Review Fix Exclusive: Jeffrey Ebbeler Talks ‘A Giant Mess’

Review Fix chats with Jeffrey Ebbeler about his ‘A Giant Mess’ comic, detailing its creative process and so much more.

About A Giant Mess (I Like to Read® Comics): Molly doesn’t want to clean her room; she wants to play. Before Molly can argue with her mom, they hear BOOM! BOOM! A giant toddler is on the loose and wants to play . . . with the whole town! In this easy reader comic, Jeffrey Ebbeler has created an entertaining tale about cleaning up after yourself. The I Like to Read® Comics series will continue this fall with Jeffrey Ebbeler’s Kraken Me Up.

Review Fix: How did you know a career in comics/graphic novels was for you?

Jeffrey Ebbeler: Comics were the first art that inspired me as a kid. Whether it was strips like Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbs or books like Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. I have been making my own comic characters since I was little. When I was in college some of my favorite comic illustrators including Jon J Muth and Dave McKean began illustrating children’s picture books. Their work introduced me to the variety of amazing illustrators making picture book and inspired me to pursue a career as a children’s book illustrator.

I have been illustrating picture books for about 15 years now, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to be a writer until a few years ago. My first chance to write came when I was hired to do a monthly comic series called Nestor’s Dock for Ask which is a kids science and nature magazine. It has been a great exercise in creative writing to come up with funny comics about sometimes dry subjects, and it gave me the confidence to write my own books.

Review Fix: Who inspires you creatively?

Ebbeler: All of my books are based on things that I see my kids doing or things that I remember from my childhood. I try to take those moments of real life and use them as the seeds for fantasy stories. My current book, Kraken Me Up, is based on my memories of growing up on a farm and taking my animals to the county fair for judging. I wondered what it would be like if one of the kids brought her pet kraken to the fair.

I wanted to think of a way to have the kraken communicate without talking. I thought back to when I was a shy little kid and how I drew funny cartoons to make my friends laugh. Even though the kraken is big and scary, he is also shy and nervous. After he is frightened by the panicking crowd and sprays them with squid ink. He uses the ink to draw funny pictures to make them all laugh.

I am big fan of comics and picture books and I have ever growing collection. I like so many different styles but some of my favorite comic artists are Chris Ware, Kent Williams, Jeff Smith, and Rafael Rosado. Some of my favorite picture book illustrators are Dan Santat, Chris Van Dusen, Adam Rex, and Tony DiTerlizzi.

Review Fix: How are your comics/graphic novels different or special?

Ebbeler: My first comic book A Giant Mess came out earlier this year. My kids had the most ridiculous reactions when I asked them clean their room, dramatically acting like it was such hard work, and eventually trying to shove everything under their bed.  I remember coming in their room and saying, “This is a giant mess!” and thinking I need to make a story about a giant who plays with the people and cars in a town like my kids play with their toys. The way the giant toddler Jack destroys the town, and then makes a fuss having to clean it up, helps the little girl character Molly see how she needs to try harder cleaner her room.

I liked the way I could use the giant’s behavior to mirror the kids behavior, and I tried to think if there were other stories I could tell with different monsters. I also liked how the title was a play on words, so I come with a long list similar of title ideas. It’s been a whole new way of writing for me, starting with a title and building a story around it. My next 2 books are Kraken Me Up which comes out in September and I’m Ogre It which I’m working on right now.

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

Ebbeler: My books are part of a series called I like to Read Comics by Holiday House publishers. They are for kids who are just learning to read, so all the words are simple, sight words. When my daughter was younger, she struggled a lot with learning to read and we turned to comic early readers like Mo Willems’ Gerald and Piggy books and Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man books. They gave her confidence, and she is now an excellent reader.

I am hoping that my books can do the same thing for other kids. I try to pair the simple text with lots of action and humor in the illustrations.

Review Fix: How do you want your books to be remembered?

Ebbeler: I hope I can draw kids into reading with funny stories and some weird, unexpected twists. Even though the text is simple I try to fill the illustrations with enough action packed, dynamic imagery to bring kids back for return visits.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Ebbeler: I have a long list of ideas for this series. I hope I get the opportunity to keep making more.

Review Fix: Where can people find out more?

Ebbeler: I do a series of story time videos with lots of music, animation and drawing demos. You can check out the video for A Giant Mess at:  

Please visit my web site jeffillustration.com and my publishers web site holidayhouse.com.

My books are available at bookstores and online.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 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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