Famous Players

Rick Geary has been regarded as an “underrated” cartoonist for so long now that it’s almost a cliché at this point to label him as such. But in the many years he’s been making comics, he’s produced an impressive body of work that seems to escape a lot of folks notice. His stellar Victorian Murder series, now bumped up a few decades to encompass the 20th century, alone show such a high and consistent degree of quality that most cartoonists would give their eye teeth to have on their resume.

Having made his name with true crime, he’s recently attempted to tackle the biography genre, producing two books for Hill and Wang’s graphic line, one on J. Edgar Hoover, and most recently, one on Leon Trotsky.

I talked to him recently from his home in Kansas City, Missouri, about his new Trotsky bio as well as the latest book for NBM in his Murder series, Famous Players, about the mysterious and currently unsolved slaying of silent movie director William Desmond Taylor. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: I wanted to start by asking you what originally prompted you to do the Murder series. I get the sense that true crime is a subject of great interest for you.

A: Yeah. I got interested in true crime cases years and years ago. I think it dates back to when I was living in Wichita, Kansas, back in the late ‘70s. I had a friend who was an ex-journalist and ex-policeman. He gave me this collection of mug shots he had accumulated over the years. I get into things through the visual end most of the time, and those pictures kind of got me going. I did research on local unsolved murders and that was about the time that the BTK killer was around in Wichita. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that case.

Q: I don’t think so.

A: He was a serial killer who operated in Wichita back in the early ‘70s. He was only just recently captured and put in prison a couple of years ago. That kind of started me out. When I started doing I just naturally turned to those kinds of subjects.

Q: Why initially Victorian murder?

A: The publisher, Terry Nantier at NBM, suggested the idea to me. I had done a couple of stories for different publications, shorter pieces that dealt with cases of the Victorian era. He suggested doing a whole book of Victorian cases. That kind of mustered from there into the series.

Q: What prompted you to move into the 20th century? Did you feel like you had covered the 19th century pretty well?

A: There are still more cases in the 19th century, but I felt like I kind of, as you say, had done that era and I wanted to move on to more recent times, especially the early 20th century. There are a lot of juicy stories. More than I could ever do.

Q: Focusing on the new book, Famous Players, what drew you to this case?

A: That’s another case I’ve been interested in for years and years. I’ve always been a movie lover and been interested in the early history of Hollywood. And since that’s the very first unsolved murder in the Hollywood community, it’s one I was fascinated with.

In fact, back in the early 80s, I had actually stared to do a graphic novel about the case, although they weren’t called graphic novels back then. It was just going to be a long story that I was going to see if I could publish myself and do as a mini-book, but that never came to fruition. There’s been a lot more information uncovered about the story since then so I’m glad I waited. I just found it was a natural for me.

Q: What sort of new information?

A: At the time, back when I was first researching the case, it was [believed] that Taylor was this extreme womanizer and there were all these rumors going on about the affairs he had and the stuff that was found in his apartment, which was mentioned in newspaper accounts at the time. More recent researchers have found that to be totally false. Things like the women’s negligees and lingerie that were supposedly hidden away in a drawer. Each one of them had a name and a date attached, chronicling his conquests. More recent research has uncovered that he was bisexual and wasn’t nearly the womanizer that people thought he was.

Q: Is there something that defines 19th century murder versus 20th century murder?

A: Not that I can think of. People’s motives for murder remain constant through history, either for personal gain or out of some kind of psychopathic undercurrent to their personality. I’m not sure that the actual motives are that different from era to era. It’s the details and the trappings that change.

Q: It does seem that when you say Victorian people have a certain image in the mind of foggy nights and back alleyways versus modern times.

A: Serial killers aren’t really a modern phenomenon. Jack the Ripper was in the 1880s and H.H. Holmes in the 1890s. I’m not sure what would typify a modern case because the elements remain the same.

Q: I guess the thing is that people want to typify.

A: That’s a good way to put it.

As an illustrator I really enjoy drawing the details of the Victorian era, the interiors and the costumes and hairstyles. Horses and the harnesses and carriages and wagons and stuff like that. Now I get to draw early-day automobiles, which is a whole different route to go. I find it different in that regard. Otherwise I don’t look at it that way. I don’t see it as a different era as far as the content is concerned.

Q: Was there anything about this particular story that seemed different from the others you’ve done? There seems to be a greater mystery, even compared to the Lindbergh case, in that so much seems to be unknown about Taylor’s death.

