Eugene weekly., February 16, 2012, Page 11, Image 11

“ I
t’s almost required that the moment
that someone becomes one of these
supernatural beings, they become
angsty,” Roberson says. “If I became
a werewolf, I’d still be the person I
am now, I’d just have some personal
hygiene issues once a month, or have some self-
control issues.”
Roberson, who has never visited Oregon, relies in
large part on online street views to inform the sense of
place inherent in his writing. But his collaborator Allred
just moved back to Eugene after a stint on the Oregon
Coast. Having one half of the creative duo based in the
city where the story is set has its advantages.
Besides advising Roberson on details of Eugene
geography and daily life, Michael Allred incorporates
real Eugene landmarks into the comic’s illustrations,
which are in turn brought to colorful life by Laura Allred.
In the Eugene of iZombie, vampires troll for dates at
the Downtown Lounge. A UO science lab is used as a
staging ground for communing with extra-dimensional
beings. The Shelton-McMurphey-Johnson mansion at
the base of Skinner Butte doubles as the home of a
centuries-old Egyptian mummy. And the diner where
Gwen and her spooky friends hang out is modeled on
Fins Drive-In in Springfi eld.
But the parade of Lane County landmarks doesn’t
stop there. Versions of real-world locations like Smith
Family Bookstore, Nostalgia Collectibles, Taylor’s Bar &
Grill, Ya-Po-Ah Terrace and even the Camp Putt mini-golf
course all appear in the fi rst two collected paperback
editions of iZombie, which encompass the fi rst twelve
issues of the series.
Allred says he takes special pride in issue 23, slated
for release in March, in which characters will meet at
the top of Skinner Butte.
“I would encourage people to take that issue and go
to the top, and try to fi gure out where all the characters
are,” Allred says with a grin.
Despite his own current lack of Oregon bona fi des,
Roberson will soon enough have a chance to see in
person the locations he has been writing about. This
summer, Roberson and his family are moving from
Austin to Portland, sight unseen. Roberson says that
one of his fi rst orders of business will be a trip down I-5
to hang out with his comic-book partner Allred, and to
check out the town where Gwen the zombie hangs her
gravedigger’s cap.
Prior to starting work on iZombie, Roberson says, “I
really knew of Eugene only as the place that Ken Kesey
was from.”
“It’s a mysterious town to outsiders,” Allred posits.
“Other than Animal House being fi lmed here and the Pre
legend, pop culture has pretty much ignored Eugene.”
In fact, it was Allred’s teenage hunt for Animal House
fi lm locations that convinced him, in part, that Eugene
would be a good place to set a comic book series.
“I went out of my way to fi nd all the locations, and
that was a huge thrill for me,” says Allred. “I’m hoping
people reading in Eugene will do the same thing.” ew
The first three iZombie collected editions are available now, priced at
$14.99 each; info at cdcomics.com
ORIGINAL SPIN
He’s a successful writer, a novelist more than a
dozen times over, but even Chris Roberson admits
to being a bit starstruck when his editor at Vertigo
Comics paired him with Michael Allred for iZombie.
“I’ve been a fan of Mike’s since 1992, 1993?”
Roberson struggles to recall. “It was diffi cult for me
to get my head around the idea of collaborating
with him. I still will occasionally drop into fan
mode, and remind him of something he did in
1994,” he says.
But how did the collaboration result in a comic
set in Eugene, specifi cally?
“The reality is that the series editor, Shelley
Bond, tricked us both!” Roberson says. “The
series was originally set somewhere else on the
West Coast.” That “somewhere” was Colma, Calif.,
a community founded to serve as a collection
of cemeteries for nearby land-strapped San
Francisco.
Bond says he knew that Allred was more likely
to sign on for the comic if it was set in his favorite
Oregon town, and the DC editor indicated to each
creator that the other wanted Eugene as the stage
for iZombie’s horror-tinged hijinks.
“For the better part of a year each of us
thought it was the other guy that wanted to set it
there,” Roberson remembers.
It seems to have worked out just fi ne for Allred.
“I love this business,” says Allred, an industry
veteran. “Working with Chris on iZombie has
defi nitely been one of the best highlights of my
career.” — Aaron Ragan-Fore
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EUGENE WEEKLY FEBRUARY 16, 2012 11