MattBrady
10-29-2002, 02:24 PM
A boy genius, a robot, a secret government organization. Monsters, best friends, secrets and lies. While the ingredients sound familiar, this final product is <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b>, an original 106-page graphic novel created, designed and written by Kaja Blackley coming to shops in December.
If the creator’s name scrapes against something vaguely familiar in the back of your mind it’s because Blackley was the founder of Mad Monkey Press, which debuted in 1994. While it had a small sampling of books released, its best-known was Blackley’s own <b>Dark Town</b>, which was adapted (for better or worse) into <b>Monkeybone</b>, directed by Henry Selick.
While the movie was, by all accounts, a flop, the connections Blackley made with Hollywood lasted, and, after Mad Monkey’s dissolution, he sought to continue creating properties with an eye on seeing them as movies or films. And thus was born Buster Jones, aka Kid Comet.
Originally, <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> was conceived as an animated series for Blackley’s wife’s entertainment company, Paper Giant Entertainment, Inc., but was backburnered as a series after Blackley and crew saw what they had. “As we finished up the bible [which included graphic designs for the world, as well as story outlines and character development ideas] for what would be the animated series, we realized that it would make a great graphic novel series, and we decided to take it to the next level,” Blackley said. “After we finished the graphic novel, we knew that we had a property that would work for the way the comic book market is going now, but would also fit into the Hollywood scheme.”
Blackley formed Mutant Toast Productions, which would be the comic publisher that would bring Buster’s adventures to life as graphic novels.
Blackley’s “way the comic book market is going now” comment refers specifically to the feeling he shares with many of his contemporary independent creators and retailers that graphic novels will be the future of the industry.
“Presenting someone with a complete, finished product with a beginning, middle and end that they can read in one sitting seems to be what retailers are embracing,” Blackley said. “I also heard a cry for an all-ages product, but not necessarily something that’s along the lines of <i>Sesame Street</i>.”
For inspiration in structure, Blackley compared a series of <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> graphic novels to the granddaddy of graphic novel series. “Our intention is that we’ll create a graphic novel series in the tradition of Tintin, where there’s one or two every year, and we slowly and surely build a library of books,” Blackley said. “The idea we want to have with <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> is that you can start anywhere, just as you can with Tintin – you can start with <b>Tintin in Tibet</b>, or somewhere else. Each issue is a standalone story – you don’t need the first one to follow the second one. But, if you do read them in order, you will get something out of it.
“There’s definitely a subtle continuity, though, and there will always be a catch up at the beginning, so if someone doesn’t have the previous volume, you’ll get an idea of what’s gone on before and what we’re leading up to.”
<b>Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?</b>
As mentioned above, <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> has a comfortable, familiar feel, with hints and whiffs of giant robot adventures, boy geniuses, and even a guy who could be Race Bannon’s brother. Rather than take one concept and build and extrapolate from it, Blackley took the entire mishmash of his childhood and drew pieces from it – and he had an assistant as well.
“Probably an even greater inspiration than my own childhood and memories come from being a father myself, and watching how my daughter has embraced interests similar to my own,” Blackley said. “My four year old daughter has brought me back into animation and different things, and watching her expressions when we go out to movies together and seeing what excites her is something I drew on. It was really from there that the idea of developing <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> came from. I thought it would be nice to have something that I did that at one point or another, she could view. From that point, I closed my eyes and remembered what concepts I liked and what stuck with me and made an impression. Then I took all of that, and formed a story.
“I closed my eyes and thought of all the things I enjoyed as a boy and as a young man, and I drew from that. There wasn’t anything specific. I remember as a boy, loving all the giant robot/little boy team ups, and of course, there’s no doubt that at some level, everyone in comics, animation and film has been influenced on some level by <i>Johnny Quest</i>.
“After that, it was a matter of pulling everything together and coming up with a concept that would be fun for someone who was young and playful, but at the same time, someone who was older would read it and realize that it has some teeth, it’s a little darker than maybe what they were expecting, and it’s still enjoyable.”
To give a thumbnail sketch of the graphic novel, the story follows Buster Jones, a boy genius through an adventure. Buster’s best friend is his next-door neighbor, Zoe, who’s in on all of his secrets. Big secret #1 is that every day at school, when Buster gets called to the principal’s office (for special instruction, his classmates guess…but really don’t worry about it), he meets secret agent Jack Crypt outside, and heads to the laboratories of the Headquarters Investigating Visiting Evil (H.I.V.E.). At HIVE, Buster works on any variety of projects, lending his knowledge to the government agency for the benefit of defending the planet from alien invasions and evil geniuses intent on world domination.
