(Background information from http://www.electricspaghetticomics.com/ )
Born in Birmingham, England in 1952, Trevor discovered comics at the age of nine with Red Rackam's Treasure: The Adventures of Tintin. He's been infatuated and absorbed by the medium ever since.
While still in high school, he produced a fanzine called Seminar which actually helped him get into art college.
He received a BA in Graphic Design at St. Martin's School of Art, a prestigious art college in London. During this time he published a comic book magazine called Unk with three other artists -- Peter Jones, Terry Frost, and Paul Simmons. In 1973, the second issue was published as View From the Void by underground published H. Bunch. His 60,000 word thesis on the Language of the Comic Strip completed his year of post-graduate work in illustration.
After leaving college, Trevor worked for D.C. Thompson's Publishing, illustrating romance and war comics. In 1974, he went to work for 2000 AD, the celebrated British comic book. In '78, the BBC asked him to illustrate the children's TV series Captain Zep.
Two years and many scripts later, Trevor moved into London's booming field of advertising art. After 4 years at Domino Studios, he and partners formed Helicopter Studios. As the largest and most cutting-edge studio in London, Helicopter gave starts to many promising artists.
In 1991, Trevor entered the Hollywood film business, story boarding features such as Independence Day, Final Fantasy, Mighty Joe Young, Gattaca, the Cell, Fantastic Four and many others. He is currently working on X-Men II for Fox.
Between films, he continued with the occasional comic book work (Star Trek, Pantera, Ring of Roses) but he kept developing his own project, now coming to fruition -- Waterloo Sunset.
Tell us about yourself, what sort of training did you get to be in this industry?Trevor Goring: I graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art in 1973 with a BA in graphic design and a postgraduate diploma in Illustration. During college I worked on underground comic publications: Cosmic Comics and View From the Void,
After college my first professional work was for D.C. Thompson’s girl’s magazine, “Jackie,” doing 4-color spot illustration for romance stories.
After Jackie I began to work on boy’s adventure stories for “Bullet,” followed by Dez Skinn’s magazine, “House of Hammer,” where I drew an adaptation of the film “Plague of the Zombies “(written by Brian Bolland). Like most of the “second-generation” English comic artists I drew covers and stories (Tharg’s, Future Shocks, and Dan Dare) for 2000 AD,
I segued to the BBC working for two years on the animated series “Captain Zep” where I learned storyboarding. Then came advertising art, and finally after moving to Los Angeles in 1992, I entered feature films.
Obviously, there is a lot of homage various genres. I see a touch of a western here, and of course Science Fiction but what else did you use for inspiration?
Trevor Goring: What I tried to do with Waterloo Sunset was bring my experience in the last 12 years of storyboarding films was to bring cinematic composition and storytelling into the comic book form. I wasn’t thinking of any particular genre that I was trying to emulate, though I’ve been reading science fiction as long as I’ve been reading comics. I do get most of my inspiration from old black and white films such as “The Third Man” and “The Touch of Evil,” along with the films of Kurosawa, Sergio Leone, Fredrico Fellini, and the French New Wave.
How did the original idea come about?
Trevor Goring: In 1989 1 I produced a comic called “Ring of Roses” (to be republished by Image later this year), which was written by Das Petrou and drawn by John Watkiss. This was conceived as the first in a number of stories about London. Waterloo Sunset was to be the second story in the collection. The idea was really about the title, which generated a lot of images of London. I designed the cover logos 12 years ago. The story went in numerous directions until I found the one that seemed right.
That was many years later in Hawaii as I was finishing work on the film “Final Fantasy.”
Who do you think influenced you the most in your style?
Trevor Goring: Growing up in England I was exposed not only to American comics but also several outstanding British artists such as Frank Hampson, Frank Bellamy, Don Lawrence, and Syd Jordan. These artists came from a more realistic school than their American counterparts, perhaps due to the fact that their work was printed in higher quality publications.
