Little House Comics’ SMBFZ is available for digital purchase on DriveThruComics.com!

The whole SMBFZ comic thing started out as an idea that I’ve been gestating for ten years– a big-budget movie poster (ala Drew Struzan) where my close-knit group of friends and I are the protagonists.

Physically spacing out the poster, and not having any frame of reference for cost or artists, eventually killed the dream. Then, about a year ago, I was reminded how my love of comics has opened up so many opportunities for me, creatively. It was around this time that the concept of a zombie apocalypse dominated conversation with my friends and I. I started thinking of all the great scenarios each of them would find themselves in. This being July of 2010, I realized this could actually be a doable project. I just needed to find the right artist.

The issue of cost was always a concern, so I needed to get a little more creative. I couldn’t afford a full-on graphic novel featuring a cast of eleven or so people. And then other important questions came up:

• Who’s the main character?
• How do we make everyone uniquely cool?
• What’s the overall story?

I thought about altering my writing strategy, so I wrote a single page in a format akin to Frank Miller– running internal monologue, dark tone, funny/personal punchline. It featured one friend and his girlfriend (who is also our friend, but let’s keep it simple)…

PAGE ONE -

PANEL 1

INT. APARTMENT COMPLEX HALLWAY

Ben staggers down the dingy hallway. It is empty and dimly lit. He clutches a sword in his right hand.

NARRATION: I am alone.

By the time I finished, I was in love with this page. I knew this spoke to Ben’s character, and it made him look like a badass without limiting Liz to a subordinate, or “girlfriend,” role. Everyone gets a moment to shine, and best of all: I didn’t need to come up with a how or why to get there!

I moved onto the next grouping of friends. Couples were the easiest. Erin and Peter are next. They have a cat with eye problems that they love to death. Immediately I had an indie book feeling for their characters, mixed with dark, odd-ball humor. They had spoken earlier in real life about how cats would be the dominant species on the planet, if only they had wings.

As the pages piled up, I couldn’t help but put references to other pages in the narrative. There wound up being this loose underlying story between the pages that all culminated in a nice, fitting finale. So the concept was set:

Each grouping of friends is the star of their very own comic book series, with their own artistic and written style that fits the tone of their story. They’re all published by the same fictitious publishing company, so they’re all involved in the company-wide crossover.

All I did was take the coolest, funniest, or most befitting page from their particular issue, allowing me to go as off-the-wall as I wanted without context and still fit within the parameters of this story. I put them in loose chronological order with each other in a collection, titled: SMBFZ.

The title comes from the name of a website we put together back in 2001 to keep in touch with each other when we all went off to college, called SMBFC. In polite company, it stood for Super Mega Big Fat Cat, or its true namesake, an ad-libbed line in the background of a scene in Clerks, which we all found unbelievably funny to yell in social situations. I just dropped the “Cat” and replaced it with “Zombie” and we had an instantly recognizable title (for about ten or twelve people).

So I found some amazing artists through sites like Deviantart, Penciljack, and my own Rolodex of talented people I’ve had the privilege of knowing over the years, priced it out, and set a loose deadline of December 1. About a day or so before Christmas, we had every page drawn, lettered, colored, and ready to go. Unfortunately, we couldn’t print them up right away because of the page number, and the holidays would have delayed printing. So I made it into a PDF and, this past New Year’s, we unveiled the 14 page epic: SMBFZ.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. They immediately asked if we were going to put it online, or pitch it to publishers. At first I was hesitant– What publisher would want an entire page to explain the entire context of a comic as short as this? Ultimately, though, I was convinced the web was a great forum for this sort of thing, because anyone from the old group can hop online and enjoy it all over again, and any newcomers who have the patience I’d imagine it requires to read something like this, it’s at the very least some really cool art. My policy is: if others happen to really enjoy it, they’re more than welcome to share! And maybe one of these days, I’ll continue this group’s imaginary adventures…

THE ARTISTS

Every artist who worked on this project was not only a total professional, each also earned the distinction of being one of the most talented people I’ve ever worked with. I was in awe of their work before I even contracted them, and the work they provided here is a testament to that talent.

Christine Larsen illustrated (and colored) Ethan’s page, “Fugitive.” She gave the page such personality, nailing the moody atmosphere of the uncertain world of Man and Zombie.

J.D. Smith’s style lent itself perfectly for Erin & Peter’s page. The attention to detail and stylized realism made for a great payoff when it came time to unveil their newly designed cat, “Mickey.”

Erwin Prasetya brought a great, distinct tone to a very specific scripting style. The idea of blending Frank Miller-esque script with Manga-influenced style made me see something I never knew I always wanted to see.

Mike Ratliff‘s energetic pencils and cartoonic / contemporary comic book style immediately made me think of Jason & Lisa’s page. The frenetic script, combined with some of the most ludicrous visuals I could rationalize putting on the page, was all the more vindicating when the pencils exceeded expectations. Mike was so caught up in his pencils that he requested (for no additional fee) to break the single page into two, allowing for larger, far more epic visuals. How could I refuse?

The man responsible for the full-page insert is none other than Maki Naro, a guy I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with all the way back in 2005 when we first tried Horsemen as a webcomic. Maki’s skill as an artist was already well-known to me from those days, so it was an absolute no-brainer to ask him if he’d like to come aboard and contribute to this project. Thank God he said yes, because he got a chance to remind me just how far he’s come, by producing such a fun, hilarious, yet utterly haunting piece.

Johnny Cox was a specific request by one of the subjects of his page. His hyper-realistic style through a Silent Hill-influenced filter made, what was supposed to be, the most deadly serious, extra uncomfortable page positively nightmarish. That last panel reveal is just spectacular (and I will forever wonder about that wheelchair…).

Mike Jungbluth‘s cartoonish style came highly recommended from my old friend Dapper Dan, who has provided some amazing art during our old Horsemen days. Mike pulled the image from my mind’s eye and brought it to life in all the epic glory a Saturday morning cartoon could bring. The Statue of Liberty on fire is a visual I’ve always wanted to see realized, and thanks to him, I can check that off my list.

Bryan Newton was the first person we contacted, and even though his work doesn’t necessarily scream “comic book,” we knew he needed to be involved. Along with Yasmin Joyner, they brought us a page that not only legitimized my excitement– it blew the minds of its subjects, newly-engaged Chris & Erin.

Kevin Sheppard‘s dynamic color style, inking abilities, and prior work with Mike J. made him an obvious choice for the Liberty Island piece. Grace Freeman‘s own work on Deviantart made her my top choice to take the Jason & Lisa pages and give them an extra level of vividness and kinetic energy we didn’t even know was possible.

Steven Sanchez is an established, prolific, incredible caricature artist. He’s kind of a big deal, and did me a huge favor by making the Post Script to our story.

Finally, my friend and unparalleled artistic professional, Peter (Pdonz) provided not only the spectacular front cover design and concept; he performed artistic duties on the two-page epilogue. Peter was heavily involved in the process of the book, producing incredibly top-echelon level art and some really unique concepts for the book itself. His own work can be found at Pear-Pear.com, and it’s a damn shame there isn’t more, regularly.