An Australian Film Major is fulfilling a dream deferred by releasing a project he’s been working on for a decade in the form of a gorgeous Manga Comic Book. “Rock Car” by Joel Zico, will be released this year after already hitting its target on Kickstarter, and has garnered attention for weaving an Aussie yarn into a traditional Japanese medium. I was very fortunate to be able to chat with Joel about Rock Car, as well as its video game influences, Joel’s inspirations, and of course, Guitar Swords…
An Australian Manga with a haunted car and guitar swords? Tell me more about Rock Car
Firstly. I wanted to say a huge ‘Thank You’ for taking the time to chat Josh.
Rock Car is the story of Terry Weiss, a down-on-his-luck mechanic and failed musician who’s still living in the shadow of his late father—a famous rock star. Life hasn’t been kind to Terry, and the only thing he has to show for his connection to his dad is an old classic car that’s seen better days.
When Terry gets the chance to drive the car from NSW to Darwin and sell it for a solid payday, it feels like a shot at cleaning up the mess he’s made of his life. But things take a turn when he realises two things:
His dad’s ghost is haunting the car.
Something dark and dangerous from his father’s past is chasing them, determined to take the car—and maybe Terry’s life.
What starts as a road trip to redemption quickly turns into a wild ride filled with ghosts, grudges, and a whole lot of unfinished business.
The premise of Rock Car is very unique, how did the concept come about?
I started working on this project back in 2014 while brainstorming ideas with my university teacher, Kelly Chen. One concept I pitched was a road trip story about a man and his father, who could only communicate through the car radio. The idea was born from a desire to create something simple and cost-effective—a story that could be filmed with just a man, a car, and a cameraman.
What inspired you to tell the story as a Manga?
Films are only one medium for storytelling. Since ages past, we’ve told tales around the campfire, we craft stories in 30 second commercials and we weave epic narratives in videogames. Some of my best memories were of my own dad telling me stories of how he hitchhiked across India and Sri Lanka on lazy Sunday mornings. The medium is irrelevant. Tell someone a good tale, and you’ve succeeded as a storyteller.
With Rock Car, due to a storm of events, I shelved the film. Kelly passed away in 2017, my wife gave birth to our first child, and society was struck down by a pandemic. The idea of getting a film off the ground was far gone in my eyes.
Coming to terms with likely never being handed millions of dollars to make a film, I had to think of a way to tell this story that Kelly and I believed in and a way that amplified the themes and subject matter in an exciting way.
Growing up, comics were my first love. Conan, Spider-Man, Thor and Silver Surfer amongst many others. I couldn’t get enough of them. My teachers would lose their minds seeing me haul in my duffel bag of ~200 comics to school for everyone’s perusal.
What better way than to come back to the medium that made me fall in love with storytelling in the first place?
When I think Guitar Swords, I think of Squall’s Gunblade from Final Fantasy VIII. What Video game influences crept into Rock Car?
I love how you picked that up! I’m a huge fan of Final Fantasy and JRPGs in general. It wasn’t a conscious decision to replicate the aesthetic of the Gunblade, but many themes from other videogames have snuck into the story.
I personally really love the relationship between Jecht and Tidus in Final Fantasy X. That was an inspiration for Terry and his father’s dynamic. If I were to name one other video game, it would have to be ‘Xenogears’, a 1998 Squaresoft title which dealt with some very challenging themes, such as religious zealotry, Jungian philosophy and some very specific verbiage from Nietzche’s work. Rock Car has several homages to Xenogears, which may only get picked up by very few people. I’ll likely go over these inspirations in detail in the digital documentation I’m preparing as one of the pledge rewards on Kickstarter.
Speaking of Video Games, what storytellers in the gaming scene inspire you?
Right now, I think what Sam Lake and the team at Remedy are doing is the most inventive form of using the videogame medium to tell a cross-IP story. I would recommend every story lover play their games. I could talk about them forever…
From a singular visionary perspective, Hideo Kojima is also doing amazing things. I’m very keen to see Death Stranding 2 and the horror title he has cooking for Microsoft.
I also think the independent teams are doing some great work, namely ‘Umurangi Generation’ by Tali Faulkner and ‘Adios’ by the team at Mischief. Independent videogames will be what save the creative side of this industry.
Rock Car sounds pretty wild, were there any wild ideas that were too crazy for the story?
Quite the opposite! Because Rock Car was written with a small film budget in mind, the move to manga meant I had to go crazier.
It was after Kelly passed away where I really started toying with the tone of the story. I asked myself, “what would I want to read?” Bladed instruments, a grim reaper on the moon and a samurai style showdown at Arnhem Land. I had to inject some energy into it, and the guitar swords were a way for me to have some fun with the story. Even now, I’m adding some final pages which push it just a bit further… Ever heard of a saxophone that shoots rockets?
If Rock Car had an OST, what songs would be on it?
I wrote the screenplay listening to my friend Daniel Meyer’s song ‘Shadowman’ on repeat, so that gets first billing.
Metallica’s ‘Turn the Page’ and Guns n’ Roses ‘November Rain’ are favourites.
To add a Japanese spin, X-Japan’s ‘Forever Love’ and Gackt’s ‘Mizerable’.
Finally for an Aussie touch, Silverchair’s ‘Frogstomp’ album… An absolute classic.
If you could give advice to someone who has a story, they want to tell but aren’t sure where to begin, what would it be?
Most importantly, why do you want to tell this story? Is it for you? Is it to entertain? What do you want people to feel by experiencing your story?
Write it from start to finish. It doesn’t matter how bad it is… and trust me, it will be bad. You must get that load off your brain.
Then go back, chip away at it over and over.
Once you have it in a place where it starts to make sense, then ask – “Would I pay someone to make this?”
And finally… The first piece of advice I learned from Simon Townsend back in 2001 when I was studying to be a journalist… Don’t talk about what you’re going to do… It will give you a false sense of accomplishment and take energy away from actually doing it.
How has the experience of making Rock Car been? Everything you hoped?
If someone asked me this after a few beers, I would cry into their arms.
When are you hoping for Rock Car to be released?
The Kickstarter ends on December 4th. Printing takes one week and then with individual shipments, I’m hoping to get it into everyone’s mailbox by Christmas.
Following the Kickstarter release I’ll be seeking an established Publisher who can take the legwork off me. I’ll provide where there is demand until then, but I’m a one man band.
How can people get behind Rock Car?
Get onto the Kickstarter, share the links with your friends and get in touch with me via socials. Can’t afford it and want to read it? Reach out and let’s work something out. I’d rather have one extra reader than an extra dollar.
