Yambar.com > Faith: Warrior Princess

FAITH: WARRIOR PRINCESS "The legend behind FAITH: WARRIOR PRINCESS is as priceless as the new comic series itself! In the beginning there was a little girl named Layne Toth who always dreamed of creating comics. She drew and drew every day! At a very early age she came up with her own character, FAITH: WARRIOR PRINCESS, and began to make up stories with her grandma, LaDonna Morales. One day she met a happy adventure cat named ITSI KITSI. At age 7 Layne began working on comics with the kitten's dad, Chris Yambar. He was a famous painter and comic creator and looked like a well-fed mountain gorilla. By age 8 Layne made her first professional comic book credits in the pages of MEOW WOW! #1, published by Airwave Comics. When people found out about Layne's comic book work, they liked it so much they began to talk about her in TIME and THE SUN, on THE PULSE, NPR, and the BBC show : "ONLY IN AMERICA." Layne and that nutty cat were everywhere! "One day she asked Mr. Yambar if he would help her bring her character FAITH into the comic book world. He thought this would be a great idea, so he called his artist friend Levi Krause and asked him if he'd like to be the chief artist and designer on the project. Layne and Chris had to bribe him with snack treats and do funny little dances for his amusement in the beginning, but soon Levi was on board for good. In no time at all, Layne and her grandma began sending Chris ideas for stories, which he then messed up with his own ideas and gave to Levi to mess up even more. Layne even drew a story in each comic all by herself. "Suddenly, they realized that they had to put all of their work into a comic book and show it to the planet. So they did! They made T-shirts, buttons, and art prints together, too, all of which debuted in November 2005 at the Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus, Ohio. Not bad for a kid who just turned 9 years old. "The rest of the world had to wait until January 2006 to get the first issue of FAITH: WARRIOR PRINCESS at their comic shops. It was hard for the citizens of Earth to do this. Some cried. But when they all saw that the comics were available in both English and Spanish translations, they knew that it was worth all the time and effort ....and that they were loved!" "After you've read the MEOW WOW! Page and have paid a visit to Layne Toth's website, www.sisterscomics.com, you'll be qualified to read the following three interviews with Layne, Yambar, and artist Levi Krause. It's all about their new all-ages comic series, FAITH: WARRIOR PRINCESS. These interviews were conducted by Jen Contino and appeared on the online comic news page THE PULSE in late October and early November of 2005." PULSE INTERVIEW WITH LAYNE TOTH PULSE: How tough was it for you to get your part of the comic created? LAYNE TOTH: "It wasn't very hard. I had practice from 'MEOW-WOW!' #1. My main distractions were my little sister Peri bugging me to play and my friends being on summer vacation." PULSE: What were some of the things that were very hard for you to draw? LAYNE TOTH: "The perspective and detail on panel one of my story were kinda hard to draw. I didn't notice my shared lines in that panel right away so my Lansing Community College teacher pointed that out. Drawing JO JO TORNADO'S arms in-action on two of my pages was a challenge. And drawing black on black was new to me. The background of my Special Tour Edition cover was extremely hard because I had streaking problems. My mom had to buy me five brand new Prismacolor true blue markers and I used them all up on that background. By the way, that cover variant issue will premiere at Mid-Ohio-Con 2005, then will ONLY be available on my show tour and exclusively from my website at www.sisterscomics.com. I'm thinking that I might donate the original line and color art of that cover to the Pittsburgh Comicon 2006 Make-A-Wish charity auction which I participate in every year." PULSE: How has your art improved since you began working on this? LAYNE TOTH: "As I drew the characters, I got more practiced at them and they started looking better as I went. My line weight improved a lot and I had fun experimenting with the character poses." PULSE: How pleased are you with the way Faith Warrior Princess # 1 is turning out? LAYNE TOTH: "I'm very pleased with 'FAITH: WARRIOR PRINCESS(tm)' #1 -- I love it. Chris Yambar and my grammy LaDonna Morales do a really great job writing the stories. Levi Krause does a spectacular job drawing the art. And George Broderick, Jr. does excellent graphics and a lot of lettering for our comic. All three issue #1 variants (English, Spanish and Special Tour Edition) will be published by Airwave Comics." PULSE: What was it like meeting people at all the conventions you went to this summer? LAYNE TOTH: "It was a blast! At 'Find the Super Hero In You Day' and DC's 'BATMAN BEGINS' stage show in Port Huron, Michigan, their city youth awarded me Honorary Citizenship for my talents and contributions to the comic book industry. Levi Krause, Chris Yambar and my family were there with me. It was really exciting and I love Port Huron! And it was awesome meeting