ComicsOnline Exclusive: JR Gervais (Young Cannibals) discusses the world of Webcomics!
by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor
ComicsOnline is pleased to share a brand new feature series on Webcomics! Our first interview is with JR Gervais, who is best known for his Young Cannibals ongoing series. Gervais was kind enough to discuss how he got started in web comics, his industry experience, current projects and more.
Check out our exclusive interview below:
How did you get started in the world of webcomics?
I have been interested in comics for awhile. I’ve been going to Comic-Con for about 25 years, and at first I was trying to become a comic book artist. For the first few years, I would go to the submission lines when the “big guys” were doing it (Marvel and DC). I was going through those lines and they were telling me to practice this or that. As the years went by, I got better and better, and just as I was getting some editors saying “I’m liking what I’m seeing. You still need a little work here. Why don’t you focus on this or that”, I kind of lost interest and became more interested in comic strips. Unfortunately, since newspapers are going the way of the dodo bird, I had to parlay that into webcomics instead. At first it was a serious hobby, but it is slowly starting to become something more.
I was going back through your archives and it is really great to see how your style has evolved over the years. You can see a lot of development and progress.
Yeah, I always thought that was cool. When you look at the first Garfield strips, Garfield is this huge ugly monster. He’s not the character that we are used to, not slick or professional looking. I always enjoyed seeing how artists have developed over the years. Charles Shultz in the 1950s, his comic style had more of an advertisement slick ink style. This was similar to newspaper advertisement style back then, as opposed to the style that we are more used to seeing.
I understand that you had you had the chance to moderate your first San Diego Comic-Con Panel this year at the 2018 event.
The panel was called “Four Panel Frontiers”. It was talking about how newspaper comicstrips are going away… because newspapers are going away. Webcomics have been taking their place for the last 20 years, but I was trying to share the information that I have learned after having done this for about 12 years. Trying to let people who want to start their own web comics know things that they need to know so that they can make the most of it.
CO: So the other web comic that I saw that you do is called Popcorn, focusing on movies and Hollywood. Could you discuss that series?
JRG: I haven’t updated that one in awhile. It was basically about two guys (roommates) who went around and commented on various movies that came out, and pop culture in general. I was doing that three times a week, but because it was current event oriented, it was harder to keep up that schedule. Website: http://popcorn.smackjeeves.com/
I’m also doing a political satire about social media and the Trump Administration as well. It’s called Trumpolini. Website: http://trumpolini.smackjeeves.com.
CO: Aside from the web comics, I was also enjoying your blog. I liked the feature specifically about classic comic book covers.
JRG: I like that one too. That was fun. I try to tell people, advice for young web comic people, your website shouldn’t just be about your web comic. I try to make it entertaining. I have a character page and miscellaneous pages as well.
CO: What other projects are you currently working on?
JRG: Well, a lot of web cartoonists like to print up a book, a compilation of the various things that they’ve done. All my stuff is already online, so I was thinking about doing something that is all brand new. It is probably going to be an E-Book probably for Young Cannibals. I am hoping to have it for later this year. It will be called “Happiness Isn’t”. In addition to that, I want to do another E-Book for Trumpolini called “Space Force All The Way.” Links will be on my website.
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Special thanks to JR Gervais and Derek Maki with Cool Water Productions for arranging this interview.
New installments of Young Cannibals are posted on Mondays and Fridays on http://www.youngcannibals.net/.
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