Trevor Hogg chats with Ben Hatke about the powerful women in his life and publishing a trilogy of books revolving around Zita the Spacegirl…
“My dad is an architect and was always supportive of even my weirdest ideas,” states American illustrator Ben Hatke who is a big fan of Scott Pilgrim. “He did things like marching in parades dressed in a wearable model of the old Victorian house that I grew up in. My mom is a teacher, but she’s also a pretty great costumer. Between my mom and my dad, I had a pretty amazing walking eyeball costume one Halloween!” A chance encounter with a famous Wall-Crawler led to the world of comic books. “I don’t know how old I was, but I remember we had to clean out this old house once after it was vacated and I found an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. Spider-Man was fighting Doctor Doom, but he also had severe indigestion… I’m not kidding! That was the plot.” The cinematic potential is not the only concern for publishers when accepting new titles. “Those rights can go different ways depending on the contract and it’s a pretty dicey thing to hang onto at the beginning of a project. The main concern for most publishers is ‘can we sell this book?’”
College had a big impact on the life Ben Hatke as he met his wife Anna who showed him some comics she had drawn in high school about Zeta the Spacegirl; the concept became a webcomic with the short story If Wishes Were Socks appearing in print. “I think having participated in the Flight Anthologies was important. I was also lucky to have a supportive editor for the first book [Kat Kopit] who was believed in me 100% even when I felt like it was pretty obvious that I didn’t always know what I was doing.” A slight name change was made and a trilogy has been created about the futuristic time traveller consisting of Zita the Spacegirl (2010), Legends of Zita (2012) and The Return of Zita the Spacegirl (2014). “The Zita books were my first full-length solo projects so that alone makes them pretty different from the things I had done before which was mostly short stories, webcomics and freelance illustrations. I think of Zita as the real beginning of my career as an author.” When asked about the attraction of having adventures in outer space, Hatke responds, “Seriously!?! Man, what’s not to love!?! Space is an unimaginably vast and almost completely unexplored place. It’s everywhere that’s not our world so the possibilities are almost literally endless.”
All of the illustrations, colouring, text, and writing for The Return of Zita the Spacegirl was handled by Ben Hatke. “I admit that it’s a lot to balance, but I prefer it. I like being responsible for the whole product. I even hand-letter my books.” Traditional and digital methods are utilized for the images. “I use both and the blend varies from book to book. For instance, the Zita books were black and white line art with digital colours overlaying. Little Robot [the graphic novel I just turned in] is line art and ink wash with digital colours, and Julia’s House for Lost Creatures was purely traditional art, in this case ink and watercolour paintings.” An overall approach is taken when devising page layouts. “I design page spreads rather than individual pages. I pay particular attention to the first image on the left hand page and the last image on the right hand page [that’s the image which makes you want to turn the page]. Designing pages is the art of guiding the readers’ eye through the book.” As for the colour pallet, Hatke states, “I feel like that’s largely an unconscious process that comes from having made a lot of art. My experience in painting has definitely helped my use of colour.”
“I would say it’s not difficult at all [to create a strong female protagonist],” observes Ben Hatke. “Or, rather, it is difficult, but it’s the exact same degree of difficulty as creating a strong any-kind-of protagonist. It’s not easy to create dynamic, believable, relatable human characters, but I don’t find that gender creates any impediment either way. I tend to write adventurous female protagonists, but that’s probably because it’s what I’m surrounded by in my day-to-day life. I have four kick-ass daughters and a badass lady friend. If I need inspiration I just watch what they’re doing.” Funky looking alien creatures and robots make an appearance along with Zita which are the result of a doodling in a notebook. “When I really feel like I need inspiration I turn to the natural world, usually to this big Smithsonian book we have. There’s some pretty funky looking stuff on our own world, let me tell you.” Hatke notes, “A strong introduction lets people know right off who a character is and reveals their personality in a few broad strokes. It’s a blend of a strong profile, distinct voice and the character’s first actions that we see.” Exposition is essential but has habit of slowing down a story. “One of the biggest challenges of writing is making sure every moment and element, right down to the background is informing the story in multiple ways.”
Effective storytelling involves finding the proper mix of drama, romance, humour and action. “As long as there are real emotional stakes for the characters the story will ring true and that’s what I’m aiming for, a story that rings true emotionally,” states Ben Hatke who believes that an impactful comic book cover requires working with a good designer. “Covers, for me, usually go through a lot of drafts and changes and revisions. There are often several eyes looking at the cover and weighing in. More than the guts of the book, the cover design tends to be a bit more of a group effort. “It’s definitely something I’m still learning about. The Zita covers are rather complicated, but I’ve noticed that my cover for Julia’s House, which is a simpler image, tends to turn more heads at shows.” When it comes to the biggest challenge encountered with creating The Return of Zita the Spacegirl, Hatke remarks, “I’d say balancing all of the many characters and giving all of Zita’s friends something to do and some real reason to be there for the big finale. It was like a puzzle. I’m still not sure I entirely pulled it off. Sending early drafts of the book to a trusted friend always helps. There is more of Piper and Madrigal in the last book because a friend of mine pointed out that the book needed that. The plot didn’t really need more Piper/Madrigal but the book did.”
“I’ve always been happy with the first reveal of Madrigal in Legends of Zita, and with the first escape sequence early on in The Return of Zita,” reveals Ben Hatke. “In each book there has ended up being one or two moments when I’ve thought, ‘Oh, it’s really working! I’m doing it!’ Zita may well embark on more adventures. “The three books are pretty much a complete story. They form a trilogy that is, in the end, an origin story. As for how it will evolve, time will tell, but I’m hoping to one day create a second trilogy [and some short stories]. However Zita will be a few years older when we see her again.” Hatke concludes, “If you want to keep up with my work, and peek behind the scenes, I keep a blog at www.benhatke.com.”
Images courtesy of First Second Books and Ben Hatke.
Many thanks to Ben Hatke for taking the time for this interview.
To learn more visit First Second Books and Amazon.com as well read our review of The Return of Zita the Spacegirl.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
