Ian McDonald Speaks!

I recently had the opportunity to fire a list of questions at Ian McDonald, creator of the Bruno the Bandit webcomic and driving force behind the upcoming book "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit".  Even better, Ian had the chance to answer those questions!  Now, thanks to the magic of the internet, I can share with you this behind the scenes look at the creation of Bruno the Bandit.

I know you've probably answered this question a million times by now, and the answer should be obvious, but what was the original inspiration for the character Bruno the Bandit? The character looks very similar in some ways to Michael Fleisher-era Conan. Was that deliberate?


You mean Bruno is a "wild-maned bullock", or "steely-sinewed berserker", to use some of Fleisher's more colorful descriptions of Conan? (laughs) Actually, when I first created Bruno, he was blond-haired, and looked a lot like Hulk Hogan.  I later decide to give him brown hair, and a handlebar mustache, to give him what he would consider a touch of class.  But there's no denying a Conan/Fleisher influence, as I've read plenty of Savage Sword of Conan in my day, by Crom!

On a similar note, how did you arrive at the idea of the microdragon sidekick?

Fiona (originally named Sylvia) the micro-dragon was inspired by a Dungeons & Dragons campaign some friends and I played several years ago.  One of our characters acquired a small dragon familiar, and we got this dragon to do a lot of our dirty work, much to the chagrin of our Dungeon Master.  I thought it would be perfect for Bruno to have a sidekick he could boss around and do his dirty work, while he claims all the credit, but of course, it rarely works out that way for him.

I know that syndication didn't work out for you, and that's not surprising given the fierce competition for space among comic strips. Still, given the clear quality of the strip, why did you decide to take Bruno to webcomics instead of self-publishing from the start?

In the mid-90's, I was totally discouraged by my attempts to get Bruno syndicated.  I sent Bruno to all the major syndicates, and received the standard rejection form letters back.  I might have given up, but for this new phenomenon known as "the Internet" I had heard about.  The more I learned about the Internet, the more I saw it would be a perfect venue to deliver a daily comic strip to an audience, without having to go through the annoying middlemen of newspaper and syndicate editors.  I could do my strip my way, and reap all the profits (or none, if the strip failed).  And I still think the Internet is the best way for any aspiring cartoonist to go, as comics syndication is a field that is not exactly welcoming to new talent.  Rather than take a chance on a new comic strip, most newspapers would rather run strips that began in the Depression era, whose creators have long since passed away, and whose current artists keep squeezing out the same 4 or 5 jokes over and over again.

Can you describe the working process for a typical Bruno strip? How long does an average strip take?

The writing for a typical strip can take anywhere from 10 seconds to several hours, depending on how inspired I am at the moment.  As for the artwork, the pencilling can take 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and same with the inking.

A sample of Bruno the Bandit as a work in progress

What are your favorite tools for drawing/writing the Bruno strips?

For the writing, I start with a dry erase board and marker.  I use it to scribble down ideas, bits of dialogue, doodles, what have you, and try to work these in to a script for whatever comic(s) I'm working on.  When the script is done, I'll write it down in a notebook.  No writing on the computer for me, thank you!
I'll draw the strip on bristol board, using two kinds of leads: a dull, light lead (4H or up) for basic designs and layouts and a sharpened, darker lead (2H or lower) to tighten up the artwork.  I use a set of Staedtler pigma liners of varying widths to ink my strips.
After scanning my strips in to my computer, I'll use Corel PhotoPaint to fill in black areas, add any special lettering, and create both a print-ready TIFF file, and a web-ready GIF file.

I'll try to avoid the old question of "where do you get your ideas" as such, but when you're stuck for a storyline or daily strip idea, where do you look for inspiration?

Thankfully, I rarely get stuck, thanks to my above-mentioned method of using a dry erase board to write down ideas, bits of dialogue, doodles, etc. I just keep writing/drawing whatever pops in to my head until something clicks, and I have a good strip/storyline idea.
But on those few occasions where that doesn't work for me, I'll put the dry erase board aside, and go do something non-Bruno related: watch TV, surf the 'net, play a computer game, read, sleep, sit on the terlet, whatever!  My subconscious will usually keep working on the problem while I'm otherwise occupied, so when I come back to the dry erase board later on, it doesn't take long before inspiration strikes!

Bruno the Bandit walks a careful balance at times between slapstick humour and socio-political commentary. Which aspect of the strip is more important to you as a storyteller? Is the commentary more of a by-product of the story, or does the story develop out of the situation?

