Interview with James Rubino, Creator of "Tales from the Seventh Galaxy"
Interviewed by Paul Dale Roberts, President www.jazmaonline.com
PDR: James, how long have you been with the comic book industry?
JR: Any professional work I've done has been in illustration, commercial art and ad design, and writing- not in the comics' industry (other than my own comics which I publish).
PDR: What inspired you to create "Tales from the Seventh Galaxy"?
JR: I've always like science-fiction anthologies, whether in comic-book form ("Where Monsters Dwell"; "From Beyond The Unknown") or the many old SF paperback anthologies which I've devoured.
PDR: How do you think of a character for a storyline? Does the character come to life in your mind and you start drawing the character?
JR: With YUMISHIRA I wanted to include several elements which were of interest to me. If I put my heart into a storyline and its something I really enjoy I feel the readers will pick up on that and they’ll enjoy it too.
PDR: What future projects do you have planned?
JR: Based on the reaction I've already received on YUMISHIRA I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of her!
PDR: If there was any comic book you would like to work on, what comic book would it be and why?
JR: I really prefer to work on my own characters and concepts; other than that I'd like to work on sci-fi based characters like Silver Surfer or the Golden Age version of The Vision. Something off the beaten path. Venus, Hela or Sif would be a few of the female characters I could develop story ideas for. Superhero vs. super-villain stuff doesn't interest me.
PDR: What do you think about Disney buying out Marvel?
JR: I think their first feature-film should be about Mickey Mouse getting caught in a gamma-ray blast while trying to rescue Minnie and he turns into the big-eared, green Mickey Monster!
PDR: If you had 6 dinner guests, 3 historical and 3 fictional, who would they be and why?
JR: Six dinner guests would be about five too many for me. I don't care for parties very much.
PDR: Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
JR: About a year ago I woke up in the middle of the night feeling that something really bad was about to happen. I went into our upstairs living room and began praying intensely. Within about five minutes I heard what sounded like an explosion in front of our house. I ran outside and found that a drunk-driver had careened down the street and swerved into our neighbor's car decimating it. A few feet more and he would've totaled our little Aveo which was also parked along the street. I've had enough weird experiences like that to believe that there's more to life than what is seen.
PDR: What are your hobbies and recreational activities?
JR: Those are things I generally don't have much time for but drawing and reading would be at the top of the list.
PDR: What are your favorite TV shows?
JR: The only "modern" TV shows I watch are generally with my kids. I like "Adventures from the Book of Virtues" and "Rescue Heroes". We've also been watching a lot of my old "Iron Chef (Japanese)" videos- my kids and I love em'. I'll also catch the "Spurs" occasionally when they're on.
PDR: This ends the interview, any words of wisdom for your fans?
JR: Be your own harshest critic and your work will improve...and never give up.
