Then there was Space Samurai: Written by Mike Butler also drawn by me. Hahaha, but the first comics we made as Attack of the Rivals were Mouse Warrior : Written by Steven Kuerbitz and art by me. Ryan: Well the first comic I ever made that I remember was some computer paper stapled together of me and some friends being Power Rangers in elementary school. MFR: What was the first comic you created? Only things we had were actual comics and a few books on how to make comics like Scott McCloud’s books, and the DC Comics guide to writing. Never interacted with any other creators. None of us had ever been to a comic convention. There wasn’t anyone else we knew at the time who made comics. But the whole thing was always like this idea that we were going to just make the stuff we wanted to make and to figure out how to get something from an idea to a real tangible book. Being able to get stuff like the right-sized paper or a large enough scanner was something that took quite a bit of effort and just trying stuff to figure it out. But just back in 2009-2010 it seemed like a mystery. It’s weird because now there are youtube videos on so many things. Writing, discussing, passing books around, studying, and just really trying to teach ourselves how to make comics. We ended up getting back with our friend Mike Butler and we’d meet at this 24-hour diner and would just do work. That night was kind of the serious beginning of doing this stuff. While we sat and sipped on coffee, I doodled on a paper placemat, and he asked me: “Do you still make comics?” Next thing I know we’re brainstorming and riffing like we used to. We ended up stopping at a diner to catch up and get some dinner. I got in my car and I noticed my old friend from school Steven Kuerbitz was getting ready to ride home on a bike in the rain! I offered to give him a ride home so he could stay dry. One night, as I was getting out of work and a storm, was rolling in. I got a job at a grocery store and was just kind of going through the motions. When I graduated and went on to college I stopped for a time, focused more on school, but eventually, in 2009, I dropped out. Some would be funny comics, some would be our own versions of superheroes. My friends Steve, Mike and I would make up characters and stories in class. Ryan: Making comics was always something I did as a kid and continued to do so through high school. MFR: When did you decide you wanted to create your own comics? And then when did you decide to publish yourself? And I think that feeling of this massive unexplored history really kept me interested. Around the same time 90’s cartoons like Spiderman, X-Men, and Batman TAS helped teach me some of the overall mythos and let me kind of piece stuff together. So many memories of just getting random comics and not even knowing what was happening in the overall story but just loving the action in them. When I got a little bit older we would ride our bikes up to a card and comics shop. I would just flip through them and look at the pictures. We’d spend hours and hours with him showing me X-Men, Spiderman, Batman, Spawn, The Maxx. Ryan: My earliest memories of comics come from an older cousin of mine sharing his books with me. MFR: Origin time! What’s your comic book fan origin? Where did your love for comics come from? Ryan: Hello again! Doing great! Been working on the next chapter of Nomads, and been messing around with block printing! Monkeys Fighting Robots: First of Ryan, thanks for taking some time to talk to us. So check out our chat and then make sure you order a copy of Nomads! Nomads is awesome and I just had to talk to Ryan about it. When he told me about his book Nomads, I knew I had to read it. Being floored by the art, I reached out to him. I discovered Ryan Tavarez’s work when I was lucky enough to do an early review of the upcoming comic A Game Of Doubles. Welcome to Self-Published Spotlight, a regular interview column where I will be highlighting self-published comics and the creators and small print publishers who make them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |