Mark Twain once said: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” This is also true in the world of Monster fighting and in Joey Weiser’s upcoming Oni Press YA book, “The Littlest Fighter.” In this engaging tale, Ash is a young fighter who makes up for lack of size by his tenacity and his surprising power. It is Ash’s goal to become the greatest fighter of all time. He pursues this by challenging any creature he comes across, no matter their size or the damage that is left in their wake.
This is the problem that his new friend Dot sees. She would prefer that Ash find some other way to prove himself other than fighting anyone he comes across. This despite she herself has proven to be a great fighter in her own right. But Ash has a vision of finding the Legendary Champion, a fighter who disappeared in the midst of their prime. If Ash were to defeat him, his legacy would be cemented. This is the world of Joey Weiser’s “The Littlest Fighter.”
In advance of the March 18th release of this entertaining book, we recently caught up to creator Joey Weiser to talk about his creative beginnings and his newest creation “The Littlest Fighter.” A book that young fans of Kaiju and “monster” fighting will enjoy, told in the vibrant and whimsical way that only Joey can do. So, let’s welcome the talented Eisner nominated creator, Joey Weiser to GVN Talking Comics.
Artistic Roots
GVN: Thank you for giving us a bit of your time, Joey. As we normally do for creators we haven’t had the pleasure of conversing with before, let’s start with your artistic roots. When did you first take an interest in art, and whose work inspired you to perhaps pursue that goal?
Joey: Thanks for having me! I’ve loved comics and cartoons for as long as I can remember. My first love was comic strips, stuff like Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County. And I loved any cartoons with creatures or talking animals, things like that. Ninja Turtles, Rocko’s Modern Life, shows of that era.
And as you might have guessed from The Littlest Fighter, kaiju movies like the Godzilla series were big favorites of mine growing up! This book about a human child-sized kaiju-like character who wants to battle giant-sized monsters definitely came from that.
Savannah College of Art and Design
GVN: You are a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design. As you neared your degree, did you have a certain goal in mind upon graduation or were you open to whichever path your talent and fortune took you?
Joey: I was always very laser-focused on comics. I took some classes in storyboarding and more broad illustration classes while at SCAD, but comics were always the major goal for me.
“Doing the Work I Like to Make”
GVN: As I have looked over your work, the first words that come to mind are whimsical and fun. Two of the best ingredients one could have for a young persons author and creator. What made you decide to focus more on the youth market and does it take a different mind set when your target audience is so impressionable at this time?
Joey: Honestly, I just created the kind of work that I liked to make, and it was other people who classified them as kids’ comics. “All Ages” was the popular term at the time, but since then we’ve kind of moved into shuffling graphic novels into more specific age ranges. For a long time, I thought I wanted to be a newspaper comic strip artist. Then I discovered that you could blend that aesthetic with comic book storytelling from stuff like Bone and The Tick. So, I think that humorous, cartoony mentality just carried over into my work.
Working with Oni Press
GVN: You have worked with Oni Press for many of your books. How did that relationship come about and how much freedom do they allow you when doing a new book?
Joey: This actually goes back to SCAD. The year after I graduated, James Lucas Jones, just an editor at the time, was visiting the college and meeting with students for portfolio reviews. I was still around, so they let me see him, and I gave him a mock-up of my first graphic novel, The Ride Home, that I was working on. He was like, “This is great! I can’t wait to read this! There’s no way we can publish this.” The problem was that Oni wasn’t doing kids-focused stuff at the time. But I checked in with him occasionally, and kept him updated on what I was working on, and eventually I was passed along to another editor, Jill Beaton, while I was working on what would become my first Oni book, Mermin. James was always a supporter, but it was Jill who really pushed the book through and made it happen.
The Littlest Fighter
GVN: Speaking of new books, your latest is “The Littlest Fighter,” a wonderful mix for young fans of kaiju monsters and action. How did this story come about?
Joey: Yeah! Well, it’s exactly that! The inspiration came from my love of Godzilla movies, as I said, but that was just the earliest kernel of an idea. Ash, the so-called “Littlest Fighter,” participates in big battles all across the land with gigantic opponents. At first the idea was just playing with the contrast of “little guy vs. big guy,” but I didn’t want the resolution of the book to simply be about fighting. This was written mid-pandemic lockdown, and I was thinking a lot about selflessness and sacrificing immediate wants for the good of others, and that sort of naturally permeated the story. It’s still got lots of exciting monster battles, but in the end it’s about more than that.
Morals that Reveal Through Story
GVN: This book, like so many of your others not only entertains but passes along a lesson or at least some discussion points while entertaining your readers? How important is that to you as you create a new story?
Joey: I don’t start with a theme or moral in mind. I think when you do that, it just becomes way too heavy-handed. So, I create something that I think is fun, start developing it, and somewhere along the line I realize what it seems to be “about.” From there, I can fine-tune the story to reflect that theme. But I prefer for that to arise from my subconscious.
The Release of “The Littlest Fighter”
GVN: Thanks again, Joey for your time. Before I let you go, I want to give you an opportunity to tell our readers when The Littlest Fighter comes out and about any other projects you may have.
Joey: Yes, thank you! The Littlest Fighter hits stores March 18! I’d love for everyone to check it out!
Its debut show will be FLUKE the following Saturday, 3/29 in Athens, GA, including a launch event and live reading the evening before (Friday 3/28, 6pm-9pm) at the local comic shop Bizarro-Wuxtry. And then on April 5, I’ll be signing at Neighborhood Comics in Savannah, GA. Check me out on Instagram or Bluesky for more details on all that. Later in the year I’ll be at some other comic shows like TCAF and HeroesCon, which I’ll be talking more about when we get closer to those dates!
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
