The Electric Black, Part Two: Creator Profile

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part Two of a three-part feature on THE ELECTRIC BLACK. The creators of the book were guests at Captain Blue Hen Comics on July 22 as part of the Moon Day celebration. Unfortunately, co-creator Joseph Schmalke was suffering from flu symptoms and had to cancel. What follows is additional information on THE ELECTRIC BLACK and creator background obtained through an interview with partner and artist/writer Rich Woodall at the store.

CREATIVE BEGINNINGS: Rich Woodall of New Hampshire is a self-taught artist, never took a single art lesson, learning his craft on the job. He took notes, absorbed from others, and asked lots of questions from every artist he’s worked with.
Drawing has always been a hobby for him, beginning at the age of six. During high school he worked at a comics shop and would often draw sketches at the store. A businessman saw his work and offered him a job with a design studio that created tee shirts for licensed properties. Fruit of the Loom was a client, and designs were also done for MLB, NFL, NHL, and the NBA. When they received a contract for Charles Schultz properties (Peanuts) he learned to draw Snoopy and other characters from the comic strip. As an example of this, see the attached photo of the Moon Day poster, where Rich sketched an image of Snoopy & Woodstock into the helmet.
Rich wanted to enroll at the Joe Kubert Art School after high school graduation but his parents wouldn’t help fund it. “So, I received my college education in art from the 30 other artists I worked with in those design studios.”
His first work in comic came in 1993, after meeting an indie publisher at a comics convention. He liked Rich’s portfolio and hired him to draw some pin-up pages.

INTRODUCTION TO COMICS: Rich remembers receiving the occasional comics collection or trade paperback as a youngster at Christmas or birthdays, but he wasn’t a regular reader of comics until the age of 12. His parents moved the family around frequently and he would often become the “new kid arriving at a new home in the summer - with not a lot to do.” He credits 7-11 stores and their spinner racks as getting him into comics seriously. Rich cites CLASSIC X-MEN #17 as the book that “launched my fascination and desire to work in comics.”

OTHER WORK: Rich just wrapped up a successful Kickstarter campaign for Sgt. Werewolf. He’s known for the 7-8 issue run of Johnny Raygun for Jet Pack Press, and has illustrated covers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Puff Girl comics for IDW. He’s also done pin-ups for Image Comics and worked on a Johnny Raygun/Savage Dragon team-up book. More recently, he completed a Kyrra, Alien Jungle Girl series for Dark Horse (2017), which will continue after being picked up by Scout Comics.

ART STYLE: Around 1994, Rich started to transition from traditional pencil and ink art to digital art. He prefers traditional, but explains that he can’t always achieve the look he wants. Often he ends up with a mix of both, starting with traditional pencils and then digital alterations, especially with color.
I brought up the abundance of orange and red colors in “Rat Ship”, his story in THE ELECTRIC BLACK #1. Rich explained that he was experimenting with a different digital style on that story and wasn’t happy with the results. However, as deadline approached he ran out of time to change it.
Rich pointed out that he and Joe (Schmalke) worked together on the transition scenes in Issue #1. The opening two pages feature art by Joe with colors by Rich. Joe also drew and wrote the “Bixby” story and the final transition scenes are all Joe’s work.

ARE YOU WORKING IN COMICS FULL-TIME? Rich’s comics work is done mostly “after 6 p.m.” His day job is with MADPOW, a design shop that develops apps and websites. Their clients include Bank of America, ESPN, Walmart and several drug store chains. Joe is now full-time in the comics business and working on other projects. He also works on designs for Marvel shirts and toys.

THE ELECTRIC BLACK Issue #1 is the top-selling Scout book of all time, doubling their previous highest sales for a single issue. Rich shared that even though traditionally sales of #2 issues drop off 50%, there was only a 20% drop-off for THE ELECTRIC BLACK Issue #2. (To be reviewed in Part 3 of this article).

WHY SCOUT COMICS? ANY OTHER PITCHES TO PUBLISHERS? “Joe Schmalke knew someone at Scout. We pitched them on ELECTRIC BLACK and were signed. When they learned that we’d be taking the book in a different direction than standard ‘Tales From The Crypt’ formats, they became even more excited.”

HOW LONG IS THE SERIES PLANNED FOR? Season One is planned for four issues. Due to the success so far, Rich and Joe anticipate that Scout will renew with them for Season Two.

WHERE IS THE BOOK GOING? “We want to tell the story of the ‘crypt-keeper’ - - not just focus on stories. We see a much larger world at play and a bigger canvas for where this is going.”

THE ELECTRIC BLACK APPEARS TO BE A TRAVELING CURIOSITY SHOP. PLEASE TELL US MORE. “The Electric Black is not a fixed location. It moves from place to place like a Tardis. In fact, one of the elevator pitches made for The Electric Black was - - - Dr. Who, if written by Stephen King. We’re committed to telling a bigger story where Julius is a major part.”

IN THE TEXT PAGE IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK, JOE STATES “In this Issue I hid one of my favorite Kaiju, Godzilla. Let’s see if anyone can find it in the shop.” I pointed to a curiously shaped bug-eyed monster on the bottom shelf in the first panel of Page 19 and asked Rich if this was Godzilla? Rich laughed. "Joe didn’t tell me he was going to do that. We work together on many of the pages, and I placed a dialogue balloon where it needed to go. Unfortunately, it was over a wall portrait of Godzilla.” The image is on the same page, Page 19, in the upper left of the panel. Only a leg and tail of the monster are visible underneath the word balloon.