Meet Christopher John Scruton of Anarchy Brothers Press

Christopher John Scruton is the owner and operator of Anarchy Brothers Press, an independent comic book publisher and digital store. Passionate about writing from the age of nine, he had a rough upbringing and often turned to comic books as a refuge away from the horror around him. He was born with a learning disorder, and in elementary school, a teacher sexually molested him. That teacher never served any time in prison, and as a result, Christopher has been distrustful of authority figures throughout his life.

In high school, Christopher was a victim of bullying, called names like "faggot" by his peers and "lost cause" by his teachers. Shy and soft-spoken, he kept his head down until graduation, at which point he matriculated into the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in order to study computer animation. There, he honed his skills as an artist and expanded his mind by experimenting with substances such as marijuana and LSD.

Outside of comic books, Christopher is interested in punk music and tattoos.

1. When you were a kid, what drew you to writing as an art form?

I don't remember when what drew me to writing. All I remember is when there was computer in front of me, I began to write. I haven't stopped writing and have no plans to stop writing. If there is a day when I stopped writing, it would be the day I ran out of stories.

2. How did you decide to start writing comic books?

I started writing books. Nothing got published, but I think over time I kind of lost passion on writing books. I always loved reading comics, and I still remember every comic I read. So one day I decided: I'm going to write and create my own comics. I still love writing--it is just that I chosen a different medium.

3. How do you come up with the images for your comics?

The best way to describe this is I am creating a storyboard, and I am the director. I have to know where the camera is and how much lighting the scene needs. Sometimes there are images that don't go into comics and I have to know where I want to take this story.

4. What inspired you to start Anarchy Brothers Press, and how did you choose the name for the project?

When I was writing books, I was rejected by many, many book agencies. I thought there had to be one person out there who liked my work, but the more I got rejected, I kind of felt no one wanted to hear about what I was working on. So I decided that to hell with all the agencies who rejected me--I am going to start my own publishing company. It first started out to be an independent publishing company, and it evolved into a comic book publishing company. The name came from being a punk: I can do things for myself and the love of being that there is no government, but anarchy. Also, I dedicated this company to my brothers who are no blood related, but I feel that they are brothers from another mother.

5. What are you working on currently, and is there anything else you'd like people to know about your work?

Right now I am working on issue number 4 of Dark Web Stories. It is called The Hunters vs The Preys. It is about the story of The Most Dangerous Game but it does have a twist. It is about the rich that are willing to hunt people who are poor and not just kill them, but to bet on them on the internet on who can survives the longest.

My work is kind of dark. I don't like fan fiction, but if there is a movie or video game I played, my mind looks at it and I start to think I can create a story out it and all of it is original. For example, one of my comics, I Have No Use For A Name, is about the apocalypse. There have been many comics and movies about the apocalypse, but these other stories don't take up subjects that no one wants to talk about, like pedophilia.

I always had distrusted people of authority and that shows up a lot in my work. The thing is I don't believe if someone is a cop or the president that means you have to respect them no matter. The thing is you have to earn my respect.

Thanks, Christopher!

More with Mike Gagnon, Author and Artist

Mike Gagnon is a distinguished author and comic creator whose genre defying work has been featured in books, comics, film, and television. He's known for breaking the expected rules of genre, and he likes to use genres such as horror, scifi, and drama to explore common human experiences.

Last month, I interviewed Mike about his writing and art in general, and with particular emphasis on his new crime noir novel, Skidsville. Check out that interview here.

Mike has a lot of projects going, and today he answers a new set of questions, focusing on his satirical novella called Sex and the Circus. If you want to see samples of his work, you can also find him on Wattpad.

1. What inspired you to write Sex and the Circus?

Basically, it's my commentary on things I've observed in North American society. I wanted to tell a story of someone who must learn to assert and value themselves, while struggling with undeserved obligation. Patty is an amalgamation of several women I've known in my life, who I've often seen first hand, often struggling to help others without being appreciated for it. There are still a lot of women in modern society who go from home, to college or university, to marriage and may never assert themselves and create their own independent identity. In fact, the gender doesn't really matter that much. I think many men and women both struggle with some of these feelings and situations. I choose to write the story around the character of Patty, because I think that most people, male or female, will find it more relatable.

2. What are the challenges when it comes to writing a novella rather than a work with both writing and illustration?

I think the challenges mostly come from form and function. Some authors struggle with novella and short stories, whereas I am just the opposite. I don't believe in wasting the reader's time with unnecessary filler. I write a clear concise outline and then cut anything unnecessary or redundant. I don't believe every point I'm trying to make should be hammered into a reader's head 10 times. That's really the only reason that Sex and the Circus is a novella; it just didn't need to be larger than what it ended up being. When it comes to graphic novels, words and images together, the challenge is format learning how to write a properly formatted script and apply that knowledge. You must play film director in your head and not only tell the story, but describe gesture, body language, and facial expression in a way that is understood, especially if someone else is drawing it.

3.When you come up with an idea for a new book, how do you decide or know if it will use words or visual artwork or both?

