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.

This Gun For Hire: The Chris Moreno Interview

By Park Cooper

So like Barb was doing this interview with Lauren Perry of the column Fangirl Rampage to talk about how Barb wrote Half Dead coming out in March from Dabel Brothers Pro and Marvel and Lauren got artist Chris Moreno to do these two little pics of Barb and we were like oh mi gawd they were so cute so like we happened to say to Chris like dude we notice that like you're like this totally real comic book artist and he was like yeah like I totally am so we were all going dude what if we interviewed you and Chris goes that would be totally boss so like we did.



Park Cooper: Hullo-- Park Cooper here…

Chris Moreno: Hey, Park!

PC: What's up?

CM: I'm eating cereal and watching SS Doomtrooper on SciFi

PC: Never heard of SSD…

CM: It's almost like Saving Private Ryan meets The Hulk.

CM: Almost.

PC: So what cereal you eating? My readers demand to know.

CM: Life cereal!

CM: Always!

PC: It's supposed to be good for you

CM: I like cereals that have smiling kids on the box--

CM: It's like they’re smiling because I’m eating a nutritious breakfast.

CM: "Good for you, Chris!"

PC: So... what's on the CM agenda for today?

CM: Pages, pages, pages...

PC: You're all booked up, eh? Pages for whom?

CM: Some stuff for a company called Spacedog,

CM: I'm finishing the last issue of Paul Jenkins' Sidekick…

PC: Hm, were you ever at Wiz World Texas in Arlington?

CM: About 3 times already. I was also at the first STAPLE! show in Austin.

PC: Yeah, my brain told me I'd seen you at Wiz World. Oh, I know why, because I saw stuff like King Arthur vs. Dracula there last time I was there. Which was not this time.

CM: My dad's from Austin, so I visited there quite a bit.

PC: Yeah I'm currently sitting in Austin…

CM: Yes, I read that bit in Barb's interview.

PC: So let me ask this -- you got writerly dreams as well?

CM: I'm slowly working my way towards that. At some point I just stopped writing and focused on drawing, but I've always loved to do both. I just wanted to tell stories, period.

PC: Got a story concept in your back pocket you'd like to get to some day?

CM: I've got a handful. It's just a question of when…

PC: How long you been doin' this? And where are you, anyway, specifically?

CM: I started in 2001. I'm living in York, Pennsylvania right now.

PC: Is that West Penn or East Penn?

CM: Southeast Penn.

PC: Art school much?

CM: Not really. I did apprentice under Tommy Castillo for about 8 years.

PC: Mm.

CM: I just taught recently at an art school. That was weird; it was the first time I'd ever been to art school.

PC: How'd you get that job?

CM: Believe it or not, I met Tim Truman coming back from Pittsburgh Comicon. I met him and his wife at a rest stop.

PC: Hmmm... Did he do Hawkworld, once upon a time?

CM: Yep, Hawkworld

PC: Mmmm. That's where I know him from. I respect him.

CM: Now he's writing and drawing Conan for Dark Horse. He was already teaching at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster, and asked me if I wanted to take over a class for him, which led to me getting the gig. It was only the fall semester, but it was great. I feel like I'm the product of good teaching, so it was nice to pass some of that on.

PC: Yes, tell me more about Tommy Castillo.

CM: Tommy used to draw this bad girl book called Hari Kari in the '90s, and then went on to draw Batman and Toe Tags for DC. Now he's working on some stuff for Zenescope.

PC: Zenescope, eh?

CM: Yup. You know 'em?

PC: Mighta heard of em… I associate them with [brain works hard]… ninjas. …But then that's true of pretty much anyone.

CM: It's true. I consider myself a ninja of sorts…

PC: See, I see you more as a cowboy somehow.

CM: Hmm… I'm not going to argue with you there. A gun-for-hire… I like that.

PC: Okay, lightning round.

CM: Do it.

PC: Give your reactions/opinions:

PC: Manga

CM: Dynamic… action-packed… hard for me to pull off.

PC: Mmm. You like it?

CM: Oh yeah. Er, you mean what titles?

PC: Yes, that too.

CM: I liked Akira, Ghost in the Shell…

PC: Feel free to toss anime in there too -- oop, in a way you just did…

CM: … Baoh, the Guyver-- well, I've read the books and seen the flicks… I'll watch anything Miyazaki and Otomo cook up, too.

PC: Reading any manga currently?

CM: Not so much. I used to leaf through my brother's copies of Blade of the Immortal.

PC: Okay off we go again: Webcomics.

