An Interface with Overrun creator Andi Ewington

The end of January see the 4 partÂ mini-series Overrun, from Treemondo, Â hit the digital stores. Â The series uses “techie” as part of a main language, setting up various situations for the cast of, potentially to gamers, somewhat familiar characters.Â Not wanting to be left behind, Comic Crusaders traversed the information highway toÂ catch up with creator and co-writer Andi Ewington.

Comic Crusaders: Andi, thanks for taking the time out of schedule.Â Starting at the top, for those who are not aware of your work, can you give them a quick bio please?

Andi Ewington: Sure, I“m Andi Ewington, a British writer who broke into the comic scene back in 2010. My debut novel, ”˜Forty-Five“, was well received which opened doors for me and allowed me to be able to work on the fringes of comic writing. After a few years of that I was picked up by Michael Bay’s 451 Media Group in late 2014, and since then I“ve been fortunate enough to work with the likes of George Pelecanos, Mark Mallouk and Rob Cohen. I“m also one half of the writing force behind my next comic release, Overrun.

CC: Can you explain how your writing partnership works with Matt Woodley? Is one the plot guy and the other the script guy?

AE: Matt and I have known each other for over 20 years. We both met while working in the computer game industry and when I came up with the idea of Overrun, Matt was the only person I wanted working with me on it. Initially, I had the germ of the idea and discussed it with Matt, once he had heard the outline he was on-board. I wrote the first draft and then we sat down and carefully edited it together. Matt has a wicked sense of humour and we both bounced ideas around until we had Overrun nailed. There were many meetings and discussions where we would rip sections apart and I would rewrite whatever new scene we had agreed on. It was an easy process and one I look forward to sharing again post-Overrun.

CC: I love the style of Overrun, mixing in techie speak that somehow seems to work in explanation of the world. What inspired you regarding this book?

AE: I had seen films such as Tron and The Matrix and felt there was a gap in the way a computer world had been realised. I wanted it to be close to our own but with its own rules and language. Matt and I started looking at different aspects of a computer from digital to physical, we took a literal approach to words such as Ports, Trash Cans and Firewalls, this quickly established the world of Overrun.

CC: In the book, Macintosh seems to be the big bad. Does this mean you are a Microsoft fan?

AE: Not a chance, I hate PC“s with a passion. I“m Apple all the way! The way I abuse tech, a PC wouldn“t last 5 minutes with me, at least with a Mac I can usually fix anything that goes wrong without a PhD in Advanced Programming.

CC: The characters seem to fit gaming styles, what’s your favourite game and game character?

AE: I have a lot of games I love dearly, but my favourite has to be the Fallout series, to me that has that perfect mix of open world and a dystopian future. I“ve sunk so many hours into that series I“m actually frightened to put a number on it. As for a character, it has to be the PipBoy character that accompanies the series, he may not strictly be a player character but he wins hands-down for sheer charm and his ever-happy personality.

CC: The art by Paul Green has a curvy cartoon, maybe even an anime feel to it, which really fits the book. How did you two meet and decide on the look of the Overrun world?

AE: We had just lost Cosmo White to a run on Thundercats and were wondering who we could approach as his replacement. We approached several candidates without much luck when we were put in touch with Paul Green via Harry Markos (Markosia). After seeing his work on Flash Gordon, we knew Paul“s style would be a perfect fit for our script. We ran a couple of test pages with Paul and both Matt and I immediately agreed we had found Overrun“s artist.

CC: Who are your influences, in and out of the comic world?

AE: In the comic world, I“d say writers such as Kurt Busiek, Si Spurrier, Andy Diggle and Rob Williams have always pushed me to become a better writer. Outside, I“d say my biggest influence is music, it“s the one medium that I use to foil whatever scene I“m writing at the time, I listen to a real mix of music, currently in light of the tragic loss of Bowie, I“m listening to Hunky Dory and Diamond Dogs, two fantastically crafted albums.

CC: Which books are you currently reading the float your boat?

AE: Rather embarrassingly, I don“t read a huge amount. When I“m not writing, I“m either in my day job, helping raise two kids, or unwinding with the final hour or two in the day in front of a movie. Which leaves me very little time to get down to some honest reading. That said, growing up my influences were Pratchett, King and anything from the Fighting Fantasy universe.

CC: What’s next for you? A return visit Overrun?

AE: I hope so! Both Matt and I believe that this is the tip of the iceberg with Overrun, there“s a whole world we both want to delve into, especially with NORTON and MCAFEE, the two Detectives that solve cases on a daily basis. Beyond that, I“m continuously writing for 451, or developing my own IPs and trying to find a publisher for them. It“s not easy, even with the large volume of published work behind me

CC: A NORTON and MCAFEE seriesÂ sounds like a great idea! Thanks again Andi.

For those interested in Overrun, head over to the reviews section for a spoiler free review.Â And don’t forget to check out our digital store at the end of Jan.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network