Jan 26, 1997
[For evan] Evan, how did you come up with Milk & Cheese and any special
reason why it's not in color? -- Tony Yannuzzi, frogprts@ct1.nai.net
Evan: This is pretty dull stuff, so I'll be as quick as possible -- I drew "Cheese"before "Milk" was around -- Cheese was an image I was drawings as an in-joke involving two friends of mine who sometimes were called the "cheesy" Garcia sisters, for reasons that escape me now over ten years later. So I'd draw these little cheeses that eventually became "Cheese" on cocktail napkins and bar tabs when we were going to "pre-alternative/post-punk" clubs in the mid-late eighties. Later on, at a restaurant in NYC at about 4am (I think it was Dave's Pot Belly) I scribbled a little Milk character next to the cheese drawing, with the two of them hitchhiking on a highway, beers in their hands, yelling "We're from New Jersey -- no cracks!" My friend Brian has the doodle still, I think. Anyway, that was the first time I drew them, and afterward I'd sketch the two of them (then called M&C, Dairy Products Gone Sour) here and there, at conventions, on the backs of Pirate Corp$! pages etc -- until Kurt Sayenga of the now defunct Greed magazine saw them at a San Diego con and said if I did a strip with them he'd print it. I did, and he did, and there you go. The reason M&C are in black and white (save for a few color appearances here and there) is simply economics --we can't afford to print the comics in color. Even with pretty good overall sales per issue (especially in today's awful market) we don't get overwhelming initial orders -- skittish, or just plain dopey retailers order M&C in drips and drabs, then count on re-ordering and reprints. M&C #1 is going into a seventh printing -- and still retailers don't order the new issues based on their full sales -- probably hoping to make smaller orders and not tie up "so much money" in a larger order. So we never have a good indication of what we're selling, and so there's no confidence in doing a book in color, which can be a financial disaster if ordered poorly. A color book could help sales, but it's a gamble we don't have to take really, M&C doesn't come out regularly, I don't trust this market or most of the retailers to support anything we do, and to be honest, the book looks okay in b&w. M&C isn't some epic adventure that would be enhanced beautifully by color. Blood is red, gin is gin color, hate is a rainbow and cheese is yellow. Take it from there.
Jan 28, 1997
[For evan] i've read alotta your stuff, and have noticed an occasional
trend...namely, what's your beef with sideburns? -- jon stothfang,
stothfj@ucunix.san.uc.edu
Evan: They just make me sick, that's all. Just my opinion, so nobody get huffy -- I'm no fashion plate myself. I just cannot stand them there sideburns. They look like ugly little ear throw rugs, even monkeys wouldn't wear 'em.
Jan 28, 1997
[For both] I asked Dan Vado at Slave Labor about the possibility of their
doing Hectic Planet and Action Girl trade paper collections. He said he was
up for it, but I should ask you guys. How about it? -- Wade Rockett,
Quizro@aol.com
Evan: We've planned a Hectic Planet trade for a while now, but my schedule hasn't allowed me to work on it beyond trying to work up a cover and title for it. For a while we were waiting to get the film back on the early issues from our former printer, which they were hassling us over -- but that's resolved and we can move ahead. Since the Special and issues one-four (all under the Pirate Corp$! title) are out of print, these would probably be the bulk of the material, with some of #4 deleted and some new material added, a wraparound framing device and perhaps another story. I feel oddly about a trade as this material is pretty choppy in places, especially when I started doing my own so-called lettering after I couldn't afford a letterer anymore. But I'd like to do a trade, especially as this is the tenth year anniversary of PC$!/HP. Eleven issues in ten years...depressing. maybe by the end of the year I can get cracking on it, I dunno. Right now I'd prefer to have a new issue out, but that's up in the air as well right now.
Feb 28, 1997
[For evan] I don't know if you have done any crossovers with Milk and Cheese,
but are there any that you would like to do? I wrote to Shannon Wheeler who
does Too Much Coffee Man and asked him this question and he said he has thought
about doing one with Milk and Cheese. Would you be up to something like
that? I think it would be fun for both of you, plus it would probably
sell very good! -- Jeremy Gatten, jarofme@hotmail.com
Evan: Shannon and I have planned a one-page crossover with our characters for about two years now, but our schedules and work habits just never seem to allow us to actually do it. We'll probably get around to it by the time our readers are thoroughly disgusted by our respective books and characters. I wouldn't be interested in doing a full-length crossover book with anyone's characters. I did do a M&C panel for that Shi/some-other-broad crossover series of a year or so ago because a friend asked me to do it as a favor while he was working at Crusade. It's not worth looking for.
