Suicide Watch Yambar & Broderick, Jr. On The Blonde interview with Bill Baker

Suicide Watch - Yambar & Broderick, Jr. On The Blonde. (The Bill Baker Interview ) *This two-part interview originally appeared in the pages of 'The Collected Suicide Blonde' published by Comic Library International / Airwave Comics. For just about two decades now, George Broderick has worked tirelessly in the trenches of the four color world of comics, turning out an astonishing array of stories, characters and literally a small library of material encompassing just about every type of genre imaginable. And throughout that time readers have known that, when George Broderick puts his name on a book, whether it's a tale featuring one of his own creations or one co-created with the likes of Chris Yambar, they can expect to be entertained by a master of the craft. Bill Baker: How'd you get involved with this project, and what about it made you want to work on it? George Broderick: Chris Yambar and I had been working on another title together (El Mucho Grande) and were happy with the collaborative energy we were generating and wanted to do more together. So we were looking around at his and my sketchbooks, trying to find something, but nothing leaped out at us as a "must do" joint project. Then, out of the blue--or, more accurately, his visit that year to the San Diego Comic Con--Chris came to me with this idea for a science fiction project where chocolate was an outlawed substance and the heroine of the strip "would kill for chocolate", as the old saying goes. I laughed...then, I started thinking about it. I liked the idea of the strong female lead and, too, I'd been looking to do something a bit edgier than my current "animated kids comics" style, and to flex my illustrator's muscles a bit, so I was on board! BB: What were some of your major concerns going in, as an artist and storyteller? And were there any particularly troublesome aspects which you had to deal with, either design - or storytelling-wise? GB: There's this annoying rumor circulating about me that, given enough time, I can draw anything, so guys like Chris feel no remorse by throwing in every visual thing--including the futuristic kitchen sink. So not only did I have to contend myself with creating an advertisement-driven dystopian future from whole cloth, I had to deal with giant space armadas, floating brains and huge robots that resembled Tony The Tiger and The Pillsbury Dough Boy--all without crossing the parody/copyright infringement line--as well! BB: So how did you go about creating that future’s landscape, making it believable while maintaining that sense of the fantastic and the strangely familiar? GB: I've always liked the idea of a future like in The Jetsons or The Legion of Super Heroes, where we've used up all the horizontal space available so humanity had to ascend vertically, creating very tall buildings which are sort of organic and rounded off to avoid wind shear--almost phallic looking, if you will. But I also realized that there would almost certainly have to be an underbelly to such a massive construct, where the poor and downtrodden would most certainly have to go. This would be the future version of the inner city, but it would be lower city. In fact, although it's never shown in the art and not in the script, in my mind The Adverczars have erected impenetrable Plexiglas barriers on the 110th floor of every building to prevent the dregs from ascending too far into "polite society", creating a literal glass ceiling! Plus, the lucky ones in the lower depths who could even get their hands on hover cars--yes, my future will have hover cars, unlike the bogus real 21st century we live in--would have altitude dampers installed so they couldn't fly too high. It's depressing, really, and that stuff isn't shown in the story. It's just mental nuts and bolts that make the story work for me. BB: Is the designing of the characters a largely conscious process for you? Or do you have a real and conscious sense of feeling your way into the look, the physical attitude, of these imaginary folks? GB: When I started to design Suicide Blonde, my uppermost thought was "I don't want to create Legion of Super Hero-looking costumes". I was looking for some ensemble that would be functional, kinda rough and tumble, and, in keeping with the underlying "character spokesmodel" aspect of the characters, something flashy, readily identifiable, chic...and something that made her look like a bad @$$. So I started with the bicycling outfit with the circular chest cutout--something for the kiddies!--added the padded bomber jacket and the moon boots, and Voila! Platinum and Temple's outfits are just variations on Su's. Looking back on it, these outfits are something that Hollywood could translate exactly as is to the big screen with no alterations. They're solid designs...go figure! This project, and Chris will back me up on this, seemed to be "creating" itself from the get-go, so I'm still not sure if I created Suicide Blonde's look or if she already existed somewhere and just "allowed" me to draw her. BB: Are there any general or governing principles you tend to follow when conjuring up comic characters? How might those have asserted themselves in the case of Suicide Blonde? GB: Several years ago, when my daughter, Megan, was five or six, I made the conscious decision to never do comics that I couldn't show to a five or six year old. That credo extended to Suicide Blonde in that, even though this was considered a "mature readers" title due to its use of sophisticated