Some times you run across a comic that you fall in love with (I do with all the comics I feature here). But sometimes you love a comic because of what it is. Wil Panganiban has created such a comic called “Frank & Steinway”. The basic premise of the story is about two classic icon characters (i.e. Dracula and Frankenstein) that are unemployed and have to face the scariest of all things life. Not only is the story great but the artwork is absolutely amazing. Wil deserves a lot of credit here…so I’m thrilled to feature the man behind these amazing characters here on Don’t Pick the Flowers blog.
David: Hey Wil, you have a very fun and nicely drawn comic “Frank & Steinway”, I love looking at your art work. Can you tell me a little history of how you started “Frank & Steinway” and your idea behind the comic?
Will: Well, if you have the time. Bear with me; it’s sort of interesting but long winded heh.
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Frank and Steinway originally, was a cartoon short idea I was pitching to Hanna Barbera, in 1995. At UCLA I made an animated cartoon short called ‘Snake Theatre’. It got Hanna Barbera’s attention which then led them to invite me to pitch for a series of cartoon shorts they were calling ‘What a Cartoon!’ My first idea was called ‘Sub-Hero’ I made it all the way to the final pitch, and lost to…drum roll please ‘Johnny Bravo’ for the final slot of the show. Johnny Bravo went on to become a series for The Cartoon Channel. If I had made it, I’d say my career might have been different. Though I lost, they invited me to pitch again, I pitched them 2 ideas, and one of those was Frank and Steinway. The cartoon premise was pretty much the same; both Frank and Steinway are laid off. However, the boss offers them one remaining open slot. The rest of the 7 minutes of that cartoon was of Frank and Steinway trying to best each other for the job (both failing of course). It would have been my Ren and Stimpy series but with monsters. Sadly, Hanna Barbera passed, but said they were interested in bringing me in as a writer. Meanwhile, I’ve been out of college for 6 months now and no job. I found it, but in the game industry as a game tester for Disney. 16 years later, I was laid off from Electronic Arts. I was in a completely different career field altogether.
At this point it was 2010, in the midst of a harsh recession. I was longing to go back into cartooning. But I needed an idea. One day, I was sifting through my old cubby hole when I came across the storyboard I used to pitch Frank and Steinway. Bam! The idea was ready made for the times. The story fit my situation perfectly; I was a bit older, afraid of fighting for my own job against newer, younger graduates. I was scared at what life would bring for me now that I was out of my secure 16 year career. So I decided to convert Frank and Steinway from an animated cartoon to a comic strip. That was one year ago, and thankfully, I still haven’t run out of ideas. The fans seem to think they are a perfect metaphor for their situation as well.
David: Can you give a description of their personalities and how you relate with them?
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Wil: Basically, Frank and Steinway is semi autobiographical. They are opposite sides of the same coin, which is me. Steinway is the conservative, often cautious side of me. It’s the side that I’m probably most identified with. He’s the dreamer, the philosophical nice guy! He yearns for the life’s simple pleasures. He’s also the shy guy, the anxious over-analyzer, and the guy that crushes over gorgeous, unattainable women time and time again!
Frank on the other hand, is the side I secretly wish I could be, wilder, more carefree and definitely more confident. He’s the guy who’ll act on instinct, regardless of the consequences. He’s got thick skin, so nothing really fazes him too much. But he’s also the jerk, the smart ass and the guy who is more often sarcastic and at times acidic. I’m a sarcastic person, I’ll admit, however, I’m not mean like him. Just ask the guys I make fun of every day! Frank is an aristocrat in his mind, so he’s unwilling to accept his lot as a new member of the middle class.
David: You have worked on other comic art, what are those and how have they helped you with your own comic?
