We're kicking off our 2024 Creator Interviews series this week with the first of two parts. The interview today is with Mason Mendoza, Publishing Partner, Writer, and Editor at Critical Entertainment. We'll have a follow-up interview with another member of their team next week.
Critical Entertainment is a Los Angeles-based publishing company primarily operating in the comic book and graphic novel industry.
GlobalComix: Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came together with Chris to create Critical Entertainment.
Mason Mendoza: Oh, we’ve been friends since 2007, so we have about a decade and a half of stories about this, haha. The gist of it is Chris studied screenwriting in college, and I studied Philosophy. We had an apartment together with a 65” TV that became a popular watch-party pad for CTVA kids. They spent a lot of time teaching me what a midpoint is, and I spent a lot of time deconstructing the masterpiece films they’d put in front of me. There’s a lot more to it than that, but eventually we were talking about our own story ideas, breaking out beat sheets, proofing each other’s scripts, and I’m pretty sure I became Chris’ favorite editor.
After a few years of refining our story-crafting skills, Chris and I interned at a small publishing company called BOOM! Studios in 2011-2012. While we mostly moved boxes, we also got to attend conventions and explore the wonderous domain of a functional comic book publisher during an inflection point for their company, when they started their Adventure Time books. Then, Chris and our artist Leandro Rizzo finished an ashcan of Zombie Zero and acquired an artist’s alley booth at Long Beach Comic Con.
For five years, I helped Chris edit, produce, and sell each new issue of Zombie Zero, his short stories, Space Dragon, Planetary Expansion, and The First Americans, and we co-write and developed Minion, an idea I had about the more serious side of life as a henchman that I came up with well before the kid-friendly Dreamworks movie assumed its title.
Eventually we made it into Los Angeles Comic Con, Anaheim Wondercon, and Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con. Yet, even though we were working as an indie studio with the wonderful talents of Leandro Rizzo, Alonso Molina Gonzales, and Tadd Galusha, we were still rejected time and time again by San Diego Comic Con.
So, believe it or not, that’s the short version of why we made the leap in 2017 and finally formed Critical Entertainment LLC. The partnership was almost required by the industry; and the year we became an official publisher, SDCC accepted us. Since then, we’ve been climbing out of small press and the more tucked away areas, and finally into the film and television section thanks to some of the opportunities we’ve had at SDCC over the years. But that’s a whole other story!
GlobalComix: Having business knowledge before going into publishing I’m sure was very beneficial. What sort of experience did you have before Critical Entertainment, and how has it impacted your work in publishing?
Mason: Haha, ahh, I get this question a lot because of how we framed my bio on our site. The honest answer is, I’ve always dipped my toes into leadership positions in extracurriculars, and I’ve had a whirlwind of corporate day-jobs while moonlighting to write comics and co-run CE. My resume is Frankensteinian, and maintaining two careers is a very delicate balancing act. I’m no stranger to paperwork, inventory, retail, networking, marketing, and soft skills, so I’m able to apply all of those lessons and processes to what I do for Critical Entertainment, sure.
But, the real benefit I find in simultaneously working for myself and “The Man” is in the amount of inspiration I’m able to draw from all the different kinds of people, motivations, conflicts, and victories I’ve had while working my ass off. This kind of leads to your next question…
GlobalComix: In addition to business, you write comics as well. Does your business experience impact the way you go about writing stories?
Mason: Of course, but not because I’m thinking, “if I write this kind of story, I’ll make more money.” Instead, the experiences I’ve had as a working-class individual inspire my writing quite a bit. In “Minion,” the lead character goes through the bullshit of being an entry-level criminal. A story I’m developing, “The Great Bamboo,” is all about traveling the world (I currently work in the travel industry). My short, “Life Is An Open Door” is all about that instinct to get up from your desk and bolt out of the office front door. I don’t know many corporate workers who haven’t felt that urge to walk out, get on a plane, and never return, so working in the corporate sector has also helped me relate to a wider audience.
Sometimes, while working Customer Service in a call center for a cruise line answering phones and solving issues from 4:00AM to 1:30PM, I would wonder, “would it all be easier or better if I had the time and resources to focus on Critical Entertainment 24/7.” But…as my mom always says, “it’s grist for the mill.”
And she’s absolutely right. The phones weren’t really ringing from 4:30AM-7:00AM, so while working there, I read about 20 books. I’m a fiend for literature, and I also had a novel-reading spree when I worked at a due diligence firm in DC, because my commute was two hours to-and-from Baltimore by train.
So, while I can’t control all of those ups and downs and feelings you experience while working the regular challenges we face in the rat race, I am able to express them in my writing. The rigamarole has given me a whole other kind of “business experience,” and we call it “life experience.” I’ve met amazing people and felt struggle and success on corporate teams. Some jobs actually wound up providing me paid downtime to delve into the deep ideas and prose of many incredible writers. I’ve even been laid off! And all the while, the forlorn feelings of desperately chasing my own dream while struggling, but then thriving in the American dream has influenced my writing substantially.
Life is an Open Door, written by Mason Mendoza.
GlobalComix: Is there a specific aspect of creating comics that you enjoy most, or a part of the process that fascinates you the most?
