The Return Of Blastosaurus And The Fall Of American Original

Above: The new Blastosaurus series by Richard Fairgray & Terry Jones. Copyright Richard Fairgray 2011.

Back in 2008, local comics creator Richard Fairgray talked his way into the deal of a lifetime: one of his ideas for a comic-book series was to be picked up for American publication by rising media mogul/movie producer Jeff Katz.

Above: Richard Fairgray, with his Blastosaurus comics.

Katz and Fairgray met by chance through a mutual friend during the filming of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in Sydney, which Katz was over-seeing as a production executive for Twentieth Century Fox. Sharing a 'gift for the gab' they immediately hit it off, and Katz was impressed enough by Richard's diverse output of comics to offer him a development deal with his soon to be announced media company, the ironically titled American Original.

Above: Jeff Katz, head of American Original.

Katz had left his position at Fox to capitalise on what he saw as an opportunity to licence new characters and properties across a range of multi-media platforms: including comics, movies, animation and games. Fairgray's Blastosaurus - a high concept of a gun-toting mutant dinosaur, was a perfect fit for this business plan, with the promise of potential Ninja Turtles level licencing deals down the line. No stranger to marketing hype, Katz also had an angle on how to sell Fairgray's personal story too (referring to his legal blindness - Richard has 5% vision in one eye). As Katz told The NZ Herald in September 2008: 

"Once people get to know Richard, his talent and his back-story - and that's an incredible human interest story - they'll find out just how unique he is. I'm just thrilled to hear he's getting some recognition. I've got plans for him, I'm going to take his work and grow them across a wide spectrum of media. You know, I told him a month ago that my goal was to make him into a local New Zealand hero, that'll really be fun to watch."

That same year at San Diego Comic Con, Katz made his presence known, announcing a comics publishing partnership with Marc Silvestri's Top Cow Comics (ever the calculating deal-maker, this was no doubt a payback for Katz securing Silvestri an executive producer credit on Fox's A-Team movie). While a raft of upcoming comics and film deals were announced at that convention for American Original's production slate, a year later product had yet to materialised. For his part however, Fairgray had never stopped producing. While Katz's other hollywood partners dragged their feet on producing their promised comics, Fairgray was grinding out Blastosaurus monthly in New Zealand for over two years, while also prepping the promised American comic edition. 

Above: The American Original logo.

Back in 2009 I gave my own impression of how I saw the American Original deal playing out (you can read the full report HERE). Given Richard's indie approach and all-ages tone, I felt Blastosaurus would be an ill-fit at Top Cow, a company built primarily on comics featuring large breasted woman. Ultimately this was Katz's business plan, and Richard appeared to accommodate these strange bed-fellows as best he could: turning down a potentially lucrative first issue cover by Silvestri in favour of a more appropriate one by Transmetropolitan artist Darick Robertson (who Richard recruited himself). As for Katz, I made the following observation: '...I don't foresee him having the patience to nurture a comics line for the years it takes to successfully gather a loyal readership to create the 'pre-awareness' he values without giving into the temptation to develop the properties straight out the gate. I expect the recession and the continuing market shrinkage will cop the blame for the company's failure (to produce)..'.

Sure enough, in a video interview with Comic Book Resources from last September's Comic Con, Katz admits that the recession has temporarily delayed his publishing plans: 

"..the economics of the business (has changed) entirely. I am not made of money ultimately, fundamentally. I've got a pretty finite amount that I can spend, and so you have to be able to pivot at a point in time to where I could go and spend all my money and publish, and let's be very honest, based on the economics..not get any of it back, and be out of business in a year.." He goes on to say: "At the end of the day, if you can spend the same amount of money on a four issue comic or a Facebook App game that has downloadable content, one is all 'out money', (and) one is money that you get back..". 

You can view the full interview HERE, where Katz's talks about the delays of the American Original comics and Blastosaurus around the 7 minute mark. Blastosaurus finally made it's American debut at that same convention, but was ham-strung but printing issues, with the books arriving late to the convention and in limited quantities.

