An Interview With Joseph Perez & Travis Rector of Buddies Cartoon (Denver Comic Con 2015)

Written by Neil Greenaway

At Denver Comic Con 2015 I had the chance to sit down and talk with Joseph Perez & Travis Rector of the Buddies Cartoon about their take on publishing indie comics and cartoons. This interview originally ran on Bleeding Cool on 05/28/2015, and you can read their version of it here.

Travis Rector & Joseph Perez of Buddies Cartoon.

Neil Greenaway: Why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and Buddies?

Joseph Perez: I am Joseph Perez, and I am the creator of Buddies Cartoon. It’s an animated series and comic books that take place after the animated series.

NG: How did you get into indie comics?

JP: Basically, just by starting out and doing it. That was really it. I mean, I had a story that I felt that I needed to tell. And I wanted to tell. And just went off from there. I wasn’t really prepared to do it, but I just sort of went for it anyway. That was basically how it started.

NG: Well, leading off from that, why is this a story that needed to be told?

JP: I think that everyone has their own personal reasons for it. I think that when you have a story that you are fond of, and that you relate with a lot, that you kind of want to put it out there for people to see. And see what they think about it. I think that’s how a lot of stories get told, in general. At least in my personal opinion.

Buddies comics from Joseph Perez.

NG: Do you feel that as a comic creator, you have gained (or lost) any advantage by being located in Denver?

JP: Specifically with Buddies Cartoon, it’s more of a niche market, I suppose. Instead of doing it somewhere else. In Denver, in Colorado in general, it’s more accepted. So I’d say it’s beneficial to be here than other places, at the moment.

NG: Talking about the marijuana aspect of it, as legalization spreads, because it’s passing all over the nation, do you anticipate any growth in the book or cartoon because of that?

JP: I would definitely think so. I’m actually going to a few other different comic cons this year which will be in Chicago, Nashville, Reno & Austin this year. So I’ll be going out there. I know it’s not as accepted there, but I’ll just be ahead of the curve on that one.

NG: Do you feel that attending Denver Comic Con increases exposure for your book?

JP: Definitely. I’ve been doing this for three years now. And I think that last year we had 70,000 people come through. Even if only 10% choose to stop and see my comic, that’s 7,000 people who have seen my comic that would not have if I wasn’t here. It definitely brings the exposure up. And you hand out a lot of stuff. People can come up and actually see it, physically, instead of just online.

Buddies comics from Joseph Perez.

NG: What benefits do you find in indie publishing vs. work for larger companies?

JP: I don’t know exactly how, if I was with Marvel or some other large company, how the costs get split up. But I would imagine that doing it the indie way, just going to your local printer, is going to be cheaper than asking a larger company to publish your work. It’s more work, but you are going to get a bigger percentage of the profits. More profitable, but it is a lot more work.

NG: And what are you working on currently?

JP: I have finished the first season of the animated series, and I have it on DVD. And we now have three comics that all come after the first season. One of which was supposed to be the second season, but I decided to make it into a comic book. Because I thought it would relate better. There is stuff that I can do in a comic book that I still can’t animate that well. Yet. We have two more comics coming, those should be around 40 to 60 pages each. And we’re starting season 2.

NG: So the animated series is coming back for a season 2?

JP: It is. We’ll have full episodes and everything.

Buddies Cartoon Season 1 DVD cover.

NG: And speaking of the animated series, let’s switch the interview to the other side of the table, Travis.

Travis Rector: My name is Travis Rector, I work for Buddies Cartoon, and I am the voice of The Man, the Locos Gringos, and Ozzie the supervisor.

NG: How did you get involved with Buddies Cartoon?

TR: I got involved because Joseph is my step-son. He decided that he wanted to do this. He came to me and said “Hey, do you think that you could do this voice?”

And I said “Sure, let’s give it a run”. So he gave me an opportunity, and quite honestly, I ran with it. And I love it. It’s just a lot of fun.

