The Dynamic Duo

By now, most of us are aware that Chris Beukes (Supa Tigers art director) and Willem Samual (Supa Strikas art director) have created an awesome comic book together. Nagapie/Yesterhart is a combo comic, so Chris’ cover and story start on one side and Willem’s is on the flipside. Big up to our bros for making it happen. But how did they make it happen? StrikaBlog investigates…

SB: When did you guys decide to do this joint project?

W&C: We were invited earlier this year by Co/Mix (comixart.wordpress.com), a newly formed comic book artist and creator collective, associated with the CCIBA (www.cciba.sun.ac.za) Comic symposium we attended last year. Guys like Pete Woo are part of this group so he probably put in a word for us.

SB: Why did you and Willem decide to go this one together?

W&C: Mutual motivation. It helps if you have someone else who can push you and motivate you. We had similar agendas in terms of the type of stories we want to tell and comics we want to make. We were also a bit gatvol of the whole arty side of the independent comic community so we wanted to just pull off some good old fashion pulp entertainment.

SB: Nice. Can we expect more? Is this the first of a series?

W&C: You can definitely expect more comics from us - not sure in what format. Chris is in the new Velocity publication - so check that out. This is early days and we're very much still figuring out what kind of things and narratives we want to explore. The idea of a futuristic dark superhero comic might sound good in your head, but the actual making and creating of it is very different. In the end - it will also become "a job" you have to do and there has to be more to it in order to keep you motivated. But yes. We'll do more stuff. How, what and when, we don't know. At the moment I'm glad for having it finished.

SB: So this is your first independent publication?

W&C: It's the most professional independent print we’ve done. We’re used to cheap photocopied comics. But we only printed a 100 of Napagie/Ysterhart. At the moment it's kind of a "test". See if it goes down well and sells. Then we might think of doing another run.

SB: I hear the combo comic is making its way to the Grahamstown Fest. Any expectations?

W&C: Who knows. Sucks not being there. But it's hopefully some exposure for us to the very small local comic community. But there are some big names like Zapiro, Rico, Anton Kannemeyer and artists from France, Belgium and Switzerland like Eric Kriek, Jacques de Lousta and JP Kalonji who are also exhibiting. So it's very cool to be part of it and hopefully someone will take notice because we really think we have something that's of a good standard.

We felt that at the CCIBA symposium last year that there was quite a negative perception of Strika Entertainment and the corporate side of our work. I think we're out on a mission to represent a bit. I think this company is producing this country's best comics at the moment and is creating a massive audience of comic readers. Strika injection into this field is huge and I feel I owe allot to this company in honing my comic skills and yeah... it's really nice to show off I guess.

SB: What advice can you give others who want to go indie and tell their own stories?

W&C: Make sure you have a story to tell that will keep you motivated to do the work - because it's all self motivated. And start small. Your own ideas can be so big that you struggle to get anything done. And you will have to work hard. If you have never done a one page story then don't dream of doing a 60 page graphic novel. Dream of doing a one page story and getting it published. Then you can plan for a two pager. And so on...

Don’t miss ChrisB’s work on Supa Tigers 67 and Willem’s work on Supa Strikas 107, coming soon. Also, check out more of their stuff here:

http://razor-rabbit.deviantart.com/gallery/

http://willemsamuel.blogspot.com/