Drew Rausch is a fairly twisted individual. I’m just going to throw that out there now as a disclaimer for those who may have heart conditions or tend to foop (fart-poop) themselves in the face of true creative insanity. Luckily, here at the clubhouse, we’re a pretty deviant bunch ourselves so Rausch fit right in. In fact, he may have fit in too well because I’m pretty sure no one ever saw him leave after the interview and now we can’t find him.
…I’m sure he’ll turn up eventually. In the meantime at least we’ve got a bunch of his mad ramblings on record. The following interview was inspired by true events. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent and only most of the events have been modified for dramatization. Enjoy!
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Thanks for joining us Drew. We’re all out of Cheetos so would you prefer pulverized goat’s anus or curdled rat’s testicles?
DREW RAUSCH: To eat or wear? Because I hear curdled rat’s testicles are VERY in this year, and as you may not know I consider myself a very fashion-forward kind of guy.
Fancy. Sorry, I should’ve clarify… which would you like on your crackers, pulverized goat’s anus or curdled rat’s testicles?
DREW: Ah. Well, THAT is a choice I am glad to make. Whichever one tastes the closest to peanut butter.
Done. Okay, so we’re here to talk comics… um, what do you think really goes down in Fraggle Rock after midnight?
DREW: I often question the motives of beings that dwell underground. With all the digging those Doozers were doing, I’m pretty sure they can sink the western seaboard by now.
I knew it! …right, right. Comics. What motivated you to become a glorified pencil pusher, anyway?
DREW: A therapist asked me that once, right after her trembling hands put down my sketchbook. I guess I’ve always liked to tell stories and come up with strange characters. When I was young, having read a fair share of comics already, it just seemed to be the easiest way to get those ideas out of my brain before it caused irreparable damage. Those kinds of operations can get spendy, y’know.
I’d imagine. So, if you weren’t working on comics, what profession do you see yourself in?
DREW: I dunno, professional house haunter.
Is that a question? It sure sounds like a question. Listen you, I’m the one who asks the questions around here.
DREW: …
Your first published work was SULLENGREY back in 2004, right?
DREW: Sounds about right. Things like the past and general increments of time tend to be blurry, like oil paint smudged on panels of glass…
That sounds pretty. So 2004… that puts you around what; 60? 70? You look good for your age. What’s your secret?
DREW: I don’t leave the house much.
SULLENGREY was originally described as a “coming of age zombie story.” Can you elaborate, what’s the series really about?
DREW: For me personally, it was about closing chapters in my life and opening new ones. I consider myself very fortunate that my first published work was something I created with such a brilliant writer, Jocelyn Gajeway, but when you are first starting out there is this skittering voice constantly whispering in your ear and reminding you of things that I am sure most creators go through, and that’s simply feeling like you’re not good enough and that everything you do is wrong and then getting the opportunity to overcome those fears. Also, there were zombies because Jocelyn has a thing for voudou.
As a series about fears, what’s one of your greatest fears?
DREW: Heights. More specifically, falling from them.
Uh-huh. Remember the telepods from THE FLY? Those were cool. Just out of curiosity, what two things would you stick in each end and what would you name the resulting scientific abomination?
DREW: A yeti and leaf nosed bat. I would call it BEAUTIFUL!
Science is fun. Back to comics! You’re currently working on a new story arc for SULLENGREY called MY BLACKS DON’T MATCH. How does it differ from previous installments (Cemetery Things, Sacrifice)?
DREW: MY BLACKS DON’T MATCH! It’s the story of a small sleepy town called Autumn’s Grove where everyone suffers from a form of Samhainophobia – the persistent fear of Halloween.
When Jocelyn and I sat down to discuss what the next thing we were going to work on we liked the idea of exploring the town and its citizens more, something we sort of started to do in the second volume of SULLENGREY. We also wanted to do something different. Something still unsettling, but diving off the edge of absurd. It’s not a reboot, or a re-imagining or anything like that -more like an extension. We made sure you don’t need any prior knowledge of the books as well. It’s is totally a new strange and unusual thing full of monsters, freaks and weirdos, nods to vintage Halloween and all the things that I love to draw without any real restrictions.
It’s also the first webcomic you’ve worked on. Have you had to change your methods at all as a result?
DREW: One the aspects that drew me to the idea of doing a webcomic is that there really aren’t many rules when it comes to the format. We found that doing short 2 to 5 page vignettes was the best way to tell the kind of stories we wanted to tell.
I was actually inspired by an interview with David Lynch and how he wrote INLAND EMPIRE in a stream of conscience sort of way where he would come up with the script for a scene the day or 2 before (or sometimes on the spot) they shot it. It’s by no means the best way to write a script but it keeps things spontaneous and since we update the story with a new page every Wednesday, provides a challenge different from writing a long form story.
You mentioned in other interviews that your work on ELDRITCH! was a step-up for you style wise. Has that influenced your work on MY BLACKS DON’T MATCH?
DREW: I think working with the ever so talented and sometimes corporeal Aaron Alexovich on ELDRITCH! really made me embrace my cartooning skills, like I tapped into my inner Spumco. Lots of clenched teeth and gaping chasm mouths.
In 2012 you hinted at the possibility of a stop motion short for SULLENGREY. Is that still a thing?
DREW: Yep! I have always loved the art of stop motion. I think the first time I was ever introduced to it was some of the Harryhausen films, like Sinbad, Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas and Mad Monster Party by Rankin and Bass. Just recently, I discovered while trying to make my own Halloween props that I enjoyed sculpting so in the few fleeting moments of downtime that making comics offers, I thought I would give making my own short a shot. I mean when you spend every hour of everyday agonizing over details on a page that will get glanced out for maybe 10 seconds, moving teeny tiny parts millimeters at a time for 1800 frames just to have a minute of film seems perfectly sane.
Things are still early in development. I finished the script and I’m working on storyboards here and there. I did get a maquette of the main character sculpted, Grey, one of the characters from SULLENGREY/ MY BLACKS DON’T MATCH!. He’s a pumpkin juggler who is haunted by the ghost of a pumpkin that he accidentally dropped and smashed. I pleased with how he came out. Like my own personal mini Golem.
Would you rather A) crawl through razor wire for the most delicious cupcake ever OR B) sit naked in a pile of fire ants for one hour to get $1,000,000?
DREW: You are like the Bob Barker from Hell, sir. FROM HELL. I think I’ll pass on this showcase. Do you have something in a brand new car, maybe a hearse or a trip to Transylvania?
…who are you again? Nevermind. Before you scuttle back into the inky blackness of my imagination: what’s the strangest thing you can remember doing as a kid?
DREW: I swapped places with my doppelganger once…
