EZ Street is the story of two brothers, both creatively inclined, who want to make a living with their talents.

“Hollywood has never been shy to glamorize their own industry. But comics has hardly ever set stories in our own backyard,” Wheatley said at the time. “Since comics and movies are in bed together more and more frequently, I thought a hybrid story set in both industries would be a great hook for traditional fans of comics, as well as offer hooks for the general public. And it is the vast general public that we have our sights set for.”

Since Scoop was there at the beginning, it only seemed fitting that we catch up with Wheatley and Tinnell at the end of this particular journey.

Scoop: Did the ending of EZ Street reflect what you thought it would when you started on it or did it change during the course of its publication?
Robert Tinnell (RT):While the overall story evolved as we planned it, and even as it was being written, the actual ending never really changed. We had a goal in mind for them - a goal that would require at least one of the characters to change or grow in a big way. And we stuck to that.
Mark Wheatley (MW): The answer would have to be yes, yes, and yes. I think Bob and I are both very happy that we ended up where we were aiming for our ending. But we did not get there exactly as we originally planned. The characters pretty much took over! As we wrote and drew the 214 pages of the book, we found that the characters were saying very interesting things and discovering important truths about creative work.

EZ Street became a way for us to digest a lot of what we have learned and experienced during our years creating comics and movies. At the start we had high hopes of getting some small bits of what we wanted to say into the story. We ended up with a massive dose of what we wanted to say, far beyond what we could have hoped for in the first place. I feel very lucky to have worked with Bob and ComicMix on this project.

Scoop: The story started being published in October 2007 and concluded in June 2008, and it was presented in a serialized format online. How, if at all, did you work differently than you might have on a more traditional comic?
RT: From my perspective I wish I had concentrated more on developing smaller segments. I approached it like I would a print graphic novel and didn't really think about the strain that put on Mark. There were weeks when you needed seven pages or more to give a complete mini-arc, which was tough. I guess the problem is I didn't work differently!
MW: I think there were several important differences for me. The first was the opportunity ComicMix gave us to start work long before the strip hit the web. That was partly due to the fact that we were one of the very first properties that ComicMix put on their slate, long before they were ready to have comics on their web pages. So Bob and I benefitted from the development time.

The next big difference was that we started this with a vague idea of how long the finished book would be, and then we just started writing and drawing the pages. And when new scenes and characters presented themselves along the way, we were free to add that material to the Mix. This is the first time I've ever had the luxury of letting the story set its own length. And I think it really paid off. The final page count of 214 pages is almost twice what we thought it might be at the start.

And finally, I've never had so much control over the "printing" of one of my comics. The finished pages on ComicMix look exactly like they do in Photoshop on my own computer, where I created them.

Scoop: Was there any planning involved in the story elements your pages in the weekly installments ended on, or was it simply producing a set number of pages per week and the story would simply pause where it paused?
RT: This relates to my previous answer. We let the characters and situations sweep us along and as such didn't conform to a weekly set number of pages. We didn't do that on Demons of Sherwood either. I would like to take that approach some time, though, 'cause when you do that and it works - something cool like Strontium Dog comes to mind - it can work really well.
MW: For EZ Street we were not clear on how ComicMix would be presenting the strip once they got up and running. We were over a hundred pages in before they began posting weekly "issues". Early on we were trying to give a reasonable chunk of story. After we got a feel for how it was being delivered to readers on ComicMix, I think we got better at parsing the pages into scenes and chapters. Ultimately, it has no bearing on the reading experience for anyone who discovered EZ Street after the first few weeks that it was running. Because, at that point, we had a lot of pages posted; the introduction to the strip was everything that had been posted to date because the readers have access to the full archive for the graphic novel. And that's true today. Anyone checking out EZ Street now can read as much or as little of the 214 pages as they like per visit - and all for free, I might add.

Scoop: Did the serialized nature of the presentation in any way distract from working toward the creation of a single, original graphic novel?
RT: I think this again relates to a question before. We created for overall effect not individual episodes. Our thinking gradually expressed itself as "well, it'll spend a lot more time up on the web as a complete story than as cliff-hanging episodes of the week."
MW: Since we were working so long before the serialization started, no. We pretty much ignored that aspect.

