Stephanie McMillan

Ted Rall has a new hee-larious animated cartoon! Here’s a still from it. Notice the product placement — a Bunnista t-shirt! Thanks Ted!!

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Back to the interview for Scott Nickel’s blog, which already has a bunch of great interviews with cartoonists and is worth checking out.

7. What’s the future of comics? The Internet? iTunes? The Kindle?

It could be any or all of these (and definitely cell phones), except that we’re in the process of not only an economic collapse, but also a catastrophic ecological collapse — which means human civilization is going down too. In the future, when electronics are nothing more than heaping mounds of toxic junk, the few survivors will draw cartoons on the crumbling walls of abandoned houses.

In the meantime, though, people want to read comics online and on their phones and ipods and everywhere they read everything else. People have a primal need for jokes and stories. Of course, as a cartoonist I would like a mechanism to develop that would make it a paying profession for more than a few people, no matter what the venue. Otherwise, as we see with the decline of journalism, we’ll end up with an endless cycle of young hopefuls who struggle to squeeze a bit of coin from the vague promise of “exposure” (or do it for love after earning money elsewhere), before giving up in frustration and the next wave of young hopefuls takes their place.

There are good and bad things about that cycle, which is already in play. We gain an endless variety of comics blessed with freshness and enthusiasm, but must sift through a lot of crap to find the good ones. The art form has become more accessible and democratic, but we’re losing some of the pros who have spent years honing their craft. Some of the pros had become lazy and deserve to fail; others will be missed.

All of the independent cartoonists I know, whether they focus on the web or on print, talk and strategize endlessly about how to make a living. It takes iron discipline and a lot of slogging hard work. They must develop good business skills and configure multiple revenue streams. On the web, it’s advertising and merchandise (including books). In print, it’s cultivating clients, and doing illustration work or graphic novels on the side. Usually (certainly in my case) it’s a blend of everything, whatever works. In either realm, making a living usually means that we have to spend more of our time marketing and selling than actually creating comics.

A lot of us didn’t realize this when we decided to become cartoonists. In our daydreams, we sit at our desks, left alone in peace to create soaring works of genius while cash magically appears. Sadly, it’s easier to win the lottery than to achieve that glorious condition.

Comics as an art form is in transition, and flowering. There’s so much great work everywhere, and so much stupid crap as well. People will try everything, display comics in a million places. I don’t know what will end up working and what won’t — the evolution of media is rapid and unpredictable. With persistence, luck, and a determination to hone business skills whether we like them or not, those who draw good comics will find their audiences.

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Coming next:

8. Tell us about your graphic novel, As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do
to Stay in Denial.

9. Name five of your favorite cartoonists or comics.

10. How do you develop ideas? Which comes first, words or pictures?

Back to the interview:

4. MINIMUM SECURITY is syndicated on United Media’s website. How did you hook up with them?

Over the years I received many form rejection letters from all the major syndicates. When Ted Rall became Editor of Acquisitions at United, with the mission of bringing a new generation of cartoonists onto the comics pages, he told me “Minimum Security” was on his short list. I was thrilled, of course. It started running on comics.com, and I increased the pace to five days a week. It was in line to be syndicated in print when the economy fell into decline, and newspapers began dropping more features than they were buying.

5. Where do you stand in the print comics vs. web comics debate?

Squarely on both sides. I want my cartoons to be everywhere.

I’m not going to reject methods of making a living from my work — I try it all. I’ve sold artwork on eBay. I have a website with advertising and stuff for sale, and I’m striving to increase the income from that, learning as much as I can from successful webcartoonists. At the same time, print might be dying or it might not, but as long as it’s still around, I want my cartoons to be there. My comics appear in several print publications, including a daily paper. I’m also negotiating right now with another daily paper to run a regular editorial cartoon. I draw original cartoons for magazines, and sell reprints. Presently I’m working on coloring the pages for a French edition of my graphic novel. After that I have another graphic novel in the pipeline, and illustrations for two other books.

I think the “print vs. web” comics debate is ridiculous, frankly. Some people obviously make money in each realm. Most don’t. It’s the work that’s important — why would anyone want to limit where it appears?

6. The web affords a great deal of creative freedom. Would you be interested in doing a traditional newspaper strip?

I’ve been drawing “Minimum Security” in the visual style and form of a traditional strip for more than two years, so absolutely yes. In spite of the condition of newspapers, I still have the goal of getting it onto the comics pages. I’m stubborn.

