Interview with Bob Corby

Thanks for doing the interview Bob. We first met, briefly, at S.P.A.C.E., which is a small press comic show you run in Columbus, OH and you’re a cartoonist as well. I was impressed and surprised when I received your trades to the co-op. What started your interest in comics?

I first got interested in comics when I was about 5 or 6 and my cousin showed me a Superman comic and told me it was drawn by a person. I just thought that was amazing and I’ve been hooked ever since.

How long have you been self publishing?

Back Porch Comics (and its initial incarnation of Corby Visual Productions) will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year at SPACE, if I get around to making the poster. I was actively trying to get some work published for about 3 or 4 years before I decided to self publish. The first minicomic I published was the Wizard of Comics #1 which was a minicomic I did for the Columbus comic shop of that name to give out at a small convention they sponsored. Wizard of Comics #2 was the first minicomic I actively traded in the Small Press Network in 1986.

What made you decide to start self publishing yourself?
I started sending out work right before the B&W glut and did get some things published. Fire Fang had a 5 issue run in Just Imagine Comics and Stories before the glut hit and just Imagine bite the dust. Also my daughter was born that year so I wasn’t looking for anything that tied me to a schedule.

Who has influenced your style?

The three big ones are Charles Schultz, Jack Kirby and Jim Starlin.

What tools do you use to make your comics?
Most of my work is still hand drawn in pencil and ink. I use a Zebra M:301 0.5 mechanical pencil because I’m too lazy to sharpen a real pencil. I’ve been through a lot of different pencils but they eventually seem to start making them cheaper and I snap lead because I very heavy handed. For inking I use a Pentel Brush Pen. It’s neater then using a dip brush. I do most of my drawing in the family room just sitting in front of the TV with my wife, Kathy, so it would be very dangerous to have an open ink bottle. I use a Sakura 0.8 Micron for fine lines and stipple. They take a lot of abuse which I dole out when I’m stippling. I have played around with linoleum cut printing for a few comics and covers. I’ve used the real battle board linoleum and Ready Cut by Blicks. (Never, never use E-Z cut. I don’t know why they still sell it.) I also have done some acrylic painted comics.

What made you decide to start S.P.A.C.E.?

I was exhibiting at the old Mid Ohio Con for years and every year there was more and more non-comics stuff going on. So there were less and less people even looking at comics especially small press stuff. We had one of the first Spirits of Independents show in Columbus which went pretty well but it disappeared right after that. So I decided to do my own after nobody brought back the Spirits show.

What do you get out of making comics?

Mostly therapy. It gives me a chance to be somebody else every so often. I really enjoy making stuff up.

You can find out more about Bob and S.P.A.C.E. by visiting his websites:

http://backporchcomics.com/back_porch_comics.htm

http://www.backporchcomics.com/space.htm

S.P.A.C.E. 2016 is April 9-10 at the Northland Performing Arts Center in Columbus, OH.

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Interview with Charles Brubaker

Thanks for doing the interview Chuck. Do you mind if I call you Chuck? I’ve always wanted to call someone Chuck for obvious reasons. You have sent more books then any other artists and you sent them in a relatively short amount of time. Do you sleep?

Sure, you can call me Chuck! Yeah, when it comes to drawing comics, I tend to be a workaholic. I have these spurts where, for a certain amount of time, I would draw tons and tons of comics, only for me to slow down. My “slow” period tends to be short-lived, though, as I would usually go back to drawing again. Even during my slow periods, I would have enough backlog that can last several months, so I can still put content out even if I haven’t drawn anything in a while.

As for sleep, there was a period where I did most of my drawing work on midnight, although these days I do most of my comics work during daytime. I usually write stories or sketch pages at a coffee shop I go to almost every afternoon, then I would go home and ink them during evenings.

What started your interest in comics?

