Interview With Michael Geszel
This weekend's Wondercon gave me a chance to sit down with some wonderful people, including the talented Michael Geszel, author of Tribes: The Dog Years, which tells the story of a future in which NANO-VIRUS shortens the human lifespan to TWENTY-ONE years. Civilization has collapsed, and now its up to Sundog to help an ancient that fell from the sky locate the cure, to take it to the city under the sea, and save all of humanity. I'll be posting my glowing review of Tribes later, which is definitely a can't miss, but first my little sit down with Michael. 
Can you tell me where the story goes from here? Well yeah, of course. From here they go to Solacia, and work to heal humanity. So they can ultimately finish what the ancients started and failed to complete and heal the world.
So after they heal the world, do you see the series wrapping up or going on? No, that would wrap it up. I’d say four or five books, probably four.
Do you know when the next one is coming? I really need to develop the readership, its been really very expensive to develop these widescreen epics. I self financed it, through soul craft media, my company. And so I co-wrote it and produced it, and IDW is distributing it, but it’s a very expensive proposition. So yes is the short answer, I'm just not sure when. I’ve got a few complaints on facebook from people saying well when’s the next one, it’s been forever. Well it hasn’t really been that long, its only been 6-8 months since its release June 30th 2010, it just came out on the iPad so I’m hoping that will help.
I read that your artist, Inaki Miranda, said you hand-picked him, how did you find him? I was at comic con looking for an artist. And I saw a cover he did, he did the whole, it was something called the Lexian Chronicles, by London Publisher, Markosia, and I saw one image, and it was a cover and thought that is what I’m looking for. And I opened it up and said yes yes yes. And basically got in contact with him, and told him about it, and he loved the story and the rest is history.
How did you come about the widescreen? Because I mean most comics are done vertically. It was really Inaki who suggested it after I told him what I wanted. I mean I wanted it immersive. We did some sketching, it was sort of frustrating dealing with the vertical format. I saw it so immersive, so wide screen, so cinematically. And he said lets do it widescreen, and I said yeah, ok lets do it.
And it’s beautiful. I love it, because it is so picturesque. Thank you. It really makes the story kind of jump off the pages more. So that is really amazing. So how hard was it to sell it? It’s very, very difficult to sell. Oh, you mean to publishers? Yeah, to a publisher in that widescreen, I mean were they kind of reluctant for that? I’ve developed a relationship with Chris Ryall, through a friend, through someone whose my first consultant, David Tishman, and I did a mini-trailer of the first design. Not the pages just yet, and I showed it to Chris Ryall and said I want to publish this. And I gave them the entire book finished soup to nuts, designed everything, and they put it out. But I’m doing my own PR, my own advertising. So its very much a do-it-yourself situation. But I think with the IDW brand I think that platforms it out there, and I’m able to do signings and so forth, and they’re a pleasure to deal with. Chris Ryall, and Justin Eisinger, I dealt with him on trade paperbacks and now he’s senior editor in books, Dirk Wood they brought in from Dark Horse to do retail marketing, and Alan Payne has been wonderful, he’s the Vice President of Sales. So they’ve been really supportive. But it’s very challenging.
So with Comic Con coming up, do you have anything planned, in the works that you can tell me about? Yeah I do, my next comic book project. I’m actually co-writing a science fiction novel with my partner that I wrote Tribes, Peter Spinetta, and I’m working on my next comic book project tentatively called Vines. It’s sort of jungle Jumanjii set in New York. It’ll be a vertical book, because it’s really a vertical story, because New York is vertical that way. I’m finishing up the script, and will probably be looking for an artist in about two months. And I’ll be working with David Tishman, well, he’ll be editing me because I need it.
How did you come up the story of Tribes? Images just flash through my head, and then I share my ideas with my partner Peter, and we develop the stories from there. I initially tried to work with other writers on it, and I initially tried with other writers on Tribes, but found that it just didn’t work. I am demanding and ultimately I found that I basically have to do it by myself. In fact, it was Richard Starkings of Elephantmen who told me that “You’re gonna have to do it yourself.” And he was absolutely right.
And his booth isn’t very far from here,Richard Starkings, his booth, he’s just right over there. Right, I haven’t seen him here yet, but I do really must credit him for that, he really told me that I had to write for yourself because he was totally right. I tried and it just didn’t work.
So from here, are there any artists, or writers that you’d like to work with? Well, there’s the dream of working with, he’s a good friend, he does his own stuff. Paul Pope, he’s really a writer, artist himself. But you know if there was a day he’d be willing to work with another writer, that’d be a dream. And some of my favorite artists: Frank Quietly, and Frank Miller and honestly Tony Harris, Ben Templesmith, and John Cassidy. And you know Nate Simpson, I just saw some of his stuff, really beautiful. He’d be someone I’d be interested in working with. So um, yeah some people just don’t collaborate, and some do. I’m a collaborator at heart.
