Available along with the Volume 1 trade paperback at Supanova next week for the new price of $5!
More updates before the show :)
Friday, April 6, 2012
Soldier Legacy #4 Cover- book available April 2012
Available along with the Volume 1 trade paperback at Supanova next week for the new price of $5!
More updates before the show :)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
WQ Magazine Interview by Jason Nahrung. Profile: Paul Mason
(WARNING: This post is a little self-indulgent, I admit ;). But I am very pleased to be interviewed, and I believe it's the first time that I'm featured in a magazine or newspaper NOT for being in a tournament or kicking someone (I'm sure I still have cringe-worthy clips on VHS somewhere :P), but actually for the work I'm trying to put in to get somewhere positive with my comic work. So I hope you get something out of my thought in pumping out comic books :D)
I got a great email during the week from Jason Narhung, editor of 'WQ Magazine'- it was the latest magazine for April (ISSN 1444-2922), featuring a Profile that Jason wrote on me of all people (I know, right? ;D), based on a phone conversation we had earlier this year.
http://www.qwc.asn.au/connect/wq-magazine/
From the magazine:
"WQ is the monthly publication of the Queensland Writers Centre(QWC). QWC is the leading provider of specialised services to the writing community of Queensland. Through its annual programs, it promotes skills development and professional practice and works to advance the recognition of Queensland writers and writing, locally, nationally and internationally."
I am very grateful for the interview, and appreciate the support. As the magazine goes out via the Queensland Writer's Centre, I thought many of the Soldier fans might not get the chance to see it, but Jason has kindly allowed me to post his article in its entirity here. There were also some great artilces about writing and comics by some of the guys from the Brisbane-based 'Ashcan' comics. If you're keen to find out more about the Queensland Writer's centre, I urge you to go here: http://www.qwc.asn.au/
So here it is, guys, and thanks again:
Article pp4 WQ Magazine #217 April 2012. Edited by Jason Nahrung and published by the Queensland Writer's Centre.
Profile: Paul Mason
By Jason Nahrung.
Paul Mason’s comic series The Soldier: Legacy is on the
march. The title began its life as a self-published university
project, then was picked up by Australian publisher Black
House Comics and gained further exposure through an
insurance company television ad.
It’s been an affirming couple of years for Mason, who traces his
interest in creating comics to his childhood.
‘When I was 13, I got for my birthday a book called How to
Draw Comics the Marvel Way (by Stan Lee and John Buscema).
I’d always loved drawing, but I hated the idea of tracing or just
copying an image, or: step 1, draw a circle; step 2, add a line
to it … This book was about the principles and methodologies
of Marvel artists that you could adapt to your own work; not
necessarily shoehorning you into a particular style, but giving
you the tools to be able to structure a character or a scene,
composition, perspective, foreshortening ... that kind of thing.’
The Brisbane-based storyteller studied a Bachelor of Animation
at Queensland College of Art, operated through Griffith
University, completed an honours year in 2009 and is now
pursuing a Doctorate of Visual Arts.
‘You still do quite a hefty thesis component but there’s quite a
big studio component as well. If I want to get into the comics
industry here and overseas, I need that studio component.
The companies don’t want to read a thesis – they want to see
the work produced. I’m pretty much focused on different
methodologies of comic artists. There’s no real rules about how
you write or how you draw a comic book page, but there are
fundamentals.’
The first issue of The Soldier: Legacy was a project for his
honours, self-published in April 2010 and acquired by Black
House in mid 2011. Two trade paperbacks and three issues are
due this year.
The comic stars both a masked Australian soldier’s feats during
World War II and a descendant fighting crime in modern
Brisbane.
‘It’s a concept of trying to tell an Australian story or an
Australian sentiment in an art form that’s inherently American.
‘We can do an action or superhero type thing and it doesn’t
have to be set in New York. It doesn’t always have to have
American characters in it. You can tell a story you don’t cringe
at when you read it – there’s still a cringe factor when you see
certain Australian films. I try to steer clear of that. If a kid or
a teen reads (Soldier) and decides to google something about
what we did in World War II for instance – that’s something we
don’t see in American stories.’
The Australian industry, producing a diverse range of material
outside the superhero genre, is still at a cottage stage, he says,
with only a few professional publishers operating.
‘Anyone could come up with a decent concept, put together
a book and head to a con and start selling and be a part of the
industry.
‘A lot of the time the comics are coming together from the love
of writing and the love of drawing. You have to find the right
combination of people. That’s why you get a lot of anthologies
– it’s a bit less commitment to having to write a 22-pager every
month or two months.
‘If you’re a writer, you can be a lot more productive than a
penciller, for instance, because you can be in a lot more books.
