INTERVIEW: JIMMY HACHEY
Jimmy Hachey has been writing, drawing, and inking comics for over 40 years. Recently, he decided to take the next big step and get published through Red Leaf Comics. From creating home-made comics and fanzines for four decades, to crafting modern tales of dynamic characters, Jimmy is finally seeing his creations in print, professionally published through one of the best up and coming indy comic companies in the market: Red Leaf! He's living his dream --doing what he loves, creating comic books...
HAL: Where were you born and raised?
JIMMY: I was born in Saint John New Brunswick, Canada, in a poor part of the city called the North End, Indian Town they named it though no Indians lived there. I believe at one time it was an Indian settlement. I came from a big family, seven kids, five sisters and one older brother. We are a close family though we were poor. We had lots of fun and we learned how to entertain our selves playing with tin cans for hockey in the streets. Times were hard but we always found ways to keep ourselves busy. I found myself being creative at a young age. I used to make my own puppets and put on a puppet show to entertain my family and friends, so I was a very different child than the rest of my family. All I wanted to do was to be creative!
HAL: How long have you been drawing?
JIMMY: I started drawing at the age of eight. I remember having a paper route back when I was about 12 years old and using the brown paper that they used to wrap the papers in to draw with. I would doodle for hours. My mom eventually allowed me to use her sewing room as a little drawing area and there I would produce my home-made comics that I would make and give to my friends, and they thought it was cool! I would include them into my stories, and this made me get their attention and respect! So I have been drawing for the better part of thirty years! To be truthful, I must confess that I believe that my older brother first started drawing before me. He was so awesome that it must have inspired me. But then I discovered comics, and the rest is history.
HAL: How did you break into the industry?
JIMMY: It all first started in the seventies when friends and I started doing Fanzines and selling them to our friends. We did a book called Concepts, the Magazine of Tomorrow's Professionals, and it was a Heavy Metal type of Magazine. Then I did some religious books and came back to comics again in the eighties doing a book that a good friend and fellow artist-creator Barry Kincade did called the Scorcerer Stone Presents. This was a local comic book shop owned by Stan Saunders who supported a lot of local fanzines. It mostly contained pinup pages and poems, short stories etc. Then in the middle to late eighties I started my own magazine called the Destructors of Evil. I recruited a lot of talent and as editor and publisher, put the many creators together to launch our own creation's.Then I left the comic scene for a few years to work on another project which I hope to redo some time. And finally, we published Manga Ganda #1 in 1989, which we sold all over New Brunswick. Then I happen-to-chance a local fanzine called Spartan, published by Hal Hilden, who lived in Saint John at the time. I believe he produced only two issues of the book, and when I contacted him he said that he was leaving Saint John to move to Nova Scotia and I offered to publish the third issue, which I did. But I upgraded the book from a cheap looking fanzine to a printed magazine much in the tradition of what we had did with Manga Ganda #1. I sent him a copy of that book and then we lost touch until a few years ago when he found me on Facebook where I established a studio which showcased our products, news etc., on our upcoming books. Called Water Front Studios, this is the company name that I published my older books under, and then Hal told me that he was being published under an indy comic book company called Red Leaf Comics, and that he was a talent scout for them, and that they would publish anything I had. So I contacted the publisher John Helmer and sent him my book Manga Ganda, which saw print last summer.
HAL: Tell us about Tim Fallon?
JIMMY: I met Tim back in the 80's when we were doing the Destructors. I had seen an illustration that he did advertising his services to do commissions, and I approached him about doing a series in my book called the Legend of Sargus! It was a eight page installment in our book. Tim was orginally from Frederecton New Brunswick but moved here while his wife was attending Nursing school here in Saint John. He was the most talented and seasoned artist-creator of us all. He could pencil, ink, letter, and color. Back then you did it all by hand as opposed to doing it digital! So we had quite the collection of talent and creators in Tim Fallon (writer-artist), Paul Beale (writer-artist), Jeff Nearing (writer-artist), Barry Kincade (writer-artist) and myself with my property The Destructors of Evil.
Hal: I will also add that Tim Fallon passed away many years back, and you are able to pay homage to your good friend by finally seeing your combined art in an honest-to-goodness comic book, and not a photocopied fanzine.
