If AJ O. Mason is a familiar name to you, that might be because you’ve read some of his astounding web comics on Globalcomix. Or you’ve possibly read some of his articles for us here at Monkeys Fighting Robots! That’s right, AJ is one of our very own. But a lot has happened for him since 2021, when he penned his last article for us. He recently penned the graphic novel Under the Castle – featuring the characters Pumpkie and Spookie created by Hong Kong rap icon Jackson Wang – which was released at a festival in Bangkok. So, we took the opportunity to sit down with him and hear about some of what he’s been up to.
MFR: AJ, first of all, you have a history with MFR from long before this interview. You started working with us in 2020, writing and reviewing. It’s been a while since then, but what was that like? How do you feel that work connects to what you’re doing now?
AJ: The experience was just amazing! I’d even go as far as to say reviewing that comics for MFR was my definitive comics school! Getting to read comics every week, having to analyze and think about them deeply, it made me both appreciate the craft in a way I’ll admit I wasn’t beforehand, and it also constantly taught me new ways of making comics, which I believe made me a stronger writer. So, yes, one hundred percent! The way I think about comics and the way I write them today is very much shaped by my time here. I owe a lot to Matthew Sardo for taking a chance on me all these years ago.
MFR: You recently worked with Jackson Wang – Hong Kong rapper, singer, and songwriter – developing some characters of his: Pumpkie and Spookie. How much do you know about where those characters came from for Jackson? How did you get connected to Jackson in the first place?
AJ: That’s a really good question! Unfortunately, I don’t know much about how he came up with those characters. I just know Pumpkie and Spookie are very personal to him. He cares about them a lot. But to avoid doing any disservice to his story, if you’re interested, I’d suggest checking out his interviews. I’m sure he talked about it at some point.
As for your second question, the creative studio tasked with managing the Under the Castle comic project, Mercy Creatives, saw one of my comics online a year and a half ago and reached out via email. The rest, as they say, is history! To this day, I feel extremely lucky they came across my comic book out of the millions out there, and I’m still super grateful they liked it enough to think I could write the scripts for the series.
MFR: This was your first time working in someone else’s sandbox – writing characters that weren’t created by you. What was that like and how was it different?
AJ: It was so much fun! I really hope I get to do it again in the near future. In a weird way, it felt like I was Pumpkie and Spookie’s adoptive parent. Obviously, I wasn’t their biological parent, but I had the privilege of having them entrusted to my care so I could help them grow and develop in the best way possible. Hopefully, their biological parents are satisfied and think I did a good job.
MFR: You went from writing a short one-shot of the comic to writing a full graphic novel about these two characters. And then, recently, you went to a big convention/festival they hosted in Bangkok for fans. What was that like seeing all of these people coming to be a part of something revolving around characters you had a hand in developing?
AJ: Through the process of writing Pumpkie and Spookie’s story—being their adoptive parent—I came to care about them so much. After a while, they became personal to me as well. So now, seeing them being celebrated in such a big way and by so many people makes me feel incredibly proud! I honestly didn’t think it would become this big. The launch party was really fun and a lot of important, cool people took part in it. Plus, there were ads for the festival almost everywhere in Bangkok. It was a surreal experience seeing it all in person.
MFR: I know the graphic novel was handed out at the event. Is there any way you think people will be able to get ahold of copies of it and buy it somewhere in the future?
AJ: To my understanding, if you couldn’t make it to the event in Bangkok, you currently can’t get a copy. But who knows, things might change in the future! Unfortunately, it’s above my place in the Team Wang Design hierarchy to know.
MFR: You’ve worked on a few projects as a comics writer, with more in the works. We even covered one of your Kickstarters Sick and Party Invasion, and it was some really haunting work. I loved it! What are you working on at the moment/do you have anything on the horizon?
AJ: Thanks, Zac! I really appreciate that. The biggest thing coming up right now is Kloud 9, Book 1. It’s the first book in our queer space opera graphic novel trilogy that I’m creating with my best friend in comics, Dominic Bustamante. It’s due for release in July 2026 from Top Shelf. This book has been our almost literal baby for the past five years, so we’re both incredibly excited (and super anxious) for it to finally go out into the world for readers to experience (and judge)!
Other than that, Lesly Julien and I are hard at work finalizing the art for Headcases #3, which is part of our crime miniseries we’ve been crowdfunding since 2021. We’re also currently working on the scripts for the fourth and fifth issues.
If you want to check out some books that are already out, I’d recommend Better or Worse, which is a webcomic I made with Dom in 2020 that we recently re-released on GlobalComix for free. Or check out I Love You and Other Tales, an anthology of three short comics I wrote. It’s also up on GlobalComix for free.
MFR: Thank you for your time, AJ! It was great catching up. If you want to catch up on more of AJ’s work, you can do that at GlobalComix here, and keep an eye out for future projects like Kloud 9 and Headcases.
