Neil Kleid on Ninety Candles: Q&A

Posted: Thursday, August 26, 2004
Posted By: Tim O'Shea

Neil Kleid and I last talked at length last June, well before his becoming a recipient of a Xeric Foundation grant. This grant allowed Kleid to produce Ninety Candles , “a 48 page improvisational "mini graphic novel" that documents the life span of a struggling cartoonist each panel acting as a snapshot of a consecutive year.” We discussed this work, as well as his other upcoming projects.

O’Shea: What made you decide to explore the possibilities of sequential illustration (in a far from traditional way) with Ninety Candles?

Kleid: Is it fair to say that I was exploring sequential illustration in a "far from traditional way"? Who’s to say what’s traditional and what’s not? I think ALL sequential illustration is exploration, from minicomics to CGI comics to webcomics. What is art for if not to challenge what we can do with it, right?

That being said.

I’ve gone on record saying that Ninety Candles began as a journal comic, me wanting to draw one thing a day, keep myself drawing. When I realized "Um, I’m a cartoonist. Who cares that I spent half the day drawing demons and the other catching up on Six Feet Under?" I had to alter my plan. I still wanted to draw something every day, but decided that I would attack a larger narrative. Around that time I was heavy into improvisational acting- you know, acting without a script. I trained at Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre in NYC and was running a troupe of my own called Straight Jacket Required. So, as I
sketched with no goal or story to tell, I realized that what might be cool would be too apply improvisation to comics. A viable, printed comic book created with no script, no net. Each panel would depend on the panel before. And as I started to form the experiment in my mind, I realized that I could explore other
devices such as timing, space and gutters between panels and so forth.

It kind of went on from there.

O’Shea: Given that it was totally "completely improvisational" are there some panels you created that upon reflection, you wish you'd done differently?

Kleid: One of the strongest criticisms I got on the book was the chronology of the story - and rightfully so. I figured one of the main criticisms I was going to get is that while the story spans roughly 90 years, it feels like it's all happening TODAY. I'm expecting every reviewer to say something along those lines.

Here’s the thing: I think people need to realize that I didn't want to get hung up on the progression of CULTURAL sequence, rather the progression of PERSONAL sequence. Ninety Candles is about a journey - one man's choices and decisions made within the comic book industry and life in general. Should I have gone a step beyond and have the story reflect changing fashion and trends, cultural, political and the like? Maybe. But I felt watching the protagonist's world alter over the years might distract from what the book was REALLY about - his life, his career, his family, his legacy.

One of the great things I've been hearing about Ninety Candles from those who have read it, is that ANYONE can relate to it. The nine-year-old kid. The sixteen year old wanna be creator. The forty year old hack. The seventy year old golden ager. Pick the book up - you see a section of your life, at any given point. I didn't want those in the golden years of their career to pick up the book, flip to page 80 and see tiny robots or weird metallic clothing - I wanted them to say "Hey - that's me right now!" It's a tricky tightrope to walk.

I'll tell you a secret - there's a panel in the book that betrays the entire chronology/passing of cultural time. Panel 81 has an aged Kevin Hall in a comic book store with a sign reading "NEW COMICS" pointing to several comic books in today's shop - Demo, Gabagool, Billy Dogma. There's even a sign heralding a signing by Tom Beland - who, if the chronology/continuity stuck to the way reviewers were hoping, would be very, very old at the time. Tom is in his forties now, I believe. Thirties? Don't kill me, Tom.

In any event, if you're hung up about the Cultural Sequence of Time then this book won't do it for you. This book is about PERSONAL JOURNEY. It's about the sequence of events in a life, a career. The story has a beginning, a middle and an end - as does life. Steven Grant used the term "crystallization" and I dig that: a crystallized period of time. It's a story that progresses sequentially, experimenting with time and pacing via technique and storytelling but captures itself in a crystallized era - one that, I feel, might continue with minor changes over the years, but really not change DRASTICALLY. It’s a story that anyone can relate to - anyone living NOW, at the time of publication.

Although if we're all flying around in our personal starships in ten years, you have every right to come to my house and kick my ass.

O’Shea: That being said, what panel worked best for you?

Kleid: I don’t want to give much of the book away, but I dig a lot of the family panels in the second half of the book. The ones with Kevin and his kid and grandkid. I also get a special kick out of his induction into the Hall of Fame because he looks so damn depressed.

O’Shea: Each panel is drawn within a circle, which call me crazy, reminds me of Bil Keane's Family Circus (which oddly enough is a multi-generational cartooonist family...)? Again call me crazy, but...

Kleid: You know, you’re the fifth person to compare it to "Family Circus."

The story format is based on Nick Bertozzi’s short story "T" in 9-11:Emergency Relief. It’s a silent story that utilizes cross-hatching and shading in a subtle, clever manner that made me sit up and say "I must steal it."