HAL: Expand and tell our readers about the fanzine scene in Saint John in the 80's and 90's?
JIMMY: Back in the 80's and 90's there was a small explosion of fanzines being produced by fans. Mostly they were just carbon copies of the big comic book companies, or books reporting of the comic book industry. We wanted to do our own characters and stories and this gave us some experience into the publishing business. We even colored (by hand) one issue!!! Back then there were no color photo copiers, other than going to a printer to get it done and it would have been very costly! I even talked to a printer one time who told me that I would have to print 1000 copies just to start off with! And forget about the four color process! I would have to charge at least $10-$20 / copy to break even! So most fanzines were produced very cheaply!
HAL: Tell our readers about your work at Red Leaf Comics?
JIMMY: We are working on producing our second issue of our anthology called Manga Ganda. It is a collection of short stories told in the manner of the old E.C. Comics, with horror, fantasy, science fiction and humor. We wanted to bring back that great format of storytelling that existed in the 1950's. We feel that the big comic book companies of today have worn-out the market with the super-hero subject, and we wanted to offer the fans a taste of something different! Don't get me wrong, I love super-heroes and intend on doing a super-hero issue with our main title, possibly in the third or fourth issue of Manga Ganda. I just feel that the market is flooded with this subject right now and I want to explore genres that are being ignored. Like right now, the big topic is zombies and in our next issue we are going to tell our own version of that tale. It is a story that I saw quite a few years ago and wanted to show it in our next issue. This will be a sixteen page tale.
HAL: Are there any other titles you are working on? Are they limited or ongoing?
JIMMY: Yes, we are in the process of working on a story for Red Leaf featuring The Leaf. I am working with a new artist who will pencil it and I will ink it, and it is being written by a fellow named Paul Beale. He has penned a number of stories with us before he wrote a short story in our last issue called Dead or Alive, a western with a twist. There is going to be an ongoing story in our second issue of Manga Ganda and it will be a two part story, but most of the stories in our book will be self contained tales since this is the format for our book!
HAL: Who are your artistic influences?
JIMMY: In my early beginnings I got exposed to Steve Ditko who was the artist for Spider-Man. Then later it was Gil Kane, Neal Adams, and finally George Perez, who I am still a huge fan of! I have followed his career since 1976 when he became the assistant to Rich Buckler. In my later years I have followed an artist named Mike Deodato, who is a great artist!! As for inkers, of course Terry Austin, Bob Layton, and Bob Mcleod. There are so many great artists that I love! I am a big fan of Wally Wood,and of course Frank Frazetta! The list goes on....
HAL: How do you focus when penciling? Do you ever suffer from artist's block, and if so, how to you deal with it?
JIMMY: Oh yeah, especially when I am staring at a blank piece of paper and how do I approach this page? Usually I find what works for me is to do some sketches to work out the cobwebs before going to the art board. Sometimes I will work on an older drawing I had laying around and work on that or do some inking. I also find looking at other artist's work inspires me to improve my work. Like how recently I have noticed how not a lot of artists use speed lines any more to indicate speed, but still have it looking dynamic. I am always trying to keep my style current but true to my self.
HAL: What is your stronger skill in your opinion, as a penciler or as an inker, and why?
JIMMY: I find that most definitely that my inking ability is the stronger of my talents. It takes me longer to pencil. I can crank out between 2-3 pages a day inking as opposed to penciling, which at my best produce only one page a day! I guess the reason that I love inking is I like working with other artists to learn from them, as well as I like the finished look of the page. I find I can look at a page and say, “I can do this or that!” Do not get me wrong, it took me years to develop my inking style, and not every drawing turns out as well as I had planned it! I find the brush a harder tool to master than the pen nib, so I tend to concentrate a great deal more on line work using the pen nib, like my mentor Terry Austin.
Hal: What was the first comic book you ever read?
JIMMY: As much as I can remember it was the Harvey books and Archie. Then of course Spider-Man. I can remember as a teenager reading the old Lee-Ditko Spider-Man stories under my bed sheets with a flash light, late at night when I had to go to school the next day! Those were the most fondest times of my youth. Those stories took me out of my troubles. I felt like I could relate to Peter Parker, you know with all his troubles, not being able to get a date, etc. I really understood and loved that series.
