Eternal Coda; Interview with Bobby Hornsby, Guitarist & Vocals of Coda

L-R Tommy Hornsby(Bass), Bobby Hornsby(Guitar & Vocals) & Justin Bourn(Drums)

From Canton, Georgia, Coda has slowly building an audience locally with their heavy riffs and hard-hitting drums. The progressive metal/rock band released their first album Mechanism through Tate Music Group early this year. The band is currently working on new material for a new album. CBNAH staff writer Panagiotis Drakopoulos caught up with lead vocals and guitarist Bobby Hornsby to talk about the band, their music and a few thoughts on the music industry.

CBNAH: Can you tell us about growing up in Georgia?

Bobby Hornsby: Absolutely. Without sounding too silly(laughs), I live north of Georgia, about an hour away. As far as growing up, not backwoods but kind of in the woods, we always had property, we've always been able to kind of ride spoilers and dirt bikes. Never in the middle of the city but growing up in Georgia is good. The weather is never too bad, too hot and really too cold. It's just been good.  

CBNAH: How did the band came together?

BH: Well, my brother, Tommy plays bass and he was in a band with our drummer, Justin. I was in a separate band maybe five or six years ago, and it ended up falling apart like a lot of these do when they're early on. I basically said, "I would like to play with you guys. I know you're starting up and going. Let's get together and see what happens?" We all share a common interest in music, which is always been the progressive kind of technical side of things. We've worked hard and stuck together ever since.

CBNAH: Who are your main influences in the music?

BH: Oh man, Dude (laughs). The obvious ones are going to be Dream Theater, Rush, Tool is pretty good. A lot of the newer acts like Animals as Leaders, Protest the Hero from up there where you guys in Canada, which is great. Any of those acts that are super technical and we also get into a lot of the other --  this is going to sound silly, but anything that sounds sonically good to us like Kesha and Pink. Some of their albums are so sonically just in your face and loud. It's unbelievable how they can make it some of that stuff sound so good. So, we're across the board, Pink Floyd and a lot of the old classic rock stuff. The only thing that we never really been into would be like Country.

CBNAH: Take us through your writing process - Do you guys write separately or together?

BH: Usually the way that works for us is bringing in a riff or a drum beat or an idea or what we call "vibe". Kind of what we're trying to portray with it and it usually stems from that little bit of a seed up until, whatever it is becoming, whether it ends up like a five minute deal or fifteen deal. It's mostly, I would say about ninety-five percent of the time it's always started with the music that way usually with the vibe or the riff. Lyrics, melodies and that kind of stuff will come after. Because I'm the vocalist I like to hear and have the whole slate done, and say we need to elongate something for a verse or a chorus or a bridge, we'll go back and make the song longer musically to fit that with the vocals.

CBNAH: Tell us about your first album?

BH: Our first album is called "Mechanism" and it's been out since February 4th and we released it through Tate Music Group. There's nine songs in total on the album and that is our first one.

CBNAH: What are the current plans for the band?

BH: Right now, we're working on new material. Regardless of what we're doing, we're always pitching in new ideas and throwing stuff out. We own our own studio, for us to able to go in and record or lay something down is not a very difficult process. We don't have to book time or anything like that. As far as being able to book shows and get on tour, absolutely! We're working on that pretty aggressively. We never stopped writing and still working on getting the marketing up and be able do some shows.

CBNAH: Have you guys went through any writer's block in the process of making music or has it entered your mind?

BH: It can. As far as writer's block not necessarily because we're always been able to spit out ideas, that's never the problem. Where we start getting into a little bit of a holdup is when we sometime disagree about the direction or the way something should be played or maybe the length of a scale. We'll go back and forth a little bit with that depending upon how we each feel.

CBNAH: Years ago, a lot of musicians would some sort of accomplishment if signed to any record label. Due to the current climate of the music industry, do you feel you can make your name through Youtube and other social media platforms?

BH: Yeah, you're dead on with that. I can only speak from experience from the record label that we work with, I could be wrong about this like I said. I think the way it's turning now, a lot of record companies are doing distribution and marketing deals versus the entire will record you, will do this and that. I don't think it's as big like back in the 80s and 90s, where you were signed and they gave you a huge advancement right upfront. I think just like what you said the reason that is because it's gotten so simple to be able to record and market yourself. You got Facebook, Twitter, ReverbNation is great, and YouTube is perfect. Now everything is digital. You can go get yourself set up with Pro Tools and you're done. What it would of taken an entire production team to be able to do that back in the 80s and 90s, now it's right there on your laptop. Now it's very easy for bands to able to locally grown themselves and do that on their own.  

CBNAH: Do you think the music industry needs something like a Netflix model for music where you can pay a monthly fee to download or stream music?

BH: You know I never thought about that, dude. That's pretty cool and neat idea.

CBNAH: The idea could work with the Netflix model. Asking people to pay five to eight dollars a month to listen to music from all record labels and artists of different genres.

BH: I would say, I would be behind that for sure. Because from my experience it's increasingly difficult to, even though you can market yourself and you can put your name out there, when everyone can do it... It gets very saturated and therefore the money is not near as big as it was once at one point in time. So, I'm with you on that, it's a killer idea.

CBNAH: The idea is possible but it depends on how the record labels and artists would split up the percentage of the profit would be the issue.

BH: That's exactly right.

CBNAH: By the way, what's the metal scene like in Georgia?

BH: Well... (Laughs) Bare with me on this one. I'm not trying to sling dirt at all but the metal scene in Georgia is, in my experience nonexistent. You can get far as you, your buddies and some bands that you can network with. Go out and play at different places and get a name going but it seems like a lot of the bigger cities have that niche and that sect where you can get in there and really make a name. Atlanta is, I don't know maybe it's just hometown woes. It's difficult now, very open to country and hip-hop but it's tough in the metal world especially when your trying to play fifteen minute songs.

CBNAH: Do you or anyone in the band get nervous or have stage fright?

BH: Yeah it can but that will come and go. When you done it enough, when you get up there and move around enough it's not bad. Anytime it can get kind of nervous once you get a song or two in, after that I'm pretty well warmed up, loose and ready to go. I think both Tommy and Justin feel the same way.

CBNAH: What would be your perfect dream project?

BH: Wow. This is going to be weird but I'm not going to play anything on it. I'm going to produce it, mix it and master it. So, it would be Russell Allen (singer of Symphony X) on vocals, John Petrucci (Dream Theater guitarist) on guitar, Tony Levin (King Crimson) on bass and Matt Garstka (Animals as Leaders drummer) on drums. Somehow I would blend those dudes together and get them to write one massive forty-five minute song. That would be my dream project. That's my side of things, I love a song that can tell a story and to me, you need more than two minutes.  

CBNAH: What are your main inspiration lyrically?

BH: It can be from anything. It literally can be -- Just a moment or a moment that you had just thinking with yourself. Just a thought or some of our stuff can be a little political or at least the state of the world the way we see it. So, anything, it can come out of thin air.

