Matthew Loux
Talking Comics with Tim | Matthew Loux
Salt Water Taffy (Vol. 4): Caldera's Revenge
Back in April, writer/artist Matthew Loux released the fourth volume in his all ages Salt Water Taffy series for Oni Press, Caldera’s Revenge (Part 1). This installment (as detailed by Oni): “Part 1 of Jack and Benny’s first multi-volume adventure! The boys are having a hard time reading The Hidden History of Chowder Bay, given to them by Captain Hollister. So when a spooky whaling ship appears in the bay, it’s no time at all before the boys abandon the tome and find themselves in the middle of the action, searching for the fiercest whale that ever lived: Caldera!” The advantage of an interview like this is the fact that back in June 2009 Loux and I discussed the early days of Salt Water Taffy for Robot 6–and this second go-round allowed me to consider Loux’s work then and now (when developing my questions). Thanks to Loux for his time and thoughts. As happens periodically with these discussions, Loux has a question for his readers at the end.
Tim O’Shea: The most recent volume (Vol. 4/Caldera’s Revenge) of Salt Water Taffy was the first part of a two-parter tale (to be completed with Volume 5). Was there any trepidation on your part to do a two-parter split between two volumes, or in fact are you hoping it will draw readers even more into the story than if the two volumes were standalones?
Matthew Loux: When I was working out the story for Caldera’s Revenge I had originally figured it to be one volume like the previous three Salt Water Taffy‘s, but once the script was finished and I started laying out pages, I quickly realized that there was no way I could fit it all and still do the storytelling justice. We were faced with the option of doing a larger book and breaking from the original format, or splitting it into two. I was in favor of keeping the original format and doing two books instead of one. Luckily I was able to end Caldera pt. 1 on a really nice cliffhanger which became a perfect place leave off, and it will be a great spot to pick up again in Caldera pt. 2. Even though I didn’t originally write the story with that in mind, I think It works extremely well for both books.
- May 30, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Talking Comics with Tim: Matthew Loux
Salt Water Taffy
The world needs more kid friendly but goofy stories like Matthew Loux‘s Salt Water Taffy (Oni), which has seen two volumes released to date. You can get a taste for the wacky pursuits of brothers Jack and Benny by checking out the webcomic site here. After email interviewing Loux, I look forward to seeing Volume 3–The Truth About Dr. True (be sure to check out these preview pages) when it comes out sometime later this year.
Tim O’Shea: Your art style has some distinctive elements I would love to ask you about. You seem to favor a style that is almost like an old time TV series. And what I mean by this is the establishing of long exterior shots, setting a scene and then you move into the smaller panels for dialogue and plot development. How did you arrive at such an approach visually? I love the way you draw arms when they are slack–the lack of elbows on people. What’s the thinking on wavy arms?
Matthew Loux: Thank you. I think i just watched to many cartoons and TV in my lifetime. In a lot of ways this series is my way of doing a cartoon. Each volume is it’s own stand alone episode while still having throwbacks to previous adventures. It also might seem like old TV because I’m pretty straight forward about my visual storytelling. I keep pretty normal panel shapes and don’t mess around with overly dynamic panel composition. I like to show depth and detail in a panel, but I don’t do dynamic for dynamic’ sake. Also there are certain jokes that only work with very straight forward, full body compositions, much in the way of Donald Duck comics, Pogo, Peanuts, and early Bone. And when drawing my arms, They can easily become emotional explanation points. I can show almost as much about a characters mood through they’re arms than i can with their faces. Or at least I can hammer an emotion home. It works for two Kid characters since sometimes it seams like kids are made of rubber.
- June 22, 2009 @ 03:45 PM by Tim O'Shea