My brother Kevin Robertson’s new comic American Soil is now available to order in both print and PDF copies. It’s a Horror Comedy Political Satire inspired by the U.S. led “War on Terrorism”, and set amidst an invasion of flesh eating zombies. Fantastic artwork, and a very entertaining script make this a great book for those interested in comics, horror films, and recent political events. I recently asked Kevin some questions about the book, and the process that brought it together.

Tell us a little about your new book “American Soil”

In short, “American Soil” is a political satire based on the U.S. led “War on Terrorism”, set in the familiar context of a “zombie” invasion. With regards to the title”American Soil”, I chose it as a reflection of the two dominant themes in my comic: America’s fear of the unknown and the propaganda that perpetuates it. In a literal sense, it is the source from where America’s climate of fear has arisen, to basically consume the entire country; while figuratively, it addresses the harmful rhetoric used by its leaders to mislead the people and tarnish the country’s reputation.

The book opens with a televised speech from the President of the United States. How much of that was borrowed from actual speeches about the War on Terrorism?

Practically all of it. The speech the President delivers at the beginning of “Amercian Soil” is a hybrid of about 20 different actual speeches President Bush has made concerning the War on Terror. Basically, what I did was compile a bouquet of flowery rhetoric and change its context from terrorism to zombies.

How was the artwork for the book created?

Slowly… The artwork was created through a process known as rotoscoping. It’s when you take a live action image and trace over it to create a precise outline. While I was working on the book, I was fortunate to have some friends who were willing to stand in as models for some of the main characters and zombies. The rest of the images I was able to obtain either by going out with my digital camera or by surfing the web for free stock images. Once I had all my backgrounds and characters traced out, I would then make the necessary adjustments and add the desired features to these outlines, before filling them in and inserting them into the book.

Are you a fan of zombie fiction? What other comics and movies inspired your work?

Well, I wrote “American Soil” back in the fall of 2004. It was during the lead up to the U.S. Presidential Elections that the movie “Shaun of the Dead” was released in North America. I remember watching it and thinking that the whole zombie scenario was not unlike that which President Bush was describing in his campaign speeches, which ultimately lead to his re-election. I had always enjoyed the zombie genre, especially the manner in which writers like George Romero would use them as a sort of social commentary on the culture of that particular period. So I figured what better way to voice my concerns over what I saw happening in the United States, than to dig up some zombies of my own to express it. As a writer, I’ve always preferred to rely on humor to make a point, which is why “American Soil” is almost as much a satire about zombies as it is about politics. So, in that regard, I would say that horror-comedies like “Shaun of the
Dead”, “Army of Darkness” and “Return of the Living Dead” along with propaganda cartoons and comic books from the Second World War, were the inspiration for the kind of narrative that I wanted to write.

What else are you working on right now?

Currently, I’m starting work on a new book. Much like “American Soil”, it will deal with contemporary issues, using a familiar genre as the setting. However, for this one, the artwork will be hand drawn instead of rotoscoped. I also run a web comic called Beyond the Punchline which I update every weekday. It’s a series of one panel cartoons inspired by current events, which I’ve been working on for about a year now. Sometime in January, I plan on publishing a year in review compilation of my web comic, which will include my jabs at all the popular “news” stories of 2006.

Where can people buy American Soil?

You can order American Soil through Lulu.com. It’s available in both print and downloadable PDF format. I’ve just received my copy in the mail and I was really impressed by the quality of the reproduction. It looks great and reads even better. I’m really proud of this book and I hope that people will be interested in checking it out and enjoying it themselves.