| Silver
Bullet Comicbooks |
2003 |
| THE
ADVENTURES OF A PORN/SNUFF/REALITY TV WITCH... |
| by
Alan Donald |
|
| transcript: |
|
| ...as
filmed by a doll and a cuddly toy dog. Extremely original,
extremely clever at times, featuring great dialogue and incredible
art. Daniel Schaffer MUST be picked up by one of the big companies
soon (but hopefully they'll let him carry on doing Dogwitch too)
as an artist and writer with this level of skill should not be
ignored...oh and as the man himself says, it's also kinky and
that's no bad thing in my book. |
|
| I
had a chat with Dogwitch creator, Dan Schaffer about the series |
|
| What's
the history behind Dogwitch? |
| It's
the culmination of everything I've thought up or tried to do with
comics over the last few years. The comics I was attempting to
write before were slowly getting weirder and weirder, until one
day I just chucked everything I'd done into a big pot, and stirred
it up. It came out flashing polka dot knickers and wearing kinky
boots. I think it works. |
|
| What
were some of the comics you were doing that led onto Dogwitch? How
did they provide that magic spark? |
I
started out writing cyberpunk style Sci-fi comics. Usually with a
suitably outrageous female protagonist leading the way, some very
bizarre gadgets, lotsa sex and violence, and plenty of dark humour.
I'd written a few of these and then one day, I just decided to
change direction. All the sci-fi clothing was swapped for rubber
and leatherwear, the technology was rewritten to have supernatural
origins, cyber-sex changed to demon-sex.
Actually, I guess didn't change direction that much after all,
just traded vehicles. |
|
| What's
the future for the series? |
| All
being well and good, it should continue as an ongoing series. It
will follow a larger story arc that's broken down into six episode
sections. These will cover certain aspects of Violet Grimm's time
in the Banewoods, as we follow her through transformations, bad
dates and various paranormal disasters. As usual, there will be
some self-contained issues, a few of those mayhem episodes, and
also some longer, more involved stories, spreading over a few
issues. |
|
| What
else are you up to at the moment? |
| I
recently painted a cover for the next PE trade |
|
| Is
that volume 9 of PE? The boss tells me Drew was ill a while back
and that a few people are still worried, how's he doing? Will he
be writing it? |
| Yeah,
the cover was for Volume 9: "Baptism of Fire". As for
Drew's health. It's improving, and he's still writing. But he was
legally dead there for a minute, so at the moment he's
recuperating, with a bunch of hot nurses at his beck and call. The
guy's unstoppable, though, and he's still collaborating with Keith
Davidsen on the new PE project that I'm lined up to draw. |
|
| Are
you as deeply disturbed as the series would suggest? |
| Heh!
I don't actually think the book is that disturbing, whatever that
means. As long as I can get the mad shit out of my head and onto
paper, I manage to stay pretty normal. |
|
| What's
your favourite bit in the series? |
| Nobody
has ever asked me that. I'm not quite sure how to answer it. I've
got some great bits coming up that I'm looking forward to doing.
With the issues that are on the shelves already, I think I'd have
to say I like the little defining moments. I'm pleased with the
image of Violet defiantly kicking up the snow in #4. The bit in
issue #3 when Violet tells the vicar: "The safety word is
"I'm a stupid fat bastard!" That made me smile to myself
when I was writing it. And I guess I like the conversation between
Violet and Mr. Kinky in #1, as it reveals a whole lot about
Violet's character with just a few words - "First time with a
demon?" "Hell no, first time with a suit!" Erm. I
couldn't pick just one, sorry. |
|
| Ok
then, who's your favourite character? |
| It's
all about Violet Grimm, for me. I like the other guys, but I write
it for her. She's the driving force behind the whole thing. She's
the reason I do it. Second would probably be Dolores. She's quite
difficult to write as she talks a load of nonsense, but she tends
to reveal most of the secrets and portents. And watch out for the
appearance of Elastic Head. I'm quite proud of that one. |
|
| Why
should people read Dogwitch? |
| Because
it's a little different. maybe? It's not manufactured. It's not
written, penciled and inked by twenty different people. The
quality of the book is a direct reflection of my integrity as a
creator, so I work hard to attain a high standard with every
issue, in both the art and the writing. As far as I know, I don't
think there's anything quite like it out there at the moment, so
if you fancy a change, pick it up and try it. Oh yeah, it's a bit
kinky, too. Did I mention it was kinky? |
|
| Are
there any other series you think need more publicity? |
| Its
no great secret that I'm not much of a superhero fan, so any
publicity showing that comics can be as diverse as other mediums,
from TV shows to novels, would be nice, please. Thanks. |
