The Following interview was conduct by Journalist and Comic Book ADVOCATE corresponded John Lemus

John:

(Rod), Welcome to, and thank you for being a part of Indie Comics Showcase. It’s great to be able to discuss (Black Tiger : Hidden Dragon Vol 1) your latest indie comic project with you.

Rod:

Hey, thanks for it. I really appreciate being able to talk about our newest Comic Book, in such a cool space.

J Hervey:

Thanks for the invitation, I appreciate the opportunity.

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John:

Before we get started, could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Rod:

Well, My name is Rod Luper and I have been a professional artist for more than 25 years. I had worked in different areas on art like Illustration, Concept Art, and Comic Books. Me and John, have been working together on Black Tiger Universe, for at least 17 years.

J Hervey:

My name is John Hervey. I’ve been in the comic book industry for many years now as a corporate employee, a freelancer and now, an independent comic book producer. I even had my own comic book shop in my younger years.

John:

How did you get into comics?

Rod:

I always liked to read, I start very small, reading a kids comics in Brasil named Turma da Monica, and then with 13 years old I read Batman the Dark Night and it blew my mind, after it, I put it in my head that I would become a comic book professional artist, I start to draw and never stop.

J Hervey:

As soon as I could read, I was into comics. Comics actually helped me develop my vocabulary when I was younger. From a young age, I was always captivated by comics books. At its best, comics combine great writing with beautiful art; the reader gets to participate as the characters and situations come to life in his/her mind.

John:

How did you get into work on comics?

Rod:

I started to make some small gigs in Brasil here and there but I never receive enough money here to pay my basic bills, so I discovery an agency that was working with some of the best Brazillian artists in the Industry like, Mike Deodato, Luke Ross, Roger Cruz, Ivan Reis, and I went there to learn the craft with the best. I stay there almost two years practicing and doing some Sample pages, until I got invited to create my own comic book and draw it, in a big Publisher in Brasil, so after spending two years in this agency and having all my work denied by the big two in USA, I got burnout and follow my own steps, and there it started my love for Indie Comics.

J Hervey:

I was first published in 1995 as co-writer of Motown Machinework’s Troubleman, which was a three-issue mini-series published by Image. In 2002, my wife, Priscilla, and I formed Beyond Time to publish comic book stories that I had been writing over the years. We produced and self-published BLACK TIGER: LEGACY OF FURY in 2004. Printing comic books at that time was very costly, and distribution was not favorable for independent comic book creators, so we slowly continued to produce content as we looked at ways we may be able to better get our content out to readers. Years later, crowdfunding has provided that avenue. We initially utilized crowdfunding for a short film we produced BLACK TIGER: HUNTER HUNTED in 2014. Then, we saw that there were independent comic book creators using this platform as well.

John:

Without giving anything away, what can you tell us about (Black Tiger : Hidden Dragon Vol 1)?

Rod:

I think John can answer that better than me.:)

J Hervey:

BLACK TIGER: HIDDEN DRAGON Vol 1 is the sequel to our first graphic novel, BLACK TIGER: LEGACY OF FURY. In this newest installation in the BLACK TIGER saga, Assistant Defense Attorney Jenn Fong must balance her career and personal life with her blossoming power and responsibilities as Black Tiger. In order to save the city of Los Santos and restore the disgraced names of both the Fong family and the Black Tiger, Jenn must go farther, dig deeper, and face her enemies with more bone-crushing kung fu than ever before!

John:

How did you come up with story and characters for (Black Tiger : Hidden Dragon Vol 1)?

Rod:

John can answer that better too but, I like to say that I have a little small part on this too cos, I always asked John to create some crazy things for me to draw, and he was always open to change a little bit of the story path that he was created to keep me on fire. So sometimes I said to him, Man, I would love to draw a Fight Scene with a huge Dragon, and he went there and wrote it inside the Black Tiger Story. Another day I was wanting to draw 5 amazing assassins, Ninjas, Samurais, and John with his Brilliant mind, was always there, creating more and more crazy things in the Black Tiger universe, and this keeps bringing me back to the story.

J Hervey:

The idea is a culmination of things that I loved growing up as a kid, and still love today – comic books, Hong Kong Martial Arts, crime dramas, and American gangster movies. The idea initially developed as the latest in a line of martial arts superheroes with a rich history. This particular hero is in a city at war between rival gangs and the uprising meta-humans, who are tired of being second class citizens.

John:

Can you tell us about your Style, your Creative Process and how you developed them?

Rod:

Well, for me I always like to draw something that I never drew before, so as long John keeps challenging me, better. 🙂

J Hervey:

Once I have built out the elements necessary to tell the story – worldbuilding, character development, plotting the story and determining the beats – I like to dive headfirst into full scripting. This helps me solidify the various intricacies of the story and world and make adjustments as necessary. I give the artist a complete script, not that it’s set in stone, but because that way the artist can see exactly where I’m coming from. With that, the artist can take my vision and develop a definitive path to potentially take what I’ve conceptualized to the next level, be it through development, layout or re-imagining. It’s akin to me providing writing and direction for a film and the artist being the cinematographer. With the high caliber of artists that I’ve been blessed to work with, I find this most efficient and satisfying.

John:

What do you want your readers to take away from (Black Tiger : Hidden Dragon Vol 1)?

