Tag: interviews

Interview with Jordan Hembrough: The Toy Hunter

Jul. 15 News, Toy Collecting no comments

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Jordan Hembrough of the Travel Channel’s The Toy Hunter. Since Wonderworld Comics is a big seller of collectible toys, it made sense to interview Jordan Hembrough for this site. Can you think of a better way to officially launch the Toy Collecting section of this site?

Larry Poupard: What is the top item you would love to “discover” on a future episode of The Toy Hunter?

Jordan Hembrough: I am really intrigued right now by the Battlestar Gallactica line. There are some ships that are really rare and if I saw them, I would buy them right there. I would love to have some of those on the show.

Jordan Hembrough, The Toy Hunter

Jordan Hembrough, The Toy Hunter

Larry: Can you give me a few examples of toys you purchased before the show began which you wish could have been featured on the show?

Jordan Hembrough: Oh, sure. I have always been interested in Kenner toys. One day, a gentleman brought me an original wax sculpture of Boba Fett for the toy from Star Wars. It was the only sculpture of its kind in the world. I would have loved to have had the cameras rolling on that one.

Larry: What are your favorite items in your personal collection?

Jordan Hembrough: My vintage Star Wars toys. They are not worth a lot of money, but they are worth a lot to me.

Larry: Other than money, storage, and knowledge, what are the greatest obstacles a new toy collector or flipper is going to face?

Jordan Hembrough: Good question. They are going to need to really want to keep going. There are going to be times where you overpay for a toy or for a collection, but you are going to want to keep going. You are going to make mistakes, but that is just a factor of the game. You just need to keep going and going and going.

Larry: I am sure you have seen the negative press going on with Storage Wars and the insinuations of the placing of items by producers in the attempt to make a show look better.

Jordan Hembrough: (Smiling) Salting

Larry: Yes. Do you believe this type of publicity for Storage Wars will eventually have a negative impact on your show’s ratings?

Jordan Hembrough: That is an interesting question. [After a long pause] First and foremost, I think you need to remember something. This [Storage Wars] is a show, done for entertainment purposes and for educational purposes. Reality in real life is boring. Do you really want someone to look through a storage locker and not find anything? I think that if they were to make a little disclaimer, it might make the show a little easier to understand.

You know, there are times on our show when we don’t find anything, and it does not turn out they way we had expected, so we have to come up with a “Plan B.” This would be times in which we went through an entire questions really quickly or there was just nothing worthy of airtime.

You have to look at it this way. You are doing a show on TV. You are doing this show for entertainment purposes. While youa re not lying to anybody by salting or staging a little now and then, it is OK. The end result, the ultimate result, is entertainment and education. I believe that people as a whole, understand that it is a TV show.

Larry: For The Toy Hunter, would you say that education is more important, entertainment is more important, or is there some type of needed balance between the two?

Jordan Hembrough: They are both combined. They are both combined, because I am reminded every day by the numbers that the Travel Channel caters to a wide audience. While the network caters to a wide audience, we are geared towards a certain demographic. Not all of our fans are die-hard toy collectors. We cater to people who want to be entertained. We have to keep it lively and we have to keep it fun.

I am a die-hard collector. I am a geek. I am a dweeb. I love this. We are not just making a show for the half million to million people out there who are heavy collectors. We are also making a show for five million other people. We balance these two by making a show with both entertainment and education.

Larry: As a collector myself, I have noticed a huge advantage and disadvantage coming within the last few years which I would like to get your opinion on. Would you say that having Internet access on your phone during picks helps you more or hurts you more?

Jordan Hembrough: For the most part, it has helped me in buying because I can research on the fly. The negative with all of the specialized websites and auction sites is that any Tom, Dick, and Harry can go on the Internet anywhere and know what something is selling for or just went for. Generally, that is a good thing, however, they are taking all of this pricing to heart as doctrine. They do not know about all of the other factors of collecting in the world.