A: I know. I’m really drawn to the stories that are unsolved and have a lot of unknown elements. Those are my favorites. I like getting all the details straight and laying out the mystery in as clear a way as possible. I try not to push any theory of my own. I just want to lay it out so the reader can make up his or her own mind if possible. Or else just leave it as a mystery. I think questions are more interesting than answers most of the time.

Trotsky: A Graphic Biography

Q: Is there a trick to doing that in comics? I would imagine there is a temptation to push a theory one way or the other.

A: Well, in the Lindbergh story for instance I have my own idea about the case, but I tried not to push it or lean on it. I took pains to illustrate all the different theories that are out there, no matter how unusual or silly they may sound. There are a lot of them. I don’t know if there’s a trick to it but it is something you have to really be careful about. I don’t know if I’ve really mastered any trick.

Q: What’s your next entry in the Murder series?

A: I’m finishing up and inking the next book, which is about the Ax Man of New Orleans, who is a pretty obscure serial killer. I don’t think he’s widely known because he was never captured or identified or anything.

Q: I don’t think I ever heard of him.

A: He operated in New Orleans in the 1918-19 period and used an ax to break into people’s houses and chopped them up. It put the city into a panic for a while. And then he just vanished. There aren’t any major theories about who it was or what happened to him. It’s a real foggy mystery, but there are a lot of juicy details. I had to use newspaper archives to ferret out the details, because no one’s done a book about this particular killer.

At the moment I’m doing research for the book after that which will be the Sacco and Venzetti case.

Q: Now that case I’ve heard of.

A: That’s another one where I have to keep an even tone and not play sides.

Q: It strikes me in a lot of these cases like the New Orleans one and the Beast of Chicago that you really try to avoid getting too gory, even though a lot of these cases are rather gruesome. You hang back a little.

A: I do. It’s not me being squeamish. I just think it’s effective to leave things to the viewer’s imagination. I am kind of reticent about portraying extreme gore and gruesomeness. But I have to say with this Ax Man story it’s pretty gruesome. There’s a higher blood quotient than most of the stuff I’ve done before.

Q: But even in something like Bloody Benders, I noticed at the time how careful you were to avoid the gore. And it made for a much more intense read I think.

A: I hope so. That’s my own predilection.

Q: Who do you look for as an influence in that manner? Is there anyone in comics who’s good at that sort of thing or do you look more towards movies or other mediums?

A: As I said I’ve been a film buff for years and I tend to look toward certain directors from a long time ago rather than other comic artists for my inspiration. Hitchcock of course. And a lot of the filmmakers from the film noir period of the 40s or the Val Lewton films of the 1940s. They get across horror without being gory or direct. It’s less in-your-face than the movies of today, that’s for sure.

Q: I also wanted to ask you about the Trotsky biography. I was curious why Trotsky instead of, say, Lenin, Marx or Stalin?

A: Actually, I was assigned Trotsky. I wouldn’t have chosen him. My first choice would have been Rasputin. I suggested him to the publisher, but he said, “Let’s do Trotsky instead.” I’m fine with that. I didn’t know much about his life at all when I started it. And it was a learning experience for me all the way around.

J. Edgar Hoover

Q: I thought it was especially interesting since your previous biography was about J. Edgar Hoover.

A: Talk about opposites! That’s one thing I liked about it. I get to take on this large swath of history and take someone’s life from a totally different angle.

Q: Did Hill and Wang come to you initially with this idea of doing biographies?

A: Yeah, they contacted me. The editor, who was working on the series got in touch with me and said. “We’re doing these graphic biographies,” and asked me to do one.

Q: Are you going to do any more for them in the foreseeable future?

A: Well, I’m told the market has gone soft so I don’t know. They’re holding off. We shall see.

Q: What are the challenges in trying to summarize someone’s life like Hoover’s or Trotsky’s? You’re working with a larger span of time and have a lot more detail to cram in than something like Bloody Benders.

A: That’s true. It’s certainly a more daunting project than the Murder books, especially with someone like Trotsky who is a very contradictory character. He was heroic to some people and a real negative character to others. It was kind of a balancing act. I tried to be as even handed as possible. Same with Hoover.

Q: I did notice with Hoover you didn’t come down one-way or the other.

A: Yeah, when there was some kind of scandalous accusation I put it in terms like “Some people say.” There wasn’t anything scandalous in Trotsky’s life except his affair with Frida Kahlo in his final years.

Q: Is it difficult to edit down, once you have all the information on a person, to pick and choose which events or what to put in or leave out?

A: There’s always too much information. It’s a matter of winnowing down. With Trotsky I tried to find the most dramatic aspects of his life because most of his biography is pretty un-visual. It’s these internal disputes within the Bolshevik party or the different questions of setting up a new country. The more dramatic episodes of his life like escaping from exile, where he was on this reindeer sleigh, and later on when he was the military leader during the civil war, those are the incidents I wanted to give more play to because they were more visual and more melodrama.

