SuicideGirl Stina Sardinha may not be a name you're well acquainted with, but it should be. Given how long she's been tattooing, it's quite surprising that she doesn't have one preferred 'style' when it comes to tattooing. With talent a decade in the making, it's no... more

SuicideGirl Stina Sardinha may not be a name you're well acquainted with, but it should be. Given how long she's been tattooing, it's quite surprising that she doesn't have one preferred 'style' when it comes to tattooing. With talent a decade in the making, it's no wonder this rising star has started to attract some well-deserved attention from the tattooing world.



TattooSnob: Let's get the most generic question out of the way. Tell us a little about yourself!
Stina Sardinha: Well, I'm a tattooist in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, it's about an hour from Boston. I work with a great bunch of guys including my husband, James. I've been tattooing for about 10 years now, which is also how long I've been vegan. I've recently become a mother, which is the most amazing thing in the world.

TS: It seems like most artists have a point at which everything "came together" for them. When that was for you?
SS: I think most of us have a few times it all comes together and a few times it all falls apart.

Probably the biggest "come together" point was a few years ago when my friend, Shaun, was opening a new studio. I had just come out of a 3 year relationship, quit my job at a street shop because I couldn't stand the owners anymore, and was kind of traveling around trying to plan a path. Shaun offered for me to work with him until I decided what to do with myself. Obviously, I decided to stay. The group of people we have is pretty awesome and we all bounce off of each other, learn new things from and teach each other. Once I was in a healthy atmosphere that allowed me to grow as an artist, I started putting a lot more effort in. 



TS: Your shop's website states that you are able to tattoo in a wide array of styles; your portfolio is certainly representative of that. Is that because you prefer to tattoo in as many different ways as possible or is it based off demands of your clientele?
SS: Ha! When you live in New Hampshire you kind of have to be more flexible. Most people don't even know that a tattoo can have more than a hand scrawled name and a Cherry Creek rose. So not only are you a little more limited, but you have to have the charisma to help a person expand their view of tattoos. You have to get pretty creative to be able to twist a simple zodiac or kid tattoo into something you'd be stoked to show off as a portfolio piece. However, I do like to try new things and explore new techniques. I always see things other tattooers have done and think, "How can I emulate that technique in my own work?"





TS: Do you feel there's any particular style/type of tattoo that comes to you the easiest?
SS: Plants, animals, people... and I like to stick to a range of semi-realistic to traditional. I won't tattoo without lines unless it's shaded enough to hold up. I don't need every tattoo to look like it's traditional, but I don't want to see my tattoo come back in 5 years faded and without clarity.



TS: You obviously have a lot of requests for work. What's the best way for someone to get in touch with you? How long can a client expect to wait before being able to get an appointment with you?
SS: Best bet is to email me: [e-mail]Stinasard@gmail.com[/e-mail. It depends on the time of year, how cool the tattoo is and how complex. It might range a couple of months or more...



TS: I hate to bring up the whole "being a female in the tattoo industry" thing, but I have a legitimate question on the topic. As a woman, do you feel that you're approached with different work that customers wouldn't normally have a male tattooer do?
SS: Absolutely! This is a conversation I have with the guys all of the time, haha. I have a lot of women who feel more comfortable with me, yes. That means I end up with a ton of women who want children/name based tattoos or really delicate, feminine tattoos. It's kind of funny because I never cared for flower art before, but after you tattoo a few thousand flowers you start to get pretty good.

The other thing I get more of is dudes who want control. Some people see a woman as easier to boss around, so I get a lot of control freaks. "Move this leaf 2 millimeters to the left, this petal needs to have a tiny curve, and this line should be a little more straight" or, "I need you to match the color of this water to this swatch I've brought and make sure it's exact." Some guys think it makes them seem smarter, or better if they can tell you what to do. Unfortunately, you can't always tell those people apart from regular people until you've done the drawing and are about to do the tattoo.

TS: Is there one tattoo you've done that you'd consider a personal favorite?
SS: Probably not a favorite exactly. Since our styles kind of change and evolve all of the time, it's easy to look back and see things you'd do differently in each tattoo. That being said, I do really like the Lady Stobbs tattoo and also the Neutral Milk Hotel song Illustration that I did on my husband. For some reason, I don't have the best photo of that one, but it had a lot of different elements.



TS: Let's talk about the last time you were tattooed - who did it, and what was it?
SS: Well, since I was pregnant I haven't been tattooed in over a year. The last time I got tattooed was by Nick Baxter. He had recently moved to Texas and was coming up for the Paradise Tattoo Gathering convention. For some reason we decided to finish the 8 hours or so that I had left on my sleeve in one day.

Unfortunately, the only parts we had left were the underarm, my elbow and the top of my shoulder. It's all sorts of animals, vivisection and butchery. I have at least one old person a week tell me its beautiful. At about 7 hours into the tattoo I was pretty much crazy. I was biting my own hand; babbling maniacally and writhing around like a snake while sweating all over Nick. Later, Nick sent me a picture of us laughing, which I don't recall one bit.



TS: Are there any artists out there you'd like to be tattooed by, space and time permitting of course?
SS: Certainly--there are some amazing people out there! Seth Wood, Chris Conn, Lars Uwe, Shige, Russ Abbott, Sabine Gaffron, Uncle Allan and Jeff Gogue. Annnnddd probably like 10 other people I've forgotten.



TS: What are some of your favorite tattoo conventions to attend/work at? Do you have any you specifically like to work, or any new ones you'll be checking out this year?
SS: I haven't done a lot of conventions. They're a lot of work and since I have a new baby, I'm not up for traveling too far away this year. I'll probably do the Manchester and possibly the Boston convention.



TS: With joke tattoos on the rise, I'm sure you've done at least a handful. Tell us about some of the more humorous ones you've done.
SS: Well, I've probably done more funny tattoos that are supposed to be serious, than joke tattoos. I would say "Kiss me, I'm Irish" with a smiley face on a penis kinda tops my list. During our conversation I asked if he was afraid that this tattoo would be a deal breaker. He said that no, it wouldn't be and in fact would be quite popular with the ladies. Another penis tattoo was on a guy who had the same name as a cartoon character so he had that cartoon done on the tip of his penis.

I also had a young girl a few years ago who insisted on getting JC Chasez tattooed on her wrist. She told me that when he saw her (somehow) standing in the huge crowd at his next Backstreet Boys concert, she would show him the tattoo and he would truly see that she was his soul mate and he would drag her onto the stage and eventually marry her. Seriously.

I just don't think joke tattoos are big in New Hampshire, yet... but with these sort of serious tattoos, I'm not sure I need anymore humor in my work life.

TS: So you're a full-time tattooer & a mom - what else do you have going on?
SS: Oh geeze. Well this year I'm working on a bunch of paintings that will eventually go to an art show, but no promises yet. Our entire studio does charity events every year. Last year we did tattoos for $30-$70 with the proceeds going to an abused dog that needed an amputation. With only 3 of us working, we made 3,000 dollars in one long day. We're not sure what we're going to do this year. Ideas anyone?

















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There are about a million reasons I should not like Mickey Avalon. He is perpetually shirtless, he wears more eyeliner than I do and he has a single called “My Dick.” Oh yeah, and he used to have sex with dudes for money. In spite of the undeniable sleaze-factor, I can’t get his songs out of my... more

There are about a million reasons I should not like Mickey Avalon. He is perpetually shirtless, he wears more eyeliner than I do and he has a single called “My Dick.” Oh yeah, and he used to have sex with dudes for money. In spite of the undeniable sleaze-factor, I can’t get his songs out of my head and, well, I rather like him. The embodiment of a rags-to-riches hip-hop fairytale, Avalon has managed to garner the attention of the music press, a bunch of young fans looking to get down and of course, a crapload of teenage girls. In between sound checks and after-parties, I got him on the phone shortly before his Lollapalooza gig.

