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What Do You REALLY Know About Comics? 2.6, with Vince

By | July 28th, 2015
Posted in Columns | 6 Comments

Welcome back to another installment of “What Do You REALLY Know About Comics?” It’s been a while since our last interview and I apologize, but having a growing family, making comics and finding the time to do these in depth interviews can take a bit more time than I’d like. I apologize and really hope you enjoy today’s interview because I think it’s a good one with some great points.

If you enjoy this interview or any of the previous ones and want to catch me in person to talk about them, I’ll be at the Boston Comic Con this weekend at the ComixTribe tables and would love to see you there. I’ll have a sneak peek of my new book Counter Terror # 1 available. So if you’re going to be there, please come find me.

“What Do You REALLY Know About Comics?” is a comic interview series that gives non-comic readers a chance to try some of the best that comics have to offer in an attempt to change any preconceived notions they may have about what the wonderful world of comics actually are. Enough of my yapping, let’s get right into it. Today’s interview is with Vince, a 31 year old man who works for the City of New York. So let’s find out exactly what Vince knows about comics.

Joe Mulvey: First off I want to say thanks for doing this, Vince.

Vince: Eh, don’t thank me yet.

Joe Mulvey: It’s gonna be great. Okay, well in the interest of full disclosure, you and I kind of know each other a bit. We’re not strangers.

Vince: No, we’re not.

Joe Mulvey: Right, we go to the same gym and I’ve known your brother, from the gym for a few years or so. So we have some familiarity with each other.

Vince: Yes, we do.

Joe Mulvey: Well, what made me think you’d be great for this is that you hear your brother and I talking about every comic book movie that comes out, while we work out and we talk all about the books and shit from the past and you’ve kind of blown us off as being crazy.

Vince: HA! Well, my brother is crazy. That’s fact and you’re insane but you guys just sound like you’re talking about a history class or something when you guys talk about Comic Book movies. You guys know who’s got what power from who, and what some stuff means in the movies that I don’t even understand.

Joe Mulvey: We do know a lot of backstory with the movies. We get into them pretty deep. But you’ve seen the movies and enjoyed them which is kind of what got us to this whole interview to begin with. After hearing us talk about all the books we’ve read, you said you might be willing to give the books a chance.

Vince: Yeah, why not? I’ll read a few. This isn’t going to be like a summer reading list from high school type of deal, right?

Joe Mulvey: No way, this is gonna be awesome. These books are just meant to get you interested in comics and just realize the books might be better or at least different than you think they are. Which gets me to my big question and that is, What do you REALLY know about comics?

Vince: Like what exactly?

Joe Mulvey: Just what do you know about them? When someone says a comic book, what do you think of?

Vince: I guess I think of Spider-Man, Batman, The Hulk, Avengers. You know, crazy fights and flying super heroes.

Joe Mulvey: Okay, so the characters stand out for you the most?

Vince: Yeah.

Joe Mulvey: Do you read any comics now or did you in the past?

Vince: Nothing now but I used to read my brothers when we were kids. They were always in our bathroom.

Joe Mulvey: So when he stopped reading them, so did you?

Vince: Kinda of, yeah. I wasn’t buying them.

Joe Mulvey: And if you saw one now, here or at the doctors office, where ever, would you pick it up and check it out or no?

Continued below

Vince: Eh, Probably not.

Joe Mulvey: Why not?

Vince: Hm. I guess, i’m just not interested anymore. The movies are enough of that for me.

Joe Mulvey: Okay, but see, hopefully, after you’ve had the chance to check out what I give you to read, you’ll see comics are way more than just superheroes. They are definitely not all about that. When I’m doing these interviews, I give the example of someone finding a TV, turning it on and seeing SpongeBob. You see that and say “ TV is just for kids. It’s just cartoons”. But it’s not and in that same way comics are NOT just about superheroes. Comics are like any other entertainment medium, a HUGE amount of different genres and some great stuff a lot of people miss out on. But not you, I’m gonna give you the good stuff.

Vince: Alright. Get me back into bathroom comic reading.

Joe Mulvey: The Bathroom should just be called the reading room. Except now you just take your phone with you instead of a book.

Vince: Not me. I still read books and stuff in the bathroom.

