known by the fans. At this time in my career I was not as well known as I am now. So I completely understood Wildstorm’s position in wanting as high profile a talent as possible for Alan. However Scott said he had been convinced to give me a call. He asked if I could send along samples of work to him to forward to Alan. After looking at my examples, Alan told Scott that I was the right choice. Very exciting for someone like me during that time in my career.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=smGKWwa6ANw

For this ninth instalment of the series, Matt chatted to Lisa Wood of the Thought Bubble comic convention, just head of this year’s Thought Bubble, which kicks off this weekend in Leeds. (NB: this will be the last of these interviews for the foreseeable future)

MB: Please tell us about a little about the history of the Thought Bubble.

Lisa: Thought Bubble started in 2007. I had been toying with the idea of running some kind of comics based exhibition or a series of workshops and the idea grew from there. I was really keen to bring a comics festival to the UK that was in the same vein as some of the European festivals; something that wasn’t just a convention but a celebration of comics on lots of different levels.

I feel really passionately that comics should be recognized as a valid art form like in France, when they are called the ninth art and regarded very highly. The public’s perception of comics and graphic novels is changing at the moment due to the popularity of comics-based movies. We are not only seeing superhero comic movies at the moment but films such as Road to Perdition, Scott Pilgrim and A History of Violence too, which are all based on great graphic novels.

MB: How is the Thought Bubble funded, by ticket sales, the exhibitors, a grant, some other means or a combination of these?

Lisa: Thought Bubble is funded by Ticket sales and exhibitors. We have also just found out that we have Arts Council funding which is amazing! It is great to know serious funding bodies such as The Arts Council are recognizing the benefits of comic books for learning and literacy. Hopefully this is the beginning of something really special.

MB: What are Thought Bubble’s overall aims?

Lisa: Our aim has always been to bring comics and graphic novels to the mainstream, and to show they can be an excellent educational tool to be embraced by libraries, schools and local councils. We want to put on a great show celebrating the amazing art and writing in comics.

MB: Who is Thought Bubble aimed at? What sort of punters do you hope to attract? Are you family-friendly?

Lisa: We are very family-friendly. We pretty much aim the con at everyone! We try and programme events that will appeal to all ages and types. At our Alea event we host panels, screenings and talks, which are for adults. However, we also run lots of workshops and events especially for young people! We recognise the importance of introducing young people to comic books so the art form can keep growing and growing.

(Yishan Li taking the first Thought Bubble workshop of 2009, pic borrowed from the TB blog)

MB: How effective have you been in getting those kind of people to attend?

Lisa: Because we run as part of the Leeds International Film Festival we tend to get a wide range of people attending our events. We also tend to get people coming along who are just curious, which is great for us because we have the chance to introduce newcomers to this wonderful art-form, this is what we always intended to do.

MB: Can you give a projected (or actual) attendance figure for the Thought Bubble?

Lisa: Figures for our festival and one day convention were: first year convention 500, festival as a whole 1100, our second year convention was 1500, festival as a whole 2500 and we are hoping this year will be 2200 for our convention and 3000 for our festival as a whole.

MB: What lessons have you learned during your time running Thought Bubble, in terms of its marketing and advertising?

Lisa: I think we are still learning how best to approach these areas. We will probably concentrate more on online advertising this year rather than printed matter, just because costs can be so high. The way we have approached this in the past is where possible find in-kind sponsorship. We have worked with various magazines to promote ourselves and in return we have helped promote them. We also work with various shops around West Yorkshire to promote our event as much as possible. Getting people on board to help us spread the word and our brand is invaluable.

MB: Do you use emerging technologies to spread the word about Thought Bubble? Do you have a website or blog, or use email mailing lists?

Lisa: We are really into using social networking sites to spread the word. We are also currently setting up a Youtube account, where we can post our favourite clips and hold competitions. We also have a WordPress blog that is updated daily at the moment and a Twitter. Our next goal is to record all of our workshops and talks to build up an online library of educational information for anyone and everyone to access.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWNtP5_BpCw

MB: What about print? Do you use print advertising, have a newsletter, anything like that?

Lisa: Because these cost tend to be fairly high we try and avoid buying adverts in magazines and work on in-kind deals as I mentioned before :)

MB: What’s the mix in terms of exhibitors at your con? Do you even have exhibitors?

Lisa: We have over 170 exhibitors. The mix is usually, small press 50%, guests and pros 20% and retailers 30%. It changes year on year though.

(last year’s over-16s comic art competition winner by and (c)  Kristyna Baczynski)

MB: What are your thoughts on the small press comics scene in this country? Does Thought Bubble support the small press and what form does that support take?

Lisa: We absolutely support the small press scene. We love it! We hold weekly small press features on our blog, highlighting some of our favourite small press people.

MB: How much are the tickets for the Thought Bubble? How did you arrive at that price? Please tell us about any concessions.

Lisa: Our tickets are £8 full price this year, half price for cosplayers and under-12s are free. For this price you get to spend the whole day listening to various talks and have the chance to take part in workshops, watch screenings, meet artists and writers and ask for sketches. It is a tough call trying to keep prices low. venue costs can be really high. There are also lots of hidden costs such as insurance and trading licence, the stage, tables. Running a convention can end up being very pricey. When dealing with ticket prices you need to look at your own costs and what your competition is charging.

(Dan Lester and Oliver Lambden at TB, pic from Richard’s 2008 report)

MB: How much are exhibitor tables for the Thought Bubble? Again, how did you arrive at that figure?

