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10-31-2006, 12:27 PM
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CB CEBULSKI ON WONDERLOST
 by Vaneta RogersIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...we had everything before us, we had nothing before us... When Charles Dickens wrote that now famous opening to his novel A Tale of Two Cities, he captured more than just the mood of 1775 Europe. His words also reflect that sense of bygone innocence we've all experienced -- a time when the world lay before us with the exciting promise of discovery and endless possibilities, and the eventual realization that we lived through something both terrible and magical at the same time. In other words, those days before our wonder was lost. C.B. Cebulski is revisiting that time in his life and taking readers along for the journey in the quarterly anthology Wonderlost, coming from Image Comics in December with an issue the publisher calls “Fast Times at Ridgemont High meets Mean Girls." Frequently humorous, sometimes touching, and always surprisingly honest, the stories in Wonderlost are an autobiographical collection of the memorable moments in Cebulski's youth -- a time he remembers as embarrassing and difficult, yet a lot of fun to revisit. Newsarama took some time to talk to Cebulski about the anthology, why he felt the time was right to look back on that era of his life, and exactly how well we're all going to get to know him through these stories. Newsarama: We've talked before about comics you're writing, but this one's really different. It's about you! C.B. Cebulski: It is about me! It's pretty much autobiographical. The period of my life when I was probably a sophomore in high school through my sophomore year in college. NRAMA: So we're going to find out more about what you were like in high school, although it's probably safe to guess you were a comic book reader. CBC: I was the kid in school who was the comics reader. Not so much the comic geek. [laughs] Comics really has nothing to do with the book. But no one is surprised that I'm working in the industry I am, because I was a comic guy back then. This concentrates strictly on the misadventures of a wayward youth growing up in a rural town. It's the drunken stories and the loves and losses of your average high school male. NRAMA: What in the world motivated you to be so honest about your past, C.B.? CBC: Well, I go out with people, and I tell all these stories about all this random stuff that happened to me growing up in high school or college, figuring it was stuff that everyone else has gone through. And everyone just always says, "Oh, you have to write that down!" or they'd remember the story and later say, "Oh, you've got to tell so-and-so that story." And it just kept going and going and going. Finally someone encouraged me and said, "You have to write that in a comic." I thought about it for awhile. To me, there wasn't that much that was unique about it, because it's just stuff that happened in my life. But putting it down on paper now, and looking back, I can see that it was pretty interesting stuff that I lived through. Now I just say, "Wow, did I really do all this stuff?" It's pretty bizarre. NRAMA: But at their core, they're probably stories that we can all identify with. After all, everybody lived through those "firsts" of youth. CBC: Yeah, it's going to be something that everybody can identify with. You know, fights with your girlfriend to the first time you get drunk and get grounded by your parents, and you know, your first care wreck, your first lie, the first time you spent the night at your girlfriend's house when you were growing up. It's things everybody's gone through at some point in their life. It's just my take on it. I'm just hoping that I'm going to be able to take those truths that we learn in high school and put them in the context of my life, but people are going to be able to look at them and laugh, and that they're going to have gone through similar situations. NRAMA: And yet you've got some interesting twists in these stories. CBC: I always have the worst of luck. I'm one of those "if-anything-could-go-wrong-it-will-go-wrong" people. And things always tended to go wrong. NRAMA: And that's how stories are made! The title of the comic, Wonderlost, refers to ...? CBC: It is a play on "wanderlust." But it's also that when you get older, you kind of lose that wonder that you had when the world was new and fresh and everything was opening up new in front of your eyes. Now the world is more jaded, and this is me trying to go back and capture that lost wonder. NRAMA: And you're 35 now. So you've been out of high school... CBC: ... almost as long as I was in school. Yeah. NRAMA: So you really can look at it a little more objectively now. CBC: That's true. But I've never lost that high school attitude I had. It's something that my parents and my friends always joke with me about. It's like sometimes I feel like I never left high school. I'm always the one's who's out joking and staying out late and doing the mischief and the funny stuff. But the stories about high school -- be it the '50s, '60s, '70s or '80s -- they're still popular because everyone