User: inkmonkey

Comics/Projects: Elijah and Azuu, among others.
Age: 21
In what part of the world do you live: New Jersey, though I'm originally from New Mexico
Are you single/boyfriend/girlfriend/married: girlfriend
Children: No
Day job: student

OK, so what is Elijah and Azuu about? That might be a big question.
Well, Elijah and Azuu is about an angel and a demon who've lived on earth so long they practically live as humans.

Practically?
Well, they don't have the same needs and desires of humans, so they have their own substituted in.

What kind of needs do an angel and a demon have?
Basically angels live to keep order, and demons live to disrupt that order.

So the angel is the good one, the demon is the bad one?
From the perspective of a human, sure. Really, though, the difference between them is that angels live in service of God, whereas demons live in service of themselves; Satan's just there to take advantage of it all.

So they work at odds to each other?
Pretty much, except that Elijah and Azuu have the same job, just working for different teams. They've basically got a friendship based on competition.

Being an angel and a demon, that brings up preconceived notions of their natures, their relationships to humans and one another, their likes and dislikes. How much of that is the case in the comic?
They act, in many respects, the way people would expect them to. The difference, though, is in their motivations. There is a lot of “evil for evil's sake” in the comic, but the recurring theme with the demons is that they dont' really live to make people miserable, they just do whatever they feel like. And if you've ever known anyone who was like that, you know that making people miserable is a side-effect of that.

The angels, on the other hand, don't really do “good” things, which is another recurring theme. The purpose for an angel is to do the “right” thing, which is like the good thing, except on a cosmic scale, instead of a personal one. Sometimes angels have to implement destructive violence or any other thing if it's what's “right”, even if it is a “bad” thing to do.

Why angels and demons and religious themes? Was it just the best way for you to set the stage?
There was no real thought into religion when I started the themes. The idea of doing an angel/demon that have to spend an inordinate amount of time together for whatever reason is actually pretty common, and I just found myself on that bandwagon. The whole thing was actually pretty 2-dimensional for the longest time, but as my experiences grew I just started to push the series more.

How were you inspired to create Elijah and Azuu? (andrewd)
Actually, I was self-publishing another comic in high school, and one story idea I had was for there to occasionally be this angel and demon fighting over souls that show up from time to time. I actually didn't put much thought into it, but my brother was really enamored with the concept. I ended up not using the idea, but he started work on a screenplay (which was a bit of a hobby of his in High School), and he came up with a lot of the premise, as well as a lot of the names. I took the idea from him when I decided to do a webcomic, and realized I wasn't ready to do the comic I was self-publishing, art-wise, at least.

So how many pages is Elijah and Azuu at now?
One-thousand, three-hundred and thirty-nine

You're a workhorse :) Speaking of pages, the current one has a certain air of finality…
Nothing lasts forever, as they say…

Oh I see, that's a hint, is it? Well, how long have you been at it? (And how did you keep at it so long?)
Well, I've been making comics since I was 12, I started self-publishing my work when I was 15, and I've been doing Elijah and Azuu in one form or another since I was 17.

Now explain how you did 1339 pages!
I got lazy. I should have over 1400, if I'd stuck to my daily updates the whole time.

My heart bleeds for you. How did you keep up with the demands of doing them daily in the first place? They don't look quick to do.
After a while, it just becomes a normal thing; my day just feels incomplete if I haven't drawn something.

That's a pattern I wouldn't mind having… never seems to stick though. Something that you've worked on so long must have gone through a lot of changes.
Definitely. For one thing I think the comic used to be funny. Or at the very least I tried to be funny more often.

Anything a bit less self-depreciating? :)
Sorry, I just don't like a lot of the older issues. Anyway, aside from the art changing, all of the characters have evolved a lot. Characters who were stupid for no reason are stupid for a reason now, the nice characters have a mean side, etc. Really, the same thing that happens to any comic that gets made long enough. Well, that's not entirely true; any comic where the author puts some effort into change/improvement. I've seen a few where authors are content to rest on what they're doing from here to doomsday

I like the phrase ‘ stupid characters are stupid for a reason now.’
Yeah, I've tried to avoid revealing that the stupid character is actually smart and just acts stupid for whatever reason the author comes up with. Not to say I haven't done it, but I've tried not to be too obvious about it.

What was the biggest challenge of working on Elijah and Azuu?
Coming up with a joke every day. That's the real reason I started to let drama into the strip: I just couldn't think up a decent joke one day.