The "Family Circus" thing is a happy coincidence. Most of my comics aren’t really inspired by comics and cartoons apart from technique and format — I tend to get influenced by what’s going on in my life and people around me.

But hey, if people want to use quotes like "Chris Ware meets ‘The Family Circus’" it’s fine by me.

O’Shea: What percentage of Ninety Candles is autobiographical, if at all?

Kleid: I tend to call the book "projected autobiography." The first 30 or so pages are not COMPLETELY autobio, but a lot of it is. I was the kid inside drawing while the others were playing ball. I was the kid in the Toys R Us who couldn’t decide between the GI Joe toys and another Batman. I was the kid who wanted to draw comics more than anything and handed out illustrations to anyone who would look. There are things that are different, I’m not married, I don’t have Marvel calling me, and my first self- published book came out a little after Kevin’s. Again, though, I can’t say that this is the life I’m going to lead. Hell, if it is, I’m walking away from comics right now.

I will say that I would hope, at the end of my days and career, I would take solace as Kevin does, in the fact that my family is the most important thing around me.

I figure I’m ahead of the game knowing that now.

O’Shea: Given that the book is a partial commentary on the industry, what's been the feedback when you're at cons? How many people see themselves in the book?

Kleid: So, I’m at Wizard World this weekend, right? And I sell a copy of Ninety Candles to a girl at a nearby table. So I go through the entire weekend pissing and moaning that I’m making nothing compared to my table mates until Sunday night. I’m sitting in the bar with assorted comics hooligans when I see the girl and her man, both who I thought were pretty nice. I say hello and the guy’s like, "dude, you made my girlfriend cry at the table." She sees me and comes running over, gives me a hug and tells me she read it twice and it made her break into tears. I got an email from a friend today who said it broke him down in the middle of a YMCA.

I didn’t set out to make a sad book. I set out to explore sequential illustration and create an almost bittersweet- yet still hopeful book. Sales, honestly, have been pretty awful; but everyone who’s gotten a copy has been throwing emails at me that include "the most important book I’ve read this year," "it’s my life right now" and "where’s my copy?" (that was my mom). I’ve gotten mixed reviews, one reviewer said it was the most unique thing he’s read this year; another called it "touching" and mostly reviewers have said "not perfect, but pretty good." One guy said he hated my drawing style, you can’t please everyone.

So, I don’t know.

Some people like it. Some people aren’t sure what to make of it. Some people cry after reading it.

I’ll say this, most of the "see myself in the book" feedback comes from people just getting into the biz or those who have been in for a while now. I’d love to hear what a Will Eisner has to say; someone who’s been in the biz for a good, long while.

O’Shea: For creators wondering what the magic formula to winning a Xeric is, what's your secret?

Kleid: Sacrifice several NINJA TURTLES toys, pray to Chris Ware and send fruit baskets and crack to Kendall Clark.

O’Shea: But seriously, any words of encouragement for those feeling like they've been hitting a wall of rejection?

Kleid: Do the work. When that fails, do it again. Seriously, I’ve been in the industry for three to four years. Started with awful minicomics, moved to awful webcomics, eventually wised up and started focusing on my craft. Spent hours each night learning how to make comics and how to market/sell myself. I did the work. I did it again. Rejections should always be turned into creative criticisms — never personal vendettas.

Oh, did I mention you should do the work? — Cos you should.

O’Shea: What can you tell folks about Murder Inc., your collaboration with Jake Allen for NBM?]

Kleid: Jake and I are working on a 196-page book entitled Brownsville. It’s the story of the men of the Jewish mafia, most specifically, the men who comprised the mob’s elite hit organization, Murder Incorporated. It follows the lives of Albert "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum, button man for Louis Lepke Buchalter and Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, leader of the Brownsville Murder Inc. operation. It’s a long, connecting story, one that leads them from rising stardom through mutual, seething hatred for one another and into the final days of the Jewish mob, where they both find themselves turning state’s evidence against their "family" for differing reasons.

Jake is going all out on this book, we both did a ton of research, and my one concern is that I won’t be able to work again with Jake because he’s going to get snapped up by the Big Boys after this book hits the stands. You can check out the cover and more info at http://www.rantcomics.com/rant-brownsville.html

And there’s a review of the 14 page preview ashcan NBM gave away in San Diego at: http://liheliso.com/buzz/archive/00000160.htm

The book is scheduled to debut in 2005 (we’re not sure when it falls on NBM’s publishing schedule yet).

O’Shea: Ready to discuss the cool upcoming collaboration with the talented Tom Beland--The Secret Life of Wally Meiers?

Kleid: I can talk. But nothing’s really happening.

I’ve wanted to do an all ages comic for a while now; comics for kids, as it were. I’ve been reading Bone in entirety along with Soulwind and kids books such as Harry Potter, An Unfortunate Series, and old copies of The Great Brain.

