City Weekly‘s own Gavin Sheehan got an opportunity to sit down and talk to Brandon Dayton, the creator behind one of the most talked about Utah comic book series of 2009, Green Monk. The two go in-depth about the book as well as Dayton’s careers and his thoughts on comics.

Green Monk on Gavin’s Underground

Gavin: How did the idea for Green Monk come to mind?

Brandon: Like most ideas, it started with bits and pieces of cool images that started to form together over the years. I liked the idea of blade of grass as a sword. I remember reading a Native American folk tale when I was kid about a hero that uses a leaf as blade to cut a villain’s throat. That might have planted the seed. The thing that tied it all together though, was seeing Tarkovsky’s “Andrei Rublyev”. It’s one of the greatest films ever made, and its vision of Medieval Russia just totally electrified me. I knew that’s where I wanted to Green Monk to take place. Visually, Green Monk is all Andrei Rublyev, with the exception of some of the fantastical elements.

Gavin: More national, what are your thoughts on the comics industry today?

Brandon: I think there is a lot of growth to be had. Just look at the demographics. It’s adult males. Young males aren’t targeted like they could be comics aren’t even close to touching female audiences in a significant way. There’s so much potential, and it just require someone who figures out the right way to do it. There have been some attempts. Marvel published comic versions of Pride & Prejudice, but my wife and I were unanimous that is was pretty crummy. I’d like to see some of the stigma of comics to change, for more people to see that’s its just a medium. It would be great if there were more people willing to venture out and open new markets with comics. I think it probably has to happen with the younger generation.