From: [j r m] at [elm.circa.ufl.edu] (Jeff Mason)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info
Subject: INTERVIEW: Martin "Hepcats" Wagner
Date: 2 Apr 1994 19:28:37 GMT

Interview -- Martin "Hepcats" Wagner
====================================
April 1, 1994
by Jeff Mason ([j r m] at [elm.circa.ufl.edu])

With huge thanks to the folks on the net who sent questions, the full
list of contributors is at the end of the interview.

------------------------------------------

A note from Martin Wagner:

I'd like to begin this interview by thanking Jeff Mason for taking the time 
to get everything together, and to everyone who contributed questions.  
It's good to know there is still strong support for Hepcats out there 
despite difficulties I have had--personal, financial, what have you--in the 
past two years.  Ad you have no doubt read by now in issue 11, I am taking 
a significant amount of time away from the convention circuit to get some 
more issues out a little more regularly.  I have also decided--surprise 
surprise--that I have nothing but the deepest loathing and disgust for the 
comics industry, and the idea of staying as far away from it as I can, 
keeping to my studio producing drawings (which is what I got into this 
whole mess to do in the first place) makes me so happy I could ooze fluid.

Although I do regret the schedule lapses that have afflicted Hepcats in the 
past two years, I believe one apology is enough and everyone should know by 
now that I'm working on it.  Beyond that, don't expect me to grovel for 
forgiveness (some people seem to expect just this).  Please face the 
following fact: Hepcats is all my work and new issues will come out when 
they are good and ready, and not a second before.  Some years you may see 
six issues, some only three, some four, etc.  If all you want is a comic 
that comes out right like clockwork without regard to quality I'm sure 
there are any number of Marvel or Valiant titles you could switch to.  But, 
with the possible exception of Dave Sim and Cerebus, I don't think you'll 
find another creator in this industry with as much of a personal, 
emotional, spiritual commitment to his comic than yours truly, and if 
Hepcats is your idea of a work of excellence in the field then I'm grateful 
to you for that and appreciate your continued support.  There will always 
be a new issue of Hepcats for you to read, all the way to issue 100.  But 
it isn't easy a lot of the time.  So cut me some slack and things will be 
all right.

On with the questions.
-------------------------

1. How would you describe Hepcats to someone who has never read it nor
   heard about it?

	I would describe Hepcats precisely with the new tag line I've begun to 
use in advertising: "It's real life, baby."  Many people find the use of 
animals strange; actually this sort of thing has a long, healthy history in 
human drama.  Animism, the use of animals to represent various areas of the 
human psyche, personally, what have you, goes back to prehistoric society, 
in the way Stone Age tribal shamen would don deer hides and whatnot to 
perform assorted rituals.  More recently, Scott McCloud describes the use 
of comic symbols or icons as "masking," the act of using non-literal or 
symbolic character designs to represent aspects of reality.  If you haven't 
read Understanding Comics then stop being foolish and do so.  So you see, 
Hepcats isn't so bizarre and different after all. (Dang.)


2. What's the three most important pieces of advice you could give to other
   self-publishers out there?  (Besides run away and become a lawyer)

	A.  Get good.  Most prospective self-published work I see is 
hopelessly amateurish and produced by people who thing they're Frank Miller 
Jr.  Self publishing is not an excuse not to do pro level work, since you 
will be competing for shelf space with the industry giants.  It will take 
years of developing your skills before you are ready to make a living at 
this (in that respect, drawing comics is no different than any other 
craft), so use your training period and train yourself.  Otherwise, you're 
just going to release a lame, fanzinish, amateur comic under glossy covers, 
and people will look at it and say, "Oh, great, another crappy black-and-
white."  It's not good for you, and it's not good for the artform.  B.  Get 
your finances in order.  Self-publishing is a career choice and, due to the 
difficulties involved in getting established, you're going to need money 
and lots of it, not only to publish with but to tide you over in times of 
hardship.  Between five to ten grand is my recommendation. ("Gasp!  Did he 
say t-t-ten grand?")  C.  Don't get married!


