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THE FIRST DECADE
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UNO FANTA & POPBOT In July 2001, IDW published its first book
under the banner of IDW Publishing. The
book, Uno Fanta: The Art of Ashley Wood, was a result of the pre-existing relationship
between IDW co-founder Ted Adams and
artist Ashley Wood. Ted and Ash discuss the genesis of IDW Publishing.
TA: I thought we’d start at the beginning–when did we meet? AW: We met in Century City when you were working for Todd [McFarlane]. TA: And we were discussing doing covers for McFarlane, right? AW: No, no, I was just hoping to find work. I had nothing. My career was dead. 55
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UNO FANTA & POPBOT In July 2001, IDW published its first book
under the banner of IDW Publishing. The
book, Uno Fanta: The Art of Ashley Wood, was a result of the pre-existing relationship
between IDW co-founder Ted Adams and
artist Ashley Wood. Ted and Ash discuss the genesis of IDW Publishing.
TA: I thought we’d start at the beginning–when did we meet? AW: We met in Century City when you were working for Todd [McFarlane]. TA: And we were discussing doing covers for McFarlane, right? AW: No, no, I was just hoping to find work. I had nothing. My career was dead. 55
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________________________________ Art from Uno Fanta, IDW’s first book.
TA: I remember you showed me a portfolio. AW: Yeah, you took the folio and you had that classic “whatever” look on your face and you sort of snidely put it into your satchel bag. But then you took it out, had a quick look at it, put it back and then pulled it out again for another look. And I thought at that time, “Oh shit, I think he might like it or else he’s amazed how crap it is”–like you couldn’t believe how bad it was. Then you pretty much went, “Yeah well, that’s it, Bye.” And I think it was about three weeks later, I was sitting around my office in San Luis Obispo–because I had no money, I figured I should rent an office. TA: That sounds like an Ash move right there. AW: That is an Ash move. We were down to a thousand dollars and it was $300 a month and I was sitting there thinking “Wow, I’ve got nothing and no work” and then you rang and said, “Todd needs a KISS cover by tomorrow. If you can send a comp through today we’ll approve it but we need the final 56
art tomorrow for the first issue of the newsstand magazine of KISS,” and I guess I did it. I got a thousand bucks for it so I could keep paying for the office. And then you just kept dumping more covers on me. You gave me the Hellspawn covers, you gave me more trade paperback covers and then you got me that Spawn Annual. Yeah, it pretty much snowballed from there and before I knew it, I was doing a ton of work for Todd. TA: Right, then I left and then you…
AW: I figured I was bored of California and Todd offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse.
think you were asking whether I could do a cover or some sort of comp for an advertising thing.
TA: So, at that point, were you working for Todd as an employee or were you still freelance?
TA: OK, that sounds likely.
AW: No, actually I went on a wage and pretty much stopped doing anything for anyone else. TA: So, while you were doing that, we went and started IDW and then I guess, what, two or three years went by and then…
AW: And I said, “No, I can’t do it because I can’t do freelance work.” I don’t know how it came up, but I said, “I want to do an art book” even though I really had no art to put in it. You were like, “I’ll have to talk to my partners.” Because, you remember, you had a $5000 limit on what you could put into a project without asking your partners.
AW: You hadn’t left, because that meeting in Arizona... AW: What year did you start IDW? TA: That’s right, we had that big creators summit where we brought everybody in… AW: Yeah, where you were, “I’m leaving, Ash, tough shit.” It’s funny because I felt the only person I knew was you and I felt my career slipping again. TA: You moved to Phoenix not long after that, right? [Where the McFarlane office is located]
TA: We started in 1999 and then we published Uno Fanta in July 2001. You must have called me in January of 2001. AW: I don’t know if I called you because I don’t think you were talking to me as much. I think you sent an e-mail, you were inquiring whether I could do something for your creative service business. I
TA: Yeah, that’s right, we decided that every year we were going to take some money and gamble it on, essentially, a new business. In 2000, we did the Bar Talk pilot, and in 2001 it was Uno Fanta. AW: I remember you said, “I’ll talk to my partners,” and about two weeks later you said, “they’re into it but we’ll have to put it in Diamond [Previews] and see what orders we get.” And that was fucking nervewracking. I can remember walking around a park 57
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________________________________ Art from Uno Fanta, IDW’s first book.
TA: I remember you showed me a portfolio. AW: Yeah, you took the folio and you had that classic “whatever” look on your face and you sort of snidely put it into your satchel bag. But then you took it out, had a quick look at it, put it back and then pulled it out again for another look. And I thought at that time, “Oh shit, I think he might like it or else he’s amazed how crap it is”–like you couldn’t believe how bad it was. Then you pretty much went, “Yeah well, that’s it, Bye.” And I think it was about three weeks later, I was sitting around my office in San Luis Obispo–because I had no money, I figured I should rent an office. TA: That sounds like an Ash move right there. AW: That is an Ash move. We were down to a thousand dollars and it was $300 a month and I was sitting there thinking “Wow, I’ve got nothing and no work” and then you rang and said, “Todd needs a KISS cover by tomorrow. If you can send a comp through today we’ll approve it but we need the final 56
art tomorrow for the first issue of the newsstand magazine of KISS,” and I guess I did it. I got a thousand bucks for it so I could keep paying for the office. And then you just kept dumping more covers on me. You gave me the Hellspawn covers, you gave me more trade paperback covers and then you got me that Spawn Annual. Yeah, it pretty much snowballed from there and before I knew it, I was doing a ton of work for Todd. TA: Right, then I left and then you…
AW: I figured I was bored of California and Todd offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse.
think you were asking whether I could do a cover or some sort of comp for an advertising thing.
