Alex de Campi Interview

Rasmussen : Good day, would you please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little about yourself?

Alex de Campi : Hello, nice to make your e-quaintance. My name's Alex de Campi, and I make stuff. Sometimes this stuff is stories, sometimes it's films, sometimes it's design work, and sometimes it's just a nice cup of tea. I live in North London, with my dog Hebe (named after the Greek goddess of the hearth, as that's where she spends most of her time). That's about all I can say. Everything else is subject to flux.

Rasmussen : The secret origin of Alex de Campi. Tell us abit about yourself prior to this past year (2006) and how you came into filmmaking and being a comic creator.

Alex de Campi : I got into comics first. I'd always been involved in writing of some sort, keeping journals and notebooks of stories. Professionally, I'd worked as an editor (of magazines, then of investment research) for a long time. I've done a lot of stuff, mostly because other people thought that's what I should do. After I got divorced in 2003, I thought, sod that - and decided to try to become a professional writer. I knew quite a few people involved in comics at the time (mostly through the V - www.thevhive.com) and they were tremendously encouraging, introducing me to publishers and showing me the ropes. Most of where I've gotten today is due to the kindness of friends, really. You can't do this sort of thing alone. You need a tribe.

The filmmaking was sort of a natural extension of comic writing. I was asked to write a screenplay by a producer, and became so hacked off by the process that I decided I'd start directing. I apprenticed on a bunch of indie film sets and found I really enjoyed it. Film directing and comic writing go well together - they're both ways of telling stories with pictures. Sometimes the pictures move, sometimes they don't.

Rasmussen : I don't suppose you can tell us, or at least hint, what "screenplay" you were writing when you decided to change your vocation from screenwriter to filmmaker. Also what was it particularly (or hintwise) about the screenplay that suddenly made you change your "religion" (workwise) from writer to director?

Alex de Campi : It was a supernatural thriller, commissioned by the producer - essentially a rewrite job on an existing script they had. Which was so bad, we essentially started fresh. It was Art By Committee, and that never works well. I got so frustrated I just wanted to make a darn film, so... I went out, learned the craft, and made a bunch of darn music videos. Best thing that ever happened to me, that abortive gig, in the way that negative experiences can sometimes make you re-examine your place in the employment food chain.

Besides, my mom can name five famous directors. She can't name five famous screenwriters, or five famous comic writers. And I'm doing this for the immortality, because the pay sure ain't worth it. You can't make a living off film. You can get rich, but you can't make a living.

Rasmussen : And sometimes the pictures move when you’re really sleep deprived or drunk too much caffeine… uh… I guess I shouldn’t have said that. (cough cough) Well… I can name 5 famous comic writers : Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Manara (on the hentai European side), Chris Claremont (X-Men the Official Game still sucks) and Ben Dunn (for you AmeriManga purists). Now, personal embarrassment aside for those readers who may not know your work, tell us abit about your past work as a filmmaker, and pick out a few films you did that best emphasis your particular style (and why these movies are, in your opinion, the "Definitive de Campi style")?

Alex de Campi : Well, I've just started out - next month marks one year in filmmaking for me! So all I've done are shorts, scenes/improvs, and music videos. I have two styles, which exist quite comfortably side by side: an absurdist black comedy style, as best seen in the Flipron "Raindrops" video, and a mannered, European film-noir style, which can best be seen in the "Transmission" trailer or the "Spooks" clip (all on http://www.lot49films.com/watch.htm).

Rasmussen : Was there ever any films you did that stirred up any controversy? Anything that, for one reason or another, was not received warmly by the public as you might have thought it would have? If so why, and (in retrospect) could you have done said project differently to diffuse the problem which occurred on it's release?

Alex de Campi : Nah, as said, I haven't done any features yet. (I do have a first feature that's in the financing process, but, well, there's little for a director to do during that process except try not to get excited, and help get the producers whatever they need ASAP.)

And luckily, I've worked with some great bands/musicians who often are as crazy as me and who have supported my mad ideas 110%. There's one record label exec who keeps asking me to pitch, mainly I think because he likes to see just how twisted an idea I'll come up with for someone's lovely little song. I did describe a friend's music as "nice" once (while apologising for the big gay Cupid & Psyche / J-horror style video treatment I came up with for him). He took great exception to being branded "nice", but he loved the video treatment. This is why I like doing music videos: they pay (money is LOVELY), musicians are fun people, and I can use videos as 3-minute experiments of styles and techniques. Stylistically I'm quite aggressive, and I'm a big tech geek - as is my usual DP - so we're doing some pretty way-out stuff, on tiny budgets. In effect, I'm giving myself a masterclass in directing, on other people's tabs.