Mar 2, 1997
[For evan] Will there ever be a Milk and Cheese animated movie? Maybe something
like Heavy Metal? -- Aptiva Dave, coxsey@isc-durant.com
Evan: Well, if there was, I wouldn't want it to be like Heavy Metal, meaning I'd like people to be able to enjoy it without having to be hopped up on a crapload of narcotics. Actually, I doubt there will ever be a Milk and Cheese movie, as I've said before in interviews, I don't think the characters and the set-up of the strip can sustain any extended narrative. As for a series of stories, again, after about a comic-full of strips, reading M&C can get wearying, you can't digest many of the strips in a row or they get to be too much. That's why I only release an issue every year or two. I've received a pretty impressive amount of offers to option M&C for tv or for a film, and I've turned them all down mainly because I can't see the characters working in a half hour format, let alone a feature film. I've been pitched M&C in a computer animated film, M&C fighting a Chris Farley or Adam Sandler type foil , a live action film, a tv series -- none of it makes any sense if you read the strips. I also can't conceive of a company giving me control over the project, and I'm not letting someone else write my characters. To be honest, I would be more than happy to see a series of very short inexpensive animated cartoons made that were faithful to the strips, no more than thirty seconds up to a minute or two. But I'm not pursuing that, because I'm too busy, I don't have the resources, and for the life of me I can't figure out what M&C's voices would sound like.
Mar 7, 1997
[For evan] I have been a really big fan of yours since I picked Pirate Corps
#4 and was impressed with the writing. After I went back and got all the
older issues, I noticed an interesting similarity between your books and
Jaime Hernandez's book "Love and Rockets." At the beginning, he incorporated
a lot of numerous fantastic elements, such as alien races and hover cars,
and spaceships, but then directed his later issues more towards the relationships
of his characters. Reading your early issues, it seems you have done something
similar. Are you aware of this resemblance? Am I crazy for thinking this?
-- Cliff Lee, cliff_lee@vectordata.com
Evan: Not at all. I've been pretty open about Love and Rockets being an influence on my work, PC$!/HP especially. However, the influence wasn't a blatant attempt to "do" my version of the early L&R, i.e. genre elements mixed with punk rock relationship stories, it all developed a lot less deliberately than that. Basically, I'd started PC$! as a space opera spoof of sorts, with background elements relating to my personal life, music, girls etc. I originally wanted to do a sort of Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World meets Star Wars comic, with the sensibilities of Marvel comics, cartoons, pop culture and the punk bands I was going to see mixed in there (I came up with PC$! in my late teens, and started doing the book at about the age of twenty I think). Love and Rockets was one of the books (along with Neat Stuff, et al) that showed me that I could put elements from my personal life in my work, even in a superficial manner as first done in early PC$! issues. Anyway, after a while the sci-fi elements of PC$! just started to slip out of the plots -- I like genre material to a point, but the characters started to write themselves and the spaceships and fights weren't the direction they were heading in. The s-f elements began to support the plots rather than supply the plots, such as in issue #3 with the giant supermarket where people get lost for days -- the new stories weren't the genre plot elements I had been previously using. This is obviously what happened to L&R, the SF material practically disappeared from Gilbert's material and was pushed waaaay in the background of Jaime's work. You can also look at the focus of other books changing over time, such as Zot, or Cerebus, where early issues were much more slam bang, as I recall, than what they ended up as. My life was changing over the years I did PC$!, my concerns were changing, and I wanted to express more about what I was doing outside of comics. I'd thought of starting a new book and cancelling PC$!, afraid the material couldn't mesh with the old characters, but I'd become too fond of the cast to jettison them and start a new comic, and I wanted to draw oddball backgrounds and objects, as well as utilize the futuristic setting as a source of satirizing the present in an unheavyhanded manner. I know many readers can't take HP seriously because the book has aliens and robots and all, but that's okay, I understand that perfectly well. But I've always hoped people wouldn't think I've created an also-ran L&R with PC/HP -- my book came about in a haphazard manner to where it stands now, and it's based very closely on events straight out of my life, it deals with an early-80's east-coast ska/punk jewboy aesthetic (huh?!), and anyone can see that my approach is very different than L&R. (And that the Hernandez Bros are waaaay more talented than I ever hope to be -- Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez are up there with Kirby, Eisner, Herge, Tezuka and all the great cartoonists, in my crummy little book. Go buy a Love and Rockets collection today, kids.)
