ERIC POWELL ON GOON YEAR

[MattBrady]

by Vaneta Rogers

If you're Chinese, or have spotted the fact on a placemat at a Chinese restaurant, you may be under the impression that 2008 is the Year of the Rat.

Nope. Not for fans of The Goon and its creator Eric Powell: 2008 is what they are calling Goon Year.

While the rest of us rang in the New Year with our usual champagne popping and off-key singing, Powell didn't take the change in calendar year quite so lightly. As 2008 started, his Goon series started going through some changes, and this calendar year will see even more concocted by the creator.

One of the biggest changes is that The Goon comic series, which just relaunched, is coming out every single month, something rare for a comic book that is drawn and written by one creator. And Powell has promised the comic will deliver an issue each month until the end of the year, come rain or shine or even aforementioned off-key singing.

Another change Powell has promised is that this year, the Goon characters will be growing and moving forward in the stories he's telling. With last year's hardcover graphic novel Chinatown, Powell departed from his usual humor-laced, one-issue adventures to tell a more serious and much bigger story about the main character's dark background. While the writer/artist has now returned the monthly series to its quirky, humorous style, the Goon's fleshed-out background is allowing him to devote more attention to how the series can move The Goon and his supporting cast forward, wrapping up more of their old storylines and allowing them to hit some new adventures and changes that are coming up.

A comic book that has won three Eisner awards, The Goon follows the adventures of a muscular mobster known as The Goon and his sidekick Franky, the two battling everything from aliens to ghosts to zombies in a universe that is filled with such freakish creatures.

Newsarama sat down with Powell to talk about Goon Year, how he's now approaching the comic post-Chinatown, and what readers can expect as the comic continues coming out every month this year.

Newsarama: Eric, while you were working on Chinatown, there weren't any issues of The Goon coming out regularly, so from readers' point of view, you were away from the character. But you're back in full force now, aren't you?

Eric Powell: Yeah, which is kind of funny. I caught a little bit of flack from some of the readers about being away, but to me, I was constantly working the entire time. So it seemed like there was no break. I could understand their point of view. We did put out the anthology with other creators just to keep it out there a little bit.

But now we decided to take this thing monthly for a year as my way of trying to get it back out there and making up for the lost time when I was working on Chinatown.

NRAMA: The Goon already has some hardcore fans, but after your Action Comics stint with Geoff Johns got you the attention of some other comics fans, is the thought that maybe this is a good time for those people to check out your work on The Goon as it goes monthly?

EP: I hope so. I had several reasons for doing the Action Comics story. Getting to draw an iconic character, and I really love Bizarro, so I really wanted to do that -- and getting to work with Geoff Johns and Richard Donner. But also, The Goon factor comes in there. [laughs] I thought, you know, "some of these people might come check out my work on The Goon," so that was definitely a factor. I hope they do. I hope some of the people who read Action Comics but haven't read The Goon before pick it up and try it out, and hopefully like it.

NRAMA: I know you've been asked this before, but for people who might be reading this interview just to find out more about this comic they've never read, what's The Goon about? How would you describe it?

EP: That's the hardest question I get asked. "So what's this about?" In general terms, it seems kind of silly, but it's about this street thug who lives in a world of monsters, and he kind of goes around and punches things in the face. That's a general explanation. It's hard for me to even nail down. It's a comedy but it's kind of bleak and dark, and sometimes it's serious, and sometimes it's completely absurd. It's a little hard for me to explain.

NRAMA: Is this new launch of the comic in 2008 something new readers can pick up and understand?

EP: I've always had the idea from the beginning that I wanted to do issues that were self-contained where you can read them and you'd get a story. Even if you didn't know some of the characters' back-history or something like that, you were still getting a bit of a story so it doesn't feel like you read one chapter of a book and you just feel kind of lost.

I think the new stuff is kind of getting away from that a little bit, though. It's on a monthly schedule and I'm trying to tell a bigger story. I think it's still accessible because there are still single stories taking place from issue to issue, but I think it's something that, if someone was just picking it up in the middle of these issues, they would probably want to go back and find some of the trades or something -- just to get some of the backstory on some of the characters.

