By Zack Quaintance — As close watchers of the site will surely remember, just before COVID-19 disrupted basically everything, we ran an advanced review of a forthcoming new sci-fi comic from Mad Cave Studios — Stargazer by writer Anthony Cleveland and artist Antonio Fuso. We liked that comic, quite a bit, and we were excited for the wider comics world to get to experience it too.

The release date for the book has now been pushed back to September 2. Which means it’s time to start getting excited again, and as such, we have an interview today about the book with writer Anthony Cleveland. Check it out!

Anthony Cleveland Interview

ZACK QUAINTANCE: Can I start off by asking you about your background in comics, and what drew you to telling stories into this medium versus any other?

ANTHONY CLEVELAND: Sure! I wanted to be a filmmaker for as long as I can remember, and I spent most of my life studying visual storytelling. I realized sometime in college that indie film has its limits and I was tired of being at the mercy of them (time and money being the two biggest limitations). Sometime after college, I hit a wall from all the terrible jobs I was working and I decided to look into another passion of mine: comics. 

QUAINTANCE: So, I’ve seen all the marketing material and even read Stargazer (which I loved), but I still like to hear creators talk about books directly. What can you tell us about Stargazer? What’s the pitch for this comic?

CLEVELAND: My short pitch is it’s a Stephen King screenplay directed by Steven Spielberg, so basically Close Encounters meets IT. It’s about a few kids from the 90s who believe they may or may not have been abducted by aliens, and 20 years later they’re forced to confront the truth. The story hits on both scifi and horror beats while keeping a mystery throughout, but the heart of the story is a family drama. 

QUAINTANCE: One thing I was really struck by in Stargazer was the use of small details to make the kids lives at home feel real, and so I was wondering where you pulled those from and how you decided to include moments like — for example — a mother setting out ranch dressing to eat with pizza?

CLEVELAND: I dug back into some 90s memories for those moments, but my biggest fear was to beat you over the head with nostalgic name drops. So everything I included was motivated by the story first. The mentioning of DARE when they find the LSD is a good example. With most of those moments, the scenes came first then the little details came organically.

QUAINTANCE: One more Stargazer question...I was also really struck by the incredible artwork and the use of colors in Stargazer...how much direction did you as a writer provide on the visuals, both in terms of Antonio Fuso’s linework and the colors used by Stefano Simeone?

CLEVELAND: Everything was pretty straight forward in the script...besides the UFOs descriptions. I provided some examples from real sightings but didn’t commit to any design in particular. Antonio went in a way better route by using “orbs” instead, which are a way more mysterious aerial phenomenon. It works so much better with this story too and leaves so much more mystery for the reader to uncover.    

QUAINTANCE: Finally, this is a tough time to anticipate anything really, but looking ahead what do you see as the next steps for you as a rising comics writer? What are some immediate goals you have for the rest of 2020?

CLEVELAND: I’m taking every opportunity that comes my way, and I’m all over social media looking for more. I have one other series that should be announced later this year, and I’m working on outlining Show’s End Vol. 2 now. After that, I think I’m going to focus on getting a horror series out there. 

QUAINTANCE: Anything else you’d like to add about comics writing or Stargazer before we wrap up?

CLEVELAND: For sure, my twitter (@ant_cleveland) DMs and email (silverskincomic@gmail.com) is always open. If anyone has any questions about making comics or getting into comics, feel free to message me. I started with self-publishing indie comics, and I’m more than happy to help anyone out. 

Read other comics interviews here!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.