Johnny Mack, the creator of upcoming book TITANS answered some questions for me. I'm here to help promote and support my fellow creators. Johnny is a member of the
Wonderfunders! facebook group, the group responsible for my upcoming comic. So sit back and enjoy this interview, check out the links, and support Johnny in his endeavors!
When
did you start reading comics?
My
earliest memory of reading a comic was about five or six (circa 85-86). There
was a Spiderman cartoon that would come on and of course Superfriends etc. I
was given a ton of comics for Christmas that year because I said I wanted them.
So My parents bought em for me…and thus my love affair with comics began.
What
are your favorite comics?
Frenemy
of the State which is by Rashida Jones (daughter of music producer Quincy Jones
and actress Peggy Lipton of Mod Squad fame) Sailor Moon, Spell Checkers, Artifice,
Johnny Saturn, and Teahouse (the last three are web comics.)
Who
are your favorite writers?
That’s
a tough question for me because writers in the comic medium don’t really get a
lot of recognition at times unless they draw as well. I do in just general novelist;
I love so many it’s hard to narrow the field.
When
did you start writing comics?
I started
back in the mid 90’s. Things were so different back then, internet was in its
infancy and crowdfunding as well as digital/pod printing didn’t even exist. My
friend John Cummings who is a talented artist in his own right and I tried to
do a comic. Needless to say no one is buying copies of “Alternate 8” (lol)
Where
do you draw your inspiration from?
From
family and friends, the world around us, folklore, mythology and religion. Also,
film genres of all kinds. I feed off a lot of things and places for
inspiration.
When
and how did you conceptualize TITANS?
The
idea for it (TITANS) came from me writing for solace. My mother had just
passed some time before that and I was writing a totally different comic based
on a table top Mutants and Masterminds game my best friend Scott was running. It
was so slow trying to write the script because it never felt organic…I couldn’t
even get people to want to work on it with me or to at least stay a while to
work on it. One day like out of left field the idea came to me for “TITANS” and
I began to write it and never looked back.
What
can you tell us about the book without giving too much away?
Ok,
so God has decided he is going to retire from being the “Supreme Ruler” so he
decides to open his job up to other pantheon of gods, demi-gods and heroes. Only
thing is that they have to fight to the death for the job…but of course there
is more than meets the eye to all this. So if you want to know more folks,
please read our baby when it comes out this summer (lol).
What
is your goal for the length of the series? Ongoing or is there a definite
ending you're working towards?
I
view it (the comic) like a tv series. I have planned five seasons the first arch
consisting of twelve issues with the rest being somewhere between 18-24 issues.
Audacious I know! Also, there will be four graphic novels in between each arch
and some special mini archs. So, needless to say the comic will be around for a
while .
Tell
us about the team working on the book.
I
have an amazing team of people behind me; I have Sean Hill who does the amazing
artwork, Michael Waggoner on the colors and Stephen Schilling who does,
lettering, layout & design. I also can’t forget my web guy Michael Surma and
my editor Jessica Fishburn.
 |
| Preview art from TITANS #1 |
What
is your plan to publish the book?
We
are going to self-produce and publish this baby under our own banner "Underground Comix". It’s scary and exciting all in
the same time.
Are
you currently working on anything else?
Yeah,
Waggoner and I have assembled a team together to produce a comic magazine
called “Comix Lab” and I got a few other comic ideas brewing and coming
together.
What
are your career goes in regards to writing? Do you wish to remain in
the realm of comics or expand into other mediums?
Well,
I writer screenplays and I am gearing up to write some cookbooks as I love to
cook and am a foodie/ food scientist. So I hope to continue to write in all
three mediums as they all are exciting, challenging and rewarding in their own
right.
What
comic artists would you like to work with in the future?
There
are some killer artist that I have meet through a group I am involved with on
Facebook (Wonderfunders) and I have to say the one I am dying to work with is Brian
Germain. I so want him to do a book or at least a cover…something!