TA: So, at that point, were you working for Todd as an employee or were you still freelance?
TA: OK, that sounds likely.
AW: No, actually I went on a wage and pretty much stopped doing anything for anyone else. TA: So, while you were doing that, we went and started IDW and then I guess, what, two or three years went by and then…
AW: And I said, “No, I can’t do it because I can’t do freelance work.” I don’t know how it came up, but I said, “I want to do an art book” even though I really had no art to put in it. You were like, “I’ll have to talk to my partners.” Because, you remember, you had a $5000 limit on what you could put into a project without asking your partners.
AW: You hadn’t left, because that meeting in Arizona... AW: What year did you start IDW? TA: That’s right, we had that big creators summit where we brought everybody in… AW: Yeah, where you were, “I’m leaving, Ash, tough shit.” It’s funny because I felt the only person I knew was you and I felt my career slipping again. TA: You moved to Phoenix not long after that, right? [Where the McFarlane office is located]
TA: We started in 1999 and then we published Uno Fanta in July 2001. You must have called me in January of 2001. AW: I don’t know if I called you because I don’t think you were talking to me as much. I think you sent an e-mail, you were inquiring whether I could do something for your creative service business. I
TA: Yeah, that’s right, we decided that every year we were going to take some money and gamble it on, essentially, a new business. In 2000, we did the Bar Talk pilot, and in 2001 it was Uno Fanta. AW: I remember you said, “I’ll talk to my partners,” and about two weeks later you said, “they’re into it but we’ll have to put it in Diamond [Previews] and see what orders we get.” And that was fucking nervewracking. I can remember walking around a park 57
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_____________________________________________ Promo postcards for the early Ash Wood/IDW titles.
called Sunray Park with Paula [Ash’s wife] with our one-year-old Max thinking, “You think anyone’s going to order this book?” I remember we needed at least 1,000 orders. TA: I don’t have any recollection of that. Do you remember what it sold? I don’t even remember.
AW: We did the softcover edition with some new artwork in it about a year later. I think by the start of the new year, we were planning the softcover and the second edition of Uno Fanta.
AW: I think it sold about 980 copies because you were saying, “We need to sell at least 1,000 to cover the cost of it or it’s not worth doing. “ And I was like, “Shit, 1,000 books, nobody’ll buy that.”
TA: Uno Fanta has the first IDW Publishing logo–an eyeball in some kind of…
TA: Yeah–that’s a big number from a publisher that had never published anything. That’s a good goal for us even today for an art book but back then, nobody knew us. They knew you, of course, but they didn’t know us.
TA: Was that Robbie or you?
AW: Yeah, but people sort of knew me for Spawn and nothing else. And also, remember, no one was doing art books at that stage. It’d really gone out of favor. TA: So, we offered it through Diamond, got decent orders, and printed 2500 copies. Over time, of course, we sold all those. Did we do a second printing? ____________________________________________ Opposite Page: Popbot’s appearance in Uno Fanta.
AW: The one Robbie did?
AW: No, it was Robbie. I hated that eye! And, at the time, I was like, “Do we have to have the eye in there?” TA: I think that’s the only time that logo ever appeared. AW: I think because I bitched about it so much. TA: So, we printed the Uno Fanta hardcover in Canada and it’s nowhere near the quality of the printing we get today and looking back on it, I’m _____________________ The infamous “eye” logo. 59
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_____________________________________________ Promo postcards for the early Ash Wood/IDW titles.
called Sunray Park with Paula [Ash’s wife] with our one-year-old Max thinking, “You think anyone’s going to order this book?” I remember we needed at least 1,000 orders. TA: I don’t have any recollection of that. Do you remember what it sold? I don’t even remember.
AW: We did the softcover edition with some new artwork in it about a year later. I think by the start of the new year, we were planning the softcover and the second edition of Uno Fanta.
AW: I think it sold about 980 copies because you were saying, “We need to sell at least 1,000 to cover the cost of it or it’s not worth doing. “ And I was like, “Shit, 1,000 books, nobody’ll buy that.”
TA: Uno Fanta has the first IDW Publishing logo–an eyeball in some kind of…
TA: Yeah–that’s a big number from a publisher that had never published anything. That’s a good goal for us even today for an art book but back then, nobody knew us. They knew you, of course, but they didn’t know us.
TA: Was that Robbie or you?
AW: Yeah, but people sort of knew me for Spawn and nothing else. And also, remember, no one was doing art books at that stage. It’d really gone out of favor. TA: So, we offered it through Diamond, got decent orders, and printed 2500 copies. Over time, of course, we sold all those. Did we do a second printing? ____________________________________________ Opposite Page: Popbot’s appearance in Uno Fanta.
AW: The one Robbie did?
AW: No, it was Robbie. I hated that eye! And, at the time, I was like, “Do we have to have the eye in there?” TA: I think that’s the only time that logo ever appeared. AW: I think because I bitched about it so much. TA: So, we printed the Uno Fanta hardcover in Canada and it’s nowhere near the quality of the printing we get today and looking back on it, I’m _____________________ The infamous “eye” logo. 59
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______________________________ More early Popbot from Uno Fanta.
curious to think, what did you think when you got the book? AW: I thought the paper was too thin but, at the time, to have an art book, it blew my mind. But as you know by now, I’m obsessed with paper.
