Broken Frontier

With the announcement of Ape Entertainment’s latest creator owned project, HORRORWOOD, generating interest, now is a good time to check up with the creator’s of the project, Brandon Terrell and Brent Schoonover, to get some insight into the series, their influences and what’s in store for HORRORWOOD. Conducting this interview is Ape co-founder David Hedgecock.

DAVID HEDGECOCK: First, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to answer some questions for us. I know creating comics on top of a full time job doesn’t leave much time for other stuff.

BRENT SCHOONOVER: Happy to do it.

BRANDON TERRELL: Thanks for having us.

DAVID: Most of our readers probably aren’t yet familiar with your new project, HORRORWOOD, so let’s start with the important stuff first: why HORRORWOOD?

BRENT: Growing up, horror films always played an important part of my childhood. When me and Brandon got together to figure out what type of story we wanted to tell, I really wanted to see what we could contribute to the genre. HORRORWOOD was that contribution.

BRANDON: The 1950’s- there was always something about that particular time period that intrigued me. All of the things going on and affecting Hollywood, from the introduction of the atomic bomb to Senator Joseph McCarthy, combine to make that era a very rich landscape, and yet still very unsettling. I always thought that if Brent and I were going to create something about Hollywood, this was the time period to set it in. Of course, we’re both old school horror fans, from Alfred Hitchcock to Vincent Price, so, with HORRORWOOD we were able to create a perfect blend of those interests.

BRENT: I look at the four core characters in this book and I like that they have that classic composition similar to the Fantastic Four, but, unlike that group, these characters really DON'T get along well. In the end, they stick together, although for very different reasons. I think it will be fun for readers to see how that plays out.

Visually, I had the idea of doing a comic with a limited color palette of red and grey tones in my head for quite a while. After kicking around different projects I felt like this story might lend itself to the style. Something about setting it in the fifties and also the darker themes going throughout the story, I thought it could help the book by separating it from everything else on the stands, and being an independent book, it's pretty important to stand out.

Horror is probably the next most popular genre in comics outside the capes and cowls, so their is a lot of competition, but I can honestly say I think we have a solid unique book here that is avoiding the popular trends in most horror books these days

BRANDON: You should see Brent’s art! From the word go, Brent knew what would set the book apart from others in the field, and his style of art and color palette certainly make the book pop out. To me, Horrorwood is the story of fathers and children, and again, setting it in the very surreal world of Hollywood in the 1950s is a big draw. Like Brent said, horror has become a very marketable genre in the comic industry, and Horrorwood is something different in that genre.

DAVID: How did HORRORWOOD come about?

BRENT: Brandon was stripping at this dive bar in the Twin Cities to help pay for college and was trying to get his writing off the ground. He was a few years ahead of me at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. About a week before I graduated he came to my apartment and we were kicking out some ideas for a book, I told him I had a title and some characters in my head, told him to go home and put some story to them, I believe he wrote most of it between the pole dancing, which he gave up to put more time into the book, bless his heart. After the book got done we went to the Wizard Chicago-Con to pimp it out to anybody who would listen, nobody did. On a whim I brought the book to the San Diego Comic Con where I met the Ape crew who, luckily, have great taste in comic books.

BRANDON: Brent had become the resident punching bag for the film department at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, doing everything from wading through mud in the middle of winter to lighting himself on fire in the name of Art. One day, he meekly approached me (an upperclassman and a fine dancer, despite what you’ve heard) and wanted to tell me about a comic book idea he had. After initially laughing at him and asking him to fetch me a bagel, we sat down and he told me about these characters. We came up with the general back story for the core group and the story branched off of that.

DAVID: You both work in other fields of the art and entertainment industry, so why choose comics for this project?

BRENT: The fame, the money, and the chicks, of course!

BRANDON: Probably because I don’t have the attention span to write or read anything  else, so comics naturally — wait, what was the question?

DAVID: The fame is a nice bonus, I agree... You are both relative newcomers to the comic book field but your resumes outside the field are impressive. What other projects have you worked on that have prepared you for HORRORWOOD?

BRENT: I graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2002, studying under comic artists like Barb Schultz (Micronauts), Peter Gross (Lucifer), and I got to see Ryan Kelly (Lucifer) as a student, a teacher, and professional.
I do freelance illustration work during the day, working on anything from storyboards for the Spiderman 2 video game, to the Honeynut Cheerios box.

