FLIGHT ROUNDTABLE
5 Questions + 11 Artists = The Flight 2 Roundtable Hulabaloo

Introduction
Interview Roundtable
Interview - Kazu & Jake
Interview - Hope, Kean & Bannister
Interview - Amy, Becky, Johane
Interview - Doug, Ryan & Richard

1) How did you get involved with Flight?

Kazu: I spent too much time online after work, posting drawings and comics. Eventually I got the crazy idea of recruiting a bunch of people I knew on the web onto a small book project that Catia Chien wanted to do, and this became Flight.

Hope: Pre-Flight I'd had been somewhat in contact with Kazu and, to a greater extent, Neil, and girls (and boy) in Pants Press. When Kazu asked me to colour Erika Moen's comic, Faith, I happily agreed, and now here I am with a comic of my own in volume 2!

Kean: Well, it started with an innocent little email from Kazu two years ago - we had been corresponding a little after reading and enjoying each other's webcomics - when he asked me if I'd like to contribute a story to "a little black and white anthology" that he and a couple of friends were putting together. I said yes, and that, as they say, was that.

Doug: I think it was about 12 months ago, just before Flight #1 went to print, Kazu dropped me a line asking if I would be interested in contributing to Book #2 of a comics anthology he was putting together. This was kinda before the Flight buzz took off (HAH!) so it was pretty exciting watching book #1 evolve and extremely flattering... especially coming from being a fan of a lot of the guys involved and then to all of a sudden be alongside them.

Amy: Shortly before Flight found its publisher, I registered to the forums to reply to a thread. Kazu then sent me a pm giving me access to the private forums, which completely threw me off! I was bit of a fan girl since I loved a lot of the cartoonists in it already and I think I stumbled over myself several times trying to post in those forums. Eventually Kazu was nice enough to ask if I wanted to contribute to a future volume. Of course I said yes! I don't think it's really sunk in still that I drew something for this book. Everyone involved is so amazing!

Ryan: I was a fan of Copper, and emailed Kazu, and he liked my Kimbly comics.

"Inner Sanctum" By Michel Gagne

Becky: I had heard the buzz about Flight 1, and was totally impressed by the talent they had contributing to the book (I had peeped them at APE in 2004). Then a little later my pal Amy Ganter asked me to contribute to volume 2. How could I refuse??

Richard: Well, I ran into Kazu for like 10 seconds at the San Diego Con in 2003, a month later he emailed me to say hello... then, that November, I found his Flight site and I talked to him some more; I asked him what the chances were of me doing a story for Flight 2, to my surprise I didn't have to pass a rigorous physical or anything, all he said was "Sure...you're in," BAM! That was it... It isn't that easy to get in anymore, so I was pretty lucky I got in to Flight when it was still undiscovered.

Johane: I knew Kazu a bit through his Copper comics. I loved his stories, and when I learned he was making a book called Flight along with a few other artists I knew of, I contacted him to get a bit more information on that project. Turns out he had also seen some of my work and liked it, and he mentioned to me I was on his list of people to contact for future stories. I was very flattered!

Jake: I was talking to a friend of mine (Joel Carroll who contributed to Flight I) and he told me about this anthology that Kazu was putting together called "Flight." I told Joel to put in a good word for me and that I really wanted to do something for it. Then I got an email from Kazu who told me he already had me in mind to do something.

Nicolas: My girlfriend saw the ad in the Previews, and ordered it. Then I went to the forum. It was a very few people forum, which is good to talk. I decided to post some drawings, people were very receptive, they criticized my work in a good way, to make me evolve in my work. It was easy for me to talk with them because they were here often and very open. Not like all the other forums I've posted in, who are very crowded and where no one pays attention at you. And then Kazu wrote me a little mail to invite me to contribute to Flight.

2) Tell us about your story and what inspired it?

Kazu: The story I'm telling in Volume Two is a story about my own insecurities with speaking to pretty girls. Hehehe. I'm actually not as bad as the character in the comic, but I do delve pretty deep into what I think makes me so shy. While this is what lies at the heart of the story, the real inspiration for this comic was actually more in making stylistic choices. I was doodling around when I came up with a couple of images that I liked and started developing a small romance story about these two kids in a seaside village. The style of the drawings were a mix of Shel Silverstein and Akira Kurosawa. The more I worked on it, I realized I ended up being more influenced by artists like Yasujiro Ozu, Edward Gorey, and Craig Thompson. What began as an exercise in style eventually became one of the most painfully personal stories I've done. I suppose that when you're surrounded by a bunch of earnest super-talents, it's difficult not to pour your heart into the work.

