DF Interview: Tony Fleecs brings cartoons to life in ‘Uncanny Valley’

By Byron Brewer

Oliver is a seemingly typical 12-year-old boy – except for a mysterious family history that seems to start and end with his mother… and unexplainable powers, that is.

He can do things other boys can't, to the point of landing him in some trouble. Baffled by the surreal cartoonish nature of his abilities and followed by a murder of peculiar crows, the mystery behind Oliver's family history finally unfolds!

Written by Tony Fleecs (Stray Dogs, Local Man) and illustrated by Dave Wachter (Punisher, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), discover in Uncanny Valley what makes Oliver special and strange as he searches for his place in the world.

It was my pleasure to sit down with scribe Tony Fleecs and chat up this most unusual limited series.

Byron Brewer: Tony, is your idea for Uncanny Valley a new one or has it been bubbling on the Fleecs backburner for a while? Was there any specific inspiration for this unusual concept book?

Tony Fleecs: This one has been cooking for years. Probably close to a decade. It's been in several different notebooks. And I just could never get it going because I'd either need two artists (one realistic and one cartoony) or one super versatile artist--- Basically anyone who could pull off this book would definitely already have paying work. It wasn't until BOOM! Studios said, "We want to make this with you" that getting somebody who could draw this and commit to drawing the whole thing was even close to feasible.

Specific inspiration: Beside the obvious Roger Rabbit/Cool World/Space Jam type of stuff, the main inspiration was Planetary. Basically just -- what if there were this secret history of the world and it was all these pulp genre characters and events. I thought: OK, but what if that were cartoons?

Byron: Can you tell us a little about the canvas we are playing on, the atmosphere Dave Wachter and you are creating? I have heard about “a big huge story set in two giant worlds with all sorts of magic and mystery and robots and skeletons”?

Tony Fleecs: It's a big huge story. With a lot of stuff Dave has to design and make feel ... familiar ... but not just a ripoff or a corny stand-in. And every issue, we take these characters to new places and introduce new cartoons. It starts out with the family that's at the heart of this story and it really expands as we go, while keeping that family's story the central focus. What I'm so excited about with Dave is, he can do these beautiful landscapes and really kinetic action scenes but he can also really act with these characters. It's so specific, the idea of a human and a cartoon having real tension or real pathos and Dave zeros right in on it.

Byron: Introduce readers to young Oliver. Who is he when we meet him, and has he always been “this way”? What is the dynamic between he and his mother, and is this an important key to his “talents”? What’s up with this family?

Tony Fleecs: Oliver's a lot like me when I was a boy. A little adrift. Very concerned with fitting in and feeling accepted. He and his mom are all the family he has at the beginning of the story and that's a lot of what the book is about, thematically – trying to figure out how you fit into the world when you don't feel connected to anything. My family moved from the east coast to Colorado when I was 10. And then when I was 20, I moved to South Dakota and then six years later I moved to L.A. – I'm not a military kid but I feel like I almost moved as much as a military kid. And so, I feel like… like, if someone just likes their hometown baseball team, to me that seems like they have a whole huge culture and tradition that I don't have at all. I hesitate to get this deep into it because I can't imagine anyone's reading this like, "Oh, this 44-year-old straight white guy feels culturally disconnected... I gotta read this book!" but whatever – that's where a lot of the vibe of this story comes from.

As for what's up with Oliver's family-- that's what the whole thing is about. You'll see! This book is wall-to-wall family drama.

Byron: Having seen the solicit art, apparently Oliver’s “talents” involve cartoons or cartoonish manifestations? Without spoilers, is it possible to explain some of the things this 12-year-old can do with his “powers”? Or are they not voluntarily brought forth?

Tony Fleecs: They're not voluntary. Tonally, we're playing this as straight as you could possibly play, "boy discovers he has cartoon powers." The fun part is figuring out how to put these characters into situations where a new cool cartoon power will manifest and making the reader anticipate. We want them turning the page, going, "If he just smells that apple pie, he'll be able to float through the air!" and then giving that to them. (By the way, the pie gag isn't in the book. Yet.)

Byron: And about that murder of accompanying crows…?

Tony Fleecs: Crows are just menacing. And they're lowkey in EVERY cartoon. Crows or magpies-- just everywhere in cartoons. They look cool. They're good to have on the end of an evil staff or perched on the back of your throne,

Byron: What other characters are important to this limited series? I am sure Oliver has friends (?) who may be envious, jealous or just plain scared of him.

Tony Fleecs: That's all spoilers, but suffice to say they will probably be cartoons. And we'll meet new ones in every issue.

Byron: Discuss the awesome art of Dave Wachter.

Tony Fleecs: I've known Dave for basically the whole time I've been in comics. We worked together a couple of times. He was actually the first person who wasn't me to draw one of my scripts. I've always loved his work. Always wanted to work on something creator-owned with him. In fact, years ago, when I was trying to figure out if I could make THIS book, I called Dave and asked if he'd want to draw just the real world parts of this book and then I or somebody else would do the cartoon parts... and Dave said, "So you want me to draw JUST the boring parts?" Then, like I said, when BOOM! Studios partnered with me on this, I thought, "I bet Dave could draw both parts." It's definitely pushing him outside of his normal wheelhouse but the results are incredible. He's really pulling this thing off and I think people who know have always known Dave was a rad artist. But I don't hesitate for a second saying this is the best stuff I've ever seen him draw and I think people are gonna take notice. He's coloring himself. He's doing a lot of the drawing in the colors and it looks beautiful.

Byron: Tony, what other projects, inside or outside comics, in which you are involved can you tell us about?

Tony Fleecs: I'm all inside comics right now. I'm doing way too much. Uncanny Valley comes out in early April. Two weeks before that, I've got Feral coming out from Image Comics. That's Trish Forstner and my follow-up to Stray Dogs about three house cats that get lost in the woods in the middle of a nightmarish rabies outbreak… The Walking Dead but with cats. Also from Image with Tim Seeley, my midwest superhero noir, Local Man, starts its third arc; I co-write AND DRAW that one! And then, the second half of Army of Darkness Forever from Dynamite Entertainment starts April 17 which I'm writing & drawing covers for. Second arc has art by the great Pop Mhan and colors by my guy Brad Simpson and it continues to be the ultimate comic book sequel to the 1993 Sam Rami/Bruce Campbell masterpiece, Army of Darkness.

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Tony Fleecs for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. Uncanny Valley #1 from BOOM! Studios is slated to be on sale April 10!

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