Fed up with reading classics on your iPhone app? Well there’s a new comic in town, and I cought up with the creator for a little chat to see what all the fuss was about. He is Andrei Buters and his comic is Dead By Thirty. Make sure you go and get a copy! (Once you have read the interview, of course!)

Why did you start making comics, and can you tell us a bit about your creative background?
I started making comics just because my style of illustration didn’t suit what other folks in Perth were doing. I developed my drawing style with a lot of love for videogame and manga design rather than something graphic design or fine arts based. So the simpler, cleaner and faster drawing style matched making comics in late high school when I was reading stuff like Neil Gaiman’s ‘Sandman’ and Neon Genesis Evangelion manga.

The burning question: what is your comic about??
It’s hard to wrap up. Just like ‘Shaun of the Dead’ was a Romantic Zombie Comedy, my series ‘Dead By Thirty’ is a Horror Fantasy Drama Comedy Bildungsroman (who did English Lit here?) Basically the protagonist (who is most easily described as a reluctant magical goth) will die when he hits 30. He’s also ordered to protect a girl whoreally clashes with his sense of responsibility and duty. Throw zombies, an undead ex-boyfriend rock star and a psychic detective into the mix and you have a big fat mess. An older lady at my office said it was ‘Tolkienesque’.

How did the story line come about? Is it based on anyone you know?
I’m an unmitigated nerd. Not a cool person who just wears big glasses to cash in on the nerd chic. The main character for ‘Dead By Thirty’ is loosely based off an old ‘Forgotten Realms’ Dungeons and Dragons character I played in my uni days where my mates and I would head to my friends Nedlands shared house and roleplay until 4am in the morning. On the weekend. I didn’t think of the story as much as I wanted to explore certain clashes – art vs greed, experience vs the youth, music vs the military.

Is the new comic a series of installments or more like a graphic novel?
Because it’s self-published and I’m not (and probably never will be) a professional comic artist. The only way to do it is in 30-50 page installments that I can then print and mail out to Australian comic stores and sell through Etsy (see link below). But when it hits the 180 page mark and it’s feasible, I’d love for it to become a graphic novel.

Did you do all of the art for the comic too?
I wrote and drew the comic. Former Artrage Theatre head Luke Milton and ‘I Am Still In Yesterday’s Clothes’ Zine creator Tristan Fidler very kindly edited the script. They’re really cool dudes and Perthites should buy whatever Tristan and Luke have to sell. Every edition has a guest art section where I get illustrators that I am a fan of to draw one of the major characters – put their own spin on them. The first edition has Amanda Brooks, Michael Katchan, Luke Littleton and Campbell Whyte, who collectively put me to shame.

How much time do you spend on it?
The 36 page story for the first edition took 4 months but I was employed fulltime working as a journo while doing the comic on thursday nights and weekends.

Are there many other people in Perth doing the same thing?
There’s only a handful of dedicated Perth comic creators right now that I know of. Around 12-15 active creators I personally know. Making comics is really labour intensive, really easy to ditch in the middle of a project and therefore lots of artists who have the skills spend their time doing character concept work or standalone pieces. Quality Comics in Perth has the biggest range of WA comic artists stuff at the moment but the other stores (Comiczone, Empire Toys) are getting quick to throw their support behind the Perth creatives. Half of the fun of this is discovering someone else’s work and being blown away by it.

A bit off topic: what is your favorite song at the moment?
I’m a big fan of ‘Isis Unveiled’ by ‘…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead’ right now. Pitchfork media voted Trail of Dead as having the worst vocalist ever but the band totally didn’t care and just kept ploughing on and more power to them for it.

Well there you have it. Stay classy Perth.
p.s. Who else had to look up Bildungsroman?