3. I have an old binder's copy of Mitzi's Boy Friend #4. On the cover  is
   Mitzi and her man at a cat show. 4 cats are shown, Persian, Siamese,  
   cheshire, and an unknown who is dancing. Mitzi says "What kind of
   cat  is THAT?", the man's reply is "Why a HEPCAT of course!".
   I am curious if Martin has ever read this book, and if so, did it
   have any bearing on the name he chose?

	No to both questions.


4. How did you get into comics, both as a fan and professionally?

	I grew up reading the Gold Keys back in the 1970s and I really wish I 
knew what happened to them as I could probably finance a few printing bills 
on what those doggone things are worth today.  I have described my road 
from fan to pro copiously in both Hepcats 1--The Special Edition and, from 
a slightly different angle, in The Collegiate Hepcats, but if you have 
neither of those books, I'll just say I started drawing for my college 
paper and never looked back.  My decision to do it for a living came in the 
late 1988, right around the production of the volume Yo.


5. What comics do you read?  What would you recommend others to read?

	I unreservedly recommend anything by Jim Woodring, including The Book 
of Jim, Tantalizing Stories, Frank in the River, and the new Jim Vol. 2 
from Fantagraphics.  This guy is my favorite cartoonist right now as he has 
simply blown the roof off anything I ever knew comics could achieve, 
particularly in his examination of dreams.  So everybody go read Jim.  
Also, I'm still devoted to From Hell, Cerebus, Bone, and Akira (hey, 
talking about my schedule...when was the last time we saw an issue of 
that...?)

6. How do you stay in self-publishing without going deep in the red?

	For about the first three years I did go deep into the red, but what 
helped along the way at crucial junctures, notably the Save Hepcats 
campaign after H5, and after my divorce, when my family bailed me out of 
business debts.  Since about 1992, however, the book has been selling at a 
relatively profitable level, with strong mail order support padding things 
nicely, and the publication of Collegiate has been my first real money-
maker.  I have managed to keep going simply because I try not to live 
beyond my means and all money that comes in is specifically earmarked for 
various expenditures.  One mistake many new self-publishers make is they 
thing the money that comes in from their comic is their money and they 
celebrate their publishing debut by going off and buying a new stereo or 
something.


7. What's up with the other Double Diamond titles?  (esp. Eyebeam)
   What happens to people who have subscriptions?

	Eyebeam was cancelled in fall '93 at the request of Sam Hurt.  A 
shame, because I love the strip and loved publishing it, but the comic 
never found an audience in today's direct market (circulation never 
exceeded 1000 copies).  I plan to start refunds to subscribers going just 
as soon as I can, and Sam has also indicated he'd be interested in offering 
subscribers various Beamian items he has for sale as an alternative to 
refunds.  Sam has mugs, pins, shirts, a whole line of Eyebeam artifacts.  
Anyway, I'll keep everyone posted.


8. How did the 48 hour phone in marathon go?  Manage to stay up the whole 
   time?  What were the five highest bid totals?  Have the "in
   inventory" books and shirts been shipped? What's the delay in getting
   orders out from the last Hepcatathon?

	Went swell, raising over $6000 for Double Diamond, and thanks to all 
who contributed.  I got a few winks here and there but overall everyone did 
a good job of keeping me on my toes.  Merchandise has started going out, 
but keep in mind there were over 150 callers so I'm going from the top of 
the list down to keep things organized.  Unfortunately, the shirts did not 
meet my approval when completed and are being redone (ugly print karma 
coming back...I hope not).  The five top purchase amounts, since you really 
want to know, were: $396.50; $162.50; $137.00; $126.50; and $121.00.  The 
top spender got a gift from Dave Sim: 5 signed gold logo Cerebus Zeroes.


