Trevor Hogg chats with writers Mike Raicht and Austin Harrison along with illustrator Zach Howard about turning their creative relationship into a business partnership starting with the release of Wild Blue Yonder. As an added bonus preview pages of Wild Blue Yonder #4 have been included…
Mike Raicht |
“My grandmother is a writer, but other than that no one is really all that artistic,” states Mike Raicht. “We all love to talk and tell stories when we get together, but I don’t think that’s common in a lot of families. I spent a lot of time reading as a kid and I think it was just something I was always drawn to.” A space opera created by filmmaker George Lucas served as an introduction to the world of comic books. “When I was very young, maybe 4 years old or so, my dad bought me the Star Wars [1977] movie adaptation from Sears; one of the giant sized ones. It had deleted scenes from the original script in it including Biggs scenes and another one with a humanoid, green looking Jabba. I still have it and have passed it on to my son. It is in horrid condition from being read so many times, but it is still special to me.” A group of mutants have left a lasting impression. “I grew up a huge X-Men fan. I couldn’t get enough of the mutant world. Now, I’m probably more apt to try an indie book. I’m not sure if I have a favourite comic right now. As far as movies go, I’m really excited for the upcoming X-Men movie. My favourite one, that I really dug, was Dredd[2012].” Raicht observes, “For the most part, minus a few top flight creators, the project usually comes first, and then the interest from Hollywood comes in once the comic is a reality. However, it only makes sense that companies would want to think about the complete potential of a product before green lighting it. Comic book publishers have to think in much bigger terms today than in the past.”
Austin Harrison |
“I was close to my uncle who did a lot of interesting things; he showed me some of the reconstructive work he did on cancer victims,” recalls Austin Harrison. “He would have to sketch his plan of attack. I was always interested in art on my own. When I was with my family growing up we spent a lot of time in museums and that was the empathised behind it all.” A school encounter served to further an interest in comic books. “I loved Tintinas a kid and then discovered Conanwhen I was in fifth or sixth grade; that really caught my eye. In fact I didn’t even see the Conan books. I saw a kid above me who was a great illustrator drawing Conan and I remember running up to him and asking, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘It’s Conan. You have to check it out.’ Just visually I was into it by the get-go.” Harrison remarks, “I always find it tough with favourites because I like so many different things. I thought Road to Perdition was fantastic both as the book and movie. I’m a big Paul Newman [The Sting] fan and thought it was well done all around. Tom Hanks [Captain Phillips] and Jude Law [Dom Hemingway] were great in it. I liked Sin City too both as a book and a movie and also Tintin.” The multi-media universe cannot be ignored. “You can’t get away with saying, ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s anything else than this book.’ I don’t think even creators think that way either. As creators we want to do the most we can with the property so you can spread the enjoyment around to more people in different mediums if you can.”
Zach Howard |
“My father was a Combat Engineer, and my mother was a Dental Assistant,” states Zach Howard. “I had quite a bit of time to myself growing up, and passed the hours drawing Conan and robots.” Comic books were first encountered when the military youth was living in Europe. “When I was about eight years old growing up on a base in Germany the local shopette carried the Conan magazine. It blew my mind, and I quickly became obsessed.” The illustrator shares some similar tastes with colleague Austin Harrison. “My favourite comic book is the first Sin City, and my favourite comic book movie would be Road to Perdition [2002].” The box office success of comic book movies is not entirely what it seems. “The ‘golden age’ is primarily a façade. Most of the moviemaking crazy money is established properties that come with rabid built in audiences. When Marvel or DC make a crappy movie, it doesn’t matter; the fans of the characters will show up almost regardless [by let me add that there have been a few outstanding Marvel and DC movies]. However, when you are indie, it’s really tough to bring a substantial fan base with you. It takes Walking Dead numbers to bring success most of the time.”
“We recognized that the three of us collaborating could do something unique and special,” remarks Austin Harrison who has founded a comic book publishing company with Mike Raicht and Zach Howard. “I can only speak the way we approach projects we take on in terms of the three of us with Noble Transmission. For us, it’s about the quality of the story and characters.” The apocalyptic tale about a female teenage fighter pilot called Wild Blue Yonder led to the formation of the business and creative partnership. “Zach Howard and I started on this project together about five years or so ago,” explains Mike Raicht. “It was something we were talking about doing if we ever had the time. Finally, with Kickstarter out there as an option we decided to go for it. Zach and Austin had been working together on some projects together and Zach said he was a stupendous story person. Austin, Zach and I worked on building the world and discussing the characters. We developed a real sense of who everyone in our story was and their motivations. Then usually I go off and take a pass at the script. After that, Zach and Austin will give notes. We’ll discuss them. Then I’ll go off and take another pass. It’s a good working model for us so far.”
