Who doesn’t want to rule the world?, asks MasterMinds co-creator and Famous Frames artist Aaron Sowd.  “It’s about five guys who stick to their dreams no matter how utterly misguided those dreams really are.”  Stan Lee, co-creator of Spiderman, the X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and countless other titles during his legendary tenure at Marvel, lends his narration skills.  “Face it!  We all love to hate a great super villain.” Check out MasterMinds premiering exclusively on FFMI!

Click here for the interview with Aaron Sowd.

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FM: Who or what influenced your career as an artist?

AS: Initially, my mother got me started on what I laughingly refer to as my career. I laugh, because getting paid to draw is the coolest job ever! I grew up on a farm in Ohio with no electricity, deep in the heart of Amish country, so we had no television or anything like that. I read a lot and my mom taught me to draw at a very young age. She claims I was drawing people running by the time I was three! Later I discovered comic books and that was the coolest thing ever! Words and pictures! The first ones I remember reading were “Peanuts”, “Tintin” and “Asterix”. Then I got into Marvel and DC comics. My young world was rocked yet again in 1977 with a little movie called “Star Wars”. I decided right then and there that I wanted to work in movies no matter what! And twenty nine years later, here I am! I’ve worked in comics for both Marvel and DC and now storyboarding with Famous Frames is a dream come true! After all, how are you going to keep a kid down on the farm after he’s seen Star Wars?

FM: How do you come up with your characters?

AS: Extensive focus groups and market research! No, my characters usually start off as a doodle in my sketchbook or an idea in my head that I want to develop more. The Monocle from “MasterMinds” started as a drawing in my sketchbook and whenever people would flip thru it, they’d always stop on that page and laugh. That’s the key to good characters: they resonate with other people right away. I can draw characters that crack me up all day long, but unless they connect with other people, what’s the point? I knew I was onto something, so I built the story of “MasterMinds” around Monocle and created the rest of the team in short order. Some characters spring to life right away, others have to be developed and refined over a long period of time.

FM: How did you put together the MasterMinds Unlimited crew?

AS: My writing partner Lance Karutz is a friend of mine from way back. We met when I was going to college at Chico State. Lance was an aspiring writer even then and I knew he had great ideas to contribute given the chance. So I immediately called him after coming up with MasterMinds. Later, we met James Denning, who’s worked on The Magic School Bus, Dexter’s Lab and Looney Toons comics for DC. We immediately clicked and have been working together ever since. FM: How does the creative process work with a team of three people?AS: One of us usually brainstorms a basic idea, then pitches it to the other two. If everybody likes it, we shoot ideas around and build on the premise, see where we can go with it. Sometimes this is when the idea goes in new and unexpected directions. Then that guy goes off and writes up a first draft incorporating everyone’s ideas. We’ll pass drafts around with the guy who had the initial idea taking the lead. We end up with a mini-bible if it’s a TV show or a treatment if it’s a film pitch. By that time, it’s been refined and developed to a place that we’re all happy with.

FM: What was your inspiration for creating MasterMinds?

AS: In the beginning, I was just having fun, creating a cartoon that I would want to watch. We’re all very much influenced by classic cartoons – stuff done for kids, but adults enjoy them as well. Too many cartoons these days forget that kids’ cartoons are something that parents will want to watch with their kids. I think Brad Bird has brought back that classic sensibility with “Iron Giant” and more recently, “The Incredibles”. If we can aspire to come anywhere close to that, we’ll be thrilled!

FM: How did you meet Stan Lee?

AS: He threw coffee on me. Seriously! I was coming in for an interview at Stan Lee Media and he was standing in the hallway talking to a writer with his back towards me. He was in classic “Stan mode” explaining a story by acting it out and waving his arms in big circles. As I was walking past, he threw up his hand holding the coffee and it went all over me! He was very apologetic. He hadn’t even seen me! It was probably a good thing he was feeling sorry for me that day, because he hired me! I went on to become art director of Stan Lee Media in less than a year. I learned a ton about storytelling while working with Stan.

FM: What is Stan like to work with?

AS: Stan never sits still. He’s not happy unless he’s working. He’s got more energy than any kid I know and he still tosses out story ideas like they were candy. If I have half that much energy when I’m his age, I’ll be happy. I wish I had half that much energy now! Stan sets the pace and all you can do is keep up!

FM: What is Stan bringing to Masterminds?

AS: Stan is providing the voice of the narrator. After growing up listening to him narrate “Spider-Man” and his “Amazing Friends”, it just about blew our minds when we first heard him reading our lines!

FM: Sounds very exciting. Can’t wait for the premiere on FFMI! Thanks for sharing.

AS: Believe me, the pleasure has totally been mine.