Pop Thought -- Joe Hilliard

As you will see in the following interview, Jason Whiton is a man of many facets. Cartoonist. Filmmaker. Teacher. Author. The University Press of Mississippi in its "Conversations with Comic Artists" series recently published his current book, Mort Walker Conversations. This work neatly complements Walker's own Mort Walker's Private Scrapbook from a few years ago. Consider it an advanced studies course after the basics on Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois, and the rest of the gang. If you have an interest in comic strip creation and history, then get Whiton's book. Currently on summer break from his teaching position at The Putney School, Jason was kind enough to take time for this email interview.

Snoopy fighting the Red Baron--that's what made me a fan. What inspired me to be a cartoonist was seeing adults in my life doing it. It amazed me that they could draw any request I made--like a visual jukebox. Chance Browne (son of Dik "Hagar the Horrible" Browne) became a kind of big brother/mentor to me when I was little. He once drew a fake business card for me like the one in Have Gun Will Travel! He was this dashing young artist/musician who'd come over to record in my dad's studio. I remember he walked in one day and said "Check out my dad's new strip." He handed me the first Hagar book and my life changed forever. People actually drew these fantastic things for a living? Chance also gave me my first guitar. Writing this now, I wonder if that kind of support is what also inspired me to be a cartoon art and guitar teacher? Hmm... Thanks, Chance!

2. In your book you mention that you were neighbor to Dik Browne as a child. What was it like growing up next to a family like the Brownes?

Amazing. I was very close to Chance because he was at my house so much of the time. I guess once the ice was broken, I just started riding my bike over to their house to hang out after school. Sometimes I'd bring my girlfriend (I was advanced for 4th grade), but usually I'd go alone to be with Dik and Chris (#2 son). These guys were so supportive. Half the time they were feeding me snacks and offering up their swimming pool. My biggest memories, though, are of hanging out in the basement studio watching them work. I have great memories of Chris showing me his various projects. And Dik would always send me home with copies of all the new Hagar books. Dik was famous for passing Hagar gags around to guests. He and Mort Walker (they did Hi & Lois together) always graded gags to narrow down the best for publication. I think this spirit carried through in the way Dik and Chris treated me. They always asked if I had ideas for gags, and, as a kid, that inspired me to think about writing and drawing as a craft.

3. How did you get involved with the University Press of Mississippi’s "Conversations with Comic Artists" series?

I originally proposed a Paul McCartney book! I was really hot to do a Paul project, but the Press has a clear focus on film directors and cartoonists. I was publishing gags in national magazines at the time and sending strips to the syndicates. I was going to the National Cartoonists Society dinners twice a year with Chance and finally getting to know Mort Walker, his sons Brian and Greg, and his assistant Bill Janocha. It was mostly out of love and respect for the Browne/Walker guys that inspired me to ask the Press if I could put together the book. Brian Walker was in line to do it, but he passed it to me so he could do his two-volume comic history for Abrams. Brian and Bill helped me set up times to visit, Mort pulled out his Army foot locker of clippings, and off I went!

4. What was it like working with a college press? How involved were you in the final product?

The Press assembled a helpful team of people who stayed in good e-mail touch with me. In fact, I think the whole project was done over email! I had control over pretty much every aspect of the book. Mort, Brian, and Bill were incredibly supportive in helping me track down interviews, articles, and good copies of Mort's work for reproduction. The two most challenging things were tracking down permissions to re-print things, and ultimately the SIZE of the book. Mort is the most productive man on the planet, and I had to edit out a huge amount of material to adhere to the needs of the Press. I think the illustrations were cut from about 150 down to about 30. And I had to cut a bunch of articles Mort had written about himself over the years because they wanted to maintain a focus on interviews. That said, however, I think the collection that came together in the book tells his story well.

This is a guy who started selling cartoons at age eleven! He's been the top selling gag cartoonist in the country. He syndicated Beetle Bailey on his first submission, and then went on to syndicate many more strips. He was chief editorial designer for Hallmark Cards, president of the National Cartoonists Society, and Dik Browne's best friend and collaborator. Mort has a kind of boyish enthusiasm and inventiveness that I find wonderfully contagious. And his career has reflected interesting changes in both the comic business and in American culture. I knew we could learn a lot by studying Mort, so I charged ahead. The project was also a nice way for me to celebrate the Browne/Walker family relationship: two generations of collaboration on Hi & Lois, two generations working on Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible. I find that really compelling.

Bill says Mort sat down by the door and just started reading the whole thing. Mort sent me a nice letter saying how much he appreciated my efforts and commitment, and about how the book brought back lots of great memories. I have a lot of love and respect for Mort, so it felt good to hear that. I'm still waiting to see how the book is received among the comic fans and scholars.

7. With Fantagraphics in the midst of their Complete Peanuts project, the recent collection of The Far Side, and the forthcoming Dennis the Menace and Calvin & Hobbes projects, which strips do you think are ripe to be given the complete collection treatment?

Hagar the Horrible and B.C. They really should be in print- especially the early years of these strips.

8. Tell us a little bit about your screenwriting. I know your newest script, Romancing the Dead, recently won the Columbine Award for Best Feature Screenplay at the Moondance Film Festival.