Q: Tell me a little bit about the research you do for both the murder books and these biographies. I would imagine in both cases it’s difficult to find the right book or biography but visual research as well.

A: That’s true. When I decide on a subject I read as much as I can on it; as many books as I can read and keep on the deadline. I use a lot of online sources as well. I can usually find pictures of just about anything I want – anything that’s out there anyway. For the Ax Man of New Orleans book the only visual references I found were in this old newspaper file that had photos of the murder scenes and the victims and overhead views of the house. That was really all I had for this book. Other cases like Lindbergh there’s more visual reference than I could possibly use. It’s the same thing with books on that case. Some cases have a library of stuff written about them.

Q: What do you do when it’s like the New Orleans case, when you don’t have a lot to go on?

A: I never have anything less than I need to do an eighty page book. This and the Bloody Benders, there wasn’t much info about them. If I need to I can fan it out by having a double-page spread or having an illustration fill up a whole page. There are ways to finesse it visually. But sometimes you can tell when there’s less information out there.

Q: Whether you’re doing Trotsky or Famous Players, what’s your work method? Once you have all the information you need, how do you go from research to book?

A: Once I’ve done all the reading and taken all the notes, I write a pretty detailed script. The script for these murder books I don’t include visuals I just write bits of information that eventually form into the captions under each panel. My publisher at NBM has gotten used to this. The visuals are either self-explanatory from the captions or else I don’t know what they’re going to be until I actually sit down to draw the page. Hill and Wang demanded a little more detailed script and description of what the visuals were going to be in each panel. So I make it up if I can’t think of something off the top of my head. That’s usually how it turns out in the final comic. Or it’s something completely different.

When I have the script done I start penciling each page one at a time. When I’ve got the whole book completed in pencil then I go to the inks. If all goes well.

Q: You have a really neat visual style. It’s slightly photorealistic but also slightly cartoonish and you have this spare line you use for your shading that I admire. How conscious were you in developing this style?

A: I don’t know. I feel that a style develops in a semi-conscious way. I just know I go for a certain feel or texture in the line work. I really don’t know much more to say about it than that. It just comes out of working. It just emerges.

Q: More intuitive than anything?

A: That’s how I think of it. This is stuff I’m not used to ruminating on. But it emerges the more work you do. I know my stuff falls in this crack between straight illustration and the more exaggerated kind of cartooning. There’s a humorous edge to these things.

Brave and the Bold #27

Sunday's here and that means it's time once more for What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is the incredibly talented cartoonist Rick Geary. Geary has two books out this fall, his latest entry in his ongoing XXth Century Murder series, Famous Players, and a biography of Leon Trotsky that should be coming out from Hill and Wang any day now.

Look for an interview with Mr. Geary appearing on this blog in the coming weeks. For now though, let's just see what he's currently reading ...

Drifting Classroom

Chris Mautner: I'm finally, finally, finally getting around to finishing Kazuo Umezu's seminal horror classic The Drifting Classroom. One of the things I like about the manga is how it's just one damned thing after another. No sooner are the hapless elementary school kids attacked by horrible mutants than they somehow disappear and make way for a toxic gas. The best part is the mutants are barely mentioned again. Whatever terror has passed is nowhere near as horrible as the one in front of them.

I also just, just got in the mail the new book from Sunday Press Books, The Upside Down World of Gustave Verbeek. Verbeek was an early 20th century comic strip artist whose claim to fame was that his strip relied on optical illusion. If you turned it 180 degrees the whole picture changed and you could keep reading the story. I haven't gotten far enough in it yet to make any comments, but I look forward to diving into it this week.

I also finally saw the first Fantastic Four move, courtesy of the FX channel and Comcast's free movie selections. Boy am I glad I didn't pay any reasonable amount of money to see that on the big screen. A really dumb, loud, incoherent movie, with little in the way to recommend it beyond Michael Chiklis' performance as Ben Grimm. The guy playing Dr. Doom was especially horrible. I can't imagine the sequel being any improvement.

American Born Chinese

Michael May: I'm reading Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith's Dark Days again. Partly because Halloween is coming; partly because news about the direct-to-DVD movie adaptation is getting me excited about revisiting the story. It's my favorite of the 30 Days of Night stories and I keep finding new stuff to like every time I read it. Dane's emotional journey is what keeps drawing me to the book, but this time around I'm also especially curious about his partner Yuki. There's an untold story there.

