Two of the greatest fantasy stories have taken the comic world by storm: Autumnlands (a.k.a. Tooth & Claw) by Kurt Busiek and Monstress by Marjorie. Both comics have magic and anthropomorphic characters “animal people,” ancient gods, and unbelievable power. However, they are set in completely different worlds.
Timestamps
- 2:09 – Autumnlands
- 17:42 – Monstress
Conversation with Benjamin Dewey and Kurt Busiek
Shortly after this episode aired Benjamin Dewey, the artist for Autumnlands, invited us to a conversation about the comic. Soon Kurt Busiek, the writer for Autumnlands, joined in on the conversation. They gave us insight into the inner-workings and personal involvement into the project.
@The_GWW @AmazingNerdcast @ImageComics thanks for talking about Autumnlands! If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to oblige.
— Benjamin Dewey (@BenjaminDewey) December 20, 2016
Dewey: “Thanks for talking about Autumnlands! If you have any specific questions, I’m happy to oblige.”
Nerdcast: “First of all, thank you for this book. It’s been a favorite since issue 1.”
Dewey: “For sure! I appreciate you spreading the word. That is lovely to hear.”
Nerdcast: “Spoilers aside, we’d love to hear your inspiration for these characters and which is your favorite.”
Dewey: “Well, Kurt Busiek & I talked a lot about what roles they’d serve & much came from that. Once we knew what background they had, I tried to reverse-engineer things about their culture.”
Nerdcast: “That’s incredible! It definitely explains why the characters work so well. Especially Aelbert.”
Dewey: “My favorite is a toss-up between Seven Scars, Gharta & Goodfoot. I think Kurt Busiek likes Dusty best.”
Nerdcast: “100% Agree with you on Seven Scars. Also: Giant-Size Goat Thing.”
Dewey: “Pretty accurate. It came together like a Voltron.”
Busiek: “I like Dusty, he’s the best.”
Nerdcast: “Dusty is awesome. What drove the choice of the Bull Terrier for Dusty?”
Busiek: “I knew for years that Dusty would be a bull terrier. I think it’s that bulls are a very specific-looking dog, not a generic choice, and they have a lot of expression. They can look tough, confused, vulnerable, thoughtful…as soon as I knew he was a bull terrier, the character snapped into focus. A young, naive dog, but not a soft dog. A dog who could grow up into an adventure hero but who’s figuring things out.
“The influence of ‘Meatball’ from BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP and Mumy & Leialoha’s TRYPTO THE ACID DOG is probably in there somewhere. But not Spuds MacKenzie. Never Spuds.”
“A bull terrier is also a knockabout dog. It can look young, but not fragile.”
“Throw a cocker spaniel off a bridge into a raging river and people will recoil in horror. But a bull terrier, you want to see him get up on the bank and go bite the crap out of whoever threw him in. Dobermans or Great Danes, too tough. Poodles, too soft.”
“But a bull terrier’s a scrappy little knuckle of a dog. You feel for him, but you also figure he can do it, he can fight his way through.”
Nerdcast: “Wow, thank you for that, Kurt!”
Dewey: “Kurt’s brain’s a deep reservoir of cultural knowledge & I minored in anthropology; we make a good team. Kurt knows dogs like Bo knows sports.”
Nerdcast: “It absolutely shows in the comic.”
Busiek: “I am know things. I am FEEL things. Dogs is good, is dogs.”
Nerdcast: “Have to ask: How accurate is the conversion in the back of issue #1?”
Busiek: “That page was edited for comedic effect, but that’s what happened.”
Nerdcast: “How long ago did you start developing this story/world/universe?”
Busiek: “Long long time ago. Sometime in the 90s.”
Dewey: “I started drawing as a 2 year-old in the early eighties but didn’t get on board till 2014.”
Nerdcast: “That’s dedication.”
Busiek: “No, that’s having fun daydreaming about stuff you’d like to do someday. But it works!”
Nerdcast: “After the reveal in issues 11 & 12, what can we expect from this world going forward?”
Busiek: “More surprises. More locales, more answers, more questions. Iguanas.”
Nerdcast: “Iguanas! YAAAASSS
“On a technical level, do you prefer as much detail as possible from Kurt Busiek? Or just the broad strokes? Does it matter to you as an artist?”
Dewey: “I like working with Kurt because he’s very considerate of big picture & nuance he and I did some broad strokes planning for arc 3 & I think it’ll be really great! He’s great at giving enough detail to express intent for each panel. That’s ideal.”
@BenjaminDewey @The_GWW @ImageComics @KurtBusiek "…enough detail to express intent…" That is a unique and enlightening perspective.
— Amazing Nerdcast (@AmazingNerdcast) December 20, 2016
Busiek: “I’m not Ben, but I think communication is best. Talking things over beats the most detailed scripts. But the scripts vary anyway.”
@KurtBusiek @AmazingNerdcast @The_GWW @ImageComics I think of it like this: there's still space in November rain for sweet solos pic.twitter.com/OFUe9gaolu
— Benjamin Dewey (@BenjaminDewey) December 20, 2016
Dewey: “Yes! I want to serve story as much as possible. I’ll always compromise flare for clarity. I think of it like this: there’s still space in November Rain for sweet solos.”
Nerdcast: “There’s always room for solos.”
Dewey: “I like how you think 😉
“I learn stuff from him constantly. He’s the Neil deGrasse Tyson of comics.”
Busiek: “Beats being the James Dyson of comics.”
Nerdcast: “We cannot thank you enough for 1) This comic 2) This opportunity 3) Iguanas”
Dewey: “Of course! We all love comics and it’s nice to chat :)”
Corrections
Sana Takeda worked on Captain Marvel with Kelly Sue DeConnick.