Few know this, but conservation work is extremely important to me. Aside from Godzilla and film, I’m deeply passionate about shark and marine life conservation. The planets must have aligned when I stumbled upon TERRITORY, a comic that is written by Blake McCarthy, a nature-oriented conservationist and firefighter by day. Impressively, this is Blake’s first major comic, being joined by an entire team of pencillers, editors, and inkers. The entire presentation behind Territory is professional-grade, with incredible breathtaking art, sharp intriguing story beats, and of course, featuring a cool grizzly bear kaiju.
I had the chance to talk to Blake about Territory and his love for kaiju and comic books this past week, getting an insight into how these independent comic creators shape their worlds. We’re no strangers to the indie comic scene here on Kaiju United, but it’s always a treat getting to talk to one of them, because at their core, they’re storytellers and creatives, bringing some of the most innovative kaiju work to the genre and fandom at large.
Territory issues 1 through four is live on Kickstarter, you can support them by clicking here
Interviewer – Jacob Lyngle (Bold)
Interviewee – Blake McCarthy (Italics)
Hello, Kaiju United readers! I’m here with Blake McCarthy, the writer of the “Territory” comic. Blake, do you want to go ahead and introduce yourself?
Hi, I’m Blake McCarthy. Like you said, writer of Territory. And I’m excited to be here. So thank you for having me on.
Blake, I did notice right out of the gate, that this is your “first” major comic completely published. What a feat!
Yes. This is basically the first comic I’ve done. I did some drafts before I did territory, just kind of for practice, but this is the first comic I’ve done all the way to completion.
You also have a whole team behind you, which is really awesome to see. How did you assemble this team? You have your artists, inkers, letterers, and the works. How did you manage a comic with such professional industry standards on an indie level?
Before I started on Territory, I did a lot of research on what makes a comic, and I learned that it is a whole team that needs to be involved. After that, I went and just started looking! That’s one of the amazing things about the internet and social media, is that it gives us access to so many talented and creative people. So I just went on to Instagram and various art sites once I kind of had an idea for what I wanted to do with the comic and had some scripts written. I found Chris Sassaman first, who was the main artist for the first three issues. He actually had some of his artwork posted on Reddit and Instagram. And then he knew Ichsan Ansori, who was the colorist for all the issues; they had worked together in the past. Interestingly, one thing I’ve learned is, like you said, you know, some artists do just pencils, some do just inks. Chris actually does the pencils and the inks all together. It was nice having at least those two who had worked together in the past and understood how to work with each other. It’s a delicate balance, and I think they nailed that.
And then I just kind of continued to look. Marco Della Verde is our letterer; he’s actually been in the industry for over 20 years. So he’s sort of the veteran of the group, which has been extremely helpful. He has helped with a lot of backend issues as far as formatting, technicalities… a lot of stuff that as a first-time creator, you just don’t really know to even think about. He was able to get ahead of a lot of that. Nicole D’Andrea was our editor from issue two on. I didn’t actually have an editor for the first issue, which is I think is probably the biggest mistake I’ve made for the whole book. That would be my number one advice for any new creators. Make sure that you have an editor, because what she was able to do as far as making things flow and maintaining consistency really helped take the book to the next level. And then unfortunately, Chris wasn’t able to continue working on the book, so Donny Hadiwidjaja has stepped in to be the artist on issue four and five, which will serve as the finale for Territory.
Short run! I was about to ask if you had a definitive beginning, middle, and end for your story! Sounds like it’ll be a five-issue miniseries!
I knew going in that I wanted it to be sort of a miniseries. I had a story with a definitive start and end point in mind. It was originally going to be six issues, but again, working with Nicole got us down to five. That way, we’ll be able to tell the whole story in a way that is exciting the whole time. I won’t have any filler, and we’ll be able to get this whole story out there from start to finish.
That’s awesome. It’s very clear that you came into this, like you said, with a plan, and clearly, the preparation work is some of the best I’ve seen in an indie comic. It was really exciting seeing the comic script before any kind of penciling was done before. I’m a movie guy, so I’m used to film screenplays, so seeing a comic script in purest form was enticing and enriching. Was that for Kickstarter backers, or more of a bonus feature included within the regular comic?
