Comics & Dakine

Showing posts with label John Layman. Show all posts

Jun 1, 2011

my JOHN LAYMAN interview! hellz yeah!

1:50 PM

My fellow geeks, if you don't know who JOHN LAYMAN is, you are not the geeks i hoped you would be. His current work is CHEW, a series published by Image. CHEW follows the anti-hero, Tony Chu, a philly cop who is cibopathic. A cibopath gets pyschic impressions from anything he eats. Cool, no? CHEW is one of my favorite reads due to Layman's quirky and witty writing. CHEW reveals the dark world of government, poultry, vampires, and more all with smart, likeable characters and good storytelling.

With all that said, I pretty much forced John Layman to be my twitter best friend and he was kind of enough not to block me. :) Anyhow, he is a gracious and funny dude and below are his answers to my 10 questions. So open a can of beets and read on. xo, pearly

You have very strong opinions on government and the republicans. Do you feel when you write your stories that there is an inner struggle with your anti-government view and writing and creating a character, such as Tony Chu who is a government agent and plays by the rules?

I don't really think of myself as anti-goverment. I'm very pro-goverment. I am anti oligarchy. Anti plutocracy. Anti republican, because they stand of those things, and America is not really a democracy, as much as it likes to pretend it is. My version of the government is not real, though aspects of it are. But it has a lot of fantastically elements to it, and is every bit as fictional as the idea that we are a true democracy.

Do you have a particular childhood memory which influenced the interesting family dynamic depicted in CHEW?

Nope. I was an only child. My wife comes from a big family, and they are very into food. So it's been interesting and enlightening to be a fly-on-the-wall for those things. My wife is Vietnamese, too. Do you know any Vietnamese people, Pearly?

I have enjoyed your books, Puffed, now CHEW, Do you pick the artists for your stories or are they assigned? I think you and Rob Guillory are a pretty dynamic duo.

Yeah, Rob is the perfect collaborator. One of the benefits of creator-owned books is you do find your own artist. As opposed to company-owned book, where you don't necessarily have a say in who you work with. You just cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Tony Chu is a cibopath. Amelia is a saboscrivner. Do you have some gastrological fetish or a fear and love of food or some bad dining experience at a local chinese place that resulted in the creation of Tony Chu and Amelia Mintz? (should us readers be afraid of your cooking skills?!)

I have no cooking skills. My wife does, and I think part of the genesis of CHEW was watching her get together with her foodie friends and be every bit as geeky and enthusiastic as comic book fans are when they get together. It's an entirely different nerd world, and it fascinates me.

Your writing is very, very funny. I often am sitting on the bus with headphones on, reading and snorting outloud and getting nasty glares from other passengers. Do you ever read your writing and laugh and think, wow, I am one funny guy?

Not often. Most of the time I may be amused, or recognize something is funny, but not really laugh at it. Then again, occasionally I DO write a scene which cracks me up, and that often surprises me. I have a big one of these in my upcoming Deadpool annual. And another in CHEW either 23 or 24 (I have not decided which issue yet.)

Often when I read comic books, I have music in my head playing. Theme songs if you will. If CHEW had a soundtrack, what bands would you want to be on it and let’s say mike patton is retired, so you can’t ask him!

Well, I listen to The Cramps and Alice Donut primarily, so it would probably be one of those. I find lyrics distracting, though, when I write, so I usually listen to Secret Agent Radio on SOMA FM (internet radio) when I write. Groovy spy-themed lounge music that is all instrumental. It's my perfect writing music, so perhaps I would serve equally well as a soundtrack.

I hear from the grapevine that CHEW is being made into a tv series? Do you have any dream actors you wish to be cast and a director who you are smitten with who you would love to see develop CHEW into the television series?

Well, we've long said the Ken Leung would be perfect, and we have others. Now that the TV show is actually moving, though (pilot script bought by SHOWTIME and director and writers attached) I don't know how realistic that is. Right now it's just wait and see. I don't know precisely what my involvement in the show will be, though obviously I'd like to be as involved as possible.

As a writer, do you find it more of challenge to create a character from scratch or to continue the story development on an already established iconic character?

Depends on the character, but there are pluses and minuses to each. Nobody can tell me "Tony Chu would not do that," in the same way they could say "Spider-Man would not say or do that." You get to play god with your own characters, and are ultimate arbitrator of what they say and can do. You sorta have to work within boundaries when it comes to characters who are more established, or not your own.

Do fans at comic con bring you cans of beets? Or mylanta? Wait, you do have fans right? ;)

Somebody brought me a jar of eggs pickled in beet juice to a signing in San Francisco. I was pretty drunk, but still sober enough to recognize it's possibly a bad idea to accept purple eggs from total strangers.

There are a lot of legendary forces in the comic industry. When I met jim steranko at comic con, I was in awe. I wanted to say all these witty things, but instead, I blurted, “I’m pearl!” and did some lame high five thing. (hangs head) have you met one of your faves and came off as a dreamy eyed school girl?

Yeah, I have met many super-stars. Talked to Alan Moore on the phone. Communicated regularly with Alex Ross. Talked on multiple occasions to Neil Gaiman. But I went to dinner once with Dave Gibbons and I just couldn't even talk the entire meal I was so star struck.

Thank you so much for taking time and answering these questions. Now I can write in my diary that today I got to interview john layman!

Your poor diary!

This post was written by:
pearlypearle
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Oct 23, 2009

Character Issues - "I hope you like finger foods."

11:25 AM

Tony Chu

Agent of the Special Crimes Division of the FDA

An atypical hero with an atypical power for an atypical story.

Tony Chu does not have 12-pack ab's, 36-inch man-cannon arms, have adamantium claws, or an emerald ring to manifest any power to his imagination. He does not have the typical visual aesthetic look of a comic book hero. This is what makes my featured character of the week so refreshing and unique. He is a normal hard working, scrawny cop who happens to be of Asian descent (a rarity in itself). Our protagonist does have one power though, he's a Cibopathic. He gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats.

Not impressed? Think again jabroni. His gift has promoted him to be an agent for the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), which happens to be the one of the most powerful agencies in America in this story-arc. Tony has the perfect power to be a top detective. He has been able to track down a serial killer who has committed suicide and figure out his victims. He is able to know the who, why, when, how of a case in one swift chomp.

This makes him a top detective that rivals Batman. Impressive right? The means of his sleuthing is not as pretty as it seems.

In order to solve this case, he had to nibble on a decomposing corpse of the murderer. In the name of justice, he has had to eat terrible things. For all you foodies, at least its fresh and organic (rim-shot please).

Like all hero's with powers, it is his curse. Conversely, the only thing that Tony can eat without getting a psychic reading is beets. Hilarious.

John Hayman conjures up this hero in the comic book, Chew, which features hilarious dialogue and off-beat, diverse characters. The Cliff Notes version of the story is as follows: There is a bird-flu pandemic that kills millions. Hence, the government has outlawed chicken. Which also means black market poultry and the FDA being the most feared law enforcement agency in the land. Let the wackiness ensue.

Rob Guillory creates the cartoony, stylized art that captures the essence of Layman's writing filled with shocking & ruthless action, witty quips, and dick & fart humor. Chew gets my 4-D rating-disturbing, delightful, disgusting & magically delicious (Wow, a cleverly placed pun & Lucky Charms reference…c'mon, give me a knuckle pound).

It's not half bad being a cibopath but I'd rather have normal taste buds sans the mental readouts. One of my favorite cuisines is sashimi, more specifically Uni.