For Artist August, we sat down and had a bit of a chat with artist Ramon Villalobos about the upcoming one-shot “LP” he’s done with writer Curt Pires. It’s a fantastic music-based comic that we’re a big fan of, so it seemed only fair to get Curt on the phone and chat with him as well.
Read on as we talk about “LP,” music as magic and Curt’s beautiful eyes (although admittedly with less about Curt’s eyes then you’d probably like).
So before we begin, let’s start with an easy difficult question: Why comics, Curt?
Curt Pires: I’m too ugly to be on TV and too beautiful for radio.
How did you come to comics in the first place?
CP: When I was a kid, my father took me to Another Dimension Comics in Calgary. This was a long time ago , before they have the space they occupy now. Back when they were almost like a long narrow closet, crammed full of issues. They had a life sized Spider-Man doll on the roof and I remember that being the coolest thing I’d ever seen.
Anyways, I ended up picking up some of the JIM LEE/JEPH LOEB Batman stuff, and the Bendis Daredevil issues and being blown away. Particularly the issue of DD where Matt Murdock loses his shit at Bullseye and carves the symbol into his head with a rock . I think a huge part of the excitement for me was Maleev’s art. It was dark, it certainly didn’t feel PG, and it felt like I was inside of a new world. I was hooked.
Let’s chat about this fantastic comic you’ve got here: LP, with Ramon Villalobos on art. For those unsure of what LP is all about, what’s the elevator pitch on this book?
CP: Think Phonogram meets a David Lynch movie. David Hine pretty much summed it up best when he told me it read like a “fucked up fun house Phonogram” . It’s a one-shot, self-distributed, self-published in the same way that Sam Humphries did OUR LOVE IS REAL. I’ve been asked if we were on bath salts when we made it a lot at conventions.
Where did the initial inspiration for LP come from?
CP: I think the heart of the story took a lot of its inspiration from Paul Pope’s work. I’m a huge Paul Pope fan and have always loved the worlds that his stories exist in. I sort of just had this idea , what if a record was the most valuable thing in the world? Who’d want to take it? Why’d they want it? What sort of world does this happen in? It felt right.
Other stuff LP owes a lot to are Pop comix such as Morrison and Quietly’s Batman and Robin issues (think Pyg dancing to disco kneeling over Damian with a drill), the 90’s stuff Frank Miller and Geof Darrow did over at Dark Horse and, certainly, Phonogram was an inspiration.
When we interviewed Ramon about LP, we asked how the two of you got hooked up — but we thought it would be good to hear your side of the story as well. So how exactly did you trick Ramon into drawing your script?
CP: The promise of money and more bath salts than any sane man could consume was what roped him in.
Seriously though? I don’t think it was really a matter of roping him in. It seemed like we wanted to work together, it was just really a matter of finding the right project. Ramon has very specific sensibilities when it comes to comics, and I just really think LP pressed all the right buttons for what he’s interested in doing creatively.
How long did you have the script done and waiting for an artist?
CP: I think it was maybe a one or two month period where I was shopping for artists. And I really say that loosely, because generally unless I find an artist who blows me away and I feel will elevate the work, I try not to rush these things. The first thing people see when they open the book is the art, and if it’s not up to par they generally don’t bother to read what’s in the caption boxes.
Continued belowConsidering that you wrote the comic before you had Ramon, what changed between your original version and the finished one you did with him (if anything)?
CP: The script I wrote generally stayed intact. Ramon and I were in almost a constant stream of conversation while working on this book, so if there was anything that we wanted to change up to make the story flow better (panel placement/additions) we would just discuss it. It was really free flowing in that sense. I actually wrote a couple of the pages in the book Marvel style, scripting after I’d seen the finished art.
The comic obviously has a big focus on music for all the obvious reasons, but what is it about music that you find particularly inspiring enough to try and capture it’s essence for a comic?
CP: I’m just generally obsessed with music. I always am listening to music. It’s just a part of my life. Speaking of which, as I type this three records have been released into the wild today that excite me. New albums from The Vaccines, Two Door Cinema Club and Animal Collective .
Music and comics are so intertwined for me at this point that I think it just seeps in.
In a post-Phonogram world where music-related books infinitely get compared to it, did you find it difficult to create and execute a decidedly original music-based comic?
CP: I don’t really find it difficult. I think Phonogram tells a very specific (and amazing) story. Music Comix is really a genre at this point, so I don’t feel like there’s any one particular work that people have to contend with. I’m honestly just happy to be a part of the same conversation as Gillen and Mckelvie .
We asked this of Ramon as well, but what kind of music is contained within the grooves of the record?
CP: I think Ramon is absolutely correct when he says the soul of Brian Wilson. While we were working on this comic we both sort of just started becoming obsessed with the Beach Boys. My obsession was largely started by Ramon. Once we started talking about the Beach Boys, I started listening to their music and it just was all consuming. There were days during the production of this comic where I would listen to “Pet Sounds” on a loop. “I just wasn’t made for these times“ would wash over me over and over again, it felt like Brian was talking to me . Making this book took a lot out of me and I found solace through the music.
LP is a self-contained one-shot of a story, but did you ever imagine it as anything bigger than that? Or was it always a one-and-done?
CP: Honestly, I’ve struggled with it for a while and I really think LP is a one shot. If we return to it it won’t be for a while. I always conceived it as a one shot but the more we worked on it, the more we realized there was possibility for expansion for this story. I’m just not eager to go back any time soon. I have new stories to tell.
Considering that this book is completely self-published, how has the process been in pressing your book and getting it out to shops?
CP: It’s been interesting, and a full time job. There are truly some amazing shops out there and everyone who has ordered from us thus far has been amazing to work with. Other shops don’t seem to check there emails all the time, and getting in contact can be difficult. I have become a master of the zen art of the follow up email .
I think really though, this self distribution model is the future of indy comics. I’ve been able to do stuff I know I wouldn’t be able to do with Diamond taking a cut, and it has ultimately made the easier to stock. Without the restrictions of the current market system you have more room to innovate.
On that note, as an up and coming creator in the world, do you find that now is perhaps the best time for people to be making comics and publishing them on their own given the tools and resources available?
Continued belowCP: Definitely. I think what Sam did with Our Love is Real has paved the way for a new wave of independently distributed books. I think people will look back on what he started, and the books that have come out this way (Sacrifice, Dracula World Order, MysteryMan: All About Eve) and the books that come next, the same way they do the founding of IMAGE, all those years back .
So for those who are intrigued and looking to get a copy of the book, what’s the best way to go about it?
CP: Head over to lpcomic.tumblr.com and click on RETAILERS . We have a list of all the outstanding stores who are carrying the book there. The book comes out SEPT 26th and you will be able to pick it up at any one of these stores then!
I also have an online store: curtpires.bigcartel.com , which well be shipping books out to people who don’t have stores in their area, or want to pick up a copy, starting SEPT 26th .
We are still taking orders for LP . So if you’re a shop owner or employee interested in working with us toss me an email at curtpires@gmail.com and we will make it happen !
Beyond the release of LP, what does the future hold for Curt Pires? I hear rumors of a comic with Dalton Rose called “Theremin”…
CP: Dalton Rose and I are indeed working on a book called THEREMIN together. It’s a 4 issue mini. That’s all I can really say right now. That and that it will see release in 2013. Announcements are coming, and I think people will be excited. I think that anyone who lurks my tumblr can see the things that maybe–just maybe–have inspired this work.
I also want to do something again with Ramon. Hopefully sooner than later. The ideas of a story have started germinating inside my brain, and I feel like it’s a story I can only tell with him.
