TAKE ME DOWN TO KING CITY: TALKING TO BRANDON GRAHAM

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

King City.

It's a city like no other. Sprawling and treacherous, with cubby holes, secret passageways and secret secrets, King City isn't the type of place for a casual bystander. It's a city a thief named Joe wanted to leave behind, for many reasons… but most of all, to avoid the memories of his ex-girlfriend Anna. But his life as a thief has brought him back into King City, and he's keeping a low-profile and only reaching out to one old friend, Pete, to stay with while he's here. But once he's back in the city, it's like he's never left.

And what's a 'cat master'?

King City is an OEL manga by Brandon Graham. When we interviewed Graham this time last year, he was hard at work on this 100+ page book. Finished, the book is now available in better comic stores nationwide and will be released to bookstores this summer. We caught up with the self-proclaimed "nerd ronin" to get the lay of the land in the city of kings.

Newsarama: The lead character in King City, Joe, is a cat master. As it turns out, a 'cat master' isn't a one-of-a-kind thing but almost a secret profession. Can you give us a little bit more detail on the cat masters?

Brandon Graham: The cat master is a serious dude that is trained in the dark arts of cat, trained to use a cat as the ultimate tool or weapon for any situation. With the right injection the cat can become anything: cat periscope, cat-apult anything. And on top of that, the cat's a genius that can solve any problem or perform any kind of brain surgery or rocket science that Joe might need. It really puts a utility belt to shame.

The first book just follows Joe and his cat but the idea was that there's cat masters all over the world, Each one with his own adventures going on. I like that stuff. It blew my mind when I was a kid the first time I saw the car Voltron after only knowing about the lion Voltron, that there were more teams out there.

I'm putting together book 2 right now where a bunch of cat masters show up and it's been a fun time. I've got a guy that wears like 50 black cats as a fur coat and another guy that has a Manx: a cat of none tails.

NRAMA: Are you specifically aiming for cat lovers?

BG: [laughs]

NRAMA: Joe's cat… he's awesome. Where can I get one? Where did Joe get him, and learn how to use him the way he does?

BG: The cat masters are recruited by an organization called the Party that goes out looking for people they think will do some good in the world with a cat that can do anything.

But cat masters aren't there to fight crime or anything stupid like that there's cat masters that are just really into cooking or lumber jacking.

NRAMA: How did the idea for a cat with these kinds of abilities, and cat masters?

BG: Originally the cat master was just a guy in a suit, he was a side character in another story I was doing-- I liked the idea of this guy being all stone faced serious while pulling a cat out of his brief case to use it as a weapon. I think a lot about avoiding clichés's in my work like I try not to have guns or anything in my comics I thought a cat would be a good weapon.

NRAMA: Joe's a spy, and makes no apologies for it. What kind of jobs does he take?

BG: Joe is mostly a lock picker and thief that grew up in the spy underworld. So he takes lots of jobs just stealing things that are hard to get at.I didn't want money to ever be anyone's motivations, 'cause that's just boring. In king city spies generally work for secrets or information, weathered old treasure maps written in long dead alien languages.

"Spy gold"

NRAMA: As the book starts, Joe is just getting back into King City after a long absence training with other cat masters. But Joe's memories of King City aren't all good, and he's reluctant to be back. Can you tell us about Joe's feelings towards King City?

BG: It's rough to go home sometimes, places hold memories. When he comes back home he's still broken up over girl he was seeing when he lived there.

The girl, Anna is in the book too, She works for a mustache company that pays her to paint mustaches on other peoples billboards and living with her new boyfriend, Maximum Absolute. He's a veteran of the Korean xombie wars. It's hard fighting the undead. He came back covered in scars and addicted to a drug that slowly turns the user into the drug.

Life's tough in the big city, all around.

NRAMA: Back into town after a long absence, Joe hooks up with his luchadore-masked friend Pete. Can you tell us about Pete?

BG: Pete's a real contrast to Joe, he doesn't swear and is really into gardening and spending a relaxing evening building machines. I think he eats a lot of whole wheat.

Growing up he was part of a gang of gang of guys that all wore masks. The gang broke up years ago but he still wears the mask. Now he works for a mob style gang called the Racquet Club. Moving alien porn. But Pete's a nice guy and when he gets a job delivering a young alien to be used by these goons it starts to rub him the wrong way.

NRAMA: As Pete tells Joe, since he's been gone a new gang called the Owls have made a firm grip on the King City underground. What are they about?

BG: The Owls are a gang with good intentions to Batman up king city save it from itself . Pete really doesn't like them. Kind of a reflection of how it is when you meet up with people that are all fired up about ways to save the world that you just don't like as people. It was a big revelation of mine that good intentions don't necessarily save you from being a douche-bag. The Owls are dangerous, highly trained team of douche-bags.

NRAMA: King City. You've a bit of a traveler, so can you tell us some real life places that inspired you in creating King City?

BG: Most of the scenes in the city were me trying to draw places I've been. I've spent most of my life in Seattle and New York so there's a lot of those cities in there.

