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BUG SLAYER COMICS
INTERVIEW WITH MICKMO
Bug Slayer is a three-part series about a sort of post-apocalyptic future where the last surviving human beings fight for their survival in a society of intelligent, mutated insects. The series was created by Mick "Mickmo" Morris, author of Tales of Retribution, webmaster of Ambiance, Continuum & Sominuus and contributor & cover artist for AEA. Mickmo has likewise contributed to the comic book adaptation of The Maxx (MTV), an indie comic mag based in Iceland known as Blek and P.J. Scoggins' Gore Worm Comics, besides having done artwork for such bands as Punished Earth (Belgium) and Grnouer (Russia). Other places where his work has appeared includes Void Pulp Comics' comic anthology Show and Tell. In the past year Mickmo's made many convention appearances like Planet Comicon 2004 and Sequence 2004. I once talked to him about making a film series based on Bug Slayer, which I think would be pretty cool.
Describe the storyline of the Bug Slayer. How did it gestate? Had you had it planned out from the start or did you find it was developing by itself, taking on a life of its own?
Bug-Slayer was a concept I had for a comic book roughly 11 years ago. I awoke from a long and intensely valid dream in the fall of 2001 encrypting the details of Bug-Slayer. I did not start work on it until I moved out to South Kansas City in 2002. from there, It just poured out of me to do this story about raw survival.
Describe how the Bug Plagues came to be in the first place. Do they represent a post-apocalyptic story in the traditional sense or did you draw on other influences while writing about this?
One of the big influences was “The Stand” which is a Stephen King novel. But instead of disease, the sense of impending dread comes from evolved insects. In the end times of a post-apocalyptic world, there are very few survivors. From this, I get the arc of the story.
Is there a hierarchy in the insect society? Describe it and how each species of insect functions in it.
It is a complex set of division based upon size and weight of the bugs. The bigger the bug based on foot size, then the bigger class size they are. There are good and bad bugs, most of which, in the bug-cataclysm of the latter half of the century have been overrun. Government flaws and cover-ups in the system led the bugs to evolve over time. Henceforth, society had been cannibalized by an interplanetary species.
Describe the main characters and their involvement in the story. How does their daily resistance against the Bug Plagues affect them physically and psychologically?
The 2 characters (Bubba and Trish) are central in this story. They are the 2 existing survivors in an extreme nightmare world of dead bodies and enemy bugs. For them, every day is long and extremely suffering. But they are all of what is left of humanity struggling every day to survive and exist.
There are three issues of Bug Slayer in all. When did each part of the story come out? Will you continue it from the end of part three at some point?
I already completed and printed Bug-Slayer half, which is 8 pages long and deals around Snickerdoodle. He is a kid who evolves into a 4 or 5 cicadae class insect.
Prior to doing Bug Slayer, you were also involved in the comic known as The Maxx. How did this come about? Were you there when MTV got involved in showing The Maxx as a cartoon on Liquid Television?
It was actually the first comic I got published in which lead to other things relating to comic art and album covers. But, in case you want to know the first issue I was ever published in, it was Maxx number 18.
What sort of storylines did you contribute to The Maxx? How much space did you have to contribute your own ideas?
It was basically Sam Keith’s brainchild, I was just a contributor for some of his back issues. He was really sort of the first to discover my art and publish me way back in the day.
Talk about your relationship with the people who own Blek and how you got one of your stories run in that comic. Where is Blek based and how big is it there? Will you be giving them more stories in the future?
Blek was an Icelandic anthology I was with before there was anything here in Kansas City. I had been in a few issues of that overseas. I am slated to have another one-page horror story with them that may have already been released called “Lunchbox.” Now I am with the CCN in Kansas City (Comics Creators Network), The release of Show and Tell 2 with a few of my stories is out and about. I had 2 stories in there: Sirens of Eternity and Nomadique. I also have some stories on www.voidpulp.com for those who want a taste of blood!
How did Ambiance Press come about? How successful has it been in promoting Bug Slayer so far? Have you corresponded with other companies through this one?
Ambiance has been alright with my art, you know. It is essentially my thing that I was running an issue every six months during the duration of a 3 issue series. All in all, I have run the three issue trilogy with the Bug-Slayer 1/2. So four issues so far....
Describe some of your other work, starting with Tales of Retribution.
Tales of Retribution was my first work outside of being ousted as an editor and creator for the long-deceased Passline Comics. back then, I was going to do Bug-Slayer, but it was not near as finely tuned as it was now. It was an angry and disturbing time in my life back then, so I did these controversial stories of suicide and murderous abortion with Tales of Retribution. That was released from Lybra Comics which is also not around anymore. Back then, I took stories to the darkest chasm of my psyche probably because it was so embedded in my life anyway. Then some kid killed himself and left a letter about how he was influenced by my “Tales of Retribution”. I had to confront the police state about it and some angry parents back then, something to which never completely left me. I did not draw anything for like, 2 year after that and the booting out of Planet Comicon 3. I found work with some metal bands who loved what I did with this graphic depiction of art that I do. It helped me reinvent myself and grow further with what art could be. I remember being banned back then, even in Planet Comicon 3. But I did make a triumphant return to it in Planet Comicon 7. That event helped lift a great veil over my life as far as being accepted by the public and my art community of the CCN. I see how much more of an underground has spread to art as it has with metal.
