From: [bv 446] at [cleveland.Freenet.Edu] (James S. Ottaviani)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Evan Dorkin, The Usenet Interview -8-
Date: 6 Oct 93 17:31:56 GMT


The end. Trashed disks and cross country trips have delayed this
well beyond your memory of the penultimate installment (it
appeared in June, and no, I don't think I'll repost it. Nobody
references it here).

As usual, I've enjoyed the show. Thanks to all -- especially to
Evan. Write him a note and thank him yourself, why doncha? (543
Van Duzer Street, Staten Island, NY 10304)

                         ***

Sorry to get back to you so late with this... Sarah and I did a
week in Texas and then the San Diego con to finish up our tour,
and the after affects are still lingering. I'm pretty wiped out,
and just finished Dick Wad #1 (late as hell), all ordered Milk and
Cheese sketches, and my backlog of mail. Vroom Socko and Pirate
Corp$!/Hectic Planet #6 are real late. The first installment of
the Predator series in DHC came out, we're fairly happy with it.
I've got to finish the last script, issue four, of the
mini-series, in a few days. It's late, but not as far as damaging
the schedule. I'm bored with it, I already know how it ends!
     In other updates, it looks like Dark Horse is interested in
an original mini-series of mine I pitched them. I've been working
on it off and on for several years now, and I'd be scripting, not
drawing the project. More when I know more. I'm currently
contracted to provide ten comic strips for a book parodying
Generation X/13th Gen from Simon and Schuster. The full page
strips would be chapter headings, concerning such sucker bait as
comic books, films, lollapalooza, hemp culture, raving, blah blah
blah. As usual, I'm late with this assignment as well, but not too
badly. I'm still negotiating with Disney Adventures to do a three
part adventure strip for them called Kid Blastoff. Instant Piano
has been signed to Dark Horse, as soon as I sign my contract,
everyone's aboard for a late 94 go or so. This'll be me, Kyle
Baker, Stephen DeStefano, Mark Badger and Robbie Busch doing at
least four issues of whatever the hell we want to do. Also in '94,
Slave Labor and I will continue Dork with the second issue around
April or so, and the fifth Milk and Cheese will issue forth around
then as well. Hope you check 'em out, folks. Mad Planet #3 should
be out soon, hopefully I'll get a strip in there. I'm also doing
the CD cover for a mid-western ska compilation called American
Ska-Thic. I have to finish that up soon, it's probably late like
everything else. Finally, a NYC gallery called Exit Art has a huge
showing of "alternative" comic art, and four of my pages are
featured near the bathrooms. A subtle critique? Hmmm...

Before I answer this last batch of queries, let me just say thanks
to those interested enough to write in to this interview. I
appreciate your time, and support. Thanks also to Jim for asking
me to participate, I promise I'll be more of a draw for you some
other time. [Such modesty! You're always welcome. --  jimO] Maybe
when I do my Image book...(that's a joke, kids).


Jeff Hansen ([j--f--y] at [Athena.MIT.EDU]) --  You've been cranking out
Way Much Stuff for the last two or three years, pushing yourself
to the limit - but you keep on signing up for new jobs, instead of
taking the long vacation you richly deserve. My question is this:
can I have your Fisher-Price stuff when you explode?

Evan Dorkin -- HEY! Stop stinking up the computer net, Jeff. It's
bad enough no one wrote in to me, I don't need "ha-ha" funny fake
guest questionnaires, so lay off. And I'm sorry I couldn't
contribute to the last X-Magazine (a swell publication you all
should support), I really do have to cut my workload. You can only
have my Fisher-Price stuff if Sarah dies with me, if she gets
caught in the blast, I guess. We found the F-P garage in great
shape. It makes the "ding" noise and everything. Ah, the good
life...


Tonio Roque ([Tonio Roque] at [um.cc.umich.edu]) -- Hello Msieu. Dorkin,
got a couple questions for you. What inspired the Renensco Blue
character?  He seems to have a bit of Flavor Flav and maybe a
touch of Evil Otto from that "Berzerk!" arcade game of yore.

Evan -- No idea, really. I just drew him while sketching several
years ago and I immediately liked hm. Originally he looked more
alien, more lizard like, but he's toned down over the years as the
entire Pirate Corp$! book has. (I forgot about that Berzerk game
and "Evil Otto" -- I remember the sequel game called "Frenzy" I
think, also with indestructible Ottos. Ah, the good life...)


Tonio -- You talk about music and toys and comix and junk food and
stuff, but so far you've only mentioned a couple prose fiction
writers in your stories (Salinger and Garcia-Marquez and Ginsberg,
that I remember). What kind of prose fiction do you feel inspires
your writing?

