Today's blog post
is a special edition featuring another EXCLUSIVE and very interesting interview with a true character, my graphic artist friend Mickmo, all the way
from Kansas City, USA!
Mickmo is a very talented, controversial artist with a fun and great personality to match.
He has a passion for metal and for Doctor Who and I know he spends many sleepless nights hyper from his energy drinks!
He has a passion for metal and for Doctor Who and I know he spends many sleepless nights hyper from his energy drinks!
It was a pleasure to interview him and I must say he managed to give us a brilliant insight into the world of alternative comics , self publishing and graphic arts. Enjoy!
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| Mickmo and the NHL STANLEY cup |
1) When did you start drawing and how did you discover you had such talent?
I drew as soon as I could pick up a crayon. So I was 3 years old when I first drew a light blue window on a cinderblock garage. Visualizing tomorrow in the eyes of a 3 year old many many years and decades later. Growing up, I was really really poor and came up from death and abuse. But back then.....they didn't have fancy computers or things like that. All you had was pencils, pencil sharpeners and pieces of paper laying around. BEFORE COMPUTERS AND SCANNERS!!!
And really, I suppose the art gets back to all of that. I guess
you have to almost KNOW what you're going to do, then the rest just sort of maps
itself out. Sometimes it takes a day....sometimes it takes MANY YEARS!
I got my Commercial Art/Industrial Design degree in 1996 or so.
And found myself eventually in the back letter columns of THE MAXX! I guess
that was how it all started for me with the comic book stuff! But I had been
doing the art for a really long time long before that. They said I was a
prodigy early on. My older stuff used to look a lot more realistic!
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| The Flaming C by Mickmo |
2) Do you have to be in any particular state
of mind to start drawing or working on your stories, or does the inspiration
come spontaneously?
Oh, sometimes I draw solely from mood. Sometimes I draw from structure. Sometimes BOTH! Sometimes I can be in a assured mood and sometimes the art comes from disgust and anger! Sometimes the solution[s] in art come about based around philosophy and/or free forms! Sometimes you are allowed to be tight in the art and sometimes JUST THE OPPOSITE!
Oh, sometimes I draw solely from mood. Sometimes I draw from structure. Sometimes BOTH! Sometimes I can be in a assured mood and sometimes the art comes from disgust and anger! Sometimes the solution[s] in art come about based around philosophy and/or free forms! Sometimes you are allowed to be tight in the art and sometimes JUST THE OPPOSITE!
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| Rabbits & Dinosaurs on Neptune by Mickmo |
3) Can you tell us about your works and publications?
I had been published in numerous comic books, magazines, a few newspapers and television networks! JUST SO MANY FROM THE TIMES I HAD DONE THEM!!! And they vary from era to era, I suppose!
I am probably best known for being with Radio Comix for so many
short stories of doing FURRLOUGH. [17 to be exact! I did six short stories of a
story called DEATH METAL BUNNY BRIGADE towards the end of that particular run.]
But I also did adult comics like MILK!, Genus and a pin-up comic called Hit The
Beach for Radio Comix as well. And it was fun when I had it. I considered it to
be a lot more pure and creative then what they dish out with typical superhero
conglomerates! I also was in NUMEROUS issues of Gold Digger Annuals/Swimsuits
with Antarctic Press. I tended to do way more color pieces with them, but it
was more character driven! [Overall with that....I think I was in well over 45
comics with both. Probably about 60 comic efforts TOTAL!!!]
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| Mickmo at the Chicago Wizard World Comic Con 2012 |
I was also in Pirates Vs. Ninja Annual #1 with Antarctic. [Which
was probably one of my favorites with that one!] And the last issue of Ninja
High School Yearbook #20.
I used to do comics like Bug-Slayer and Tales Of Retribution.
Those were my earlier to mid-stream works! Along with that old SHOW AND TELL
Comics Creators Network stuff....before I was unfairly ousted, of course, by
feeble and sterile minds who just plain DIDN'T GET ME THEN!
I had also been pretty known for my serial killers with Serial
Killer Magazine for a year and a half! That was more/less my true crime stuff!
I also did various album covers and metal art for bands like Grenouer, Punished
Earth and Terminal Descent!
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| Three Bhuddas and Conan O'Brien by Mickmo |
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| Mickmo's Conan O'Brien piece at a museum in New York |
Below is a video of Mickmo's Conan O'Brien art featured on CNN:
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| Destroyer of Worlds by Mickmo |
I have so many, it is hard to name them all in several paragraphs! Some of my outside favorites are not even comic book artists, per se! I like Vincent Van Gogh and H.R. Giger! I like Zdzislaw Beksinski too. Frank Frazetta was really an excellent draftsman of the arts too!
