SPACE CHICK AND THE NYMPHO: VAMPIRE WARRIOR PARTY-GIRL

Now with a title like that, what do you suppose the following article is all about? Perhaps an in-depth study relating to the nature of humankind? Or what about an insightful retrospective on nipple-ology? Nah! Sod that for a game of soldiers. What we want instead is a f*cking awesome interview with my pornographic pal, Tony!


Tony Watt On Amazon


1) What are your own origins, Tony?   As a kid I thought I was born in 'Disneyland'. But when I asked my father where I came from; the old b*stard told me, 'Uranus'!

Ha! But seriously folks, as a young prepubescent Irish-West Indian, born in Kingston, Jamaica, before I moved to the U.S.A. with my family, and before finally immigrating to Ontario, Canada, my artistic entertainment mostly came from much comic-book reading (which was the only youth-based entertainment media I could afford in those cold, dark ages of the mid to late 70's). These were mostly compiled from my Uncle Charlie's old collection -- who had a lot of 'Cracked' 'Eerie' & 'Mad' magazines, as well as DC, Charlton & Marvel Comics. My mom's sister, Aunt Jill, had a lot of Harvey, Disney & Archie stuff, and I also read a lot of Sunday Paper Funnies. A lot of Weekend Newspaper Color Comic Strips were collected & compiled together, over months, into one huge, honking comic-strip omnibus, from my Canada-based Grandma Gwendolyn -- aka Precious -- who I credit as fueling my artistic hunger; as well as being the real creator of the ‘graphic-novel’.

Y'know, comic strips had a lot of 'genres' in the old days. Not just the cartoon 'sitcom' stuff we have now. It seems that all entertainment media are now controlled by former TV producers. In any case, somehow recently, I became better known as a smutty underground, exploitation B-filmmaker; along the way to my graphic-novel creating glory.

2) What path did you take in life prior to getting to where you are today?   It started in Canadian public schools, when I used to to draw attractive women with over-sized mammaries to impress my classmates. You see, before I became a smutty filmmaker, I wanted to become a smutty animator, or cartoonist... erm... kinda like Ralph Bakshi.

Back then, I studied almost every major comic-creator's drawing style, from Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, Steve Ditko, Richard Corben, Philippe Druillet, Simon Bisley, Jim Steranko, Carl Banks, and Frank Miller, to 2000 A.D. Magazine‘s Alan Moore and Alan Davis, to Heavy Metal Magazine‘s Jean Giraud (aka Mœbius).

As an impressionable, bright-eyed, neo-North American kid -- growing up in the free-wheeling Mad magazine / Heavy Metal publication / comic-book related, artistic youthquake of the 1970s & 80's -- I dug listening to Kiss albums [and dressing up as either Paul Stanley, or Gene Simmons, for Halloween] and frequently scanning the 'mail order' European adult comic-book 'thumb nails', in the back pages of Heavy Metal magazine.

My spaced-out 'SPACE CHICK & NYMPHO: VAMPIRE WARRIOR PARTY-GIRL Comix' series is a corporeal manifestation of what I imagined a dirty European adult comic-book would possibly be like, from my then childish POV. I think I captured that youthful 70's-80's exuberance in the book, though -- or, so I've been told anyways, man! Today's comic-books seem to have too dark a theme. I like cartoony humor mixed in with my mass-violence and T&A! 

[ Code Name: King ]

So, to answer your question about my path, as a kid, I first looked through a lot of comic ‘artist-themed’ books at the local library: Frank Frazetta, Will Eisner, Walt Kelly, Walt Disney, Al Capp, Chester Gould, Milt Caniff, Dave Sim, Alex Raymond & Burne Hogarth-related stuff was among the first library books that I borrowed, based on my interest in various comic/animation art-media drawing styles. 

As a kid in the boring Greater Toronto suburbs, I was totally knocked out by the sci-fi / fantasy worlds within the works these artists created. Especially the early adventure (newspaper) comic-strip artists.
Their fine dynamic art in the comic strip & book medium (especially Hogarth and Raymond’s "Tarzan" & "Flash Gordon" skillfully executed cartoon strips), really took me to other fantastic worlds; that I saw in TV cartoons and the movie theater.

In the mid 70's my mother took me to a lot of theatrical Johnny Weissmuller ‘Tarzan’ movies, and action-adventure features in Kingston, Jamaica's Odeon Theatre. Here I saw everything from old King Kong movies, Kung-Fu Features, B-movie Features, as well as mainstream Hollywood stuff! There is nothing that matches watching movies with a West Indian audience, man! There's an example of this in Perry Henzell's 'The Harder They Come' movie! It's boss, mahn! Ha!

After gloriously failing to make it past the garage-band indie-recording stage of my rock-music career, from these awesome cartoonists’ initial influences,  in turn this led me to my first self-published B&W ash-can indie graphic-novel output like: 'Little White Fox'. Also, I gotta mention my Canadian actress/model girlfriend at the time, Michelle Newland, who helped to fund the mimi-comic project (drunken hair-band singers were kinda unemployable and unreliable, in the days of old. Man, we needed those working girlfriends).

