Taken from the Wikipedia article on No Need for Bushido:”No Need for Bushido is a webcomic started on April 11, 2002 on Keenspace (now Comic Genesis). The comic is drawn by Alex Kolesar and written by Joseph Kovell. Its content and title are based on various influences from such anime and manga as Tenchi Muyo! (which has a series of volumes titled “No Need for Tenchi”) and Rurouni Kenshin, a famous manga/anime series which No Need For Bushido obviously parodies at many points. Alex’s artistic style too is influenced by, but not restricted to, the manga and anime styles, while Joe’s writing style is famously humorous, unique and random. The series is a mixture of anachronism, exaggerated action, veiled drama, and comedy based in a parodied feudal Japan.”Be sure to check out the comic if you haven’t already!

1 ) Hello! Tell us who you are, and what you do.

Alex: Alex Kolesar. The artist, and creator for No Need for Bushido. I eat, sleep, and webcomic. I also do web design work for all the money I need that the comic doesn’t provide me. I’m also a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design, with a BFA in Illustration.

Joe: Joe Kovell. I’m the Writer and website guru for No Need for Bushido. By day I’m a graphic designer - which mostly involves putting logos on things.

2 ) How long have you been collaborating on NN4B? What are the origins behind it?

Joe: 6 Years, although the concept for NNFB started a year before I got involved. Alex made a short comic featuring Ina and Yori as part of a High school project, which he intended on continuing. I got involved during our Freshman year in college and the comic grew from there.

Alex: If I ever find that original highschool comic, maybe I’ll post it on the site…or maybe not since it’s incredibly embarrassing in its crudity.

3 ) Earlier on in the comic, there was a slightly more anachronistic aspect (the character of Matrix) to the comic that seems to have slowly vanished. Was this an aspect that was planned and ultimately glossed over, or is there going to be a reveal concerning this in the future?

Joe: Matrix is definitely still a part of the comic and will have a more important role later on. Her most recent appearance wasn’t too long ago, page 293, where she’s wearing a more traditional outfit. Who/what Matrix is will be explained by the end of the story, although I suggest you don’t think too hard about it.

Alex: Matrix is a character that is going to have a whole lot of screen time later on in the comic. My hope is that when she finally starts interacting with the main cast more, she’ll quickly become a fan favorite. Obviously the comic, in general, has had quite a few anachronisms, but Matrix stands out as the most prominent, what with the black trenchcoat and sunglasses and whatnot.

4 ) What tends to influence the art and writing in the comic? Can you guys cite any particular sources or examples?

Alex: When I came up with the comic, it was originally going to be more of an outright parody of fighting based anime. But the story definitely developed into its own original entity.

Joe: The characters have become so established in my mind that there is very little conscious outside inspiration when it comes to their dialog. A lot of the situations the characters find themselves in can be traced back to anime, like Rurouni Kenshin, or historical figures and events, like a few similarities of Hirotomo to Oda Nobunaga.

5 ) What are some of your favorite webcomics and what features attract your attention most in a webcomic?

Alex: One of my favorite webcomics is Zap! At http://www.zapinspace.com/. I’m good friends with the artist/co-creator Pascalle. We have a bit of an art rivalry going on. I honestly only read a handful of webcomics, because I find it difficult to keep up with a large number. I tend to like comics with a continuing story and a lot of humor. Having fantastic art will definitely get my attention, too.

Joe: I read a ton of Webcomics that range from joke-a-day (The Book of Biff) to long form (Sluggy Freelance), or from simple art (The Order of the Stick) to the more complex (Zap!). If the comic sets up good characters, that’s just about all I need, but even that isn’t always necessary (XKCD).

6 ) How long does it take to produce a page of the comic? What’s the process of writing like?

Alex: Even though I’m always trying to streamline my process, I seem to continue add to the complexity of the pages, always making them more time consuming to complete. I think nowadays it takes between 15 to 18 hours to complete a page. I may have to start scaling back, I never have any time after work to do other things!

My process consists of drawing, inking, and scanning the page into Adobe Photoshop. Then I vectorize the linework and add in the base colors in Adobe Illustrator. I then paint in all the backgrounds and shade all the characters. After that there are little texture details, highlights, and lighting effects. Then there’s the lettering. It’s a time consuming process, but I think the end result is usually worth it.

Joe: Writing is a fairly unstructured step in NNFB. I might turn out a month’s worth of rough scripts in one night and then not do any serious writing, beyond tightening the dialog up, until that script is almost all used. The overall story to NNFB has been mostly finalized, but future story arcs are added and scrapped all the time.

7 ) You have a rather detailed timeline on your site concerning events during the comic, as well as things that are canon and have occurred outside of the comic. Was a detailed backstory planned out from the beginning?

Joe: Not at all. When we started we knew the main cast members, a few of the “badguys,” some of the political background that the story would take place in and the ultimate end or goal we wanted each main character to reach. The rest developed as we went.

Alex: Actually, Ken’s first appearance happened only shortly after I decided I wanted an angry guy with a giant sword in the comic. We didn’t even have all of our main cast figured out when the comic started!

8 ) You seem to have a very active fanbase, which must be totally fun. Any advice to those who wish to earn a fanbase with their own comics?

Joe: Nothing gives me a big boost like hearing from readers. We try to give people a lot of different ways to comment and participate in NNFB - like the tagboard for example. Responding to emails is still my greatest failing when it comes to fostering a community, but I’m working on that!

9 ) What’s your favorite style of martial arts?

Alex: Kenjutsu. More specifically Hitenmitsurugi Ryu. DON’T TELL ME IT’S FICTIONAL! More truthfully, I’m enamored by any and all forms of martial arts, but have never truly practiced any. I’m still young, though, and ‘join a martial arts dojo’ is on my list of lifelong goals.

Joe: Any fighting style based on absurd pseudo science.

10 ) What do you like more, Star Trek, Star Wars, Futurama, or Firefly?

Joe: Futurama - because I don’t need to add an “except for when…” tag to it AND had a good run. It helps that Futurama is a comedy and is written by geeks, I mean, math lovers.

Alex: Why is Stargate not on this list?? Either way, I am a lover of all scifi, and am an avid fan of all these franchises. If I had to pick one… Firewarstrekrama.

Thanks Joe and Alex, keep up the great work!