Maybe, the one guy in the world who was going to buy a particular item at a really high price just bought it. Maybe there is a huge warehouse find which just happened in the Midwest will flood the market with a certain toy and these toys which are selling for $500 are now only going to be worth $200. It is a double-edged sword, but for the most part, I find it very helpful.

Larry: I used to be a pulp collector but watched the market die when eBay and other sites became flooded with the short story magazines. Pulps which used to sell for $150 now sell for about $10 since there are so many at any given time on eBay. What type of collectible market or submarket, in your opinion, has been damaged the most by online selling?

Jordan Hembrough: That is a great question. I would say that it would probably be vintage Star Wars because now people realize how much there was of it. For so long, whenever I would mention vintage Star Wars, people would say “Oh, those must really be rare.” No, not rare. Now, vintage Star Wars toys are all over the place.

The problem came when people saw one or two items going for a bunch of money online and they went and pulled everything out and exclaimed “This is vintage Star Wars!” People think it is going to be worth millions, but it is not. Definitely, vintage Star Wars was impacted the most by online selling.

Larry: Is there a specific toy or line of toys which you are leery about buying because of the number of fakes out there.

Jordan Hembrough: I would say Transformers because there are many fakes and knock=offs coming out of Japan right now. Now, I don’t know everything there is about the Transformers market, but I have someone who works with me who can point out the bootlegs from Japan. I am often getting people saying they have original Transformers, but I am able to walk away from them. I might have to explain that, “Yes, those came from Japan, but they are not the real Transofrmers.”

Whenever you have a toy that is hot, there are going to be bootlegs and fakes. There will always be in this market. Because of that, Transformers scares the hell out of me right now. There are so many fakes rolling around that it is not a market worth trying.

I found Jordan Hembrough to be knowledgeable and approachable. I hope his show continues to be successful and look forward to seeing him again in the future. You can learn more about Jordan Hembrough, and his show, by following this link.

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Interview with Big Dog Ink’s Kimberly Hutchison About Women in Comic Book Industry

May. 09 Comic Book Collecting, News Comments Off on Interview with Big Dog Ink’s Kimberly Hutchison About Women in Comic Book Industry

Kimberly Hutchison is one of the co-owners of Big Dog Ink and is a rarity in the most male-dominated market of comic book publishers. I am honored to have been granted her first interview.

Big Dog Ink

Big Dog Ink

Larry Poupard: Do you face an uphill battle in the “old boys club” of the comic book industry?

Kimberly Hutchison: There is a certain lack of people taking a woman seriously, I suppose, but once they begin talking to you, they take you more seriously as a publisher. Of course, that is still not very much. I think that is a general consensus among many in the industry where they are more interested in “What you can do for me.” Until the mood changes among other publishers, that is going to remain the same for smaller publishers.

I personally seem to get overlooked more, so that is why I defer much of the business to Tom [her husband and the other co-owner of Big Dog Ink]. With Tom, he is male, and he is more of what everybody expects as the head of the company. We put him out there and he tends to be the one people see.

Larry Poupard: As a woman, what types of preconceptions do you face with potential fans when you are standing behind the booth at shows and conventions?

Kimberly Hutchison: This question is perfect. I think the best way to answer this is to describe an interaction I had with a fan about a month ago. We were at a small show and signed up with some other independent creators and someone with a few long boxes of comics.

A gentleman walks by and it was just Tom and I at the booth at the time. He saw me and did a double take before walking back.

He said, “So, you the artist’s girlfriend?”

I kind of rolled my eyes and said, “Nope.”

Then he said, “Sooo, you are the helper?”

“Nope”

I forget about what else he asked me, but it was equally condescending. It was something along the lines of being a female behind the table. Then he said, “What does a pretty young thing like you have to do with comic books?” I smiled and said, “Oh, I own the company.” He replied with, “Oh, well then. These [books] are nice looking,” and he walked away obviously feeling like a moron.

