Richard Caldwell talks to creators Len Wallace and artists Michelle Silva and Dave Tuney, creators of Oni’s Love Buzz, for Bleeding Cool.

Richard Caldwell: So Len, Michelle and Dave, after a thousand years of waiting, Love Buzz is finally to be released. Take us back to the beginning. Where did the story come from? Is it true that aspects are autobiographical?

Len Wallace: There are way too many beginnings to that story. There’s the beginning where I wrote a completely different story with the same title as a screenplay when I was all of 16 years old, there’s the beginning where I had the relationship that would end up forming the meat and bones of what would become the story of the graphic novel itself, there’s the beginning where I found my first artist for it, there’s the beginning where he had to quit and I embarked upon this adventure with Michelle, there’s the beginning where we were picked up by three different publishers before parting ways for varying reasons, and then there’s the beginning where we came to Oni and they’ve treated us royally well.

I could literally write a whole ‘nother book about the journey it’s been in the nearly 8 years it’s taken Love Buzz to get made, but in doing so, I’m still not answering your original question. Is the book auto-biographical? I’ll say “sorta” and just leave it to the readers to try and decipher which parts were real and which were spun fiction. I think they’d be surprised at which are which.

Richard Caldwell: Can you give us a brief account as to what Love Buzz is all about then, what readers can hope to find for themselves?

Len Wallace: In short, Love Buzz is a less than typical story of the all-too-typical scenario that runs throughout most of our lifetimes when growing up. Being a hormonal teenager and finding yourself getting lost for the first time in the realms of the dreaded four letter “L” word. For those of us who’ve had the years behind us of seeing love in our lives for the first time, you know there’s a point where you come to discover that the forms of bliss and drama of relationships come to differ greatly as a teenager as opposed to when you become an adult. The story of Love Buzz revolves around Norm Raymer and Maggie Gunther, both meet near the end of their high school careers, and through a series of misunderstandings and miscommunications, end up breaking up and coming back into one another’s lives at different points after that, never being able to get past the old feelings they’ve had for one another and wanting to try again and again to make it work, even as they come out into their young adulthood. It’s a story about growing up, and learning the different definitions of being “in love” in the different stages of a person’s life… Two kids working against their own odds to make something work in a relationship where for one reason or another, they’d never gotten it to in the past.

Also, there are tons of fun dick and fart jokes for any guys who think it might be a little too girly for their tastes and some great romance and cute guys for the ladies. I like to think the dynamic of my perverse man brain and the cuteness of Michelle Silva’s characters and sequentials are a great foil to play off one another. Couple that with Dave Tuney playing the artistic hands of our main character Norm as he works on his dream of becoming a comic artist, through several sequences throughout the book, along with the brilliant lettering of Thomas Mauer and I really couldn’t have asked for a better team of people to help me bring this long, love-labored story to life. I would literally throw myself in front of a bullet for all three of them.

Richard Caldwell: Michelle, what first drew you to Love Buzz?

Michelle Silva: Prior to Love Buzz, I had been working independently making mini comics and anthology pieces. When Len pitched Love Buzz to me, I was interested in making a graphic novel. A graphic novel was a big step for me and I wanted to see if I could do it. I was also able to have an opportunity to work with a team and a publisher which was an experience that I wanted to explore.

Richard Caldwell: Had you worked with other writers before? And for your part, what was most exhilarating, and most frustrating, about giving faces to these characters and their interpersonal relationships and growing pains? Did Len trust your judgments, or was the collaboration more a contest of wills?

Michelle Silva: Yes, I have worked with other writers before, but not on a project as big as Love Buzz. I wouldn’t say it was frustrating or exhilarating, but I’ve definitely been a teenager myself at one point. When I was making the book, I just looked into myself and reflected on my own teenage experiences, remembered friends that I had, and used them as references to illustrate the characters. When Len saw the art he said it was like I was reaching into his brain and putting it on paper, so lucky for me we were on the same page.

Richard Caldwell: Dave, what did you bring to the table? Did you and Michelle feel much of a need to compare notes?

