Comic Widows Chat
"CHAT WITH TABLOIA WRITER/ARTIST CHRIS WISNIA"
Excerpted from the 10-22-2004 Chat with Chris Wisnia in The Writers Chatroom.
GLENN: Thank you, everyone, for coming to tonight's Comic Widows Chat. My name is Glenn Walker and I'll be the Chat Moderator tonight. A couple quick thank-yous to Audrey Shaffer, the hostess of the Writers Chatroom and, of course, to our guest tonight, Chris Wisnia.
Our guest tonight is writer, artist and creator of "Tabloia Weekly Magazine," Chris Wisnia.
CHRIS WISNIA: Thanks for popping in, all.
GLENN: Chris Wisnia is a thirty-two year-old resident of sunny Davis, California, where he teaches private guitar lessons by day and writes and draws comics in his spare time. His self-published book, "Tabloia Weekly Magazine," is an anthology of horror, film noir, satire, and social commentary.
The book's main story, "The Lump," surrounds the discovery of severed body parts on the freeway. The reader will meet tattoo artists, coroners, private investigators, drug dealers, a hand-transplant specialist, and homicide detectives as they attempt to unravel the mystery.
The book also features "Dr. DeBunko, Debunker of the Supernatural." Dr. Michael Shermer, publisher of "Skeptic Magazine," director of the Skeptics Society, and author of "Why People Believe Weird Things" said Dr. DeBunko is "...the coolest, hippest thing to hit skepticism since Lisa Simpson [read] Jr. Skeptic magazine (when Homer had his alien abduction experience)."
The other features are the Mickey Spillane-inspired Dick Hammer: Conservative Republican Private Investigator, and "Doris Danger Seeks...Where Giant Monsters Creep and Stomp," a retro King Kong-style giant monster story inked by Dick Ayers. Mr. Ayers is a living legend in the comics industry whose work includes classic issues of the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Captain America, The Avengers, and more.
Each issue contains pin-ups by some of the biggest names in the comics industry, including Mike Allred, Sam Kieth, Gene Colan, Los Bros Hernandez, Russ Heath, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ryan Sook, Thomas Yeates, Irwin Hasen, Steve Rude, John Severin, Ramona Fradon, Tony Millionaire, and more.
CHRIS WISNIA: Hey! This is the press release from the invite!
GLENN: :) Chris will also be contributing his artwork to Sam Kieth's Ojo (Oni Press), beginning with issue #2. He and Tabloia have interviews and reviews posted at the following sites: http://www.jazmaonline.com/interviews/wisnia.asp
http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/bakersdozen/back20040901.shtml
http://www.jazmaonline.com/interviews/wisnia02.asp
http://www.geocities.com/silva_shado/comicbookreview38.htm
And this one, by some guy named Glenn Walker.
CHRIS WISNIA: Yay Glenn!
GLENN: Welcome to an informative and entertaining (and exploitive) evening and chat with writer and artist, Chris Wisnia.
GLENN: Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Wisnia! *applause*
CHRIS WISNIA: Thanks! Too much applause!
GLENN: Okay, then. Why comics? Why horror comics?
CHRIS WISNIA: I love comics. I love horror. They're the stories that interest me, that I have the most fun hearing and seeing. I made the book with myself in mind.
GLENN: Tell us about Tabloia.
CHRIS WISNIA: I think you covered it all with that intro. The idea is that it's the kind of stories you'd read in a tabloid, but in comic book form. Mad scientists, private detectives, monstersŠ
GLENN: I mean personal thoughts not covered in the press. Its meaning, for instance.
CHRIS WISNIA: Whew, big question... I think I chose the word "tabloia" because I'm intrigued by people's beliefs in things... and tabloids are always stories that you don't really believe, but that you're supposed to... And I think investigating this boundary between beliefs (often very strong beliefs) and reality can vary considerably. So the stories in the comic are often playing with perspectives, beliefs, etc.
GLENN: How much of each issue of Tabloia Weekly Magazine is actually true?
CHRIS WISNIA: A lot of it is fake. A lot of it is based on incidents I've read about people's beliefs.
For example, in the Dr. DeBunko stories, people have historically believed in werewolves, witches, UFOs, and these kinds of things...
