Recently, I reviewed the upcoming all-ages graphic novel “Cow Boy” from writer Nate Cosby, artist Chris Eliopoulos and publisher Archaia. It is an absolute delight, one of humor, heart and a surprising amount of emotional depth.
It’s coming May 1 of this year, and I just had to talk to Cosby and Eliopoulos about this phenomenal book. Click through the jump to find my interview with them, as we talk about how the two paired up for this book, the genesis of the idea, the development of protagonist Boyd Linney, just how handsome Archaia’s Stephen Christy really is, and a whole lot more.
If you want to check out this book, make sure to check out the Cow Boy site because they’ve already posted the majority of the book. It’s highly recommended.
You’re both men of many hats in comics, assuming pretty much every role someone can handle in your careers between the two of you. How did you decide that you wanted to work together on a creator-owned project like this?
CHRIS: Let’s just say that Nate has some compromising pictures and I felt obligated to draw this book for him.
NATE: Blackmail is the best way to a productive collaboration.
That’s the way the best working relationships start out I’ve heard. From what I’ve read, Westerns aren’t really your favorite genre either, Chris. I can only assume that this is where Nate’s compromising pictures came back into play, but how was the creative process between the two of you? Was the whole book, from the genesis of the idea to the final package, something the two of you envisioned together, or was it more segmented out in parts that you each handled?
CHRIS: Nate had a clearer idea of what he wanted from the get-go. He came to me and said he had an idea–a western with the protagonist a 10-year-old boy. At first I thought he was pandering to me since I have a habit of having 10-year-old boys star in my work. He went off and wrote a script and just told me to go at it. At times he might have a suggestion or a tweak of dialogue, but there was a real trust in both of us. I trusted his writing and, I think, he trusted my ability to tell a story. As an artist or writer, you will never have a bigger cheerleader than Nate. He really does make you feel good about your work and inspires you to do better work for him. In the beginning, I had a wild idea to color the book in crayon, and instead of screaming, “NO!”, he let me try it and was real encouraging. But I realized it didn’t really work. I went back to the drawing board, recolored it and nailed what’s in the book. But it was all progressive and organic.
I think that’s what made it fun. We didn’t know where this was going, but the journey was the important part.
NATE: )blush(
I wanted to write something All-Ages, and when I decided I wanted to write about a 10-year-old bounty hunter, Chris was the only artist in my mind. He and I have a very open, honest, lovingly antagonistic working relationship, having learned each other’s sensibilities over nearly eight years of work and friendship. And so I told him I wanted him for the project, and I encouraged him to do things with his art he’s never done before. Chris is a self-deprecating guy, and it was my job to convince him he’s as great as I know he is. So I wrote the first chapter, and he tore into it. It was fun to watch Chris squirm, and be unsure of drawing in a different way than he was used to. But after initial hesitation, he really took to it and took up the challenge and exceeded my expectations. He nailed the storytelling and body language, and from his crayon experiments came a warm, scratchy color palette that he might’ve never discovered if he didn’t tried crayon. It was such a joy to see Chris get more comfortable with his art and color, each page showing more and more confidence. I’m SO proud of him; I think it’s the best art of his career.
Continued belowI have to say, I agree with you Nate. From my experience with your work Chris, it’s the best I’ve ever seen it. But it wasn’t just the art itself that made the look of the book stand out, but things like the worn, dirtied effect on the edges of a lot of the pages or interesting panels like one in the third chapter where all of the image is blacked out besides the whited out image of Boyd, a rocking chair and his gun. It felt like experimentation, but only the best kind because it acted in service of the storytelling. Knowing Nate was behind you all the way, did that make it easier for you to experiment and find the visual identity of Boyd’s world?
CHRIS: Oh, yeah. I think there are benefits to doing a creator-owned book. You can do what you want to do and experiment without having to follow certain guidelines. Nate was very encouraging to go off the beaten path and try new storytelling methods. The great thing about comics is that you have so many different ways to tell a story, or impart information or a feeling, that it can only help the story by encouraging that. The only time Nate had any comments were times when he had specific moments he wanted to see how he saw them in his mind when writing the script. Even in the script, though, there was very little detail. He showed a trust to let me go off and do what I felt was right.
Let’s talk a little bit about Boyd. He’s the lead character and in every scene, and quite the force of will for a ten-year-old. He’s pretty much amazing. Nate, how did the idea of telling a Western with a kid who was all about business as the lead come to you? And for you Chris, how did you develop the look of him and his formidable weapon?