What are the pros and cons of doing a comic that runs as long as yours has?
Well, the pro is that I can get more hits from one guy reading through the archives than some people can get from all their readers checking their front page in a day, the downside is that you tend to improve so much by the end that the old ones become downright embarrassing. Also, some people just don't want to take the time to read 1300 comics, so I lose some potential readers from it.

Did you plan much of the story out, or did a lot of it just ‘happen’?
Most of it just happened. I get ideas for specific scenes or jokes I want to do, and often create whole story arcs just to facilitate them

Well it seems to have worked. :) How successful do you think the comic has been? In your own terms, or in the eyes of others?
Well, on Drunkduck it's doing great, but outside the duck? I'm pretty small potatoes. I try not to get too comfortable with my position with the comic; if it was the most read comic on the ‘net, I’d start thinking about how much better published comics are doing, etc.

Speaking of Drunk Duck, you have a lot of readers, and have had for ages, but do you still notice when someone that usually comments doesn't comment for a while? Does that bother you much? (Jimeth)
Not really. There's not always much to say; the story just goes, and I don't expect everyone to have something to say about every issue. Besides, I used to comment all the time, but lately I've been pretty silent, so I'm not surprised if anyone else does the same.

As nothing lasts forever, will you be starting any new projects soon?
Not really, no. I'll certainly be updating my DeviantArt account more, but this year I'm mostly going to be working on getting my portfolio ready to get professional jobs.

Yes, you're a student at an art school. Do you have a particular interest or field of study?
Comic books. Actually, the whole school is basically devoted to comic book art.

What does learning about comic book art involve?
Basically it involves drawing comics all day. Well, that's not entirely true. Some of our classes do painting and other such stuff. But the school is helmed by Joe Kubert, a classic comic artist, so everything has that slant to it

What do you like about the school?
Well, we don't have any math classes.

So I take it you read comic books and webcomics. Any favorites?
Sinfest is always good, Sam and Fuzzy, Scary Go Round, Something*positive, Starslip Crisis, Striptease… basically anything that starts with an S.

And your least favorite webcomic-letter?
I don't read anything that starts with “i” at the moment.

What other hobbies do you have?
Well, I play videogames a lot. Not much since school started, though… Basically I'm working on turning my hobby into my career, so hobbies are kind of out the window.

I love me some video games, I'm all about the DS. Are there any hobbies you WISH you had?
Well, I wish I knew how to play the harmonica. I have one, and can make music on it, but I can't play songs.

There's probably some kind of lip science to it. What do you want for Christmas?
Some real food. I basically live off Ramen noodles and the occasional orange to stave off scurvy.

I'm out of questions :) anything you want to add?
I dunno, what do people usually say at the end of interviews?

Dunno :) every now and then I didn't ask a question someone wanted to answer, or something.
Hm… like “any advice for the readers”? As for advice I'll say: All you Need is Love.

Interesting. I'm wondering why more controversial topics were not addressed with inkmonkey?

Well, that was a good read.

Very nice interview Inkmonkey and Skool…munkee.

marine
I'm wondering why more controversial topics were not addressed with inkmonkey?

If you wanted something specific addressed you should have sent me a PQ T_T Anyway I dunno what controversy you're talking about.

I found this interview to be very depressing. I'm not sure why, but Ink seemed to have a really downer mood around him. Maybe it was the comic ending, thing.

I read it. It was good :)

skoolmunkee

marine
I'm wondering why more controversial topics were not addressed with inkmonkey?

If you wanted something specific addressed you should have sent me a PQ T_T Anyway I dunno what controversy you're talking about.

Doesn't the comic explore taboo subjects and/or controversial subject matter? I never read into it, but I heard there were certain underlying themes.

You mean the homosexuality between a pair of characters or trying to establish the logical differences between angels, fallen angels and demons?

It's no more off the wall in those respects than Buffy The Vampire Slayer was, and that was prime time television. I think that what used to be controversial boundary issues even a decade ago are now pretty much acceptable areas for artistic exploration in cartooning.

I found his take on the logic structure of heaven and hell to be very interesting but not really controversial. As for underlying themes, perhaps it is simply that there is more fun to be had in being bad than in being good. On the other hand, the really, really powerful among the good characters get to wear gnarly sunglasses.

What fascinates me is Inkmonkey's dedication to all aspects of cartooning from storytelling to inking and coloring. The development of skill levels in those respects are evident in the vast differences from the very beginning of his work to the latest panels. He has evinced dramatic improvements.

The man seems to do nothing in life but work on the elemental requirements of good cartooning, and then he will reveal that he also has a real life. I don't know how he finds the time.

Good post!

Nicely done interview. Good reading.