BDC talks with NINJA AND PIRATE creator Joe Flanders
Hanging out at Comicons, one can get caught up in the cosplayers, the cool merchandise and the flashy celebrities. While attending the Tulsa Comic Expo, I spent more time milling around the tables and talking to the local talents of Tulsa and perusing their wares. Being a comic geek and a writer, I focused mainly on those types of talent. Tulsa is briming with extraordinary talent that's just waiting for a chance to catch their wings of recognition and fly. So, I thought it important to give the hoard of Jackedup minions a shot at checking out something new; something possibly they hadn't seen before.
I want to start with a comic that I kept coming back to at the Expo. At first, it seemed a simple concept with a real basic style. But the more I dug online and the more I read Pirate and Ninja, the more I realized that it was a whole lot more. As with many things, it's the simple ideas that, at times, pack a wallop. And, as I read the adventures of these unconventional friends, I realized that I was relating in so many ways; as a geek, as a guy and as a person.
There's a lot to like here. Commentary on the state of geekdom, the war of dealing with life and relationships or just the basic art of getting along or dealing with being alone were just some of the major issues of life being dealt with. Much like the comedian who gets you laughing just to stun you with truth and, maybe, make you cry, Joe Flanders weaves us through this comic strip with all the precision of a finely trained artison.
I got a chance to ask Joe a few questions while trying to understand where he was coming from and how he came to do what he did with Pirate and Ninja.
BDC: Tell us a little about yourself, Joe.
JOE FLANDERS: A little bit about myself? Well I’m 26 years old, I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma with my wife and two daughters, one of which is a dog. I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in sequential art in 2012. My favorite superheroes are ones with a good bit of duality like the Hulk, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, and Batman and I have no sense of fashion. I’ll be going to Kansas City Comic Con and Tokyo in Tulsa, as well as Wizard’s in Tulsa later this year. Keep an eye out for my kickstarter to help print Ninja and Pirate vol. 2 because I lack the copious amounts of cash needed to keep this comic up and running, and as always, make sure to check out Ninja and Pirate every Wednesday and Saturday for a brand spanking new family friendly comic! Spanking is entirely optional.
BDC: Awesome! Now, just starting off, I noticed that Ninja and Pirate has been online since May 2012. How long have you been writing comics? Is this one your first?
JOE FLANDERS: This is a difficult question to be honest. How long have I been writing comics? Well, I’ve been writing them since about sixth grade, but those were sci-fi Dragonball Z inspired space operas with little to no redeeming quality except for the Rob Liefeld super muscles and Linkin Park lyric dialogue. It was about a green bodybuilder spaceman, a hairy giant spider, two dinosaurs, robot man, and a Chinese dragon fighting a naked Darth Vader/xenomorph hybrid and his army of poorly-constructed Terminator ripoffs. Clearly an Eisner snub if there ever was one.
BDC: I mean, back in the day, who didn't want Linkin Park to do their sound track? Sounds like a fun concept, over all. Not sure about the naked Darth Vader...
JOE FLANDERS: But Ninja and Pirate I have been writing since high school. I started it when I was totally paying attention in my Algebra 1 class. Later on, I got a position on the school newspaper where a spearheaded a comics and crossword page because that’s obviously what newspapers are really for. I ended up making Ninja and Pirate as a newspaper strip there and the student body really responded positively to them. When I got to college I continued the strip and eventually published online in, as you say, May 2012.
BDC: I wish I had had the guts to bring some of my ideas to MY school paper, I was stuck in the super hero genre at the time and you don't even want to see my drawing. OK, I have this feeling that the characters receive some inspiration from living people around you. I distinctly recognized a resemblance between you and Pirate. Am I on track? Where did you get inspiration for the other characters?
