Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Jughead, Volume 1
WORK NOTES: illustrated by Erica Henderson
PSEUDONYM(S): Murray, Steve; Diamond, Todd
BIRTHDATE: 12/21/1975
WEBSITE: http://www.zdars.co/
CITY: Toronto
STATE: ON
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY: Canadian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Zdarsky
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born December 21, 1975, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
EDUCATION:Sheridan College (Oakville, ON, Canada), graduated.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Humorist, graphic artist, comic book writer and illustrator. Carraro Murray Dynamics, vice president, 2000; Postmedia Network Inc., graphic columnist, 2001–; National Post, humorist illustrator, columnist, 2001-14; ZDARSCO Inc., president, 2013–; Royal Academy of Illustration and Design, cofounder. Has done work for Marvel, Image, and Archie comics and has illustrated for the Globe and Mail, New York magazine, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canadian Business.
AWARDS:Top Ten Comics and Graphic Novels first-place citation, Time, 2013, and Will Eisner Award for Best New Series, 2014, both for Sex Criminals.
WRITINGS
Sex Criminals is being adapted for television.
SIDELIGHTS
Chip Zdarsky is one of the pseudonyms of Steve Murray, a humorist, graphic artist, and comic book writer and illustrator born in 1975 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He attended Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, where he studied illustration. He became vice president of Carraro Murray Dynamics in 2000 and then a graphic columnist for Postmedia Network Inc. before joining Canada’s National Post as illustrator, humorist, and columnist. At the National Post, he wrote and illustrated the humorous column Extremely Bad Advice and the column Tear Jerk, in which he reviewed films that made him cry. He also formed the company ZDARSCO Inc. in 2013. Working from his home in Toronto, Zdarsky creates comic books and movies. He has done work for Marvel, Image, and Archie comics and has illustrated for the Globe and Mail, New York magazine, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canadian Business. With Kagan McLeod, Ben Shannon, and Cameron Stewart, he cofounded the Royal Academy of Illustration and Design, a multimedia agency.
Murray created his alter ego Chip Zdarsky in 2000 to separate his own comics from his commissioned work as an illustrator and graphic artist. Writing in the Globe and Mail, Mark Medley quoted Zdarsky as saying about his persona: “I wanted to have a sad-sack cartoonist persona that lives in his mom’s basement, paints figurines for money, has restraining orders against him. And that became a character.” Zdarsky, he continued, is “an idiot who doesn’t know what I’m doing. . . . No matter what, I’m going to mess things up.” The alter ego took off, gaining a life of his own. As Medley put it, the antihero “created for anonymity has made him semi-famous.” Zdarsky has since developed several projects, including Prison Funnies and Monster Cops, and collaborated on others, including Dark Horse Comics’ Fierce and Rumble Royale.
On a train to Ottawa, Zdarsky wrote to a friend, the comics writer Matt Fraction, to propose a comic-book collaboration, and thus was born the Sex Criminals series. Fraction writes the series, and Zdarsky illustrates it. The first issue came out in 2013, and it has become a best seller, topping Time magazine’s list of Top Ten Comics and Graphic Novels of 2013. Time‘s description of the series termed it a “precision-tuned screwball comedy” with an “ace sense of design.” In 2014, the series garnered Fraction and Zdarsky the Will Eisner Award for Best New Series.
Sex Criminals features librarian Suzie and actor Jon, who meet at a party and become involved with each other; along the way, they discover that they have the power to freeze time in the act of sex. Using this power, they decide to rob banks. Reviewer Peter Blenski, writing in Booklist about the second volume, noted that “it’s their emotional chemistry that’s at the heart of this intimate narrative.” At the Mary Sue Web site, Jaydot Sloane summarized the first volume: “There are some moments that are incredibly deep and moments that are deeply funny, and the art in this book is absolutely at least as multi-layered and interesting as the writing.” Reviewing the series for Slate, Dan Kois pointed out that it is the “bawdy frankness about modern sexual politics that makes it so appealing.” He called the art “wonderfully appealing” and “cartoony but realistic, with a lovely sense of light and terrific comic timing.”
Zdarsky teamed with Joe Quinones and Veronica Fish for an updated Howard the Duck comic-book series. In this series, Howard is a private investigator who teams with various superheroes, as Blenski reported in Booklist, to “battle against aliens, criminals, and old people.” Blenski predicted that the “out-of-touch, outsider-looking-in style of comic commentary will be a hit.” Noel Thorne, posting at ComicAlley, found Howard the Duck, Volume 0: What the Duck? to be “uneven” and Howard “just a little too self-aware to be funny.” Even so, he commented that Howard’s “interacting with most of the Marvel Universe leads to some good scenes.”
With illustrator Kagan McLeod, Zdarsky produced Kaptara, Volume 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien. The protagonist, scientist Keith Kanga, travels through a wormhole with his crew and ends up on the alien planet of Kaptara. Booklist critic Blenski drew attention to the “abundance of unique characters and environments” and pronounced the comic a “great mix of nostalgia and adventure.” He concluded that its “epic scope will definitely hook readers.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer found it rife with “off-kilter action” but thought the “cartoonish style” to be the wrong choice for this “wildly uneven John Carter of Mars/John Waters SF comedy mash-up.” At Paste, Matthew Meylikhov observed that “Kaptara owes much to the sarcastic voice offered by Zdarsky,” who is “known in comics for his outlandish humor.” While Zdarsky’s slant is “steeped more in cynicism than whimsical gags,” Meylikhov stated, “this book still provokes laughter.” All in all, he concluded, “Kaptara is a funny and smart debut, one that’s strikingly layered in execution (with various flourishes more visible upon a second reading). Zdarsky and McLeod work well to create a mix of striking action and wry humor.”
Working with illustrator Erica Henderson, Zdarsky wrote Jughead, Volume 1, another new take on a classic comic character. In this story, Jughead must rally the school against Principal Strange, who has stepped into the shoes of the old principal, Weatherbee, at Riverdale High and put in place a new and very strict faculty. Biz Hyzy, correspondent in Booklist, wrote that this “graphic novel preserves [Zdarsky’s] oddball brand and antics.” Zdarsky’s writing, stated a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, “lends . . . absurdist wit to Juggy’s adventures in hilarious fashion.” The critic went on to say that the “gag-packed tale” is “easily the most exciting” of the Jughead adventures. Shelley Diaz, critiquing the comic for School Library Journal, appreciated that the “far-fetched plot befits Jughead’s personality.” She termed the comic “another winning entry in the reimagined Archie comics world.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 15, 2015, Peter Blenski, review of Sex Criminals, Volume 2: Two Worlds, One Cop, p. 42; November 15, 2015, Peter Blenski, review of Howard the Duck, Volume 0: What the Duck?, p. 35; March 15, 2016, Peter Blenski, review of Kaptara, Volume 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien; p. 39; September 15, 2016, Biz Hyzy, review of Jughead, Volume 1, p. 44.
Publishers Weekly, January 25, 2016, review of Kaptara, Volume 1, p. 191; July 25, 2016, review of Jughead, Volume 1, p. 56.
School Library Journal, September, 2016, Shelley M. Diaz, review of Jughead, Volume 1, p. 166.
ONLINE
Chip Zdarsky Home Page, http://www.zdars.co (April 26, 2017).
ComicAlly, https://samquixote.blogspot.com/ (August 27, 2015), Noel Thorne, review of Howard the Duck, Volume 0.
Globe and Mail Online, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ (November 28, 2014), Mark Medley, “A Dream Invite from Marvel to Resurrect Howard the Duck.”
Mary Sue, https://www.themarysue.com/ (October 2, 2013), Jaydot Sloane, review of Sex Criminals, Volume 1: One Weird Trick.
National Post Online, http://news.nationalpost.com/ (March 6, 2014), Steve Murray, “Rules to Live By: We Celebrate 300 Editions of Extremely Bad Advice with the Only Tips You’ll Ever Need.”
Now, https://nowtoronto.com/ (May 7, 2015), Jonathan Goldsbie, “Steve Murray . . . Is Chip Zdarsky.”
Paste, https://www.pastemagazine.com/ (April 22, 2015 ), Matthew Meylikhov, review of Kaptara, Volume 1.
Slate, http://www.slate.com/ (March 26, 2017), Dan Kois, review of Sex Criminals.
Time Online, http://entertainment.time.com/ (December 4, 2013), Douglas Wolk, “Top Ten Comics and Graphic Novels.”
Chip Zdarsky creates comic books and PERSONAL movies from his home in Toronto, Ontario. For almost 14 years he worked at the National Post newspaper as a columnist, illustrator and Spider-Man under the name Steve Murray. In 2013 he made the jump from the dying print industry to a different dying print industry as a comic-boy, co-creating the award-winning comic Sex Criminals with Matt Fraction. Since then he's done work for Marvel, Image and Archie, but his true passion is writing bios for webpages.
For more information go to zdars.co and—oh wait, you're there! Good stuff.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Does Chip "do" appearances at conventions and comic shops?
Um, yes. And why did you put "do" in quotation marks?
NO REASON. How do I contact him to MAKE an appearance?
Well, Chip is a very busy man according to Chip, so he doesn't make a LOT of appearances. But if you use the CONTACT form at the bottom of the page, you can ask a ZDARSCO representative.
If I don't see what I'm looking for in your STORE section, should I just give up and walk into the sea?
No! Just use our CONTACT form and ask. There are a lot of things that have not been collected, like MONSTER COPS and PRISON FUNNIES, that he may still have stock of.
Does Chip do commissions?
Sadly, no. Work is too crazy and any drawing he does has to be on SEX CRIMINALS by law. If he's at a show, however, he usually does head sketches for people because the human body is still a mystery to him.