themes and graphic violence, all of which is mostly implied and off panel, I wouldn't design her as the typical girl-with-guns, big-breasted, thong-wearing bimbo which is so prevalent in comics today--an arena where titillation, it seems, is the overriding motivation. I wanted a strong female lead that was drop dead gorgeous but not "slutty" about it, someone that girls could identify with in an uplifting, empowering way. BB: Above you note that the relative ease with which you designed of these characters was unusual for you. What’s that design phase like for you typically, then? I ask, because all of your various character designs seem so … effortless … to me. GB: Ha! If by effortless you mean lots of crumpled up paper or scratched out drawings and personal name calling then, yeah, "it's effortless". Generally, I try to decide three things when I design a character. First, what's the overriding motivation of the character? Second, how can I break that motivation down to simple-to-understand iconic images, and, third, will it be fun and easy for me to draw over and over again. I'm really quite lazy with my designs. I don't want an elaborate design to bog me down and hinder my storytelling. This is something that I stress to my kids in my cartooning classes, as well. They all want to draw these wildly cluttered figures in a Spawn motif and I tell them, "Yeah, it's cool looking, all right. But, you know you'll have to draw those stupid chains and spikes and claws and whatever every time." I'd much rather whip out 20 or 30 drawings of something that looks like Snoopy than one "cool" Spawn pin-up. BB: How important is serendipity to this whole process? Does it play a large part, or do you prefer to have it all down and well planned to eliminate any chance of mistakes? GB: On Suicide Blonde, serendipity was our watchword! Over half of the main elements just sort of "created" themselves, and it all seemed to work out just fine. I had this cute, little robot character just lying around in my files for a few years, doing nothing. So, when the time came, he became BKT. When the characters of Platinum Blonde and Temple Grey came at me out of nowhere, I made Temple black because there was no good, compelling reason for him not to be. That wasn't conscious on either of our parts-- in fact, Chris never saw his design until the first pages with Temple in were already drawn--and I've gotten several positive comments on the matter-of-fact aspects of the inter-racial relationships being natural and not there only for shock value. BB: Which then begs the question of how you made their relationship seem so natural, so effortless and easy in the visual sense? Did you have to consciously work on that aspect of the “acting”, or did it just seem to happen naturally? GB: I dunno...it sort of made complete sense that they all had some sort of cool "weapon". But, from an advertising standpoint, I thought they should be similar, yet different. Like Snap, Crackle and Pop; all three are pixies and all three are hawking cereal, but you can tell them apart. Since Su already had BKT, I gave Temple the jet pack and neat looking staff, and Platinum, who I always saw as the "bad ass" of the trio, just had a blaster and her fists. She could fly on her own power. Their uniforms were just variations on a theme. As for staging, the name of the book is Suicide Blonde, so in any scene with two or three of them, she generally was the "featured" player. Platinum always has the "super hero" pose--a "ready for action" stance--while Temple, as the schemer...although, I never knew how scheming until I actually had the "Pitch Black" script pages in my hand ready to draw them...always stood kind of aloof and back from the women. BB: I was curious how important the physical bearing of the characters, what I just referred to as “acting” is to you, in general and during specific scenes, as a storyteller? Again, is this something that occupies a lot of thought and energy for you, or does it just seem to flow naturally from your pencil and pen onto the page with little or no difficulty? GB: Some thought goes into it, probably as much as I think about anything I draw. I'm quite instinctual about my art; if it looks good, keep it. But it's really just a way to help me, in my mind, to stage a scene. For instance, when they're battling the alien pirate hordes, Su was generally shown fighting fairly and with some compassion; she only killed when there was no other option or the alien was much bigger than her--and armed with huge teeth! Temple and Platinum were usually drawn much more savagely, tearing into anything that moved. Temple was always kind of smirking--he really enjoyed the blood bath--while Platinum was mostly focused on the task at hand. She was like a force of nature, like a tornado sweeping through a small town. It doesn't care whether it levels the orphanage or the town brothel; its function is to get from point "A" to point "B" as quickly as possible, causing as much damage to the surroundings as it can. That's our Platinum. These were all just visual nuances, though, and any other "subtleties" in their characters were Chris' responsibility. BB: How about the page design itself? As an artist who's primary job isn't necessarily so much creating pretty pictures filled with pretty people, but rather visually telling a story, how important is the overall look and "movement" of the pages--be it panel to panel, or from page to page--to you? GB: I've never been a fan of the basic "four to six" panel grid that Jack Kirby used to such great effect. I