Wow. In just a very few short weeks, our new mobile comic book player will be live - allowing users to read some of their favorite comic books on their phones! The app is GoComics Books.
In this time I have gotten to meet and work with some really cool people, people that have produced a lot of work I admire. Two weeks ago “Five Fists of Science” came out from Image Comics, Matt Fraction, and Steven Sanders.
“Five Fists” will be one of the first titles in our GoComics Books launch. I had a chance to chat with Steven about “Five Fists” and his upcoming work.
GoComics: 5FoS is your first full scale graphic novel, how did you come into comics?
Sanders: Back in high school, I had ideas of making comics for a living, but along the way I ended up focusing on painting sci-fi/fantasy covers and doing concept design. While I was muddling along doing that, my friend Jed at MK12 mentioned me to Matt Fraction, and we met for coffee, and things went on from there. Matt and his wife Kelly Sue have been indispensible for my entering into and networking within the comics world. I swear those two know just about everyone, and I wouldn't have made anywhere near the progress I've made so far without their assistance.
GoComics: Could you talk about your process a bit on 5FoS? How did you and Matt come up with the book?
Sanders: Matt had been doing some research on a quote he had turned up, and had found out that Twain and Tesla had been good friends, and had been involved in a variety of schemes that provided a skeleton plot for Matt to flesh out. He gave me a ring and told me about the concept, and it took off from there.
Process-wise, Matt would stay a few pages ahead of me, and we ended up with feedback loop of grade school "Lets make comics!" excitement going on. I'd draw something he'd get thrilled about, and he'd write something I'd get thrilled about. Rinse, lather, repeat. Matt writes pages that I would read through, and have to pause for a bit and just grin from ear to ear at the thought of how much fun I was going to have drawing this thing. He fleshed out the characters so well that I was very sad when I reached the final page and realized I wouldn't be spending any more time with these wonderful people. I literally teared up.
As far as the specifics of the art process goes, I'd start out with a thumbnail on some scratch paper, draw the page out in blue pencil on the comic board, then go over that in pencil. I'd then scan the pages into Photoshop, drop the blues out, and push the dark levels up on the pencils. I then painted the colors in from that point.
GoComics: You colored yourself over your own pencils here, is this your preferred method of working?
Sanders: If I have the time for it, yeah. It lets me craft my pencils in anticipation of specific coloring effects, and I don't have to worry about someone else being able to figure out what I was trying to go for.
GoComics: You worked with GoComics on translating 5FoS to mobile, could you talk a bit about that process and how you feel about the final product?
Sanders: It was challenging, but fun at the same time. Saying this is probably going to make Will Eisner turn up the sod around his grave marker, but I tend to view comics in a cinematic way, like freeze frames of a movie, and favor wide shots instead of narrow ones. Having to convert my ten zillion ultra-wide panels to the nearly square cellphone format was interesting, but I'm pleased with the way things turned out. The player system, with its pan/scan functions, helps out a lot, and when I was able to see the final pages displayed on a cell phone, I was pleased as punch at how well it turned out.
If I could ramble about this subject for a moment.. I'm really excited about comics on cell phones, because I've been saying for years that comics have been moving further and further away from their roots, of being a cheap, and ultimately disposable, form of entertainment. While the 3-5 dollar comics being sold today are well made and beautiful, the ratio of money that you pay for the entertainment you recieve isn't very good. Digital formats look like the way to get back to having more bang for the buck, and having it on a cell phone gives you the portability that was lacking before. Long story short, I hope this concept really takes off, because I think it's pretty brilliant.
GoComics: Any chance of any kind of a follow up or any other project with you and Fraction?
Sanders: I don't think that there is any follow up to Five Fists planned. There's been a few things that Matt and I have been talking about, but it's too early to know if any of that stuff is going to see the light of day. It just depends on a lot of factors. I think that we both enjoy working with each other enough that it's just a matter of time, though.
GoComics: What's up next for you? As a relative newcomer to the industry, what are you hoping to work on over the next few years?
Sanders: I'm currently working on pitching a Sci-Fi miniseries with Sean Demory, called Celestial. It's sort of Junkyard Wars for a space faring civilization. There's a subliminal alien transmission being passed around on talk radio, that gives people the knowledge and drive to produce spacecraft, antigrav units, whathaveyou. Lots of Heinleinesque nuts and bolts, bubblegum and bailing wire spacecraft, and it follows several groups of people as they make their way into space for the first time. The Space Race The Way It Should Have Been. Should be fun.
I have some offers from other creators, and I might end up doing that as well. Just depends on free time, mostly. I'd like to do some work for Marvel and/or DC soon, too, and I'm whipping up some portfolios to that effect.
So, we'll see how it goes. Really, as long as I can draw and get paid for it, I'm happy.
Thanks so much Steve!
Look for more news on GoComics Books coming this week.
