Stunt Casting: A Real Man Reads About A Cartoon Man, Who Has Claws

Stunt Casting, oh where did you go?  Were you waiting for a nice young couple to walk from Georgia to Brooklyn, New York, with all their necessities carried on their back?  Apparently so--here's the first of a double dose, with Brent Lopp--Mr. Lopp took a break from hiking the Appalachian Trail to nurture a famous injury near the offices of The Factual Opinion, and the prospect of reading his first ever comic book lured him to the interview table.  Oh, and that famous injury?  You'll hear more about it soon--but think Ditko, and you're on the right track.

The Factual Opinion:  Old Man Logan.  Wolverine.  Why this comic?

Brent Lopp:  I don't really know.  I guess, having not really read any of them--I was kind of familiar with "The Wolverine."  The fact that it was that, and seemed like a different comic then--was he X-Men?

TFO:  Yes.  But he doesn't look like Hugh Jackman.

Lopp:  No, he doesn't look like Hugh Jackman.

TFO:  Would you have preferred that he looked like Hugh Jackman?

Lopp:  I guess that I'm a Hugh Jackman fan.  [Laughs]  Good looking guy.

TFO:  What experience do you have with Wolverine, super-hero comics?  If any?

Lopp:  Zero.  Seen X-Men.  That's it.

TFO:  Did you like the movie?

Lopp:  Yeah?  Kind of entertaining.

TFO:  But it wasn't entertaining enough that you said "I've gotta read comic books about these characters."

Lopp:  No.  Correct.

TFO:  What did you think about the comic you just read?

Lopp:  I thought it was good.  I thought there was some inconsistencies...or things that I just didn't really get.

TFO:  Like what?

Lopp:  Maybe inconsistencies is a bad word.  The "fifty years later" thing, I thought that was strange.  It said he hadn't popped his claws in fifty years, and then he's a pig farmer?  With kids that aren't very old?  So I guessed that he's totally been a family man for fifty years.  I don't know.  Then he's a pig farmer, and he's trying to sell his kid's Xbox--seemed a little strange, I don't know why.  Then there was one part where it seemed like there was a dream?  Or a thought he was having.  But they didn't define it to be something different than what was actually going on.

TFO:  The part where he pops his claws?

Lopp:  Yes, where he popped his claws and attacks the guy.

TFO:  Otherwise, you feel like you kept up with it.  The inconsistencies, the stuff you just referred too, you were able to just move right through that, stay with it the whole time.

Lopp:  Oh yeah, I understood it.  Stayed with it.

TFO:  Did you know who the old man was?

Lopp:  Hawkeye?

TFO:  Yes, Hawkeye.

Lopp:  No.  I didn't know who that was.  And there was somebody else they mentioned....Sabretooth or something?  And they mentioned a group, they said "We couldn't beat them when there were over a hundred of us."  I didn't know any of the history.

TFO:  Did you know who the people who showed up were?  The people with the green skin?

Lopp:  Bert Brannon's kids?  Something?

TFO:  Banner?

Lopp:  Oh, Banner.

TFO:  Do you know who that is?  The Hulk?

Lopp:  Oh, that's why it sounded familiar.  They're hillbillies, yeah.  Self-proclaimed. 

Bystander:  Did you see this on the front?  This lady?

Lopp:  Yes, she's always got a babe at her teat.  Ms. Banner.

TFO:  She does always have a babe at her gamma-irradiated teat.

Bystander:  And a fucked-up grill.

Lopp:  Yes, she's got a grill.

TFO:  On the scale of "Did I like this" how would you say you felt about the enjoyment factor?

Lopp:  Beyond what I expected.  It's kind of cool--it's short, they only say what generally needs to be said, and it's like a tidbit...is that a gay word to use?  It's just "read it" and you're done.  I liked that.

TFO:  Was that what you were expecting?

Lopp:  I expected it to be so far beyond me that I couldn't..."beyond me"...so far involved that I would find it completely incomprehensible.  But I could pick it up, and there were a few people I didn't know--but I can get past that.

TFO:  Was that the view you came in with?  That super-hero comics are going to be completely incomprehensible, like a soap opera?

Lopp:  Yes, like you'd have to start at the beginning.  Just like a soap opera.

TFO:  What did you think--why did I write this down?  What did you think of the violence?

Lopp:  As far as how much is in there?  Well, Wolverine got his ass kicked pretty quick.  I wish he would have put up some kind of fight, you know?  "How did they mess you up so bad that you don't even want to defend yourself?"  Yes.  It's kind of like...do something.  I actually think it wasn't enough violence.