NATE: Well gosh, thanks. 🙂
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| Boyd is one tough cookie |
Boyd comes from a few different places. He fits a lot of Western archetype traits…he’s gruff, curt, no-nonsense, quick to anger, tough as nails. Difference with Boyd is, he’s not that way due to decades of hard living…he’s like that because all ten years of his life were absolutely horrible, and he got fed up with it. You get raised by a family of outlaws, you’ve gotta grow up QUICK. Boyd developed his callous nature because it was the only way for someone with a good heart to survive.
Boyd is very much a ten-year-old. He seems smart, cunning, well-spoken…but at his core, he’s a kid. He’s rash, and makes mistakes due to inexperience. It was really important to me that Boyd “act” like a grown-up to survive, but I didn’t want the audience to forget that he’s really just a ten-year-old, sacrificing the rest of his childhood in order to atone for his family’s sins.
I wanted Boyd to reflect the discomfort and weirdness that real ten-year-olds feel, when they’re just learning that they don’t need their parents for everything, but they still aren’t treated like fully-formed people just yet.
CHRIS: Really, I sketched him pretty fully-formed. As I went along, I made little tweaks here and there, but Nate’s direction was that he was a kid. He said he carries a stick horse gun, so I just looked up some reference and got to it. For me, the easiest part was designing him.
You both have experience with all-ages books that have been well-received by audiences, but it’s a genre that has been difficult nut to crack across the industry. While there are major successes in all-ages books, it seems like a significant portion of the comic reading audience today associates “all-ages” with “kids” and thus not for them. Cow Boy is firmly all-ages, with a mix of humor and poignancy that gives it something for everyone. What are the two of you doing to try and to overcome those misconceptions about that genre when it comes to promoting this book?
Continued belowNATE: While writing Cow Boy, I never thought “who is this for?” because if that’s all you think about, you limit yourself. This book is written in an accessible way, and everyone that wants to read it, can.
Both Chris and I have felt the frustration that comes from many in the comic book audience dismissing All-Ages books as for kids. And that’s fine, it’s a person’s choice if they want to miss out on amazing work like Bone, The Life & Times Of Scrooge McDuck, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Usagi Yojimbo, Leave It To Chance, Thor The Mighty Avenger or countless others. Other mediums don’t subscribe to this ghetto-ization of All-Ages…that’s why we have Harry Potter, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, The Lion King and hundreds more.
I try to avoid painting the entire comics industry with a broad brush, but there have been many initiatives over the years to “relaunch” or “bring in new readers,” yet most of the new content caters to an audience that’s going to buy those books literally no matter what. Then supplementary to that, they offer a handful of “kids” or “all-ages” books as lip service, to prove they’re not just about pandering to their core audience. Again, that’s fine. If that’s the business model they want to have, cool. But I strongly believe that creating layered, sophisticated, quality entertainment that can be read and enjoyed by children, teenagers, young adults, middle-agers and the elderly is the most important thing that comics need as a MEDIUM, not an INDUSTRY. It’s the only way to sustain comics beyond our current time.
Guess I went off on a tangent there, but to answer your question simply: We overcome All-Ages misconceptions by making the best book we can, for anyone that wants to read it, and don’t really worry about those already biased against it.
I like the sound of that. I’m a big fan of all kinds of all-ages books – Image’s Reed Gunther and Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors are two great examples being released monthly today – because they do the same things for me that they do for my parents and my nieces and nephews. I mean, I’ve shared the Bone one-volume edition with nearly everyone in my family, and they all loved it. I prefer being able to share what I read and love with everyone I know.
Anyways, I could go on and on about that subject, but back to Cow Boy. How did the two of you decide to roll the book out online before it reached print? I love it and wish we saw it with more books.
Chris: With most comics out there, people have an idea what they’re getting, in our case, not so much. We are excited by Cow Boy and wanted everyone to see what it was we were doing. We felt so strongly, in fact, that it’s our belief that after seeing it online, people will want to go out and buy a hard copy for themselves. And we wanted to make it available to people who normally don’t read comics or visit comic shops or keep up on the latest offerings in the comic world.
One thing I really loved about the book were the little interludes in-between each chapter. You had a laundry list of top notch creators, such as Roger Langridge, Team Atomic Robo, Colleen Coover, and, my personal favorite of the lot, Mike Maihack. Why did you decide that you wanted to have those little interludes within the overall story? Are those theoretically existing in the same world as Boyd, or are they just little Western ditties from awesome creators?
