DF Interview: Derek Charm detonates a frantic mutant beach party in ‘Toxic Summer’

By Byron Brewer

Best friends Ben and Leo had the perfect summer planned after high school graduation. As lifeguards in the idyllic beach town of Port Dorian, they were planning for three months of hot guys, late-night bonfires, and no regrets . . . until a toxic spill of unknown properties on the beach transformed their dream summer into a waking nightmare. Now Port Dorian is flooded with panicked tourists, a local researcher is paralyzed while investigating the spill, and a horrifying pack of subhuman monstrosities is snatching beachgoers in the night.

Mix one part Riverdale with one part The Creature from the Black Lagoon and drink it down fast because this bi-monthly horror shocker comes packed with enough acidic sludge, perverted beach maniacs, and ill will to ruin anyone's first summer away from home!

From the mutated mind of cartoonist Derek Charm comes Toxic Summer, a nightmare beach party that will keep you up all night! So, before even trying to sleep, I chatted with the Eisner award-winning creator of this book, Derek Charm.

Byron Brewer: Derek, it is evident you have a lot of enthusiasm for Toxic Summer, a coming summer series from Oni Press that would also, it seems, make a fantastic summer teen horror movie. What inspired this special three-issue comic?

Derek Charm: It really came out of wanting to do something silly and funny, but with a horror/sci-fi angle. It’s two idiot best friends having the worst summer imaginable, which includes toxic spills, hideous monsters, and no life lessons.

As far as a mood board I was thinking along the lines of Scooby Doo, Weird Science, 60s beach movies, and MAD magazine.

Byron: MAD magazine’s wit and “wisdome” is well reflected in this first issue of Toxic Summer. Who were some of the MAD creators – and others – who have influenced you during your days as a cartoonist?

Derek Charm: Yes, I’m a huge fan of the original MAD artists! I took tons of inspiration from Jack Davis, Wally Wood, and especially Will Elder, both in tone and in the sort of wild cartoony exaggeration. Back when I was on Jughead, I really fell in love with the work of Harry Lucey, who is a classic Archie artist, and he’s been a major influence ever since, especially for comics with teen heroes. There’s a lot of animation influence here too, which is my other job-- so it’s kind of a mixture of all that, filtered through me.

Byron: Introduce readers to Ben and Leo and their lives in Port Dorian. Who are they as we meet them in May?

Derek Charm: Ben and Leo are two best friends who are pretty much always together but have zero romantic interest in each other. They’ve come up with an intricate plan to spend the summer working as lifeguards in a party town where they will meet hot boys and, more importantly, be as popular as they’ve always thought they should be. Leo is the loud, abrasive leader-type, while Ben is the laid back down-for anything best friend. Their plans are immediately crushed when they arrive in town and find everything closed due to a toxic spill. They’re both very much inspired by a couple of friends of mine.

Byron: I know you are noted for your Jughead work among others. Like that Riverdale resident, do Ben and Leo have a gaggle of buddies that will be playing any part in the series? Could you spotlight a few here?

Derek Charm: They do discover there’s another group of kids their age stuck in town, and awkwardly attempt to integrate themselves—although they’re not necessarily buddies right away. There’s Amy, who’s dad is a researcher with a house on the beach, her friends Anna and Jake, and finally AJ, who Ben and Leo are convinced they’re in love with.

Byron: What can you divulge without spoilers about the local researcher who is investigating the recent toxic spill? Can you give us any clues about the nature of the spill itself?

Derek Charm: These are both things that get explored more as the series goes on. One of the running jokes is these characters trying to avoid interacting with the plot as much as possible. They’re singularly focused on having a good summer, so there’s clues about the researcher and the nature of the spill kind of running in the background that Ben and Leo will ignore until they’re unavoidable.

Byron: Tell us about THE MONSTERS!! … The sinister subhuman monstrosities snatching beachfolk by night!

Derek Charm: They’re also part of the big mystery that is intentionally being avoided until it’s too late! Designing them was super fun. Anything else would be saying too much!

Byron: Discuss your process of executing a comic like this, in both artist and writer hats. I find such procedures endlessly fascinating.

Derek Charm: What was cool about working alone on this (alongside my amazing editor Bess Paralles) was that I could edit the finished script as I was drawing. If something wasn’t working on the page, I’d change dialogue, the page layout, and punch up jokes as I drew. I would never do that with another writer’s work, but it was really freeing to be able to hack it up as I went since I was doing it all. So the script ended up being just the starting point, and the real writing was kind of happening as I was in it drawing, which was really cool and immersive. My favorite part of the whole process though was coloring. I really wanted a specific, weird palette for this book and had so much fun figuring out the colors and changing them dramatically with the time of day and environment of a given scene.

Byron: See? Fascinating! … Derek, what upcoming projects of yours, inside or outside comics, can you tell readers about?

Derek Charm: I’ve been working full time on an animated series for the past couple of years. We had a long hiatus over the summer where I was able to work on Toxic Summer, as well as some shorter projects for Marvel and DC. I’m now back in the animation world for the foreseeable future, and hopefully that will give new comics ideas time to percolate. I can’t say what the animated series is just yet, but it will be out later this year and is beyond a dream come true to be a part of.

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Derek Charm for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. Toxic Summer #1 from Oni Press is slated to be on sale May 1! 

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