Comics History
Captain George
Part 2: Memory Lane
Publications
Part 3: Captain George
Presents
A Short Chat with a
Young Chap
By Anthony Davies
Noah Van Sciver is quickly becoming one of Denver’s favorite cartoon-personalities. At 5’11 and no more than 150 lbs., a first glance would not give you an inkling of the madness that swirls inside of his head. His weekly contribution to the alternative weekly Westword
4 Questions started only one year ago, and has since become a feature you rush to find. Sometimes, sandwiched in between skeezy nightclub advertisements or facing another page that tells you to “Be Gay”, 4 Questions could be easily missed. Consisting of local band interviews illustrated with a sometimes unsteady, crazed hand, The results are an often funny four panel piece of publicity for Denver’s local music scene.
Aside from this comic, which would be considered enough work for any man in the prime of his youth, every night after a long shift in a corporate bakery, Noah sits in his small Denver apartment and scrawls out his own short stories about life, rejection and embarrassment for his semi-autobiographical comic book Blammo. An often times painful look at the life of a poor young male who just wants to draw cartoons. And although we as a society all too often want to look away from the ugliness of poverty, Noah Van Sciver is just too funny to turn a blind eye to.
Anthony Davies recently caught up with Van Sciver for this short chat:
Do you ever find it hard to sit down and draw when you really have to?
Yeah, sometimes. I don’t like to have to do anything. I’m just like everybody else in that way. But, at the same time, I always make sure that what I need to get done, gets done
How old are you now, and when did you start drawing comics?
I’m 24 years old now. I’ve been drawing comics since I was a kid, but taking a stab at it for only about 4 years. I used to want to be a Picasso superstar kind of painter. I realized at one point that that era was basically over, and I wanted to be able to more clearly communicate my own thoughts. Comics allow a pretty literal way of communicating things and are more fun for me to do than paint, so here I am!
How often does Blammo come out?
I don’t know. As often as I can get it out. It gets hard sometimes. I start editing out stories from it when I’m really close to the end of an issue.
Do you send out Blammo to publishers or is it something you’d rather self-publish?
No, I send it out to a select few. I don’t mind self-publishing except, I’d like more people to discover it and there is only so much I can do on my own. The other problem is the economy, and also single-issue comic books don’t seem to be in vogue right now. If Blammo was a graphic novel, maybe I could find it a nice home. It’s just a really underground thing right now. If you have one, than you are supposed to.
Have you ever thought about making 4 Questions a national comic?
Oh, I’d love to. It’s already available to everybody on Westword.com but, as far as getting other papers to carry it, I don’t think anybody would give it a chance right now. Like I said, the economy is terrible. Especially for newspapers! But I’m absolutely open for making it national.
Who are your comic heroes?
John Porcellino, Kaz, Crumb. I used to really like Joe Matt but, I think he maybe feels like I’m just a creepy comic fan who wants things from him, so I lost something for him.
Why would he feel like that?
Well, I did a cartoon interview with him for The Comics Journal a while back and it was really exciting for me when it got printed. For some dumb reason, just me being stupid, I thought he’d be into it too. Y’know, a “cartoon interview with Joe Matt!” I tried to be like “Yo, Joe! That interview is printed man!” But, I guess it was only cool to me. It’s probably nothing to a veteran of alternative comics.
Have you ever drawn a comic story and then thought “This is too embarrassing! Forget it!”
Nah. I don’t think any of the stuff I’ve drawn is very embarrassing. Some people tell me it is. That’s how I know it is. But, really I’m trying very hard to move away from that autobiographical stuff. Or, at least, the obvious autobiographical stories. I’ll disguise them as much as I can in the future.
Do you have any goals for this year?
Yup. I want to get into as many anthologies as I can. I’d also really love to have anything to do with Mome. It’s a hard thing to do, but if you someday pick up a copy of it, and see me in there, just look to the sky and say “he did it. That crazy son of a bitch did it!”
Noah Van Sciver's website includes a great selection of his comics and illustrations as well as links, news, and contact information. He recently teamed with John Porcellino for the simultaneous release of Blammo #3 and King-Cat #69 at Denver's Kilgore Used Books and Comics. Van Sciver's comics are available from Atomic Books, his shop, and other select comic outlets. For more about Van Sciver check out his listing on Lambiek.
My thanks to Noah Van Sciver and Anthony Davies for permission to host this special feature.
-RK
Zinographies