MD: A lot of my work has to do with transformation, and adolescence is the time when those transformations seem the most drastic. Michael DeForge: I’d written a number of comics that circle around adolescence a little and I thought I’d sort of been circling around it long enough and it might be an okay subject for a graphic novel. Shannon Tien: What was the inspiration for Big Kids? What follows below is exactly what we said, nothing more. There was no beating around the bush, no humming and hawing, and I didn’t have a huge transcript to cut down into manageable chunks. Our talk was shorter than most of the interviews I have conducted, yes, but it was also honest and forthright. By the end of the interview, however, I was impressed and grateful. Michael DeForge is a master of the “show, don’t tell” rule, and as someone who often “tells” for a living, I was intimidated.
His characters, as in Ant Colony and Big Kids, are often dealing with existential crises-they could have long, drawn out discussions on the meaning of life, but they don’t. It is his art that does most of the talking-stark lines against backdrops of dramatic colour that punch deep in the gut. DeForge’s comics and graphic novels are populated by honest, strict dialogue, saying only what needs to be said.
A man of few words, the interviewer’s worst nightmare.
In interviews his responses were short and direct, answers on the FAQ section of his website even more so. I had been reading his interviews online the night before to get a sense of his personality and, though I had also already read some of his work, including his newest graphic novel Big Kids and the universally acclaimed Ant Colony, I still felt no closer to knowing anything about him. I was nervous before dialing Michael DeForge’s number one grey morning last week.
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