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Fan Expo Interviews: Meredith and David Finch

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Fan Expo Toronto will be taking place this year between September 3rd and 6th, and Graphic Policy had the opportunity to talk with a few of their featured guests before the beginning of the convention.  David and Meredith Finch have had a pretty exciting year go by, having worked on some big names in the industry as well as some less heralded endeavors that were pretty awesome as well.  We got a chance to talk with them about their past year and what to expect in Toronto

finch002Graphic Policy:  You two have had a pretty busy year, between taking over the creative control of Wonder Woman, working on parts of the Darkseid War, and some indie successes with Zenescope’s Little Mermaid.  What were your own highlights?

Meredith Finch:  November 2014 saw our first issue of Wonder Woman hit the stands.  I have to say that was a highlight for me.  We worked so hard on the book for so many months beforehand, it was nice to finally see that come to fruition.

David Finch:  I just worry about putting out the best work I can, and I’ve been very lucky this year to start working with Jonathan Glapion, and Brad Anderson.  They’ve taken my work to another level.  I’ve had the chance to control the panel flow and pacing with Wonder Woman, and that’s been very gratifying.

GP:  On the subject of the Little Mermaid, fairy tales have become a pretty big genre in comics in recent years, but why haven’t they made their way into the mainstream superhero comics yet?

MF:  I think that we don’t see more traditional fairy tale characters in mainstream superhero comics because a superhero comic is, in and of itself, a fantasy.  Our ancestors told fairytales to explain things that were seemingly magical or to provide a moral foundation for childhood behavior.  We use mainstream superhero comics in much the same way.   So I guess I would consider superhero comics much more a modern day extension of fairytales rather than something that excludes them.

finch003GP:  The Darkseid War is a pretty big deal for the Justice League, but its scope is also a lot different, focusing on epic moves.  Do you prefer this kind of epic approach, or something more like Wonder Woman which focuses more on one character and her own character development?

MF:  I love that there is a place for both to exist in the industry.  I think that it’s obvious based on what we are doing how much I love developing a character.  Perhaps as I get more experienced I’d be more inclined to take on a more epic project like Darkseid War, but there aren’t many people out there who can bring to the table the storytelling finesse of Geoff Johns.

DF:  I go back and forth on this one.  I really enjoy single character books because I can really explore and get to know them, but the big expansive books are a blast too.  I have a tough time getting bored when I’ve got lots of varied things to draw, and crossovers are great that way.

GP:  You were recently involved in a costume redesign for Wonder Woman, but costume redesigns for characters are often not well received by the fans.  Why do you think that this is?  And what did you do to counteract it?

MF:  Comics used to be a very new and innovative artistic medium.  I feel like today it is much harder to overcome the sense of nostalgia that is attached to characters and the costumes they have been wearing for decades.

DF:  The costume was very well received from what I saw.  I don’t worry about counteracting negativity.  I especially enjoy working with writers that are fearless in the face of that stuff.  Trying to make everyone happy is a great way to put out boring books.  

finch004GP:  Wonder Woman and the Little Mermaid are interesting in that they have so much pre-established history in terms of what is known about them.  How do you approach beloved characters like this to put your own spin on them?  Do you research them a lot?

MF:  I do as much research as I feel is necessary to understand who and what the characters mean to me.  I definitely was heavily influenced by Disney’s Little Mermaid character.  I love that movie.  But I also wanted to be true to Zenescope’s vision of who and what the character was.  It helped that their Little Mermaid has a monster lurking inside of her.  With Wonder Woman I mainly focused on Brian and Cliff’s run.  They really defined who and what the character was for the new 52 and I let that be my major influence.

GP:  On the same topic, how do you approach characters that are based in a different era, as both the Little Mermaid and Wonder Woman have elements in their background which could seem to be almost anachronistic in the modern day?

MF:  I really try to keep my focus for my story primarily on the women themselves.  Everything else is just a tool to be used as necessary to me.  I do however, think that the fact that both characters have anachronistic elements to their story is part of what I find so appealing.  It helps with the whole fish out of water feeling that we all can relate to.

