Who's Who In The CBU Update 2008

Who are... Park and Barb?

Barbara Lien-Cooper writes the comic GUN STREET GIRL at Panel 2 Panel, was an original founder of Sequential Tart, is the managing editrix of the 2004 Eisner award-winning print magazine COMIC BOOK ARTIST, and was named by Mark Millar (The Authority, Ultimates, Wanted) as one of the three most promising new talents in the next wave of comics writing.

Park Cooper started writing about comics at the now-defunct DC FANZINE website.

Pleasant Questions And Safe Answers: Interview With Steve Bryant of Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon

By Park Cooper

I've tried to interview Steve Bryant in my usual online chatting interview style, but every time we try, we say things about the industry we wouldn't want other people to read... Here's some pleasant questions and safe answers approved for public consumption with Steve Bryant, artist on the new 5-issue miniseries Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon. Issue one is out right now.




Park Cooper for Silver Bullet Comics: At the websites where Athena Voltaire first appeared, AV was in a horizontal format, like a Sunday comic adventure strip like Prince Valiant. Now you're in a vertical page format, like other comics. Discuss your change from the horizontal to vertical page format… Do you wish you'd done it sooner?


Steve Bryant: We started off in a horizontal format as part of a standard look for our initial online home, AdventureStrips.com.

After a while of working in the horizontal format, I was pretty tired of it and eager to move to a vertical format. On the bright side, though, the horizontal format presented a number of interesting storytelling problems, so it was a great learning experience for me.

Actually, now that I’m thinking about collecting the webstrips, I wish we had done one more story in that format…we don’t have quite enough strips for a meaty collection right now. Looks like I’ll be revisiting the format for a new 30-page story.


SBC: If someone said that AV could be classified in the "retro" genre, would you agree or argue?

SB: Both. The comic certainly looks back reverently at the features that inspired it. At the same time, I think that we’re making use of many advantages of contemporary comics: self-contained arcs, lush digital coloring, etc…


SBC: What input do you have on AV's stories and plots?

SB: I’ve written a few scenes and have given Paul some lists of what I’d like to draw, but Paul has such a great sense of pulp adventure that I usually just try to stay out of his way!


SBC: How did you come to choose Speakeasy for AV: FOF?

SB: We shopped it around to a good response from a number of publishers. It was a tough call, because there are a number of terrific publishers out there (most of whom I’d love to work with down the line), but at the end of the day, we felt that Speakeasy was the best fit for Athena Voltaire.


SBC: What was the overall mood in the industry when you began your career?

SB: Let’s just say that I heard the words “If this were 5 years ago, I could give you work” a lot.


SBC: How has it changed?

SB: I’m not really sure how it changed. I realized that I wouldn’t get anywhere in the industry by standing in portfolio lines; the only way that I would be able to set my work apart would be by doing something of my own, something tailored to my strengths.

Since that time, I haven’t really done much in the way of soliciting freelance work.


SBC: What do you think of how the industry's changed?

SB: Talk to me again after con season! I’ll have this series completed and I may have something to report by then!


SBC: To make more money and be able to reach different places such as bookstores, the trade paperback has been created. Many people have read Sandman collected as paperback, but not originally. Do you feel that the era of the comic book format could be replaced by the paperback? And if so, when? And would that be good or bad?

SB: I’m not sure that the pamphlet format will ever go away entirely. It’s an important part of the process for someone like myself. It’s much easier for someone to “test drive” an unknown like me for $3 than it is for them to try me out on a $15 collection!


SBC: Is the comics industry 'in trouble'? If so, what does that mean? If not, why not?

SB: People have predicted the end of comic books for 50 years. When the Keefauver hearings resulted in shutting down EC, bunches of cartoonists thought they saw the writing on the wall and fled comic books for comic strips. Yet a half-century later, comic books still haven’t died.

I look at the way that comics are permeating other media, like seeing the Teen Titans, Batman and the Justice League on Cartoon Network. Or bigscreen splashy versions of Batman, the FF and Spider-Man. Throw in Road to Perdition, Sin City, Ghost World, American Splendor and A History of Violence to demonstrate comics’ range.
All of this material is helping identify comics as an idea factory.
Look at the growth that graphic novels and trades have had in bookstores.

