Riley Webber: A Western Ronin with Feathers
Today we interview Riley Webber, creator and animator of Rip the Falcon, regarding his animated series!
It is difficult to find adult animated entertainment that has real meat on the bone these days. Either the series is too gore-focused or too profanity-laced, relying on shock value to bring in viewers. Here at Upstream, we prefer our entertainment to have more going for it than gore and foul language. That is why today we are interviewing animator, voice actor, and writer Riley Webber, creator of Rip the Falcon. His animated series has adventure on the wing and mystery in the air. Let’s ask him about it!
Upstream Reviews: Animation is a medium very different from the prose works we normally review. The process seems both simple and opaque from the outside: storyboarding and drawing to outline the tale, with a script for the animators and voice actors to use. You both draw Rip the Falcon and have written scripts for the entire series. What inspired you to become an animator?
It’s hard to pin exactly what made me want to be an animator because in the early ‘90s there were so many things that made me want to be a cartoonist. The Simpsons comes to mind, but also Calvin and Hobbes, too. I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be a cartoonist, and I started making cartoons at around 11 or 12.
UR: Your animated series, Rip the Falcon, mixes the best of the Spaghetti Westerns with the ronin, or masterless samurai, tales of Japan. A wandering falcon who “searches through the Reach,” Rip seeks peace but is always ready for combat. What was the inspiration for Rip the Falcon? Was the milieu for his adventures organic to the tale, or deliberately chosen to add more intrigue to the story?
At first Rip the Falcon started off as a Saturday morning cartoon adventure sort of thing, like Sonic the Hedgehog, but Rip started to have his own voice. I kept drawing him and discovering his story over 12 years before starting the graphic novel in 2020. When I would draw Rip he always had this defiance to keep pushing into the unknown. Stories like Journey to the West, Usagi Yojimbo, and The Man with No Name trilogy definitely gave Rip the Falcon its inspiration.
UR: Many people today tend to overlook hand-drawn animation. For some this probably works but for those who want more hands-on control over their stories, traditional animation has far more appeal. How do you animate your work – the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper? Or do you draw and then animate using a tablet and stylus?
I actually learned how to animate with pencil and paper before touching the digital side, using an 8.5 x 11-inch lightbox and copy paper. The very first animation of Rip the Falcon is on my YouTube channel; it is only about 2 seconds long, it’s all animated on paper, and it was published in 2020. I naturally enjoy the process of frame-by-frame animation and I never liked using other software with assistance, like rigging or motion tweening. My animation has been called choppy, but it’s because it’s all done frame-by-frame, just like the cartoons from the ‘90s I love.
UR: Rip is a fascinating character in a world of anthropomorphic beings, but the anthology of scripts you released (SPOILERS!) reveals that there are humans in his world. They do not appear in the episodes you have released but they are there. What inspired you to make a majority of the characters anthropomorphic animals? What in particular made you conceive of Rip as a falcon rather than a human or some other kind of anthropomorphic beast?
I always found animals somewhat symbolic and spiritual. Rip is a peregrine falcon, and peregrine falcon in Latin translates to “the wandering one.” I use certain animals to evoke a personality; for instance, the barkeep at the tavern in episode 4 was a bull – someone large enough to kick anyone out if they got out of line. Humans have a war-ridden history, so I wrote a theme of that in the overall story.
UR: You voice Rip yourself, much as Walt Disney initially voiced Mickey Mouse. Where do you find actors to fill the other roles?
Voicing Rip is my favorite role because he’s my personal superhero. I got other actors off of a website called CastingCall.club, and I stumbled onto one of the best voice actors I’ve heard: Jason Rosette. Jason Rosette had played the Long-Haired Man, the villain in episode 2, and he did such a great job I hired him to voice two recurring roles coming up in the series.
UR: Rip is not afraid to use violence when the need arises, and almost every episode sees him confronting some kind of evil or horror that needs to be permanently defeated. Rip clearly struggles when the fighting is done, appearing unsure if he has gone too far. How do you balance that dichotomy for the audience without tipping either too far into what some might think of as pacifism or what others might see as hyper-aggression?
In Rip’s world violence is the norm. It’s next to impossible to be a pacifist in a next-to-lawless world, but Rip often struggles to choose what to do. I never intended to make Rip the Falcon a shock show, but it is very bloody. The violence was always meant to be somewhat ironic from the world we live in today. Rip ultimately seeks a peaceful place where he never has to use violence, but the whole point of the show is his struggle to find that peace.