HAL: Do you read any of the new comic books that are being published today? If so, which ones?
JIMMY: Just the New Avengers, and mostly for the artist illustrating it. I love Mike Deodato jr. but I also like where it is going. They have Spider-Man, The Thing, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Ms. Marvel, and I love the lineup of characters. Of course Brian Michael Bendis issuch a great writer. The most current title that I pick up on a regular basis is the Married Life of Archie. I love the mature theme that they are bringing to that title! I would recommend anybody to pick it up...great read!
HAL: Name a few characters or franchises that you'd love to pencil or ink for if given the opportunity?
JIMMY: Oh, I would love to do a Spider-Man story. I also want to work with you on a a project. We are talking about me inking on one of your next books, maybe MacSorly, R.C.M.P . I would ink anything George Perez, and it would be cool to ink Nick Bradshaw. I love his work at Marvel. I thought it would be great to ink Archie or to ink Mike Deodato on the New Avengers. Other than that, I think I am truly happy doing what I am doing now! I just love the image and product that John is producing at Red Leaf Comics!
HAL: I do happen to have a MacSorly, RCMP in holding pattern right now. And I agree, John is the Stan Lee of the indy scene. He is overflowing with stories, characters, and ideas.
HAL: Name a few fellow creators that you would love to work with?
JIMMY: Possibly some time in the future it would be great to work on a story with John Helmer, yourself and I would love to ink Robert Norton on a project! I really think Robert has such a great style, and he is growing by leaps and bounds! To possibly do a Leaf story together would be awesome! I thought it would be neat to have us work together on a short story in our book Manga Ganda. You write, Robert pencil and me ink! I think that that would be cool. I love pooling our talents together. I guess I got that from the Marvel method, which I think works best as opposed to doing a project by yourself. Though sometime in the future I do want to do a story by myself, write, pencil, and ink! I am thinking about a concept for a future story for our main book.
HAL: Robert Norton is indeed a talented penciler. I love his stuff. I would love to collaborate with you and him on something.
HAL: Who would be your dream penciler that you would love to ink?
JIMMY: I really love Alan Davis' pencils so if it would be anyone I would say him. I would love to ink Sandy Cruthers who is working on Spookman at Charlton Arrow. I met him at a local convention in Saint John, and he is a very talented artist! I guess I love a lot of the old school artists like John Byrne and Jim Lee. You know I inked a pretty talented fellow named Hal Hilden way back when. I think it would be great to ink you my friend on a short piece.
HAL: OMG Jimmy! I remember thinking I was going to be the next Art Adams! LOL
HAL: Print vs. Digital. Your thoughts....
JIMMY: I have always loved the feel and smell of the printed comic book format, so printed. Though I do see the demand for digital comics. With the printed comic book I like to collect them and pull them out when I want to glance at the art or read a good story! I have learned a lot just by looking at the art, examining how the artists did this or that.
HAL: Are there any other mediums or genres that you have done art for?
JIMMY: I did do some religious illustrations for a couple of years, and I also did some commerical advertisements, and some paintings on windows, and i had a job doing lettering for a sign company when I first graduated from school. I am not too fond of lettering.Penciling and inking are my two main loves. I also wrote a few commericals..
HAL: Finally, who wins the Stanley Cup this year?
JIMMY: I am not a big hockey fan but I like the Montreal Candiens. If it were anybody I guess it would be them!
HAL: Thank you for doing this Jimmy, and I look forward to seeing your continuing work at Red Leaf Comics, and watching your skills evolve. I hope to see you sometime this summer!
HAL: Where were you born and raised?
JIMMY: I was born in Saint John New Brunswick, Canada, in a poor part of the city called the North End, Indian Town they named it though no Indians lived there. I believe at one time it was an Indian settlement. I came from a big family, seven kids, five sisters and one older brother. We are a close family though we were poor. We had lots of fun and we learned how to entertain our selves playing with tin cans for hockey in the streets. Times were hard but we always found ways to keep ourselves busy. I found myself being creative at a young age. I used to make my own puppets and put on a puppet show to entertain my family and friends, so I was a very different child than the rest of my family. All I wanted to do was to be creative!
