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Against Studios: First of
all, what does Ergo [Sum] mean?
Tom Lin: Ergo sum is Latin
for “Therefore I am”, from the quote “Cogito, ergo sum” by Rene
Descartes, which translates to the famous phrase “I think,
therefore I am”. It also serves as a hidden meaning in the manga,
that hopefully will become obvious near the end.
AS: What inspired you to make
this manga?
TL: It originally started as
an experiment manga I was going to do, which involved asking
someone I knew to name me their top 10 favorite animes and then
make a manga that combines ten aspects from those animes that I
liked. Ergo [Sum] was the result of the ten animes that my
brother chose for me, and the project just sort of progressed
and evolved from there.
AS: Which ten titles did your
brother choose for the experiment?
TL:
Perfect Blue, Bleach,
Tenchi Muyo, Ranma 1/2, Ghost in the Shell, Macross Plus, Key
the metal idol, Please save my earth, Dragon Ball, Chobits.
AS: In the author’s note at
the back of the manga, you mentioned that the character of Eiji
Shinrow and his frustrations and characterization evolved from
your frustrations with your move to another department at work.
How did that change the direction the manga in the end, did it
alter the original idea you had for the manga at all?
TL: Well, the main basic
plot and idea is still there, but the characters and their
interactions are now richer due to the fact that I’ve included
my own frustrations in there. Since they are the emotions I felt
while drawing them, they seemed more real when it was expressed
on the character themselves. Also, it added a new level of
alienation and awkwardness to Eiji’s own chaotic life that made
the story more rich and complex, and maybe to some point a
realism that most characters don’t achieve.
AS: As you also mentioned in
your author’s note, the characters in Ergo [Sum] are based off
real people that you know. Does that go for the locales that
they visit also?
TL: Well, you could say that
they’re all just mixtures and jumbles of real places I visited,
I guess. The Three Cloves Irish Bar is sort of based off the
little dingy Irish bars that I frequent often around Columbus,
Ohio, which I always loved because of the atmosphere you get
from them, and the fact that you could actually go there after
work and not have to scream in order to hold a conversation.
AS: How do you see the story
progressing in the next ten volumes or so?
TL: My plan is to hopefully
not show any ERGO’s at all until the fifth volume, to keep
teasing the audience with crimes that humans do instead of
actually showing the creatures that are named even on the title
itself. But I doubt that’ll fly really well, so we’ll see how it
goes. I would like to put priority over developing the
characters over the plot itself though, because these will be
the center spotlights of the series, and if they’re not
interesting, nothing they do will be.
That, and I
think I’ve got a lot of angst still from my work, so it’s a nice
way to work it out.
AS: Ergo [Sum] has a very
different approach from your other manga, Dark Signs, was this
done on purpose?
TL: Well, they’re both
approaching different genres. Dark Signs is more in the veins of
a Hollywood action movie, which was the way I wanted to do it
since day one, while Ergo [Sum] falls more into the mystery
thriller genre, in where the words and the mystery keeps the
audience glued to the story, not the action itself. Ergo [Sum]
is more of the way I usually do comics though, word balloon’s
everywhere and just enough art to borderline-call it a comic,
since I’m still more of a writer than an artist myself, as you
can see from my horrible art.
AS: Do you see the world
expanding beyond the storyline of Ergo [Sum]?
TL: I actually would like to
do a prequel based on the series, something that would contrast
the mood of Ergo [Sum], sort of like what AD Police did for
Bubblegum Crisis, in where AD was more of a gritty cyberpunk
police anime, while Bubblegum was a gritty cyberpunk superhero
anime. I’ve always strived to do something like AD Police, in
where all taboo subjects are thrown into open for the audience,
while leaving a lingering thought as the credits roll around.
That’s what I hope to accomplish with Ergo [Sum].
AS: What made you want to
make a cyberpunk noir manga?
TL: It may have started when
DZ and I were going to do a cyberpunk-ish story before, called
Cerberus. We were both bummed about the lack of both cyberpunk
and noir, and wanted to do something that could maybe resurge
the interest in it. So DZ came up with this entire world of
virtual reality tied in to the real world, controlling the way
things went. This may have been the seed for Ergo [Sum] itself.
I mean, I can actually see Ergo [Sum] fit into the universe that
Cerberus was in, so it could have been a side story of sorts if
we had gotten Cerberus out.
AS: What is your next
project?
TL: Right now, I’m still
working on Babylon’s Run’s manga adaptation for the site. I’ve
shown it to Weasel Films (The film group which are doing the
short film based on Tom’s script), who seemed to love it enough
to push me to finish it. The film should be pretty different
from what the comic comes out as, so it will be interesting to
compare both and see how everything comes out. I may also
continue Ergo [Sum] as an online effort, as well as finally
pushing myself to start and finish a novel.
AS: So, what was your
favorite scene in the manga?
TL: Hard to say, since the
whole thing feels like a whole scene to me. But if I have to
choose, I guess the bar would be the scene, since I pretty much
just put out all my frustrations at work on there, so it worked
out as a nice free shrink-less therapeutic session for me.
AS: Thank you for your time,
and we look forward to the next volume.
TL: Thanks, hope to not
disappoint! |
