MattBrady
07-07-2005, 01:39 PM
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_cover_bw.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_cover_bw_t.jpg" width="300" height="217" border="0" align="right"></a> by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean
Back in spring, Corey (The Rey) Lewis kicked off his first creator-owned project, Sharknife, a story heavily inspired by anime, manga and Thai live action movies. The first volume of Oni Press’ Sharknife told the story about Ceasar Hallelujia, a busboy for the Guangdong Factory who’s also the Muay Thai and kung fu fighting protector known as Sharknife who went up against monsters, ninjas and Yakuza gangsters.
Well, did you know that he’s got a kickball loving younger brother named Rocky who’s getting his own OGN in September?
Labeled as “martial arts fable meets sports enthusiasm,” PENG is the newest “arcade logic” creation from the mind of Corey Lewis.
We got down to the arena with The Rey.
Newsarama: First off, why a comic about kickball?
Corey Lewis: I was playing kickball one day and decided it may make an awesome comic. Then another day I decided I really wanted a book with the main character's name to be "Rocky". So I came up with Rocky Hallelujah.
NRAMA: And Sylvestor Stallone’s a boxer named Rocky Balboa…
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/duo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/duo_t.jpg" width="200" height="293" border="0" align="left"></a> CL: That is probably the prime example of how shallow my motivations can be when making comics but somehow it all comes together as if it was pre-destined. For instance, Rocky evolved into being Ceasar's (from Sharknife) little brother and now Sharknife and PENG are going to be implemented into each other.
NRAMA: Right. So, PENG is sort of like CLAMP's Tsubasa Chronicle Reservoir and xxxHOLIC in the sense that it crosses over with Sharknife? Or we could say that this is your answer to Marvel and DC's crossovers?
CL: I'm not really familiar with CLAMP's work. So I can't say about that... But, it is kind of like Marvel and DC in the sense that it all takes place in the same "universe". I just like the idea of having my characters inhabiting the same space, able to interact with each other.
It's like team-based martial arts with a scoring system. PENG takes place during the ultimate finals of the whole Advanced Kickball season. So the reader sees the best four teams play. It's all about the mental state each team is in and how they play against each other. There are strange ethereal elements to the narrative as well. For instance, instead of having an “announcer", the sport of ADV Kickball is telepathically announced to the audience (and reader) via "Kickball Totems". Both representing the positive and negative side of sports energy. These totems can be seen on the cover and in the preview pages -- they are the little animal-looking things. There are other crazy elements of the book, like, characters don't simply "kick" the kickball... They have whole, big, elaborate techniques for that stuff. Just wait. It's a lot like Sharknife in the sense that it's all about the action and movement but it's a little more "human" since the characters are all human, dealing with mostly human emotions. Or, sports emotions.
NRAMA: Before we proceed further, what does “PENG” mean?
CL: "PENG" is the sound the standard-issue kickball makes when it is being kicked. In the book, every single time the kickball is kicked, it is unanimous with the "PENG!" sound effect.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_jeeyuh.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_jeeyuh_t.jpg" width="165" height="296" border="0" align="right"></a> NRAMA: For the couch potatoes in us who rarely go out and play ball, what is kickball?
CL: I grew up on it being a schoolyard sport involving kick and wonderful giant rubber balls. Many games were made of these rubber balls (another good one is wall-ball). Kickball is basically like baseball, with a diamond and runners and fielders. The main different elements are the giant rubber ball in place of a small baseball, and you kick the rubber ball instead of hitting it with a bat. Also, outs aren't declared until the ball stops movement (if you catch it and drop it, it's still in game), and you can also tag someone out by throwing the ball at them as they run around the bases. So there is a dodgeball element to it, too.
NRAMA: How is the kickball in Rocky's world, called Advanced Kickball, different from the kickball that we're used to?
