It is a common dream for most to aspire to be independent. It is this desire that drives many to form their own company ignoring(and relishing) the risks that this choice will bring to their lives. Once achieved, the newly independent individual can stand or fall on their merits. Is is one such person that examiner.com's Oscar Benjamin had the opportunity to discuss in detail, his ascent as an independent publisher of comic books and other related items. The recent "Decepti-Kon" convention that was held in Sacramento, California provided an appropriate backdrop for the illuminating sit-down with publisher, artist and family man, Richard Zerga.
Richard Zerga is one of the lucky individuals whose age is quite difficult to deduce by merely looking at his rather youthful visage. Zerga is a handsome individual who immediately reminds this columnist of having the appearance of a poet from the Jack Kerouac "Beat Poetry" era of 50's and 60's. His is an articulate and confident man who obviously enjoys the success his comic book company, "Legends of Heroes and Villains" has afforded him.
Those that are regular readers of comic books know that creators are always prone to write an orign story detailing the often times humble beginning adventures of their characters. Richard Zerga's story is an intriguing one which could very well be a tale written by a veteran comic book scribe! Zerga begins, "my oldest daughter, Nikki was doing a comic book for her senior project. We brought in Noel Serrato who learned with Billy Martinez on how to do comics. We put together the story for her first senior project and that was it! She got an A"! Richard continues, "I had never done any comic book characters. I always had an interest in comic books going back as far as '72! My first comic book character was in 2005 and it has taken off since then. My daughter, Kristi is involved now and my other daughter, Nikki, also. Basically there are five of us including Noel and another co-writer, Diana Spain for "Kitty and Batz" coming out at Sac-Anime".
Most independent businessman know the value of networking and how it may add to your bottom line. Richard Zerga comments, "we've have had the opportunity to work with some great people! Jason Dube of Scattered Comics, Jeff Hughes of Comic Book Divas and Bump in the Night FX. We've just completed a huge conceptual art project for them which we can't talk about, but any store you walk into this Halloween will show that work".
Perusing through the Legends of Heroes and Villains website, one can clearly see a wide variety of items Zerga offers. Although his site offers many items of interest to fans, Zerga offers this explanation, "we are more known now for being a publishing comic book company. We have a lot of titles and biggest one we are working on right now is for a movie coming out in 2012".
It is this topic that Zerga clearly is most animated about. By merely superficially scanning the list of films coming out, it is clearly evident that this era will be considered the golden age of the comic book film. It is this connection that Richard Zerga comments on, "we were contacted by a gentleman named Brian Shirley who has a project geared to the SyFy channel. There are two production companies extremely interested in picking up the project. It is called Crocaloctupus which kind of goes along with the Roger Corman stuff that is being produced by the channel. We did the art for that and then we were contacted for Rose White which is based on Snow White and Rose Red. And now I just got contacted by a production company in Florida. They may be interested in having us do a comic book based on one of their stories".
Filmmakers will often resort to using a comic book-like series of drawings called "storyboards" to help them visualize their proposed film and also utilize this artwork when pitching a project to interested parties. Richard Zerga touches upon this topic, "I don't know if it(Crocaloctupus) was actually going to be a storyboard because it is a very short preview kind of comic. Rose White may be along the lines of more of a preview. We are not going to be able to look at the script until after April. It might more of an introductory thing to help promote the movie". Zerga concludes his thoughts on Rose White, "It's a project by actress Deneen Melody which will be transferred to comic book form by Jeff Hughes and we will do the artwork. He mentioned to us if things go well, expect to be coming out this way(Hollywood). Everything is at the pitching stage and that is why the comic book came out to help promote it. I know the SyFy has been following this and one of the two production companies which I can't mention is extremely popular and have done major Hollywood movies".
A major theme underpinning the majority of the comic books Richard Zerga's company produces is that of Horror. Like many horror fans, Zerga grew up on a steady diet of horror films for which he comments, "Oh my gosh! I remember when I was six years old-Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Night Gallery and I remember watching Frankenstein. I want to say I was about seven watching Creature Features with Bob Wilkins and I would get nightmares and get so sick, yet the following night I would be watching again"!
Zerga exhibits a father's pride when talking about the accomplishments of his daughters, "from the time they could hold a pencil, I made sure they had crayons, markers, pencils, paper and coloring books. I told them to just draw and keep drawing". Richard Zerga's creative household ambience obviously led to the first comic book entitled "Hotaru: A Day in the Life" which was the high school senior project that Nikki Zerga jump started the company with. Richard continues, "Hotaru started with Nikki six years and Kristi just picked up on it and took off! Now Nikki is coming back, Kristi and Diana are writing a comic book called Kitty and Batz. Nikki is back and she's actually writing stories that will be included in the book. Now everybody is back on board again"!
Sometimes horror can be found in very unlikely locations and equally unlikely characters. Clowns have had a rich and powerful history within the horror genre. Richard Zerga discusses the use of a particular clown as a company mascot, "I didn't know if I wanted to go that way because of what got this company started was Hotaru. I talked with Kristi because she is co-owner of the compay and she said let's go with Taffy T. Clown Taffy is now on our website, business cards and T-shirts". Zerga reminisces about the creation of this character, "The first story we did of Taffy came about in an odd way. We were working on a story called Dead Alive. It had to do with, very loosely on Todd Browning's Freaks. One Halloween I was dressed up in a Killer Klowns from Outer Space costume, the head and everything. All I did was sit on the porch and my daughter, Nikki was with me. Nobody came up, she had to take the bowl of candy to everybody! I thought you know what-the clown concept would be much more intimidating than zombies or whatever. I was right"!
Successful independent individuals have similar unorthodox methods of realizing their dreams. Richard Zerga's journey reminds us that vision, talent and nerve will often times yield a significant harvest. The seeds of his success can be said to have been planted within him all those years ago when he began to experience the delicious thrill of the horror film which obviously found another host to spring forth ideas that others wish to revel in.
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