CC: What inspired you to start making films?

EH: I was always writing stories and watching movies growing up, but I never thought about making my own movies until my family purchased a camcorder. My dad used to work in advertising, and one day he decided to plan an activity with me when I was home sick from school -- make a 30 second commercial.

He didn't do anything for me, but guided me through writing a script, drawing storyboards, learning shots, filming, and editing. I had to do everything myself, and really enjoyed the whole process of putting together a cohesive idea with the basic cinematic tools he taught me. I started making short films on my own, and worked as a production assistant on any set I could get on. I was always trying to learn and grow and meet people in the film scene, and eventually ended up making my first feature when I was 12 -- Pathogen. 

CC: I believe I read this on your site a very long time ago, and correct me if I'm wrong, but when it comes to zombies you lean way more toward the classic Romero walking zombies than the 28 Days Later sprinting zombies. Why is that exactly?

EH: That is true. I think it's a cheap scare tactic to make your zombies run, though I do enjoy 28 Days Later. But I understand why that choice was made for that particular film -- they were trying to do something different with the genre. But in general, I think slow zombies are a lot more effective. It's terrifying to think that no matter how fast you run or how far you go...there will always be more zombies, and they may even be people you used to know. Also, it just plain doesn't make much sense for dead people to have that much energy and agility. 

CC: How did it feel to be such a well known independent filmmaker only at the age of 12, and after Pathogen and Zombie Girl documentary? Were you caught off guard with the attention toward your film?

EH: Yeah, a little bit. I was learning so much every day, and it's a little embarrassing now to have all of those mistakes in a movie. But at the same time, I hope the doc helps other young/aspiring filmmakers to pursue their projects. It's also weird because I still kind of look the same, and sometimes people don't realize that the documentary was filmed ten years ago. I feel like a very different person now! 

CC: Is there a current project or projects you're working on?

EH: I'm working on a few things right now, so we'll see where those go. My most recent film, Grow Up, Tony Phillips, just came out on DVD/VOD. 

CC: If you could make a film with any director you wanted to, who would be your first choice?

EH: I've never been asked this question, because usually there's just one director...but there are many directors I admire! I'm a big fan of Edgar Wright, Otto Preminger, Peter Jackson, John Carpenter, Wes Anderson, Danny Boyle, and Billy Wilder.

CC: Last but not least, what kind of advice would you give to any young independent filmmaker who may be reading this?

EH: The best advice I ever got was from the guys who made the Raiders of the Lost Ark Adaptation, who took ten years as teens to make a shot-for-shot remake of Indiana Jones. They told me to never give up, and to never let anyone tell me what I could or couldn't do. It's important to believe in yourself, in the stories you want to tell, and to persevere to the end! So that's the advice I always pass along. 

“There’s a farmer market by our house [that] has a petting zoo and they have these little baby pygmy goats which are the most adorable creatures on the planet and they’re just bouncing all over the place, getting into trouble… It was just kind of funny to think that a goat would be the perfect friend for a certain kind of person, like a monster!”

One of my favorite things in the book that Jessica showed me was that there’s a lot of cool little easter eggs sprinkled throughout the book, some that horror fans will be excited about. Mary Shelley’s name was actually on a sign overhead a store, and if you don’t know Mary Shelley is the author of the Frankenstein novel. “There’s tons of easter eggs, I always loved ‘Where’s Waldo’ type of books. As you read there’s lots of pop culture references; references to 'Young Frankenstein’, the original 'Frankenstein’ movie, the book, and some other stuff.”

You can get your own copy of Frank N’ Goat on Amazon @ http://amzn.to/2mTjoln, paperback or kindle.

When he’s killed after having to flee a street race, the spirit of satanist serial killer Eli Morrow inhabits him and he becomes the Ghost Rider. “That is a spirit who wants to make Robbie kill people as much as possible, good or bad, doesn’t matter… It’s up to Robbie to harness that power and not allow himself to do evil… Robbie is well aware of what’s going on, as long as he’s behind the wheel.”

