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.

Going Around: The Utopiates Interview

By Park Cooper

Some new people we met at San Diego were Josh Finney and Kat Rocha of Glitchwerk studios, with their comic, issue #1 of Bloodfire Studios' UTOPIATES.

http://www.glitchwerk.com/

http://www.bloodfire.com/products/comics/utopiates/

Intrigued by another married team of husband-wife creators, we interviewed them.




Park Cooper: So, married, huh?

Josh Finney: yep...with a ring and a picture with a ferengi and everything!

PC: How did you two meet?

JF: You know those old style Russian butcher shops where you can actually see them cutting up the cows and pigs? Well...wait... that wasn't it...

Kat Rocha: Actually It was at a comic book store.

PC: Comic Book Stores... the shops of l'amour.

KR: Ya, a friend of mine worked there and Josh was a regular. I had gone in to brag to my friend about scoring a free Gundam model kit.

JF: Hey, maybe my story wasn't all that romantic, but Kat says she knew she loved me when I bought her a military issue- marine Ka-Bar knife for her birthday...no joke.

KR: No Joke.

JF: we cut the wedding cake with it so yes....it is geek love.

KR: geek love all the way. :-)

PC: How long have you been married?

JF: Two hours. :)

KR: We got married last year in May. We had the "official" family wedding at Balboa Park. Then the legal stuff we took care of in Vegas on our honeymoon at the Star Trek Experience. Hence the aformentioned Ferengi.

JF: Yeah...it's the "official" part, but that's not why we got married, ya know. We didn't do it for a tax break. Legal stuff. Business aspect of it all. Ferengi. Made sense.

PC: No last name changing?

JF: Nah...no kids are in the plan, so we didn't see the point.

KR: Exactly.

PC: Why Glitchwerk as the studio name?

JF: It's a word that had been rolling around in my head since 1998, at that point I had still been considering starting a record label. A lot of the bands in the experimental electronic scene at the time described their composition technique as "glitchwork"... referring to all the blips and pings that you'd hear in the background. We both thought it was a cool name for a studio. That and we were pretty sure a name like "Skaro Studios" would infringe on rights held by the BBC.

PC: How long has it been from the time you wrote and drew Utopiates #1 until it came off the presses?

KR: Well, how Josh and I work is he is the writer. We both bounce ideas off of each other but Josh is the one who writes the scripts. I edit the them and then we work on the artwork together since we bring two diffrent styles to the table.

JF: I guess from a writing persepctive, Kat keeps me on track. I write prose, I write scripts, I jot down outlines, and then she sort of filters through them all. One of the first thing KAt and I established with our work was needing to be 100% self sufficient...meaning, if a contract hapened, there was no worry about making sure the product could be delieved.

KR: We often think of our creative relationship as similar to director John Carpenter and producer Debra Hill. Films like Escape from New York and The Fog were John's stories and his vision, but Debra kept him on track. She edited his stories and made sure John never lost sight of the big picture.

KR: For us, Josh creates and writes the stories and I keep him focused and tell him what works and what doesn't. Then together we bring it to life with our art. We are a great team and we work very well this way.

JF: Utopiates started as a short story I wrote a few years ago while I was in a math class bored out of my skull. I was ignoring a lecture on factoring, when the phrase "I bought my first memory at age sixteen" popped into my head. About a half hour later, I had the basic story written out as a short monologue. The first plan was to do it as a 5 page "future shock" to send to 2000 AD. But the art at that point was pretty raw. WE did it first as a series of manipulated photos. Then I did the story again in full rendered 3d.

Barb: Why did you make it a comic, which means money and dealing with The Industry (shudder) instead of a short story that could go in a Fantasy/Science Fiction magazine?

JF: WEll, first, I love the medium. And second, have you had a look at the sci-fi market recently, especially with magazines?

PC: Not as such.

JF: Kat and I were doing work for Interzone, which was England's more popular sci-fi magazine at one time, and from what I could understand, that market has declined to hobbyism. You could only get the magazines by subscription. As well, we love comics. I write prose. But comics is where my passion it.