Evan -- Not much fiction inspires me these days, as I'm reading
less and less due to time constraints, and what I do read is
almost entirely magazines, 'zines and non-fiction. Most of the
non-fiction consists of true crime, biography and pop culture
history. The fiction I last read was mainly "hard boiled" junk by
Jim Thompson, Willeford, etc, and stuff by Bukowski, Burroughs,
Kerouac -- y'know, the "alternative" stuff that's so alternative
everyone knows about it but pretends they're the only ones on
earth who do. "Hipster crap". Mainly I read serial killer
material, as that's where a lot of my commercial work is leaning
towards. More "hipster crap" nobody needs.


Tonio -- What do you think comics are going to be like in the near
future: are there going to be more non-superhero/adolescent
comics; will they be more widely accepted as such; and how do you
see your own comics developing in the future?

Evan -- Comics will always be junky adolescent male crap, end of
story. I mean, that's what movies are, it's just that people take
"real" (filmed) violence and gratuitous tit shots seriously,
whereas in a comic it looks puerile and pathetic. Which is true,
but Hollywood equals big money and glamour and casting couch
sessions, whereas comics success invites long lines of pimply
geeks with comics for autographing. Comics, like all
entertainment, will always be lowest common denominator garbage,
with the added "bonus" of being mainly concerned with the obscure
and trivial antics of superheroes, monsters and aliens. I see
alternative comics artists gaining success mainly by getting more
interesting and higher paying "sidework" -- ads, animation, books,
magazine illustration. It's been a particular trend since the
"alternative" comics market started, the guys who have the lowest
selling books get the most prestigious "outside" recognition --
because those guys have the real talent, and have things to say
about the world that other people can relate to. The comics market
doesn't give two shits about the small press "alternative" market,
they just want to make as much money RIGHT NOW at the expense of
the true growth of the market in the future. It's a snake eating
its own tail.
     My own comics? I don't really know, I haven't had my head
together lately. I just want to make them better.


Tonio --
 P.S.:
 ---
  LONELY PLANET/PIRATE CORP$ #6 -- Sept '93
       The return of my favorite project, with a name
  change to reflect the changing direction of the
  series...
 ---
 Ahhh, maaan, don't change the name...  Look, the thing I really
love
about ska is that it has a sense of humor.  This is doubleplus
important with the more recent hardcore ska, because every once in
a while listening to the constant anger of "straight" hardcore I
just want say: 'Lighten up, you're just some middle-class white
kid whose parents didn't pay you enough attention.'  Ska's got the
same power and force, but it's also got the happy skankin' jumping
around horn-choruses with the funky clothes to balance it all out.
 See what I'm getting at? Pirate Corp$! is blues and angst, but
still enjoys life.  "I guess maybe no-one's really happy after
all" /// "JUMP MOTHERFUCKER!! YEEEEAAAHH I love this band!!!" 
Classic.  "Lonely Planet" suggests a pure uncut angstfest whereas
"Pirate Corp$!" is lots of fun to type, has that ol' cultish
sentimental value, and sounds like what a ska band would be called
if a ska band were a comic book.  Maybe put the PC$ part first,
like: "Pirate Corp$: Lonely Planet" or something, to set it apart
from the Vroom Socko stuff. Just a bit of input from a humble
reader; am anxiously awaiting the new issue, & am much heartened
to hear PC$ is your favorite project.  Hasta.

Evan -- I'm changing the name for several reasons -- (and it's
being changed to Hectic Planet, not Lonely Planet) 1) I don't
think the old name works for the way the book has been proceeding
for several issues now, 2) I believe there are readers who might
be biased against the comic because of the "adventure" sounding
name, 3) I'm sick of people saying "Corpse" instead of "Corps".
Honestly, it makes me fucking sick to hear it time after time.
Corpse, corpse, corpse. When it's canceled it can be called Pirate
Corpse. Nation of geniuses.


Lazlo Nibble ([l--z--o] at [triton.unm.edu]) -- Okay Evan, here's some
questions:

What are you doing in this fucked-up little speculation-driven
trash-culture industry?  What made you decide to take a shot at
making a living with comics instead of 'zines or film or video or
music? What keeps you interested in it?

Evan -- The reason I'm in comics is that I loved them as a kid,
and I wanted to be a comic book artist. Thankfully, or
unfortunately, as ignorance is bliss, I learned that there's a
life outside of superheroes. This led to a schism in my work which
I'm still suffering through. I went to film school at NYU, and
although I got my degree, I found I disliked film people even more
than comics people (but not as much as music biz people). So I
pursued comics rather than film, and now people pay me to do the
commercial work, and I enjoy my small press work, I consider
myself pretty lucky to be in the position I'm in. Conversely, the
industry IS so stupid and frustrating, that I'm desperate to do
more writing and drawing for comics related projects outside the
comic book market, such as work I've done for Penthouse, Esquire,
Simon and Schuster and various band jobs and zine contributions. I
guess the main reason I'm in comics is because there's not much
else I can do. I don't know how I stay interested in it, I'm
pretty much on autopilot right now, but when a new cartoonist like
Adrian Tomine pops up, you feel good about comics again. It's good
to know there are others out there who like comics despite every
reason not to.


Lazlo -- What do you think the market is going to look like by the
time this fall rolls around, and how is that affecting your work?

