First up is Teri McMinn, aka Pam aka Meat Hook Girl aka the hot girl in the short shorts from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (74). It's a sad world when I have to put (74) up so goobers will not confuse the original with that film hack Michael Bay's produce monstrosity known as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)! I am off track! Teri is one nice lady. She is my friend and is always happy to meet fans at conventions. I caught up with Teri and she was nice enough to answer my random five questions. You can also catch up with Teri at her website http://www.terimcminn.net
Five Random Questions
1.) How was it working with Frank Sutton at the Mary Moody Northern Theater in Austin?
It was a good experience although I was a little young for the role (Jane Russell had just played the part when he did it previously in Chicago;) He was a curmudgeon, kinda the Tommy Lee Jones of his day, and the poor guy had just had throat surgery. That's Long before the Adelle/John Mayer sophisticated surgery of today, but he was a real trooper and a nice man.
2.) Did you enjoy modeling?
Yes. I did mainly leg and foot modeling, "parts" modeling. Always interesting, even the auditions. First one was for "Leggs Underalls" ~,~ another one was for Dr. Scholl's Sandals. At the audition, they stood me on a table in bare feet, in a very short skirt. Several Scholl's men in suits were brought in the room, and all began walking around me, staring at my legs and feet, and right up near my feet, looking for any imperfections, saying nothing. In NYC, where everyone WALKS, everywhere, perfect feet is a challenge for anybody, especially young actress/model types! They're called "Go sees."
3.) How do you describe your friendship and bond with the cast of Texas Chainsaw Massacre? I can tell you all have a great time together.
We have a lot of fun when we get to do shows together, you're right. (we always have to keep a close eye on John, our resident bad-boy~)
4.) Are you a cat person or a dog person or both?
Definitely both. I'd have a passel of them if I had the land and the time.
5.) What is your favorite type of wine?
Red... and either very dry, or hearty and bold chateauneuf du pape when celebrating something special, or relaxing, Cabs and Shiraz'zzz, all-though, in summer, and anytime when chit chatting with Marilyn, a nice dry white does very well for us both. (You've just made me extremely thirsty, Shawn... was it intentional?) ~_* Note From Shawnster the Monster: It was! I like to see Teri drink. She gets mad at Leatherface and challenges him to a chainsaw duel every time.
Shawn Harbin is one hell of an artist. He is a great creator, artist, and writer! The Dungeon Comic is Shawn's baby. You should go and check out his art right now and buy some comics and prints over at http://bsx22studios.com/. I mean it, right now. He will be at Fanboy Expo on May 31 through June 2nd. I sent Shawn some questions and he gladly answered them. Also check out https://www.facebook.com/TheDungeonComic Also checkout https://www.facebook.com/pages/Comics-Exchange/132317553553711?fref=ts
1.) What was the first comic that blew you away and
made you want to be an artist?
Well,
I always wanted to be an artist since I was five years old, but I don’t think
people want to be artists. You either are or aren’t. I went to school with a
lot of art students, and I know a lot of people who have some artistic ability
but aren’t artists. They don’t draw or they don’t create things to keep busy.
They kind of do it because they found a job that needed an artist for
something. I was never like that. I had to be working on something at all
times.
I
remember stopping at a Wiegle’s on our way home from church on Sundays as a kid
and I would get a comic book. I distinctly remember my Grandmother buying me
Spectacular Spider-Man #70. I was about 5 years old. But I didn’t want to be a
comic book artist. I loved Spider=Man and His Amazing Friends. I would say that
cartoon had a large effect on me as well as the old 70s Nicholas Hammond Live
Action Spider-Man TV Show. But I didn’t get into comics until I was about 11. My
grandfather got me a subscription to Amazing Spider-Man starting at issue 292.
So I got death of Kraven, first Todd McFarlane, first Venom, return of the red
and blue suit, and all of those David Michelinie
stories. I think after I saw Todd McFarlane’s work I wanted to be a comic book
artist. I don’t think that was ever an option before. I suppose before that I
either wanted to be an animator or Batman when I grew up. Other than that the
most influential thing I ever encountered on my art, was Tim Burton’s first
Batman film and that’s when I realized characters could have black in them.
2.)
How did "The Dungeon Comic" come about?
The
Dungeon came about a few different ways. I came up with the idea when I was in
college and some of the characters were based on people I knew. I was taking a
watercolor class and we could pretty much do whatever we wanted to in there.
The school had pretty much beat comics out of me and the desire to do so, but
at that point I was almost about to graduate and finished my program other than
a few classes. I started making storyboards for a film I wanted to see made.
The storyboards started as giant one-frame narratives and then soon became a
comic style page. The first 12 original “Dungeon” Pages were 24”x30” water
color and ink. I still have them. A page would take about two weeks to complete
and surprisingly a lot of people were into them being the fine art snobs that
they were. They were extremely sexual at the time. Then I went off to do other
things. About 5 years later, by a force literally beyond my control I had
dinner with real comic book artists from Marvel and DC. I realized how much I
wanted to do that and how unhappy I was with what I was doing at the time.
Right before meeting them I had started doing a comic strip to submit to
syndicates. I wanted to work for Marvel and DC and figured that I had to find a
way to get their attention. So I decided to actually do a comic book with all
effort thrown forward. It seems like a dumb move on my part, but The Dungeon
Comic got pulled out of my portfolio, because I didn’t think the Comic Strip
“Held Back” about a middle school would be commercial enough for comics. I
probably should have rethought the commercial appeal to The Dungeon. I don’t
mind super heroes, but I had no desire to create superheroes when no matter
what I came up with would just be a rip off of Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man.