CL: In PENG, the Kickball is "Advanced" for multiple reasons... In regular kickball, the pitcher rolls the ball to the batter, in Advanced-mode, it is thrown, and in many cases, it's a special-move-style pitch. Also, instead of "Home Runs" there are targets on the field, which can score you multiple points off of one kick. The idea is to hit the targets instead of simply kick it out of the park, this way you get a point for that, and whatever runners are also on the bases, and yourself if you can survive the gauntlet of kickball fielders hurtling the ball at you. Also, the action is so fast that spectators have to ingest special "slo-moz" pills to be able to even comprehend the movement.
NRAMA: In an earlier interview (http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31277), you'd mentioned that Sharknife Vol. 2 should hit in October and that it'd feature a back-up story. Now, instead of Vol. 2, we have PENG Vol. 1 scheduled for Sept. Was PENG originally the back-up that you mentioned?
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_rocky.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_rocky_t.jpg" width="165" height="256" border="0" align="left"></a> CL: No, the "opening" story that was [going to] be in Sharknife Volume 2 was [going to] be a continuation of a comic I put online a while ago called PINAPL ( http://www.reyyy.com/pinapl ), which is about a guy who has a pineapple that different groups of people desire. But Sharknife Volume 2 is now looking like it will be beefy on it's own, no need for a supplemental story.
NRAMA: Going back to Rocky, how is he different from his brother?
CL: He is, like his brother, kind of an avatar for good-spirited pro-activeness. For the sake of the book, he is all about Advanced Kickball and that's all he ever really talks about or does. He thinks about it so much [that] he loses interest in all other things when he's not playing it. He likes video games a lot. He's definitely humorous. It won't be apparent to anybody for a while but he and Ceasar have a lot in common but are also separated by some major, critical issues (that will come up eventually in Sharknife).
NRAMA: You mentioned about four teams making it into the finals, right?
CL: The teams are really the main "characters" of the story. The final four teams are The Foot Knux (Rocky's team), the Aurora Skeddos, The Dolpheets & the Anologgers.
The Aurora Skeddos are like the "villian" team, mainly because they are the defending Adv Kickball champions, and they are very intimidating. They are fronted by their star pitcher, Jeeyuh Yeeauh, who is like this seasoned Adv Kickball pro. For the purpose of kickball betterment, they created their own Kickball God named Elgus, which they pray to before games.
Next is the "rival team", the Dolpheets, who hail from Canada. They are a younger team (about the same age as the Foot Knux) and they are vying to replace them as the "hip new kickball team". The Dolpheets are fronted by a guy named Abraham Bolson who is based on a real life friend of mine.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_sassy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_sassy_t.jpg" width="165" height="363" border="0" align="right"></a>The last of the final four teams is the Anologgers. Which is a team made up of former characters of mine called Apollonia No!. Apollonia No! was a comic I self-published a while ago about a band fronted by a zombie. So, the Anologgers has a few members of the band in their team.
Mainly it is led by the band's frontman who's name is Aves Ives. Aves is a very special character to me, and you can basically tell even on the PENG cover, as he is one of the "cooler looking" dudes. He's the guy with the black makeup and stuff.
NRAMA: How does Sharknife factor into the story?
CL: Two and a half words: Half-time extravaganza. Pretty cheesy, I know. But I think it works out quite well without taking away from the emphasis on kickball. I originally had thought that maybe Sharknife could be on a team, but I didn't want him overshadowing the other characters. So, I worked out a clever little kickball-themed crisis that occurs during half-time.
NRAMA: Half-time extras! So, what have you planned for Sharknife? It was going to be a two-volume series, right?
CL: My plans are to totally flip everything on top of you, the reader. Volume 1 established the intensity of life in the Guangdong Factory. Which, aside from the food, is mainly about Sharknife pummeling monsters.
Volume 2 is going to be about how the Guangdong Factory came to exist, it's relationship with Ravenga Tabac, how Ceasar got involved with the Factory, and why specifically Ombra is trying to destroy the restaurant with his monsters (it's more than just jealousy or competition). And of course, a one-on-one match between Sharknife and the new super-power, Orcasword. It will be amazing.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_ven.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_ven_t.jpg" width="165" height="382" border="0" align="left"></a>Drawing Volume 1, all I wanted was to make a pure fight book. And that's what I did, basically. And people generally really liked it. Of course there was criticism that it had practically no story or character richness. Volume 2 will. Almost in the way I approached the different chapters of Volume 1 stylistically, the different Volumes of Sharknife will also be stylistically separate.
