KICKSTARTER KORNER CHATS WITH MARK MCKENNA ABOUT COMBAT JACKS! AT FORCES OF GEEK

Legendary Big Two Inker and Inkwell Awards Hall of Famer Mark McKenna joins Kickstarter Korner to tell us about his latest campaign to unleash issue #2 of Combat Jacks! 

An alien prison planet Maia lives on the other side of our sun, occupied by killer pumpkins! We don’t see how a pumpkin planet can be more sincere than this one! Space Marines are sent to investigate AWOL prisoners and pesky pumpkins in Combat Jacks!

FOG!: Thanks for joining us, Mark. Combat Jacks originated as a dinner table conversation. Why Jack-O-Lanterns?

Mark McKenna: It was around Halloween and something clicked in my mind that Jack O’ Lanterns are meant to be scary, yet there weren’t really any amazing Jack monsters in movies or books that I could think of, with a few exceptions, so along with my son, it became dinner table banter and went on from there.

Most people know you as an inker for the big two and Inkwell Awards Hall of Famer. Is Combat Jacks your first foray into writing?

I have also created and written my kids books, Banana Tail and Friends.  But other then those books, this is my first writing for this genre.

Jason Baroody’s pencils are great too, how did you hook up with him and the rest if your art team including our friend John Hunt?

Jason came to me by way of our, at the time, mutual art rep, Bob Shaw. I had met Jason at a few shows, but really didn’t know his work. When we got to talking and he was gung ho to take a shot at it, I believe I flattered him by offering it to him and he told me, in fact, that if he didn’t need to make a living, he’d have worked for free on it just to have the chance to work with me.. so, in essence, flattery gets you everywhere.

I cant recall where I met John Hunt, but I do know he was hungry and multi-talented and you can never have enough guys that have a wealth of digital and artistic knowledge.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

EARTH PRIME TIME: ROBIN HOOD: OUTLAW OF THE 21ST CENTURY WITH MATT DURSI

Matt Dursin is a comic book writer as well as the founder of the League of Ordinary Gentlemen Comic Book Podcast (LeaguePodcast). Dursin has written comics before, but taking the knowledge of his Comics Experience writing classes combined with his film-making degree from Emerson College has led him to applying himself to his latest project, green lit by Kickstarter: Robin Hood: Outlaw of the 21st Century #1. Fellow League member and Earth Prime Time comic book correspondent Clay N. Ferno interviews his close friend about his experience getting the project together, Robin Hood’s modern Merry Men, and the ridiculously high cost of medical expenses these days.

 
DIGBOSTON: Start with the origin of Robin Hood: Outlaw of the 21st Century!
DURSIN: This goes back to the Andy Schmidt (IDW, Hasbro) Comics Experience writing class I took in 2009. The first class assignment was to write a 5-page story with a beginning, middle, and end. I had this idea in my head because I wanted to make a screenplay out of it.

I had been writing scenes for the screenplay for many years. It was a classmate that suggested that we don’t know if they are good guys until the end … page 5.

Tell us about this Robin, the setting he is in. Does he use a bow and arrow? What is he stealing?
He doesn’t steal gold! I figured, “What do people need?” Because of my own health issues through the years, I always think of the cost of medications and medical supplies. “How would you even pay for this without insurance?”

What if this Robin Hood steals medicine and gives it to people that don’t have health insurance or can’t afford it or don’t have a job. That’s what people need these days.

In the traditional Robin Hood, he was just giving money to the poor. Now, who is richer than the pharmaceutical companies these days?

If you go back to serfdom and the knight class and the royal class of the medieval period, the gap is just about the same from the 99% to the 1% in modern times.
Spoiler here: in issue 2, he does actually steal money. Without giving away too much, there is someone that needs money and Robin Hood makes the decision to steal money, but it is a decent to a darker turn as he gets deeper into it. I was kind of inspired by Breaking Bad.

Every issue isn’t going to be a robbery; different things can happen.

Are there more characters from the old stories than the familiar Robin Hood who will show up in your comic?
There’s Robin Hood, The Merry Men, Little John, Will Scarlett, of course the Sheriff is the bad guy. Maid Marian of course—the lady friend of Robin Hood. She is not a maid, obviously. She’s a nurse and one of the people who knows where the medication needs to go, she knows where the supplies are that he can steal.

She’s the inside maid.

It’s basically Sherlock—not to compare my little comic book to one of the greatest shows ever!

Go for it!
That’s Sherlock Holmes in modern times.

Although when did Sherlock actually debut? I think I predate it with my 5 pages in 2009!

It’s the same idea. The character is one you know, and a story you can identify with. This Robin Hood uses a gun; it’s not bows and arrows.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

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