CBNAH: What can people expect from you guys in 2014 and beyond?

BH: Barring this tour thing that we're still in negotiations about, if that goes through we'll be out there and playing. As it looks like right now, it's going to be a east coast possible up all the way up till Maine. I can't get in much more detail then that. If falls through or doesn't happen, for sure we'll be recording. I would like if that happens, to be able to get the next album out by February of next year. Hopefully we can tour Europe in the future because it would be awesome. From what I read and talk to buddies who have done it, Europe it seems is much more open to the rock, the metal and the progressive side of things. I know a lot of the bands that we look up to, they do really well and in Japan and Australia than here. For instance Dream Theater, they tour Europe like it's their backyard.

CBNAH: Anything you would like to say to your family, friends and fans that have supported the band?

BH: Yes, absolutely, thank you. Thank you because this is not the easiest journey in the world. We appreciate it and we're glad that you guys are there.

Check out Coda:

Official Site: http://www.codasound.net/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/coda.us 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/codaofficial 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/joincoda 

Dungeons & Drinking; Interview with Jason Anarchy, the Creator of Drinking Quest:The Original Drinking RPG

If you enjoy tabletop RPG games with some alcohol thrown in the mix, then Drinking Quest is the perfect game for you. Created by Jason Anarchy, the Drinking Quest series has spawned three successful games, a strong and passionate fan base, and even a comic book  that's on ComiXology. CBNAH staff writer Panagiotis Drakopoulos spoke with Jason Anarchy to talk about the genesis of Drinking Quest, challenges of doing Kickstarter, crazy anecdotes and more!

CBNAH: You had a successful Kickstarter campaign for the Trilogy Edition. For you, what were some of the challenges of doing a Kickstarter and what's the update on the project?

Jason Anarchy: The main challenge was just doing the day-to-day work with the Kickstarter. Things like finding relevant daily updates, figuring out logistics and answering questions. It’s a busy month for sure. Fulfilling the orders is something we do pretty regularly already so that part we’re pretty comfortable with. The update on the project is that it’s currently being printed, the game will be even better than promised and everything is on schedule ☺

Jason doing a game demo of Drinking Quest.

CBNAH: Let's start at the beginning, what made you want to create Drinking Quest?

JA: Drinking and gaming with your friends is always a recipe for a great night. I was always an alpha DM who would make his own game systems for fun and then a friend randomly suggested combining the two things (while we were drunk from free Scotch at a wedding no less).From there my business management background with my gaming background seemed like a good mix to make the series successful.

CBNAH: For our readers who are unfamiliar with Drinking Quest, what's the story (or the world) of the series and a quick tutorial of the game?

JA: The short hook is that it’s a Drinking Game and a Tabletop RPG. It plays like a simplified Dungeons and Dragons but when your character dies in the game you have to chug your drink in real life to continue. The entire game is built around that mechanic and it works really well. Also it’s a pretty ridiculous premise so it’s a heavy comedy RPG too.

CBNAH: Can you take us through the process of how each game is created?

JA: 1.) Figure out the title and broad hook 2.) Figure out mechanics and gameplay 3.) Draw up card summaries of what each card does, how it contributes to the game and why it’s funny 4.) Work with an artist to draw up awesome and hilarious artwork to bring that to life 5.) Format each card individually with the new art 6.) Proofread and rewrite like a mad man 7.) Send to printers 8.) Ship to savvy gamers

From the Drinking Quest Comic Book #1 by Jason Anarchy, Stoorat Paterson and Atzomatic

For Drinking Quest: Trilogy Edition there were 220 cards each one with original artwork so there was a huge amount of formatting and proofing this time.

CBNAH: Before the release of the first Drinking Quest game, were you at all nervous about sales of the game?

JA: Not really, no. I knew no matter what I did there would be “some measure of success” and that would be worth the budget I had saved up for it. It was more important to me to do work as a game designer and comedy writer. I would figure out the logistics of selling once I had the games printed. It definitely took off faster than I thought, there were sales from the first day the site went up.

CBNAH: After the Kickstarter the Drinking Quest trilogy, what are your future plans?

JA: I’ll be pushing Trilogy Edition pretty hard for the foreseeable future. Also the world will live on with new stories through the comic book. From there I have other non-Drinking Quest work lined up but nothing I can reveal at the moment. Also I’ll be doing a lot of conventions so people can see me around. The next three are Toronto Fan Expo, Gencon Indy and Edmonton Comic Con.

CBNAH: What's the perfect beer to use when playing Drinking Quest and what's the strangest anecdotes from fans about playing the games?

JA: Best beer… whatever fits your tolerance. It’s different for everyone.

Strangest anecdote…I can tell one involving myself. I was playing a game in a pub in Boston and definitely had a few pints. I was leaving the bar and I was wearing a backpack and was holding some banners which were my whole set up that night and as I was leaving my backpack knocked over some guy’s full pint of beer and it went all over the table. This was the one guy in the bar who happened to be doing some accounting work or something and it looked like I really ruined his night. Anyway the sort of drunk version of myself felt bad and didn’t know what to do so I gave him a signed game saying “Sorry for fucking up your shit” – Jason Anarchy.

I either made a new fan or a new enemy for life that night.

CBNAH: What comics, films, novels or shows have you been checking out lately?

JA: My favourite comics I’ve been reading lately are Batman, Thor: God of Thunder and Saga. These will go down as legendary runs of comics.

The last three movies I watched were Guardians of the Galaxy, 1989 Batman and the new Trailer Park Boys. All were awesome for different reasons.

Haven’t watched a lot of TV since Game of Thrones ended for the season but I always watch a lot of 60’s Star Trek when I need to be in my happy place.


CBNAH: Finish this sentence – Comic book nerds are hot because…

JA: … they flex the biceps of their imagination.

To purchase any of the Drinking Quest games or to check for any new updates, go to the official site: http://www.drinkingquest.com/

Also check out Drinking Quest on social media:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DrinkingQuest

Twitter: http://twitter.com/DrinkingQuest

Tumblr: http://drinkingquest.tumblr.com/ 

Fantasia Film Festival 2014: Interview with Director/Co-writer Keishi Otomo & Executive Producer Hiroyoshi Koiwai of the Rurouni Kenshin Film Series

Last year at Fantasia, the first live-action film based off the popular Weekly Shonen Jump manga, Rurouni Kenshin created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The Canadian premiered in front of a sold out crowd. The film thrilled and wowed the Fantasia audience to a massive standing ovation. Due to the box office success of the first film, director and co-writer Keishi Otomo returns to the franchise to cover the classic Kyoto Arc from the manga. The Kyoto Arc is split up into two films: Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen and Rurouni Kenshin: Densetsu no Saigo-hen. Kyoto Taika-hen was released in Japan on August 1st to box office records and Fantasia hosted to the international premiere on August 3rd. Meanwhile Densetsu will be premiering in Japan next month. Both Otomo and Executive Producer Hiroyoshi Koiwai had been busy traveling and promoting both films across the globe. CBNAH staff writer Panagiotis Drakopoulos was able to interview both Otomo and Koiwai to discuss the film series, Watsuki's thoughts on the first film, the intense training that the actors went through and more.

