Larry Hama advises: Make use of internet

During his web-chat at the US Embassy, Public Affairs Office, Sweet Briar Road, last week Friday, he revealed just why he made the heritage of “Tunnel Rat,” a cult-favourite soldier in the comics who works in explosive ordnance disposal, Trinidadian.

“Tunnel Rat’s named after a friend of mine, Charlie Chin. He’s Trinidad-Chinese and when we got to know each other, he was a musician growing up, and his parents would throw some fun dinners which would evolve into parties with music, dancing and great food.

“All the characters I make up in the books are based on the people I know. Before I met Charlie, I didn’t even know Trinidad existed,” said the 64 year-old. Hama was part of a session geared towards sharing insight into the creative industry of film and comics in North America to aspiring locals.

With the session fielding around 15 questions in total, some taken from an online audience which stretched to El Salvador, Hama disbursed information on artistry as well as scribing to break into the comic business.

He revealed that people usually know if they can tell a story by the way they make a joke. “If I can get the joke and get the story, you’re a storyteller. It doesn’t have to be funny but if it’s concise, I know you can tell a tale. I’m honest when it comes to criticising and people ask me to critique their art, and some never speak to me again.

“If you want to write or draw, just go out there and do it. Times are different with the internet and you can even make your creator-owned stuff, publish and sell rights. When I sketched I made $120 bucks a week so I barely survived. Now, Hollywood and TV are after properties,” he divulged.

Hama mentioned his work on the GI JOE film franchise also and revealed that as he got older, arthritis limited his drawing so he began writing more and shifting away from art.

“When I got into this business, it wasn’t to make money. I just wanted to draw funny animals. I ended up at Marvel and there, I was in the last office. No one wanted to write GI JOE so it came to me by default and I said yes because I needed work. Years after, Wolverine came to me also because the sales were failing and no one wanted it. I was still in the back office so once more, it fell to me as the last man standing. I got the properties no one wanted or cared about,” he joked. He also touched on “Bucky O’Hare,” a space-adventure cartoon with animal warriors in the 80s and 90s that spawned a comic franchise as well as cult animated series. Hama indicated that he never set out for military books but ended up pigeonholed into these genres.

Hama added that it was difficult to advise people how to write because everyone’s processes and trains of thought were different but he admitted that because he had creative freedom at Marvel to do as he pleased, he never wrote plot outlines.

“I made things up as I went along. I did it issue by issue and played it by ear. There weren’t any restrictions because no one cared for the title back then. When I did Batman at DC, it was much more difficult because I had an inch-thick book of things I couldn’t do and use. It really differs according to what you’re allowed to use and with GI JOE, it was my world to create and I did, with hundreds of characters,” he continued.

Hama revealed some big secrets as well to the attentive audience. He delved into GI JOE #21, “Silent Interlude” – one of the most revered issues that was published by Marvel in 1984.

It contained no dialogue and focussed on Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, two ninjas that are considered the most popular in the franchise.

“We were behind deadline and there was no way we could finish in three weeks. So I offered to pencil it. That cut down a week. Then I said to my editor that we should leave out the dialogue...and that cut back another week. The reason being is that back then, we had no email so we literally had to ship pages so time was lost in transit. I improvised and did the issue to save time. Funny thing is, when both ninjas fought, at the end I decided it would be cool to give them the same tattoo. It was easy to draw, that’s why.

Then the fans loved it and started asking questions after seeing their sleeves cut off in battle so I had to go back and then figure out their history and I came up with the Arashikage clan.

I wrote and when people started asking questions, I’d go and make stuff up to fill in the gaps,” he stated, which shocked the audience as many thought this was some intricate plot he devised.

Hama urged writers to keep reading and doing research into newer stories. His prose The Stranger was published in 2012 and the writer revealed that years before, he tried to get the script moved but to no avail because publishers didn’t believe teenage vampires would sell. “Things changed after Twilight and suddenly, people came knocking on my door for it,” he lamented.

Hama recently wrapped another prose, in a return to Marvel, by adapting the Ed Brubaker arc The Death of Captain America. “It’ll be out in March and tie into the build-up for The Winter Soldier film that’s out around that time.

I can’t wait for that. I did so much reading for that on so many comics. Research is important. If you want to be a good writer, do a lot,” he concluded.