Talking Mr. Jigsaw: Man of a Thousand Parts with Ron Fortier

Veteran comic book writer Ron Fortier recently spoke to Gary Rodrigue of ComicNews.Info on the re-birth of his twenty-seven year old creation, Mr.Jigsaw: Man of a Thousand Parts.

What can you tell us about Mr. Jigsaw: Man of a Thousand Parts?

Artist Gary Kato and I are re-launching a character we created twenty-seven years ago called Mr.Jigsaw Man of a Thousand Parts. He’s comedy hero and over the years a dozen of his stories have appeared in various comics and webstrips. Through Rob Davis’ Redbud Studio, we are going to reprint all those stories in the first three issues, which we are self-publishing via Ka-Blam. Then, with issue # 4, we’ll kick off all brand new stories of “Maine’s only living superhero.” This is a project dear to us and we’re hoping this second time around, comic fandom will find us. Some of Mr.Jigsaw’s long time fans include the late Don Thompson, Tony Isabella and Kurt Busiek.

That is an impressive list of fanboys! What can comic readers expect from this type of character?

Hopefully the fans can expect a lot of good, clean fun, with lots of laughs along the way. Mr.Jigsaw’s so called super-hero power is that he can dismember himself at will, then mentally control all the parts of his body. Now most people might not consider this an overwhelming super power, but Mr.Jigsaw’s naivety and positive outlook, allow him to see the glass half-full all the time. Charlie Grant is one of those characters who never gives up. He’s the eternal optimist and in these somber days, isn’t someone like Mr.Jigsaw just the kind of hero we’ve all been looking for?

He does sound like an interesting character which could make for a lot of fun stories. He’s also completely different from what you’d come to expect considering the way super heroes are being written today. With the character first seeing print 27 years ago and with todays comics being much darker what made you decide to re-introduce Mr. Jigsaw to the comic book world?

Well I think you’ve nailed part of the answer already. Today’s comics are much too dark. I’ve six grand kids, three of them adolescents who recently started getting into comics when they discovered their grandfather wrote them. Sadly there’s just not that many titles I felt comfortable in recommending to them. Which was the red flag that suggested maybe it was time to bring Mr.Jigsaw back for a whole new audience of kids. He had a loyal following back when we first created him, but as this was the start of our careers, Gary and I never stuck with the character as we should have. Now we’ve been given a second opportunity and we’re not about to let it slip by us.

Can you tell us anything about the first four issues?

Issue # 4 is the first all new Mr.Jigsaw story in ten years. It is not the culmination of the series, which we hope will be on-going. Issues 1 to 3, reprint a dozen stories that appeared in the past twenty seven years. Starting with # 4, all the stories are brand new. And we totally hope we can build a new, receptive audience, to add to the established one, who, by the way, are thrilled to see Mr.Jigsaw back. If we can do that successfully, then there are no plans to ever stop. Other than those of time and nature.

It’s always satisfying to see a creators excitement spill over into his work and in this case there is no denying your excitement for bringing this comic back to life. Obviously, the rest of the creative talents behind the book are equally excited, would you care to talk a little about them?

First up, there would be no Mr.Jigsaw if it wasn’t for artist, Gary Kato, of Honolulu. Twenty-seven years ago he asked me to created a comedy super-hero who could fall about like a jigsaw puzzle. From that suggestion, Mr.Jigsaw evolved. Then when Gary got a hold of the script, he visually created unique, individual characters that our readers could identify with and want to follow. Gary and I came into the business together, and he’s the quintessential pro. He does it all, from pencils to inks and lettering; and coloring if the book warrants it. He has a terrific story-telling style that enhances any script he works on and whatever magic exist in these stories comes from his amazing talent.

The second artist on this team is Rob Davis, who created Redbud Studio last year so he and I could self-publish our own projects. When Gary and I came to him too and asked if he’d like to take on doing a Mr.Jigsaw series, he went for it immediately. He edits the books and designs them and makes sure they look as good as they do. After reading the first couple of stories, Rob told me he was delighted to be a part of a family friendly comic like this. And in the end, that’s what all of us, me, Rob and Gary, are about- family. This is a book all three of us are not only excited about, but proud of as well. Its that one book you want to hand to kids and say, “Here, I think you’re going to like this.”

This being a self published title how often can we expect to see new issues and where could someone pick up a copy of Mr. Jigsaw: Man of a Thousand Parts?

Ha. Great question. Right now, I foresee us falling into a loose bi-monthly schedule. Once the first 3 books, the reprint issues, are completed, it will be up to me to keep cranking out new scripts for Gary to draw. Again, with his doing all the art and lettering, and maintain a day job, I’m guessing it will take him at least a month to five weeks to do an issue. So a bi-monthly schedule seems doable. We plan on self-publishing via Ka-Blam and making the issues available through their on-line store, www.IndyPlanet.com. Barry Gregory of Ka-Blam is in the process of building a direct-to-retailers program which will allow comic shops to buy titles in Ka-Blam’s catalog at a reduced rate. In the meanwhile, any retailer wishing to carry Mr.Jigsaw in their store can order multiple copies of any issue directly from Rob, again at a special discount price. It’s our hope that eventually Mr.Jigsaw will be on comic shop shelves everywhere.

You’ve obviously seen a lot of change in the comic book industry, where do you see the industry five years from now?

Thanks to the internet and all the various forms of self-publishing now available to creators, I honestly believe the future of comics lies in the independents. What with Diamond shutting the door on them, it’s clear that to survive and offer their customers real diversity, not found in the big companies, retailers are going to have to court the independents and find avenues to get more of them on their shelves.

With 30 years in the business what would you consider to be your most rewarding experience?

Spending eight hours straight at a Comics Retailers convention signing Green Hornet posters with artist Jeff Butler for appreciative fans who enthusiastically supported our work on that series for Now Comics. By the end of the day my hand was cramped up, but I didn’t care.

Thanks Ron. This was a lot of fun.

My pleasure, Gary.

Last 3 posts by Gary Rodrigue

• Radha Mitchell Talks Surrogates - January 27th, 2010
• DVD Review: The Final Destination 3D - January 8th, 2010
• Old Time Radio- Episode 4- Fantastic Four: Dreaded Dr. Doom - December 28th, 2009

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