TFO:  You expect more from Old Man Logan.

Lopp:  Yes, exactly.  I guess there's more to come, though.  I would expect.  I would hope so. 

TFO:  What would you say about the art?

Lopp:  I liked it.  Even from this first--is there a name for this?

TFO:  A double-page spread.  Splash page.

Lopp:  It seems like it sets the tone--the colors, everything.  I thought it was very indicative of what's going on.  I would say, it's really good, and I'd assume it's good relative to other comics.  I noticed how much it was broken up though--I guess to show different moods?  Lot of pictures to show the changes?  There's a lot going on.

TFO:  Is this something that was so interesting to you that you would want to know what happens next?  If it was easily accessible.

Lopp:  If it was easily accessible, yes.  If it was sitting on this coffee table, I would read it.

TFO:  But the amount of work--it's got to be a little level of work for you to keep up.  If it was at a...gas station, or something, would you pick it up?

Lopp:  I think so.  Wait, 2.99?  That's kind of...oh, those are US dollars.  I don't know.

TFO:  Why would you say you don't have an interest in comics?  Were they not available?  Or was it just something that didn't interest you?

Lopp:  It probably had something to do with the fact that I had two sisters.  I just never--I don't know if my friends read them or not, I was never really exposed to them.  I knew they were there, but I was never exposed.  And I didn't expose myself to them.  Did you just get that one?

Bystander:  [Laughing]

Lopp:  You married it.

TFO:  Are you aware that there's other comics out there, besides the claw-popping genre?

Lopp:  I'm aware.  I saw your room.  I would think that, after decades or so of doing them, that there would be a lot of sub-categories, whatever you want to call it.

TFO:  War.  Romance.

Bystander:  There's romance comics?

TFO:  There mostly gone now.

Virgin Read:  Nana!  Nana!  I'm getting you Nana right now.

Lopp:  There's romance comics?  Rom-Coms?  It seems to me that Wolverine would be the OG.  The original.

TFO:  The story you read here is the first of...eight, I believe.  It is supposed to take eight months to play out--did you think there was enough here to hold the reader over for a month?  In this chapter?

Lopp:  I don't know.  It didn't seem to hold much suspense at the end.  These characters are leaving on this trip, and I was almost hoping that there was more leading up to the trip so I could believe there was more going on.  If they'd mentioned other people...but they just leave.

TFO:  It wasn't much of a cliffhanger?

Lopp:  Not the biggest cliffhanger.  It kind of implies something is going to happen, but I thought they could have planted it more.

TFO:  As a story, would it be more interesting to you if all eight chapters came out in one volume, a collected trade?  When this is finished, when the eight issues come out, the company will publish a trade that will probably end up being cheaper than buying the individual issues.

Lopp:  For me, that probably would be more interesting.  Again, because I don't really have any connection, and if it was all there, maybe I could.

TFO:  When the trade comes out, it'll be available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, stores you actually go too.

Lopp:  [Laughs]  As opposed to specialty stores.  That seems like you'd have to know what you were doing.  I'd be more likely to read it if it was all together.

TFO:  How do you want to close it out?

Lopp:  Thanks for introducing me to my first comic book.

TFO:  This is your first?

Lopp:  My first.  Maybe I read one somewhere laying around, but no.  I'm going to call this my first.

-Thanks to Brent Lopp and his lovely wife (otherwise known as Bystander.) 2008

Comments

[Matthew J. Brady]

So has Nina been turned into a Nana junkie too? If so, that's awesome.

[hugh stewart]

My favorite line of this interview is almost certainly "I'm aware. I saw your room."

[Nina]

TOTAL Nana Junkie, Matthew. Nana is, in some ways, responsible for "The Virgin Read." Prior to my adventures with Nana, I'd be persuaded to pick up a comic book, but I'd either take forever to finish it (which seems really funny now that i've realized their so "bite sized") or just lose interest before I'd even started. So, i was sure that they'd just never appeal to me. Until Nana. Nana!! Now I KNOW that a comic can appeal to me. Ha, appeal to me? I fell IN LOVE. !!

So, now I am always on guard for the next issue. And anywhere I am that has Manga, I look for Nana. In fact, I bought Nana #5 in as random a locale as Fenwick Island, DE in a tiny little bookstore.

We've discussed the possibility of me writing about it. I have to say, I'm truly impressed by the handling of the "adult content" in there, and of this true emotional journey and the gradual maturity of Hachi. Oh, i better just stop right now or I could go on and on and on!

[Matthew J. Brady]

Awesome! I'd love to see you cover it, just because I can't get enough of the series either, so the more people talk about it, the better.