Joe Mulvey: The READING room. Get the name right! The Reading room Where baths just happen to occur. That’s awesome though, so what do you read?

Vince: Magazines. A few books. Stuff my Girlfriend keeps in there. I do read a lot of stuff on my phone too. News and sports mostly.

Joe Mulvey: Awesome and what kind of books do you read?

Vince: I just read Unbroken,it was my girlfriends but I liked it. That was okay. I’ll read almost anything, if someone I know says its good.

Joe Mulvey: Okay so what kinds of genres do you like? Movies, TV, video games.

Vince: Oh, man, my DVR is packed. Ask my brother, it’s crazy. I watch a ton of TV. Pretty much everything. If it’s on TV I probably watch it.

Joe Mulvey: Well then, what are some of your favorite shows?

Vince: There are a LOT! It’s crazy how much stuff I watch, seriously. Some stuff I stopped watching but I still DVR it. It’s weird.

Joe Mulvey: Well if you had to erase all but 5 things. What stays?

Vince: That’s a frightening thought. Okay, so I’ve gotta, like, think and see my DVR list.

Joe Mulvey: So in your version of the movie Taken, someone comes in and steals your DVR?

Vince: Ha! And I track them down and blow them away. Definitely. Okay, so I guess if I’m only keeping 5 shows. I’m definitely keeping The Strain. That show is crazy. The Good Wife. The Walking Dead. Game of Thrones. Justified. Veep. Empire. Oooh, Better Call Saul

Joe Mulvey: Way Past five.

Vince: I’m just thinking whats on my DVR. The Following. Wayward Pines. Loved Sons of Anarchy, that’s done though.

Joe Mulvey: Okay that’s a pretty diverse bunch of shows. I-

Vince: Uh, and Hannibal. Modern Family. I used to LOVE Lost and Dexter. Last Man on Earth. The Brink. BlackList. True Detective.

Joe Mulvey: That’s fine I just needed a sense of what kind of stuff you’re into and it would seem the answer is EVERYTHING. But seriously, all the shows you mentioned are great.

Vince: TV is awesome. If I won the lottery, I’d just watch TV and movies all day. I’d pay someone to work out for me.

Joe Mulvey: Smart. So, I noticed you didn’t say Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, or Agent Carter, Arrow or The Flash, no comic book shows. Do you watch those or no?

Vince: I tried Gotham and the Shield agents and I didn’t like either so I kind of gave up those kind of shows.

Joe Mulvey: Okay, but you do like those kind of movies, right?

Vince: Most of them. Yeah.

Joe Mulvey: Any favorites? Actually, give me a few Comic Book movie favs and then just some of your favorite all time movies.

Vince: The Batman movies were sick. Loved them, Avengers, Iron Man. Not really Spider-Man. X-Men were okay.

Joe Mulvey: Okay and just a few non comic favorites.

Vince: ANY Quentin Tarantino movie. I can watch those over and over. Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds might be my favorite favorite. Love the Fast and the Furious movies.

Continued below

Joe Mulvey: Okay I can work with this. So what happens now is I’ll give you some books to check out and once you’ve read them we’ll meet back up or talk on the phone and hear what you thought about them. Sound good?

Vince: Sounds good.

Okay, so at this point I gave Vince his books. As you read, he was VERY open to a wide variety of entertainment, so I gave him books to match that: “Nailbiter” Vol.1 From Image Comics, the first two issues of “Postal” from Image Comics, “Wytches” Vol.1 from Image Comics, “Batman: Court of Owls” from DC Comics, “Letter 44” Vol.1 from Oni Press, “The Wake” from Vertigo, “Sex Criminals” Vol.1 from Image Comics. I gave him all hard copies, except for the two issues of postal, which I provided digitally. It’s been 11 days. Let’s see what Vince has to say.

Joe Mulvey: Okay, lay it on me. What’s the verdict.

Vince: Well I’ve seen you in the gym, right? And I haven’t yelled at you for wasting my time.

Joe Mulvey: You haven’t but you could also just be polite. And for the readers, I have seen Vince at the gym since we last spoke but told him not to say anything to me about it until he finished everything and wanted to have the second part of this interview. And here we are. So let’s get into it. What did you like? What didn’t you like?

Vince: Okay, so right away I saw what you meant about super heroes. Comics aren’t only about super heroes. Just like regular books, novels and such. Books can be about anything, magazines can be about anything and comics too.

