Hello once again boys and girls, your favorite Gal on the Moon is back, just in time to interview another creative team!

Joining me for my 7th monthly interview feature on the Moonstone website is the whole darn creative team from
--Buckaroo Banzai--:
penciller Stephen Thompson, inker Keith Williams and the man that adapted the original TV movie script into a comic book series, Joe Gentile.
The Buckaroo Banzai preview edition will be shipping in January from your favorite publisher: Moonstone!This 16 page black and white preview edition will give everyone a taste of what is to come in the three issue color mini series that kicks off in April 2006.
I thought this would be the perfect time to interview the men behind this exciting new series, and all three of them took time out of their very busy schedules to answer a few questions!

Bios

Joe Gentile

Joe Gentile freelance writer/musician, started in the biz writing books like Now Comics Speed Racer, and Fright Night, Comico/Northstar’s Sherlock Holmes , Slave Labor’s Holy Avenger and Cambion, as well as MOONSTONE’s
WEREWOLF THE APOCALYPSE, MIDNIGHT MUSE, MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER, KOCHAK,BUCKAROO BANZAI and THE PHANTOM.
He also has published prose work in The Kolchak Chronicles, as well as published poetry in various collections.

Keith Williams

Keith Williams started in comics as a background inker for artist like Joe Sinnot and John Byrne. Later, he became the first Romita Raider, whose job it was to correct art pages at Marvel. He moved on to become an Assistant Editor on the Spider-Man books with Jim Owsley as Editor. After leaving that he became a full time inker on books like, Web of Spider-Man, Quasar, Silver Surfer, She-Hulk,The Mask and, for the past ten years, The Phantom, for King Features Syndicate. He currently works on educational comics and, of course at Moonstone, he is working on KOLCHAK TALES and BUCKAROO BANZAI.

Let me start of with you, Joe, how did this whole project come about?
(FYI: Joe is editor-in-chief here at Moonstone, as well as being the man responsible for bringing Buckaroo Banzai back to comic books).

Joe: Well, it’s a bit of synchronicity, really. We tried to find the rights holders for Banzai when we re-tooled Moonstone
five years ago, but we had no luck reaching the right people. Sometime later, one of the many Banzai fans
(codename: “Arclight”), and head of a Banzai web site inquired if we would be interested in Banzai. I reiterated that we had tried but got nowhere. He said that HE would try, and I told him to knock himself out and let me know how things go. Time passed, but I did hear back from him, saying that he passed the word on, but got nothing back as a reply.
Perhaps this wasn’t going to happen, so I put it on the back burner. Time passed, to the tune of over a year…at least.

Then, out of the blue one day, I got a phone call from Banzai director WD Richter. We talked, and had a good time just talking Banzai. From there, the two of us just pushed this thing forward on sheer will, for there were still odd obstacles
to get rid of.

Lori G: Joe, this is something of a “dream” project for you, isn’t it? What is it about the original Buckaroo Banzai film that made you such a fan of the property?

Joe:I saw the movie in its original theatrical run, and I just loved it. It was crazy, funny, and heroic in a very “pulp” style, like “Indiana Jones”. I wanted MORE immediately, but sadly, there never was any more. I have seen the movie many times, and laughed every time. Then, I recently read the novel, and it is QUITE good really. The material really holds up nicely.

Joe: Well, we fans can look forward to Perfect Tommy, Reno, and New Jersey (and Mrs Johnson of course) all being at Banzai’s side during this adventure. Plus, there are two NEW Cavaliers that we will meet that also play a major role: (bass player/sharp thing wielder) Lady Gillette and (drummer) Red River Daddy. The mini series is a complete story written by Banzai’s creator
Earl Mac Rauch. It is JUST as funny and crazy as the movie, and that’s the truth. The script just crackles with all of those crazy dialogue moments between the characters, as well as a heavy heapin’ of double entendre’s!

The plot, as always, is about saving the world! But, along the way, we get a few glimpses of Buckaroo’s secrets, as well as
get a view of life within the Cavaliers.
There is some far out action, fever dreams, alien technology, silly spoken inner thoughts, daring rescues, some rock and roll, some medical wizardry, and that wild JET CAR!

Lori G: Let me ask you Stephen, how did you get involved in the new Buckaroo mini series?

Stephen: Well, I had been sending around some samples to companies I liked the look of and Moonstone was the first to bite, God bless ‘em. I did some character sketches of the Hong Kong Cavaliers (I had to base them on pictures I got off the net as I didn’t have the movie yet) which were okayed by Rick and Joe and off we went.

Lori G: Stephen, were you a fan of the movie before coming on board as the penciler for the mini-series? Is there anything about the characters from Buckaroo that you find especially compelling or interesting, and do you have a favorite?

Stephen: No, I’d never heard of the movie before getting offered the job. I live in Ireland and I don’t think it made it to cinemas on this side of the Atlantic. Since getting the job I’ve had a few friends tell me they were big fans of it from the video release. I like how stylized the characters are. They don’t act like totally realistic people but more like archetypes, which I think lends them well to being transferred to comic books. Tommy’s my favorite character because he kind of wears his emotions on his sleeve, which leads to a good range of expressions and actions. Cool and goofy is an interesting mix.

