Canadian Web Comic Interviews

Frank Cormier Author of "(Naught-)FRAMED!!!"

I grew up in one helluva perfect family -- I was a very lucky kid to have two wonderful parents, and two really cool younger sisters. Very smart, very kind, very open-minded, very big-hearted, growing up with my family was a pure delight.

I was born and raised in Dieppe, New Brunswick, a town close by to Moncton, in the southeastern portion of the province. It was a great little town, and again, I was really a fortunate kid -- I had tons of fun friends and neighbours to hang with and grow with and play ball hockey with... I went to your average small town public schools, all the way until I reached university. I went to the Universite of Moncton first as a fine arts students (that lasted a year -- I felt I wasn't learning anything there), then as a Phys.Ed. student (that also only lasted a year -- I was made to realize that it wasn't what I really wanted).
After that, I moved to Ottawa, and got a degree in Arts (conc. English Lit). Then I went to teach in Korea for a year. Then I came back to Ottawa to get my Honours degree, and finally I shipped off to Fredericton to earn myself a Master's Degree in English Lit.

And now here I am, an Acadian with WAYYYY too much schooling and way too little to show for it.

What was the first online comic you ever read?
Like so many others who first discovered webcomics in the late 90s, I first stumbled across Sluggy Freelance and Argon Zark at about the same time. Then I looked around, and found User-Friendly, and Evercrest (an Everquest parody). These four kept me occupied for about a year or so, and then I discovered Keenspot, and BOOM, I was hooked on about a dozen or so webcomics, with no possible escape or cure for me.

What were your favorite comics growing up?
Hmmm, a good question. I first discovered comics by finding my dad's stash of war and horror comics at our summer cottage (House of Mystery, the Unexpected, G.I. Combat, The Unknown Soldier, Weird War, etc.). When my dad figured out that I had been sneaking peeks at his comics, he decided I should read stuff a little more suited to a six/seven-year old, so he started buying me Superman, Archie, Richie Rich, Uncle Scrooge, and Green Lantern comics. Oh, and Star Wars comics, too. My love for everything DC grew slowly from that point on -- especially after I found my first Adventure Comics digest, and heard about Batman and the Spectre and the Legion of SuperHeroes.
When I got to high school, though, that's when I *really* started getting into GREAT comics -- Sandman, Gregory, Bone, Strangers in Paradise, The Dark Knight Returns, the Watchmen...that's when I started looking at WHO was behind the comics, too: the writers, the artists, the colorists, they all became benchmarks for my comic book choices... rather than favorite comic books, I was getting into favorite artists and writers -- Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Kurt Busiek, Frank Miller, etc.

Tell us how you began working on your web comic.
It was in 2000, after having been a faithful reader for about two years or so. One day, when reading Avalon, I decided to check out the 'About' page, and Josh was talking about how he'd thought to himself while reading Jeff's GPF, "Hey, *I* could do this!" Reading that made *me* think the same thing, and poof -- next thing you know, I was scripting up webcomic ideas, and FRAMED!!! was born.

What other writing or comics have you worked on?
Well, not counting my first comics when I was a little kid (The Plots, SunSpot, Maj.Burger, and all the weird stuff I kept coming up with in elementary school), I first got my taste of comic stripping at university, where I started up a comic in the college paper (the Fulcrum) in 1993. Like many other college kids that time, I started a comic about my roommates and friends called "Room 15". It enjoyed a modest level of popularity, but was far from the school favorite (which was "Lycanthropete"). My comic got a tad more popular when I switched it over to "the K Files", an X-Files parody which used the same characters from my "Room 15" strip. Sadly, most of those strips have been lost now, and they were by far the best college strips I'd done, too.

For readers not familiar with your work, can you tell us something about your web comic?
Well, simply put, (Naught-)FRAMED!!! has been an exercise in writing and art for me. The main plot idea goes thusly:
Four real people, friends of mine (in fact, the same people that were in "Room 15" and "the K Files", go figure), get literally *trapped* in a comic strip, where a mad cartoonist torments them constantly while they try to escape. To add to this weird scenario, it turns out that one of the people trapped in the comic is actually a past incarnation of the cartoonist himself... the cartoonist being me.
Essentially, this is a huge exercise in metastory, or story within story...within story. I'm a big fan of such concepts, and as such, love to mess with all the bounds of reality and fiction, for who's to say someone's not doing that very same exact thing with you and I right now?