Tales of Brok Windsor: Interview with Hope Nicholson

Last year, Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey launched the successful Kickstarter campaign Nelvana of the Northern Lights, reprinting the classic Golden Age Canadian Comic, that was thought to be lost. This year, Hope Nicholson is bringing back another classic Golden Age character Brok Windsor. The comic was created by Jon Stables and it was one most popular comics in the '40s . Today is the start of the Brok Windsor Kickstarter and you can click here to back this campaign. CBNAH spoke with Hope to talk about Brok Windsor campaign, Kickstarter, current climate of the comics industry and more.

CBNAH: Last time we chatted you were in the middle of putting the finishing touches on Nelvana and promoting Lost Heroes. Now, you're doing another Kickstarter and another documentary film. Do you sleep?

Hope Nicholson:  I will say, this makes me feel terribly guilty, but I always get at least 8 hours sleep a night. However, I rarely think of anything during the day other than my projects!

CBNAH: For our readers who are unfamiliar with Jon Stables, can you tell us a little bit about him and Brok Windsor?

HN: Jon Stables was creating pulp illustrations for serials featured in the monthly Farming Magazine called the Country Guide in Winnipeg, when he decided to move to Victoria and work in the shipyards painting signs for the war. Shortly after, he started working for Maple Leaf Publishing in Vancouver, where he created the heroes Bill Speed and Brok Windsor, as well as house ads and funny animal cartoons. Brok Windsor was named for a friend of his who died in combat overseas during the war. Brok Windsor was this gorgeous comic that showed a combination of his pulp and signmaking experience with lushly drawn illustrations. Brok was an outdoorsman and medical doctor who became a giant when he visited a futuristic land hidden in the wilderness of Canada. Here he was forced to battle all sorts of strange foes, with the aid of his new friends, the giants Starra and Torgon, who is a member of an advanced hidden aboriginal civilization.

CBNAH: Brok Windsor feels more like a pulp hero. Was Stables greatly influence by the pulp novels when he created Brok Windsor?

HN: Jon Stables had to have been influenced by pulp novels, as he worked with them so long in Winnipeg.

CBNAH: How many issues from the original series you will be able to restore?

HN: I have located 14 stories, and one script that was never turned into a comic! There should be no stories that I cannot find. There are 4 left I need to travel to Winnipeg and Vancouver to collect, but after that I'm done.  

CBNAH: How will you and Rachel approach Brok Windsor kickstarter differently from Nelvana? 

HN: This is a solo project, Rachel is not working on Brok Windsor with me. I have definitely learned a lot from my experience working with Nelvana, there are a few things such as printing comic issues or calendars that was too time and money extensive to repeat. In addition I'm giving myself a lot longer this time to make sure that nothing gets rushed!

CBNAH: What comics/titles did you know from The Golden Age of Canadian comics that are sadly in the sands of time?

HN: Honestly, I don't think any are completely lost! Or if they are, they are so lost that I don't know about them at all. Through luck and perseverance I have been able to find dozens of collections, and hopefully will continue to locate more as word spreads about my projects.

CBNAH: Do you think that comic industry is currently going through a new golden age?

HN: I think we're going through an exciting time for comics, but it's definitely not a golden age, but that's not a bad thing! The golden age was exciting because the entire medium was new and they had no idea what would work and what they were capable of. I'd like to think that the artists and writers now have learned from the mistakes made in the past, and are also aware that they are capable of so much more innovation in artwork and storytelling.

CBNAH: You're currently developing a documentary on the history of queer comic book representation. You are in pre-production mode and what can people expect to see in the film?

HN: Documentaries take a lot of time! We filmed some segments already at TCAF, with Trina Robbins discussing her history working with underground queer comics, and Zan from Northwest Press talking about creating a publisher that only focuses on queer comics, and both interviews were really fascinating. There's a lot more work to do on this project, but it's one that is constantly in the background of my mind, and I'll be very excited when I can start doing interviews again for it!

CBNAH: Is there anything you would like to say to the backers/fans of Nelvana and Brok Windsor?

HN: I hope if you backed Nelvana and were happy with the book that you will chip in again for Brok Windsor! It's a bit scary, choosing a character that is gorgeous, and fun, but incredibly obscure. I have no idea if he will resonate with the public like he did for me, and I'm going out on a bit of a limb. But if you do, I promise, I have even more amazing characters and history to share with you, much of which I discover day by day in my research, and is brand new information!

Fantasia Film Festival 2014: Interview with Writer/Director KURANDO MITSUTAKE & Actress ASAMI Gun Woman

Gun Woman is a film tailor-made for the audience at Fantasia. Intense action scenes, over the top violence, gore and a badass story. From the mind of writer-director Kurando Mitsutake, Gun Woman has been gaining a lot of positive reactions from moviegoers. If you missed the showing at Fantasia this year, don't worry, the film will be out on home video in 2015. CBNAH staff writer Panagiotis Drakopoulos interviewed Mr. Mitsutake and actress Asami of Gun Woman to chat about the genesis of the film, Asami's training and preparation for her role, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and more.  

Fantasia Film Festival 2014: Interview with Director and Writer Noboru Iguchi

For almost a decade, Noboru Iguchi's films at Fantasia have played to large audiences at the festival. The writer-director has gained a loyal and strong cult following in North America. Best known for his signature over the top gory and violence, funny humor and insane fight scenes. Not bad for someone for someone who started his career directing porn. His breakout films Machine Girl and Sukeban Boy put him on the map in Japanese cinema and gaining him much mainstream success. This year at Fantasia, Noboru Iguchi visited Montreal to promote his two films Live and Gothic Lolita Battle Bear. CBNAH staff writer Panagiotis Drakopoulos was lucky to interview with Iguchi to discuss his films, Fantasia, breast or ass man and many more.

Age of Perez; Interview with Josh Perez Part II

Today, in our second part interview with colorist and artist Josh Perez. We continue on with discussion on Josh working at IDW, thoughts on the Transformers films, Bravoman and much more. If you miss the first part of the interview with Josh Perez click here.

CBNAH: How did you wind-up at IDW?

Josh Perez: When they were doing their profile book series, I guess a lot of line art was coming in and they needed it to get it colored fast. My friend Espen was already working with them. The story I'm told is Espen threw my name in the hat and said "Hey, this guy is good with colors too." And they just sent work my way, which pretty much what happened. The work I gave them for More than Meets the Eye profile wasn't really that impressive. So when they did a series for Armada that was pretty much the same idea. I think Espen had to really push my name in there to do some more work. I guess after that I impressive them enough that I started to get more work.

CBNAH: What's it like to work on the Transformers franchise?