NG: Do you guys get a lot of support from family while working on this project?

TR: Yes! A tremendous amount of support from family. As a matter of fact, I’m one of Joseph’s biggest fans. And his mom was here today and his sisters. Everyone is very supportive. And I think it takes that. If you don’t have that kind of foundation, it’s easy to lose your way pretty quick. Because when you are doing something that’s on your own, as opposed to something that everyone knows about, it’s really hard to hang your hat on something like that. But we have a really grounded foundation. So, when things are not going the greatest, we have to pick each other up. It’s really great. And the support has just been tremendous.

Travis Rector & Joseph Perez of Buddies Cartoon.

You can find Buddies Cartoon on Facebook, YouTube or by going to www.BuddiesCartoon.com.

An Interview With Jeff Piña of Sideways 8 Studios (Denver Comic Con 2015)

Written by Neil Greenaway

At Denver Comic Con 2015 I had the chance to sit down and talk with Jeff Pina of Sideways 8 Studios about his take on publishing indie comics. This interview originally ran on Bleeding Cool on 05/27/2015, and you can read their version of it here.

Jeff Piña of Sideways 8 Studios.

Neil Greenaway: What are you here promoting at Denver Comic Con?

Jeff Piña: Well, my name is Jeff Pina, and I’m doing a couple books. Dr. Oblivion’s Guide to Teenage Dating, another is Bosco & Fleet: Detectives Of The Occult Sciences. I also do Super Pawn and Imaginatives.

NG: Is this your first time attending Denver Comic Con?

JP: Yes it is, first time in Denver. Actually, second time ever in my life. But this is my first time vending here in Denver.

Books from Sideways 8 Studios.

NG: What are your impressions of the convention so far?

JP: I like it. It’s a good crowd, it’s a good vibe. A lot of people are checking things out. It’s nice, I like it. And it’s a lot bigger than I was expecting, which is cool.

NG: What is the best part of coming up to Denver for an event like this?

JP: Well, I have really good traveling buddies. I came up here with Val Hochberg, her husband Scott, Sam Sawyer. So it was blast coming up here with them, just making that drive. Because I cannot imagine making that drive by myself. Even just about eight hours in, you start getting a little space madness setting in.

Prints from Jeff Piña.

NG: As a chibi artist, where do you draw your inspiration from?

JP: Honestly, a lot of it is Peanuts, and Garfield influenced more so than by the anime. I also like the squishy aspect of things, I like things to look huggable and be poofy. But Peanuts was probably the strongest influence.

Cats Are Bad At by Jeff Piña.

NG: What projects are you currently working on?

JP: I am working on the next Bosco & Fleet issue. It’s a two-parter. It is going to be a War Of The Worlds homage mashed up with a couple of other H.G. Wells things. I just released Dr. Oblivion’s Guide To Teenage Dating in graphic novel for the first time in full color with Shannon O’Connor doing the colors on that for me. And I just released the 10/20 year anniversary crossover, Dr. Oblivion’s Guide To The Imaginatives, where they both cross over. Dr. Oblivion will be 10 years old in November, and Imaginatives I’ve been drawing for 20 years. It’s been published for almost ten years now. And I always intended them to be crossed over. In fact if you go back and read the very first Dr. Oblivion that I did ten years ago, I put the characters in on the second page. Just as part of the crowd, and nobody noticed. So I’ve got some of those panels in the current crossover I just did.

You can find Jeff’s work at www.sideways8studios.com.

Jeff Piña at Denver Comic Con 2015.

An Interview With Kevin Gentilcore of CreepHouse Comics (Denver Comic Con 2015)

Written by Neil Greenaway

At Denver Comic Con 2015 I had the chance to sit down and talk with Kevin Gentilcore of CreepHouse Comics about his take on publishing indie comics. This interview originally ran on Bleeding Cool on 05/26/2015, and you can read their version of it here.

