UP AND COMING: VASILIS LOLOS

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

While some of us may be delighted by the biggest and the most popular in the world of comics, we all realize that for every popular book, writer or artist there has to be a beginning. While there are many ways to success with each story finding its own route, there is one attribute that can be found in each one: talent. Up & Coming is a bi-monthly feature at Newsarama.com that seeks out the next generation of high-profile comic creators and profiles them today.

In this day and age, comics are a world-wide phenomenon. Although comics have long existed in separate cultures, in this day and age creators aren't bound by their location and can traverse great distances with the power of the internet and good comics. Cartoonist Vasilis Lolos from Greece is no different.

I first became aware of Lolos' work when cartoonist Becky Cloonan (DEMO, East Coast Rising) mentioned it on her DeviantArt account. Always looking for the new and the different, I went to Lolos' account and was amazed at what I saw. Soon after, I began hearing word that Cloonan & Lolos were touring comic conventions with a jointly-produced minicomic called Nebuli, along with Lolos' solo comic Hats. Although I wasn't at those conventions, I put the word out and got a copy through some shady sources and here we are.

Two words. Space Beer.

Newsarama: Can you give us a rundown of the comics you've done so far?

Vasilis Lolos: I've been working professionally the last 6 years in Greece. I got my first paying gig after winning the 9 Magazine annual national comic contest. Soon after I started doing short stories in 9 Magazine. I published several series with them including The Freakshow, Deathpop, Cyberpink and other. During that time I started on Omikron Negative, a minicomic/short film anthology CD-rom that I was self publishing with a friend of mine. At the time I joined forces with the newly made Subart team in their anthology. It was like a pop culture publication with a revolutionary feel. There I published my series Mick Ratt, the story of Minnie Mouse's born-dead fetus, among other things. My first graphic novel, Genitria, about a soldier from WWI that gets lost inside a vortex. The last thing I self published back home is a short anthology with two more of my Subart friends called GIN747, it is in English and available from www.gin747.com.

NRAMA: Do you plan on bringing these to American shores?

VL: Ooo no no no... too old.. maybe "Mick Ratt" stands a chance of a one-shot of cosmic search and random violence.

NRAMA: Hats, which you put together for APE 2006, is subtitled "a Vasilis Lolos experience". In reading and re-reading through the minicomics, it's definitely something different and fun. There are a lot of influences coming through here; can you tell us some comics that have really affected you?

VL: Hats is kinda like the aftermath of the steady Japanese and European comic diet that I was on as a kid. I made it almost a week before APE 2006 (we picked it up from the printer on the way to the airport!) so when my mind was like "MAN think, think something quick!" I turned to my basic training. When you read European comics, especially 70's circa Moebius, you cannot help but to take notice of the hats characters are wearing. [laughs] There are some pretty outrageous ones.

That and the fact that I was eating a lot of eggs at the time to prevent them from going bad (they went into my stomach) contributed to the majority of the plot.

NRAMA: Do you feel this rush to complete it produced something different than if you had more time to spend on it?

VL: I did it for pure fun and to have something new at APE, I didn't have much to go with and I wanted to feel that my trip was worthwhile.

NRAMA: You've worked by Becky Cloonan on several occasions, from writing lyrics to her Flight 2 story, to doing tones for East Coast Rising and also working with her on a self-published minicomic this year called Nebuli. How did you and she hook up, and what else do you have planned together?

VL: One thing I love about comics is that they bring people together. Becky and I share the same influential background, from comics to ______ hardcore bands. So when we started mailing comics back and forth it was pretty obvious that our styles and approach worked well with each other. We started Nebuli during an Alien movie marathon while discussing how crappy CG spaceships are and how much integrity the models had. We also have two more collaborations planned out for the distant and not so distant future; one includes men in secret societies bearing mustaches. It takes place in the 20's and it concerns extraordinary artifacts.

NRAMA: What would you describe Nebuli as being about, and where can people pick that up?

VL: Nebuli is about space, spacesuits, space beer and space ruins. It's about the exploitations of two young cadets who decide that when you reach the end of the universe there is only one thing you can do, comics! You can pick it up at conventions like the upcoming MOCCA and SDCC, although we'd like to start selling it online in the future. To make this comic we traded art jobs back and forth, from penciling, inking, writing, layouts, tones and everything in between. It was a really fun thing to do although we started it as a joke.