Riley St. Clair: Are you excited to be playing Lollapalooza?

Mickey Avalon: Yeah, I’m pretty excited. I’m playing things the night before. I’m still playing this party that Perry Farrell is dj-ing. So I’m kind of excited to meet him.

RS: That’s cool.

MA: Yeah it makes that exciting. I think that Lollapalooza was a cool thing when it got started. I’m a big Jane’s Addiction fan. It’ll be cool to meet Perry and stuff, yeah.

RS: I’m jealous. I think I went to Lollapalooza in 1996 with like Soundgarden. It was awesome.

MA: It was. From there we actually fly there and then we play that and meet the bus there and take off on our tour. Most of those shows are in the Midwest in bars. Those are going to be fun too but it’s going to be cool to start it off with Lollapalooza.

RS: Are you going to stick around for any of the other bands that are playing?

MA: I don’t know who’s playing, but I think we’re there for the whole day so I’ll probably see some people.

RS: So you’re playing this Midwest tour. Have you played any of those areas before?

MA: A lot of these areas are actually our last places that we haven’t been to yet. A lot of them are places that we’re going back to but, like, we never played St. Louis. It’s going to be fun. We just did another tour that was the East Coast and everything and there were a lot of new places there and every show was sold out and it was good. It was fun. So it’s cool now going new places and having full houses, we used to only have that at home.

RS: The shows that aren’t LA or New York are still fun? Just as crazy?

MA: Yeah! Just as crazy.

RS: What are you listening to right now?

MA: I listen to a lot of country music and folk music. Right now I’m buying weird box sets so I’ve got this weird '60s psychedelic stuff. It’s pretty cool. I mean, it kind of also depends on if I’m writing a lot of songs. I’ll listen to people because I like the way they like songs. I got an i-Pod but I never really, I mean I even kind of figured out how to get it to work but never good enough to really have any fun with it. So in the car I listen to classic radio and at home I listen to country, Dolly Parton, and I like Lucinda Williams a lot.

RS: Not too much rap?

MA: I listen to rap. There’s nothing so much out I like now. I grew up on rap and I love it but there’s more of the older stuff like Ghetto Boys and Slick Rick. But I don’t have any new CDs that I’m putting in, any new rap CDs.

RS: Yeah, the radio stuff is not very good.

MA: I guess in the club and stuff, it has its place. I don’t want to just jump on the bandwagon pointing out the obvious wrongs but usually when stuff like this happens then there’s a backlash, you know. Like when disco got out of control, kind of got real cookie cutter, then heavier rock came to save the day. I’d like to see a rock and roll resurgence, like a renaissance.

RS: I think it’s already happening.

MA: Even with bands like The White Stripes being able to get as far as they’ve gone, I’d say one of the only bands out there that’s still steeped in the blues. Because that’s really what it is, it’s like what your tastes are and the music you grew up on. Right now the music is worse. So if you don’t have good stuff to listen to, it’s going to be hard to make good music. I think I was just lucky enough to grow up with my father, he had a really crazy record collection. I got lucky to grow up on the blues and stuff like that. So I think what I do ain’t even really that great. It’s just better than the stuff that’s out there because of the stuff that I’m regurgitating.

RS: So how did you ever get into this business? Did you grow up wanting to be a musician? How did this happen?

MA: No, I always kind of rapped to myself. I went to see Beastie Boys, Run DMC play when I was 11-years-old and NWA and a bunch of bands back then and I never really thought it was something I could do. I did like to write stories and poems and stuff when I was a kid and then just form rhymes in my head and then that would be kind of a rhythm. My friends were part of underground scene putting out CDs and I would do a verse or two on their shit.

I got married pretty young and had a baby and moved away to Oregon. I don’t know. I didn’t know how to play any instruments. I didn’t think I was going to be a rapper. I wasn’t trying to be. I didn’t think that was even possible. I sold weed to make ends meet and to take care of my family and stuff. I got sober for a little bit, I was in AA, and I was helping these guys build a website. My Mom, I stayed with her for a little while to get sober and she made me take this computer class so I learned how to use a computer. I learned some graphic design, whatever, to make a long story short, they put me in the studio and we made one song and then other people heard it. I was fucking around at my friend Simon’s house and we would just record shit and then I’d have to go home to the sober living house and he was going out to clubs and giving the CDs out to people and then basically this guy called me and wanted to get more serious. I just needed some dough. So I was like, he called and said that they wanted to work with me and manage me. I was like, alright, I thought managers gave you money.

RS: [laughs]

MA: Because, like, you know, when you work for a store, the manager is the guy who pays you and stuff. So I was like, “Well if I get $1500 a month that’d be cool.” They were like, “Okay, we’ll do that for three months but you’ve got to record five songs a month.” So, I just recorded a bunch of songs for them and then I just followed my manager’s lead. Then we just started playing shows and before I knew it, it was just kind of reality and now, I mean it’s like a fairy tale story except that that wasn’t necessarily my dream. Now it’s remolding my dream. There’s no turning back now, really.

Basically I’ve got to just keep doing what I’m doing. The next record is almost done and it will get finished when I get home from this tour. It’s just a little more of the same but it’s a little more live oriented just because I wrote the first record before I started performing. Now, I’ve been performing so these songs are a, a little bit different, it’s like things have changed for me and I’m traveling and facing new problems but it’s basically just the next chapter, you know.

RS: I noticed a lot of your lyrics seem to be tongue-in-cheek. Like in “So Rich, So Pretty” you rap about girls with bulimia and these spoiled, coked-up Paris Hilton types and it seems like there’s sort of a disconnect as far as your fans go because all these rich, white, OC kids are crazy about you. Do you think they just don’t get it? Do you think that we all kind of like being made fun of sometimes?

MA: A lot of those were in before I even knew there were going to be fans and people I was playing for. I thought the satire in that was pretty blatant. I wasn’t really trying to go over anybody’s head. You know, some satires you don’t even realize it. Like, you know, you could watch half of Spinal Tap before you even realize it’s not a real band.

RS: [laughs]

MA: I thought this was pretty down the middle. I was also making fun of myself. I mean, by making them the object of my romantic desire, the joke is I’m still there; I’m still in the room to see this.

RS: Yeah, you’re a witness.

MA: I realized that no matter what I said and no matter how many excuses I had I was still there. So there’s obviously some sort of allure, you know. But I don’t know if it’s so much over their head, nowadays I mean even things have changed in the last few years since I’ve written them. It’s like okay now. It’s weird. It’s like people used to make fun of selling out. Selling out--that’s not even a concept anymore. It’s like people are trying to sell out in life. It’s like fake tits. You know that’s almost become a badge of honor as opposed to something to be embarrassed of.

RS: Totally, like it’s absurd and we just embrace it now.

MA: Yeah, you know, I think they’re laughing at themselves but at the same time they’re like, “Yeah, I do throw up and have fake tits.” I don’t know really. I just laugh. I’ve heard it a lot. “That song’s about me.” The same question you asked me. I’m like “Alright, that’s cool.” [laughs]

RS: With the more serious stuff, you reference your past a lot and you’re definitely not hiding it from anyone. Do you think writing these songs is cathartic or are you just telling your story?

MA: I think it definitely helps to get a lot of stuff out. Like, the next record, a lot of that was written at the same time. So it’s probably the last of getting that stuff out. There’s no need to keep revisiting, you know, going back to stuff. It’s one thing to do a memoir, in a few years revisit a topic for one song or even in the interviews with a lot of the questions about that stuff, it’s been so long. I mean I’ll talk about it.

