The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

Interview with Michael Dellheim about his hilarious creation, PREPARE TO DIE!!!

June 30, 2009

Hey all you fellow gamer dudes, I know you'll like this one 'cause I did! Prepare to Die is a D20 fantasy roleplaying game comic with funny one liners and cool lookin' art. There's lots of great inside jokes on D&D type stuff, but you may just like this little adventure regardless. Have a good time with Mike's unique stories! And have a view of his other cool work at Onyx Sparrow.

June 30, 2009

The Xcentrikz Team: Hiya Mike! Thanks dude, this interview will be really cool. So how about pitching your hilarious D&D comic a bit for us? Tell everybody about it in your own words. We'd like to help send new readers your way.

Mike: Heya Kirk, great to be here. To put it short and sweet, "Prepare to Die" is the story of three roleplayers who somehow get trapped inside their own game campaign... it's a complex tale of random geekness, punny humor, and dark secret agenda hiding in the shadows.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Thanks! So how did you get started doing webcomics? Were you into comic stuff as a young person?

Mike: I've always been a creative person, moving from all manner of arts and crafts, woodworking, metalworking, composing music... with the rise of cyberspace and the almighty webcomic movement, along with my own love of comics in general, it just seemed the next genre of art to get into. I've been enjoying it for over three years now.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Sounds like you're pretty multitalented, cool. How did you come up with Prepare to Die, and why'd you decide to get started in webcomics?

Mike: Oddly the comic's logo came before the comic, and inspired the whole thing. I wanted to design an RPing t-shirt for myself, so I created the original D-20 image and added the text "Prepare to Die" under it. People liked the shirt, so I sold them in a cafepress store. A year or so later, after reading quite a number of webcomics, I got to thinking that I might try making a webcomic, but I needed a concept to base it on... then I remembered my shirt, and the spark ignited from there.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Heh, funny start. How do you create those hilarious illustrations? How do you make the cool photo backdrops?

Mike: Heh, the truth is I'm not overtly talented at drawing, but I'm pretty darn good in PhotoShop. Playing around in there I ended up making a kind of "puppet" which is fully poseable, using folders to group body parts and layer styles to create textures and shading. By arranging a puppet I can then save out whatever poses I need and import them in to the scene. I then use photographic backgrounds, either taken by myself or others, adding light and shadow effects to blend the puppet sprites into the backgrounds. I'm still working on my techniques, but I've been pretty pleased with the developed style.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Awesome, it's workin' for ya. What usually provokes your great sense of humor? How do other webcomics, friends and family, gaming, or your real-life experiences affect the comic?

Mike: Well as I've said, I'm a roleplayer, and being one has let me play a LOT of different kinds of characters which really helps writing for different personalities. I also tend to hang out with some pretty quirky people, which helps inspire a good deal of silliness. I think my greatest influence though is my father, from who I inherited a quick wit and a vast appreciation for the pun. I can only hope that I'll one day end up half as clever as him.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What do you think of your readers? What's it like to interact with them?

Mike: I love my readers and I love interacting with them. They're sometimes a goofy bunch, but I appreciate every last one of them. I've always tried to keep an open door policy, keeping up on the shoutboxes and forums and answering emails. That connection with the people as individuals and not a faceless mob, that's why I keep doing what I do. You've gotta respect the readers!

THE XCENTRIKZ: What's it like for you to publicize your comic creations? Do you work hard at it, or do the fans do the work for you by getting the word out?

Mike: I work pretty hard to keep the comic (and my reputation) out there, but I know that I have fans that also help spread the word around as well. I think the key to publicity is to reach out and try to get into new territory that hasn't already saturated by the other 10,000 webcomics that exist... too many webcomics seem to simply advertise, well, to OTHER webcomics.

Most recently my own publicity work has gone to try and bring quite a number of fellow webcomics along with me, with the creation of a certain webcomic-based collectible card game.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Good thoughts. So there's usually critics out there. How do you handle the negative comments about your work?

Mike: Most negative comments about my work thus far have been valid actually, usually pointing out some of the fuzzy backgrounds of my older strips or poor bubble arrangement. Constructive critiques I can accept graciously and I will endeavor to correct those mistakes. Those other critics out there that simply bash things, they're mostly ignored... or at least not taken seriously. I mean, not everyone will like every comic, but if you're just making nasty comments because you can that's kinda sad.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Sure! What are some of the difficult moments you've encountered in your comic work?

