Ch. 2- An interview With Mr. Drew

Date: April, 14, 1961 Time: 12:35 PM

Knock! Knock! Knock! Who can that be? Thought Joey Drew as he slowly stood up from his artist desk. He was currently working on his new comics for Bendy and the Ink Machine and didn't want to be bothered. Slowly with a slight limp he made his way to his front door. Before he opened the door he looked through the peep hole to see who it was. It was a man. This man was wearing a brown trench coat with a dark brown fedora on top of his black hair. His skin color was olive tone and his eyes where a dark brown; and his facial hair consisted of a mustache and a goatee. His body structure at least from what he can tell is a boxers build (since Joey use to a bit box in his youth). Admittedly he already felt alarmed by him.

Who is this man? Joey thought I hope he is not one of those cops looking for blackmail money again as he opened the door. Joey was actually surprised that the man was slightly taller than him as the man reached out with his hand with a smile saying,

"Hello Mr. Drew I am Diego de la Garza. I am sorry to appear without giving you notice but may I please talk with you?" Joey then shook his hand and asked,

"What business do I have with you Mr. Garza? And how do you know me?" Before Diego could answer, a cold breeze from the spring air picked up and began beating against their bodies as the tree branches began to sway with their sound of their swooshing. Joey shivered and said,

"Well… actually please do come inside my house. My bones can't handle the cold like they use to. Please come in," Joey then stepped aside and motion Diego in. Joey then put a half hearted smile on his face to appear courteous even though he was very grudging about it. Diego then did as the Joey asked stepping inside while he closed the door behind them.

They were standing in his living room with green carpeted floors and plain wood varnished walls. The light source was two small chandeliers dangling from the ceiling along with a lamp stand to the left corner. There were couple of single chairs arranged with some other furniture and a tv to their right. Straight down ahead from them was the entryway to the kitchen with another entry way close by to the left of them leading to his bedroom. Notably, on the left side of the wall was a cork board littered with important and random notes with letters; then to the far right hand corner of the room was his small artist desk.

"Well here we are Mr. Garza. Welcome to my humble abode!" Joey said sarcastically as he spread his arms out in a showman's manner while letting Diego getting a sense of his surroundings.

"Honestly, I do have to say Mr. Drew it is quite a cozy little place you got here," Diego said

"Bahh," Joey replied bitterly "I was even lucky to even get this place when…never mind. Come with me into the kitchen so we can talk." Joey then started his way over there with Diego fallowing close behind.

The kitchen was simple and basic. It was mainly an off-white except for the top of the island in the center of the room which had a light blue counter top with a couple of stools around it. To the far left wall in a row was a gas stove oven, a small counter top with drawers, and a large refrigerator. There was even a small widow which gave a glimpse to the outside (which was the view of the neighbor's house). Then ahead of them was yet another widow and next to it a brown door which lead to a small back yard. Lastly, to their right was a small square wooden table with two chairs and a door that lead to the storage room.

"Please sit over here Mr. Garza," Joey said as he motioned to the stools next to the island. Diego sat in in the middle of the three that were there while Joey shuffled to the other side and sat on the single stool that he had there for himself so that way they were facing each other. Once both were seated comfortably Joey then finally asked Diego,

"Okay Mr. Garza let's start this over again. Why are you here and how do you know me?"

"Well then Mr. Drew let me explain myself. I am an author, well going to be an author, and I am going to write a comprehensive book about the history of animation of the 1930s to the 40s. So I figured why not start with researching into one of the most prolific animation studios of the era that gave Walton Destiney Studios a run for their money."

"Heck, since you're here I guess you know already how our war with those son of a guns ended," Joey answered back with a bit of grief.

"Yeah," agreed Diego "However, I know information about them would be easy to obtain, since well they are still around, so researching into them would be easy along with other animation studios that are running."

" Hmm… so then how did you find me Mr. Garza?"

"When I was searching for information on your studio I caught wind of a former worker of yours that was living in the same town that I was in." This peaked Joey's interest

"Were are you from?" Joey asked

"From Fleischer" Diego answered

"Who was his name?,"

"Henry Stein,"

Joey soon felt an uneasy feeling welling in his chest.

