Post by CHRISTOPHER WYATT THOMPSON on Sept 13, 2013 10:21:11 GMT -8
| [atrb=style,width: 420px; background-color: efefef; background-image: url(http://24.media.tumblr.com/0478144b9f16c95a37367d1aca56b45c/tumblr_mkfax8tDxp1s97ldco1_500.png); padding: 5px, bTable] CHRISTOPHER W. THOMPSON 29 | HETEROSEXUAL | COMIC BOOK ARTIST | TOWNSFOLK | ARTHUR DARVILL LOCAL LEGENDS: KIT THOMPSON interview, source: brunswicktribune.com, june 1st 2007 This quarter’s local legend section is dedicated to Christopher Thompson, an up and coming young artist who’s made a name for himself in the world of comic book illustration. When our reporter sits down with him in Brunswick’s own Java Hut, Mr Thompson is a jumble of effervescence and nerves, rising to greet us and stumbling over his own feet, but soon enough he seems to hit his stride, automatically going in to correct us when we make the mistake of addressing him by the formality of ‘Mr Thompson’ with an insistent, “No, no, no, not Mr Thompson. Not Christopher either. Never Christopher. It’s Kit. Please.” Mr Thompson – Kit – is polite, grinning, almost breathless with bewilderment. He is quick to confide that this is his first ever interview, and his youthful inexperience is immediately obvious. In fact, it makes it all the more impressive that a bumbling, stammering, twenty three year old community college dropout could be making such a splash in certain circles. It was definitely an experience getting to ask the young man some probing questions. BRUNSWICK TRIBUNE REPORTER: So Kit, are you ready to go? KIT THOMPSON: Sure. Can I just say first, though – local legend? Wow. You must be really scraping the bottom of the barrel if you gave me a call. There aren’t many notable people in Brunswick? BTR: You shouldn’t be so modest. KT: Yeah, don’t downplay my incredible geeky achievements, so I’ve been told. Especially in interviews. I’m talking myself up, right? Let’s start again. Don’t print this part. BTR: No promises. KT: (laughing) Great. Right, yeah. Whatever. Shoot. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go before I run my mouth and say something stupid. BTR: All right. Let’s start with those incredible geeky achievements you mentioned. Do you want to tell us about those? KT: I suppose I really should, right? Well, I’m an… artist. Kind of. Some people would say not, because… of the medium. Comic books are art, though, okay? They are. They’re just as valid as anything else I could turn my pencil to. But um, yeah. I draw for comic books. I’ve always been a comic enthusiast. I started off tracing panels and plastering them all over my walls when I was a kid. When I figured out I could kind of draw, that’s immediately what I started focusing on. Still life and art classes weren’t interesting to me. I’d rather be drawing superheroes, you know. So I did. I didn’t think it’d ever be anything but a hobby, and uh, I was actually studying accounting at college, which was… not my thing. But I met Charlie [Talbott, writer of Supernova] there. Charlie is my partner in crime, at least when it comes to work. I met him two, three years ago and we bonded over our mutual geekiness and our love of comic books, and then we… kind of decided to just mess around with one of our own. Charlie, he’s great with the writing and the storyboarding and the plots. I just draw. He’s the real mastermind, you know. But yeah, we started on these little projects and we’d post them up online, and… eventually we started gathering this really big fanbase, you know? This huge fanbase, who were always commenting and clamouring for the next instalment. Then six months ago, we were approached by this little publishing house who wanted to take our work to print. And that’s why you’re talking to me now. Because my work is in print. How cool is that? BTR: It’s pretty cool. Definitely worthy of a congratulations. KT: Thanks! BTR: Do you want to tell us a little about your series? KT: Nope. You should go out and buy it and read it, then see what you think. Everybody should go and buy it and read it! BTR: Nice try. Not even a summary? KT: Oh, all right. Um… yeah, it’s a superhero kind of deal. It’s called Supernova, after the heroine. So yeah, pretty much a superheroine kind of deal, I guess? It’s sorta… like this weird hybrid of styles. Like, Charlie, he’s a genius. His stories are so twisted and weird and clever and deep, so there’s this… Alan Moore-esque twist to the whole thing, but we both have an enduring love affair with the golden age and all the campy colours and… You know, it’s just sort of like this juxtaposition? It’s clever storytelling, and it is a story in its own right, but we’re also