So it's true in that people have done these types of things...
On the other hand, some things are REALLY true, like my depiction of a freeway accident in the Lump, which is something that I witnessed. But I just take "true" things and put them in a fictional context. Sometimes I think that makes them truer, if you know what I mean.
GLENN: You even reprinted a real article regarding it in the second issue, right?
CHRIS WISNIA: Right. And another coming up in the third. That's the article I read the next day, after wondering what had happened at the freeway.
GLENN: Cool. I just want to say that I really enjoy the book. It's the first comic in years that I've actually bought extra copies to give to friends. Tabloia is a great read. and you must read it all, from the back cover parental warning to even the indica. It's all great. :)
CHRIS WISNIA: Thanks so much, Glenn, you've been real supportive, and that means a lot. I wanted to write a comic that I would enjoy reading, and I'm so picky, I really did my best to put my all into it.
GLENN: Always good to follow your dream, and be successful at it.
CHRIS WISNIA: Comics aren't really done the way I chose to do this one.
DEBI: Now that makes me want to find it and read it.
CHRIS WISNIA: I'm trying something new, so we'll see if anyone else enjoys the format.
GLENN: You can order them through the website, right, Chris?
DEBI: Thanks.
CHRIS WISNIA: I'm not supposed to sell them myself. I have an exclusive distributing contract. At my site is a store who sells them.
GLENN: It's A-1 Comics, correct?
CHRIS WISNIA: Right. Also, your local comics shop should be able to order them, and I've seen places you can get them online.
GLENN: And also in Previews. Okay, enough sales talk :)
CHRIS WISNIA: Right. Go to my website and Let me know if you can't find it.
DEBI: I'm definitely going to look.
GLENN: You started writing before drawing. Do you have a preference, and why?
CHRIS WISNIA: I always write the stories first... I think of comics as stories foremost... so I try to make the art tell the story, the best I can. That means I need a story first. The art just helps get that particular story told.
GLENN: But you actually plotted, illustrated and dialogued Doris Danger Marvel-style, right? In honor of the old 50s and 60s Marvel monster stories?
CHRIS WISNIA: Yes, I looked at old Jack Kirby comics and referenced pretty much every drawing in those pages. It didn't hurt to have Kirby's inker Dick Ayers finish the pages for me.
GLENN: :) How did you hook up with Dick Ayers?
JERRY: Wow, Chris.
CHRIS WISNIA: A lot of people assume Dick made the pages look Kirbyesque, but my pencils had Kirby in them.
I tried to write them in the Marvel way... That means you just know what the pictures will be, but don't write the dialogue until the pages are drawn. I had trouble with this, and wound up falling back into my old habits... writing everything, then drawing around the words.
GLENN: So you're a writer at your core.
CHRIS WISNIA: I just think they function separately in my head... When I write I try to visualize what will need to be drawn... but maybe one of my weaknesses as a comics writer is that I'm not visual enough, and so a lot of my stories are just talking heads... Hopefully what the heads say is interesting enough to the reader.
GLENN: Back to Dick Ayers, how did you get him?
CHRIS WISNIA: I met him in San Diego at a comics convention. At that time I had done Dr. DeBunko and Dick Hammer stories, and showed them to him. I asked if he might like to do a pin-up, and he agreed and gave me his contact info. Some of my all-time favorite comics are the old giant monster stories he and Kirby did. So I got this insane idea to try and bring back that genre, and see if he would ink them. I wrote him, and he agreed, and he enjoyed it so much, we've done five so far, and he keeps saying to send him more.
GLENN: Wow, that easy. Sometimes all you gotta do is ask.
CHRIS WISNIA: It was just a fluke that he was at the convention. He hasn't been back since.
Also, I suppose I should mention that I paid him. I wanted to be treated like a professional, so I treated him like one. I think it's only fair for his time and efforts. And I've paid all the pin-up artists as well (except one who refused).
As for the all you gotta do is ask... It goes a long way. I've hunted down all my idols. At conventions, online...
GLENN: You've gotten some amazing artists so far. I was stunned by the Irwin Hasen in the second issue.
