Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (00:11):
Welcome to the Wednesday Oz Comic Show. I’m here with Shaden as our hello on this fortnight, this second week, and we are talking to Chris Wood today about two of his books, which I’ve forgotten the name of the long one, Frankie

Sheydin Dew (00:33):
Murder movie Marathon, and

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (00:35):
That’s the one. Let’s get on with the show and talk to Chris.

Sheydin Dew (01:04):
Good day guys, and welcome to the Oz Comic Show. We’re here tonight with Shane and the lovely Chris Wood. Thank you so much for being on the show, Chris, it is super exciting to have a talk to you about not only one comic that you’ve got in the works, but two as well. So yeah, I’d like to just say thank you so much for being on the show.

Christopher Wood (01:30):
Sorry, my internet.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (01:31):
Oh, there you’re little.

Christopher Wood (01:33):
Sorry about that. As soon as I was going to come on, I knew there was going to be some stuttering.

Sheydin Dew (01:40):
No, thank you so much for being on the show. Let’s jump into it, shall we, just to get the ball rolling, we would love to hear a little bit about yourself and your creative journey. Let’s dive in deep. Let’s get to know the grits.

Christopher Wood (01:56):
Yeah, let’s get to know the Chris. So when I was a kid, I just loved comics. It was something that me and my dad really shared because he grew up reading all the sixties comics, all that Marvel stuff, and he used to collect all that stuff. So I kind of grew up on that as well. And then I kind of moved away from it. I was really into art as a kid and then I kind of moved into the sports realm and I went through my teenage years. I didn’t really go back to art and then I one day decided to drop out of my degree, which was completely unrelated to art and kind of dedicate my time to trying to be an artist of some sort, hopefully also making a living out of it. And then I basically just practiced a lot and got very lucky at certain opportune moments and I’ve been able to do some comics and some cartoons and yeah, it’s been a lot of fun.

Sheydin Dew (02:59):
Fantastic. So tonight we really want to shine our big shiny spotlights on not only Frankie’s murder movie marathon that you collaborated on, but also this project that you’ve got in the pipeline called the Coffee Table. We were just wondering, for all of you was at home, can you give us a little bit of a synopsis on both of them?

Christopher Wood (03:24):
Yeah, sure. So with the Frankie’s book, which was about Harvey book, and that was sort of like a grindhouse horror book, sort of like an anthology. And it contained two stories kind unrelated, and it was really tapping into that sort of grindhouse movie sort of feel to it. And it was all framed by this drive in cinema framing device. And the first story was about sort of an acid trip gone wrong where there may or may not be aliens involved, plot twist, there is aliens involved. And the second story was a sort of like a serial killer, maybe supernatural story. And that was done, geez, probably about 2022 I would say, which is last year might’ve been 2021, I can’t actually remember, but it was around that period.

Sheydin Dew (04:34):
Amazing

Christopher Wood (04:35):
With Coffee Table. So Coffee Table is the book I’m working on at the moment with Kieran Alexander. So Kieran had seen my staff and he was working at the comic book shop in Perth Quality comics, and he gave me a script and I read it. And the premise is basically that it follows these two slackers who realize that if they put a certain type of coffee onto their coffee table that a $100 note appears and it’s about all the shenanigans that they get into. And it’s a very much modeled around image comics and that sort of independent sort of weird story. And that’s ongoing at the moment. Yeah, so that’s a lot of fun. It’s very funny, I think.

Sheydin Dew (05:28):
Yes, and it was a lot of fun to read, although obviously Coffee Table is still in a work in progress, but just even as a standalone piece, none of the writing was there, but just to be able to see the pictures and still be able to follow the story I think is a real strength to you. I think you’ve done really, really well there. So I’m really excited to see what the finished project is. Fantastic. And especially the Frankie’s Ax Matter movie marathon, that was phenomenal and I really enjoyed not only the storytelling but your artwork and it was fantastic. I cannot if anybody has got a copy of that, unfortunately, I know that they’re no longer in print. If you do have a copy of that, you guys are the winners here because that’s just phenomenal kind of changing gear. Now, I know that Coffee table is a project that you are working on now, but I am wondering whether or not there are any other projects you might have lined up in the future at all, maybe

Christopher Wood (06:33):
In the future? Well, I’m kind of secretly writing something or attempting to, but it’s very much on the back burner now. A lot of my focus is on my career as an illustrator, so I do cartoons and freelance work, so that comes first trying to pay bills and then Coffee table, which is something me and Kieran are doing, just have our own stead with the no funds injected other than our own. But in my free time, I’m also writing something which could be good, but I don’t have any information on that at the moment. But maybe later this year, once I’ve got a lot of things done, I think I can talk about it. But yeah, juice. Yeah,

Sheydin Dew (07:26):
Very interesting. So mainly Coffee Table is what you are really kind of churning away at. Well that’s fantastic. That’s awesome. Good to hear that you are really busy. We talked a little bit about how you used to read comics with your dad, I believe, back in the sixties comics, is that right? Were there any other major inspirations or artists that you were inspired by?

