Interviews from APE: Cyclops Unlimited

The pulpy, National Enquirer look of Crater on the Moon got my attention at the Alternative Press Expo immediately. And the gentleman running the booth had a raygun, so I just had to talk to him. Here, Gus F. Martin (the alter ego of Keith Curtis) talks about the story behind Crater on the Moon.

PRG: Can you tell me about your project?

Keith Curtis: My name is Keith Curtis, my pen name is Gus F. Martin – I chose that name because Gus sounded really friendly, and there’s already a Keith Curtis who’s a famous artist, and I didn’t want him to steal my thunder. My company is called Cyclops Unlimited because I only have one functioning eye and there’s no limit to me. I’m in Seattle and I do everything myself. I’m the creator of Crater on the Moon which is a sci-fi photo-comic based on Jason and the Argonauts. It’s set in Earth’s near future with the inevitable militarization of space. In the Argonauts myth, they have to go to the far side of the Black Sea to capture the Golden Fleece. In Crater on the Moon, the Black Sea is space, and we’re going to the far side of the moon to capture the Golden Flying Space Armor, which I have in my suitcase, but didn’t put on for this show…yet.

PRG: The first thing I noticed when looking at the covers of your books is that you’re using a very pulp-y kind of style. Are you heavily influenced by the pulps?

KC: Definitely. First of all, I don’t draw very well, so I knew immediately I was going to have to go to my other cyclops friend – the camera. I took a photography class in high school, was on the newspaper staff, have taught photography – so photography was going to have to be my medium.

Back to your question – the first television we had in my house was black and white – I’m older than I look – and I watched a lot of old, black and white movies. There used to be a science fiction/mystery theater that constantly ran old movies on Saturdays. A lot of people see my stuff and say “B Movie” or “National Enquirer Tabloid” kind of look, which is definitely on purpose. I just want that pulp-y look to my work. Even the future that I’m creating is a 1940’s version of the future. I’m definitely attracted to that sort of noir, b-movie, old-school look. You work with what you know, and that’s what I know. I’m not from the comic book world, I’m from the music world, which is a hideous and vile place. I’m so happy to be in the comic book world now.

PRG: OK, so you have an idea, a basic plotline – where do you go from there?

KC: I stole my plot from Jason and the Argonauts – I steal plotline by plotline directly from the Argonautica. Where the rest of it comes from – I always wanted to be an astronaut, but could never qualify. Crater on the Moon is my way to get out into space.

The greatest space-marine game ever is called X-Com, Enemy Unknown, and I played a LOT of this game when I was a college student. Episode one of my book opens up the way I play X-Com. And the very first thing I do is fire all the crappy soldiers, and get rid of all the equipment that’s no good. I then get all new equipment and all new good soldiers, which is exactly what happens in Episode One of Crater on the Moon. A lot of my writing is influenced by that game, and another game I play called Traveler, which is another space game. In fact, two of the characters from my book come from my Traveler role playing campaign, and I took those two characters, imported them into my book with new names, but they’re basically the same two characters.

Crater on the Moon is available for purchase on Keith Curtis/ Gus F. Martin’s website.

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