Trevor Hogg chats with Chris Mowry and Jeff Zornow about their great love for giant monsters. For an added bonus there is also an exclusive preview of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #5. Beware there are spoilers….
| Chris Mowry |
“Some relatives can draw well, but we’ve never had any professional artists in the family,” remarks Chris Mowry who works at IDW Publishing as a letterer and created the comic book series Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. “And from how my sketches look, I won’t be breaking ground any time soon in that regard.” Illustrator Jeff Zornow is in a similar situation with his writing collaborator for the kaiju tale. “I’m pretty much the only artist in the family, though I was adopted and apparently the young girl who gave birth to me was a 15 year old with a scholarship to a music school for a stringed instrument; that’s about all I know about her.” The appreciation for comic books began at early age for the two colleagues. “I’m 40, so I grew up with comic books in supermarkets and convenience stores,” recalls Mowry. “They were pretty common back in the day. I also grew up near a comic shop, so I was aware when I was younger.” Zornow started reading at the age of three. “I was more of a fan of comic strips until I was 11 then dove into comic books.”
As to favourite comic books and their cinematic counterparts, Chris Mowry remarks, “I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, so there was some great stuff out there. But my childhood friend Greg was really into comics and one day we went to the store and I picked up Rocket Raccoon #1. To me, that book was just insanely fun and it really got me into reading more and more books. So while I don’t really have a favourite comic book, that’s probably the one series that I’m still very fond of. In regards to a movie, I still to this day love the Donner Superman movies. I’m a Batman guy, so the Nolan movies work well for me, but Superman [1978] and Superman 2 [1980] are tough to beat.” Jeff Zornow is fan of any comic books by Junji Ito, in particular Uzumaki, Tomie, and Hellstar Remina as well as Vagabondby Takehiko Inoue, Grendel: Devil’s Legacy by Matt Wagner and Pander Bros, Detective Comics by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogyle, and EC Horror and Sci-Fi titles. When it comes to the big screen Zornow has enjoyed watching Creepshow(1982), The Storm Riders (1998) and The Avengers (2012).
“I’d say that if anyone [publisher or creator] is doing a project in the hopes of having it become a movie or something I wish them luck,” states Chris Mowry. “It happens and will continue to happen, but just having fun with what you’re currently doing is the key. Dream big, but live grounded, I guess you could say. In regards to publishers, it’s important to function as a business, so thinking that something could have ‘big screen potential’ could be important; I’d like to think that they look at things being successful to their monthly bottom line as the most important.” Jeff Zornow believes that box office success is definitely a consideration when assessing comic book proposals. “Oh sure, though at the same time it seems more original comic book content is being created specifically for the silver screen end; therefore, we are getting more ‘budget’ type material, such a crime/noir stuff that may not require huge budgets and effects which goes against everything you can possibly do in a comic book.”
“I grew up obsessed with dinosaurs, sharks, nature, and all kinds of things like that,” notes Chris Mowry. “Monster movies were also regularly shown on TV back in the day, so I was exposed to those as well. When I saw my first Godzilla movie [which I believe was Godzilla vs. Gigan], I was hooked. It had pretty much everything I was into at the time and I was watching it at a really early age. Since the movies were shown quite often, I was able to see more of them which only made my ‘problem’ worse.” The obsession with the oversized reptile produced by Toho has expanded into the medium of print. “I had written a pitch that we sent in as a ‘first stab’ at how IDW could handle a huge license like Godzilla, and I also wrote a three-page ‘try-out’ script for artists that we used to get them approved by Toho. Since I’ve been around from the beginning and having been a fan of the franchise for so long, I like to think that I know exactly what the limitations might be when setting things up. Personally, I find Toho to be a great group to work with. They’re passionate about Godzilla and like all of us want things to be the best they can be. We have a good amount of freedom, as long as we follow what has been approved and rejected in the past. I was shocked that they let me end Rulers #6 the way we do but it’s there and it’s awesome.”
“Well, the only other Godzilla book I had written was Godzilla Legends #4. Before that, I had written a few Transformers[movie universe] books. Rulers is different in that it’s my first chance at doing a longer series and one that I’d been bugging editors here to work on for years now.” New Toho monsters have been introduced into Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. “Another spin might be that we’re letting the monsters sort of tell the story even though they can’t really interact too much with our human cast. I mean, they can’t communicate and say, ‘Yeah, you’re right!’ or anything like that. But by using the huge monster roster to show that something has been releasing them and has plans for our world is a unique draw.” Zilla makes an appearance. “I like the monster’s design and abilities; however, I hate the ’98 movie. Instead, Zilla is treated like he was in Final Wars just another monster in the Toho world. Zilla has a place in the story, but nothing too spectacular. Manda and Gezora eventually have much larger parts in the scheme of things, and you’ll see what I mean.”
