Jamie Smart: Bear Essentials

By Steve Miller

In the first issue of Bear, our titular character pleads, “Dear God that cat is f***ed up. Why is it only the nice cats get run over and the bastard cats get to chase small bears with animal corpses?” It’s one of life’s great unanswered conundrums and it’s rare that you’d find something so profound within the monochrome pages of an unassuming comic book.

Then again, Bear isn’t just your ordinary comic book. In the first issue alone, our hero, constantly menaced by his foe, a mental cat called Looshkin, encounters a dead guinea pig, a dead dog, a reanimated voodoo doll made of bear shavings and a gorilla wearing a bell around its neck. Oh, and he goes for a nice bike ride in the countryside whilst Looshkin, left to his own devices, destroys the house. “I blew up the house. It wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be, but I did it anyway,” he says.

Published by Slave Labor Graphics, Bear is the work of one strangely demented man, Jamie Smart. His art has an appealingly cartoony thick line that looks cute even if he’s drawing a pet with its eyes hanging out. It’s packed with detail, running with the Evan Dorkin philosophy that blank space in a panel is wasted space. There are running jokes down the sides of panels, completely unrelated characters popping up in the corners, and in the final story of that first issue, a cycling bee.

It may well be one of the purest examples of comic-book comedy since Steve Purcell’s Sam & Max, but there is one thing noticeably absent from the first issue. T-shirts. Shortly after the first issue, I mentioned this to Jamie, and he quickly agreed, probably more through terror than anything else.

I eagerly flicked through the second issue when it arrived a few months later, and was shocked to note there were still no quality items of short-sleeved apparel to be found within the pages of the comic. I mentioned it again to Jamie, and, after several more emails and one restraining order, he finally confirmed to me that yes, he had designed some t-shirts, and yes they would soon be available.

Buoyed by this tremendous news, I mentioned to the editors at SBC that a t-shirt themed interview may well be in order. They returned my email unread but I interpreted that as a green light and, to avoid a breach of the restraining order, asked Jamie some questions over the telephone. This is a very abbreviated version of that conversation.

STEVE MILLER: Jamie, I was going to ask you for some biographical stuff, like how old you were, where you lived, where you're from, that kind of thing. You can lie if you want.

JAMIE SMART: Oh really?

I’m 25. I live in Brighton. I like jumping and shouting. Geez, I dunno.

MILLER: You're not lying at all are you?

SMART: What? No. I love jumping. Okay shouting I can give or take. But the rest is true.

MILLER: You like jumping ? Just general jumping, or jumping off of really high things?

JAMIE: No. Okay, I’m not bothered about jumping either. Wow. I am crap at this. Start again.

MILLER: [laughs]

SMART: Have you seen those French fellas who throw themselves off buildings? Now that’s jumping, and sometimes falling, often cheering.

MILLER: I've not seen these people. Are you making it up?

SMART: No, honestly. I forget what they're called. They do adverts for Nike and stuff though.

MILLER: I've seen that bloke who climbs up the sides of buildings, and then gets arrested when he gets to the top.

SMART: Yeah I like that guy. What a nonce.

MILLER: He has way too much time on his hands, somebody should give him an office job.

SMART: On the ground floor.

MILLER: So, did you have anything published prior to Bear?

SMART: As in comics? No. I did illustrations for magazines and kids comics. Bits here and there, really. Comics are fun. Its weird. You draw what’s in your head and they sell it. How odd is that?

MILLER: Well, it's weird that people buy it.

SMART: That is very weird. I never realised so many people were intelligent, enlightened, attractive and athletic.

MILLER: You've never been to Bristol.

SMART: No I haven’t, but I'll write that down and ask people when I get there.

MILLER: I saw some older stuff on the website but I'd not heard of it. There are some one-panel gag strips on there? Were you going for the Gary Larson slot when he quit?

