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| Rachel Rising Vol. 1 |
CBNAH: You’re one of the most hardworking guys in
the industry, writing, drawing, inking and lettering your work while
maintaining a five week turnaround. Can you share with us a little of your
process and how you spend your time making a comic?
TM: I just work on the comic every day. I work at home so it is easy to
keep drawing all the time and into the night. i usually write the comic or at
least the first few scenes, then start drawing. I change the story if I get a
better idea while drawing.
CBNAH: Who were some of your influences as a
young Cartoonist?
TM: Charles Schulz, Herge, Curt Swan, Frazetta, Manara. I can see their
details in my art.
CBNAH: Rachel Rising
has far more horror elements to it than your previous work. How is writing
horror different to writing sci-fi or drama?
TM: I would have to say it's more liberating. I am free to let the
worst happen. In fact, I am expected to let the worst happen. Isn't that odd?
CBNAH: You’ve said
Rachel Rising is going to be around the 24-30 issue mark, which means we’re
past halfway. Can you tease us with any tasty morsels from upcoming issues?
What can we expect?
TM: Nope. No spoilers!
CBNAH: Your talent for creating
strong, interesting characters is well documented – currently I’m loving Aunt
Johnny! Do you draw inspiration for your
characters from your own life, or do they come from somewhere else?
TM: I think my characters are composites of people I've known or read
about. I never make a character directly from one person, that would be
dangerous!
CBNAH: I’ve noticed
you tend to write women in pairs – Katchoo and Francine, Julie and Ivy, Rachel
and Jet – Is that a conscious decision, or am I seeing something that’s not
there?!
TM: I tend to work the yin yang of everything, including people and
relationships. For every push there is a pull.
 |
| Francine and Katchoo, the main characters of SiP. |
CBNAH: You spent the better part of 14 years
working on SiP. What’s it like to have that hard work recognized, both through
awards and sales?
TM: It's wonderful that Strangers In Paradise has not been forgotten
and left behind by the world. I hoped it would outlive me. So far, so good.
CBNAH: Can you give us anything juicy on the new
SiP story for next year?
TM: It is about the girls today, in the present. And they are every bit
as cool now as they were then.
CBNAH: As someone who is somewhat detached from
the mainstream comics industry, what do you make of the state the industry is
in? Are comics a dying art form?
TM: I think comics are changing. But they won't die. They are will
remain a valid art form, like classical music and oil painting. Those
disciplines were once very high profile in society, but have fallen to quieter
levels. So it may be with comics, but the art form will survive. Comics have
been around since the the cave men, I don't think the computer will kill them.
CBNAH: You’ve expressed your take on digital
comics elsewhere, but I’m curious to know what the results of making your work
available digitally have been? Have you seen a decrease in print sales?
TM: I have seen a slow steady decrease in print sales but it is not
because of digital... it is because that's the way comic retailers order books.
They order less and less and less and less and less until a book dies. It's a
nightmare for indy books, and the reason why mainstream stories are mostly
short arcs that last no more than a year. No matter what people say, it's all
about the new in the American direct market. Meanwhile, my digital sales have
been good, helping me to survive the shrinking print market.
CBNAH: What comics have you been reading lately?
The last comics I read
faithfully was Power Girl by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. I tend to read
novels and but art books. I read good titles like Chew and The Goon when I can
find them.
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