Shi's Got what it takes, but creator Billy Tucci had hurdles to jump before getting it there

Billy Tucci had been up drawing until 4 o'clock the night before. His allergies are acting up on this particular morning, and his head aches. Not the greatest way to start one of the early days in 1996. But Billy Tucci is happy. Very happy. And he's seen far worse - those days of eating Oodles o' Noodles while struggling to make a living.

Many consider Tucci's Crusade Comics and its Shi: The Way of the Warrior the top comic book success story of the last 18 months. Since premiering in April 1994, Shi, and the subsequent Senryaku mini-series, have become top-10 sellers and an inspiration to many other self-publishers. There have been crossovers with Marc Silvestri's' Cyblade and Jim Lee's' Grifter. And while Tucci steadfastly refuses to group Ana Ishikawa in the "Bad Girl" genre, Shi (Japanese for death) has helped lead to one of the biggest crazes in recent years - female driven titles.

Who better to turn rags to riches than Tucci, a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology? The 29-year-old New Yorker is making his mark in the industry - not without a few missteps - and clearly he's doing things his own way.

Succss isn't slowing Tucci's drive, either. In this interview, he recalls the early days of Crusade, candidly speaks his mind on the state of the industry and reveals interesting plans for the new year.

WIZARD: Unlike a lot of today's creators, you weren't a longtime comics fan. How did you get involved?

TUCCI: A friend of mine at college turned me on to comic books. I'd always seen them, knew what they were and might have picked up a few once in a while as a kid, but hadn't paid much attention to them. He turned me on to The Punisher, then Batman:Arkham Asylum.

I still didn't really pay that much attention to it actually until after I graduated. Then I said to myself, "You know, this might be a nice career to attempt to do." And that was probably the dumbest thing I've ever said to myself.

So you had no idea how much work it was going to involve?

Especially when I decided to self publish, and I said, "I'll do a color book." This was when I'm working out of my one bedroom apartment. I had no knowledge on how to do anything...separations, film, the whole color process. I just wanted to make a comic book.

How did you start the company? After doing the convention circuit, did you just decide you were your own man?

Pretty much. I got laid off at designing children's wear. And I was really trying to do freelance work, because I didn't really want to design T-shirts and things like that. I decided I was going to go for it. I had no idea how to start a company. I had no idea about copyrights or getting incorporated or things like that.

I found out that things were a lot easier than I thought. I called information for the United States Copyright Office. And there really is one, with the papers and all. It cost like $20, and it was the best $20 I ever spent.

Times were really tough, though. I had no money. I had even met with these guys who were going to be my potential business partners; they'd take over the business end and I'd pretty much stick to the writing and the penciling. They had a penthouse on Madison Avenue. But they pretty much had no money and I was doing everything. And they tried to charge me rent for working there. I was pretty much a paid secretary, answering phones. I thought, "Well, this isn't the best thing." And they wanted to own the character. I think common sense is probably my greatest ally, and I knew it was wrong.

It was a bad time. We had already taken out the ads, and I had no money to pay for them. My girlfriend had given me money, and friends from the neighborhood helped. I raised about five grand for the advertising and twisted Shi #l through.

But it was lots of research. I'd go to the library and I'd [research] what a distributor is. It was a lot of trial and error, and a lot of things went wrong. The distributor was going to drop my book, and we had this ugly situation with [prospective] partners. We persevered, though, and the book really rose above it all.

Did you expect it to do so well at first?

I knew the book was going to do well. There was a gap in the market, and female leads were going to be the next big thing. DC wasn't doing much with Wonder Woman or Catwoman, although Jim Balent was doing nice art on Catwoman, it was getting lost in the male-hero glut.

The industry was at a downturn at the time, too. It just seemed fresh, and I guess from the lack of my comic book reading experience, the book looked different. And people took to it Within a couple of weeks, it started to roll from word of mouth. And the thing was, people were actually reading the book. And I still feel in my heart it's one of the best read books out there.

Were there times when you had some doubts?

