Zuda Weekly: A Talk With January’s Winner Matthew Petz

This week at Multiversity Comics, I’m proud to present a new feature that should be running every Wednesday (that day may end up being flexible) for the foreseeable future. We’ve partnered up with DC Comics web division Zuda Comics to make a weekly feature in which we interview their creators, highlight their series, and help spread the word of some top burgeoning creators.

To kick Zuda Weekly off (that’s a tentative title – we’re open to suggestions), we have January’s Zuda Comics competition winner: Matthew Petz. Petz is the writer and illustrator of War of the Woods, a rather well crafted spin on your average alien invasion story that tells the tale from the perspective of woodland creatures in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. It was a runaway success, and we think this is just the start to a damn good career for Matthew.

He was great to talk to, and I think you’ll really enjoy this interview. Check it out after the jump.

Congratulations on the win!

MP: Oh thanks, I don’t think it’s really sunk in or anything.

Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. We’ve actually had a few friends of the site run in Zuda competitions and they haven’t had the same success that you’ve had, so congrats man.

MP: It’s crazy, because I feel like I haven’t really slept all of January almost (laughter). I’m finally…you know, you get, I refresh the page and it says “final rank…you won” so I was like “wow, oh my god, this is crazy.” But then two seconds after that and calling my parents, but after that my body just said “you’ve won…you have an answer now…now you’re going to sleep” (laughter). For the past weekend I was almost catatonic. But yeah, it’s real exciting and pretty crazy.

Oh yeah. I’m sure a lot of that time in January was just spent promoting it because I imagine that’s a big part of it.

MP: It is. You know, one of the things was my girlfriend…I did the comic by myself, so you’re at a little bit of a disadvantage because if you have a team, an inker, a colorist, a writer, a penciler, you have four people that are going to be going crazy all month promoting. So it was me and then I had my girlfriend, who was up almost the entire month promoting with me as well.

But yeah, you know, she told me when, you know this is my third contest and I really went crazy with the promoting. She was the one that told me “you know, it could be the greatest comic in the world, but a huge part of it is the promoting.” Selling yourself and selling the comic book is almost more important because you really have to win over people. You have to win over people who obviously don’t know who you are or what you’ve done. So it was a huge part of it. The month was constant coming up of new ways, new avenues, new people, using different parts of Facebook and Twitter, and it’s gathering your friends and beating them over their head to vote for you.

Sometimes you have to be very plain spoken because it isn’t like if you win the contest you win a t-shirt and a couple hundred bucks. If I win this contest…it’s…DC is like…

It’s Big Two. It’s like the pinnacle of comics.

Yeah. And it’s, this industry, comic books is notoriously difficult to really break in sometimes. You can either go to conventions with your portfolio, which I’ve done and I’ve had some okay success with that. But if you go to the convention, they’re really only going to see 20 or 30 people over a weekend at San Diego or New York or some of the other cons you can go to. Their priority is selling their content…they’re looking for new people, so it’s really hard to break in.

Zuda is such an amazingly awesome opportunity for any aspiring comic book creator. You have to tell your friends “I don’t win a t-shirt…I win access to DC Comics.” They publish Batman and Superman, you know? No one else does that…Marvel doesn’t do that, Dark Horse doesn’t do that, IDW, Image, there’s no avenue for this sort of direct pipeline to editors of a major comic book company. It’s pretty amazing.

That is amazing. Well, I’m going to get back to the formal questions.

MP: Sure, sure.

I always start off with a line from Warren Ellis. He wrote a column for Comic Book Resources in the early 2000’s and he always asked creators “why comics?” So…why comics?

MP: Comics are really unique in their ability for storytelling. It’s not like a movie where you’re bound by an hour and a half or two hours or something, and it’s not a novel where there isn’t a visual. It’s a beautiful marriage of images and words, and you can do things in comics like showing time, different elements, you know. There are no budgetary restraints, it’s whatever you can come up with in your head and you can convey to people. Which is so liberating because when I was coming up with this I was like “there are so many things I want to do!”And in some ways it can only work in comics. I’m never going to see some of the things I’m going to see and just the graphic storytelling. I really wanted to make my illustrations a big part of the story because there is a lot you can tell without too many words. You can do stuff with just mood and setting and characters and movements and stuff like that.

Comics are so unique because in some ways if you can draw and write anything is possible. You don’t have to have a camera, you don’t have to have a degree or anything, it’s just whatever you want to see. Ever since I’ve been little comic books have been in my life, you know. A great source of escapism. In some ways maybe it’s as basic as that, I’ve just always loved comic books and man, I’d just love to tell a story of my own.

Yeah. I think one of my favorite things about comics is that the only thing that restrains a person if they can draw and write is their imagination.

MP: And what’s even cooler is now with the internet especially now with Zuda and webcomics is that you don’t have to pay an insane amount of money to print your comic book and sell them and schlep them and go to cons. You can put it on the internet and instantly get people to look at it if you put in the time and effort.