Dave Tuney: I think Michelle and I inspired each other indirectly. I’ve spoken to her a few times, but just looking at her work on the book tells me a lot about her sensibilities. Her design of Maggie was really perfect, and since a lot of my work on the Love Buzz centered around Norm’s various imagined interpretations of her, I tried to use Michelle’s characterization as a place to start. There were a lot of moments in the book I couldn’t have drawn without Michelle’s visuals there to guide me. We did have a lot of encouragement for each other over whenever we talked. She’s got an awesome knack for character.

Richard Caldwell: And you had worked with Len before, right? Who is the indentured servant to who?

Dave Tuney: Heh. It’s more like Stockholm syndrome than anything, but your analogy works too. Umm… we had a three page story in HOPE: New Orleans for Ronin Studios and I’m drawing a short story for his Less Than Three anthology, BUT THAT’S ALL. WE HAVEN’T WORKED TOGETHER ON ANYTHING ELSE. EVER!! WHAT DID HE TELL YOU?!!

Richard Caldwell: All I know is what I read in the tea leaves. So Len, do you see yourself ever returning to Norm and Maggie down the road? Maybe show them post quarter life crisis?

Len Wallace: I’ve thought about it briefly and with great jest, but no. The story of Love Buzz came from a pretty deep and personal place, and I don’t think we’ll be going back to it anytime soon, if ever. That said, I have thought of a story I thought would be funny to do, involving two of the book’s supporting cast members, Norm’s best friends Marc and Faith, that would involve them drunkenly hooking up one night and ending up getting Faith pregnant and all the hilarity that would ensue from that, since Marc and Faith always profess to be disgusted by each other, despite the underlying tones of sexual tension I play upon them throughout the book.

Other than that, I think it’s pretty safe to say the book on Love Buzz is closed with this one. Norm and Maggie’s story is over.

Oh, and Dave’s lying. We’ve collaborated several times on a few projects in the past that have yet to leave the ground. Our first experience with working together came with a little webcomic idea we cooked up called My Fair Zombie. I do intend to revisit that story one day, if only to purely spite Dave.

Richard Caldwell: Excellent. So the book will be out officially, finally, by the time this interview sees the light of day. Is it time to sit back and breathe easy

What other projects do each of you have in the works?

Len Wallace: I know it’s going to be a load off all our shoulders collectively once the book is finally out. I feel like we’ve all been talking about it for so long that as someone pointed out, people would start thinking of Love Buzz the same way that people think about Guns N Roses when they talk about “Chinese Democracy”. I’ll be relieved to just finally be able to put up and shut up.

As far as my own personal projects, I’ve amassed quite a stockpile of ideas in various stages of productions in the couple years since I finished writing the bulk of Love Buzz. I’ve written a pair of other graphic novels, one’s a crime book called “Half Way Home” that will be illustrated by one of my favorite artists barely anyone’s ever heard of, Steven Walters (www.ourobor.com), and another, slightly more serious and somber book in the same vein as Love Buzz called “The Best Of You, The Best Of Me” with a new artist I found named Aaron Bir. I’m also in the middle of developing and finding a publisher for my Less Than Three romance anthology with my former Love Buzz editor, Lauren Perry. I think people will be surprised by some of the talent we’ve pulled into this thing. It’s going to be an amazing book. Other than that, I’ve got at least 10 other projects, including an ongoing webcomic with Dave, that have sat on the back burner for a good couple years that I’m aiming to get crackin’ on in a bad, bad way.

Michelle Silva: The only thing I can think of to plug is my  blog and deviantart gallery.Thanks for doing the interview Richard!

Richard Caldwell: Thanks guys. Love Buzz is written by Len Wallace, illustrated by Michelle Silva and Dave Tuney, and lettered by Thomas Mauer. A wonderfully sharp and poignant tale of on again off again romance amidst the problematics of defining one’s own place in the adult world, this is no mere slice of life piece. Love Buzz is a shining example that sometimes in life, lessons must be learned the hard way, no matter how fun they may be.