RS: Do you get sick of interviewers asking about it. Are you afraid of getting pigeonholed?

MA: I figure people are going to say as long as the records are good then it really doesn’t matter. If my second and third and fourth records are about good songs about new things and people want to think that I’m doing that, and I’m not, then fine. But, I mean, there’s probably tons of people that think I’m a one-trick pony and in a lot of ways I am but there’s definitely more to talk about. I thought making a little bit of dough was the last piece of the puzzle for my self enlightenment but there’s a whole bunch of new problems, and not business problems. I mean real problems, like life doesn’t get perfect.

RS: New problems, right. So, since its SuicideGirls I’ve got to ask you about the tattoos. I know you’ve got one that says “Thank You.” Who are you thanking and what for?

MA: I think it’s more gratitude toward all women. I know it kind of seems coarse but at that time I was sober . I hear the word sex addict and that seems kind of weird because sex is good for you if it’s done right. So I guess I wasn’t addicted to sex but having a lot of sex then because I was off drugs. I would go out to breakfast with one person, go out to lunch with another person and then go to dinner with a third person. So I kind of was like a crack head for it.

RS: [laughs]

MA: So, like a lot of the girls were probably the prettiest girls I’d had up until then. I mean it’s kind of juvenile a kind of thank you to all women who were willing to get down with me.

RS: That’s cute. What about “I’m Sorry”?

MA: That’s probably on the flipside of that. That wasn’t really directed toward any particular person. I mean at that time I guess there was a lot of stuff going on with my ex-wife and stuff like that. Really at that time it seems like those were probably the only, it seemed like the only words that ever came out of my mouth. Just like a mantra to everybody and when you say it that much it kind of loses meaning. It’s just like everything, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Stuff like I’m sorry I let you down again. So it was kind of a little part of that. Now I mean, I’m not really doing anything that I’m really sorry about. I mean I haven’t really changed my life that much but I don’t keep anyone around me that has a problem with the things I do to where I have to apologize.

RS: On SuicideGirls all the models and members have their own profile. We have a little questionnaire that people can answer (or not) for their profile. So I’m going to ask you some questions from that and it works best if you just answer off the top of your head. Can you humor me for a second?

MA: I can try.

RS: Okay. Five things you can’t live without.

MA: They’re all illegal!

RS: [laughs] We don’t care.

MA: Love--not love, flesh. weed, tobacco, pills and my toothbrush.

RS: I’m glad you put the toothbrush in there. Heroes?

MA: Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis.

RS: What makes you happy?

MA: Not much these days. I guess simple shit, corny, getting together with my kid, getting together with my friends, getting high.

RS: What makes you sad?

MA: The world.

RS: What gets you hot?

MA: Someone who wants to have a good time.

RS: Most humbling moment?

MA: Fuck, they’re all humbling. I guess probably when my sister died.

RS: Alright, you’re working on a new record right now. Are you going to record it after you get back from tour? What can we expect?

MA: We’re fucking around, I mean we’re always fucking around, we don’t ever take it too seriously. I think most of the songs are already there. I’ll be “recording” when I’m done in October Right now they just need to get to the producer and be remixed and mastered and pick them out and stuff. So I’ll go in and force myself to record a bunch more just to see if anything does happen in the eleventh hour and there’ll probably be a lot of stuff for the third record. But like I said a lot of people are saying, the next record is bigger and better. It isn’t really bigger or better, I mean I like it and I’ve been playing a lot of the songs out on tour, and testing them out. People like them so I mean the sounds I hear in my head are starting to happen more than the first record so I think it’s good.


For more information, go to www.mickeyavalon.com

by Blogbot (image) [Above: Portrait of AnnaLee Suicide] Artist / SG Member Name: Eric daStone / lagrangian_point Mission Statement: I don't have a mission statement as such, I just like to paint. However, when I first started to paint seriously I tried to paint things that you don't normally... more

by Blogbot


[Above: Portrait of AnnaLee Suicide]

Artist / SG Member Name: Eric daStone / lagrangian_point

Mission Statement: I don't have a mission statement as such, I just like to paint. However, when I first started to paint seriously I tried to paint things that you don't normally see. This was quite literal back then, painting skeletons, muscles etc, on figures while trying to maintain a life and soul to the figures.

More recently, I have become fascinated with quantum and particle physics -- that matter is in fact energy and vice versa -- and that everything is virtually made of nothing. I try and paint this reality, although I don't think I have come close to succeeding yet. Ultimately I try and paint interesting, soulful images.



Medium: Predominately oil paint on stretched canvas/linen, although I experiment in any 2-D image medium: photography, drawing, cg and video.

Aesthetic: Dark, surreal, gothic.

Notable Achievements: I am always pleased if someone finds a painting interesting, and am blown away when someone parts with cash for one.

Why We Should Care: I have always tried to develop a unique style, and hope my paintings are just a little bit different from anything else you may have seen. After that, it's all down to personal taste...



I Want Me Some: All my work is on my site TheLostArt.co.uk. If you’re interested, you can email me at: Eric@TheLostArt.co.uk


[Above: Portrait of AnnaLee Suicide]





***

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by Blogbot (image) [Above: Portrait of AnnaLee Suicide] Artist / SG Member Name: Eric daStone / lagrangian_point Mission Statement: I don't have a mission statement as such, I just like to paint. However, when I first started to paint seriously I tried to paint things that you don't normally... more

by Blogbot


[Above: Portrait of AnnaLee Suicide]

Artist / SG Member Name: Eric daStone / lagrangian_point

Mission Statement: I don't have a mission statement as such, I just like to paint. However, when I first started to paint seriously I tried to paint things that you don't normally see. This was quite literal back then, painting skeletons, muscles etc, on figures while trying to maintain a life and soul to the figures.

More recently, I have become fascinated with quantum and particle physics -- that matter is in fact energy and vice versa -- and that everything is virtually made of nothing. I try and paint this reality, although I don't think I have come close to succeeding yet. Ultimately I try and paint interesting, soulful images.



Medium: Predominately oil paint on stretched canvas/linen, although I experiment in any 2-D image medium: photography, drawing, cg and video.

Aesthetic: Dark, surreal, gothic.

Notable Achievements: I am always pleased if someone finds a painting interesting, and am blown away when someone parts with cash for one.

Why We Should Care: I have always tried to develop a unique style, and hope my paintings are just a little bit different from anything else you may have seen. After that, it's all down to personal taste...



I Want Me Some: All my work is on my site TheLostArt.co.uk. If you’re interested, you can email me at: Eric@TheLostArt.co.uk


[Above: Portrait of AnnaLee Suicide]





***

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The Art of SuicideGirls feat. Hezza Suicide
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For many years Terry Moore has been one of the most significant and important cartoonists in America. His long running series “Strangers in Paradise” was one of the major comics of the 1990’s and the black and white series won many awards including an Eisner Award, a Reuben Award for Best Comic... more

For many years Terry Moore has been one of the most significant and important cartoonists in America. His long running series “Strangers in Paradise” was one of the major comics of the 1990’s and the black and white series won many awards including an Eisner Award, a Reuben Award for Best Comic Book from the National Cartoonists Society and a GLAAD Media Award. What struck most of us reading the comic at the time, and even today, is how the book stands out not just among comics but among all media for its treatment of sexuality as the complex, often uncertain and fraught thing it is as his characters struggle with the lines between friendship and romantic love, attraction and affection.