Where did you study to be an artist? Is this more accountable for your published work or are you more self-taught?
I studied in 3 places. Longview College, Penn Valley College and The Kansas City Art Institute. Ultimately I had received an Associates in Commercial Art from Longview. School was a weird and painful process for me. So I found myself teaching a lot of what I know to myself, even when I was going to school.
What bands in the metal underground do you listen to? Are they in any way instrumental in influencing your style? Please explain how.
I just think that metal music is the greatest style of music to draw to, as far as that goes. I listen to stuff like Immolation, Cannibal Corpse, Hypocrisy, Immortal, Incantation, Cephalic Carnage, Mortician and many others. black metal, death metal, grindcore and power metal. It knows no bounds....
Which artists do you admire and how are they instrumental in influencing you?
I like stuff from Mike Bohatch and Derek Riggs, but I also particular into H.R. Giger and Bekinski. There are so many different aspects of art as a whole that there are not too many that I really dislike.
Are there any other projects you are working on? If so, please describe them.
Lets see, I just completed Bug-Slayer half along with the cover for Grenouer for CD Maximum. I got more stuff I have to get done for www.voidpulp.com. I still have some concepts that I still have to grapple in my mind.
How many interviews have you done and how much publicity have they gotten you?
All and all, about twenty strong and going.
Do you regularly attend conventions to advertise your work? Talk about the last one you went to and how big the turnout was. Would you ever consider attending conventions outside of Kansas City?
At the Planet Comicon 2004, it went pretty good cause there was no politics. I am not too frequent to shows because they have so few and they are hard to get into in Kansas City. But it would be cool to venture out of state further to do some more comic and art shows. The furthest out I have went to do a show is Wichita, Kansas to do a four-man show.
Would you like to see Bug Slayer turned into an action film or a series for the Sci Fi Channel? Do you think something like that is possible at this point?
You know, it is funny that you ask that. I would like to see it animated one of these days.
Which recent movies do you deem worthy?
Last movie I saw in the theatre was Return of the King, The 3rd Lord of the Rings movie which just blew me away. I just do not get out to watching as much as I used to. I either rent movies or just get 50 cent or dollar movies that were based in the time era of the 80s. I am not a man to rule out the mighty VHS!
Describe the recent problems you had involving censorship. In what way do you think it reflects the climate of censorship as a whole these days?
In the beginning, I remember having so much trouble getting my art out there to people because so many people back then had this preconceived notion about it. But nowadays, The censorship thing for me anyway, is not as much as a problem as it used to be. I had gotten interrogated by cops back in the late 90s because they thought my art and stories were the influence of some teenager killing himself due to a comic I did called "Tales of Retribution". I remember getting strip searched fo no apparent reason by the wretched police state because of it. The Kansas City Metro has 33 separate jurisdictions, none of which really know what the hell they are doing! They found out that there was no concrete evidence supporting the claims of these obsessive-compulsive parents. So I ended up rediscovering myself in album art and didn’t draw anything for 2 years out of a lingering depression. I also had a court order to go see a psychiatrist to see if i was crazy. All they found out that I had an overactive imagination that stemmed from dark things in the course of my life. Back to the cop thing. Here it is a revolving door policy of an apparent money trap. I have seen these piggy jerkheads launder money from their own taxpayers, send them to court in a “guilty til proven innocent” courtroom setting. Then they go home with this “We don’t care about our citizens” attitude at the end of the day. It is all about extortion, stuff the regular people get in trouble for but the freaking police get away with worse crimes every day behind a turtle-waxed badge! I see cops running red lights every damn week! They break the public trust every day somehow and in some way even if they think about it. There is no true justice here in where I live. This is why I would rather support firefighters! At least they go out to save lives instead of tormenting them.... The art scene here in Kansas City has changed so much 'cause there is WAY more artists then when I first started out in the mid 90s. It tends to be more supportive with the CCN and the community being more closer knit to what we are doing artistically. I guess you could say I was considered an outsider back then, cause people were not used to the sort of art that I did. Nowadays, being different and dark visually is what it is all about! To be considered as an underground influence here in Kansas City and abroad just sort of blows my mind sometimes.
Any final remarks?
Definitely check out my websites sometime and keep it in the middle of the road you metalheads of visual artistry!
Mickmo
11411 Palmer
Kansas City, MO 64134
Ambiance: www.go.to/mickmo2001
Bug-Slayer: www.bugslayer.homepagehere.com
Continuum: www.continuum.pagehere.com
- Dave Wolff |
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