Mar 11, 1997
[For evan] I used to (a looong time ago) really like Mad magazine and when
I first read Dork! I thought it was quite similar (but so much better, of
course!). I was wondering if you'd feel insulted about that sort of comparison?
Cheers -- Stephen Fraser, stephenf@melbpc.org.au
Evan: I'm certainly influenced by the Mad magazines I read in the 70's, especially the giant-sized issues that cointained reprints of the 50's comic book material by Kurtzman and Elder, Wood et al (although I didn't know the names of these cartoonists at the time, just the comics). I was a fan of Jack Davis and Drucker, although their artwork was much too sophisticated for me to ever hope to emulate. I was drawn towards Eder and his clean but detailed mayhem-filled panels. A bad influence in a way, as I learned to clutter up my panels but not to do so cleanly. I'm still learning, albeit slowly. I really never tried to copy the Mad artists (too stuck on copying superheroes as a kid, to my regret now in some ways, as it's affected my drawing), but I know their influence is in my work somewhere. Personally, I feel the Mad comparison is pretty on-target. I realized a while ago that much in Dork has a Mad-like feel although I didn't set out to do my version of the magazine or the comic. I'd only be insulted if you were comparing me to the Mad of today, format-wise it's all humor strips, but for me Mad died a long time ago. I don't know if the kids today are getting the same kick out of Mad, I think it's tired and desperate and has been floundering a long time. Unfortunately there's nothing out there as a real alternative humor anthology on comics racks, with Weirdo gone, Neat Stuff gone. Mad's just lame, and the new overhaul they apparently are going for probably won't change much, nobody wants to sell them their "A" material, even for a great page rate, it'll just be tired movie parodies and watered-down monologue social satire until it dies. But again, it's aimed at kids, so who knows, maybe it's selling okay. But I doubt it, since they're aggressively advertising their "hip" new roster of cartoonists, and who would care about small press artsy cartoonists other than us funnybook fans? Not your average kid, which is what Mad's target audience is supposed to be. (Please note that this is once again an unasked-for side rant, my specialty.)
Mar 16, 1997
[For both] I just wanted to say that I really enjoy both of your work! My
first Dorkin book was PC$ #4 and I've been reading all your non-major company
work since (I should probably read some if it too, but I just tend not to
buy that stuff, regardless of who does it). I've been reading AG since day
one (just got #10 -- loved Pezgal and the rest wasn't too shabby either!)
and look forward to many future issues. Just caught the news about HP in
DHP so I'll hafta go and find them! Keep up the good work both of ya! Evan--would
it be possible for you to put up a chronology of all the stuff you've done
since way back? Live long and prosper and all that jive. Rod Lanham -- Rod
Lanham, fringe@wvinter.net
Evan: Rod -thanks for the compliments regarding our work, it's appreciated. As far as a bibliography of what I've done, I've attempted to put one together since some readers have requested one for a while now, but my schedule hasn't allowed me to get much done on it. It feels a bit odd to work on a bibliography of your own material, but to be blunt, people have asked, and no one else would want to do it, so I figured I'd do it myelf. I'm planning on including some notes and anecdotes regarding the material to liven it up a bit, so it won't be a dry list of titles, publishers and release dates. A full apology for my work on Phigments and Mad Dog will most likely be in there, I'm sure. I'll also list the non-comics projects I worked on and whatver else I can find in my files.
As a sidenote, while I don't read much in the way of mainstream comics, I also try not to turn my back on them entirely, some fun and notable material can come from the "major" publishers every once in a while.
Apr 1, 1997
[For evan] Um....Not to be cruel, but, you always claim you're too busy to
work on M+C or Hectic...Busy doing what? I rarely see any of your work and
if I do it's on wanky stuff like Bill+Ted (Yes I am aware you have bills
to pay) but how is it possible to be so darn busy. I'm not trying to bitch
you out I'm just hungry for more Dorkin. PS How about approaching the Cartoon
Network to help produce M+C stingers or teasers or something they are typical
30 sec. or less. PPS You use AOL? *yuck* -- Jordan , jjphoeni@learn.senecac.on.ca
Sarah: "Not to be cruel", but -- did you actually read anything on our web site? Don't you think four Superman episodes, tons of Space Ghost, 3 chapters of Hectic Planet, various illustration jobs, a new issue of Dork!, a new issue of M&C and more is enough in one year?...let's see, if the last thing you saw Evan's name on was Bill & Ted's then you probably also didn't notice Fightman, the Predator series, the Mask series, the redrawn Pirate Corp$! reprints, the Instant Piano stories, the first three Dork issues, Kid Blastoff, the various pinups and anthology contributions or any of the other stuff that Evan's done. I think that's enough Dorkin for anyone. Evan's sensibilty is just as present in all of that work as it is in HP or M&C, so try catching up with all of that. And please, don't suggest that he "isn't busy". We haven't had more than one day off at a time since 1994 and that is not a joke.