HAL: How long have you been drawing?
JIMMY: I started drawing at the age of eight. I remember having a paper route back when I was about 12 years old and using the brown paper that they used to wrap the papers in to draw with. I would doodle for hours. My mom eventually allowed me to use her sewing room as a little drawing area and there I would produce my home-made comics that I would make and give to my friends, and they thought it was cool! I would include them into my stories, and this made me get their attention and respect! So I have been drawing for the better part of thirty years! To be truthful, I must confess that I believe that my older brother first started drawing before me. He was so awesome that it must have inspired me. But then I discovered comics, and the rest is history.
HAL: How did you break into the industry?
JIMMY: It all first started in the seventies when friends and I started doing Fanzines and selling them to our friends. We did a book called Concepts, the Magazine of Tomorrow's Professionals, and it was a Heavy Metal type of Magazine. Then I did some religious books and came back to comics again in the eighties doing a book that a good friend and fellow artist-creator Barry Kincade did called the Scorcerer Stone Presents. This was a local comic book shop owned by Stan Saunders who supported a lot of local fanzines. It mostly contained pinup pages and poems, short stories etc. Then in the middle to late eighties I started my own magazine called the Destructors of Evil. I recruited a lot of talent and as editor and publisher, put the many creators together to launch our own creation's.Then I left the comic scene for a few years to work on another project which I hope to redo some time. And finally, we published Manga Ganda #1 in 1989, which we sold all over New Brunswick. Then I happen-to-chance a local fanzine called Spartan, published by Hal Hilden, who lived in Saint John at the time. I believe he produced only two issues of the book, and when I contacted him he said that he was leaving Saint John to move to Nova Scotia and I offered to publish the third issue, which I did. But I upgraded the book from a cheap looking fanzine to a printed magazine much in the tradition of what we had did with Manga Ganda #1. I sent him a copy of that book and then we lost touch until a few years ago when he found me on Facebook where I established a studio which showcased our products, news etc., on our upcoming books. Called Water Front Studios, this is the company name that I published my older books under, and then Hal told me that he was being published under an indy comic book company called Red Leaf Comics, and that he was a talent scout for them, and that they would publish anything I had. So I contacted the publisher John Helmer and sent him my book Manga Ganda, which saw print last summer.
HAL: Tell us about Tim Fallon?
JIMMY: I met Tim back in the 80's when we were doing the Destructors. I had seen an illustration that he did advertising his services to do commissions, and I approached him about doing a series in my book called the Legend of Sargus! It was a eight page installment in our book. Tim was orginally from Frederecton New Brunswick but moved here while his wife was attending Nursing school here in Saint John. He was the most talented and seasoned artist-creator of us all. He could pencil, ink, letter, and color. Back then you did it all by hand as opposed to doing it digital! So we had quite the collection of talent and creators in Tim Fallon (writer-artist), Paul Beale (writer-artist), Jeff Nearing (writer-artist), Barry Kincade (writer-artist) and myself with my property The Destructors of Evil.
Hal: I will also add that Tim Fallon passed away many years back, and you are able to pay homage to your good friend by finally seeing your combined art in an honest-to-goodness comic book, and not a photocopied fanzine.
HAL: Expand and tell our readers about the fanzine scene in Saint John in the 80's and 90's?
JIMMY: Back in the 80's and 90's there was a small explosion of fanzines being produced by fans. Mostly they were just carbon copies of the big comic book companies, or books reporting of the comic book industry. We wanted to do our own characters and stories and this gave us some experience into the publishing business. We even colored (by hand) one issue!!! Back then there were no color photo copiers, other than going to a printer to get it done and it would have been very costly! I even talked to a printer one time who told me that I would have to print 1000 copies just to start off with! And forget about the four color process! I would have to charge at least $10-$20 / copy to break even! So most fanzines were produced very cheaply!
HAL: Tell our readers about your work at Red Leaf Comics?
