Nova Entrevista com Gerard Way... ;)

No My Space do Umbrella Aacademy, tem uma entrevista com o Gerard Way, falando à respeito do TUA é claro, qdo eu tiver a tradução eu posto aqui ^^. Por em qto fiquem com a original (inglês):

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Ambush Bug interviews THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY’s Gerard Way!
When I picked up the first issue of THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, I had reservations. I knew next to nothing about Gerard Way aside from the fact that he was the front man for the popular rock band My Chemical Romance. As I said in my review of issue one, when I leafed through the first few pages of THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, it didn’t take me long to realize that Mr. Way was much more than just a pop star trying to break out in a different form of media. THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY was something special. I had a chance to take a look at the first three issues of this wonderful new miniseries from Dark Horse and then had to privilege to ask Gerard some questions about the series, his creative processes, his history in comics, and the sources of influence he drew upon to create the offbeat and melancholy world of THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY.

Ambush Bug (BUG): In the past, I’ve started out interviews by asking writers or artists that are new to the comics industry and coming from another medium how they decided to make the leap to comics, but your story is a bit different. Can you tell us a little bit about your history with comics?
GERARD WAY (GW): I had decided very early on that I wanted to make comics my life, at around fifteen years old. Obviously, my life had a mind of its own and put me on an adventure that I had no control over, and I’m a better person for it. I’d started writing comics at that age, spending most of my days drawing in the back of the classroom, trying to remain invisible, killing time until I was able to get into art school, which happened when I graduated. I went to The School Of Visual Arts in NYC, where I had a lot of comics greats as instructors. I ended up interning at DC Comics, thanks to Joey Cavalieri, and that materialized into my first mainstream published work, “Even Lawmen Get The Willies,” which appeared in the Paradox Press book BIG BOOK OF THE WEIRD WILD WEST (which Andy Helfer made happen). I spent the next three years hitting the pavement and the conventions with my portfolio, but mainstream comics didn’t gel with what I was doing, which was a combination of old TINTIN comics, Al Columbia, and other obscure influences I picked up along the way. Looking back, I should have known I wasn’t really suited to draw Superman. I just wanted to pay the bills, which is never a reason to pursue anything creative.

I then dabbled in animation, toy design …I was a perpetual photocopy boy and an intern and eventually I got a break pitching a show to Cartoon Network, through Curious Pictures, who had optioned my idea. I backed away from it after 9/11, which happened in the midst of all of it, and I started a band.

I’d like to point out that during the years of slugging it out with my portfolio, Jim Krueger really kept me alive. He was such a fan of my work that he would pay me out of pocket to do jobs for him, FOOT SOLDIERS issues, other endeavors. We’re still great friends to this day, and he was instrumental in THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY going to Dark Horse.


BUG: What comics did you read growing up? How do those comics influence you in your stories?
GW: I read a lot of X-MEN. It was when Claremont/Silvestri was the team. The biggest thing I took from those years as a kid, the one thing that always stood out, was that the X-Men were underdogs, and some of them were even disgusting, and the world didn’t know they existed at the time. So everything they did, they did it with the knowledge that no one was going to pat them on the back …there’s a pretty powerful lesson in there for a twelve year old. As I turned into an angry teenager working at a comic shop, I connected right away with THE WATCHMEN—doesn’t everyone?—and then V FOR VENDETTA—best title ever! Alan Moore is like the gateway drug …it shatters what you think about what you read as a kid in a corner shop. That, coupled with Frank Miller’s rendition of Superman as a soulless government lapdog in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was like the one-two punch. After that I was perfectly ready for Grant Morrison, who became my favorite author. Grant was so amazingly subversive, fearless, and brilliant that looking back I would imagine either his editors were either very cool, or not paying attention to him. Or it could have been that they didn’t give a shit because he was using Animal Man …all the better as far as I’m concerned.
All of these things, even the X-Men, shaped how I approach comics today.


BUG: Do you remember your first comic book?
GW: The very first comic I bought on my own was at the local corner shop, in a pretty run-down part of town, where I lived. It was a copy of X-MEN. Wolverine was crucified to a giant wooden “X” and I thought, “This will surely piss off my parents.” I was hooked right at that moment.