It generally depends on where I'm at in the story I'm working on.  Sometimes I want to get silly, so any "commentary" has to take a back seat, while at other times, I feel I have something to say, so I minimize the silliness.
Both commentary and humour are important, but Bruno will never ever catch Cerebus Syndrome, and suddenly turn serious, so I guess the humour/silliness is more important to me.  Should I ever decide to turn Bruno in to a serious comic strip, please come and hit me over the head with a rubber chicken.

I've been a member of your forums (at www.brunothebandit.com) for several years, and I've seen that from time to time your strips cause some animated, even heated, discussions among your readers. Do you sometimes look to provoke this reaction with some strips? Do you like getting this level of reaction from your fans, or are we sometimes reading too much into the strips?

First and foremost, I want to make people laugh with Bruno the Bandit, but I'm also happy to make them think as well.  I'm always pleased to see a good discussion of one of my strips or storylines on my forum.  That's what it's there for, after all.  If anything, I'd like to see more people on the forum challenge me on some point I may have made.

Bruno the Bandit has been on hiatus for some time now. Will we be seeing any new Bruno stories anytime soon...if ever? 

Absolutely! I'm not entirely sure when, but I'm hoping to get back at it in the first quarter of 2011, depending on the work schedule for my "real" job (as an inventory auditor).  And I'd like to apologize to my long-time readers for taking such a long break, and to thank them for their patience and understanding.

Do you have any other projects you'd like to talk about?

Well, I'm currently working on a card game based on Bruno the Bandit.  An American toy company called Active Products Inc. is helping me to develop the game, and we're hoping to have it on sale some time in 2011.  I'm also working with a programmer to make a version of the game available for the iPhone/Pad/Pod.
I'd also like to remind readers that from 2003 to 2005, I was a guest cartoonist for Pete Abrams, creator of the superb webcomic Sluggy Freelance.  I did a Saturday spinoff strip, entitled "Meanwhile In The Dimension Of Pain".  I bring this up because Pete has recently released Ghosts In The Gastank, his tenth volume of collected Sluggy Freelance strips, and it contains many MITDOP strips.  Check it out!

AIM Comics on Wowio!

As of today, AIM Comics is live on Wowio!  I've just signed the publisher agreement that lets us distribute through their digital platform.

I know they've had their problems, but since its inception, Wowio has been one of my favorite sites for buying comics online.  I really like their site design and business model, and I'm thrilled to be a member of their roster of publishers.
"Why Comics" won't be available there, just because the quality of the scans for that book are not up to their requirements, which means that "Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" will be our first book on Wowio.  I'll put a link to our publisher page in the sidebar as soon as it's available.
Now, I'm just waiting for my proof copy from our POD publisher and for one more digital piece to fall into place, and then we're good to go....

Halcyon Halcon Part II

For the first part of my writeup on Halcon 2010, focusing mostly on the costumes seen that day, see this post.

As much as I enjoyed the costumes and sci-fi trappings of Halcon, the best part of the weekend, for me, was Artist's Alley. I think I spent more time stalking this area than I did in the rest of the event put together. Not only did I get some fantastic new reading material, and make some great additions to my ever-growing collection of signed comics, but I also had several talented artists graciously make contributions to my sketchbook.
I was, at first, somewhat disappointed that the "big names" that were scheduled for the weekend did not show up. Frankly, I had wanted to attend mainly because I thought I was going to meet such luminaries as Joe Jusko, Mark Texeira and Mike Golden, and nearly went in search of a refund when I found out that they'd canceled.
Fortunately, the appeal of spending a weekend hanging out in a comfortable environment with my fellow geeks won out, and led to me meeting some talented local creators.
Almost de rigeur for an event like this are local icons Mark "Thieves & Kings" Oakley and Faith Erin Hicks (of Zombies Calling and The War at Ellsmere fame). Faith's new graphic novel "Brain Camp" is just out from First Second books, and while I haven't read it yet, if it's anything like her previous efforts, it will be worth your time and attention.

Mark's latest effort is  "Star Drop", a digest sized collection of newspaper strips about a stranded space princess.  It's as much of a visual treat as any of Mark's work, with a story that's light and airy, with a surprising amount of emotional depth.  I think I've got a Mark Oakley sketch on nearly everything he's published at this point; he's fast becoming my most collected artist.

A pleasant surprise for me at this event was my introduction to the work of graphic novelist Caanan Grall, author of "Celadore" from Zuda Comics.  I haven't finished it yet, but this graphic novel promises to be enjoyable.  The only downside I've seen so far is that the quality of paper used for this printing doesn't do justice to Grall's eye for color.  His palette perfectly complements his art style and manages to be bright without being garish.

Caanan, to whom I owe thanks for a great Batman & Robin at a tea party sketch, by the way, also has a webcomic, Max Overacts, over at Occasional Comics.  Anyone who's ever been a fan of  "Calvin and Hobbes" is strongly urged to check it out.

