First Comics News: Firstly, I wanna say thanks for doing this William Glover. If I may, can I ask you for some background information? Where were you born? Where did you grow up?
William L. Glover: First off, thank you for being the first to interview me. I feel this is an honor and a pleasure.
as far as background, I was born in a small town centered around horse breeding called Aiken, SC and since my family wasn’t into Horse breeding, I had to find other ways to entertain myself.
As a child, my sister used to read the Sunday funnies to me. That was really my first taste of comics. I used to save every page of the comics and they helped me learn to read better. I eventually got my hands on an Archie book and fell in love with it. I drove my mother crazy asking for Archie and Betty and Veronica comics in the grocery stores, but it wasn’t until I caught the flu and got sick as a child that my true love would find me.
My mother went to an old drug store called Lominick’s (It’s no longer there.) to get me some medicine. She not only got the medicine but came back with a Thor comic. I loved the Artwork and the story was different from the funnies that I was used to. I needed to know what was next. Although Thor was the first, I fell in love with anything with an “X” attached to it. X-men, X-force, etc…As a child, I wanted to be a comic artist, but my art never really measured up to the art I saw on the pages so I temporarily let go of that dream, but I’m glad that I picked the pencil back up and started googling art tutorials. Along the way, I also found out that I was an awesome storyteller as well.
1st: Are you a writer, artist or both?
William: Both. There was a point where I fell in love with writing. I became obsessed. There are times when I find old stuff that I wrote and I’d be like, “That was me? I was a teenager, how did I know about this stuff?” It’s mind-blowing. I dabble between writing and art. My art is constantly getting better and better, sometimes by leaps and bounds when I really sit down, focus and dig in… so now I’m way more confident as a comic artist and am playing with different styles of art.
1st: Who are some of your creative influences?
William: Oh God, Stan Lee was and is still my hero. I aspire to learn from his mistakes and to push the boundaries of what he has accomplished.
I love the Art of Joe Madureira. The man is a god with art. I could only hope to reach the level of awesomeness that he possesses.
Also, I’d love to mention my friend and Facebook brother Raph Felix… He’s also an Art Juggernaut. The man is a genius!
I also love Todd Mcfarlane’s work. the man is a master!
1st: If you could hang out with any creator who would it be and why?
William: Joe Mad and Todd Mcfarlane. I’d love to pick their brains and learn the tricks of the trade from those guys. Can you imagine an amalgamation art style created from merging their styles into one?
That would be so sick!
1st: What are you reading, watching for entertainment?
William: I have a pile of comics and art books on my bookshelf next to my bed. I have a shelf full of stuff that I haven’t read yet, so I just grab something and read it.
As far as what I am watching? You guys are going to think I’m real sick in the head for my list Ha Ha. I watch Preacher, The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, Family Guy, Black-ish, Any Marvel Cartoon that’s on T.V. at the moment. Anything weird and exciting and I’m glued to the TV.
1st: William, you are the founder of Cataclysm Comics. What can you tell your fans about Cataclysm Comics?
William: Cataclysm Comics is a black-owned comic company that is run by people as diverse as it’s colorful cast of characters!
We started in a Group on Facebook, known as House of Nerd-Dom. Someone had posted that it was Jack Kirby’s birthday and that we should celebrate by drawing some of his characters. I commented and said that he would probably be more pleased if we drew and created our own characters. A lot of people liked that Idea, then I asked wouldn’t it be great if we all came together to form our own comic company?
I swear that I broke the internet with that one suggestion. Everybody went nuts! I was getting inboxes asking me when I was going to start up the group for us to get started. I was getting Shia Labeouf gifs saying “Do it! Do it Now!” It was crazy, but I started it up and we have been developing ever since. Everything is mostly just ideas thrown around and voted on by the group, from the name of the company to our logos and yes we have two logos Ha ha ha.
We want to give people an opportunity. As a kid, I never knew how to break into comics, I just knew that I wanted to. Here, I’m very relaxed about who works for us. We are working from home, but we have amateurs as well as vets. you could be just starting to write comics, we will accept you and you can learn how to write from the pros.
We want to be as diverse as the world is. I have some characters that are so full of life in my head right now, sometimes I swear they are real because I put so much characterization in them and I can’t wait to share them with the world. I don’t just want people to be able to relate to a character in a comic, I want them to see a reflection of themselves. I have all races, sizes, shapes, attitudes and sexual orientations ready to be unleashed upon the world.
1st: Congratulations William, I am very excited to report that on September 6, 2019, Cataclysm Comics website was launched. What can you tell the readers about that? Any links you want to share?