My roots are in comics and graphic novels, and I'll always love them, but, for me at least, the process of producing a comic is more expensive and time consuming than a novel. Every idea I have, I get a feeling very early on as to whether the concept would be better suited to novel or graphic novel format. Many ideas would work for both, so I'll make a judgement call based on scheduling and time constraints. If I know my schedule doesn't have room to complete an illustrated graphic novel, I'll produce it as a novel first, and then revisit the concept when I have time in my schedule to illustrate it or gather a couple of people to help produce it. There are some projects I just see as comics, and those, I'm holding on to for now in the hopes that I'll get time to draw them, but they may end up seeing life as novels or novellas first.

4. In writing a satire, how do you strike a balance between being funny and possibly going too far?

I live by a rule used by many comedians. There is no too far. Just when you're at the edge where you're becoming apprehensive and uncomfortable, that's where you should be. If you're ever feeling uncomfortable while reading one of my stories, it's because I want you to. That scene was written to make the reader face something, or see something I'm trying to say. Often the message is that something isn't as scary as is commonly believed or that characters can make unexpected decisions that you could also make in your own life.

5. What have you been working on lately, and do you have any projects planned for the new year that you're especially looking forward to working on?

My next book is already in the bag. It's a story about abusive relationships and mental illness, and one of the characters happens to be a vampire. It's expected to release on Valentine's Day 2017. There will be more info about it released after the Christmas holidays. It's a full-length novel, and I'm really looking forward to releasing it and getting people's reactions. It's a close personal project, and I'm dying to tell people about it, but I can't yet. Of course, I love my characters in Sex and the Circus, too, and I believe the story carries a lot of important messages and life situations, humorous and dramatic, that readers will identify with. Also, I'm currently producing my next novel that will be coming out after that. It's going to be a statement about corruption in political and financial circles, told as a Western. I tend to gravitate mostly to genres of humor and horror, but I love all genres, so I make a concerted effort to switch things up with every book. I had had no shortage of horror concepts in the last couple years, but I don't want to perceived as a horror writer, but an author that can tackle anything. Because of that I purposely alternate between other genres, like drama, humor, true stories, western and sci-fi. I already have the concepts I'll be working on for the next couple years plotted out, so there will be a lot of fun and entertaining stories for me to share with readers over the next couple years, including a few horror stories. I'm really looking forward to the stories I will get to share in 2017.

Thanks again, Mike!

Meet Mike Gagnon, Author and Artist

Mike Gagnon is a professional author, illustrator, and instructor. He's been creating novels, comic books, and graphic novels since 2000 and has worked for companies such as Marvel and Dark Horse. He also teaches cartooning and writing classes for all age groups at various schools and colleges in Canada.

Mike's latest book is a crime noir called Skidsville. Learn more about him and his work by visiting http://www.gagnonwrites.com/, and see samples at https://www.wattpad.com/user/MikeGagnon.

1. Have you been interested in both writing and drawing since you were a kid--and when did you know you wanted to build a career in writing and illustrating?

I got into writing and drawing early on, especially at first. When I was about five, I discovered comic books. They grabbed my attention instantly and I had a passion for them. I started tracing characters into new stories and making my own. I was too young at the time to understand that I was also storytelling. I knew right away, from that early age, that I wanted to work in comics and creative ventures.

2. How did you come up with the idea for your latest book, Skidsville?

I wanted to tell a gritty crime story, but I wanted to tell it from a different perspective than usual. Most hardboiled crime noir features a protagonist that's a homicide investigator, or the stereotypical private eye. I wanted to take a look from the point of view of a criminal. He may be a bad guy, but readers can empathize to a certain point that he is a bad guy for the right reasons. As bad as Joey (the protagonist) is, he's nothing compared to the level of corruption and callousness of the antagonists that surround him. He's nickel and dime to the "real" criminals. There's some underlying themes I wanted to explore, basically the idea of a story without a "good guy," just various layers of "bad," but also that things and people are not always what they appear. The "hero" of a story may have to atone for their actions. I originally wrote it as a graphic novel script, but time and budget put it on pause for awhile. I did however get time to adapt it into a novel, which is the book I'm promoting now. Readers can find it at finer book retailers or their favorite online bookseller. Retailers can get it from Ingram Distribution.

3. What has influenced your definition of noir? Are there particular novels, comics, films, etc. that have especially inspired you?

There's a lot of things. Frank Miller's Sin City is a big one, Will Eisner's classic work on The Spirit, as well as the film adaptation. Bruce Willis movies, like Last Boy Scout, Die Hard, Last Man Standing. I'm currently working on the graphic novel version of Skidsville again. The graphic novel will be black, white and red, which may lead to some comparisons to Miller's Sin City work, but I don't think there's any similarity beyond that. I think Skidsville is its own thing. It's an idea, doing black, white and red, that I've had for a long time, before I discovered Sin City, but over time has grown into being also a nod, or homage, to Miller's work. There's also a pretty handy book I use in the classroom from time-to-time called How to Draw Noir Comics by Shawn Martinbrough.