One year later, Richard has continued to produce seasonal Blastosaurus specials in New Zealand, while American Original's publishing progress continues to languish in 'development hell'. Speculation about the future of the American Blastosaurus material and rights was finally resolved this week, with Richard making the following announcement: 


'The version of Blastosaurus released in New Zealand was never intended as a final version for worldwide release, the first issue was produced at ridiculous speed in order to secure copyright and ownership of key story elements just in case anything went wrong for me in the future.
Unfortunately what I didn't count on was that people would actually like the issue (most people felt the same way I did about it but some did really latch onto the underlying concept, I'm grateful for this because I think it is a strong concept despite the end result), forcing me to quickly rush out follow up issues that were not to the standard of writing or art that I would aspire had I had more than 6 days to complete each issue.
This new version is the version that was intended for release at SDCC last year. While the launch did sort of take place it was hamstrung by printing problems and delays beyond my personal control. While it's taken me a while to get things back in order I think the time has done the comic good and I think this version shows exactly what I always intended the story to look and feel like. While I'd still like to see the comic find a home in print (because printed comics are what I love, despite what the market is doing) I am more interested in having people read and (I hope) enjoy it.
My parting with American Original was not ideal but by no means was it nasty. Jeff and I have different approaches and I think both work for different reasons and I think we will hear more from him both in terms of comics and other works.'

You can visit the newly minted website HERE. I've had an advance look at the revised material, now in full-colour provided by Tara Black, and if you were a fan of Laird and Eastman's original TMNT stories, I think you'll get a kick out of this. Obviously if you're a fan of the original Blastosaurus, this will be well worth the wait. Here's a video preview:

Richard may have been offered the opportunity of a lifetime, but it's his perseverance and dedication to his work which has allowed him to make a living from comics, rather than gambling on the ultimately empty promises of American dreams. They may not be making him rich, but at least they exist to be read and enjoyed. After all, isn't that the point of creating comics?

Something for Jeff Katz and his hollywood friends to think about while they broker movie deals and celebrity endorsements for comics they have still yet to create, or making a single dime from.

-AK!

NZ EXCLUSIVE: 'Blastosaurus' launches at Comic Con!

'Blastosaurus' as drawn by cover artist Darick Robertson. Copyright Richard Fairgray 2010.

The US edition of local cartoonist Richard Fairgrey's 'Blastosaurus' comic series has been in the works for some time, but today we finally got an announcement from 'American Original' head-honcho Jeff Katz, via his website GeekWeek:

"GeekWeek's own Richard Fairgray (I FIGHT CRIME, CHEWING ZOMBIES) makes his American convention debut at San Diego Comic Con with BLASTOSAURUS from American Original and Top Cow.

Fairgray will be debuting the BLASTOSAURUS Comic Con Specials, collecting the first arc of his hit New Zealand series. Inspired by the cartoons of the early 1990's, the series follows the adventures of Blastosaurus, a mutated dinosaur plucked from the past now working as a policeman to keep his adopted home of Freak Out City safe."

Richard Fairgray, the writer and artist of the comic, who amazingly manages to produce the comic on a monthly basis despite being legally blind with only five percent vision in one eye, originally started self-published the comic series in New Zealand in 2008. Prior to launching 'Blastosaurus' he had pitched the concept to ex-Fox movie executive Jeff Katz, who he met through a mutual friend on the set of 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'. Katz was so impressed with Richard's range of comics work that he picked up the property for US release through his new multi-media company 'American Original'.

While most cartoonist faced with this golden opportunity would be happy to rest on their laurels till the royalties rolled in, Fairgray pressed forward, launching the comic series in the difficult New Zealand market first, before it's US debut. It sold well enough to run monthly for two years with several specials, and has a loyal following among young comic fans.

It's this hardworking DIY attitude that has promoted Fairgray to the forefront of Katz's American Original comics imprint. Blastosaurus will now be the first title to launch from the much hyped imprint (co-published by Top Cow), after other comics by Hollywood screenwriters and comedians have failed to materialize. Meanwhile, Fairgray has 20 issues completed and it looking forward to the US finally getting a look at his creation.