Everything that could possibly go wrong actually did. People were telling me I was insane to try this. But you just had this feeling something was going to happen. It was one of those things when you're working on it, it feels so right and you don't talk to too many people about it. Serendipity plays a part of it.

I had gotten into a fight in a bar and tore the ligaments in my left shoulder, so I was in a figure-eight harness for six weeks, and I couldn't draw. All these things [happened] that could have made us easily quit, but things started to fall in place.

The attitude we had was that if it doesn't succeed, who cares? At least we could always look back and say, "Look what we did." That's the way it was, and it's still like that. I get into trouble when the books come out late, but I'd rather really put everything into it Every time we attempt to do a book, we attempt to do it like it's the last thing we'll ever do.

You're growing creatively, too.

You have to. You look at Shi #l and you look at Shi #6 - there's a difference. You have to keep growing in all aspects. It's interesting, because now the characters take over the roles. Ana wouldn't do things now, because she's six issues into a book. We have more history for her and she wouldn't necessarily take [a certain] route.

I don't know how well Shi #l would do in the industry right now. The artwork is getting better, there are more good artists and there are more noncomic book artists coming into the field. So it is getting more competitive as well.

Besides, where's the accomplishment in doing the same thing over and over? You have to aspire to new heights.

What research do you do for Shi?

There's a lot of research. It's really a learning process. We have a great time doing it. I had no idea who the Sohei warriors were until Barry Orkin, who works with me and is one of my designers, knew of the Sohei. He had seen them in Japanese woodblock prints. There's so much history with these Sohei warriors, so much intrigue and politics and corruption. It's real exciting. How can you not get excited about feeding your mind? It can only help you. I don't understand why people don't read books anymore.

As far as being different goes, you have great disdain with the "Bad Girl" label, especially when applied to Shi. What do you think of the Bad Girl books out there today, and how is Shi different?

I don't pay much attention to them. There are books that I know are Bad Girl books and I look at them and try to read them, and I just can't. They're pretty misogynistic.

I gave my book a strong female character. My dad had died when I was really young, so my mother had to raise six of us, with my older sister. I pretty much base things on my mom and my older sister. They really affected me.

We receive tons of letters from women, and I haven't really had anyone complain about Shi that much. I don't think her costume is really skimpy. She doesn't wear a thong, she doesn't have big boobs, she doesn't wear heels, running around and blowing people away.

A lot of those books people are doing-and they gain attention, which is unfortunate-are just crap. And the press comes up with the name "Bad Girl" and these guys say, "That's a good way to make some money." And they'll put out this garbage with this girl with big boobs, a fishnet bodysuit, heels and guns, with really poorly drawn and horribly written stories- if you want to call them stories. I don't see the appeal to it at all. And people are just buying in because they think it's going to be worth money.

That doesn't really work. That doesn't make a good comic book. What people want is quality. Quality books are going to be the ones that last. That's why I'm not too sure about the comics industry.

What do you think is wrong with the industry?

The reason why people are leaving comic books is there aren't a lot of well-written books anymore. There are some, of course, but for the most part they're not.

There are so many great writers in the industry. Just let them have a free reign and let them give it a shot. They love comic books too. They love the characters they're working with. Listen to them. When some companies go public, the bottom line is money and they're wondering why the books aren't selling like they used to. Bottom line: get good art, get good stories. That's why people read books. That's what comic books are about-to be read.

I want the industry as a whole to do better. We're all in this together. If Superman does better, my book's going to do better. Shi's outselling Superman and Batman books. That's ridiculous. That's wrong. I might be a little bit happy about it, but you have to look at it in the greater picture. Superman's been around for 60 years. My book shouldn't be outselling Superman books.

Where do you see yourself three or four years from now?

Hopefully married, with a kid on the way. With Crusade, it'll be a nice medium-sized company. I'd like to churn out a lot of creator-owned books, to keep the integrity of the books and the characters. And keep doing what I love: comic books and self-publishing. And if things sour completely and I stop drawing or writing and the books fold or fail, I'll look back and say what a wonderful time in my life it was.

Courtesy Wizard Press © 1996