Wild Blue Yonderis different from previous projects for Zach Howard. “I have the freedom to make a comic book at the highest level [within my skillset, of course], without pressure from some pathetic publisher to work with their talentless, hack friends who’s only goal is to cash a paycheque, and get books out as humanly possible with little emphasis on quality storytelling. IDW allows me to basically art-direct the series, and I think it’s safe to say that the proof is in the pudding. There is no soulless cronyism with our series. Our only goal is to make the best comic book you’ve ever read.” Austin Harrison notes, “IDW has done a great job of being supportive of letting us do our own thing which has been great. One of the things neat about doing a comic book is that you don’t have quite as many people in the kitchen which is not always bad. It’s a fun intimate atmosphere. Nelson Daniel our colourist has been fantastic and has been a big piece of what we’ve been able to do.”
“The idea was to make it a run down, functional world, with some science fiction elements in it,” remarks Mike Raicht. “The Wild Blue Yonder world has been like this for some time to the characters living in it, so it would only make sense to make things run down and a bit worn. Zach is interested in creating a real world that makes sense and pushed everyone to make this a reality that felt lived in. However, there will most likely be groups out there, depending on where they came from, who will have more hi-tech equipment. Even the Judge’s fleet is a bit different from the Dawn and her crew. It all would depend on where and when you developed your flying barge.” The retro-look appealed to Zach Howard. “I love the romantic feel of WWII aircraft, and most machinery in this world is salvaged. I came up with the idea that the crew of the Dawn salvaged planes from an old museum. I wanted this book to not get bogged down with the sci-fi aspect of most futuristic stories so we blend old with the new. To me that feels far more engaging because the reader can identify with certain aspects of WBY life without a complete suspension of reality. It helps ground the world and characters visually so Mike can tell his story without bogging down the readers with completely foreign world; that and it looks cool.”
“The most important thing to me as a writer is to make the characters feel like they are real and making choices that make sense,” explains Mike Raicht. “They are a family do anything they can to survive, but at the same time Cola and her mother are dealing with a very difficult time in their relationship, like any mother and teen daughter might. If the characters are believable, that’s a great first step. It also helps that Zach is one of the best artists on the planet and can make anything we come up with feel and look like it is the most natural thing in the world.” Zach Howard conducted some visual research for the Steampunk world of Wild Blue Yonder. “I studied some aircraft tech from multiple areas [including future tech] when I was designing the series, but I can honestly say not all that much research. Or at least now of days, I pretty much draw the goofy stuff floating around in my head. Usually when I research things, it’s to make certain that the machinery I’ve created looks like it works. I’ll study how landing gear operates or things of that nature.”
“I do my best to just write and describe the scene as I see it in my head,” explains Mike Raicht. “A lot of it begins in the discussion/dialogue stage as I hear character speaking to one another. I build the scene around the conversation and try to give it a time and place that is interesting. I trust Zach and Nelson to take it from there and they exceed my expectations on every panel. I’m very lucky.” Zach Howard reveals, “I always wanted to do a sepia toned book, but that was only a starting point in the development. Nelson and I talked about how we would handle things, and I asked him to do muted, but heavily rendered palette. It seemed to come together rather quickly from there. It’s important to note that this notion of mine came from wanting to match the desperateness of the world of WBY; it is a hard, and dirty living situation, and I want it to feel like that. There isn’t much colour in the character’s lives, so I don’t show much in the world they inhabit. There are I believe three times in the entire series that we actually show blue sky for instance. I want the moments to feel special.” The effort has not been lost upon Austin Harrison. “I’ve been impressed by what Nelson Daniel working with Zach has been able to do in terms of setting the tone with colour. It’s been beautiful.”
“The amount of work I have to put into each scene of the book is exhausting, but is always rewarded with the results I feel the story deserves,” states Zach Howard. “It makes for a very long process when finishing each issue, and to be honest, I don’t have a solution to that. I have no plans on hacking out any aspect of the visual process, and since I’m a slow illustrator, I just have to deal with it. I put in more hours in than the average yokel dumb enough to do this for a living.” When it comes to orchestrating page layouts, Howard explains, “I read the script a couple of times, and then when I approach the actual page I’m going to draw. I start toying around with the thumbnails. Sometimes this leads to me adding or subtracting panels from Mike’s script, but only to improve the visual flow and/or pacing. When I’ve figured out a scene of these thumbnails I loosely layout the pages; then I pencil and ink, and coordinate with Nelson and Thompson to make certain that the page tells the story at the highest level we can make happen.”
“I’m not sure we’re doing an origin story as much as we are inserting you into the world,” observes Mike Raicht. “Hopefully, the natural conversations and discussion of the characters, as well as Tug, who is our point of view character early on, reveals more and more as we go.” Exposition needs to be incorporated while still moving the story forward. “I try to have the characters discuss things naturally. If I’d have a question about something, then so might a character. With our story, Tug has been a natural voice for the reader. The Dawn is a new place to him, so we’ve used him to ask questions and experience things as eyes for the reader.” Zach Howard explains, “My first goal when creating a character is to make them believable. Even if they are in a fantastical situation, the characters feel like they could exist. I designed a good looking young lady that I would have loved to meet when I was younger. I believe that this industry is sexist [read ANY superhero book by the big two], and it was important to me to avoid this. What drew me into the property in the first place was how Mike handled Cola; she felt like a [Hayao] Miyazaki character to me, and I’ve always dreamed of doing a coming of age tale involving a female. I want people to realize that you can make girls sexy without having DD tits falling out of their costume… oops, I mean bathing suit with pouches. I’ve met women that could have been Cola; I’ve never met one that could be the Huntress. I find reality much more impactful than the unending onslaught of masturbation fantasies that most American pop culture promotes.”