PC: So what sort of geek stuff were you doing before you did this comic?

JF: That's a pretty loaded questions, eh Kat? Role-playing games. The old dice and paper kind.

PC: playing them? making them? illustrating them?

KR: I played in his Cyberpunk game very soon after we met.

JF: Yeah, I've done a little RPG stuff artistically

PC: The cover: Who colored it, and how? How long did it take?

JF: Actually, I painted that cover digitally. It took two sittings which equals roughly 10 hrs. As for the 3D elements of the cover, that was around another 10 hrs. starting with the initial modeling, then rendering, and then photoshop work.

PC: Can you tell us more specifically how you made the art?

KR: Well, without giving up too many trade secrets :), we start with a lot of model photography. We like to work with amateur actors because due to the nature of these stories it is very important that we get expressions that capture the emotion of the story. The models allow us to add a human element that is often missing in comics. No matter how good I can dream up a face of a pissed off junkie, using a real human face for reference makes my work that much more real. Once the photography is done, Josh lays out a page with the photos and then hands them off to me. I then pencil each pose by hand. Cleaning them up, adding dramatic lighting and enhancing the poses, crosshatching, and if need be adding elements such as clothing, facial hair, etc.... you'd be surprised how few models we actually use. Once I am done I hand them back over to Josh who adds the digital painting aspect--painting in shadows, adding backgrounds, adding 3D elements, and a whole host of digital effects.

PC: Who is the model for the main character? How did you choose him?

KR: The model for the junky in issue #1 is our good friend Matt Scull. He is an aspiring actor who is amazingly expressive. We really enjoy using him because often the expressions we get from him tell the story better than words can. He shows up in our comics a lot more than you'd think.... it's my job to draw him with different features. :)

PC: Where does one GET amateur actors? (Like, how do you find them and get them to do it?)

KR: Mostly through our friend Matt. He belongs to a local theater groups and when we need somebody we ask him who he would recommend.

PC: How does he feel about being in Utopiates? Also... what else have you put him in before this?

KR: Matt really enjoys working with us. We have worked with him on several projects in the past.

PC: Kat, are you the woman who he starts working for (she has your nose, we think)?

KR: Hehe. No, actually, incredibly enough The Dealer is a robot that I built in the garage that looks just like me. The face is made out of silicone latex and the mouth and facial expressions are anamatronic. I haven't been able to afford eyes yet, hence why she is always wearing sunglasses.

PC: Wow, really?

KR: hehe... um. actually that was a joke.

PC: Can you talk about the futuristic elements in the story, visually, I mean?

JF: The setting for Utopiates is a fully developed world, with the
"utopiates" subculture as just one small part of it. We wanted the world to look like a real place only with subtle differences to suggest that this was the future. Most of the buildings started off as real places, mostly in LA because that's where Utopiates is taking place. Then we add subtle tweaks to the world. As Utopiates progresses you will see more and more futuristic elements emerge. Windmills share the skyline with buildings, dirigibles are seen flying in the air, and cars are slightly altered... people with
cybernetics...ah, but now I've told too much.

PC: "Progresses..." ...are the other stories going to be stepped-forward into the story's future?

KR: No but as you get more stories you will see more of the world and what it looks like. And then there is the NEZ. All the fun of Vegas and Amsterdam combined into one place that hasn't been renovated in decades. Where drugs, gambling, prostitution, all the "fun" stuff are in one "legal" location. You can partake of all the sin laws you want while in the NEZ, but cross the line high and just like today, you are going to jail.

PC: Why is it called the NEZ?

KR: Non Enforcement Zone. It is the one area of the city where people can indulge in drugs, gambling, and hooking without the fear of legal consequences. It's not brought up in this story but the NEZ was put into place as an attempt to attract all the crime into one easily patrolled location.

PC: What about the design of the needles and their containers?

JF: I wanted something that looked like a disposable, self contained syringe... I modeled the original in 3D. In later stories you'll see the injector slug is a lot more than "just a needle" and in fact has industrial & medical applications.

PC: So tell us about Bloodfire, how did Utopiates end up there?