Christopher Wood (07:49):
Yeah, when I came back to comics around, I dunno, last decade, mid decade, around 20 16, 20 17, kind of really liked, there’s a whole generation of artists now at Marvel in DC who have grown up using digital. It’s kind of like that first generation where it’s like they’ve grown up on anime influencers and mangi influencers, and they’ve only done digital. So there’s a guy called Pepe Raz, who’s I think Spanish. He is at Marvel at the moment. He’s really good, really good. But there’s so many, I love the Jack Kirby stuff and I really wanted to bring in that sort of feel as well to the acid trip scene in Frankie’s. But yeah, I don’t know, there’s so many artists out there and I feel like one thing I like to do, I think of it getting vitamins in. So I will in the morning, just go through my Pinterest or whatever and just see all these good art and I’ll be like, yes. Yeah, I feel good about it.

Sheydin Dew (09:05):
I can definitely relate to you on scrolling through Pinterest, definitely during my spare time. That’s it. Yeah, definitely gets the creative juices flowing, so yeah. Fantastic. Awesome. Well, I do want to, I understand that you collaborated with Frankie’s and the coffee table. Can you tell us a little bit of why or how you jumped on board with those projects at all?

Christopher Wood (09:34):
So I’ll just start in chronological order. So with Bad Harvey, I had been sort of developing a relationship with Keith who runs Quality comics in Perth. And by developing a relationship, I mean I used to go in there all the time and just talk, and I never really told him for years I’d been going there since I was a little kid, but I never really told anyone that worked there that I was an artist myself. I kind of felt like I didn’t want to be like, oh, find me work. But one day I was really desperate and I was like, oh God, I was moving. I just split up with my partner all the time and I was like, oh God, I guess this is it. I got to make something happen. So I went in and I said, Keith, I’m an artist, anything biting.

(10:30)
And he’s like, oh yeah, an hour ago Chris Badnock came in from Bad Harvey and he is looking for artists. I’ll just give you his email. And I was like, okay. And then the next day I was at a bar with him and I was kind of talking about their venture, which was Australian Horror Comics. And at that point they’d already had a book out. And then midway through the interview slash meetup there was a lockdown. So I had to go to the hospital and get tested. I lived in the area, but thankfully they got me some work and I did a bit of work with them on some projects. And Frankie’s too in particular was kind of the culmination of slowly getting more work with them and more responsibility. And I really wanted to do a book with just my own art within their branding. And eventually I saw the script for Frankie’s two, the Acts murder movie marathon, I think I’ve got that right. And it was really good and it was really fun and I was like, it’s Australian, and I thought it was really good. And so I got to work on that and that was really good to get that onto my belt.

(11:50)
Yeah, so that was that one. And then funnily enough, he worked at Quality. So I went in one day and at that point I had a book on the shelf that I’d done the art for and he was like, Hey, I’m a writer, I can send you a script. And writers always want to do that. I’ve read one or two scripts and I’m like, yeah, cool. But I read this one on the way home, or he sent it to me and I was like instantly taken by the entire story, the characters and just everything about it. Everything about that image comics feel that I really liked. And it was hilarious in a way. I dunno, not niche, but it’s very, I think once you read it you’ll really understand. So yeah, me and Kieran started working on it, character Designs, we developed the story a lot more, which was essentially him doing work on his end.

(13:05)
I was very happy for him to really take the reins on his story, but we really developed it in a direction I think is very, it could be quite successful in terms of just from the reader perspective and from our, it’s something we’re really proud of and we’ve been working on that for a while. And yeah, I’ve inked the first two issues, it’s four issues and the characters are so fun, they’re just really fun to draw. So that’s been a real joy and the descrip is really good, so I can’t wait to get to the point where we can show it off a lot more.

Sheydin Dew (13:51):
Absolutely. And it was just such a joy to read as well, and I think you definitely illustrated the fun. The fun definitely comes across from those characters. It just sounds like it was just kind of a match made in heaven with you and Kieran. So I’m super excited to see the fruition of a coffee table for sure. Speaking of things that are in the pipeline at the moment, I know you did speak about a mystery project, but are there any more broader comic related goals that you have for yourself possibly in the very near future or later future? Are there any things that you really want to hit milestone wise?

Christopher Wood (14:34):
Yeah, there are. So I would love to work with an international publisher. It’s always been my dream ever since I was a kid to work on a Marvel comic. So I’ve kind of always developed my style with sort of that in mind. So I would love to get to that point at some point in my future. But also, and one of the reasons why I’m so supportive of Comex, because you guys are just awesome, but also because you guys are kind of building that community aspect. And I would love for Australian comics to be very self-sustainable. So I think I’ll always want to produce comics, Australian comics and contribute to that growing community vibe. So yeah, I think those are probably my goals

Sheydin Dew (15:42):
Definitely. I think that was very well answered for sure. Here’s an ad-lib question. If you could work on any Marvel comic, if you were granted your dream, what would it be?