4. What are some of the challenges for authors/artists in presenting visual work in an eBook format compared to print?

Well, let me tell you, it all depends on platform. eReading still isn't super image friendly, but there has been progress. Kindle, for example, has a comic creator, for creating and formatting comics for Kindle readers and apps. It can even allow you to set up panel-by-panel reading instead of page-by-page. It isn't perfect, mind you, and it can be a challenge when you want to set up reading for a page with a very dynamic or original layout to the art and panels, but it's better than nothing. Kindle has special creators for children's books and text books now, too, so they are recognizing the unique needs of each format. Comixology also works well and although it is now owned by Amazon, it seems to have a bit smoother system for panel-by-panel. Things like Smashwords can be great for getting your eBook distributed to multiple channels, but they still aren't set up and compatible with image heavy books in a lot of cases. DrivethruFiction/DrivethruComics is a good option for simply uploading a .pdf file that people can download and read.

The challenges are different for comics with print. In eBooks, you're struggling to make a sensible flow with panels and software programming to ensure readability, and with print you need to watch safe areas, margins, and bleeds so nothing important gets lost when the book is trimmed to its final size. The content is printed on larger paper and then cut to size, so if your pages aren't sized or aligned right, you can lose parts of your art that you didn't want to.

5. As someone who also works as a teacher, what's your best advice to those who want to learn to write and/or illustrate comics and graphic novels?

Never stop learning and never fear failure. We get obsessed and worried about our image in this modern social media age. Share your work and make mistakes. No one is perfect, and making mistakes is how you learn and improve. There will always be people who are just mean and comment and don't like your work. It will always be. Ignore them, they're not worth it. Understand that not everything is for everyone. Some people don't like crime noir stories. That's fine. It doesn't make them, or me, right or wrong; they just have their own taste. For every book or drawing or comic, someone is going to like it and get what you're trying to say. That's who it was for, the people who get it and enjoy it.

There are also some great and helpful books out there for people to help them get started in all aspects of comics and writing: The DC Comics Guide to Writing for Comics by Dennis O’Neill, Making Comics by Scott McCloud, The Business of Comics by Lurene Haines, Perspective: Made Easy by Robert Lee, and a ton more. You can find more books that I recommend as well as my own books and articles on the subject at www.mikegagnon.ca.

Thanks, Mike!

Meet Greg Griffith, Writer

Greg Griffith is a poet, writer, and visionary from London. He has recorded music under the persona of Mr Griméz The Anti Hero. In 2004, he started to develop a comic for his character Mr Griméz. In his words, "It went through a development hell process, and now in 2012 the comic book has risen from the ashes." Check out sample pages of the comic, illustrated by Caroline Harrington, on Facebook.

1. Who is Mr. Griméz, and what's his world like?

Mr Griméz (Grim-éz) is a warrior from the Sulari clan. The purpose of the Sulari clan is to eliminate the parasite race known as the Hyperons. In the first issue of this comic, we see the reality of Mr Griméz become distorted due to a situation. Can he overcome the challenge, or will he be consumed by negativity which could take him off his warrior path? With all the chaos and confusion in London, how does a warrior maintain his sanity due this situation?

2. What inspired you to use a retro style for your comic?

It's no secret that I am a fan of the 1990s, but I do appreciate comics, movies, cartoons from the 1980s, 1970s, and even 1960s. I do prefer hand drawn comics & cartoons--it feels more organic.

My retro-style comic sucks you into the dimension of a gloomy London hit by a recession. The artwork shows you that London is a damaged place due to manipulation of Hyperons. Even though the comic may seem dark and miserable, it's animated with a sense of humor and philosophy.

Retro comics are a part of history and should not be forgotten or censored. Since digital comics are flooding the marketplace, I think it's good to bring back the nostalgia of the art form in the digital age.

3. What's your process for collaborating with Caroline Harrington?

Firstly I build up the concepts in my mind. Then I go through a filtering process with the ideas. I write the script, and then I do some filtering with certain scenes and the dialog. While this is happening, Caroline is illustrating my vision of the characters in the comic.

When I sent the complete script to Caroline, she did a draft version of comic to make sure I was happy with the ideas presented. Then--ka-blam!--Mr Griméz Anti Hero London Terrorist Part 1 was born.

4. Why is the comic format the best way to tell your character's story?

I feel that the comic format will inspire people to do more reading. This could be a starting point for some people to eventually read books to help build their knowledge. Some people may find reading books a hard time, but reading a comic is much easier. The artwork engages them with the story and sparks their imagination. I do believe imagination is important, so it would be great if adults start using it more.

I did try to write a book version of Mr Griméz, but I felt it didn't have the same impact as the comic. The comic creates the right atmosphere for the reader. Sit back, read it, and enjoy the adventure.

5. What would your advice be to someone who wants to write a comic but hasn't tried writing comics before?

Ask yourself the question: what stories would you like to see in a comic book format? Never take the safe option and create what everyone else is doing. For example, if the most popular genre right now is a zombie invasion, then try writing about something completely different. Mix and match concepts together to form one concept. Your comic book idea might take a long time to manifest but be patient with it. Use your imagination and think of the unbelievable and don't be afraid to take a risk. Embrace your creativity and don't allow yourself to be a lifeless robot thinker.

Thanks, Greg!