Who's Who In The CBU Update 2009

Who are... Park and Barb?

Barbara Lien-Cooper and Park Cooper, are the owners of Wicker Man Studios and of Gun Street Girl, its flagship project created by Barbara and artist Ryan Howe. Barbara has written for many websites, and served a one-year stint as Managing Editor of the multiple-Eisner-award-winning print magazine Comic Book Artist. Park is the Editor-in-Chief of indie comics company Septagon Studios, and of Comics Bulletin's sister-website MangaLife. Together, they also co-wrote the graphic novel Half Dead, published by Dabel Brothers Productions and Marvel Comics, and later picked up again by Desperado Publishing, and the New Media project The Hidden for manga publisher Tokyopop. They both also adapt manga and edit manga and comics for various companies.

Lien & 'lein: The Jane Irwin Interview (Conclusion)

By Park Cooper

Introductory commentary is for losers, man. Jane Irwin writes Vogelein. If you need to know more go read the archives.



Jane Irwin: I read a lot of pulp when I was a teen. When I was in 11th and 12th grade I was writing a space opera and I was probably the only one in my class who actually did any calculations on real-life tasking of E=MC2… ie, travel at 90% lightspeed

Me for Silver Bullet Comics: Say... did you try Galaxion? By Tara Tallan?

JI: It was okay. I appreciated where she was coming from, I liked the idea, but for some reason it just didn't grab me. Sad, too -- Tara's said she'll never do another GN. Baby's taken over her life.

SBC: Okay, it had a certain drag when they first got to the planet... but then those butterflies came in and I really wanted to see where she was gonna go with it all.

JI: She's trying to repurpose it as a prose novel.

SBC: Oh yes? Well that way, at least, she could finish it.

JI: Yeah.

SBC: Uh... is it okay to say that? One is, of course, pro-baby and all, but Barbara feels the same way you do about that Galaxion situation, believe me.

JI: Well, it's a toss-up. I'm really really happy that she's become so involved in raising her child -- that's one lucky baby to have such a devoted mama -- but at the same time, it's sad to see a beloved series go on hiatus for the forseeable future. Still -- I think she made the right choice.

JI: I never was a big ST:TNG fan, either, and that's what she was channeling.

SBC: Um... well yes, to a point...

JI: I mean, you know. The away teams on the planet, etc. It was really quite a different book, but that's the association my brain immediately formed.

JI: I was way, way, way more into people like Signy Mallory.

SBC: But it had her total soul in it. I so respected that. It's why I associate Tara with Rachel H. …Uh and yourself, if I may say so…

JI: Thanks... You're right, you could totally see Tara's heart and soul coming through in that book; it was definitely a very personal story to her -- it felt like she knew all the characters quite well. And that's why I don't understand why it never quite clicked for me. Still, it's an admirable story, and I know quite a lot of other people who really like it.

JI: (sings: "Cap-tain Signy Mallory! Has no soul they say/ The captain of the Nor-way, has a heart of frozen clay / And on the decks of the Nor-way/ She throws men's live like diiiiiiice -- Captain Signy Mallory, she's a soul as cold as iiiiiice!

JI: Sorry. I spent way too much time in fandom, for about five years.

SBC: Okay I think I've heard of what you're singing about but I think you lost me a little.

JI: I have both furries and filk in my closet full of skeletons.

SBC: Hm... I don't suppose you read T.Campbell's webcomic FANS? Now at Graphic Smash?

SBC: Oh my, furries.

JI: Nope. I'll check it out.

SBC: Heh Barb knows not of filk but, again, I do.

JI: I've more or less dropped out of SF fandom in favor of comic fandom; I don't have time to do both. But I still like all my SF buddies, and keep in touch with most of them.

SBC: Mm.

JI: I was even Art Guest of Honor at a Michigan SF con once.

SBC: One misses that legendary Nivenesque, Asimov, hard-core early fandom.

SBC: Or does one…

JI: Yeah. I do. A good one, anyway. Bad ones aplenty I don't miss.

SBC: I mean, maybe it's there and I just was never THAT much a part of that world really. Know all about it, but was born a tiny bit late. Or was I…

JI: I tried rereading Joan Vinge's PSION/CATSPAW series about a month ago, and I couldn’t cringe my way through more than about 50 pages.

SBC: Heh yeah.

JI: I like stuff like Lucifer's Hammer still. Knocked the pants off The Postman.

SBC: I read Cherryh's, uh... well Rusalka but that's not what I was going to say... Oh, damn it, I wrote a paper about it, why can't I remember the name of the series I want

JI: Hee

SBC: MUST I go google for clues?

SBC: CYTEEN, by gadfrey!

JI: Ahyeah. That was the sequel to Downbelow Station. Didn't read that one.