NATE: Once I’d figured out the format of the book, breaking it into different-sized chapters, I figured it’d be fun to give the audience little short stories, much like they did with movies back in the day, showing a Looney Tunes cartoon before or after a film…or what Pixar does now with short films before their features. The shorts break up the story, cleansing the reading palette to a degree, and make the book a fuller experience (that’s the intention, anyway).
Continued belowWe were SO lucky that all these great creators came up with such fun stuff, I giggled like a schoolgirl when they turned pages in. They don’t tie into Boyd’s story, they’re whatever the creators felt like doing for 2 or three pages.
I was so glad they were included. I can’t speak highly enough of those short stories. I’d read a graphic novel of “A Penguin Never Misses” any day of the week.
Archaia is an underrated comic house, and I know at least you’ve had experience with them Nate. What made them the best fit for Cow Boy? How has it been working with them on this project?
NATE: Chris and I are EXTREMELY attracted to Archaia editor-in-chief Stephen Christy. That’s the ONLY reason Cow Boy’s at Archaia.
(joking)
(probably)
Working with Archaia’s great. Everyone there’s totally dedicated to producing quality books that you can’t get anywhere else. They take creative chances that really pay off. Everyone there’s been enthusiastic about Cow Boy, and they actually asked us to write an extra story that’s appearing in Archaia’s FCBD hardcover this year, and they were 100% behind us putting Cow Boy online before it came out in print. They’re just massive cups of awesome.
He’s soooo dreamy. Who could blame you.
But Archaia does seem like a good fit for the book. I think my biggest question after finishing the book is this: when are we going to see more of Boyd? I know the book isn’t even out yet, but I’m already eager to see what’s next. Is there a plan for round two? Please tell me it’s going to be a Christmas present for me. No pressure.
CHRIS: We definitely want to do another volume, Archaia seems to, as well. It comes down to scheduling–mostly on my part. It takes a while to draw a book and with so much else on my plate, it’s just a matter of getting that chunk of time needed.
I completely understand. Well, one last addition before I let the two of you go…I was reading elsewhere and saw a quote along the lines of “if DC asked us to do an Impulse book, we’d be in heaven.” Waid and Ramos’ Impulse was pretty much my favorite book growing up, and when I read that line, I started smiling like none other. I can’t not ask this: if given the opportunity to pitch an all-ages Impulse book after DC decides to reboot again, what would you look to do with it? And can I start a petition for this?
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| Impulse by Chris Eliopoulos |
NATE: Yeah, Waid and Ramos on Impulse was incredibly influential on me, particularly since it was set in the south, where I’m from. Not a lot of super-heroes down there. I’d love to take a crack at Impulse, though Bart goes by Kid Flash these days, so I doubt DC would ask us. But if they DID…we wouldn’t stray far from what Mark and Humberto did. Impulse would be a super-fast kid from the future with an innate desire to do the right thing, but absolutely NO patience for ANYTHING. He’dtalklikethisandwoulddriveMaxMercuryabsolutelynutsandMANthatwouldbefuntowrite
AndhewouldtotallylivelifelikehewasinavideogameallofthetimeIhope.
I would buy the hell out of that book. Well, real last question this time: what else do the two of you have coming down the path besides Cow Boy? I know you’re looking for new folks for Jim Henson’s The Storyteller Volume Two Nate, which we’re all really excited for.
NATE: Just started recruiting Storyteller II creative teams. I’m really proud of the work everyone did on the first volume, now I’ve got the fun and intimidating task of trying to top it. Got some REALLY fun names lined up so for.
In addition, there’s the ongoing PIGS series for Image that I write with Ben McCool, with art by Breno Tamura and Will Sliney (it’s about a KGB sleeper cell in Cuba that’s been activated and assigned to overthrow the U.S. government). And I’ve got the comedy BUDDY COPS in Dark Horse Presents, a series of short stories drawn by Evan “Doc” Shaner (a drunk space cop and a 1970s era robot solve crimes and punch monsters); that should be out later this year. And I’ve got a bunch of other things cooking that I’ll be announcing pretty soon.
CHRIS: I’m adapting the Ultimate Spider-Man animated show as a comic for Marvel, lettering a ton of books and working on some really secret projects that, hopefully, I can talk about in a few months.