Rod:

I really want the readers to feel very entertained and that they can´t see a difference in terms of quality on story and art when they start to read some books from the big two. Indie comic books can be so much better. To be indie doesn’t mean to make it in whatever quality, we always are thinking in make it better, from letters to final print.

J Hervey:

This book has bone-crushing kung fu, meta-humans, mech and a storyline for the ages. Anyone that enjoys beautiful sequential art, well-crafted stories and environments, a good adventure story, high-paced action, and character development will love this series.

John:

What are your hopes for (Black Tiger : Hidden Dragon Vol 1) for the future?

Rod:

I really hope that People dig in on the Black Tiger universe (And we have so much to tell yet), and allows us to create more and more different characters and adventures.

J Hervey:

At this juncture my focus is completing the current story arc. The majority of the art for the 88-page volume 2 which completes the story arc is written and all but 10 of the pages have been pencilled and inked by Rod(Luper). Rod and I have a lot of stories to tell, Black Tiger and beyond. Our focus is getting those stories told.

John:

What are some of the first comics you remember reading, and which comics have made the biggest impact on you.

Rod:

For me always was Batman the Dark Night, this comic book made me to became a professional artist and fell in love to read comics.

J Hervey:

I’m aging myself now. I remember back in the day when comics were available at drug stores and newsstands. I would go with my mom to the store and she would usually let me pick up a couple of comic books. One day I picked up the Mighty Avengers #184; it was the perfect mixture of art and story. I didn’t know the names George Perez and John Bryne and that their art alone was worth buying the book for (a whopping $0.40). It’s been years since I read Avengers #184 (so I hope it holds up), but the story, courtesy of David Michelinie was good and in combination with the aforementioned artists I was hooked. I closed the book, looked at my mom and boldly proclaimed to her “I’m now a comic book collector.” She said “ok, baby.” I proceeded to open the comic book and read it again, having no idea that comics would still be a passion of mine so many decades later.

John:

What do you think is most important when working on a comic?

Rod:

For me is Storytelling, is good to have beautiful art but, if you do not work for the story it doesn’t work.

J Hervey:

As a writer from a technical perspective there are the building blocks of writing from brainstorming, world-bulding, character development, plotting, scripting and editing. Then there are the skills necessary to work as a collaborative unit of writers and artists; but I think the one thing that transcends all of these skills and techniques is a love for story-telling and a love for the project you’re working on. For some time now we’ve been exposed to what happens when stories are being told by people who neither love nor respect the content they’re working on. It’s readily on display when a creator is not invested in the story they’re writing and the world their crafting. For those that are making comics or looking to make a comic, do so with unabashed passion. Make the comic for the sake and love of making comics. The only constraints are page rates and your imagination. Once you make comics for the sake of translation in TV or movies you automatically constrain your creativity to make something that will fit within a TV or movie budget.

John:

Are there any comic creators who have inspired or influenced you, if so, how?

Rod:

One is Todd Mcfarlane, I always loved his drawings and mainly the way that he makes the page layouts, with panels in different positions, and his brave to became an Indie comic book creator and stay like it until those days, another big one In the same direction for me is Mike Mignola, this guy art is magical, literally.

J Hervey:

I mentioned George Perez and John Bryne before; they are two of my favorite comic creators and influences upon me as a creator. But in all fairness I don’t think I could name all of the influences. Having been reading comics since the 70’s and enjoying not just domestic, but European comics and some Manga, I’d like to believe I’ve had the benefit of numerous amazing creators. No two projects are the same, so my approach varies from project to project as do the influences I draw upon.

John:

Where can people find you on Social Media?

Rod:

Well, I’m everywhere.

Instagram – @rod.luper – https://www.instagram.com/rod.luper/?hl=en
Twitter – @rod_luper – https://twitter.com/Rod_Luper
Youtube – Rod Luper – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTLF5U1Xrz6mmn7kHI5FNp Deviantart – Rod Gallery – https://www.deviantart.com/rodgallery Artstation – Rod Luper – https://www.artstation.com/rodluperuniverse

J Hervey:

You can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BeyondTimeInc, Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/beyondtimeinc/, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/beyondtimecomics and YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/beyondtimeinc and our website https://beyondtimecomics.com where all of the Beyond Time content is available via our web reader.

John:

Once again, Rod, John, I would like to say thank you for being a part of indie comics showcase. We wish you the best of luck with (Black Tiger : Hidden Dragon Vol 1) and all future projects.

Rod:

Never give up on your dreams, I know it’s silly but it’s true. When I and John started working on Black Tiger we never thought that we could bring so much art to the world, we started before Facebook, Twitter or Youtube even exist. But we keep walking, little by little, and never gave up. Talent is great, luck is great but nothing will surpass perseverance.

J Hervey:

Thank you, John and Indie Comics Showcase.

John:

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers before we sign off?

Rod:

Is me that should really thank you, for allowing us to be part of such a cool community. I really thank you.

Interview filed by:

John Lemus(Indie Comics Showcase) on FaceBook

My name is John Lemus I run Indie Comics Showcase on twitter, facebook, and instagram, where I help to promote independent comics focusing on crowd sourced comics from kickstarted, indiegogo and humble bundle.

@indie_comics on twitter

@indie_comics_showcase on instagram