William: Sure, this is our first official website where you can meet the creators, see what’s coming soon from Cataclysm Comics, shop for Cataclysmic merchandise, Meet the characters and watch them develop, see our news and find out why we have Two company Logos! lol
1st: Cataclysm Comics has some amazingly talented staff, I am proud to say I am one of the writers. Who else do you have as part of team cataclysm comics?
William: Oh man, That’s a loaded question right there. We have over 50, Creators, writers, sketch artists, etc… To meet them, simply go to the website. we will be adding more people to it when it’s time, but we have some amazing and talented people.
1st: Some of the amazing work being done at Cataclysm Comics are The Heavy Strand, Another Night In Paradise and Garth Erickson: The Flaming Norseman! What can you tell your fans about the Heavy Strand?
William: The Heavy Strand started out as a television show that I wrote, but I didn’t know how to pitch it to the networks. I had written ten episodes in a ten-week span and had an outline for ten more episodes. It was about suddenly going from everyone in the world being normal, to suddenly a few people now have powers and the number of people with powers are growing by the day.
All of the material that I wrote equals up to about 40 issues that are waiting to be released, 2 issues per episode from the show.
Now it is the flagship comic of Cataclysm and explains the origin of our growing universe.
It is drawn by Monique MacNaughton, inked by James Hachey, edited by Courtney Futer, colored by Jim Ludwig and lettered by Hector Negrete.
1st: What can you tell your fans about Another Night In Paradise?
William: Another Night In Paradise started off as a joke. I was a security guard on the night shift in a mental hospital and one of the nurses asked me how I was doing one night. I said, “I’m just trying to survive another night in paradise.” Then I thought to myself, that would make a great name for a comic and for the premise of a comic. Basically, It’s a kids comic about 5 security guards that are trying to make it through the night, but weird and incredible events keep happening on their night shift.
It is written by myself, edited by Courtney Futer, Drawn, inked, and colored by myself and once again, Hector Negrete will letter.
1st: What can you tell your fans about Garth Erickson The Flaming Norseman?
William: Garth popped in my head at work one day… it was one of those moments when it was a great idea and I couldn’t stop working to write it down. luckily when I did, I found a note pad and jotted my ideas down.
Garth is about someone who had powers when no one else in the world did, but a chance encounter with mythical creatures opens his eyes to the truth that he is not alone in the world.
It was written by myself, pencils by Peter Ford, inks by Donald Willman, Color pencils (yes, I said color pencils) by Bobby Graham, and letters by Hector Negrete
1st: Any links you want to share?
William: Sure, Our Official website is: Cataclysmcomic.com
Our patreon page is: Patreon.com
You can follow us on twitter @Cataclysmcomic
Follow us on Instagram @Cataclysm Comics
Follow us on Facebook at Cataclysm Comics
1st: Cataclysm just released a Halloween sampler back in 2017, do you have a link to share with the readers?
William: yes, Get the very first digital comic ever released by Cataclysm comics right here for just $1.00! Cataclysm comics Halloween sampler 2017 features three mini-stories written by Chris Keaton and Rahil Mohsin. (all artwork is done by Rahil as well!)
Own a piece of digital history today. Click the link below and keep setting the trend, my friends! ComixCentral.com
1st: William, your company Cataclysm Comics also has a Patreon page, what can you tell the readers about your campaign?
William: Yes, Patreon is a platform where patrons donate money to support artists, musicians, actors, etc. In return, the patron is rewarded with rewards from the artists. We have several merchandise that we will be offering as a reward for donation and the rewards will be updated from time to time. It is a great way to help support us as we are still under construction and to get cool gear from Cataclysm!
You can go to our patreon page by clicking this link. Patreon.com
1st: The future looks Cataclysmic, any upcoming projects you would like to share?
William: We have plenty of books that we have developed and will be releasing in the future. The Amazing Raph Felix is working on a project that he has called LOCKJAW and if you haven’t seen his art, you need to go to the website, go to Coming soon, and click on LockJaw for the teasers. You’re in for a treat!
Also, our Head of H.R. Cassandra McKenzie will be kicking off a comic with a novel, called Arkirion, King of the spaceways, so stay tuned about that project.
1st: Is there any other projects you would like your fans to know that was not covered in this interview?
William: None other than LockJaw and Arkirion at the moment.
1st: William, 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?
William: I give a shout out to House of Nerd-Dom, because it was because of that group, that Cataclysm exists. I’d like to thank Cassandra Mckenzie for everything she does behind the scenes and to everyone at Cataclysm who are working to make our dream a reality.
1st: Thanks once again William Glover for this amazing interview. It was my honour and pleasure to talk with such a talented creator. Keep on creating!
William: Thank you, sir, for thinking of me.
Keep setting the trend, My friend!
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