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This Week’s Sermon – “IM with Viper Comics' You'll Have That creator Wes Molebash”

By Britt Schramm

October 17, 2005

Did you ever find yourself browsing to a website and forgetting how you got there? But once you look around the site, you decide that you like it and you keep coming back for new stuff every chance you get. Obviously.. How else would you have gotten here? But, seriously, this phenomenon has happened to me.

Ya see, I don’t read that many webcomics outside the ones here at the 'Shoot. I’m old school that way. I still enjoy my funny pages in a more tangible format so I can tuck them under my arm Al Bundy-style and go to the only place that I can read them in peace. So, when I find a webcomic that I can read on a regular basis, it goes in the sacred spot on my PC labeled Firefox Bookmarks.

Such is the case for "You’ll Have That", the first ever webcomic offered by Viper Comics. I still can’t recall how I ended up there but the funny strips had me coming back for more. So, mostly because I like to share the wealth with my readers (and partly because the Michigan State Spartans can’t seem to close out a game victoriously), I asked Wes Molebash if he would like to do a low-key interview via instant messenger about his webcomic. He quickly agreed. He must've felt sorry for me since a sucker is born every minute when it concerns Michigan State football.

Preachin’ from the Longbox: Alright, you ready?

Wes Molebash: Let me get a drink of water . . .

WM: *ahhhh*

WM: Okay.

PftL: So, for those who have never read it, what's the basic premise of your comic strip in your own words?

WM: The comic is about Andy and Katie, a young newlywed couple. We get to see them wrestle with everyday things like loud neighbors and boring jobs. There's also Andy's best friend, Steve, who we're just now getting to know a little better.

PftL: That doesn't sound like a traditional web comic setup. What made you decide to create this type of strip?

WM: I guess it's not a traditional web comic strip because it's not about videogames.

PftL: Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

WM: Before I submitted to Viper Comics, I had been submitting to newspaper syndicates. And each submission was a different variation of the one before it. People kept telling me to "write what I know". Finally, I started writing a comic strip about a young married couple because, at the time, I was getting ready to marry my wife, Tricia. So, that's about as close to home as I can get.

PftL: But were you worried that your life story (or a reasonable facsimile of it) was going to be ripped to shreds by either the newspaper syndicate or the readers?

WM: Not really. It's not a hardcore autobiography. It's very loosely based on the relationship my wife and I have. And the comic doesn't go into any heavy territory. I try to stay pretty light-hearted. I plan to cover topics like heartbreak and rejection, but all of these somewhat "dramatic" scenarios will be handled with a good sense of humor. I'm not trying to be like Funky Winkerbean or anything.

PftL: Funny, I was just going to ask if there was going to be any "special" You Have That strips in the works. C'mon, it worked for Different Strokes and Family Ties.

WM: Ha, ha. "On a very special You'll Have That, Andy copes with the loss of a friend."

PftL: Or even, "On a very special You’ll Have That, Steve gets hooked on marijuana thanks to a party at Randy Moss' house and Andy has to show him the errors of his ways before it's too late."

WM: Steve looks like he'd be more apt to get hooked on marijuana, what with the hoodie and the beanie.

PftL: Yeah, it’s the whole hippie vibe that he does seem to have going on.

PftL: Back to the strip, you started very young. Did you always want to be a cartoonist?

WM: I started drawing comic strips in fourth grade and decided to that I wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist when I was in eighth grade. Up until that point, I wanted to be a Disney animator, but that's a lot of work and I'm a slacker.

PftL: So, what was it about the House of Mouse that made you want to be an animator because around that time, Disney's animations studios were just starting their renaissance with cell animation?

WM: I was first exposed to the fact that drawing cartoons is an occupation when I was watching an Entertainment Tonight feature on the making of The Little Mermaid. It just blew me away that people drew cartoons and made money at it. Because when you're a kid, you have the idea that work sucks and it can only suck. So the possibility of making a living doing what I loved just blew me away. So I learned everything I could about animation and Walt Disney. I even did two Academic Fair projects on animation.

PftL: So would you say that your artistic style comes from those early animation works?

WM: I don't know. Probably not. It's been years since I tried emulating a Disney-esque style. I like to think I draw my style from newspaper cartoonists like Michael Jantze (The Norm), Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes), and Pat Brady (Rose Is Rose). Those guys have influenced me the most. Whether or not that comes out in my work, I'm not sure.

PftL: Those influences that you mentioned, two of them (Watterson and Jantze) have retired from doing active strips. Do you feel that the art form of the newspaper comic strip is becoming antiquated?

WM: I'd say it's a combination of papers wanting to hold onto older strips to retain their readership, and syndicates offering new talent crappy contracts. I can now speak from experience that syndicates offer horrendously bad contracts. If you have enough clout like Watterson you can negotiate your contract into something you like, but it took him years to do that and he finally threw in the towel. Jantze is a great example of a fresh, new comic that couldn't sell to newspapers. Twenty-somethings are reading the newspapers so much as they're reading the web, so his subject matter shot him in the foot.

PftL: Then, what are your feelings towards cartoonists like Scott Kurtz (PvP) who tried to circumvent dealing with the Comic Syndicate by offering his older strips free of charge directly to the paper's editors?

WM: Well, for the record, his plan didn't work as well as he thought. But, in all honesty, I thought it was a cool idea. Some syndicated cartoonists felt that it cheapened comics, but it would take a lot more people to utilize Scott's plan successfully to hurt syndication's business model.

