<\/p>\n\n\n
With the launch of Order of the Night Jay (Book One): The Forest Beckons<\/em> graphic novel from Top Shelf Productions, we got a chance to sit down and chat with author and illustrator Jonathan Schnapp.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hi Jonathan, it's a pleasure to have you here with us.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Thank you, the pleasure is mine! <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Would be happy to. I\u2019m an author and illustrator working out of Rochester, NY. I\u2019ve come to the comics world pretty late in life, all things considered. I studied fine art photography before eventually finding day jobs in the optics world, manufacturing, R&D, and such. For some sanity and stress relief, I took up doing acrylic painting. I painted a lot of cartoon animal characters in different silly situations. As my paintings got more complex, I started thinking of them as slices out of longer narratives. It was only a matter of time before I felt one slice wasn\u2019t enough and that these characters needed more. <\/span><\/p>\n What can you tell us about the Order of the Night Jay (Book One): The Forest Beckons<\/em> graphic novel?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Order of the Night Jay<\/em> has been such a fun venture and such a good learning experience. In some ways, I tried to do the impossible. I tried to pack in so many things. I wanted a story with mystery and adventure. But also be heartwarming and sensitive. And also be silly and cartoony. There are codes and puzzles, secrets to find, and even a few real survival skills the reader can learn, all wrapped up in a summer camp setting.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Can you tell us about the origins of Order of the Night Jay<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It all started with a painting of a cartoon bear and raccoon, dressed up like scouts, exhausted from hiking up a mountain. I can\u2019t say that was one of my better pieces (Frank\u2019s character design was so terrible!) but I loved the contrast between the two and knew I had to tell their story. <\/span><\/p>\n Living in upstate New York, I\u2019m lucky to have the Adirondack mountains nearby. It\u2019s one of my favorite places to be. The mountains are beautiful, but also ominous and mysterious. Can we ever actually fully explore a place like that? Or will there always be new dark corners, forgotten secrets, or magical moments?<\/span><\/p>\n And I was certainly inspired by my own experiences in scouting - camping, earning badges, and causing mischief!<\/span><\/p>\n Who are Frank and Ricky?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n We meet our two heroes as they are both headed off to camp. They are both Tailfeathers, the starting rank at camp Jay Bird. They\u2019re polar opposites, but they bond over their love of the \u201cgirly comic\u201d Mega Bunny. <\/span><\/p>\n Ricky, the raccoon, is spunky, energetic, and easily distracted. He follows the beat of his own drum, which leads him to some wild ideas. Frank is a bear - the only \u201clarge\u201d animal at a camp filled with squirrels, hedgehogs, beavers, and other small animals. Because he\u2019s so large, the other scouts are wary of him. Until they meet him! He\u2019s timid and unsure of himself and is scared to do anything but follow the rules. So he gets pushed around instead, especially by the two older scouts who are there to earn their Leadership badge.<\/span><\/p>\n In terms of the cast of Order of the Night Jay, how did you create them? Did you have the visuals in mind for each character first, or did you know what traits you wanted in each character and then created them visually?<\/span><\/p>\n Truthfully it was a little bit of both. When I first started sketching the story, I knew Frank\u2019s character needed work. He went through a number of variations - I even had him looking like a teddy bear for a bit before I realized how awkward and weird that was! Edna, the camp counselor, also took a bit of work to get right.<\/span><\/p>\n One thing that really helped me was drawing up a cast \u201cphoto.\u201d It cemented the design for all the supporting characters and it also seeded their personalities. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n How would you describe Order of the Night Jay (Book One): The Forest Beckons<\/em>?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Twin Peaks<\/em> meets Looney Tunes<\/em>? Calvin and Hobbes<\/em> meets Gravity Falls<\/em>? Wallace and Gromit<\/em> meets Sherlock Holmes<\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When you were writing Order of the Night Jay<\/em>, did you write a full script?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I find writing graphic novel scripts very cumbersome. I\u2019m a very visual thinker and when I just write out words without sketching the scene as well, the results are very different. Certain actions don\u2019t make sense. New gags and silly moments pop out. I did try quite a few methods for laying out the plot structure and writing a script, but it ultimately felt like too much work and not enough fun.