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Azad is an Image creator, one of many that is
doing a great book that you probably never heard
of. It's called Sammy, about a cat burglar and his
cat Lucky. With this interview we talk about
Azad's background, his book, using computers to
make comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics and more.
Jamie:
Okay lets start getting some background info
from you. Where are you from?
Azad:
I'm a born and milk-fed Montrealer. After doodling
and taking art classes for years, I resigned to
taking Illustration and design at Dawson College.
I worked for a world renowned animation company,
then apparently, went nuts and decided to draw
funny books.
Jamie:
What jobs did you have before you finally
decided to do comic books?
Azad:
I wish I had an interesting string of crummy jobs
to complain about, but all my jobs prior to comics
were drawing or print related. Graphic design,
desktop publishing, and pre-press film outputing.
Most notably, I was a storyboard artist for 4
years at CINAR animation working on such artistic
paragons as Caillou and Arthur.
Jamie:
You do everything for your book and it all
looks very nice and professional. Did you have a
mentor that taught you the ropes?
Azad:
For drawing, I have a cousin named Haig Bedrossian
(co-plotter on Sammy: Tourist Trap) who turned me
on to the arts and encouraged me from a very early
age to draw comic books. He's now teaching
animation at Max the Mutt animation school in
Toronto and living a far more lucrative life than
that of a comic artist.
As far as the technical side of things go, my
sister (a desktop publisher) was my digital guru.
She taught me how to use Photoshop, Illustrator,
QuarkXpress, and all other computer related
aspects of art.
But mostly, I was left to my own devices to figure
Everything else out on my own. I'm not a "gifted"
artist by any means. I'm a studied, learned
artist. I work really hard trying not to make a
fool of myself.
Jamie:
So why did you want to do stories about a cat
burglar named Sammy and his pet cat Lucky?
Azad:
I deliberately wanted to make a book that was both
FLEXIBLE and FUN. I have dozens of crazy
adventures I want to tell, and the only binding
factor between them are these two characters. And
it works. I wanted to be able to stick Sammy into
any situation and any genre. With that said, there
IS a balance, and I know where to draw the line. I
can't really verbalize it, but I know it when I
see it. For example, I could have sci-fi elements
in a story, but not so far as having Sammy go into
an inter-dimensional portal. He could encounter a
superhero, but not gain powers of his own.
Jamie:
Okay, Sammy is a cat burglar with a pet Cat.
Why is he not dressed up as Halle Berry?
Azad:
Hey, great idea!! I could do stories about Sammy
being involved in Hit and Runs, and doing bad
movies! A goldmine, I tells ya! Thanksabunch!
Jamie:
Do you even own a cat? Cause there is no way a
cat would do the shit you have "Lucky" do in the
comic.
Azad:
Funny you should ask. I think of Lucky as a cat
with a dog's personality. He's still aloof, but
actually useful.
I used to think I was a cat person. I never owned
one, but my best friend has three. I would go
over, pet them, scratch them under the chin. They
were okay... kind of cold, kept to themselves and
meowed when they wanted food and swiped at me once
in a while... "Hey, its a dumb animal" I told
myself... these things happen, right?
Then, my buddy goes and buys a DOG. Holy cow! Big
difference! Dog's are playful, they can take
orders, and are genuinely happy to see you when
you come home. By comparison, the dog makes the
cats look like strutting turds that do nothing
but sleep, shit and turn their nose up at the food
you bought them. You could feed a dog its own
crap, and it'll still look at you with love in its
eyes.
Jamie:
A significant part of the Sammy: Tourist Trap
mini series is done in Spanish with no English
translation. Why?
Azad:
Sammy is a fish out of water... he's in a country
where he doesn't understand what is being said
around him. If HE can't understand Spanish, and we
the audience are supposed to be in his shoes, then
logically WE shouldn't be able to understand,
either. It's that way to heighten the tension.
Putting the translations at the bottom of the
panel would have defeated the purpose.
With that said, I fully realize that there are
readers out there who just skip past the balloons,
or groan at the plot device... but it's MEANT TO
BE READ! Perhaps I'm asking too much of the
reader, but to me it was important to do it that
way.
Jamie:
Do you think you can keep doing Sammy forever
or do you have an overall plan for the character?
Azad:
As long as I can continue to keep publishing the
character, yes. I do have other ideas I'm working
on, but I've got dozens of stories already written
for Sammy. Literally! I have the scripts on my
computer as I write this.
Keep in mind, much of the Sammy stories (even
Tourist Trap) aren't so much about the character..
it's about the situation. He's just the excuse (or
the vehicle) to tell the story.
Jamie:
Y'know, in the late 90's comic books sucked so
bad that Sammy would have been considered a GREAT
book. Today it's considered very good for a non-
Marvel/DC comic. As such, the bar has been raised.