Chip Zdarsky
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chip Zdarsky
Chip Zdarsky - Lucca Comics & Games 2015.JPG
Chip Zdarsky - Lucca Comics & Games 2015
Born Steven Murray
December 21, 1975 (age 41)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Area(s) Artist
Notable works
Sex Criminals, Prison Funnies, Monster Cops, Extremely Bad Advice, Howard the Duck, Jughead
Chip Zdarsky is the pseudonym of Canadian comic book artist, journalist, illustrator and designer Steve Murray (born December 21, 1975).[1] He has also used the pseudonym Todd Diamond. He worked for National Post for over a decade, until 2014, as an illustrator and humorist (as Steve Murray) and wrote and illustrated a column called Extremely Bad Advice for the paper as well as The Ampersand, the newspaper's pop culture section's online edition.
He uses the Zdarsky pseudonym for comics-related work, using it to create Prison Funnies and Monster Cops and as artist and co-creator of Sex Criminals with writer Matt Fraction.[1] In November 2014, Marvel Comics announced that Murray/Zdarsky will be writing a new Howard the Duck comic book series with Joe Quinones.[2] Recently, he was the writer for Jughead published by Archie Comics. He wrote the series first 8 issues.[3]
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
3 References
4 External links
Early life
Steve Murray was born in Edmonton, Alberta and raised in Barrie, Ontario.[1]
Career
Murray has illustrated for such clients as the Globe and Mail, New York magazine, CBC and Canadian Business.
In 2000, Murray created Chip Zdarsky as a pseudonym and alter ego for his persona as a comic book writer and illustrator, developing his own independent projects, such as Prison Funnies[1] and Monster Cops (which can be read online or in print) as well as collaborating on a variety of projects, including Dark Horse Comics titles Fierce and Rumble Royale. About his alter ego, Murray said “I wanted to have a sad-sack cartoonist persona that lives in his mom’s basement, paints figurines for money, has restraining orders against him. And that became a character.” He describes the character as “an idiot who doesn’t know what I’m doing. I’ve had no success in my life. No matter what, I’m going to mess things up.” Murray initially attempted to keep the identities separate and secret.[1]
From 2008 to 2014, Murray penned and illustrated a weekly advice column for the National Post called "Extremely Bad Advice".[4] He also wrote another column in that paper, Tear Jerk, in which he reviewed films to see if they could actually make him "weep like a baby."
Along with Kagan McLeod, Ben Shannon, and Cameron Stewart, he is a co-founder of the studio The Royal Academy of Illustration and Design, which produced Rumble Royale.
In 2010, he also launched a mock campaign for Mayor of Toronto. He was not a real registered candidate, launching his satirical "campaign" through social networking platforms after the deadline had passed to register as a candidate in the real campaign.[5]
In June 2013, Image Comics announced that Chip Zdarsky had teamed up with Invincible Iron Man and Hawkeye writer, Matt Fraction, on a new creator-owned series titled Sex Criminals. The first issue was released on September 23, 2013. Sex Criminals was declared number 1 on Time Magazine's list of Top Ten Comics and Graphic Novels of 2013.[6] The first trade collection of Sex Criminals issues #1-5 was released on April 16, 2014.
In 2014, Murray won a Will Eisner Award for Best New Series for Sex Criminals.[7]
On February 15, 2017, it has been announced that Zdarsky will be writing a brand new "back-to-basics" Spider-Man series Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man that will run alongside the current volume of The Amazing Spider-Man written by Dan Slott starting June 2017 [8]
Why Chip Zdarsky of ‘Sex Criminals’ is serious about declining his Harvey Award for Humor
By Michael Cavna September 29, 2015
"Sex Criminals," by Matt Fraction AND Chip Zdarsky, notes the title's artist. (Image Comics)
“Sex Criminals,” by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, notes the title’s artist. (Image Comics)
CHIP ZDARSKY is a deeply funny creator. But he’s entirely serious about declining his latest honor.
In July, when Zdarsky was nominated for the Special Award for Humor in Comics by the Harvey Awards jurors, he protested his being singled out to the exclusion of his collaborator. “I urge the awards committee to change the ballot to say, ‘Chip Zdarksy and Matt Fraction, Sex Criminals, Image Comics,'” Zdarsky wrote at the time. “If it does not get changed to exactly that wording, I will ask them to remove my name from the ballot completely, allowing the awards to replace my position with another middle-aged white man.”
However, the Harvey Awards committee said it could not so readily alter the ballot; administrator Paul McSpadden replied in a statement:
As with all Harvey Award categories, “Most Promising New Talent” and the “Special Award for Humor” are selected through the voting of the comics professional creative community exclusively. Beyond a publishing date in 2014, we provide no eligibility guidelines for works in these categories and, as such, we continue to rely on the judgment of our voters, and not impose arbitrary limits.
Over the weekend at Baltimore Comic-Con, the winner in the humor category was indeed Zdarsky, leaving the artist to now formally decline not just the nomination, but also the win. On Monday, his stance remained the same, as he wrote that his being recognized in this particular category apart from his “beloved chum, Matt Fraction, is wrong.”
“If it was art, sure I’d accept!” Zdarksy (the nom-de-toon of Canadian artist Steve Murray) tells The Post’s Comic Riffs in the aftermath, about his category. “If it was writing, I’d be ecstatic for Matt to get it! But ‘humor’? That’s both of us, with the emphasis on Matt, frankly.”
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Big stories in the entertainment world as they break.
Zdarsky notes how this is an interesting twist in an industry that often underappreciates the artist’s contributions, rendering them somehow lesser than the writer’s.
“Usually the roles are reversed here, with the writer getting the sole credit,” Zdarsky tells Comic Riffs. “But this going to the artist doesn’t make it any more right. The Harveys had the power to take me off the nomination list when I asked, and they certainly have the power to clarify the category next year so this doesn’t happen again.”
Zdarsky proposes that the category be changed to Best Humor Publication, which happens to be the exact name of the humor category for the Eisner Awards, presented each summer at San Diego Comic-Con. Altering how to recognize collaborators who work so closely is not without precedent. Years ago, Jim Borgman protested that the National Cartoonists Society was honoring him for his art on the syndicated strip “Zits” without recognizing his co-creator, Jerry Scott; ultimately, both men were recognized for their seamless teamwork.
Meantime, Zdarsky holds out for a change.
“I hope they address it,” Zdarsky says, ” ’cause we don’t need this kind of divisiveness from within our industry.”
Chip Zdarsky Declines Harvey Award for “Sex Criminals”
09.28.2015
by Albert Ching in Comic News Comment
Chip Zdarsky Declines Harvey Award for “Sex Criminals”
Chip Zdarsky won a Harvey Award this past weekend at Baltimore Comic-Con, but he isn’t celebrating. As the artist and writer explained in a post on his Tumblr, he’s declining to accept the Harvey Special Award for Humor, because it only recognizes his work on Image Comics hit “Sex Criminals,”, not the book’s writer, Matt Fraction.
“It’s nice having people realize how special I am and how humor I am, and I truly appreciate everyone who voted for me, but the award, as it stands, doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Zdarsky wrote. “The fact that I was nominated for a humor award for ‘Sex Criminals’ without the writer of said series, my beloved chum, Matt Fraction, is wrong. On every level. I pointed this out to the Harvey Awards and told them I wished to have Matt on the ballot with me, or to remove me completely, and they declined to do either.”
Zdarsky shared that a representative for the Harveys responded to his request, saying that altering the nomination was “not a judgment call for us to make.” Zdarsky further suggested that the award be amended in the future to “Best Humor Publication,” recognizing the end result of a collaboration, not an individual creator; or limit the award to true one-person operations like Ryan Browne or Kate Beaton. “Let’s make this category reflect the teams who deserve it,” Zdarsky wrote. “Until then, I can’t accept the award.” He first expressed his concerns with the award in July, shortly after the nomination was announced.
“If, for some reason, it’s already en route to me, I’ll just carve Matt’s name into it and raffle it off for the Hero Initiative,” Zdarsky concluded.
First held in 1988 and named after comics legend Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards are awarded annually, and voted on by comics professionals. CBR has reached out to the Harvey Awards for comment on Zdarsky’s statement.
Chip Zdarsky Opens Up About Jughead
Russ Burlingame
- 09/25/2015
Start Photo Gallery
jughead-top
On the heels of the massively-successful Archie reboot, writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Erica Henderson have been charged with reinventing one of the most recognizable supporting characters in all of Riverdale with next month's Jughead #1.
The first story arc sees Jughead squaring off with a new principal, who has come in and immediately started messing with something sacred to our hero.
Zdarsky joined ComicBook.com to discuss the series, which launches October 7.
The art here isn't quite as stylized as Erica's Marvel work. Is that a question of just different styles for different books, or did you guys talk about trying to kind of evoke or fit in with what Fiona was doing over in ARCHIE?
I can't really speak for Erica, but I was heavily influenced by Mark's take for the writing, so I'd imagine Erica had the same idea with Fiona's art. You tweak your style based on the subject matter and the world, so Riverdale definitely gets a different treatment than the Marvel Universe. We never really had a conversation about that. I just trusted Erica and she, I hope, trusted me!
During our first "Everything's Archie" column, Mike Pellerito acknowledged that the "Applebees Story" played a role in them thinking of you for the book. My wife started reading Sex Criminals after I told her that story. What do you think of that being a thing that follows you around for however long it lasts?
Ha! Hey, I'll get a job ANY WAY THAT I CAN.
I've done ... a lot of stuff. Like, I have a weird, varied career filled with comics and videos and stunts and art where it's all just work I do for fun. Some catches on and some doesn't, but all of it builds this weird situation where people follow one thing into another and life takes you in strange directions as a result. It's ... I don't know, it's hard to explain. Short story is, I have zero problem with people coming to my work through the Applebee's thing. It made people laugh or smile and I can't ever get tired of that.
Can I just say...YOU HAVE EDITOR'S NOTES?! Was that you, or an editorial idea? I assume they were scripted since it's attributed to you.