That was a reward for our Kickstarter! We’ve kind of used that as sort of like an added bonus, just as a thank you to people for supporting the book. I’m with you on the comic scripts. Before I really started on this process, I hadn’t seen a lot of the backend work of what goes into comic book production. There’s way more that goes into it than most people who just read the end product realize, and so we want to give people sort of an insight into, you know, how we got there by building this world up. I hope that shines through by the end.
Are you a comic book fan to begin with? Or is this just something you were interested in doing, and you just jumped right in?
I am a fan! I’ve been reading comics since I was a kid. I grew up mostly a fan of Marvel, and some DC. It was a lot of more mainstream types of stuff. So I grew up reading them, and then sort of in my late teens, early 20s, just kind of fell off of it. But then, when one of my kids got old enough to where they started getting into it, it got me back into it as well. But I actually started to get more into sort of indie books and the different types of storytelling instead of just the superhero stuff. And that really opened up the whole world of comics to me. And it was at that point that I realized that that was how I wanted to tell this story.
So you had this Territory story in mind, but didn’t solidify its medium of choice being comics until later on?
I’d say I’ve had the idea in mind for a while, at least a couple years before I really started working on it. So in college, I looked at possibly doing some screenwriting stuff, but I just could never really find a method that really clicked for me. I’m a big kaiju fan, of course. That was sort of the driving force; I wanted to make a Kaiju story. Once I got into comics, and especially the indie comics and the bigger range of what was out there in the industry, then it was kind of like a realization that oh, this is a perfect fit for this idea that’s been kind of floating around in my head.
Since you’re a comic book fan, what comic books were some primary influences on Territory? I’m deeply curious about that, especially with your love for indie comics. Were there any that paved the way and inspired you to create the tone and world of territory?
Definitely! Honestly, once I started getting back into it, I felt like I had a lot to catch up on. This was probably because I was kind of out of the game for so long and I hadn’t really read a lot of indie comic stuff before. I just started reading a whole bunch. They were not all necessarily even indies, but stuff like Sweet Tooth, and as far as like post-apocalyptic world building, East of West comes to mind. Then there’s the comics I’ve been enjoying that are more akin to kaiju or tokusatsu. I feel like there’s a lot of kaiju and Toku media that’s become available sort of recently. Stuff like Monstrous, KaijuMax, and others popping up made me see that I should be doing this as a comic book too. The potential is infinite.
That’s really incredible. I’ve noticed that throughout your book that there are thematic elements of a crisis of faith. What led you down the path to the themes of religious fanaticism? I live in Utah, so that kind of struck a weirdly specific chord with me.
I’d say from my perspective, my target reach with those themes was the Catholic school kid that has grown up now and is sort of disillusioned with it all. Whether that IS Catholic School, or some place with heavy emphasis on faith, like your Utah, that’s got such an influence on how everything is around there. People who sort of grow up in that environment and that are sort of sheltered by it. Later in life, once they kind of see what the other options are, sometimes that feeds into their disillusionment about all of it. That’s definitely one of the core themes, and something I want to explore with this story.
And it was presented in such a way that I was like, oh, my God, this is kind of like what people do here. In Utah, they call it the moment their shelf broke. I don’t want to spoil it for any readers, but there’s a there’s a moment in there where the shelf breaks for the protagonist’s family and group. I think the best way I can describe it is that their faith in the Great One is completely shattered at one pivotal moment in the series so far.
Those are definitely the sort of the moments that I wanted to deliver, because I think that’s something that really connects with people. It’s definitely a very personal experience if you’ve grown up being trained to think a certain way, and then you see something that challenges what you were taught your entire life to believe. I feel that it is a deeply personal and extremely powerful moment. And so those were the moments that we wanted to kind of capture. But we wanted to do it in a fun way with the kaiju and everything revolving around them.
That was a moment of huge surprise to me, I was truly shocked. I’m not going to lie to you. I was like, okay, like, they’re not afraid to tell a story here. So I really appreciate that.
Well, thank you. And I think that’s one of the great things about having a defined beginning and end point. You don’t have to think about how to tell this character story for on and on and ongoing on years and years. We can tell their complete story without inventing random stuff to make it continue, that way everything is more meaningful and impactful.
So, your post-apocalyptic world is very nomadic, it’s very environmentally focused. I know, you’re personally a conservationist. Do you do conservation work? Or is that just something you feel very, very, very strongly about in your own personal life and beliefs?
