Viper Comics Interview: Cal Slayton and Shades Of Blue 4/14/2003 Cal Slayton is the artist for the comic book "Shades Of Blue" which is about a teenage girl named Heidi Paige. She wakes up one morning to find her hair had turned blue and she has gained the ability to control electricity. Now in the small college town of Harrington, she battles super-villains, slacks off on homework, and hangs out with her best (and pretty much only) friend K.T. while fending off the geekiness of wannabe sidekick Marcus. Just recently, "Shades of Blue" got some nice coverage by Comic Shop News and the new issue #1 was picked as one of it's TOP 24 for April 2003. We caught up with Cal and went one on one with the artist behind the comic book. What was the very first comic book you bought? I really can't remember what the first one I bought was. I have an older brother so comics were just always around. The earliest ones I can remember were a bunch of Batman books and a couple of Phantom comics we had. He was more into DC books, so I started with those and then added Marvel to my reading list. What made you decide that you wanted to work in comics? I've always wanted to draw comics ever since I was a kid. I think most comic book artists are that way though, there probably aren't that many that got the desire for it out of the blue in their twenties or thirties. I think most were comic fans growing up. It's always been my dream to support myself by drawing. I'm not there yet, but I hope to be soon. What was the very first comic book project you worked on? My first published work is "Shades of Blue" #3 (Vol. 1), published by Amp Comics. It's strange for me to look at that issue now because on the one hand I hate looking at the art (I've gotten better), and yet it will always be a special comic to me because it was my first. How did you end up working on Shades of Blue? They had a different artist on the first 2 issues and he had to quit. So, Jim Harris (Writer and Co-Creator) was looking online for a new artist and found my website. He liked my stuff and asked me if I would be interested in drawing the book. At this point in my comic career, I had tried collaborating on a book that never got off the ground and had several writers contact me wanting to pitch stuff (that wasn't that good) to different companies. So, when I got offer the Shades job I took it because: 1.) The story was great and 2.) Jim had a proven record of publishing. I've very thankful to him for the opportunity. I realize how lucky I am to work on a semi-indy book that's not only well written but has a writer that is really passionate and professional about it. I recently picked up a copy of "Spookytown" (very nice work by the way), have you done anymore work on this series? Thanks, glad you liked it. Not many people have read it, being a mini comic and all. I haven't done anything more with "Spookytown" beyond character designs and story ideas. But hopefully in the future something will develop. Are you presently working on any other projects you plan on releasing under your own label (HGC)? No, Shades keeps me pretty busy, but like I said "Spookytown" is something I'd like to get out there. I wanted to either do it as a graphic novel or a mini series. And if I can't get it published, I'll publish it myself. What else can we expect to see from you in the future? Well, we just re-launched "Shades of Blue" under a new publisher, Digital Webbing http://www.digitalwebbing.com and we're very excited about it. We recently published a trade paperback of the first five issues through DW and it came out great. And now Shades is back on it's bi-monthly schedule. The new issue #1 is scheduled to hit stores on April 23rd. Will you be making any comic convention appearances in 2003? I'm sure I'll be at all the Dallas area shows throughout the year, including Wizard World Dallas. Hopefully I will be able to make it to Chicago or San Diego, but that's up in the air right now. When any pland become definite, I'll post them on my website. -Cal Viper fans if you get a chance, stop by your local comic store and pick up "SHADES OF BLUE" and Cal's own mini-comic "SPOOKYTOWN".