I'm also revisiting American Born Chinese and it's even better the second time around. My first reading was great, but you have to spend some energy trying to figure out what the three plot threads have to do with each other. Since I already know that this time, I'm able to concentrate better on how he tells the overall story and - more importantly - how beautifully and powerfully he communicates his message. I'm really sorry that I'm almost done with it. I already want to read it yet again.

Marvel Monsters

Tom Bondurant: The Marvel Monsters hardcover was half-off, but a bargain at any price. It's got a lot of great stuff, blending classic Kirby monster reprints (and one from Don Heck) with the stories from the "Marvel Monsters" event from a few years back. The highlight for me was Scott Gray and Roger Langridge's original "Fin Fang Four" story, just a gem of a thing which has the robot Elektro finding love and Fin Fang Foom working as a chef in a Baxter Building restaurant. I especially liked Langridge's page of the Thing as romance-coach. The book opens with a fun Devil Dinosaur/Hulk battle (orchestrated by a couple of middle-management Celestials) from Tom Sniegoski and Eric Powell. The new stuff is all in the same good-natured vein, like Keith Giffen and Mike Allred checking back in with Bombu and Peter David and Arnold Pander revisiting Monstrollo. The book also reprints a text-oriented special cataloging the various Marvel monsters, which is nice as reference, but I would have liked more classic reprints (like the original Tim Boo Ba story, for instance). Still, though, overall quite a nice package.

I thought JMS's first issue of The Brave and the Bold was something of a missed opportunity. From the "Death of a Hero" title I could see where the story was going. Admittedly, I wasn't expecting the twist JMS put on it, and I suppose Batman's closing speech was meant to make it all work out, but I can't help but think what a Waid, Morrison, or Busiek could have done with Batman dialing the H-Dial. At the very least I was expecting the H-Dial's heroes to be credited to readers....

Beasts of Burden #1

Tim O'Shea: Evan Dorkin's and Jill Thompson's Beasts of Burden is even greater than I expected it to be. When I interviewed Dorkin about the series a few months back, he definitely got me enthused for the series, but he and Thompson far exceeded my raised expectations. It may seem like a simple compliment, but I love Thomspon's layout sense for how it heightens the drama and action in the book. Also the facial expressions she gives the animals are amazing. Dorkin's gift of dialogue reaches it's pinnacle for me with Pugs' line "A mother-humpin', big-ass, giant frog." It was only on my second reading that I really grew to appreciate how much Jason Arthur's lettering (particularly with the dialogue of the aforementioned mother-humpin' frog) adds to the tale.

When I was a kid, what appealed to me about Captain America was his secret identity. I distinctly remember one issue where Cap was vacuuming his apartment, cleaning up the mess after the Constrictor had driven a car through it. OK, so as a 41-year-old man, I realize my critical mind was dormant in the 1970s. He'd have to do a hell of a lot more than vacuuming to fix that apartment. Heck it's been 30 years since I read the comic, I might be misremembering the scene. As I'm older now, I realize what actually appealed to me about Cap was his relationships with folks like Sam (Falcon) Wilson, Nick Fury and Sharon Carter. During Mark Waid's run on Cap, he emphasized the friendship with Clint (Hawkeye) Barton. Captain America Reborn 3 reveals a few things to me. Ed Brubaker would write one extremely good Avengers book. Brubaker clearly loves romping through Cap's history (best part in this issue is either Cap reliving the hell of his frozen man period; or the all-out action of the Kree-Skull War). But best of all, Brubaker shares my love of Cap's relationships, as exemplified by his outstanding use of Cap's supporting cast.

Speaking of Nick Fury, another book with a great supporting cast is Jonathan Hickman's Secret Warriors. (But boy when does Black Widow sleep, what with her role in Reborn and Secret Warriors). When Norman
Osborn ultimately gets taken down (please tell me that's coming soon, Marvel), I'll be curious to see if Nick gets the pleasure of dethroning Normie. As an aside, does anyone else wish that Bendis and Marvel editorial had picked someone other than Osborn to be the ringleader behind this Dark Reign malarkey? I prefer Norman Osborn as the traditional crazy myopic "must ruin Peter Parker" character. Sure it's a one-note character, but it's a damn good note. The present day Osborn just smacks of a heavily medicated Lex Luthor with a hate-on for every superhero. Sorry, went off the rails there ... really enjoying Secret Warriors.