There will be less focus on the human characters. “They’re important and move the story along since as I mentioned, the monsters can’t really communicate what is happening,” states Chris Mowry. “The humans will be the ones figuring things out based on what the monsters are doing. Woods for example will discover part of the evil plans, whereas Lucy is going to get thrown into things like she’s never been before. Issue #5 is one where it seems out of place in the grand scheme of things, but it brings Lucy back into the mix come Issue #7 and she’s learned a few things from her experiences.” The original and final vision is not completely the same. “There are things in there that we wanted [Issue #5, for example, it’s an important issue to me as it does touch on animal rights and captivity which are things I’m passionate about], but we’ve had to trim a few things, too. If the series goes past #12, then some of those monster introductions that we wanted will be in there. But for the time being it was a matter of saying, “Okay, we have this many books to work with. What can we do to still move the story along and keep it fresh and fun?’” Mowry was pleasantly surprised by the fan reaction to the third instalment. “I knew we’d take a hit for not having Godzilla in it really at all, but I was very happy that fans reacted well to the aliens in the story and what we did with the Destoroyah crabs. It all leads up to what happens in #4. People have been able to see exactly what we were trying to do… albeit vaguely.”
“Originally, Matt Frank and I did an overall outline of the story,” reveals Chris Mowry. “From there, I did issue breakdowns that fleshed out the overall story. There’s been a heavy amount of adjusting since the series was on ‘death row’ for awhile as sales numbers, and things like that were keeping us from doing anything past #5. But when we got the go ahead for eight issues, I rushed a few things into those additional three issues to get us as close to what we thought as possible. Now that it’s going to 12 issues, there’s even more. It has to be done in a way that it is a four-issue arc not just for trade-paperback versions. Juggling plotlines and things are difficult and hopefully I don’t screw it up too much. After you read #12, I would say that everything needing to be answered or taken care of will have been.” The illustration torch for Godzilla: Rulers of Earth has been passed from Frank to Jeff Zornow who goes from contributing some pages and variant covers to being the main artist with issue #5. “Both Matt and Jeff are great, insanely talented, and absolutely knowledgeable about the franchise; they’re perfect for this kind of book. There’s really no difference. I can write something and they nail it. I try to be a bit vague with my stuff so the artist can have some fun with it, but the fact that I’ve never pushed back on anything should say that I have complete faith in them bringing the book to life.”
“The comics I’ve been heavily involved with besides Godzilla, is the ’68 Zombie/Vietnam War series over at Image Comics,” remarks Jeff Zornow. “Most recently I illustrated the ’68: Jungle Jim Hellhole miniseries; similar in that they feature lots of monsters and explosions but different because ’68 is a hardcore horror/action book. The tone in ’68is pretty much R rated if not more so. I’m known as a horror artist with a love for over the top gore and action. ’68 totally lets me play in that splatterbox with crazy zombie action. The book is really grim and downright unfriendly if not mean. Godzilla: Rulers of Earth lets me spread my wings a tad and do something still dealing with monsters and action [even the military] but with a completely different atmosphere and tone. It absolutely lighter, especially compared to ’68: Jungle Jim! But it’s a welcome change for sure. Not everyone knows how versatile I am as an artist; however, I have done books aimed at all age groups in my career so far.” The time spent with Matt Frank was a useful introduction to the series. “Well essentially yes but once I really started going on the book I began to notice just how different our styles are next to each other. Though we both have an animated /action oriented style which I hope to have kept consistent on my end.”
| Jeff Zornow |
Drawing monsters is no problem for Jeff Zornow who references pictures of high-grade sculpted model kits, toys/figures, and his personal collection of Toho books. “They are my favourite things on this earth! Especially the giant variety! Godzilla and Japanese kaiju films have been my fav sub-genre of entertainment since before I have a memory [which goes back as far as two years old]. And so to use my art to depict them with the grand majesty that I have always seen them in with my eyes is thrilling as an artist!” Grounding the creatures in reality is not a concern with the Toho monsters. “I still don’t REALLY consider any of them to be grounded in reality. Sure our brains try to connect them to dinosaurs but they don’t even come close to them. They are simply MONSTERS or KAIJU, not something that can easily be based on animals we know of in the natural world.” Illustrating humans is also enjoyable. I’ve always enjoyed drawing all aspects of comics; it’s storytelling as a WHOLE so the human scenes are as important and fun to me as the monster scenes.”