CHRIS WISNIA: I would say a little less than half of the artists I've asked have agreed... and I'm still working on a lot of them.
GLENN: Still, you've gotten some of the best.
CHRIS WISNIA: Before I did the monster stories... less of them agreed to do pin-ups... but so many of them also love the monster stories. I think that made it easier for them to join the fun... and as more and more join in, it's harder for the others to say no.
GLENN: What is it about those 1950s and 1960s giant monster stories that attracts you?
CHRIS WISNIA: I think they're a lot of fun. I enjoy movies and radio shows from that period too. Looking back now, the period seems kind of innocent and kitschy... and there's a charm to that. I like to give that charm a post-modern slant... to look at the complications of the present with a more simplistic eye.
GLENN: I hope it works for you, as I've said, Tabloia is different but fun - in a way most comics aren't anymore.
CHRIS WISNIA: Or to poke fun at the simple-ness, based on how things have changed.
GLENN: Speaking of that simpleness... Let us in on your thoughts regarding Doris Danger and continuity. The stories are out of order, right?
CHRIS WISNIA: Do you want to know the secret? It may become more evident as we go.
GLENN: Go for it :)
CHRIS WISNIA: There's no continuity planned. I'll just keep jumping around. What's interesting though... as the stories continue, I find certain characters keep popping up... so that allows for a sort of "faked" continuity.
I almost switched the order of #3 and 4, but I realized... that will ruin a running gag that continues into #4. Did you see the "Seinfeld" episode that went backwards in time? Or the movie Memento? You can tell stuff out of order, and still make sense of it as a story, right?
GLENN: You're just having fun in your own big sandbox, is what you're saying. :wink
CHRIS WISNIA: Right. I'll see what I can come up with...see how absurd I can get, and then just let that hang for awhile... and if I think of someplace to go with it, I will, and if not, I'll just jump into a different cliffhanger. However...
GLENN: Knowing you had no Doris Danger continuity, Me and my friends have been having a ball trying make the two stories so far mesh, like a game :grin
CHRIS WISNIA: It will mesh, in places you don't expect. I heard Matt Groening say he does the same thing with Simpsons characters... "Oh, remember that character. Well this could have happened." And I do have a sort of vague "overall picture."
GLENN: Now, everyone in Crude Bay, the staff of Tabloia and even the letter writers are all technically characters in a shared universe, right?
CHRIS WISNIA: It will mesh, in places you don't expect...
GLENN: Keeping us in suspense.
CHRIS WISNIA: Right. Damon the cover artist is real...I'm real...and Wayne the business manager is real...
GLENN: Yeah, tell us about Damon Thompson, the dazzling talent who graces the covers of the first and second issues. And, why not, Wayne too :)
CHRIS WISNIA: Damon is a friend from college. We went to art school together. He does graphic design for Hollywood. He's committed to the first six-issue run of the Lump. I just received a gorgeous Tabloia #4 from him. Wayne helps me make phone calls, keep the website up and running, and helps me get things ready for press, stuff like that (ENORMOUS help). I'm really lucky to have both these guys. They make the book much better.
GLENN: Good support is hard to find.
CHRIS WISNIA: I send Damon my back covers and pictures from inside, and tell him what I want and he just goes from there.
He came up with the black and red cover theme. He made the covers look like tabloids too. And he's designed ads for the book, that we post in comics publications.
GLENN: Excellent job, the covers leap out at you.
CHRIS WISNIA: You don't think they're too different from the work inside.
GLENN: Different's not a bad thing.
CHRIS WISNIA: I get fears people will see the covers and go, WOW, then open the book and go, "oh..."
GLENN: The tabloid theme prevails between product and package, I think.
CHRIS WISNIA: It's funny, because the stories aren't REALLY tabloid stories...
GLENN: And I also think the red single color fits the inside black and white.
CHRIS WISNIA: But I think people get the idea... You nailed it with the single color of the cover. That was exactly the idea.
JERRY: Chris, do you format your stories in a comic book format and how many story pages = comic book page?