JOE FLANDERS: You are very close. When I was in junior high and high school I had a really good friend named Jack. He and I are still close but we are total opposites. I enjoy video games and comics while he plays these things called “sports” I have yet to gain any interest in. He is incredibly fit and an overall smooth-talking ladies man while my pants have elastic in the waistband and I give Andrew Lloyd Webber a run for his money in the “Highly Attractive Ladykiller Pageant”. Ninja and Pirate’s personalities are highly based on my interactions with Jack. However, I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do which I received at age 12, and as one can tell from my svelte figure, my body is a highly honed weapon- so I based Ninja more on myself: a comic nerd with a dry sardonic wit, a bit of a loner and a coward who is, at heart a bit of a misanthrope. Pirate, on the other hand, puts on a tough front but is overall an extrovert, has a neatly trimmed goatee, is friendly and amiable, and although he may not be the most intelligent individual, he makes up for it with his generosity and large heart, and that is Jack at his most basic level. As time went on, my buddies Thad and Alex began to seep into Ninja and Pirate more and more but at their base I am Ninja and Jack is Pirate. Of course, Val is based on my wife for the most part. Marty and Al are both based on the two sides of my father, one a no-nonsense by-the-books strict soldier and the other a boxer-wearing devil-may-care goofball. So I guess you can say that, yes, each character in Ninja and Pirate is based on my life and the people in it in one way or another. Write what you know, I suppose.
BDC:Nice. Now, I also noticed a bit of nerd commentary on life. Is this your chance to poke a little fun at nerdom and the culture that's blossomed out of comics and movies in the last couple of decades?
JOE FLANDERS: I wouldn’t say it is only my chance to poke fun at nerdom and comic culture, but I have one of those philosophies that everything can be made fun of because if we take ourselves too seriously then we realize what a chaotic and absurd world we are hurtling around on. We have to laugh to keep from going mad and therefore, we can and should laugh at everything. Comics and nerd culture are what I know best, so they often get lampooned the most, not to mention the recent boom in popularity over geekdom means that more people will get and appreciate the joke. I love comics. I really do. Something about the message of no matter how much power you have, the universe will always have more and that message being told in the most absurd way possible. You know a good way to overcome your anger management problems? By getting super strong and even angrier and also green, for some reason. You know what’s a problem in today’s society? Discrimination against people of different genders, color, culture, and ability to shoot super cool lasers out of their eyes. So if you’re the most powerful person on the planet who could possibly be a threat to you? How about this mind-controlling space starfish? There is a zaniness to comics that undercuts the drama and that’s what I love- that they echo the undertone of absurdity in life. Of course here I am getting all philosophical about it when really they just have so much that can be made fun of. Everything can be laughed at and it is my job to try to help people do that so their life can be a little less depressing. So I’m not an insensitive jerk who can’t take anything seriously and has no social or self-awareness, I’M A HERO….no, I’m a jerk.
BDC: Well, as a comic super nerd, I will have to admit we take ourselves WAY too seriously. If you don't believe that, start a conversation about Goku and Superman on Facebook. That will be all it takes. Ok, Do you have any future plans for Ninja and Pirate? How about new projects? Anything in the works?
JOE FLANDERS: I have many future plans for Ninja and Pirate, if by “plans” you mean “storylines”. A bunch of new and interesting ways to take the pair including fighting a bunch of worldwide monochrome militants, a subspace singularity, time travel, and most exciting, [insert exciting thing here]! Yeah, that’ll be a blast, won’t it? As for new projects, I just made one three months ago with my lovely wife so we’re quite busy with that. I do have a full-fledged graphic novel planned but that may get put on hold because I now have this bizarre sense of responsibility that’s never been there before. Don’t worry, I’m seeing a doctor about it. As for now, my plans are to continue with Ninja and Pirate until I get a bit more free time, like when the munchkin finally goes off to school. That’s when parenting gets easy right guys? Guys?
BDC: Yeah. Right. Easier. SO, moving right along...Getting attention online is sort of like being the three year old in the room, what are some of the things to get your project exposure?
JOE FLANDERS: It is a little like being the three year old in a room, but unfortunately I’ve found that screaming loudly and pooping my pants doesn’t really help my webcomic out much. To be honest I’m still working exposing myself and also the comic. You read that right. I’ve found Twitter to be an immense help because it connects me with many more comic makers and potential readers, all in under 140 characters because that’s all you need to have an actual intelligent conversation with someone, apparently. Comic cons have been great exposure too, although it helps to have such a distinct and recognizable style. Really I’m hoping that people enjoy the comic and it spreads through word of mouth because I have no idea what I’m doing.
Do any of us? lol...make sure and check out this fun project on ninjaandpirate.com
And plan on meeting up with Joe Flanders and the whole Jackedup clan at Tokyo in Tulsa in July!