___________________________ Ash gave Ted this sketch when Uno Fanta was released. 60
Upper Deck work so he and I were at their booth doing all the gaming stuff and we would each take turns going over to Artist’s Alley to sit and sell books. I’m looking at the Comic Con sales, which are on the book’s P&L spreadsheet, and we sold 52 books at the 2001 Comic Con.
TA: It’s funny you say that ‘cause as I look back at it, I felt the same way. I felt sort of unbelievably proud to have published this book–I felt such a sense of accomplishment–and it’s funny now, looking back at it all I can think is, “This is the cheapest paper!” And it’s got that web press wrinkle to it. We are so spoiled by the printing we get now and the quality of the paper. The actual printing of the Uno Fanta hardcover is decent but the paper is just crap.
The other thing about this printing is the hardcover itself. There’s no foil or emboss or anything–it’s just wrapped with a cheesy kind of faux leather. There’s none of the print things that we learned how to do over the years.
AW: It’s awful but, like you say, how cool was it that we had made an art book that didn’t tank?
TA: So, there are illustrations of Popbot in Uno Fanta and this is well before we published Popbot Book One. So, clearly, Popbot’s a character you’ve been working on for a while. I’m curious about the genesis of Popbot…
TA: It came out right around the time of Comic Con and we didn’t even have a booth. So, our first appearance at Comic Con was you sitting in Artist’s Alley and Robbie had a metal cash box and he was selling the books. Kris and I were still doing all the
AW: I guess you went through that hockey stick curve as a company. You started off slow but when you got going, you threw everything in.
AW: Well, like you said, I was just tooling around drawing robots and trying to figure out how I could 61
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______________________________ More early Popbot from Uno Fanta.
curious to think, what did you think when you got the book? AW: I thought the paper was too thin but, at the time, to have an art book, it blew my mind. But as you know by now, I’m obsessed with paper.
___________________________ Ash gave Ted this sketch when Uno Fanta was released. 60
Upper Deck work so he and I were at their booth doing all the gaming stuff and we would each take turns going over to Artist’s Alley to sit and sell books. I’m looking at the Comic Con sales, which are on the book’s P&L spreadsheet, and we sold 52 books at the 2001 Comic Con.
TA: It’s funny you say that ‘cause as I look back at it, I felt the same way. I felt sort of unbelievably proud to have published this book–I felt such a sense of accomplishment–and it’s funny now, looking back at it all I can think is, “This is the cheapest paper!” And it’s got that web press wrinkle to it. We are so spoiled by the printing we get now and the quality of the paper. The actual printing of the Uno Fanta hardcover is decent but the paper is just crap.
The other thing about this printing is the hardcover itself. There’s no foil or emboss or anything–it’s just wrapped with a cheesy kind of faux leather. There’s none of the print things that we learned how to do over the years.
AW: It’s awful but, like you say, how cool was it that we had made an art book that didn’t tank?
TA: So, there are illustrations of Popbot in Uno Fanta and this is well before we published Popbot Book One. So, clearly, Popbot’s a character you’ve been working on for a while. I’m curious about the genesis of Popbot…
TA: It came out right around the time of Comic Con and we didn’t even have a booth. So, our first appearance at Comic Con was you sitting in Artist’s Alley and Robbie had a metal cash box and he was selling the books. Kris and I were still doing all the
AW: I guess you went through that hockey stick curve as a company. You started off slow but when you got going, you threw everything in.
AW: Well, like you said, I was just tooling around drawing robots and trying to figure out how I could 61
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____________________________________________ Pages from Popbot Book One (this page and next).
draw robots and naked women together. And that’s what the pre-Popbot images are. After we’d done the book and I think I’d left Todd by then, right? TA: I think it was around that time, yeah. I think you were moving to San Diego around that time. AW: I think I just decided that I needed to spread my wings and try to be creatively more open. I said to you, “Hey, now that the book’s done okay, do you want to do a comic?” And I thought at the time there’s no way you’re going to do a full color book so I said, “Hey, let’s do it duo-tone.” Thinking I’ll save you money. You said, “Yeah, let’s do it. We’ll see what the orders are.” I went through the same anxiety again. TA: You still have that anxiety today, even though I tell you not to, right? AW: Yeah, of course. I guess I’m not an egotistical wanker that believed I would be successful and handsome. TA: We printed 5000 copies of Popbot Book One at $7.99, with an unusual format. 62
____________________________________ Ash’s work regularly receives recognition, including these Illustration Annual awards.
AW: How many of those did you sell? TA: I’m sure we sold all of them. AW: That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? TA: Looking back at Popbot Book One which was, again, printed in Canada. It’s duo-tone throughout. AW: Yeah, real duo-tone. TA: Right. Why did you want to do it at a different size [than a traditional comic book]? I know you and I have been breaking format in everything we do together at IDW but what led to that initial breaking of format with Popbot Book One? AW: I guess I wanted it to be different from flimsy comics. Because it’s not really a normal comic and I guess I wanted to aim it at people who didn’t read normal comics. And I think it worked in a way. A lot of people have picked up Popbot because it has a spine. It’s something different, not just a comic book.