Anyway, thank you for that.
Oh yeah! I love editor's notes. I use them in HOWARD too because they feel so comic book-y and work so well with humour books as additional jokes.
How long are you and Erica planning to hang around Riverdale?
I have the first six issues planned out, so after that we'll see! It may sound silly, but it's an honour to be working on this book and I definitely don't want to overstay my welcome.
There's a pretty big change to the Archieverse in your first issue -- and one that comes along with an "I know change can be scary" speech. Is that a little bit for the benefit of the readers?
Well, the change in the story is BAD, so I don't know what that says about how I view myself as a creator! I knew I wanted the first storyline to take place within the high school, since it's obviously the place that brings everyone together. This just meant that I needed an element of change in the environment to spark conflict. So, it's to benefit the readers in the sense that I want to give them a story!
There's also an extended fantasy sequence in the first issue. Is that something we'll be seeing fairly regularly, or is it just kind of how #1 played out?
Yeah! For the first arc at least. I want to use the daydreams and fantasies as a way to kind of pay homage to the alternate universe Archie stories of the past. Some of them will be new, like the Game of Thrones sequence from issue one; and some will be callbacks to previous stories, like the Time Police bit from issue two. I like being able to play with these while still staying within the more grounded world Mark and Fiona have been crafting.
What, to you, are Jughead's defining traits? What made him an appealing character to commit to writing a series around?
He's the one character who can easily shift to the outside looking in. A teenager who's comfortable with himself, smarter than he appears, feeling more deeply than he lets on. I think he's the most interesting character as a result, so giving him his own series just makes sense.
Asexuality is something that is more of an identifiable, publicly-discussed thing now than it was when Jughead was first introduced. Being girl-averse was often played for laughs in the early days, but would you say your take on him is somewhat asexual, or just that he's nonconformist and Riverdale being so romance-centric requires a different take?
Yeah, for the stories it's good to have someone not as mired in the hormonal teen romances, and it adds to that "outside-looking-in" quality I talked about before. I'm writing him as asexual, but this is comics, yeah? The next writer could make him discover girls or boys or both and that's totally fine. There have been iterations of Jughead over the decades where he HAS been interested in girls, so there's room to play around if someone was inclined. For me though, I like an asexual Jughead. That's more interesting to me than writing him as just being behind everyone developmentally.
The nonconformity is strong in this first issue in general. How did you crack what Jughead's philosophy was going to be?
THE HAT. His hat kind of says it all, which is why it stays. It's weird and unique and he pulls it off because he's the coolest uncool guy around. So, yeah, he's a nonconformist, but he's smart enough to work within the rules if need be, just to make his life easy, which is paramount.
Having a character with a defined philosophy and who's generally been depicted as pretty smart in ARCHIE so far, how does that track with some of Jughead's more buffoonish traits?
My Jughead's not really buffoonish, he just doesn't live up to his potential because that's too much work. Some people within the story can view him as having a middle-of-the-road intelligence, but I think he's the smartest guy in the room. He just doesn't need to show it.
You're jumping right into the deep end with the food thing, and the result is that your book feels a little more fanciful and less grounded in a literal reality than does Mark's. It feels almost like an episode of COMMUNITY. How much did you have to kind of massage this book and discuss it with Erica and editorial to nail the tone you wanted?
I think each book needs its own flavour, even if it takes place in the same universe. Mark and Fiona have the classic high school feeling down pat with ARCHIE, so we really wanted to make sure this had a bit of a different take. Both are kind of heightened reflections of life, it's just that ours is less about the interpersonal dynamics and more situational. In terms of tone though I actually don't see a lot of difference! That great bit in ARCHIE with the gang trying to save Archie's job as he goes around obliviously wreaking havoc would totally fit in to this JUGHEAD book.
What's your elevator pitch for Jughead? Assuming for the sake of argument somebody doesn't know the characters and isn't reading ARCHIE...why should they buy your book?
If I encountered somebody who didn't know the characters I'd probably check to see if their diaper needed changing cause they're clearly a baby who has yet to encounter these books.
I'm really bad at elevator pitches even though I practice CONSTANTLY when I'm in elevators with strangers. I feel like Erica and I have made a fun, funny comic about a weirdo that you can enjoy as an adult but also feel pretty good about giving to a kid! WHAT A WORLD!
CHIP ZDARSKY on HOWARD THE DUCK: 'First Off, I'm Going To Keep Him As a Duck'
By Chris Arrant, Editor November 24, 2014 08:46am ET
Howard the Duck #1
Howard the Duck #1
Credit: Marvel Comics
Howard the Duck #1
Howard the Duck #1
Credit: Marvel Comics
After doing someone shorts and covers for Marvel in recent months, the Canadian cartoonist is stepping up with Howard The Duck to showcase an “everyman” weirdo in a world “plenty full of weirdos.” Although the series isn’t planned to debut until March 2015, Zdarsky says fans can look forward to appearances by She-Hulk and Aunt May, as well as the Black Cat playing a major role in the first arc. The cartoonist says Howard’s long-time friend Bev won’t be forgotten, revealing a decades old connection he’s had with her that we’ll let you read in Chip’s own words.
Although Zdarsky is an artist himself, for Marvel’s Howard the Duck series he’ll be working with Black Canary/Zatanna: Bloodspell artist Joe Quinones, whom Zdarsky seems excited and almost nervous to work with given Quinones’ abilities.
Newsarama talked with Zdarsky about this upcoming series, his surprise return to comics, as well as the connections Howard the Duck has back to the original Steve Gerber comics as well as the 1980s movie and his appearance in the end-credits of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Newsarama: Chip, what is your vision of Howard the Duck?
Chip Zdarsky: First off, I'm going to keep him as a duck. I think that's something the fans expect and I don't want to disappoint them.
Really, I just want to have fun exploring the Marvel Universe, and Howard's such a great character to do that with. He's an everyman, which is weird to say about a talking duck, but it's true. He's a creature out of place on this world, but you kind of suspect he'd be the same way back on Duckworld. [laughs] “Duckworld.” I’m writing Howard the Duck! [laughs]
Having him in New York just highlights that it’s his crusty demeanor that makes him "trapped in a world he never made," and less so being a duck. A Marvel Comics' New York is plenty full of weirdoes. Howard’s just one more.
Nrama: Marvel tells me this’ll focus on Howard as a private investigator. What’s he investigating, and what P.I.s from history would you compare and contrast him with?
Zdarsky: He'd like to think he's a Mike Hammer or Philip Marlowe, but he may end up being more like the classic detective Norville Rogers.
Nrama: Can you tell us what Howard’s first case will be?
Zdarsky: Howard will be investigating whatever blackmail material I had on Marvel to get them to hire me. Here's a hint: Sexcelsior.
Nrama: I’m not touching that.
Zdarsky: He'll also be going head-to-head with the notorious Black Cat to recover stolen jewelry. But... you will surprised to learn that not is all as it seems! Or were you expecting that? If so, then things ARE as they seem! Double-Switch.
Nrama: Howard, Black Cat -- who else will be in this book alongside – and against – Howard?
Zdarsky: I've got five words for you: Aunt May: friend or foe?
Howard the Duck #1
Howard the Duck #1
Credit: Marvel Comics
Besides that wheatcake temptress, I'm a huge fan of the She-Hulk relaunch, so I'm going to have Howard interacting with Jen pretty regularly. Really, there will be special guests as often as I'm allowed because Howard interacting with Marvel characters is pretty fun to write.
There’s a friend for Howard (aw!) named Tara, a local tattoo artist who's a bit of a thrill-seeker because it wouldn't be a true relaunch without giving people the ability to call me a hipster. There's also a gruff police detective named Mike Corson who acts as Howard's perpetual nemesis; a public detective to counter Howard’s private detective.
Um, what else can I tell you without spoiling things? Bev! Where is she? Why is Howard so sad? I don't know, maybe you should keep reading!
Nrama: You answered some of my next questions.
Moving on, Howard the Duck has a multi-faceted history, from the writings of Steve Gerber on to the movie and most recently the cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy. What is informing your take on the duck-billed detective?
Zdarsky: One hundred percent the movie. [laughs] Can you imagine?
I joke, but when I was a kid I took a tape recorder so I could record the song that ran over the final credits. There is a truly soft spot in my heart or that piece of terrible.
I love Howard. Back in the day I had a weird Uncle Fred who collected the issues and the black and white magazines, which I would always sneak away to read when we were at his house. I sexually imprinted on Bev and maybe Howard a bit as a result. So, yeah, all of it, really. And the cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy has kind of given us license to get a bit more cosmic! And, guess what? We exercise that license!
Nrama: Howard the Duck once ran for president, you once ran for mayor of Toronto. Will there be politics in this story?
Zdarsky: All stories are political when you think about it, man. Oh, I'm sorry, did I blow your mind?
I need to make the readers comfortable with things before I reveal Howard’s socialist agenda.
Nrama: This new gig comes as part of a whirlwind return to comic books for you after you took a long hiatus from 2006 to 2013. What’s it like to be back in the mix here, and riding on the success of Sex Criminals?
Howard the Duck #1
Howard the Duck #1
Credit: Marvel Comics
Zdarsky: It's okay, I guess.
Nrama: ‘Nuff said. Working with you on this is Joe Quinones. As one artist now writing for another, what are your impressions of his work and how you’ll capitalize on it for creating this comic?
Zdarsky: Ugh. I hate him. He's so good! And funny! I'm overjoyed seeing his work come in but also hate myself more and more each day for being so below him artistically.
In comics I've only ever worked with one other person before and that's Matt Fraction and he's just a terrible artist, so this is a welcome change for sure.
Steve Murray is... Chip Zdarsky
How a mild-mannered former newspaper illustrator embraced his secret life and became a star spotlighted at this year's Comic Arts Festival
by Jonathan Goldsbie
May 7, 2015
8:11 AM
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Chip Zdarsky
Chip Zdarsky.
