Here’s an interview with me that was recorded and illustrated by famed Serbian cartoonist Aleksandar Zograf. It was conducted in a lovely park in Amadora, Portugal in 2005. Aleksandar and I were both there for the first ever DREAM COMICS ART SHOW being put on by the Amadora BD festival. The interview appeared in VREME, which is a weekly Serbian news magazine much like TIME or NEWSWEEK.

A few panels from the very first published story of the ABC universe, OUR GLORIOUS INTRODUCTION. That’s me in the mummy wrap with script by Alan Moore, pencils by Chris Sprouse, inks by Al Gordon and color by Tad Ehrlich. ©America’s Best Comics.

When he was in fourth grade, my son Kirby appropriated my DC Comics jacket (even though it was about four sizes too big for him). Here’s a sketch of him, from life, wearing the jacket as he sat drawing in his own sketchbook. These days he’s in his third year at The New Hampshire Institute Of Art, majoring in illustration.

This is a page of sketches of some of my fellow Kubert School classmates circa 1976. Memory cells are in short supply from those halcyon times, but I think I remember doing these as a class activity on a day when the model didn’t show up for Life Drawing.

Starting at the top that’s Tom Yeates (who went on to a stellar career in comics) with Sam Kujava to his right and “Binky” Brown just below. Bottom left is Ken Feduniewicz (who became a Marvel staffer and publisher of THIRD RAIL). To his right, Steve Bissette (who, with Alan Moore and John Totleben, helped relaunch the ailing comics industry a few years later with SAGA OF SWAMP THING).

Inkstuds has just posted this interview with me.

Portrait of me, above, by Dave Sim from CEREBUS #204.

When I did this portrait of myself as RAT FINK for the cover of the COMICS JOURNAL #176, I meant it as a tip of the hat to BIG DADDY ROTH and how he’d helped and inspired me in my youth. In the full length interview I tell the story of how I entered one of his “Draw The Monster” contests and got a runner up prize and my name printed in BIG DADDY’s magazine. This came at a pivotal time in my young life (I was probably 12 or so) when my parents and teachers were all working on me to give up doing art for a sensible career choice. Getting that sort of small recognition from one of my heroes gave me an inner certitude that the authority figures in my life were wrong and I was on the right track.

When doing the illustration in 1995, I finally intuited what BIG DADDY had hit on with his trademark style of cartooning, too. There’s a deep existential truth in what it means to be a 20th century human consciousness inhabiting the flesh in ROTH’s work. I can’t look at it anymore without smiling and thinking to myself, “Yeah. He gets it!”

From my ROAD BITS notebook, collecting dreams while on the road, in May 1994. I’d dreamed of Don Simpson, creator of BIZARRE HEROES, the night before the Capital City Trade Show, but took the opportunity of hanging out at the bar to sketch the great artist from life. And yes, he did go on to add some dreams of his own to ROAD BITS.

Had a great visit yesterday with old Kubert School classmate, Chris Kalnick. Steve Bissette made the trip down and we enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch under the cabana and laughed about the good old days. Chris brought this photo, which he took during one of his previous visits. That’s John Totleben, myself and Bissette making use of Steve’s supply of masks, false teeth and horror movie props to mug it up for Chris and his camera circa 1984.

In the heat of the Spirits Of Independence Tour in 1995, we self publishers would hit the bar after a show to jabber, drink and sketch (usually all at once). I’d be collecting dreams for my ROAD BITS feature in the back of RARE BIT FIENDS and doing spontaneous portraits, caricatures and gags along with everyone else. Here’s a drawing of me I found in one of my notebooks, done from life as I talked about Paul Pope. The art is unsigned and I don’t have a clue who did it, but they sure caught me.

Found this beaut in the bottom of a drawer. It’s a photo of me, age 3, in front of the Veitch family hacienda in Walpole New Hampshire, taken by older brother Tom Veitch on his trusty Brownie. Looks like I’m in my Sunday go-to-church outfit. The date on the back is October, 1954.