Tell us how you acquired your artistic skills.
Simple -- I've been doodling since I was about 3 years old. It's all been about me drawing and doodling constantly since then, and learning through observation, really. Practice and observation are an artist's BEST learning tools, of that there is no doubt in my mind.

What artists have inspired/influenced your artistic and writing styles?
Umm... every artist I've ever read? While I claim no specific overt influence, I can quite honestly say that I am affected by EACH ARTIST I ever discover, to one extent or another. For example, Jeff Smith and Terry Moore and Frank Miller have all had a hand in my use of black and white, of positive and negative space. Heck, my own wife (who draws Eat the Roses and Vigilante, Ho!)'s work has influenced how I draw hands.
I like to think of myself as a sponge -- whenever I see stuff I like, I absorb it and try to add it to my own ever-growing pallette of skills and techniques.

Where do you get your ideas for story arcs or comedic relief in your comic?
Some ideas are based on current events, others are based on literature or history. Being an English Major, I can't help but want to always include subtle lit bits in my work. That said, I also really try to be as original as possible, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing, because it means I tend to avoid using cliche and overdone ideas, that I usually avoid following trends and fads. It's a bad thing, because it makes thinking of stuff REALLY hard sometimes.
Too often I will think of a really cool or funny idea, and then reject it outright because I realize it's similar to someone else's idea or too close to a current popular fashion or etc.

Your thoughts on the online comic community?
Still in its foetal stages. We started out with old techies in the 90s, and since then we've been seeing a mix of kids who are exposed to the cyberworld from a very young age and who are totally immersed in the 'Net-scape' from day one. And now, "average joes and janes" are peeking into this world, and liking it. This makes for three VERY distinct and different mentalities, and they have yet to completely resolve and harmonize... which makes for some *very* interesting exchanges and relationships.
Give it a decade or so and ask me that question again.

Being non-american, do you feel somewhat removed from many of the more mainstream web comics?
Nope, not at all. There are a GREAT deal of comic artists from all over the world publishing on the web, and most readers have no idea where they're from -- all they care about is reading the funny. Cyberspace allows for the ultimate Melting Pot: we're all Netizens first, and people from specific countries second. As such, a Canadian has as much chance of being popular as an American, as a Norwegian, as a Japanese webcartonist.

Does anything set you appart, being a Canadian comic artist, from other American web comics?
Not really, since I don't try to set myself apart by calling out my Canadian Identity. Of course, I don't hide it, either. Sure, we all still make jokes about ourselves or about Canuck/Yankee relations at times, but it's all in good fun.
Heck, if anything, I actually push my Acadian identity over my Canadian identity, and it's been really cool to see how many people all over the world have wanted to hear more about the Acadian people from me.

How, if at all, does being "Canadian" factor into the creative process?
Again, I don't see it personally as having much of an effect at all; the only major difference that a Canadian would have over an American or any other world citizen, of course, is regional influence and environment. A Tim Horton's joke will be understood by a Canadian more than anyone else, just like an In N Out will be understood by a West Coast American over anyone else.
I certainly don't try to make my comic "more Canadian", especially considering that the entire story/plot/premise takes place in a comic strip universe.

Have you ever attended any Canadian or American Comic Conventions?
Yep. I've attended the San Diego Comic Con three times now; in fact, that's where I met my wife! So NEVER let it be said that comic Conventions have nothing to offer!

Do you believe that popular cultures preoccupation with the Anime-style of art has diluted the overall quality of web comics, or improved it?
I believe that manga/anime is proving to be a great gateway engine for the comics and cartoon industry; it is opening up the mediums to a much wider demographic, and showing the world that comics are NOT just about people in colourful tights leaping over tall buildings.
That said, like any fad/trend, it also brings with it some dangers... a lot of people are emulating the more general manga/anime styles without actually looking INTO the history and art that spawned the trend. In other words, many people are tacking on big-eyed angular faces to stick-figure-like bodies and calling it manga/anime. They aren't realizing the incredible effort and work behind the pros' stuff; they aren;t realizing the wonderful VARIETY in style and appearance that exists in Asian art (i.e., not all animanga consists of big-eyed art!); they aren't paying attention to the exacting technical savvy and instead drawing in a generic "animanga" style because it seems "easier".
Luckily, there are still many who are sticking to other styles of art, and of those who have fallen under the animanga spell, there are some who ARE showing great skill and knowledge, who are becoming worthy craftsmen and craftswomen of the style...