I enjoyed the latest issue of Batgirl, mostly because a good chunk of it was devoted to Oracle. I was absolutely flummoxed, however, that they devoted so much storytime to having Oracle's servers crap out
(the woman that plans everything does not have a back-up server?) so she had to drive over to the Batcave (that's right, Oracle could not just hack into the Batcave, she had to drive over there) just so Stephanie could look at the shrine of costumes (hey where's Bruce's, Dick?) and a discussion that will either please or annoy DC/"Stephanie should have had a shrine" critics.

J. Michael Straczynski finally begins his run on The Brave and The Bold with issue 27. It's not a traditional team-up with Dial H for Hero and that's actually what makes this issue work. Even better, the issue is that rare endangered comic book species--the one-and-done issue.

This past week at my pop culture blog, Talking with Tim, I interviewed Mike Sacks about his book (that I am still enjoying), And Here's the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on their Craft. Unfortunately Sacks was not able to include all the interviews he wanted to feature. So instead he's offering those four interviews for free on the book's website . Those interviews include Daniel Clowes and Roz Chast.

Both interviews are great (as is the whole book, Sacks offers snippets from each interview at the book's site, Chast talks about a variety of topics from Charles Addams to Diane Arbus. But, here's my favorite snippet from the Clowes interview, talking about his 2007-08 New York Times experience:

As far as subject matter, they never said a word, but as I said they were very touchy about language — their little “stylebook” is very important to them. Aside from “Jesus,” for instance, I wasn’t allowed to use the word “schmuck.” Mad’s been using the word for fifty years! It’s not as if I were using it in the Yiddish sense: “Wow, that guy has a huge cock!” I even found an old William Safire column from the NY Times magazine about “schmuck.” He wrote something like, “The original meaning of the word has long ago been forgotten, and it’s commonly accepted for general use.”

I showed this to the editors, but they told me, “No. We can’t run the word.” I could have acted like an asshole and told them I was going to end the strip halfway through, but this was a really good assignmentfor cartoonists. I didn’t want to be the guy who killed it for everyone else.

Stone Rabbit: Deep Space Disco

Brigid Alverson: I haven’t had a lot of time for reading this week, but I got a review copy of Stone Rabbit: Deep Space Disco, and that was about right for a quick read during a busy week. It’s a kids’ comic in a handy digest size, and although Craddock puts a lot of imaginative detail into his panels, including giant robots and all sorts of bizarre aliens, the pages never get too crowded or chaotic. I think that’s because he limits himself to one or two panels per page and manages to create a hierarchy, keeping the main characters in the foreground and letting everything drop back a bit. That seems simple and obvious, but a surprising number of artists can’t do that and instead let foreground and background blend into one confusing web. The story is pretty straightforward — an evil alien switches places with Stone Rabbit and
wreaks havoc on earth, while Stone Rabbit is prosecuted for his crimes on his home planet. There’s more action than talk, and lots of giant robots, so it really is a great kids’ comic — it has a real Saturday morning cartoon feel to it.

On a completely different note, I also got review copies of Eric Heuvel’s  A Family Secret and The Search, two comics about the Holocaust, sponsored by the Anne Frank House and originally published in the Netherlands. At first glance, they look uncannily like Tintin — not only does Heuvel work in the ligne Claire style that Herge pioneered, but the design of the book, the page layouts, and even the lettering are similar to Tintin. However, the stories are obviously more serious. A Family Secret is told in flashbacks, and because the creator has to give a history lesson to set the scene, the dialogue is a bit stilted. Still, the characters are three-dimensional, and it’s interesting to watch them struggle with the difficulties of living
under German occupation (without the hindsignt of history to sort things out for them). It’s also interesting that it’s written from the Dutch point of view; the main character is a Dutch girl who befriends a Jewish refugee from Germany. I am only about 20 pages in, but it looks very promising.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Rick Geary: I'm currently immersed in research on the Sacco & Vanzetti case for my next 20th Century Murder graphic novel. I've finished two books about it and now I'm in the midst of a third, entitled simply Sacco & Vanzetti by Bruce Watson. The other two books were rather dry accounts of the legal issues involved and the international uproar following the sentencing. This one, though, is a full-bodied rendering of the entire story, featuring dramatic details, and rich characterizations.

Next up is The Quaker City, or The Monks of Monk Hall, A Romance of Philadelphia Life, Mystery and Crime by George Lippard.

Petey & Pussy

This John Kerschbaum interview is long overdue. After I interviewed John Arcudi back in January 2009, he suggested I interview John Kerschbaum. In fact, he mentioned Kerschbaum in the course of our interview: "Petey and Pussy creator John Kerschbaum is the best cartoonist working in funnybooks right now. And he’s not working nearly enough." My apologies to Kerschbaum for the time it took to make this interview happen (he agreed to it back in late January, but I was unable to get questions to him until May), so I am really glad to run this finally. Kerschbaum, who was a 2008 Eisner nominee in the Best Humor Publication category for Petey and Pussy, was kind enough to discuss this most recent Fantagraphics book as well as the work he has self-published through his own Fontanelle Press. Enjoy.