"Is there something wrong Mr. Drew? You look like you have been punched in the gut,"

"No nothings wrong," Joey answered "It is just I hadn't heard his name in a while now," He paused and there was an awkward silence between them for a minute then Joey asked,

"What did my former college say?,"

"Well I wasn't able to talk with him. He disappeared sometime back over a year ago. Nobody knows why or how ;however, I was able to talk with his wife. She then directed me to you to talk with. Just wondering though… do you have any idea what possibly happened to him? Because after all, you and him were best friends," Diego said. In return Joey quickly put on his poker face and said,

"Yes, we were best friends although over the years we grew apart, but on the other hand we had kept minimal contact with each other though. So this quite pains me to say that I have no possible idea where he has gone," although Joey said that he knew darn well where Henry was. He was stuck in the inky hell- hole of an alternate reality that he had made of the studio workshop.

"So you have heard of the news then," Diego asked

"Yeah, his wife reached out to me about it." Joey then faked a sentimental look and said,

"I was quite shocked to hear that… he was a good man," he then shook his head "Well lets go on to something else because I am sure you do have questions about my studio right?" Diego then shook his head yes and said,

"May I record our conversation?,"

"Sure," Joey answered as Diego reached into his front right trench coat pocket and produced forth a small tape recorder. He place it between them and pressed record.

"Alright what is your first question?," Joey asked Diego

"How did it start?"

"Ahh.. of course the genesis to the beginning of it all. Well let me tell you. Before I started the studio back in 1929, I served in the Great War in 1918 on the western front. This is when I met Henry who would later become a close friend and fellow partner at the studio. Surprisingly, we actually hated each other when we served together in the same company. He was a quiet man and rarely talked much and I was the talker and well… the more foolish one. I would annoy him and he would pull a prank on me later just to spite me. However, one day when our company was attempting to storm a trench I ended up being shot in the leg half way across no man's land and I fell into a large crater filled of stinky rain water. I would have drowned, yet I felt someone pulled me out and that man was… guess who?"

"Henry,"

"Yes, Henry. Even though I drove him batty he wasn't willing to stand by to watch me drown. Then next thing you know he throws me over his shoulder and runs all the way back to our trench leaves me to the medics then goes back out there. I heard stories that when he caught up with the rest he single handily in hand to hand combat with a trench shovel dispatched 15 German soldiers at one time since his rifle jammed during a fire fight. Because of that, he had earned the nickname the Trench Devil. " Joey then chuckled a bit coughed and continued

"Although he saved my life we both parted ways after the war. I trying to get into film making and Henry going off into political and freelance cartoon drawings. Then after while at failed attempt to open at a traditional studio I then turn to the next best thing. Animated cartoons. While I was experimenting with ways to develop the filming process for it, by chance meeting I bumped into Henry at a bus stop, and I caught up with him. I knew I needed someone that was an excellent drawer because I was good but not as good when Henry showed me a couple of his drawings. At this time I was less juvenile and Henry less strict and believe it or not we hit it off. I then gave him an offer to make cartoons for me when I finally developed the studio. Henry agreed. Then three years later between the two of us in 1929, our small studio opened with a small team of workers then we started to make our first cartoons."

"What were your first cartoons?"

"At first they were just random characters that we would make up. Which were usually about mundane things but done in a humorous manner; however, there was one character that started to recur which was a wolf which we would just call 'Papa' later we would name him Boris after a redesign. Before Boris, I then finally made up our first original character which was the little devil darling we all know as Bendy the Dancing Demon. Then since 1930 Bendy was our official mascot for the studio along with Boris being his somewhat unwilling friend."

"Well I thought I heard a rumor that Henry made up the character?," Diego asked

"Well not to say he didn't help but I was the one who thought him up just for the record," Joey answered in a slightly irritated tone knowing well his statement wasn't true.

"Okay then… so what was your inspiration for Bendy?"

"Well Bendy is a bit of a trickster character and is a trouble maker. I wanted to make a character, well characters like Alice Angle, and others, that were different from others at the time. I wanted our company to appeal to a greater general audience; even though, we stayed more or less family friendly we weren't afraid to get a little risqué with our cartoons. You see, I was already thinking ahead of the curve with out east coast style of animation to also appeal to a more…mature audience you see. I looked to what other competitors were doing and did the opposite and took risks.