<\/span><\/p>\n I did, ultimately, write a general outline for the entire story - this was before we decided to make it a small series - but in the process of sketching and doing the layouts the course of the story changed dramatically. <\/span><\/p>\n How long did it take for you to complete Night Jay (Book One): The Forest Beckons<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I want to say I started working on the story in late 2019. So about two, two and a half years? I worked a full time job on top of that, so I was quite busy!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did Top Shelf Productions get involved with Order of the Night Jay<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve really enjoyed working with Top Shelf. Many publishers need you to go through an agent, but Top Shelf is very accessible and you can submit directly through their website. Of course they are still very selective, but it\u2019s refreshing to be able to email Chris (Staros) directly and get a personal response. I\u2019d sent Top Shelf<\/em> a project a few years prior to Night Jay which was rejected, but the feedback I received helped me keep going.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Night Jay (Book One): The Forest Beckons<\/em> is an all-ages story; does the story have elements from your own experiences?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I never found a cave in the woods with a secret code scratched on the entrance, that\u2019s for sure! But I was very much a \u201cFrank\u201d growing up. I always felt lost and really struggled to feel accepted. It\u2019s taken a long time to allow myself to be more like Ricky - silly and a little impulsive. The tension between the two characters (Ricky wants to explore the cave, Frank wants to avoid getting into trouble) is very much based on my real inner dialogue.<\/span><\/p>\n And I did spend quite a few years as a kid going camping, tying knots, trying to start campfires (often with very wet firewood). The scout campground we\u2019d go to always felt old and run down, with sections that never seemed to get used anymore, like the pool or the BMX course. It very much had a sense of history, of forgotten secrets. And Boy Scouts have their own \u201csecret society\u201d called the Order of the Arrow that directly inspired the title of the series. We were never great scouts, by the way. Just like in Night Jay<\/em>, we got lost on the compass course, but mostly because we didn\u2019t know what we were doing!<\/span><\/p>\n As The Forest Beckons is the first of the Order of the Night Jay<\/em> trilogy, do you have parts two and three plotted out?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n So much has changed with the story since I started. Originally it was only going to be one book, but Chris at Top Shelf smartly suggested we break it up into a series. This really made it so the story could breathe and take its time to have fun. <\/span><\/p>\n The main narrative for Book 2 is almost completely written out at this point. There\u2019s going to be lots of tweaking here and there, secrets to add, and a puzzle or two. Things tend to change even more when I start on the final art.<\/span><\/p>\n Not to give too much away, but in the next part, Ricky and Frank get in trouble (yet again!), they meet a stranger who helps them unlock more of the history of the Order, and Jake and Spud stumble on a dark and powerful secret.<\/span><\/p>\n And of course there will be more \u201cMeet the Tailfeathers\u201d chapter breaks, activities, and sneaky educational moments.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n (If you\u2019re (at)bashing your head over this piggy penned message, the key can be found in Order of the Night Jay: The Forest Beckons!<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A big thank you to Jonathan for chatting with us; we wish him the best of luck with Order of the Night Jay (Book One): The Forest Beckons<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>","post_title":"ComicBuzz Chats With Jonathan Schnapp","post_excerpt":"Order of the Night Jay (Book One): The Forest Beckons","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"comicbuzz-chats-with-jonathan-schnapp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-10-06 19:57:37","post_modified_gmt":"2022-10-06 18:57:37","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/?p=208233","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":208211,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-09-14 14:55:04","post_date_gmt":"2022-09-14 13:55:04","post_content":" With the launch of; Castle Full of Blackbirds<\/em> today from Dark Horse Comics, we got a chance to sit down and chat with award-winning novelist Angela Slatter. Anglea makes her comic book debut with this series. She is joined; by Mike Mignola, Valeria Burzo, Michelle Madsen, Clem Robins, Wylie Beckert and Vanesa Del Rey.