BUG: I liked what I have seen so far in UMBRELLA ACADEMY a lot. The story structure is interesting. I had an old writing professor that often told us to write the beginning of your story, an origin story if you will, depicting the motivations of the characters and where they came from. Then he said to throw that story out or use that as a reference and then start with the real story. He said that starting in the middle is the most interesting way to begin a story. This seems to be the approach you have used with UA: starting in the middle. What are your thoughts on this?
GW: We must have had the same instructor …I believe in the same things as far as writing is concerned—you start in the middle, or more importantly, the actual story. I am tremendously bored with origin stories…that’s why I usually enjoy the sequel to the standard modern superhero movies as opposed to the first one. It’s like, “Great …now that the rest of the world is up to speed on the fact that this kid got bit with a radioactive spider I can actually enjoy the film.” The fact of the matter is …the audience is smarter than people think …they don’t need half a movie explaining to them the origin of the hero, and they sure as hell don’t need six to twelve comic-book issues doing that either.


BUG: The way the story is structured, telling the tale of the UMBRELLA ACADEMY as students and as adults, there seems to be loads of potential for future stories. Do you have more UA stories planned?
GW: I have eight UA stories I want to tell as of last night, when I added an extra series. There is an end, a definite point, and that’s my favorite part… there are crazy ideas, seemingly nonsense notions, but they all lead to something. I’m just glad the ride to the “point” can actually be fun and not mind-numbing. There will most likely be a series or two that solely deal with their childhood, their teenage years, and even just their villains. I want to be very free-form about it and not lock into any restraints.


BUG: I’ve only read the first three issues of the miniseries and the Free Comic Book Day one shot, but even this early in the game, you seem to have developed a detailed universe with quite a rich history. How much time went into the making of the UA world?
GW: Two years to a lifetime. The UA universe is a culmination of everything that ever affected me, from Fritz Lang films, to my father taking me to wrestling matches as a boy. I spent two years developing the origin and the world, only to blow it out in the first five pages…this was intentional—it provided me with a really experimental playground, a very open world. A serious amount of thought went into the aesthetic, and lots of drawings, lots of notes. I really wanted to see what heroes would be in a different world.


BUG: As I read the first issue of UA, I felt a definite HARRY POTTER-esque feel to the book since it focused on children learning about their powers and learning to work together. But after reading a few more issues, I’m definitely getting a ROYAL TENENBAUMS vibe where all of these damaged children are forced to come back home and deal with the death of their estranged father. What were your influences in making this story?
GW: You nailed it on the head for sure with the ROYAL TENENBAUMS comparison. Wes Anderson has an amazing way of telling a story, and he just gets right in there and tells it, occasionally to the tune of some amazing musicians and narration. I didn’t have music, but I had narration as a tool. I also studied how much he could tell you about a character simply by what they choose to wear when they wake up in the morning, what they like to eat, or read.

DELICATESSEN by Jeunet was the biggest influence in mood and setting, as well as anything by Stanley Kubrick. THE PRISONER by Patrick MacGoohan tied everything together.

Grant Morrison’s DOOM PATROL was the biggest inspiration, though. The re-release of the trades, especially “The Painting That Ate Paris”, was the sole motivating factor in getting me out of my bunk in the morning, walk out of the tour bus with my sketchbook and my art bin, and park my ass in an empty catering room…drawing, chain smoking, dreaming. That comic is full of so much life…so much rebellion against what was going on at the time. And as you read it you realize, the reason Grant is special is because he actually loves superheroes. He didn’t spend his time trying to diminish them or deconstruct them, but celebrate them.

I listen to a lot of music when I work…or rather I should say I listen to certain music a lot. I have a tendency to get captured in a lyric, idea, or a hook and then repeat it. Certain artists helped me shape the world, and others help me execute it. The Mars Volta, Muse, Oasis, Pulp, Portishead, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Pixies…all factor in.