9. I know you plan on cutting way back on conventions this year, but are 
   there any you DO plan on attending?

	If I never attend another convention as long as I live, it'll be a 
million years too soon.  I do enjoy meeting my fans, but hate the hassles 
involved in travel, setup, booth charges, etc., etc.  San Diego and 
ComicFest are getting particularly offensive, charging exorbitant rates for 
booth space, ensuring that if you do set up and have impressive, four-
figure sales, you're still barely going to break even.  I was much happier 
at Mid-Ohio Con over Thanksgiving '93; my appearance was generously 
sponsored by a local retailer, my sales matched my San Diego sales despite 
the con's being only a fraction the size, all the fans I met were 
wonderfully friendly, and my head didn't feel like exploding at the end of 
the day.  I presently do not plan on attending San Diego again until 
Hepcats 10th Anniversary (1997).  In 1995 I will attend the distributors' 
trade shows again, and am involved in the Beans, Bones, Hepcats and an 
Aardvark festivals with Larry Marder, Jeff Smith, and Dave Sim.


10.I'm interested in hearing some about your future plans with
   Hepcats, maybe you could give a quick run down of what's in the
   works.

	First, come out more frequently.  After that...oh, yes.  H21-H25 will 
be the five-issue The Freshman Quintet, which will be the last college 
storytelling I ever do, the H26-H39 will be another massive novel entitled 
Glass Heartbeats which will bring the timeline up to the present and put 
virtually all of the major characters through some life-changing turmoil of 
one sort or another, as everyone deals with getting older and the things, 
both good and bad, that process brings.


11.Do you forsee adding another main character or will you continue with 
   the "big four"?

	Yes, I plan to focus on other characters as the series progresses.  
Two in particular are Erica's New Orleans friends, Madeliene the dancer and 
Adrian the painter.


12.Why, ever, did you continue submitting material to your college paper
   even after you left the university?

	I only did a single semester of Shasta Says after leaving UH for UT 
because the UH paper offered to pay me to do so.  After leaving the Texan I 
never darkened their door again.


13.What's the next storyline gonna be about?  I've heard it's gonna be 
   kinda wacky based on the Hero Illustrated article. 

	The final farewell to college hijinx with The Freshman Quintet, 
focussing on Joey and Gunther's first year (before meeting Arnie and Erica, 
even).  They should be fun stories to do.  Pure slice of life, anything 
goes writing; plot out the window.


14.How does he draw those wonderful hands? 

	With pen and ink, thank you so much.


15.Do you, Jeff Smith, Dave Sim, James Owen, and Colleen Doran have 
   nicknames for each other?

	Uh, not really.  Why do you want to know?  Do you have nicknames for 
us?


16.Could you give me a list of where all of your stuff and where it
   appears.  i.e. Cerebus, Daily Texan, etc.  Also what does each TPB
   include exactly?

	I'll try.  Apart from the currently available 11 issues of Hepcats, my 
first trade PB was Yo--The First Hepcats Book (not Yo! as everyone seems to 
thing), which was later reprinted as the first 75 pages of The Collegiate 
Hepcats with the Gaggus of Imperial Rome strip omitted (it will reappear 
later somewhere).  I had an 8-page Li'l Hepcats yarn appear in Usagi 
Yojimbo 37.  A 2-pager in Images of Omaha Vol 2 (a precursor to the ill-
fated prints).  A single-page in Jab 4 which was printed so shitty I re-ran 
it as the inside back cover of H11.  I had a half-page Arnie and Erica 
beach drawing in one of the Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Specials (Omaha cover).  
My Cerebus appearances include issues 130 (preview), 161 (inside back cover 
jam); Cerebus Bi-Weekly 17 (a single page reprinted as the frontispiece to 
Collegiate).  I also interviewed Dave for The Austin Chronicle and he and I 
jammed on a hilarious cover which Martin Thomas then colored to perfection 
(I'll try to run it on a back cover soon).  Coming soon I have a one-pager 
in a benefit anthology (publisher uncertain) tentatively called Death Lite 
(it's a benefit for a California retailer stricken with cancer), which also 
includes contributions from some serious industry heavyweights (Miller, 
Sim, McFarlane, et al).  And I'm doing an 8-pager plus the cover of an 
upcoming issue of Caliber's Negative Burn.  Without having it all in front 
of me that's the best I can do from memory.

