Q: WHAT IS YOUR REAL NAME AND AGE?
A: You had to start with the hard ones, didn't you? Okay, I was born April 2nd, 1971 which makes me 27 years old and just old enough to remember seeing STAR WARS in the theater. The name part is where it gets a little tricky...My real, legal, full name is Eli Jared Gerber 5 Stone. Up until my 27th birthday it was Eli Jared Gerber. I had always hated the name Gerber. You can imagine the childhood torment that having your name associated with baby can bring. (Why didn't my peers ever mention Gerber KNIVES or Gerber DAISIES or even Gerber FAUCET FIXTURES?!) My mother's maiden name is Stone. Stone I like. I think it's powerful yet unassuming like a fine Alsatian brie. I wanted to keep the JARED GERBER in there as it IS my heritage but that left me with Eli Jared Gerber Stone--a FOUR part name. No good. Not only is 5 my lucky number but I speak Japanese and 4 is the Japanese number associated with DEATH! So I figured if I wanted a fifth name it may as well just be the number 5. But believe you me, getting a digit name to pass in Boston probate court is no cake walk! Anyway, now I go by Eli 5 Stone and when people ask about the numeral I just say, "Yes I REALLY AM that pretentious."

Q: HOW DID YOU BEGIN YOUR CAREER?
A: I've always drawn and written. I never took my writing seriously (and still don't) but I knew from about the age of 12 that I would be an architect or an illustrator or something in the field. As years passed I never stopped drawing but I went through a post high school "let's sample life" period in which I worked a lot of retail jobs and couch-surfed Boston and Japan for 5 months and 3 months, respectively. (Artist's tip: do NOT travel Tokyo broke and homeless!) At around age 23 a friend of mine said to me, "Hey, you should try drawing comic books!" I was four square against it. I said, "No way in hell am I gonna spend hours and hours drawing inside of little boxes!" I was determined to become the freelance illustrator that I thought would bring anonymous success and put food on the table. But suddenly my life changed dramatically for the worse. I began to exhibit the symptoms of a brain chemical imbalance called PANIC DISORDER. This would not have been so bad if I had any idea what was wrong with me but I was so convinced that I wasn't "crazy" and that I had Lupus or something that it took 12 doctors and almost two years for me to get the help I needed. During those two years I spent countless hours just shivering in a corner, choking on the tightness of my own throat. At times my vision was skewed. I was highly paranoid. It was bad acid twenty-four hours a day for almost two years. I felt like I was wasting away, disappearing. So I decided to leave a paper trail to remind myself of the fact that I was still human. And so was born THE COMIC, a 26 page comic book starring myself in cathartically happy situations. I wrote and drew it only as a form of therapy but when I was finished I decided to print up a few copies for my friends. Since I had blown my welfare money on printing the book, I tried to get a little revenue back by selling THE COMIC on consignment at local comic shops. Lucky for me, one of the shops I peddled at was a New England Comics, which is not only a store chain but also the publishing company of the world-renown TICK. I will always appreciate the manager of that store, Bob Mayo, because he was the only reason that NECP editor George Suarez ever saw my "work". Bob submitted for me and a week later I received a phone call to do try-outs for The Tick. No, I never wanted to write or draw comic books but I figured I would just go with life's flow. I guess they liked my 3 page Tick story submission because I've still got the job nearly two years later!

Q: DESCRIBE YOUR COMIC BOOK.
A: The title of my book is THE TICK: BIG BLUE DESTINY. For the few who don't know, The Tick was a super-hero parody comic book character created in the late 80's by a man named Ben Edlund. There was a boom at that time of small press parody books but the only two to survive the glut as far as I know are The Tick and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ben, a film-maker at heart, would write and pencil an issue every few months or so while he was going to school. Miraculously, the title just kept picking up steam until, of course, it was turned into a T.V. cartoon show. Ben was the man in charge of the show and no longer had the time required to produce the comic book. The Tick cartoon show was great for Tick fans everywhere but it left NECP with partial rights to produce Tick comics and no one around to make them. So NECP went head-hunting for a writer/artist with a similar sense of humor and art style to Ben Edlund. (I realize that this answer is long-winded but, if you want to know what I do, it's important to know what I am trying to live up to). After a few not-so-successful attempts at finding creative people who could imitate Ben's unique take on super-hero pop culture I guess NECP and Ben finally decided that I was close enough. So, to answer your question in digest form; I am an inexperienced froot loop of a comic book man doing my best Ben Edlund impression while trying to infuse my own flair into The Tick legacy without ruining it completely. Does that make any sense?