“Buster’s world is a slightly surreal one when compared to ours,” Blackley said. “It’s a world that’s seen through a child’s eyes, but is dealt with from an adult’s perspective. It’s basically a world and a story about secrets and lies, and how those impact someone’s life, especially when secrets become public, and lies are exposed, and the ramifications of that. Beyond that, I’m going to end up giving away secrets of the world itself…and I’m going to keep some secrets.”
The story picks up speed as secrets begin to unravel – Buster learns just what he’s been doing for HIVE, Zoe learns more than she ever wanted to know about her friendship with Buster, and a whole bushel load of other secrets are revealed. As Blackley noted, the story is told in a straightforward manner, and no punches are pulled. The story is helped by artist Alex Hawley, whose style, reminiscent equally of Mike Allred and a tightly-inked Doug Wildley keeps it feeling like a Saturday morning cartoon without letting it become cartoony.
“What tends to happen when people write is that they tend to focus on one or the other segments of their potential audience – they either go out of their way to make it something that’s for children, or they go out of their way to make it something for adults,” Blackley said. “I just wanted to create something that was accessible, that an eight or ten year old could read and get something from it, and a 30, 40, or 50 year old could read, and still enjoy.”
Making it accessible meant not shying away from the darker sides of being a boy genius. Heck, even Judd Winick has shown that Barry Ween can get rattled by his adventures, and the decisions he has to make. It’s the same for Buster – in particular for his relationship with Zoe, which has a very dark edge under the surface.
But Blackley purposely chose to keep the darkness – the edgier material that if you think about as you read it, can take your mind on some bizarre tangents. “I’ve always had a belief that kids in general, are far more sophisticated than most people give them credit for,” Blackley said. “There’s a difference between something that’s gross, and something that just explores darker themes, and I think for every child, as they begin to mature, and live in the world, that’s a part of life. On whatever level, I find that kids are interested in learning about things and learning about people, and learning about experiences, both good and bad. So for that, since the story is really on one level, about the friendship between Buster and Zoe, as we learn about them, we learn about their friendship, and we also learn about their secrets and lies.”
<b>Neighborhood Response</b>
While <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> will ship through Diamond in December, Blackley and Mutant Toast Productions debuted the book at this year’s San Diego Comic Con International to a warm reception. “We were hearing that <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> was the find of the show, and that finally there was an all ages book out there,” Blackley said. “Retailers were really drawn to it as well. Anyone who bought a copy or received a promotional copy came back and told us how much they enjoyed it.
“We went down there with no expectations. We knew we had a nice package, and felt that it was important to get the word out about this to as many people as we could. It was just amazing to see how people were drawn to it. Everyone who looked at it who was older, saw something in it that reminded them of their childhood in a nice way. The younger kids either saw the relationship between Buster and the robot, or they were drawn to the relationship between Zoe and Buster, or a combination of all of the above. It was a very gratifying experience.”
In addition to Diamond, Blackley said that he has been approached by several bookstore chains, and is looking to get <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> placed into them by the holidays.
And, coming full circle, Blackley said that <b>Buster</b> is getting attention from Hollywood. “We have interest from film studios, television and animation studios, and from toy and videogame companies right across the board,” Blackley said. “And anything we do with the book or characters in other media, we’re going to be involved. We’re not looking to hand over this project blindly. That’s always an option, but so far we found that people are open to having us on board.”
<b>Buster’s Next Adventure…</b>
Mutant Toast is already in production on <b>Kid Comet and the Robot Underground</b>, the second graphic novel in the series. Currently, plans are to debut the book at the 2004 San Diego Comic Con International, and then have it ship through Diamond to be in stores by the 2004 holiday season. The new book will be of similar length to the first.
“It’s set about a year ahead of the first, and is a simpler story with someone really dynamic twists which investigate what happens after HIVE is destroyed and explores how Buster faces his new destiny with new alliances,” Blackley said. “I’ve seen a lot of it already, and it’s looking lovely.
“All in all, my first and foremost joy in life is being a dad, but when you can create something and then find out that people really enjoy what you’ve done that’s a treat. That’s where we are now – we sat down to do something good and fairly priced and aimed at a large audience, and it was well received at San Diego. We’re hoping to see it get a similar response with a larger audience in December.”
