Interview with 15 Year Old Creator of Maverix Decimation Noah Mactutus

    Indie Comics Underground had the chance to talk with the 15 year old creator of the new comic  Maverix Decimation, Noah Mactutus, about his project now funding on IndieGogo

Maverix is your first campaign and it’s already reached its goal. Congratulations! Can you give our readers a little background about yourself?
    Thank you! I was shocked at how quickly I reached that mark and here’s hoping I can keep the momentum and reach the ultimate goal of $10,000 USD!  
    I am Noah T. Mactutus and I’m 15. I’ve worked twelve hours a day on average during my last two summers on my comics. I have been a fan of superheroes for as long as I can remember and a fan of comics for about 6 or so years. When I was little, I always liked drawing like everyone else did, but I kind of just stuck to it. I also loved writing, so those two things melted together into creating comics. Then when I discovered how much fun comics are, I decided to teach myself how to do them. 
    After school I would watch YouTube videos of famous comic book creators and listen to them over and over again. For Christmas and my birthday, I would ask for books on how to draw comics. I would buy comic books from different artists who drew in styles I liked and study them.  I bought anatomy books and practiced drawing the different muscles a bunch like I heard others did. This is why when you compare my first comic books with my new ones they look like they were drawn with a whole new style.
    I still do these things while working on this book to be able to create the best scenes and action for the book. I want everyone to like my work not just people who like comics. And of course I am young and have a lot to improve, but when those people on ComicsGate saw some of my art this past spring and said it was really good that obviously got me excited because it is someone in the field saying it and not just my parents. I had heard about graphic novels by then and when they challenged me to write one and said they would help me make a campaign I started right away to work on ideas for it. I had just finished my tenth comic book, my first anniversary issue, and was up for another challenge.

   By twelve I started doing comics. I had characters I made that are silly to me now. At thirteen I tried to create a comic book series, but as I kept on learning more about writing I realized the storyline had so many problems it was embarrassing. Then, as I turned 14, I came up with the character of Maverix and I started publishing my work on IndyPlanet to make money at it. During that following summer after I had started making sales on IndyPlanet I went to a patent attorney to secure my trademarks and copyright protection legally. My dad had said it is best if we protect your hard work especially since your future may be riding on it.  

What can you tell us about Maverix, the comic and the character?
   Maverix is at peak human condition without the suit, but the suit takes it to the extremes. He can materialize things, create energy blasts and stuff of that sort. Here is his origin. Noah Matthews was an ordinary man, brother, and friend, until the incident. Due to his brother being in league with the government as a weapon designer, they both were kidnapped by a madman. Using strange science, Noah was mutated and inhabited by an energy known as the Maverix! It was soon to be destroyed by a foe. He entered a life he could not leave. To replace the power he lost he uses a suit made by his brother. The suit is powered by A.I.D.(Artificial Intelligent Droid) using cutting edge nanotechnology. With an executive order granting him permission from the President, he fights for justice, doing what is right, and saving lives in any way he can, even if he must kill to save the innocent in battle.

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   As for the comic, Maverix Decimation is the greatest fictional story ever told. And I honestly believe that. It has everything you could ever want; great action, drama, mystery, and adventure.  Everything and the kitchen sink is in this story. Everdale City is overrun by entrenched crime. The streets aren't safe. The underground's power is rising! And corruption is seeping through the cracks of the city! In the midst of this, the hero Maverix learns there is more than what meets the eye. Humanity is on the brink of collapse and he is the only hope. When writing this story, it was all about pushing Maverix to the max. It was about putting him through as much as possible and seeing if he’d survive it. I didn’t want the story to be mundane or run of the mill so we labored to put in unsuspected twists that were, after exposed, not unbelievable, but would be intriguing where the reader wouldn’t feel he wasted his time on something dumb. I want customers to admire the work and want to read another book knowing they will have fun and can escape to another world when they pick it up. So, it had to be able to engage the reader’s mind. 

What was the inspiration for the story of Maverix?
   Hmm, good question. I can’t really think of a certain thing that inspired his story. It’s more of an amalgamation. I’ve liked the classic heroes like Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. His cape came from my childhood fondness of Robin Hood’s cape and the points Todd McFarlane made on why capes are great struck me. As for his story? I don’t really know but I can tell you what inspired Decimation. I really wanted to create an epic like Braveheart with the heart of Rocky but with superheroes and a bit of Sc-Fi. This is sort of a character study. It really breaks Maverix’s character down to its essence and then puts his character to a test.  

You are 15 years old and producing an 80 page graphic novel. How have you found the time and how much of the book is already complete?
   Well, as soon as I finish my school I just start working on my comic. I don’t really play videogames or watch a lot of movies and when I do it’s for small amounts of time so that gives me a lot of time to work. I love doing comics so it’s a lot of fun for me. It doesn’t even feel like 8 or 9 hours a day it seems like 3 or 4. I have got about ¾ of the story completed. I’ve got the credits, dedication, preface, and back cover completed too. I’m on schedule for the pages to be finished in December.

Are you doing the pages traditionally or digitally?
   I pencil and ink traditionally on special Bristol board. After I scan the page into my computer, I color it digitally. Sometimes I do some of the sound effects on the board too. I letter digitally as by hand it takes me too long and with school, I’d never get it done. If I’m coloring and I notice something needs to be corrected with the line art I will do that digitally for the sake of time.

Are you interested in continuing the story of Maverix after this project is fulfilled?
   Yes, very much! I have plans to do many more campaigns. “Maverix the Series” Maverix started as a series with traditional length 22-page books issues sold on Indyplanet. Maverix Decimation, the 80-page graphic novel, is sort of like a movie based on the original characters from the series.  It stands alone story-wise. The graphic novel was made special for the campaign on IndieGoGo and takes advantage of all the new things I learned and practiced. I may even bring new 22-page issues in my continuing series to crowdfunding. I’m planning on going to my grave with Maverix.

What does the future hold for you personally?
  Well, if Decimation raises enough money, I can show my parents and not have to get another job next summer. If not, I’m still going to produce Maverix books just at a slower pace until hopefully I can quit that job and do Mav fulltime. I plan to go to college and get a degree in something else as a backup plan.

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Back Maverix Decimation on IndieGogo

Follow Noah on Twitter: @noahmactutus