Joe Mulvey: Okay, so already, no matter where we go from here, this is already a win. That’s honestly the biggest thing I want people to realize when they do this.

Vince: The stuff you gave me wasn’t like any comics I read before. So, wait do I have to say the books names when I talk about them or how’s this work for the interview.

Joe Mulvey: Well, it helps but don’t worry just talk and describe them I’ll know the names.

Vince: Okay, so yeah, I told my brother, I’m back into reading comics. These books were really good. SO GOOD.

Joe Mulvey: The Reading Room’s gonna be packed tonight!

Vince: I took these books to bed. Read them on the couch. Once I started reading them, I didn’t stop. Read through each book once I started.

Joe Mulvey: Any favorites?

Vince: Man. Favorites…

Joe Mulvey: I know you have trouble picking favorites but just tell me what ya liked.

Vince: That book with the monster witches in the trees was CRAZY! Makes me scared of trees. That was good. Same as the one about the monster Mermen that take over the world. How it time jumped. That books was great.

Joe Mulvey: Okay so “Wytches” was the first one you described and the Merman book was “The Wake.” I LOVE when these interviews go well, just reinforces my thoughts about how more people would read comics if they just actually gave them a chance.

Vince: No doubt. They’re great. That one with-can I curse with this?

Joe Mulvey: Yeah, no worries, curse away.

Vince: The “Sex Criminals” book, My girlfriend read that one too, That was INSANE! Like, cumming is a super power that freezes time. HA! That’s awesome. I’d be jerking off and robbing banks too.

Joe Mulvey: Well you wanted to be a millionaire so you can watch TV and movies all day , would you start reading comics now too?

Vince: HA! YES!

Joe Mulvey: Okay, so you got your girlfriend into the books also? Just “Sex Criminals” or did she read any others?

Vince: She read the town of serial killer’s one, and then “Sex Criminals.”

Joe Mulvey: I’m just laughing how you don’t remember any of the books names BUT “Sex Criminals.” That’s pretty funny.

Vince: Ha! What can I say, it stands out. But I liked them all. I really liked reading the books on my phone. The book I read on the phone-

Continued below

Joe Mulvey: “Postal.” That’s the one I gave you digitally. How’d you find that experience? Going from the actual books to the phone or tablet. Was it confusing or a hard?

Vince: Not really. It made the train ride to and from work, go quick. I read those two books a few times before I found out how to go buy more.

Joe Mulvey: So you’re buying comics now? Vince: A few, It’s a little confusing on how to pick up where the books end. Especially when I finished the Batman book which was THE BEST BATMAN STORY! That should be a movie. But I looked for Court Of Owls 2 or whatever and I got lost. Had to ask my brother about it but he doesn’t read them on the computer. So I’ll have to ask you some stuff when we’re done.

Joe Mulvey: Dude, you ask me anything you want anytime. I’ll always help someone get more comics.

Vince: You’re just pushing them like a drug. Now I gotta get my fix.

Joe Mulvey: I do what I can to get the newbies hooked. But I do hear that a lot, how all the books that’ve come out and the libraries of stuff can be overwhelming. Don’t worry, I’ll steer you through it.

Vince: It wasn’t all bad. Like when I typed in The 44 letters book.

Joe Mulvey: “Letter 44,” cool book, right?

Vince: Yeah, so that was easy. Volume one than Volume two or number one, two, three on and on. That I get, but when y ou type in Batman, there’s SO MANY BATMANS.

Joe Mulvey: Yeah, I hear you. I’ll help you out with that. Look, you have my cell #, anytime you have a question just text me and I’ll set you straight. 24 hours a day.

Vince: Nice. Like my own personal Doctor of Comics. On call 24/7.

Joe Mulvey: Holy Shit! Dr. Comics! I might steal that.

Vince: It’s all yours.

Joe Mulvey: Okay, so let me just ask you another quick question before we finish up. Lately in the comics industry itself, there’s been an issue of importance between the writer and the artist. Now I don’t expect you to know anything about that. I’m just curious to get your take on the books themselves. Like did you enjoy one book more than the other because of the art or the writing? The characters? What stands out to you about the comics you liked?

