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I reviewed Dork Tower a couple years ago. Last summer
at San Diego Comic Con I ran into John Kovalic at the
Dork Storm books, while I was buying the trade
paperback of his Dork Tower stuff. Aside from being a
really nice guy, John Kovalic is a very talented
writer and artist. Hes also a really big sport for
taking the time to do this interview on a very very
short notice. Its really a great and interesting
interview and Ill let you get to it now.
Sidra:
When did you first become interested in
comicbooks and gaming?
John Kovalic:
Comic books came first. I learned to
read on those, back when I was a kid. I didn't get
into any real gaming (in the "Adventure Gaming" sense)
until I was 13 or 14, I think, and living in England.
Sidra:
Who or what inspired you to create comicbooks?
John Kovalic:
I've ALWAYS wanted to create a comic
book. It's seemed to me one of the true American art
forms. I once thought about trying to make my old
syndicated comic strip, Wild Life (starring Carson the
Muskrat) into a comic book, but that got just about
nowhere. With the first issue of Dork Tower, I'd
collected enough single strips to publish it in comic
book form. It wasn't until issue #2 that I panicked,
realizing I didn't have enough material for another
entire issue. That forced me to write the 10-page
story about the Goth Party ("Night In The City").
There was kind of no looking back at that point.
Sidra:
Where did you get the idea for Dork Tower?
John Kovalic:
Walking away from a booth at Gen Con in
1996, I believe. An editor at Shadis magazine (D.J.
Trindle) asked me to come up with a comic strip about
gamers. The name and the basic premise hit me almost
immediately. It was literally a bolt from the blue
kind of thing. The sketches of Matt, Ken and Igor
followed almost as quickly. They haven't really
changed much since.
Sidra: Most writers have trouble drawing, and most
artists have trouble writing. How do you put both
together to create something as great and funny as
Dork Tower?
John Kovalic:
Actually, I have trouble writing AND
drawing. I just try not to let it show. OK. Seriously,
I guess I think in terms of visual storylines. I know
what Igor should be saying, for example, and exactly
how he should be looking in a particular panel as he
was saying that. They're both one and the same to me.
It's all just one mode of storytelling.
Sidra:
Do you see the stories as pictures first or as
a written story first?
John Kovalic:
They both come at about the same time. I
see it as a comic book. The visuals and the dialog
have to work off of each other. I don't see them as
separate at all. It's kind of like asking comes first:
the consonants or the vowels? To me, they're both part
of the same structure.
Sidra:
You use a very cartoony style in Dork Tower and
your illustrations for Steve Jackson Games. What made
you decide to use that style?
John Kovalic:
I was very influenced by Peanuts as a
kid, and my earliest cartooning work was with the
comic strip Wild Life. This is all just a progression
off of that. I *can* draw other ways, but I prefer
this way. An added bonus is that nobody else really
seems to draw like what my style has developed as, so
it stands out a bit. I'm just VERY fortunate that
people seem to enjoy the style, and that I was never
good enough to really copy someone else's style when I
was a kid...
Sidra:
We all know people who are like the characters
in Dork Tower, or even we ourselves are like
characters in Dork Tower. Do you pull from people you
know to develop your characters?
John Kovalic:
Constantly. Matt and Carson are
basically aspects of myself, but Ken, Kayleigh, Gilly
and Igor are definitely based off of people I've known
for a long time. They develop their own quirks over
time, but watching people, you can get a sense of how
your characters will react in a certain situation.
Sidra:
Which character in Dork Tower do you think you
are most like and why?
John Kovalic:
Carson. He's been my alter-ego since
High School. I'm 6'4" tall, but terribly insecure at
times. So a short muskrat whose character always gets
killed has become my avatar.
Sidra:
Is it a challenge at times to balance the
stereotypes of gamers, while keeping the characters
believable?
John Kovalic:
I hope the fact that I respect them
enough not to fall back on ugly stereotypes. I want to
see what they do away from the gaming table as well.