CHRIS WISNIA: The book is a comic. It's thirty-two pages, plus inside front and back covers. I do two pages of text, three pin-ups by other artists, and the rest is a comic book. One page of text is fake letters to the editor... the other is vulgar "Sanitation tips" and "Fun sex science facts"... Jerry, It's basically a full comic. A normal comic is 24 pages of comic, and mine's about 30.
GLENN: The letters page is part of the whole concept - made up. I have to wonder however, when you get real letters - will you print them?
CHRIS WISNIA: I've only gotten a few, and some are good enough to print. I might just post them on the website, since I only have so much space in the book.
GEORGIANN: I've heard horror stories about distributors not paying the publisher is that true for you?
CHRIS WISNIA: Georgiann, my distributor has paid promptly for both issues...
Comics are different than regular books, because there's basically only one distributor... Diamond (my distributor) does Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse... EVERYONE! So they have to be VERY professional or they will have a lot of enemies. They had me sign a contract, stating they will pay 30 days from receiving the books, and so far so good.
GLENN: But now I've heard it's a real bitch to get distributed by Diamond, did you find that to be the case? Just to get in the door, I mean.
CHRIS WISNIA: I had to apply for the privilege of receiving their distribution services. I was told they accept only about a third of their applicants. I think having Dick Ayers, Sam Kieth, Mike Allred, Gene Colan, Los Bros Hernandez attached to my project made me a shoe-in.
GLENN: I'm sure they have to be selective.
CHRIS WISNIA: I don't know if they would have accepted me otherwise (although I like to hope). I'm actually worried about KEEPING distribution with them... because orders for #2 were pretty low... So keep giving those books to your friends, Glenn (Thanks)
GLENN: Hey, I'm trying.
CHRIS WISNIA: I'm actually wondering if going through a smaller distributor might be better for me, because then I'd be a big fish in a small pond, whereas at Diamond, I fear I might get lost behind all the Spider-, Bat-, and X-books.
Do you do comics, Georgiann? Thinking of trying to get distribution with Diamond?
GLENN: Chris, I don't know if that's true, I think the trend is to skip the big guns (so as not to read spoilers) and go right to the smaller pubs.
GEORGIANN: No, I have done cartoons for FMAM.
GLENN: Great magazine.
CHRIS WISNIA: Georgiann, Published work makes a difference, I think. They like resumes.
LARRY: What's your favorite supernatural creature that you created?
CHRIS WISNIA: It's funny. I deal with a lot of supernatural subject matter, but I'm a staunch skeptic about that kind of stuff, so Doris Danger is the only story in Tabloia that has supernatural creatures...
GLENN: Personally, you are more Dr. Debunko than Doris Danger...
CHRIS WISNIA: I'm very proud of the first two Doris Danger monsters, but I'm even more proud that in issue #2, tribesmen attack... and then the tribesmen unmask and reveal they're robots... I'm also really proud of the fact my monsters have names like Spluhh, Spanko, Scrohtu, and Muh!Muh!Muh!
GLENN: Spanko made me laugh, even though it's only part of the name.
CHRIS WISNIA: If I feel they look like Kirby's monsters, then I'm proud of them. And thanks, Glenn, for noticing I'm more Dr. DeBunko. If you want to know the truth, I'm actually more Lindsay from the Lump than any of my other characters.
GLENN: Hmmm
CHRIS WISNIA: And she's a girl!
DEBI: Chris, what was your favorite comic book? To read that is.
CHRIS WISNIA: My favorite comics are... usually by particular writers... Alan Moore (Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen -- not a great movie)... Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Mike Allred...
CHRIS WISNIA: I also Love LOVE LOVE anything Kirby did. I love Steve Ditko and the old EC books...
GLENN: Anything new you're reading?
CHRIS WISNIA: So I enjoy a combination of the kitschy old and the more serious new. Right now...partly because of League... I've been reading "young adult male action adventure" books of the eighteen hundreds... Treasure Island, 20,000 Leagues, Count of Monte Cristo, Frankenstein... but only because it's a genre I've never had much interest in, so I thought I'd give it a try... before that I read a lot of hardboiled crime (Hammett and Chandler, Spillane). I confess I don't read much "good" fiction...
GLENN: They all sound like classics to me.
CHRIS WISNIA: but I read a lot of historical non-fiction on people's beliefs in the supernatural, and people's historical beliefs in religion.
