The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

November 15, 2009

Interview with Larry Latham of Lovecraft is Missing!

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For one of the most in-depth storylines in webcomics, do give Lovecraft is Missing a try! I had a talk with Larry about behind-the-scenes developments in this great storyline. Check it out...

--- Mark

THE XCENTRIKZ: Alright Larry, so tell us - How did your idea for this story originate? What started this great setup?

Larry: I’ve always loved pulp magazines and weird fiction and the early 20th century. I wanted to do a story set in that period, where I could indulge a lot of my interests, like anthropology, jazz, the occult, pulps, etc. I was a big Lovecraft fan, so at first using his name was just a gimmick. There had been a lot of stories using Lovecraft as a character before, so I didn’t want to go that route. But if he disappeared, then I get to use his name and concepts, but tell my own story.

THE XCENTRIKZ: I heard that the concept was originally for a game back in the early nineties. That’s really interesting. Tell us more about how Lovecraft Is Missing eventually evolved into a webcomic?

Larry: It was a game only in the sense that it was conceived during the CD ROM boom as an interactive adventure. I did a couple of test scenes, but then the boom busted. I worked in animation and I didn’t want to abandon the idea, and it had always been my dream to do a more adult oriented animated show –adult not in the sense of sex or language, but in terms of complex stories and characters. They do it all the time in Japan, but here most animation is for kids. Any adult animated shows are comedies.
- Anyway, I developed a pitch and Film Roman optioned the property, but after a few years, it reverted to me. I put it on the shelf, but kept going back to it. I tried several times to work it up as a web series, and wrote some sample scripts, but by that time I had moved back to Oklahoma. I didn’t have the time to animate the whole thing myself and do it to the level I wanted, so again, it went back on the shelf. My pal, Eric Lee, started his own webcomic in 2008 and pretty much shamed me into doing the webcomic. I’m glad he did.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Tell us all about your other work in the comic and animation business?

Larry: My best work is ahead of me.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Alright fair enough! So how much does your personal experience affect the comic stories?

Larry: I work in as many of my interests as possible. I was almost an anthropology major in college and still like to keep up with what I can in that field. I never did well in science, but enjoy lay explanations of bizarre concepts –not pseudoscience, though the real thing can sound just as whacky when you get into concepts of eleven or more dimensions, etc. I’ve always been intrigued by the occult, and spent several years on the fringes of the New Age folks in Los Angeles. I had sittings with a number of the top psychics of the time, had ancient oriental spirits assess me, had “black dross” wiped away from my soul by people who never touched me. I still have some of the spoons and forks I bent “psychically.” In the end, I had to face the fact that I just didn’t buy it. It’s fun as fiction and speculation, but I can’t take it seriously. I also love history, especially the world as it was from about 1880 to 1932. I have no idea why those dates are so precise.

But your question was about experience, and I would say that it doesn’t influence my stories anymore than any other writer’s. You pick up slang, or the way people act as you go along; you remember what it felt like to lose a pet or a parent, and that stuff is all useful in storytelling, but as far as being autobiographical, I don’t use it that way.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Tell everybody about the different mediums you use… The comic is so colorful and fascinating to look at!

Larry: Thanks. I work hard at that. As of right now, I do everything in Photoshop. I drew the first two issues on bristol board and scanned them in to color in Photoshop, but the scanning took too much time. I am intrigued by the idea of drawing in Flash and them coloring in Photoshop and may try that in the future.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Interesting to hear about that, thank you. So how much planning goes on, behind the scenes, for the Lovecraft Is Missing? How far do you plan into the future? Tell everyone about any interesting process you have.

Larry: My general approach to anything is to make a plan, then feel free to ignore it during execution. I wrote a 15 page outline of the overall story, really sloppy, for my eyes only. Some sentences would probably be unintelligible to anyone else. I left lots of holes with notes like “need something interesting here,” or “ Does Win take this seriously or not?” Tying down every detail in the story ahead of time takes away all the fun. I trust myself to come up with something when I get to that point, and to keep the events in my mind so that I can tie it all together. I like the discovery process, and I know that if I am surprised, then the reader will be also.
I only discovered the true origin of the villain about a week ago, though I knew I had to have one. Some of the recent pages I posted revealed things to me, associations that I hadn’t noticed that make the story much richer. I make changes to art and dialogue and story right up to the time I post it.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What was it like early on, showing Lovecraft Is Missing to new viewers on the web? What worked well, what failed miserably?