Volume 1 is the fisticuffs book, Volume 2 is the character book, Volume 3 will probably be the fantastical book. I mean, if you classified Volume 1 as the "fantastical" one... just wait 'til what develops on the future.
I'm planning on it going up to five volumes, with a huge, comes-full-circle, epic conclusion. I've been thinking hard on the whole thing. And the amazing thing is, I established so much good stuff I can use from Volume 1 that I didn't even realize until I re-read it just recently. I don't blame the critics for not seeing the depth at this point, but there is a lot of room, and I absolutely plan on capitalizing on it. PENG is even heavily integrated with the story of Sharknife.
NRAMA: Anything else that you'd like to add?
CL: It's most likely obvious to most, but these, my first two books were primarily stylistically motivated. I love style, it's what gets me to look at a lot of my favorite comic art. And to me, comics is one of the only mediums where you can drench your work in pure "style". But, as I am growing as an artist, and as I am inspired greatly by my artist friends (Read Scott Pilgrim!), I am taking things on at a more critical level. Starting very soon, I hope that my work will please equally on both a stylistic and mental level. Because yeah, I am more than just a sassy visual artist.
PENG One-shot (72pgs, B&W, $5.95) by Corey (The Rey) Lewis is scheduled to hit shelves in September courtesy of Oni Press (http://www.onipress.com). To find out more about The Rey, check out www.reyyy.com (http://www.reyyy.com/)
<i>note – lettering on sample pages <u>not</u> final</i>
<center> <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_01.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_01_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_02.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_02_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" hspace="2" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_03.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_03_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" border="0"></a>
<p><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_04.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_04_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_05.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_05_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" hspace="2" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_06.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_06_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" border="0"></a></p></center>
Back in spring, Corey (The Rey) Lewis kicked off his first creator-owned project, Sharknife, a story heavily inspired by anime, manga and Thai live action movies. The first volume of Oni Press’ Sharknife told the story about Ceasar Hallelujia, a busboy for the Guangdong Factory who’s also the Muay Thai and kung fu fighting protector known as Sharknife who went up against monsters, ninjas and Yakuza gangsters.
Well, did you know that he’s got a kickball loving younger brother named Rocky who’s getting his own OGN in September?
Labeled as “martial arts fable meets sports enthusiasm,” PENG is the newest “arcade logic” creation from the mind of Corey Lewis.
We got down to the arena with The Rey.
Newsarama: First off, why a comic about kickball?
Corey Lewis: I was playing kickball one day and decided it may make an awesome comic. Then another day I decided I really wanted a book with the main character's name to be "Rocky". So I came up with Rocky Hallelujah.
NRAMA: And Sylvestor Stallone’s a boxer named Rocky Balboa…
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/duo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/duo_t.jpg" width="200" height="293" border="0" align="left"></a> CL: That is probably the prime example of how shallow my motivations can be when making comics but somehow it all comes together as if it was pre-destined. For instance, Rocky evolved into being Ceasar's (from Sharknife) little brother and now Sharknife and PENG are going to be implemented into each other.
NRAMA: Right. So, PENG is sort of like CLAMP's Tsubasa Chronicle Reservoir and xxxHOLIC in the sense that it crosses over with Sharknife? Or we could say that this is your answer to Marvel and DC's crossovers?
CL: I'm not really familiar with CLAMP's work. So I can't say about that... But, it is kind of like Marvel and DC in the sense that it all takes place in the same "universe". I just like the idea of having my characters inhabiting the same space, able to interact with each other.