After another year or so of music videos (and possibly commercials), I may try to do a feature. Now feels too soon.

Rasmussen : The feature project now in financing. Without revealing too much (I'm sure you can't say much about it at this time) can you give us any hints about what this project will be about, and whether it'll be a European only release or will it have a wider worldwide release?

Alex de Campi : "Release" with indie films often doesn't get decided until the film is made. I have no idea. It might be straight to DVD. It might not even get that - just vanish into a puff of obscurity and a pile of musty HD tapes. Or it might become a festival darling. Like anything artistic, you have to make it the best you can, then push it out there into the drift and hope.

It's a thriller, though. See, 90% of low-budget first films fall into two basic types. One, you take four people into a house, and they stand in the kitchen and talk about their feelings. Two, you take four people into a house and cut them up. I'm ornery, so I had to write a low-budget film in a 3rd type: thriller, like THE CONVERSATION...

Rasmussen : If possible could you list your top three music videos, I.e. the best three works you did in terms of music videos. Next why are these considered your best works, and what was it like working for the groups that were featured in each of these videos?

Alex de Campi : Only done three, sunshine! All the groups are friends of mine, so working with them was great. One is live action, one is animation, and one is a mix of the two. My next video, a second for Flipron ( www.myspace.com/flipron ) is live-action, a homage to Ealing comedies like KIND HEARTS & CORONETS mixed with Hammer Horror films. Giant crabs marching across Somerset fields! Mad scientists! Villagers with torches! Every film can be improved by villagers with torches.

Rasmussen : Really? Didn‘t help Van Hellsing any, that was still cr… cough… uh, forget I said that. As a filmmaker what inspired your work? And did any of these inspirations continue to inspire your present work (in both graphic novels and TV work)?

Alex de Campi : My influences in comics writing tends to be from film, rather than from other comics - save for Naoki Urasawa and Junji Ito, who I feel kind of taught me how to write manga.

European film noir, and silent film. Probably my favourite films noir are the works of Jean-Pierre Melville (LE SAMOURAI, CERCLE ROUGE, BOB LE FLAMBEUR) and Bertolucci's IL CONFORMISTA. If you can see a new film called THE LIVES OF OTHERS, do so. It's fantastic. I also love me some J-film, with Sabu a real favourite, along with madness like THE COMPLETE JAPANESE SHOWA-SONGBOOK and SURVIVE STYLE 5+. TAnd Korean film! BITTERSWEET LIFE, SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE... Oh gosh. I love everything, even trashy action films. I love films that are pretty to look at, where the cinematography plays an integral part in the story - like the Hungarian film, KONTROLL, or in the film of the Murakami story, TONY TAKITANI. I think that's why I love a lot of Japanese and Korean films - the quality of the art direction, and the use of strong, simple colours and fairly stark sets (OK, so maybe not in SS5+). It's among the reasons I loved THE LIVES OF OTHERS, because of the subtle colour-coding in all the backgrounds to reflect the characters in particular scenes. (John Boorman also goes a bit mental with this in POINT BLANK.) I'm always looking at what I can take away from a story, or a film - what dialogue, what unnecessary detail. That's why I love noirs - the important moments are often silent, or left completely in subtext.

Best recent films: LIVES OF OTHERS, AVIDA, ELECTION 2 (Johnnie To, not Reese Witherspoon) and PAN'S LABYRINTH. Best recent novel: Pynchon's AGAINST THE DAY.

Rasmussen : Same questions, now directed at your comic work. For those readers who may not know your comic work, tell us abit about your past work in comics, and pick out a few titles you did that also best emphasis your particular style in comics (and why these comics are, again in your opinion, the "Definitive de Campi" style")?

Alex de Campi : I have no definitive style. I'm a magpie, a jack of all trades, a tireless experimenter! My first graphic novel (other than some black & white indie filth self-published with Kieron Gillen ( www.kierongillen.com)) was SMOKE, a sci-noir that was meant to be a maxiseries but we never got beyond the first 3 instalments. Then came KAT & MOUSE, a mystery manga for 8-12 year olds ("CSI meets HEATHERS"). Then Agent Boo, absurdist sci-fi prose/manga hybrid for 6-8 year olds ("FLASH GORDON meets HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE"). Out in France is MESSIAH COMPLEX, another sci-noir, but much more futuristic and epic than SMOKE. MC is like LEON THE PROFESSIONAL meets STAR WARS. Coming out in the summer is another French book, provisionally titled ADAM IN CHROMALAND. The US colourist Laura Martin is beautifuying it at the moment - boy, is that woman talented! If I get remembered for one thing, it'll be ADAM. It's a slapstick adventure story for kids which manages to take in most of the fine art world, Wagner, Freud v Jung, and a whole bunch of other very highbrow stuff. But not in an educational way. We don't stop to explain what the images are, we just chuck 'em at kids with both hands. Kids are smart. They see something they like, they'll google it. I guess my Studio City Shorthand for ADAM is "THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH meets BEING JOHN MALKOVITCH". But, y'know, without actually having Malkovitch in it.

