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interview
with cartoonist + occasional hack,
eric reynolds |
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commentary
by sean mcgahey
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| published
18 may 2007 |
| originally
published by retort
magazine |
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special
assignment | volume 1
• number 9
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"Every
human is an artist. And this is the main art that we have:
the creation of our story." -Don Miguel Ruiz
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| published
since May 2006 | Special Assignment is a series of artists'
profiles, events spotlights, and interviews. |
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| Sean
McGahey's
work has appeared in Zygote
in My Coffee, Half
Drunk Muse, Muse
Apprentice Guild, Scarecrow
(#13), Mini-MAG,
Winamop,
Cellar
Door Magazine, Open
Wide Magazine, Quintessence & BeWrite.
With help from Web designer Rob Lewis of WV,
he started a poetry Web site, The
Beat. He admits to an unhealthy obsession with anything
by William
Burroughs and Brett
Easton Ellis and thinks American
Psycho was the most thrilling book he’s ever
read. |
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Cartoonist/occasional
hack Eric Reynolds’ illustrations have appeared in The
Stranger, The
Comics Journal, The
New York Times, The
New York Press, and elsewhere. He occasionally ‘inks’
(to use industry lingo) Peter
Bagge’s work. He draws comics once in awhile. He edits the
Complete Crumb Comics, Angry Youth Comics and Dirty Stories, among others,
for Fantagraphics Books, and also serves as the company’s official
shill—doing publicity, sorting mail, taking out garbage, etc..
Most of the art available is commercial illustration work for various
papers and magazines, as well as a few Bagge originals inked by Reynolds,
two 7-inch vinyl records (cheap), and one mini-comic (cheaper).
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| SEAN
McGAHEY:
If, for some seriously bizarre reason, no one knew about Fantagraphics,
how would you go about describing it? |
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| ERIC
REYNOLDS:
I meet people all the time who know nothing about Fantagraphics,
and it’s always hard to describe—even after all
these years. I usually just tell people we publish comic books
and go from there, depending on what points of reference I can
determine someone might have to help get their head around what
Fanta is (Crumb,
Ghost
World, Peanuts,
etc.). But Fantagraphics is simply a publisher of fine cartooning—whether
it be in the form of contemporary graphic novels that have more
in common with literature than Spider-Man,
or classic comic strips like Peanuts, or groundbreaking countercultural
work like R. Crumb's. |
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| SM:
For all those wanting to get into the comic scene, what advice
would you give them? |
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| ER:
Make comics, attend shows. Hell, you don’t even need to make
good comics to be “in the scene”. |
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| SM:
What’s it like working/inking for Peter Bagge? I’d imagine
you’d be under loads of pressure. |
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| ER:
No, not really. Maybe at first; I’d never really inked anyone
before Pete asked me [to], except for maybe a few little things.
I’m not sure what to say it’s like. Inking is inking;
you just do it. Working with him is great, though; he’s very
easy to work with. He knows what he wants and how to communicate
what he wants and he’s one of my best friends, so it’s
always been a very easy process. The deadlines can create pressure,
because I’m not used to working under them like he is, so
I have to usually kick myself into high gear when I do stuff for
him. |
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| SM:
Have you ever designed a record/CD cover? And, if not, which band
would you draw for? (If ever you get desperate, you could draw
for my band, The Strangely Brown Experience.) |
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| ER:
I’ve designed a couple. A band called BELL, that was around
Seattle
in the late 1990s, as well as some of the
Action Suits records I put out with Bagge. All of the designs
for those singles are some combination of myself and Pete. I did
a lot off rock posters in the 1990s, but don’t so much anymore.
I’ve kind of sworn off commercial art. If I did design
another one, it would probably have to be for The Strangely Brown
Experience or The
Beatles. |
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| SM:
Any up’n'coming artists we should know about? |
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| ER:
Shameless plug: Read MOME! |
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| SM:
What do you know about the UK indie comic scene? And do think
it’s one you’d want to break into, if you haven't already? |
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| ER:
I’ve been to England
a couple of times and know a handful of folks in the scene. I
like it. 'Not sure what else to say about it, but it’s always
seemed to be thriving. England always seems to be a little bit
smarter than the U.S..
I like Lorna
Miller a lot. Savage
Pencil, too, when he does anything. I know some great folks
behind the scenes, like the guys at Gosh
Comics, Page
45, and former Escape
editor, Paul
Gravett. There are a lot of good, younger cartoonists whose
names I’m blanking on, at the moment. There’s an amazing
young cartoonist named Will
Sweeney, who I just discovered recently, but he’s immediately
become one of my favorite cartoonists. |
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| SM:
Do you think we still have an underground scene, or did that die
in the 70s or 80s? |
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| ER:
'Good question. It still exists, but it’s a lot different
than what it meant in the 1960s. It’s not as politicized
or as transgressive. Underground cartoonists aren’t as activistic
as they were 40 years ago. I wonder if that will change after
a near-decade of George
Bush and the Iraq
War. |
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| SM:
So, what’s next for you and Fantagraphics? |
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| ER:
More books. I’ve got a lot on my plate, these days. |
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| SM:
'Completely random questions for ya: What 5 personal items would
you save from a burning building? |
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ER:
My two cats, first. My laptop. And then, probably, some of my
original artwork collection, though it’s tough to say what.
Probably a Clowes
or Los
Bros page or two. Jeez, I hope I never have to choose.
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| SM:
If you could fight any celebrity, dead or alive, who’d
it be? |
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ER:
Stephen
Hawking, because I’m pretty sure I could take him.
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| SM:
If you could only buy one of the following box sets, which one
would it be?: "The
A Team", "Knight
Rider", or "Air
Wolf". |
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ER:
"The A-Team". George
Peppard!
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| SM:
If you could meet any artist, who would it be? |
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ER:
Probably E.C.
Segar or Charles
Schulz. But I think I’d especially like to hang with
an early 20th century cartoonist, like Segar in his prime, in
the 1930s. That was a swingin’ time for cartoonists. I
have an irrational nostalgia for that era—Depression or
no Depression.
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