got much more of a kick out of some of the angular "cascading down the page" layouts that Nick Cardy was using on the Silver Age Aquaman series. I want my pages to move the readers along in such a way that they not only feel compelled to turn the page, but they've already done it by the time they become aware of it! Plus, Chris' background as a pop artist allows him to craft stories that defer to the art in big ways. You'll rarely read a Yambar-written story that has more than five panels per page--he actually prefers three or four panels per, as opposed to DC and Marvel, which routinely uses six to eight panels per page. Go ahead, count 'em. I'll wait... See? More room for the artist--in this case, me--to flex in a Yambar story..! BB: Now does all that mean that you've approached the page like a drill sergeant, very regimented and precise, or has chance discover and even surprise played a part in creating the pages of Suicide Blonde? GB: It's somewhat of a mixture. Sometimes the story demands a straight grid and others, I sit there staring at a blank board and saying to myself "Hmm...think I'll do these ones leaning to the left..." Ultimately, it's all about what looks best in the end and tells the story most clearly! BB: Well, how do you go about creating a comic page usually, and how might that have differed from your work on Suicide Blonde, if at all? GB: My layout sense is pretty ingrained into my psyche, so my "serious" Suicide Blonde work follows pretty much the same layout specs as my "big foot" cartoony stuff; only the drawing style itself tends to shift from project to project. I'm a force of nature, Bill! A force of nature, I say! BB: Well, does this particular force of nature start doing the visual work while it’s reading the script the first time, perhaps making notes or even thumbnails in the margins or on another sheet of paper, or do you fully absorb a script before you begin to set down the visuals? Also, I was wondering if your approach to the page change much when you’re the one creating everything, from the script to the finished artwork? GB: I usually find a quiet place and read the script through, mentally "visualizing" what I think the scene will look like first, just like most people do with a good book, but it plays out cinematically in my head. Then I sit down and start to pace it out statically for the comic page. Sometimes I'll change the angles, or use close-ups where scenes were panoramic in my head, but, generally speaking, it pretty much looks on paper like I've visualized it in my head. I do only the rare, occasional thumbnail. That way lies madness! Too many thumbnails would have me redrawing pages three, four, five times--which, as an artist, never looks quite right to me, so I could redo stuff all day. And then nothing would ever get done! I have to take a hard line with the art; just do it and move on. Noodling and fussing are my arch foes! I tend to take that stance whether I'm writing the script, or Chris or someone else is writing it. BB: Do you tend to pencil the entire story and then hit the inks, or do you basically finish the work on one page before going on to the next? GB: Lots of times, I'm just penciling and someone like Ken Wheaton is doing the inks, so I don't really care. But, when I'm doing it all, pencils and inks, I like to finish a page completely before moving on to the next--except when I don't! Yipes! How very John Kerry of me! Basically, it's whatever catches my fancy on any given day, and what'll move the project forward. BB: What kind of tools – pencils, pens, brushes, inks, etc. -- are you using these days, and how might they differ from what you’ve used in the past? Also, what about each of these make them your preferred tools of your trade? GB: I do all my penciling with a technical pencil filled with non-photo blue leads. My inking is a mixture of a Windsor Newton #3 sable Scepter Gold brush, a Pentel Stradia plastic nib refillable pen, and the good ol' Sanford sharpie. For the gray tones--since you can't find Zip-A-Tone anywhere these days except in Japan--I do it all in Photoshop. That's my comfort zone, and I feel like I have the most control with these tools. Unlike the late TV painter, Bob Ross, I detest "happy little accidents". That said, however, I'd use a Sherwood Williams house paint roller if it'd do the job I need done on a particular page. I'm...uh...a conservative rebel! BB: How about paper? Do you have a certain weight and tooth [i.e. surface texture] of paper you prefer, or do you just use what’s on hand? And, again, have your preferences changed over the years, and what is it about those particular weights and surfaces that make it work for you? GB: Bristol board, 100 pound, vellum finish. I can get pads of fifteen sheets for about seven bucks at a local craft store. They're 14 X 17 inches instead of the industry standard 11 X 17 inches, so I just cut off the extra three inches and save those scraps for sketching! I may be a conservative rebel, but I'm a frugal little conservative rebel! Plus, the unlined stuff lets me draw my own panel and page borders and play with the layouts more that those pre-lined boards. I don't like other people thinking for me--no offense Blue-Line Pro! The big change between this paper and what I used as a kid is that, back in the day, I used whatever 8 1/2 X 11 bond paper my grandmother brought me home from her cleaning lady job in a downtown office building. Generally the Bristol works much better, although I do sorta miss the law office letterheads on the back of each page, though... BB: