Today on Indie Spotlight we interview Jason Horn, creator of Ninjasaur. Ninjasaur is a dinosaur who is also a ninja. Very important to remember that. Jason has been writing the comic for years and is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign. Readers can contribute to the Kickstarter at this link. Jason discusses ninjas, dinosaurs, the creativity of children and “dead robot…
Time is of the essence with six days to go in writer/artist jasonhorn’s Kickstarter “to print the second volume of Ninjasaur and a new full color edition of Volume One”. To help get the word out in this final week of his kickstarter, as well as find out how the dinosaur ninja (who combats wild evil folks) ended up at Thrillbent, Horn did this quick Q&A with me.
Tim O’Shea: How is that you decided to bring Ninjasaur to the Thrillbent family? How much fun has it been to see the Ninjasaur fanbase grow due to your increased Thrillbent exposure?
Jason Horn: I met Mark Waid a few years ago at Baltimore Comic-Con when I showed him my Ninjasaur app. That led to some emails about digital comics and he offered to run a Ninjasaur story on thrillbent if I was interested. Waid's Kingdom Come was one of the books that got me back into comics. And I'd been a fan of the work on Thrillbent, so I was more than interested.
What visual and narrative advantages did you gain tailoring your Ninjasaur stories for the Thrillbent audience?
I'd seen some of the interesting transitions Waid and others were working with on the digital first comics being created for Thrillbent. I loved trying to think of ways to utilize them into the storytelling techniques I'd developed in my regular Ninjasaur comics over the years. I've seen a few bad things in digital comics like music and motion comics type stuff. I wanted to stay away from all that nonsense and use these new digital panel transitions in a way that served the story instead of being a distraction.
You are in the final week of a Kickstarter: you are looking to get enough preorders to be able to print the second volume of Ninjasaur as well as a new full color edition of Volume One. What stories are included in the two volumes?
Yeah, I'm attempting to fund full color versions of the stories for the first time ever. Ninjasaur: Volume One features the first four short stories. These stand alone stories planted the seeds for Volume Two which includes the next three stories. Volume Two tells a larger connected story where Ninjasaur contemplates ending his existence in order to save his long lost Sensei.
What kind of rewards are you offering for supporters--and how did you decide upon the rewards?
The focus of the Kickstarter rewards are the books. You can pre-order Volume Two on its own. And you can get a combo pack with volumes one and two. There are other packages offering original art and prints, but for me it's all about the books. Stickers and shirts are nice, but I make comics. That's what I need funded on Kickstarter. That way I can continue to make more silly comics about a dinosaur ninja!