Above: Richard Fairgray promoting 'Blastosaurus' at the Wellington Armageddon Expo over Easter weekend.

Before jetting off to San Diego, I caught up with Richard for an exclusive interview on Blastosaurus and it's american debut.

Q1: This has been in the works for some time now, are you looking forward to finally introducing Blastosaurus to the US market?

RICHARD FAIRGRAY: Obviously, yes. Though it hasn't really been all that long considering how long it can take to break into comics like this.

Q2: Do you think there's an audience out there for this type of material in the crowded US comic market?

RF: Without being completely clinical about it I think there is always room for a story about a dinosaur with a gun. Besides which, I think there's infinite room in any market for new narrative. I think also there is a real lack of comics that aren't aimed at a specifically adult or child market.

Q3: This is also the first release for Jeff Katz's American Original imprint, so no pressure there?

RF: Obviously being the first makes this one the biggest risk for both Jeff and I, but it's also a fantastic vehicle for Terry and I to come in on as a new creative team.

Q4: In your NZ comic run of Blastosaurus you played around quite a bit with style and genre within the ongoing series, an approach that is fairly rare in current monthly comics. Will you be taking a similar direction with the new series?

RF: The new versions of the original stories are far more certain in their style and direction than the originals. This is partly because I had the time I needed to make them what I wanted them to be and partly because (simply by doing this full time for 2 years) I am a much better storyteller than I was. Obviously Terry's (Terry Jones, co-writer) influence cannot be overlooked in all this either. He is an amazing writer and a very accomplished storyteller, just having a second viewpoint makes the whole comic so much richer.

Q5: With that in mind, what can we expect from the first story arc and year overview?

RF: The first arc is a retelling of the old origin story. While the basic story hasn't changed, the characters (particularly the villains) are a lot more multi-faceted. Also the narrative structure is far more integrated so it doesn't feel so much like a brief summary of a plot.

Q6: Given the limitations of your eyesight and the dedication it takes to produce your artwork, do you plan to continue drawing the series full-time or are there plans to bring in another artist?

RF: I'm not handing over the art at this stage. Despite the hours it takes and the limitations I have due to the funny little eyes, i still enjoy creating the book myself. I do love seeing other artists' idea of how Blasto can look.

Q7: If it ships monthly, can you foresee needing any fill-in artists in the future?

RF: The schedule for release is not set yet. With the changing market for pamphlet comics I'm not sure how I want to proceed with the story and whether I even want to see it as individual issues (I never actually read single issues anymore because I don't find them satisfying). I tend to enjoy long hours though so I don't imagine I'll want to bring in any fill in artists (at least not for the main storyline).

Q8: 'The Boys' artist Darick Robertson will be producing covers for the series, how did they become involved?

RF: Darick and I met and got along really well when he was down here (at New Zealand's Armageddon Expo) last year and I mentioned him to Jeff as someone I'd like to have involved. I've been a huge fan of Darick's for years and have a few pieces of his art from 'Transmetropolitan'. He and Jeff met soon after at a convention (not sure which) and he became involved.

Q9: Will establishing the Blastosaurus comic be your main focus for the next year, or will we be seeing some of your other comics projects in the near future?

RF: Because I have 20 issues ready to go with Blasto (six of which are coming out at Comic Con) I have some time up my sleeve to work on other projects. There's no definite plan for release dates for any of these (with the exception of another Blasto Halloween Special, three new books of 'I Fight Crime', a collection of 'Yellow Girl' - a strip I wrote with my wife about 5 years ago that I never finished releasing - and a 'clip show' styled collection of short unpublished works of mine for the Armageddon Expo this year).

Q10: How has it been working with Katz and American Original on this project and bringing it to a wider audience?

RF: It's been a huge adjustment for me having to rely on anyone else. For 9 years I've been working almost entirely alone and learning to let others pick up the slack is a definite transition.