UR: A few years ago, you made Rip’s episodes available on VHS. VHS players are difficult to discover these days, and DVDs are seeing their twilight as well. The episodes for Rip the Falcon are free to watch on your YouTube Channel and may be purchased through Amazon, so what made you decide to put them on VHS? How difficult was that process? For those who are interested, are any of the VHS tapes still available for purchase and if so, where should they look for them?
I’m a huge preserver of the ‘90s. Rip the Falcon is a culmination of everything I loved from the ‘90s; from the Todd McFarlane artstyle, to the grunge soundtrack, to hand-drawn animation. Putting Rip the Falcon on VHS just seemed like the logical choice, as it feels like an undiscovered MTV LiquidTV show, like The Maxx. I wanted the whole packaging and tactile feel of the release to feel special. The process was a bit spendy, but I didn’t care about the profit. I just sold my last copies of the VHS run to The VHS Store in Virginia Beach for home rental, but I definitely will work with JOKERJOKERtv again to produce another run in the future.
UR: Magic and mad science blend together in Rip’s world and life. He is “searching through the Reach” for something he cannot name. He has fought demons, conquered cults, dealt with bandits, and even stopped mundane bullies as he wanders like a ronin from Japan. Which do you find more interesting – magic or mad science? Or do you like both?
I had a lot of fun writing whatever came to me at the time. I had an outline for the story, but after I finished the graphic novel almost the whole series were episodic stories that came out naturally. One day I felt like writing a big train robbery, so I wrote a script that was ripped directly from Red Dead Revolver. A lot of the stories from Rip the Falcon have a bit of folklore as well as personal moments.
UR: The Rip the Falcon comic focusing on his adventure with the bandits is a fascinating read and can be purchased on Amazon. You also made it into a visual comic on your YouTube channel. What inspired you to create the tie-in comic?
I wanted to have an acknowledgement to the original comic on my YouTube channel without it being a straight advertisement. I used to read the Fleetway Sonic the Hedgehog comics in the same exact format as I did with the Rip the Falcon comic: as a video with supporting background music. I wanted to dub it with voice actors, but I released the video with just music instead. Originally, I thought I was going to be a comic artist but animation is my biggest artistic passion.
UR: Many authors would love to see their work translated to the silver or even the small screen, and there are a plethora of artists seeking to make films either in live action or via animation. With the recent success of Markiplier’s Iron Lung and drawing from your own experience, what advice would you give to those who want to try their hand at animating their own stories? Is there anything you have learned about the medium that you wish you could share with your younger self?
I want to say loud and publicly: I hate Netflix and Disney. I had a lot of good experience with Amazon, but the big budget studios seem to completely botch the creative vision of artists, and they have left almost nothing intact. Markiplier proved self-financing and going indie is the best way. I’ve self-published all of my work and I’ve had my whole brand be authentic. I think it’s never been a better time to be an independent; all you need is a good story, persistence, and talent. If I could tell my younger self anything about animation, I would tell him to be unafraid to stick to your vision.
UR: What are some of your favorite films and television shows, and how have they influenced Rip the Falcon?
Definitely Spawn, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, The Maxx, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Django (1966), and grunge music like Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots. They all were pieces that molded Rip the Falcon into what it is today.
UR: Final question – where can people find you and your work?
You can find my main content on my YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzDmm_HzpSqPYqeoYoKDYag
You can watch the show on Amazon Video here:
https://www.amazon.com/Rip-the-Falcon/dp/B09D5KSJD1
You can read the graphic novel for free here:
https://globalcomix.com/a/tic-inc
You can buy the graphic novel here:
https://www.amazon.com/Rip-Falcon-1-Riley-Webber/dp/B09C17G3DX
You can buy the series anthology here:
https://www.amazon.com/Rip-Falcon-Anthology-Riley-Webber/dp/B0D7LXGRMV
You can follow me on Instagram here:
https://www.instagram.com/tic_studios_llc/
I have a Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561745227363
I also have an X account here:
If you would like to learn more about Riley Webber’s work, follow the above links or visit his Amazon pages. If you want to watch Rip the Falcon, click the links above - and don’t forget to leave a review!
This is nice- more power to this guy.