"Destiny Xpress" By Jen Wang

Hope: I'm from North Carolina, and at the same time I was brainstorming for my Flight piece I was preparing to move to Toronto to be with my husband. I'd hoped to explore the southwest US after graduation, and it was pretty frustrating to see that replaced with yet more lake effect snow (I'd been at school in Rochester, NY and Chicago) and a pile of immigration paperwork. My story, Weather Vain, is about a girl who goes north and hates the cold. But it isn't autobiographical-we're moving to Halifax soon, and I can't wait! Bring on the snow!

I'd like to point that Weather Vain is the last comic I drew in Illustrator, so you won't be seeing anything quite like this from me again. I've spent the last few months struggling with a brush, which is much more fun and significantly quicker, once you get the hang of it.

Kean: My story is called "Last Things Last," and it's basically another one in my series of Exit Music comics, which is a collection of little autobiographical stories and snippets from my life that I've been working on for the past year or so now. It's a quiet little story about a friend that passed away several years ago.

Doug: My story is a re-history(?) of what might have happened to Laika, the first dog in space, launched by the Russians during the space race in the 50's and 60's. The germ of the idea began with a painting I had done of Laika sharing a vodka with a space god for an Outer Space exhibition about a year ago. When it came time to start thinking of something for Flight, she popped up again and pretty much fell into place. Her story is really quite sad and moved me to, I guess, explore what would happen if she just kept floating out into space.

It's a bit of rumination on politics, on how destructive and paranoid the human race can be, and how extreme advances in technology are not necessarily the answer to solving these problems. At its heart though it's a fun little doggie adventure.

Amy: The story I drew for this book is a short side story from my online comic, Reman Mythology. I wanted to delve into the relationship between two of my main characters, Raed and Philip, and also say a little something about how actions speak louder than words when it comes to gaining acceptance from your parents/teachers. I'm not sure if I was successful, but I'm glad I made this little comic and I'm happy with the way it turned out. I learned so much about laying out action, colouring, and pacing.

Ryan: My story is about a green girl who drinks Blip pop, and then has an adventure above the clouds with various monsters.

My inspiration comes from when I walk around the streets here in NYC; advertisers are always trying to push products on you. So I thought what if one of those products was a drink that made you fly? I also wanted to draw monsters. I always like drawing monsters. Plus I wanted to do something light and fun. I feel the world is a very serious place right now, so I wanted to some enjoyable and silly.

"Solomon Fix" By Doug TenNapel

Becky: A lot of my work is inspired by tattoo flash, so when I approached this comic it was almost like designing each page as a sleeve.

Richard: My story is about a young Cuban baseball player, Francisco Sanchez, looking back at his time spent with his old neighbour and mentor, Armando Gonzalez... This is really the first story I have created and written on my own, I was afraid I wouldn't have anything to say, no stories to tell... then while I was lying in bed one night I thought "Hey, I like baseball! I should do a story about baseball... and I'm part Cuban, I should do a story about a Cuban baseball player..."

Francisco's life story developed in my mind very quickly, but deciding on exactly which slice of his life to tell took me months to develop, then I decided I could do a short story about his mentor Armando Gonzalez... I have been lucky enough to have a slew of mentors in my life... my grandfather, Armando, was a strong influence and memory, as were my Uncle's Armando II and Paco, my cousin Ramon... but the more direct influences for this character came from my old neighbour Lloyd "Dan" Daniels, a WWII vet... he used to sit me down and tell me stories about his youth and of the war... teach me about life and how to live it. I never asked for these lessons, he would just say "Richard, damn it, get off my lawn... come over here, I wanna tell you a story..." I loved his stories. The last influence comes from my Uncle 'Naldo, he used to play pro baseball in Cuba in the 1940's and 50's, heck, the man still plays on softball teams today, and he is in his 80's, I just love talking baseball with him every time he comes in from Miami...