Christopher Wood (15:56):
Pretty easy. I’d probably say Daredevil reading Edible Comic. I mean just based on his run, the dude has had so many amazing runs, he’s got more incredible runs than average runs. So chances of me working with more great writers I think is high. If I get on Dead Devil I think. But I’d love to start or work on a character that’s not popular and try and build that character up. Yeah, definitely. I dunno, I think there’s a lot of, there’s good artists in Australia and I think we’ve got a lot of value. We can provide a lot of value for that sort of market. I’d like to sort of, yeah, dead Devil is the answer. Sorry.

Sheydin Dew (16:55):
Definitely no. Awesome. Would you say that he’s your favorite character then?

Christopher Wood (16:59):
Yeah, I’d probably say so.

Sheydin Dew (17:02):
Why did,

Christopher Wood (17:04):
It’s just the contradictions in the character are so interesting. He’s a lawyer but he’s a vigilante breaking the law and he beats people up, but he’s Catholic and he’s blind and his stories are so good. They have that noir aspect as well, which I just am into. My mom used to watch those movies all the time. So that genre is like I really I’m attracted to. But yeah, it’s cool. It’s basic. It doesn’t have a lot of webbing on it Red,

Sheydin Dew (17:38):
Right? Yes. Fantastic. Awesome. Well that concludes the first quarter of our show, so if anybody has got any questions, please fire them our way so Chris can answer ’em. But moving right along, I really want to get into some really fun and fast fire rapid questions. So these are really comic related to both. Let’s direct them to both Coffee Table and Frankie’s as well, just for a little bit more widths I guess. So if you could inherit any trait from any of your characters, what would it be and why?

Christopher Wood (18:15):
For any of the characters from those books,

Sheydin Dew (18:18):
Any of those characters of those two books, what would it be?

Christopher Wood (18:25):
Probably, I would say Hannah, one of the main characters from Coffee Table. Probably just her sort of self-belief in that what she’s doing is, and even though she might sort of wrestle with that, she follows through on what she thinks is, and I think that’s pretty admirable. So I’d probably go with that one because the other ones all actors die in, so I’d probably, but yeah, no, definitely Hannah for Coffee Table.

Sheydin Dew (19:03):
Interesting, interesting. Alright, so which of the characters is most like yourself would you say, out of Frankie’s and Coffee Table?

Christopher Wood (19:17):
Maybe Wallace, which is, who’s the other character from Coffee Table? Just, yeah, a little bit full of himself and he just likes to have fun and spend a lot of money. No, that’s not really me. I don’t have a lot of money, but I don’t know, he just takes life not so seriously.

Sheydin Dew (19:38):
Fantastic. Well definitely this makes me want to see the finished product of Coffee Table even more, that’s for sure. So which one of your characters would you most likely become friends with?

Christopher Wood (19:55):
That’s a tough one. Probably Hannah. I would say just very steady and very good friend. I imagine the friendship between Harry Wallace is very strong, so I think I would say Hannah.

Sheydin Dew (20:09):
Interesting. Okay. All right, interesting. So which of the characters did you enjoy drawing the most and why? Out of Frankie’s and Coffee Table, if there is one you can choose.

Christopher Wood (20:22):
There absolutely is one, and it’s definitely Wallace. He is kind of, I wouldn’t say comic relief, but he provides a lot of the situations of comedy and he’s just hilarious. He’ll sort of switch on a dime and will just go very over the top on things. So that was getting his mannerisms down was where I could really flex the expressions and stuff. So yeah, he’s, police say Wallace,

Sheydin Dew (20:51):
I think that’s very evident, especially when reading through the illustrations. His expressions were extremely profound, I guess you could say really, really expressive. So yeah, definitely came across. So that’s for sure. Which of the characters took the longest to draw?

Christopher Wood (21:11):
Took the longest to draw

Sheydin Dew (21:13):
Or to design?

Christopher Wood (21:16):
Probably the nobody man from the Frankie’s two because we started concept art for that way back and we knew it was a big reveal to see his face, but I never really understood the realm of what they were drawing from those sort of horror stuff. So it took me a little while to get to that point where I’m like, yeah, this is the character.

Sheydin Dew (21:43):
Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, and I mean when that face reveal came at the end, it was even evident in the, what was it called? The Acid House massacre. The way you draw gory scenes is phenomenal, genuinely frightening at times, which I think is definitely a huge pat on the back for you. It’s not always an easy feat to make things so gruesome and terrifying. What kind of inspiration did you pull from, if you don’t mind me asking to get those designs down?