‘You can write a short story and you don’t have to know how to
draw. If you are able to structure something out and describe
it visually to someone and have an idea of how many pages
you want, you can have an artist put together that sort of thing
and come back later; you can have several artists juggling at
the same time and really, that’s what Stan Lee was doing in the
’60s – he had a handful of guys who he trusted. He’d dictate the
stories to them.’
Lee, the legend behind Marvel comics, is one of Mason’s idols,
along with Lee’s collaborator Jack Kirby. Lee is a guest at this
year’s Melbourne Oz Comic-Con, the first year the US-founded
event has been held in Australia (an Adelaide event has just
run).
‘I’m a big Jack Kirby fan; he was the work horse of the two,
pumping out the artwork and the characters, and I did my
thesis on that.’
While digital printing has helped reduce printing costs and the
internet has facilitated networking and collaboration, the form
still holds its own challenges.
‘The hardest part … for a comic book artist is you have to
construct the world yourself. It’s choosing what you need
to show in terms of being able to tell the story with clarity
– clarity’s the number one thing – but also telling it in an
entertaining and visual way,’ Mason says.
‘You want to make sure the words and the art are working
together as one entity. That’s the part that takes all day. I’ll sit
there and I’ll have a particular scene I want to get down, and by
the end of the day I’ll have four or five bits of paper with little
scribbles on it, and “is that all I did”? That was the agonising
over how the pieces were going to fit together to tell the story.’
Further information
Paul Mason’s website, www.pm-comic.blogspot.com.au
Black House Comics, www.blackhousecomics.com
Oz Comic-Con, Melbourne, 30 June–1 July, ozcomiccon.com"
Thank you again Jason, a pleasure talking to you. And I did notice too, some kind words later in the publication, such as from Mitch Knox's article "Writing for Comics: The Big Picture":
"Black House has delivered some fantastic local titles such as
Paul Mason’s The Soldier: Legacy (see page 4) and Christopher
Sequeira and Phil Cornell’s Sherlock Holmes: Dark Detective.
The publisher is taking submissions for their bimonthly zombie
anthology After the World and their new superheroics-themed
collection ParaHuman."
Updates to come re: Soldier Legacy #4 as I battle to finish up and send to print. Good news is too, the Dr Nikola vs. Soldier Legacy part two for Dark Detective #8 is virtually in the can :D
I got a great email during the week from Jason Narhung, editor of 'WQ Magazine'- it was the latest magazine for April (ISSN 1444-2922), featuring a Profile that Jason wrote on me of all people (I know, right? ;D), based on a phone conversation we had earlier this year.
http://www.qwc.asn.au/connect/wq-magazine/
From the magazine:
"WQ is the monthly publication of the Queensland Writers Centre(QWC). QWC is the leading provider of specialised services to the writing community of Queensland. Through its annual programs, it promotes skills development and professional practice and works to advance the recognition of Queensland writers and writing, locally, nationally and internationally."
I am very grateful for the interview, and appreciate the support. As the magazine goes out via the Queensland Writer's Centre, I thought many of the Soldier fans might not get the chance to see it, but Jason has kindly allowed me to post his article in its entirity here. There were also some great artilces about writing and comics by some of the guys from the Brisbane-based 'Ashcan' comics. If you're keen to find out more about the Queensland Writer's centre, I urge you to go here: http://www.qwc.asn.au/
So here it is, guys, and thanks again:
Article pp4 WQ Magazine #217 April 2012. Edited by Jason Nahrung and published by the Queensland Writer's Centre.
Profile: Paul Mason
By Jason Nahrung.
Paul Mason’s comic series The Soldier: Legacy is on the
march. The title began its life as a self-published university
project, then was picked up by Australian publisher Black
House Comics and gained further exposure through an
insurance company television ad.
It’s been an affirming couple of years for Mason, who traces his
interest in creating comics to his childhood.
‘When I was 13, I got for my birthday a book called How to
Draw Comics the Marvel Way (by Stan Lee and John Buscema).
I’d always loved drawing, but I hated the idea of tracing or just
copying an image, or: step 1, draw a circle; step 2, add a line
to it … This book was about the principles and methodologies
of Marvel artists that you could adapt to your own work; not
necessarily shoehorning you into a particular style, but giving
you the tools to be able to structure a character or a scene,
composition, perspective, foreshortening ... that kind of thing.’
The Brisbane-based storyteller studied a Bachelor of Animation
at Queensland College of Art, operated through Griffith
University, completed an honours year in 2009 and is now
pursuing a Doctorate of Visual Arts.
‘You still do quite a hefty thesis component but there’s quite a
big studio component as well. If I want to get into the comics
industry here and overseas, I need that studio component.