And it just made Finalist at this year's Script P.I.M.P competition! I'll hear the results in late July. I'm also waiting on Nicholl Fellowship and Sundance results. Romancing The Dead was really fun to write. It's a quirky romantic comedy about a divorcee in the afterlife who must leave his hipster fantasies and memories behind so he can grow and find love again. Hey, it's about a movie-obsessed guy who drives a vintage jag and wears Mod suits- 'Nuff said!

What can I say about screenwriting? I absolutely love it. I've channeled years of cartooning, writing, photography, filmmaking, and music into a medium that can draw on all of my talents and my overall obsession with film. I love everything about the process. It's fun to develop stories. It's even more fun to revise. When I'm not teaching, I put every minute into planning, writing, re-writing, and into submitting to agents and producers.

9. And your previous script, The Bonsai, took home several awards last year?

Yes, it also won a Best Feature Screenplay award, as well as a number of awards at national festivals. The Bonsai is a drama about a Japanese man who overcomes isolation when he experiences the history of a mystical Bonsai tree. I lived in Japan for over four years, so it was a fun way to channel my observations into a story. The plot came from seeing an exhibit in Tokyo of Bonsai-- some over 500 years old! Who nurtured a tree through the civil wars, the feudal era, the westernization, the war, etc? And what if the tree was like a witness and confidant to its owners over the years? Bingo- The Bonsai was born.

I'm also making and submitting short films to festivals. I have two right now that were shot in Japan (one is Beatles-related!). Script-wise, I'm writing a feature horror screenplay, as well as some horror scripts for comic books. Some of my scripts are in line to be in upcoming issues of Western Tales of Terror, and I'm really looking for projects and writing assignments with other comic publishers.

10. You run a weekly film series in Vermont. What filmmakers would you say were the most influential on your work?

My faves that translate closest to my own screenwriting work are Wes Anderson and Woody Allen. I think I strive for a balance of quirky humor, fantasy, and deep, human moments. But hands down, Fellini is my favorite filmmaker. I'm thinking of 8 1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, Toby Dammit, Amarcord-- Fellini had a few periods, but I think he's a genius. He started as a cartoonist! I love how he weaves reality and fantasy together, and I'm a sucker for his visual style coupled with Nino Rota's music.

11. And your guilty pleasure films? Russ Meyer? Santo? Reese Witherspoon? Clue us in.

It's all about erotic Euro spy films, shows, and soundtracks of the 60s. I was hooked by The Prisoner and The Avengers as a kid, and it just grew into an obsession that included, shall we say, some of the less sophisticated additions to the genre. I love to see guys in Mod suits riding in E-Type Jaguars with hot Euro babes in sunglasses, okay? My all-time fave? The 10th Victim with Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress. Right now I'm also into Danger Diabolik (my friend Steve Bissette does a featurette on the DVD). My screenplay, Romancing The Dead, was in many ways a chance for me to examine my own love of this genre and think about how it's influenced me.

12. It seems your creative impulses are all over the place: writing, photography, drawing, filmmaking. How involved were your parents in encouraging your creative endeavors?

As of a couple of years ago, I've really channeled all of my energy into writing comics and films. It's important to me to stay focused and push for work over the long haul. But whatever the medium, my family has always been supportive of my projects. I come from a long line of creative types, so I think they understood me. They encouraged my love of the Arts. Presents were often things to fuel my passions: Beatles records, movie books, comic books, etc. And they always made sure I had materials to work with.

13. How has teaching photography at The Putney School shaped your thinking about art?

Well, I think the spirit loves to respond to the world around it, you know? I believe everyone can tap into something, make observations, and, through exploration, can express experiences with some amount of personal voice. For some of my students, it's still photography that becomes the visual language to do this. For others I work with, it's filmmaking, writing, comics, or playing music. Through teaching, through my own work, and through talking with Mort Walker, I've also learned that the mind has an infinite ability to create ideas out of thin air. Pull a word out of a hat and write for one minute, for example, and the words pull you into a place that is completely unexpected. Songwriting is really like this sometimes. It's like the song already exists and we just pluck the melody out of the air. Even Richard Avedon said he felt this sensation in creating his images. I think that is awesome (in the traditional sense of the word)!

Get excited about their choices and talk with them about their process. Remember that they are exploring a language, like when they were first trying to form words, but it's not often a literal language. Celebrate the solutions they explore, encourage them to find new solutions, and to keep growing. It's important to build confidence, and to always leave a little carrot of a challenge that will inspire them to push further. I think my family often said, "That's neat! What's next?"

The Who-- Tommy. Isn't it amazing when they transition through the story from power chords to "See me. Feel me. Touch me. Heal me."? It's like Fellini, or Calvin and Hobbes-- they can put so much of the human experience into one simple sequence.

I'd like to thank Jason for taking the time for this interview. You can see more of Jason's work at http://www.jasonwhiton.com. Mort Walker Conversations and the rest of the "Conversations with Comic Artists" series are available from the publisher, University of Mississippi Press at www.upress.state.ms.us.

Update: Jason's script The Bonsai is a Finalist at this year's Script P.I.M.P competition. Congratulations, Jason!

GretaLyons
7/17/2010 5:07:02 AM

If you're in a not good position and have no money to go out from that point, you would have to take the loans. Just because that should aid you definitely. I take secured loan every single year and feel good just because of this.

Thought Balloons with Jason Whiton