The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

Interview with Pascalle and Chris of the fantastical sci-fi comic, Zap!

June 18, 2009

I got the awesome chance to talk with Zap! creators, Pascalle Lepas and Chris Layfield. It was a lot of fun... I know you too will like hearing what they have to say, about their amazing work. Zap! is about the lead character, Zap, who starts out in an amazing adventure across the galaxy. Then Zap meets lots of new friends and foes... Thrills and excitement ensues, and, the illustrations are WONDERFUL, and... Well gee, just check it out yourself! The authors rate Zap as PG-13. The comic has a pretty big history and archive now, but they have a super-handy "new reader area" for you to catch up.

--- NJ

June 18, 2009

NJ from The Xcentrikz Team: Yo Chris and Pascalle!! Thank you sooooo much for sharing about “ZAP! In Space”. We're looking forward to hooking some new readers for you.

Pascalle Lepas: Actually, I guess I’ll go ahead and be the stuff-shirt who says the name of the comic is just ‘Zap!’ without the ‘In space.’ We get that a lot because of the url. It’s not really a super big deal as long as people are reading.

Chris Layfield: In fact, the readers voted on the URL back when we made the decision. So they've caused their own confusion in a way.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Ah, okay thanks for clarifying that for folks out there. So how did you guys get started in doing comics? Did you practice cartooning as a kid or teen?

Pascalle Lepas: I always enjoyed comics growing up, and I did the same kind of ball-point pen comics in my notebooks that I think a lot of comic-lovers are guilty of producing. Chris was the one who got me into webcomics.

Chris Layfield: While I used to write and draw my own webcomics, it’s painfully obvious I'm not the best artist. I originally had Pascalle do a fan comic for the webcomic I was doing at the time and I loved them so much I came to her when I had the idea for Zap!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Is there other cartooning, illustration or writing experience in your past? If so, how’d these experiences affect Zap?

Pascalle Lepas: I have a degree in graphic design, which was the art degree I knew I could get and still be employable. Most of my comic making experience has come from Zap! and you can definitely see it as you read it.

Chris Layfield: I have no formal education in the field, but I've been doing webcomics for years, in one form or another. They just haven’t been as successful as Zap! has been.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What provoked you to invent the Zap! comic?

Chris Layfield: Well, I've always loved sci-fi and wanted to do a space webcomic for a long time. The trouble is I never thought I had the drawing skills to pull one off. When I saw that Pascalle was receptive to my initial idea, I knew we could pull it off. She got da art skills to pay da bills.

Pascalle Lepas: I tried to pay a bill with skills once. They sent the drawing back and charged a late fee.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Haha, okay. Well it's fantastic to know you guys like working together. It shows in your comic. How and when did you guys decide to work together?

Chris Layfield: Well, if I remember correctly, it was shortly after I was in college and Pascalle was still in highschool. I was doodling and came up with Grontar. I brought it to her and thought he could be the main character, of course this changed when I sketched up the rest of the crew. Our brains were always pretty much on the same track as far as what we wanted Zap! to be. I think that’s how it started.

Pascalle Lepas: That’s pretty much what happened. I did all the original character designs in a lot of my high school senior year classes and dove right into producing the comic during that summer.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What inspired the characters’ personalities and looks?

Pascalle Lepas: Reona was pretty directly inspired by my love for Mega Man. I really had to push Chris to let me take her in that direction. I wanted the backdrop for Zap! to be sort of retro campy TV sci-fi, and you can see that in Zap’s bomber jacket and in a lot of the robot designs.

Chris Layfield: The main crew are all pretty much driven by their emotions. Zap is impulsive and innocent, Reona is emotional, but brave. Grontar is aggressive and caring (of Reona), and Robot is intelligent and sarcastic.

THE XCENTRIKZ: It's cool to know this background information, thanks. So what are you particularly proud of with Zap? Is there something about Zap that makes it special from other comics?

Pascalle Lepas: I don’t know if we’re more special than other comics. We just really love it and keep trying to make it better, which is I think the same as a lot of other creators, we’ve just been lucky. I think there’s that sense of honesty in it. We’re not cocky. We just want to make this thing and it so happens that some people enjoy it.

Chris Layfield: I agree. There are tons of great comics out there, and we are just happy to be making one too. I will say one special thing about Zap! is our fanbase. We have some of the best fans you can ask for. I know that sounds cheesy, but it is true.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How do you usually come up with new ideas for the comic?

Pascalle Lepas: I think originally it was whatever tickled our fancy. We wanted Zap! to be an amalgam of a lot of different series and sci-fi elements, so there’s definitely a lot of that in there. Now that the story is all planned out we’re just sort of plugging away at finishing it. A lot of the characters were derived from whatever odd thing I decided that I wanted to draw that day. Jokes on me since I have to keep drawing all those odd things.

Chris Layfield: In the beginning it was a lot of jumbled ideas we were trying to pull together. Unfortunately, we've had to give up on some great ideas we've come up with, but now that the basic story is set, there isn't too much new stuff to add. We do try to fit little bits in here and there though.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Ultimate showdown! Hypothetically, which two of your characters could have the coolest battle? What would happen?