Wil: Back in my college days at UCLA (I’d say about 1992
or 1993) I answered an ad to become a contract artist for a comic panel called ‘Choas’ which the author was self syndicating. I worked on it for a while. Later it was picked up by King Features syndicate. Meanwhile, I was slowly developing a few things simultaneously. I started working on a time travel strip called ‘The Torvald Chronicles’. I was also working on an animated pitch for Hanna Barbera. That time of my career pretty much gave me an introduction into the professional world of cartooning; it’s deadline headaches, and its perks. I learned a lot about how hard it really was to come up with an idea for a joke. I also got art tips and ideas from Jay Kennedy, who was our editor. I learned a lot! However, the comic panel I was working on was a gag a day single frame comic. The storyboards for Hanna Barbera was what forced me to learn sequential art with dynamic camera angles (which I still use today)
With Torvald Chronicles, I was mentored by another comic veteran, the late Tom Forman, of Motley’s Crew fame. He gave me advice on how to write for a multi-panel comic strip, which is drastically different from the single panel strip. He tried to get me in with Tribune Media Services, but alas, as Tom also advised me, time travel strips are a hard sell (apparently, if you have to explain a joke’s back story then it’s over). And as I found out too, Americans ironically, are not a historically conscious or observant lot (war, recession—ooo had to throw a zinger there). Therefore, historical jokes are hard to get.
I also dabbled in comic book art also. I made a comic book which I will eventually release called ‘Grace’. Again, I learned sequential art, backgrounds, storytelling in general, and pacing.
David: What are some of your favorite comics and what gives you inspiration with your own work?
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Wil: Many strips have inspired and influenced me in my career. However, if I had to pick a few, I’d have to say Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Pogo, The Far Side, The Neighborhood (later Ballard Street), Herman, The Duplex, Foxtrot, Robot Man, and Get Fuzzy.
Bill Watterson was definitely the art influence for me. Winsor McCay and Walt Kelly are others. I love Watterson and Kelly’s brushwork. McCay’s art was something that always fascinated me ever since I saw little Nemo in slumberland. I love his line work. In Frank and Steinway, I try to mix the brushwork with the nice details that Mccay place in his drawings. But for the sense of humor, I’d go with the strips mentioned above. I naturally have a weird and sick sense of humor, so I naturally gravitate to the offbeat strips like the Far Side and Herman, or to the absurd, the world of Jerry Van Amerongen. Foxtrot, Get fuzzy and the rest, were influential in my learning of the dialogue dynamic between interesting characters. I always love banter between buddies or families in the strip. I also love sarcastic or idiotic characters.
Peanuts, was the single strip that made me want to be a cartoonist to begin with. I hold a very special place for it in my heart. I pay homage to it everyday, with Frank’s modified Charlie brown shirt. I confess I own a Charlie brown shirt, but no longer wear it; otherwise, those unattainable women would laugh at me more.
David: What are your future goals and plans with “Frank & Steinway”?
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Wil: My first and foremost plan is to be syndicated. That was always my dream. I was indirectly syndicated by ‘Chaos’ but I want to make it on my own this time. After a detour of 16 years, I felt a need to return to the long lost dream. If not, then hopefully, I can get Frank and Steinway in as many papers as I can. Right now, I have a year’s worth of strips that I plan to collect in a trade paperback. Hopefully, I can get it published and then sell them digitally, or at comic con 2012! In short, I want to get Frank and Steinway recognized and accepted by the world!
The other dream was the original plan for Frank and Steinway, to make an animated cartoon about their plight. I have the basic character bibles for these characters written. I also have lots of story ideas for them. It’s a natural transition from comic strips to the television screen. Who knows maybe a feature film? Delusions of grandeur, I know.
Finally, being a veteran of the game industry, I also hope to create a video game based on these two characters. I’m slowly working on them now, but it’s a bit of a lurch.
David: It all sounds possible to me, you’ve got a great comic with great characters. I truly wish you the best with your work and appreciate you being featured on the blog.
To find out more of Frank and Steinway by Wil Panganiban check out these websites at:
www.gocomics.com/frank-and-steinway
www.facebook.com/FrankandSteinway
www.comicsshowcase.com/Frank___Steinway.php
