One on One with Tony DiGerolamo

USPA NEWS - Tony DiGerolamo may be one of the funniest men alive. His work on the Simpsons is priceless and his other work so comedy will forever be burned into the minds of thousands of young fans around the world.

I recently had a chance to chat with Tony DiGerolamo from The Webcomic Factory. For those of you that don´t know the name, Tony DiGerolamo got his start way back in 96 with “Jersey Devil #1“, based on the Jersey Devil legend. In 1999 he worked on The Travelers and then later a miniseries called The Fix. Each of these projects showed growth for DiGerolamo and a growing fan base. When The Travelers crossed over with Knights of the Dinner Table, I discovered this great creator. Shortly afterwards he got picked up by Bongo Comics and began writing for The Bart Simspon comic series.

Tell me about The Webcomic Factory. What is it and why should I be checking it out?

"I founded The Webcomic Factory in 2010 with my business partner, Christian Beranek. We´re both writers and publishers, so we approached a webcomic site a little different that most artist/creators. We wanted to tell a lot of different and varied stories. Different styles, genres, topics“” The idea being, there´s always something for everyone at the Webcomic Factory."

"Consequently, we have gag-a-day strips, graphic novels, single issue comic-book type stories, single panel comics, photo webcomics and even some Japanese Manga. We´ve done sci-fi, horror, fantasy and action, but also comedy, satire, politics, sports, slice of life, family and just plain weird. Some of the comics are very personal, while others are just completely ridiculous. We´ve had crossovers within our comics. We have a comic about zombies in space, bikers in the future, comic book gangsters, New York stand up comedians, horrible kids, crazy relationships, a gun club, East Coast and West Coast culture and anything else we can come up with."

I understand that you also run Super Frat, what can you tell me about that?

" Super Frat was my first foray into webcomics. It´s a little like Old School meets the Avengers or Animal House meets the Justice League. A meteor hits the Lambda Sigma Rho frat house and all the brothers get superpowers except one. If you like dick jokes, you´re really gonna like it!"

You also work on the Simpsons Comic, how has that work influenced your work with your websites?

" Hmm, hard to say. I´m a hardcore Simpsons fan from waaaay back. I was watching the show and reading the comics long before I started working for Bongo. The characters are really just second nature to me. Currently, I´m obsessed with the iPad game. It´s so awesome."

Can you tell me a little about yourself? What words would best describe the real you?

"Well, I´m an old school gamer. I worked for Kenzer & Company for a few years. I wrote the Hacklopedia of Beasts, Slaughterhouse Indigo, several issues of Everknights and they published my fantasy comic, The Travelers for many issues. These days, I´m more of a console gamer. Never enough time to get the old adventuring party back together."

"I live in South Jersey with my wife and dog. We like movies and strange restaurants and hanging out at all hours outside the Starbucks arguing politics. Well, I like to argue politics anyway."

Working for Nerd Rage News, I am obviously a gamer and an old school gamer at that. You call yourself an old school gamer too. So what games have influenced you?

"Oh, I´m a 1st edition D&D guy from way back. Most of my teens and 20“²s I spent DM´ing one thing or another. I once ran a game with 16 PC´s and players all in the same dungeon and they split into three different parties. We played in shifts, one group played the game, one played volleyball and another group ate. Then I would yell “Switch!“

If you got stuck in a place where you could only play one game for the rest of your life, what game would it be?

"Well, if I had a group of good players, D&D I suppose. Something d20. By myself, GTA IV or probably V when that comes out."

"As a geek I tend to boil everything down to super heroes. So lets boil you down and see what kind of person you are. If you could be a super hero, who would you be and why?"

"Superheroes seem pretty miserable and people are always trying to kill them, doesn´t sound like much fun. I´d rather just have the superpowers."

Interesting answer and not one I hear every day. Ok, since you don´t want to be a superhero, what super power or powers would you like to have? What would you do if you did have those powers?

"Well, immortality is at the top of my list. I would try to use those powers to make people remember important history, so as to stop repeating it. I guess flying would be nice too. Then I could trim those trees in my backyard by myself."

What big projects do you have planned for the near future?

"We´re gearing up for the Webcomic Factory´s second Kickstarter for Miserable Comedians, our strip about New York stand up comics. We had a successful one with Post Apocalyptic Nick last year. We have a new strip called “So Many Nightmares“ which is an illustrated strip about my many fears. As always, we post a new webcomic every single day. Super Frat gets posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays with comedy updates the rest of the week."

Anything else you want to tell your fans?

"Oh, and one more thing. If you visit Super Frat and The Webcomic Factory and see something you like, please spread the word via social media. We´re running a contest on the site where you can win free prizes if you link us. It´s call The Webcomic Factory Super Team."

After having this brief conversation I gotta say that the guy is far more interesting than I ever expected. We shared many likes and interests and his resume shows that he has had a great career doing the things that he loves. I strongly suggest you check out his work at The Webcomic Factory and Super Team. If you are a fun loving geek, you will not be disappointed.