Unfortunately, the risks out weighed the rewards in the end but before I get to that; my inspiration for Bendy actually came one day from remembering a prank that Henry did to me back in the war and how he was called the Trench Devil. Through out the war fellow soldiers often remarked how 'gracefully' he moved throughout the trenched as if he was a dancer. He would do 'quick steps', great leaps, jumps, and 'jigs' over ruble and fallen enemies. Hence this lead to a playful comment the men would make calling Henry a 'dancing devil'. Which then lead me into deep thinking, and then eureka! I put pen to paper and made up the character while Henry refined it by expertly drawing him to life." Joey then finished then asked Diego,

"Sorry, Mr. Garza I didn't think of it till now but would you like anything to drink?"

"No, worries Mr. Drew. It is understandable that you forgot something like that because after all I came unannounced and you were quite curious to what business I had with you." Diego then thought for a second scratching his head

"Do you have coffee?" He then asked

"Yes I do," Joey replied as he got up and searched for the coffee and mugs in the cupboards.

"So, Mr. Garza…"

"You can call me Diego, Mr. Drew,"

"Diego, how do you like your coffee?"

"Just black,"

"Okay," While Joey was making them coffee, Diego then asked another question,

"So how did the studio came to an end Mr. Drew?," Joey didn't answer right way. Instead, he just quietly worked making their coffee then eventually turned around coming back with two mugs. Joey then handed to Diego his when he sat down on his stool. He then took a good sip from his coffee and answered to Diego,

"Well let's just say for starters the studio might be closed down but it is not the end… for now. I have been working on a couple of 'specials projects'; however, I am not going to reveal all them yet. But to get specific we did excellent during the 30's and we did well up till 1944. Eventually, some of the special projects we were working on became to costly also along with other poor financial decisions we started to lose profit. Merchandise items that we started in the late 30's was going down too. New and bigger things were coming out from other studios so eventually, the audience started to lose interest in us and they began to fallow the next big thing. To top it off also censorship codes were being more strongly enforced in cartoons. So in the end by 1947… I was forced to close down.," Joey said with a sigh at the end looking down at his mug in a sadden expression.

"Now here I am at the bottom again… with nothing but really memories and past glory. I let the studio and the cartoons become my life. In the end I can see how my ambition had wasted my life. You see I have no wife and children although I do have three siblings but I had burn some bridges along the way and became alone… or so I thought," Joey said as he lifted his stare back up to Diego

"Eventually, I reconnected with my younger brother, Joseph, who has a lovely growing family of his own. They made me welcome into their life and it has given me some semblance of hope. A hope that… I won't die alone. My brother has inspired me to go at it one more time with one last gamble," he said with a slight smile

"I probably bet you're wondering what is my last gamble? I have one last plan to bring my studio back to it former glory. It is all starting with… actually let me show you wait here," Joey said as he got up. He then limped over to the door of the storage room opening it, being careful to not let Diego see the ink machine, and entered the room closing the door behind him. He quickly covered the ink machine better with the canvas and scanned the iron shelf that had stuff on it.

Ah-ha! There they are he thought as he grabbed one of the first mint comic book copies of Bendy and the Ink Machine Volume 1. He then returned to the kitchen and came around again to his stool and sat on it. Joey then proudly present his comic book to Diego.

"Here Diego, take a good look at it," Joey said as Diego observed the cover. The cover was black and white which had Bendy sitting a top of the ink machine with his usual wide toothy grin staring ahead to the viewer. He sat between Boris (to his left) and Alice Angel (to his right) but they were bunched up hugging him with frighten expressions looking down. What they were looking down at was an inversion of themselves in order. Except they were staring ahead to the viewer with quite twisted expressions on their faces.

The other Boris looked like a cross between the wolf and Frankenstein's monster except bigger and more grotesque looking with X's for eyes along with a strange contraption around his head. He, of course, has his classic overalls. The other Alice was dressed in the same black dress as Alice but looked closer to a real woman. The right side of her face was quite beautiful looking but on the left was distorted and deformed with there being an opening showing her teeth and she was missing an eye. To even make matters worse for her apparently, her halo was lodged sideways in her head rather than floating. Lastly, there was the other Bendy. This Bendy was tall and skeletal looking and had an even wider more manic grin. His eyes were covered with ink streaming down from the top of his head. His left hand was a large white glove while his right was small and human looking. Lastly, his white bow tie was large and sagged in a crooked manner.

Joey could see the expression on Diego's face. At first it was shocked but then suddenly turned to interest.