can relate to them. You look on TV now, and things like Laguna Beach and the new series of dramas -- there's always some kind of high school thing in there, and comedies like That '70s Show and the American Pie movie. It's an evergreen genre, the teen genre. And this is my take on it. It's a real open, honest approach. NRAMA: Because these stories are true. CBC: Yeah, but you look at a lot of those movies like when Cameron Crow and Amy Heckerling did Fast Times or even more recently like when the Weitz brothers did American Pie -- nobody really comes out and says it, but the stuff in those movies really happened to people. They're all true stories guised in the form of fiction. This is almost the exact same thing. It's exactly like one of those stories, but it's me saying, you know, this isn't fiction -- this is fact. This really happened to me. NRAMA: This is pretty different from the other stuff you've been working on. No superheroes here. Is it scary to go in that direction toward the more autobiographical stories? CBC: It is scary in some ways, but in other ways it's not. I've usually very open about my personal life, and anyone I work with or know can pretty much ask me anything. I'm pretty honest that way. So me putting myself out there in this regard -- it's nothing knew to the people who know me. But putting it on a larger scale to the general public where anybody can go out and read this is kind of making me a little trepidacious in a way. NRAMA: If these are true stories, aren't people from your past going to recognize you -- or worse, themselves? CBC: Yeah. Yep, they are. The word's already getting around. After I left high school, I really didn't stay in touch with a lot of the people. I've been putting this book together for about a year now, and I started showing the artwork and telling some of the stories to certain people I know from back then. The word started spreading, so all of the sudden I'm getting emails from people I haven't heard from in literally 17 or 18 years -- since I graduated high school. They're like, "Hey, I heard this was going on." I think people are getting a little bit nervous. [laughs] NRAMA: Should they be nervous if their name is in it?  CBC: Likenesses are going to be the same, but I am changing the names just slightly. It's the kind of thing where the names have been changed to protect the innocent. But my name will still be my name.NRAMA: Yeah, but is there anything in there that would make someone mad or embarrassed? CBC: Well, there is ... [laughs] I can't believe I'm going to go online saying this. But there's one story in there. You see, the way it started out was that the stories were going to be pretty much chronological. But then I decided that the stories didn't fit together and it was better to put them together thematically. And it just so happens that the first issue coming out in December is more about romance. NRAMA: Ah, the joys of teenage dating. CBC: Yeah. It's about the ups and downs of my high school dating life. And some of those stories involve sexual situations that could be embarrassing for certain people involved -- myself being the main one, of course. There's one story in there that's actually pretty funny that happens with one of the girls I was dating at the time. It's kind of funny. And when my old girlfriend saw it -- a different girl -- she said, "Uh oh. So-and-so isn't going to be happy when she sees this." It's something that everybody in high school knew about, but it's one of those American Pie-type stories that could be embarrassing. NRAMA: Come on, C.B., aren't you going to be embarrassed yourself? CBC: Uh ... a little bit. Yeah. [laughs] I am putting myself out there. I'm interested the most in seeing how people who know me but don't know me as well react. Because I hear things about a lot of friends of mine, and they say they did things in high school that surprises me because I can't see them going through that stuff. So I'm sure there are people who know me through my different relationships, particularly through business, who see me as more straight-laced. Me coming out here is going to open up doors for talking about alcohol and drugs and sex and things that may make people look at me differently. But you know what? In the end, if they can't deal with who I am because of what I went through, then that's their problem. NRAMA: That was a long time ago. CBC: I didn't inhale. [laughs] NRAMA: Sure you didn't. CBC: My mother always likes to remind me who the person is who will be most embarrassed by this book. She's like, "You can't be putting this out! We're not in it, are we?" None of my family's in it. Not yet anyway. My sister and brother are dying to be in a story. NRAMA: Well, maybe down the line you can squeeze them in. The first one comes out in December and focuses on romance. What about the next one? CBC: It will come out in March or April. The stories that are in that are probably more of what people would expect from high school stories. That's more of the Animal House, kind of drunken adventure issue. The first one's more like the Fast Times at Ridgemont High meets Mean Girls kind of issue. NRAMA: Is this an ongoing, or are there a limited number of stories you have to tell? CBC: I'm just going to keep going for as long as I can. They're going to concentrate on different times in my life depending on where the stories take me. Like I said, I didn't expect the first issue to be all romance-type stories, but that's how it ended up. The second one ended up to be all kind of drunken, funny stories. I've got the next two planned out, and then I think the fifth one is going to be about my time in Japan. You know, you hear a lot of stories and see a lot of movies about Japan, but this is going to be interesting because here's a foreigner living in Japan, and it's from that perspective. I'm going to show a side of Japanese life and culture that I don't think many people have been exposed to before. NRAMA: How many stories are in each one? Does it vary? CBC: It's going to vary. There will be between four and five in each issue. NRAMA: How have the artists reacted to telling your embarrassing stories? Has it been strange seeing your life drawn by artists? CBC: The weirdest thing is that I provide pretty detailed reference to all the artists. And the diversity of the artists is very interesting because you're going to see a lot of different styles -- from someone who's a little more cartoony to someone who's photo-realistic and everything in the middle. Seeing myself and the people I grew up with drawn in these different styles has been extremely interesting. And seeing how the artist reads my script and interprets it in his mind versus how it really played out in my mind has been one of the more interesting things about it. NRAMA: Who are the artists for the first issue we'll see in December? CBC: Paul Azaceta, who does Talent for Boom! Studios and he just did Grounded at Image; a new talent by the name of Ethan Young, who does a self-published book called Tails; an up-and-coming artist named Khoi Pham, who just did the What If? Spider-Man: The Other story at Marvel; Alina Urusov, who is an animator and is doing a beautifully illustrated story; Jonathan Luna, of Girls and Ultra fame, who will be doing a little short about my last high school fling before college, working in a cool new style that should really show his artistic diversity; and Martin Montiel, who's an ex-Top Cow guy -- he did the most embarrassing story of the group. NRAMA: Did he say he was embarrassed to draw it? CBC: When I sent him the script, I said, "Are you going to be OK illustrating this?" There's no nudity or anything like that, but it deals with a sexual situation that would make men and women uncomfortable. It's just one of these things you learn growing up about the differences between men and women. And he was OK with it, and he did a fantastic job on it. There were certain places where he had to silhouette things out and handle it very, very tactfully. And he did. NRAMA: We talked about how different this type of story is for you as a writer. This is probably pretty different for readers, too. Why do you think people should give this comic a chance? CBC: You always hear the stereotypical cliché in a lot of movies that high school is the worst time in everyone's life. That's almost become a catch phrase. And yeah, going through high school and learning to adapt as you're growing up, as your body's changing and your mind is changing and you're learning more about life can be very hard. But in many cases, what people are afraid to admit, it's some of the best times of your life. And wouldn't we all like the chance to go back and capture that magic of when we were 17 or 18? When you're younger you always look back on high school as the worst time of your life, but when you get older you start seeing high school as a place where you want to go and you want to be able to look back at this. The way I'm presenting these stories is, yes, they're about me, but like I said, everybody's going to be able to find some instance in here or something they can relate to in each and every story. |
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10-31-2006, 12:51 PM
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#2 |
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At least they didn't run a "NOW" picture...
 And I suck big time for forgetting to mention that Leinil Yu illustrated that wonderful cover! Take care C.B. |
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10-31-2006, 12:56 PM
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#3 |
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Sounds really interesting. Ill pick up the first issue. I absolutely love how comics are branching out into different genres and types of stories. Comic arent just about Superheros anymore and thats a good thing.
EDIT: I must add that that cover by Yu is amazing. Any future interior work by Yu? |
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10-31-2006, 01:06 PM
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10-31-2006, 01:54 PM
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This sounds really interesting. Normally this isn't my cup of tea for comics, but I think that it could be a really interesting read. The impressive list of artists and C.B.'s talent certainly helps too. I might just give this a shot.