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TORONTO COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL at the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge), Saturday (May 9), 9 am to 5 pm, and Sunday (May 10), 11 am to 5 pm, and other venues. Free except for special events. torontocomics.com.
“This guy. This fucking guy.”
In January 2011, Chip Zdarsky penned a single-page excerpt from a non-existent romance novel.
“Gary’s peeny was now erect,” read a passage from The Petals Fall Twice. “It felt like a quality bar of peeny-scented soap in her hands.”
Posted on Tumblr, the piece went viral, and Zdarsky found himself in Los Angeles pitching an animated series to Fox. Among his concepts were a show about action figures, a show about City Hall, and a show inspired by the National Post, where he worked at the time under his real name, Steve Murray. But he soon realized they just wanted the next Family Guy, and none of those was that.
“This guy.”
In February of that year, a longtime friend of Murray’s was put in charge of children’s lit at a major Canadian publisher. “This is great news! Especially for me!” he commented on her Facebook announcement. “Let me know when you want to hear the pitch for my nine-part YA series, Slarknor: Teen Dragon.”
He followed up with a 170-word snippet from a hypothetical young-adult manuscript: “With a swoosh of his mighty tail, Slarknor slammed Gary into the lockers. . . . Little bits of flame were poking out of his flame snout, like lighters at a (hot young band name TK) concert.”
For the next several months, he kept Slarknor up as a running joke, posting random samples on her wall.
She eventually got in touch to say she couldn’t get the idea out of her head and wanted to commission an actual book. They went back and forth with the company, but the process proved too slow. By that time, he was too busy to take on a novel.
“This fucking guy.”
In March 2012, Murray designed a quartet of fake books to illustrate a National Post feature on young-adult literature. One, Retreat Valley High, was a zombie romance. Another was Slarknor. A third was Altergeist, credited to one “Tammy Zdarsky,” “bestselling author of The Caveman’s Heart.” The accompanying blurb described a blossoming romance between teenagers Sandra and Jerome, the latter of whom was a ghost.
Five weeks later, a development exec from a Hollywood production company sent an email to the paper:
My boss, filmmaker [name removed by NOW to save embarrassment], read your article After The Post-Apocalypse: What’s The Next Hunger Games? while he was on location in Toronto. The article mentions a book entitled Altergeist by Tammy Zdarsky. I’m wondering if you could provide me with the name of the book’s publisher?
Murray politely explained that it didn’t actually exist, but the producer remained undeterred: “You wouldn’t happen to have any other thoughts about Altergeist written down, would you? We think the basic idea is interesting, and I’d be curious to discuss it with you further if you like.”
Murray wrote a brief treatment and they spoke on the phone the next week. Nothing more came of it.
“This guy.”
Around the same time, the Post assigned Murray to cover the charity boxing match between Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and then-Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau. Murray was exhausted and not looking forward to it.
On the train ride to Ottawa, he emailed a friend to suggest they collaborate on a comic.
Matt Fraction, the high-profile writer for Marvel, replied: “What if we did a sex comedy about a guy who, every time he ejaculates, stops time?”
To which Murray wrote back: “That is a romp I can get behind.”
This one took off. Published by Image Comics, the first issue of Sex Criminals debuted in September 2013 and became an acclaimed best-seller. Time magazine named it the best comic or graphic novel of the year. The volume collecting the first five issues turned into one of 2014’s hottest trade paperbacks (behind only Saga and The Walking Dead). Murray quit his job at the Post: drawing Sex Criminals had become a full-time thing, and because Image effectively operates as a co-op, virtually all the profits go to the creators.
Threaded throughout is a recurring voiceover, in which protagonist Suzie reflects on partner-in-crime-and-sex Jon with equal parts awe and frustration:
"This guy. This fucking guy."
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Chip Zdarsky
Doug Lastman, the villain from the City Hall show that Chip Zdarsky pitched to Fox's animation department.
***
Chip Zdarsky sits in the shadows this damp April evening, his arms flailing more than could plausibly be necessary. When the man born Steve Murray signs books as Chip, that means putting on a show for each fan who greets him.
Maybe 30 have gathered at the Central on Markham Street for the Toronto launch of Kaptara. A new series drawn by Kagan McLeod, written by Zdarsky and published by Berkeley-based Image, it's a sci-fi/fantasy with a gay romance at its core, partly based on the action-figure pitch to Fox.
In the course of his talking with one fan, I jot down some things that come up: soap opera star; Staying Alive; soccer-ball-shaped Cheetos; tree wedding; real-life brimpers; candle in the wind. At least two are lovemaking positions from Sex Criminals. "Brimpers" is also the term for that series' enthusiasts – of whom there are many – touched by the surprising emotional depths of a comic about a couple whose orgasms bring time to a halt.
The next morning, Zdarsky is off to the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), where he'll sign thousands of autographs and draw just as many sketches for his fans. It's his first convention appearance on a panel for Marvel, for whom he writes the rebooted Howard The Duck. Like Howard, Zdarsky is a former underground iconoclast awkwardly shuffled into a larger world he's grown accustomed to.
Zdarsky is a star at these events. When, during the Marvel Q&A, a man asks him for a hug, he goes all out and they tackle each other to the ground. (For Zdarsky, the adequate is never sufficient.)
But there’s no shortage of Zdarsky in Toronto, where he makes his home, and so the local Kaptara congregation is a more intimate affair.
Having written down the wrong time, I show up near the end, missing out meeting his mother and father. But I’m already sort of acquainted with the former, from an email NOW got a couple days earlier:
Is there any where in Barrie we can get NOW MAGAZINE? Our son, Chip Zdarsky (Steve Murray) will be in it in a few weeks and we'd like to buy some copies. Thank you, Una Murray
I show this to Zdarsky on my phone.
“Aww, my mom,” he says.
***
Until December 2013, it was still officially a secret that comic creator Zdarsky and National Post illustrator Murray were in fact one and the same. But it was a secret the way Daft Punk's helmetless faces are a secret: anyone who ever thought to wonder could easily find the answer online, and those who know them in real life are likely amused that it was ever deemed privileged knowledge in the first place.
When Time honoured Sex Criminals, I excitedly tweeted that "the National Post's Steve Murray – aka @zdarsky" had placed first on their list.
"Ha! I guess if I'm going to be outed as @zdarsky this is kind of the perfect time!" @NPsteve tweeted back.
Almost a year and a half later, there's barely any Steve Murray left in the public eye.
When Sex Criminals took off, Murray went on a four-month leave from the Post to devote himself to drawing it. By the end of summer 2014, he'd decided not to return. Everything he now produces is under the Zdarsky name.
It's not as though he was a low-profile cartoonist at the Post. Among other responsibilities at the paper (his formal title was graphic columnist, and he once had to go on short-term disability after blowing out his wrist drawing a full-page spread of the top 101 Sesame Street Muppets), he functioned as its de facto mascot and lovable prankster-at-heart.
In fall 2010, he fake-ran for mayor. In June 2012, he rappelled down the side of City Hall to promote a Make-A-Wish fundraiser, donning a Spider-Man costume to do so.
Murray's peculiar career arc is such that he's gone from dressing as Spider-Man to writing for Spider-Man in a little less than three years. (A hapless, easily traumatized web-slinger shows up in his Howard #1.)
He created the Zdarsky identity circa 2000, partly to separate his self-published comics from the graphics work he was doing for places like the Globe and the Post. But the character also emerged shortly after his divorce, "and there was a part of me that just kind of liked the thrill of it, liked the thrill of having a secret life," he says over sushi near his house in the Junction, following his return from Chicago.
"After the split, I tended to kind of act out more as Chip – like I would drink and sleep around and do all sorts of terrible things as Chip."
Leaving the calmer Steve at home in Toronto, he'd go to conventions as his alter ego.
"My therapist, I'm sure, is gonna write a book about it one day."
Only when the Post pushed its staff to put themselves out there on social media did he develop a public persona under his own name.
Zdarsky, for example, joined Twitter in July 2007. Murray came aboard in August 2009, and the latter gradually eclipsed the former as the comics career took a back seat to the day job.
But since the success of Sex Criminals (whose 11th issue comes out next month), the tables have turned. And Zdarsky, like Murray, has grown up.
***
Steve Murray first came to Toronto because of a weapons charge.
While he was an illustration student at Sheridan College in Oakville, his roommate brought a fake gun to a coffee shop over his protests. The item was in Murray's control when police arrived, and the two were charged with possession and concealment of a dangerous weapon. (The fact it was fake didn't matter.)
His parents took the ordeal with good humour, baking him a cake with a file inside for the next time they saw him. But Murray took a year off school to fight the charges, and he moved to Toronto.
He got a job in the magazine section of the now-defunct Chapters in Yorkville and through that met people involved with the Independent Weekly, a student paper at U of T. He started doing art for that publication – including his first comic strip, Prison Funnies – and eventually became its production manager. (Ivor Tossell, a future Globe columnist who became the Independent's co-editor the year after Murray left, recalls Prison Funnies "rattling my delicate, respectability-seeking sensibilities.")
It was around this time he created Chip Zdarsky, borrowing the last name from a friend's ex-girlfriend.
"I didn't think much of Steve using my surname at first, but I have been really impressed with his success over the years (and secretly relieved that he's not a rabid bigot or anything)," Nicole Zdarsky tells NOW in a message.
"I'm glad he's a successful sex pervert," the Las Vegas stay-at-home mom adds with a smiley emoji.
Returning to Sheridan to finish his program, Murray couldn't attend his computer class due to a conflict with his student paper job. He got a zero in the mandatory course.
The only way he'd graduate was if he could transfer a computer credit from an earlier stint at Georgian College in Barrie. But when he got his transcript from Georgian, he remembered he'd failed that course, too, having met a girl with whom he'd skip class.
"Oh, I'm fucked," he quite reasonably concluded.