I was from Japan originally, so early on I was into manga and anime, long before they became big in America. I did have exposure to American cartoons at the same time, though. “Peanuts” is popular in Japan, and my family used to subscribe to English-language newspapers that Japan has, which usually runs American comic strips. I recall that “Calvin and Hobbes” and “Piranha Club” were staples in those papers.

How long have you been self publishing?

Since 2012. I self-published a comic book collecting a webcomic I was doing at the time called “A Witch Named Katrina”, which was a rough version of the “Koko” webcomic I’m doing right now. I only made 50 copies, so they’re very rare. Not that there’s much demand for it. I finally sold my last copies at a convention early last year.

What made you decide to start self publishing yourself?

I saw that a lot of cartoonists nowadays self-publish stuff, especially with a variety of professional printing options for relatively low-cost, so I decided to give it a shot. I figured they would help me get gigs with larger publishers. In a way, it did.

Who has influenced your style?

Japanese cartooning-wise, I was a fan of the work of Fujiko Fujio (joint psuedonym of Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko), Shigeru Mizuki, and Fujio Akatsuka. The latter in particular pioneered in gag cartooning in the country; while there were always humurous comics in Japan, it was Akatsuka who really excelled in it. He was basically a Japanese-equivalent of Milt Gross and Tex Avery.

American cartooning wise, I grew up reading Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Brant Parker and Johnny Hart, Bud Grace, and eventually MAD Magazine.

What tools do you use to make your comics?

Nowadays I draw on smooth Canson Bristol, 11×14 (with actual drawing being approx. 8.5” x 13”) with Noodlers Fountain Pen filled with Koh-I-Noor Ultradraw ink. Any white out corrections are done with Presto Correction Pens, which I like because they don’t flake out like BIC Correction pens. After that, I scan them in and take them to Photoshop, where I clean-up unwanted artifacts like dirts and scratches, add lettering (from a font of my handwriting), and coloring.

You’ve had your work printed in a few things, Mad Magazine, Sponge Bob, and you have a strip on Universal Uclick. What suggestions would you make to other artists that would like to get in to those books or get their strip on Uclick?

I’m still trying to figure that out, believe it or not! But what worked for me is that I made myself known to other creators, letting them know that I exist and that I do cartoon work. Going to conventions and meet-ups are some of the best ways to network with people involved in comics. Posting your work online also helps immensely, too.

In the case of “Ask a Cat” on Uclick, I happened to draw enough strips that I could show them around, and so I submitted them through their submission form. Few months later, they wrote back saying they’re interested in running it.

What do you get out of making comics?

It’s very therapeutic for me. I always enjoy drawing characters doing stuff, writing out their worlds, and I’ve managed to make some people laugh, which is amazing for me. I’m excited to see where I would go as time goes by. Right now, I’m working on introducing a new comic called “The Fuzzy Princess”, which I’m hoping to debut sometime early this year. We’ll see how that goes.

For more information about Chuck and his comics, please visit these sites:

Patreon – www.patreon.com/smallbug
Ask a Cat – www.gocomics.com/ask-a-cat
A Witch Named Koko – www.witchkoko.com
Tumblr – bakertoons.tumblr.com

And for Chuck’s newest collection of his comics please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/charles-brubaker/the-smell-of-despair-and-pepperoni/paperback/product-22192132.html

This just in!

We have new books. The first three issues of Scrambled Circuits from my pal Cameron Callahan. Scrambled Circuits are autobio with his characters drawn as monsters and robots and plants. It’s like American Splendor drawn by a DND player.

Scrambled Circuits #1 – Cameron Callahan

Scrambled Circuits #2 – Cameron Callahan

Scrambled Circuits #3 – Cameron Callahan

 

Then I also got 10 issues of my LCS owner’s book that he made a while back. He’s a collector of small press books himself so he loved the idea of trading some of his old comix he made for some new ones to add to his collection.

His book is called Honest Abe and G-Dub. It’s a humorist book about George Washington and Abe Lincoln.

Honest Abe And G-Dub #1 – Jason Hurley

Honest Abe And G-Dub 2 – Jason Hurley