It’s been a dream of mine to do an epic tale that kids like my brother and nephew could get drawn into and be magically transported as I was when watching The Neverending Story and reading Tom Swift. Writers tell you that their story is the "greatest story ever told" and they might be right; but I always wondered, out of all the quest/journey/epic tales, from Star Wars to The Hobbit to
Pecos Bill, which story REALLY was the most important.

And that’s when it hit me. It’s the one story that’s never been told. The one story that connects them all. The story of a kid named Wally Meiers.

Wally Meiers, son to single mother Susan Meiers, is a reluctant eleven-year-old hero who needs to learn how to save the universe. More than that, he needs to learn how to save the TAPESTRY of the universe, tied together by stories, quests and legend. One night he's visited by two strange men - universal historians named Myth and Muck. They charge him with a quest - one that’s been in his family for years, one that will take him to the end of the universe and make him stare pain, evil, love and death in the face. Wally's rival - a being who slipped past the eyes of the ever-watchful historians (whose task it is to assign a hero to every quest and a quest to every hero) - is putting events in motion to unmake the fabric of existence. Wally's quest (bequeathed to him on the death of his father) will send him to thwart Rival at key points of attack, and ensure the continued existence of the universe. A lot of people are going to make connections between our story and Harry Potter, but there's a lot more to it. You see, Wally's quest connects to MANY established stories out there. He's taught that every story- be it fiction or non-fiction - has basis in truth... and these stories all make up the tapestry of existence.

The Secret Life of Wally Meiers is a series aimed at younger readers. This first "book" follows Wally as he learns the science of questing from an institute on the borders of existence, staffed by a faculty of history's greatest travelers. He and Mac risk life and limb along new friends - a dwarf, a sarcastic pigeon and a beautiful fairy - as he immerses himself in this new life, learning what he needs to in order to begin his quest. Future books will follow Wally on the road to stopping Rival's army, his first failures and ultimately, his search to discover more about his father's death - a tangent quest that might very lead Wally to a death of his own.

It's something both Tom and I have hinted at here and there, but the first thing we want people to know is that Tom is committed to True Story. That's his baby; that's his muse. It comes before all else. On a recent visit to New York, Tom made it clear that he's dying to get to Wally Meiers but has to make sure his pace on his book keeps going. He told me he's working on it (I've seen the sketches and they rock) but it's going to take some time. My reaction to that? Between 'fast' and 'good' I take 'good' every time.

One of the selling points of Wally Meiers... in fact THE selling point that got Tom to join up, was the character of Mac. Mac, Wally's best friend, is the world's first Jewish robot. At the outset everyone finds it cute that he has a little kippah on his head, covering his memory banks... but over time his programming betrays his creator's heritage more and more. And eventually we realize what that heritage means to Wally's overall quest. Or to quote Tom: "Jewish Robot, baby? YEAH!"

We're talking to a few people, and while everyone thinks the story, creative team and artwork is fantastic, no one's given us a definite yes. My e-mail is no big secret, folks, but remember - Tom's got commitments.

O’Shea: Anything else we need to tell the world about, comics-wise that is?

Kleid: I’m almost done with the script for The Big Kahn, an OGN about the family of a deceased pulpit Rabbi that learns, along with his congregation of forty years, that he’s been conning them all this time: he isn’t even Jewish. It’s about how his family deals with the repercussions of the lie, how they deal with the way they’ve lived their lives and it’s got a nice Six Feet Under vibe to it. It’s being drawn by the inimitable Scott (Days Like These, Scandalous) Chantler and it looks like it’s going to be my second book for NBM. I’m pretty excited by it.

I’ve got some short anthology stories out, the first one is "Secret Origin", a 4 pager Neil Vokes and I did for Dan Taylor’s Hero Happy Hour Super Special, lettered by Anthony Schiavino. I got to hang out with a bunch of the HHH folks in Chicago this weekend and a more stolid group of drunks you’ll never find. I think Vokes and I are planning another one for next year’s Super Special.

I’m also pitching about a mini-series I co-created with Paul Cote and Fernan do Pinto (www.funkydoodle.net) entitled Bear Suits. Bear Suits asks the question: "what would a pop-culture raised/internet age twenty-something do if granted a fully armed robotic bear suit?" While most might be tempted to do good deeds, the three heroes of Bear Suits focus their strengths on the essentials: beer, women and comic books. Tom, Richard and Harry are Bears One, Two and Three — gifted with fabulous suits of armor that allow them incredible strength, night vision and razor sharp claws. They spend their days discussing eighties television, looking for the perfect beer stein, hanging out at their local ice cream shop/comic store and occasionally protecting the good citizens of Bigby City from dinosaurs, robotic movie directors and weird foes named for obscure Russian poets.

A five page selection of Bear Suits strips appears in Sky Dog Press’ Even More Fund Comics Anthology to benefit the CBLDF. Like last year’s volume, Even More Fund will feature work by a blend of creators, from "names" in the industry to creators still on their way up. The book ships to stores this September.

Apart from that? I’m Doing the Work.

Are you?

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