Theodore Riddle Publisher/Creator/Artist at Monolith Comics

Interview with: Theodore Riddle
Publisher/Creator/Artist at Monolith Comics
Interviewed by: Allen Klingelhoets
Jazma Online



Allen: Tell me a bit about yourself?

Theodore: I grew up and my Mother always told me that when I and when I was crying or when she need to do something important. She would put some paper on the floor and some crayons and I would be content for hours. I believe that that simple act spurred a life long dream of being an artist. 

Allen: What are some of your earliest memories of reading comics? 

Theodore: My father was in the Airforce during the Vietnam War and my Mother and I were being moved all over the place from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, etc. Than when I was 2 years old my Mother went back to her home town of Newton where she and my Father went to highschool. We stayed with my Grandmother for about a year. That was when I found in my Grandmather's basement a stack of $ .10 comics that my Uncle had saved. Batman, Superman, Lois Lane, some Richie Rich, Donald Duck, and more. I actually learned to read at the age of three by reading these incredible comics. I remember marveling at them and somehow I knew comics would be a life long part of me. 
  Then in 7th grade a friend of mine showed me some pictures he had drawn of just the head-shots of some superheroes. I asked him what he was doing. He said "People get paid to do this, Teddy." 

  I replied, "You've got to be kidding me."

  He said, "No it is the truth."

  That was my turning point. I was going to do this for a living. I attended summer Classes at the Joe Kubert school and even went to what used to be called The Philadelphia College of Art during the summer in between my Junior and Senior years.

  My parents had wanted me to attend collage after coming home that Summer I told them I was not going to College that I was going to go to The Joe Kubert School instead. 

Allen: What was the first comics book that had your name on the cover? Were you the artist or writer?

Theodore: Believe it or not it was not comics where I got my first break into the field. It was in the magazine industry. Where I was making more money than any cartoonist would in 6 moths. I had strips running in 4 different magazines. I was earning over & 6,000.00 a month writing, penciling, inking and coloring everything. 

Allen: How did you come up with the idea to start Monolith Comics? What was the first publication with Monolith Comics? What does Monolith stand for in the name "Monolith Comics?" What is your exact job with your company? 

Theodore: To this day if I did not start Monolith Comics I would have never lived out my dreams. Many professional artists do not think my work is good enough. Joe Kubert always told me to do it for yourself and you alone. So if I didn't start my own company, as you can see, my dreams would have never come true. The first publication I put out was entitled Jet Black(R) in 1994, then in 1999 I started the comic entitled Compu-M.E.C.H.(R). After that I have published many comics for other people and myself over 40 in total. I have done every page of art by myself except in the last two years where I have had help from Richard Vasseur, and a colorist named Eli Jansen. He colored the first 3 issues of Compu-M.E.C.H. Before that I had done everything else by myself.

  In the dictionary the word Monolith says "Any large object or mountain like structure." The secondary meaning is a company were all the units work as one to complete a certain task. Well up until recently I have done everything in my company by myself. Therefore I am Monolith. As for my job with the company. I am the Company and except for Rich. I do everything myself.

Allen: Are any of your comic books or graphic novels intended for TV, Movies, Video Games, Animation, and Merchandising?

Theodore: The answer is YES to all of the above. I have as yet to find someone who has agreed to do that and actually do what they agreed to. Do to lack of participation on the agent's part. So I have to do everything myself and believe me that is a lot of work. I just hope I don't break before that happens. If not I am content to write and draw comics and graphic novels the rest of my life. 



Allen: How did Richard Vasseur from Jazma Online become involved with Monolith Comics?

Theodore: I saw Richard's name come up on a search engine in Linkedin. It said that he reviewed comics. I used to purchase Comic Buyers Guide all the time and read it from front to back. I recognized the name Vasseur from way back then. Vasseur is a very unique name and I remember reading his reviews. I contacted him to see if he wanted to do a review for Compu-M.E.C.H. He said sure.

