The following is an interview with John Luzar regarding the launch of his Kickstarter campaign for the first issue of the comic book series, General Washington and the Liberty Tree. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Luzar about his shared creative process in working with artist Jason Muhr to bring the story and characters to life on the page, the backer rewards available to supporters of the campaign, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the launch of your Kickstarter campaign! What can you share with us about the series’ overall premise?
John Luzar: Thank you!
The core idea here is that anyone who tried to be Captain America in the real word right now would be despised by half the country. What would it be like to bear that burden when we’re so divided? Plus, imagine such a potent symbol of patriotism falling into the hands of an authoritarian administration.
Purely hypothetically, of course. That sort of thing could never happen here, right?
BD: How would you describe your shared creative process in working with artist Jason Muhr to bring this prescient story and characters to life on the page?
JL: I’m very, very lucky to be working with Jason, who has been beyond patient with me.
I come from theatre, where you rehearse a scene, get some notes, make a couple of adjustments, and dive right back in to take another pass at it. But something like a small change in posture represents a much different amount of work for a penciller than for an actor, and it took me a minute to wrap my head around that.
On top of being a wonderful artist, Jason is a brilliant designer (Seriously, check out his work on BY THE HORNS.), which was an absolute necessity on this project. We needed not only a large number of characters, but several different versions of many of them for the different time periods in our story.
I feel like it’s so rare anymore to see the sort of clean, classic design that instantly communicates who a character is and what they’re about, but Jason pulls it off over and over again. For example, I wanted to give our primary antagonist a groyper aesthetic, and what he did with that direction is so simple and effective.
BD: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. How do you feel that this story may connect with readers, and what, if any, conversations do you hope that it may initiate?
JL: I’m hoping to get at that sense of instability that we’re all feeling right now as Americans. That so many things we thought were settled and agreed upon about our culture and our values are totally up in the air, actually.
I was at the No Kings march a couple weeks back, and I loved seeing all the flags and such. The symbology of American patriotism is a battleground right now, and what better way to explore that than via a thinly-veiled Captain America analogue?
I’m hardly the first person to notice that the superhero genre lends itself to stories about power and responsibility, but those topics have never been timelier.
BD: Why do you feel that crowdfunding has been such a valuable resource to ensuring the success of today’s comic book creators?
JL: As a writer working to break in and build an audience, your only option is to just…make work, so these crowdfunding platforms are essential. It’s kind of miraculous now that I think about it: You share your link, make your pitch, and people from all over the world can pitch in if they like what they see. I just got a pledge from Denmark. I think that’s neat.
BD: In light of the crowdfunding campaign, are there any particular backer rewards that you would like to highlight for our readers?
JL: Well, we have a killer alternate cover from the amazing Kelly Williams, which has been a popular reward. Beyond that, I think we can segue over to your next question, actually…
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
JL: …because you can also purchase two of my previous one-shots through this campaign.
MARGUERITE VS. THE OCCUPATION is an action fable of the French resistance, about a young girl in the waning days of WWII who returns to her childhood home on a hill only discover the Germans are using it as a machine gun nest.
ODD YARNS is a loving tribute to the old Marvel double-feature titles of the 1960s, particularly Strange Tales. Basically, what if Stephen Strange and Nick Fury switched jobs? Really wonderful, quirky art by Lane Lloyd.
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell readers who want to learn more about the General Washington and the Liberty Tree #1 campaign and your other work?
JL: Well, check out the Kickstarter page! There’s plenty of wonderful Jason Muhr art to tease you there.
As for other work, I round up the week’s political news at showercapblog.com. Think of it as Heather Cox Richardson with fart jokes.
