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Q. So, what exactly is NeoRamen?
A. Well in short NeoRamen is an explosive panoramic virtual battlefield where people from all over compete on this massive server. Or, in a more Kubrickian sense; being the adventures of a young cyberpunk whose principle interests are retro gaming, noodles, and battling giant mecha robots. Armed with his trusty crayon cannon, Jazz along with his fellow squishy cohorts battle legions of cybernetic ninja squids, rhinoborgs, and the occational errant mecha-penguin. That may be a bit over simplifying it tho. You got the happy go lucky reluctant hero Jazz, embracing futuristic weaponry and gadgets but obsessed with 80's retro gaming. The spunky riot-tech girl who would just as much squee with delight over something cute and Japanese as completely destroy a mech tank. Somehow she seems to be very versed in the cliche of giant guns and even bigger cannons. That is just one of many clans, as they battle other clans and various super villians. Originally it was going to be called Commander Udon: Or How I learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Noodle...but I felt that was too long. |
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Q. What inspired you to do this sort of webcomic?
A. I grew up on giant robot Japanese cartoons like Transformers, Orgus, Tranzor Z, Voltron and Robotech; along with pretty much living at the local Chuck E Cheese arcade. I remember even when I was little, drawing giant mecha robots doing battle, with tanks and helicopters that shot bananas. I also got very inspired by the comics of the time like Ninja Turtles, Fish Police and those comics in the issues of Nintendo Power. The 8-bit era had as much an influence on me as anime and random wackyness. With this comic, I am pretty much mixing in my profound interest in cyberpunk, Japanese stuff, animation, video games, offbeat super villians and complete zanyness into one big noodle bowl. I've long had these really epic Matrix-fu cinematic anime sequences in my head, and I am happy to finally be able to be getting them out for everyone to see. I plan on relasing NeoRamen as an actual print comic, and hopefully someday make it into an action figure toy line, video game and animation. I love the webcomic medium, as it allows your work to be seen by as wide ranging a global reach as you can imagine. And it's great to get the kind of feedback from people I do, even just little emails from people who loved an obscure reference you throw into a panel. So I definately owe it all to late nights thuggin' it up at the arcade in the 80's and too much Transformers...or perhaps it was too much ghetto Maruchan and Nissan noodles growing up. |
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Q. What inspires you to draw, and where do you get some of your ideas?
A. Literally anywhere. As mentioned in the above thingy, a hefty dose of psuedo Japanese pop culture in the 80's mixed with my own kind of stream of conscious thinking. The impetus for NeoRamen literally comes from so many sources spanning many eons. I am inspried as much by random late night conversations, as I am by being at the mall, seeing a good anime or even a dream. Sometimes the tinyest of ideas can unfurl and become something mighty. I love random obscure humor as much as I love drawing/coloring. For me, creativity and inspiration is where you find it. I love listening to a lot of varying mood music, from futuristic EBM to soundtrack type stuff and zany 80's new wave and video game scoress. Films are also a big influence, be they strange comedies or sci fi. The structure for this comic is so non linear, yet linear cubed that I really can't think of a more open ended way to go about it. |
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Q. Who are your characters based off of?
A. Well Jazz is a hyper extension of me, Soroko is a composite amalgam of every hot gun toting cyberpunk rivet babe out there, and any other characters are pretty much just random fractal extrapolations of pop gamer culture and chaos. |
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Q. What would you say are some of the main driving themes in NeoRamen?
A. Adventure. Intrigue. Mechs. Global corporate takeover. Offbeat random food item powerups. Oh and noodles...as hidden as they may be. |
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Q. What are some of the video games and anime that has inspried NeoRamen?
A. Video game wise; the 2d side scrolling greats like the Contra and Metal Slug series, newer games like Super Smash Melee, Front Mission and Quake 3. I also have a love for old school shooters like Xevious and R-Type. Anime wise, the big ones would be Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Gundam Wing, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Battle Angel, etc. Then more old school stuff like Transformers, Robotech, Orguss, Transzor Z and Voltron. |
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Q. Finally, tell us more about you!
A. I'm just a big kid with a really big dream. Tho, Well, all you'd want to know about me and then some can be found on my nifty little profile page thingy about me page. |
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