Axe Cop: Innocently Psychotic
Posted On July 23, 2010
by Nick Leftley
One seemingly-normal Christmas, artist Ethan Nicolle created a monster. Not intentionally: he just asked his five-year old brother, Malachai, what he was doing. His response – “Playing Axe Cop!” – struck a chord with Ethan, who asked him to elaborate. The resulting story was so good that he couldn’t resist drawing it… and then drawing some more. He soon created an online home for the first few pages of their Axe Cop comic and almost immediately, found himself an internet star, with everyone from GQ to MTV to New York Magazine proclaiming him to be a genius. With the first volume of Axe Cop stories about to be published by Dark Horse comics –the website’s tagline, “Written by a 5 year old and illustrated by his 29 year old brother” proudly emblazoned on the front cover – we spoke to Ethan about the comics industry, the experience of making a career out of a personal project, and what it’s like working with a writer who wants to see dinosaurs with machine guns for arms.
How would you describe Axe Cop?
It’s basically a window into the imagination of a five-year old boy with total creative freedom… it’s super violent and endearing all at the same time.
Roughly how many people regularly follow the adventures of Axe Cop?
Hit counters, I have found, can be very elusive: I have three that I keep track of and they all come up with totally different numbers. It seems our committed readership is currently anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000 unique visits on a daily basis.
Did you have any idea just how popular this was going to be?
Not in the slightest. It was an experiment and at best I thought it would be something I might do every once in a while as I did my “real” work on the side. I never saw the success it has achieved as any sort of option for its future.
How has Malachai reacted to his sudden fame as a comic book writer?
He’s still at the age where everything that happens to him, he sort of takes at face value as normal. I think he thinks that if you have a brother who draws cartoons, this is pretty basic, normal stuff: he has no clue that he’s probably the youngest writer to ever get a book deal with a major comic publisher. He says things his sisters say, like “We’re famous” and “Everyone in the world loves us” and it’s cute, but I still don’t think that he really understands it. Whenever he says we’re “famous brothers” I laugh. He stopped me recently and asked me why it was funny: I tried to explain to him that you don’t call yourself famous, you let others call you famous. Besides, we’re only internet-famous, so it doesn’t really count.
How do you structure your brother’s free-wheeling stories into one-page strips? Is it a difficult process?
Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it is very hard. Getting the whole story to come together can be very challenging, especially when I’m trying to get Malachai to resolve a plot point and, instead, he creates 12 more and those are also unresolved. People look at Axe Cop and are amazed that Malachai ties up plot points, but really that’s me calling him and questioning him until the story is tied together enough to have a beginning, middle and end. It’s fascinating to create with him, and the more we do this, the more he seems to get it: it’ll be interesting to see what effect this has on him as a writer when he gets older. I’m introducing him to writing concepts I didn’t learn about until I was in my late 20′s…
Can you tell when Malachai’s going to have an idea that’s just solid gold? We’re thinking of things like Mr. Stocker, the superhero with no powers, who gets bitten by a tiny robot that wants to bite people, thereby getting transformed into a tiny robot that wants to bite people…
Usually if I’m rolling laughing as he tells me a part, then people will roll laughing when it makes it into the comic. Sometimes he’ll make a connection or create a plot twist that is total genius, and I don’t think he really knows it.
How long does each one take you to draw?
I probably spend anywhere between three to eight hours on a page.
Has Malachai ever come up with a story too crazy to use?
Not entire stories, but he will create plot points or side stories that I just have to cut out. Often if he has just seen a movie or played a video game, he’ll directly rip it off and there will be nothing original that I can use. Usually in those instances I have to let him get it out of his system, but sometimes I’ll tell him to change the names and characters to make it his own, and sometimes he will and it’ll work out great.
Which is your favorite character the two of you have created (besides Axe Cop)?
For me it’s a tie between Sockarang and Baby Man. They’re both fun to draw, and are insanely creepy looking. Probably one of my favorite aspects of Axe Cop is how often insane, almost psychotic ideas pop up out of Malachai’s total innocence. Axe Cop hides in the bushes and watches people kiss; he eats babies; and if someone tries to impersonate him, even if they are good, he will behead them. Axe Cop is kind of a psychopath.
Have you ever convinced Malachai to keep a character alive just because you like drawing them?
Well… that question doesn’t really align with the reality of working with a five-year old. First, Malachai never wants to kill a character unless it’s a bad guy. Usually I have to beg him to kill off some good guys, because he builds up these massive teams of good guys and drawing them all in a story format wears my hand out. But also, the entire Axe Cop storyline would not exist if I hadn’t put it down on paper. Axe Cop wasn’t a character in Malachai’s head: to Malachai, an Axe Cop was the combination of a Fireman and a Policeman. He wasn’t thinking of a specific character, but a job. Axe Cop became a specific character when I put him on paper, and most of the time, if I’m not instigating writing with Malachai, he would much rather play video games. Once I get him into it, he loves it… but I really have to guide him into “writing mode”.
How much of an impact has Axe Cop had on your career?
Time will tell, but it seems it will have a huge impact. It’s already made me some huge connections in the industry. Financially, it has gotten me paid just barely enough to get by doing it alone, but if the financial aspect doesn’t go up a notch soon I may have to make it part time. There is a lot of stuff on the horizon, but like anything in this industry, it’s fickle and it could go nowhere. I try to have the least amount of expectations in life as needed to keep my own sanity when things don’t go my way.
How did the deal with Dark Horse come about?
Prior to Axe Cop, I had a TV pilot get optioned at Cartoon Network, which got me connected with the Gotham Group, who became my management company. I was very fortunate to have them on my side when this unexpected Axe Cop success hit me, because they had the industry experience to know how to handle it and how to treat it wisely. When Axe Cop exploded I literally got several offers from various publishers on a daily basis: we juggled through all of them and narrowed it down. Finally, Dark Horse made a great offer and, besides, I freaking love Dark Horse comics, so it was not a tough choice in the end.
How does the popularity of a project like this affect the traditional structure of comics publishing? Do you think you’ve created a template for people to break into the industry?
I don’t know… there are definitely web comics out there who have been massively successful (Penny Arcade for instance, those guys own their own kingdom I think) but as for the “gimmick” of involving my little brother, I don’t know if someone could do the same thing and not get accused of ripping off Axe Cop. I consider myself very blessed to have fallen into a very fortunate and unique position – it’s not normal, and I’m amazed no one did it until now. I take no credit because I didn’t think I had anything groundbreaking when I made it, it just happened. It’s sort of become my calling, or at least my responsibility… and also my huge blessing.
What else are you working on right now?
Sleeping and eating and going to the bathroom. Other than that, the Cop rules me for now. I have a book called Bearmageddon that is currently on the back burner, but I do plan on getting it done.
