What was the first comic book you ever read?
From what I can recall, it would have either been an issue of Batman (Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle era) or an issue of Marvel Tales, featuring Spider-Man. I'm not sure which I got a hold of first—but they were two of the earliest comics I remember reading.
What was the first manga you ever read?
Guyver was the earliest manga title I ever picked up. This was back when Viz was publishing it in single-issue format, prior to their (now out-of-print) trade paperbacks. It boggles my mind that no other publishing company has picked up the Guyver license since the '90s. The series is still ongoing in Japan with over 30 volumes, but has unfortunately received little attention in America.
What are you currently reading?
For American comics, I've been reading Marvel Horror: The Magazine Collection, which reprints several of Marvel's horror centric magazine-format comics from the '70s. I also recently purchased a bunch of Shogun Warriors issues, which are an absolute blast. It's crazy, '70s-era Marvel fun at its finest.
As for Japanese manga, I just finished Devilman Grimoire—an enjoyable, unique spin on the earlier Devilman stories. I've now been reading Triage X—which is written and drawn by the same artist who worked on High School of the Dead.
Favorite super hero?
I'd have to go with Batman. As much as I enjoy the comics, it was really the Tim Burton films and the '90s animated series that elevated Batman for me. More recently, the Arkham games have done an amazing job with the character, villains, and mythos.
Favorite manga character?
Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin.
What would you consider must read manga series?
I feel Death Note qualifies as a “must read,” but early Dragon Ball is a great gateway series for those just getting into manga. For current manga titles, One Punch Man is a definite must—and a fantastic parody on the whole superhero genre.
What is the inspiration behind Danger Zone One?
I had been working on a few projects with dark, serious themes and deeply troubled characters—and in the midst of that, I felt the urge to do something on the side with a lighter, more “fun” premise. Danger Zone One was really born from that. Anime titles like Dirty Pair, Bubblegum Crisis, and Cyber City Oedo each had their own influence on the comic as well.
How long have you been doing it?
Danger Zone One first began as a weekly webcomic in June 2016. We've just passed the three year mark and haven't missed an update yet!
What setbacks you have suffered along the way?
The good news is that none of the setbacks were serious enough to completely derail the comic! The main obstacle has typically been dealing with artists. Staying on top of deadlines, and/or making sure the quality remains consistent can be a constant hurdle. Sometimes an artist will be scheduled to work on numerous chapters, but can't keep up to the task. This is what happened to the first Danger Zone One artist, Katsu. I've dealt with other artists that could barely manage a single chapter—or even half a chapter, for that matter.
Fortunately, the current Danger Zone One artist, Salaiix, is a joy to work with. He's always dependable, does an amazing job on each and every page, and “gets” the characters/stories perfectly. In many ways, his art adds to, and enhances, the script.
Another setback, during the first year of the comic, was trying to secure funding via Patreon. Without funding, it's simply not possible to pay artists to work on the comic. That's no longer an issue, since we're now completely funded—but it was an eye-opener that starting a webcomic is essentially 20% creativity and 80% promotion and advertising.
Any bumps in the road as far as crowdfunding is concerned?
The main bump in the road was early on, when Danger Zone One first launched. Spreading the word about the comic was a bit of a hurdle, and reaching our milestone goals on Patreon took some time. Thanks to venues like the now-defunct Project Wonderful, which offered affordable advertising options, we were able to get our existence known and build a following. Now we're fully funded and nearing our next milestone—which, if we reach it, means two pages will update per week.
Our Kickstarter last summer for a print edition of Volume 1 had a rocky start but, in the end, the campaign was a huge success and we even reached all of our stretch goals.
Are you working on anything outside of the Danger Zone One universe?
There are a few other exciting projects I'm currently working on. I can't divulge too much about them at the moment, but I'm hoping to unveil some details soon. One of the projects is for another manga-style webcomic, but with a strong supernatural twist to it.
Who are your biggest influences?
There are so many...it's difficult to choose. Go Nagai, the creator of Devilman and Cutie Honey, is a major influence. I greatly admire his unconventional storytelling methods and how he's never content with playing something “safe” even if it's at the risk of losing commercial appeal. Sometimes when writing out a plot, I'll wonder if it's going too far—or not far enough. That's when I ask myself, what would Go Nagai do? Usually the answer is to go much farther.
What advice would you give for anyone thinking about starting a web comic?
Make sure it's a comic you'll enjoy writing and, if you're an artist, one you'll enjoy drawing. I know that sounds basic, but I've seen numerous webcomics end mid-story just because the creator lost interest. A spur of the moment idea might sound good, but you really need to be invested in the stories you're telling to keep any momentum/interest up.
I've said this before on Twitter, but it bears repeating—if there’s an important piece of advice I could offer fellow webcomic creators, it’s that they should always create their own website to feature their comic. It’s a fine idea to mirror your comic on other webcomic sites, but relying on venues like Line Webtoon or Tapas as the sole outlet for your comic to be seen can be extremely risky.
A major problem with many of these sites is that they, in effect, employ the notorious “work for exposure” model. Unless a creator’s comic is “featured” (and only 5% or so are) everyone’s work is just bolstering sites like Line Webtoon and giving these companies tons of free advertising revenue with little actual support for the vast majority of indie creators. You also run the risk of being delisted at the whim of any moderator (I can verify this from first hand experience!). Running your own site to host a webcomic completely circumvents this.
And, I mentioned this earlier, but always remember the importance of promotion and advertising. You need to get the word out there that your comic exists. You could have the best webcomic—with some of the most incredible artwork on the Internet—but, if no knows about it, no one sees it.
Thanks to Midnight for swinging by the blog today. Danger Zone One can found using the following links:
Danger Zone One
Danger Zone One
No comments:
Post a Comment