The last big con I attended was back in 2000 in Toronto, at which I had the pleasure of meeting the co-creator of the original "Men in Black" comic and Captain Canuck artist, Sandy Carruthers.  I'm pleased to say he was in attendance at this event as well, and this time I was privileged to have him create a Captain Canuck drawing for me.  The good Captain was one of the first comic books I remember reading, so it's nice to have some work by someone who worked on the actual character.  Of course, his drawing is almost side by side with one from the Captain's creator, Richard Comely, so it's in good company.
Sandy is currently the artist on the "Twisted Journeys" series of graphic novels, the first "choose your own adventure" comic books I've ever seen.  I do not envy him the task of figuring out the art on these.

Of course, no local comics related event would be complete without the presence of some people from my (and the world's) favorite comic shop, Strange Adventures.  Not content to be some of the best and most knowledgeable salespeople in comics, the employees of the stores are some very talented people in their own right.
Dave Howlett, who's done quite a lot of comics projects in the time I've known him, contributed a fine looking Darkseid to my sketchbook.  Dave's current project, SlamARama, can be found a Tuco Comics, and is the best, no holds barred, best two falls out of three wrasslin' action to be found in comics.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone by his coworker, the artist known only as "Ben" is a fantastic character designer, as can be seen at his blog, The Second to Last Picture Show.   Thanks, Ben, for the martini-swilling Demon you sketched for me.

I think my most embarrassing moment of the weekend came when I met Andrew Power...simply because I had waited around his table for quite a while believing he was someone completely different who I had previously met.  I'm sure I must have looked like a stalker or other species of freak, but in spite of my weirdness, he favored me with a rockin' sketch of his character Rina Wu from his comic "Aptitude Test", which can be read here.  Thanks, Andrew...I'm not crazy, I promise.  Well, mostly not crazy.

One of the great things about a con like this is that I get to meet other creators who are trying to kickstart their own books, like most of those mentioned above, or like Rich Morris, creator of "Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic".  This is a fun strip aimed square at the D&D players in the audience, although my younger daughter took enough of a shine to it that she started drawing her own renditions of the Beholder, so make of that what you will.  I had a great time talking to Rich and Hilary about not only their book, but about marketing and self-publishing in general.  I'll probably be swapping more ideas with them in the near future, so don't be surprised to hear their names pop up again sometime.

When all is said and done, though, the big surprise of the weekend (for me, anyway, although it might not have been had I been paying closer attention) was the release of Darwyn Cooke's second adaptation from the Parker novels of Donald Westlake, "The Outfit".

I started reading Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark for the purposes of the Parker series) shortly after the author's death on a recommendation from Spider Robinson via his Spider on the Web podcast.  I had previously been introduced to his work via the Mel Gibson movie "Payback", but did not really know much about the source material.  Having read some of the books, and having seen as much comic art as I have, I cannot think of any artist who could do a better job of adapting Westlake's writing as perfectly as Cooke has done so far in "The Hunter", "The Man With the Getaway Face" and now "The Outfit".  Even Frank Miller, as much as he it touted as a kingpin of comic noir, would not have been able to capture the essence of Westlake as Cooke has done.  These graphic novels hit with the same rapid flurry pace and knuckle hard intensity of the books from which they're adapted.  The style Cooke uses, the same signature style he has used for books like "New Frontier" and "Catwoman", has a 60's throwback quality while at the same time being fresh and innovative, especially in contrast to the multitude of Miller and Steranko clones who proliferate in crime comics.
I am fortunate to live in close proximity to Darwyn, so that when he releases a new book, I can line up to get a signed copy.  That is why I now have a pair of signed Parker graphic novels and a limited edition portfolio occupying a place of pride in my collection.  It is also why I had the opportunity to see Cooke execute a dead on Green Lantern sketch in less than a dozen lines and under 10 seconds.  This is the kind of thing, deceptively simple yet right on the bullseye, that shows the kind of mastery an artist can achieve.  It's also the kind of thing that give me just enough envy to want to spend more time at the drawing table, which I think is one of the best things I can take away from any art.

There's plenty of other people I met...artists Jay Paulin, Jono Doiron (love that Cat in the Hat poster!), writer Nina Munteanu, the editors of the Airborne anthology of Cape Breton genre fiction, the representatives of DragonFly Studio, and the members of the local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism, The Barony of Ruantallan, just to name a few.  I got to take my girls to a thoroughly fun costume contest, attend part of the recording of an episode of "Geeks vs. Nerds", and meet fantasy model Drakaina, about whom I'll post more on my other blog.  In short, it was a whole lot of fun squeezed into a couple of days.  Thanks to the organizers, the volunteers and everyone who worked to make this thing happen.
From the attendance, I'm going to say that this event was a success, which means that if all goes well, we won't have to wait 15 years for the next Halcon.  My biggest hope is that when the next one rolls around, I'll be looking at the event from the other side of the table as I promote what AIM Comics has to offer.  Wish me luck.

