Today we continue our new feature that brings together two comic creators to talk about a specific topic — in this case, stories about demonic possession.
Picture + Panel is a monthly conversation series that brings fantastic graphic novel creators to the Greater Boston area. Each conversation explores a specific topic, ranging from the fun and exciting to the strange or serious. Produced in partnership by the Boston Comic Arts Foundation, Porter Square Books and the Boston Figurative Arts Center, Picture + Panel provides thought-provoking discussions for the unique form of expression that is the comics medium.
We’re happy to bring some of that discussion online in advance of each session. On May 5, Anna Meyer and Michelle Fus will visit the Boston Figurative Arts Center in a Q&A moderated by Jordan Harris. You can find more details at the event’s website.
Anna Meyer was born in Northeast Ohio. She enjoys climbing, congregating in the kitchen, and coffee made by a loved one. Anna currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her partner, Bryan, and their two cats, sweet Ysif and not-so-sweet Oscar. Saint Catherine is her first graphic novel.
Michelle Fus graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2011 for Computer Art and Animation, interned at Pixar, worked at Dreamworks, changed careers, and has dedicated the past 13 years to working on the sci-fi/fantasy comic called Ava’s Demon. She is a fan of aliens, horror, magic and all the fantastic things in-between.
Big thanks to Gina Gagliano and Jason Viola, who organize the monthly series in Boston and brought this Q&A series to Smash Pages!
How did you get interested in demonic possession?
Michelle Fus: I’m interested in the idea of an eternal soul, or a part of oneself that can exist outside of our bodies, whether it becomes a spirit that attaches itself to other things or is reincarnated, or rejoins some sort of soul field and becomes one with the universe at large.
Anna Meyer: From a young age, I’ve always been innately drawn to the strange and supernatural. However, I grew up in a strict Irish catholic household where the media I consumed was heavily monitored. So I found my fix through the stories of saints, angels and demons. One time I checked out a stack of books on demonology and exorcisms from the library and later found a prayer card between the pages, undoubtedly placed there by my mom.
Why did you start making comics that dealt with demonic possession?
Anna Meyer: I found that most demonic possession and exorcism stories leaned very dark or were focused on body horror and gore. And while I love classic horror, I wasn’t personally interested in writing about someone strapped to a bed projectile vomiting.
I wanted to write about demons, but I wanted to do it my way.
Michelle Fus: The title of my comic, Ava’s Demon, is actually a multilayered metaphor for the inner demons of the characters, me personally feeling demonized by peers for being Jewish, being made to feel evil by a mother with BPD who was always looking for the worst in me, and being rejected or alienated by people who did not understand abuse or neurodivergence when they witnessed it in me.
When I started writing this comic I had finally started living on my own and was lost in a deep depression I had no immediate explanation for and had a lot of feelings I was unable to understand.
Through making this comic I gradually started to reflect and realize just what kind of an abusive home I had come from and what kind of parent I had been raised by, and thus what the word ‘demon’ meant to me, how my comic mirrored the lack of autonomy and individuality I felt at the hands of a mentally ill parent, and how I had been living in a home similar to living in the den of a monster I spent years of my life planning to escape.
How are demons and demonic possession integrated into your work?
Michelle Fus: They are more “inner demons,” personal trauma in the form of a spirit, than they are literal demons. Each character has an “inner demon” they are dealing with presented in the form of an alien ghost they are possessed by, or if you want to take it a step further, the representation of being raised by an abusive or neglectful parent and the impact it has on each of the characters motivations throughout the story as they each try to escape what possesses them.
Anna Meyer: I always had this concept floating around in my head of a girl being possessed by a demon, but she still had to go to work, call her mom and be a bridesmaid in her best friend’s wedding. You’re possessed by 27 legions of hell, but it’s chill—until it’s not. To me, that’s interesting. That’s fun to write.
But I felt it lacked a point of view. It wasn’t until I realized I could explore religious indoctrination through demonic possession that the story really took shape.
In my graphic novel Saint Catherine, Catherine becomes possessed by a one-eyed demon who calls himself the prince of hell after missing Sunday mass for the first time in her life. Her possession reveals her latent fear of eternal damnation and how it affects her life and relationships. Throughout the story we follow Catherine as she tries to exorcise the demons possessing her, both the physical and emotional kind.
