It was when I was at college that I started reading comics. I led a few discussions on the topic and even got an English course on the books fully credited “Comic Books as Literature.” It was a small group with an Art Historian, English, and Psychology prof. It was amazing. But I didn’t really start writing until the end of my stay in Glasgow (2009).
CB: Did you delve right into writing comics at that point, or did you try other types of creative writing?
LZ: I loved creative writing all the way through school. I wrote a lot of poetry in high school. In college, I wrote a feature length screen play, a few short films, some mid length plays, and lots of science fiction short stories.
CB: In a minute we’ll get to your current project, which I know incorporates a lot of historical events. Has History played a part in any of your other stories?
LZ: Not on a whole, no. Bits and pieces filter in, but any good story needs that. One screen play was an alternate-history involving Caesar’s invasion of Gaul. It may still happen, but not for a while. Generally its been speculative or science fiction, based off of current political situations.
This project is the first that I really wanted to keep key historical events intact as the larger backdrop for the story. Obviously the story isn’t meant to be historical, but I’ve done my research on Jesse James, the Daltons, where their pub was, how old their kids were, who were the enemies of the Younger Family. Then I mix in monsters and demons for fun.
CB: Obviously now we’re getting into EZRA. Tell me a little about the story, and how you came up with the idea.
LZ: Like I mentioned before, I’ve written for film. I like to do a bit of filming too. I live in a stunning valley with Mountains, grassy plains, plummeting canyons, rushing rivers, crystal lakes and more. I always find scenery inspiring, finding characters who would be there. And I had the image of this Old Mountain Man, haggard, windswept, wandering the hills, ridding them of demons in ghost towns, monsters out of old minds, ghosts from abandoned homesteads. Problem is, that is really hard to shoot on an indie budget. Furthermore, living rural I have very few people to help on a film project. So I turned to comics, but I found myself wondering how this sort of lone monster hunter got to be wandering the wilds, and thus the comic Ezra was born.
CB: How long ago did you start writing the first issue? What has your basic process been?
LZ: I started writing the first issue April 2010. I was working Census then, so I would sit and think up characters situations while waiting for people. Then I would go home and write them up, or scribble them down in my notebook. I would build outlines, cut them down, and rebuild them. I would find key points, themes I needed to hit to keep Ezra as a character moving. Then I would write blocks of dialog, building the scene around it figuring out how to panel it. I ended up cutting a lot of dialog.
The initial script looks quite a bit different than the one that finally went to the artist. I had it cram packed full of too many things that distracted from the story. But while searching for my artist, it allowed me to back up, and really hone what needed to be shown and said, and what could go into future arcs, keeping it tight and focused.
CB: So pitch me issue one. Pretend I’m someone important at a comic convention. You have 30 SECONDS.
LZ: Ezra’s a supernatural western, set in the middle of the civil war in the territories. Ezra’s has visions of Lawrence, Kansas burning but has no idea how to stop it as demons and monsters seek to interfere with him at all points.
CB: Who do you think your primary audience is?
LZ: People who love a good character driven supernatural tale, or folks who like a twist on genre pieces, in this case, the western.
CB: Let’s back up a little. How did you meet your artist?
LZ: Shanna has been a godsend to this project. I asked a few artists to collaborate, mostly through deviant art searches. “Western” “civil war ghosts” “Cowboy demon” you know that sort of suff that you normally search. Shanna had posted this pin-up of this moody Cowboy drawn in a blotchy roughly inked grey scale. And I knew that was look I needed for the book. I contacted her and I eneded up getting a skype at 1 am from Skan (her deviantart moniker) saying, “hey, sooo you want me to work on a comic.” She actually sent me sketches before we even threw a short contract together. So, I think she really fell in love with the project.
CB: That must have been very exciting and reassuring.
LZ: It was amazing, to see something I had been writing finally coming to life and interpreted by someone so accurately. I had this realization that I was making a legitamate comic book, and it looked stunning in Black and White.
CB: Yeah, I’ve got to say, I really dig the art. Sorry, not a question, just a fact – lol.
LZ: Shanna’s greyscale blows me away everytime I get a finished page.
CB: Who else is on your creative team?
