INTERVIEW WITH Alex Grecian of Proof.

by Isaac Dilbert

When I was younger I always had a fascination with the supernatural and unexplained myths and monsters. Everything from big foot to UFOS always made me wonder. As silly as people thought, hey this world's way to $@#%ing big to not have weird shit all over. Alex Grecian is a writer who refreshingly keeps my hope for monsters, myths and the unexplained alive. Alex Grecian gets into Proof and where the hit series is heading, in this volume of Nerdy Wordy. Oh and PS I devoured the first 3 volumes of Proof recently, and HIGHLY recommend it.

DILBERT:Can you tell us a little about Proof?  

GRECIAN :Proof is about a middle-aged cop, an orphan, who’s spent most of his adult life searching for his family. In this case, the orphan is Bigfoot. John “Proof” Prufrock was discovered by the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805, was raised in secret by Thomas Jefferson, and was eventually put to work by the government in 1969, to track down other oddities in the animal kingdom. But his primary focus has always been to find another sasquatch. I can’t think of anything else quite like Proof on the racks right now. We treat the subject seriously, with an open mind (there absolutely are creatures out there that we haven’t discovered yet, whether you personally believe in Bigfoot or not) and we ground the series in reality, without magical elements or science fiction.

DILBERT: Did you ever expect Proof to be running as long as it has?  

GRECIAN: Yes and no. We pitched Proof as an ongoing 60-issue series. So we had things well-planned-out. But there were some dark times near the beginning of it all, when we were convinced the book would be cancelled because it seemed like nobody really noticed it. Fortunately, since we were an Image book and we weren’t losing money, it was pretty much our choice whether to cancel or not, so we just soldiered on and had faith that a readership would find us. They did.

DILBERT: Where do you see Proof going from here?  

GRECIAN: Hmm, not sure which way to take that… Proof, the series, is going through some big changes as we reach our originally-planned halfway point. The trade sales have been great and we’ve got a terrific core of loyal readers, but we hear over and over on the con circuit that new readers don’t know where to jump on and start reading the regular issues. Proof is really continuity-heavy and we started to feel like we were leaving people in the dust if they weren’t regular readers. So we’re rectifying that by ending “season one” and starting back up with “season two,” renumbering from #1, creating a clear and easy jumping-on point for everybody. Buzz has continued to build on this book and we want folks to be able to see why, without going broke buying hard-to-find back issues. Proof, the character, is going through a change too. He was raised by fearful humans to be somewhat docile, cultured and sophisticated, more prone to talking a problem out than fighting. By the end of #28, the last issue of “season one,” he’ll have a very good reason to be proactive, to get out there and finally find his family. And it’ll be urgent that he do so. He’s not going to run from a fight anymore and he’s not going to take as much time to work things out with you if you’re in his way. His personality won’t change, but he’ll have a much greater motivation as we begin “season two.”

DILBERT: Is there any point that is a great jumping on point for new readers?  

GRECIAN: Proof #1 (the second #1). If you’ve heard about the book and been curious, watch for the new release date announcement in mid-2010.

DILBERT: Is it hard for you to come up with ideas for the comic?

GRECIAN: The hard part is winnowing all the ideas down to the best ones. We’ve got a main character with 200 years of history behind him, a secret government agency and a laundry list of cool creatures. The ideas are endless, but there’s only so much room in a comic.

DILBERT: Do you have any other projects you are working on?

GRECIAN: I have a children’s book called RocketBots coming out in early 2010 and a graphic novel called Squeak! due out a bit after that. Then, during the brief hiatus between “seasons” of Proof, Riley Rossmo (Proof artist) and I are doing a miniseries called The Yard. I’m also working on a couple of miniseries and another ongoing series or two, but it’s too early to talk about those just now.  

DILBERT: Does Proof already have a definite ending or has one not been worked out yet?  

GRECIAN: There’s an overall character arc for the main character that was worked out before we started work on the series. Once we hit the end of that, the series could continue in a vastly different form or it could end gracefully. We’ll decide when we get there whether we have more stories to tell in this series.  

DILBERT: What’s the hardest part about writing in your opinion?  

GRECIAN: Sitting at the computer every day and doing the work. Writing is fun. Typing isn’t. But if the ideas and dialogue don’t get typed, there’s no story.  

DILBERT: Do you have any advice on pitching?

GRECIAN: Do the work first, and then worry about where to place it. With rare exception, everything I’ve had published was completed before I took it out to editors. Sometimes that can backfire on you, but in my case it’s easier to let people know what I have in mind by actually going through with it than by trying to explain it. Pitch-writing works a different set of muscles than story-writing. It’s an art form in itself and many writers either don’t take enough time to practice that end of things or have no affinity for it. I’m only beginning to get better at it. And cultivate relationships with artists. Don’t pay an artist to do a pitch. If you can sell an artist on your idea, if you can make an artist excited enough that he’ll put the time in to draw your story, then you can sell an editor on it too. But then make sure you treat your artists well. Accept their input and share the property. Comics are collaborative.
 
http://www.alexandergrecian.com/index.html
http://www.imagecomics.com