Showing posts with label Axel and Alex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Axel and Alex. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Axel and Alex and Terry Flippo: A webcomics interview

by Mike Rhode



What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

I do a webcomic called Axel and Alex that runs twice weekly (Sundays and Wednesdays) on my facebook page.  It follows the exploits of an 8 year old boy (Alex) and his mail-order robot (Axel).  I refer to it as a comic strip in comic book format. The strips are mostly done-in-one like a newspaper strip, but are formatted like a comic book page.

How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?

I still work the old school way.  I enjoy the feel of putting pencil to paper and creating something I can hold in my hand.  I pencil with a mechanical pencil that I've had for twenty years (nicknamed Ol' Red), and ink with Staedtler pigment liner pens and good old Sharpies for filling in blacks.  I find pens much easier to control than brushes and nibs.



When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?

I was born in the sixties at the old Washington Sanitarium (now Washington Adventist Hospital).

Why are you in Washington now?  What neighborhood or area do you live in?

I grew up just outside DC in Wheaton, MD.  In the late seventies my parents moved us to Mount Airy, MD (just over the Montgomery County line in southern Frederick County) where I remain to this day with my wife Janet, and kids Amanda and Zach.

What is your training and/or education in cartooning?

Other than a few high school and community college classes, which taught me little about cartooning, I'm self-taught.  Beyond the odd how-to book, my cartooning education comes from a lifetime of reading comic books and comic strips.

Who are your influences?


Cul de Sac interpreted by Flippo for Parkinson's fundraising

My influences date back to reading Peanuts, B.C., Beetle Bailey, and Calvin and Hobbes in the newspaper, to Don Martin's work in MAD magazine, to Stan Lee and collaborators Jack Kirby, John Romita, and John Buscema at Marvel Comics.  I remember drawing a Peanuts strip that was hung in the hallway in my elementary school.  My first experience with showing my art in public.  More recently, I've discovered the work of Richard Thompson and Cul de Sac, and fallen head over heels in love with Alice and Petey. I've just finished the piece for Team Cul de Sac. My father suffers from Parkinson's so it's an honor to be a part of this project to raise funds to fight the disease. 

If you could, what in your career would you do-over or change?

My only regret, if you can call it that, would be dropping out of cartooning for about eight years following high school.  I sometimes wonder if things would have been different if I'd continued to draw during that period. All in all though, no regrets.

What work are you best-known for?

If I'm known at all it's probably for Axel and Alex, which has been around in one form or another for almost twenty years.  I also worked for a few years on an autobiographical humor comic called FL!PPED. 

What work are you most proud of?

I'm most proud of the fact that I've been married for almost 29 years and raised two great kids.  Cartooning-wise, I proud that I've stuck with Axel and Alex, albeit in different forms, for most of my cartooning career.  I love those guys.  They feel like part of me after all this time.

What would you like to do  or work on in the future?

 In the future I'd like to continue working on my strip and hopefully continue to grow my audience.  At this point I really have no aspirations to work on characters that I didn't create or own.  I'm enjoying the freedom I have doing my own stuff, and have plans to take Axel and Alex to new places.

What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?


 When I have writer's block I get away from the drawing board and busy my mind with something else.  Sometimes I'll just take a piece of paper and brainstorm ideas rapid fire.  Most are throwaway stupid, but every once in a while there's a seed that with a little nurturing can become a strip.  I also have a book of quotes that I'll skim through.  Occasionally an interesting or funny quote will suggest an idea for a strip.  I ask myself, "How can I take this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson and apply it to Axel and Alex?"

What do you think will be the future of your field?

 There will always be an audience for good cartooning.  In my opinion, newspapers have dropped the ball by shrinking comic strips down and relying on "legacy" strips to the detriment of new cartoonists who have something fresh to say.  At this juncture the internet appears to be the place to find fresh new talent.  Monetizing it so that cartoonists can make a decent living is the challenge now. 

What local cons do you attend? The Small Press Expo, Intervention, or others? Any comments about attending them?

I've done SPX, SPACE ( in Columbus, OH), Baltimore Comicon, and as of this year, SMUDGE.  I also do Free Comic Book Day every year at Beyond Comics in Frederick, MD (great shop, by the way).  Stop by and see me on May 2, 2015!

What's your favorite thing about DC?

It's got to be the monuments and museums!


Least favorite?

Far and away, the TRAFFIC.  And for some reason I get lost every time I venture downtown.  I joke that all roads lead to DC, but none lead out!
1st collection of strips with an original sketch on the back cover


What monument or museum do you like to take visitors to?

 Most of my out-of-town family and friends want to see the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian.  I'm happy to oblige!

How about a favorite local restaurant?

I have to admit, it's been since the 80's that I hung out in DC on a regular basis.  At that time I loved Armand's Pizzeria. They had the best deep dish pizza!

Do you have a website or blog?

 At this time I don't have a website or blog.  I'm on Facebook so that's where I post everything Axel and Alex.  I post new strips every Sunday and Wednesday.  They're posted publicly under Terry Flippo.  I also accept all friend requests, so friend me and have all the Axel and Alex goodness sent to your feed!

You've collected the Axel and Alex strips though. How can people buy your books?

