This interview took place at Comic-Con 2023, and life got in the way of transcribing it. But as Shawn and Matt Fillbach will no doubt be back at the 1First Comics booth this year (#2001), now is the perfect time to run with this. Because if you haven’t met these brothers and read their comics, you haven’t lived. There. I’ve said it. They’re almost larger than life, and certainly taller than me, though they kindly hunched a bit in our photos so it wouldn’t be as obvious.
When I started the interview, I joked that they’d finish each other’s sentences and it turned out to be no joke. They’re perfectly in sync as artistic collaborators, and their visions are wonderfully crazy. We talk about their graphic novel Illuminati Transport which may have been the best book I read out of Comic-Con last summer. They mention a sequel, which I plan on picking up on Preview Night of Comic-Con 2024. They collaborate with teen-age comic creator Walker Young on his book(s), and I know Walker has a new one available next week, too.
They’re kind. They’re giving. They also pick you up in a whirlwind of ideas in their books and in their conversations. This interview has been edited for length and as much clarity as could be offered. Gentle readers, I present the Fantastic Fillbach Brothers.
Derek McCaw: You’ve been working together for a long time in comics. What’s that collaboration like as brothers?
Matt Fillbach: I think the hatred of each other is the best thing, because it brings the love.
Shawn Fillbach: Yeah. It does bring love out. We actually share a brain, if we get too far apart…
Matt Fillbach: Like a quarter mile apart…
Shawn Fillbach: We just collapse, and then they have to push us back together…bring us back together, we just rejuvenate.
Matt Fillbach: It’s almost like when you start up your computer again…
Shawn Fillbach: Yes!
Matt Fillbach: Ba-BING!
Shawn Fillbach: That’s essentially it.
Matt Fillbach: That’s when we know we love each other again.
Derek McCaw: It works itself out in the books.
Both: Yeah.
Derek McCaw: When I came here earlier, I asked “which book should I buy by the Fillbachs? And they said Illuminati Transport.” Let’s talk about that book, which is in the process of becoming a game.
Matt Fillbach: It’s going to be a tabletop board game by 1First Comics.
Shawn Fillbach: We figure about 2025. It takes a while to get games going.
Matt Fillbach: Then there will be a graphic novel, which will come out before and we’re doing right now, to coincide with it. Even though there already is a graphic novel. The comic people and the gaming people don’t always follow each other…
Shawn Fillbach: We always figure it’s like two sisters. Twin sisters. If you like one, you might want to meet the other.
Derek McCaw: Before we get too far into the game, let’s talk about the graphic novel that’s already out. It’s subtitled “A Jim Kowalski Adventure.”
Shawn Fillbach: We’d actually created Jim 20 years ago. We pitched it to Dark Horse and they premiered the first book; it’s called Roadkill.
Matt Fillbach: That was back in 1998, I believe.
Shawn Fillbach: 2008. You’re showing your age.
Matt Fillbach: I was thinking about Captain Freebird. That was 98.
Shawn Fillbach: Yeah, so Jim is like the penultimate loser in the world.
Matt Fillbach: It’s like when the big superheroes, they do all that superhero stuff and then somebody has to pick up what’s left behind.
Derek McCaw: What I loved about it is he’s the side story in somebody else’s being the hero.
Shawn Fillbach: Yes!
Derek McCaw: You have a supernatural team G.I. Joe, which I don’t think I’ve encountered anywhere before. And I was reading it thinking they don’t matter, but I kind of want the action figures.
Shawn Fillbach: We were thinking Branson Missouri was a great name for a character, and then a great character. We figured if Hellboy – Ron Perlman – had to get in the make-up for hours and hours, we’d create a version where he could just…
Matt Fillbach: …be himself. Just come out and smoke a cigar.
Shawn Fillbach: If we ever did a film, he could play him.
Derek McCaw: I hate to come to Comic-Con and be “what are you thinking for the film?” but I could see that. I see a lot of fun character cameos. And Jim Kowalski himself… it’s a fun structure. And you definitely know the backroads of America.
Matt Fillbach: And you have a talking dog. He’s adorable. Because it’s like a 13 year old girl…
Shawn Fillbach: We always figured Geech would be the dog that you want… and then there’s…
Matt Fillbach: Rico. Rico is kind of like Cheech Marin.
Derek McCaw: He’s literally a crystal skull.
Shawn Fillbach: Their adventures are just fun. And “Gooble Gobble” is coming out – that’s the next one. We have “Convoy Conquest,” that is going to be the game. Plus we have another called “Apocalyptico.”
Derek McCaw: Let’s talk about the game for a second. The game mechanics are going to be a bit different. You will have 3-D figures, which I could see your artwork translating very well. How is your thinking different in trying to set up a game?
Shawn Fillbach: Well, the company came to us saying they wanted to do a game.
Matt Fillbach: It’s a racing game.
Shawn Fillbach: It was originally going to be competing, and then they said, about a multiverse. They threw out a bunch of stuff and we said give us a minute to think about this. 24 hours later we had about 20 pages written and laid out.
Matt Fillbach: We were in the backyard and barbecuing something and then…
Shawn Fillbach: We have this great idea. And they said multiverses are big right now. We have several different versions of Earth with several different versions of the Kowalski character. It’s a multi-player game. Then we thought why not make it a cooperative racing game?
They said “that’s insane. There’s never been a co-op racing game.” And then he goes…
Shawn Fillbach: Let’s do it!
Matt Fillbach: We have seven different Kowalskis. They have seven different familiar animals and seven different totems that are with them.
Shawn Fillbach: You’re thrown into this game…
Matt Fillbach: They’re brought to this weird universe, like in Star Trek when a character brings them to a world and they have to fight each other.
Shawn Fillbach: And they’re like, oh, you want the best of us to fight for our worlds? And the villains are like, “no, we’ve already defeated the best. You guys are the losers. You’re the last.”
Matt Fillbach: They’ve destroyed all the Kowalskis that were any good at fighting…
Derek McCaw: This is like the saddest parody of the Spider-Verse…
Matt Fillbach: This is getting broadcast to the world, because it’s getting the best ratings. Everyone’s betting on the longshots, the losers.
Shawn Fillbach: We always say, if this world was made for winners, what’s left for the losers?
Derek McCaw: And back to the graphic novel people can buy now, it’s almost like a puzzle. There’s a bit of James Bond, with a character like Q, and so much Chekov’s Gun. When you plot, do you say, okay, we know what the big bad is, and here are the pieces we need to put in place? I mean, it’s truly a joy to read and think THAT bizarre character is going to turn out to be crucial.
Matt Fillbach: When Mike Baron, creator of The Badger, read it he said to us, “did you plot this whole thing out before?”
Shawn Fillbach: No, we just made it up as we went along.
Matt Fillbach: Well, we always know the ending.
Shawn Fillbach: We always go down to the Home Depot, and we ask the day workers. Are you a writer? Are you an artist?
Matt Fillbach: Are you an editor? Are you an inker? Who can letter today?
Derek McCaw: I’m going to talk to Richard Starkings about this.
Matt Fillbach: We love him.
Derek McCaw: Everybody does.
Shawn Fillbach: What Matty was saying, we take our time…
Matt Fillbach: Especially with the Jim Kowalski Adventures, which are a journey down the road… we always know our destination. What’s fun are the detours and everything that happens. That’s the fun. You know where you start, you know where you end.
Shawn Fillbach: Jack Kerouac said, “it’s the curve of the road.”
Derek McCaw: And it sure does curve. That’s the fun. Thank you both.
Fanboy Planet is an Amazon affiliate. Purchases made through links on this and other pages may generate a commission for this site.