SMART: Ha. Every cartoonist - hate that word - does one-panel strips. It’s just a really nice space to put silly jokes in. Everyone who does one panels is trying to be like Larson though.

MILLER: So those haven't been published? Are there many of them?

SMART: Oh God, books full of them, yeah. Since I was 10 I’d been sending work out to papers and stuff like that. They never really got anywhere, but obviously its cool to do them because it raises your general standard for your other work.

MILLER: Self-discipline, and I suppose it helps you realise what you're good at?

SMART: Self discipline might not be it, because if you draw you do it because you love doing it anyway. It's not like work, even when you're putting 12 hours a day in and you hurt from being hunched up, its still fun, y'know? So it didn't bother me that the panels never got anywhere, they were fun to do at the time.

MILLER: Yeah.

SMART: I sent them to some syndicate in America a couple of years ago, and the guy there sent a hand written note saying “Yeah I really like them, but only you and a handful of people would understand them.” I took it as a compliment, but I shouldn’t have.

MILLER: They're very British . I know we share that common language and I know we all laugh at Ted Danson, but we're not really all that similar.

SMART: Yeah it’s weird. British TV moans it can't match the standard of American comedy, but American TV moans it can't match the standard of British comedy, yet we both laugh at each other’s stuff. So there must be quite a strong connection somewhere, and we laugh at Ted for different reasons than they do.

MILLER: So if you've been drawing them since you were 10, did you know that far back that this was what you wanted to do?

SMART: Sending stuff out since 10, drawing since some numpty gave me a crayon to draw on the wall probably. I don’t know. Everyone draws cartoons when they're kids. It’s natural. Personally, I think the people who make it a career are the ones who like the attention it gets them and stick at it. We're needy.

MILLER: And they're also the ones who can draw.

SMART: Yeah, see, I'm not sure, the idea of something that you can either do or can't. I draw like I do because I've been doing it for 25 years, pretty much solidly. That, and the outside influences of TV shows that made me laugh or whatever, shaped how my stuff looks, whether people like it or not, but I do think anyone can do it. After 25 years of practise.

MILLER: Looshkin draws better than me.

SMART: Looshkin draws more coherently than a cat with a paw should reasonably be able to.

MILLER: I think he’s taken classes.

SMART: He’s probably done training of some sort, but I'm not sure it's drawing.

MILLER: Were you always drawing funny strips though? I know you were aware of Archie comics, so I assume at some point you were exposed to superheroes and stuff? You never felt like drawing those?

SMART: I never could. It’s a very different style, drawing superheroes. Mine are glorified doodles, I mean, essentially they are, but they seem to work okay. I never really read too many superhero things; they didn't interest me. I like silliness, random dumbness. Some stuff I've been working on of late has certain superhero types in it, and I'm really enjoying drawing in that way. It’s just that I never could before. Maybe I didn’t try. You never see Batman chased by badgers.

MILLER: You should do, though. There was that badger 6 months back that threatened that family? Batman should have done something about that.

SMART: Didn't he find out that a badger killed his parents, and not the Joker like he'd believed. I seem to remember him running into the woods with a spade to avenge their death.

MILLER: Imagine the trauma had a badger come crashing through his window instead of a bat. “Its a sign. I shall become Badger-man.”

SMART: Yeah, wow. You gotta think of the mechanics of that, like the badger would have had to negotiate the fire escape to get up there, then find the right room.

MILLER: Do they even have badgers in America? They don't have hedgehogs.

SMART: They gave us their squirrels, and their squirrels killed all ours.

MILLER: Have you been to America? Their squirrels will come up and talk to you, whereas British squirrels bugger off if you get within 50 yards.

SMART: American squirrels probably have guns. They have no need to be afraid.

MILLER: It's quite refreshing, until you realise that the squirrel is only talking to you so that his mate can nick your wallet.

SMART: Lets be honest, British squirrels probably work for secretive governmental organisations.

