Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I was interviewed!

Interview: Kayla Cagan – Unite and Take Over

– OCTOBER 5, 2011

Comicbookinterviews.com is pleased to present a multi-part interview series with the creators of the new Smith’s anthology Unite and Take Over. Creator Kayla Cagan discusses his contribution to Unite and Take Over…

Writer Kayla Cagan

Song: The Boy with The Thorn In His Side

Assignmnet: Writer

JMH: What do The Smiths mean to you personally?
KC: I spent my high school years and college years inTexas. The Smiths to me were not just my escape route out of school, my neighborhood, and my city when I needed a break from everyday life, but they were also conduits into my creativity. I was drawn to The Smiths the way I was attracted to the blues; this was music that wasn’t afraid to address feeling like an underdog, feeling marginal, and feeling alone. I could dance alone in my room or in a club in downtownHoustonand suddenly there was poetry and humor and anger and it was all at once and it felt fucking great. The Smiths are still one of the biggest influences in my playwriting. My characters go to dark places, get some chuckles, possibly dance, and usually come out alive.
JMH: How did you get involved in this project?
KC: I begged my way in! Not kidding! (Graveling really does work, Kids.) I gently harassed Shawn until he agreed. I told him that I had just my first comic story accepted with Womanthology, and I imagine Shawn might have thought oh, give the newbie Smiths fan a shot, and then he agreed once we found the right song. So many of my top picks were…picked!
JMH: Have you worked with publisher Shawn Demumbrum from SpazDog Press before? If so in what capacity?
KC: I have never worked with Shawn before, but I think he’s awesome. He’s an innovator.
JMH: Let’s talk about your contribution to the project…Why did you choose the specific song for your contribution?
KC: As I mentioned earlier, so many songs I wanted were already selected. (I’ve seen some of the beautiful artwork and I can’t wait to read what the writers did with their stories!) The Boy with The Thorn In His Side, the song I selected, is on constant rotation on my laptop and I-pod. I knew I didn’t want to do any literal interpretations of the song, but I’ve also known the boys (and girls) with the thorns in their sides…and I wanted to help them escape.  A Pay-it-Forward-With-The-Smiths-Moment, if you will…
JMH: Creative teams were formed for each story. Tell the readers about your team. Describe your working relationship and what is the collaborative process like?
KC: Love to! My artist is Tara Abbamondi, (@ginger_curls), and she lives on the East Coast. I’m on the West Coast. I was looking for a good match, and the gracious and hyper-talented Hope Larson, (@hopelarson) recommended Tara’s work to me. I checked it out, emailed her promptly (as a fan and an author who wished to work with her) and within a week we decided to make it happen. After my script got the A-okay from Shawn, I emailed it to Tara, and hence, our collaboration. By the way, we have only communicated on email and twitter. We haven’t seen each other face-to-face, talked on the phone, or hung-out at any convention. I really don’t want to find out we are both robots.
JMH: Were there other songs that you wanted to sink your teeth into?
KC:  I’m a huge fan of Some Girls Are Bigger Their Others, and I Know It’s Over. One day, I would love to write Frankly Mr. Shankly as a comic book story musical.
JMH: Will you be at the Tucson Comicon for the launch of the book?
KC: Unfortunately, no. Don’t rub it in.
JMH: Where can fans see samples of the artwork? (Websites, facebook pages, ect…)
KC: Since I’m a writer, not an illustrator, I would suggest checking out Tara’s site,http://gingercurls.wordpress.com/, the Unite and Take Over Kickstarter site,http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/756324374/unite-and-take-over-comic-stories-inspired-by-the, (Some of Tara’s work is shown on Update #14.)
JMH: What other projects do you have on the horizon?
KC: It’s been a busy and insane year, creatively speaking, and I’m loving it. I have a short comic story,Seeing Eye Sheila, coming out in Womanthology this Fall and I’m creating content for a youth-based social advocacy website that launches globally October 1st. And I’m rewriting my novel. My husband and I would like to get a dog.
JMH: Anything else you’d like to mention that we haven’t talked about yet?
KC: I would like the hurricane/tornado/hail/earthquake/natural disaster season to be over. Also, I can’t wait to get a copy of Unite and Take Over in my hands.
JMH: Kayla, CBI appreciates your time, All the best!
KC: Thanks so much! This has been a blast!

__________________________________________________________
About the interviewer –
John Michael Helmer is the Publisher and CEO of Red Leaf Media, LLC. Red Leaf Media operates:www.ComicBookInterviews.com & www.RedLeafComics.com.
John’s creator-owned properties include: The Leaf, Canada’s Greatest Hero, Sky Watcher, G.I.s versus Zombies, The Armor Guardians, The Huskie, Dune, Master Spy!, and many others.
(Viewed 17 times)
TAGS: , Unite and Take OverThe Interview
Posted by Kayla Cagan at

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)