Independent Propaganda

Interviewed by Wesley Craig Green / Head Cheese at Independent Propaganda

Making a splash at last summer’s San Diego Comic Con was new publisher, Thrill House Comics who was there to promote their two properties: SHARK-MAN and CRYPTID. Both projects are based on original stories by writer/producer Ronald (ALIEN, TOTAL RECALL, MINORITY REPORT) Shusett, and like his other projects, both SHARK-MAN and CRYPTID are a mishmash of sci-fi and pulp fiction.

SHARK-MAN #1 debuted this past July to very favorable reviews. And then nothing till this past September when CRYPTID: CREATING A UNIVERSE was solicited in Diamond’s PREVIEW catalogue and then in October where SHARK MAN #2 was solicited for a December release date.

In this interview with Thrill House Comics’ editor, David Elliot, he addresses these delays along with introducing newcomers to SHARK-MAN and CRYPTID, catching fans up on what is going on at Thrill House Comics, and what we can expect in the future.

Independent Propagada: For those reading who are not to familiar with Thrill-House Comics, can you tell us a little bit about Thrill House Comics and how it came to be?

David Elliott: Thrill House doesn’t exist in any traditional sense of comic book companies. We don’t except solicitations for projects because we’re set up to just work on our own properties. The name belongs to Alex Horley who came up with it and designed our initial logo. We came together because of the two projects we’re working on, Ronald Shusett, Michael Town and myself are working on them both, so it seemed natural to do them together under one banner.

Independent Propagada: What are your duties at Thrill House Comics?

David Elliott: Well, the easy answer is everything. Outside of co-writing both books, I handle all design, editing, solicitation, marketing, sales, print and distribution.

Independent Propagada: That’s a lot to handle.

DE: It’s made easier due to the people I work with. Michael Town has financed most of what we have done so far and has been great. People get paid straight away. Then there is Michael Todd, who created CRYPTID and the story we based the scripts on. He is also a great artist and designer in his own right. The Cryptid logo is his, so I can’t take any credit there and Comicrafts J. D. and Richard Starkings did the SHARK-MAN and the final THRILL-HOUSE logos. The “TH” logo we use on the over is by Alex Horley.

Independent Propagada: From past interviews with the other pros associated with Thrill House Comics, it appears the company is just focusing on two properties right now: SHARK MAN and CRYPTID. For people unfamiliar with these properties, can you give us a pitch for each?

DE: Sure, the story I came up with for SHARK-MAN is pretty much the reluctant hero who is forced to step into the shoes of his father. He does so for initially selfish needs but then slowly realizes why his father did what he did. The broader story is that his father’s greatest nemesis knows everything about not only his late father, but himself as well and is working to break him so that in the end he’ll join him. He mistakenly believes that Tom has been spoilt by his father’s money.

Independent Propagada: Will he succeed?

DE: It’s like Ohio, too close to call. As for CRYPTID, it is best summed up by saying it is pretty much Indiana Jones meets Jurassic Park. The hero of Cryptid is a young rebellious soldier who is coerced into joining a secret society of cryptozoologists. Under sentence for the murder of a senior officer, in reality killed by a monstrous creature, his only chance to clear his name is in the service of the RSC (Royal Society of Cryptozoology). Their mission is to find and contain creatures not yet known to science (Cryptids). Our hero discovers a plot to create a super-cryptid capable of bringing down mankind.

Independent Propagada: Hollywood professionals Ronald Shusett (writer/producer) and Michael Todd (animator) are involved with SHARK MAN and CRYPTID respectively. The obvious question is: are you planning on expanding these two properties to other media, namely movies?

DE: DUH? (laughs) Sorry, Wesley, but yeah, we are definitely looking at other mediums for both projects. Movies, video-games, TV, toys, the whole gamut. Particularly with CRYPTID, we have planned these projects so they work in all these different arenas before we even started on the scripts.

Independent Propagada: Since you’re developing both properties to be taken into other mediums, is there any news to report?

DE: We have got interested parties circling around us. We’ll let you know.

Independent Propagada: WETA (the Oscar-winning visual effects company behind such movies as the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and KING KONG) has been heavily involved in the CRYPTID property. Care to talk about how they got involved and what your plans are for CRYPTID?