Q11: Blastosaurus has been a very DIY production from the beginning: now that it's at 'American Original' will you still be overseeing the entire comics production and franchise?

RF: I will definitely be involved on some level in every part of Blastosaurus. I've had these characters in my head for years now and I don't think I could let go of them. Besides which, I was brought in by Jeff as a writer because he liked what I had done (before Blastosaurus even existed) so I guess he likes what I am doing and what i want to do in the future.

Q12: American Original from what I understand, is set-up to expand across a number of entertainment platforms (video games, animation etc). Will we be seeing this approach with Blastosaurus, or is establishing the comic the main focus at this stage?

RF: I'm open to anything. I would love to be able to see Blastosaurus as a TV show or a game or a...hot water bottle, whatever. But for now I just want to see how the comic goes and take it one step at a time.

The US comic series of Blastosaurus will be launching at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend with six issues, featuring a new cover by 'The Boys' artist Darick Robertson. Fairgray will also be featuring on Saturday's Top Cow panel, where you can expect to hear more in-depth information on the series. Stay tuned for more details on the Blastosaurus Comic Con launch as they come to hand.

-AK!

Blastosaurus & American Original

Above: The 'American Original' logo.

Earlier this month, Jeff Katz, ex-20th Century Fox studio executive and occasional US comics writer, made his first announcement at Wizard World Philadelphia regarding a comics line to be published by his new multi-media company 'American Original'. Of the four titles to be announced one of them will sound very familiar to New Zealand comics readers: 'Blastosaurus'.

Above: 'Blastosaurus' by Richard Fairgray copyright 2009.

If you're unfamiliar with 'Blastosaurus', the comic follows the adventures of a mutated triceratops cop who has traveled through a time portal to the present day to do battle with a street gang of mutated Raptors to save the future of Freak Out City. Oh, and he has a really big gun. If this sounds a little outlandish, it's intentional; it's influenced by the high concept cartoons of the 90's (think 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' meets 'The Thunder-Lizards' (from 'Ekk the Cat).

Written and illustrated by 24 year old Auckland cartoonist Richard Fairgray, it will be published monthly through the new imprint in partnership with Top Cow Productions. Jeff Katz met Fairgray through a mutual friend on the set of 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine', which Katz was overseeing a an executive for Fox.

Katz recently shared his plans for 'Blastosaurus' during an interview for Comic Book Resources:

"[Richard and I] met and hit it off instantly. He gave me two or three properties, all of which I picked up immediately, but the one I fell in love with was a very simple thing. It was a dinosaur cop who's mutated and brought into the future to fight crime against velociraptor street gangs in the big city in the tone of the old school, early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff. It plays with it edgier – not necessarily as a kid thing but in a kid's context. I look at this, and I went, 'Christ! Kids like dinosaurs. Kids like crimefighting. This is as natural a kids property with some teeth to it as there is.' What we're going to be doing is reprinting his New Zealand run of 'Blastosaurus' as a set for the American version which will come out soon after."

Katz also had a lot of praise for Richard in the same interview:

"One of the things I wanted to put across from the line is that a great big idea can come from anywhere. The reality is that in the next ten years, distribution is going to be democratized in a pretty massive way in a lot of forms of entertainment, comics included. So now, 'the big idea' suddenly doesn't have to come from a guy who's exclusive to DC. It can come from a kid in New Zealand who just happens to have a good idea...And Richard's a kid who, I'll be frank, I'm going to lose to the big two. It's inevitable. But I just think that this is one of those things that's very unique from anything else in the marketplace. But beyond that, he's come up with a thing that's a very natural, franchisable concept. We're going to be a place that takes chances on new voices because on some level, I'd argue there's a dearth of young talent getting to rise up. I think showing what this guy can do in what is ostensibly a superhero context without it at all being superheroes and what is ostensibly a kids context while at the same time being all ages, I think is a unique thing. I think this guy is going to a real voice and someone we'll be hearing about for a long time."

