Debbie Huey's Bumperboy Gets Loud
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on May 16, 2006 Sign up now!
by Kai-Ming Cha, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 5/16/2006
If you're an aspiring comics creator, you probably grew up reading and drawing comics and most likely you've built up a portfolio that you can show to publishers. Or maybe you're like Debbie Huey, the creator of Bumperboy.
Huey read her first comic in 2000, started drawing her first comics in 2002 and published her first book, Bumperboy Loses His Marbles, with the help of a Xeric grant in 2005. This July, Huey will copublish her next book, Bumperboy and the Loud, Loud, Mountain with AdHouse Books, a small comics press that has published cartoonists like Hope Larson. (AdHouse also publishes a number of anthology titles, including a collection of love stories called Project Romantic, which features an original story by Huey.)
"I'd always thought that I'd write a book someday," Huey says. "I never thought I'd be drawing comics."
Like Andy Runton's Owly, Huey's Bumberboy is a charming and whimsical comic that kids and adults can enjoy. "80% to 90% of people think comics are for kids," says AdHouse publisher Chris Pitzer, "but 80% to 90% of what's out there is not for kids anymore." On Free Comic Book Day, May 6, around the country, Pitzer figured about seven of the 27 comics being offered were for kids. "Archie, Walt Disney, Alley from Top Shelf. Bumperboy has a similar audience. [Huey's] got an all-ages comic that adults will enjoy, too. Not many people are doing that."
AdHouse projects a print run of 3,000 to 5,000 for Loud, Loud, Mountain, based on the advance orders. Pitzer says that he's moved a lot of Bumperboy Loses His Marbles. "I've been cutting checks to Debbie since we started distribution."
Bumperboy is Gumby-like in his simplicity. He and his dog, Bumperpup, live in the land of Bubtopia and wear rather odd-looking suits that make them look like shrink-wrapped astronauts. And in Bubtopia, playing marbles is a big deal. In Bumperboy Loses his Marbles, Bumperboy literally loses his marbles (when they are accidentally dropped down the Borp Hole) right before the big Bubtopia Marble Tournament. He spends the day with Bumperpup traveling to different worlds through Borp Holes, Bubtopia's underground method of transportation. They visit their friend, Ol' Rupert, who lives in a big tree and falls off his rocker. They also go to Onomatoland and visit the Onomatopeople, who have names like Bam! and Bop!
Pitzer and Huey first met at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, where their booths were next to each other. "She was hanging this sign up over her booth," Pitzer says. "It was just a picture of Bumperboy's head, but it stood out in the whole room." After meeting, Pitzer began handling distribution of Huey's comic.
Huey graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a B.F.A. in fine arts. "I never considered myself a painter or a sculptor," she says. "Even back then, I was writing small stories. I would somehow always work a narrative into my artwork. " Huey uses clean, strong lines in her drawings of Bumperboy's cartoony, minimalist world, and she embellishes the details. Gordy is a cute but indefinable character that wears only socks and also carries his marbles in a sock. Another character named Pow! from Onomatoland says her name ("Pow!") every time she shoots a marble. Huey has even come up with a name for the way Bumperpup speaks in pictures: it's called pictonese.
After self-publishing her first book with a Xeric grant, an annual award to creators that allows them to self-publish their books, Huey says she learned a lot about the publishing process. "The Xeric Foundation encourages you to get estimates on how much your book is going to cost to publish. It's all the sides of publishing that you don't think of. As an artist, all you want to do is draw it, write it and get it out there. I learned a whole lot about publishing just by applying for the grant. Once I did all the research, I thought, 'I can do it myself.' "
This time around Pitzer contributed to the layout and design of the book in addition to handling the distribution end. "I think I made one editorial suggestion," Pitzer says. "That's usually how it is at AdHouse. I try not to interfere too much. She's got a really good eye for design."
To promote Bumperboy and the Loud, Loud, Mountain, Pitzer will be giving out Bumperboy magnets, and Huey is designing postcards. Huey also has an assortment of Bumperboy merchandise (all available at Bumperboy.net) to promote the comic. At last year's MoCCA Art Festival, the annual indie comics festival held in downtown Manhattan, Huey offered Bumperboy buttons, T-shirts and stickers along with Bumperboy marble bags.
Huey is planning to exhibit at this year's MoCCA Art Festival in June and at the San Diego Comic-con International in July. For her next project, she's thinking of something that involves the Onomatopeople from her Bumperboy stories. "I made up the Onomatopeople way before Bumperboy," she says, "and they've never had a story of their own."
