Interviews with Jason Chatfield and Tristan Bancks on the New Book from Penguin Random House

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tristan Bancks tells stories for the page and screen. His books for kids and teens include Two Wolves, The Fall, Detention, the Tom Weekly series and Nit Boy. His books have won and been shortlisted for many awards, including a Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, ABIA, YABBA, KOALA, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and Queensland Literary Awards. His new release for 2021 is Ginger Meggs, a 100th-anniversary book of brand- new short stories based on characters created by his great-great-uncle, Jimmy Bancks, in 1921.

Tristan is a writer-ambassador for literacy charity Room to Read. He is currently working with producers to develop a number of his books for the screen. He’s excited by the future of storytelling and inspiring others to create. You can find out more about Tristan’s books, play games, watch videos, join his Young Writers’ StorySchool and help him try to change the world at tristanbancks.com

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Jason Chatfield is an Australian cartoonist and illustrator based in New York. His work has been published in magazines and online, and in books published by Penguin Random House and Harper Collins. He is a past President of the Australian Cartoonists Association (Est. 1924) and the current President of the National Cartoonists’ Society (Est. 1946) and an internationally syndicated cartoonist, writing and drawing the iconic comic strip Ginger Meggs which is published daily in 34 countries.

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INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR: TRISTAN BANCKS:

What made you write a book to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ginger Meggs?

My great-great-uncle was Jimmy Bancks who created Ginger Meggs 100 years ago, in 1921. When I was a kid, Ginger Meggs was very popular. There was a movie and books and stamps and coins. Ginger Meggs was known as Australia’s favourite boy.

My connection to Jimmy Bancks was part of the reason I started telling stories and, having now written lots of books for children, I decided that I’d like to try writing some Ginger Meggs stories. I was a bit nervous but, with the 100th anniversary looming, this was my chance.

What was it like having a famous relative and a connection to this iconic Australian character when you were a kid?

I was so proud of it. I’d tell anyone who’d listen. Jimmy Bancks died in 1952, so I didn’t have a chance to meet him but I heard the stories about him. I read as much as I could, as well as reading the comic every Sunday.

I would always look up at the original Ginger Meggs artwork on the wall of my grandmother’s house (that artwork now sits on the wall of my house) and it inspired me and my cousins to draw our own comic strips. Mine wasn’t very good. I’m not great at drawing, but they taught me a lot about storytelling and, most of all, they were fun to make. (Sam Garner, in my book, The Fall, creates his own comic books, inspired by that time in my childhood.)

I also remember being so excited when I won a Ginger Meggs showbag at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show and had the chance to meet James Kemsley, the Meggs cartoonist at the time.

Were you anything like Ginger Meggs when you were a kid?

I didn’t have red hair. And I wasn’t illustrated. But I did see myself as a Ginger Meggs-type character. Ginger is a battler, an underdog. He has the odds stacked against him, but with hard work and resilience, he triumphs. Sometimes. I saw myself that way, too. I didn’t feel as though everything came easily for me. I always felt as though I had to work hard in order to succeed at anything. But, like Ginger, I loved throwing myself at life and seeing what might happen. I’m still like that.

Was it scary writing a book with characters who have been around for 100 years? Were you ever concerned that you would mess it up?

I knew it was a big responsibility and I wanted to do a great job because there are so many fans of Meggs who have been reading it for longer than I’ve been alive. I was a bit nervous, but never worried. And nerves can be a good thing. They can drive you to do your best. I felt as though the characters were in my DNA. I’ve been reading the comic strip for so long and I’ve read all the books and, once I put the characters into difficult situations, they just came to life and I felt that I knew how they would react and speak and move.

In a way, I’ve been preparing to write this book since I was 6 or 7 years old. My Tom Weekly series and Nit Boy books were the perfect training ground to tackle Ginger Meggs.

Is the book set in the past or now?

The book, like the current comic strip, is
contemporary. It’s set in the present day, but I’ve tried to capture the energy and vitality of the characters that have seen them through a century of Australian history. There’s Ginge, Benny, Min, Aggie, Tony the monkey, Mike the dog, Eddie Coogan, Jugears Jonson and Tiger Kelly, as well as new characters like Rahul, Penny and Gloria.

What was the hardest thing about writing the book?

Ginger Meggs has to be funny and action-packed. He never stops moving, is always on the run, so I had to describe all that action with just the right pacing while also coming up with funny dialogue. That takes a lot of drafts.

Also, Ginger Meggs has mostly been a comic strip which is words and pictures. The characters do things and say things but they don’t often think things (apart from the odd thought bubble). The great thing about a book is that you get to find out what the characters are thinking, so my editor, Niki Foreman, really pushed me to use the medium of the book and to get inside Ginger’s thoughts, which adds an extra layer of story to what readers of the comic strip might be used to.

What was the most fun?

I loved mashing my own childhood experiences and my sons’ childhood experiences into stories featuring these classic characters. I had to preserve who the characters are, and who they have been, but also make them very now so that they feel real and funny and true to 2021 kids.

Also, I felt as though I got to hang out with these characters in famous locations from the comic strip, which was fun.

I wrote the book partly at home in Australia but, mostly, while I was living in the US for a few months. I was writing a screenplay at ‘Charlie's, Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, an apartment that Charlie Chaplin once owned, and I wrote part of the book there, too. It was a place with a strong connection to classic comedy writing. I wondered if Jimmy Bancks ever met Charlie Chaplin. He almost certainly would have been a fan.

I also spent a morning writing in a reading room in the New York Public Library and, that night, I caught up with Jason Chatfield, Meggs comic strip artist and illustrator of this book. I told him where I’d been writing and he said that he goes to that room to write Ginger Meggs comic strips!