The other really interesting thing that sets Richard apart from other comic creators is the fact that he is legally blind, with only five percent vision in one eye. Katz was not aware of this until he was interviewed for a article on Richard for the NZ Hearld last year. I understand Phil Jemenez (The Invisibles, New X-Men) was lined up to draw the US edition of the comic, but it's since been decided that Richard will continue as both writer and artist on the book due to his unique condition.

Katz touched on this during his second announcement interview over at Newsarama:

"And to top it all off, he's legally blind. He's writing, drawing and self-publishing these things with only five percent vision in one eye. In the one eye, he sees in only two dimensions. So he sees in comic book panels, which in and of itself is interesting."

With the move to 'American Original', the New Zealand incarnation of the series will conclude with issue #13, the end of the current story arc. In October there will be a Blastosaurus Halloween Special for the Armageddon Convention which will be the last locally published issue of the series for the foreseeable future.

He's obviously got big plans for Richard, so who the HELL is Jeff Katz?

He started out as a radio talk-back host at 15, before graduating to a stint as a promoter for WCW Wrestling (...which may go a long way to explaining the 'American Original' logo). He then became an unpaid intern at New Line Cinema and worked his way up the company ladder to become vice-president of development and production.

While at New Line he helped produce 'Freddy VS Jason', 'Snakes on a Plane' and 'Shoot 'Em Up' (none of which you should watch...ever). These films may have been critically underwhelming, but they made his reputation as an executive who was in touch with the valuable 'geek audience'.

With his genre-mashing credibility established moved to 20th Century Fox as Vice President of Production. During his tenure at Fox he dabbled in comics, writing the mini-series 'Freddy VS Jason VS Ash' for Wildstorm/Dynamite, before teaming up with Geoff Johns to co-write a 'Booster Gold' ongoing series for DC Comics.

With some success under his belt in both mediums (and the release of the 'X-men Origins: Wolverine' movie on the horizon), he shocked the Hollywood press last September by announcing his resignation from Fox to setup his own multi-media company that would become 'American Original'.

In a May press release for the launch of 'American Original', it was described as "a new entertainment company that will provide content across multiple platforms geared to the growing genre consumer base as well as provide services to genre creators themselves".

Now the idea of creating a banner company for multi-media genre publishing and producing is hardly an original one, but Katz's plan to profit share with the creators is a new development. From what I understand he plans to use a business model more in keeping with the movie industry than the comics business, by giving the comic creators the gross profits of their properties after the company's production costs are covered.

In theory this is a much better (and fairer) profit sharing deal than any of the other comic companies have to offer; especially when you factor in movie, video-games and any other media platform development deals (which Katz is counting for).

This all sounds very promising on paper, but this isn't the first time a company has created a publishing line for multi-media development. In the last 10 years, 'CrossGen Comics', 'Platinum Studios' and most recently 'Virgin Comics' to name only a few, have all collapsed while chasing the all-mighty development dollar instead of focusing on creating quality comic-books.

To me this appears to be a chicken and egg race.

While Katz was working as a producer he learned about the importance of 'pre-awareness' marketing. It's basically about selling consumers products based on properties they are already aware of and enjoy. If they like a specific property, the theory is they will probably consume it across a variety of media including films, comics and video-games. For example, franchises like 'Star Trek' and 'Spider-man' both bring in billions of dollars in branded merchandising every year. It's not hard to see why this would be a fairly solid business plan to follow. Marvel Comics recently rolled the dice by bankrolling it's own big-budget movies to huge success, making Iron Man (previously a B-Grade character with little name recognition) into a house-hold name.

Here's where the chicken and egg come into it: if you launch a comic-book and then sign a movie deal at the same time, will the comic audience read the book and then watch the film? Or will the movie audience watch the movie and then buy the comic? Or will both flop because they don't have 30 years of pre-awareness to be the next 'Wolverine'? Will anyone really care about these new properties?

This kind of fishing for instant success is understandable, but VERY rarely achievable, especially in the comics business.