But with comic book creators. I always gravitated towards slightly
more underground people like Richard Corben [Den from Heavy Metal Magazine] and
Daniel Clowes [Ghost World and Eightball]! I was always fascinated with stuff
like Eros, Heavy Metal Magazine and even the Verotik stuff from the 90s! I just
went towards lesser-knowns with a much more interesting style!
Robert Crumb has a good underground pulp-ish style! I also like
Paulo Eleturi Serperi. [Whom does a comic story called DRUUNA!] I also really
liked Robert Williams and his MANIC-MANIAC LOOKING CREATIONS!
Gosh, there is just so many I like in terms of art! WRITING....I
always was into stuff like Stephen King. But as far as film goes....I really
like Yazujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, David Cronenberg....things of the like! I
guess I was a little obsessed with VIDEODROME! I still am certain days.....
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| Encrypting the Cryptic |
5) Who is your favourite comic book character
and why?
I like The Maxx from, of course....THE MAXX!!! And I always liked DEN from Heavy Metal! I also liked the characters in Ghost World and Eightball! I always veered toward lesser-knows and less popular archetype characters, really! And I totally like THE CROW! Or if Doctor House was a comic book character....HE'S BE A GOOD ONE!!! Or even MONK!
I like The Maxx from, of course....THE MAXX!!! And I always liked DEN from Heavy Metal! I also liked the characters in Ghost World and Eightball! I always veered toward lesser-knows and less popular archetype characters, really! And I totally like THE CROW! Or if Doctor House was a comic book character....HE'S BE A GOOD ONE!!! Or even MONK!
THE TOXIC AVENGER also strikes a nerve with me! A wimpy janitor
guy who gets powers through a barrel of toxic waste! Or even GODZILLA!!!
Another green monster created as a result of toxic waste!
I also like DOCTOR WHO!!! He is not a typical sort-of character
either! But he has been around for so long anyway, I almost have to
AUTOMATICALLY like The Doctor from Gallifrey! That is just a given! :D
6) Some people define your style as macabre and obscure. How would you define it?
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| Bob Berdella's Butcher Bloodbath by Mickmo |
I do so much with it, that is almost perceived as “macabre” or
”scary”. But “obscure” would be closer to it, depending on what you look at
from me and my artistic creations! I guess it means certain things to and within
certain people. But sometimes the stuff I do borders on quirky and goofy! I
guess my approach to the thing is “make it interesting”! Try new things every
now and again! WORTH THE ART THEORY! You can make it straight or you can make
it angular!
But DON'T LOOK AT THE OTHER STUFF OUTSIDE OF YOUR OWN!!! Make it
my own somehow! Make it somewhat original! Cause there are quite a few
cookie-cutter artists out there who just simply DO NOT DO THEIR OWN CREATIONS!
And make a hefty mint of money off of it too! It is HARDER AND MORE OF A
CHALLENGE to come up with something that is TOTALLY ORIGINAL!
I mean, I have seen what i'd call “potato art” sold on Ebay for
150 dollars! And some fool somewhere would STILL BUY IT!! [Which is nuts to
me!]
THE PERCEPTION BEGINS when someone deciphers your art in their own
particular ways, they may have had their own perceptions of what ART could BE
in advance. And different folks can decipher an art piece differently. That is
the interpretations of the vision[s]. To me, I guess it is still STRUCTURE to
me! And that's the way it should be. It is harder to become a true original
these days cause of so many cookie-cutter people who are just trying to scam
folks out of a buck! But this is what I endure in a harsh Missouri tundra!
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| Mickmo and LLOYD KAUFMAN from Troma Films |
7) Where did you get inspiration for the
“Masque of Ten-Thousand Deaths” ?
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| The Masque of Ten Thousand Deaths by Mickmo |
It was a mask that was sort of like that from an old black and
white film, but my Masque is drawn a lot more edged-out! But IN MY VERSION OF
THE MASQUE, The Masque is essentially WHAT A PERSON SEES WITHIN THEIR OWN SELF!
Like dreams and nightmares! It sort of bends the rules of comic
books....because it is meant to be SORT OF THIS BARRAGE!!! It is a
non-superhero comic book, as it was intended to be!
Taking the usual meanings and the definitions of a story, THEN
TURNING IT UPSIDE-DOWN! That is how The Masque came about. It is meant to be AN
UNUSUAL STORY!!! I guess it is almost like a reflection of the psyche. IT IS
REALLY REALLY DEEP!
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| The Masque of Ten Thousand Deaths by Mickmo |
8) What is a typical day like in the life of
Mickmo?
