Rok Comics Creators: Michael Colbert
First Published: 11 March 2008
Los Angeles-based features and comics author Michael (Mike) Colbert is the creator of the critically-acclaimed SF comic Crazy Mary, one of several strips not only appearing on ROK Comcs but also being translated into Chinese for ROK Comics China. He says his first memory is seeing Star Wars and his writing influences include Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, and Douglas Adams.
Crazy Mary, which has been drawn by artists that include Edawrd (X-Men) Woodward, prung almost fully formed in 1999 and was infused with pre-millennium tension, a fascination with the subjective nature of reality, and big explosions.
Questions compiled by David Hailwood
How did you discover Rok Comics?
John was my editor at Babylon 5 Magazine when we caught up last year he was looking for content and thus Crazy Mary found itself on ROK Comics.
How do you feel about digital comics over Print based comics?
I think it's a great idea and cell phone monkeys need to figure it the hell out.
What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?
The first collection of Crazy Mary stories, Trinity (so far)
What projects (both Rok Comics and non Rok Comics related) are you working on at the moment?
My Rok Comics projects are Crazy Mary and Monsters with Beverages (with my Supermassive collective).
Non ROK work includes a ten-page story for "Ghost Assassin", Spak Daxler - Hero of the Ages for a comic series called Special Edition. That's the creation of a talented artist called William Blankenship, a series of interconnected stories -- everything from Skyfaring Pirates, to Troll detectives, to big dumb superhero battles. Spak Daxler is the big dumb superhero battle story - Spak and his team of governmentt funded superheroes fight a giant cybernetic lizard. It was great nutty fun and I hope to do more.
I'm also writing reviews and blogs and interviews for www.comicsbulletin.com and www.highspeedcomics.com.
What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?
Be consistent with the quality and quantity of the work. People are fickle and need their fix regularly. (By the way, I'm apallingly bad at taking my own advice).
What's your favourite comics related website?
Digital Webbing (www.digitalwebbing.com) -- and Comics Bulletin, and of course.
Where else has your work appeared?
My interviews have been on www.infinity.com and others. Other comics work is hitting more this year than before.
Where/when did you get your first comics break?
When Digital Webbing Presents took the first Crazy Mary story for issue #16
What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?
Print - Garth Ennis' Midnighter, The Boys, Warren Ellis' Fell, Black Summer and Gravel, some X-Men titles and IDW's new Doctor Who comic, which just came out here in the US. Online - Get Fuzzy, 9 Chickweed Lane, The Adventures of Doctor McNinja -- and I'm open to some suggestions.
Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?
Warren Ellis. I'd love to have a career like his and eight times out of ten, his writing is brilliant.