First
off, when and why did you decide to make a webcomic? Was SMC your
first attempt? What were your expectations of what it would be like
compared to how it really is?
Well sometime around 2003 I found out there
were internet comics that didn't suck like newspaper comics do. I got
really into Achewood, White Ninja, Penny Arcade, and some comics that
people posted on the Penny Arcade forums. First I made some
single-frame stick figure comics on paper, then multi-frame ones on the
computer, and got good responses to both. Since I was really into the
Penny Arcade forum community I posted my comics there and people seemed
to like them, then it just kind of slowly grew as I bought the supermegacomics.com
domain and more people found out about it. I think it's pretty much
just been "drawing in MSPaint then uploading the drawings" forever so my
expectations haven't really changed, though seeing all the fan comics
and community around Super Mega definitely has gone way beyond my
expectations.
The first comic on the site is called "Gutter Gutter Man Man", how did you feel about the comic when you first posted it?
How do you feel about it now?
I think
my old comics are good and quirky but the humor is kind of dated at this
point so they don't entertain me that much. I think humor goes in and
out of style like fashion, because it's all about what a culture has
become used to, and what will surprise them. I wouldn't release GUTTER
GUTTER MAN MAN as a new comic today, but it was good when it came out.
I'm not into the "That's a classic!" mentality because I mostly care
about what someone will think if they look at the comic right now with
no prior knowledge or expectations. GUTTER GUTTER MAN MAN is pretty
okay though I guess, just not as great anymore.
It's kind of a cliche question--but I guess it's a
classic for a reason--where do you get your ideas? How much of what you
write/draw do you have prepared before making a comic and how much of
it is spontaneous or improvised?
I think a lot about what's cool or funny or
interesting, and when I see those things in a movie or something it gets
stored in my brain as "good stuff." Then when I'm trying to come up
with a comic my brain does its secret subconscious computer work where
it thinks about good stuff and forms new ideas. So basically I care
about good stuff and my subconscious swishes it around until it thinks
of good ideas. Like sometimes I feel like my subconscious is some other
dude telling me something and I'm like "lol that's funny" and write it
down. Getting into a relaxed state of mind where your subconscious can
do the work is important and I think geniuses of history like Einstein
and DaVinci did that so it must work. Like I have to sit there for a
long time thinking.
Do the comics change much from their first drafts to
the site, or are we looking at first drafts? How long does one of the
comics usually take?
It depends, usually
first I write a "script" in a notepad file which has all the dialogue
and what happens. Sometimes I only get halfway through a script and
can't think of anything else good so I give up, because trying to force
those things usually doesn't work. Sometimes I write a whole comic and
it's all good. Sometimes I go back to a previous script and am able to
finish it because I have a new perspective. Drawing the comics can take
from like 20 minutes to an hour and a half depend on how complicated it
is. I spend a LOT of time adjusting character's mouths and eyes and
stuff. I'm really really OCD about that. Drawing is my least favorite
part because I guess I think it's boring?
Probably we could guess the answer to this, but what drawing program do you use to make the comics?
MSPaint, and I use Photoshop to change the yellow from glaringly bright MSPaint yellow to glaringly bright Super Mega yellow.
Fan art is a pretty prominent aspect of the site. People make their own comics in SMC style, and you post them and say
something nice about them. How did that get started? Was that your
idea? How do you feel about them?
I remember a loooong time ago before the
current site they were not really comics and more like fan art/drawings,
then they evolved into being just comics, mostly. It probably happened
because everyone can draw stick figures, and people saw other people's
comics on the front page and were like "me too!" The comics range from
being pretty bad to as good or better than most of mine, but either way I
always like getting them and posting them.
I have a lot of favorites, honestly, but if I had to
narrow it down to just one I think I would go with Handcat. Which
comic is/are your favorite/favorites on the site, and why?
My favorite is "30 DAYS OF MEGA COMIC #10 - BAD DOG", because it's
funny and accessible to people because there's a dog with a mohawk. I
like most of the comics that have dogs or puppies in them. I used to
make comics with robots and dinosaurs but now those things are kind of
cliche like pirates, ninjas, and zombies.
Which is/are your least favorite/favorites? Do you hate any of the comics you have made?
Yeah
for a while I was trying to have characters (Ally, Sarah, Funky Man,
etc.) and a lot of those comics were pretty bad or forced, which is why I
stopped doing them. I feel like characters are a thing I tried and it
just led to more stilted comics where I was trying to think "what are
the funny things that will happen to this character today?" instead of a
more fluid thought process on like good funny stuff. So if I had to
pick some comics I "hate", it'd probably be a few of those, and maybe
some other random comics that are confusing and not funny enough.
Was their ever a comic that you thought was kind of lame but that you got a lot of positive feedback on, or vice-versa?