I really dig the honesty (or, well, the implications of honesty since I haven't read it) of this book. I can't imagine what it would be like to put out something autobiographical like this, especially when handing it off to someone else to illustrate it. Kudos to CB for that! As an unrelated side note, anyone else pick up Marvel Ultimate Alliance and chuckle at C.B.'s cameo as a "trustworthy and talented hacker"? |
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10-31-2006, 02:11 PM
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#6 |
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Wonderlost starts new trend
Apparently, there would be a lot more interest in this if CB had been a Zombie in high school. Sorry CB looks like we'll see you at the bottom of the Diamond sales chart on this one.
I love non-superhero books but this one still sounds like a snooze fest. Maybe if it had been about being drunk and random college sex or Zombies of course. I'm announcing an Anita Blake, Army of Darkness, Marvel Zombies and Guiding Light crossover to be drawn by Leniel Yu, Dexter Vines and written by Garth Ennis (with Del Gorky consulting to make sure it's consistent with previous continuity) that's about the embarrassing coming of age moments at my high school. Anita Blake: I didn't mean to literally eat your date! Del Gorky: Zoinks!! Ash: Man, I've just got the sweetest new model of Poulan. Let me take care of this unsightly corpse before it reanimates. Zombie Hulk: Hulk Hate Frog Dissection. Frog Not Tasty Either.  |
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10-31-2006, 02:29 PM
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#7 | |
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Thanks, Iowa!!
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Did that make it into the game? I know it was talked about but not sure if it made the cut. Take care, C.B. |
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10-31-2006, 02:33 PM
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Yeah, that may be true, Gorky, and I expected it going into this, but Wonderlost is a very personal project and one I just had to do. Sales were the furthest thing from my mind and I applaud Image in supporting me on this. I believe it in and they do too. I've never been prouder of anything I've written and I hope it shows when you read it. Maybe I'll drop a few zombies in issue two for you! Take care, C.B. |
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10-31-2006, 03:42 PM
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Big fan of this genre so I'm interested to see your take on it. Best of luck with the project!
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10-31-2006, 04:21 PM
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It did make it and was definitely worth a good laugh. At first I wasn't sure if I had even heard it correctly. I'm glad to see things like that as in-jokes to the comic fans. Best of luck with Wonderlost! I'll definitely be giving it a try. |
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10-31-2006, 09:13 PM
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#11 |
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Yu's cover make Cebulski look like a pimp.
I'll check this out, if only to see someone Else's embarrassing times in high school. |
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10-31-2006, 10:04 PM
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I already preordered your book at dcbservice.com. I was instantly drawn to it. |
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11-01-2006, 04:26 AM
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11-01-2006, 09:23 PM
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#14 |
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C.B. will each issue be formatted like a comic book or more like the prestige miniseries we see at DC with a real spine and heavier cover? If the latter, will issues be available through Amazon and to bookstores as though they were small graphic novels or will the issues be collected later for that kind of thing?
Also, are you doing any interviews on that Drain book? I ask because I haven't seen anything around. |
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11-02-2006, 09:38 AM
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An art preview and interview - Vaneta |
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11-03-2006, 08:03 PM
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 sounds like a potentially fun book. and lol @ the photo, always funny seeing these comic creators "back then" |
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11-05-2006, 09:08 PM
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I don't even know how many pages it is supposed to have, I preordered anyway. |
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11-06-2006, 02:30 AM
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Hey, Luke- Each issue of Wonderlost will be formatted like a regaular comic, but 64 pages in length, like the DC Solo books or Spider-Man Family titles from Marvel. I wish I could make them square-bound with a cardstock cover but it costs a bit too much $$ unfortunately. I hope you understand. They will be collected in trades later for the bookstore though, probably the first one hitting next summer. As for DRAIN, thanks for bringing that up. Vaneta has now asked for an interview and I will be answering her questions Tuesday for an upcoming article! Take care, C.B. |
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