Written, Designed & filled with Illustrations by by
Max Ink with editorial assistance by
Lia Eastep Cover Design & Titles by
Joel Chastain BLINK: Behind The Sketchbook The Making of “Wonka Wonka Kochalka” ©2012 Maximilian Ink
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WWKcomic.info
It all began with a spark and a sketch.
Sketchbooks are where my art evolves from a concept in my mind into the content. On April 10, 2003, the spark of what became Blink sprang from my head and with a few deft strokes of my pencil, she was conceived on a sketchbook page. The prototypes of Blink, Sam and Hank were born within minutes of each other, but it took seven months to come up with a story for these characters actually live.
In November 2003, I wrote and illustrated my first Blink comic as a 12 page digest-sized mini-comic. The story was called “Poetic Pop,” and it featured Blink and Sam hanging out at the Cup O Joe in Easton Towne Center (a highend shopping mall in Columbus). The girls talked about funny poetry, Blink’s comic strip (the one that she draws and is written by Francis Mellonaire) and discussed whether or not to go to a local comic book convention, the Mainstream Ohio Expo. I was pleased with this, my first Blink story, however...
...since I didn’t have a clear direction for an overall plot/story for Blink, creating a follow-up to “Poetic Pop” became a daunting task. So, I just kept sketching the characters with stray lines of dialog and possible situations or locations for stories to take place. Like all writers, I weave aspects of my real life into my fiction: people, places, events and whatever observations I come up with all eventually find their way onto the pages of my stories. In the beginning of 2004, I was making my bi-weekly visit to the Downtown Columbus Metropolitan Library’s 741.5 section (where they house the graphic novel collections) and came upon two of James Kochalka’s graphic novels, Fantastic © James Kochalka Butterflies and Magic Boy and His Girlfriend Amy. Something about James’ stories and art clicked with me and I got to thinking that Blink would really enjoy reading these books.
Thus, on February 24, 2004, I drew this little doodle...
...and a few days later, I imagined Sam and Blink talking about how difficult it can be to pronounce James Kochalka’s last name. “James Koh– James Kah– Oh, screw it, James Chocolate.” And that began the whole thread of what was to become “Wonka Wonka Kochalka.”
I had a title, but I needed a story to go with it. I decided to center the “Wonka” story on the first “official” meeting between Blink and Hank.
From the very beginning, Blink and Sam were conceived as life-long friends (they’ve known each other and been friends since the third grade for heaven’s sake) and with “Poetic Pop,” I had figured out their conversational pattern pretty well. But with Blink and Hank, it was a completely different story. Literally. I decided to have each character doing something that they’re passionate about which would then provide material for them to talk about. Blink was drawing an autobiographical story and Hank was reading a book by Fred Alan Wolf about parallel universes. Perfect subject matter for cute conversational banter. Yeah, right.
If you want to subject yourself to 15 more pages of this train wreck of a “story� filled with convoluted conversation, awkward pauses and malformed versions of Blink and Hank, visit WWKcomic.info
After a few weeks I ran out of steam and moved on to other Blink stories.
In the Autumn of 2005 that I finally got around to publishing the followup to “Poetic Pop,” Up Leaves Fall Down. The book was another digest-sized mini and contained two 4-page vignettes–“Autumn’s Playground” and “Time And A Few Words.” (“Playground” appeared in a local `zine, Theatre Summit) I also started the tradition of placing “Columbus pin-up” drawings into the book (Italian Village and Skully’s) and included a “sketchbook” section in the back.
Shortly after the publication of Up Leaves Fall Down, I got to work on its follow-up, Experiencing Creative Difficulties. I wanted to expand what I had done with ULFD by having slightly longer stories. I started off by revising “A Brief, Hopeless Case,” which was a 4-page piece I did for the Theatre Summit `zine in 2004 (at the same time WWK was conceived) and turned it into an 8-page piece. I then created “Snow Day” as a semicontinuation story which featured Blink building a Snow Zombie while procrastinating.