I guess one thing you can say about my style is that it's pretty dense - maybe less so in AGENT BOO, because I had limits on number of words per page - but you get a pretty hefty read in my purely-sequential work. You get your money's worth, hopefully. Long enough to last more than one bus ride.

Rasmussen : Why did SMOKE never reach past it's first 3 installments? And if you had a chance to continue the title (and bring it to completion) would you do it?

Alex de Campi : Simple: didn't sell enough. Too much art, too little commerce. If I could complete it now....? I don't know. Probably not. I've moved on beyond it. I hate everything I've written in the past. Whatever it is that I've just written and that's being drawn, well, I like that, but as soon as it's published all I can see are its juvenile stupidity and plot holes. I'll fix it in the next one, try harder, write better. Promise.

Rasmussen : Was there, in turn, any comics you did that stirred up any controversy? If so why, and (in retrospect) could you have done said project differently to possibly diffuse the problem (or perhaps would you have wanted to change that which caused the controversy in the first place)?

Alex de Campi : No, it's only the comics I don't do that stir up controversy! I've walked away from a couple editors/situations where people, hearing of it, shook their heads and thought I must be mad to pass up the opportunity. In one case I even had to shake out dirty laundry from it in public, because they were trying to hang on to a script they didn't actually have the rights to. And they a big corporation, and me only a little girl.

I'm trouble, just ask anyone - because I won't do deliberate mediocrity. (Any mediocrity you find in my books is purely accidental!) If I don't think I can make something great, I don't want to do it. Writing is a thing I treasure, and I want it and its results to be a constant source of joy to me, not something I'm embarrassed about.

Rasmussen : I can assure you nothing you do is mediocre (two 4 out of 5 reviews to date can't be wrong), as readers who remember my past reviews remember Kat & Mouse Volume 1 got a 4 out of 5 while recently Agent Boo Voume 1 also got a 4 out of 5 (NOTE - And I expect my reviews of Kat & Mouse Volume 2 and Agent Boo Volume 2 should follow suit scoring wise).

But as for the controversies of not working on projects, first off without naming names can you tell us a little about why some of these projects you walked away "mediocre"?

Alex de Campi : They were assembly-line products, nobody at the company publishing them gave a rat's arse about them. I'm like, "no, don't do that, that'll suck," and they're like, "yeah, but people will buy it anyway, don't worry about it". I'm such a chick, I fall in love with everything I do - I can't do these sequential one night stands. And I won't just do it for the money.

Rasmussen : Second, as for the one company with the script they were not authorized to use, why did things decay to the point that you had to level back "garbage" against their own garbage concerning the script in question?

Alex de Campi : Oh, please, even when I was in the middle of that brouhaha I thought it was boring. I'm sure that your readers would now find it utterly tedious. Besides, they can google it up if they want to... but if they're going to waste time on the internet reading smackdowns, can I suggest Go Fug Yourself ( www.gofugyourself.com) or the Viceland dos and don'ts (http://www.viceland.com/int/dos.php?country=uk)? Both of those are far better ways to waste your morning.

Rasmussen : Finally as for maintaining standards, can this thus be reflected as a "contract" between us (your readers) and yourself for quality writing as you strive to write work that you are proud of. And, thusly, if you were asked by a new upcoming writer how they can thrive to write works that they can be proud of how would you advise them towards writing to the best of their abilities?

Alex de Campi : It's a contract with myself as well as with my readers.

As for those who would become writers, I can do no better than quote an anecdote from Annie Dillard's THE WRITING LIFE:

"A well-known writer got collared by a university student who asked, 'Do you think I could be a writer?'
'Well,' the writer said, 'I don't know... Do you like sentences?'
The writer could see the student's amazement. Sentences? Do I like sentences? I am twenty years old and do I like sentences? If he had liked sentences, of course, he could begin, like a joyful painter I knew. I asked him how he came to be a painter. He said, 'I liked the smell of the paint.'"

THE WRITING LIFE is one of two good books on storytelling; it is the one about the art. Robert McKee's STORY is the one about the craft. Read both.

And for heaven's sake, learn to spell, and learn proper grammar. You'd expect your plumber to know how to use his wrenches, wouldn't you?