Kevin Gentilcore of CreepHouse Comics.

Neil Greenaway: So, what is the name of your company?

Kevin Gentilcore: Well, I am Kevin Gentilcore, one half of CreepHouse Comics. The other half, William Tooker, is not here this year. He lives in Ohio.

NG: How did you get into creating indie comics?

KG: I went to college here, at the Art Institute Of Animation. I thought that was a worthwhile pursuit. I just wanted to do art, and I didn’t know what that meant really, so animation seemed like the way to go at the time. It was kind of during the transition to 3D that was really big at the time. But I didn’t like 3D. So I kind of focused on 2D, and then kind of got back into my love of comics while at collage. I grew up drawing comics, with my friends at school and stuff. But we went to high school and kind of forgot because, you know, girls & punk rock. Stuff like that. As I started getting back into it in collage, I sort of decided I should start making my own comics. But I didn’t know what that meant really. Then after graduation, I ran into Will. We were “working” with some local people. We shared similar ideas. We liked old ’70s Hammer Horror Films and Gross Monster Movies. He had already written a bunch of short stories and novels. And we had the idea that we should translate these into comics. They’re really visual, and really interesting. There was a neat, poetic rhyme to some of his stories. So we just came up with that together.

And he’s like “We probably need a name. How about CreepHouse?”

And I said “All right, done.”

That was six years ago, and that’s how we’ve been doing it since.

Kevin Gentilcore of CreepHouse Comics.

NG: Do you have any inspirations in indie comics? Or are there other creators that you draw from?

KG: I really like everyone who has kind of struck out on their own, and kind of looked away from being a part of the Big Two (or Three, I guess, although I really like Image – I consider them a third of the Big Three). My original inspiration to get into web comics – which is where we started – was the Penny Arcade guys. They were really influential. I know that we’re separate, almost opposite ends of the spectrum. But I really enjoyed what they were doing. They’re kind of touch-and-go now, but the idea that they would take something that they love so much and turn it into this franchise, this huge empire was really inspiring to me.

Another big influence is Mike Mignola, I consider him indie. Even though he makes Hellboy. But that was an indie comic. I think all indie comic creators kind of want to be Mike Mignola. You know? Complete control over your own stuff and not having to compromise.

CreepHouse Comics.

NG: Do you feel that as a comic creator, you have gained (or lost) any advantage by being located in Denver?

KG: I have no idea. I wouldn’t know. I’m from Denver.

NG: Do you have a network of other creators that you work with in Denver? Do you find like minds?

KG: I am finding like minds here. It seems that I’m meeting new artists every year at DCC. These guys (points at the table to the right) have been here before, but I had never met them. And this guy (points to the left) is not a comic creator, but is local to Denver and makes great horror stuff. And I do collaborate. Me and Robert Elrod have been collaborating with our friend Patrick Hoover on a metal-themed comic, so we are all of a similar mind frame there. Horror stuff is mostly me and Robert, Dan Crosier, Stan Yan. But I think there’s a lot of people here who are trying to do their own thing as well.2-1

The Haunter #2 from CreepHouse Comics.

NG: Do you think that attending Denver Comic Con boosts your exposure for CreepHouse Comics?

KG: I think it does. Whether or not people retain it is another thing. I have repeat customers now, so that’s good. I think that probably is a good thing.

NG: What benefits do you see in indie publishing Vs. work for the bigger companies?

KG: I guess that the big one, on top of the others, is that you own it. You’re not going to cheat you out of it. I know that there is something going around with DC right now about their contracts with creators. So, ownership, complete control, you work at your own pace. The downside is obviously promotion and advertising, I mean, look around. There’s like 400 artists here.

Kevin Gentilcore of CreepHouse Comics.

NG: Would you like to talk about your current project a little bit?

