IT’S MARCH 1950. Cars
are flying through the air.

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Madison James walks into the
city room of a_ metropolitan
newspaper. He hands Jack, the
editor, part of a feature story he
has been working on for weeks.
He says he’ Il have more later.

On his way out he remarks:

“By the way Jack, when are ya
getting some of those new fangled
word processors? Smell the java
pal. This is 1950!”

Later, the governor telephones

Jack and says he must see James’
feature story on the age of tech-
nology before it goes to print.
. Welcome to Time Ciry. Better
yet, welcome to the basement of a
North Vancouver house, the office
of Rocket Comics.

This is where 22-year-old Adrie
‘Van Viersen, owner of Rocket
Comics, has been busy putting
together his first published comic
book: a series of four books
detailing the adventures of
freelance writer Madison James
and “his girl’? Vienna Maxwell.

As one might guess, the story
line for the Time City series is
anything but ordinary.

“This first four-series issue is a
time travel series. To be really
simple about it, six scientists from
the future toot it back to the
1930s and afier 20 years of

Sunday, March 1, 1992 - North Shore News - 33

HIGH PROFILES
Rocket Comics goes back to the future

Adrie Van Vierson’s a comic
book veteran at the age of 22

@ NAME: Adrie Van Viersen

@ AGE: 22

@ OCCUPATION: Cartoonist,
owner of Rocket Comics

@ RESIDENCE: North Van-
couver

@ BORN: Vancouver

@ FAMILY: Engaged to Kate

futuristic advancement from these
six scientists, you have brand new
1950s flying cars ‘and mixed
technologies,’’ says Van Viersen.

**It’s basically the adventures of
a guy and a girl and flying cars in
the 1950s.””

Sounds simple enough.

Van Viersen is a veteran of the

comic book business. The first.

issue of the four-issue Time City
series is his 13th comic book. It is,
however, the first one he has
published.

He is now working with a cor-
poration in the United States call-
ed the International Association
of Direct Distributors.

“‘They’re like a control board
for all the comic book distributors
in North America. Currently |
have four of these distributors,
and they're located in various
areas,”’ says Van Viersen. ‘‘Cur-

‘rently, the largest ones which
distribute the big guys Jike
Marvel, DC and Darkhorse are
Diamond and Capital. Eventually,
I will have all 11 distributors.””

He has been drawing comics
since he was a kid and still buys

NEWS photo Paut McGrath

NORTH VANCOUVER resident Adrie Van Viersen, the president of Rocket Comics has made his
pride and joy, a 1950 Buick Roadmaster, the feature flying car in his Time City comic book series.

comic books. His favorite is
Superman.

But by looking around his
makeshift basement office, it is

hard to imagine Van Viersen as

being the young 22-year-old that .

he is. This guy is definitely a fan
of the 1950s era.

On one wall is a huge poster of
James Dean. On a desk sits a
small black typewriter from the
same time period. A shelf houses
some models of vintage 1950s

Adrie Van Vierson - in his own words

“Once you come up with the
very first issue then the rest
basically write themselves,
because you've established an
atmosphere and developed your
characters.

“If you spend enough time
“writing and developing your
characters then you should
basically know them as a per-
son. I know my characters. He
(Madison James) started out as
pretty arrogant and self-cen-

- tred, and now he’s a nice guy.

“To answer your question, I
have no idea where I get my
ideas from. My earliest memo-

“fy for this book (Time City)
came from the movie Blue
Velvet.”

Where did you get the name
Rocket from?: ‘“‘I liked the
sound of it. There actually was
’ a Rocket Comics prior to me in
1946, and I just found out
about that, but they’re not
around any more.

“You have names like Nor-
thwind Comics and that
doesn’t have the same ring to it
as a Ma:'vel Comics does.””

“‘There are thousands of
people out there trying to get
into the market at the same
time. I don’t have the patience
for it. I tried it and lasted three
weeks.

“It’s not drawing your own
stuff; it’s drawing Spiderman
or Superman or Batman. It’s
drawing their stuff, and they’re
not interested in your stuff.
They want to see if you can
draw their stuff.

“*I'd rather do this. This is
my stuff. I’m motivated to do
it and I have no problem work-
ing 12 or 13 hours a day to
pull it off.”

Where do you get your ideas
from?: “‘The hardest part of
writing a comic is coming up
with the very first issue,
because the first story is the
one people are going to like or
dislike.

“IT have to admit the first
issue in this series is not as im-
pressive as the second or the
third, because I got bored. To
me the first issue is a bit dated
in terms of my style.

Is cartooning a tough market
to get into?: ‘‘Very tough. This
year is a gamble for me. What
it boils down to is that this
(Time City book series) is a
$20,000 resume. If it doesn’t
make any money for me...I’ve
got an X number of comics
that I’ve done and published,
and [’ve learned about the
publishing and marketing
business.

“lve fJearned the comic
market and I’ve learned about
the distributing market, and |
can promote myself as a pro-
fessional artist to Marvel, DC
and Darkhorse or any other
publisher that I want.

“The other route to go is
submissions, but I don’t have
the patience to do submissions.
Submissions are drawing four
pages a week, add a covering
letter, package it up and send it
to Marvel, DC or Darkhorse
every week for a period of
about a year.

‘But they’re not as concern-
ed with good art as they are
with how fast you can produce,
if you’re punctual. That’s their
top priority.

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cars,

But it is not only the shelf that
houses these classic cars: a real
one sits in his back yard, and the
car is featured prominently in the
comic book series.

“I drive a 1950 Buick Road-
master. In the book everybody’s
car flies, so I try to feature as
many different makes and models
of cars,’’ says Van Viersen. ‘‘I
know the car, I drive the car, and
I know what the car looks like so
why should | bother putting any-
body else’s car in there as the
feature car?”’

Cartoonists, it would seem, are
a strange breed. After all, .who
would have ever coine up with the
idea of cars that can fly? Van
Viersen does not look at what he
does as a job but rather a full-
time hobby.

He has a point when he says

producing comic books and runn-

ing a comic book company is not
a job. After.all, admits, Van

Viersen, he does not keep regular
hours. .

“‘There’s no set schedule te it. I
basically have 30 days to do a
book. Each book contains 24
pages. Today has been a long day.
I tend to create and do a lot better
work in the early morning hours.

“Today started at 10 p.m. last
night, and I went to bed at seven
this morning and got up at 10 this
morning and started working
again. Some days I'll spend the
entire day drawing, and some days
I won’t do anything and start
drawing at midnight and finish at
eight in the morning.”’. .

Judging by the irregular hours |
he keeps, it’s a good thing Van
Viersen’s friends are night owls
too.

And when the pressure gets too

‘much for him and he needs to

take a break, Van Viersen need:
only slip behind the wheel of his
1950 Buick Roadmaster and _ fly
away. ‘

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