	The Collegiate Hepcats is designed to get new readers into the series 
and reprints all the UT Hepcats strips plus H1 and some selections from my 
UH days.  Snowblind Part One will reprint H3-H10 but will feature some 
revisions--a few of them significant--in order to smooth over some rough 
edges.  The hospital scene that opens the novel will be somewhat reworked, 
the mall scene will be touched up some, and sundry deleted scenes will be 
put back in where they may help the flow of the story.  I still consider 
Snowblind a work in progress and therefore subject to revision.  Besides, 
it was always planned to go down in posterity in "phonebook" form, so I 
want to make it as good as I can.


17.Would you be willing to do a signing at the store I work for?

	Love to...during the 1997 10th Anniversary tour, perhaps.


18.Do you have an E-mail address?  If not, are you going to get one?

	Not yet, but E-mail is assuredly on the way.  I hope to be up and 
running on Internet and maybe even CompuServe by summer.  I've just bought 
a spankin new Quadra 610 with a CD-ROM (so you can see how well Collegiate 
has done for me).


19.I'm quite engrossed with Snowblind.  How are you going to configure 
   your collected volumes on the future.  Word has it that you are going to 
   style it similar to Dave Sim's Cerebus phonebooks, and if you plan to 
   put all 18 chapters in one volume, that's going to be two more years! 
   (at 5 issues per year!)

	I have specifically split Snowblind into two "phonebooks" due to my 
schedule lapses over the past two years, in addition to the fact the H1-H9 
are out of print.  This way I can get everyone into the series by bringing 
them up to date with the early out of print issues in a single volume, and 
then they can start collecting the new issues with H11.  Originally, I did 
plan to do one big Snowblind book, but circumstances forced a change of 
plans, and not I think it's for the best, because I can make up the 
revisions to the first half that have been bugging me right away, while 
simultaneously getting underway with the second half, which will introduce 
many delicious new surprises!


20.Any plans for a color special?

	Yes, whenever.


21.I noticed that compared to Collegiate, there is considerably less funny 
   stuff in the book, especially Snowblind.  Collegiate had my sides 
   splitting, but the series seems to have me awake wondering what the heck 
   is going on in Erica/Katheryn's mind, and why she attempted suicide.  
   There's a lot more for introspection now.  Will we see lighter stuff in 
   the future, like Joey + Gunther (H1)

	Yes, Hepcats was planned with diversity (humor, drama, tragedy, 
suspense...etc.) in mind.


22.What are your favorite cats? (Real and unreal and undead in comics and 
   other media and real life and in your neighborhood.)

	Oh, I like cats a bunch, but I can't have one for a pet due to 
allergies.  Dang.  I particularly like really sociable cats that meow a lot 
and rub up against your leg and get in fights with other cats.  I don't 
like lazy cats that sleep all day, expect to be fed liberally, and snarl 
whenever you try to touch them.  If I wanted that kind of treatment I'd 
have stayed married.  (Hissssss....)


23.Since Hepcats 2 is being skipped for the time being in the collections
   (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO), when is it scheduled to be reprinted?

	I plan to reprint Hepcats 1--The Special Edition this year, and when I 
do I intend to do a Hepcats 2--The Special Edition.  Both comics will then 
be kept in print in perpetuity.  So Booo yourself.


24.The characters in hepcats are very "human." could you describe the
   people they are based on, and the process and changes used in creating
   the characters?

