Here’s a little preview of the artwork that’s coming together for the next Fred Egg Comic, You Get What You Get.
The comic will feature stories written by me, with art from:
Emre Altındağ, Claire Brown, Clio Ding, Joan Edam, Helena Edwardson, Fraser Geesin, Rozi Hathaway, Ollie Hicks (Hicks!!), Rebecca Horner, Iain Cranford Hunter, Tim Kelly, Marc KZ, Francesca Mancuso, Nando, Paterson, Iestyn Pettigrew, Alex Potts, Ludi Price, Neil Scott, Mike Sedakat, Tom B Stewart, Sam Stovold, Andrew Strachan, and Cherish York.
And myself!
A couple of others have still to come in.
Aiming for a November release. Hope you pick up a copy then!
Iestyn Pettigrew asked me questions about my influences and inspirations over at Zine Love website.
I mention Peter Bagge, Blade Runner, Bugs Bunny, Comic Books are Burning in Hell, Danger Mouse, Steve Howe, Tim Kelly, Jack Kirby, James Kochalka, The Police, Treehouse, Carol Tyler, and Al Williamson.
"A whirlwind of creativity abounds, as the Awesome gang try out a creativity exercise using the awesome Narrata playing cards to brainstorm a bunch of comic book pitches! From dinosaurs, death row, sex crazed villains and tragic love stories involving tortoises and horses - this ones got it all! Not only that but the amazing David Robertson (Break the Cake, Bell Time) joins in on the fun and helps recommend some awesome indie comics you should check out too!
Great stuff to check out this week - David Robertson, Fred Egg Comics, Mount a Rescue, Bell Time, That Comic Smell, Narrata Storytelling Cards, Humanoids Humble Bundle, Knockout & Tiger Style, Skrawl, Knights vs Pirates, Sappy Flu Year, Tim Kelly, Usagi Yojimbo - Bunraku, The Boy Who Became a Dragon, Hedra"
With many comics folks stuck at home in mind, here is a free pdf of my comic Break the Cake, featuring Marc Casilli, Zu Dominiak, Olivia Hicks, Rebecca Horner, Védís Huldudóttir, Paddy Johnston, Tim Kelly, Francesca Mancuso, Norrie Millar, Neil Paterson, Ludi Price, Katie Quinn, Mike Sedakat, and Pam Wye.
DR: Okay. Which comics do
you first remember reading?
TK: The earliest memory I
have is reading a comic book about a bird talking to a bunch of kids.
I think he looked like Sonny from Cocoa Puffs, and for all I know it
was an ad, but probably not. I was always obsessed with the ads, the
ones for the patches of all the '60s and '70s artwork. I still buy
the old comics (Tom and Jerry, Sad Sack, Archie) for $1 out here in
Bellmore at the outdoor flea market.
So, I bought a Road Runner comic
from '75 the other month, and I look at the address to send away for
the gag gifts and the building where they used to sell them is on the
other side of the train station, walking distance from the flea
market. I find that hilarious.
DR:Ha! That is funny. Which work by other people are you a
fan of, and has served as an inspiration?
TK: As a teenager, Mike Kazaleh (The Adventures of Captain
Jack, before Ren and Stimpy) and Peter Bagge were my favorites. I
haven't seen much of Mike lately, probably the DVD art for Bakshi's
Mighty Mouse was the last, and I haven't bought a Peter Bagge book in
years. I saw Pete years ago at a comic book convention, and he was so
enamored with my girlfriend at the time that he signed my book "TO
NYC". I thought, well, that's the last time I buy his work!
DR: I guess he's
only human. What had been your experience in making comics yourself
before your contribution to Zero Sum Bubblegum?
TK: I've
been self-publishing for 30 years. I started out using the copiers at
my high school, breaking in at night (which I don't recommend), and
from there I used a copier in a music store where a friend worked,
then Minuteman Press, and I've been using Staples for decades. My
latest 8-page mini-comic is a jam I did with my pal Joe Meyer. I was
going to call it VHS PARTY, but then I got an email for an event
called TIM + JOE DO A TERRIBLE JOB so I just gacked the flyer for the
cover. A bit of thievery, but free publicity for them.
DR:That using the photocopier at work story seems to be a bit
of a rite of passage. What other artistic pursuits are you involved
in?
TK: I've been making films with my brothers for about 15 years now.
The latest is the pilot for my brother Terence's web series Graves.