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| Artwork by Mickmo |
I guess a typical day for me nowadays is just SURVIVAL!!! Just
surviving the physical and mental aspects of it all above and below my PTSD!
Listening to my underground death/black metal in the headphones most days
EXCLUSIVELY! Drinking some energy drinks to keep me awake! Taking sleep pills
so I don't go terribly neurotic at night, so I can fall asleep without a hitch!
Getting on some sort of computer and typing away in social networks! Tinkering
with my car at times to get it to run up to the grocery store...yep, SURVIVAL IN
A BARREN WASTELAND!!! [It is what it is out here!] CAUSE MISSOURI SORT OF SUCKS
ANYWAY!
9) Have you ever worked hard on a project
and then decided to trash it ? If so, what was it and why?
Oh....I had a project called DORI-MU that was totally based from dreams that I had! The computer crashed and it never seen the light of day! It was a full comic book too! And the original thing I did of Bug-Slayer got scrapped till much later on! Yeah, my old publisher at Passline was a total jackass! I don't really miss those days either! But as they say....ONWARD AND UPWARD!!!
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| Vampire Dissident by Mickmo |
10) If you could choose one of your
creations to become either a film or a TV series, which one would it be and
why?
I'd say, probably THE MASQUE OF TEN-THOUSAND DEATHS!!! Because it is intended to play out like an art house film...and that is sort of the way I saw it in my mind! [Like 8 1/2 from Federico Fellini or The Tin Drum!] It is probably the most “photogenic” of my creations that could be translated into a film.
11) What challenges do you encounter
self-publishing your own work? What advice would you give to up and coming
artists/writers?
Oh....I'd say JUST DOING THE ENTIRE THING BY MYSELF!!! When you are with a comic book publisher, there is almost a chain of command! And all you do IS THE ART AND STORY!!!
But when you self-publish ANYTHING, and you don't get no help or a
bare minimum of help. Of course it is all on YOU! So the comic book runs just
naturally TAKE MUCH LONGER TO DO! And of course, I am sort of this OUTSIDER
with the Kansas City, Missouri scene of comic books anyway! Cause the so-called
“scene”is rather ass-backwards here. But quite a few of them still consider me
to be the one that broke the rules with everything else with it and even
thought hey do not admit to it....I AM STILL AN INFLUENCE! I just came up from
a weird corner of it all.
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| Thundarr the Barbarian by Mickmo |
I guess I was just doing my own creations ON MY TERMS!!! And that
is what I always have done anyway. I was selective in the process of what art
assignments I worked on from early on! Some creators in comic books will pretty
much work on ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING thrown in front of them! But me...I guess
the art has to constitute some sort of ORIGINALITY FACTOR! That is why I did
things like Furrlough and The Flaming “C” and stuff like that. CAUSE IT
“WAS”DIFFERENT STUFF!!! [Not necessarily “fuzzy” or “comedic” or whatever. It
was just ME AND MY ART!]
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| Contemplation by Mickmo |
I don't know!? I guess I am unique in the fact that I am a self-admitting PTSD survivor of 27+ years, and I still do the art in some form or another! I guess it comes from my backgrounds and philosophy of what the art and the stories “can be” or “should be”. My meticulous natures and my approach to the artforms with it probably drive most people up the freaking wall! Oh well...YOU JUST DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO! One day at a time! LOL!
The thing I'd say to any upstart artist/writer/etc....is MAKE SURE
YOUR ART IS EXACT! And by that....I mean, it it good enough to measure up to
the standards of a certain publisher!? It took me at leas 10 years in order to
even get with some independent comic books! AND DON'T EXPECT A LOT OF MONEY AT
FIRST! It is sacrifice to do the art! TRUE SACRIFICE!
You don't get there without a certain amount of pain and agony in the long run.
You don't get there without a certain amount of pain and agony in the long run.
12) What are you planning to work on in the near future? Did you set any goals for yourself?
I just want to get out of the house a little more! LOL! Really, I
have had ideas that have not seen the light of day yet.
I wanted to be an extra goofy guy in a Troma film. [If your
listening to me, Uncle Lloydie and Troma!] And I wanted to do a comic book that
is totally based off of UTTER SARCASM!!! I will just leave it at that! ;)
I suppose doing all an exiled reclusive artist can possibly do in
a barren wasteland called Missouri! THAT IS ALL ONE CAN DO....CAUSE I AM STILL
THE ARMY OF ONE! ;)
My websites are these!
TWITTER:http://www.twitter.com/mickmoart
DEVIANTART:http://mickmoart.deviantart.com
Thank you so much for the interview! :D
Mickmo
http://mickmoart.deviantart.com
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