When it comes to creating stories of unique and often horror laden concepts, no one does it better than Zenescope. Between combining great story tellers with masterful artists, they never fail to entertain. Such is the case in their three part mini-series Possessive, written by the creative team of Hans Rodionoff and Adam F. Goldberg. If Adam’s name seems familiar, it is probably from his great success on television including such shows as The Goldberg’s and Schooled. Hans is no stranger to success on his own as co-writer of Lovecraft with comic veteran Keith Giffen as well as the film Man-Thing, based on the Marvel Comic. He also has done work for DC along with co-writer Ray Fawkes on MNEMOVORE and on the mini series The Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs. In addition, he and Adam had collaborated previously on Zenescope’s Conspiracy, Vol. 2. Their recent work together for Zenescope, Possessive tells a both humorous and gruesome tale of what happens when a man who is down on his luck, chooses a vengeful spirit to be his artistic muse. The 3rd issue of which comes out October 21st.
Recently, I had the pleasure of talking to the writing team to discuss their beginnings, their work together for AFG Productions, and of course Possessive. So, let’s welcome Hans Rodionoff and Adam F. Goldberg to GVN’s Talking Comics Interview. Thanks for giving some of your time, guys.
Similar Beginnings
GVN: When did each of you first take an interest in writing and whose work inspired you to believe that it would be something you might like to pursue? Also, when did comics come into the equation?
HR: I often say that Adam and I are kind of the Yin to each other’s Yang, he’s a comedic writer with a deep love for horror, and I’m a horror writer with a deep love for comedy. We’re like a Reese’s peanut butter cup writing team. When and how we each became interested in writing follows that model – we both came from opposite directions but ended up in the same place. I didn’t want to be a writer initially. I wanted to draw comic books. Mainly because I grew up reading comics and drawing my own characters, and to be honest, I didn’t really understand what comic book writers did. As far as I could tell, I thought the artists did everything. I ended up going to art school, and while I was there, I took an introductory film class just for fun. That class opened my mind to cinematic storytelling, and really changed my entire path. From that point on, I started writing more and drawing less – but for me, working in comic books is kind of what I wanted to do since I was a kid, so the journey feels circular. Because I was primarily a visual artist for most of my life, the stories that inspired me were the supernatural Marvel comics of the 70s; Man-Thing, Werewolf By Night, Tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange and Frankenstein’s Monster.
AFG: Yeah, I was the total opposite of that. For one, I never wanted to be a comic book artist and I struggle to draw stick figures. But also I knew I wanted to write and make movies pretty much my whole life. I grew up loving the films of Steven Spielberg, and if I had to pick just one filmmaker that inspired me to want to make movies, it’s him. His movies combine comedy, adventure and suspense perfectly, and his unique brand of storytelling resonates in everything I do. At some point I realized that I wanted to be creating content that would inspire and entertain the next generation – but when I was a kid, movies and television weren’t my only source of inspiration. I also loved comic books, role-playing games, toys, giant robots, video games and action figures – so I wanted to start creating in all those different arenas too.
AFG Productions
GVN: I can certainly identify with both of your paths. But especially Hans. I wanted to draw comics since I was 7 years old. But now I write about them. I guess you take what life gives you. You currently work together at AFG Productions developing new shows for Disney/ABC. How did that relationship start?
HR: Adam and I met at a time when we were both just starting to try and get people to read our screenplays. We realized pretty quickly that we had similar tastes and we started sending each other scripts to read and give notes on. At some point, that evolved into writing a script together. I started as a feature writer, so I wasn’t used to collaborating, and I think I might have been a little unyielding at first. But Adam started as a TV writer, and learned how to survive and thrive in a writer’s room. So working with other writers is something that he’s really got down to a science. I’ve always felt like the best part about filmmaking is that it is an intrinsically collaborative endeavor. With many of the best films, the sum becomes greater than the parts, but in order to transcend your own creative limitations, you’ve got to be able to acknowledge when someone else’s idea is better than the one that you had originally.
AFG: I look at writing as being like a really good D&D session, where you’re hanging with a bunch of your best buds down in the basement, everybody all hyped up on Mountain Dew and pizza, and everyone’s feeding off each other’s energy. Sure, there’s a Dungeon Master, or on a television show, a Showrunner, but the DM is nothing without the players – and the players keep the DM on his or her toes. The Dungeon Master doesn’t know what the players are going to do in any given situation, and the players don’t know what the DM has planned for them, so the stories that you create are built by everyone in the room. The best television writer’s rooms that I’ve been in have felt like that, they’ve had that same energy. Hans was playing D&D by himself, which isn’t all that fun – so I brought him in to the game.
