A FIENDISH INTERVIEW

Late last year Australian gawthic magazine FIEND interviewed me and as i was cleaning up i found the original set of questions and answers before it was boiled down for print. As almost 75% of it wasn't used, i thought i'd store it here for now.

Interview with Dillon Naylor and Fiend magazine, 10/5/2004

Did you really have any idea when you were a kid that you would be doing this as a “grown up”? How do your family feel about it?!

I wanted to be a ‘cartoonist’ right from my earliest memory. As a kid it sounded cute, like wanting to be an Astronaut or something but then as you get through high school and everyone else is talking about Electrical Engineering or Marine Bioligy, it starts to sound weird. There was (and is) no real ‘industry’ in this country for comic books so I really had to go out and create the jobs myself.

You started off with grass roots DYI self-publishing – a slave of the photocopier! How do you feel those origins have influenced the rest of your career – what has it taught you? Do you feel that the internet and web comic is changing this trend with younger artists?

When I started assembling little books on the kitchen table there didn’t seem to be many others doing it. This was before the comic book shops, so I would stock them in skateboard and indie record stores, not even really sure if anyone else who actually wanted something like this. I remember getting a letter from someone who had bought and read my first comic and I was amazed. Now, of course, communication and feedback is something you take for granted. The Internet allows all oddballs to search each other out and lets an audience find it’s obscure taste with ease. You can publish in colour to the World and get reactions back, all in a single afternoon.


You grew up with comics: how much of your love of the artform is founded in nostalgia?

I’m a fan of the old styles, so I’m nostalgia obsessed. I think maybe you have to grow up with comics to truly ‘get’ them. To me they are vivid, gaudy dreams come to life in a way that is different to book and film. They left an impact on me that I couldn’t really shake if I wanted to.

I understand you did the Martin/Molloy comic? What are your personal career highlights pre-Batrisha?

I started off doing flyers for a goth club at the Sarah Sands Hotel in the late 80’s and then a series of CD covers, posters and comics for a cult Pyschobilly band The Fireballs in the early 90’s. From there I did comics inserted into showbags and three issues based on the Martin/Molloy radio show, which was a lot of fun. Getting to draw a Bargearse comic was a dream come true. My favorite project is a comic series (that has almost no distribution outside a few Melbourne shops) called Pop Culture & Two Minute Noodles. Began in 1990, it involves a series of stories that revolve around 5 youth archetypes living in a big old house. The character Alexis may well be one of the first ever goth comic characters done in this country.

I read that Carl Banks was an influence on you. Is there anyone else who you would add to the list, even from other artistic disciplines? Anyone lately who has really caught your attention?

I grew up with mostly the Barks Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comics and old horror comic reprints, so my work is an unlikely fusion of these two influences. Superheroes never really had any impact on me. I guess maybe it’s the heroic or ideal part of it that didn’t appeal. I really love ‘loser’ characters like Charlie Brown. More recent creators I can relate to are Jim Woodring and Dave Cooper.


Do you find it difficult when your art is your job? Do you find it cathartic? What do you do to switch off from comics, if you ever do?

Unfortunately, I can’t switch off. If I’m not drawing, I’m writing and if I’m not writing, I’m day-dreaming. Funny things happen when your passion becomes your 9-5 job. Some people don’t consider it work, so if I were to complain about feeling tired at the end of the day, they think I’m joking. Others think that this situation must automatically suck the soul right out of your work. I guess the concept of someone doing exactly what they want, how they want all day and getting paid for it must seem so far-fetched that they assume there must be a down side to it somewhere and set about looking for it.

I read once that you said you were aiming to appeal to people that aren’t comic fans already instead of the “fickle mushheads” already into comics. Has it been tricky to place yourself career wise outside the “scene”?

Well, I’m doing everything the hard, slow way, that’s for sure, but it seems to be working. I think it’s sad a talented person has to get their stuff published in America and sent back here before they feel validated. I think this country could do with a bit more confidence in itself.

do you think that there is evidence of the always elusive “Australian Identity” in your work and in that of Australian comics in general? Can you put your finger on one unifying factor?

I use localised dialogue and scenery because my stories are set in Australia but that’s about it. I’m not sure if there’s a common thread that runs through Australian produced comics. I guess that’s the result of our shelves being saturated with U.S. product for years and never encouraging any internal industry.




About Batrisha:

Your little girl's all grown up: how did it all happen? Tell us the Batrisha story!

Like most things, it started off as a quick biro scribble on a scrap of paper around ‘99. I had been running a comic about a demented duck and goblin in K-Zone magazine called Da ‘n’ Dill, when I decided to show them another comic with predominantly female characters. I came up with the story of a bad-tempered foreign exchange student who was really a vampire and they loved it. Now the comics are seen in the U.K., Singapore, and Germany, too.

Publishers Five Mile Press then put out two coffin-shaped story books in 2002 which allowed me more room to expand the concept and tell the story of her arrival from far-off Bloodisvostok and how she fits in with her new suburban home. Anyone who’s been the 'different' kid at a new school will relate to these stories.

The major licensing deal must have been gobsmacking: it was sold in Target stores, right? Is that still on sale?

Ultra cute t-shirts for girls are on sale now in selected stores! Hopefully if people buy them, Batrisha can expand to other stuff like bags, etc. I’m hoping she gets her own line of toothpaste called Fangpaste.

K-Zone obviously opened your market up to a whole new demographic. Do you prefer writing for kids? Do you get much feedback from parents about Batrisha?

K-Zone was a wild success story. It’s huge sales have spawned enough imitations now to create a whole sub-section in newsagents. Even though comics only occupy a small section of the mags, It’s still exposing comics to a mass audience again, which keeps the medium relevant for a new generation.
I enjoy writing for kids because they are really receptive to strange and new ideas. They get ‘inside’ a story and really experience it, and then that enthusiasm in turn inspires me. My most prized possessions are the detailed letters and drawing kids send me.

Is she based on anyone in particular? (Go on, you can tell us!)

Actually, Batrisha is based on my cat. He has these extra huge fangs and I copied the basic eye and head ratio for Batrisha’s face. There’s also a bit of Wednesday Addams and Casper in there.

I love that Batrisha is a hardcore goth chick that exists with completely no reference to any sense of the subculture. I feel this is kinda a reclamation of the aesthetic back from the club scene – is this just me being romantic?! Do you go out to clubs and stuff?

I still make it out to clubs sometimes. I’m the guy that’s always requesting Siouxsie or Sisters of Mercy.

I never really cared for the flood of look-a-like 'goth' comics on the stands. Batrisha is not just tailored for a single audience. I deliberately wanted to avoid that whole ‘underground’ thing and do something that had a slightly naive, timeless feel to it.

There’s a whole slab of spooky kids stuff over the past few years – along with Batrisha, there’s Emily the Strange, Edgar and Ellen as well as the very dark toned Lemony Snickett books, and even Harry Potter is getting darker. Why do you think kids are so passionately embracing “the dark side”?

I think kids have always loved spooky stuff, haven’t they? When I first published Batrisha, there was no Emily or Living Dead Dolls in sight and so I was surprised that all of a sudden these creepy ‘n’ cute girls came into fashion at that exact time. At first I was a bit annoyed but now then I guess it’s pulling me along too, so I can’t complain.

Batrisha: The Movie. Will it ever happen?! If there was a live action, who would your ultimate casting choice be? Or a voice actor for an animated Batrisha?

I think Summer from Neighbours, all gothed up, would look a lot like Batrisha, but it would depend if she can also pull off the Lugosi accent. Ideally, I’d like to get Batrisha going as animated series. I’m hoping that might come next.