Ah yes, here we are again and now a wee chat with the author of our ReBoot comical book Professor WhizzyWig!
But first, feast your eyes on this wonderful page of ReBoot art created by Ale, Luis and Franco:
1- Professor, please tell the reading audience your full name and family
background.
My full name is Professor Horatio Pei-Ta WhizzyWig. I was born in Calgary, Alberta to two white people.
2- Where do you live (country, state, town. Population? Neighbors? Roommates? Pets?)
I live in Vancouver! Which includes both North America’s most HIV-infected neighbourhood and the most densely populated neighbourhood (not to mention Canada’s richest and poorest area/zip codes!- Ed). Thankfully, they’re not the same neighbourhoods. And thankfully they’re not the neighbourhoods I live in. I live in Fairview! That’s about all the location info I’m willing to give out to you freaks.
I have two cats (Steve and Laika), three Angel fish, four cat fish, a Ghost Knife, and a level 39 dwarven priest named Choram. Come find me in The Venture Co!
3- When did you start writing?
I have been writing for a LONG time. The first story I remember writing was called Black Wings. It was about a magical black cat with bat wings that abducts this nice fellow and takes him on a train ride that teleports him to the beach. I think I was eight when I wrote it.
4- Who are your major influences (comics, or writers in general)?
Uuhh… you know, I generally hate comics. I’ve had a Heavy Metal subscription for years and it really depresses me. Literature-wise, my favourite writer is Frederik Pohl. Go read Gateway if you haven’t yet.
5- Did you attend post-secondary school? If yes where, if not, where did you
get training?
For storytelling, I attended the Vancouver Film School Writing for Film, TV, and New Media program. I highly recommend it. Every opportunity I’ve received since graduating has extended directly from attending VFS. Presuming you’re not a total idiot, that program can get you on the right path.
6- How have you enjoyed the experience of creating comics the Z2H way?
What are the good points/bad points?
I think I should reserve my opinions until after the comic is done. I’m looking at the exercise from a point of view involving the comic’s success. Hard to say how I feel about it until I see the whole strategy play out.
7- You and Shaun Martens (ReBoot Art Director) work well together. How did you two meet?
We met during the contest! We got assigned to each other, so it wasn’t by choice. Matt Toner and Paul Gertz hooked us up, I believe.
8- If you could work on any comic book/project of your choice, what would it be? Why?
My own! Duh! Actually, I’m writing a samurai comic right now and a friend is penciling it. Ideally, I’d like to do a hardcore sci-fi comic.
9- Now that the ReBoot comic is nearing completion, what would you say was the most challenging aspect of the process? Why?
Hold on a second - the first book is nearing completion. We still got 6 books to go! 
But really, the most challenging aspect has been dealing with the fear that the series won’t go on after this first book. I think that would be a real letdown to the fanbase and a real disappointment to me. Plus, it makes it hard to justify a full commitment to the project. If we got the go-ahead from Rainmaker to do the entire series, I’d be so far-gone into developing the further episodes that I wouldn’t have time even to answer these questions.
Furthermore, I’d like a full comic story to add to my portfolio and to use it for applying to game companies. My ideal day-job would be writing video games.
There you have it: a gentleman and a scholar!
Julian
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