Welcome back to another great installment of COMIC UNKNOWN!
With all these great interviews, reviews (and general badassery), we haven't seen much of the Earthman. So with much anticipation, COMIC UNKNOWN has a great interview with the Earthman's creator, JOSH HENAMAN!
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| Everyone would know his name |
CU: What made you want to
work in the comicbook industry?
JH: First question out of the gate and it’s actually the one I
had the hardest time with. If I had to
boil it down from the many reasons, I guess I’d say it was because I remember
the joy I had as a kid reading comics. I
grew up in rural Iowa and we didn’t have a comic book store, but north of us
there was a town of about 20,000 people.
In that town, there was a series of grocery stores, drug stores and gas
stations that had decent selections. I
remember during the summer my mom would drop me off at one end of town and I
would slowly make my way along the corridor, walking to each spot to see what
was new, until I would finally make it to where she worked on the other end. It was a five mile trek of awesomeness.
After that, comics stoked the imagination to the point where
I took every writing course I could as a kid and then as a college
student. Unfortunately, as an adult, I
got sucked into the world of corporate America, but I had never stopped writing. But like most situations, I was constantly
waiting for someone to give me the greenlight.
I was always waiting for someone else to give me that go ahead to move
forward. Bigfoot-SOTE was the first idea
where I stopped and said, “This is a comic book. I can do this. I’m not waiting around for someone to tell me
‘no.’”
CU: Who is your favorite
all time super hero/villain? Why?
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| Rom Issue 1 |
JH: Rom the Spaceknight. Take the word “space” and add “knight”
and you have me lining up. Plus, what
you have is a solitary warrior against a seemingly unstoppable sea of enemies
in the Dire Wraiths. My God, what I wouldn’t give for another Rom series.
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Mutant Massacre, a Marvel Comics crossover
event beginning in 1986
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As far as a villain goes, it’s hard to pick one, but I can
tell you my favorite villain TEAM. Hands
down, it’s the Marauders. A mishmash of
badasses. When they first made their
appearance in the Mutant Massacre crossover, they were all over the map as far
as members, powers, etc. As a reader, you didn’t know what you were going to
get. A whirlwind chucking ninja throwing
stars? Check. A man who could build a weapon to take down
ANY opponent? Check. A walking prism?
WTF? The storyline was brutally crazy
and the villains were even more sadistic.
As a kid, you really didn’t know what in the hell was going to
happen.
CU: Were any of the
characters (Besides Bigfoot) inspired by another character?
JH: Stay tuned.
CU: How many issues do
you have in mind for the series? Will the Bigfoot universe continue after SOTE?
JH: Bigfoot – Sword of the Earthman is a six-issue limited
series. Will the universe continue after the six issues? That’s tricky. I don’t want to give anything away, but issue
#1 does have a clue as to the timespan we’re dealing with. It opens with an
older, battle-weary Bigfoot (the “Bigfoot on Mars” NASA image) and immediately
cuts to a younger Bigfoot in the slave camps. So the question the opening shot
of the mini asks is how does Bigfoot get to be that armed-to-the-teeth,
battle-weary individual we saw at the beginning? The tease from issue #1 is whether or not
Bigfoot sitting on the rock is the FINAL image of the series?
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Is the very first image of The Earthman a spoiler?
Or something else? |
CU: How big are you
planning on making the Bigfoot universe?
JH: As big as the mythos of Mars! Truthfully though, while I can
certainly dream big, right now I’m solely focused on the six issues. As someone who just jumped into the comics
pool, I don’t want to fall into the trap of promising the world and not
delivering.
CU: What was the most
difficult part in the production of Sword of the Earthman?
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| Issue One's Production |
JH: Making the commitment to self-publish. There are so many
factors that go into the production of a comic book, but the most heartburn-inducing
nausea was thinking, “Do I have what it takes to see this through?” Self-doubt was probably the biggest hurdle I
had to overcome, but at the end of the day I was forced to come to the
conclusion that nobody was beating down my door for a “Bigfoot in space” story.
After that initial first step, it quickly became me asking,
“Okay, what do I do next?” until I finally realized the big picture of “How do
I make a comic?” was nothing more than me asking the “What next?” question over
and over and then seeking out the answers.
As a writer, looking back I realized there are basically three
phases. Writing – Production –
Marketing. Or in other words, creating
it, putting it together and getting it out there.
CU: If you got to choose
one villain to fight Bigfoot who would it be?
JH: I’d jump out of the realm of comics and choose Genghis Khan.
I recently discovered Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History Podcast and his five-part
series, “Wrath of the Khans.” It is absolutely mind-blowing what the Mongols
accomplished without anyone knowing they were there until it was too late. Bigfoot
vs. the Mongolian Horde? Sign me up.
CU: If you got to choose
one hero to fight alongside Bigfoot who would it be?
JH: Probably Rom the Spaceknight… Or maybe Mister Miracle.
CU: Did you ever have a
scene/ issue where you look back and thought "WOW!"?
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| Bigfoot Vs Martian Ants, I'm going to bet on the Eartman |
JH: In the first issue alone, there are so many. The opening sequence involving the Mars
Spirit rover and the reveal of Bigfoot sitting on the rocks is high on my list,
but my absolute favorite has to be the sequence involving Bigfoot, Bagworm and
the giant ant-like creatures. Page 18
with Bigfoot going berserk is the money shot, of course, but page 17 is the
sequence of panels where Andy just floored me with the layout. The script calls
for a simple 4-panel page. 1) The two are surrounded by ants, 2) The swarm
drowns Bagworm, 3) Bigfoot drops to one knee, several ants surround him
and 4)
Bigfoot disappears amidst the horde.
What I got from Andy was a page nothing short of
amazing. The layout alone is the perfect
“How to design a page for optimum impact.”
Ants slowly filling each panel until our heroes are literally drowning
in creatures. The tension is
incredible. Then, when you turn the
page…
CU: Is Brewhouse ever
planning on doing stories other than Bigfoot?
JH: Absolutely. Right now I’m in that phase of, “What do I do
next?” I’ve written a couple of scripts, but haven’t pulled the trigger on
seeking out an artist yet. I’m horrible
at multi-tasking, so I tend to obsess about one thing at a time (in this case,
Bigfoot.)
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| This needs to be a poster! |
CU: Ever planning on
selling merchandise for the series?
JH: Honestly? If I’m
allowed to dream big, I could see B:SOTE becoming a toy line down the road
(similar to the old school He-Man line from the 80’s), but I wouldn’t know
where to begin to even get that ball rolling.
Other than that, I’ve been thinking about t-shirts, posters, etc., but
that’s all down the road (but probably a lot closer than actual toys.)
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| 7 FEET TALL!! |
CU: Besides on the west
coast of the U.S. are you ever planning on doing conventions closer to the east
coast?
JH: Definitely. I’ve only
done three conventions so far, so I suppose you could say I’m still new to the
con-scene. The greatest concentration of
indie stores that supported Bigfoot from the very beginning have been out on
the East coast, so I’d love to get out there and meet the retailers who gave
this unknown a shot and the fans who discovered us. Logistically speaking, I have a 7 ft. tall
Bigfoot standee I’ve been taking to the conventions and it doesn’t break down,
so it’ll have to be a road trip!
CU: Is there a release date for issue 4 yet?
JH: We’re looking at a late July, early-August release.
Thank you Josh for this epic interview. With plenty of more issues to come, Comic Unknown will be there to give you the who's who. With an upcoming review of issue 3, issue 4 is just around the corner! Don't forget the first three issues of Bigfoot: Sword of the Earthman are available for purchase here.
