Exclusive Interview with Hal Hefner



Adria, a main character of Gates.

Hal Hefner, the writer and illustrator of Gates (a digital comic launching in January 1st, 2011 through Heavy Metal Magazine), reveals to us what happened exactly during his childhood that drove him to forever record his passion and talent into his wonderful pieces of work. He was only three years old when he began recreating on paper scenarios of  his favorite characters in action. His naturally flowing relationship with writing and art has kept Hal Hefner reflecting an  appealing and professionally elevating image throughout these years. After learning about his new project, a great curiosity drove me to ask him what  exactly took him to be able to handle all by himself this production. 

Hal took his passion with him from NY to LA.

1. You have a very impressive and solid educational background in Fine Art, Illustration, and Graphic design. However, I'm still unsure of how this passion grew into you. How did you become so attached to drawing and painting while being so young and what eventually drove you into becoming particularly a comic artist?

 HH: In all honesty I can only remember being an artist. It's all I've ever known and it definitely started to blossom when I was a child. I had great support from my family--even though they admittedly had no artistic talent or understanding of what art was. When I was three I made my first comic in blue marker on yellow lined paper—retelling the story of King Kong. Pretty soon I was writing and drawing my own Star Wars stories and this is where it all started.

When I was eight I discovered G.I.Joe and it was here that I really became obsessed with comics. Shortly thereafter I had a real artistic moment of "awareness" in 1984--when Spider-Man got his black costume. For me this was the turning point in which I became serious about learning to draw the human figure. I was so fascinated by this black costume because it was new and it had an element of rebellion to it I was beginning to identify with.

As a teen in the 90’s I became a little disillusioned and bored with comics, particularly Marvel & DC. For a few years, I abandoned comics and focused on fine art (painting/drawing), school and expanding my mind with authors like George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, HG Wells and more. In 1993 I stumbled into the French animated film Fantastic Planet and it blew my mind. Stylistically it reminded me of a comic book that utilized Terry Gilliam-like animation that had a Pink Floyd-meets-disco soundtrack. This was a defining moment, because after I saw Fantastic Planet, I knew that I was destined to tell stories with my art, some way somehow.

Then a few college professors, whom taught me at RIT in Rochester NY, took notice of my passion for the Sci-Fi genre and encouraged me to push the storytelling in my work. My creativity began to blossom subsequently as I went on a rampage of learning, drawing, painting, reading and writing. It was also at RIT during my senior year that I met indie comic legend Mat Nastos. He had just finished working on a long run of the comic Elfquest and he was a judge in an art contest I entered at a Role Playing Game convention. I took first place in the contest and afterward we talked for a bit and began a friendship that has lasted until this day. Mat has taught me a lot about making comics and he encouraged me to make Gates a comic series—and I did!

I've always been an artist drawing comics and sci-fi related themes and with Gates I'm now coming full circle.

2. Tons of people have been eagerly anticipating Gates, which will launch on January 1st, 2011. How long did it take you to complete this project and how much effort and commitment did it imply since you worked on it all by yourself?

 I originally came up with the rough idea for the story shortly after my father passed away in the late 90’s. It has been about a twelve year commitment to Gates in order for it to actually take shape. Originally I had planned to make it a hybrid comic book / role playing game book, then it evolved into a script, then I planned to make it into something like Doug Chiang's movie book Robota, but it eventually developed back into a comic again.  I had been fighting it for a while but making a comic out of the story seemed to be the most organic thing due to my design, illustration background and my passion and love for comics.

The commitment it took to bring Gates to fruition has been tough at times, but mostly extremely rewarding. The most time consuming aspect is creating the comic book itself. Every panel is painted so it takes some time to complete. I've been responsible for 100% of the production on the comic, including the writing, art, layout and lettering. I've been fortunate enough to have some great people pitch in and help out with things like marketing, video production, website production and more. Since there is a soundtrack, finding new musical talent has been a challenge as well, but also very fun. There are lots of moving parts to Gates.

Since this is an ongoing series and essentially Heavy Metal's newest franchise, the project is far from complete, rather evolving with each issue.  There is no end in sight--which is a good thing. With Gates, I've created a rich world filled with potential and loaded with unlimited options, back story and future stories to be told. I'm looking forward to a nice, long run for this comic franchise in various transmedia forms.

An image of Soloman capturing Adria.

