Interview: Noah Van Sciver

As a reviewer, I’ve taken a real interest in the career of Noah Van Sciver – not just for his promising work, but for his letters.  He sends the most heartbreaking updates with each review copy, all about how he’s giving everything to comics, how he barely has food to eat, and why he’s putting every ounce of energy into the page.  The usual fare for any cartoonist, really, but he’s the only guy around being so honest.

More importantly, he’s in this mess because of his agenda: with indie fans in mind, he’s printing semi-quarterly issues of his series Blammo, just to give them something regular to look forward to like their mainstream counterparts.  Boy’s got a dream!  Don’t you just want to send him $20 and some dry pasta?

Since I’m rooting for him, it was heartening to learn that he’s been accepted in an upcoming issue of MOME, and soon will be published with the rest of indie comics’ innovative young talent.  Proof that sometimes, kids, hard work and persistence pay off.

Sadly, a few weeks ago, his girlfriend Robin (whom he often writes about in his comics) went the hospital for serious migraines only to find something more serious behind the pain.  Can’t this guy get a break? Before that, however, he was upbeat and took the time to email a few responses about his work, his forthcoming Abe Lincoln story arc, and the general trajectory for his series Blammo.

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Blammo 2 by Noah Van Sciver

Blammo 2
by Noah Van Sciver
Self-Published

In Blammo 2, Noah Van Sciver promotes his favorite bands, tells crude jokes, and mouths off about irritating trends polluting Denver, CO. It’s a notably zine-like comic for all its variety, education and filth – and it’s kind of a hoot.

Noah Van Sciver, it must be told, is the brother of mainstream comic artist Ethan Van Sciver. It’s a funny notion that two brothers could be the yin and yang of comics – one serious, straight and published, the other comical, expressive and indie – and that’s just what Noah seems to be. He’s making indie comics so quintessential in form, they seem entirely opposed to what’s mainstream and completely illustrative of the underground with all its rage, comedy and wince-inducing details.

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