BRANDON: I graduated from MCAD in Winter of 2000 with a BFA in Film. I work as a freelance production assistant on commercials shot in the Twin Cities area, when I’m not sitting behind my computer listening to the voices in my head. I also write an online comic strip called ‘The Furthering Affairs of Huntington P. Woolrich’ illustrated by a fantastic artist out of England named David Golding.

DAVID: For those fans becoming familiar with your work, what are some of your comic book influences, books that inspired you and HORRORWOOD?

BRENT: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke- it is the greatest epic and homage to all that has come before it. At the same time he also gave characters a voice in a time when they really weren't allowed to do anything more than beat up the bad guy. It's also very pretty....Dave Stewart's coloring was top notch....  Mad Love by Bruce Timm, the animated series changed my life and gave me direction on how I wanted to draw. I'm not there yet but every artist says that. This book also showed that you can get pretty dark on a kids book. I'd also mention Timm's Two Face story in Batman: Black and White was a really big impact on me as well.  Fantastic Four # 51- This Man, This Monster! This was just some great Lee and Kirby storytelling, one of the more famous classic stories from their run. I bought a really beat up version of this book at a convention years ago and it ranks as one of my prized possessions since.
BRANDON: A Superman For All Seasons by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale: Every time I read this, it evokes those childhood memories of growing up in a small town in the Midwest. I was never a big Superman fan (Christopher Reeve and Smallville have changed that), but this was a story about Clark Kent. And the style is so minimal, you really get the feeling every word counts.

Watchmen by Alan Moore: This is the onion of all comic stories. There are so many damn layers to this thing, it takes numerous readings just to sort them out. And then you discover something new. I remember reading it and knowing there was so much story that was not in the pages of the book. It really resonates.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon: I know, I know. Not a comic. But it is quite possibly the finest book I have ever read, and I tell that to everyone I know. The characters are so well-developed, they live inside those pages. And to set them against the rise of the comic industry is beyond genius. If you haven’t read this book, check it out. Now. Go.

DAVID: Why did you decide to go with Ape, still a relative newcomer in the publishing field, instead of another company?

BRENT: I was in San Diego this year and happened to bring Horrorwood along, not expecting to show it. I had some pages of another project that I thought were newer and more fresh, but Horrorwood #1 was complete and figured it would be nice to show my work totally done. I had heard of Ape Entertainment and made a point to stop by and introduce myself. Brent Erwin [Ape’s Marketing Director] was there and I showed him the pages from my most recent project, he liked them but nothing came of it. On a whim, I showed him the Horrorwood stuff and he just freaked out, and showed them to the rest of the craw. After some questions and comments they thought it could make a nice addition to their line up, I proceeded to call up my wife and Brandon, and it was like- blow off the dust on this thing man, here we go!  The great thing about Ape is that they are hungry for a bigger piece of the pie, and they are really jazzed to promote this thing. They have some great ideas to play off the Hollywood connection and also they are great about helping us make the book be the best it can be without changing our vision of what we want it to be as the creators.

BRANDON: Brent called me from San Diego, and he gushed on about these people he met that wanted to help us out with the book. His enthusiasm was infectious. The crew at Ape Entertainment have done nothing but support and back the book, coming up with fantastic ways to promote and distribute the book, and have let us know that at the end of the day, it’s our baby. They’re helping us to make it the best possible comic book it can be, and when the readers see the final product, they’ll be as excited as we are.

           

       

DAVID: So, when can we expect to see HORRORWOOD in stores?

BRENT: 2009, we are getting a big jump on promoting it. Actually, April 2006 is issue 1, and we are going bi-monthly after that, it's a four issue mini series.

BRANDON: Whenever Brent decides to draw the blasted thing (kidding, the first three issues are already finished)! April of 2006 is when the first issue will be available in stores, and it will be solicited in the Diamond Previews catalog in February. Go out and pre-order, kids! It’s gonna be a wild ride.

DAVID: Where can we go to find out about HORRORWOOD until then?

BRENT: The website is www.horrorwoodcomic.com. There, you can get news, updates about the project, promo artwork, a soon to be added store to buy the book, more info on the story and characters. Plus, you can contact us through it as well.

BRANDON: And you can always check out www.ape-entertainment.com for info on the book, and on all the other great projects Ape has lined up.

Got some artistic talent? Then participate in our "Hooray for Horrorwood" Contest.  Click here for all the details.