Terry LaBan interview

I have to study for an IBM certification test scheduled for tomorrow, so there are no drawings this weekend. As I was cleaning out my desk, I found this email interview with Terry LaBan, cartoonist and illustrator of Edge City Comics, that I did for a Writing for Animation class back in May 2006. This interview gave me a better understand of the writing process and the comics industry. Hopefully any aspiring writer would find it beneficial as well:

Terry (TL): Sorry it's taken so long to get back, Norbert. These are long questions though. Ok, here goes—Terry

Norb (NB): I really loved your story in Grendel Tales: The Devil May Care. I re-read in horror the ending (and the rest of the 6-issue story arc) yesterday but it fit the characterizations. Do you plan do other stories like this again? I still get nightmares, but it’s so “real”.

TL: Well, thanks. In the 16 years since I wrote it, I don't think anyone's ever commented on it at all, aside from a couple of letters Diana Schutz, my editor, got while it was coming out. But I'm not sure what you mean by more stories like it. If it's stories featuring dystopian futures and bikers, no. That was one of a kind.

NB: Since you have children now, is it hard to write stories like this?

TL: It's hard to write stories, period. But the Grendel story was an unusual one for me, even at the time. I generally don't deal with the sort of material I did with that one, mainly because I don't like violence. In fact, I thought of The Devil May Care as a sort of anti-violence story--I really loathed the whole Grendel concept, as far as I could understand it, which wasn't far, because it didn't make any sense. But yes, having kids has changed the way I look at things and what I've subsequently ended up writing about--I do a family comic strip, after all, which is something I wouldn't have thought I'd be doing in 1994. But I'd say fatherhood has more affected my desire to be "outrageous", as I tried to be with my own alternative comics, than it has my desire to bum people out, which I never really had to begin with.

NB: Was it hard to make a transition to the Dreaming: “Goldie Factor”? And the more recent, Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge? And why?

TL: Actually, I started doing Donald Duck stuff (I'm surprised you know about that) back in 1995, which was only a short time after I did the Grendel thing. As a matter of fact, Donald Duck happens to suit my sensibility perfectly, which is why I'm still doing it today (bless Egmont--they've been pretty good to me). The Dreaming was much harder, but more because I was utterly unfamiliar with the Sandman series. Plus, I felt a lot of pressure to do a good job, since it was a high-profile project. But even that was closer to what I'm naturally inclined to do than Grendel. So no--the transition wasn't difficult at all.

NB: How did you get to team up with Matt Wagner?

TL: Sometime in the mid-90s, I decided to try my hand at writing other people's comics, as opposed to just my own. I really needed money. I went to San Diego and asked around--a lot of people knew me because they liked "Unsupervised Existence" and "Cud". Diana Schutz, who I'd met years before hawking minis at a con in Ohio and who was kind of an old friend, was editing Grendel Tales and said they were looking for writers to do guest series. I'd barely written any comics before, but, after reading all the stuff she kindly sent, I wrote up a synopsis for a 6-book series (the maximum) and she and Matt approved it. I really didn't know Matt at all, though he'd always been friendly when I talked to him at cons.

NB: How has being nominated “Best New Talent” in the 1990 Harvey Awards affected the beginning of your career? Now?

TL: Well, for one thing, it meant I started out my career being profoundly disappointed because I didn't win. I lost to Jim Lee, of all people. I was nominated for "Best New Series", too. I lost to Dan Clowse, which I feel a little better about. I also got really sick at the con, and, on a panel that included Neil Gaiman, insulted someone in the audience so much that he wrote a letter about the experience to "Cerebus"! All and all, it kind of sucked.

After that, the main effect was to wonder why I didn't get nominated again. Actually, I did for Best New Series in '92, but that went the same way. I have subsequently had to make my way in the world as a Cartoonist Without Awards.

NB: I thought writing a script would be the easiest part of story development. But following the process covered by Jeffrey Scott’s How to Write for Animation, I find that the script is the hardest. It’s a lot of start and stops. The great dialogue that I thought I had, didn’t work into the story anymore. Do you have suggestions on overcoming these hurdles? Do you follow a process similar to Mr. Scott’s process (premise, outline, and script)?

TL: Well, I never read Mr. Scott's suggestions, but that sounds about right to me. I don't know how else you could do it. The thing that's hardest to learn about writing for comics is that you just can't use very many words, because on a comics page, they become clutter. This was something I really didn't understand when I did the Grendel thing--it seems incredibly overwritten to me now. In fact, I think it could have easily been at least a book shorter. The general rule I follow is not to write more than 2 typed script lines for any given balloon. And that's pushing it.

NB: What are the keys to your success?

TL: Ha! Well, given that I don't write mainstream comics anymore, aside from Donald Duck, I'm not sure you can call me a success, at least as a comic book writer. But I did make it work for a few years anyway, so...The most important thing, I'd say, is understanding how stories are structured, because that allows you to plug things in and write something. Also, I'm an idea factory--I can generate new ideas, for my stuff or someone else's, pretty much on demand. I have my techniques for doing this, but on a basic level, it's just a talent I have. Finally, I have no problem working with editors, especially regarding work-for-hire. As long as someone's rational, I'll make any changes they want. The sooner I finish, the sooner I get paid.

NB: What advice can you give an aspiring writer?

TL: Go to cons and talk to people. When they get to know you, they'll be more likely to give you work. Take anything you can get--all experience is good. Forget your ego--if you want to be an artist, do your own stuff. And for G-d's sake, meet your deadlines!

NB: What are the fallacies of getting into industry?

TL: That you're going to make serious money.

NB: Writing comics sounds very much like contract work, how do you cope with the “hurry-up-and-wait” or the “I’ll get back with you” situations?

TL: You get really anxious and depressed. You try to balance the urge to phone your editor constantly to find out what's going on with the knowledge that if you do, you'll piss him or her off and make your situation worse. Eventually, you get either get a monthly gig you can count on or say to hell with it and go draw a syndicated comic strip.

NB: Onto more light-hearted questions. Any works that you are particularly proud of and why?

TL: Well, I like my own comics quite a bit, particularly "Unsupervised Existence". I do think the Grendel story worked well, though it could have been edited more. And I think the Goldie story was a fine effort. Believe it or not, I just got a royalty check for it this week, 10 years after it came out!

NB: Do you plan on branching out into other media, particularly animation, movies, and (or) video games?

TL: Not really, though I wrote some scripts for an upcoming PBS kids show earlier this year. I'll talk to anyone who wants to talk to me!