But like Cadet Kirk besting the Kobayashi Maru, he came up with an outside-the-box solution.
"I used my skills with computers to recreate the transcript and print it out with better grades and give that to my coordinator," he says. "So I felt justified, because I was using all my computer skills to do that. And my computer skills in skipping the class [to be the Independent's production manager] in the first place.
"Sheridan hates it when I come back and tell that story."
***
At the sushi restaurant, he feels like shit: exhausted from C2E2 and suffering from, at minimum, a very bad cold. To make it through the weekend, he no longer drinks at conventions; now approaching 40, he has more mundane ways to get sick.
Even having known him socially over the years, and having collaborated a few times for the Post, I've never before encountered him when he's "off." It's like talking to an actor in between takes, near the end of a long day of shooting. Not at all the chipper dude buoyantly chatting with Applebee's.
"I want people to see me as being like a happy, fun guy," Murray says, explaining why he cultivates the Zdarsky persona.
And is he that guy?
"No. Of course not. Not all the time. Generally I am. But, yeah, for sure, when something like this happens I get insanely depressed," he says of the sudden illness that's temporarily knocked him out. "The idea of not working is, like, just painful."
Murray typically works 12 hours a day, six days a week, the majority of them drawing Sex Criminals. When he's not on the road, he's in his studio, a converted garage in his backyard.
Working, for him, is not an act of bloodletting, of squeezing drips of inspiration from a mind playing hard to get. He overflows with ideas, and his process of creation is a compulsive act of catharsis.
It's almost off-putting.
He fashioned Zdarsky as a sad sack loser who doesn't know he's a sad sack, bouncing between parties and his parents' basement. A smiling guy with a nose dressed in cocaine, as he depicts in his Twitter avatar.
But as success caught up with the both of them, the differences dissolved; halves divided by a long-ago rift have found each other once again.
His newfound creative freedom has opened up whole other landscapes where the distinctions don't matter so much.
"I've never had this kind of control and opportunity. And so it's like, what do you do with it?" he wonders, a hint of fear in his voice as he approaches the unknown.
"Are you gonna blow it?" he asks himself. "Are you gonna blow it, Chip?"
jonathang@nowtoronto.com | @goldsbie
Not All Ducks: The Mary Sue’s Interview with Sex Criminals and Howard the Duck‘s Chip Zdarsky
This fucking guy.
by Carolyn Cox | 9:00 am, April 29th, 2015
0
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Floating semen! Robot Margaret Atwood! Drawing women without objectifying them! The Mary Sue got a chance to talk with Sex Criminals artist and Howard the Duck and Kaptara writer Chip Zdarsky at C2E2 last weekend, and it was everything we’d dreamed of and more.
The Mary Sue: You have a lot of projects going on right now, you’ve got Sex Criminals and Howard the Duck and now Kaptara. Are there any thematic elements you think are similar in all of those?
Chip Zdarsky: Well it’s a little tricky because with Sex Criminals, that’s kind of Matt’s narrative, a lot of the characters kind of reflect things that he goes through. Not that he stops time when he has sex, but you know what I mean. But mostly just to speak to Howard and Kaptara, both kind of have the stranger in a strange land feel. That’s kind of why I took Howard, it felt like the kind of thing I could do. I love any kind of story with the outcast, the loner, the weirdo, because that sums up like 90 percent of people working in comics, reading comics, that’s what I was when I was a kid. Except I wasn’t a duck.
TMS: It seems extremely hard as two male creators to write from a woman’s perspective so realistically. I feel like I talk like the female characters in Sex Criminals, and my friends do, and I was wondering if that was something you had to work on or if it was just inherent in your chemistry with Matt.
Zdarsky: When we started working on Sex Criminals the main character was Jon, and it wasn’t working. It just wasn’t clicking until one day we both were like, “let’s make Suzie the main character!’ Two straight white dudes writing about a straight white dude in a sex comedy, is, like, essentially the easiest thing in the world for us to do, so it added a bit of complexity to the process by making the main character Suzie. And it’s totally paid off. Matt would have conversations with his female friends, and he was kind of mining stories that they’d told him in the past, and also like fifty percent of the people I know are women.
TMS: Looking at content out there you’d think its impossible to do, which is why it really struck me.
Zdarsky: Some of the guys, when you see their drawings or their stories, you know that they just don’t interact with women, in a way that’s meaningful at least. They might have their internet pornography or that girl who broke up with them in grade 8 and that’s it, but like, I’ve been surrounded by feminists my whole life and Matt has too I think, and so…there’s never been any kind of question about treatment of women in comics for me. And also on the drawing side I based the main characters on friends of mine, so because she’s based on a real person now, there’s no danger of me sliding into titillation depicting her because she’s a friend, and I have a responsibility to her. Whenever there’s nudity or sex in the story, it’s story-based, it’s not like “alright, we’ve gone four pages without an ass shot. Alright boys.”
I had an instance doing a variant cover for Issue #1, and it’s the Canadian #1, it was a shop I didn’t really know, and they wanted something kind of sexy. I was like “uhhhhh, ok.” So the shot was Suzie from behind holding a gun and I had underwear on her so I got an email back from the retailer that said “hey, everything looks really good. Can we see some of that ass?” I was like oh, god! Also at that point we didn’t have any press, we didn’t have anyone like, there were no expectations. I basically just added a slight bit of butt crack at the top, what you’d get if you bent over to fix your sink. He wrote back “looks great! My boss will kill me if I don’t ask–can I get some side boob?” And I went no, no, this is not that kind of series, I’m not going to depict a character like that. And that was probably the sexiest–“sexiest” drawing I’ve done of the characters, so it’s easy to do because Matt and I are both grown men who have been around long enough that we know how to treat people I think.
Everyone has their own history, that’s the thing. Sometimes when I see a guy who is kind of mired in overt cheesecake stuff without any kind of, like, self-awareness of it, I actually tend to feel bad for the person instead of angry, because there’s clearly something that’s happened there. There’s clearly something in their past, clearly something that they’re dealing with, whether it be anger or sadness, or a bad relationship, there’s always a root of it. I know it’s kind of the default to get upset when someone shows off their lack of understanding of women, but there’s probably something at play there. Its more sad than angry to me anyways, but then I can say that because I’m not a woman.
TMS: Speaking of feminists, you have, like, the Grand Dame of Feminists now, Margaret Atwood, reading Sex Criminals. What is it like to know that’s happening?
Zdarsky: It’s crazy. I’m from Toronto and she’s from Toronto and I had this thing where I once saw her in a coffee shop and she was having a conversation with this guy who developed–I think it’s called the LongPen–Atwood was on this kick a little while ago for this mobile signing robot where she could be at home and she could sign remotely. It was like an Atwood Robot. So I saw her there talking to this guy-
TMS: It was her and not her robot?
Zdarsky: It was her and the guy who developed the robot, talking about the robot, so I was sitting there like “oh my God I’ve got to say something but what do I do,” so as she finished up I was like “oh, uh hey I overheard you guys talking about the LongPen and I’m actually interested in the process because I do all my drawing digitally!” Then we talked about the process of transferring from pen to computer screen, and she asked me what I do, and we kept talking, but I would not acknowledge that I knew she was Margaret Atwood because I didn’t want to be creepy, but then it just got to the point where I seemed really rude because I’m not asking her what she does for a living, who she is. So I’m sitting there and she’s standing and there’s this weird pause where I stare at her and just say “well! Bye!” It was the most awkward thing, like of course I know it’s Margaret Atwood.
TMS: Another question I had in terms of stuff that you and Matt wound up developing together–I think Sex Criminals has one of the best portrayals of an individual’s experience in therapy or experience with working on their mental health, and I think you guys walked a really good line of showing one person’s struggle without saying “this is universally how it is, or how it should be.”
Zdarsky: It can be mistaken for that. And there’s no way of avoiding it, once you tell someone’s story (in fiction anyway), you can’t start adding disclaimers like “oh, for other people please see these resources!” A lot of that was kind of Matt’s personal thing. Like we both have experiences with therapy and depression so a lot of that came out–and I can’t really speak to Matt’s experiences with it, but between Issues 5 and 6 there was a big break, and a lot of it I think was kind of pressure of the book and also maybe just depression on his part, and it came out in Issue 6 and I was terrified when he gave me Issue 6, when he sent me the script for it I was like, this is not, as they say, the promise of the premise. This isn’t sex bank robbing time.
TMS: Yeah, I was really surprised.
Zdarsky: Everyone was. I spent a long time drawing that issue because I felt it was more delicate subject matter. Because my own personal experience with depression was like, maybe four years ago I kind of hit bottom of the barrel in my mental state, lot of big life decisions kind of looming, and I was so depressed and couldn’t get out of bed. Psychiatrists are covered in Canada and so I got my doctor to recommend a psychiatrist and we had to do a phone consultation first, and I remember I was like out on my front porch and crying because it was so hard to do, and I’m talking to this person I’ve never met and I’m describing how I’m feeling and they said “ok, im going to prescribe you this medication and then in six weeks you can come in and we can talk.”
And I was like I don’t know you, we’ve talked for ten minutes, I’m not going to take medication for six weeks and then come see you. That was my only instance of dealing with medication. I later just found a therapist, and it was easier to just go in and actually talk. And it worked for me. It doesn’t work for everyone, again, there’s that disclaimer. I think Matt probably has that kind of initial thing as well. So I empathized with Jon, and Matt telling the story, but I also recognized it’s not going to be everyone’s story, and we were prepared for a backlash. And we didnt really get it. We got it from a couple of people, a couple of people thought we were kind of speaking for everyone with depression or spreading a false stigma, but it’s not a false stigma, it’s a reality for a lot of people, and one person’s journey isn’t another person’s journey and its hard to get that across sometimes.
TMS: I feel like with Howard and some of your other projects, you don’t have to be as concerned with “oh, is this going to be emblematic of all ducks’ experiences.”
