George Alexopoulos Interview (Can I Sit Here)

By David Rasmussen
26th Apr 05

Rasmussen - Please tell us abit more about yourself, if you can?
Mr. George Alexopoulos – I was born and raised in New Jersey, located about half an hour from New York City where I attended art school for only a year. I now work as a video store clerk part-time and work on my manga for the rest of my day. When I’m not working, I enjoy watching films or reading a stack of books (mostly comics and manga) at a Barnes & Noble with a cup of coffee.

Rasmussen - What kind of films do you enjoy watching, and are there any recent or upcoming films that you’d recommend?
Mr. Alexopoulos - I don’t enjoy a specific “type” of film. My favorites are as diverse in genre as the sea of people in Times Square. For example, I love “Amelie.” But I also love M. Night Shyamalan’s films—all of them. Recent movies I can recommend are the amazing “City of God,” the quietly hilarious “Napoleon Dynamite,” and the realistically tragic “Lost in Translation.”

Regarding upcoming films, I can join the millions in saying that I will die a happy man if I can get to see “Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children” sometime by the end of the century. I’ve been sitting in a dark corner with a picture of Kadaj for two years now.

Rasmussen - How did you first get into Anime/Manga, and what are the titles your presently into now?
Mr. Alexopoulos – I’m almost ashamed to say, being male, that I first got into anime by watching “Sailor Moon.” I was very young at the time, too young to actually know that it was anime. I remember waking up at six in the morning to watch it every day. It was that, and soon after “Dragonball Z” dominated my life for a few years. It was only after watching “Evangelion,” however, that I consciously decided that I wanted to become a manga artist. I think I was 13 years old when that happened.

Concerning the present, I’m obsessed with “Kare Kano,” by Masami Tsuda. I honestly believe Tsuda-sensei is one of the most talented storytellers in the industry. I’m awestruck at how she writes her characters; they’re all endearing and as complex as any living person. Every time I finish one of her books, I feel a knot in my stomach. I believe that’s the trademark of a great anime or manga-- if I’m ill when it finishes and I want more.

I also love “Vagabond.” All one has to do is open the pages and they’ll understand why. “Berserk” is also amazing, but I hate to say that I feel the latest volumes are becoming redundant.

Rasmussen - Have you ever watched the original uncut version of Sailor Moon? How about the original uncut version of Dragonball Z (or the previous Dragonball series?)
Mr. Alexopoulos – I haven’t seen the original Sailor Moon since I was just too young to know the difference. As for Dragonball Z, that was just around the time I got into my anime pirating/downloading phase, so I did see most of the episodes uncut since they were translated by fans directly from Japan. I still have nightmares about waking up in the middle of the night to make sure the files are still downloading.

Rasmussen - Eh… oh-kay. Though for the record you can buy uncut DVDs of both series these days if you are curious about seeing these series the way they were meant to be seen. What is your opinion on the upcoming live action version of Neon Genesis Evangelion? Any hopes or fears where this soon to be live action remake is concerned?
Mr. Alexopoulos - This is a very sensitive subject for me so I try to avoid thinking about it as much as possible. I’ve grown pessimistic over the years concerning things I love made into movies. Because I consider movies to be the ultimate form of communication in this day and age, it torments me knowing that 90% of the industry is run by profit gain and not audience enjoyment. We’re going to see Evangelion, no matter what. They know that. Now the question is, do they care enough to make it good? Are potential directors honest enough with themselves to question their ability to create it, like Shyamalan declined the opportunity to direct the next Indiana Jones?

I’ve also lost faith in Japanese live-action directors, I’m sorry to say. My most recent traumatic experience was “Casshern.” It looked fantastic, but I think it should be common knowledge by now, even over there, that special effects don’t drive a movie—they support it. I fear EVA will suffer the same fate. The emotional content could very possibly leak out of the characters and we won’t care; I imagine Misato crying over a phone even though we’ve only seen Kaji for five minutes in the movie. I won’t cry, I won’t feel anything at all because the director would have failed at convincing me, “this man is Kaji. This man is worth crying over.” I can see myself struggling to enjoy EVA, and there’s a very good chance of that.

Don’t get me mistaken, I’m pessimistic because I want to be proven wrong. I would actually enjoy and anticipate it as much as “Advent Children” if they could promise me a director like Stephen Spielberg or James Cameron... as long as they couldn’t control the fight scenes. If they hire a director like Paul W.S. Anderson (primarily because of the holocaust that was Alien Vs. Predator,) I’ll personally travel to the studio and commit suicide on the stairs of their building.

