In his comics career, Art Adams
has drawn characters ranging from Longshot, the X-Men and the
Fantastic Four to Godzilla and Gumby and Pokey. Over the years,
his artwork gained him numerous fans. He is one of the seven founding
members of the Legend imprint published by Dark Horse. His Legend
creations, Axwell Tiberius and Ann O'Brien, better known as Monkeyman
and O'Brien, marked Adams' first attempt at writing and have appeared
in Dark Horse Presents
and as the back-up story in Hellboy:
Seed of Destruction, which
was reprinted recently as the Monkeyman
and O'Brien Special. This
month, Monkeyman and O'Brien begin an ongoing series, and some
of Adams' other work is collected in the Art
Adams' Creature Features
trade paperback also from Dark Horse. Worlds
of Westfield Content Editor
Roger A. Ash recently spoke with Adams about the projects.
Westfield:
For those unfamiliar with Monkeyman and O'Brien, how would you
describe the series?
Art Adams:
It's got a lot of pages. [laughter] How to describe the series?
I should have made up something simpler, that's the problem. Monkeyman
is a ten-foot-tall scientific genius gorilla from another dimension
who accidentally comes to Ann O'Brien's world and in the process,
there's some kind of big, weird explosion from another dimension
and Ann O'Brien gets soaked in some strange, extra-dimensional
radiation which causes her to grow to seven feet tall and become
incredibly strong. Then they have adventures and stuff!
Westfield:
Cool. Is O'Brien a reference to stop-motion animation pioneer
Willis O'Brien?
Adams:
Very good! Absolutely.
Westfield:
And getting really obscure, is Ann a reference to the Fay Wray
character from King Kong?
Adams:
Uhhhh, it could be. [laughter] I guess there's no legal reason
why it couldn't be. I don't know. But it could be. [laughter]
Yes, it is.
Westfield:
There's been quite a bit of time between the appearances of Monkeyman
and O'Brien in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction and
the start of this new series. Why the delay?
Adams:
Ummmm, I slept late. [laughter] I really don't know. I've been
working on it all the time. I had to take a couple little jobs
in-between. Well, I guess I didn't have to. [laughter] I did a
couple little things I probably shouldn't have done, but it's
coming along now.
Westfield:
What can you tell us about the new series?
Adams:
There are going to be three books out this year. The first one
is titled Attack of the Shrewmanoid, which you got a little
preview of on the last page of the Monkeyman and O'Brien
Special that just came out this last February. The second
issue is Invasion of the Froglodites where earth is invaded
by weird frog people from another planet. The third one is called
Into the Terminus where Monkeyman and O'Brien go into the
weird interdimensional area which separates all other dimensions
in an effort to find a way for Monkeyman to return to his home
planet.
Westfield:
You said there will be three issues this year. Is this going to
be a series of mini-series or an ongoing series?
Adams:
It's hard to describe and I think I'm driving Lou Bank and everyone
in marketing at Dark Horse crazy. I think of it as a continuing
series, but because of the way, or the slow pace at which I produce
the stuff, it's easier for them to put it out as several issues.
My plan is that this issue #1 that's coming out in July is the
only issue #1 there will ever be. So it'll be issue 1, 2, and
3 that'll be coming out this year. As soon as possible, I hope
to get issues 4 and 5 out. There may be two issues out early next
year or, who knows, maybe even at the end of this year 'cause
things are going pretty well these days. And I'll just keep going
that way. They may call it a series of mini-series, but I think
of it as a series. A sporadically published series.
Westfield:
The Shrewmanoid is the villain in the first issue. What can you
tell us about him?
Adams:
The Shrewmanoid is a very strange little man who has a very high
opinion of himself. He thinks he's the best thing that's ever
been and he thinks Ann O'Brien is the best thing that's ever been
and he thinks they should be a couple. Oh, and he wants to take
over the world too.
Westfield:
Don't they all?
Adams:
Well, sure. In my book they all do.
Westfield:
Ann's sister, Oniko, and a partial gorilla head were also caught
in the experiment that brought Monkeyman to this dimension. Will
they be back?
Adams:
Yes, they will be back. They are the featured characters in issues
4 and 5. Although, there's little bits of what's going on with
them sprinkled throughout the first three issues.
Westfield:
You said that Monkeyman and O'Brien will be returning to the weird
interdimensional area. Will there continue to be stories there?
I believe the only other dimensional story so far was the one
in the San Diego Comicon comic.
Adams:
That's true, which is unfortunate. It just goes to show how slow
I've been. But yes, they will bounce back and forth all over the
place. They'll have adventures on earth, they'll have adventures
in other dimensions, they'll have adventures on other planets.
It goes everywhere. Actually, most of Invasion of the Froglodites
takes place in orbit around the earth.
Westfield:
Monkeyman and O'Brien is very different from anything
else being done today. Why did you decide to do this instead of
something else?
Adams:
Someone called up and asked, "Hey, why don't you make up
something for yourself?" And I said "OK. But I don't
know if I can." And a half hour later I had Monkeyman and
O'Brien. Then I talked to a bunch of my friends about them, I
was all excited about it, and then I realized, oh my God. I've
made up Angel and Ape. [laughter] I guess it is different than
a lot of things that are being done now, but to my mind, it's
based very much in Fifties monster movies and early Sixties Marvel
monster and some super hero comics. It's based on all the stuff
I loved when I was a kid. There's gonna be some Burroughs' kind
of stuff too. It'll just be wacky.
Westfield:
So you came up with this basically to do anything you felt like
doing with it?
Adams:
Exactly so. When this friend of mine suggested that I make up
something, I said, well of course I should go back and think about
the things I loved when I was a kid, because that's pretty much
what I still love now. Naturally that was King Kong
and dinosaurs and monsters. So that's what I'm doing.
Westfield:
Monkeyman and O'Brien was the first project you wrote. Was that
a difficult transition to make?
Adams:
Apparently it still is. I think that's one of the reasons it's
been going so slow. I'm pretty happy with my writing. I think
my writing is ok, I don't think I'm a genius or anything. I'm
not much worse than most other guys. It's been strange. I don't
know how difficult it's been. It's mostly difficult when I think
about doing it. When I'm getting worked up to script a particular
issue, I get all upset about not being able to write and then
I sit down and do it and it seems to work out just fine.