What advice might you have for anyone who's trying to become a good, or better, artist? GB: Like I'm always telling my kids in my cartooning classes, draw draw draw! And don't just copy that manga crap! Take figure drawing classes, learn to draw clothing and folds, always remember that everything is affected by gravity...and that anyone can make The Hulk thumpin' on The Thing look exciting, but what about a businessman sitting on a couch talking on the phone? Sometimes you have to draw boring stuff--attack it, subdue it, and become its master! Also, I always tell them the "unwritten rules" of comics: "Robots and dinosaurs are cool. Penguins and monkeys are funny." BB: What do you get, be it personally or professionally, from creating comics and art? How about Suicide Blonde? What did this particular project do for you? GB: I, like many of my peers, have this insidious, recessive mutant gene that kicks in around nine years of age which forces me to draw comics. It's all I can do, it's all I WANT to do. Intellectually, I know I could make way more money--way, way more--doing something else, but this is who I am. Birds must fly, fish must swim, George must draw. That's what I get personally. Professionally, I usually get stuck with the check... As for Suicide Blonde, it gave me a chance to stretch not only my range as an artist, but people's pigeonhole perception of me as "just a funny cartoon artist". There's some meat, some darkness to Suicide Blonde that you usually don't see in my work, but it still maintains my upbeat sensibility and philosophy of life in many ways, I think. BB: What do you hope readers get from your work on Suicide Blonde, specifically, and from your work, generally? GB: If, twenty years down the line, some thirty-something comes up to me in my dotage at a con and says "Wow! That such and such book you did when I was ten really affected me," or, "It changed my life," or better still, "I was going through a bad time and it made me smile!" then, young Jedi, my work here will have been done. Just think how cool will that would be... ==== Over the course of the past ten years, Chris Yambar, both on his own and in tandem with others, has created a body of work that many modern comic creators would take a lifetime to produce. Even more significantly, the sheer number of new properties and characters, as well as the depth and breadth of genres and ideas explored within the confines of that library, are a real testament to the fecund imagination and wide-ranging interests of this indefatigable Pop Artist. At the end of the last millennium, Yambar demanded of George Broderick, "Are we men, or are we machines?" As evidenced by the veritable cyclone of activity and numerous projects which have surrounded them since that time, the answer would appear to be the latter. Still, even if Yambar has seemingly succumbed to that new-fangled cybernetic revolution, the truth of the matter is that there's a great deal of Spirit--and an even greater amount of Heart--inhabiting and guiding this particular comic book-making machine. Bill Baker: OK, who's this blonde mentioned in the title, and why is she so upset? I mean, I thought blondes had more fun, not stress! Chris Yambar: The world of Suicide Blonde is a paranoid Fifth Avenuemicro-manager's dream come true. The entire planet is run by big business Adverczars who control every aspect of its citizen's lives. It's like George Orwell's novel 1984, only amplified. Everything is manipulated and there are always plans within plans. Nothing is as it seems. Suicide Blonde is the Adverczar's ultimate bi-product and their public face to all who oppose their reach of power in the universe. She is very aware that her every move is being watched by the entire general population and that she has been bred to be their greatest living symbol of propaganda. A heroine to be admired, feared, and followed. She's completely awake about being used, but totally unaware as to exactly how much of a pawn that she really is in the grand scheme of things. She's also hopelessly addicted to the one substance they've most outlawed--chocolate--and wants to lead a revolution against the very intrusive government that she serves. To be caught is to be killed as a traitor. That's a lot of pressure to be under. BB: Where the heck did this all come from, Chris? You're known for truly original concepts and twists and mixing genres like a mad scientist, but this seems a touch different--and a lot darker in important ways--than most of your previous work. So, where did this idea arise from, and what are some of the concerns, social and otherwise, which inform it? CY: I have an extensive background as a media spin doctor and have spent years in the advertising sector so I've seen a lot more than the average bear when it comes to "product management and public acceptance". It's a game. I've been interested in the fine art of "crowd control" since the 1970s, and am fascinated by how things are said and presented in order to gain the upper hand in relationships of every kind. It's not always just "what is being said" that is most interesting but "how it is said" and for "what unspoken reason why" it's said. I was a real student of double speak and double negatives as a teen. I've been told that this type of stuff is exactly what gets you a gig with the CIA here in America. I've seen too many lies within lies used by governments, in advertising, in religions, and within personal relationships. The twisting of truth has become an art form. The greatest lie is always closest to the truth. I