Tim O'Shea: Looking at your work to date, is there any line of comedy that you are afraid to cross?

John Kerschbaum: I don't know if I'm motivated by fear, per se, but I tend to shy away from specifically offending people. That is, I avoid ethnic, political or religious humor, that type of stuff. I like to think I'm more of an equal-opportunity offender.

But that's not to say I think any of those topics are taboo. There are talented cartoonists, humorists and comedians that mine those territories for humor whose work I really enjoy. It's all about the context in which it's being done and the abilities of the cartoonist doing it. Just because something CAN be funny doesn't mean is always IS. There's a time and place for everything.

O'Shea: That being said, as an artist who has an ability to execute grotesque or disconcerting scenes that are at the same time funny, how do you strike that balance that allows it to remain funny?

Kerschbaum: Well, in the end it's just a comic. The violence is grotesque, but in a way over-the-top, cartoony way. I think what strikes the reader is the detail in which the result of the violence is drawn. It's what it would look like if Elmer Fudd REALLY blew Daffy's beak off. But I've always felt that humor and horror are very closely related. That they naturally play off of each other. The funny bits make the scary bits scarier and vice versa.

O'Shea: In terms of influences, which artists or storytellers have the ability to make you laugh and helped form your unique sense of humor.

Kerschbaum: My biggest, earliest comic/cartoon influence was MAD magazine, in particular Don Martin. Dr. Seuss, William Steig, B. Kliban and Edward Gorey were all favorites of mine early on. I had a subscription to National Lampoon in the early '80's -- and especially liked the work of Gahan Wilson, S. Gross, Rick Geary, Bobby London and Shary Flenniken. I used to get Heavy Metal as well and the New Yorker just for the cartoons. And I always read the newspaper comics -- Peanuts, Ziggy, and Herman were favorites. But humor-wise I've been greatly influenced by TV. I loved watching Looney Tunes, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Get Smart, Monty Python, Fernwood Tonight, David Letterman, Garry Shandling, Saturday Night Live -- which introduced me to the humor of Steve Martin, a huge comedic influence.

O'Shea: You appear to enjoy the art of self-publishing. Why I say this is the distinctive approach you take in compiling some of your works. For example, Junk Drawer sports a corrugated cardboard cover and sports periodic folded 8.5 x 11 layouts. How hard was that to bind and assemble?

Kerschbaum: Well, appearances can be deceiving! For the most part, I've self-published out of necessity. I find the "business" end of self-publishing soul-crushing. I often liken it to a middle-aged man's equivalent of running a lemonade stand except that lemonade is easier to make and has a higher profit margin. And while I do get some pleasure from designing and even constructing the mini-comics, I do not like single-handedly mass-producing them on the scale needed to sell them online and at conventions.

Junk Drawer is, by far, the most ambitious mini-comic I've made. I really wanted to get some work that I'd done for various anthologies as well as some older work that had never seen print or was out of print into the hands of readers. Technically, it was a very difficult undertaking. Each one has my blood, sweat and tears in it. Originally I was going to make 150 of them and each copy was going to have a small plastic bag taped to the inside back cover that had an actual piece of junk from my studio (a dirty pipe cleaner, paper clips, an old key, etc.) But I ran out of steam at 80 copies (but still managed to crank out 100) and decided to just keep my junk. But I'm proud of the way it came out and I've sold almost all of them. Still, I'll never do anything like it ever again!

O'Shea: In reading your late 1990s work on The Wiggly Reader, I really love your covers--in particular the multiple versions of Mary and Abe Lincoln at Ford Theater. It's been more than a decade, I realize, but how did you come up with a cover like that?

Kerschbaum: I'm delighted that that cover seems to really resonate with people. It is admittedly kinda nuts. All I can recall is describing the idea for the drawing to friends -- long before I ever decided to use it as the cover for a comic -- and getting a very positive response. But for the life of me I cannot remember its origins. The cover for the third issue by the way was inspired by a Robert Capa photograph.

O'Shea: While you have self-published a great deal, last year saw the release of Petey & Pussy published by Fantagraphics. Do you find the creative process any easier when you work with a publisher rather than being a publisher? What other advantages or differences did you find working with the publisher (if any)?

