Zeros 2 Heroes, the social comics site founded by Writing grad Matt Toner, has been awfully good to VFS. It’s had a hand in the careers of two other Writing grads, Scott Lew and Jeff Campbell. In the latter case, it led to a chance to help revive Rainmaker Animation’s popular ReBoot franchise.

Zeros 2 Heroes’ current initiative - a partnership with Canadian funding body Telefilm - is a contest called Canada Comic Creation Nation (CCCN), which gives writers a chance to pitch their ideas for comics, and puts those pitches to a popular vote. Winners are named weekly, and the lucky few are paired with artists and editors to produce a digital version of their 22-page creation.

Well, before CCCN got underway Z2H needed a test case, a “beta writer,” and they were lucky enough to find Foundation Visual Art & Design graduate and TA Morgan Jeske. Production on Morgan’s book, Gustav Hayes, is making huge strides, and it’s been exciting to watch it take shape.

You can follow some of Gustav’s progress by way of its editor, Robert Parizek, over at Z2H’s “corporate” blog as well as Morgan’s own posts on the main Z2H site, but we wanted to catch up with Morgan ourselves - and settle that Prairies vs. West Coast, Wampa vs. Sasquatch debate once and for all.

Maybe you can start by telling us a bit about yourself and your background.

Hi there, Morgan Jeske is the handle I go by, avid reader of comic books and lover of the mechanics of the medium. About three years ago I moved to Vancouver to not be in Manitoba anymore, because—really, it’s like Hoth over there for the better part of the year, except there’s no Tauntauns.

Currently, I am in the midst of writing several comic projects, some of which I intend to draw as well.

What did you study at VFS?

In the summer of 2006, I graduated from the Foundation Program, more specifically, the Animation stream.

How do you think your time in Foundation has influenced the artist-slash-writer you are today?

The program definitely gave me a big push forward creatively. I came to the program pretty raw, as far as my creative process and understanding just what the hell that actually was. After I was done, I could sort of parse out everything I did, dissect the way I work and reassemble the way I operate as an artist/writer. It also helped me realize what I did not want to do, so a greater sense of direction was gained as well.

How did you get involved in Zeros 2 Heroes? How did Gustav Hayes come to be?

It was sort of a lab rat type situation, in that I was part of the Beta book portion of CCCN, which was a series of books that would test out the editorial process for the contest proper.

At the time, I was working at Z2H as an intern, glad to be in the proximity of anything comics related. When the Pitch Doctor - the online tool created for writers to submit their pitches - went live, I quickly submitted the Hayes pitch. The concept received a modicum of interest, and I was asked if I wanted to have it published as a test book for the process. “What’s that?” I said. “I couldn’t hear you over the sound of all the awesome.”

Very shortly after, I signed a contract - their contract is rad, by the way - and quickly began the editorial process. As I write this, the book is on its way to completion and I really couldn’t be happier with how great it feels to have a comic published.

What’s it been like so far? What have you taken away from the process?

It’s been so great. It’s really - for me - a great process, and wholly unique to comics. I wrote this piece of pop confection (that’s not a slight, it was meant to evoke the rampant insanity of ’70s/’80s era comics) and it was sent off to an artist, who then created something totally unique and unexpected based on what I had written, in most cases to the betterment of the story I wrote. That sense of collaboration, coupled with the actual mechanics of writing and drawing a comic is what makes it my absolute favorite medium.

The process of working with a team to bring what I had originally intended for the book was exciting and challenging. Communicating the idea clearly, its influences, the tone & visual style accurately, while not new to me, was the most fun. Being an artist, one tends to sometimes become very insular; this process sort of solidified the joy of collaboration for me.

You yourself are an artist - but you’re involved with Z2H as a writer. Other artists are tackling that side, right? What’s that like for you?

Well, it was actually quite easy, to be honest. Drawing is something that I’ve been passionate about and pursuing since I was a zygote. (Google it.) In recent years - five years ago, to be exact - writing entered the old brain-meat as something that I thought I could realistically pursue. Long story short, this is it for me, writing and drawing comics is the next 30 years of my life. It’s where my gut wants me to be, and frankly I couldn’t imagine another profession for myself.

Last question - and time to geek out a little. Who are your heroes in the comics industry?

Right now, I follow a few (more like twenty) writers who are inspiring and entertaining in equal measure, writers that I aspire to be in the same room as, creatively speaking, at some point in my life. Matt Fraction is probably my favorite comic writer at the moment, with titles like Casanova, Punisher: War Journal and Immortal Iron Fist, to name a few. Fraction’s knowledge of pop culture and comics history coupled with his sense of humor just sings on every page. Have you guys read Casanova? A big influence on Gustav Hayes - I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again… that book should be in hotel bedside tables.

Next up is Warren Ellis, sometimes known as the Internet Jesus. (Ha, ha.) Ellis is one of those prolific British writers who is consistently good, and always pushing the medium in interesting directions. Some creative highpoints for me have been Transmetropolitan, Fell, Doktor Sleepless, Planetary, and I could go on and on. Ellis’ online presence enhances the connection with his readership as well. Without going into much more detail, I’ll just rattle off some more names. If you haven’t heard of any of these fine creative people, look them up, please! Ed Brubaker, Rick Remender, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Hope Larson, Brian K. Vaughan… Do we have room for a giant list? There are so many talented people in this industry.

Thanks for taking the time, Morgan! We’ll all be watching Gustav in coming weeks, and with CCCN having just hit its seventh weekly winner, there’ll be a lot more coming down the pike.