Category: Interviews

Smash Pages Q&A: Haejin Park, Paige Mehrer and Sophie Page

The folks behind Plum Press discuss their approach to publishing, their work on ‘Mirror Mirror 3’ and more.

Plum Press is a small publisher based in Brooklyn that consists of three creators: Haejin Park, Paige Mehrer and Sophie Page. Over the years, the three have made and released books, comics and zines like It’s True, It’s Yours, JAM, Loop Room, Love Bug and Rainbow Who Escaped to the Fridge.

The trio are behind Mirror Mirror 3, the new volume of the anthology from 2d Cloud, which has just been released as part of the company’s Spring 2020 line. I asked them a few questions about Plum Press and the book.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Matthew Dow Smith

The veteran creator of ‘The October Girl’ and more discusses his early career, posting new comics on social media during the pandemic and more.

I’ve been reading Matthew Dow Smith’s comics for decades. As I joked to him, he worked on some of my favorite comics of the ’90s – which also happened to be some of his favorites, before he got the chance to draw them. But before he worked on Starman and The Shade and Sandman Mystery Theatre – and went on to draw Day of Judgement, Batman ’66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel, The Keep, Bad Luck Chuck and many more – he got his start at Caliber Comics. While there, he was writing and drawing his own work, and writing both short comics and series for others to draw. In the years since, he’s been busy with a wide range of projects, but slowly over the past few years, he got back into writing comics. 

When the pandemic hit and the comics industry hit pause, Smith started writing and drawing again. He started by posting weekly installments of an autobiographical series My Life as Riley. Then he launched the serial Johnny Chaos, which wraps up this week, on social media and his Patreon. Next week he’s launching a brand new serial, Arch Nemesis, followed by another, Amelia Shadows: Daughter of Darkness, in August. He also has The October Girl, the first of a graphic novel series launching next year.

The final chapter of Johnny Chaos is out tomorrow, and I spoke with Smith recently about his career, how Doctor Who has influenced his writing and thinking about the future of comics.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Gabrielle Bell

The creator of ‘Everything is Flammable’ and ‘The Voyeurs’ discusses her latest short story collection, ‘Inappropriate.’

Gabrielle Bell is one of our great cartoonists. In books like The Voyeurs, Truth is Fragmentary, Cecil and Jordan in New York, and in the hundreds of comics she’s made for print and online, she’s developed a style and approach to storytelling that is deceptively simple.

I don’t mean her linework, which is beautiful and deliberate, but the way she approaches story. One can read a few of the realistic stories she tells, and think that one understands her work, but then she crafts a story in that same style with that same tone and approach, which goes off in strange fantastic directions. Some of them are colorful, fantastic tales. Others loop back and force the characters and the readers to reconsider the opening scenes differently. It’s this way that she seems to effortlessly move from dirty realism to magical realism, always grounded in lived in details and psychology, which allow the reader to feel grounded even as the story spins off in any direction.

Bell’s new book Inappropriate is the first since the release of her acclaimed graphic memoir Everything is Flammable. In these short comics, some of which have seen print in The New Yorker, Spiralbound and elsewhere, Bell effortlessly shifts from the autobiographical to the fantastic, the personal to the strange. Recently she also got attention for her comic Utopia, which was posted during the pandemic. It’s always a joy to pick her brain and Gabrielle took some time out to chat about the book, how she works and thoughts during the pandemic.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Sanford Greene

The artist and co-creator of ‘Bitter Root’ talks about the series’ origins and how current events are shaping its direction.

Sanford Greene has been drawing comics for years, working on projects that ranged from Wonder Girl and Rotten Apple to Runaways and Galactic. But until a few years ago, he was probably best known for his run on Power Man and Iron Fist with David Walker, and though the series didn’t last long, it showed off Greene’s kinetic figurework, his skill at capturing a sense of place, not bound by the constraints of realism, instead attempting to convey a sense of the world as it feels, in the best tradition of superhero comics.