Unlike previous Riders, Robbie is in control. It’s only a matter of fighting off the madman in his head. “Robbie has a choice because he’s not a spirit of vengeance… He’s not a hero per-say. A spirit of vengeance compels you to avenge those who are wronged and to make evildoers repent… That’s what makes Robbie interesting as a Ghost Rider. It’s a very different dynamic, it has all to do with his willpower to do good, it’s a personal choice…”

“I’m not surprised Robbie was the choice because he’s the most relevant Ghost Rider right now for the new generation of Marvel fans and he’s a relatable character because it’s mostly about him as a human being, not about him being transformed and having these awesome powers… It’s about the choices he makes in his life.”

ABC worked real hard to bring this character to life and they’ve stayed relatively true to his comic appearance, even adopting one of the series covers to use for a promotional photo. Unlike most characters who’ve been introduced on Agents Of SHIELD, Ghost Rider is coming fresh off the boat so there’s high hopes they’ll be adapting his original origin story as well.

CC: What was your opinion of the Deadpool character in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine? 

FN: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

CC: How do you feel about the character Deadpool from today? And how much does it differ from the one you created 25 years ago? 

FN: Well, the character I created 25 years ago had already evolved all through the 90s from Joe Kelly’s work and Gail Simone’s work, he evolved in the Cable/Deadpool book that I wrote in 2004 to 2008, so it’s not like I haven’t had a hand in parts of that evolution. I do think the character has no so much changed, but they have changed the situations that they place him into in the regular comics now. They made an editorial decision several years ago that he was an outright comedy character, which is not how we ever approached him. He was a character that had a lot of comedy in it but it was grounded into the ‘real world’ of Marvel comics continuity. Right now, he is a bit of a comedic, trickster character who is not really grounded in mainstream Marvel universe continuity. He actually flips and floats all around it. So it’s a little more excessive than I would prefer to see him, but it’s completely valid and a totally understandable approach for them to take on the monthly book. 

CC: So with the current rumor mill swirling that the final Wolverine solo movie might be shooting for an R-Rating, do you think that the Deadpool movie might have paved the way somewhat for a more adult centric comic movie universe? 

FN: Well I would completely question the use of the word adult, because I think that being allowed to curse and show 'bloody gore’ and have naked boobies on movie doesn’t make it adult. I think Captain America: Winter Soldier was 10 times more of an 'adult movie’ than Deadpool was. That doesn’t mean Deadpool wasn’t excellent. I quibble with fans decision on what it is exactly that makes something worth seeing. I think that Deadpool was an excellent movie because the creators did it the way they wanted to do it. If the creators had wanted to make it a PG-13 movie, it would have probably been just as excellent a movie because the creators wanted to make it that way. You know what I mean? 

CC: Absolutely. 

FN: Typical Hollywood mentality is 'This succeeded so we have to copy it.’ They’re relative imbeciles in that there’s reasons why it succeeded and that’s what you should be trying to copy, not thinking that the rating or the use of cursing is the reason for the success. I don’t know what an R rated Wolverine is going to include other than showing the claws going through someone’s back and an arm getting cut off. Alright fine, if that’s what they want to do, no problems, its okay. It’s totally valid. I don’t think that this makes it a better or worse Wolverine movie. 

CC: With all the characters that you’ve created or worked on, other than Deadpool, which one do you consider your favorite? 

FN: Hmm, theres a lot! I mean I really like working on New Warriors, I really liked working on Thunderbolts, I really enjoyed writing Gambit. Growing up as a kid my favorite character was Robin, so getting a chance to write Nightwing and getting a chance to write Tim Drake as Robin was a lot of fun for me and I really enjoyed that a lot!

Postal is a comic series by Top Cow Productions, it’s being compared to old school Vertigo in terms of story telling and art style. The cover of the first issue was actually the photo Long Beach Comic Expo used for their press badges and someone at the Top Cow Productions booth was cool enough to tell me a bit about it.You can actually read the first issue on their site for free. 

