All in “A Daze Work”: A NJ Based Comic by NJ Comic Creators
I had the pleasure of meeting the creators of “A Daze Work” Chris Robinson and Tim Walsh, at the New Jersey Comic Expo in Edison, NJ. Chris and Tim are lifelong friends from New Jersey who work on their comic together. Tim is the creator and illustrator, and Chris is the writer.
“A Daze Work” follows best friends Finch and Barry, as they spend their days working at a struggling pizza/burger joint in Point Pleasant, NJ. New Jersey residents themselves, Tim and Chris give us a comical glimpse of the people and situations one encounters working summer jobs “down the shore”. Here, they share their personal experiences as comic book artists/writers and the inspiration behind the story and characters we meet in “A Daze Work”.
Tell me about you and how you got started writing comics. Was it something you always wanted to do?
Chris: I’m a huge comic book fan. I’ve got a fairly large collection of comics from when I was a kid, right through college. I never really thought about writing my own comic. I didn’t think that “comedy” was a comic book genre. I thought it was more for comic strips like in a newspaper. So my focus really from my 20’s through now into my 30’s was writing sketches, making YouTube videos, doing improv & stand-up, etc. When Tim approached me about turning A Daze Work into a comic book, I was absolutely down for it. We had already produced it as an animated cartoon a few years back, and I thought making it a comic would be just as challenging, but also just as much fun
Tim: When I first started A Daze Work, I was the writer/illustrator and quickly realized I wasn’t that great at creating the stories. I had good talking points, but I felt I was limiting the cartoon by doing both. Realizing how much Chris loved comics and how great of a writer he was; after seeing his skits and reading some of his work, I knew I found the right guy.
Who are your artistic influences?
Tim: From the cartoon side of things, I grew up watching Looney Tunes and Donald Duck, but now a days cartoons like Teen Titans, Bobs Burgers, American Dad, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force are a few of my favorites to get ideas from. The way each of them handle aspects of backgrounds and composition gets me thinking how I can approach A Daze Work. Other stuff like Calvin and Hobbes, the guys at Low Brow Studios, and Kevin Smith movies pretty much fill up my influences.
A Daze Work takes place in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. What inspired you to set the story there?
Tim: Well, I basically grew up there for 20 years. Working at a pizzeria on the boardwalk every day you start to realize what an awesome story this place could be. Let me put it this way, there was rarely a dull moment up there!
Chris: It was easy for me to relate to Tim’s experiences because I spent years working in retail and several summers back in high school working at an arcade in Belmar, NJ. So working on the boardwalk, dealing with customers, and working with your friends were all themes that were easy to translate onto the pages of the comic.
Your characters’ personalities are a pretty accurate representation of the friends one would make working in a pizza place down the shore. Were they influenced by any real people?
Chris: Tim created all the main characters based on people he worked with. Finch, the main character, is loosely based on Tim. I created Barry, and most of the newer characters. One character coming up soon is Merv, who is based off a character from my old YouTube channel. He’s definitely not influenced by anyone real, except me I guess. I do bring the personalities of the characters to life, and Tim has told me some stories about people he based them on. Largely, he’s letting me take the reigns and develop them how I want. That’s why we work so well together. Creatively, we trust each other.
Tim: I think Chris hit on the head there. I can give him ideas and he takes it to the next level.
Can you tell our readers a little about the process of how a comic book artist goes from concept to execution?
Tim: It’s a pretty fun trip down memory lane actually. Chris and I usually start off by discussing random things from our past working experiences and find things that we think are funny. From there we have our main talking points and I let Chris work his magic. After I get the script from Chris, I’ll read it a few times and start to do some sketches that I’ll show him during a Facebook chat or a Skype call. After we are both on the same page; which is fairly quick, I start laying out the issue and developing the new characters. I’ll send Chris 20 or so panels at a time so we can review them and make any changes needed. From there it goes to our publisher where final lettering and proofing is completed.
I met you both at the New Jersey Comic Expo in Edison, NJ. How was your experience meeting fans of the comic?
Chris: We’re a pretty new book, so I’m not going to pretend we met droves & droves of our fans. For us, it was more about meeting potential fans, and telling people about the book. We had a big stand-up banner with our artwork on it, and some fantastic artwork on the table, so we had an eye-catching space. Once we caught those eyes, we gave people an overview of the book, gave out stickers & cards, and did our best to motivate them to buy the book on Comixology. It’s a little more difficult for us because you can’t hand them a copy of the book. It’s all digital, but we’re hopeful in 2017 to put the book out in print so people can hold it, read it, and enjoy it, not just on their mobile devices.
Tim: It’s always surreal to meet people who dig the comic. This has been a passion project for the better half of my life, so when people come up and ask questions about it I probably give them too much info! But, like Chris mentioned, we are a new digital book so our fan base is definitely growing.
Will you be attending any more events in New Jersey in the near future?
Chris: We hope too. This past year we debuted at San Diego Comic Con on a panel with Stan Lee and the team at Shatner Singularity, then we were at Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con, and then the NJ Comic Expo. We want to take this thing all over the country and hit as many cons as possible, but that is an expensive plan. We’re thinking about attending East Coast Comic Con in 2017, and I think another one in NY. We want to meet people, tell them about the book, and get our names out there.
Tim: New Jersey is our home so any con we can get to we will. The downside of that is it gets pretty expensive as Chris talked about. With 2017 around the corner, we’re looking at crowd funding options like Patreon and possibly Kickstarter, so people that like the the book can help support us a bit more. Then we can make it to more local events and help expand us out to shows in Florida, Philly, and hopefully back out San Diego.
Issues 1 & 2 of “A Daze Work” is currently available for digital download on ComiXology. You can also send them some support on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/adazework. For updates and additional information, like them on Facebook!
Written by: Kristin Ausume
Kristin is a Jersey Native, born and raised in Bergen County. She studied art and theatre at Fairleigh Dickinson University, as well as a thrilling semester abroad in the U.K. She spends most of her free time drawing, taking photos, and cooking vegan cuisine at home.