Evan -- It's about Fall now, [my once and future life has delayed
posting this for about a week -- jimO] and I'm out of the loop,
all I know is that no one still cares about independent, really
independent, comics. Just lip service from the distributors and
press, and indifference and downright contempt from retailers and
fans. I really don't know about all the egos and petty kooks
who've jumped onto the publishing bandwagon in the last few years,
I have no idea how they're doing. It does seem, from all the big
babies arguing in the pages of the CBG, that there's a lot of
fatheads spending more time on their pathetically small cult of
personality than to actually write and draw good mainstream
comics. Ridiculous.


Lazlo -- Has Slave Labor made any noise about collecting your
stuff into tradebacks?

Evan -- We discussed trade paperbacks but for now our financial
situation precludes us from doing the job right. Orders would be
pretty low anyway, and many retailers have already told us that
for the time being, they'd prefer to move the inexpensive comic
editions. Fine by me, that's why we keep them in print. I want
copies in the hands of everyone who wants one, and two in the
hands of the fools who don't.


Lazlo -- And how about that Bob Camp, huh?  What a guy!

Evan -- What about Bob Camp? Did I miss something here, or was
this an opening for me to complain about how wretchedly unfunny
Ren and Stimpy is? I dunno...


Lance \"Squiddie\" Smith" ([l s mith] at [cs.umn.edu]) -- What would you
have liked to do with Bill and Ted if the people who owned the
rights to the characters (Nelson?) hadn't been such utter
greedheads?

Evan -- I would have liked to have had them killed. No, no, I
dunno what the hell I had planned for them. When I knew the book
was canceled, around issue #10, I just shut off after I figured
out the last two issues. I turned #12 into a capper issue,
rounding off the run and giving it a decent sense of full closure
for the loyal readers. Otherwise, I would have done more with the
supporting cast, especially Phil, to balance off the white bread
world of Bill and Ted. I didn't really "do" anything with Bill and
Ted, they were really cyphers who always stayed the same. I did
more with the princesses, and I'd say the character with the most
room to work with was Death. He was the most fun to write, him and
DeNomolos. (And Nelson weren't "greedheads", as far as the fact
that I knew when I signed to do the comic I had no rights to my
work other than my paycheck. So, I didn't give them any of my top
drawer material. That's how it works, and that's why mainstream
comics stagnate -- many creators don't want to give up their best
material that they think is exploitable, they want to control it.
You can't do that at Marvel or on licensed books. That's why I
won't sell Milk and Cheese.)


Lance -- How long before Milk and Cheese become the latest pop
culture icons in Japan, beloved by millions of Japanese children
who know them as "the impolite dairy couple"?

Evan -- I'll skip your question...because it's silly.


Squiddie -- Hypothetical situation: In a strange and bloody power
struggle, you somehow gain control of Marvel comics when all of
the editors are sacked for the Marvel UK fiasco. Under your serene
reign, how does Mad Dog die in the next issue of his comic?

Evan -- Mad Dog. Thanks. Thanks for reminding me. Thanks a lot.
Uhhh, hypothetically, I'd just cancel all remaining issues, burn
every issue I could get returned to Marvel, and then kill Bob
Newhart. Then I'd make sure you took the fall for it, 'ol Lance.
Mad Dog. That fucking things gonna haunt me forever. Guess I
deserve it...


Lance -- Question: Why Merv Griffin?

Evan -- Answer: Why not?


Squiddie -- Since it was on your wish list, describe the Milk and
Cheese pinball machine? Who do you get to do the digitized voices
that insult the player after a particularly bad shot?

Evan -- Sarah and I briefly bullshitted about a dream M&C pinball:
the video deck would show scenes of mayhem, the guys would yell
out the bonuses the player executes (yelling out Merv Griffin, or
Gin Makes a Man Mean, or Rampage or Vomit! stuff from key strips).
The board art would be the usual, typical violence and
drunkenness. The ball would dump into shot glasses that then dump
multiballs after locking, the flippers would be baseball bats or
broken bottles. The sound effects would include screaming, glass
breaking, screeching tires and car wrecks, poured drinks, etc. The
machine would definitely be insulting, much worse than the classic
Funhouse machine's Rudy, the Mechanical Boy. First player
drinks...


Lance -- What's your reaction to the nomination of M&C an Eisner
award?

Evan -- I lost. Again. At least I was nominated, it's a free ad
for your work. The truly sad thing is, all the humor books
nominated have a combined print run (save Groo, which is Marvel)
lower than dirt. Awards are weird, anyway, you know? Even puny
ones that mean very little (i.e. comics awards) can make you feel
weird. You know they're just stupid popularity contests designed
to pat the industry on the back, but you kind of want to win
anyway. Just because the award doesn't mean much of anything
doesn't mean I want to LOSE. Anyway, I lost. Again. At least I was
nominated.

Well, that's it! Thanks, troops...Evan

                         ***

what he just said
jimO
--