\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"ComicBuzz Chats With Dave Thomas","post_excerpt":"The Many Lives of Jimmy Leighton","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"comicbuzz-chats-with-dave-thomas","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-10-07 22:32:21","post_modified_gmt":"2022-10-07 21:32:21","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/?p=207274","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":207085,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2021-10-19 19:35:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-10-19 18:35:03","post_content":"We got a chance to sit and chat with the photographer and director, Neil Krug. The GoldTwinz<\/em> releases today a novella from NeoText, in which Neil is working with the writer Jardine Libaire.<\/span>\n\nHi Neil, we are so happy to have you here with us.<\/span>\n\nYou are working with Jardine on her new novella, The Gold Twinz<\/em>; can you tell us about the artwork you have created for it?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nI look at this collection of artworks for The Gold Twinz as a kind of film-in-stills meets photo-surrealist nightmare. Throughout the series there are moments in the imagery that read like a frame grab from a film, and other images that suggest a more illustrative rendering of the scenes depicted in the text. I chose this approach as I hoped it would be more enjoyable for the reader and to satisfy my own aesthetic desires in making the work. <\/span>\n\n\n\nWhat were your thoughts when you read The GoldTwinz<\/em>? <\/span><\/strong>\n\nMy initial thought was, at last, a chance to let my freak flag fly. I enjoy genre bent crime stories and immediately responded to the world Jardine had in mind for this story. <\/span>\n\n\n\nWhat has it been like collaborating with Jardine on The GoldTwinz<\/em>? <\/span><\/strong>\n\nThe collaboration has been enjoyable as the two of us [Jardine and I] share a similar vision of how the work should look and feel. I find any great collaboration amongst creatives needs a shared vision so the work can go in the direction it needs to. I was able to chase the spirit of the project knowing that the atmosphere of the imagery would align to the text. <\/span>\n\nCan you tell us about what your creative process is like when you are creating your artwork? <\/span><\/strong>\n\nThe first thing I arranged for The Gold Twinz was picking my cast and making sure the performances would have the space to be as raw as the text suggested. The rest was choosing locations and deciding how best to photograph the world via my arsenal of cameras and film stock. I treated the various shoots similarly to how a producer would arrange shoot days on film, which helped focus the setups and keep the energy for the cast concentrated on whatever we needed to accomplish on the day. <\/span>\n\n\n\nDo you have a favourite piece of artwork that you created for The GoldTwinz<\/em>? <\/span><\/strong>\n\nI\u2019m particularly fond of the sequences of Yvette played by Kaiman Kazazian in which you can see the character moving about the room, and the entire performance is caught in a single frame of film. The surreality of those specific frames translated perfectly to what I imagined when daydreaming about the project. <\/span>\n\n\n\nAny message for the ComicBuzz readers? <\/span><\/strong>\n\nTodd McFarlane and Katsuhiro Otomo are two artists that I will forever be inspired by. I grew up during the heyday of Spawn and Akira and am aware that those specific works have had a great influence in how I approach color and building atmospheres. Those artists [Mcfarlane and Otomo] are a gift to the world.<\/span>\n\nWe would like to say thank you to Neil for taking the time to chat with us and wish him and Jardine the best of luck with The GoldTwinz<\/em>.<\/span>","post_title":"ComicBuzz Chats With Neil Krug","post_excerpt":"Novella from NeoText","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"comicbuzz-chats-with-neil-krug","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-10-08 21:01:33","post_modified_gmt":"2022-10-08 20:01:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/?p=207085","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":207069,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2021-10-19 14:11:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-10-19 13:11:31","post_content":"

With the release of her new novella from NeoText today, we are so delighted to be joined by the novelist and writer, Jardine Libaire. She has written many novels including Here Kitty Kitty<\/em>, White Fur<\/em> and the yet to be released You're An Animal<\/em>; she also writes for TV.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi Jardine, it's so wonderful to have you here with us.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks so much for having us to your awesome site!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Could you tell us about your novella, The GoldTwinz<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sure. The premise is that 20-year-old twins Marc and Yvette, anarchistic souls who live in the Everglades, finally admit that she\u2019s meant to be an outlaw mega-star and he\u2019s the only one who can get her there. First they have to destroy his childhood abuser and get her out of a sex-cam \u201clullaby\u201d contract she made to support herself while Marc was in prison. If I had to describe the story\u2019s origins, I\u2019d say it\u2019s inspired by Spring Breakers<\/em>, Wild at Heart<\/em>, Moonlight<\/em>, serialized pulp, a little Harry Crews, a little Delacorta, cheap supermarket tabloids, Flowers in the Attic<\/em>, a little dirt and grit, a big heart, a smidge of Bonnie & Clyde, old Rihanna videos, sunshine noir. An almost campy, psychedelic story about Yvette\u2019s rise to fame as an artist\/singer, with a backbone of \u201cmystery\u201d like old-school Patricia Highsmith. It\u2019s a mash-up for sure. