Eben07 is a spy-comedy webcomic created by the talented duo of Eben and D. Bethel; it’s one that’s worth a look, and I recently had a chat with Eben about this neat comic. Eben couldn’t discuss too many details, given the nature of his work – I must admit I like the idea of him playing the role of his titular character – but here’s what my interrogation uncovered.

1. So what is Eben07 about?

What I am allowed to say is that the Intelligence Cleaner Agency was involved in some calamitous event(s) not too long ago. Normally, in the fast paced world of international espionage have the role of keeping everything hush-hush, we put the cloak in cloak and dagger -  but several of our agents, including myself, were involved in an operation(s) gone bad, may or may not have impacted other agencies, and ultimately these calamitous events culminated and the U.S. Congress forced us be under the same oversight process as other agencies and to declassify the secret archives of the I.C.A. – archives that reach back very very far.

2. So how did you and D. Bethel meet up?

D. Bethel was officially recruited by the I.C.A. after becoming familiar with his work through an interview. He was commissioned to illustrate the archives of the Intelligence Cleaner Agency – as we found a loophole in the congressional mandate. They never specified the medium in which the I.C.A. had to declassify – and it was agreed upon by the powers that be to do it in a comic form – since animated wasn’t in the budget and the connections in Korea weren’t there at the time. Since D.Bethel and myself have been working on this project, we’ve become close friends. Honestly, he reminds me of a guy I knew in high school…but that was at least a decade ago.

3. What’s your process?

Usually the comic is started by going over pages and pages and pages of archived and cataloged I.C.A. debriefing materials. D. Bethel and myself pour over the reports, debriefings, situation reports, and then form a rough skeleton of what we feel meets the congressional mandate as well as the needs of the I.C.A. Once the skeleton is approved by Operations Director J. Herman Shepard – D. Bethel and I usually plot and write out about 2 or 3 weekly strips. Right now, D. Bethel illustrates the one weekly comic the week before it is due up on the Eben07 comic page.

So, for example, we’ve skeletal plotted out about 30-40 comics for Operation : For the Love of Russia, we have 2-3 written out ready to be drawn, and D.Bethel is working on next Monday’s strip currently.  J. Herman Shepard of course has the power to refuse any of D. Bethel’s work and redact any and all comments that he feels could be a liability to the agency.

4. How did your “immersion” experience help the creative process?

Before the comic went online, we considered how to present it. Should it just be a couple guys making a comic or should we really represent the I.C.A. Congress never really said we even had to identify this comic with the I.C.A. – just that it had to be made public. However, we felt that the Intelligence Cleaner Agency should take ownership and pride for the Eben07 comic. So when you visit www.eben07.com – you are visiting the Intelligence Cleaner Agency. You’re seeing our work, you’re able to see our non-covert employees, you’re able to feel the immersed in all things I.C.A. You can email our agents and they will write back – basically we wanted the Eben07 comic to help humanize the I.C.A. and in turn provide an all around experience that you can believe in the I.C.A. and the work that we do.Sort of like Santa, only real.

You can read more of the interview with Eben on page 2

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1. Week in Geek – Interview with Chris Baty
2. Week In Geek: Interview with Patrick O’Keefe

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Related posts:

1. Week in Geek – Interview with Chris Baty
2. Week In Geek: Interview with Patrick O’Keefe