Brian Defferding and Deftoons: The Future of Horror Comics By Brian Kirst
Besides having the most amazing first name in the world, artist-writer Brian Defferding has also has created one of the most stunning comics, School: A Ghost Story. Utilizing starkly beautiful (and occasionally blackly funny) images, Defferding has given the horror world the story of Lindsay Buckner, a viciously murdered grade school student. While stuck in a ghastly limbo, haunting a spooky variation on her former place of education, Lindsay finds herself trailed by a group of spooks in dementedly cheerful smiley masks. Fortunately, this delightful imagination is also on full display in Defferding’s other comic projects (often revolving around food) and at his website www.deftoons.com. Defferding recently took a few moments to explore his life and plumb the depths of his fantastic visages by answering some stabbing (don’t worry – I don’t mean that literally) questions below.
Brian K: Who are your primary artistic inspirations?
Brian D: Thomas Ott, Edward Gorey, Ted McKeever, and Geof Darrow. Thomas Ott is a scratchboard comic artist; it’s a venture that’s pretty unexplored in comics. He has a really eerie atmosphere, abnormal and horrifying. Some of his stories can leave you disturbed from what you saw, other times laughing. Every single one of his works is a masterpiece. I’m quite envious of his talent. Edward Gorey is an old childhood fave; his use of gallows humor in the 60’s was like a postmodern version of Brothers Grimm tales. I loved his hatching, Gorey never really liked his art, but I dug it. Ted McKeever has a great sense of composition and black-and-white contrast; he utilized negative space by splotching in a big black area on various parts of the page and draw/paint in the positive space. His work is loose and muddy, but never sloppy. On the other hand, Geof Darrow was the complete opposite of Ted McKeever, his work in Hard Boiled with Frank Miller was my first exposure to him. He would draw these absolutely ridiculously detailed panels, right down to the nuts and bolts of everything, all of them straight from his head. You could spend weeks just looking at a two-page cityscape he drew. He is hands down the most detailed artist in comics. There is a reason why the Wachowski brothers picked him as concept artist for The Matrix; his art comes shining through in many of those scenes.
Brian K: Was there a specific inspiration for Lindsay Buckner and School: A Ghost Story?
Brian D: My motivation came from a lot of places; most of them are, incidentally, from music. When I listen to certain songs I get an image in my head, it’s like the music is making an illustration for me. I will confess it was the Supertramp song “School” that actually kicked off the atmosphere and style of my comic series. The piano part in the second half of the song was what did it. Suddenly I felt compelled to draw. But it wasn’t just that song – songs from Opeth, Septic Flesh and Slayer specifically took this vision and kept it dark and terrifying. The original concept of “School” came partly from a love of ghost stories and partly from an unsolved disappearance from my hometown. I won’t go into details to protect the family, but there was a nasty rumor going around that this person was buried underneath a newly built divided highway that wrapped around the city. I thought “what a cool idea for a ghost story” and I made my own alterations; created Lindsay Buckner’s character and it went from there.
Brian K: Do you have the story for School complete in your head or is it more of an ongoing process?
Brian D: Oh it’s complete. I know exactly how it is going to end. Muahahahaha.
Brian K: Dining seems to play a certain purpose in your comics – IE: Space Diner and Fast Food Restaurant. Can you comment on that?
Brian D: Diners, restaurants, fast-food is like a status symbol of a region. The word “diner” comes to my head, I think of blue collar, salt-of-the-earth culture. Fast food, I think of fat people in suburban subdivisions. My girlfriend is a culinary student, and I’ve come to learn from her that food is more than just sustenance. It can change our behavior, our daily habits. The smell, the taste, the texture means a lot to how we look at life in general. It’s also an economic trade, so it provides as a constant reflection of local economies.
Brian K: Is there a character that you created whom is your favorite to draw – and why?
Brian D: Lindsay Buckner. She is the epitome of hurt, cynicism, and self-righteous anger. She feels she got shortchanged in both life and afterlife. Plus she is still a little girl, so she overreacts sometimes. But despite all of this, every now and then you see a little bit of that little girl mentality peek out. She’s a layered character.
Brian K: Do movies and other media inspire you artistically?
Brian D: Other than the music I previously mentioned, what inspires me a lot is the fact that animation is still such an unexplored form of mass media. All the animated movie blockbusters now are computer generated and for kids. There’s a lot more to animation than just that. My ultimate goal is to have “School: A Ghost Story” be a black-and-white cell animated movie. I really feel it could bring something unique to the table and address an untapped genre. We shouldn’t simply find good animation only on the Cartoon Network. Wanting to offer something new and unique inspires me every day.
Brian K: Can you tell us about your favorite horror films – if any?
Brian D: Definitely! My favorite horror films are The Exorcist and The Exorcist III. The Exorcist III is probably the biggest hidden masterpiece in horror. It’s very Kubrick-esque with superb acting and witty dialog; it shows you can scare the bejeezus out of someone without blood and gore and without crazy orchestra sounds. Brad Dourif and George C. Scott were magnificent, AND it has one of the scariest scenes of all cinematic history. I could watch the flick a thousand times over and never get old with it. The first Exorcist still stands the test of time by all critics and viewers alike that it’s one of the most disturbing mainstream films ever made, and the director’s cut with the deleted scenes added in makes it even twice as better than before.
Brian K: Lastly, any words of wisdom (IE: Never get caught in a school of beastly wonders in your afterlife) or any future projects that you’d like to tell us about? And thanks – this has been better than coloring outside of the lines!!
Brian D: Ha ha, you bet! School: A Ghost Story #1-#4 will be collected in a trade paperback in the late fall/early winter and will be sold with issue #5. Issue #5 is going to be around 100 pages and sold as a graphic novel. Stop by www.deftoons.com to find the latest news of when those issues will be out, what comic shops in the US carry them, and to order through PayPal online – or, just shoot me an email to deftoons@deftoons.com and I’ll add you in my email list so I’ll send out new announcements whenever they happen. I hope you enjoy the comics as much as I do!