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What has it been like working with Neil Krug on The GoldTwinz<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a joy, just a real pleasure. To see as we worked what he was producing while I was writing, each in our own corner. Especially because this was during the pandemic, the project became a bit of a lifeline to me. His work is also just straight-up inspiring, so saturated and moody, and it\u2019s full of mystery and possibility and dream and threat, but it\u2019s never vague. If that makes sense. That accomplishment, in his images, of a razor\u2019s edge and also a riddle, is thrilling to me. He also impacted the narrative and even generated a new character. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How did the collaboration with NeoText come about?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d been talking to John Schoenfelder about various TV projects, all genre mashup daydream projects, and we started chatting about this concept: Les Enfants Terribles<\/em> set in the Everglades, with a crime\/road\/gothic edge. It migrated into a novella collaboration with Krug. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Could you tell us about the origin of The GoldTwinz<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Part of it has been thinking a lot about the meaning of anarchy, not in the sense of disorder and chaos, but in the sense of people self-organizing and not relying on institutions. I recently moved from the city out into the Mojave Desert, and daily life is so different. Everything that's happened in our country in the past five years or so has brought it to the surface that many Americans have different ideas about who's in charge. I thought it would be exciting to test my city self and try to see life from the point of view of kids born and raised in a place where the wilderness is the ruler, to try to write characters who rely on each other and their family and their very close community, and who take things into their own hands whenever they need to, and even when they don't. I also love the idea of sunshine noir, combining the tropical and Technicolor with a dark underworld.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How did Neil Krug get involved with the novella?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Neil and John had also been talking about projects, and then John put us in touch with each other. Neil and I got to talk about what kind of work we dream about making, what boundaries we want to break in the work, how we see film and photography and text combining and intersecting, and how the experiment of collaboration can yield fantastically out-there results sometimes. Then we both set out to create our own components and we shared pieces of the outcome along the way, weaving the two together.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I've always been jumpstarted by going out of my lane, by reading something in a category I've never even heard of, or by trying to understand a new genre mashup and its roots and purpose, by asking people what they\u2019re currently obsessed with and then checking it out. Most recent expedition: reading Westerns, starting with Shane<\/em> by Jack Schaefer. It's so easy to get in a rut! I love being disoriented.<\/span><\/p>\n

A big thank you to Jardine for chatting with us, we wish her and Neil Krug the best of luck with The GoldTwinz<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"ComicBuzz Chats With Jardine Libaire","post_excerpt":"Novella from NeoText","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"comicbuzz-chats-with-jardine-libaire","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-10-08 21:02:01","post_modified_gmt":"2022-10-08 20:02:01","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/?p=207069","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":207024,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2021-10-13 18:13:18","post_date_gmt":"2021-10-13 17:13:18","post_content":"With the release of his new sci-fi novella this week, we are delighted to be joined by author Nicholas Mennuti. Weaponized his first novel, was co-written with David Guggenheim.<\/span>\n\nHi Nicholas, it's so great to have you here with us.<\/span><\/strong>\n\nAs some of our readers may not be familiar with your work, could you please tell us about yourself?<\/span>\n\nAbsolutely! For starters, I live in Washington, D.C. with my wife, two children, and a Goldendoodle who has us all well-trained. I\u2019m primarily a novelist, but I\u2019ve also worked in film and television, while also blogging and writing the occasional op-ed for the Huffington Post. I\u2019m passionate about the arts and politics and my work frequently intermingles those topics.<\/span>\n\nAnd I\u2019d be bereft not to mention that I\u2019m not the only writer in my house. My brilliant wife is also a novelist. However, she writes family dramas and romantic comedies, whereas most of my work tends to end with people pointing guns at each other and objects exploding. Or in the case of \u201cScrap\u201d a little bit of both.  <\/span>\n\nCan you tell us about your novella, Scrap?