Today on Multiversity Comics Presents, we have Sweet Tooth‘s Jeff Lemire. This writer/artist has quickly risen up the ranks in the comic world, earning accolades for releases like Essex County and The Nobody. We’re proud to bring you this interview today, and if you haven’t checked out his work yet I highly suggest getting on it. It’s brilliant stuff.
The interview is after the jump.
Why did you decide to pursue a career in comics?
I have loved comics since I was four years old, and I’ve been drawing them for just as long. For me, it wasn’t so much a decision to “make a career” out of comics, it was just what I wanted to do more than anything else, so I just started doing it every day. The career came later.
Carl Sandburg once said “Here is the difference between Dante, Milton, and me. They wrote about hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years.” Already having written about your childhood home in Essex County, how does growing up in rural Canada continue to influence your writing?
I still feel more drawn to rural settings in my books. It just seems like you can take a small town setting and make it into a character all of its own. New York and Chicago already have a personality that everyone knows, but you can make up a small town and imbue it with whatever traits both physical, and tonal that you want. It’s like a perfect microcosm for whatever stories your trying to tell. And aesthetically I just like the mood and feel of sparse wide-open spaces more than cluttered, busy city scenes.
What stories and creators were the most influential on your writing and artistic styles?
As a storyteller, Dave McKean’s Cages for it’s sparse, stripped down yet expressive artwork. Seth’s Clyde Fan’s for it’s wonderful sense of pacing and loneliness, All of Alan Moore’s seminal works, Watcmen, V For Vendetta, Swamp Thing and From Hell, for their incredible sense of structure and narrative depth, Eddie Campbells’ Alec books for their sense of whimsy and life, The films of David Lynch for their sense of mood and atmosphere.
On a purely aesthetic or drawing level, Joe Kubert, Jose Munoz, Alberto Breccia, Alex Toth, Jorge Zaffino among many many others.
Your career as a cartoonist has gotten off to a fast start, as all of your work so far has been met with high acclaim and by a passionate fan base. Have you been surprised at all by your meteoric rise?
Yes, I was very surprised by how quickly things happened. All I knew was that I was creating work that I really truly cared for, and people seem to have responded to that. On the other hand I was drawing comics everyday for years before I ever showed anyone my work, so there was a lot of bad and formative work that I kept to myself until I felt I was ready to put myself out there.
Given that it takes place in post-apocalyptic world where human/animal hybrids exist, many of our readers wonder where this idea came from. So what are the origins of Sweet Tooth?
It comes from a big mish-mash of influences, A little bit of Dr. Moreau, a lot of Jack Kirby’s Kamandi and Tim Truman’s Scout. A bit of Cormac MacCarthy and a lot of Essex County in there too. Gus and Jepperd are really just Lester and Jimmy from Tales From The Farm pushed to an extreme.
The character of Jeppard is very intense in comparison to the more naive and eponymous Gus. What inspired him and his twisting tale?
He is Gus opposite. Gus is the “sweet” Jepperd is the “tooth”. Putting two characters like that together creates instant tension and conflict and makes it easy to write. His brutal, visceral and violent nature represents the shocking and dangerous nature of the world in which Gus is entering as a total innocent.
Continued belowGus and Jeppard have been the main members of the cast to date. Are we going to see an expansion of the supporting cast in the future?
Yes the book will become much more of an ensemble piece as we move into our third arc. Some characters we have already met will return and play bigger roles, and their will be new characters as well. But in the end this is about Gus and Jepperd.
We’ve seen Gus have premonitions in his dreams. Are we going to see more of these? How will they factor into the future of the book?
Yes, Gus dreams are very important they often predict future events either symbolically or in some cases literally. There is never anything in his dreams that are not crucial to coming events.
Sweet Tooth, on the surface at least, is much less personal than previous works, i.e. Essex County. How much of you would you say still shines through the characters and the events?
I disagree with that. Sweet Tooth is just as personal to me as Essex was. The surface elements are slightly more artificial. I’m filtering my themes and ideas through a genre now, and using that to amplify certain things, but in the end those sci-fi and horror elements are just metaphors, just like Hockey was in Essex.
Gus has run quite the gauntlet already in Sweet Tooth, with his dad’s death, various attacks, and now his current predicament in the camp. Is it hard to be cruel to your characters?
No, it’s really easy to think of horrible things to do to them. But I promise, as hard as this book is, and as dark as it may yet get…there is a reason to it all. There is a purpose to it, and an end point in sight for all the characters. And, there will be lighter moments and issues coming along the way.
Why did you decide to story in color instead of black and white like previous works?
Quite simply, this was a monthly Vertigo book, and they do those in color. Plus it was great chance to try something new and work with another amazing artist and friend, Jose Villarubia.
Do you have an idea of how many issues you want to go for Sweet Tooth?
1000.
I read that you already have the last issue of Sweet Tooth written. How does having that preexisting target affect your writing style?
All of my books and stories have started with the ending. That’s just how I write. You have a start point and an end point for your characters, and then you just need to fill in the middle and figure out how they get from point A to B. It’s all about how your characters change and grow, and the best way to show that journey.
You’ve now worked with Vertigo twice with Sweet Tooth and The Nobody, how do you feel your style and title are fitting in with that esteemed publisher?
I still think that it stands alone as a really “different” book, even for Vertigo. There haven’t been a lot of single writer/artist monthlies from Vertigo or DC, so just by its nature it’s going to represent a singular vision more than most of their books do. That doesn’t necessarily make it better or worse than their other books, but I think it does make it stand out a bit. Having said, that they have been nothing but supportive of the book. They seem to really understand what Sweet Tooth is, and have given me the support and freedom to let it grow. And, DC proper has been really supportive too. I’ve found a lot of fans among DCU writers and editorial.
You have another Top Shelf graphic novel in the works. Can you shed any light on it at all, and when we may expect to see it?
Not yet, still in the early stages. I would say that I will probably finish it sometime in 2011.
On Twitter, you mentioned that you have a Marvel writing gig upcoming. Can you shed any light on what that might be?
Continued belowUnfortunately, I had to turn down that gig after all. I have some DCU writing gigs in the works, and with Sweet Tooth and my Top Shelf book, I was just too busy to take on more work. As for the DC stuff, I’m not allowed to talk about them yet, but I will get a chance to try my hand at writing a few established DC that I love!
You also mentioned writing for DC proper on Twitter. While at Emerald City ComiCon, we overheard a couple prominent DC creators discussing your name alongside the words “Brightest Day” as one of them leafed through a copy of Essex County. Are you going to contribute to that high profile project, or is your DC work different in nature?
Umm…….no comment…..wouldn’t that be interesting though?
The title is called Sweet Tooth and Gus loves chocolate. What do you have a sweet tooth for?
I actually don’t have any Sweet Tooth! I never eat sweets of any kind, and have no interest in sweets at all. I have a salty meat tooth! I guess I’m more Jepperd than Gus.
You’re not just a comic writer/artist, but also a big fan of comics in general. Is there anything in particular out there that you think comic fans are missing out on?
Emi Lenox! Check out her online comic emitown. Also Matt Kindt is the best writer/artist working in comics and his last book from Dark Horse, 3 Story was a masterpiece. As for monthly stuff I really dug the first issue of David Lapham’s SPARTA USA….and SCALPED is the best comic ever.
