Our signs for Denver Comic Con are here! If you want to find us at the show, just look for an ENORMOUS version of our logo. Or, you know, a huge tri-bear-a-clawps.
Special thanks to DeMoss DeSigns for the layouts, and Lagniappe Print for overseeing printing.
Tell 
us a bit about Who You Are And How You Came To Be.
I’m Paul Bradford and I am a comic book writer. I was born in Scotland, but currently live in Perth, Western Australia. I grew up reading British Comics in the 70’s and 80’s and these comics had a big impact on me. They were a great way to vanish into whole new worlds and live fantastic adventures. Nowadays however I like to collect comic book related busts and statues and have a large collection of these. I also have a few Aussie Muscle cars from the 70’s.
How did you find yourself making comics?
In high school, I teamed up with a few people who all had a common interest in creating comics. However the whole thing never really went anywhere and we didn’t actually produce any comics. I guess that sparked my interest in writing comics and I continued to write and develop ideas for stories. Roll forward a few years and I started submitting scripts to companies in the US and in the UK. That process however did not lead to any opportunities for me to write comics. The Australian comic book scene was pretty non-existent back then and there was definitely not a lot happening in Perth. At that stage, I wasn’t about to travel overseas to try my hand at submitting at conventions as I didn’t think that a writer would have much chance at being picked up that way. If I had been a kick ass artist, I probably would have tried that avenue. Roll forward a few more years and the whole internet thing came along. This gave me the opportunity to make contact with artists from around the world. Some of these connections went nowhere, whilst others thrived and my writing started to come to life in the form of comic books. I continue to use the internet to make new contacts with artists as well as publishers, such as 8th Wonder Press.
Without giving too much away, tell us about your story “Communication Meltdown” and how you approached it.
Communication Meltdown was written with the general idea of having a historical event that in fact had something else going on, something that was coming out of left field. Once I had the general idea for the story, it pretty much wrote itself. I did do some research on the historical event though, in order to get the details correct that I needed to use within the story. The story itself was written as a done in one story with the hope of finding an anthology to publish it. I wrote it as a ten page story, which seems to be a little too long for a lot of anthologies out there. It was written quite a while ago and I am really glad to finally get this story into print. I have worked with the artist, Randy Valiente, on a few other projects since then and they have been printed, so we are both pleased to now see Communication Meltdown being published.
What are you reading right now, comics or otherwise?
To be perfectly honest, I have not been doing a lot of reading in recent years. My interest in collecting comic related busts and statues has taken over from reading and collecting comics. As a writer, I think that I may have made a conscious decision to stop reading comics as I used to read comics that had ideas similar to stories that I was developing. As I could not bring my comics to print, it used to frustrate me that a similar idea was published and I had to scrap my work. But I guess that happens to the best of us. Ideas would then be similar to movies and the like, so you learn to take those knocks and move on. After all you cannot avoid watching television and movies, well I can’t anyway. Having said that, I have recently started reading a few comic books again. I picked up IDW’s Judge Dredd, as I was a huge fan of 2000AD in my younger days, but these books are not really doing it for me. I am hoping that IDW’s Judge Dredd Year One really meets the mark. I have also recently picked up Tom Taylor and James Brouwer’s graphic novel The Deep: Here Be Dragons that was published by Gestalt Comics. This was a pretty damn good read and I am looking forward to picking up the follow up graphic novel The Deep: The Vanishing Island.
How did you meet up, and what’s your creative process like?
I originally made contact with Randy Valiente quite a few years ago now. He posted some of his art on the now defunct Heavy Metal Magazine Forum. I liked his style and contacted him through the forum, which then led to us working together. I have worked on a few short comics with Randy over the past few tears and hope to work on a few more in the coming years. The process, I guess, would be similar to anybody who w
orks with others in different countries, I live in Australia and Randy Lives in the Philippines. Essentially, I send Randy the script, he does up some rough layouts of how he sees the pages, I give it the go ahead or suggest some changes and we move on. Randy will then do up the pencils and I approve or suggest changes and then he does the inks and then the letters and colors (if required). I am fairly open for the artist to make changes to the layout as long as the story still flows well. From my viewpoint, I think if the artist can have input into the look of the page, then this is more interesting for them.
What else is in the works for you, and where can readers find your work next?
