Groudhog Day: Interview with Ethan Nicolle (Axe Cop)
Tuesday, March 13 2012 - Groundhog Day - by: groundhog
Welcome to the first post-Daylight Savings time edition of Groundhog Day. No need to apologize if you yawn a bit while reading this because I understand how you probably haven’t quite adjusted to changing your clocks yet and it must feel like you’re reading this an hour earlier than you normally would. I’m not a fan of Daylight Savings Time and not just because of the adjustment period either. For one, I think it sends the wrong message to our kids about how to save. Out of the countless hours we could be saving, we only save one hour of daylight in the spring. Then, we just spend it right away during the next fall. If I saved $1 like that and then spent it a few months later, any bank in the country would close my account for inactivity. And secondly, at the rate we’re going with the save/spend cycle, by the time our kids are old enough to retire, there won’t be any daylight saved up for them because we were irresponsible and spent it all every fall. Shame on us all.
Axe Cop.
No other combination of words gives off more of a sense of awe, fear, respect and wonder than those two words together. Well, I guess the words ‘nuclear diarrhea’ have the same effect, but I don’t plan on writing about them (at least not this week). This week I’m writing about Axe Cop. I’m sure all of you know just what exactly Axe Cop is, but I feel like being redundant and will explain for the sheer thrill of it. Axe Cop is a cop who carries an axe. It’s just that simple. Oh, and he’s also known for saying ‘I’ll chop your head off.’ (when was the last time you heard ‘nuclear diarrhea’ say that?) He is also the star of his own web comic (called, oddly enough, ‘Axe Cop’) that was co-created by brothers Malachi and Ethan Nicolle at the end of 2009. To better understand the essence of Axe Cop, you need to understand that when the Nicolle brothers created him, Ethan was a 29 year old comic drawerer guy and Malachai was employed as his 5 year old brother. Or as the tag line that’s become associated with the comic best explains, Axe Cop is ‘Written by a 5 year old and illustrated by his 29 year old brother’. Yes, of course it’s written by a 5 year old. What adult could come up with an idea like that? Anyone that spends any time with kids can tell you that their interpretation of the world is completely different. It’s usually simple, yet comedic and isn’t something that any adult can replicate on their own. But it seems that it can be interpreted into a web comic by someone just as talented as Ethan Nicolle. Here’s how he explains Axe Cop’s origin on his site: The AXE COP saga began on a Christmas visit to see my family. My Father, a man with very healthy loins, has managed to produce a variety of children, ranging from me, a 29 year old comic book artist, to my 5 year old brother Malachai, a 5 year old boy genius, with four other siblings in between. During the visit Malchai was running around with his toy fireman axe and he said he was playing "Axe Cop." He asked me to play with him, and I asked what my weapon was... so he brought me a toy flute (actually a recorder). I told him I would rather be Axe Cop then Flute Cop, and he seemed just fine with being Flute Cop. The story that followed became more and more brilliant, until I couldn't contain myself and I had to draw the whole thing into a one page comic. From there the saga continued, and over the course of my week-long visit we cranked out the first four episodes of AXE COP. I posted the comics to my blog and on Facebook and they got great responses. I decided to give AXE COP a home on the internet here and attempt to continue the saga as often as I have time to draw them, and I can get Malachai to write them. There’s just some kind of magic that the two have captured and it’s appeal to most people has been universal. 