CM: PVP, The Devil’s Panties, Penny Arcade, Shortpacked. Those are easier for me to read regularly.

PC: Why, because they update daily?

CM: Because it's in line with my daily work routine. I don't leave the house much when I'm working. Pretty much everything I do is tied to the work. I’m at the computer checking my email anyway…

PC: Ah. Then I guess I meant "easier than what…" So in other words, “easier than comics,” because they come to you in the house?

CM: Pretty much. I mean we still hit the local comics shop every Wed… Y’know, market research...

PC: Okay next: "Flimsies" vs "GNs"

CM: Both.

PC: Mainstream vs indie?

CM: Both.

PC: Answer please: “Are Comics In Trouble?” a.k.a. “Is the comics industry in trouble?”

CM: They say that every year. Um...

PC: So does that mean it's true, or false?

CM: I dunno. I don't really follow the numbers of who's still reading comics, and which titles. I'm a glass-is-half full guy by nature.

PC: Fair enough, I think. Sci-fi or fantasy?

PC: You may choose only one.

CM: Both-- damn!

PC: Yeah, I'm putting my foot down this time.

CM: Uhhhh..... Sci-Fi. Bad fantasy can look like a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper. Bad Sci-Fi just looks low-tech.

PC: Favorite music: go.

CM: I just picked up Regina Spektor, love They Might Be Giants, found Michael Leviton, Tom Waits, Sam & Dave, James Brown (RIP), Joe Jackson, Judas Priest, OK GO!, The Sweet, T-Rex, David Bowie... too many... brain shutting down...

PC: Annnnnd, do you listen to it when you draw/illustrate?

CM: Absolutely. Music's my lifeline when the deadlines get tight, and the nights long…

PC: Fave movies: go.

CM: Animal House, Blues Brothers, Airplane, True Stories, Shaun of the Dead, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Evil Dead II, The Incredibles, Return of the Living Dead, 40 Year Old Virgin, Blue Velvet...

PC: Fave, god help us, novels: go.

CM: A lot of Robert McCammon (Swan Song, The Wolf's Hour), The Woman Chaser by Charles Willeford, Chuck Palahniuk, I liked Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, Hitchhikers' Guide...

PC: Ooh, forgot fave video games: go. Unless you wanna finish up novels first…

CM: I'm good with video games; I'm an escapist, so you won't see any sports games on the list-- Dynasty Warriors, Burnout Revenge, GTA San Andreas, Star Wars Battlefront, Xmen Legends, Destroy all Humans, Dig Dug, Yars' Revenge, Combat, Bad Dudes, Final Fight... of course these are all games I played last year (Well, except for the Atari games.) I don't really have time for video games much lately!

PC: Bad Girl Comics/art (and for that matter Good Girl art): good or bad thing?

CM: I think bad art is just bad art. There are good and bad examples of both. I like guys like Gil Elvgren just as much as I like more hardcore guys like Milo Manara. I think the 90’s trend of trashy bad girls really just needed to choose if it was going to just go whole-hog and embrace pornography. Don't straddle the fence!

PC: You know Guido Crepax? He used to be fun sometimes…

CM: Yeah!

PC: Okay here's the (arguably) big one: FAVE COMICS. GO.

CM: The Goon, Nextwave, Jenkins' Mythos series (Paolo Rivera's art is sweeet!), Outer Orbit, anything Guy Davis is drawing, Hellboy, Madman, I'm a Spidey fan, but I pick up the books sporadically, Batman Year One, Dark Knight Returns, Torpedo 1936, Asterix, Pogo, Little Nemo...

PC: And now let’s bring the question intensity down just a little: Fave comic shop: go.

CM: Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC is pretty awesome. Austin Books has always been great to me and my books, they're also expertly run. Comix Connection here in York is great, and Atomic Comics is super-cool-- I always leave so many out when I list them... But there are some really great retailers that help overshadow the truly awful ones. And there are some awful ones...

PC: Multiple covers for flimsies: opinion?

CM: Um, I've done variant covers, so I don't think it's that bad an idea. I like the idea of choices. When you've got, like, seven, for one book, where you're more concerned with who your artists are for the multiple covers than with the story for the next issue, that's when I think it's "Danger, Will Robinson!" Personally speaking, though, I like the art on the cover to reflect that of the interior.

PC: Crossovers in comics: bad or neat?