Lori G: Stephen, did you watch the movie several times to get a “feel” for the characters, of if not, how did you get that “authentic” Buckaroo vibe going? I must know, did you run out to buy your very own Blue Blazer?

Stephen: (Nah, I just dyed an old grey one, much cheaper). I did get the DVD and watched it a couple of times straight away. The film had a very distinct tone to it, which seemed much closer to comics than traditional movies to me. They’re just a bunch of costumes away from being a superhero team in some ways.

Lori G: Stephen, compare your work for Buckaroo to your previous work, like your Star Wars work.  Did Star Wars help prepare you for Buckaroo, or could nothing really “prepare” you for the wacky adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers?

Stephen: Well, Star Wars was a good training ground for BB. Both are sci-fi films obviously, so you have to draw a lot of objects, environments and vehicles that are based on real stuff (well, real props and sets). That usually makes things a bit trickier though because anything you design for a comic you try to keep fairly simple as you know you’ll be drawing it a bunch if times. You don’t have that problem with film so you can design things to be as complicated as you like.

Stephen:Well I started drawing when I was three or four. I wanted to be an animator when I was young because it seemed to be mostly talking animals and I couldn’t draw people very well. Then when I got into American comics when I was thirteen or so and I switched to wanting to be a comic book artist. I studied classical animation in college, which was the closest thing I could find to training for comic books. My two main influences are Jim Lee and Simon Bisley. Jim Lee’s run on X-men was some of the first American comics I ever saw. Before that I had read mainly English anthologies like Battle, which were mostly black and white wars stories. Jim Lee’s stuff was such a revelation and this was when I started following specific artists rather than books or characters. Other than those two I’m a big fan of Killian Plunkett, Travis Charest, Stuart Immonen, Chris Sprouse, Mike Mingola, Whilce Portacio, Kevin Nowlan…and the list goes on.

Keith:Actually, I was the original “background” inker on the book. Armando Gill was the inker of the figures in the book. But now, here I am inker of the book. It feels great and a little unreal. I mean who would have thought?

Lori G: Thanks for that correction there, always good to have the RIGHT information before I going blabbing all over the place. (ahem, now back to our regularly scheduled interview) Keith, how did you originally become involved in the FIRST Buckaroo Banzai miniseries, back in the day, at Marvel?

Keith:  I was a Romita Raider at the time at Marvel. That was John Romita’s group of art correctors. The editor of Banzai asked if I was interested in doing backgrounds for the book and I said of course.

Lori G: And of course the fans would like to know Keith, how did it just so happen that you became involved once again with ol’ Buck here at the Moon?

Keith: Well, I’ve been working on another book at Moonstone with Dave Ulanski called Kolchak Tales, and I guess they liked what I was doing. So Dave asked me if I would like to ink Buckaroo.

Keith: Believe it or not, I receive a CD from Stephen with the pencils on them. I use Photoshop to turn the pages art lines from black lead pencil to non-reproducing blue. I then print it out on two ply Strathmore paper at art size, which is 11x17 and ink on that. I tackle the backgrounds first and leave the foreground figures for last.

Lori G: Keith, I have to ask, after working on TWO Buckaroo Banzai mini-series over the years, are you a fan of the character and/or the movie? Is there anything about Buckaroo himself or any of the other characters that you find especially appealing?

Keith: Sure I’m a fan. I watch the movie whenever it comes on. I like the comic book weirdness of it and I especially like Buckaroo. He’s the go to guy for anything imaginable or unimaginable. I would feel safe if a guy like that and his band were around.

Joe: Well, for issue #1, we have Matt Haley’s “Buckaroo and group” cover as well as Michael Stribling’s “Lectroid and femme fatale” cover as the two regular covers.
We have a third cover available on a limited basis, and that is the painted ‘Buckaroo and Lady Gillette rockin’ on stage” cover by David Michael Beck! For future issues, we should have: Stephen Thompson,DaveDorman, Dave Ulanski, Dave Nestler, plus hopefully a few surprises!

Joe: Moonstone would REALLY really like to continue the Banzai franchise past this initial mini series. I DO know that WD and Mac have MANY other tales of Buckaroo that haven’t been told yet to anyone, so yeah, I’d like them to be told here!

Lori G: I would like to ask all three of you what other projects you are currently working on. Tell me what is on the horizon!

StephenMore Buckaroo Banzai hopefully!

Keith: Hopefully anything that Stephen is working on.

Joe: The most immediate project I have is the three issue “Kolchak/Sherlock Holmes” color mini series, which is now finally going full steam ahead! It’s an intriguing mystery told from two different points in time! I am very much looking forward to seeing this baby out! The artwork is by Andy Bennett and Jeff Johnson, and with colors by Ken Wolak! Plus we got GREAT covers by Eddy Newell, Doug Klauba, Dan Panosian, Vatche Mavlian, & Michael Kaluta!

Moonstone Gal out!