Rasmussen : …for some reason I suddenly thought of Mario… (-_-)… sorry about that.
Last year's launch of two of your Manga Chapters titles, Agent Boo and Kat and Mouse. First off Agent Boo, tell us abit about how this title came to be, and why you chose to use the mostly prose style of storytelling with regards to Agent Boo (using a choice smathering of manga style with a mostly prose storytelling format to tell the story)?

Alex de Campi : Housekeeping point: Kat & Mouse is a Manga Reader book, a 96 page manga. Agent Boo is a Manga Chapter book.

Rasmussen : Good point, and totally my bad for missing that mark. Apologies.

Alex de Campi : And the short answer is I had no choice on these books! I pitched them both as full (160 page) mangas, and still probably would have preferred to do them that way. But TOKYOPOP believed in my stories enough to want them to spearhead two new line launches, which was massively flattering. So Kat & Mouse got compressed down to 96 pages. Agent Boo got turned in to the prose/illustration/manga hybrid you see today. To be honest, I relished the challenge with Agent Boo of integrating the illustrations and manga sections as seamlessly as possible with the prose. Unlike a lot of kids' books with illustrations, the illustrations in Agent Boo carry the story forward. You couldn't take them out and still have a coherent story.

Rasmussen : True. The transition between prose and manga in Agent Boo is flawless. Anyway tell us about the work that goes into a single volume of Agent Boo, and how idea turns into finished product (including how it is decided which parts of the prose story is emphasised in visual manga style and what emphasis the shift between the prose style and visual style imparts on the story)?

Alex de Campi : First I break the story down into an outline of circa 8 chapters. Often in that outline, I'll note what I think would make good manga sections - great visuals, big reveals, etc. A "whoa!" reveal still works better as a page-turn to a splash illustration than it does in straight prose. Then once my editor and I go over the outline, I sit down and write a first draft with all the illustrations marked in. This is when (Mr.) Edo (Fuijkschot), the artist, first sees each new book. He'll comment on the illustrations, as will my editor - sometimes they disagree with me about the importance of an illustration, wanting to make it smaller or remove it all together - or on the flipside, make it larger. Manga sections are great for action and big scenic reveals. Splash pages are emphasis, reveals, or eye candy. Spot illos are physical humour, jokes/asides, or just good little visual moments that aren't important enough to sustain a splash or a manga section. I can't really explain it. It all makes sense when I do it, like all my writing it takes on its own internal rhythm and I think "OK, gotta slow it down here", or "We need a big riff here"....

Rasmussen : Was there any particular illustration in Agent Boo (to date) that you nearly had to struggle tooth and nail to keep? Any one moment where one illustration meant a great amount to you but didn't seem as vital to either the Editor or Mr. Edo Fuijkschot (or both)?

Alex de Campi : Mmm, not really. I did sacrifice a bit of my salary so we could have more illustrations. I'm crap at making money, I am.

Rasmussen : As for the line of affordable mangas (which started with their publishing of Kingdom Hearts some months prior and continue with Kat & Mouse, Mail Order Ninja and Agent Boo for example) which sells at $5 to $6 a pop for 100 or so pages, what do you think of the line, and do you think it'll be a trend that other publishers will follow in the near future (creating lines of manga titles in a more affordable format for a greater reach amongst readers)?

Alex de Campi : I would hope so. Cheap pulp fiction has been a mainstay of great storytelling from Dickens to Chandler to the present day. There is great joy in writing something that can be read by many, and which is gently subversive.

Rasmussen : Alternatively what do you think of DARK HORSE's refusal to mark down their 100 or so page series Harlequin Ginger Blossom line (manga based on the Harlequin Romance line), selling each for $10 a pop while their page count is basically equal to TOKYOPOP's $6 a pop manga line. Also will this inflexibility to gauge their line's price to compete with TOKYOPOP's manga line (in your opinion) be a failing that may cost DARK HORSE readers and (ultimately) profits from less people buying into the Harlequin line over TOKYOPOP's manga line?

Alex de Campi : I simply can't comment on that. There may be considerably more to the story than price - perhaps Dark Horse has had to pay such a hefty licence fee, that they could not make a profit at $6 a copy without substantially sacrificing quality?

I find that online fora are often all too eager to throw slings and arrows at publishers for perceived dastardly dealings, when the actuality is a lack of awareness of economic issues facing those publishers. Those that find it too hard to create must be content with trying to destroy, I suppose.

I am spectacularly ill-informed, myself, about current goings-on in the comic and manga publishing industry. I find my quality of life is much improved by not reading amateur internet journalism.

Rasmussen : I’ll take that as… something. Actually, for the record, I’m in good standings with Dark Horse and don’t have any illwill towards them.