Johane: I have two short stories. Mousetrap is a very classic story of cat and mouse. I was doodling the cat a lot at that time, and I wanted to do a fun little story with it. The second one is Icarus, inspired by the Greek myth. It's set before the actual story of the myth. I had been reading about the history of aviation and all those crazy early plane designs and crashes. My brain just made a mental link between these and one of the earliest story of man's attempt at flying, and images started popping into my head.

Now that I think about it, I should have called this story "Icarus: fall".

Jake: I was watching one of the old Silly Symphonies cartoons, the one about the ugly duckling and it struck me as what a timeless story that is. I wanted to do something like that. Something timeless. While thinking of stories I also had robots on my mind so I thought what if instead of a goose being raised by ducks there was a confused robot being raised by ducks. The more I thought about it and sketched it the more the idea developed into what it is now. Less about acceptance and more about friendship.

"Dead Soul's Day Out" By Sonny Liew

Nicolas: First I made an action story, written by a friend. It was some kind of French car chase with a Miyazaki style (for the action) character design was fun, with people with big heads. But it wasn't a very personal story, and not very questioning. Kazu talked to me about that and we had a long discussion about making my own story and stuff. So I decided to redo a whole new story from scratch, I wrote it in one day and draw it in one week. It was hard but I'm very proud of it because it's the first story I write on my own. I'm not a writer so it's hard for me to come up with a good idea. It's an autobiographical story. The whole world will know how I met my girlfriend. I don't know how to feel with that...

3) One of the strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

Kazu: As Flight continues to grow, I realize more and more how different the artists are from each other. It makes it a little more difficult to keep everyone together, but so far we're still holding together, and I think the crew is even growing a lot stronger from it. Since it's also a huge part of my life now, I can't help but let it influence the stories I tell. Fortunately, I think my involvement makes me both a better storyteller and a better person.

Hope: It's great having a pool of smart people to give me feedback and help out with technical problems, and I've gotten to know some great folks I otherwise might not have.

Kean: Without a doubt, it seems like every single artist with Flight has influenced my work in some way. Simply getting feedback from such a large and diverse group of artists has helped me learn so much in such a short span of time, and I'm incredibly thankful to each and every one of them. But to put it another way, all of the artists on Flight have pulled me right out of my comfort zone and forced me to put in 110% into my own work. The fact that there are so many artists constantly pushing each other and raising and then re-raising the bar with every single story, you can't help but be forced to try and raise your own game to match theirs.

Doug: For me it's just been great over the last 12 months to be surrounded by this incredible group of smart, ridiculously talented creative people. Especially in regards to comics, I've never really been exposed to such introspection and analysis of every aspect of the comic medium from so many different points of view. The fact that each time one of these guys steps up to the plate it's pushing the envelope that little bit more, most cases in ways you wouldn't expect, you can't help but want to push yourself that bit more to keep up.

"Ghost Trolley" By Rad Sechrist

Amy: Knowing how hard everyone was working to make something amazing, I knew I had to put all my effort into it as well if I wasn't to let the others down. This expectation of doing the best you could (whether real or imagined) really pushed me to try harder, and I think my skills really increased because of it.

Ryan: Yeah that's what I Really like about it, is the international flavour. It's so great to have a group of people with so many different points of view give you suggestions or opinions. Plus, because they are all so amazing they pushed me to do great work. My favourite part of it all is the great forum. On most forums they are all about tearing people down, flight forum is one of the few places where they are helpful and give good suggestions, if something has problems they let you know, but constructively. Which is a great thing!

Becky: The diversity of the group has been really motivating, it's just a great feeling to create something along side of so many different, talented people. And everyone is so passionate about their work, it really brings the book together.

Richard: Being a part of this project has definitely opened my eyes to new art styles and new ways to tell story... One of the things that struck me the hardest about a lot of the Flight artists is how personal their stories are, they don't even try to hide, seeing that has helped me become a better storyteller. Being a part of Flight really let me appreciate how many great, unknown artists there are in this crazy world... I love being exposed to new artists and art, especially ones as talented as this crew.

Speaking of community of creative people, this project let me work with my good friend and super talented artist, Israel Sanchez, I have never had anyone colour my work, it was a real treat to let someone I respect so much work on my story... check out his art at www.israelsanchez.com, its awesome...