Kerschbaum: Actually, I waited until Petey & Pussy was nearly completed before I submitted it to publishers, so the creative process was, for the most part, over with before Fantagraphics got involved. But they were very supportive and enthusiastic about the book. It was the first time, however, I had someone else design the package for one of my stories. I tend to be very hands-on so it was an exercise in letting go for me. But Jacob Covey was really easy to work with and I'm thrilled with what he did. I think the cover looks really sharp and bold but then has all these little hidden jokes and subtle visual gags scattered about in a way that I like to think nicely reflects my work. He's a very talented guy.

O'Shea: Congrats on the Eisner nomination for Petey & Pussy, what's been the positive fallout from that nomination to date? How did you find out you had gotten the nomination? [Side Note:  Herbie Archives, by “Sean O’Shea” (Richard E. Hughes) and Ogden Whitney (Dark Horse) won this past weekend at SDCC.]

Kerschbaum: Thanks! I have to admit I was quite surprised. I figured that because of the rather visceral humor and the salty language that it was the kind of thing that could easily be dismissed. So I'm really pleased it's been nominated and I hope that it piques the interest of some folks who might not have otherwise been inclined to check it out or for that matter even heard of it. I'm not sure that's happening, but it's fun to pretend!

And I found out the same way everyone else does, I believe. Mr. Eisner came to me in a dream to tell me the book had been nominated. He also mentioned that he'd roll over in his grave if it won.

O'Shea: Not all of your work is for adults, in fact your work has appeared frequently in Nickelodeon's magazine, and you recently did a rather large ambitious project for The Metropolitan Museum of Art. How did the Met project come about--and given it's complexity how long did it take you to do?

Kerschbaum: I enjoy doing stuff for kids. The next two personal projects I hope to tackle are a children's picture book and an all-age graphic novel. And Nick Mag is one of my favorite clients [Side note: Much like my interview with Evan Dorkin last week, this interview took place before Nick magazine's unfortunate demise]. They are great to work for and I consider myself lucky every time they give me a call. In fact, the project I did for the Met sprung from one of the first assignments I did for Nick; a puzzle maze of an art museum. It's a piece I still consider a highlight of my career. I took it to Masha Turchinski in the Education Department at the Met, for whom I had previously done work for, and proposed doing some sort of puzzle for them, unsure of the context. As it ended up they were in the initial stages of redesigning their Family Map and she thought my idea would work nicely in it. I originally thought it would take a year or so to complete but it ended up taking nearly four. They were incredibly patient and supportive and I believe they're happy with the outcome. They're in the process now of turning it into a jigsaw puzzle for sale in their gift shop.

O'Shea: You wrapped the comic Randy and The Christmas Pimple with red bow. When you first conceived the story, did you always plan on wrapping it in a bow (that blocks the title and throw off people's expectation for the story) or is that an idea you came up while developing the story?

Kerschbaum: As much as I enjoy doing the covers for my comics and minis I don't consider myself a real "designer." My basic strategy is that every element has a reason for being there. Subverting the reader's expectations is something I enjoy doing. So it just made sense to wrap what I think may be one of the nastiest X-mas stories ever told in a pretty bow. As with all my covers, it came about after the story was done.

O'Shea: Do you think that web comics will entertain you long term as a creator as much as self-publishing clearly has?

Kerschbaum: I should point out that I'm not super web-savvy but it seems to me that it's currently the best, cheapest way to find and build and audience. I think cartoonists today need to have some kind of online presence. I'm thinking of launching a weekly online strip just as a test for myself; to see if I can keep to such a schedule. But for it to make sense to me, it should be the kind of thing that for whatever reason, could ONLY be read online. I haven't figured that part out yet. Maybe it's not necessary... I'm not sure. In the meantime, I add content to my Fontanelle Press website semi-regularly. And I hope to get some new comics up there soon.

O'Shea: What's on the creative horizon for you?

Kerschbaum: I'm currently working on a short story for a Sammy Harkam-edited Simpson's Treehouse of Horror anthology (issue #16, I believe) which, to the best of my knowledge, has an awesome group of cartoonists involved as only Sammy could put together.

40th Anniversary Souvenir Book

The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con is less than a month away, with preview night kicking things off on Wednesday, July 22. If you are a publisher, creator, retailer or any other kind of exhibitor who would like to let folks know about any special plans you have for the show (panels, signing schedules, exclusives, debuts, etc.) drop me an email and I'll run it here.

Also, to the right is the 40th anniversary souvenir book cover, featuring art by the great Rick Geary. Comic-Con debuted it on their Twitter feed, where they've also been announcing panels and auctions for membership badges.

