A boutique black and white comix publisher who celebrates razor sharp writing and badass pen and ink artistry.
Back in the end of August we found ourselves in Artist Alley at Toronto’s FanExpo, the third largest pop culture convention in North America. The good folk of pop culture television show Electric Playland stopped by for an interview with Richard Serrao. That piece finally went live and can be viewed either by visiting their site or watching it in the player below (if you can see it).
I think they did a killer job cutting it together.
It’s been a long time since one of the core OpWound creators has launched a new webcomic. The wait is now over. Richard Serrao’s new online graphic novel is now live. It will update with 3 new pages every Thursday over at webcomicsnation.com.
The goods.
Silent Scream is about a stripper named Bouncing Betty who goes on a kill crazy rampage taking out mobsters, pimps, hit men, pedophiles and any other low-lifes you can think of and along the way she becomes partners with a two man kill team who teach her a thing or two about hunting and killing two legged prey.
I got Rich to write a few words on his new story.
The original idea only involved her and it was called 13 the Hard Way and was about her time working for the Triads as a hitwoman. The other part of the story involving a hitman and his partner was originally pitched to Marvel comics as a very dark and violent Punisher mini story about 3-4 years before Max was created and of course it was rejected for being too dark and too violent. So…that left me with all of this material finished and no one wanting it. That’s when I decided to have a bit of fun with the stories and mix them together and see what happened.
I wanted to do a revenge story that I wanted to read, very reminiscent of the grind house films of the 70’s and 80’s. At the time Punisher Max didn’t exist and most of the comics out there were pretty tame with the exception of Preacher. I didn’t want to pull any punches so I made it with an over the top level of insane violence, sex and peppered it heavily with foul-mouthed dialogue and finally stirred it with a film noir sensibility.
Most of the comic scene has changed during the length of time that it took me to do the work for this GN but I still feel like no one has really touched on a story exactly like this one…Silent Scream pretty much wrote itself. For me the hard part was trying to get into the head of each character in order to understand how they would think and speak and still be able to walk away afterwards without losing who I was. It was sort of like method acting, immersing myself so completely into each character. It became a bit scary for me at the time because I was on Morphine in the Hospital hooked up to an IV unit. I was not allowed to eat for almost a week as tests were being run on me. Needless to say, writing when you’re hopped up is quite an experience to say the least.
New pen and ink drawing by Richard Serrao.
We’ve done a lot of hard thinking around here and made some big decisions. Plans have changed slightly.
King of Nekropolis is cancelled
The orders numbers came in from Diamond on King of Nekropolis and they were not large enough to justify printing the book. The reception was only about half that of our first book, Rex. Either people weren’t as jazzed about K.O.N. or we were the wrong publisher to put it out. Either way, we’ve killed the project. We will definitely continue to push Rex though. The webcomic continues to get a lot of readership which is encouraging. We’re extremely proud of that book.
Silent Scream starts on Thursday, Oct 16th.
We’ve got a new online graphic novel starting up this week, Silent Scream. It’s Richard Serrao’s first new work since Memento Mori. It’ll update on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of the year and beyond. It’s another gritty crime revenger brought to you in glorious black and white. This is a wet one with plenty o’ bullets.
Build Your Own Comic Empire
We’re starting up the “build your own comic empire” blogs again. They’ll be similar to the ones we did last year on MySpace, but updated and will go into much further depth. There’ll be tutorials, reviews, interviews and tons of other info-packed blog posts that will help new creators further along in their journey. Oh yeah…and there’ll be videos now as well.
Optimum Wound Volume 1.
We’re going back to our original plans to put out our creation under one roof. This was where our heads were at back in 2005 and ’06. The plan is to drop a 160-200 paged affordably priced bomb on you every 3 months. Something that takes a while to finish, doesn’t empty your wallet and will leave you thirsting for more every new season. We started off as a group package and I feel I’ve let down our original fan base by veering off into other publishing endeavors. I spent a whole year worried what the comic mainstream thought about us when the whole reason we launched was to be another alternative to the status quo.
You’re going to be served up a steady diet of edgy and sometimes dangerous fare again. I feel our original voice has been lost and now I’m ready to bring it back 120%.
We’re putting together Volume 1 right now and will have it out in the Spring of 2009.
Hitting the ground running.
You’ll be seeing this blog update a lot more often. There’ll be commentary, Q&A’s and new artwork posted regularly. You’ll have a reason to keep coming back.
Thanks for sticking around this long. We’re just getting started.
-Jay
By Richard Serrao
I recently interviewed Jacen Burrows and as always he’s very easy to talk to with no attitude despite being an awesome in demand artist. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time now, ever since he drew a comic called Skid Roze for Everette Hartsoe. For more info check out his website, livejournal or Myspace Page.
