Interviews

Matthew, Comic Artist of the webcomic "Brawl in the family"

Brawl in the family is an english webcomic. Here are some strips :

010 – Meta Knight
041 – Boo
045 – Treasure
047 – Súper Hongo
049 – Backstory
078 – Landmaster
084 – Team Battle
239 – Sonic Watches TV
383 – Nepotism

Flo Jess : Hi Matthew, thanks for agreeing the interview!

Matthew : Hi Flo!

Flo Jess : You started your webcomic in 2008, right? Did you already like drawing and making comics before?

Matthew : Since I was a kid, I've always enjoyed drawing. I actually used to draw up new levels, world maps, enemies, etc for Nintendo games I loved (Mario was a common one). Brawl in the Family was the eventual result of my love of drawing and my love of Nintendo games.

Flo Jess : Kirby seems to be your favourite Nintendo series, why?

Matthew : What may be surprising to some people is that Kirby is actually not my favorite Nintendo series! It's behind Zelda, Mario, Smash Bros, Metroid, and EarthBound/Mother. But it's still one of my favorites, and a big reason is because of the varied gameplay that gives you a ton of options. The games are never too challenging, but they're always a lot of fun due to the cute and charming world, the variety of moves, and the freedom of switching those moves at will. I also find the characters endearingly pleasant...and yet there's still a small level of twistedness when you consider some of the games' final bosses, or Kirby's slightly non-heroic actions at times. I try to carry over some of this twistedness to the comic itself at times.

Flo Jess : As a Nintendo Fan, which consoles and games do you own?

Matthew : Plenty! I've been playing Nintendo games since I was about 3 (in 1988), so I've pretty much gotten all of them as they came: NES, Game Boy, SNES, N64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, DS, DS Lite, Wii, 3DS. I picked up my cousin's Virtual Boy a couple years ago, and still own all of the listed systems (minus the older GB systems).

Flo Jess : What do you think of Nintendo's upcoming console, the Wii U, and of the 3DS?

Matthew : I'm definitely interested in seeing if lightning will strike twice with Nintendo's Wii brand. I think the touch screen controller isn't as easy a sell as motion controls were, but there's still plenty that can be done with it and I'm excited to see how they'll utilize it for games. The 3DS feels pretty much like the natural extension of the DS, although so far the 3D comes across as more of a visual benefit than one that introduces new gameplay mechanics. I quite like my 3DS, but I'm definitely excited to get Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 to finally have some really strong original games to try on it!

Flo Jess : What was your very first Nintendo game?

Matthew : Super Mario Bros on the NES. Still one of my all-time favorites!

Flo Jess : Do you sketch your strips on paper?

Matthew : I do. The comic process usually involves me finding a quiet spot at home and drawing out ideas on paper. Once I get an idea for a joke, I'll usually hammer out a crude-looking mock-up and make structural decisions like how many panels, how they're arranged, dialogue, etc. After that's done, I redraw it on the computer (in another quick sketchy layer to place everything), then do the final outlines and color it there.

Flo Jess : What do you feel when you look again at your first strips?

Matthew : The line quality kind of bothers me! Hah, the original strips are definitely simple and crude as heck, but I think they're some of the purest examples of the type of humor I'm going for in Brawl in the Family. Sometimes I miss the days of being able to hammer out a new comic in 5 minutes instead of 5 hours!

Flo Jess : Thanks for the interview!

The LRDM team congrulates Matthew for his engagement. Thanks to Arz for the French translation! This interview was made before the SM3DL and MK7 release.

Flo Jess