That is the general tendency, though. Usually when I am talking to fans they are really nice. Sometimes, though, I am asked what I do, or who I am married to. I find myself say, “Well, actually, I own the place.” I explain how I try to make sure everything runs smoothly in background. Sometimes they are surprised because I am a woman, but I sometimes get the reaction like I got from the gentleman at the show.

Larry Poupard: How do you think the industry would differ if there were more females in the front offices? [Diane Nelson is the president of DC Comics, but one or two do not equal equality]

Kimberly Hutchison: That is a hard question because I don’t know what we [Big Dog Ink] would do differently if we had a male CEO in charge of the company. I could see women being given more of an opportunity to create and publish in comics. For Big Dog Ink, Tom has a lot of say in female creators and he pushes for them too. Regardless of who comes through the door, if the person has talent and is good at art and is a good writer, you will get an opportunity.

I think we work with a lot of women in the company. As compared to men, I would have to do a count, but I think it is close to equal if not slightly tilting more on the women’s side. I think this is something which would change with more women in power.

I would love to see more female writers out there. I am really not sure why there are not more [female writers in the comic book industry]. In the literary world, there tends to be more female literary writers than male. For some reason that does not translate well to our field, and I don’t know why. I think more women in power could make that shift happen. I personally would love to see that happen as I would love to work with more female writers and read more. I think we [Big Dog Ink] are very good, though, at looking at all types of talent.

Larry Poupard: Do you think the problem resides in women not attempting to get their foot in the industry door, are they being overlooked, or that the “old boys club” just won’t allow them in?

Kimberly Hutchison: I think that there are so many male creators in the industry that many female writers are artists look at the industry as being a guy’s thing. I think right now more women are being invited in and back in as they are being show that these comics are for women as well. I think we are finding a new generation of readers with more women who are becoming readers. That is bringing them more into creative aspects. They are going to want to make comics and they are starting to pitch more.

I don’t like talking negatively about other companies. I think it is more a societal thing to discount women. I remember being at a show and hearing a certain comment. I applaud our creators for not saying anything to this gentleman.

We [Big Dog Ink] were at Wizard World Chicago last year and we had four artists with us. Three of them were women. I was talking to a gentleman who was buying a book and I told him that “We have some great artists here who are taking requests for commissions. Feel free to talk to them about that or anything else you might like.” He answered with “Oh, I am very picky about the art I have created for me from  my women artists.” It was right in front of the artists. We said “Bless your heart” and let him go on his merry way.

I think the comic book industry can make women feel like they are silenced and they might want to contribute in some way. I still think the societal aspect comes into play. I don’t have a psychology degree so I don’t know where to start to break it down but there is still a barrier to entry.

Larry Poupard: Three years ago, a few women started “Women in Horror Recognition Month” as a way to encourage more women to look at creative aspects in horror. The goal was to stop the mentality that women should only be scream queens in horror movies. Do you believe the comic book industry needs a similar organized push or do you believe the current trends will continue on their own and provide more opportunities for women?

Kimberly Hutchison: I have not seen the numbers myself. I know that there are sites which track the number of minority creators and I believe they also track the number of women. The actual stats are not published and I believe the sites try to build these stats on their own by using their best guesses based on names. Since we have a gentleman who works here [Big Dog Ink] by the name of Shannon and a gentleman who worked here Alison, I can see how the statistics might be wrong if they are simply going by names. It would be pulling teeth to get a publisher to actually give up that information.

Just from working at shows and convention, I can tell you that most of the women I see in artists alley on a regular basis are pigeonholed into the fantasy genre. There are definitely other representations which are lost with artists and writers who work in other genres. It [an organized push for more females in the industry] is definitely something I would encourage.

Madame Xanadu, I believe the last volume to come out, had all female artists involved in the project. The originalregular artists, whose art got me interested in the book in the first place, was a woman. I did not even realize that until I was part of the way in. That was a very notable endeavor. I believe Gail Simone is doing the same thing right now with Red Sonja.