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Next:

7. What’s the future of comics? The Internet? iTunes? The Kindle?

8. Tell us about your graphic novel, “As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial.”

My Twitter account has finally been unsuspended: http://twitter.com/steph_mcmillan. Yay!

I now return to the interview questions for Scott Nickel.

3. Describe the process you went through when you created your comic strip, MINIMUM SECURITY.

When I started the strip in 1999, I didn’t want to just to “be a cartoonist” in the abstract. I’d been an activist/organizer since high school (and the system didn’t crumble, damn it!) After 15 years or so, I finally got tired of handing out leaflets on street corners — I wanted to encourage resistance in a more efficient manner, and one more suited to my personality.

“Minimum Security” started as a political/editorial comic, formatted in the style of my favorite alt-weekly comics: a multi-frame slightly vertical rectangle, once a week, no recurring characters, very wordy.

When the U.S. started the war against Iraq (despite the largest global protests in history), I fell into a period of despair. It seemed that nothing I or anyone could do would make any difference. I started stopped drawing and started gardening. After nine months I got over it, and started again with a single-panel editorial cartoon.

Soon I started toying with the idea of having regular characters and continuous story lines. I figured that they might make the comic more appealing, bring readers back to find out what happened to characters they might grow to care about. I switched to a strip format, and Kranti first appeared in 2004, saying something sarcastic to Uncle Sam about using napalm. She looks a lot different now than she did then!

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Coming next:

4. MINIMUM SECURITY is syndicated on United Media’s website. How did you hook up with them?

5. Where do you stand in the print comics vs. web comics debate?

Current count:
“As the World Burns” pages colored: 112 (The half-way point is passed! It’s a slog.)
Screenplay pages done: 91

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Here’s part of a scene. Sandy’s a police officer who’s secretly on the side of the group of women who kill rapists with kitting needles. Clint is a fellow-officer who’s an asshole. They’re driving in separate police cars trying to apprehend Rob, who tried to buy an illegal quantity of knitting needles at a craft store to help the group, and is now on the run.

SANDY
I’m still half a mile from the scene, Chief.

CLINT
I said I’m on it. Go write some parking tickets, Dougher.

Sandy spots Rob, who is walking extreeeeeemly casually down the street, whistling, hiding his hand (with knitting needles) inside his trench coat.

SANDY
Go for it, Officer. You’re obviously handling it better than I could.

CLINT
Damn right.

Clint races his car into the parking lot and screeches to a stop. He pulls his gun and waves it around, causing various customers in the lot to scream and fall on the ground. He runs toward the store’s door.

Sandy drives very slowly next to Rob. Rob pretends not to notice her. He continues to whistle and saunter casually, but looks nervous. As he wipes sweat from his brow, he drops a needle. He looks horrified. Then the rest of them fall onto the sidewalk with a clatter. He looks at Sandy. She looks at him.

SANDY
Better get in the back.

Rob picks up his needles, ineptly, and gets into the back of the squad car. He looks despondent.
Sandy drives. She doesn’t put cuffs on Rob, or lock the door.

SANDY (CONT’D)
I’m going to remove you from the area. It’s pretty hot around here.

ROB
Whew, it sure is. Would you mind turning on the AC?

SANDY
That’s not what I meant, Rob.

ROB
You know who I am?!?

SANDY
I’ve heard about you.

ROB (PLEASED)
You probably heard about my exploits as a Lone Wolf Secret Undercover Agent.

Sandy drives a while, then stops the car in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant and gets out. She leans back inside to talk to Rob.

SANDY
I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be gone for three minutes. Wait right here. Don’t open this unlocked door and run away to avoid arrest during the three minutes that I’m leaving you here unobserved.

Sandy goes into the restaurant. Rob waits patiently. She returns, and looks disgusted to see him still there.

ROB
That was way longer than three minutes.

Sandy gets into the front seat and starts flipping through paperwork.

SANDY
Oops, I left your door unlocked and I forgot to put cuffs on you! You could probably escape if you run fast. Or even if you jogged at a moderate pace.

Rob holds out his hands for cuffs.
Sandy sighs.

SANDY (CONT’D)
We’ll try this one more time. Hit me. Make it look good. I mean bad.

ROB
Are you crazy? I can’t hit you!