Johane: I've always enjoyed reading a wide variety of styles, but to actually be working amongst such a talented, intelligent bunch of artists is the biggest creative push I've had in years. All of them make me want to experiment, tell other styles of stories. I don't know how much I can succeed at that, but now I have an urge to try rather than staying with what I know how to do. Seeing the others' creative process is a big learning experience and great inspiration.

Jake: I think it's great. We feed off of each other. I remember on the first Flight book Kazu posted the pencils for his copper story and that got my creative juices flowing like the Colorado River in spring. I wanted to create something on par with that. I think there's a level of competition here too. The healthy kind. The kind that makes you want to take your story a little further and bring your art up a notch.

Nicolas: Like I said, people here are very talky about the stuff we do for the anthology. Everyone gives their advice and it's great. It helped me to focus on the important point of my work and on the lacks I have too. There is some kind of "positive crit" way of working that I love here. It's like "yes it's good but it should be better if you try to do this this-way or that-way" it's not "err... no. It's not working, it's not good." There is a creative energy that push you further and makes you do better things, I like that. If it's done with diplomacy, it's can bring very nice results.

"This Time" By Clio Chiang

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book?

Kazu: Well, mine's pretty to look at, so it does help on the superficial level, but if someone gets into the story and takes something away from it, I'll be ecstatic. I attempted to explore a really difficult subject, so I hope that comes through...

Hope: Well... It's educational! And it's got a very different look and structure from many of the stories: the palette is limited to red and blue, and there aren't any panels to speak of.

Kean: In terms of content, it's probably more introspective and definitely one of the quieter pieces in the book. I suppose your could say it fills the "emo" void of Flight.

Doug: Laika was one of the hardest comics I've ever put together. Wanting every part to be the best I could muster. Especially story wise... writing for me is always a bit of a struggle, it's usually something that comes very spontaneously where I just sit down, draw and let the characters do what they do. I sometimes write out a plot or some scene ideas but very rarely an entire script or a specific conclusion. With Laika (After some discussion with the Flight Crew) I went back and rethought and redrew the entire closing sequence (8 pages) because the original wasn't sitting right. It's a definite departure from how I normally work and I feel one of my most successful stories, hopefully it translates and is stronger for it.

Amy: I think my piece has the heaviest anime influence in the way that people typically think that cartoons from Japan should look. This shows not only in the way I draw the faces but in the panel layouts of the action sequences. Even though I haven't been a fan of anime since high school, the influence was strong enough to last. I think the growing influence of manga in kids today will definitely show up more frequently in comics in the coming years, so I'm glad to represent a bit of that in Flight, and hopefully in a way that manages to still remain unique.

Ryan: My stuff is goofy and wacky; I like to think I add humour, humour and monsters! That's what I add! Oh and green girls they didn't have enough green girls.

Becky: The short story I did is a departure from my usual work, it's much more design heavy, and illustrative. The comic is less story driven, and pieced together more like a song. I think it's a good breather from most of the other story driven comics in Flight. The "lyrics" were written after the comic was finished by Vasilis Lolos, a comic artist from Greece who I'm sure you will hear of very soon.

"Impossible" By Herval

Richard: Well, my story has more words in it than most of the others... I guess that will force people to stop and read the book a bit more... other than that, I don't know, it has baseball in it... and you can never go wrong with baseball.

Johane: Living in Montreal, we get big influences from both the US and Europe, especially in terms of comics. I hope this mix shows a bit somehow in my work. Though basically, I just wanted to do a little something to make people smile. If I managed that, I'll be happy.

Jake: I think it fits nicely. Last time around I did an adventure story, and a lot of the stories had that element of adventure in it. This time I toned it down a bit and tried to do something that still had a sense of something outside of this world but also still grounded in reality. That thread runs through a lot of the stories in two.

Nicolas: I don't know... I'm just trying to do my best and be honest. I don't like to show off. I just want to do something fun and entertaining, at my level, for people who wants to spend a good time with a book.

5) What's next for you following Flight?

Kazu: I suppose this is as good a place as any to announce this, so here it is... I have decided to take on the Flight project full-time, which means the very next thing I'll be doing will be in Flight Volume Three. I was in discussions to do a solo graphic novel, but after doing a lot of thinking, I decided instead to serialize it in the pages of Flight. This project has become something bigger than me in some ways, and I really enjoy being the editor, so I'm looking forward to pushing this book as far as it can go and with all the energy and resources I've got.

