The strange tales of Oscar Zahn tell the story of a supernatural detective who appears as a floating skull in a trench coat. The ghost’s sole purpose is to travel the spirit world to rescue lost souls and help others move on and find peace. The series follows the misfortunes Oscar causes in the spirit world at different points in history. This comic that propelled Tri Vuong’s career forward was a dark delight.
Published by Ten Speed Press, this graphic novel collection includes chapters 1 through 65 of the supernatural horror and fantasy webcomic that debuted on WEBTOON in June 2016.
In this in-depth interview, we ask series creator and artist Tri Vuong about his roots, Oscar Zahn, and more.
Christian Engels: Oscar Zahn has been a popular LINE Webtoon for many years. How does it feel to see your project become such a big hit?
Tri Vuong
TRI VUONG: I’ve been pleasantly surprised that The Weird Tales of Oscar Zahn has garnered such a devoted following online. When I started this comic I had been pretty artistically exhausted after years of working in the animation and video game industries, and was seriously looking to do something else with my life.
This comic was conceived as a pure passion project to rekindle my dwindling creative drive, but along the way it accidentally became a sustainable livelihood. It was a real learning experience for me. Staying true to your creative drive doesn’t guarantee success, but it does increase your chances of success, and in the long run, you’ll probably be a lot happier.
ANGELES: Oscar Zahn is heavily influenced by the mystery detective novel genre. For those who are unfamiliar with the genre, can you tell us what makes your work unique?
VUONG: There are a lot of great supernatural detectives in the genre, but Oscar is a little different in that he solves mysteries for the dead rather than the living. The situations he encounters are often more nuanced and can’t be solved simply by punching and shooting (although I love a good fistfight as much as the next person). And the greatest evil he encounters are the demons we all fight every day.
Oskar is in many ways the polar opposite of a typical hard-boiled detective; he has a hard time being tough, and his superpowers are empathy and compassion. Unfortunately, he has an Ectopath living in his skull, a supernatural carnivore that seeks to eat the very creatures he’s trying to help.
Angels: Where did the idea for Ectopus come from?
VUONG: The idea for Ectopus was probably heavily influenced by imagery from Hellboy, HP Lovecraft and Studio Ghibli films (especially Spirited Away). I also felt that Oscar couldn’t be a bright, motivated character without having demons inside of him. Oscar’s positive attitude needed to be some kind of coping mechanism to deal with this monster that lived in his head, destroyed his body and probably saved him from total death.
ANGELES: This book is both scary and funny. How did you balance the two?
VUONG: Maybe that’s how I keep things fun and interesting for me. Drawing comics takes a lot of time, and drawing something very dark for months on end is mentally exhausting. The humor and camp allow me to touch more seriously on darker subject matter that I might not want to delve into if I had to tell the story straight.
ANGELES: Most people know you from your work on Ninjago and your Skybound projects, but you started your career a bit late. Can you tell us what that path was like?
VUONG: It wasn’t a smooth road to get here. After high school, I didn’t go to art school at first because making a living from drawing seemed like a pipe dream. I studied computer science for a few years but it was a complete failure. After years of failure, I finally gave up and enrolled in animation school, where I was much better suited and did better, but I didn’t have any big goals beyond that.
“I hope I can find a job that will help me pay the rent.”
After 10 years working as an artist in various studios in Toronto, I realized I wasn’t happy with the way my “career” was going. As a kid I didn’t really think of things in those terms, I just wanted to be creative, tell stories and have fun, but as I grew up I’d forgotten about that. Remembering why I got into the art world in the first place helped me find my own voice and think about what I wanted to do instead of chasing the next “career step.”
To be honest, being a freelance artist is not an easy path and trying to tell a good story is the hardest thing ever, but it’s also so much fun and rewarding work that I wouldn’t want to do anything else.
ANGELES: If you had to sum up your style or career in one sentence, what would it be?
VUONG: Hmm, that’s a tough one. Someone once summed it up like this:
“80s cartoons meet Mike Mignola’s aspiring Tintin.”
There is no disputing this…
ANGELES: Other than yourself and maybe Bryan Lee O’Malley, I can’t think of many Asian-Canadian cartoonists who have had such a cultural impact. How have your roots influenced the trajectory of your career?
VUONG: It wasn’t something I was consciously exploring when I first started making comics, but over time my immigrant upbringing started to show up in my work more and more, eventually becoming a pretty explicit theme in “Everyday Hero Machine Boy.”
To be honest, I can’t really say how much my roots have specifically influenced the trajectory of my career, because I’m just trying to tell a good story. It’s not a direction I’m intentionally trying to push, but the theme of the immigrant experience can’t help but influence the stories I tell.
Making comics can often be such a lonely, insular experience that it’s only when you meet the fans and their parents that you realize that having someone with your last name front and center on the cover means something.
ANGELES: Finally, do you have any words of wisdom for people who want to continue pursuing their passions as they get older?
VUONG: No matter how old you are, the important thing is to just get started. Don’t worry about the destination, take it one step at a time and enjoy the process, because in the end, the process is the reward.
THE STRANGE TALES OF OSCAR ZAHN: VOLUME 1 is in stores now and can be purchased from Penguin Random House here. All volumes are also available to read on Line WEBTOON.
Like this:
Like Loading…
