March 7th brings the arrival of the second volume of Emi Lenox’s second volume of her diary comics Emitown. This Image Comics joint will assuredly be a blast for anyone who enjoyed the first volume, generally likes diary comics, or enjoys well crafted comics with superb art (which Emi is known to be good at). Plus, Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth sort of has a crossover with it!
To celebrate it’s arrival, we chat with Emi about the future of her and diary comics, potential other Emitown crossovers, what else she has coming up, and a whole lot more. Check it out after the jump.
You’re now a little ways out from the release of the first volume of Emitown. Obviously it was successful given Image’s interest in releasing a second volume. For you as a creator, how successful did you feel with the first volume?
I feel it was successful in the small fact that people have bought it and read it! I don’t really view it in regards to dollars and cents but with whether or not people have enjoyed it. I’ve received letters from readers telling me that EmiTown has inspired them to draw and to me that is a success.
With that in mind, how do you feel you’ve improved as an artist and a storyteller in the time since? Where do you feel Emitown Vol. 2 sees the biggest improvement?
I feel I’m always improving as an artist and I would hope so! As a storyteller, I think that EmiTown 2 is a bit different than the first volume. I didn’t draw the pages the day of but rather almost a year later. Because I already knew what was going to happen I tried to make an effort to orchestrate my days to have more of a storyline.
In Emitown Vol. 2, you created the comics themselves significantly after the events actually happened, as opposed to on Vol. One when you did them daily. For you as a creator, how different was that experience? How do you feel it altered the quality and flow of the year itself?
There is definitely a different kind of quality to the pages drawn a year later than the ones drawn the day of the events. I think that I am more honest and straight forward. When I am dealing with serious issues I tend to hide more because I know I will post them online and people involved with my life may see them and I feel very exposed in what could be a very sensitive time for me. Since I’ve drawn them and am posting them quite some time later, the dust has settled and I find myself having an easier time to not hide and I think readers may enjoy that a lot more.
You and Image have really come together nicely, with two volumes of Emitown at least being released through them. For you as a creator, what makes Image such a great creative partner?
I really enjoy everyone on their staff. They are very kind and helpful. I also really liked having control on my vision for EmiTown. They are a great company with many quality books and I am so honored to be a part of Image.
In an interview Image publisher Eric Stephenson did with Bleeding Cool, he shared that volume two was coming and that you were going to be working on a monthly series for them. What can you share about that? Is there any movement on that front?
I don’t feel I can say anything about that other than I have been drawing some pages for Eric…
Jeff Lemire is a good friend of yours and has been featured in Emitown. He also contributed a two-page story in which Gus from Sweet Tooth falls into Emitown. How did that mini crossover come about?
We were hanging out at a convention I think…or was it over email…Gosh. I think it was at ECCC or SDCC last year? I told him about EmiTown 2 and he asked if he could do the guest comic for it and I said hell ya. Then he said it would be about me being drunk and knocking shit over or something.
Continued belowSpeaking of potential collaborators, who else would you love to work with on an Emitown crossover comic?
HAHA! The sound of an EmiTown crossover comic is weird to me. I don’t know. Super awesome people like Jeff Smith and Craig Thompson maybe? Jeffrey Brown would be fun since we both love drawing about relationships.
Two volumes of Emitown down…do you see yourself continuing on with diary comics? Do you feel like you have more you want to share about your own life via the comic art form?
I don’t want to draw ONLY diary comics. I do want to keep drawing EmiTown but maybe not daily anymore. There is just something romantic in my head to have a journal comic through my life from my confusing twenties to maybe marriage and then having a kid?! Like that reality T.V show that followed the lives of kids all the way to their adulthood. Only for me it would be from my twenties until I can’t draw a straight line anymore.
Something that has come up in the history of Emitown is balancing making comics with making a living. Do you feel any closer to making comics your full-time profession?
I guess I am technically closer than I was a year ago…I now have a part-time job at a bar. I feel I am still a long way away from having it be my full-time profession…unless I marry rich.
What else do you have coming down the path?
I do have a comic project with novelist Pamela Ribon under Oni Press starting this year. A few other secret things…and I’ve been brainstorming for my own project. All a bit vague but you know how it is.