Proud to be Nerds
GVN: Love the D&D analogy. It’s obvious that you are both huge nerds in the best possible way. Hans had me with Man-Thing. I was a big fan of the comic book. The fact that you call the AFG Production offices the “Nerd Den” certainly makes that clear.
HR: I’m extremely proud of the Man-Thing mini-series I did with Kyle Hotz. That was my second foray into comics after Lovecraft, and after that I was totally hooked on sequential storytelling.
AFG: The best thing about nerdery is that it’s now just another way of saying someone is a passionate fan. When I was a kid, being called a nerd was an insult, but it’s not any more. Now there are all different kinds of nerds, and we all feel proud of whatever type of nerd we are. There are even sports nerds, which used to be an oxymoron. So calling the offices the Nerd Den is really just a way of saying that this is where passionate Super-Fans hang out, and all nerds are welcome.
Conspiracy, Vol. 2
GVN: Cool…I’ll drop in sometime. (Don’t worry…that would never happen). While we’re talking primarily about Possessive, it is not the first time that you collaborated on a comic. You also worked together on Conspiracy, Vol. 2 which was a follow-up to Hans’s work on Vol. 1 (also from Zenescope). Hans, what made you decide to bring Adam into Vol.2 and what did you learn during that project that you feel was beneficial for your Possessive series?
HR: One of the first scripts that I wrote with Adam was an extraterrestrial horror thriller. We both have watched way too many documentaries about alien abductions, crashes and cover-ups, so when Zenescope approached me about doing a follow-up to the original Conspiracy series, revolving around aliens, it seemed like a natural fit. I had introduced Joe and Ralph to Adam a few years before this, and they all got along really well – so I think we all knew that we would do a book together, it was just a question of when.
AFG: I do love aliens. Going back to Spielberg’s E.T. – in fact, there’s an E.T. Easter Egg in our Conspiracy series, for anyone that’s familiar with the ill-fated sequel. One of my first produced credits is a Sci-Fi comedy called Area 52, and it’s kind of a workplace comedy about the junky second-rate facility that’s next door to Area 51. When Hans asked me if I wanted to write that series with him, I said, “Only if we can start issue #1 with that Naruto run that they’re planning at Alienstock.” We ran the idea by Joe and Ralph, and they liked it, so we jumped on board.
Possessive
GVN: Your series Possessive is an entertaining mix of horror and humor. How did this concept come to fruition and was this an idea that you talked about as you worked on Conspiracy, Vol. 2?
HR: I love haunted house stories, and I’ve been wanting to do one forever. Whenever Adam and I are working on a project, we’re usually talking about other things in our downtime, so I’m sure this came up while we were writing “Conspiracy,” although the seed of it was probably planted well before then. We sort of came up with this notion that we wanted to do for ghosts what “Shaun of the Dead” did for zombies. Typically, ghost stories are either all about the scares, or they’re primarily comedic. Ghostbusters has its spooky moments, but it’s mostly a comedy. It’s not built to be scary. What Edgar Wright did so well in Shaun of the Dead was create a story that was truly frightening at times, but also really funny with laugh out loud jokes, and underneath it all, there’s real heart and emotion.
AFG: Once we kinda knew what the tone was that we were going for, we had to answer the classic question of “Why don’t they just leave?” I thought a great answer for that would be, “They literally don’t have anywhere else to go.” And from that idea, Todd Butson was born – a self-destructive alcoholic who has run out of options and as a last ditch effort to get his wife and kids back, purchases a really cheap teardown house. Once we knew who Todd was, and why he would stay in a haunted house, everything else grew from there.
Artist Eduardo Garcia
GVN: That’s the question that EVERYONE asks in a haunted house scenario. It’s like the Eddie Murphy bit in Delirious. “Oh, Baby…This is Beautiful. We got a chandelier hanging up here. Kids are outside playing. Its a beautiful neighborhood. We ain’t got nothing to worry about. This is really nice. (voice from inside the house) GET OUT!!! Too bad we can’t stay, Baby!” Todd is exactly the kind of guy Eddie was talking about (But I digress). You are working with talented artist Eduardo Garcia along with colorist Robby Bevard. How did they come to the project and were you at all surprised by the great work they brought to Possessive?
HR: Once the Zenescope team said yes to this project, they really went above and beyond trying to put together the perfect team to bring this book to life. Balancing horror and comedy is tricky, and everyone at Zenescope knew that every visual element needed to be pitch perfect in order for the book to work. When they sent over Eduardo’s work, Adam and I knew he was the right artist for the job. Robby understood the complicated tone of the book and created a language in color and hue that acts like a film score – subtly shifting mood from comedy to horror and back again.