	My approach to creating characters stems from my habit of watching 
people and observing behaviors that we all engage in in social interaction.  
In other words, I just pay attention.  It could be that I've inherited one 
of my mom's less couth but more amusing traits: I eavesdrop a lot, taking 
mental notes of conversations, and I take great pains to remember specific 
events.  When it comes down to actually creating a character, I do my 
utmost to avoid standard writing cliches of getting characters to fit 
certain "types," because in real life, people are chock full of fascinating 
contradictions.  One of the most interesting experiences I've had with 
Hepcats was in writing Erica's father; clearly the man is a monster, but at 
the same time it was crucially important to me that he not be depicted 
merely as a one-dimensional psycho.  Much of the intensity of Hepcats 11, I 
feel, is derived not only from the horror of the events, but from the very 
clear internal turmoil that has driven Kenneth Spence to such evil acts of 
violence and desperation, using his children as substitute targets for the 
horrible, cruel real world that he thinks is destroying his life (but is 
too big to take on).  The scene where Erica's father sits on the back patio 
in a sort of trance, not quite sure where the blood on his fingers came 
from, depicts a well-known behavioral phenomenon among violently abusive 
parents.  Francois Truffaut once gave an insight into his filmmaking 
philosophy: "There are no good guys, there are no bad guys--there are only 
people with ideas."  Intriguing, don't you agree?


25.Looking on down the road, what are your plans after finishing the 
   Snowblind story?

	Well, I think this question has appeared in various guises already, 
but just for simplicity's sake, I'll whip up a quick timeline.

* Hepcats 21-25: The Freshman Quintet

* Hepcats 26-39: Glass Heartbeats, a collection of thematically related 
stories.  Including Passing Game (about Gunther); Rooms With Brittle Views 
(about Adrian); A Clear Day and No Memories (about Arnie and Erica, the 
direct sequel to Snowblind, which will actually be kind of funny!); 
Available Light (about Joey and his parents); and Love Isolation (about 
Joey).

That's all I have solidly pinned down at this time.


26.I remember hearing once that a portion of your stories were based on 
   events happening in your life at the time.  If this is true, then is
   A. Erica based loosely on Tifanie?
   B. Does Snowblind follow events in real life to some extent?

	A. Sort of.  As you may know, I created Erica before I met Tifanie, 
but knowing Tifanie gave me many insights (not to be cruel) into the mind 
of a troubled, unhappy young woman and, well, you know what a writer is 
going to do with such insights.

	B. No, the main storyline is purely fiction, but I've been surprised 
by some letters I've received from women readers attesting to the emotional 
validity of the tale.


37.Will we being seeing more of Joey's parents and the folks in Busted
   Bowels in future issues of Hepcats?

	Yes on Joey's folks, but the jury is still out on Busted Bowels.  
Busted Bowels was designed as a farce, a parody of the East Texas small 
town life to which my parents have retired.  I still visit my folks a few 
times a year, I enjoy seeing every one of their friends when I go 
(Jefferson, TX is one of those everybody-knows-everybody towns; my 
circulation is double the town's population of 2600 or so), but I come away 
with absolutely zilch in the way of story inspiration.  It may be because 
my writing in the comic has shifted so far from the gag-strip comedy to 
real-life voice-of-experience stuff, that I have nothing to say on the 
subject for which Hepcats would be a valid vehicle.  I have considered 
doing a one-shot comic that would be a straightforward history of Jefferson 
(which is magnificently colorful, almost TV-miniseries-esque), and would 
give me a chance to draw some of the town's gorgeous antebellum 
architecture.  But I think that the fact my only comics inspiration on the 
subject is outside the pervue of Hepcats is revealing; clearly this series 
is only for topics that come from deep inside somewhere.


28.Do you plan on aging your characters, perhaps to see Gunther's attempts 
   at finding life after college, Arnie's future with Erica, and the antics 
   of Joey's baby sister as she grows up as possible stories?

	Absolutely.  Expect to be pissed off more than once, too.  Fair 
warning, but that's life.


28.Have you been thinking of any plans for yourself outside of Hepcats?  Is
   there a possibility of any other Wagner comics coming out in the near
   and/or distant future?

