The Fabler

-Written by Kevin de Vlaming

Vancouver-based artist Jason Turner has been working in webcomics for longer than many even knew the industry existed.

Turner, whose online work gained first gained attention thanks to early endorsement by Scott McCloud, (of Zot! and Understanding Comics fame) is perhaps best known for the graphic novel True Loves. The two volumes of True Loves, which were originally published as weekly webcomics, tell the story of a modern romance between two Vancouverites. Both volumes were co-authored with his wife, Manien Bothma, and published by New Reliable Press.

The second volume can currently be seen in its entirety on Turner’s website, the jason turner project – alongside an impressive array of additional comics that he has published exclusively online.

When Turner began posting his first comics online back in 2000, titled Down at the Black Box, webcomics were far from the mainstream-celebrated that phenomenon they are today. The concept had been around since the early nineties, though for the better part of the decade the audience was largely peer-based, and the online communities growing around them were still relatively small.

At the time, Turner had been independently producing comics for already almost a decade. His body of work consisted of fifty or so zine comics, many of which he often exchanged with others in the zine community via mail. His leap from offline to online comic publishing came roughly at the same time as Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics, which led to Turner’s involvement in the online community surrounding McCloud’s experiments in webcomics. Sharing links to his work with that community are what originally brought him McCloud’s attention, and subsequent ongoing encouragement.

Since then, as webcomics have grown into the pop culture mainstay that they presently are, Turner has had ample opportunity to build on his own ideas about webcomics and carve a niche for himself in the world of digital sequential art.

Turner was kind enough to indulge The Fabler with an interview about (among other things) the release of the second True Loves graphic novel, how he manages to keep the digital content he churns out fresh, and what we can expect next from the prolific creator.

The interview is below:

KD: To start somewhere recent, you just finished your collection of online two-panel comic strips titled ‘Another One Hundred Page Project‘. Can you tell me a little bit about the One Hundred Page projects, and the idea behind them?

JT: In general I enjoy doing these projects, doing “x” each day. It is a way to get myself to do something, and gives a structure for me to work within. So for instance at one point I did these tarot-ish cards, and would draw one each day on my break at work, about the general themes of my day, and I kept going until I had a deck’s worth of them.

The One Hundred Page Project came out of seeing a nice little sketchbook at an art store, noticing it was 100 pages, and thinking it would be perfect for a “project”, as 100 pages is a good amount. Substantial, but not impossible. I didn’t really have a clear plan of what I would draw, just whatever came into my head when I sat down to draw. Like many of my projects, I draw straight into ink, which is a little like drawing without a net. Often I would just draw things that happened to be around me. Or like with my card project, try to draw something to represent the essence of important events from the day. Later on I got on a roll of drawing ideas from a comic story I was building in my head.

KD: The Another One Hundred Page Project and its predecessor are obviously just two parts of a bigger body of online work you’ve been building with ‘the jason turner project’.

Say someone who isn’t familiar with your work expresses an interest in what you do, and asks you what webcomic you would recommend they start with. What do you tell them?

JT: Well, some of the older autobiographical things I did are pretty accessible, like Cooler, the Cottage or My Stupid Week. I suspect quite a few people end up starting with the two Blue comics – Bright Morning Blue and Blue Double Double, due to Scott McCloud’s endorsing them. I am pretty happy with how those two came out (although I always pictured them as being just the first two parts of a larger epic). Or something like the 24hr comic Ditched, which has a self-contained complete narrative. And people tend to enjoy True Loves, though only the second volume is currently online.

KD: Looking back at the sizeable collection of webcomics you’ve created over the past few years, the first word that comes to mind about your approach to online publishing is ‘relentless’. (This is followed closely by ‘inspired’).

Where do you turn to for inspiration? How do you keep churning out fresh ideas for comic content?

JT: I certainly don’t feel relentless! I am always feeling like I haven’t been drawing nearly enough! Also, I have quite a few things from my old site that I haven’t transferred over…

For inspiration I look at the things around me. I roll things around in my head when I walk especially, so my walking to work is a fertile time for me (especially if I have already had some coffee). The story I mentioned drawing scenes from in Another One Hundred Page Project was inspired by my fascination with alleyways. I walk down the one behind my house each day on my way to work, and so that is more or less where this fantastical story would take place. I enjoy twisting and transmuting things in my life into a more fantastic form.

KD: Earlier this summer you and your wife celebrated the release of a collected edition of True Loves Vol. 2 through New Reliable Press.

I’ve heard True Loves called “one of the most Vancouvereque comics you could ever come across”, and you and Manien yourselves have acknowledged the importance of the locale in the narrative. What is it about Vancouver that makes it such a perfect place to tell the story of (central protagonists) True and Zander?

JT: Actually Vancouver came to True Loves before True and Zander! I had been trying to think of very Vancouver-specific comic to pitch as a weekly strip for a local paper. One day I asked Manien if she wanted to help me come up with characters for this Vancouver romance story I was thinking of, and there our writing collaboration started.

Many people have asked me if the story is autobiographical, and it is not. It is however very much set in the parts of Vancouver we have lived in, the places we enjoy going to, “our Vancouver.” So it is a perfect place for the story because it is a place we know and love.

KD: As I understand it, you’ve already begun writing the third volume of True Loves. With the first volume about True and Zander getting together, and the second about their later-relationship trials living together, can you shed a little light on where yourself and Manien aim to take the next chapter?

JT: We are still pretty early in the scripting right now, and I never like to say too much about what is going to happen. Some life changes occur which will make True and Zander do some stock-taking and soul searching.

I will say that as we continue writing together our stories are getting better, and each time in we get to know the characters better. We are also trying to have a clearer idea of the overall shape of the book this time.

KD: Based on your own experience working with webcomics, what are some ways that you would say the transition from physical minicomic to online webcomic has affected the average Canadian indie comic creator?

JT: It just allows more people access to your work, and makes it easier to connect with like-minded people. In the zine days the connections were through magazines, or reviews in other people’s zines, or zine fairs. It was all much slower! And so with the internet it is easier to find comics to read, though a little overwhelming, since there are so many out there. Also you can do colour for no extra charge online.

KD: Do you foresee yourself anytime in the future ceasing to produce print versions of your comics altogether?

JT: To a large extent I have. Since I started putting my comics on the internet I have only produced a few zines. Though print versions do allow you reach different people. A lot of folks I know don’t read comics online, and so if I don’t do print editions of things, they lose touch with what I am doing. So it is good to have something in print for local conventions, and for bigger shows like APE, SPX and TCAF. And having the True Loves book out there reaches different people too. People get it from the library, which is exciting to me.

KD: To bring the interview to a close on a note more directly related to your own material, what new directions would you like your work to explore in the future?

JT: Working on True Loves has taken up most of my drawing time for quite a few years now, and so I do have quite a backlog of ideas that I have not been getting to. I have various things from a low key story about comic fans, to a fantasy story, to a science fiction thing, to a Twin Peaks-y story. Many different things! Also Manien and I are always threatening to do a “sexy thriller” after True Loves is done.

To find out more about Jason Turner, check out his webpage at the jason turner project.