I recently caught up with Ad Grose the man behind Clown Press asked him about his new book and delved a little into what made him tick:
Please tell us a little about yourself. You don't just publish comics do you?
I am a writer, artist, experimental musician and Lecturer of Art.
I have been writing and drawing since very young and I write and draw short stories, graphic novels, screenplays, poetry and paint oil on canvas.
I experiment with improvised music, all of which can be accessed from the website.
As an Artist, I believe it doesn’t matter which art form you use, it’s about which media suits the particular feeling/emotion I am trying to convey. It’s about which tool is right for the expression. I consider myself a neo-expressionist multi-media artist.
That’s a bit of a mouthful. I also dabble in other creative outlets myself, but I have observed that the British public and comics fans in particular, very much like to pigeon hole you as an artist, and almost want to have some sort of control over the work you do. Have you ever found this to be the case, and if so, why do you think it happens?
I can’t say I have ever experienced this personally. I was encouraged to use as many different mediums to express thought. I think if fans and the general public do pigeon hole, this is more down to personal taste or the media that is ‘selling’ you.
Things are changing though – look at the transitions of Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Dan Abnett, Brendan McCarthy and others who have moved from comics into writing novels and films and also Joss Whedon who moves from TV and film to comics – and why not?
During this present post-modern era (some have called it a post-post modern – something I call the ‘neo-expressionist era), we have seen an explosion over the last ten years of other technologies that have helped expand everyone’s artistic and creative sides.
The future of filmmaking will come from YOUTUBE, GOOGLE, GUBA etc...New avenues of expression where artists are able to write a script, shoot the film, edit it and make the music.
People are coming together from all walks of life and sharing their learned skills and as the internet expands and broadband speeds increase this is all adding to lifelong learning.
Companies who are stuck in ‘old thought patterns’ of film, DVD, CD and even newer technologies like FLASH will have to hurry if they are to have a slice.
The future is with DOWNLOADS and STREAMING. Today, we can make a movie and make it available online for others to download and watch on their HDTV. Video stores will disappear unless they set up online download sites.
The public will and are taking this on board quicker than the corporations.
COMICS have become downloadable onto other technologies (PDA, Computers, and Mobiles), even 2000AD has adopted the download. Already, I am transferring a lot of the comics I do onto CD and DVD. I think it is an exciting time. Now we can create a comic, set a score of music and have it available as a DVD for customers to load into their PC or DVD player.
Innovative artists have used ‘Alternative Medias’ to express their ideas, independent artists, the comic community as well as the mainstream lately.
Digital technology is freeing up artists and writers to new possibilities and with it we are able to explore the collective psyche. Before we had to draw and paint fantastic images, send it to a printer and have plates made up.
Now we can PDF the format, send it to a company and Print on Demand. The PC and digital technology has brought drawing and painting to the field of photography and vice verse, opening up new pathways.
Future filmmakers are on the Net and in some ways we are seeing the beginnings of a new wave of short film-making via mobile phone, digi-cam and even the webcam. Even Hammer Horror is embracing the downloadable film.
What sort of reaction do you get when you play comic fans your soundscapes and music at shows?
It is a lot different. Originally the music was only something I did as a break from writing, drawing and painting, allowing me to explore other areas of creativity without becoming too restricted.
I liked the idea of creating improvised and abstract soundscapes and seeing where sounds wanted to go. Sometimes they work, sometimes they do not.
I thought after doing a few I would bring them out and see what sort of a reaction they would receive. All quite positive and I mainly make them available online, this way I can interact with people directly, gaining feedback and also being able to see which soundscapes work.
I love sharing what I create and it is good to receive feedback about them. I have particularly liked making the trailers advertising the ‘Cosmogenesis’ book and making music to accompany them.
In a way, I am a filmmaker at heart and given the chance (and the money) I would love to make movies. I am currently looking at software to create animated mini movies, like some of the ones I have seen on the internet on Stage Six.
I have been playing around with abstract film-making at the moment, but this is early stages. (All of this will be available at the Bristol Comic Expo)
I'm a huge fan of Tony Suleri's work. What's it like working with Tony on such a big project?
It is an amazing experience working with such a great artist who is able to create your imagination on the page. The sheer depth of his imagination is astounding, so much knowledge locked within his mind, it is staggering what is brought forth and transformed into images. We’ve been working together for over 20 years and ‘Cosmogenesis’ has brought everything into a grand focus for us both.
Tony is one of the best kept secrets drawing comics today. The quality of his work is outstanding and he never fails to deliver. It doesn’t matter what I write, he’ll deliver. Recently Tony has been doing some strips for Dave Hailwood and it blows the mind what he has produced. Recently he has completed his contribution to the charity comic FLOOD. A fully painted page illustrating a script by Simon Guerrier (Dr Who/ Sapphire and Steel) and I lost a few hours looking at that page I can tell you.
I also like working with Tony as he likes working from layouts from me, rather than just a written script. The process of working this way is a bit like the way they create television in the United States, in the sense of overseeing the outcome of the aim. As the writer, layout artist, letterer and overall ‘editor’ I could steer the general direction of the story I planned out. I don’t mean this in the sense of that I had to have control over the whole process, it just happened this way.