Most Dork Tower comic books don't show the gang gaming
very much, so I think that helps. But I do respect
them all as characters, and I hope I don't mistreat
them. Dork Tower #18 is called "Understanding Gamers."
It should be in stores by mid-June. I think it says
what I want to say about gaming stereotypes better
than I could here...
Sidra:
In one of my favorite strips in Dork Tower you
show gamers and comicbook geeks at a convention both
thinking about how uncool the other is. Do you
find that Dork Tower has an audience in both comic and
gaming fans and if so why do you think that is?
John Kovalic:
The crossover audience is huge. We're
finally actually selling more comics through comic
book stores than game stores, by a ratio of about 4:3.
I hope that's because the stories are solid. I've
always said that you don't have to work in a bar to
enjoy "Cheers." But it is very flattering that most of
my readers seem to be non-gamers.
Sidra:
Do you think you have lured more gamers into
the comic world?
John Kovalic:
Actually, I think I've lured more comic
book folk back into gaming, but I do get a number of
e-mails from gamers saying they're now addicted to
comic books, again or for the first time. So my job
here is done. Grin.
Sidra:
What is the most difficult part of creating
Dork Tower?
John Kovalic:
Finding the time for it. Between all of
the games for Out of the Box and Steve Jackson Games,
plus I'm doing some work for WizKids, and things of
that nature, I find myself putting other people's
projects ahead of mine. But that seems to be easing up
a bit now that I'm cutting back on conventions.
Already this year I've put out as many comic books and
trade paperbacks as I did last year. And with a
regular Dork Tower schedule again, the circulation has
jumped nicely...
Sidra:
How did you come to illustrate both Chez Geek
and Munchkin for Steve Jackson Games?
John Kovalic:
Steve asked me, and I leapt at the
chance. I've been doing Murphy's Rules for Steve
Jackson Games for -- wow -- I need to look this
up...uh...eight years now. and that was because of an
editorial cartoon Steve had seen of mine. I was just
fortunate to have been asked. The team-up really seems
to have worked.
Sidra:
How do you come up for illustrations for the
cards in the game?
John Kovalic:
I just try and have fun. I spend a lot
of time in the summer drawing at the UW-Madison
student union by the lake. It gets me away from the
phone, and I get to sketch a LOT of people. There are
several Madison in-jokes in Chez Geek that many people
won't get. But beyond that, most of the Chez Geek
cards just seem to come naturally. Very few need two
takes...
Sidra:
Did you have fun being part of creating a game?
John Kovalic:
I love it. Working with the Out of the
Box and Steve Jackson Games people has been a blast.
But I play very few of the games I work on. Mostly
because I lose a lot. People think I've got some great
insight into the strategy of Apples to Apples or Chez
Geek. But I'm actually coming up with a game -- the
rules, the cards, everything -- for Out of the Box
now. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out:
if I suck as bad at a game where I've come up with the
RULES...
Sidra:
What are you working on currently and what can
we look forward to in the future?
John Kovalic:
LOTS of stuff. There's a big, secret
project that I'm working on for a very large game
company that I can't talk about, but it's a blast.
Dork Tower #18 should be in stores soon, while #19 and
the fourth trade paperback goes to press next week.
I'm really proud of the new comic book: Snapdragons #1
should go to press in two weeks. It's a spin-off of
Dork Tower about some kids who appeared in back-up
strips of Dork Tower #9. Liz Rathke and I created it,
and I'm having a blast being part of a team. The
website needs work. We have to buy our own server.
Traffic is up over 1.5 million hits a week,
translating to around 150,000 unique visits. It's
jamming up traffic and slowing down the site. There's
going to be a national commercial featuring the Dork
Tower cast and crew, and a short Dork Tower movie may
actually happen. There are always dozens of things
like this that seem to be popping up. Frankly, I'm
scatter-brained enough as it is: keeping track of
everything is quite beyond me sometimes...
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