That's where all the Dr. DeBunko stories come from, and I'll announce the following secret... I'm pretty sure after the Lump, I'll be doing a story called "Limbo Cafe"... which is about an atheist who finds himself in a Christian Fundamentalist afterlife, and who has to critique what he experiences there.
GLENN: Intriguing.
CHRIS WISNIA: So usually my readings are more research for topics like that. And of course that's why all the hard-boiled crime reading... for Dick Hammer: Conservative Republican Private Investigator.
GEORGIANN: Is your focus to write parody, create something unique or a combination of the two?
CHRIS WISNIA: I just want to write about topics that interest me. I think I can be a fairly sarcastic human being, so the parody just comes out. I let the stories decide. For example...
The Lump is a horror story, but it's about different people's experiences in that story, getting a glimpse of this or that... so it's not that much of a parody (although I try to critique the genre a bit along the way.)
GEORGIANN: Combining unrelated things--works for me.
CHRIS WISNIA: Now with a story like "Dick Hammer: Conservative Republican Private Investigator", there can't be much to that except making fun of things... unless you look at it intellectually as an examination of that genre and the characters in it. And at the culture's views as a whole. But that's all parody is anyways.
JERRY: Chris, after I get my P.I. - vampire novel written I'd like to adapt it into a comic book. How would I shorten the thing to 30 to 32 pages? I think I already know the answer, but a 2nd opinion wouldn't hurt.
CHRIS WISNIA: Most likely, you'd have to write it as 6 books, or 4... but that's a lot of art to get drawn. Do you draw?
JERRY: Not like a pro.
CHRIS WISNIA: Comics do movie adaptations, and they tend to be about three issues. Some comics run twelve or more for one story. You could do what I did...
Take the character, and try to draw four PAGE stories... it's a writing exercise to be that concise... but then you have something you can show to artists (if you don't want to draw it) or publishers, so they get the idea of what you're looking to do.
I've got to say... it's remarkably hard to get into comics... I worked on my comic for six years... trying to get it published for maybe two or three...
JERRY: Persistence pays.
CHRIS WISNIA: I finally decided to just put up the money myself and do it... I think I'm pretty lucky I was able to do that.
GLENN: Would you suggest self-publishing as a viable route to break into the comics industry?
CHRIS WISNIA: If you can afford it, it's a great way to go, because then you have a finished, professional project, and then you can either decide to keep doing it your own way... or else you're gonna look a lot better than all the poor suckers in those portfolio reviews who only have one page to show what they're capable of.
Everyone I talk to says the way to GET published is to GET published... So if you self-publish, you're a PROFESSIONAL. And actually, I've landed a job since... with Sam Kieth's Ojo.
GLENN: Yes, you're also doing art chores on Sam Kieth's "Ojo" from Oni Press. What can you tell us about this project?
CHRIS WISNIA: Sam began it with Alex Pardee, and Alex had to commit to another project... so I took over helping Sam draw with issue #2, which just came out last week.
It's about a little girl whose mom dies... and she finds a baby monster who she decides to raise while coping.
GLENN: Sam's story, Chris?
CHRIS WISNIA: Sam wrote it and draws about a third of it every issue, and then he goes into my pages and makes them look more "Sam-like" so that the book has some consistency. Also, he's filming a movie of it as we speak.
GLENN: Wow. I regret to say I've unable to get hold of it
CHRIS WISNIA: I just saw my pages for the book about an hour ago. I'm very pleased.
GLENN: Then it's not out yet?
CHRIS WISNIA: It's through Oni Press. You might be able to get it through them. The first two issues are out.
GLENN: You know that might be a good thing - I can't find an Oni Press but I could yours :wink
CHRIS WISNIA: I know they've got a website, and they usually overprint. I'll find what it is for you. http://www.onipress.com is the site. If they don't sell it, you could probably find out who did.
GLENN: Very cool of you, thanks
DEBI: What you do is fascinating
CHRIS WISNIA: Thanks, Debi! Georgiann and Jerry, do either of you read comic books? Or you, Debi?
GEORGIANN: I'm more into graphic novels.
JERRY: Chris, once in a while I do.