Pascalle Lepas: The biggest fight will be the last fight in the series, but no spoilers there! The fight I’m most excited to draw will be the fight between Gunner’s psychic army and the G.E.F. forces. I get to draw arms getting psychically chopped off, and things like that. Which maybe is creepy that I’m so excited about it, but it’s just going to be really awesome.

Chris Layfield: Hypothetically, I think the coolest fight would be Robot versus Excelsior. Talk about a domestic dispute! She would probably just land on him though.

Pascalle Lepas: Oh. I’m groaning at that one.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Hahaha, great ideas... So it’s cool to get to know who’s behind a comic… What are your personalities like?

Pascalle Lepas: Ha. Gross. I don’t want to talk about myself. I’ll describe Chris. He’s an easy-going jokester and father of two.

Chris Layfield: Ha. Gross. I don't want to talk about Calle. I'll describe me instead. I'm an easy-going jokester and father of two.

Pascalle Lepas: Good! My mystique endures!

THE XCENTRIKZ: You guys are a real kick, heh heh. Quickie questions! Favorite… Food? Music? Buddy? Vacation? Movie?

Pascalle Lepas: Ha Ha. I love all kinds of food, especially fruits and vegetables and fish. There’s not much I won’t eat and I love trying new things. Radiohead is my favorite band but I also really love folk music. Do you want to know my best friends name? Hi Julie! I love to vacation where there’s an ocean.

Chris Layfield: Italian (especially pizza), Alt Rock (Caroline's Spine is my fave), Jason is my best bud, I'm starting to like vacationing in San Diego, I'm a Lord of the Rings nerd.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Well tell us about your opinions of the fans. Any fun or interesting experiences you’ve had with them?

Pascalle Lepas: I love the vast majority of our fans. We have some of the best people on the internet in our corner. There’s a core group of them that I even feel like I know as people, which is crazy.

Chris Layfield: As I said before our fans are the best. Our hate mail is few and far between and a lot of our readers come to our defense on that kind of thing. In fact, I'm gonna be sharing a hotel room with a fan at Comic Con this year. I'll probably be murdered....

THE XCENTRIKZ: Ahhhh. So any particularly weird or unusual experiences you’ve had in doing comics?

Pascalle Lepas: Ugh. I get hit on a lot. Men have offered me plane tickets to visit them. Thanks but no thanks, fellas.

Chris Layfield: You know, I haven’t really experienced anything weird in doing comics. However, meeting fans feels weird because you just don’t think of yourself as somebody people want to meet. Although, meeting and talking to fans is the BEST part of this whole thing.

Pascalle Lepas: I’m disappointed you haven’t been hit on.

THE XCENTRIKZ: *Laughing out loud...* Okay, back to biz'ness. So. Doing comics can be awesome as a paying job or just a hobby. But there’s a lot of strange pros and cons we all deal with to make a comic successful and a money-maker. How do you feel about life as a web-comic creator?

Pascalle Lepas: You have to really really love making comics to make it as a webcomic creator, because there’s a lot of years without pay and then your paying years can lead to flamers, creepers, stressful deadlines and long hours. But at the same time, if you really really love doing it, you just can’t really stop. It’s like a beautiful disease.

Chris Layfield: You DO have to love it. The few webcomics that make full time pay for someone are lucky. Generally, if you are in this, it shouldn't be for the money, ‘cause you won't get a lot.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What other comic artists and writers do you admire?

Pascalle Lepas: There’s a lot of artists, but I gotta give shout outs to my pals Alex Kolesar, Joe Kovell ( www.noneedforbushido.com ) and Mindy Timpone ( www.wncomic.com ). They’re incredible artists and writers and I really admire them.

Chris Layfield: That's a tough question, but so as not to repeat Pascalle, I'll say I love the work the Halfpixel guys are up to. There are others but there really isn't enough space here.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Do you have any thoughts or predictions on where the web-comic industry is heading?

Pascalle Lepas: That’s a weird thing to try to predict. I think it will continue to grow as an industry. I wouldn’t be surprised if a National Webcartoonists Society springs up in the next few years. I’d like to see webcomic studios pop-up across the country, but we’ll just have to see.

Chris Layfield: I would have though the whole "infinite canvas" trend would be bigger, but its slow going. With the current web vs print issues going on right now, I think we are on the edge of a historic time for webcomics.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Too true... So guys, anything else to share, before it’s time for farewell? How about a hint on the future of Zap?!

Pascalle Lepas: There will be more naked glowing blue girls and some characters are going to die.

Chris Layfield: Costume changes and maybe some exposition one of these days.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Heh heh - Well it’s been great to talk with you!! Thank you so much for the interview Chris and Pascalle. Keep up the awesome work, we hope to see many more years of Zap!

Pascalle Lepas: Thanks.
Chris Layfield: You keep reading, we'll keep making it... well until it’s over at least.

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