When you go to a comic convention such as Wizard World you expect to meet some odd people. Now I myself adore these unconventional conventions just for the pure pleasure of getting to know these strange characters. It may be that I myself am not exactly normal in nature, but really, what’s normal? That being said, I had the extraordinary pleasure of pontificating with the preposterously pleasant people at Illusive Arts Entertainment. If you’re an English Major you may say “Shawn. Are you sure you want to use the word pontificate in that sentence? Do you know what it means to pontificate or are you only using that word because it starts with the letter ‘P’?” I have two responses to that clever but unwarranted inquiry: The first is yes; I absolutely used that word because it begins with the letter ‘P’. To answer the rest of the question I must once again say yes; I know exactly what it means to pontificate and if you’ve ever seen me in action you would find this word to be completely appropriate.
The good people at Illusive gave me a portion of their busy day and allowed me the pleasure of interviewing them. Just so you know, I loath reading interviews written word for word, and so I rarely will write an interview in that form. Instead I thought I would blather on about how great these guys are, and maybe give you cause to rush out and buy their comic.
To begin I want to say that I am in the process as we speak of reading their comic book “Dorothy”. The story is based upon “The Wizard of Oz” series of books by L. Frank Baum. The difference is that this take on the story is updated for our day and age. “Dorothy” is quite possibly one of the most beautifully rendered books I have seen in a very long time. Instead of following the tried and true route of comic book creation they have decided to use photography, Photoshop and CGI. It’s more like looking at movie stills from some big budget fantasy film then reading a comic. Once you crack open “Dorothy” the question immediately arises, how many people does it take in order to create such a masterpiece as this? The answer is, a lot. “Dorothy” isn’t a one man show. So let me present to you our cast of characters.
The idea for “Dorothy” was the brain child of Greg Mannino who also holds the Artist spot, along with Mark Masterson, who also writes the series. Originally they wanted “Dorothy” to be a feature length film; which I personally believe it someday will become. The problem with making a film is always cash. So in place of movie cameras and millions of dollars, this dynamic duo opted for a nice SLR digital to make their dreams a reality. The pair did the first issue on their own and as so often happens, ran out of funds. At this juncture we meet the lovely Anna Boersig. Anna is like the producer of this dream. She happened to have some money, a love for the arts and the organizational skills to help bring “Dorothy” to the masses. With an Art degree under her belt along with an MBA in business, Anna was the perfect partner for this endeavor. But wait, there is another that I have yet to present, his name is Ray Boersig. Ray is Anna’s husband; he is also an animator and CGI professionista (that’s French for professional). So there is the basic team.
Hold on, are we forgetting someone? Of course we are. There is also Catie Fisher who plays Dorothy and Theo Panousopoulos the TechVirtuo-so (a self proclaimed title). I feel bad about leaving Theo for the last place, but I didn’t get a chance to meet him. Without every one of these people “Dorothy” could never be.
There is so much to write about when it comes to this group and this book. Such as, each comic is presented to Mark once it has already been created and he actually writes the dialog after the fact. If you’ve done any script writing then you will understand how difficult and frustrating that could truly be. I was also told that Illusive Productions is interested in producing and distributing other titles. Just so we are clear, what I’m saying is that if you have created a comic you might want to shop it over at Illusive.
In conclusion I really just want to plug “Dorothy” one final time. This is a comic for everyone. If you haven’t ever been interested in comics, you should really check this series out. If you love fantasy, you should buy these books. If you watched The Wizard of Oz as a child, go to Amazon right now and pick up “Dorothy”. In fact if you breathe oxygen I say good for you, take a deep breath and dive in to the extraordinary world OZ.
Alright friends that’s it for now but check back soon. We still have a full review of the first five ““Dorothy”
Buy the book: Dorothy
Visit the site: Dorothy of Oz
Just for fun I’m adding some of the artwork from “Dorothy” to this article so you can get a taste of what you’re in for.
