Interview with Battle Brick Road Creator - Eric Weathers

     Indie Comics Underground had the chance to talk with Indie Comics artist and letterer extraordinaire Eric Weathers about his project Battle Brick Road - Now In Demand on Indiegogo

Your current project - Battle Brick Road is now In Demand on IndieGogo. What exactly is Battle Brick Road?
   Battle Brick Road (Written by Zeb Hatfield and drawn by me.) is a near-future, military, dystopian take on the Wizard of Oz. The original 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum.
   In it, we follow the story of Thea Gale. A former analyst for the UDC (United Defense Coalition) whose sole purpose in life is to find her missing father. Howard, Thea's dad, was taken from her at a young age and she's spent twenty years trying to find him, believing he's still alive. Her journey officially begins when she receives a message from her dad, giving her his coordinates, and telling her to "follow 

the yellow brick road". So, along with her cybernetic drone TOTO, she discovers the mythical land of Oz and sets on the path to find her dad. With battle-hardened friends in tow.

Obviously, this story was inspired by The Wizard of Oz, but are there any other inspirations that we might not know about?
   I originally came up with the idea for Battle Brick Road in 2017. At the time I was learning digital painting/concept art. For fun, I thought about mixing two genres or two IPs to make my own. I came up with the idea to merge the game Tom Clancy's The Division with The Wizard of Oz. I thought it would make a great 4-player co-op shooter. Each of the 4 main characters would fill a role. Dorothy would be the assault class, Scarecrow would be a sniper, Lion on heavy weapons, and Tin Man on demolition. Although tweaked a bit since turning that idea into a comic, this core concept still remains.

   We're also pulling inspiration and references from movies like Mad Max, Book of Eli, and Planet of the Apes. Games like the aforementioned Division title, as well as Titanfall, Destiny, and Bioshock all lend some inspiration in one way or the other. 

In the pages previewed, we can see quite a few of the familiar Oz characters. How difficult was it to come up with your own spin on characters that so many are familiar with?
   It hasn't been all that difficult. Some designs just sort of make sense for these characters with a future-military bend. For instance, TOTO was always going to be a drone in this story. Never once was a Canine ever considered. However, his design required that he be able to show emotion, so we've gone with that spherical design. His "arms" are being used to animate his personality, much like a dog's ears show their emotions. Lion has been the most difficult to nail down, trying to come up with something unique, yet familiar. Thankfully, I still have time to tweak since he doesn't show up in book one, haha.

You've unlocked quite a few stretch goals on this project, with only two more listed goals to go. You must be extremely happy with the success of this campaign.
   We are completely blown away by the support we've seen on this project. Crowdfunding can be unpredictable, to say the least, and the amount of backers who've come out to support this project has been nothing short of amazing. It's our hope that the enthusiasm continues into the rest of the series. Obviously, that means we have to make one phenomenal story. Which we believe we're doing!

Aside from this project, you are also known for being an extremely busy letterer. How do you manage your time between lettering commitments and working on Battle Brick Road?
   It's not easy! Being a full-time freelance letterer, husband, father, and creator. I make a lot of trips to the coffee maker and have a lot of late nights!
   It helps to keep everything written down. I make a daily checklist of what I need to get done, check off what I complete, and move any remaining to the next day. Rinse and repeat. It may not be the best method, but it works for me.

With this book being so successful, does that mean we can expect another trip to Oz in the future?
   100%! The plan is to have 4 books to tell this entire story. In book one, Operation Zephyr, we see just the beginning of Thea's journey. We'll meet the Scarecrow, here, too. Book two is when the whole team will be together. Thea, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion... and let's not forget TOTO!
   When it's all said and done, Battle Brick Road will clock in over 220 pages. Roughly 56 per book. Zeb and I are extremely excited to get this story out there. There is plenty of action and a lot of heart in these pages. We're telling a character-driven, action story. A re-telling of The Wizard of Oz, that we hope will surprise and entertain.

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Follow Eric on Twitter: @eric_weathers