Alright lets start out with a short answer section and get the usual out of the way.
Rob Guillory
Age:
27
Married/Single/Dating/Other:
Married for 3 years.
Pets:
2 cats, George and Emma.
Highest Education Level:
Fine Arts Bachelor's Degree in Painting at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
High School Mascot:
I think it was a bear.
First Job:
My grandparents had a janitorial service, and from a reeeally early age (age 10-ish or younger) they let me help out. I bought my first comics with that cash.
Best time of the day to just dance:
I'm more of an afternoon dancer. But if I can manage it, early morning jigs get the blood flowing.
Favorite place to get away from it all:
Our house is pretty good for solitude. We're surrounded by nothing but country, really. I retreat there periodically.
Staying with short answers lets talk about what you do (if you want to ad descriptions I guess it would be okay):
Comic(s) you created Before 1999:I made a bunch of little stapled-together comics on looseleaf, starting in 1992. They weren't really stories, as much as they were elongated fight scenes. A few of the titles were typical 90s-era fare: Captain Brigade, Invincible Man, etc... Pretty proud of those, actually.
January 1, 2000 - January 2, 2004:
I worked on a series of biographical comics called DRAMA, which were really just melodramatic dating stories. Those were published in my college's paper. After that, I drew 100 pages of a creator-owned thing that'll never be published. Looong story.
January 3, 2004 - Today:
Did a few shorts for Ape Entertainment's Teddy Scares, Image Comics' Popgun Anthology Vol.1, Actor Comics Presents (written by C.B. Cebulski), 30 pages of a Tokyopop pilot that was never published and a series of weekly strips for RandomHouse UK's The DFC anthology and Chew.
Alright all that stuff aside lets get to the meat of the interview:
What do you do when not making comics?
Not a whole lot, actually, and that's deliberate. I usually end up hanging out with friends and spending quality time with the wife.
Super Nes or Sega Genesis?
Sega friggin Genesis. Remember that Sonic and Knuckles cartridge that you could stack other cartridges on top of? BRILLIANT. I always envisioned a leaning tower of Sega cartridges, just stacked up for miles.
Your in bed, when BOOM! The nuclear reactor blows and your given super powers. What do you hope they are?
The ability to stop time, so I could take my damn time on every project. I'd literally stretch a monthly deadline to a year, and no one would know. And the ability to make people stop being losers.
When you were 10 what were you for Halloween?
Hmm. I think I was a skeleton, which was ironic since I was a FAT kid.
Favorite comic character when you were 10 and 25?
Peter Parker. Not Spiderman. Peter is infinitely more interesting than Spiderman.
If you were at the mall when the real Easter Bunny showed up would you:
A. Get in line and ask for a present.
B. Get your gun and kidnap the fat man.
C. Crap your pants because you didn't think he was real which for some odd reason the child in you is dead and you need to get your imagination back.
I would D. Ask Layman where he bought that acid from. Because it's good shit.
What could you do with a He-Man action figure, 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream and a sword fish?
Relive my childhood. Yes, my childhood friend was a swordfish. Lost in a horrible fishing accident.
Back to comic stuff for now.
Knowing that Iceman is the greatest hero of all time, why do you think he is so underused?
I would have Iceman leave the X-men and start his own business. There'd be billboards for Bobby Drake's Chilly Treats in the background of every single X-men adventure. Scott Summers would look up them and be pissed he didn't cash in on Iceman's frosty gifts earlier.
Alright your making a comic about a team of hammers who keep the safe from nails. Whats the name of the book and sell me on a quick pitch? Go!It's called Stop Hammertime!, and it's about a world where the residents are all wooden puppets held together by crazy glue. Nails are created by this rogue puppet gone bad as a way to get even with the Wooden Overlords that rejected his Wood science. He unleashes the nails on the puppet world, causing pandemonium. So the Puppet Overlords create a crack team of Hammers, whose entire purpose is to stop the Nail Menace before every puppet gets nailed. Literally.
We all know your a great artist but what do you really want to be when you grow up?
I think I want to be Jesus. Or Cane from Kung Fu. Amazing similarities between them, now that I think about it. Except Jesus' crane kick wasn't as strong.
Where is the real money at in comic creating?
In passive income. Gotta make your artwork work for you. Original art sales, foreign translations, digital distribution and backend residuals. I'm so pimp with CHEW-ness that I'm drinking champagne out of a CHEW sippy cup right now. And it's 11am.
When your making comics whats going on around you? Music, what kind? Silence? TV on?
I alternate. Sometimes music. Sometimes Adam Carolla's podcast. Sometimes just the lonely sounds of whalesong.
10 years from now. Where do you see yourself?
Ideally, I'll be Mike Mignola. Making only comics that I love and care about. Also, I'll be old, white and slightly bald. (I'm black, by the way.)
Alright we can finish up with a quick word association game. I will say a word, you give me a quick one sentence response.
Chew?
The project I've been waiting for to break me into this industry.
Image Comics?
Could change the face of what people think comics are supposed to be.
Horror Comics?
I like them when they're fun.
Elmo?
Will no doubt appear in a future issue of CHEW.
Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions?
I have a fear of stupid opinions.
Time Sheets?
I'm never working for The Man again.
Poptarts?
My childhood in dry pastry shell.
Decapitated Dan?
Asks fun questions.
Rob Guillory?
Young nobody that wants to fit into the mold of great storytellers of the past.
Thanks so much Rob.
To see what Rob is up to please check out http://robguillory.blogspot.com/
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