Somehow, being away from Australia in order to write the most Australian of stories really helped. Sometimes, when you’re in a place, it’s hard to write about it.

What was it like working with current Ginger Meggs artist, Jason Chatfield?

He was very difficult. I’m kidding. He’s a legend. Funnyman, a stand-up comedian and a cartoonist for The New Yorker and he’s worked for my favourite mag as a kid, Mad Magazine! Like me, Jason is very dedicated to his work. He always delivers the very best he can. He’s fascinated by the creative process, as am I. He was supportive of this book from the beginning and he was incredibly generous to allow me to write stories using the characters that he writes in comic-strip form every day.

His illustrations are absolute dynamite. Full-colour, action-packed and engaging. (And beautifully laid out on the page by Christa of Christabella Designs.) I’d love to work with Jason again. (I might have to go to New York to have regular meetings with him!)

INTERVIEW WITH THE ILLUSTRATOR: JASON CHATFIELD:

1. How did you get the job as ‘Ginger Meggs cartoonist’?

 I was asked by the James Kemsley 4th cartoonist to write and draw Ginger Meggs, to take over the strip not long before he died. He was a dear friend and mentor. It was a very bittersweet way to inherit such a huge honour.

2. When you took over the Ginger Meggs cartoon from James Kemsley, did you have to first practice how to draw the characters? Or did you bring your own illustration style to the strip?

 I had to very carefully adhere to a set of illustration guidelines sent to me by my predecessor. His feeling was that if the strip changed too much too soon, the newspapers would receive complaint letters and editors would use it as an excuse to drop the strip from their paper. Interestingly enough, I read James Kemsley’s how-to-draw cartoons books growing up, so I had already adopted many of his drawing techniques from a very young age. It was at least 10 years before I started introducing my own small stylistic changes to the strip.

3. What was it like / how did it feel to hand over the writing reins for Ginger to someone else (ie Tristan) for this book?

If it were anyone else, I’d have been nervous about it. However, knowing it was Tristan at the reins I didn’t even think twice. He’s not only a talented writer, but his knowledge of the Ginger Meggs characters and universe made him the perfect candidate to create these stories. He would always reach out and ask me for clarification on characters and stories if he ever had questions, and we worked in a very easy, collaborative spirit.

4. What was the main difference between creating Ginger the comic strip and Ginger the book?

With any newspaper comics trip, you only get a few seconds for the reader to a.) read the strip b.) get the strip. In addition, you only have 3 or 4 frames to accomplish this in! It takes a lot of practice to keep your word economy to the exact needs of the story or joke, but it is a very restrictive art form. Creativity within constraints can be a wonderful challenge, but there really is nothing like having the ability to let your wings open up and explore a world of characters for more than 4 panels at-a-time. I really enjoyed the ability to draw in lots of little fun details into the illustrations; a luxury I’m no longer afforded since the newspapers run the comic strip smaller and smaller every year - I can barely draw a fence and a bush in the background before the comic panel is overcrowded.

Between the extra space to play visually and the added space to write stories in more detail is the joy of knowing the colours and paper will be of high quality. Newsprint is designed to be ephemeral, so low-quality inks and paper are used to print them. Getting to see Ginger in full-colour high-quality book print is a real joy.

5. When you’re coming up with a new Ginger story for the strip, do you write the words first, or do you write and draw at the same time?

It’s sort of a strange combination of the two. Ideas come in odd forms, so sometimes a story or a joke needs a visual accompaniment to make it work. I sit and write many strips at a time, so that I can keep the tone of them consistent, and so that I can really get in the zone and immerse myself in the Ginger Meggs world. Sometimes it’s neither words, nor pictures, but just a vague feeling I want to capture. I always write/draw by hand when I do this, as there is something very special that happens between the brain and the hand when you write that is lost when you type on a laptop, tablet or phone.

6. Where do you find inspiration and how do you come up with story ideas for all the Ginger strips you create?

I tap into my own childhood for a large part of it. I was lucky to grow up in a cul de sac with lots of interesting characters, and I’d be out playing, riding my bike and galavanting all over the neighbourhood because we couldn’t afford video game consoles. I drew a lot as a kid, so I accidentally captured a lot of my younger brain on paper, which my mum had kept in a big box in the wardrobe. There are small things here and there that happen in the strip that result in a text from my mum saying “I wonder where you got this idea, hmmm?” (My mum is a bit like Ginger’s mum.)

7. Do you have a favourite character (other than Ginger) to write/draw in the strip?

Yes, I really like writing jokes for Penny and Fitzzy. They’re both real fish out of water characters within the group of friends in Ginger’s world. Fitzzy is a bit of a geek (I can relate) and Penny is always trying to get through her day without someone asking her a silly question. She has a good sense of humour, so it’s funny to watch her and Fitzzy navigate (tolerate) the challenges they bump up against throughout their friendship journeys. Penny Chieng is named after friend of mine, Ronny Chieng, who helped me develop her as an authentic Malaysian Australian character. He is a comedian by trade, so there is a little bit of his attitude in her humour.

8. What is your all-time favourite Ginger strip, and why?

I’d have to say the one that means the most was the tribute strip to Ginger’s grandmother. His grandfather was reminiscing with Ginger about her while they were fishing down at the creek one afternoon. It wasn’t a particularly funny strip, but it got a lot of kind responses. My grandparents played a very large role in my upbringing. It ran on the one year anniversary of my grandmother’s passing and my grandfather got to read it in the paper before he passed away a few years later.