Bill Nichols’ Prescription:
Comics 10ccs of the Process with
Kyle Starks

What inspires you to create and keeps you going?

I love telling stories and I love consuming stories.  I try to make stories that I want to exist in this world so it feeds both of those passions.  The inspiration to make stories is it’s my favorite thing to do.  It brings me so much joy.  The lamer answer is, also, I have to keep going because it pays the bills – but truthfully, it’s all I want to do.  I just love telling story.  I’ll still do it even if it’s not my primary source of income.  

Do you have a set routine?

I do.  I keep “office hours”.  I’ve been working since I was 14, and only started making comics professionally in my late 30s.  So I’m used to getting up and going to work.  I’m a blue collar guy.  I wake up, try to do a little exercising, then work until dinner time.  Honestly, most night I go back to work after my family goes to sleep. What can be defined as work varies from day to day – sometimes it’s just answering emails or shipping out store orders.  Sometimes it’s just staring at the wall thinking about story.  But I definitely still “go to work” even if I’m only going a few feet downstairs to my unfinished basement office.

What kind of output do you try to achieve?

I try not to think of work like this – I mean, obviously, the answer is I want to do the amount of work that is needed to pay my bills.  But my preference is to do one project at a time.  Which, actually, rarely works out – writing is always a couple of projects at a time.  But my preference is to focus on one thing at a time and to get it done as quickly as possible but never to rush.  I like to knock things out and I like to have rhythm and focus on one thing.  But I’m never thinking in terms of I want to do (x) books a year or (x) pages a week.

What inspires you WHEN you create? Music? Noise? Silence?

I’m not sure I completely understand this one – for sure, ideas and story are inspired by my experiences and that’s everything from news stories to music for sure. When I set down to work, to literally create the thing, I already know what I’m doing.  I’ve put HOURS into thinking about the story, the characters, the world, what’s going to happen.  So I when I’m actually creating there’s no more inspiring, just making the thing the real.  When I’m writing I like to have noise but there can’t be words – so no television, most music – I’m a big fan of the Spotify Focus section?   That’s my pro tip:  Spotify Deep Focus.  Yes, it goofs your algorithm but it’s worth it.

Who was the first comic book creator that influenced you to pursue this?

This is a tricky one with a weird answer.  I loved comics as a kid, like any comic loving kid I tried to make comics but I never finished them.  In high school and college I worked at a comic store and would make little comic zines but never finish a traditional comic.  I went to college to be a fine artist, I didn’t read a comic for a decade, maybe longer, but still held a place in my heart for those characters.  But, I was well out of creating characters or stories for nearly 15 years.  When I got back into reading comics again, I was married, I had my first daughter.  I was shown the work of a Swedish cartoonist named Jason who does these incredible sort of Hitchcockian paced mash-ups that I just loved.  They’re brilliant but simply illustrated and I thought, “I could do this.”  Which is to say it was the first time I saw a different way of doing the thing I was interested in doing in an attainable way for my level of skill.  We were about to have my second daughter and I thought I’d never have a moment to myself again and made a list of all the things I never had time to do before and number one was Finish A Comic Book and so I did.  I never thought it would become a career – just a fun hobby, something that I really enjoyed doing.  So no one inspired me to pursue this, in many ways, I fell into it.  But it’s all I want to do and hope to get to do it until I’m dead. 

When did you realize you could follow this path yourself?

So, as I said, I never intended or planned or thought I’d have a career in comics.  I just really found I loved  telling stories in this media and wanted nothing more than people to read and consume those stories.  I started doing conventions because I was told I should be doing conventions and a result of one was an important pro reading my book (Sexcastle) and asking if I wanted to talk to Image.  Image put out Sexcastle which was optioned before it was released, nominated for an Eisner – it was really unexpected.   Then the place I worked – a place I was certain was my career – closed down and we were in a spot.  My wife asked if I thought I could make a living in comics and sacrificed a lot for me to try it for a year and I was lucky enough to have pulled it off and still be pulling it off.

What do you find to be a challenge in creating?

This is a great question.  The minor logistics of story is my least favorite part.  How do you get a character from point A to point B and I mean…literally. So and so needs to be outside to meet so and so but why are they are out there?  So and So goes to So and So’s secret base for the climactic battle.  Do they…drive there?  I like everything in my work to feel naturalistic, not forced or contrived and it makes these little necessary things a challenge.

What else do you have to learn?

Haha, tons.  There a bunch of genres I haven’t yet played in, there are a ton of tricks and moves I’ve yet to try or pull off as successfully as I’d like, I haven’t worked on a long form ongoing series yet.   Format is always varying and that causes issues that need to be figured out and then figured out well.  You have to be able to able to be objective about your own work so that you can see how it could have been improved.  You learn from your mistakes. 

What keeps you motivated to get better?

I want to make the best stories I can, ones that bring the most joy to people and I’m not there yet.  Again, being objective about your work makes growth easier to see.  I’ve got a ways to go, for sure, and there probably isn’t a finish line. I think any creative person probably feels like they’ve got a long way to go.

Can you turn your brain (creativity) off (and on)?

Everyone making comics are freelancers, which means we’re all self employed and any self employed person will tell you that you’re always thinking about work.  Always.  The only times I’m not thinking about work or story is when I’m distracted – time with my family or video games.  Otherwise, I’m always working, thinking about work or looking for a new story to think about, work on.  So, I can’t turn it off without completely distracting it.

Booster Shots

What advice do you have for aspiring creators?

My advice, first and foremost, is make the thing you want to exist in the world.  The hardest part in getting started in any creative field is finishing a project and if you’re making the thing you want I think it’s easier to endeavor to that ends.  

Do you ever worry about running out of ideas?

I have private creative concerns, for certain, but running out of ideas isn’t one of them.  There are the things that currently interest me I’d like to get around to and it seems like there’s always something new comes along and pricks that part of my brain where ideas come from.

How do you handle the slow times?

I’ve been very lucky to rarely have slow times and that’s because I have the advantage of being able to draw my own stories.  I can always be working but earlier this year I was waiting on a lot of projects to get the green light to start on and had a period with me only waiting and frankly, it was sort of nice to finally get a little break.  I’d rather not do that again, though.  I like to be working! 

What do you consider your crowning achievement thus far?

I think there are a bunch of things that feel like they should be “achievements” for me to be proud of – my Eisner nominations, my Hollywood options, my books getting more visibility, working on major comic IPs – but honestly, my crowning achievement is just getting to do this for a living.  I don’t think there’s a moment or a title or a scenario that’s going to top that.  I’m never not aware of how fortunate I am to be in this position.

Do you have a website or link to promote your work?

Hey hey!  I’m @thekylestarks on all the major social medias and I have a store at kylestarks.com come by something or engage!

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed by the above creator are theirs. This interview may not 

be reprinted or reposted without permission.