Cartoon Machine Men (Part 1): Yambar on Mr. Beat, Bart Simpson, Santo, etc. (WizardWorld.com 5/10/01)

Cartoon Machine Men (Part 1): Yambar on Mr. Beat, Bart Simpson, Santo, etc. (WizardWorld.com 5/10/01) 5 Minutes with Chris Yambar on Life with Bart Simpson, Mr. Beat, Santo, and Everything Else "Are we a team, or a machine?" When Chris Yambar asked that simple question of his frequent collaborator, George Broderick, they had no inkling of the ramifications that the latter's answer, "We're a Cartoon Machine!" would have upon their lives. Since that moment, these two powerhouses -- who had previously produced a veritable mountain of work, both individually and together -- have experienced a literal explosion of creativity. The results of this have only begun to hit the shelves, but it has quickly become evident that while the number of projects has increased almost astronomically, the quality of their work has only skyrocketed. And, considering the high quality of their earlier work, this is a thing that is truly beautiful to behold. In the first part of our feature on this dynamic duo, we look at the life and times of Chris Yambar. An established and highly successful commercial pop artist with a thriving business and impressive list of clients outside of the comics industry, Yambar is someone who does comic work out of sheer love of the medium. But that doesn't prevent him from attacking his cartoon assignments with the verve, passion and pure sense of joyous fun that he applies to all aspects of his life and work. Whether he's working on one of his creator-owned projects, or a well established, company owned anti-establishment cultural icon, Yambar is driven to delivery the very best in comic entertainment. WizardWorld.com: Chris, I know you've got a literal ton of stuff coming out, but there's one project in particular that I know I'm not alone in being really excited by, and that's The Complete Mr. Beat. I know that the second collection's going to be hitting the shelves soon, so the real question is: How many more of these babies can we expect to see? Chris Yambar: We've got enough Mr. Beat material for three volumes, all three of which will be published by Comics Library International. The first collection did really, really well, and people said, "Yeah, but you're missing a bunch of stuff!" And I said, "I know. Do you want to see it?" and they said, "Sure!" And, with all the [original printings of the] books being sold out, this is the only way you're going to get those stories, the early stuff. WW.com: Well, what made you decide to collect all of this stuff? I only ask because I know that, originally, you weren't planning on doing any collections. Yambar: Right. I made a real, strong hard line that I do not do reprints. With [the realities of being in the] small press, independent publishing, I don't want a warehouse full of stuff. So, it's a reward to the people who bought it early, and bought multiples. [Laughter] But there's been a clamor for it, and people want to see more Mr. Beat, so I said, "This is the only way we're going to be able to do it." But I mix up the stuff. I don't do it all in chronological order [in the collections]. I take stuff from all over the place, and mix it [up when I] put it together, so you get the old and the new in every issue. WW.com: For all of those people who might not be familiar with Mr. Beat due to all those other people hoarding those hard to find issues, how would you describe the character? Yambar: He's an agent of Cool. Like, you have Chaos and Order. Well, he's the agent of Cool. He was hand picked by God to represent Cool in the multidimensions. So, anytime there's a problem, he goes to his back room supply room, and he opens up the door and that enters into a whole 'nother dimension that just has giant floating doors. And he can go pick what ever door's open, and go in there, and do a little trouble shooting, keep some order, and make sure everything's Cool. But he's the king of the Beats, he's the last beatnik. And the more you know about real life pop culture, and the inside jokes that are in the news, always, the more you're going to get Mr. Beat. It's a higher brow [level] of humor. There's a little bit of a European feel, people have told me, so that's encouraging. WW.com: And we'll be seeing some new Mr. Beat adventures, right? Yambar: Yes. As a matter of fact, some people have asked me, "Will we see new adventures, or a new mini-series?" and I said, "Yes, we will. But it's gonna be called The Mr. Beat Show." It's weird, after five years of doing the character, to actually have a Mr. Beat Show premier, or #0, book. But it'll probably be out at San Diego Con, and it'll be ultra-limited press run, but with real high production values. So if you get it, you got yourself a keeper. But I'd like to take it, and kinda play up The Mr. Beat Show aspect, because he does [have] adventures, but there's a lot of stand up [comedy] with Mr. Beat, and I'd like to mix up both a little better. WW.com: What are you trying to do with Mr. Beat? Is it all just fun and games, or is there something else going on, an ulterior motive, or idea, that's guiding you while you're doing this stuff? Yambar: Well, the thing about Mr. Beat is his philosophy is pretty similar to mine. I do have characters that have philosophies that are not similar to mine, but his philosophy is very similar -- about the arts, music, and your involvement in life. And he comes from a certain