JP: It's really amazing. By default when I go to places like a Target or Wal Mart, I gravitate to the toy section and just look at or buy some Transformers. It's different now, you look at a toy -- whenever you have a character that you worked on the comics, you don't look at them so much as a toy. Now you look at them as a character. For me I look at them and I'm seeing all the places I have to pay attention when I color. They become more reference material than toys for me. But it's fantastic. I've been with the brand for a decade now. It's interesting to see where a franchise goes in a decade. When I started it was Armada and they were a lot of fun. I still stand by the fact that I think Armada is the best Transformers toy line we had, just on playability. When you flashforward now and there's so many characters that I never thought I would see in toy form. I never thought I'd see Bumblebee on the shelves so much and for me having that connection with Bumblebee and Transformers makes it just really exciting. I know a lot of people wanna blow stores up when they see a lot of Bumblebee and stuff on the shelves. But for me it's really nice to see the little guy on the shelves after such a long hiatus.

CBNAH: You did a one-shot A-Team comic at IDW, how did you get attach to the project?

JP: There was a huge work slowdown and I think I emailed them and said "Hey, you guys got anything new for me to work on?" Because I had nothing. And I think they were like "Hey, we've got this A-Team story if you want to work on." I said, "Yes." I thought I was going to do more of the movie book but more work came in immediately after that.  

CBNAH: You also did some Godzilla work at IDW. How did you get involved with these Godzilla projects?

JP: When my friend Matt Frank, who does a lot of the art for the Godzilla books now. He had met me at a convention, I think it was Wizard World Austin. They had this big thing they were doing with the Godzilla books where they would draw Godzilla stomping on different comic book stores who would buy these comic book stores exclusive covers. We talked a little bit at Wizard World Austin and he kept my name in his head. I think I did a couple of print colors or commission colors for him before this. He was very kind enough to threw my name in the hat to do the cover colors for the retailers incentive covers. From there he just like what I did, when he started to working on Godzilla he was like "Hey, would you like to come over here and help me with this book?" I was hundred percent for it. It was a lot of fun, I'm not really a big Godzilla fan. I used to love Mechagodzilla a lot as a kid when Trendmasters did a small Godzilla toy line. I've never really been one hundred percent Godzilla. I'm excited to work with Godzilla but it's not the same rush as I get with Transformers.  

CBNAH: What's your thoughts on the new Transformers film?

JP: I one hundred percent appreciate what the movie does for the franchise. A lot of people watch the movies regardless if their good or bad, their pretty bad.

CBNAH: I'm really excited about Transformers 4 because it's going insane with all of the Dinobots and Optimus carrying around a massive sword like something out of the manga series Berserk.

JP: Don't get me wrong, there's one thing Bay movies can do for me it's that they get me excited to see this Bay movie when it comes to the Transformers. After Transformers 2, in all honesty I was done and not watching these movies anymore. Then the trailer for the third film came out and I was like "This looks really fucking good, I'm going to watch it." Good as in eye candy action sense like fast food. In Transformers 4 I wanna see how the Dinobots factor in this and are they even going to be called "Dinobots." I wanna see how Bumblebee goes from being this beyond the run to his upgrade mode and where Prime goes from looking like classic Prime to going to where he is now. I'm very interested in the story of Transformers 4. It's suppose to set up a new trilogy, I want that and do hope that focus is pulled away from being Prime. I would like to see a focus on new characters.

CBNAH: I'm more interested in seeing Mark Wahlberg as the main lead instead of Shia LaBeouf. Shia's character -- The first film, was a good film but after that, his character was just annoying to no end and pretty much was unlikable for the rest of the series.

JP: What annoyed me about Sam Witwicky is that he had no character development. Every movie he was the same character. He was a person who didn't know where he wanted to be in life and at the end of the movie he figured out where he wanted to be in life. Rinse and repeat when the next movie started. It's frustrating. It's the same with Bumblebee. I love Bumblebee but in the movies he does things that are maybe exciting but he doesn't do anything as a character. That can be said for everyone -- The only characters that really had development were the Decepticons. Megatron was the only one -- When Megatron was killed in the third movie, I felt bad for him because he actually had more of a reason to do what he was doing than anyone else. Everyone else was just killing people because they were angry really. That's over oversimplifying it but that's how it felt.

Josh's artwork on Bravoman. Art from ShiftyLook 

CBNAH: Can you tell us about Bravoman?

JP: Yes! Bravoman is an old arcade in TurboGrafx-16 video game that starred Bravoman. He's actually kind of like a lampoon on a lot of what was big in superheroes and protagonists in games and television. He's got a lot of Kamen Rider and Mega Man in him. Some time ago, ShiftyLook, apart of Namco Bandai Games decided they wanted to do a book and did it through UDON. They wanted to start making the IP a little bit well known. Taking all of their obscure games that they had and they wanted to push them into the public. We did Bravoman, Matt Moylan, Dax Gordine and myself were placed on the book. It was originally Matt and Dax at first, but once the strip count increased from one to three per week. Matt contacted me and said "If you can do a good job coloring the way that Dax colors, you can totally be on this book." I guess what I did madethem happy. So, they put me on the book and that's Bravoman. It was a really, really fun book to work on because I got to do a lot of stuff with Bravoman, I never got the chance to do with Transformers.

CBNAH: You worked on the Mars Attacks: The Transformers crossover event. Can you take us throught the process of you coloring that issue.

JP: Mars Attacks: Transformers was very much set inside the G1 cartoon. A lot of my palette itself was drawn from the cartoon like all of the reds -- Normally when I work on Transformer books I very much every person gets their own individual colors. For example, Bumblebee's yellow will be different from Sunstreaker's yellow and Prime's red will be different from Ironhide's red. But in the cartoon universe a lot of times everyone shares colors so that's... A lot of the palette is brighter and very shared because I'm not trying to give everyone their own unique colors. I wanted everything to bright and cartoony. The martians kind of -- First off, I love Mars Attack ever since I remember seeing a couple of friends with the cards. I think it was elementary school, those cards were very gruesome and gory and when you're a kid something like that is frightening and exciting at the same time. It's always kind of been in my head to work with the franchises is really fun. The martians though have a lot more detail in them, there's a lot of airbrushing in their brains because it's suppose to be like a gradient color usually like a pink, almost like a stale zombie flesh color. The martians were fun but there was a lot of stuff that I had to get around because it didn't look cartoony to me. But in the end, everything worked out well.        

CBNAH: What's your con schedule like for this year?

JP: So far I'm planning on going to Botcon in Pasadena and TFcon in Canada. It all depends on how much work and how I stand financially on each one.

CBNAH: What advice do you have for upcoming artists and writers?

JP: I wouldn't know so much about writers, but as for artists you gotta grow thick-skinned. A lot of what I did early in colors was really bad and a lot of people in forums and editors aren't afraid to tell you that. They have to, you have to take that criticism and work with it. You can't be offended by it, and a lot of people get offended if you offer a suggestion on their work, and then there's the usual you gotta keep doing what you want to do. You have to invest a lot of time and keep on practicing, so that way you can evolve and get better.

CBNAH: Any more appearances on the Canadian Slag podcast?