How about some of the interesting comic stores out there? Did you know that comic shops that have seating and refreshments are now classified in the industry as “Isotope Clones” (for James Sime’s incredible Isotope Comics Lounge)? James is a helluva comics promoter, and there are more and more retailers like him popping up every day.

Plus, I look at some of the exciting things that podcasting is doing to bring people back to comic shops. The fact that Comic Geek Speak is pretty prominent on iTunes is a boon to the industry, as well. Those guys often read emails from the people who had abandoned comics in the 90s but stumbled across their podcast on iTunes and are now back in their LCS every Wednesday. And I haven’t even mentioned manga yet.


SBC: There was a time when comics was what one could call a "collectors' market," meaning that sales increased or at least didn't drop so much because people felt these things were like baseball cards, that they could be worth something someday. Is comics still a collector's market? Presuming the answer is no, what would you call it?

SB: I think that the collector’s market is dying; certainly the speculators are long gone. It’s been replaced with a reader’s market, which, to me, is where it’s at. I remember about 5 years ago, Warren Ellis wrote an online column lamenting the fact that a bunch of incredible comics from the past weren’t in print anymore. He compared it to the idea that Stephen King books don’t go out of print, so why should the work of comics’ best and brightest lights from the past be banished to musty old bins? My words, not his.
Flash forward a few years and look at all the material that’s back in print. And it’s finding an audience. I hope the collector’s mentality continues to be a secondary classification. It’s become a reader’s market. And that’s good.


SBC: Kids and comics. There was a time when everyone knew that comics weren't just for kids, then there was a time when everyone knew comics were ONLY for kids. Then adult readers started increasing in comics again. Where do you think we stand now? Should we have more kids in comics? Or should we give up on them? We don't encourage kids to read, say, the sort of novel that Tom Clancy or Elmore Leonard puts out, and yet they sell just fine...

SB: There’s no reason to give up on kids reading comics, any more than there’s a reason to give up on women reading comics, or any group. There should be more comics for kids. There should be more comics for adults. There should be every size and shape and genre of comics and there should be a broad diversity of material that can appeal to every ethnicity, age group and gender.

I think that digests are brilliant for kids’ comics. I have a 5-year old, and he loves ‘em! Affordable, kid-sized…awesome! Hopefully, this is the format that brings kids back to comics en force.


SBC: What's your take on manga?

SB: I may not necessarily get the appeal, but I don’t have to. I’m not sure that it functions necessarily as the “gateway drug” toward western comics that a lot us would like to see. It may just be a gateway drug to more manga. But I have to think that by de-stigmatizing the idea of books with words and pictures together…well, it’s gotta be a good thing, right?

My son loves it and he doesn’t really distinguish a difference between, say, Zatch Bell and the Teen Titans. I think that’s a good thing.


SBC: Let's describe your experience of comic book conventions as being like Christmas. Would that be more like Christmas, a wonderful experience you look forward to, or more like Christmas, hours spent hearing the same old stories over and over again, eating someone else's idea of food, and feeling your wallet kind of thin afterwards, but you felt obligated to attend?

SB: A wonderful experience. Hands down. I’ve built up a lot of relationships over the last few years, both with professionals and readers. Going to certain cons allows me the opportunity to see old friends, geek out over my craft with fellow creators and kiss up to my mentors. It’s good stuff.


SBC: Who is one person (still alive) you'd like to point out (besides yourself) as the role model that all of us in the comic book industry should look up to?

SB: Al Williamson. The man has done it all. He started as one of the E.C gang, alongside Frank Frazetta and Wally Wood, did newspaper strips (13 years on Secret Agent X-9 and 3 on Star Wars, as well as assiting John Prentice on Rip Kirby) and has inked everybody, too! It’s a shame that contemporary audiences mostly just know him for his inking other people.

He’s talented, gracious and incredibly professional. After I first met him 14 years ago, I remarked that he was my role model as an illustrator and it hasn’t changed since that day. In the comics world, he’s my hero.


