Aces Weekly Volume 70 – which soon sees completion – sees the return of the great Val Mayerik, who’s no stranger to the digital anthology, working with writers Eric Fletscher and Jeremy Bates on a new serial, “The Convoy”…
Late last month, downthetubes caught up with “The Convoy” team to talk about the project, set in a monster-infested world.
Published in seven-issue volumes Aces Weekly can be yours for just £1 per week, in any currency! That’s £1 per week for a continuous run of volumes of up to 150 pages, including Extras, coming right at you through the ether! Sign up here and start reading “The Convoy” today…
Briefly, what’s the “elevator pitch” for “The Convoy”?
Jeremy Bates: In a world suddenly filled with aggressive monsters, the U.S. government contracts an L.A. hustler known for getting things done to transport the potential solution, against all odds, across the country.
Val Mayerik: The plot of “The Convoy” is multi-layered and the storylines intersect at unexpected times and places. It is also a combination of genres, and in some ways a satire of them (horror, adventure, fantasy, action). I’m enjoying drawing it.
How did the project come about?
Jeremy: Eric contacted me quite randomly and asked if I’d be interested in writing a horror comic. I thought it sounded fun, and eventually Val came on board. From there, Aces Weeklyaccepted the project, and here we are.
Val: The project came about due to the efforts of Eric. Why, out of the hundreds of comic book artists in the world, Eric decided to pick me, I’ll never know, but I’m glad he did.
The three of us tossed around different ideas for storylines. Eric came up with “The Convoy”. He worked out an agreement with David Lloyd and Aces Weekly and we were off and running.
Eric Fletscher: Val is reliable, loyal, subtle, cultured, perceptive. Jeremy is the weaver of nightmares (Suicide Forest, The Catacombs). We make up for each other’s blindness in our writing – each of us sees what the other doesn’t but should.
The comic exists only because they have shown those qualities, and no hint of ego.
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Jeremy, you’re a horror novelist. How did you approach writing for comics? How different is “The Convoy” from your novels?
Jeremy: Given the format, it was more, obviously, a dialogue approach for me than a narrative one (since with a comic, the narrative is already told by the illustrations). But more, it was dialogue on a diet. No room for anything other than what would flow with the illustrations and move the story forward. All in all, a challenge, but an enjoyable one.
Regarding the second part of the question, “The Convoy” isn’t that far off from some of my novels or novellas. Generally speaking, it’s the same subject matter. For example, I’ve written about werewolves before, apocalypses, mermaids, Bigfoot… and while the latter two aren’t in “The Convoy,” the spirit of the fantastical is, and I like that.
In one scene mafia boss Sanchez seems surprised to see a werewolf, despite previous events… Are there other forces at work, messing with characters’ heads?
Jeremy: Sanchez is the guy mafia bosses want dead. But yes, werewolves, witches, you name it, they’re in it. “The Convoy” is a Brothers Grimm fairytale come to life with guns and attitude.
Eric: Like any phenomenon, monsters have not been seen everywhere by everyone, so there are lingering doubts among the population. Still yes, there are other forces, as will soon appear.
Is this just the start of “The Convoy”? Do you have further stories planned after this volume of Aces Weekly?
Jeremy: Further installments of 21 pages will appear in Aces Weekly. This is a serial.
Val: Yes, depending on how the first chapter is received, there will be more “Convoy” episodes to follow.
You’ve all worked in “physical” publishing. What is the appeal, for you, of digital publishing, as creators?
Jeremy: It can potentially reach a large audience without all the upfront costs of physical publishing. Which, essentially, means you can be a lot more creative and experimental, and not worry about someone shutting the idea down because it’s not commercial enough.
Val: Concerning digital publishing, I provided some comics material for Aces in the past. There is no real difference in the process. Eric and Jeremy work out a story and pass it on to me. I then can offer my own ideas if I feel they can help the story to progress, and then begin the drawing.