AFG: The toughest part about doing a comedic comic book is getting the acting right. In a movie, you have Seth Rogan delivering lines and turning jokes, but in a comic the reader is supplying the voice, so the artist has to do all the heavy lifting. One of the things that Eduardo does so well is capture really funny expressions and moments. The other thing is that when you’re doing a comedy, there’s a lot of dialogue balloons, but sometimes there’s not a lot of action. Eduardo was also really good at making our talky scenes visually interesting.
Working with the Artist
GVN: Since various artists work differently, did you supply Eduardo with a full script, or just an outline?
HR: We gave him a full script for each issue.
AFG: Most of the funniest bits in the book were things that we pitched and acted out. With that much dialogue, we felt like we needed to break it down into panels so that Eduardo’s wonderful art wouldn’t get totally covered up by word balloons.
GVN: How closely did you collaborate with the art team? I used to believe that all writers worked hand in hand with their artists. I have found out as I have talked to different creators that is varies greatly from project to project.
HR: Very closely.
AFG: This is true. My email inbox was routinely filled with at least 25 emails a day with the subject line of “Possessive”. As you said, it really seems to vary from comic to comic. Some are very collaborative throughout the entire process while some are – receive script, draw panels.
HR: Because I come from an illustration background, and I originally wanted to be a comic book artist, I can be very specific about what I think the panels should look like. But, I have learned from Adam that collaboration can be very powerful, so I like to start from a place of waiting to see how an artist will interpret the words. Often, the art comes back even better than I had envisioned it while we were writing the script. There are times, especially with this one because capturing expression and timing is so critical to the humor, that I was a little bit more of my old “unyielding” self. Doing a 36 page book in a month is difficult, but this team was able to pull it off, even with my copious notes and all my requested revisions. Not only that, but they did it three times!
AFG: I’m really proud of the book, and I hope everyone on the team is too, I know that it’s only as good as it is because all of the talented members of the team were giving it their all. Chas Pangburn did an amazing job keeping everyone on track and motivated, Eduardo delivered well-balanced art that walked the line between horror and comedy, Robby painted it all beautifully and Carlos Mangual balanced out the art and the words perfectly.
Working for Zenescope
GVN: I would have to agree with you there. I have enjoyed the series very much. As I mentioned, this is your second series together with Zenescope. What does Zenescope bring to the table that makes for a great working environment? I know that their artists are second to none.
AFG: I like the fact that the company’s roots are in Philly. That was one of the reasons that Joe, Ralph and I got along so well when we first met, because we’re all from Philadelphia. They also gave us a lot of creative freedom and believed in the project, even though what we were doing was very different from the usual Zenescope fare.
HR: They’re a great company, run by Comic Nerds who genuinely have a love for the medium. Their artists, as you said, are phenomenal – and I mean all the artists: the pencillers, the inkers, the colorists and the letterers. But really, the thing that makes it a great working environment more than anything is what Adam said: their faith and trust in us.
New Books?
GVN: I agree. I know they have been very supportive of us and our working together. Now that you have two successful books in your comic portfolios writing together, can we hope to find another collaboration between the two of you in the future?
HR: I think the chances of that are very good.
AFG: Me too.
HR: Might even already be in the works.
AFG: Might be.
Where to Follow
GVN: Oh, the subtle tease. One might think you have done this before. Well, Hans and Adam, we really appreciate your time today. Before I let you both go, do either of you have any other projects coming up that you are free to talk about?
HR: There’s nothing that I can be super-specific about, but I can say that if you’ve enjoyed Possessive, we have more horror comedy projects that are in the pipeline.
AFG: And if you’re looking for a fun Halloween movie for the family, watch the Muppets Haunted Mansion special. It’s great!
GVN: Additionally, where can fans go to follow you both on social media and the web?
HR: I watched The Social Dilemma and it finally motivated me to get off social media entirely, as I found it to be toxic and distracting. I know there are people who can manage social media in their life successfully, but I’m not one of them. When I was a kid, I went and saw Stan Lee at a signing and talked to him for like five minutes, and it was amazing – the memory of that moment is still vivid in my mind. I would encourage fans to find me at a Comic Con or at a signing, so that we can have a real conversation.
AFG: Okay, Hans is a weirdo. My Twitter handle is @adamfgoldberg
You can find Issues 1 and 2 of Zenescope’s Possessive by Hans Rodionoff and Adam F. Goldberg and Eduardo Garcia where great comic books are sold. Be sure to look for the third and final issue that comes out this week. You can find our reviews for Issues 1 and 2 here and here.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first 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 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