The companies don’t want to read a thesis – they want to see
the work produced. I’m pretty much focused on different
methodologies of comic artists. There’s no real rules about how
you write or how you draw a comic book page, but there are
fundamentals.’
The first issue of The Soldier: Legacy was a project for his
honours, self-published in April 2010 and acquired by Black
House in mid 2011. Two trade paperbacks and three issues are
due this year.
The comic stars both a masked Australian soldier’s feats during
World War II and a descendant fighting crime in modern
Brisbane.
‘It’s a concept of trying to tell an Australian story or an
Australian sentiment in an art form that’s inherently American.
‘We can do an action or superhero type thing and it doesn’t
have to be set in New York. It doesn’t always have to have
American characters in it. You can tell a story you don’t cringe
at when you read it – there’s still a cringe factor when you see
certain Australian films. I try to steer clear of that. If a kid or
a teen reads (Soldier) and decides to google something about
what we did in World War II for instance – that’s something we
don’t see in American stories.’
The Australian industry, producing a diverse range of material
outside the superhero genre, is still at a cottage stage, he says,
with only a few professional publishers operating.
‘Anyone could come up with a decent concept, put together
a book and head to a con and start selling and be a part of the
industry.
‘A lot of the time the comics are coming together from the love
of writing and the love of drawing. You have to find the right
combination of people. That’s why you get a lot of anthologies
– it’s a bit less commitment to having to write a 22-pager every
month or two months.
‘If you’re a writer, you can be a lot more productive than a
penciller, for instance, because you can be in a lot more books.
‘You can write a short story and you don’t have to know how to
draw. If you are able to structure something out and describe
it visually to someone and have an idea of how many pages
you want, you can have an artist put together that sort of thing
and come back later; you can have several artists juggling at
the same time and really, that’s what Stan Lee was doing in the
’60s – he had a handful of guys who he trusted. He’d dictate the
stories to them.’
Lee, the legend behind Marvel comics, is one of Mason’s idols,
along with Lee’s collaborator Jack Kirby. Lee is a guest at this
year’s Melbourne Oz Comic-Con, the first year the US-founded
event has been held in Australia (an Adelaide event has just
run).
‘I’m a big Jack Kirby fan; he was the work horse of the two,
pumping out the artwork and the characters, and I did my
thesis on that.’
While digital printing has helped reduce printing costs and the
internet has facilitated networking and collaboration, the form
still holds its own challenges.
‘The hardest part … for a comic book artist is you have to
construct the world yourself. It’s choosing what you need
to show in terms of being able to tell the story with clarity
– clarity’s the number one thing – but also telling it in an
entertaining and visual way,’ Mason says.
‘You want to make sure the words and the art are working
together as one entity. That’s the part that takes all day. I’ll sit
there and I’ll have a particular scene I want to get down, and by
the end of the day I’ll have four or five bits of paper with little
scribbles on it, and “is that all I did”? That was the agonising
over how the pieces were going to fit together to tell the story.’
Further information
Paul Mason’s website, www.pm-comic.blogspot.com.au
Black House Comics, www.blackhousecomics.com
Oz Comic-Con, Melbourne, 30 June–1 July, ozcomiccon.com"
Thank you again Jason, a pleasure talking to you. And I did notice too, some kind words later in the publication, such as from Mitch Knox's article "Writing for Comics: The Big Picture":
"Black House has delivered some fantastic local titles such as
Paul Mason’s The Soldier: Legacy (see page 4) and Christopher
Sequeira and Phil Cornell’s Sherlock Holmes: Dark Detective.
The publisher is taking submissions for their bimonthly zombie
anthology After the World and their new superheroics-themed
collection ParaHuman."
Updates to come re: Soldier Legacy #4 as I battle to finish up and send to print. Good news is too, the Dr Nikola vs. Soldier Legacy part two for Dark Detective #8 is virtually in the can :D
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Supanova Magazine 2012
Hey! So the official Con magazine for Supanova Melbourne and Gold Coast came out today, with a mention of all the comic guests on page 24-26. 'The Soldier Legacy' features on page 25, along with Chris Sequeira and 'Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes' :D
Really looking forward to these events. Also great to see copies of the 'Tides of Hope' will be available at the show- remember, this book is 100% non-profit, with all proceeds going to the Flood appeal from 2011. Featuring work from a mass of international and national comic guests (Greg Capullo! Chris Claremont!, Lenil Francis Yu, Alex Maleev, Tom Taylor, Colin Wilson and more! Good buddies Chris Sequeira, Tim McEwen, Jan Sherpenhuizen, Jason Franks, Paul Bedford, also feature, Phil Cornell of 'Dark Detective:SH', Kurt Stone, Dan Lynch,...aghh, Brain fail. Go get it :D)Plus, the only way to own a copy of the Soldier Legacy Flood-themed pinup :D
Now back to work for me!
