A Clucking Interview

COMIC UNKNOWN HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ASK GABE OSTLEY A A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT CLUCK RECENTLY. CHECK OUT WHAT HE SAID.


COMIC UNKNOWN (CU): What made you want to work in the comic book industry? 

GABE OSTLEY (OS):The lavish lifestyle. Swimming pools, movie stars.... poverty.... who am I kidding? This is a crazy line of work. But for serious I've always loved drawing and thinking up stories. And I was that guy who was always carrying around Ronin and Wolverine's Jungle Adventure in middle school. Ok, high school too. Actually, I wish I could still carry those around with me. 

CU: How did you come up with the story line of CLUCK? 

OS: Cluck was a fun one. I discovered one day that I had never seen the entire Dirty Harry film, unedited for television, and so I watched it one evening and was just floored by it. It's very Tarantino. And Eastwood is of course magnificent. Beyond his iconic "you feel lucky" quote, he has some great moments in that film. So that's kind of where it started. I wanted to do a Dirty Harry comic. But then I thought of how many clones there are out there. Charles Bronson built his whole career on that. Comics can do contrasts and extremes almost better than any other medium. So the opposite of Harry Callahan is... a chicken. That had to be it. Then it was simply a matter of covering all of the classic cop movie tropes. We needed an interrogation scene, the shouting match with the Captain, and the over the top car chase, to name a few. Gradually though, ideas started to filter in beyond just the parody. 

CU: Were any of the characters inspired by another character or person?

OS: None whatsoever. Ha! But really, the love of buddy cop movies was strong in this one.

CU: How many issues do you have in mind for the series?

OS: I enlisted writer Dustin Schmidt early on and we came up with a 4 issue arc initially. Really though, like Death Wish, Cluck could go on and on.

CU: Will the comic's universe continue after the series?  

OS: That's a good question. We were thinking of calling his city "Sunday City"-- and I always liked that name. Yeah, I could see other stories happening there.

CU: What was the most difficult part in the production of CLUCK? 

OS: I think the most difficult part was just the international communication. My co-writer was in Australia, so we were always on different timelines. 

CU: Are you planning on any new series after CLUCK? 

OS: Oh constantly. There's always too many ideas and not enough time, right? I'm really excited about the stuff I'm working on right now. WP Comics is offering a lot of opportunities for indie comics creators right now. Exciting times!

CU: Who is your favorite all time super hero/villain? Why? 

OS: I'm not that big into superheroes. I know. I'm weird. But I do really like the original Deathlok. I mean, he was basically a zombie/cyborg fighting cannibals in a post-apocalyptic NYC with an arsenal of big guns. That's a recipe for kickassity.

CU: What is the best way readers can find CLUCK? 

OS: WP Comics is releasing a mini of our initial 8 page pitch. I also *just* drew a short story starring Cluck for their Chronicles of Terror anthology. And it's a Christmas themed one so we get "Scrooge McCluck." The world needed this. You're holding it in your hands right now, aren't you? Hopefully, there will be more Cluck on the horizon. I think there will be.

THANK YOU SO MUCH GABE OSTLEY FOR THIS CLUCKING INTERVIEW! MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER FOR ALL UPDATES ON ALL INDIE COMICS WE REVIEW AND NEW INTERVIEWS WITH THE CREATORS OF THE AWESOME COMICS WE HAVE REVIEWED!