Cartoonist Jim Rugg has had a busy couple of
years. In between running a successful Kickstarter campaign for the world’s
first black light comic (Octobriana 1976)
and producing the definitive history of Marvel’s Incredible Hulk (Hulk: Grand Design), Rugg also hosts the
popular YouTube comics channel Cartoonist
Kayfabe, where he and fellow cartoonist Ed Piskor have taken the comics
world by storm.
Known for his innovative approach to comics
formalism, Rugg has become an expert in various mixed media techniques, making
his work stand out immediately on the racks. Projects such as Afrodisiac and Street Angel showed off Rugg’s chameleonic ability to work in
different styles, capturing different eras in comics history to fine-tuned
perfection. Now, Rugg has taken those skills and applied them to his most recent
project, True Crime Funnies, an
anthology of stories ripped from real-life history. Whether it’s the tale of a
hard-nosed G-man lost in a sea of sex and drugs, the origins of professional
wrestling in the turn-of-the-century Klondike or the time Andy Warhol spent an
evening with the American Dream himself, Dusty Rhodes, Rugg captures each in a
mix of varying styles and techniques.
Jim Rugg speaks with us today about True Crime Funnies, the Cartoonist
Kayfabe phenomenon and the comics industry in general…
How did True Crime Funnies come about? What
inspired you to put out an anthology of crime stories?
JIM RUGG: I made the stories based on ideas I
wanted to see as comics. Then when the stories were done, I realized that they
would fit in a comic book so I put together a comic book. The stories are all
non-fiction. And I was looking at a lot of old crime comics from the Golden
Age. A lot of those stories are based on or inspired by true events. So that
was an influence on True Crime Funnies’
title.
What was
it about the three stories in True Crime Funnies that made you want to embark on the journey of adapting
them into comics?
JIM RUGG: I think I heard some of George White’s
story on a podcast and it caught my attention. When I began doing research, it
felt like it would make a good comic or graphic novel. I plan to do more comics
about White’s life and career. He’s quite a character. Some of what I like
about his story is that it’s true crime. I mentioned the Golden Age crime
comics. I like those old crime comics, and some new crime comics too…so I
thought I would make short comic and see how it went.
The other two stories in True Crime Funnies are based on professional wrestling. I’m a fan
of professional wrestling. I read a lot of wrestling biographies and listen to
podcasts about wrestling. When I learned about these stories, I thought that
both would work well as comics.
I’m also
curious about your choice of color vs. black and white… What was the thought process
behind going full color with “A Diet of DANGER,” and black and white for “Gold”
and “Andy Warhol and Dusty Rhodes: The Dream Team”?
JIM RUGG: There are a couple of reasons for
coloring “A Diet of DANGER”. One is that it is an homage to old crime comics
and most of those were classic comic book color on newsprint, which is a
palette I love. There are narrative reasons for color as well, although those
aren’t obvious in this first story. If I continue White’s story, the color will
become more important in some of the future events.
For “Andy Warhol and Dusty Rhodes: The Dream
Team”, I pictured the Apter mags. I have a bunch of wrestling magazines from
the 70s and 80s. This story is set in late 70s so I tried to channel the
black-and-white style of those old magazines.
“Gold” is set in 1901. It just seemed right to
make it black-and-white. The references I found for that story were all black
and white, like old newspapers and photos from the Klondike gold rush.
Do you
have any plans to continue with comics in this vein? Any more anthologies like
this to come, true crime or otherwise?
JIM RUGG: Yes. I plan to make more comic books.
As an independent creator, that’s a format I like for many reasons. Comic books
are what made me want to be a cartoonist. It’s also a format that is relatively
inexpensive to self-publish and I like self-publishing. So hopefully there will
be more comic books in my future.
Having
worked with publishers big and small, what’s the benefit of self-publishing as
opposed to working with a publisher?
JIM RUGG: The benefit to self-publishing is that
I control everything from creative to capital.
Cartoonist Kayfabe has been such a sensation, to the point where books that you and
co-host Ed Piskor highlight usually sell out instantly… What’s it been like to
see the channel grow into what it’s become? Did you have any idea it would be
so popular?
JIM RUGG: It’s been awesome to see the channel
grow. We just returned from HeroesCon in Charlotte and we heard from so many
people about new artists and new books they’ve found from Cartoonist Kayfabe. We also heard from a lot of people who started
making comics or started drawing again because of Cartoonist Kayfabe. There are several groups of people who have
gotten together through Cartoonist Kayfabe
and share their comics making with each other – which is something Ed, Tom
(Scioli) and I used to do when we first met. So a lot of great things have come
out of Cartoonist Kayfabe. I didn’t
anticipate those kinds of things, but it feels so good to think that we’ve
turned people onto some good comics that they didn’t know about or that people
have found a supportive creative community. It also makes me happy that we’ve
become popular by promoting stuff we like rather than focusing on the negative.
I think that a lot of people respond to that tone.
Having
documented a wide swath of comics history through Cartoonist Kayfabe,
what do you make of the industry now? Where do you see comics headed in the
future?
JIM RUGG: I think comics as an art form is better
than ever. We have access to virtually the entire history of comics from all
over the world. If you’re old enough to remember how hard it was to track down
a specific back issue or an out of print book, you can understand how great our
access is today. That means that a person who wants to make comics can study
the masters of comics. The amount of information available about how to make
comics is huge. So I see more and more exciting comics coming from new
creators. That’s been very exciting as a fan.
The comics business is harder for me to assess.
There is a lot of bad business and players in comics. It is an
entertainment/commercial business; that means fierce competition and
exploitation of talent. That said, we have a wealth of tools to make, sell, distribute,
and promote comics. Where are they headed? Probably more readers, more comics
of all sizes and styles for and by everyone.
What’s
next for you? Any new comics projects you can talk about?
JIM RUGG: True Crime Funnies just debuted. It’s
available from me: https://www.jimrugg.com/shop
People can follow me @jimruggart on IG and
Twitter
I have a Patreon where I post new comics and
other comics-related stuff: https://www.patreon.com/jimrugg
And we post new Cartoonist Kayfabe videos every
day on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/cartoonistkayfabe
Many thanks to Jim Rugg for sitting down for this interview. Rugg will be hosting a sale at jimrugg.com on October 26th.