Rasmussen - Are you familiar with the recent announcement by Melissa Joan Hart's people that she is going to do a Real Bout High School movie, intending to not be true to the source material so that she can star as the title character (Ryoko) despite the fact the title character is younger than her, and Japanese? What is your opinion of her plans and do you think she'll find "gold" in her movie or will this become an even worse failure than, say, the recent Catwoman movie?
Mr. Alexopoulos – God help us. It’s funny, I feel so passionately on the subject, but the words just won’t come. Let’s just say this: if it’s not rated R, it doesn’t deserve to be watched. Anything lower than that rating will just involve another American pretending to have samurai skills, slicing up guys attached to wires and CGI monsters. I suppose it depends on the director.

Rasmussen - If you had to pick a list of Anime theatrical movies that you believe are the best of the best, which movies would be on your list and why are these (in your opinion) the most important movies that anyone (be they fans of anime or not) should see?
Mr. Alexopoulos – I’m afraid to say I’ve been out of touch recently with the theatrical features. Let’s say I had to choose a personal top five, though.

5. Akira
4. Princess Mononoke
3. Kite
2. Ghost in the Shell
1. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away)

They’re just... good. I can’t very well write a review for each one, but I can say generally, all these films had some influence on me somehow or another. For example, the moment the piano starts playing in the first ten seconds of “Spirited Away,” I get choked up. Somehow that whole time I watch that movie I’m either on the verge of crying or laughing, trapped somewhere in-between. “Kite,” also, I’ve seen over 200 times because that was the first anime film I’ve ever bought. I remember I would wake up an hour early before school, watch Kite, and get my day started. I did the same thing with “Ghost in the Shell.”

Rasmussen - How did you come to create "Can I Sit Here"? Can you tell us abit about the process that brought that title to life? Also can you tell us abit about the story itself?
Mr. Alexopoulos - I intentionally decided on creating a simple story. It’s about a young man who wants to talk to the pretty girl he sees in the bus terminal every day. The only problem is, of course, he’s too nervous.

I commuted through a specific bus terminal in NYC every day while going to art school, so it’s no surprise I used my experiences there as a foundation for my story. The actual girl didn’t exist, but the scenario of running into one ran through my head from time to time. More important to me were the secondary details of the story. They were necessary for creating the illusion of reality and were based off my observations: graffiti or strange people after a long day of work, for example. In that way I think of most storytellers as ghosts, not interacting with the world, but studying it instead. That’s how I acted in the terminal, even without knowing at the time that I would make a comic out of it.

It’s interesting to go back and see the little things, the hidden secrets I drew in without realizing. Anyone that’s ever been to that terminal will be able to say, “I’ve seen that kind of thing all the time,” and I’m sure even people that haven’t been there will see the manga and feel like they’re seeing something familiar.

Rasmussen - The girl in the story, which you said did not exist… would she (if she was real) have been someone you would have been attracted to? And if so would you say that, as you created her character, you might have subconsciously been writing about someone you wanted to meet at the bus terminal?
Mr. Alexopoulos – Unlike the main character, I never take people at face value.

My approach to people is similar to my approach to films; just because they look good doesn’t mean they are good. In the manga, I made certain we had only impressions of the girl’s character. It adds a little depth to the story that isn’t there until you read it a second or third time.

I also avoid the pitfalls of creating characters that I’d personally be attracted to; I believe it limits the diversity of a story. It’s like saying you can only be in love with a certain kind of person when in reality there are a lot of amazing people in the world you only shut yourself off to. It goes the same for a plot; you don’t think you’d fall in love with Mr. or Mrs. X, but after a while you start to.

Rasmussen - You said that storytellers are “ghosts” who don’t interact with the world that they write, but wouldn’t you think that would be a flaw in storytellers if they are removed (in a sense) from the very subjects they are writing about? Isn’t interaction and familiarity with the subjects you’re writing about important in said writing?
Mr. Alexopoulos - I apologize if I suggested that storytellers shouldn’t interact with the world they create—I definitely didn’t mean to. I meant that storytellers are “ghosts” in the real world because they see what’s around them and recreate that in a fictional world.

One might say they essentially become God, an invisible but omnipresent influence.

Just because I’m observing something doesn’t mean I’m emotionally unattached to it; quite the opposite. I know everything about the characters I write; I know everything about the worlds they live in. Using the metaphor of becoming God, we can say that I love everything I make, but don’t directly interact with it.

