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Quickie
with
Scott Morse

by Suarez

Scott Morse is truly one of the most brilliant people in comics today. A little bold you say? What seperates his cartoon tigers from mine, eh? Well let me explain Magilla Mcdoubty. Did you ever have a sock puppet? I used to have a cat puppet my mom made named Baron Von Scratchypuss. I loved that puppet to the extent a child can love an inanimate object they bring to life. And not in the perverted yet comical way of Weird Science the Movie, or the retarded and asinine way of Weird Science the TV Series. I would practice every afternoon while watching Sesame Street or the Muppet Show hoping someday me and the Baron would be teaching children to count or be heckled by old man puppets. Then one day a friend came over and I showed my act with the Baron. Then he picked up a pillow and joined in. Not a pillow puppet or even a pillow with a face. A regular plain pillow. A pilow I saw come to life in his masterful grip. A pillow with the charm of Kermit and the wit of Oscar the Grouch. I stared back at the Baron and saw only a sock. At age 6 I realized all my dreams were dead, and I mocked the clumsy orbs of rigid meat I dared to call hands. That sir, is what seperates your simple doodle from this man's art. Okay, so it's probably not his goal to make you give up your dreams and curse your appendages. But he is that good. Recently Mangaphile talked with him about comics, animation, and great TV shows with vans.


Scott, your work shows a wide range of themes that have made you one of the most prolific creators in comics today. What are some the influences that inspired this? Were there any people that helped you along the way?

*I try to pull inspiration from everything around me, whether it's my wife doing something funny, or watching some documentary on the Discovery Channel, or reading an old book, or whatever. Everyday life is what I find the most inspiring, and I try to work the subtleties of life into more complex scenarios, just to see what sort of juxtaposition I can get. All sorts of people have helped me to see that it's the little things that matter. My wife, my dog and cat, Family, friends. My mentor, Maurice Noble, was a huge influence on making me stop and observe.


One of the best the things about your comics is that you never tell the same story twice. Barefoot Serpent and Southpaw are great examples of this. Can you tell us a little about your creative process on these books?

*It's different with each and every book. With BAREFOOT SERPENT, I spent months and months writing and thumbnailing the story, to get the flow down right. I edit as I thumbnail, and sometimes I'll be thirty or forty pages in and realize I don't need pages 13-23 or something, and I have to go rework things. On SOUTHPAW, I went straight ahead after I completed the first short story that appeared in the wonderful PROJECT: TELSTAR anthology. Once that was done (the first 12 pages of the graphic novel version), I sat and thought about where it should go next. I'm a big Hemingway fan, and wanted some of that flavor in the book, so I reread a lot of short stories and watched the various film verions of THE KILLERS, then just started writing. I also rewatched SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS again, because I wanted a sort of fish-out-of-water, pre-beat sort of feeling. Then I just started drawing it, laying in dialogue as I went. Every project is different, story-wise and art-wise, because I feel different styles can impact beats in a story with more effect. I try to make each book unique.

What’s in the works right now?

*I'm finishing up my run on CASE FILES: SAM AND TWITCH, as well a couple of shorts for Dark Horse and a painted project for DC. I've also started my next Top Shelf graphic novel, LYRICAL WHALES, about a struggling children's book writer who befriends an elderly neighbor with Alzheimer's. It's one that's been in the writing stages for years, and I'm finally committing it to paper. I'm also finishing up art directing chores on NICKELODEON'S GEAR, a new pilot from Doug TenNapel and Nickelodeon.

With the current revival of ‘80’s nostalgia, lots of long dead properties are poking their heads up. Are there any properties you think have been mishandled, and are there any you would like to work on?

*Oh yeah. Most of them have been handled badly. Nothing has the inherent feel of the old stuff, and it's a shame. G.I.JOE was what got me into comics in the first place, and I'd love to take that and play with it...make it feel like a good war comic, like the early issues of the old Marvel series, but with different pacing. I doubt it'll ever happen...

While many feel that comics are an accepted medium for telling stories of all natures, decisions like the Jesus Castillo case show that comics have a ways to go. What do you feel this industry is doing wrong that causes people to see it as just for kids?