http://www.supanova.com.au/news/supanova-magazine-2/
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
I'm very excited still :D
Supanova hits Melbourne and the Gold Coast in April- What an awesome line up. One of my all time favourite comic writers, Brian Michael Bendis! Pachero! Jim Kelly from one of my all-time favourite films "Enter The Dragon" :D And awesome guys hitting it big in the states like Colin Wilson, Tom Taylor, Tristan Jones, Billy Tan, good mate Stewart McKenny, Jeffrey Cruz, and my personal friend and collaborator on Dr. Nikola vs Soldier: Chris Sequeira http://www.supanova.com.au/guests
This official blurb form the website. I'm very excited and very humbled by the calibre of guests at this:
"Paul Mason is a comic-book artist and writer, and creator of ‘The Soldier Legacy’, an Australian action-hero comic series now published by one of Australia’s largest independent comic book publishers, Black House Comics (and BHC will issue a trade paperback of the series this year).
In late 2011 Paul’s comic featured as part of a nationally televised commercial campaign for Youi Insurance (an event that captured the notice of comics fans internationally). The popularity of the Soldier legacy doesn’t appear to know any bounds, as Paul has also had comic-book pages feature in a Griffith University art exhibition in Gympie, and pages were also shortlisted and on display at the 5th Jilin International Animation and Comics exhibition in China 2011.
In addition, Paul illustrated the Soldier character for Supanova’s 2011 “Tides of Hope” anthology, and is currently illustrating and co-plotting a “The Soldier Legacy” cross-over story within the pages of “Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes”, scripted and co-plotted by Christopher Sequeira.
In the story, serialized in Dark Detective throughout the first half of 2012, Victorian super-villain Doctor Nikola will come face to face with the 1887 version of the Soldier Legacy, in newsagents across the country!
Paul is also looking forward to another collaboration with Sequeira and Black House on the upcoming ‘Black House Comics Presents’, but mum’s the word on the exact details right now – you’ll have to ask him at Supanova!
Paul looks forward to seeing all his fans at The Supanova Expos in Melbourne and the Gold Coast, where he will be appearing both days of each event Between 10 am and 5 pm"
Anyway, too tired to think, have another page to fiddle with before 4am :)
Intermission: Shotgun Daredevil scribble
Hammered out over an hour to warm up for coluring/penciling that week of the OZComic Facebook challenge featuring Daredevil. Despite the workload, how could I not scribble out a Jack Kirby costumed DD?
Dr Nikola vs The Soldier Legacy- Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes #8
Amongst the frantic madness of getting the TPB done, and the latest issue by next week, I also have to draw, colour, and most likely letter part 2 of the 3 part back up feature in the next "Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes" issue 8. Sweating bullets at present, I hope the work stands up, my major focus is just getting in in on time. So here's a snippet of the first page unlettered (leaked...shh....don't tell), which recaps where we left off, and straight into the action of the upcoming story.
This is a pencil to colour comparison for top panel page 4. Still need work in my opinion- as does the overall page, anyway. Deadline driven colouring is a bit of a bitch for me, who naturally has difficulty trusting my own coloruing methodology! :P
Here's another from page 1:
This is a pencil to colour comparison for top panel page 4. Still need work in my opinion- as does the overall page, anyway. Deadline driven colouring is a bit of a bitch for me, who naturally has difficulty trusting my own coloruing methodology! :P
Here's another from page 1:
Random panels- Soldier Legacy #4
Who's this random Muay Thai guy in this Work in progress panel? ;)
First glimpse of Soldier's Grandson in Soldier Legacy #4
Friday, March 9, 2012
Still in the trenches, but battling on.
Just a quick update, battling on with multiple deadlines.
About a 1/3 of the way through colouring for #4, hoping to be halfway by mid next week. (The image below is about 2 days old, have another 2 pages to add to that :D). The interior pages for the Soldier Legacy TPB vol 1 were officially sent off to the Publishers this week also, with only the final touches and assembly needed for the cover.
Also, I was able to tick off a bucket list item by being an official 'Supa Star Guest' at the upcoming Supanova Pop Culture expos in Melbourne and Gold Coast in April. Being on the card with such cool guests, I feel almost silly and like I shouldn't be. I'm very honoured. Plus, I'll be sharing the table with fellow BHC stablemate/collaborator/Good friend Chris Sequeira, who's also a guest. http://www.supanova.com.au/guests/
Anyways, deadlines are calling, I have to go. More updates closer to the launch of the books ;)
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