Knighthood

Justin Melkmann

Many of our contributing artist's tend to work in a variety of mediums often not limited to illustration.

Justin Melkmann is one of them, creating his webcomic Earaches & Eyesores while touring with the band World War IX and making some awesome noise. His comic details much of his travels with the band, their gigs; their parties, as well as his much more personal decision to quit drinking. 

In this "knights" spotlight we get to discover a little more about what makes ol' Justin tick, the inspiration for his book as well as the fuel for his musical passion.

With a diverse range of creative options what made you decide to start a comic book?

Well, I wanted something that is both heart-warming, as well as knee slapping to read, so I figured I’d have to do it myself! All not kidding aside, I wanted to catalogue/bind together the oodles of material that I’d drawn for the mighty NYC barroom monthly art and music paper, The New York Waste. Roughly every two years I’d have enough Waste material for a new book. Oh wait, are you asking why did I print them in book form, and not just post on the web? I like having an old school genuine comic book to have and to hold. Plus, if it falls in the toilet, I’m only out $3 and not $5000. iPads cost about $5000 right?

Your book currently has 4 full issues, however two are no longer in print. Why did you stop printing the first two issues?

Actually there’s 5 issues of Earaches & Eyesores, and one other book that chronicles my devotion to one of punk rock’s most polarizing figures, GG Allin. That’s my best seller. That one’s called Slap In The Face: My Obsession With GG Allin. As far as why I don’t reprint the first two issues of my Earaches & Eyesores series…I’m embarrassed of the artwork. The stories and the writing hold up just fine, but the drawings? Oy vey. Not good. I’d been drawing/doodling all of my life, but I didn’t develop any kind of discipline or style until I started with The New York Waste.

What do your bandmates think about the comic as it often features them? Do they have any input to the book?

They love it! In fact, it’s odd, they all seem to like the ones that feature themselves the most!!! “You know which one is the best? The one with ME doing that hilarious THING, that’s your best work man.” And yes, they absolutely have input. Our drummer Jon is always noting which gut wrenching scenarios would make for a funny comic. Our bass player Brian recently told me how disappointed his 15 year old self would be if he could see him now. He wasn’t pitching it as a comic, but man, I’d love to do it as one.

With all the crazy stories in the book are there any you didn't include?

Sure! I got a million of ‘em! I love being in a band, so when even something that may seem boring or stupid happens, it seems larger than life to me and comic worthy. Walking to practice could be a freaking comic. But you asked for a crazy story. I don’t know about crazy, but there’s plenty of absurd Spinal Tap-like stories. There was the time my wacky idea to have a bubble machine completely backfired on me. I wanted to spruce up our live set with a bubble machine, but when I switched the cheap assed Halloween store machine, a wall of soapy suds just poured out in a narrow stream all over my head. I wanted the room to fill up with bubbles like it was New Years eve, but instead I was merely covered in sticky dish washing soap. Just recently we got to play with The Murder Junkies, which had been a dream of mine for about 15 years, and during our set the sound system crapped out. That fucked me up mentally for days. There it was, my big chance at playing with some of my heroes, and we blew it. Talk about embarrassing.

How does music influence your creative outflow?

Music influences my creative flow a ton. I listen to music while I draw, so I can only assume that if I’m listening to Tom Waits, I’ll draw something very different than if I’m listening to say The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack. Sometimes I’ll pick a band to listen so as to create a mood. I can’t very well draw kittens and flowers if I’m listening to Poison Idea. Though, those would be some fucked up flowers and kittens. Plus, most of my ideas come to me while I’m listening to my ipod while I’m walking to work.

Have you created any other comics or have plans for anything new?

Well aside from the GG Allin book I mentioned, I’m doing a comic a week for the most excellent hardtimes.net. That’s that killer punk rock satire site that’s in the style of The Onion. Also, I’m writing and drawing the definitive, no holds barred World War IX bio-comic. My band has been through, and done a lot over the past 12 years, and our story MUST-BE-TOLD! Beside, who the hell else is gonna tell it but me, right? All I read is rock biographies, so I wanted to add to the pile.

World War IX has toured much of the states, made a bunch of music and have had numerous highs and lows: so what's next for the band WWIX?

More of the same I hope. We’re going to do what we’ve always done, make records, play shows, produce music videos, fall on our faces, throw temper tantrums, pat ourselves on the back, make fun of each other’s short comings, lose money, get stuck in traffic, and laugh ourselves silly. We’ve already got a few new tunes being worked on, and there’s a bunch of places around the country that we’re looking forward to playing again.

The artist formally and still known as Justin Melkmann can be found all over the web! Including tumblr; his book "Earaches & Eyesores" can also be read on Gryphonknights. You can find his band World War IX and pick up some merch on their website! 

Tony Wolf

These artist spotlights give people a chance to learn about the people we work with as well as insight on what they create and their inspiration behind it.

With a Metal name like "Wolf" you can only anticipate excellence, and Tony delivers. A jack-of-all trades in the entertainment industry, he is constantly pushing himself to his creative limits. He's hosted a webshow, been a host for glamorous celebrity fundraising affairs, performed as voice-over talent, acted in both theatrical and televised media... but before all this, he was an illustrator and especially his work with hand illustrated text make him a talented creator.

A Greenpoint resident for almost two decades and comics aficionado, Tony was eventually inspired to write and illustrate his own autobio comic, Greenpoint of View. 

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Between performance and Illustration, do you have a creative preference or do you simply like creating?