Q: WHO HELPS YOU MAKE YOUR COMIC BOOKS?

A: This is tough to answer without sounding like an ingrate. My art Director, Bob Polio, helps to remind me of the true and original spirit of The Tick comic books. Bob also is the letterer of BIG BLUE DESTINY. Tick creator Ben Edlund is in touch once in a while. He's an incredibly talented writer and does a fine job coaching me when I write a plot hole big enough to fall into. The covers are colored by a computer expert named Dave Snyder. And other than that, it's pretty much up to me. I do the work of three people by writing, penciling and inking. These are three completely different disciplines and the 12 to 16 hour days can be grueling but I like to have as much control as possible over my work.

Q: DO YOU HAVE ANY INSPIRATIONS?
A: No, not really. I don't read comic books.

Q: DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF FAMOUS?
A: I'm not famous. I'm just riding the blue coat tails of a media/retail juggernaut. Someday I hope to be known for my own characters and stories but I'm not at that level yet. The most famous thing I've ever done is modeling my bald head for the opening sequence of the MTV alternative music show 120 MINUTES.

Q: WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT BEING A TEEN?
A: Intensity. Good times were really good and bad times were HELL ON EARTH. Being a teen is all about high school. In fact, I would say that the actual LEARNING done in high school has virtually nothing to do with classes and teachers. High school is a social barnyard. My high school relationships with girls would always be, at first, heaven on Earth but end in a pool of my own self pity and a bitter division of friends. Speaking of which, I and most of my friends were punk rockers, real fringe types. This didn't go over well in a white suburban town. We were verbally and physically abused on a daily basis. In being our own people we ended up making ourselves targets for the derision of any kid who wanted to climb up a rung on the social ladder. Getting arrested on bogus weapons charges didn't help much either. Some of us didn't make it through all four years. Drop-outs, transfers, drugs and alcohol claimed the high school careers of many. I stuck it out for some reason. I've always been a sucker for punishment. But it all paid off (sort of) on graduation day. I ended up being third in my class, gave a graduation speech, the whole bit. And the best part was when some of the toughest kids that had been harassing me for four years came up to me after my speech and shook my hand as if to say, "No hard feelings?" I hold no grudges.

Q: DO YOU GO TO A LOT OF CONVENTIONS, PUBLICITY EVENTS? IF SO,WHAT?
A: Not as many as I'd like to. I really enjoy a good convention. I love to talk to people, even if they do think that I'm Ben Edlund. And I love attention. It's nice to feel like a celebrity for a few hours. Far and away the best convention I've ever done is THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON. The weather's great, the attendance is astronomical, there are lots of Japanese there to talk to and,unlike most comic book conventions, there are actually CUTE GIRLS there! I'll be going again this August and you all should too! If you mention this interview I'll give you a free belly rub. The only other publicity I get outside of in-house advertising is from my web site. I can't afford a computer but I do have a good friend in the mid west named Lee Toma who has compiled for me a complete history of my artwork, from high school to the present. And now the plug you've all been waiting for...You can find my site at http://members.aol.com/stoneli/. But remember, adoring fans, I do NOT own a computer so if you'd like to drop me a line here in Boston just write to me (you know, with a pen) at:
Eli 5 Stone
55 South Huntington Avenue, #104
Jamaica Plain, MA
I love to get mail (especially from barely legal girls) but I can't always promise a response on accounta I'm way wicked busy all the mother grabbin' time.

Q: WHAT DO YOU HAVE PLANNED IN THE FUTURE AND WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE APPEARANCES?
A: Well, we already know I'll be at THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON for all of it's four day duration. As far as my future work I can only say this; I love to write and draw The Tick and I am EXTREMELY grateful to NECP and to life itself for giving me this opportunity to make a living doing something I enjoy. But I can't do somebody else's character forever. I've got too many stories to tell. I have a need to explore the limits of my art style. I've got a darkness that I've been holding back too long and, if you've been following BBD, you can see that this black silt is leaking into my Tick work. I've got a project in mind for the future. Something still very far away. Something called I AM JOHN CALENDAR.

Q : THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALLOWING THE TEEN SPOT THE CHANCE TO INTERVIEW YOU!
A : No problem! I appreciate it!