“Lately since I’ve noticed our logo is the same blue colour on every issue I’ve been trying to come up with palettes that will contrast behind it,” reveals Jeff Zornow who has a specific approach to handling page layouts. I break down the panels. The most important info/scene is the largest thing/most noticeable thing on the page. All else works around that info and moves you to turn the page.” In regards to creating an effective comic book cover, the artist observes, “My idea on this is the same as any type of illustration. Come up with an exciting dynamic image that will make your audience want to either plunk down their hard earned money for the book or movie right away or at LEAST take the book or movie off the shelf to see if it’s something they want to own.” Zornow points out a scene that he was pleased him though he quickly points out that it requires a spoiler warning, “The page in which Garia breaks free from the mountain military base and engages Varan in a battle. I had a strong idea in my head how I wanted that page to look and it came out really close!”
“I’m horrible at dialogue!” admits Chris Mowry. “For me, it’s all about pacing. Keep things going forward, end things with cliffhangers to keep the readers wanting more, have your odd-numbered pages not be splashes or huge reveals; save those for the even-numbered ones where there’s some page-turning ‘WOW!’ moments. Those to me are the keys of pacing a book. Also, mix things in where it’s just not all monsters fighting each other [even though we all want to see it, it can be tiresome]. Thanks to having a great editor here, Bobby Curnow, I’m able to really try and make things the best of both worlds; monsters and a story that’s continuing to unfold as you turn each page. It’s challenging, but hopefully people find the end product to be something fun.” The Megazoology Conference served as the means to integrate exposition into the storyline. “That all started from thinking, ‘Why wouldn’t anyone start studying these things instead of making robots to kill them all?’ Originally, the idea was to have rotating issues where one might be heavy with the Woods/military stuff and the next was a Lucy/Kaiju Watchers issue. Since things moved the way they did, I had to adjust. You’ll see that there’ll eventually be a need for such groups in our world.”
Godzilla will be soon returning to the cinemas. “I see it the same way Tim Burton’s Batman movie made an impact on that character,” observes Chris Mowry. “It polarized fans into what they wanted to see. Maybe polarizing isn’t the greatest word, but it helped define fans of the 1960s show and fans of the brooding ‘Dark Knight’ character. Godzilla will undoubtedly be a serious film and quite possibly a very dark one. It’ll be interesting to see how people react. Some will want that, whereas others will want to see the tail-sliding stuff.” Rampaging kaiju recently appeared on the big screen with Pacific Rim (2013). “My girlfriend and I got to see it about a month before release, so I was excited. I don’t give out spoilers, so I didn’t tell anyone about it. After watching it, I really dug it, but was nowhere near as excited as thought I might be. Not really sure why that is; however, I loved the story, sequences and designs of everything. It made me tweak some things in Rulersbecause our original outline was VERY similar to certain things. Showing us monsters and giant robots at the start maybe killed it for any spectacle later on in the movie. I liked it, but didn’t LOVE it.”
As for the future of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Chris Mowry states, “If sales continue to hold steady or grow, or fans demand for it to continue, then we can go into a lot of those stories we proposed but never had the chance to tell. They could be coda issues, or entirely new arcs; however, there is plenty more to tell after #12. We just need to see what happens with the numbers.” Mowry adds, “First off, thanks so much for the opportunity to talk about the book. I’d like to also thank all of the fans who have been supporting the book and continue to spread the word and get people buying it. It’s really them who have allowed it to grow and become what it is today. We try to interact with them as much as possible and it’s always rewarding when they have nice things to say. Of course, if there are bad things to say, let us know that, too! Thanks again.”
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #5 preview courtesy of IDW Publishing and cover sketches provided by Jeff Zornow.
Many thanks to Chris Mowry and Jeff Zornow for taking the time to be interviewed.
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #5 arrives on October 30, 2013. Make sure to visit the official Facebook page as well as the Twitter accounts for Chris Mowry and Jeff Zornow.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