We're Live on DriveThru Comics!

AIM Comics is live on DriveThru Comics!  This is just one of the partners we're lining up for digital distribution of our books, and we've kicked off by making "Why Comics?" available from them as a free pdf download.  I've been reading offerings from DriveThru for a couple of years, and I know that they have a great catalog of independent publishers as well as some big names over there, so I'm proud to be able to join their ranks.
Head on over to the AIM Comics page at DriveThru and grab yourself a copy of "Why Comics?" to get a taste of what DriveThru can deliver!

Why Comics? - Free Download from AIM Comics

While "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" will be AIM Comics first official release, our first unoffically official book is already out...and it's free!
"Why Comics?" is a 30 page book compiled from a couple of older pieces of mine.  The first is the titular "Why Comics?", which is a 24 hour comic I produced a couple of years ago.  It explores my own perspective of the whys and wherefores of creating comics based on my own limited experience and long-time drive.  It's pretty rough, but I think it's a good piece.
The second piece in the book is titled "Comics on the Cheap" and is a reprinting of an article I sold to Blueline Pro's Sketch Magazine in 2002.  It was an exploration of how a beginning creator can create comics without breaking the bank on expensive software and computer hardware.  It's badly in need of updating, but still makes some valid points, and a lot of the software mentioned is still available in newer veersions.
"Why Comics?"  is being released under a Creative Commons, non-commercial, no derivatives licence, meaning that it can be freely shared, but not changed or sold or claimed to be owned by anyone else.  It can be downloaded here.
The only thing I ask is that if you like the book, and if you're a blogger or any other kind of internet writer, that you consider writing a post, review or any other kind of article to help spread the word.  Feel free to link directly to the book for download, or to email me with any questions or comments about the book, the site, or AIM Comics in general.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Why Comics? by Mike Dominic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.aimcomics.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.aimcomics.com.

Update:  I should have mentioned that the book is in .cbr format.  You can either download a specialized reader for this format (I recommend CDisplay for its ease of use and portability), or you can treat the file as a glorified zip file (which is all it really is) and unzip the contents to read the .jpg files contained in it.  A pdf formatted version is coming soon.

Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit - Table of Contents

Since it looks like we're just about nailed down for the contents of the first issue, I think it's time to let the readers know what's coming up in "Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit".  The best way to do this is to show you the table of contents, illustrated by my own humble self.  I think you'll see from this that we've got a pretty jam-packed magazine coming up for you.

We Have Winnahs! plus, News!

That's right, I said winnerS!  Only two contestants were able to correctly guess the identity of our cover artist, so I've decided to send both of them advance copies of the first issue of "Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit". 

First up is Mike DeStasio, who found us by way of Crom!  The Ultimate Conan Fan Blog.  The blog is a wonderful resource for all things Conan, and a great way to discover and explore some of the best fantasy artists in the business.  Mike himself appears to be a decent artist from the samples I've seen so far, so I wouldn't be surprised to see his name pop up here again sometime.

The second winner has not given me permission to publish his name, so I'm going to assume he chooses to remain anonymous.  That's fine; I'm still happy to have had his participation in the contest, as I am with all who entered. 

Both winners were, with their discerning eye, able to figure out that our mystery artist is, of course, none other than Ernie Chan, longtime artist of Marvel Comic's "Conan the Barbarian" and "Savage Sword of Conan", among many others.   I cannot tell you how happy I am to have been able to commission Mr. Chan to create a portrait of Bruno the Bandit for us, and how pleased I am with the results.  As lifelong fans of Conan, both Ian and myself are floored at the rendering of Bruno with which Ernie has graced us, and believe me when I say that it's going to make a fabulous cover for our first issue.
Ernie Chan's art can currently be seen at his website, and also  at the DarkBrain webcomic, "The Vat."  I strongly recommend giving it a visit.

Here's a larger preview of the cover art.  There's a little more to the full version, and I have colored the piece for our cover.  I think it's going to be great; see if you don't agree.

As for the book itself, I'm pleased to say that I've just finished what I am tentatively calling the final draft of the first issue.  That means that I will soon be sending it out to the distributors to check against their specs, and if all goes well, it should be on sale soon.

Thanks to all who entered the contest.  The advance copies will be emailed out to the winners shortly.  Meantime, keep an eye here for other happenings...who knows when we're going to do another contest?