TA: It is unlike anything that was in the market then or that’s on the market today. It’s definitely a unique work. Looking at the printing, it is really dark… AW: It is dark. But, you know, look at all of the cool colors that are in there. It’s only duo-tone but there are gray-blues, reds, browns. TA: You know, the Popbot books have been reprinted by us multiple times in multiple different collections and they’ve been reprinted around the world in different languages, and I’m looking at the most recent version, which is The Complete Popbot hardcover, and the printing is substantially different. Our printing today versus what it was back then is a lot better. AW: In a way, I miss those days. I would rather have shit printing because I liked the intimacy of it. It was like it was a revolution. You were the French people overthrowing all the mainstays. TA: So we became the establishment? AW: Well, yes, IDW is a very successful big company. I’m lucky that I can still talk to you like we did when we had a metal box. It’s kind of crazy. It’s a company with so much going on and it is different. I’m lucky that you’ve isolated me into this time capsule where
it’s not all that different from when I came up with Popbot. I wonder what it’s like for everyone else that works with you. It’s still a very different company than Marvel or DC. TA: I think the relationship I have with you is different than I have with anybody else we do business with. I have plenty of friends that we publish but nobody… I mean, you’re like a brother. AW: A lot of people ask all the time–do work for us, or do a book, or even offer me a job–but I don’t just work for IDW, I feel that we truly have a family. TA: I’m glad to hear you say that, because I feel the same way. I hope there is that family feel even as we do grow. Hopefully that’s one of the things where we don’t get too corporate or bureaucratic. AW: I don’t think you will. The reality is, to be the size you are, you need to have it organized like you do. You need all the pipelines from accounting to production but there’s still the fact that I can do a book of 48 nudes and still have it published–a testament that you’re still the same company with your metal cashbox. TA: I think we still have that metal cashbox.
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____________________________________________ Pages from Popbot Book One (this page and next).
draw robots and naked women together. And that’s what the pre-Popbot images are. After we’d done the book and I think I’d left Todd by then, right? TA: I think it was around that time, yeah. I think you were moving to San Diego around that time. AW: I think I just decided that I needed to spread my wings and try to be creatively more open. I said to you, “Hey, now that the book’s done okay, do you want to do a comic?” And I thought at the time there’s no way you’re going to do a full color book so I said, “Hey, let’s do it duo-tone.” Thinking I’ll save you money. You said, “Yeah, let’s do it. We’ll see what the orders are.” I went through the same anxiety again. TA: You still have that anxiety today, even though I tell you not to, right? AW: Yeah, of course. I guess I’m not an egotistical wanker that believed I would be successful and handsome. TA: We printed 5000 copies of Popbot Book One at $7.99, with an unusual format. 62
____________________________________ Ash’s work regularly receives recognition, including these Illustration Annual awards.
AW: How many of those did you sell? TA: I’m sure we sold all of them. AW: That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? TA: Looking back at Popbot Book One which was, again, printed in Canada. It’s duo-tone throughout. AW: Yeah, real duo-tone. TA: Right. Why did you want to do it at a different size [than a traditional comic book]? I know you and I have been breaking format in everything we do together at IDW but what led to that initial breaking of format with Popbot Book One? AW: I guess I wanted it to be different from flimsy comics. Because it’s not really a normal comic and I guess I wanted to aim it at people who didn’t read normal comics. And I think it worked in a way. A lot of people have picked up Popbot because it has a spine. It’s something different, not just a comic book.
TA: It is unlike anything that was in the market then or that’s on the market today. It’s definitely a unique work. Looking at the printing, it is really dark… AW: It is dark. But, you know, look at all of the cool colors that are in there. It’s only duo-tone but there are gray-blues, reds, browns. TA: You know, the Popbot books have been reprinted by us multiple times in multiple different collections and they’ve been reprinted around the world in different languages, and I’m looking at the most recent version, which is The Complete Popbot hardcover, and the printing is substantially different. Our printing today versus what it was back then is a lot better. AW: In a way, I miss those days. I would rather have shit printing because I liked the intimacy of it. It was like it was a revolution. You were the French people overthrowing all the mainstays. TA: So we became the establishment? AW: Well, yes, IDW is a very successful big company. I’m lucky that I can still talk to you like we did when we had a metal box. It’s kind of crazy. It’s a company with so much going on and it is different. I’m lucky that you’ve isolated me into this time capsule where
it’s not all that different from when I came up with Popbot. I wonder what it’s like for everyone else that works with you. It’s still a very different company than Marvel or DC. TA: I think the relationship I have with you is different than I have with anybody else we do business with. I have plenty of friends that we publish but nobody… I mean, you’re like a brother. AW: A lot of people ask all the time–do work for us, or do a book, or even offer me a job–but I don’t just work for IDW, I feel that we truly have a family. TA: I’m glad to hear you say that, because I feel the same way. I hope there is that family feel even as we do grow. Hopefully that’s one of the things where we don’t get too corporate or bureaucratic. AW: I don’t think you will. The reality is, to be the size you are, you need to have it organized like you do. You need all the pipelines from accounting to production but there’s still the fact that I can do a book of 48 nudes and still have it published–a testament that you’re still the same company with your metal cashbox. TA: I think we still have that metal cashbox.
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______________________________ Sam Kieth art from Popbot Reader.
___________________________________ Jeremy Geddes art from Popbot Reader.
AW: That’s legendary, you should have a photo of it. TA: The next thing I wanted to ask you about Popbot is how did Sam [Kieth] end up writing the first book? AW: I was just so nervous about writing something so I sent him all my notes and the pages–photocopies or scans. We talked on the phone a lot and I just basically needed someone who I respected and really enjoyed their work and who I ________________ thought was as loony as I was The IDW cashbox. when it came to ideas. About the first 25 pages or so he helped script it and worked through it, and then at the end he was like, “You don’t need me, fuck off.” TA: I remember having conversations with Sam. It was kind of a mutual admiration society, he’s a big fan of yours and you’re a big fan of his. He loves working with you but I remember him saying that he felt like he was the training wheels and then the training wheels came off.
