Alex Robinson
Interviewed by Gavin J. Grant
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Alex Robinson's graphic novel, Box Office Poison (BOP), is one great way to spend an evening. Set in New York City in the early-to-mid-1990s, BOP tells the story of Sherman (who works at a large pseudonymous bookshop) and his circle of friends.
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BookSense.com: Where did the title of your graphic novel, Box Office Poison, come from?
Alex Robinson: I think I first heard the phrase in the classic film "Mommie Dearest," where Louis Mayer tells Joan Crawford that theater owners "voted her box office poison" because her movies bombed. The idea that theater owners would get together and actually vote on who is box office poison just struck me as a funny idea. When I started doing comics after college I remembered that phrase and used it as the title. I thought it would pretty much sum up my expectations of how the comics would do.
I did the Box Office Poison (BOP) comics for about six years. When Top Shelf did the book reprinting the entire story, they wanted to keep the title because it had established some kind of "brand" recognition and because it's an interesting title -- even though it has nothing to do with the content of the book.
You were working at a bookshop while writing BOP; how much of it is autobiographical?
I put Sherman to work in the bookstore because I (obviously) hated my job and it was nice to have a place to vent that frustration. Of course that became a double edged sword once I quit the store because it was harder to capture that rage. I could imitate it but that anger and desperation was no longer there. "What was I so pissed off about again?" Aside from the bookstore, there are other autobiographical elements, but it's not my life. Obviously Ed being an aspiring cartoonist also has parallels in my own life. The landlady is based on a landlady I had for about a year. Some of the details are based on friends of mine to some degree or another (for example, when Ed talks about the worst thing he's ever done, his story really happened to a friend of mine) but my girlfriend is nothing like Dorothy, my mother didn't die when I was young, etc. To paraphrase Leonard Nimoy, I am not Sherman.
It's been nine years since you began BOP...are you fed up with talking about it?
Not really. Most of the time I was doing it no one cared. It's only been in the last year, since the book came out, that most people noticed it, so it hasn't been too bad. I do get a little embarrassed that I don't have anything new out yet. I am looking forward to the new book finally coming out.
Do any of the characters stand out as more fun to write about than the others?
Definitely. The characters that were the most fun to write were the ones whose personalities are really different from mine. Dorothy was a lot of fun, and so was James. I like all the characters to one degree or another, but they were interesting because I could explore the less noble side of my personality.
Sherman's girlfriend, Dorothy, is my idea of a nightmare roommate. Did you actually live with someone like that? (And for how long??)
When I was in college I spent one year living with a girl who inspired a lot of Dorothy's housekeeping habits. She was a nice person, but a terrible roommate. She had three cats and she would never clean the litterbox so they would just go to the bathroom on the floor. We had spores growing in our sink and she would use coffee filters for toilet paper. It was incredible. I pretty much just holed myself up in my bedroom. It was definitely what they call life experience.
The book is an amazing piece of work. [It's 600+ pages long!] Over the years you were writing Box Office Poison as a comic, did you ever expect it to be published as one big book?
Actually, I always envisioned it being read as one big volume, but I am surprised it happened as quickly as it did. I figured it would probably come out as a series of three or four trade paperbacks. Eventually I wanted to see it collected in one handy volume, but I always thought I would have to publish that myself.
Top Shelf took a chance, because it's pretty pricey for a comic book...but I guess it paid off.
How did you hook up with your publisher, Top Shelf?
Chris Staros, one of the two people who run Top Shelf, approached me a few years back and said he was a fan of the series. He said that if, for whatever reason, Antarctic Press [who published the comic] wasn't going to publish the Box Office Poison collection, Top Shelf might be interested. When the series ended and I wanted to see it collected, I immediately thought of Top Shelf. They take a lot of care with their books and really make them look classy. They had never published anything that big before and were curious to give it a try. My next book will also be coming out from Top Shelf later next year.
What is it about comics that attracts you, rather than say writing by itself, or film?
The thing I think I love the most about doing comics is that one person can really do it all, with no outside interference. A person can write, draw, and publish their own comic for only a few thousand dollars -- or cheaper, if they want to go the mini-comics route (printed up at a local copy shop, fold and staple yourself). It can be an ideal way to get your ideas across without having to compromise or capitulate to marketing pressures. Of course, this can -- and does -- result in a lot of awful comics by people who could really use an editor, but most of those people give up soon anyway.
Did you go to art school with the intention of producing comics?