On the surface, it’s a bizarre possession story. But at its core, Saint Catherine is about guilt, superstition, and how we choose to do right by others and ourselves.
What’s your favorite thing about demons and demonic possession?
Anna Meyer: The range. The idea of a demon is actually really vague. While my story is focused on Christian demonology, so many cultures and mythologies have their own interpretation. As a writer, it feels like there are endless opportunities to explore and play with the concept of possession. My demon can be a thirty foot tall grotesque abomination unleashing unspeakable horrors on the tri-state area or a one-eyed blob nagging you about your late timesheets.
Michelle Fus: I am Jewish. I care about the idea of souls, second chances after life, feeling possessed by the influence of others, and being at the mercy of things in the universe that are much bigger than what your mind can wrap itself around.
What’s your least favorite thing about it?
Michelle Fus: Honestly I do find demons and the entirety of Hell really entertaining horror at the least, but incredibly damaging to society.
I think it really stunts the emotional intelligence of some people at a young age and keeps them in a state of irrational fear that then carries over to all other aspects of their lives, keeps them from thinking critically, makes them afraid of being human, enables them to hurt others because their own humanity is wrong to them.
The first thing I would get told as a Jewish person by believers was that I was going to hell and I was going to burn with these goofy looking abominations just by being born Jewish, that was my predetermined destiny to them, and they really made sure I felt badly for it, observed me like a zoo animal, talked down to me, tried to get me to go to youth group, etc.
And I really had to grow a thick skin at the age of twelve to protect myself from the idea that I was born some sort of monster by default.
Anna Meyer: When it’s taken too seriously. For some people the threat of demonic possession is a very real thing. And I understand that, but I don’t feel the same. I love a good story and the mythos of heaven and hell is a damn good one. I view Christian mythology the same way I view Greek mythology. It’s lore, it’s fantasy, it’s camp.
What misconceptions have you found people have about demonic possessions?
This one is actually from my mom, but that an exorcism costs money. In an earlier draft of Saint Catherine, I had a priest try to charge my character for one. My mom let me know that the Catholic church will do them for free—you just might be put on a very, very long waiting list. So thank you to my mom for the fact checking. And don’t let a TikTok mystic scam you out of your God-given right to an exorcism.
What misconceptions have you found people have about demonic possession?
Michelle Fus: That most of any demonic possession in recorded history is probably untreated mental illness and that adults who don’t educate themselves on mental illness can hurt vulnerable people out of ignorance.
Anna Meyer: This one is actually from my mom, but that an exorcism costs money. In an earlier draft of Saint Catherine I had a priest try to charge my character for one. My mom let me know that the Catholic church will do them for free—you just might be put on a very, very long waiting list. So thank you to my mom for the fact checking. And don’t let a TikTok mystic scam you out of your God-given right to an exorcism.
Are there any other media about demons and demonic possession that have inspired your work?
Anna Meyer: Venom. I always joke that Saint Catherine is Venom meets Lady Bird. While Venom is technically an alien, that was my first introduction to a possession story that strayed from the Christian interpretation. Venom and Spider-Man’s banter was also definitely an influence for the tone of my book.
Daredevil sparked my love of a sad protagonist being sad in a beautiful church. And while not so much an influence for Saint Catherine, the manga Chrono Crusade was a huge influence for the webcomic I made in highschool about a demon hunter who fell in love with a demon—which stays in the vault (my old laptop).
Michelle Fus: I’m very into sci fi and fantasy, like Alien, and Lord of the Rings, and also into real Aliens, like UFOs, tinfoil hat theories about the universe and souls.
I do recommendWolf in White Van by John Darnielle for anyone trying to look for demons in daily life.
If you could recommend one other graphic novel about demons or demonic possession to people who love your work, what would it be, and why?
Michelle Fus: I really enjoyed Berserk by Kentaro Miura.
Anna Meyer: Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol. I love a supernatural meets slice-of-life story and Anya’s Ghost is a perfectly executed example of that.