Mike: Generally the slowdown moments of the comic are when I need to create a new character puppet, which can sometimes take a good while to design if it's complex (Nova took about a week). Another problem sometimes is getting appropriate backgrounds, since they have to have the right perspective, stage space, and high quality. Once those issues are out of the way the creative process goes pretty smoothly most of the time. Oh, and researching appropriate lyrics for Manda's song spells can sometimes take a little time.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What do you like most about doing updates for Prepare to Die?

Mike: My favorite part has to be the dialogue. There are certain characters like Frank and Chuck, the Kitten of Chaos, and Bill who have fantastic personalities to write for they almost write themselves. I also love throwing out story plot points that make a reader realize that what they thought was true is completely wrong... I'm sadistic like that.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Are there other entertainers and other comic creators you admire, and inspire you?

Mike: Interestingly I realize most of my webcomic inspirations come from sprite comics... Brian Clevinger of "8-bit Theatre" and Dan Miller of "Kid Radd" are among the first webcomickers I ever followed and I've always admired their work. I'm also greatly inspired by comedians like Lewis Black and George Carlin.

THE XCENTRIKZ: If you suddenly had limitless resources and time to improve Prepare to Die, is there anything really important you'd work on?

Mike: Limitless resources? I'd most likely get my original work remade in a higher quality so I could more easily try to produce print books. I'd also get my character designs converted into 3D Max puppets and start producing the animated series. That would rock and rock hard.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Wow. Well here's some random fun stuff: What's your best. Talent? RPGing experience? Friend? Comic page? Halloween costume?

Mike: Hrmm... Many questions...

My talent is the power of the Instant Pun; it is a gift and a curse.

My best RP experience when I was playing a secret agent-like character who had to run full tilt out of a factory as it exploded. Best action sequence ever.

My best friend I'd have to say is Bill... yes he's a real person and yes he actually does act like the PTD character.

Choosing my favorite comic page is a toughie. I'll say my favorite sequence is in the middle of The Highlands chapter when the players finally encounter The Captain with Frank and Chuck. I think it's the first time we get to see the diversity of all the different personalities playing off each other.

Best Halloween costume? Well a few years ago I made a set of Sayian battle armor out of foam rubber. It was pretty spiffy, even managed to win me a small scholarship for art school.

THE XCENTRIKZ: So when you play D&D are you the GM or player usually? What class and alignment do you like to play? What are some of your favorite campaigns?

Mike: In paper n' dice I'm usually a player, but on IRC I run a chatroom-base RP game. I like playing a wide assortment of characters, but I tend to play Chaotic Neutral support roles... rogues and druids or the occasional ranger. Some of my favorite campaigns have been Evil ones, where we set up a kind of bounty hunter party that goes out to do jobs for rewards without really caring about how the job gets done; very anti-hero kind of stuff.

THE XCENTRIKZ: If you could have a superpower for one day, what would you pick, and what would you do with it?

Mike: I would have the power of Veto, which would allow me to go up to people doing stupid things and just tell them "No".

THE XCENTRIKZ: So how do you feel about the past, present and future of the webcomic biz?

Mike: I feel that original blast onto the scene was fantastic, with everything being fresh and new... the people that are still riding that wave are on top of the world. At present we're sitting in a tidal wave of small webcomics that think they can just make a comic to somehow become rich and successful with very little effort. Unfortunately they can't, and as they fight amongst themselves most will drown. I think that the tide is turning though, and a second generation of more surf-savvy webcomics is starting to climb out onto the beaches to claim their own spot in the sun. They're evolving to adapt to this new world, and one day these hot-blooded critters will supersede the dinosaurs of the past.

How ya like that for some metaphorical action, eh?

THE XCENTRIKZ: Haha, yea. Would you like to share anything else about your work? How about what's gonna happen next in Prepare to Die?

Mike: For all the webcomickers out there, know what you're getting into. There's a commitment involved in making a webcomic, a love of the game and a love of your creation. To paraphrase Mr. Miyagi, "Webcomic is like grape crossing the highway. Webcomic yes, okay, Webcomic no, okay too. Webcomic maybe, squish just like grape."

As for Prepare to Die, we continue on. We've got a lot of story left and a lot of surprises left. Hopefully you guys will be able to enjoy it for a long time to come.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Hey dude, thanks again for the interview, really appreciate it. Keep up the hilarious work, Mike. Everybody, check out Prepare to Die 'cause it's great!

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