Posted in: Comics | Tagged:

Getting To Know…AC Medina And Morgan Sawyer

Published Mon, 08 May 2017 14:30:41 -0500

Last updated Mon, 08 May 2017 14:49:37 -0500

From Senior Boricua Correspondent Marco Lopez.

So, I write a column for Bleeding Cool called You've Never Heard Of, where I interview indie and upcoming talent. Now generally, when I go to conventions and I interview talent, I write those articles under the title Getting to Know, as I tend to interview established pros in the business or talent that are moving up in the industry.

One of the previous talents I interviewed for the first time was A.C. Medina at MegaCon Tampa Bay 2016. The writer of the excellent Scout Comics title The Elasticator.

This time around he has a new book coming out from Scout later this year called Welcome to Paradise. He's teamed up with the fantastic Morgan Sawyer, who will be illustrating the book, along with colors by Ross A. Campbell and lettering by Micah Myers.

Now before we get on with the questions, here's a bit of a summary from Scout's website:

Welcome to a world filled with deadly drag races for sport, routine mass killings called "the cleanings", and where the common house is the size of a closet. The story follows Manny, a fun loving, chop shop delivery boy, on the run and in possession of what may be humanity's last hope. The only problem is Manny's world is a bunker the size of California and just about everyone in it wants him dead.

Now let's get talking.

Marco: All right, guys — to start us off, why don't you tell us how this bromance of what I believe will be epic proportions came together, and why you both decided to work together on this comic?

A.C. Medina: I think I stalked Morgan on social media until we became buds, meeting for the first time at Heroes Con 2016. We'd been trying to develop a project together for a while, but my plate was still a little too stacked, as I was working on my first project ever at the time. Fast forward to the end of the summer when things had finally cleared up — we knocked around a couple of ideas, just really playing with world creation. Soon we had something we both loved and just had to make.

Morgan Sawyer: I was sitting at home and I was hit up by Alan on Facebook messenger, stating he would like to work with me on something. So he pitched me a comic idea called Statesville that we joked and talked about every week as I concepted characters and designs for it. But eventually, it went dormant for a little as we focused on projects we were working on.

In September, Alan messaged me in a text about a goofy idea he had about a post-apocalyptic race that we began just joking with and adding on to — until we started taking it seriously. And a couple days later he was like, "We are doing this. Can you make it up to New York for NYCC?" That's how our working title of Crap City was born, and I started frantically drawing up concepts and promotion pieces. Just before we sent everything to get printed for our announcement at NYCC, we were told we couldn't name our comic Crap City for marketing purposes, so we spent all day shooting out ideas for a replacement. At like 8 p.m., Alan dropped the figurative microphone with the perfect name for the series on a whole variety of levels: Welcome to Paradise.

I whipped up the logo in like an hour and got everything sent out and printed. Since then, we have gamed and laughed and really clicked as a creative team, and more importantly, as friends. Alan is like family. I am super stoked to be a part of this project, and it's all because I ignored my lifelong lesson of [not] talking to strangers. Plus, we share an unbridled love of mochi bonbons.

Marco: So, I really enjoyed that preview you sent me, Alan. The energy of the book really leaps right off the page. And thanks to the power of the internets, the audience can check out those pages littered throughout this article. But tell me — why this story? What made you want to tell this story, and what inspired you to write it?

Morgan, I've got to say I'm loving your art. Maybe this is just me, but I'm seeing an influence from the cartoon Motorcity in your work. More so from the vehicle designs and the way they move. Are you a fan of the animation studio Titmouse? And who inspires you? And what and or whom did you look to when designing the world in Welcome to Paradise?

A.C. Medina: I wanted to tell my version of a post-apocalyptic story. As a writer, one of my personal goals is to tell a story in as many genres possible. One thing that's always attracted me to stories like this are the people in these worlds, or more importantly, the societies they create. Normally, we're told all shit hits the fan and we're brought back to more animalistic ways. Our world as is is already pretty brutal; I don't think the apocalypse would completely change that brutality, but just repackage it in a more fitting way that still fulfills our various needs as the people we are today.

Morgan Sawyer: [Laughs] Well, I hadn't heard of Motorcity 'til you mentioned it, so I have been looking at stills of the show. I wasn't influenced by that show in any way, but that show and I may share some of the same influences, if that makes sense. The anime Red Line influenced me a bit.

I am a fan of Titmouse's animation. I really enjoyed the TMNT short they did of Don vs. Raph, and of course, like the rest of the world I love the Venture Brothers. I'm influenced by a lot of people and artists. I guess my dad is my biggest influence. He would draw me any cartoon character I asked for growing up, and introduced me to the Ninja Turtles and Robocop.