First and foremost, I'm an actor and voice-over guy, and my goal is to be acting and voice-overing full time.  There's something about the full-body enjoyment and expression of performing - plus the joy of the collaboration that performing always entails - that's very special to me.  Drawing and comics come second on the list, but they are certainly dear to my heart.  And creating in general is always fulfilling and exciting, even when - at times - it's frustrating.  Really, I just want to make things.  I'm a huge fan of movies, music, storytelling, and comics, and to have a chance to contribute anything to those fields is really gratifying.

What books are you currently reading? How do they inspire you?

I read a lot of comics and graphic novels, but I always take care to read some prose and novels (especially biographies or autobio books) once in a while so I don't start to view things through an only-comics lens.  Although lately it's been more comics than anything else. Just read a graphic novel from indie publisher Hic & Hoc Press called Unknown Origins & Untimely Ends: A Collection of Unsolved Mysteries, which is amazing.  I'm really digging Silver Surfer by Dan Slott & Michael Allred, Daredevil by Mark Waid & Chris Samnee, and Alan Moore's Crossed +100 series lately.  Seth Kushner sadly just passed away after a battle with cancer, but he'd written several comics that will be completed by the artists and co-creators involved - The Roman Nose with George Jurard and The Brooklynite with Shamus Beyale.

Greenpoint of View is not your first comic project. Can you tell us about previous comics you've worked on?

I wrote and drew an 8-page short story with writer Alex Hernandez about the open-source character Jenny Everywhere, called 'Say The Word'; otherwise, I've worked as a storyboard artist for several indie films and was always writing and drawing my own comics from elementary school onwards, including the very silly 'Super Pickle' (done in 4th grade) and my Gamera ripoff comic series, 'Beware of the Turtle.'  I did a continuation of the Star Wars saga after return of the Jedi based on a weird dream my friend Jason had called 'Return of the Jedi 5.'  Wrote and drew a superhero comic from 7th grade to first year of college which was my homage to 80s superhero stuff a la John Byrne, Frank Miller and such. And I drew a 5-page flashback sequence for your book 'Frankenstein vs. Dracula' where I got to draw the two iconic monsters battling atop the Hindenburg blimp!! That was actually what really got me back into drawing more frequently, so thank you, Gryphon Knights team!

What inspired Greenpoint of View?

I had a lull in my acting and voice-over work last year, and was itching to create something. Something that wouldn't require me being picked for someone else's team. Friends like filmmaker Mike Turney had prodded me for years to get back to making my own comics, and I had always been a big fan of autobio comics like Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, Dean Haspiel's work, Maus, Persepolis, and the Schmuck series by comics creator Seth Kushner.  Reading Seth's Schmuck series (stories about his dating life in the years before he met his wife) inspired me to make my own autobio series... but what would I write about?  I didn't want to do the same autobio stuff we've seen many times before... I wanted to be a brutal editor on myself and at least attempt a new angle on something.  

I had just read one of Harvey Pekar's final works, Harvey Pekar's Cleveland - and he seamlessly (along with brilliant artist Joseph Remnant) wove his autobio material into the history of the city itself.  It was like half the story was about the city, and half was about Harvey. I recalled that anytime I was at a party and told people I'd lived in Greenpoint for over a decade, they would always go 'Whoooaaaah!!'  Once I realized I had a unique perspective, having lived in Greenpoint for (at that point) 17 years, and was there before people even cared about nearby Williamsburg, I figured it might be fun to try the same sort of Harvey Pekar's Cleveland approach, making the comic as much about the environment / neighborhood as it was about me. (This was also a way to get around my perceived weaknesses as a writer and a possibly boring life.)

When I told my friend Mike the basic concept for the series (I hadn't even brainstormed a name yet), he said immediately "And here's your title: Greenpoint of View."  I said "Done! Sold! That's it."  So he got a special thanks in the book itself. 

What other stories do you want to tell in this series?

Greenpoint of View #4 will be about a surprising encounter I had in the subway, on the G train, back in 1996.  Future stories will involve more history from the neighborhood and the time I had to break into my own apartment. I have about 12 stories total in mind for the series.

Are there any other projects are you currently working on that you wish to share?

Having gotten a pretty good reception from the first 3 Greenpoint stories, I got the idea to do occasional autobio short comics stories that have nothing to do with Greenpoint... to open up my storytelling beyond the neighborhood.  I just started work on the first one, which is about being a teenage comic book fan in the mid-80s. Just did a pin-up for Sean Griffin and MJ Steele's crime comic from Gryphon Knights, Getting Away With Murder. Also did a double-page spread for actor/writer Gianmarco Soresi's upcoming charity children's book.

Any nuggets of advice or encouragement for those trying to break into the entertainment industry?

Honestly, the arts are just very difficult in general. You have to just do your best work possible, hold yourself to very high standards and continually put yourself out there. Networking matters a lot - you can be doing solid work, but if no one outside your friends knows about it, it may just end up in a void. Practice as much as you can, and realize that total strangers (in the comics world, editors or reviewers) will need to be moved or excited by your work. It's that balance between making art for yourself and challenging yourself, but also thinking about what might interest your audience. Persistence is key. We've all heard of writers and artists collecting tons of rejection letters from publishers. Also, as we often hear: "Make the story you'd want to read."

Self-publishing is also essential now - even creators like Brian Bendis started out as small press guys and self-publishers of their work. Connecting with other creators who are passionate about what they do - like the Gryphon Knights comics collective - is really helpful as well. Using your time efficiently matters too, especially since most of us - myself included - have to hold down a regular job too. Charles Soule is a practicing attorney and still writes about 3 hit Marvel Comics a month, plus his Image creator-owned project! That demands serious time management. Those 3 hours of the day in which you might usually just unwind and watch TV could be used to write or draw your own comic! So get to it!  :) 

Self-Portrait of TWolf from GPOV

You can find Tony Wolf on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tonywolfness and at his personal site http://www.tonywolfactor.com/