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Buzz Dixon has made a career writing cartoons & comics. Among his past
cartoon credits include Batman, GI Joe, Transformers, Tiny Toons, My
Little Pony & Jem . Comics credits include Destroyer Duck, She Hulk and
many back up stories all over the place. Today he is paving a new path,
creating Manga for Christian readers. The first book out from Realbuzz
Studios is called Serenity, it's about a teenage trouble making girl who
ends up in a school with some Christian classmates. In this interview
Buzz answers questions about Serenity, the Christian market and much more.
Jamie Coville:
I understand Buzz is a nickname. What is your real first name?
Buzz Dixon:
I'm not telling. I'm "the third" in the H.C. Dixon line. My father went
by Dick Dixon all his life and my grandfather was dating my grandmother
for six months before he `fessed up that "H.C." didn't stand for "Henry
Clay."
Jamie Coville:
And how did you get the nickname Buzz?
Buzz Dixon:
I tried to imitate a doorbell when I was 18 months old and my
grandmother nicknamed me "Buzzy." A different doorbell, and I would've
been "Ding Dong Dixon."
Jamie Coville:
Were you brought up a Christian or did you become one later on?
Buzz Dixon:
My family was Christian so I grew up in a believing, church going
environment. I was baptized at age 12 but I don't think I really started
maturing as a Christian until my thirties or so.
Jamie Coville:
When did you start reading Manga?
Buzz Dixon:
I was aware of Japanese comics by the late 60s/early 70s but I didn't
start reading them on a regular basis until the late 70s.
Jamie Coville:
Usually when people bring up Christian Comics we think of Jack Chick.
Is that a hurdle you have to overcome, making sure folks realize your
work not like his?
Buzz Dixon:
Hey, we like Jack Chick! The man's work is a genuine cultural icon even
if one disagrees with the way he makes his points. When you consider the
hundreds of millions of his tracts that have been published in just
about every known language, he is arguably the most widely read
theological writer in history.
That being said, Jack's mission is strictly evangelical, ours is more
"values reinforcement." Jack is less interested in characterization and
story development than we are because his genre and format is not geared
for that.
And that works to our advantage, because the average person doesn't
equate Jack's format -- short 8-page tracts -- with our graphic novels.
Jamie Coville:
What is the main goal of Serenity? Are you trying to use it to
convert readers into Christianity or is entertainment for those already
converted?
Buzz Dixon:
The objective of Realbuzz Studios' manga is not to argue Christian
apologetics, but to tell fun, upbeat, inspiring and entertaining stories
about faith and values at work in real life situations. While we would
be delighted to learn someone came to know Christ through our works,
that is not our primary goal. What we do is bring top notch talent from
around the world together with new cutting edge technologies to tell
inspirational stories that all people can relate to, be they Christian
or not.
Jamie Coville:
I have to wonder, does writing Serenity caused you to change your own
behavior in any way?
Buzz Dixon:
Well, I'm going to the gym less because of my increased work schedule.
And I do carry the knowledge that as the head of the company I am its de
facto spokesperson, so I try to be a bit more circumspect in my demeanor.
Jamie Coville:
How are you writing Serenity? Are you doing it Full Script? "Marvel"
style or something in between?
Buzz Dixon:
We script all our stories out panel by panel, dialog written in advance.
Often times we are not as detailed as a DC script, however; we may not
use scene descriptions at all but just short slug lines to say what's in
the panel.
Jamie Coville:
Am I correct in assuming Derek and Kimberly are in an Abstinence
relationship?
Buzz Dixon:
Yes, but past the fact that they have not taken their relationship as
far as they can go physically, we prefer to remain ambiguous and let
readers fill in the blanks according to their own comfort levels. If we
draw the line at one spot, some readers will say it's unrealistic and
too prudish; if we draw it at another, other readers will say we've gone
too far. So we leave if off panel for the most part and let people draw
their own conclusions.
Jamie Coville:
In Serenity Vol. 3, it looks like Archie finally got smart and hooked
up with Betty? ;)
Buzz Dixon:
Yeah, Veronica found a count in Europe and dumped him ages ago. ;)
Jamie Coville:
I've notice some readers have criticized Serenity for the way it
portrays people that believe in New Age beliefs or have feminist views.
Why did you add those bits to the series?
Buzz Dixon:
It's a Catch-22 situation. We try to steer clear of areas such as
politics where there can be genuine disagreement among believers. We
treat every person's personal beliefs with respect insofar as we agree
each person has the right to believe according to the conscience of
their heart. We show tolerance with the rights of others to hold
different beliefs and ideas.
