SHUTTERBUG FOLLIES is the newest graphic collection by artist Jason Little. Born in 1970 and raised in Binghamton, New York, Jason studied photography at Oberlin College before moving to his current home in Brooklyn. Though you may know him best for his Xeric Award-winning JACK'S LUCK RUNS OUT about a hard drinking gambler down on his luck. Which has received acclaim from such creators as Matt Madden and Marc Bryant.
- 
- 
POPIMAGE: Before we move onto the premiere issue of REX MUNDI, lets tackle something people may be more familiar with - your popular webcomic BROTHER MATTHEW. When did this begin? Why did you decide to offer it as a free online strip, especially considering it maintains a higher level of quality then most online strips? And how does this tie into the world of Rex Mundi?
You know, it's funny, like I said before, initially the idea of a webcomic was just totally not something I thought I'd ever be into, but once we did start to do RM: BM it was such an instantly gratifying thing. It became something that really kept us going when things got tough. Putting out a comic isn't an easy thing, and especially not when you're essentially a two, sometimes three, person operation and you're trying to do things in a more macro fashion. You know really trying to make your book a success on a largish scale, but in an indy way, it gets really tough. So putting up the webcomic every couple weeks we got to feel like we accomplished something, and getting feedback from readers kind of kept us pepped up. But at the same time, we try to make BM as good as we can, and so it becomes this big production as well, especially promoting it. Honestly, working so hard to promote RM:BM, and in the process running across so many good comics on the web, I've done, like a ninety degree turn on my opinion of webcomics. I still love print comics and always will, but I routinely tell aspiring creators that are trying to get their thing going to consider the web, because it just makes sense for so many reasons. It's really very distressing, though, because almost without fail when you mention the option of doing a comic on the web as opposed to as a mini, for instance, they just get this look on their face that you just know means that they've tuned you out. On the one hand I guess I get it, I had that same initial reaction, but I hope that, if we're successful at all with Rex, some of these people will start to recognize the potential benefits that the web offers, especially to new talent. And to be fair, there is a small, but growing, community out there that's embracing the web as a tool and as a medium through which they can tell their stories and hone their craft. I find more and more, though, that there seem two fairly clearly delineated camps; one that embraces the web to the exclusion of print totally, and one that shuns the web completely in favor of print. It just seems a little absurd to me, up until now, we've utilized the web to both tell a story, complete unto itself, but that also would serve to promote our comic book in the best possible way, by displaying our ability. And, like I say, if we do have any success with Rex I think it's going to have to be recognized how important the web was in achieving that. Further, once the books starts coming out regularly, I hope that it'll be recognized how we're planning on using the internet and print comic in tandem to keep our readers engaged. And hopefully then the people that we try to talk to about this kind of thing will be a little more open to the possibilities. We'll see. | "I loved the idea of a secret tradition passed down from teacher to student over hundreds of years, and the idea that the Gospels' accounts of Christ's ministry were somehow incorrect or incomplete. I mean, how many stories could you write based on just that idea?" |
The church also maintains a power equating them to somewhat of a police force, was this based specifically on history or might this have been spurned on by current day events?
The setting is very specific and detailed. What made this time and place so important as to serve as the background to your story?| "Comics are an attractive medium to more people than I think many realize, but only if the medium is being used as a delivery system for stories that people want to experience." |
Honestly, I hope our relationship with Image continues and grows stronger, because I think, even with our sort of strange position with them as of right now, we really genuinely like the cats there, we're comfortable. It really seems to be a great place to put out a comic in a very indy sense, in that we're doing a lot on our own, but with the incredible support that they can offer as well as the increased audience that the "I" delivers. Arvid and I both have some ideas that we'd really like to pursue, and Image is, like I said before, just an ideal home for them, but we'll see what happens after Rex #0 comes out. Like I say, hopefully this is just the beginning of a nice long relationship with the "I", but if not, there is at least one other attractive possibility out there now, and we've got some friends there that would make it pretty comfortable as well.
What sort of target market are you trying to reach, offering something original in comics form, who do you expect your readers to be?
Matthew Blackett passes his days in Toronto as a graphic designer and freelance digital artist. When not discussing last nights episode of The Simpsons around the water cooler or getting hit on by the cleaning lady, Matt likes to pass his time creating the slice of life and politically charged comic strip; M@B. 
There's often a common trend among certain autobiographical comics of the dateless cracker ass loser freak. Did you have any worries of how you would come off to the reader in representing yourself in print? 
Do you see this project as more of a gallery piece or will you be using your photography to tell a story as well? 
At what point do you find yourself thrown to action? Actually attending the summit of the Americas is one thing, but when you see issues such as the OPSEU strike, or a rise in TTC fares... 
What's ahead for M@B? The character? The person?
POPIMAGE: Do you maintain a web portfolio of your work and how has it helped it terms of getting your work seen or getting feedback? 
POPIMAGE: I hear Nextcomics Editor In Chief Arni gets drunk at least once a week and randomly phones people around the world just to make animal noises. Is this true? 
POPIMAGE: How have each of you gone about promoting your work on Next? Or is this something you leave up to the site itself? Any offline promotion? Quite frankly I think the outdated Bazooka Joe strips could stand to have a few DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY pieces thrown into their wrappers. 
POPIMAGE: Webcomics: Easy way to tell your stories, or jumping board to print work? Both?
In addition to our interview with Nextcomics Editor in Chief Arni, we also decided to talk to some of the creative talent involved with Next Comics and discuss how they got involved, the future of web comics and the advantages of such.
POPIMAGE: Jim brought up a point in recognizing the Superfast manifesto and the idea of 'Instant Distribution'. How many of you work under or have done something in tune to the Superfast theorem? Does instant distribution seem like an accurate description for your online work? 
POPIMAGE: What does the future hold for you in terms of your work for nextcomics.com?
Coming in September, Wildstorm premieres with two new series from the writing team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.
Fighting against the system is an obvious theme in THE RESISTENCE, but how large a role do politics actually play within the series?
Speaking of environment. Much of how our environment changes is a result of energy and technology. For each new induction, the steam engine, electricity, atomic power, even the internet, our world changes with it. Was there any specific catalyst that lead to this new environment of the future? What sort of new technologies can we expect to see?
We know the main character is counting down to his death, but he's not exactly living each day to its fullest is he? Guy's got to make a living right?
It's been revealed that Preston is not the only one in his unique situation, will these others be introduced early off or will you be keeping the attention on the sole character for the most part?
How exactly will these powers manifest and in what form?
How to Read Superhero Comics and Why