NRAMA: And after the seriousness of Chinatown, is The Goon back to its wacky self?

EP: A little bit. It's going to go back and forth. Chinatown was definitely a departure because there was absolutely no humor in the book. But there are some serious elements coming up in the story that also tie into Chinatown. But I'm definitely trying to keep the humor in there too. I don't want to ever go with one or the other. I want to keep it entertaining and keep people guessing what they're going to get.

NRAMA: Was the more serious direction of Chinatown influential on how the book now has a little different tone?

EP: I think so, just because there were so many things that I wanted to resolve in the plot after Chinatown. Before Chinatown, the stories seemed to be kind of rambling along. I was hinting at bigger ideas and bigger stories, but I had never gotten to the point where I could execute them. I was always waiting for the right time to do Chinatown. I wanted to build up a little bit of momentum and tease about it periodically in the comic. And I think I did that a little bit too much 'cause people started to get a little bit annoyed. "When's Chinatown? When are we going to find out what happened there?" You know? But I finally did it.

Now it's kind of freeing up all these other plotlines that I've been planning to pull out after Chinatown. So with the monthly series, when it comes to the end of this 12 months, people will say, "Oh, all this stuff was going somewhere. It wasn't all just a bunch of goofy, jokey nonsense."

NRAMA: So there's a road ahead and you see a resolution to what's been happening and changes coming in the future?

EP: Yeah, definitely. Things are going to change. It's not going to be a comic where it just stays exactly the same and he's got the same antagonist and that kind of thing where it's just stagnant and you see where it's been and where it's going.

NRAMA: Is that "change" something that you wanted to do from the beginning? Or is that something that happened after you saw enough success to move the comic forward?

EP: All these things that I'm doing now, I've always had the idea. With Chinatown, I always had the idea of Chinatown from the very beginning. I mean, when he first showed up and he had those scars, I knew where he got them and how it happened. But it evolved a little bit over time. You know, as you go, it changes and you get better ideas. So all the things I'm doing now, the general ideas have been in place, but the details have changed and it's evolved a little bit. It's always something I had in mind. I think I am getting a little braver in my execution of them, though, or I'm feeling a little bit more confident that I can do different types of stories.

NRAMA: For long-time readers of the series, can you tell us anything about what's coming up in these 12 issues? Things or characters to look out for?

EP: Well, I will say that Buzzard is coming back and will be playing a very significant role in the monthly. There seems to be a lot of fans of that character, so they're going to be getting a lot of Buzzard.

NRAMA: You said there are some other changes coming. For the most part, aside from going back to his past in Chinatown, there haven't been huge changes for these characters. Is this a little scary for you to move these characters forward?

EP: Well, The Goon -- I think the real success of the comic is through the characters and the interaction and the dialogue, and how these characters react to situations. There's always going to be Goon and Franky, so I think I can take them and throw them in anything, and it will still be The Goon. The world may change and be different, but as long as I have those two characters and they stay themselves and I'm not trying to turn them into something else, I think it will be accessible to people who have liked the comic so far.

NRAMA: You talk a lot about the story evolving, but the artwork actually looks to have evolved too.

EP: A lot of that is Dave Stewart. He's helping it out with the colors. And I'm trying to keep the quality up. I think it's a huge leap forward for the look of the comic to have somebody who is just focused on the colors, so I can focus on the black and white art.

NRAMA: So is the addition of Stewart on colors what is enabling you to do The Goon monthly now?

EP: Well, it's a combination of me wanting to work on doing it, and bringing Dave Stewart in to do the colors. It's definitely a hard schedule because I'm still writing, drawing and lettering the comic, so it's still a lot of work. But having Dave come on to do the colors is helping out with the schedule. And I'm kind of bound and determined that it's going to stay on track this year.

NRAMA: So it's 12 issues in a row, this story you're telling?

EP: Yeah.

NRAMA: After these 12 issues, will it be a good breaking point? There will be an ending of sorts?