DF:  Great concepts are timeless, and I think both characters have that going for them.  Then the trick is focusing on the elements of the concept that relate to our times.  

finch005GP:  Do you think that there is a shift underway in the presentation of female comic characters?

MF:  I think you would have to have your head under a rock these days to not be aware of the major shifts that are happening today in comics as they relate to female characters and the creators behind them.  Woman represent almost 50% of the industry now and they are definitely demanding equal representation in the medium.

DF:  Absolutely.  Women are embracing comics in greater numbers lately, both as readers, and as creators.   That’s having a big impact on female character portrayal across the board.

GP:  Do you ever find yourself liking a particular character more after being exposed to them?

MF:  As a writer… absolutely.  The more I have time to delve into a character and what makes them tick, the better I get to know them, the more attached I become.  Right now, Wonder Woman and her cast feel almost as much like family as my real kids.  I love having the opportunity to shape who and what they will become.

DF:  The better written the character, the more engaged I am with them.  That just makes sense, I guess.  I do find it can take me a while to understand what I character is about, but once I do, I’m rolling.

GP:  What are you looking forward to at FanExpo 2015?

MF:  Canadian fans are the best.  I can say that because I’m Canadian.  There is such a great energy to the Toronto show.  The only shows that come close to that type of energy are San Diego and NYCC.  See you soon Toronto!

DF:  I’m looking forward to the fans.  That sounds like a pr kind of answer, I know, but Toronto has a great core of comic fans, and I see lots of familiar faces every year.  

Matchett’s Musings: Working For GrayHaven Part II

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Hey everyone!  Sorry about the delay, had some personal issues both comic and non-comic to deal with.  I’m back and will be posting from my regular Thursday (ish) from next week.  

Working At GrayHaven Part 2:  Bigger and Better (Part 1)

Welcome back to my memories of the stories I published with GrayHaven during my tenure with them both as writer and editor.  Last time we spoke about some of the early volumes I was involved with and some of the early lessons I learned as a creator and some lessons the company learned too.

Once again this only deals with volumes I was involved with as a writer and is from my own perspective.  Other versions of events may vary, I can only tell you what happened from my perspective.

I won’t waste much time and take you right to where we left off last time with Vol. 7, which I actually wasn’t in…but I was meant to be.

Note:  This section is a lot larger than I anticipated so I have decided to split in half.

Hope you enjoy!

Vol. 7:  Dreams and Nightmares

I don’t really remember much of the submission criteria for this volume but I do remember the story I put forward.   The entire volume was themed with ‘Myth’, which again was a genre I hadn’t played in much and was eager to explore.  I remember really taking a long time coming up with the story that became ‘Until The End’.

The story featured two wizards named Garth and Rex (short for Rexmus) who represented the light and dark side of magic respectfully.  Starting off in modern times the six page story told a tale of them essentially fighting each other since medieval times.  It was a story I was really looking forward to seeing published and I was paired with a new artist to GrayHaven.  I don’t remember this artist’s full name now but I believe his first name was Robert, who upon initial communication was very eager to bring my warring wizard’s to life.

After the initial communication though, he stopped answering e-mails from me and the editor on the book.  He vanished from the face of the earth and by the time we realized he wasn’t going to draw the story, it was too late to find a replacement.  This was my first experience with an artist who had let me down and flash forwarding to today it is something I have come across far too often.

There was nothing that could be done.  There was some talk of turning the story into a webcomic but that never really came to fruition.  The story likely needs a lot of polishing from what I’ve learned in subsequent years (this story was written in 2011 and I would say I’ve grown quite significantly as a writer) but I would still like to see it come to life at some point.

It is true what they say, there is no such thing as a wasted idea and some of this story may even appear as apart of something else entirely down the road, who knows.