Moore has written some comics for DC and Marvel including “Birds of Prey” and “Runaways,” but his focus continues to be his black and white comics which he publishes through his own Abstract Comics. Since “Strangers in Paradise” ended, Moore produced the science fiction adventure series “Echo” which has just been collected in a complete volume. His new book, which has just started being released, is “Rachel Rising.” The book opens with a lengthy, creepy sequence where the titular character climbs out of her own grave. This fall Moore also begins to serialize a book “How To Draw.” A regular at many comic conventions this year, we conducted this interview over e-mail as Moore bounced between many states.


ALEX DUEBEN: I guess just to get started for people who don’t know, could you talk a little about what Rachel Rising is?

TERRY MOORE: Rachel Rising is a comic book series based on the mystery of Rachel Beck’s murder. The story opens with Rachel climbing out of a shallow grave in the woods to investigate her own murder. It’s creepy.

AD: Climbing out of one’s own shallow grave is definitely creepy. Was this image the genesis of the book?

TM: Actually, the first images in my head were more urban. A woman at night, meeting her end. The next night she’s back on the streets. WTF? How could you not get a story out of that?

AD: The book opens with a gorgeous nine page wordless sequence. What was the thinking behind starting the book off that way and how much of a challenge was it?

TM: I’ve written a lot of dialogue in my career, but this was one of those moments where there are no words, just nature waking up and something god-awful pushing through the dirt. I thought about having a Sunset Boulevard narrator, but it’s been done so much. I think the Psycho approach is creepier… no sound but the shower running, the blade hitting bone.

AD: Are you a big horror fan?

TM: Of sorts. I like the smart stuff, meaning, I like when the creator steps away from the formula. For instance, if you’ve been watching horror films for 50 years, like me, it’s not that intriguing anymore to see a bad guy do bad things. But if the church lady is Jack the Ripper, I’ll watch. Serial Mom is a favorite of mine, by the way.

AD: I remember you spoke about how you were originally thinking of doing Rachel Rising in pencil. Why did you decide to ink the book?

TM: The pencil technique wasn’t ready. I needed more time to experiment, but I began Rachel the day after I finished Echo. So, time for R&D isn’t on the schedule. Maybe later.

AD: You described your pencil technique as not quite ready to print the book from your pencils. What were you interested in doing and what have others done that showed you what was possible?

TM: Sometimes, when I’m having a good day, I get a look in pencil that is gorgeous and can’t be inked. I’d love to do a book like that. But I don’t always pencil that way, so I can’t trust myself to get the look at will. I need more time with the drawing process to become reliable, especially on a deadline. That’s the bottom line, the deadline. I’m making these comics every 6 weeks, so I don’t have time to retreat and regroup. I have to produce printable work every day. It’s the Jack Kirby way.

AD: What do you enjoy about working in black and white as opposed to color?

TM: What I see is what I get, and it’s fast. If I color it, it would take me twice as long to make a book. If somebody else colored it, I would need them in the studio with me. But having somebody else color your art is like having somebody finish your sentences. Brian and I have a system for the covers, but he will be the first to tell you, I’m a pain in the ass to work with. Imagine that times 24 interior pages.

AD: Now when you start a project like this or Echo, do you have the whole story roughly mapped out in your head or how do you work?

TM: I have it all in my head like a movie. As I begin making the book, new things pop up, so it’s always changing. That’s the fun of it, really, to see where you end up.

AD: You mentioned that you have the story in your head - the story beats at least. Do you have a rough idea of how long the story is, or does that always change as you move forward?

TM: I guess at a how long it will take, then work towards that with an open mind. Everything is changeable for me in the working process.

AD: It often seems with creators, that every new project is on some ways a response to the last project. How is this a response to Echo?

TM: Well, all three of my series have the same theme, a simple woman facing frightening challenges. With SiP it was a woman overcoming abuse. With Echo it was a woman overcoming science. With Rachel Rising it’s a woman overcoming death. These are all matters of life that puzzle me, and anyone else who takes time to think about them. So I think Rachel Rising is a natural progression from the first two series. The search goes on, you know? Life is weird. Let’s write about it.

AD: What is the challenge in telling a longform story at a time when spoilers and information gets leaked online constantly but the story really depends on not knowing what happens next?

TM: I find I’m more private with my storylines than I am my personal life. Since I don’t collaborate with anyone, it’s easy to keep it to myself, I just have to watch my mouth. When it comes to requests for advance peeks, I just say no. For Diamond solicitations, I lie and say something generic. It’s justified if I can get the reader to experience the story fully when they read the comic. Spoilers suck. Somebody on Letterman spoiled The Sixth Sense for me 3 days before I went to see it and I never forgave them for it. Asshole. Ruined that wonderful process of watching and thinking and trying to figure it out.

AD: What do you enjoy about serialization?

TM: The steady income, the excuse to indulge in vices to keep me going, working in short bursts instead of a daunting 900 page deadline.

AD: Can you talk a little bit about your How To Draw books that are coming out?

TM: There are a million books out there on how to draw, but I’ve always found I learn better if I know “why” I’m doing something, not just “what” to do. So I had this idea to share what I know about the drawing process. You know, with any achievement, once you learn the basics, the rest of the way to greatness is in your head. A lot of people draw well, but only a few are irresistible to us. How they make art that is appealing is beyond technique, it has a lot to do with what’s going on in their mind when they work, what they’re striving for that is not found in an anatomy book. So my first chapter, How To Draw Women, doesn’t show you the skeleton and muscles—because there are a ton of great books on that already—instead, it talks to the accomplished artist and guides them toward what to do with the technical information they wield to make art that is human and beautiful.

The plan is to make the How To Draw book one chapter at a time and release these chapters, as they are made, in comic format. I plan to make 3, maybe 4 chapters a year until I get enough for the book. So it may be 2-3 years before the book is ready. Meanwhile, people can read and use the material sooner, as it’s made.

(image) by Aadie A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups. (image) [Suicide Boy Barium in Lines] This week, Aadie Suicide takes a closer look at Suicide Boys. Members: 3,416 / Comments: 31,758 WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: Naked boys! There are some gems in there!!

 DISCUSSION TIP: Positivity... more

by Aadie

A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups.


[Suicide Boy Barium in Lines]

This week, Aadie Suicide takes a closer look at Suicide Boys.

Members: 3,416 / Comments: 31,758

• WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: Naked boys! There are some gems in there!!




• DISCUSSION TIP: Positivity is key. No negatrons.


• BEST RANDOM QUOTE: “Barium’s a babe!”


• MOST HEATED DISCUSSION THREAD: What Do Girls Want To See?
  
  Some thoughts on the subject include:
  
  

  “It's not all about your dick. I like to see faces too. And nice guy asses.”

  
  
  

  “You defiantly need boner shots and more than one.”

  
  
  

  “I'm partial to pierced nipples.”

  
  
  

  “It's actually all about the nipples.”

  
  
  

  A foreskin is nice if you have one :-)

  
  
  

  “Looks aren't everything. A good personality will get you everywhere. And if you are having fun in your set and are comfortable in front of the camera we will all see that. This isn't about being the hottest one here. It's about being the most free spirited...or something.”



• WHO’S WELCOME TO JOIN?: Everyone!!!!!!! (Especially potential Suicide Boys!)

