Razor Blade Ready - An interview with the creator of The Blonde Assassin
Razor Blade Ready
Originally Jason Dube, a long time friend in the world of comics, clued me in to this interesting project he was drawing for Wham Bang Comics. It’s called “The Blonde Assassin”–and if anyone knows anything about the Swenson Funnies site then you know my love for lowbrow humor and pulp. What a great title for a comic book series.
What’s even more interesting is how it got started and how Frenchy, a former pornstar soon to be porn star again got involved (you can read the original post on that tidbit on my Popped Culture Blog). Here’s Ben Tinsley. Let the blood flow…
SWENSON FUNNIES: First of all, what I think readers will be interested to hear is that you originally had an arrangement with Frenchy from Rock of Love and Rock of Love Charm School to–was it promote the comicbook? Was the character supposed to be based on Frenchy? What’s the story there?
BEN TINSLEY: We asked Frenchy to join us after we had already plotted out most of the comic book. The idea was that her celebrity and our story would go together to make for a successful package. But we were working together on a “gentleman’s agreement” with no contract, which was a dumb idea on my part. So when Frenchy decided to bail, we took her name off the book and proceeded ahead with the story. I wasn’t too worried about her leaving, since she was never part of the conceptualization, plotting, writing or art process. Her main contribution was telling us to make everything as pink as possible.
We always had a character named “The Blonde Assassin” — wayyy before we met Frenchy — but she was more of a secondary character to El Diablo, who is her CIA partner in the story. When Frenchy agreed to join us, we pumped The Blonde Assassin character up and made it the lead.
SWENSON FUNNIES: What is the background on The Blonde Assassin or her real name is Giselle Morgaine (or is that her real name)? How much can you let us know ahead of time before issue 2?
BEN TINSLEY: There are lots of surprises that will unfold in the future issues. There’s a touch of the supernatural (for instance, did anyone notice a werewolf in one of the panels on the second page?) and there are some BAD things about Surrender and El Diablo that you don’t know that will come to light fairly quickly. We’ll find out more about Ray, the blue guy, and about the man who killed Surrender’s sister. You’ll recall we left him bleeding pretty badly.
SWENSON FUNNIES: The first issue is pretty bloody–but it is about an assassin–how did you decide to go in this direction? I’ve also never seen work like this from Jason Dube, your artist. What did he say when you approached him on doing so much violence? And of course your colorist Kristoffer Condes–he made the blood red.
BEN TINSLEY: Jason is an amazing, ethical, artist. He won’t do sex scenes. But he was fairly flexible about the violence — particularly the creative way it was handled in issue one. (Intestines falling out of carved bodies onto hotel lobby floors, Surrender singing to one of her victims as his throat leaks his life’s blood onto the floor.) Not that sure about Kristoffer. Jason is the one who speaks to Kristoffer the most.
My rule of thumb is this: When considering violence or sex for a WBC comic book I will ALWAYS use Jason as my moral barometer. He never fails me and we always end up getting the best, most edgy stuff in a comic without stepping over the line.
SWENSON FUNNIES: I recognize the “Blue Guy” from the other comic title “Night Owl.” Are you trying to stick within one universe so that characters will crossover into other stories? Is Wham Bang Comics expanding its characters and storylines to more titles?
BEN TINSLEY: Yup. The blue guy is called “Blue Blazer” by Night Owl and acts as kind of a guardian for the 12-year-old Shaman superhero in his title. (Why? Keep reading) Over in The Blonde Assassin, the blue guy is called “Ray” and he acts as El Diablo’s secret teleporting weapon. (Why? See previous answer.)
We’re totally sticking to one universe. Expect to see lots of characters cross over into our existing titles. We have at a total of five properties we’d like to see in title form in the next few years.
SWENSON FUNNIES: When is issue 2 due out? What kind of schedule is The Blonde Assassin on as far as releases?
BEN TINSLEY: Not really sure. Money’s tight and we’re only able to work on one project at a time. Next few months probably. Keep reading. We’ll keep you informed.
SWENSON FUNNIES: Where can we get copies of Blonde Assassin Issue #1 ? Online or is it available anywhere else?
BEN TINSLEY: The best place to buy it right now is www.comiXpress.com.
SWENSON FUNNIES: Thanks for taking the time to update us The Blonde Assassin. Any upcoming events or promotions with Wham Bang Comics that readers should know about?
BEN TINSLEY: Keep reading www.myspace.com/whambangcomics for future WBC developments!
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