AW: He’s a really smart guy and he kept asking me, “What’s this or why’s that and what should this be,” and eventually he says, “Well, you’re doing it yourself, you don’t need me.” Not only did I get inspired by his earlier work but you know he’s the guy that gave me the balls to do stuff without worry of ridicule of what people would think. He’s one of the original guys who sat me down and said, “It doesn’t matter what other people think. Just follow your thing.” Like you do, every other day, when I say, “I’m quitting comics.” You’re basically there to hold my hand–to give me the confidence to actually do it. It’s pretty hard going from doing Spawn and being renowned just for drawing Spawn to start this convoluted story of time and cats and robots. TA: When you do signings do people still ask about Popbot? AW: I think it’s the book that defined my career because I didn’t give a shit if it embarrassed me and I was drawing robots and naked women, which is
kind of common now. A lot of robots and a lot of sort of sexy women running around in it. But, back then, there wasn’t anybody doing that. I’m working now on Book Eight, I’ve got the toys, got the movie people still trouncing away… so, I think, it’s a defining book for me. TA: And in the summer of 2008 we published what is, to date, The Complete Popbot–a hardcover with about as different a print production quality as you could imagine. Over the course of seven issues you’ve done so many different things with the art… it’s not a steady art style from page one to page 400. There’s experimentation all over the place. I think that’s one of the things that makes it interesting–you just don’t know where the art’s going. AW: Popbot’s the great roadmap of me becoming who I am. Starting off doing all the Spawn stuff was fun but you know I’m not the darkest guy in the world. I’m not a sit-around, suicidal sort of person. It’s easy to hide behind darker art. It’s an easier art style to do and I think with Popbot I learned to open up and have the drawing predominantly be the star. Popbot is one of my defining books. It’s the roadmap to a great art career.
TA: This collected edition has got to be one of the defining books of IDW. This definitive version, which I way under-priced at $50, is a hell of a book. It’s just such an amazing piece of work. OK, enough of that. What was the deal with the Popbot Play magazine stories? You had a buddy over there or something? AW: Jon Gibson was the editor of the magazine. He contacted me as a fan and I think he wanted to help spread the word. Play’s readership was massive and mainstream. TA: Those were original stories you were doing for him, right? AW: Two one-page strips. And I reprinted them in the book. TA: Are they in the latest collected edition? AW: I think one of the softcovers. I don’t think I put it in this one. The Complete Popbot doesn’t have everything in it. I thought I’d wait until issue 8 comes out.
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______________________________ Sam Kieth art from Popbot Reader.
___________________________________ Jeremy Geddes art from Popbot Reader.
AW: That’s legendary, you should have a photo of it. TA: The next thing I wanted to ask you about Popbot is how did Sam [Kieth] end up writing the first book? AW: I was just so nervous about writing something so I sent him all my notes and the pages–photocopies or scans. We talked on the phone a lot and I just basically needed someone who I respected and really enjoyed their work and who I ________________ thought was as loony as I was The IDW cashbox. when it came to ideas. About the first 25 pages or so he helped script it and worked through it, and then at the end he was like, “You don’t need me, fuck off.” TA: I remember having conversations with Sam. It was kind of a mutual admiration society, he’s a big fan of yours and you’re a big fan of his. He loves working with you but I remember him saying that he felt like he was the training wheels and then the training wheels came off.
AW: He’s a really smart guy and he kept asking me, “What’s this or why’s that and what should this be,” and eventually he says, “Well, you’re doing it yourself, you don’t need me.” Not only did I get inspired by his earlier work but you know he’s the guy that gave me the balls to do stuff without worry of ridicule of what people would think. He’s one of the original guys who sat me down and said, “It doesn’t matter what other people think. Just follow your thing.” Like you do, every other day, when I say, “I’m quitting comics.” You’re basically there to hold my hand–to give me the confidence to actually do it. It’s pretty hard going from doing Spawn and being renowned just for drawing Spawn to start this convoluted story of time and cats and robots. TA: When you do signings do people still ask about Popbot? AW: I think it’s the book that defined my career because I didn’t give a shit if it embarrassed me and I was drawing robots and naked women, which is
kind of common now. A lot of robots and a lot of sort of sexy women running around in it. But, back then, there wasn’t anybody doing that. I’m working now on Book Eight, I’ve got the toys, got the movie people still trouncing away… so, I think, it’s a defining book for me. TA: And in the summer of 2008 we published what is, to date, The Complete Popbot–a hardcover with about as different a print production quality as you could imagine. Over the course of seven issues you’ve done so many different things with the art… it’s not a steady art style from page one to page 400. There’s experimentation all over the place. I think that’s one of the things that makes it interesting–you just don’t know where the art’s going. AW: Popbot’s the great roadmap of me becoming who I am. Starting off doing all the Spawn stuff was fun but you know I’m not the darkest guy in the world. I’m not a sit-around, suicidal sort of person. It’s easy to hide behind darker art. It’s an easier art style to do and I think with Popbot I learned to open up and have the drawing predominantly be the star. Popbot is one of my defining books. It’s the roadmap to a great art career.
TA: This collected edition has got to be one of the defining books of IDW. This definitive version, which I way under-priced at $50, is a hell of a book. It’s just such an amazing piece of work. OK, enough of that. What was the deal with the Popbot Play magazine stories? You had a buddy over there or something? AW: Jon Gibson was the editor of the magazine. He contacted me as a fan and I think he wanted to help spread the word. Play’s readership was massive and mainstream. TA: Those were original stories you were doing for him, right? AW: Two one-page strips. And I reprinted them in the book. TA: Are they in the latest collected edition? AW: I think one of the softcovers. I don’t think I put it in this one. The Complete Popbot doesn’t have everything in it. I thought I’d wait until issue 8 comes out.