First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.
I worked as Scott Clark’s background assistant for a few Wildstorm books back in the early 90’s. I can’t remember issue numbers but it was during the Moore run and also included the Spawn Wildcats crossover. That was a lot of fun.
Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)
I did go to art school. I am a sequential art graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design but I would still say I am mostly self taught. Art School doesn’t really teach you things so much as give you an opportunity to just constantly work and figure things out for yourself.
Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?
All my work is digitally inked so all I use is pencil and paper. Standard 11×17 bristol and an assortment of pencil brands but all 2H to H with some 4H pencils for roughs.
Favorite brand of ink?
When I did ink I always used Black Magic
Type of paper:
I buy my stuff from Blue Line Pro who offer some great deals in bulk. I usually get 300 sheets at a time of 2 ply standard finish.
Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?
I am constantly looking through new artists but the ones I can always go back to for inspiration are Frazetta, Wrightson, Quitely, Adam Hughes, Josh Middleton and Katsuhiro Otomo. I always have a few pieces of each of their work near my desk.
Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. Could you give us a quick overview of your process?
There’s no real mystery to it. I like to go somewhere quiet and reread the script or descriptions a few times till I start getting ideas and then thumbnail out as many quick ideas as I can until something feels right and I can start developing that direction more. All done small on scrap paper. Once I have sketches I like I can move to the big paper. I try not to do a whole lot of the development on the final sheet because it can damage the tooth of the paper or cause dirty spots that don’t erase clean and disrupt the scan. One tip though, if you are ever having trouble getting in the zone, turn off all your noise. No TV, music, no people or pets, nothing but you and the page. The silence will kick start you and once going you can go back to whatever you normally do.
What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?
I’ve been going through a phase lately with less music than in the past. I have been listening to a lot of audio books while I work and I’m currently working the Chuck Palahniuk library. When I do listen to music I lean towards really dark atmospheric stuff like Inade, Godspeed and the recent Nine Inch Nails Ghosts or heavier stuff like Dozer, High on Fire, Devildriver and God Forbid. But I listen to a little bit of everything. The new Atmosphere is great.
What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you).
I have a lot of art up, mostly surrealists. I have some prints from Wayne Barlow, Cam Kennedy and Beksinski I really like a lot. I have a poster version of this one I really dig:
Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend)?
Cows by Matt Stokoe and .REC the Spanish horror movie being remade in the US as Quarantine or Wall-E.
Current and upcoming projects?
I’m currently working my way through CROSSED, a 9-issue horror survival series with Garth Ennis about the end of humanity and the most horrible things we can do to each other. After that I’ll be finishing up an Alan Moore miniseries I’ve been working on for a while.
What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?
Never take the easy or lazy way out. Do the hard angles if you think it makes better storytelling. Fill up the pages with details. Always remember you are competing with the best out there, not the worst currently working and you have to do the work. No shortcuts. Editors and publishers will respect a strong work ethic and a desire to improve over all else.
Previous Masters of Ink:
Tom Denney
Richard Serrao
Tony Moore
Erik Rose
Chris Weston
Jim Blanchard
Nathan Fox
Tom Denney
Richard Serrao
Dan Mumford
Ryan Jones
Rufus Dayglo
Kody Chamberlain
Over the last few months we spoke with an incredible line-up of comic creators, poster artists and illustrators. Here’s one of the twelve interviews.
By Richard Serrao & Jason Thibault
12 Questions with Tony Moore
Tony Moore first came to my attention as a comic book artist during the first year of The Walking Dead. Richard sent me over a few copies in the mail to check out and I was immediately taken with Tony’s style. He drew the first 6 issues and stayed on as the cover artist through issue 24. He has made his mark as serious creator of genre works and has continued on with The Exterminators (with Simon Oliver) and Fear Agent (with Rick Remender).
First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.
I don’t know if you can call it “professional” but my first book was Battle Pope, which Robert Kirkman and I released in 2000, under our independent label Funk-O-tron. We’d been friends since we were 12, which at that point had been about 8 years. He had some ideas and wanted to try publishing and he gave me a call. I was finishing my freshman year of art school and was down to try anything. It was a learning experience, and led to the job which allowed to quit my day job at UPS, which was Masters of the Universe’s Icons of Evil:
Beastman, a one-shot featuring the He-man villain.
Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)
Much of what I know about comics was from obsessively reading and studying them. as far as comics illustration goes, I’d say I’m self-taught. But, I did go to art school, where I majored in Drawing and endeavored to learn as much about fine art as I could. I took a lot of Life Drawing classes, as well as Painting and Printmaking. I think I learned a lot, most of which translated into some insight into drawing comics in one way or another, if not directly.
Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?
My standbys are Pilot v7 pens, Micron pigment liners (sizes 005, 01, 03), and round sable watercolor brushes. I used to buy small brushes, like size 0 or 2, but I recently fell in love with this ratty cheap size 8 brush. It’s giant and ugly, but it holds a load of ink, and has a miraculously fine point, which allows me to do a ton of work with it. Also, I like those Sharpie white poster paint pens for small corrections and negative drawing.
Favorite brand of ink:
Yasutomo & Co Sumi ink. Doesn’t appear to have shellac in it, so it’s easy to work with and washes out of my brushes if I carelessly forget to wash them.
Type of paper:
Strathmore 500 2 ply. All rag content, holds up to some abuse, and I can run it through my printer.
Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?
I keep a lot of EC comics around. Jack Davis, Wally Wood, John Severin, Will Elder.. those guys are my heroes. I also keep Joe Kubert, Moebius, Robert Crumb, and Guarnido nearby, as well. All these guys draw their asses off and have been a pretty definite influence on how I draw.
Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. Could you give us a quick overview of your process?
I read the script and break down the pages at 2″ x 3″. Working this small allows me to focus on the storytelling and not get hung up in needless details. Then I scan those, and add gutter spacing and resize panels where needed, composing my final layout in Photoshop, where I print it out in 6% Cyan at 10″ x 15″. Then, I lay in some loose pencils to get started and start inking. I do a lot of the drawing work in ink, and rarely do a lot of tight penciling beforehand. Sometimes I’ll have someone else inking me, in which case I spend quite a bit of time penciling all the details in instead of inking it. This usually only saves me a couple of hours, but a couple hours on each page and 22 pages per book, sometimes it adds up to quite a bit of time saved. Then, finally, I scan the pages, and in the cases where I have an inker, I mail them off to have the book finished.
What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?
A lot. I listen to music all day every day. I really love honkytonk, outlaw country, and alt-country. A lot of today’s new stuff has gotten so pop, it’s just soft-rock garbage. Country’s a natural fit for me, because it’s storytelling. Johnny Cash, Shel Silverstein, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, Neko Case, Gram Parsons, Southern Culture on the Skids, Buck Owens, Allison Krauss, Flatt and Scruggs, and all 3 Hank Williams, just to name a few. That’s not to say I don’t mix it up. I love the guys on the Rhymesayers label, and have a big collection of Norwegian black metal. Two of my all-time favorite bands are They Might Be Giants and Queen. My random playlists sound like crazy person programmed them.
What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?
Surprisingly little hanging on my studio walls, actually, but my favorite piece of artwork I own is the original painting of Fear Agent done by my hero, Jack Davis. The guy is 82 and still doesn’t miss a beat. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and to have an original EC comics master draw my character is a career high. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t get any better than that.
Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend)?
Unfortunately, I can’t remember the last novel I read. typically if I’m awake enough to read and comprehend, I figure I should be using the energy to work. The last book I read on a whim was The Stranger by Camus, and it was years ago. I bought The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard, and never got more than a handful of pages into it. The last movie I watched was High Plains Drifter, which is a load of awesome. The last new movie I watched was probably No Country For Old Men, which I also enjoyed greatly.
Current and upcoming projects.
Right now, I’m working on Fear Agent: I Against I, which is a 6 issue arc of space western madness on the book I co-created with Rick Remender. Beyond that, nothing is set in stone, but I have talked to some editors about some potentially tasty projects.
What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?
Keep at it and chase the dream. Always be studious and working to improve yourself. When you’re complacent, you’re dead. Working in comics is kinda like that fight scene in Cool Hand Luke, where Newman gets the hell beaten out of him but won’t stay down. If, like me, you’re too dumb to stay down, then don’t compromise, either. You only get one go-round on this ride, so make it a ride worth taking. Also, don’t mistake working on a ‘big’ book or that ‘next level’ for an
answer to happiness. A lot of guys find that these dream books that look like an oasis on the horizon are actually just mirages, slaving away on someone else’s book with no control or stake in it to show for it. If it ain’t what you want to do, then figure out what makes you happy and go do it, because you never know when your time is up, and if you put off your own happiness, you might never get the chance to pursue it.
For further reading head on over to Tony’s Myspace page or his website
More Masters of Ink:
Jacen Burrows
Erik Rose
Chris Weston
Jim Blanchard
Nathan Fox
Tom Denney
Richard Serrao
Dan Mumford
Ryan Jones
Rufus Dayglo
Kody Chamberlain
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