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hi Angela, it's so wonderful to have you here with us. <\/span><\/strong>Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Hi there! I\u2019m a writer of novels and short stories (www.angelaslatter.com<\/a>). My work tends toward tales that play with fairy and folk tale themes, myths and legends, and I love dark fantasy and horror. I\u2019ve written five novels, three novellas, and eleven short story collections. The novels are the gothic fantasy\/horror books (as A.G. Slatter\u2013\u2013the least-convincing disguise since Clark Kent\u2019s glasses) All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns<\/em>. The supernatural crime\/urban fantasy trilogy (as Angela Slatter) is Vigil<\/em>, Corpselight<\/em>, and Restoration<\/em>. I also work as a freelance developmental editor of fiction, and teach creative writing at the Australian Writers\u2019 Centre. Castle Full of Blackbirds is my first comic!<\/span><\/p>\n Can you tell us about your history with Hellboy?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I started reading in the Hellboy Universe about ten years ago, and loved what Mike had done with this little red demon that turned into a big red demon who loved pancakes and beer and sometimes did not make good decisions. I love how everything is dark and magical, playing around with old versions of fairy tales\u2014the proper ones, the ones that haven\u2019t been given the Disney treatment. They\u2019re deep, dark stories with epic villains and surprising stories\u2014and sometimes yesterday\u2019s allies are tomorrow\u2019s enemies and vice versa. I\u2019m a big fan of that mix. If I were to choose my favorites\u2014or at least the ones that stick with me the most\u2014it would be The Troll Witch<\/em>, The Sleeping and the Dead<\/em>, Darkness Calls<\/em>, and The Three Wishes<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n How would you describe the Castle Full of Blackbirds<\/em> series?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s a kind of witches\u2019 coming-of-age story and it follows Sara May Blackburn, who helped Hellboy out of a jam in Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: The Return of Effie Kolb<\/em>. Sara\u2019s been thrown out of home by her family because she sometimes knows about things before they happen, and her family is scared she\u2019s a witch. She is totally a witch, and she made a connection with Miss Brook in The Return of Effie Kolb<\/em>\u2013\u2013Miss Brook gave her a photo of the Linton School for Girls in New York, so Sara May is on her way to NYC, trying to find a place in the world. There are some new and old enemies, and some new allies.<\/span><\/p>\n What were your thoughts when you first saw the art created by Valeria Burzo and Michelle Madsen?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Oh, delighted screaming and phoning a friend to gibber inarticulately at him until I calmed down. From Valeria\u2019s first sketches I knew we were golden, and as we progressed to the inks, and Michelle added the colors it just got better. The gothic look of the school and some of the characters is exactly what was in my head. I know some of the actions that I was describing in my script made me think \u201cCan anyone actually translate this into art? Am I being nuts?\u201d But no, Valeria got it all down beautifully, and Michelle\u2019s colors rendered it all so richly. So, yeah, I am a HUGE fan of the artwork\u2014and the covers by Wylie Beckert are just astonishing.<\/span><\/p>\n What can you say about Sara May Blackburn?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Sara May is like all the best characters in that she doesn\u2019t fit where she was born and grown\u2014so she was always going to have to set out on a journey across the world to find out who she was and where she needed to be. It\u2019s not fun that her start was getting rejected by her family, but that experience also taught her some life lessons\u2014and she was lucky in that she got to meet Tom (from Hellboy: The Crooked Man and The Return of Effie Kolb<\/em>) and, through him, met Hellboy. I think she saw this big red guy who was so different from anyone else, and he was kind and compassionate, so maybe not everyone was so bad. In Castle Full of Blackbirds she\u2019s learning about found families and the reaches of her own power\u2014and she\u2019s faced by a bunch of hidden enemies, so she\u2019s got to survive the Linton School for Girls before she can do anything else.<\/span><\/p>\n What's it like working with Mike Mignola?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Awesome! He\u2019s been doing this gig for a while now, and he\u2019s very patient with questions and ideas that I threw in. And there were a lot of questions, because it\u2019s my first comic, so I was learning on the job. He gave me about three tips on writing comics and then the training wheels were off. He said, \u201cYou know how to tell a story!\u201d And I\u2019m grateful he had that faith in me! Let\u2019s not forget the editorial team at Dark Horse\u2014Katii O\u2019Brien, Jenny Blenk, and Misha Gehr have been fantastic support. You can ask them any dumb question (and believe me, I did. Soooo many dumb questions.) and they\u2019ve got the answers.<\/span><\/p>\n Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Just that I hope they enjoy this limited series and exploring the world of the Hellboy Universe\u2019s witches as much as I enjoyed writing it.