Funk Soul Samurai is a difficult comic to explain in only a couple of paragraphs. It involves murderous soldiers, huge robots, skateboards, a post-apocalyptic world, samurais, funk and soul. Not necessarily in that order. This enjoyably bonkers comic is the work of writer/artist Nick Gonzo, and the second issue is currently funding on Kickstarter via Nick’s publishing partnership Gonzo Industrial.
Funk Soul Samurai: Emergence of the Continuing Punch continues the zany, zine-esque flavour of the first issue from 2016, with plenty of wordless action crammed into every page. With a third issue already in the works, we caught up with Nick to discover more about the comic.
A Place To Hang Your Cape: The action-comedy vibes of Funk Soul Samurai are readily apparent. What’s the inspiration behind writing/drawing this comic?
Nick Gonzo: When I started drawing Funk Soul Samurai I was also drawing my other comic 50 Signal. That’s about a very sturdy character who mostly walks about and talks. Funk Soul Samurai was the salve ti satisfy my itch to do something more lively. Something where I just let loose and anything can happen.
AP2HYC: There’s a very frantic, chunky look to the comic. What’s the process like in visualising a comic as wonderfully bonkers-looking as this?
Gonzo: I have an idea going in what I need to happen in the comic. For example with the first one it was all about getting that milkshake, and in the second one its about getting a town its food back. After that the whys and wherefores I make up on the spot. So the giant mutant in issue 1 was just a guy I threw in, and I drew him straight into the comic. No sketches or idea development. Just splat, straight in there. I just make it up as I go along to make it a surprise to me too.
AP2HYC: Why did you want to make it a ‘silent’ comic?
Gonzo: I was once on this panel at a comic con years ago, and there was this dude talking about comics as if they were films. He had made some short films, but turned to comics because they’re cheaper to make. He was going on about things you can’t do in comics and one of the things he said was you can’t have a soundtrack in a comic.
And I was all bullshit.
A comic can have a soundtrack, but its up to the creator to express that visually. Whilst its dialogue free, Funk Soul Samurai has many sound effects, because comics should embrace what makes them unique as a medium, and to me sound effects are a big part of that. I wanted to make something that can only exist in the realms of comic books, both visually and aurally.
AP2HYC: How do you go about balancing the vibrant humour and action?
Gonzo: I imagine it as a Saturday morning cartoon, and follow that vibe. With some of my books I think about the message and the meaning and all that, but Funk Soul Samurai is about the texture of comics, and the language of comics, and having fun with it.
AP2HYC: This is the second issue of the series. What makes Emergence of the Continuing Punch distinct from Rampage of the Unchained Appetite?
Gonzo: When the reviews came in for Funk Soul Samurai: Rampage of the Unchained Appetite! They Either mentioned or lamented the lack of a plot. For the second instalment I made it my mission to lever in as complex as a plot as I could, without using language. Its all pictograms and strange symbols.
So Emergence of the Continuing Punch foregoes mutants for tyrannical soldiers, despotic robots, and the iron grip of military rule getting a good does of fist and pineapple to the face.
AP2HYC: If and when the current campaign is a success, where does Funk Soul Samurai go from here?
Gonzo: The first Funk Soul Samurai is very Shaolin Cowboy, and the second is very Ninja Gaiden. Did you ever play that? Ridiculously hard game for the xbox. Point is, they’re love letters to the action I go mad for. Part 3 would take a Mad Max route and involve the Samurai in a massive car chase, as a convoy of vehicles is pursued by a living Pyramid controlled by a psychic teenager. I have already started sketching it out.
Have you been caught up in the crazy mis-adventures of the Funk Soul Samurai on Kickstarter yet? Let us know in the comments section below or send us a Tweet!