I have been working on a few projects in recent months, some of which will be seeing the light of day very soon. I have also had some of my previous works reprinted in various anthologies. Keep a look out for the following, some of which are available right now: Astral Crusaders – The Standard Bearer available for download (CE Publishing – Megabook M2 and Emerald Star Comics Presents #1), Witch Hunters (soon to be published by Evil Moose Publishing – Moose Crossing Anthology #1), Ultimate Man and The Night Errant (soon to be published by Source Point Press in Alter Egos volumes 1 and 2), The Last Knight (soon to be published in Indie Comics Horror #2) and Silent But Deadly (available later in the year in Indie Comics Magazine #7). To keep up to date with new releases and info about my comics, please visit my blog at inertiapublications.blogspot.com.
We’ve been teasing our upcoming anthology Uncanny Adventures for some time, and now it’s finally time to get reveal some specifics. Uncanny Adventures brings together 30 comic creators from around the world to bring you 21 genre-spanning short stories. From cartoonists just getting their 
start to established artists presenting their latest works, this collection provides something for every taste. From Victorian horror to science fiction, from autobiographical stories to murder mysteries, Uncanny Adventures showcases the breadth of comics by bringing you tales that will make you think, laugh, and shiver.
Topping it all off, we’re thrilled beyond belief to let you know that our cover artist is Ethan Nicolle. Ethan, as you should know, draws the amazing comic Axe Cop, which is written by his little brother Malachai and soon to be an animated TV show. He’s also the creator of Bearmaggedon, which is about bears and is incredible.
We have a lot of talented creators working on this book, and we can’t wait to get it into your hands. To give you a sample we’ve been posting interviews with the creators involved every Saturday, and have several more lined up for the next few weeks.
Uncanny Adventures will premiere at Denver Comic Con May 31 – June 2, and then through our website, 8thWonderPress.com. For purchasing information, contact sales@8thWonderPress.com
Tell us a bit about Who You Are And How You Came To Be.
Julia: The first significant change in my life happened when I emigrated from Mainland China to the United States at nine years old. When I reached university age, my parents defied Asian stereotypes and supported me in studying the humanities rather than something related to engineering or accounting. I received a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania but afterwards realized that my true desire was to write, not simply analyze what others have written. That was how I jumped from the narrow field of academia to pursue a career that is even harder to survive by. Nowadays, I write stories that are important to me, and I hope that others will find something meaningful in them as well.
To feed and clothe myself, I work as an English teacher at an elementary school in Seoul. Luckily, the sappy things they say about how rewarding teaching is happen to be true. I tend to use creative writing to escape from teaching, but just as often, the reverse happens, too.
Erik: My name is Erik Thurman and I’m an English as a Foreign Language teacher at Aloysius Elementary School Orphanage in West Seoul, South Korea. I’m also a writer/artist of non-fictional comics and comics journalism.
Originally I was born in Modesto, California back in the US, growing up in troubled neighborhoods and gang violence. Needless to say at the age of 18 I got out of there as quickly as I could by signing up to join the military. I spent the next couple of years traveling the country before settling down in the Bay Area and began to study illustration and animation in university. By the time I had finished my education, I had worked something like over 30 different jobs over the course of my lifetime. Now I travel around the world making comics about the lives of people in the countries I travel to and the things they find most important to them.
How did you find yourself making comics?
Julia: A year and a half ago, I met my current boyfriend, Erik Thurman, fellow teacher/comic artist. Through our time together, I gleaned a little bit of knowledge about the comic-making process and the niche of non-fiction comics. Since then, I have been fully disabused of the notion that comics cannot possess the same literary and social value that prose and poetry can. “What Haunts Us” is my first attempt at writing for a comic, and I hope I will have more chances to collaborate with talented comic artists to tell stories that text alone cannot effectively communicate.
Erik: After leaving the military, I wanted to pursue a field in which I could communicate a wide range of social issues that weren’t impeded by the barriers of language. Because of this I quickly found myself pursuing fine art and later on made the switch over to illustration. Illustration in particular interested me as a medium for expression because it is able to be reproduced to a wider audience at an affordable price, that and it can be accessible in more outlets. Unfortunately my professors didn’t see eye-to-eye with me in university as I was nudged towards the mainstream entertainment industry, an industry I feel overly promotes violence against women, disenfranchisement of minorities, and the glorification of war. So I packed my bags, bought a ticket overseas, and started writing and illustrating stories about my travels while using comics as my medium.
Without giving too much away, tell us about your story “What Haunts Us” and how you approached it.
Julia: “What Haunts Us” is part ghost story and part historical fiction set during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was inspired by a story I heard about my great-uncle who died under mysterious circumstances around that time. I interviewed my mother and grandmother for more details on the story as well as on what life was like in 1930s China. I hope that the comic has successfully captured the essence of that place and time as well as timeless themes of family and loss that many could relate to.
