By Lee Newman
Tim Seeley is a busy guy. He is working with the folks making the Hack/Slash movie, writes the Hack/Slash ongoing and Loaded Bible, and draws Halloween: Nightdance (in addition to anything else that Devil’s Due throws at him as a staff artist). He is one of those guys that has been set to blow up for the past two years. His resume includes working on G.I. Joe & Forgotten Realms. Seeley is a serious horror movie enthusiast, as well as fellow comic book junkie. He took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about Loaded Bible, the demands of a monthly series, and even Robert Kirkman.
Lee Newman: How does a Children's book illustrator become the creator of comics like Hack/Slash and Loaded Bible?
Tim Seeley: Actually, it's the other way around. "How did a guy like Tim Seeley end up illustrating children's books?" Heh. But I suppose it was a "right time/right place” kind of thing, and I was lucky to get to work in kid's books and learn a lot of stuff before getting dropped into indy comics.
LN: I'm a parent; I wonder if my daughter read any of the books you illustrated. What books did you do?
TS: She may have. I worked for a company called Lerner; they do tons of educational and story book type stuff. If you pop my name into Amazon, you always see a few of them on there. My personal fave was Junk Lab cuz I managed to sneak in a character I referred to as Diarrhea Man.
LN: I know about Sleepaway Camp and your affinity for Troma movies, what other horror flicks have I missed out on?
TS: Oh man...how much time do you have? (laughing) Really, I find that any horror movie with any heart, budget or not, will make me happy. So, you can see why I have sucka love for Troma. But, I'd say almost anything by Romero, Carpenter, Craven and Fred Dekker is a must see.
LN: Speaking of movies, how goes the Hack/Slash flick?
TS: It's going pretty well. We were held up by the writer's strike, but it seems like they're moving full steam ahead now. With any luck will hear all kinds of news really soon.
LN: My brother Jon (who is a jackass and my boss) wants to know why he doesn't like Hack/Slash since it became an ongoing. What I would really like to know is: how does working on an ongoing differ from working on minis or one-shots?
TS: It's a lot different. One-shots are more like "movies." The story is all about the "case", the adventure, the "event." With the series, I really wanted to explore more of the world, give readers more characters and supporting cast...fill it out, y'know? I personally prefer the ongoing. I think you get to learn more about Cass and Vlad. I can have "smaller" moments not necessarily related to the "freak of the week."
LN: While we are on the subject of Hack/Slash, I have a question from a customer: "I have a question about the book; the covers, specifically. It may be my fault for marrying a feminist, but sometimes I feel like I'm trying to sneak porn past her due to some of the covers. Are you at all concerned that there are people who are missing out on a book with a wicked sense of humor and a strong female lead because they're turned off by the 'look at my cute panties' covers?"
TS: Nah...I'm not really concerned, as honestly, it seems like the people who like those covers the most are girls. What I've discovered from women is that sexy is good. They just don't want to see unrealistically proportioned women, with tiny wastes, huge boobs and no brains. This works for me, cuz, neither do I. But, strong, realistic female leads, with a touch of sexuality often seems to work as well for women as men. I would say the majority of people who write me letters for H/S are women. I do understand it's not for everyone, and I really can't please everyone. I'm bummed not to be able to interest any potential reader.
TS: I'm not religious. But I did grow up Catholic and I've always had an affinity for the "character" of Jesus Christ. I really liked what the guy said...how he did it...I just never liked the religion that came from him. I think the Bible is an incredible book, with a lot of really great advice, but I think that there's just too many possible interpretations of it to follow it as closely as many sects of Christianity would like us too. Jesus is a fascinating character, and I felt like, even if I was going to do a story that portrayed my own personal fears of a theocratic America, I wasn't going to treat Christ poorly. I don't consider the man himself at fault for what I'm criticizing and parodying in LOADED BIBLE.
LN: This next question came from one of our customers: was Loaded Bible an attempt to tell a supernatural story with religious connotations or was the story also an attempt to comment theologically on the nature of Jesus Christ?
TS: It was sort of an attempt to do a few things at once.
1. Tell an awesome horror/action story.
2. Comment on my own concerns about the state of religion and politics, especially relating to the presidency of GW.
3. Do a symbolic story about religious idols, and how they would feel to be manipulated by the religions they created.
Hopefully I pulled off all three.
LN: How did you and your brother come up with the idea?
TS: This is kind of silly, but it's true.
