How did you end up doing the poster for Todd
Solondz’s film Happiness?
Todd Solondz is a friend of Terry Zwigoff’s. When
Todd first wrote that script he sent a copy to Terry.
I read it and loved it. Right after that Todd called
me up and said he wanted to do a comic book adaptation
of it to promote it. I told him how much work it would
and how I would never be able to finish it in time. We
decided that wasn’t going to work out. Three or four
months later when the film was coming out I got a call
from the ad agency and they said they wanted me to do
the poster. I said, “Oh, you must have talked to
Todd”. They said they hadn’t. It was just a
coincidence. I think there is something about my work
that lends itself to that film. Also I couldn’t
imagine anytime in my life spending my time adapting
someone else’s work whether it’s a film or a
novel. I’m really just interested in doing my own
stuff when it comes to comic books.
I had heard that you and Zwigoff had some problems
with the editing of the film.
Not really, that’s something that’s been
exaggerated. After the shooting of the movie we had
three hours of usable footage. So we had to cut it
down, I think it’s actually too long even as it is
by Hollywood standards. We had to cut an hour's worth
of material. Every little thing that’s cut is
painful for both of us. We argued but I think we
argued less than anyone else would have in that
position. We really got along almost 100 percent.
I think it was New Yorker magazine where I
read that.
That guy really tried to blow it out of proportion.
That was his thesis. That I was an outsider in this
situation but that it is not true at all.
You felt good about collaboration?
Yes. If I had done it all by myself it would not
have been as strong and if Terry had done it all by
himself I don’t think it would have been as strong
either. It’s really good that we had each other for
support.
All of us geeks were really nervous about the film.
Everybody was, believe me. There is a lot of
pressure when you do something like that because 99
percent of the time they come out horrible.
You’re obviously a fan of R. Crumb and Harvey
Pekar. I first heard of Zwigoff when he running around
Pekar’s house. When did you first hear of Terry
Zwigoff?
Well, I had known about him for years because I had
all those R. Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders
records when I was a teenager. I was like, who’s
this funny looking Charlie Chaplin/Albert Einstein
looking guy on the back. Crumb always draws Terry in
his strips at this kvetching little hunched over
homunculus figure with no mouth, always complaining
about his back. I felt like I know more about Terry
than I should just from reading those comic books. I
first met him right after he finished Crumb. He
got in contact with me and we became instant friends.
It’s amazing that he stuck with the project for
so long. Usually filmmakers do their damnest to a film
about every two, three years or so.
As someone who intimately got to see why it took so
long, it’s like we were working everyday on this
film for years. We’d do something, write the script
or thinking of new ideas. Then all of sudden five
years have gone by.
Was it less frustrating for you because you were
writing and drawing comic books over that time and
plus your books usually take a long time to do anyway?
In the time it took to do the movie, I did three
comic books and basically did the movie as a hobby.
While with Terry, he was living and breathing that
film everyday. The hell of waiting around for phone
calls when you have nothing else to do.
You’ve said your childhood is, "perfect if
you want your child to grow up to be a
cartoonist."
[laughs] That’s true.
Would you want the same childhood for your kids?
No, it’s mainly because I was very isolated and
that’s no fun for a kid.
Did growing up at your grandparent’s stir your
interest in things retro?
I think to some degree. They were pretty modern.
Old people aren’t necessarily into old stuff. They
want all the latest things. I remember showing my
grandmother these neat things I found from 1902. She
would say, “Why do you want that old thing”. That’s
the way people who grew up in the depression were.
They could have all this new shiny cool stuff. They
don’t want to be old. They want to be young. I think
it was just something ingrained in me. Cartoonists
tend to be nostalgic types. Its part of the
personality makeup. Somebody needs to do a
psychological study of the mind of a cartoonist.
Because there is all these common traits, at least all
the good ones.
In 1991, Chris Ware joined you and other artists to
create improvisatory comics. What are those exactly?
They are something that will never be seen…. no,
just kidding. We printed them up actually in the early
nineties. It was my best friend in Chicago, Garry Lieb.
We used to meet up in this coffee house every Thursday
night. On the back of those band flyers we would
improvise comics, which ended up being basically
pornography. After a while people like Chris Ware, Terry
LaBan, and Archer Prewitt started joining us. Then it
became this really serious thing where we were all
trying really hard. It became not fun at all. It
became drudgery every week to go do this. But we did
several hundred I think. We all have copies. They’re
waiting until one of us is left [until they can] print
them.
