By: Nicole D'Andria
This weekend I’m showcasing the Kickstarter for Copernicus Jones: Robot Detective Vol. 1. Enjoy robots and the mob in these first six issues of the Copernicus Jones story “Dirty Credits.” The book will also feature a print-exclusive forward by Greg Rucka (Gotham Central, Lazarus, Stumptown). In this “Kickstart the Week(end)” you'll also hear from writer and humorist Matt Wilson.
The first six issues of Copernicus
Jones were published digitally by MonkeyBrain Comics and they are available on comiXology. The
writer of the series is humorist Matt Wilson (The Supervillain Handbook, The Supervillain Field Manual).
The artwork is done by Kevin Warren, a freelance artist and stay-at-home dad. The
letters and designs were created by Dylan Todd (bigredrobot.net).
Over $5,000
has already been pledged to successfully fund Copernicus Jones but there is still time to pledge more. The campaign will end on July 1st, 2015 at 12:00 PM EDT. You can pledge money to Copernicus
Jones: Robot Detective Vol. 1 on their Kickstarter. For at least $5 or more you will get
Backer-Exclusive Digital Art. At $15 you will get a physical copy of the first
volume and be able to enjoy all 112 pages.
Hear from writer and humorist Matt Wilson about his
synthetic sleuther:
 |
| Matt Wilson |
Me: You mention on your Kickstarter that there were many roadblocks to
getting the series published by a traditional publisher. What were some
of these roadblocks and why was the comic book being in black-and-white a
factor?
Matt
Wilson: I think black-and-white just makes
it a harder sell when you're talking about big print runs and that kind of
thing. If this was anything else, we could have collaborated with a colorist
and made it a color book, but for the genre we're doing--specifically a
movie-style noir--black-and-white is a pretty important.
I think the genre may have made it a
tougher sell for publishers, too. It's a little niche. But the Kickstarter and
our digital output has proved that a pretty decent number of people are
interested in it. That's validating.
Me: Why did you decide to make Copernicus a robotic private eye rather
than just a human PI?
Wilson:
The real, honest answer is that the
whole idea of Copernicus Jones started as a joke. Years ago, I just came up
with this combination of a funny name and funny occupation, "Copernicus
Jones: Robot Detective." He got stuck in my head as that, and that got me
going on the idea.
Beyond that, I've always been really
fascinated by what people in the past believed the future would be. Go back and
look at that future-art-deco stuff from the 1930s and 1940s. It was all these
automatons doing human jobs, making life infinitely easier. That stuff inspired
not only the aesthetic of Copernicus Jones, but the idea that sentient robots
might take the jobs humans just don't want to do, or view as dangerous.
Copernicus started as a police robot, and through a series of events we haven't
explored in the book just yet, he decided to strike out on his own as a
PI.
Me: How would you describe Copernicus’s personality?
Wilson:
He's a little peculiar. He's super
inquisitive, and a little gruff at times. The people and robots around him
don't often know what to make of him, because he's this weird robot who wears
clothes and talks like he's Humphrey Bogart. So he's kind of always fighting to
prove his value, and may have a bit of a chip on his shoulder. (That's not a
pun, I promise.) At the same time, he really cares about his clients and about
the cases he works. He's extremely dedicated, and has as much of a moral
compass as a robot can have.
Me: If Copernicus Jones could hang out with one other robot from any
medium, who would it be and why?
Wilson:
Copernicus would want to spend time
with a robot he'd have to figure out, one that's complex and that doesn't put
all its cards on the table immediately. So maybe Ultron? That'd be less hanging
out than investigating, but it's what Copernicus does.
Me: You also wrote two books about supervillains: The Supervillain
Handbook and The Supervillain Field Manual. Can you tell us about
the villains in Copernicus Jones? Do they follow the logic laid
down in these books?
Wilson:
They're generally cut from a
different cloth. In those books, I'm writing from the perspective of an
archetypical, comic-book-style megalomaniac. That's not often what noir
villains are like, and that's what I'm going for with Copernicus Jones. Noir
villains generally turn out to be people who do bad things because they've been
hurt somehow, and end up being sympathetic in the end.
Then again, there are noir
characters like Noah Cross from Chinatown, the types who turn out to be power-hungry
and unrepentant. Those are probably more in-line with the supervillains from
the other books. And Copernicus will face some of those types, too.
Me: Humor can be very hit-and-miss for some people. As a humorist, how
do you try and make sure there are more hits than misses when you’re
incorporating humor into your work?
Wilson:
I think it has to serve the story,
or, at the very least, not get in the way of it. There are lots of little jokes
in the background of Copernicus Jones, and there are some exchanges between
characters that I hope might get a laugh out of a reader, but I never want it
to distract from the reader's interest in the narrative. That's the main thing
there.
Actually, Copernicus Jones started
as an attempt to be much funnier, a full-on parody, and then it morphed into a
more serious story. Sometimes that just happens. I guess I really wanted to
avoid the misses.
 |
| Copernicus Jones Postcard Art |
Me: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Wilson:
I'd tell them to stop aspiring and
just write. Write every day. Think about your stories, characters and settings
any time you get a chance to. Create something and get it out into the world
however you can. People--including editors and publishers--don't want to hear
"I want to write a thing." Lots of people say that and then never do
it. What they want to hear is "I wrote a thing that I can show you."
They may reject it, but they can't deny you did it.
Do you have a Kickstarter? Want to be interviewed about it
and have it showcased on “Kickstart the Week?” Let me know in the comments
below or message me on my personal website www.comicmaven.com.
Other “Kickstart the Week” features:
No comments:
Post a Comment