However, we won't be so vague and ambiguous in our Christian stories
that Christian faith and values loses all meaning.. Though there are
efforts by some both those within the Christian community and without to
water down Christian faith and values so much as to render them
virtually worthless, Realbuzz Studios is cognizant that we are a company
that produces entertainment vehicles for faith, values, and inspiration.
While Realbuzz Studios does not denigrate anyone because of their
religious or philosophical beliefs we might, in the course of a story,
have a character give their opinion, as that character, about some
matter or other. But we really try to stay away from politicizing
specific issues.
Jamie Coville:
You mentioned in another interview there were some comments from
Christian bookstore chains on various things in Serenity Vol. 1. Now
that Vol. 2 and 3 are out, what type of feedback are you getting?
Buzz Dixon:
Uniformly positive. And I must say that any negative comments we
received were, quite frankly, rather minor and were dealt with in short
order. Volume 1, "Bad Girl In Town" had to deal with a couple of topics
early on in order to get them off the table in a logical manner, and
some people found that troublesome. For example, many teens use bad
language and Serenity was no exception in book 1. We had to show her
using bad language with taped over dialog, then show how she was broken
of that habit so she could go through the rest of the series without
resorting to foul language and yet at the same time keep a realistic
feel to the stories.
"Bad Girl In Town" shows Serenity at her absolute nadir, while the
following volumes show her slow but steady improvement. I think people
are now seeing volume 1 as a necessary starting point for her and not
gratuitous, especially since Serenity has just been nominated for an
American Library Association award for spiritual values in Young Adult
fiction.
Jamie Coville:
How many volumes of Serenity is Barbour Publishing committed to
publishing?
Buzz Dixon:
There are six volumes in the SERENITY series and there will be at least
four in the LIFE! CAMERA! ACTION! STARRING SERENITY series. We've got
enough material to keep the series running through many, many more
volumes not to mention two new exciting inspirational manga series that
will be starting this fall and early 2007.
Jamie Coville:
Has there been any confusion between your Serenity and the Joss
Whedon works?
Buzz Dixon:
No one has confused Serenity with Buffy. Seriously, both Joss' fans and
ours are smart enough to tell the difference between a spaceship and a
teenage girl.
Jamie Coville:
With Real Buzzstudios you are doing much more than just writing. How
are you handling the extra responsibilities?
Buzz Dixon:
Badly. Know anyone I can hire to do my sleeping for me so I can get
caught up on everything?
Realbuzz Studios' scope extends beyond just creating manga. We're
planning to expand into new markets and medias as soon as is feasible.
Our chief operating officer and co-founding partner, Marlon Schulman, is
one of the pioneering executives behind the anime/manga boom in America,
creating AnimeVillage.com for Bandai when they first sought to enter the
American market.
Jamie Coville:
What other books is Real Buzzstudios doing?
Buzz Dixon:
Besides LIFE! CAMERA! ACTION! STARRING SERENITY we are doing a four part
girls' sports story called HITS & MISSES about a fast pitch softball
team, and the GOOFYFOOT GURL series which is set in the Orange County
surfing scene.
LIFE! CAMERA! ACTION! STARRING SERENITY is a continuation of the
SERENITY series but with an interesting "flip." One half of the book is
a "life" story that shows something happening in Serenity's real life.
Flip the book over, and there's a "camera" story - i.e., an amateur film
Serenity and her friends have made in which they play different
characters and offer a counter-point to the story in her life.
Jamie Coville:
Do you see Real Buzzstudios collecting and reprinting any older
Christian comics, like the Al Hartley comics?
Buzz Dixon:
Realbuzz Studios develops and creates new manga material, and as a rule
we do not do reprints. That being said, we have talked with Barbour
about possibly updating some of their non-Archie material, Also the idea
of them collecting the older material in trade paperback format has been
discussed.
Jamie Coville:
Do you see Real Buzz Studio's as strictly a manga style publisher or
do you think you'll be doing different styles of comics in the future?
Buzz Dixon:
Never say never, but for the foreseeable future it's manga all the way.
Jamie Coville:
And a totally off topic question. You mentioned you once wrote a
Nightmare on Elm Street comic for Marvel and Martin Goodman refused to
publish it. What is the story behind that?
Buzz Dixon:
Some people believe Marvel bought the rights to the NIGHTMARE ON ELM
STREET series just to keep DC from getting them. They asked Steve Gerber
to write the series, and Steve asked me to contribute a story. My story
was written, approved, and fully illustrated before the first volume of
the magazine came out. Martin Goodman took one look at the first volume
-- which was a faithful continuation of the movies -- and recoiled in
horror, not realizing just how gruesome a character Freddy Krueger was.
He killed the series with volume 2 printed but unbound and my story next
in line.
Find out more about Realbuzz Studios at: http://www.realbuzzstudios.com
Regards,
Jamie Coville
http://www.TheGraphicNovels.com
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