EP: Yeah. It wraps up after 12 issues. It's definitely a 12-issue storyline.

NRAMA: Are you planning to take a break after the 12 issues?

EP: You know, when I first started, I was thinking... "let's see how far this goes. Maybe I'll want to do this monthly." Now that we're in it a little bit? I'm completely going, "I'm taking a vacation after this!" [laughs] Last year I worked on the Goon Noir book, the anthology book, Chinatown and Action Comics -- all at the same time. And that was pretty rough. And then, I jumped right from that into doing the book monthly. It's kind of beating me up a little bit, so I think I'm going to have to take a little time off and kind of recharge the batteries a little bit before I get onto the next project.

NRAMA: When you take your break from The Goon, have you considered -- or have you been approached about -- doing something with your artwork similar to what you did on Action Comics?

EP: There have been a couple of things that have been thrown at me. If I had a ton of time, I would definitely be jumping at them. But I'm kind of getting to the point where I'm enjoying being able to do my own material. I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of that, rather than doing a lot of work-for-hire stuff. So I've got a couple of one-shot ideas that aren't Goon related that I want to do, but I also have the next Goon project in mind, so I imagine that I'll take a little time off to do these two one-shots, then jump back onto the next Goon thing.

[Blackbeard]

Powell is the man--and Goon continues to be one of the most fun, consistent books on the shelf.

Good luck in '08, man! I hope it's a huge one for ya!

[hellboy666]

Long live the Goon!!!

[thingone]

As funny as it was, I always thought pre-Chinatown Goon had twinges of bittersweetness and regret that added depth to the characters and stories. Those qualities emerged as the main ones in Chinatown. So now, there is even more richness to the Goon.

Long live the Goon.

[batlash]

Not much I can add beyond the fact that I'm impressed time and time again by Powell's art (and his writing ain't bad either). I look forward to new issues of "The Goon" more than any other monthly (well, "Fables" too). It's just great to see success find someone so genuinely talented.

Here's hoping one of those one shot deals turns out to be a Batman story. I'd really like that.

[captainzero]

Originally Posted by thingone

As funny as it was, I always thought pre-Chinatown Goon had twinges of bittersweetness and regret that added depth to the characters and stories. Those qualities emerged as the main ones in Chinatown. So now, there is even more richness to the Goon.

Long live the Goon.

I agree.
Powell's Goon continues to grow ...and there is a real richness to the stories. I'm glad Powell is "expanding" his stories beyond the earlier tales.
I really enjoyed the "team-up" with Hellboy. Everyone was handled so well.
One of the things I like most about the Goon is the relationship between him and Franky. It's wonderful to see such a partnership and understanding between these friends. I hope it continues to build .... Franky and The Goon -- together--- is great comics.!!!
Best of luck in 2008!! I'm along for the ride!! Keep growing!!

[grphxkindaguy]

I lost interest in The Goon b/c of & during the long hiatus and didn't return. But it was a really funny book to read when I read it in singles. Powell has a warped sense of humor, which fits me fine!

I may return for future tpbs, we'll see!

[Wellness]

The Goon is definately one of my favorite comics. I don't often buy every issue of a series (more of a trade man) but the Goon is one of the few that tempts me like crazy and I usually find myself picking up.

[finn5fel]

The Goon is awesome: great story, phenomenal artwork, quirky situations, and laugh-out-loud dialogue. A terrific read!

[thingone]

Originally Posted by captainzero

One of the things I like most about the Goon is the relationship between him and Franky.

And that was developed a great deal in Chinatown. While I always liked Franky as a sidekick and source of laughs, I came away from Chinatown with a much greater appreciation of him.

[Whipsnakes]

The best book on the stands and in my all time top 10. I love it. Everyone owes it to themselves to at least crack open an issue to see if they like it, chances are they will.

[king kahn]

i actually met powell at a convention a few weeks ago. nice guy, he drew a sketch ina couple comics and a copy of chinatown for me.

a week later i saw him at a bar which was kinda funny. never realized he lived so close.