***
Related Posts:
SuicideGirls Group Therapy: Ballet
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SuicideGirls' Group Therapy – Yuppie Scum
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SuicideGirls' Group Therapy – Damsel on Dreadlocks


SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Chrysis on Itty Bitty Titty Committee


SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Otoki on Feminists
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Zephyr on Doctor Who
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Ryker on Harry Potter
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Bradley on The Kitchen
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Apple on All Your Base Are Belong To Us
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Setsuka on Ass Appreciation
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Noir on The Kitchen
SuicideGirls’ Group Therapy - Exning on Body Mods
SuicideGirls’ Group Therapy - Ceres on Girls Only
SuicideGirls’ Group Therapy - Frolic on Celeb Worship
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Cheri on Skateboarders
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Noir on SG Military
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Exning on Weight Loss
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Aadie on Cute Overload
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Eevie, Luffy, and Praesepe on SG420
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - All on Urban Art
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Clio on Hardcore Music
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Epiic on Hirsute
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Tarion on Atheists
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Rambo on Photography
SuicideGirls' Group Therapy - Thistle on Vamos Gigantes

by Blogbot Feat Rocky, Cookie, Belle and Zakk (pictured with their mistress Leandra Suicide). (image) Rocky the Tabby INTO: Hugs, cuddles, love, sleeping, people/cat watching, just sitting here. NOT INTO: Loud noises, strangers and being alone. MAKES ME HAPPY: Snuggling and food. MAKES ME SAD: Being... more

by Blogbot

Feat Rocky, Cookie, Belle and Zakk (pictured with their mistress Leandra Suicide).



Rocky the Tabby

• INTO: Hugs, cuddles, love, sleeping, people/cat watching, just sitting here.


• NOT INTO: Loud noises, strangers and being alone.


• MAKES ME HAPPY: Snuggling and food.


• MAKES ME SAD: Being alone.


• HOBBIES: Nothing.


• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Cuddles, Mummy, my siblings, food and TV.


• VICES: Licking hair and chewing magazines.


• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Sleeping.

Cookie the Tortie

• INTO: MOTHER! Playing, messing with the other kids, catnip, cuddles, nose licking, and bed time.


• NOT INTO: Not much, I don't like strange people.


• MAKES ME HAPPY: Mother, catnip, laying on my Mother, being petted, and showing off.


• MAKES ME SAD: When my mother leaves the house.


• HOBBIES: People watching and staring.


• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Mother, catnip, nose licking attacks, watching movies with my mum, and drinking water from the sink.


• VICES: Sink drinking.


• I SPEND MOST OF OUR FREE TIME: Crawling all over my mother. I am extremely attached if you had not noticed!

Belle the Medium Hair Tuxedo

• INTO: I don't know. ZAKK and my toys?


• NOT INTO: I don't know.


• MAKES ME HAPPPY: Who knows?


• MAKES ME SAD: What's going on?


• HOBBIES: Huh?


• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Rocky, Cookie, Zakk, Mummy and BELLE!!!


• VICES: Say what?


• I SPEND MOST OF OUR FREE TIME: Acting insane and mildly scary.

Zakk the Russian Blue

• INTO: I am just getting into cuddling at night, laying on my mum’s feet and stealing her blanket. BELLE!!


• NOT INTO: Loud noises and being picked up.


• MAKES ME HAPPY: Belle, running around aimlessly, and love.


• MAKES ME SAD: Not much.


• HOBBIES: Cuddling, snuggling, sleeping, and eating.


• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Love, my brother and sisters, my mum, food, the sofa, and blankets.


• VICES: Blanket stealing, and sink drinking.


• I SPEND MOST OF OUR FREE TIME: Sleeping! What? I'm a cat, it's what we do!

by Jensen I tried to recreate these amazingly delicious mozzarella phyllo dough stick things from my favorite restaurant at a town I used to live in, and I failed miserably. Deciding I needed to try something different with my second roll of phyllo (fillo, whatever), I figured you can’t really fuck... more

by Jensen

I tried to recreate these amazingly delicious mozzarella phyllo dough stick things from my favorite restaurant at a town I used to live in, and I failed miserably. Deciding I needed to try something different with my second roll of phyllo (fillo, whatever), I figured you can’t really fuck anything up when butter, chocolate, and peanut butter are involved. So I made up this baklava type concoction that would surely piss off any old Russian grandma. It’s super easy to make, you just have to be delicate with the dough. And it might be a little bit tedious.

What You’ll Need

• About 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) salted butter


• 1 cup peanut butter (I used the kind with honey)


• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


• 1 roll of phyllo dough (it’s in the freezer section of most grocery stores)


• 4 tablespoons of sugar


• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder


• A rectangular pan

Phyllo dough is basically paper thin, almost flavorless pastry dough. Since it’s so thin, it is very delicate and dries out easily. You need to work fast. Not OMGINEEDTOHURRYORITISRUINED fast, just don’t stop to smoke a bowl or something while the dough is sitting out. So step one, unroll the dough and lay it out on a clean surface. And preheat your oven to 350.



You need three bowls to fill with the various ingredients. Bowl one: 1 cup peanut butter and about two tablespoons of butter, microwaved until melted. Bowl two: 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, microwaved until melted. Bowl three: three sticks of butter, minus the two tablespoons you added to the peanut butter, microwaved until melted. Nom!



You’re going to begin layering the ingredients into a bar, inside of the pan. There is no easy way to write out the order I used, so I just wrote it up in a very obnoxious and tedious fashion. Try to spread the ingredients out as evenly as you can, but keep in mind you have to be delicate or you’ll rip the dough. Ripping the dough isn’t the end of the world or anything, but it’s best to try to avoid it! The layers that say “butter” are just enough butter to get the dough wet; about 1 tablespoon. I found it easiest to spread the butter with my finger or the back side of a spoon.

So, the order is: butter, dough, butter, dough, butter, dough, peanut butter (half of the peanut butter mixture), dough, butter, dough, butter, dough, chocolate (all of the chocolate), dough, butter, dough, butter, dough, butter, dough, peanut butter (the remaining peanut butter), dough, butter, dough, sugar butter (this is just butter with two tablespoons of sugar sprinkled over it). Then alternate dough and butter until the entire roll of dough is gone. Top with a little bit of butter, two tablespoons of sugar, and one tablespoon of cocoa powder. That last part is optional, but it makes the bars pretty ;]. So if you don’t want to buy cocoa powder, don’t trip potato chip.



Bake it for about twenty minutes, then rotate the pan and bake it for another twenty minutes. It should be light golden brown when you take it out of the oven.



Let it COMPLTELY cool (actually, just keep it in the refrigerator like I did) and then cut it into two inch squares. They are super rich and delicious and amazing and heavy, but I wouldn’t recommend cutting them any larger than that.

And that, my friends, is how I gain five pounds.

See you guys soon! Sorry I suck at blogging on a regular basis.

Related Posts:
Doing it with Jensen: Bagel Threesome With Ocell-icious
Doing It With Jensen: Red Velvet Brownies
Doing It With Jensen: Homemade Ice Cream Redux - Herbal Peanut Butter Edition
Doing it with Jensen: Playing With 2 x 12 Inches On Video
Doing it with Jensen: Fried Chocolate Pies
Doing It With Jensen: Rockin' No-Sew T-Shirt Pillows
Doing It With Jensen: Haz A Cheeseburger Cupcake?
Doing It With Jensen: Chocolate Chip Beer Waffles
Doing it With Jensen: Homemade Hot Chocolate
Doing it With Jensen: Tangled Yarn Bulletin Board
Doing It With Tara: Jello Shots. Literally.
Doing It With Tara: String Lamp Thing
Doing it with Tara: Fluffy Balls
Doing It With Tara: Guess Who
Doing It With Tara: Chocolate Bacon Frostin
Doing it with Tara: Mutual Rasterbation
Doing It With Tara: A Very Cheesy Tutorial
Doing It With Tara: White Chocolate Eyeball Truffles
Doing it with Tara: Fun With 7 Inches and Caulk Blood
Doing it with Tara: Macaroni and Cheese
Doing it with Tara: Funnel Cakes at Home
Doing It With Tara: Contact Paper Décor
Doing It With Tara: Fun With Cream
Doing it with Tara: Space Invader Magnets

by Blogbot Feat Rocky, Cookie, Belle and Zakk (pictured with their mistress Leandra Suicide). (image) Rocky the Tabby INTO: Hugs, cuddles, love, sleeping, people/cat watching, just sitting here. NOT INTO: Loud noises, strangers and being alone. MAKES ME HAPPY: Snuggling and food. MAKES ME SAD: Being... more

by Blogbot

Feat Rocky, Cookie, Belle and Zakk (pictured with their mistress Leandra Suicide).