Pumpkin's choice of Boo as Agent. Was this merely a plot device to get Boo through the door and into the series as an Agent, or was there a deeper significance to it? (Did Pumpkin himself had an ulterior motive to pick Boo other than to rock the Agents' boat?)

Alex de Campi : There is considerably more to Pumpkin than meets the eye, and that cat has quite a past. Unfortunately in such short books I often have to leave explorations of that until several books down the line, but we'll get there... Some of that starts to happen in Book 3, with some of the other characters. I explain some of the things which seem like just throwaway asides in Book 1, but actually are crucial to the events unfolding across this arc.

By the way, what did you think of Book 2 of Agent Boo? I notice all your questions are about Book 1.

Rasmussen : Yeah… well… embarrassing. I won’t get my review copies of Agent Boo and Kat & Mouse Volume 2 for a week from the start of this interview! Ouch… sorry about that (and thank you for waiting for my copies to come in so I can question you about them). Anyway, back to Agent Boo Volume 1. On Page 20 (the two page spread) in the background a Media Outlet holoboard seems to show Space City Media's disapproval of Boo's appointment, one screen saying "Controversy at today's selections".) Why the "controversy", and will the media's "disapproval" of Boo's appointment ever become an issue in her future (and in future volumes of the story)?

Alex de Campi : Well, the controversy was simply that Boo was so young and was picked above seemingly better candidates! But I think she proved herself to the public, at least temporarily, with her defense of the Aerie. Whether the media will jump all over her if/when she fails, well, you'll have to wait and see.

Edo actually added that sign himself. Writing and art is symbiotic in a good story; Edo's ran with some of the concepts I threw at him. It's always great seeing how artists interpret and (frequently, though often not deliberately) change your story. A good book is collaborative, and I've been lucky with pretty much all my artists that we are good friends and chat about the story. They're my partners in worldbuilding. We make stuff up in wholesale quantities. Whole planets, galaxies of ideas - some of which gets used immediately, others which get thrown in the ragbag for later recycling. Have I mentioned that my job is unbelievably fun?

Rasmussen : The Arachnoverse pops up abit in the series. Does this mean they'll eventually become a bigger threat than Queen Misery from Volume 1 to 3, or will she continue to be the dominating evil of the title? Also, if you can, what is the grudge between her and Pumpkin (again without revealing too much)?

Alex de Campi : The Arachnoverse is part of the series' backstory which I hope to bring into play in future arcs. And Pumpkin and Misery.... well, Misery did give Pumpkin that nick on his ear in a long-ago scrap, and Pumpkin is a vain old tom!

Rasmussen : Agent Boo Volume 2. Let's start off with the topic of the life and death of parallel worlds in Agent Boo. Are you telling us that despite the fact there are thousands and thousands upon thousands of universes and realities ONLY those who live in Space City seemingly have the "power" over the birth, life and death of parallel worlds by the subtext of their memories? First off isn't that abit... vain? Also what happens to those living on a paralell world when that world... "dies"?

Alex de Campi : Where does an idea go when you stop thinking about it? Ponder on that, and you'll have a better idea of the relationship between Space City and the Multiverse.

Rasmussen : In Volume 2 of Agent Boo Lords Spatial and Temporal are mentioned, will we ever see who these two? Also what is their significance in terms of the title and it's progression?

Alex de Campi : There are more than two.

Rasmussen : And… (silence)… clever, clever. OK. You got me on that one. Let’s bounce over to Kat and Mouse now. Tell us abit about how this title came to be, and why you chose a buddy emphasis story set in a private school as the setting for Kat & Mouse?

Alex de Campi : At the time I first pitched Kat & Mouse to TOKYOPOP (and, all you aspiring mangaka, I pitched it COLD. I didn't know a soul there!), there were very few OEL manga out about girls, that had some of the great school drama of, say, MARS. Everything had to be magic, or have vampires in it, or suchlike. I think there's more than enough drama in 7th grade without the need to resort to the fantastic! I went to an east-coast private school similar to Dover Academy, and I was sick of seeing California private schools get all the limelight. We have our own weird traditions in the East Coast (like field hockey) and I wanted to do a book that reflected that. There was a girl at my school who was the teacher's daughter, and she got picked on mercilessly even though she was really nice. So that memory inspired a way to have a "normal" girl get thrown into this exaggeratedly wealthy school. Kat isn't that girl... maybe she is that girl's unrealised possibility, however. A parallel-world version.

I didn't want to write a romance book, so I stuck with what I knew: mysteries. Besides, I thought it was time someone did a turbocharged, modern book in the spirit of Nancy Drew.