Christopher Wood (22:22):
Well, I mean they bad Harvey. So in the Bad Harvey relationship, I was really working with Chris Badnock, who was kind of my editor and I would liaise with him and they had a very strong idea of what they wanted and it was just about where getting that art to the level that the story required. So he would send me all kinds of weird stuff and really deformed characters specifically for nobody, for Nowhere, man or Nobody, man, that’s the one. But we didn’t nail it at the beginning, so I did the concept art for that and then they were like, this is not quite there. And I was like, well, we got to go because we got deadlines. So I kind of designed it on the page on the day that we needed to submit it where I was like, okay, I just got to go. So it took a long time, but the finished drawing took three hours and I handed it in and they were like, it’s still not there. And so I redid it and thankfully we nailed it, but it was really down to the wire, which is a lot of fun, but it’s stressful. But that’s comics. I kind of had to just hit it out of the park when I needed to, which I feel like I did. I’m proud of that sort of big reveal.

Sheydin Dew (23:48):
Definitely, definitely. No, I think you definitely hit it out the park. Yeah, that sounds like a really stressful time for you, but I think you definitely did it justice as a reader. Yeah, it was really phenomenal to read and to look at. It was really interesting. Fantastic. So I also want to ask, are there any characters that you were kind of inspired from? Are inspired from real life? Did you pull any traits or any characteristics from people that you surround yourself with?

Christopher Wood (24:21):
Yeah, in Frankie’s two, not so much because of the settings were very the first three set in the sixties, but looking at Coffee Table, which is more contemporary story, Wallace is kind of a little bit based on my brother, my younger brother, his appearance and that. And I grew up with my brother. I’ve known him as long as he’s existed. So a drawing from that was a lot of fun. I dunno if I told him that I think I’ve put something up and he is like, did you base this on me? And I was like, yeah, so I should as well for providing all that for me. But yeah, yeah, that was probably the major one I can think of for sure.

Sheydin Dew (25:11):
Absolutely. Yeah. Fantastic. It sounds like you had a good source of reference right there for you, especially in your memory maybe growing up with your brother. I think that’s definitely super valuable to have. I know for myself, I definitely draw upon people around me for inspiration with the design. So yeah, it’s definitely a valuable thing to have if you can definitely draw upon it. Awesome. Well that concludes our really rapid fire questions. No, you did fantastic. We want to move into how questions, so I feel like this is a real bread and butter for an artist like itself and something that I’m super keen about delving into. But again, if any of the viewers have any questions, please fire ’em through. But without further ado, can you walk us through maybe the process, let’s delve into more of the coffee table. I know that you are still in the process of creating it, but can you tell us the process of how you are going through it, maybe from storyboarding to actually putting the illustrations on paper? How do you do it?

Christopher Wood (26:22):
Yeah, I think the Trial by Fire really was from the Bad Harvey days, and I think with Coffee Table there’s a lot more freedom sort of our project, so I was able to take it at my own pace, but I think getting each stage sort of finished and presentable so we can take notes. So I did character designs and we would meet up and discuss that this is all in a Google Drive folder and then outs where I would put up and explain things and then Kieran would comment and we have a really fun interactions I think doing the layouts and then moving to pencils and then making sure at the pencil stage that everything is just set, which is not always the case. Sometimes in the inks I’m like, oh, I’ve got to tweak some things. But yeah, I think stage to stage I try to get things sort of like this stage is done and then we move on to the next one.

Sheydin Dew (27:40):
Absolutely. How would you say that that process compared to Frankie’s say?

Christopher Wood (27:48):
Well, I think that it’s rooted in Frankie’s was very much that sort of, there is that editor position, I wouldn’t say higher, but they’re looking for something in particular and they have to liaise with the writer. It was a bit of a different structural situation, but yeah, I think it came from that you have to have to okay everything, but a big part of it is the script and how good the script is. And the coffee table script was a joy to read and it was made to be turned into a comic, so it was very easy for me to get to that point where I was reading it and I was already seeing panels and pages. So I think that’s a very good sign and I was a bit really excited. Yeah, I hope that answers the question.

Sheydin Dew (28:40):
No, definitely. Yeah, fantastic. That’s really awesome to see and especially be able to talk to an artist that has created two different projects and collaborated on both of them as well. It’s really interesting to see that perspective, but what would you say was the biggest challenge or is the biggest challenge currently working on these projects or what was the biggest challenge in the process?

Christopher Wood (29:04):
Yeah, so I think with the bad Harvey projects so bad, Harvey, I was a fill in ink of one of the books and I also secretly read through some stuff with, I was allowed to, but I couldn’t help myself. And then I did the layouts and the pencils for the straight series. I think the biggest challenge was time. So I was really had to draw quickly and just trying to trust what I’m doing. I think at one point I was doing three pages a day of pencils every day, which was difficult, but once you overcome that, I think once I overcame that I felt really good. So definitely time deadlines, very strict. Deadlines is probably the biggest challenge, but I also kind of like deadlines being really spent and giving it everything falling at the finish line I like. So time is definitely the biggest challenge for the bad Harvey and Frankie’s in particular as well with Coffee Table, I think it’s just maybe not the process, but just having a clear picture of what we wanted and trying to get it to that point as high quality. We really wanted to put out a book, we really want to put out a book that could be on an image shelf that was a touchstone for us. And I think in general, I just want the art to be the best thing in a comic store. I think that’s a good mindset that I’ve used. So I think just trying to meet those expectations I suppose is probably the biggest challenge. But other than that, it’s been an absolute joy to work on that project.

