Interview with Andy Belanger for Comics Bulletin

Cool Cool Cool 

 

I don't know how 'cool' I am. If you have to ask, right? I don't even know if I know what 'cool' is anymore. I'm a guy in his late (very late) 30's who spends a lot of time staring into the middle-distance as he thinks about what to say about comic books; and I do this for fun. So, consider the source.

Prepare for unsolicited name drop in 3 … 2 … 1 … I got to meet and talk with Stephen King for about 5 minutes at a party about ten years ago. It was awesome. If my twelve-year-old self had known I was going to meet 'the great man' one day, he probably would have thought his mother and father were right and that, in fact, he was reading too many Stephen King stories.

 

Meeting Stephen King was cool.

 

Everybody has a 'when I met so-and-so' story and there are all sorts of flavors of said story, above all, it's a tale by degree, by proximity -- whoever somebody's Stephen King is is personal. The person you met, however, is the tale, not the teller.

 

In trying to convince my wife why I wanted to drive a couple of hours up to Montreal to visit a comic book artist and his comic book artist fiancée, I said something about really liking this guy’s work and that maybe I could get a good story out of it. Well the story is out. I wrote it to challenge myself. I also wrote it because I believe more people need to know about how comic books are made and the talent it takes to invent characters, emotions and whole worlds with only a pen and some ink.

 

I've met some 'cool people' in my life. So believe me when I say: Andy Belanger and Becky Cloonan are cool. Very cool … and generous.

 

Writing is a solo act, but (re)writing, reviewing and reading is a team sport. So single-malt scotches all around for Justin, Daniel and David Fairbanks, the interviews editor at Comics Bulletin, who thrilled me more than he knows by saying he was honored to be one of the first people to read my article.

 

Here's the article: http://comicsbulletin.com/interviews/4982/a-series-of-moments-a-conversation-about-creating-comics-with-andy-belanger-and-becky-cloonan/

Here's where you can give Andy some cash: http://andybelanger.bigcartel.com/

And don't forget the charming Becky Cloonan, she needs cash too: http://estrigious.com/becky/