CE Publishing along with over a dozen other publishers has produced “The Megabook” available for download for FREE at Graphicaly.com. Comicbookinterviews.com continues its Megabook Interview Series with the publishers, creators, and supporting staff of the huge digital project…
Download The Megabook here: http://graphicly.com/ce-publishing/megabook/gn
Creator: Bill Gladman
Project: Driver’s Seat
Assignment: Writer
JMH: Bill, talk about how you got involved with The Megabook project…
Bill: I was asked if I would be interested in submitting a story or two to Megabook by Mike Rickaby. Mike and I had been working together on a few different projects which we was inking, lettering and /adding gray tones. Mike can pretty much do it all. I wish I could have added more than the one story that I turned in but I have a tendency to write dark, moody stuff with dark moody adult language. But at least I had one story that worked out for the book.
JMH: What is “Driver’s Seat”?
Bill: Like almost everything I write the story owes it’s origin to a song title….Driver’s Seat is an obscure song by a band (Sniff N Tears? I think that’s right)….that gets stuck in my mind from time to time. I remember hearing this tune way back in the day on an eight track tape. I came up with the idea of a story where there was an road side accident…and both the victims of this accident end up having a very …..unique discussion…in the front seat of this car that would decide the fate of the two of them. Driver’s Seat was a left over story that didn’t make a deadline for another trade….but the trade would never get published so I filed it away in hopes of using it at a later date.
JMH: Have the characters appeared in other book or digital media before?
Bill: The characters have not. The characters in this story are never even named. But the story “Driver’s Seat” has appeared in print a few times. For the first time in Pandemonium Spotlight #1 and later re-printed in Pandemonium Spotlight Annual #1, both released through Twilight Star Studios. The story also appeared in a collected trade paperback entitled “Visions Of The Macabre” produced by Studio Akumkaze.
JMH: Talk about the creative team involved…
Bill: Chris Hoskins, of Studio Akumkaze, is the artist here. This is one of the few stories that Chris does all the art on. Usually Chris just inks…and does a great job. I consider Chris one of the best inkers out there and worked him on the first issue of another Twilight Star book called Price for The Asking. I pitched Chris this idea and he said he would like to pencil and ink the story and I was eager to see what he could do with it. I think it came out great. This was one of the last stories Chris would work one and I consider myself very fortunate to have gotten to work with him on Driver’s Seat.
BJay Johnson also of Studio Akumakaze letters the story…BJay and I have also worked on other stories together, including a story called N.I.B that appeared with Driver’s Seat in any book that Driver’s Seat also appeared.
JMH: Do you have plans to continue any of the characters or storylines?
Bill: At first I saw this thing as just a quick one and done type deal….until my daughter asked if this was a story about my sister….who was killed at age 16 by a hit and run driver who had been drinking. I honestly do not believe I wrote this story with those memories in mind…but I can’t deny the similarities.
I later mentioned I thought I would actually sit down and write a story about my father’s death, who passed away of cancer a few years ago. It would be a mix between “Meet Joe Black” and “A Christmas Carol” and I wanted to name it after the Black Sabbath tune “Behind The Wall Of Sleep”. I planned to work with Chris Hoskins on that one as well…but it looks like I will be working with another very talented artist out inColorado.
The two stories both take place at3:00 a.min the morning, also known as “Dead Time” the time when the veil between life and death is the thinnest. So the story does continue in a way.
I would add both of these stories to one more which deals with a real life phone discussion with a good friend…which took place at 3:00 a.m…..he died that next morning of a heart attack. That story will be called “Lessons From A Dying Man”( this time the song title is one of my own songs) and has no artist attached to it yet.
All three stories will be collected into an one shot comic simply called “Dead Time”
JMH: Why The Megabook? What are some of the advantages of The Megabook has over other venues?
Bill: The main reason I thought Megabook was a good project to get involved with was the size of the collected material…over 200 pages from 12 different creative teams. I thought that was amazing. A good marketing option for everyone involved.
JMH: What is it like working with CE Publishing Group’s Publisher Michael Rickaby?
Bill: I wish there was at least three other people in the world like Mike Rickaby! He’s a complete joy to work with. His excitement and passion for producing comics is simply awe-inspiring……yeah….if I had Mike…and three other people just like him we could conquer the world with a wooden spoon!
JMH: Tell CBI about yourself. How long have you been working on comics?
Bill: I have been trying to produce my own comics since 2000…so it’s been a twelve year journey so far. Things didn’t really start to take off for me until a good friend (Gary Church) and I decided to work together and form a local comic producing company which Gary and his brother (Derron) decided to call Twilight Star. That was in 2009. So the last three years have been very productive and hope the rest of 2012 turns out even better.
JMH: Do you have any other projects coming out soon?
Bill: Twilight Star releases at least one book a month…..every month…in most cases more. Some times as many as six in one month. I’m involved with almost every book as at least an editor. Books I am directly involved in would include Tales From The Field where I am act as a writer and inker , sometimes drawing a story, Pandemonium Spoltight where I act as a writer and at times ink cover art, Jack The Rabbit and Prodigy …I write and pencil those books…Joe Pruitt inks Prodigy while Liam Webb inks Jack The Rabbit…and I write Price For The Asking, Necrotrancer, The Un-Naturals, Twilight Star Team-Up, and The Un-Naturals: Creatures Of The Night.
JMH: How can readers and publishers get a hold of you?
Bill: www.twilightstarstudios.com
twilightstudios@gmail.com
www.comicrelated.com
JMH: Anything else you’d like to mention that we haven’t talked about yet?
Bill: Check me out on the RaynMan Power Hour Podcast which airs every other Monday at Comic Related and The Underground Video Network websites….funny, geek filled show with Frank Raynor and Brant Fowler
JMH: Bill, CBI appreciates your time. ALL the best.
Bill: The pleasure was all mine, thanks for asking for the interview!
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About the interviewer –
John Michael Helmer is the Publisher and CEO of Red Leaf Media, LLC. Red Leaf Media operates: www.ComicBookInterviews.com & www.RedLeafComics.com.
John’s creator-owned properties include: The Leaf, Canada’s Greatest Hero, Sky Watcher, G.I.s versus Zombies, McSorly, RCMP, The Armor Guardians, The Huskie, Dune, Master Spy!, and many others.
John can be reached at: jhelmer@comicbookinterviews.com and redleafcomics@gmail.com
That gentleman chiming in there was Diamond Jim Zinn…the guitarist that most people rightfully associate with the band Violent Whisper. Jim and I were working together in another band called Echo Chamber which he was the co-founder along with another Violent Whisper colleague….drummer Jeff Risner when the song “Lessons From A Dying Man” was written. Jim came up with the title, the first verse and the chorus as well as the music…I finished the song with two additional verses…..great song…loved playing it.
I find parts of your interview quite interesting…..