* I think the American mainstream comics industry markets to itself and rarely to a wider range of potential readers. If you continue to simply rehash the tired old novelties of superhero books you run the very real risk of alienating the rest of the world that couldn't care less about people in tights. People want escapism, true, but they also want entertainment they can relate to on some level. They want variety. Superhero books are what most people think about when they think "comics", and it's too bad. I think with bookstores making pushes for more graphic novels these days, it's a good strong step, and I'm hopeful it works out. It gives comics and air of respectability if they're on a shelf next to other prose books, as opposed to sitting in a shop with a big Spider-Man decal on the window. A 26 year old girl is more likely to be in Barnes and Noble as opposed to a comic shop, and that's a reader I want to affect, in addition to the guy collecting Ultimate Fantastic Four. I want that wide range.

Much like the black and white boom of the late eighties, manga seems to have taken a dominant stance over recent years. How do you think the current manga explosion will affect the comics industry and its creators?

* I think it's a good thing, because there's a huge amount of GOOD manga out there, stories about things other than superheros. Stuff that's made Japan infamous as a place where housewives and grampas read comics on the train. I think marketing-wise, there's lots we can learn from how the stuff sells, but I also think it's a mistake to try to copy it, to make "our" version of it, just to try to cash in on the movement. I think most confident, strong storytellers will continue to do their own thing in American comics, or at least I hope so. If comics get to have a "house style" that's simply a mutated version of manga, we'll be in trouble. We've got to keep giving the world unique stories.

You also work in animation. What type of work have you done?

*A bit of everything. I art direct, mainly, now, but I'm trying to move over into comics on a larger scale, as it's more rewarding for me, personally. I've done storyboards and paintings, character designs, a bit of everything. I've produced and directed a pilot for Cartoon Network, and worked as a development artist and art director for Turner, Hanna Barbera, Universal, Disney, Cartoon Network, Fox, Nickelodeon, and others. You always go per project, so when the gig's up, you move on. It's a good deal of fun to work with a team, something you don't have to do in comics.

I’m no expert on the subject, but it seems like most studios are going from traditional ink and paint to a fully digital format. What kind of impact has this had on your industry?

*It's sped things up as far as traditional animation, as all traditional "cell" animation as gone to digital ink and paint. On the whole as an industry, when it comes to features, everything is going completely CG these days, as it's faster and more profitable, and I think subconsciously, the audiences find CG stuff to have a bit more realism, and therefore they buy into it more. A traditional film is a tough sell these days, but the hope is that the novelty of it will appeal to the world again in the future. We'll see, I guess. I know it's put a lot of friends out of work, and forced others to modify how they work. In the end, as long as the stories are good, you'll get good films, and it still takes a guy with a pencil to storyboard and write the thing.

It’s said that Disney is dropping the 2-D style many of us have grown up with in favor of 3-D. What do you think may be causing this, and how do you feel it will change the industry?

*Like I said, I think it's a matter of mass-audience taste, and
process-wise, I think it's forced a lot of people to reassess how they work, to rethink how to tell stories, but it all comes back to a guy with a pencil. The industry is becoming more specialized, and it's the animators that are willing to change, to learn Maya and the other new programs, that will continue to actually animate. Art direction and character design, and the storyboards, will continue to start with traditional methods that are then adapted throughout the production process into CG.


What was better, A-Team of Knight Rider?

*Tshhh...A-TEAM, man. It's all about Murdock and his dog, Billie.

Thank you for your time.

*No problem! Thanks for the great questions!


If you're lucky enough to be in the Los Angeles area this month, then you'll definitely want to check out Scott Morse's "MR. CLOUD: paintings and drawings", his first solo artshow. It starts January 9th and runs through February 7th. The sooner you get there the better!

MELTDOWN COMICS & COLLECTIBLES
7522 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90046
Comics 323.851.7223 | Collectibles 323.851.7283 | Baby Melt 323.851.7288

If you can't make it to his show make sure you check out www.crazyfish.net for the all the newest Morse updates! Like his upcoming Jim Gordon from DC \ and online Storytime comics.

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