As far as artists that inspire me, there is a whole list of artists — predominantly peers — whose work pushes me to be better and get out of doing what I find comfortable, that all have amazingly different styles and unique design — such as Kerry Talbott, Sishir Bommakanti, Chris Visions, Sylvain Chomet, Toby Cypress, Jamie Hewlett, Nicole Hamilton, Mike Mignola, Ronald Wimberly, Lucian Freud, and NC Wyeth.

When designing the world of Welcome to Paradise, I looked to what I like that is in the sci-fi/post-apocalyptic genre. So it has elements of my love of different movies such as 5th Element, Blade Runner, Zero Theorem, and Escape from New York, plus some hints of Jet Set Radio and the Warriors. I also used overpopulated areas such as Rio as a visual influence with the way the buildings are stacked and layered over one another, which I find fascinating. At the end of the day, I hope it all reads well.

Marco: Alan, what kind of journey the fans can expect when they check out the book? Don't give us the usual pitch. Tell us the stuff that we won't read in the future Previews summary. Give us some cool tidbits to salivate us. And on top of that, will this be a done in one miniseries? Or could this lead to more stories told in this world, even if they're not with the same characters?

Also, Morgan, what do you love the most about working on this project? Some of the favorite things you designed? Even if they're not in the preview pages. And your favorite characters to draw, and the what you loved designing the best.

A.C. Medina: Part of why I really wanted to tell a post-apocalyptic story are the characters I wanted to share along the way. Our journey gives you a variety of different outlooks using characters most stories like this shy away from or end up pushing into the background. Manny, our hero, isn't your usual apocalyptic hero; he's not a brutal killer. Despite the world he lives in, he enjoys his life and won't let anything change that. With Welcome to Paradise, we made sure to create a living, breathing world, despite being a five-issue miniseries. Without spoiling too much, we've figured out a way to tell you multiple stories each issue while following the original plot. We do it in a way that not only flows seamlessly with our world and story while still very much being its own thing.

Morgan Sawyer: I love working with this art team and watching this comic come to life, with Ross's colors breathing life into the inks and Micah giving it a voice. The vehicles and cityscapes have been my favorite things I've designed so far. My favorite character to draw is Manny so far. I designed and inked my favorite panel so far ever — it's on page 19 and involves a particularly brutal Gunnar scene.

Marco: As they say, teamwork makes the dream work. And you guys aren't alone on this wild ride. We got colors by Ross A. Campbell and lettering by Micah Myers.

First off, Micah's lettering is bangarang. Just the way he works the sound effects lettering into the art is beautiful. I'm specifically talking about pages 7 and 13. Those colors by Ross just pop — they're so complementary, but not overbearing. The palette is bright and has a nice cartoony vibe.

What was it like for you two to work with these guys, especially when you saw the end results of their work?

A.C. Medina: This is my second time working with both Ross and Micah, and I very much doubt it'll be the last. Both are true superstars, each time they have new proofs for us it's exciting. One of the hardest parts of making comics is finding collaborators — not having that issue for a letterer and colorist in today's world of comics is an absolute gift that I'm extremely grateful of.

Morgan Sawyer: It is phenomenal working with them. Seeing everything come out as close as I had envisioned on every panel is unreal, and it's all because of their amazing work. It makes me work harder to stay on par with their work.

Marco: All right, we're at the end here, so tell us what the future holds for you two. Some more creator-owned work? Maybe some paid work on some company books? Or even something else outside of comics? Give us the goods.

A.C. Medina: Currently I am in development of three other creator-owned series. I'm also in the works of co-hosting a podcast with my cousin that I'm very excited for, and I'm also dabbling in some non-comics work. Nothing serious yet, but here's hoping that changes.

Morgan Sawyer: Just working hard finishing each issue of Welcome to Paradise right now. I'm doing the Glider Henchmen Number 4 section of Micah Myers comic The Disasters, and I was recently fortunate enough to have taken part in the most recent Emanata Anthology Mirage. Outside of comics, I'm working on an art show coming up in September in RVA which I'm looking forward to being a part of.

* * *

And that is the end of that. I want to thank A.C. and Morgan for letting us interview them, and don't forget to be on the lookout for the series when it hits Previews later this year.

Marco Lopez is the co-owner of the website Atomic Rex Entertainment. Where you can find the webcomic Massively Effective, that Marco describes as Bill and Ted in tights. Also, hosted on the site is Marco's web strip series Orion's Belt that follows a family of adventurers in space and his anthology series A Shot of Whiskey. Marco has also written for Zenescope Entertainment and Lion Forge Comics.