"What is that thing they're sitting on?" Diego asked

"That my friend is the ink machine," Joey said

"What does it do?,"

"Well, you'll have to read to find out. Go ahead page through it if you like,"

Diego began to page through seeing comic drawings of the adventure Bendy and friends where catapulted into and then stopped suddenly. Curious, Joey went to get a clear look at what page he stopped at but he closed it and looked back at Joey and said,

"This is incredible Mr. Drew… just genius," Joey nearly fell off his stool from surprise.

"You really think so Diego?," he asked with a chuckle

"Yeah," Diego replied, "Top it off Mr. Drew I have been a big fan of your studio's cartoons for along time now so they mean a lot to me. I have to say I think you did something great here!,"

"Thats great to hear that Diego!," Joey replied. Then ding-dong the bell rang.

"Is it that time already?" Joey said as he looked at his wrist watch it read 1:23 PM.

"Excuse me, Diego, that is probably my brother's wife dropping off the kids for me to babysit while she goes to work. So, unfortunately, you will have to leave. Also here," Joey said as he reached into his robe pocket. He pulled out his business card and offered it to Diego.

"I bet you have some more questions so do feel free to contact me at any time when you want to interview me again," Diego then took the card and placed it in his pocket and was offering back the comic book.

"Do you want the comic book back Mr. Drew?" Diego asked. Joey thought a second and said,

"You know what! How about I let you keep it. I already have a couple of them already myself and the comic books are going to be released tomorrow to stores. So might as well have a fan receive the first one,"

"Thank you, Mr. Drew," Diego said as he stopped the recorder and placed it back in his trench coat pocket.

"Well then, it was a pleasure talking with you Diego," Joey said with a smile as he extended his hand. Diego then shook his hand and replied back,

"It was a pleasure to talk with you too," They both got up and made their way back to the front door. Joey then opened the door revealing three children and a woman. There was two boys and one girl all dressed in warm out ware and had backpacks on them. The woman was dressed in more business attire and was a pretty blond woman.

Diego excused himself and moved past them walking down the small pathway from the front door to the side of the street were his dark red Oldsmobile was.

"Who was that?," the blond woman asked

"Well Dorothy, he is an upcoming author who is going to write a history book on animation from the 30's to 40's and he wanted to interview me which he did,"

"Wow, I guess you are getting back out there," she replied

"Yes Dorothy I am," Joey said in a bit of a smug way.

"Well come along now children we don't want your mother to be late for work," Joey said as he motioned them in. The little girl looked up and asked him,

"Can you tell us more of your stories Uncle Joey?"

"I sure can sweetheart… I sure can," Joey replied warmly to her.

—-

Diego now entered his car and placed the comic book in the passenger seat once he sat down in the driver's seat. He started the car and drove off.

I am glad he took my cover story of being an author Diego thought Linda was right he is defiantly hiding something because Joey said 'Who was his name' when I was going to explain to him about the worker. I didn't say if the worker was a she or he so he knew right away it was Henry by saying 'he'. Also, he was eager to change the subject. I could also tell by his body language when I was trying to prod him for more information on Henry's were abouts that he was more uncomfortable. At a stop sign as he stopped he then took a glance back at the comic book.

Even though he praised Joey for his comic book but in truth, it was kinda disturbing what the content of it was. Especially the page he stopped on.

I need to read this tonight Diego thought I also need to look into Wally Franks and Allison Connor too. After passing by two times Diego quickly observed Joey's corkboard full of letters and notes. Diego noticed two names that popped out which were the two he was thinking of.

I need to dig deep, pull a couple of contacts, and get back to Linda as soon as possible about this Diego thought as he drove past the houses of suburbia as a more dark mood began to enfold him Diego thought Is it possible that Joey Drew could be a devil in disguise?

Author's Note: Whew! That took longer than expected. I had to look back at the history of animation and adapt it in a reasonable way (I am not a 100% accurate). I also had to go look at some videos on Joey's house to make sure I got a decent description of it. Adding to that I just kinda have a very busy life right now, so I don't usually have enough to write but when I do I work on this. So don't worry I do plan to continue this story to the end but I will try to notify otherwise if I have to take a break. Well then, I hope you all enjoyed this strangely long chapter and my possible thoughts and ideas of the studio's basic history. Hopefully, the next chapter we can find out why that page alarmed Diego so much? See you next time!