As I was putting the ECD comic together in February of 2006, I thought about what I’d like to do next, and believed the best course of action was to revise that other 2004 story. Before I even began rewriting the story, I felt confident that I could figure out some way to reconfigure it the way I did “A Brief...” So I drew up this “teaser” and placed it in the back of ECD.
Inside Blink’s Sketching Dressing Room Since clothes are such a telling aspect of a character’s personality, I am always on the lookout for clothes that I think my characters would wear. It’s not uncommon for me to flip through a woman’s clothes catalog or take notice of what someone’s wearing and make a quick sketch in one of my pocket sketchbooks. I have pages upon pages filled with sketches of Blink, Sam and Hank wearing all sorts of various outfits that may or may not appear in any of my stories. However, something about having Blink wearing overalls really got me jazzed...
When I figure out what a character is going to wear for any given story, I’ll typically draw two or three pages worth of sketches. I filled over a dozen pages with Blink dressed in her overalls.
Eventually, I got “farmer Blink” out of my system and moved on to the other star of this story–Hank. Over the course of the previous two years, Hank evolved and grew into his own, with interests outside reading Mr. Wolf’s peculiar scientific theory. For example, I discovered that he plays role playing games and reads comic books (which gives him a little “fan boy” cred) and he plays guitar (which gives him a little “coolness” cred).
I don’t know how common it is for writers to have their characters talk with each other about the subject matter in the stories that they’re “performing” in, but it’s something I do on occasion. Since the majority of my stories are built from conversations, exploring the characters’ viewpoints and opinions provide me with more angles to approach the topic(s) being discussed.
2006 WWK
By having the characters bounce off each other, it also helps me to refine the script. Above is an example of Blink and Hank “improvising” on the topic of non-superhero comic books. I used that to build a few pages in the revised “Wonka” story...
2006 WWK
Like 2 years before, I “trapped myself” with trying to work the subject matter into a natural sounding conversation. Overall, I had a hard time reimagining the story into something that worked for the characters. So, I put “Wonka” on the shelf again and moved on to a story that put my mind at ease. “Space To Breathe,” a short 6-page piece with Blink and Sam relaxing in a field of grass looking up at the night sky and talking about whatever came to mind. The first Blink publication that featured Hank was Let It Be As It Is, it was the first Free Blink mini comic I did in the Summer of 2006. But it wasn’t set up as a “first meeting” story in the way “Wonka” was. However, it did feature Hank talking about his “geeky” interests (role playing games) with his friends, Kevin, Amy and Joshua.
I decided to fold in aspects of the “first meeting” of Hank from the original “Wonka” story into the next Blink book–”Barefoot In America, Breakfast In The Park” which was released in 2007. I managed to rework the dialog and subject matter into a natural sounding conversation between the three of them and built a satisfying story (and received a S.P.A.C.E. Prize nomination in 2008).
From then on, I was able to write stories that featured the trio being comfortable with being themselves and managed to put the ghost of “Wonka” to rest. Or so I thought. In March 2011, the first collection of Blink stories was released under the title So Far, and right away, I was writing the next adventure for these three crazy Columbus kids...
So Far became “Book One” and I had the flash of an idea to create two more Blink Books that would eventually contain multiple chapters: So Be It (Book Two) and So It Goes (Book Three).
About half of what I originally conceived in that initial flash of notes actually made it into the final cut. A few changes of note: So Be It is now Book Three and the coffee shop, Kafe Kerouac, has been moved to appear in the third chapter of So It Goes. (Not “Kerouac Kafe”...Oy. I’m constantly transposing words & letters)
When I began work on the final “Wonka” script/plot two months later, there were a few bits and pieces from the original 2004/2006 concepts that were still rattling around. But after a few rewrites, I managed to create a whole new story that was fresh and original (and made sense). And so, a month later, I (finally) got down to brass tacks and figured out how I was going to fill this “20+ page story,” but of course...