perspective that is not dogmatic, but is very life affirming, and freeing, and I'm trying to push that. WW.com: Now, you're an incredibly busy artist, but you've somehow found a way to squeeze in the time to work on a little-known property called, what?, The Simpsons? [General laughter] How'd that come about? Yambar: You never know who's reading your work. That's the facts of life. I found out that Matt Groening was reading Mr. Beat. As a matter of fact, my good friend there at Bongo [Comics], Bill Morrison -- we've been friends forever -- he found out that Matt wanted to expand the line, and they were looking for writers, and, "That Mr. Beat guy," came up. So they gave me a call, and I didn't believe it. But it's like a dream come true. It's like writing for Mickey Mouse. WW.com: Most of your work for Bongo has appeared in the new Bart Simpson book, right? Yambar: Yeah. It's a lighter, more of a younger reader, all age-type of thing. But I've gotten some other invitations to submit some ideas for Simpsons, the more hard line stuff. And I've got some one shots up my sleeve that I'd like to pitch to them, so we'll see how that works out. WW.com: So what is like it working on that property? Do you have to use a different working method, or approach, with this material than you do with your own stuff? Yambar: The hardest thing about writing for The Simpsons has to be the fact that they've done everything, on television, in front of everybody. And then you've got 50, 60 issues of The Simpsons that are out. Plus all the spin-off titles. So you don't want to repeat anything. You don't want to repeat gags, but you want to have some kind of continuity. So you have to ask yourself, "What kind of situation haven't they been in?" You know, I've stumbled across some pretty interesting things. I was able to pump Bart up to 250 pounds in the first issue [of the Bart Simpson series]. Also, in the beginning of the show, when Homer pulls the radioactive bar our from his shirt, he throws it out the [car] window [and] it just bounces down the street. I didn't realize until I got the writing job, it never crossed my mind, that that bar never went down the sewer; it just kept bouncing down the street. Well, I pick up a story called "The Super Cat of Springfield" and it tells you what happened from that point. So that was my sneaky way, I guess, of getting a piece of The Simpsons TV [show]. At least there's a hook in there, somewhere [for the readers]. They say, "Oh, I know what happened to that! That's in the comics!" And everybody asks me, "Are you gonna write for the television show?" and I say, "That's completely up to them." They make their own calls, they have their own panel of people. They all like degree-holding Harvard graduates, and that type of thing. It's kind of a [National] Lampoon-type of panel they work on. I just do the comics. I'm happy with that! But, hey, I got one mystery call; I'll take another! [General laughter] You don't know, you just really don't know. Just do good work, and see what happens. Mr. Beat, I can do what ever I want to. He can say anything. So I don't have to answer to anybody but me. So, very different. WW.com: Well, you've got another new project, just one of many, but one that is also really exciting, and really kinda different, but fits right in with another pop culture phenomenon that just keeps on going: wrestling. It's called El Santo, if memory serves. So, how'd you get involved in this project, and what's it all about? Yambar: This is wonderful, what an opportunity. Santo is probably the most famous masked wrestler in history, world history. His estate contacted Rich Maurizio, who is the owner of Airwave Comics, and they got talking about bringing Santo into America in the comics. And Richard said, "Oh, that would be wonderful, that'd be great!" And he thought about who could do this with a straight face, and do it right, and he thought, "I'm gonna call Chris Yambar." So he gave me a call, and said, "What do you think about a Santo comic book?" and I said, "That'd be great!" He goes, "What do you think about writing it?" I was completely silent. Dead out silence, and I was in shock. I almost fell on the floor. [Finally, I recovered enough and] screamed, "Yes!" and took the job. So, I got to talk to his reps, and the whole entire thing, and we're spinning him in an animated style. The popular, super hero animated style, 'cause I think that's very accessible to people across the board of all ages, the hard core super hero people, as well as the kids. Santo is basically picking up where the father died, and the son took over the mask. And it's a lot of fun. We've got him fighting terrorists, and we've got him in an airplane that's ready to crash into the Himalayans. We've got him fighting supernatural creatures, aliens, and there's all kinds of explosions. And that's just the first issue. So that's a lot of fun for me. I'll say one other thing about Santo: This comic book is the very first American Santo comic book in history. To understand the phenomenon of Santo's period of history in Mexico, and in the eyes of the world, this man was buried with his mask on, he's hardly ever been photographed without his mask, he's one of the longest running wrestlers -- serious wrestlers, old school wrestlers -- in history, and, also, when he died, it was the largest funeral that they ever had in Mexico. He was a national treasure. He's like Godzilla to them, or Elvis, to us. Just