If this were converted to a movie or television, which format would you prefer? It was really envisioned it as a movie, a trilogy, a sort of franchise epic, and I do have a major screen writer attached to adapt it. I can’t say at the moment, but soon I’ll be able to say. And I’ve worked with him on the movie version on it. So I should be able to say something shortly on that.
Well I’m excited for that. Thank you so much. So I’ve heard a lot of people describe Tribes as being like Lord of the Flies and Mad Max being rolled into one. How do you feel about that description? Yes, very much. Absolutely. Those are my inspirations, Road Warrior, Mad Max, Lord of the Flies, Logan’s Run, in comics I’d say Paul Pope’s science fiction work, like THB, and Heavy Liquid and also Transmetropolitan, Grant Morrison, Frank Quietly, and also Grant Morrison’s We3 as comics. Storywise definitely Lord of the Flies, Road Warriors, even Lord of the Rings a little bit with a sort of epic quest adventure. I acknowledge those and it was really the ifanboy review that really hit it on the head mentioning We3 as a big influence to the way that I approach comic storytelling and format, We3 was a huge influence on me in use of insert panels. Paul Montgomery of ifanboy, really nailed it, and he also gave it five stars which was really nice.
You know honestly, I was looking it up, after I saw that it was here, and I don't think I even saw a 4 ½, you know everyone is 5 stars across the board. Even Amazon, which I usually find the snarky comments, even there it was all fives. And that is very gratifying, and that helps, it really helps when you’re struggling to sell a book, you’re struggling to get it out, and it really helps when you get that kind of response. It really does, it gives you fuel to keep going.
Do you have any advice for others that are trying to get their stories out there? Well I would say never give up, never surrender. It’s sort of like you have to be pushy in a gentle way. It helps get out there and meet people, don’t ever be afraid of saying hello, of putting out your hand, of getting to know people. Ultimately that’s something. You’ve got to know people to get places. You’ve to know people who know other people. And you have to feel really passionate about what you’re doing.
Do you have anything else you’d like to add? I just want to acknowledge Inaki Miranda, and Eva de la Cruz for their wonderful work, and how wonderful they were to collaborate with and work on this with. And I’m very happy for them and their success at DC.
A special thank you to Michael Geszel for a lovely interview, and to Jeff Newelt for arranging it. For a sneak peak, and to read the first 34 pages of Tribe: the Dog Years check out http://www.tribesthecomic.com/
Can you tell me where the story goes from here? Well yeah, of course. From here they go to Solacia, and work to heal humanity. So they can ultimately finish what the ancients started and failed to complete and heal the world.
So after they heal the world, do you see the series wrapping up or going on? No, that would wrap it up. I’d say four or five books, probably four.
Do you know when the next one is coming? I really need to develop the readership, its been really very expensive to develop these widescreen epics. I self financed it, through soul craft media, my company. And so I co-wrote it and produced it, and IDW is distributing it, but it’s a very expensive proposition. So yes is the short answer, I'm just not sure when. I’ve got a few complaints on facebook from people saying well when’s the next one, it’s been forever. Well it hasn’t really been that long, its only been 6-8 months since its release June 30th 2010, it just came out on the iPad so I’m hoping that will help.
I read that your artist, Inaki Miranda, said you hand-picked him, how did you find him? I was at comic con looking for an artist. And I saw a cover he did, he did the whole, it was something called the Lexian Chronicles, by London Publisher, Markosia, and I saw one image, and it was a cover and thought that is what I’m looking for. And I opened it up and said yes yes yes. And basically got in contact with him, and told him about it, and he loved the story and the rest is history.
How did you come about the widescreen? Because I mean most comics are done vertically. It was really Inaki who suggested it after I told him what I wanted. I mean I wanted it immersive. We did some sketching, it was sort of frustrating dealing with the vertical format. I saw it so immersive, so wide screen, so cinematically. And he said lets do it widescreen, and I said yeah, ok lets do it.
And it’s beautiful. I love it, because it is so picturesque. Thank you. It really makes the story kind of jump off the pages more. So that is really amazing. So how hard was it to sell it? It’s very, very difficult to sell. Oh, you mean to publishers? Yeah, to a publisher in that widescreen, I mean were they kind of reluctant for that? I’ve developed a relationship with Chris Ryall, through a friend, through someone whose my first consultant, David Tishman, and I did a mini-trailer of the first design. Not the pages just yet, and I showed it to Chris Ryall and said I want to publish this. And I gave them the entire book finished soup to nuts, designed everything, and they put it out. But I’m doing my own PR, my own advertising. So its very much a do-it-yourself situation. But I think with the IDW brand I think that platforms it out there, and I’m able to do signings and so forth, and they’re a pleasure to deal with. Chris Ryall, and Justin Eisinger, I dealt with him on trade paperbacks and now he’s senior editor in books, Dirk Wood they brought in from Dark Horse to do retail marketing, and Alan Payne has been wonderful, he’s the Vice President of Sales. So they’ve been really supportive. But it’s very challenging.