	(Jeff Mason mistakenly numbered another question 28.  Let's ridicule 
him mercilessly!)  I am presently working on a 48-page story called Loving 
Couples with British writer Malcolm Bourne.  I'm only handling the art; 
I've offered some suggestions to Malcolm in the early writing phases, some 
of which I was flattered to see he adopted, but it is his story.  I'm quite 
looking forward to it. (I get to draw the Louvre, Joy.)  It's a good story 
and it will afford me the chance to get out of the furry trap--that is, 
when you do comics with animal characters in them, people tend to assume 
you don't know how to draw people.  So this will be a chance to correct 
that bit of inanity.


29.What sort of work do you go through in order to publish an issue?  How 
   much of the creation, publishing, and distribution of your comic is 
   controlled by you?  Are there any significant differences between your 
   methods and those used by Dave Sims on Cerebus?

	Woof.  I could do 10,000 words just answering this one.  The Readers 
Digest version goes something like this: A hell of a lot of work is 
involved in publishing an issue.  I have total control over the creation 
and publishing end of things, which involve the writing, drawing, and 
getting to the printer.  The distribution end used to be more tricky, since 
up until recently the industry as a whole was disinclined to support 
diversity.  I began to see a distinct change around 1992, with retailers 
getting burned out of ordering corporate crap they despise, and wanting to 
get some books into their stores they could be proud of.  So, up until the 
last couple of years, my orders sucked because I was dealing with an 
apathetic retail and distribution network.  Now that there are many pro-
indie retailers out there, I have made efforts to contact them directly and 
there is now a solid list I keep on hand of Stores I Can Count On, that 
simply did not exist prior to 1992.  (I hit the promo circuit in a huge way 
in 1993, which is why my work productivity dropped so badly.)  Today, I 
have a bit better control of the distribution of my book because I have 
confidence that Hepcats is the established, and is not in danger of 
imminent death at the whim of Diamond or Capital.  In fact, I'm wholly 
confident that if both the top two distributors dropped the book tomorrow, 
I'd still be able to keep chugging along, just selling direct.  (But God, 
I'd hate to be just getting started right now!)  The obvious difference 
between my approach and Dave Sim's has been that, no matter what Dave does 
or how many weeks out of the year he spends travelling to exotic, faraway 
lands, that damn book still comes out monthly.  The bastard.


30.What sorts of ups and downs have you run across since Hepcats 1?  Were 
   there any unexpected twists that struck you as relatively unique to
   comics?

	One oddball twist about the comics industry that puzzles me no end is 
the way in which superhero comics are promoted almost to the utter 
exclusion of all else.  It's as if, in the wake of Jurassic Park, the 
entire Hollywood film industry announced it was making nothing but dinosaur 
movies to the end of time.  Certainly there is money to be made in 
superhero comics, but the fact is, there are shops out there who sell 300 
copies of Eightball.  There could be room to do this industry-wide, an all-
around increase of the wealth, but the distributors and publishers (and the 
retailers they have brainwashed) cannot see the forest for the trees on 
this one.  Comics is a $100 million a year business that I think could 
become a $500-700 million a year business if only people didn't say, "We 
only want superhero fanboy money.  We know there are millions of 
intelligent literate adults out there with lots of money, who don't read 
comics yet but might if they found some to their liking, but, we say screw 
them and their money.  We're getting the fanboys' money and that's all we 
want.  We like it here in our ghetto and we don't want anything more."  
Pretty stupid, eh?


31.The black and white Independent market seems to be getting more 
   attention now than ever before.  To what do you attribute this rise in
   popularity of B&W Indies?