MILLER: You think that's why they run away? A fear of being rumbled?

SMART: They have to get the files back to HQ by 5pm or the whole of Moscow will be in danger, things like that.

SMART: Hang on a second.

[Miller whistles]

Sorry, stereo was knackered.

MILLER: Did you smack it?

SMART: I used to smack it, but that made it broke even more and they took it away for 3 weeks. I was sad. Then it came back and I was happy. Then it started shitting up again and once more the melancholy returned.

MILLER: I like melancholy.

SMART: Melancholy is great not only as an alibi but as a motive too.

MILLER: You can blame anything on melancholy.

SMART: I blame Satan.

MILLER: Bad form at snooker? Melancholy.

SMART: Iraq?

MILLER: Melancholy.

SMART: See, I thought so. Everyone said it was guns and tanks, but nope I said, its melancholy.

MILLER: The day before they invaded Iraq, George listened to his Ryan Adams CDs and got really down. He needed something to lift his mood a little.

SMART: Wow, Ryan Adams did that much damage? That low-fi bastard. Imagine the destruction if he'd been listening to David Gray.

MILLER: Hell yeah - thank god nobody’s heard of him in America.

SMART: Oh, but they all know about him in Iraq.

MILLER: Do they blame him for everything?

SMART: Most things. A polluted water supply is Thom Yorke's fault, and there’s a sick goat which they're blaming on Polly Harvey. Apart from that, it’s all the Gray.

MILLER: We're blaming our sick goat on Dido.

SMART: I blame my sick dido on a goat.

See that doesn't even make any sense.

MILLER: No, but I heard a drum roll as you said it.

SMART: It makes you think though. What exactly would Dido have to do to make a goat sick?

MILLER: Sing to it ?

SMART: That’d just make it fall over dead. To actually infect it somehow, she'd have to fiddle with it.

MILLER: Hug Custard – did that ever appear anywhere?

SMART: Nope. I sent 4 comics to Slave Labor at once. They took Bear. Hoeben is in Bear issue 3, Space Raoul was taken by the Sunday Times, and Hug Custard is in issue 4 of Bear, under the name Fum Boo. I never waste anything.

MILLER: Why did you pitch to Slave Labor?

SMART: Slave Labor's just kind of the place you go to. There aren't really any other places that do the same thing they do. Milk And Cheese were the first comic I really got into in a big way, and that was SLG, so their name stuck in my head as just the ultimate place to aspire too. Cripes, the blighters took me. That was a good day.

MILLER: You'd already sent earlier stuff to them?

SMART: I sent something to SLG about 3 years ago but I never heard anything. I never planned to get into comics at all, and yet I was doing all these comics in my spare time. I just never figured it'd work out that way for me, like it was a different discipline.

But wow, I'm very glad I'm in it now.

MILLER: I love Milk & Cheese.

SMART: Milk & Cheese are genius. They were such a big deal for me.

MILLER: I love how every M&C strip is basically the same - yet somehow every one is bloody funny

SMART: Yeah it’s crazy. More people should read it before they do their own comics. Milk and Cheese are the ultimate in drawing frenzy in a panel. You can't do it better than that.

Merv Griffin!

MILLER: A lot of the Issue 1 reviews compared you to Jhonen Vazquez, so I bought some of his stuff, and although I can see some superficial similarities, I really didn't think Bear was that similar

SMART: I haven't seen many reviews of issue one. Yeah I get the Jhonen thing sometimes. It works both ways.

On the one hand, no I don't accept the similarities. I draw big chunky lines, wide eyes, and doodle in the panels, but that’s just how I do it. I take full credit for my own stupidity. On the other hand, I take it as a compliment because I think Jhonen's stuff is great - especially his covers - and also it lets people know of the kind of thing it is. A lot of people who like Bear like Jhonen’s stuff, so, you know, its nice.

MILLER: Unless they're way over my head, I'm missing all the gothy stuff in Bear.

