Join host Blair Butler for this Fresh Ink Online holiday treat: an interview with Kevin Eastman! Yes, the creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine, and all around comic icon shows off his special Meltdown Comics workshop/gallery and chats about his latest projects.

Make sure to visit Fresh Ink on Twitter and Facebook.

By Jason Vaughn

As we lead up to our “35 Days with Kevin Eastman” event (Nov. 30^th-Jan. 4^th), it seems only right that we take some time to spotlight the next generation of independent creators out there who are following in the footsteps of such greats as Kevin, Peter Laird, Jeff Smith, Dave Sim, Eric Powell, Bryan Lee O’Malley and others. Two upcoming indie creators, Kyle Winters and Mike Andersen from Grass Valley, California are on the verge of a “big hit” and have “taken aim” (OK, I’ll stop with the puns) at the “big three” with their self-published title “Trigger Men.” Given the growing popularity of digital comics, it’s refreshing to see new creators with the courage to publish their own books in a market dominated by force-fed multiple Wolverine and Batman titles. Produced and published out of their shingle Triptych Books, Winters and Andersen (with the help of another future superstar, artist Heather Brinesh) have crafted a dark comedic bromance of a story. The plot revolves around the misadventures of two guys, friends since childhood who grew up to be contract killers in high school.  Now, adults who’ve gone their separate ways, they come together for what they believe will be one final job.  Think “Grosse Point Blank” meets “Justified.” I had the opportunity to talk to Mike and Kyle about “Trigger Men”, Triptych books, and what’s coming around the corner in the near future for both.

Guys, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. I’m digging the story of “Trigger Men” and not just because I’m a narcissist and there’s a lead named Jason in it.

M: We’ll take that.

Also, I was an assassin for hire at one point as well.

(Laughs)

I like the bromance between Matt and Jason you guys have come up with, it’s a lot of fun. Let’s start out with an easy one. What kind of comics were you guys in to growing up and what do you currently read?

M: “I’m really big in to indie comics in general, which is actually kind of a big motivation for us to create comics. We would go to conventions and only be able to find the first few issues of a run. It’s hard trying to find indie comics because a lot of them ended very early. The one I’m really enjoying now is “The Walking Dead.”

K: “I grew up with ‘Spiderman,’ that was a very integral part of my childhood. A lot of ‘Spiderman,’ some ‘Batman’ titles, comics that a traditional reader would pick up when they’re young. Then I basically got out of reading comics from about seventh grade through high school. Right after high school, we all started going to the San Diego Comic Con and that kind of got me back into comics. At that point, I found myself more interested in the independent stuff, the creator owned comics. Right now the things I’ve been into actually are more journalistic comics.”

M: “I’m also a huge fan of “The Tick.”

Spoon! (The Tick’s battle cry, I’d explain but it’d take too long. Hit Meltdown and grab a trade instead.)

(Laughs)

M: “We actually picked up like a five hundred page collection of ‘The Tick’ when we were down at the Long Beach Comic Con.”

Nice, I was a fan of the animated series. So, what was your inspiration for “Trigger Men?”

M: “I think it was an idea that the genesis stemmed from the fact that I like hit men, assassin based stories. But frequently the stories don’t go where I want them to go, and this particular story I like because it’s more personal. “

K: “More realistic I think.”

M: “Exactly, so I think it was more that I wanted to write not just in the genre, but the way I wanted to read the genre.”

When did you guys start collaborating together?

K: “We met in a high school creative writing class and we were the only ones in the class not writing ‘boy meets girl, girl meets boy, they break up, they get back together again and fall in love forever’ stories. Our stuff was a little dark, but that’s high school. From that we became friends, and within six months of knowing each other, we knew that we wanted to write something together. For five years we’ve been working on what we wanted to do and created our own company, Triptych Books. Finally in the last two years things have started to move forward, and a little over a year ago we debuted with ‘Trigger Men.’”

So tell me, which of you was bullied so bad in high school that you wanted to kill the jerk? (Read the book.)

(Laughs)

K: “I never had issues with bullying in high school. In our high school, everyone was big enough and pretty well accepted. In my school, the nerds were in charge.”

M: “I saw a bit of bullying, but I was never personally bullied. It was something that I felt  was definitely there, that type of favoritism, and I think that was something I wanted to use in the series because it’s very relatable to a lot of people. Plus it’s always fun to watch an @$$h*le get his comeupins. It’s a good plot point in the story, because you can have a character do something that is objectively bad and still find yourself rooting for them.”

Right, it’s a great engine for the first arc. What made you guys decide to publish your own title instead of going the much cheaper digital comic route?