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___________________________________ Adam Warren
TA: The Complete Popbot is not complete? Is that what you’re telling me?
TA: The Adam Warren story is crazy and fun and some of these pin-ups are unbelievable.
AW: It doesn’t have the Adam Warren story in it. But I figure once we’ve done Book Eight this year, [2008] next year we’ll put out The Actually Complete Popbot. That’d be a great name for it.
AW: I had all this awesome art by these great artists.
TA: The Really Complete Popbot. Which leads me to the Popbot Reader–what was the story behind the Popbot Reader? Why did we do this?
___________________________________ Jim Mahfood
___________________________________ Mike Mignola
___________________________________________ All art on this page from Popbot Reader. 66
AW: I thought it would be cool but it never really turned out like I thought it would. The Adam Warren story was hilarious. The only problem with his story is it’s too cohesive–it actually is a story–which goes against the Popbot creed.
TA: Which of these pin-ups is your favorite? AW: The Sam Kieth one is great ‘cause Popbot has a dick. Also, Jeremy Geddes–his is completely epic in nature. TA: He’s a guy that I would like to see do more work at IDW. AW: He’s very cool. The Mignola one is also great. They’re all, to me, great. The Kent Williams one is so unique. But you know, I think they’re all good. The Popbot Reader for me was a great idea that I executed really badly. TA: I don’t agree. I think it’s well-executed.
________________________ A very rare Ash/IDW t-shirt 67
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___________________________________ Adam Warren
TA: The Complete Popbot is not complete? Is that what you’re telling me?
TA: The Adam Warren story is crazy and fun and some of these pin-ups are unbelievable.
AW: It doesn’t have the Adam Warren story in it. But I figure once we’ve done Book Eight this year, [2008] next year we’ll put out The Actually Complete Popbot. That’d be a great name for it.
AW: I had all this awesome art by these great artists.
TA: The Really Complete Popbot. Which leads me to the Popbot Reader–what was the story behind the Popbot Reader? Why did we do this?
___________________________________ Jim Mahfood
___________________________________ Mike Mignola
___________________________________________ All art on this page from Popbot Reader. 66
AW: I thought it would be cool but it never really turned out like I thought it would. The Adam Warren story was hilarious. The only problem with his story is it’s too cohesive–it actually is a story–which goes against the Popbot creed.
TA: Which of these pin-ups is your favorite? AW: The Sam Kieth one is great ‘cause Popbot has a dick. Also, Jeremy Geddes–his is completely epic in nature. TA: He’s a guy that I would like to see do more work at IDW. AW: He’s very cool. The Mignola one is also great. They’re all, to me, great. The Kent Williams one is so unique. But you know, I think they’re all good. The Popbot Reader for me was a great idea that I executed really badly. TA: I don’t agree. I think it’s well-executed.
________________________ A very rare Ash/IDW t-shirt 67
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AW: I tell you, the best thing about the Popbot Reader from my memory is a page of Kitty looking at a chick’s bum and I think the girl’s saying “I’m an actress.” TA: A classic Popbot moment.
aspect to their business, just as we do, but ultimately things had to be cool for them to want to do it. I always thought the Popbot statue was cool and then we did the Popbot Reader to try and support it. We also did a DVD that was an interview with me and it was an interview with the designer at Sideshow and I think an interview with you, right?
AW: That is a classic moment. TA: OK, let’s talk about the Sideshow statue and how that came about. We’d been in business together a couple of years and you approached me and told me you wanted to start doing high-end collectible statues of your characters and that you wanted to do it yourself or have us work on it with you. And I was just sort of struck dumb with fear because when it comes to doing 3-dimensional manufactured product, I have no interest in that or, at least at that time, I had no interest in that. I thought, “Crap, Ash means it and I want to make Ash happy and he wants to make statues.” Every time I talked to you, you kept bringing it up so I knew it wasn’t going to go away. So, I thought, “How am I going to get this done?” Around this same time, our Hollywood management company introduced me to Sideshow Collectibles and I thought, “Perfect, I can make Ash happy. I can do a deal with these guys– they seem like good guys and they do amazing products.” So I started talking to them and from there my memory gets a little hazy. I can’t remember if you and I both went up or it I went up by myself or… AW: You pretty much spearheaded it because I was in Australia at the time. I remember you said, “I’m talking to Sideshow,” and I thought, “I’m not going to make it, they’re too cool, they’ve got everything to do but Popbot.” After they said they wanted to do it–when I saw that figure being made and started seeing the sculpt–that changed something for me. As much as I love doing art, I’m always thinking of how to make things. TA: The Sideshow guys were such good guys and I liked the way they approached business. They were a much bigger company than us then and they’re still bigger than us today–as much as we’ve grown, they’ve grown. Today, we share a lot of licenses with them that we didn’t back in those days. They were such cool guys and they were just so into it for the art of it. They were doing things that they thought were cool. They certainly had a very commercial __________________________ Sideshow’s Lady Sham statue. 68
AW: Yeah, there was. We made it sort of a Warhol machine thing. TA: Right, and we put it in the first Popbot collected edition… AW: No, the second one. TA: And it was a DVD that we adhered to the back cover, remember? AW: I do, because it wrecked every copy. TA: It makes the books fold and creates an indent in there. AW: Oh, it sucked. I hated the fact that that happened. TA: I remember you hated it. I was trying to do everything I could think of to help those guys sell the statues. I wanted to be as supportive as I could and we did the Popbot Reader and they were doing these in-house videos and they came up with the idea of doing that DVD and then we adhered it to the Popbot Collected Edition Vol. 2 and, I remember, you were so bummed out about that DVD being in there. AW: It’s the duality of it. As much as I loved the figurine, I still loved the book and the book was being ruined by the DVD. TA: Well, you always struggle with the marketing side of this business. You’re loathe to do interviews. I know that about you. Looking back on it now, I’m in agreement with you. I think the only thing was that we’re always doing new editions so, at least, eventually we ended up with this cool The Complete Popbot hardcover. AW: To me that’s the perfect Popbot so far. As good as it can get at this moment. IDW _________________________________ Sideshow’s Popbot statue (rare “hook hand” edition—limited to 100 copies).