SMART: There’s blood in issue 3, and Goths in issue 4, just to fill the quota in the contract.

MILLER: I suspect it was because it's from SLG, so it's an easy comparison to make. From what I've seen, your stuff is a lot more whimsical.

SMART: Yeah it is an easy comparison, but I have to expect it. SLG took Bear on for what it was, not for what it was trying to be, so I'm very proud of how it’s doing. But you know, you read a review of a band and you want to know what bands they sound like, so it’s natural.

MILLER: True, and even if it's a flawed comparison, it's a starting point isn't it? And I suppose that market is a good market for SLG, so if some of those readers can come across to Bear, that's a good foundation.

SMART: Oh hell yeah. I'm not naive enough to think Jhonen hasn't created a huge market. A lot more people are open to comics, especially alternative ones, thanks to him, and also others like him, so I'm well aware people are coming over from that.

MILLER: I assume the comics doing well though because you mentioned the shirts?

SMART: Yeah it’s doing great. It’s hard for me to tell because I'm new to it all and I have no frame of reference, but by all accounts people are really getting into it. The t-shirts are a few months away, 6 in total and I think they look neat. We've just been talking about the book collecting the first 5 issues. That should come out in October next year, and there’s other stuff, but it’s too soon to go blabbing.

MILLER: I won't tell a soul.

I have a load of questions written down about comedy influences, but we’ve sort of covered that already. Ted Danson & Evan Dorkin?

SMART: You know, I wouldn't put Ted Danson at the top of the list. Evan for comics, yeah…him and Tank Girl. That’s all I knew about comics. As for what makes me laugh, its things like the Young Ones and Eddie Izzard.

MILLER: I’ve noticed a lot of pet related violence in Bear.

SMART: I honestly don't know what you're talking about. . You know, it's weird. I don't have anything against dogs or guinea pigs. I never even considered using a teddy bear to base a comic around. All this stuff is coming from somewhere other than my head. I'm either blaming El Diablo or Dido.

MILLER: They are one and the same. Violence against guinea pigs is always funny though.

SMART: Guinea pigs are one of those pets that little girls get and keep in a box of straw and then it dies, and they buy another one, and the cycle begins again.

MILLER: Do you have a dog, or a guinea pig, or one of those really cute pet things from Hug Custard?

SMART: We had a dog when I was living at home yeah, and my sister kept guinea pigs and they kept dying. Hmm, maybe this is all repressed memories.

MILLER: Bear is autobiography!

SMART: I have no idea what those things in Hug Custard are. Things for smashing, possibly.

MILLER: Cute lemmings?

SMART: Lemmings, now there was a game. No wait, I hated that game.

MILLER: I liked the idea, I just hated the fact that I was shit at it

SMART: Yeah I think that spawned my hatred too.

MILLER: I’m going to throw you some general questions, just to wind the interview up.

SMART: Okay.

MILLER: What scares you?

SMART: Female clowns, terrorism, spiders what crawl out of the toilet.

MILLER: What makes you happy?

SMART: Spiders what crawl out of the toilet when female clowns are sitting on it. Man, that would be sweet.

MILLER: Finally, do you have a farewell message for our readers?

SMART: Yes I do. Do kind things to other people and they, in turn, will do kind things to you, and if they don't, chase them with a branch, the bastards.

Noo…uhh…geez, I don’t know. Buy Bear! It'll bring you happiness and oh, you know, other stuff. Joy, that's one. It'll make you regular. Bear has mild laxative properties. I should stop answering this question I've a feeling I'm going to dent sales.

Issues 1-4 of Bear are available from Slave Labor Graphics, and Jamie gave up several hours of his time to help me with this interview. I really think you should buy his comic. His website http://www.bearfoo.com/ has got lots of special pictures, some jokes and lots of other stuff that we already talked about.

	Steve Miller hails from the U.K. and is a first-time contributor to the Features section.