Rocky the Tabby

• INTO: Hugs, cuddles, love, sleeping, people/cat watching, just sitting here.


• NOT INTO: Loud noises, strangers and being alone.


• MAKES ME HAPPY: Snuggling and food.


• MAKES ME SAD: Being alone.


• HOBBIES: Nothing.


• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Cuddles, Mummy, my siblings, food and TV.


• VICES: Licking hair and chewing magazines.


• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Sleeping.

Cookie the Tortie

• INTO: MOTHER! Playing, messing with the other kids, catnip, cuddles, nose licking, and bed time.


• NOT INTO: Not much, I don't like strange people.


• MAKES ME HAPPY: Mother, catnip, laying on my Mother, being petted, and showing off.


• MAKES ME SAD: When my mother leaves the house.


• HOBBIES: People watching and staring.


• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Mother, catnip, nose licking attacks, watching movies with my mum, and drinking water from the sink.


• VICES: Sink drinking.


• I SPEND MOST OF OUR FREE TIME: Crawling all over my mother. I am extremely attached if you had not noticed!

Belle the Medium Hair Tuxedo

• INTO: I don't know. ZAKK and my toys?


• NOT INTO: I don't know.


• MAKES ME HAPPPY: Who knows?


• MAKES ME SAD: What's going on?


• HOBBIES: Huh?


• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Rocky, Cookie, Zakk, Mummy and BELLE!!!


• VICES: Say what?


• I SPEND MOST OF OUR FREE TIME: Acting insane and mildly scary.

Zakk the Russian Blue

• INTO: I am just getting into cuddling at night, laying on my mum’s feet and stealing her blanket. BELLE!!


• NOT INTO: Loud noises and being picked up.


• MAKES ME HAPPY: Belle, running around aimlessly, and love.


• MAKES ME SAD: Not much.


• HOBBIES: Cuddling, snuggling, sleeping, and eating.


• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Love, my brother and sisters, my mum, food, the sofa, and blankets.


• VICES: Blanket stealing, and sink drinking.


• I SPEND MOST OF OUR FREE TIME: Sleeping! What? I'm a cat, it's what we do!

by SG's Team Agony feat. Bailey, Rashel, and Vanessa Let us answer life's questions - because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls. (image) [Bailey in Breakfast of Champions] Q: I recently got out of an abusive relationship and I feel like I still can't escape it. more

by SG's Team Agony feat. Bailey, Rashel, and Vanessa

Let us answer life's questions - because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.


[Bailey in Breakfast of Champions]

Q: I recently got out of an abusive relationship and I feel like I still can't escape it. I moved three states away when everything disintegrated. He broke up with me via text message, in the same apartment, no less. We had lived together for two and a half years, and he was my life. Things got rocky towards the end, but as I was sexually abused and made to feel like my feelings weren't valid, I came to accept that this was my path.

It's been four months now. As soon as I moved away it was like a lightbulb came on and I realized that I was one of "those people" who deny and deny the abuse to themselves. It took distance and a broken heart to realize what I had wasn't a relationship. I don't know what it was, but it was not a relationship.

I'm glad to say I'm now in a wonderful, healthy relationship with a great guy. He loves me for who I am, and he knows about how my ex treated me and understands my trust issues and reservations. I am head over heels in love with him, and have been focusing all my energy on myself, firstly, and secondly, our relationship. I wasn't giving my ex a second thought, until tonight.

I found out that my ex has deleted and blocked me from all his social networking sites. This is something I was considering doing myself a few weeks ago but I couldn't bring myself to click the right buttons. I feel like I'm back at square one. This has made the end more final to me. Why am I upset about this? It’s just Facebook and Twitter –– this shouldn't bother me at all. Plus, I am ridiculously happy with the man I am with. I definitely don't want anything to do with my ex. I guess I'm just not okay with him deleting me from his life in such a brusque way, but honestly I wouldn't want him involved as a friend either.

I'm just struggling with a lot of conflicting emotions right now. Half of me, my sensible side, is telling me to get over it, and it's better now that there are no more constant reminders of his presence. But my other half, my heart, is telling me to nurse my wounds. Asking myself why he wants to know nothing about my life, why it's so easy for him to erase me from any associations. Am I so easy to discard?

I don't really know what I'm asking for here, and I've never asked for advice like this before. I'm an internalizer for sure... I guess I'm just seeking some guidance or a helping hand. I'm struggling to understand my own reaction, and that unsettles me.



A: Congratulations on getting out of a shitty relationship and into a great one! Even though you have moved away and moved on externally, the breakup is still only four months old, so it makes sense that your inner wound is still healing. Don't judge your feelings.

Honestly though, your ex did you a favor. Why would you want any connection with someone who abused you? You were right in wanting to have done the same yourself weeks (if not months) ago. You never followed through. Why is that? Perhaps if you had you’d have felt like you controlled the situation, as it is, this is one last hurt he has done to you, which is perhaps why it still stings. I think you need to focus on YOU, and why YOU couldn't have hit the 'block' buttons yourself.

Take your focus off of HIM, how he blocked you, why he blocked you, and feeling hurt. Take control of your emotions and focus on why you were unable to take him 100% out of your life. This is how you will learn and grow as a person, allowing you to grow and learn in your new relationship.

Good luck and godspeed,

Bailey

***


[Rashel in Gentle]

Q: I don't know what to do. I've been with my boyfriend for four years and we now have my 14 year old daughter from my first marriage living with us. We used to bonk like bunnies when we first got together but for the last couple of years our sex life has diminished. It's not that I don't enjoy having sex with him, I do, but it feels like that's all he ever wants from me.

If he's got a hard on, its time for sex, and if I don't comply he gets angry and throws a fit. I'm just not in the mood and don't feel close to him like when we were first together. He's always working, sleeping or making plans with his friends. I feel like our family is the last thing on his mind. He doesn't understand we can be intimate in other ways. He doesn't really try to get me in the mood. I'm tired from working graveyard, being a mom, softball, and all he cares about is sex. It's a total turn off. What do I do?

A: First of all you should be honest with yourself, do you really need him? It seems that this man doesn't need you – except for sex. So what's a problem? It seems that he's tired of the relationship, takes you for granted, and wants to spend more time on his own and with his friends than with you.

Given his anger when you don’t comply with his sexual demands, I take it talking is not really an option. At this point the relationship seems at the very least verbally abusive, and it could be time to make a break. Try to move somewhere with you daughter for a while. Do you have friends or family you could stay with?

This will give him a chance to reflect on his unacceptable behavior, and decide if he really needs you and is willing to change, be more considerate and spend more time with you. If he’s not, you should move on and find someone better, someone that will take care of you and your daughter and that can make you happy. It will be hard, but, given you daughter’s age, it’s better to make a break with a man who is proving to be a bad father figure now than later. Ultimately it’ll be a change for the better.

Good luck!

Rashel

***


[Vanessa in My Favorite Things]

Q: I'm 22 years old and a mother of a two and a half year old. I recently got married to my boyfriend of nine years and nine months. He is also the only person I've ever had sex with –– I lost my virginity at 17.

