Comic 411: Some info of the Infamous that you never thought to ask...or are just curious about. One or the other.



Q: So who are you?
A: Richard Dotson, at your service. Some folks know me around the web by my pennames, Richie Datsun or just simply RichieD. (which I much prefer :P)

Q: Got a hometown?
A: Check the Links of the Litter section, then click the Ghostwerks logo. You'll find your answer there :D.

Q: How long have you been drawing?
A: Heh, kinda hard to say. I've been in and out of the stencil game since I was six. But I didn't really get serious with it till I twelve as I started making low grade superhero stories. After a bit of hiatus, I started making full blown comics once I was in my teens. So going from my high school days, I'd say roughly about seven years.

Q: How did you come up with The Infamous?
A: Once again this goes back to my high school days and a very familar story among most cartoonists. Having always been a fan and watcher of cartoons, I had the ideas for a couple of characters in my head those days but I could never truly fit a design for them. Not to mention I just getting back into the swing of drawing. Then one day while in class, I started doodling out of boredom. This little doodle resulted in the creation of Shorty on the side of a bunch of math notes. Inspired by this "accident", I begin to draw designs for a handful of characters, among which were Rich and Rolly and soon started making comics around them. At first the series was called The Infamous R.S.R (Rich, Shorty, and Rolly), basiclly a gag-a-day strip. But after awhile, I started leaning more toward adventure not to mention the roster for my characters was expanding. So I dropped the gag format and the "R.S.R" from the title, and started thinking for a more wider range setting for my characters.

Q: What is Future Jam?
A: Future Jam is the name I put for the first series of the comic. I was a huge fan of space westerns at the time (Cowboy Bebop in paticular), which lead to baseing the first series off of this. FJ tells the story of a hapless metor destorying spacheship pilot who finds himself in debt after crashing into another spaceship's engine, from there wacky adventures ensue for him, his K9 partner, and the owner of the ship Rich crashed into. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, I begin to lose interest in the genre and this lead to difficulty creating storylines. Also I had another version of the comic swimming around in my head and this kept getting bigger and bigger until eventuallty it was too good to ignore. So after a hard decsion, I put FJ on indefinte hitaus and lead it to the current series today.

Q: And the Cit-Burbs Saga?
A: Its the series running now. If you wanna know what its about you'll have follow the comic ;).

Q: Wait, if Shorty was created first, why didn't she appear in the FJ series?
A: Well she was intended to down the road, as a bounty hunter too (only much more serious). But I ended FJ before it got to her part. Though to make up for it, Shorty IS the one to kick off the new series. And seeing how the FJ series ended, she techniclly....kinda did appear in the first series. For about two seconds anyway. LOL!

Q: Beside The Infamous, have you created any other comics?
A: Of course. Pre-Infamous: the first was the above mention superhero comic books (i.e notebook paper stapled together :P) called R-Man. A self instertion comic that starred me and two of my friends at the time. Next was Urban Central, a South Park-like series about a project in the New York. Post-Infamous: Apple a Day, Chaos Crew, Sci-Fi Boys, and Panic: a bunch of short lived series that I experimented with though the characters are still being used today. Also another I draw currently is Skid Markz, an irrelivent comedy series that is updated every Monday at Snowflake Studios. Plus a number of others ideas that are still in development for the future.

Q: Do you have any inspirations?
A: Doesn't any artist? There are tons that inspire me, but the few off the top of my head: One Piece, Powerpuff Girls, Spider-Man, Static Shock, DragonBall (not Z, the first series), Calvin and Hobbes, Alfred Hitchcock, Mel Brooks and Kevin Smith films, a number of more popular webcomics, fanfiction and pretty much everyday life.

Q: Ever think about publishing in a newspaper?
A: This I get alot. Truthfully I would love to, but my skills are intermediate at best. Plus am still learning the ins and outs of comic work (even after drawing them as long as I have). Besides did you see the FJ series, I doubt the companies that print those comics would give it a second glance before throwing it in the trash. Once my skills improve and I gain more confidence I might just take the leap. Till them, am happy webtooning.

Q: Hey I have a webcomic too. Wanna trade links?
A: Always happy to help a fellow webtoonist plug their comic. Just e-mail me at rdatsun@yahoo.com under the subject "Link Trade" with a URL to your site. Also if your looking for buttons for my site, their in the Links of the Litter section.

Well I hope that clear up everthing. Though if you have any more questions or just want to drop a comment feel free to e-mail me. With that, I hope you enjoy the new Infamous series. Peace out!