What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites?
In point form:
TV CARTOONS
*the Simpsons
*the Family Guy
*Clone High, U.S.A.

MOVIES
*The Princess Bride
*The Truman Show
*Kill Bill
*Spirited Away
*Being John Malkovich
*Adaptations
*M*A*S*H

TV SHOWS
*That 70s Show

ANIME
*Excel Saga
*Photon
*Lain
*FLCL
*VanDread

If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you?
Prolly books -- Don Quixote, An Al Purdy poetry collection, and the complete works of Alan Moore (it doesn't exist, but man oh man, I'd KILL for a collection like that)
Or if we wanted to talk about survival -- a knife, a large plastic jug to hold water (that can be cleaned), and my wife (though she's not a thing, by any means!).

What books do you read?
I'm an ex-English Major... what DON'T I read?
Currently, I'm enjoying history books a lot... Just finished reading one on the Civil War, and another on the Acadian Deportation... And of course, as always, comic books.

How can somebody contact you?
Depends... physical contact can be made by touch, emotional contact can be made by love, spiritual contact can be made through words...
Oh, you mean for purposes of communication? Email is always the best bet -- damonk13@yahoo.com

That ends the interview, any last words of wisdom?
If I were Frank Zappa, I'd say don't eat yellow snow.

But I'm not, so I guess I'll just have to say this:

LIFE IS GOOD. Remember that, no matter how down or crappy you may be feeling, you'll be fine. Sometimes stuff may get you down, but Life? Life is always good. You just have to look for it, is all.

-Frank J. Cormier
http://www.damonk.com

Authors Favorite strips:

"You'd almost think I could draw!"
"I like the layout of this one."
"The Magic 'experimental infinite canvas'"
"Canadian content"
"My favorite bad pun ever"