I am all for a push. A dedicated month or a single event might be hard, but I think projects like those I mentioned should be encouraged by publishers. They help to show women on an equal basis.

To learn more about Big Dog Ink, please follow this link.

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Bruce Boxleitner’s Lantern City: An Interview with the Creators

May. 09 News, TV & Movies no comments

Bruce Boxleitner’s Lantern City is a new TV show being worked on by Bruce Boxleitner (who you might know from Tron, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, and Babylon 5), Trevor Crafts (Executive Producer), and Matthew James Daley (Writer). It is a stempunk story which is sure to get genre fans popping. A Lantern City graphic novel is also being worked on. I had the opportunity to sit down at C2E2 with the three gentlemen in charge of the project.

From left - Mathew James Delay, Bruce Boxleitner, Larry Poupard, and Trevor Crafts. We discussed Bruce Boxleitner's Lantern City at C2E2.

From left – Mathew James Daley, Bruce Boxleitner, Larry Poupard, and Trevor Crafts. We discussed Bruce Boxleitner’s Lantern City at C2E2.

Larry Poupard: Why did you pursue the steampunk genre for Lantern City?

Trevor Crafts: I think that one of the things we found interesting about the steampunk genre is that we found a huge tidal wave of people who were building and making and creating. I have always been a fan of historical fiction and I felt it was something which was right on the cutting edge right now and nobody had really cracked the code. Nobody had figured out how to do something which would be a really dynamic show or film which really embraced the steampunk ideals.

So we decided to go about it in exactly the opposite direction with Lantern City than what people usually do with. We decided to engage the fan base first and talk to the steampunk community about what they wanted in a show. We wanted to get the ideal of the visual look and the feal. That was one of the jumping-off point. I had the idea of Lantern City and brought Bruce Boxleitner in during the very early stages. This composed most of our very early conversations in just seeing what this group of people had done and knowing this was the group we wanted to engage with.

Bruce Boxleitner: I was always fascinated by it [steampunk] but I just didn’t know what it was called. Steampunk? I thought “What does that mean? Steampunk?” I do not think that there is one definite definiation. I think ours is just going to be an interpretation. I think Hollywood has used it by dancing around it with League or Extraordinary Gentlemen and Wild Wild West. I think ours is going to be a unique world which is going to blend all interpretations and people who really love stempunk are going to see something they like in Lantern City.

Larry Poupard: The write-ups so far about Lantern City talk about how the land is ruled by a totalitarian family. Many steampunk stories incorporate political commentaries about totalitarianism, fascism, or other types of fringe political beliefs. Is political commentary going to be a major talking point for Lantern City or is it simply going to play in the background?

Matthew James Daley: It is impossible for that [political commentary] to play in the background of Lantern City because it is too prevalent in the world we created. Now we are not going to spend half of every episode talking about politics around a parlor. The politics of this world, which is a totalitarian world, runs so deeply in everyone from the top to the bottom. We did not set out to make political statements in Lantern City, it is in our world and it needs to be addressed in every episode more through the characters and through the action.

Trevor Crafts: One thing I would like to add to that is that Matt has created this wonderful three-tiered society. The Grey Empire is the top tier. The “worker class” is at the next tier down and they basically make and function. Now we find out there is this growing underground where you live entirely on your own without any rules and it is a very violent place. You can starve to death or die very quickly in this part of Lantern City.

Going back to your first question, I think the society in Lantern City is interesting because we can showcase all of the different styles of steampunk within each of those three strata of society where all of that political pulling and pushing happens.

Matthew James Daley: With the underground, the main question you would ask yourself if you fled from society to live there is “What price is my freedom?” because every day is a battle to survive. You are not under the federal regime, but you can’t trust anyone who says they have your back. Even for the people organizing and running it, it is a very dangerous place but very exciting too.

Bruce Boxleitner: We can definitely reflect on current stories. Science fiction has always been very good in that way because you can comment on modern society without slamming a message in your head about how we are taking a side. This Lantern City is a world unto itself but I believe we can reflect modern anxieties without an issue.