JIMMY: We are working on producing our second issue of our anthology called Manga Ganda. It is a collection of short stories told in the manner of the old E.C. Comics, with horror, fantasy, science fiction and humor. We wanted to bring back that great format of storytelling that existed in the 1950's. We feel that the big comic book companies of today have worn-out the market with the super-hero subject, and we wanted to offer the fans a taste of something different! Don't get me wrong, I love super-heroes and intend on doing a super-hero issue with our main title, possibly in the third or fourth issue of Manga Ganda. I just feel that the market is flooded with this subject right now and I want to explore genres that are being ignored. Like right now, the big topic is zombies and in our next issue we are going to tell our own version of that tale. It is a story that I saw quite a few years ago and wanted to show it in our next issue. This will be a sixteen page tale.
HAL: Are there any other titles you are working on? Are they limited or ongoing?
JIMMY: Yes, we are in the process of working on a story for Red Leaf featuring The Leaf. I am working with a new artist who will pencil it and I will ink it, and it is being written by a fellow named Paul Beale. He has penned a number of stories with us before he wrote a short story in our last issue called Dead or Alive, a western with a twist. There is going to be an ongoing story in our second issue of Manga Ganda and it will be a two part story, but most of the stories in our book will be self contained tales since this is the format for our book!
HAL: Who are your artistic influences?
JIMMY: In my early beginnings I got exposed to Steve Ditko who was the artist for Spider-Man. Then later it was Gil Kane, Neal Adams, and finally George Perez, who I am still a huge fan of! I have followed his career since 1976 when he became the assistant to Rich Buckler. In my later years I have followed an artist named Mike Deodato, who is a great artist!! As for inkers, of course Terry Austin, Bob Layton, and Bob Mcleod. There are so many great artists that I love! I am a big fan of Wally Wood,and of course Frank Frazetta! The list goes on....
HAL: How do you focus when penciling? Do you ever suffer from artist's block, and if so, how to you deal with it?
JIMMY: Oh yeah, especially when I am staring at a blank piece of paper and how do I approach this page? Usually I find what works for me is to do some sketches to work out the cobwebs before going to the art board. Sometimes I will work on an older drawing I had laying around and work on that or do some inking. I also find looking at other artist's work inspires me to improve my work. Like how recently I have noticed how not a lot of artists use speed lines any more to indicate speed, but still have it looking dynamic. I am always trying to keep my style current but true to my self.
HAL: What is your stronger skill in your opinion, as a penciler or as an inker, and why?
JIMMY: I find that most definitely that my inking ability is the stronger of my talents. It takes me longer to pencil. I can crank out between 2-3 pages a day inking as opposed to penciling, which at my best produce only one page a day! I guess the reason that I love inking is I like working with other artists to learn from them, as well as I like the finished look of the page. I find I can look at a page and say, “I can do this or that!” Do not get me wrong, it took me years to develop my inking style, and not every drawing turns out as well as I had planned it! I find the brush a harder tool to master than the pen nib, so I tend to concentrate a great deal more on line work using the pen nib, like my mentor Terry Austin.
Hal: What was the first comic book you ever read?
JIMMY: As much as I can remember it was the Harvey books and Archie. Then of course Spider-Man. I can remember as a teenager reading the old Lee-Ditko Spider-Man stories under my bed sheets with a flash light, late at night when I had to go to school the next day! Those were the most fondest times of my youth. Those stories took me out of my troubles. I felt like I could relate to Peter Parker, you know with all his troubles, not being able to get a date, etc. I really understood and loved that series.
HAL: Do you read any of the new comic books that are being published today? If so, which ones?
JIMMY: Just the New Avengers, and mostly for the artist illustrating it. I love Mike Deodato jr. but I also like where it is going. They have Spider-Man, The Thing, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Ms. Marvel, and I love the lineup of characters. Of course Brian Michael Bendis issuch a great writer. The most current title that I pick up on a regular basis is the Married Life of Archie. I love the mature theme that they are bringing to that title! I would recommend anybody to pick it up...great read!
HAL: Name a few characters or franchises that you'd love to pencil or ink for if given the opportunity?
JIMMY: Oh, I would love to do a Spider-Man story. I also want to work with you on a a project. We are talking about me inking on one of your next books, maybe MacSorly, R.C.M.P . I would ink anything George Perez, and it would be cool to ink Nick Bradshaw. I love his work at Marvel. I thought it would be great to ink Archie or to ink Mike Deodato on the New Avengers. Other than that, I think I am truly happy doing what I am doing now! I just love the image and product that John is producing at Red Leaf Comics!
HAL: I do happen to have a MacSorly, RCMP in holding pattern right now. And I agree, John is the Stan Lee of the indy scene. He is overflowing with stories, characters, and ideas.
HAL: Name a few fellow creators that you would love to work with?
JIMMY: Possibly some time in the future it would be great to work on a story with John Helmer, yourself and I would love to ink Robert Norton on a project! I really think Robert has such a great style, and he is growing by leaps and bounds! To possibly do a Leaf story together would be awesome! I thought it would be neat to have us work together on a short story in our book Manga Ganda. You write, Robert pencil and me ink! I think that that would be cool. I love pooling our talents together. I guess I got that from the Marvel method, which I think works best as opposed to doing a project by yourself. Though sometime in the future I do want to do a story by myself, write, pencil, and ink! I am thinking about a concept for a future story for our main book.
HAL: Robert Norton is indeed a talented penciler. I love his stuff. I would love to collaborate with you and him on something.
HAL: Who would be your dream penciler that you would love to ink?
JIMMY: I really love Alan Davis' pencils so if it would be anyone I would say him. I would love to ink Sandy Cruthers who is working on Spookman at Charlton Arrow. I met him at a local convention in Saint John, and he is a very talented artist! I guess I love a lot of the old school artists like John Byrne and Jim Lee. You know I inked a pretty talented fellow named Hal Hilden way back when. I think it would be great to ink you my friend on a short piece.
HAL: OMG Jimmy! I remember thinking I was going to be the next Art Adams! LOL
HAL: Print vs. Digital. Your thoughts....
JIMMY: I have always loved the feel and smell of the printed comic book format, so printed. Though I do see the demand for digital comics. With the printed comic book I like to collect them and pull them out when I want to glance at the art or read a good story! I have learned a lot just by looking at the art, examining how the artists did this or that.
HAL: Are there any other mediums or genres that you have done art for?
JIMMY: I did do some religious illustrations for a couple of years, and I also did some commerical advertisements, and some paintings on windows, and i had a job doing lettering for a sign company when I first graduated from school. I am not too fond of lettering.Penciling and inking are my two main loves. I also wrote a few commericals..
HAL: Finally, who wins the Stanley Cup this year?
JIMMY: I am not a big hockey fan but I like the Montreal Candiens. If it were anybody I guess it would be them!
HAL: Thank you for doing this Jimmy, and I look forward to seeing your continuing work at Red Leaf Comics, and watching your skills evolve. I hope to see you sometime this summer!
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About the interviewer –
Hal Hilden fancies himself a warrior-writer. Having wallowed through the trenches with pen and paper in hand he has fired off script after script over the years. This has given him calloused fingertips and the intestinal fortitude to realize that working in the comic industry is easier said than done.
Hal’s co-creator owned property is Dreamland: 2047. He dabbled in the television industry writing a spec-script for a cartoon property. Hal is currently a staff writer for Red Leaf Comics and Chief Correspondent-Canada for comicbookinterviews.com. His highly-acclaimed issue: MacSorly, RCMP from Red Leaf Comics was an instant hit.
Hal can be reached at: [email protected]
About the interviewer –
Hal Hilden fancies himself a warrior-writer. Having wallowed through the trenches with pen and paper in hand he has fired off script after script over the years. This has given him calloused fingertips and the intestinal fortitude to realize that working in the comic industry is easier said than done.
Hal’s co-creator owned property is Dreamland: 2047. He dabbled in the television industry writing a spec-script for a cartoon property. Hal is currently a staff writer for Red Leaf Comics and Chief Correspondent-Canada for comicbookinterviews.com. His highly-acclaimed issue: MacSorly, RCMP from Red Leaf Comics was an instant hit.
Hal can be reached at: [email protected]
