Acme A-List #3: Michael Avon Oeming & Taki Soma

My first exposure to Michael Avon Oeming was reading Hammer Of The Gods several years ago.  Upon buying the first issue of it, I noticed the unique art style and immediately loved it.  It was also about this time that Powers was gaining a lot of momentum;  getting lots of attention in the comics business for it's unique writing and equally unique art.  I began reading Powers and soon found myself reading anything Michael Oeming did.  Acme Comics has a unique presence on the Jinxworld Forums and it was there that I was presented with an opportunity to interview Taki Soma and Michael Avon Oeming regarding their new mini-series Rapture and their comics work in general.

 

Matt Fair: Mike, after restocking the trade paperback section today I noticed the abundance of material you have produced over the years.  At what point in your life did you really say to yourself "I want to be an artist" and how did you go about achieving this goal?  

Mike Oeming:  I was pretty young about 12 or 13. I always drew a little bit, but not much. Then one year we moved from NJ to Texas, the state I was born in- and honestly I couldn't adjust. I locked myself in my room. One day, I found some Spiderman comics and fell in love with the art, I started to trace it. I fell in love both with comics and DRAWING comics at the same time.

MF:  Did you go to art school? 

MO:  No art school, other than a correspondence school with the Art Instructions School of Minneapolis, done through the mail. I WISH I had gone to SVA in NY, that would have been an amazing experience. But truth be told, I was lucky enough to have a better experience than that, I was surrounded by a group of talented artists, one who never made it into the field, but taught me a lot. The other were Neil Vokes and Adam Hughes, two locals who were friends. I worked with Adam and Neil closely as a kid and they taught me a lot. Adam introduced me to Steve Rude's work and Neil showed me Toth and Mignola, my two biggest influences. They both taught me a lot, I'm sure more than any school would have. Still, I would have loved to been exposed to more art studies, so if you have the chance to do an art school, I say go for it, just do your research first.  I sat in on Klaus Jansons class at SVA for a day and considered teaching there. But right now I live in Seattle, so that might be a hard commute.

MO:  Well, writing actually helped my art tons. Writing made me focus on ideas, write about specific things and keep on track of subject. That's something that's very important when telling a story visually, even a pin up. Here is a cover I did for Rapture based on the famous Yoko Ono and John kissing picture. This cover is about pure passion, so all the colors, the sharp blade, the composition, EVERYTHING is about passion and love, even the blood. There's love, danger, blood. That's storytelling I think and it influenced the art choices.

MF:  At what point in your life did you discover your artistic talent and what inspirations did you have growing up?  Was your webcomic You'll Never Die... your first foray into comics and will it ever be collected?  What made you decide to do a webcomic and is comics a business that you would like to delve more into? 

Taki Soma: I've been an artist all of my life. My first job was interning at a puppet theater teaching younger kids art, theater and puppetry. I attended an art high school -- But I didn't know I wanted to do comics until I was about 27, after reading comics for only about 5 years.

I've actually had some independent stuff and part of a Top Cow anthology printed throughout the years before doing You'll Never Die... as a webcomic, and the webcomic came out of desperation. I knew I needed more experience and it was the only thing I could afford in order to further my practice... I never finished the story online, it wasn't even close to finishing actually -- but I am putting together a proposal right now as an actual comic. So wish me luck!

TS: Well, we put together some key elements of story base that I love and mixed it in a bowl; post-apoclypse, tragic love, interesting characters and epidemic of cannibalism. Voila.

MO:  For me I was influenced by Taki, I originally came up the bones of this idea hoping she would draw it. Then we started to tear apart and rebuild the story together. I don't think we knew we were actually making a romance comic, but looking back it's pretty obvious. I think thats one of the things that will make it stand out when the full story is told.

MF:  Let's talk about the creative process behind Rapture for a moment. Do you each get to do a cover per issue?  Who plots, who writes, who does layouts?  Do you get to pick who does your variant covers?

TS: We trade off on covers. He does the odd ones, I do the even ones. I think Mike did the initial loose plotting and we discussed verbally in depth from there. Once it's on paper, we just take turns editing each other until it's done. Then when it is approved by our editor, Dave Land, I'll layout loosely, then Mike will draw from looking at it. We got to pick the artists for variant covers and we feel very very lucky.

MF:  How much editorial control do you guys have over Rapture?

TS: A lot. Dave allows us lots of freedom. We love him. 

MO:  We work closely with David Land, but he is great at giving us the room we need to not step on our toes. He's been great to work with I look forward to working with him again.