<\/span><\/p>\n A big thank you to Angela for chatting with us; we wish her and the team the best of luck with the Castle Full of Blackbirds<\/em> series.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"ComicBuzz Chats With Angela Slatter","post_excerpt":"Castle Full of Blackbirds","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"comicbuzz-chats-with-angela-slatter","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-10-06 16:25:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-10-06 15:25:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/?p=208211","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":208172,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-09-07 14:56:55","post_date_gmt":"2022-09-07 13:56:55","post_content":"With the launch of her debut graphic novel, Unretouchable<\/em> out on September 113th via<\/span> Graphic Universe, we got a chance to sit down and chat with writer, artist and creator Sofia Szamosi.<\/span>\n\nHi Sofia, it's so wonderful to have you here with us.<\/span><\/strong>\n\nHi! Thanks for having me!<\/span>\n\nCould you please tell us a bit about yourself?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nI am an artist, originally from New York City, who makes graphic novels, artists\u2019 books and zines, among other things! I am also a mom to a wonderful, not remotely \u201cterrible\u201d 2-year-old.<\/span>\n\nCan you tell us about the origins of Unretouchable<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nUnretouchable<\/em> started out as a zine I made in 2016, after doing an internship with a \u201cdigital imaging specialist,\u201d aka the person who handles the tech on photoshoots and does photo retouching. The internship opened my eyes to a whole new world behind the scenes of image creation and manipulation, and led me to do a lot of soul searching about the power these images can have. I shared my zine, which was basically an illustrated personal essay, with my agent, Jennnifer Weltz of JVNLA in NYC, and she saw the seeds of a graphic novel in its pages.<\/span>\n\nThe Unretouchable<\/em> graphic novel is black and white; when did you make that decision?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nUnretouchable<\/em> has been black and white since its conception. The original zine that inspired the book was black and white; in fact some of those early images that inspired the character of Olive and the style of the artwork ended up making their way into the final book. I\u2019ve loved drawing in black and white since childhood, so it felt natural to work in that style.<\/span>\n\nWhat can you tell us about Olive?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nOlive is a recent high-school graduate from New York City who dreams of being an artist like her grandpa \u2014 and of finally meeting her online boyfriend IRL. It\u2019s the summer before her first semester of art school, and she feels full of questions about her path\u2026 How do people even make a living in the arts? Should she get a \u201creal job\u201d? What does real connection really look like? Her mom sets her up with a summer internship with a photo retoucher, and though at first she\u2019s equal parts fascinated and horrified, it leads her to become increasingly alienated by social media and the digital world around her and to ask more and more pressing questions about the power of images, what role media should have in her life, and what her role in that media should be.<\/span>\n\nHow long have you been working on Unretouchable<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nSince 2016. While I truly love the graphic novel format, it is definitely not a quick process! The total time I spent working on the manuscript and creating the artwork was around two years.<\/span>\n\n![\"OrderOfTheNightJay1\"](\"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/OrderOfTheNightJay1-726x1024.jpg\")
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\n\nHow would you describe Unretouchable<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nUnretouchable<\/em> is a coming-of-age story about growing up in a world where authentic experience feels harder and harder to come by, and we are marketed to more than ever on our phones and social media. Olive is grappling with how these forces shape her own perception of herself and her body, and the larger question of how these forces, distortions and pressures damage different people in society differently. Unretouchable<\/em> is a story about what it means to become an alert, conscious consumer and creator of images, and it\u2019s ultimately a tribute to self-acceptance.<\/span>\n\nWhen it came to writing Unretouchable<\/em>, did you write a full script?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nAfter writing the original zine (which was an illustrated personal essay), I then had the task of fictionalizing my story. Despite the similar internship experience, Olive really is her own bird \u2013 it took time to find her on the page. The first step was creating an outline, then I wrote a full script. Next I mapped out each page, figuring out which lines of the script would go on each page. Then I sketched the artwork, sometimes adjusting or changing the script if needed.