"Deady Volume 4: Big In Japan" by Voltaire.
© Sirius Entertainment
Digging Up Deady with Voltaire
By: Kurt AmackerDate: Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Aurelio Voltaire Hernández – known to most by his shortened nom de plume, Voltaire – has established himself as a one-man traveling dark carnival. His résumé includes his own brand of catchy, comedic music – dubbed Goth cabaret, darkwave, or any number of other useless subgenres; he has written two chapbooks, entitled What is Goth? and Paint It Black: A Guide to Gothic Homemaking; he has performed songs for the Adult Swim Cartoon, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy; he has created stop-motion animated shorts for both MTV and the Sci-Fi Channel; he teaches animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York; and, of course, he – get this! – writes and draws comics. Ten years ago, along with Jhonen Vasquez and Roman Dirge, Voltaire helped usher in the tidal wave of small press Goth comics with his miniseries, Chi-Chian, Oh My Goth!, and his evil alien teddy bear, Deady. The fourth Deady graphic novel, Big in Japan finally sprang forth from Hot Topics and comic shops a few months ago. In possibly the worst foreign relations disaster ever, Voltaire sends the alien-disguised-as-a-stuffed-animal to Japan, where he tries to find work in monster movies. Along the way, Deady makes life difficult for all of Japan in a series of incidents best described as “indelicate.” But, he eventually finds love, work, and the true meaning of tolerance – but only after ruining lives and offending everyone.
I managed to catch Voltaire’s performance at the Hi-Ho Lounge in New Orleans a few weeks ago. As he signed copies of Big in Japan and fought off waves of fawning Goth girls, I made him agree to an interview.
Kurt Amacker: You were really drunk in New Orleans the other night, and yet you played the show anyway. Do you remember any of it, or does this interview come as a complete surprise?
Voltaire: I remember butchering the first song. I remember starting the next one and butchering that one too. I remember saying, “I’m way too drunk to play”. And then I blacked out. The next thing I remember is playing an encore! So, I either I played a whole show and don’t remember it, or the audience was glad I finally stopped because they were cheering REALLY loudly when I stopped playing.
KA: Some of my readers only like superhero comics. Tell them a little bit about yourself – the music, the animation, the books, and, of course, your comic books. Make it snappy. The Internet is a fast place. Don’t plagiarize Wikipedia, either.
V: As a musician, I mostly write perverted songs about having sex with characters from Star Trek and Star Wars and turn of the century murder ballads set to violins and cellos. I play a couple of the songs on the Cartoon Network’s Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. As an animator, I mostly create stop-motion pieces of skeletons and gargoyles. I directed some of the early MTV station IDs. And as a comic book creator, I generally make tongue in cheek Gothic comic books about evil teddy bears and such. But EVERYTHING I do is generally a combination of dark and funny – black comedy, yeah, that’s it!
KA: Your first comics were Chi-Chian, Oh My Goth!, and its sequel, Humans Suck! You’ve drawn nothing but Deady comics since then. Why have you dedicated yourself to an evil stuffed bear?
V: Simple: it’s just what I’m doing now. I first made Chi-Chian, then Oh My Goth!, then Humans Suck! and now Deady. But I do feel that these books about an evil teddy bear are my best comic work. Well, at least they don’t look like I drew them with my feet. But yeah, I know – you were wishing for an answer like, “He has possessed my soul and is holding my spleen ransom lest I stop telling his horrid tales of world domination!!!!” Sorry, I’m Goth – but not THAT Goth!
KA: Deady looks really cute at first. There’s even a plush toy. But, if you read the comics, he’s an alien horror disguised as a bear. Were you hoping unsuspecting parents would give this to their children, thus scarring them forever?
V: I was hoping it’d become required reading at the children’s library before they figured out it was NASTY and EVIL!
KA: Given the droves of Deady comics and merchandise, and even a Flash game, do you have any plans to inflict Deady on us in some other media?
V: YES! Play the Deady game! YES! Play it! It lives here: www.evilgames.com. Oh, sorry, what was the question? Ah yes, other media – well, once I get out from under the pile of deadlines I’m under, I’d love to start thinking of putting together a Deady cartoon. I’d think it’d do well on Adult Swim or Comedy Central.
KA: Deady: Big in Japan is the most offensive thing I’ve ever read. If the Japanese declare war on us over this, will you enlist and join the fight you started?
V: Hell no! I’d let y’all duke it out and somehow manage to convince hordes of cute Japanese girls that I was framed. Then they’d feel sorry for me and insist on stroking my tentacles. Ahem, sorry, “tentacle” – singular.
KA: Ten years ago, you, Jhonen Vasquez (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Squee), and Roman Dirge (Lenore) arguably started this twisted genre we call “Goth comics.” Since then, there’s been a non-stop flood of independent comics about cute Goth girls with magic powers and cats named Vlad. How does it feel to have started an unadulterated plague of small-press black and white comics and spooky Adult Swim cartoons? Do you admit guilt in the matter?
V: Absolutely! Back then you weren’t even allowed to smile at Goth clubs! When I would hand out copies of Oh My Goth! back in the day, I would see Goths reading it with their hands on their faces so that none of their friends would see them smiling. I’m not kidding! I thought I was the only one making funny Goth comics until someone gave me Jhonen’s Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. That book had me laughing out loud uncontrollably. Our books really paved the way for humor to be accepted in the Goth scene. As for the flood, hell, I’d rather have too many Goth comic books than NONE! Besides, the more of them there are, the more likely stores will see it as a viable market and order them.
KA: You often appear in your own comics. Will you please show up and kill Deady once and for all? He frightens me.
V: Only if it pays better than keeping him alive.
KA: Deady: Big in Japan took forever to come out. In the afterward you attribute this to working normal hours during the day and working until everything was as good as it could be. Do you feel less Goth for working normal hours?
V: Heh heh, no. I just found I got more done if I worked all day instead of all night. But this is, of course, due to the fact that as a father, I no longer wake up at 5:00 p.m. and go to sleep at 7:00 a.m.! I’m still out all night, but I have to wake up around noon. So, I’m most awake in the afternoon when I now do most of my drawing.
KA: What do you hate most in the world? Be honest.
V: This interview. But, now it’s done and I have to find something else to hate. Sh-t!
In all honesty, thanks for the interview. Feel free to send any questions comments or rants to: www.myspace.com/voltairenyc and for a better look at what we’ve been talking about all this time visit: www.voltaire.net.
KA: You’re welcome. May the scene have mercy on us for exposing all of its secrets.
The Spinner Rack
By Ben Johnson and Kurt Amacker
Kurt: Hey guys, remember that comics ship on Thursday this week. We have to pay for all that partying we did on Labor Day somehow.
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Kurt: I’d like to point out to everyone that Ben is the one that hates on DC week in and week out.
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Kurt: This is the first of the last three issues. Enjoy, while you still can.
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Kurt: Dude, you never have clothes on. You remind me every time we talk. I can’t imagine how your kid’s going to turn out.
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Ben: He dies.
Kurt: The cover looks like something out of Marvel Zombies. Still, I kind of doubt this is the end. But, this is the end of this week’s Comicscape.
Mmmmmmm. Savory Faith goodness...
Thank you, Joss & BKV!