New York Comic Con: Tom Scioli Talks ‘Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre’ & Upcoming Projects

During New York Comic Con, Kaiju United had the opportunity to speak with writer, penciler and inker Tom Scioli regarding his work with IDW Publishing. Best known for Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre, Scioli took the King of the Monsters to unique and vibrant directions, having the creature face off against The Great Gatsby, Sherlock Holmes, and even Dracula in the 3-issue miniseries. During a fun few games of pinball (the IDW booth had some Godzilla pinball machines on site), Kaiju United got some insight into the background behind the comic, Mr. Scioli’s own creative processes, and what we can expect from the iconic creator next.

Oh, and of course, we learned that Mr. Scioli is a master at pinball.

Joseph 
Hello, KU! I’m here at New York Comic Con with Tom Scioli, best known for his graphic novel biographies on Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, as well as Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre for IDW Publishing!

To start off, for Monsterpiece Theatre, did Toho or IDW give you creative freedom, considering most of the characters that you used were public domain, like Gatsby or Dracula?

Tom Scioli 
Yeah, Toho seemed like they were really into the concept. And I think a lot of the creative freedom came from the fact that, since they were public domain characters, they weren’t, you know, precious at all with them; that there was a lot of flexibility. It might have been a different story if I were trying to do a bunch of weird stuff with Anguirus or Hedorah or a character like that.

Joseph 
On the opposite end, Godzilla, of course, is not public domain. Were there any limitations on what weird stuff could be done with Godzilla?

Tom Scioli 
I had done a previous pitch for Godzilla, and so that pitch never ended up becoming a comic, but that was how I kind of learned the lay of the land, as far as what things are Godzilla and what things are not Godzilla. So by the time I did Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre, I had internalized a lot of the rules of Godzilla. So there weren’t really any limitations on this project. I was able to do everything I wanted to do.

Joseph 
Tell me about the pitch for this book. Where did the idea to blend Godzilla with the world of several public domain literary characters come from?

Tom Scioli 
Well, at first, we were talking about public domain things… like, “Do you have any Godzilla public domain ideas?” is what I was asked upfront. Truthfully, the first thing that came to mind was Godzilla Versus Gatsby. I just almost blurted it out. It was just one of those sort of perfect ideas. I couldn’t tell you why, you know, other than maybe the alliteration, but it just came to me. And everybody loved it.

Joseph 
The art is very reminiscent of antique styles, particularly the Golden Age of Comics. Were there any direct influences?

Tom Scioli 
I was thinking about the period, since it takes place in the 1920s. So, I wanted it to emulate the look of the era. I didn’t study any artists directly for the book, maybe years ago and then it became an almost subliminal influence, but no, I wasn’t really thinking of any artist in particular, except for the covers. For the covers, I would reference specific things, like the original cover to The Great Gatsby and the cover for the original Sherlock Holmes story.

Joseph 
For Monsterpiece Theatre, you wrote penciled, and inked everything yourself. This is a frequent thing on almost all of your projects. What challenges came with doing everything alone?

Tom Scioli 
For me, that’s the best way to work. I’m a little bit of a control freak… I mean, I need to be in control of every aspect. Doing everything myself allows a lot of flexibility, too. If I were writing it for somebody else to draw, I would feel like, okay, I don’t want to change anything at the last minute, but since I’m the one who has to draw it, color it, and letter it, I can tinker with it until the very last moment.

Joseph
When tinkering with the book, did you ask for any feedback, or did you know it was done and ready to submit to the editors?

Tom Scioli 
I just did what made sense to me and got editorial feedback as I was working. Jake [Williams] was the Editor on this book, and his feedback really helped make it the best possible thing it could be. I really enjoyed the editorial process on this particular project!

Joseph 
Did you approach this as like a parody or like a love letter to the 1920s? It’s got a particularly humorous and stylish tone.

Tom Scioli 
It’s certainly a love letter to Godzilla, a love letter to Gatsby, and a love letter to literature and genre fiction. (gestures to pinball machine) Oh, I got a multi ball there! See, talking while I’m doing it is keeping me nice and loose, yes, and it’s really helping!

Joseph 
What do you think comics can do that no other medium can?

Tom Scioli 
There’s nothing comics can’t do! There’s just so much freedom in comics, even in terms of things like pacing. You can pace a comic in a way that just wouldn’t work in a movie or a TV show, because there aren’t those things you sort of have to pace around, such as people’s ability to stay engaged and stay seated throughout. With comics, the reader can read it at their own pace, and it means different things to different readers. The limitations aren’t there, and the possibilities are endless.