Greene is currently the artist and co-creator of the acclaimed series Bitter Root, which is his finest work to date. This is the saga of the Sangerye family, who hunt monsters in 1920s Harlem — though as we discussed in our conversation, the story is ultimately about far more, about hate and monstrous behavior and American history. Greene’s artwork manages to capture the era but also depicts its own world in ways that have had me re-reading every page. Issue #9 of the series comes out this week from Image Comics, and I spoke with Greene about the series, his career and how recent events have changed both our understanding of history and the book.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Carta Monir

The comics creator discusses her latest zine ‘Napkin,’ pornography in the age of COVID-19 and much more.

Carta Monir and I spoke more than a year ago about her work, her career and Diskette Press, which she runs, but late last year she published Napkin, a zine about sex and desire that honestly blew me away. This is a work that is raw and thoughtful and insightful and pornographic – but not really pornography.

Monir writes very specifically about her own life, her own journey and her own sexuality, but besides being a thoughtful and honest document, the book also manages to be something striking. It is a moving documentation of queer thinking and sexuality. More than that, there’s so much in it that queer people, cis people and so many people can relate to. Anyone who has had issues with their bodies, struggled with what they want and what it means, questioned their identity, wanted to let loose or felt unable to let loose will relate to it.

The questions of sex, desire and identity are hard to talk about openly, which made me more impressed by the way that Monir is able to. I admitted before we talked that I am a neurotic New Englander, but we spoke about her book, how she started making porn recently and the connections between these projects. 

Please note this interview includes a frank and mature discussion about sex and pornography that is NSFW or for kids.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Emma Jayne

The creator of ‘Dreameater’ discusses her process, her minicomics, the importance of music to her work and more.

Emma Jayne made a splash with her graphic novel Dreameater, a queer horror musical thriller that is fun and inventive, but she’s had the biggest impact with a series of slice of life comics like In an Empty City, Pseudo Slut Transmission, and the 2019 Ignatz Award winning minicomic Trans Girls Hit the Town.

Each of these stories can be described in simple ways, with little happening plotwise, but Jayne’s gift as a storyteller is the ability to tell these small stories that manage to encompass and involve so much. In each story, though short, the reader is able to learn and intuit so much about the characters and their lives. It’s done in such a subtle way that some readers might miss just how profound and complex the stories are, and just how perfectly Jayne nails it. The first time I read Trans Girls Hit the Town, I had to immediately reread the comic so that I could see just how she pulled it off.

Jayne is a gifted, insightful storyteller, and I have no doubt that we’ve only begun to see what she’s capable of as an artist. She was kind enough recently to answer a few questions about her work.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Stephanie Burt and Rachel Gold

The literary critic and novelist discuss their collaboration on a story for Decoded, the daily anthology of comics and fiction celebrating Pride Month.

Stephanie Burt is one of the nation’s best literary critics. A professor at Harvard University, and the author of multiple nonfiction books including The Art of the Sonnet and Don’t Read Poetry, Burt is also the author of multiple books of poetry like Belmont and Advice from the Lights. Burt is also a notable nerd who has written extensively about the X-Men, Squirrel Girl, Astro City and perhaps most famously, an entertaining review of the film X-Men: Days of Future Past written in the voice of Kitty Pryde titled “Why Is Wolverine Doing All the Stuff I Already Did?”

Rachel Gold is the award-winning novelist behind an incredible run of books like Being Emily, Just Girls, My Year Zero, Nico & Tucker, and In the Silences, which have been pioneering, inventive and wonderfully written books that have explored gender, gender identity, sexuality and growing up in ways that are both familiar and strikingly new.

The two have been friends, and this year as part of Decoded, the daily online anthology of comics and fiction coming out during Pride month, they’ve collaborated on a new project. Battlement of Straw comes out tomorrow, and they were kind enough to answer a few questions about the project.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Mariah McCourt

The comics editor and writer talks about writing the new AHOY title ‘Ash & Thorn,’ creating art, baking and more.

Mariah McCourt has had a long career as a comics editor at DC and IDW. It was also at IDW that she first started writing comics, though she is an artist who attended the School of Visual Arts, majoring in illustration. Since then she’s written comics like September Mourning and Stitched, and adapted Anne Rice’s Servant of the Bones. 