Yes. I started creating my own comics (for other people to read) in eighth grade. Since then I've pretty much had producing my own comics as my goal, and I was lucky enough to have that work out.
I liked going to art school but I think it was a waste of money. It was like summer camp. I did more work the first year after college than I did the previous four years combined, because it was so easy to just slack off. As long as you kept paying they didn't care what you did.
Did you receive much support as a comics artist while in college? Were there courses that were useful in learning about materials, skills, marketing, production, etc.?
They mostly focussed on the technical side of things -- how to ink, perspective, anatomy, all the artistic side. They didn't teach us a thing about the business end, or if they did I must've missed class that day. I'm lucky that I lucked into some commercial art jobs -- I played volleyball with an art director -- because I have no idea how to properly put a portfolio together.
It's possible they taught classes like that -- especially to people majoring in illustration instead of cartooning like I did -- but I don't remember anything. Like I said, it was like summer camp.
In comics and music, artists who form a company and publish their own work are perceived as motivated self-starters, whereas the same is not usually thought of writers who do the same. Why do you think the writers are treated differently from the comics creators?
That's a good question. It probably mostly has to do with snobbish conservatism on the part of the book industry. By attaching the stigma to self-publishing, the big companies keep the authors dependent on them. It's interesting, in a way, that the comics industry, as small and backwaterish as it is, has actually been revolutionary in this regard (maybe it's because it's so small). A self-published title can look just as professional as one put out by Marvel Comics. The music business is terrified because a lot of their recording artists are learning that they don't necessarily need the corporate machine behind them. The book publishing industry has been around for a lot longer than the record industry so I would imagine they're even stodgier and more resistant to change. It be interesting to see if that attitude persists once they come out with these e-books they've been talking about for so long. Once an author can set up a website where readers can download books, why would you need the middleman?
What would you say to someone who wants to start their own comic?
Do it, but only if you have to. Most people doing independent comics make zero money and have day jobs to support themselves. It's a very time-consuming, heart-breaking hobby. Unless you feel an incredible urge to do it, I would suggest something else. Stamp collecting, maybe.
But if do really want to do it...what are you waiting for?
Is your new comic going to come out as a comic or a graphic novel?
Right now the plan is for it to come out when the whole thing is finished as one big trade paperback. I'm aiming for about 200-300 pages, but I'm not sure. It's hard getting used to not having a bimonthly deadline. First of all, it makes it easier to goof off -- but I also miss having an issue come out and getting feedback.
Do you think that the present surge in comics popularity will push them further into the mainstream?
I can only hope that comics -- at least alternative comics -- get more mainstream recognition. It's odd that in the comics industry the book I did is labeled "alternative" while superheroes are called "mainstream," when the subject of my book is much closer to the "mainstream" in the real world. I hope and I pray that the comics industry survives long enough for people to discover us. A friend of mine who's just a little younger than I am said he was proud to be a part of the last generation of comic-book creators. I can only hope that isn't true.
What are you reading?
The book I'm reading right now is The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. I've read a bunch of Roosevelt biographies, and sometimes it's nice to read new versions of stories you're familiar with.
If you worked in a bookshop (a nice one, not like the one Sherman of BOP works in!), what would be on your staff picks shelf?
Hmmm. Well, I'd be tempted to put a lot of comics titles like Dylan Horrocks' Hicksville, Moore and Campbell's From Hell, Jeff Smith's Bone series and books by guys like Dan Clowes, Chester Brown and Seth up there, just because, as I mentioned before, they could all appeal to people who don't normally read comics. I'd like to give the industry any boost I can.
If you just mean some of my current favorites, I liked The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, Them by Jon Ronson, and my girlfriend and I are working our way through the Harry Potter books. We're trying to pace it so that we'll have the fourth book done just in time for the fifth one, but J.K. Rowling's throwing our schedule off.
On that point, are there any bookshops you like?
Probably my favorite independent bookstore is The Strand[1] (12th & Broadway) here in New York City. It has to be one of the biggest used bookstores on Earth, I imagine. They certainly don't need my plug, though, so I'll mention The Bruised Apple[2] in Peekskill, NY. They're a small used bookstore, but they have a good variety and it's a charming place.
[1] The Strand, 828 Broadway (at 12th street) NY, NY 10003 (212) 473-1452 http://www.strandbooks.com
[2] Bruised Apple Books, 923 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY (914) 734-7000
Author photo by Garner Glen.