Fantastic Brendan McCarthy Interview - Zaucer of Zilk

[Satanist]

Next Year? Thats ages away. DO WANT!

[Emperor]

Thought I'd hijack this post for another Brendan Mccarthy interview that went slightly under the radar (as The Clare Champion isn't really a very high profile publication outside of its circulation area):

The creator of a new, internationally-released graphic novel The Zaucer of Zilk has given new life to some of Clare's streetscapes in this popular comic strip.

The Zaucer of Zilk creator Brendan McCarthy, whose parents hail from Mullagh in West Clare, spent last summer in the family home. Needing some photographic locations for the story's opening scenes, he headed for Miltown Malbay and Ennis with his ideas and a digital camera.

"I was living back in West Clare last summer and that's when I started drawing the comic artwork, after the scripts had been approved. I needed some locations and I had decided to use treated photographic backgrounds for some of the pictures. Miltown Malbay was perfect for the look I was after, which is based on the opening Liverpool part of the Yellow Submarine film.

"Also, some of the shop fronts in Ennis were used and the interior of one of the old-style sweetshops that are still going strong in the town. The beautiful old shop fronts of these Clare towns were perfect for the design of the strip - after getting lots of digital Photoshop treatment to make them look rainy and forbidding," he told The Clare Champion.

Brendan's parents met and married in London in the 1950s. Although Brendan was brought up in London, he spent much of his childhood in Clare, playing amongst the haystacks and fairy forts where the local folklore and Celtic legends had a big impression on his young imagination.

The Zaucer of Zilk is Brendan's latest creation and starts this week in the popular weekly UK comic book 2000AD, which is home for the famous Judge Dredd strip. It will also be republished as a comic series in the USA and then collected into a graphic novel later in the year.

www.clarechampion.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9805:west-clare-goes-graphic-for-zaucer-of-zilk&catid=75:books&Itemid=44

Insert jokes about not needing Photoshop to make Ireland look rainy here.

[TordelBack]

Great find, Emperor! The sweetshops of Ennis were haunts of my own youthful (and very rainy) summers, nice to think they've made it into the Prog in such high style.  One of those Clare shopfronts Brendan refers to may even have been the legendary "P. Ennis Butcher" (although I think that was in Ennistymon or Lahinch), which reduced my brothers and I to incoherent tears of laughter every time we passed it...

[ming]

One of those Clare shopfronts Brendan refers to may even have been the legendary "P. Ennis Butcher" (although I think that was in Ennistymon or Lahinch), which reduced my brothers and I to incoherent tears of laughter every time we passed it...

Heh, similar to the 'Brian Pickles Lawnmowers' establishment I seem to remember seeing in Ilkley some years back - seemed like a strange hobby, but there y'go.

Thanks for the info, Emps!  I didn't connect the rainy streets opening with Yellow Submarine but it's obvious now you mention it, and fits well with Errol Raine - who reminded me of a Blue Meanie from the get-go.

That collected edition will be great.

[ming]

There are a few threads dealing with The Zaucer so I wasn't sure where it was best to put this...

Anyway, The Strangeness... has posted the IDW Zaucer news.  Will be published over two issues including six pages of character designs and sketches (according to Brendan).  Looking forward to this one.

http://strangenessofbrendanmccarthy.blogspot.no/2012/07/zaucer-of-zilk-usa.html

[ming]

More on this, from IDW:

http://www.idwpublishing.com/news/article/2357/

[Colin YNWA]

Glad to read that they are over-sized so hopefully they'll be no cropping or squashing of the art.

[Colin YNWA]

If this wasn't so vague I'd have given it a shiny new thread, as it is Rich Johnson, in maximum gossip mode seems to be suggesting that there's going to a collection of McCarthy and Milligans work.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07/19/zaucer-of-zilk-now-milligan-mccarthy-later/

Which would be numbingly good!

[ming]

If this wasn't so vague I'd have given it a shiny new thread, as it is Rich Johnson, in maximum gossip mode seems to be suggesting that there's going to a collection of McCarthy and Milligans work.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07/19/zaucer-of-zilk-now-milligan-mccarthy-later/

Which would be numbingly good!

I just asked Brendan, and it's all on the level.

"it should all be out in a tpb collection next year"

Woo-hoo!

[Frank]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07/19/zaucer-of-zilk-now-milligan-mccarthy-later/quote]

I just asked Brendan, and it's all on the level.

"it should all be out in a tpb collection next year"

Woo-hoo!

They might as well have a direct debit on my bank account for that collection, but I never thought I'd see it. How the fuck did they sort out all the rights from so many different publishers? Whichever Gordy untied that knot for IDW should be immediately assigned to clearing the rights to publish Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman's Marvel/Miracleman work.

Ming, do you think it's worth pointing out to Brendan that the high profile launch of two such substantial volumes of his work means there'll probably never be a better time to bash out another print run of Swimini Purpose?

[ming]

Ming, do you think it's worth pointing out to Brendan that the high profile launch of two such substantial volumes of his work means there'll probably never be a better time to bash out another print run of Swimini Purpose?

Heh, I think he knows how much people want another crack at Swimini Purpose.  The problem has always been finding a decent publishing deal.  The last I heard, there were plans for this but it's some way off...

I am going to release a new expanded edition of "Swimini Purpose" in about 5 years' time. I have accumulated and rediscovered lots of new visual material from old folios and found loads of artwork just lying around...

I'm even considering doing a "Swimini Purpose Volume 2" to go with a re-issue of a modified version of the original book. And a nifty slipcase for both editions. Getting legal clearances from comics companies and film studios etc. is a massive pain in the bum, though.

But it's something to look forward to, some years hence!

(That quote comes from the interview at CBR that started this thread).

[Colin YNWA]

I just asked Brendan, and it's all on the level.

"it should all be out in a tpb collection next year"

Woo-hoo!

Now that sort of direct link to the man himself is just what we need. This is very exciting and something to really look forward too. Thanks for the confirmation Ming.

[TordelBack]

I'll be having some of that.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

You know that that hokey bit of funny book storytelling when the protagonist rubs their eyes & asks, "Am I dreaming?"

Who'd da thunk that Rich Johnson could be instrumental in relieving clinical depression?

[GordyM]

Can't wait for this. McCarthy's art style deserves to be exposed to a new audience.