2/4/09 This interview was done via E-mail.
Hello fans of Comedy Team. I bring you today an another great webcomic maker. Josiah, the creator of Pebble version.
BTH:I can see you have a huge archive of web comics . As being a web comic
creator myself that can barley keep up with schedule, Whats your motivation
to do some many comics?
Ja:For the most part, I enjoy making the comics. I'm also the kind of
person that has an innate drive to finish most things I start, so that
helps. My forums and fanmail provide motivation as well, since they always
remind me that there's lots of fans out there who really enjoy reading my
comics.
BTH:When did you first start playing pokemon? Do you still play it today or do
you just make sprite comics about it.
JA:I can't remember the exact year, but I started with Pokémon Red back on
the original Gameboy. I actually did get kinda burnt out on Pokémon for a
while after beating Ruby, which is why is took ages for me to complete my
pokédex in the GBA games, but I got back into it once I started hearing
about the then upcoming Diamond and Pearl. These days, I don't buy every
Pokémon game, but I do get one of each of the main sets, along with a few
random others, and I play the ones I get pretty extensively. I have a
complete National Dex in Diamond and a team of level 100s, all gotten
without hacks, so that you give you some idea of how obsessed I am.
BTH:The creator of Pokemon X says you pretty much stole his idea. What is your
take on this?
Ja: I really wish he and his fans would stop saying that. They actually
started a couple of pretty nasty flame campaigns against me, but I didn't
flame back and encouraged my fans to stay out of it as well. Both times, I
ended up confronting Recon and his most ardant fans directly to prove I
wasn't copying Pokémon-X, and both times they backed down, though they
never totally stopped dropping accusations here and there.
Anywhere, here's the quick version of the story. I started working on
Pebble Version shortly after I bought Pokémon Ruby. When I first got the
idea, I did a web search to see if there were any other Pokémon sprite
comics out there, but there weren't. I then spent a few months practicing
comic making, getting people's reactions to some sample strips I made,
capturing a huge amount of sprites, making a buffer of comics, creating the
web site, and the like. Shortly after Pebble Version officially launched,
I discovered that another Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire comic had beaten me to the
web while I was busy doing all that prep work. That comic was, of course,
Pokémon-X. I read it (or what there was of it at the time, since it
hadn't started very long ago), and noted that, aside from being based on
the same game, there weren't many similarities between his comic and mine.
What's more, I didn't particularily like Pokémon X's style of humor so I
stopped reading it shortly after and basically just ignored it and focused
on Pebble Version. That only times I ever got paid any attention to
Pokémon-X after that was when I needed to defend myself against the rather
nasty attacks and rumors spread by Recon and his fans. Though, to be fair,
Recon has generally been more restrained and reasonable than the other
attackers, barring a couple of incidents. I never really understood why
they hated Pebble Version so much in the first place, unless they were
upset that I often (but not always) scored higher on various web comic
ranking sites. I mean, I don't see the Bob & George community attacking
every Mega Man comic that springs up. And, when you read a little bit of
both Pebble Version and Pokémon-X, it quickly becomes apparent that
they're really very different comics, despite having the same source
material. From what I've seen and heard, there only are a couple similiar
jokes and both of those (such as the guy who was skething "pokémon"
footprints that later turned out to be his own) were so obvious given the
source material that just about anyone could have come with them.
To summarize, here's a quick list of things to prove that Pebble Version
does not copy Pokémon-X.
1. Pokémon-X has a mature rating with swearing and jokes based on adult
situations. Pebble Version has no bad language and strives to maintain a
PG rating.
2. Pokémon-X's humor involves a lot of insult and adult situation types
jokes (at least from the bit I've seen). Pebble Version focuses mostly on
wry and observational humor. There's virtually no "adult" jokes.
3. In Pokémon-X, Wally is one of the main characters. In Pebble
Version, Wally's roll isn't any bigger than it was in the original games.
Pebble Version also features many original characters that aren't in the
games or in Pokémon-X, such as Xain and Cali and the black suit guys.
4. Pokémon-X seems to have some original plot going on with a talking
poochyena and pokérus (though I'm admittedly fuzzy on the details since
I've read so little of Pokémon-X). Pebble Version has no talking pokémon
and its original plot is focusing on mew, the black suit guys and their
mysterious boss, and the code named guys with the fancy communicators
(currently known only as Champion, Challenger, Dragon, and Loser), none of
which appear in Pokémon-X.
5. Although Pokémon-X launched first, the first batch of Pebble Version
strips were created before Pokémon-X went online as part of my prelaunch
preperations.
6. The humor in the Pokémon-X strips I've read uses a style that I've
never really liked. And if I don't like it, why would I want to copy it?
7. As I've repeatedly stated, I don't read Pokémon-X. I read a little
bit shortly after Pebble Version launched to see what it was like, decided
I didn't like it, and quit. How can I copy something that I don't read?
BTH:What first got you into pokemon more, the game or the show?
JA:I started out playing the game at my cousin's house. I liked it so much
that I decided to get my own copy and started watching the show. So the
game got me into the show, and in turn the show got me into anime in
general.
BTH: What are you're favorite web comics to read?
JA:There's quite a lot of them. You can find a more complete list on the
Links page of Pebble Version but, just to mention a few absolute
favorites... Bob & George (
http://www.bobandgeorge.com/), Order of the
Stick (
http://www.giantitp.com/index.html), 8-Bit Theater
(
http://www.nuklearpower.com/), Looking for Group
(
http://www.lfgcomic.com/), Mega Tokyo (
http://www.megatokyo.com/), and
Dominic Deegan (
http://www.dominic-deegan.com/).
BTH:Do you work on these comics alone or do you have partners?
JA:It's always been a solo effort. I've occasionally had other people, such
as Wil from Mushroom Kingdom Hearts, give me a few tips, contribute some
sprites, or something along those lines. But I write the script, make the
comics, and do 99% of the sprite work (both capturing and editing) myself.
BTH:Who is your personal favorite in pebble version?
JA:My favorite character? Probably Brendan, since he's always questioning
things that don't make sense, like I do. But, then again, the mystery
characters (the black suit guys boss and the four guys with communicators)
are a lot of fun to make strips for.
