Interview with Zach Miller

All images copyright Zach Miller

No kidding, Joe and Monkey is one of my favorite comics, not webcomics, not comic strips, comics. I like Joe and Monkey like I like Hellboy, or Futurama or The Pixies. Joe and Monkey has a fun cast of characters that I enjoy getting to hang out with every week day. In fact, I'm not going to even tell you what the comic is about. There's a link at the bottom of the page read this article and then go read the archive. You won't be sorry.

I will tell you what Zach is like though. Zach is a thin guy with a (formerly) shaved head and glasses. When he speaks, he sounds a like an intelligent Adam Carolla. He lives in his parent’s basement and his only job is working on Joe and Monkey, and he does pretty well at it.

In fact, there are a lot of people who consider his comic to be the flag ship example of cash cow comics. In fact Zach had a part time job for a while and quit it because he was making more doing his comics. Doing a WEBCOMIC! Don't believe me? Seriously, read some of his comics.

Here's the Q&A.

STUMBLEBUM STUDIOS - The first few comics in your book look really sketchy and rough but it only took a few comics before you had developed the signature style of Joe and Monkey. What was the process behind developing the look of Joe and Monkey?

ZACH MILLER - I had stopped working on my previous comic, "No Pants Tuesday." One day I picked up the first collected issue of "The Norm" by Michael
Jantze. I hadn't read picked up a paper in months, and reading the book reminded me how much I enjoyed Jantze's writing and art style. After that I began mimicking both, which you can see in the previously unpublished NPT strips in the "Joe and Monkey" book, Totally Boned. After working on a few strips I decided to move on to JaM and adopted a more finished look for the comic. The first few comics were really sketchy because I had yet to learn the best way of drawing the characters. As time went on I was able to hone in on features that made the characters easier and more fun to draw. Reading the first year of JaM is like a study of the evolution of my art form.

SS - What comics (web, strips, books etc..) do you read regularly?

ZM - On the web I read all the Boxcar Comics strips. They're awesome. I also read "Medium Large," "Atland," "PvP," "Cat and Girl," " Wapsi Square," "Pirate and Alien," "Penny Arcade," "Joe Loves Crappy Movies," "Gluemeat," "The Norm," "Cultural Void" ... well, just look at the links page at my site.

In print I just picked up Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace. While the later work might have been stale and boring the first year is AMAZING! I am really impressed by the comic. I also read "Mutts," "Zits," "Opus," "Dilbert," "Get Fuzzy," "Peanuts," "The Far Side," "Pogo," "Krazy Kat," and "Calvin and Hobbes."

SS - You've made two books, t-shirts, stickers, and tons of other merch. What advice do you have for other webcomics doing the same?

ZM - Print-on-demand is your friend. I spent a ton of money on the original printing of my book. Had I known how easy print-on-demand was it would have saved me a lot of time and money. As far as producing other merch, I recommend not producing too much merchandise until you have a readership that can support your investment. I've been burned a couple times because I printed more than the market demanded and I had to eat some profits.

SS - How much of Joe is Zach and how much of Zach is Joe?

ZM - Joe is the naive idealist in me. I would like more Joe in me. His ability to ask girls out and get turned down constantly without even flinching is something I could never do. I think that stems from Joe's self image. He thinks he's totally awesome, and nothing can really change that... until I introduce some soul crushing story arch!

Uh-oh....

SS - Please for the love of god start sending these comics back in to King Syndicates and United. I love comics, but I can't believe the garbage they run in the papers. JaM is waaaayyy better than that. Wait, that's not a question. Uhmmm.. If life really does begin at conception does that mean everyone should change their Zodiac signs?

ZM - I assume this is about abortion, so I'll talk about that. Abortion is a tough issue. I think it should be legal because people are going to get abortions anyway, and it's better that they are able to be treated in a safe environment. Otherwise you run the high risk of infection and disease. However, I am a bit of a hypocrite because if I were to somehow get a woman preggers (I have yet to figure out how that works) I wouldn't want her getting an abortion. Luckily I am extremely anti-social and only go outside to get the mail and scowl at the neighbors. So I don't think I'll have to worry about that any time soon.

As far as sending JaM to syndicates, I sent out submissions and I have received at least one neat little form letter basically telling me I'm not good enough to be considered by the syndicate. Maybe I'll send out some more submissions one day, but I want to keep my entire archive online. There are far too many comics in the archive that are unusable for newspapers, and I don't want to have those hidden from the world.

SS - What would end Joe and Monkey?

ZM - This question. I quit!

SS - Joe and Monkey has a ton of loyal readers. Have you ever got feedback that has blown you away?

ZM - JaM has readers? Well, I don't want to let them down! I unquit!

Last year I posted a comic that referenced "Bloom County" and the next day the comic's creator, Berkely Breathed, emailed me to tell me he enjoyed the strip. That blew my mind.

SS - What were you like as a kid?

ZM - I was a big unkempt freak. Starting at an early age I wouldn't wear any T-shirt that wasn't XL. If you ever experience the horror of paging through one of my family's photo albums you'll see a young me looking like I'm wearing bed sheets. It's horribly embarrassing. Now I am able to wear large sized T-shirts. I even started grooming myself. I was also extremely desperate for attention. That has yet to change.


SS - What's the most common mistake you see in other webcomics?

ZM - The only mistakes I ever see are in my own comic. I'm not very
observant.

SS - Would you rather hang out with Robocop or Terminator?

ZM - Robocop. Terminator sucks.


Alright, you finished the article, now go read Joe and Monkey at www.joeandmonkey.com.
Go buy Totally Boned at www.lulu.com/content/218824.



And as always check out Dave's mindless pap at http://www.culturalvoid.net