Interview with Michael Alan Nelson

For followers of Boom! Studios (as the Dollar Bin tends to be), the names of a few creators start to become very familiar both for the amount of work they produce for the growing publisher as well as the quality of it. One of those names is Michael Alan Nelson, writer of DB staff favorites like HEXED, DINGO, 28 DAYS LATER and numerous others. Despite this very hectic writing schedule, Michael was recently able to carve out some time for this Dollar Bin e-mail Q&A session.

DB: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions for us. If you don’t mind, can you start with telling us how you first got interested in comics and how you got started in the industry?

MAN: It’s quite funny since I never really read many comics growing up.  I lived in a small rural town in the middle of nowhere and the closest thing we had to a comics shop was the local public library.  So I only had access to a couple of Elf Quest books and a graphic adaptation of the movie Alien.  It wasn’t until I graduated from college that I really started getting into comics.  My brother colored comics for years, so I began by reading the books he worked on.

As for how I came to write comics, my path was a bit unconventional.  After several years of trying to break into the world of fiction, I wrote a novel titled DINGO.  I published it online under a Creative Commons license, posting a chapter a week.  Fortunately, Ross Richie had read it and really enjoyed it.  So he approached me and said he was starting a new comic book company and if I’d like to try my hand at writing comics.  So I sat down and wrote a short story for Zombie Tales.  Ross like it and has been asking me to write for him ever since. 

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Adam & Brian interviewed about comic book movies!

Chillin’ at Richard’sIf you’ve listen to a few our shows you are probably aware that Adam and I both like to share our opinions with anyone that will listen. If you’ve ever met us, you probably know that “sharing” also isn’t limited to Dollar Bin related broadcasts. So when writer and DB listener Lisa Schmeiser asked us to answer a few questions for comic related article she was writing, we didn’t delay in saying yes. Since the article wasn’t about us, the feature was on comic book movies, not all of the Q & A was used. With that and our narcissism in mind, here is most of what we had to say for your reading pleasure.

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Interview with Dusk writer David Doub

David Doub is just like a lot of us, he’s a comic reader who had aspirations of going from only being a fan of the medium to taking part of it. The difference in his story and so many others with the same dreams is he’s making his dream a reality by self-publishing his work. After years of trying to work both with various publishers and independently, searching for co-workers online and other pitfalls along the way he has reached a goal many of the aspiring will never attain. Not only has he seen his work published but also now for sale.

Recently David sent us a copy of his book Dusk which begins to tell the compelling tale of Eve a former battered wife now in the service of a vampire named Ash and their unusual lives and relationship. David was also nice enough to answer some questions about both the book and his journey making it.

Brian - Tell us a bit about your personal history with comics. Are you a long time reader, what do you read or follow in the industry etc? 

David - Oh I’m definitely a long time reader, for almost 19 years now.

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Interview with Cliff Chiang

Just like the ads say, MySpace really is a place for friends. To keep in touch with old ones, make new ones and to then bug some of them for interviews. This of course brings us to our new friend and incredibly talented artist Cliff Chiang, who was nice enough to take time out of his busy schedule for this interview.

Brian - Do you remember what your introduction to comics was and when you decided that you wanted to work in the industry?

Cliff - I knew about comics, but didn’t really follow them until my older brother started buying them. Mostly Marvel stuff: X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc. We were really into it for a few years but stopped reading when it got harder to track down issues after things went to the direct market system. I got back into comics in college, after reading Sandman and Hellblazer, and that’s when I realized that maybe comics could be a career for me.

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Contraband - An Interview with TJ Behe

Contraband Cover

One of the nice things I have learned about the comic book industry since we started The Dollar Bin is that it is very easy in the internet age to have a real sense of community between everyone involved. Sites like ours, MySpace, Comic Space and countless message boards can help us all make and keep contact and share our enjoyment of comics. It was actually on Comic Space that I first came into contact with writer TJ Behe. Thanks to that just mentioned magic of the web we recently had the chance to talk about his recent project Contraband with artist Phil Elliott being released via Slave Labor Comics. And it goes a little something like this…

Brian - So, how about starting with just a basic introduction for everyone. Who are you and where are you from?

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