Evan: Wow. Got her mad. That ain't
easy.
For my part I'll add we haven't had a vacation that didn't include a comic
appearance or convention, or that we didn't bring work with us on, since
about 1993 or so. Most folks in comics are insanely busy, even if you don't
see their work on shelves. Sarah and I also answer practically all our mail,
all our e-mail, and critique people's work and give them advice when they
ask for it. We also send out review copies and press material on our work,
less nowadays as we have no time, and we don't have assistants. And Sarah
maintains this web page to boot. If you check the web page you'll see a lot
of our work done in the past five years, and there's more you won't find.
Magazine illustrations, an unproduced script rewrite for Hanna Barbera, drawings
for fanzines, logos for bands, box art for a music video, and nobody sees
the scripts, sketches, layouts and notes that are made before you start drawing
the actual comics. Finally, you can also read why M&C doesn't
come out very often in a reply to Peter Spaulding's questions. I don't want
it to come out very often.
Apr 2, 1997
[For both] Hi evan and Sarah!My love for you two started with the purchase
of PC$! #4. Ever since then I have tried to find related material
but for some odd reason store owners in this area are, or rather seem to
be, reluctant to carry your stuff. Why is that? Am I the only soul in Seattle
that enjoys the antics of Blue, Hal and Ron? Also, I am very glad to hear
that PC$! (or HP, rather) is out again (or was it ever gone?
I am quite clueless in this area). Although they may be "easier to draw",
the dairy products don't hold as high a post as the Devil crew. Finally,
is evan going to continue with stories from any of the other crews (ie. the
Ben Casey's, Screaming Retina's, Channel 88, etc.)? I kinda look like one
of the guys from Shocktruck (the asian, not the cow). Anyway, I hope that
you answer my questions through your new page (and I hope that evan's hand
is okay). Look me up if you two are ever in the area! Best wishes, Eric.
Ps. Please say hi to Mrs. Deeter for me. -- Eric
Evan: Actually, I'm wearing a wrist-wrap
Sarah made me get for my hand to give it some support while I type (too much).
Umm, let's see -- the other PC crews -- well, I don't have much planned
for them per se, but I do plan to let the readers know what's happening to
the Corps crews. My older PC stories were going to concentrate more heavily
on the crews, but now it looks like they'll be fading into the background,
appearing here and there, more "there" than "here". I do have second solo
Vroom Socko story in mind, it may end up in an actual, HP issue down
the road. Y'know, based on the schedule it might appear by 2017.
Most retailers don't like to carry small press books, they basically see
it as a waste of their time. In many cases, they're right -- but that's also
the case with many mainstream books. There's a lot of reliable small press
books out there that have shown that they can sell, it amazes me these retailers
don't see this and try them out. I will say, however, that I am to blame
for part of HP's problems, HP has a semi-continued storyline of sorts, and
no fixed shipping schedule. That doesn't help matters.
Apr 5, 1997
[For evan] I've been a fan of yours for quite a while, love all your stuff,
yada, yada, yada :) Well, the first issue of PC$ that I picked up was #4
(Slave Labor series), and absolutely fell in love w/ the series. I also noticed
in a couple previous questions that #4 was their first issue. Anyway, just
wondering if you've gotten alot of positive comments about that issue, and
if there's any particular issue of PC$, M&C, etc. that you're particularly
proud of, in how it turned out, in fan response, etc.? -- Dan Keller,
ranger@potomac.net
Evan: The most feedback I've gotten from
Pirate Corp$/Hectic Planet has been for issue #6. For some reason
this issue brought in well over a hundred snail-mail letters, for HP
that's amazing. The other issue that got a healthy response was #3, the
supermarket issue. After #3 the response to the book took a small but steady
increase, sales stayed steady but mail increased. I've gotten a nice response
from the DHP stories I just did, even though my address isn't listed
in those books, it's been very flattering to know I didn't lose everybody
in the two-year hiatus.
