Five Minutes with Bluewater Illustrator Todd Tennant

Last week Bluewater Productions announced two additions to their biography comic book line, the first on Lady Gaga in their Fame series and the second about Betty White in their Female Force series. The Female Force series includes features on Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton and Ellen Degeneres among others. And Betty White, who has won seven Emmy awards in her long career, seems to have been a nice complement to the line. Her Bluewater comic sold out in less than a day.

The Betty White story was researched and written by Patrick McCray and illustrated by Todd Tennant. Because I enjoyed the Bluewater comics I'd read, I contacted Tennant. Comic books are just one more way that artists are using their gifts and leaving their mark.

Ennyman: Where are you from? That is, where born and raised, and where are you now?
Todd Tennant: I was born in Harrisburg, PA, but remember nothing about it as my family shortly relocated to Charlotte, N.C., where my memory kicked in. There I saw many movies with my parents when still very young, which visually inspired me to start drawing and making little "books" of the films I saw. I also recall Elvis performing a concert in Charlotte the same year we moved to St. Petersburg, Florida ('59). During the trip down to Florida, my mother bought my brother and I a bunch of comics. I went straight for the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby monster comics (which predated the later Superhero comics, which I also loved later on).

EN: How many comic books have you illustrated?
TT: I have a huge collection of unpublished comics stories. The majority of those were co-created with writer Mike Bogue, some of which can be seen here: http://americankaiju.kaijuphile.com/main.shtml

I have illustrated one "Female Force" bio-comic (Betty White), and one graphic novel (It Came From Beneath the Sea... Again!) for Bluewater Productions. For the latter, I illustrated the second half of the graphic novel (Chris Noeth illustrated the first). Both publications will be released this year. Right now I'm working on another bio-comic on the life of Ayn Rand.

EN: What attracted you to doing this kind of illustration work?
TT: Simply the challenge of creating new worlds & environments in a convincing story-telling manner.

EN: What did you learn through doing this project that you did not know beforehand?
TT: I learned a great deal of Betty White's past struggles and accomplishments.

EN: Where do you envision yourself in five year?
TT: Hopefully, illustrating comics and graphic novels on a full-time basis.
Also, I would like to complete and publish some of the stories I co-created with Mike Bogue (i.e: King Komodo.) I'd also love to see Mike's short story Atomic Drive-In illustrated & published as a graphic novel.

For the record, a portion of the proceeds from sale of "Female Force: Betty White" will be donated to the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association of which White was named chairman in 2010.

Justin Bieber, Bluewater Style

I was going to bring you part two of the interview with Shannon Kringen, but I am waiting for a few additional images to share first. So stayed tuned.... it's coming soon.

I also considered writing about Cy Twombly, whose show is inaugurating a new Paris gallery this week, the Gargosian. Here are some examples of his work located on a blog by someone who is just gushing over him. Frankly, I can't tell what I think. His paintings look like the work of an uninhibited five year old, except on very large canvases. Yet the stuff is worth millions and hangs in the world's most prestigious art galleries? I don't know what to think. Am I jealous? Is that was bothers me? Worst of it is, I find his paintings strangely interesting.

But on to my theme. This past year my interest in the various forms of creative visual expression has been expanding. While waiting to get my computer fixed in the back room of a funky, off-beat comic and gaming store downtown, I got my first exposure to Bluewater Comics. I was impressed.

I read through the life of Barbara Walters, and saw similar titles on Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama and Joe Biden. What I read was well researched, seemingly straightforward biography but in graphic novel style, and was highly entertaining while simultaneously informative.

So today Bluewater's newest title has been released, on the life of Justin Bieber. The news release compares Bieber to the Beatles, with humble beginnings and a lot of screaming fans.

It's strange because at one point no one had ever heard of this kid, and then for months he was the hottest of the hot topics on Twitter.

This pop/celebrity fame reminds me of a William Gibson's cyberpunk novels of the future in which he envisioned (and coined the phrase" cyberspace. In that future world celebrity was godlike. Maybe Bieber is emblematic of this attitude in our own day, a need to worship something outside of oneself.

Bluewater Productions unveils the Justin Bieber story for their Fame series of biographical comics in a 32 page format that retails for $3.99.

Writer Tara Broeckel Ooten said that while researching the comic she became convinced that Bieber has what it takes to craft a long musical career. The comic book was drawn by Claudio Avella.

Here are excerpts from the press release:
Darren G. Davis, president of Bluewater Productions, says that the biographical comics continually bring new readers to sequential storytelling. “This is a great medium for kids as well as adults. I had a hard time reading as a kid and comic books really improved my reading skills. One of the goals is trying to get kids away from the video games and reading more”

Davis says, “Fame: Justin Bieber is tracking to sell out fast, even with an aggressive overprint our distributor is having a hard time keeping up with orders”

In addition to its Fame series, Bluewater publishes Female Force, which looks at successful women, and Political Power, which traces the history of the world’s most powerful politicians.

Maybe one day they'll do a series on famous artists. One of them made famous the famous quip about 15 minutes of it... By that standard Bieber has taken more than his share. This Bluewater volume undoubtedly tells how he did it.

For more information, visit www.bluewaterprod.com.