One of Alan Arkin's sons was supposed to be in it, but something came
up so I got the role, as the owner of a comic book store. We've also
been filming puppet shows of my characters Zook and Max for a little
over a decade.
My brother Brian did two on actual film, one in
black-and-white and the other in color called Two Princes and Loving
the Alien, and I finally scripted one a few years ago called Zook Me,
I'm Clean. Joe Meyer has a great cameo in that one, and they're all
on my YouTube channel.
DR:Didn't you do a Jar Jar Binks one?
TK: Yes, Interview with Jar
Jar Binks, starring my brother Brian as Jar Jar. I love how I say
"Thank you, Jar Jar" and he goes on for another solid three
minutes. 7 1/2 minutes total, no script, and the whole thing's
hilarious.
DR: How did you find the process of drawing "The Joy of
Stamps"?
TK: Well, to set the mood I put on Grouper's AIA. I'd heard a
few minutes of it in an art supply store up in Woodstock a year ago
and thought, "I have to draw to this." Music has always
helped me focus, otherwise I get too distracted, and that album is
like listening to my own mortality. So, I got to work. Used a ruler
for the panels, not that you can tell, and then I did the lettering
and the drawing. Fortunately, I'd happened to find a Rolling Writer,
my favorite pen, that was still in the packaging from years ago. I
feel like I must have bought it back in the '90s, and it worked
beautifully, just like the old days. I've got to send away for more
of those. I never see them in stores anymore.
DR: Things are certainly changing. There are cartoonists
now who never touch pens and paper. Are you ever tempted to get
involved with the more computerised side of things?
TK: Only for coloring. I haven't had Photoshop in years, but
it's on my to-do list. When I drew an EP cover a few years ago for a
girlfriend, the same one who's in the last puppet show, I had to ask
Joe Meyer to color it for me. I just told him to rip off the colors
from the Tom and Jerry cartoon I was ripping off, and of course he
did a beautiful job. Actually, that drawing is interesting because
it's the only time I ever pencilled before inking with a Rolling
Writer.
DR:You don't usually pencil? That may help account for the
energy in your drawings.
TK: Thank you. I have pencilled a bunch of stuff, but always
inked with other pens. The comics about my daughter Emily (Springtime
for Autism and Summer of Nove) were pencilled, except for the cover
of the first one, which I traced over a rough sketch. I usually don't
do that, either!
DR:Are you working on any comics at the moment?
TK: I'm always writing, planning several projects at once. I'd like to
get something done in time for the East Hampton Pop-Up Comic-con on
Sunday, August 7th. I've got a couple of scripts I could choose from.
Also, Joe's friend Lindsey made these groovy rubber stamps of Zook
and Max, so I was thinking of doing a mini-comic just using the
stamps. Kind of like a Brien Wayne Powell comic, which are always
hilarious, in the sense that each character only has one image that
is repeated forever. I suppose if Andy Warhol had done comics, they'd
look like Brien's, but they wouldn't be as funny.
Tim Kelly has been
drawing for 40 years, self-publishing for 30, a Daddy for 20, and
doing puppet shows for 10. He has also appeared in films.
I make comics. I read comics. I write about comics. Through Fred Egg Comics, I self-publish my comics Berserkotron; Dump; Zero Sum Bubblegum; Wow! Retracted; Break the Cake; But a Dream!; Bell Time; Mount a Rescue, That Comic Smell Comic, The Tay Bridge Disaster, Booze Ha Ha, Reject All, Enough Nonsense, You Get What You Get, and For the Record. My comics have appeared in Adventures in Comics, Artificial Womb, The Awesome Comic, BAM!, Belt Sander, Big Brown Eyes, A Bit of Undigested Potato, Chronicle, Copy This!, Crap Your Pants, Dead Singers Society, Dirty Rotten Comics, Eric, Frankenstein Returns, Funtime, Good Comics Fridays, Guardian #opencomics, Inkthology, Jack Sprat, Love Bites!, Pocket Thoughts Annual, Race into Space!, Reworking Walter Scott, Sarararara, Shiot Crock, Small Pets, Sneaky Business, Star Jaws, Swift at 350, Time & Space, Tin Roof Collective Selected Works, Treehouse, The UK Web and Mini Comix Anthology, Water Worlds, Wilma, and at the 40075km, Dundee Comics Creative Space, Penned Guin, and Redbird Review websites.
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