It's here, it's here!! The second collection of Axel and Alex strips. This baby comes jam-packed with 40 pages of comic goodness for only 6 bucks post-paid. To make this even more of a bargain, each book comes with an original sketch on the back cover! To get your copy just Paypal me at jmflip4@verizon.net (don't forget to tell me which book you want, #1 or #2, and give me your mailing address.) Or send check or money order to Terry Flippo at 205 Breezewood Ct., Mount Airy, MD 21771.


Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Q&A: Terry Flippo on 'Axel and Alex'

by Matt Dembicki
 
Terry Flippo has been on the small-press comics scene for years. The Mount Airy, Md.,  native is a staple at shows such as the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Md., and the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo in Columbus, Ohio, and he’s been a member of several comics collectives, including the now-defunct United Fanzine Organization (which included David Hedgecock, who is now a managing editor at IDW Publishing, and even Frank Miller when he was in high school.) 

Recently, Terry has revamped his well-regarded kids comic Axel & Alex by redesigning the characters as well as his approach to writing and drawing the stories. We’ve asked Terry a few questions and that.

You've been making self-published comics for a long time, and 'Axel and Alex' was one of your staples. Why did you return to the characters?

Axel and Alex was originally conceived as an ongoing action/adventure comic book series.  (This was in the days before webcomics were an option.)  The art and storytelling style was as close to mainstream superhero comics as I could manage. Axel (the robot) was 10-feet tall and built like a tank. Alex (the boy) was maybe 12 or 13 years old. Owing to the comic book format, the narratives were long-form and very plot driven. 

After ending Axel and Alex 1.0, I worked for a few years on an autobiographical humor series (FL!PPED).  With the emergence of the webcomics scene, I decided to try my hand at a comic strip.  As a long time fan of Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, I looked forward to working in the short-form comic strip arena. It was then that I decided to revisit Axel and Alex, albeit in a way that I wasn't able to in the action/adventure genre. I quickly decided the standard four-panel newspaper strip format was too restrictive, so Axel and Alex morphed into (ironically) comic-book page format. This freed me up to employ better page designs and camera angles. I like to think of Axel and Alex as "the comic strip that reads like a comic book."

In the new version of A&A, you redesigned the characters. Why?

The main reason for the re-design was the change in storytelling tone, going from over-the-top action to quiet humor. I wanted to make Alex a little younger, and perhaps a little more innocent. As for Axel, I wanted him to appear much more like a home-made robot (which he is!). The joke is Alex thought he was ordering this kick-ass destructo-bot, which is every kid's fantasy (or was it just mine?), and he ends up with this timid bucket of bolts!

You have also taken to the internet--namely, Facebook--to post individual pages as you complete them. Has this changed you approach to making comics? I remember you were wondering whether each installment should be a stand-alone type story or part of a serial story.

Axel and Alex ended up on Facebook by necessity. I didn't know how to design a webpage and was too busy working on the strip to learn how. Kind of a Catch-22! I don't think the delivery method (Facebook) has changed my approach as much as the format change has.  What facebook has given me is a more mainstream (as opposed to comic book fan) based audience. The majority of my readers have probably never read a superhero comic book, yet most all are familiar with the Sunday funnies.  Facebook also offers a form of immediate feedback. Putting out a couple comic books a year is a lot different than posting a new strip twice a week (Sundays and Wednesdays, Friend me!) Creating comics is such a time-consuming solitary pursuit that it's wonderful to receive feedback and encouragement on a regular basis. If you like someone's work, tell them!

As to the stand-alone versus serial narrative debate, I recently put the question to my readers. While a few expressed a preference, the majority enjoyed mixing it up. Even so, I try to make each strip a little story unto itself, even if it is part of a longer narrative. Bill Watterson did this amazingly well with Calvin and Hobbes.

Completing 120-plus pages in such a short amount a time is a herculean feat, especially when you're not doing it full time. Can you briefly walk us through your schedule of making the comic? Do you set aside time each day to do it? Or do you fit in working on it when you can?

I suppose for a guy with a full-time job and a family (Hi Janet, Amanda, and Zach!) I could be considered prolific, I don't know. I think anyone who does comics on the side has to learn how to juggle responsibilities. I'm a little maniacal about putting the time in. So many people you meet have "this great idea for a comic strip," or have a portfolio full of character designs, but it really comes down to sitting down at the drawing board and doing it. At some point, you have to stop talking about it and just do it!

Personally, I like to draw in the morning before work. I'm up every day, 365, between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., working on the strip. Everyone else is asleep so there are no distractions and I don't feel as though I'm missing any family time. It doesn't matter when you do it, but if you're serious about cartooning you have to carve out the time.

What plans do you have for A&A? Will you compile this into a printed book?

Axel and Alex will keep chugging along as long as I'm still having fun doing it. My characters are my avatars on the page. Each one represents an aspect of my personality and worldview. So basically anything I have to say gets filtered through them. I want the strip to entertain foremost, whether it makes the reader chuckle, think, or merely reflect. I like my characters and I want to know what happens to them next. That's the fun part!  Of course, reaching a wider audience would also be a dream come true.

As far as publishing goes, I'd love love love for a publisher to make me an offer. Writing and drawing is quite time-consuming, so it would be a godsend to have someone to handle the publishing end. Hear that, all you publishers out there?! Until then I'll probably continue to put out the 40-page digest-size collections. The books are $5 each and come with a free sketch on the back cover. Just contact me at jmflip4@verizon.net. There are currently two books, with a third on the way! 

I'm also looking forward to exhibiting at the Smudge Comics Arts Expo at the Artisphere in Arlingtion, Va., on March 14.