Creator Spotlight: Gary Cohen

Today’s Wednesday Spotlight interview is with Gary Cohen, comic writer and editor for a variety of projects, and moderator for the “Webcomic Creators” facebook group.

D: Gary, first off, will you tell us a bit about yourself?

G: I grew up outside of Boston, went to college in Boston. After college I moved to New York for a while, then out to Los Angeles, met my wife, and moved to New Jersey. I work for a company that silk screens t-shirts. I run their online store and marketing.

I loved comicbooks as a kid. I loved writing and drawing my own comics. In high school, so this is around 1983 I used to write and draw a comicbook in high school about me and my friends as superheroes. I was Captain Gunky, there was Mad Dog, Black Vomit Scott, etc…

After college I got a straight job as a manager at an industrial laundry company but I still loved comics. So I went to a convention and met Bryan JL Glass (this was in 93 maybe?) you can google him he’s gone on to do quite a few comics. But at the time he was self publishing a black and white comicbook called Spandex Tights. He let me do 1 and 2 page back up features. Then some longer stuff. some of them are here.

I did that and some other stuff until 2000. Then I took some time off from comics when I moved to LA because I was trying my hand at screenwriting, writing for television. (emphasis on trying I had no success getting anywhere)

When I moved to New Jersey I took a comicbook writing class through ComicExperience. I met a bunch of nice guys who liked writing comics. A couple years after that I reconnected with one of them who was running a website Inkbot.Net, “Home of the Best Webcomics”, and I asked him if I could write something for him so this is about 2006 and I pitched 2 different ideas and he really liked the one I didn’t want to do. So I did the one he didn’t like which was about a kid in high school with Super Powered friends. There’s Captain Gunky, his friend Mad Dog, Black Vomit Scott, etc…

D: Woot New Jersey! We live here too while I’m going to medical school at Rutgers. What do you think of NJ?

G: I like New Jersey. We live in Matawan, not far from you. I grew up in a suburb of Boston and this is pretty much the same. A lot of malls and stuff. It might even be more rural than where I grew up. We have a lot of nurseries and horse farms.

D: Tell us a bit more about your current comic projects.

G: I write Mallville. I used to draw it if you look at book 1 (which explains why I don’t draw it).

I wrote Casey the Pillowfighter (also on the Inkbot.net site). I have a couple ideas for follow up stories for that. I really enjoyed that comic.

I edit Vanguard Comic, which is written and drawn by Dan Butcher. I give him a lot of feedback, but he had the comic completely outlined before I came onboard. Now, the next book, Vanguard Part 2, I’m going to co-write with him.

I help script Android Blues, a graphic novel by Steven Stahlberg – (rated M for strong language and nudity). We do a lot of plotting on the book together. He had a very general outline of the book when I met him so I’ve given a ton of input. I’ve helped create characters and scenes.

Incidentally, the way I got involved with both Dan and Steven is I met them online, enjoyed their webcomics, but felt they both needed some help with the story aspect of their comics. So I asked them if I could give them some constructive criticism which led to writing editing.

I also edited the second half of Odessa from the Inkbot site. I actually really enjoy editing. Or my kind of editing which is looking at a script and saying what I think makes sense or what I think could be improved.

I am going to self publish a book of short stories. tentatively titled My Sexy Date With Bigfoot. I write a lot of very short stories. I have enough to publish it right now I just need to give it a final edit and pick the stories.

I am also working on a novel set in the land of Oz. That’s not really anywhere near completion.

D: I’m confused, you say you only have had 1 creative project idea in 30 years, but you’re telling me about tons of them. 😉

G: I was kidding about having one idea. But I think it’s funny that after 30 years I’m still captivated byt the idea of a bunch of super powered high school students. Still working on the adventures of Black Vomit Scott.

D: That’s really cool that you are involved with editing/co-writing other’s stories. How is that going? Any tips? (I just started co-writing a different story myself)

G: I think if you’re cowriting with someone it’s helpful to have someone in charge. I think it’s harder if it’s really a complete partnership and you have to come to a consensus on every decision. IT’s helpful to have one person be able to just say, no that’s not right. I’m not saying you can’t argue your point but in the end sometimes it’s just a matter of preference and not a better or worse idea. So to have someone be able to end the stalemate helps.

D: I first met you as the mod of the FB group “Webcomic Creators”. Did you start that group/how did you get involved in it? What role do you think groups like WC have/should have?

G: I didn’t start webcomic creators. I was one of the first members. Eric Drobil who’s one of the original webcomic guys, (Mallmonkey, Hatefarm) started the group and he is very busy at work and left it to me. Because I think it satisfies that mentor-y edity gene I have where I want to comment on other people’s work and help other people.

The Webcomic Creators group is different from other groups, I think, and it’s Eric’s vision, that it’s not about flogging your book. The idea is that you’re already a professional and you’re looking to discuss your work. Your best practices, your questions.

D: Any cool stories to share from your many years of experience?

G: I don’t know if I have any cool stories, but I want to keep on that tack about Webcomic Creators group and perhaps life in general? My favorite thing about working on webcomics is the people I’ve met online who share this similar love of something. I’ve met people from Portugal, Finland, Lebanon, the UK. and I talk to them all the time. Travel broadens the mind and in lieu of travel talking to people in other countries is pretty broadening too. And for me all of these relationships start the same way. I find someone who’s work I like (or sometimes they find me). We talk about the work. We encourage each other and we become friends. I think what a lot of people miss in networking or again maybe i life, is that it’s one thing to meet someone and say, “I’ll promote your webcomic if you promote mine” but in that case no one is really invested. So, yeah maybe you’ll do it because it’s mutually beneficial, or maybe you’ll look and see your traffic is 30% higher and decide it’s not worth it to you. I think the key is to take some time to get to know each other before you try to see if you’re useful to each other? And then when you do see what you can do for each other you get so much more. Synergy?

D: Any general thoughts about webcomics as a medium to share? Any general thoughts for creators/readers?

G: Comics as a medium is at such a weird place right now. Because webcomics just want to be print comics. Every webcomic creator thinks the end all for them is to make a print collection of their work. But webcomics are intrinsically better than print comics. There are no limitations to page sizes, number of pages, there’s no reason you can’t use animation or music to heighten the experience. But the way people make money is to sell comics. So is there another model? A model that’s not selling t-shirts or stickers?

Maybe it’s Patreon? When cable was introduced no one believed people would pay for television because television had always been free. But now Netflix is showing that people will pay to watch original content on their computer. Maybe there’s a Netflix of webcomics?

D:  Awesome.  Thanks again, Gary!  Everyone, check out his various projects and ask any questions in the comments below 😀