Matthew James Daley: The aspects we look at such as the loss of freedom and what you are willing to give up are key in Lantern City. That [giving up for freedom] is one of the central questions of the show.

Bruce Boxleitner: You security would be a big thing. In all strata in society, people have to wonder how secure they are in that particular strata. This particular question is a movement in all societies throughout the years. Not just in the modern, but during Bolshevism and other times as well.

Larry Poupard: Most of the people you have signed for the show so far have worked on science fiction in the past. Did you go after these actors specifically to share in their fan bases or because they might have more of an open mind to use for understanding the world of Lantern City? Is it an amalgamation of the two?

Trevor Crafts: It is definitely an amalgamation of the two. I was thinking from the very beginning about who I would cast in the various roles for Lantern City, and there are still very many left to fill. Matt built a world in which there is over forty different characters that all intertwine together.

I think, for me, there is a unique aspect of television where you can innately understand when people are really working well together. The group of people we started to put together for Lantern City has people who already know each other and have camaraderie. You are right, these people have a base understand of the genre and a love for the genre which comes through.

That is one of the reasons why Firefly was so popular. It was a good show, but there was this “perfection” in casting where you had this group of people who you learned to love or hate depending on their character. That is something we are trying to replicate. We want to have that group…that cast that loves going to work every day and loves what they do because that is going to come through in their performances. They are all genre fans, and they have genre fan bases so that is all factors in.

Matthew James Daley: They have not had any genre-based questions and questions about genre elements, which is great, because I was expecting to have to explain things. That is just great. They got it, especially John…

Bruce Boxleitner: John Ryes-Davies. I originally met him in London. I worked with him back on Scarecrow & Mrs. King back in 1984 so I did have a small acquaintance with him. We met up with him at Dragon Con and we gave him a script. He wrote us, I don’t know how many pages.

Trevor Crafts: He came up to you first, didn’t he? He said “I heard about this new show you are working on.”

Bruce Boxleitner: Yes, he was dressed very nicely and was a proper British gentleman. Here is was in the hot summer sun in Atlanta in a full suit, and he was great. I want this to be gotten straight…he came to us. Most of the actors have done so including, just recently, Gigi [Edgley from Farscape].

I am the only one at this table who has been in a sci-fi ensemble, and I know that is what I want to relive again. Maybe from a different aspect. During the best years of Babylon 5 we had the best cast. To find that is like lightning in a bottle. I think that when we have actors from this genre, there is identification right away with them from the audience. We don’t have to introduce them necessarily before or during Lantern City. There will be a couple we might have to, but the audience will get it right away with Lantern City. We are targeting an audience right now, and they will bring all the others in with them. My experience at Babylon 5 is what turned me on to this project when Trevor brought it to me. I want to go through this again.

Larry Poupard: You stated that you took this project to the fans first. How are you preparing yourself to deal with a fan base which can get very technical about a type of technology which has never truly existed?

[All three men laugh]

Bruce Boxleitner: Exactly!

Matthew James Daley: I think with where we are right now in production I fell – and I have always felt this way and am very specific about this – is that there has to be a blending of the real and the created. By “the real,” I mean real sets and the Lantern Guard in Lantern City needs to be real and touchable. We have built some of those sets and some of those costumes already. Things like the skyline can be CGI.

Somebody asked us when we were building the plan if Lantern City was just going to be a CGI show. To some extent, what show is not a CGI show these days? If you think about a show like Star Trek or Babylon 5, there were elements which were CGI-created, but there were aspects of “the real” there. Some great movies like District 9 have CGI, but there is a lot of “the real.” We have made many great pieces and augmented them.

What that means for production, where are we going to go for production? There is a lot of great production happening in Eastern Europe where wider spaces are a little bit more attainable. Like in Dune, we will build as much as we can for “the real,” and then we can simply augment with CGI.