kind of ribbing on and, and, uhh… deconstructing the old, classic, obnoxious comics we grew up loving. BTR: So it’s a parody? KT: No, no, no, no. More like a homage. Like I said, Supernova is a story in its own right. She’s a character in her own right, not just some flimsy punch line. She’s our baby, you know. BTR: Ah, I see. And where do you plan to go with your series? What can we expect from you in the future? KT: I have no idea, isn’t that great? We’ll go wherever we can with Supernova. We’ll tell her story for as long as there is story to tell. I guess you can expect that much. BTR: Tell me, have you ever thought of going solo, or do you expect to continue working with Mr Talbott for the foreseeable future? KT: For as long as I’m drawing comics, I’ll be working with Charlie. We’re a duo. He can’t draw and I can’t write. I’m dyslexic, actually, so I really can’t write very well at all. We complete each other. There’s no Supernova without either one of us, and I wouldn’t want that any other way. BTR: What loyal sentiments. So Kit, this is local legends, after all. Can you tell us a bit about growing up here in Brunswick? KT: Sure. Well, kind of. I mean, technically I was born in Augusta. My parents moved me and my brothers out here when I was eight, but yeah. I can tell you about growing up here in Brunswick from eight onwards? Yeah. Great town. I’ve always been happy here. I had a really nice, comfortable childhood. My parents raised me right, y’know. I have great friends here. I have a great life here. I’m glad we moved. BTR: What were you like as a child? You mentioned your enduring love of comic books. KT: Yep, that’s… me all over. I’m everything you’d expect from that. I am the geeky, lazy, man-child stereotype. I was a little socially awkward when I was a kid? I was the youngest and by far the weediest of five brothers. I didn’t really fit in with them, so I was always kind of used to just keeping myself to myself and doing my own thing. Kind of got used to the idea of not fitting in early. I opened up a bit when I got older. I met Ronnie and BTR: Probably not. KT: Yeah, probably. Drugs are bad. Yeah. Um. Shall we move on? BTR: Sure. Why don’t you tell me what you think of Brunswick as a whole? KT: I love this place. The people are great, really accommodating. You know, what’s nice about living in a small town is that people know who you are and what you’re doing and how things are going, so you get a lot of support. My eighty year old neighbour stopped me to congratulate me on the publishing contract last week, and she certainly doesn’t read comic books. You know what I’m saying? People know your sh*t – am I allowed to say that? Sorry. People know your stuff, and by and large, they’re proud of you when you do well. It’s nice. BTR: I expect your family and friends are very proud of you, as well. Surely it’s not just strangers. KT: (laughing, he shakes his head) Uh… well, yeah. Yes and no. My folks are happy that I’m doing something that makes me happy, but I don’t think they wanted this for me. My dad was in the air force. Big, strong, tough military kind of guy. All four of my brothers have served in some capacity or another. Three of them are still in active service, matter of fact. I think they would have preferred it if I enlisted or something. Accounting at community college was their backup plan. Respectable, you know. Two pilots, a naval cadet, an infantry officer and an accountant. That’s all right. But all that and a “jumped up doodler” – as my dad so lovingly phrased it – is kind of… not what they were after. But yeah, you know. They’re happy I’m happy, and that’s the important thing. And God, mom and dad – if you read this, I’m not being ungrateful or complaining or anything, I’m just… trying to be honest. Yeah. My friends, though… they’re proud of me, definitely. Tease me too for being such a colossal nerd, but yeah, they’re proud. BTR: Well, that’s something. I think maybe we ought to wrap things up. Do you have anything else to add? KT: Nope. Thank you very much for bothering to talk to me. BTR: Our pleasure. So that’s local legend Kit Thompson, an up and comer in the comic book world. His artwork can be seen in the series Supernova, which is currently published quarterly and available from multiple stockists. Supplementary series materials are posted weekly online at www.supernovacomics.org UNTITLED DOCUMENT notes, source: kit’s documents, 2010 TO DO --- finish shading panel #4 --- not happy with it charlei wants #9 and #10 by weekend to review GET A MOVE ON ronnie used all the egggs for baking. buy more. also out of coffee and banananas. breakfast tomorrow will suck if you