Matt Kindt & Brian Hurtt's Fort Psycho

 

Matt Kindt has the best job ever. He spends his days and nights making comics. He writes, draws, and occasionally hand-letters his comics. For his latest series, he's teaming up with artist Brian Hurtt to tell a story about former soldiers branded as war criminals. After spending their careers fighting in wars, the shunned soldiers must discover who they are without a gun in their hands.

 

Matt Kindt and Brian Hurtt came up with the series title. Then they asked, "What does Fort Psycho mean?" As GI Joe fans, the two creators took their cues from Larry Hama's comic series to create an index of characters. While they assembled a list of a hundred or more characters, Matt and Brian fleshed out the soldiers' backstories. 

 

 

 

The two creators have been sharing not just a studio, but also bouncing ideas off each other for decades. Brian Hurt likes to draw action. He describes his creative style as “Organized chaos.” So Matt Kindt tells him what he needs to happen on each page, and leaves Brian to decide how to visualize it. Inevitably, Brian adds panels to each page to enhance the action and fun factor.

 

 

 

Fort Psycho finally gives the two friends a chance to work together. As they finish each page, Matt and Brian send them off to their colorist. They wanted a special palette of colors to create their Psychovision. This necessitates Oni Press working directly with the printers to achieve the desired color tones. Matt also specifies which types of paper the printer uses to ensure each book offers a fun reading experience and becomes a physical artifact readers will treasure. Then, Flux House and Oni Press go the extra mile by offering fun promotions, such as their Comic In A Can variant cover.

 

 

 

 

Best wishes to Matt Kindt and Briant Hurtt on their new series. Thanks to the creators, Oni Press, and San Diego Comic-Con for sharing this story with us.