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AW: I tell you, the best thing about the Popbot Reader from my memory is a page of Kitty looking at a chick’s bum and I think the girl’s saying “I’m an actress.” TA: A classic Popbot moment.
aspect to their business, just as we do, but ultimately things had to be cool for them to want to do it. I always thought the Popbot statue was cool and then we did the Popbot Reader to try and support it. We also did a DVD that was an interview with me and it was an interview with the designer at Sideshow and I think an interview with you, right?
AW: That is a classic moment. TA: OK, let’s talk about the Sideshow statue and how that came about. We’d been in business together a couple of years and you approached me and told me you wanted to start doing high-end collectible statues of your characters and that you wanted to do it yourself or have us work on it with you. And I was just sort of struck dumb with fear because when it comes to doing 3-dimensional manufactured product, I have no interest in that or, at least at that time, I had no interest in that. I thought, “Crap, Ash means it and I want to make Ash happy and he wants to make statues.” Every time I talked to you, you kept bringing it up so I knew it wasn’t going to go away. So, I thought, “How am I going to get this done?” Around this same time, our Hollywood management company introduced me to Sideshow Collectibles and I thought, “Perfect, I can make Ash happy. I can do a deal with these guys– they seem like good guys and they do amazing products.” So I started talking to them and from there my memory gets a little hazy. I can’t remember if you and I both went up or it I went up by myself or… AW: You pretty much spearheaded it because I was in Australia at the time. I remember you said, “I’m talking to Sideshow,” and I thought, “I’m not going to make it, they’re too cool, they’ve got everything to do but Popbot.” After they said they wanted to do it–when I saw that figure being made and started seeing the sculpt–that changed something for me. As much as I love doing art, I’m always thinking of how to make things. TA: The Sideshow guys were such good guys and I liked the way they approached business. They were a much bigger company than us then and they’re still bigger than us today–as much as we’ve grown, they’ve grown. Today, we share a lot of licenses with them that we didn’t back in those days. They were such cool guys and they were just so into it for the art of it. They were doing things that they thought were cool. They certainly had a very commercial __________________________ Sideshow’s Lady Sham statue. 68
AW: Yeah, there was. We made it sort of a Warhol machine thing. TA: Right, and we put it in the first Popbot collected edition… AW: No, the second one. TA: And it was a DVD that we adhered to the back cover, remember? AW: I do, because it wrecked every copy. TA: It makes the books fold and creates an indent in there. AW: Oh, it sucked. I hated the fact that that happened. TA: I remember you hated it. I was trying to do everything I could think of to help those guys sell the statues. I wanted to be as supportive as I could and we did the Popbot Reader and they were doing these in-house videos and they came up with the idea of doing that DVD and then we adhered it to the Popbot Collected Edition Vol. 2 and, I remember, you were so bummed out about that DVD being in there. AW: It’s the duality of it. As much as I loved the figurine, I still loved the book and the book was being ruined by the DVD. TA: Well, you always struggle with the marketing side of this business. You’re loathe to do interviews. I know that about you. Looking back on it now, I’m in agreement with you. I think the only thing was that we’re always doing new editions so, at least, eventually we ended up with this cool The Complete Popbot hardcover. AW: To me that’s the perfect Popbot so far. As good as it can get at this moment. IDW _________________________________ Sideshow’s Popbot statue (rare “hook hand” edition—limited to 100 copies).
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ASHLEY WOOD’S OTHER IDW PROJECTS In addition to his own art books and the Sparrow and Swallow books, which are discussed in Chapter 11, Ash has done a variety of comic books for IDW.
Popbot The latest issue of Popbot (Book Eight) takes the series in an all-new direction. You can get caught up with the first seven issues in The Complete Popbot hardcover collection and learn more in this very chapter. Shadowplay This series featured two vampire-themed stories, one illustrated by Ben Templesmith and one illustrated by Ashley Wood. Ash’s story, “Shunt,” was written by Christina Z and focuses on a woman who gives up her life to uncover a human slavery ring run by vampires.
D’Arian Aventure Join Les Morte 13 and a rotating cast of characters in overlapping and intersecting stories. Two issues of this anthology series have been released. Doomed Ash was the creative director for IDW’s horror anthology and illustrated several of the stories. Ash’s stories were collected in Doomed Presents: Ashley Wood.
Lore Lore is Ash’s most ambitious project, one that’s co-written by T. P. Louise. In times past, the world was full of mythical creatures–creatures held at bay by a secret society of Shepherds. When the generational line of shepherds is broken, a reluctant hero finds her life threatened from every quarter. And the creatures are coming back.
Duo Stars Ash takes on the world of street-racing as only he can. Enter a world of illegal drag-racing where the vehicles aren’t cars at all… instead, they’re robots with minds and motivations of their own. One issue has been released.
