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¦ Small Press
¦ Bryan Coyle Jr.
This
is the first in a series of interviews that will be the beginning
of the much promised 2000AD Review Small Press section. Yes, we
know it's a very tenuous link with 2000AD - but the small press
scene can both influence and be influenced by 2000AD and its creators
- with many small press creators taking 2000AD as the next step.
There's
a wealth af talent out there that deserves far more exposure,
so Ed Berridge is on hand over the next couple
of weeks to introduce us to some of the names you should be watching....
Bryan
Coyle Jr. had been mucking about drawing giant robots for no good
reason over a lengthy period before first seeing his work published
in his own creation, Pony School. Since then,
he has worked on a number of Small Press titles, including the
regular Binmen of the Apocalypse strip in The
End is Nigh, Lost Property, FutureQuake,
MangaQuake, Loups-Garou and Dr. Who spin-off
The Forge – Project Longinus.
How
did you first become aware of the 'Small Press' or 'Indie' scene?
When
I realised that the comic I'd just run off in my bedroom was technically
a part of the 'small press' scene. I was vaguely aware that there
were small press comics out there, and even knew the names of
some from the occasional reference given on the 2000AD forum,
like FutureQuake and Solar Wind. But they always had the smack
of professionalism and effort to them that I couldn't see myself
replicating in any capacity that would result in something that
someone would willingly pay money for.
I
knew people put the books together, but I never realised there
was quite so little to it. That's not to demean the effort that's
put into the small press scene by genuine enthusiasts, it's just
that there really is this idea that comics are shiny, professionally-produced
things of beauty, written and drawn to within an inch of abstraction,
when if you step back a minute and look at the highest quality
books on the market, a great majority are really, really badly
written or drawn - production-line shite with no enthusiasm or
heart. You'd think writing Batman or Superman would be the gold
standard for a writer; that if you got that far in the industry,
you'd write your heart out, put everything into it. Instead -
well, words fail me in describing some of the shite that's out
there. That's where the small press scene comes in. An idea, a
willing artist, and you've got a comic.
It was a bit of a minor revelation that it could really be as
easy as running the end result off on a normal A4 printer and
selling it. People are being seriously conned by not knowing it's
that simple.
How
did you land upon the idea of Pony School Assassin (as it was
then)?
It
was a running joke. There was a discussion about girl's comics
on the 2000AD forum, then eventually, the usual joke "my
girlie comic's got this, that, an' the other - it's gonna be great!"
Ed seemed to be encouraging the idea of teen lesbianism, and I'm
just too easy a mark to let it go. Eventually someone asked when
this was going to see the light of day, at which point, I thought
the next logical step in keeping the joke going was to do a spoof
cover or page. A few character sketches later, followed by an
email to Ed asking if he'd put some words in there, and it started
getting away from me.
I didn't have any intention of printing out an actual comic book
until I started thinking about how I'd actually go about doing
it. It seemed frighteningly easy to do - just print the pages
onto an A4 sheet of paper and fold it over - you'd have an a5
comic book. My first instinct when I realised it was going to
be a proper comic was to put it up on the web for a laugh, but
printing seemed a great idea the more I thought about it.
There
seems to be both western and eastern overtones within the book:
would you say that both Manga and European spy/adventure fiction
were influences?
I'd
say they perhaps more readily accept the bizarre as the background
to a story in the east, but back in the 1980's, British comics
chewed up and spat out great ideas, situations and characters
like there was no tomorrow. And I don't just mean 2000AD –
Eagle had some truly barmy stuff, like shape-shifting aliens coming
to Earth to take part in extreme BMX competitions, or kids being
forced to be cops while their parents were off fighting a war
on the moon with all the other adults. Just having an idea and
running with it until the editor told them to stop, that's what
the writers did and that's what comics should be about, not maintaining
some franchise in indefinite stasis like the Americans seem to
do.
Even
the likes of Roy of the Rovers had that mad strip about the inventor
who creates a robot to play football in the premiership. These
stories could be as daft and as dark as you imagine, usually at
the same time, and I'd like to think that that's what inspires
me more than anything else.
Do
you ever find that producing your own comics can be something
of a thankless task?
