STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo 2006

Ryan Yount and Andrew Boyd Quick Questions

Tom Beland: What would it take to get Scurvy Dogs out monthly? What has been their greatest obstacle, besides money?

Andrew Boyd: Getting the Scurvy Dogs out monthly (or a similar ha-ha book) would likely require Ryan’s relocation to Austin, where I currently reside. Last time he visited, I tried to poison him with a combination of barbeque, Jagermeister, and rockabilly that would be lethal to most comic book developers figuring that the resulting rock-meat-booze coma would make him miss his flight and force him to live in a bed of shredded newspaper under my sofa. Alas, it was not to be. Next time, I’ll add some Drano (kids, don’t drink Drano!).

Andrew Boyd: The crew of the Scurv’s greatest obstacle has probably been that some of them - and this is off-panel, mind you - are actually terribly allergic to shellfish. It just leads to some awkward conversations with the crew.

Ryan Yount: Yes, it’ll take much more than BBQ, Jager, and rockabilly to poison me. Although I think, technically, Jagermeister is a neurotoxin… so… wait, what was I talking about? Oh, monthly Scurvy Dogs… yeah, Andrew’s right. Our creative process is such that we do need to actually hang out in order to write the book. And, the greatest obstacle… uh, Andrew, I think when Tom said “their greatest obstacle,” he was actually talking about you and me, and not asking for the greatest obstacle to our fictional characters.

Andrew Boyd: People need to know — need to be warned — about shellfish.

Ryan Yount: Well, we already mentioned proximity… the other big one, and Tom knows this one too, is time. It takes a lot of time to produce comics. With Scurvy Dogs, we were writing them fairly quickly and I was drawing them on an accelerated timeline (yes, they do look a little rushed, don’t they?). But it was still a tremendous time commitment.

Ryan Yount: Now, though, it’s especially difficult, since we both have full time videogame jobs—jobs which barely afford us the time to drink and cavort, much less write and draw 24 pages of unadulterated funnystuff every month.

Andrew Boyd: Who says “cavort”? That’s what I want to know. Ryan has apparently been spending all of his free hours at a RenFaire. “Mead and Wenches” indeed. First, that’s not mead — it’s honey Lik-M-Aid and Nehi Cream Soda, which was outlawed by the Geneva convention after Grenada. Second — that’s not a wench — it’s that damn dog that you found at the flea market in a dress.

Ryan Yount: That’s not to say we won’t be doing any more comics. ‘Cause we will.

STAPLE!: What ways do you find your life influences your work?

Andrew Boyd: Well, I recently discovered that I may or may not be allergic to shellfish. Which was kind of surprisingly unfunny at the time, but now grows in comedic potential as time passes. Also, I saw Battle of the Network Stars as a youth, and I think that drove me inexorably insane. Oh, here’s the best part: True Story of Ryan Yount, Swear to God. So, you know how in the first issue of Scurvy Dogs there’s that bit where Blackbeard accidentally insults his date’s heritage? Well, if you’ve read the commentary in Scurvy Dogs: Rags to Riches (available now from ait-planetlar, khepri.com, and fine local retailers such as the Isotope and Austin Books), you’d know that story is based on something Ryan actually did. Good times! Now here’s the best part: Through some fluke of staffing, Ryan and Gwen end up working in the same office, right? When the trade comes out, Ryan not only shows her the book, but points out the section in the commentary where he discusses accidentally insulting her heritage. To me, that is comedy gold.

Ryan Yount: I don’t know that I’d call it a “fluke of staffing,” so much as “just another day in the life of Ryan.” I did have to stare at her for 3 whole days before I recognized her (her hair wasn’t in pigtails and she wasn’t wearing a Boy Scout uniform — go figure). When I showed her the scene in the book, though, she was very cool about it. So yes, life does supply a lot of inspiration. The beauty of the “awkward pause” is best observed in real life situations. It can then be caricatured for maximum humorosity.

Andrew Boyd: Caricatured or painfully revisited. Take your pick.

