[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Why do you say that the most talented people are usually more soft-spoken and humble?
Stephen L. Stern, Comic Book Author/President of Storyboard Graphic Novels: Because they’re secure. If you are secure in your talent and in yourself as a human being, you don’t need to overblow your importance to the world. It’s just a matter of having an ego that’s under control.
In the comic book world, there is a bit of an ego problem on a certain percentage of the people who once they start selling a lot of books and have all these people lined up for them at the comic book conventions to get their signature…you know it can go to your head. I would say that happened to me a bit but way back in the day like when Zen [Intergalactic Ninja] was really riding high, like in the early 1990s, and I could attend virtually any comic book convention, do an appearance at any comic book store and have people lined up and crazy things happening like little kids coming up to me with like $300 in cash to get a rare issue of Zen, but which I would never take unless I saw that their parents were there condoning the transaction. So things like that can go to your head. They probably did to mine for a period of a year or so. But then you know that fades, that goes away.
I would just say stay humble and realize that what you’re doing is great because you’re providing entertainment and pleasure to people. But get a grip on yourself. You’re just another human being who works in a particular industry and success just comes in waves and it can go away.
Film Courage: When the waves have come down a bit and then come back up for you, is there something you tell yourself like okay we don’t know how long anything lasts?
Steve: Well, it’s true in life, yeah everything is impermanent. I’ve had the vast…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Stephen L. Stern is the president of Storyboard Graphic Novels. Steve is best known as the creator/writer of the indie comic-book Zen Intergalactic Ninja that has sold over three million comics and graphic novels and been licensed for video games, action figures and numerous other products. He is also the creator of Shygirl and Frickin’ Butt-Kickin’ Zombie Ants, and the author of Beowulf: The Graphic Novel and the A Christmas Carol Graphic Novel, both published by the UK’s Markosia. His other works include Alien Hero, a collection of novellas and stories about Zen, and the upcoming Majestic Comics Graphic Novel. Stern is a native of New York and former advertising agency president with clients including Johnson & Johnson, Rosenthal China and The Singer Company. He lives in Los Angeles, where he launched Storyboard Graphic Novels in 2011, working with several of his longtime friends and associates—who just happen to be some of the highest-profile artists and writers in the industry today.
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