Posted by B.Scott
Return to The Main Page - Canadian Web Comic Ezine



	Canadian Web Comic Interviews Frank Cormier Author of "(Naught-)FRAMED!!!" I grew up in one helluva perfect family -- I was a very lucky kid to have two wonderful parents, and two really cool younger sisters. Very smart, very kind, very open-minded, very big-hearted, growing up with my family was a pure delight. I was born and raised in Dieppe, New Brunswick, a town close by to Moncton, in the southeastern portion of the province. It was a great little town, and again, I was really a fortunate kid -- I had tons of fun friends and neighbours to hang with and grow with and play ball hockey with... I went to your average small town public schools, all the way until I reached university. I went to the Universite of Moncton first as a fine arts students (that lasted a year -- I felt I wasn't learning anything there), then as a Phys.Ed. student (that also only lasted a year -- I was made to realize that it wasn't what I really wanted). After that, I moved to Ottawa, and got a degree in Arts (conc. English Lit). Then I went to teach in Korea for a year. Then I came back to Ottawa to get my Honours degree, and finally I shipped off to Fredericton to earn myself a Master's Degree in English Lit. And now here I am, an Acadian with WAYYYY too much schooling and way too little to show for it. What was the first online comic you ever read? Like so many others who first discovered webcomics in the late 90s, I first stumbled across Sluggy Freelance and Argon Zark at about the same time. Then I looked around, and found User-Friendly, and Evercrest (an Everquest parody). These four kept me occupied for about a year or so, and then I discovered Keenspot, and BOOM, I was hooked on about a dozen or so webcomics, with no possible escape or cure for me. What were your favorite comics growing up? Hmmm, a good question. I first discovered comics by finding my dad's stash of war and horror comics at our summer cottage (House of Mystery, the Unexpected, G.I. Combat, The Unknown Soldier, Weird War, etc.). When my dad figured out that I had been sneaking peeks at his comics, he decided I should read stuff a little more suited to a six/seven-year old, so he started buying me Superman, Archie, Richie Rich, Uncle Scrooge, and Green Lantern comics. Oh, and Star Wars comics, too. My love for everything DC grew slowly from that point on -- especially after I found my first Adventure Comics digest, and heard about Batman and the Spectre and the Legion of SuperHeroes. When I got to high school, though, that's when I really started getting into GREAT comics -- Sandman, Gregory, Bone, Strangers in Paradise, The Dark Knight Returns, the Watchmen...that's when I started looking at WHO was behind the comics, too: the writers, the artists, the colorists, they all became benchmarks for my comic book choices... rather than favorite comic books, I was getting into favorite artists and writers -- Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Kurt Busiek, Frank Miller, etc. Tell us how you began working on your web comic. It was in 2000, after having been a faithful reader for about two years or so. One day, when reading Avalon, I decided to check out the 'About' page, and Josh was talking about how he'd thought to himself while reading Jeff's GPF, "Hey, I* could do this!" Reading that made me* think the same thing, and poof -- next thing you know, I was scripting up webcomic ideas, and FRAMED!!! was born. What other writing or comics have you worked on? Well, not counting my first comics when I was a little kid (The Plots, SunSpot, Maj.Burger, and all the weird stuff I kept coming up with in elementary school), I first got my taste of comic stripping at university, where I started up a comic in the college paper (the Fulcrum) in 1993. Like many other college kids that time, I started a comic about my roommates and friends called "Room 15". It enjoyed a modest level of popularity, but was far from the school favorite (which was "Lycanthropete"). My comic got a tad more popular when I switched it over to "the K Files", an X-Files parody which used the same characters from my "Room 15" strip. Sadly, most of those strips have been lost now, and they were by far the best college strips I'd done, too. For readers not familiar with your work, can you tell us something about your web comic? Well, simply put, (Naught-)FRAMED!!! has been an exercise in writing and art for me. The main plot idea goes thusly: Four real people, friends of mine (in fact, the same people that were in "Room 15" and "the K Files", go figure), get literally trapped in a comic strip, where a mad cartoonist torments them constantly while they try to escape. To add to this weird scenario, it turns out that one of the people trapped in the comic is actually a past incarnation of the cartoonist himself... the cartoonist being me. Essentially, this is a huge exercise in metastory, or story within story...within story. I'm a big fan of such concepts, and as such, love to mess with all the bounds of reality and fiction, for who's to say someone's not doing that very same exact thing with you and I right now? Tell us how you acquired your artistic skills. Simple -- I've been doodling since I was about 3 years old. It's all been about me drawing and doodling constantly since then, and learning through observation, really. Practice and observation are an artist's BEST learning tools, of that there is no doubt in my mind. What artists have inspired/influenced your artistic and writing styles? Umm... every artist I've ever read? While I claim no specific overt influence, I can quite honestly say that I am affected by EACH ARTIST I ever discover, to one extent or another. For example, Jeff Smith and Terry Moore and Frank Miller have all had a hand in my use of black and white, of positive and negative space. Heck, my own wife (who draws Eat the Roses and Vigilante, Ho!)'s work has influenced how I draw hands. I like to think of myself as a sponge -- whenever I see stuff I like, I absorb it and try to add it to my own ever-growing pallette of skills and techniques. Where do you get your ideas for story arcs or comedic relief in your comic? Some ideas are based on current events, others are based on literature