My disappointed was short lived however as I was about to begin my most prolific period as a writer for GrayHaven.  The company as a whole was getting bigger and better and it seemed that I was going to face the challenge to do the same creatively

Vol. 9:  Once Upon A Time

Like I’ve said many times before, growing up my biggest influences to me for the rest of my life were likely ‘Batman The Animated Series’ and a complete collection of Arthur Conan Doyle ‘Sherlock Holmes’ stories.  I can likely link everything I have liked or been passionate about back to those two things in some fashion.  Another big influence growing up that I don’t talk about very often is the steady diet of Disney movies I enjoyed in my youth…and even until today.

I’m a big fan of animated films and it all started with Disney films like ‘Aladdin’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘The Lion King’.  I was really eager to participate in a volume based around Fairy Tales such as Vol. 9 of the Gathering was.  The only stipulation this time was that all stories had to have some moral undertone or ‘lesson’ for readers, just like all good fairy tales do.

I quickly came up with a story where the moral would be ‘always listen to your elders’ and would feature a cast of talking dragons.  I found it hard at the time to think of many fairy tales to feature dragons as protagonists and thought it would be something a really talented artist could sink their teeth into.  Essentially the story revolves around an older dragon telling a younger generation about a volcano where the most dangerous dragon of them all resides.  The young dragons are told to stay away but of course, one of them decides to check out the legend for himself and comes across the dangerous creature first hand.

Upon reflection it’s a pretty simple, straightforward story that really benefits from the art of Paula Cob who I worked with on this story and a few subsequent others.  Paula is a very talented artist whose work I adored when I first saw it in ‘Vol. 3: Heroes’.  She had worked primarily to date with a writer who also happened to be her husband in Ignacio Segura but I was eager to see if she would lend her manga style art to my little fairy tale.

Fortunately for me, she said yes and I’ve had the pleasure of working with Paula on a number of occasions.  I’m still a big fan of her work and find it sad that she doesn’t participate in GrayHaven stories as much as she used to due to her and Ignacio working on a personal project.  Her art style gave my story the scale it needed and I think added a lot to my fairly straightforward tale of doing what you’re told.

I also edited the book but don’t have many memories of it.  This likely means it all ran fairly smoothly which is always something to be celebrated.

Vol. 10:  The Unbelievable Arthur Richmond Is One Smart Cookie

Previously known as ‘the adventure’ volume I believe Vol. 10 is something that to this day sends editor James O’Callaghan into traumatic flashbacks.

A little background about Vol. 10, which began like any other Gathering volume and had people submit stories with a different take on the ‘adventure’ theme.  The trouble was that the amounts of submissions were low so it was decided that the interested parties would take their individual stories and combine them.

The new main story would feature a character called ‘Arthur Richmond’ who would serve as our Indiana Jones style protagonist.  It was up to our editor to figure out how all our individual stories would figure into a larger hole.  For that task, I cannot give but the highest praise to James who took several different stories (including one that had talking birds) and somehow made it work.  I would say he made it work more than any of the rest of us on the editorial staff would have in any case.

My section basically served at the books epilogue where we would discover that the entire tale was one told by an aged Arthur to a pair of young men in an adventurers club.  Of course they don’t believe his story of talking birds and magical cookies (you had to be there) so Arthur goes home, clearly dejected.  The closing scene has him go down in his home to a sizable trophy room, where indeed we discover his stories were all true.

It wasn’t conventional but it somehow did work.  I was proud to be a part of it and thought my epilogue gave it a suitable note to end on.  On this story I was fortunate to work with artist Sam Tung, who was an early GrayHaven fan favorite.   He only worked on a handful of GrayHaven projects before going on to do some production work for Iron Man 3 and GI Joe 2.  Apart from my misfortune regarding my Vol. 7 story, my extremely good fortune with artists seemed to continue.

Volume 11: Silver Age

This volume was a big passion project for GrayHaven publisher, Andrew Goletz.  He wanted to do a volume that would harken back to the classic ‘silver age’ of comics where Marvel where just coming into the eye of the public and comic took themselves a little less seriously.

I was initially tempted to bring back my inept hero from Vol. 3 ‘Commander Cosmo’ when submitting for this volume but it wasn’t an idea Andrew was in favour of.  He wanted to avoid stories that connected to each other as he did not want customers to feel pressured into buying several volumes in order to get a complete story.

