Simone Lia's creations are, in the best way possible, delightfully charming. Her international sensation, Fluffy, is being released by Dark Horse for the first time in a U.S. edition this summer! Dark Horse recently asked Simone some questions about her art and why animals are people too.

Dark Horse: You’ve said in previous interviews that you never really thought of comics as being a form of art until you started making them yourself. Now that you’ve published some comic books of your own, how has your perception of the medium changed?

Simone Lia: Did I say that? Hmm, well, at art college there seemed to be hierarchies. When it came to art--conceptual fine art was at the top, illustration was beneath that and comic art didn’t even get a mention. People looked down on it. I don’t know where this snobbishness came from but it was commonplace. The turning point for me was when my friend Tom Gauld said that comics are just pictures with words. With that simple sentence the scales on my eyes fell off; I got into reading comics with the same passion that I had when I was a young girl. I used to love the Beano and the Dandy and any other children’s comics I could get my hands on at church jumble sales.

So after Tom converted me I couldn’t wait to start drawing comics and we made our first comic together and called it “First.”

DH: What comic artists have inspired you?

SL: I like a lot of comic artists but the main inspiration must be Charles Schulz. I love the human warmth in his characters and the humor and depth of the strips. I’d like for my drawings to have that kind of warmth. Woodstock is my favorite character because he is so tiny and sweet.

DH: Why did you decide to release Fluffy in the United States?

SL: I had people writing to me from the United States; I knew that people were reading it but it was expensive to send the books out there from here. I was really pleased when Dark Horse approached me.

DH: Is there something uniquely European about Fluffy that American audiences will enjoy?

SL: The story is set in London and they travel overland to Sicily so all of the location drawings are European. It was fun drawing the locations, even the places in London where I live--I’m a bit of a zombie when I’m traveling around London--there are so many people that I try to focus on where I’m trying to get to, but when I’m drawing I notice the details and the beauty of what surrounds me everyday.

Also when I was creating the story I think that I was influenced by European films. I really like those films that are about human relationships and they have beautiful photography and they’ve got a bit of a weird plot--maybe there isn’t much of a story but it’s more about the relationships. I like those films but sometimes they end very suddenly and someone’s died and there wasn’t a proper ending and you come out of the cinema feeling a bit depressed. My story is more about relationships than it is about plot but I wanted it to have a slightly cheery ending without necessarily resolving all of the issues that were in the book.

DH: Your characters take on a life of their own, sometimes saying or doing things that might come as a shock to readers expecting a smooth ride. Do you craft your stories so that they represent true dialogue, or do your characters surprise you by some of the things they say?

SL: I have the characters sit in my head for a long time before I do anything with them; I try to get to know them a bit and hang out with them. I get to see who they really are when the writing and drawing bit takes place--I try to be very honest with the characters and not put words into their mouth but let them say what they need to say. I’m not sure if that makes sense. Yes, I am quite surprised by some of the things that they say and do. Sometimes a bit disturbed.

DH: What do you want readers to take from this story?

SL: I hope that they enjoy it and maybe if it makes them smile, that’s good, and if they can relate to any of the characters or find it uplifting, then that’s good.



DH: If you were to have an animal believe that you were its Mommy, what kind of animal would you want it to be?

SL: Urmm. I don’t know. I’ve never thought about this before . . . maybe a little sparrow or something. No, I know! How about a little green caterpillar? I could read him little bedtime stories and he’d be thinking, “What are you doing Mum? Just get me a leaf, I want to eat a leaf.”

Is this some part of a psychiatric test? Have I passed?

DH: Do you have any new graphic-novel projects coming out soon?

SL: I’m slowly, slowly working on a story with myself in it, and it’s set in a convent; it’s a kind of a diary thing. I’m only on page 16, though.

After I do that I might do one about a lady and a caterpillar . . .