According to Project-Nerd, Mythica is crazy. It’s inventive, curious, and quite gruesome at times, but it’s definitely very crazy. It’s a strange story in which reality and dream world twist together and different realities collide to build on each other as they develop an intricate plot.
Its talented creator, Matt Campbell, throws himself into sketching with a passion. As a Professor at Pikes Peak Community College, he also finds time to share his love for creating with students and other professions by offering guidance, resources, and experience. The cover of the next issue is being done by a big name in the industry and Campbell’s lips are sealed as to who it is. Find out how this popular Colorado comic is influenced by shows like “Supernatural” and “Firefly,” and just what it takes to create the magic.
Colleen Bement: Congrats on your new Kickstarter for your comic series Mythica. Will this be number 7 or number 8? AND by the way, how cool is it that I’m asking what number you’re on. What a success you’ve had with Mythica!
Matt Campbell: So, it can get a little confusing for people when they kind of stumble across things later on. Issue 7 Kickstarter was launched in April, and it ran for 30 days, and we blew the funding out of the water like four times what our goal was. We printed that book already and shipped that out to everybody. Everybody’s already gotten their rewards from that Kickstarter. The extra money that was raised from that has been going into issue 8 to get bigger named artists. In fact, the cover is being colored by someone huge in the industry. It took months of finagling and discussing and phone calls to get this person. I actually just got the cover back in and it’s amazing. We haven’t announced who it is yet. We’re waiting until we’re a little bit closer to being done with issue 8.
CB: Where did the idea of Mythica come from, and what inspired you to choose the WW I era?
MC: Great questions. The book was inspired because I wanted to see some comic book heroes that wore kilts. Having a strong Scottish background, I wanted to actually see some of that stuff. I didn’t see a whole lot of that in comics. That’s where it started. I started sketching the character back in college over a decade ago, and then it just kind of kept building from there. Then I wanted to create a story where I could draw lots of fun monsters and creatures, and so I created this sort of demon-hunting environment. Obviously, it’s very influenced by shows like “Supernatural” and “Firefly” in the sense that I wanted these characters to be fighting lots of different types of demons so that I could draw them. The main difference was that on “Supernatural” they had a limitation and budget on a TV screen where almost every demon can turn into a human; you give him glowing eyes. What I want to do is to be able to draw different cool designs for things. Other than that, there are a lot of similarities.
I wanted to have a bunch of characters who came together as a family in order to succeed. On their own, they didn’t do nearly as well. And then, sort of like “Firefly” I wanted to have these characters end up becoming on the run from the people that they’re trying to save. That’s kind of what led me into World War I. When it was first getting developed it was going to be in modern times. I quickly came to the realization that if I wanted to have my characters hide from the government, that makes it really challenging because of satellites and technologies that we have.
We looked at World War I and I really liked that era because it had a mesh of aesthetics with the old world of horse-drawn wagons and sailing ships that collide with steal battleships and automobiles. It inadvertently gave it a bit of a Steampunk look to it. We decided that this was a good place to start building this universe.
CB: Did you sort of “steampunk” out the vehicles?
MC: It’s funny because it’s not intentional, it just kind of happens due to the time period. For instance, in issue 2 or 3, a couple of our characters are driving a car that is based on a real car–a 1914 Stutz Bearcat. The only windshield is a small circular piece of glass that’s sort of connected to the steering wheel, and that’s it. The passenger has to wear goggles. The time period kind of lends itself to a Steampunk vibe. There’s a lot of historical research that goes into this book.
The other thing about this book is that we wanted to have this story really be character-driven and based on an actual story. Flawed characters who have things we can relate to, and the only way they can succeed in their goals is to face some of those flaws and also come together. Our main character, Magnus, is a Scottish soldier and in the very first issue a lot of his soldiers die in this demon attack, so he feels responsible. He doesn’t want to put anyone else in harm’s way. He could be facing off 100 bad guys and he would still rush in on his own, trying to make sure no one else is going to get hurt. But he can’t succeed that way. He has to work together with this new group of individuals. That’s really what the story is about.
CB: What conventions will you be attending the rest of this year, and which one are you most excited about? Will you be at Colorado Springs Comic Con?
MC: If Colorado Springs Comic Con invites me as a guest, I would go as a guest there. Being that I haven’t done a lot of conventions, it wasn’t one that I wanted to pay for a table for. I have applied for Fan Expo, but right now a lot of the efforts are being spent on putting Mythica in as many comic shops in Colorado as possible, and doing signings at those events, and really making Mythica a well-known name in Colorado, and then branching out into New Mexico. We’ll probably be a part of Rocky Mountain Con. I’m still in the process of booking more shows.
CB: Let’s get to know Matt Campbell as an artist and Matt Campbell as a person.
1.) As an artist: Where do you draw your inspiration from when it’s time to create? Like Mondays. Mondays are Mythica Days.
MC: I would say honestly at this point it’s become a love. It’s my favorite thing to work on because it’s such a passion project. But it’s inspired by my Scottish heritage, I’ll pop on some bagpipe music, or “Lord of the Rings.” I feel like I’m weaving this big epic kind of world. But as far as inspiration for the story and the characters, it’s pulling from everywhere. I’ll watch “Supernatural” and get inspired and say what if those were my characters in World War I, how would that work out? I’m heavily influenced by pin-up artists like Frank Cho and Adam Hughes, so I do a lot of work like that for commissions for other books. I really get to pick and choose the stuff that I want to do.
Between that and the fact that I teach comic book art, I’m kind of always just in that mode. This is what I do for a living.
2.) As an artist: What are your go-to tools when you create?
MC: My favorite go-to thing is just pencil and paper. I love the resistance of pencil and paper to sketch out my ideas. But if you know anything about making comics the traditional way I teach my students, you do a rough draft on a piece of paper, and then blow it up and do a really tight pencil drawing on a big piece of Bristol Board. Then you scan that in and then you do an ink drawing on a big piece of Bristol Board. Finally, you scan that in and color it digitally. It’s just such a long, long process that over the years, I’ve had to streamline. Now Mythica is done completely digitally. I still sketch out ideas with a pencil, but I’ve adjusted my drawing tablet and my screens to make them feel as I can get them so that I can do a rough draft and jump right into the line art.
3.) As a person: Do you force yourself to take breaks from creating your art so that you don’t burn out? Is being a teacher one of those breaks?
MC: I have any number of ways that I take breaks. It is important for a lot of reasons. Physical break, I have to get up from my chair at least every hour to two hours, and I’ll go for a walk through the park for 40 minutes. Maybe go for a swim. Something that’s short and quick but gets me moving. A lot of times that will be an opportunity to kind of look to the future, like what’s the next step for Mythica? What’s the next step for my characters?
The other break that I have is that every weekend I spend with my girlfriend, and I pretty much for the most part try to shut down work. I just to experience life because I think that’s where a lot of the inspiration comes from.
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Hi, I’m Lynn, and I Make.
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