Zdarsky: Not all ducks!
TMS: Have you ever had that feeling since, of “I have to be really delicate with this issue,” or “oh, this is going to strike a chord in people?”
Zdarsky: Kaptara for sure, because again, I’m not Indian and I’m not gay. But I’ve kind of built in like a safety for me there by setting it on another world, so I don’t have to deal necessarily with the societal constructs and the issues that a gay Indian man would have in our current world because I’ve set it on another world. So I have to be conscious of what being gay and Indian means to someone’s state of mind and character, and again it’s not universal, I’m kind of taking bits and pieces of friends of mine and my own experiences, cobbling them together into the character. So I’m concerned about that, but I’m also relatively confident that I can do it because of the setting. Mostly I just wanted to see someone who wasn’t white and straight in the book. So yeah, there’s that. Howard, the only thing I’m really beholden to and worry about is continuity. Marvel stuff. That’s a whole different beast.
TMS: I know there’s probably not much you can say about it, but do you have any idea what we can expect from the Sex Criminals TV show?
Zdarsky: I know as much about it as anyone! Yeah, Matt and Kelly Sue worked out this big Universal deal for the company, and a big part of that was Sex Criminals, and I was totally on board with that. It sounded like a good deal, the fact that Matt would get to write it is amazing, and yeah, my only understanding of it from talking to Matt is that wherever it ends up through Universal it’ll have the same level of sexuality, nudity, floating semen. It’ll still be Sex Criminals, I don’t think anything’s going to be dialed back. Basically it’s just a waiting game.
TMS: In an ideal world if you could choose any celebrity or actor to be the face of Sexual Gary, is there someone that personifies him for you?
Zdarsky: Oh, man. I’d like it to be. Maybe me or Matt. Maybe alternating, just us in wigs. Someone’s wearing a T-shirt, or maybe there’s a poster in the background, it’s either me in the wig or Matt in the wig. It’s always changing, like some sort of ancient shape-shifter of old.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Chip Zdarsky is an Eisner Award-winning comic book author, known for his work on Howard the Duck from Marvel Comics, KAPTARA for Image Comics, and Jughead for Archie Comics. Prior to his career in comics, launched by SEX CRIMINALS, Chip worked for the National Post as an illustrator and columnist, writing and illustrating a weekly advice column called Extremely Bad Advice. Chip resides in the hearts and minds of a nation.
Chip Zdarsky and Erica Henderson think Jughead’s dream date is himself (plus food)
By Derrick Sanskrit @ducktastic
Oct 10, 2015 12:00 PM
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The New York Comic Con is three days of tightly packed comics action, a quick but enormous event in Gotham City. Sifting through the content, we ask some of our favorite comics creators questions on their craft in The A.V. Club’s Comics Questionnaire.
When it came time to relaunch America’s favorite comic book best friend, Jughead, Archie Comics couldn’t have asked for a more perfect creative team than Chip Zdarsky and Erica Henderson. Henderson has been turning heads all year with her work on everyone’s favorite down-to-earth crime-stopping girl-next-door in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Zdarsky recently won (and turned down) the Harvey Award for humor for his work on Sex Criminals and has been cranking out zanier fare with Kaptara and Howard The Duck. If anyone can make comic book buyers care about the hometown kid who just wants to eat hamburgers again, it’s these two.
If an alien species discovered Jughead as the only remnant of human civilization, what would they learn about us?
Erica Henderson: I think they would learn how human biology works, in terms of how much sleep and food we need.
Chip Zdarsky: Yeah, that’s true. They’d think we’re all very funny, and very very attractive, so that’s all right.
EH: I’m sure they would also think we were amazingly attractive, all humans. We’re working on the Star Trek standard where everybody looks alike anyway, so it would just be aliens with, like, a thing on their forehead.
If my résumé included a whole summer spent reading Jughead, how could I spin that into valuable work experience?
CZ: You could end up writing the Jughead comic. The job would be to write or draw Jughead, really. That’s the one thing it’s good for. I guess teen psychology, is that a job?
EH: Guidance counsellor, I guess. Or you could be a Hollywood reader. Just read some screenplays.
If copyright law were no concern, what character from another game, comic, movie, etc. would you like to see crossover into Jughead?
CZ: Jughead is kind of like my childhood love, so I want to marry that with my other childhood love which was General Hospital, the soap opera. Robert Scorpio and Frisco Jones, secret agents, I’d probably include them at some point. Maybe I will, actually! We do have a secret agent coming up. [Speaks to Henderson.] I’ll give you a lot of reference to 1980s soap actors.
EH: I feel like we should do a sequel to Archie Meets The Punisher and just bring back that whole Miss Grundy-Frank Castle kiss at the end.
CZ: Yes, yes! In every interview, when people talk about the possibility of there being a Howard The Duck/Jughead crossover, I just think back to that Archie Meets The Punisher crossover...
EH: Archie’s got a duck.
CZ: Right, Super-Duck!
EH: So we don’t even need Howard.
CZ: I clearly need Howard.
AVC: You would want some duck-on-duck action?
CZ: Oh no! have you ever seen ducks mate?
EH: It’s terrible!
CZ: Absolutely terrifying!
EH: It’s the worst.
If Jughead were the main course of a meal, what would be the appetizer and what would be the dessert?
CZ: Jughead is such an entry point into comics, Jughead feels like the appetizer for the entire comics industry. I would say Garfield. Obviously, I would say Garfield, because he does have sort of the same lazy quality and it would ease you into the idea of laziness in human form.
EH: I would want Jughead as the appetizer to lead into Oishinbo, that 20-year comic from Japan about food. We have three books, not sure what order to put them in, so just family style them.
How would you describe lead character Jughead’s ideal first date?
CZ: Nobody else on the date, having a nice meal. That’s essentially it.
EH: It would just be him and Hot Dog at a grill with an endless supply of meats and buns.
CZ: If it had to be an actual date, it would be him and Betty, but a reasonable distance.
EH: Presumably she is paying. That’s why she’s there.
CZ: When you go to a movie, sometimes there are people who sit one seat over instead of the seat next to you.
EH: Put popcorn in the middle.
CZ: I could see that being his ideal date, where there’s food in between himself and let’s say Betty.
Let’s say Jughead has been adapted into a Broadway musical. Describe the big show-stopping musical number.
EH: To make it accurate to modern Broadway, which one band is doing all the music? Spider-Man was U2.
CZ: We have to find the composer of the rap song from the Riverdale movie.
EH: Or we could get the B-52s.
CZ: Yeah, yeah, that’s good. I picture it as a one-man show, you know? Just Jughead in a spotlight, sitting there, espousing his beliefs. He doesn’t care if there’s anyone in the audience, he may not even open the doors to let the audience in. He just espouses his burger-centric world view.
Jughead, v.1
Biz Hyzy
113.2 (Sept. 15, 2016): p44.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Jughead, v.1. By Chip Zdarsky. Illus. by Erica Henderson. 2016.168p. Archie Comics, paper, $19.99 (9781627388931). 741.5. Gr. 9-12.
When a Mr. Stranger replaces "the Bee" as principal at Riverdale High, he implements military-like rules, which include replacing the cafeteria food with high-nutrition gruel. Outraged, chowhound Jughead Jones rebels by skating through loopholes in the new establishment, making the increasingly fishy Stranger his enemy. Although touching on edgy topics such as weapons in school and sexual identity (Kevin Keller, who is gay, refers to Jughead as asexual), needle-nose's first solo graphic novel preserves his oddball brand and antics, highlighted by Henderson's cartooning. A long, narrow panel stretches the awkward silence between Jughead and Mr. Flutesnoot as they realize they've both fallen asleep during detention. The beanpole's animated silhouette moves across a page of panels while his friends listen, bored and unmoving, in the background. When Jughead slips into daydreams, some of which pay homage to classic Archie spinoffs, the art adjusts to each tone. Most important, good of Jug carries the story with his active imagination, lethargic disobedience, and covert passion for fighting for what's right.--Biz Hyzy
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hyzy, Biz. "Jughead, v.1." Booklist, 15 Sept. 2016, p. 44. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA464980894&it=r&asid=b6007ba282d06d50be2c6d590e5909d0. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A464980894
Jughead, Vol. 1
263.30 (July 25, 2016): p56.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
* Jughead, Vol. 1
Chip Zdarsky and Erica Henderson. Archie, $19.99 trade paper (168p) ISBN 978-1-62738-893-1
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
As part of a revamp of the durable Riverdale teens in a more realistic style, Archie's best pal, Jughead, now stars in his own ongoing series. Zdarsky (Howard the Duck) lends his absurdist wit to Juggy's adventures in hilarious fashion: between alternate-universe dream sequences (Jughead's Time Police is only the beginning) and desperate ploys for free milkshakes, Jughead (who, in a surprising but welcome move, is now a confirmed asexual) must rally his friends to stop Riverdale High's new principal from turning the school into a spy-training camp--if he can convince them it's actually happening. Henderson (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) is perfectly suited for Zdarsky's madcap scripts, imbuing each character with a vibrancy and expressiveness that evokes classic Archie while staying true to her own personal style. Together, the team crafts a gag-packed tale that's easily the most exciting (and relatable) Jughead story ever. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Jughead, Vol. 1." Publishers Weekly, 25 July 2016, p. 56. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA460285509&it=r&asid=2ba9d7173aae22fc30cce042576d402f. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A460285509
Kaptara, v.1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien
Peter Blenski
112.14 (Mar. 15, 2016): p39.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Kaptara, v.1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien. By Chip Zdarsky. Illus. by Kagan McLeod. 2016.128p. Image Comics, paper, $9.98 (9781632155573). 741.5.