The last ten years has been a very steep learning curve, between having to work in various jobs before becoming a part-time Art Tutor which has freed me up more time to concentrate more on writing, drawing and learning about the whole editing process and the last year where I have been able to learn more about publishing and the whole processes involved.
What comics are you enjoying at the moment?
I have recently read Joe Sacco’s Palestine and Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia and Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor anthology. I have also been re-reading a lot of the comics I already own, going through my collection and revisiting ones I haven’t read for a long while. I have been reading some of the original Swamp Thing comics (Wrightson) and some classic Frank Miller Daredevil collections and RONIN. I am currently re-reading WATCHMEN and Spring Heeled Jack.
What was the main influence for Cosmogenesis? I can feel bits of Kirby in there.
The main influences come from mythology and the idea of the Hero culture. What is a Hero, who decides what a Hero is or should be? Does the protagonist decide or do the people/ cultures around him decide?
Each culture as it changes from age to age seems to use aspects from the previous age’s myth, re-inventing a new one for the New Age of the Sun. (Moses/ ARIES, Jesus/ Pisces)
It’s also about trying to understand identity. Do we make our own identity, or do the people who play a part in our lives decide, our parents, our friends, the Nation State?
Are we the result of nature or nurture or a combination of the two? 911 had an effect on me when writing the series, particularly the Politics and how politicians spin and shape public policy. How much of whom we are, is a result of the information we choose or are exposed to in our lives?
What we do with that information is up to us, it will always lead to choices that will shape our identity, in the eyes of ourselves and those around us. A philosophical debate for sure.
Art wise the influences are wide ranging. Kirby, Ditko, Mobieus, TV serials like Rocket Man, Flash Gordon, Westerns to movies from the last 80 years, mainstream and independent. I know Tony and I have watched loads of movies that have influenced us and it’s hard to pick any particular influence due to the vast amount of information we have consumed so far. Horror, Sci-Fi, Westerns, fantasy, crime, drama, film noir etc…
Summing up, I would say Human Society is the main influence based on our individual observation of the world around us.
What made you decide to collect the saga into a big book?
The intention was to always publish the book as a collected paperback. Ever since we started I had always kept in mind the idea of bringing them all together. I love books and especially big epics. This also gave me a chance to go back and work on a few things. 
Having the whole series as one allows the reader the chance to enjoy the whole saga as it was intended as well as allowing them to see how it has evolved over the years 2001 – 05, by including a section at the back to reveal how it was conceived and publish some of the pre-production sketches.
It had been the intention the story would begin as a nice tightly drawn book, then through each subsequent book, as the Galaxy of Nom-Yakk broke up, so the artwork would become looser until towards the end as the light/ consciousness begins to break through (grayscale), the final event would re-birth a new era of light (colour). Order from Chaos.
The book works on many levels and it does take a lot to read through I admit, but I believe it works and as a teacher I believe in expanding people’s ideas and their conception of what a comic/ graphic novel can be. We have seen this over the last 20 years since WATCHMEN.
It takes a while to read a comic as you’re asking the reader to utilize the left and right hemispheres of their mind, which is something I alluded to in Book One: The Skull of Muluc, when Guardian Ahau says to Princess Imix that ‘the problem with society is the conflict between the right and left hemispheres of the mind’, instead of understanding the secret is bringing the two (division) back to one (whole).
But as I allude to in Cosmogenesis, some people seek to divide society and in so doing breed fear, allowing forms of control to come into play. Of course, this is just my perception of reality based on reading history and past historical events. (Nazi Germany, Napoleon, Inquisition, Holy Roman Empire, British Empire)
What else can we expect from you in the future?
THE PRISON: Currently I am working on a new book called THE PRISON. This is a collection of tales from my observations on the world around us, a couple of stories on different aspects of love (six pages) and some poetry. This will allow readers a chance to see my art as a comic artist as I illustrate all the stories and there will be a few
illustrations too.
underGROUND: I am putting together a collected book of the first comics Tony and I did during 1987 and 1990. Each issue was a compilation of different ideas and styles and a chance to experiment and just play around with the idea of comics. These will be available at BRISTOL this year as we celebrate 20 years of producing independent comics.
FLOOD: I have also been working on a project with the help of John Freeman and other writers and artists, helping raise funds for the Red Cross. This was born out of seeing the bad floods in the UK last July and I felt UK comic creators might like to contribute a page of story/ art using the theme of ‘FLOOD’ to help raise money for the Red Cross. This will be available to download (Smallzone). I am waiting on a few more before tying up and getting ready to publish online. I hope to get it out very soon. There is a mixture of Professional and Independent writers and artists involved.
Other Projects
I am currently writing four new stories.
- LAZARUS which I will also be drawing is a horror/ thriller involving a couple who have been having problems due to the loss of someone close, but there is a reason why.
- The other is a Detective story and I am half way though at the moment. It’s a classic murder mystery with a hell of a twist at the end.
- and PHOENIX: A WARRIOR’S TALE. I am currently writing the poetry for this at the moment and it will be available this year, hopefully in time for Bristol.
- A television comedy/drama series (six episodes).
Towards the end of the year I will be releasing a book collecting various paintings and drawings I have done over the last 23 years.
As always information on these will be available through my website -
www.clownpress.com
Thanks Ad, for your in depth answers to my questions. All the best with the new book and your future projects. I look forward to seeing them happen.
Shane
Shane Chebsey