Sandy, frustrated, rests her head on the steering wheel.

DISPATCHER
Unit One, have you spotted the suspect yet? We have confirmed his identity as Rob Newman. He is armed with five knitting needles, and therefore extremely dangerous. He is believed to be the terrorist mastermind behind the Ice Queen Murders. Deadly force is in order. Don’t even pause to beat him up — just shoot him on sight.

Rob looks terrified, makes a little whimpering noise, and meets Sandy’s eyes in the rear view mirror.

SANDY
What the hell do I have to do to help you escape? Run, you idiot!

SCENE BREAK.

It sometimes feels ridiculous to keep drawing comics with so much that’s going on in the world.

The murder of Dr. Tiller, the fact that zooplankton are down 70% in the last 4 decades, mass starvation on the horizon as the economy collapses, torture and repression… and I sit here drawing comics. The least I could do is add more politics back into “Minimum Security” (which I will do, starting with the ones for the last week of June). I’m also glad I’m coloring “As the World Burns” — it has a message that I will be glad to help bring to a wider audience.

Pages colored so far: 94.
Pages left: 124.
I’ll be halfway done on Thursday.

Pages done in the screenplay: 83.

Current page counts:
Screenplay: 82
Coloring “As the World Burns”: 93

Today I’m going to the Keys with friends, to lie around on the beach and do nothing. I’m looking forward to it! I’ll come back Saturday.

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The current issue of Orion magazine has the first of a series of columns by Derrick Jensen, here: http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4697/.

Excerpt:

“Think about global warming and attempts to ‘solve’ or ‘stop’ or ‘mitigate’ it. Global warming (or global climate catastrophe, as some rightly call it), as terrifying as it is, isn’t first and foremost a threat. It’s a consequence. I’m not saying pikas aren’t going extinct, or the ice caps aren’t melting, or weather patterns aren’t changing, but to blame global warming for those disasters is like blaming the lead projectile for the death of someone who got shot. I’m also not saying we shouldn’t work to solve, stop, or mitigate global climate catastrophe; I’m merely saying we’ll have a better chance of succeeding if we recognize it as a predictable (at this point) result of burning oil and gas, of deforestation, of dam construction, of industrial agriculture, and so on. The real threat is all of these.”

Yesterday I colored 8 pages of “As the World Burns,” got my cellphone thing, and wrote more on the screenplay. The attempted rape scene is scary and terrible, as it should be. The scene after, when Marilyn tells her mom, turned out good, I think. It seems okay to have serious scenes in a comedy. Some scenes just can’t be funny at all.

Here’s a different, lighter scene: http://mcmillan.livejournal.com/333897.html. Marilyn (15 years old) is talking with her mom’s best friend Brigitte. Derrick’s voice is very clear in this one, I think!

Brief excerpt:

MARILYN (CONT’D)
Yes, the police. I’m not ashamed to suggest that. Why can’t you let them do their jobs, instead of taking it upon yourselves to commit horrible violence?

BRIGITTE
Marilyn. Do not insult our violence. It is not horrible. It’s very artistic, innovative and skilled. You think it’s easy to create such masterful and righteous violence? You think the police could do that?

Today’s to-do list:

– Write 2 scenes for the screenplay (A: Marilyn kills a would-be rapist; B: Marilyn tells her mom she was right after all).
– Write five new scripts for Minimum Security strips.
– Draw a birthday card for my aunt.
– Call my brother.
– Order or buy a backup harddrive thing.
– Buy a headset for my phone.
– Exercise (one hour of dancing).
[EDITED TO ADD: -- Draw one or preferably two editorial cartoons.
-- Order a book for my mom on Amazon].
– If time tonight: color 6 pages of “As the World Burns.”

That should take me right to 2 a.m., depending on how generous the muse is today. Sometimes words come easy. Sometimes I sit in front of the blank screen in agony for a looooooong time.

Speaking of headsets for phones… these always seem to stop working after too short a time. It’s so annoying. They’re $15 to replace every time. I’m talking about the plug-in earbud things. I need one because I’m worried about brain tumors. I talk on the phone quite a bit — lately without a headset. I think the warmth of the phone is making gunk grow inside my ear. I can’t hear very well because of it, and it bothers me (oh yeah, add to my list: eat raw garlic. Maybe that’ll kill it). Also, I have a mysterious bump right behind my ear, which I first noticed six weeks ago. It’s not getting any bigger so I’m not going to the doctor yet. Back when I had health insurance, I wouldn’t have hesitated to get it checked out.

