First Comics News: Firstly, I wanna say thanks for doing this Robert Doan. If I may, can I ask you for some background information? Where were you born? Where did you grow up?
Robert Doan: I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. My family moved to PEI in 1990. I grew up in a small community called Rocky Point.
1st: Are you a writer, artist or both?
Robert: Let’s combine the two and call myself a creator. I have been an artist my whole life up until this point and Indestructible is my first “creation” that I’ve pursued. It’s a lot of fun, having full control over an idea and kind of letting IT take you on a ride. I’m excited to see where things go.
1st: Who are some of your creative influences?
Robert: Everyone, anyone who has ever written a good story, any artist that can make you understand a comic without reading the speech bubbles. Good storytellers pull me in. I love artists like Kelley Jones, Greg Capullo, Nick Bradshaw, Arthur Adams, Jose Garcia Lopez…The list goes on.
1st: If you could hang out with any creator who would it be and why?
Robert: I love the guys in the office I get to hang with 5 days a week. It’s so much fun sharing a studio with other creators, ideas get passed around, the energy is amazing. But if I was to pick one of my influences, I don’t think I could choose, most of them have passed on. And they always say, never meet your heroes.
1st: What are you reading, watching for entertainment?
Robert: I don’t watch a whole lot of TV or movies, but shows like Stranger Things, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, anything that is “just a bit different” is what I’m into. Comic book movies are starting to tire me out a bit. As for comics, I don’t read a whole lot of those either, I have always collected for the art, ever since I was a kid growing up in Rocky Point.
1st: Robert you worked on Star Trek for IDW, what can you tell your fans about that project?
Robert: Well, it’s a memorable experience. I was trying my best to break into comics as an inker. I made lots of online friends during this time, people that were up and coming around the same time as me. My friend from California messaged me one night and said “guess what I’m working on?” Star Trek was the answer to that. So I looked up the artist and emailed him some samples of my work, and I kindly stated that if he was ever in a tight bind with a deadline to hit me up. It was a shot in the dark as he was a pretty big name. He messaged me back no less than an hour later and said, “I can send you pages right now”. So I guess he was in that deadline mode. We did two issues together, pages were sent to me all times of the day, I was still working a full-time job at this point too. So I would wake up at 5 am, ink a page, go to work, get home, ink another page, etc, etc. We did this for two issues than we did some other work together after that as he liked how I handled the deadline.
1st: How can the readers get a copy or multiple copies if interested?
Robert: Go to your local Comic shop and ask for Star Trek – the lost Apollo. Issues 33 and 34 I believe.
1st: Another project you worked on was Eric Henson’s Eden for Alterna Comics, You what can you tell the reader about that project?
Robert: I was sitting down watching a documentary called Comic-con – A fans hope. In this doc, they showed a few artists, shop owners, makeup artists, cosplay. One of the artists they followed around SSDC trying to break in was Eric Henson, and I fell in love with his work. His style was so clean and had that great cartoon style within it. Not only that but his sample pages he was showing off was the Hulk, my absolute favourite. Fast forward a few weeks after I watched this documentary countless times, I post on Facebook “I want to work with Eric Henson” and tagged his name in the post. Again, an hour or so later he messages me and asks if I would be available to ink his creator-owned title for Image. We did an issue and a half together, his other inker Mikey Babinski jumped back on board after I took over for him after issue one, then I stayed on and lettered the series up until issue 4 where my friend Warren Montgomery took over.
The book is great, it’s about a mother in search of her child that was taken captive by an alien race. She has some friends help her along the way and it has an extraordinary finale.
1st: How can fans get a copy?
Robert: Hit up your local shop! Always go to your comic shop before anywhere else, we need these stores to stay alive. The book was actually picked up by Alterna after Image changed their mind on it. All four issues are out with a collected edition on its way.
https://www.alternacomics.com/
1st: You’re a creator with many talents. You also did some work for Dynamite Entertainment, what can you share with your fans about that project.
