2013
2013
Episode 162 – The Ben Towle Interview
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On this episode of Comics Coast To Coast we talk to Ben Towle about his tales of Oyster War

 

Oyster War By Ben Towle
https://www.oysterwar.com

About Artist:
https://www.benzilla.com/?page_id=132
Ben Towle is an Eisner-nominated cartoonist whose most recent book Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean (with Sarah Stewart Taylor), a graphic novel for young adults, was released by Disney/Hyperion Books in 2010. The book has received accolades from such publications as The New York Times and Publishers Weekly and was a Junior Library Guild selection. His previous work includes the historical fiction graphic novel Midnight Sun as well as an earlier volume of comics folk tales, Farewell, Georgia, both from SLG Publishing. He’s currently working on the webcomic, Oyster War.
Note from Joce: There is a whole lot more info on the About Me page, I just didn’t want to copy it all in here 🙂

 

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Show Notes:

 

Can you give us (and listeners) the basics on Oyster War. Joel

Your other works fall in historical function. I take it Oyster War is the same? (Forgive me, my American history is crap.) Joel

So I have to ask, why oysters? Joel
Follow up: Did you have to do a lot of research before/while writing Oyster War?

Who are your current cartooning influences? (Long list? Your top three or four.) Joel

You use a wide range of colors on Oyster War, not all of them obvious choices, how do you select your color pallet? Joel
Follow up: (comment) Great use of color for highlight/communication on Page 43.

How do you come up with your characters names? Historical influence as well? Joel

John Clark Monk sounds like an… Interesting fellow. Based on a real story/legend or all you? Joel

tools of the trade: how do you draw the comic? Joel

In a conversation we had on Twitter about web design you mentioned a coming end for Oyster War… What can you tell us about that? Always the plan? Looking forward to new projects? Joel
Follow up: Once you wrap things up, any thoughts on revamping the website for new readers vs. current/on-going readers?

Tease his new projects… Joel

You have only one supernatural creature in your cast, a selkie? Is she going to be the only piece of mythology, or is there more in the works? Matt

I love the Captains tendency to mangle well known sayings. How did you come up with that character quirk? Matt

You’ve put out a few books already. Which one was your favorite to work on and why? Matt

There’s a lovely retro vibe to the comic. It reminds me of some of the early newspaper strips. Was that what you were shooting for? Why? Matt

The comic is so rich visually that it must take a long time to do each page. Have you had to crop anything out of the story in order to keep things moving? Matt

I saw on your “about me” page that you’ve done some teaching. What classes did you teach? Matt

Follow the guys on Twitter: BrianJoelMatt and Denver

Special thanks: Scott Johnson (https://myextralife.com), Sebastiaan (The Mashup Man) for our Mashups, Nicole Spagnuolo (https://nicolespag.com) and everyone behind the scenes

 

Official Note Taker:
Jocelyn Moffett

Categories: The Show

10 Comments

I’m Interviewed on Comics Coast To Coast » Ben Towle: Cartoonist, Educator, Hobo · April 15, 2013 at 2:43 pm

[…] Last week I was interviewed on the Comics Coast to Coast podcast.  I discuss Oyster War, fantasy and historical fiction, coloring, my (possible) next project and more. Listen here. […]

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