K: “We really liked the idea of trying to attack the whole thing professionally. One thing we noticed with a lot of indie comics when we were going to conventions and kind of learning about what the comic world really was is that their presentation was one of the things holding them back. They weren’t thinking about this as trying to future prove it, they weren’t thinking about it as a business.  We wanted to do something for the long run. Our goal is to create a publishing company that not only creates a large body of work but good work, but the editorial meddling isn’t there. One thing about going to a bigger publisher, which we kind of toyed with after we started poking around a little bit, is that after they promise to make it, you get, ‘We love Matt and Jason, but what if there was a talking dog? And instead of them being hitmen maybe they could be cops. One of them is a cop and the other is a police dog.”

Welcome to Hollywood.

K: “Exactly, and we didn’t want that so we kind of felt like we could make a better product if we did it professionally, of high quality, and under our own guidance.”

I hear you guys were approached to potentially develop for television. How did that come about?

K: “The rep from the production company was going to her husband’s panel at Wonder Con and we were the first booth she saw as she was walking across the floor. She saw our book, picked it up, and a few months later called us and basically said ‘we really like this, we’re really interested.’ It was basically just a really happy accident. One thing though that’s kind of been interesting, before we were approached to pitch, Mike and I would go to a panel at these conventions called ‘Hollywood Horror Stories.’ The whole thing is these comic creators talking about their horrible experiences in Hollywood. So, when we got our first call, we were initially worried about becoming like the guys at those panels in a couple of years, but we’ve had nothing but positive interactions with them. ”

M: “We’re incredibly lucky. We send them material and apparently everyone in the office eats it up. We’re told every time they get ‘Trigger Men’ in, every copy is quickly snatched up. It’s a pretty gratifying feeling.”

Can you share some of that luck this way?

(Laughs)

K: “You know, that’s kind of one of our guiding principles, that ‘we all succeed when we all do better.’ The comics world needs more diversity, and it needs more people to succeed, not just the big three. Now don’t get me wrong I love ‘Spiderman,’ I love ‘Green Lantern,’ but I really think the industry needs more people like all the other creators out there who are trying to show their own work, trying to do something different. So we try to get books out whenever we can.”

What’s in store for the future of Triptych Books Publishing? Are there any other titles in the works?

K: “Mike is the main creative force on “Trigger Men” as the writer, and I do the production side of it, help with ideas, edit, I think they call it ‘touch-up’ in Hollywood. I’m also writing a couple of series that are currently under production. Mike has a few other things that are going on. We also have a friend of ours who is an absolutely fantastic writer; she’s working on a series for us. So we have a number of projects that are currently in different levels of production. We’re hoping that soon enough these series will start coming down the pipeline. We’re going to start expanding out. ‘Trigger Men’ is our first pillar in what we hope is going to be a foundation of awesome comics.”

What type of genres are you looking to publish? Or is it just anything goes as long as it’s good storytelling?

K: “We really want to go the wide spectrum, but we also do like to write in a certain area. We both really enjoy stories that have a fair amount of action in them, so a lot of our projects have leaned toward the action genre. We’ve got everything from scifi to supernatural to very, very dark humor coming out. We want to balance things accordingly, but eventually end up with a wide spectrum of books.”

M: “I’d say the only real strong trend to our stuff is that it leans towards older readers. A lot of it tends to be for a more mature audience.”

K: “Like sixteen and up.”

M: “Yeah, but other than that, the three main books I’m working on right now are ‘Trigger Men,’ a goofier comedy, and a much more serious and somber story. We’re really trying to hit as many notes as we can.”

K: “It helps us, I think, to market our company also by saying that we don’t want to be just an indie publisher. Our interest is in well told stories.”

The famed American novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler once said, “A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.” Well, whatever the guys at Triptych Books have brewing up next, count me in. And if you would like to drink the kool-aid as well, click on the link to their website below and pick up a copy of “Trigger Men.”

www.triptychbooks.com

Go ahead and follow me on Twitter: @GoTodash

The Mutant Season: Don Murphy

Meltdown Comics is a major community hub of Los Angeles’ geek culture. But as Shane Coleman, the ordering manager of the West Hollywood store tells us, it’s even more than that.

by Jason Vaughn

“Evil isn’t a force…it’s a choice…I’m weighing my options.”