Robert: My friend was working on The Dresden Files with artist Carlos Gomez, he was in a tight bind with a deadline an I happily helped out when he asked. It was super fun. I never got to read the book or anything, but it looked fantastic.
1st: Robert, I want to talk to you about Sandstone Comics. You guys had a very successful Kickstarter for issue 1. What can you tell the fans about that experience?
Robert: I have been part of many Kickstarter before, mostly on the creative end of it. But being on the leading end, when it’s your book, your very first book. It’s nerve-racking. We ran the KS for almost 50 days, it was the longest 50 days I ever spent online. It was up and down and we didn’t know if people were into it or they cared, but at the end, we ended up maybe 500 more that we asked for. I hope we never have to ask for that amount again, it’s a long number to follow for a month. But thanks to everyone that made it possible we printed an amazing looking book and now we are back for issue 2.
1st: Do you mind telling the readers about Sandstone comics # 1. Is it an anthology? What characters are showcased?
Robert: It is an anthology of sorts. It’s a 72-page book, there are three 20 pages stories within the book that are done by each of us creators. We each wrote, penciled, inked, coloured, lettered our own books start to finish. No other parties came in to help out. So yeah, the stories are our own, our characters we came up with, our setting.
1st: You teamed up with superstar creators Sandy Carruthers and Gregory Webster. What can you tell me about your fellow creators?
Robert: I had known of Sandy for many years, he was the graphic design instructor at our local college for 25 years. I was going to take his course many times but life always got in the way. We finally met face to face a few winters ago and had dinner and talked comics. He recently retired and wanted to start a small press company. The next time we talked and met up he spoke interest in having partners, not wanting to do it all by himself. We talked more and he introduced me to his friend and former student Greg Webster. A few months later Sandstone Comics was born and a few months after that we started renting a studio and set to work on Issue 1.
1st: I really enjoyed Sandstone comics # 1, it was a lot of fun! Your contribution to this epic tile is called Indestructible, what can you tell your fans about the character?
Robert: The main character Martin (Nucleus) is named after my late father. He is dying from a tumour that was a result of an engineering accident that gave him his powers. I can’t give away too much without jumping into issue 2 but the story will follow his days as a superhero living in Charlotte City and dealing with his illness. And there are lots of cool villains along the way.
1st: Robert, how can the readers get a copy or many copies of Sandstone Comics #1.?
Robert: Head on over to your local shop, ask them to order it if they don’t already carry it – OR – head on over to our website www.sandstonecomics.com
1st: I am very excited for Sandstone Comics # 2. What can you tell me about the comic?
Robert: There was so much I wanted to do in issue 1 that I just didn’t have room for, and maybe that was a good thing. So I sprinkled little things all through it that I could easily pick up in issue 2 and carry with. So issue 2 is where the story really gets rolling. It almost feels a bit detached from issue 1 for a certain number of reasons but will come full circle. We get to see Nucleus dealing with his day to day illness and we also get to explore a little bit more of Charlotte City and some new characters.
1st: Robert, your new Kickstarter campaign set to launch very soon. When does it launch? Is there any links you would like to post?
Robert: The Kickstarter for issue 2 runs October 1st to 31st of this year. This time around we will only be looking for $6000 thanks to the mild success of issue 1. Head on over to our website for any updates on shows, the Kickstarter or other news. Also, follow us on facebook @sandstonecomics or on Instagram @sandstone_comics
https://www.facebook.com/sandstonecomics/?ref=br_rs
1st: Is there anything projects you would like your fans to know that was not covered in this interview?
Robert: As soon as issue 2 is done I will be digging into something a little different, it may even be attached to this Kickstarter in some way, maybe a stretch goal?
1st: Robert are there any people or groups you would like to acknowledge and give a shout out to that we didn’t mention in this interview?
Robert: Just want to say thanks to everyone that has supported us this far, it’s amazing to have people like what you do and possibly want more of it. And just thanks to everyone that helped me along the way, I had a lot of great teachers online that helped me break in years ago.
1st: Thanks once again Robert for this amazing interview. It was my honor and pleasure to talk with such a talented creator.
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