<\/span><\/strong>\n\n\u201cScrap\u201d is the story of Travis Schrader, a man who has lost the script on his life, who has gone astray, and absent-mindedly ended up in a temporary position as a night watchman-quasi-engineer at an enormous data storage center in Kansas.<\/span>\n\nOne evening, while on the job, he is kidnapped from the present, dragged into the future, and informed that he has been sold to a corporation that intends to utilize him for their own ends. Travis has allowed himself to become so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, that his life can be manipulated without setting off a butterfly effect that could influence or change world events. And his adventure begins.  <\/span>\n\nHow did Scrap find a home at Neotext?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nThe short version is that John Schoenfelder, the in-house Pope and brain trust behind NeoText pitched me the protagonist of \u201cScrap\u201d, and his explanation of Travis\u2019s existential dilemma was incredibly compelling. I could see the story unfolding with every bit of backstory John added in. <\/span>\n\nHonestly, it\u2019s so rare when a character\u2019s flaw and the journey he needs to take to resolve it are so commingled on a literal and metaphoric level. Travis had that rare magic. And I jumped at the chance to be a part of \u201cScrap\u201d.<\/span>\n\nThe slightly longer version is that no other publisher besides NeoText would have been as bold in its collaborative vision with \u201cScrap\u201d. John charted an ambitious course with Travis, and then he trusted Howard and I to measure up to his challenge in our roles on the project. That\u2019s part of what makes NeoText so special. They thoughtfully and deliberately weigh writer and artist collaborations to achieve the best result. Howard and I being paired together on \u201cScrap\u201d wasn\u2019t an accident. <\/span>\n\nHow did Howard Chaykin join Scrap?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nJohn had Howard in mind from the very beginning. In fact, he might have had Howard in mind before me<\/em>. The only caveat being that we needed to deliver a text filled with prose and narrative incident that Howard would spark to, that would inspire him to create in the way only he can. He\u2019s a genuinely singular talent.<\/span>\n\nThankfully, \u201cScrap\u201d was enough to convince Howard to come onboard, and we were lucky enough to have him.<\/span>\n\nWhat has it been like working with Howard Chaykin?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nWell, you don\u2019t really \u201cwork\u201d with Howard per se. Ha!<\/em> He\u2019s an incredibly intelligent, inciteful, and independent artist. On top of which he\u2019s one of the smartest people I\u2019ve ever spoken to. He has vast, encyclopedic knowledge about the history of his profession, plus he\u2019s a stylistic chameleon up for anything, and brings the cumulative weight of his experience to bear on every project.<\/span>\n\nBut to be more precise, our relationship involved Howard asking questions, very targeted questions. He knew exactly<\/em> what he was looking for. And by giving him what he needed to be at his best, it also had the reverberating effect of strengthening \u201cScrap\u201d as a whole.<\/span>\n\nBy Howard asking me why I made particular narrative or tonal decisions, or to clarify why I selected certain images, he forced me to look at \u201cScrap\u201d through another set of eyes, really drill down on a granular level and interrogate my own text, which was invaluable, and what the best collaborators gift you with.<\/span>\n\nAny message for the ComicBuzz readers?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nYes! First of all, thank you SO much for taking the time to speak with me. Being interviewed by ComicBuzz has finally given me cache with my kids and their friends. I\u2019m almost cool, but still so far away.<\/span>\n\nAlso, I urge your readers to check out \u201cScrap\u201d and not only because I wrote it. I genuinely believe it\u2019s a fascinating fusion of a writer and artist taking a big swing and pulling off something interesting in our respective roles. <\/span>\n\nI\u2019m very proud of \u201cScrap\u201d, proud of the numerous layers it\u2019s engaging with readers. It\u2019s certainly a cautionary tale about corporate overreach and one man\u2019s journey to become human again in a technocratic, oligarchic present and future, but beyond those points, \u201cScrap\u201d is also a richly illustrated and rendered satire and action-thriller.<\/span>\n\nWe would like to say a big thank you to Nicholas for chatting with us and we wish him and Howard the best of luck with Scrap.<\/span>","post_title":"ComicBuzz Chats With Nicholas Mennuti","post_excerpt":"Sci-fi novella","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"comicbuzz-chats-with-nicholas-mennuti","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-10-08 21:03:13","post_modified_gmt":"2022-10-08 20:03:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/?p=207024","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":206961,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2021-10-01 16:42:48","post_date_gmt":"2021-10-01 15:42:48","post_content":"We are so delighted to be joined by the writer, Max Allan Collins. <\/span>Max has written in many different media including novels, comics, movies and graphic novels. Some of the novels that he has worked on include Nathan Heller<\/em>, Quarry<\/em> and Mike Hammer<\/em>. Max is the creator of Road to Perdition<\/em>. With his new novella<\/span>, Fancy Anders Goes to War<\/em> releasing from NeoText on October 5th, we got to sit down and chat with him.