It's like team-based martial arts with a scoring system. PENG takes place during the ultimate finals of the whole Advanced Kickball season. So the reader sees the best four teams play. It's all about the mental state each team is in and how they play against each other. There are strange ethereal elements to the narrative as well. For instance, instead of having an “announcer", the sport of ADV Kickball is telepathically announced to the audience (and reader) via "Kickball Totems". Both representing the positive and negative side of sports energy. These totems can be seen on the cover and in the preview pages -- they are the little animal-looking things. There are other crazy elements of the book, like, characters don't simply "kick" the kickball... They have whole, big, elaborate techniques for that stuff. Just wait. It's a lot like Sharknife in the sense that it's all about the action and movement but it's a little more "human" since the characters are all human, dealing with mostly human emotions. Or, sports emotions.
NRAMA: Before we proceed further, what does “PENG” mean?
CL: "PENG" is the sound the standard-issue kickball makes when it is being kicked. In the book, every single time the kickball is kicked, it is unanimous with the "PENG!" sound effect.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_jeeyuh.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_jeeyuh_t.jpg" width="165" height="296" border="0" align="right"></a> NRAMA: For the couch potatoes in us who rarely go out and play ball, what is kickball?
CL: I grew up on it being a schoolyard sport involving kick and wonderful giant rubber balls. Many games were made of these rubber balls (another good one is wall-ball). Kickball is basically like baseball, with a diamond and runners and fielders. The main different elements are the giant rubber ball in place of a small baseball, and you kick the rubber ball instead of hitting it with a bat. Also, outs aren't declared until the ball stops movement (if you catch it and drop it, it's still in game), and you can also tag someone out by throwing the ball at them as they run around the bases. So there is a dodgeball element to it, too.
NRAMA: How is the kickball in Rocky's world, called Advanced Kickball, different from the kickball that we're used to?
CL: In PENG, the Kickball is "Advanced" for multiple reasons... In regular kickball, the pitcher rolls the ball to the batter, in Advanced-mode, it is thrown, and in many cases, it's a special-move-style pitch. Also, instead of "Home Runs" there are targets on the field, which can score you multiple points off of one kick. The idea is to hit the targets instead of simply kick it out of the park, this way you get a point for that, and whatever runners are also on the bases, and yourself if you can survive the gauntlet of kickball fielders hurtling the ball at you. Also, the action is so fast that spectators have to ingest special "slo-moz" pills to be able to even comprehend the movement.
NRAMA: In an earlier interview (http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31277), you'd mentioned that Sharknife Vol. 2 should hit in October and that it'd feature a back-up story. Now, instead of Vol. 2, we have PENG Vol. 1 scheduled for Sept. Was PENG originally the back-up that you mentioned?
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_rocky.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_rocky_t.jpg" width="165" height="256" border="0" align="left"></a> CL: No, the "opening" story that was [going to] be in Sharknife Volume 2 was [going to] be a continuation of a comic I put online a while ago called PINAPL ( http://www.reyyy.com/pinapl ), which is about a guy who has a pineapple that different groups of people desire. But Sharknife Volume 2 is now looking like it will be beefy on it's own, no need for a supplemental story.
NRAMA: Going back to Rocky, how is he different from his brother?
CL: He is, like his brother, kind of an avatar for good-spirited pro-activeness. For the sake of the book, he is all about Advanced Kickball and that's all he ever really talks about or does. He thinks about it so much [that] he loses interest in all other things when he's not playing it. He likes video games a lot. He's definitely humorous. It won't be apparent to anybody for a while but he and Ceasar have a lot in common but are also separated by some major, critical issues (that will come up eventually in Sharknife).
NRAMA: You mentioned about four teams making it into the finals, right?
CL: The teams are really the main "characters" of the story. The final four teams are The Foot Knux (Rocky's team), the Aurora Skeddos, The Dolpheets & the Anologgers.
The Aurora Skeddos are like the "villian" team, mainly because they are the defending Adv Kickball champions, and they are very intimidating. They are fronted by their star pitcher, Jeeyuh Yeeauh, who is like this seasoned Adv Kickball pro. For the purpose of kickball betterment, they created their own Kickball God named Elgus, which they pray to before games.