Rasmussen : So Kat & Mouse is abit inspired by the Nancy Drew series, but how does that translate into the buddy emphasis of the teamwork between Kat and Mouse? How did that come about instead of having Kat go solo in these mysteries?

Alex de Campi : Nancy Drew was about 18 in the orginal series, but Kat and Mouse are about 12. At 18, a girl may feel more comfortable going around by herself. But at 11-12, it's the shifting sands of friendship by which one defines oneself. I can't really see a 12 year old girl going around by herself... Kat is courageous, but not that courageous. It's always better to go on great escapades with a trusted friend than alone.

Rasmussen : OK, that explains that. Now as for those who don't know (me included) can you tell us what the OEL in OELManga stands for, and what it signifies?

Alex de Campi : Original English Manga. I have no idea what it signifies. I write black and white comics that are inspired by the format and style of Japanese comics. I am bored to tears with the "is it REAL manga?" argument. Get over it. Ask instead, "is it a good story?" If you can only define story in terms of some fallacious Japanese "norm", ask yourself instead, "was I entertained"? If you can't even do that, go outside and take a nice long walk and look at the birds and the flowers.

Rasmussen : (NOTE - Actually I think I may know the significance of OEL Manga, in that it’s most likely a PC-ized “replacement” for the term “AmeriManga”. I still use AmeriManga though, FYI)

Back to the interview, one topic that is always touched upon when talking about schools is the problem of bullying, which these days have extended to cyber-bullying. Will this topic be talked about in any length in Kat & Mouse? Also, hypothetical question, if you were asked to present a discussion of how to curb bullying in schools by, say, the board of education what practical advice or opinion would you give on how you see as the best way to curtail bullying in schools?

Alex de Campi : On cyber-bullying: stay tuned... I have plans for a subplot related to that, but not until Book 5 or 6. As for giving advice on how to stop bullying... gosh, I don't know what I would say. I think you'd do better asking a bunch of 7th graders. Actually, if I had to present a discussion, that's what I'd do - hit a couple forums, ask for suggestions and descriptions of bullying situations from kids. It's tough, because nobody wants to be seen as a tattle-tale, so often it's very difficult for kids to go to an authority figure and have the situation stopped. Parents can be rubbish about bullying, too - my mom was always like, "the boys are teasing you because they secretly like you." Uh, no, Mom - they're teasing me because they're jerks, and they think it advances their social status to dump on me. I think it's quite important to teach kids that they don't have to conform, that if they're fatter/skinnier/taller/shorter/slower/quicker than the "popular kids", or if the things that they really enjoy doing aren't considered "cool", that's OK, because you shouldn't be living your life according to what a couple insecure 7th grade idiots think, or according to what teen mags say. But, y'know, cold comfort when you're actually in 7th grade and you're made to feel like crap every day.

Rasmussen : Two characters from Kat & Mouse. The unseen "Artful Dodger" (a reference to "Oliver Twist" no doubt) and the Princess (which you say will come as of Kat & Mouse Volume 5.

First off the Artful Dodger. Will we ever get any clues as to the "Dodger"'s true identity (if it hasn't happened already), and is there any plans yet to unmask his/her true identity in the near future of the series? Also what is the motivations of the "Dodger"'s thefts, and will we ever find out why the "Artful Dodger" does what he or she does?

Alex de Campi : I think most of these questions are answered in Book 2, or at least you can see that they will be answered.

Rasmussen : Secondly as the Princess arrives in Volume 5 what role will she play in the series, and what form of complications will her arrival bring into Kat's already troubled school life?

Alex de Campi : Oh, she brings complications to a lot of kids' lives. You'll have to wait and see what, provided I get commissioned for a Book 5. (Right now, the series is only approved for 4 books, but I want to continue it).

Rasmussen : Now onto Kat & Mouse Volume 2 starting off with the Aliens reference in Kat & Mouse Volume 2. Weird question. What is YOUR personal opinion of the Aliens franchise (comic version associated with Dark Horse)?

Alex de Campi : There are a lot of things I haven't read, and that comic series is one of them.

Rasmussen : Another weird question, but perhaps a more pertinent one. Is it me, or is the new art teacher (the leather jacket wielding Mr. Templar) sporting more than a fair share of character designs traits similar to, say, Kat's father? I take it they're not the same person, of course, but what's with the similar character visual traits (or is it just me who sees that)?

Alex de Campi : It's just you who sees that. Stephen Templar is based on a well-known genre character - in fact, there are little genre jokes of mine throughout that volume - but they're not integral to enjoyment of the story.

Rasmussen : Speaking of things that may only be in my mind (this time not so weird hopefully), I take it there's a Maltese Falcon reference in this one ( i.e. the "flight" of the bird hidden in the vase), is there any other hidden references in the volume that readers might not immediately catch onto that you might want to hint about?