...I simply had to write a note to myself about, um, writing the script. (And provide a shout-out to Dave Sim’s Cerebus, for no reason other than it being a guiding source of inspiration in creating this comic.) Then, I got into the nitty-gritty of making the “Wonka Wonka Kochalka” story that finally made the cut (after eight years). See there, at the bottom, those tiny thumbnails of the first 3 pages?
Here’s the script for those pages. The way I typically write scripts works is like this: I figure out the general plot/action/beats of the story, then I just start writing dialog and character movements/actions/details without thinking too much about specific page layouts or breakdowns. After I get a few pages done (usually 4-6 pages), I go over what I’ve written and chop up the action/dialog into pages and panels. (I actually wrote the script on this page before I drew the tiny thumbnails on the previous page.) After I get the scripts thumbnails figure out, I proceed onto drawing the rough layouts, then making full-size final pencils, inks, lettering, and Photoshop tones and clean-up.
When I drew the rough layout and the final pencils/inks for page 1, I was only thinking of the immediate page at hand. I wasn’t thinking of the page within context of the entire story (which is important to pay attention to as a visual narrative storyteller). As I continued working on writing and drawing the rest of the story, I decided that page one would benefit greatly by getting rid of the loud, blaring title and replacing it with a “quiet� place-setting panel.
Another page, another revision. Once again, I realized after the fact that the story would be better served by going for the quiet rather than the quick. With the first draft, two equal panels makes the page read rather quickly. Inserting three small panels to “set the scene� outside the building, moving the reader inside with the one large panel, with the music/balloons, helped slow down the pace and give the page a lyrical quality.
Rather than chopping up the panels to slow down the narrative, I chopped up the lyrics that Hank is singing. The panel revisions of the audience, from an overheard shot, to a medium shot, then finally to a close up on Blink helped to further control the narrative pace. Also, with Hank’s long/tall profile, it gives him a sense of larger-than-life-ness and shows that he is the focal point; not only because he’s onstage singing at the Wild Goose, but he's now become a focal point in Blink's eyes.
Figuring out what the new characters were going to wear was another matter...
Of course, with each new Blink story, there’s the figuring out of the wardrobe. While I was fiddling with the “Wonka” script, I worked on a little Blink 3-pager, “Lost & Waiting,” for an anthology and decided to just basically carry over their clothes from there to “Wonka.”
Joshua and Kevin were pretty easy to figure out; they always wear the same basic “uniform.” Kevin’s got his khaki pants and polo shirt and Joshua has his jeans and a wide array of t-shirts. They’re usually concert t-shirts or ones that have funny/geeky sayings. I actually created the “Dinosaurs For Christ” tee special for this “Wonka” comic...
As for Amy’s choice of attire, she’s the sort of girl who’s cool with wearing a casual dress shirt and sweater vest while also sporting a couple of facial piercings and (as of yet unseen) tattoos. Something else that’s interesting about Amy is how similar she is to another “geeky” Amy– Amy Farrah Fowler on the Big Bang Theory (as portrayed by Mayim Hoya Bialik). However, my Amy came first, in 2006. BBT’s Amy arrived in 2010. It’s just a happy coincidence.
...and I made Sam’s “geek-bashing” t-shirt, too.
SAM vs. The Geek Culture Samantha Washington is not a fan. Sure, she enjoys her fair share of music, film, literature, theatre and maybe even a little television (so long as it’s cable), but she is definitely not a fan. She might be an intelligent person and knows a thing or two about trivia (she is an accomplished crossword puzzle solver), but she certainly doesn’t consider herself a “geek” and bristles at the very notion of being identified as such. I knew this topic was going to be addressed to some degree in “Wonka” so I thought I’d let Sam say a word or two on the subject to help me get a better handle on where she’s coming from...
It’s all well and good to understand where a character’s coming from, but just because I know what they’re thinking, that doesn’t mean I should show what they’re thinking in the story. Not all of it, anyway.
I knew there was going to be some kind of “battle” between Sam and Joshua, but I didn’t know how it would play out. However, I did know that I wanted the battle to be personal and that I needed to stay away from any rants about “what’s wrong” with geek-culture.