One of the things I was super proud of this month was that we had 72,000 people look at War of the Woods, which was more than anyone. Sometimes I was like I don’t even know where all of these people are coming from, I know I’m promoting like crazy and telling people and trying to pull in all of the favors I have. It didn’t cost me anything to print it. I didn’t have to ship it anywhere. It’s a real liberating thing now, so yeah, the only limit you have is your imagination and after that, you have no reason to not get it out there.

To get back to Zuda, how did you hook up with them and decide that was the route you wanted to go?

MP: Well, when Zuda first launched I was doing freelance work for someone at the time. They’re actually in New Jersey. I was doing some freelance work for them and they were developing a comic book that wasn’t a part of Zuda at all. I was just doing some work for them. And he was invited to be in the first Zuda competition in 2007. It was sort of like a last minute thing and he needed a colorist.

So since I’d already been doing work for him, he got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to color it. So we spent like 24 hours straight of him sending me files and me coloring them and getting them to him (laughs). So I was in the first Zuda competition as just a guy who colored other people’s comic books. And I didn’t know what it was, and that was when they launched Zuda and it was sort of a big deal. Bayou was an instant winner at that point and I think High Moon won the first competition.

I sort of knew about Zuda from that point on. I’d gone to conventions and done my own self published work, so you look at the landscape and think “what’s available?” I think if you’re a creator with your own story to tell, one of if not the best avenues is Zuda. It’s pretty great — you come up with 8 pages and send it in, and if it’s good you get put in a competition. At that point you just try to promote and try and win over everybody. It’s pretty cool.

That is really cool. Well, to our readers who have not actually read War of the Woods yet, what exactly is War of the Woods and why should the average comic fan care about it?

MP: I guess the high concept of it is that it’s your standard aliens invade earth storyline, except instead of seeing it from the humans standpoint, you see what the animal kingdom is doing. So whenever I’d watch Independence Day or War of the Worlds or some other sort of “aliens are coming to kill us” movie, I’d always wonder “I wonder what the animals are doing right now.” So when I was trying to come up with a subject, I was at my parents house watching history channel and UFO Files. I thought I really wanted to tell a UFO story. I sort of had this idea about it and I thought I wanted to have a father/son aspect to it and have it be about them and not the UFO’s.

I sort of had this cool idea, and I thought I really should tell my girlfriend about it. When I thought of telling her I thought she was going to think it was pretty stupid (laughs), so I thought “what does she love?” She’s obsessed with otters, so I thought…maybe otters? And it sort of snowballed from there.

I guess the high concept is Aliens come to invade Earth and we’re just going to see it from the perspective of the animal kingdom. Specifically, the story focuses on a father and son who are otters, and they are in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and that is where the story starts.

My hope is to tell this really epic story where you’re going to find a lot of really cool mythology for the animal kingdom on all the seven continents, and there’s little otter at the center of the story. We’re not going to focus at all on the human aspect of the story. That is something that is happening concurrently, but we’re never going to get to that point. You’ll find out what happens to cities and stuff like that during the human conflict, but we’re really going to focus on the animals and what they learn and how they fight back.

MP: Right. It’s sort of like taking Independence Day and instead of following Jeff Goldblum (laughs) and all those characters, let’s really care about the animals. Like how are they going to react to the invasion. Are they going to see it as good, like “good, someone’s getting rid of the humans” or are they going to see themselves as a part of the global ecosystem with humans. It’s going to be pretty interesting where I take people on this story. I think it sort of speaks…people already know the language of it already, you know, aliens are coming to invade Earth. You sort of know it already, but I think people can pick it up pretty fast.

How far do you think you can take the series? How far do you have it planned out?

MP: Right now, I have it pretty far planned out. Once I talk with the people at Zuda, and I have to find out the particulars about publishing schedules and things like that, but I have a pretty large story. When you win you get an additional 52 pages or screens, so it ends up being a total of 60 screens because you submit 8. For the first 60 I have a pretty good outline of where it’s going to go and end after 60 screens. It’s not anywhere close to a final resolution though.

I guess I see it as a story in three major parts: a beginning, middle and end, obviously. But it’s kind of set up like Lord of the Rings as you have three major movements of the story and they progressively get bigger, crazier, and more all encompassing.

For right now I have the 60 screens all planned out. I was actually just writing down dialogue and some major points I want to get to. I have a book that I keep that has all sorts of ideas like the final, final ending and stuff like that. But I’m pretty far along the way in terms of the first 60, and it’s a pretty big story that can expand or shrink depending on how far things can go.

You say you have 60 total screens available to you. How do you expand on that?

MP: I think, from what I can tell, you get your 60 screens and if the comic is popular or however a comic gets a second season, you get another 60 screens. This is the type of stuff I still have to find out about.

I know if it were to be only 60 screens, and I hope it’s not, I hope it’s a lot longer, but if it’s only 60 it will still be a complete story. But if it is I think people will be freaking out wanting more. I do leave it at a point in the story where if this is the end of the story, it’s the end, but you’ll want to see more.

I just want to craft the best story I can with the space I get.

Well, we’ve already talked about how you came up with otters. Other characters are a turtle, an owl, a squirrel…these are extremely not offensive animals. How did you come up with these choices?