Only in that you'll never make any money doing
it, but that was a given right from the start. I expected to pour
money down the drain producing Pony School, but it hasn't actually
cost that much. There's maybe a moment when you think "Ah,
I can't be bothered doing this right now", but you'll get
that when you do anything. By far, getting something solid in
my hands that I can say is mine, and looks a bit like a comic
does, is worth the hassle. Creative endeavors are always worth
the hassle, even if the end result doesn't measure up, at least
you have something to show for it.
Do
you notice a difference between working on your own comics and
drawing stories for other people? Do you prefer one over the other?
I like the idea of working from someone else’s
script. Doing your own, there's always going to be the impulse
to keep changing it and changing it until you get it right, only
you never will - with other people's scripts, your working day
is set in stone. You draw what they tell you - it's their script,
not yours. It doesn't matter if it's got twenty-five panels per
page and topless nuns wanking off our lord Jesus for a finale
(although that one was quite fun to draw) - you draw it and you
shut up.
What
do you enjoy most about producing your own comics?
The women. I'm a fanny magnet these days - chicks
can't resist a creative type, especially a penniless one.
Would
you ever like to both write and draw your own comic book?
Yes. It's about a girl with large breasts and
her giant robot bunny who fights giant ape robots from the future.
There might be lesbianism in there, I don't know yet.
How
did you go about selling your comic, and how do you get people
to notice it?
Selling? I have no idea. Ed's been the one pressing
flesh at all the conventions. My penniless ass has yet to make
the proper effort to get out there and mop up the abuse for producing
such an atrocity, so he's the one taking the flak so far. We've
had a few ads in Comics International, that have so far managed
to shift about four copies, and an issue actually works out cheaper
than real toilet paper, so that's been a great selling point at
some of the conventions, I gather.
Do
you see the Small Press as a stepping stone to a full-time career,
or is this just a passionate hobby?
Honestly, I have no idea. I can't see anything
coming of it, but being a filthy unemployed scrounger, having
stuff to do during the day helps fill my time. I am passionate
about it, though. It's great that there are people who look at
the drivel on the shelves and think (rightly) that they can do
better. And I'd rather spend my (admittedly limited) cash on their
efforts than the latest issue of Superman.
How
do you see the comics scene in general today, both nationally
and internationally?
In
the west, it's in the crapper. In the rest of the world, it's
quite healthy. Smart people have already figured out why - in
the west, it's a commodity, and approached as one, while elsewhere,
comics are still seen as valid storytelling. I suppose it's because
of all the censorship that crippled the medium in the 1950-1960s
- Seduction of the Innocent and all that - that it had to resort
to neutering itself to survive, and then just got in the habit
of staying in the hole the industry had dug.
TV at least had the reality TV boom to shock a great many American
producers into upping their game, and it would be nice to think
that the same thing could happen with comics - that there would
be a backlash against the homogenised mainstream rubbish and small
press books would be on sale in supermarkets, but it's unlikely
at this point.
How
do you see the Small Press scene today?
I only started about seven months ago, so I'm
not sure. There's definitely a lot more support for it than I
first assumed, though. Stuff gets reviewed in Comics International,
and even in SFX now Buffy's finished and the writers are stuck
for things to write about. But British comics are virtually nonexistent
at the moment, so I'd be surprised if the small press scene didn't
keep growing. There are far too many talented people out there
– 2000AD, Judge Dredd the Megazine, and Spectacular Spider-Man
(pretty much the entirety of the British comics market today)
just aren't enough to contain them.
What's
next for you, both in terms of work and what you would like to
do (and don't you think it's time to quit drawing horsies and
sell out properly)?
Small press stuff, mainly. And I thought I already
did sell out - Pony School is the next Harry Potter. The setup
is pure Hollywood. Actually, someone pointed out that there already
was another English teenage spy with the name Rider in a series
of famous novels, and I got a bit worried - until I read the plot
synopsis for one of the books, in which the main character is
a double for a foreign prince. I stopped worrying about similarities
after that. The day a script for Pony School arrives in which
Penny Ryder turns out to be a double for a foreign princess is
the day I track Ed down and shoot him in the face.
Pony
School is available for £2 + 50p p&p from PonySchool@gmail.com
The Action Stations Winter Special is available to buy from 1st
October.
For more information on The Forge – Project Longinus, go
to www.graveyardshift.co.uk.
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