Alex de Campi : If they don't see, I won't tell. The genre stuff is not any great hidden meaning, just a way of amusing myself as I write.

Rasmussen : Fair enough. I take it next volume will bring the situation with the Artful Dodger closer to resolution. Without revealing too much what will Volume 3 bring in terms of the resolution of the situation with the Artful Dodger? Also the start of Volume 2 notes that Kat & Mouse have vowed to catch the Artful Dodger... why? For all intents and purposes it was the Artful Dodger's intervention in the first volume (returning the stolen microscopes) which lead to the two solving the whole blackmailing scheme of last volume. If his or her intervention was so helpful why did they turn so suddenly against him or her when, without the Artful Dodger's intervention, they never would have had that break they needed which lead to the solving of the blackmailing plot?

Alex de Campi : I will not answer predictive questions about Volume 3 .
As for "turning against" the Artful Dodger, the thief is seen as a chaotic force in the school, not necessarily one for good or evil. And the return of the microscopes was clearly vanity rather than kindness. When the thief causes the entire class to be stuck in the museum seemingly out of spite, then what Kat & Mouse are doing is hardly a "sudden turning against". They just want to get home!

Rasmussen : Theorethical question. The original alloitment of Agent Boo slash Kat & Mouse volumes come to an end, and (worst case scenario) TOKYOPOP does NOT order more volumes. In theory, if this happens, will the series come to their end or will you take them and continue them (even if it means finding a new publisher to continue the series with)? Also do you have enough control over the series to, say, negotiate the rights to an Agent Boo and/or Kat & Mouse Animated Series (if the opportunity arises)?

Alex de Campi : The book wouldn't move beyond TOKYOPOP, so if they do not re-up the option, then there will be no more Agent Boo or Kat & Mouse anywhere. But that's OK, because I have many ideas. And my agent is working on selling the books into TV already.

Rasmussen : Sometimes creators (accidentially or intentionally) work real people into their titles when they're creating. In retrospect did you discover (as you worked on Agent Boo and Kat & Mouse) that you actually worked real people (acquintances, family, yourself, etc) into the characters you wrote? If so which characters, and why?

Alex de Campi : "My characters are my own and my friends' unrealised possibilities" - Milan Kundera
"Some days I am Faust. Some days I am Mephistopheles. Some days, I am both" - Goethe

Rasmussen : The two bonus material sections of Kat & Mouse. First off the Lab Experiment. What kind of work went into putting this together, and (just out of curiousity) have you ever tried out your own experiments in your books (either in the past in your youth or today out of curiousity)?

Alex de Campi : Yeah, I always check the experiment before the book goes to print. And I think I did all of these experiments in science class when I was a kid, too.

Rasmussen : As for the second part, the "Heroes" section, what is the importance of this in regard to the title and which "Heroes" do you emphasis better with (Kat's picks or Mouse's picks) (and why)?

Alex de Campi : I want to show girls how many wicked cool women are out there, who have done amazing things that have made a massive difference in the world! I mean, we're a society with very few heroes anymore. Who? Athletes? Musicians? Ashley Bloody Simpson? I want to say, look at Hedy Lamarr. Beauty and brains. Or Amelia Earhart! That's how high you can aspire! You, chica, can change the world!
Kat's choices tend to be more scientific or quirky; Mouse likes her adventurers. I'm somewhere in the middle.

Rasmussen : Ashley Simpson’s a hero…? Please god no… and did you see that episode of Star Trek : Voyager that had Amelia Earhart? I… (uh) OH! Sorry, my mind wandered. Anyway this year you have two graphic novels headed for release in France. Can you tell us abit about these, and will we ever see these books reprinted in English at a future date?

Alex de Campi : ADAM may be reprinted in English rather soon; that's being negotiated at the moment. It already has film people sniffing around it too - not bad for a book that hasn't even been published yet!

Rasmussen : Flim people are already looking towards ADAM as a film project? Isn't this a new title your coming out with? How did this suddenly come about if it's still a new title? Also if you were given the chance to hand pick your own studio where would you want ADAM filmed (and why?) Also would you be directing the movie or would you hand it to someone else? (again why?)

Alex de Campi : Producers are smart. If they think a book in development has potential to be very successful, they try to option it before it comes out. Because if it DOES become successful, the option gets a lot more expensive - and there's more competition. Production companies have people who stay in touch with most publishers to learn about what's hot before it comes out. Apparently ADAM is hot. But - you have to understand - Hollywood is so hungry for ideas that almost anyone who publishes anything gets contacted by a "producer" wanting to discuss an option. Sometimes this is just some 24-year-old BS artist moonlighting from their job in a mailroom; sometimes it's someone with actual experience and budget. So as a writer, one gets a bit "whatever" about the inevitable circling of hungry producers. So many of them are hungry for a reason; so few of them bear cheques.