I don’t do any conservation work professionally, but I volunteer. I would say, however, that’s my passion. That kind of work is definitely something that I see myself doing in the future. And I am getting involved as much as I can. Now I’m involved with some wildlife organizations. I’m involved with stuff like land restoration organizations, and I’m also just trying to learn more about how sort of ecosystems and the natural world kind of functions. I’ve always been passionate about animals; plus I’m at a point in my life now where I can really devote some time and some energy to that. So, that’s really been a focus for me these last couple of years. I really loved it and I definitely want to include those aspects in my storytelling. I feel like that’s a very important part of not only who I am, but what I believe, and so I want my story to tell those types of messages and incorporate those ideas as well.
I think that really emphasizes that kaiju are a really great storytelling tool that really presents themes and messages in any of their mediums quite well. Also, a lot of the time these monsters aren’t just big monster smash buildings. I think a lot of people forget that sometimes, and I’ve covered it so many times in other interviews. So it’s really nice seeing a Kaiju that not only actually means something, but also used as a storytelling device to present those themes of conservation. And of course, like we discussed, religious fanaticism and anything you really need to be within your story.
Absolutely. It’s funny, because like you said, I think that at this point, there’s such a wide range of kaiju media. Of course, I love some of the silly stuff, where it’s a couple, of guys inside rubber suits, just smacking the hell out of each other. That’s fun! But at the same time, my favorite kinds of stories, my favorite kaiju media, are the ones where the kaiju are some types of metaphor. Obviously, the big one would be the original Godzilla, you know, being a metaphor for the atomic bomb, and the force of nature, the destruction, the sheer terror, that sort of thing. But other ones, like, I’m a big fan of the Daimajin series, where you have some of those mystical spiritual type elements. He’s usually symbolic of something, it’s not just a giant monster, there’s, there’s a reason it’s there, and it’s worshipped and beloved by his people. That was the approach we wanted to take. I wanted these kaiju to feel very naturalistic. That’s why they’re pretty natural and realistic. They are definitely extreme looking, but it’s all natural aspects, these are supposed to look like mutated animals and not something from outer space or crazy sci fi. These emulate kaiju that have come about because of nature having to go to that extreme to protect itself from us. I’m totally with you on that one. I think that’s when kaiju is at its most effective and interesting. That’s the kind of kaiju we wanted to present in these books.
Let’s talk about those kaiju designs! In terms of designing the kaiju. I was going to ask, like, where you were going with it? That bear kaiju you see on all the promotional material, The Great One as his people call him, is pretty cool. It’s just a bear with antlers. On paper, which sounds so basic, but the way his presence is unfolded, I think that adds so much to the portrayal and impact that first splash page has when you read this book.
I mean, almost all of that credit goes to the artists. So Chris Sassaman, the artists on, those first couple issues designed the Greathorn, which is the bear kaiju you mentioned. I basically gave him a very basic description, almost close to what you said, and he ran with it. One thing I wanted to get into a little bit more in their design was to stick with that natural theme each kaiju presented. I wanted it to be sort of representative of a region or an element of nature or something like that. With the Greathorn, this story takes place in the Pacific Northwest. That’s a place where you’ve got bears and elk and deer and stuff like that. Across the country, I wanted to emulate each region with their own creatures. Aquamassus, the next kaiju you see in the series, you see is a sort of aquatic frog-crab hybrid amphibious type thing. And then the last one is more of this desert sort of monster. It’s more serpentine, you know, kind of got some, like, Scorpion and lizard type elements as well. Just trying to lean into that natural theme! Going back to what you said about taking a simple idea and making it awesome, that were getting to work with these amazing artists has been so cool. If you just read it on the page, it’s not that exciting, but what Chris did with it, the design he gave it, and then that first splash page, I feel like that’s what was going to make or break this book being a success or not. And he just crushed it. You know, when your book’s a kaiju book, the kaiju reveal has to be big, it has to feel powerful and epic. And that first splash page, the debut of the Greathorn, you really get that sense of oh, I can see why they worship this thing. This is a giant, you know, basically godlike being. And he delivered that in that so well.
And let’s not forget about the human characters. They’re very nomadic and in touch with the land. There is no trace of technology that has been left over whatsoever. What made you go that route, instead of like, kind of a more like a tech-based post apocalypse, like something like Fallout or anything like that? A review for the comic I was looking at said it was close to Horizon: Zero Dawn. I’m not familiar with that, but it seems like aesthetically, they might have some connective tissue there.
