My third interview focuses on the author – Brendan McGinley (BM) – and illustrator – Mauro Vargas (MV) – of the web-comic ‘Hannibal Goes to Rome’. The famous story is lacking representational evidence, especially from the Carthaginian side, so it’s always interesting to see what artists come up with.

(AW) Where did the inspiration come from to go for Hannibal? It's not like your other comics are that historical

(BM) "Hannibal" came about because you can't resist the titanic audacity of the man. I was researching Carthage for another book I was writing, a speculative fiction called "Citizen X" in which Carthage wins the Second Punic War and goes on to sweep the globe. But I was deliberately avoiding the commander, because I think he's rightly the focus of whatever remains of Carthaginian lore these days. I just wanted him to be a looming figure and put the focus on this family called the al'Gadriels, who were nobles that had been with Hannibal for the duration of the war and gone on to be sort of the secret defenders of the new republic, the trustees to carry it forward through westerns and mysteries, science fiction, whatever genres I wanted to play with. But the thing is...once you learn about Hannibal, you have to applaud. The story is so full of amazing tales, both epic and eye-level, that it just cried out to be captured. I figured why not tell the whole epic? A serial webcomic is the perfect format. Yeah, my other comics aren't overtly historical, but I do like educational media of any stripe that engage and entertain. "DOSE", my own book, plays with that far more loosely -- one of my favorite bits to write for that book is "Super-Rave Shuugaku 3003," about a manga vixen who's trying to uncover all human knowledge but she keeps getting it wrong. That's probably a fair assessment of my misguided attempt to pay tribute to Hannibal. I think learning without excitement is the counterpart to drama without meaning.
Larry Gonick, whose excellent "Cartoon History of the Universe" was my prime inspiration to write "Hannibal Goes to Rome" (as is apparent to anyone who's read both) has even done cartoon guides to statistics, because it's essential that there be something engaging, some sticking-point for the readers' interests. The same fellow who's sleeping through statistics class can rattle off endless decimals for his favorite baseball team's performance because those numbers have relevance and meaning to him.
"Hannibal" was originally an entry over at DC's Zuda webcomic competition. We lost, picked up Andres to color the pages, and were looking around for a place to take it when my friend Mike Dolce pointed us to ShadowLine. They liked it, and here we are.

(AW)How did you do your research and how important is research for your comics?

(BM) Research is...well, unfortunately as well as fortunately there are only a few sources for Hannibal's war, so while there is a frustrating lack of independent confirmation, it's also pretty easy to go back to the source. I've been doing most of my research weeding out the legends that may or may not have been true but I can't find confirmed in the histories. A lot of it's in the details -- making sure no one is riding a horse with a saddle or stirrups yet, confirming which eye Hannibal lost sight in while crossing the swamp. It's been pretty smooth as long as I confirm anything I read in a secondary source with one of the antiquity authors. It's disproving something that takes time. And Mauro's been an excellent collaborator on that, doing a ton of research into uniforms, horse tack, etc. to make sure we're staying in line. It's great to work with him and know we can back each other up for reference.

(MV) I do my research in books and the internet and any painting or illustration I find, for example the old Hal Foster´s"Prince Valiant" books, in some of them, Romans appear with really detailed helmets and costumes, the same i found in the "History of Dress" book, and then I adapt to my synthetic funny style. And that´s why a lot of people say: "it´s like Asterix!" (Maybe they say that because there aren´t too many comics with romans and humor.) Uderzo, the Asterix artist did good research, and that gives the comic a sense of reality even if the art is "cartoony".

(AW)Speaking of the art, tell me about the style of the comics.

(MV)The style looks really classic, and that works in the imagination of the reader, I think. Sometimes when you have the references you choose the "more in the head" look that everyone understands as a Roman soldier. We keep in mind that it's a comic, with battles and humor, not a "History Channel document."

(AW)I think our standards may be different there. ;-) How does a web-comic like this come to be? There’s a new page every week, I think?

(MV)I receive the script, I read it carefully, take notes of the important things that I have to search, "Roman Triremes" or "Publius Scipio"...is there a sculpture of Scipio? How did his armor look, for example? Then, the next day Brendan sends me the script again with his own corrections! So, I do some page layouts, really "sketchy," send them to Brendan if I understand him well with my bad English. And if I add a detail, a bad joke in the background I show to Brendan, who is a cool and funny guy, and always gives the green light to my bad jokes, and I start.
I do the page on pencil, not too polished, because i´m the inker, and it´s a way to go faster, sometimes it´s not a good option because i make mistakes that i have to correct with white acrylic. Depending on the day, sometimes Istop and take a walk, and sometimes i do a good day on the desk.
I can do two pages a day when I´m free from others jobs, but usually I do one, and now with the publication online of one page a week it´s relaxing. When i finish the ink, I clean the page on photoshop, send it to Andres Carranza a friend of mine and the colorist of "Hannibal..." he asks and find for his own references, does the color base, shows it to me, I give my opinions, he hates me for minutes, hahaha! He does some tests, we talk a lot about the panels and atmospheres, we work well together.

(AW)Will there be other Ancient-themed comics when this one is done?

(BM) I'm wondering whether to do other ancient history myself. With a new page every week, we're looking to do at least two more years of Hannibal. Production is hard to say. I read a book, I take notes, I transcribe them, I finesse them into script...when am I actually writing? I can tell you Mauro usually draws a chapter in two weeks, and Andres colors them in about that time, a little less. You'll see a print version just as soon as we have enough material for a book. ShadowLine has right of first refusal but if they pass, we'll find another route. They want to see if there's enough interest in the book, enough people talking about it, to warrant publication first. As for other works, Caesar's certainly interesting. At the very least, I'd like to tell about the time he was kidnapped by pirates. George Washington interests me. Basically, I think great generals are the ones you'd want to actually follow. To illustrate by contrast: Patton was surely brilliant but I can't say I'd want to serve under him. He seems too full of malarkey, mere ego masquerading as patriotism.

(AW)Thanks guys! Readers may want to follow the continuing story of Hannibal at Shadowline Comics