Since the
early 2000s Com.x has been making waves in the comics industry.
Releasing high quality and innovative titles like Cla$$war, Seeds,
Passion's Requiem and many more. CBNAH did an interview with Eddie
Deighton and Benjamin Shahrabani from Com.x to talk about the history
of the company, the dark time period, upcoming titles and more!
CBNAH:
First of all, Cla$$war was an awesome series you guys did in the
early '00.
Benjamin
Shahrabani: Thank
you for the kind words. You made my day!
CBNAH: For
those who are unfamiliar with Com.x, can you give us a brief history
of the company?
BMS:
Com.x was launched back in 2000. Bazooka Jules, Puncture, Razorjack,
Cla$$war, Sky Between Branches, N-Jin and Codename: Babetool were the
original launch titles. We took a break mid-2007, until we relaunched
again in 2009. We then published Path which was nominated for a Russ
Manning Award, along with a hardcover edition of the Cla$$war series
and a collected edition of Razorjack. This was followed by
[Forty-Five]45 which was released to much acclaim in 2011, followed
by Monster Myths which debuted at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, and
Babble earlier this year which has gotten some amazing press, and was
also nominated for a Russ Manning Award (Most Promising Newcomer
Artist award).
CBNAH:
From 2003 to 2007 the company went through a dark time period. How
was the company able to make a comeback to publishing?
BMS:
Eddie is actually the only original member of the team left standing
(although I've been there for a long time and was also there during
as what Ray Liotta in 'Goodfellas' may have described as 'These are
the bad times…'). Perhaps he'd like to answer that one, as without
him I don't think we'd be speaking…
Eddie
Deighton: Yeah, I
guess I'm the best one to answer that! I think the simple answer is
faith, confidence and an unwavering passion. We did go through some
tough times, both financially and structurally, but in my heart I've
always wanted to publish comics so, no matter what we went through, I
knew that if my heart was still in it, Com.x would always exist.
Independent publishing is an extremely tough market - even more so
with the dominance the majors have over the retail sector now - but
we meet so many talented people with amazing stories to tell that my
enthusiasm is still strong. Fortunately, Ben and Jon both feel the
same way, so we're still committed to publishing interesting, unique
stories that entertain the comic reader. For me, I still want Com.x
to represent all that's interesting about comics and we always strive
to do something different.
CBNAH: Is
there any new information on the Cla$$war film adaptation?
BMS:
The film thing has been a bit frustrating… But then again that's
the film business for you. One of the biggest problems has been that,
often times, when people in charge think about what property they
want to make into a film, one of the things they look at is
'pre-awareness.' If we sold millions of copies, that wouldn't be a
problem. Across all issues, Cla$$war sold very well for an
independent, but it's a drop in the ocean compared to Marvel and DC
superhero titles. Also, it's a superhero title, and even though the
characters aren't superheroes (they are genetically engineered
super-soldiers), it is close enough to where folks pass on Cla$$war
because Marvel and DC do super-hero so well. So, we're thinking about
approaching this a TV series now…
ED:
If we had a dime for every conversation we've had in Hollywood about
translating Cla$$war for the big screen, we probably could have
funded our own film by now! Seriously, the project has been through
so many media transitions that it's been hard to keep track over the
last decade. The Mandeville option expired quite some time ago, so
we're in negotiations with other parties at present.
The main
issues have always been the budget it would take to realize Rob
Williams' vision and the fact that, even though it was a
highly-regarded and successful indie superhero book, that the sales
(and heritage) you couldn't compare to something like a Marvel or DC
title. It's easy with the bigger publishers to be able to look at
book sales and readership and gauge expectations but that's harder to
do on a smaller book. It needs more faith from the producer and
studio, even if the reviews are outstanding. Also, you have to
consider that most successful comic film properties have had decades
to establish themselves and that's helped to build hype and awareness
so I guess, looking at how many years it took to get Watchmen to the
big screen, that we're not doing too badly.
Unfortunately
we can't say too much about the status of the project but rest
assured, we'll certainly be shouting from the rooftops when we can.
CBNAH: Can
you give us any insight to the unreleased Silent Hill graphic novel?
Did the story follow closely to the game or movie or was it more an
original idea? Any chance it will ever be released?
ED:
Yes, the graphic novel did follow the storyline closely (or one of
storylines, at least). The book release hit a few corporate stumbling
blocks when the game was released, hence it never seeing the light of
day; it was certainly nothing to do with the quality of the
production - it's just the way things go when you're dealing with
global companies sometimes. We still have it as a production-ready
file, so you never know. We've been discussing releasing it as a
piece of fan art, with Konami's permission, some time in the future,
so you may get to see it yet.
CBNAH: Is
there any title that you would recommend for somebody who isn't
familiar Com.X?
BMS:
Well, you mentioned Cla$$war, so there's that. Of previous releases,
45 is a great primer to Com.x… If you can find a copy (note – it
is available on a few digital formats – but we're big proponents of
the print format). Andi Ewington's book is pretty unique because its
a hybrid of sorts. Its one continuous story and each page is a splash
page drawn by 45 different artists. It's a great, great story about a
prospective father looking to find out what he might have in store if
his child is born with superpowers.
ED:
Hmmm… that's a tough one - I think it depends on the person asking
the question. You'll see from the books we've published that there's
a range of genres we've dipped into. We never wanted to be
pigeon-holed with one particular genre and we've always strived to
bring comics to the masses, hence supporting books such as Seeds and
Monster Myths. Of course, with Cla$$war, Bazooka Jules and
[Forty-Five]45 we've proven that we can do superhero as good as the
next publisher, so we do feel we offer something for everyone's
taste. I hope that's what makes us interesting.
