Interview with Mermin Creator Joey Weiser!

It's all fun and games under the sea for Mermin and his friends as they go on a trick-or-treating adventure. Creator Joey Weiser tells all about his Halloween ComicFest mini-comic and why fans will love this fun, deep sea tale.

HCF: What can we expect to see in terms of story and art in your Halloween ComicFest title?
Joey Weiser (JW): "In the most recent Mermin graphic novel, Mermin Book 3: Deep Dive, the characters have arrived in the undersea kingdom of Mer. Pete and his human friends describe Trick or Treating to their fish-boy pal Mermin, in the Mermin Halloween Special.  He wants to give it a shot, despite the residents of Mer knowing nothing about the “dry land” tradition."

HCF: What is your favorite part about your comic?
JW: "Costumes are a very important part of Trick or Treating, and it was really fun to design what each character wears for the book!"

HCF: Tell HCF fans why they should pick up your comic first during the event.
JW: "The Mermin Halloween Special is fun, funny, and even has a little action at the end.  If you’ve never read Mermin before this is a good introduction to the characters and world, and if you’re already a fan of Mermin, you definitely should check this out!"

HCF: What is your favorite Halloween memory?
JW: "I’ve actually been having some pretty cool Halloweens recently!  A couple years ago my wife and some of our friends created a multi-person dragon costume that they marched in Athens, GA’s annual Halloween parade.  It had glowing eyes and everything!"

HCF: What has been your worst and best Halloween costume?
JW: "As a kid, I always wanted to be specific characters from books or comics that required a lot of explaining and that wasn’t ever as great as I expected it to be.  A few years ago, I dressed up as a “Scientist Dracula,” with the Dracula medallion, a lab coat, cape, the whole nine yards.  Figured that was funny and general enough to go over ok, but it mostly just confused people.  Oh well!"

HCF: What is a Halloween tradition you have?
JW: "I love watching old horror movies that are fun, strange, and not actually that scary or tense.  I may watch the bonkers Japanese horror film ‘House’ every year for the rest of my life."

HCF: What are you going to do for Halloween?
JW: "I’m going to have a stack of Mermin Halloween Specials to give to Trick or Treaters this year, which is exciting!  Still gotta get candy though, that’s important."

HCF: What other titles would you associate with your HCF book? “If a comic readers likes____, they should pick up my title?”
JW: "If readers like humorous adventure stories like Bone or Dragon Ball, they should check out Mermin."

HCF: Do you have any favorite Halloween, Monster or Horror themed comics?
JW: "The author of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama, has an excellent book called COWA! that is a ton of fun, has an awesome art style, and is good for all ages. I’m also a huge fan of Shigeru Mizuki who draws great comics about ‘yokai,’ Japanese ghosts and goblins.  A couple of his yokai books Kitaro and Nononba are available in English, and I highly recommend them."

HCF: Are there any comics that you are looking forward to getting on HCF or in the near future?
JW: "While on the subject of Akira Toriyama, I am really looking forward to his supposedly final graphic novel, Jaco The Galactic Patrolman, being published in English in January."

HCF: Any teasers about upcoming books or who you might be working with next?
JW: "I am currently working on the next Mermin graphic novel, so please keep an eye out for that!  I also have work frequently in SpongeBob Comics and do the occasional anthology comic or illustration." 

You can see more and learn about Joey's work on his website and by following him on Twitter.