BS: What type of comic book background do you have?
MM: I’ve been a comic writer for a few years and have several successful series under my belt so far as well as shorts with various companies. I’ve been a reader since I was a kid, but am still fairly new to the professional comics world.
BS: How did GWAR and you come together for this?
MM: Well I’ve been a fan since I was 16, so when I got into making comics I always had “make comics with GWAR” in the back of my mind as a bucket list item. After I had what I thought was enough experience so I knew what I was doing, I asked a mutual friend to introduce me to the band and it went from there.
BS: How did you start putting together and creating this project?
MM: So, like I said, I was introduced by a mutual friend – I headed to Richmond, VA to meet with Matt Maguire (aka GWAR’s Sawborg Destructo) and pitch him the idea. I showed him some of my previous work, explained my experience, and told him some of my ideas of what we could do with a GWAR comic and we kind of hit it off.
Since then it’s been pure collaboration between them on the band side and us on the comics side with working on the book. They’re involved in all aspects, are contributing art, are co-writing, and helping tremendously with the Kickstarter. This is the only way I’d want to do the book – if they were involved heavily. The GWAR mythos and history means too much to me to risk messing anything up.
BS: Were you a fan of GWAR prior to this?
MM: Huge. I have multiple GWAR tattoos, I’ve been into them since high school, and I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen them live. I wept dumb emotional tears when Oderus left us and really believe the world got a little darker and less fun that day.
BS: What made you want to take this project to Kickstarter?
MM: Money. Neither the band or I are rich, and making comics means a LOT of work. Just one page of art can take anywhere from a day or 2 to 3 or 4 days for the art team. That’s a lot of people working really hard to make sure this book looks perfect and I wanted to be sure we could afford to pay page rates that allow them to keep their lights on and their bellies full. We have a publisher onboard to publish, but we still have to pay for the art ourselves, so we took it to Kickstarter.
BS: How is the campaign currently going for you?
MM: Really well! We have about 2 weeks left and I think we’re at almost 90% funded. That’s very promising and I hope we go over and hit some of these stretch goals because that means free extra stuff to anyone backing at a physical reward level (meaning, not digital comics) and if we hit goal #3 then we can do 5 issues instead of 4, which would be fantastic.
BS: What type of response have you seen from potential backers?
MM: Everyone is really stoked on the project. We took a lot of time setting up the Kickstarter and the GWAR and Slave Pit guys absolutely kicked ass on the video. This is the most polished Kickstarter I’ve run and I can’t get over how great it all looks and how positive the response has been.
BS: What do you think is the coolest reward that GWAR provided to be given out?
MM: The coolest thing is probably Osama Bin Laden’s skull from the WAR PARTY tour. This is the actual stage-used prop, when they would tear off Osama’s face and rip his skull out, this is that prop. It’s a piece of GWAR history. Also up there is Mitt Romney’s decapitated head – another stage used prop that would look amazing on the shelf of any fan.
BS: Why do you feel people should back this project, and/or ultimately check out this comic?
MM: The project is being run entirely by people involved in the band or fans of the band, but it’s a comic book that anyone with a sense of humor who digs absurd and irreverent humor and social satire will enjoy. Translation: this is gonna be a hella fun comic book for everyone, not just GWAR fans.
BS: Do you have any selling plans for if people miss out on the Kickstarter?
MM: The books will be available in comic stores next year, but there are a ton of exclusive covers and prints that will only be available through the Kickstarter. Add in to that we have 2 exclusive GWAR T-shirts that the book’s artist Jonathan Brandon Sawyer drew and designed, and those will only be available to Kickstarter backers, so folks should move quick. If you’re a GWAR fan and you don’t grab those shirts then I just don’t know about you – make your fellow bohabs seethe with envy!
BS: Anything else you would like to add?
MM: The project ends November 25th and if we don’t make goal then we don’t get to make the book. That would super suck, so please visit www.GWARkickstarter.com and check it out!
