Rogerio Ferraz, creator of Zero Medal, answered 10 questions about digital comics for me this week.
Who are you and what are you working on right now? (2 questions in 1, I know!)
My name is Rogerio Ferraz da Silva. You can call me Roger. I’m from Brazil and my day job is with 2D animation. I have worked on kids animations series like Earth to Luna, Charlie The Interviewer of Things and on movies like Fishtronaut and Disney’s Princess and the Frog (This last one I worked on clean up department). In my free time, I work on my comic book series called Zero Medal whose main character I created in 1994 when I was just 14.
What drew you to digital comics?
Money. It’s too expensive to produce the printed version and if you think about the shipping it gets more expensive yet. Not to mention the worldwide shipping cost.
Webcomics or digital comics?
I think they both work great for different situations. Digital Comic for me is a cheap and great way to support your favorite artists if you can’t afford the printed comic. And the webcomic is the best solution to make your art be seen around the world for free.
What do you think works with digital comics?
As I said before, it is about the price. It’s not good when you pay big money on a printed comic book, pay the expensive shipping, and get disappointed about something in it like the story after you read it. But if you paid fair money, you won’t feel like you were cheated. Even if you don’t like the story that much, what you paid was fair to have that experience.
Can digital comics replace print comics?
I don’t think so. They can both exist but with different goals. That leads to the next answer.
How can print comics work with digital comics?
If you want to support the artist but you don’t want to spend a lot of money on the printed version and in shipping, you buy the digital comic. But if you really loved what you read then you will want to buy the printed version for your personal comics collection. I think it is about how much you love a project and how much you think it is fair to pay for it.
What don’t you like about digital comics?
I like to get the printed version, and start to read it right away. What I don’t like about Digital Comics is if you want to read something, you have to start your device, wait for it, open the app, wait for it to load, and you have to make sure you have enough battery before all of this. Yeah, you can call me lazy. Hahahah.
What digital comics/webcomics do you read?
Right now I am reading a lot of brazilian comics to know what my colleagues are creating. Most of them are one shot stories. So I’m not following any series right now.
Where do you see digital comics going from here?
I see motion comics as the future of digital comics. With cool visual effects. And I think we will have more interactive comics. Like choosing the destiny of the main character and seeing different endings, Something like the Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Netflix movie.
Who do you think we should look out for in digital comics?
Felipe Marcantonio. He is a friend here in Brazil who created the webcomic called XDragoon. The original series is completed but he is going to remake the first story arc in a single issue. Besides he is making animation series. My point is: He is always trying new things for his characters and I really want to see what comes next in his future works.
Thanks to Rogerio Ferraz and please check out my review of Zero Medal #1 here.