Rasmussen - Entering the Rising Stars of Manga competition, how did that come about and how did you think your chances were in this competition? Also what was your reaction to placing (3rd)?
Mr. Alexopoulos – I’ve known about the competition for about two years. The only other submission I’ve made was during the second volume, and that manga failed miserably. I’ve since tried twice to do try again, but I didn’t emotionally connect to either of the stories so I scrapped them.

As for my chances this time around, it was a total coin toss. Anytime someone would ask me a similar question I responded, “I did my best, and that’s the best I could do.”

Now that I know how truly incredible the competition was, I feel very fortunate to be counted among such talent.

When I found out that I placed third, I was caught completely off-guard. At the time, I was more nervous and overwhelmed than happy or excited. Now, weeks later, I can say with a sound mind that I’m very pleased to have gotten what I have. The most important thing now is that I have an opportunity to create a volume or two of my own books, so that’s what I’ll be pursuing in the near future.

Rasmussen - Can you tell us abit more about your first effort, the one that failed, and why (in retrospect) do you believe that this first effort was not as successful as Can I Sit Here?
Mr. Alexopoulos – I’m glad my first entry, which I entitled “The Plague,” failed.

I would be utterly ashamed of it. The artwork was adequate, but I ran out of time towards the end and rushed through the last few pages, not even toning them. In the aftermath, I was sick for three days because of the stress. Ultimately though, the reason I believe it failed was not because of the art, but because I attempted to put too much story into too few pages. I suppose I didn’t realize how constraining twenty pages actually were.

It took some trial and error, but I understood the concept of having a limited amount of space, so that’s why I finally decided on a simple story like “Can I Sit Here.”

Rasmussen - Despite the fact that you did not win, do you still want to pursue this title in more depth? Expand it and possibly pitch it as a longer series to either TOKYOPOP or another company?
Mr. Alexopoulos – Unfortunately not. I don’t think it would be appropriate to expand this story any more than the twenty pages that already exist. That length suggests a small but significant window to a story, and adding more to it would only trivialize what’s already there. I’m reminded of a brilliant comic series called “DEMO” that followed that exact ideal. The stories are single-issue, 30 pages maximum, but we’re satisfied and grateful for that small glimpse into the world of a certain character. Short stories are like a summer love; they’re only so beautiful because they’re fleeting. To continue it would destroy the very foundation of what made it so wonderful and exciting in the first place, so we put all our passion into this one small thing, knowing it’ll soon be gone but not forgotten.

My next manga project would probably be something similar in form, though. Something focused on only a few characters. The only difference would be that I’d choose something that requires an entire volume to conclude.

Rasmussen - If you have no future plans for your title from the Rising Stars competition then what's next? Are you presently working on any new ideas for mangas at this moment? Also would you change your mind about the series if TOKYOPOP suddenly showed interest in seeing more of this series from you?
Mr. Alexopoulos – The best way for me to answer this is by stating that I’m just about to finish up my first full length manga, clocking in at approximately 200 pages.

It’s called “Artist’s Block,” and is written by one of my good friends. It started out as something I just drew for fun, but that changed when we decided to deepen the plot and make an actual “novel” out of it. It should be released on our website in late May.

So after this, yes, I plan on working on something else. I suppose it depends on whether it’s published on my website or in a bookstore. The thing is, I have at least ten stories that are ready to be drawn, so I’m at no shortage for storylines. It goes against my policy to think up a story just for the sake of it—the only way I write is that I live my life until I connect with something. I assume most writers do the same. I won’t get a phone call from some editor one day and later just decide in the heat of the moment, “I want to make an action story... with swords and guns and demons. The main character will be a tortured, apathetic young man I’ll just fill in the rest of the details when I come to them.”

That’s just horrible and I think readers deserve something well planned and refined.

If TOKYOPOP expressed interest in seeing more of “Can I Sit Here,” I would definitely push for something else to be drawn instead. That manga is wonderful the way it is, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. If people enjoy that manga, why wouldn’t they be

interested in reading the other stories I have to tell, right?

Rasmussen - What's your website's address? And can you tell us abit about the site?
Mr. Alexopoulos – The website is “StudioNJ.com”, but it’s under construction at the moment. My friends and I are working as hard as we can to get the pieces together by the end of next month as promised to many people.

The site is like any artist’s site: it serves as a personal portfolio, but more importantly, it showcases free (but good) manga. I’ll say this: if I never get published for the rest of my life (though I hope that isn’t true), the website will be the place you’ll find all my work. My teammates are also going to write short novels and post them in their own section.

Rasmussen - Any final parting words for our readers?
Mr. Alexopoulos – I’ll continue working hard on my manga regardless of how it’s published, so please look forward to seeing more of it.

-- David Rasmussen 26th Apr 05