– I’ve been working on a screenplay with the fabulous writer Derrick Jensen. It’s a comedy about a knitting circle that turns into a vigilante group to kill rapists. It should be done in a few weeks.

– I’m now on page 51 of coloring “As the World Burns” for the French edition. After today, I’ll be 1/4 done, right on schedule.

– Google links to my website again — yay! It de-listed it as a “site that spreads malware” (ugh!) while it was infected.

– My twitter account is still suspended, for some unknown reason. I sent in two inquiries about that, with no reply.

– My desktop pc died while I was away, so last week I bought a netbook, an eee pc. It’s tiny but as soon as I get up my courage (too many mechanical things going wrong lately!), I’m going to try connecting it to a bigger monitor. So far I haven’t used photoshop much on the netbook — for that I’m using an ancient macbook that I don’t have the admin password for (so it can only do very limited things, which includes photoshop thankfully).

My process:
1) scan cartoons onto the netbook,
2) transfer them to the mac with a jump drive for photoshopping,
3) transfer them back to the netbook for emailing and posting.

It feels ridiculously haphazard, but it works for now.

I’m working on writing comics for about 4 weeks from now. Three weeks from now, Kranti goes to a neo-Luddite primitivist meeting and then gets kicked out, along with another person who’s not pure enough for this lifestyle group.

I’m torn about what happens next. Should the story go back to more unrequited love of Bananabelle for Chip, and Chip for Kranti? Should Kranti become friends with this character shown below? Should I name this character and decide on a gender, and make him or her a regular? Perhaps the two of them could walk back to Kranti’s home (12 miles away) and have adventures on the way. Perhaps s/he could take Kranti to wherever s/he lives. Perhaps they could meet up with Bunnista and blow up something.

I welcome your opinions! (Don’t comment here though because I have trouble with comments… I’ve posted this in my LiveJournal as well, here, or you can email me: steph at minimumsecurity dot net). But only if you won’t get mad if I don’t respond to all of them directly or follow your advice. Ultimately, it’s up to the muse.

I still have a few “Viva Bunnista” shirts left, which I offered for sale at the end of November. The sale ends this Sunday. After this, they will no longer be available online (I might bring them to comics events).

“Viva Bunnista” T-shirts:
Final SALE – $12 includes shipping within U.S.

(Paypal button removed).

I designed two new t-shirts that are carried at the ComicSpace Store. It’s a limited run, so buy ‘em while you can. There are also great t-shirts by James Kochalka (American Elf), Box Brown (Bellen!) and others.

Mine are these two:

(In case you can’t read it: “Television. Sex. Desperately trying to ignore the collapse of civilization so I can focus on TV and sex.”

(“The U.S. Economy: Drugs. Porn. Fast food. Nail salons. Video games. Flights of Fancy. Illusions. Will ‘o the wisps. Subprime mortgage-backed securities. Denial.”)

If anyone has emailed me and I haven’t answered, my apologies! I’ve been traveling and will continue to have only occasional email access through 2/20 or so. I’ll catch up then. Meanwhile, if you’re in NYC, please come to the following events at which I will show new work:

Book signing and talk with Ted Rall (www.rall.com )
7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009
Revolution Books
126 W. 26th St. (between 6th and 7th Aves)
New York, NY
212-691-3345; www.revolutionbooksnyc.org
Free

Book signing and talk with Ted Rall (www.rall.com ) and Steven Cloud (boasas.com)
7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, 2009
Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen St., New York, NY (between Stanton and Rivington, near the Second Ave. F train stop)
212-777-6028; www.bluestockings.com
$3-$5 suggested donation

Just out: a new comic book featuring America’s cutest and most explosive bunny! This story begins when Bunnista decides that paying bills is for suckers, and he’s subsequently served with an eviction notice. With the charming Fluffy and her stinky dog bones in tow, he moves in with his mom, goes to court against Omnicorp, and finds closure in his usual mavericky fashion.

32 pages, 94 comic strips, full color!

$6 plus $2 shipping and handling (US and Canada).

Please note: All books ordered through Monday (1/26) noon I will ship on Monday afternoon, but after that the next shipping date will be Feb. 23.