Joseph 
I have to ask this, since it’s everywhere at this point. Do you think AI will take over comics?

Tom Scioli 
No, no. I think that there’s always going to be artists. People want, you know, stories and art from other people. There’s no way of replacing that.

Joseph 
Were there any Godzilla moments from the films that you looked to for influence or inspiration for this book?

Tom Scioli 
I mean, I will make tribute to it when I can. I constantly had the first shot of Godzilla in the first Godzilla movie on my mind, where he’s kind of poking out from the background, looming over everything. And so I was building towards that kind of reveal, except in this case it was Godzilla looming over 1920’s Manhattan. But I had that in mind. Another one is just the sort of iconic poster of Godzilla holding the subway train in his hand and kind of like eating it. So I sort of did my tribute to that.

Joseph 
Would you say that the book could be a bit of a commentary on the evolution of monsters? From more grounded, humanoid, classical and literary creatures to the Atomic Age of giant beasts?

Tom Scioli 
It certainly works that way. So many of those thematic things do tend to just almost be things you notice in retrospect. That wasn’t anything I had particularly on my mind, but now that you mention it, it does feel like it’s in there. So when those sort of things do happen that aren’t necessarily the artist’s intent, it makes me think that maybe, like my unconscious mind had that stuff in mind, like, even if my, you know, conscious self wasn’t necessarily thinking about that.

Joseph 
Do you think creators should have more control over their work?

Tom Scioli 
If they want it! Not everybody wants it, but if you want it, yeah, you should have it. There’s a lot of people who do enjoy collaboration or letting somebody else take the lead on certain aspects, but if you want that control, yeah, go for it. I like it.

Joseph 
Is there a part in the process that you find relaxing, meditative, or expressive?

Tom Scioli 
Just the whole drawing process, from start to finish. The initial drawing is really relaxing, because you’re doing a lot of thinking and a lot of hard, creative work, but there’s no stakes because it’s so early. It can be whatever it is. So, that part is just purely fun. And yeah, the coloring is… yeah, you can just almost play when you’re coloring. Even lettering is that way too; I really enjoy lettering. You can get into a nice groove when you’re doing that.

Joseph 
How much time does coloring or lettering take?

Tom Scioli 
It’s hard to say, because it’s kind of spread out throughout the process. There’s sort of like early placeholder coloring that you do. I would say probably a couple hours, and that’s also per page.

Joseph 
How much would you write the script before you actually do the comic? Do you have it in your head first? Do you draw first?

Tom Scioli 
It’ll be a little of both. Like, I’ll have sequences mapped out in my sketchbook, but then, I’ll also have little notes on my phone or things I write down on pieces of paper. Eventually I’ll get to a sort of written out rough plot, but I usually get really antsy to start drawing. So I usually start drawing before script is completely figured out.

Joseph 
So what else is going to be in store for you? Do you think you ‘ll do another Godzilla series?

Tom Scioli 
It hasn’t been announced yet, but I have been tinkering with some more Godzilla stuff. I have a new issue coming out pretty soon from IDW, too. I’ll be handling Issue Two of their new run on The Twilight Zone. That’ll be out in November next month!

Joseph 
(looks at pinball machine) Let’s see you win 10 million points! Wow!

Tom Scioli 
Yeah, this pinball machine is pretty awesome.

Joseph 
This was my first time actually playing a pinball machine.

Tom Scioli 
Oh, really? Okay!

Joseph 
Yeah. I wish I caught it in like, one of the Dave and Busters, but I couldn’t really find any.

Tom Scioli 
Yeah, I played some other ones recently. There’s like, a Godzilla virtual reality game at Dave and Busters where you’re in, like, the cockpit of a helicopter shooting at Godzilla.

Joseph 
Monsterpiece Theatre was three issues. How come it wasn’t the regular five issues that is typical of a miniseries? Did you think that three was satisfactory enough?

Tom Scioli 
Well, I mean, they were 3 whole issues that were 40 pages. So it ended up being, you know, whatever the math is for that. (laughs) But the 40 pages made the difference. It gave me some room to play and make each segment of it really satisfying, and gave it a three act structure.

Joseph 
Do you collect your own comic variants? Like you collect a cover from, say, Art Adams from your series?

Tom Scioli 
Oh, yeah, I love all that. Yeah, having an art Adams cover, that was pretty awesome. It’s always cool. I think the Art Adams ones were done prior to my series, but it’s also really cool seeing the ones that people do in reaction to what I’m doing.

Joseph
Thank you for taking the time to talk with Kaiju United.

Tom Scioli
Thank you! I could keep going all day. We’ll have to play some more pinball sometime!