	I suspect that much of it has to do with the fact that the speculator 
glut has imploded and people are looking around, some for the first time.  
It seem that when DC "killed" Superman, with the result of mass media 
attention and ungodly sales, the industry got this crazy idea that this was 
some kind of never-ending upward spiral, and that money was just going to 
keep raining down from the heavens for years to come.  Surprise, it didn't 
happen.  How do you top the "death" of Superman, after all?  In the short 
term, DC made themselves a ton of cash off Superman #75, but in the long 
term I feel they've done themselves some major damage.  Face it: they shot 
their wad with that one.  Once you kill Superman, and bring him back, what 
can you do?  Answer; Nothing.  As far as the rest of the speculator greed-
frenzy is concerned, well, there's nothing like a backroom full of fifty 
cases of unsold Deathmates to make even the most retarded dealer realize 
he's just taken it hard, without KY Jelly.  What is happening is that, 
slowly but surely, people are noticing that there are guys out there like 
myself, Jeff Smith, Dave Sim, the Hernandez Bros., and tons of others, 
whose only concern is to produce good, intelligent work free from any hype 
or B.S.  Cynicism prevents me from getting too optimistic, but it is a nice 
trend, I must agree.


32.Guys like Jeff Smith with Bone and James Owens with Starchild have been
   able to pick up a decent readership in a relatively short period of
   time.  Do you have plans to increase your own readership?  Can you
   share these plans with us?  I've heard that you plan to make no 
   convention appearances in 1994.  This will obviously allow you more 
   production time, but do you think it will impair your visibility and 
   perhaps limit new readership?

	Hepcats has actually been picking up in sales, too.  Between H9 and 
H10 I went from around 2500 to just over 5000.  With the tremendous 
response to H11, I am very interested to see the orders for H12 come in 
(I'm finishing up the issue now, but resoliciting it for June in order to 
be ahead).  I travelled out the wazoo in 92-93, at the expense of my 
schedule.  Though I will be out of the public eye for a while, I still feel 
that, at this time, the best tool at my disposal for upping orders is 
simply to get some damn comic books out.  I intend to make issue 15 by 
Christmas; if I do, then I have every confidence sales will top 12,000 by 
years' end.  So take your pick on which you would prefer to see: my smiling 
face or my next issue.


33.How do you work?  Describe a typical work day for you.  How many
   hours do you work a day, and how long does it take for you to do a page
   of art?

	There is no such thing, for me anyway, as a "typical" work day.  
Ordinarily, I do my drawing in the evenings due to fewer distractions, 
During the daylight hours, if need be, I do all my bank, post office and 
other errands.  Sometimes I sleep, too.  On the weekends I'm outta here, no 
matter how behind I am!  I need a break.  If I am drawing consistently, I 
can produce a page of art in about fifteen or sixteen hours, which usually 
is spread over a couple of sittings.  Those heavily detailed splash pages 
naturally take longer.


33.From your experience as a self publisher, what has been the most 
   difficult things for you to accomplish.  Any advise for aspiring
   creators to avoid pitfalls and "traps" of self-publishing?

	I would say the most important thing from my experience is to have 
yourself in order financially, and don't get involved in commitments that 
will put you in over your head and hinder your career.  For me, it was 
marriage.  If your money is solid, then even if something heavy goes down, 
you're covered.  It's likely that I could be about four issues ahead of 
where I am now if it weren't for my money mistakes.  (Another important 
thing to do is recognize when you have made a mistake, but accept the fact 
and push forward without unduly chastising yourself, which will only burden 
you with guilt and anger and put speedbumps on the road to recovery.)


34.Why do you choose to depict your characters as anthropomorphic
   creatures rather than using regular "human" characters?

	Chuck Jones: "It is easier to humanize animals than it is to humanize 
humans."  Hepcats has a sense of universality because the animal characters 
function as comic book symbols rather than straightforward renditions of 
specific character types.  Readers are therefore not conditioned to accept 
a preconceived interpretation of the characters and are therefore able to 
identify with characters on their own terms, by concentrating on 
personalities without being swayed or distracted by physical attributes.  
(This is also why readers who keep asking me what kind of animal Erica is 
are totally missing the point.)  The book therefore becomes a much more 
interactive reading experience than your average comic.  This philosophy, 
of course, assumes readers will have an active imagination, but that's a 
risk I'm willing to take.