Hope: My "big project" of the moment is Salamander Dream, for the Secret Friend Society. More on that later!

This spring and summer I'll have short pieces in the Beguiling's Free Comic Book Day comic book [Titled "Comic Festival"], the first volume of anthology You Ain't No Dancer, the second volume of cartoonist Brendan's Syncopated Comics, and in True Porn 2 if my submission is accepted. I'm also finishing up a tiny joint project with Meg from crossedfingers.net.

"La Sonadora" By Joana Carneiro

Kean: More Flight! Heh. Actually, I do have a couple more Exit Music stories coming later in the year for both my website (Keaner.net) and in a couple of anthologies (most notably for the first issue of You Ain't No Dancer). I think I'd like to finish my collection of Exit Music comics by the end of 2005 (I have about 5 stories still waiting to be drawn), but I'm also working on my first full-length comic "Jellaby," which will be serialized on the web over at Secret Friend Society.

Doug: I'm about 10 pages into 'Heidi Hyperwarp', an all ages sci-fi/western/crime graphic novel with writer Jai Nitz. Hopefully out mid to late this year through Image Comics.

I'm illustrating a series of kids books on odd or unusual facts about Australia's aviation, prehistoric, sporting and inventive histories. with writer Kevin Patrick (To be published early 2006).

And then hopefully a little something something for Flight #3.

Amy: Currently, my main project is a new book for Tokyopop that I've been having fun writing and drawing called "Sorcerers & Secretaries". I'm going to try my best to continue contributing to Flight, as well as continue working on my epic online comic as always at felaxx.com.

Ryan: I'm always posting new comics on my www.silentkimbly.com site, and right now I'm finishing off a 76-page silent kimbly graphic novel. (Which doesn't have a publisher yet) I'm also pitching some TV shows and, working on a few kid's books.

Becky: After finishing Demo, I've been working on a graphic novel based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" for Penguin Books/Puffin Classics. The script was adapted by Gary Reed, and it's been really fun to work on. I am not sure of the street date yet, I think sometimes summer/fall 05.

After Dracula wraps up, I am working on a short series of graphic novels (which I am writing and drawing) called "East Coast Rising." It's sort of like "Mad Max" meets "Jason and the Argonauts" meets "The Warriors." Should be fun! After that... Who knows!? More comics, that's for sure!

Richard: Next, I will be trying to finish up a story called "Hector Spector" it's a comic I published with my friend and writer Joshua Pruett, I think we have a great, fun story to tell, I can't wait to get started on it, I will update my site with a preview of the book... I am also working with some of my other best friends, www.thethoseguys.com on some comic collaborations, a few of the ideas we have shot around are really getting my blood flowin'... Oh and I also will be doing a story with writer Mark Smith (Amazing Joy Buzzards), it's a samurai story, should be fun to do! Check out www.richardpose.com I should be updating the site more regularly, I hope.

Johane: I'm in the slow process of putting together my three mini comics of Horus into one book, fixing some art and dialogues along the way. I'm already sketching the next story at the same time. I find my output of personal work slow, but the full time day job does that. I should have a short story in the upcoming Zowie Deux!, and hopefully, another story for a future Flight.

"Monster Slayers" By Khang Le

I should also be able to update my website every once in a while: www.qosmiq.com/rufftoon

Jake: Well, besides my story for Flight 3, I'm working on a little self publishing venture not unlike my Agent44 Art Digest I published last year. I'm going to have that printed just in time for San Diego Comic-Con. I'm also developing a children's book based on my story in Flight II. You can stay up to date on all my work by checking my website: www.agent44.com

Nicolas: I'm waiting for the answer of a French publisher that will allow me a job for almost 3 years (3 books to do). I'm planning a story with one of the Flight collaborator too. It'll be fun, I hope we'll come up with something soon. And I've got some more projects here in France, independent or not. And of course, I still have my freelance job in case not one of these projects will come up.

Be sure to check the links to the side to read more about the individual artists and see even more preview art from FLIGHT Volume 2.

Introduction
Interview Roundtable
Interview - Kazu & Jake
Interview - Hope, Kean & Bannister
Interview - Amy, Becky, Johane
Interview - Doug, Ryan & Richard

 

Jonathan Ellis is Co-Editor in Chief of PopImage


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