1. What initially drew you to comics?
What has always drawn me to comics is that, more than other medium, is the feeling that anything is possible. The limit of any story is the writer and the artist's imaginations. I know the same could be said for prose novels, but being able to hold a book, open it up, and actually be able to see into another world -- nothing can match that. Comics can be big as an alien armada crashing through space and time and descending through our atmosphere and as small and poignant as a little girl discovering there's something inside her that makes her special. And that can be in the same single issue. Comics can tell big, sweeping stories and then zoom in to see the finer, smaller details in ways I've never really seen in other mediums (though movies and television are catching up).
2. Please tell us about Action Lab: Dogs of Wonder (and any other future/recent work you'd like to highlight).
Action Lab: Dog of Wonder was the first comic book series I was hired to write. I co-wrote it with Vito Delsante and it was just a blast to work on. I spent the entire time just giggling at the things we were coming up with. But more than just being fun, it was the first time I really able to start asking the question I think all superhero comics are asking. It doesn't matter if you're reading Captain Marvel, Batman, Spider-Man or Radiant Black. Every superhero comic is asking, "what do you do with what you have?" Superman stands for truth and justice. Daredevil tries to keep the streets around his home safe. Radiant Red robs banks. Omni-Man wants to take over the world. They've been gifted with incredible abilities and they look at themselves, the world around them, and ask, "what can I do now?" They're all metaphors for the talents and gifts we're born with. Using these characters as a mirror, we can look at ourselves and ask, "what am I going to do?" Percy, (the Action Lab of Action Lab) uses what he has to rescue dogs from the pound. What are you going to do?
3. What do comics allow you to do as a storyteller?
Writing comics lets me look at the world around me and ask questions about it. I'm currently working on Nightcare (coming soon to a Kickstarter near you), and it's the story of a group of kids who are suddenly thrust into a situation where they have to ask themselves "what do we do when the things we relied on fail us?" It's kind of a big question, but I'm able to dress it up in superhero tights and fights and make it a fun adventure. The kids of Nightcare, as a group, decide to not wait for the adults to do something and take on the responsibility of doing the right thing themselves -- but individually, it's a little messier and each kid goes on their own little journey in discovering who they are and what they believe.
4. Please tell us about your creative process.
I've written films, plays, web series and comics. Every time I have a story idea, the first thing I do is ask myself, "what medium suits this story the best?" There are pros and cons to every medium. You can do things in plays that you can't in film and there are things you can do in comics you can't in plays. Once I figure what I'm writing, I begin to outline the story. My outlines are very broad. It's basically a bullet-point list of scenes and sequences. I go through the entire story that way. I don't start writing actual pages until I have the entire story outlined. This helps me avoid writer's block. If I can't figure out a certain scene, I can jump to another scene that I already know how I want to play out. Since I have the outline, I know everything that happens before and after that scene, which lets me know what that scene needs to accomplish. A lot of the time, writing that scene will unlock the scene I was struggling with. I also always make a playlist for what I'm writing -- something to set the mood and/or remind me how I want the story to feel. I'll listen to it not only when I'm writing, but when I'm working or driving or playing a game. Music (especially instrumental music) often plays out little scenes in my head that will make me go, "oh, I want something like that in this story, in this scene, in this sequence." Once I have a first draft, I re-read it and will do a "second draft" pass on it to clean it up and fix anything I missed the first time. Then I'll send it to a couple of friends for their input before doing a third/final draft. In the end, however, I never treat my script as something written in stone. Making a comics is a collaborative process and I will almost always defer to the artist if they have an idea for how something should look/play out.
5. Where can we find out more about your work and buy your comics?
I've been posting a lot about my creative process and my experiences writing on TikTok (along with the usual TikTok nonsense). You're more than welcome to follow me there (tiktok.com/@scottfogg). I'm working on a website, but for now, you can find my graphic novel Phileas Reid Knows We're Not Alone and my play The Gospel of Joseph on my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/scottfogg. You can find Action Lab: Dog of Wonder on Amazon and ComiXology. You can also reach out to Epikos Comics Cards &Games (the comic book store I manage) and we'll be able to hook you up with whatever you're looking for.
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