- Jack Springheel

Digital comics have exploded on to the internet at such an exponential rate, it’s no surprise when top industry creators collaborate to craft passion projects online. Artist Dennis Calero, who is best known for his work in Platinum Comics’ “Cowboys and Aliens” as well as his Harvey Award-nominated run in Marvel’s “X-Factor,” has teamed up with writer/actor Todd Stashwick (“Heroes,” “Men of a Certain Age,” “The Riches”) to create one hell of a story about the Devil questioning his own role in the grand scheme of the universe. The “Devil Inside” has become such an underground cult hit that the web comic is vastly approaching eight hundred thousand hits in just its first year. The log line on Todd’s website describes the series better than I could:

“A guns blazing, white knuckled, preternatural joy ride to hell and back. Go on the road with the Devil himself, Jack Springheel. A man with a bounty on his head, Jack is running from a past, searching for a new truth and trying to keep the Devil inside.”

I had the fortunate opportunity to speak with Todd and Dennis (albeit through several interruptions due to technical difficulties, thank you very much AT&T) about the inception of their successful indie strip, “Devil Inside.”

Thanks for taking the time guys; I’m a big fan of both of your work. Todd, I still have your “Scarpulla rap” on my DVR (“Men of a Certain Age”), I think you missed your calling.

T: I apologize for that posthumous.

And, Dennis, your run on X-Factor is still one of the best in the series so far.

D: Thank you so much!

You guys are professionally from two different worlds, how did you end up collaborating on this web series?

T: Well, it sort of happened on Twitter actually. I was on “Heroes” and they introduced the character in a web comic before the TV show, and Dennis was the artist on that comic. I’m a comic book fan myself, so when I saw a promo of the online book, I immediately ran to check out how I was being represented, and I was being well represented. So I started using Twitter, and I made my avatar on Twitter one of his drawings. Then I contacted Dennis just to touch base and also that I dug this (the avatar pic), and he was a fan of the show I was on called “The Riches,” and so we built a friendship that way. He said that he was coming in to L.A. and wanted to meet up for coffee. We started discussing all the things we were  into, our favorite video games, comic books, movies, all assorted types of geekery. I had a germ of an idea about the Devil having a crisis of conscience and he said ‘Hey, let’s do that as a web comic.’

That was actually my next question. How did you come up with the idea?

T: Well, I play villains all the time, so I’m often fascinated with the idea of the occult. Sort of getting into the psyche of a villain, and I’m always trying to find the layers on the other side. There’s just too many to deal with. So all in all, almost everything I play on TV is a lot like the guy with a bullet in his head. My objective basically was to make a protagonist by extenuating circumstances into this space. And so I thought who is the ultimate villain, and obviously the Devil, so I went “what if the Devil was having a crisis of conscience, and started questioning his own path?” Then I turned to Dennis and he and I created a whole cosmology as well a series bible for the first arc of the story.

I’m sure parallels will be drawn with Vertigo’s “Lucifer” title that focused on the same anti-hero, what makes this particular incarnation unique?

T: Let me tell you this that I myself was weaned on those early Vertigo comics like Hellblazer or Sandman. In regards to “Lucifer”  in a log line only that the “Devil quits” is the only similarity. It’s like comparing “True Blood” and “Buffy.” They both have a blonde lead in love with a vampire, but that’s about where the similarities end. “Lucifer” had a lead that was a slick night club owner, our guy is more of a beat-up cop at the end of his career.

Are you hoping to use the series as pitch material for outlets like TV and film, or is your intent to try and bring “Devil Inside” to a more traditional publisher like Marvel or DC?

D: The “Devil Inside” is very representative; we considered bringing it to Archaia or Radical, one that would allow us the freedom to do what we wanted with the story. And we thought really if we wanted to do something that was one hundred percent ours, the value for us was going to be in generating interest, so going with an independent book, we felt didn’t merit the pace and direction we wanted to take it.

T: We realized we could reach with Dennis’ presence in the comic world and my presence in the sort of genre world through stuff like “Supernatural,” “Terminator,” “Buffy” and what not; we were able to reach many more people than we ever would if we were to print. It’s going to be instant and it’s going to be free. So our currency in spec’ing this online comic endeavor was a little. It’s now getting twenty thousand views a week, and we’re approaching eight hundred thousand views since the launch of the series last year. You want to keep growing that audience.

D: You know how the comic book market is right now. We were interested in making our property pervasive. We thought about charging but if Batman, Superman, and Spiderman are having trouble racking up sales, we’re not going to get our unknown character to do well in today’s market. Beyond that, it’s a horror character so where are we going to go with that? So we thought free was the way to go. But we thought what could we do that would be free, and have value, but still maintain possession of our careers? And that’s why the web comic format came up.

How did you go about launching the web series?

