Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Today's soundtrack: Joe Eposito "You're the Best Around" ::
Hello, again. This week I'm going to do something different for the Rant. Remember a few weeks back when I begged for you, my loyal readers, to send in questions for me to answer just so's I have something to write about? Well, this week I'm doing something similar... only kinda not. THIS time, it was I who asked the questions, and the person who answered them was none other than Mr. Aaron Alexovich (or just "Aaron A.").
But, I hear many of you asking in your own minds through my incredible telepathic abilities, just who exactly IS this Aaron A person? Aaron A is a comicker. He writes, draws, and inks comics. For a living. He inked some issues of Lucifer for DC, he recently guest pencilled the fantastic Vertigo comic Fables, but to me and hopefully to you as well, he is best known for his Slave Labor Graphics creation Serenity Rose. Okay, FINE, he also worked on a little something called Invader Zim, a totally wicked cartoon that was on Nickelodeon, maybe you've heard of it. Been inside a Hot Topic in the last few years? Yeah, you know who Zim is. But I still like Serenity Rose best (it was on my 50 Reasons Me Likey Comics list).
What's all this got to with anything? Well, Aaron A has some shiny new comic book projects available/available very soon and he wants to get the word out. There isn't really a talk show circuit or press junket for comics, you know. So, he put it out there for any one of his readers, if they wanted to, could send him some brief interview questions and he'd be happy to answer them, so long as they got put up somewhere for others to read as well. I read this news, and thought, "hey! I'M one of his readers! That's ME!", and here we are. Amazing! So, I sat down with Aaron A and asked him about comics (and by "sat down with" I mean "sent him an e-mail") and here's what he had to say.
Question 1: What comics did you read as a kid as opposed to what you read now?
Aaron A: Superheroes. Superhero comics were a big
part of my life when I was a kid, but not so much now. I remember it started
with this big, fat paperback called "Origins of Marvel Comics" that collected
the first appearances of, y'know, Spider-man, The Hulk, whatever. All that
Kirby-Lee-Ditko 60's stuff. I was just obsessed with this book... There was
duct tape all over the thing, it got so mangled after a while. It's the old
cliche, right? Big, melodramatic stories about alienation and secret powers
hitting a painfully introverted artistic kid like a diamond bullet to the brain.
I'd spend hours trying to make sense of Jack Kirby's drawing techniques. (A
big blotch of black right in the middle of the face? I have no idea why that's
there but IT IS SWEET.)
By the time I was in high school, I was bicycling to the comic shop every Friday
to drop $20 a week on -exclusively- superhero books. I was one of those guys
who took great, terrifying pride in the depth of my Marvel/DC trivia
knowledge... I thought I was really awesome because I could pull facts, for
instance, like "Cyclops' dad is Corsair the space pirate!" out of nowhere, but
of course, I couldn't tell you the name of my own state's governor. Or why
Isaac Newton was important. Or what's in the Bill of Rights.
I guess the biggest difference between what I read now and what I read growing
up is in the variety of things I read. All the books on science and politics
and sociology, the horror novels and sci-fi novels and crime stuff, all the
indie and arty and non-superheroey comics just crowded out the colored-tights
guys. To the point where there aren't really any super-people in my stack at
all anymore.
Unless Hellboy counts. I love Hellboy.
Question 2: Who would you say are your biggest creative
influences, be it comics, music, film, whatever?
Aaron A: Tim Burton is the biggest one. Shocking, I know, but if I
didn't say it, people would say I'm full of shit. The Nightmare Before
Christmas and Ed Wood are probably the two biggest influences on my style.
Drawing and writing.
The other guys I'd have to mention are Bill Watterson, for the enormous appeal
of his characters and world, Hayao Miyazaki, for the stripped-down, deceptive
simplicity and gentle (but unsentimental) feel of his films, and one of the old
EC Comics artists, Jack Davis, for the perfect, grungy funny-creepiness in his
drawings. You could probably add Wes Anderson to the list, too... Rushmore had
a big impact on my writing style, the whole "quirky understatement" kind of
thing. I'd live in the Andersonverse, if I could.
Question 3: What inspired you to create Serenity Rose, both the comic and the character?
Aaron A: It's hard to say where ideas come from,
because, y'know, it's always this sort of mysterious mash-up of works that
inspire you, things you've read, experiences you've gone through, whatever.
Everything you take into your brain just kind of percolates and comes back out
as your comic. I did write about "quiet voices" on the back page of Serenity
Rose #1, though... so I guess the idea of having a frightened little introvert
as the center of the book -and having her remain an introvert at the end- was
kind of push-back to what I
thought of as the screaming shrillness of mainstream culture.
It's like, "this person is valuable, even if she never 'comes out of her shell'
the way you're insisting she does."
Question 4: If you could work with anyone in the comics industry, ideally, who would it be?
Aaron A: I'd probably drop everything for a chance to
draw something for Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman, but then everybody says that.
There are tons of other writers I'm totally in love with, but I'd have to say,
if I had all the money in the world and had to choose between working on my own
stories and working with anyone other than maybe those two guys, I'd choose my
own stuff. It's just more satisfying, in the end. But I'm open to anything.
On the writing side, there are a LOT of artists I'd love to write something for.
But it's sort of the same problem, y'know? It'd be great to write a story for,
say, Becky Cloonan or Ross Campbell, but in the end I'd rather see them do their
own East Coast Risings and Wet Moons than work on my ideas. Even if they
were just pleased as punch with it all, I'd still have these weird little "Am I
just holding them back?" feelings. Kind of irrational, I know... I wish they'd
pass out a list of artists who prefer working from other people's
scripts, but they don't as far as I know.
Question 5: Was there anything in particular that sparked the creation/influenced Kimmie66?
Aaron A: Not one specific thing, no. I had a lot of
friends who were playing a lot of World of Warcraft, complaining about it
constantly, and it just got me thinking about where the whole MMORPG thing could
be taking us within the next couple hundred years or so. It's fascinating
stuff, and I didn't see a whole lot of other comics exploring the subject, so I
thought it might be something unique. The notion of "futuristic ghost story"
has a lot of room for growth, too.
Question 6: When you did the art for Confessions of a Blabbermouth as well as
Fables, you were working from someone else's script. Was this more difficult to
draw/layout than working from your own?
Aaron A: Actually, it was much, much easier. Somebody else had already fought half the battle, y'know? And Mike Carey and Bill Willingham are two intensely talented guys working at the top of their game, so it's not like I had to rework anything they gave me. It was all there. Maybe if I'd been working with a beginning writer or someone who isn't as specific and concise with their scripts, it might've been more of a struggle, but not with those guys. Both of those projects were a dream to work on, and I'd love to do another book with Mike and Louise or Bill - as long as I don't have something of my own cooking, right?
-- Aaron Alechovich's latest projects include the artwork in DC's new MINX line of comics for Confessions of a Blabbermouth and both story and art in the forthcoming Kimmie66 (November 14, 2007). He also claims to be working long into the night on the highly anticipated (by me) Serenity Rose Volume 2, but nothing concrete as to when that will see the light of day (hint, hint). When he's not doing interviews with fans, he is known to blog on his own personal site, Heart Shaped Skull, which you should visit 'cause it's neat.
There, you have it, kids! Your very own William the Bloody's first pseudo-celebrity interview! Maybe I've missed my calling as a comicker interviewer? Get me Jhonen Vasquez on the phone!
William (feeling special)