“We deal with the idea of family a lot,” notes Mike Raicht. “Duty comes up more than once. The Judge lives by the mantra of the fittest should survive. The big one that I’m always interested in is playing off good versus good. If everyone is fighting to keep their families alive, how can we fault any of them? Trying to create a world where you can understand both the Dawn and her crew’s motivations and root for them, while also understanding and almost rooting for the group hunting them down. I’m not sure if we’ve pulled that off, but we’re going to keep trying to.” Austin Harrison observes, “There is a coming-of-age element to this. If you are growing up in a difficult environment then you’re going to have grow up faster than if you were growing up in a picket white fence environment with no conflict.” In regards to writing from the perspective of a female character the theme of family dynamics is universal. “We all relate to how we connect to our parents and how certain situations and emotions affect our relationships.” A key dramatic element is the interaction between Cola and her mother. “That’s a big driver in the story. It’s something that people who are interested in the book seem to grab on to.”
A pivotal marketing tool is the cover page of a comic book. “Design is so important because it is the main factor in making a book standout on the shelves,” states Zach Howard. “But sometimes this doesn’t matter with some of the bigger titles. The retards who buy Spiderman, will always buy Spiderman no matter what is on the cover so obviously the effectiveness of the cover is far less important; it’s more about branding at that point. However, if you don’t have a half-century of product recognition backing your series, then you actually have to be much more thoughtful about the cover you are producing. This is when design, visual impact, and story elements employed matter so much more. As for subject material I personally don’t think it’s all that relevant to success for covers. It just has to look good and eye-catching. Sometimes that might mean portrait pieces, and sometimes that might mean a group action shot or an environment shot. I’ve never seen one process outshine any others since it’s just an advertisement for the book beneath it. Lastly, be original; that sounds like a no-brainer, but walk through a comic book store and see how many covers are almost identical. They’re a bunch of crappy characters standing and looking at the viewer. If you want a cover to standout, don’t do that. You can do what every other schlep is doing or you can burn some calories and catch people’s attention. Both avenues can be successful to certain extents.”
“The biggest challenge for us was finding the time and resources to work on it together,” states Mike Raicht. “Kickstarter was a huge help in getting us on the right track. Then we wanted to work with colourist Nelson Daniel who is one of the best around. IDW worked with us to make that happen. Creatively, Zach, Austin and I have always been working towards making this the best book we can.” Wild Blue Yonder will continue to fly onto comic book shelves. “After our initial limited series ends with issue 6, we’re planning to put out a series of one shots focusing in on some of the survivors of the final battle. We have at least one that focuses a bit on someone who doesn’t survive. We have some amazing artists who will join us for those issues. It’s pretty exciting for all of us that other artists are interested in working in the Wild Blue Yonder universe with us. We will then return with a new limited series after that with Zach back at the artistic helm.” Zach Howard is enthusiastic about the prospect of having the apocalyptic series evolve. “Austin and I talk quite a bit with Mike about the stories, but it’s ultimately his vision. Since I believe in what he writes, I just find a way to make it visually impactful and sound. As for my style, being in a situation where I can spend any amount of time needed on series, I’ve noticed my style has become very dense and realized. I think as the story continues, my work is only going to harmonize more with the story which I’m quite excited to see unfold.”
“I love every page as it comes in from Zach,” states Mike Raicht. “For me, any time we have silent pages, I feel like that is a treat. I am way wordy so any time the art and story come together to pack an emotional punch silently, I’m extremely happy with it.” Austin Harrison was a favourite scene which is featured in Wild Blue Yonder #3. “Mike came up with that moment and he deserves credit and Zach too. I love what Zach and Nelson Daniel did with the double page spread. It’s beautiful.” Zach Howard shares a lot of the visual success with his colourist. “Oh, I don’t think I was surprised at any point, but I was very happy with how it turned out. It’s nice to know that I can put my butt on the line, and succeed. However, much of that credit goes to Nelson Daniel for harmonizing with my vision and also to IDW for trusting my vision.” Raicht remarks, “Anyone interested in learning more about what Zach, Austin and I are doing with our new company Noble Transmission, please follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We have some really exciting projects on tap for later this year, and we are always previewing pages of Zach and Nelson’s beautiful art from Wild Blue Yonder. Thank you to everyone who has picked up Wild Blue and for those who haven’t given it a try we think you’ll like it.”
Images provided by Noble Transmission and IDW Publishing.
Many thanks to Mike Raicht, Austin Harrison and Zach Howard for taking the time to be interviewed.
To learn more make sure to visit the official website for Noble Transmission, the Twitter accounts of Mike Raicht and Austin Harrison as well as Zach Howard at DeviantArt.
Wild Blue Yonder #4 arrives on March 5, 2014.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.