DE: Michael Todd, the creator of Cryptid, pretty much just approached them with his story and some of the visuals he was already developing. Richard Taylor saw that this was a project that they could really get into and have some fun. They are attached to the project for whatever medium it goes into, film, TV or video game. Which is great, because that is exactly what our plans are. The concept behind Cryptid works in any time period and expands outward in a similar way to Star Wars. We’ll find out that the hero’s family of the first comic book series has a long history with the RSC, both in the past and the future.

Independent Propagada: Since debuting at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, you have released SHARK MAN #1 to very high critical praise in addition to selling out of the issue’s first printing. Then nothing till this past September when you solicited for CRYPTID: CREATING A UNIVERSE and then in October where SHARK MAN #2 is solicited in Diamond’s Preview catalogue for December. Surely this delay wasn’t planned. Can you give people who are following Thrill House Comics an update on what’s going on with these series?

DE: Sure, I know a lot of people were disappointed that Shark-Man #2 didn’t follow quickly after #1. The truth is this, Steve Pugh has been developing a completely new art style for this series. It takes a long time to work out how long everything is going to take him. Also the world of Shark-Man needed to be created and fleshed out. The look and feel of New Venice City is a vital character in its own right to the series and will undergo a transformation of its own.

Outside of Steve and myself, Garry Leach helped out a lot in realizing that look. Garry is a fantastic designer and artist who worked with Steve on his approach to both New Venice and his approach to visualizing the world it exists in.

At the beginning of this year we knew we would have the first issue ready for San Diego, but still didn’t know when Steve would be able to deliver the second issue. Michael Town wanted to have something to show at San Diego Comicon where we were going to have a preview book for CRYPTID. He felt that as the first issue was pretty much complete we should go a head and release that, then hopefully get issue two out as soon as possible.

It was a difficult call to make. I’d have preferred that we have at least two issues in house before we release the first issue, but the first issue was a great set-up for what is to follow, so we made the decision to go a head.

Independent Propagada: Is the second issue on schedule for December?

DE: Alas, no. Truth is I am hoping we can get the second issue of Shark-Man out by the end of January. In the second issue we leap one year in to the future from where we left off after issue one. All the characters are in a different place, including the city.

If you look at the first issue you’ll notice that the colors are pumped up. It’s pretty bright in New Venice. That will start to change in issue two. The city was pretty much bankrupt and is struggling to survive. Gambling is being legalized to booster the economy.

Independent Propagada: What is happening with Cryptid?

DE: We were going to be soliciting an issue 0 in January with the series to start before the summer, but a chance came to put our books through Image Comics and as publisher for Thrill-House Comics, I thought the offer would help us a great deal.

So I pulled the solicitation from Previews and cancelled the orders for CRYPTID: CREATING A UNIVERSE which we will resolicit through Image when we are ready.

Independent Propagada: Why move to Image?

DE: I could just say, Eric Stephenson and Erik Larsen, but really, they have a great set-up and I’d like to see the Cryptid: Universe book in the bookstores as well which the Image deal would allow us to do. And let’s be honest, the industry is Marvel, DC then Image, we’d be crazy not to take advantage of that.

Independent Propagada: After your move to Image, what kind of publishing schedule are you aiming for with SHARK-MAN?

DE: The first thing we will do is a collection of the two Thrill-House issues with an extra ten pages of material that fills in a couple of other things that were happening concurrently that ties into where the book will be heading later.

Because both Shark-Man and Cryptid are books where the artists really need around four pages to do one page, we’re thinking of doing a Tales To Astonish type package where we have both titles in one bi-monthly book. This way retailers will get the book every two months and there will be between 12 to 16 pages of both Shark-Man and Cryptid. I thought of calling the book The THRILL HOUSE. Original, huh?

Independent Propagada: Taking into account the delays, how are you planning on winning back those retailers and fans who might be skeptical of Thrill House?

DE: We will probably launch a CRYPTID #0 before we launch THE THRILL HOUSE. After Shark-man #2 we will build up some material in house before we relaunch again next summer through Image.

Independent Propagada: And finally, are there any new projects in the works besides SHARK-MAN and CRYPTID?

DE: Not through Thrill-House.

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