just wanted to play with what I've witnessed in a graphic novel format, and combine it with some strong statements about the power of women, personal integrity, and romantic politics. BB: Why are you even worried about all that stuff? Let's face it, bud, you're "just" a comic writer and pop artist. Why set yourself up as a combination of Cassandra and a voice crying out in the largely fun-focused four color wilderness of comics? CY: "Just"?! I read about 40+ non-comic books a year and study a wide range of subjects, including theological issues, auto and biographical personality profiles, art, and world history. I also watch about 100+ movies a year, including silent and foreign films. Education should never stop. I study what interests me. A few years ago I was asked to be on a comic writers panel during a convention and a question was thrown out to us asking why comics aren't as good as they used to be. I listened as everyone gave their answers, some of which were so packed with horse crap that I felt like planting tomatoes. When it came my turn, I said that I felt that the reason why today's comics were so bad was because the writers weren't as educated as they were in the past. They have trained themselves to write within a limited box for a limited educational level and age group. This was immediately met with strong objection by some of the pros on the scene, so I figured, "What the hell!" and went after the editors as well. One writer rolled his eyes and said, "Come on, Yambar! After all, this is a medium for children, y'know. I don't have time to sit around reading all day. I've got to write for a living!" "In life we find time to do what is most important to us," I replied. "In order to produce work of a higher standard, we've got to leave our comfort zone and reach for something beyond ourselves." That's the challenge. No one likes to be written down to. Especially children. When we do that we insult them. BB: Do you think that particular professional you mentioned above had any real weight behind his argument, or do you view his argument as a cop out? CY: The only weight that writer had was in the excuse department. Like I said before, "In life we find time to do what is most important to us." I stand by that. People always seem to find an excuse for sub-par performance in this postmodern world of ours. I take blame for my failures and pride in my successes. It all rests on me. Yeah, I think that this fella is fishing for excuses and not any actual challenges to better educate and broaden his writing abilities. I think that mindset is an insult to his readers. BB: Now wait a minute; aren't comics just for kids? Why are you trying to do something deep within a medium that's only suited to...or capable of...retelling safe versions of ancient nursery rhymes and bed time stories in the opinion of many folks, including a fairly large number of its practitioners? CY: Comics should be produced for all audiences and educational levels. We've got enough comics about caped puberty fantasies. George and I were fed up with the industry's "big boobed broads with guns" pattern for female characters, and thought that it was pretty insulting to women in general. We wanted to create an empowered heroine with real feelings, brains, and motivational gravity. We thought, "Let's try to create something for the brain as well as the eye." I think that the reader is a whole lot smarter than most writers give them credit for. We also opted for a storyline that was more intellectual and mature readers-oriented for Suicide Blonde. Some folks were surprised to see us add a consumer warning to this project, but we did it for all the right reasons. BB: Are you at all worried that in doing this tale meant for mature minds, you might end up alienating, offending, or--worse yet--loosing your core audience who have followed your all ages work throughout the years? CY: Just because something is all ages in theme doesn't make it of any lesser value or seriousness. It just means that it speaks to a larger audience. My core audience is smart enough to know that, as a writer, I owe it to them and to myself to write on a variety of different ideas and topics. Sometimes that means writing humor. Sometimes it means writing sci-fi, horror, fantasy, or hard edged urban myth hero stuff. I've been told time and again that I write with a higher brow of humor. I'm thankful for that observation. Sometimes I'm trying to say something, and sometimes I'm just having fun being silly. My readers are smart enough to know the difference. I don't write from a fear based platform. I just write. BB: Does this signal a bit of sea change regarding who you see as your audience these days? Are we going to be seeing more mature minded work from you in the future, or might this simply be an occasional detour from the main road your career has been following for the past 10 years? CY: As a creator I'm capable of writing just about anything. And probably will. If by "mature minded" you mean dark and gloomy nihilistic work, then the answer's "No." If by "mature minded" you mean an exploration of more thought-provoking and challenging themes, then it's "Yes." I encourage readers to put on their safety belts because I'm planning on taking them for some very wild rides. BB: Well, this brings up the question of whether comics are an appropriate format for social commentary these days. On the one hand, this isn't the same world as Robert Crumb and the rest of the politically and socially aware underground artists lived and worked in during the 60s and 70s, and