While flying into a wormhole, sarcastic scientist Keith and his team become marooned on Kaptara, a strange alien planet. Rescued by Kaptara royalty, Keith and a group of heroes set out to track down his crew while stopping the villains seeking to capture Earth and rule Kaptara. Known for his smart, hilarious work in Sex Criminals and Howard the Duck, Zdarsky relies heavily on puns and innuendo here, which for some readers might fall flat. But the story feels massive as Zdarsky quickly reveals an abundance of unique characters and environments with seemingly no intention of stopping. By the end, with so much thrown out at once, it's a hectic series introduction, but its epic scope will definitely hook readers. McLeod's artwork does a great job of bringing things all together, playing up 1980s sci-fi tropes to great effect in faded neon hues and thin outlining that give the piece a wonderfully dated look, while cartoonish figures and He-Man-inspired costumes add to the humor. A great mix of nostalgia and adventure.--Peter Blenski
Blenski, Peter
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Blenski, Peter. "Kaptara, v.1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2016, p. 39. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA449417036&it=r&asid=b0f32f5a8035317dcbae93651f2608b1. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A449417036
Kaptara, Vol. 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien
263.4 (Jan. 25, 2016): p191.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Kaptara, Vol. 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien
Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod. Image, $9.98 trade paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-63215-557-3
A space exploration mission with a grab bag of personality types for a crew (muscle head, no-nonsense tech, pretty-boy pilot) crash lands on a planet of oddities in this start to a new series from Zdarsky (Sex Criminals) and McLeod (Infinite KungFu). The story plants Keith, the crew's sarcastic loudmouth, into the middle of Endom, an alien civilization that gets odder by the page. Endom's rulers are concerned that Skullthor of the Dark Boroughs has been sent to conquer Earth when they want him back to face justice. So off Keith goes with preening blowhard Endomian prince Dartor to save Earth. Along the way, they encounter a Frank L. Baum--like menagerie of curiosities, from a two-legged orb whose surface broadcasts self-help bromides to a race of tiny racist Tea Party trolls. Zdarsky and McLeod pack the pages with off-kilter action, but the cartoonish style is the wrong fit for this adventurous but wildly uneven John Carter of Mars/John Waters SF comedy mash-up. Jan.)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Kaptara, Vol. 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien." Publishers Weekly, 25 Jan. 2016, p. 191. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA442116776&it=r&asid=cce4d547013c793d4205353d08bceff3. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A442116776
Howard the Duck: What the Duck
Peter Blenski
112.6 (Nov. 15, 2015): p35.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Howard the Duck: What the Duck. By Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones. Illus. by Joe Quinones. 2015.112p. Marvel, $16.99 (9780785197720). 741.5. Gr. 9-12.
Howard the Duck, an alien subject of many odd comics and one terrible movie, has now seemingly found his place as a private eye. On the hunt for a mysterious necklace of admittedly minimal power, Howard teams up with classic superheroes to battle against aliens, criminals, and old people. Although some jokes initially fall flat and are heavily reliant on fowl puns, once world-weary Howard finds his bearings, he provides a hilarious commentary on Marvel and comic books in general. The "Amazing" Spider-Man seen here is more of a broken child, crying for his dead uncle Ben, while the all-powerful Dr. Strange is a cold, uncaring weirdo. In one particularly cutting scene, Howard bluntly berates two out-of-work superhero impersonators who are angry that their characters, Thor and Captain America, have recently been replaced by a woman and African American, respectively. Quinones' candy-colored pop-art style is a comical match for the sardonic bird detective. For fans of Deadpool and other absurd comics, Howard's out-of-touch, outsider-looking-in style of comic commentary will be a hit. It's quacking good.--Peter Blenski
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Blenski, Peter. "Howard the Duck: What the Duck." Booklist, 15 Nov. 2015, p. 35. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA436233130&it=r&asid=b8de1b0c62f8182740b8e12857c0b4c6. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A436233130
Sex Criminals, v.2: Two worlds, One Cop
Peter Blenski
111.18 (May 15, 2015): p42.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Sex Criminals, v.2: Two worlds, One Cop.
By Matt Fraction. Illus. by Chip Zdarsky.
2015. 128p. Image Comics, paper, $14.99 (9781632151933). 741.5.
After their last failed bank robbery, Jon and Suzie have now settled into a more relaxed relationship, as they begin to research their bizarre superpower--the ability to freeze time when they have sex, rendered in glowy rainbow-colored scenes. Cracks start to form as Jon begins to open up about his depression and Suzie focuses more on her job. It's a real feat for Fraction that what shines through the over-the-top premise and crude humor is a realistic, affectionate journey shared by two people. As the high from their new love fades, they seemingly go through the motions to stay together and their once-fiery passion starts to dwindle. At times, Jon and Suzie break the fourth wall, revealing their hookups and complicated feelings they have for themselves and for each other. Even with all the sex in this book--and there's a lot of frank, candid sex--it's at these moments that we truly see them naked, and it's their emotional chemistry that's at the heart of this intimate narrative. Definitely a series worth watching develop.
Blenski, Peter
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Blenski, Peter. "Sex Criminals, v.2: Two worlds, One Cop." Booklist, 15 May 2015, p. 42. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA417738545&it=r&asid=5dc11a523449f71d547b3aeff911662c. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A417738545
Zdarsky, Chip. JugHead Vol. 1
Shelley M. Diaz
62.9 (Sept. 2016): p166.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
ZDARSKY, Chip. JugHead Vol. 1. illus. by Erica Henderson. 168p. Archie Comics. Jul. 2016. pap. $16.99. ISBN 9781627388931.
Gr 7 Up--Archie Andrews's best friend gets his own revamped series in this collection of the first six issues of the Jughead comics. The asexual teen who loves all things burgers and video games rallies his friends against the sinister Principal Strange, who has taken over Riverdale High by usurping Principal Weatherbee's position and replacing the faculty with his own army of incredibly strict teachers. The usually apathetic Jughead is spurred into action when the cafeteria's offerings of lasagna and burgers are replaced with a tasteless and healthy gruel. Filled with the madcap imaginings of the title character, including superhero and secret spy vignettes, an Arechie-esque Game of Thrones sequence, and lots of visits to Pop's Diner, this volume presents one madcap adventure after another. Zdarsky captures the spirit of the well-known cast while injecting modern sensibilities through dialogue and attitude. Henderson's energetic and dynamic art connects brilliantly with the humor and pace of each chapter. The far-fetched plot befits Jughead's personality, complete with robots, pirates, and lots of food. This installment's back matter also includes variant covers, characters sketches, excerpts of the creators' original scripts, and a sneak peek of Archie Vol. 2. VERDICT Another winning entry in the reimagined Archie comics world--Shelley M. Diaz, School Library Journal
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Diaz, Shelley M. "Zdarsky, Chip. JugHead Vol. 1." School Library Journal, Sept. 2016, p. 166. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA462899825&it=r&asid=e149bcced6ee9ed25f44f5e33629eb2c. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A462899825
Review: SEX CRIMINALS by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
On February 17, 2016 | 0 Comments
SPOTLIGHT FEB. 17 2016
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First published in 2013, Sex Criminals has gone on to become a staple of indie comic fans’ pull lists and a winner of several awards, including an Eisner. And soon enough, Jon and Suzie will be gracing our television sets in all their post-coital glory. How the heck did this comic get so popular and what’s it about?
Well, you can say it’s about two people who stop time (and rob banks) when they have sex, and it is. But the comic has gone on to explore so much more, as it includes the full spectrum of relationships, mental health, and sexuality with an empathetic and smart eye. Whether you’re depressed, asexual, or just want to read more sex-positive stories—Sex Criminals has you covered.
The latest issue, #14, is another great example of why writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky have cornered the market on thoughtful smutty comics. When Suzie starts slut-shaming a former sex worker character via text messages with her boyfriend—a seemingly innocent exchange—Fraction shuts down the comic and goes into a full on meta conversation with Chip. “I typed the lines where they make fun of Ana without even realizing what I was doing,” Fraction writes. He goes on to say that even the people we think of as heroes, like Suzie and Jon, are capable of judgmental behavior in regards to sex. It’s a wonderful, honest moment from a writer and a genuine bit of insight to chew on.
And then there are hilarious sex emojis, but that’s par for the course.
What did you think of this issue? And what’s your favorite issue of Sex Criminals?
Review: Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s Sex Criminals #1
Review
by Jaydot Sloane | 2:43 pm, October 2nd, 2013
[okay this looks bad]
When I initially heard about Sex Criminals I was leery. I understood the basic premise to be two young people who can stop time when they orgasm, and use this power to do crime. Written by Matt Fraction (of Hawkguy fame), the premise seemed intriguing; written by just about any other guy and I’d’ve been certain it’d just be weird softcore shlock. That said, I was still wary as I approached the title—it’s so easy to take any premise dealing with sex and women and go someplace incredibly terrible, largely because that’s the majority of examples we see on a day to day basis. I think it’s safe to say that by and large we don’t have healthy associations with women and sex in this society, so any book where that’s one of the main conceits is going to get a pretty critical side-eye from me.
Which is why you gotta believe me when I tell you that Sex Criminals is amazing.
Matt Fraction seems to have a knack for taking things we may have an overly romanticized view of and absolutely normalizing it while still keeping it in its fantastical setting. Which is to say that he makes characters that are believable and real without making them dark and cynical, something I would love to see from every writer as we all grow out of our stubbly-chinned angsty nineties heroes. But the real beauty of this comic is that while this first issue begins in situ, the entire issue is devoted to the backstory of our protagonist, Suzanne.
As origin stories go, this one manages to be both fairly mundane and deeply fascinating. Mundane because Suzanne doesn’t do anything particularly spectacular with her power in this issue—she discovers it at the same time we all tend to discover our own sexuality, and in a way that is just intimately familiar.