T: I had put in some thought about re-doing my website, so I basically just had my web master and my web designer build into the website itself an entire page solely devoted to “Devil Inside.” Upon the re-launch of my current website I was able to use that as a springboard to announce the online comic “Devil Inside.” We went to Comic-Con and put the first strip up on boards and we just hawked and hawked. We were interviewed by G4 online, we were interviewed by Fear Net, Sony TV came by, and people just started asking us questions because they were fascinated with the product. So basically it’s all been word of mouth and on the back of the fans who have been following Dennis and I in our other pursuits. It shortly turned into this fever pitch, I enjoy those things, and Dennis enjoys those things so we were already creating something that we wanted to read that they enjoyed as well. The fans are the ones spreading it around, we only use Facebook and Twitter, that’s our only advertising.

It’s a new world order with social media these days.

T: It really is. Considering we initially met because of the “Heroes” web comic, we connected through Twitter, and ninety percentage of our collaboration is done through email since he lives in New York and I live in Los Angeles. We’re texting each other ideas, we’ll send each other layouts, which really means it’s all on social media.

 How far out do you have the story boarded?

D: We have a vague idea of where the story is going to go years out. We know how the story ends; we could go five, ten, twenty years. We could go as long as we like. There is certainly a regard to precedence for that in the adventure strip market.  Comic strips like “James Bond” went for forty years or more before they stop generating new strips.

T: What we do is we literally sit down from week to week and create an outline of stories from which we map out like a year’s worth of strips. That way we know which scenes we want to do each week.  We sort of map it out a year in advance. So we’re finishing up the first year of the strip, and we know what the next year is going to be. That way we kind of know where it’s going from year to year.

If the series went to TV or film how would it deviate from the source material?

D: It all depends on where it was taken. Certainly if we were in Nickelodeon it would be an entirely different story. But if we were on SyFy, FX, or AMC I could see where it would remain really loyal to what it was we created.

T: If it wasn’t on a major network it would be much easier. We definitely have created something dark. Having come from the cable world with “The Riches” I like the freedom that you are allowed. I like the idea of keeping the writing strong with the amount of freedom you have to go dark.

The “Devil Inside” is definitely dark, and currently on its 53^rd week. Click the link below to check out the entire sinful story from the very beginning. And for all of you coming down to “Nerdvana” (also known as the San Diego Comic-Con) this week, keep an eye out for Todd and Dennis as they’ll both be in attendance. Dennis will be at the “Immortals” panel on Thursday from 1-2 in room 32AB, and both Todd and Dennis will be down in Artist Alley “FF-05″ off and on throughout the week.

http://www.toddstashwick.com/comic.asp?E=22

Follow me on Twitter: @GoTodash

On Thursday July 28th, you’re invited to spend an intimate evening with the legendary Grant Morrison for the release of his new book “Supergods: What Masked Viglilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human”. By just buying Supergods from Meltdown Comics, you’ll not only get a copy of this amazing book, but you’ll also get a night filled with Q&A with the man himself, a signing, perhaps some videos, and maybe even a song or two, as the festivities will be hosted by a very special, very chemical, romantic guest Musical CollaboratoR. Closed to the first 200 responders only, so act fast! If you’re not in Los Angeles, you can get a signed copy of Supergods shipped to your home and support indy book stores.

If you’re in LA, you get the book, the signature, plus the show! Just $28! PURCHASE TICKETS HERE.

Not in Los Angeles and would like a SIGNED copy of the book? CLICK HERE.

July 28th, 2011 8pm
Meltdown Comics
7522 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 900046

While Robert Kirkman, co-creator of Walking Dead, was at Nerdist Theater at Meltdown last week, we thought we’d pull him aside and ask him what some of his favorite comics are. Here’s Kirkman’s reading list, as well as a teaser of some of his upcoming projects!

You can buy all the comics Kirkman mentioned- Rasl, Criminal, Morning Glories, Chew, Savage Dragon, Paying For It- and thousands more at Meltdown Comics. Come for the comics, stay for the show!

Fools for Love: a Nerd Speed-Dating Show

Are you tired of going to Meltdown on Wednesday, to pick up your comics alone? Does your Mage not have a warrior to protect him? Does the arrow on your “There is no intelligent life” t-shirt not point to anyone?

Well Meltdown Comics is here to help your lonely heart. We are holding the first ever nerd speed dating event. This is no April Fools joke. For $20 you get to be a part of fun night where single men and women with similar interests get to know each other ASAP. There will also be fun prizes, some comedy bits and music.

How it works: What is speed dating you ask? The ladies sit down and every 3 minutes gents rotate. You introduce yourself. Get a feel for the other person. The ladies take notes on all the men the meet. At the end of the night the sheet with notes are given to Meltdown. If there is a match we let you know then you go on a date, you get married and you have kids you dress up like Hobbits for Halloween.