In the last 20 years the most successful independent comics company launch would have to be Image Comics. Todd McFarlane's 'Spawn' was an instant success as a comic and merchandising property, but drew heavily on McFarlane's profile and fan-base that he had spent years building up at Marvel (proving he was the brand, not the characters). It also didn't hurt that he tapped into the grunge zeitgeist of the early 90s, and gave his fans exactly what they wanted. That kind of success has more to do with the right timing than marketing, and can't really be artificially created.

The 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' also had a fast track to success, and the potential for 'Blastosaurus' to follow in it's merchandising footsteps clearly appealed to Katz's business sense. Genre roots aside, 'Blastosaurus' may be the most original offering from 'American Original' (I'm sure the irony of this association isn't lost on anyone).

The other announce titles on offer are: 'Vengeance of Mine' by Katz & artist Thomas Nachlik, 'Daybreak' by Gary Whitta and Brian Lynch and artist Marco Castiello and 'Comedy Deathray Anthology' edited by Scott Aukerman.

Not surprisingly, the first two titles read like genre movie pitches sitting on the 'needs more development' pile. Katz describes 'Vengeance of Mine' as "a mix of the 'Payback' or 'Get Carter' model and the monster world of movies like 'Nightbreed'." 'Daybreak' mines the highly original 'prison break' genre, best described as "an homage to the sort of swaggering, man's-man action movies of the '80s that Kurt Russell and John Carpenter did together." I guess some explanation as to why these concepts will make great comics is unnecessary...

The comedy anthology at least heads in a new direction, promising a rotating creative team made up of comedy's brightest talents. Comedy is of coarse one of the most difficult genres to pull off in comics, so it's a big ask from new creators to comics. It could really go either way; a unique stand-alone success, or a disaster of epic proportions.

Which is kind of how I feel about this whole venture; based on the information available at this time, I would have to bet my chips on the latter.

I appreciate the fact he's attempting to mine untapped areas of the comics industry to create a different spin on the multi-platform development company; but it's still the same animal with different stripes. If these books can't stand on their own, no movie, TV show, video-game or web-what-have-you development deal is going to make them any more readable.

So here's my educated guess on how I think this is going to pan out:

I give the comics line a shelf life of 6 months to a year (this could be extended by six months if any of the development deals get the green-light). Keep in mind the above titles are only the first announcement. I expect he's keeping a high-profile creator-owned book announcement for the San Diego Comic Con. My money is on a book by his 'Booster Gold' co-writer Geoff Johns, guaranteed to bring home the bacon while the other books find their sales levels.

Unfortunately, I think 'Blastosaurus' will be the first title to go.

I like Richard, he's an endearing and intelligent local creator, who deserves a great deal of credit for what he's achieved and the limitations he's overcome. It was a bold local effort; I just don't think it's ready for the blood-thirsty, overly serious mainstream american comics audience.

The series has an innocent, good-natured intention that I think will be lost on Top Cow's regular readers and would probably be more at home at an indie label like Top Shelf, which would suit it's cartoon irony much better.

There is still an outside chance a TV deal could still come through, and like TMNT it could go on to eclipse the comic as a merchandising machine in it's own right. In any event, I'm sure Richard's contagious enthusiasm will see him land on his feet.

As for Katz, I don't foresee him having the patience to nurture a comics line for the years it takes to successfully gather a loyal readership to create the 'pre-awareness' he values without giving into the temptation to develop the properties straight out the gate. I expect the recession and the continuing market shrinkage will cop the blame for the company's failure and Katz will return to the safe bet of re-packaging old movie franchises for new audiences.

Looking for big money in the comics industry is like hunting for fools gold: you may find something that looks like the real deal and shines bright in the sunlight; but if it's the rich rewards you really crave, you're digging in the wrong place.

Go off and make your movies and money, 'cause we're just making comics here.

-AK!

To hear Jeff Katz talk/hype 'American Original' in his own words, check out this clip from G4's 'Attack of the Show'.