If the creator’s name scrapes against something vaguely familiar in the back of your mind it’s because Blackley was the founder of Mad Monkey Press, which debuted in 1994. While it had a small sampling of books released, its best-known was Blackley’s own <b>Dark Town</b>, which was adapted (for better or worse) into <b>Monkeybone</b>, directed by Henry Selick.
While the movie was, by all accounts, a flop, the connections Blackley made with Hollywood lasted, and, after Mad Monkey’s dissolution, he sought to continue creating properties with an eye on seeing them as movies or films. And thus was born Buster Jones, aka Kid Comet.
Originally, <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> was conceived as an animated series for Blackley’s wife’s entertainment company, Paper Giant Entertainment, Inc., but was backburnered as a series after Blackley and crew saw what they had. “As we finished up the bible [which included graphic designs for the world, as well as story outlines and character development ideas] for what would be the animated series, we realized that it would make a great graphic novel series, and we decided to take it to the next level,” Blackley said. “After we finished the graphic novel, we knew that we had a property that would work for the way the comic book market is going now, but would also fit into the Hollywood scheme.”
Blackley formed Mutant Toast Productions, which would be the comic publisher that would bring Buster’s adventures to life as graphic novels.
Blackley’s “way the comic book market is going now” comment refers specifically to the feeling he shares with many of his contemporary independent creators and retailers that graphic novels will be the future of the industry.
“Presenting someone with a complete, finished product with a beginning, middle and end that they can read in one sitting seems to be what retailers are embracing,” Blackley said. “I also heard a cry for an all-ages product, but not necessarily something that’s along the lines of <i>Sesame Street</i>.”
For inspiration in structure, Blackley compared a series of <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> graphic novels to the granddaddy of graphic novel series. “Our intention is that we’ll create a graphic novel series in the tradition of Tintin, where there’s one or two every year, and we slowly and surely build a library of books,” Blackley said. “The idea we want to have with <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> is that you can start anywhere, just as you can with Tintin – you can start with <b>Tintin in Tibet</b>, or somewhere else. Each issue is a standalone story – you don’t need the first one to follow the second one. But, if you do read them in order, you will get something out of it.
“There’s definitely a subtle continuity, though, and there will always be a catch up at the beginning, so if someone doesn’t have the previous volume, you’ll get an idea of what’s gone on before and what we’re leading up to.”
<b>Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?</b>
As mentioned above, <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> has a comfortable, familiar feel, with hints and whiffs of giant robot adventures, boy geniuses, and even a guy who could be Race Bannon’s brother. Rather than take one concept and build and extrapolate from it, Blackley took the entire mishmash of his childhood and drew pieces from it – and he had an assistant as well.
“Probably an even greater inspiration than my own childhood and memories come from being a father myself, and watching how my daughter has embraced interests similar to my own,” Blackley said. “My four year old daughter has brought me back into animation and different things, and watching her expressions when we go out to movies together and seeing what excites her is something I drew on. It was really from there that the idea of developing <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> came from. I thought it would be nice to have something that I did that at one point or another, she could view. From that point, I closed my eyes and remembered what concepts I liked and what stuck with me and made an impression. Then I took all of that, and formed a story.
“I closed my eyes and thought of all the things I enjoyed as a boy and as a young man, and I drew from that. There wasn’t anything specific. I remember as a boy, loving all the giant robot/little boy team ups, and of course, there’s no doubt that at some level, everyone in comics, animation and film has been influenced on some level by <i>Johnny Quest</i>.
“After that, it was a matter of pulling everything together and coming up with a concept that would be fun for someone who was young and playful, but at the same time, someone who was older would read it and realize that it has some teeth, it’s a little darker than maybe what they were expecting, and it’s still enjoyable.”
To give a thumbnail sketch of the graphic novel, the story follows Buster Jones, a boy genius through an adventure. Buster’s best friend is his next-door neighbor, Zoe, who’s in on all of his secrets. Big secret #1 is that every day at school, when Buster gets called to the principal’s office (for special instruction, his classmates guess…but really don’t worry about it), he meets secret agent Jack Crypt outside, and heads to the laboratories of the Headquarters Investigating Visiting Evil (H.I.V.E.). At HIVE, Buster works on any variety of projects, lending his knowledge to the government agency for the benefit of defending the planet from alien invasions and evil geniuses intent on world domination.
