BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO Mix Scooby Doo with Dirt and add in a little of The X-Files and you've got a good idea of what Brian Maze's Freak Central series is all about. Featuring the misadventures of a beautiful reporter and a monkeygoatboy, Freak Central investigates all sorts of odd occurrences. The pair are up against some killer puppets now. Maze tells us how they got into this predicament and what might be next for the pair ... if they survive.
THE PULSE: I guess one of the first questions I'm left with after flipping through Freak Central is why a monkeygoatboy? I mean, don't get me wrong, he has a lot of charm, but ... what ever possessed you to want to use it in a story like this?
BRIAN MAZE: Monkeygoatboy and Freak Central itself are a play on supermarket tabloids like "The Weekly World News" But in this case all the stories are true, just no one believes them, except for the fanatics. And characters like Bigfoot, the dog-faced boy, and Monkeygoatboy work for the newspaper as well as humans.
THE PULSE: The series is a lot of fun, kind of like a Dirt meets Scooby Doo or something. I know you first came up with this idea in 2003 as a web comic, but what made you return to it now?
MAZE: I have always loved drawing comics, but I got burnt out working on a week to week web comic schedule. I found myself crunching at the last minute to finish the strip and I was never happy with the rushed result. So after a 6 month run I dropped the strip, and moved on . After a few years I came back to the idea of putting a comic book together. And Freak Central was one idea that stood out.
THE PULSE: How is what you're doing now with Freak Central different than what you did for the online incarnation of the series?
MAZE: The premise is the same, but it was more office based and written for a newspaper four panel comic. And I changed the main character from a male lead to a female. I liked the dynamic of Cassandra and monkeygoatboy.
THE PULSE: Why, out of everything you could have been doing, did you return to the pages of Freak Central now and move its adventures offline?
MAZE: I returned to Freak Central first because a fellow comic book artist friend of mine loved the Monkeygoatboy character and threatened to steal him if I didn't do something with him in the next year. So I started working on some new material. As far as going offline with FC, I like working on projects in chunks. After a series of short lived ideas or dropped projects, I got a great sense of accomplishment upon finishing the first book. When I worked online, I was writing strip to strip, and didn't see any real milestones.
THE PULSE: Who did you base Cassandra Jones upon? Is she a combo of real women you know or movie stars or something else? She kind of seems like a real Lois Lane type, but what else went into her?
MAZE: A lot of her is from some close friends of mine with very strong personalities.
I will say Lynda Carter just to get it out of the way, although that may seem cliche. I am really influenced by Rosario Dawson, She has a great screen presence and I think I always in vision her when I think of Cassandra.
THE PULSE: When I saw your villains the Cannibalistic Hungry Underground Puppets a,k.a. the C.H.U.Ps., I immediately remembered this really bad horror movie C.H.U.D., were you influenced by those creatures in your little demonic puppets?
MAZE: Definitely, C.H.U.P. is a direct parody of that movie "but with puppets". The key to any great work of art (tongue firmly in cheek) is to take someone else's idea and add "but with puppets". Imagine the possibilities of Psycho. The shower scene alone.
THE PULSE: How did you come up with the ideas for the C.H.U.P.s? They are very disturbing.
MAZE: I grew up watching a lot of really bad horror films and the Muppet show. I could watch any blob, Godzilla, mutant alligator movie, but somehow I always ended up on the Muppet show. So I married the two and came up with the idea of feral puppets.
THE PULSE: With your monkeygoatboy Steve working side-by-side with Cassandra and other "humans" and puppets who can talk, think, and everything else; what is the world of Freak Central like? Is "freak" the norm?
MAZE: The world is normal as far as everyone knows. The outside world doesn't take the newspaper seriously. The town where Freak central currently takes place is like Sunnydale from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but my characters have no interest in fighting monsters they would rather report news about them. a lot of the characters are living behind the scenes so they aren't noticed, but with Monkeygoatboy, I tend to think that most people day to day don't really pay attention to details or focus in anything outside of their personal world, so they think he is like everyone else, just odd looking.
THE PULSE: How did you decide your art style for this? What kind of look did you want for Freak Central?
MAZE: It took me forever to get the look for the first book the way I wanted it. I wanted something that was fun but also kind of dark. I always liked the darker cartoons when I was a kid, Space Ghost, Scooby Doo before it was toned down, Johnny Quest.
THE PULSE: What or who influenced your art the most in these pages?
MAZE: Frank Cho, Mike Mignola, Alex Toth's artwork is amazing. That had a big influence on lighting for dramatic effect.
THE PULSE: What will your production schedule be like for Freak Central and will these always be done in the five by seven size or will you do full size comics?
MAZE: I plan to finish this story arc in the third issue, which I hope to have finished over the summer in time for Baltimore. The third issue will be printed 5x7, but after that I am not sure.
Now that I have the first two issues stockpiled I will be posting them online soon at least once a week for the entire story arc. After that I will have to see.
THE PULSE: What's coming up in Freak Central provided Cassandra and Steve live through the C.H.U.Ps. attack?
MAZE: Good question. I have a few ideas, but I don't like to think too far ahead until I have finished what is on my plate. More monsters and more character development.
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
MAZE: No other projects at the moment. Once I finish the third issue, I will need something to cleanse the palette, hopefully with less puppets.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
