So what is all this Making Comics Studios stuff anyhow?
Making Comics Studios is a place for comic creators to hang their hats. The site started with a great artist named Gerry Brophy and myself as we teamed to make a comic called Weapon: Sonic. It was a place to post news and art for the book. From there it kind of grew on its own. As I moved forward in this kooky world called “comics” I met a lot of great talent who had the same ideals I had. Let’s get the books done and then shop them around. Before MC Studios I had been involved in a “self proclaimed” comic book imprint that did a lot of talking and not actually making the books. So MC Studios was also created through pure frustration. I decided if things were going to happen I need to get them going and it has been a learning experience ever since.
What comics have you published?
HaVeN #1 was published back in October 2005. It was a giant step. Just the fact that we put together 9 people in all parts of the country to make this happen is awesome. 9 different personalities brought this book together in a two year time frame through emails and about 6 phone calls. That is amazing to me. What made it work was the fact that every single one of them wanted to publish a piece of work. All of them put in 110% of what they had and got it done. We didn’t have to talk nonstop about it. We didn’t have to have nine million meetings. We just did the work. Outstanding people with outstanding class and I must list them all; Will Jamison (artist), Yul Espinosa (inker), Cathy Hartford (colorist), Jay La Valley (letters), Sean McGrath & Percival Constantine (editors), Tim Priebe (web designer) and Jerry Rascoe (artist and ear piece!) I can’t praise them enough. I had to deal with zero ego. Just a great experience!
What comics do you have in the works?
How long can this be? I have a lot on my plate. I like to keep busy. As you know I wrote a Morgana X one shot and adapting the novel Berserker: Brother Assassin for your very own Fan-Atic Press. Very, very soon I will be starting a Morgana X novel that will probably fill up a big chuck of time in this first quarter of 2006. I’ve never written a novel before so this will be a welcome challenge and if all goes well I plan on writing a HaVeN novel.
Speaking of HaVeN, MC Studios will be publishing HaVeN #2 and #3 in the future. Hopefully we can get both issues out in 2006. Fellow “twin tower” Jerry Rascoe and I are working on a one-shot called Urthe. He is turning out some amazing pages and we’ll be shopping that around this year. Gerry Brophy and I are still working on Weapon: Sonic.
It was the first comic I wrote and the first he drew, but he feels his work is not up to “snuff” as they say and I feel the same about the writing so we will be tweaking the idea. I’m not sure I am really supposed to say on the next two, but what the heck. Atlantis Studios will be publishing a one-shot for an idea of mine so as the old story goes if it does well it will be turned into a regular series. I don’t think it is my place to say anything else at this point until they make an official statement. Another book I wrote last year was a three part mini-series and a six minute cartoon for Nickelodeon called Ninja Monkey.
The concept was created by exceptional artist Terrell Bobbett (http://bobbett.deviantart.com/). That is in limbo right now as Terrell works on his other projects and of course he has to get the bills paid. Nothing against any of the talents I have listed so far, but this guy has the tools and the talent to go main stream. There’s more, but what has been listed are projects really moving forward. Beyond that I will do what I can to get the rest of the books at MC Studios in print.
What got you interested in the comic biz in the first place?
My first comic I ever bought was Batman and the Outsiders #1 when I was 13 years old. Growing up I had always been a superhero and sci-fi nut, but that one issue really drew me into the world of comics. From there I began collecting as many titles as my allowance could handle. We are talking 65 cent comics back then and now they are $2.95. GOD I SOUND LIKE MY FATHER! I stopped collecting a few years back and sold most of my collection. When I was younger I loved to write. That stopped once I got married many, many moons ago. It was when I was about 32 I had my mid, mid life crisis. A lot of personal stuff happened around this time and on top of that for the first time I realized the very thing that gave me joy, writing, I never practiced. That’s when I met Tim Priebe who ran a comic, movie, toy website called Cool Collecting (http://www.coolcollecting.com/). If you go there today it is a DVD site. Anyways, somehow I contacted him and started writing for his site. It was silly stuff; fan fiction, interviews, I wrote a fan film column, etc. It was on the Cool Collecting message board where Sean O'Reilly posted a link to his Arcana Studios and a comic book titled Kade. I was really interested because all I was used to was DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, or Image comics. So I loitered on his message boards for a while (as I still do today!) and thought to myself, “What is the easiest and cheapest way to get my ideas out there?” COMIC BOOKS! All the movie ideas or TV show ideas I ever had have now been written as comics. I’ve had a blast ever since!
What's your family and friends think of MCS?
My wife has always been supportive. I really want to succeed for her. Most wives would probably nag with the amount of time I spend trying to get my ideas out there. I’m not sure my parents completely understand what it is I am trying to do, but they love the pretty pictures. All my friends are supportive. My buddy Frank makes fun of me. He is a football jock type, but our common ground is beer and XBOX. If you think about it Football Fans are geeks too. They dress up in their fan colors and go to conventions. So I make fun of football and he makes fun of comics.
How can artist's and writers and such contact you?
You can always email me at cmoshier@rochester.rr.com or AOL AIM me at Spark1701. I may not always respond right away because I am in the middle of something, but I will get back with you. There are people that IM me for advice or to look at their work as I do others so it is important for me to help people in that manner.
What comics do you like to read now? Most favorite ever comic?
Right now I read Outsiders and Titans. They are the two books I started with and I just love the dynamics of both teams. My favorite comic ever I have to say is Batman and the Outsiders #1. It is in poor, read the heck out of condition, but it is what started me into this crazy realm. I must say my favorite story arc was The New Teen Titans the Judas Contract. Marv Wolfman is king!
What about your web radio station?
You can find it here for another month (http://www.live365.com/stations/spark1701) as the account has almost run out. I still think it is a good idea, but time is a factor. Live 365 is a site that hosts streaming radio. The concept was to play sound tracks from superhero or comic related movies, old radio shows, the Power Records stuff, and all the great BBC content as well as interviews with people in the industry, blah, blah, blah. As I began to get more into the writing there was no time to update the station. I put a few ads on the Digital Webbing site for someone to take the station over, but only got a couple nibbles. If I didn’t have my day job and were making my primary income as a writer then I could be home to update the content. At this time I am still working for “the man.”
Any hobbies we need to know about?
I collected toys for well over ten years. I stopped last year for the same reason I stopped collecting comics in the 90’s. I’m a big Star Wars fan and collected the action figures and vehicles.
Text book geek except I don’t live in my parent’s basement I only sleep down there when my wife kicks me out of the bedroom. Where was I? Too many dang exclusives! Every store and website had a Star Wars exclusive. It became to overwhelming to keep up so I decided that was it. I mean how many times can Hasbro release another R2-D2? I love season sets on DVD. I love sitting down for an entire day with some beers and watch half a season. It doesn’t happen very often, but to me that’s the cat’s ass (that means good). Right now I am on Smallville season 3. Is that a hobby?
What is your most favorite cuss word?
I would never cuss. That would be wrong!
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