The closest I come to being proud of any of my work is PC#3, some
parts of #4 , a good bit of #5 and 6, a bunch of the M&C strips
and moments from others, sections of Dork...I'm pretty happy with
a lot of the Instant Piano work I did, especially the last strip in
#4. I'm fairly happy with Kid Blastoff. I'm not incredibly ecstatic
about much of my work, I'm pretty much always frustrated by it for many reasons.
The plan is to hopefully be where I want to be as a writer and cartoonist
when I'm fifty or so. I have a lot of things to work through, but until then
I do the best I can and try to get better.
Apr 20, 1997
[For evan] What is your opinion of the way the big-name industry mags review
your stuff? Do you care that Milk & Cheese get more credit than your
other stuff? -- Andy Cushman, acushman@erols.com
Evan: the fact that M&C get's
the lion's share of press and attention for me doesn't usually bother me,
the fact anyone is paying attention to anything I do is amazing enough. I
think what sometimes annoys me is that a good four-fifths of my
M&C reading audience or so has never bothered to try Hectic
Planet, and that most of them have also never bothered to even try Dork!
If I like a cartoonists work, I seek out other material by him or her,
as people generally do with musicians, novelists,actors, filmmakers etc.
Comics are so character and property-oriented all logic goes out the window
as far as reading and purchasing habits go -- for all intents and purposes,
M&C are semi-recognizable characters and I have to step into the
background, the same way Batman or Spider-Man takes center stage to their
creators by and large. I honestly feel that most of my M&C readers
would find Dork! similar in tone and would enjoy it. Hectic
Planet is different in tone, so I can understand the resistance, but
in general, most readers aren't even giving my other work a shot. Similarly,
readers of my mainstream work hardly ever crossover and check out my personal
work, some of which shares some common themes and qualities. Slowly, some
folks are picking up my other projects since I've gotten some press and some
industry awards, but the situation can sometimes make you want to bang your
head against a wall. What's depressing is that I'm in pretty okay shape
sales-wise compared to some people out there who do equally competent work,
if not better.
As far as reviews go, I've been treated pretty well, I can't complain. I've
gotten positive reviews and write-ups from CBG, Wizard, Indy, the Staros
Report, the now deceased Amazing Heroes, Fan and Hero,
and even the hard-to please Comics Journal has given me a decent batch
of nice notices over the years for Dork, M&C, and a few
anthology pieces I did. I must admit the biggest kick was getting nice write-ups
for the strips I did for the book Generation Ecch in some magazines,
trade journals, free weeklies and newspapers. I also appreciate any press
I get in zines because it's really heartfelt and supportive and many of these
folks are really trying to turn non-comics readers onto comics.
Apr 23, 1997
[For evan] My brother, an aspriring comic artist, turned me on to Milk and
Cheese about a year ago, and the comedy contained in this collection defies
description. I've never laughed so hard at any comedic material, in any medium,
in my entire life. Everytime I pick up a dog-eared issue, I find something
new to make me laugh my ass off. Hats off to your lack of "prolific-ness"
on the M&C front. A lesser man/woman would have easily sold him/herself
out, and turn out substandard material on a monthly basis, not to mention
an MTV series and/or a feature film. Thanks for not doing that. Looking forward
to #7. Keep up the good work!!! -- Peter Spaulding, Peter94NYR@aol.com
Evan: Well, thanks for the kind comments regarding the dairy products, it's appreciated. people ask a lot, so I'll use this opportunity to explain my attitudes towards the Milk and Cheese release schedule and the possible exploitation of the characters in other media. M&C comes out when it does because it's the schedule I'm comfortable with -- when I'm not doing M&C strips I'm usually working on up to three other comics and at least one tv script and various spot illos, pin-ups for friends or favors, CD covers, designs for M&C merchandise or doing interviews and mail. M&C does not come out infrequently because I am counting my loot or sunning in Miami, every once in a while I am accused by a rabid and irate M&C reader of sitting on my ass when I should be pounding out the strips. Well, I am sitting on my ass, usually drawing or at the computer. I take long breaks from M&C for two reasons -- I need these breaks from the characters, and so do the readers. M&C is a semi-limited framework that would easily wear out its welcome in larger doses, people tell me all the time even one full issue can be overwhelming, and I can agree. I don't want to ever grow sick and tired of the little bastards, and I wouldn't want the readers to be sick of them either. I'm not looking to produce yesterday's fad, even for big money. There are some characters of mine I wouldn't mind seeing optioned for other media, even without my total involvement, but M&C isn't one of those "intellectual properties". That's one reason you won't see a M&C film or animated series. The other is that M&C, in my opinion, wouldn't make a good film or tv series. And I've had many offers for both, weirdly enough. The characters barely sustain a six page strip -- they carry a lot of material in a small package. I don't want to see them put into an artificial "funny" plot. I could see doing extremely short animated films, but there isn't much of a market for one minute to three minute films outside of festivals and MTV interstitials. Anyway, I would have to be completely involved in producing something like that, and would want to write the material, and that's not likely to happen. This is why I like comics, they might not sell, but I do what I want and it's more fun. Anyway, thanks again for your letter.