Understanding and agreeing with his logic, I decided to do a story revolving around time travel.  I love time travel as a storytelling device and if you meet me for more than five minutes, I would say you’ll soon learn that.  I also decided that I would have a female protagonist as that was something I had yet to do in any of my stories to date.  Regular readers of these articles will know that I feel very passionate about the portrayal of female characters and having more of them in comics, so with that in mind I created Lucy Letwood.

Having stole a time band that her father invented, Lucy was a young woman who finally found herself LOST IN TIME!!!!  I basically wrote this story with a big stupid grin on my face and tried to have as many silver age callbacks as I could cram in.  I was especially proud of having the classic Stan Lee moment where a character would point out that something was crashing through a wall even though we could clearly see it.

It was drawn by an artist named George Amaru who has become something of a GrayHaven staple and is one of my favorite artists to work with.  Not only is George a really nice guy but he is extremely talented.  He gave the story the exact tone it needed and made my silver age multi panel pages work flawlessly.  I’ve worked with George a couple of times since, even tasking him with a Living With Death short ‘The Reporter’ which I released on the comics Facebook fanpage a number of months ago.  I’ve been wanting to work with George on something long term for years but at that time, it wasn’t possible.  These days he is a very busy guy working for GrayHaven, Bluewater and Inverse press on a variety of projects.  When his schedule clears up, I hope to work with George on something long term.

I brought Lucy back in a future volume and would love to tell more of her story at some point.  It was really with this story that I started to get more attached to the characters I was creating.  I didn’t just want them to be there and then gone forever, I saw life in them beyond the stories.

This was when I really wanted to creating larger stories starring some of the Gathering featured characters.  I knew that would have its own problems however.

Next:  More characters I didn’t want to say goodbye to, ghosts that aren’t ghosts and the final Gathering stories.

Got any comments, suggestions or questions? Let me know! Also follow me on Twitter @glenn_matchett

Review: Damsels in Excess #4

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damsels in distress 4The fairy tale genre is one which has slowly introduced itself into the medium since the early 2000s, but it is a genre and phenomenon which is now fairly widespread, being also popular on television and in movies.  With Damsels in Excess as the first from Aspen, it joins DC Comics (through Vertigo), Marvel, Dynamite and Zenescope as other publishers that have tried to capitalize on the popularity of these legendary characters.  There are some inherent problems to the use of fairy tale characters in comics, among the most obvious that there is a limited pool to draw upon, and saturation comes quickly with more than a few different versions of the same character.  Another drawback is the use of the female characters themselves, in that in traditional fairy tales that the traditional role of women is most often reinforced, which sometimes clashes with modern values.

Thus far, Damsels in Excess has been fairly successful in combating both of these impulses.  In the first case they have simply decided on a pool of princesses which form the backbone of everything which transpires in this series.  Secondly and most important, by way of an ancient curse, there are in fact no male characters at all in the world in which they live, thus making the female characters at least by default the heroes of the story.  Thus far in the series, the main character Bethany has struggled with her role in the entire process.  Forming one of the group of princesses that rule the domain, she also bears worse responsibilities, as it is her mother that was responsible for the curse which removed all the men, and she is persecuted and on the run for the actions of her parent.  At the same time another comes to her peril, as her unknown sister is hired to assassinate her.

As a take on the fairy tale genre, this series works, or at least hits all of the notes that it needs to, with main characters that are fun and well developed.  The concept and story itself is a bit of a stretch when it comes to fairy tales, but it is still a modern version of what fairy tales might look like if they were crafted in the modern day with modern storytelling.  The main problem with the series and this issue is that it is a limited series, and while this issue is of decent enough quality, it does not seem like it is moving along fast enough for the rest of the series not to be crammed together for a hasty resolution.  It is of course nice to see character development, but if it comes at the expense of the plot then it is to the worse of the overall series.  It remains to be seen what the creative team will do with what they have to this point, but at least all the pieces are there for something memorable enough in this genre.

Story: Vince Hernandez Art: Mirka Andolfo
Story: 8.0  Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Read

Aspen provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review