SBC: Had to cheat and look online... was it? I never knew that.

JI: At 500+ pages, that there's a book you have to make a commitment to.

SBC: Well maybe I'll go play with Downbelow someday then... but I bet I'll never have the time, yeah.

JI: It's like having a torrid affair. You meet every night for a couple hours for about 2 weeks

SBC: Indeed. And I'm married now.

JI: Okay... it's been about an hour -- got any other incriminating questions you want to ask?

SBC: Rao, it has been, hasn't it.

JI: Rao?

SBC: Superman reference... just trying to be as geeky as possible… I was going to ask about what you're doing now... the book...

JI: Hee. I never read very much DC.

SBC: What do you do about advertising? How are you managing? Which you can interpret as whatever sort of question you like

JI: I was a Marvel Zombie for about 3 years, and then straight into indies and never looked back.

JI: Adverts have largely been word of mouth.

SBC: Wow, you don't strike me much as the Marvel type... unless you mean you read all silver and bronze age stuff...

JI: I give out a TON of free single issues -- at this point they're not selling any more, and they're just taking up space in my house, and I've already paid for them, and fliers would cost more money.

JI: (No , I was a total X-Men and Spider-Man freak when I was in highschool in the late 80's.)

JI: (Total. Freak.)

SBC: REALLY, you too huh.

SBC: That s**t's what got me through summer algebra.

JI: (And then I read Watchmen. And then Maus.)

JI: Ha!

SBC: "X-Men don't kill, Rache."

JI: Got me through a messy divorce.

SBC: "Come ride the Wildways, Douglock!"

JI: My parents', I mean.

SBC: Ah.

JI: Selfriend Jane says...

SBC: WAAHHH!

JI: Hee

JI: Ize heep big g33k

SBC: Oh god you're as good as I am, easy.

SBC: "Go easy on 'Mara, Chief. That witch ruined her life."

JI: Snerk. Heh. So anyway. I give out between 50 and 200 free single issues per show I do, and put a little flier in each one telling how to order the TPB. I hope some of them work.

SBC: Yeah me too. Any bites? Vogelein the Hollywood musical in the works yet?

JI: I also give out about 250 stickers per show, with the website on. Usually I get about a half-dozen to a dozen people come back before the end of the show to buy it b/c they read the issue. That's a pretty good average. At SPX the ratio was about 3 free issues to each purchase.

SBC: I've been address-dropping your site into my column for a while now... every cutesy way I can think of to do so

SBC: Mm.

JI: Yay! You rock.

SBC: I suppose you're going to Mid-Ohio while I'm stuck here in Damnation Alley.

JI: Another program I just did was I got on GNLIB-L -- a email list for Librarians who are interested in Graphic Novels, and I offered one free Vogelein GN to any librarian who emailed me.

SBC: (Oh lookit me with my Zelazny self)

SBC: And did they?

JI: I got about 15 requests in an hour.

SBC: Good.

JI: And I had to pull the plug on it before I completely ran out of stock.

SBC: I bet one was from my acquaintance from Shaker Heights, OH.

SBC: Heh.

JI: Name?

SBC: Forget.

JI: Sent one to Cuyahoga -- A Mark Pawuk?

JI: As for MOC -- I won't be there. I'm all showed out this year.

SBC: But he's mostly responsible for seeding the Cleveland area Library system with the best graphic novels.

SBC: Yeah maybe.

JI: Paul [Sizer]'s going though, so you can hassle him extra good for me.

JI: Steve Raiteri, maybe?

SBC: The first one, Pawuk, sounded closer.

SBC: Actually we're going to the new Wiz-Texas.

JI: Yeah. Much closer. I think next year I'm only going to do APE, SPX and the two Motor Cities.

SBC: Which I hope you aren't someone who feels that it's disrespectful to Mid-O but come on, it's where we're going to be anyway...

JI: I'm even debating not doing the fall Motor City… Tsst. MOC was a bust for me last year. I don't care. The only reason it was good was that I got to hang with Layla all weekend, and finally get Paul [Sizer]'s phone number. ;)

SBC: Hey it's better than it used to be, though, in the new digs.

JI: Oh, and I got to talk to Jeff Smith, too, which was a heap big hoot.

SBC: But if it's done nothing for you lately, then I concur, heck with the whole state. :)

JI: Okay, again with the advertising -- I don't do a lot of banner ads because I'm still pretty broke. I post a LOT to message boards and try to get in good with as many librarians as possible -- I did about 20-25 library appearances last year.

SBC: Yeah. So... when will we get a new book, Janer?

JI: I also try to take very good care of retailers that wholeheartedly support my book.

SBC: Yeah

SBC: Perhaps you've heard of a Mr. Jeremy of Dallas, TX?