Lisa: Again we try and keep this low where possible, especially for small press as most of the time they end up losing money attending cons. Our small press and professional tables are £40, retailer and publisher tables are £60.

MB: Do you run workshops/events/panels at the Thought Bubble? Please tell us about those and how they are organised.

Lisa: Most or our programme is full of free workshops for young people and adults, our Arts Council funding helps us to do this. We invite industry professionals to come along and let people know how they write or draw and how to get in to the business. Our workshops have been incredibly successful, with most of them selling out before our brochure comes out. So far workshops have been run on a voluntary basis by industry professionals who are kind enough to give us and the public their time.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8ZFSpunfEk

(video of Thought Bubble by and (c) Russ Entwistle, borrowed from RJaymoon’s YT Channel)

MB: As you’ve been kind enough to answer these questions, please fell free to big the Thought Bubble up a bit. Tell us what you do well, what the Thought Bubble’s main attractions are and why our readers should attend the next one.

Lisa: Thought Bubble is a four-day annual event which celebrates sequential art in all its forms, including everything from superheroes to independent small press. We are a non-profit making organisation dedicated to promoting comics and graphic novels as an important cultural art form. Taking place at a variety of venues across the city, our aim is to cater to both long-time comic book fans and those who have never picked up a graphic novel before!

Thought Bubble will take place 19th -- 22nd November 2009 with a centrepiece one-day convention on Saturday 21st.  Thought Bubble will include art and writing based workshops for young people and adults, panels and talks lead by industry professionals and a programme of sequential art related film screenings. The special one-day convention includes an incredible line up of leading artists and writers, and over 150 tables selling comics and merchandise. The day will also feature portfolio viewings and competitions. This promises to be one of the best events of its kind in the UK, where you’ll be able to meet some of your favourite comic book creators and browse the huge selection of memorabilia on sale -- brought to you by the biggest and best exhibitors and dealers from across the country.  Keep an eye on the website for more updates, or join us on MySpace or Facebook to share your thoughts and ideas.

FPI would like to thank Lisa for taking time out from a busy schedule to talk to us and Matt for a fascinating series of interviews. This year’s Thought Bubble takes place in Leeds from the 19th to the 22nd of December (you can read Richard’s report on last year’s TB here on the blog). You can read the previous Q&As with other British comics con organisers in this series here on the blog: Comica’s Paul Gravett,  Patrick Findlay of the UK Web’n’Mini Comix Thing,  Jimi Gherkin of the Alternative Fair Press chats with Matt, Matt talks with Bristol’s Mike Allwood, Hi-Ex’s Vicky Stonebridge, BICS’ Shane Chebsey, Caption’s Jay Eales and LUC’s Oli Smith.

Just as we were preparing this interview the Thought Bubble crew updated us on a whole raft of (mostly free) comics classes that will be running during the weekend for children and adults:

Digital Colouring Masterclass with Peter Doherty. 14:00-15:00, Carrigeworks, FREE, 16+. Famous for his work on The Wachowski Brothers’ Shaolin Cowboy, and Judge Death, Peter will take participants through the stages of how to digitally colour line art in photoshop. A basic understanding of photoshop is required. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Sequential Art and Literacy Workshop. 14:00-15:30, Leeds Art Gallery, 12-18 year olds, FREE. Award-winning artist, curator, and academic Sarah Lightman, who trained at ‘Slade School of Art’, will go through the stages of creating your very own publication. She will explain how young people can use the comic format to reflect their own feelings and experiences. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Yishan Studio Shojo Manga Workshop with Yishan Li. 14:30-15:30, Leeds Central Library, 7-12 year olds, FREE. Yishan Li, a leading manga artist, and creator of the Yishan Studio ‘How To Draw Manga’ books, will run this fun workshop for younger children. Yishan will take them through the steps of how to create characters and figures. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Creation of Computer Game Concept Design. 14:50-16:50, Leeds Central Library, 16+, FREE. Steve Beaumont, character design and storyboard artist, will look at how the two are produced within the video games industry. There will be an opportunity to work from a typical client brief to create a gaming character. Steve will also touch on what the gaming industry looks for to give you a heads up in this ever growing field. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Manga Character Art Workshop with Emma Vieceli. 14:50-15:50, Leeds Central Library, 12-18 year olds, FREE.  Sweatdrop Studios’ Emma, is well known for her presenting on Anime Network, and her fantastic art on the Manga Shakespeare series. In this session, Emma will demonstrate techniques used in manga styled pages and show participants the foundations needed to create their own characters. This workshop will be fun and informal. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Frank Quitely Art Masterclass. 15:15-16:45, Carriageworks, 16+, £5 Entry. Thought Bubble is delighted to welcome Frank Quitely, one of the world’s most respected comic book artists, for a special insider look at his art. Frank is best known for his work on Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, Batman and Robin, and We3. Talking to Peter Dohert of 2000AD fame, Frank will reveal the creative process he employs in this fascinating masterclass. For tickets go to www.thoughtbubblefestival.com

Young People’s Comics Writing Masterclass with Adam Lowe. 16:00-17:00, Leeds Central Library, 12-18 year olds, FREE. Local author Adam Lowe’s first novel, Troglodyte Rose, mixes sequential art and prose. In this workshop for young people, he gives tips on writing scripts for comics, including dialogue, pace, and visual cues in this fun and informal masterclass. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com