absolutely fantastic, and what an opportunity. So we're going to Tijuana to watch him, as his guest, wrestle in a belt match during San Diego Con. Oh, and he will be appearing at the San Diego Con with mask, with cape, with the outfit, and he'll be signing premier books. And you can look for the very first official Santo comic book on your shelves in September. And that should be a blast! You gotta see this to believe it. So, this is an icon. You've got giants in the history of wrestling, like André the Giant. You've got legends like Hulk Hogan. But these people have never starred in their own movies, never ... Santo can walk down a street in Mexico, with his mask on, and people will [gather and] chant his name. He's like a real, honest-to-god super hero in Mexico. So, we're bringing that to America, and I think it's gonna catch on. And every die-hard wrestling person I talk to says, "Oh my god! I want it! I want the first copy!" And I say, "OK, I don't know if I can get you the first copy." But, yeah, it's exciting. WW.com: But, as if that's not excitement enough, you've got another project in the works that's kinda similar. What can you tell us about that strip, El Mucho Grande, how it came about, and how it's different from the Santo project? Yambar: The difference between the Santo project, and El Mucho Grande, is that Santo is done completely straight. It's just like a regular hero action adventure. And it rocks. It's two fisted all the way. Now, El Mucho Grande -- which means "the great big," or "the big much," or "the much grand" -- is a complete parody on the old school wrestling world. And it's about an eight and a half foot tall wrestler who weighs one and a quarter tons, has been in over 2000 matches [over the course of] 60 years. He may or may not be 100 years old. He may or may not be human and/or an elemental creature. We don't know. But he's basically indestructible, and has a pet El Chuppacabra, who's a meat-eating hybrid between the traditional chuppacabra and the goats. He's a one-of-a-kind thing. And he wants to come to America, to become a citizen and live in Wisconsin in a little house, because he likes cheese. [General laughter] And the chuppacabra actually has been studying cow as a language so it can speak to the cows in Wisconsin. So it moos. But it's a lot of fun. And there's all kinds of aliens, and mole people, and other wrestlers, traditional wrestlers. It's really funny. It's real silly. And that's in Comics Library International #7 [the special all-space issue, which is out now]. And, also in that issue, is a sweetheart, our first daughter, Suicide Blonde, which I created with George Broderick, Jr., who's a fantastic illustrator. He's also the illustrator on El Mucho Grande, and El Santo. We're having this massive creative explosion between the two of us, which is a good thing. But Suicide Blonde is about a space detective, bounty hunter, and chocolate connoisseur. The world's basically been taken over and is governed by advertising agencies who have become political powers. And she's basically been enlisted and developed as a representative of theirs as a result of the cola wars -- they finally ended with a lot of bloodshed and destruction on the Earth -- and she and a couple others are representatives across the galaxies. And one of the things that's outlawed the most is chocolate. 'Cause chocolate does funny things to people. [For proof,] all you have to do is ask [anyone who is a "chocoholic"] how good chocolate is, and they'll give you different [but very real and heartfelt] reasons for it. There are psychological things that happen with chocolate. [And] she loves chocolate, but it's outlawed. She is a bounty hunter [whose duty it is] to find and seek out the Chocolate Merchants who are hiding throughout the universe. But, in her heart, she wants to find the main Chocolate Merchant, so that she can defect and lead a revolution to free Earth from the hands of the new government. So it's real tongue in cheek. It's fun, there's a lot of social commentary there. She's got a little robot that's linked to her aura, and it becomes what ever she needs at the moment. It's a morphing device. It's a lot of fun. Suicide Blonde -- she's cute as a button, and deadlier than death. Yep. That's in Comics Library International #7, also. WW.com: Well, what do you try to give your audience -- aside from entertainment -- with your work? Yambar: I don't want to write down to an audience. I think you should approach comics as literature. If you're going to tell an adventure, give 'em an adventure story, set it up with as much information as you can. But break it down. You have to move them through the story, but you have to play up the fact that they're much more intelligent [than they're typically granted]. I just think you should never dumb a comic down, ya know? There's nothing wrong with having a higher standard. I want people to have a good time. It's escapism, time-honored escapism. And all of our work is created with the understanding, from here on in, that we're collecting these things into graphic novels, like the Europeans and Japanese have. We want to take comics to another level -- or at least help comics to get to another level -- as literature. It's visual, but it's also literature. Ya know, The Dark Knight [Returns], Watchmen, books like that have proven that fact. By their sales, and their [presence] in libraries. That's what we're all about. Click below to go back to