By: Chris Stead
Christopher has been involved with the Goth scene in Southern California for some time. In that stretch, he found himself rooming with Roman Dirge, who is now working alongside Christoper on a series from Slave Labor Graphics called Haunted Mansion after the Disneyland classic attraction. In the meanwhile, Christopher works as a graphic designer and develops his own line of shirts plush dolls and the like for his private label called Invincible studios. Since becoming a father, Christopher tells us, he has had less time to get out and about, but he still feels ties to the culture. He was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule for Gothic Angst and answer a few questions. Take a look into Christopher’s world.
Gothic Angst Webzine (GAW): How did you get started in comics?
Christopher: I grew up reading them and had an interest in art and writing back in grade school, so it seemed like a pretty natural progression. I remember as a kid reading about how the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel comics at the time (Jim Shooter) had gotten his start when he was 13 years old. I didn’t realize years had passed since then, and I thought a 13 year old kid was the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel, and had no idea what that job actually was, so I thought he was just some kid who sat in an office reading comic books all day and telling people if they were good or bad and that if they were bad, they’d go back and redo them. In my mind, this kid had the ultimate dream job. I wanted to be him. Around the same time, my uncle had gotten me a copy of “The Marvel Try-out Book”, which was part of a talent contest they were running back then. The book had blank pages the size that the pros used, photocopies of penciled art to practice inking over, and scripts to try and draw from. It even included finished pages with empty word balloons for contestants to use for lettering words in. It was the ultimate step-by-step peek into the inner workings of how comics were made. I started penciling, inking and lettering with professional tools on professional quality art boards before I’d even hit puberty. That was it. The road to my destiny had been laid out before me. Before I graduated high school, I was already printing my own comics at Kinkos and passing them around in class.
GAW: What inspired you to start work on The Ghouly Boys?
Christopher: I was busy trying to put together various other comic book projects in other genres when I was given the opportunity to help co-create a television series concept with my friend and former roommate, Roman Dirge. I wanted to create some characters that would exist in the show as a kind of supporting cast that may show up every now and then to help the main characters out. So, I had to come up with something that would fit in a horror/humor cartoon. I started with some drawings and really liked how they looked. They were a bit different than how they look now, but the general concept was there and I dug them so much that I just couldn’t let them go. Rather than give them away for this other project (which never ended up being produced), I tucked them away for later. Over time I kept thinking of them, and their personalities and stories started to take shape. Before I knew it, years had passed and these little characters that were sitting on the back burner of my mind had begun to occupy my every thought. I was boiling over with ideas for them and knew it was time they were unleashed.
GAW: How has The Ghouly Boys been received by the Slave Labor Graphics regular readers?
Christopher: Not quite the smash hit I’d expected. I think that I’d fallen so in love with my characters that I thought the public would go nuts over them as soon as they hit the stands. The sales were decent and there are plenty of people who love the comics and characters, which is very exciting and rewarding, but at the same time, I think there was a large number of the SLG fan base who was expecting “The Ghouly Boys” to have the same elements as other SLG books that were popular at the time, so when they picked up my comic and found out that it was sweet and melancholy, it was a let down because they were expecting it to be silly and zany. Once people realized what it was, though, I think the comic found it’s audience and maybe even won over some readers who didn’t think they’d be into that sort of thing.
GAW: What other projects do you have going aside from your comic?
Christopher: These days I mostly work from my home office doing graphic design for various companies. I’m trying to get back into doing more art and writing, though. I plan on doing some new art prints that will be on sale at Comic-Con and at the Bats Day Black Market. There are some hollywood types who are trying to develop “The Ghouly Boys” as a movie, but I’m not really involved in any of that. I’ve done some cover art for some companies and have a video game idea that I want to try and flesh out, but never seem to be able to find the time for. Meanwhile I still try and contribute to the odd anthology now and then.
GAW: What work have you done with the Haunted Mansion project?
Christopher: I contributed two short stories that I wrote and illustrated for issues 2 and 3. I also did cover art for “Haunted Mansion #3″, which was one of the highlights of my career. Actually, working on the project to begin with made me giddy. My wife and I are huge Disney fans so it was a real treat to be able to work on something like that. We’re even raising our daughter to be a little Disney-phile. I’d love to contribute more to the book down the road.
GAW: Will you be selling any Haunted Mansion comics at the Bat’s Day Black Market?
Christopher: SLG won’t be there this year, so, yeah I’m going to try and have some “Haunted Mansion” books on hand but the selection will probably be limited. I’ll have my own table under my own art and design company “Invincible Studios” and I’ll be sure to have the issues I contributed to as well as some my own stuff.