Lots
of times, for example with the recent comic called "FACE" I actually
did two versions of because I didn't like the first version and I didn't
get the deluge of Likes and Comments for it on Facebook I usually get.
I didn't like the second one that much either. But a bunch of people
said they liked one or the other or both. I ended up leaving the first
one up because it was more unique. I'd probably like to go back to that
one and change the "I'M A DIVA" line and change the last two frames to
have a photo-realistic foot licking a man's face. If a bunch of people
say they don't like a comic I usually figure it either is bad or I
failed to convey something correctly, because usually if I think it's
good then people like it. lol.
What is laser day?
Man I
can't even remember why it started, I think I was just spending all my
free time on the Penny Arcade forums and doing Super Mega and I wanted
something cool to do that people could join in on. So I thought lasers
were cool and that I would make laser comics and people could send laser
comics in to me. It worked out pretty well and people sent in a lot of
comics and it was fun. The problem with laser day now is that lasers
are cliche and I don't really have as much time to dedicate to something
like that.
You used to do ongoing stories and have a few returning characters, but not so much anymore. Why the switch?
I
think when you do ongoing stories, and I see this a lot in other
comics, you start to get pulled along by the narrative and the jokes
either don't come out or they come out awkwardly. I think this
definitely happened in my ongoing storylines. I also think when you're
trying to make a comic and the idea is "this character is funny and they
do funny stuff, let's watch them do their funny stuff"... well that
isn't super conducive to making interesting comics for me.
I've noticed a lot of people in your comics are
named Brian. There are other recurring names as well. Am I right in
assuming these are different characters with the same name, not
returning characters? What gave you the idea to repeat names?
Basically when I'm writing a script I don't
want to sit there thinking "What's a good character name?" so I usually
just blurt out the first name I think of. I kind of have a cache of
names at this point. Sometimes I think "I've used that name too much,
I'll change it later" and then I forget. I think I should probably come
up with a few more names so people don't think they're recurring
characters. But I won't say they're NOT recurring characters because
that would suck for people who made an archive of the DAVE comics. ONE
THING that's interesting in that respect is that I'm not going to do
some fat bearded DAVE because that would just be too out there in
contrast with the way the DAVEs usually look.
Are you intending to continue SMC for a long time? What are your hopes for it in the future?
Yeah
I've been wanting to get back on the wagon and update Super Mega as
much as I used to. But I also hate when people say they "want to do
something" and never do it. The thing is I'm busier and don't just
spend time bored on internet forums all day. Trying to update is
difficult because I need to find time to sit and think for a long time.
Sometimes I think for a long time and don't even come up with a good
comic script. Then when it comes to drawing the comics that is kind of
boring to me. These are like the ultimate first-world-comic-writer
problems though lol, like I just draw stick figures and I'm complaining
about not having time to make a comic. BUT, I'd really like to update
more this year. I feel like "the time is now" and there's stuff like
Kickstarter which could let me do things like a Super Mega book or a new
line of Super Mega clothing stuffs, and everyone is working together
and the internet is a happy creative place right now so I really want to
heave Super Mega up and do stuff with it.
You had a kickstarter for a game you developed, tell us about it.
Yeah
it's called "Mage Tower, A Tower Defense Card Game" and it's like those
tower defense games you can play on your iPhone only it's a card game
you play with/against your friends. Everyone fights hordes of monsters
and tries to not die. It's not a super casual game but I haven't had
any trouble teaching it to non-gamers so far. I've spent most of the
past year working on it. It's kind of funny because Super Mega is a
comic made with stick figures, and Mage Tower is a card game made with
public domain and creative commons artwork. However, not to sound
conceited, but the artwork is probably way way better than other games
I've seen that use public domain art. For example, applying Photoshop
filters to a photograph to make it into a painting IS EXTREMELY UGLY SO
STOP DOING THAT EVERYBODY. Anyways everyone should read about my game
at SuperMegaGames.net, that's my main thing I'm doing right now.
If you were in my position, what question would you ask yourself? What is the answer to that question?
Question: "What's the most important thing about creating things?"
Answer: "Find out what's out there and be really OCD about judging
what's good and what's bad. If you have good taste and make things you
like then the things you make will be good things."
Closing remarks?
Thanks to all the Super Mega Fanz out there, all the ones I've met IRL and on FB are all cool THX u guys rock
Ahh that comic is way too long, I try not to
have comics that ramble on like that anymore. It's funny because this
is like the longest comic and I saved it as a GIF or something in
MSPaint which caused all those orange dots to appear everywhere, and
since it happened to this comic there was no way I was cleaning that up.
Actually I could probably clean it up in like 5 seconds in Photoshop,
but whatevr......
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