You forget the little things when you leave home for a while. One time I returned to Seattle after being gone for awhile, I got off the bus and a guy asked me for a cigarette I said that I didn't smoke and kept walking he yelled back "Yeah you better keep walking" I was like "yep, I'm home"

King City has that kind of charm.

NRAMA:. And lastly.. why does Joe do what he does? Why not something more – safe?

BG: I think it's the life he's used to. He's good at picking locks and it's a harsh world.

I don't think he ever has any intention of getting into trouble but if a pretty girl looks you dead in the eye and tells you to go check out a den of cannibals you might just be curious enough to go.

[BanMan]

This sounds like a lot of fun. I may give it a look.

[MWieringo]

KING CITY is just a wonderful book-- and Brandon Graham is an immensely talented creator. I can't recommend this book highly enough.. I just don't have the words to express how much I enjoyed it.

Never having seen Brandon's work before this book-- I'm an instant fan.

[DiBari]

Congrats Brandon! this stuff looks amazing, i'll be picking it up for sure

[KentL]

Am I the only one having problems seeing the art? I can see the cover, but not the interior stuff.

[NightRiver]

I saw this on the shelf a few weeks back at the comic shop. I never heard of it, but the cover and cool looking art style caught my eye. It had a look and feel to Corey Lewis, so I picked it up and I’m glad I did. King City has everything. Comedy, action, drama, cool as ninjas, xombies, gangs, super genius cat, sasquatches, and my personal favorite, a sexy mystery chica with a big badunk a dunk! I really like Joe’s drawing of the sexy chica, it was just a big ass.

Hey Brandon, when can we expect Vol. 2? Also, can you please put more crossword puzzles in future installments?

[johnchrist]

I've been patiently waiting for this book to show up in my box at my Local Shop (trying to keep the money local as opposed to giving it all to Amazon) I hope it's there when I pop in in a few weeks.
Everything else Brandon Graham has done is downright amazing, it exudes fun, I just can't get enough of it!

[TonyBedard]

Brandon Graham! Good to see you still stormin' the castle! I couldn't make much happen for ya at Vertigo back then, but it's a pleasure to see you living the dream.

Drop me a line some time on my CBR forum, dude.

Tony Bedard

[Gusnorman]

Brandon Graham does some of the finest "Post-Manga" stuff out there.

[Gusnorman]

Yeah the interior pages aren't poppin' up

[Illustr8r]

Why do white numbskulls insist on calling their comics "manga"?

[Nate-Earth 2]

Originally Posted by Illustr8r

Why do white numbskulls insist on calling their comics "manga"?

Well, that sounds a little harsh, but i would have to say i dont see why this is called manga. I understand that, these days unfortunately anything that resembles actual Japanese manga is called "manga", something i don't agree with; but, this doesn't even look like manga, or even manga-inspired art. I guess its just called that because its released by TokyoPop.

[Chuy]

I'm totally buying this manga. At first I was all ... nah it's not weird enough but now with the luchadores, and the ex-girlfriend issues, and the working for a mustache company ... yeah sounds like fun I'm all over it. But I can't see the interior pages either ...

[Ayo]

Originally Posted by Illustr8r

Why do white numbskulls insist on calling their comics "manga"?

As Rob Tokar, the big boss at Tokyopop (Editor-in-Chief) says: Tokyopop calls all of their comics manga for branding purposes. They treat all of their books equally and do not present them on a sliding scale. That means they're all called the same thing by the company.

I think you'll note that the artist in question actually doesn't refer to his book as "manga."

Originally Posted by Gusnorman

Brandon Graham does some of the finest "Post-Manga" stuff out there.

True story. Incidentally, that's what I think of the stuff as: post-manga.

It's informed by the sensibilities of Japanese comics, but filtered through a different culture than Japan and thus becomes something different and unto its own. If we must use labels, "post manga" more accurately describes Graham, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Becky Cloonan, Corey Lewis, Felipe Smith and those kinds. I think that some of the more manga-centric creators for whom Japanese comics are the primary and overarching influence (and I'm not knocking them in any way), the term "OEL" (Original English Language) fits appropriately.

That's my view.

[J O R Z A C]

Originally Posted by Illustr8r

Why do white numbskulls insist on calling their comics "manga"?

WTF!!??!
Dude, you should learn to rephrase the things you want to say, the author himself said it wasn't manga, and Tokyo Pop does label their books that way.
And you're calling HIM a numbskull.......

[IvanBrandon]

KING CITY is my favorite book of 2007 so far.

[KentL]

Originally Posted by Chuy

But I can't see the interior pages either ...

Apparently, there's no interest in fixing it, either.

[Iamkind]

"I think a lot about avoiding clichés's in my work like I try not to have guns or anything in my comics" Brandon Graham

Isn't that a cliché in and of itself?

"I love the cliché
clichés were once the truths
that now rest in junkyards
only used for their parts" K-OS

[Ayo]

Originally Posted by KentL

Apparently, there's no interest in fixing it, either.

No worries:

http://www.tokyopop.com/P-66/

You can read an extended preview on the King City Tokyopop page in the link above.

[KentL]

Originally Posted by Ayo

No worries:

http://www.tokyopop.com/P-66/

You can read an extended preview on the King City Tokyopop page in the link above.

Sweet! Thanks!