Sheydin Dew (31:05):
Absolutely, and I think you’re definitely meeting that quality. Definitely for myself, it was just a real, just being blown away by the quality of your artwork within the stories. I think time and quality is always a big challenge for us artists, that’s for sure. So it’s nice to know that we’re not alone, we’re all in the same boat kind of thing. That’s really fantastic.

Christopher Wood (31:31):
Oh, sorry,

Sheydin Dew (31:32):
We’ve got a question.

Christopher Wood (31:34):
Got a question from Dave

Sheydin Dew (31:38):
Chris, the page you did in Sizzling Doug incorporated them both in amazing angles. What reference aids did you utilize for that, if any?

Christopher Wood (31:47):
Yeah, so I actually did a page in the comics book, which came out recently, which was a lot of fun. What aids did I use? I don’t think I used any aids in terms of references. I think I naturally just really gravitate towards, well, I like that in the comics that I consume in terms of the angles and stuff. So I think, and it’s difficult because I want to do those sort of crazy angles, but it’s hard work. But yeah, I don’t know, but I use references more like image references and I’ve started to use those probably in the second half of my, probably in the last two years I’ve really started to use that sort of stuff. And then with the program, I use Clip Studio, that’s really super useful. There’s some cool stuff you can do with the perspective, but really it’s just trial and error, banging my head up against the wall sometimes with perspective. But yeah,

Sheydin Dew (33:01):
Absolutely no, fantastic question from Dave. Thank you again for sending them in. If anybody does have any other questions, please send them through. But yeah, like I said, it was really interesting hear about those challenges from both perspectives that you’ve done. On the flip side, what was the most rewarding thing? Maybe we’ll touch more on Frankie’s now that it’s being published, sadly no longer print, but what were the biggest takeaways from that? What was most rewarding for you?

Christopher Wood (33:36):
I think when I went into quality comics and it was on the shelf in the Australian section and I was like, oh. I was like, okay, that’s something that I’ve done should, I’d been trying for a very long time and just to have that opportunity and see it on the shelf and I took a photo and then every time I went into the comic book shop I went over and looked at it, but also it was in stores around the country and it was like cool. I think I had a message a couple of weeks ago, it was like, Hey, the cover is my phone wallpaper. And I was like, oh wow, okay. So that was really cool. That interaction was very trippy, so thank you for the person that sent me that message. That was really nice that, but that’s probably the most rewarding, rewarding, I think seeing my stuff on the shelf and just hearing people enjoy it I think as well feels great.

Sheydin Dew (34:40):
Definitely. Definitely. I can’t agree with you more. That’s definitely a really big moment when you see it on the shelf, but I think it’s definitely when you’ve made it, if someone sends you a picture of the wallpaper and it’s your artwork to check that off your list, you’re like, I made it. Yeah,

Christopher Wood (34:56):
I was on the video card, so I’m almost always

Sheydin Dew (35:00):
No, that’s fantastic then. No, good on you. Kudos to you. Obviously coffee tables still in the works, but how long did it take for you to create the Ax murder movie marathon? How long was that process?

Christopher Wood (35:18):
Probably just over a month. Six weeks.

Sheydin Dew (35:22):
Whoa. Holy mo. That’s a pretty quick turnaround.

Christopher Wood (35:28):
Yeah, I can’t remember the exact length of it, but yeah, that was about the length of a lot of the work and it was a lot of work, but I wasn’t doing anything other than doing what I really wanted to do, which is comics and it made me happy. So it propelled me through to that and I was just like, but I mean I think comics is that, I think it in a very extreme deadline. I think it was definitely for me at the time, but it was really good experience and also I think it still looks great, I think. Yeah,

Sheydin Dew (36:14):
Definitely.

Christopher Wood (36:14):
Definitely. That took me six weeks. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah.

Sheydin Dew (36:18):
Would you probably, moving forward, do you prefer working at that pace?

Christopher Wood (36:27):
Maybe not that pace?

Sheydin Dew (36:28):
No.

Christopher Wood (36:31):
For doing two pages a day every day. I don’t think personally that that’s, I think that’s when issues appear with if you setup isn’t correct, you’re going to injure yourself and being able to overcome those issues as well. I think that sort of ergonomic side of art, art is really hard on your body. Yeah, I don’t think, but I do like deadlines, I love deadlines, but having that finish line on goal is really important to me, I think actually when I’m doing a lot of work. Yeah,

Sheydin Dew (37:13):
I can definitely agree with you that I think having deadlines is something a really good goal to work towards, to really keep yourself accountable if you are able to answer. How long have you been working on Coffee Table for now, if you don’t mind me asking?