SBC: The comics industry. Advertising one's product and making the world know it's here and ready to be bought/read/paid attention to. I'll bet you have something to say about this... go!

SB: A necessary evil. It makes me feel like a sideshow barker, but what choice do you have? No one will buy your work if they don’t know that you exist.


SBC: What are some of the last comics, graphic novels, webcomics, or manga that you've read recently (besides your own)?

SB: Fear Agent, by Rick Remender and Tony Moore was a lot of fun. The Goon by Eric Powell is always at the top of the pile. Of course, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy blows me away every time. I’m loving Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting on Captain America. Geoff Johns and Butch Guice’s Olympus from Humanoids Publishing was really neat, too.

For online comics, I check out: Supernatural Crime, John Law, The Terranauts, Panel2Panel and Graphic Smash.


SBC: If you overheard somewhere, "Man, that is a really great page layout. Look what's being done with the use of the panels here." Who, in your opinion, might you suppose they're likely talking about?

SB: Probably Mike Mignola. He’s brilliant!

I have a story along these lines. About 5 years ago, a bunch of friends and I were in a portfolio line. One of us had scored a collection of Stan Drake’s Heart of Juliet Jones strips. Beautiful civilian stuff. Drake inspired Neal Adams, after all.

So, anyway, we’re all drooling over this stuff, just oohing and ahhing over every page. The guy behind us in line, probably 10-15 years younger than us, cranes his neck to see what we’re all so into. He sees the page, and gets a look on his face like he just smelled something awful. Obviously, he couldn’t see the appeal!


SBC: What's the first comic you can clearly remember reading?

SB: Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos #101. Gary Friedrich and Dick Ayers. I was hooked instantly!


SBC: What's the first time you read a comic (it's possible it's the same one [but unlikely]) and suddenly you turned back to the credits and said to yourself "Man, WHO wrote this again?/WHO drew this again? I want to remember the name of this person."

SB: Jack Kirby on Kamandi. Then I noticed that he was the guy who drew all these great Fantastic Four stories I was reading, too (Marvel was reprinting Stan and Jack’s FF in “Marvel’s Greatest Comics”). It was a turning point, for sure!


SBC: Crossovers in comics: Neat or evil? And why?

SB: Yes. Both. Seriously, I can see both sides of the argument.
Neat? Hell, yeah. When done correctly, a crossover weaves together an incredibly dense tapestry of a comics universe, tying up loose ends seemlessly and making everything look smooth and intentional. And both Marvel and DC really seem to be delivering on this right now.

“Evil” may be too strong of a word. But like success in anything else, a successful crossover doesn’t beget just another crossover, it leads to a dozen of them. Historically, they seem to be of diminishing quality. Of course, once everything gets tied into a big event for two or three consecutive big events, it all just becomes a case of “can you top this?” And you can’t. Endless crescendos make you go deaf after a while.


SBC: Finish this sentence that you've just found coming out of your mouth: "See, the thing you have to understand about the average comic book store these days is..."

SB: …that they’re not like they’re portrayed on the Simpsons.
I’ve had the pleasure to see some amazing shops in the last couple of weeks. Acme Comics in Normal, Illinois hosted our release party for the first issue of Athena Voltaire. Central Illinois may not be a major market (like New York or L.A.), but no one bothered telling store owner Jim Schifeling that! Pound-for-pound, inch-for-inch, that store is stocked as well as any store on either coast. It’s a truly amazing shop with kickass customer service. He really deserves a Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award.

What’s cool is that the Acme experience and the Isotope experience are vastly different, as is visiting Starclipper Comics in St Louis and Graham Crackers Comics in Chicago. I’ve had the pleasure of doing signings at Starclipper and Graham Crackers in the last couple of weeks. Each time, I dealt with creative, professional people with a genuine passion for comics.

Coming up, I get to see Westfield Comics in Madison, Wisconson and Downtown Comics in Indianapolis. I’m excited to see the enthusiasm they display.

Nope, comics shops are a lot more professional and inviting than we’ve seen on television. All divers, and with their own identity, too. Good times ahead, folks.


















































































I SAID, ISSUE ONE IS OUT NOW