Her new comic, which she wrote and created, is Ash & Thorn. Drawn by Soo Lee with colors by Pippa Bowland and covers by Jill Thompson, the book involves Lady Peruvia Ashlington-Voss arriving at the home of Lottie Thorn, the new chosen one, who will fight off the demonic hordes. She was not expecting to find an elderly retired art teacher. The result is a comedic horror tale that pokes fun at the genre.

After being delayed due to the pandemic shutdown, the first issue is out tomorrow, June 24, and McCourt was kind enough to answers a few questions about her career path, her art practice and pie.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Tyler Chin-Tanner, Matt Miner & Eric Palicki

‘Maybe Someday: Stories of Promise, Visions of Hope’ launched on Kickstarter this week, offering ’25 inspiring stories about a brighter future.’

Tyler Chin-Tanner, Matt Miner and Eric Palicki have worked together in the past on the anthologies This Nightmare Kills Fascists and All We Ever Wanted, both of which were published by A Wave Blue World. This is of course in addition to the many other comics they’ve written.

Their new comic anthology is Maybe Someday: Stories of Promise, Visions of Hope. I honestly don’t know whether this is the best or the worst time to kickstart an anthology of optimistic science fiction stories, but they’ve gathered a talented group of creators to tell stories about possibilities, hope and the promise that our struggles today will lead to a better tomorrow.

The Kickstarter just launched and the three were kind enough to answer a few questions about the project.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Sara Century and S.E. Fleenor

Learn more about ‘Decoded,’ a daily anthology for Pride Month featuring comics and fiction from a wide range of LGBTQ+ creators.

Sara Century is a writer and artist who’s written for Bustle, The Los Angeles Review of Books, SyFy, and one of the creators behind the webcomic. S.E. Fleenor is a freelance writer who’s contributed to Electric Literature, them, Vice and is a managing editor at Bella Media Channel. Together, the two host one of the best podcasts about comics that there is, Bitches on Comics.

Their current project is Decoded, a daily anthology for Pride Month featuring comics and fiction from a wide range of LGBTQ+ creators. The work coming out runs the gamut from fantasy to horror to science fiction to superheroes, from long stories to short ones, from prose to comics. This year Pride will be a virtual event because of the pandemic, and in the anthology and their podcast, Century and Fleenor are doing a great job of centering queer voices and perspectives in a way that is exciting to see. They were kind enough to answer a few questions.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Chip Mosher on ‘Blacking Out,’ bande dessinée and billboards

The writer of ‘Left on Mission’ returns with a new comic that’s currently up on Kickstarter.

As the Head of Content for comiXology Originals, Chip Mosher already has a pretty great day job, working with creators to bring original content to the digital comics provider.

But before working there and for his previous employer, BOOM! Studios, he wanted to write comics, and in fact wrote Left on Mission, with artist Francesco Francavilla, which was published by BOOM! before he joined them to handle marketing.

Now, more than a decade later, he’s returned to the creative side and has written something new, Blacking Out, featuring artwork by Peter Krause, Giulia Brusco and Ed Dukeshire. It’s currently up on Kickstarter, where it blew past its modest $500 goal in the first 8 minutes of the campaign.

I spoke with Mosher at length about the new project, what inspired the format, how he’s promoting it and more.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Sami Alwani

The creator of the award-winning ‘The Dead Father’ discusses his latest work for Fantagraphics’ ‘Now’ anthology.

Sami Alwani is a Toronto-based cartoonist and illustrator who, by his own admission, works slowly, but in the past few years has produced a number of comics for Vice, Broken Pencil and other publications. He received a 2018 Doug Wright Award for his comic The Dead Father.

Alwani has a new comic in NOW #8, the current issue of the Fantagraphics anthology. The Misfortunes of Virtue isn’t just a good comic, but I would argue it’s Alwani’s best work to date. We spoke recently about life during lockdown, working slowly and where that title comes from.

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