Christopher Wood (37:30):
Well, in terms of when we got into contact for the first, I think little while it was just developing the story and I was just kind of doodling character concepts and that was around 2021, so it’s something we’ve been really putting a lot of effort and time into and at that point I was still doing the bad hobby stuff, so trying to juggle that. But last year I got a good chunk of everything’s laid out, all four issues are laid up and the first half of it is inked. So I feel really good about that, but it’s been really good and we’re happy to spend some time talking about things. There’s some interesting things around double page spreads and cool little montages, which definitely I think pay off when you sort of take the time to do those sort of things. So yeah,

Sheydin Dew (38:39):
Definitely. It sounds like it was definitely, you kind tipped it on its head from going from a month or six weeks-ish to that length of time to really put in the effort and put in the quality. Yeah, you seem like such a versatile artist that can really stretch yourself. Yeah, I think that’s really commendable. Definitely. Yeah, very admirable. In general, what is your favorite part of the process when creating a comic? Is it the storyboarding or is it the coloring? Is it the designing of the characters? What is it that gets you going?

Christopher Wood (39:20):
That’s a tough one. I try to at every stage, latch onto something that I really can enjoy and find some fun in. But I think the layout stage that feels to me like the pure comic stuff where it’s like you’re doing the panels and how the storytelling works I think is a lot of fun and as problem solving to it as well. That’s a lot of fun. I think that’s probably the most fun. But I like penciling as well. Yeah, inking is a little bit more, I think it’s a different brain sometimes where it’s you just kind of, that’s when I can listen to podcasts and stuff. Yeah, I dunno. Layouts probably penciling, I dunno. I like it all.

Sheydin Dew (40:09):
Definitely, definitely. So out of the penciling and layout, say in Frankie’s, which one was the most enjoyable for you? If there was one

Christopher Wood (40:19):
Enjoyable. So probably the pencils. I’d probably say for Frankie’s, I think the layouts were a lot more, not work, but some scripts like a very sparse and the way they’re written and I think other writers have a different way of doing things, so probably the penciling, the layouts was more the problem solving was there, but I think that’s where the value of an artist comes in when it’s like, no, we’re visual brains. So I think that’s probably the opposite. Yeah, I think penciling was a lot of fun though.

Sheydin Dew (41:07):
Definitely. Yeah, very interesting. Kind of shifting gears now, I did spot a few interesting fun facts I guess you could say, or Easter eggs, especially reading Frankie’s, but I want to hear your perspective. Are there any Easter eggs that you particularly like talking about to readers or potential buyers about either Frankie’s or possibly coming up in coffee table at all? Any little fun facts at all

Christopher Wood (41:39):
Or fun facts? I think the Battle Harvey stuff, the Frankie stuff is just innately movies that Touchstones and John Carpenter stuff and serial killer pulpy movies as well. I don’t know necessarily. Oh, thank you. Don’t necessarily, I can, can’t think of any at the moment, but, and in terms of coffee table, Easter eggs? Not necessarily, but I think it feels like it has its own touchstones in a way. But in terms of specific for Easter eggs, not off the top of my head.

Sheydin Dew (42:29):
I know for a fact one of my favorite, I dunno how to word it, fun fact or Easter egg, I can’t really put my finger on it, but reading Frankie’s the one huge thing that got me like, wow, that’s actually really cool. It’s actually more on the rider’s side and that was in the first story, the Acid House massacre. The way the dialogue is written for the monsters, I won’t uncover anything or spoil it, but the way that the dialogue is written is so well done because it’s done in a way that has two different perspectives. You might think, okay, at first you have no idea what language they’re speaking, but when upon further examination I realized it’s actually flipped so it you can actually read what they’re saying in English, it’s just reversed, which I thought was such a clever thing. That was definitely one thing that I really enjoyed and especially the fact that Wallace from Coffee Table is kind of inspired by your brother, I think that’s a really cool little egg as well.

(43:42)
So I think, yeah, you’ve definitely got a few things in there. I don’t know, sometimes there’s these little things when you’re drawing. I don’t know if it’s me or anybody else watching tonight, but I definitely am drawing and I’m like, I wonder if anybody will pick up on this or anything like that. But I kind of leave it be until maybe I’m talking with someone selling my comics somewhere and then I can bring it up and it’s a nice little conversation starter, but it’s definitely interesting to know that there’s a few layers in there. I’m

Christopher Wood (44:09):
Going to ride so many Easter eggs into this unnamed project I’m

Sheydin Dew (44:17):
Base then that’s for sure. That’s exciting. That’s super exciting right down. Yeah, exactly. So I just want to know whether or not, have you gone to any conventions with any of these comics or do you plan to go to any conventions with Coffee Table?