So here's my question: When I started being sexually active up until the time I had our daughter I was basically a nympho. Anywhere, any time, any way. But for roughly the last two years I've been totally turned off. Not by anything specific, just completely. I feel really bad because I know he wants/needs it, but I just don't like it anymore.

Obviously I'll have sex with him but I don't enjoy it. I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this or knows how to fix it. Also I've been on the Depo-Provera birth control and was wondering if that could have anything to do with it, or if I'm just broken. I've even told him that if he wants it he can find another sex partner. Am I just stressed out and tired from working and being a mom? Am I broken? Is it hormone production, or lack thereof? Or is it something else? I need help.

A: First of all, big hugs to you, sweetie. I think it's amazing you've been with your husband for so long, but that might also be the problem, unfortunately. Things do change over time, and it’s common for desire to wane in long term relationships.

My last boyfriend and I were together for a long time and, like you, I just stopped enjoying sex after a while. At first, we'd have sex up to five times a day. But I'd say about a year down the line, it just became the same old thing over and over again.

It's really good that you've let your partner know about it and you're not just going along with it and being unhappy inside. Is the sex hurting you? Or is it just boring? Is he doing anything to try and make you enjoy it – going down south, trying some toys, using that KY lube that's supposed to make your lady parts feel extra tingly? I mean, don't do anything you're uncomfortable with (I'm down with anything but anal –– a few guys have tried and they've been punched in the face!), but trying new things might spice things up again, and, even if it's only temporary, at least YOU will have some fun as well.

Are you masturbating? Or is that not doing it anymore either? I don't think you're "broken" by any means, but having had two children, obviously your body has changed. Also, since you’re now on birth control, that may be affecting your hormone balance. Given your concerns, I definitely think it’s worth discussing them with your doctor. That way you can rule out any underlying medical issues. You should also ask your doc if it’s worth trying an alternative form of birth control, if you feel like the one you are on may be having an adverse affect on your libido.

Once you’re ruled out any physical issues, it then might be worth trying some marriage counseling and/or sex therapy? I think you both would really benefit from that. I'm sure it's awkward, haha, but it could help to get to the core of why you're not into sex anymore.

Good luck with everything, love. I'm sure things will be better. Maybe your nympho is just in hiding for a while. Exhaustion alone can do that to a girl.

I just wish I was able to help you more!!

Less than a decade ago, Matt Fraction was a young comics creator writing graphic novels like “Mantooth” and “The Last of Independents.” Today he’s an Eisner Award winning creator and one of Marvel’s top talents, writing “Invincible Iron Man” and “Thor” in addition to this year’s... more

Less than a decade ago, Matt Fraction was a young comics creator writing graphic novels like “Mantooth” and “The Last of Independents.” Today he’s an Eisner Award winning creator and one of Marvel’s top talents, writing “Invincible Iron Man” and “Thor” in addition to this year’s big crossover event miniseries “Fear Itself.”

This year sees the return of one of his most well known and beloved creations. “Casanova” is more of a cult hit than anything, but it’s an intense and devoted cult that has followed the book over its two miniseries. The third miniseries, “Casanova: Avaritia,” features art from award-winning creator Gabriel Ba (“The Umbrella Academy,” “Daytripper”), who drew the first miniseries (and whose twin brother drew the second one). We spoke with Fraction by phone in advance of the first issue’s release on September 7.


ALEX DUEBEN: It’s been years since the last series of Casanova. What took so long? Was it just a question of scheduling the book between other projects?

MATT FRACTION: It was a few different questions. We were almost certain at the end of the last series that it wasn’t going to be continuing at Image. It was a matter of figuring out where we were going [to publish the next series] and when the boys were going to be able to fit it into their schedule. They had lined quite an impressive array of paying work at that point. Casanova was all work done on for potential back end earning. So schedule was a part and then once we figured out where we were going to have it published, it then became a matter of getting everybody’s schedules lined up. Then I actually had to write it and that took an awfully long time. Nothing about Casanova has ever gone easy and I would feel robbed if it started to get easy now.

AD: Has Casanova always been hard to write?

MF: Yes. Very much so, but this time there had been a long gap [since the last issue]. I worked on the first script for a year, on and off. I don’t necessarily know how to articulate it, but it’s the difficult child. It’s the one that requires the most thought and work. It made my bones in some places. I wanted it to be as good as I thought I was, if that doesn’t sound too egomaniacal. I went back and reread all of [Casanova] to date and was humbled by the experience, because I didn’t think it was that good. [laughs] So there’s the added pressure of putting your money where your mouth is, trying to live up to whatever reputation I and the book had. I’d start over, constantly trying to push up my game and push up the book’s game. I don’t know that it was successful, but it reached a point where I felt like, today, this is what I am able to love.

AD: Now in the past year, the first two series have been rereleased with new color. What was the thinking behind this?

MF: Well we wanted to sell, to be quite honest. Retailers treated the one color Casanova as though it were a black and white book. It was referred to in reviews as being black and white. Aesthetically it was a choice we all liked. And it was a weird format. It was two dollars. There’s enough about the book that’s counterintuitive, that to actually start off in a hole was silly. When we went to relaunch it, we wanted to give the book every chance it had to succeed in the direct market. The direct market was engineered to sell one thing. It was engineered to sell Batman. We can use Batman as a metric on the sales charts where Batman sells “one” and things sell either above or below “one.” It is truly designed to move Batman comics. Retailers were not carrying the book because it was weird. I had a retailer tell me he didn’t order the book because if he had to chose between a two dollar Image book and a five dollar IDW book, he would rather the IDW book sat on his shelf because he would make five dollars, not two dollars. I was like, let’s stop trying to exclude vendors, because if retailers aren’t carrying it, then readers aren’t reading it. I think it looks like no other comic out there. Yes, it is full color, but there’s not another book in the world that looks like Casanova. We’re still doing something weird.

AD: It doesn’t hurt that now you and the series artists Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon are all much bigger than you were just a few years ago.

MF: That was part of the hiatus. It’s one thing for me to be the guy who writes Iron Fist and The Order and for you guys to be known for Brazilian comics no one’s heard of, but you go do Umbrella Academy, and I’ll go do X-Men and when we come back we can be the guys who did Umbrella Academy and X-Men. It certainly can’t hurt.

AD: Getting back to writing Casanova, it was originally published in the Image slimline format and now it’s a longer four issue miniseries.

MF: It’s now thirty-two pages an issue, so it’s now sixty percent than any other comic. [laughs] Comics are about twenty pages now and this is twelve pages longer. It’s different. The collection will eventually be the same length [as the previous collections], but the storytelling is entirely different because it’s not in discreet sixteen page chapters anymore, but bigger, more robust, more complicated thirty-two page chapters.

AD: Do you have a master plan for the series?

MF: Very much so. Where it goes and how it ends and all that stuff, if we are lucky enough to get there. The first three story lines are going to work as a trilogy. The fourth one kind of works as a standalone chapter that would bridge the way to a second trilogy which would be the final volumes. If it ends at any point along the way, it will still be a fairly complete story just not the entirety of the story I wanted to tell if that makes sense.

AD: Now in part this is because of the gap, but I think of Casanova as part of first stage of your career alongside comics like Mantooth and Last of the Independents and Five Fists of Science.

MF: Casanova was the first regular “monthly” comic that I wrote. I wrote short stories and two graphic novels, but yes, absolutely, it’s very much the first stage

AD: Given that and given all the other challenges, why come back to the book?

MF: This past year has clearly been one of transition for me. What keeps me coming back to it is that it is the comic that I wrote when I didn’t think I was ever going to get a chance to do it again. It’s the comic that I wrote because I wanted to see. I wrote it because if I had this one chance to make a comic what did I want to do? Another fucking Batman ripoff or something that I actually wanted to read? I created the book that I wished existed and it remains that very much. I made Casanova because there was no Casanova out there. That it has been such a constant struggle at this point, there’s a degree of stubbornness that I will not let it beat me involved. [laughs]

AD: You mentioned that this year was one of transition for you. In what way?