the market is certainly not geared for this kind of material...unless it's dressed up in tights and capes. Why do something like this, in this particular market, at this particular time? CY: I really love the freedom and danger of underground comics. However, I think that Crumb and his pals were merely groping around in the dark, trying to make some sense of the world and the confusion in it. I find very few solutions in the underground comix scene. Drugs, excessive boozing, irresponsible sexcapades, art for arts sake, education with no practical application...it all leads to despair and self destruction. A trip to nowhere. Asking questions is one thing. Avoiding any real answers is another. We've got a whole section of our industry devoted to a trendy, prefabricated "Hot Topic" depression, and a disposable lifestyle experience. Today's "alternative scene" seems pretty content to whine and be helpless. Creators today seem to focus their energies on the lowest common denominator. I just wanted to break off and attempt to say something that might get some gray matter going, while at the same time allowing people to have a good time getting there. On one hand, Suicide Blonde is a sci-fi story with some twist. On the other hand, there are some free prizes inside if one cares to look for them. BB: What are some of the advantages of putting these concerns in the language and format of comics? Does the art form itself allow you to address and explore complex ideas in a way that isn't allowed, or perhaps as easily accessed and understood, by more traditional means like the essay, short story or novel? CY: Some points are more powerful when they are illustrated. Images and icons seem to stay in our heads longer than words sometimes. Combining words and pictures for a story like Suicide Blonde seemed like the most natural way to go. BB: Does that imply that you, and by extension, George, might have employed--knowingly or not--some of the approaches and tools that spin doctors and advertisers use in creating their own work while making Suicide Blonde? Or am I reading way too much into your last answer? CY: The answers are "Yes," and "No," respectively. BB: So how did you work with George on the book? Did you give him tightly constructed scripts which dictated everything seen on the page, or was it a looser approach than that? CY: I provided George with a highly detailed script that gave descriptions of everything that I saw in my head. Body language, physical perspectives, environmental design, character attitude, all of it. After George received the script for each chapter it was all up to his interpretation and layout mechanics. I had total control of the story and George had total control of the illustration. Unlike other co-created projects that we've worked on, like El Mucho Grande, this project was very segregated when it came to its construction. We had to trust each other a lot. And we did. BB: What lead to the decision to approach creating this particular tale in the way you two did? Was this an arbitrary decision, one that seemed dictated by the nature of Suicide Blonde itself, or was it something else, perhaps a means of keeping your and George's long-running partnership fresh? CY: George and I are always up for new creative challenges, and are always planning and working on new ideas and projects -- with and without each other's input or involvement. We just work well together and plan to continue doing so for years to come...if he doesn't snap out of it and kill me first. (Laughs) Our flagship families are very close, so we tend to talk about anything and everything going on in the world at any given moment as it happens. We get together for holidays. We talk about politics, religion, art, current events, the Food Channel--everything! I tend to have this kind of relationship with most of the people I collaborate with. One day we share crock pot cooking secrets and the next day we're creating a fallen world where chocolate is outlawed and the chief enforcer is an addict to the very substance she's sworn to destroy. Typical. These things happen. For George and I, creating is based on what we're interested in at the moment. It's a weird but totally natural flow. BB: I was wondering what similarities, if any, might El Mucho Grande and Suicide Blonde have that lead to guys creating them in the same manner? CY: One is quite bigger than the other. We'll leave the size comparisons up to our readers. On a side note; can you imagine what an El Mucho Grande/Suicide Blonde love child might look like? Wow! 'Nuff Said! BB: Did the finished pages George created present you with any real surprises? If so, what about those particular images or pages surprised you, and did those same surprises have any real effect on the final version of your script? CY: I was impressed from day one with his initial design for Suicide Blonde. That was all him. Very practical and exciting without being overstated. In our situation, what George designed stayed in the story. His take on the whole introduction of chocolate to Suicide Blonde was the most erotic thing that I've ever seen him produce. Very sexy in a classic sort of way. His take on the beating death of Suicide Blonde by Platinum was another surprise for me. That's a lot of blood spray! As far as my editing anything due to George's artwork--I had to "write up" to his "possible art" before ever seeing it! I had to push the ticket and ask for the everything upfront in the script. I think that Suicide Blonde was a real breakout project for fans of his previous work. The