MF:  Mike, in Rapture it is seen that those who possess the most power wind up being responsible for a great deal of damage.  When they leave Earth, a breakdown of society occurs, leaving more disaster and destruction in its wake.  It seems that balance is a focal issue with this book, as it is with many of your projects.  How will this balance play out in Rapture?  Taki, what would you say are the overarching themes and concepts of Rapture?

MO:  That destruction and relationship between heroes and society is a theme about breakups, how when you're in one, it feels like the end of the world- the Champions leaving earth was like a break up, but with literal destruction left behind. The balance that plays out is all about Gil and Evelyn- we only know as readers what they know as characters. They live in the shadows of the champions and have no idea what that world is like- they only know their own small, selfish world, you know, like most young people.

TS: Well, it's about one of those break-ups that feels like the end of the world, but this one actually is... and to learn the hardship and responsibility of having to love someone which is very similar to the responsibilities one assumes as a super-powered being. And the same resonates for the rest of the sub characters involved, too: Responsibility. 

MF:  How does Christianity and popular notions of the Rapture figure into this particular story?

MF:  Mike, is there really a message of hope dispersed throughout this story?  Are we talking about a hope for humanity working together to solve problems as opposed to working against each other?  

MO:  I don't think there is any hope for that at this point in the story. The only hope is that Evelyn and Gil can work together to solve their problems. They are caught in their own world and we as the reader are caught with them.

TS: Yes. This is ultimately a love story with a apocalyptic backdrop. All the horrible things that happens to them are symbolics of what happens to most of us trying to hurdle the obstacles of our daily lives

MF:  Let's say that powered beings decide to fight their last big battle right now on Earth. What five items do each of you recommend for survival? 

MO: Vodka, Vodka, Vodka, Vodka and a compass.

MF: Do you listen to music or podcasts or watch tv while you work?  What is your preferred work environment? 

TS: I like tv or DVDs while working. I seem to be able to ignore it when I need to versus music; I have a hard time ignoring music.

MO: I mostly listen to music. Music seems to drive me the most while working. But we do watch some shows from time to time too, but give me some Ladytron  or Bishop Allen and I'm good to go:)

MF:  If I looked on your bookshelves right now, what would I find? 

TS: shame

MO: Lots of comics!  Tons of Hellboy on my end of the shelf and most of Brubaker and Bendis' work... Taki's Spectre collection and a ton of mythology books. Taki has Kindle so she's burned all of hers.

MF:  Since you two have recently moved to Seattle how do you like your new home?  I spent a summer in Seattle right after high school (1995) and went for an astronomy convention held there two years ago for school and wound up loving it both times. How's the social scene?  Found any favorite places to eat, good bars, etc.?

TS: Absolutely love Seattle. There are mountains, greenery, city life, the ocean and technologically friendly community. Sushi is to die for due to the freshness of the fish. Good lord, it's the most Japanese city in America, I think.

MO:  Man, we f***ing love it out here! The bars in NYC were more to my liking as far as classic dive bars, but there are amazingly designed swank lounges here and TONS of nature stuff to do, clean air, lots of social stuff from the museums, the waterfront and about a million places to go see cool bands, and it's all really close. The food, especially the SUSHI is the best I've ever had. We love it. But WAWA does need to open some chains here.

TS: As work on Rapture is coming to a close, I am working on a couple of projects to pitch after SDCC. So I would like to ask everyone to wish me luck. Thanks!

MO:  Well, I'm still doing covers for Mice Templar, and having already put my storytelling bones into it, the ship is being driven by Bryan Glass and Victor Santos- that is monthly from Image, so check that out, I'm very proud of Mice Templar.

Oh yea, and HAMMER OF THE GODS is being reprinted by IDW. I also have a series I co created with Dan Berman of SIX called GOD COMPLEX that will be coming out from Image, drawn by John Broglia- again, I did all my work a few years ago on that, so it won't be interrupting my mad schedule on Powers, which is my main focus anymore. Powers will be double-sized and monthly starting in November!! We have been taking time to get well ahead of schedule, the first arc will be finished before issue 1 hits the stands. It's all about Powers, other than an occasional pin up or cover, that's ALL I'm working on.

Be sure to ask for all available issues of Rapture next time you stop in at Acme Comics and we'll  set you up with them!  Acme Comics also promotes and actively sells Mice Templar and will be carrying the new Hammer Of The Gods collection once it is available.  Powers is a top selling book at Acme and has retained a staff and customer favorite status for almost a decade now.  

Visit Michael Avon Oeming's website for exclusive sneak peaks of art, articles written by Oeming himself and so much more!  Follow Taki Soma's Twitter on Taki Tweets and view her art galleries on her own website, found here.