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Tom Pinchuk Gets Soft Wood Over Star Cycles

Comic book creator Tom Pinchuk writes,

Greetings and salutations – I'm Tom Pinchuk, a writer who contributed to Heavy Metal's new comedy mag, Soft Wood. Look closely in the photos here from our signing event at Golden Apple Comics. Real close. You may spot me in the zebra shirt. And after you read the story starting on page 91, you may have this entirely reasonable question on your mind…

"What the hell did I just read?!" A feature profile from the well-respected news magazine program, Star Cycles, of course. It somberly investigates the strange last days of legendary galactic adventurer, Jet Rockland.

"Seriously, though." Look at the title of this mag. Soft Wood. "Serious" isn't the operative word. But, yes, indeed, for sure, to be clear, it's a meta-mockumentary about a space hero who maaaaay recall certain pulp-era icons, but never actually existed. Well… Jet still doesn't exist, but you get it.

I had the pleasure of collaborating with artist Denis Medri on this. Our story features interviews with the people who knew Jet – his embittered widow, his now-adult-and-aimless sidekick, various enemies he casually crippled, etc. Each offering theories about the switchback turn Jet's career took in middle-age, when he abruptly showed up for one mission with 75 extra pounds of muscle, an excess of vein-bulging aggression and no shortage of breathless, rambling diatribes. What caused his sudden transformation? Oh, that'd be telling. I can share, though, that the circumstances rapidly accelerate into what some have described as a "completely avoidable blaze of glory."

It's an… unusual collision of subjects, for sure. How often did Denis have to check in to clarify where exactly the script was coming from? Actually, he may have been the only other human on Earth who also grasped what I saw as a self-evident thematic link between ESPN's 30 for 30 doc series, Republic serial space operas and that lost breed of 80s WWF superstars who'd shriek until their heads were liable to pop any time they got on the mic…

In other words, Denis got it. And he kept getting it, injecting nitro into this jacked-up tragedy – adding parodies and homages I feel inadequate for not scripting myself. So, potshots aim wide, and shoot rapid-fire in the choice pages "Star Cycles" takes up. Jet's comrades-at-arms might resemble officers in a certain federation. His wife, Zeila, may recall a certain alien princess. Et cetera. Ours was a partnership of one-upmanship.

Soft Wood was announced on April Fools this year. Many thought it was a joke. Well, it is a joke, just not a hoax – ay! But the timing worked out that this humor mag's launching just as MAD's tying off. Wasn't planned that way, but that's how it's happened. Several fans at the signing even said that seeing Soft Wood cheered them up after feeling wistful for a bit about where they'd find new comedy in comics. Of course, speaking as guys who vividly recall the thrill of how inappropriate MAD felt as kids – even when it was still a kid-friendly book – Denis and I don't think "Star Cycles" could've ever run in there anyway. It cuts more Heavy Metal, for sure. Ours and other creators' stories earn that parental advisory sticker.

That may be little surprising if you've seen my most recent credits. I've been a writer on kids shows like Ben 10 lately. Well, I love crafting stories the young'ins can enjoy, but I also love crafting ones they don't need to read until they're older. And long before I was adventuring with Ben 10, I made weird comics like Hybrid Bastards. Been a while since I've gotten to cut loose like that, and I've missed it. In Soft Wood, I got to pop my collar and do all the things you can't do on TV. I know there are a few other creators in Soft Wood who work in kids entertainment, too, and I'm sure they likewise relished the chance to go nuts.

At the signing, in fact, I was joined by Tony Fleecs, who's worked on My Little Pony. He did this cute and delightfully nasty short, "the Furious Friendship of Goats," which follows a bunch of rainbow-colored creatures and how – contrary to long-held expectations – their being mean to each other is what actually makes the world go round. Bob Fingerman was there, too. I knew him only from his work like Minimum Wage prior to this, and he was super cool, with lots of interesting insights about what it's like contributing to magazine anthologies at every end of the shelf, from Penthouse to MAD. He did a really hilarious short in Soft Wood about working-class demons, "Demonopolis." And I still crack up every time I see the "Derp Dealer" Casey Weldon painted for issue #1's cover. We graffiti-ed our signatures on that beautiful piece so many times, with all the copies we went through at the event, and I got to meet the real cat who modeled for it to boot.

The signing was quite fun. Reading these guys' and other contributors' stories was very fun. Cooking up so much craziness with Denis was tremendously fun. And fun can be trickier to find in comics, sometimes. Pick up Soft Wood and I guarantee the frenzied, reckless, uninhibited fun of everybody involved will radiate and resonate. Once it gets in your system, you may very well shock friends and foes alike, walking around feeling as juiced up as Jet Rockland.

Oops! Let another clue to the mystery slip there. Look closer at "Star Cycles," now. Maybe you'll solve it…

Cheers –

Tom

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