MP: (laughs) Well, when I first came up with the story I knew I wanted to do otters because my girlfriend loved them and because they are super cute and because I’ve never seen otters as the main character for anything, so I asked “where are otters?”

I’m on the East Coast and wanted to set it in New York because I’m from there and grew up on Long Island. But there are no otters on Long Island, so I had to go to the place closest with otters which is New Jersey and the pine Barrens. So from there I just started researching what other animals are in the pine Barrens. Luckily enough there are a lot of animals and its owls, badgers, deer, and typical woodland creatures.

In the future, I’d of course love to introduce bears and ones that are more ferocious (laughs), but really it’s just about who’s there in the pine Barrens and this community I’m building of these animals. A lot of them are birds and squirrely type things and turtles and stuff like that. I also thought, when that’s who is there, it sort of fit into my story because I wanted my characters to be sort of sweet natured compared to these sort of monsters who are revealed in the end.

Wow. I hadn’t even thought of the realism angle, so nice work! Well, do you ever see turtle helmets taking off as an accessory or protective device?

MP: During the competition I was trying to not think too far into the future because I’m superstitious and don’t want to jinx anything. I talked to my girlfriend at four in the morning one when we were emailing people, and I said “you realize if this wins I have to somehow make turtle helmets for conventions” and she was like “people are going to love that. Turtle helmets!” That was one of the first images that popped into my head and I told it to my Dad and girlfriend and they were like “that’s it. That’s the image! That’s what people are going to love.”

I’m really, really glad to people have taken to it. It’s sort of a cute visual but it’s also kind of cool because he’s a helmet and as we go along the turtle is going to act as a navigation system telling him where to go when they’re running. It’s a whole crazy mish mash of things, but yeah, I’d looove to see turtle helmets at San Diego Comic Con or wherever.

Yeah, you should make some t-shirts and sell them on your website.

MP: Definitely, definitely.

You’ve found success in the Zuda model and you’ve demonstrated perseverance. To other aspiring creators what do you have to say as a recommendation to get into the biz?

MP: I think first and foremost you have to love this. Personally, I came up with this story…I think sometimes people come up with their stories to sell an animated series or a movie, or something like that. That’s cool, I won’t lie I keep thinking this would be a cool movie. But at the end of the day I want this to be a comic book, I come up with the best idea and I want it to be a comic book. You know, to really want to put the time and effort in and be in love with comic books and do it.

As far as getting your idea out there, I think whatever amount of time you think you have to put into it, triple it or quadruple it (laughs). I told someone this — come up with a million ideas to promote yourself, and then come up with another million ideas. It’s one of the aspects people don’t realize when they do anything, whether you’re in a band or a writer or something, the ability for you to sell yourself is something you’re going to have to do.

If you want to get into this, you’re going to have to promote and sell yourself and convince people a lot. Some artists aren’t good at that, but you’ll have to prepare for that.

For the avenues, not just because I won it, if you look at the avenue there aren’t that many direct lines to publishers, but Zuda is one of them. I would definitely say take a look at it because if you win this, once the dust settles and you get some sleep, you’re going to look around and think “wow, I just won this competition.”

You’re going to get checks with DC letterhead — that means something to me, I love comic books. You’re going to be in there with a publisher that has an amazing history. So I definitely think that’s it.

If you decide to go a different route, you’re going to have to put all the same effort into and try and find someone to print it, there’s always good places to print like Print On Demand. It’s a place that’s finally cheap enough to use.

For me, when I was coming up with an idea I said “this is a great idea I think” and you have to believe in yourself, so I went with Zuda. I’d done it three times before and I’d sort of learned what it takes to win something like that. It’s a lot of promotion. That’s not just Zuda, it’s everything. If you print your comic book you’re going to have to go all across the country to conventions selling it, and you’re going to have to sell it no matter what you do.

With things like the iPad coming out, the iPhone, the Internet being everywhere, we’re probably getting closer to digital comics as a standard at some point. That comes back to Zuda and DC, they’re really leading the way as far as finding new, original things.

One other thing I should say is, if you win Zuda it’s not like you win the opportunity to color Superman or something. You get the chance to tell your own story. That’s crazy rare. Normally if you break into the industry you’re breaking in penciling Luke Cage or something, which might be awesome and something you always wanted to do. I think as a creator though what you really, really want to do is to tell your own story and invent something. And Zuda lets you do that. It’s a bit astonishing.

That’s the thing that’s crazy to me. It’s not like I won the chance to draw someone else’s comic. I get to draw and write my own comic book. That’s the nutty part. That’s just super, super rare.

Anything else you’d like to add?

MP: I just wanted to say thanks to anyone who supported us or we won over or however you came to see the comic book and voting for it…I can’t thank everyone enough. I’ve been really overwhelmed that we won. It was a really close race and in the end my comic one, and in the end it’s amazing. I’d just like to say if you supported us…thank you…and if you didn’t please check us out because I really want to get as many people on board as possible.

If you enjoyed this interview, make sure to follow Matthew’s work. For updates, check out his website or follow him on Twitter, and make sure to regularly check Zuda Comics for updates.