CBNAH: I
very much enjoyed Monster Myths! I can't help but think this would
make a great video game series. Have you ever considered it?
ED:
Hey, if Rockstar Games or Deep Silver ever wanted to discuss an
adaptation, we'd be more than happy to accommodate! Of course, we'd
love to see our books adapted for Games, TV or Film. Monster Myths
would make a great game!
BMS:
Do you have a great idea about how it might be adapted into a game,
because it's never crossed our minds about how to do it? Perhaps
'Grand Theft Auto' style?
CBNAH: Can
you give us any insight on the creative process you use? Or run us
through a day in Com.x?
BMS:
Eddie, Jon, and myself are Com.x… So we do everything between us.
It's a small team, but we each have our strengths. We all do curating
– deciding on submissions. If we can't all unanimously say we'd pay
our hard earned dollar (or UK pound) for that book off the shelf, we
have to turn the creators down. Besides editing (which we all do), I
focus on promotion and marketing. Of course this is cyclical, as we
only release 3-4 books a year… But during that time period we are
solely focused on that single project… Which is very good from the
creator's point of view, I think.
ED:
In addition to the generic company chores my main role is the graphic
design, lettering and production. Effectively, anything the creative
team don't or can't do, I'm there to back them up on. I'll also offer
that extra creative support when it comes to story editing or conceptualizing as you may be aware of previously on [Forty-Five]45,
where I worked closely with Andi (Ewington) to make sure the book was
a really 'tight' package. We worked so well together that we went on
to write the BlueSpear one-shot between us. I'm honoured to have been
allowed to design and letter most of our books - Cla$$war, Razorjack,
Sky Between Branches, N-Jin, Babetool, BlueSpear, Babble and the
upcoming Duppy'78.
CBNAH: Can
you tell us anything about the upcoming titles Bushido Wasabi and
DUPPY'78?
BMS:
These titles have been in gestation for a while, but I'm pleased to
say 'Duppy' is finally complete and, minus a couple of little tweaks,
it should have been solicited by the time this article is published.
Because all of our titles are a labor of love, they take quite a long
time to come out, much like a baby (actually, much longer than a
baby). How to describe? Duppy is 'The Harder They Come' meets 'Akira'
meets 'Ju-On.' Got it? It's a supernatural Jamaican gangster tale
where children have the power to control the 'duppy' - spirits in the
Rastafarian culture known to cause mischief and harm… But I
guarantee (no money back sadly) that by the time readers turn the
last page they will be tearing up.
ED:
It's too early to talk about Bushido, really, but it's kind of like
Mad Max meets Samurai Jack - that's all I can say at the moment!
CBNAH: Can
you tell us about the title "Seeds"? do you often find
inspiration from actual events? And is donating proceeds to charity
something you'll do again?
BMS:
Awww, man. 'Seeds' blew me away when I read it. When you look at what
we publish, at first glance it looks like it doesn't fit in with the
rest of our titles, but it does when you think about our ethos. Look
a little deeper, and one of the things you'll find is actually the
lack of consistency of the subject matter which we publish. All our
books are very different from one another.
Seeds
felt like a book that should have been picked up by a Fantagraphics
or a D&Q… But for whatever reason they didn't… And it came to
us. At the time, all three of us at Com.x (Eddie Deighton, Jon Sloan,
and myself) had been affected by Cancer indirectly in some way. It
felt like it was important to get Ross Mackintosh's story out there.
It resonated with us, and with readers. If we publish another book
where it makes sense to donate a portion of the proceeds to charity,
we would certainly do so.
ED:
Yes, it was an interesting turn of events. Ross emailed us inquiring as to what our submissions procedure was. At the time, we weren't
actively looking for more titles, but I told him we would consider
reviewing samples pages, if he had any. That evening he sent through
the entire graphic novel - written, drawn and lettered! I read it the
next day and was so profoundly moved by the experience that I sent it
straight to Jon and Ben to read. They both came back straight away
and agreed that we needed to find a publishing slot for the book.
That's the joy of independent-publishing - if it feels right and
budget allows, you can find a place in your schedule for something
that special.
CBNAH:
What comics are you currently reading in your spare time?
ED:
I've just finished the Daredevil Ultimate Collection #82-119 written
by Brubaker and Rucka and illustrated by Lark, Gaudiano, Aja, etc.
Wonderful stuff - Ed Brubaker wrote one of the most moving scenes
I've read in comics for a long time. I've also just finished The Nao
Of Brown and I'm a sucker for re-reading old Justice League and The
Authority.
BMS:
Comics wise, I just finished reading 'Unlikely' by Jeffrey Brown, and
just picked up 'Dream Thief' by Jai Nitz. Both are really unlike each
other…but I guess showcase my diverse taste. I'm also reading a lot
of prose right now. I'm hooked on the work of Walter Tevis – he
wrote 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' and 'The Color of Money'. I'M
reading some of his other work like 'The Steps of the Sun' and
'Queens Gambit'. Sooooo good. I just wish he had written more!
CBNAH:
Thank you, for your time.
ED:
Thank you!
BMS:
Me too!
Also,
checkout Com.x official website www.comxcomics.com and on Twitter
twitter.com/ComXcomics