<\/span>\n\nHi Max, thanks for joining us today. We are so thrilled to have you here with us. It's so great to chat with you.<\/span><\/strong>\n\nThanks for asking. Glad to share my thoughts about Fancy Anders Goes to War<\/em>.<\/span>\n\nAs some of our readers may not be familiar with your work, could you please tell us a bit about yourself?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nI\u2019ve been writing mystery and crime fiction since high school, and my first books were published while I was still in college. I was always a comics fan and not long after my novels began appearing, I also started working in comics. My most famous work is a graphic novel I wrote, Road to Perdition<\/em>, which became a Tom Hanks film.<\/span>\n\nIn terms of comics who are your favourite creators, and do you have a favourite series?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nI grew up on comic strips, including Dick Tracy<\/em>, which I eventually came to script. Batman <\/em>is in the same category \u2013 I wrote the monthly comic book for a year and did several graphic novels. In comics I admire Will Eisner and EC great Johnny Craig \u2013 just introduced a collection of his work for Fantagraphics. I love all the classic noir<\/em> mystery writers \u2013 Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and Mickey Spillane. But I also love Agatha Christie, who was the greatest mystery writer of all time.<\/span>\n\n\n\nNeoText will be releasing the novella Fancy Anders Goes to War<\/em>; can you tell us about the origins of Fancy Anders Goes to War?<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\n\nThe idea of the character came first \u2013 a young woman whose father was a successful private detective and whose mother was a socialite, in World War II-era Los Angeles. Women came into the workforce in a major way in those years and that was an attractive aspect to explore. I wasn\u2019t sure whether prose or comics were right for her, but when NeoText gave me the opportunity to do a novella series for them, I thought Fancy would be perfect.<\/span>\n\nHow did Fay Dalton join Fancy Anders Goes to War?<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\n\nFay had done the covers of two comic books of mine \u2013 issues of Quarry\u2019s War<\/em> and Mike Hammer: The Night I Died for Titan<\/em>. I loved what she did and requested her for the cover of the first Fancy Anders novella. We\u2019d already been discussing illustrating the novella in some fashion and once we saw Fay\u2019s work, she was the obvious choice.<\/span>\n\nHow would you describe Fancy Anders Goes to War?<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\n\nIt\u2019s not as noir <\/em>as some of my work, though Fancy is herself tough and tough-minded, and there are elements of violence. But it\u2019s also a fun time machine ride back into an America where we were all pulling together and not so politically fractured.<\/span>\n\n\n\nWhat made Fay the right artist for Fancy Anders Goes to War?<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\n\nFay has a feel for the great pin-up artists and illustrators of the 1940s and 1950s. A number of those artists were women who were themselves glamorous and used themselves as models. Fay is a wonderful throwback to that era \u2013 strong, confident, and feminine in the best sense.<\/span>\n\nHow long have you been working on Fancy Anders Goes to War?<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\n\nIt came together fairly quickly, from idea to getting a deal for three novellas from NeoText. I spent the Covid lockdown writing them.<\/span>\n\n\n\nHow did the collaboration with NeoText come about?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nI knew the publisher\/editor, John Schoenfelder, from traditional publishing. When he came up with a different take on publishing, with NeoText, he was good enough to call me and see if we could come up with a project together. Fancy Anders <\/em>flowed from that, as well as a full-length novel, The Many Lives of Jimmy Leighton<\/em>, co-written by legendary SCTV star, Dave Thomas.<\/span>\n\nWhat has it been like working with Fay and NeoText?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nLovely. Fay and I kicked around ideas about illustrations, and stayed open to each other in that regard. NeoText is one of the most supportive publishers I\u2019ve been lucky enough to work with.<\/span>\n\n\n\nWhat are you currently reading?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nDark City<\/em> by Eddie Muller, the definitive book on film noir<\/em>.<\/span>\n\nAny message for the ComicBuzz readers?<\/span><\/strong>\n\nFancy Anders<\/em> is a nice midway point between prose and graphic novels \u2013 Fay Dalton provides a full-page, usually color illustration at the start of each of ten chapters. It\u2019s a nicely retro touch that I think you\u2019ll enjoy.<\/span>\n\nWe would like to say a big thank you to Max for taking the time to chat with us. Fancy Anders Goes to War is on October 5th from NeoText.<\/span>","post_title":"ComicBuzz Chats With Max Allan Collins","post_excerpt":"New novella","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"comicbuzz-chats-with-max-allan-collins","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-10-08 21:18:48","post_modified_gmt":"2022-10-08 20:18:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/comicbuzz.com\/?p=206961","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_22"};