PftL: Outside of caving to the Comic Syndicate "man", what can an aspiring cartoonist do to make money at his chosen profession? Would you offer a subscription service on your website? Or a pay-per-view setup that Scott McCloud has offered previously on his website?

WM: I have no idea. Everyone has a different method, but none of them seem to be universally successful. It takes a lot of patience no matter what. I'm hoping that with Viper, I'll eventually make money through book sales and merchandising, but it will take some time before I'm able to do this full time. Years probably.

PftL: So, right now, you have to work a full-time job in addition to creating a strip even though you're with Viper.

WM: Oh yeah.

PftL: Okay. So, can you give an example of a normal creative working day?

WM: Sure. My "creative working days" are pretty irregular. My best days are my days off when I can devote the whole day to whatever needs to get done. The problem is I'm a huge procrastinator. So I'm usually scrambling to get things done on Sunday evening so Monday's strip won't be late. It takes me about an hour or two to pencil a single strip depending on how much detail is involved. Inking is much faster. I can ink five strips in two to two and a half hours. I draw all the comics on Bristol board, and ink with India ink. I scan the finished strips in Photoshop where I add the grey tones. I resize them and e-mail them to Jim Resnowski at Viper so he can post them on the site.

PftL: Ahh, procrastination is one of my vices as well. By waiting until the last minute, do you feel like you rushed a strip to have posted that you weren't that hot on or, worse, sit down to draw a strip and nothing comes to you?

WM: For the most part, I'm proud of every strip. There are times when I write a joke and I'm like "meh". But everyone has his or her "filler" gags. I think I'd have those days regardless of whether or not I procrastinated.

PftL: It's good to hear that you don't allow yourself to become obsessive over a possible so-so punchline.

WM: I used to when I was submitting. But once you're in the grind you can't worry about it. There's not enough time.

PftL: Too true. So, by glancing at some of your strips, Andy likes to wear music band shirts. Is music a big part of your creative process?

WM: It's part of it. I have iTunes playing when I draw, and I listen to instrumental stuff when I write (it's less distracting). By having Andy wear different band shirts it's my way of saying, "I like this band."

PftL: It’s sort of like the Wes Molebash "silent endorsement". Do you get any comp merch from bands that are trying to break in to the scene?

WM: I wish. Haha. Most of the band shirts Andy wears are semi-popular bands. I e-mailed Viva Voce once and linked to a comic where Andy was wearing a Viva Voce shirt, but they never e-mailed me back. My dream is to end up like Jef Mallett, who creates the comic strip "Frazz". He's a huge Fountain of Wayne fan and he often draws Frazz wearing a FoW shirt. Well, Fountains of Wayne found out and linked to him on their website, and I think he was involved on their liner notes for their new album. I'd love for that to happen to me.

PftL: If the possibility that your strip could be involved with a major band became true, which bands would be in your Top 5?

WM: These are in no particular order, but they're definitely Top 5. Guster, Martin Sexton, Jack Johnson, Ben Folds, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

PftL: That's some range of music styles. Is there a genre that you can't stand?

WM: Not really. There's genres I get sick of quickly, namely country pop. Old school country is always good.

PftL: Country pop is a bad concoction. But give me some good old Johnny Cash or Glenn Campbell and I'm good. BTW, did you see the new poster for the Cash biopic with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon?

WM: Yes, that movie looks to be loads of awesome.

PftL: Can't agree with you more. Getting back to your strip, I also noticed that both you and Andy have developed a burgeoning love for golf. Has that new sport cut into your time that you would've spent on your strip? And have you been a sports fan your whole life?

WM: I haven't golfed much in the past few months due to various things that have come up, so it hasn't cut into my time too badly. My wife has actually been telling me I need to go golfing before the weather starts to get bad. It's kinda shocking that my wife encourages me to golf. I've always enjoyed sports; I've just never been very good at them. I'm not very competitive. I like to play and not keep score, especially in basketball. I've become more of a sports fan as I've gotten older, but I'm still not very knowledgeable about some aspects of the various games I like to watch.

PftL: Do you have any favorite teams, pro or college?

WM: I root for the Denver Broncos in football because my dad always has. I like the Cleveland Cavaliers just because they're finally showing promise, and I can't stand most of the NBA anymore. My favorite sport is college football. Ohio State all the way.

PftL: Well, so that means both of our football teams, college (OSU/MSU) and pro (Denver/New England), face each other this weekend. How does a 0-2 weekend sound to you?

WM: New England hasn't been playing to hot this year and Denver is 4-1. You already know what I think about OSU vs. MSU.

WM: New England coming off a messy loss, anyway.

PftL: Nope, they beat Atlanta by 3 last week - SD was two weeks ago.

WM: That's right. My bad.

PftL: Alright, I have a couple of questions left and I'll let ya go. What are your plans for YHT? Are kids involved? And when can the buying public buy the first collection of YHT?

WM: YHT will develop sort of how my wife and I develop. As we experience new things, so will Andy and Katie. Kids are definitely in the picture, but not until Trish and I have kids. And that'll be a few years. As far as a book is concerned, last I heard was April of 2006. Keep your fingers crossed.

PftL: Will do. Thanks for the chat and Go Spartans!

WM: No problem.

Well, that’s it for this week. Catch ya next time. Don’t forget to keep your bags and boards together and your continuity straight.

Send column-specific e-mail using the link below. You can also read about my thoughts on the real reason why LaVar Arrington is riding the bench, my new electronic obsession, and the demise of reality game shows as well as my current eBay auctions at brittschramm.com. Plus, I also review anything and everything that has to do with Pop Culture at Kung Fu Rodeo.

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