TTDILA: Sam, it's seems like ages since I
read Fantasy Sports, print versions seem to take a long time, what's
the difference in this release other than color? Will we know if the
main character is a boy or a girl this time, you seemed to have made
them androgynous.
Sam Bosa:Yeah, it seems like forever since I
wrote and drew the thing. Most of it has been done for two years now,
going back to when it was Fantasy Basketball. Besides the color (which
is in itself a pretty bit difference), the main addition to this version
is the prologue, which introduces the Order of Mages, where Wiz-Kid and
Mean Mug work. There's some back and forth there to set up the
relationship between the two, though it's not exhaustive and there's
still a lot more to reveal as the series moves forward.
As for the second part, Wiz-Kid is a girl, though I haven't really done anything to make her less androgynous.
Where does your mind go, Sam? I mean does it venture to other worlds based on video games and novels you've read?
It mostly wanders to stories. A big
chunk of my work now is comics, and I'm actively trying to become a
better writer. So yeah, I think a lot about story structure and ways to
deliver story both visually and through dialogue. I do read a lot, and
play games when I can, and that definitely filters over to my work. I
really like stories that hold elements of the world close to the vest,
and reveal things slowly and deliberately. I'm a big fan of Ursula K. Le
Guin's Earthsea Cycle, and the Dark Souls games for those reasons.
How powerful is you D&D character?
Ahh, I don't have an active one right
now! Mean Mug is loosely based on a previous character I played named
Gorza, who was a wrestler and a cannibal. Mean Mug is significantly
toned down. I do run a game for some friends of mine, which just means I
get to make up a whole bunch of characters and I don't have to stick
with just one. My favorite one is a captain named Hatfield, who
inherited a ship from his father and is very, very bad at managing it.
The whole work was a great mash-up of basketball
and fantasy, are you into sports or did you have to learn and go over
them for the book? I'm guessing you already did.
I'm really into basketball, and through
following that I've sort've grown to appreciate watching a lot of
different sports. Once you get to the higher levels of any particular
sport, the stakes are so high for the people playing that the drama just
gets crazy. Watching the NBA finals you're basically watching people
who's entire lives have been spent training for that particular moment,
and they have to compete at their absolute peak or else fail in front of
millions of people. I find that stuff super compelling.
Is this you first together solo show that happens
to be taking place at the same time and location as another? What are
you most excited about there, I'm sure it's not the food or lack of air
conditioning. Dress lightly. Oh, g-d in this humidity!
It is! It's my first solo show, though
Scott C has his show running concurrently. Scott's a dear friend of
mine, and I'm really happy we get to open these shows together. I'm
mostly excited for everyone to come out and see what I've been working
on for the past however long. I don't make it out to the West Coast very
often, so it'll be nice to see all my LA friends and meet some new
people outside of the NYC illustration community. As far as the humidity
goes, it was 95 degrees in Brooklyn earlier this week and muggy as
anything. I think I can handle it.
You work on Steven Universe, how much fun do you
have with some of the most creative artists out there, including
yourself. I mean Cartoon Network has taken most of the artistic talent
out there and put in Burbank.
Working on Steven is like a weird dream.
Everyone on design team is so crazily talented on their own, and could
probably do one of many jobs on the show, but seeing how everyone has
honed these different talents to bring the whole show together is
extremely inspiring. It's an incredible show. I can't help but think of
the kids who are going to grow up to be better people for having a show
with such important and positive themes.
Is Sugar sweet or is she sour working you to the bones?
Rebecca is great.
(I still question his answer)
Are you going to get diabetes from all the special desserts you have based on the new episodes that come out?
Sadly (extremely sadly), I work on the
show remotely, from New York, so I'm not there for the debut parties
they have. I have to watch from afar as all those sweet treats get
eaten. The crew was nice enough to send me cupcakes on my birthday,
though.
Meet Sam on Saturday at the:
Sat, July 25, 2015 - August 9, 2015
Jul 25, 7:00PM - 10:00PM
Nucleus
