WALRUS COMIX PRESENTS: An exclusive Q&A with comic artist Michel Fiffe

Michel Fiffe is a comic artist on the rise. Creator of the remarkable horror romance comic PANORAMA, Michel has a unique dynamic aesthetic that truly sets him apart from the pack.

This October, PANORAMA (originally serialized as a webcomic on ACT-I-VATE) will make the leap from screen to page, as Michel teams up with comic legend Dean Haspiel to unleash a three-issue double feature entitled BRAWL. Haspiel will bring to the mix his romantic anti-hero Billy Dogma, for what is sure to be an instant classic!

To check out more of Michel's work, swing by ACT-I-VATE, and don't forget to pick up BRAWL which will be released by Image Comics this October.

 

Michel.. After reading the first 2 parts of Panorama, may I say.. brilliant!.. Fucking brilliant!... If I were to be forced to describe it, I would have to say it's Love and Rockets meets Twisted Tales meets Kafka, yet of course that all adds up to something completely unique and super dynamic.. Did you have any sort of springboard in terms of inspiration when you first started Panorama? Were there any artists or writers that influenced the initial concept?

PANORAMA was first conceived as a my version of Steve Ditko's "Shade the Changing Man" comic and Shinya Tsukamoto's "Testsuo the Iron Man"movie. I don't think I'm ripping either works off, but they both have a very unique and disturbing quality which I truly admire. Having said that, I also wanted to work on a comic story that was fun to draw and read and have it not be one huge sleeping pill in the form of a 600 page graphique novella about a lonely leaf falling to the ground. That comes next.

The tale of Panorama can be taken as a metaphor for relationships, how people can submerge themselves in their partner, 'til they eventually lose their identity and  suffocate.. Were you intentionally playing with metaphor when you wrote the story?

Well, the initial idea behind the story was to have a physical manifestation of anxiety serve as a power/curse/disease for the protagonist, AUGUSTUS. When I introduced KIM, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to explore the dynamics of a young and tense relationship without it becoming some sort of soapbox. I always thought that the use of metaphors had an important role in my creating the story; the surreal nature of the comic demands such metaphors.

Visually Panorama is so striking, and inventive.. Fluid motion, constant and dizzying, the stark black and white (or white on black?), the humor..   You seem to be dipping liberally into 2 comic genres indie and action… Who were your influences growing up?
 
Frank Miller changed my life early on, Walter Simonson had the coolest style ever, and Howard Chaykin was at one point GOD. As a kid, I also discovered and loved the brilliant works of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. As a teen, my interest in comics was re-ignited by The Hernandez Bros., Evan Dorkin, Dan Clowes, Chester Brown and Jaime Hewlett. Other comic creators I like: Brendan McCarthy, Gil Kane, Katsuhiro Otomo, Alan Moore, Cliff Sterrett, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, E.C. Segar, Alex Toth, and Bernie Krigstein.

Panorama started off on ACT-I-VATE, the net's leading purveyor of online webcomics, and now it's being released in print through IMAGE comics (those who brought us Spawn, Youngblood, and a Touch of Silver)as the 'double feature' compilation Brawl. The other half of Brawl of course is being handled by the incredible Dean Haspiel, featuring his romantic anti-hero Billy Dogma. I love the concept, it's the comic's version of  'Grindhouse'! How did you and Dean first meet, and who came up with the idea to put your 2 stories together as a co-release?

I first met Dean in 2002 when I became his assistant by erasing his pencil marks. He quickly promoted me to filling in his black areas. As a bonus, he'll have me ink a  background squiggle or a sign or something. Through years of such labor, we became pals and I constantly worked in his studio where we'd draw all night, listen to music, and brainstorm new comic ideas.

Dean would probably tell you differently, but I remember us always wanting to combine our comic book efforts into a cool two man product. In the case of BRAWL, the timing was perfect and the work had been completed so Dean took the networking initiative and made the project happen with IMAGE comics.

What are your thoughts on 'webcomics' as far as them being the future of the industry? Do you see it as a positive thing for comics? How did you hook up with ACT-I-VATE?

Print is not going anywhere. Perhaps in some very distant future where we have libraries of information stored into a fingernail-sized implanted chip, will print media be a forgotten novelty, but it will never be eradicated.  I don't really see webcomics replacing anything anyway, except maybe the monthly and weekly serials. It's a format in itself and it's a semi-accessible alternative to print, but I can't see it eliminating anything at the moment. At least not art comics that place heavy emphasis on packaging and production.

Webcomics are positive not only because they offer a wide variety of material and that the connection to the industry and the fans are that much closer... but webcomics are also interesting because an artist is now able to create his Magnum Opus free from editorial demands and publishing politics and have it be seen quickly, without fuss and to a huge amount of people. As a result, what you'll likely get is a glut of faux-wunderkinds with entitlement issues mixed with true artists contributing their hard earned efforts to their culture.

"ACTIVATE" was originally a term that Dean and I threw around whenever we came across something we liked and deemed cool. He'd always kick around the notion of an online comics anthology-type posse. After dubbing the crew "ACT-I-VATE" , I was invited to join.

Which instruments do you favor when you draw? Any type of pencil you prefer? Do you use a dip pen for inking? If so which brand?

I like the controlled and fine line that a nib gives. Aside from a brush to work on black areas with, I mainly use a Hunt 107 nib. I have to order them by the case because I end up breaking most of them, usually before a deadline. I prefer drawing on the thickest Bristol board paper available (standard comic size = 10 x15) and with any pencil lying around (except those rubbery ones; I've always hated those).

Which current artists do you admire?

Juan Bobillo is an underused and hardly seen comic book artist. His style is so perfect: cartoony, dynamic, distinct. He served his time recently on She-Hulk and I heard that fans didn't like how he drew the Thing, so Bobillo was looked down upon by fandom at large. I understand that nobody draws the Thing quite like Ron Wilson (inked by Vince Colletta, natch!), but Juan Bobillo made comics look FUN. Bring that man back and have him draw every Marvel comic out there!

Suehiro Maruo is actually another tremendous influence on the way I approach comics in general. He's too good to go on! Aside from being an amazing draftsman, he's one of the few subversive and original thinkers in comics, period. Dismissing his work as simply grotesque erotica is criminal. It's a shame that his books are incredibly hard to find in the states.

Just for fun... Name you're all time favorite comic!

Love & Rockets would be my obvious choice, hands down. That is the one comic book series that I would take to a stranded island and read endlessly. Although, I must say, the first 18 issues of EIGHTBALL are pretty much perfect and come in at a close second. AKIRA is also a unique and unstoppable force of art that never fails to inspire me.

Finally, do you have any advice for the kids out there just starting out that have dreams of being just like you?

Absorb and study every line from the work you respond to and mimic it until you are so bored and sick of it that you find yourself scribbling drunken doodles on a used paper towels. Draw and write everything that interests you and remain interested in the world
around you until the day you die. Be ready for long, lonely hours of laboring over the hardest and most underrated art form ever. No matter what, create comics not because it's "cool" or "cheaper than making movies", but because YOU MUST.