Ryan Yount: However, despite some of our stuff coming from real life, a large part of how we write is by vomiting up concepts and situations (AB: And sometimes shellfish) SO FAR REMOVED from real life that they then become comedically absurd. I often consider Scurvy Dogs to be an abstraction—so far removed from anything normal, and so very much the product of the odd mingling/riffing (like a retarded jazz improv session) of both Andrew’s and my thoughts. Randy, was that answer pretentious enough?

STAPLE!: To what extent do you use digital tools in your art?

Andrew Boyd: No digital! I have developed an analog steam-powered computing machine, called COMEDIAC 5, and at this very moment it is churning out finely machined comedery and filling my home with the fresh scent of Lymon (is it Lymon or Limon?).

Previously, I created all my art digitally, as my handwriting sucks.

Ryan Yount: As the series progressed, my use of digital tools increased. A nice positive relationship graph. When I drew the pages, I only inked in the linework—then I’d scan the pages, and fill/drop my blacks in Photoshop, or that Ukranian Open-Source digital imaging software, “PhotogMercantile”—great software, but it only runs on NeXTStep (sorry, BeOS users!). Layout was, of course, digital, and all the lettering was done digitally. The digital process affords so much control, as well as being a great time saver. Of course, now I have over a hundred comic pages with no blacks filled in, and no lettering pasted up. Which really hinders the sales of my original art.

STAPLE!: What new artists or works (whether in comics or otherwise) excite you?

Andrew Boyd: I really like the Epoxies. And the Polysics.

Ryan Yount: Really, all of my pals in comics inspire me — I definitely don’t see (or talk to) all of them often enough (such as the incredible Tom Beland). It’s always a great inspiration to see what they’re working on, and to watch their projects develop from inception to publication.

Ryan Yount: That said, I am on a couple of specific kicks right now: Taiyou Matsumoto (creator of Ping Pong and Black & White), and Jazz. Can’t get enough Jazz. And there will probably (at some point) be a project from me which is the result of that. OH, and “Rendezvous” by Claude Lelouch… I just keep watching it over and over and over.

Andrew Boyd: I picked up “Freaked” the other day, which is probably my favorite Alex Winter movie of all time. Here’s what I want to know — in this day and age when just about every goddamn thing is being released on DVD, where’s the Idiot Box? There’s an Aeon Flux movie, but no Idiot Box DVDs. And no season two of Get a Life yet? Where’s the justice in that? I saw a grown adult at Fry’s the other day purchasing a Thundercats DVD set. Thundercats. I know I might be going out on a limb here, but Thundercats sucked. As did the Silverhawks. There. I said it, and I’m not ashamed.

STAPLE!: Have you got a good convention or show story you can tell us?

Ryan Yount: Do I have a good show or convention story? Hmmm… none that I can tell on the Internet. Our trade-release party/signing @ Brave New World comics in SoCal earlier this year was a blast, and I did really have a great time at the TCAF a few months ago—Bri Wood and I split a table with Becky Cloonan, and Bri and I stayed with and hung out with The Royal Academy of Illustration and Design crew—Chip Zdarsky, Ben Shannon, Cameron Stewart, Kagan McLeod, and also Ray Fawkes. Another big thank you to all those guys… some of the funniest, most talented, and professional Canadians you’ll ever meet.

Ryan Yount: Andrew does have a much better memory than me, however, so perhaps he can remember some crazy story involving the two of us at a convention…

Andrew Boyd: I swapped MC Frontalot some comics for a CD. That was pretty hep. I’m with Ryan on the “none I can tell on the Internet” thing. However, if you ever meet me in person (and not one of my robot automatons), I will happily tell you true tales of Science Gone Wrong, Watermelon Racing, and Confrontations Involving Brie and Archvillains in the Cartoon Museum of Art.

About Ryan and Andrew

STAPLE! has extended invites to a variety of creators to answer a series of quick questions about working in comics, and we’ll be updating these questions as the responses come in, so check back often! The questions are four standard questions asked to each participant, and then a fifth question posed to the creator by the previous interviewee.

Our latest interviewees are Ryan Yount and Andrew Boyd, creators of the comic book miniseries Scurvy Dogs, which introduced the world to the popular notion that “pirates are the new monkeys.” Andrew lives in Austin, Ryan in San Francisco… we’re hoping to see one or both at STAPLE! next year.