Way back in like 1991 (whenever Jurassic Park came out), my bro and I (who were like 12 and 14) thought that if you could bring back dinosaurs, you could bring back Jesus. It was as simple as that. So we sort of played around with the idea back and forth for years. At one point there was probably a JESUS vs. DINOSAURS story in there. I think I added the vampires, Steve added the nuclear war, I added the "old west" scenario...in the end it was just an amalgam of all these conversations for what Steve and I thought would one day be our big, epic, Hollywood movie. Now of course, we know that no studio would shoot this movie, but, hey, it makes a cool comic!
Ultimate Comics, we have more comics then your shop has!"
LN: Will there be more Loaded Bible after “Communion”?
TS: Yeah, it really is set up now to be a series of THREE books. So, “Communion” is the last issue in Book 1. Book 2 will follow the events of “COMMUNION”, and BOOK 3 will feature Jesus discovering the sources of vampirism.
LN: What exactly happened with the Baby and Jesus in Loaded Bible 2? Will it be addressed in #3? Will we see more of the baby? Feel free to use this space for a plug. (Editor's Note: PLUGS ALWAYS WELCOME AT SCHWAPPONLINE.COM)
TS: Sorry that was unclear.
Basically, Jesus was going to try and heal the kid of vampirism. But he found that doing his usual "laying of hands" method drew him INTO the vampire curse. So he would have to take it on himself to cure the baby. Jesus was freaked, of course, and he withdrew. But the lil' vamp was still hungry and he bit Jesus. But, as we saw in the first ish, Jesus' blood makes vampires go BOOM. That does come to play in “COMMUNION”.
LN: No problem, it might just be me; I read a lot of comics in the middle of the night after long days of sorting comics. How was it working with Mike Norton?
TS: It's always easy and fun. Really. I mean, that sounds like an ass-kiss DVD interview answer, but it's true for Mike and I. We really do like the same stuff. When I give him a script, I know it'll come back just like I intended.
LN: I have noticed a definite progression in Mike's work of late, especially in the last issue of The All New Atom, is that more refined style prevalent in this book? Is it noticeably different in the art than in “Blood of Christ”?
TS: I think so. What happened was right in the middle of Communion, Mike got an exclusive offer from DC. So they told him to finish up whatever he could on LB, and then he'd be theirs for the next two years. No sane artist turns down a DC exclusive, so Mike finished most of “Communion”, started on ATOM, and Chris Johnson finished Bible for me. So, you've seen a very busy Mike doing some great work in the year since he finished his pages of Loaded Bible 2 and 3. He evolves really fast. I actually get jealous.
LN: Besides Halloween: Nightdance and Hack/Slash, what horror comics are you digging?
TS: I enjoy WALKING DEAD in trade, and I always read most of Niles' stuff. Always fun. I've really been enjoying Hester's DARKNESS and WITCHBLADE is growing on me. I dunno...there aren’t many good horror comics around. The big two don't really care about them and just crack out lots of superhero crossover stuff. I can always go back and read my Alan Moore SWAMP THING trades.
LN: Besides Halloween, what are you drawing these days?
TS: A few little projects on the side, and some H/S covers. But mostly, HALLOWEEN has been chaining me to the desk.
LN: Halloween is with Devil's Due where you are a staff artist, what exactly does that position entail? Are you like an art editor or do you just get the job when they can't find some other sucker?
TS: A little of both. Heh, I have "first pick" of our projects. But, when it's an emergency, I draw whatever needs to be done.
LN: What else do you have in the works?
TS: Whew...probably more than I can handle. I'm writing a horror comic for an Italian company called Arcadia. It'll be great, cuz when it comes out, I won’t even be able to read it. I have the LOADED BIBLE Book 1 trade, and a short for Tokyopop. I, also, wrote a sci-fi teen sex comedy that I'm shopping around....so...whew...enough.
LN: How's Robert Kirkman? Could you please tell him to stop hacking off the heads of characters that I like?
TS: Hah...I don't even know if I could get a hold of Robert anymore. He's all BIG MARVEL GUY, and I'm still "indy sacrilegious horror comic guy." But, hey, it wouldn't be a good horror comic if the heads weren't liable to be removed from any or all of your favorite characters.
Hack/Slash comes out monthly, issue 8 is on stands now. Halloween: Nightdance #1 is on stands now. Both are published by Devil’s Due. Loaded Bible 3: Communion will be available Wednesday from Image.
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