don’t go to the store. email publihsers back re: extension mom has a birhtday (55th?) next week DON’T FORGET OR YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE. actually just do fucking something anything at all because this being so unproductive is not helping anybody SNAP OUT OF IT draftingdraftingdrafting email ~ dear / to / whomever the hell it concerns (mr gorski? look up his name) blah blah pleasantry blah as promised, im getting back to you re: delay in sending my drafts for #111. i appreciate the timing is poor because of the plans to increase issue regularity to MONTHLY at long last but blah something. unfortunately personal issues have prevented me from working at maximum capacity (?) / put me behind schedule / turned me into a lazy ineffective bastard i guess. my partner and i recently suffered a miscarriage, and im sure you can understand how something of this nature would interfere with… productivity (?). all i can ask is for your patience while things return to normal. as you can well imagine the issue is very sensitive so id appreciate if it went no further than yourself. even charlei isn’t aware of the reason for the temporary hiatus and id prefer it if it remained this way. thank you for your sensitivity / discretion / understanding / something during this difficult time. blah blah more pleasantry blah yours whateverly kit thompson *** one month since lost the baby day after next. do something nice for ronnie. dad knows something up. wants to go for a beer. go for a beer with him. stop moping and go or so help me god kit. get out of the house and start getting back to normal fuuuuuuck note to self: stop making tehse docs its weird talking to yourself first sign of madness so writnig notes has to be first step SUPER QUICK UPDATE – IN WHICH KIT RAMBLES AND IS ATTACKED BY A KILLER MOSQUITO vlog transcript, source: youtube.com/kitncharliemakecomics, oct. 13th 2012 Hey Novanites! That’s the name we agreed on for the fandom, right? I… don’t remember. It’s been THAT long since I’ve vlogged and addressed you all at once, because I am an awful, terrible human being and should not be allowed to create fandomy content that people enjoy because I am so INCONSISTENT. I – sorry, whoa, there’s a mosquito in here. Fuck me, it’s massive. Ronnie! Ronnie have you seen this bug? Come look at – Jump cut. (laughing) Okay, we got it. Between us, we managed to wrestle it into submission. Yeah, I had to call my wife to rescue me from a bug. If you have anything emasculating to say about that, please leave your poorly spelt diatribe in the comments below and – OH WAIT, yeah. (laughing) Fuck me, I’m such an idiot. Yeah, for you observant viewers, you will indeed notice that I just said ‘wife’. Yeah. Congratulations to me! Thank you very much. That is kind of the point of this vlog. I was going to announce it, but I’m a dumbass and I just let it slip out. Anyway. Let’s try that again. Jump cut. Where were we? RIGHT, my inconsistency. For all five or six of you that actually call yourself fans, you may have noticed my conspicuous absence from the internet these past six weeks. That’ll be because LIFE happens. I was busy getting married and honeymooning and trying my hand at being a husband. It’s pretty fun, not gonna lie. Marriage, yeah, I’d recommend it. It has the Thompson seal of approval. For anyone who’s interested or who doubts my ability to actually trick a girl into marrying me, there’s a couple of links to some of the least bizarre wedding photos in the doobley-doo down below. So go look at those if you want. Feel free to admire my wife. She’s gorgeous. Also my best man. He’s gorgeous too. What? (looking off to one side) No, I’m not talking about you. I’m not. I’m – well, okay, a little bit. I’m talking about him, too. Is it okay if I talk about you guys on the internet? Okay. Thanks. She says it’s okay. (thumbs up) Um… what was I…? Jump cut. Yeah, so this is basically just a… little catch up kind of announcement thing. I got married! Woo! And things are settling back down again, and I just wanted you guys to know that. And now I’m going to just update you a bit on where we’re at with mine and Charlie’s projects. Let’s start with Nova, because that’s why all of you are even watching this. So… Supernova #214 is HIDEOUSLY delayed because of the wedding and the honeymooning and the break, but it is ON THE WAY. I promise it is. You’ll be seeing that by Halloween. It should definitely be by Halloween. Keep checking back. I swear it’ll be up before November rolls around. #215 will be delayed, unfortunately. We’re working on it and… well, actually, we’re way ahead of schedule for that, but we’re