Of course we will be adding some of the spice that you expect from any event at Meltdown. There will be wine, trivia questions, prizes, comedians and much much more.

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Meltdown Comics
7522 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046 (map)

Purchase Tickets Online via our Webshop

As you flip around the television looking for something to watch, do you find yourself missing the days of Joss Whedon’s cool Dollhouse on FOX?  Yeah, us, too… but cheer up, Meltheads, because Dollhouse lives on in our favorite medium!  Dark Horse Publishing and the little marketing elves at FOX came up with a great plan and a new, limited edition comic entitled “Epitaphs” is being exclusively packaged with the Dollhouse Season 2 DVD.

But wait, there’s more!  “Epitaphs” is written by none other than Dollhouse series writers Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen who also wrote the key epilogue episodes of the series, Epitaph 1 and 2.  And yes, Jed and Maurissa are two of the brains behind the genius “Dr. Horrible” musical.  In both the series and the comic, the “Epitaphs “stories tell how the destructive Dollhouse technology went from being just used on Actives to going global and destroying the world.  The comic, like the show, features the popular characters of “Mag” (Felicia Day) and “Zone” (Zack Ward.)

But wait, there’s still more!  While the first issue of the Dollhouse comic series is featured with the DVD, the good folks at Dark Horse will also be releasing a one-shot follow up and later down the line, a mini-series of the title.  So, to get a little more info on it all, Jason and I went straight to the source – Jed and Maurissa themselves.

S – While the show was in production, was there a plan for a DH comic?

J&M – Originally, a Dollhouse comic was out of the question.  As a new show, we were already off to a rough start… Joss didn’t want to complicate issues by adding anything to his already packed plate.  And with Dollhouse’s intricate premise, it was a bit challenging to envision it in a comic book format.  But as the series progressed and we discovered the apocalyptic world of the Epitaphs, the idea began to appeal to us.  Slowly but surely.

S – Who approached you to write it?  Joss?

J&M – Scott Allie at Dark Horse always kept the idea for the comic alive.  So pushy, that Scott!  But good on him, because here we are.  We started brainstorming together, presented our ideas to Joss, and he gave us the go ahead.

S – Is any of the story to come something we would have seen in a season 3 of the series?

J&M – Possibly.  The very mention of a Season Three is giving us the giggles.  Giggles that are suppressing our tears.

J – How many of the DH characters will make an appearance or have an arc?

J&M – Some of the main characters established in the series will appear in the comics.  And we’ll introduce some new faces as well.

J – How many issues of this run are planned?

J&M – Six altogether, including the issue that was featured in the Season Two dvd.

J – Now that you’re officially comic writers, any plans for original titles?

J&M -Doing an original title would be fun, but we have a lot of TV writing keeping us busy right now…

S – Aside from the DH comic, what other projects are you working on?

J&M – We’re currently writing on the prequel and Season Two of Spartacus on Starz.  We’re also working on a few feature and pilot ideas that we’ve been wanting to conquer for a while now.  And of course we’re always working on material for Dr. Horrible 2.  Joss has a few songs that he’s going to play for us some point soon, but his schedule is a kind of tight right now.  He’s writing some indie feature called “Avengers”?  We’re always like, “Joss, do your career a favor and think bigger.  Reach higher.”  But he doesn’t listen.

We want to thank Jed and Maurissa for giving us a little insight into the upcoming DH series.  These are definitely two writers to keep your eyes on as they continue to build upon their impressive credits.  We’ll be watching Spartacus, and like most of the free world, be eagerly awaiting a follow-up to “Dr. Horrible.”  Can’t wait to see what projects are coming up next!

Follow us on twitter: Stacey – @TVStaceyLevin; Jason – @GoTodash.

MaximumFun.org’s 2010 MaxFunDrive ends on May 28th with a blowout eight-hour show hosted by Jordan and Jesse, with all kinds of amazing special guests. We’ll have a live audience at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles, and stream live audio and video to our adoring fans across the world.

Reservations for the show are currently full, and attendees with reservations will be seated first. However, there is ample space for overflow. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Scheduled guests include:
Jimmy Pardo & Matt Belknap
The Sklar Brothers
Sarah Thyre & Andy Richter
Paul Scheer & Rob Huebel
Jimmy Dore & Stef Zamorano
Edie McClurg
Scott Aukerman
Clifford & Kidd
Karen Kilgariff
Stephen Tobolowski
Superego
Mike Schmidt
Plus, from Stop Podcasting Yourself, Dave Shumka!

See you May 28th!

Live video provided by INDHD.com

MaxFunDrive 2010 Blowout Finale Bash @MeltdownComics this Friday! | Meltdown, Inc.