DEBI: All the time that's what I do over coffee in the morn before I write.
JERRY: Oh, I like horror comics also, my fave comic is Superman.
CHRIS WISNIA: It's hard to find good ones, because it's like movies... there's a lot of junk, so you have to really put time in to look and see what's available.
DEBI: I'm working on an article now regarding comic books
GLENN: Many styles and tastes... and a lot of garbage...
CHRIS WISNIA: I think that's why the medium suffers... No one can find the good stuff, and so they don't bother to look.
GLENN: I also think that comic book shops have narrowcast the marketing... comics used to be available everywhere.
CHRIS WISNIA: But there's some great, literary stuff out there. It CAN be an artform. It just isn't a lot of the time. Yeah, the stuff that's in supermarkets is all mainstream superhero stuff. Although you can buy trade paperbacks at bookstores.
GLENN: Want to make any recommendations for the good stuff, Chris?
CHRIS WISNIA: My personal tastes are all the artists I've been working with with my book. I think Fantagraphics and Top Shelf are companies that try to make the comic an artform. Personally, I just like to see grown-ups in underpants beat people up though...
JERRY: Chris, can you tell us a name(s) of small comic book publishers, at least a couple?
GLENN: You could hit any comic shop and pick up a copy of Previews, Jerry, they list them all.
CHRIS WISNIA: Smaller successful publishers are Slave Labor, Oni... Most "publishers" are just guys like me that have a story they want to tell... they usually last a few issues, then run out of money and you never hear from them again. If there are any independent self-publishers comics conventions in your area, that's the place to go.
GLENN: Also the small ones, Chris included, are the ones that take risks - creatively - that's important in my book at least.
CHRIS WISNIA: In San Francisco, the APE CON, in New York, SPX or something like that...I just found one in Ohio...they're here and there...
GLENN: Do they still list all the cons in the country in Wizard and Comics Buyers Guide? That might help.
CHRIS WISNIA: I think so. I'm sure LA has something...if nothing else you can go to their big cons and hit the small publishers aisle.
GLENN: Let's say it's a perfect world, what comics character or concept would you love to work on? What would you do?
CHRIS WISNIA: It's funny. A lot of my characters began as proposals to bigger companies...
GLENN: You're not going to break my heart and tell me Dr. DeBunko is Dr. 13, are you?
CHRIS WISNIA: For example, Dr. DeBunko is just DC Comics' Dr. 13. Some of my favorite childhood characters are Spider-Man (He's got the greatest villains of anyone, in my opinion).
GLENN: Arrrggh! *laugh*
CHRIS WISNIA: Dr. DeBunko WAS my idea to revamp Dr. 13, but when I realized they weren't interested, I went my own way with him. I also love Batman... And lately, I've been fantasizing about doing Hulk stories... with no "story" at all, but to just have Hulk beat up super-strong villains for pages and pages...
GLENN: Unlike the current run... these would actually have the Hulk in them, I hope :wink
CHRIS WISNIA: because I need a change from all these talking heads stories. (Actually, after the Lump, as a back-up story for Limbo Cafe, I'm planning on having a "Super-hero" story.
I plan to do with superheroes (particularly Steve Ditko Spider-Mans) what I did for Kirby-Ayers monster stories. But don't tell anyone. It's a secret.
GLENN: Hmm, now I'm intrigued by the promise of both Limbo Cafe and the SuperheroŠ
Chris Wisnia has been a fun and exciting guest with much to share with us. As you log out you can check out his Tabloia website. Our hostess Audrey Shaffer and I want to thank Chris for an interesting and entertaining evening. Thank you, Chris. :rainbow *applause*
GEORGIANN: Chris you're an inspiration to the rest of us. I look into all of your pubs.
GLENN: Thanks again, Chris.
CHRIS WISNIA: Thanks a ton for checking this out, strangers. If you pick up the book, please visit the website and say hello.
GEORGIANN: Count on it!
CHRIS WISNIA: And thanks a ton, Glenn, for having me here. It was a lot of fun.
GLENN: Thank YOU :) This was great
Please join The Writers Chatroom Wednesday evenings for chats with guest writers and general writing chats every Sunday.