testing the waters with a new publishing house and they don’t want to start churning anything out until the New Year. Charlie is fighting them on this probably as I speak, because he desperately wants to get it out by Thanksgiving, and then #216 in December, but I… don’t know for sure whether you’ll be seeing those issues on this side of 2013 or if you’ll have to wait until next year. Sorry! But I bring good tidings to make up for this, because Charlie and I are embarking on a new INCREDIBLY exciting venture. We’re starting a brand new series, which has a SOLID release date of January 1st 2013. New Years Day, okay? Be prepared to shake off your hangovers and rush out and buy it, because it’s going to be epic. I can’t release the title yet or even really tell you much about it, but I can say this: Charlie’s outdone himself. The dialogue and the storyline is… amazing. It’s insane. It’s… You don’t even know. You’re not prepared. Stylistically, it’s going to be so different, but I really think all half dozen of you are going to like it. I do. Once more, look to the doobley-doo down below and you’ll find a couple of links to some prelim. character sketches, and a completely out of context panel or two for you to puzzle over. (laughs) Get excited, okay? Jump cut. Wow, I’ve rambled on enough. I mean, more than enough. This was supposed to be a quick update. (facepalms, laughing) Right. Leave me some love in the comments. Subscribe for the occasional, belated vlog. Follow on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram. Like on Facebook. Whatever’s your bag, y’know. Oh, and go and check out Supernova if you haven’t already. Though if you don’t have a passing familiarity with our work I literally have NO IDEA why you’re watching this. Okay. Live long and prosper. Kit out. vlog comments, source: youtube.com, oct. 13th 2012 USER COMMENTS levi.xxx 5 hours ago kitncharliemakecomics 2 hours ago novanite111 4 hours ago kitncharliemakecomics 2 hours ago TOP COMMENTS lovelygirl1583 5 hours ago officialgrammarpolice 14 minutes ago johnnynobody 5 hours ago RE: WE’RE IN THE SHIT email exchange, source: hotmail.com, june 2013 we’re in the shit to: kitjthompson@hotmail.com from: charlietango123@hotmail.com Kit – This week’s figures are in and we bombed. Nova sales are down 12% and the Living Dead sales still haven’t peaked since the issue #3 slump in March. The publisher’s contract runs out this fall and at this rate they’re not going to renew. We’re fucked, mate. Thoughts? re: we’re in the shit to: charlietango123@hotmail.com from: kitjthompson@hotmail.com Charlie – Thoughts: ASDYFTYGBILJAN;ONNA;OJLIHB I really don’t need this right now. Think it would help to open a dialogue with the execs and see if they can’t be convinced into keeping us on? We’ve been in slumps before and recovered. re: we’re in the shit to: kitjthompson@hotmail.com from: charlietango123@hotmail.com Kit – I really don’t need this ever, but I see your point. At least I don’t have a wife or a future baby or a mortgage. I’d hate to be you right now. I definitely don’t think opening a dialogue with the execs is going to help. We kind of made promises that we have in no way kept in terms of readership. The fanbase was supposed to be a lot bigger than this, but we’re kind of losing it. People aren’t buying our shit anymore. We are creative failures. Not to alarm you or anything. re: we’re in the shit to: charlietango123@hotmail.com from: kitjthompson@hotmail.com Yeah, that was in no way alarming. Thanks. I’m now totally not freaking out about the possibility of foreclosures, bankruptcy and unemployment. Yeah. Feeling great. What do you suggest we do? re: we’re in the shit to: kitjthompson@hotmail.com from: charlietango123@hotmail.com I suggest we either go crawling back to the publishing house that shall not be named because of how much they fucked us around (if they’d even take us back, which I doubt), start churning out more palatable content, or bury our heads in the sand and hope for the best. re: we’re in the shit to: charlietango123@hotmail.com from: kitjthompson@hotmail.com Yeah, they won’t take us back. There is nothing wrong with our content, which is what’s so frustrating about this. I have no idea why people just don’t want to read us anymore. re: we’re in the shit to: kitjthompson@hotmail.com from: charlietango123@hotmail.com So we’re burying our heads in the sand? re: we’re in the shit to: charlietango123@hotmail.com from: kitjthompson@hotmail.com And crossing our fingers all the while, yeah. Do me a favour and don’t email me with next month’s figures. I don’t even want to know. 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