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Against
Studios:
How did this project get started?
Tom Lin:
It wasn’t
originally going to be started at all. Originally, I had plans
to do an action manga that I’ve
been meaning to do for a while (Kross), along with the manga
that I was adapting out of an earlier script (Babylon’s
Run) I wrote for a student film group of ours, Weasel Films, but
both of these plans fell through. Kross fell through because I
really needed a break from drawing action stuff after Dark Signs
and Ergo [[Sum]],
and Babylon’s
Run didn’t
work out because I couldn’t
really carry the script with me at all times, so there was no
way I could draw it when I didn’t
have the script with me. That was when I told Josie about the
dilemma, and she offered to help me by writing a story, and that
was how the project started.
AS:
The names were changed in the manga from the original short
story, was that done on purpose?
TL:
[Laughs]
No,
not at all. What happened was that I read the story a day or so
before I started drawing the comic, so by the time I started
drawing the comic, I had already completely forgotten what names
were used in the story. So instead of just stopping the comic
completely to check on the names, I just decided to forge
through and finish it with different names.
AS:
Your name, “Tom”,
was used for the main male character’s
name. Was this done intentionally, or also just done out of
necessity?
TL:
The funny thing is, when I was first penciling the story, I
actually wrote the name
“Tom”
for the main character as I was writing the dialogues, but felt
bad about putting that there since it might reveal the fact that
he was actually myself in fiction, so I changed his name to
“Ron”
afterwards for the following pages. It wasn’t
until I showed the first 10 pages to Josie and she told me,
“The
main character is basically you”,
and went on to point out the similarities, that I just decided
to give up and put back “Tom”
on the names, since there was no way I would hide the fact from
my friends, so it seemed futile trying to hide it. Plus, Tom
sounded better in the dialogues too, more natural.
AS:
Was the story based on any real people or relationships?
TL:
Well, the main character is sort of based on myself, and the
relationships shown in the comic are sort of a combination of
relationships I’ve
had in the past. I guess you could say the story in the comic is
sort of a reflection on real life, as I really do hope that by
adding a better ending for the characters in the comic, I’m
able to come to a better ending for myself, and distance myself
from the guilt that I felt from all the wrongs I did when I was
young.
AS:
When did the story in the comic started reflecting the reality
in your own relationships?
TL:
Probably after the first two pages or so. When I first started,
I tried to do a story that would pretty much branch and grow
from the original scene that Josie sent me. But after a page or
so, I realized that I couldn’t
really sustain a 20-page mini-comic just on one scene alone, so
that was when I started thinking about what kind of comic did I
really want to draw before I continued on with more pages. I
remembered Josie telling me that one of her favorite comics from
me was “These
Things”,
which was a love story of sorts with a really hopeful ending,
and that sounded like something I really wanted to put into this
comic, as opposed to the original ending I had for it in where
he ends up lonely and depressed and still trapped in the guilt
and failure that he had made himself in that original scene. So
from there, I started drawing about a guy who wanted redemption,
and as with all comics, somehow my own desires for that goal
started to emerge into the story, until I pretty much just gave
in and let the story flow from it, whether it was real or not.
AS:
Do you see the manga as catering to the female audience? Or one
that could work for both genders?
TL:
Well, it was drawn as one that should cater to a female
audience, but I do believe some male audience may connect to it
and like it. I mean, I can imagine that only those in the male
audience that have done the same things would be able to connect
to it, for the other part will most likely place it with the
pile of bullcraps and never see it again. I do believe the
female audience may like it more though, since it does let them
pretty much see a side that they didn’t
know before, a side that most of us guys may keep it hidden from
anyone else, our own gender included.
AS:
What's your favorite scene in the manga?
TL:
Strangely enough, my favorite scene is not in the manga itself,
but the cover that goes with the manga. The feeling that the
cover gives off is the one that sort of attracts me through, and
the truth is, it looks better in black and white then it ever
did in color.
AS:
Was there anything you wanted to add to the comic that you weren’t
able to?
TL:
Well, I actually wanted the ending scene to be longer, the scene
where Tom meets Anna again. I originally had it planned out to
be a page, of them just passing each other, noticing each other
but hiding the fact that they noticed each other, and then, just
as they meet eyes, she smiles, and he realizes that it’s
all okay with her. I was originally going to cut that scene out
from the manga since I wasn’t
able to fit it in, but decided in the last minute to try to
squeeze it in. I think it works well in its current form though,
probably better, yet more ambiguous, than the original ending.
AS:
Is there a possibility of another project with Josie in the near
future?
TL:
Sure, it would be awesome, and hopefully I’ll
do a better job than I did with this one, and keep closer to the
ideas she had when she started.
AS:
Thank you for your time.
TL:
Thanks.
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