3. What was your main inspiration in creating both characters Gates and Soloman?

Gates is a character clearly inspired by the frustration people have with society, religion, politics and the philosophy of mankind in general. It’s becoming increasingly clear that there is a dark cloud of egotism, terrorism, socialism, communism, bigotry, distorted nationalism and fear that hangs over our heads as human beings right now. Throughout human history there has been a consistent use of fear, religion and hate mongering used to generate control over the weak. Gates was born from this observation.

I imagined what if the last remnants of society were “maintained” by a corrupt government that is philosophically based in science as a religious tool to control people but create them as well? Imagine a world where there was no sexual intercourse, no love for another human, no free thinking, just love for your government—A government that provides for your every need in exchange for your blood, sweat, tears—and your soul.

From this dystopian nightmare I created a hero that was different from all the other people because he was not created from a test tube. He was born naturally. He was created to fight the system as a symbol of evolutionary perseverance and a reminder that even in the bleakest of times, hope always exists.

Soloman reflects issues facing our society.

Soloman on the other hand symbolizes the ultimate marriage of science and technology gone incredibly wrong. Without giving away too much, Soloman is also a reflection of the direction of technology in modern times. It seems that as a society we are becoming more self-centered in a world of our own technology. Smart phones have particularly played a huge part in this transformation. The next time you go into a restaurant, pay attention to the people sitting next to you not talking to each other while eating, yet texting on their smart phones. Look at how many people are in their own little technological world the next time you go to an airport and have to be subjected to some annoying girl’s loud conversation with her friend, while she plays with her iPad or portable video game system. Technology seems to be making us care less about the people and things around us by creating a world of distraction that keeps us from paying attention to the real issues facing our society.

In creating this character of Soloman I struggled mightily to create the ultimate villain, that from a certain point of view, actually was not a villain. Soloman is the sum of all of humanity’s carelessness with science and technology and the product of our culture’s laziness and constant search for an “easy way to do things”.

 4.This is something that captured my attention: Is there any particular reason or purpose that you can reveal to us as to why Soloman uses an organic plant based technology to exterminate mankind in this story?

Philosophically, the fact that Soloman is the sum of all of humanity’s carelessness with science and technology and the product of our culture’s laziness is really the motivating factor for this. I will eventually reveal the details to this question in the comic story so I’m not spilling the beans on how and why it happens.

An image of a Learnsleep lesson .

 5. According to the descriptions I've read, I'm assuming that "learnsleep" is a propaganda created by the government to control the society and is exactly the process that we see reflected on the trailer of Gates. Can you tell us more about the type of information (and its intensity) that was being integrated in the minds of the members of the society during that process?

I have been working in the advertising industry for many years and it fascinates me what an impact a commercial, jingle or catch phrase can be. Learnsleep is an example of the most penetrating and diabolical form of advertising ever created by mankind. Somewhere between sleep and consciousness a child listens as the propaganda of the ConGenement conditions him/her to become a productive and upstanding member of society. 

The messages projected in a Learnsleep lesson educate the child in various forms of science, mathematics, and other essential tools needed for the child to develop into a particular social class. Children born of higher intelligence and higher class are genetically predetermined to receive more information.  The lessons also educate the children on life, the dangers of disobeying the ConGenement and the perils of the “mythical” outside world.

Kevin Eastman - Credits: ugo.com

6.You will be pretty much leaving a footprint in the history of Heavy Metal Magazine (owned by Kevin Eastman) as you will be their first digital comic creator. How do you personally feel about achieving this milestone and how do you think it will impact your career?

It’s an honor to be working with Kevin Eastman and Heavy Metal Magazine. He is an amazing person creatively and personally.  As a long time fan of the magazine and the movie, I can honestly say this is a dream come true. Heavy Metal Magazine forged a path for many of us to be what we are today by pushing the boundaries of creativity, story and social acceptance. My favorite thing about Heavy Metal has always been the fact that it is raw, ballsy and loud and never apologizes for being real.

Gates is really just the beginning of Heavy Metal’s online presence. I am honored and very humbled by being the first comic to break the digital barrier. But without such greats as Richard Corbin, Moebius and more before me, I could not do what I’m doing today.

As for how it will impact my career, that’s something I’ll leave to the universe to decide. I’m very proud of Gates but there is a lot of work to be done and lots of story left to tell.  My long term goals are to see Gates thrive into a franchise full of transmedia options including animation, live action, video comics and more. I do however know one thing, that the day I finally hold an action figure of Soloman in my hand will be one glorious feeling.