May 11, 1997
[For evan] I've been a convert since Pirate Corp$ #4 - Your comics (and Sarah's)
are A-1 super-plus enjoyable, though mighty hard to find in New Zealand.
Question is, has anyone approached you about a Hectic Planet film? It's a
cinematic sort of a comic, and I could see you and Alex Cox as
co-directors...(and what's on the soundtrack?) P.S. Could you hurry along
with those PC$ reprints? I bought all those Milk & Cheeses the first
time around, but Hectic Planet's still my favourite, y'know. And make sure
they get to New Zealand, please. -- Nick White, bugg@clear.net.nz
Evan: Well, Nick, I can't get the books to New Zealand, that's up to your local retailer, but I appreciate what you're saying. Believe me, most US shops don't get HP, so don't feel so badly. We'll be assembling the collection of PC$! Special through #4 (with new material, and probably a collection of the flyers and band work I've done) sometime in '98. I plan to start working on the new pages and the cover and interior design as soon as I finish up what's on my plate right now, the collection will take some time figuring out and I just don't have that time right now. I also want to get a new HP out as well, so we'll see how it all goes next year. As for an HP film, I've had a speck of interest, one or two people asking, but nothing really. I think a solid story could be gathered from the book, but I sincerely doubt anyone would make a HP film. Not enough explosions, at least in the book nowadays.
May 19, 1997
[For evan] (gosh! my first e-mail fan letter!!) My question concerns Dork
#4. I saw elsewhere that you weren't sure how many pages "The Marathon Men"
would end up taking. Now that I've read it, I can understand why. (Great
depiction of what too many uppers can do to influence behavior.) From what
I know of comic-art conventions, when you replace eyes with "x" that usually
means you're dead. Does this mean that further adventures of the Fan Club
will be inside Josh's head while he's strapped to a bed? Will they come back
as undead creatures of the night to take their bloody revenge? Will their
collection of action figures come to life to spread terror and fear? Or will
they just wake up from their stupors and find themselves grounded until Hell
freezes over? -- Marcus Evenstar, marcus.evenstar@greymatter.com
Evan: Nah, they ain't dead. How can I off a money-making machine like the Eltingville Club? Actually, if I wasn't so hurried to get the art to Slave Labor and the printer, I would have added little "zzzz's" above the sleeping Eltingville guys. They weren't dead, just passed out after the marathon run, but several readers thought they were killed by Josh. Almost, but not quite.
Jun 19, 1997
[For both] Hello,Im a huge fan of both of your work,Ive been a fan for a
few years.The stuff you two put out is funny as hell,I notice some people
complain because sometimes books like Dork and Milk and Cheese are late getting
in the stores.Well to me,I actually think the longer that we wait for the
newest issue of M&C antics comes out makes us appreciate it more,I know
when I see it come in on the day all the other comics usally ship from diamond,I
get very excited Milk and Cheese and Dork and Action Girl are books that
I cant wait to get it home and read it.Sorry to rave on and on,I know you
two must get alot of good comments on your work.But my main question is when
will we see the Ellingstonville Club again,they are one of my favorite
strips,funny as hell.Sorry if this ended up being too long.I think its really
cool of you two to answer your fans questions and stuff.I love the web site,looks
great!Well I am going to hang out with my other insomniac pals at the local
dennys.Thanks for your time. Bye. -- VwLobowV@aol.com
Sarah: Thanks!