JF: They saw a product they could get behind, and jumped at it. Really, that was about it.

PC: And how's that going so far? Is Bloodfire everything you hoped as a publisher?

JF: Bloodfire is a great starting point.

PC: What comics do you two read? Gimme western, manga, manwha, and online titles..

JF: All things Ghost in the Shell, all things Grendel, all things Cal
MacDonald, Judge Dredd...

KR: Red Sonja (main title, not Savage) , Hatter M, Wormwood, Civil War and Frontline, Villians United. For Manga...Um.. Only the Boogiepop series currently. The Abandoned and East Coast Rising..

Barb: I noticed the story had a Future Shocks feel... you could almost see one of Halo Jones' friends getting into the sort of trouble found in Utopiates...

JF: Yeah, well, like I said, the first draft was written to be a future shock but I'm glad we expanded it to be more.

PC: What's in the future for Utopiates?

JF: Four issue with the hope of another four depending on response, a sound track, a t-shirt, and where ever else the story leads.

PC: Will you collect it as a graphic novel and try to get it into bookstores that aren't just comic book specialty retailers?

JF: ABSOLUTELY! In fact, that's been the goal from day one. I believe the kind of work we're doing would have a much wider audience with graphic novel sales

Barb: Tell about your website, like, what did you do "Beautiful on the Inside" for? A particular project? Do you just like robots?

http://www.glitchwerk.com/gallery.htm

KR: Beautiful on the Inside was one of the first pieces we colaborated on. We did it mainly for ourselves and as a portfolio piece.

JF: we like erotic androids... http://www.glitchwerk.com/androids/

PC: Any more details on that?

JF: For me, it's about our relationship to technology. I was tired of the portrayal of, clunky, lumbering Frankenstein robots. I wanted to show technology as something graceful and desirable

KR: I love the odity of having a human form made out of synthetic matierial. The "romantisism" of synthetic and flesh.

Barb: What are your influences?

JF: Keith Richards.... No wait! That's not right. :) Writing: William Gibson, Philip K. Dick, Matt Wagner. Art: Rick Berry, Brian Wood, Frank Miller, Raph Steadman, Oh yeah, and Huner S. Thompson

KR: Tim Bradstreet, Michael Manning, some of the guys who did illustrations in the AD&D player's handbook 2nd Edition, Frazetta, Royo

JF: Mystry Science Theater

KR: YES!!

PC: Have you finished Utopiates #2?

JF: we're nearing completion of issue # 3.

PC: How long, on average, does it take to make an issue?

JF: That's a difficult question. Issue #1 was completed rather
quickly...about a month, not including writing. Issue 2, on the other hand took much longer due to a 10 page scene that took place in a warzone. Heavy heavy detail.

Barb: How long does the writing takes you on average?

JF: Hmmm...that again varies because in a sense I'm writing for myself. A full script can be done in a few weeks, but the difference is that while I'm doing a script, I can also be undertaking other efforts. Often, what I'll do is over-write a story, and then chop it to hell once we get down to making panels and layout. Often I'll cut whole blocks of narration or dialog when the art tells the story without the need of extra text

Barb: How many drafts do you go through?

JF: Again, hard question since it's an ongoing amorphous process. I'd say generally, 3 drafts. Although, the final draft is when it hits the page, because those are when the final changes happen It's all about story. Story arch, drawing the readers in...seems like it's a lost art in comics.

PC: If you were going to work on a pre-existing comic that wasn't your own, which one would you want to call dibs on?

JF: I would prefer to pursue my projects and stories. But, I'd love to have a crack at Tales of the Red Star as well as submit to a number of anthologies such as 24/ Seven, Afterworks, True Porn, and Flight.

KR: Superman vs. Godzilla...hehehe. Just kidding. Actually I don't feel the need to work on any one else's projects currently. The comics out there are somebody else's vision, not mine. If I were approached to re-vamp a character or plot/draw a story arc, that might be cool, although I'm not sure who I'd want to get my hands on...I dunno, maybe it'd be fun to get a swing at Big Barda just so I can do her right. :)