I recently had the pleasure of talking to Bill Amend, the creator of the FoxTrot comic. For those of you who don't know, he's an avid gamer and plays World of WarCraft and StarCraft. He's also well aware of the eSports scene.
Here's the interview.
Q: In FoxTrot, the character of Jason is shown to be smart, resourceful, and just a little bit geeky. Does any of that come from your own experiences?
BA: Most of Jason's geeky interests are reflections of my own, only amped way up. I've always loved things like math and computers and video games, for example, so it's fun to have a character in my strip to channel that stuff. Plus, it's a lot easier to write jokes about things I care about or have experience with. Q: You mentioned in your interview with AV Club that you've sort of replaced watching football with StarCraft II. To that end, what do you enjoy about StarCraft II? Are there any "thrills" or "emotions" from football that translate over, and some that don't? Are there any thrills that are exclusive to StarCraft?
BA: Haha this is probably the first time in my life that someone is treating me as a sports authority. Trust me, I'm not. I think what I most like about watching StarCraft II is the combination of sustained intensity and unfolding strategy. With most pro sports you don't usually get that "game on the line" feeling until time is running out or you're in the 9th inning. With SC2 it's much more pervasive. Plus, being old and not particularly athletic, when I watch football or basketball or whatever, I know I'll never be able to do anything like that. With Starcraft, the fantasy of "Yeah, I could do that if I practiced enough" isn't 100 percent farfetched. Just 99.999. Q: Have you ever been to a live event, and if not, would you consider going to one?
BA: Because I'd done a bunch of strips about World of Warcraft back when the game came out, Blizzard invited me to their first couple of BlizzCons, so I saw some live BW and WC3 matches being played there. It was pretty awesome to see how into it everyone was. Then last year I was at the New York Comic Con and by happy coincidence there was an IEM tournament being played there so I got to watch a lot of that. It was super cool to stand just a few feet away and watch MrBitter and Rotterdam do their casting.
Q: How did you get into watching StarCraft? Did you start by playing? And if so, what race?
BA: I'm not sure what specifically sucked me into watching tournaments online. I was actually a beta tester for the original StarCraft, so I've been playing versions of the game since the get-go and have always enjoyed it. My old BW username was SCVking, which no doubt inspired MarineKing's name choice years later (just kidding). With SC2 I find myself watching games online more than actually playing the game. When I do play, I generally play Protoss and tend to stick to team games. 1v1 scares me. Q: Favorite player/team? Favorite casters?
BA: I like a lot of players, but I have a soft spot for Minigun. He plays Protoss, seems like a good guy, and he reminds me of my son. Plus he has the best middle name ever. There are a bunch of casters I like for different reasons. I'll mention Day 9 as a definite fave though, since he and I have discussed hooking up for a beer next time he's in my area and I don't want him to suddenly change his mind. Q: Any shout-outs you'd like to make? Where can we check out your work?
BA: Thanks for the great Qs! For anyone who cares, my strip comes out weekly and can be seen at http://www.foxtrot.com.
His interview with the Gameological Society can be seen here. You can also follow him on Twitter at @billamend.
Awesome, always my favorite comic writer for sunday cartoons. I know he was talking about doing some casting, or at least being pressured to do some, wonder if he is still thinking about it.
BA: I like a lot of players, but I have a soft spot for Minigun. He plays Protoss, seems like a good guy, and he reminds me of my son. Plus he has the best middle name ever.
BA: I like a lot of players, but I have a soft spot for Minigun. He plays Protoss, seems like a good guy, and he reminds me of my son. Plus he has the best middle name ever.
Foxtrot is by far my favorite comic of all time, thus, as random as this interview seems, I am all for it =]. I didn't know he was an avid watcher of the game though, even after seeing it referenced in the strips. Thought perhaps it was just some casual knowledge of video games in general seeping through.
On November 16 2012 16:21 red_ wrote: Foxtrot is by far my favorite comic of all time, thus, as random as this interview seems, I am all for it =]. I didn't know he was an avid watcher of the game though, even after seeing it referenced in the strips. Thought perhaps it was just some casual knowledge of video games in general seeping through.
You're welcome to check out his interview with the Gameological Society in the OP for more information about his gaming side in general. He's a very intense gamer (and at 50, too!).
I love foxtrot, never read any interviews with Bill before though he seems like an awesome fellow! Knew he was nerdy but not to this degree edit; better than I thought this man is a freakin baller.
Wow! That is extremely cool. I love Fox Trot, but I didn't know Amend played Starcraft and WoW. That blows my mind XD. I mean i guess he does reference video games a lot with Jason, but i didn't think anything of it.
Great interview none the less. Thanks so much Divino =)
Awesome interview! Foxtrot was my favourite comics after Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side. Really cool to see he is into SCBW and attended a few Blizzcons and IEM NY. Ty for the interview!
SCVking? I thought that was BitByBit. Anyways, I love his comics, especially the one where Paige was having nightmares on a math exam with University level questions.
Really cool interview. It'so awesome seeing "mainstream" people like Bill Amend reference SC2, it really tells you something about the growth of esports
Neat! Thanks for the interview! Foxtrot was one of my favorite strips to read in the paper when I was a kid, so ever since I started making comics myself for a living, I've felt thankful to Bill Amend for being part of what inspired and guided me to my career. This just gives me one more reason to like him!
I have only two favorite American comics, and they are Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot. I saw Bill Amends at NYCC last year, and he is such a down to earth guy. I got pretty sad once he said that he was going to put Foxtrot on Sundays only...
Wow awesome, calvin and hobbes and foxtrot are my two favourite comics of all time (maybe a little cliche but they're awesome!).
I never would have guessed he watched e-sports though, but due to the truly geeky nature of some of Jason's comments in the comic I always knew there was something a little more nerdy than usual about Bill Amend.
On November 17 2012 10:40 boesthius wrote: this is super cool! foxtrot is one of my favorite strips. i always knew he had a fondness for starcraft, but i didn't know about his awareness of the esports scene. thx divino~~~
This makes me wonder a bit about John Ringo - while he was a guaranteed Sluggy Freelance fan (c'mon, a giant tank named Bun Bun?) he also throws in some references to StarCraft in his Legacy of the Aldenata series.
EPT
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