Christopher Wood (44:36):
Yeah, well I had the opportunity to go to the Sydney Supernova I believe one year, but the day before there was a Covid issue, so I kind of had to make the call not to go. I was living with a roommate and I was like, he works in a grocery, and I was like, manages the store so you can’t get covid. And I’m like, what am I going to do? So unfortunately I had to pull out of that. That would’ve been cool. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Sydney, so seeing the big Smoke would’ve been great. And I was also supposed to be at, so Perth has this really cool grassroots initiative. It’s called the Perth Comic Arts Festival, and that’s run every year and I think being able to table there would be really great, really great community vibe and I volunteered for them two years ago, so I think I would love to rep locally, but I don’t know, I’ve never really been to ’em, so I’ll just go to, I think I’ll go to all of them at one stage or another.

Sheydin Dew (45:52):
Definitely you’ll have to venture over to South Australia as well. We’ve got heaps of little indie comic fairs and whatnot, so definitely awesome to have you on board here as well. Well, fantastic. Is there anywhere else that you’ve sold your comics before? I know that you did mention even though Frankie is out of printing, that you did have it on a shelf somewhere, was that right?

Christopher Wood (46:20):
Yeah, so I believe a lot of the bad hobby books were sold in a lot of places around the country at the time when they were around, so that was probably the big where most of my work was. But at the moment, not really, but I mean I do weekly cartoons for a company and I have for the last three years. So they do articles, they have a lot of journalists, and every week I do a cartoon and at the moment the articles are in the West Australian paper with just the writing, but I don’t know, there’s some smart people talking about smart stuff and I just do little fun little images to try and draw more eyes there. But I think check out my Instagram, which I always have trouble remembering even though it’s just my name, Chris Wood, Chris Wood Inc. I think I’m trying to post more this year. But yeah, we can find my stuff. Oh, I’m going to get a website as well. So I’m do a website probably this week actually.

Sheydin Dew (47:31):
Interesting. Watch this space for sure. Is there anything or any, if you can reveal anything, are there any plans on selling coffee table and if when, where?

Christopher Wood (47:45):
Yeah, so we do want to sell it physically, all four issues at some point, but we’re actually planning on, I think I’m allowed to say this, we’re actually planning on releasing the first half, the first two issues sort of digitally for free because the main thing is that this is just a collaboration between us two, just to get our names out there and sort of give a little. So I think yeah, that’ll probably be the next step. Yeah, I guess we’ll see. We’ll have to hash that out a little bit.

Sheydin Dew (48:23):
Fantastic. It sounds like you’ve got a lot coming up and whatnot. Something definitely to be excited about. Definitely myself, I’m very excited for. I think we’ve kind of reached that point in our show tonight to really round off the show. These are more broader kind of questions, but I really enjoy asking our guests and these are more tailored towards the comic industry. But first I really want to know, in your comic career thus far, which achievement have you been most proud of?

Christopher Wood (48:59):
Definitely just getting that Frankie’s two on the shelf with just my own art from start to finish. Definitely the most success I’ve probably had so far.

Sheydin Dew (49:11):
Absolutely. Yeah, I’m sure it would’ve been, yeah, just having it on the shelf find they

Christopher Wood (49:17):
Hold it as well was crazy.

Sheydin Dew (49:21):
Yeah, just to have something in your hot little hands and be like, this is what I’ve worked towards, that’s for sure. Well, everyone watching tonight, I’m sure we’ve definitely got some creators in the audience. What is your best tip for other emerging creators or illustrators?

Christopher Wood (49:39):
Best tip. I think from my perspective, me as an artist, I think that your main job is just to improve. So I think whatever you’re doing, whether you’re getting paid for it or it’s your own project or whatever, or you’re just doodling, I think just and then doing it improves. So I think make comics and that’s the biggest success I think you can get is just improving. Definitely. Definitely there are some artists out there, so people are definitely improving and doing a lot of good work.

Sheydin Dew (50:13):
Definitely, definitely. There’s always room for improvement for us as creators with anything you do really, that’s for sure. Linking onto that, what has been your biggest lesson that you’ve ever kind of learned in your creative journey?

Christopher Wood (50:28):
Biggest lesson, wear a glove if you’re working digitally so that your hand can move freely so you can bring in your shoulder so you’re not used to using your wrist, you joke, but for a long time I would just sit down on the couch and draw and it’s like you can’t do that 12 hours a day. I think that’s the best thing I’ve learned is just take that stuff set up seriously and yeah, I think maybe little tangential, but yeah, no, seriously it’s getting that space right and you seat at the right height.

Sheydin Dew (51:08):
Yes, yes. Invest in your equipment, people definitely your body will thank you for it in your later years. For sure. I kind of want to delve more into our a comic community. What is your favorite thing about the Australian indie comic community and why?

