THE SHORTPACKED! CHASE VARIANT DAVID WILLIS

[raul grau]

By Remy Minnick, Comixfan Staff Writer

David Willis has been drawing web comics for the past seven years. Starting at Indiana University's student newspaper with Roomies! before graduating on to It's Walky! at Keenspot then finally moving on to help form Blank Label Comics where his two strips, Shortpacked! and Joyce And Walky!, now reside. We took the oppurtunity recently to sit down and chat with David Willis about his web comic work, Transformers and his shrine to Hot Shot.

Comixfan: Start off from the beginning, how did you get involved doing your own web comics?

David Willis: In 1997, I was a freshman doing a comic strip for the Indiana Daily Student, Indiana Unviersity's student newspaper. Roomies! (creative name, I know) was about Danny, Joe, and Joyce, who were all college students themselves. As the comics were published in the newspaper, I would also put them up online on a Tripod site. I actually got a few hundred readers there by the time I left Indiana University for art school, and from then on, Roomies! was published exclusively online.

At some point, Big Panda, a comics conglomerate that at the time also hosted the unbelievablly popular Sluggy Freelance, approached me asking if I wanted to join. Well, heck yeah. A year later Big Panda disintegrated and was reassembled into Keenspot, pretty much, where I stayed for five years before leaving this year to help assemble Blank Label Comics. I'm still probably best known for It's Walky!, the strip that Roomies! evolved into, which lasted for 7 years. September 10 marks the end of my eighth year doing webcomics.

Comixfan: One of the web comics your currently doing is Shortpacked!, what is it about?

Willis: Shortpacked! started out as a little side-project to It's Walky! that I did for fun. I collect toys, and I wanted there to be a webcomic out there somewhere about collecting toys. And so every strip would feature yours truly in absolutely amazing toy collecting adventures, so I claim! (Sadly, those comic strips currently can't be found anywhere online.)

It wasn't until It's Walky! ended in 2004 that I was able to focus on the concept and develop it into a fulltime strip. Shortpacked! got a regular cast of toy store employees, and they frame the toy and pop culture jokes I want to tell. And sometimes I indulge myself by fleshing out their world. I created Ethan, the hard-working straight-man who loves Batman; Amber, the shy register girl, and their megalomaniacal boss Galasso, which is a last name I'd been wanting to use for years but never got the chance. Seriously, "Galasso" is an awesome name. It just sounds like it belongs to some alien warlord.

Comixfan: Do you read web comics yourself? What are some of your favorite web comics?

Willis: I do read a few. Doing webcomics yourself can sometimes drain you of the enthusiasm to read much of what's out there, but there's some seriously awesome stuff out there I never allow myself to miss. I read Checkerboard Nightmare, Sheldon hell, all of Blank Label Comics' offerings, really. I follow College Roomies from Hell!! by newly MILFed Maritza Campos, Wigu by Jeffrey Rowland (bring back Science Cop!), and Dinosaur Comics by Ryan North.

Comixfan: New strips are made available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. How far ahead do you have planned out for the series? Do you have a stockpile of strips or fill-in strips in case you don't make the deadline?

Willis: I used to be pretty good about being ahead. Back when I drew It's Walky! I had a two month buffer of strips. But for Shortpacked, many of the ideas are much more timely and instantaneous and stream-of-consciousness. I'm rarely more than a few days ahead with Shortpacked!, but so much of the material, due to its nature, doesn't allow for buffer building. Back when I tried to keep a longer buffer, I'd keep bumping strips back to make room for more time-sensitive stuff. If certain toys came out in a specific day, and I get an idea, I'll want a strip about them the next time I update.

Even though I work so close to the wire, I haven't missed a strip in five years. If I promise SMWTWFS, that's what I'll do. If I promise MWF, you can bet those strips will be up. I'm very serious about being reliable when it comes to strip updates.

Comixfan: You mentioned leaving Keenspot to assemble Blank Label Comics, how did that come about?

