CBNAH: 'Kid Havoc': Kicks Back...

KID HAVOC ON KICKSTARTER

Renaldo continues his interview with Eric Pfeiffer-

1. Elaborate more on the fashion and comics mash-up? - 

The fashion side of the project is meant to be as vital to the story as the comic itself. The story is told in its entirety through the issues so you could read through all of the trade-backs and not feel like you were missing anything. However, since the issues are released every other month we are releasing limited runs of clothes in between those months that actually foreshadow what is to happen in the next issue. These moments of foreshadowing are seen through the artwork featured on the clothes as well as the actual design of the clothes. For instance the jacket you may be wearing could play a vital part in a characters design that has yet to be introduced.

2. Influences? w.r.t. art, music, family etc -

I have so many influences it’s hard to name them off. I acquire at least a few new ones every day. I’m in to all the classics, Otomo, Crepax, Moebius, Toppi and the more contemporary artists like Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, Paul Pope, Guy Davis, Asaf and Tomer Hanuka, Becky Cloonan, Mike Mignola. Just met Ron Wimberly the other day, the creator of Prince of Cats, and I have to say that guy is quickly climbing to the top of my inspiration list. Plus he’s cool as shit, which is always refreshing. There’s no room for ego in comics. Besides comic influences music plays a huge role as well. I make a playlist for each character I’m creating to play through whenever I’m drawing their scenes. I try not to spend too much time on each panel to force out a fair amount of confidence behind my marks and I find that the right music for the scene really helps project that confidence onto the page.

3. How's the backing of your friends and family on your art career and what do you draw/paint apart from comics? - 

Like I said before my friends have been an incredible and an essential part of everything that I do. My family has been especially supportive. I owe them everything. Both of my parents are artists and extremely hard working. So if my little brother actually. Growing up surrounded by that pressure to succeed and creative energy is vital to being a successful artist.

4. Do you think you can innovate and penetrate markets outside US such as Caribbean and Europe etc and how would you plan on doing this? -

I definitely hope so. I think websites like Kickstarter have already opened those doors a great deal. We’ve been receiving a quite a few pledges from people all over the world with our Kid Havoc Kickstarter campaign and I really hope that they keep reading. It’s really an incredible feeling to know that you’re reaching people all over the world. These social avenues have opened up so much opportunity in the world and we share so much of a common interest. It’s really fascinating to me.

5. Finally, what's the end-game that you guys envision for Kid Havoc? -

I want to tell the story of Kid Havoc as long as I can, or as long as I see fit. The great thing about Kid Havoc is that the business structure we’ve set up with the clothing line allows us the luxury of taking our time with telling the story. I really want to be able to dive into some deep secrets with Kid Havoc and offer readers something vast and deep to dive into. I would also love to be able to have a studio that Fern and I could work in and be able to collaborate in person. Right now she works out of LA and I’m based in Richmond. We work really well together with the distance, maybe the space helps, but I’m really curious to see what would come out if we could operate Kid Havoc from the same space. Maybe we could even have a small storefront/gallery in another room with a cool receptionist like the one from Ghostbusters. Time will tell.