“Buster’s world is a slightly surreal one when compared to ours,” Blackley said. “It’s a world that’s seen through a child’s eyes, but is dealt with from an adult’s perspective. It’s basically a world and a story about secrets and lies, and how those impact someone’s life, especially when secrets become public, and lies are exposed, and the ramifications of that. Beyond that, I’m going to end up giving away secrets of the world itself…and I’m going to keep some secrets.”
The story picks up speed as secrets begin to unravel – Buster learns just what he’s been doing for HIVE, Zoe learns more than she ever wanted to know about her friendship with Buster, and a whole bushel load of other secrets are revealed. As Blackley noted, the story is told in a straightforward manner, and no punches are pulled. The story is helped by artist Alex Hawley, whose style, reminiscent equally of Mike Allred and a tightly-inked Doug Wildley keeps it feeling like a Saturday morning cartoon without letting it become cartoony.
“What tends to happen when people write is that they tend to focus on one or the other segments of their potential audience – they either go out of their way to make it something that’s for children, or they go out of their way to make it something for adults,” Blackley said. “I just wanted to create something that was accessible, that an eight or ten year old could read and get something from it, and a 30, 40, or 50 year old could read, and still enjoy.”
Making it accessible meant not shying away from the darker sides of being a boy genius. Heck, even Judd Winick has shown that Barry Ween can get rattled by his adventures, and the decisions he has to make. It’s the same for Buster – in particular for his relationship with Zoe, which has a very dark edge under the surface.
But Blackley purposely chose to keep the darkness – the edgier material that if you think about as you read it, can take your mind on some bizarre tangents. “I’ve always had a belief that kids in general, are far more sophisticated than most people give them credit for,” Blackley said. “There’s a difference between something that’s gross, and something that just explores darker themes, and I think for every child, as they begin to mature, and live in the world, that’s a part of life. On whatever level, I find that kids are interested in learning about things and learning about people, and learning about experiences, both good and bad. So for that, since the story is really on one level, about the friendship between Buster and Zoe, as we learn about them, we learn about their friendship, and we also learn about their secrets and lies.”
<b>Neighborhood Response</b>
While <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> will ship through Diamond in December, Blackley and Mutant Toast Productions debuted the book at this year’s San Diego Comic Con International to a warm reception. “We were hearing that <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> was the find of the show, and that finally there was an all ages book out there,” Blackley said. “Retailers were really drawn to it as well. Anyone who bought a copy or received a promotional copy came back and told us how much they enjoyed it.
“We went down there with no expectations. We knew we had a nice package, and felt that it was important to get the word out about this to as many people as we could. It was just amazing to see how people were drawn to it. Everyone who looked at it who was older, saw something in it that reminded them of their childhood in a nice way. The younger kids either saw the relationship between Buster and the robot, or they were drawn to the relationship between Zoe and Buster, or a combination of all of the above. It was a very gratifying experience.”
In addition to Diamond, Blackley said that he has been approached by several bookstore chains, and is looking to get <b>Buster’s Neighborhood</b> placed into them by the holidays.
And, coming full circle, Blackley said that <b>Buster</b> is getting attention from Hollywood. “We have interest from film studios, television and animation studios, and from toy and videogame companies right across the board,” Blackley said. “And anything we do with the book or characters in other media, we’re going to be involved. We’re not looking to hand over this project blindly. That’s always an option, but so far we found that people are open to having us on board.”
<b>Buster’s Next Adventure…</b>
Mutant Toast is already in production on <b>Kid Comet and the Robot Underground</b>, the second graphic novel in the series. Currently, plans are to debut the book at the 2004 San Diego Comic Con International, and then have it ship through Diamond to be in stores by the 2004 holiday season. The new book will be of similar length to the first.
“It’s set about a year ahead of the first, and is a simpler story with someone really dynamic twists which investigate what happens after HIVE is destroyed and explores how Buster faces his new destiny with new alliances,” Blackley said. “I’ve seen a lot of it already, and it’s looking lovely.
“All in all, my first and foremost joy in life is being a dad, but when you can create something and then find out that people really enjoy what you’ve done that’s a treat. That’s where we are now – we sat down to do something good and fairly priced and aimed at a large audience, and it was well received at San Diego. We’re hoping to see it get a similar response with a larger audience in December.”