JI: Isotope, Comic Relief, Laughing Ogre, Green Brain, Bookery Fantasy, Future Pastimes.

JI: Oh, and some dude named Titan or something.

SBC: Yes, Jeremy, master of Titan. He's often extremely encouraging to enterprising individuals such as yourself.

JI: Yeah. And mah homies Curtis and Steve keepin' it real at Vault, and the whole gang down at Underworld, both in Ann Arbor.

JI: Jeremy got an autographed copy hot off the press, some 3 months before they came out through Diamond.

SBC: Not like I'm on a first name basis with him but so many people call him that...

JI: Heh. Well --- any other questions?

SBC: I've heard good things about Laughing Ogre in the past...

JI: I assume Barb's still reading over your shoulder -- Hello Barb, and thanks again for the very kind shoutout in your last interview.

SBC: When will your readers get a new book?

SBC: "No problem" says the loa.

JI: Wish I had a solid answer for that.

SBC: I know, but inquiring minds wish to know.

JI: I am working on three separate scripts right now; I want to get them all written first.

SBC: Well then let me just say thank you for not doing the many wrong things.

JI: Because stuff that happens in the second relates to the fourth, etc etc

JI: Ha! Thanks.

SBC: Like the Pinocchio thing. Thank you for not doing that at the end.

JI: So the best answer that I can give is that I hope to start painting the next book before winter is out.

JI: Eh? You mean… "I'm a REAL FAIRY NOW!"

JI: ‘scuse me... **BAAARRRRF**

JI: *ptui*

JI: Okay, I'm all better now.

SBC: Exactly. Thank you for setting the main story in the modern world and not making all this in some fantasy other dimension named, I dunno, Excrucia or anything.

JI: HAHAHAH

SBC: You rock, as Tart Izzy might say.

JI: Well, I really really like De Lint's stuff. I don't always agree with how he ends his books, but I do genuinely like the "Just enough fantasy in my reality" style he's got. And I really owe him a lot for my style; Gaiman, too. I just hope they're cool with it as homage and not cribbing. ;)

SBC: Eh, to Columbus with 'em if they can't appreciate genius. And the same with anyone else who hasn't done anything for you lately.

JI: And let me take a second to say thanks right back for all the awesome PR you two have done. Most of the indie-press reporters have been extremely kind to me, you two especially so.

SBC: So you read the column then-- oh you mean my famous WIFE! Right!

JI: I had a really nice email the other day from Mark Oakley (Thieves and Kings) who really kickstarted V by putting her in the back of one of his comics. And he commented on my "rise to fame" and how quickly I've gotten into the indie consciousness.

JI: I really owe the lion's share of that to folks like you guys, who are out there beating the drum for small press. Thank you.

SBC: Whatever happened to Thieves and Kings? Does that still go on?

JI: Oh, yeah. He just put out a new ish about 3 weeks ago. He moved to Nova Scotia from Toronto, so there was a lapse while he got settled.

SBC: I miss Replacement God. Ah, well, more lives to the mighty Moore.

JI: God, so do I. I found RG about 6 months ago and immediately fell in love.

SBC: Beatnik Hipster Visigoths!

JI: RG: Vol2 Ish5 is a stunning, stunning piece of work.

SBC: Uh... is that the 100 pager??? Or is that something else…

JI: "And I can talk to animals. They don't usually have a lot to say."

JI: "You cool?"

JI: "I'm cool."

JI: "Cool."

JI: *slap*

SBC: I know, here I am putting down fantasy lands but Replacement God rocked.

JI: I'm not putting down any fantasy lands. T&K still rocks my world! And Vess. I want to just curl up under Vess' drafting table like a cat. And hopefully catch some of his table scraps.

JI: Well, it's quarter of ten, so I'd best head back to my script -- especially if you want to see new Vogelein sooner than later. Dratted day job!

JI: I hope you got enough for your interview tonight.

SBC: Hell I'll most likely have to split it up into at least 2 parts… which means less columning for me yay!

SBC: Right, you go girl.

JI: w00t!

SBC: That is, please go and do that, girl... I know that you aren't Trina's Go Girl.

SBC: Mokay

JI: And I will try to get the GSG pinup done before the new year.

SBC: Okay. Cool.

JI: Check this one I did for Guy Davis: http://www.vogelein.com/images/Nevermen.jpg

SBC: Can I show this to people?

JI: Haha, sure.





Jane Irwin's Vogelien:
http://www.vogelein.com/vogelein/voghome.html
http://www.vogelein.com/fierystudios/fierystudios.shtml

Barbara Lien-Cooper's GUN STREET GIRL:
http://www.graphicsmash.com/series.php?name=gsg&view=current
http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/bakersdozen/back20031126.shtml






















Your New Mantra: PROTAGONISTS, NOT HEROES