Willis: I'd been doing It's Walky! for years on Keenspot, and grown my audience to a place where I needed to leave to grow further. It turned out that a bunch of other Keenspot cartoonists were thinking similarly, so we all decided to leave and form our own group. We'd all been sort of eyeing going independent for a while, but there are many positives and negatives to going out on your own, just as there are to being part of a conglomerate. We tried to find the best of both worlds. We think of ourselves as independents that look out for each other. We've even had a few chances to get together and cook burgers. (Thanks to Sheldon's Dave Kellett for providing the back yard.)

Comixfan: In Shortpacked!, you cover everything from toys to comics to movies and other parts of "geek culture". What are some of your own personal hobbies?

Willis: I do Transformers. I do seriously hardcore Transformers. I've got more Transformers than I've got braincells. (So, at least 14.) I grew up getting Generation One Transformers, I watched and collected Beast Wars religiously in college, and I've got a stockpile of Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. You should see my Hot Shot shrine. It's scary. I've also got a Fortress Maximus with a diaper on it. Don't ask. I used to volunteer for the official convention before it changed owners.

I've also got a smithering of Animated Batman and Justice League toys, as well as some Teen Titans. I love myself some Batman. I buy comics every week from The Laughing Ogre here in Columbus, Ohio. I always pick up Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Fantastic Four, Superman/Batman, G.I.Joe ever so often... I used to pick up Transformers, and I will again when IDW's relaunch starts next year.

Comixfan: How long does it typically take for you to do a strip, from inception till it's finished?

Willis: About two hours, condensed. More than that if I take my time and watch TV.

Comixfan: Another web comic your currently doing is Joyce and Walky!, what is the strip about?

Willis: Joyce and Walky! is a continuation of It's Walky!. Walky and Joyce are getting married soon and living together, and the strip gives me the opportunity to explore further some characters that my thousands of readers miss due to It's Walky!'s conclusion. Also, it gives me the opportunity to eat, since Joyce and Walky! is subscription-based. (Roomies! and It's Walky!'s combined seven years are still entirely free.)

Comixfan: At one point you started doing your strip on a tablet PC, do you do them all digitally now? What tools do you use to create your strips?

Willis: Heh. Actually, I've only drawn a very small handful of strips on tablet. As the first two digitally-drawn strips suggest, I regularly sell off originals of strips, and drawing them entirely on my laptop makes both the buyers and me sad. Usually, I'll draw out the strip with blue pencil and marker at 10"x15", scan it, then color and dialogue it on my tablet PC. But when I go to conventions like San Diego Comic-Con, I'll take my tablet PC with me and do the strip entirely digitally.

Comixfan: Where do you draw your inspirations from for your web comics?

Willis: My own sick, twisted mind. More and more, personal experience, as I get away from the Superhuman Abductees Fighting Aliens And Saving The World theme It's Walky! explored.

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David Willis' Shortpacked can be found at www.shortpacked.com/

[Jordan T. Maxwell]

i just read through every strip of Shortpacked! in one sitting. my eyes are blur, my sides hurt and my theory that Batman can make anything funny has been supported.

i'd say the week's off to a great start.

[Remy Minnick]

Originally Posted by Jordan T. Maxwell

i just read through every strip of Shortpacked! in one sitting.

I did the same thing the first time I read the site (the first ones I saw was about the Pat Lee and Dreamwave fiasco - http://shortpacked.com/d/20050829.html and http://shortpacked.com/d/20050902.html) and I ended up reading every single strip.. while at work.. and trying to stop from laughing at loud...

I failed

[Angelophile]

And here I was thinking he had a Hot SHOT shrine, not a Hot Rod one.

[Remy Minnick]

Originally Posted by Angelophile

And here I was thinking he had a Hot SHOT shrine, not a Hot Rod one.

Nice catch. my only defnese is that they ARE practically the smae character

Now to distract you with pictures of David Willis' Hot SHOT shrine

http://www.shortpacked.com/transform...otshrine10.jpg

[ItsWalky]

Originally Posted by Remy Minnick

Nice catch. my only defnese is that they ARE practically the smae character

Oh, you will pay for that, sir.