I was always torn between stylized work and realism. On the one hand I would like to paint like Norman Rockwell, but I found the simplicity of Alex Toth and Hugo Pratt compelling. It wasn’t until after spending 15 years in advertising and film that I found a way of combining these apparently contradictory directions. Waterloo Sunset is the first of my work that reflects my own artistic voice in the comic strip medium.
What other books or films have you worked on, and are there plans for another anytime soon?
Trevor Goring: I worked on about 25 major films such as: Independence Day, The Cell, Gattaca, The Ring, Alien Resurrection, Italian Job, Xmen2, Spawn, The Hundred Year Winter(the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and currently, Fantastic Four.
My most recent comic books were “Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Zero edition,” and “Pantera” for Malibu Comics. Of course, as I mentioned before, Ring of Roses will be republished this year.
My partner Jerry Sinclair and I recently started Electric Spaghetti Comics (www.electricspaghetticomics.com), which is a comic production company that brings together talent from outside the comic industry to create new properties. We are currently working with Bill Paxton and Todd Field designing and developing, along with artist Ray Harvie, a comic book based on one of their film scripts. We also have another project called Goddess, written by Syd Jordan (Jeff Hawke) and myself, using the well-known “low-rider” model Dazza as the inspiration. Both will be premiered at the San Diego Comic Con this year.
How many books will there be in Waterloo Sunset?
Trevor Goring: Waterloo Sunset will be published in four 56-page books starting in July. We may do two sequels, which, as Andrew Stephenson has written them, will give an increasingly bigger picture of the universe in which the story takes place.
How long did it take to complete each issue?
Trevor Goring: It seems forever, but as deadlines loom, the time appears shorter and shorter. If I were working on it full-time, I’d probably complete each chapter in 6 weeks.
But working between films on weekends and evenings for the last two years, it’s hard to estimate.
What made you want to be involved in the Comic industry?
Trevor Goring: Since I discovered Herge’s Adventures of Tin Tin, comics have been a passion. I was involved at the start of comics’ “Fandom” in England in the 60’s and wrote my thesis in Art College on “the Language of the Comic Strip”.
Where did you get the name, Waterloo Sunset?
Trevor Goring: Waterloo Sunset is the name of a song by the English Rock Band, the Kinks.
What can you tell us about your partners in the book, writers, artists, etc?
Trevor Goring: Andrew Stephenson, the writer, was introduced to me by my good friend Syd Jordan. Andrew is a science fiction writer from England. He visited me in Los Angeles, and I showed him my notes. He was intrigued by the story and came up with a premise, which gave it depth and detail. This is his first graphic novel. Jim Wheelock is the lettering artist and a fellow member of CAPS, a professional cartoonist organization in LA. Joe Ochoa is a graphic designer I met in one of my storyboard classes in Los Angeles. I rely on him a lot. Together we do the design.
He formats all the work and makes it ready for print. There are numerous people who have helped, such as Jan and Bill at Hurricane Entertainment and Stephen Platt, who put me into tune about how the current comic book industry works, and others I have thanked in the book and personally.
If you were not in the Comics industry, what would you like to be doing now?
Trevor Goring: I can’t imagine not being in comics or movies or some form of art. But if pressed, I would say—I’d like to be a chef like Emeril Agassi.
Do you think Waterloo Sunset could make the transition to movies, the way so many other books have been doing?
Trevor Goring: Since I visualized Waterloo as a film while I drew it, I think it would translate easily. Some directors who have seen it have expressed enthusiasm. If it does get made into a movie, I’d love to get involved as the art director, or at least the storyboard artist. However, it is a more literary work than the normal comic book—it doesn’t fit into one genre. Our selling point was that “if Charles Dickens had written science fiction, it might have been like Waterloo Sunset.” So perhaps Andrew will turn it into a novel, which will then be made into a film.
How can someone get the book in their local store?
Trevor Goring: Waterloo Sunset appears in the May issue of Diamond’s Previews Catalogue under the Image banner. It will in stores in July. The WS Preview book can be ordered from www.electricspaghetticomics.com or purchased at the San Diego Comic Convention in July.