FIVE MINUTES WITH CHRISCROSS AND BIG CITY COMICS

**Andrea Speed** · #1 March 2nd 2008, 03:34 AM

Andrea Speed: So what this you're doing with Big City Comics? How many titles are you drawing for them?

ChrisCross: Well, Andrea…

I’m doing a 6 issue major story arc for Big City Comics called Tainted. It encompasses three of their flagship books, Totem, Tempest, and Mario Gully’s Ant Unleashed. (N.B.: Out in June or July.) It all involves a heavenly power source called Totem and there are avatars that are fueled by its power. Things go awry when a vampire named Smoke, (patterned after a real-life up-and-coming pro wrestler, by the way…look him up on MySpace) chomps down on one of those avatars when that very person stops him from feeding on a lowly drug dealer.

In doing so, he absorbs the power of the Totem and taints the power source. Now there a plethora of vampire clans that want him dead because his very act threatens to expose every clan…

Meanwhile, the Archangel Michael, who is in charge of the source, is determined in offing Smoke also for tainting the source. A vampire was never meant to be a part of that venue, so it’s causing anyone connected to the Totem power to have serious problems. Thus, he enters the fray by sending his avatar who happens to be a teen who calls himself Totem, after the power source.

Furthermore, it seems that Michael and Lucifer have some sort of deal that I’m not clear about yet.

Ant gets into some serious legal trouble that gets her arrested and winds up being some kind of pawn in the whole deal and is being used by Tempest, another vampire and lawyer by day…and a friend of Smoke’s, to help correct everything so that Smoke doesn’t get off-ed.

Forgive me if I’ve missed anything. There’s a lot going on.

AS: Are you doing them concurrently? If you do them all at once, I see you passing out from exhaustion.

CC: Then I’m passing out from exhaustion … because I’ll be doing them concurrently!!

They will all be put out in the same month in the order of Tempest, then Totem and then Ant. I’m sure it’s going to end the same way, ultimately in Ant Unleashed. All in fully rendered pencils and colored by James Brown of SotoColor. Should things happen the way they should, they should be out by June of this year. If not June, then July. But I plan to be finished way before then. Got other fish to fry.

AS: How did you hook up with Big City Comics?

CC: I happened across a communiqué that let me know that they wanted a well-known artist to help them get exposure. And I needed the extra cash and some finite work while I finish up with Humanoids (which may take awhile…ugh…) I took a look at the characters and found some fun stuff that needed to be realized. And hopefully people will like it… or they won’t.

I guess it can be just that simple, huh?

But I hope people give the arc a chance. It’s been a New York minute since I’ve been in the American industry and I’m really busting my bee-hind here….

AS: "Other fish to fry"? Can you give us a hint of what this may be?

CC: Well… it’s a lot of things that I’m getting my hands into that are still in development and in negotiations. And if I say anything, people will have an expectation of a time limit, and most of the projects won’t be out for awhile. So I’ll touch on that when things are more permanent.

AS: What is up with your Humanoids work?

CC: It’s still going. That’s what’s kinda slowing me up a bit. I would be doing more mainstream work now but I have to finish what I’ve started with Humanoids. I want to be relevant in both domestic and international industries, but things have kind of gotten hectic on both sides and with just me doing everything, I have to spend a great deal of my time…well… managing my time and work.

It’s a LOT to do.

AS: How is it working for American and European comic industries at once? It must be a culture clash.

CC: Well … the European market gives you more time to get work done. That work I’m penciling and inking myself. So that gives me a good deal of time to do my thing. Pencilers, for the most part, dream of being able to ink themselves. It’s like golf. You’re competing against yourself and if you mess up, it’s all on you. You can’t call the inker and stress him/her out about now doing a better job. You can clunk yourself on the head.

But it’s a ton of work. I don’t think I would be able to handle a monthly if I had to ink myself. But then I’ve never put that to the test.

During Midnighter, I did ink the last three pages of my own work. That was fun.

The American comics market, I have to work faster and judge how much should I put into a page in order to make a deadline. There’s only so much time in a day and you have to do what’s necessary to make the deadline. So sometimes I might have to rush on pages rather than take my time to do my best. Sometimes the deadline supersedes quality. People want to read their comics now. In Europe, they can wait until it’s perfect.

If I colored my own work, the stuff would never come out…heheheh.

AS: How are you doing since your accident?

CC: I'm doing better. Haven't gotten the leg totally where I want it. I'm still doing stretching exercises to get the knee to fully bend. Once that happens fully, then I can start doing the real strengthening routines to get back on the bike ... albeit a NEW bike, and get back to losing all the weight I gained. But at least I can walk somewhat normally now and I can walk long distance. Running, however ... still gotta work on that. It's weird. I'm used to being athletic and at almost forty, I have to relearn how to do that. It's a weird sensation. Your spirit knows you can, but you body's like nuh-AH. I'm much better though.