Christopher Wood (51:35):
My favorite thing is the amount of love for comics and having that connection. I love comics as well, so for a long time I think drawing down draw upside down like that, I think for a long time there’s that feeling of, because very spread out as a country. I think there’s a feeling we start out, there’s no one else doing this in the world. I’m the only one. And I think stepping outside and what you guys are doing is perfect and that networking aspect. So I think favorite thing I love about comic industry in Australia is all the comic artists in Australia working together build something. I do think that we can very strongly.

Sheydin Dew (52:21):
Definitely. Definitely. And I think Shane over here has done a wonderful job creating this community. I mean we’re talking with Chris all the way from Perth, so we’ve got someone in Brisbane, south Australia and in Perth. So if that’s not connection, I don’t really know what is. No, that’s fantastic. What is something that you’d probably want to see more of in the community per se?

Christopher Wood (52:44):
See more of, I don’t know, I guess just more of people who feel like, because I think there is a place for that supportive community and I think put up what you’ve worked on and we’ll all thumbs it up and congratulate you and talk about how awesome it is. So I think just trying to get involved as well and supporting these sort of hubs X and all the festivals, I think like volunteer at your local comic festival. I think that’s that stuff that really makes a difference. Yeah,

Sheydin Dew (53:26):
Definitely. The more the merrier, that’s for sure. I think it was your slogan, Shane. There is, what was it? There was a magnet that you sent me and it has the slogan of Cox, what is that? Oh,

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (53:42):
Community in Unity.

Sheydin Dew (53:44):
Yes, that’s it. I think that sums it up absolutely perfectly. I actually have that magnet on my car, so I love that

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (53:53):
On your car. That’s awesome. Yeah,

Sheydin Dew (53:56):
No, I think that’s fantastic and I think you’ve definitely summed it up perfectly. Chris, that is all of my questions for tonight, but just to wrap up again, where can people find your work? Obviously there is a website in the works, but where else can we find you?

Christopher Wood (54:14):
Yeah, so I mainly use Instagram. I love Instagram. My it’s at Chris Wood Inc. That’s mainly where I post, and you can message me and I’ll follow you or whoever and see your stuff. And I don’t know, I think that’s probably a nice place, but there is going to be a website coming. It is coming this week.

Sheydin Dew (54:38):
Fantastic. Definitely keep your eyes peeled. I definitely highly recommend following Chris. His work on his Instagram is definitely really good quality and I think is that where probably you can find most of the updates for upcoming projects and whatnot, is

Christopher Wood (54:55):
That correct? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I mean the coffee table stuff will ramp up more and yeah, that’s probably definitely the best place.

Sheydin Dew (55:04):
Definitely. So make sure to go over and follow Chris. Chris Wood Inc. I believe is the app. But without further ado, Shane, what else have we got on for the rest of the week? The schedule of the Comex, what’s going on?

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (55:23):
Well, the rest of the week all we’ve got is we have Friday night drink and draw with Janine from Heroes HQ is coming in to be our special guest, so that’s pretty cool. Something different, a comic shop owner and the character is now I’ve only ever read it, so I dunno how it’s actually said. Oh, there it is.

Christopher Wood (55:50):
This is Kieran, the writer.

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (55:51):
Yeah, Kieran. Yeah, ki

Christopher Wood (55:53):
Alexander comics.

Sheydin Dew (55:56):
Fantastic.

Christopher Wood (55:57):
Do that because he’s awesome.

Sheydin Dew (55:59):
Absolutely

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:00):
Doing Mira Mira.

Sheydin Dew (56:02):
Yeah,

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:03):
Yeah, Aquaman’s wife. There you go. That’s easier. Oh, there

Sheydin Dew (56:07):
You go. Have we also got the spotlight coming up as well?

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:11):
Is that We do have the spotlight and I can’t remember who’s on that one, but there Spotlight on Sunday.

Sheydin Dew (56:18):
It’s definitely a worth your waiting to watch that one. Fun

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:23):
Work with Peter.

Sheydin Dew (56:24):
Yeah, yeah, to see or know the ins and outs of how to do comics and whatnot. We usually have a guest on that show, correct?

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (56:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Sheydin Dew (56:37):
Yeah. Fantastic. So yeah, so keep your eyes peeled on updates of comics for those shows. Otherwise, Chris, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. Thank you so much for being on. Thanks again to Shane for his amazing work, his tireless efforts. But otherwise everyone, we’ll be seeing you guys in the next couple of shows on Friday and on the weekend as well. So we look forward to seeing you guys then. Otherwise. Thanks so much guys. We’ll

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (57:06):
See you later. Me. Well, just before we go remember to the video and subscribe to the channel, that’d be awesome. Thank you very much.

Sheydin Dew (57:18):
Can’t forget that, that’s for sure. Thanks, Shane. Thanks everyone very

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (57:23):
Much. Thanks Chris. Thanks everyone who watched. See you. Goodnight.

Sheydin Dew (57:27):
Bye

Shane ‘Sizzle’ Syddall (57:28):
Bye.

Voice Over (57:28):
Check out comex.cx for all things Comex and find out what Comex is all about. We hope you enjoyed the show.