Erik: The comic originally came to be during a conversation that Julia and I had one evening about her family’s history. Even though I’ve never been to mainland China before, I have always been interested in the conflicts between Japan and its neighbors during that time period. My job for this comic was to handle all of the artwork and visual research based on the interviews that Julia conducted previously. We worked back and forth to make sure that the settings and characters were as accurate as possible, along with going back and trying to fill in any holes in the memories of Julia’s mother and grandmother.
What are you reading right now, comics or otherwise?
Julia: I am exploring the works of the latest Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan, starting with his novel Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, a magic realist take on the history of China from 1950s to more recent times. I also try to keep up with the blog of the famous racecar-driving writer Han Han, who offers trenchant, humorous views on society and media. Han Han’s novel Triple Door is available in English, for anyone who is interested. In addition, I am finally starting to check out Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. It’s a helpful read not just for comic artists but storytellers in general.
Erik: Well right now I’m reading Killing Me Softly by Aloysius Schwartz; the author being the man who founded the orphanage I work at here in Seoul. His story details his last few years of his life and his battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a disease that slowly inflicts paralysis throughout your body till your lungs stop breathing on their own. Besides that I’m also checking out “The New New Journalism” by Robert S. Boynton, a must read for anyone interested in seeing how different individuals are advancing the field of non-fiction and journalism. Lastly I’ve also been trying to keep up with the digital comics journalism publication “Symbolia,” which features excellent works from writers and artists around the world telling about true events.
How did you meet up, and what’s your creative process like?
Julia: Erik Thurman and I met by chance on a bus almost two years ago. I had always been an introvert, but on that day, I overheard an interesting conversation between two strangers and was somehow possessed to jump in. Fate would have it that one of those people turned out to be my partner in more than one way.
For “What Haunts Us,” I interviewed my mother (who is the little girl in the comic), translated the transcript from Chinese to English, and drafted the plot. Erik handled the much more time-consuming task of drawing it all. Collaborating creatively with a close friend or significant other presents with certain obstacles, but the benefits, in my opinion, are definitely greater. I was grateful to have the chance to work with someone whose style I am deeply familiar with and whom I trust (almost) completely. It has also been a good learning experience for me, as I tried to write a story that could translate well visually.
Erik: Long story short, Julia and I met up on a bus heading coming back from a teacher’s training course in Seoul. She had just gotten off the plane traveling from Toronto and finishing up her Master’s at the University of Pennsylvania, while I had just spent the past couple of weeks backpacking and being homeless in Japan and South Korea. We got to talking, ended up having coffee that night, and the rest is history as one could say.
Working with Julia was actually one of the first times I had ever worked with another writer for a comic, since I typically write my own works. So it was definitely interesting getting feedback on my work and trying to adapt the drawing to properly fit the type of style that the writing called for. She handled the interviews in Chinese while I did my best to translate it in pictures, which overall I felt succeeded pretty well.
What else is in the works for you, and where can readers find your work next?
Julia: Currently I am working on a collection of short, coming-of-age stories centering on a little girl growing up in China during a period of relative calm right after decades of tumultuous changes that most adults could still vividly remember but don’t talk about. I hope these stories could be published individually first. In case anyone would like updates on that, or if they enjoy short ramblings about Asia, education, or women’s issues, please find me at http://cautionjulie.blogspot.kr.
Erik: This summer is going to be a busy time for me as I’m also working with The Cartoon Picayune in order to publish a short comic about Seoul coffee shops. Expect that to debut at CAKE in Chicago in June. Also coming up next year I’ll be releasing the first of my three part graphic novel series “The American Immigrant,” a memoir/journalistic piece about my travels in the Philippines, South Korea, and tentatively Zambia while working as a teacher and trying to explain the unaffordability and inaccessibility of global public education.
You can find updates at my website at www.erikthurmanblog.blogspot.com.
Oh, Free Comic Book Day, how we love you. It’s the best day of the year, bar none. We’re not in your Local Comic Shop this year, unfortunately, but after you visit your LCS for some great print comics, here’s a copy of “What REALLY Happened to the 7 Wonders of the World” by Jesse Dubin and Andrew Middleton. It’s a hilarious tale of the real story behind mankind’s greatest engineering feats, and we think you’re really going to enjoy it. For today only, we’re happy to give a copy to all of our social media followers.
Enjoy our FCBD contribution, and feel free to share to help us get the word out.
For several months now, we’ve been promising that our inaugural book is going to be our anthology, Uncanny Adventures. UA is still on-track and looking amazing, but now we’re happy to announce we will have another book debuting at the Denver Comic Con as well!
8th Wonder Press 