man can do anything! BB: Why don't we talk a bit about your general approach to creating comics? For instance, you're known as a creative dynamo, someone who can literally sit down and in five minutes have created a whole new universe filled with original characters that all have their own stories to tell. How do you know which idea has legs, and which ones might be a fun notion, and worthy of some attention, but which can't sustain a whole novel, much less a regular comic book? CY: Ideas are free. I've had "writers block" before, but never "ideas block". The key for me is knowing what idea is worth investing time and energy into it to bring it into the hard-world. After all, we've only got so much life to live. Which idea is worth a lifetime? Purpose and point are always factors for consideration. When it comes to humor I'm a gag man. When it comes to presenting concepts I'm a story teller. I see characters as icons first, and as images second. I'm big on motivation and love to play with themes--masked wrestlers, beatniks, cats, Tiki culture, Popes, etc. I think fast and am very spontaneous. I like to create work that will be as fresh in 20 years as it will is the first time someone encounters it. I also like to create from a mind that has no walls. Everything is possible and everything is explainable--even the unexplainable. Certain characters demand a certain number of pages and certain formats in which they can play. If the character is strong, and developed properly, they will write their own material. I just sit back and watch. Like Dr. Frankenstein, sometimes I have to tighten a few bolts, but for most of the time I just let them rampage. Suicide Blonde wrote itself. From chapter to chapter she kept taking us in directions that we never originally thought of. We always had a solid concept, a body-vision of the tale, and an ending, but when it came to the gas peddle, Suicide Blonde did all the driving. Sometimes I'd see something in my mind while I was day dreaming. Other times I would see things in dreams. She attacked from every side. BB: So how do you develop your ideas into tales with real meaning and impact? Is there a general methodology to how you build upon your initial idea to create a fully realized story, or is each project different in nature and approach? And how much different might it be for you to work on something humorous versus something more serious, like Suicide Blonde? CY: I'm character-driven in that I work with a character until it has developed uniquely as its own person with a solid voice, motivation, gimmicks, character flaws, and gravity. Then, if the process is complete, I can drop the character into any situation and get a natural response and reaction. The Simpsons stories are developed the same way. When I write for Bart Simpson Comics or Radioactive Man, I just have to concentrate on the story aspect. All of the character development has already been completed. Because the characters are so solidly developed, I can take any of them and dump them into a situation, and the characters will respond to it and to each other on their own legs. Sometimes I've had characters surprise me with their reactions. Again, ideas and stories are free. But are they all worth telling? That depends on the strength of the character's pre-development. Too many "modern creators" want to work out and develop their characters as they go along in print--and it shows. Those stories are filled with ploddingly mindless pap that confuses and insults rather than entertains and excites. Humorous or Dead Serious--if you don't take the time to inspect and create a solid character, then it's going to show. BB: How quickly do you move to paper to capture these fleeting creatures and their stories? Do you keep it all in your head, gestating and growing, until it's time to do the actual script, or do you compile notes and sketches and research and other hard copies of related materials until it all hits critical mass? CY: I move to paper quickly! The sketches are always primal, and the stories are usually summed up with a handful of key words, but it's all there. Sometimes a certain artist will pop into my head for the character or project. Like, nobody could have illustrated Edison's Frankenstein 1910 except Robb Bihun! Some projects just beg for certain artists. Then I refer back to the original idea and act it all out in my head. Some stories take minutes. Some concepts take months, or even years. I've had some characters and stories in my head for over 35 years. I'll let you know when they start to hatch. Critical mass indeed! It is very much like having a baby. Some births are easy while others are hard labor. Recently I was asked to lecture to some classes at the Joe Kubert School and a teacher, Doug Baron (creator of Sugar Ray Finhead), brought up the fact that I could make up a story on the spot for any character in comics. The class then asked me to do just that with a character that I hated. So, I took a few deep breaths and made up a six issue Aquaman story on the spot. When I was finished the class went wild, and Doug told me that I should submit the idea to DC Comics--which one day I probably will. Then he asked me why I disliked Aquaman, to which I replied, "He's never been written right. Nobody seems to know how to push the envelope with this character. For the most part he's the token 'water guy'. When I'm done with him, he'll be one of the most powerful characters in the DC Universe." That's just the way I approach things. BB: Are words and concepts more important than specific