AERO-GIRL - YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE A MONKEY

What do you get if you take a girl, stick a jet-pack on her, and then pair this little mite with a very cartoonish gorilla? No. You don't get the next winner of X-factor, folks. What you get instead is a great new independent comic book created by my mate DeWayne, entitled...


The Adventures of Aero-girl #1


1) What are your own origins, DeWayne? Plus what path did you take in life to get to where you are today?   I was just a young boy on my aunt's and uncle's moisture farm when a strange man from the hills came down and told me of my destiny, Ha! I kind of wish I had a cool origin story. But there's really nothing to tell.

I've always been a fan of comics and I've always liked writing short stories, but I never really considered comic book writing as something I would be good at. I entered Shadowline's to create a super heroine contest, and my story idea made it into the semifinals. That gave me the confidence to create more scripts and a start trying to make my own books.

2) How did ‘Aero Girl’ come about? And how did you meet up with your co-collaborator, Axur Eneas?   Aero-Girl came about because of a random conversation my brother and I had whilst waiting in line for Hall H at San Diego comic-con a few years ago. We were discussing how there was a slew of movies based on TV properties, and trying to find out which one would be the most ridiculous to bring back. I suggested that Clint Eastwood trucker thing with the monkey sidekick, not remembering that was a movie not a TV show. From there we started discussing how you didn't see any more monkey sidekicks and decided to create a superhero with one. I can't remember the details for the superhero, but we decided it would be funny if its sidekick was called the 'monkey missile', but in reality for the chimpanzee with a jetpack.

The book was going to be from the chimpanzee's perspective, yet we couldn't figure out how to do this perception of human dialogue. Jump ahead to Matt fractions excellent Hawkeye issue from the perspective of Lucky the pizza dog and you see how I should have done it. Jump ahead a few years more to the Shadowline superheroine contest and I flipped the idea of the superhero with a primate sidekick and went with a super-gorilla with a jetpack-wearing human sidekick.

The idea of a teenager trying to control the super gorilla throws the typical hero/sidekick dynamic on it's head.

I met the supremely talented Axur Eneas through twitter. Writer / Editor, Nate Cosby, was doing one of his talent hunts via twitter, and I was passing the time looking over his timeline to see if any really talented people were responding. Once I saw Axur's webcomic, "Mapache", I was floored. His wonderful animated / cartoony style was not what I had envisioned for 'Aero-Girl', but I knew once I saw it we had to work together. I emailed him the script and made some changes to my PG-13 script to make it more PG and we were off to the races.

3) In your own words how would you describe this story?   'The Adventures of Aero-Girl' is the story of a teenage super heroine who at the moment is finally coming into her own because her world has been completely turned upside down. Jacqueline has to deal with issues beyond her age and find strength she never knew she had. To totally 'geek out' on you I have described the book as a Pre-Crisis continuity Earth 2, 60's Batman TV series, comic, starring Shazam & a teen Rocketeer.

4) What song would you say best represents this project and why?   A music question? That's my kryptonite!!!! I'm a podcast or audiobook guy, but the book is about overcoming hardships and finding inner strength you didn't know you had. If any of you gentle readers know a song that fits the bill let me know and I'll use it in the next promo/trailer :-)

5) 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?   I'd go with Felicia Day. She seems like such a genuine and fun person and doesn't have that "fakeness" some Hollywood types get. She also has a large following in 2 of my target demographics -- geeks and women -- and that doesn't hurt either. I think she would make a great ambassador to Aero-Girl and would passionately get the word out.

6) What have you learnt about yourself through this endeavour? And were their any unforeseen obstacles you had to contend with along the way?   I've learned that I might just have a knack at this writing thing. I've never been one to have great self confidence, but after hearing how much people enjoyed Issue 1 of both 'Aero-Girl' and 'Midnight Tiger', I feel really good about my scripts (cue a string of terrible reviews lol). I've also realized that I enjoy the collaborative process. Bouncing ideas off of the creative team has really helped me get through some writer's block.

Knock on wood, we haven't had any major obstacles. I think the biggest thing I was worried about when we started was the language barrier. I live in California and Axur lives in Mexico, so I was worried that some of the script directions would be lost in translation. Luckily that never happened and the book came out better than I could have ever imagined!

7) During your time in this field, what is the one thing that has kept you in good stead?   I love how friendly the comics community can be. With social media, I have been able to talk with other indy creators as well as with the bigger names in the industry. Everyone I have had the pleasure of talking with has been incredibly giving of their time and knowledge. We are all on the same team. We all want great comics to be made!

8) If your comic had a motto, what would it be?   'Jet-Packs, a mad scientist and a super-powered gorilla', what more do you need?.

Nah. I've got nothing to add to that, DeWayne. Do you, dear reader? If so, when you have the time please check out Aero-Girl on their facebook and twitter pages. Go on. Clunk-Click. You know it makes sense.