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For my entire college career so far, there has been
one reason and one reason alone to pick up the
school newspaper-the comic Fish by Ruben DeLuna.
It's funny, witty, and the really good strips just
stick out in your head. I had the pleasure of
meeting Ruben DeLuna when I was heading the
registration booth for AggieCon. He came by the
registration desk to buy a copy of the AggieCon
T-shirt because his art was on it. He's a very
nice guy and when I e-mailed and asked, he agreed
to do an e-mail interview with me about his work on
Fish. So without any further ado, here it is:
Sidra:
How did you get interested in art?
Ruben DeLuna:
I've pretty much been drawing as
long as I can remember. I think I started getting
interested in drawing around the age of four or
five. My grandmother was a kindergarten teacher
who could also draw and she would always make her
own decorations for her classroom. She would
always encourage me to be artistic and creative,
and it's something I wound up really enjoying.
Sidra:
How did you get interested in comics and
cartoons?
Ruben DeLuna:
When I was a kid, I used to make my
own comic books. I would basically just take a
bunch of sheets of paper, fold them in half, and
staple them down the middle. I had my own made-up
super heroes and villains that evolved as I got
older. I would continue making comic books into
high school just for fun. Now I think most of
them can be found scattered around various places
at my house.
I actually didn't really ever get interested in
making comic strips till high school. There was a
comic strip contest for our school newspaper that
only came out like every two months. I ended up
winning, probably because I was one of the only
ones who entered, and my comic strip got printed.
The comic I submitted actually had a boy character
named Scoot, who I would later carry over to
"Fish".
Sidra:
How did you come up with the idea of Fish?
Ruben DeLuna:
When I found out that I would be
doing the comic strip for the newspaper, it was
the end of my freshman year. So my initial thought
was to just write what I know. So I made all the
characters freshman, hence the name "Fish". I
didn't want to have a gimmicky comic strip, just
basically normal college students that hopefully
people would identify with.
Sidra:
When did you decide you wanted to publish
Fish?
Ruben DeLuna:
Well, I didn't create the comic
strip first and then seek out a place to publish
it. It actually kind of happened in reverse order.
I saw an ad in The Battalion taking applications
for cartoonists, and even though I had no ideas at
the time for comic strips, I thought it might be a
fun job to apply for. So the comic actually arose
out of a need to have some sample comics to submit
with my application.
Sidra:
When you started Fish did you have any idea
that it would be as popular as it is?
Ruben DeLuna:
Not at all. It's actually still
surprising to me that people even read it at all.
I would get an occasional email from people
telling me they liked the comic, but I still
never thought that many people paid attention to
it. It wasn't really until the compilation book
came out and I got a decent number of sales that I
got an inkling that a more general audience of
people liked the comic. It's all very flattering
and I did try hard to put out a quality comic, but
I think I had time on my side as well. I think the
fact that the comic ran so long had a lot to do
with the amount of exposure it got, and the odds
were in my favor that people would eventually read
it :)
Sidra:
One thing you can see in the archive "Fish
Out Of Water" is how your art style has evolved.
What different techniques did you employ as the
comic went on?
Ruben DeLuna:
Well, most of the evolution of the
art style was accidental. A lot of it had to do
with me just getting more and more comfortable
drawing the different characters. Some of the
subtle changes also had to do with the breaks I
would take in between semesters. There would be a
period of time between the Spring and Fall
semesters where I wouldn't draw the characters for
three months, so then when the newspaper started
up again the characters usually ended up looking a
little different just because it had been so long
since I last drew them.
There were some changes to the characters that
were intentional though. I just found ways to
streamline them and make them simpler to draw,
while still being able to get expressions out of
them. One of the conscious changes I made was to
get rid of the noses. I just figured I didn't need
them for anything. And in the end, I think it made
them more cartoony looking, which I liked.
Sidra:
Was it hard to come up with a daily comic?
Ruben DeLuna:
It just depends on when you ask me.