BUG: I mentioned in my review that there seems to be a new movement in comics to cram as much “batshit craziness” into one issue as possible. It seems to be the antithesis of decompressed storytelling and can be exemplified in Warren Ellis’ NEXTWAVE or Jeff Parker’s AGENTS OF ATLAS or even recently in Duncan Rouleau’s METAL MEN. Do you think it’s just a happy accident that all of these types of stories are being published at the same time?
GW: I think some people are just sick of the way stories are told. Anyone that has studied writing knows that there are only a few basic stories, and these stories are told over and over again. That’s fine, that’s what you have to work with, but that doesn’t mean you have to tell them the same way. There are no rules about that. I think these types of stories are getting readers because people are also sick of reading stories told in the same way.


BUG: There really is a sense of melancholy sweetness permeating through the story of UA. I guess it is because of the scenes we have seen with Sir Reginald Hargreeves treating the children as objects (he even goes so far as not naming them and only distinguishing them with numbers). This sets it apart from the above-mentioned gonzo-adventurism comics that mainly focus on surface level, “aww cool” moments and don’t go much deeper than that. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that despite all of the cool shit going on there is a lot of heart put into this story. Was this intentional?
GW: I find weirdness for weirdness sake just as boring as iconic hero A hitting iconic hero B for shock-value sake. I think people get carried away with the whole “gonzo” aspect of it, and they actually don’t have a story they care about, they just watch a lot of absurdist cartoons and feel like they can just apply that to comics and have a hit. Is there anything more noble in that than every superhero comic in the ’90s basically ripping the plot to TERMINATOR 2? I haven’t read any of the comics you just mentioned so I’m not going to comment on those books, but I have seen many frustrating examples of “Aww Cool!” moments…enough to know that’s never what I want the UA to be.

The story had to have a heart, or the fun parts don’t matter.


BUG: Embracing death has been a theme carried over from your music to comics. Is this an issue that you find yourself returning to over and over?
GW: I do and I’m not sure why…although I feel like I am handling it much differently in UA, a very realistic way that doesn’t involve fantasies or dance routines. In my music, death is celebrated; in the comic, death is a fact. The sense of black humor, though, is something I feel I’ll never shake. I feel there’s just as much of that in both approaches to both mediums.


BUG: What was it like to see your first comic hot off the press, published, and resting in your hands?
GW. Very fulfilling. It felt different than holding an album, and I have yet to pinpoint why. In all of the work, the hoopla, and the pessimism, Scott and myself had both forgotten how special the book was. We had become too involved, too entrenched. To finally be able to sit down and read it made us remember why we both decided to dedicate a better part of our day-to-day lives to this thing. It was validating in the fact that we knew there was a readership out there waiting for this book, and it didn’t have to be big, that was never our intention. It was created to fill a void for ourselves, and like-minded individuals, and right away we felt like we had accomplished that.


BUG: What’s it like to work with artist Gabriel Bá? Do you work closely with him to plan out the way the page is going to look or do you just turn in the script and let him have at it?
GW: He is a joy to work with, first and foremost. He really “gets” the world these characters live in, sometimes even better than me. But we don’t get to talk on the phone being that he is in Brazil and I’m anywhere from Moscow to Iowa. But Scott, Gabriel, and myself work very closely together through email. I like to give him very detailed scripts and designs, but I also like to let him run with it and make choices. He has a very different sense of storytelling than I do, and that makes for amazing narrative sometimes. I think it’s what makes the book feel almost European.



BUG: Are there any comic book artists/writers who you would like to work with?
GW: I’ve always wanted to work with Grant (Morrison), and I think we could do something really amazing together, but that could be anywhere from making a film to a painting together. He and his wife are very special to me, and have guided me in many aspects of my life, not only creatively. So I know the chemistry is there.

Other artists? Off the top of my head I would say P. Craig Russell, Dave Mazzuchelli, Frank Quitely, and Taiyo Matsumoto. I’d always dreamed of working with Edvin Biukovic, but sadly he died very young, when I was working at DC Comics and after he’d done HUMAN TARGET. To me he was the brightest new artist in comics of that era.


BUG: Do you have any plans to write anything other than UMBRELLA ACADEMY in the future?
G: Only if it would piss off the right people.


BUG: Thank you so much for answering these questions.
GW: Thanks for having me!!


Well, folks, there you have it. Be sure to check out THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY from Dark Horse. That last image up there is an AICN Exclusive first look at the cover of issue #6. The second issue drops this week. I’ve read it and it’s just as good as the first issue, so don’t forget to check it out!

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