Next is the "rival team", the Dolpheets, who hail from Canada. They are a younger team (about the same age as the Foot Knux) and they are vying to replace them as the "hip new kickball team". The Dolpheets are fronted by a guy named Abraham Bolson who is based on a real life friend of mine.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_sassy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_sassy_t.jpg" width="165" height="363" border="0" align="right"></a>The last of the final four teams is the Anologgers. Which is a team made up of former characters of mine called Apollonia No!. Apollonia No! was a comic I self-published a while ago about a band fronted by a zombie. So, the Anologgers has a few members of the band in their team.
Mainly it is led by the band's frontman who's name is Aves Ives. Aves is a very special character to me, and you can basically tell even on the PENG cover, as he is one of the "cooler looking" dudes. He's the guy with the black makeup and stuff.
NRAMA: How does Sharknife factor into the story?
CL: Two and a half words: Half-time extravaganza. Pretty cheesy, I know. But I think it works out quite well without taking away from the emphasis on kickball. I originally had thought that maybe Sharknife could be on a team, but I didn't want him overshadowing the other characters. So, I worked out a clever little kickball-themed crisis that occurs during half-time.
NRAMA: Half-time extras! So, what have you planned for Sharknife? It was going to be a two-volume series, right?
CL: My plans are to totally flip everything on top of you, the reader. Volume 1 established the intensity of life in the Guangdong Factory. Which, aside from the food, is mainly about Sharknife pummeling monsters.
Volume 2 is going to be about how the Guangdong Factory came to exist, it's relationship with Ravenga Tabac, how Ceasar got involved with the Factory, and why specifically Ombra is trying to destroy the restaurant with his monsters (it's more than just jealousy or competition). And of course, a one-on-one match between Sharknife and the new super-power, Orcasword. It will be amazing.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_ven.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_ven_t.jpg" width="165" height="382" border="0" align="left"></a>Drawing Volume 1, all I wanted was to make a pure fight book. And that's what I did, basically. And people generally really liked it. Of course there was criticism that it had practically no story or character richness. Volume 2 will. Almost in the way I approached the different chapters of Volume 1 stylistically, the different Volumes of Sharknife will also be stylistically separate.
Volume 1 is the fisticuffs book, Volume 2 is the character book, Volume 3 will probably be the fantastical book. I mean, if you classified Volume 1 as the "fantastical" one... just wait 'til what develops on the future.
I'm planning on it going up to five volumes, with a huge, comes-full-circle, epic conclusion. I've been thinking hard on the whole thing. And the amazing thing is, I established so much good stuff I can use from Volume 1 that I didn't even realize until I re-read it just recently. I don't blame the critics for not seeing the depth at this point, but there is a lot of room, and I absolutely plan on capitalizing on it. PENG is even heavily integrated with the story of Sharknife.
NRAMA: Anything else that you'd like to add?
CL: It's most likely obvious to most, but these, my first two books were primarily stylistically motivated. I love style, it's what gets me to look at a lot of my favorite comic art. And to me, comics is one of the only mediums where you can drench your work in pure "style". But, as I am growing as an artist, and as I am inspired greatly by my artist friends (Read Scott Pilgrim!), I am taking things on at a more critical level. Starting very soon, I hope that my work will please equally on both a stylistic and mental level. Because yeah, I am more than just a sassy visual artist.
PENG One-shot (72pgs, B&W, $5.95) by Corey (The Rey) Lewis is scheduled to hit shelves in September courtesy of Oni Press (http://www.onipress.com). To find out more about The Rey, check out www.reyyy.com (http://www.reyyy.com/)
<i>note – lettering on sample pages <u>not</u> final</i>
<center> <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_01.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_01_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_02.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_02_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" hspace="2" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_03.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_03_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" border="0"></a>
<p><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_04.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_04_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_05.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_05_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" hspace="2" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_06.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Oni/Peng/peng_pg_06_t.jpg" width="165" height="265" border="0"></a></p></center>