Review Fix 2014 NYCC Coverage: Ben Hatke Talks ‘Julia’s House for Lost Creatures’

Review Fix chats with author Ben Hatke about his new book, “Julia’s House for Lost Creatures.” His first picture book after his successful Zita comic book series, Hatke talks about his transition as a writer and artist, as well as his what makes the book so special.

Review Fix: How did it feel to work on another series besides Zita?

Ben Hatke: Well, I’m not sure just yet it Julia’s House will turn into a proper series, but transitioning from comics into the picture book format was a lot of fun. I really felt like I was stretching out as a writer and artist. I also enjoyed creating the big watercolor illustrations, and not being so confined to panels.

It was also gratifying to step into a different story world after spending so much (mental) time out in space.
Review Fix: For those who don’t know, tell us about the story here. What makes these characters unique?

Hatke: Julia and her traveling house settle in at the edge of a little seaside town and everything is pretty cozy. But living alone gets to be a little too quiet for Julia, so she opens her house up to lost magical creatures. She soon finds herself inundated with gnomes, goblins, trolls, a mermaid and a dragon and other fantastical beings.

Julia is an industrious character. She solves most of her problems by retreating to her workshop. She also has a bit of a hard time finding a balance between order and chaos.

Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy it the most?

Hatke: Oh, everybody, I hope. I like to think that the best picture books have something for everyone to appreciate.

Review Fix: How was your creative process different this time around?

Hatke: One major difference is that there was very little digital work for this book -at least on my end. When it came time to produce the actual illustrations (after all the thumbnail drafts were worked out) I just got out big sheets of Arches watercolor paper, put on loud music and went to town. And when I was finished I sent the illustrations off to the publisher for scanning. They were too big for my home scanner.
Review Fix: What do you think is the most endearing quality of this book?

Hatke: Hmm… maybe the way the trolls love poetry? Julia’s sense of home decor?

Review Fix: How is the art different in this book?

Hatke: It’s probably a little looser, a little more comfortable and confident than the work I did on Zita.

Review Fix: How do you want this book to be remembered?

Hatke: I’d like it to be remembered as the first of many, many picture books, each one unaccountably better than the last. But I’ll be happy if kids just ask their parents to read the book again.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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