Publishers | Red 5 Comics will be at booth S-9 in the small press area, with the creators of We Kill Monsters, Neozoic, Atomic Robo and Afterburn available for signings.

Books | Scott Morse says he'll have about 100 copies of The Ancient Book of Sex and Science, which sold out before its release after being mentioned on BoingBoing. He's also taking orders for a signed and numbered edition, which he'll bring to the con if you order one.

Exclusives | Becky Cloonan will have a set of four silkscreen prints at the con, limited to 100 "signed, numbered, stamped and enveloped" copies.

I asked if she and the 5/Pixu crew had another book planned for this year, but she said they've all been so busy they haven't been able to do one. She also said she'll have a big announcement at the con, and she'll have a table with with Brian Wood, Cliff Chiang and Jill Thompson.

Mini-comics | According to Ben Towle, J Chris Campbell of Wide Awake Press is putting together a Michael Jackson memorial mini-comic to sell at the con, which will feature stories and pin-ups of the King of Pop.

Panels | The Crogan Adventures creator Chris Schweizer sent over a list of panels he'll be at this year, providing more pieces in the ever-growing Comic-Con schedule puzzle:

THURSDAY, JULY 23:
3:00-4:00 Oni Press: Panelmonium 2009-Often imitated but never duplicated, get up close and personal with trend setting indie comic powerhouse Oni Press. Join in the Q&A with your favorite Oni creators including Ross Campbell (Wet Moon), Jamie S. Rich (You Have Killed Me), Greg Rucka (Whiteout), Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim), and Chris Schweizer (The Crogan Adventures). Get sneak peeks at upcoming Oni projects, news on Oni Press fan initiatives, free Oni comics, prizes and more! Guaranteed by Oni Press' totally biased employees to be "the most fun you'll ever have at a panel." Room 10

Crogan's Vengeance

SATURDAY, JULY 25:
5:00-6:00 Graphic Novels: Sense of History-There's a wonderful world of history awaiting you in numerous graphic novels available now. Whether it be real life stories adapting historical events to the comics form, or fiction taking place in a specific time, these practitioners of the historical graphic novel are all presenting work at the top of their form. Moderator Randy Duncan (co-chair of the Comics Arts Conference) talks to Comic-Con special guests Rick Geary (Treasury of XX Century Murder: Famous Players), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), and Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), plus Jason Lutes (Berlin), Chris Schweizer (Crogan's Vengeance), and Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze), about their individual takes on history. Room 8

SUNDAY, JULY 26:
10:00-11:00 Kids' Graphic Novels- What's new and wonderful in the world of comics and graphic novels for kids in 2009? Moderator Robin Brenner, creator and editor-in-chief of NoFlyingNoTights.com highlights the works of panelists Lewis Trondheim (Tiny Tyrant), Gene Yang (American Born Chinese), Derek Kirk Kim (The Eternal Smile), Eric Wight (Frankie Pickle and The Closet of Doom), Chris Schweizer (Crogan's Vengeance), Jennifer Holm (Babymouse), and Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Lunch Lady), who all recommend other great titles. Room 3

2:00-3:00 Kids Write!-Kids, join creators Chris Giarrusso (G-Man), Chris Schweizer (Crogan's Vengeance), Eric Wight (Frankie Pickle), and Gene Yang (American Born Chinese) as they draw the story you tell! Moderated by Cory Casoni (Oni Press). Room 30CDE

Panels | Mark Evanier lists all the panels he'll be moderating at this year's con, including a spotlight on comics legend Gene Colan.

Exclusives | The Comic-Con official website posted a whole bunch of exclusives that'll debut at the show, including Avatar comics, Dark Avengers minimates, a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man bank, signed and numbered copies of The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke and more. Hasbro has a cool Invaders action figure boxed set (right) and a black-and-white Captain America that look like they're worth checking out. I also like the Peanuts shirts and the Astronaut Snoopy figurine.

Movies | Footage from Matthew Vaughn’s big screen adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s Kick-Ass will debut at the con.

Television | The Sci Fi Channel has announced their line-up of panels, which will include one devoted to Caprica and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. They'll also be showing episodes of Warehouse 13 and Eureka.

Merchandise | Cartoon Books has three new Bone shirts that they'll be selling at Comic-Con. Or you can buy them now online.

Movies | Speaking of Bone, there will be a screening of The Cartoonist, the documentary about Jeff Smith, on Friday at the con.

Movies | King of the Hill and Office Space creator Mike Judge will show footage from his next movie, Extract, on July 25 at the con.

Movies | Comic-Con has released the schedule for their International Independent Film Festival, which will run all four days of the con. You can find it here.