MF: I think with regards to the stuff I’ve been doing at Marvel. Doing a big event book like Fear Itself that moves the numbers that it moves and is looked at by the volume of people that are looking at it and garnered the press attention that it’s garnered, I’ve never worked on a stage that big.

AD: It’s a big deal to write a book like this and this is the first time in a while where the event wasn’t written by Brian Bendis or Mark Millar, but given the other writing you’ve been doing at Marvel, it seems a logical step.

MF: I hope so. That’s what’s nice about it. It felt like a vote of confidence. It was very rewarding.

AD: One of the biggest writing jobs you have is on Iron Man, your first issue of which came out around the time of the movie and it really built off the film thematically.

MF: Accidentally. I didn’t have any access. I saw the movie the same time as everyone did. I saw the trailer the same time everyone else did. I had no special access. I wrote the book I wanted to read. I was reading the casting information and was like, oh, this sounds like the kind of movie I’d want to see. Issue one was put to bed before the film came out. After I saw the movie I came back and I added the in helmet shots, the 2001 shots they did inside the helmet. That I got from the movie.

AD: So you didn’t know that Jeff Bridges would be playing Obadiah Stane, who would be the film’s villain?

MF: Well I did, but that was from reading “Variety.” I wasn’t even doing Iron Man at the time. I read in “Variety” that Jeff Bridges was going to be Obadiah Stane and I knew who that character was. I was doing a book called The Order and I thought I should bring a Stane character back. I knew I wanted an Iron Man villain at the end of the first year of The Order. I thought well I’ll create a new Stane character, because in the comic Obadiah Stane blows his own head off on panel in a way that would be very difficult to get out of. Even for comic book deaths it was pretty gruesome. I thought, I’ll create this new Stane character and that way whoever’s writing Iron Man when the movie comes out will have a Stane back on the board that they can play with. Little did I know that it would be me. So The Order ended up serving as a prequel to my Iron Man run.

AD: What is it that you like about working at Marvel?

MF: It’s fun. It’s a ridiculous way to make a living. I get to play with some of the best pop culture icons that the world has yet to conceive. I’m not one of these guys, the comics mainstream is full of these guys, who work in the comics mainstream while one hand pinches their nose closed and they recoil in horror and shame that they’re not writing the great American novel or some other kind of creative opus. I quite enjoy my job. I like the people that I work with. And you get to work with these incredible enduring icons. I like the people. I’m also not one of those who believes he’s beyond editorial. It’s always nice to work with people whose job it is to make you look like a better smarter writer than you are.

AD: So what can readers of Iron Man and Thor look forward to in the future?

MF: Fear Itself is at its heart a big Thor story, so the next year or so of Thor deals with the fallout from Fear Itself. There’s a sort of oh so hip weary cynicism that farts out of the commentariat where one drolly rolls their eyes on hearing that everything is going to change. Well, shithead, it’s a comic. It’s changing every thirty days. That’s what they do. These stories constantly move and if nothing ever changes. In theory every comic is constantly changing and if it’s not it gets cancelled because people get bored because nothing happens.

So everything that comes out of Fear Itself will be playing hell on the characters of Thor and Iron Man. Tony Stark has relapsed and that’s going to become public knowledge. I’m not interested in doing a story about Tony drinking again. He fell off the wagon for a night and is back on. Now he’s dealing with the repercussions of that relapse. We’re going to do a recovery story rather a story of the relapse itself. The fact that Tony pilots this four billion dollar war suit that could produce megadeaths were he to put his mind to it and was legally intoxicated while doing it will cause him a lot of problems in the next year.

And I’m launching The Defenders out of Fear Itself, which is kind of like Marvel’s Doom Patrol. They’re these characters that everybody loves but for one reason or another seem chronically incapable of sustaining their own books. It’s Dr. Strange and the Silver Surfer and She Hulk and Iron Fist. It’s a chance to do stuff I’ve not really done at Marvel. I’m writing it in a way I’ve never written before. Doing a kind of story I’ve never done before. It’s exciting.

AD: In Fear Itself where Tony takes a drink, it was a really powerful and chilling scene. It’s interesting how you talk about change because for a while Tony was a drinker and then he became an alcoholic and since then he’s been sober.

MF: The thing is, Tony dealt with his alcoholism by staring out of a window in the rain all night clenching his fists and by morning he was okay. At the time they weren’t allowed to talk about Alcoholics Anonymous. He just sobered up by willpower. But later began to drink again and drank much that he lost his company and lost the suit and Rhodey took over as Iron Man and Tony spent the better part of a year and a half homeless and drunk in New York in a tuxedo with long hair and beard and eventually almost froze to death in a blizzard. There was another much longer much darker chapter of that. In both cases there wasn’t the editorial breadth or depth and maybe it was inappropriate at the time based on the audience to show all this stuff. So the chance to deal with things like the program and the media and rehab culture. When rehab is televised as entertainment, how do you get sober? It’s our chance to do this in a way that Iron Man had never gotten to do. I’m not interested in Tony crashing into walls and shit like that. I wanted him to relapse. I wanted him to have a bad night. I wanted his reaction to the scariest thing he’s ever seen. The world’s going to end, we’re all going to die, what do you do? Tony got drunk. I wanted to deal with how does he pick himself up after that.

AD: He got through the crisis, but what happens after that? How do you get through the next day?

MF: What do you do when the world knows that you were piloting the most dangerous weapon mankind has conceived of and you were ripped to the tits? You don’t get to be a superhero after that. If an airline pilot gets caught drunk, he doesn’t get to fly anymore. If the guy flying an F-18 is caught drunk, he doesn’t get to fly anymore. Why should Tony Stark get to fly Iron Man if he’s doing it drunk? So the story is called “Demon.”

AD: So just to wrap up, tease us a little bit about what people can look forward to in the new Casanova?

MF: It is a psychedelic science fiction superspy comic about a wastrel who is abducted into a parallel universe where he is known for being moral and upstanding. He basically gets to be his own evil twin. The new volume opens up with him going through time and space and adopting all these different aliases and disguises to prevent, basically, himself from ever happening. It’s very spacey, very cosmic, very trippy science fiction. It’s a lot of sex. A lot of mind-bending, brain-warping medium-pushing stuff.

In a world where a twenty page comic can be read in the time it takes to say “I just read a twenty page comic,” [laughs] this one will refuse you that privilege. It’s psychedelic sci-fi. And equal opportunity nudity too. Lots of undernuts, underballs and dangling nut sacks. There’s a lot of genitals. Pretty much everybody in the book, you get to see their genitals at some point. [laughs] Hard to believe the book’s not a screaming success. More tits than a National Geographic. More dicks than a Maroon 5 concert. [laughs]

AD: So, last question, unless you’d like to end there?

MF: [laughs] I want to end anywhere but there.

AD: What would your wife, the writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, say is the biggest challenge of living with another writer?

MF: We’ve got two kids and finding balance between our work lives and our home lives. That is the challenge. It’s like water will find its own level. In the last year we’ve learned, maybe I’m not going to get the luxury of a ten hour work day, so how much work do I have to get done today and how much time do I have in which to get it done. It’s amazing when you remove the luxury of time just how much you can get done if you need to write x amount of pages and you only have four hours to do it, I think you surprise yourself how much work you actually get done. Finding time to find room for everything. We’re still not great at it. The deep secret is that every parent would much rather be playing with their kid or dicking around in the front yard than working.