you at Pittsburgh Comicon last April! Also, it looks like I will be filmed this fall for an upcoming Children's BBC documentary series called 'ONLY IN AMERICA'." PULSE: How is the collaboration process with Levi and Chris going? LAYNE TOTH: "We're a great team! I love those guys!!! I'm learning a ton from them!" PULSE: What is the first issue about? LAYNE TOTH: "The first issue is about how FAITH and her little sister LOVE became warrior princesses for THE LIGHT, along with a couple more adventures. The girls move into their GRAMMY SHINE'S house in the center of MEANNIAPOLIS(tm) which is a city that has been taken over by MEANNIES and evil shadows." PULSE INTERVIEW WITH LEVI KRAUSE PULSE: What were some of your first impressions when you met Layne? LEVI KRAUSE: "I was amazed at Layne's ability to seamlessly blend being such a young comics professional and a little kid. Layne has an incredible energy that is quite contagious. I've seen Layne do a "happy dance" on occasion and I wanted to join in!" PULSE: How was the different from the typical younger comic fan/creator you've met? LEVI KRAUSE: "Hans Richter once said, 'Every child starts off possessing genius, until, under the influence of social pressures..., he first misuses, then loses and finally despises it.' If only every child could be encouraged the way Layne Toth has." PULSE: What did you think of her art style? LEVI KRAUSE: "It's obvious that Layne is gifted. She has really floored me with some of the things she comes up with, and she improves every day. So, what is really scary to me is that if she's this good now, what will the future hold? It's very exciting to witness." PULSE: WHat interested you in working with her? LEVI KRAUSE: "Chris Yambar approached me with the idea, and introduced me to Layne and her family. I did a few rough sketches of 'FAITH WARRIOR PRINCESS' and was hired on the spot." PULSE: What impressed you about Faith Warrior Princess? LEVI KRAUSE: "I love the fact that Layne and her grandmother came up with the original concept. Once Chris Yambar told me I'd get to design the look of the series and draw a bunch of monsters and crazy characters in addition to FAITH herself, I couldn't wait to get started. And once I saw Chris' scripts for this project, I knew it was going to be something special and unique." PULSE: How is the collaboration with Layne and Chris going? LEVI KRAUSE: "Chris and I work together all the time so I kinda knew what to expect as far as his writing style. What I wasn't prepared for was just how cool this project turned out." PULSE: Are you finishing the pencils? LEVI KRAUSE: "Yes, I'm finishing pencils, inking, and lettering my two thirds of the book at a record speed for me." PULSE: What other projects are you working on in or out of comics? LEVI KRAUSE: "Chris Yambar is writing another series for me called 'ON THE ROAD WITH BIKER DICK', and I think he and I will be collecting our 'SPELLS' comic series soon. Beyond that, I hope to do more 'FAITH WARRIOR PRINCESS'!" PULSE INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS YAMBAR PULSE: What were some of your first impressions when you met Layne? CHRIS YAMBAR: "Layne is a little sweetie, a real dear heart. Her enthusiasm is very addictive and she's totally unafraid to be the real deal. I was surprised by her manners and mature speech." PULSE: How was the different from the typical younger comic fan/creator you've met? CHRIS YAMBAR: "That's just it, she was more interested in how things worked 'as a pro' than as a fan. She loves to read comics but her mind is settled more on making them than just reading and collecting them. She has some strong cognitive reasoning skills at work that go far beyond the typical hyped-up fan perspective." PULSE: What did you think of her art style? CHRIS YAMBAR: "I think that Layne's work is heart felt, honest, and completely authentic. Her interest in creating comics is 100% pure. I love the fact that she now looks back on her first published work in 'MEOW WOW!' #1 and rolls her eyes at it. When you compare that project with the work she's doing now, you can definitely see a maturity in her drawing and inking style. Yeah, I said 'drawing AND inking!' She's learning a lot from her art teacher in Michigan and her latest work is the proof. She practices nonstop... without being coached or prodded." PULSE: WHat interested you in working with her? CHRIS YAMBAR: "I met Layne during the MidOhioCon of 2003 (one of the best family themed comics shows in America) and she bought some copies of 'I DREAM OF JEANNIE' comics from me with her dad in tow. Before she left, I gave her a copy of a comic I produced for FBI Comics in 2000 called 'ITSI KITSI - HAPPY ADVENTURE CAT'. Soon after, I began getting mail from her. I'll never forget the first package I ever got from her. It included some hand drawn black and white and color samples of the cat character and her enemy, MISTER POOPSQUEAK, a bio sheet where she listed her professional credits (winning an art show, playing harp with her grandma), a cover letter expressing her desire to someday do some comics about ITSI KITSI, and a little photo with the words, 'Just in case you don't remember