35.Prior to Hepcats, what did you do?  What type of background do you 
   have?  

	Well, prior to Hepcats, I went to school and goofed off a lot, 
basically.  Hepcats came into being in the summer of 1987 as a direct 
descendant of Shasta Says, which I'd created in Houston out of utter 
boredom with college.  At the time, I thought I had a career as a filmmaker 
lined up.  That brass ring, however, went to my Daily Texan colleague 
Robert Rodriguez (director of El Mariachi), and I just stuck with the 
funnies.


36.Has there been any interest in licensing Hepcats?  Would you be
   receptive of such interest?

	There has actually been little licensing in Hepcats, primarily I think 
because, unlike Bone, Hepcats is a) geared toward a select audience of 
older readers, and b) doesn't have any characters that would make good 
plush huggable toys.  Even when I have done little merchandising goodies of 
my own, such as T-shirts and stuff, most of my readers have responded with 
utter indifference (I have sold fewer than 100 Animal Magnetism sweatshirts 
in over two years).  There's an artist in Chicago producing an Erica resin 
model kit; also, I do have a card set in the works, and a new T-shirt with 
Erica on it, but apart from that, don't expect to see much in the way of 
Hepcats trinkets and gewgaws in the future (particularly if you don't puck 
up these).  If someone is really interested in stuff, though, I'm open to 
discussion.


37.Any chance of you going to do a UK tour or appear at any UK 
   conventions?
  
so perhaps my UK fans reading this could spend the intervening time helping 
spread the Hepgospel across the Isles!


Thanks once again for participating in the interview, and for reading 
Hepcats! - Martin


This is the list of everyone who sent me questions (with decent headers
in their e-mail), thanks again!

From: [t--g] at [valhalla.HQ.ileaf.com] (Tom Galloway)
From: Patrick Sauriol <[p--ri--s] at [icebox.iceonline.com]>
From: [s--i--h] at [bohr.physics.upenn.edu] (doug smith)
From: [l--pe--e] at [rpi.edu] 
From: "R.J.JOHNSTON"  <[R J Johnston] at [newcastle.ac.uk]>
From: Tom Karr <[t--ed--n] at [access.digex.net]>
From: James Johnson <[j--hn--n] at [scs.Ryerson.CA]>
From: [b--r--n] at [netcom.com] (Byron C. Go)
From: [C--rw--n] at [tbit.com] (Matt Brown)
From: [m d s 1231] at [gold.acns.fsu.edu] (Matthew D. Swope)
From: Andrew Robbins x69579 <[a--bb--s] at [feds.kodak.com]>
From: Antonio Quinonez <[q--no--z] at [phoenix.Princeton.EDU]>
From: Patrick Sun ([gt 5400 d] at [prism.gatech.edu])
From: Hector K Lee <[h k lee] at [magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu]>
From: John Day <[j--y] at [umd5.umd.edu]>
From: [j--n--a] at [ersys.edmonton.ab.ca] (Justin Wondga)
From: Martin Samuelsson <[f 90 msa] at [nada.kth.se]>
From: [aa 277] at [freenet.buffalo.edu] (Michael F. Rizzo)
From: Greg McElhatton <[STU GLMCELHA] at [VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU]>
From: P Sullivan <[p--ul--i] at [ccwf.cc.utexas.edu]>
From: Jody Bean <[j--yb--n] at [ccwf.cc.utexas.edu]>
From: "Wayne A. Wong" <[S--W--N] at [LIMS01.LERC.NASA.GOV]>
From: "R.W.DAVIES"  <[R W Davies] at [newcastle.ac.uk]>
From: David M. LaMacchia <[d m l] at [martigny.ai.mit.edu]>
-- 
Geoffrey R. Mason		|	[j r m] at [elm.circa.ufl.edu]
Department of Psychology	|	611 Northwest 34th Drive
University of Florida		|	Gainesville, Florida 32607-2429