I decided to have Sam come to Blink’s “rescue” after Joshua made a bad joke; it seemed like a reasonable way to pit the two against each other. Sam came out swinging and it wasn’t until I was writing Joshua’s dialog for the scene that the dynamic of the scene took shape.
I was surprised and impressed with how Josh responded to Sam’s attacks in such a humdrum fashion. It showed how different he is from Hank (Sam’s other geek punching bag) and it really took the wind out of her sails.
Back in 2004 (and 2006), the reasoning for titling the story “Wonka Wonka Kochalka” was tenuous at best. I mean, c’mon... Blink and Sam nicknaming James Kochalka “James Chocolate?” Seriously? I tried to ameliorate the connection by having Hank make a “joke” about the difference between women and men being that women like wine and chocolate and men like beer and pork rinds. Get it? Chocolate? Wonka? Starting from scratch in 2011 provided me with an ideal opportunity to repurpose the reasoning for the title (it is an awesome title). I decided to go with the universal language of music. The natural choice to tie Wonka is was taking a tune from Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack. “Pure Imagination” fit the bill perfectly. Choosing a tune from James Kochalka Superstar was a tad bit more challenging, but fun.
© James Kochalka
Kochalka’s catalog of music boasts over 50 songs (most of them under two minutes long). Deciding which one to feature in the story seemed like a daunting task. But after a cursory glance of songs titles like "Robot Shark," "Monkey Vs. Robot" and "Twinkle Twinkle Ringo Starr," cute and clever though they may be, I happened upon “Bacharach Galactica” (from the 2009 album Digital Elf). I knew I found the one. Not only does the alliteration of “Bacharach” mirror “Wonka” sublimely, the lyrics are supremely Kochalka: “Been to hell and back just like Burt Bacharach / The law's on my ass like Julio Iglesias / I better lay low, just like Barry Manilow / I'm humpin' the pumpernickel like Englebert Humperdink will / On the Battlestar Burt Bacharach / The Bacharach Galactica / That is where I learned the facts / The science that I'll drop on ya” Absolutely, James. The science has been dropped and it has been received indeed.
“From The Beginning...” Whew. I am so glad to be done with writing this Behind The Sketchbook book! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I did it. The time and effort it took to put this “comic book commentary” together was totally worth it. Over the months it took to write and draw the “Wonka Wonka Kochalka” comic in 2011, I would tell people that the story had been knocking around in my sketchbook for years before. But I never felt that I was able to fully get my point across as to how much work I had already put into this story. How many years I struggled with a concept that had never been published―because it was never quite good enough and never meant to be published―until now. Now, this chapter of Blink is done and I can move on to the next one―the next chapter in the story of Blink (the character, compared to the story of Blink, the comic book). Ugh. I really can't stand writing this non-fiction, essay-type stuff. I try my best to be honest and true. Both to myself and the reader. But I'm always worried about getting my facts wrong. Worried that the words I'm using are wrong. Worried the grammar's wrong. Worried the punctuation is wrong. (Thanks English teachers!) Worried that I'm being too loquacious and overstating my opinion. Worried that I'm missing some important tidbit of information that prevents my point from being crystal clear to the reader. Worried about... nothing. I'm far more at ease writing fiction: slipping on the persona of some character I created and speaking through them. But over the years of writing and drawing Blink, Sam and Hank, as I've gotten to know them through the dozen or so stories I've managed to complete and publish, through the hundreds of sketches and notes and... conversations I've had with them in my many many sketchbooks, I've come to accept that they have voices of their own and they speak through me. They have their own truths which they hold dear to themselves. And now with Kevin, Joshua and Amy, and a whole slew of new characters that will appear in the Blink graphic novels to come, there are more voices that will be heard. More opinions to be expressed. More truths to be revealed. More honesty to be shared. More sparks to be given life. In the pages of a comic book.
Evolution of a cover
Top & middle designs by Max Ink Bottom designs by Joel Chastai n