what I looked like' neatly printed on the verso. After that, I started to get email from her as follow up so I asked her to have her mom or dad contact me by phone which they did. Our families got together during an Easter weekend and hit it off. Great folks! I was amazed at how focused Layne was about her desires and questions. She showed me even more portfolio images. Right then and there, I decided to help this young talent out and struck a partnership deal with her dad, Tornado. Layne's first pro work appeared in bookstores 6 months later. She produced 16 pages of comic art with pro-specs, co-wrote 2 stories with me, contributed images for our cover jam and a limited edition print. It was her honest and excited nature and youthful blue collar work ethic that hooked me. I don't see that kind of drive in most adults let alone most kids. How could I not be interested?!!" PULSE: What impressed you about Faith Warrior Princess? CHRIS YAMBAR: "The concept for 'FAITH WARRIOR PRINCESS' is simple and sweet. There is a certain element of innocence in the stories. These usually start out with ideas from Layne and her grandma. As everyone knows, I like to drive my comicbook car over the cliff every once in a while... OK, often! Levi Krause and I have some pretty messed up wiring in our creative heads so we've had to derail our personal trains and approach the book's course with a more gentle spirit. Personally, I think it's doing both of us a world of good... and it's probably keeping us out of jail too. Ha! 'FAITH' is a very thoughtful book that is crazy and fun in all the right places. It's got plenty of creepy cool monsters in it too!" PULSE: How is working with Layne different from some of the other comic creators you've worked with over the years? CHRIS YAMBAR: "As a writer of off beat humor like 'MR. BEAT', 'BART SIMPSON COMICS', 'SPELLS', and a whole bunch of other titles that should get me run out of town, I'm not used to writing from other people's springboards. In the case of 'FAITH', I've got to spend a bit of time really paying attention to the more subtle aspects of a story idea. I've also got to shake off the adult world and put on my 'see it as Layne would' hat. Since Layne and I co-own 'FAITH', I've got to make sure that I keep her vision for the book intact and at the same time add a bit of my own madness into the mix. We talk about ideas that I pep up over the phone and when we're both happy with a script we cross our fingers and hand the ball off to Levi who continues to produce some of the best moments in the book with his completely insane and yet heart warming illustrations. It's no one person show. It's a real team effort! There's a strong spiritual unity with the project that is bigger than all of us. We're all careful not to do anything to mess that vibe up!" PULSE: What do you view as her greatest potential right now? CHRIS YAMBAR: "Outside of a few independent comics, there is very little new product being created for young readers in today's industry. We're starting to see a lot of reprinting from yesteryear but new concepts just aren't being welcomed like they should be by retailers. Now in the defense of retailers, they've been bitten pretty bad in the past by 'hot button' items that are still sitting in quarter boxes because they never delivered on the promise of the hype. I think 'FAITH' is a great opportunity to test comics from a totally different perspective. There's been a lot of attention on Layne and our crew in the national media with 'MEOW WOW!' and we're gearing up to be VERY visible when 'FAITH WARRIOR PRINCESS' #1 hits the comicbook shelves in early January 2006, so there will be some solid fire behind the product. We want retailers to experience a complete sell-thru and are going to do our best to help make that happen!" PULSE: Why do you think people are going to embrace Faith Warrior Princess? CHRIS YAMBAR: "It's the kind of book that a kid and an adult can read and enjoy. It's fun as a read and is a visual treat for those who enjoy anime, classic signature independent comics, and mainstream Scholastic Books style. We're even releasing the first 3 issues in a variant Spanish translation to help broaden the readership base. It's got all the kick, all the cute, and all the monsters have big teeth." PULSE: What other projects are you working on? CHRIS YAMBAR: "George Broderick Jr. and I are putting the final touches on a new all-ages adventure kid character property called 'THE TWERP'; the two of us are getting ready to work on a horror humor one shot called, 'SUCKULINA - VAMPIRE TEMP'; and we've got some new plans for 'EL MUCHO GRANDE - WRESTLER FOR HIRE' in 2006. Levi and I will be hard at work on 'FAITH WARRIOR PRINCESS' #2 & 3 with Layne as well as on a new Yambar/Krause biker themed comic called 'ON THE ROAD WITH BIKER DICK' and a collected 'BIG BOOK OF SPELLS'. Fans of 'MR. BEAT' can look forward to a few collected editions, new tie-in products, and an all new 64 pager just in time for MidOhioCon 2006. And of course, you'll see me over at Bongo Comics within the pages of 'BART SIMPSON COMICS' and pulling the stings of other popular licensed character properties."