Creator Interview: Sam Johnson
Posted By Josh Flynn on May 20, 2013
Sam Johnson’s Mr. Mash-UP #0
Sam Johnson is an independent UK comic creator with several titles to his name. While he dreams of writing Marvel’s Deadpool, he’s busy expanding his own universe of characters. Johnson took a few minutes to talk to NerdSpan about his latest books Geek-Girl and Mr. Mash-Up.
NerdSpan: How did you get your start with comics?
Sam Johnson: Apart from a short period in my teens, I’ve always been into comics. Image Comics ran some writers’ talent search contests, back in the day. I started coming up with stuff for those and have been hooked ever since.
NS: It seems like you’ve been very productive so far. How many characters have you created and how many comics have you published on your own?
SJ: I’ve created a lot of characters; the comics I’ve published are Geek-Girl #0, Mr. Mash-Up #0 and The Almighties #1, but Cabra Cini: Voodoo Junkie Hitwoman has shown up in a number of issues of H!M Comics’ IF-X anthology, as well as in Mr. Mash-Up #0, and her own mini-series is now in the works.
NS: Can you give readers a brief synopsis of your characters/books?
SJ: Well, Geek-Girl is hot-college-cheek Ruby Kaye who lands a pair of super-tech glasses that give her powers but also have unforeseen side effects. Mr. Mash-Up is a demon from another dimension who houses a vessel that he can transform into a clone of anyone he chooses, and that tends to be people’s most feared/hated enemies. Cabra Cini: Voodoo Junkie Hitwoman is an ex-crack whore, who employs a bastardized version of voodoo in her deadly new vocation, and The Almighties are a mis-matched bunch of ‘heroes;’ their debut issue poking fun at the Avengers, and Marvel in general.
NS: Many of your characters come from troubled backgrounds. What draws you to exploring such characters?
SJ: I find flawed characters, people who aren’t ‘black & white,’ people that are hurting, intriguing. My favorite super-team is DC’s Doom Patrol, who are misfits and their mainstay Cliff Steele is something of a ‘wounded’ reluctant hero; and Marvel’s Deadpool is another character with shades of grey and flaws, and he’d be my top choice of character to work on for the Big Two.
NS: Mr. Mash-Up is seen as the black sheep of his family, yet he has a very unique power. Why is his family disappointed in him and what is he trying to prove?
SJ: Whereas his brothers all come from the same demonic parents, Arin Zahne a.k.a. Mr. Mash-Up is the product of his father cheating on his mom with an alien goddess; that in itself is enough to make him the outsider, but this also means his genetic make-up differs from his brothers, who are hulking barbarians, whereas Mash-Up is seen as the runt of the brood. Mash-Up wants to belong and to be accepted – but fate has other things in store for him.
NS: Mash-Up has appeared in several of your comics as a supporting character. What challenges do you face bringing him in to his own series? Does the fact he’s made previous appearances make it easier to adapt him?
SJ: Mash-Up’s #0 issue actually collects all of his appearances from anthologies outside of Geek-Girl #0; but I was pleased at the reviews it received, which felt that those three strips hang together pretty well. Combined, they basically tell us where Arin comes from and how he came to be the dark person we meet in Geek-Girl #0.
NS: Geek-Girl isn’t what one traditionally thinks of when they hear the phrase “geek girl.” What inspired you to take her from a sorority girl type character to the Geek-Girl alter ego?
SJ: I don’t know what inspired that idea, as such – other than that I originally came up with the basic idea for a ‘Who Wants to Create a Super-heroine?’ contest. But Ruby Kaye (a.k.a. Geek-Girl)’s transformation will be the story of the Geek-Girl mini-series that’s in the works.
Sam Johnson’s Geek-Girl #0.
NS: Geek-Girl seems a very selfish character. What motivates her and how will her new powers change her as a person?
SJ: Ruby and her clique live a pretty selfish, vacuous existence, but they’re not all ‘bad people,’ per se. The changes Ruby’s glasses bring about in her create a fissure in that clique and send Ruby in a new direction, one that she might perhaps find more worthy.
NS: Do you see an overarching theme that moves through your creations?
SJ: If there’s a similarity, it’s that they’re flawed and they have vulnerabilities; even Cabra Cini, who’s a badass, has buttons which can hurt her badly if you know where to find them and how to push them. And even in The Almighties #1, which is a comedy book, their team leader Maxi-Tron is preoccupied with fears about testicular cancer, distracting him and making him open to attack in battle.
NS: Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about your comics?
SJ: That we’re just getting started with these characters, with big things in the works, and you can get all their debut issues at http://www.geekgirlcomics.com
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