JP: I hope so. I love going on Canadian Slag. All of the Slag team are pretty much my favorite people because they're just swell people, especially Wendel  :).

CBNAH: Finish this sentence – Comic Book Nerds are Hot because…

JP: Hopefully their are a lot more open-minded than other people.

Check out:
Josh Perez on deviantART, and Youtube.

Special thanks to Wendel James.

Age of Perez; Interview with Josh Perez Part I

Colorist and artist Josh Perez has been one of the mainstay colorists for the Transformers comics for nearly a decade. During that time he has worked on multiple Transformers titles for both IDW and Dreamwave. Outside of his Transformers work, Perez has colored such titles as Godzilla, A-Team, and Fathom to name a few. In 2013, Perez showcase his artwork on Bravoman for UDON. A fan favorite at both BotCon and TFcon, Josh Perez is a fan living the dream. CBNAH staff writer Panagiotis Drakopoulos interviewed Josh Perez to talk about growing up a Transformer fan, working for Dreamwave and more.

Josh doing some work on his Youtube channel here!

CBNAH: Did you watch the first episode of Gaming Well Wasted with Daniel and Wendel?

Josh Perez: Yes, I did watch that.

CBNAH: The main title card was weird because Wendel doesn't have hair in the card and then when watch him on-screen he has hair.

JP: (Laughs). I did the title card and the images I used were images I had from previous cons and I noticed that too. I'm actually thinking about maybe doing a quick fix on that. Maybe that could be a gag with Wendel's hair.

Josh doing the title cards for Gaming Well Wasted Youtube series

CBNAH: How did you get into drawing and coloring?

JP: Getting into drawing was something I did as a kid, when me and my brothers were very young. We watched the old 80's line-up of Transformers and He-Man. We would always bother our mom to draw the characters for us. I'm not one hundred percent sure exactly why we would but once the show ended you wanted more. I think the need to draw kinda of grew out of that. I'm sure we were drawing ever since we put crayon to wall. We wanted to do it ourselves and stop pestering our mom. I have a twin brother and he's always kind of better at me in drawing. That was more of my push, was watching how good he was and then wanting to catch up to that.

CBNAH: What were your first impressions of Transformers and G.I. Joe?

JP: With G.I. Joe, I had Joe toys. For the life of me I couldn't remember any of their names, but I remember one of them was a journalist or something. I think in the episode he was a spy and had a green and yellow outfit. I remember that being my first Joe toy, um--

CBNAH: Was that the Rivera parody character?

JP: No, no. It was -- I know who you're talking about. But you know, maybe it was, but I don't know. I think I know who you're talking about, the one who has been in Jem and Transformers.

CBNAH: Pretty much in all of the Hasbro shows.

JP: No, it wasn't him, it was an actual character who was a spy on the Joe team but I could be completely wrong. (Editor's Note: We're referencing Hector Ramirez. A character that has pretty much appeared in Jem, Transformers, G.I. Joe and Inhumanoids. But he's not the character that Josh is referring to.) G.I. Joe has always been in the background, I loved the vehicles in G.I. Joe. I don't remember actually owning any of the really big ones, I had a couple of the flat ones but that's kind of what Transformers did because I love the vehicles in Transformers but they were robots, I didn't really have that much... I think I liked Joe a little bit because my dad was in the military and that kind of connection I had with it, but beyond that G.I. Joe was the other show that wasn't Transformers. Transformers I gravitated to very heavily. I don't remember how early it was that I started watching it, I was born in '83, so a lot of Transformers that I could remember started after the movie. I loved Bumblebee, obviously he was the bright yellow kid appeal character, so that kind of hit me hard. He was also the smallest Transformer and I've always been a short guy. So I always tend to gravitate towards short characters and I like the idea of  a character that "Hey, I'm small but I can also be cool too. " He wasn't quite the Wolverine of the group, but I like Transformers a lot and Bumblebee was kinda one of those guys that influence me to do some pretty crappy things.

   

Josh Perez. Photo from Seibertron.com(The Ultimate Transformers Fansite) and also check out their interview with Josh here

CBNAH: Art wise who were your main influences?

JP: The list is constantly added to, right now Sarah Stone. She was the artist on Transformers: Windblade and I vaguely knew of her stuff before she came to Windblade but once Windblade hit, I'm finding myself really inspired by the stuff that she's doing. My longtime friend Alex Milne is a strong influence in what I do because he has a nice technical grasp of anything he draws Transformer wise is amazing. There's a Japanese artist Naoto Tsushima, I like his stuff, he's done a lot of Transformers the cool stuff and for the collectors' club. Growing up, a lot of American comic artists like Joe Madureira, Jim Lee, Transformers artists like Geoff Senior and Andrew Wildman. A lot of those guys, Transformers was a strong influence -- Japanese animation more but I couldn't  name the artists that influence me without a list.

Josh is currently working on Transformers: Robots in Disguise

CBNAH: What was the best advice you got about art?

JP: It wasn't technically advice but it was something that happened. It was in high school, every kid draws comics or wants to draw stylize and you have to get the basics down. I had an art teacher and I remember we were doing live drawings and I was just not sticking to what we're suppose to do. It wasn't me trying to be a jerk, it was the only way I knew how to draw. I wasn't quite scolded on it but I was just told that I couldn't draw comics style and have to draw real life, this was early on in high school. It's such a small thing but it really punched me in the face because I realize that I was getting  all of my know-how from looking at comics and seeing what they were doing there and not looking at real life seeing how things work. It kind of taught me that stylization is fantastic but you have to know the basics of anatomy and how things work in real life before you can start stylizing it.

CBNAH: Was your first published work the Transformers: Energon series from Dreamwave?

JP: It was actually Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye series, it was like a profile book. It was issue seven, I think it was, it had Wheeljack and Terrorcons and those were my first printed work.

CBNAH: How did it feel to have first your work publish?

JP: When I first got the job to color those profile pieces, my family was kind of excited when it came out to print. I think they went a little too excited when they went out and bought every copy that the comic book store had. Now is the same thing, they get very excited when my work comes out. I don't live in Texas near my family anymore. So I can't say "Hey, I got some comps if you want." They're genuinely very excited -- my twin brother has been really excited because he's a lot closer to me on a scale of nerdiness. Whenever he sees something of my work, he's very excited about it and it makes me happy.

CBNAH: Speaking about Dreamwave, you know I'm going to ask this question. Can you tell us the work environment of Dreamwave and working for Pat Lee?

JP: In all honesty, at the time working at Dreamwave was really no different than it is working now with IDW. The only difference is that Dreamwave instead of  having an editor -- with publishers like IDW, you have an editor and the creative team. With Dreamwave you had an editor, a project manger or director and an art director. A lot of edits would come through those two and not so much from the editor. But the project manger or director a lot of times you would communicate through MSN. It was pretty fun and relaxing, they tended to have multiple colorists on a book, so I would do about six to eight pages. Aside from the whole pay issue, it was really not bad.

