An Edge and Back interview with the team from “Way of the Bong”

At East European Comic Con we’ve met many dear friends and made some new ones. Among the new ones, James Longshore and Bianca Mina, two members of the amazing team behind the web series and comic books following the adventures of James Bong.

Here is an Edge and Back interview!

Are you aware there’s a Wiz Khalifa song called James Bong? That’s a pretty good publicity for your comics, in our book. Any connections?

We are aware of the Wiz Khalifa song, which was made 8 years after we made the first James Bong movie & comic book in 2005. The live action movie, which tells the origin of our hero, was adapted into a 6 part web series available now on VOD at wayofthebong.com and of course, James Bong’s adventures are continued in the current Cannabis Crusader comic book. In regards to your second part of the question, no, there is no connection. You’d think it’s good publicity, but actually it screws us because whenever someone looks us up in search engines, all that shows up are links to his song. We actually have our own hip hop James Bong theme song, “The Bong Hit” by the magnificent Wade & Cade, which was also produced in 2005 and you can listen to it on our website, wayofthebong.com.

Why did Spider Man appeal to you, any similarities between you two?

Why does Spider Man appeal to anyone? Spider Man is… Spider Man! He’s the most amazing, spectacular superhero of all time.
While there aren’t many similarities between James Bong and Spider Man, his famous quote did inspire one of our patented pot puns – “With high potency, comes high responsibility”, a reference to the fact that cannabis now is much more potent than it was in the 60’s and 70’s.

There was a very good response to your comics at this year’s EECC. Do you plan any Romania-inspired comics?

We launched the first collected edition of the James Bong comic at EECC and the response has been overwhelmingly great. Fans were calling it “the most original comic”, “impressively creative” and “quite possibly the best comic book I’ve ever read”. James Bong is an international spy, so in the future I could see him coming to Romania to save stoners from all the injustice. There is definitely a need for James Bong in Romania because the general mentality towards cannabis is unprogressive and antiquated and this is his mission, to overturn that mentality and to spread the message about the plant’s benefits.

What is different regarding your comic style and other groups in this niche?

What makes our style so different is our truly international team, it has a distinctive blend of American and European style of comics and it doesn’t stop there, even Latin America contributes. Myself, James Longshore (US) and Bianca Mina (Romania), write the comic and the penciler, Marek Dubienski, is from Poland but lives in the UK and was trained at the Kubert School of Comics in the US. The inker, Cristian Docolomanski, is from Chile and the colorist, Luca Romano, is from Italy, while Keith Perkins does the lettering in the US.

Why did you come to EECC, what attracted you to this event?

We went because we live here, but we stayed because it was awesome. It had the feeling of a true comic book convention and an energetic and curious vibe that has toned down in countries like the US, because there are sooo many conventions and it’s nothing new. Because Romania has been so deprived of everything comics for so long, the response has been just simply astonishing and you can see that in the turnout at the EECC. People are hungry for alternative ideas and fresh, original content, which made it the ideal place to launch an edgy comic like ours.

How can you explain your work to someone who doesn’t know what James Bong is all about?

Oh, we love explaining it. That’s our favorite part of the job. Usually, the pun on the name grabs people’s attention and we take that opportunity to present the whole universe that goes behind this at-first-glance simple parody. James Bong is a cannabis crusader, a hero for the legalization movement, whose mission is to protect cannabis consumers from injustice. He is a secret agent of J.O.I.N.T. (Justice Organization Involving Nugget Technology), which is like a SHIELD of the cannabis culture. The reason we say it’s a universe is because there is a comic and a live action web series, which explore the rich mythology of this hero and is based in the history of marijuana prohibition. Our stories are inspired by true events from the legalization movement and the black market. What we learned by being at East European Comic Con is that it’s most effective when it’s us out there, enthusiastically presenting James Bong, breaking stereotypes and then people just catch our buzz.

Have you ever been abused/bullied in public at events because of your parodies?

Actually, we’ve been really touched by the fans’ reaction to the subject matter of James Bong and how open-minded they are. There were even people who didn’t smoke cannabis, but supported the cause and appreciated our concept and bought the comic. But the real test will be when the comic goes mainstream, which is where it’s headed. When people start to take notice, the opposition will make itself heard and we’re prepared for that, because there are in fact many arguments in favor of the cause. So, stay toked, cannabis crusaders, for the big smoke-out of high vs low.

What do you think about bullying in the Geek community and what would you do to raise awareness about this issue?

Bullying is a major concern because what’s so special about comic conventions is that this is where we go to truly be ourselves and be free and love the things we love without any judgement or negativity. That shouldn’t be put in jeopardy. What would we do about it? Beat those bullies up! Just kidding… We would probably spike their food with a little cannabis and then sit down and have a talk about it. Because that’s how James Bong fights for peace, not through violence like most super heroes, but by using the plant’s qualities.

photos from James Longshore