PaperbackReader.com

The 2nd issue of this book continues in the very realistic form that Shawn Granger. brought us in issue #1. New for this issue, artist Beni Olea brings his very crisp and highly detailed art style to the table. Granger introduces a new female character and she looks to throw a spin on an already wild tale of madness. The story flow slows up a little too some degree and character development prevails in this issue. I believe Shawn has done this on purpose creating a slow burn of tension for an explosive Issue# 3.

Now let’s talk to the team...from behind the scene.

Shawn Granger Writer
PBR

Shawn, tell us a little about yourself and King Tractor Press.

Well, my background is pretty diverse. I’ve been in the television & film
industry since the late 80’s. I have worked for FOX, CNN, and plenty
others. I was very active in the initial years of the non-profit
filmmaker co-op, SoCalFilm Group. They put out an impressive amount of short films every year. But then I got involved with some feature filmmakers in Los Angeles, so my extra curricular short film activity has been cut short. Recent works include editing BITE ME, FANBOY and producing some trailers for this year Cannes Film Festival. King Tractor Press sprung out of a conversation I had at Wordplayer.com, one of my favorite time killer websites. It’s hosted by my friends Ted & Terry, famous for writing small films like Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, and Zorro. Wonderful site and I met some comic book writers through them. And they encouraged you to pursue creating your own comics? Not quite. My script for Innocent had been shopped to a couple of interested comic book companies, but I wasn’t exactly happy with where that was going so I said “Maybe I could just make this into a comic myself?” You would have thought that I had suggested flying to London by flapping my arms. Everyone said that it’s impossible to go it on your own these days in comics. This was even before Diamond made distribution even harder for independents. That is what spurred me on; I hate being told “can’t”. So I started the comic book arm of King Tractor in 2004 as a way to put out my own books. As I was doing that I realized that I’ve got some amazing creative friends, who weren’t keen on the business of publishing comics but were interested in doing a comic or two. Steven Barr was the first to jump onboard with Devil Water, Gordon Reece brought Alecto, and soon I’ll be announcing a new title by Ian Gibson. All are established writers, but not much comic book experience. We’ve all learned a lot, and hopefully it gets better. I’ve also spent a year in talks with a few film companies about doing adaptations of their titles. I think there is a lot of untapped potential out there. Being in the entertainment business as long as I have, I know a lot of really talented people who can get the work done. I think all it took was just the spark to start the ball rolling.

PBR Why your choice to go with a real story and why this story

After starting work on Innocent, I decided that I could easily take the time to do another title. I didn’t want to do another superhero book, there are just too many right now. I’m not saying that I’ll never do one, but it’s not likely unless someone offers me a Batman or Spider-Man book to do. My ideas usually fall into other genres like sci-fi, horror, or Takashi Miike sort of action. Family Bones is a story I’d written years before and I think a pretty powerful one. If anyone is still not sure, this is about my own family. They are my aunt and uncle, my skeletons. As a writer you write about what you know and what do we know better than our own families? I think it’s a unique tale that only I could tell, so I did.

PBR A different artist for each issue why... and the advantages

First let me be clear, most of the artists you’ll see in the second half. I structured it so that many of the artists do two books. Why? I wanted a flow of artistic styles that matched the tone of each particular book. The other consideration, and this is a big one for me, is deadlines. I’m serious about getting books out on time, but the artists I work with have families to support and it’s hard to have the time to finish a monthly book. I’ve been really happy with the results so far, we’re more than halfway done and I think all the books look great. I’ve recently found that I wasn’t the first to come up with this idea, Ripperman & Sword of Dracula do similar artist swaps with great results.

PBR After Family Bones any ideas on the horizon you can hint on

After Family Bones, I hope to finally get started seriously on Gene Gardens. It’s an epic sci-fi book that I’ve been working on for a few years. We’ve got Gene Gardens art up on the King Tractor Press website, and I think it’s pretty impressive. Also the first of the Innocent original graphic novels should be done by the end of the summer. Innocent has become a monster of a series, spawning the Sword mini-series which will be followed by another 6 issue mini-series. Besides all of that I’m still editing the other comics & have some film projects in the works. My goal is to get ahead in all this work so that I can start traveling to more conventions and shows. I don’t want to be one of those guys who sits in his closet and creates, just hoping that people will show up to buy the books. I want to be able to show people what we’ve done and I think we’ll get fans excited. I love to tell stories, whether they be comics, films, or wild hand gestures over a bar.

Beni Olea Artist

PBR Tell us a little about yourself Beni

I'm 23, born in Jaén (Spain) I can't say I grew up in one place, cause since I was a little child I started moving from places, schools because of me and towns because my father's work, I think this made me a bit solitary and probably increased my love for illustration and then comics... I never liked much the school, I used to spend all the time drawing in the notes, and carry comics in the bag, but I passed it as i can (back in Jaén)...after school, one day I came into a tattoo studio and drop I knew how to draw... after some interviews I start working in there, doing designs for tattoo, piercings and even some tattoos, it was a good epoch and I finally could call a place neighborhood...home... Everything was fine but one day I felt in love...and she is chilean...so...again, I moved from Jaén... to Concepción (Chile), initially I get some jobs here and there... but with that big change in my life I thought: "Is time to do what I really want" So... here I am, living in a unknowing continent, trying to make a dream come truth.

PBR How did you and Shawn get together for this piece

By an announcement that Shawn put in digitalwebbing I think...

PBR What artist's influence your style

At the beginning I was influenced by Dragonball I spent a lot of hours drawing Vegetas and Gokus everywhere... but then a friend of mine show me Unncanny X-men by Joe Mad and I came into new universe needing to meet more and more artists on my way I discover , Joe Quesada, Humberto Ramos, Angel Medina, Carlos Pacheco, Greg Capullo.... and classic artists like Bernie Wrightson and Will Eisner.

PBR Any new projects you can hint at or what's next on your project list

Well first of all I have to finish Family Bones, besides I'm doing concepts for other projects, and is going to be very creepy and dark.
Thanks. Beni Olea.

Byron