NRAMA: You recently moved from Greece to the United States to pursue comics. What does living in America provide you in terms of comics as opposed to living in Greece?

VL: I spend half of a year in Athens, Greece, and half in the US, mostly during convention season. I like the fact that the industry here is so vast and there is a scene for every format and type. There is also the matter of finally getting all the releases in time, without having the price jacked-up due to all the shipping to different countries until comics finally reach Athens! Monthlies reach Greece with a 2 month delay at times, and graphic novels sometimes more! Hahaha, Oh, the prices we get sometimes in euros, you have no idea, especially some years ago an average graphic novel would cost $30, $40, sometimes more.

I love going to conventions, you get a representation of the US comic scene coming throughout all of its spectrum. They are awesome places to meet other comic artists and whatnot, like Mike Mignola and Glenn Danzig.

The biggest advantage is being able to meet publishers at conventions. Although I have been working for years in Greece, the only access I had to the international industry was through the internet and that doesn't always get you very far. In Athens we have the annual Babel comic festival by Babel magazine but other then a glimpse of originals by mainly European artists there is no room for grand scale publishers. The equal to a publisher like that would be the weekly magazine 9 giving a chance to artists with its annual national comic competition.

NRAMA: Can you describe for us what the Greek comic scene is like?

VL: In the words of H.P. Lovecraft, "Unspeakable." [laughs]

Seriously though, like you would imagine it's small but its there you know? It's like the U.S. as far as its structure is concerned, but smaller, way way smaller. There is a vale of misery hovering above it at times but at least I have friends that they are out there trying to make something of it. There are comics there resembling Top Shelf publications, to anthologies and all. Greece has a heavy comic culture trough out the years but limited to political one panel strips. There are significant new additions to the scene in my opinion, like 9 Magazine, the Subart anthology and the Azodd magazine.

NRAMA: You've said you're working on two projects, Pirates of Coney Island and something called The Last Call. Can you tell us a little more about those?

VL: Pirates of Coney Island is written by Rick Spears and drawn by well, moi. I like to think of it as Lost Boys meets Grant Theft Auto! [laughs]

It is set in the Coney Island carnival area during its glory days. It's going to be an 8 issue mini series from Image, each issue is over 30 pages of comic, full color! It has a strong 80's feel to it and all the stuff I love like hot classic car chases, "scanner" lights mounted to hoods, hood slides, switchblades, bright pink! Aviator sunglasses, rolled-up sleeves, fists and teeth a-flying, devilocks, old school carney games, cotton candy and freak shows! If all goes to plan as it is so far, it will be solicited in July and it will hit the stores in October just in time for Halloween!

The Last Call is much different. It is going to be a trilogy of graphic novels about two friends, a ghost train and a murder mystery. It is also a coming of age story, and the longest comic that I ever tackled. I started planning out this story last year; it's one of my pet projects. My main focus in stories was always the occult and the paranormal, so now that I'm going back to that genre I am really exited about it.

NRAMA: A while back there was an ashcan called Valentineby you and writer Rick Spears, put out through Gigantic Graphic Novels. Rick Spears is known primarily for his collaborations with artist Rob G, but this preview book really showed off the chops of the both of you. Can you tell us how you hooked up with Spears, and when you estimate this project to come out?

VL: Thank you! I totally have 90 pages of it finished, hehe! That was the comic Rick and I started before The Pirates of Coney Island was an option. I'd describe it as an electro-goth fairy-tale; it is a comic about a change of heart, literally. Initially we were talking about me doing a graphic novel for his company Gigantic, but I after some pages I decided that the initial project wasn't good enough. So I talked with Rick about another story I had in my head. I gave it to him to script it and we got Valentine. I want to get back to it at some point and I promise you, it will be out even if it ends up to be 600 pages.

NRAMA: With 90 pages in the can for Valentine, how many until the book is complete?

VL: Five hundred and ten! [laughs] Each time we go back to it, it gets longer and longer.

NRAMA: Ultimately, what kind of work would you like to do in comics?