[not the first not the last]
This first issue is not just about exploring how Suzanne came (pun intended a little) to have this power, but also about how many of us (referring largely to us ladies, in this instance) find out about sex and sexuality, and the complicated relationships we have with sex and our own bodies. From Suzanne’s own self-discovery, to trying to learn about it through the public school system (ugh), from trying to get the “dirty girls” at school to explain things to her, to somehow inventing entirely new rumors about sex and how it works while at the same time evoking every ridiculous thing I ever believed or had heard about sex when I was a kid, to losing her virginity and how that really felt versus her expectations of what would happen the whole book just struck such an oh my god I remember going through all of this chord with me that I was stunned by the end of it at how much Suzanne was also me.
Well, except for the stopping time part. And probably the crime part, but I guess I’ll have to wait until the next issue to see how that plays out, since the comic both begins and ends in situ, leaving us to wonder how Suzanne (and her orgasm-time-stopping-partner-in-crime Jonathan) actually use these powers together.
As much I would like to go through a page-by-page analysis of this book, because there are some moments that are incredibly deep and moments that are deeply funny, and the art in this book is absolutely at least as multi-layered and interesting as the writing, I think it’s better to tell you to go get it. Buy it. Read it. Love it.
Unless you’ve already done so, then go on and let us know in the comments: what did you think?
Kaptara #1 by Chip Zdarsky & Kagan McLeod Review
By Matthew Meylikhov | April 22, 2015 | 10:30am
Comics Reviews
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Kaptara #1 by Chip Zdarsky & Kagan McLeod Review
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Kagan McLeod
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: April 22, 2015
Since the beginning of oral storytelling, adventure and exploration have engaged storytellers and readers alike. Humanity has thrived on accounts of traveling to lands distant and unknown, charting strange terrains and learning about undiscovered cultures. Through these journeys, we not only discover the foreign worlds outside our periphery, but we also discover ourselves: what connects us to other peoples and species on a deeper, ethereal level, and what unites us as conscious beings nestled deep in the agar of life itself.
Or, in the case of Kaptara, not so much.
Kaptara_01-1.png
Described by series creator Chip Zdarsky as “gay Saga” (a reference to Image’s acclaimed sci-fi epic by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan), Kaptara #1 introduces us to the doomed crew of the Kanga, a star-faring vessel sucked into a deep space anomaly only to crash on the planet the titular planet. A strange world with weird, semi-medieval elements and futurisms seemingly at home in a lost Final Fantasy map, Kaptara is a world full of wondrous fauna, mysterious flora and a kingdom ruled by a queen with no ear for sarcasm. And as we quickly learn, our focus this debut issue isn’t so much centered around seeing what sites this new kingdom has to offer, but rather around what protagonist Keith Kanga can gain simply from being a stranger in a strange land.
Kaptara01_Review-18.jpg
Kaptara exists as a sort of anti-Flash Gordon, the famous ‘30s pulp hero who ventured to distant worlds armed with a sword and very short shorts. Where Flash represented our societal desire to explore the unknown and seek out adventure in the 20th Century, Keith is the adventurer of the 21st Century—someone with an interest in new worlds, sure, but only in terms of what it means for him personally. Keith is not the kind of man seemingly interested in pushing our overall culture forward, especially not when there’s unknown pleasures to be had or shade to be thrown. Through this lens, he offers a satirical reflection on our own cultural tendency to ask questions based on “what can this do for me?” Keith may have greatness thrust upon him here, but he doesn’t quite rise to the occasion.
With that in mind, Kaptara owes much to the sarcastic voice offered by Zdarsky. Known in comics for his outlandish humor in Sex Criminals and Howard the Duck, Zdarsky utilizes a voice steeped more in cynicism than whimsical gags. This book still provokes laughter, but it’s more serious than it isn’t; Zdarsky writes Keith as the eternal outlier to a group of people ostensibly more suited for space travel and exploratory missions, and where others offer discernible skills and knowledge, Keith offers put downs and witticisms.
Kaptara01_Review19.jpg
The drawback to this approach is that it leaves various elements of the issue underdeveloped. We certainly get a grasp of relevant themes central to the series, but it leaves those characters around Keith as mere caricatures as the spotlight never drifts far from his confusion or narcissism. That said, this storytelling does fit in with the overall “what about me?” theme of the issue. There’s a lot of ground to be covered, but it’ll be some time before see a payoff (hopefully just a month).
The true hero of this book is Kagan McLeod, however. His first major comics work since 2011’s Infinite Kung Fu, Kaptara shows how refined McLeod’s work has become. The artist brings the characters to life so vibrantly, emoting along a wide spectrum with distinct personalities readily apparent in their actions and body language alone. While the world building in this issue is very specific to plot-driven moments, McLeod still draws a beautiful planet unrecognizable from our own, washed in a neon color palette seemingly pulled straight out of the ‘80s. The design work and background flourishes McLeod adds (such as the barbarian Manton’s funny little helm) match well with Zdarsky’s tone, combining to create quite a visceral experience.
Kaptara01_Review-22.jpg
Kaptara is a funny and smart debut, one that’s strikingly layered in execution (with various flourishes more visible upon a second reading). Zdarsky and McLeod work well to create a mix of striking action and wry humor, and Kaptara represents a unique opportunity of growth for both creators to continue pushing past expectations.
Thursday, 27 August 2015
Howard the Duck, Volume 0: What the Duck Review (Chip Zdarsky, Joe Quinones)
After gently amusing audiences (and likely confusing a few) with a post-credits cameo in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Howard the Duck is given a new series written by Chip “Sex Crimz” Zdarsky and drawn by Joe Quinones.
If you read Charles Soule’s She-Hulk (recommended) you might remember seeing Howard in a panel in the final issue moving into the office next to Jen’s. Howard’s decided to become a private investigator and is hired by the mysterious Mr Jonathan Richards to steal back something Black Cat stole from him. But Mr Richards is more than he appears to be and… Howard’s got to save the world?! Waugh!
I love Sex Criminals and, on the face of it, it looks like the perfect match: Howard the Duck AND Chip Zdarsky? And it’s not a bad fit though I wanted to like the series more than I did.
The story is a bit rambling, which is fine, as Howard interacting with most of the Marvel Universe leads to some good scenes (and really what else is there to do with Howard?). Like Dan Slott’s Silver Surfer, Zdarsky’s teamed up the bizarre-looking protagonist with a cute girl sidekick, maybe going for a Doctor Who-type dynamic. The repeated Spidey break-downs were a kinda funny running joke, and the team-up with Rocket Raccoon led to the best line in the book “Who’s the sexy prisoner now? You’re ALL sexy prisoners!”
There are also a couple of decent backup stories drawn by Rob “Chew” Guillory and Jason “Southern Bastards” Latour. Guillory’s was by far the best, a three-page strip about Howard being sued by Luke Cage and Iron Fist for touting himself as a “Hero For Hire” defended by a mad lawyer who’s pretending he’s secretly Spider-Man. I love Guillory’s artwork and, though there’s nothing wrong with Quinones, it made me wish the whole series had been drawn by him – THAT would’ve really made me excited for this series as Guillory’s manic style is the perfect complement to Zdarsky’s script.
And while Howard comes off as a likeable protagonist, most of the jokes are just… meh. Not laugh out loud, not chuckle-worthy, not even a grin most of the time – the kind of humour that’s just a little too self-aware to be funny. Also the “Howard’s a pathetic schlub” angle gets old pretty fast and some of the team-ups aren’t so great, like the Doctor Strange one. The ending too is designed to be stereotypical Marvel fanfare but still fell flat in trying to be a bit too clever.
What the Duck is an uneven read varying from somewhat funny-ish moments to not, bundled together in a meandering and vaguely interesting-ish story. It’s not bad, it’s not great, it’s… Howard the Duck!
Howard the Duck, Volume 0: What the Duck
Was It Good for You?
32
0
A smart, funny, sex-positive comic book for readers of all genders and predilections.
By Dan Kois
Panels from Sex Criminals.
Sex Criminals.
Courtesy of Image Comics
Sex is complicated. People’s feelings about it are complicated. But for most people, the actual moment of orgasm is awfully simple: It feels amazing, as if the entire universe is standing still for just one moment. For the frisky, funny heroes of Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s comics series Sex Criminals, that moment of stillness goes on a lot longer than it does for you and me. Suzie and Jonathan have both known since they were teenagers that there’s something different about them: Their orgasms stop time, allowing them to walk around a frozen world in a post-coital haze for just a few minutes. When Suzie and Jonathan meet each other, they realize there’s quite a bit you can accomplish with such a talent, if you’re willing to get a little bit adventuresome.
Dan Kois Dan Kois
Dan Kois edits and writes for Slate’s culture department. He is writing a book called How to Be a Family and co-writing, with Isaac Butler, an oral history of Angels in America.
1405_SBR_SEXCRIMINALS_COVER
Sex Criminals, whose first five issues are collected in a new trade paperback out now, was the smash debut comic of 2013, each issue selling out multiple printings. It’s easy to see why. It’s not just the sex, though it’s often a sexy comic. It’s not just the adventure, though Suzie and Jonathan’s sex-fueled bank-robbing does go wrong in surprising ways. It’s the book’s bawdy frankness about modern sexual politics that makes it so appealing: Suzie and Jonathan have an extraordinary talent, but they’re ordinary people, kind of perverts, kind of prudes, with complicated feelings about sex. So the book reads not only as a clothing-optional adventure but as a smart and sex-positive take on the state of bumping uglies in America, circa 2014.
It helps that Chip Zdarsky’s art is so wonderfully appealing. Cartoony but realistic, with a lovely sense of light and terrific comic timing, Zdarsky’s illustrations bring both Jonathan and Suzie—and their weird talent—to life. His panels are alluring without feeling exploitative—making Sex Criminals feel, for all its explicit content, like a comic that’s not just for crazy perverts. Totally normal perverts of all genders, shapes, and sizes will love it too. We’re illicitly excited that Chip Zdarsky is illustrating the new issue of the Slate Book Review.