Adam would be animated. I'd want to direct it myself, probably a French-Welsh co-production, with most of the animation done in Wales. Or in Austin, Texas, where I know a lot of really talented animators. Actually, scratch that - definitely in Austin. Better weather and better food. But all this is like dreamcasting, really. Idle fantasies of a tired author on a Thursday night.

Rasmussen : Your work on European Kids' TV. What series do you presently write for, and can you tell us abit about the work that goes into writing for Kids' TV?

Alex de Campi : I wrote three episodes of a 6-8 year olds' series DIVE OLLY DIVE, about this submarine working at a research station near a big reef. I got that gig thanks to being at the right cocktail party at the right time in San Diego. My friend Dan Evans (whose TEXAS STRANGERS kids comic comes out later this year) took me as his "plus one" to a lunch at San Diego, I met this guy from Mike Young Productions, and voila, I was invited to submit episode ideas. I loved writing stories for OLLY, and they let me do some entertainingly subversive things in it. My first episode had Olly meeting the Kraken, who had an octopus' garden complete with garden gnomes. My third episode had a couple quotes from WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE in it ("But you ARE in that berth, UMA. You ARE in that berth..."). But that's me all over - here's a fast-paced, funny story for kids, that occasionally will have the adults in the room turn around and go, "...say what?!".

I'm up to write a couple more series, but these are US ones. Stay tuned on my website (www.alexdecampi.com) for further announcements.

Rasmussen : A day in your life. Tell us abit about a typical day of work for you?

Alex de Campi : Every day is a workday. Freelancers don't know weekends; we're often so paranoid about our next paycheck that we don't take time off. I get up around 9, and walk my dog for 45 minutes on Primrose Hill. This wakes me up, and I have some of my best ideas while idly wandering. Then coffee and toast at the computer, where I swear I'll start writing but instead invariably arse around on the internet. I get to writing or editing video around 11am, and keep at it for about 3 or 4 hours. Then I do all the boring but important things: look over pages or layouts from artists on books in progress, chat to my editors, work on pitches for new books or music videos, do interviews, et cetera. Sometimes I have a conference call with my agent or producers in LA in the evening, and then often as not it's out to a film, a play, or a friend's gig. Somewhere in all that, I find time to do other things, like design work for friends. I work pretty much 10-12 hours a day, every day. Here it is Sunday near midnight, and this is the only time I have to answer your questions.

Rasmussen : 2007. What plans do you have, and what future projects do we have to look forward to from you this coming year?

Alex de Campi : I'm going to do less. I get easily distracted, and have too much on. I have a novel in progress, and I'd really like to make more time in my schedule to work on it. But that means I need to get some higher-paid music videos or TV writing work to fund that "time off". Of course, I still want to co-write a new manga series with a rock musician I know (we were running around Tunisia over New Years' having THE BEST ideas for it...), as well as a rip-roaring kids' adventure graphic novel set just after the turn of the 20th century - starring boys for once! (But there are some awesome female supporting characters, including a pistol-packin' Russian countess).

And I'm in talks with a US publisher about a full-on noir/LA mystery graphic novel, in the format of the old Paradox Press books (ROAD TO PERDITION / HISTORY OF VIOLENCE). I just need to find the right artist for it. I've been working on this story for years, and I really want it to find a home. It would also be a good follow-up book for all the fans of SMOKE, since I haven't had anything similar to it come out in English. It's also nasty as all get-out - think BLUE VELVET meets THE SHIELD.

So yes. Those are the three new series I'm focusing on. I only have one more book of ADAM to write, and although I very much want to carry on with KAT & MOUSE after book 4 and AGENT BOO after book 3*, it's TOKYOPOP's choice whether to take up their options. I have to write Book 5 of Kat & Mouse! That's when the princess arrives! And Book 4 of AGENT BOO is the kids going to Dino City, land of the Dinosaurs, and battle huge arachnids! Yep, dinosaurs v giant spiders!

*(Book 3 of K&M is written, and being drawn at the moment, and Book 3 of Boo is being written later this month.)

Rasmussen : I guess you can't tell us about the novel you're presently working on, but can you at least hint a little as to what it will be about? Just a little hint?

Alex de Campi : Insomnia. Talking mice. Cute girls in bear suits. Virgins. Other things.

Rasmussen : Any final words for our readers?

Alex de Campi : Yes: don't postpone your dreams.