CM: I think the first publisher who had the idea to crossover characters from their books with each other was a genius.
1) It unifies a line of comics into a single universe. How great is it to know that Daredevil lives in the same city as Spider-Man!
2) I think folks like to see the characters they love interact with other characters they love, or maybe ones that they grow to love after being introduced to a new character. You might love Superman comics, but once he teamed up with Batman, you got turned onto Batman.
3) It increases the potential for new stories, giving characters that used to only play in their sandbox another sandbox to play in.
4) I think we still long for epic storytelling. the Greek myths of old, stories of the gods doing battle, isn't much different from Civil War or Kingdom Come, is it? There's just an inherent sense of majesty seeing a group of powerful characters assembled on the page. Superheroes or no.

PC: What's the first comic you can clearly remember reading? Also, who’re your artistic influences?

CM: The first comics I remember reading were my dad's old Conan magazines. He used to read them to us, acting out all the parts, and doing the sound effects.

PC: Wow, what a great dad.

CM: he comes to shows sometimes. It's pretty awesome

PC: Big on comics, is dad?

CM: Oh, yeah. He was, and still is, a big Marvel zombie. The westerns, Conan, Thor, Black Panther, Power Man, Spider Man and Capt. America. I still have the poster he drew of Spidey, Cap and Thor… which ties into the artistic influences question…

PC: Indeed.

CM: My dad was the first major influence, because my brother and I used to watch him draw. It was magic.

PC: Dude, have I heard of your dad? Because if your dad is a famous comics artist, this is not something of which I am aware.

CM: Haha! No, no.

PC: Okay, just checking. One day I was talking to this artist, and came to understand after a bit that his dad is Neal Adams.

CM: Haha... wow!

PC: I thought maybe it was happening all over again... that slow reveal of "oh yeah by the way."

CM: No, it was something my dad did all his life, but growing up and turning it into a career wasn't really considered an option for him.

PC: Okay, well the story is sort of more amazing about your dad actually…

PC: New question: 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?

CM: Me and my pal Stuart Sayger are always looking over guys like Neal Adams and Bill Sienkiewicz talking about layouts. That kind of thing always comes up about Eisner, too.

PC: So, you going to STAPLE?

CM: I'm booked for Wondercon the same weekend of STAPLE! I’m bummed. I was proud to be there for the first show—history in the making. Chris Nicholas and the STAPLE! Crew have really started a great thing—for indy comics, and also for Austin. They needed a comics show to show off their amazing local talent.

PC: New question: 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...

CM: Some of my favorite comics are all-ages reads. I like Bone. I like Asterix. I'm working on getting around to working on an all-ages title again one of these days. I did a book called Monkey in a Wagon Vs. Lemur on a Big Wheel that I was really proud of being able to hand to kids. My more recent projects haven't been that kid-friendly, and while it's nice to be working, I still want to give back to kids that same feeling I had growing up. But... I think back to my childhood and all the books I was into were way more adult. I kind of had to grow into them, and I think that's cool, too. I don't necessarily think we have to "kiddie up" to get kids reading. Most 10 year-olds want to play Grand Theft Auto. When you’re a kid you want to get into all these grown-up things; when you’re grown up, you want to be a kid again.

PC: Yes. You big on the upcoming Monster Society of Evil?

CM: Yes, I'm psyched for Monster Society of Evil! I just saw an interview that went up and the pages look killer. Crocodile men rule.

PC: Let me toss in a final bonus question that came up between me and my friend Kurt when Grant Morrison got onto New X-Men… where do you fall in this dilemma: “Superheroes are cool in cool fashions that humans might wear, like DC's Starman (1990s)” or is it more “Give me colorful costumes, or give me death!”

CM: I work in both, but I will say this: I think cool-looking superheroes are ones that have more uniform or clothing-styled outfits. When I draw the colorful stuff, it's usually with a touch of irony, like when I draw Sidekick. There is something iconic about the standard superhero togs, but my adult sensibilities are look for something a little closer to street gear. I think the best superhero identity is just boring street clothes and a mask. A mask can go right in your pocket when you're done fighting crime, and then you can just blend into the crowd. "Yeah, I saw him! He was wearing jeans and a tshirt!" Who's gonna find you?

PC: Okay that's cool... anything else you wanna toss in?

CM: Sure; the webcomic I'm working on, Super Frat, is updated weekly on www.silentdevil.com, I've got sketch cards appearing in the Hellboy: Sword of Storms trading card set from Inkworks. And Dracula Vs. King Arthur is going to trade, coming out very soon. I also did a cover variant for the upcoming Hack/Slash Vs. Chucky book from Devil’s Due. And I’m going to be doing a slew of conventions this year.















































































































































































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