Mason: To me, the best part of creating comics is when I really jive with another writer or artist during the creation process. When an artist masterfully conveys, or even enhances the ideas I’ve depicted in the script, or when a co-writer and I riff back-and-forth on a plot beat or a line of dialogue, I feel nothing but gratitude, satisfaction, and human connection. It is a form of mutual understanding that you then get to share with your audience. So, because it takes a team to bring these ideas to life, that joint process of creation is more fulfilling than anything else. I guess I must be a people-person!
GlobalComix: Is there a type of story, or a theme that Critical Entertainment hasn’t published yet, that you’d like to see?
Mason: FANTASY! I’m writing a fantasy story, dammit! You bet your asses there will be swords and magic and a big scary dragon! FIREBALL!!!
GlobalComix: Critical Entertainment works with a wide variety of styles, genres, themes, and more. What about diversifying your offerings to readers helps a publisher grow? What are the downsides or risks with that?
Mason: There has been zero risk or downside! When you have something for everyone, more diverse groups of people stop by the booth (or any storefront) for a look around. We’ve had to bump up to corner booths at several conventions in order to display all of our books, and it’s always awesome to see everyone from a family or friend group fan out into different sections. Our fans appreciate that we have a slew of diverse stories and characters. Also, sometimes people want to read a story that isn’t about them!
Not only that, but the diversity of our stories has also given us the opportunity to bump elbows with different industry professionals. Chris’ horror/adventure graphic novel “Zombie Zero” gained traction with a producer from Patriot Studios, which helped produce “The Matrix,” “What Women Want,” and “Reservoir Dogs,” and he’s now working with them on a screenplay for a major motion picture. We’ve also worked with them to open a comic imprint for their company, and we’ve published a few comics based on their movies. It was pretty awesome to adapt “Prisoners of the Ghostland” into a comic book starring Nicolas Cage!!
During the most recent SDCC, my sci-fi short “Lifeboat” caught the eye of a short film producer who has won several awards, and not only have we teamed up to adapt it into a full screenplay, but he’s asked me to jump onboard with another project of his about a marching band. We caught the eye of an animation studio with “Life Is An Open Door,” and while we might not work on something together right away, at least I had the experience of pitching with them.
The other thing about diversifying your offerings as a writer is you get to show you’re not a one-trick pony. Chris can prove he is able to write a horror graphic novel, a story about a massive space monster, a series about paleo-Siberians crossing the Bering Strait, a western, and an ongoing series about a space ship with a group of 1,000 passengers. I can prove I’ve got the writing chops to handle underdog supervillain henchmen, office escape-fantasy anthropomorphism, existential high sci-fi, and a variety of new and different concepts to be released this year. As we continue to grow as an indie publisher, we’re also continuing to grow as writers by challenging ourselves to write what we don’t necessarily know (but thoroughly research).
GlobalComix: What comic that you’ve read in the past has made a large impact on you? Was there one specifically that made you want to make your own publisher?
Mason: The biggest inspiration to create Critical Entertainment was SDCC, as previously mentioned. But in the realm of writing, “Bone” by Jeff Smith, “On A Sunbeam” by Tillie Walden, and “Watchmen” by Alan Moore (of course lol) taught me that comic books are an artistic medium to be taken as seriously or lightheartedly as movies, novels, or music. The success of these three wildly different works of art inspired me to create comics that I love as much as I love those books.
GlobalComix: What advice would you give to others who want to make their own publisher or manage comic-based projects like zines or anthologies?
Mason: Find each other. Team up. Work together. GlobalComix has a Discord. Comic cons have artist alleys. There are hungry writers, artists, and letterers everywhere. If you can’t afford it, find a day-job that allows you to and work on it at night. Take community college classes in marketing or business. Come see us at a convention and we’ll talk your ear off. Consider participating in the creative-side and find your niche in the mechanism. But, most of all, DON’T GIVE UP!
GlobalComix: Do you have a title that you’ve put out so far that you are particularly proud of?
Mason: I’m really happy with “Lifeboat” and “Life Is An Open Door.” They’re my one-two punch, and each hit is a polar opposite of the other. On one hand, you have this bleak, existential, sci-fi drama about the end of the universe with words in every panel that somehow leave you feeling hopeful about hopelessness, and on the other hand, you have a rebellious, lighthearted, dog-people jazz party in a community fountain in downtown Los Angeles with zero dialogue. I wrote this little duo during a difficult time and I’m glad that I did. They speak to people in wildly different ways, yet they’re intrinsically interwoven. They show an emotional, tonal, and thematic range. Sometimes I reread them and wonder if they were written by somebody else!
GlobalComix: Are there any plans for Critical Entertainment or new books coming out that you’d like to share?
Mason: We’re planning to release a few more books this year in both digital and print, including “The First Americans” Issue 3, “Planetary Expansion” Issue 7, and another watercolor short called “The Quarrel”.
We will also be attending the following conventions where we’d love to meet with friends, fans, and aspiring creators:
- Anaheim WonderCon – March 29th-31st
- San Diego Comic Con International – July 25th-28th
- L.A. Comic Con – October 4th-6th
At these shows, we’ll be selling physical copies of our books which we are willing to sign for free.
Hope to see you there!
Thanks, Mason, for an awesome interview. We can't wait to see what you and the Critical Entertainment team are working on next, and we hope to see you at conventions this year as well!
To find work by Mason Mendoza and comics published by Critical Entertainment, check out the links below.
- Discover comics Mason has worked on
- Follow Critical Entertainment on GlobalComix
- Browse comics from Critical Entertainment
- Find Mason on Instagram
Keep your eyes peeled for another interview next week!