You are now competing against Bendis, Millar,
Ellis and Morrison on big name books and they're
selling like mad. How does that affect you?
Azad:
If anything, I'm going head to head with indy
books and smaller press. Sammy is in B&W, so
immediately it's ordered more conservatively by
retailers because B&W tends to sell less than
color. Plus the content is hardly spandex
friendly.
As for the Big Two, I don't see Sammy in direct
competition with Marvel and DC. Different readers
for different types of books. I don't suspect I
share the same readership as Hawkman lovers or
Ultimate X-Men, so I don't really worry about
that.
The way I AM affected by Marvel is some of their
crummy business practices. Namely trying to gobble
up market share by dumping piles of unreadable
books they know wont succeed into the marketplace,
knowing retailers have to buy it for the rabid
Marvel Zombies, all the while stretching the
retailers' purse strings until they order fewer
copies of smaller press titles (including my own).
THAT affects me. That affects everyone, and from
the retailers I've spoken to, they've reached
their boiling point.
Shit! I just killed my potential for freelance
Marvel work didn't I...Dang!
Jamie:
Sammy is one of many Image books that is
suffering the same problem of being good, but not
getting any major promotion. What do you think has
to be done to fix that?
Azad:
Well, the responsibility is on US, the creators, to
do our own promotion. Image Comics does what it
can. We are treated as equal separate companies
publishing under the banner of Image, thus, it's
up to us to take care of ourselves. For its part,
Image gives us ad space, does our press releases
and gives us a forum on their site to help gain a
footing online. That's about as much they can do
for the fee they take.
The rest is up to us. I personally, did everything
in my power to get the word out on "A VERY SAMMY
DAY" this past May. I had a Press Release, Did 10
interviews on the net, started an ongoing online
original Sammy serial called Subway Stories, and
flooded internet forums with announcements and
promos.
In the end, it didn't amount to much. I've learned
that online buzz doesn't always translate into
real world buzz. Sometimes, it's having good word
of mouth, sometimes it's luck. You just have to
keep going to cons, and plugging away until
someone notices. It's a lot of hard work.
I'm not sure what ELSE to do. Buying ads in trade
papers? Calling retailers ahead of time? Emailing
and mailing retailers previews ahead of time? It
all costs more and more money. You can buy your
way into Wizard with ads, but I don't know if that
makes a difference. I'm guessing it depends on
your material. In my case, I doubt it.
Jamie:
On your website, Guerrilla-Comics.com you use
some online comics to promote your comics. Has
that helped?
Azad:
Marginally. In fairness, I haven't used the site
to its potential. I could have brought in other
online cartoonists, maybe had some contests and
promotions to go along with the website...Part of
the original intent of the site was to have some
activism. To get people pumped about doing comics.
But life has gotten in the way of myself and my
webmaster. We'd like to change that. We're having
a major Pow-Wow for a week this August. Hopefully,
we'll get things up there that should have been up
last year. 3D animation, web docs, more comics,
more features... hopefully, it'll build some
interest in Sammy and other future projects.
Jamie:
I'm surprised I haven't seen you offering
Sammy: Tourist Trap as a TPB yet. Are you planning
on doing this?
Azad:
SALES! Sales dictate everything. The book is still
a bit in the red. With that said, I've got a great
TPB planned for it with TONS of extras. I just
hope I get the green light. We'll see.
Jamie:
You mentioned in the back of Sammy: Tourist
Trap #4 that using computers does not speed up the
process of making comic books, instead it slows it
down. If that's the case, why do you use
computers?
Azad:
In all honesty, it's become a bit of a crutch for
me. I like the way my stuff looks better with it
than without it. But it has afforded me the
ability to make my artwork look as good as it is.
It would NOT have been so otherwise. I'd like to
change that though. J.Bone has challenged me to do
a computer-less comic one day. We'll see.
Jamie:
How has Image changed for you since Erik Larsen
took over as head honcho?
Azad:
Not in any obvious way, so far. All my contracts
and such were signed under Jim Valentino, so they
had to honor them. Hell, I have no idea if Erik
even likes my work or would have signed me at all,
for that matter. I guess we'll see how this
affects me when I ask for a TPB or a sequel.
Jamie:
When you get a fan following and respectable
Sales, will you drop everything and work for Marvel
or DC when they offer you lots of money and a
title?
Azad:
A title with the Big Two would not change my plans
for world domination. Especially considering the
fact that I'd want to WRITE, not draw for the Big
Two. I can write fast. Real fast! Drawing takes
forever and I'd never be able to maintain a
monthly schedule.
But then again, who wants to write pajama-boys
when I get to find new ways to abuse kitties on my
own book?!
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