Larry: I don’t know that anything failed miserably, except maybe the contest I had last month. I only got one entry, so I gave the lady all three prizes. But I knew nothing about webcomics when I started, so I’ve just plugged along, doing my best. I really didn’t start gaining readers until I started advertising on Project Wonderful.
I’m sure there are people out there who don’t like my comic, but I’ve never received a critical comment, knock wood, beyond people pointing out typos. I suppose if the story ends up disappointing people –and I truly don’t believe it will—then I might catch some hell.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Oh oh. Heh. What do you enjoy the most about doing Lovecraft Is Missing?

Larry: I like the whole process, soup to nuts, and I especially like the fact that it is all mine. My whole career has been working in collaborative mediums, and all too often, my ‘collaborators’ had the final say. I’ve done so many things that I thought were stupid or wrong –and in most cases, the final cartoon proved my point—so I have a low tolerance for that now. I’m not saying I’m any kind of genius, or that LIM is perfect. But good or bad, it’s all mine, and I’ll take whatever consequences that brings.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Many web-comics are published for free viewing and non-profit. So it can be hard for some authors, to maintain a free web-comic if they have other work. What are your thoughts on this? Is Lovecraft Is Missing more of a hobby, or do you hope it’ll be something more?

Larry: Of course I’d love it to turn into something more, but I don’t spend much time thinking about it. There’s too much work to do just getting the pages up on time. I do it because I want to do it. When you want to do something, you have to make the time for it. I wouldn’t advise getting into it with the idea of making a lot of money. If someone options your strip for a movie, or wants you to write or illustrate professional comics, that’s all gravy.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Are there things that make your work challenging? If so, how do you work past it?

Larry: Keeping the comic fresh for myself and my readers is a challenge I guess, but one that I look forward to. Time is always an issue. It takes me up to 12 hours to color a page, largely because I color the strip like an animated cartoon rather than a comic book. And I dearly love light effects, so I spend a lot of time working those out in the scenes that require them. I think the scene in Malone’s apartment is my favorite sequence, color-wise, in the whole series thus far.

THE XCENTRIKZ: If Lovecraft Is Missing became an animated show on TV, how would you envision it? Would you pick certain celebrities to voice act your characters?

Larry: I hate celebrity voices. My two guidelines for voices are : 1. If you recognize the actor, you’re not watching the movie, and 2. Anything that sounds like somebody doing a voice is a bad voice.
-Plus, I don’t think the story I’ve told it lends itself to a series. The original pitch was a different beast, as TV shows essentially have to tread water, whereas the comic story has a definite ending. It’s probably too narrowly focused and geeky to make into a movie. I’ve really tried to make the story accessible to people who haven’t read a lot of Lovecraft, but in the end, you’ll get more out of it if you’re familiar with his work. Or at least with specific stories.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Heh, yes good points there. Tell us a bit about your personality, Larry! It’s fun to get to know who’s behind the comic.

Larry: I don’t know if I’m the one that can really tell you that. I know that most of the qualities that Iike best about myself tend to irritate other people. It’s not uncommon for “to a fault” to be appended to any of my good traits. I love to discuss stuff, not just yak about it or swap trivia, but look for new perspectives on things. I can find something interesting about most everything. I once got cornered at a funeral by a man who had several thousand acres of prune orchards. Man, he was passionate about prunes, and he talked non-stop for two hours. The thing we had in common is that, unlike most people, he and I both got up every morning and looked forward to going to work. Not sure what the point of that is, but it’s a good story.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Do you have favorite print comic books and graphic novels? Do they affect your work?

Larry: I’ve been away from comics for about 20 years, and have only eased back in over the last year. I have no interest in the superhero titles other than Hellboy and B.P.R.D. There are some oddball books love, like North 40 and The Umbrella Academy. The only comics I keep close at hand for reference are the first two TPBs of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How much does viewer input affect Lovecraft Is Missing? Do you take people’s suggestions?

Larry: Suggestions, no. One early comment made me think that reader had figured out one of my planned twists, and that forced me to think of an even better, richer twist that expanded the richness of the story. Otherwise, like I said, this one is mine.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Good to know. For you, what is the crowning achievement in your illustrating career?

Larry: Career’s not over yet. Ask me again in, say, 2029.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Alright, I'll try to remember, haha. Are there some common misconceptions about your work? How would you like to address them?

Larry: Not aware of any conceptions about my work, mis- or otherwise.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Anything else you’d like to share about yourself? Maybe share a hint on the future of Lovecraft Is Missing …?

Larry: The third issue of LIM will wrap up around the end of this year, then I’m taking a long break so I can build up some inventory for issue 4. I started #3 before I had enough pages in hand, so it has been really tough to keep up.
Eventually. I’d like to collect it into a TPB, but that’s a long ways away.
And I do have an idea for a sequel, though it might be shorter, say, four issues instead of six. But we’ll see.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Thank you for the little chat Larry! Best of luck in your work.

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