CBNAH: I heard different stories about Pat, ranging from him keeping his expensive car to living in Hong Kong.

JP: I certainly didn't like Dreamwave's practices but in all honesty if I ever meet Pat Lee I like to have a drink with him. I wouldn't grill him or anything like that. But I would love to just chat about Dreamwave because Dreamwave did a lot of really good things for Transformers.

Livestream Session Sped Up

Come back next week for the second part of the interview with Josh Perez which we'll discuss his work at IDW, thoughts on the Transformers film series and much more. And special thanks to Wendel James.

'Here's Y' You Need To Listen To Double Experience! New Lyric Video and Interview With Guitarist Brock Tinsley

Check out their new music video 'Here's Y'

From the new album 721835

From Ottawa, Ontario, Double Experience has been making some huge waves in the Canadian music scene since 2011 with their Neo-Nerd Rock sound. The band line-up is Ian Nichols on vocals, guitarist Brock Tinsley, drummer Kenny Saunders and bassist Tim Kealey. Double Experience has toured all over Canada, United States, UK, Spain, Germany, and France. This August the band will be releasing their new album 721835 and recently kicked off their "Smells Like Freedom" tour a few days ago. CBNAH staff writer Panagiotis Drakopoulos caught up with guitarist Brock Tinsley to chat about touring, the new album, E3 and more.

(L-R: Ian Nichols (Vocals), Tim Kealey (Bass), Kenny Saunders (Drums), Brock Tinsley (Guitar))

CBNAH: For people who are unfamiliar with Double Experience, can you give us a brief history of the band?

Brock Tinsley: When our band members in this current line up came together in late 2011, we made a conscious decision to take our time and do as much we could without attracting too much attention to ourselves. This way, we knew we could foster something that was not only extremely special to us, but work out any of the inevitable kinks in a relatively private way. Since then, we've played 500 shows across 7 countries.

CBNAH: Who were some of your main influences (both music and lyrics-wise)?

BT: I respect anybody who can become a totally different character for several minutes and weave a concise story in their songs. That is the coolest thing to me, and bands like Coheed and Cambria, He is Legend and Clutch are my favourites for this reason.

CBNAH: Take us through your songwriting process?

BT: Both Ian and I collaborate on lyrics, and I really cherish that give-and-take we have. Ian has a gift of creating melodies and harmonies and he will often let me work in ideas, words and prose that I feel enhance the theme or topic we choose for each song.

CBNAH: 721835 will be out this August, musically how has the band progress from One Big Quicksand to this album?

BT: Writing One Big Quicksand was basically a lot of second guessing and revision, but ever since then we have all become more comfortable with our instruments and vision for the band. When we wrote each of the new songs for 721835 it was because we were chasing an idea we all absolutely loved. For better or worse, none of the songs on the new album were sitting in a “maybe” pile being dissected or changed, but the end result is something we are so much more proud of.

CBNAH: As someone who is detached from the mainstream music, what do you make of the state the industry is in?

BT: Music has never been easier to create or release from the musician's perspective. This reality has it's pros and cons, but anybody bitching about the current state of the industry needs to realize that it is not the audience's fault or their “short attention spans”. People would be gladly laid off their jobs if it meant they could cram another season of Breaking Bad in before the sun goes down. People have all the time in the world, they just don't want to waste it on bad music anymore.

CBNAH: Tells us about your upcoming Smells Like Freedom Tour and what can new and old fans expect from you?

BT: The Smells Like Freedom Tour won't be our first time in the USA, but it will be our first time in many of the states we are visiting. Whether somebody knew about us years ago or they just heard “Here's Y” and come to the show heckling us to play that one song over and over, it doesn't matter. Anybody who is there for us on this tour can expect us to repay their good taste in music in full frontal nerdity with the craziest and certified Most Canadian show they will see all summer.

CBNAH: Overall thoughts of E3 this year? Any specific games you're looking forward to?

BT: The Division is going to change my life. I haven't been this excited to get a game since Diablo 2, and that was the 4th grade. Ian and I still haven't decided on which next-gen console to get because we've been on the road so much, and games like Sunset Overdrive and No Man's Sky are not making our decision any easier.

CBNAH: What shows, games, novels, films and/or comics are you guys currently getting into?

BT: Tim and I have spent the past week going through his list of must-see movies, and bonding over the horror titles with him has been nice. These included Ichi the Killer, The Strangers and Maniac. I know Ian just bought The Hobbit to reread on the road, and he’s always working on his comic collection when he can.

CBNAH: What does the future holds for the band?

BT: Some more tour dates to round out the summer, and then I’m pushing for some time to conceptualize our next move and demo new material. Our band has been running on all burners that I’m sure two more summer tours for us is going to drive us back to a relaxing period to recharge our batteries, physically and creatively.

CBNAH: Finish this sentence – Comic book nerds are hot because…

BT: They know the value of wrapping the goods in plastic.

Additional info on Double Experience:

http://www.2xexperience.com/

http://ashermediarelations.com/epks/epk-double-experience/

In Search of Captain Crown: Interview with Tristan Roulot & Patrick Hénaff

Early this year CBNAH caught up with writer and artist duo of Tristan Roulot and Patrick Hénaff to talk about their two part book series The Will of Captain Crown, which was first published in France and successfully funded on Kickstarter for an English version of the comic. Both men are from France and are now currently living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Captain Crown is something unique, it's a hard boiled pirate crime story about the death of Captain Alexander Crown and his will. His chief officer, Red is entrusted to reunite the five children of Captain Crown. In this interview, they talk about the comic, using Kickstarter, living in Montreal and much more!    

CBNAH: First off, how do you feel with the Kickstarter project in the last stage of sending out the rewards to the backers?

Patrick Hénaff: Well, we're pretty excited because we've been working on that for a few months now. Going through the campaign, it was very successful and sending out the final product, the book.

Tristan Roulot: That for us was our final sprint. The book is printed. We received it and are very content with the printing, the printer did a very well job, all that is left are the displays, the prints and little bonuses we promised to print. It is an end of a lengthy process.

CBNAH: Can you tell us the genesis of Captain Crown?

PH: It all started (it was the book in French) with me meeting Tristan. He had this story, he worked on the story long time ago, and tried it with another artist and never went through. When I moved into my own studio, I met with Tristan there and after awhile we wanted to do something together. He has this story with pirates that he told me about. We started to do a few pages and we sent that to the French publisher. The publisher was probably looking for that type of story. We signed the contract with them, very fast, and we started to work on the book right away.

TR: It was nice, I had arrived in Montreal, it had been five or six years, I went to a studio where Patrick and other comic book authors were at, and so Patrick and I, we thought about doing a project together, and for me being in North America, I had to do projects rather than comics, so I started proposing a story about Spider-Man, and, so one drunken night he asked why I proposed Spider-Man related things. He said, "I'm a Breton, my interests are boats, the sea, etc." And, well, there it was, a story of pirates was hatched, to which I replied "Sure". I had that story sitting inside my boxes for a very long time and so we went for it right after that evening. (laughs).

