Could you tell us a little about yourself?
I’m a lifelong comic book and pro wrestling fan, especially masked wrestlers. I grew up wanting to be an artist for the Marvel and DC comics of my youth.
From the wrestling side of things, who is Wrestler Zero, and how did he inspire you to feature him in a comic book?
Wrestler Zero is, in part, a love letter to the masked wrestler movie genre. Mexican masked men such as El Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Mascaras starred in movies where they battled supernatural and/or sci-fi menaces. They were wrestlers by occupation but heroes by inclination.
I did some translations and small illustrations for a masked wrestler-themed magazine titled “From Parts Unknown.” I had a burning desire to self-publish, and it occurred to me that I could fit a masked wrestler into any type of story.
And from the comic book aspect of things, do you do all the writing and drawing yourself?
I’m responsible for the whole mess.
Who do you list as your creative influences?
In my glorious youth, I devoured anything drawn by Gil Kane and John Byrne. As I grew older and learned a bit more about drawing, my tastes widened. I study Will Eisner and Jaime Hernandez for their storytelling and ability to imbue their characters with personality. I’d also like to mention Rod Serling for his ability to deliver a fully fleshed short story and old black-and-white movies and TV shows for their beautiful black-and-white imagery.
How much Wrestler Zero content have you produced?
I’ve published 2 issues of Wrestler Zero. Both are in black and white mini-comic format. I did produce a 3rd issue, but I didn’t publish it.
How many total pages have you finished on Wrestler Zero?
The first two issues are 22 pages and the third story is 8 pages.
Could you tell us a little bit about the Wrestler Zero story itself?
The story of Wrestler Zero: all heroic origins have a symbolic or literal life and death element. The hero’s former life ends, and his new one begins as Peter Parker into Spider-Man. Or literal as in Bruce Wayne to Batman.
With that in mind, I had Wrestler Zero killed by an unknown assassin. In that frozen moment between life and death time has no meaning, and it’s there he learns about a hidden war between Agents of Darkness and Agents of Order. He joins the latter and is restored to life.
Was Wrestler Zero given any powers or special abilities when he was restored to life?
I say he has amazing vitality, a keen intellect, and uncommon valor. He can also tune his mind to “a higher pitch” and see into the darkness for a moment.
When you were producing your Wrestler Zero stories, I’d imagine they were being done sort of on the side while you were also busy with your life. How accurate is that speculation on my part?
Very accurate. I had all of the confidence of someone who didn’t know what he didn’t know.
Are you currently working on any comics, and if so, what are they?
I’m working on a new Wrestler Zero story. I also have many other ideas, and a couple I’m working on is called “The Swine” and a sci-fi story called “Incursion”.
I think Wrestler Zero has great appeal to me because wrestling is a genre not often used in comics, and also due to the amount of passion you have for the type of wrestler he is, and combined with your love for comics there’s quite a bit that draws me to this character and your work on him. Is there a way for folks out there to pick up copies of your work, or are you planning to post it online or perhaps look for a publisher for these stories?
At the moment I have only 2 pairs of issues 1 and 2. I foolishly gave away virtually all of my original pages at shows I tabled at.
I intend to reprint them, perhaps with new pages, as a bonus of some sort to any new material.
Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, Tony.
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