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Interview with a DBZ fan Comic Artist
Some of you may remember long ago back during December of 1999 that a certain comic once appeared on Planet Namek- the infamous "Freeza" comic. (aka, the "gay Freeza" comic) Last year, as a Christmas gift for visitors of the site, I grabbed the old comic from the web archives and put it on dbzoa.net. where it can currently be viewed
here
and
here.
"1. What originally inspired you to make the Freeza comic and how'd you find out about English DBZ?
1. (ANSWER) The "Freeza Comic" as you call it, was actually a rush-job, a quick-and-slightly-altered copy of
the first half of a DBZ parody manga I was drawing for my friends in Greece (from issue #2 to be precise). I
wanted to give my American friends a small sample of my comedy "skills" and a few laughs. And no, the DBZ
mangas I drew in Greece were never printed (thank God).
As for the latter question: When I gained access to the net some years ago, the first thing I did was to search
about DB material. I still remember how surprised I was when I discovered that DBZ had millions of fans; I
always thought it was a C-class (as far as popularity goes) anime back then.
2. (ANSWER) Hmm... I guess that only Planet Namek caught my attention. There were some other sites of course,
but they never really managed to gain my interest. I always heard that Vegetto EX (I think that was the title)
had a good site, but never really visited it. Planet Namek satisfied all of my DBZ needs back then. However,
now Daisechou EX (or something), the current site of Vegetto EX seems quite interesting, and along with
dbzonps2, give me a good source of info on new DBZ games.
3. (ANSWER) Cowboy Bebop. By far, a masterpiece. I also like (besides DB) Evangelion, Trigun, and a VERY old
anime called Ninja Boys (in Greece at least)... it was hilarious. I also find Vampire Princess Miyu a very good
anime.
4. (ANSWER) I was in good terms with Skullmac, because I gave him tons of DBZ game reviews as well as some
"bonus" DBZ thingies he couldn't find in the US. When I sent him some pages from the comic I was making, I
asked him if he could post them. He wanted to, but Mr.E didn't (we never really hit the spot, him and I), so
Skull waited until a weekend where Mr.E couldn't supervise Planet Namek, and then posted it.
5. 16 (ANSWER) He said he thought it sucked (it did in some ways) but there were also more personal reasons. But, mainly it was my fault. Sorry, but I do not wish to say anything more for this matter, since Mr. E cannot speak for himself right now.
6. (ANSWER) 3-4 days. It was a rush-job, because I didn't have a lot time and mood to put a real effort to it.
As far as drawing goes at least.
7. (ANSWER) Nope. That was because the editor of the paper was a Namek-Sei Jin. It was never revealed in the US
version of the comic, but in the Greek version, Freeza hunts the editor instead of FUNimation (he actually
sents Baata after him), and ... well, that's another story...
8. I thought I would, but the army caught up with me. I got drafted, and the project was basically "suspended"
until further notice. You know how these things are. You want to do something, your attention goes somewhere
else, and time just flies by.
9. I have a website. It is quite lame and crunky. As far as drawing / writing experience goes, I had drawn
about 75 comics, the 30 first of them 8-pages per issue, while the latter are standard 22-paged. I had unique
characters and series, but I also used a tiny score of Marvel characters (mostly because I wanted to win my
brother's interest through Crossbones and Ghost Rider). I also used to draw the Inhumanoids (the old cartoon of
Hasbro). D-Compose was my fave.
One series of mine was called "The Manhunter" (I swear, I had NO idea that DC had a green guy with the same
name back then), it was about a ninja with DB-like powers who fought various super-powered individuals. THe
atmosphere was very batman-like.
10. As I mentioned above, yes. But never have I drawn a comic that was published on some magazine or something.
All of my comics stayed in my room, read by anyone who might like to.
11. Do you draw just as a hobby or do you want to make it a living someday?
11. (ANSWER) I draw as a hobby. The last three years (after the army) I find it difficult to sketch, because I
grow quickly bored. I have a very short attention span as far as drawing goes now, so I don't trust myself in
making a job out of it now.
12. (ANSWER) Mmm, so-so. Basic training was hard, but afterwards, the rest of my stay in the army was
more-or-less boring (19 months to be precise). I cleaned, was a sentry 10 hours a day (which means you stay on
a desolate place and just look around), and waited for any day offs that would come. Not my kind of thing. BUt
I learned a thing or two about life, people, and situations. An overall useful experience, but I would never
stay in the army if I had a choice.
13 (ANSWER) Nope.
14 (ANSWER) The Greek DBZ was basically translated French-DBZ. Which means we dubbed the dubbed French version.
Sounds lame? It is. Anyway, there was a little censorship, as opposed to the US version, though some scenes
were cut, or edited (Recoom never does the "finger" on Vegeta and Gokou, Kuririn never explodes in front of our
eyes by Freeza, etc.). DB (not DBZ or DBGT) was almost intact however. The Greek (French) version used the
original Japanese music score, although near the middle of DBZ they started to alter the Opening themes (they
used the buu saga opening sequence in the freeza and cell sagas, and used a music-video-clip like intro based
on the freeza saga, when they were showing eps of the buu saga!! Go figure...).
15. (ANSWER) It's hard to have a "personal" opinion about a country I've never visited, and about people who I
have never met. I'm 24 years old, and I've yet to see a Turk in front of me. I'm a happy-go-lucky guy however,
and I hold no ill feelings or grudges easily, especially about events that happened about 300-400 years ago!
The Turks and the Greeks are in a tight spot, because of relatively "fresh" history (our enslavement by them,
and our fight for independence afterwards), and various conflicts today (regular violations of air-space, and a
long-and-still-standing feud about Cyprus). Some music artists and politicians attempt to ease things up, but
the majority of the Greek and Turkish people simply don't really trust one another. We can always hope though!
16 (ANSWER) *snork* are there? In all seriousness though, if there are any fans of my work, I'm only tood
proud. If there are people who really like a sequel, I might work on another DB parody manga. Best wishes to
the whole world (and the people who make and visit this site) !!!"
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