CBNAH: For those who didn't back the Kickstarter for the comic, what's the story of the comic?

PH: The story it's a little bit of a crime story set in a pirate environment. It's about an old sailor, an old pirate-- a legendary captain in the Caribbean. Who's killed and his second in command need to find all of the captain's children in order to give them the inheritance. Also, he has to unmask one of the children as the murderer of the father. He knows it's one of the children but doesn't know who. He has this double task to do in the comic.

CBNAH: Growing up were you either a big fan of Tintin or Spirou magazine?

PH: A little bit of both. I had a lot of them. My father used to collect them, so I had piles of both of those magazines. I also read those old style European, Belgium comic books and I learn to draw from them. And I was reading a lot of American comic books that were available in France at that time. But I had piles of Spirou at home, like the old ones from the 60s and 70s.

TR: I discovered Tintin when I was 16-17 years of age. My father bought a lot of comics, and that's what I read instead of magazines, there were tons of comics, piles and piles of them. I rather Tintin than Spirou, when it comes down to reading Tintin remains immortal.

CBNAH: What was your favorite strip from each magazine?

PH: Favorite one? They were a lot of great titles from both magazines. I used to like Gil Jordan. A lot of those titles are totally forgotten now. Too different kind of art that I do now, things like that I appreciate still.

TR: Something I read at the time and still read with great pleasure is Thorgal. Anything writer Jean Van Hamme does, I'm big fan of his work.

CBNAH: Who were your main influences growing up?

PH: Pretty much all the great talents that worked for both magazines.

TR:I had told you about Jean Van Hamme. He's a big influence because he is the best in France in terms of scenario, in technical scenario, meaning the narration is very precise, very condensed. He knows everything. The dialogues are complete, nothing gets disposed, it's perfection. So, Van Hamme, or else I'd say Alan Moore, he has a philosophical and social dimension. Alan Moore is in my opinion number one, and has been for a long time.

CBNAH: How's life living in Montreal compare to France?

PH: It's strange because I didn't do the transition from France to Montreal. I used to live in Alberta for about six years and then moved from Alberta to Montreal. So the transition was from the west of Canada to the east of Canada. I had my cultural shock while living in Alberta, and it wasn't all that different here(Montreal). I never been an artist in France, so I have no idea what's it like to be a comic artist in France.

TR: For me, it's very different because I had done a tour of Quebec, and I had plans of moving from France. I arrived in Montreal and found it absolutely incredible, the type of mix between the American and French culture, the people of Quebec have a really interesting culture, as well as a very interesting energy, an energy we may not have enough of in France. However, what hasn't changed for my career is that the culture in France is subsidized, which means that every single festival takes tremendous care of the authors, they go to big restaurants, big hotels, etc every weekend. They visit the castles! Here, on the contrary, during the Comiccons, the authors pay for their tables, they are the traders of their work. That's a big difference, in comparing the statuses of authors and artisan author...The kind of mix where you have to sell your production. It's very different.

CBNAH: Were there any doubts for starting a Kickstarter for Captain Crown?

PH: Yes, there were a lot of doubts of doing the Kickstarter at every stage. We did the Kickstarter campaign if there was some sort of interest for this type of title. We weren't sure at all if anyone wanted to fund this comic. Once we reached our stretch goal, our next thought was how to present a good looking book.

TR: The campaign was a real roller coaster. It did not stop from the beginning. You see the first 100$, 200$, 300$. We got up to 1000$ and still needed to gain 6000$. You tell yourself that you'll never make it and that there's only 30 days left. At the end of day 8 or 10 we had practically arrived at 5000$ or 7000$, and, once again, you tell yourself "Ouf, it's happening." and it continues. And, it happened again at day 10 or 12, and, reaching the three last days it was at around 15 000$. There's something extreme towards the end, you are immensely psychologically exhausted, it's that intense.  It requires a ton of work, to question and ask what we have to put as a new objective for the campaign, to keep things rolling and active, and what we would do differently, but overall it is amazing. For me, it's completely unexpected. We didn't know what was going to happen.

CBNAH: Will you do a Kickstarter for any of your previous works?

PH: Well, we're going to do a Kickstarter for the second volume of Captain Crown in the same exact model. We're hoping to be as successful as the first one. Going to plan that campaign around spring or in the summer. Also, we already kept the rights for North America on our current three book series called Hedge Fund, which deals with banks and the financial crisis of 2008. And by contact we kept all of the rights so we can do the same thing like Captain Crown. But for the future that's the plan to keep on doing this.

TR: Well, indeed, it is true that Kickstarter reaching the American continent is an absolutely amazing solution for us Europeans. Effectively, we have our public in Europe, and yes, the news for a new series is accurate, now that we can negotiate the contracts - we keep the American rights, as well as our chances, and introduce our work...Kickstarter is very interesting...I see no other way to commence it for the moment because we're not only talking about translation, we're talking about completely reformatting the album into a comic, it takes a lot of time, it needs funding...We cannot do it on our own, we need funding!

CBNAH: Has any North American publishers got in contact with you to publish Captain Crown?

PH: No, not yet. But once we got the two books, we're definitely going to send it out to all of the different publishers to see if there's an interest. Maybe or maybe there will be and if not the book still exists.

TR:  We went...In its inception, actually, when we imagined doing this translation, we had gone to check out Comiccon in New York to see if there was a possible interest and well we spoke to them about a story of pirates in theme of an Agatha Christie crime story and they asked if there were any zombies in our pirate story, so we very quickly noticed that they were a little skeptical in comparison to European productions, we had mentioned that the story had a historical background and it frightened them, they were maybe scared it would be a little boring, that is why we started Kickstarter. What is certain is that the books made by Kickstarter can't be found anywhere else, even if we go to another editor where we will consider a do-format graphic novel compiling the two books into one, but the object book offered by Kickstarter's backers will however be a specific kind.

CBNAH: Any upcoming Con appearances?

PH: We're going to do that. First one will be at the one in Montreal in the fall. We're going to contact someone from the con to see if we can get a table there.

TR: Yes, it's going to be really interesting to meet and get feedback from our readers. There will definitely be a return. We sent Captain Crown's PDF about a month and a half ago and we already have very pleasant replies, but it will be interesting to see once people have the physical copy of the book in hand.

CBNAH: Where you do see yourselves in three to five years from now?

PH: That's a very good question. I would like to have the answer for that (laughs). We're working on Hedge Fund at the moment and it's going to be done around 2015. And after that, I'm going to be unemployed (laughs).

TR: I heard about a reward. I don't know, it interests me (laughs).

Special Thanks to Lori T. for helping out on this interview.

Interview with Giusseppe Pennestri of DieGo Publishing

From the United Kingdom, DieGo Publishing is one of the newest and rising publishing companies in the country. The company started up a few years ago and already has produce a strong core of titles ranging from different genres such as horror and steampunk. CBNAH staff writer Panagiotis Drakopoulos spoke with the CEO of DieGo Publishing, Giusseppe Pennestri to chat about the history of the company, past and current titles, and much more.

