Talking ‘Rex Power’ With RAMZEE And Claude TC

It’s not hard to understand why Korey gets the wrong idea about Rex, a dinosaur holding a weapon. Who wouldn’t assume the worst? In truth, Rex is a bounty hunter and, because of Korey, he fails to apprehend the fugitive he’s after. In order to find the fugitive again they’ll need to work together, but that’s easier said then done in writer RAMZEE and artist Claude TC‘s all-ages strip Rex Power. Originally published in Monster Fun, this volume collects the first arc and here’s what RAMZEE and TC could share about the series:

 

 

Rachel Bellwoar: At various points while reading Rex Power, I was reminded of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Twin Peaks: The Return (the antagonist in particular reminds me of the hatchling from The Return). What were your actual inspirations behind this series?

RAMZEE: For me, the primary inspiration in spirit was Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block, which brings a horde of alien monsters crashing into a South London council estate. From there, other influences found their way in as well like the Tom Hardy Venom movies, Quartermass and the Pit, Dandadan and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Claude TC: Artwise, I pulled a lot on ’90s cartoons and comics a bunch. There’s some Bucky O’Hare in there. Bit Power Rangers-y. Venom is a pretty clear inspiration for Rex and Korey’s transformations. There’s also some influence from Dark Souls and Bloodborne monsters in there too, but with that weekend morning cartoon coat of paint.

 

 

Bellwoar: The obvious answer is “dinosaurs are cool,” but was Rex always a dinosaur or was there a version where he was just a bounty hunter and did you consider other dinosaurs beside T-Rex?

TC: Rex being a dino was the initial mission statement for developing the story, and the name being in place meant we were on the Tyrannosaurus off the bat, which is helpful to me cos I can get some good expressions out of that face shape.

RAMZEE: This whole project started with an editor calling me with an idea for a dinosaur superhero and the title “Rex Power”. I was rediscovering Alan Grant & Keith Giffen’s Lobo comics at the time and somehow that ended up in the mix.

 

Bellwoar: Rex has a very specific manner of talking. Did you enjoy developing his voice and figuring out how to spell words to get across his pronunciation?

TC: Not that I was writing it, but I love a good phonetic spelling for character dialogue!

RAMZEE: That was heavily influenced by Lobo too. I’d take a rough stab at it in the first draft of the script and the artist would sometimes punch it up in his roughs. So, any lines that you enjoyed were most likely Claude’s, not mine, lol.

 

 

Bellwoar: Then there’s our human protagonist, Korey. What can you tell us about him?

RAMZEE: Korey is a classic self-sacrificing hero. Someone always willing to put himself in harm’s way to protect the people he cares about.

But what drives him to be that way?

I imagined him as someone with deep-seated abandonment issues which fuels his instinct to cling tightly to the people he loves and fight relentlessly to keep them safe. So this became the foundation of his character arc, as the story follows his growth toward confronting and ultimately overcoming those fears.

TC: I wanted to make Korey have that same ’90s feel to him, and along with Rex tried to use colours that reminded me of that period, so the teal and purple combo was there. Gave him a haircut I could have swish around in action too. Throwback to how much I liked Humberto Ramos’ design for Impulse at DC.

 

 

Bellwoar: It’s included in the description, so I think it’s safe to reveal that Rex and Korey end up fused together. Did you have conversations about what those transformations would look like, as they have to share one body?

RAMZEE: I had rough ideas. I sent Claude a few reference shots from various media but in the end Claude came up with how the visual transformation would look like — so kudos to him again!

TC: We set on the goopy warping biomass pretty early which I think is neat cos it works with a world of gooshy aliens in a way a clean transformation like Captain Marvel/Shazam couldn’t. I like how it allowed us to have them talk to each other via manifesting their faces on each others’ bodies.

 

 

Bellwoar: In your bio, Claude, you mention that you like your comics “goopy, and full of action,” and Rex Power definitely lives up to that description. Was there a moment you looked forward to drawing the most?

TC: Rex’s fight with the Nightmare foxes where Korey first morphs in and out of the rex body, lots of teeth, slime, and big movement on that. The sewer sequence was great too, lots of launched creepy crawlies flying around!

 

 

Bellwoar : Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Ramzee and Claude!

With letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Rex Power: Invasion of the Fear Bugs! is on sale now from Rebellion.