[ Space Chick & Nympho: Vampire Warrior Party Girl Comix ]

Soon, the '90s' violent North American 'Image' comics and sexy Japanese manga-era inspired adventure comic: 'Code Name: King' -- which I recently added color to, and re-published. Well, except for 'Little White Fox'. The art was absolute shyte!

3) What inspired you to create the ‘Space Chick & Nympho’ comic book?   Well firstly, Nympho, the 'Vampire-Warrior Party-Girl' (created for men's magazines in the 90s) was initially influenced by Bettie Page pin-ups and the 90's porn actress, Teri Weigel [who had the same BP look -- a bit -- when she was younger]. Then when I got older and dated younger randier girls [who's only goals in life was to go clubbing, dancing, doping, and partying, as well ..erm... never mind!] and cosplay also came into vogue [as well as my sick addiction to east-end London porn actresses and the saucy new-wave English/Newfie girlfriends, I had at the time, L'ard T'underin'!] I gave Ol' Nympho a new haircut [from the fluffy hairsprayed 80s-90s porn-chick, to a punky/anime look] and also a pseudo-Cockney accent [as opposes to her earlier Tarzan-esque 'Me Nympho' mumbling wordings]. 

Space Chick used to be white, but for the new series my wife [& frequent co-star & film-collaborator] Vivita are addicted to Pam Grier's 70's blaxploitation movies, so now Spacey is black, with a huge afro and her anal, little cybernetic side-kick Dildroid (whom, the ladies just love!)!

4) In your own words how would you describe this tale?   'SPACE CHICK & NYMPHO: VAMPIRE WARRIOR PARTY-GIRL Comix' is my modern, adults only-themed, chaotic, erotic, super-heroic, phantasmagorical comic-book bashment, based on my sexy, satirical, half-naked '90s 'bad-girl' gentlemen's magazine cartoon characters, and updated for your tasteful, modern, mature-reading pleasure, in this pulse-pounding, anal clenching series!

5) What song would you say best represents this project and why?   Erm... I'd say 3 songs off the top of my head. "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie. "Coffy is the Color" by Roy Ayers. And "The Boy in the Bubble" by Paul Simon. Plus toss in "This is Planet Earth" by Duran Duran. "2000 Light Years from Home" & "Soul Survivor" by the Rolling Stones. "Rocket Man" by Elton John. With "Flight of the Valkyries" by Wilhelm Richard Wagner & 'I Was Made For Lovin' You' by Kiss as well. Hey! Why the hell not?'

6) If you could get a celebrity – either living or dead – to promote your wares, who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   Dead: Marlon Brando. He is one of the greatest, most influential, most contrary entertainment figures ever.  And I'd choose him because I know he'd never want to promote anything... not even himself!

7) What have you learnt about yourself through this endeavour?   I realize that I'm a tenacious artistic old b*stard! The left side of my brain is wondering just what kind of maniac I am, drawing dirty pictures for profit and wearing weird costumes in my crappy little movies. This is not the thing a clever, grown-ass 47 year old man is supposed to do!

8) Were their any unforeseen obstacles you had to contend with along the way?   As I mentioned earlier; in 1993 I tried to go mainstream with a kid's book called 'Little White Fox'. When it didn't catch on I turned the book into an X-rated underground comic, in the model of Robert Crumb's "Fritz The Cat", and contributed another book [in '96] to Image comics. However, the 90's 'comic speculator-bubble' crash definitely put a kibosh on my dreams of me working with Image comics [actually it was an obstacle for most comic-book companies at the time], and I made that unpublished comic into an action/adventure/superhero ashcan/mini comic called CODE NAME: KING, specifically with that company in mind.

Fortunately, that mini-comic acted as a resume, which eventually got me into publishing, which eventually got me into the slick; adult magazine, which got me into TV / movie production -- but -- that a whole 'nother story. For now.

[ Tony Watt On Amazon ]

9) During your time in this field, what is the one thing that has kept you in good stead?   My uber-groovy wife: Vivita, definitely. We are both very similar and I love her to death! Truthfully, as a former metal-head, who disdained marriage completely, I'm very, very surprised how much it has worked out for me and grounded me. Unlike my other girlfriends' bitching and complaining about my papers and research material lying all over the place, she simply got me a few IKEA shelves for my equipment, drawing material and the studio's art 'morgue' material. Clever girl! Each shelf is labeled too! I feel a good partner will come up with solutions, instead of bringing one down all the time.

Kids, if ye don't support your other 'alf..'oo's gonna support y'all, eh?

10) If ‘Nympho’ had a motto, what would it be?   Non-X-rated? Hmm. 'Oi!.. Where's the party?!'. Or 'Buy my bloody Comix, puny humans!'. You choose, Pally! (*smiles*)

Well, which one are you, dear reader? Are you 'a party' or are you 'a puny human'? More importantly though, will you dare to check out Tony's stuff by clicking on to his website, located at IMDB.