or history. Being an English Major, I can't help but want to always include subtle lit bits in my work. That said, I also really try to be as original as possible, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing, because it means I tend to avoid using cliche and overdone ideas, that I usually avoid following trends and fads. It's a bad thing, because it makes thinking of stuff REALLY hard sometimes. Too often I will think of a really cool or funny idea, and then reject it outright because I realize it's similar to someone else's idea or too close to a current popular fashion or etc. Your thoughts on the online comic community? Still in its foetal stages. We started out with old techies in the 90s, and since then we've been seeing a mix of kids who are exposed to the cyberworld from a very young age and who are totally immersed in the 'Net-scape' from day one. And now, "average joes and janes" are peeking into this world, and liking it. This makes for three VERY distinct and different mentalities, and they have yet to completely resolve and harmonize... which makes for some very interesting exchanges and relationships. Give it a decade or so and ask me that question again. Being non-american, do you feel somewhat removed from many of the more mainstream web comics? Nope, not at all. There are a GREAT deal of comic artists from all over the world publishing on the web, and most readers have no idea where they're from -- all they care about is reading the funny. Cyberspace allows for the ultimate Melting Pot: we're all Netizens first, and people from specific countries second. As such, a Canadian has as much chance of being popular as an American, as a Norwegian, as a Japanese webcartonist. Does anything set you appart, being a Canadian comic artist, from other American web comics? Not really, since I don't try to set myself apart by calling out my Canadian Identity. Of course, I don't hide it, either. Sure, we all still make jokes about ourselves or about Canuck/Yankee relations at times, but it's all in good fun. Heck, if anything, I actually push my Acadian identity over my Canadian identity, and it's been really cool to see how many people all over the world have wanted to hear more about the Acadian people from me. How, if at all, does being "Canadian" factor into the creative process? Again, I don't see it personally as having much of an effect at all; the only major difference that a Canadian would have over an American or any other world citizen, of course, is regional influence and environment. A Tim Horton's joke will be understood by a Canadian more than anyone else, just like an In N Out will be understood by a West Coast American over anyone else. I certainly don't try to make my comic "more Canadian", especially considering that the entire story/plot/premise takes place in a comic strip universe. Have you ever attended any Canadian or American Comic Conventions? Yep. I've attended the San Diego Comic Con three times now; in fact, that's where I met my wife! So NEVER let it be said that comic Conventions have nothing to offer! Do you believe that popular cultures preoccupation with the Anime-style of art has diluted the overall quality of web comics, or improved it? I believe that manga/anime is proving to be a great gateway engine for the comics and cartoon industry; it is opening up the mediums to a much wider demographic, and showing the world that comics are NOT just about people in colourful tights leaping over tall buildings. That said, like any fad/trend, it also brings with it some dangers... a lot of people are emulating the more general manga/anime styles without actually looking INTO the history and art that spawned the trend. In other words, many people are tacking on big-eyed angular faces to stick-figure-like bodies and calling it manga/anime. They aren't realizing the incredible effort and work behind the pros' stuff; they aren;t realizing the wonderful VARIETY in style and appearance that exists in Asian art (i.e., not all animanga consists of big-eyed art!); they aren't paying attention to the exacting technical savvy and instead drawing in a generic "animanga" style because it seems "easier". Luckily, there are still many who are sticking to other styles of art, and of those who have fallen under the animanga spell, there are some who ARE showing great skill and knowledge, who are becoming worthy craftsmen and craftswomen of the style... What movies, cartoons and TV shows are your favorites? In point form: TV CARTOONS the Simpsons the Family Guy Clone High, U.S.A. MOVIES The Princess Bride The Truman Show Kill Bill Spirited Away Being John Malkovich Adaptations MASH TV SHOWS That 70s Show ANIME Excel Saga Photon Lain FLCL VanDread If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring with you?* Prolly books -- Don Quixote, An Al Purdy poetry collection, and the complete works of Alan Moore (it doesn't exist, but man oh man, I'd KILL for a collection like that) Or if we wanted to talk about survival -- a knife, a large plastic jug to hold water (that can be cleaned), and my wife (though she's not a thing, by any means!). What books do you read? I'm an ex-English Major... what DON'T I read? Currently, I'm enjoying history books a lot... Just finished reading one on the Civil War, and another on the Acadian Deportation... And of course, as always, comic books. How can somebody contact you? Depends... physical contact can be made by touch, emotional contact can be made by love, spiritual contact can be made through words... Oh, you mean for purposes of communication? Email is always the best bet -- damonk13@yahoo.com That ends the interview, any last words of wisdom? If I were Frank Zappa, I'd say don't eat yellow snow. But I'm not, so I guess I'll just have to say this: LIFE IS GOOD. Remember that, no matter how down or crappy you may be feeling, you'll be fine. Sometimes stuff may get you down, but Life? Life is always good. You just have to look for it, is all. -Frank J. Cormier http://www.damonk.com Authors Favorite strips: "You'd almost think I could draw!" "I like the layout of this one." "The Magic 'experimental infinite canvas'" "Canadian content" "My favorite bad pun ever" Posted by B.Scott Return to The Main Page - Canadian Web Comic Ezine