Scoop: How has the experience of working with the ComicMix folks been?
RT: Simply outstanding. I don't think I've had this level of support in any medium ever. They are passionate about what we are doing, readily accessible to discuss any issues we may have, and obsessed with the idea of creating a marvelous website. Mike Gold is a great editor; his finger is always on the pulse of the project but his ego is nowhere to be seen. For Mike it's all about the story.
MW: It is wonderful when the publisher and the staff are as creative as the people producing the comics. This really has been a peak experience for me and I'm happy we will be doing it again!

Scoop: How long will the story remain available online now that it's finished?
MW: Good question. ComicMix is just now finishing up several of their first, original graphic novels and that is new territory for me. So I asked Mike Gold for the answer to that and this is what he said: "Until the end of time, or a global electromagnetic pulse."

Scoop: When and in what format will EZ Street see print?
MW: I asked Mike Gold about that one too and he said, "Trade paperback, maybe signed hardcover, and distribution is under negotiation at this moment. Literally."

Scoop: What sorts of reactions have you received from readers? Were they different than those you might get for a regular print comic book or similar?
RT: Most of the feedback I got skewed more towards working professionals and folks who aspire to work in comics or movies or both. As time went on, however, I was hearing more from people relating to the emotional arcs of the story as opposed to "I can so relate to this or that creative or professional disappointment" or whatever.
MW: Well, we got more response. More people have seen EZ Street than just about anything I've done before, I think it is safe to say. And in addition to the response coming in from comic fans and film and publishing professionals, we got a lot of feedback from a broad spectrum of average folks. These are the people who are only vaguely aware that there are comic book stores or that graphic novels are a big part of book stores these days. My neighbors have seen the strip, folks around town have come across it. The bottom line is, the Internet is accessible to just about anyone and so is ComicMix. And EZ Street has that kind of American Idol vibe going for it, where we show what it takes to make it in the comic book industry, and the film industry. That strikes a chord with a lot of people who have secret (and not so secret) desires to tell their own stories in comics and film. And maybe that's part of the reason EZ Street was nominated for the Harvey Award for best online comic this year.

Scoop: Did you change how you worked together during the process or did you stick with one basic mode from beginning to end?
RT: Mark has long mentored me in comics and we've spent many hours theorizing and analyzing comics and visual storytelling and so on. By the time we got down to doing this I think we had already established a way of communicating with each other, and that's already developing its own short-hand quality. We spend a lot of time on the phone discussing plotting, changes, and so on. I really appreciate the fact that he lets me make dialogue tweaks after the strip's been lettered.
MW: It was fairly constant. Perhaps at the beginning I was more active in the writing and re-writing on the script. About half way in Bob and I hit a groove and also we had most all the remaining details worked out. So I concentrated on the art and just did edits and re-writes as needed while I was lettering the pages. Bob and I did pass the final three weeks of material back and forth a good deal, much as we did at the start.

Scoop: Now that you're finished, what's next?
RT: We're doing a follow-up to EZ Street. And I'm waiting for pre-production on Feast of the Seven Fishes to restart. We pushed the film into the fall.
MW: Got time for a list? EZ Street came with a built-in sequel. Our readers know that our characters, Scott and Danny, are trying to come up with a graphic novel project all through the book. And by the end of EZ Street we know what they have come up with. And that graphic novel will be the next Tinnell/Wheatley collaboration. This is Lone Justice: Crash!, a pulp action story set in the Great Depression that should evoke the best qualities of the Hero Pulps of that period. Our readers have been asking for this since the beginning of EZ Street. But before we get to that, my next comic project is Frankenstein Mobster - as the big guy returns, also at ComicMix.

And right now I'm preparing for the San Diego Comic Con. This year Insight Studios and ComicMix are sharing a booth, and we will be showing big screen video previews of a lot of great new comics. Anybody interested should stop by and take a look. We will also be featuring a long video that follows my creative process from pencils to inks to final painted comic page in a step-by-step that includes detailed footage of my Photoshop tricks as well as my in-studio work. There's more projects, but after a while my brain skitters away from thinking about everything I'm committed to right now.