VL: I want to make the best comics that I can. I love comics, I eat breathe and live comics. Coming from a country that when I was growing up everything pointed that there was absolutely no room for Grecian-made comics and the fact that I made them there and now I'm making them here in the U.S. really built a comic driving force in me. Yes, I want to make the best comics that I can.

I have a lot of stories to draw, I want to do so with companies that love them as much as I do.

NRAMA: What are your artistic influences for comics?

VL: So many... well I did see Akira on TV when I was nine and shortly after I got my hands on a translated copy of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns. That combination can mess-up a kid really good. I love Frank Miller; I love the shapes and the boldness of his ink. Katsuhiro Otomo had a huge impact on me, I love Mike Mignola's and Geof Darrow's work who I managed to meet at SDCC, and they are both awesome. I also love Guy Davis's works, the man is a genius.

NRAMA: What kind of formal training have you had in art?

VL: Under a waterfall throwing dragon punches!

NRAMA: Really?

VL: Nah, but close. Long story short, I dropped out of architecture school to do comics. I told you I have a huge comic driving force... Afterwards I went to a graphic design college to receive my degree in design and illustration. Funny thing is that we didn't even touch Photoshop... But if you want to talk about serious in-formal training, I'd say doing fanzines and minicomics.

NRAMA: In doing research for this interview, I found out that you played bass in a band called Autodivine, although you left. What prompted you to leave, and do you see any comparison between creating music and creating comics?

VL: I love playing music! I've been in like 6 bands the last years playing mainly punk and metal. We even had an electro-pop band and another punk band called Hadoken. With songs like "insert coin" and such. I find that there is connection between music and comics, even industry-wise hahaha, even my friend Con, who is the "leader" of Autodivine, is a Greek comic artist. I left them because since I was staying for a long period of time in the US, rehearsals and live shows would be impossible. There is definitely a connection between music and comics; I think they share a lot of the same sensibilities. I can't wait to start on a Pirates of Coney Island soundtrack!

For more information on Vasilis' work, visit his blog at http://www.steamrobo.blogspot.com/.

[c_andrew_s]

Amazing Stuff!

Thanks for a great article.

[omicron]

Amazing article. By the way,reading this made me understand why you must always follow your dreams....
A guy from athens interviewed by newsarama....as an amateur artist myself i have to say very inspiring stuf.
Best of wishes to Vasilis,I don`t know how many of us would risk going to the U.S. to persue our dream....working in comics...Great art by the way
καλή επιτυχία Βασίλη(=good luck Vasili)

[theodoros2]

Great creator.

I read his comics in the various magazines here in Greece.
And he is more than capable than many other artists here in Greece, Europe and States.

I am sure we wiil see more from him in the future.
Try to find as many stories of him as possible!

All my best wishes!

[TheFinn1225]

This is what American Comics need: More of that European "Metal Hurlant" flavor.

[christosgage]

When I was a kid living in Greece in the late '70's there was no Greek comics scene (at least, that I was aware of). Glad to hear there is a thriving one now!

[implikian]

as a fellow Greek, I can only wish all the best to Vasilis...
his stuff has indeed an Otomo-ish vibe and that can never be a bad thing...! I can easily imagine him drawing something like DMZ (a current personal favorite)...
again, all the best...

cheers...

[jasinmartin]

Another great article in a truly great series, spotlighting the exciting up and coming artists out there.

I'd seen Vasilis' work via DA too, and I'll keep an eye out for his stuff at cons and in shops!

[johnchrist]

Always a huge fan of Becky Cloonan's, I picked up Nebuli at Ape and it was F-ing genius as well as hi-F-ing-larious!

[jameslucasoni]

Vasilis is one of the most humble, talented, and dedicated creators working in comics today. He's got a unique artistic voice and the perseverance to make sure you hear it! PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND is going to be awesome and I can wait to see what else he has up his sleeve!

[eric_image]

PIRATES is indeed going to rock. Both Vasilis and Rick are doing some amazing work with this project.

[AlextheGreek]

Good Luck.

I will be looking for your stuff!

[becky c]

the time to rock is upon us!!!

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by c_andrew_s

Amazing Stuff!

Thanks for a great article.

Big ditto. I think Vasilis is going places. I'm looking forward to seeing more from him. Best of luck.