Bruce Boxleitner: What is great is that we have the technology now to help us create these worlds. We can make these cityscapes now. Years ago, it would have been so expensive; a project like Lantern City would have never gotten off the ground.

You can learn more about Bruce Boxleitner’s Lantern City by following this link to its official site.

Personally, I am looking forward to seeing more about Lantern City in the near future.

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Interview with John Layman About Detective Comics and Processes

May. 06 Comics, News no comments

While I was covering C2E2, I had the opportunity to sit down with John Layman and talk about various aspects of his career and the titles he writes for.

John Layman

John Layman

Larry Poupard: You write for both DC Comics [Detective Comics] and Image[Chew]. What unique challenges and conflicts do you face in creating product for two companies which creators who only write for one company do not face?

John Layman: Well, at Image, you don’t have an editor. You are writing on a tightrope without a net. Whereas with Batman, you are not only writing for an editor and a wider audience, but Batman has five other books in the whole interconnected universe. You have to worry about tying in other events and crossovers because there might be something big happening in Scott Snyder’s book or in someone else’s. With one book, I am playing God while I am playing a ship’s captain in the other in which I have to guide the ship and avoid the icebergs.

Larry Poupard: You mentioned the continuity with Batman over multiple titles. Do you find yourself communicating more with other writers about what is being done or with the main offices of DC Comics?

John Layman: Both. I try to keep myself as open as possible with other writers. Everyone knows my aim and anyone can do a drive by or call me to ask me any kind of questions. The writers are very good about coordinating that. I used to be an editor so I am very aware of how to roll with the punches. You gotta be willing to make things mesh.

There is a thing I like to do myself. In the current thing I am writing right now I’ve got this jump cut of Batman doing various fights. I might say to someone that I don’t know what to have drawn in this particular frame. I don’t want Batman just fighting a bad guy so tell me who he should be fighting [to go along with] who he is fighting in another book. When people read that they will say something like “Oh that is what is going on in Batman & Robin #21,” or whatever. This helps with the overall system of continuity.

Larry Poupard: In Detective Comics, you introduced Man-Bat while tackling the 900 story. Is there a difference between introducing a previously developed character in the New 52 than there is with introducing a new character which has never seen print before?

John Layman: The thing is that these characters all work and everyone knows them. In some ways, you are revisiting familiar ground but it is also an opportunity to wipe away the statements people might ask about “Do you have to read 70 years of Batman?” No, because that is the glory of the New 52.

It is cool if you already know Man-Bat because you have the opportunity to see this classic story again. You can watch as we revisit something old and reinvent it at the same time. In some ways it is a cheat because some of the work has been done for you. The most liberating part, though, is not having to worry about what happened in 1974 or in Detective Comics #681. I am a bit of a lazy person so it is really good.

I always site someone like Mark Waid who is just a living encyclopedia and has all these trivia questions and knows everything. I don’t. Even if I read something, I don’t necessarily retain it. So the fact that I don’t have to adhere to all of this archaic continuity is a good thing for me.

Larry Poupard: Each Batman supervillain is unique and creates interesting types of challenges for Batman. Which member of the Rogue’s Gallery which you have not worked with is at the top of your list to work with in the future because he or she would fit in best with your story and which fit would be the most difficult?

John Layman: Two-Face, yes. I am kind of glad that Joke is kinda off the books for right now. Joke is too dark at this point for my story. When Joker comes in, he does horrible things and sends out his “psychic reverberations. I was glad I got to touch on that, but he is the one I want to work with the least. Since Scott Snyder just did this history Joker story [Death of the Family], I don’t really have to for a while.

Two-Face is the one I have been dying to use for long time now. I keep trying to. I keep trying to squeeze him in, but then I say “No, it is not time now.” I am going to get Two-Face before the end of my run.

There are many different aspects which make [Two-Face] interesting. There is the “law” aspect and the split personality aspect which Batman has too, just in a less obvious way than Two-Face. He is someone I am going to use before the end. I just don’t know when the end will come.

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