Below you’ll find a link to Top Cow Productions’ site and social media. You can find the first issue of Postal on the home page of their website. Make sure to check it out!

www.topcow.com

“The most treasured moment of any of this is when you turn on your lightsaber and pose or after you finish a fight and this kid who’s sick, [who] comes in with this really dower expression, and you just slowly see the light go on in his face… It’s a really euphoric sensation.” Alex Maxwell AKA Jedi Knight Rhonan Tor

The group started with 5 people in Orange County and now there’s about 250 members across the globe. It was formed out of the need for lightsabers to be represented amongst the sponsored Star Wars groups. Unlike the other groups, Saber Guild meets quite freqently due to training. 

I should aslo mention, the sith do in fact have cookies! Confirmed by two sith lords. The Jedi apparently have raisin cookies, if that’s youre thing. “You underestimate the power of oatmeal raisin.” If you say so Rhonan.

Later in the day I got a chance to talk to a member of the Mandalorian Mercs. They are the third largest Lucas Film & Disney licensed costum group. As well as Saber Guild, they are a charity group. In fact, all of the licensed groups are. Everyone in the Mandalorian Mercs builds their own armor, following a strict set of guidelines that each group has their own variation of but the mercs do get to be a bit creative & original when it comes their armor.

Although I didn’t get a chance to talk to them the 501st and the Rebel Legion were in attendance. The 501st represents the empire in all it’s glory, from stormtroopers to the heavy breathing Darth Vader. The Rebel Legion, obvious by it’s title, represents the rebels!

The group was founded in October of 2015. Nick AKA Nova Bloom, co-founder of Rainbow Squad and prop builder at Nova Bloom Props, said the little time between the group being founded to now having a booth at Expo was unexpected. “We were two stormtroopers doing rainbow LGBT stuff… Over time we got enough exposure to make this happen and it just took off way quicker and bigger and better than either of us could’ve expected.”

Over time the group hopes to expand within the LGBT community hopefully working with more organizations to assist with LGBT youth and other issues. If you want to meet the Rainbow Squad you’ll be able to find them in Anaheim this July, the 29th - 30th, at Pride Con! They will also be marching in the San Diego Pride parade and hopefully in the Los Angeles Pride parade as well.

Below you can find links to the Rainbow Squad’s Facebook page and both Kaylee and Nick’s Instagrams. You can also find a link to the Los Angeles LGBT Center if you’d like to find info on how you can help or even donate.

www.lalgbtcenter.com

CC: You’ve played a number of different Star Wars characters, from cartoon to video game. I got to ask, were you more excited to reprise some of the more iconic roles like Darth Maul & Palpatine or were you more excited to be your own character, were you more excited about Star Killer? 

SW: Well there’s like two ends of the spectrum for that. There’s Star Killer which was a new character so we were going to create him out of whole cloth, there’s Palpatine, which is you know, an older character so you have to play that in a very specific way to be like Ian McDermot, and then Darth Maul is kind of in the middle because Ray Park really created a very definite physical presence for him, Peter Serafinowicz, although he had a couple of lines, he set his feet in the wet cement of what that voice should at least somewhat sound like, but beyond that I was able to create the character that I thought Darth Maul should be and it was fun to figure out that ‘no he’s smarter than everyone thinks he is’ and ‘he’s manipulative, he’s got a little bit of a sense of humor and he’s this brilliant tactician. So it’s all challenging. The challenge of Star Killer was creating a Star Wars protagonist, that’s very hard. If it doesn’t work for the audience, you’re kind of sunk right, and then the challenge for Palpatine has got to be… you have to sort of bring life, and not just mimic but bring life, to a performance from an actor that is better than all of us. He’s amazing, that actor is so… Ian McDermot is amazing. Then you have Darth Maul who’s just kind of a bit of a hybrid. You’ve seen what he is, you’ve seen what he can do, you’ve heard him slightly, and then from there is a springboard to create something new and in all three cases I think the expectation is there. And if it doesn’t work the fans will be very upset. 

CC: Being a Star Wars fan, how excited are you about the series coming back?

SW: Very, very excited. I’m most excited to see where the Luke Skywalker character went. That is the thing I’m most curious about in terms of the passage of time.