Evan: Thanks for waiting for the books -- I appreciate it when we aren't getting slagged for not putting out more work, a lot of peopledon't realize how much time goes into these things -- I mean, some of these comics can take like ten days or even eleven! Har har. Anyway, I hate when the books are actually "late" as far as coming out weeks after their solicitation dates...that's my fault -- but I can't help the actual volume much, my books come out when I can afford the time to do them.
As for new Eltingville material, well, I'm on a sabbatical from those guys for now, I'll probably do a new strip in a few months or so. I will be reprinting the first two Eltingville strips from 1994's Instant Piano, probably in Dork #6, sometime snext year. I dunno if I'll add a new strip to it or not with the four morons of the apocalypse, we'll see.
Jul 23, 1997
[For evan] I love milk and cheese, It rules, my question is what the hell
is going through your head when you write and draw it?? Not that's i'm
complaining, i think it's a great comic, first one that I've read that accually
makes me laugh my ass off. I really liked the renaissance madmen in number
seven, make more fun of the D&D elf role player people, it's so easy..and
it's funny. Well that's all for now, but be warned i shall return!!! --
nate
Evan: Well Nate, thanks for the comments...yeah, making fun of them elf people is easy, and rewarding too. That's sarcasm, Nate, which is also easy.
Anyway, I couldn't tell you what goes through my head when I do the M&C strips, the characters have pretty much taken over their strips nowadays. You always hear about writers saying their "characters write themselves", well, it's true. Once you get used to a character, even goofs like M&C or the Eltingville club or Space Ghost, they stark to "speak" for themselves, they have their own voice and motivations and you immediately know what's "right" for them to do and what isn't (for the most part, mistakes will be made). A typical M&C strip starts off as a scribbled idea on a napkin or receipt, gets scribbled a bit more on a piece of typing paper, sometimes gets organized on the computer for pacing, and then it just goes down on the drawing paper.
I will admit though, sometimes I do think about all the money I'm gonna get from the strips, sometimes the fame and adulation they'll bring. Sometimes the elf people.
Jul 24, 1997
[For evan] Evan would you ever, consider working with another creator to
produce a brand spankin' new comic book -- George Irwin ,
irwin@server.uwindsor.ca
Evan: Sure I would, but the opportunity hasn't really come up yet. I think about collaborating with others all the time, in fact I have about eight or so ideas for mini-series or ongoing projects I'd love to write for another artist, but time has prevented me from persuing them. These are all more genre-oriented projects, horror or adventure, which I feel need an art style I'm not well-suited for. As far as drawing someone else's script, it would have to be something really interesting and suitable to my cartoonier style, I'm no great scribe (or artist) but there's nothing more hellish than working on a script you think stinks.
As far as my own more personal work goes, I've long considered having someone ink my pencils on something, but that hasn't happened yet either. The thing is, even though I'm not an incredibly capable artist, I still want to draw all my own material, and the drawing is the more time-consuming part of comics. So I've often thought about working with someone else, specifically an inker. While I wouldn't want someone else to work on M&C or Dork or Hectic Planet, I would consider having someone ink something like Dick Wad, or Vroom Socko or Kid Blastoff, or work with someone on a specific project we both want to do. Maybe someday.
Aug 4, 1997
[For both] Hey Evan-- I've always wanted to know-- what the heck is the story
behind "Dick Wad & the Mega-Vice Squad"? I was amused and ashamed all
at the same time! -- Kenny Neal, kenny.neal@mci.com
Evan: Well, there's not much of a "story" behind the Dick Wad book, if you've read it you know that by now. But basically, one of my earliest freelance gigs was doing cartoons for Penthouse Hot Talk in the eighties. I did some b&w gag panels and some color full-page gag drawings for the charming rag, as did Bob Fingerman (who I first met through the job). Anyway, I pitched a color strip featuring the Dick Wad character and John ran it, but plans to do more fell through when John and the entire editorial staff was let go and my job with it. (The mag was failing, but the bosses felt the staff was to blame, not the fact that they didn't put the name "Penthouse" on the covers at the time. Smart, huh?) The second strip I finished for Penthouse (and wasn't paid for) was the "Enema at Large" one that ran in the Dick Wad book, the first hasn't been reprinted (I sold the art ages ago and it wasn't that great in the first place). Anyway, I still had ideas for the character and later did some strips for the One-Fisted Tales anthology from SLG, and then collected them with new material for the book. If you noticed, Dick Wad begat Fight-Man who begat Kid Blastoff, design-wise. From porno to kid's book, weird huh?