One of the most sneaky awesome announcements from January’s Image Expo was that “Howtoons”, a long-running project from Nick Dragotta, Saul Griffith, Joost Bensen and Ingrid Dragotta that teaches people of all-ages (particularly kids) scientific concepts and experiments through amazing (mostly) single-page comics, was coming to Image Comics.
Now, it’s not coming in the exact same form, rather in a five issue mini-series called “Howtoons [re]ignition” from writer Fred Van Lente, artist Tom Fowler, colorist Jordie Bellaire and letterer Rus Wooten. But it’s still “Howtoons”, as the comic will work scientific concepts and experiments straight into the narrative, as series leads Tuck and Celine do what they can to help the world back from the brink when it runs out of non-renewable forms of energy.
With such an incredible group of creators involved, it’s going to be just an absolute blast of a comic, and one that will work for people of all-ages. Excited by the prospect, I reached out to the team, and here you can read the first interview, as I talk to Dragotta about the origins of “Howtoons”, how it got to Image, its potential future, and much more.
Looking for more “Howtoons” action? Look for an interview with Van Lente and Fowler later this afternoon, and keep it in mind when you’re setting up your pull lists. You’re going to want this book in your life.
Let’s go back to the beginning of Howtoons, Nick. How did this whole project come together, originally, and what made it something that you really wanted to do?
Dragotta: Howtoons got started way back in 2004 in Boston, when I met 2 MIT grad students Saul Griffith and Joost Bonsen. They both had a real passion for “Open Kid Ware” and wanted create a new form of How-To that could be common and available to everyone. I brought my passion for comics, and the goal was to integrate the instructions into the storytelling as seamlessly as possible, hopefully inspiring kids to live the adventure they just read. We strove to use only projects made from ordinary household goods, so kids could acquire the materials easily. In the process, developing an intuition for the physical world, while learning to be resourceful.
We’ve now seen how it started, but since then it’s gotten bigger and bigger while your career itself has taken off quite a bit as well. How has Howtoons evolved since the beginning, and how did all of this lead into [re]ignition coming together?
Dragotta: In the beginning we started out as a small part of the instructables website in ’04. From there we created our own site, then got a book deal through Harper Collins back in ’06. Since then our book has been published in Brazil, China, and India. We’ve done national book tours, presented at numerous schools across the country, included in the 2006 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial, been on the Martha Stewart Show, there’s a Howtoons summer camp in Madison, Wis., been featured in Make Magazine since its inception, covered in Wired, been optioned for TV(that fell apart), etc.
Our main goal remains to get this material out there and into kid’s hands. All work online is free and we encourage people to print it out and disseminate the pdfs. Comics can speak a universal language and people can grasp the STEM concepts immediately if we do our job. We’ve experimented over the last 10 years. Some Howtoons are multi page stories, some 1-pagers. Some have no story and just get right to the building. It’s all over the place, a constant experiment.
All of this leads to [RE]Ignition at Image. This will be the first time we do a large story spanning 5 issues that deals with the specific topic of energy literacy. Our whole goal with book is to raise peoples awareness of energy, its uses, and consequences. To bring that to life, I think we assembled an all-star creative team with Fred Van Lente, Tom Fowler, Jordie Bellaire, and Rus Wooten.
Continued belowFred Van Lente is one of the smartest writers in comics. We threw a bunch of ideas at him and he cooked up a very exciting story about what happens when the world runs out of its non-renewable sources of energy. Will the kids learn to survive and thrive on clean sources of energy? Fred wrote a story that doesn’t harp on politics or is didactic, just action to make a better, cleaner, more efficient planet. Aside from Fred’s sharp wit, he has a real talent for taking dense information and making it entertaining. Check out the Comic Book History of Comics he did with Ryan Dunlavey. They took so much info, and made it a compelling read. I also have worked with Fred in the past and he always brought out my best. I just think he’s one of those guys that elevate any project he does. We’re stoked to have him.
For art we’ve got Tom Fowler. I think Tom’s one of the best artist working today. Don’t belkieve me check out his tumblr http://tomfowlerstuff.tumblr.com/ He’s a great cartoonist and I can’t wait to see what he brings to the project. He’s got it all, he’s a great storyteller, draftsman, designer, painter, etc. He brings so much to the page. Most importantly his characters have soul, and I believe in the stories and worlds he creates. I can’t imagine what he’ll bring to the HT universe, and I can’t wait to see it.
Jordie Bellaire was Tom’s first choice as colorist. I think she’s one of the best in comics today. I love how she compliments the storytelling with thoughtful scene changes and fresh palettes. She’s a subtle but powerful colorist/storyteller.
Rus Wooten is the letterer who also does East of West among other books. We want this book to be as readable and as easily digestible as possible. Rus is all that and more.
I think doing this book with Image is also us evolving. We’ve been in bookstores but never reached comic shops before, so it will be interesting to see how it’s received. If you’re a parent who reads comics, and goes to the comic shop on a regular basis like myself, I hope you give this a try and get it for your kids. We’re not only going to give the reader an entertaining story, but fun projects to do as well.
With [RE]Ignition getting things rolling big time for again and a new Howtoon coming out last week, how often is the team looking to release new editions on the website? Is that still an emphasis, or is [RE]Ignition the point of emphasis right now?
Dragotta: Occasionally we’ll do new stuff, but [RE]Ignition is the point of emphasis now. We just recently finished a 24 page comic written by Jeff Parker and art by Sandy Jarrell about making your own playground. It’ll go up soon online for free.
Going back to your personal history with the project, before meeting Saul and Joost, did you have a personal connection to science? Or was that something stimulated by getting to know them and the passion they brought to the table?
Dragotta: Yeah, I’m a product of my parents. My Dad was a scientist who is now a boat builder and my Mom is a life long ER nurse. I got my DIY mentality from them.
[RE]ignition was one of the big announcements at Image Expo, and I know for one, Eric Stephenson has been interested in good, all-ages comics coming to Image, so it was exciting to see. What made Image the perfect home for this mini, and how did it end up there?
What makes Image the perfect home? Aside from just the fact that they’re doing it, Image has one of the most diverse lines in comics, it’s 100% creator owned, and the staff is amazing. They believe in the project and our mission to get this content out there.
Continued belowLet’s say we flash to the future, and instead of a future where clean energy runs out, we’re in one where this book is a big success on multiple levels. Do you view [RE[ignition as something that could become more, with Tuck and Celine leading more stories over at Image? Or is this very much a one-time experiment?
Dragotta: Yeah. I guess it could go into other media, but we really just want to make the best comics we can. Hopefully it will do well enough to support itself and we can do more. We’ve got the content and Fred has a great idea for a second book.
