Merry San Diego, Everyone: The Rich Johnston Interview

By Park Cooper

"You there! Boy! Small street urchin! No, not you, the other one!"
"Me, sir?"
"Yes! You, boy! What day is it?"
"What, sir?"
"You heard me, boy! What DAY is it today?!?"
"Why-- why beggin' yer pardon, sir, but it's San Diego today, sir!"
"IS it?!? IS it San Diego? I haven't missed it?!?"
"No sir... it's San Diego t-today sir...!"
"THANK HEAVENS! Here, boy, take this gold sovereign and go run as fast as you can, and buy the biggest hardcover graphic novel you can find, and meet me back here, and there'll be another sovereign waiting for you!"
"YES, SIR! THANK you sir! Merry San Diego, sir!"
"Right! Merry San Diego! Off you go! MERRY SAN DIEGO, EVERYONE!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"

It only comes but once a year.

Here's an interview with jolly old Rich Johnston himself, of Lying In The Gutters.

Merry San Diego, suckers.




Park Cooper: So what's up on your end? I imagine you're rather busy…

Rich Johnston: Writing tomorrow's column.

PC: I meant in general, but yes, all right...

RJ: In general, being a dad and working in an ad agency suck up most of my time.

PC: So how, truly, do you feel about the "CSI: DYING IN THE GUTTERS #1" thing?

http://www.forbidden-planet.co.uk/acatalog/CSI__Dying_in_the_Gutters__1.html

RJ: I want a Large t-shirt comp… And a small one for my child Eve.

PC: I'd be... paranoid, I guess, but I suppose if I was you I already would be… You might get that comp…

RJ: It's a shame none of the people who have actually threatened me agreed to be part of the comic.

PC: And how many is that?

RJ: I can count them on the fingers of both hands. Even if one or two of them managed to hack a couple of fingers off.

PC: So... selling the ol' comics, eh? Er... EBay, that is? I gather?

RJ: Pays for all manner of prams.

PC: On to other matters... Let's start with Holed Up. What's the status there?

RJ: Well, all three issues published, I'm very happy with how it turned out. Currently with the BBC drama department looking at a possible adaptation.

PC: Think it's likely?

RJ: Probably not. Never know what other doors it might open though Flying Friar's also at the BBC. That's more likely.

PC: True, I suppose. Let's switch to Speakeasy, starting with the company. I sense that there's this sense that people have that all indie companies are extremely fragile now, which I feel is highly untrue and that I'm seeking to dispel…

RJ: I think all companies are fragile now. Even DC could fall the next time Warner Bros do a stock take. Marvel could have a hostile takeover and be asset stripped the next time a movie bombs.

PC: It makes sense in the Industry-Fear sort of logic that's been pumped out... "The Industry of Comics (non-manga) is in terrible trouble, therefore the smallest companies must be about ready to crumble"

RJ: Welcome to the entertainment industry. Oh, and even in manga, there's trouble.

PC: Would you care to elaborate on that?

RJ: Oh, creators complaining about contracts, books being cancelled, lines being dropped...

PC: Yes, but I mean that people don't think that to themselves... Manga rather seems an unstoppable juggernaut by comparison, or so I imagine the average superhero fan's mind works. I'm talking about percerption first and truth second right now.

RJ: Everything seems an unstoppable juggernaut by comparison. Including Victorian Doll Manufacture.

PC: Mm. Now, I've looked at preview pages of Flying Friar... I personally know that a person can have many venues to their creativity, but to voice the thoughts of the Average Man On The Street, one must say that Flying Friar really isn't what one would expect from the writer of Holed Up.

RJ: Good. Wouldn't it be awful if I could only write one thing?

PC: How did you come to write Flying Friar? I mean, you said, "well, I'd better write something else now, hadn't I," but I mean specifically this subject matter?

RJ: I have plenty of ideas always running around. I pitched Friar to Avatar at the same time I pitched Holed Up. If there's a publisher for my third project "The Au Pair Protocols," I'd love to hear from them…

PC: So... will you be at San Diego Con? Or will airfare, etc. be prohibitive?

RJ: Time, more like. How long can I stay away from my wife and child?

PC: Well... how long can you?

RJ: Not long enough to fly to the west coast for a comics con.

PC: Mm. So... do you get a lot of comp comics? Or do you get less than one would think because of, you know, haters?

RJ: I get a few actually. Nothing major major... but then Top Shelf just sent me the complete galley to Lost Girls, so hey...

PC: Do you feel the flimsy magazine format will give way to the graphic novel format, given time?

RJ: Maybe. More likely give way to the even flimsier digital file.

PC: How long have you wanted to be a writer, rather than the guy who knows all the writer's secrets?

RJ: I've always been a writer. When I started I was already a copywriter for a local ad agency. Now I'm a senior copywriter for a Soho agency. I've written for TV, film, radio and the stage.

PC: Yes, but a comics writer, Rich…?

RJ: I haven't wanted to be a comics writer for a very long time. I still don't want to be one. The pay is terrible, there's no respect and you die alone, unmourned and unloved.

PC: Then why do it? To get into TV and Movies better/faster?

RJ: No, I do little bits as a hobby. But I'm no more a comics writer than I am a plumber, despite just fixing the flush mechanism on the upstairs cistern. Which I did with a spring from a ballpoint pen.

PC: Yes, but why do it then? Er, the comics writing. The cistern one is self-evident.

RJ: I don't know. In both cases I had something I wanted to get out of my system.

PC: What is the biggest misconception that the comic book audience might have about you the person vs. you the persona?

RJ: I don't know what they think of me, so I can't answer that.

PC: What's the one phrase you've heard so often (as writer of LITG) you're sick of it? Er... just one, though. There's probably a few like that...

RJ: How about "Slow news week, Rich" from the subject of a rumour I'm planning to break. Usually a sign it's a killer story.

PC: What's the first comic you can remember reading in your youth?

RJ: Probably The Beano. Hell, definitely The Beano. Either that or The Dandy. Going to be a close call.

PC: Do you read any webcomics?

RJ: Well, HotelFred is a major favourite…

PC: Any others?

RJ: A lot of time for PvP and Supernatural Law. Finder too now, I suppose.

PC: How has married life and fatherhood affected your creative life?

RJ: Well, there's less time for it. So that's a lot of people spared me forcing it on them I suppose.

PC: Does anything about comics actually surprise you anymore?

RJ: Many many things. The end of the recent Jack Staff. How Lost Girls turns out. How good Civil War is. How funny Superfuckers is.

PC: What are you (in your capacity at LitG)? Are you a journalist?

RJ: I'm not a journalist. LitG is therefore unfettered by taste, relevance or indeed accuracy. I'm a columnist. A gossip monger. A rumour maven. A ne'erdowell.

RJ: Have to stop soon, it's gone midnight and it's a school night.

PC: Oops, sorry, time zone difference. Barb says to tell you that she truly enjoys your column… And it sucked about Speakeasy because our mate Reg was just insane for your comic and (so far) you can always trust Reg on comics....
























































































































































It's the one week when we all act a little nicer.

We... we smile a little easier. We... we... share a little more.

For a few days we are the people we always hoped we would be.

It's really a miracle because it happens every San Diego.

Saint Diego bless us, every one.