<\/span>\n\nHow important is word of mouth for any indie project?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nThis is my first book, so I guess I am about to find out! I think it would be super important!<\/span>\n\nWhat part of the creative process did you enjoy more, the writing or the art?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nMost definitely the art! I love telling stories with images and words together. For me, the words really come alive when I am drawing them, and oftentimes I will revise or find the words as I am drawing. The script serves as a framework, but the real story comes out when I am drawing.<\/span>\n\nHas creating Unretouchable<\/em> been a challenge?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nYes, but it has definitely been a labor of love! For a good portion of the creation of this book I was either pregnant or holding a newborn, which was definitely challenging at times, but also really fueled my fire.<\/span>\n\nHow did Graphic Universe get involved with Unretouchable<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nAfter my agent urged me to turn my zine into a treatment for a graphic novel, she shopped it around to publishers and Graphic Universe came on board. My editor, Greg Hunter, and everyone at Graphic Universe \/ Lerner has been such a pleasure to work with, and really helped me craft Unretouchable<\/em> into what it is today.<\/span>\n\nAny message for the ComicBuzz readers?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nTHANK YOU so much for reading and checking out Unretouchable!<\/em> I am so excited to hear what you all think of it! :) Stay tuned for news about my second graphic novel, which I am very excited about and hard at work on as we speak.<\/span>\n\nCheck me out here:<\/span>\n\nwww.sofiaszamosi.net<\/a>\n\nIG: @sofiaszamosi<\/span>\n\nTwitter: @sofia_szamosi<\/span>\n\nA big thank you to Sofia for chatting with us; we wish her the best of luck with her new graphic novel, Unretouchable<\/em>.<\/span>","post_title":"ComicBuzz Chats With Sofia Szamosi","post_excerpt":"Unretouchable","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"comicbuzz-chats-with-sofia-szamosi","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-10-06 12:38:33","post_modified_gmt":"2022-10-06 11:38:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/?p=208172","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":208068,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-09-02 18:57:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-09-02 17:57:11","post_content":"With the launch of her new comic, Rangers of The Divide II: Into the Depths<\/em> #1, next month from Dark Horse Comics, we got a chance to sit down and chat with writer, artist and creator Megan Huang. <\/span>Her work can be seen in many titles including Double Jumpers<\/em>, Princeless<\/em>, Aggretsuko, Rick and Morty<\/em>, Jia and the Nian Monster<\/em>, Jenny Zero<\/em> and Star Wars: Hyperspace<\/em>.<\/span>\n\nCould you please tell us a bit about yourself?<\/strong><\/span>\n\nHello! Yes! I\u2019m a Canadian comic artist hailing from the Greater Toronto Area. I\u2019ve been a comics professional for about 6 years now? Probably going on seven. Ah, my brain has a unique concept of time, haha! <\/span>\n\nFor any of our readers who are not familiar with the\u00a0Rangers of The Divide\u00a0series, what can you tell us about the series?<\/span>\n\nSo, the series follows a group of cadets and their very secretive and rather abrasive commander. After a mysterious force starts to terrorize their lands, the Rangers and their companion dragons set out across dangerous wilds to find and stop said force. <\/span>\n\nHow long does it take to create an issue of\u00a0Rangers of The Divide<\/em>?<\/strong><\/span>\n\nOh dear\u2026 it depends. But I think the fastest I\u2019ve gone is maybe a month and a half. Lately I\u2019ve taken on a lot more work outside of Rangers, so the pages have come in slower than I\u2019d like. 6 (or 7) years and my time management is still a mess!<\/span>\n\nDo you have a favourite scene from the first series?<\/strong><\/span>\n\nI think the entire Squall Owl chase was super fun. I feel I managed to capture what I was imagining fairly well on the pages, which is super duper crazy hard. I have a similar sequence in series 2 that takes up most of an issue. Just an action-packed ride! And it gets my blood pumping even as just the creator to draw the scene, so I hope readers feel the same way when they dive in. <\/span>\n\nHow important is pre-ordering for an independent comic?<\/strong><\/span>\n\nOh very important! It tells the stores to stock more, and it tells the publisher to push the book more. It\u2019s just good all around for the longevity of the series\/ book, as comics can very easily, flop, not simply due to a mere lack of quality, but due to a lack of backing. We really do rely on readers so much, and we definitely appreciate when we have that backing from fans!<\/span>\n\n