We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mack Duncan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mack, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
In 2007, I wrote a play about young people with extraordinary abilities trying to navigate an ordinary world. I didn’t do much with it until about 2018 when I decided to adapt it into a comic book. Seemed like the right space for it, considering the premise.
In February of 2020, I released the first two issues of my comic… AMONG US (about people with special abilities living “among us” in the real world). By August of 2020, I was really excited to find people were talking about AMONG US… until I realized it wasn’t my comic book, it was a popular online video game. When I released issue 3 in September of 2020, I got a lot of hate from gamers accusing me of trying to profit off of someone else’s success. As far as I know, the creators of the game neither know of nor care about my existence. All the same, I decided to try and combat the brand confusion and shift the title to AU.
Eventually, as I create other titles, AU will be the brand imprint (like DC or Marvel). By then, the confusion of Among Us should be long forgotten.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’ve been a performing artist most of my life. I’m also a high school teacher. Much of my work as an artist and an instructor has been connected to stage and film. I’ve taught theatre and English at the high school level. I cofounded the Torch Theatre in Phoenix where I also taught improv classes, co-produced the Phoenix Improv Festival for 20 years, worked as a puppeteer, and made a few short films along the way. I’ve been eying my retirement from teaching for awhile. I gradually started developing the AU comic books a few years back… then COVID hit and pretty much ended my performing arts career.
As of now, I have five issues published and about 30 more written. Since I don’t do the art myself, I’m hoping to find a generous and loving audience so that I can continue producing the work.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
NFTs are a scam. I won’t participate.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I do like being “my own boss.” This is the first space where I have full autonomy. I’ve worked in other environments were most of my tasks were mandated from a higher authority, or I had to get several partners to agree with me if I wanted to do something. Here, I set the pace, the tone, and make all of the decisions. It dose mean I am ultimately responsible for everything, but when there are only a few contractors and no other employees, it makes things a little easier.
Contact Info:
- Website: aucomics.com
- Instagram: @AUComicBooks and @TheMackDuncan
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AUComicsGraphicNovel
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mack-duncan-6651649/
- Twitter: @MackDuncan and @AUComicBooks
- Youtube: @MackDuncan
Image Credits
Art by Ben Worrell Color by Fabio Bandres