The one significant difference for me is the format. Paper comics are in the portrait, or vertical format; digital comics, at least for Aces, are in a landscape, or horizontal format. I actually prefer the landscape to portrait. After having worked in the landscape format I find the portrait format to be limiting and stifling. No other comics artists I know agree with me on that issue but that’s the way it works for me.
Eric: Aces Weekly can turn drab devices into objects of wonder, like some backlit stained glass window. It’s also completely ad-free.
The primary advantage is gaining almost complete artistic freedom. For example, see “Catalyst Island”, in Aces Weekly volume 2, by Henry Flint. Worthy of being called a contemporary comic, with art that owes to nothing but to itself and world culture beyond the traditions of comics.
What do you hope to bring to fans of the strip, as the story develops? Can we expect sudden shocks or a slowly gathering unsettling of our nerves?
Jeremy: First and mostly, I think, would be character development. Things are somewhat limited with a first run of twenty pages, but with forty, sixty pages, or many more, we could really bring some of the characters, and their struggles, to life.
Eric: The Convoy is both American and European in its nature, and I assume it’s clearly visible from its pages. It could come straight from the pages of Creepy, and is not far from the spirit of Heavy Metal, or is it Métal Hurlant?
A large part of the European art of comics is a lost continent due to lack of interest. Some of America’s best creations have come to know the same fate.
Two examples: The Smurfs first appeared in Johan et Pirlouit, a work of astonishing perfection, and yet I don’t think it can be seen as such outside the French-speaking world.
Steampunk by Joe Kelly, Chris Bachalo, Chris Friend and Richard Starkings is, to me, the furthest development of comic book language: page organisation, balloon shapes, fonts, light, colour, characterisation, movement, fashion look, innovation – every single aspect plays a role and is taken to its maximum of expression.
Are you working on other projects you can tell us about?
Jeremy: Yes, I’ve just finished a novel called The No-End House for Kensington Publishing. It’s a standalone horror novel, a take on the escape room genre, but a lot more trippy, in my opinion, than some of the other fare out there! In it, a pair of unwitting volunteers bargain for their lives across nine mysterious rooms in an ill-reputed house in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. Also, I think it may just have the best twist I’ve ever written, but that’s my subjective opinion, of course.
Val: I am currently working on developing a graphic novel, Dinosaurs and Cowboys. It will be out next year.
Thank you all for your time and the very best of luck with your many projects!
Published in seven-issue volumes Aces Weekly can be yours for just £1 per week, in any currency! That’s £1 per week for a continuous run of volumes of up to 150 pages, including Extras, coming right at you through the ether! Sign up here and start reading “The Convoy” today…
Meet The Creators of “The Convoy”
Val Mayerik
Val Mayerik – valmayerik.com – has been a successful commercial illustrator for forty years and has worked in all fields of illustration from advertising to comic books to film pre-production.
Val worked for Marvel Comics for more than twenty years working on Conan the Barbarian, Spider-man and was co-creator of Howard the Duck. He then moved on to advertising working as a storyboard and concept artist for many large agencies
In the past ten years he has turned his attention to gallery work focusing mostly on the Western Art genre.
Val is also an avid horseman and polo player.
Jeremy Bates
USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author Jeremy Bates – jeremybatesbooks.com – has published more than twenty novels and novellas. They have sold over one million copies, been translated into several languages, and been optioned for film and TV by major studios.
Midwest Book Review compares his work to “Stephen King, Joe Lansdale, and other masters of the art.” He is a KDP Select All Star recipient and has won an Australian Shadows Award and a Canadian Arthur Ellis Award.
He was also a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards decided by readers.
• Check out Jeremy Bates novels on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
Further Reading
• Henry Flint interview on Catalyst Island
• Comics Online: Interview: David Lloyd
In this 2022 interview with Mike Favila, David talks about the origins of Aces Weekly, the advantages of print over digital. “The 21st Century gives us this valuable asset via the net,” he feels, “plus the massive potential readership it can reach.”
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comic Creator Interviews, Comics, Creating Comics, Digital Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features
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