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Lore is available in two trade paperback volumes and in a deluxe hardcover edition, the Lore Premiere Edition. Metal Gear Solid More information about Ash’s Metal Gear Solid adaptations can be found in Chapter 9.
Tank Girl: The Gifting This series offers a fun and unconventional ride through the Tank Girl universe and is written by Tank Girl co-creator Alan Martin.
Zombies vs. Robots and Zombies vs. Robots vs. Amazons Both series were co-created by Chris Ryall and have been collected into oversized (9” x 13”) hardcover editions as well as the regular comicsized Complete Zombies vs. Robots trade paperback. More information about the series can be found in Chapter 13.
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ASHLEY WOOD’S OTHER IDW PROJECTS In addition to his own art books and the Sparrow and Swallow books, which are discussed in Chapter 11, Ash has done a variety of comic books for IDW.
Popbot The latest issue of Popbot (Book Eight) takes the series in an all-new direction. You can get caught up with the first seven issues in The Complete Popbot hardcover collection and learn more in this very chapter. Shadowplay This series featured two vampire-themed stories, one illustrated by Ben Templesmith and one illustrated by Ashley Wood. Ash’s story, “Shunt,” was written by Christina Z and focuses on a woman who gives up her life to uncover a human slavery ring run by vampires.
D’Arian Aventure Join Les Morte 13 and a rotating cast of characters in overlapping and intersecting stories. Two issues of this anthology series have been released. Doomed Ash was the creative director for IDW’s horror anthology and illustrated several of the stories. Ash’s stories were collected in Doomed Presents: Ashley Wood.
Lore Lore is Ash’s most ambitious project, one that’s co-written by T. P. Louise. In times past, the world was full of mythical creatures–creatures held at bay by a secret society of Shepherds. When the generational line of shepherds is broken, a reluctant hero finds her life threatened from every quarter. And the creatures are coming back.
Duo Stars Ash takes on the world of street-racing as only he can. Enter a world of illegal drag-racing where the vehicles aren’t cars at all… instead, they’re robots with minds and motivations of their own. One issue has been released.
70
Lore is available in two trade paperback volumes and in a deluxe hardcover edition, the Lore Premiere Edition. Metal Gear Solid More information about Ash’s Metal Gear Solid adaptations can be found in Chapter 9.
Tank Girl: The Gifting This series offers a fun and unconventional ride through the Tank Girl universe and is written by Tank Girl co-creator Alan Martin.
Zombies vs. Robots and Zombies vs. Robots vs. Amazons Both series were co-created by Chris Ryall and have been collected into oversized (9” x 13”) hardcover editions as well as the regular comicsized Complete Zombies vs. Robots trade paperback. More information about the series can be found in Chapter 13.
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PRIMATE
__________________________________ Primate, art by Michael Beck. While Uno Fanta was the first book published by IDW Publishing, around the same time, the company was working on its first comic book, Primate. Ted Adams remembers: “I first met Beau Smith when I worked at Eclipse Comics in 1990 and, almost 20 years later, he’s still one of my best friends. Primate came about when Beau called me to talk about a Hollywood
72
________________________ Primate, art by Alex Garner. writer he’d met [Kevin Bernhardt]. They’d come up with an idea for a comic book and Beau wanted to know if we’d be interested in financing it. “I liked the idea and we decided to do it. Rather than publish it through IDW, Beau and I thought the best route would be to see if we could get Image interested. Beau and I both had long relationships with Image and, after a meeting with
Jim Valentino, Image decided to include it in their short-lived anthology, Image Introduces. “We ran into some production issues with Image on the book and that’s, ultimately, what led to the decision to start our own publishing company. This month [September 2008], IDW had a bigger market share than Image and I often wonder what would have happened if they’d taken more interest in what we were doing in 2001.
“The comic was written by Beau and Kevin and drawn by Mitch Byrd and Ryan Odagawa. Beau had worked with Mitch on Guy Gardner: Warrior and Ryan was a regular contributor to our creative service business. The covers were by Michael Beck–another friend of Beau–and IDW co-founder Alex Garner. It’s a fun story that’s worth tracking down for any IDW completists or Beau Smith fans.”
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PRIMATE
__________________________________ Primate, art by Michael Beck. While Uno Fanta was the first book published by IDW Publishing, around the same time, the company was working on its first comic book, Primate. Ted Adams remembers: “I first met Beau Smith when I worked at Eclipse Comics in 1990 and, almost 20 years later, he’s still one of my best friends. Primate came about when Beau called me to talk about a Hollywood
72
________________________ Primate, art by Alex Garner. writer he’d met [Kevin Bernhardt]. They’d come up with an idea for a comic book and Beau wanted to know if we’d be interested in financing it. “I liked the idea and we decided to do it. Rather than publish it through IDW, Beau and I thought the best route would be to see if we could get Image interested. Beau and I both had long relationships with Image and, after a meeting with
Jim Valentino, Image decided to include it in their short-lived anthology, Image Introduces. “We ran into some production issues with Image on the book and that’s, ultimately, what led to the decision to start our own publishing company. This month [September 2008], IDW had a bigger market share than Image and I often wonder what would have happened if they’d taken more interest in what we were doing in 2001.
“The comic was written by Beau and Kevin and drawn by Mitch Byrd and Ryan Odagawa. Beau had worked with Mitch on Guy Gardner: Warrior and Ryan was a regular contributor to our creative service business. The covers were by Michael Beck–another friend of Beau–and IDW co-founder Alex Garner. It’s a fun story that’s worth tracking down for any IDW completists or Beau Smith fans.”
73