  We both found out by communicating back and forth whenever I would publish a new book that we had so much in common. Soon we even talked everyday through email. Then I did one piece for him starting Iconic fighting Evilily. Then when he was reviewing my comics he noticed some grammar mistakes. I realized these mistakes were making my book look unprofessional. I told him that I wished I could afford an Editor. He said he would be more than willing to do it for free, because he was never involved directly with a comic company, but had been drawn in a few. So now Richard is the Editor-in-Chief of Monolith Comics. 

Allen: How did Iconic become a reality?

Theodore: One day Richard and I were joking about what we would do if we both won the lottery. I told him I would put Marvel and DC out of business jokingly. One of the many things he said he would do was to publish a comic book. After all that he had done for me. I decided to help him have his dream become a reality. Just like Joe Kubert did for me. 
    
  Rich has many character but he said he wanted to do Iconic versus Evilily. His first idea was very rough and did not contain much of the story, but just a lot of fight scenes. I believe that you have to have a valid story to make a comic seem more real. I directed him with certain questions to make Iconic a real story with fight scenes against a female villain.

Allen: Did you work on Iconic for a long time?

Theodore: Yes I believe the comic is some 30+ pages. I told Rich that with my current workload I would only be able to work on it on my weekends. He didn't mind so I agreed to do it. So it was over 40+ weeks to make the entire book including word balloons and the cover art. 



Allen: What were some of your favorite characters to draw?
    
Theodore: I didn't really have a favorite character. I enjoyed drawing Rich, his family and of course Evilily and Iconic. I just plain like to draw.
    
Allen: What sort of things did you do to create the comic book world of Iconic? I saw drawn in very real locations of London, Ontario, Canada. I also saw real Richard Vasseur was drawn into the story along with his dog and family members. Did you go to visit Richard or do research through computer websites about London, Ontario, Canada? I interviewed Richard he said London, Ontario was his home city.

Theodore: I had personal pictures of Rich and his family that he sent me through emails. But I really hoe to visit Rich someday in Canada as he has become one of my best friends. That i why I did the comic for him. As for the background settings they where all researched on the Internet. But with those pictures I was sent and looked up, you can never find the exact angle you are looking for. That is where the skill comes in. You take your reference and somehow change the angle from your penciled thumbnails and script and try your hardest to make it look like the reference you have acquired. I feel that I can do that quite successfully.

Allen: Iconic a limited run comic? How hard would it be to get a copy, and how much do they cost?

Theodore: Iconic is going to be the only comic Rich and I are going to do for now. No it is not a limited run. It will always e available at amazon.com Key word search "Theodore Raymond Riddle." The US dollar price is $ 6.99. I do not know all the other countries prices as amazon.com is available all over the world. Each person in there country would be able to find out the cost if they chose to purchase the comic.



Allen: What other projects are you working on?

Theodore: Allen that is a very good question. The artwork seen earlier in this interview, is going to be a project which I will be working on. The first issue is already penciled I just have to do the word balloons which Richard will be Editor-in-Chief on. I have a Erotica series I am doing called Sweet-n-Bitter, Compu-M.E.C.H. full color editions, Compu-M.E.C.H. Reboot, and a children's version of Compu-M.E.C.H. that is finished in English and I am presently working on translating it into Spanish and as many languages as possible. It would act as a form of healthy entertainment as well as a learning tool for children to learn another language besides the one they already know. The later of the four are available at my website www.monolithcomics.com . There you will find priced my comics and graphic novels plus eBooks that are available all over the world. 
  
  In addition to all that I am in the process of recruiting as many small Indy Publishers as I can, who can commit to doing at least a quarterly comic book on a steady basis. I wish to form a Comic Company under my Monolith Comics banner with each artist/writer team's logo and basically accomplish what Image Comics has achieved. Each publisher will keep 100% of their rights to their creations and characters. 

Allen: Thank you for doing this interview with me. Would you like to leave our Jazma readers with any final thoughts?

Theodore: This is what I would tell anyone who wants to do anything that they think they can't do or has a dream of doing?

  In this life there are no guarantees. But if you have a dram you should go for it, because if you don't you already have failed because you didn't even try. And if you tried your hardest and you still did not accomplish your goal, you can still stand next to your maker with you head held high and you can say I did it my way and it was good enough. 



Allen Klingelhoets