We wanted to take inspiration from indigenous folklore and take humanity back to the ways we used to be, especially with that connection to the natural land and the animals that inhabit it. The whole idea for this was that basically, at some point in the past, we messed up so badly that we basically destroyed the world. And so that’s what sort of caused these behemoths, what we call the kaiju in these books, to come out. Humanity sort of formed tribes around these behemoths, because at this point, they were the dominant species. And they were basically the new gods of this world, they came back to restore a natural balance to the land, and so the remaining people sort of worship them for that. I wanted to emphasize that so much of what we do as a species is so destructive, and there truly is a tipping point. I think that’s really powerful to see, and within the story, this is kind of their second chance at civilization. We’ve destroyed the world, and so to rebuild it, we need to sort of reconnect with the land and each other. We need to be more appreciative of the world around us and not so willing to just, you know, destroy it for our own gain. And having the behemoths as sort of the Guardians where, you know, if someone were to try to do that again, you have this very real threat, I think is just sort of a fun metaphor to play with. As far as Horizon Zero Dawn, I actually hadn’t played the game before I wrote this. But I definitely recommend it. It’s a fun game. I have played it since. But there’s definitely a lot of aesthetically similar things. It’s also sort of a post-apocalyptic, but tribal idea. It does have a little bit more technology, but it still has a very natural feel as well. So if you haven’t played it, I would definitely recommend it. If you’ve played it, and you enjoy the aesthetic, then I think this world will definitely appeal to you.
Aside from like, going from six to five issues with your edits, was everything you set out to do with Territory finalized? Did it all make it in there? Or was there maybe like a monster that just didn’t quite make the cut?
Overall, I’d say everything made it in! There were a couple of things that we either reduced or kind of took out just for flow and cohesion. But certainly everything as far as like main story points, characters — all things I wanted to include, it’s all going to be in there, which is awesome. Doing stories in comics is interesting, because you need to keep it somewhat concise, because it is a visual based medium, after all. So you have to sort of have something going on. So I think it’s hard to go into depth about every little thing. You can’t just sit there describing stuff like a novel, or panels and panels and pages and pages, because it’s going to get repetitive and boring. There are some writers who can do that and are amazing at it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something that I felt we could do. But that being said, being able to tell the complete story and have it moving at a constant pace, I think really makes it exciting. Hopefully, the entire time people are reading it they are curious about what’s going to happen next. In this comic, there’s always something around the corner. We want people to ask questions at the end of the next issue. We want people excited for the next issue, and to have a desire to know what happens next. I feel like we’ve been able to include everything we want while still keeping that going.
I’m just floored by not only the influx of kaiju comics that have emerged on the indie scene. I’ve been calling it a renaissance of like independent Kaija media, especially in comic book format. We’re getting really great Japanese indie kaiju films, but out here in the west, it’s almost always an indie comic. It’s really nice to see comic books and graphic novels coming up with these crazy and original kaiju designs. At its core, I’ve always said that the genre has got to like change and adapt, and really push the boundaries on storytelling and change the game a little bit if it’s to survive. Otherwise, it’ll get stale and just die out. Seeing this revolution of indie kaiju media, how do you feel about being a part of that? I’ve seen you guys share with each other all the time, so, I know you’re all in this together, but is there like a kind of community feeling that you’re getting out of it?
Oh, absolutely. And I think comics are, in a lot of ways, the perfect medium, especially for independent creators, and of course, for kaiju. Movies are expensive and then specifically kaiju movies, with the special effects and everything like that can get very expensive. What comics are really good at, is delivering those big epic moments, like we talked about, and it doesn’t change the budget, right? In regard to pay, you’re drawing a page no matter what. So you can draw in these huge epic moments that would probably be a lot harder or more expensive, or whatever to film. Because of all of that, I think comics and kaiju are sort of a natural fit, because you need that big epic feeling. But it also, it is still sort of a niche genre, so it’ll be hard to get a budget for it, but comics you can do on that smaller budget. So I think those two just work together really well. And I think that’s why you’re seeing sort of this renaissance going on.
