In a change of pace for this column, we are travelling halfway across the world to Dublin, Ireland to meet Rob Curley, writer of new series League Volunteers. Curley has many other strings to his bow, including his role as publisher of Atomic Diner and proprietor of comic store Sub-City, where I personally spent much of my teenage years (and pocket money).
What was the intent behind Atomic Diner when it was first set up and what can readers expect from the publisher in the future?
The original idea with Atomic Diner was to provide a place for people to showcase their own titles or graphic novels but it became obvious very quickly that it was just too big of an idea and would cost way beyond my means so i decided to concentrate on producing my own work. Over the years there has been a bit of a balance in that Atomic Diner has allowed people to ‘cut their teeth’ so to speak and go on to make a living doing what they enjoy.
It’s been six years now since I first started the company and I’d like to think I’ve learned a bit from past mistakes and can use that experience to move forward with some confidence. Hopefully what people can expect in the future from us is a strong line of titles with solid storytelling and top class art.
Ireland is in the unusual position of being perched in a mid-Atlantic cultural point between the United States and the United Kingdom. What effect does that have on Irish comic book creators and why have we not seen more of them?
I think over the years due to numerous factors we have looked to the US and UK to a lesser extent for our entertainment whether that be movies, comics or TV. I think our economic standing over the last century and the effect that had on people’s mindset and confidence has had a lot to do with it and in our particular case the way comics were presented until about fifteen years ago would have put a mainstream audience off.
What is the premise of League of Volunteers?
The premise is to set up a basis for a larger canvas of characters to draw from, spanning Irish history and mythology but mainly centred around my own original characters. The first few story arcs are set during World War Two during what has been called ‘the Emergency‘ and sets up that decade’s League Of Volunteers.
The membership of the League itself will change as time goes on and the time frame will jump throughout history until the full picture is clear to the reader about why the League is necessary for the survival of Ireland’s future.
At heart it’s an adventure comic with the aim of entertaining people and at the same time touching on parts of our past that will hopefully influence people to go and delve more into our history for themselves.
The book is obviously sourcing a lot of its material from Irish history and mythology which might not that well-known to readers outside of the country. Even the term ‘Volunteers’, is politically loaded with its connotations with the Irish Republican movement. To what extent does this unfamiliarity add to the books appeal a non-Irish audience?
American media in general has come nowhere near to tapping into our potential. Our history and mythology is on a par with any other country in the world and I think it needs an Irish hand to guide it, I’m not saying I’m that hand but I do think only an Irish person understands what we are about. As a people, we have something unique that makes us tick and we have a deep rooted bond with the past and beyond that, a life force that makes us standout in the crowd. On the other hand as a society we are easily distracted and tend to spend decades drifting off in useless directions forgetting who we really are.
As for the use of the word “Volunteers” I am aware of those connotations, but I’m not using it in that sense. Down through the ages Irish men and women have “Volunteered” themselves to worthwhile causes around the globe so the name is in homage to that selfless action.
One of the many interesting aspects of League is the use of Gaelic dialogue in the first issue. Is that going to be an ongoing feature of the book?
Using the Irish language is something I wanted to do with all of the new works we have planned and the small bit in the League # 1 is the start of that. There will be more coming up in a similar manner but I think to make it really matter, the books themselves need to have an English and Irish print run, which I intend to do with the graphic novels. That way people have a choice of which they want to read and for those people around the country who champion the Irish language I think it’s another direction for people to take when looking for new ways to learn and advance the use of Gaelic.
Of course today the everyday use of the internet means that all of this Irish content can be explained with a rapid clicking of keys. Social network sites also facilitate promotion of indie books like League. How useful has Curley found such platforms?
I think Facebook and Twitter have been brilliant. They allow you to keep people connected to what you’re doing and informed of release dates, con appearances and so on. They also allow people to feel more involved with the whole thing, which is what any form of storytelling is about. 
Previous books from the same imprint include Freakshow and Roisin Dubh. How would he describe them to new readers?
Freak Show was the first series I did and it’s a reflection of my interest in Americana, especially from the first part of the 20th century. I love the look and the feel of that period in American history, each decade from 1900s – 1950s has an amazing sense of style to it and lends itself to any visual medium. Freak Show was an attempt to capture the feeling of the 1950s in America, that calm exterior with a chaotic and paranoid underbelly and I felt doing it in a similar tone to the B movies of the time made sense as they were also reflecting that paranoid feeling that gripped the country.
Roisin Dubh, on the other hand was the first idea I had for an Irish character, she’s been sitting in my conscience for nearly four years now. The original idea was to use mythology as the background for her story and then as time goes on, allow her to pave her own path in the halls of fiction. By the time I came around to getting the project off the ground I had so many ideas in mind that it was obvious I could not do it all myself so my first choice of a collaborator was Maura McHugh who wrote the script for Roisin. Maura is an amazing talent and I’m very lucky to have her involved in the whole evolution of these characters.
Do these Atomic Diner books subscribe to a particular artistic ‘house style’?
At this stage I have around ten titles in mind that will hopefully see the light of day over the next few years and if they’re successful enough, will continue to come out on a semi regular basis. So keeping that in mind I think there is a need for some kind of standard, but nothing as rigid as a house standard. I think good art and storytelling is a high enough standard in itself.
What about the Irish convention scene? Once again, many comic creators would be drawn to either ‘across the pond’, or the UK for appearances. What does Ireland have to offer?
The convention circuit is small enough in Ireland but there are some stand out ones like 2D in Northern Ireland which has built up a great reputation. Both myself and my brother Brian have run conventions in the past and gotten some great names and a good response from people in general but with the increase in my workload I just don’t have time to continue down that road.
@rcadeCon is a new convention and it promises to be a big event with an estimated eleven hundred attending. Myself and Barry Keegan are guests and will be doing a talk as well as a signing so I’m looking forward to that.
We recently did a small con in UCD organised by the students there although I’m not sure what the main body of students made of the whole thing but it was great to do a talk on UCD campus.
When people hear the words ‘comic book’, often they immediately think of American superheroes. What does the medium have to offer outside of that?
I grew up loving American comics and British but to a much lesser extent and while I still love them I do think there is a need to branch out into other genre’s besides superheroes. In fairness DC comics have been doing that very successfully with their Vertigo books and Marvel are starting to look in other directions with their Icon imprint.
In countries like France and Japan comics are part of the landscape, it’s no big deal to read a comic in public. We still have a hangover from the 50′s when a McCarthy type offence was taken up against comics and their place in literature.
Does Atomic Diner have any plans to get involved in digital distribution?
I have and it’s something I want to get around to doing. I think it’s a great way to get your work out there to places you would otherwise have little chance of reaching. I think I’m of an age where I just missed out on the whole digital revolution so I’m a bit of an old fogy when it comes to technology.
Finally would it be possible to tease some future storylines from League of Volunteers?
I have a few more storylines plotted out, one of which we will see our Nazi friends return this time a couple of miles beneath the Alaskan landscape where they plan on starting a new superior race and I also have a story about a group of dead soldiers from WW1 who haunt our heroes and remind them of the horror of war. And then for the most part there will be plenty of issues concentrating more on Irish mythology and these stories will hopefully lead to some of the better known characters having their own series.
It’s a big project overall, but I think it has a good chance of surviving if the support for League of Volunteers # 1 is anything to go by. So fingers crossed.
