A Story About a Story by James Burks
Agent 9 is a new graphic novel series published by Piccadilly Press. It’s creator James Burks sheds some light into his background and the creation of Agent 9 on our blog today.
A Story About a Story by James Burks
Hello. I want to tell you a story, but what type of story should I tell?
I could tell you a non-fiction story about how I started drawing as a kid by reading and copying the pictures in a Garfield comic strip collection that belonged to my dad. I became obsessed with Garfield, so much so that I had a plush Garfield that my Granny crocheted clothes for, and I loved dearly. I drew Garfield all the time, even at school when I was supposed to be doing schoolwork. My third-grade teacher could have been upset, she could have told me that there’s no future in art, but instead, she asked me if I would teach the entire class how to draw Garfield. The thought of doing this terrified me because I was very shy, but I also knew deep down inside— I must do it! So with my nervous stomach in knots, I said, “Yes.” I spent the entire weekend practicing what I would say and preparing my presentation. Visions of me failing filled my head, but there was no turning back! On Monday, I got up in front of the class and did the unimaginable. I didn’t fail! Not only did I teach everyone to draw Garfield, but I also threw in a Charlie Brown. Because, even in the third grade, I was an overachiever.
I could tell you a happy story about the day I was accepted into an internship at Warner Brothers Feature Animation, which led to a career in animation that has lasted over twenty-seven years and counting. Or how I had dreamed of working at Walt Disney Feature Animation after seeing the animated movie Beauty and the Beast and did. How I’ve worked on films like The Iron Giant and The Emperor’s New Groove or television shows like Wow Wow Wubbzy and the Powerpuff Girls. Did a simple story about an orange cat who hates Mondays and loves lasagna make this possible?
I could also tell you a fictional story about a super-spy cat who must stop a crustaceous supervillain named King Crab from melting the polar icecaps to build his worldwide water park—a story filled with action, comedy, and adventure! A story called Agent 9: Flood-A-Geddon! Which also happens to feature an orange cat. Is this coincidence?
The number of stories I could tell is as endless as they are different: Sad stories. Funny stories. Short stories. Technical stories about the inner workings of complex doodads. I’m an expert on all things doodads. I could write a story with only words or one with illustrations on every other page, or maybe one filled with panels and word balloons, but here’s the thing, they are all stories! Who’s to say that one has more value than the others?
There are different types of stories for different types of people. There will be kids who love reading books with hundreds of pages filled with all kinds of words and those who love reading graphic novels with not so many. There might even be a kid who achieves way more in life than he ever thought possible after reading a comic strip about a cat named Garfield. And that makes for one incredible story.
Agent 9 Flood-a-Geddon! is published by Piccadilly Press and is available now.
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.