Over the course of the last couple years, Axe Cop has had many adventures with his partner, Flute Cop (who actually became Dinosaur Soldier when he got dino blood on him, then became Uni-Avocado Soldier because of an avocado and a unicorn horn (that belonged to Uni-Baby), then became Flute Cop again, and has spent various times after as Ghost Cop, Viking Cop and Drag-Tri-Ghostacops Rex). And besides appearing in his own comic, Axey tackles readers questions in ‘Ask Axe Cop’ and presents other ideas created by the Nicolle brothers in ‘Axe Cop Presents’ (though I think he doesn’t have much to do with those and he just gets his name in the title to collect on the royalties). And the biggest thing that’s happened with Axe Cop is the huge positive reception and acclaim that he gets. The comic has received amazing reviews in major publications, from USA Today to GQ and has won its fair share of awards. I’ll admit, it might seem like writing this blog about the comic so long after its debut might seem like I’m jumping on the Axe Cop bandwagon or it might even seem like talking about the comic long after the initial wave of excitement and newness has worn off is missing the boat. To that I would say that something this creative deserves to be brought back to the attention of people that may have forgotten about it or have somehow never heard of Axe Cop. Plus, last year Ethan launched a new comic, Bearmaggedon, and who doesn’t love a comic about mutated bears that attack mankind (seriously, after creating things like Daylight Savings Time don’t we kind of deserved to be mauled to death?)
I was recently able to ask the elder Nicolle some questions about his creations, although I wonder if he mistook me for someone more professional when he agreed to answer them:
Groundhog Day: What exciting things are going on with Axe Cop and Bearmageddon right now? GHD: Do you appreciate taking fan suggestions for your comics? I don’t know, like having references to the upcoming penguin zombie apocalypse or maybe having the late Bea Arthur teaming up with Axe Cop? (Note: if you’re annoyed by fan suggestions, those were just two examples and aren’t things I am actually suggesting.) GHD: Lastly, have you heard about the ‘We need more Squirrel Girl’ movement (that’s gaining huge momentum) and what are your thoughts about the snubbing of Squirrel Girl in mainstream comic related merchandise? Yes, I guess he ended the interview by laughing at me (which I’m surprised it took him that long to do). And for the record, the fact that he hasn’t joined the ‘We need more Squirrel Girl’ movement just tells me that I haven’t done enough to promote awareness (you really should click on that link to support a questionably worthy cause). But it looks like there are some interesting things coming up for Axe Cop and the bears of Bearmageddon. And hopefully some day we might have the pleasure of seeing more Axe Cop merchandise and, dare I say it, maybe even a live action Axe Cop movie (it could star Tom Selleck’s mustache). Yes, I dare to say it. I’d like to thank Mr. Nicolle for his participation. I’d also recommend you spend your extra hour of daylight visiting his sites www.axecop.com and www.bearmageddon.com . If you’re going to waste your children’s daylight, at least make it worthwhile. See you next week.-The Groundhog
Ethan Nicolle: Most of them are things I can't talk publicly about, but I wish I could. Bearmageddon, I am simply excited about because the story itself has gotten exciting and I love posting new pages every week. Axe Cop, the two big events coming up are the release of the new trade paperback web comic collection (Vol. 3) at the end of this month. Also, in July we will be releasing a new Axe Cop print-exclusive miniseries called Axe Cop: President of the World, which is a follow up to Bad Guy Earth.
GHD: I saw last year that you took notice of an Axe Cop Minimate custom made by my friend, Bob Harris; are their any ‘official’ Axe Cop toys on the horizon?
EN: Nothing official. There is a lot of excitement about Axe Cop in the toy industry for sure and I think people generally recognize that Axe Cop toys would be the awesomest toys for boys ever made. We just need to find the right deal/manufacturer with the right vision. It gets complicated when it comes to merchandising such a funky property as Axe Cop.
EN: Well, I try not to get annoyed by things that aren't worth getting annoyed about. I think there are a lot of people in entertainment in general who have made being annoyed and filled with indignation their personal hobby. I think that's a miserable hobby. I will admit at times though I get annoyed here and there when fans tell me how to make the comic better, but that is probably my pride and most of the time I don't think they mean to be so offensive as I initially take it. Web comics are highly interactive and it's my choice to make commenting available, so I need to be a big boy and let people say what they want. I do delete obscene comments on AxeCop.com, but other than that I let people say what they want.
EN: Nope, I have no idea what that is, ha ha.
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