An Interview with ROSEMARY'S BACKPACK artist Drew Gilbert! By David Gallaher ComicBoards Exclusive! This year's Small Press Expo marks the debut of ROSEMARY'S BACKPACK - a beautiful 112 page all-ages original graphic novel by writer Antony Johnston and artist Drew Gilbert. The book has garnered incredible praise from many comic professionals, including Lea Hernandez, Scott Morse, and Carla Speed McNeil. When Comic Boards gave Drew a backpack full of money, he was happy to take part in our interview. It turns out Drew is far more that meets the eye! Q: What is ROSEMARY'S BACKPACK? A: Antony always gives the Hollywood pitch, and I probably should too, but my version of it is that it's about a 14 yeah old computer hacker girl who accidentally finds herself with a backpack that talks. She's not supposed to have it though, and she's in big trouble unless she can find help. It's frantic and fast paced, fun, and has ROBOTS Q: Was the art field something you were striving for from the beginning? A: I actually have no recollection of striving to enter this field until my dad brought home my first few comics in '76-'77. From then on in I was determined that this was the life for me (Ah, ignorant youth :-)) Q: And, every kid LOVES robots. A: Every kid DOES love robots. Man, who doesn't like Robots? Not I, I say. Q: Why do kids love robots so much? A: They are toys. Essentially, would be my guess. Q: Anything more philosophical to add? A: [laughter] Man, robots don't wax philosophical, so neither will I. Q: So, how did you end up getting involved in a project like this? A: I was new to the Warren Ellis forum almost three years ago, I think. Someone asked who out there were artists, I replied that I had been working as an animator for three years or so up to that point, and a day or so later I get an e-mail out of the blue from this guy Antony. I looked through his site to see if he had any cred, and thought it would be fun to work with him. I wasn't familiar with Antony's work before this, but like I said, I looked through his work, and thought that he had done enough to convince me that he could write something I'd like to draw. He asked me what type of story I'd like to do, and I may have challenged him a bit saying I wanted to do an all ages book. He nailed it though. I was very happy with what came out of it. Q: Did you always have a desire to be an artist? A: I had dreams of owning a loft in NYC since I was in 6th grade, about the time I started collecting comics. I don't recall being drawn to art very early, but at some point, I remember copying a picture of Galvatron from a comic a friend had, and being amazed at how much it was like the art on the printed page. From there I copied everything until I reached high school, then did much bad original art until I stumbled into the Art Institute of Philadelphia and fell in love with animation. "Drawn to art" I didn't even plan that. Erg! Q: Galvatron? From TRANSFORMERS? Back to robots again! A: Yeah, it always goes back to the robots. Q: Do the robots in ROSEMARY'S BACKPACK transform? Or is that giving something away? A: There's a sort of transformation that occurs. I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that. Q: Are you influenced by other all-ages creators? A: I don't know how many all-ages creators there are out there, really. Mike Kunkel does amazing work, and he has a much better animation resume than I have. One of the only comics I buy anymore is the POWER PUFF GIRLS, which is always great! Phil Moy is incredible. Jeff Smith may be one of my biggest influences. Those are about it off the top of my head. All great creators. Q: Do you find that animation and comics go hand in hand, or do you think they are two totally different art forms? A: It's easy to think they go hand in hand, but there is a language to comics that I am still very much new to that only really exists in comics. Visually, there's a lot of crossover, but in terms of how you're reaching people, it feels totally different to me. Comics are much harder to make that connection and that may be that you are only "talking" to one person at a time, but I think that it's more that people don't use the language that comics innately have well enough. Like I said though, I still have a ton to learn in that department. Q: Is this your first professional work in comics? A: Sure is. I actually did a little mini comic that I took to SDCC last year and gave away to people I thought were cool, but that was nothing at all compared to this. People can see that mini comic at my site if they go HERE. Q: Your publisher, Cyberosia, is relative newcomer in the industry. Have you enjoyed working with them? A: Scott and Kristen are great, and I am really happy that ROSEMARY is with Cyberosia in these early stages of their company. It says a lot that Scott was willing to take a chance on a book like this, which goes somewhat against the normal grain of their sci-fi sensibilities. I couldn't be happier that it worked out like it has. The rumor I heard was that they made special room in their publishing plans to fit us in, so yes, I can say with full enthusiasm that they have been great to work with. I hope I get to again sooner than later. Q: What's next for Drew Gilbert? A:I'm taking over the world next year, so everybody better wear their seatbelts. Actually, I recently started a company, Smart Origins that does web development, building a foundation for that is taking up most of my time right now, even so, I won't be hard to find if you go to the Small Press Expo, where I will be signing copies and frantically sketching at the Cyberosia booth. I have a pitch floating around, and I've agreed to be in a couple anthologies with people I think are just amazing creators. Other than that, I try to sleep once in a while when my brain lets me. I have comics I've agreed to do, comics I have pitched, and comics that are sitting in my brain waiting to jump onto the page. I don't have the time that I would like to be able to sit down and draw these days, but it's all stuff that will happen, once the planets are in alignment. Q: And those comics have robots, right? Thanks for joining us today! A: Thanks! Drew Gilbert will be signing at the Small Press Expo. His personal website can be found here: http://www.drewgilbert.com. ROSEMARY'S BACKPACK is available from Cyberosia. Their website can be found here at http://www.cyberosia.com. For more information about this years SPX, head on over to http://www.spxpo.com. For preview images from Rosemary's Backpack, click on the following links: Cover Page One Page Two Page Three Page Four Page Five Place to discuss the interview: Independents Message Board ComicBoards.com: Your place to discuss comics!