Vince: Hm. Let me think about that. I know a few times when I read some stuff I was confused by what was going on in some of the pictures. Like the Witches in the trees book was really dark so sometimes I got confused but I still really liked it. It looked cool as shit. BATMAN was cooler than shit. Fighting his brother, hanging from a plane. I had to spin the book upside down one time to read it because he was trapped. I mean, I have tattoos and I liked some of that art so much I want to get a Merman Tat and a Batman Tat. I’m not joking.

Joe Mulvey: That’s so awesome to hear you say that. For everyone reading, Vince is SO excited by comics. This is exactly why I want to start doing these interviews as a podcast. To hear the excitement in his voice. Just a really cool thing to hear.

Vince: So hold up, whats the argument people are having? That one’s better than the other?

Joe Mulvey: Uhm. Not that ones better, just that in today’s media coverage of comics the writers get spoken about or given more credit than the artists and it IS a visual medium so if the artist doesn’t do the story justice you don’t have the book being successful. I really the credit should go 50/50. Well probably 33/33/33 and give the colorist credit also. I’m sorry I’m veering off topic here I just wanted to get an opinion about it from someone with completely new eyes on it. Ya know?

Vince: Well, I guess I’d look at it this way, if the writer writes the story and the artist draws it, the artist wouldn’t have thought to put Batman hanging upside down from a plane flying through the city with all that craziness going on. That’s the writers job. And if the artist doesn’t draw that as awesome as the guy who drew that-

Continued below

Joe Mulvey: Greg Capullo is the artist who drew that and he’s drawn a TON more awesome Batman stuff so you’re in for a lot of awesome Batman books when you checkout the rest of that series with him. But , yeah, go on.

Vince: Well, just that it’s gotta be the two working together, right? Ones gotta write awesome shit and the others gotta draw awesome shit. Ones the architect, ones the builder. No? You both gotta be great.

Joe Mulvey: You do, but when you build that amazing building and the architect gets most of the credit, it can become frustrating to the builders. You know what I mean? That seems to be the issue and also that the architect can draw up plans quicker than the builder can build it so the architect can use other builders and make more amazing buildings. But the builders are doing just one job at a time.Okay, I’m veering off topic here-

Vince: No, I get what you’re saying. I don’t know much about comics but I know when I typed in Batman and all those Batman books came up, I was looking at them and a lot of them didn’t look like this Capullo guy’s Batman. And I wanted that Batman, ya know. Some were cool but some looked bad. So maybe it’s just a matter of getting the right architects with the right builders that can make people notice.

Joe Mulvey: Yeah, I apologize for veering off at the end here with that I was just looking for a little bit of an outside perspective. with that.

Vince: It’s hard to say I mean, I liked the comics a lot. The story and the way they looked. I seriously want to get those tats.

Joe Mulvey: I think you should get Batman on one calf, The creatures from the Wake on the other and every time your on the stairmaster it’ll look like they’re chasing each other.

Vince: Ha!

Joe Mulvey: Thanks for doing this, Vince. I really appreciate it.

Vince: No way man, Thank you. Maybe now my brother will like me again.

Joe Mulvey: Or at the very least, want to come to your house to use the bathroom.

Vince: The Reading room.

Joe Mulvey: The Reading Room!

Okay, so that does it for another edition of What do you REALLY know about Comics? The business of actually getting comics into people’s hands continues to be an issue that needs addressing. The system is definitely a hard thing for non-readers to get. If you have any ideas, let’s talk about it in the comment thread below. As always I highly recommend all of the books used in this interview, and I hope reading this gives a few of you the idea to put a comic into the hand of someone who might not have previously given comics a chance. Comics are at the highest quality they’ve ever been, so let’s try to get more people into them.

And as always, I really appreciate you reading “What Do You REALLY Know About Comics?” If you’d like to talk in person and you’re at Boston Comic Con in the upcoming week. Please stop by the ComixTribe tables. It’s our home show and you can’t miss us. We’ll be there all three days so please stop by, say hello and check out some great comics. Feel free to contact me: @JoeMulv on Twitter, JoeMulveyArt.com, or email me.

Until next time, thanks very much for reading.


//TAGS | What Do You Really Know About Comics?

Joe Mulvey

Joe Mulvey is the writer/artist of SCAM #1 from ComixTribe, as well as all around good dude.

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