LZ: Shanna does all of the interior, pencils, inks, greyscale. I tried doing the lettering myself, but failed miserably working in GIMP. I just didn’t have the vectoring to make it look “pro.” So I asked a few folks I knew had lettered, which meant asking pros that had no time for a low paying indie book. They were all very kind, but said they didn’t have time. Finally Rus Wooton pointed me towards Haas who was at ‘Fairplay Lettering’ at the time. I just heard that he switched to ‘KungFuGrip Studios’. So I think that is how he is billed in the final print copy of Ezra. Since Shanna was swamped with the interior I asked a few folks to do covers, but finally nabbed Claudia Pimmentel, whose work I had seen over at RushHouseComics, a Michigan indie comic collective, to do the pencils and inks for the cover. Mike Spicer just got tapped do cover colors, which should be finished up within the week.
CB: So what’s left to do in order to complete issue one?
LZ: Just colors on the cover, and a minor lettering correction. I also want to throw an author’s note at the end giving a bit of historical backdrop, but that’s mostly written and just has to be formatted for print.
CB: I understand that you just launched a kickstarter campaign! How is that going?
LZ: Its my first campaign, so I’m no pro on analysing progress, and most of the ones I’ve pledged on were in their final hours. But we hit 5% durring this interview which I think is pretty good for 36 hours in. I think it is going alright so far. I spent about a week pulling things together for incentives, video, and a little marketing check sheet with emails that need to be sent. I got permission to use the Ghost Wolves track which was awesome, they added a great flavor to the video and they have been really supportive and want a few copies to sell at shows. For now I’m hitting twitter and FB hourly, trying to get eyes on it through different communities. I’ve been on twitter for a while so I’ve gotten to interact with some pros and they have been kind enough to do some Retweets or even personal shoutouts. Its tough being rural, I don’t have a strong comic community to tap into, but I’ve got friends helping spread the word, even if they aren’t really into comics, which is great to have.
CB: It looks like you have 33 days left to reach your goal. How often do you find yourself hitting the refresh button?
LZ: Way too often. On average…30 seconds? I have to force myself to step away from the computer, work on scripts the old fashioned way, watch a movie, or something. I use the rockmelt browser which keeps my social media updated on the side bar but I still hit refresh…”just in case…” I have to remember it is a marathon, not a sprint.
CB: Yeah, we talked a little before we started about striking that balance between making people aware and bugging the crap out of them.
LZ: Yeah, I really want to be considerate with my tweeting especially. Its a pretty ephemeral medium, so I try to tweet at least hourly if possible or hit key times where feeds fly by. I use twitter mostly to follow folks so I don’t have many close friends on twitter to bug with incessent tweeting. Especially when asking for pros to look at it, I ask by name, leave it open if they would like to help support, and I’m not offended if they don’t. I try to send messages or emails instead of tweets because its just more personal and polite. You won’t get any where if you are obnoxious. But most everyone has been real nice about it and have had kind words about the project.
CB: I see one of your incentives is a Glow in the Dark Poster. That’s pretty retro! What made you think of that?
LZ: My love for Glow in the Dark has been recently reawakened when I picked up Oni Press’s “Ghost Projekt” which has a glow in the dark cover, which was cool, but putting the book down and shutting my light off to go to bed, I was suddenly struck with wonderment at how awesome Glow in the Dark really is! I wanted to throw glow in the dark stars on my ceiling again! I knew I wanted to do a poster of a splash from the comic and I thought, “how cool would it be to make it glow in the dark.” I contacted Graphic Designer VickTrola and asked her if we could do a glow in the dark screen print. She said most emphatically yes!
CB: I see you have an incentive called “I LIKE COMICS BUT I MAKE VIDEOS”. What’s that all about?
LZ: I really was trying to think of something I could offer as a writer. I know scripts are cool to see. I love seeing the different script styles that authors have and how the specific artists translate it. But Shanna was doing heeps, and I wanted to offer more. I’ve done a fair bit of video work, gotten best short director at a 48 Hour festival and send some films to festivals and shot some weddings. I figured I could put my editing chops to use for the project for anyone looking to get their film editted. Its something some directors dread because it is a tedious process. Hopefully I can help someone out with that.
CB: Can’t wait to see the final product. So is kickstarter the best way to pre-order an issue right now?
LZ: Yep, the only place to pre-order.
CB: Great. Hear that folks? If you want to learn more about this project and get a first-run copy, check out the kickstarter page. Any shout-outs before we go? Or anything else you’d like to add? I know I’ve asked the most in-depth interview questions, so it will be hard for you to think of anything else ;)
LZ: I think that pretty much covers it. Even if you don’t pledge, a share is most appreciated!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lukezwan/ezra-devil-begets-devil-1-a-supernatural-western-h
Kickstarter link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lukezwan/ezra-devil-begets-devil-1-a-supernatural-western-h?ref=users