Some days ideas would just come to me and I could
crank out two or three comic strips out of them.
And then there are those days when I would waste
entire afternoons just sitting around thinking of
something to write about. I keep a notebook that I
write down ideas in, so a lot of times the ideas
were there, but it's sometimes hard to turn random
funny ideas into a comic that makes sense. But
there were always daily deadlines, so sometimes I
just had to go with the best thing I could come up
with for that day, even if I didn't particularly
like it. It's definitely a tougher gig than people
imagine, and I have a lot of respect for the pros
who do it year round.
Sidra:
What was the best part of creating Fish?
Ruben DeLuna:
The comic strip just became such a
daily part of my life that it really started
functioning as an outlet for me. It became my way
of venting my frustrations about the most
ridiculous things. I'm not real big on school
spirit, which is blasphemy at Texas A&M, so I
never really felt like I fit in. In a weird way,
doing this comic strip gave me a way to fit in
this school's culture, because this way I was
allowed to poke fun at traditions and not
necessarily take everything so seriously. In a lot
of ways, I don't think I would have enjoyed my
time in college as much if I hadn't done the
comic.
Sidra:
Ruben DeLuna:
I'd probably say the worst thing was
just the daily grind. As hard as I tried to get
ahead on my comics, I would always end up having
to crank one out each day. Sometimes it wasn't a
time consuming thing, but on those writer's block
days, creating the comic strip would take up time
I probably should have spent studying. And as time
went by and I got more and more people telling me
they liked the comic, I felt like there was more
of an expectation to be funny everyday. So I would
put more pressure on myself to be funny and be
harder on myself than what I should have been.
Don't get me wrong, I think the higher
expectations definitely helped me improve my
writing and I don't regret the time I put in on
the comic over the years...
I just sometimes feel bad like I should have been
studying or something.
Sidra:
Now that you're graduating are you going to
miss doing Fish?
Ruben DeLuna:
I still don't think it has hit me
that the comic is really over. I probably won't
really realize it till the Fall semester starts
and I'm not in the newspaper. Right now, I am
still at A&M finishing up my thesis this summer,
so it still just feels like I am on summer break.
But yeah, I'll definitely miss doing "Fish". Like
I said, it was just such a big daily part of my
life that I got attached to the characters. But
all in all, I know that it is time to move on, and
I am just happy that I still felt I was doing high
quality work and wasn't sick of the comic when it
ended. I'm sure I will always look back fondly on
the years I did the comic.
Sidra:
You're currently publishing the archives of
Fish. How would people interested in purchasing
these archives go about buying them?
Ruben DeLuna:
The book is available for sale in a
couple different places. It can be ordered on my
website www.rdeluna.com , or it can be purchased
locally at the Texas A&M MSC Bookstore or Lytle's
Comics and Games, a local comic bookshop.
Sidra:
Are you planning on doing archives on all 5
years of Fish?
Ruben DeLuna:
It's actually six years. The best of
the first five years are what makes up the "Fish
Out of Water" book. The final year, the last two
semesters, will be featured in their entirety in a
new upcoming book called "Gone Fishing". This new
book should be available on my website
www.rdeluna.com by the beginning of June. There
really aren't any plans to combine all six years
in one book in their entirety mainly because I
think the two books cover everything I wanted them
to cover.
Sidra:
Do you have any further comic plans in the
near future?
Ruben DeLuna:
Well, I tried submitting "Fish" for
syndication with a few major newspaper syndicates.
I got rejection letters from most of them, but
some positive feedback from one Editor. Mainly, he
suggested revamping the comic. Make the look a bit
more grown-up and professional, and pick some
subject matter that's not so rooted in Texas A&M
culture. So we'll see. I definitely can't see
myself not doing another comic strip for the rest
of my life. I'm sure I'll do it again in one form
or another. Eventually maybe I'll even resubmit a
new comic to the syndicates, but right now my
focus has to be on getting my thesis done so I can
graduate. :)
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