GAW: Tell us a little about Invincible Studios. What kind of work do you do with your company?
Christopher: Invincible Studios started as a joint publishing venture with my friends Rayel Friesen and Marc Brueland back when we were 19 years old. The three of us had wanted to be comic book artists more than anything, and had been rejected by the big two (Marvel and DC). Not willing accept that it was because we just weren’t very good yet, we set out to publish our own comics, and to hell with the big companies. Over the years it just turned out to be too hard and we drifted our separate ways. These days, I run the company as my own art and design studio. I’d still like to put out some comics under the “Invincible Studios” imprint someday, if for no other reason than to help undiscovered talent get their first chance at exposure.
GAW: I see that you have shirts, plush dolls and the like through Invincible Studios. Is a Christopher franchise on its way?
Christopher: Ha! That would be great. I’d love to get to the point where I make my living entirely off of my art and stuff, completely dropping the graphic design and other random jobs. I have lots of ideas but they tend to get so jumbled that they all collide when they try and escape my head. I juggle so many projects that nothing ever seems to really get finished, just a whole lot of half formed ideas. Right now I want to get some more t-shirts and art prints available to help supplement my income and allow me to do all the other stuff. I’m making an effort to get on track about that this year.
GAW: Aside from Comics and merchandise I see that you also do contemporary art. What is the inspiration behind this?
Christopher: I’ve just always loved the works of people like Alphonse Mucha, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth and the old school pin-up artists, so it’s always been an interest of mine to try do those kinds of things, but with my own personality added into the mix. I think art can be like music in that aspect. When you hear a song that really touches you, it’s natural to want to sing along. And with art, you want to “draw along”. You want to participate in what inspires you. To not only enjoy it, but be a part of it and create more of it. So that stuff stems more from a compulsion than any sort of a real intentional plan.
GAW: What stylistic influences have affected the look of your art over the years?
Christopher: Well, I’ve been a huge fan of Will Eisner and probably more inspired by his work than anyone else. Just his visual storytelling techniques and layout concepts. He was always so innovative and creative about how he did even the smallest things. From there it’s all a potpourri of influences, ranging from horror artists like Bernie Wrightson, Gene Colan and Mike Mignola, to “cartoonists” like Charles Schultz and Jeff Smith to more “action” styled illustrators like Frank Miller, Goseki Kojima and Jack Kirby. Even Jim Lee was a big influence for me back in high school, I think sometimes my faces can be based on his techniques. Of course all the current artists these days do things that inspire me. I’m always finding neat things in peoples work that makes me want to try new techniques.
GAW: What kind of connection to the Gothic community do you have?
Christopher: These days, I don’t have much connection to the outside world at all. But prior to being a stay at home dad/shut-in, I used to be a regular in the club scene in Los Angeles. My wife is an ex-bartender from one of the clubs up there and some of my closest friends are people I met amidst the haze of the fog machines. We’re still regular attendees of “Bats Day in the the fun park” and on rare occasions I’ve been known to venture out to a goth/industrial type club or event. I keep meaning to do more to help out with “Goth Help Us”.
GAW: Does music influence your art?
Christopher: I like to listen to certain types of music when working on certain projects. Last year I worked on a samurai story and pretty much listened to Asian cinema soundtracks the entire time. When working on something like “The Ghouly Boys” or “Haunted Mansion”, I tend to like listening to stuff like Rob Zombie/White Zombie, KMFDM, Rammstein or Type O Negative while penciling to help create a sense of energy and excitement while creating a horror type atmosphere. Then when I start inking, I switch to a meditative mode and listen to industrial and electronica, like VNV Nation, Covenant or Wumpscut, things that have steady repetitive beats, or mellow music like She Wants Revenge and Collide.
GAW: What kind of non-visual media do you feel influences you the most?
Christopher: Well, music like I said above helps me during the creative process, but I think it’s pretty apparent in my work that I also like poetry. I have a habit of wanting to use poetry or song lyrics as a narrative device. Which I think is very cool when combined with comics. It forces the reader to add a subconscious audio track to “the silent medium”, pushing certain invisible boundaries to bring an additional layer to the experience. I get a real kick when people say that they are compelled to read my comics aloud. Of course, now I’m starting to get a reputation as the “singsong” comic book creator, which is just one more reason why I have to keep on creating and trying new things. Gotta break free from that niche. The possibilities are limitless and so far, I’ve barely even scratched the surface.
Check out Christopher’s work at:
