30. The Making of a Comic: 'Super Best Friend #1-2' with Jason Inman and George Kambadais
The super-team behind the superhero series!
Howdy Brave Being,
Welcome back to The Making of a Comic. This week, I’m joined by three times Ringo-award nominee Jason Inman and George Kambadais, creators of the superhero adventure comic SUPER BEST FRIEND—a series I’ve had the honor to edit. They launched their first issue on Kickstarter with letterer Taylor Esposito last year, and after an incredible turnout of backers and far surpassing their goal, they’re launching the second issue next week on Tuesday, February 1st. Here they are to tell you all about the series so far and what’s next. Let’s hop to it!
The Story
Brittany Matter: Tell us a little bit about SUPER BEST FRIEND #1.
Jason Inman: Super Best Friend is the story of Mattie Moore, the ultimate superhero super-fan. Think Jimmy Olsen times 2 million on Twitch. For years, Mattie has recorded videos of his best friend, the superhero Captain Terrific. Unfortunately, one of Mattie's videos revealed Captain Terrific's secret identity! Now, Mattie must enter the fantastic world of heroes and villains to repair their friendship.
BM: What inspired you to tell this tale?
JI: This story developed during my time in online fandom. When you work for DC All Access, promoting and interviewing every comic book creator on the DC Comics docket, your entire life becomes talking about superheroes. It was an amazing job. I loved working there and discussing my favorite superheroes. However, there were days when the last thing I wanted to talk about was superheroes. This led me to ask the question. Would this happen in proper life if superheroes were real? Would people tire of discussing these extraordinary beings if they could watch YouTube videos of them every day in the actual world? I don’t think so.
BM: How did you go about the character-building for Mattie Moore and Captain Terrific?
JI: In a lot of ways, Mattie is a much younger version of myself. He’s the superhero fan who has one of the greatest jobs in the world: But unlike Mattie, I never had the stress of maintaining secret identities, hidden bases, and threats from villains who want to know where these heroes lay their heads at night. Which would cause a lot of problems and awkward situations for someone like Mattie Moore.
Captain Terrific was a bit more difficult. How could he be more than just an archetype? I settled on his drive for helping others is so strong that he refuses to let anyone help him. Much to the chagrin of his superhero teammates. He even refuses to help himself. It's a fascinating character dynamic that was inspired by some of the very selfless people in my family.
BM: Who else do we meet in issue #1?
JI: Citizen Tyranny, our villain, who quickly became our editor's favorite character. (Thank you Brittany!). We also meet The Assembly, our stand-ins for the Justice League. Fun fact: they originally were going to only appear once in the story, but once I saw George Kambadais's inks on these characters, I knew I had to feature them more. That's a beautiful thing about collaboration.
BM: What are Mattie Moore and Captain Terrific up against in issue #1?
JI: In a lot of ways, these two best friends are their worst enemies. They'll have to work through their feelings about each other and the power dynamics in their relationships to find the solution to each other's problem.
BM: Who's your favorite character so far?
JI: Mattie Moore is a delight to write. He reignites my love of comics every time this superhero loving fan speaks. Plus, Machine Marine, the cyborg member of the Assembly. I have a whole other story to tell of how she became the way she is, and I hope I get to tell it.
The Art
BM: Tell us a little bit about your artistic process in SUPER BEST FRIEND. What kinds of things, new or old, did you want to capture in this superhero adventure tale?
George Kambadais: My main inspiration for making SBF were silver-age, superhero comics...or rather I should say my main inspiration for making comics in general are silver-age comics so you can only imagine how exciting such a project is for me. Still, I feel like we can utilize this beloved format in order to say something new and interesting.
BM: What inspired you to join team SUPER BEST FRIEND?
GK: I'm probably going to repeat myself a bit in this question. I loved the characters, and the fact that they are familiar and brand new at the same time. It's a story practically every comic book fan would love to read, in my opinion, and I'm even more certain, it's a story almost every comic book artist would love to participate in creating.
A story like that is the story I fantasized of creating as a child when I was daydreaming about making comics!
BM: Since Mattie is an avid live streamer, documenting all of Captain Terrific's adventures, how did you tackle this part of the layout process?
GK: I wanted it to be visually interesting and give a sense of speed. That's why I frequently used phone screens instead of “normal” panels (as per Jason's instructions.)
BM: How did you approach the design of Mattie and Captain Terrific?
GK: Unfortunately I can't claim the design of Captain Terrific as my own. It's very cool and I wish I could but nah...I came to work with him after he was already as he is now, and I couldn't dream of anything better, cooler or more to the point. As for Mattie I wanted him to be the quintessential guy (or rather boy) next door. Nothing that stood out about him but his personality. He tries hard (sometimes too hard) to be the best he can. A person everybody can relate to.
BM: What about this series has contributed to your growth as an artist?
GK: What I absolutely loved making, is Captain Terrific's superhero companions. The process of designing each and everyone of them in a single issue took my all! No space for cheating in the character design process there. Every one of them was, and had to be, visually compelling and as unique as possible in every aspect. From their body types and their suits to their skin colors...I loved the fact that it gave me so much to think about and create...I had to compress so much information in such a short space and time.
BM: Who's your favorite character thus far?
GK: I have to go with Lady Samurai! I love that she is mysterious and dark. She is so powerful and dynamic! She is a natural born leader.
The Making of Issue #2
BM: What were some of the first steps y'all had to take to continue Mattie and Captain Terrific's tale?
JI: I had to determine just how far down the rabbit-hole of superhero comics I was going to take this story. Mattie is an outsider to superheroes in a lot of ways, and when he enters their world, he's gonna be blindsided. That's why he's confronted with some of the best tropes comic books have to offer—cyborgs, doppelgängers and the U.S. Army chasing you everywhere you go!
GK: I think Jason has more to say on this question than me. I just received Jason's script. Read it. Loved it. Created a reference board for it, and started working on it immediately!
BM: How does it feel to come back to this series and what are y'all most looking forward to about it?
JI: I love the world of Super Best Friend. It's zany, fun and full of energy. (Just like how I want all my superhero comics). My answer to this is very simple. I'm always looking forward to see how George will compose these scenes. Sometimes, I throw some crazy story spaghetti on the wall, and I'm very happy when George is able to plate it well.
And fun fact: I've know the final page of Super Best Friend since the beginning, so I'm looking forward to fully funding so I can get George to that page in issue #3 as soon as possible.
GK: Coming back to this series feels great! I love this world, I love these characters and I'm always excited to find out what is going to happen next!
BM: Tell us what it's like working with letterer Taylor Esposito and what he's bringing to the world of SUPER BEST FRIEND.
JI: I've worked with Taylor on every comic I've ever made, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. He's a magician. His subtle magic makes our comic so much better. Readers, just take a peek at the word balloons in Super Best Friend. You'll see Taylor's art guiding you to brilliance. His choice of placement is next level.
GK: Working with Taylor is great! I've worked with him on other books too. He's great at his work! He's one of my favorite letterers right now!
BM: What or who can readers expect to see in issue #2?
JI: You will see a reference to a 1990s superhero comic electric character!
A buildup to a battle that I don't think Super Best Friend readers are expecting.
And a Dan Jurgens (Death of Superman & Booster Gold) variant cover that will knock your socks off!
It’s an adventure full of Silver Age Energy that examines the correlation between superheroes and their fandom. After this zany journey, Mattie will not only climb the ladder to his destiny—he’ll discover his true Super Best Friend.
GK: I don't want to spoil anything. We will learn a lot about our characters and their world in issue #2.
Getting to know Jason and George
BM: What are y'all reading right now?
JI: I'm loving Tom Taylor's Nightwing. Also, I'm reading through all the Award Nominated Screenplays for 2021. I just finished The Harder They Fall, and even though I've seen the movie I feel this really helps to improve my writing.
GK: It's a little after Christmas now, so the last thing I read in full is something that has become a bit of a Christmas tradition for me during the last few years. I (yet again) read Klaus by Grant Morrison and Dan Mora. I can't get enough of this comic book.
BM: What kinds of things inspire your work?
JI: This is going to sound goofy, but it's old poetry, epic mythology and classic stories. ($50 bucks to the person that can figure out the classic story inspiration of Super Best Friend!) I find it's helpful to look at the old tales that have stuck around and divine the "why." My next one is inspired by Huon of Bordeaux.
GK: My drawing style is inspired (besides my very obvious silver-age comics roots) by the latest animated movies and old European comic book creators, mainly French and Italian artists of the 1970's. As far as the storytelling side of my work, I also tend to look to live action movies for interesting shooting angles that I can incorporate in comics.
BM: Who's the superhero and who's the sidekick in your relationship?
JI: My wife, Ashley, is my superhero, and my intern cat Brego is the sidekick. But for Super Best Friend—George is the real superhero. His art makes our comic become real.
GK: Ha-ha! I'm obviously the sidekick. No question about that! But I try to be a useful sidekick! (Whether I'm succeeding or not is up to Jason and the readers to say). My goal is to serve Jason's vision as faithfully as possible and to insert only useful pieces of my personal view of things.
BM: What is it about the superhero genre that draws each of you to create stories within it?
JI: Superheroes are American mythology. We're a country founded on ideals, and I love playing around in a medium where characters live and die solely for their morals. It's awe-inspiring each time.
GK: What I love about the superhero genre is that it has progressed and changed so much since its first steps. It started as the stories of distant and perfect heroes that everybody looked to for salvation but now is more about the hero everybody can conjure from within. In SBF, for example, Mattie is the protagonist. He stands beside Captain Terrific, a super-powered being, but the story is more about Mattie and his strength and weakness than Terrific's, and that's what makes it interesting.
BM: Well said. I think that’s why I love this story so much, that it explores the superhero genre through Mattie’s eyes, a super-fan who has no powers, and not only that, but it also dives into his relationship with Terrific in a meaningful way.
Dear readers, don’t forget to check out Jason and George’s superhero adventure SUPER BEST FRIEND #1-2 coming to Kickstarter February 1st! They’re going to have some awesome rewards, including variant covers by comics legend Dan Jurgens and Sarah Leuver (Teen Titans Go! & Real Science Adventures)! Click the button below to get notified on launch day!