Independent Propaganda

Interviewed by Matt Butcher / Writer for Independent Propaganda

Matt Butcher: There are those of us that are still learning about Arcana Studios. Can you give a brief history of your company?

Sean O’Reilly: Arcana Studio started in 2004 and has been getting stronger each year. Independent comic book publishing is a tough gig and we’re already seen the rise and fall of some pretty major companies. We are a ‘work for hire’ studio that always delivers on time art production for companies like Disney, HBO, NBC and more. We also work for ourselves producing and publishing our own materials. We are always accepting outside submissions and just love the excitement from the comic book industry.

Matt Butcher: Why Arcana? Why not another publisher like Image?

Image is a great publisher and I love what they’ve done…we’re obviously much smaller and are able to help a creator get set up with many opportunities from toy companies to Lion’s Gate. Some opportunities even end up at Image so I don’t see them as my competitor.

What other projects does Arcana have going on right now for us to read? How can we find out more information and stay current?

Right now on stands we have Kade: Sun of Perdition, Dragon’s Lair, Outlaw: Scorn, Valkyrie and Dark Horrrors tpb. Our website is being completely redone and should be up in a couple weeks.

What else does Arcana have coming around the mountain?

We’re doing lots ranging from Clockwork Girl to American Wasteland to Gearhead to Jinky Coronado’s Banzai Girl. There’s LOTS to do to keep up busy and to keep our readers entertained…I’m hoping our new website will be up by the end of January so keep watching please.

I heard about one of your comics getting some airtime on USA Network’s show PSYCH. How did that happen?

I was doing some prop designs for Psych and they ‘found out’ that I’m a comic book publisher as well. The art team was amazing and they were so great to work with…when I walked into the room it was like a massive Arcana convention…it was a great experience.

What influences you to produce these comics? What stories, comic or otherwise, do these comics draw from?

My influences are all over the map…music (NIN, RHCP), movies (LotR, Se7en), tv (The Shield, Sopranos) to anything. I tend to approach creating a comic from a different angle almost every time…sometimes the motivation comes from an image, an idea or the synergy created between two people.

I’ve heard that Arcana is trying to develop projects for other media, like games and stuff-then why do comics? Why not just go straight to the video game?

Comics are a fun medium and one I don’t think I can ever leave. The work I’ve done on video games and for movies tends to be a different experience than comics and also tends to pay a bit more. We’re actually looking at working with a large entity to try developing our first video game but I won’t know more for a couple weeks…

If you could sum up Arcana in one word, what would it be?

Explosive!

About The Interviewer: Matt Butcher teaches English in Nome, Alaska. Sometimes as he watches the TV news, he remembers that clever saying from the t-shirt: Beam me up, Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here. However, he knows intelligence is here on earth and only rarely surfaces. So when he says that something is smart and intelligent, you should probably believe it. Visit his website The Butcher Shop at http://mjb0123.blogspot.com.

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