CBNAH: First off, how did DieGo Comics Publishing start up? 

Giusseppe Pennestri: Reading has always been one of my biggest passions. I grew up with comics and books and I always had the desire to do something in the publishing industry. Looking back now, I can see it has been my dream since I was just a little boy wearing shorts.

In 2012, I took the final step to make this dream come true. I started to research the market, got in touch with authors and illustrators and developed an idea about what to do. I knew that I wanted to publish comics and I was not alone with this idea. I started a partnership with my little sister, Marcella, who is a painter and anatomy teacher. Our niece Denise Di Prima, an amazing graphic designer, joined us in our venture and now brings life to all our titles. I admit that we would not be where we are without her graphic skills and dedication. Of course I can’t forget to name Matthew Perryman as well, who started last year as an intern and has became an editor, a friend and important part of the crew. Furthermore, we are supported by several renowned authors and illustrators, who give us confidence to publish their titles and represent them internationally. Last but not least, our crew of translators, who yield the Italian texts into English, while remaining faithful to the originals.

CBNAH: Can you tell us about the current titles at DieGo: Dark Rock Chronicles and Rourke the Hexbuster?

GP: Rourke the Hexbuster stars Rourke, a character created by the renowned Italian author Federico Memola. The story is a dark fantasy set in Ireland, centred around a very dysfunctional family. Rourke has the gift to bear the curses cast upon other people, a job that he conducts with a troubled heart, until he and his family find themselves involved in an ancient witch hunt. The series has eight episodes that we will publish twice a year in four volumes each 208 pages each in length. The first was published last October and the second volume will follow this May.

Dark Rock Chronicles is a contemporary fantasy novel by the emerging Italian author Marco Guadalupi. DRC is set in a world, where rock music has a very important role. The book is a must for fans of both, fantasy and metal: the young protagonists find themselves involved in a deadly tournament, in which they use their rock music to fight dragons, werewolves and demons.

CBNAH: For those who haven't read Desdemona and Clockwork, what are both titles about?

GP: Desdemona stars a comic heroine created by authors Giuseppe Di Bernardo and Andrea J. Polidori. This year it's the twentieth anniversary of its first publication in Italy. To celebrate, we enlisted a few illustrators to create contemporary covers that will maximise the effect of Desdemona's return to the public. To introduce this awesome young character, we’ll launch a Kickstarter project that will help create a base of readers.

Desdemona is an esoteric, mind-bending graphic novel series, that follows the turbulent life of Desdemona 'Desdy' Metus, a young night-time radio DJ. Aside from her show, 'The Sleepless', which introduces the mysterious, dangerous and compelling sorts of characters that make up her audience, Desdy is connected to a timeless feud between two warring secret sects. Her father, Isaiah Metus, is affiliated with one of them – the mysterious Brotherhood. But his past is not clean-cut, and we discover the dense history that he has with both the Brotherhood and their mortal enemies – the Black Lodge. Run by a female triad of Mothers, consisting of Cybele, her daughter Sarah and granddaughter Cronilde, the Black Lodge is hell-bent on disrupting the political state of the modern world. Throughout the series, Desdy becomes more and more embroiled in their feud, especially as the history of her parents is revealed.

Desdemona is set in Florence and on her adventures, Desdy must travel to many of the most beautiful locations in Europe. Sometimes this is in her modern time, while other times it is in historic events of the past. This is due to her special strain of insomnia, which takes her, sometimes unwillingly, back to alternate planes of reality that are kept hidden from those with a normal mind. Each episode sees an exhilarating entanglement between the threads of the past and present, providing a cerebral and tense world for the reader to inhabit.

Clockwork is the first book of a steampunk trilogy, written by author Augusto Chiarle. It takes the reader on a journey through an alternative Europe, one that is made up of robotic and alien plots. Chiarle’s prose is smooth, never dull, with a strong characterization that emerges from his meticulous historical research. This is no mean feat, regardless of how well-known the era is. Chiarle successfully interprets and adapts places, dates and characters in telling a story that spreads across decades. These characteristics, and their manipulation from the normal to the fantastic, are precisely what makes the steampunk genre so fascinating.

The story in Clockwork begins in Nice in 1921, where the suffragette Carola Dubois is investigating the mysterious death of her brother. Lieutenant Bertrandt of the Royal Savoy Dragoons finds a mysterious Martian relic in the Alps. In Turin, chosen once again as capital of the new Italian Kingdom, Marshal Scotti of the Royal Carabinieri thwarts dangerous, mutilated killers. Clockwork is characterized by conspiracies, alien technology and science fiction.

We are currently running a crowd-sourcing campaign through kickstarter to finance the translation of this amazing novel. Our plans are to translate and publish one book a year. To promote the publication of Clockwork, we will be participating in a series of steampunk events across the UK this summer, where we will present this novel to the steampunk community. We will also hold a themed art exhibition to accompany Clockwork's promotion and presentation.


CBNAH: Is any of this material on Comixology?

GP: No, not yet. I have heard a lot of positive feedback about Comixology within the online small press community and I’d like to give it a try. Right now I'm searching other similar platform as DriveThruComics though. I definitely want to find even more solutions for offering our titles to an overseas audience. Moreover, the recent news of Amazon acquiring Comixology can open new opportunities for small press. There are pros and cons when a big fish like Amazon conducts such an operation, however, and therefore I’m cautious.

CBNAH: What's your publishing schedule for the rest of the year and into 2015?

A. In July we will present the Desdemona and Rourke comics at the Comic Con in London. In October and November you will see the first volume of the steampunk saga and an Anthology of short stories. In 2015 the Rourke saga will come to an end. If the public response to Desdemona is positive, we will continue with the publication of this comic. I will also be working hard to start the production of another Federico Memola series, Enchantment Agency, with its main characters being a sexy duo of witches. Further new books are also planned: The Airship to Mars that continues Chiarle’s trilogy, and more Italian fantasy authors will be translated into English.

CBNAH: Any upcoming Con appearances?

GP: We’ll be attending various events this year across the UK. The most important for us will be in July at the London Film & Comic Con. We plan to introduce the first volume of Desdemona and the second of Rourke the Hexbuster there.

CBNAH: Where do you see the company in the next few years? 

GP: I know where I’d like to take it and I have a clear plan how to do it. Publishing is a hard business, even harder considering that we are introducing a new concept of making comics, one that is very different from the popular style of American superheroes or Japanese Manga. Every day we face new difficulties. But I love challenges. If we can cut ourselves a slice of the market in a few years, with our trustful base of readers, and if we can make the jump to produce more all-new series, beginning with Enchantment Agency, I will be happy

CBNAH: Do you have any words or advice for young writers and artists trying to get into the industry?

GP: Never give up! All the best have been rejected at their first try. And remember: you write or draw for your own pleasure, first and foremost. Appreciation by others will come with time - and hopefully rewards too.