images or character designs, generally, to your creative process, or do they seem to have equal weight for you? CY: I tend to think that every aspect of the process is important. I mean, you can have the most hopped up car on the race track, but it's not going win the race without a good set of tires, some fuel , a mentally awake and seasoned driver, and a damn sharp pit crew. It's hard to separate the cart from the horse, driver, and cargo and say what section is more important than the other. Some people want to limit themselves to one part of the big picture and call themselves experts on the whole thing. It's not wrong to specialize, but it is wrong to limit the potential of the sector you're in. Remember: just because you brush your teeth in the morning it doesn't make you a dentist. You've got to put in the book work and study time in order to get the diploma. And some laughing gas. And some insurance! BB: What would you like readers to get from Suicide Blonde? Is this project ultimately just about entertaining your audience, or do you want them to be able to get more from it than a few hours of slaps and tickles? CY: Just because someone in a place of authority tells you that something is "true" doesn't necessarily make it so. Too many people go through life never asking the big questions or stopping to question the validity of what they believe and accept as fact. It's surprising how many in these "enlightened times" are no further along in their cognitive reasoning skills than those who lived in the dark ages. Superstition, mythology, lies--they are alive and well in this age of information and reason. There is a tremendously important moment in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet where we see a man having a heart attack on his front lawn while his dog barks wildly at the snaking garden hose that he's dropped while falling. You'd think that this would be enough to cause the viewer to pay attention to details, but Lynch takes the need for more exact observation even further by pulling the viewer's eye deep down into the grass where there are vicious growling bugs tearing into each other. Lynch wants us to go behind the curtain and see what's really there. Hiding. The whole point of this is to set up the introduction of the evil society that exists just below the surface with Booth and his goon squad who have kidnapped a beautiful singer and are using her husband and child as leverage to control her. As the theme unfolds and we see this horror, we are amazed at how close we were to it all the time, never noticing the criminal perversion and its evil, twisted face smiling right in front of us. Currently the American government is coming under global fire for George W. Bush's lies regarding weapons of mass destruction and the grounds for our being in Iraq. He lied to Americans, and he lied to the world. There's also a ton of big business crime being brought out into the open because some individuals are smart enough to look under the carpet rather than accept the lumps that hide under it as part of the scenery. Like I said before, the greatest lie is the one closest to the truth. Question everything and everyone. Don't do it to become a classic paranoid. Do it so that you can protect yourself and those around you. Everything is definitely not what it seems. When you ask the right questions, you reveal the secrets of agenda! I'm not a die-hard conspiracy nut, but I am smart enough to examine the motivation of those who attempt to lead me. Hey, it's my life after all. Yours too! William S. Burroughs had it right when he said that, "Control is controlled by it's need to control." Rugged individualism - that's the key to survival on all levels. BB: Does that notion apply to all of your work? Is there anything you'd like folks to get from your work, generally, aside from pure unadulterated entertainment? CY: Sometimes there's a free prize inside and sometimes there isn't. I write for the moment. You get what I get. Matt Groening said he liked my writing because it was "funny and subversive". I can live with that. BB: And what about Chris Yambar? What do you get, personally and professionally, from doing this kind of work? Besides those glorious champagne nights and caviar dreams, of course. CY: Satisfaction. I just want to produce honest work and a lot of it. I believe in leaving clues as much as I believe in spelling it all out. I try to be sensitive to the audience as well as to the season. I sleep well at night knowing that I did my best for the day. BB: Is there anything else you'd like to add before I let you go? CY Make sure that you visit www.yambar.com everyday--and buy multiples! Thanks! ====== A veteran comics journalist, over the course of the past decade Bill Baker has contributed interviews and feature stories, reviews and news reportage to various magazines, including Cinefantastique/CFQ, Comic Book Marketplace, International Studio, Sketch and Tripwire. During that same period, Bill also served as an interviewer and reporter for a number of websites, including www.ComicBookResources.com and www.WizardWorld.com. These days, when he's not working on his latest interview book, Bill serves as the host of "Baker's Dozen" for www.WorldFamousComics.com. Bill currently lives and works in the wilds of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for some unknown and quite likely complicated reason. You can learn more about Bill's activities, past and present, by visiting his blog at http://specfric.blogspot.com and his professional website at www.BloodintheGutters.com.