To add onto that, a lot of the people that grew up with these stories and movies who have had ideas stories they want to tell now have this medium to do it. And so we’re really seeing that sort of come out. And then, with Kickstarter and other ways for independent creators to get their stuff out there, you know, it’s just sort of a perfect storm. And like you said, it’s definitely a community. Kaijus, and Cowboys, for instance. We’ve shared each other back and forth since their first campaign, since our first campaign ran about the same time. We started promoting each other’s stuff and talking to each other. It’s cool, because even within sort of the indie comics world, which is niche, it’s sort of like another smaller, but very tight community there. Like you said, everyone is there to help each other out. Everyone is very supportive. Most of us are just fans of kaiju and this media, and we want to see you succeed. To sum up the community, part of it has definitely been one of the coolest things to see. And it feels cool to be a part of it. It’s crazy to me; looking at some of the other people who are making these books and who have, you know, a lot of experience in the industry and have put out other things. It’s great to feel that as a newcomer to this field. They’re so welcoming. I’ve learned a lot; this community has done amazing things to help me grow as a creator. And I think that’s that community feeling that you get.
So you’ve said territory is a planned series, about five issues. You are on the Kickstarter for issue four. What are you going to do after Territory is wrapped up? After you put a bow on it, have you thought about what you’re gonna do after?
I have! It’ll be an interesting path. One, because I’m curious to see where Territory goes. And not necessarily just story wise, but also it being the first comic I made, it being the first Kickstarter, and all that stuff. In fact, the original goal with issue one was, okay, let’s just get it made period. And you know, that has now happened and it has grown and has because of the community we talked about, and so I want Territory to be as accessible to as many people as possible. Hopefully, Territory, even when the story is finished, it will still be able to sort of grow and have some life after. That being said, as a creator, I do have some other ideas for some comic series. I haven’t worked on anything yet more than sort of just conceptually at this stage because I want to finish Territory. I’m honestly putting pretty much all of my energy into that, because it’s really important to me that it comes out as good as it possibly can be. But then I do have some ideas for some comics series I want to work on next. But as far as how I’ll approach that I’m gonna have to look and see once Territory is completed.
Well, there you go. I mean, I’m excited for what you come up next!
Alright, so let’s start winding down a little bit. I got just a couple more questions for you, Blake. I want to know five comic books you think everyone should read before they die.
I would say some of my favorites include stuff like Saga. That book is amazing. I really enjoyed Fables, too. Sweet Tooth is another one. I would even put UltraMega in there, just as of as a fan of kaiju and tokusatsu. I love what UltraMega has brought, and what it does for a kaiju series is phenomenal. And then, for my fifth one, I grew up reading J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Spider-Man. That run was probably the one that really got me into comics. So I will always recommend that to people.
Last question. What does Godzilla mean to you? How has kaiju eiga shaped your entire life?
I’ll say Godzilla specifically is my favorite character in all of media. I grew up watching some of the movies as a kid and had toys like most fans. I also think he’s got this primal appeal. Also, not only do you have that sort of initial appeal of oh, look, it’s a cool giant monster, but the more you learn about him, you realize sort of what we talked about, you know, he’s a metaphor for a lot of things. He’s a character he’s been around so long, he’s been in so many different types of media and movies. The character has really grown and changed, and there’s been all these different versions, and that’s really cool.
What a nice answer! I hear a lot that people really enjoy that malleability of art that Godzilla provides. So it’s really nice to hear that he has ties to your conservationism as well. That’s particularly something we haven’t deep-dived too much on the site yet, but I’m happy to hear that end of Godzilla’s metaphors!
I think there’s a Godzilla for everyone. Personally, as a conservationist and nationalist, I really like that force of nature aspect. That ultimate testament to man’s arrogance… sort of things like that have always appealed to me, but he is also so many other things across the franchise’s history. To me, that is a sign of a good character; it’s not one dimensional. I think that’s just really cool, both as a fan, and as a creator!
Well, it’s been great Blake. Thanks for the time and opportunity to talk about TERRITORY!
Thank you for having me! As a creator, it is hard to find people who are interested in it. Getting to talk to someone who’s interested and then also have that person help spread the word is all I want! So, thank you so much for this opportunity!
About Territory
TERRITORY is a 22 page post-apocalyptic kaiju story set in a far distant Pacific Northwest of the United States. Ancestors tell the story of how civilization was wiped from the earth in nuclear fire long ago. From the ashes of the destruction rose the Behemoths, giant creatures whose presence breathed life back into the land. The surviving people now live in tribes, worshiping the Behemoths as gods!