Raves:

“Her (that’s me) politics are perfect, her drawings sly and subtle, and her dialog funny as hell.” — Derrick Jensen

“There are only a few comic strips I really look forward to each day, and Minimum Security is at the top of that short list.” — Ted Rall

Here’s the cover:

Added to my drawing blog:
- a boat
- riot cops
- a horsie
- a handgun

A few days ago, Charles Brubaker kindly sent me a link to Cartoon Brew, which featured an animated cartoon from 1943 called “Der Schneemann” (“The Snowman”) by my grandfather, Hans Fischerkoesen.

The very end is missing from this version of the film… at the end of the original, the bunny gazes sadly at the melted snowman, then tenderly picks up the carrot that had been his nose, and starts nibbling on it.

Coincidentally, my winter holiday cards this year are partly inspired by that moment:

Happy holidays!

Hi! I’ve disabled comments here. I’m sorry if I missed yours — I think I accidentally deleted some that were buried in spam. Feel free to comment on my LiveJournal instead.

I liked the work of the other cartoonists in the panel. The audience was great, and I was happy to hear some loud laughter at my jokes. Plus I sold a good number of books.

There was a lounge for presenters where they fed us and we could wait to be escorted to our venues. I saw Salman Rushdie in there! He was trailed by a cloud of people wanting to talk to him or have their picture taken with him.

The Miami Herald had additional coverage of the graphic novel section of the book fair, and included some quotes by artists (including me) here. Mine says, “To me, at the time we’re living in, when the world is being destroyed and the fate of the future of life on Earth is in question, anything that doesn’t have an agenda to save that is of no interest to me. It’s almost unforgivable to do work that’s not in some way trying to make the world better.”

Thanks to reporter Connie Ogle!

While Bunnista has been busy ignoring the election, the brilliant cartoonist/columnist Ted Rall has not! See his hilarious new animated cartoon, “Death Cab for Sarah”:

I have a very few of these t-shirts left from a while ago… this is the last time I’ll offer them for sale, for ten days only. It’s the last chance to get the classic Kranti pre-leaves/pigtails look, and Zen Pug (a character who hasn’t appeared in a long while because he’s been on retreat).

Available through Oct. 31st! Each shirt is at a low price of $8, with FREE shipping! While supplies last.

Available colors: olive green, black and plum purple (limited).

Please note: the women’s fitted shirts run small (chest circumference for medium is 33", and 35" for large); and standard crew (unisex) shirts run large (chest circumference for medium is 40", and 44" for large).
_______________________________________________________________________

Tree Hugger:

(Paypal button removed — sale is over)

Here’s what the standard crew (unisex) shirts look like:

Come and see me at the following events:

Books and Books
I will present a slide show and talk about my comics and graphic novel
8 p.m. Wednesday, September 17
265 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33134
305-442-4408
Free

Small Press Expo
Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 4-5
Marriott Hotel and Conference Center
Bethesda, Maryland
$8-$15

Viva La Propaganda: Political Art — a group show
Bear and Bird Gallery at Tate’s Comics
Opening party 7-10 p.m. Oct. 18; on exhibit through Nov. 22
4566 N. University Drive (between Oakland Park Blvd. and Commercial Blvd.) Sunrise
954-748-0181; www.bearandbird.com
Free

Miami Book Fair — Comics Galaxy
Downtown Miami
I’ll be participating in a panel, discussion, or make a presentation sometime during the week of Nov. 9-16, TBA

Here’s a notice for a Multimedia Extravaganza (Powerpoint slideshow) I’ll be presenting in September:

Time: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 8:00 p.m.
Location: Books & Books
265 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables
305.442.4408

Artist and activist Stephanie McMillan delivers a bold and hilarious satire of modern environmental policy in As the World Burns (Seven Stories Press, $14.95), a fully illustrated graphic novel. The U.S. government gives robot machines from space permission to eat the earth in exchange for bricks of gold. A one-eyed bunny rescues his friends from a corporate animal testing laboratory. And two little girls figure out the secret to saving the world from both of its enemies (and it isn’t by using energy-efficient light bulbs or biodiesel fuel). As the World Burns will inspire you to do whatever it takes to stop ecocide before it’s too late.

Here’s yet another version of the graphic novel panel I’m working on … I think I’ve finally settled on a style, line and process. I prefer these more muted colors. I still haven’t put the shadows in — this is just an experiment. I did include noses on all of them this time.