KG: Currently, the new book is The Haunter #2. I had the first issue premiere last year at DCC’14. It took me a little while, but the second issue is premiering this weekend. It’s a super-hero horror themed comic. It takes place in this town called Darkport which is full of monsters and zombies and ghosts who live like average folks. And he is their super-hero. We are also doing Krush McNulty, which is me & Will’s homage to cheesy ’50s-’60s pulp sci-fi. Right now it’s only coming out digitally, through Comixology. But we are thinking about collecting it once the next issue is done. And we just started talking about a new, long-form graphic novel that is kind of in the works right now, so that should be something fun to work on. Anyone who is interested can find us at www.CreepHouseComics.com, or through our Comixology store.

Prints and original art from Kevin Gentilcore.

An Interview With Jesse Dubin of 8th Wonder Press (Denver Comic Con 2015)

Written by Neil Greenaway

At Denver Comic Con 2015 I had the chance to sit down and talk with Jesse Dubin of 8th Wonder Press about his take on publishing indie comics. This interview originally ran on Bleeding Cool on 05/26/2015, and you can read their version of it here.

Jesse Dubin of 8th Wonder Press.

Neil Greenaway: First off, what is the name of your book?

Jesse Dubin: Uncanny Adventures is our anthology series. It started three years ago. The latest edition is Uncanny Adventures: Duo, which is a three part mini-series made up entirely of two page comic stories.

NG: As a local indie publisher, do you see any boost in exposure from attending Denver Comic Con?

JD: Absolutely. A lot of folks don’t understand, or don’t know that there is a large comic environment in their own community. So you don’t have to go to San Diego or Wizard World in order to have a meaningful experience involving comic creators.

Jesse Dubin with 8th Wonder Press books.

NG: How did you get into publishing indie comics?

JD: I kind of got tired of not seeing the comics that I wanted in the world. As everything got darker and more grim, I kind of wanted to see the other side. There are some really inspirational books out there like Atomic Robo and the kind of fun stuff like that, that we weren’t seeing at the time. So I thought, well I wonder if I could find people doing those kind of stories that I’m interested in and helping get them out there. And sure enough, there are those people. So it’s really rewarding. Interestingly enough, Marvel, DC, and other big companies have now started going lighter, so I know that I was not the only one.

8th Wonder Press Draw Your Own Comics Strip Paper.

NG: Is there a decent network of comic creators to work with in Denver?

JD: Absolutely! There are a ton of local folks. We’re fortunate to work with Dan Conner and Mr. V. I would say that 45-50% of our total books are local to the Denver area.

Uncanny Adventures: Duo #1 from 8th Wonder Press.

NG: Do you feel that as a publisher, you have gained (or lost) any advantage by being located in Denver?

JD: In terms of finding creators and working with people, we’ve had a huge advantage. There are very good communities of creators and artists here to work with, and everyone is very welcoming.

Denver Comic Con can be a bit of an island in terms of getting out to present your books to other people, so we’ve done Salt Lake, Kansas City and Planet Comic Con. The East Coast has another big show every weekend. So it is easier to make the circuit and meet connections out there. But in terms of making quality comics and finding content and creators, Denver is great.

8th Wonder Press books.

NG: In your eyes, is there a benefit to working in indie books as opposed to work for the Big Two?

JD: Yes. When you are an indie creator, you own 100% of what you make, and that’s a BIG deal. Our books, even though we print artists work, we do not own anything. All we are acquiring is the stories to print, and get out there, but they own every piece of the work they produce for us. Which I think is the big draw. A lot of the smaller presses offer that sort of deal. And truthfully, the Big Two, they want to see published indie work before you can get a job working on Batman. So it is also sort of how folks come up the ranks these days.

NG: Any final thoughts for the day?

JD: Just that we are always looking for talented creators that are looking for ways to get their work out there. Folks who maybe haven’t been printed before, and they are just looking for that opportunity. Everyone is invited. So hit us up at www.8thWonderPress.com or on Facebook or Twitter at 8th Wonder Press. We love meeting people, and look forward to talking to them.