In 1955, a giant octopus was sinking ships. Who can ever forget 'It Came from Beneath the Sea'?

BlueWater Productions, in association with Ray Harryhausen, bring the giant octopus back in 'It came from Beneath the Sea...Again!'

We spoke with the artist on the book, Chris Noeth, about what we can expect from the series.

TheBigBadWolf: How did you hook up with BlueWater Productions?

Chris Noeth: The short answer is I showed some sample art to Darren Davis the President of Bluewater Productions Inc. and he liked what he saw.

The long answer is I always wanted to draw comics professionally as long as I can remember. I’m a self thought artist and originally wanted to break into comics in the nineties. With the comic crash at this time I decided to study computer science instead. Later I combined my computer and art interests by working as a game artist on multiple 3d pc games. The last years I worked as a lead artist on mobile games where I directed a team of seven artists.

As the comic industry started to grow again I started to do comic related work in my spare time. In April 2007 I relocated with my wife and my baby boy and quit my job as a mobile games lead artist to work as a freelance comic artist and illustrator from my studio at home. The timing was perfect because Papercutz editor Jim Salicrup saw some of my online work and asked me if I’m interested in drawing a story for a new comic series Papercutz is launching. I said yes and he told me the new series is a relaunch of ‘Tales from the Crypt’ with all new stories after 50 years which made me very excited because I’m a huge fan of the classic comics and the TV series. After finishing my work on my first Tales story called ‘Extra Life’ which was written by Neil Kleid there wasn’t any new material at this time because the comics are on sale bimonthly and there are many different writers and artists working on them. So I did a little research and noticed the great books Bluewater was putting out. I sent Darren Davis some samples of my art and he offered me two projects instantly from which I could choose one. Of course I said yes and have chosen the Ray Harryhausen sequel project ‘It came from beneath the sea… again!’.

I found out later Bluewater is publishing their own books for only a short time and it feels great being a part of this new company from the beginning.

TheBigBadWolf: Have you always been a fan of Ray Harryhausen?

Chris Noeth: Of course! As a huge fan of sci-fi, horror and fantasy his movies influenced my whole life and career. I have wonderful memories watching his classic movies as a kid together with my grandmother late at night. Every time ‘Mighty Joe Young’ or ‘Mysterious Island’ was aired we celebrated a special evening with popcorn and lots of candy while watching his fantastic movies. I’m a huge fan since I was a kid.

TheBigBadWolf: Did you see the movie, It came from Beneath the Sea?

Chris Noeth: Yes I did but it wasn’t one of the Ray Harryhausen late night movies I watched as a kid together with my grandma. I think this one never was aired in German television at this time. I saw it many years later only a few years ago. I think they had a small budget on this one but the effects are still amazing. There will be a new colored DVD version out soon.

TheBigBadWolf: What can we expect in the sequel?

Chris Noeth: A huge advantage compared to the classic original movie is we don’t have to think about a budget on the comic sequel. That’s the magic of comics. You can do everything. The sequel will be like ‘Aliens’ compared to ‘Alien’. Everything is huge, we are showing many locations and great new characters with a lot of action and of course some very cool monsters.

The story is about a disgraced American naval officer who has to save the world from giant sea monsters. It is set in our time and it’s very entertaining.


TheBigBadWolf: Who is the rest of the creative team on the book?

Chris Noeth: Beside Ray Harryhausen and Darren Davis the core creative team on this book is Clay and Susan Griffith, Chris Studabaker and I.

Clay and Susan Griffith are the writers on the book and they did a wonderful job with this script. They wrote the perfect blockbuster sequel to the original movie.

Chris Studabaker is doing the lettering. He is one of the best letterers in comics and I really love every new lettered page I get back.

I’m doing the complete art from layouts, pencils to inks and colors.


TheBigBadWolf: When is the first issue due out?

Chris Noeth: There is no exact release date. It should be out the first half of 2008 I think. There will be a five page preview in the ‘Ray Harryhausen Presents’ book from Bluewater coming in October 2007. This preview book only costs 99 cents and it contains pages from different Ray Harryhausen books Bluewater is publishing.

TheBigBadWolf: What else are you working on?

Chris Noeth: Besides this project I’m working on cover illustrations for the German publisher Bastei and I’m writing workshops for the biggest German game developer magazine ‘GameStar/dev’.

Regarding comics watch out for news about the creator owned project ‘Alpha Bettie’. It is a sci-fi comic about a female heroine and I started this project with IDW editor Dan Taylor last year beside my 40 hour job.

And as things are looking right now there also will be more ‘Tales from the Crypt’.


TheBigBadWolf: Where can fans find out more information about you? Do you have a website or MySpace page?

Chris Noeth: The easiest way is to subscribe to my online blog which also is my official website at http://www.chrisnoeth.com.

This is the place where I post all news regarding my projects. You also can find a link to my online sketchbook there.

At MySpace you can find me at http://www.myspace.com/chrisnoeth.


TheBigBadWolf: Thanks for taking the time Chris. Good luck with the book.

Talk about the It Came from Beneath the Sea...Again! Interview.