WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN #1

As CosmicBookNews continues on with the Declaration of the Independents, one writer who stood out for this interviewer was Norrie Ko.

The 27-year-old California based writer, teamed up with recent CosmicBookNews spotlight artist Jason Dube to tell the story of an unnamed protagonist that “wishes for a really good depression.”

“It seems like all of the truly great artists are always depressed,” she narrates driving to work. “Plus it seems like they are at the lowest points in their lives when they produce their greatest works or right before they are discovered.”

And what follows is a day in the life of this young woman at work who uses her imagination in a Walter Mitty like way that would make J.D. from Scrubs or even Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes proud. When her co-worker Amy, throws her under the bus for several mistakes the protagonist made and Amy promised to assist with, the unnamed woman imagines beating the proverbial crap out of Amy and getting some much needed revenge.

Ko and Dube were kind enough to talk with CosmicBookNews about the first of Waiting for Something to Happen.CosmicBookNews: This is your first comic, how excited were you to see your comic script come to life?Norrie Ko: It was extremely exciting to see my first comic completely drawn out and published.

CosmicBookNews: Why a comic book and say not a short story someplace else?

Norrie Ko: I think in pictures. When I come up with a story, it is like I am watching a movie in my head, so I just felt that making it into a comic would portray it more accurately.

CosmicBookNews: Jason, did you plan on the comic book being in black and white?

Jason Dube: Yeah I did.

I knew that it by being black and white it would draw the kind of crowd I knew that would be interested in her story.

To be honest, the art is almost an after thought. And this comic has a very Kevin Smith’s Clerks and American Splendor feel to it.

CosmicBookNews: What was this a personal project for you?

Norrie Ko: Yes, this script is very personal for me. The comic is based on my life, so you can’t really get more personal than that. Ultimately, I think that this comic books deals with fear, the fear of change and of taking risks. It is about choosing the safer path in life, even though you are miserable you choose security over happiness.

CosmicBookNews: What did you think of Norrie’s script?

Jason Dube: I like stories like this. It is a very character driven piece and I thought a lot of people would relate to a story like this.

And working with Norrie was very easy. It took me about a month to complete a script, but what she did that helped speed up the process was she would draw out the panels for me with stick figures.

This comic is a character based comic book and not the typical action, capes and super hero comic you see, so with the stick figures, I was able to build off of that and I was able to capture the essence of what she envisioned in her head.

Norrie Ko: When I first received it back from the printer I was overwhelmed with how amazing it looked.

Even though Jason Dube had me review and approve each step of the process I never could have anticipated the feelings of accomplishment, satisfaction and gratitude to all of the people who have been involved when I saw my story in its completed form.

CosmicBookNews: I noticed there is a lot of gray in the comic.

Jason Dube: Yeah, as I said it is very character driven and it is almost like a newspaper strip and as I said earlier, honestly, the artwork is not the focus of Waiting for Something to Happen . If we had used colors, I think it would have made the story flashy and take away what she had to say.

But on a personal note, this is the first front cover I ever had that was gray. And this was just to reflect the character’s bland life.

In fact, if you check out Norrie’s Myspace page for this page, it is gray as well.

CosmicBookNews: It sounds like you two really worked well together.

Norrie Ko: I love Jason Dube’s artwork and I am really happy with the way that the comic turned out. He is so very talented and extremely easy to work with. I am a really big fan of Jason’s art and have been for years. I am very happy that he not only agreed to do all of the artwork, but to publish it as well.

Jason Dube: I agreed to publish it because it was a great story and I knew people could relate to it.

CosmicBookNews: Norrie, Jason, thanks so much for your time!

Norrie Ko: Thank you!

Jason Dube: Thank you again, CosmicBookNews.com!

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