(EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s time for the rodents to get off their wheel, as we conclude the Paint Monk’s Library interview with Don Chin, creator of the Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters. If you enjoy this interview, Don told me he always welcomes care packages of sunflower seeds and carrot-shaped chew sticks, with an occasional piece of lettuce thrown in for good measure.)

By WALLY MONK – Paint Monk’s Library Editor

WALLY MONK

You got a chance with ARBBH to make one issue in 3-D, and also a spin-off for Clint the hamster. Were other projects planned that got cut once the comics market changed? And what would we have seen from the radioactive rodents had the market not fallen apart following the indie explosion?

DON CHIN

“We actually did four 3-D ARBBH issues and probably my favorite was issue #1. That had an awesome cover by Par and interior art by Ty Templeton that was about professional wrestling. I actually had another talented Bay Area artist, Ken Hooper, start drawing a revival of the Hamsters where they all had super powers.

He and artist Greg Espinoza actually drew ARBBH Massacre the Japanese Invasion #1 for Eclipse, which was a one-shot where the Hamsters completely annihilate Japanese comic book characters like Speed Racer and Lone Wolf and Cub. 

In the revival, the hamsters were maturing and weird side effects from the Cosmic Jello were coming into play. Chuck had the power to summon an iron fist (sorry, Marvel), Clint had a white-hot laser he could shoot out of his visor, Bruce was the huge, towering hulkish furry beast, and I believe I had Jackie as a super speedster. That project never saw print, but I really loved Kurt’s version of the Hamsters…they were more cute and furry than previous versions, but had an edge.

So if the market hadn’t imploded from the glut of comics being produced, you probably would have seen a “super-powered Next-Gen John Byrne era X-Men version” or ARBBH, and I would have loved for it to be in color.”

WALLY MONK

In issue #8 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Donatello and company met and fought alongside Cerebus the Aardvark. Were there any crossovers planned between the ARBBH and other comic properties at some point?

DON CHIN

“I think Blackthorne Comics approached us to do a possible ARBBH / Hamster Vice cross-over, but it wasn’t something Eclipse or myself were really into. However, Parsonavich and some friends of mine did do some short ARBBH stories in Blackthorne’s Laffin’ Gas humor anthology book. I would still love to see a TMNT/ARBBH cross-over. Also, since Dynamite Comics has the exclusive rights to ARBBH, I always thought teaming up Clint and Ash from the Army of Darkness comic book to fight legions of zombies would be a riot.”

WALLY MONK

In addition to ARBBH, you wrote another comic book series called Enchanter, and another book for Eclipse. Did you have other plans for comics at the time, and do you still have plans for future work?

DON CHIN

“I think the only other book I did for Eclipse was another incarnation of Overload, The Fantasy-Humor Magazine. There has always been a character dear to me that I created in my youth called Arrowman and a bunch of his sidekicks, like the Amazing Boll-Weevil that I would love to share someday. They are kind of goofy anti-heroes like The Tick. I published a one-shot of Arrowman with Parody Press Comics that I drew and that my friend, the late Sam Wray, inked. Sam was a kind of a comic book mentor to me and the rest of the northern California crew. His talented son William Wray worked in animation on Ren & Stimpy and a Batman project with Bernie Wrightson.

I would guest write anything new for the ARBBH if someone asked me to. I also saw that Chuck Dixon is doing a book called Trump’s Space Force – I think that would be a hoot to work on, as I love political satire and relevant current events in my writing.”

WALLY MONK

Looking at your Facebook, you’re a kindred spirit in many ways. I value my Christian faith tremendously as a professed religious in the Roman Catholic Church – and I see from a quick look at your information on the web that your faith motivates you as well. How have your beliefs impacted your work in the medium and your views about the industry in general?

DON CHIN

“Thank you for noticing that aspect about me, Paint Monk. I have been a professing Christian for quite awhile, but to be honest, it has been a hard walk as I am a stubborn man unlearning bad habits and slow learner at times, but am thankful we have a patient and loving God.

Most of the times I would use Chuck in ARBBH to be the example of how I thought a sensible and loving Christian would act. It was also fun to partner in my comics career doing a lot of projects with my friend, Nate Butler, who does have a ministry teaching and publishing. He asked me to go to the Phillipines in the 1990s to reach international students and teach them how to put comics together. I got to join comics legends Kerry “Superman” Gammill and Carlos “Star Wars” Garzon.

We helped distribute some of Nate’s books like PARO-Dee and Behold 3-D into the direct comics market. We also worked on doing some comics tracts for American Tract Society and some Russian-translated evangelical comics for CBN and some “Truth for Youth” New Testament Bibles that had comic book stories inserted in them that were drawn by Frank “TMNT” Fosco.”

WALLY MONK

What are your thoughts about where the comics industry is headed, and have you considered work for a company like Kingstone, that publishes Christian comics?

DON CHIN

“To be honest, I don’t read that many current comics anymore, so I’m a little out of touch on what the industry has been producing. I’m not a big fan of the dark shift in comics where it’s hard to tell the heroes from the villains due to moral ambiguity, probably because of my faith, and since I grew up reading a lot of the 1970s and 80s books where things were still pretty distinguishable between good guys and bad guys. I think the last books I picked up were relaunches of Rom and Micronauts, which were staples of my youth. My grandkids are both really into Star Wars, so it’s cool to introduce them to comics and collecting Star Wars graphic novels and memorabilia. I’m not so familiar with Kingstone, but more power to them if they can make a living doing faith-based comics.”

WALLY MONK

In 2007, Dynamite Entertainment got the license to produce ARBBH stories and added a female character to the mix! Can you tell us a little bit about Dynamite’s version of the hamsters?

DON CHIN

“I was contacted by Nick Barucci at Dynamite to see if I would oversee and give my blessing to a relaunch of the Hamsters, and it was really exciting to see them pull out all the stops and give the ARBBH a slick, color treatment.

Keith Champagne and Tom Nguyen and colorist Moose Baumann did a great job expanding the ARBBH universe and adding additional action-movie inspired characters that were inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean Claude Van-Damme and Lucy Lawless, who was the female hamster you are referring to.

I’m pretty sure you can find the back issues for sale online on eBay, or even buy digital versions to read. They were a lot of fun to work on, and I was honored that Nick and Dynamite were willing to give them another opportunity for fans to enjoy them almost 20 years later from the time they were first introduced.”

Once again, a special thanks to Don Chin for taking the time to share his thoughts with our readers. Perhaps one day the Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters and the scribes at Paint Monk’s Library will get together to tackle the modern comic book industry. I can envision a team up, where the two get together to restore the “old school” look of comics back to the industry.
Hmmm…Don…sounds like an idea for a parody comic!

As always, I am – Wally (AKA Paint Monk)