So with Comic Con coming up, do you have anything planned, in the works that you can tell me about? Yeah I do, my next comic book project. I’m actually co-writing a science fiction novel with my partner that I wrote Tribes, Peter Spinetta, and I’m working on my next comic book project tentatively called Vines. It’s sort of jungle Jumanjii set in New York. It’ll be a vertical book, because it’s really a vertical story, because New York is vertical that way. I’m finishing up the script, and will probably be looking for an artist in about two months. And I’ll be working with David Tishman, well, he’ll be editing me because I need it.
How did you come up the story of Tribes? Images just flash through my head, and then I share my ideas with my partner Peter, and we develop the stories from there. I initially tried to work with other writers on it, and I initially tried with other writers on Tribes, but found that it just didn’t work. I am demanding and ultimately I found that I basically have to do it by myself. In fact, it was Richard Starkings of Elephantmen who told me that “You’re gonna have to do it yourself.” And he was absolutely right.
And his booth isn’t very far from here,Richard Starkings, his booth, he’s just right over there. Right, I haven’t seen him here yet, but I do really must credit him for that, he really told me that I had to write for yourself because he was totally right. I tried and it just didn’t work.
So from here, are there any artists, or writers that you’d like to work with? Well, there’s the dream of working with, he’s a good friend, he does his own stuff. Paul Pope, he’s really a writer, artist himself. But you know if there was a day he’d be willing to work with another writer, that’d be a dream. And some of my favorite artists: Frank Quietly, and Frank Miller and honestly Tony Harris, Ben Templesmith, and John Cassidy. And you know Nate Simpson, I just saw some of his stuff, really beautiful. He’d be someone I’d be interested in working with. So um, yeah some people just don’t collaborate, and some do. I’m a collaborator at heart.
If this were converted to a movie or television, which format would you prefer? It was really envisioned it as a movie, a trilogy, a sort of franchise epic, and I do have a major screen writer attached to adapt it. I can’t say at the moment, but soon I’ll be able to say. And I’ve worked with him on the movie version on it. So I should be able to say something shortly on that.
Well I’m excited for that. Thank you so much. So I’ve heard a lot of people describe Tribes as being like Lord of the Flies and Mad Max being rolled into one. How do you feel about that description? Yes, very much. Absolutely. Those are my inspirations, Road Warrior, Mad Max, Lord of the Flies, Logan’s Run, in comics I’d say Paul Pope’s science fiction work, like THB, and Heavy Liquid and also Transmetropolitan, Grant Morrison, Frank Quietly, and also Grant Morrison’s We3 as comics. Storywise definitely Lord of the Flies, Road Warriors, even Lord of the Rings a little bit with a sort of epic quest adventure. I acknowledge those and it was really the ifanboy review that really hit it on the head mentioning We3 as a big influence to the way that I approach comic storytelling and format, We3 was a huge influence on me in use of insert panels. Paul Montgomery of ifanboy, really nailed it, and he also gave it five stars which was really nice.
You know honestly, I was looking it up, after I saw that it was here, and I don't think I even saw a 4 ½, you know everyone is 5 stars across the board. Even Amazon, which I usually find the snarky comments, even there it was all fives. And that is very gratifying, and that helps, it really helps when you’re struggling to sell a book, you’re struggling to get it out, and it really helps when you get that kind of response. It really does, it gives you fuel to keep going.
Do you have any advice for others that are trying to get their stories out there? Well I would say never give up, never surrender. It’s sort of like you have to be pushy in a gentle way. It helps get out there and meet people, don’t ever be afraid of saying hello, of putting out your hand, of getting to know people. Ultimately that’s something. You’ve got to know people to get places. You’ve to know people who know other people. And you have to feel really passionate about what you’re doing.
Do you have anything else you’d like to add? I just want to acknowledge Inaki Miranda, and Eva de la Cruz for their wonderful work, and how wonderful they were to collaborate with and work on this with. And I’m very happy for them and their success at DC.
A special thank you to Michael Geszel for a lovely interview, and to Jeff Newelt for arranging it. For a sneak peak, and to read the first 34 pages of Tribe: the Dog Years check out http://www.tribesthecomic.com/
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