As all superheroes are. Not saying they aren’t really cool ones, but its true.
The ironic thing in it all is that The Dungeon Comic became something much more
than I could anticipate. First it was very uncensored, I had been so bottled up
that I had to watch everything I said and did, that now I didn’t have to worry
anymore. So I went a little over board. Two, I learned more about what the
Dungeon Comic was about. It was about controlling yourself. Bruce Lee once
said, “There is a difference between self-actualization, and self-realized
actualization.” The characters in the book are fighting against what people
want to type them or see them as. One fights against the idea of him being a
monster, one fights against being inept, and one fights against being villain.
To push through and do what has to be done, not what people expect of you being
capable of doing. It was my own struggle with fighting against people’s
preconceived notions of myself. The book being a murder mystery/who done it,
really became fitting of “who is the person I’m friends with, and are they who
I think they really are?”
3.)
What is the state of the comic world in your opinion?
I am
afraid it’s not moving in a positive direction in my opinion. There is one part
of me that says with all the latest films, TV shows, toys, and merchandising
that it has strong commercial appeal, but I don’t think that lies within the
reading world. There are still lots of people showing up at shows, but a lot of
people are Deadpool fans, and have never read Deadpool. I think much like
wrestling they have played every storyline out, and any new one is repeated by
the competing entity in almost a play-by-play manner. One thing that really
shocked me is how snobbish the comic book community is and by that I mean the
true marks, the fanboys. That’s not to get confused with your average comic
fan. I think on average the comic fan is a normal person that likes various
things, one of which happens to be comics. But the fanboys, in my definition
are fanatics, that no matter how bad a product is they think its great. I
remember saying how bad X-Men 3 the film was when it came out and people were
ready to throw down with me, 3 years later, the same people admitted it sucked.
Well, how many times did they have to watch it to admit it? This type of fanboy feeds into the bad and
supports it with their dollars, so instead of saying hey, I’m not wasting my
money on this, they say, “ I will give this book 5-7 more issues if it doesn’t
get any better, I may have to drop it.” Well, when you spend your money to do
that, even when the Internet world has touted it sucked, yet you go out and buy
it, you are saying hey make more of that. Its very hard on the people like me,
who work very hard to build their property and the fanboys don’t give it a
chance because it’s not published by Marvel or DC so therefore why waste their
time? Yet if one of the big companies does a bad book, which in shear ratios
its determined to happen from time to time, people will buy every one. Even
poor selling Marvel and DC books sell better than Indy titles. And Diamond
considers, Buffy, Transformers, TMNT, Walking Dead, GI Joe, and Star wars all
Indy titles, yet all are popular and expensive licenses. If people are comic
book fans, why not give all comics a chance. There are bad one out there,
probably more bad than great, but unless its Levi’s jeans, they won’t try on
another pair. You would think as nerdy and as knowledgeable the fanboys are they
would just be ravenous to devour anything that had drawings with word balloons.
And if they don’t support the people at the bottom, they’re won’t be anyone to
work at the top down the road. It’s also ironic that as much as Marvel promotes
such a liberal anti-corporate message in their comics, that they are just that.
Disney, which is far from being a mom and pop parent company, owns them and
they constantly hire and fire people to keep finances down. I’m not saying
that’s a bad idea, in the end it’s a business, but if they are catering to
those minded type of individuals, then why do those individuals stay so
exclusive to them and DC? I’m not saying they don’t make great books, because
they do, and it has always been my dream to work for one of them. I just feel
that there is a lot of hypocrisy by the fans sometimes that they will shell out
a lot of money for a lazy sketch from a person that has Company X over their
banner at a show, and not give a person money that will do them a much better
sketch for a quarter of the price. If you are going to spend your money, I hope
you would spend it on stuff they truly love. Perhaps people should give someone
a chance once and a while and see where it goes. Walking Dead, Chew, Peter
Panzerfaust are examples of this happening but they are few and far between.
Things are going to change in the industry with all the technology we have at
our reach, I just don’t know where that will take the world of comics in the
end and who will benefit.
4.) What
is your favorite creation?
Most
people that read my books would probably think the Brahmabul is my favorite
creation being he is the star of the book, but I would have to say Lace (Laci)
Wings the Fairy and Ilsa, Leader of the Ookami. I like them both a great deal.
While they are not the heroes of the book, I really just have a special place
in my heart for them. Laci in particular, I often doodle her on things when I
am thinking. Both are the easiest to write dialogue.
5.) What
is the weirdest thing you have ever witness at a convention or in a comic shop?
At a
convention I have seen some transvestite, not always good ones dressed up, I
have seen a 400 pound woman dressed authentically as Red Sonja, chain link
bikini and all. I once saw a guy going to meet Adam West in line at a show
dressed as Batman. And his cowl and cape were made out of Hefty bags. But I
would have to say the oddest thing ever was once at a comic book store, I saw
someone carry in a doll/mannequin. It was about 4 feet tall. Had real hair, its
arms were straight out to the sides and had soft gloves on. And the guy sat it
down in front of him and started petting its head and smoothing its hair down
with his hands. He wanted to sell it, why at a comic book store I have no idea,
then he explained that he thought it was a record store. When we gave him directions to that place, he
packed it up in his mini van and drove off in the opposite direction. That
would be weirdest ever.
Thanks to Teri and Shawn for their time! Make sure to checkout their sites and stop to say hi at conventions!
© 2013 Shawnster the Monster Shawn D Patrick
© 2013 Shawnster the Monster Shawn D Patrick
